The article is dedicated to the investigation of the influence of the language units pragmatic potential on the process of taking translation decisions. The most part of attention is focused on the notion of the pragmatic equivalence, on the translation difficulties of the lingual pragmatic categories components, as well as on the specifics of the pragmatic relations in the process of bilingual communication.


ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of human soft tissue infections and bacterial sepsis. The emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains (methicillin-resistant S. aureus [MRSA]) has prompted research into staphylococcal vaccines and preventive measures. The envelope of S. aureus is decorated with staphylococcal protein A (SpA), which captures the Fcγ portion of immunoglobulins to prevent opsonophagocytosis and associates with the Fab portion of VH3-type B cell receptors to trigger B cell superantigen activity. Nontoxigenic protein A (SpAKKAA), when used as an immunogen in mice, stimulates humoral immune responses that neutralize the Fcγ and the VH3+ Fab binding activities of SpA and provide protection from staphylococcal abscess formation in mice. Here, we isolated monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against SpAKKAA that, by binding to the triple-helical bundle fold of its immunoglobulin binding domains (IgBDs), neutralize the Fcγ and Fab binding activities of SpA. SpAKKAA MAbs promoted opsonophagocytic killing of MRSA in mouse and human blood, provided protection from abscess formation, and stimulated pathogen-specific immune responses in a mouse model of staphylococcal disease. Thus, SpAKKAA MAbs may be useful for the prevention and therapy of staphylococcal disease in humans.


The perceivability of the open air images is degraded on account of terrible climate conditions. Robust solutions to this issue, a simple and novel strategy to take out the haze from satellite remote sensing images using Bilateral filter. The task is challenging due to variations in dark channel prior, air light, transmission map and radiance map. The nearness of haze in the atmosphere degrades the quality of images captured by visible camera sensors. The expulsion of haze is commonly performed under the statistical strategies. Due to haziness, an image generally lost shading and edges. So de hazing strategy restores edge losses and shading impacts seriously. The strategy plays out a per-pixel operation, which is direct to create develop and then apply the Bilateral filter to improve the image quality. We compare our methodology with state-of-art criteria like Gaussian filter. Exploratory outcomes show that the proposed strategy can permit a quick execution, it is viable for visual engaging and shading loyalty contrasted with some state-of-the-art methods.


Objective: The purpose of this review was to evaluate the effect of exercise therapy on anxiety and depression symptoms in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: A systematic review of papers published between January 2000 and February 2021 was conducted. MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science were searched. Meta-analysis was used to compare the results of the included studies. Bias risk assessment was performed using the Cochrane Collaboration bias risk tool. If half or more of the seven items in Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were low-risk, then the RCT was considered low-risk research; otherwise, it was high-risk. Statistical analyses were performed using RevMan version 5.3 and STATA version 12.0. Results: We performed a meta-analysis of 11 randomized clinical studies including 771 subjects. Eight studies (73%) were of high quality. Compared with the control group, the exercise group showed a significant improvement in anxiety [standard mean difference (SMD) = −0.61; 95% confidence interval (CI): −0.86, −0.35]. The depression level in the exercise group was also significantly reduced (SMD = −0.48; 95% CI: −0.92, −0.04). Aerobic fitness and athletic endurance also improved [mean difference (MD) = 0.77; 95% CI: 0.58, 0.95; and MD = 20.69; 95% CI: 6.91, 34.46; respectively]. Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggests that exercise therapy may be effective in alleviating anxiety and depression symptoms in patients with coronary heart disease. Due to methodological weaknesses, rigorous research needs to be designed to further confirm the effectiveness of exercise therapy in improving the mental health of patients with coronary heart disease. Systematic Review Registration: https://inplasy.com/projects/, identifier: INPLASY202160017.


The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) represents a medical model that can be reframed for more effective use in counseling. To achieve this goal, the authors describe how they can shift from client diagnosis to case formulation. In describing this shift, the authors offer an example of a theory-based etiology and relate case formulation to specific counseling interventions.


The bidirectional movement of lysosomes on microtubule tracks regulates their whole-cell spatial arrangement. Arl8b, a small GTP-binding (G) protein, promotes lysosome anterograde trafficking mediated by kinesin-1. Herein, we report an Arl8b effector, RUFY3, which regulates the retrograde transport of lysosomes. We show that RUFY3 interacts with the JIP4-dynein-dynactin complex and facilitates Arl8b association with the retrograde motor complex. Accordingly, RUFY3 knockdown disrupts the positioning of Arl8b-positive endosomes and reduces Arl8b colocalization with Rab7-marked late endosomal compartments. Moreover, we find that RUFY3 regulates nutrient-dependent lysosome distribution, although autophagosome-lysosome fusion and autophagic cargo degradation are not impaired upon RUFY3 depletion. Interestingly, lysosome size is significantly reduced in RUFY3 depleted cells, which could be rescued by inhibition of the lysosome reformation regulatory factor PIKFYVE. These findings suggest a model in which the perinuclear cloud arrangement of lysosomes regulates both the positioning and size of these proteolytic compartments. Lysosomes move along microtubule tracks, and Arl8b is known to stimulate their anterograde transport. Here, the authors identified RUFY3 as an Arl8b effector that interacts with dynein-dynactin to drive retrograde transport and perinuclear lysosome positioning.


In a modern logistics network, high-performance automation of inventory tracking and package management calls for a reliable, high-throughput and long range RFID localization system. We present RF-Chord, the first RFID localization system that simultaneously meets all these requirements. RF-Chord features a one-shot multisine-constructed wideband design that can process the RF signal with a 200 MHz bandwidth in real-time to facilitate one-shot localization at scale. In addition, multiple SINR enhancement techniques are designed for range extension. Finally, we propose a kernel-layer-based near-field localization and a multipath-suppression algorithm that reduces the 99% long-tail errors.


Recent interest in staging so-called 'closet dramas' by early modern women has bypassed Samuel Daniel's Cleopatra, because of the author's sex. Yet this play has strong female associations: it was commissioned by Mary Sidney Herbert, and is quoted in a Jacobean portrait of a woman (plausibly Lady Anne Clifford) in role as Cleopatra. We staged a Jacobean-style production of Cleopatra at Goodenough College, London, then a performance of selected scenes at Knole, Clifford's home in Kent. This article presents the many insights gained about the dramatic power of the play and its significance in giving voices to women.


Recently, the investigation on electrochemical biosensing has made great progress. The developed biosensors have extensively been used in different fields, particularly, the sensitive and accurate detection of DNA, protein and metal ions. The designs of specific electrochemical catalytic probes are becoming the main topic of electrochemical biosensing research. This presentation will introduce new electrochemical catalytic probes designed in our group for development of amplified biosensing strategies in last two years. For example, we prepared two electrochemical catalytic probes to design two molecular switches for electrochemical DNA sensing by coupling with porphyrin-encapsulated metal-organic frameworks. Several new signal amplification strategies based on nanotechnology and molecular biology have been presented for DNA detection and immunoassay. By the recognition of nucleic acids to metal ions, some label-free methods have been developed for specific and sensitive detection of heavy metal ions. Some new electrochemiluminescent emitters have been synthesized and used for design of new ECL biosensing mechanisms. A wavelength-resolved ratiometric photoelectrochemical technique has also been developed for sensing applications. These works led to a series of amplified methods for sensitive detection of DNA, microRNA and proteins.


4408 p63, a p53 homologue, is required for normal development of stratified and glandular epithelia such as the skin, breast, and prostate. Along with a developmental role, p63 is often overexpressed in squamous epithelial cancers as a result of genomic amplification. To discover transcriptional programs regulated by p63 in epithelial cells, we have carried out whole genome chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) to identify genomic loci bound by p63 in normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK). From this dataset, we sequenced over 5,000 candidate binding sites for p63, representing 2,879 candidate target genes. These genes group into several enriched ontological classes, with "tissue development," "cell-cell signaling/interaction," and "cell morphology," representing the most significant matches. Parallel microarray analysis following RNAi-mediated p63 depletion in NHEKs identified 86 genes that were present in our ChIP dataset and also displayed significant transcriptional changes following p63 knockdown. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) validated a number of the candidate genes such as CALML5, BDKRB1, FOSL2, IL1A, ITGA6, NRG1, and RAB38 as direct transcriptional targets of p63 in human keratinocytes. Further, these target genes are regulated during calcium-induced differentiation of keratinocytes, a process known to result in down-regulation of p63. Further, using our expression analyses, we derived a p63 gene "signature" that we used to query the Connectivity Map (Lamb, et al., 2006) to identify perturbagens or drugs that would modulate either endogenous levels of p63 and/or epithelial cell differentiation. In addition to a number of molecules known to modulate keratinocyte differentiation, this approach identified other drugs able to modulate p63 expression in human keratinocytes. Thus, the use of newly identified target genes aided in the discovery of small molecules capable of modulating the expression of p63. Future use of this approach carries the potential to identify drugs or small compounds that may act to treat specific cancers and/or skin diseases that are driven by the deregulation of the p63 signaling pathway.
 Lamb et al., The Connectivity Map: using gene expression signatures to connect small molecules, genes, and disease. Science. (2006) 313(5795):1929-35.


Mathematical simulation presupposes the search for optimal solutions. Control of the parameters of vibration of objects and structures allows to extend their service life. The authors analyzed the influence of parameters such as channel power ratio m, the angle of parallelism β, the angle α of error of optical reversal on the stabilization factor K.


The research seeks to develop and test a theoretical model to explain the implementation and influences of human resource information systems (HRIS's) for a Malaysian higher education institution. Data was gathered from 103 respondents in the institution using a survey questionnaire. Results show that system factor, through information quality, and institution-based trust, through situational normality and structural assurance, contribute to user satisfaction. User satisfaction and situational normality predict user-perceived HRIS benefits. Findings aid researchers and practitioners in human resource function when explaining user-perceived benefits and satisfaction with HRIS implementation. The research advances understanding of the role of HRIS in supporting human capital performance and enhancing productivity.


Due to hardness of cold water supply in many countries, there is a risk of fouling in domestic hot water (DHW) counterflow plate heat exchangers. The scaling will result in increased resistance to heat transfer, which has negative effects on the economics of the district heating network. A common approach is to clean or change the heat exchanger periodically, which can be expensive if only limited fouling has occurred (unnecessary) or if a higher than expected scaling layer has formed (inefficiency). A better approach is to monitor the state of the heat exchangers and clean them when actually required. This would result in more energy-efficient operation and provide an optimum schedule for heat exchanger cleaning. This can be simple if the heat exchangers are operating under steady-state conditions; however, if large variations in the inlets are experienced, as is the case with the mass flows in DHW heat exchangers, it quickly becomes impossible with standard methods. In this paper it is proposed to monitor the state of the heat exchanger online by using measurements that are easily obtainable under normal operation and applying fast mathematical models to estimate the overall heat transfer coefficient of the heat exchanger. The results show that the methods proposed can be used to detect fouling in DHW heat exchangers.


Excitation-contraction coupling kinetics are dictated by the rate and rhythm of the excitations generated by sinoatrial-nodal cells. These cells generate local Ca releases (LCRs) that activate Na/Ca exchanger current, which accelerates diastolic depolarization and determines the rate and rhythm of the excitations. The LCRs are generated by clusters of ryanodine receptors, Ca release units (CRUs), residing in the sarcoplasmic reticulum. While the spatial CRU distribution in pacemaker cells exhibits substantial heterogeneity, it remains unknown if it has any functional importance. Using numerical modeling, here we showed that with a square lattice distribution of CRUs, Ca-induced-Ca-release propagation during diastolic depolarization is insufficient for pacemaking within a broad lower range of realistic ICaL densities. Allowing each CRU to deviate from its original lattice position fundamentally changes the model behavior: during diastolic depolarization sparks propagate, forming LCRs observed experimentally. As disorder in the CRU positions increases, the CRU distribution exhibits larger empty spaces but simultaneously CRU clusters, as in Poisson clumping. Propagating within the clusters, Ca release becomes synchronized, increasing AP firing rate and reviving pacemaker function within lower ICaL densities at which cells with lattice CRU distribution were dormant/non-firing. However, cells with fully disordered CRU positions cannot reach low firing rates and their β-adrenergic receptor stimulation effect was substantially decreased. Thus, order/disorder in CRU locations regulates Ca release propagation and could be harnessed by pacemaker cells to regulate their function. Excessive disorder is expected to limit heart rate range that may contribute to heart rate range decline with age and in disease. Summary The present numerical modeling study shows that disorder in locations of Ca release units in cardiac pacemaker cells has substantial functional impact by creating release clusters, similar to Poisson clumping, and opportunity of Ca release to propagate within the clusters.


We study the effect of disorder, including swap and antisite, on the electronic and magnetic properties of heterostructures by using extensive first-principles calculations within density functional theory. Thirteen kinds of swap disorders and sixteen kinds of antisite disorders are proposed and studied comprehensively. Our calculation reveals that disorders at the interface have low formation energies, indicating that disorders are most likely to appear at the interface instead of the deep layer. Among all kinds of disorders, Mn1(Al) (where the interface Mn is occupied by an Al atom) and Mn1(As) (where the interface Mn is occupied by an As atom from a GaAs slab) antisite disorders possess the lowest formation energies. This shows that the interface Mn has a higher probability of being replaced by an Al atom, and that an As atom from a GaAs slab easily diffuses into a Mn2CoAl slab and occupies the position of the interface Mn. Moreover, further study on the interface electronic structure reveals that interface spin polarization suffers dramatic reduction due to Mn1(Al) and Mn1(As) antisite disorders. It can be deduced that the interface state, together with Mn1(Al) and Mn1(As) antisite disorders, may be the main causes of the low TMR ratio of Mn2CoAl/GaAs heterostructures.


The role of endogenous bioelectricity in morphogenesis has recently been explored through the finite volume-based code BioElectric Tissue Simulation Engine. We extend this platform to electrostatic and osmotic forces due to bioelectrical ion fluxes, causing cell cluster deformation. We further account for mechanosensitive ion channels, which, gated by membrane tension, modulate ion fluxes and, ultimately, bioelectrical forces. We illustrate the potentialities of this combined model of actuation and sensing with reference to cancer progression, osmoregulation, symmetry breaking and long-range signalling. This suggests control strategies for the manipulation of cell networks in vivo.


The study and application of health risk assessment techniques are crucial in order to understand the risk of exposure to heavy metals and other harmful pollutants. It entails evaluating the risks of exposure at various concentrations and with reference to certain standard values approved by World Health Organization (WHO) and United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Investigation of water contamination with heavy metals has become the prime focus of environmental scientists in recent years. Effluent discharges into aquatic system affect living organisms within the receiving environment. The concentrations of these metals were mostly assessed at 50th, 75th and 95th percentile and various exposure evaluated. This review covers studies in water, air, soil and fish samples. Air risks assessment was not given the needed attention and children were more susceptible to the hazard than adult, especially lead toxicity, resulting in health complications. Heavy metals bio accumulates over time, and lethal upon exposure at low concentrations. This review will assist risk managers to minimize the exposure at optimum level as well as for the government to formulate policies in safe guarding the health of population.

 Key words: Health risk assessment, pollution, heavy metals, water, air, soil.


X-ray phase-contrast imaging has been developed as an alternative to conventional absorption imaging, partly for its dose advantage over absorption imaging at high resolution. Grating-based imaging (GBI) and propagation-based imaging (PBI) are two phase-contrast techniques used with polychromatic laboratory sources. We compare the two methods by experiments and simulations with respect to required dose. A simulation method based on the projection approximation is designed and verified with experiments. A comparison based on simulations of the doses required for detection of an object with respect to its diameter is presented, showing that for monochromatic radiation, there is a dose advantage for PBI for small features but an advantage for GBI at larger features. However, GBI suffers more from the introduction of polychromatic radiation, in this case so much that PBI gives lower dose for all investigated feature sizes. Furthermore, we present and compare experimental images of biomedical samples. While those support the dose advantage of PBI, they also highlight the GBI advantage of quantitative reconstruction of multimaterial samples. For all experiments a liquid-metal-jet source was used. Liquid-metal-jet sources are a promising option for laboratory-based phase-contrast imaging due to the relatively high brightness and small spot size.


Sorting out of sick people in casualty means rating/grouping at triage area rely on their illness and degree of trauma mild, moderate, severe or very severe for handling, therapy, and probability of survival. The objective of this study was to assess, the effectiveness of the system in the casualty concerning rating/grouping of sick people attending triage region.
Methods: It was descriptive-analytical study in EA department OTH May 2008 includes 700 participants by simple random sampling. All cases attend the EA department OTH seeking health care and agreed to be included in this study. All cases attending the EA department in OTH and referred to a specialized hospital or canter should be excluded. Data were collected using pre-tested questionnaires, interviews with medical personnel and participants, review of primary registration and files of short stay in the E A department OTH at arrival time and checklist form of medical devices or gear.
Results: In this study 700 patients were seen most cases were cold (mild, not urgent) (396pts) 56.6 %, the hot about 43.4% both are classified into groups or categories according to their degree of illness or injury as follows:  severely ill or injured (emergent)(120pts) 17.1%, moderately (urgent)(184 pts) 26.3% . The correctly categorized cases were (599) 85.6% and miss categorized cases were (101) 14.4%, although the sisters did not perform or elicit clinical examination and did not start the first aid or primary survey in addition to there is no medical equipment and surgical instruments.
Conclusion: Sorting of sick people into categories depending upon the degree of sickness or injury in EA department OTH was done only by sisters despite the unavailability of basic elements and equipment, the correctly categorized cases were (599) 85.6% and miss categorized cases were (101) 14.4%.
The cold cases better to be treated in the health centers to overcome the accumulation in the casualty for best medical services particularly for emergent and urgent cases.


ABSTRACT Despite their central function in tumor immunity, dendritic cells (DCs) can respond to inhibitory signals and become tolerogenic, curtailing T cell responses in vivo. Here, we provide the evidence for an inhibitory function of signal regulatory protein (SIRP) α in DC survival and activation. In tumors from human liver cancer patients, infiltrative DCs expressed elevated levels of SIRPα, which is correlated with the induction of immune tolerance within the tumors. Silencing of SIRPα resulted in a significant increase in the longevity of antigen-pulsed DCs in the draining lymph nodes. In addition, SIRPα controls the activation and output of DCs. Silencing of DC-expressed SIRPα induced spontaneous and enhanced production of IL12 and costimulatory molecules, resulting in more potent cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses, including the eradication of previously established solid tumors. SIRPα exerted such effects, at least in part, via the association and sequestration of p85 subunit of PI3K. Thus, SIRPα is a critical regulator of DC lifespan and activity, and its inhibition might improve the clinical efficacy of DC-based tumor vaccines.


All-to-all broadcast is a collective communication in a network with the constraint that every node must send to each other certain piece of its data. This paper reports a methodology to devise all-port efficient algorithms for such communication in multidimensional tori. Efficiency criteria being minimum steps of no duplicated data exchange while balancing the communication links-load. Resulting algorithms are message combining algorithms. To complete an all-to-all broadcast these algorithms require the number of data exchange steps in terms of link hops to be equal to the diameter of the interconnection network. The number of data exchanged at each step varies as a Gaussian curve whose maximum equals the half of the network diameter per link.


Objective: The purposes of this study were to examine the effects of school-age children`s ego strength, failure tolerance, and performance anxiety on their school class adjustment, and to model the relation structure of the variables. Method: For these purposes, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 562 6th graders. Results and Conclusion: The results of this study are summarized as follows. First, ego strength, failure tolerance, and performance anxiety were significantly different according to gender. Second, in male students, ego strength, failure tolerance, and performance anxiety had a significant direct effect on school class adjustment. In addition, ego strength and failure tolerance had a significant indirect effect on school class adjustment. Third, female students` paths to school class adjustment were similar to male students` but the effect of failure tolerance on performance anxiety and the effect of performance anxiety on school class adjustment were not significant. Fourth, in the results of multi-group analysis, the effect path from ego strength to school class adjustment was different between male and female students, and the effect was higher in female students than in male students.


Health care professionals face a series of taxing, emotionally wrenching, painful experiences as they begin to care for frightened, ill children and their families. Loss, grief, overidentification with patients, and overwhelming anxiety are among their "occupational hazards." Open, frank discussion of intense feelings and reactions and mutual support are essential elements in helping caregivers to cope in ways that do not result in withdrawal from children and families. By developing strategies that reach out to patients and their families, professionals enhance their own personal professional gratification and self-esteem. The insights of parents are used extensively both to illustrate concepts and to emphasize the critical role parents can play as "resources" for professionals and "partners in care."


Abstract This article aims to discuss and analyze the emergence and evolution of Turkey's role as a model in the international system in three different periods, 1991–93, 2003–05 and 2010–12. To this end, it methodologically uses the main concepts of role theory: role expectations, role conceptions and role performance. Focusing on K.J. Holsti's example national role conception category in particular, it seeks to reveal the major similarities and differences between the role expectations that have enacted the role conception known as the Turkish model, and compare the impact of these expectations on role performance in each of these three cases. The major argument of the article is that the sustainability of the model's national role conception depends foremost on Turkey's political and economic capabilities that directly influence its role performance.


Between 1997 and 2001 spending on direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug advertising more than doubled. Opinions differ as to whether and to what extent DTC advertising benefits the doctor-patient relationship. Some analysts argue that the current regulatory regime is sufficient, others advocate a stricter enforcement, and still others promote an outright ban. An alternative may be to use the purchasing power of the federal government to require the inclusion of comparative quality data, thus creating a basis for more informed consumer choice. This approach could create incentives for the pharmaceutical industry to adjust spending on DTC advertising while avoiding "big government" interference with commercial free speech.


ABSTRACT Experiencing trauma can lead to a variety of chronic and acute symptoms, including post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and poor social skills. Given the variety of causes for trauma incorporating individualized treatment options is important for efficacy. Equine assisted mental health (EAMH) – a team approach incorporating equines, clients, and practitioners – has been successful in treating those who have experienced trauma, including veterans and individuals with PTSD, at-risk youth, victims of sexual violence, and children who have been neglected. Although researchers and practitioners understand some about how EAMH treatment results in positive outcomes for these individuals, little is known about the communicative processes that support them. The current study included 19 in-depth interviews with EAMH therapists and practitioners to explore the role of equine communication (i.e., congruence, ongoing positive regard, and empathy) as a communicative process that is integral to the facilitation of EAMH as individualized therapeutic treatment. Using tenets of patient-centered communication (PCC) and principles of client-centered therapy, implications for human-horse communication in therapeutic contexts and client-centered care are discussed.


Twenty-five years on, with twenty million dead and another forty million infected, AIDS is the world's worst epidemic. But the catastrophe could have been prevented. Body Count explains how millions could have been saved and many million more infections could have been prevented if the world had responded properly to the crisis. To get this story, Peter Gill has traveled the world and interviewed dozens of the key players, including C. Everett Koop, Colin Powell, Sandy Thurman (the Clinton "AIDS czar"), Larry Kramer and the Bush Administration's own Randall Tobias, the Bush chief AIDS official. Including both personal accounts and individual profiles, as well as analyses of insitutional efforts, Body Count is a harrowing read, and one of the most important books of the year.


Kariological investigation of the earthworm Octodrilus transpadanus (Rosa, 1884) in the Ukraine showed that this species is represented by at least three races of different ploidy with the basic chromosome number n=15. Strict geographic heterogeneity of electrophoretic spectra of different populations was registered: south-eastern populations (7n=105) are characterized by a clonal structure, whereas western (from 3n = 45 to 4n = 60) and south-western (2n=30) ones have a high level of polymorphism. The Crimea sample (4n=60) is well isolated, has no clonal structure and is characterized by a series of specifi c alleles , which are absent in forms from continental Ukraine. All the forms turned out to be well isolated morphologically, except for the clonal forms, which are very much alike.


The marked platinum sensitivity of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is thought to be related to underlying defects in the homologous recombination (HR) DNA repair pathway, which are present in approximately 50% of tumors with high-grade serous histology. However, repair of platinum-induced DNA damage does not always involve the HR pathway. More than 90% of platinum-DNA lesions are intrastrand cross-links which are repaired by the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway. We curated the TCGA ovarian cancer dataset and identified 22 tumors (7%) with nonsynonymous or splice site NER gene mutations among the 316 sequenced high grade serous ovarian tumors. All NER mutations were mutually exclusive and 8 (36%) were accompanied by heterozygous loss of the respective NER gene. In 12 (55%) of the 22 cases, there were no concomitant HR alterations identified. In vitro functional evaluation of two NER mutations (ERCC6-Q524* and ERCC4-A583T), identified in patients with advanced stage tumors and extreme response to first-line platinum therapy, showed that both mutations conferred platinum, but not PARPi, or doxorubicin sensitivity, and did not affect HR activity. Interestingly, ERCC6-Q524* was not associated with heterozygous loss but sensitized cells to platinum in a dominant negative fashion. Our findings suggest a novel mechanism of platinum sensitivity in EOC that involves NER gene mutations, which may occur independently of HR alterations. Unlike tumors with defective HR, tumors harboring only NER mutations may be sensitive to platinum but not PARP inhibition. Dissociation of platinum and PARPi sensitivity in this setting may have important implications for PARPi trials for both HR-proficient and HR-deficient EOCs. Citation Format: Raphael Ceccaldi, Kevin O'Connor, Kent W. Mouw, Adam Y. Li, Ursula A. Matulonis, Alan D. D'Andrea, Panagiotis A. Konstantinopoulos. Nucleotide excision repair mutations confer sensitivity to platinum but not PARP-inhibitors in epithelial ovarian cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 10th Biennial Ovarian Cancer Research Symposium; Sep 8-9, 2014; Seattle, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2015;21(16 Suppl):Abstract nr POSTER-BIOL-1331.


Purpose – This study was aimed to explore the experiences of an instructor and her learners concerning the authenticity of language and technology use in YouTube-aided ESL classroom. Methodology – A qualitative case study was employed involving an ESL instructor and seven learners from a higher learning institution in Malaysia. To achieve the objective, the experiences were uncovered through in-depth interviews and a series of journal entries. Findings – The findings demonstrate that the content of YouTube could be exploited to expose the learners to authentic English. In addition to that, the web 2.0 features of YouTube can familiarise the learners with the current technology application. Significance – This study is significant as it shares with the readers the experiences of an ESL instructor and the learners concerning the potential of YouTube in offering authentic materials and use of technology. By adopting an online video platform and not relying solely on textbook and other printed materials, ESL practitioners are anticipated to be more creative in delivering the subject. This is especially true in teaching today's generation who is the digital native. Accordingly, it helps ESL instructors to be able to keep pace with the trendy technology in order to enhance teaching and learning as well as fulfilling current learners' technological demand.


Purpose: Our purpose was to evaluate how MR imaging depicts the vascular fibrofatty structure of hemangiomas. Material and Methods: MR images of 16 histologically proven skeletal muscle hemangiomas were reviewed retrospectively in a nonblinded manner. One patient was examined at 0.5 T, 9 at 1.0 T, and 6 at 1.5 T, and the imaging protocols varied. Results: All lesions were lobulated/tubular. Signal characteristics of fat were seen in 13 lesions as lace-like thin septa within or around the tumor. All 16 studies exhibited a hyperintense signal on T2-weighted spin-echo (SE) (n=15) or T1-weighted fast fat suppressed inversion recovery SE images (n=1). Postcontrast images showed marked signal enhancement in parts of the areas, both of high and low T2-weighted signal. Surgical staging based on MR images was correct in all lesions. Conclusion: MR images display the characteristic vascular fibrofatty structure of hemangiomas and may allow correct diagnosis.


As scientific supercomputing moves toward petascale and exascale levels, in situ visualization stands out as a scalable way for scientists to view the data their simulations generate. This full picture is crucial particularly for capturing and understanding highly intermittent transient phenomena, such as ignition and extinction events in turbulent combustion.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of organic gallium and gallium chloride on bone metabolism and their therapeutic effect against tretinoin-induced osteoporosis in rats.

METHODS
Rat models of osteoporosis was established with intragastric administration of tretinoin at the daily dose of 85 mg/kg for 15 days and randomized into control, organic gallium and gallium chloride groups. After administration of the corresponding treatments (none for the control group) for 4 weeks, the changes of the indices for osteoporosis were evaluated through biochemical and pathological approaches.

RESULTS
Tretinoin induced obvious changes in bone structure and contents of bone calcium and other elements, causing also significantly increased tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) and alkaline phosphatase (AKP), which suggested the development of osteoporosis. Administration of organic gallium and gallium chloride treatments increased the bone density, bone cortex thickness and the percentage of bone trabecula, and Ga, Ca, P contents in the femur and teeth, but lowered the activity of TRAP and AKP, suggesting decreased bone conversion rate. Compared with gallium chloride, organic gallium required smaller dose with better safety to produce better therapeutic effect.

CONCLUSION
Organic gallium can be safe and effective for treatment of tretinoin-induced osteoporosis in rats.


This paper aims to provide a deeper conceptual understanding of demand behavior and the pricing of services. It argues why all services are sold in advance and shows how the specificities of services result in two types of risks faced by buyers that buy in advance, that of unavailability of service and a low valuation of the service at the time of consumption. Furthermore, advanced buyers run the risk of not being able to consume at the time of consumption and this relinquished capacity may be re-sold by service firms. The paper develops a theoretical model that shows that advance prices are always lower than spot prices. Also, providing a refund to advanced buyers may improve revenue. A counter intuitive result demonstrates that the firm's strategy may be pareto optimal in that a guarantee against capacity unavailability as well as a refund guarantee against valuation risk may be offered to advance buyers at a lower advance price than if a refund offer is not provided. Finally, the study also shows that the firm can earn higher revenue when the risks are asymmetric. Profits are higher when the market faces high valuation risks than when the market faces unavailability risk.


Building on Buxton's foreground/background model, we discuss the importance of explicitly considering both foreground interaction and background interaction, as well as transitions between foreground and background, in the design and implementation of sensing techniques for sensor-enhanced mobile devices. Our view is that the foreground concerns deliberate user activity where the user is attending to the device, while the background is the realm of inattention or split attention, using naturally occurring user activity as an input that allows the device to infer or anticipate user needs. The five questions for sensing systems of Bellotti et al. [2002] proposed as a framework for this special issue, primarily address the foreground, but neglect critical issues with background sensing. To support our perspective, we discuss a variety of foreground and background sensing techniques that we have implemented for sensor-enhanced mobile devices, such as powering on the device when the user picks it up, sensing when the user is holding the device to his ear, automatically switching between portrait and landscape display orientations depending on how the user is holding the device, and scrolling the display using tilt. We also contribute system architecture issues, such as using the foreground/background model to handle cross-talk between multiple sensor-based interaction techniques, and theoretical perspectives, such as a classification of recognition errors based on explicitly considering transitions between the foreground and background. Based on our experiences, we propose design issues and lessons learned for foreground/background sensing systems.


To meet the high quality of service requirements for mobile satellite applications, diversity combining techniques are used to mitigate fading effects in the satellite propagation channel. In this paper the performance of multi-satellite diversity (or angle diversity) in combination with time diversity is presented. The achievable diversity gain depends on the environmental conditions, the satellite elevation and the angular separation of the satellites. To assess the performance of multi-satellite systems, high-power broadcasting signals in the S-band from HEO and GEO satellites of the Sirius XM Radio system were recorded simultaneously along the east coast of the USA. Based on the measured signal power levels, the ESR(5) fulfillment criteria are predicted for various configurations incorporating different margins, time interleaver lengths, and satellite constellations. The results are presented for six different environments: urban, suburban, commercial, forest, intermediate tree shadowed, and highway.


In this work we review the three principal theses that Ignatio Vincentio, a Spanish thinker of the seventeenth century, defends about the agent intellect: 1) it is the same potency as the possible intellect, only with a formal distinction and plurality of names; 2) it has three tasks: a) to illuminate phantasmata, b) to make them intelligible in act, and c) to abstract the intelligible species from them; and 3) it will remain in the separated soul performing the same task as in the present situation [(in this life) ?], but without conversion to phantasmata.


A next generation test framework is presented which offers automated electrical and mechanical manipulation of storage system components. This automated manipulation of storage system components in a controlled test environment enables long- term application of maintenance and fault profiles to validate high availability of the storage system to the network. This test framework can be readily extended at low cost to other electromechanical components to validate their system readiness. The salient attributes of the framework's architecture, deployed components, and application programming interface (API) are presented. A concluding case study is provided to illustrate the successful application of this test automation framework to enterprise class RAID storage system testing.


SM16 is an orally available small molecule TGF-b signaling inhibitor that binds to the ATP pocket of TGF-b receptor Type 1 and prevents phosphorylation by TGF-BRII following engagement of the ligand. OX40 (CD134) is a member of the TNF-a receptor superfamily and is upregulated on activated CD4 and CD8 T cells. OX40 ligation by its cognate ligand (OX40L) or agonistic antibody (anti-OX40) enhances effector function, expansion and survival of activated T cells. In this study, we examined the therapeutic efficacy and anti-tumor immune response induced by the combination of SM16 plus anti-OX40 in a poorly immunogenic and highly metastatic 4T1 mammary tumor model. Our data show that SM16 synergizes with OX40 to elicit a potent anti-tumor effect against established primary tumors, with a 73% reduction in tumor size and a 92% reduction in the number of metastatic lung nodules; overall 71% of treated mice were either tumor free or showed stable disease by the end of the study. This positive treatment outcome is associated with a two-fold expansion of tumor-infiltrating effector CD8+ T cells and an accumulation of CD4+ and CD8+ cells overall, as well as a high tumor-specific IFN-g response. Depletion of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells completely abrogates the effect of this therapy, indicating it is T cell dependent. Taken together, these data suggest that combining a TGF-b signaling inhibitor with anti-OX40 is a viable approach for treating metastatic breast cancer.


In the past decade, our understanding of the microbiology of the respiratory tract has been revolutionised by the introduction of culture-independent techniques of microbial identification.1 The lungs, once considered sterile in the absence of infection, have been consistently shown to contain diverse microbial communities, even in health.2 One consistent observation in the field is that in virtually every comparison to date, lung microbiota of healthy subjects differ from the lung microbiota of patients with acute and chronic lung disease. Yet, the field faces a crucial and challenging question: Are bacterial communities in the lung altered because of respiratory disease, or are our patients' lungs diseased because of their altered bacterial communities?

Sorting out cause and effect here is an intimidating task: the microbiome and the host response are so tightly entwined that trying to isolate the effects of each is difficult, both practically and conceptually. Most studies to date in the nascent lung microbiome field have been retrospective and descriptive, replete with provocative correlations, but silent on the direction of causality. Few longitudinal studies have provided the means of determining temporally whether dysbiosis arises before lung disease or vice versa. Given the long chronicity and unpredictability of many lung diseases, prospective cohort studies would need to be impractically large and lengthy to determine temporal precedence. Though animal models hold promise to help unravel mechanisms of pathogenesis3 ,4 characterising the lung microbiota of small animals is technically challenging, and the relevance of animal-associated microbiota to human respiratory health is far from obvious. Some innovative recent studies have attempted 'lung microbiome transplants' between diseased and non-diseased animals4 ,5 though it has not been established how much of the effect of this exposure is attributable to transferred microbiota and …


Introduction: Pleural effusions, the result of the accumulation of fluid in the pleural space, are a major diagnostic problem due to its anatomical nature with no direct access. There is variation in management, depending on the pleural disease. The pleural effusion can either exhibit specific or nonspecific characteristics. Aim: To determine the clinical significance and diagnostic role of pleural fluid C-Reactive Protein (CRP) level in the aetiological diagnosis of exudative pleural effusion. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study performed during the study period of September 2013 to December 2014. A total of 53 Patients identified with pleural effusion were recruited in the study and pleural fluid was subjected for the measurement of CRP level. Pleural fluid CRP was assessed with CRP-Turbilatex-Quantitative turbidimetric immunoassay method which is based on the principle agglutination reaction. The data was subjected to statistical analysis using Epi info software version 3.4.3. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to illustrate the diagnostic ability. The smallest cut-off value was the minimum observed test value minus 1, and the largest cut-off value was the maximum observed test value plus 1. All the other cut-off values were the averages of two consecutive ordered observed test values. Results: Among the 53 patients in the study, 42 had exudative effusions (79.20%) and 11 had transudative effusions (20.80%). The common cause of exudative effusion was tuberculosis 26 (61.90%), followed by 9 malignancy (21.40%) and 7 parapneumonic effusion (16.70%). In our study, the pleural fluid CRP was statistically significant (p<0.001) marker to differentiate exudative effusions with CRP-value <30 suggestive of malignancy, CRP-value 30-50 mg/L suggestive of tuberculosis and CRP-value >70 mg/L suggestive of parapneumonic effusions. Conclusion: Determination of pleural fluid CRP is a useful diagnostic marker for differentiating exudative and transudative effusions. Also, Pleural fluid CRP is a statistically significant marker in differentiating tubercular effusions from nontubercular exudative effusions.


ABSTRACT The two most conspicuous phenomena reported on dying languages are (a) structural (and stylistic) simplifications and (b) dramatic increases of variability due to incongruent and idiosyncratic "change." The phonological data from two Athapaskan languages, as well as other published data (Dorian 1973, 1978; Hill 1978; Schmidt 1985a), demonstrate that underlying the apparent degeneration of the system there is an orderly progression which is viewed as a retarded process of language acquisition. Different semispeakers reach different levels of maturity due to different degrees of retardation, consequently increasing variability and complexity for the total system, whereas each idiolect undergoes systematic developmental stages albeit retarded, decreasing eventually structural (and stylistic) profusion. Therefore, a dying language mirrors the successive stages of ontogenesis. (Historical linguistics, language acquisition, language death, language contact, bilingualism, sociolinguistics)


【Objetives The late research tendency on atopic dermatitis is mainly focused on the experiment of unbalance of cytokine released from T cell subtype. Merhods As there's no experiment with herbal medicine using Hanghaedan(HHD), we isolated and cultured monocytes of atopic dermatitis pateints (AD) peripheral blood, for knowing the influence of HHD on the secretory function of IL-4, IL-5, $IFN-{\gamma}$ . Results 1. In AD group, HHD exhibits statistically significant inhibitory effect on IL-4(p $IFN-{\gamma}$ (p $IFN-{\gamma}$ ) secretory function of monocytes of atopic dermatitis patients is recognized.】


Is bathing harmful? That depends. It depends on the human factors involved and it also depends on the materials and apparatus employed. Like every other measure used for man's benefit there is in connection with it an unseen danger that may destroy in a moment all the good that otherwise one might derive from a fundamentally useful therapeutic measure. My object in this inquiry is to describe the various kinds of accidents associated with ordinary bathing and also with hydrotherapeutic measures and to note what lessons may be drawn from them. Numerous reports in the press have suggested this inquiry. It is rare that physicians report any accident coming to their knowledge during the use of hydrotherapy or balneotherapy; but the public press often carries news reports of these accidents, especially if they are fatal or concern prominent persons. I have had very little personal experience with actual injury while


Targeted covalent inhibitors have re-emerged as validated drugs to overcome acquired resistance in cancer treatment. Herein, by using a carbonyl boronic acid (CBA) warhead, we report the structure-based design of BCR-ABL inhibitors via reversible covalent targeting of the catalytic lysine with improved potency against both wild-type and mutant ABL kinases, especially ABLT315I bearing the gatekeeper residue mutation. We show the evolutionarily conserved lysine can be targeted selectively, and the selectivity depends largely on molecular recognition of the non-covalent pharmacophore in this class of inhibitors, probably due to the moderate reactivity of the warhead. We report the first co-crystal structures of covalent inhibitor-ABL kinase domain complexes, providing insights into the interaction of this warhead with the catalytic lysine. We also employed label-free mass spectrometry to evaluate off-targets of our compounds at proteome-wide level in different mammalian cells.


Risk-stratification of cancer, traditionally performed through staging, directs optimal disease management decisions with the result of improved patient outcomes. Many forms of cutaneous cancer have overall excellent survival rates, but conventional staging methods are imperfect in identifying high-risk patients. Gene expression profiling (GEP) is a clinically available, objective metric that can be used in conjunction with traditional clinicopathological staging to help clinicians stratify risk in patients with skin cancer, even in those who lack traditional risk markers. For patients with melanoma, the 31-GEP test provides personalized prognostic information that can guide risk-appropriate clinical management and surveillance decisions. The i31-GEP integrates 31-GEP results with clinicopathological features to provide a risk of recurrence (i31-GEP for ROR) and likelihood of having a positive sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) (i31-GEP for SLNB) for patients with melanoma. For patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma who have at least one risk factor, the 40-GEP test allows for better risk stratification by identifying the high-risk patients who are most likely to develop metastasis. These tests can be easily integrated into clinical practice to help guide treatment choices.


A comparative study of transmission through thick metallic structures of several types that contain arrays of the holes, whose cross section is assumed to be piecewise constant, is carried out. In the studied structures, the cross section is variable so that the evanescent-wave and propagating-wave regimes may co-exist within the neighboring sections of a waveguide (hole) that connects the slab interfaces. It is shown that high transmittance can be obtained in these structures even if the evanescent-wave sections occupy the most part of the waveguide length.


The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences between demographic characteristics and level of risk taking propensity of Malaysian MSEs owners. The study was conducted in the East Coast on business owners of small and medium business enterprises. A stratified sample totalling 260 names and addresses was taken from Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation (SME Corp). The Risk Attitudes Inventory (RAI) designed by Gene Calvert (1993) used in the survey to measure entrepreneurial risk taking propensity included a cover letter explaining the purpose of the study. The study concludes that there are no differences between risk taking propensity and business owners' demographic characteristics such as gender, business owners' age, education level and their business experience.


In clinical development, an adaptive design combining results from two separate studies (e.g., a seamless adaptive design with a dose finding study phase and a confirmatory study phase) is commonly considered. The purpose of an adaptive design is not only to reduce lead time between the two studies, but also to evaluate the treatment effect in a more efficient way. In this paper, the focus is on the case where the study objectives are the same but the time durations of the study periods are different in the two stages. In particular, event data are collected in both stages. Statistical procedure for combining data observed from the two different stages is discussed. Furthermore, results on hypotheses testing and sample size calculation are derived for the comparison of two treatments.


Introduction: There is a paucity of published data on the type of surgical conditions that affect the UN personnel of different countries setup and the spectrum of surgical operations performed for these patients. Such information are necessary for assessing the impact of surgical conditions, both elective and emergency, on the health of UN peacekeepers from different races and nationalities and for setting priority to improve the surgical care. Objectives: To ascertain highest possible standard of surgical care to be ensured in an international arena for optimal outcome. Materials and methods: Five years retrospective study was carried out in Bangladesh level II hospital (BANMED), UNMIL located at Suakoko district of Liberia from April 2007 to April 2012 comprising of all major and minor surgical cases with different types of dressings done. Results: A total 83 major, 567 minor and 3924 dressings were done. The majority of operations were emergency cases of which 73.49% were of major and 78.30% were minor surgery. While 26.50% of major and 21.69% of minor surgery were elective cases. All were male patients in cases of major operations and 93.29% for minor cases as most of the peacekeepers were male personnel. The most frequent cases were acute appendicitis, inguinal hernia and polytrauma cases. Highest number of patients was 28 (33.73%) from 26-30 years age group. There were 3 minor postoperative complications with nil mortality rates. Conclusion: The surgical unit of a level-II hospital has to work in an adverse situation of a conflict area with various limitations. So it is very important to provide highest possible standard of surgical care to be ensured in terms of staff, equipments, logistic support and with a motivated surgical team in an international arena for optimal outcome. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jafmc.v9i1.18720 Journal of Armed Forces Medical College Bangladesh Vol.9(1) 2013: 14-19


Objectives The objectives of the present study were to determine the duration of infestation by Amblyomma americanum necessary for transmission of Cytauxzoon felis to domestic cats and to determine if ingestion of C felis-infected A americanum by cats is a route of transmission. Methods Forty-nine cats were assigned to one of seven groups, with seven cats per group. Cats were infested with A americanum adults, acquisition fed as nymphs on a cytauxzoonosis survivor cat, for 12 h (group 1), 18 h (group 2), 24 h (group 3), 36 h (group 4), 48 h (group 5) and to repletion (group 7; control). Cats in group 6 were fed C felis-infected ticks. Thumb counts were performed at the end of the duration of infestation for groups 1–5 and at 48 h for the control group. For group 6, 50 live C felis-infected adult A americanum were mixed with food and fed to each of the cats. Transmission of C felis was determined by examining blood of cats by DNA extraction followed by PCR. Results Of 50 ticks placed on each cat (groups 1–5 and 7), the arithmetic mean attachment ± SEM ranged from 46.9 ± 1.9 in group 3 to 49.3 ± 0.3 in group 1. In group 6, the average number ± SEM of ticks ingested was 46.5 ± 2.3. One cat in group 5 that had been infested for 48 h became infected with C felis. None of the cats in group 6 (ingestion) became infected with C felis. Six of 7 (85.7%) cats in group 7, the control group, became infected with C felis. Conclusions and relevance Our results indicate that transmission of C felis to domestic cats can happen as quickly as >36 h but ⩽48 h of exposure to A americanum infected with C felis and that ingestion of C felis-infected A americanum is not a likely route of transmission.


Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) enables us to detect the genomic copy number alterations of cancers with high resolution. Our established array CGH platform consists of 2,304 BAC/PAC clones covering the whole genome at 1.3-mega base resolutions. Using this technique, we were thus able to reveal disease-specific genomic alterations and the candidate target genes in various lymphomas. We herein report the characteristic genomic alterations of malignant lymphomas including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular lymphoma (FL) and adult T cell lymphoma/leukemia (ATLL). The combined use of the array CGH data with gene expression profiling and specific gene rearrangement analyses further delineated the subtype-specific genomic alterations. For instance, we revealed that activated B-cell-like DLBCL is characterized by a gain of chromosome 3, 18q and loss of 9 p21, whereas the germinal center B-cell-like DLBCL is characterized by a gain of 2p15, 7q, and 12q. Among these genomic alterations,we found the 9 p21 loss (p16INK4a locus) to be the most aggressive type of DLBCL. Comparisons of the genome profiles of FL,both with and without BCL2 rearrangement, also revealed the existence of a unique subgroup: trisomy 3 FL. Comparison of genome profiles between acute type and lymphoma types of adult T cell lymphoma also demonstrated that acute and lymphoma types are genomically distinct subtypes, and thus may develop tumors via distinct genetic pathways. In addition to identifying disease-specific genomic alterations, we also discovered several target genes of the genomic gains and losses. Furthermore,we developed a computer algorithm to classify lymphoma diseases or subtypes on the basis of copy number gains and losses. We applied the algorithm to the classifications of DLBCL and MCL diseases and ABC and GCB subtypes. The method correctly classified the DLBCL and MCL diseases at 89%, and ABC and GCB subtypes at 83%. These results demonstrate that copy number gains and losses detected by array CGH could be used for classifying lymphomas into biologically and clinically distinct diseases or subtypes. The genomic copy number alterations detected by array CGH are therefore considered to have the potential to help diagnose or classify different disease entities and tumor subtypes.


BACKGROUND/AIM
 We aimed to analyze the value of 3 serial sections, spaced 200 µm apart, for quantification of lymphocyte and plasma cell foci in minor salivary gland biopsy (MSGB).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
 Labial MSGBs from 69 patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and scleroderma were used for this study. Each sample was prepared as 3 serial sections spaced 200 µm apart. Lymphocytic and plasma cell focus score (LFS, PFS) were determined for each section, and the diagnostic results were compared to those obtained from a single section.

RESULTS
For 22 of the 69 patients, all 3 sections were scored at <1 and interpreted as inconclusive for the presence of SS. For 20 cases, all 3 sections were scored at ≥1 and interpreted as diagnostic for SS. In the remaining 27 cases, the score was found to vary between sections. Plasma cell foci were observed in 11 cases, with 5 cases exhibiting a PFS of ≥1. Of those 5 cases, 4 also had a LFS of ≥1.

CONCLUSION
 Assessment of 3 serial sections in MSGB has the potential to improve accuracy of SS diagnosis by detecting specific features that may not have been detected in a single section. We concluded that data about the PFS require further evaluation.


Skin tests are used in addition to a directed history and physical examination to exclude or confirm immunoglobulin E (IgE) mediated diseases, such as allergic rhinitis, asthma, and anaphylaxis, to aeroallergens, foods, insect venoms, and certain drugs. There are two types of skin testing used in clinical practice: percutaneous testing (prick or puncture) and intracutaneous testing (intradermal). Prick testing involves introducing a needle into the upper layers of the skin through a drop of allergen extract that has been placed on the skin and gently lifting the epidermis up. Various devices are available for prick testing. Intracutaneous (intradermal) testing involves injecting a small amount of allergen into the dermis. The release of preformed histamine from mast cells causes increased vascular permeability via smooth-muscle contraction and development of a wheal; inflammatory mediators initiate a neural reflex, which causes vasodilatation, which leads to erythema (the flare). Prick testing methods are the initial technique for detecting the presence of IgE. These may correlate better with clinical sensitivity and are more specific but less sensitive than intradermal testing. Sites of skin testing include the back and the volar aspect of the arm. By skin testing on the arm, the patient can witness the emergence and often sense the pruritus of the skin test reaction. Because more patients are sensitized (have IgE antibodies and positive skin test reactions) than have corresponding symptoms, the diagnosis of allergy can be made only by correlating skin testing results with the presence of clinical symptoms.


This paper deals with noise propagation from camera sensor to displacement and strain maps when the grid method is employed to estimate these quantities. It is shown that closed‐form equations can be employed to predict the link between metrological characteristics such as resolution and spatial resolution in displacement and strain maps on the one hand and various quantities characterising grid images such as brightness, contrast and standard deviation of noise on the other hand. Various numerical simulations confirm first the relevance of this approach in the case of an idealised camera sensor impaired by a homoscedastic Gaussian white noise. Actual CCD or CMOS sensors exhibit, however, a heteroscedastic noise. A pre‐processing step is therefore proposed to first stabilise noise variance prior to employing the predictive equations, which provide the resolution in strain and displacement maps due to sensor noise. This step is based on both a modelling of sensor noise and the use of the generalised Anscombe transform to stabilise noise variance. Applying this procedure in the case of a translation test confirms that it is possible to model correctly noise propagation from sensor to displacement and strain maps, and thus also to predict the actual link between resolution, spatial resolution and standard deviation of noise in grid images.


In the present study, we aim to identify the effect of restrain stress (RS) on the expression of miRNAs in mouse serum. We used three genotypes of animals (mice with knock-out of the gene-encoding norepinephrine transporter, NET-KO; C57BL/6J, and SWR/J) which had previously been shown to display different sensitivity to RS, and focused on miRNAs which were altered by RS in the serum of all three genotypes. An analysis of miRNAs expression allowed for the identification of a set of 25 differentially expressed miRNAs; 10 were down-regulated compared to an appropriate control group of animals, while 15 were up-regulated. The application of DIANA-miRPath v. 3.0 allowed for the identification of selected pathways (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) categories that were significantly controlled by these miRNAs, while miRWalk v. 3.0—the platform that used the machine learning based algorithm, TaRPmiR—was used to find their targets. The results indicate that 25 miRNAs, identified as altered upon RS in three genotypes of mice, are responsible for regulation of mRNA-encoding proteins that are key for the main hypotheses of depression; therefore, they may help to understand the link between stress and depression at the molecular level.


We present an algorithm to compute exact literal-weighted model counts of Boolean formulas in Conjunctive Normal Form. Our algorithm employs dynamic programming and uses Algebraic Decision Diagrams as the main data structure. We implement this technique in ADDMC, a new model counter. We empirically evaluate various heuristics that can be used with ADDMC. We then compare ADDMC to four state-of-the-art weighted model counters (Cachet, c2d, d4, and miniC2D) on 1914 standard model counting benchmarks and show that ADDMC significantly improves the virtual best solver.


The purpose of this research consisted in studying the tax administration of the IRS in the province of Manabi -Zone 4, in order for the IRS to know the changes from its implementation during the year 2014,it was proposed the following specific objectives for the culmination of the research, to determine what is the economic activity of the contributors, analyze the behavior of the revenues, analyze the tax administration from the implementation by the RISE, for the collection of the information the inductive, deductive and historic method ware used, field research was also applied to collaborate in the investigation. An opinion poll to a sample of the contributors registered in the RISE was applied to determined their satisfaction as tributaries that allows them to labor regularly in the province of Manabi, for each question a corresponding graphics was elaborated using the information-technology tool Microsoft Excel, besides an interview to the Internal Revenue Service's representative was done, which showed outstanding data for this research, one of them was related to the bigger cost-reducing incidence to merchants which are commerce and sale, even if the province has been characterized by its cattle and farming activity does not represents its main economy. The importance of investigation will help future research for the Internal Revenue Service.


With the ongoing progress in chip scaling, the data flow to and from chip packages is increasing accordingly. The simultaneous increase of channel count and channel speed in an essentially constant form factor becomes a more and more demanding challenge. The resulting I/O-bottleneck is considered to be a major limiting factor for the overall performance of future chip packages and computing systems. Optical interconnects offer both increased channel density as well as longer link reach at high frequencies. Our current work focuses on integrating optical I/O with standard organic packages in order to maximize the aggregate data flow to and from such packages. We present a novel approach for attaching an electro-optical conversion module directly on top of the organic chip package, together with experimental results of a first prototype implementation.


INTRODUCTION
In the interest of preservation of high degree of objectivity of information about students' educational outcomes, a system of assessment needs to meet criteria of appropriate reliability and validity.

THE AIM
Analysis of reliability and validity of the system of assessment of students' educational outcomes for courses followed by an examination and covered by a curriculum in Medical Rescue at Medical University of Warsaw (MU W).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A retrospective study enrolling a group of 421 students of eight subsequent full education cycles. Detailed data concerning grades for fourteen courses followed by an examination in the entire course of studies were collected. Reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficient) and criteria validity (Spearman's rank correlation) were assessed. Internal consistency was estimated using a multiple regression model.

RESULTS
The levels of assessment reliability for the general university, pre-clinical, and clinical scopes amounted to alpha: 0.42, 0.53, and 0.70, respectively. The strongest positive correlations between the results of pre-clinical and clinical trainings were found for the Anatomy course (r ≈ 0.30). Only in the case of the Pharmacology course it was found that students' achievements in this field were significantly correlated with all other courses of clinical training. The influence of educational outcomes in particular areas of clinical training on the final grade for the entire course of studies was diverse (β regression between 0.04 and 0.11). While the Pharmacology course had the strongest impact on final results, the Surgery course had the least influence on students' final grades (β = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS
1. Sufficient reliability of the system of assessment of educational outcomes in Medical Rescue showed good precision and repeatability of assessment. 2. A low level of validity was caused by a failure to keep the appropriateness of the assessment of educational outcomes in several clinical courses. 3. Prognostic and diagnostic validity of methods used for evaluation of competencies of Medical Rescue students at WMU needs to be assessed in the future.


1. The minimum lethal dose of the dried venom of Crotalus adamanteus has been determined for white rats to be 0.025 gram of dried venom per kilogram when given intraperitoneally. This is about ten times the dose per kilogram necessary to kill a guinea pig and six times that for a rabbit. 2. Crotalus venom shows neither a tissue fibrinogen nor a thrombin clotting action on citrated horse plasma; and is a powerful anticoagulant in vitro. 3. The venom has a marked specific, proteolytic action on blood fibrinogen, which it converts into a more soluble protein coagulable at 82°C. and an albumose. 4. The venom has little or no proteolytic action on serum albumin or serum globulin, or on fibrin. Crotalus venom contains a protease which appears to be specific for a single protein, fibrinogen. 5. The venom has a lipolytic action on cephalin, liberating a fatty acid and destroying the power of the cephalin to form thrombin by union with calcium and serozyme. 6. The venom destroys, to some extent, the power of tissue fibrinogen to cause intravascular clotting, when both are injected in a mixture. Fibrinogen disappears from the blood even though no clots are found. 7. The fact that large doses cause clotting in vivo indicates that the venom has a weak thrombin action, but why this appears only in vivo and not in vitro remains to be investigated. 8. If a small dose of tissue fibrinogen, which is itself non-toxic, be injected intraperitoneally simultaneously with the injection of venom or a half hour before it, then a white rat is killed by a dose of venom from one-half to one-fourth of the minimum fatal dose when the venom is injected alone. The cause of this increased toxicity of the venom due to the action of tissue fibrinogen is being further investigated.


Portable sensors and biomedical devices are influenced by the recent advances in microfluidics technologies, compact fabrication techniques, improved detection limits and enhanced analysis capabilities. This paper reports the development of an integrated ultraportable, low-cost, and modular digital microfluidic (DMF) system and its successful integration with a smartphone used as a high-level controller and post processing station. Low power and cost effective electronic circuits are designed to generate the high voltages required for DMF operations in both open and closed configurations (from 100 to 800 V). The smartphone in turn commands a microcontroller that manipulate the voltage signals required for droplet actuation in the DMF chip and communicates wirelessly with the microcontroller via Bluetooth module. Moreover, the smartphone acts as a detection and image analysis station with an attached microscopic lens. The holder assembly is fabricated using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology to facilitate rapid prototyping. The holder features a modular design that enables convenient attachment/detachment of a variety of DMF chips to/from an electrical busbar. The electrical circuits, controller and communication system are designed to minimize the power consumption in order to run the device on small lithium ion batteries. Successful controlled DMF operations and a basic colorimetric assay using the smartphone are demonstrated.


This paper describes Nashville Electric Service's approach to forecasting and planning for plug-in electric vehicle penetration in our service area. NES is a publicly owned electric utility serving approximately 360,000 electric customers in Davidson, Robertson, Sumner, Wilson, Rutherford, Williamson, and Cheatham Counties of Tennessee. It is the 11th largest public electric utility in the United States based on customers served, the 12th largest based on electric revenues, and the 17th largest based on megawatt-hour sales. The NES distribution system covers 700 square miles of service territory through more than 5700 pole line miles. In fiscal year 2008, NES delivered over 12,800 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity to commercial and residential customers, in addition to serving the public lighting needs in the area.


ABSTRACT Over the last 25 years, fiscal rules (FRs) have been proliferating in Europe bringing in-depth change to the architecture of fiscal institutions. This paper investigates different theories explaining the changes in national fiscal rules stringency (FRS) using a panel of 28 European countries from 1990 to 2013. The authors found evidence that fiscal stress prevents fiscal reform in the short term, and leads to stronger fiscal rules in the long term. This pattern corresponds to the 'war of attrition' argument formulated by Alesina and Drazen [(1989) 'Why are stabilizations delayed?', The American Economic Review 81(5): 1170–88]. The authors found evidence that countries eager to join the EU showed their commitment to Maastricht targets by incorporating FRs into national laws. Countries facing financial difficulties after the 2009 sovereign debt crisis were coerced into adopting more stringent FRs to obtain fiscal support from the EU. Both cases support the idea that coercive diplomacy might explain the strength of national fiscal rules in the EU.


Thermoplastic (TP) plates have been used as a recording material for rewritable holographic stereograms (HSs). This novel application has made it possible to automatically control the entire process of HS synthesis without chemical development, showing that the developed HSs have high potential for 3-D display. The HS has been recorded on a TP plate of 76×76 mm2 in 130 s, using a liquid crystal television panel as a spatial light modulator for ray-traced 30-frame images. The TP plate has the capability for multiple use (more than 20 times) for HS synthesis. A reconstructed image has been observed with a good stereoscopic effect by means of He-Ne laser illumination.


In this paper, the author depicts a woman's life through the documents of the Sharia Court in Sarajevo and points out the reasons for her appearance in front of a kadi. The text analyzes the available documents in which women are plaintiffs or defendants, and through their examples, the author tries to point out the changes, especially for Muslim women in everyday life during the Austro-Hungarian rule. The paper also provides exact data on the number of married and divorced cases in the Sharia Court in Sarajevo in the period 1885. – 1907., 1911. and 1913. Special attention is given to divorces, the right to personal property, the right to care and alimony. The paper shows the position of women at the crossroads of two kingdoms through a image at the local level.


Data on inefficiency in some cases or temporary positive effect of commercial probiotics led to the development of the concept of autoprobiotic therapy. According to this, the correction of disturbed microbiocenoses is carried out using autostrains of indigenous normal flora (bifidobacteria, lactobacilli and enterococci). However, publications about effectiveness of autoprobiotic therapy are few and contradictory. The aim of the study was to investigate the biological properties and probiotic potential of intestinal lactobacilli, as well as the effectiveness of autoprobiotic therapy, based on Lactobacillus spp. Methods. Biological properties (antibiotic resistance, hemolytic, adhesive and antagonistic activity) were studied in 159 strains of intestinal lactobacilli. Autoprobiotic therapy with sour-milk ferments based on lactobacilli autostrains was carried out in 78 patients of the of the North Caucasus Federal District (NCFD) hospitals to correct the microbiocenosis of the large intestine due to antibiotic therapy. Results. The indigene strains of the intestinal lactobacilli of patients of NCFD hospitals are characterized by a wide spectrum of antibiotic sensitivity, lack of hemolysin production, medium adhesiveness and a high degree of antagonistic activity. Autoprobiotic therapy using Lactobacillus spp. significantly increases the amount of lactobacilli of the large intestine of patients in hospitals of the North Caucasian Federal District. Conclusion. A high probiotic potential of the indigenous intestinal lactobacilli is identified, which makes it possible to use them as effective autoprobiotics. The effectiveness of autoprobiotics with fermented milk starters with Lactobacillus spp. has been proven to restore the normal amount of intestinal lactobacilli patients after the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics.


Background Dragonfly group is a St Richard's Hospice bereavement group. It supports groups of families over six evenings, two weeks apart. It is run by a small team of staff and volunteers. Over a number of years, the group has developed an effective way of helping families work through their grief. The core principles are: The most basic requirement is to give everyone a safe environment where they can express, articulate, and discuss their grief; Initially, allowing children to freely discuss their grief is easier if they are separated from their adult family members; Once children feel comfortable expressing their grief, bringing the children and adults together and continuing to provide a safe environment for them to articulate their grief together is beneficial for the whole family; Taking time doing too little is better than rushing to do too much. We have learnt that initially both children and adults are reluctant to discuss or express their grief for fear of upsetting the other. Also, we believe that children learn from others that hiding their grief is a correct response to their feelings, following the death of a loved one. To address this reluctance the following schedule of evening sessions has developed: Week 1 – An initial ice breaker where the families make pizzas together; Weeks 2 – 4 Groups are split into child and adult sessions. Exercises around craft and fun are used to allow the children to describe and discuss their feelings. The adults discuss their feeling within their group with some simple exercises being used to encourage discussion; Weeks 5 – 6 The families are brought back together, where they express and discuss their feelings of grief together in an environment where they feel safe to do so.


The thesis studies the emergence of bioinformatics as a new scientific discipline. More specifically, it studies the rise in bioinformatics degree programs in recent years. I argue that the massive effort to sequence all DNA of human beings, the Human Genome Project (HGP) is the main culprit. The HGP needed bioinformatics to provide to tools to obtain, store and analyze DNA sequences. The fact that bioinformatics education offerings emerged just at the time when HGP was at full throttle suggests that the offerings were triggered by the demand generated by the HGP. Granted, one can identify internal forces within bioinformatics that would eventually make the development of degree programs a logical thing to do, but none of these forces are likely to have led to the emergence of degree programs at the end of the 1990s had the HGP not existed. Similarly, there may have been some problems with the supply of people with bioinformatics skills due to rigidities in the system or ineptness of life scientists, but without the rapid rise in demand they would not have surfaced. For, a continuous and rapid rise in demand really did take place. Most of it was due to industry demand, but this demand itself was triggered by the exuberant expectations of firms in the biotechnology industry that were created by the launch of the HGP and the ensuing race with Celera to sequence the human genome. It is an open question whether the emergence of so many degree programs dedicated to bioinformatics during the nineties was a good or bad thing. In any case, the U.S. Congress would have been unlikely to be able to anticipate this chain of events, had it sought to consider the effects that would flow from its approval of the Human Genome bill in 1987.


Sociolinguistics concerns with the topic about language and society because language cannot be separated from society. This study concerns many aspects of social and language variation such as address term, code switching, kinship system. The study under report deals with the connection of two aspects namely : address term and kinship system. In details, the topic of the study is the Balinese and Javanese address terms in addressing uncle and aunt. This topic was chosen based on the reason that there is a need for further investigation about language variation between different cultures to avoid misunderstanding.
Based on the background, the study was done to answer the major question : "what are the differences and similarities that Balinese and Javanese use in addressing their uncle and aunt ?". This major problem was answered by answering the minor questions : (a) what address terms do the Balinese and Javanese use to address their uncle and aunt, and (b) what are the underlying reasons and social factors the Balinese and Javanese have. In line with the
research questions, the objectives of the study are to : (a) find out the address term used by Balinese and Javanese, (b) find out the underlying reasons and social
factors and (c) find out the differences and similarities of Balinese and Javanese address terms.
The study is a qualitative study since it deals with the subjective description of the researcher, it has natural setting, and it involves the researcher in the observation. Also the data were analyzed inductively. The participants of
the study are Balinese, from each caste and Javanese living around Bali and Surabaya. The data of the study were obtained from the recorded interview between the participants and the researcher.
The findings of the study showed that there are many various terms used by Balinese to address their uncle. The terms are : Pak, Wo, Aji (for Brahmin), Aji, Ajung, Ji, Jung (for Kshatriya), Bapa, Aji (for Vaisya) and Bapa,
Pak, Om (for Shudra). Whereas the terms used to address aunt are Wo, Biyang, Biyang Klu (for Brahmin), Wo, Wo Agung, Gung Wo, Wo Ratu, Ajung, Ibu, Bujung (for Kshatriya), Wo (for Brahmin) and Bibi, bi, Wo, Tante (for
Shudra). The terms that are used by Javanese are Pakde, Pakpuh, Wak Gus, Paklik, Om, Paman to address uncle and Bupuh, Bude, Wakyu, Mbok De, Bulik, Tante to address their aunt. The reasons of using the terms also vary. The Balinese said that they want to show their social caste, familiarity, respect. While Javanese said that they are not influenced by social caste but they also want to show respect and familiarity. From the data analyzed, it is known that there are some similarities and differences. The similarities are : the Balinese and Javanese address terms
have neutral terms, i.e om and tante; differentiate the addressee's position and are used to show respect and familiarity. The differences are Balinese address terms
are followed by name, show social status, and can be used by both gender. These things cannot be found on Javanese.
The findings show that the actually the Balinese and Javanese address terms are almost the same in the form and reason to use although there are still some differences. This is because generally speaking they are historically related.


What did people think about the relationship between a man and a woman in Early Modern Sweden? Did they consider love and the parties' free choice to be of any importantance in the making of a marriage? What happened when marriages were falling apart, how common were divorces? I also discuss why sexuality was restricted, and how it affected women and men. What effects did changes in the legislation have? In discussing these questions my theoretical perspective is influenced by New Cultural History. I use material from one cathedral chapter, domkapitel, and some hundred courts, haradsratter, in southern Sweden during two periods, 1650-1655 and 1692-1694. The ecclesiastical court decided if marriages were valid and in divorce cases, while the hundred courts decided in cases concerning fornication and adultery. During the seventeenth century it was tried to put an end to the traditional forms of betrothals in which the promises and the sexual intercourse made a marriage without interference from any authority. But it is obvious that both people and authorities thought that these relationships - based on promises and sleeping together - were marriages. The importance of the official announcement of the betrothal were emphasized in the Church Ordinance of 1686. This, and harder demands on evidence, had serious consequences for women because they were no longer able to prove that a man had given a promise to marry them. In this respect the judicial revolution was unfavourable to women. When a man and a woman were to be married everybody thought that it was important that they loved each other. That is not to say that every marriage was based on love or that no other things were important - but love mattered because relations based on love were supposed to lead to harmonious marriages. But every marriage was not harmonious. The law approved divorces in two cases; when a spouse had committed adultery or abandoned the home. The most common reason for a divorce was when the husband had committed adultery. The importance of a loving marriage is also obvious when couples tried, and did manage to get a divorce because they could not live happily together. Divorces were of course not common, but more frequent than earlier studies have suggested and most divorces were initiated by women. In the latter period divorces were not so frequent as they had been earlier in the century. Sexuality was condemned when it threatened the foundation of society - marriage - but otherwise appreciated as a fundamental part of the relationship between a man and a woman. In the 1650s a man who had slept with a woman he did not marry afterwards was fined and she was considered to be guiltless. During the period this was changed so that both the man and the woman were fined. In cases of adultery both the man and the woman were fined - this was gender neutral. As far as law and the judicial system can tell there was no sexual double standard.


Understanding whether and how ecological traits affect species' geographic distributions is a fundamental issue that bridges ecology and biogeography. While climate is thought to be the major determinant of species' distributions, there is considerable variation in the strength of species' climate–distribution relationships. One potential explanation is that species with relatively low dispersal ability cannot reach all geographic areas where climatic conditions are suitable. We tested the hypothesis that species from different taxonomic groups varied in their climate–distribution relationships because of differences in life history strategies, in particular dispersal ability. We conducted a meta-analysis by combining the discrimination ability (AUC values) from 4317 species distribution models (SDMs) using fit as an indication of the strength of the species' climate–distribution relationship. We found significant differences in the strength of species' climate–distribution relationships across taxonomic groups, however we did not find support for the dispersal hypothesis. Our results suggest that relevant ecological trait variation among broad taxonomic groups may be related to differences in species' climate–distribution relationships, however which ecological traits are important remains unclear.


With the widespread of new radio systems, it is essential that their performance is evaluated prior to auxiliary design and commercial development. Although there are many methods to model and estimate the performance of a given radio system with some accuracy, most of these methods require high computational resources or long simulation times. In this study, the authors present a general and efficient simulation method for estimating the performance of a wireless communication systems, with particular emphasis for its forward error correction sub-system when using block channel codes, for channels affected by additive white Gaussian noise, free space attenuation, shadowing, fading and interfering sources. Both soft-decision (SD) and hard-decision (HD) decoding are considered and the overall performance takes into account modulation, coding and channel conditions. This efficient simulation is compared with the Monte Carlo simulation method and its performance is assessed for the Tomlinson, Cercas and Hughes code family. This new simulation method has an temporal efficiency of two or three orders of magnitude for SD and HD and three or four orders, considering a bit-error-ratio of 0.01 and 0.001%, respectively.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the existing state of research on "Halal" branding and to propose and empirically test the framework for understanding the purchase intention for "Halal" branded products in Indian context.

Design/methodology/approach
The research design is cross-sectional in nature; convenience sampling and snowball sampling is done, and completely filled 288 questionnaires are considered for testing the conceptual framework. Structural equation modeling is used to assess the fit of framework. The study has incorporated attitude as a mediating variable in relation to purchase intention for "Halal" branded products. The originality of the research is based on responses collected from the respondents in the form of online and offline questionnaires.

Findings
Findings of the direct and indirect effects in the study show that attitude has a full mediation effect on purchase intention, i.e. in the presence of attitude as a mediation variable the direct effect of subjective norm and religiosity is insignificant and the effect caused through attitude is significant.

Practical implications
In a country like India, which enjoys a sufficiently good percentage of Muslim population (14.2 per cent), an understanding of attitude provides enough scope for marketers to strategize techniques to reduce dissonance of non-availability of "Halal" brands.

Originality/value
Research is atypical, as it has focused on the mediation effects of attitude toward "Halal" branded products with the help of cosmetic range of products.


In this paper, we compare the diglossic situation of Biel/Bienne (oral Swiss German vs. written Standard German) with another diglossic setting: the village of Evolène (1500 inhabitants), located in the Swiss alps (French-speaking part of Valais/Wallis), one of the last micro-regions (along with the Alpine valleys of the autonomous Italian region of Val d'Aosta) where the Francoprovençal vernacular is still spoken. We take a closer look at the discourse of inhabitants who are "inside" or "outside" the diglossia (i. e. people who do or do not use the two varieties). In a first section we discuss the notion of diglossia for both contexts. The second section is based on several language biographies of people from Biel/Bienne and Evolène. Via some extracts of our research interviews, we describe different attitudes and representations related to the diglossic situation. In a last section we conclude by clarifying what seems most relevant to us in our data for the theoretical discussion of diglossia.


REV 5901 [alpha-pentyl-3-(2-quinolinylmethoxy)-benzene-methanol] has been shown to be a competitive antagonist of peptidoleukotrienes. In vitro it has a Ki value of 0.7 microM vs. [3H]leukotriene D4 ([3H]-LTD4) binding to membranes from guinea pig lung. Against LTC4-, LTD4- and LTE4-induced contractions of guinea pig parenchymal strips, it has Kb values of ca 3 microM and was relatively ineffective against contractions induced by other spasmogens. The peptiodoleukotriene-antagonist activity is also demonstrable against the hemodynamic and vasoconstriction effects of LTD4 in isolated guinea pig hearts. Oral antagonist activity has been shown with an LTD4-induced bronchoconstriction model and with an LTD4-induced wheal response model in guinea pigs. Unlike other reported antagonists, REV 5901 is ineffective against the multiple forms of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases. Thus, in addition to its previously reported activity as a 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor, REV 5901 is a p.o. active antagonist of peptidoleukotrienes and represents a good tool for understanding the role of peptidoleukotrienes in disease.


Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) was an emerging viral infectious disease in recent years in Shenzhen. The underlying risk factors have not yet been systematically examined. This study analyzed the short-term effect of El Niño-Southern Oscillation on pediatric HFMD in Shenzhen, China. Daily count of HFMD among children aged below 15 years old, Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), and weather variables were collected to construct the time series. A distributed lag non-linear model was applied to investigate the effect of daily SOI on pediatric HFMD occurrence during 2008–2010. We observed an acute effect of SOI variation on HFMD occurrence. The extremely high SOI (SOI = 45, with 0 as reference) was associated with increased HFMD, with the relative risk (RR) being 1.66 (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.34–2.04). Further analyses of the association between HFMD and daily mean temperature and relative humidity supported the correlation between pediatric HFMD and SOI. Meteorological factors might be important predictors of pediatric HFMD occurrence in Shenzhen.


An American Cocker Spaniel (3-year-old, intact female, 6.0 kg) was referred to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital of Chungnam National University for evaluation of pustules and crusts in the periocular region, dorsal and ventral region of the trunk, and digits. Complete blood count (CBC) revealed leukocytosis with mature neutrophilia, and a serum biochemistry profile revealed hypoalbuminemia. Tape strip tests identified numerous neutrophils and acatholytic cells. Histopathology identified intraepithelial pustules with neutrophils and acantholytic keratinocytes. Definitive diagnosis of pemphigus foliaceus (PF) was made by direct immunofluorescence (DIF) test with goat anti-canine IgG antibody. The human intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) was administered at a rate of 15 ml/h over 6 hours for 4 days. After that, the dog was maintained on prednisolone (2.2 mg/kg, PO, SID) and azathioprine (2.0 m/kg, PO, SID). An infusion of IVIG (0.5 g/kg) was repeated 3 days after 4 weeks. After 10 weeks, the dog showed the remarkable regression of lesions.


To assess prognostic factors the author has analysed the clinical data on 127 patients, subjected to three variants of the treatment (chemotherapy - in 72, surgery+chemotherapy - in 34, surgery+chemotherapy+radiotherapy - in 21). The following factors have been examined: patients' age, a duration of the affection symptoms in relation to their pregnancy prior to the disease, issues of pregnancy preceding the disease, the size of the primary focus (the uterus), the degree of the process spread, the height of the CH level in diurnal urine before the treatment, the method of initial therapy. Based on the data obtained, it was demonstrated that aside of the tumor morphological structure and the extent of the process spread the results of the treatment are influenced by a sum of clinical signs of the disease, which shound in prognostication.