Multiple myeloma is an invasive plasma cell neoplasm that proliferates in the bone marrow, and is responsible for 10% of all hematological malignancies. Naltrindole, synthesized by Portoghese and colleagues (1988) is a synthetic alkaloid derived from naltrexone, and has the pharmacological profile of a selective delta opioid receptor antagonist. Naltrindole also acts as a potent immunosuppressant in the allogeneic mixed lymphocyte reaction and in inhibiting renal graft rejection, and Gaveriaux-Ruff and colleagues (2001) demonstrated that a non-opioid receptor target was involved in the immunosuppressant activity of naltrindole. In a recent report (Mundra et al., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 342: 273-287, 2012), naltrindole inhibited human multiple myeloma cell proliferation in vitro and in a murine xenograft model in vivo, by interaction with a non-opioid receptor target. In this study, it was discovered that four novel small-molecule delta opioid receptor ligands (DOPs) derived from naltrindole by rational design (see Peng et al., Bioorgan. & Med. Chem. 17: 6442-6450, 2009) competed for specific 3H-naltrindole binding to human U266 multiple myeloma cells. The apparent dissociation constant, KD, of naltrindole binding to intact multiple myeloma cells was 20 μM, and the Bmax was 1.8 nmol/mg protein. Whole cells were incubated with 10 nM 3H-naltrindole in the absence and presence of 500 μM unlabeled naltrindole (to define specific binding), and the ability of the DOP ligands to displace specific naltrindole binding was assayed at room temperature following a 30 min incubation of each DOP compound at 50 μM. DOP 108 inhibited specific naltrindole binding down to 22 ± 6 % of control (78% inhibition of binding); DOP 121 reduced binding to 36 ± 10 % control; DOP 126 inhibited binding to 12 ± 5 % control, and DOP 402 inhibited binding to 16 ± 7 % control. More detailed competition curves will be performed, but it appears that the affinity of the DOP ligands for the naltrindole binding site are similar or higher than naltrindole itself. When U266 multiple myeloma cells were incubated at 37°C for 72 h in the presence of naltrindole or the DOP ligands, each at 50 μM, the number of viable myeloma cells was inhibited to 42 ± 7, 49 ±11, 31 ± 8, 29 ± 8, and 28 ± 9 % of the number of control untreated cells by naltrindole, DOP 108, DOP 121, DOP 126, and DOP 402, respectively, demonstrating that the efficacy of the DOP compounds to inhibit multiple myeloma cell growth was similar or better than naltrindole. This study provides a rationale basis for further evaluation of the DOP compounds as anti-multiple myeloma therapeutic agents. Citation Format: Richard D. Howells, Jyoti Joshi Mundra, Alessandro Howells, Giovanni Howells, Youyi Peng, William Welsh. Novel small-molecule delta opioid receptor ligands modeled from naltrindole inhibit the proliferation of human U266 multiple myeloma cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5548. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-5548


OBJECTIVE
To observe the microanatomical relation between the pituitary stalk and pituitary adenoma so as to find practical approach to protect the pituitary stalk during operation.

METHODS
At the level of diaphragm sellae, the laterality of pituitary stalk was assessed in 71 cases by its location to the line connecting the mid-points of tuberculum sellae and dorsum sellae. In 46 cases the level of diaphragma sellae was regarded as the clock dial so as to determine the location by hour of the pituitary stalk.

RESULTS
The laterality of pituitary stalk was observed in 61 cases, among which the pituitary stalk was on the left side in 17 cases, on the right side in 41 cases, and at the posterior middle site in 13 cases. Location by hour was observed in 46 cases, among which 13 cases were at 5 o'clock, 11 at 6 o'clock, 7 at 7 o'clock, 5 at 4 o'clock, 4 at 3 o'clock, 2 at 2 o'clock, 2 at o'clock, and 2 at 11 o'clock respectively.

CONCLUSION
The location of pituitary stalk is related to the direction of growth of tumor in the sella and not related to its extension above the sella. The pituitary stalk can be used as the marker to find normal pituitary tissue.


Tsunami hazard is typically assessed from inundation flow depths estimated from one or many earthquake scenarios. However, information about the exact time when such inundation occurs is seldom considered, yet it is crucial for pedestrian evacuation planning. Here, we propose an approach to estimating tsunami hazard by combining tsunami flow depths and arrival times to produce a nine-level, qualitative hazard scale that is translated into a simple tsunami hazard map. To do this, one of the most populated regions of the coast of Chile is considered as the sample site, using a large set of 2,800 tsunamigenic sources from earthquakes with magnitudes in the range M w 8.6 − 9.2 , modeled from generation to inundation at high resolution. Main outcomes show great dependency of the hazard categorization on the tsunami time arrival, and less to the flow depths. Also, these results demonstrate that incorporating different sources of variability such as different earthquake magnitudes and locations as well as stochastic slip distributions is essential. Moreover, this proof-of-concept exercise clearly shows that the qualitative hybrid categorization of the tsunami hazard allows for its more effective understanding, which can be beneficial for designing mitigation strategies such as evacuation planning, and its management.


The surgical adhesive n-heptyl 2-cyanoacrylate was used successfully to seal corneal perforations in two patients. There was prompt and permanent restoration of the anterior chamber, with minimal inflammatory response to the adhesive. The procedure of application was simple, performed at the slit lamp, and required only topical anesthesia. The adhesive acted as a tamponade allowing the normal healing process to occur beneath it, and eliminated the complications of suturing in diseased tissue. The encouraging results in these two cases may herald an even broader use of adhesives in ocular surgery.


In the article the questions of evolution of theory and practice of management are examined concerning nature of role of man in an economy.The basic stages of development of strategic management are analyzed in the context of changes of organizational culture.The questions of mutual impact of management and economic theory in directions of modern of scientific thought are also revealed.


We report a case of a 64-year-old man with pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung and thymic cyst. He was admitted to our hospital because of an abnormal shadow observed on chest X-ray. Computed tomography (CT) showed a mass lesion located in the right upper lobe and a non-invasive anterior mediastinal tumor adjacent to the left brachiocepharic vein. On enhanced CT, the lung mass showed central low-attenuation areas with a substantial enhancement in the periphery. Preoperative transbronchial blushing cytology of the mass revealed adenocarcinoma. With a diagnosis of primary lung cancer (cT3N0M0) and mediastinal tumor, an operation was performed through a median sternotomy. The mediastinal tumor was excised and a right upper lobectomy and were also accomplished, because the lung tumor did not show adhesion or pleural invasion. Histopathologic examination of the resected specimen revealed that the lung tumor composed of a mixture of spindle and giant cell features and contained a component of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. This finding yielded a pathological diagnosis of pleomorphic carcinoma (pT2N0M0). The mediastinal tumor was diagnosed as thymic cyst. The postoperative course was uneventful, and he is currently well 6 months after surgery.


In this paper, we discuss opportunities and challenges for technology development and adoption in public libraries. The results are based on a multi-site comparative study and thematic analysis of ethnographic work in three libraries, each in a different European country. The results explore the socio-technical practices, understandings, and perspectives of library staff and patrons when it comes to the role(s) and function(s) of libraries today. The contributions, which aim at informing the design and implementation of new digital services in public libraries, are two-fold. Firstly, the main findings from the study is presented under six themes. Secondly, a list of key opportunities and challenges focusing on 1) media and technology literacy, 2) institutional transformation and technical infrastructures, 3) resource constraints among library staff, and 4) a shift in focus towards supporting activities.


The rat 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (MST), a multifunctional enzyme, has redox-sensing molecular switches, a catalytic Cys247 and two cysteines, Cys154 and Cys263, on the outer surface of the enzyme. These switches are reduced or oxidized according to the redox state of their surrounding environment and require a redox active cysteine in thioredoxin (Trx) to interact with MST. Recently, MST has been demonstrated to be involved in the production of possible signaling molecules such as hydrogen sulfide, polysulfides, and/or sulfur oxides. However, the relationship between the production of signaling molecule(s) and action of these redox-sensing molecular switches has not been clarified, and a precise investigation of this relationship is underway. Received: November 07, 2015; Accepted: December 15, 2015; Published: December 18, 2015 state via redox-sensing molecular switches, which are exposed cysteines. Rat MST (RnMST) has five cysteines, Cys64, Cys154, Cys247, Cys254, and Cys263. Cys64 and Cys254 are buried cysteines, while the other cysteines are exposed [14]. Cys247 is a catalytic cysteine, and Cys154 and Cys263 are positioned at the surface of the enzyme; these cysteines function as redox-sensing molecular switches. Cys154 is a unique residue in RnMST. Furthermore, thioredoxins (Trxs) have redox-active cysteines. Escherichia coli Trx (EcTrx) has two redox active cysteines, one of which interacts with RnMST [15]. Properties of intermolecular switches of RnMST Cys154 and Cys263, which are positioned the surface of RnMST, form dimers via disulfide bonds [15]. Activities of wild-type and C64S (Cys64 is replaced with Ser) and C254S mutant RnMSTs were significantly increased after treatment with reduced EcTrx or EcTrx with a reducing system (Escherichia coli Trx reductase and NADPH) [15]. However, activities of C154S, C263S, and C154S/ C263S (Cys64 and Cys64 are replaced with Ser) mutant RnMSTs were not significantly increased by reduction [15]. These findings suggest that Cys154 and Cys263 are Trx-dependent redox-sensing molecular switches for regulation of MST activity, probably via the induction of conformational changes [15]. 2015 Vol. 1 No. 1: 5 2 This article is available in: http://cellular-molecular-medicine.imedpub.com/ Cellular & Molecular Medicine: Open access ISSN 2573-5365 Properties of intramolecular switch of RnMST The catalytic cysteine of RnMST (Cys247) is easily oxidized by hydrogen peroxide, which cause the inhibition or inactivation of RnMST [16]. During oxidation, Cys247 was sulfenated, sulfinated, and finally sulfonated by hydrogen peroxide (Figure 1). The sulfenated Cys247 was reduced and MST activation was restored by dithiothreitol (DTT), reduced EcTrx, or EcTrx with the reducing system [16]. However, reduced glutathione or glutathione with its reducing system (glutathione reductase and NADPH) could not restore the RnMST activity [16]. Moreover, sulfenate formation at Cys247 was confirmed by Trx peroxidase activity on addition of RnMST to the mixture of hydrogen peroxide and Trx with the reducing system [16]. Interaction between RnMST and EcTrx EcTrx has two redox active cysteines, Cys32 and Cys35. DTT-treated RnMST was activated by the reduced C35S EcTrx mutant and not by the reduced C32S EcTrx mutant [15]. Further, HPLC analysis showed that RnMST formed a complex with C35S EcTrx and not with C32S EcTrx [15]. These results indicate that the Cys32 of EcTrx attacks and cleaves the intermolecular disulfide bond between dimeric RnMST molecules and forms a complex with EcTrx. Then, Cys35 attacks and cleaves the disulfide bond between RnMST and EcTrx (Figure 2) [15]. In the case of plants, a recent study on mouse-ear cress sulfurtransferases and mouse-ear cress Trxs confirmed that both redox-active cysteines of Trx were necessary for the interaction between MSTs and Trxs [16]. Do hydrogen sulfide and polysulfides interact with redox-sensing switches as reductants? MST produces hydrogen sulfide and polysulfides in the catalytic process [5-7]. Oxidative stress inhibits MST activity, resulting in a decrease in the production of hydrogen sulfide and polysulfides. However, there is no report on the effect of hydrogen sulfide and polysulfides on MST activity via interaction with the thioredoxindependent redox-sensing switches. The low redox potential of sulfenate at a Cys247 catalytic site in an inactive MST is reduced by the addition of thioredoxin (E0 = −270 mV), but not by the addition of glutathione (E0 = −240 mV [17,18]. Therefore, hydrogen sulfide (E0 = −140 mV [19]) may not reduce the cysteine-sulfenate group. Conversely, polysulfides (E0>−260 mV [19,20]) could reduce the sulfenate and convert the inactive MST to an active form. Thioredoxin effectively reduces inactive dimeric MST to an active monomeric form by reducing one of the intersubunit disulfide bridges that link the two subunits, i.e., the reduction of the disulfide bridges between Cys154 and Cys154, Cys263 and Cys263, or Cys154 and Cys263 results in the formation of an active form of MST [15]. Therefore, polysulfides other than hydrogen sulfide may also cleave these intersubunit disulfide linkages. Figure 1 The redox potential of Cys247 of RnMST. Figure 2 The reaction between RnMST and EcTrx.


Apolipoprotein ε4 (APOE)4 is a strong risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and aberrant sphingolipid levels have been implicated in AD. We tested the hypothesis that the APOE4 genotype affects brain sphingolipid levels in AD. Seven ceramides and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) were quantified by LC-MSMS in hippocampus, cortex, cerebellum, and plasma of <3 months and >5 months old human APOE3 and APOE4-targeted replacement mice with or without the familial AD (FAD) background of both sexes (145 animals). APOE4 mice had higher Cer(d18:1/24:0) levels in the cortex (1.7-fold, p = 0.002) than APOE3 mice. Mice with AD background showed higher levels of Cer(d18:1/24:1) in the cortex than mice without (1.4-fold, p = 0.003). S1P levels were higher in all three brain regions of older mice than of young mice (1.7-1.8-fold, all p ≤ 0.001). In female mice, S1P levels in hippocampus (r = −0.54 [−0.70, −0.35], p < 0.001) and in cortex correlated with those in plasma (r = −0.53 [−0.71, −0.32], p < 0.001). Ceramide levels were lower in the hippocampus (3.7–10.7-fold, all p < 0.001), but higher in the cortex (2.3–12.8-fold, p < 0.001) of female than male mice. In cerebellum and plasma, sex effects on individual ceramides depended on acyl chain length (9.5-fold lower to 11.5-fold higher, p ≤ 0.001). In conclusion, sex is a stronger determinant of brain ceramide levels in mice than APOE genotype, AD background, or age. Whether these differences impact AD neuropathology in men and women remains to be investigated.


ABSTRACT Introduction: In primary immunodeficiency (PID), immunoglobulin replacement therapy (IgRT) for infection prevention is well-established and supported by a wealth of clinical data. On the contrary, very little evidence-based data is available on the challenges surrounding the use of IgRT in secondary immune deficiencies (SID), and most published guidelines are mere extrapolations from the experience in PID. Areas covered: In this article, four European experts provide their consolidated opinion on open questions surrounding the prophylactic use of IgRT in SID, based on their clinical experience. The main topics are IgRT initiation, route of administration, dose optimization, and therapy discontinuation. The authors hope this discussion will be of assistance to practicing physicians in their daily decision-making. Expert commentary: Although growing experience indicates that IgRT could play an important role in the management of SID, very little robust evidence is available to guide clinical practice. The authors stress the urgent need for new studies in the field and discuss points they find of importance to design them adequately.


For a graph $G$, $\chi(G)$ will denote its chromatic number, and $\omega(G)$ its clique number. A graph $G$ is said to be perfectly divisible if for all induced subgraphs $H$ of $G$, $V(H)$ can be partitioned into two sets $A$, $B$ such that $H[A]$ is perfect and $\omega(H[B]) < \omega(H)$. An integer-valued function $f$ is called a  $\chi$-binding function for a hereditary class of graphs $\cal C$ if $\chi(G) \leq f(\omega(G))$ for every graph $G\in \cal C$. The fork is the graph obtained from the complete bipartite graph $K_{1,3}$ by subdividing an edge once. The problem of finding a quadratic $\chi$-binding function for the class of fork-free graphs is open. In this paper, we study the structure of some classes of fork-free graphs; in particular, we study the class of (fork, $F$)-free graphs $\cal G$ in the context of perfect divisibility, where $F$ is a graph on five vertices with a stable set of size three, and show that every $G\in \cal G$ satisfies $\chi(G)\le \omega(G)^2$. We also note that the class $\cal G$ does not admit a linear $\chi$-binding function.


How do you make a perfect match—between doctors and hospitals, between schools and students, or even between kidneys and patients? Lloyd Shapley and Alvin Roth have won the 2012 Nobel Prize in economics for helping to answer that question. The Nobel committee awarded the prize to the two economists "for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design."


Methods based on backward differentiation formulas (BDFs) for solving stiff differential equations require iterating to approximate the solution of the corrector equation on each step. One hope for reducing the cost of this is to make do w~th iteration matrices that are known to have errors and to do no more iterations than are necessary to maintain the stability of the method. This paper, following work by Klopfenstem, examines the effect of errors m the iteration matrix on the stability of the method. Apphcation of the results to an algorithm is discussed briefly.


An object-oriented approach is applied throughout the design of a complex real-time control system, from low-level interrupt processing and scheduling to high-level system design and configuration. The concept of events and actions as generalized objects forms the centerpiece of the software architecture. Operations on events and actions are presented, the implementation of these objects with a simple and efficient preemptive scheduler is described, and the construction of a complete system from these objects is discussed. Finally, the object-oriented approach is used to develop a declarative programming language which enables the user to configure real-time systems on the basis of the propagation of events.<<ETX>>


Three variants of the SIATECCOMPRESS algorithm were submitted to the 2016 MIREX competition on Discovery of Repeated Themes and Sections. The three variants were those that performed best in terms of three-layer F1 score (TLF1), three-layer precision (TLP) and three-layer recall (TLR), respectively, when a large number of variants of SIATECCOMPRESS, COSIATEC and Forth's algorithm were run on the polyphonic version of the JKU Patterns Development Database (JKU-PDD). The variant optimised for TLF1 achieved an average TLF1 score of 0.490 over the five pieces in the database. The variant optimised for TLP achieved an average TLP score of 0.561 over the JKUPDD. The variant optimised for TLR achieved an average TLR score of 0.583 over the JKU-PDD. The three variants have been implemented in Java.


The fundamental questions we address are whether firms with a higher initial forecasting ability are able to accurately revise the exit forecasts of their investments; and how co-investment partners and value-adding commitment with their investment influence the main effect. We explore these questions with novel and unique data collected via mixed research methods on venture capital firms' forecasts of 114 portfolio companies. We find that venture capital firms that are better at making initial forecasts are less effective in revising their forecasts. In addition, while the number of co-investment partners positively moderate this relationship, venture capital firms' value-adding commitment moderates it negatively. Our findings contribute to the literature on organizational forecasting as well as inter-organizational knowledge transfer and knowledge creation. They also provide novel insights into venture capital literature and practice.


A report is given on seventeen cases of spontaneous regression of diabetic retinopathy. The diabetes became manifest, without exception, at an early age, particularly in childhood. Regression came on slowly and inconspicuously, retinopathy disappearing completely in two thirds of the cases. Of the other forms of diabetic angiopathy only arterial hypertension was found. No case of specific nephropathy, but frequently chronic infections of the urinary tract, and intermittent proteinuria were observed.


Private Equity and Privatization of Public Companies – A Case Study Due to an increased search for profitable investments in a less volatile world, firms specialized in acquiring companies quoted on a stock exchange have been granted more and more attention by media. These firms, called private equity firms, seek potential target companies where rationalization and efficiency improvements can be achieved by going private. Private equity firms use large amounts of debt when acquiring these companies which is why these transactions are called leveraged buyouts (LBO). The purpose of this study is to highlight the different incentives, financial as well as non-financial, triggering buyout activities by private equity firms. These kinds of studies can be found in the US and the UK but no similar study has been conducted on the Swedish stock exchange which is why this thesis is a case study on the Swedish market. The selected sample has been determined to Capio AB, Gambro AB, and NEA, all involved in LBOs during 2006. By using a deep qualitative research approach combined with statistical data, common factors for buyout activity have been identified. Factors as hidden values, capital structure, strategy and efficiency improvements, and more focus on long-term performance by replacing the management and board, seemed to be important when selecting buyout targets. The findings on this sample demonstrated that there were many implied reasons for a private equity firm to conduct a buyout. The characteristics found for the case companies could be related to financial theory. A peer group of companies from relevant industries was used to see if the case companies displayed unique buyout characteristics. This peer group confirmed that some certain characteristics of the case companies stood out when compared. However, a larger sample of firms should probably display more significant characteristics and make this kind of study more valid. Thesis language: Am. English Authors: Philip Bäckman Björn Johansson Gustaf Persson


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Inorganic phosphate is a common dietary element that is critical to the human body on many levels however the effects of changes in serum phosphate on cell and tissue behavior are not well understood. Due, in part, to the increased consumption of processed foods, the amount of inorganic phosphate in the American diet continues to rise above levels already considered high by the FDA. There is a growing appreciation that changes in serum phosphate levels influence pathological states associated with aging such as cancer, bone metabolism, and cardiovascular function, even in individuals with normal renal function. The causes are only beginning to be elucidated but are likely a combination of endocrine, paracrine, autocrine, and cell autonomous effects. Recent studies in mice have demonstrated that a diet high in phosphate, relative to a reduced phosphate diet, increases tumorigenesis in the two-stage skin carcinogenesis model as well as the Kras lung cancer model. Using cell cultures models we have determined that high phosphate results in increased proliferation and transformation as measured by XTT, cell counts, soft agar and focus formation assays. Our in vitro studies have also identified specific signaling cascades induced by elevated extracellular phosphate which result in the temporal and dynamic regulation of hundreds of phosphate responsive genes. A subset of the Pi-responsive genes including the Forkhead box protein C2 (FOXC2), osteopontin (spp1), Cyr61, and Vegf among others, has been previously linked to stimulation of angiogenesis leading to the hypothesis that conditioned medium from phosphate treated cells would increase angiogenesis. We confirmed the phosphate-induced expression of these genes in a number of cancer cells including breast, colon, and lung. The increased expression of these genes was determined to be dependent on phosphate transport as well as FGF receptor and ERK1/2 signaling. Using human umbilical cord vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) we determined that, in fact, conditioned medium from these phosphate treated cancer cells increased both migration and tube formation in the HUVEC model. Knockdown of FOXC2 inhibited phosphate induced gene expression in cancer cells as well as eliminating the stimulation of HUVEC migration in response to Pi-treated cancer cell conditioned medium. These results suggest that a cellular environment with elevated phosphate promotes multiple aspects of tumorigenesis including angiogenesis.

Citation Format: Yiming Lin, Laura M. Garneys, Kelly E. Bennett, George R. Beck. A high phosphate environment induces angiogenesis, which is mediated by FOXC2. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3894. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-3894


Seven hundred samples of frozen meat products were collected from Al-Ahsa supermarkets. As fast screening method for E. coli, the fluorescence analysis was applied on the collected samples. The detection of E. coli was confirmed in 92.08 % of the enrichment broth tubes emitting blue fluorescence under lighting of a long wave UV-lamp. E. coli was detected in 93 samples. In the examined samples of spiced kofta, steakburger, minced meat, oriental sausage and beefburger the following occurrences were measured: 17 %, 17 %, 19 %, 25 % and 15 %, respectively. The detection failed in frankfurter and in luncheon samples. The serotyping of isolated strains led to the following results: O26:K60 (B6) ; O55:K59 (B5); O111:K58 (B4) and O119:K69 (B14). The public health importance of their existence was discussed.


A scheme, based on the system composed of three atoms separately trapped in three cavities coupled by optical fibres, for entangling two distant atoms via the adiabatic passage is proposed. It is found that the multi-particle W entangled state can also be generated. Moreover, the quantum information sharing can be implemented using this system. These results may be helpful for the implementation of quantum network and useful in quantum cryptography. This scheme is also convenient for operating since only the laser fields applied to the atoms need to be adjusted to accomplish the processes.


The study was performed to investigate the property of rhizosphere microorganisms, and community structure during GMO, and Non-GMO rice cultivation. In the dilution plate technique, there were no significant differences in microbial populations of rhizosplane with genetically modified, and non-genetically modified rice cultivation, and rhizosphere were also the same results. Dominant bacterial genera were Afipia 12.5%, Spingomonas 10.0%, Ramlibacter 10.0%, Mycobacterium 7.5%, and Tetrasphaera 7.5% in rhizosphere soil of genetically modified rice plant, while Afipia 7.3%, Spingomonas 12.2%, Ramlibacter 7.3%, Mycobacterium 17.1%, Tetrasphaera 14.6% in non-genetically modified cultivated at Suwon test fields in 2006. Majorgenera isolated from root surface cultivated in Yesan fields were Arthrobacter 12.7% in rhizoplane of genetically modified plant, and Burkholderia 22.2% of non-genetically modified plant in 2007, Paucimonas 26.6% of genetically modified plant, Chryseobacterium 15.4% of non-genetically modified plant in 2008. Also the microbial communities in rhizosphere soils of genetically modified, and non-genetically modified plants were characterized using phospholipid fatty acid, and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. The phospholipid fatty acid profiles of soils in this condition showed different pattern, but did not show significant differences between soils cultivated with genetically or non-genetically modified rice plants.


Samples of lumbar cerebrospinal fluid from 20 healthy subjects and 20 patients with a variety of neurological disorders have been subjected to cellulose acetate electrophoresis and quantitative analyses carried out on the seven separated protein fractions. Normal percentage and absolute concentration limits for each fraction have been determined and compared with previous reports. It is concluded that absolute values are more valuable than percentage values in the discrimination of disease from health, but that the mechanisms governing protein abnormalities are difficult to ascertain from spinal fluid electrophoresis alone.


Prostate cancer is one of the most common form of cancer among men, and its incidence has been increasing progressively. Since the prostate depends on androgenic hormones to regulate its growth and development, interference with androgenic biosynthesis are important to control the disease. Thus, in this work, a 4D-quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) receptor independent study was carried out using the Laboratório de Quimiometria Teórica e Aplicada (LQTA)-QSAR approach and the new tool Web-4D-QSAR with a set of benzylidene oxazolidinedione and thiazolidinedione inhibitor of the 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 3. The obtained model is robust, free from chance correlation, and with good predictability in all tests performed. In addition to this result, a good mecanistic interpretation related to the binding with the biological target could be traced, which strengthens its potential application in virtual screening and design of new inhibitors of the studied enzyme with the possibility of use in the pharmacological treatment of prostate cancer.


OBJECTIVE
To study abnormal signal pathway in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

METHOD
NPC gene expression microarray data was mined by analysis of literature profiles generated by extracting the frequencies of certain terms from the abstracts stored in the Medline literature database. The terms were then filtered on the basis of both repetitive occurrence and co-occurrence among multiple gene entries. Finally, clustering analysis was performed on the retained frequency values, shaping a coherent picture of the functional relationship among large and heterogeneous lists of genes.

RESULT
Sixteen function groups were found among 112 abnormally expressed genes, including 4 groups indicative of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, 6 groups indicative of normal nasopharyngeal tissues that acquired essential capabilities to develop into tumor, 2 groups involved in energy metabolism, 1 group suggesting abnormal phosphorylation of proteins, 2 groups related to other diseases, and 1 group associated with muscle activities. The pathways of p53 and Rb, which were frequently abnormal during tumor progression, were not found in these groups.

CONCLUSION
Initiation and progression of NPC may be caused by special signal transduction pathways.


Background: Recurrence is a major cause of treatment failure after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) for acute leukemia, and subsequential treatment options are very limited.

Aims: We evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of cytarabine and aclarubicin combined with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor priming (CAG regimen), consisting of concurrent use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) with low-dose cytarabine and aclarubicin, as a salvage therapy for acute leukemia patients who relapsed after allo-HSCT.

Methods: Fifty-nine patients (32 male and 27 female) with acute leukemia, with a median age of 27 years, relapsed post allo-HSCT and received salvage chemotherapy. Twenty-seven patients received CAG regimen while 32 patients received non-CAG regimen such as intensive chemotherapy.

Results: 1.The overall response rate (ORR) of CAG was significantly superior than that of non-CAG groups (55.6% vs 28.1%, P= 0.033). Especially for AML patients (64.3% vs 20%, P= 0.025). However, ORR of ALL in CAG group was similar with that in non-CAG group (50% and 35.2% respectively; P = 0.471).

2. Median overall survival (OS) from the starting of CAG chemotherapy and the estimated 2-year OS of CAG group were 9 (1-27) months and 16.1%. Meanwhile, median OS and the estimated 2-year survival of non-CAG group were 4 (1-49) months and 8.8% (Figure1). For the patients who received donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) as a subsequential therapy, two-year OS of CAG and non-CAG group were 17.2% and 12.5% respectively (P=0.577).

3. The median duration of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia of CAG group were significantly shorter than that of non CAG group, 6 (1-12) vs 11 (5-28) days (P=0.000) and 8 (1-14) vs 14 (7-35) days (P=0.000). Treatment related mortality (TRM) was found in 2 cases in CAG group compared with 10 cases in non-CAG group.

4. For CAG group, univariate analysis results showed that lower leukocyte level and lower medullar blast percentage at relapse post-transplant were significantly associated with a higher overall response rate (P=0.005 and P=0.000).Furthermore, multivariate analysis results showed that the response to chemotherapy was the only factor that correlated with better survival (HR 0.426, P=0.016)

Conclusion: CAG regimen as a salvage chemotherapy for relapsed acute leukemia post allo-HSCT could effectively reduce tumor burden with mild toxicity, especially for hypoplastic acute leukemia patients. For certain type of relapsed acute leukemia patients post allo-HSCT, CAG regimen may be an optimal choice as the bridge therapy followed by DLI or second allo-HSCT.

Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


OBJECTIVE
We sought to investigate the outcomes for different treatments of pericardial effusions.

BACKGROUND
The optimal initial management for symptomatic pericardial effusions remains controversial.

METHODS
We performed a 3-year retrospective, single-institution study comparing open surgical drainage to percutaneous pericardiocentesis for symptomatic pericardial effusions.

RESULTS
Between 2007 and 2009, a total of 193 patients underwent an initial drainage procedure for a pericardial effusion (n = 121 [62.7%] pericardiocentesis; n = 72 [37.3%] open surgical drainage). Compared to those treated with pericardiocentesis, treatment with open surgical drainage was associated with a higher complication rate (4.9% vs 26.4%; P<.0001; odds ratio [OR], 6.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.6-18.2). Treatment with pericardiocentesis was associated with a higher rate of repeat procedures to drain a recurrent effusion compared to open surgical drainage (28.9% vs 2.8%; P<.0001; OR, 14.2; 95% CI, 3.3-61.3). Thirty-day mortality (19.8% surgical group vs 18.1% pericardiocentesis group; P=.8) and long-term survival (P=.4) did not differ between the groups.

CONCLUSION
There is no significant difference in overall mortality between open surgical drainage and percutaneous pericardiocentesis for symptomatic pericardial effusions. There may be more procedural complications following surgical drainage of a pericardial effusion, and a greater need for repeat procedures if the effusion is drained using pericardiocentesis.


The microminipig, which weighs less than 10 kg at an early stage of maturity, has been reported as a potential experimental model animal. Its extremely small size and other distinct characteristics suggest the possibility of a number of differences between the genome of the microminipig and that of conventional pigs. In this study, we analyzed the genomes of two healthy microminipigs using a next-generation sequencer SOLiD™ system. We then compared the obtained genomic sequences with a genomic database for the domestic pig (Sus scrofa). The mapping coverage of sequenced tag from the microminipig to conventional pig genomic sequences was greater than 96% and we detected no clear, substantial genomic variance from these data. The results may indicate that the distinct characteristics of the microminipig derive from small-scale alterations in the genome, such as Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms or translational modifications, rather than large-scale deletion or insertion polymorphisms. Further investigation of the entire genomic sequence of the microminipig with methods enabling deeper coverage is required to elucidate the genetic basis of its distinct phenotypic traits.


The Thulium fiber laser (TFL) is being explored as an alternative to Holmium:YAG laser for lithotripsy. TFL beam profile allows coupling of higher power into smaller fibers than multimode Holmium laser beam, without proximal fiber tip degradation. A smaller fiber provides more space in ureteroscope working channel for increased saline irrigation and allows maximum ureteroscope flexion. However, distal fiber tip burnback increases as fiber diameter decreases. Previous studies utilizing hollow steel sheaths around recessed distal fiber tips reduced fiber burnback, but increased retropulsion. In this study, a "fiber muzzle brake" was tested for reducing fiber burnback and stone retropulsion. TFL lithotripsy studies were performed at 1908 nm, 35 mJ, 500 μs, and 300 Hz using a 100-μm-core fiber. The optimal stainless steel muzzle brake tip tested consisted of a 1-cm-long, 560-μm-OD, 360-μm-ID tube with 275-μm thru hole located 250-μm from the distal end. The fiber tip was recessed a distance of 500 μm. Stone phantom retropulsion, fiber tip burnback, and calcium oxalate stone ablation studies were performed, ex vivo. Small stones with a mass of 40 ± 4 mg and 4-mm-diameter were ablated over a 1.5-mm sieve in 25 ± 4 s (n=10), without distal fiber tip burnback. Reduction in stone phantom retropulsion distance by 50% and 85% was observed when using muzzle brake tips versus 100-μm-core bare fibers and hollow steel tip fibers. The muzzle brake fiber tip provided efficient stone ablation, reduced stone retropulsion, and minimal fiber degradation during TFL lithotripsy.


This research work reports the outcome of a primary quantitative investigation into the factors responsible for the quick completion of project research by distance learners students at Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education Owerri, Nigeria. The study sets out to determine the reasons why many distance learners fail to complete their project research after the course work. Using a structured questionnaire designed on a five –point likert type scale, the researcher captured the opinions of some distance learners about the factors affecting the quick completion of their project research. The analysis of the work was done using simple percentages and it was found that many of the respondents had difficulty with statistical analysis while some others contributed the major challenges facing them. The study concluded with some recommendations on how the administration of research work  by distance learners can be improved. Keywords :  distance learning, project research completion, bachelor, education, Alvan Ikoku, Nigeria.


Purpose: To evaluate post mortem magnetic resonance imaging of the fetus to provide data on the rate of growth of the cerebellum, bony posterior fossa, supratentorial bony compartment and cerebrum. Material and Methods: Twenty fetuses subsequently shown to have normal brain and spines on autopsy were studied using MRI post mortem. MRI from 20 normal pediatric brain examinations in children aged 6 years or younger were studied for comparison. Post mortem MRI was performed using a high‐resolution fast spin echo technique providing T2 weighted images. The area of the cerebellar vermis, posterior fossa, supratentorial skull cavity and cerebral hemispheres was measured in the sagittal plane in all cases. These measurements were compared over the age ranges studied. Results: We have shown that there are differences in the rate of growth and the apparent commencement of growth between the structures under study. The cerebellum appeared to start its significant growth at 16.5 weeks with a rate of 16 mm2/week throughout pregnancy, while the cerebral hemisphere appeared to commence significant growth at 13 weeks at a rate of 184 mm2/week throughout pregnancy. This is in contrast to the bony posterior fossa, whose growth paralleled the supratentorial bony compartment at all ages studied. Conclusion: We interpret our findings as showing relatively late commencement of cerebellar growth compared to the cerebral hemispheres, whereas the growth of the bony posterior fossa appears to be in advance and independent of cerebellar growth. Our results support the hypothesis that posterior fossa development depends on raised hydrostatic pressure in the CSF containing structures of the posterior fossa. When this mechanism fails, as in some cases of myelomeningocoele, a small posterior fossa is formed which characterizes the Chiari 2 malformation.


We consider a system of weakly coupled singularly perturbed semilinear elliptic equations. First, we obtain a Lipschitz regularity result for the associated ground energy function as well as representation formulas for the left and the right derivatives. Then, we show that the concentration points of the solutions locate close to the critical points of in the sense of subdifferential calculus.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

Colorectal cancer is the second cause of cancer related death in the western world and although the genetic and molecular mechanisms involved in initiation and progression of these tumors is among the best characterized, there are significant gaps in our understanding of this disease. The family of receptor tyrosine kinases EPH and their Ephrin ligands regulate cell proliferation, migration and attachment. An important role in colorectal carcinogenesis is emerging for some of its members. In this study we used animal models and analysis of large tumor collections to investigate the possible role of EPHB4 as a new tumor suppressor gene in colorectal cancer. Modulation of EPHB4 levels in colon cancer cell lines resulted in significant growth differences in vitro and in a xenograft model, with low levels of EPHB4 associated with faster growth. In addition, using a genetic model of intestinal tumorigenesis where Apc mutations lead to initiation of the tumorigenic process (Apcmin mice), we show that inactivation of a single allele of EphB4 results in: a) higher proliferation both in the normal epithelium and intestinal tumors, b) significantly larger tumors in the small intestine and c) a 10-fold increase in the number of tumors in the large intestine. This was associated with a 25% reduction in the lifespan of Apcmin mice (p<0.0001). Gene expression analysis demonstrated that EphB4 inactivation causes a profound transcriptional reprogramming affecting genes involved in cell proliferation, remodeling of the extracellular matrix and cell attachment to the basement membrane, among other functional groups of genes. Importantly, in agreement with the expression profiling experiments, using an in vitro assay we demonstrate that loss of EPHB4 in colon cancer cells results in a significantly increased potential to invade through a complex extracellular matrix. In addition, using archived human colorectal tumors we investigated the possible association between EPHB4 levels and patient prognosis. In a series of 252 cases, we found that EPHB4 expression is frequently reduced or lost in colorectal tumors. Patients with low EPHB4 tumor levels had significantly shorter survival than patients in the high EPHB4 group (Logrank test p<0.01; median survival of 1.8 and over 9 years, respectively). Moreover, we demonstrate that EPHB4 promoter hypermethylation is a common mechanism of EPHB4 inactivation. Collectively, these results indicate that EPHB4 has tumor suppressor activities in colorectal cancer and that tumor expression of this tyrosine kinase can be used to predict patient prognosis.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5756.


Therapeutic index (TI) of cancer therapeutic agent is the ratio of maximal tolerated dose (MTD) and the optimal therapeutic dose (OTD). "Reduction in toxicity" and/or "increasing efficacy" by augmentation or synergy will invariably lead to improved TI and patient9s well-being during therapy. We found a series of polyacetylene small molecules that is promising just to do that. Through total synthesis, we designed the panaxytriol (PXT) analogs of panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, such as PXTA, PXTAI, PXTAEI and its isomers that are biologically more active than their parent natural ingredient, PXT. At sub-toxic doses, the PXT-compounds, as a single entity (e.g., not an extract, mixture or preparation), are found to process the following intriguing pharmacological properties that have potential applications in cancer chemotherapy or radiation therapy. They are: (i) Exhibited moderate anti-tumor effect in the absence of any toxicity, and slightly augment or synergize anti-tumor effect of taxol or epothilones, in xenograft tumor bearing nude mice; (ii) Significantly or markedly reduced cancer therapeutic agent-induced toxicity such as body-weight losses (e.g., by Taxol, iso-oxazole fludelone, iso-oxazole dehydelone, 5-FU, cyclophosphamide), lethality (e.g., high dose 5-FU) and neurotoxicity (e.g., peripheral neuropathy induced by Taxol); (iii) Showed moderate anti-inflammatory effect in foot-paw-carrangreenan assays in CD-1 mice; (iv) Improved the hematological parameters following high dose 5-FU; (v) The alleviation of body-weight loss also manifested by the oral administration; (vi) Reduced the radiation-induced body-weight loss in CD-1 mice; (vii) Reduced the lethality of radiation; and (viii) Induced the cancer preventive phase II enzyme, quinone reductase (NQ01). PXT-analogs also stimulated human PBMC proliferation in a biphasic and delayed manner in vitro and stimulated splenocyte proliferation of CD-1 mice in delayed manner, suggesting the immuno-enhancing effect. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that co-administration of PXT-based agent with a range of cancer chemotherapeutic agents or radiation therapy will decrease various therapy-associated toxicities and thus increase the therapeutic index. These findings indicate a promising improvement for the cancer chemotherapeutic or radiation therapeutic strategies. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3521. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3521


This paper describes a reconfigurable analog baseband (ABB) for a software-defined radio (SDR). A wide variety of filter characteristics needed for SDR can be obtained by a reconfigurable filter based on a newly developed duty-cycle controlled discrete-time transconductor. The ABB, implemented in a 90 nm CMOS process, provides second- and fourth-order Butterworth, Chebyshev, and elliptic responses with bandwidths from 400 kHz to 30 MHz. The chip draws only 12 mA and achieves a P1dB of +7 dBm with a 1.0 V supply. The input-referred integrated in-band noise is 0.31 mVrms and the die area is as small as 0.57 mm2.


Purpose/Objective(s): With the development of deep learning, more convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are being introduced in automatic segmentation to reduce oncologists' labor requirement. However, it is still challenging for oncologists to spend considerable time evaluating the quality of the contours generated by the CNNs. Besides, all the evaluation criteria, such as Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC), need a gold standard to assess the quality of the contours. To address these problems, we propose an automatic quality assurance (QA) method using isotropic and anisotropic methods to automatically analyze contour quality without a gold standard. Materials/Methods: We used 196 individuals with 18 different head-and-neck organs-at-risk. The overall process has the following 4 main steps. (1) Use CNN segmentation network to generate a series of contours, then use these contours as organ masks to erode and dilate to generate inner/outer shells for each 2D slice. (2) Thirty-eight radiomics features were extracted from these 2 shells, using the inner/outer shells' radiomics features ratios and DSCs as the input for 12 machine learning models. (3) Using the DSC threshold adaptively classified the passing/un-passing slices. (4) Through 2 different threshold analysis methods quantitatively evaluated the un-passing slices and obtained a series of location information of poor contours. Parts 1-3 were isotropic experiments, and part 4 was the anisotropic method. Result: From the isotropic experiments, almost all the predicted values were close to the labels. Through the anisotropic method, we obtained the contours' location information by assessing the thresholds of the peak-to-peak and area-to-area ratios. Conclusion: The proposed automatic segmentation QA method could predict the segmentation quality qualitatively. Moreover, the method can analyze the location information for un-passing slices.


This study was carried out in order to determine the effect of organic liquid fertilizer applications on grain yield, yield characteristics and some quality trait of wheat in different periods in organic agriculture trial area. The trial was conducted in four replications according to a split-plot design in randomized blocks in trial area of the vocational Akcakale high school during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 growing season. Şolen 2002 and Edessa wheat varieties and organic liquid fertilizer and barnyard manure were used as materials in the research. Organic liquid fertilizer was applied in five different periods such as control, tillering, beginning of the bolting, the end of the bolting and the hearing, provided that the dose remained the same. According to the results of the research, the highest values were obtained in the end of the bolting of Şolen-2002 variety in terms of grain yield and yield components (spike length, spikelet number, number of grains per spike, grain weight per spike, plant height, hectoliter weight and thousand kernel weight). According to the results of two years, the highest grain yield (530.43 kg/da-1) was obtained in the end of the bolting application of Şolen-2002 variety. Since the first year of the study was warmer and more drought than the second year, While the yield and yield components decreased, the quality characteristics (protein and dry gluten ratio) increased. Due to the temperatures, Edessa variety had higher protein and dry gluten ratios than Şolen-2002 variety.


RENSE LANGE [1] ABSTRACT: Although it has long been suspected that haunt and poltergeist phenomena form a hierarchy, compelling empirical evidence for this suggestion has been lacking. Using the data of 865 student respondents from 2 previous studies, Rasch scaling of 8 items from the Poltergeist subscale of the Anomalous Experiences Inventory (V. K. Kumar, R. J. Pekala, & C. Gallagher, 1994) revealed the existence of a well-defined probabilistic hierarchy of events. Statistical dimensionality tests validated that the 8 items indeed constitute a unidimensional continuum, and this continuum is not significantly affected by gender-related response biases. The results do not discriminate among the various parapsychological and conventional explanations for these experiences, and several theoretical perspectives on the findings are discussed. Our research program (e.g., Lange & Houran, 1998, 1999, 2000) has actively focused on constructing a process model of haunts and poltergeists, that is, a mathematical description of what Teguis and Flynn (1983) called "the holistic patterns of interpersonal relationships, background factors, and social-psychological variables ... crucial to understanding the nature, etiology, and meaning of such occurrences" (p. 61). However, we have not examined in detail the holistic patterns among different haunt and poltergeist experiences. A few studies have investigated how qualitatively different phenomena correlate with one another (e.g., Alvarado & Zingrone, 1995; Houran, 2000; Houran & Thalbourne, 2001), but Palmer (1974; Pratt & Palmer, 1976) was the first to propose the interesting notion that phenomena might progress systematically over time. According to Guy Lyon Playfair (1980), there are approximately 19 "symptoms" of the poltergeist, beginning with raps and ending with equipment failure of cameras, tape recorders, and so forth. Individual cases may involve only half a dozen of these symptoms, but Playfair (quoted in Wilson, 1993, pp. 388-389) asserted that: You always get them in the same order. You don't get puddles of water before stone throwing, you don't get fires before raps. So that there is a predictable behavior pattern. They appear to be random to us, but they're obeying some sort of rules that they understand even if we don't. We are unaware of any published research supporting Playfair's assertion, but Houran and Brugger (2000) similarly argued that haunts and poltergeist experiences could form a hierarchy and that determining the probability of certain anomalies should provide clues to the nature of haunts and poltergeists. Building on this earlier work, we address the question of whether haunt and poltergeist phenomena form a hierarchy as defined by the self-reported experiences derived from the Poltergeist subscale (Kumar & Pekala, in press) of the Anomalous Experiences Inventory (AEI; Kumar, Pekala, & Gallagher, 1994). The AEI was originally constructed to measure general paranormal belief, experience, ability, drug use, and fear of the paranormal (see Gallagher, Kumar, & Pekala, 1994). However, Houran identified eight items on the AEI that parallel experiences typical of haunts and poltergeists (see Table 1), and Kumar and Pekala (in press) subsequently used these items in a study on how haunt and poltergeist experiences relate to hypnosis-specific attitudes and behaviors. The 8-item Poltergeist subscale addresses two broad types of occurrences: (a) seemingly subjective phenomena (i.e., not normally perceived collectively), such as apparitions, and (b) more objective phenomena that involve the physical environment, such as object movements (Roll, 1977). The range of specific experiential content measured by the Poltergeist subscale is admittedly limited. For instance, Lange, Houran, Harte, and Havens (1996) identified seven specific categories of haunt and poltergeist experiences,[2] but the Poltergeist subscale covers perhaps only three of these categories (visual, sensed presence/tactile, and object movements). …


The successful realization of a sustainable manufacturing bioprocess and the maximization of its production potential and capacity are the main concerns of a bioprocess engineer. A main step towards this endeavor is the development of an efficient biocatalyst. Isolated enzyme(s), microbial cells, or (immobilized) formulations thereof can serve as biocatalysts. Living cells feature, beside active enzymes, metabolic modules that can be exploited to support energy-dependent and multi-step enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Metabolism can sustainably supply necessary cofactors or cosubstrates at the expense of readily available and cheap resources, rendering external addition of costly cosubstrates unnecessary. However, for the development of an efficient whole-cell biocatalyst, in depth comprehension of metabolic modules and their interconnection with cell growth, maintenance, and product formation is indispensable. In order to maximize the flux through biosynthetic reactions and pathways to an industrially relevant product and respective key performance indices (i.e., titer, yield, and productivity), existing metabolic modules can be redesigned and/or novel artificial ones established. This review focuses on whole-cell bioconversions that are coupled to heterotrophic or phototrophic metabolism and discusses metabolic engineering efforts aiming at 1) increasing regeneration and supply of redox equivalents, such as NAD(P/H), 2) blocking competing fluxes, and 3) increasing the availability of metabolites serving as (co)substrates of desired biosynthetic routes.


In 1921, Whitman 1 reported an operative procedure for ununited fracture of the neck of the femur which resulted in a stable, painless hip with satisfactory motion. This differed widely from bone pegging and the Brackett operations inasmuch as the femoral head was removed, the femoral neck placed into the acetabulum and the greater trochanter transplanted downward on the shaft. Four years later, Rechtman 2 reported thirty-four cases from Whitman's service in which this operation had been performed. He broadened the indications to cover not only nonunion of fracture of the neck of the femur but also to include malum coxae senilis, quiescent tuberculous hip, acute epiphysitis and Charcot hip. In 1926, Armitage Whitman 3 presented the late results in nine cases. His patients had an average motion of 45 degrees flexion and 10 degrees abduction. Four of these patients used a cane. All had diminished pain following the intervention.


Flexibility can be used to mitigate distribution network overloading. Distribution system operators (DSOs) can obtain this flexibility from market parties connected to the distribution network. After flexibility has been delivered to the DSO, it needs to be settled. This is typically done by comparing load measurements with a baseline. This baseline describes an asset's power profile in case no flexibility would have been delivered. Until recently, baselining research mainly focused on large-scale, predictable and controllable assets. The flexibility used by DSOs however typically comes from small-scale, less predictable and less controllable assets. This paper addresses the baselining problem for photo-voltaic systems. Three existing baselining methods are selected based on their simplicity and transparency and their limitations with respect to application towards photo-voltaic systems are evaluated. Based on this, a proof-of-concept for a new, fourth method is provided. It overcomes some of the limitations of the three existing ones, while still ensuring simplicity and transparency in order to promote market acceptance and practical applicability. All four methods are subjected to two different curtailment strategies: curtailing all peaks above a threshold and curtailing based on a day-ahead flexibility request. Using weather data from three summer weeks in 2019, it is shown that the newly developed method is able to provide a more accurate baseline than the existing methods.


The biosynthesis of aminocoumarin antibiotics requires two acyladenylate‐forming enzymes: one for the activation of L‐tyrosine as a precursor of the aminocoumarin moiety and another for the linkage of an acyl moiety to the aminocoumarin moiety. Unexpectedly, the biosynthetic gene cluster of the aminocoumarin antibiotic rubradirin was found to contain three genes for putative acyladenylate‐forming enzymes of aminocoumarin biosynthesis and conjugation. We expressed, purified, and investigated these three proteins. Orf4 (55 kDa) was shown to be an active aminocoumarin acyl ligase. RubF6 (56 kDa) was inactive, but could be converted into an active enzyme by site‐directed mutagenesis. RubC1 (138 kDa) was shown to be a unique bifunctional enzyme, comprising an aminocoumarin acyl ligase, and tyrosine‐adenylation and peptidyl‐carrier domains. This natural hybrid enzyme is unique among known proteins. A hypothesis is proposed as to how such an enzyme could offer a particularly effective machinery for aminocoumarin antibiotic biosynthesis.


This paper documents a calibration procedure for reverberation chambers. The method described was developed as part of an ongoing effort to introduce reverberation chambers into military and commercial standards. This work was conducted in cooperation with both industry and standards organizations. The effort described herein is intended to provide an accurate and economic methodology for calibrating reverberation chambers. The methodology was initially developed and evaluated at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division. Follow-on evaluations were conducted at facilities owned and operated commercially.


User interest as a very dynamic information need is often ignored in most existing information retrieval systems. In this research, we present the results of experiments designed to evaluate the performance of a real‐time interest model (RIM) that attempts to identify the dynamic and changing query level interests regarding social media outputs. Unlike most existing ranking methods, our ranking approach targets calculation of the probability that user interest in the content of the document is subject to very dynamic user interest change. We describe 2 formulations of the model (real‐time interest vector space and real‐time interest language model) stemming from classical relevance ranking methods and develop a novel methodology for evaluating the performance of RIM using Amazon Mechanical Turk to collect (interest‐based) relevance judgments on a daily basis. Our results show that the model usually, although not always, performs better than baseline results obtained from commercial web search engines. We identify factors that affect RIM performance and outline plans for future research.


Human T cells responding against transplanted allogeneic lung tissue have been implicated in late graft failure secondary to obliterative bronchiolitis. This obliterative airways disease (OAD) also develops in heterotopic murine tracheal allografts in association with graft infiltration by both CD8+ and CD4+ T cells. To date, there has been little evidence to suggest that directly alloreactive CD8+ T cells either promote chronic rejection or lead to the development of OAD following airway allotransplantation. Using Ld-specific TCR-Tg 2C CD8+ T cells adoptively transferred into wild-type B6 (H-2b) mice and the transplantation of BALB/c (H-2d) tracheal allografts, we now show that the direct recognition of donor-specific class I MHC molecules by host CD8+ T cells leads to their activation, clonal expansion within the graft, and differentiation to an effector phenotype with the capacity to induce airway fibrosis. In addition, these experiments demonstrate that ongoing direct alloantigen recognition within the transplanted airway tissue is necessary for the recruitment and retention of these directly alloreactive CD8+ T cells. Thus, these experiments are the first to definitively show a role for directly alloreactive CD8+ T cells in the chronic rejection that leads to OAD.


This study includes an environmental and social baseline of the oil sector in the region, an analysis of the potential key environmental and social issues, with which an assessment of impacts was made. The authors studied the key geological and physical parameters of productive formations. The authors found out that one of the main problems of the development system of the considered oil field is associated with the AV1-3 formation, which is characterized by worsened energy state and low recovery factor. The authors designed the reorganization of the reservoir pressure maintenance (RPM) system at the pilot site of the facility AV1-3 as a solution to the problem. This decision will allow increasing the sweep efficiency of the reservoir by waterflooding, and as a result – it will increase the oil recovery factor and remaining recoverable reserves.


The revelation of widespread corruption in the Oil-for-Food Programme and the recent scandal involving the British arms manufacturer BAE Systems threatens to unravel the fragile global consensus on combating corruption. This paper outlines the emerging global consensus and legal framework on corruption and assesses the extent to which this consensus has been undermined by the above mentioned revelations of corruption. Both incidents provide interesting context in which to analyse some of the difficult issues presented in the regulation of transnational corruption. The regulation of transnational corruption provides a framework for analyzing the critical dimensions of the interaction between the norms in various domestic communities and the transnational context of these interactions. The paper argues that the current framework of multilateral efforts to curb transnational corruption is unable to tackle the problem effectively and concludes that the liability framework for engaging in transnational corruption has almost exclusively been the result of political expediency rather than that of empirical information. By examining the multilateral efforts by the international community to combat corruption, the paper generates questions about the status and future direction of the fight against corruption under international law.


Experiments were designed to determine which actual differences in the cellular composition between fetal liver and bone marrow account for the distinct types of graft-versus-host (GvH) disease. The assay of reactive lymphocytes (by in vitro mitogenic stimulation) in fetal liver transplants in mice, the purification of hemopoietic stem cells (HSC) of the transplants, and the quantitation of HSC numbers in the grafts traced the basis for the distinctly weak type of GvH disease after fetal liver cell grafts. It was found that transplantation of purified HSC concentrates did not modify the severity of GvH mortality. The moderate character of the delayed GvH disease was shown to depend on the presence of an HSC population in fetal liver with different qualities and not on numerical differences between the HSC in fetal liver and bone marrow. Data collected also demonstrated that when GvH disease occurred in the recipients of transplants of fetal liver, it shared the characteristic histologic features of the bone marrow GvH syndrome. The recovery of mitogen responsiveness of spleen cells may have been delayed in fetal liver allotransplantation as compared to syngeneic grafting. By supportive infusion of lymphoid cells, it was suggested that the immunodeficiency coinciding with GvH disease represented a secondary manifestation of the disease rather than a primary impairment in lymphoid differentiation.


We present deep images of a region around the Crab Nebula made with the VLA, utilizing new imaging and deconvolution algorithms in a search for a faint radio shell. The existence of a high-velocity, hydrogen-rich envelope has been predicted to account for the low total mass and kinetic energy of the observed nebula. No radio emission was detected from an extended source outside the Crab Nebula. Our limits on surface brightness are sufficiently low to rule out the existence of a shell around the Crab whose brightness is at least 2 orders of magnitude below that of SN 1006, the faintest historical shell-type supernova remnant. We consider models for the progenitor star and the presupernova environment and conclude that if a fast, outer shock exists, then it has a sharply reduced efficiency at accelerating relativistic particles from the kinetic energy of the blast wave. We also looked for a steepening of the spectral index along the boundary of the Crab Nebula itself, the signature of an outer shock. However, contrary to previous claims, no such steepening was found. The absence of any evidence at radio wavelengths that either the Crab Nebula or a hypothetical shell is interacting with the ambient medium leads to an interpretation that the supernova of A.D. 1054 was a peculiar low-energy event.


The purpose of this article is to examine some issues concerning the relationship between human dignity and economic constitution, specially the central issue of economic and social democracy.


ABSTRACT This is an invited paper reviewing my personal design research history, covering 50 years of involvement since the mid-1960s. The focus of my research has shifted over time, from computer-aided design and design methodology to design epistemology and design cognition. In CAD I assessed its effectiveness and implications for design professions, and how AI research in design might inform understanding of design cognition. In design methodology, I developed a model that integrates procedural aspects of design process with structural aspects of design problems. In design epistemology, I developed concepts of designerly ways of knowing and design as a discipline. In design cognition, I conducted protocol studies of design activity and studied design expertise, and developed the concept of the co-evolution of problem and solution. A general progression in the work has been from aiding and supporting design practice towards more fundamental understanding of design as a discipline.


Application of information and communication technology (ICT) is exponentially growing in Supply Chain Management (SCM) for increasing productivity and profitability in business. This growth of Information Technology in SCM has changed the paper based environment to Virtual Supply Chain, which is also generating electronic risks (e-risks) in form of cybercrime or fraud. Although, reducing the e-risks from huge data generated in day to day operation of supply chain networks is a big challenge for decision makers, auditors, detecting and investigating agencies. We know that technology is always a double-edged sword which can be reciprocally used for prevention of e- risks in SCM. The purpose of these empirical studies is to discuss the IT application and trend to curb the supply chain's e-risks.

 Key words: e-risk, information technology (IT), supply chain management (SCM)


Lipomatous hemangiopericytomas are rare soft-tissue tumors that show areas of hemangiopericytoma like vascular pattern admixed with lipid containing cells. It is now considered a subtype of solitary fibrous tumor due to histopathological and immunohistochemical similarities. To date, only a few cases have been adequately reported in the medical literature. A case of lipomatous hemangiopericytoma in an 11-year-old female patient is presented and the clinical, histopathological and immunohistochemical features are discussed, along with a literature review. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first known case of a lipomatous hemangiopericytoma in a pediatric patient. Our case report further emphasizes that a number of studies should be evaluated to delineate hemangiopericytomas from solitary fibrous tumors.


Our aim was to investigate the effect of TiF4 solutions on mineral loss on enamel and dentine in vitro. Samples were fluoridated 1 × 5 min per day with 1.64% w/v TiF4 or 2.2% w/v NaF solutions, each with a pH of 1.2, and then subjected to a cyclic de- and remineralization procedure for 5 days. Demineralization was performed for 6 × 10 min per day with citric acid (pH 2.3). In controls no fluoridation was performed. Mineral content was determined by longitudinal microradiography. Enamel mineral loss was markedly reduced by both fluoride solutions, but TiF4 was significantly more effective than NaF: cumulative mineral loss on day 3 was 61.7 ± 15.0 µm in the NaF and 34.2 ± 13.1 µm in the TiF4 group (p ≤ 0.001) compared with 121.0 ± 27.0 µm in the control group. Dentine mineral loss ceased after both TiF4 and NaF applications (cumulative mineral loss on day 5 in controls: 61.0 ± 17.0 µm, in the TiF4 group: 15.4 ± 13.4 µm and in the NaF group: 21.8 ± 11.8 µm). Both TiF4 and NaF application reduced mineral loss both on enamel and dentine, which could open new possibilities for a symptomatic therapy of erosions.


Acrylic acid (AA) was grafted to cellulose by using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) initiator in aqueous nitric acid solution at 30, 50, 70, and 907C during reaction periods of 30 to 180 minutes. About 45% of the AA was polymerized at 907C after 180 minutes. The grafted polymer and homopolymer were isolated by acetone from the reaction mixture, dried, and subjected to Soxhlet extraction with dioxane to separate the homopolymer, poly(acrylic acid), from the graft copolymer. The water absorption capacities and grafting values of grafted cellulose were also determined. The maximum grafting yield was obtained at 307C. It was also observed that polyacrylic acid-grafted cellulose produced at 307C had the highest water retention capacity. The time depen- dence of AA conversion allowed calculation of first-order reaction rate constants. These rate constants were then used to determine apparent activation energies. q 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 66: 929-934, 1997


Indian society is characterized by a high degree of structural inequality based upon the organization of people into caste and ethnic groups.The caste system is highly exclusionary in nature: exclusion is integral to the system and thus, a consequence of its basic features. Social exclusion between caste groups is ensured through the practices of endogamy and social separation. Indian democracy was essentially an upper caste democracy. Though the SC/STs were given reservation in the electoral, educational and employment spheres, they were relegated to the margins. SC/ST reservation was seen as a mechanism to overcome untouchability and tribalism. It did not address the caste system and it was not linked to the modern notion of social justice.Protected by the constitution, these minorities are still suffering discriminations and stay excluded of the dominant Hindu society. Educational performances of Tamil Nadu are often better than those of other states. Since 2010, in order to implement the Indian legislation (free and compulsory school education for all children aged 6 to 14 years), Tamil government builds educative structures that are still lacking in the country villages. It also pledged to improve the quality of all levels of education. Despite such resolutions and reforms, challenges remain current: a lack of teachers training, gender disparities in professional teams, high dropout students from pre-school. Poverty is widespread, the illiteracy rate is high and most families live in government housing built during the 1970s. overcrowding is a problem in the community as there is not enough housing for everyone and families of 8 to 12 people often share these decrepit two-room houses, sleeping on the floor or outside under a mosquito net. One key hindrance to community development is social exclusion. Although the traditional Hindu caste system was outlawed in India, the Narikoravar still experience discrimination from others, often more powerful groups, who reflect, reinforce and enforce social attitudes and values which have continued to exist in spite of legislative changes. The Narikoravar education and welfare society, or news, is tackling social exclusion by inspiring tribes people to challenge the status-quo, raise their aspirations and access services which will improve the welfare of the community, by targeting health and education. (Gabriele Alex,


Diphyllobothriasis is a rare fish tapeworm infection, yet one of the most important fish-borne human diseases due to the high morbidity and commonly missed diagnosis. It occurs by ingesting infected uncooked fish. Several fish tapeworm species can affect humans, with the most prevalent of these being Diphyllobothrium latum found in pike, perch, and arctic char. In humans, the worm attaches to the small bowel where it can live undetected for 10 to 15 years and can grow as long as 15 meters. While in the small bowel, it competes with the host for vitamin B12, leading to vitamin B12 deficiency and macrocytosis. The signs and symptoms of infestation are often vague and non-specific, making for a challenging diagnosis. Furthermore, physical examination and laboratory investigations are typically unremarkable. We describe only the fourth case report of D. latum in Canada. It occurred in an otherwise healthy patient with a two-year history of vague abdominal pain, diarrhea, low B12, and macrocytosis. The patient was an avid sushi eater and remained symptomatic and undiagnosed during this time. Spontaneous passage of the worm and treatment with praziquantel ultimately led to resolution of her symptoms.


Acrylic resins have been used for many years in several health-related applications due to their ease of use, favorable material properties, and relative cost. Cements containing polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), in particular, have been widely accepted for use in orthopedic surgery, as well as in other fields of medicine. Although relatively rare, the potential for acrylic resins such as PMMA to induce hypersensitivity reactions via cutaneous or mucosal exposures has been reported; however, comparatively few cases have been described of patients reacting adversely to acrylic resins used as permanent cements during surgical procedures. This article reports a hypersensitivity reaction to PMMA cement applied in a right shoulder hemiarthroplasty, which initially presented as a possible postoperative infection. It is believed to be the first case in the literature of such a reaction occurring in an upper extremity prosthesis.


Different approaches are introduced by number of researchers and scholars to improve writing skill of second language learner. The most prominent of them are product approach, process approach and genre process approach; these approaches 01 paved an instructional environment for learners in class room. The basic purpose of researcher to conduct this study is to investigate the effectiveness of these approaches on the writing skill of students at intermediate level. A quasi experimental study was conducted where one hundred and five students of Govt. college of Samnabad had participated in three and half month writing session, in this session different activities had been applied. To figure out the results pre and post- test were conducted. It is found that the genre process approach has more affirmative effect on the writing skill of students.


Summary The objective of this study is to determine the impact of diagnosing and treating incidental medical disorders on contraceptive acceptance/use. The setting was the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, a tertiary referral centre for the South–South zone of Nigeria and South-west Cameroon. Subjects were apparently healthy women seeking contraceptive counselling at the Teaching Hospital, Calabar (2001–2005). A total of 4,990 women's records were studied for the diagnosis of incidental medical findings. Two levels of missed opportunity for contraceptive uptake were identified. Incidental medical findings were seen in 26.9% of women. Contraceptive acceptance in women with incidental medical findings was 24.8%. Defaults from the screening process and treatment of incidental medical findings were significantly associated with high parity and low social status (p < 0.5). Incidental medical disorders, although uncommon in women desiring contraception were associated with low contraceptive uptake in women with high parity and low social status.


This paper explain about analysis and design a business directory for micro-scale businesses, small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Business Directory, if implemented will facilitate and optimize the access of SMEs to ease suppliers access to marketing. Business Directory will be equipped with the power of geocoding, so each location can be easily viewed SMEs on the map. The map will be constructed by using the functionality of a webbased Google Maps API. The information presented in the form of multimedia that can be more interesting and interactive. The method used to achieve the goal are: observation; interviews; modeling and classifying business directory for SMEs. Keywords—Business directories; SMEs; Google Maps API; Multimedia; Geocoding ommas


Abstract Seeds are notoriously high in polyphenols and polysaccharides, which reduce RNA quality and yield, and interfere with downstream applications. We present simple modifications to a rapid RNA extraction protocol for use with seeds. The inclusion of polyethylene glycol in place of polyvinylpyrrolidone reduced polyphenol and polysaccharide contamination. In addition, replacing NaCl with KCl improved the RNA yield from Arabidopsis seeds still bound by mucilage. On extraction of Arabidopsis seed recovered from field soils clean RNA pellets with no accompanying gelatinous matrix (polysaccharide) were seen, with A260/230 ratios greater than 1.8 confirming the lack of polysaccharide carry-over. When Brassica oleracea and Sinapis arvensis seeds were extracted, 260/230 ratios greater than 1.8 were seen. RNA yields in excess of 10 µg per 100 mg seed suitable for RT-QPCR were obtained.


It is now realized that the process of ocular drug and delivery requires a thorough understanding of various anatomical,phyysiological and metabolic features of the eye, in addition to the physico-chemical properties of the drug. Ocular drugs and delivery systems are currently undergoing a process of design optimization due to inherent physiological and anatomical constraints of the eye leading to problems associated with absorption efficiencies of topically applied drugs. Typically, 3 percent or less of the instilled drug in the solution dosage form into the percorneal area is actually absorbed across the cornea 1,3. The poor availability of ocular solution dosage forms therefore led to an intensive search for alternate forms delivery of drugs 4,5: (a) approaches to prolong the contact time of the drug with the corneal surface, and (b) approaches to epithelium or by modifications of chemical structure of the drug molecule. Chemical modifications of the active molecule is often found promising and necessary in order to overcome various problems of ocular drugs pertaining to their: (a)pharmacokinetic insufficiencies, (b) transportability, and (c) site specificity. In the recent years,some significant improvements have been made in this direction. The purpose of this article is to present a brief review of two novel chemical approaches of drug design, soft drugs and site-specific chemical delivery systems. A brief discussion on how these approaches have been utilized to design affective, selective and safe ocular drug delivery systems for the treatment of various pathological conditions and diseases affecting the eye, including treatment of glaucoma, ocular inflammations and infections is presented in this article.


This study investigated the determinants of wellness and health consequences of female genital mutilation among women of child bearing (WCB) age in Ife east Local Government Area, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study; the population consists of women of child bearing age in Ife East LGA. The purposive sampling techniques were adopted in selecting a total sample size of 400 WCB from the population. A self structured questionnaire which was duly validated and found reliable with its reliability ascertained through test re-test method with a reliability coefficient of 0.86 was used to elicit information from the respondents. Four questions were raised to guide the study. The data collected were subjected to appropriate descriptive statistics of frequency counts and simple percentage. The result revealed that the research questions on educational factor and socio-cultural factors with 54.5% and 59.5% respectively were strong determinants of FGM while religious factors with 41% was less recognized as a determinant. The WCB with (55.5%) agree that the health consequences of FGM are numerous and of serious consequences to wellness of women. The findings were discussed and were recommended that the reproductive health workers and other health experts should emphasize the ills of FGM. It was also recommended that policy makers should organize seminars, workshops and health talks with community leaders and all health advocates bringing to their awareness the ills of FGM and other harmful health practices to enhance wellbeing of WCB and women generally.


The present invention relates to a method for producing a catalyst for polyolefin polymerization, whereby the polymerization of low-density polyethylene is possible in one reactor even without the introduction of a separate comonomer, thereby producing a final product at low cost through a simplified process. Specifically, provided is a method for producing a catalyst for polyolefin polymerization, comprising the steps of: supporting an organo-chromium compound of chemical formula 1 on a metal oxide carrier; supporting a cocatalyst containing Group 13 metal on the metal oxide carrier supporting the organo-chromium compound; and supporting a metallocene catalyst on the metal oxide carrier supporting the organo-chromium compound and the cocatalyst. Further, provided is a method for preparing polyolefin, comprising a step of polymerizing olefin monomers in the presence of the catalyst for polyolefin polymerization obtained by the production method.


A case is presented of clockwise torsion of the entire left lung on its bronchovascular pedicle during intraoperative manipulations for a nonpulmonary procedure. The grave consequences are presented as well as a discussion of the mechanism of injury and a review of the pertinent literature. To our knowledge, this is the first such case reported.


The isotype-specific antibody responses to purified hemagglutinin of adults undergoing either primary or secondary infection with an influenza A virus were characterized by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Twenty-eight military recruits undergoing primary infection with A/USSR/92/77 (H1N1)-like virus had serum antibody rises in the immunoglobulin M (IgM) (86%), IgG (100%), and IgA (96%) isotypes. In contrast, 19 adult volunteers undergoing secondary infection with A/Peking/2/79 (H3N2) wild-type virus had serum antibody titer rises largely restricted to the IgG (68%) and IgA (74%) classes, with only 1 volunteer having a serum IgM antibody titer rise. Nasal wash hemagglutinin-specific antibody responses in the adults undergoing secondary infection were predominantly in the IgA class (74%). There was a correlation between the presence of and the magnitude of nasal wash and serum hemagglutinin-specific IgA antibody responses in these adults. This suggested that there was a common source for the hemagglutinin-specific local IgA antibody and serum IgA antibody produced after infection. The recruits undergoing primary H1N1 influenza virus infection had H1 hemagglutinin-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay antibody in each of the IgA, IgG, and IgM isotypes in their acute-phase serum. However, no role for this cross-reactive antibody in modifying the severity of illness experienced by the recruits could be demonstrated.


Bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) are mortality agents to multiple tree species throughout North America. Understanding spatiotemporal dynamics of these insects can assist management, prediction of outbreaks, and development of "real time" assessments of forest susceptibility incorporating insect population data. Here, dispersal of Douglas-fir beetle (Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopk.) is estimated over four regions within Colorado and Wyoming from 1994 to 2010. Infestations mapped from aerial insect surveys are utilized as a proxy variable for Douglas-fir beetle (DFB) activity and analyzed via a novel GIS technique that co-locates infestations from adjacent years quantifying distances between them. Dispersal distances of DFB infestations were modeled with a cumulative Gaussian function and expressed as a standard dispersal distance (SDD), the distance at which 68% of infestations dispersed in a given flight season. Average values of SDD ranged from under 1 kilometer for the region of northwestern Colorado to over 2.5 kilometers for infestations in Wyoming. A statistically significant relationship was detected between SDD and infestation area in the parent year, suggesting that host depletion and density-dependent factors may influence dispersal. Findings can potentially provide insight for managers—namely, likelihood of DFB infestation increase for locations within two to five kilometers of an existing infestation.


Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks employing reflected UDP amplification are regularly used to disrupt networks and systems. The amplification allows one rented server to generate significant volumes of data, while the reflection hides the identity of the attacker. Consequently this is an attractive, low risk, strategy for criminals bent on vandalism and extortion. To measure the uptake of this strategy we analyse the results of running a network of honeypot UDP reflectors (median size 65 nodes) from July 2014 onwards. We explore the life cycle of attacks that use our reflectors, from the scanning phase used to detect our honeypot machines, through to their use in attacks. We see a median of 1 450 malicious scanners per day across all UDP protocols, and have recorded details of 5.18 million subsequent attacks involving in excess of 3.31 trillion packets. Using a capture-recapture statistical technique, we estimate that our reflectors can see between 85.1% and 96.6% of UDP reflection attacks over our measurement period.


We present the microlensing optical depth toward the Galactic bulge based on the detection of 99 events found in our Difference Image Analysis (DIA) survey. This analysis encompasses 3 yr of data, covering ~17 million stars in ~4 deg2, to a source-star baseline magnitude limit of V = 23. The DIA technique improves the quality of photometry in crowded fields, and allows us to detect more microlensing events with faint source stars. We find that this method increases the number of detection events by 85% compared with the standard analysis technique. DIA light curves of the events are presented, and the microlensing fit parameters are given. The total microlensing optical depth is estimated to be τtotal = 2.43 × 10-6, averaged over eight fields centered at l = 2.°68 and b = -3.°35. For the bulge component, we find τbulge = 3.23 × 10-6, assuming a 25% stellar contribution from disk sources. These optical depths are in good agreement with the past determinations of the MACHO and OGLE groups, and are higher than predicted by contemporary Galactic models. We show that our observed event timescale distribution is consistent with the distribution expected from normal mass stars, if we adopt the Scalo stellar mass function as our lens mass function. However, we note that since there is still disagreement about the exact form of the stellar mass function, there is uncertainty in this conclusion. Based on our event timescale distribution, we find no evidence for the existence of a large population of brown dwarfs in the direction of the Galactic bulge.


Indium-doped ZnO thin films are deposited on quartz glass slides by RF magnetron sputtering at ambient temperature. The as-deposited films are annealed at different temperatures from 400 °C to 800 °C in air for 1 h. Transmittance spectra are used to determine the optical parameters and the thicknesses of the films before and after annealing using a nonlinear programming method, and the effects of the annealing temperatures on the optical parameters and the thickness are investigated. The optical band gap is determined from the absorption coefficient. The calculated results show that the film thickness and optical parameters both increase first and then decrease with increasing annealing temperature from 400 °C to 800 °C. The band gap of the as-deposited ZnO:In thin film is 3.28 eV, and it decreases to 3.17 eV after annealing at 400 °C. Then the band gap increases from 3.17 eV to 3.23 eV with increasing annealing temperature from 400 °C to 800 °C.


We examined in detail conditions necessary for making reproducible and for maximizing the amount of deoxyribonucleic acid obtained from a sex factor-containing cell as covalent circles. The results argue that under optimal conditions covalent circles are neither created nor lost during the isolation procedure. The causes of the culture-to-culture variation in recovery of covalent circular deoxyribonucleic acid were investigated but an understanding of this is not yet at hand. Some commonly used conditions which drastically reduce the recovery of covalent circles are described.


The treatment options and prognosis of recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma are largely determined by site, extent of disease,and previous treatment. Salvage surgery represents the primary curative option when recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is resectable. The common factors that affect the prognosis of patients undergoing salvage surgery include surgical resection margin pathology, radiation therapy, advanced initial and recurrent tumor stage, and presence of concomitant neck disease. This paper reviewed the advancement of salvage surgery for recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Germline mutations of the DNA mismatch repair genes, MLH1 and MSH2, are the major cause of Lynch syndrome, characterised by a predisposition to the development of microsatellite unstable colorectal, endometrial and additional cancers below 50 years of age. However, approximately one third of cases with a clinical suspicion have no identifiable mismatch repair sequence mutation. In recent years, constitutive epigenetic dysregulation of MLH1, so-called "constitutional epimutation," has been identified in a small proportion of these mutation-negative cases. The mechanism of onset and stochastic intergenerational transmission of this defect remains unknown, but may involve the co-inheritance of a trans-acting factor that causes aberrant epigenetic programming of MLH1, and possibly additional loci, in the germline or early embryo. The aim of this work is to determine if constitutional MLH1 epimutations occur in a focal manner, or in the context of a more generalised epigenomic mechanism that may exacerbate the cancer phenotype. Using the Illumina HumanMethylation450k BeadChip we studied 6 confirmed carriers of an MLH1 epimutation and 6 healthy controls matched for age and gender to determine if MLH1 epimutations are accompanied by additional epigenetic defects. Preliminary results have shown that other genes are indeed concomitantly and aberrantly methylated or hypomethylated alongside MLH1 and the methylation status of these genes is currently under validation. The finding of concomitant methylation or hypomethylation of additional loci would provide strong evidence for a defective trans-acting factor as the underlying cause of epimutations and may also contribute to the phenotypic expression of this aetiological mechanism.

Citation Format: Amanda G. Silva, Konsta Duesing, Robyn Ward, Megan Hitchins. Do epimutations affect MLH1 alone or a broad spectrum of genes to increase the severity of the associated cancer phenotype. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 654. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-654


Wind power is a challenge in power generation. The tortuous process stages in generating voltage become a significant problem to be solved properly. One indicator of the process is the determination of the right wind speed because it always changes at any time and under circumstances. For this reason, accurate predictions are needed so as to maintain the smooth integration of wind power into the overall system. Machine learning is used as a promising approach to dealing with wind intermittent power because wind speed prediction methods have been developed in recent years. This study explores climate patterns in the Philippines using data collected from PAGASA. The data is trained and tested with a machine learning model to predict wind speed. This research resulted in the Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) model outperforming other models and is very suitable for datasets in achieving accurate and reliable predictions.


This paper presents the quasi-adiabatic Asymmetrical Positive Feedback Adiabatic Logic (APFAL) for low power operation through energy recovery technique. The topology of a logic gate defines the logic effort and it determines the gate sensitivity. The APFAL strives to reduce the logic effort of one arm of the 2N2P latch which results in reduced values of adiabatic and non-adiabatic power components. The use of asymmetric complementary functional blocks in the sense-amplifier structure achieves this. Furthermore, the APFAL incurs reduced transients and minimized floating node problems. It is a diode-free and dual rail logic offering both the true and complementary outputs. It achieves significant reduction in switched capacitance resulting in faster response. Efficient energy recovery is achieved for frequency range of up to 500 MHz. The need for reduced interconnects and realization of less leakage are the added advantages. Validation is done through full-custom designed arithmetic circuits. Comparison with static CMOS and PFAL circuits are made to validate the design. In post-layout simulations, the 8-bit APFAL multiplier achieves an adiabatic gain of 14.91 at 100 MHz to 6.45 at 500 MHz against the static CMOS counterpart. Energy savings of 27% and 22.5% are achieved against the optimized PFAL 4-bit CLA and 8-bit multiplier equivalent circuits respectively, at 500 MHz.