We investigate the implications of product market imperfections on profit sharing, wage negotiation and equilibrium unemployment. The optimal profit share, which the firms use as a wage-moderating commitment device, is below the bargaining power of the trade union. Intensified product market competition decreases profit sharing, but increases the negotiated base wage, because the wage-increasing effect of reduced profit sharing dominates the wage-reducing effect associated with a higher wage elasticity of labor demand. Finally, we show that intensified product market competition does not necessarily reduce equilibrium unemployment, because it induces both higher wage mark-ups and lower optimal profit shares.


Just over a century ago two noteworthy books in economics were published by women, contrary to the widespread modern impression that women's participation in economics is a recent phenomenon. Charlotte Perkins Gilman published Women and Economics (1898a, cf. Gilman 1898b), a landmark work of feminist and institutionalist economics (see M. A. Dimand 1995b). Rosa Luxemburg published The Industrial Development of Poland (1898) based on her 1897 Zurich doctoral dissertation. This distinguished contribution showed promise of the great abilities displayed in her magnum opus, The Accumulation of Capital (1913), a study that deserves recognition for its importance in macrodynamics and the theory of economic growth as well as in Marxian economics (see Joan Robinson's introduction to the 1951 translation). These two authors stand as giants in the history of economics–or would do so, if historians of economics were paying attention–but they were very far from being the only women contributing to economics in the 1890s.


It is well known that the recent global pandemic crisis of 2020, despite the healthrelated problems that it caused, also unstabilized the economies around the globe. That situation led to many business closures, unemployment, extra government funding support for businesses, and many other protective reforms that were necessary in order to restart the economy. However, in Greece, even though this health crisis was rapidly affecting the economy and businesses, reports showed that during the pandemic, start-up businesses seemed to be adapting and handling the new situation quite well. Reports, also indicated, that the quick recovery from the start-up ecosystem, was mainly because there were good opportunities for the most innovative start-ups to further expand their operations and bring innovative solutions to handling the pandemic situation. Furthermore, the government, the universities, and some organizations helped the start-ups to further expand through special health and digital hackathons, dedicated seminars, business accelerators, devoted online support platforms for start-ups, and many more. Therefore, the objective of this short paper is to examine, through the latest literature, studies, and reports, how the Greek start-up ecosystem is recovering and expanding, what were the difficulties of start-up founders, and to find other interesting facts about the start-up ecosystem in Greece, during the first two years of the pandemic. Additionally, we will also try to answer questions that will help us in understanding the current situation. Some of these questions include the difficulties that entrepreneurs had in that period and lastly, if the Greek Government was able to help, through various initiatives, the start-up ecosystem during Covid-19.
Keywords: start-ups, Covid-19, Greece


A peptide was partially purified from bovine forebrain which specifically inhibits the binding of [3H]-ketanserin to the 5HT2 recognition site. The peptide has a MW of approximately 6,000 daltons and is partially destroyed by limited proteolysis. We suggest that the peptide is a candidate for an endacoid for the 5HT2 recognition site.


The main objective of this work is to generalize the concept of fuzzy – algebra by introducing the notion of fuzzy – algebra. Characterization and examples of the proposed generalization are presented, as well as several different properties of fuzzy – algebra are proven. Furthermore, the relationship between fuzzy – algebra and fuzzy algebra is studied, where it is shown that the fuzzy – algebra is a generalization of fuzzy algebra too. In addition, the notion of restriction, as an important property in the study of measure theory, is studied as well. Many properties of restriction of a nonempty family of fuzzy subsets of fuzzy power set are investigated and it is shown that the restriction of fuzzy – algebra is fuzzy – algebra too


Replication protein A (RPA) is a heterotrimeric (subunits of 70, 32, and 14 kDa) single-stranded DNA-binding protein that is required for DNA replication, recombination, and repair. The 40-residue N-terminal domain of the 32-kDa subunit of RPA (RPA32) becomes phosphorylated during S-phase and after DNA damage. Recently it has been shown that phosphorylation or the addition of negative charges to this N-terminal phosphorylation domain modulates RPA-protein interactions and increases cell sensitivity to DNA damage. We found that addition of multiple negative charges to the N-terminal phosphorylation domain also caused a significant decrease in the ability of a mutant form of RPA to destabilize double-stranded (ds) DNA. Kinetic studies suggested that the addition of negative charges to the N-terminal phosphorylation domain caused defects in both complex formation (nucleation) and subsequent destabilization of dsDNA by RPA. We conclude that the N-terminal phosphorylation domain modulates RPA interactions with dsDNA. Similar changes in DNA interactions were observed with a mutant form of RPA in which the N-terminal domain of the 70-kDa subunit was deleted. This suggested a functional link between the N-terminal domains of the 70- and 32-kDa subunits of RPA. NMR experiments provided evidence for a direct interaction between the N-terminal domain of the 70-kDa subunit and the negatively charged N-terminal phosphorylation domain of RPA32. These findings suggest that phosphorylation causes a conformational change in the RPA complex that regulates RPA function.


Moringa (Moringa oleifera) is regarded as one of the world's most useful trees, with nearly every aspect of the tree having a significant impact on food, medicine, and industry. Vitamin A and C, iron, calcium, riboflavin, b-carotene, and phenolics are all useful choices in moringa leaves. Moringa is gaining a lot of interest these days since its leaves include cytokinin, antioxidants, macro and micronutrients. Moringa leaf extract is a low-cost, eco sustainable organic technology that boosts the growth of most vegetable crops, such as maize, cabbage, and tomato, as well as field crops like rape and common beans. Moringa extract of leaves can be used by farmers as a biofertilizers. Because the extract contains zeatin, a purine adenine derivative of the plant hormone group cytokinin, the impact of moringa leaf extract is similar to that of synthetic hormones. The experiment was comprised of eight treatments. The experiment was laid out in a (CRD) with 3 replications. Application of moringa extract sprayed at every 2 weeks after emergence up to tasseling (with seed priming) significantly increased growth components like number of leaves, plant height, grain weight plant-1, fresh weight of root and shoot, significantly increased as compared to other treatments. The highest plant height (301.44cm) were obtained from T4 while the lowest plant height (231.11cm), were found in the treatments where no moringa leaf extract was used (T0 andT1). From the results it can be concluded that moringa leaf extract can be applied for better growth performance of maize. The length and diameter of cobs, as well as the number of leaves, root length, and shoot length were considerably changed by different treatments, although the length and diameter of cobs and the number of grains cob-1 remained significantly unaffected.


This paper describes a multi-spectral, multisource approach to the important problem of speaker identification. The wideband speech signal is filtered into several sub-bands and the output time trajectory of each is individually modeled by linear prediction cepstral coefficients. These individual models are then matched against reference data and the scores combined using the sum rule of information fusion, before using a k-nearest-neighbor rule to decide the identified speaker. Multi-spectral processing is shown to deliver performance improvements over wideband recognition. The optimal number of filters is found to be 16. These results are interpreted in light of the hypothesis that the multi-spectral approach solves the bias/variance dilemma of commonly manifest in systems that are trained on example data.


This article surveys results regarding the Tukey theory of ultrafilters on countable base sets. The driving forces for this investigation are Isbell's Problem and the question of how closely related the Rudin-Keisler and Tukey reducibilities are. We review work on the possible structures of cofinal types and conditions which guarantee that an ultrafilter is below the Tukey maximum. The known canonical forms for cofinal maps on ultrafilters are reviewed, as well as their applications to finding which structures embed into the Tukey types of ultrafilters. With the addition of some Ramsey theory, fine analyses of the structures at the bottom of the Tukey hierarchy are made.


INTRODUCTION
Mean radiation exposure in invasive cardiology varies greatly between different centres and interventionists. The International Commission on Radiological Protection and the EURATOM Council stipulate that, despite reference values, 'All medical exposure for radiodiagnostic purposes shall be kept as low as reasonably achievable' (ALARA). The purpose of this study is to establish the effects of the routine application of ALARA principles and to determine operator and procedure impact on radiation exposure in interventional cardiology.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 240 consecutive cardiac interventional procedures were analysed. Five operators performed the procedures, two of whom were working in accordance with ALARA principles (Group 1 operators) with the remaining three working in a standard manner (Group 2 operators). Radiation exposure levels of these two groups were compared.

RESULTS
Total fluoroscopy time and the number of radiographic runs were similar between groups. However, dose area product and cumulative dose were significantly lower in Group 1 when compared with Group 2. Radiation levels of Group 1 were far below even the reference levels in the literature, thus representing an ultra-low-dose radiation exposure in interventional cardiology.

CONCLUSION
By use of simple radiation reducing techniques, ultra-low-dose radiation exposure is feasible in interventional cardiology. Achievability of such levels depends greatly on operator awareness, desire, knowledge and experience of radiation protection.


Background: Reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is associated with increased mortality after myocardial infarction (MI). However, the prognostic impact of elevated systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) in the elderly patients with MI is not well studied. Purpose: We aimed to study the impact of elevated sPAP on one- and five-year all-cause mortality after acute MI in patients 80 years of age and older.Methods: Of a total number of 353 patients(≥80 years old)that were hospitalized with acute coronary syndrome, 162 patients presenting with acute MI and with available data of sPAP on echocardiography were included and followed-up for 5 years. The survival analyses were performed using Cox-Regression models adjusted for conventional risk factors including LVEF.Results: Altogether 65 of 162 patients (40%) had ST-segment elevation MI, and 121 (75%) of patients were treated with percutaneous coronary intervention in the acute phase. Echocardiography during the admission revealed that 78 patients (48%) had a LVEF ≤ 45% and 65 patients (40%) had a sPAP ≥40 mmHg. After one and five years of follow-up, 23% (n=33) and 53% (n=86) of patients died, respectively. A multivariable Cox-Regression analysis showed that the elevated sPAP was an independent predictor of increased mortality in both one and five years after acute MI; HR of 3.4(95%, CI 1.4-8.2, P 0.006) and HR of 2.0(95%, CI 1.2-3.4, P 0.004) respectively, whereas LVEF did not show any statistically significant impact, neither on one- nor on five-year mortality (HR 1.4, 95% CI 0.8-2.4, p=0.158) and (HR 1.3, 95% CI 0.6-2.9, p=0.469), respectively.Conclusion:Elevated sPAP is an independent risk factor for one- and five-year all-cause mortality in patients with acute MI and it seems to be a better prognostic factor for death than LVEF. The risk of all-cause mortality in MI patients increased with increasing sPAP.


Analgesia was assessed quantitatively at various dermatomes (C7, T8, T10, T12, L1, L3, S1) for the first 30 min after subarachnoid administration of 0.5% bupivacaine 3.5 ml. Stimulation with 10 needles and laser stimulation could evoke pain in dermatomes with adequate analgesia to single needle stimulation. Analgesia was assessed by thresholds (sensory and pain) and by pain-related brain potentials (amplitude and latency) to laser stimulation. Little analgesia was found at T10, but it increased gradually towards caudal segments. The dermatome related to the site of the injection (L3) was not blocked to a greater extent than the surrounding dermatomes. Conduction time (the latency of the evoked brain potential) was increased relatively more from the S1 dermatome compared with L1.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the incorporation of vegetable oils (chia, milk thistle and pumpkin seed oils) and non-meat functional ingredients, such as quinoa flour or potato starch, into the manufacture of emulsified cooked sausages with reduced animal fat content. The samples were evaluated with respect to the texture properties, emulsion stability, colour and microstructural characteristics of the reformulated meat products. The sausages formulated with quinoa flour were found to have better emulsion stability and lower hardness, gumminess and adhesiveness values according to the results of the TPA analysis. Furthermore, higher L* and b* and lower а* values were measured in these samples compared to the analogical samples prepared with potato starch. The milk thistle oil led to the highest a* and the lowest b* and h (C) values, whereas the samples containing pumpkin seed oil were characterised by increased values in the yellow spectrum and the highest lightness of all samples studied. The SEM images of the samples formulated with the addition of vegetable oils and quinoa flour exhibited a more uniform distribution of the individual components restructured into a more compact protein network, unlike the samples made with potato starch, which had rougher and less organised morphological structure.


Optimising the design of aviation propulsion systems using computational fluid dynamics is essential to increase their efficiency and reduce pollutant as well as noise emissions. Nowadays, and within this optimisation and design phase, it is possible to perform meaningful unsteady computations of the various components of a gas-turbine engine. However, these simulations are often carried out independently of each other and only share averaged quantities at the interfaces minimising the impact and interactions between components. In contrast to the current state-of-the-art, this work presents a 360 azimuthal degrees large-eddy simulation with over 2100 million cells of the DGEN-380 demonstrator engine enclosing a fully integrated fan, compressor and annular combustion chamber at take-off conditions as a first step towards a high-fidelity simulation of the full engine. In order to carry such a challenging simulation and reduce the computational cost, the initial solution is interpolated from stand-alone sectoral simulations of each component. In terms of approach, the integrated mesh is generated in several steps to solve potential machine dependent memory limitations. It is then observed that the 360 degrees computation converges to an operating point with less than 0.5% difference in zero-dimensional values compared to the stand-alone simulations yielding an overall performance within 1% of the designed thermodynamic cycle. With the presented methodology, convergence and azimuthally decorrelated results are achieved for the integrated simulation after only


Introduction: Syphilis is a systemic sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. It has chronic evolution and is subject to flare-ups and latency periods when untreated, which can produce the acquired or congenital forms of the disease. It has been acknowledged in 2016 as an epidemic in Brazil. Objective: To identify the information needs of pregnant women regarding syphilis during pregnancy and congenital syphilis, aiming to assist in the development of a technology-mediated educational resource as a strategy to promote health and fight the syphilis epidemic. Methods: The prior knowledge of pregnant women assisted in high-risk prenatal care at the Maternity of Divino Amor in Parnamirim/RN was investigated, in order to identify the information needs of this population and support the development of a prototype of an educational resource in prenatal care services that use technological mediation, education and communication as distance health education strategies. Results: Forty-six pregnant women who demonstrated to have gaps in knowledge about syphilis were assessed with regard to: signs and symptoms of the disease, prevention measures, and vertical transmission. Conclusion: These findings supported the development of a prototype educational resource that intends to be an important source of information for the adoption of preventive health measures, contributing to the learning process of pregnant women, to the improvement of health indicators in this population and the reduction of congenital syphilis cases.


Weight reflects the essentiality of an index in index volume. Presented a method of determine index weight in security risk evaluation (SRE) based on information entropy. It is a kind of structure analysis method, which constituted entropy model for security risk evaluation of information system and defined subjection function in the first instance, shaped subjection degree matrix of experts' ideas via idea collection and expert compositor, and then introduced average cognitive degree and cognitive bind degree, eliminated experts' indetermination of cognition in compositor phases. In the end, gained vector quantities of weight via normalized. The method of determine index weight based on information entropy puts forward a new method to determine index weight in security risk evaluation.


Episodic attempts at organizational change have proven to be unable to keep pace with continuous change. The challenge of emergent and continuous change calls for newways of understanding time, particularly with regards to knowing the future. This article begins by reviewing classic organizational change theory in terms of its underlying temporal assumptions along with its epistemological stance toward effecting change in time. Drawing on the ideas of Henri Bergson, an alternative view of time as a dynamic flow— or duration—is presented, suggesting that linear, detached, and episodic methods lack knowledge of the future as a temporal dynamic and that popular visioning approaches that rely on future perfect assumptions fail to engage that dynamic directly. The authors propose that the future is unconditioned, what they refer to as the future infinitive. Knowing the future directly through deep improvisation bypasses sense making in favor of cultivating presence and acting in real time.


Despite the ongoing trend of higher intensities in dairy farming, some farmers select rather low-input systems. We identify such system in an agricultural bookkeeping dataset and assess economic effects of this system selection under volatile prices situations using cluster analysis and direct covariates matching. We find one lowinput cluster with low levels of input use and three clusters with rather higher input levels. Those clusters differ in site conditions, farm size and milk production. After applying the matching methodology, the results indicate that choosing a low-input system does not affect farm income but reduces the work load and borrowed capital even under volatile markets.


The occurrence of a thermally induced first-order transition affecting the amidolytic activity of plasmin adsorbed onto bare and protein-modified graphite and glassy carbon was demonstrated in the 10-45 degrees C temperature range in the presence of a chromogenic substrate. Modification of the surfaces was achieved upon spontaneous adsorption of plasmin to surfaces bearing a coating of fibrinogen, whether electrochemically oxidized or not. The amount of fibrinogen adsorbed at graphite was determined by ELISA. The kinetics of the transition was characterized by its starting temperature (T(c)), which was between 14 and 19 degrees C, the first-order rate constant, and the activation energy E(a) deduced from Arrhenius plots. Results showed the absence of a correlation between T(c), E(a), and contact angle variations. It is therefore likely that these variables address separate steps in a complex pathway of reactions undergone by plasmin under mild thermal constraints. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.


The South African Geographical Names Council has compiled an unpublished list of all the geographical names registered between 2000 and 2014. This article analyses the number of names registered each year and breaks it down into changes of spelling, changes of name and registration of names not previously registered. The total number of names is compared with those in two previous periods, 1977–1988 and 1989–1999. Half the names were first registrations, 30% were changes of spelling and 20% were changes of name. This is a lower proportion of changes than might have been expected in the light of calls for transformation in geographical naming. The totals for the period are also broken down according to provinces. Patterns in the creation of new post office outlets since 1989 are discussed. A high proportion of all the names were from African languages, constituting a large increase compared to the periods 1977–1988 and 1989–1999. The conclusion that is reached is that while there has been a significant increase in names from African languages, the registration of new names and changing of names have been moderate.


In terms of the SANS 10100:2000 Parts 1 and 2, designers of reinforced concrete structures must base their designs on the cube strength of concrete, and SANS 5863:2006 specifies how this must be tested. The cube strength is known as the characteristic strength of the concrete and is the strength given in the material specification for the structure. It is further defined as the strength below which only 5% of the cube results may fall, i.e. it must give the designer a 95% confidence level that the strength will be achieved. Statistically, a 100% confidence level requires making concrete so much stronger than specified that it becomes economically unacceptable.


Cloud computing is formally known as an Internet-centered computing technique used for computing purposes in the cloud network. It must compute on a system where an application may simultaneously run on many connected computers. Cloud computing uses computing resources to achieve the efficiency of data centres using the virtualization concept in the cloud. The load balancers consistently allocate the workloads to all the virtual machines in the cloud to avoid an overload situation. The virtualization process implements the instances from the physical state machines to fully utilize servers. Then the dynamic data centres encompass a stochastic modelling approach for resource optimization for high performance in a cloud computing environment. This paper defines the virtualization process for obtaining energy productivity in cloud data centres. The algorithm proposed involves a stochastic modelling approach in cloud data centres for resource optimization. The load balancing method is applied in the cloud data centres to obtain the appropriate efficiency.


A link between oral mucosa pathology and respiratory airways disease has been observed, although mechanisms are not well understood. Community Periodontal Index (CPI) is a WHO standardized and validated tool to objectively evaluate periodontal status. There is no literature on the association of CPI with lung function. Objectives: To study whether CPI is related to lung function. Methods: Analyses included 637 participants born 1947-96 in the ECRHS III and RHINESSA studies from Bergen, Norway, in whom both CPI index and lung function had been measured. CPI was analysed as a continuous variable ranging from 0 (healthy priodontium) to 4 (periodontal pocket >5 mm). Linear regressions models with adjustments for age, gender, and smoking were performed. Results: With increasing CPI index, a significant decrease in FEV1/ FVC ratio was observed (-.012[-.019 to -.006] per unit, p<0.001) in adjusted analyses. No association between the CPI index and FEV1 or FVC was indicated.
 Conclusion: Poor periodontal health was highly significantly associated with airways obstruction. Given a future perspective of oral intervention, this research field warrants further efforts. Word count: 180.


The article considers tax policy as a component of the economic policy of the state, which forms the federal, regional and local budgets. The directions of the tax policy of the Republic of Tyva are determined, an assessment of the socio-economic indicators of the republic is given. The analysis of the dynamics of tax payments administered by tax authorities is carried out. Some recommendations on improving the tax potential at the regional level are presented.


We present an approximate inference method, based on a synergistic combination of R\'enyi $\alpha$-divergence variational inference (RDVI) and rejection sampling (RS). RDVI is based on minimization of R\'enyi $\alpha$-divergence $D_\alpha(p||q)$ between the true distribution $p(x)$ and a variational approximation $q(x)$; RS draws samples from a distribution $p(x) = \tilde{p}(x)/Z_{p}$ using a proposal $q(x)$, s.t. $Mq(x) \geq \tilde{p}(x), \forall x$. Our inference method is based on a crucial observation that $D_\infty(p||q)$ equals $\log M(\theta)$ where $M(\theta)$ is the optimal value of the RS constant for a given proposal $q_\theta(x)$. This enables us to develop a \emph{two-stage} hybrid inference algorithm. Stage-1 performs RDVI to learn $q_\theta$ by minimizing an estimator of $D_\alpha(p||q)$, and uses the learned $q_\theta$ to find an (approximately) optimal $\tilde{M}(\theta)$. Stage-2 performs RS using the constant $\tilde{M}(\theta)$ to improve the approximate distribution $q_\theta$ and obtain a sample-based approximation. We prove that this two-stage method allows us to learn considerably more accurate approximations of the target distribution as compared to RDVI. We demonstrate our method's efficacy via several experiments on synthetic and real datasets.


Integrated surface pressure distribution measurements using the PSP technique on a three-dimensional aircraft model with a number of various flaps, rudders and ailerons were performed at angles of attack between -4/spl deg/ to 36/spl deg/, angles of sideslip between -13/spl deg/ to 13/spl deg/ for Mach numbers from 0.6 to 0.95. In such cases, if the pressure distribution around the model is determined, forces and moments can be calculated. In addition comparisons with conventional balance techniques are possible. The main challenge to get good PSP results on one hand is the arrangement of hardware, components of model illumination and camera observation - especially in the handling of eight simultaneously operating CCD cameras. On the other hand the software should be able to handle in a short time all the necessary synchronization between the PSP-system and wind tunnel, all PSP images, correction of lens errors, model deformation etc.. This paper describes how these problems are solved. A large number of results were mainly obtained on the AerMacchi M346 trainer aircraft model in May 2000 in the DNW-HST at Amsterdam.


Numerous reliably observed discrepancies to the single-toxin hypothesis of the mechanism of scarlet fever are readily explained by merely assuming that multiple antigenic toxins exist. This report demonstrates the existence of two such toxins, A and B, whose qualitative distinctiveness is evidenced both by immunologic and chemical criteria. These include specific antigenicity, neutralizability, and erythrogenic activity, the effects of dialysis, adsorbents, precipitants, and enzymic digestion. Other erythrogenic streptococcal toxins undoubtedly exist. A single toxigenic strain may produce A or B or both or neither.


A case of non-accidental injury to an infant caused by the discharge of an air pistol is presented, the first such case to be reported. A two-month-old baby was shot at close range by his father with a ***.177 air pistol. A false account of the cause of the injury was given by the father and initially supported by the mother. The pellet penetrated the skin in the centre of the child's forehead and lodged in the anterior wall of the sagittal sinus. It was removed under general anaesthetic and the child made an uncomplicated recovery. The father was subsequently convicted and jailed for the assault. The relevant literature on air weapon injuries and bizarre forms of child abuse is discussed.


As the demand for mobile wireless network increases, the radio spectrum becomes an increasingly more precious resource. This dissertation explores two important problems to increase the efficiency of radio spectral usage. The first is a novel transmission scheme for a multicarrier relay system with direct link between source and destination. This scheme dynamically distributes the power at both the source and relay nodes between two transmission phases and among multiple carriers according to channel state information. The second is an exploration of several new methods for practical realization of full-duplex radio communication. Among them are a time-domain transmit beamforming method and an all-analog adaptive radio interference cancellation. Critical hardware issues such as phase noise, IQ imbalance and nonlinearity are handled in our exploration. This dissertation contains results of algorithmic development, computer simulation as well as hardware implementation.


Radiation therapy (RT) is one of the most important strategies in cancer treatment. Radioresistance (the failure to RT) results in locoregional recurrence and metastasis. Therefore, it is critically important to investigate the mechanisms leading to cancer radioresistance to overcome this problem and increase patients' survival. Currently, the majority of the radioresistance-associated researches have focused on preclinical studies. Although the exact mechanisms of cancer radioresistance have not been fully uncovered, accumulating evidence supports that cancer stem cells (CSCs) and different signaling pathways play important roles in regulating radiation response and radioresistance. Therefore, targeting CSCs or signaling pathway proteins may hold promise for developing novel combination modalities and overcoming radioresistance. The present review focuses on the key evidence of CSC markers and several important signaling pathways in cancer radioresistance and explores innovative approaches for future radiation treatment.


Background: According to a recent survey, the 2009 North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition–European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition gastroesophageal reflux guidelines are poorly adhered to by European primary care pediatricians. The main issue raised from the survey was the prescription of unnecessary acid suppressive medications, especially in infants. No inquiry into the reasons was made. The primary objective of the present study was to assess the applicability of the guidelines in European primary care pediatricians undergoing specific trainings. Methods: One hundred pediatricians involved in the previous survey agreed to participate and were randomly divided into 2 groups: one group was trained in the guidelines through an online podcast and the other group was trained through a synopsis. During the following 3 months, each involved pediatrician was asked to enroll every consecutive infant, child, or adolescent with suggestive reflux symptoms. For every enrolled patient, pediatricians filled in a report concerning their diagnostic and therapeutic choices. Results: A total of 382 patients (boys/girls 186/196, infants/children/adolescents 194/123/65) were enrolled by pediatricians. Infants with unexplained crying and/or distressed behavior who were prescribed proton-pump inhibitors were 3.7% compared with 45.2% of the survey data obtained before the training (P < 0.05). Infants with uncomplicated recurrent regurgitation and vomiting who were prescribed proton-pump inhibitors were 4.5% against 37.1% of the baseline survey data (P < 0.05). The overall rate of children managed in full compliance with the guidelines was 46.1% after the training compared with 1.8% before the training (P < 0.05). No significant differences were seen between pediatricians from podcast and synopsis group. Conclusions: The North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition–European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition gastroesophageal reflux guidelines have good applicability, despite that they are presently poorly adhered to by European primary care pediatricians. Simple, inexpensive trainings were proven to be effective in increasing adherence by pediatricians. The increase in compliance clearly favors the role of continuous medical education through simple educational tools and subsequent assessment of practice.


AIM
To describe the enablers and challenges to the development and implementation of advanced nursing and midwifery practice roles in Ireland.

BACKGROUND
Leadership strategies need to be put in place to enhance the development and implementation of advanced nursing and midwifery practice roles.

METHOD
A descriptive qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders (n = 15) was undertaken with nurses and midwives working in specialist and advanced practice roles and participants from other areas such as legislative, regulatory, policy, pharmacy, medicine and education.

RESULTS
Participant's perspectives on the enablers and challenges to enacting specialist and advanced practice roles resulted in the generation of three themes: organisational factors; collegial, interprofessional and interpersonal support; and role clarity, economic and regulatory contexts.

CONCLUSION
Addressing organisational factors, encouraging collegial and interprofessional support and establishing role clarity contribute to the effective development and implementation of the role of advanced practitioners.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND MIDWIFERY MANAGEMENT
Managers of nursing services need to provide leadership in developing strategies to enhance the enablers and overcome the challenges to advanced practice role development in their own organisation.


For a   non-constant polynomial map f: Cn?Cn-1 we consider the monodromy representation on the cohomology group of its generic fiber. The main result of the paper determines its dimension and provides a natural basis for it. This generalizes the corresponding results of [2] or [10], where the case n=2 is solved. As  applications,  we verify the Jacobian conjecture for (f,g) when the generic fiber of f is either rational or elliptic. These are generalizations of the corresponding results of [5], [7], [8], [11] and [12], where the case  n=2 is treated.


Background: Women living with HIV experience severe HIV-related stress in sub-Saharan Africa. But evidence shows that individuals with high levels of the psychological hardiness characteristic who accept stressful situations as meaningful experience may withstand psychological stress. However, the literature on associations between hardiness and HIV-related stress among women living with HIV is scarce. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between hardiness and HIV-related stress among women living with HIV in Niger State, Nigeria. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. A systematic sampling technique was used to recruit 748 participants from three selected hospitals in Niger State. The perceived stress scale and the health-related hardiness scale were used for data collection. A total of 676 questionnaires were returned in usable form and were analysed using hierarchical regression analysis. Results: Pearson's correlation analysis showed that there is a statistically significant association between perceived stress and subscales of hardiness (p < 0.001). Hierarchical regression analysis results showed that hardiness significantly predicted perceived stress among the study sample with R2 = 0.286, F(3, 669) = 90, p < 0.001. Conclusion: The finding of this study that higher hardiness is associated with lower perceived stress suggests the potential helpfulness to women living with HIV of this personality for coping. The finding also suggests that nurses and other health care workers may facilitate the development and/or improvement of hardiness characteristics through cognitive behavioural interventions among women living with HIV to ameliorate HIV-related stress.


The aim of the present study is to investigate whether the deformation of the intervertebral disc contributes to the progression of idiopathic scoliotic curves. In the standing posteroanterior x-rays of 92 scoliotic curves the following readings were obtained: Cobb angle (CA), apical vertebral rotation (AVR), apical vertebral wedging (AVW) and the adjacent to the apical vertebra Upper (UIVDW) and Lower (LIVDW) InterVertebral Discs Wedging. The statistical analyses included inter - intraobserver reliability test, descriptives, monofactorial linear regression and Pearson correlation coefficient, with p<0.05 considered statistical significant (SS). The mean thoracic CA was 13.4 degrees, lumbar CA 13.8 degrees, thoracic AVR 5.3 degrees, lumbar AVR 4.7 degrees, thoracic AVW 1.4 degrees, lumbar AVW 1.5 degrees, thoracic UIVDW 1.6 degrees, thoracic LIVDW 1 degrees, lumbar UIVDW 1.3 degrees and lumbar LIVDW 2 degrees. Both thoracic and lumbar CA regressed SS with lumbar LIVDW, lumbar UIVDW, thoracic LIVDW and thoracic AVW. Lumbar LIVDW correlates SS with thoracic CA, lumbar CA and thoracic LIVDW. An inter and intra-observer error was below 1 degrees . The eccentric intervertebral disc in the scoliotic spine, through variation in its water concentration produces asymmetrically cyclical load during the 24-hour period and an asymmetrical growth of the vertebral body (Hueter-Volkman's law). The statistical analysis revealed that AVW appears later when already CA increases, the IVDW is more important than AVW and the LIVDW, which is greater than UIVDW, is the most frequent correlated radiographic parameter. The deformation of the apical intervertebral disc seems to be an important contributory factor in the progression of a scoliotic curve.


Four anti-al Ab subpopulations were isolated from an anti-al antiserum by sequential immunoadsorption chromatography. These four anti-al Ab subpopulations were differentially bound by two "limited heterogeneity" Abs having different components of the al allotypic specificity. Each of the four anti-al Ab subpopulations reacted with al IgG molecules obtained from a2 and a3 rabbits. A subpopulation designated anti-al Ab reacted with 100% of al IgG molecules. Thus, the anti-al-A Ab recognizes al determinants common to all al IgG molecules. Each of the other three subpopulations, designated anti-al-B Ab, anti-al-C Ab, and anti-al-D Ab, reacted with only a fraction of the al IgG molecules but the sum of the percentages of al IgG molecules which reacted with each of these three anti-al Ab subpopulations approximated 100% of the al IgG molecules. Thus each of the anti-al-B Ab, anti-al-C Ab, and anti-al-D Ab recognizes non-common determinants distinct for each of three subpopulations of al IgG molecules. Although 65 to 90% of IgG molecules in al homozygous rabbits have the al allotypic specificity, these IgG molecules are heterogeneous with respect to their antigenic determinants comprising the al allotype; at least three kinds of al IgG molecules are identified. This heterogeneity probably reflects variation in the amino acid sequence of the Vh region of al IgG molecules and, therefore, poses a similar argument which had led to the hypothesis of two genes for one polypeptide chain and to the theory of episomal insertions for the genetic control of immunoglobulin synthesis.


The trilobite Dikelokephalina is widespread across the Tremadocian Gondwana, Avalonia and Baltica palaeocontinents. The hitherto poorly known Anglo‐Welsh species D. furca (Salter, 1866 ) is revised on the basis of new and well‐preserved material. A new species, D. brenchleyi sp. nov., is described from the Anti‐Atlas, Morocco. The two species together provide a fuller understanding of the genus, and of the family, Dikelokephalinidae (Kobayashi, 1934 ), to which it has been assigned. Suggestions that this family may be a junior synonym of Hungaiidae (Raymond, 1924 ) are considered premature. D. brenchleyi sp. nov. apparently shows variation in mature segment number, a most unusual feature in post‐Cambrian trilobites. It is found in monospecific assemblages of large individuals which lack ventral median sutures, and a case is made that these individuals represent a mass gathering of individuals that have ceased to grow, for the purpose of fertilizing eggs, as happens in living Limulus. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Northern Ireland has been somewhat overlooked in terms of water quality modelling in the past. Many of its catchments have consistently failed to meet Water Framework Directive targets especially due to high levels of dissolved nutrients and poor ecological status. A catchment based modelling study to address this issue has not been undertaken here previously and the approach described here uses two water quality models to achieve this aim. The objectives of the modelling were firstly to identify the total load reductions (in terms of Phosphorus (P)) required to reduce in-stream loadings sufficiently for concentrations of soluble reactive P (SRP) to be reduced to achieve the WFD “Good” status levels, and secondly to split these loadings into diffuse and point components. The third objective was to identify the most likely flow pathways for the transport of the diffuse component of P to the watercourses particularly for the agricultural (mostly intensive grassland farming) land use which dominates in almost all NI catchments.

The first model applied is the Source Load Apportionment Model (SLAM) developed by the Irish EPA. This model provides a large-scale assessment of the point and diffuse load components across catchments where multiple pressures are occurring. The second model us the Catchment Runoff Flux Assessment Tool (CRAFT) which is able to back-calculate nutrient loads associated with three major flow pathways. SLAM is a static model which uses averaged loadings from diffuse agriculture and non-agricultural land uses, and point sources (where information can be obtained from various sources) to calculate N and P exports. For P, the agricultural diffuse load component uses an enhanced version of the export coefficient approach based on combining the sources of P from applied nutrients (slurry and fertiliser) and soil P. A modelling tool allows the user to evaluate load reduction scenarios where one or several components of P (both point and diffuse) are adjusted downwards to achieve the catchment’s required load reduction. The CRAFT model works on a dynamic (daily) modelling scale and has simulated sub-catchments where the SLAM model has identified the need for significant load reductions. It identifies the different reductions (P export) that are required for each flow pathway, which will then inform on the type of additional measures (e.g. sediment traps, riparian buffer strips and wetlands) that may also be required.

The initial aim of this study is to complete a pilot application to the trans-border (UK and ROI) Blackwater catchment (1360 km2). Through a review of alternative modelling options for the whole area of NI, an assessment of whether this approach is suitable for application to the entire territory can be made.


We discuss a dramatic change brought into the pQCD description of hard processes in a nuclear environment by a large thickness of heavy nuclei. It breaks the familiar linear $k_{\perp}$-factorization which must be replaced by a new concept of the nonlinear $k_{\perp}$-factorization introduced in \cite{Nonlinear}.We demonstrate the salient features of nonlinear $k_{\perp}$-factorization on several examples from hard dijet production in DIS off heavy nuclei to single-jet to dijet production in hadron-nucleus collisions >. We also comment briefly on the non-linear BFKL evolution for gluon density of nuclei.


ABSTRACT In this article, we will demonstrate how a social semiotic reading of a housing advertisement campaign differs from the audience reception of it. We have talked to the campaign's producer – the Norwegian housing developer Block Watne – whose reflections are somewhat different from our own. The producer emphasises a policy of selling homes by choosing certain semiotic resources at the expense of others; however, in contrast to our academic reading, the producer does not pay particular attention to the grammar of visual design, such as composition and modality, which is understandable, because specialist language is required to do so. This is also the case for the audience, without compromising their ability to criticise the campaign in different ways. Furthermore, while we read gender roles in the campaign, the producer and the audience do not. We will demonstrate that incorporating knowledge about sign makers' intentions and audience reception of visual marketing, provides additional insight into the dynamics of communication.


Repairing damaged or dysfunctional human brain circuits remains an ongoing challenge for biomedical science. While surviving neuronal networks can be reorganised after lesion, for example by neurotrophins, these new connections are disorganised and rarely produce clinical improvement. Here we investigate how to promote axonal growth while retaining correct cellular targeting. We show that, in response to brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in target-tissue, potential reinnervating neurons upregulate Pax3. Pax3 in turn increases polysialic acid-neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM) on their axon terminals, facilitating their outgrowth and pathfinding, and resulting in correctly-targeted neural circuit repair in the mature nervous system. This is a novel role for Pax3, which we confirmed by showing its expression in afferent neurons is essential for spontaneous and BDNF-induced reinnervation in the developing and mature brains, respectively. Together these results suggest that Pax3 contributes to a repair program, in which axon growth is promoted and direction signaling maintained. These data advance our understanding for accurately rebuilding neural circuits: restricting growth-promotion to potential afferent neurons, as opposed to stimulating the whole circuit, allows axon growth without impairing its guidance.


Lightning insulation coordination is based on statistical approaches. This allows to correlate the electrical stress caused by lightning and the electrical strength of the insulations, both having probabilistic nature. This chapter provides an example of lightning insulation coordination. Specifically, it deals with the statistical appraisal of the so-called lightning performance of distribution systems, carried out by means of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. The relevant application to both the cases of direct and indirect lightning events, considering the correlation between the probability distributions of the lightning current parameters, is described and discussed. In particular, the application to the indirect events is based on the definition of a surface around the power line and on the calculation of the induced voltages along the line caused by indirect events having stroke location uniformly distributed within such a surface. The result obtained through the MC simulations is fmally scaled taking into account the annual number of fl ashes per square kilometer expected in the region of interest. In order to obtain significant results, two aspects need to be considered: the surface around the power line should be large enough in order to collect all the events that may endanger the insulation, and the density of the stroke locations should be sufficiently high. Therefore, for medium voltage systems, or even more for the case of low voltage ones, the area can reach a large value indeed, and the number of events to be considered can be consequently huge. The chapter also describes the application of the stratified sampling technique able to reduce the computation effort typical to this type of calculation.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of Diospyros lotus L. fruit extract against the hemolytic damage induced by Vicia faba beans extract in both G6PD enzyme-deficient human and rat erythrocyte in vitro and in vivo.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
In the former model, venous blood samples were obtained from five subjects with known G6PD deficiency and erythrocyte hemolysis induced by Vicia faba L. bean extract was asessed spectrophotometrically in the presence and absence of Diospyros lotus L. fruits extract. In the in vivo model, G6PD-deficient rats (induced by intraperitoneal injection of dehydroepiandrosterone for 35 days) pre-treated with different doses of Diospyros lotus L. (500, 750, 1000, and 1500 mg/kg, p.o for 7 days) were challenged with Vicia faba beans extract and the protective effect of the fruit extract against hemolysis was evaluated as above.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
The results have shown that Diospyros lotus L. fruits extract has antioxidant activity that may protect against hemolytic damage induced by Vicia faba bean extract in both G6PD-deficient human and rat erythrocytes. The study gives a scientific basis for the efficacy of the fruit extract as used in Iran. The fact that this was shown in human erythrocytes in vitro is significant and provides a rationale for further testing in vivo in G6PD-deficient human populations.


Introduction: For the adolescent to be diagnosed with cancer could be turbulent and life may end up in tatters. A cancer diagnose affects the adolescents' relationships with parents, friends and new acquaintances. For teens that are affected by cancer, losing peer relations are a great fear and to maintain friendship can be one of several challenges during this period.
Purpose: The purpose of the study is to describe adolescents' experiences of peer relations after being diagnosed with cancer.
Method: Qualitative interviews with four adolescents were conducted and collected data were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis.
Findings: The result shows that peer relations got affected in both positive and negative ways. This is reported in three categories; "Losing friends", "Friends matter" and "Changed friendship". The first category "Losing friends" describes as time passed some friends ended the friendship with the adolescent. The second category "Friends matter" describes how friends matter both emotional and practical when something unexpected and life determine happens. In the third category "Changed friendship" it is described how the peer relations changed after the cancer diagnose. Some friends came closer and the adolescent got an increased understanding of friends' importance. In some cases the adolescent chose to avoid contact with friends.
Discussion: The result of the study can conduct an increased understanding for adolescents' experiences of peer relations after being diagnosed with cancer. This could help the pediatric nurse when supporting adolescents with cancer in conducting peer relations during hospitalization. By maintaining peer relations the adolescent can get a sense of coherence and friends can support the adolescent through the difficult time. Support from friends can give the adolescent a sense of meaningfulness and therefore health.


Time is a sensitive and crucial factor in emergency medical service (EMS). The megacities in low and middle income countries (LMICs) like Karachi are vulnerable to man-made disasters like bomb blasts and ever growing road traffic incidents. The spatial and temporal differences of EMS accessibility are vital for the assessment, provision and utilization of emergency facilities for efficient emergency services dispatch in the urban communities. This was a cross-sectional exploratory study conducted from October-December 2016 to analyze the impact of traffic congestion gridlocks on the temporal and spatial accessibility to EMS in Karachi- the economic and industrial hub of Pakistan. The target study area was Saddar Town- Karachi, the heart of all tertiary and disaster management healthcare services. The analysis was done by using the elevated observation and photographic impressions during peak hours of weekdays, in-depth-interviews with EMS transportation personal and traffic constables and maximum-car-methods. The results revealed : (1) During rush hours, the average and longest time between 12 hospitals and communities are 80% higher than using standard road speed (2) The traffic congestion and gridlocks on EMS accessibility significantly impact areas where the road network are broken, prevalent bottleneck situations and traffic rules are ignored (3) With the increase of time impedance, accessibility was slowed. This trend is more obvious in off-rush hours. The real-time traffic condition should be considered in planning, development and provision of EMS. An integrated approach is needed to optimize EMS scheduling and improved efficiency. Hence this will ensure accessibility to non-affording consumers and victims of disasters (bomb blasts, road traffic incidents) or natural calamity seeking public sector healthcare facilities. Otherwise, limited accessibility and unavailability of EMS services for communities may result in poor health outcomes, compromised quality of care as well as less than optimal utilization of services.


Surprises are important in our everyday lives as well as in our scientific and philosophical theorizing—in psychology, information theory, cognitiveneuroscience, philosophy of science, and confirmation theory. Nevertheless, there is no satisfactory theory of what makes something surprising. It has long been acknowledged that not everything unexpected is surprising. The reader had no reason to expect that there will be exactly 190 words in this abstract and yet there is nothing surprising about this fact. We offer a novel theory that explains when and why an unexpected fact is surprising. We distinguish between descriptive and normative notions of what is surprising; clarify the sense in which surprising facts are unexpected; and, finally, develop and defend the significance account of surprise, according to which a fact is surprising to an agent if and to the extent that it is both unexpected and significant to the agent. Since a surprising fact can be significant to an agent in various ways—personal, moral, epistemic, and aesthetic—surprise is not merely or primarily epistemic. Fitting surprise reflects more than a person's view of what is; it reflects a person's view of what is significant. It is sometimes taken for granted that surprise is called for by the unexpected—this is the naive view of surprise. However, counterexamples abound. Consider the exact distance between your * The authors contributed equally.


Designing visualization for everyday life is challenging, yet design approaches in this field are not well explored. We propose a design approach that implements data as additional media in an existing information ecosystem rather than within a stand-alone application, hoping to enhance on-going awareness and lower the cost of long-term maintenance. This approach was implemented as a web application that integrates time-varying data as an additional visualization layer in a personal digital calendar. We suggest that personal digital calendars can provide personal context to assist with data interpretation and can lower the barriers of accessing data without interfering with daily routines. We deployed our prototype in two pilot field studies, with data streams from household electricity meters and Fitbit devices, respectively. The preliminary results were encouraging. As a different approach towards designing visualizations that can fit into people's routines, we hope our work can inspire future exploration of design approaches that can bring the power of visualization to people's everyday lives.


Hybrid materials with superior structural and functional properties can be obtained by incorporating nanofillers into polymer matrices. Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) nanoparticles have attracted much attention recently due to their nanometer size, the ease of which these particles can be incorporated into polymeric materials and the unique capability to reinforce polymers. We review here the state of POSS-containing polymer nanocomposites. We discuss the influence of the incorporation of POSS into polymer matrices via chemical cross-linking or physical blending on the structure of nanocomposites, as affected by surface functional groups, and the POSS concentration.


Eutobrilus heptapapillatus, found in a number of different sites at the mouth of the River Murray in South Australia, were examined under light and electron microscopes. The pseudocoeloms of these nematodes often contained oval crystalloid bodies containing carbohydrate, sulfur, phosphorus, and lipid. The bodies varied considerably in size up to a maximum of 10 mum long. The precise function of these crytalloids remains unknown. Nematodes having these crystalloids often also contained numerous small regular densely staining particles, about 20 nm d and occurring throughout the nematode's body.


The use of ultrasound for therapeutic applications involving innovative drug delivery methodologies is a promising area of research to enhance the effectiveness of drug treatment to treat a wide range of diseases, including cancer, peripheral vascular disease, and stroke. Rather than use destructive heating, we have designed and built a family of multi-functional arrays which can ultrasonically identify a target tissue and produce mild heating within this specific tissue site for activated delivery of drug-encapsulated vehicles. These triple array probes are truly multifunctional, operating on a standard commercial imaging system. As sonotherapeutic devices, however, the internal heating and heat dissipation pathways are a concern for design optimization. We have compared three different triple-array probe designs for thermal efficiency and heat transfer characteristics. Each of these multifunctional arrays are comprised of a single center array row of 128 elements operating at 5.3 MHz for imaging, and two 1.5 MHz, 64 element outer arrays operated in parallel for sonotherapy. The laboratory verified KLM model for the low frequency array pair in each probe design has been used to derive estimates of array transmission power and efficiency. Using the key parameters of each design, we can determine the array heat source function and apply analytical expressions to explain the heat dissipation pathways in the probe itself. Our analytical techniques use simplifying assumptions and include the use of both equivalent lumped element thermal circuits for the transducer front port path, and a solution of the PDE heat equation for transient conduction with constant surface heat flux boundary conditions at the transducer backing. The metalized traces of the flex circuits act as the third heat escape pathway. The multifunctional array probes can be used to deliver up to 5 Watts of total acoustic power in mild hyperthermia experiments with small animals. Our analytical expressions have been verified with temperature measurements made in the array backing material and on the array surface. Our early design, the G3, has a triple layer array stack and flex circuit interface connections to support these layers; a later design, the G4, has only a single layer array piezoceramic but has an optimized front port for heat dissipation. The G5 has a further optimized front port and changes in array interconnects. These three probe designs have produced very different thermal dissipation power path distributions; the front, back and flex trace heat path distributions for the three are a) 16%, 2%, 82%, b) 42%, 7%, 51%, and c) 86%, 8%, 6% for the G3, G4, and G5 designs respectively. These results can be directly related to optimized design features which improve the heat routing in sonotherapy array devices.


The SET mechanism between chlorine dioxide (ClO2 ) and phenol was studied by using ab initio method at 4-31G* level. Geometries of the reactants, intermediate and products of the reaction were optimized and the single point energy calculations of the species were performed. The relative structure data of the reactants, intermediate and products are given. The SET mechanism between ClO2 and phenol was confirmed by ab initio calculations. The reaction is exothermic about 200. 88 k J/mol.


Phylogenetic trees provide a framework for understanding the evolution of features (properties, characters or traits) of species, where closely related species share many common or similar features. This property of phylogenetic trees has practical use in applications such as bio‐prospecting, where an optimal strategy exploits phylogenetic information to target closely related species to search for shared features of interest. The implicit corollary of this is that distantly related species share few features in common. This property of phylogenetic trees is thought to be useful for conservation evaluation in choosing sets of species that maximize the present utilitarian benefits of extant feature diversity (such as biologically active compounds or source systems for genetic engineering) as well as maximizing the range of evolutionary trajectories into the future.


BACKGROUND Epidemiological sciences have been evolving at an exponential rate paralleled only by the comparable growth within the discipline of data science. Digital epidemiological studies are playing a vital role in medical science analytics for the past few decades. To date, there are no published attempts at deploying the use of real-time analytics in connection with the disciplines of Dentistry or Medicine. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES We deployed a real-time statistical analysis in connection with topics in Dental Anatomy and Dental Pathology represented by the maxillary sinus, posterior maxillary teeth, related oral pathology. The purpose is to infer the digital epidemiology based on a continuous stream of raw data retrieved from Google Trends database. MATERIALS AND METHODS Statistical analysis was carried out via Microsoft Excel 2016 and SPSS version 24. Google Trends database was used to retrieve data for digital epidemiology. Real-time analytics and the statistical inference were based on encoding a programming script using Python high-level programming language. A systematic review of the literature was carried out via PubMed-NCBI, the Cochrane Library, and Elsevier databases. RESULTS The comprehensive review of databases of the literature, based on specific keywords search, yielded 491813 published studies. These were distributed as 488884 (PubMed-NCBI), 1611 (the Cochrane Library), and 1318 (Elsevier). However, there was no single study attempting real-time analytics. Nevertheless, we succeeded in achieving an automated real-time stream of data accompanied by a statistical inference based on data extrapolated from Google Trends. CONCLUSION Real-time analytics are of considerable impact when implemented in biological and life sciences as they will tremendously reduce the required resources for research. Predictive analytics, based on artificial neural networks and machine learning algorithms, can be the next step to be deployed in continuation of the real-time systems to prognosticate changes in the temporal trends and the digital epidemiology of phenomena of interest.


Abstract Current pedagogical research has striven to create an adaptive computer educational system which would come closest to each student's needs and skills, and would ensure the quickest and the most effective way of acquiring the necessary knowledge in the field concerned. Modern informational technologies are fundamental which make use of unconventional methods of artificial intelligence to mechanically and abstractedly formalize mental models of experienced educators, which leads to mechanical representation of their sophisticated teaching methods and procedures. The structure of the adaptive educational system includes fuzzy expert modules which formalize mental decision-making functions of an experienced educator. Two adaptive loops execute the processes of the adjustment of study materials according to the continuous study results shown and of learning the system according to the information about the student's modified learning procedure.


The aim of the present study was to determine whether sunflower meal (SFM), a highly rumen degradable protein (RDP) source, can be substituted with non-protein nitrogen (NPN, urea) without impacting negatively on intake, digestibility, rumen fermentation and microbial nitrogen (N) synthesis (MNS) in wethers consuming low quality Eragrostis curvula hay. Five wethers were fed ad libitum, low quality hay and supplemented twice-daily in equal proportions, via the rumen cannulae, one of five iso-nitrogenous and iso-energetic supplements in a 5 × 5 Latin square design experiment. The supplements differed in the ratios of rumen degradable N (RDN) supplied by either SFM and/or urea and is presented as percentage of RDN supplied by urea: T0 (100 % SFM, 0 % urea); T15 (85 % SFM, 15 % urea); T30 (70 % SFM, 30 % urea); T45 (55 % SFM, 45 % urea) and T60 (40 % SFM, 60 % urea). Forage intake and total tract dry matter (DM) digestibility did not differ; however, higher forage neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibilities were observed in the sheep supplemented with the higher urea-treatments (T45 and T60) compared to T15. Neither rumen pH nor total rumen volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentraions differed. The mean rumen ammonia nitrogen (RAN) concentration of the sheep supplemented with T60 was higher than T30 (9.35 mg dL−1 vs. 7.41 mg dL−1); however, no differences were observed in MNS or efficiency of MNS among treatments. Results suggest that up to 60 % of RDN supplied by SFM can be substituted with urea, without affecting intake, digestibility or MNS in wethers fed a low quality tropical hay.


Summary Covid‐19 placed unprecedented stresses on food supply chains. Farms faced bottlenecks for some inputs, notably seasonal labour. Processing was disrupted by labour shortages and shutdowns, especially in meat processing. Air freight, important for fruits and vegetables, was severely disrupted. Demand from restaurants and food service collapsed, while retail food demand surged. Yet supply chains in the developed world have been remarkably resilient to date. Store shelves were replenished as stockpiling behaviour subsided and as supply chain actors expanded operating hours, increased staff, simplified the product range and found alternative suppliers. This rapid recovery was facilitated by policy decisions to reduce border waiting times, to streamline certification procedures and to relax regulations on trade in food. Importantly, policymakers have so far mostly avoided a repeat of the mistakes of the 2007–2008 food price crisis, which was greatly exacerbated by export bans. Some bottlenecks remain, and there may be new supply risks as Covid‐19 spreads in Latin America. Overall, the biggest risk to food security is not food availability, but consumers' loss of income. Safety nets and food assistance are essential to avoid an increase in hunger, especially in developing countries.


The present study aimed to explore specific molecular targets for the diagnosis and treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The expression profiles of microRNAs (miRNAs) and mRNAs were downloaded from the GEO (GSE102286 and GSE101929) and TCGA databases. After data preprocessing, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) in cancer and normal tissues were selected and used to construct a DEM-DEG regulatory network and a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. The genes and miRNAs in these networks were subjected to functional enrichment and survival analyses. Several key DEMs and DEGs were verified using RT-qPCR, and the results were statistically interpreted using a multivariate logistic regression analysis. In this study, 25 DEMs and 789 DEGs common to all datasets were identified, which were then used for the construction of a DEM-DEG regulatory network and a PPI network module. Survival analyses of 19 DEMs in the DEM-DEG regulatory network and 36 DEGs in the PPI network module revealed that 34 DEGs (including TOP2A, CCNB1, BIRC5, and TTK) and two miRNAs (miR-21-5p and miR-31-5p) were significantly associated with NSCLC prognosis. Moreover, RT-qPCR analysis identified three DEGs and five DEMs that had changes in expression consistent with those observed in the bioinformatic analysis. Finally, a multivariate logistic regression analysis of the data showed that TOP2A, CCNB1, BIRC5, miR-21-5p, miR-193b-3p, miR-210-3p and miR-31-5p could be combined for the diagnosis of NSCLC. In conclusion, TOP2A, CCNB1, BIRC5, miR-21-5p, miR-193b-3p, miR-210-3p and miR-31-5p may therefore serve as important biomarkers and diagnostic targets for NSCLC.


We study relationship between biodiesel, as a most important biofuel in the EU, relevant feedstock commodities and fossil fuels. Our main interest is to capture relationship between biodiesel and natural gas. They are both used either directly as a fuel or indirectly in form of additives in transport. Therefore, our purpose is to find price linkage between biofuel and natural gas to support or reject the claim that they compete as alternative fuels and potential substitutes. The estimated price link between biodiesel and diesel is negative and the strongest among analysed commodities. The price transmission between biodiesel and natural gas is the weakest one.


This research discusses about the translation of present perfect verb phrases in Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles into bahasa Indonesia. This
is a descriptive-qualitative research. This research is intended to describe the
translation of present perfect verb phrase and to find out its equivalence. It is
analyzed descriptively by using semantics and syntactic approach and the theories
of verb phrase, tense, aspect, and Catford's translation shift. The results of this
research are: (1) the present perfect verb phrases in the novel, some are not
translated (non-translated translation) and some are translated into sudah, telah,
pernah, sudah pernah, belum, belum pernah, and tidak pernah, (2) in the
translation process, some shifts occur. Translation shifts occurred are level
shifts and category shifts. Level shift occurs in the translation process of present perfect verb
phrases into sudah, telah, pernah, sudah pernah, belum, belum pernah, and tidak
pernah. Then, the category shifts occur in the translation into telah (unit shift),
belum (unit shift), sudah pernah (unit shift), and non-translated translation (unit
shift and class shift) (3) some data are both lexically and contextually equivalent
and some data are contextually equivalent but lexically non-equivalent.


Malignant mesotheliomas of the hernial sac are uncommon and only a few cases have been diagnosed incidentally during herniorrhaphy procedures. The prognosis is poor and patient management is difficult because current treatment modalities do little to prolong survival. Molecular markers could be useful to identify potential therapeutic targets. Using microarray‐comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH), two cases of peritoneal mesothelioma that were found incidentally at the time of hernia repair, were investigated. A high number of genetic aberrations was detected in both cases. The gains were prevalent. The tumors showed identical lost regions at 2q13, 6q25.3, 6q26, 6q26→q27, 9q31.1→9q31.3, 10p15.3, 11q13.2, 13q14.2, 19q13.42→q43, and gains at 1p36.33, 3q29, 5p15.33, 7p22.3, 10p15.1→10p14, 11q13.2, 12q24.23, 12q24.33, 16p13.3, 17p13.3, 18p11.31, 19q13.43, 21q21.1→q21.2, 22q11.1→q11.22, Xp21.2, Xq28. Survival was longer in the patient with a lower total number of genetic defects. aCGH provides a high‐resolution map of copy number changes that may be critical to mesothelioma progression.


The simulation system is also important for training students and crew. In order to overcome the disadvantage of the centralized simulation system, the distributed structure is adopted in this system. The simulation of diesel power units, shaft generators and exhaust-gas turbine power units are operated detachedly on the local computer (bottom machine) while the management of electric power is conducted from the supervisors (upper machine). The network communication realizes information exchange of simulation system by CAN bus. But sometimes the network communication by CAN bus happens to fail occasionally. Though analyzing the failure causes are found out, then the ordinary CAN bus technology is improved and the communication interfaces of the hardware and software for CAN bus are designed more reasonably, which lets distributed simulation system for joint operation of multiple power-generating approaches in marine power station run better and enhances the real-time capability and reliability of the simulation equipment, so that the performance of the system was improved.


ABSTRACT Biological oxidation of cyclic alcohols normally results in formation of the corresponding dicarboxylic acids, which are further metabolized and enter the central carbon metabolism in the cell. We isolated an Acinetobacter sp. from an industrial wastewater bioreactor that utilized cyclohexanol as a sole carbon source. A cosmid library was constructed from Acinetobacter sp. strain SE19, and oxidation of cyclohexanol to adipic acid was demonstrated in recombinant Escherichia coli carrying a SE19 DNA segment. A region that was essential for cyclohexanol oxidation was localized to a 14-kb fragment on the cosmid DNA. Several putative open reading frames (ORFs) that were expected to encode enzymes catalyzing the conversion of cyclohexanol to adipic acid were identified. Whereas one ORF showed high homology to cyclohexanone monooxygenase fromAcinetobacter sp. strain NCIB 9871, most of the ORFs showed only moderate homology to proteins in GenBank. In order to assign functions of the various ORFs, in vitro transposon mutagenesis was performed using the cosmid DNA as a target. A set of transposon mutants with a single insertion in each of the ORFs was screened for cyclohexanol oxidation in E. coli. Several of the transposon mutants accumulated a variety of cyclohexanol oxidation intermediates. The in vitro transposon mutagenesis technique was shown to be a powerful tool for rapidly assigning gene functions to all ORFs in the pathway.


We address a disposal issue of returned products in a product recovery system where a single product is stocked in order to meet a demand from customers who may return products after usage. Product returns occur randomly and can be accepted for remanufacturing or disposed of depending on the state of the system. We examine the structure of the optimal disposal policy for returned product that utilizes the information of the inventory of both serviceable and remanufacturable products. Numerical study indicates that it can be characterized by a monotonic threshold type of the curve. A disposal is allowed only when the remanufacturable inventory level exceeds a threshold which is the function of the inventory level of serviceable product and it is decreasing as the serviceable inventory level increases. Sensitivity analysis also indicates that the optimal disposal policy and the optimal profit have monotonic properties with respect to system parameters.


One Saturday I visited a dying patient at home. I was accompanied by a medical colleague. The patient had been discharged from hospital a week previously following an abdominal paracentesis (removal of excess fluid from the peritoneal cavity (ascites) by inserting a surgical drain through the abdominal wall). The patient had expressed a wish to die at home.

Unfortunately, the abdominal swelling had recurred and the patient was very uncomfortable. He had been seen by his GP, who had concluded that the ascites required draining again and requested a home visit from the palliative care team to perform another abdominal paracentesis. We had arranged to meet the district nurse at the patient's house.

The patient was cachectic, jaundiced and very weak. My colleague examined him. There was no ascites, but he had an enlarged liver and was constipated. He …


Over the past decade, the number of genome-scale transcriptional datasets in publicly available databases has climbed to nearly one million, providing an unprecedented opportunity for extensive analyses of gene co-expression networks. In systems-genetic studies of complex diseases researchers increasingly focus on groups of highly interconnected genes within complex transcriptional networks (referred to as clusters, modules or subnetworks) to uncover specific molecular processes that can inform functional disease mechanisms and pathological pathways. Here, we outline the basic paradigms underlying gene co-expression network analysis and critically review the most commonly used computational methods. Finally, we discuss specific applications of network-based approaches to the study of cardiovascular traits, which highlight the power of integrated analyses of networks, genetic and gene-regulation data to elucidate the complex mechanisms underlying cardiovascular disease.


The rRNA genes of Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Anaplasma phagocytophila have been analyzed. The 16S rRNA genes were previously characterized for both of these agents. Southern hybridization was used to show that there are single copies of both the 16S and 23S rRNA genes in the genomes of each organism, and that the 16S rRNA genes were upstream from the 23S rRNA genes by at least 16 and 11 Kb for E. chaffeensis and A. phagocytophila, respectively. PCR amplification and gene walking was used to sequence the 23S and 5S rRNA genes, and show that these genes are contiguous and are likely expressed as a single operon. The level of homology between the E. chaffeensis and A. phagocytophila 23S and 5S rRNA genes, and 23S-5S spacers, was 91.8, 81.5, and 40%, respectively. To confirm the hybridization data, genome walking was used to sequence downstream of the 16S rRNA genes, and although no tRNA genes were identified, open reading frames encoding homologues of the Escherichia coli succinate dehydrogenase, subunit C, were found in both E. chaffeensis and A. phagocytophila. Phylogenetic analysis using the 23S rRNA gene suggests that reorganization of the phylum Proteobacteria by division of the class Alphaproteobacteria into two separate subclasses, may be appropriate.


Abstract Background Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) with displacement of the attachment of the conjoined aortic leaflet and fibrous strands is a rare cardiac malformation. We report a case of BAV that presented as acute massive aortic regurgitation during cardiopulmonary bypass for a planned non-valve–related procedure and was successfully treated by emergency aortic valve replacement. Case summary A 70-year-old man with triple vessel coronary disease and severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction underwent coronary bypass grafting and graft replacement of the ascending aorta. Acute aortic regurgitation occurred during ventricular fibrillation and after de-clamping of the aortic graft. Intra-operative findings included a fused BAV (right–left cusp fusion), very asymmetrical leaflet (commissure angle of the non-fused leaflet 135°), three aortic sinuses, and conjoined leaflets originating from the myocardium in the inter-ventricular septum. The aortic leaflets were resected and replaced with a prosthetic aortic valve at the attachment site of the conjoined leaflets. Post-operatively, no peri-valvular leaks were observed, and left ventricular function was improved. Discussion Intra-operative acute massive aortic regurgitation may be caused by a morphologically abnormal aortic leaflet and root complex in patients with a BAV. The dilated aortic root, asymmetrical leaflet, and abnormal aortic leaflet insertion, with thick septal myocardium of the coronary aortic sinus, might have caused unstable leaflet co-aptation, leading to deformation of the aortic leaflets influenced by the change in myocardial tone and intra-operative change in the sinotubular junction. Familiarity with the classification of congenital BAV, and the anatomy of the normal and abnormal aortic root complex, is important.


1. Variations in the glomerular filtration rate (G.F.R.) and the renal tubular reabsorption of water are probably important factors in the homoiostatic mechanisms associated with the euryhalinity of the rainbow trout ( Salmo gairdneri ).

2. The observed reduction in urine flow after the adaptation of rainbow trout to sea water can be largely accounted for on the basis of the reduced G.F.R.

3. Intraperitoneal injections of mammalian preparations of vasopressin, oxytocin and vasopressin/oxytocin into freshwater trout significantly increased the G.F.R.

4. The intraperitoneal injection of aldosterone into freshwater fish had no detectable effect on G.F.R.

5. The similar administration of corticosterone significantly reduced the G.F.R. to 73% of the intact freshwater control value.

This work was supported by grants to one of us (W. N. H.) from the National Research Council of Canada and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (Contract no. AT (45-1) 1381).


In this paper, we propose an induced linguistic ordered weighted harmonic mean (ILOWHM) operator. The ILOWHM operator is more general type of aggregation operator, which is based on the LHM and LOWHM operators. Based on the LOWHM and ILOWHM operator, we develop an approach to group decision making with linguistic preference relations. Finally, an application of the approach to group decision making problem with linguistic preference relations is pointed out.


Abstract Despite a proliferation of research into academic writing and the availability of a number of guides to writing, little attention has been given to the means of supporting students striving to reach the level of proficiency in English expected from graduates in their respective fields. Our study aims to explore the prevalent problems in writing in English encountered by Finnish university students. In doing so, we revisit the notion of communicative competence in order to gain deeper perspectives on academic/scientific written discourse and apply these to classroom practice. The corpus on which we draw comprises academic/scientific texts produced by students of biochemistry and architecture in their field-related English courses. We begin by surveying and categorising recurrent problems observed during course work. Then we establish a matrix of the most salient problems on various levels, including macro-textual aspects, micro-structural concerns such as morphology, style, register and syntax, as well as metalinguistic issues. Using this matrix, we systematically analyse a sample of the corpus to determine the prevalence of the problems. Further, building on earlier models of competence, we propose a model which consists of six competence areas, the significance of which vary according to the purpose of the text, the learning needs of students or the teacher's didactic purpose. The model can be used for raising learners' awareness of what academic/scientific writing entails, and for analysing texts in order to diagnose students' difficulties and inform course design.


Making science relevant in students' learning is an important aspect of science education. This involves the ability to draw in examples from daily contexts to begin with the learning or to apply concepts learnt into familiar everyday phenomena that students observe and experience around them. Another important aspect of science education is the integration of practical work in students' learning. Both these aspects of learning actively engage students in their own construction of understanding and are particularly relevant in physics education where many of the concepts are abstract and are generally found to be difficult. This paper investigates the extent to which physics teachers in Vietnam integrate practical work and context-based approaches into their teaching, and explores the how, what, and why they do it. The findings indicate that the Vietnamese teachers value the benefits of both practical work and contextual approaches to teaching and learning physics, but the environment that they are in does not provide sufficient opportunities to implement these methods of teaching.


Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) includes deficits in social cognition, communication, and executive function. Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that ASD disrupts the structural and functional organization of brain networks and, presumably, how they generate information. Here, we relate deficits in an aspect of cognitive control to network-level disturbances in information processing. We recorded magnetoencephalography while children with ASD and typically developing controls performed a set-shifting task designed to test mental flexibility. We used multiscale entropy (MSE) to estimate the rate at which information was generated in a set of sources distributed across the brain. Multivariate partial least-squares analysis revealed 2 distributed networks, operating at fast and slow time scales, that respond completely differently to set shifting in ASD compared with control children, indicating disrupted temporal organization within these networks. Moreover, when typically developing children engaged these networks, they achieved faster reaction times. When children with ASD engaged these networks, there was no improvement in performance, suggesting that the networks were ineffective in children with ASD. Our data demonstrate that the coordination and temporal organization of large-scale neural assemblies during the performance of cognitive control tasks is disrupted in children with ASD, contributing to executive function deficits in this group.


The empirical cases presented so far have been success stories. Given the presumption of failure that characterizes so much of the policy literature, it is important to present examples of success. Now the time has come to examine several cases of outright failure and cases in which the institutions designed by appropriators are in a fragile condition. Near Alanya, Turkey, where fishers were able to establish their own set of rules for regulating inshore fisheries, there are two other fishing areas whose fishers have failed to establish effective rule systems – Bodrum and the Bay of Izmir. Both suffer severe problems of overcrowding and rent dissipation. In San Bernardino County, California, groundwater pumpers are still facing overdraft conditions even after they initiated litigation and created a special district. The institutional arrangements described in Chapter 4 that helped nearby basins solve CPR problems did not work as effectively when applied to a region rather than to a basin. In another part of the world, Sri Lankan fishers, who had devised an ingenious system for rotating access to an inshore fishery, found themselves unable to enforce an additional rule to prevent the entry of new appropriators. The rotation system continues to spread the risk involved in an uncertain environment across all participants. With too many appropriators, however, the profits obtained by local fishers have steadily declined as rents have been dissipated. In the interior of Sri Lanka, central-government authorities and donor countries have invested large sums in the reconstruction of major irrigation systems. To work successfully, these systems need the active cooperation of the farmers to schedule and manage water use so as to minimize wastage. National officials have altered the administrative structures of these systems several times without succeeding in obtaining farmer cooperation in implementing rules to allocate water to minimize overuse. The Sri Lankan experience with the reluctance of farmers to invest time and effort to enhance the productivity of a centrally managed system has been repeated in many diverse forms throughout South and Southeast Asia. In some cases, centralized efforts to reform the structure of a system have led to worse problems. However, an experimental project to organize farmers from the ground up, without an organizational blueprint, has produced a reversal of that problem in one large Sri Lankan irrigation system.


Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is the agent of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), the most prevalent deep mycosis in Latin America. The treatment varies according to the chemotherapeutic drug and the disease severity, and the lack of it can results in high frequency of relapse and sequels. Thus, the search for new therapeutic alternatives is necessary. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of P. brasiliensis yeast cells attenuated by gamma irradiation (LevRad) in Balb/c mice. Mice immunized with LevRad and/or treated with fluconazole presented a significant decrease in the CFU recovery from the lung, liver and spleen in comparison with non-immunized and non-treated infected mice (60 and 120 days after infection). After 120 days from fungal inoculation, no fungi colonies were obtained from the organs of treated and immunized mice. The tissue structure of these organs was largely preserved. At the same time, anti-Mexo specific IgG antibodies levels and TGF-β, IFN-γ, iNOS transcript levels were high and a decrease on the IL-4, IL-10 and TNF-α transcript levels was also verified. An additive protective effect of immunization with LevRad associated to chemotherapy in a PCM experimental model was verified, providing evidence of the therapeutic effect of attenuated yeast for fungal infections.


Abstract The presence of venture capital in the ownership structure of U.S. firms going public has been associated with both improved long-term performance and superior "certification" at the time of the initial public offerings (IPOs). Many of the major venture capital firms in Japan are subsidiaries of securities firms that may face a conflict of interest when underwriting the venture capital-backed issue. In Japan, we find the long-run performance of venture capital-backed IPOs to be no better than that of other IPOs, with the exception of firms backed by foreign-owned or independent venture capitalists. When venture capital holdings are broken down by their institutional affiliation, we find that firms with venture backing from securities company subsidiaries do not perform significantly worse over a 3-year time horizon than other IPOs. On the other hand, we find that IPOs in which the lead venture capitalist is also the lead underwriter have higher first-day returns than other venture capital-backed IPOs. The latter result suggests that conflicts of interest influence the initial pricing, but not the long-term performance, of IPOs in Japan.


OBJECTIVES
Physical lesions in the region of the suprachiasmatic nuclei, which are the site of a circadian clock, result in abnormal circadian rhythmicity in animals, yet the extent of biological rhythm problems in individuals with anatomic or functional lesions in the hypothalamic-pituitary region are largely unknown. To address this issue, we examined patterns of rest and activity of children with hypopituitarism.

METHODS
Children who were between the ages of 2 and 18 years and had the diagnosis of panhypopituitarism were evaluated. Twenty children were studied, including children with septo-optic dysplasia (SOD), congenital hypopituitarism, brain tumors, closed head trauma, and head irradiation. For assessing patterns of activity, individuals wore Actiwatches for 3-4 weeks to measure patterns of gross motor activity.

RESULTS
Seventeen children had normal patterns of rest and activity, with an average period length of 24.01 +/- 0.01 hours. Three children, including 2 with SOD and 1 with a hypothalamic germinoma, showed abnormal activity patterns in which there was not consolidated rest at night. One patient with an optic glioma had nonentrained circadian phase.

CONCLUSIONS
A proportion of children with hypopituitarism have abnormal daily rest-activity patterns. Children with anterior hypothalamic tumors and SOD seem to be at risk for circadian system dysfunction.


In 1940, T.E Stanton published his views concerning to the occurance
 of cracking from abnormal expansion in dams and roads, mainly in
the western part of the United States, and suggested that the cause
 of the cracking was expansion due to the reaction between alkali
in cement and a certain kind of aggregate. Since then, many
investigations and studies were carried out in America and Japan.
 But the precise cause and behavior of the phenomen are, however,
 still a little obscure.
It is the aim of this study to purpose the problematical points on
 the safety and durability of concrete structures and to analyze
 and investigate the possibility the alkali-aggregate reaction of
 concrete structures in Korea with petrographic examination.


Purpose: Thallium (TI+) autometallography is often used for the imaging of neuronal metabolic activity in the rodent brain under various pathophysiologic conditions. The purpose of this study was to apply a thallium autometallographic technique to observe changes in neuronal activity in the forebrain of rats following acute carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication. Methods: In order to induce acute CO intoxication, adult Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 1100 ppm of CO for 40 minutes, followed by 3000 ppm of CO for 20 minutes. Animals were sacrificed at 30 minutes and 5 days after induction of acute CO intoxication for thallium autometallography. Immunohistochemical staining and toluidine blue staining were performed to observe cellular damage in the forebrain following intoxication. Results: Acute CO intoxication resulted in significant reduction of TI+ uptake in major forebrain structures, including the cortex, hippocampus, thalamus, and striatum. In the cortex and hippocampal CA1 area, marked reduction of TI+ uptake was observed in the cell bodies and dendrites of pyramidal neurons at 30 minutes following acute CO intoxication. There was also strong uptake of TI+ in astrocytes in the hippocampal CA3 area following acute CO intoxication. However, there were no significant histological findings of cell death and no reduction of NeuN (+) neuronal populations in the cortex and hippocampus at 5 days after acute CO intoxication. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that thallium autometallography can be a new and useful technique for imaging functional changes in neural activity of the forebrain structure following mild to moderate CO intoxication.


Systolic cardiac function is typically preserved in obese adults, potentially masking underlying declines in cardiomyocyte metabolism that may contribute to heart failure. We used chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI, a sensitive method for measurement of myocardial creatine, to examine whether myocardial creatine levels correlate with cardiac structure, contractile function, or visceral fat mass in obese adults. In this study, obese (body mass index, BMI > 30, n = 20) and healthy (BMI < 25, n = 11) adults were examined with dual‐energy x‐ray absorptiometry to quantify fat masses. Cine MRI and myocardial tagging were performed at 1.5 T to measure ventricular structure and global function. CEST imaging with offsets in the range of ±10 parts per million (ppm) were performed in one mid‐ventricular slice, where creatine CEST contrast was calculated at 1.8 ppm following field homogeneity correction. Ventricular structure, global function (ejection fraction 69.4 ± 4.3% healthy versus 69.6 ± 9.3% obese, NS), and circumferential strain (−17.0 ± 2.3% healthy versus −16.5 ± 1.5% obese, NS) and strain rate were preserved in obese adults. However, creatine CEST contrast was significantly reduced in obese adults (6.8 ± 1.3% healthy versus 4.1 ± 2.7% obese, p = 0.001). Creatine CEST contrast was inversely correlated with total body fat% (ρ = −0.45, p = 0.011), visceral fat mass (ρ = −0.58, p = 0.001), and septal wall thickness (ρ = −0.44, p = 0.013), but uncorrelated to ventricular function or contractile function. In conclusion, creatine CEST‐MRI reveals a strong correlation between heightened body and visceral fat masses and reduced myocardial metabolic function that is independent of ventricular structure and global function in obese adults.