Purpose

Local organisations have been established on participatory approach whose central purpose is to establish development activities bringing about positive change as four pillars of developments: to establish decentralised robust local organisation for sustainable forest management to enhance livelihood of rural people, to meet the forest products basic needs of local people, targeted interventions for poverty alleviation and social mobilisation initiatives and biodiversity conservation climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Design/methodology/approach

Local organisational elites designed/conceptualised the concept, where it can be operated organisationally and in local organisational context that provides new ways and methods to develop conceptual framework (Table I), which sheds light on involvement of poor and underprivileged members in decision-making process and distribution of benefit on equity basis.

Findings

The findings will lead to a positive change through the organisational elite model through both reorganising organisations and restructuring of power with change in the society and reduce the impact of rational choices, vested interests of elites (leaders of local organisation) and political factors, which are otherwise playing a game or tragedy of commons.

Research limitations/implications

Because of the limited resources and time, the authors are unable to verify it on the other development line agencies such as drinking water scheme, livestock, health and cooperative.

Practical implications

It considerably appears that the impacts are very sound to conclude from the review of above models of elites that provide a very clear understanding and useful conceiving lens to formulate how participation occurs in the executive committee of the community forestry user groups (CFUG) and community-based organisations based on three key elements. First are the caste and the caste structure of the community. Second is the wealth status of the individual, and third is power created both from wealth and caste. This should be determined from the local organisational elite model (Table I) about the nature of interactions on the executive of the CFUGs and other vehicles of local community-based development organisations.

Social implications

Local organisations will provide an opportunity in reality to both elites and non-elites to considerably change, make aware and create a realistic situation to determine the dialectical opportunity to develop relationship, interaction and configuration between elite and non-elite members both outside and inside of the local organisations.

Originality/value

It has not been found in literatures yet such sort of concept developed in development field particularly in the development activities performed by participation of local users. Hence, it is certainly original conceptual framework.


Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most aggressive types of cancer characterized by poor patient outcomes. To date, it is believed that the major cause of its recurrence and chemoresistance is represented by the enrichment of GBM stem cells (GSCs) sustained by the abnormal activation of a number of signaling pathways. In this study, we found that in GBM cells, treatment with low toxicity doses of the γ-secretase inhibitor RO4929097 (GSI), blocking the Notch pathway activity, in combination with resveratrol (RSV) was able to reverse the basal mesenchymal phenotype to an epithelial-like phenotype, affecting invasion and stemness interplay. The mechanism was dependent on cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK4), leading to a reduction of paxillin (Pxn) phosphorylation. Consequently, we discovered the reduced interaction of Pxn with vinculin (Vcl), which, during cell migration, transmits the intracellular forces to the extracellular matrix. The exogenous expression of a constitutively active Cdk4 mutant prevented the RSV + GSI inhibitory effects in GBM cell motility/invasion and augmented the expression of stemness-specific markers, as well as the neurosphere sizes/forming abilities in untreated cells. In conclusion, we propose that Cdk4 is an important regulator of GBM stem-like phenotypes and invasive capacity, highlighting how the combined treatment of Notch inhibitors and RSV could be prospectively implemented in the novel therapeutic strategies to target Cdk4 for these aggressive brain tumors.


Chile is a lightly populated country of 15 million that has undergone large economic transformations. Over the past 25 years, the economy has evolved from a slow-growing state-directed economy into a fast growing, market-oriented economy. Its South American neighbors are imitating this transformation. The changes have been especially great in the transport sector, with the private sector taking over many traditional public sector activities. This report addresses the implications of Chile's economic growth on transportation, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and other environmental impacts.. Both urban and interurban transport are included. Chile's transport sector is experiencing rapid growth, especially in Santiago. Between 1985 and 1998, the economy increased 2.5 fold (7.4% per year) and the transport sector more than 3.5 fold (over 10% per year). Public transport continues to lose market share. Between 1977 and 1991, cars increased their share of passenger travel by more than 60%, while the bus share fell 27%. These shifts are motivated by the strong urbanization process, with over 85% of the population now living in cities; and strong growth in car ownership, with one in ten persons now owning a car. Cars now account for 26 percent of travel within cities (measured as passenger-kilometers) and 41 percent between cities. Transport consumes almost 40% of energy sector emissions and is responsible for about 28% GHG emissionsin in Chile. Of the total GHG emissions from transport, 45% is from cars and taxis, 24% from trucks, 14% from ships, 10% from planes, 9.5% from buses, and nearly zero from trains. Passenger transport accounts for about 2/3 of transportation's greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), while about 1/3 is from freight; and interurban transport accounts for over half of total GHG emissions. Chile's policymakers, both at the national and sectoral levels, have largely ignored the environmental consequences of rapid development; a policy of "grow first, clean up later" was pursued until 1990. The lack of interest in GHG emission reductions stems from this growth- oriented thinking, as well as a realization that Chile's impact on greenhouse gases is small compared to major industrial nations. With only 15 million people each using on average less than 1/6 as much energy as each US resident, and with extensive carbon-consuming biotic resources, including vast forests, offsettinjg its anthropocentric production of CO2, its relative impact on global climate change is small. Thus while sympathetic to global warming issues, Chile is not likely to view its contribution as significant and global warming is not likely to motivate policy action. But worsening pollution and traffic congestion have placed motor vehicles at the center of policy debates over its development path. Thus, even though global warming is not a priority issue for the nation, actions directed at resolving transportation and air pollution problems will have the side effect of slowing greenhouse gas emissions growth. We develop high ("business-as-usual") and low scenarios for greenhouse gases for the next two decades. The scenarios are based upon interviews with experts and policymakers, and extensive analysis of transport and energy data gathered from a wide range of Chilean sources. In the next twenty years, in the "business-as-usual scenario," we assume strong continued economic growth (5.8% annual GDP growth) and no strong actions taken to curb environmental problems. The result is a doubling of energy consumption by the transport sector, and more than a doubling of greenhouse gas emissions. Passenger-related energy use and greenhouse gases increase faster than freight-related energy use and emissions, resulting in passenger transport increasing its share of transport greenhouse gas emissions from 70% to 80% over the 20 years In an alternative "low emissions" scenario, changes include policies to improve and enhance public transport, and to introduce cleaner and more efficient vehicles. The net effect is a 34% increase in greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in 38% fewer emissions than in the high scenario.


This thesis contributes to the historiography of the Gold Standard and the Great Depression by addressing the performance of the Spanish financial sector during the period 1921-1935. Spanish policymakers' options were very limited to respond to the shocks that hit the country during that period. Spain experienced a severe economic contraction during the 1930s, especially during 1931, when depositors ran on banks and the exchange rate continued to deteriorate rapidly. My argument is in contrast with the traditional account that depicts Spain as having escaped the Great Depression because its currency was not convertible to gold and because it did not experience widespread or large bank failures. I argue that exchange rate depreciation did not add to banking stability, but actually transformed the 1931 banking crisis into a twin crisis, a common feature of both the Interwar Period and the more recent emerging market financial crises. Moreover, the sharp drop in asset prices added pressure to bank balance sheets, when liabilities were already under stress. The thesis has four substantive chapters. First, I document the conflicting goals that appeared between the monetization of public debt by the banking sector and the stabilization of the exchange rate between 1928 and 1931, when the Spanish peseta depreciated rapidly. Second, I show that this depreciation limited monetary policy options when depositors ran on banks in the spring of 1931. Bank loans contracted severely due to the limitations on how much emergency liquidity could be provided, thus helping to understand the collapse in private investment that the country experienced. Third, I analyse the reasons and the consequences of the allocation of emergency liquidity at the bank-level. In the last chapter I provide a novel explanation for why Spain did not see widespread bank failures during the Great Depression, in contrast to other countries.


The overall aim in this study was to investigate time use in Australian preschool children, paying close attention to the types of television programs and videos/DVDs they watch. Ninety‐two mothers of preschool children completed five activity diaries, for three typical weekdays and two weekend days. On average, children spent around just over 1 hour per weekday watching television and 30 minutes watching videos/DVDs; on weekends they spent on average 1 hour watching television and the same amount of time watching videos/DVDs. On weekdays, children spent more time watching child informative television; on the weekend they spent more time watching child animated television programs. When not watching television, children were mainly engaged in general play or in outdoor play. Child informative television was associated positively with time spent outdoors and in general and pretend play on weekdays (and for general play also on weekend days), whereas overall television viewing was correlated negatively with reading. Our findings suggest that the content of television programs may play a critical role in the relationship between television and other daily activities.


An alternative to global ontology use in the semantic interoperability among heterogeneous information sources is the reaching of a consensus among distributed ontologies using local mapping and translation exchange. We investigate the construction of a flexible consensus system from distributed ontoliges in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. We believe that such a flexible consensus system requires a semantic query processing with a fault-tolerance capability. Fault-tolerance capability refers to the ability to differentiate between permanent and non-permanent mapping faults. As first step in building such a flexible consensus system, this work provides a classification along the temporal dimension for the different types of faults that could arise in the context of semantic mapping in a P2P network.


Zagatto, AM, Morel, EA, and Gobatto, CA. Physiological responses and characteristics of table tennis matches determined in official tournaments. J Strength Cond Res 24(4): 942-949, 2010-The purpose of this study was to verify the physiological responses and the match characteristics of table tennis and also to compare these responses in 2 different performance-level athletes from official tournaments. Twenty male table tennis players (12 regional experience-RP and 8 national and international experience-NP) were participants in the study. Blood lactate concentration ([LAC]) and heart rate (HR) were measured as physiological parameters in 21 official table tennis matches, and other 12 matches had recorded the duration of rally (DR), rest time, effort and rest ratio (E:R), total playing time (TPT), effective playing time (EPT), and frequency of shots by video analyses. The [LAC] verified in all matches was 1.8 mmol·L−1 (±0.8), whereas the [LAC] peak was 2.2 mmol·L−1 (±0.8). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups (p > 0.05) in both parameters. The HR was 164 b·min−1 (±14), corresponding to 81.2% (±7.4) of the predicted maximum HR. As characteristics of the matches, the DR corresponded to 3.4 seconds (±1.7), rest time to 8.1 seconds (±5.1), E:R to 0.4 (±0.2), TPT to 970.5 seconds (±336.1), EPT to 44.3% (±23.7), and frequency of shots to 35.3 balls·min−1 (±7.7). Among groups, the rest time was lower in RP than in NP. Consistently, the E:R and EPT were higher in RP than in NP (p < 0.05). The results suggest that table tennis matches present the aerobic system as a principal output energy, the phosphagenic system being the most important during efforts. The information pertaining to the physiological profile and the characteristics of table tennis should be used by coaches planning physical training and specific exercise prescriptions aiming at achieving maximal sport performance.


Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTCL) is a highly aggressive and Epstein-Bar virus (EBV)-associated hematologic malignancy, most prevalent in the Far East and South America. No standard treatment strategy has been defined. It is well recognized that combination of asparaginase-based chemotherapy (CT) and radiotherapy (RT) benefit early-stage ENKTCL. It has been validated that upfront RT can cure most stage I patients of ENKTCL without risk factors, and asparaginase (either L-asparaginase or pegaspargase) is the backbone of chemotherapy for ENKTCL.


A demonstration experiment was recently conducted in the state of Oklahoma in the USA to evaluate strategies for observing the full seismic wavefield, for events at local to teleseismic distances and across a wide range of frequencies. The experiment tested new instrumentation and deployment strategies, producing an open-use dataset for evaluating a range of array processing techniques. The field effort, organized by the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, used a crew of ~50 students and faculty to deploy 363 3-component "nodal" sensors along three seismic lines and in a sevenlayer nested gradiometer array. The seismic lines spanned a region ~13x5 km. A broadband, 18 element "Golay 3x6" array was deployed with an aperture of approximately 5 km, encompassing the two nodal arrays. In addition, 9 infrasound stations were deployed to capture and identify acoustic events that might be recorded by the seismic array. We summarize the design considerations for the gradiometer and Golay arrays, along with preliminary analyses of the data. We examine the performance of the various types of instrumentation, including colocated surface and buried nodes, and co-located nodes and broadband stations. We present ground motion visualizations illustrating the wavefield complexity observed by these arrays.


Abstract Aims Left ventricular remodelling occurs during the chronic course of aortic regurgitation (AR) and aortic stenosis (AS), leading to myocardial hypertrophy and fibrosis. Several studies have shown that extracellular volume fraction (ECV) and indexed extracellular volume (iECV) are important surrogate markers of diffuse myocardial fibrosis (MF). Postoperative data on these cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) extracellular expansion parameters for either AS or AR are scarce. This study aimed to demonstrate the postoperative changes that occur in diffuse MF, and the influence of preoperative MF on the reversal of LV remodelling, in patients with AR or AS. Methods and results Patients with severe AR or AS and indications for surgery were prospectively enrolled. Patients underwent pre- and postoperative CMR, and ECV and iECV were quantified. Data from 99 patients were analysed (32 with AR and 67 with AS). After surgery, the left ventricle mass index decreased in both groups (AR: 110 vs. 91 g/m2; AS: 86 vs. 68 g/m2, both P < 0.001). The late gadolinium enhancement fraction (AR: preoperative 1.9% vs. postoperative 1.7%, P = 0.575; AS: preoperative 2.4% vs. postoperative 2.4%, P = 0.615) and late gadolinium enhancement mass (AR: preoperative 3.8 g vs. postoperative 2.5 g, P = 0.635; AS: preoperative 3.4 g vs. postoperative 3.5 g, P = 0.575) remained stable in both groups. Preoperative iECV and ECV were greater in the AR group (iECV: 30 mL/m2 vs. 22 mL/m2, P = 0.001; ECV: 28.4% vs. 27.2%, P = 0.048). Indexed extracellular volume decreased after surgery in both groups (AR: 30–26.5 mL/m2, AS: 22–18.2 mL/m2, both P < 0.001); it was still greater in the AR group (AR: 26.5 mL/m2 vs. AS: 18.2 mL/m2, P < 0.001). Postoperative ECV remained stable in the AR group (preoperative 28.4% vs. postoperative 29.9%; P = 0.617) and increased in the AS group (preoperative 27.2% vs. postoperative 28.6%; P = 0.033). Conclusion Patients with both AR or AS presented reduction in iECV after surgery, unfolding the reversible nature of diffuse MF. In contrast to patients with AS, those with AR developed postoperative iECV regression with stable ECV, suggesting a balanced reduction in both intracellular and extracellular myocardial components.


Background Phospholipids on the surface of platelets play a key role in supporting coagulation in both health and disease. Alterations to phospholipid composition in platelets can contribute to thrombotic and bleeding disorders. We recently identified pro-coagulant enzymatically oxidized phospholipids (eoxPL) generated by platelets in response to thrombin activation via cyclooxygenase-1 (COX) and 12-lipoxygenase (LOX). It is not known how these lipids vary in relation to aspirin (a COX inhibitor) supplementation and/or gender. Methods Twenty-eight healthy volunteers (14 males, 14 females) donated blood for platelet isolation at baseline (following a 14-day NSAID washout) and after 7-day supplementation with 75 mg aspirin. Repeat sampling took place 2 months and 4 months later to account for variations over time. Lipids were extracted from platelets either basally or following 30 min thrombin activation then analysed using liquid chromatography with tandem mass-spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the 49 most abundant eoxPL molecular species. Results The majority (96%) of eoxPL increased in response to thrombin activation of platelets. Gender differences were observed with a trend towards higher levels generated by females. Correlation analysis highlighted clustering of eoxPL by enzymatic origin (12-LOX versus COX-1). Aspirin supplementation decreased eoxPL generated via COX-1 in both genders, but in males it increased levels of those generated by 12-LOX (p<0.05). Importantly, elevated levels of 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE)-containing eoxPL, which are known to be procoagulant, were observed. In contrast, generation of free 12-HETE was not affected by aspirin. Conclusion In this study, we found an influence of both gender and aspirin supplementation on the generation of eoxPL in thrombin-activated platelets from healthy volunteers. Further characterisation of the gender influence may reveal novel mechanisms that contribute to the risk of arterial thrombosis in human populations. Conflict of interest None declared


: The main objective of the paper is to examine how the ethno ‐ archaeological approach can help historian to document the material culture of past and present history of Gujjar people. The pastoral forms are still practiced by the Gujjar of Jammu and Kashmir region. However, the influence of the Aryans on transhumance and pastoralism remained a dominant characteristic. The intermingling of the Arya, Indins and the native population gave rise to various ethnic identities in this region. Most of these were initially pastoralists but later they took to settled agriculture. Though, some of the communities maintained their tradition and are still practicing the migratory livestock rearing. The most important community is the Gujjar tribe. Hence, the standard anthropological and archaeological tools and techniques have been applied for collection of primary and secondary data .


For systemic delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) to solid tumors, the carrier must circulate avoiding premature degradation, extravasate and penetrate tumors, enter target cells, traffic to the intracellular destination, and release siRNA for gene silencing. However, existing siRNA carriers, which typically exhibit positive charges, fall short of these requirements by a large margin; thus, systemic delivery of siRNA to tumors remains a significant challenge. To overcome the limitations of existing approaches, we have developed a carrier of siRNA, called "Nanosac", a noncationic soft polyphenol nanocapsule. A siRNA-loaded Nanosac is produced by sequential coating of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with siRNA and polydopamine, followed by removal of the sacrificial MSN core. The Nanosac recruits serum albumin, co-opts caveolae-mediated endocytosis to enter tumor cells, and efficiently silences target genes. The softness of Nanosac improves extravasation and penetration into tumors compared to its hard counterpart. As a carrier of siRNA targeting PD-L1, Nanosac induces a significant attenuation of CT26 tumor growth by immune checkpoint blockade. These results support the utility of Nanosac in the systemic delivery of siRNA for solid tumor therapy.


Weakness and fatigability are typical features of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients and are aggravated in dystrophic mdx mice by chronic treadmill exercise. Mechanical activity modulates gene expression and muscle plasticity. Here, we investigated the outcome of 4 (T4, 8 weeks of age) and 12 (T12, 16 weeks of age) weeks of either exercise or cage-based activity on a large set of genes in the gastrocnemius muscle of mdx and wild-type (WT) mice using quantitative real-time PCR. Basal expression of the exercise-sensitive genes peroxisome-proliferator receptor γ coactivator 1α (Pgc-1α) and Sirtuin1 (Sirt1) was higher in mdx versus WT mice at both ages. Exercise increased Pgc-1α expression in WT mice; Pgc-1α was downregulated by T12 exercise in mdx muscles, along with Sirt1, Pparγ and the autophagy marker Bnip3. Sixteen weeks old mdx mice showed a basal overexpression of the slow Mhc1 isoform and Serca2; T12 exercise fully contrasted this basal adaptation as well as the high expression of follistatin and myogenin. Conversely, T12 exercise was ineffective in WT mice. Damage-related genes such as gp91-phox (NADPH-oxidase2), Tgfβ, Tnfα and c-Src tyrosine kinase were overexpressed in mdx muscles and not affected by exercise. Likewise, the anti-inflammatory adiponectin was lower in T12-exercised mdx muscles. Chronic exercise with minor adaptive effects in WT muscles leads to maladaptation in mdx muscles with a disequilibrium between protective and damaging signals. Increased understanding of the pathways involved in the altered mechanical-metabolic coupling may help guide appropriate physical therapies while better addressing pharmacological interventions in translational research.


Action recognition has become an important area of computer vision research. "Given a sequence of images with people performing different actions over time, can a system be designed to automatically recognize what action is being performed in the sequence, and in what specific frames it occurred?". Till date, much of the computer vision community has approached this problem from a single action perspective where the problem is reduced to classifying a sequence of images containing one action. Hence given an image sequence, the assumption already exists that only one major action from a known class of actions occurs in that sequence. This dissertation targets not only the recognition of actions, but also the problem of spotting actions (or localization) from video data.
Our proposed approach involves the sharing of sub-actions to understand the underlying patterns of motions in actions and the use of these for recognition and spotting. Firstly, as a proof-of-concept, we build a framework using a predefined sequence of sub-actions to model an action. We then perform experiments to show that our framework is indeed useful for action recognition and spotting. Next, we build upon our previous approach and learn sub-actions automatically rather than defining them manually. In order to obtain statistical insight into the underlying patterns of motions in actions, we have developed a dynamic, hierarchical Bayesian model which connects low-level visual features in videos with poses, motion patterns and classes of activities. This process is somewhat analogous to the method of detecting topics or categories from documents based on the word content of the documents, except that our documents are dynamic. The proposed generative model harnesses both the temporal ordering power of dynamic Bayesian networks such as hidden Markov models (HMMs) and the automatic clustering power of hierarchical Bayesian models such as the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model.
We have introduced a probabilistic framework for detecting and localizing pre-specified actions (or ges- tures) in a video sequence, analogous to the use of filler models for keyword detection in speech processing. We demonstrate the robustness of our classification model and our spotting framework by recognizing actions in unconstrained real-life video sequences and by spotting gestures via a one-shot-learning approach. Due to advancements in human action recognition, there are currently several publicly available datasets which have a large number of actions collected from various sources of media, reflecting real world scenarios. We have evaluated the proposed methods on these datasets and outperformed several techniques described in the literature.
We have proposed a new robust framework for modeling actions which gives a better insight into building blocks of actions rather than just performing recognition.


microRNA dysregulation is a common feature of cancer cells, but the complex roles of microRNAs in cancer are not fully elucidated. Here we used functional genomics to identify oncogenic microRNAs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to evaluate their impact on response to EGFR targeting therapy. Our data demonstrates that microRNAs with an AAGUGC-motif in their seed-sequence increase both cancer cell proliferation and sensitivity to EGFR inhibitors. Using miR-372 as a prototypic AAGUGC-miRNA we set out to identify target mRNAs and an explanation to the discovered phenotype. Global transcriptomics, proteomics and target prediction, resulted in the identification of more than 500 candidate target mRNAs, including several tumor suppressors involved in the G1/S transition. The clinical relevance of our findings were evaluated by analysis of public domain data of NSCLC patients, revealing that almost 200 of the candidate target mRNAs showed a negative correlation to AAGUGC-miRNAs. In addition, the analysis of NSCLC clinical data supported the link between this microRNA seed-family and cancer cell proliferation and indicated that high expression of this type of microRNAs is associated with shorter relapse free survival. Expanding the analysis to include additional types of cancer revealed large differences in expression of AAGUGC-miRNA both within and between cancer types. In general the results from the analysis of NSCLC was replicated in other cancer types, where expression of AAGUGC-miRNAs was associated with decreased mRNA levels of tumor suppressor targets and increased expression of genes involved in proliferation. In conclusion we propose that AAGUGC-microRNAs are an integral part of an oncogenic signaling network, and that these findings have potential therapeutic implications, especially in selecting patients for EGFR-targeting therapy. Citation Format: Yan Zhou, Oliver Frings, Erik Fredlund, Jorrit Boekel, Rui M. Branca, Lukas M. Orre. AAGUGC-microRNAs are an integral part of an oncogenic signaling network driving non-small cell lung cancer proliferation. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1109.


A series of controlled experiments has been carried out in DIII-D to induce a bulk ion flow in the SOL and evaluate its effect on the localization of impurities in the divertor. This induced SOL flow was created by simultaneous deuterium puffing and divertor exhaust using a divertor cryopump, and the impurity enrichment was measured directly. The experiments were designed to compare enrichment in discharges with and without induced flow having otherwise similiar divertor parameters. Significant increases in impurity compression and enrichment are observed when flow is induced, and the degree of impurity enrichment in the divertor is found to be dependent on the impurity of interest. Detailed particle measurements made possible by the direct measurement of impurity densities in several reservoirs indicate reasonable particle balance for helium throughout the duration of the discharge. Conversely, while the total input of neon is balanced by the total exhaust by the end of a discharge, particle balance is not observed during the course of the discharge. A significant wall inventory with a short release time (~10 ms) is surmised.


Abstract The application of microarray technology to the study of mammalian organogenesis can provide greater insights into the steps necessary to elicit a functionally competent tissue. To this end, a temporal profile of gene expression was generated with the purpose of identifying changes in gene expression occurring within the developing male and female embryonic gonad. Gonad tissue was collected from mouse embryos at 11.5, 12.5, 14.5, 16.5, and 18.5 days postcoitum (dpc) and relative steady-state levels of mRNA were determined using the Affymetrix MGU74v2 microarray platform. Statistical analysis produced 3693 transcripts exhibiting differential expression during male and/or female gonad development. At 11.5 dpc, the gonad is morphologically indifferent, but at 12.5 dpc, transitions to a male or female phenotype are discernible by the appearance of testicular cords. A number of genes are expressed during this period and many share similar expression profiles in both sexes. As expected, the expression of two well-known sex determination genes, specifically Sry and Sox9, is unique to the testis. Beyond 12.5 dpc, differential gene expression becomes increasingly evident as the male and female tissue morphologically and physiologically diverges. This is evident by two unique waves of transcriptional activity occurring after 14.5 dpc in the male and female. With this study, a large number of transcripts comprising the murine transcriptome can be examined throughout male and female embryonic gonad development and allow for a more complete description of gonad differentiation and development.


The World Health Organization (WHO) biennially maintains a list of essential medicines that countries and organizations use to establish internal pharmaceutical supplies and to develop healthcare policies. Despite its effort to provide a comprehensive list, the essential medicines list lacks many other potentially beneficial treatments, such as individualized music therapy. The prevalence of dementia increases each year in many developed and developing countries. Individualized music therapy has been shown to be an effective form of treatment for dementia. Unfortunately, many still lack access to this treatment due to unpopular views regarding complementary medicines and a lack of insurance coverage for such therapies. However, this could potentially be altered if individualized music therapy is added to the essential medicine list. This thesis aims to provide evidence showing the current state of individualized music therapy as a treatment for dementia. It considers the six criteria used by the WHO to determine essential medicine status and details the deficits in the current peer-reviewed research of music therapy that would need further attention in order to be considered by the WHO as an essential medicine in the adults list for dementia. Based on extensive literature review and personal data collection, it was concluded that criteria 1 and 2 have been met, criteria 4 and 5 may need further data, and criteria 3a and 3b definitely need more evidence. This thesis shows that existing evidence to date does not objectively meet criteria 3a, 3b, 4, and 5. Future studies should focus on further developing evidence in these categories before individualized music therapy can be considered to be a core essential medicine for the adults list in treating dementia.


Normobaric hyperoxia (NBO) and cilostazol (6-[4-(1-cyclohexy-1H-tetrazol-5-yl)butoxyl]-3,4-dihydro-2-(1H)-quinolinone) (a selective inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 3) have each been reported to exert neuroprotective effects against acute brain injury after cerebral ischemia in rodents. Here, we evaluated the potential neuroprotective effects of combination treatment with NBO and cilostazol against acute and subacute brain injuries after simulated stroke. Mice subjected to 2-h filamental middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion were treated with NBO (95% O2, during the ischemia) alone, with cilostazol (3 mg/kg i.p. after the ischemia) alone, with both of these treatments (combination), or with vehicle. The histological and neurobehavioral outcomes were assessed at acute (1 day) or subacute (7 days) stages after reperfusion. We measured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during and after ischemia by laser-Doppler flowmetry and recovery (versus vehicle) in the combination therapy group just after reperfusion. Mean acute and subacute lesion volumes were significantly reduced in the combination group but not in the two monotherapy groups. The combination therapy increased endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (eNOS) activity in the lesion area after ischemia versus vehicle. Combination therapy with NBO plus cilostazol protected mice subjected to focal cerebral ischemia by improvement of rCBF after reperfusion, in part in association with eNOS activity.


ations, of which the best known is the i 940 paper by WaIler, Kaufman and Deutsch. In this section considerable space is also devoted to a number of isolated case reports. It also includes a few German contributions to the subject from the 1930's, but Helmut Thomae's more recent extensive psycho analytic contributions are ignored. Despite the stated and inevitable bias in the main presentation, there is some attempt to bring balance to the book by presenting some early views on the relationship of anorexia nervosa to the symptoms of macroscopic pituitary disease; also attempts, in presenting papers such as the one by Ruth Moulton, to examine the relationship between endocrinological and psychological factors. However, overall, experi mental work and neurophysiological concepts as well as some major phenomenological studies, all of which have a bearing on the editors' thesis, are neglected, and the emphasis remains placed upon the probably direct aetiological importance for anorexia nervosa of specific sexual fantasies and upon the primary symbolic significance of symptoms. The dust cover of the book proffers the extreme psychoanalytic viewpoint with embarrassing clarity when it states "¿ Theproblem (of understanding anorexia nervosa) can (now) be pin-pointed in terms of highly specific psychological constellations at the conscious, pre conscious and unconscious levels.― Such over statements, which are not characteristic of the avowedly humble editorial views, are nevertheless likely to alienate the less committed investigator. To the reviewer's way of thinking some of the weak nesses of the traditional psychoanalytic position those of working only with the patient and his or her reports, and of attributing aetiological signi ficance to symptoms and findings which have often only acquired symbolic significance or have arisen during the process of the illness—are made apparent by some of these papers. Furthermore, whilst anorexia nervosa poses many interesting and complex problems in terms of its probable constitutional and experi ential determinants and their interactions, it is not the most common, best investigated or most typical example of the psychosomatic disorders. In conclusion, the content of this book is concerned with some aspects of psychosomatic medicine and in particular with the example of anorexia nervosa. It consists of a considerable amount of information and opinion of an historical and clinical kind, with emphasis on the psychoanalytic approach. There is an extensive bibliography. A critical approach is attempted and the editorial comments are obviously experienced clinical ones. Unfortunately, the psycho analytic hypothesis continues to defy validation. Nevertheless, in the reviewer's opinion, the papers have been well and economically chosen to portray the development of the psychoanalytic viewpoint of these subjects, and much of the book is recom mended as worth-while and enjoyable clinical reading for potentially interested readers who would not otherwise make a vigorous search of this literature.


One of the main areas of innovation will be the development of new assessment practices. In our evolving learning environment that is categorized by such innovations as the trend towards electronic delivery, methods of assessment that" have been used for many years may no longer be appropriate. Innovative new methods will be sought and implemented to not only ensure rigorous scrutiny but also encourage student learning and development.


SUBEKTI, D.T. and E. KUSUMANINGTYAS. 2011. Comparison of serological test for toxoplasmosis using Immunostick Assay, ELISA and Latex Agglutination Test. JITV 16(3): 224-233. Many serological methods were developed in order to improve detection and identification of an infectious diseases. ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay), is a well-known as the most serological technique and widely used for infectious disease diagnoses, especialy toxoplasmosis in human and animal. Unfortunately, the technique requires specific tools and expertise that are not always available in the field. Inn addition, ELISA needs longer process than other techniques for both small and large number of samples. Another serological assay, namely Latex Agglutination Test (LAT) was known as populer and mostly applied in field for toxoplasmosis diagnosis in Indonesia, both for human and animal serum. However, the accuracy of this technique was slightly lower compared to ELISA, especially for weakly seropositive. Recently, an immunostick assay technique was developed as alternative serological method which has high accuracy as ELISA. The immunostick assay was rapid and simple like latex agglutination test. The immunostick assay was evaluated to detect Toxoplasma gondii infection in goat serum samples and compared to ELISA and LAT. The immunostick assay had a true agreement 95.88% - 100% againts ELISA and their strength of agreement was very good aggreement with ELISA ( = 0.796; AC1 = 0.948). However, LAT had true agreement only 75.74%, either with ELISA or immunostick assay. The strength of agreement of LAT was moderatelly aggreement with ELISA or immunostick assay ( = 0.447; AC1 = 0.582). Therefore, the immunostick assay could become the first choice for rapid serological assay on toxoplasmosis diagnosis, both in the laboratory and in the field.


The growing interest in wood accessories has focused scientific research attention on wood cutting with small diameter tools. A problem that may arise when drilling wood is the phenomenon of wandering – when the hole is not made in the designed place. The difficulty in studying small diameter drill holes (0.5 mm to 0.9 mm) is due to the difficulty of automatic measurement. The development of an appropriate methodology may allow for the observation of this phenomenon without the need for high-class hardware and expensive software. This article presents the results of tests carried out on nearly 500 samples made of various wood-based materials (high-density fiberboard (HDF), medium-density fiberboard (MDF), chipboard, and plywood) in terms of the usefulness of the OpenCV computer vision library for the determination of wandering.


Phosphors are materials that emit light under the excitation of incoming radiation. This property is used, among other applications, in radiation detection. Efficient energy transfer from the ionization track to the luminescent centers must occur to yield significant light output. Besides, the investigation of the effects of ion irradiation on the luminescence of phosphors is comparatively unexplored. In this work, we review radioluminescence (RL) investigation of ion‐irradiated oxides and oxide phosphors, and present preliminary data on the effects of ion irradiation on the luminescence of intrinsic phosphor Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO). Commercial crystals were irradiated, and the irradiation effects characterized by means of RL measurements as a function of temperature, from 10 K to room temperature (RT), and optical absorption measurements. Overall, surface modification induced by ion irradiation leads to higher luminescence output.


The sparse nature of a network echo response makes standard NLMS based adaptive algorithms perform poorly. Fast convergence, yet low complexity, of adaptive filter design causes another challenge. In this paper, a new Stochastic Selective Partial Update Normalized Least Mean Square (SSPNLMS) algorithm is proposed. Based on an efficient stochastic search and two block-based tap selection criteria, this algorithm exploits both sparseness of the echo response and sparseness of the input signal to achieve high quality adaptive filters without much computational cost. Simulation results show our proposed algorithm has promising convergence performance for the cases of white Gaussian noise input signal and the speech signals.


Abstract We observed the survivorship and distribution of larvae and pupae of Anopheles gambiae s.l. Giles immature stages in three habitats (rock pools, swamp, and puddles) in Banambani village, Mali, West Africa, during the mid-rainy season of 2000. Horizontal life tables were constructed for immatures in the laboratory. Times spent in the various immature stages were determined, and laboratory survival was measured. Vertical life tables were obtained from each habitat. We found large day-to-day variation for age class composition within habitats across days. The swamp samples had small but statistically significant different distributions in some instar stages compared with rock pools and puddles as affected by precipitation history. There were obviously unstable age distributions in the swamp and puddles and to some extent in rock pools. There were more individuals in some later age classes than in earlier ones. The daily survival estimates using an exponential decay model were 0.807 in rock pools, 0.899 in the swamp, 0.818 in puddles, and 0.863 in the overall village. Possible reasons for the departure from stable age distribution were cannibalism, predation and other complex interactions, rainfall effects, sampling bias, and differences in physicochemical properties of the water in the habitats.


The study of quantum fields propagating in classical, curved and dynamical space-times offers a first approach to assess the consequences of the quantum theory when gravitational phenomena are not negligible. This is an important question that must be addressed when an intense gravitational field plays a principal role in the dynamics of a physical system, such as during the early universe (cosmological inflation) or in the formation of astrophysical black holes. One of the most striking features of this subject is perhaps that the calculation of physical observables, even for non-interacting fields, often involves ill-defined quadratic operators of fields. This feature introduces divergences in the observables, and thus requires dealing with non-trivial and suitable renormalization methods. The normal-ordering operation, usually employed in Minkowski spacetime, no longer works here, since additional ultraviolet divergences associated to curvature arise. The standard approach is to subtract the short-distance asymptotic behaviour of the appropriate two-point (Green) functions. As a consequence, unexpected results are predicted due to finite remaining terms, which are demanded by general covariance and appear closely related with the renormalization subtractions. The goal of this thesis is to give new insights following this direction. In the first part, we analyze the consequences of renormalization of quantum fields on diverse aspects of inflationary cosmology. Issues related to the ultraviolet divergences arising in the computation of the angular power spectrum of the CMB in the Sachs-Wolfe regime are first considered. Then we address the renormalization of the stress-energy tensor of matter (spin 1/2) fields during the early universe. We analyze this both when the matter fields are free and when they interact with the inflaton through Yukawa coupling. This is an important question in studies of inflation, preheating, or the subsequent expansion of the universe. Finally, the implications of "hidden" fields present during single-field inflation are also considered and physical consequences arising from CMB experimental bounds are discussed. In the second part of this thesis we analyze the impact of the quantization of fields on classical symmetries. The issue of renormalization here is of crucial importance since it can lead to the break-down of well-known classical symmetries and associated conserved Noether charges, yielding what is normally referred to in the literature as quantum anomalies. We will present a new and particularly interesting example of this feature in electrodynamics: the classical E-B duality symmetry of Maxwell equations without charges and currents fails to hold at the quantum level if spacetime has curvature and non-trivial dynamics. In fact, our results suggest that a dynamical curved spacetime with significant frame-dragging is able to distinguish between the two (left and right) circular polarization states of the photons. We shall also discuss some scenarios where this effect could take place. In particular, our analysis shows that a necessary condition is that the gravitational background admits the emission of gravitational waves. This offers promising physical implications in binary mergers in astrophysics, whose observational window is nowadays open thanks to the recent detections of gravitational waves by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration, as well as the advances in the studies of electromagnetic radiation in multi-messenger astronomy.


Summary:  Like macrophages and neutrophils, dendritic cells (DCs) are considered professional phagocytes. Even if the three cell types phagocytose parasites, bacteria, cell debris, or even intact cells very efficiently, the functional outcomes of the phagocytic event are quite different. Macrophages and neutrophils scavenge and destroy phagocytosed particles, a critical step in innate immunity. DCs, in contrast, have developed means to 'preserve' useful information from the ingested particles that serve to initiate adaptive immune responses. Thus, both phagosomal degradation and acidification are much lower in DCs than in macrophages or neutrophils. Reduced degradation results in the conservation of antigenic peptides and in their increased presentation on major histocompatibility complex class I and II molecules. In this article, we review the mechanisms that control this delicate equilibrium between phagosomal degradation/cytotoxicity and antigen presentation in the different families of phagocytes.


Since the link between expenses and revenues is one of the basic concepts underpinning accrual accounting, the matching process has been defined as the central purpose of accounting, becoming a ground rule in the determination of periodic income. However, it is also true and has to be considered, that various issues have been raised about the usefulness of matching. In connection with this, the most often raised issue refers to the understanding of what matching means, depending on who is discussing about it. Specifically, it seems that the only reason why matching has been interpreted in so many different ways is that, in assessing the usefulness of matching processes, it has been modified to provide the accounting information required at a given period of time. Moreover, beside the different interpretations of matching process that followed the need to provide specific accounting information required at a given period of time, another fundamental issue, that has been pointed out, refers to the differences in matching process between the two main ideas of accounting system: the revenue/expense model and the asset/liability approach.
Although there is an inherent conceptual tension between these two approaches, in practice, financial accounting has always been a pragmatic compromise between them. However, during the last decades, the emphasis of financial reporting standards have been gradually shifting from the revenue/expense model to the asset/liability approach.
In response to the clear position taken by regulators and standard setters, several scholars have stressed theoretical and empirical drawbacks associated with the asset/liability approach, especially in connection with the substantial withdrawal from some fundamentals of accounting, among which the revenue recognition and the matching process rules.
Starting from a theoretical and empirical review of all issues related with the accrual accounting system and its fundamentals, this study aims to analyze the consequences of a change in the financial reporting system on the effectiveness of the process of matching expenses with revenues. Specifically, this study highlights that starting from a situation in which there were no differences in the degree of matching between firms adopting a revenue/expense model and firms that opted for the implementation of an asset/liability approach (when they both adopted a revenue/expense reporting system), the choice to shift over an asset/liability accounting model represents a determinant of the observed worsening in the degree of matching for such a group of firms.
Further, the analysis also aims to directly assess the effect that the possible different degree of matching could have on the quality of accounting numbers of private firms, controlling for a set of variables that might affect both matching process and earnings quality. In particular, assuming that the matching process is one of the milestones of accrual accounting, for the purpose of this study it is formally considered as a determinant of the quality of accounting numbers, and not just one of the many earnings quality attributes. Empirical findings suggest that the degree of matching is positively related to the predictability and the persistence of earnings, while has a negative correlation with the earnings volatility. In other words, the degree of matching is directly related to the quality of accounting numbers.


Video coding using dynamic background frame achieves better compression compared to the traditional techniques by encoding background and foreground separately. This process reduces coding bits for the overall frame significantly; however, encoding background still requires many bits that can be compressed further for achieving better coding efficiency. The cuboid coding framework has been proven to be one of the most effective methods of image compression which exploits homogeneous pixel correlation within a frame and has better alignment with object boundary compared to traditional block-based coding. In a video sequence, the cuboid-based frame partitioning varies with the changes of the foreground. However, since the background remains static for a group of pictures, the cuboid coding exploits better spatial pixel homogeneity. In this work, the impact of cuboid coding on the background frame for high-resolution videos (Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) and 360-degree videos) is investigated using the multilayer framework of SHVC. After the cuboid partitioning, the method of coarse frame generation has been improved with a novel idea by keeping human-visual sensitive information. Unlike the traditional SHVC scheme, in the proposed method, cuboid coded background and the foreground are encoded in separate layers in an implicit manner. Simulation results show that the proposed video coding method achieves an average BD-Rate reduction of 26.69% and BD-PSNR gain of 1.51 dB against SHVC with significant encoding time reduction for both UHD and 360 videos. It also achieves an average of 13.88% BD-Rate reduction and 0.78 dB BD-PSNR gain compared to the existing relevant method proposed by X. HoangVan [18].


Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) shells are waste products that are occasionally used for mulch in ornamental landscape settings, yet most shell waste is left in piles near the shelling facility or discarded by other methods. If another use for this waste product could be developed, it may add income for pecan producers and provide peach (Prunus persica) growers with another option for weed control. A block of 'Loring' peach trees grafted onto 'Halford' rootstocks was planted at a spacing of 18 × 22 ft in Feb. 2005 at the Cimarron Valley Research Station near Perkins, OK, to determine the effect of pecan shell mulch on peach trees. Five treatments were imposed: no weed control except mowing (MOW), weed-free 6- × 6-ft area maintained with glyphosate herbicide (SPRAY), 6-ft × 6-ft × 2-inch deep mulch (TWO), 6-ft × 6-ft × 4-inch deep mulch (FOUR), and 6-ft × 6-ft × 6-inch deep mulch (SIX). Yields in 2008 were poorest in the MOW treatment (13.2 kg/tree and 93 fruit/tree). All other treatments did not differ. Soluble solids concentration as a measure of fruit quality and fruit weight was unaffected by treatment. Tree height, pruning weights, and trunk cross-sectional area were similar with the exception that MOW was lower for all three growth measurements beginning in 2007. Pecan mulch appears to have the potential to reduce soil pH. Foliar analysis for nitrogen (N), potassium (K), and zinc (Zn) showed treatment differences in 2006. No treatment differences were evident in 2007 and 2008 for K and Zn, but in 2008, FOUR had greater N than MOW. Tree mortality increased with pecan mulch depth. MOW, SPRAY, and TWO had little tree loss (0%–5%), whereas FOUR and SIX had 15% and 35% mortality, respectively. Tree mortality was attributed to record rains in 2007 coupled with longer soil moisture retention under the deeper mulch.


Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. This population-based cohort study verified that central serous chorioretinopathy is an important risk factor for the development of age-related macular degeneration. There is an increased risk of age-related macular degeneration in older central serous chorioretinopathy patients. Abstract Purpose: To estimate the risk of incident age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). Methods: This population-based cohort study was finally conducted from January 2015 to December 2019. All patients with CSC from the entire population aged between 30 and 80 years were included. The incidence of CSC was estimated. Log-rank analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to evaluate the risk of exudative AMD in the CSC group compared with the non-CSC group. Results: During a recent 5-year study period, 36,053 patients were identified as having incident CSC. The annual incidence in the latest year was 19.61 (95% confidence interval, 19.58 to 19.63) per 100,000 people. A total of 11,492 patients were included in the study group and 22,984 in the non-CSC group. The CSC and non-CSC groups included 166 (1.44%) and 73 (0.32%) cases of exudative AMD, respectively. The risk of exudative AMD was significantly higher in the CSC group than in the non-CSC group (adjusted hazard ratio: 4.86; 95% confidence interval: 2.98 to 5.88; P < 0.001). Conclusion: This study showed that subjects with CSC are at an increased risk of exudative AMD. This evidence supports a possible link between CSC and exudative AMD, particularly in Asian populations.


Invasive aquatic plants include plants and algae that grow partially or entirely submerged in water. The United States Department of Agriculture Early Detection and Distribution Mapping system (USDA EDD Maps) was used to collate number of positive observations for all the aquatic invasive species in Louisiana. United States Geological Survey Non-indigenous aquatic species (USGS NAS) database was used to collate each species years of first and last observations and number of affected HUC in Louisiana State. The collated data were recorded and formatted using Excel spreadsheet. The analyses of the data were done using Excel software to generate different charts. The main objective of this paper was to evaluate the current impacts and management of invasive aquatic plants in Louisiana and also to assess whether several resources expended on eradication of these plants have resulted in improved water quality of the State. From the collated data from USGS and USDA EMM Maps, it shows earliest date of observation of invasive aquatic plant in Louisiana from 1884. Common Water hyacinth has the highest number of observations to date. About 41 hydrological unit areas have been affected by infestation of Alligator weed as well. The continuous spread of invasive aquatic plants in Louisiana could be due to favorable weather conditions, excessive nutrients runoff from agricultural practices, reduction of government allocated funds, and uncooperative human community. The current State of Louisiana statewide management plan has done little in the control of the major notorious aquatic plant invaders such as giant Salvinia and water hyacinth. Although, several biological, chemical and mechanical management controls are being implemented yearly, there is a need for interagency collaboration, establishment of efficient State database, and stricter laws on voluntary anthropogenic activities such as sales of invasive weeds as ornamental plants and smuggling of unwanted species through the waterways into the states.


This report describes a patient who developed acute pulmonary edema as a complication of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Hemodynamic evaluation revealed a pulmonary artery wedge pressure of 3 mm Hg and a cardiac index of 4.6 liter per min per m2. The patient exhibited an acute decrease in serum colloid osmotic pressure from 25.1 mm Hg to 16.8 mm Hg. These findings suggest that pulmonary edema in this patient was the result of altered capillary membrane permeability.


The increase in the popularity of agents and transactions has made it necessary to develop a framework for multi-agent interaction. Traditional database transactions, which use the ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) properties, must be extended to meet the needs present in an agent-based peer-to-peer environment. By encapsulating our agents and having them conform to new commitment rules, transactions can be carried out safely and effectively.


Polyesters with 9,10-dihydro-9-oxy-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide-containing comonomers are synthesized aiming to improve the flame retardancy of aliphatic polyesters such as poly(butylene succinate) and poly(butylene sebacate). The influence of the chemical structure on the thermal decomposition and pyrolysis is examined using a combination of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), TGA-Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and microscale combustion flow calorimetry. Thermal decomposition pathways are derived and used to select suitable candidates as flame retardants for PBS. The fire behavior of the selected polymers is evaluated by forced-flaming combustion in a cone calorimeter. The materials show two modes of action for flame retardancy: strong flame inhibition due to the release of a variety of molecules combined with charring in the solid state.


As of 2015, Kurds in Iraq remain masters of an autonomous region, considered by many as a de facto state, and important brokers within the Iraqi political arena. Prompted by these 'gains', many observers and researchers have been inclined to announce the imminent establishment of a Kurdish state. However, this article argues that scholars should be cautious before pronouncing a complete break between the Iraqi state and the Kurds. It shows from a processual and dynamic approach how and why scholars should go beyond the 'assimilation versus resistance' dichotomy in order to better grasp the relations between 'majorities' and 'minorities' in Iraq and in the Middle East, in general. Yet, acknowledging the present deadlock, it explores the conditions that may allow history textbooks to play a role in easing ethnic relations by rewriting Kurdish history. It could lead to the emergence of a new, collective, albeit multiple, Iraqi history.


: Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is a formalized methodology that focuses on creating models at the centre of system design, rather than traditional document-based approaches. While general purpose modelling languages such as the Systems Modelling Language (SysML) and their corresponding methodological approaches such as the Software Platform Embedded Systems (SPES) framework are available, the combination of a modelling language, method, and tooling is still lacking. Typically, industrial language engineers simply provide guidelines for users on how to use a particular modelling language as there is no methodical support for using the same with a well-defined method and a well-suited graphical modelling tool. This puts all the burden on the user, often resulting in a failure of the whole approach. To solve this challenge, we introduce a coherent and systematic approach for the efficient development of a SysML workbench that combines SysML and the SPES methodology using a modelling tool, MagicDraw. In this paper, we showcase the construction of a comprehensive methodical workbench by integrating key aspects of the modelling language, the SPES methodology and MagicDraw. Ultimately, the resulting SysML workbench for SPES serves as a reference point for future MBSE implementations, relieves users from the many burdens of traditional approaches, and helps mastering the complexity of creating collaborative model-based systems with efficient methods and tools.


The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of step aerobic (StA) and cycle ergometer training (CET) on physical performance, coordination, and pleasure, during workout. Forty untrained persons (40-70 years) were randomly assigned to either of the two regimens. Prior to and after three months of training, we investigated the participants' physical performance with a cycle ergometer test and by testing coordinative tasks (upper extremities: tapping test; lower extremities: one-leg stance). After the training period, visual analog scales were used to evaluate personal assessment (pleasure, wellbeing, team spirit, interest in prolongation of training). StA increased the relative oxygen uptake at the anaerobic threshold (RVO2AT) while CET increased the relative maximal oxygen uptake (RVO2max) to a statistically significant extent. However, intergroup comparison failed to show group-specific differences. Concerning coordinative tasks, the members of the StA group achieved a significant time reduction for both hands' tapping test. However, only the improvement in left-handed tapping was significantly higher than that achieved by members of the CET group. Despite the absence of group-specific differences, CET members showed a statistically significant change when comparing the duration of pre- with post-training time for one-leg stance under proprioceptive conditions. Team spirit was significantly higher in the StA group than in the CET group. Except for the time reduction in left-handed tapping, the present study found no group-specific differences in physical performance and coordination. Participating in a StA class has a more cohesive effect on the individual members than attending a CET group.


Secure, immutable and transparent feature of blockchain has led researchers to find ways to harness its potential in sectors other than financial services. Blockchain is emerging as a popular tool to help solve some of the healthcare industry's age-old problems that have resulted in delayed treatments, inaccessible health records in emergency, wasteful spending and higher costs for doctors, health care providers, insurers and patients. Applying blockchain in healthcare brings a new challenge of integrating blockchain with Internet of Things (IoT) networks as sensor based medical and wearable devices are now used to gather information about the health of a patient and provide it to medical applications using wireless networking. This paper proposes an architecture that would provide a decentralized, secure, immutable, transparent, scalable and traceable system for management and access control of electronic health records (EHRs) through the use of consortium blockchain, smart contracts, proof-ofauthentication (PoAh) consensus protocol and decentralized cloud.


ABSTRACT Zidebactam and WCK 5153 are novel β-lactam enhancers that are bicyclo-acyl hydrazides (BCH), derivatives of the diazabicyclooctane (DBO) scaffold, targeted for the treatment of serious infections caused by highly drug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens. In this study, we determined the penicillin-binding protein (PBP) inhibition profiles and the antimicrobial activities of zidebactam and WCK 5153 against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, including multidrug-resistant (MDR) metallo-β-lactamase (MBL)-producing high-risk clones. MIC determinations and time-kill assays were conducted for zidebactam, WCK 5153, and antipseudomonal β-lactams using wild-type PAO1, MexAB-OprM-hyperproducing (mexR), porin-deficient (oprD), and AmpC-hyperproducing (dacB) derivatives of PAO1, and MBL-expressing clinical strains ST175 (blaVIM-2) and ST111 (blaVIM-1). Furthermore, steady-state kinetics was used to assess the inhibitory potential of these compounds against the purified VIM-2 MBL. Zidebactam and WCK 5153 showed specific PBP2 inhibition and did not inhibit VIM-2 (apparent Ki [Kiapp] > 100 μM). MICs for zidebactam and WCK 5153 ranged from 2 to 32 μg/ml (amdinocillin MICs > 32 μg/ml). Time-kill assays revealed bactericidal activity of zidebactam and WCK 5153. LIVE-DEAD staining further supported the bactericidal activity of both compounds, showing spheroplast formation. Fixed concentrations (4 or 8 μg/ml) of zidebactam and WCK 5153 restored susceptibility to all of the tested β-lactams for each of the P. aeruginosa mutant strains. Likewise, antipseudomonal β-lactams (CLSI breakpoints), in combination with 4 or 8 μg/ml of zidebactam or WCK 5153, resulted in enhanced killing. Certain combinations determined full bacterial eradication, even with MDR MBL-producing high-risk clones. β-Lactam–WCK enhancer combinations represent a promising β-lactam "enhancer-based" approach to treat MDR P. aeruginosa infections, bypassing the need for MBL inhibition.


Fabrication of high quality nanotubes with thin walls, long length, and uniform diameter is challenging, especially in complex structure oxides, such as perovskites. In this paper, we elucidate a facile method for the preparation of perovskite manganite nanotubes by a sacrificial template assisted pulsed laser deposition technique. Morphological analysis reveals a typical hollow tubular nanostructure of the nanotubes with lengths up to tens of micrometers and the average diameter of 160 nm. The nanotubes are composed of perovskite crystallites with a granular size of 5–10 nm, and show superparamagnetism behavior. The kinetic energy of the plume is crucial for the nanotube formation, which could be tuned by the laser energy density, the pressure of deposition and the target–substrate distance. This sacrificial template method illustrated here does not only propose a universal technique for high quality inorganic nanotube material fabrication, but also provides a promising route to new one-dimensional materials and devices.


Significance Processes as diverse as enhance oil recovery, sand-bed erosion, and even transport of magnetic flux lines in dirty superconductors ultimately rely on the displacement of interacting particles (oil droplets, grains, or flux lines) through disordered media. In all these examples, a minimal drive is required to unpin and transport interacting particles. Taking advantage of model microfluidic experiments, we demonstrate that the depinning of emulsions advected through disordered channels is a critical phenomenon: a phase transition between a regime where the droplets are trapped and a flowing regime where the droplets are effectively transported through an emergent network of sparse rivers. These experiments illuminate the universality of plastic depinning dynamics. During the past 60 min, oil companies have extracted 6 trillion liters of oil from the ground, thereby giving a striking illustration of the impact of multiphase flows on the world economy. From a fundamental perspective, we largely understand the dynamics of interfaces separating immiscible fluids driven through heterogeneous environments. In stark contrast, the basic mechanisms ruling the transport of fragmented fluids, such as foams and emulsions, remain elusive with studies mostly limited to isolated droplets and bubbles. Here, we demonstrate that the mobilization of emulsion driven through model disordered media is a critical plastic depinning transition. To elucidate this collective dynamics, we track the trajectories of hundreds of thousands of microfluidic droplets advected through random lattices of pinning sites. Their dynamics reveals that macroscopic mobilization only requires the coordinated motion of small groups of particles and does not involve any large-scale avalanches. Criticality arises from the interplay between contact and hydrodynamic interaction, which channel seemingly erratic depinning events along smectic river networks correlated over system spanning scales. Beyond the specifics of emulsion transport, we close our article discussing the similarities and profound differences with the plastic depinning transitions of driven flux lines in high-Tc superconductors, charged colloids, and grain transport in eroded sand beds.


One of the biggest problems of the last decade is hardly defined economic activities, objects and subjects in cyber space. Through cyberspaces, such as social networking platforms, e-commerce, e-business systems or cyber computer games, real money circulates but in most cases these transactions are not accounted and do not generate the taxes to the state budget. For this reason, a deeper insight in the phenomenon of digital shadow economy is purposeful. The performed analysis of various scientific sources leads to the conclusion that the previous research on the topic of digital shadow economy is mostly limited with the studies in cybercriminal activities, e-fraud and the motives of the consumers to get involved in digital piracy. However, the complex scientific research in the field of digital shadow economy has not been performed, which determined the aim of this research – to systematize the scientific literature on digital shadow economy and perform the critical analysis of the researched phenomenon. The methods used in the research include systematic and comparative analysis of the scientific literature. The research has enabled to specify the concept of digital shadow economy, identify its forms and activity channels in digital black markets and define the differences between traditional and digital shadow economy. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s5p402


Although hepatocytes in vivo experience intra-abdominal pressure (IAP), pressure is typically not incorporated in hepatocyte culture systems. The cuboidal cell shape and extent of intercellular contact between cultured hepatocytes are critical parameters that influence the differentiated hepatic phenotype. Using a microfluidic device, the application of pressure to artificially compact cells and forge cell-cell interactions was previously demonstrated to be effective in accelerating hepatic repolarization. In seeking to implement this approach to higher throughput culture platforms for potential drug screening applications, we specifically designed a vertical-flow compaction bioreactor array (VCBA) that compacts hepatocytes within the range of IAP and portal pressure in vivo in a multi-well setup. As a result of vertical perfusion-generated forces, hepatocytes not only exhibited accelerated repolarization, an in vivo-like cuboidal morphology, but also better maintained hepatic functions in long-term culture as compared to the same cells cultured under static conditions. As a novel engineering tool to modulate cell compaction and intercellular interactions, this platform is a promising approach to confer tight control over hepatocyte repolarization for in vitro culture.


Magnesium (Mg) is one of the essential elements for the growth of tea tree and is extremely important for its development. In this study, we investigated the effect of Mg on the transcriptome and physicochemical indexes of tea leaves, and the results showed that Mg could significantly affect the gene expression of tea leaves. The results of Orthogonal Partial Least-Squares Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) model analysis showed that a total of 300 key genes (Variable Importance for the Projection, VIP > 1) were screened under different concentrations of Mg treatment, among which 140 genes were up-regulated and 160 genes were down-regulated. The bubble map was used to screen the characteristic genes from the above key genes, and a total of 121 representative characteristic genes were obtained, mainly involving 9 metabolic pathways. Among them, gene expression of three metabolic pathways, including porphyrin metabolism, alpha-linolenic acid metabolism and photosynthesis, showed an increasing trend with the increase of Mg concentration, while gene expression of four metabolic pathways, including biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, anthocyanin biosynthesis, ABC transporters, pentose and glucuronate interconversions, showed a decreasing trend. The results of physiological index analysis showed that with the increase of Mg concentration, the photosynthetic physiological index, theanine and soluble sugar content of tea leaves showed an increasing trend, while the content of tea polyphenol, flavone and caffeine showed a decreasing trend. The results of TOPSIS analysis showed that the physiological indexes of tea trees most affected by Mg were chlorophyll, tea polyphenols and flavonoids, while the metabolic pathways most affected by Mg on gene expression were the metabolic pathways and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. It can be seen that the effects of Mg on tea tree were mainly related to photosynthesis and synthesis of secondary metabolites, and Mg was beneficial for improving the photosynthetic capacity of tea tree, enhancing the accumulation of primary metabolites, and thus increasing tea yield. However, Mg was not conducive to the synthesis of secondary metabolites of tea tree and the accumulation of main quality indexes of tea leaves.


A combinatorial synthesis of oligopeptide analogues and their evaluation as protein:geranylgeranyl transferase inhibitors is presented. The combinatorial strategy is based on the random mutation, in each new generation, of one of any of the four amino acid building blocks of which the most effective compounds of the previous generation are assembled. In this way, a progressive improvement of the average inhibitory activity was observed until the fifth generation. The most active inhibitors were found to inhibit PGGT-1 in the low micromolar range (IC(50): 3.8-8.1 microM).


Following the turn of the 20th century, Chinese intellectuals questioned the value of the Confucian tradition in its confrontation with European imperialism; the establishment of the People's Republic of China entailed the introduction of a Chinese variant of Marxism-Leninism as the official ideology. China's policies of opening up to the world that started at the end of the 1970s have transformed the country into a leading economic and increasingly also political power in the world. The growing social inequality resulting from this economic development has made one part of the Chinese population question the Marxist basis of the Chinese Communist Party, concurrently the validity of the capitalist model has also come into question. The similar economic growth of the so-called 'Confucian' Asian tigers (Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan) has, on the other hand, given rise to the concept of an 'Asian developmental model', of which traditional Confucianism is taken to be an important element. The revaluation of the ancient Confucian tradition that as a consequence ensued in mainland China is further inspired by the New Confucian movements in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States. It thus appears that the intellectual scene in contemporary China shows a variety of 'ideological' trends: advocacy of capitalism and liberal democracy, the continuation/redefinition of Chinese Marxism, a return to/reinterpretation of the Confucian tradition, or some combination of these trends. As such, contemporary China is witnessing a continuing 'struggle for modernity'. This paper addresses this development in contemporary China, thereby focusing on the sociological divides that underlie this development and tracing these divides back in history.


Abstract Sequence databases can be searched for homologies of zinc coordination motifs with characteristic ligand signatures. Ensuing predictions that 3-10 % of the human genes encodes zinc proteins are most remarkable. But they seem conservative when considering that database mining cannot discover new signatures or coordination environments that employ nonsequential binding of ligands and sulfur-ligand bridges. Predictions also fall short for zinc/protein interactions at protein interfaces and for inhibitory zinc sites. Zinc ions transiently target proteins that are not known to be zinc proteins, adding a hitherto unrecognized dimension to the human zinc proteome. Predicted zinc sites need to be verified experimentally. The metal can be absent or sites may bind metal ions other than zinc because protein coordination environments do not have absolute specificity for zinc. The metaphor of the "galvanization of biology" continues to gain prominence in terms of the sheer number of approximately 3000 human zinc proteins and their annotation with new functions. Clearly, description of zinc proteomes cannot be pursued solely in silico and requires zinc proteomics, an integrated scientific approach. Progress hinges on a combination of bioinformatics, biology, and significantly, analytical and structural chemistry.


The properties of the SiO/sub 2/ chemical oxide layer fabricated at the interface between the Si substrate and polysilicon overlayer are critical for obtaining desired electrical response in bipolar polysilicon emitter transistors. The required uniformity in fabricating the layer is achieved by using a wet chemical peroxide bath. In this paper the physical thickness and composition of the chemical oxide is explored. Wet chemistry bath parameters were varied including temperature and hydrogen peroxide concentration. The resulting thickness and composition of the chemical oxide layer were measured using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ellipsometry. The stability of the chemical oxide layers was investigated under ambient conditions. Results indicate that a 1 nm thick chemical oxide film increased to 2 nm in thickness over a 24 hour period in ambient air and that the layer was a mix of stoichiometric SiO/sub 2/ and intermediary states. During the 24 hour period in ambient air, an increase in carbon contamination was seen. Varying the wet chemistry bath parameters showed that at the highest temperatures, the thickness of the chemical oxide decreased, suggesting that the hydrogen peroxide is rapidly losing potency.


Objective: To characterize the pneumatization of the temporal bone in age-matched healthy children and in children with otitis media with effusion (OME). Study Design: Prospective case-control study. Setting: Tertiary hospital center. Patients: This study included 40 healthy children and 56 children with OME, with age ranging from 2 to 18 years. Intervention: Mastoid volume and surface determination by 3-dimensional reconstruction of axial temporal bone computed tomographic images. Main Outcome Measure: Mastoid volume and surface area comparison of healthy children and children with OME. Results: The mastoid cell system (MCS) grows continuously up to the age of 18 years, with different intensities. The mean ± SD MCS volume and surface of children with OME are significantly lower (2.82 ± 1.51 ml and 40.45 ± 18.14 cm2, respectively) than those of healthy children (10.05 ± 5.3 ml and 84.47 ± 37.95 cm2, respectively). The mastoid volume and surface area of the left and right ears correlate well in healthy children. In children with bilateral OME, the ipsilateral and contralateral ears can be largely different. The ratio of surface and volume is constant in age groups. Conclusion: In children with OME, the functional volume of MCS acting as a pressure buffer and the surface area serving for gas exchange are small. In case of OME, 1 ear could be more seriously affected by the disease. Otitis media with effusion presumably has a negative effect on the mastoid pneumatization process. The surface-to-volume ratio is constant through chronological age and is a good indicator of a normal middle ear function.


Numerical software for sequential or parallel machines with memory hierarchies can benefit from locality optimizations which are usually achieved by program restructuring or program transformations. In this paper we introduce and discuss program-based locality measures which can be used to guide the restructuring and transformation process at the program level. As an example we consider a popular solution method to solve ordinary differential equations provided in many scientific libraries.


The goal of the presented research is to face the topic of reconfigurable control software development in a concrete fashion, i.e., by presenting a control software system development approach which has been used for a specific, although easy to be generalized, robotized manufacturing cell component. In particular, a methodology for the control software development of a planar robot (2-degrees of freedom) is presented, from the conceptual design to the actual implementation. The methodology suggests UML and object-oriented modeling and programming techniques for the design phase, while AWL programming language run by a PLC for the implementation phase. The analysis has been conducted considering the internal and external requirements of the manufacturing system which comprises the robot, mostly driven by the contemporary industrial need of reconfigurable control systems, critical key to succeed in the new era of mass customization


The Cholesky decomposition-block diagonalization (CD-BD) interference alignment (IA) for a multiuser multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) relay system is proposed, which designs precoders for the multiple access channel (MAC) by employing the singular value decomposition (SVD) as well as the mean square error (MSE) detector for the broadcast Hermitian channel (BHC) taken advantage of in our design. Also, in our proposed CD-BD IA algorithm, the relaying function is made use to restructure the quasieigenvalue decomposition (quasi-EVD) equivalent channel. This approach used for the design of BD precoding matrix can significantly reduce the computational complexity and proposed algorithm can address several optimization criteria, which is achieved by designing the precoding matrices in two steps. In the first step, we use Cholesky decomposition to maximize the sum-of-rate (SR) with the minimum mean square error (MMSE) detection. In the next step, we optimize the system BER performance with the overlap of the row spaces spanned by the effective channel matrices of different users. By iterating the closed form of the solution, we are able not only to maximize the achievable sum-of-rate (ASR), but also to minimize the BER performance at a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) region.


The relationship between platelet size and in vivo aging was investigated in the baboon using size-dependent platelet subpopulations separated by counterflow centrifugation. The separation characteristics, size, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, and dense-body content of the baboon platelet subpopulations were similar to those previously observed in studies of human platelets. Three independent labeling techniques were used: (1) in vivo labeling with 75Se-methionine, (2) in vitro labeling with 51Cr, and (3) in vivo labeling with 14C-serotonin. Maximal incorporation of all three labels showed a close correlation between the mean platelet volume (MPV) of each fraction and the platelet radioactivity. The onset of incorporation and rate of accumulation of 75Se-methionine were comparable in all fractions when corrected for differences in volume, suggesting that platelet size heterogeneity was present from the time of release of the platelets from the bone marrow. Survival studies using 51Cr and 14C-serotonin showed no translocation of the label from one fraction to another in the circulation over time. In vivo survival values for the three radionuclides showed a slight but significant correlation between the lifespan and the MPV of the fractions. The data suggest that large platelets were not younger platelets, but rather platelets with a longer life-span. Platelet size heterogeneity is the result of production factors in the bone marrow and not maturation in the circulation.


The blade system of a new concept VTOL vehicle is designed utilizing high performance and Grid computing technologies. The VTOL vehicle called cyclocopter employs a cycloidal propulsion system to generate the propulsion and lift for VTOL maneuver. The structural design and weight minimization of the composite blade system are critically related to the efficiency of whole cyclocopter system. The structural design is carried out using a hybrid genetic algorithm-based optimization framework on the Departmental Computing Grid(DCG) system, an aggregation of cluster resources installed in the Aerospace department of Seoul National University. High-fidelity simulation is conducted using our parallel finite element code (IPSAP) which employs the domain-wise parallel multifrontal solver, a direct solution method characterized by the solution robustness and the predictability of running time. The optimization results and computational aspects are displayed emphasizing the potential of the high performance Grid computing technology utilized for high-fidelity simulation based aerospace system design.


The development of a resource project inevitably requires the investigation of a vast range of issues across most engineering disciplines – mining, metallurgical, chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical and environmental – as well as the geosciences. It is also a characteristic feature of the resource industry that no two orebodies – and hence no two development projects – are the same. So these technical issues have to be addressed to a greater or lesser extent in evaluating any resource project's development potential. Not surprisingly then, technical issues tend to predominate when assessing the development potential of a project in the process typically referred to as 'doing a feasibility study'. But the principal purpose of a 'feasibility study' is to determine whether a development opportunity makes good business sense, not just whether it is technically possible. Resolution of technical issues is often seen as the primary focus of a feasibility study, whereas in reality, these technical issues are the basis upon which an asset delivery and business plan is built. This is not to say that technical issues are unimportant – they are a prerequisite to the demonstration of a project's viability. The feasibility study process must therefore demonstrate that not only have the technical issues been satisfactorily addressed, but also that the broader commercial, economic and social issues have been considered in the development of a comprehensive business plan, which includes an assessment of the risk-reward profile of the proposed development. This paper will present a framework for the conduct of 'feasibility studies' and provide guidance to minimum standards and best practice.


OBJECTIVE
Identifying the violence suffered by the health team workers and their association with Burnout and minor psychiatric disorders.

METHODS
Cross-sectional study with 269 health team professionals of a public hospital in southern Brazil. Data were collected through the use of the Survey Questionnaire: Workplace Violence in the Health Sector, Maslach Inventory Burnout and Self-Report Questionnaire.

RESULTS
Workplace violence struck 63.2% of workers, prevailing mostly in women (p = 0.001), among nursing auxiliaries/technicians (p=0.014) and was associated with minor psychiatric disorders (p<0.05), as exposure to different forms of violence increased the chances of these disorders by 60% (CI 95%: 1.2-2.1). The three Burnout dimensions were also associated to violence at work (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION
Health workers experience violence in the workplace and this exposure is associated with Burnout symptoms and minor psychiatric disorders.


We study the optimal precoding for a full-duplex (FD) system, where one FD multi-antenna base station (BS) respectively transmits to and receives from two half-duplex single-antenna mobile users (MUs) on the same time slot and frequency band. At the FD BS, the received signal from the desired MU is severely affected by the extremely strong self-interference (SI) from its transmit antennas to the receive antennas. In the presence of residual SI after imperfect SI cancellation, the downlink transmission rate maximization problem subject to a targeted uplink rate is formulated as a non-convex optimization problem to characterize the achievable rate region for the considered system. Considering the case in which the SI channel is strongly correlated, the above problem is transformed into a convex problem by exploiting the rank-one property of the SI channel, which can be solved efficiently. Finally, numerical results validate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.


OBJECTIVE
The research developed and pilot-tested MedlinePlus exercises in a diet-related chronic disease prevention (DCDP) middle school lesson unit called "Live."

METHODS
MedlinePlus exercises were jointly developed by two middle school family and consumer sciences (FCS) teachers and integrated into the "Live" DCDP lesson unit. FCS classes (n = 4) who had participated in a prior "Live" study were chosen to pilot-test the MedlinePlus-supplemented exercises. Evaluation measures included student satisfaction (assessed using an 8-item pre- and posttest questionnaire), knowledge gained, and attitudinal changes (assessed with an abridged version of a previously developed "Live" questionnaire). Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS.

RESULTS
Of 62 total study participants, 56 (92.3%) said that they were either "somewhat" or "clearly": (a) more likely to use MedlinePlus as a future source for answering questions about their personal health and (b) more knowledgeable about how eating habits can help prevent disease. Selected parameters were improved for nutrition knowledge (P < 0.01) and attitudes (P < 0.01) related to healthy eating.

CONCLUSIONS
MedlinePlus has good potential for efficiently communicating trustworthy diet-related disease-prevention behaviors to adolescents in an existing classroom curriculum.


Restoration of blood supply to tissue with impaired perfusion depends on spontaneous or mediated angiogenesis, which among other mechanisms includes stimulation, migration, and proliferation of endothelial cells (ECs). Therapeutic ultrasound (US) irradiation is known as an inducer of cellular modifications and is used to accelerate wound healing. An in vitro setup was developed in order to allow for a comprehensive investigation of cellular alterations induced in cultured ECs after exposure to different modes of therapeutic US irradiation. Viability assays revealed a higher rate of proliferation in the sonicated groups, although cell death was not observed. Visualization of actin stress fibers demonstrated partial disassembly of the fibers immediately after US sonication, with a maximum after about 2 h. However, 24 h following sonication the fibers regain normal appearance. A similar behavior was observed with the microtubules and focal adhesion complexes. Utilizing a wound healing assay revealed that migration rate of ECs is enhanced by US irradiation. These findings hint that therapeutic US sonication of ECs results in temporarily cellular alterations, which may induce tissue remodeling via stimulation of EC proliferation and migration.


The traditional interpolation and fitting cannot restore the radiation dose curve with the radiation source characteristic. Therefore, during the reduction the field of one dimensional radiation dose, the mathematical structure method was used to restore the curve with the dose value of the radioactive source is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the radioactive source.


BACKGROUND
Although tick-borne pathogens have been reported as an important cause of imported fever, the incidence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum, the causative agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA), in travelers is unknown.

METHODS
We conducted a prospective cohort study to investigate the aetiologies of fever in returning travelers (November 2017-July 2019). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for msp2 gene amplification and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) for A. phagocitophilum were performed in all returning travelers with undifferentiated non-malarial fever.

RESULTS
Among 141 travelers included, 8 patients were diagnosed with probable or confirmed HGA. The overall incidence rate of HGA of 19.9 cases/1000 person-week of travel. The main destination of travel was Asia, accounting for 62.5% patients with HGA. Co-infections were found in 37.5% of patients with HGA.

CONCLUSIONS
Diagnosis of HGA and empirical treatment with doxycycline should be considered in travelers with fever.


OBJECTIVES
The mechanical valve replacement may be the only option if the failing mitral valve cannot be repaired in complete AV septal defect (CAVSD), or congenital mitral valve stenosis and regurgitation in infants. In young infants the small mitral annulus-prosthesis mismatch is a big problem.

AIM
To assess the possibility of the left AV orifice repair and the necessity of mechanical valve replacement in CAVSD in young infants.

METHODS
Single center, retrospective study of 82 infants (13 pts under 3 months) who underwent complete repair of CAVSD between 2001 and 2007. Mechanical (bileaflet) valve replacement was required in 7 pts (5 weeks-7 months, 3.5-5 kg). The time interval between the two operations was 0-7 days, but the smallest baby spent 38 days in the intensive care unit waiting for increasing of his mitral annulus size from 11 to 15 mm. (Types of implanted valves: 2 Carbomedics 16 mm, 3 ATS 16 mm, 1 Sorin 17 mm, 1 Sorin 19 mm.) ATS 16 mm valves were implanted in 2 infants each with congenital mitral valve stenosis and regurgitation.

RESULTS
Early mortality (30 days) was 0, but 2 pts died in sepsis on the 46th and 71st postoperative day, respectively. In the follow-up period of 1-6 (mean 3) years 1 child (18 months later) needed reoperation (pannus removal), now all pts are doing well. Anticoagulation therapy was difficult in some cases without complication.

CONCLUSIONS
The surgical repair of congenital mitral valve diseases and CAVSD can be performed successfully in very young infants. If the anatomic characteristics of the mitral valve is not suitable for repair, only mechanical mitral valve replacement can be performed successfully even in sometimes hopeless situation (one of our pts of 3.5 kg weight, is the smallest baby mentioned in the literature). Our early and mid-time results are good, but the re-replacement will be an unavoidable problem in the future.