Reduced renal function is the most important variable to consider in reducing dosage of drugs that are excreted largely unchanged in the urine, eg, cardiac glycosides and aminoglycoside antibiotics. Generally, therapeutic concentrations listed for specific drugs are equivalent for both younger and older adults. The major change in treatment of the elderly is lowering the customary dose to compensate for decreases in metabolism or clearance.


Objective
To compare the frequency and intensity of a presenting clinical picture
 between females and males through an acute airway obstruction in our emergency department.

Methods
Our prospective investigation included 197 patients , of both genders ,
 aged 16-83 years and presenting to our emergency department of Queen Alia military hospital during the period Jan – June 2011 , complaining of acute attacks of bronchial asthma , according to clinical examination and clinical medical
 records.
 The presenting clinical picture was differentiated between females
 (GII,n=99 ) and males (GI,n= 98 ),according to intensity (mild,moderate and severe) and incidence of none,some times and very frequently attacks of acute bronchial asthma during the past 24 hours.
 P-value was considered statistically significant if it was equal or 0.05).

Conclusion
Although the incidence of clinical presentation of bronchial asthma was almost equal in both groups,the severe clinical presentation of acute attacks of bronchial asthma was significantly more in females than in males in our
 Jordanian population group at our emergency department


The confrontation of the differential and etiological diagnosis of the infectious diseases of cancer patients, including hematopoietic stem cells transplant (HSCT) recipients, must correspond to an informed, timely decision that directly affects medical behavior that determines a better survival and quality of life for patients. The main goal of this work was to contribute to the management of these patients developing a useful tool for the clinician to make these decisions. For that, infections were grouped by compromised systems, differentiating the possible etiological agents in bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites, highlighting the relevant diagnostic tests, mentioning the recommended techniques together with the optimal sample type for proper processing. In addition, under each group of techniques we added the item "level of requirement" to suggest what, in the opinion of the authors and the existing evidence, must be mandatory to have at local level or can be derivable to another laboratory.


An experimental model of adenosine deaminase deficiency was established on the human T cell line Jurkat by using 2'‐deoxycoformycin, a strong specific inhibitor of the enzyme. When deoxyadenosine was added to the inhibited cells, the nucleotide profile was modified reproducing that found in lymphocytes from adenosine deaminase‐deficient children. The metabolism of phosphoinositides, analyzed by either the release of [3H]inositol phosphates or the breakdown of 32P‐prelabeled phosphatidyl inositides, was compared in normal and modified cells where dATP was accumulated. No modification in 32P labeling of phosphoinositides was detectable within the 32P‐loading period. However, when the cells were stimulated by phytohemagglutinin or anti‐CD3 monoclonal antibody, the phosphoinositide hydrolysis was strongly reduced in the dATP‐containing lymphoblasts. This decrease was correlated with the intracellular dATP concentration.


: The author describes the physiological relations that emerge on an analysis of the effects of thermal pulsation on the nasolabile area, as well as those between functional systems of thermoregulation, on the one hand, and respiration, vascular tone and sleep control mechanisms, on the other one. Analyzes complex physiological shifts occurring during the procedures of thermal pulsation and the essence of their multivariate clinical significance.


Although standard theories suggest that patent protection helps stimulate innovative activities, some new theories argue the opposite. Empirical studies do not generate conclusive results either. This paper investigates empirically the impacts of foreign patent reforms on innovation in the US, using data on successful patent applications in the US over 33 years and major IPR reforms in 21 countries, in addition to the patent reforms in the US and the TRIPS Agreement of the WTO. We find that the TRIPS Agreement has had significant impacts on innovation in the US, which highlights the importance of international cooperation in patent protection. However, the effects of strengthening patent protection by individual countries are not statistically significant. This result seems to imply that the US market is already sufficiently large/profitable to provide innovation incentives in the US and therefore further strengthening foreign patent protection simply increases the US innovators' rent, but not their innovation.


BACKGROUND
The absence or presence of bleeding on probing (BOP) is a sign of periodontal health or disease, but the presence of BOP is not an accurate predictor of disease progression. Aspirin is increasingly used in the prevention of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases and is a non-disease factor that may modify bleeding indices given its antithrombolytic activity. The purpose of this double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial was to study the effect of short-term daily aspirin ingestion on the clinical parameter BOP.

METHODS
A total of 46 periodontally healthy subjects were included in this study: 16 received placebo, 15 low-dose aspirin (81 mg), and 15 regular dose (325 mg) aspirin. Clinical parameters assessed included plaque index, periodontal probing depth, and BOP using an automated pressure-sensitive probe. Measurements were recorded before and after 7-day exposure to placebo and aspirin regimens.

RESULTS
A statistically significant difference in BOP was found in patients with > or = 20% of bleeding sites during the visit prior to placebo or aspirin exposure (n = 11). The group treated with 325 mg aspirin exhibited a moderate yet statistically significant increase in BOP (12.4%) compared to the placebo group (there was no significant difference between the 81 mg aspirin group and placebo). The tendency to bleed was not statistically significant in the group which exhibited <20% (n = 35) of bleeding sites during the visit prior to exposure.

CONCLUSION
Aspirin intake of 325 mg daily for 7 days moderately increased the appearance of bleeding on probing in a population that had > or = 20% BOP sites.


Three imidazole hydrazone compounds, namely 2-(4-nitro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)-N'-[1-(pyridin-2-yl)ethylidene]acetohydrazide, C12H12N6O3, (1), 2-(2-nitro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)-N'-[1-(pyridin-2-yl)ethylidene]acetohydrazide, C12H12N6O3, (2), and 2-(2-nitro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)-N'-[(phenyl)(pyridin-2-yl)methylidene]acetohydrazide, C17H14N6O3, (3), were obtained and fully characterized, including their crystal structure determinations. While all the compounds proved not to be cytotoxic to J774.A1 macrophage cells, (1) and (3) exhibited activity against Leishmania chagasi, whereas (2) was revealed to be inactive. Since both (1) and (3) exhibited antileishmanial effects, while (2) was devoid of activity, the presence of the acetyl or benzoyl groups was possibly not a determining factor in the observed antiprotozoal activity. In contrast, since (1) and (3) are 4-nitroimidazole derivatives and (2) is a 2-nitroimidazole-derived compound, the presence of the 4-nitro group probably favours antileishmanial activity over the 2-nitro group. The results suggested that further investigations on compounds (1) and (3) as bioreducible antileishmanial prodrug candidates are called for.


Introduction: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are an endogenous mircoRNA sponge that could act as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. However, the role of circRNAs in asthma is far from clear. Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the diagnostic and therapeutic value of hsa_circ_0002594 for T helper (Th) 2-mediated allergic asthma. Methods: The expression profiles of hsa_circ_0002594 in CD4+ T cells were revealed by circRNA microarray. Hsa_circ_0002594 expression was confirmed via quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in asthmatic patients and healthy subjects. Hsa_circ_0002594 levels were compared between subgroups. The clinical diagnostic abilities and therapeutic response of hsa_circ_0002594 were evaluated. The analyses utilized included a student's t test, nonparametric tests, Spearman's rank-order correlation, Fisher's exact test, and the generation of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: Hsa_circ_0002594 was upregulated and positively correlated with fraction of exhaled nitric oxide while negatively correlated with methacholine dose producing a decrease of 20% from baseline in forced expiratory volume in the first second (PD20) in CD4+ T cells of asthma. Furthermore, hsa_circ_0002594 expression was higher in subgroups with a family history, skin pricking test (SPT)-positive, or Th2-high. The hsa_circ_0002594-high subgroup was more frequently associated with Th2-high biomarker profiles and positive SPT. Hsa_circ_0002594 was decreased after inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) treatment. ROC curve analyses of hsa_circ_0002594 showed high area under the curve values in the presence of ICS or not. Conclusions: Our data suggested that hsa_circ_0002594 was upregulated in CD4+ T cells and might have potential value in the diagnosis and treatment of Th2-mediated allergic asthma.


This review essay outlines the two major approaches (through connections and comparisons) to the emerging field of Global History. The essay first summarizes recent historiographical developments that challenge and deconstruct Eurocentric periodisations of history. The essay then moves on to the discussion of the 'great divergence' between Asia and Europe; divergence in living standards, productive capabilities and ultimately geopolitical power that became more evident in the nineteenth century and continued to grow during the twentieth. An example of a Global History of cotton textiles is provided before concluding with some consequences of this historiographical trend (that some claim goes back to Herodotus) for the writing and interpretation of modern history. The essay surveys mostly works of Global Economic History and histories of globalization, highlighting the need of historians to respond to the challenges and opportunities of a globalizing world.


The emerging cloud environments are well suited for storage and analysis of large datasets, since they can allow on-demand access to resources. However, developing high-performance implementations of data analysis tasks is a challenging problem. In our prior work, we have developed a middleware called FREERIDE (FRamework for Rapid Implementation of Data mining Engines). FREERIDE is based upon the observation that the processing structure of a large number of data mining algorithms involves generalized reductions. FREERIDE offers a high-level interface and implements both distributed memory and shared memory parallelization. In this paper, we consider a challenging new data mining algorithm, information theoretic co-clustering, and parallelize it using the FREERIDE middleware. We show how the main processing loops of row clustering and column clustering of the Co-clustering algorithm can essentially be fit into a generalized reduction structure. We achieve good parallel efficiency, with a speedup of nearly 21 on 32 cores.


Governments are considering adopting various COVID-19 vaccine mandates to protect the most vulnerable groups from infection. We conducted a panel survey of 240 adults aged 65 years or older in April 2021 and April 2022 on their attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccine mandates for all adults, adults 65 and older, and health care workers. Results of a series of logistic regression models show that partisan self-identification is central in predicting attitudes of older adults toward these mandates. The findings of our study will be of relevance for decision-makers as they craft policies to protect the most vulnerable groups in society.


Two types of long-lived impurity-ion snakes (LLSs) including the ideal-like kink mode which damps before the large sawtooth crash, termed sawtooth-free LLSs (SF-LLSs) and complex LLSs (C-LLSs), which coexist with compound sawtooth and final damping after sawtooth crash were observed in EAST ELM-free H-mode sawtoothing plasma. These LLSs have an m = 1 structure, accompanied by several harmonic modes (m = 2, m = 3...). There is a slight frequency-chirping behavior of the LLS. Similar with the typical sawtooth crash phase, a large crescent-shaped helical island-like structure in the core region of the C-LLSs was visible after the major crash of the coexisting compound sawtooth. The strong coupling of the C-LLSs and the 2/1 tearing mode (TM) can trigger a neo-classical tearing mode (NTM) due to a forced magnetic reconnection.


Digital presence in the world of online social media entails significant privacy risks. In this work we consider a privacy threat to a social network in which an attacker has access to a subset of random walk-based node similarities, such as effective resistances (i.e., commute times) or personalized PageRank scores. Using these similarities, the attacker's goal is to infer as much information as possible about the underlying network, including any remaining unknown pairwise node similarities and edges.
For the effective resistance metric, we show that with just a small subset of measurements, the attacker can learn a large fraction of edges in a social network, even when the measurements are noisy. We also show that it is possible to learn a graph which accurately matches the underlying network on all other effective resistances. This second observation is interesting from a data mining perspective, since it can be expensive to accurately compute all effective resistances. As an alternative, our graphs learned from just a subset of approximate effective resistances can be used as surrogates in a wide range of applications that use effective resistances to probe graph structure, including for graph clustering, node centrality evaluation, and anomaly detection.
We obtain our results by formalizing the graph learning objective mathematically, using two optimization problems. One formulation is convex and can be solved provably in polynomial time. The other is not, but we solve it efficiently with projected gradient and coordinate descent. We demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods on a number of social networks obtained from Facebook. We also discuss how our methods can be generalized to other random walk-based similarities, such as personalized PageRank. Our code is available at this https URL


Abstract Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form symbioses with the majority of plant species and can provide multiple benefits to the host plant. In agro‐ecosystems, the abundance and community structure of AMF are affected by agricultural management practices. This review describes and discusses current knowledge on the effects of inorganic and organic chemical pesticides on AMF in the conflicting area between agricultural use and environmental concerns. Variable effects have been reported following chemical pesticide use, ranging from neutral to positive and negative. Moreover, a species‐specific reaction has been documented. The reported effects of pesticides on arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis are very diverse, and even when the same substance is investigated, the results are often contradictory. These effects depend on many parameters, such as the active substance, the mode of action, the mode of application and the dosage. In the field, determinants such as the physico‐chemical behavior of the active substances, the soil type and other soil microorganisms contribute to the fate of pesticides and thus the amount of active substances to which AMF are exposed. This review highlights that the fate of AMF following pesticide use needs to be addressed in a broader agro‐ecosystem context. © 2018 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.


The milk constituents of Trichosurus vulpecula, a folivorous marsupial, showed marked quantitative and qualitative changes during the course of lactation. The milk produced in the early stages of lactation was dilute, with about 9-13% (w/w) solids during the first 3 weeks, comprising mostly carbohydrate and protein (35-40%). At 20 weeks, about three-quarters of the way through lactation, the milk was much more concentrated, about 28% solids, with lipid the predominant fraction (30-35%), after a marked decline in carbohydrate content (20-25%). Concentrations of the electrolytes sodium and potassium also underwent marked changes. The changes in milk composition of T. vulpecula during the first three-quarters of lactation were similar to those described for a range of herbivorous, insectivorous and carnivorous marsupials. In the last quarter of lactation, however, brushtail possum milk maintained a relatively stable composition, with higher levels of carbohydrate and lower levels of lipid than for other marsupials. There appears to be a uniform pattern of changes in milk composition throughout the Marsupialia over most of lactation, with family differences evident only in the latter stages.


Experimental (23 rabbits) and clinical (42 patients with operated glaucoma) studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of a titanium nickelide implant on ocular tissue in modified deep sclerectomy in order to normalize intraocular pressure. Scleral morphological studies in the area of implant placement revealed the formation of a capsule with "fissures" and vessels. Clinically, there was intraocular pressure compensation in 92.8% of the patients operated on.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Impairment of HDL function has been associated with cardiovascular events in patients with kidney failure. The protein composition of HDLs is altered in these patients, presumably compromising the cardioprotective effects of HDLs. This post hoc study assessed the relation of distinct HDL-bound proteins with cardiovascular outcomes in a dialysis population.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
The concentrations of HDL-associated serum amyloid A (SAA) and surfactant protein B (SP-B) were measured in 1152 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus on hemodialysis participating in The German Diabetes Dialysis Study who were randomly assigned to double-blind treatment of 20 mg atorvastatin daily or matching placebo. The association of SAA(HDL) and SP-B(HDL) with cardiovascular outcomes was assessed in multivariate regression models adjusted for known clinical risk factors.

RESULTS
High concentrations of SAA(HDL) were significantly and positively associated with the risk of cardiac events (hazard ratio per 1 SD higher, 1.09; 95% confidence interval, 1.01 to 1.19). High concentrations of SP-B(HDL) were significantly associated with all-cause mortality (hazard ratio per 1 SD higher, 1.10; 95% confidence interval, 1.02 to 1.19). Adjustment for HDL cholesterol did not affect these associations.

CONCLUSIONS
In patients with diabetes on hemodialysis, SAA(HDL) and SP-B(HDL) were related to cardiac events and all-cause mortality, respectively, and they were independent of HDL cholesterol. These findings indicate that a remodeling of the HDL proteome was associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular events and mortality in patients with ESRD.


In this paper we describe how the grid computing resource brokering approach, classically divided into matchmaking discovery and optimize selection, is applied to five dimensional environmental data distribution. This result is achieved thanks to the integration of a resource broker service we developed from scratch. This service implements the key feature of autonomic mapping of Globus toolkit index service resources on the Condor ClassAd resource description. Our five dimensional distribution data service relays on this software infrastructure to advertise metadata and it provides the requested data leveraging on the Web service resource framework. We provide an example based on a grid aware application component, showing the application of resource brokering to environmental problems. We focused our interests mainly about high resolution weather forecast data management and results quality assessment. Our approach would be both modular and distributed computing technology aware in order to provide the e-science community of grid based cloud computing enabled tools fully benefiting of this technology.


Previously, endocarditis caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa mostly involved right-sided valvular infection and generally carried a good prognosis. Recently, changes have been observed in the occurrence and clinical presentation of pseudomonal endocarditis, with increasing incidence of nosocomial infections and involvement of the aortic and mitral valves. Still, pseudomonal left-sided endocarditis is rare, but is frequently associated with complications and high mortality rates. A case of a high-risk patient with coronary artery disease and left-ventricular dysfunction, successfully treated for pseudomonal mitral valve endocarditis complicated by splenic abscess formation, is presented here.


From 14 March 2010 onwards, a mass of suea daeng, literally 'red shirts', began a prolonged, mass protest in Bangkok, which eventually degenerated into the worst political violence Thailand has seen in its modern history, leaving 91 people dead, around 2,000 injured, and a city smoldering from rioting and arson. This article provides a narrative of the protests and the Red Shirt movement which is informed by my own eye-witness account of the events and built around the translation of Thai language sources I encountered. By translating and analyzing original Thai language sources from the protests, e.g. banners, signs, t-shirts, speeches, and graffi ti, I argue that the Red Shirts have a more sophisticated, far-reaching political philosophy than many give them credit for. Also, as events unfolded, the movement developed and grew beyond its original scope by demanding justice for victims of the military crackdowns and challenging the political role of the monarchy. Both as a political movement and as a sizeable section of the electorate, the Red Shirts have the potential to drastically reconfi gure Thailand's social and political landscape.


Experimental evidences are presented to show the formation of nitride, Cu3N, in pure Cu sample by N-ion implantation. This result is obtained in the case of MeV ion implantation. Previous experiments showed that this compound can not be formed by N-ion implantation into Cu at incident energy of about 100 keV. This finding indicates there exist certain differences in phase formation by ion implantation at the two energies.


We assessed the effect of PI3‐K inhibition, mTOR inhibition and combined PI3K/mTOR inhibition in combination with ionizing radiation in prostate cancer cell lines. The treatments were studied in a cell lines with wild type PTEN status (CWR Rv1–22) and PTEN deficiency (LNCaP). Initial experiments determined concentrations of rapamycin (an mTOR antagonist) and wortmanin (a PI3‐K antagonist) that resulted in an approximate 50% in cell viability at 48 hours. Cells were then treated with these agents both alone, together, or in combination with 8 gray of ionizing radiation and cell viability was assessed at 24, 48 and 72 hours. Regardless of the treatment schedule, i.e either radiation before inhibitor treatment or inhibitor treatment before radiation, we did not observe any additive effects from combination radiation and inhibitor treatment. This was regardless of whether inhibtor treatment was PI3K inhibition, mTOR inhibition, or combined treatment. Flow sorting cell cycle analysis from these studies indicates that the lack of effect might be related to the findings that radiation and PI3K/mTOR inhibition have effects of different phases of the cell cycle. This is a cell based model only and animal model data may be quite different. However, at this time PI3K/mTOR inhibition does not appear to be a mechanism for enhancing radiation sensitivity in prostate cancer. Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(12 Suppl):B147.


Communication about issues of climate change in the context of farming takes different forms and serves various purposes. To what extent does such communication serve present‐day and future needs? Some forty years ago Sir Geoffrey Vickers developed the concept of an 'appreciative system' to help understand the part that human communication plays in the regulation of human societies. This paper presents and extends Vickers' model, drawing on the author's research. It considers what kinds of communication lead to social learning and purposeful action and what might help to challenge and change some existing practices and behaviours related to farming.


The author systematically analyses and compares the performance limits of quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) and Franz-Keldysh effect (FKE) electroabsorption waveguide modulators, in terms of insertion loss, contrast ratio, drive power and bandwidth (or bit-rate). The author first derives the universal material figures of merit for electroabsorption modulators which form the basis for comparison. In addition to the magnitude of electroabsorption Delta alpha , the critical material parameters are Delta alpha / alpha0 and Delta alpha /F2 where alpha0 is the onstate residual absorption, and F is the applied electric field. The author proposes a waveguide design which will meet the insertion loss and contrast ratio requirements while minimising the available power/bandwidth (Pac/ Delta f) ratio. The author shows that, while satisfying the same insertion loss requirement, a QCSE modulator employing the optimum quantum well structure can have, in principle, an order of magnitude better performance in terms of Pac/ Delta f than one based on FKE. Correspondingly, the Delta alpha /F2 is an order of magnitude larger in QCSE than in FKE, principally because of the much larger absorption change that is possible with QCSE.


We report the case of a young woman who presented with progressive dysphagia and swelling in the anterior aspect of the neck of short duration. On evaluation, she was diagnosed with amelanotic malignant melanoma of the cervical oesophagus. She underwent total laryngopharyngo-oesophagectomy with gastric transposition with bilateral modified radical neck dissection with feeding jejunostomy and a permanent tracheostomy with postoperative combined chemoradiation therapy. However, in spite of aggressive treatment, the patient expired 8 months after initial presentation with distant metastasis.


Emerging concern over greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wetlands has prompted calls to address the climate impact of dams in climate policy frameworks. Existing studies indicate that reservoirs can be significant sources of emissions, particularly in tropical areas. However, knowledge on the role of dams in overall national emission levels and abatement targets is limited, which is often cited as a key reason for political inaction and delays in formulating appropriate policies. Against this backdrop, this paper discusses the current role of reservoir emissions in existing climate policy frameworks. The distance between a global impact on climate and a need for local mitigation measures creates a challenge for designing appropriate mechanisms to combat reservoir emissions. This paper presents a range of possible policy interventions at different scales that could help address the climate impact of reservoirs. Reservoir emissions need to be treated like other anthropogenic greenhouse gases. A rational treatment of the issue requires applying commonly accepted climate change policy principles as well as promoting participatory water management plans through integrated water resource management frameworks. An independent global body such as the UN system may be called upon to assess scientific information and develop GHG emissions policy at appropriate levels.


Laboratory-based nonwearable motion analysis systems have significantly advanced with robust objective measurement of the limb motion, resulting in quantified, standardized, and reliable outcome measures compared with traditional, semisubjective, observational gait analysis. However, the requirement for large laboratory space and operational expertise makes these systems impractical for gait analysis at local clinics and homes. In this paper, we focus on autonomous gait event detection with our bespoke, relatively inexpensive, and portable, single-camera gait kinematics analysis system. Our proposed system includes video acquisition with camera calibration, Kalman filter + Structural-Similarity-based marker tracking, autonomous knee angle calculation, video-frame-identification-based autonomous gait event detection, and result visualization. The only operational effort required is the marker-template selection for tracking initialization, aided by an easy-to-use graphic user interface. The knee angle validation on 10 stroke patients and 5 healthy volunteers against a gold standard optical motion analysis system indicates very good agreement. The autonomous gait event detection shows high detection rates for all gait events. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system can automatically measure the knee angle and detect gait events with good accuracy and thus offer an alternative, cost-effective, and convenient solution for clinical gait kinematics analysis.


This article deals with the problems of the formation and functioning of modern terminology in the countries of the Arab East. It is important to trace the factors that influenced the process of forming its lexical composition. Following the national liberation movement of the Arab countries, starting from the second half of the 20th century has repeatedly raised the issue of the ofcial status of the Arabic language at the regional and global levels. The nationalization of education was a fundamental principle of the language of the Arab countries' policies. It was about switching the entire national education system to Arabic, and the introduction of classical language as everyday communication.The transformation of the political situation in the Arab region was accompanied by the systematic repression of the colonial language, lexical enrichment of the composition of the modern literary language, the development of a national terminology. The rapid growth of science and technology has led to the emergence in the Arabic of many new concepts and intensive borrowing of foreign language terms. The task was to provide the new content in education that meets the needs of the world's scientifc and technological progress. In the process of adaptation, foreign-language terms are adapted to the conditions of functioning of the Arabic language. The sociolinguistics approach to the study of Arabic terminology has allowed us to identify the main trends of its development.


Patterns of lateral shoot growth following decapitation in 1-meter tall, rooted Triplochiton scleroxylon K. Schum. cuttings varied with clone and in response to a range of environmental conditions and growth regulator treatments. Two phases of bud activity were identified, the Sprouting Phase, in which many buds were released from correlative inhibition, and the Dominance Phase (starting 3-4 weeks after decapitation) in which uppermost laterals began to dominate and suppress growth, and sometimes cause apical abscission of lower lateral shoots. Except in non-erect plants, the most distal lateral to elongate became the new leading shoot. During the Sprouting Phase, the proportion of active buds was increased by removing leaves from the upper part of the stem, and by reducing the photoperiod from 13-15 h to 11 h, particularly at 20 degrees C rather than 25 degrees C. Conversely, the proportion of sprouting buds was decreased by injecting plant stems with NAA (250 microg/plant). During the Dominance Phase, suppression of lateral shoot growth was hastened by stem injection with GA(3) (200 microg/plant), especially when applied to the uppermost shoot at the end of the Sprouting Phase. Reimposition of dominance was delayed, however, by (1) high rates of N:P:K fertilization, (2) low temperature (20 versus 25 degrees C) under relatively long days (13 and 15 h), (3) low photon flux density (160 micromol m(-2) s(-1)) and (4) severe defoliation. Plant orientation had no effect on bud activity of decapitated plants, but affected the relative vigor and orientation of new lateral shoots. High temperature (25 versus 20 degrees C) and injection with GA(3) increased the erectness of newly developing lateral shoots.


This case study presents MV, a 78-year-old woman who was being treated pharmacologically for several common chronic health problems and who presented with self-reported and observed limitations in her functional ability. After being screened for contraindications to exercise, MV participated in a 16-week rehabilitation program of regular exercise that included aerobic and resistance training. She maintained a high level of compliance with this rehabilitation training and showed improvements in her aerobic capacity, strength, ability to complete functional tasks, blood components, and lipid profile. She also reported decreased levels of pain and improved perceptions of functional ability. This case study indicates that older adults with chronic illness can benefit from participating in a program of regular exercise.


Solitary bone cyst is essentially a disease of the growing period and rarely begins after adult life is reached. It has become extensively recognized and investigated only since the introduction of the roentgen ray. Four main theories have been advanced to explain it. These are: first, that it is a degenerated tumor; second, that it is a localized malacia or dystrophy analogous to von Recklinghausen's multiple fibrocystic disease, occurring mainly in adults; third, that it is the result of hematoma in the bone marrow and, fourth, that it is an infection. The tumor theory has been abandoned. The theory that it is a localized malacia, advanced by M. B. Schmidt, 1 was based on the supposition that there was extensive replacement of normal marrow and bone by fibrous marrow before cyst formation, which has not been found to be the case. There are no generalized changes in the skeleton of


Most conventional crowd counting methods utilize a fully-supervised learning framework to learn a mapping between scene images and crowd density maps. Under the circumstances of such fully-supervised training settings, a large quantity of expensive and time-consuming pixel-level annotations are required to generate density maps as the supervision. One way to reduce costly labeling is to exploit self-structural information and inner-relations among unlabeled images. Unlike the previous methods utilizing these relations and structural information from the original image level, we explore such self-relations from the latent feature spaces because it can extract more abundant relations and structural information. Specifically, we propose S$^2$FPR which can extract structural information and learn partial orders of coarse-to-fine pyramid features in the latent space for better crowd counting with massive unlabeled images. In addition, we collect a new unlabeled crowd counting dataset (FUDAN-UCC) with 4,000 images in total for training. One by-product is that our proposed S$^2$FPR method can leverage numerous partial orders in the latent space among unlabeled images to strengthen the model representation capability and reduce the estimation errors for the crowd counting task. Extensive experiments on four benchmark datasets, i.e. the UCF-QNRF, the ShanghaiTech PartA and PartB, and the UCF-CC-50, show the effectiveness of our method compared with previous semi-supervised methods. The source code and dataset are available at https://github.com/bridgeqiqi/S2FPR.


PURPOSE
The automatic recognition of vertebrae in volumetric images is an important step toward automatic spinal diagnosis and therapy support systems. There are many applications such as the detection of pathologies and segmentation which would benefit from automatic initialization by the detection of vertebrae. One possible application is the initialization of local vertebral segmentation methods, eliminating the need for manual initialization by a human operator. Automating the initialization process would optimize the clinical workflow. However, automatic vertebra recognition in magnetic resonance (MR) images is a challenging task due to noise in images, pathological deformations of the spine, and image contrast variations.

METHODS
This work presents a fully automatic algorithm for 3D cervical vertebra detection in MR images. We propose a machine learning method for cervical vertebra detection based on new features combined with a linear support vector machine for classification. An algorithm for bivariate gradient orientation histogram generation from three-dimensional raster image data is introduced which allows us to describe three-dimensional objects using the authors' proposed bivariate histograms.

RESULTS
A detailed performance evaluation on 21 T2-weighted MR images of the cervical vertebral region is given. A single model for cervical vertebrae C3-C7 is generated and evaluated. The results show that the generic model performs equally well for each of the cervical vertebrae C3-C7. The algorithm's performance is also evaluated on images containing various levels of artificial noise. The results indicate that the proposed algorithm achieves good results despite the presence of severe image noise.

CONCLUSIONS
The proposed detection method delivers accurate locations of cervical vertebrae in MR images which can be used in diagnosis and therapy. In order to achieve absolute comparability with the results of future work, the authors are following an open data approach by making the image dataset used in their performance evaluation available to the public.


222 patients aged 15-59 years with acute leukaemia were treated with intermittent combination chemotherapy consisting of six 5-day courses of cytotoxic drugs as induction treatment followed by 3 years of maintenance therapy in patients who obtained complete remission (CR). CR was achieved in 50.3% of 161 patients (early deaths included) with acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML). The observed cumulative 5-yr survival rate (observation time 1-12.25 yr) calculated by the life table method was 12% in AML. Among patients who obtained CR, those aged 40-59 yr appeared to fare better than younger patients (5-yr survival: 24%). The M-3 subtype was an adverse prognostic factor. In acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) the CR rate was 83.6% and the observed cumulative 5-yr survival rate was 14%. Women fared better than men.


The role of nephron loss, extracellular fluid volume (ECFV) expansion and body potassium stores on bicarbonate reabsorption in chronic renal failure (CRF) was evaluated. In 17 CRF and 3 control subjects, tubular HCO3 reabsorption was studied by HCO3 1M titration technique; ECFV (22Na space at 4th hour) and cell K content (muscle biopsy) were also determined. Nephron loss per se does not cause any change of HCO3 reabsorption rate per unit GFR. With ECFV expansion induced by HCO3 infusion, a Tm HCO3 is rapidly reached only in controls and in CRF patients showing a significant basal ECFV expansion. In these subjects reabsorbed HCO3/Na ratio is constant, suggesting that under these conditions, HCO3 reabsorption depends on the same mechanisms that control Na reabsorption. In cell K depleted CRF patients, HCO3 reabsorption rises more than in controls and no Tm HCO3 is detected, at least within the limits of isotonic ECFV expansion induced by titration; in these subjects HCO3 reabsorption does not appear to be limited by natriuretic factors. In CRF subjects with normal ECFV and cell K, there is a greater HCO3 tolerance to ECFV expansion induced by titration technique than in controls.


We propose a promising scheme to repeatedly decelerate a pulsed molecular beam using a red-detuned quasi-cw semi-Gaussian laser beam (SGB) and an electrostatic storage ring. Using the Monte-Carlo simulation method, we demonstrate that this promising optical Stark decelerator can be used to efficiently slow a pulsed ND3 molecular beam extracted from a Stark decelerator or a cryogenic reservoir by using a single SGB. The deceleration effect of this scheme on the intensity of the SGB is discussed in detail.


An approach based on canonical correlation analysis in multivariate statistics is introduced to change detection of multi-temporal/multi-channel remote sensing imagery. The basic idea is to take multichannel remote sensing imageries acquired at different times as groups of random multivariates, then construct linear combinations to explore correlations between them, thus finding out biggest differences over the time span. In our approach, MAD transformation is firstly conducted on original imageries to produce a difference image, then MNF transformation is utilized as a postprocessing step to separate noise from signal in difference images, and change information can be effectively concentrated into a few components of the final result. Another change detection method based on PCA is also described briefly for comparison. Experimental results of a case study using Landsat5 TM imageries are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. And the characteristics of correlation between results and original imageries are discussed in detail.


We prove that any simplification order over arbitrary terms is an extension of an order by weight, by considering a related monadic term algebra called the spine. We show that any total ground-stable simplification order on the spine lifts to an order on the full term algebra. Conversely, under certain restrictions, a simplification ordering on the term algebra defines a weight function on the spine, which in turn can be lifted to a weight order on the original ground terms which contains the original order. We investigate the Knuth?Bendix and polynomial orders in this light. We provide a general framework for ordering terms by counting embedded patterns, which gives rise to many new orderings. We examine the recursive path order in this context.


The most significant factor for controlling root size of red beet is likely to be the spacing between plants, or the density of seed plantings. Most red beet that is used in processing and for the market, is produced by direct sowing with precision drills at an inter-row spacing of 30 to 60 cm and in-row spacing of 5 to 10 cm, aiming at 30 to 70 plants m-2. The desired plant density per unit area can be achieved by using mechanical and pneumatic precision drills, and by sowing calibrated seeds. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of varied forward speed on in-row seed spacing distribution accuracy of red beet using different types of precision drills. It was found that an increase in the drill operating speed decreases drilling precision. This was prevalent in cases of drills that used mechanical feed mechanisms, rather than drills with pneumatic feed mechanisms. The best in-row seed spacing distribution accuracy was determined at the speed of 0.83 ms-1 with the pneumatic feed precision drill operated suction system, when 83.1% of seeds were laid at the 0.5-1.5 of the theoretical seed spacing (Zt). Inferior results were obtained with the belt feed mechanism at an operating speed of 1.81 ms-1 (63.4% of Zt).


This paper simulates human visual perception with regard to visual adaptation under the change of illumination. To reflect visual adaptation in scene rendering, we adopt the mathematic models simulating Photopic, Scotopic, and Mesopic vision. We also take consideration the characteristic that adaptation to low visibility takes longer than high visibility. As a result, the outcome of the animation has a better natural feel, especially when the brightness changes greatly.


Background: Estrogen receptor beta (ERβ), unlike ERα, classically functions as a tumor suppressor in vitro . However, ERβ9s biological functions in vivo and predictive/prognostic value in breast cancer are controversial. Methods: Expression of ERβ protein was determined using a well characterized and validated ERβ specific monoclonal antibody that only recognizes the full-length form of this receptor (PPG5/10) in the following 3 cohorts: 1) a cohort with all breast cancer subtypes (n = 182), 2) a prospective NCCTG adjuvant tamoxifen trial for postmenopausal women with ERα positive breast cancer with long-term follow-up (n = 198) and 3) a cohort of 80 triple negative breast cancers (TNBCs). To elucidate the biological functions of ERβ in breast cancer, novel ERβ expressing MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines were developed and characterized using multiple techniques and were examined for responsiveness to various ERβ targeted therapies. Results: About one-third of all breast tumors, regardless of sub-type, were shown to express nuclear ERβ and this expression was independent of ERα or HER2. In the NCCTG 89-30-52 cohort, breast cancer recurrence rates were significantly associated with ERβ protein expression with 10 year recurrence rates of 25%, 15% and 4% for zero, low or high levels of ERβ expression respectively. Interestingly, in TNBCs, nuclear ERβ was expressed at intermediate or high levels in 24% of tumors. In the triple negative MDA-MB-231 cell line, expression of ERβ led to inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis in response to estrogen and multiple ERβ specific agonists. Conversely, these same treatments induced proliferation of ERβ-expressing MCF7 cells which endogenously express ERα. However, ERβ expression sensitized MCF7 cells to the anti-proliferative effects of anti-estrogens. Microarray analysis and RT-PCR profiling of MDA-MB-231-ERβ cells revealed that estrogen and ERβ agonists highly induced the expression of multiple cystatins, a family of small secreted cysteine protease inhibitors which function as tumor suppressors, and potently inhibited canonical TGFβ signaling. Conditioned media isolated from estrogen or ERβ agonist treated MDA-MB-231-ERβ cells suppressed the proliferation rates and inhibited TGFβ signaling in other TNBC cell lines, effects that were completely reversed following the depletion of cystatins from the conditioned media. Conclusions: These data demonstrate that ERβ is expressed in a substantial proportion of breast cancers and may have value as a predictive and/or prognostic biomarker. Therapeutic targeting of ERβ may have clinical benefit in multiple breast cancer sub-types; however, the specific drug of choice may vary based on ERα status. Specifically, we have demonstrated that ERβ expression in ERα+ MCF7 cells sensitizes them to the effectiveness of anti-estrogens, an observation that was confirmed in women enrolled in a prospective adjuvant tamoxifen trial. In TNBCs, where targeted therapies are lacking, our data suggest that targeting ERβ with either estrogen or ERβ specific agonists will elicit anti-tumor effects through the induction of cystatins and inhibition of TGFβ signaling resulting in tumor regression and improved patient outcomes. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P6-04-03.


Understanding what leads to emotions during large-scale crises is important as it can provide groundings for expressed emotions and subsequently improve the understanding of ongoing disasters. Recent approaches trained supervised models to both detect emotions and explain emotion triggers (events and appraisals) via abstractive summarization. However, obtaining timely and qualitative abstractive summaries is expensive and extremely time-consuming, requiring highly-trained expert annotators. In time-sensitive, high-stake contexts, this can block necessary responses. We instead pursue unsupervised systems that extract triggers from text. First, we introduce CovidET-EXT, augmenting (Zhan et al., 2022)'s abstractive dataset (in the context of the COVID-19 crisis) with extractive triggers. Second, we develop new unsupervised learning models that can jointly detect emotions and summarize their triggers. Our best approach, entitled Emotion-Aware Pagerank, incorporates emotion information from external sources combined with a language understanding module, and outperforms strong baselines. We release our data and code at https://github.com/tsosea2/CovidET-EXT.


To assess the diagnostic value of ultrasonography in rectal carcinoma, the procedure was performed in 48 such cases. Stage was reliably established in the majority (95.8%) of patients. False--negative conclusion on the muscular layer integrity was made in one case and inflammatory infiltrate was misdiagnosed as cancer in another. Pararectal lymph nodes were visualized in 62% of patients whereas regional ones--in 5 (10.4%); their metastatic origin was confirmed with fine--needle aspiration biopsy and lymphography. Ultrasonic scintigraphy identified nodular lesions in the liver parenchyma in 10 cases; the malignant nature of those foci was verified in 90% by histo- and cytologic examination of samples obtained by fine--needle aspiration biopsy.


INTRODUCTION
Traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors are constituents of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) and Framingham Risk Score (FRS). However, CV risk exists even when these risk parameters are normal and have been attributed to the atherogenic small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sdLDL). This study aimed to determine the association of Pattern B and LDL subfractions with MetS and FRS among selected Malaysian population.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A cross-sectional study of 380 subjects ≥30 years old at health screening. Sociodemographic factors and clinical characteristics were recorded. Fasting serum lipids, LDL subfractions and plasma glucose were analysed.

RESULTS
Being older, Malay with Pattern B independently predicted MetS. Being male, Chinese with Pattern B and increased body mass index (BMI) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were more likely to be in the intermediate to high risk FRS group. Common independent biochemical predictors include LDL1 and sdLDL: LDL3 in MetS and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in FRS.

CONCLUSION
BMI and DBP may provide incremental prognostic value to FRS risk estimates if included. Considering a significant incidence of Pattern B in low FRS risk subjects (13.4%), routine LDL subfraction analysis could identify these individuals that would be overlooked if their risk were predicted solely based on their FRS only. The non-specific lowering of LDL1 by lipid-lowering therapy based on conventional lipid profile might have a negative effect on several physiological processes. Hence, if LDL subfractions are determined, therapy can be targeted towards sdLDL. Recognising asymptomatic individuals who carry high CV risk is pertinent in primary prevention.


In this paper, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for gear heat treatment using simultaneous dual frequency (SDF) induction heating is conducted. To do this, thermal-electromagnetic coupled FE model is built. A two dimensional FE model of gear and heater is introduced to reduce computation time. For more time-efficient analysis, harmonic analysis for electromagnetic model is adopted and transient analysis model, for heat transfer model. Through the coupled analysis, it can be found that the proposed FE model can solve for SDF induction heating of gear and heat treatment parameters can also be determined.


Background: Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) is a major source of air pollution but the impact on health in Nigeria is not well described. Patients and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study of road traffic workers and university students in Lagos. Eligible, accessible and willing participants were included in the sample. Respiratory symptoms and anthropometry were obtained from all the participants using an adapted Medical Research Council (MRC) questionnaire and they all did a spirometry test and exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) test. Results: Fifty-nine individuals participated with complete data, including 47 traffic policemen and 12 students who acted as controls. The mean age (SD) was 35.1 (8.0) and 35.4 years (6.3) for the traffic workers and students, respectively. All the respondents were men. The mean (SD) duration of occupation as a traffic policeman was 4.4 (4.4) and a median of 4 years (range 1-25). There was no significant difference in the presentation of respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms between the two groups. Compared with the students, the traffic workers had higher age, height and sex adjusted forced expiratory volume in one second and forced vital capacity. Traffic policemen had significantly higher levels of exhaled CO than the students (1.18 vs 0.73 ppm, P < 0.006). Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of respiratory symptoms in both traffic policemen and non-traffic residents of Lagos metropolis, indicating widespread pollution.


Objectives: To evaluate agenesis of anterior commissure and hippocampal commissure in fetuses with agenesis of corpus callosum. Methods: Out of 821 fetal MRI's that were done during 2017–2018, fetuses with 34 fetuses with callosal agenesis entered the study. MRI's done on a Seimens Avanto 1.5T and interpreted with prior knowledge of the midtrimester anatomical survey. Retrospective evaluation of the fetal MRIs for associated commissural agenesis was done. Results: MRI confirmed ventriculomegaly in 94 cases. In 45 (47.8%) out of 94 cases with ventriculomegaly the anomaly of corpus callosum was suspected in ultrasound. Complete corpus callosum agenesis in 19 Cases and partial agenesis of the corpus callosum in 11 cases were identified, and the remaining 15 cases had normal corpus callosum. In fetuses with complete callosal agenesis anterior commissure was visible in 11 out of 19, hippocampal commissure in 2 out of 19 and none in 6 out of 19 fetuses. Conclusions: Anterior commissure is present in many cases of callosal agenesis. Details of other commissural agenesis might become clinically relevant when later follow-up studies establish its association with neurodevelopmental outcome.


In this paper, a high frequency (HF)-based three-phase Semicontrolled rectifier-current source inverter system is proposed for grid-connected permanent magnet wind generators. The main advantages of the topology are: high efficiency due to less power losses and reduced number of switching elements, high output power density realization, reduced passive component ratings proportionally to the frequency, robustness, as short-circuit through a leg is not possible, and harmonics are of higher orders and are easily filtered out. As a disadvantage, higher but acceptable total harmonic distortion of the generator currents is introduced. A maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm is achieved through a hysteresis control for the rectifier operation. Additionally, a sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) three phase current source inverter (CSI) is also employed in the grid connection. The complete operation of the rectifier-inverter and theoretical analysis are presented. Test results on 5-kW wind generation system are presented and discussed to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed topology for grid connected systems.


For parents of immigrant children in the United States, the desire for their children to assimilate into the American culture and to learn English as quickly as possible is often mingled later with the frustration of not being able to communicate with their own children in the heritage or native language. While some immigrant children lose almost all ability to communicate in the heritage language, others grow up to be bilingual adults who are able to successfully maneuver between the two cultures. This paper will aim to explore some of the factors which have led some first and second generation Asian Americans to maintain the use of their heritage language and interest in their heritage culture. Specifically, factors such as exposure to the heritage language, personal motivation and family attitudes will be discussed.


This article analyses market selection in French manufacturing in the nineties. It argues that the determinants of firm survival have different effects depending on firm age. Results show that exiting firms display low levels of profitability and productivity. This selection process is more severe for young firms because industry structures favor the survival of mature firms. Concerning the latter, markets select against persistent bad performers, not against temporary losses of efficiency. These results reveal the presence of barriers to firm growth—not to entry—as an important driver of industry dynamics. Copyright 2008 , Oxford University Press.


Ecohydrological models vary in their sensitivity to forcing data and use available information to different extents. We focus on the impact of forcing precision on ecohydrological model behavior particularly by quantizing, or binning, time-series forcing variables. We use rate-distortion theory to quantize time-series forcing variables to different precisions. We evaluate the effect of different combinations of quantized shortwave radiation, air temperature, vapor pressure deficit, and wind speed on simulated heat and carbon fluxes for a multi-layer canopy model, which is forced and validated with eddy covariance flux tower observation data. We find that the model is more sensitive to radiation than meteorological forcing input, but model responses also vary with seasonal conditions and different combinations of quantized inputs. While any level of quantization impacts carbon flux similarly, specific levels of quantization influence heat fluxes to different degrees. This study introduces a method to optimally simplify forcing time series, often without significantly decreasing model performance, and could be applied within a sensitivity analysis framework to better understand how models use available information.


The aim of this research was to find out the effect of palm oil empty fruit bunches and complementary organic liquid fertilizer interaction on cocoa's growth and determine the doses of palm oil empty fruit bunches and complementary liquid fertilizer that giving the highest effect on cocoa seedling's growth. This research was conducted from October until December 2014 located in the agricultural experimental station, Riau University. The design that used in this research was completely randomized design (CRD) consisted of 2 factors and 3 replications. The first factor waspalm oil empty fruit bunches (K) consisted of 4 levels, were: 0 g (K 0 ), 20 g (K 1 ), 40 g (K 2 ) and 60 g/2 kg soil (K 3 ). The second factor was a complementary organic liquid fertilizer (P) consisted of 4 levels, were: 0 ml (P 0 ), 1 ml (P 1 ), 2 ml (P 2 ) and 3 ml/l water (P 3 ). The result of the research showed that the interaction of palm oil empty fruit bunches and complementary organic liquid fertilizer significantly affected on the cocoa seedling's growth. Application of  60 g/2 kg soil of palm oil empty fruit bunches and 2 ml/l water complementary organic liquid fertilizer, gave the highest result on plant height, leaf number, steam diameter, leaf area, seedling fresh  weight, crown fresh weight, root fresh weight, crown dry weight, root dry weight, crown root ratio, and cocoa seedling dry weight. Keyword: palm oil empty fruit bunches compost, complementary organic liquid   fertilizer, cocoa


Laboratory studies have been carried out on two species of ticks, I. ricinus and H. marginatum, showing different seasonal activity and different geographical distribution in nature. The purpose of the present study has been to investigate the effect of different combinations of temperature and humidity on the oviposition of I. ricinus and H. marginatum. An index of reproduction efficiency (no. eggs/wt female), established to relate the capacity of the females to produce eggs to their body weight, has been calculated; for I. ricinus 5 temperatures (18-20-25-27 and 30 degrees C) have been studied (Fig. 1), for H. marginatum 3 (25-30 and 32 degrees C) (Fig. 2) and for both species 2 R.H. (75-95%). An optimal range of temperature, within which the value of such an index doesn't change, has been demonstrated for both species by statistical testing (Table 1). A critical weight value as the minimum engorged female weight required for egg deposition has been identified with the weight of first female which has laid eggs. This weight, different in each species, is influenced by temperature and humidity.


The use of hyperconductors presents entirely new conditions in the design of transformer windings. Because of the very large mean free path of electrons, a few parasitic effects of resistivity can no longer be neglected: size effects determine the minimum thickness of the conductors, magnetoresistive effects are much less adverse with ac fields than with dc fields. As regards the low value of the penetration depth of electromagnetic waves, three types of aluminium windings with one single turn per layer have been studied: 1) Wide-Sheet Windings: The supplementary losses due to the radial field are high; their proportion is 340 percent in the example considered. 2) Transposed-Band Windings: The proportion of supplementary losses due to the radial field is reduced to 110 percent if the width of the strips is 0.4 mm. 3) Perfectly-Transposed Windings: An increase in length of the conductors must be accepted. This increase and the radial field result in additional losses of 90 percent for the same width of strips of 0.4 mm. If the geometry of the two windings and the ampere-turns are fixed, and if the lateral dimensions of the conductors remain the same, the losses pass to a minimum value for a value of the apparent resistivity which is a function of these dimensions. The total losses become 3.75 times smaller than those of the wide-sheet winding in reducing the lateral dimensions of the strips and in simultaneously choosing a metal of greater purity. This reduction in the dimensions is, however, limited by the size effect. Beryllium presents less difficult problems.


Dense wustite plates added separately with major gangues in ironmaking were reduced using a thermobalance at 900°C with H2-H2O-H2S mixtures to elucidate the coexisting influence of each added oxide and gaseous sulfur on the reduction behavior.In the tests without sulfur, the reduction was retarded by the existence of Al2O3 as well as MgO in wustite mostly by the formation of dense iron in porous wustite (B type iron), while it was enhanced by adding CaO or SiO2 with porous iron (A type iron). These results coincided with several earlier works.The tests with as=0.01 as the sulfur activity in gas phase, which was defined relative to Fe/FeS equilibrium, showed that their reduction behavior did not change significantly compared with those without sulfur. However, with increasing as up to 0.10 most of the reduction rates tended to approach a moderate level regardless of adding above oxides, being affected by the reducing potential and the two cases whether traces of oxysulfides are formed in Fe/FeO interface or not. In the former case, coarse iron morphology (AC or FC type iron, C; coarse, F; fibrous) was observed with relatively less reduction rates than the latter, in which fine morphology (A or F type iron) was realized except the case of Al2O3 (B type iron) to eliminate the extreme reduction retardation. Only under the coexistence of sulfur at as=0.10 and CaO, F type morphology was predominated.These reduction behavior is discussed focusing a few actions caused by gaseous sulfur.


The serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT) type 1A receptor (5-HT1AR) is implicated in the pathophysiology of numerous neuropsychiatric disorders. We have published the initial evaluation and reproducibility in vivo of [O-methyl-11C]2-(4-(4-(2-methoxyphenyl)piperazin-1-yl)butyl)-4-methyl-1,2,4-triazine-3,5(2H,4H)dione (11C-CUMI-101), a novel 5-HT1A agonist radiotracer, in Papio anubis. Here, we report the optimal modeling parameters of 11C-CUMI-101 for human PET studies. Methods: PET scans were obtained for 7 adult human volunteers. 11C-CUMI-101 was injected as an intravenous bolus, and emission data were collected for 120 min in 3-dimensional mode. We evaluated 10 different models using metabolite-corrected arterial input functions or reference region approaches and several outcome measures. Results: When using binding potential (BPF = Bavail/KD [total available receptor concentration divided by the equilibrium dissociation constant]) as the outcome measure, the likelihood estimation in the graphical analysis (LEGA) model performed slightly better than the other methods evaluated at full scan duration. The average test–retest percentage difference was 9.90% ± 5.60%. When using BPND (BPND = fnd × Bavail/KD; BPND equals the product of BPF and fnd [free fraction in the nondisplaceable compartment]), the simplified reference tissue method (SRTM) achieved the lowest percentage difference and smallest bias when compared with nondisplaceable binding potential obtained from LEGA using the metabolite-corrected plasma input function (r2 = 0.99; slope = 0.92). The time–stability analysis indicates that a 120-min scan is sufficient for the stable estimation of outcome measures. Voxel results were comparable to region-of-interest–based analysis, with higher spatial resolution. Conclusion: On the basis of its measurable and stable free fraction, high affinity and selectivity, good blood–brain barrier permeability, and plasma and brain kinetics, 11C-CUMI-101 is suitable for the imaging of high-affinity 5-HT1A binding in humans.


We present a full band Monte Carlo algorithm based on phase-space simplexes which has all of the advantages of analytical band Monte Carlo while preserving the accuracy of a full band structure. An adaptive, contour-aligned grid represents the energy band structure within the irreducible wedge to within an arbitrary tolerance. This discretization allows exact treatment of the equations of motion and final state selection for a wide class of scattering mechanisms. Results using this method show at least an order of magnitude improvement in performance over previous full band codes.


A quantitative climatological analysis of regional-scale atmospheric transport in Texas is developed using previously described Lagrangian (kinematic) trajectory methods. The trajectories are computed using resolved winds from 1979 to 2001 from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction‐National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis project dataset. The wind data do not include small-scale turbulent atmospheric motion. The probability distributions of particle trajectories can be used to estimate the climatological (ensemble mean) Green's function for the mass conservation equation for a passive trace substance. A discrete approximation of the Green's function is computed for low-level summertime atmospheric flow over Texas. Examples are provided of the use of the Green's function to estimate both forward and backward transport properties. The Green's function can be used to evaluate the climatological probability of transport by the resolved flow to or from a given location.


Purpose:The purpose of this study was to investigate curriculums of physical therapy education. Methods : We identified the curriculums of physical therapy education by internet. Results : In Korea, education on physical therapy started as a two-year program in 1963, and recently reorganized as three or four years programs. Currently some ten schools offer physical therapy programs for master`s and doctor`s degrees. The member countries of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) provide approximately ten types of education programs that take two to six years. In Korea, the same programs have three or four years of education periods. The American Physical Therapist Association (APTA) launched on the doctor of physical therapy (DPT) course in the late 1990s, encouraging physical therapists to acquire a doctorate degree. In addition, the U.S. Vision 2020 envisions that all physical therapists acquire DPT by the year 2020. As the medical field becomes more professional and specialized, physical therapists are expected to supplement and even replace works of doctors, instead of merely assisting them. It is necessary to reinforce education programs and improve related school systems to enhance status of physical therapist in accordance with the changing social needs and to provide quality service to patients. Conclusion: We suggest to change the curriculum of Korea, It is more accurately reflected the scope, depth, breadth, and rigor of the high-quality education preparation needed for current and future practice.


The submitted manuscript represents a useful contribution to the assessment of the American monsoon systems (both its North and South America components spanning boreal and austral summers) using the latest CMIP-class versions of UK Met Office models. The novelty of the work partially stems from the fact that these monsoon systems are rarely formally assessed in European models such as the UKMO models, and to do so at such an early stage in the CMIP6 lifecycle is a valuable contribution to the literature for this ill-studied monsoon system.


A pressing concern in higher education is the employability of graduates. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are turning out 465,000 graduates every year on the average. Aside from the issue on the absorptive capacity of the labor market based on its required knowledge, skills, attitude and values, the quality of graduates is also an issue. The challenge is for HEIs to determine the relevance of curricular programs and their potential job marketability. Research-based approaches and strategies should be established to provide students a set of achievements, skills, understanding, and personal attributes that make them more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations which benefit themselves, the workforce, the community, and the economy. This tracer study of the Bicol University College of Arts and Letters assessed how well the college has trained its graduates for life in the workplace. It found that majority of the graduates are gainfully employed in related workplaces. Most of them got their first job within one month to less than three years after graduation and stayed in their first job within one month to less than three years. Compensation benefits such as salaries and other non-monetary benefits are the factors that made the graduates stay or leave their first job. Almost all competencies learned by the graduates were found very helpful and relevant to their jobs. Feedback and recommendations were also gained from both the graduates and the employers in order to improve the employability of the graduates. Findings indicate a need to revisit the curricular programs in order to address those issues.


Research in various species has indicated that diets deficient in labile methyl groups (methionine, choline, betaine, folate) produce fatty liver and links to steatosis and metabolic syndrome, but also provides evidence of the importance of labile methyl group balance to maintain normal liver function. Cats, being obligate carnivores, rely on nutrients in animal tissues and have, due to evolutionary pressure, developed several physiological and metabolic adaptations, including a number of peculiarities in protein and fat metabolism. This has led to specific and unique nutritional requirements. Adult cats require more dietary protein than omnivorous species, maintain a consistently high rate of protein oxidation and gluconeogenesis and are unable to adapt to reduced protein intake. Furthermore, cats have a higher requirement for essential amino acids and essential fatty acids. Hastened use coupled with an inability to conserve certain amino acids, including methionine, cysteine, taurine and arginine, necessitates a higher dietary intake for cats compared to most other species. Cats also seemingly require higher amounts of several B-vitamins compared to other species and are predisposed to depletion during prolonged inappetance. This carnivorous uniqueness makes cats more susceptible to hepatic lipidosis.


Rationale Chronic ethanol (ETOH) ingestion increases the incidence of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a severe form of lung injury with a high mortality rate. Recent studies have clarified numerous alcohol-induced derangements in lung cell function. The current study focuses on the impact of chronic ETOH ingestion on alveolar macrophage function and explores the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARg) as a potential therapeutic target in an in vivo rat model of chronic EtOH ingestion. Methods Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed liquid diets containing ETOH (36% of calories) or an isocaloric diet substituting maltose-dextrin for ETOH (control) for 6 weeks. After sacrifice, alveolar macrophages were isolated and their ability to phagocytose and internalize fluorescent microorganisms was evaluated using confocal microscopy with and without ex vivo treatment with the PPARg agonist rosiglitazone. In addition, expression of PPARg was examined in isolated macrophages and lung homogenates. Results Chronic ETOH ingestion in the rat decreased the capacity of alveolar macrophages to bind and internalize infectious particles. In contrast, ex vivo treatment with rosiglitazone restored the phagocytic capacity of the macrophages. Chronic EtOH ingestion also significantly reduced PPARg expression in lung homogenates. Conclusions These results indicate that chronic EtOH ingestion disrupts macrophage function and reduces PPARg expression in the lung. PPARg agonists such as rosiglitazone may improve the capacity of the alcoholic lung to clear infectious particles and decrease the risk or severity of respiratory infections.


We find evidence that conflicts of interest are pervasive in the asset management business owned by investment banks. Using data from 1990 to 2008, we compare the alphas of mutual funds, hedge funds, and institutional funds operated by investment banks and non-bank conglomerates. We find that, while no difference exists in performance by fund type, being owned by an investment bank reduces alphas by 46 basis points per year in our baseline model. Making lead loans increases alphas, but the dispersion of fees across portfolios decreases alphas. The economic loss is $4.9 billion per year.


BACKGROUND:An inhaled anesthetic concentration required to block autonomic hyperreflexia (AHR) is high enough to cause severe hypotension in patients with high spinal cord injury (SCI). We determined the effects of remifentanil on the sevoflurane requirement to block AHR in SCI. METHODS:The study involved 96 patients with chronic, complete SCI scheduled to undergo transurethral litholapaxy during general anesthesia. Anesthesia was induced with thiopental, and sevoflurane concentrations in 50% nitrous oxide were adjusted to maintain a bispectral index of 40 to 50. Whether the patient develops an AHR [an increase of systolic blood pressure (SBP) >20 to 40 mm Hg] was first examined by distending the bladder with glycine solution (the first trial). Patients who developed AHR were then allocated to receive no remifentanil infusion (control, n = 31), a target-controlled plasma concentration of 1 ng/mL (n = 25), or 3 ng/mL remifentanil (n = 24). After baseline hemodynamics had recovered, the target sevoflurane and remifentanil concentrations were maintained for at least 20 minutes and the procedure was resumed (the second trial). Each target sevoflurane concentration was determined by the up-and-down method based on changes (15% increase or more) of SBP in response to the bladder distension. SBP, heart rate, and bispectral index were measured before and during the bladder distension during the trials, and plasma concentrations of catecholamines during the first trial. RESULTS:Eighty-two (85.4%) of 96 patients developed AHR during the first trial, in which 2 were excluded because of hypotension (mean arterial blood pressure <50 mm Hg) developed during target-controlled drug administration. During the second trial, the end-tidal concentrations of sevoflurane to prevent AHR were reduced to 2.6% (95% confidence interval 2.5% to 2.8%, P < 0.01) and 2.2% (2.1% to 2.4%, P < 0.0001) in the groups receiving 1 and 3 ng/mL remifentanil, respectively, in comparison with 3.1% (2.9% to 3.3%) in the control. When considering minimum anesthetic concentration (MAC) values and the contribution of 50% nitrous oxide (0.48 MAC), the combined MAC values, expressed as multiples of MAC, were 2.27, 1.98, and 1.75 in the control, 1 ng/mL remifentanil, and 3 ng/mL remifentanil groups, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:Target-controlled concentrations of 1 and 3 ng/mL remifentanil would reduce the requirement of sevoflurane combined with 50% nitrous oxide to block AHR by 16% and 29%, respectively, in SCI patients undergoing transurethral litholapaxy.


Foundation species are species that create and define particular ecosystems; control in large measure the distribution and abundance of associated flora and fauna; and modulate core ecosystem processes, such as energy flux and biogeochemical cycles. However, whether a particular species plays a foundational role in a system is not simply asserted. Rather, it is a hypothesis to be tested, and such tests are best done with large-scale, long-term manipulative experiments. The utility of such experiments is illustrated through a review of the Harvard Forest Hemlock Removal Experiment (HF-HeRE), a multidecadal, multihectare experiment designed to test the foundational role of eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, in eastern North American forests. Experimental removal of T. canadensis has revealed that after 10 years, this species has pronounced, long-term effects on associated flora and fauna, but shorter-term effects on energy flux and nutrient cycles. We hypothesize that on century-long scales, slower changes in soil microbial associates will further alter ecosystem processes in T. canadensis stands. HF-HeRE may indeed continue for >100 years, but at such time scales, episodic disturbances and changes in regional climate and land cover can be expected to interact in novel ways with these forests and their foundation species.


HIV integrase became an important target for drug development more than twenty years ago. However, progress has been hampered by the lack of assays suitable for high throughput screening, a reliable crystal structure or pharmacophore. Thus, a real breakthrough was only observed in 2007 with the introduction of the first integrase inhibitor, raltegravir, into treatment. To date, the armament of integrase inhibitors is broad and covers several drugs from different classes that are under clinical trials. Among them, quinoline-based compounds and analogues occupy an important place. This review is focused on those compounds that have a quinoline scaffold and attempts to answer the question of whether quinoline is privileged for these activities. In fact, quinoline has been claimed as a privileged structure several times for different fields of activities. A closer look at its structural features may reveal the prerequisites responsible for the popularity of quinoline-based inhibitors of HIV integrase.


Abstract. Erythrocyte sodium‐lithium countertransport (SLC) is an obligatorily coupled equimolar exchange of intracellular sodium or lithium with extracellular sodium or lithium. SLC is partially inhibited by N‐ethylmaleimide (NEM) but only when a transported ion (sodium or lithium) is present in the extracellular medium. In essential hypertensive patients with a strong family history of hypertension the Km of SLC for extracellular sodium was lower and Vmax tended to be higher than in normal controls, but the ratio Vmax/ Km gave a much clearer distinction between the two groups. After NEM treatment, the remaining SLC activity in normal individuals had a lower Vmax and Km for sodium but Vmax/Km was not affected. In essential hypertensives the remaining SLC activity after NEM again had lowered Vmax and Km but in these patients the Vmax/Km was much lower than in untreated erythrocytes and was then the same as in normal controls. On the assumption that NEM reacts with a ‐SH group on a membrane protein that regulates SLC, and that the ratio Vmax/Km reflects a rate constant for binding extracellular sodium to the unloaded carrier, the results suggest that (a) essential hypertensives have an increased rate of sodium binding to the transporter and (b) this is due to abnormal behaviour of a membrane ‐SH group.


BACKGROUND
This study was undertaken to analyze and evaluate the clinico-pathological profile and the outcome of young patients diagnosed with colon cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the colon at or below the age of 50 years from January 2000 to December 2007 in Kuwait were analyzed. This study retrieved 130 patients diagnosed = 50 years, representing 22% of colon cancer patients in this period, 67 females and 63 males. Patients = 40 years were 48 while those 41-50 years were 82. Median follow-up was 61 months.

RESULTS
According to the TNM system, 82% patients had T3 and T4 disease, 55% had node negative disease and 15% had distant metastasis at presentation. All patients except three underwent surgery. Chemotherapy was given in 82% of patients either for adjuvant or palliative intent. The 5-year overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) were 78% and 75% respectively. Survival was significantly affected by the disease stage and grade. The OS was 96%, 83%, 6% for stage I and II, III and IV respectively (p<0.001). OS was 91% for grade 1 and 2 tumors vs. 60% for grade 3 tumors (p=0.007). Patients who presented = 40 years had relatively more grade 3 (19% vs. 7%) compared to 41-50-years age group.

CONCLUSIONS
Colonic adenocarcinoma is frequently diagnosed below the age of 50 in our population. Younger age (=40 years) seems to present more with high grade tumors. Clinicians should consider full colonoscopic evaluation while investigating symptomatic young patients.


Summary: The present study focusses on morphological flower characters considered crucial in the supposed transition from Horridocactus Backeberg to Neoporteria Br. & R. sensu Backeberg. Additionally, physiological characters such as photonastic/ scotonastic perianth segment movement and photoperiodism were documented and found to be informative at species level. Differing dimensions of flowers and their critical relationships to other characters, as well as different flowering periods, separate the southern from the northern taxa. In combination with results from a study based on anatomical data in Eriosyce sensu lato published previously by Nyffeler & Eggli (1997), these findings provide strong support for a separation of Eriosyce subgibbosa ssp. clavata (Söhrens ex Schumann) Kattermann from E. subgibbosa (Haworth) Kattermann, and the necessary nomenclatural change is provided. Additionally, several synapomorphies and phytogeography suggest that E. subgibbosa ssp. wagenknechtii (Ritter) Kattermann, ssp. vallenarensis (Ritter) Kattermann and E. subgibbosa ssp. subgibbosa var. litoralis (Ritter) Kattermann (= the former N. wagenknechtii Ritter, N. vallenarensis Ritter and N. litoralis Ritter) seem to be more closely related to the northern species E. villosa (Monville) Kattermann than to the southern E. subgibbosa. When bioclimatic and phytogeographical data were mapped onto the tentative phylogenetic tree resulting from the analysis of the floral characters, these taxonomic conclusions received even stronger support. Eriosyce subgenus Neoporteria was originally published invalidly (Hoffmann & Walter, 2004), a situation which is rectified here by its formal publication. E. clavata ssp. nigrihorrida (Backeberg) H. E. Walter is also presented as a new combination. The position of two closely related taxa of subgenus Neoporteria, E. taltalensis (Hutchison) Kattermann and E. chilensis (Hildmann ex Schumann) Kattermann, is discussed, but their position remains unresolved. The role in evolution played by pollinators, particularly hummingbirds, is discussed.


Experiments of biomass pyrolysis were carried out in a fluidized bed, and dynamic signals of pressure and temperature were recorded. Correlation dimension was employed to characterize the chaotic behavior of pressure and temperature signals. Both pressure and temperature signals exhibit chaotic behavior, and the chaotic behavior of temperature signals is always weaker than that of pressure signals. Chaos transfer theory was advanced to explain the above phenomena. The discussion on the algorithm of the correlation dimension shows that the distance definition based on rhombic neighborhood is a better choice than the traditional one based on spherical neighborhood. The former provides a satisfactory result in a much shorter time.


Phyllis Morrow Since the enactment in 1978 of the federal Court Interpreters Act (Public Law No. 95-539), there has been an increasing reliance on interpreters in bilingual settings throughout the United States. Although the act applied only to federal courts, it has also stimulated a greater use of interpreters in state and municipal courts. In Alaska, with its diverse population, the need for court interpreters arises in both urban and rural areas. The use of competent court-appointed interpreters can be critical to the conduct of fair legal proceedings. When to use interpreters and how to ensure their competency and availability, however, are problematic questions. Because legal communications are so inherently complex, the need for interpreters in bilingual settings is obvious; by the same token, the task of interpreting well is enormously difficult. Interpretation is not the relatively straightforward process—in which a virtually invisible person acts as a simple conduit—that it is often assumed to be. Numerous difficulties are involved, only two of which are generally recognized by participants (i.e., interpreters and those for whom they interpret) . The first of these is the delay in proceedings necessitated by the use of two languages, and the second is the difficulty of finding lexical equivalents for complex terminology. The former is seen as an essentially social problem (proceedings become too lengthy), resolvable only by limiting the use of interpreters and expediting the process. The latter problem is seen as a linguistic Legal Interpreting in Alaska


Background: Although peroneal tendon injuries are a common cause of lateral ankle pain, there is a paucity of literature specifically addressing the treatment of severe concomitant peroneus longus and brevis tears. The purpose of this study was to evaluate patient outcomes following a single-stage flexor tendon transfer for the treatment of severe concomitant tears of both peroneal tendons. Methods: Eight patients were treated with a single-stage flexor tendon transfer for severe concomitant peroneus longus and brevis tears over a 15-year period. Mean age at the time of surgery was 54 years (range, 41-67 years), including 4 male and 4 female patients. Tendon transfer of either the flexor hallucis longus (FHL) or flexor digitorum longus (FDL) was performed when both peroneal tendons were found intraoperatively to have severe nonreconstructable tears. Mean follow-up time from surgery was 58 months (range, 12-91 months). Preoperative and postoperative AOFAS hindfoot and visual analog pain scores were prospectively collected, and patient charts were reviewed for complications. A postoperative outcome questionnaire was administered during latest follow-up to assess return to activities, satisfaction, and self-rated patient outcome. Results: Mean pre- and postoperative AOFAS hindfoot scores increased from 64 (range, 54-77) to 86 (range, 69-100), whereas mean score for pain on a visual analog scale decreased from 4.2 (range, 0.5-6) to 0.7 (range, 0-3). One surgical complication occurred following FDL transfer in a patient who developed a transient peroneal nerve palsy, and 1 patient underwent a subsequent calcaneal osteotomy. Seven of 8 patients reported a return to preoperative activity levels, and no patient required bracing for activities of daily living. All patients reported satisfaction with surgical results, and 7 rated their outcomes as good or excellent. Conclusion: Single-stage flexor tendon transfer is an effective surgical option for the treatment of severe concomitant peroneus longus and brevis tendon tears. Level of Evidence: Level IV, case series.


The incorporation of various metals into the zeolite framework creates opportunities for novel applications, especially in catalysis. The recently developed assembly-disassembly-organisation-reassembly (ADOR) strategy was used to prepare zeolites with IPC-2 (OKO) topology. The layered zeolite precursor (IPC-1P) was modified by incorporating various metals (Al, Zn, Sn, Zr, V, Fe, Hf, and Ti) using a stabilisation process. The resulting materials were characterised by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Ar adsorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), and diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectroscopy (DR-UV-Vis). The acidity of Al-containing IPC-2 materials was assessed by acetonitrile and pyridine sorption followed by FT-IR spectroscopy, showing overall concentrations of acid sites of 0.863 mmol g−1 (acetonitrile) and 0.413 mmol g−1 (pyridine). Titanium containing IPC-2 was examined by selective oxidation of methylphenyl sulfide (MPS) to the corresponding sulfoxide (MPSO). Ti-IPC-2 provided a higher conversion than TS-1 after 60 min (30% and 18% respectively) and showed higher selectivity towards MPSO (77% and 63% respectively). Sn-IPC-2 was tested by Baeyer–Villiger oxidation of norcamphor with aqueous hydrogen peroxide, showing a 3.8% norcamphor conversion and a 1.3% yield of the desired lactone (after 8 h reaction). Therefore, the results reported herein clearly show the successful incorporation of metals into the IPC-2 zeolite framework.


The antiarrhythmic and direct cardiovascular effects of the new antiarrhythmic agent KW-3407, 5-[[2-(diethylamino)ethyl]amino]-7-methoxy-5,11- dihydro[1]benzoxepino[3,4-b]pyridine 1.5 fumarate, were examined. To evaluate antiarrhythmic effects, two-stage coronary ligation-, digitalis- and adrenaline-induced spontaneously occurring arrhythmias were used. KW-3407, 20 mg/kg/10 min, suppressed these three arrhythmia models, similar to flecainide, mexiletine and phenytoin. The antiarrhythmic plasma concentrations, IC50, of KW-3407 for 24-hr and 48-hr coronary ligation-, digitalis- and adrenaline-induced arrhythmias were 18.1, 14.4, 18.3 and 21.4 micrograms/ml, respectively; and these values were similar to one another. In the canine blood perfused atrioventricular (AV) node, sinoatrial node and papillary muscle preparations, KW-3407 decreased the sinoatrial rate and contractile force, and increased the coronary blood flow and AV conduction times, but these effects were weaker than those of disopyramide and flecainide and were short-lived. These results indicate that KW-3407 can be expected to become a clinically useful antiarrhythmic drug.


The backwash effect of assessment on learning is widely acknowledged. This article discusses the impact of assessment on learning in a wider sense, by focusing on how assessment drives not only student learning, but also the teaching practices, the designing of educational programmes and the production of learning material. The focus is on how assessment affects education at a system level and the article conceptualizes the backwash effect of assessment on learning from a systemic perspective. Activity theory, as developed by Engestrom (1987), is used as a framework to conceptualize this systemic affect of assessment. The empirical basis for the analysis is an ethnographic study of the compulsory preparatory course in philosophy, logics and philosophy of science at the University of Oslo.


Mini specimens of 5052 alloy have been used to study the mechanical behaviour for cladding materials of research reactor. The problem that arises in the manufacture of the mini specimens is the deformation effect after shear cutting process. The objective of this research is to obtain characteristics of mini specimens of 5052 alloy, i.e. microstructure, hardness and tensile strength. The results have showen that microstructureof fresh 5052 alloy is not homogeneous, but that of as-rolled 5052 alloy is non-homogeneous for elongated flat along the roll direction. In the 250  C heat treatment, the grain structure of as-rolled 5052 alloys is increasingly homogeneous with slight grain size changes as the heating time increases. The hardness of 5052 alloy as-rolled after heat treatment ranges from 39.67 - 40.55 VHN. The hardness of as-rolled 5052 alloy is higher than that of fresh 5052 alloy without and post heat treatment. Tensile strength of as-rolled 5052 alloy after heat treatment is relatively the same, i.e. 159.50 – 160.27 MPa with a strain of 31.67 – 34.58%. Tensile strength of 5052 alloy after mechanical treatment has higher tensile strength than fresh and as-rolled 5052 alloys. The mechanical treatment of as-rolled 5052 alloy could eliminates the shear cutting effect on the surface of mini specimens.


ABSTRACT Breeding Pacific Golden-Plovers (Pluvialis fulva) cover 140 longitudinal degrees of Arctic tundra. Having examined 557 museum skins from across this huge distributional range, we conclude that Pacific Golden-Plovers breeding in Alaska are structurally larger than those breeding in Siberia, especially in wing length. Birds from Alaska also have more pointed wings and almost always postpone the initiation of primary molt until they reach their winter quarters, whereas many Siberian birds start primary molt in the breeding areas. These differences could have been favored by the longer transoceanic flights followed by the Alaskan populations to nonbreeding destinations in the Pacific Islands. We propose that the Alaskan and Siberian breeding birds be distinguished as distinct flyway populations to be used in conservation assessments by the international conservation community.


Sorghum classified as an often-cross-pollinated crop has the dual advantage of parental maintenance by selfing without undue inbreeding depression and yielding high heterosis in identified cross combinations. Of the several component traits that have a direct bearing on seed yield, earliness plant height and maturity were recognized crucial and have been exploited in the past through conscientious selection. Phenotypic and genetic diversity between tropical and temperate genotypes have been judiciously exploited to produce high yielding hybrids which helped to tone up productivity to a great extent. The yield levels of hybrids remained always higher than those of pure lines and populations. With biotic and abiotic constraints gaining ground, sorghum productivity has started plateauing and it is time to contemplate conducive alternatives or modifications to the breeding procedures presently in vogue. Basic research into identifying a 'key' component character set that is dynbamic and relevant to the material targeted for improvement will provide vital clues in those areas. Results of fundamental genetic value generated in other self-pollinated crops may quality for test verification. With this view, the current status of sorghum breeding is reviewed and basic results from groundnut are examined in the light of achievements and requirements for improving productivity in sorghum.


Objective:To determine the sensitivity and specificity of tests for hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and syphilis conducted by laboratories of 3 blood collection organizations in a rural area of China. Methods:From October to December 2003, 1068 samples were collected from blood donors presenting to the 3 collection centers. All samples were tested twice using 2 different test kits for HBsAg, HCV, and syphilis. An aliquot was sent to the China National Center for Clinical Laboratories to confirm the local test results. Sensitivities and specificities of the 3 local blood centers/banks were calculated using the results of the National Center for Clinical Laboratories as the gold standard. Results:The sensitivity of the 3 blood collection center/banks ranged from 0% to 63.2% for HBsAg. For HCV, the sensitivity was 0%, and for syphilis, ranged from 0% to 85.7%. There were no HBsAg positives in one of the blood center/banks, and no syphilis positives in the other. Thus, sensitivity could not be measured for these tests in these 2 facilities. Combining all 3 tests, the overall sensitivity was 55.6%. The specificity was 100%. Conclusions:The sensitivity of the local laboratories was inadequate and could cause possible infection for an unacceptable number of blood recipients. Action needs to be taken to improve the quality of testing to ensure the safety of the rural blood supply.


Personality testing is highly disputed, yet, widely used as a personnel selection tool. In most research, it is taken for granted that personality tests are used with the purpose of achieving a more objective assessment of job candidates. However, in Danish organizations the personality test is often framed as a 'dialogue tool'. This paper explores the potentials of a dialogical reframing of the use of personality testing in personnel selection by analyzing empirical material from an ethnographic study of the hiring processes in a Danish trade union that declaredly uses personality tests as a dialogue tool. Through an affirmative critique we identify five framings that interact during the test-based dialogue: The 'meritocratic', 'disciplinary', 'dialogical', 'pastoral', and 'con-test' framing. Our study suggests that being committed to a dialogical reframing nurtures the possibility of focusing on what we call the 'con-test': Either as exploring the meta-competences of the candidate or as co-creating embryos through joint reflections on organizational issues. We argue that the long-lasting debates in the field of selection-related personality testing should be much more interested in the question of how personality tests in hiring are used, rather than whether or not they should be used.