An escalating proportion of the aged group is associated with a growth in the prevalence of ill health. With the complexity of age-related diseases, a good medication management system is important to prevent medication errors. This study was aimed to develop a questionnaire to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of caregivers on medication management at residential aged care facilities (RACFs). A cross-sectional study was performed involving caregivers from 90 RACFs throughout Malaysia. The validated self-administered questionnaire was developed based on the extensive literature review and expert`s opinions containing 41-items divided into three domains. In this study, the response rate was 71% with 128 questionnaires returned. Median scores obtained for knowledge, attitude and practice were 77.27, 70.83 and 68.66, respectively. Majority of the caregivers (71.9%) deemed to know what medication management was. However, nearly half of them (48.4%) did not experience any training. More than half of the caregivers possessed good level of knowledge (69.5%, n = 89), around half (57.8%, n= 74) had a good attitude and less than half had a good practice (46.9%, n= 60) of medication management. Level of education, special qualification and experience of medication management training were the factors that correlated with good score outcome (p<0.05). Therefore, it is assumed that more support and training can be provided to the caregivers in RACF on medication management.


We report the application of customer-built scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) based on a commercial atomic force microscope to investigate local thermal inhomogeneity of ZnO varistors. The so-called 3ω method, generally used for measuring macroscale thermal conductivity, is set up and integrated with an atomic force microscope to probe the nanoscale thermal property. Remarkably, thermal contrasts of ZnO varistors are firstly imaged by the SThM, indicating the uniform distribution of spinel phases at triple points. The frequency-dependent thermal signal of ZnO varistors is also studied to present quantitative evaluation of local thermal conductivity of the sample.


Infiltration is an uncontrolled contribution to ventilation in a building and can contribute significantly to the total ventilation rate, particularly in older, leaky, dwellings which can rely on infiltration to provide adequate indoor air quality. However, as explored in this paper, using a whole house airtightness metric to characterise ventilation rates can fail to identify low ventilation rates in specific rooms. Measurements were undertaken in autumn and winter for a dwelling with an airtightness (by blower door) of 15.1 m3/hr/m2@50Pa. The dwelling was built in the 1930's: semi-detached, suspended timber floors, cavity walls and retrofitted throughout with double glazing incorporating trickle vents. The whole dwelling ventilation rate (by CO2 tracer gas decay) with the trickle vents closed was 0.7 ach, and 0.8 ach with the trickle vents open. However, the ventilation rate (by CO2 tracer gas decay) in a single room with its internal door closed under different weather conditions was only 0.17 ach (standard deviation = 0.06 ach, number of measurements = 34), and with trickle vents open 0.32 ach (standard deviation = 0.13 ach, number of measurements = 40). This is below the 0.5 ach required for good indoor air quality. This is likely related to the closed internal door reducing cross-ventilation and the non-uniformity of air leakage paths in the dwelling. The leakage paths were investigated using smoke pens during a pressurisation test and significant air leakage paths were observed in other rooms: through the under stairs cupboard, around services in the kitchen and bathroom, and through the ceiling into the loft. Low air change rates have been observed in a building with very low airtightness, typical of older stock in the UK. The dwelling was retrofitted with double glazing, which is likely to have significantly affected the airflow, but still left the dwelling with low total airtightness. The double glazing had trickle vents, but these did not provide adequate ventilation. Inclusion of trickle vents in replacement windows is 'good practice' according to English building regulations, but not compulsory if there were no vents in the previous windows. Similarly, undercuts are required for doors in new dwellings, but are only required for existing buildings in new wet rooms; the tested dwelling had undercuts half the size required for ventilation regulations in new buildings. The difference in ventilation rates at different spatial scales is rarely discussed, but this research shows that there can be major discrepancies. This paper discusses the implications of this for appropriate measurement of ventilation, and the implications for ventilation regulations and guidance as well as the need for further research into the complexity of the manifestation of ventilation in occupied buildings.


Task-switching is a fundamental cognitive ability which requires animals to update their knowledge of current rules, allowing flexible behaviour in a changing environment1. This is often achieved through evaluating discrepancies between observed and expected events. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has a key role in processing such discrepancies, or prediction errors2–12. However, the neural circuit mechanisms underlying task-switching are largely unknown. Here we show that activity in the ACC induced by the absence of expected stimuli is necessary for rapid task-switching. Mice trained to perform a block-wise set-shifting task typically required a single experience of an expectation violation, or prediction error to accurately switch between responding to the same stimuli using distinct rules. Neurons in the ACC explicitly represented these prediction errors, and their activity was predictive of successful one-shot behavioural transitions. Prediction error signals were projection targetspecific, constrained in their spatio-temporal spread across cortex, and heavily disrupted by VIP interneuron perturbation. Optogenetic silencing and single-trial un-silencing revealed that the requirement of the ACC in task-switching was restricted to the epochs when neural prediction error signals were observed. These results reveal a dedicated circuitry promoting the transition between distinct cognitive states.


Structural variations disrupting the gene encoding the neuron‐specific splicing regulator RBFOX1 have been reported in three patients exhibiting epilepsy in comorbidity with other neuropsychiatric disorders. Consistently, the Rbfox1 knockout mouse model showed an increased susceptibility of seizures. The present candidate gene study tested whether exon‐disrupting deletions of RBFOX1 increase the risk of idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGEs), representing the largest group of genetically determined epilepsies.


The automobile lateral-view mirrors are the most important visual support for driver safety; therefore, it is important they have robust quality control. Typically, the distortion of a lateral-view mirror is measured using the JIS-D-5705 standard; however, this methodology requires an expert person to perform the measurements and calculations manually, which can induce measurement errors. In this work, a semi-automatic distortion calculation method based on image processing is presented. Distortion calculations of five commercial mirrors from different manufacturers were performed, and a comparative study was carried out between the JIS-D-5705 standard and the proposed method. Experimental results performed according to the JIS-D-5705 standard showed that all mirrors have a distortion lower than 5%, indicating that all meet the standard. On the other hand, the proposed method was able to detect that one of the mirrors presented an important distortion, which was not detected by the methodology proposed in the standard; therefore, that mirror should not meet the standard. Then, it was possible to conclude that the proposed distortion calculation method, based on image processing, has higher robustness and precision than the standard. In addition, an appropriate and effective behavior against changes in scale, resolution, and, unlike the standard, against changes in image rotation was also shown.


2,2′‐azobis(2‐amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH) is an azo compound which has been used as a radical chain initiator. The purpose of this study was to confirm contact sensitivity to AAPH in individuals who were engaged in the production of AAPH, and presented with prolonged eczematous eruptions mainly on exposed areas. Patch testing was carried out with AAPH (1 and 5% aq.) on 8 patients and 6 healthy volunteers who had never been exposed to this chemical. All patients showed a strong positive patch test reaction to this agent, while all control subjects showed negative results. Because this chemical has recently been used for studies on the oxidation of biological materials, not only production workers in the chemical industry but also medical researchers should avoid prolonged exposure to this agent.


AIMS
Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is a frequent and potentially harmful complication of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), especially in the setting of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). We tested the efficacy of a sodium bicarbonate (SB)-based hydration in urgent PCI for STEMI.

METHODS AND RESULTS
From June 2009 to September 2010, 262 consecutive STEMI patients undergoing urgent PCI were prospectively enrolled and treated by SB-based hydration (154 mEq/L at 3 ml Kg-1 for one hour followed by 1 ml Kg-1 for six hours) (group A). As controls, 262 consecutive STEMI patients receiving 0.9% saline hydration (1 ml Kg-1 for 24 hours) before June 2009 were retrospectively enrolled (group B). Both groups received high-dose N-acetylcysteine (NAC). The primary endpoint was the composite of in-hospital death, need for dialysis and CIN (≥25% increase in serum creatinine at 48 hours). The two groups were comparable for baseline clinical and procedural characteristics, for Mehran risk score and baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate. The primary combined endpoint was significantly reduced in group A as compared to group B (9.2 vs. 18.7%, p=0.023) with a number needed to treat (NNT) of 11. Specifically, a significant reduction of both in-hospital death (2.3 vs. 6.1%, p=0.049, NNT 27) and CIN (8.0 vs. 14.1%, p=0.03, NNT 17) was observed, with no difference in the need for dialysis.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data indicate that hydration with sodium bicarbonate in addition to high-dose NAC in the setting of urgent PCI for STEMI is associated with a net clinical benefit.


The fractional electron power quickly transferred into heat in non-equilibrium plasmas was studied experimentally and theoretically in N2:O2 mixtures subjected to high electric fields. Measurements were performed in a nanosecond surface dielectric barrier discharge at various gas pressures. The processes that contribute towards the fast transfer of electron energy into thermal energy under the conditions considered were numerically simulated. Calculations were compared with measurements and the main channels of fast gas heating were analysed at various gas pressures and compositions and at different electric fields.


There is a great individual difference in people's face recognition ability (FRA). This study aimed to reveal the neural mechanism underlying such individual differences. Elastic-net regression models were constructed to predict FRA based on the white matter (WM) microstructural properties. We found that FRA can be accurately predicted by the WM microstructural properties. For the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) and bilateral arcuate fasciculus (AF), FRA was correlated negatively to fractional anisotropy (FA), but positively to radial diffusivity (RD). In contrast, for the corpus callosum forceps minor (CFM), FRA was correlated positively to FA, but negatively to RD. Such various patterns of the WM microstructural properties suggested a positive correlation between FRA and fiber diameter for the right ILF and bilateral AF, but a negative correlation between FRA and diameter of the CFM. These findings reflected that FRA was correlated positively to connectivities of the right ILF and bilateral AF, but negatively to those of the CFM. These findings not only confirmed the significant role of the right ILF in face recognition, but also revealed the involvement of the bilateral AF and CFM in face recognition, particularly implying the important role of hemisphere lateralization modulated by transcallosal connectivity in face recognition.


Highlights This distribution contains mostly the same programs as our previous distribution. The main change is in the Magic program, which has undergone major revisions. In addition, there are a few new programs. Here''s an overview of some of the major tools: Crystal A timing analyzer that helps the designer find performance problems in his design. Eqntott Converts a set of logic equations into a truth table format for input to our PLA optimization and layout tools. Esim An event driven logic-level simulator developed at MIT and distributed with their permission. The version on this tape handles CMOS as well as nMOS. Espresso A fast new boolean equation minimizer. Ext2sim Part of the Magic suite of programs. Used for converting the output of Magic''s hierarchical extractor into a form usable by other tools on this tape, such as Esim and Crystal. Magic The second release of our graphical layout editor. Magic has undergone many major changes since the 1985 distribution; they are described in a section below. Mpack A new release of the tpack library for generating semi-regular modules. This version is compatible with Magic layout files. These routines allow module generators to generate layouts by assembling tiles (which are small chunks of layout designed with Magic). The end result is a module generator that can generate different styles of modules depending upon what set of tiles is used. Mpanda A technology-independent generator of split and folded PLAs built using Mpack. Used in conjunction with Pleasure. Mpla A technology-independent generator of ordinary PLAs built using Mpack. Mquilt A generator of personalized arrays built using Mpack. Peg A tool that compiles a high-level description of a finite state machine into logic equations. These logic equation can be fed into the PLA tools for automatic layout and optimization of the FSM. Pleasure Minimizes the area of a PLA by splitting and folding its and or planes. Used in conjunction with Panda. Several of the programs on this tape were developed by authors outside of the Computer Science Division. We wish to thank Prof. Alberto Sangiovanni- Vincentelli of Electrical Engineering and his students for allowing us to distribute their PLA optimization tools Espresso and Pleasure. Panda and Eqntott were developed by Prof. Richard Newton and his students, also in Electrical Engineering. Esim, the switch-level simulator, was developed by Prof. Chris Terman of MIT. Several programs are being distributed courtesy of Prof. Chuck Seitz of Caltech: Cifp, by Chris Kingsley, Maglot, by Wen-King Su, and Plamin by Don Speck. Finally, Shih-Lien Lu of MOSIS-ISI provided the SOS and SCMOS technology files for Magic. We are grateful for the authors'' permission to distribute these tools.


Exfoliative dermatitis due to the administration of sulfonamide drugs is relatively rare. A case with fatal termination following the use of sulfathiazole was reported by Weinstein and Domm (1941). 1 Their case merits note in that the patient had a history of a severe cutaneous rash twelve years before, following arsenotherapy for syphilis. Johnson (1944) 2 described a case of severe exfoliative dermatitis, with recovery, caused by sulfadiazine. The case to be described is of interest for the following reasons: 1. Sensitization apparently resulted from the previous ingestion of only 3 Gm. of sulfathiazole. 2. A repetition of the attack of exfoliative dermatitis was produced by the ingestion of only 1 Gm. of sulfathiazole. 3. Transverse furrows of the nails (Beau's lines) together with alopecia accompanied each attack of dermatitis. REPORT OF CASE F. P., first seen on June 20, 1944, was a highly intelligent


Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is a small lipoprotein that plays a vital role in controlling lipid metabolism. LDL has a delicate nanostructure with unique physicochemical properties: superior payload capacity, long residence time in circulation, excellent biocompatibility, smaller size, and natural targeting. In recent decades, the superiority and feasibility of LDL particles as targeted delivery carriers have attracted much attention. In this review, we introduce the structure, composition, advantages, defects, and reconstruction of LDL delivery systems, summarize their research status and progress in targeted diagnosis and therapy, and finally look forward to the clinical application of LDL as an effective delivery vehicle.


Unexpected hazardous road situations frequently arise on the roads, which lead to crashes. Detecting a threat in advance and generating a fallback trajectory are some of the major challenges faced by autonomous vehicles. Stochastic Model Predictive Control (SMPC) approaches have recently proven to be highly effective in controlling systems in highly uncertain environments. However, the chance-constrained formulation of the SMPC makes it computationally expensive for fast real-time implementation. This paper presents a fast, proactive decision-making approach for crash avoidance in autonomous vehicles based on SMPC. Two problems are addressed in this study: 1) Assessing threat to the autonomous vehicle from the surrounding vehicles and 2) Fast safe trajectory generation for the autonomous vehicle in case of a future predicted crash. Threat assessment is addressed using stochastic reachability analysis for the surrounding vehicles, which accounts for surrounding drivers likely future motion and intents. We have proposed a fast, proactive decision-making algorithm to generate crash avoidance trajectories based on Stochastic Model Predictive Control (SMPC). We reformulate the SMPC probabilistic constraints as deterministic constraints using convex hull formulation, allowing for faster real-time implementation. This deterministic SMPC implementation ensures in real-time that the vehicle maintains a minimum probabilistic safety. It is shown that the proposed decision-making approach is successful in avoiding crash scenarios with a medium risk factor range.


The most biologically harmful of the Sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation reaching the Earth's surface is UV-B, which spans wavelengths from 290 to 320 nm. In appreciable doses, UV-B harms plants and animals by damaging cellular DNA. The atmosphere's ozone layer absorbs this radiation and protects us from its more harmful effects. Recent theoretical and observational evidence shows that large volcanic eruptions, like that of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991, may cause shor-term ozone depletions, thereby enhancing the amount of UV-B that reaches the Earth's surface.


How cells acquire competence to differentiate according to position is an essential question in developmental biology. Maize leaves provide a unique opportunity to study positional information. In the developing leaf primordium, a line is drawn across a field of seemingly identical cells. Above the line, the cells become blade, below the line the cells become sheath and at the line, the cells differentiate into the specialized tissues of ligule and auricle. We identified a new mutation, Liguleless narrow (Lgn), that affects this patterning and shows striking defects in lateral growth as well, thus linking proximal-distal patterning to medial-lateral growth. In characterizing the defect we discovered that both the auxin transport protein ZmPIN1a and the squamosa promoter-binding protein LIGULELESS1 are expressed precisely at this positionally cued line and are disrupted by Lgn. Positional cloning and a transposon-derived allele demonstrate that LGN is a kinase. These results suggest that LGN participates in setting up positional information through a signaling cascade. Interestingly, LGN has a paralog that is upregulated in the mutant, suggesting an important feedback mechanism involved in setting the positional boundary.


New and advanced fabrication methods for titanium components are emerging today to replace age-old fabrication processes and reduce component cost. Superplastic forming and diffusion bonding are two such advanced fabrication technologies which when applied individually or in combination can provide significant cost and weight benefits and a rather broad manufacturing technology base. This paper briefly reviews the state of understanding of the science and technology of super plastic forming of titanium alloys, and their diffusion bonding capability. Emphasis has been placed on the metallurgy of superplastic flow in two phase titanium alloys, the microstructural and external factors which influence this behaviour.


Editor's Note Amy Nguyen's profile "Bonsai: A Way of Living" blends form and content effec tively; the tone of the piece is as calming as the subject matter. She achieves this effect by using stylistic techniques: imagery, diction, and even punctua tion. For example, notice how the words "harmony," "flow," and "energy" precede the image of Nguyen's father meditating. She later describes her father bending down to work with the Bonsai. She writes, "his stance is like a per son playing pool, the same facial expression . . ." Instead of merely stating that her father concentrates on his Bonsai, she uses a simile to show her read ers how her father ponders each step carefully. Nguyen also synthesizes the research about Bonsai's history with her father's perspective in order to reach her own conclusion. Rather than just writing an essay about her father, she focuses on the principles behind this ancient art practiced in modern American culture. She writes that "we can work with nature by enhancing it, but we cannot perfect it." Do you agree? Does she make the essay meaningful to a larger audience by expanding the scope to include anyone who appreciates nature?


Phylogenetic analysis frequently leads to the creation of many phylogenetic trees, either from using multiple genes or methods, or through bootstrapping or Bayesian analysis. A consensus tree is often used to summarize what the trees have in common. Consensus networks were introduced to also allow the visualization of the main incompatibilities among the trees. However, in practice, such networks often contain a large number of nodes and edges, and can be non-planar, making them difficult to interpret. Here, we introduce the new concept of a phylogenetic consensus outline, which provides a planar visualization of incompatibilities in the input trees, without the complexities of a consensus network. Furthermore, we present an effective algorithm for its computation. We demonstrate its usage and explore how it compares to other methods on a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of languages using data from a published database and on multiple gene trees from a published study on water lilies.


A performance agreement is a document summarising the understanding between the US president and his cabinet secretary regarding the expected results and performance indicators for the concerned department. This article argues that performance agreements are an effective instrument for promoting a culture of accountability in the government and lauds the attempt by the US administration to introduce them systematically in the highest echelons of the government. However, due to technical flaws in their design, these instruments have proved to be ineffective. This experience provides valuable lessons for developing countries in search of effective instruments of accountability. A well-designed system of performance agreements can be a great instrument for transforming development goals into reality.


Background: The pyramidal lobe of the thyroid gland is an embryonic remnant of the caudal end of the thyroglossal tract. The pyramidal lobe is formed from normal thyroid tissue. A fibrous band, levator glandulae thyroideae, is found occasionally and extending upwards from the apex of the pyramidal lobe. As all thyroid diseases are found to be present in the pyramidal lobe, the study of the pyramidal lobe bears a great importance. Study design: Cross-sectional descriptive type of study. Place and period of study: Department of Anatomy, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka from January to December 2008. Materials: The present study was performed on 60 post mortem human thyroid gland (39 male and 21 female) collected from unclaimed dead bodies which were in the morgue under examination in the Department of Forensic Medicine, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka. Methods: The samples were divided into three age-groups including Group A (10 -20 years), Group B (21- 50 years) & Group C (>50 years) and the pyramidal lobes were studied both morphologically i.e. position, length, breadth, thickness, its association with levator glandulae thyroideae and histologically including presence of thyroid tissue, percentage proportion of parenchyma and stroma. Results: The pyramidal lobe was found in 25 cases out of 60 (41.67%) and situated more on the left side (56%). The mean±SD length of the pyramidal lobe of the thyroid gland was 10.83±0.75 mm in group A, 12.80±3.05 mm in group B and 11.00±1.41 mm in group C. The mean±SD breadth of the pyramidal lobe was 5.50±1.22 mm in group A, 7.60±2.06 mm in group B and 6.75±0.96 mm in group C. The mean±SD thickness of the pyramidal lobe was 3.00±0.00 mm in group A, 3.27±0.59 mm in group B and 3.00±0.96 mm in group C. The levator glandulae thyroideae was found in 12 cases out of 60 (20%) and extended from the apex of the pyramidal lobe to the body of the hyoid bone. The proportion of the parenchyma increases with advancing age upto 50 years. Key Words: morphology; histology; pyramidal lobe; thyroid gland DOI: 10.3329/bja.v7i2.6095 Bangladesh Journal of Anatomy July 2009, Vol. 7 No. 2 pp. 94-100


In this paper, we present new results on the development of a new acoustic waveguide concept using an. acoustic wave excited by a Periodically Poled Transducer (PPT) and guided by guiding layers. Periodically poled transducers have been investigated recently as an alternative to classical inter-digital transducers for the excitation and detection of guided acoustic waves. The fabrication of PPTs operating in the range 50 – 500 MHz has been achieved on 3 and 4 inches 500 µm thick lithium niobate (LiNbO3) and tantalate (LiTaO3) Z-cut wafers. The compact structure proposed allows high frequency operation with a simplified package based on Si/LiNbO3/Si material combination. Dispersion properties have been studied for this structure in order to find operating points corresponding to a specific thickness/period ratio. Two main devices have been fabricated, a Si/500 µm thick PPT/Si structure in order to validate the concept and a Si/20 µm thick PPT/Si structure to excite only one acoustic wave in the purpose of diffracting this wave. The experimental responses of the tested devices are compared to the predicted harmonic admittances, showing a good agreement between both results. The temperature sensitivity of the excited wave of both structures are also been measured and predicted. Finally, we expose different structures with impedance mismatches generating scattering effects.


Objective : To assess the knowledge about Toxoplasmosis among nurses that work in AL _Zahra Teaching Hospital and AL-Seder Teaching Hospital in Al-Najaf -Iraq . Methods: This study was carried out from 20 December 2015 to 20 April 2016. A questionnaire was administered to a purposed sample of 100 nurses who working in (wards unit , emergency unit , normal delivery unit , caesarean section ) . The questionnaire was self-completed and included many questions on diagnosis, clinical, and prevention of toxoplasmosis. Results : The higher percentages (62%) of nurses were with age ranging from 20-29 years and  ,(72%) are female , (96%) are urban resident , (38%) are institute  graduated ,and (54%) were working in hospital wards. That (96%) of  nurses having good knowledge  and (4%) were with poor knowledge. The results appear that there was a no- significant relationship between nurses knowledge regarding toxoplasmosis and their demographic data at P-value more than 0.05.


The APN-1 unit is a low cost piece of equipment available from many of the dealers handling surplus electronic devices. It is normally used as a radio altimeter in which a frequency modulated 440 MHz signal is transmitted from the aircraft and received after reflection from the ground. The phase of the modulation is then compared with a direct signal by determining the maximum beat frequency on a rate-meter. It is possible to use the unit in its original form as a means of introducing students to practical aspects of frequency modulation. Furthermore it can be used for a straightforward method of determining the effective dielectric constant of the dielectric spacing of a coaxial cable or for a complementary experiment to find the velocity of propagation down the line.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE
Deoxynivalenol (DON, vomitoxin) and Zearalenone (ZEA) are mycotoxin contaminants of cereals and cereal products that pose a significant threat to food safety. The aim of the study was to investigate the occurrence of DON and ZEA in different organic and conventional unprocessed cereals and cereal products that are available on the Polish agricultural fields and market. A total of 78 unprocessed cereal and cereal product samples of organic and conventional production were sampled from agricultural fields situated in western Poland and from available on the Polish market packaged comercial products produced by different domestic manufacturers. All samples were analyzed for DON and ZEA by HPLC with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD).

RESULTS
Results. Co-occurrence of DON was detected in cereals from the organic production system, the average content was 285.25 ± 134,04 μg kg -1 and from the conventional system - 373.71 ± 171,20 μg kg -1 , In flour from organic farming, the average DON content was 213.80 ± 151,28 μg kg -1, in conventional flour the average was 336.29 ± 188,90 μg kg -1. The range of DON concentrations in samples of cereal products from organic and conventional farms was detected in 26.3% and 31.6%, whereas the average concentrations of DON in cereal products was 199.60 ± 149.82 μg kg -1 and 387.67 ± 250.24 μg kg -1, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Mycotoxins contamination seen in organic cereals and cereal products does not statistical differ from that witnessed in their conventional counterparts.


A lipid-soluble PG ester such as PGF2 alpha-IE reduces IOP in the human eye when given in considerably lower doses than are needed for the tromethamine salt of this PG to do so. However, with the pharmaceutical composition now used, the concomitant and dose-related side effects, both objective and subjective, are clearly clinically unacceptable at doses corresponding to the upper part of the dose-response curve for IOP reductions. Moderate side effects were observed after twice-daily treatment with the 0.5 microgram dose for up to two weeks. The pressure reduction obtained in healthy eyes with this dose of PGF2 alpha-IE was less than one would expect with conventional glaucoma drugs. However, the pressure reduction in response to this dose of PGF2 alpha-IE among glaucoma patients who had moderately increased IOP was adequate for clinical use. A useful approach to the development of PGs as potential drugs for the treatment of glaucoma would clearly be the identification of an alternative PG or PG formulation that will permit the use of doses at the upper portion of the IOP dose-response curve without unacceptable side effects. Long-term studies on glaucoma patients, using an appropriate PG formulation, remain to be done before we can evaluate the true clinical usefulness of this new class of ocular hypotensive drugs.


The Rohingya in Myanmar are often described as the most persecuted minority in the world. In the former Burma, the Rohingya are considered illegal immigrants and have been denied citizenship for decades. Since the end of August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. After explaining the historical background, this paper aims to investigate the reasons behind the most recent violence and subsequent mass flights of Rohingya. The research is based on extensive literature and media analysis, interviews and discussions with researchers, academics in Dhaka and NGO representatives in Cox's Bazar as well as a visit to a refugee camp in LEDA/Cox's Bazar in February 2018. The public usually discusses mainly the ethnic-religious and humanitarian causes and effects of conflict. However, this paper shows that there are massive political, economic and geopolitical interests of directly and indirectly involved actors behind the conflict. As of today, no solution of the crisis is in sight. Therefore, further analysis is needed to find practical approaches for either repatriation or finding new living spaces for the Rohingya.


The reaction of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) after spinal cord injury (SCI) is poorly understood. In this study, we examined oligodendroglial reactions after contusion SCI in adult rats by immunohistochemistry. OPCs were identified by staining with monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) A2B5 and O4. Each of the A2B5‐, O4‐positive OPCs and galactocerebroside‐positive oligodendrocytes dramatically increased in the lesion of the dorsal posterior funiculus. Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation studies showed that most O4‐positive cells in the lesion were labeled with BrdU, suggesting that these OPCs were proliferative. In contrast, the expression of myelin basic protein was decreased in the lesion compared with controls that received laminectomy only. From the injured cord, OPCs were isolated by immunopanning with mAb A2B5. We observed an increased number of OPCs from the injured spinal cords compared with those isolated from controls and unoperated animals. After several days in culture, the OPCs from the lesion expressed galactocerebroside. These results suggest that OPCs are induced and can differentiate following SCI in the adult rat. J. Neurosci. Res. 65:500–507, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This review is an attempt to highlight evidence that may implicate the cardiovascular abnormalities in the pathogenesis of hypertension. Many physiological, pharmacological, and biochemical studies have been conducted in in vitro and in vivo systems. Since blood pressure can rise in response to an increase in cardiac output and/or a rise in peripheral resistance, abnormalities may be present in one or more of the multiple factors that affect these two parameters in hypertension. These multiple factors include various neurohumoral factors. Increased levels of various vasoconstrictor neurohumoral factors have been found in patients with hypertension. Vasoconstrictor neurohumoral factors such as catecholamines, angiotensin II, and endothelin-1 induce vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMCs) proliferation and contraction. On the other hand, vasodilator neurohumoral factors such as natriuretic peptides and adrenomedulin inhibit VSMCs proliferation. Both neurohumoral factors mutually interact and develop hypertension.


summary: In Demosthenes' speeches we find documentary versions of laws and decrees which were not included in the prepared text nor (apparently) in early versions for circulation. Recent work on manuscript stichometry suggests a pattern in what appear to be the earliest inserts. In Demosthenes 23 and 24, in cases against unlawful legislation, a significant set of documents was included in the line-count edition; these largely correspond to the paragegrammenoi nomoi, the opposing laws listed in the indictment. This finding suggests that the early editor either had that indictment in hand or attempted to reconstruct it.


PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) is a mining company that requires quite complex resources. This complexity requires companies to implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), one of which is SAP with the Plant Maintenance module. Knowing the achievement of the implementation of the factory maintenance ERP module is one of the things needed by the company. This study uses two qualitative and quantitative requirements. Qualitative assessment is carried out by interviewing and observing the maintenance documents in the company with the results of the fishbone diagram of the agreed debate. While the quantitative evaluation is carried out by the mining process with the evaluation process of the automated process obtained from the analysis of the event log with the results of 6 different business process variants that fit the business process properly. Of the 2211 Event Logs, only 1611 Event Logs are in compliance with SAP standards. Related to the process of implementing the ERP plant maintenance module at PT. Freeport Indonesia is in accordance with 72.82% compliance with SAP standards with some improvement notes.


The dynamics of a circular liquid lamella resulting from the collision of a water drop with a small disc–like target was studied experimentally and theoretically. Such a type of collision also acts as a model of drop impacts on plane surfaces in the absence of liquid friction, and therefore for more widespread collisions of drops of inviscid liquid with solid surfaces. We propose a simple model to describe the dynamics of the lamella resulting from the drop impact and also predict the structure of the liquid flow in the lamella. It is based on the observations that during the drop collision with the target, the liquid is ejected at an approximately constant flow rate with a velocity that significantly decreases in time. The resulting distributions of velocities, local flow rates and film thickness in the lamella are calculated. Besides, we have measured the distribution of the local Weber numbers by generating Mach–like rupture waves (we have called them Mach–Taylor waves) in the lamella, which follows the Taylor theory of disintegration of fluid sheets. Unknown parameters of the model are obtained from the comparison between the theoretical expression for local Weber number and the experimental data. The time evolution of the lamella diameter was obtained by numerical integration of the model. It was found that during the lamella life, zones of metastability could be formed in the lamella. In these zones a propagating rupture hole cannot be transported away by the flow and it yields to destabilization. One metastability zone expands from the target towards the external rim, and it is the opposite for the other one.


After surgical treatment of severe hip diseases with artificial joint prostheses aseptic loosening of the implants can occur. Unphysiologic load distribution in the periprosthetic femur and stress shielding by the prosthesis can result in bone remodelling processes. In particular a cutback of the bone mass is followed by an aseptic loosening of the prosthesis. In this context the understanding of bone remodelling processes in the prothetically treated femur is of outstanding interest for the optimisation of canine hip joint prostheses in the future. Therefore the main aim of this sudy was the numerical investigation on the change in the load distribution in the canine periprosthetic femur and the resulting bone remodelling after implantation of the cemented stem Bioméchanique. The investigations within this study were carried out using the Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The calculated bone density of the periprosthetic femur and the evolution of the mass loss show relevant stress shielding areas in different analysis regions. Therefore possible regions of aseptic loosening are indicated particularly in the proximo-medial femur. The here demonstrated numerical results are in agreement with clinical findings. For this reason the FEA-based method is a valuable tool for the prediction of bone remodelling processes.


The relaxation rate of N2(a1 Pi g, v'=0-2) singlet metastable state is observed from the emission of a1 Pi g-X1 Sigma g+ bands in a nitrogen time afterglow. The quenching rates k0=0.91+or-0.05, k1=1.64+or-0.048 and k2=2.12+or-0.055 (*10-11cm3 s-1) and the radiative lifetime tau 0=54.2+or-6.5 mu s, tau 1=55.9+or-6.0 mu s and t2=54.1+or-5.8 mu s are deduced from the linear part of the dependences of the time decay against pressure.


These scenarios reflect where the future is heading for remote health monitoring technology and service expectations. Being able to manage a "system of systems" with timely service hand-off over seams of responsibility and system interfaces will become very important for a BMET or clinical engineer. These interfaces will include patient homes, clinician homes, commercial/civilian infrastructure, public utilities, vendor infrastructure as well as internal departmental domains. Concurrently, technology is changing rapidly resulting in newer software delivery modes and hardware appliances as well as infrastructure changes. Those who are able to de-construct the complex systems and identify infrastructure assumptions and seams of servicing responsibility will be able to better understand and communicate the expectations for service of these systems. Moreover, as identified in Case 1, prodigious use of underlying system monitoring tools (managing the "meta-data") could move servicing of these remote systems from a reactive approach to a proactive approach. A prepared healthcare organization will identify their current and proposed future service combination use cases and design service philosophies and expectations for those use cases, while understanding the infrastructure assumptions and seams of responsibility. This is the future of technical service to the healthcare clinicians and patients.


There are two broad ways to think about the nature and purpose of professional economic ethics. The first (The Posnerian View), which comes most readily to mind for economists, is ethical legislation that is intended to prohibit illicit or otherwise inappropriate behavior by the members of a profession. The goal is to prevent bad or weak-willed professionals from doing bad things. In this way of thinking, professional ethics must take the form of a binding code of conduct that spells out the "do's" and "don'ts" of professional practice. A second view, the Naive View, argues that professional ethics is something other than a code of conduct. In this view, professional ethics seeks to enable virtuous practitioners to do good. This view presents an expansive view of professional ethics—as a tradition of careful inquiry into the full range of ethical issues that arise in the context of professional practice. This paper elaborates the central assumptions and claims of these two perspectives on professional ethics, and explores what these two perspectives imply about the content of and prospects for professional economic ethics. The paper criticizes the Posnerian View, advocates the Naive View, and teases out what the latter perspective implies for the economics profession.


Nanog is a stem cell transcription factor required for self-renewal and for maintaining pluripotency, and Nanog itself is regulated at least in part by leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) – a pluripotent cytokine of the IL6 family. MARCH-7 is an E-3 ligase linked to regulation of the LIF-receptor in T lymphocytes and T cells from mice that lack expression of MARCH-7 are hyper-responsive to activation signals and show a five-fold increase in LIF activity. Here we ask, does MARCH-7 influence the expression profile of Nanog during the synchronised entry of T cells into the cell cycle? We discovered that lack of MARCH-7 was permissive for Nanog expression at both transcript and protein levels during G1/S: moreover, addition of exogenous LIF to the MARCH-7 null cells caused a further 13-fold induction of Nanog; other measured transcripts including TGFβ, p53, and STAT3 were relatively unchanged. Since lack of MARCH-7 altered responsiveness to activation signals we sought evidence for pre-existing regulatory miR's that might correlate with MARCH-7 gene dose using head-to-head comparisons between MARCH-7 null, heterozygous, and wt spleen cells. 34 miRs were found including miR-346 that is known to target LIF transcripts and miR-346 is one of 16 miRNAs differentially expressed between hESCs and induced hiPSCs. Of the 34 miRs, 12 were known to be temporally regulated in embryonic nerve cells. In summary, in the absence of MARCH-7 a new signalling pathway is unmasked that involves Nanog expression in the T cell lineage. This is the first demonstration that T cells retain responsiveness to a LIF/Nanog axis and this axis is linked to MARCH-7.


In software-intensive systems, technical debt is a metaphor encompassing design and implementation constructs that are used as expedients in the short term, but that hinder future maintainability and evolvability. Architectural technical debt, in turn, adopts such concept by considering sub-optimal architectural design and implementation choices that bring short-term benefits to the cost of the long-term gradual deterioration of the quality of the software architecture. Architectural technical debt is an active field of research. Nevertheless, how to accurately identify and manage architectural technical debt is still an open question. Our research aims to fill this gap. In particular, our goal is to: (i) consolidate the existing knowledge of architectural technical debt identification and its management in practice, (ii) conceive novel identification and management approaches built upon the existing state of the art techniques and industrial needs, and (iii) provide empirical evidence of architectural technical debt phenomena and assess the viability of the conceived approaches. As a result, we envision a sound methodology aimed to support software architects in the identification and management of architectural technical debt throughout the software development process.


This study examines the attitudes of Thai hosts towards Western volunteer tourists who were on volunteer vacation at the Home and Life orphanage. An interpretive paradigm utilising a combination of qualitative data collection methods (semi-structured, in-depth interviews and participant observation) was conducted with twenty resident members of Thai Muang sub-district who acted as the host of the volunteer tourists. The analysis of the data revealed that all respondents portrayed positive attitudes towards volunteer tourists, based upon two main factors: the volunteer tourists' conduct and performance; and the perceived benefits they gained from the work of these tourists. The opportunity for the local children to learn English with English native speakers was cited as the most significant benefit. However, the respondents also had concerns about some aspects of the volunteer tourists' behaviour and perceived under-performance, which was found to be mainly the result of cultural differences. In addition, it was found that there are mixed views regarding the volunteer tourists: some respondents perceived them as special type of tourist, whereas some viewed them as being non-tourists.


The photoinitiated intramolecular hydroetherification of alkenols has been used to form C-O bonds, but the intermolecular hydroetherification of alkenes with alcohols remains an unsolved challenge. We herein report the visible-light-promoted 2-deoxyglycosylation of alcohols with glycals. The glycosylation reaction was completed within 2 min in a high quantum yield (φ = 28.6). This method was suitable for a wide array of substrates and displayed good reaction yields and excellent stereoselectivity. The value of this protocol was further demonstrated by the iterative synthesis of 2-deoxyglycans with α-2-deoxyglycosidic linkages up to a 20-mer in length and digoxin with β-2-deoxyglycosidic linkages. Mechanistic studies indicated that this reaction involved a glycosyl radical cation intermediate and a photoinitiated chain process.


Disease recurrence at either primary or metastatic tumor sites arising from dormant tumors is largely responsible for the morbidity and mortality of many cancers. Although cellular quiescence has been proposed as a mechanism of dormancy, the nature of the growth arrest that allows tumor cells to re-emerge months or years after treatment has never been directly determined. The current work was designed to examine the hypothesis that the senescence induced by cancer chemotherapeutic drugs could be reversible, with implications for tumor dormancy and disease recurrence. Studies were performed using etoposide in models of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Exposure to etoposide at sublethal concentrations resulted in growth arrest accompanied by the induction of senescence and autophagy. Growth arrest was transient in that proliferative recovery was evident by day 7 post-etoposide exposure. Analysis of senescence based on β-galactosidase activity demonstrated that the restoration of proliferative capacity coincided with a decline in the extent of senescence. Real-time live microscopy demonstrated heterogeneous fates of senescent cells, where the bulk of the cell population remaining in a state of stasis, a subset of cells undergoing apoptosis, and a fraction of the large, flattened, and polyploid cells spontaneously entering into mitosis. Neither genetic nor pharmacological inhibition of autophagy influenced the senescence response to etoposide, the eventual proliferative recovery, or sensitivity to etoposide. These findings indicate that the induction and resolution of senescence is independent of the accompanying autophagy, and that the autophagy induced by etoposide is non-cytoprotective in function. These observations suggest that therapy-induced senescence may ultimately be a transient process in that at least a subpopulation of tumor cells can and will regain proliferative capacity. Consequently, therapy-induced senescence could potentially be studied as a model of tumor dormancy, and the reversibility of senescence as a model of disease recurrence. Citation Format: Tareq Saleh, Emmanuel K. Cudjoe, S Lauren Kyte, Scott C. Henderson, Lynne W. Elmore, David A. Gewirtz. Reversibility of therapy-induced senescence in non-small cell lung cancer as a model of cancer recurrence [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5470. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-5470


A fluid bed dryer with inert particles represents a very attractive alternative to other drying technologies according to the main efficiency criteria, i.e. specific water evaporation rate, specific heat consumption and specific air consumption. A high drying efficiency results from the large contact area and from the large temperature difference between the inlet and outlet air. A rapid mixing of the particles leads to nearly isothermal conditions throughout the bed. A fluid bed dryer with inert particles was used for drying of slurries. Experiments were performed in a cylindrical column 215 mm in diameter with glass spheres as inert particles. The effects of operating conditions on dryer throughput and product quality were investigated. Main performance criteria, i.e. specific water evaporation rate, specific heat consumption and specific air consumption, were quantified. Temperature profile along the bed was mapped, and nearly isothermal conditions were found due to thorough mixing of the particles. The industrial prototype with fluid bed of 0.8 m in diameter and capacity 650 kg of evaporated moisture per hour was realized on the basis of presented investigations on pilot unit. The most important results are 50% decrease in energy consumption and no-additional grinding of dried product in comparison with old tunnel drying technology.


Social service non-profit organisations (SSNPOs) have changed significantly since the introduction of 'new public management' (NPM). The need to adapt strategic management methods appropriate to non- profit activities has become a priority. The primary objective of the book is to examine the role of intellectual capital (IC) in the strategic management of SSNPOs under NPM conditions in Australia. On the basis of data gathered from in- depth interviews with senior non-profit executives across 22 Australian SSNPOs, the book argues that IC represents a valid non-profit strategic management conceptual framework. However, the interview participants' understanding of the IC concept is substantially different to that contained in the literature. Participants often perceived that the IC components were mutually independent constructs rather than interrelated components. They had a tendency, therefore, not to take a streamlined IC approach. The book highlights the different understanding in relation to the three IC components and suggests how the concept of IC can be utilised effectively in SSNPOs.


The excitation of the wakefields in an inhomogeneous plasma by a short laser pulse is investigated theoretically. A general equation for the wake excitation in transversely nonuniform plasma is derived. This equation is applied to the step-function density profile model of hollow channel laser wakefield accelerator. A more realistic model, in which the transition between the evacuated channel and the homogeneous surrounding plasma occurs over a finite radial extent, is then analyzed. It is shown that the excited channel made can interact resonantly with the plasma electrons inside the channel wall, leading to secular growth of the electric field. This eventually results in wavebreaking and the dissipation of the accelerating mode. We introduce an effective quality factor Q for the hollow channel laser wakefield geometry. This resonance limits the number of electron bunches that can be accelerated in the wake of single laser pulse.


The Central London Congestion Charge was introduced by Transport for London in 2003. While primarily aiming to reduce the amount of motor vehicle traffic, the scheme also has a secondary aim to reduce emissions of CO₂ and air pollutants by encouraging the use of low emission vehicles. Over the ten years the Congestion Charge has been in place there have been discounts in place for vehicles deemed to be exhibit best practice on emissions based on defined criteria. At the time of the introduction of the scheme a full discount – the Alternative Fuel Discount (AFD) - on the charge was made available for all vehicles powered by alternative fuels, i.e. fuels other than diesel or petrol. Over the following seven years the number of alternatively fuelled vehicles observed in the zone rose and, given advancements in vehicle technology and emissions performance, the discount was reviewed in 2010. This review concluded that in order to continue to promote use of only the lowest-emitting vehicles, the AFD should be replaced with a new Greener Vehicle Discount (GVD). The GVD, introduced in January 2011, moved to a technology-neutral approach by setting strict standards for emissions of CO₂ and air pollutants which vehicles are required to meet in order to qualify. Monitoring of the impacts of the GVD showed that it was successful in its aim of increasing the number of low emission vehicles using the zone, and that the rate of uptake of low emission vehicles was faster than the background trend amongst the general vehicle parc. The responsiveness to the discount was measured, and the elasticity of demand for cars claiming GVD estimated to be -0.42, showing that the discount was an effective tool for promoting uptake of low emission vehicles. The rate of uptake of vehicles meeting the GVD standards, along with the ever faster rate of improvements in emissions performance of vehicles, triggered another review of the discount policy in 2012. Transport for London proposed the replacement of the GVD with a new Ultra Low Emission Discount (ULED), with even stricter emissions criteria. Pending the results of a public consultation which closed in February 2013, the ULED could be introduced in summer 2013. Provision of a discount on the Congestion Charge to encourage use of low emission vehicles has proved to be an effective policy. Through the phased implementation of stricter emissions criteria for these discounts, Transport for London has used this tool effectively over the past decade. This has realised the twin aims of encouraging acceleration in the development of low emission technologies and achieving increased uptake of vehicles deemed to exhibit best practice on emissions.


The objective of our study was to investigate factors associated with virological failure in 100 consecutive HIV-1 infected Vietnamese adults who initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART) from June 2007 to June 2008. Data were collected from medical records, and a structured questionnaire was used in individual interviews to investigate factors associated with adherence to ART. Plasma HIV viral load was measured at the time of the interview. The median age was 35 years, 35% were women and heterosexual intercourse was the most common mode of HIV transmission (61 %). After a median of 14 months since starting ART, 23% had detectable HIV-1 viral load (≥400 copies/mL). Patients who had developed a World Health Organization (WHO) clinical stage 4 condition at the time of initiation of ART were more likely to experience virological failure than those in stages 1-3, odds ratio (OR): 5.20 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.34-20.11), P = 0.017. Patients who reported that their health status was evaluated by a physician at each visit were less likely to experience virological failure, OR: 0.02 (95% CI 0.00-0.24), P = 0.002.


A postal survey was conducted to gain information on the use of policies on oral intake, selection of mothers and type of intake given during established labour by all maternity units in England and Wales. A response rate of 91.6% (351 out of 383) was achieved; 79.5% of units had a written policy for oral intake, 96.4% of units allowed mothers some form of oral intake and 68.3% of these units selected mothers according to risk categories. Of the 268 units allowing oral intake, 67.2% gave drink only and 32.8% drink and food. Of those allowing food, all but 13.6% had a selection policy. Of the 85 units not selecting mothers, 78.8% gave water only; the remaining 21.2% gave water and other drink or food. This survey demonstrates a wide variation in policies for oral intake during labour.


This study investigated whether a water-handling hygiene education programme could improve the health-related microbiological quality of container water stored and used in households in a dense urban settlement in the Free State Province. Previous studies in the area indicated that stored container water became contaminated during the process of fetching from communal standpipes and then storing and handling the water at home, which exposed the study population to a potential risk of microbiological infection. A water-hygiene education programme was implemented together with a health-related microbiological water quality assessment programme. Members of selected households participated in a series of domestic water-handling hygiene education training sessions over a period of eight months and the quality of their stored water monitored for improvement in tandem over the same period. The results were compared to those of similar tests done during previous studies in the same area. Turbidity, heterotrophic bacteria numbers and total coliform bacteria were used as indicators of general microbial water quality while E. coli bacteria were used to indicate faecal pollution. While the results generally reflected significant improvements for all the indicators from the previous studies, a potential risk of infection was still indicated for consumers. Based on education programme attendance profile, the study sample was divided into frequent, intermittent and never groups. No significant changes were found in water quality between the three groups, even though the frequent group attended most of the training sessions. This implies that the programme did not have a particular influence on any one group. Container-stored water was still being contaminated in the domestic environment despite the water-handling hygiene education programme. An improved hygiene-education programme appears to be needed to change deep-rooted inherent behaviours such as hand- washing prior to water handling as well as proper protection of container-stored water from environmental contamination.


A novel, facile amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide detection method was developed based on an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) dye using a modified amyloid fibrillization-promoting peptide (AFPP) probe. The AFPP portion of the probe plays a role in accelerating Aβ fibrillization, and the AIE portion of the probe plays a role in signal emission. Since the probe molecules were uniformly dispersed in buffer solution without Aβ, the fluorescent intensity was weak. While Aβ was added to the probe solution, the aggregation of Aβ was promoted and the fluorescence was enhanced within 3 hrs. The limit of detection with this method is 4.2 nM. The limit of detection value is insufficient for the quantification of Aβ found in bodily fluids; however, the present method has the advantage of a simple "add-and-measure" procedure without the need for a high level of laboratory skills and sophisticated equipment.


The efficiency of two different types of onsite leachates and simulated leachates, the latter containing endocrine disruptor bisphenol A and refractory humic acid as organic constituents with NaCl and NH4Cl electrolytes, was examined by an electrochemical treatment method. The mechanisms for the removal of organic substances and ammonium ions are discussed based on the analyses of total organic carbon (TOC), nitrogen compounds, and evolved gas. The results suggested that, for the removal of ammonium ions, indirect oxidation by active chlorines is an important process during electrochemical treatment. The degradation of organic substances with chloride-containing leachate is a two-step mechanism consisting of (1) indirect oxidation of active chlorines and (2) cathodic reduction as a result of methane formation, which was proved to be an important process. This two-step mechanism in the electrochemical treatment method was found to be more effective than chlorination or ozonation treatment. For leachate containing a low concentration of chloride ions, direct oxidation by an anodic surface was also important for the degradation of the organic substances during electrochemical treatment. In particular, assimilable organic substances are preferentially degraded by direct oxidation over ammonium ions. In addition, some reactive compounds, such as bisphenol A and p-nitrosodimethylaniline (RNO), might be converted by the oxidizability of chloramines.


The optimal pricing policy of a monopolistic firm facing random demand and maximizing its e '.pecteI profit over a period of several stages is considered. The demand function is assumed to he time invarg(sn but unknown. A special case when the cost is certain and the demand is a linear function of the price is investigated. This is formulated as a stochastic control problem. is is found that when both the intercept and slope of the demand function are unknown, the Optimal pricing policy does not correspond to optimal prices for each individual stage. Approximate methods are used to find the optimal policies Simulation results are gtrcn.


Rationale High resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is a more sensitive tool for detecting early cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease than either spirometry or plain radiography, but its relationship to other measures of lung function has not been established in young children. Objectives 1) To assess whether the lung clearance index (LCI) derived from multiple breath inert-gas washout (MBW) is as effective as HRCT in identifying pulmonary abnormalities; and 2) explore the relationships between abnormalities detected by HRCT and by spirometry, plethysmography and MBW (collectively, LFTs) in young children with CF. Methods Children with CF underwent LFTs and volumetric HRCT on the same day. Healthy age-matched controls underwent identical LFTs without HRCT. Scans were anonymised, and scored using the Brody-II CT scoring system, to assess for presence and extent of bronchiectasis, airway wall thickening, mucus plugging, and parenchymal opacities. Results Assessments were undertaken in 60 children with CF (mean (SD) 7.8 (1.3) years) and 54 healthy controls (7.9 (1.2) y). Among children with CF, 84% (47/56) had abnormal LCI, 58% (27/47) abnormal plethysmographic lung volumes (FRCpleth or RV), 35% (21/60) abnormal sRaw and 47% (28/60) abnormal spirometry (FEV1 or FEF25–75); whereas HRCT scans were abnormal in 85% (51/60): median total Brody-II score: 9.5% (range 0–51%). Total CT score correlated more strongly with LCI (Spearman correlation=0.77) than with spirometry (R=−0.43) or any other marker of lung function. Of the nine children with normal LCI, five had abnormalities on HRCT, whereas five children with normal HRCT had raised LCI. Conclusions These results suggest that while LCI and HRCT have similar sensitivity to detect CF lung disease, complimentary information may be gained in individual patients.


Golgi-impregnated neurons of the human or animal central nervous system were studied with a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM). The scanning properties (optical sectioning of the specimen) offered by the CLSM and the capacity of metal granules to reflect the laser beam allow a three-dimensional reconstruction of the impregnated neurons. The volume scanned can be depicted in three different ways: (a) extended focus, i.e., a bidimensional image that contains information from all the optical sections, as if there were an extensive depth of focus; (b) a topographic representation in which the intensity of every pixel is proportional to the calculated z value (as a result, the closer the object section is to the surface, the greater the color intensity becomes); and (c) shadow representation, i.e., a pseudo-three-dimensional image. In addition, a true and complete three-dimensional reconstruction of neurons can be obtained using an extended RAM and quick elaboration (fast CPU) combined with the rotation of the reconstructed image in the different planes. High-magnification, high-numerical-aperture (NA) oil immersion objective lenses with reduced working distance may present some problems in the three-dimensional reconstruction of large neurons with extensive and spreading dendritic branches. This limitation may be overcome by using a low-magnification (10 x) oil immersion lens.


Introduction: Our study aimed to compare the incidence and intensity of postoperative pain after endodontic instrumentation with reciprocating and rotary systems. Methods and Materials: An electronic literature search was performed with MEDLINE via PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases from January 2008 to June 2020. Two high-impact endodontic journals were also hand searched. The selection criteria were: 1) Population; patients requiring endodontic treatment (primary or secondary), 2) Intervention and Comparison; endodontic instrumentation with reciprocating versus rotary systems, and 3) Outcome; postoperative pain. We extrapolated all included research data and reported them as dichotomized ordinal variables to evaluate the incidence of pain and continuous variables to assess pain intensity. Standardized mean difference (SMD) was calculated with Inverse Variance method for pain intensity; the incidence of postoperative pain was calculated using relative risk (RR) with the Mantel-Haenszel method. Random-effects model and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used for all meta-analyses. The I2 statistic was used to evaluate the statistical heterogeneity among studies (P<0.05). Results: Twenty-one articles were selected and 17 of them were included in the meta-analysis for the evaluation of postoperative pain in the first 24 h. The meta-analysis was performed in two steps: a) all studies were included; b) subsequently studies with preoperative pain were excluded. A significant difference was observed in the intensity of postoperative pain; with rotary system having more favorable in both steps [a) SMD: 0.27; 95% CI: 0.13 to 0.41; P=0.0002; b) SMD: 0.37; 95% CI: 0.15 to 0.58; P=0.0010]. There was no significant difference in the incidence of pain, and the incidence of mild, moderate and severe pain (P>0.05). Conclusion: The meta-analysis results revealed that rotary system were the instrument of choice as they had lower intensity of postoperative pain. Further controlled studies are advocated to provide clarification for intensity/incidence of postoperative pain in endodontic treatment with mechanized instruments.


Abstract A two-dimensional mesoscale model including a detailed representation of the planetary boundary layer, the soil and the vegetation is developed. A sea breeze over flat terrain is simulated, thereby confirming the ability of the model to reproduce the known properties of this mesoscale phenomenon. The atmospheric response to soil and vegetation inhomogeneities is then examined with no synoptic flow over flat terrain. The results reveal the large influence of soil texture on surface moisture availability. The transition zone between bare soil and vegetation appears to be a preferred location for the initiation of moist convection. A vegetation canopy over very dry or very wet surfaces reduces the spread between sensible and latent heat fluxes.


Treatment with sodium metaperiodate caused oxidation of carbohydrate residues in acid alpha-glucosidase (gamma-amylase). Efficiency of the oxidation was monitored by a decrease in specific binding of alpha-glucosidase with concanavaline A-Sepharose. The degree of oxidation reached 96% in a medium containing 0,011 M NaIO4, pH 5.5, within 120 min. The residual activity of oxidized alpha-glucosidase was about 77%. The rate of oxidation and residual enzymatic activity were shown to depend also on concentration of sodium metaperiodate and duration of the reaction.


Pre- and postharvest factors such as genetic factors, environmental conditions during the growth of the plant and the method of starch isolation have been found to have a profound effect on the properties of root and tuber starches. The physicochemical, functional and pasting properties as well as granule morphology of starches from 40 different new cassava varieties (36 cassava mosaic disease-resistant CMD clones) and currently released cassava varieties in Nigeria (TMS 30572, 4(2) 1425, TME 1 and 82/00058) from experimental farm of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria, were investigated. Moisture content of the starches (dried) ranged between 3.59 and 11.53%, ash content was 0.03-0.49%, protein content 0.23–0.70%, sugar content 0.51–3.46% and starch content 60.34–86.79%. Amylose and dry matter contents were 15.24–30.20% and 88.47– 96.41% respectively. The water absorption capacity ranged from 86.83 to 127.54%, while solubility and swelling power (at 85 o C) were 1.03–2.10% and 9.04–16.90% respectively. Starch damage ranged between 0.39 and 2.10%, dispersibility was 81.5–89.5% and least gelation concentration 2.00–4.67%. The pH of the starches ranged from 4.06 to 9.22. The starches had peak viscosity between 261.17 and 593.17 RVU, peak time ranged from 3.36 to 4.25 minutes and pasting temperature ranged between 63.75 and 65.65 o C. Set back viscosity ranged from 19.04 to 79.92 RVU and breakdown viscosity from 141.21 to 328.96 RVU. The final viscosity of the starches ranged between 141.21 and 244.84 RVU. The granule size as viewed under microscope ranged from 12.5 to 23.83 µm with round shapes. There were significant varietal differences in all the physicochemical properties of the starches except the amylose content. Significant varietal differences (p 0.05) in the granule size of the starches. The study revealed that the significant varietal differences in the properties of the starches from the different CMD resistant varieties imply that the starches have potentials for a wide end use.


__Abstract__

Surgical trauma to the peritoneum is inevitable during abdominal surgery,
whether performed by laparoscopy or laparotomy. Obviously, entering the
abdominal cavity is an essential prerequisite in order to be able to perform
any kind of surgical intervention intra-abdominally. However, among surgeons
there is only little awareness of the consequences of this essential part of an
abdominal procedure.
Postoperative adhesions, responsible for an increased risk of small bowel
obstruction, infertility, chronic abdominal pain and considerable difficulties at
re-operations, are often taken for granted whereas attempts to prevent them
are not being considered. In case of oncological abdominal surgery the traumatised
peritoneum may facilitate outgrowth of spilled tumour cells, inducing peritoneal
carcinomatosis and hence a worsened outcome for the patient. Increasing
the awareness of sequelae of surgical trauma to the peritoneum hopefully
leads to a reduction ofthe amount of peritoneal damage during surgery and a
decrease in postoperative morbidity for the patient.


This study proposes eight stages according to the main discernible changes recorded throughout the embryonic development of Jenynsia multidentata. The development of morphological embryo structures, pigmentation, and changes in tissues connecting mother and embryo were included in the stage characterization. From the fertilized egg (Stage 1), an embryo reaches the intermediary stages when presenting yolk syncytial layer (Stage 2), initial pigmentation of the outer layers of the retina and dorsal region of the head (Stage 3), and the sprouting of the caudal (Stage 4), dorsal and anal fins (Stage 5). During the later stages, the ovarian folds enter the gills, and the body pigmentation becomes more intense (Stage 6), the body becomes elongated (Stage 7), and there is a greater intensity in body pigmentation and increased muscle mass (Stage 8). The dry weight of the batches varied between 0.6 ± 0.3 mg (Stage 3) to 54.6 ± 19.7 mg (Stage 8), but the dry weight of the maternal-embryonic connecting tissues remained almost constant. After controlling the effect of those reproductive tissues, the gain in dry weight of the batches throughout development increased exponentially from Stage 6, reflecting the increase in size and weight of the embryos due to matrotrophy.


Evolocumab (Repatha) for patients with hypercholesterolemia whose condition has not been controlled by statins and other therapies; trifluridine/tipiracil (Lonsurf) for metastatic colorectal cancer; and blood coagulation factor VIII (Nuwiq) for adults and children with hemophilia A.


Conventional video inpainting is neither object-oriented nor occlusion-aware, making it liable to obvious artifacts when large occluded object regions are inpainted. This paper presents occlusion-aware video object inpainting, which recovers both the complete shape and appearance for occluded objects in videos given their visible mask segmentation.To facilitate this new research, we construct the first large-scale video object inpainting benchmark YouTube-VOI to provide realistic occlusion scenarios with both occluded and visible object masks available. Our technical contribution VOIN jointly performs video object shape completion and occluded texture generation. In particular, the shape completion module models long-range object coherence while the flow completion module recovers accurate flow with sharp motion boundary, for propagating temporally-consistent texture to the same moving object across frames. For more realistic results, VOIN is optimized using both T-PatchGAN and a new spatio-temporal attention-based multi-class discriminator.Finally, we compare VOIN and strong baselines on YouTube-VOI. Experimental results clearly demonstrate the efficacy of our method including inpainting complex and dynamic objects. VOIN degrades gracefully with inaccurate input visible mask.


Aim Examination of the effectiveness of STR loci in proving sibship of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian village of Orahovica and the formation of a "grey zone". Methods The probability of sibship was determined by calculating the likelihood ratio (LR) parameter for each of the 15 observed STR loci and for each of the pairs of relatives and non-relatives. Cumulative sibship index (CSI) was calculated for each of the pairs by multiplying the LR values of all 15 loci and obtained values are used as CSI limit for separating relatives from non-relatives. By creating a grey zone for local populations, an attempt was made to obtain a line of demarcation between siblings and non-siblings. Results An analysis of the origin of the respondents' relatives was performed, up to the level of sibship in the third generation. The results of the CSI for pairs of relatives from the village of Orahovica showed that the highest CSI value, and therefore the sibship probability was recorded among relatives from the village of Orahovica (CSI=534211727.203;SP=99.999999812%). On the contrary, incredibly low CSI value was recorded among non-relatives,ranging from CSI=0.0000001 to 0.5261434 (SP=0.000009999% to 34.475357951%). Conclusion For the threshold value CSI=1 and for CSI=3, this method determined sibship in 100% of pairs of relatives and the absence of biological sibship in 100% of pairs of non-relatives in the village of Orahovica. The STR system is proved to be a successful method in determining sibship or absence of sibship in small local populations.


Tooth development provides a dynamic process that has recently been studied at molecular level. There has been much progress toward the understanding of epithelial-mesenchymal cell signaling in tooth germ formation, morphogenesis and cell differentiation. The epithelial-mesenchym interaction is suggested to be the most important mechanism in organogenesis that stimulate mitosis and prevent apoptosis adjacent to the tissue surface. Moreover it affects cell formation and cell differentiation. Enamel knot is assumed to act as a signaling center in the tooth germ epithelial in organizing the tooth pattern as well as controlling the tooth growth. The genes involved in this mechanism are p21, Fgf-4, Shh, Bmp-2, bmp-4, Msx-1 and Lef-1 which are expressed in the enamel knot during the bud stage and cap stage. At the further step of differentiation, epithelial ameloblast and mesenchymal odontoblast will deposit organic matrix in enamel and dentin. This article reviews the molecular morphogenesis of tooth development.


The variable bit rate function used to support both voice transmission and high bit rate data transmission with its bit rate of more than 1 Mbit/s is widely recognized as one of the important functions for the third generation public land mobile communication systems. This paper proposes an adaptive modulation/time division multiple access (TDMA) using a space and path diversity combining for multimedia wireless communication systems with the bit rate of up to 10 Mbit/s in microcellular environments. To compensate for the maximum delay time of one symbol duration, this paper proposes a new space and path diversity combining technique that resolves and combines the first and delayed paths. In the proposed adaptive modulation system, the modulation level and symbol rate are controlled according to the signal to distortion power ratio after diversity combining to maximize the average bit rate with satisfying a certain BER. Computer simulation confirms that the proposed scheme can achieve 10 Mbit/s transmission in microcellular environments with its delay spread of up to 250 ns.


Background. Hypercholesterolemia after organ transplantation is common. Previously, we observed higher serum total cholesterol (TC) concentrations in our pediatric kidney than liver or heart transplant recipients. To find an explanation to the observed difference, our kidney recipients' cholesterol synthesis and absorption efficiency was compared to those of liver and heart recipients. Methods. Serum noncholesterol sterol ratios (10 2 X mmol to the mol of TC, surrogate estimates of hepatic cholesterol synthesis and intestinal absorption) were studied in 50 pediatric kidney, 25 liver and 12 heart transplant recipients without diabetes or cholestasis, and in 29 controls. Results. The kidney recipients had lower Δ 8 -cholestenol (P=0.031), similar lathosterol and higher desmosterol ratios (markers of cholesterol synthesis) (P=0.020), and similar campesterol and sitosterol ratios (markers of cholesterol absorption) when compared to the controls. The liver recipients had lower campesterol ratios than the kidney recipients and controls (P=0.002). Glomerular filtration rates were not associated with the ratios of noncholesterol sterols. Multivariate analysis showed markers of cholesterol synthesis to be lower and absorption to be higher in the kidney than the liver or the heart transplant recipients. Weight-adjusted dosages of immunosuppressive agents were associated with some ratios of noncholesterol sterols and cholestanol though these varied between the transplant recipient groups. Conclusions. Serum TC concentration in kidney recipients was not significantly associated with absorption efficiency or synthesis of cholesterol, though kidney transplantation was associated with low synthesis and high absorption efficiency of cholesterol. Immunosuppressive therapy with cyclosporine and methylprednisolone may modulate absorption efficiency and synthesis of cholesterol.


The critical development problem in Southern Africa is still the slow rate of economic growth of the indigenous economies."" The question is, why has the level of organization of economic activity in traditional agriculture, the major depository of African capital and labour, remained relatively unaffected by technological progress and market demand in the modern economy? The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of temporary labour migration on the economic organization of the indigenous economy in Southern Africa. In doing so, I shall point out that temporary labour migration has not had much of a modernizing effect on the indigenous economies, wage employment is mainly a means of attaining funds for investment in village activities and innovation can be effectively introduced into the indigenous economy only if it is attractive to the present property holders and has the endorsement of the community's leaders.


In this work we consider the problem of semi-active damping optimization of mechanical systems with fixed damper positions. Our goal is to compute a damping that is locally optimal with respect to the $\mathcal{H}_\infty$-norm of the transfer function from the exogenous inputs to the performance outputs. We make use of a new greedy method for computing the $\mathcal{H}_\infty$-norm of a transfer function based on rational interpolation. In this paper, this approach is adapted to parameter-dependent transfer functions. The interpolation leads to parametric reduced-order models that can be optimized more efficiently. At the optimizers we then take new interpolation points to refine the reduced-order model and to obtain updated optimizers. In our numerical examples we show that this approach normally converges fast and thus can highly accelerate the optimization procedure. Another contribution of this work are heuristics for choosing initial interpolation points.


Focal or diffuse infiltration of lymphoid cells in auto-immune thyroiditis destroys the parenchyma. In the diffuse form (Hashimoto's disease), the clinical picture is characterized by fatigue and thyroid enlargement. The diagnosis is settled by cytology. All patients must be treated with thyroid hormones to avoid myxoedema. Loss of immunological tolerance and cytotoxic immune reactions is discussed.


According to Law of 2002 No. 19, copyright is an exclusive right of creator given by the government of Indonesia which contains high economical value due to a person's intellectual creation. This means that the government should give more serious attention to appreciate the creators of music or songs. The facts in society shows that there are many infringements of copyright and it has reached the dangerous level, so that it can disturb the social structure especially on the creativity of creation. These phenomena can be found in the illegal downloading of ring back tones or MP3 and MP4 files from internet, the use of songs in cafe, private radio and other entertainment places that increases the demands of music and songs. Problems occur when the system royalty payment to the copyright holder is not yet clear. Based on the background above, the research aims at finding out how effective royalty payment by the user of music and songs in Cafe, private radio and mobile phone shops is, how the mechanism of the payment between users and copyright holder in performing arts is and what factors that influence the effectiveness of royalty payment are. The research was conducted in Yogyakarta and Jakarta. The objects of the research are Geronimo private radio, PRSSNI, Bosche VVIP Club, Nadia Seluler and Magetan Seluler, cellular phone shops, all in Yogyakarta and KCL Foundation in Jakarta. This is a juridical and sociological research; the methods of this research are analytical, descriptive and evaluative. Data is gathered through questionnaire and interview; it is, then, analyzed using descriptive and evaluative method. The primary and secondary data were analyzed simultaneously and then summarized using inductive logic. The result of this research shows that respondents have not yet fulfilled their obligation to pay royalty of performing rights. Some respondents have an awareness to fulfill their obligation i.e. Bosche VVIP Club while the rests do it unserious. Geronimo private radio fulfills the obligation because it is part of the regulation in professional organization of PRSSNI in which Geronimo becomes a member. There are two respondents who do not fulfill their obligation those are the cellular phone shops, Nadia seluler and Magetan Seluler. The royalty payment is done and arranged by appointed representative like KCL in Jakarta. Their duty is to collect and calculate the amount of royalty based on the rights given by copyright holder. The factor that influences the respondents to fulfill the obligation is the respondent's awareness for paying royalty for every creation that they use, even though the respondent's awareness is only to fulfill the rules of its professional organization (Geronimo private radio). There are also respondents with low awareness of copyright that never pay royalty for the creation that they use commercially.Key word: Copyright, Performing Rights, Royalty


One-dimension InAlO3(ZnO)m superlattice nanowires were successfully synthesized via chemical vapor deposition. Transmission electron microscopy measurements reveal that the nanowires have a periodic layered structure along the ⟨0001⟩ direction. The photoluminescence properties of InAlO3(ZnO)m superlattice nanowires are studied for the first time. The near-band-edge emissions exhibit an obvious red shift due to the formation of the localized tail states. The two peaks centered at 3.348 eV and 3.299 eV indicate a lever phenomenon at the low-temperature region. A new luminescence mechanism is proposed, combined with the special energy band structure of InAlO3(ZnO)m.


Platelet free calcium concentrations ([Ca2+]i) were measured with Fura-2 to elucidate the intracellular calcium kinetics in patients with renal disease. There were no significant differences of the resting [Ca2+]i among the control subjects (C) (n = 12), patients with chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN) (n = 8), and patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) (n = 12). In all groups, platelets [Ca2+]i were significantly increased by agonists (thrombin, adenosine diphosphate) compared with their respective basal level. Thrombin-induced [Ca2+]i rise was significantly higher in CRF (840 +/- 265 nM) than in C (600 +/- 163) and CGN (562 +/- 137). Also adenosine diphosphate elicited similar responses. In the presence of calcium chelator in the incubation buffer, the elevation of [Ca2+]i after thrombin stimulation was statistically higher in CRF (469 +/- 85 nM) than in C (275 +/- 60) and CGN (301 +/- 41). These findings suggest that platelets of CRF were capable of increasing [Ca2+]i in response to agonists, through further mobilization of calcium from the intracellular pool rather than the elevation of transmembrane calcium influx.


Multicentric carpotarsal osteolysis syndrome (MCTO) is a rare autosomal dominant skeletal dysplasia usually presenting in early childhood with variable phenotypic features and course. Clinical manifestations comprise aggressive osteolysis of the carpal and tarsal bones in particular, an often progressive nephropathy leading to end-stage renal disease, craniofacial anomalies and mental impairment. Recently, heterozygous missense mutations in the V-maf musculoaponeurotic fibrosarcoma oncogene homolog B (avian) (MAFB) gene have been causally related to MCTO patients in 13 unrelated families investigated. Contrary to these findings suggesting complete penetrance, in the present study, we identified a novel missense MAFB variant present not only in the patient, but also in his unaffected mother, sister and maternal grandmother. This observation demonstrates an incomplete penetrance for some MAFB mutations, thereby suggesting that modifier genes, epigenetic mechanisms or environmental factors may modulate the MCTO phenotype. This should be considered in diagnosis and genetic counseling.


Laser fault injection in integrated circuits is a powerful information leakage technique due to its high precision, timing accuracy and repeatability. Countermeasures to these attacks have been studied extensively. However, with most current design flows, security tests against these attacks can only be realized after chip fabrication. Restarting the complete silicon design cycle in order to address these vulnerabilities is thus both time-consuming and costly. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes an open-source benchmark suite that allows chip designers to simulate laser attacks, and evaluate the security of their designs, both hardware-based and software-based, against laser fault injection early on during design time. The proposed benchmark suite consists of a tool that automatically integrates hardware-based spatial, temporal and hybrid redundancy techniques into a target design. With the tools used in this work, we demonstrate how the attacks can be simulated on a Verilog simulator, and run on an FPGA with a design equipped with hardware-based redundancy techniques without manual modifications. This work consists of four attacks, and four hardware-based redundancy techniques. The attacks and defenses together that the benchmark suite provides will automate the entire early design evaluation flow against laser fault injection attacks.


Introduction: The objective of the study was the language adaptation and verification of psychometric properties of the Slovak version of the EAT10® questionnaire. Methods: The original English version of the questionnaire was translated into the Slovak language. The research group included 136 control participants and 51 dysphagic patients. Test–retest reliability, item analysis, internal consistency, construct and clinical validity, and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis were performed to verify the psychometric properties of the Slovak EAT10®. Results: The internal consistency assessed with Cronbach's alpha is excellent (α = 0.94). Statistical analysis of the Slovak version of EAT10® showed excellent reliability (0.91, p < 0.001) in the test–retest. Through item-to-total correlation, we found out that all items significantly correlated with the overall score in EAT10®. Factor analysis proved a high construct validity. The EAT10® questionnaire was able to reveal a latent variable: a swallowing disorder, which was affecting a group of patients. The clinical validity results confirmed statistically significant differences in the mean scores of the control and dysphagic groups (z = −10.30; p < 0.001). By dividing the dysphagic group into four subgroups (Head and Neck Cancer, Extraesophageal Reflux, Iatrogenic, and Neurological) there were nonsignificant differences in the mean scores of the subgroups. The cut-off value for the Slovak EAT10® is three points. Conclusion: The Slovak EAT10® is a valid and reliable tool designed for the subjective assessment of oropharyngeal dysphagia in patients.


Background: The present study was conducted to analyze the prescribing patterns and utilization of antihypertensive drugs at a tertiary care center in India. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of prescriptions of patients of essential hypertension attending outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital during the period of December 2011 to March 2012 was done. Hypertensive patients with co-morbidities were excluded from study. The data were analyzed to find out demographic characteristics of patients, number of drugs prescribed per prescription, drugs, which are commonly prescribed, antihypertensive drugs used concurrently, percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name and over all drug utilization frequency. Results: During the study period, 465 prescriptions for hypertension were analyzed. This study revealed that most of the patients were on combination of antihypertensive drugs (67.97%) while 31.18% patients received mono therapy. Among mono therapy drugs, calcium channel blockers (CCB) (31.03%) were prescribed most. Utilization of other major drug classes as mono therapy in decreasing order is angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (28.28%), diuretics (17.93%), beta-blockers (11.72%) and angiotensin receptor blockers (10.34%). Among those who were treated with drug combinations, 64.24% received 2-drug, 25.95% received 3-drug regimen and 8.54% received 4-drug regimen. In combination therapy, 2-drug combination consisting of a CCB and a diuretic was most commonly (24.14%) prescribed. Conclusions: This study represents the current prescribing patterns for anti-hypertensive drugs and provides the baseline data for similar studies in future, as patterns in prescribing antihypertensive drugs keep changing.


An ultrasound probe holder is designed for use in the prostate brachytherapy procedure. The holder comprises a passive-jointed stabilizer that can be used to position, manipulate and lock in place the ultrasound probe, and a tracker mechanism to provide the position and orientation of the probe in 3D space. The information obtained from the integrated stabilizer-tracker mechanism can be utilized in image-guided robot-assisted prostate brachytherapy procedures. Performance tests show that the tracker assembly can acquire the position and orientation of the ultrasound probe with an average displacement accuracy of 0.66 mm and roll, pitch and yaw angular accuracies of 0.24deg, 0.38deg and 0.19deg, respectively.


The effect of trace boron in steels, especially the influence of boron on microstructure and properties of low carbon bainitic steels were summarized. It was pointed out that the hardenability of boron steels is determined by non-equilibrium boron segregation on grain boundaries. The synergistic effect of boron with other elements can enhance the boron effect. The abnormal boron segregation on the moving new grain boundaries is the basic reason of the boron retarding the recrystallization of deformed austenite, the addition of copper and niobium will increase this effect. The addition of boron accelerates the strain induced niobium carbonitride precipitation, and trace boron can refine the microstructure and improve the mechanical properties of HAZ. The mechanisms of boron effect were also expounded preliminarily in this paper.


After pulsed peripheral olfactory impulses it is possible, under suitable testing conditions, for specific sensory potentials to be read from the surface of the skull and, after repetitions, added up (olfactorially evoked cortical potentials). Typically, there developes a so-called twin-potential containing the equivalents of the electrical activites of the nervus trigeminus and the nervus olfactorius in two peaks of the cortex equivalents. In an objective manner, in other words without intentional or vegetative influence by the test person, it is possible by the weakening or lack of one or the other or both part-potentials to obtain information about the functioning of the olfactory sense. Typical examples will be presented.


Background: We aimed to provide a representation of the global burden of stroke. Methods: All cases of stroke were prospectively identified through the population-based registry of Dijon, France (1987–2012). Attack rates and mortality rates (defined as stroke leading to death within 30 days) were standardized to the European standard. Sex differences and temporal trends were evaluated by calculating rate ratios (RRs). Results: In all, 5,285 stroke cases (52.7% women) were recorded. The standardized attack rate was 98.2/100,000/year and the mortality rate was 12/100,000/year, and both were lower in women than in men (RR 0.67, p < 0.001, and RR 0.70, p < 0.001, respectively). Attack rates increased over time (RR 1.016; 95% CI 1.013–1.020) irrespective of the stroke subtype. In contrast, mortality rates declined (RR 0.985; 95% CI 0.976–0.995) with decreasing rates for ischemic stroke but no change for intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage. The sex gap in both attack and mortality rates remained stable. Between the first (1987–1991) and the last (2007–2012) study periods, the annual number of stroke patients who survived beyond 30 days rose by 55%, Conclusions: Increasing attack rates and decreasing mortality have led to a rise in the number of stroke survivors in the population, thus indicating a growing need for the implementation of dedicated services.