AT THE end of the last century it was generally accepted that the newborn infant of a tuberculous mother was doomed to inherit the malady. However, by the first quarter of the present century a changing attitude became apparent, largely due to the investigations of French clinicians. In a series of papers Debre and LeLong 1 in 1925 described their procedures, clinical observations and experimental findings. The newborn were separated from their mothers at birth and were protected from postnatal contacts over a prolonged period. Those that died (15 per cent of the series) were autopsied. Two hundred guinea pigs were inoculated with fragments of viscera (particularly the liver, spleen, mesenteric nodes, bone marrow) to determine the presence of tubercle bacilli, and the findings were negative. From their studies these authors concluded that death in the early months did not result from hereditary and constitutional factors but rather from artificial


The renal clearance of sodium iothalamate I125 after a single intravenous dose of 10 to 25 µCi was calculated from the plasma disappearance curve. The endogenous creatinine clearance was compared with these results. Thirty-eight studies in 35 pediatric patients with all levels of renal function were performed. Eight studies were excluded because of grossly incomplete urine collection, and 5 studies were not analyzed further because of very low glomerular filtration rate. The correlation between both methods in the 21 studies was good (Ccreat = 0.91 x Csi + 4.9, r = 0.91). It was significantly better in the nine patients with a serum creatinine of 0.7 mg/100 ml or more (Ccreat = 1.01 x Csi — 1.2, r = 0.97) than in the 16 patients with a serum creatinine of 0.6 mg/100 ml or less (Ccreat = 0.82 x Csi + 11.5, r = 0.84). In the latter group, the accuracy of the serum creatinine determination was often poor, and even variations of ± 0.1 mg/100 ml could lead to a gross error in the calculation of the clearance.
 In four patients, the clearance was obtained by external counting and agreed well with the clearance calculated from the plasma samples.
 The single injection clearance is especially indicated in children (1) when no adequate urine collection is obtainable, (2) at low serum creatinine concentrations, and (3) in outpatients.


BACKGROUND
Cancer pain is difficult to treat, often requiring a multimodal approach. While medication management remains the mainstay for the treatment of cancer pain, medications are often associated with undesired side effects. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) provides a potential adjunctive method for treating cancer pain with minimal side effects.

OBJECTIVE
Few studies have been performed evaluating the efficacy of TENS on cancer pain. We sought to examine the usefulness of TENS on all cancer patients and to specifically look at the use of TENS as a goal-directed therapy to improve functionality.

DESIGN
Retrospective cohort study.

METHODS
Since 2008, patients with chronic cancer pain and on multimodal pain regimens were trialed with TENS. Those patients who showed an improvement in pain symptoms or severity were educated about and provided with a TENS unit for use at home. Pain symptoms and scores were monitored with the visual analog scale (VAS), the numerical rating pain (NRP) scale, and Short-Form McGill Questionnaire at the start of TENS treatment and at 2 months follow-up.

RESULTS
TENS proved beneficial in 69.7% of patients over the course of 2 months. In TENS responsive patients, VAS scores decreased by 9.8 on a 0-100 mm scale (P < 0.001), and NRP scores decreased by 0.8 on a 1-10 scale (P < 0.001).

LIMITATIONS
Lack of placebo and lack of blinding of physician and patient.

CONCLUSIONS
TENS provides a beneficial adjunct for the treatment of cancer pain, especially when utilized as a goal-directed therapy.


Allostery is one of the most important regulatory mechanisms of cellular processes, but the detailed dynamic events that underlie allosteric conformational transitions remain largely unknown. CheY is a response regulator protein that exhibits allosteric transitions upon phosphorylation, and recent NMR experiments suggested that it does not follow the conventional two-state switching mechanism. In this work, using μs-MD simulations and various recently developed analysis techniques, we have identified the structural coupling network responsible for allosteric communication. We will further discuss the μs~ms switching mechanism of the leading residues by characterizing the relevant free energy landscape and comparing the results to state-of-the-art NMR studies. representative effects of these on


A simplified form of the reactor kinetics equations is developed which is suitable for application of optimization techniques. The mechanization of the simplified reactor kinetics equations uses instruments already developed. Optimization techniques are applied to a desired start-up program of constant period followed by operation at constant power. The optimum controller which results is relatively simple, requiring two amplifiers with time varying gains. Numerical results are presented.


This paper deals with the simulation of CNC machine tools. The main focus is to develop a Case Study for a new virtual concept of Horizontal CNC Machine Tool. A virtual Machine Tool uses the main properties of a real machine. The goal is to simulate the functionality of the machine in virtual phases. This method is intended for complex and very expensive machines like Milling and Boring Machine Tools with numerous accessories. The current trend is to sell Machine Tools and equipment with complete technology of machining. Customers prefer a virtual Case Study of CNC technology. The idea of virtual prototyping is realized if the behaviour of the virtual Machine Tool is in compliance with real machine.


Large multidomain proteins occur in different conformational states to function. Detection and monitoring of these different structural states are of crucial interest for understanding the mechanics of proteins. Using computational methods, we show that different protein conformational states of the two-domain 70 kDa human Heat-shock protein (hHsp70), with similar vibrational density of states, lead to remarkably different far-IR spectra at acoustical frequencies (ν < 300 GHz). We found that the slow damped motions of the positively charged residues of hHsp70 contribute the most to collective IR active modes at low frequencies (ν < 300 GHz). We predicted that different structural states and functional modes of large proteins, such as hHsp70, might be detected in the sub-THz frequency range by single-molecule spectroscopy similar to the recent extraordinary acoustic Raman spectroscopy (WheatonS.; Nat. Photonics2015, 9, 68−72).


Background Smoking tobacco is a significant health problem for humankind. Cigarettes could affect people's life from socioeconomic and psychosomatic aspects. The oral cavity is the first orifice through which cigarette smoke enters the body. Thus, it is directly exposed to cigarettes and their harmful ingredients. This study aimed to determine the effects of smoking cessation on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). Methods The subjects in the present observational study consisted of individuals visiting a specialized smoking cessation clinic in Tehran, Iran, to give up their smoking habit. After documentation of the subjects' demographic data, the questionnaire [Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14)] was completed twice in three months (before giving up smoking and three months after initiating the program to quit smoking). Data analysis was performed using Sig. (2-tailed), paired t-test, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) at a confidence interval (CI) of 95%. Findings Thirty-one subjects (29 men, 2 women) participated in this study. The mean age of the subjects was 37.03 ± 11.30 years. Although OHRQoL scores were increasing as to some parameters, including food tastes, anxiety, and a feeling of shame in the subjects after giving up smoking, it was not statistically significant (P > 0.050). On the other hand, the relationship between the quality of life (QoL) (before and after stopping smoking) and age was significant (P = 0.001 before quitting and P = 0.050 after quitting). Conclusion For a better understanding of the relationship between quitting smoking and an improvement in OHRQoL, it is necessary to perform more extensive studies in this field. The present study was a pilot study, which shed some light on the relationships between these parameters.


Role mining was recently proposed to automatically find roles among user‐permission assignments using data mining technologies. However, the current studies about role mining mainly focus on how to find roles, without considering the constraints that are essentially required in role‐based access control systems. In this paper, we present a role mining algorithm with constraints, especially for the cardinality constraints. We illustrate it is essential for role mining to take cardinality constraints into account, and introduce the concepts of the cardinality constraints of roles and permissions. We further propose a role mining algorithm to generate roles based on these two kinds of cardinality constraints. The algorithm uses graph theory to model the role mining problem and maps the relation of two roles to the relation of graph elements. We set an optimization goal for role mining and employ graph optimization theory to find roles that satisfy the aforementioned cardinality constraints. We carry out the experiments to evaluate our approach. The experimental results demonstrate the rationality and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


During his trip on the Beagle, Charles Darwin wrote about the eruptions associated with the Concepcion earthquake of 1835. A later survey by Lorenzo Casertano, following the great 1960 Chilean earthquake, identified some unclear evidence of a link between eruptions and the seismic event, although some reservations were also raised. Using data available in 2006 in the Smithsonian Institution Catalogue of volcanic eruptions, Scalera revealed grounded evidence that South-American Wadati-Benioff zone earthquakes of magnitudes greater than 8.4 are associated with an increased rate of volcanic eruptions, but it was still impossible to determine a causal link between the two phenomena. An average return period of about 50 yr was deducible from the data for the time window 1800–1999. After 2006, the Smithsonian Institution's effort to improve our knowledge of this region has greatly increased the completeness of the catalogue, adding the eruptions from the 2000–2010 interval, together with 50 % more new entries in the list of Andean volcanoes. The great Chilean Maule earthquake of 27 February 2010 ( M =8.8), occurring exactly five decades after the 1960 event, provided an occasion to reanalyse this updated database. The results suggest a preferential causal eruptions-earthquake relationship, but additional future volcano-seismic events should be studied to arrive at a definitive conclusion, within the perspective of using this phenomenon for Civil Protection. The possible correlation of South American volcano-seismic events with the Markowitz oscillation of the Polar Motion is another good reason for trying to establish an integrated geodynamic explanation.


Technical skilled personnel and information systems are important for the success of contemporary firms as they face intense rivalry, globalization, and time-to-market pressures. They are an essential element that plays a critical role in an organisation's ability to sense environmental change and respond efficiently and effectively to that change. Besides the technology components of an information system and the fast pace of technological innovation, the people involved in the design, operation and maintenance are essential elements of information systems. Most of the research work on deciding whether or not to continue with legacy information systems has been centred mainly on intrinsic agility factors. Extrinsic agility factors like technical skilled personnel have largely been overlooked. But, as information systems age or in the case of highly rigid processes, extrinsic agility factors like technical skilled personnel will start playing an important role in deciding whether to prolong the life cycle of the information system. However, human skills obsolescence is a growing problem for organizations that must support legacy systems. The technical skilled staff are either ageing out or upgrading their skills to a non-procedural programming paradigm due to market demand. It is, therefore, imperative to regularly assess the technical skilled personnel competency level of a legacy information system. This study evaluates and classifies the technical knowledge of skilled personnel using a developed online assessment system with test questions based on the legacy information system application program. The result obtained indicates that the technical skilled staff can still operate and maintain the case study information system.


The main problem in the treatment of pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis, which frequently occurs in the reproductive age, is the control of chylothorax and disease progression. We herein report a case of a 62-year-old woman who underwent surgery for recurrent chylothorax. Histologic examination of lung and lymph node biopsies demonstrated lymphangioleiomyomatosis. Thirty-six months after tetracycline pleurodesis and high-dose medroxyprogesterone acetate therapy, the disease was stable and chylothorax effectively controlled. It would therefore appear that hormonal treatment with medroxyprogesterone acetate may be beneficial in postmenopausal women.


Designing and testing new equipment can be an expensive and time consuming process or the desired performance characteristics may preclude its construction due to technological shortcomings. Cost may also prevent other types of scenario being tested. An alternative is to use Monte Carlo simulations to make the investigations. This paper exemplifies how Monte Carlo code calculations can be used to fill the gap by describing two investigations: (1) the possible self-attenuation of homogeneously distributed natural uranium in a lung phantom; and (2) the effect of activity deposited in the ribs on the activity estimate from a lung count.


The fabrication of solid-state nanopores in an insulating membrane has attracted much attention for biomolecule analysis such as DNA sequencing and detection in recent years. For practical applications and device integration, the challenges include precise size control for sub 10 nm nanopores, excellent repeatability and rapid fabrication over a large area to reduce the cost for mass production. A helium ion beam could provide an effective fabrication approach to produce such solid-state nanopores. It is easy to control the nanopore size and reach sub 10 nm pore size with a simple change in the milling time with an appropriate ion beam current. Here we report new results in a set of experiments demonstrating that with a small range of stage automatized motions and equal mill times one can obtain good fabrication reproducibility in nanopore sizes (<10% variation in size). The automation in the stage motion and milling time opens a door for the rapid mass production of nanopore chips over a wafer size of several inches.

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://rsc.li/journals-terms-of-use


BACKGROUND
Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) potentially carry disease-specific information. In the current study, we aim to characterize the miRNA signature in plasma from dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients and assess the possible correlation between expression levels of circulating miRNAs and symptom severity in DCM patients.

METHODS
Using microarray-based miRNA expression profiling, we compared the miRNA expression levels in plasma samples from 4 DCM patients and 3 healthy controls. The expression levels of selected differentially expressed, upregulated miRNAs (miR-3135b, miR-3908 and miR-5571-5p) were validated independently in plasma samples from 19 DCM patients and 20 controls.

RESULTS
We observed that plasma miR-3135b (p < 0.001), miR-3908 (p < 0.001) and miR-5571-5p (p < 0.001) were significantly upregulated in DCM patients. The area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the 3 miRNAs ranged from 0.83 to 1.00. Moreover, miR-5571-5p levels in plasma were significantly upregulated with severe New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The circulating miRNAs (miR-3135b, miR-3908 and miR-5571-5p) have potential as diagnostic biomarkers for DCM. Additionally, miR-5571-5p correlated with NYHA classification.


The C-reactive protein (CRP), an acute phase reactant which binds selectively to T (thymus-derived) lymphocytes, was found to bind to lymphoblasts formed upon stimulation with antigens but not with mitogens. Binding of CRP thus serves as a marker for antigen-reactive (-reacted) as opposed to mitogen-reative (-reacted) T cells, suggesting that these represent separate subpopulations, and supports the developing concept that CRP play an important role in the regulation of responses critical to inflammation, host defense, and tissue repair.


Direct numerical simulation are performed in order to investigate the effect of the circular cylinder shape on the forced convection around a circular cylinder at the Reynolds number of 300 and Prandtl number of 0.71. Three-dimensional characteristics of fluid flow and heat transfer around the smooth, wavy and torsional cylinders are investigated. A wavy cylinder has the sinusoidal variation in the cross sectional area along the spanwise direction with the wave length of π/3 and wavy amplitude of 0.1. A torsional cylinder has the twisted elliptic cross section with a torsional period of π/2 and an axis ratio of 1.35 corresponding to the major axis of 1.15 and the minor axis of 0.85. The value of time-and surface-averaged drag coefficient for the smooth cylinder is similar to that for the wavy cylinder, but larger than that for the torsional cylinder. The time-and surface-averaged lift coefficient for the smooth cylinder is larger than that for the wavy and torsional cylinders. The time-averaged local heat transfer rate for the wavy and torsional cylinders shows different distribution along the circumferential direction, compared to that for the smooth cylinder because of the shape change in the spanwise direction for the cases of the wavy and torsional cylinders.


Heteroclinic networks are structures in phase space that consist of multiple saddle fixed points as nodes, connected by heteroclinic orbits as edges. They provide a promising candidate attractor to generate reproducible sequential series of metastable states. While from an engineering point of view it is known how to construct heteroclinic networks to achieve certain dynamics, a data based approach for the inference of heteroclinic dynamics is still missing. Here, we present a method by which a template system dynamically learns to mimic an input sequence of metastable states. To this end, the template is unidirectionally, linearly coupled to the input in a master-slave fashion, so that it is forced to follow the same sequence. Simultaneously, its eigenvalues are adapted to minimize the difference of template dynamics and input sequence. Hence, after the learning procedure, the trained template constitutes a model with dynamics that are most similar to the training data. We demonstrate the performance of this method at various examples, including dynamics that differ from the template, as well as a regular and a random heteroclinic network. In all cases the topology of the heteroclinic network is recovered precisely, as are most eigenvalues. Our approach may thus be applied to infer the topology and the connection strength of a heteroclinic network from data in a dynamical fashion. Moreover, it may serve as a model for learning in systems of winnerless competition.


Recently, MRI(magnetic resonance imager) scanner is continually used for medical diagnosis and many biomedical researches. When it operates, however, intense noise is generated. The SPL(sound pressure level) of the noise approaches 130 dB especially in 3 T(Tesla) MRI. Meanwhile, more than 3 T MRI scanners have been developed to get higher-resolution images, so louder noise is expected in the future. The intense noise makes patients feel nervous and uncomfortable. Moreover, it could possibly cause hearing loss to patient in extreme cases. For this reason, some active noise control systems have been researched. One of them used feedback Filtered-X LMS(FXLMS) algorithm which is able to control only narrowband noises and possible to diverge in severe case. In this paper, we determine the property of MRI noise. Using the property, we applied a method of open-loop and adaptive control for reducing MRI noise at target point inside bore. We verified performance of the method with computer simulation and preliminary experiment. The results demonstrate that the method can effectively reduce MRI noise at target point.


Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) are the most conspicuous and abundant marine mammal in shelf waters of south-eastern Australia. To successfully rear offspring, the females must encounter sufficient prey on each foraging trip out of a central place for periods up to11 months each year. We investigated foraging trip strategies and habitat use by the females in three winter–spring periods, 2001–03, from four colonies that span the species' latitudinal range and contribute 80% of pup production. Trip durations of 37 females averaged 6.1 ± 0.5 (s.e.) days, although >90% of the seal's time at sea was spent <150 km travel (<2 days) away. Most females exhibited strong fidelities to individually preferred hot-spots. Females from colonies adjacent to productive shelf-edge waters generally had shorter trips, had smaller ranges, foraged closer to colonies and exhibited less diversity in trip strategies than did those from colonies more distant from a shelf-edge. From a management perspective, there was minimal overlap (<1%) between where females foraged and a system of marine reserves established in 2007, suggesting that habitats visited by lactating Australian fur seals currently receive minimal legislative protection.


Background:The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27 is a central regulator of cell cycle progression, whose function is perturbed in many human cancers, either due to decreased expression or abnormal localization. p27 levels are negatively correlated with Skp2, the F-box protein of SCF SKP2 , a E3 ubiquitin ligase targeting nuclear p27 for degradation. Skp2 has been shown to cooperate with mutant Ras in in vitro transformation assays, implicating Skp2 as a bona fide oncogene. In chronic myeloid leukemia cell lines, p27 is down-regulated in a Bcr-Abl dependent fashion, while cytoplasmic accumulation has been described in primary CML cells. We herefore hypothesized that Bcr-Abl may regulate p27 via Skp2. Experimental approach and results:Mo7e-p210 BCR-ABL treated with 2.5 μM imatinib arrested in G0/G1 in a time-dependent manner (53.6±2, 58.3±2, 71.9±1% at 4, 8 and 16h), correlated with reduced in vitro kinase activity of Cdk2 (32% of controls at 16h). Western blot analysis showed a marginal increase of cytoplasmic p27 and 2.5-fold accumulation of nuclear p27 that preceded G 0/1 arrest. Despite the reduced Cdk2 activity, most p27 was phosphorylated on T187, a target of cdk2/cyclinE, suggesting reduced degradation of phospo-p27 (T187). Degradation of nuclear p27 is mediated by SCF SKP2 and degradation of cytoplasmic p27 by the recently discovered KPC complex. We therefore assayed expression SCF SKP2 components and KPC1/2 by immunoblot analysis of imatinib-treated cells. Skp2 expression was greatly reduced compared to controls while expression of other SCF SKP2 components and KPC1/2 was unchanged, consistent with up-regulation of nuclear but not cytoplasmic p27 and suggesting a central role of Skp2 in mediating p27 degradation in Bcr-Abl positive cells. To test whether Skp2 is crucial for Bcr-Abl-driven leukemogenesis, we infected bone marrow of Skp2+/+ and Skp2−/− mice with BCR-ABL retrovirus. No consistent difference was observed in B-cell transformation assay (Whitlock-Witte cultures). However, formation of myeloid colonies in semisolid media was reduced in Skp2−/− compared to Skp2+/+ marrow [46.4±10% of controls (p=0.002) without and 76.6±9% of controls (p=0.008) with cytokines, n=6]. Skp2+/+ mice transplanted with BCR-ABL infected Skp2−/− marrow had significantly longer median survival (19days, range 12–60days, n=8) compared to recipients of Skp2+/+ marrow (13days, range 12–22days, n=10) (p=0.0034) with significant reduction of spleen weight (0.42±0.07g vs. 0.28±0.09g, p=0.004) and white blood cell counts (median 59x10 3 /μl, range 9.6–142x10 3 /μl, vs. 7.9x10 3 /μl, range 0.8–87x10 3 /μl, p=0.02). Histology and immunophenotyping of tissues (blood, marrow, spleen) revealed no signinificant differences between Skp2+/+ and Skp2−/− mice. Conclusions: Our data suggest that the primary cell cycle effect of Bcr-Abl kinase is up-regulation of Skp2. This leads to increased activity of SCF SKP2 , inducing degradation of T187 phosphorylated p27 which in turn promotes cell cycle progression by relieving suppression of Cdk2. Skp2 is required for Bcr-Abl to fully realize its potential to induce myeloproliferative disease, providing the first in vivo evidence that SKP2 is an oncogene. Targeting Skp2-p27 interactions to prevent p27 degradation may be therapeutically useful in malignancies with a high Skp2/p27 ratio.


Jorge Enrique Adoum (1926-2009) wrote this text for the work Quito's Light Always Alive, presented on August 1 at the Independence Plaza in Quito. The poet follows a sequential order in recalling the action that took place in Quito. The principal characters are: memories of the insurgent barrios; the historical milestone of August 10, 1809, heralding the nation's destiny; the ephemeral print of the Creole government, the massacre, and the women of the revolution. This was his last literary production as he died on July 3rd, a week after its completion.


Modern cluster storage systems perform a variety of background tasks to improve the performance, availability, durability, and cost-efficiency of stored data. For example, cleaners compact fragmented data to generate long sequential runs, tiering services automatically migrate data between solid-state and hard disk drives based on usage, recovery mechanisms replicate data to improve availability and durability in the face of failures, cost saving techniques perform data transformations to reduce the storage costs, and so on.

In this work, we present Curator, a background MapReduce-style execution framework for cluster management tasks, in the context of a distributed storage system used in enterprise clusters. We describe Curator's design and implementation, and evaluate its performance using a handful of relevant metrics. We further report experiences and lessons learned from its five-year construction period, as well as thousands of customer deployments. Finally, we propose a machine learning-based model to identify an efficient execution policy for Curator's management tasks that can adapt to varying workload characteristics.


Multilateral comparison of outcomes drawn from multiple groups pervade the social sciences and measurement of their variability, usually involving functions of respective group location and scale parameters, is of intrinsic interest. However, such approaches frequently mask more fundamental differences that more comprehensive examination of relative group distributional structures reveal. Indeed, in categorical data contexts, location and scale based techniques are no longer feasible without artificial and questionable cardinalization of categories. Here, Ginis' Transvariation measure is extended and employed in providing quantitative and visual multilateral comparison tools in discrete, continuous, categorical, univariate or multivariate settings which are particularly useful in paradigms where cardinal measure is absent. Two applications, one analyzing Eurozone cohesion in terms of the convergence or divergence of constituent nations income distributions, the other, drawn from a study of aging, health and income inequality in China, exemplify their use in a continuous and categorical data environment. Reference Details 20123 Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2020/55 Cambridge-INET Working Paper Series Published 15 December 2020


Aim: The global financial crisis in 2008 has obstructed almost every bank around the world. This study examines the impact of global financial crisis on bank efficiency in Saudi Arabia.  Design / Research methods: This study examines the impact of global financial crisis in bank efficiency applying the data envelopment analysis (DEA) during 2006-2014. Eleven commercial banks were examined from Saudi banking sector which covers almost half of total banks of Saudi Arabia. Scale efficiency, technical efficiency and productivity of banks have been examined for assessing the impact of financial crisis overtime.  Conclusions / findings: Results reveal that banks in Saudi Arabia are inefficient in terms of technical and scale efficiency. The results also reveal these banks are not immune to the global financial crisis. Though only one bank has kept their unit efficient positions during the study period, the impact of global crisis on bank efficiency is found visible among other banks. The robustness of this study is also tested.   Originality / value of the article: The importance of this study is twofold. First, examining bank efficiency with special attention to financial crisis. Second, Saudi Arabia needs sustainable growth to be ensured. Hence, examination of impact of financial crisis on bank efficiency of Saudi Arabia will surely help the policy makers for future planning. Implications of the research: The findings of this study will assist the policy makers in Saudi Arabia for taking corrective measure in advance in case of such future financial crisis. Moreover, the results will be used by the managers of the respective banks for decision making and problem solving.


The Far East is a region that has been developing more slowly than other regions of the Russian Federation for a long time. The problems of the development of the region are natural and geographical - the severity of the climate over a large area of the region, remoteness from the federal center, infrastructural - the poor development of intra-regional ties, problems with transport, social - low (compared to the average Russian indicators) provision of residents with medical, educational and other public services. The weak development of industry, low GRP and, as a result, the high dependence of the budgets of the Far Eastern subjects of the Federation on transfers from the federal budget are serious problems of the Far East. In order to develop the region, the state program of the Russian Federation «Socio-economic development of the Far Eastern Federal District» has been developed. The main goals of the state program are: the formation and development of territories of advanced socio-economic development with favorable conditions for attracting investments in the Far Eastern Federal District and the development of economic growth centers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation that are part of the Far Eastern Federal District, and some others. The plans for the social development of economic growth centers, developed by the regions of the Far East and financed to a large extent from the federal budget, can play a key role in this.


Middle resolution DMSP (Defense Meterological Satellite Program) visible and infrared imagery are analyzed in conjunction with surface and upper-air synoptic observations for two years' (1977, 1978/79) mid-season months (January, April, July, October) to derive synoptic climatological information on the "polar low" and "instant occlusion" phenomena. Polar-air vortices occur most frequently over the oceans in winter. Regional differences in the dominance of cloud signature sub-types confirm variations in the dynamics involved in polar-air cyclogenesis, as noted by previous workers. The "comma cloud" appears to occur more frequently in the North Pacific, while the spiraliform vortex predominates in the North Atlantic. The latter seems to be at least partly attributable to the effect of the eastern Arctic sea-ice boundary, as demonstrated by an analysis of imagery for two winters (D. J. F). each representative of an opposing mode of the North Atlantic Oscillation (1974/75. 1976/77). Composite synoptic "models" of polar lows reveal surface-pressure departures similar to those for cyclogenesis of the frontal wave type. However, a cold core and little vertical tilt distinguish the polar low in the mean. The "instant occlusion" exhibits surface-pressure departures that are deeper and comparable to the mature/dissipating stages of wave cyclone evolution. Spatial patterns of the upper-air anomalies associated with instant occlusions show two distinct vortices: one apparently derived from the polar low, the other from the incipient frontal wave with which it has merged. The seasonal and latitude-dependent cyclone intensity statistics (all types) are applied to the cloud vortex inventory of the North Atlantic-Europe sector for January 1979, The results support the role of the polar low as a synoptic indicator of anomalous winter circulation in the extratropics. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0870.1985.tb00442.x


We appreciate the letter from Dr. Carlos Antonio Moura and Dr. Carlos Geraldo Moura for their interest in our article [1]. As they noticed, that study was intended to evaluate the concordance of patient-reported joint symptoms, physician-examined arthritic signs, and ultrasound-detected synovitis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but not to evaluate the use of MTX. Although we described the median and range of RA duration (months) as 31 and 0-608, we should have clearly stated that 11 of 50 patients enrolled in that study were treatment-naïve. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Studies of coastal vulnerability due to climate change tend to focus on the consequences of sea level rise, rather than the complex coastal responses resulting from changes to the extreme wave climate. Here we investigate the 2013/2014 winter wave conditions that severely impacted the Atlantic coast of Europe and demonstrate that this winter was the most energetic along most of the Atlantic coast of Europe since at least 1948. Along exposed open‐coast sites, extensive beach and dune erosion occurred due to offshore sediment transport. More sheltered sites experienced less erosion and one of the sites even experienced accretion due to beach rotation induced by alongshore sediment transport. Storm wave conditions such as were encountered during the 2013/2014 winter have the potential to dramatically change the equilibrium state (beach gradient, coastal alignment, and nearshore bar position) of beaches along the Atlantic coast of Europe.


An innovative tool in the field of e-learning, augmented reality applications help students learn more quickly inside of online classrooms. Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, conventional methods of instruction had to be put on hold at the outset of the pandemic. In light of the recent COVID-19 epidemic in Asia, this research explores college students' perspective on online education using augmented reality software. Based on the idea of planned behavior, this research developed a conceptual model to investigate the attitudes and intentions of college students about the use of an augmented reality app for course-related e-learning. Information from 135 Asian college students was analyzed using structural equation modeling. Students' attitudes and a sense of agency over their own actions had the greatest impact on their propensity to embrace augmented reality applications for e-learning, whereas subjective norms had a very little role, as seen by the study's findings. These findings validate students' interest in and acceptance of cutting-edge education methods like augmented reality applications. © 2023 NSP Natural Sciences Publishing Cor.


Abstract Urea is added as an adulterant to give milk whiteness and increase its consistency for improving the solid not fat percentage, but the excessive amount of urea in milk causes overburden and kidney damages. Here, an innovative sensitive methodology based on near‐infrared spectroscopy coupled with multivariate analysis has been proposed for the robust detection and quantification of urea adulteration in fresh milk samples. In this study, 162 fresh milk samples were used, those consisting 20 nonadulterated samples (without urea) and 142 with urea adulterant. Eight different percentage levels of urea adulterant, that is, 0.10%, 0.30%, 0.50%, 0.70%, 0.90%, 1.10%, 1.30%, and 1.70%, were prepared, each of them prepared in triplicates. A Frontier NIR spectrophotometer (BSEN60825‐1:2007) by Perkin Elmer was used for scanning the absorption of each sample in the wavenumber range of 10,000–4,000 cm‐1, using 0.2 mm path length CaF2 sealed cell at resolution of 2 cm‐1. Principal components analysis (PCA), partial least‐squares discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA), and partial least‐squares regressions (PLSR) methods were applied for the multivariate analysis of the NIR spectral data collected. PCA was used to reduce the dimensionality of the spectral data and to explore the similarities and differences among the fresh milk samples and the adulterated ones. PLS‐DA also showed the discrimination between the nonadulterated and adulterated milk samples. The R‐square and root mean square error (RMSE) values obtained for the PLS‐DA model were 0.9680 and 0.08%, respectively. Furthermore, PLSR model was also built using the training set of NIR spectral data to make a regression model. For this PLSR model, leave‐one‐out cross‐validation procedure was used as an internal cross‐validation criteria and the R‐square and the root mean square error (RMSE) values for the PLSR model were found as 0.9800 and 0.56%, respectively. The PLSR model was then externally validated using a test set. The root means square error of prediction (RMSEP) obtained was 0.48%. The present proposed study was intended to contribute toward the development of a robust, sensitive, and reproducible method to detect and determine the urea adulterant concentration in fresh milk samples.


ABSTRACT Remote sensing can be used in combination with ground sampling to detect aphid(Aphis gossypii Glover) infested cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Changes in wavelengths in the near-infrared (NIR) have proven useful for such detection, but these changes can be confused with other factors stressing plants, such as water deficiency and nutrient status. This study was designed to test the utility of this technology to distinguish between two factors stressing plants: nitrogen deficiency and aphids. Field plots were created by applying varying rates of nitrogen to cotton at different dates in the growing season in 2003 and 2004. Subplots were created by applying disruptive insecticides, which increased aphid populations in a portion of the subplots. Airplane and satellite remote sensing data in 2003 and 2004 were supplemented with ground sampling of aphid populations in both years. Insecticide application, nitrogen application rate and date influenced aphid abundance. Cotton with higher aphid populations could be distinguished from cotton with natural aphid infestations independent of plant nitrogen status using a NIR wavelength in 2003 and a proprietary 2004 index. Complex distinctions among varying nitrogen treatments and aphid abundance were not possible using this data. In the future, possible confounding factors should be investigated from the perspective of their change on crop physiology before remote sensing can be used in an integrated pest management (IPM) program.


UP to the present the knowledge of these archives is most unsatisfactory. There is only one complete catalogue, which apparently was begun by Dr. L. Vella during the first half of the nineteenth century, and completed in 1890 by Doctors Camilleri and Briffa. This catalogue is a manuscript volume written in the Italian language, and has never been published in its entirety. A copy exists, however, also in manuscript, at the headquarters of the Sovereign Military Order of St. John in Rome.


Most data on winter excess mortality from cardiovascular disease have been reported from countries with large seasonal temperature variations. In this study, the contribution of environmental temperature to ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke mortality was evaluated in a country with relatively small variations in seasonal temperature. The association between monthly temperature and cause-specific monthly proportion of annual mortality was studied in the population of Israel aged 45 years and over for the period 1976–85. Population size in this group averaged nearly 1 million people during the study period, and about 40% of all deaths were due to IHD or stroke. For men, IHD mortality was 51% higher and stroke mortality 48% higher in mid-winter than in mid-summer; for women the respective figures were 48% and 40%. In cosinor analysis for months above and below the median minimum temperature, it was shown that excess mortality in winter was greater in years below the median minimum temperature in almost all age-sex categories. In partial correlation analysis, most of the variation in IHD and stroke mortality was explained by variation in minimum monthly temperature. These findings strongly support the role of environmental temperature in excess winter mortality from cardiovascular disease over a wide age range, and efforts should be directed at identifying intervention measures which could significantly reduce the incidence of premature mortality.


Introduction : Damages to cartilage are one of the most challenging issues of orthopedist in medicine as the healing of defects in the tissue has a very slow process and is extremely difficult. Tissue engineering (using scaffold), cells and growth factors can be used as alternatives to improve healing. Alginate is an ideal scaffold which has been also approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The transforming growth factor β 3 (TGF β 3) increases the viability of the chondrocytes and secretion of extra cellular matrix. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of TGF β 3 in the viability and production of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and aggrecan by rib chondrocytes. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, isolated costal chondrocytes were encapsulated in alginate and cultured for 3 weeks. Then, samples were divided into 2 groups: TGF- β 3 treated and control groups. Finally, the viability of chondrocytes and production of GAG and aggrecan in both groups were evaluated by MTT, GAG and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: By 14 days, the results of the MTT showed that viability had significantly increased in the control group in compared to the TGF- β 3 treated group. This is while by 21 days, the TGF- β 3 treated group the viability had increased After 14 and 21 days, the GAG production in the TGF- β 3 treated group had significantly increased in compared to the control group. The ELISA technique revealed that the production of aggrecan significantly increased in the TGF- β 3 treated group at 14 days. Conclusions: Results indicate that TGF- β 3 can increase the growth of costal cartilage and the production of extracellular matrix (ECM). Accordingly, TGF- β 3 is necessary for the regeneration of cartilage. of β 3 on the of


"Orbital pathology represents the no-person's land of ophthalmology." For those who would agree with this statement and who have been lost in an area filled with confusing terminology, Dr Shields provides a road map and a sense of order. From his preface onward, the author provides a clear and concise approach to orbital lesions. The book is divided into three sections: "Basic Considerations," "Primary Tumors," and "Metastatic and Secondary Orbital Tumors." Each section fulfills its responsibilities admirably. "Basic Considerations" leads the reader through orbital anatomy, a discussion of proptosis, and the basic principles of clinical evaluation, laboratory diagnosis, and treatment of orbital lesions. Inflammatory lesions that may simulate true neoplasms are also discussed. "... the author's vast clinical experience permits him to speak authoritatively..." The remaining two sections discuss specific neoplasms. The lesions are considered from the perspectives of definitions and incidence, clinical features, diagnostic approaches, histopathology and pathogenesis, management, and


This survey explores the important connection between institutions and entrepreneurship. Institutions consist of the formal and informal "rules of the game." Entrepreneurs act within a context determined by these rules. The rules of the game create payoffs that make certain entrepreneurial opportunities more attractive than others. We explore the relevant literature from institutional economics and entrepreneurial studies, focusing on the important link between the two. Particular emphasis is placed on entrepreneurship within several different institutional settings — private for-profit, private nonprofit, and political — as well as the impact of entrepreneurship on institutions. We conclude by discussing the implications for future research on the topic. * We would like to thank the editors and an anonymous referee for detailed comments and suggestions. We would also like to thank Zac Rolnik for his patience and assistance throughout the process of preparing and revising this survey. Earlier versions of this survey were presented at the Mason Entrepreneurship Research Conference (MERC) Annual Conference, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, March 28, 2008 and at the IHS Social Change Workshop, Brown University, Providence, RI, June 23, 2008. We would like to thank the participants for their comments and suggestions. Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/0300000018


The Art Gallery of Mrs Anait Kalphagian at Thessaloniki acquired inthe year 2006 an embroidered  Epitaphios from the «Galerie NeumeisterMunchener Kunstauktionhaus» of Munich. This «supreme veil», as TheodoreStuditis called it, is embroidered on red silk and represents, as usual, the Lamentation of Christ. Its down edge border is filled in with a dedicatory inscription, which includes the name of the female embroiderer «Kokkona touIoannou». This artisan's only other so far known work had been a sanctuarypyle of the year 1747, encountered in the Panahrantou Monastery at the island of Andros. The scene of the epitaphios combines elements of the so called «liturgical» and «narrative - historical» type: the symbolic representation of the sacrificed Lamb with the angelic hosts and the Lamentation with all the usualmourning figures. Some of the works' most striking features are the perfectbalance and monumentality of the composition, the idealised figures, the highquality of design and the harmonious palette of colours. Byzantine style isblended with slight Western influences, especially in the portraits and clothing of some figures, as well as the rules of perspective. The embroidery hasbeen worked in relief, mainly with fine gold and silver threads, while partslike hands and faces are mostly stitched in brown, black and wheat-colouredthreads and silks.All in all, the epitaphios of Thessaloniki is associated by its high qualityin iconography, style and technique with a group of earlier epitaphioi, fabricated by famous Constantinopolitan workshops at the end of 17th – beginningof the 18th century, like those headed by Despoineta and Mariora. All thesemasterpieces prove that the art of gold embroidery flourished anew in Constantinople in the so called «Phanariote» period, which approximately datesfrom 1680 until 1780.


Humans rapidly and spontaneously activate muscles in the face when viewing emotional facial expressions in others. These rapid facial reactions (RFRs) are thought to reflect low-level, bottom-up processes, and are theorized to assist an observer to experience and share the affect of another individual. It has been assumed that RFRs are present from birth; however to date, no study has investigated this response in children younger than 3 years of age. In the present study, we used facial electromyography (EMG) to measure corrugator supercilii (brow) and zygomaticus major (cheek) muscle activity in 7-month-old infants while they viewed happy and angry facial expressions. The results showed that 7-month olds exhibited greater zygomaticus activity in response to happy expressions than angry expressions, however, we found no evidence of differential corrugator muscle activity.


Learning declines with age. Recent evidence indicates that the brainstem may play an important role in learning and motor skill acquisition. Our objective was to determine if delays in the reticular formation, measured via the startle reflex, correspond to age-related deficits in learning and retention. We hypothesized that delays in the startle reflex would be linearly correlated to learning and retention deficits in older adults. To determine if associations were unique to the reticulospinal system, we also evaluated corticospinal contributions with transcranial magnetic stimulation. Our results showed a linear relationship between startle onset latency and percent learning and retention but no relationship between active or passive motor-evoked potential onsets or peak-to-peak amplitude. These results lay the foundation for further study to evaluate if (1) the reticular formation is a subcortical facilitator of skill acquisition and (2) processing delays in the reticular formation contribute to age-related learning deficits.


Brimming over with over 150 full-page, luscious photographs of superb jewelry, this is a treasure chest of bakelite, celluliod and lucite. Several of today's leading bakelite collectors lent their finest pieces of this book. Layered, carved molded, translucent, painted and imbedded jewelry styles are displayed in profusion. The captions include the values guide. From common to exceedingly rare, this book presents excitement and the best plastic jewelry to be found.


Data from traffic detectors were used to study traffic flow characteristics on four different road facilities. Two urban highways, an arterial and a rural highway were analysed. With statistical analysis of the data, various classical traffic flow models have been used to fit the data. Five minutes intervals were analysed and the average speed, flow and density were estimated. The four parameters model proposed by Van Aerde gave the best results. Based on the Van Aerde model the free flow speed, speed at maximum flow, maximum flow and density at jam were determined. These parameters were compared for the different road facilities, as well as the relationship between headways and given speed.


Current treatment of X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) employs the combined administration of oral phosphate and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3]. Although this drug regimen significantly improves the clinical course of the disease in children, the value of medical treatment in symptomatic adults with XLH has not been established. We, therefore, investigated the clinical, biochemical, and histological responses to phosphate and 1,25-(OH)2D3 in 16 symptomatic adult patients with XLH followed for a mean of 4.2 yr. Eighty-seven percent of the patients had an improvement in bone or joint pain with therapy. There was a significant increase in mean serum phosphate (from 0.61 +/- 0.03 to 0.77 +/- 0.03 mmol/L) and urinary calcium excretion (from 2.45 +/- 0.38 to 4.39 +/- 0.44 mmol/day) with treatment. Pretreatment bone biopsies demonstrated findings characteristic of osteomalacia, including abnormally increased osteoid volume and decreased mineral apposition rates. Treatment was accompanied by a significant decrease in osteoid thickness as well as a reduction in mean osteoid volume. However, therapy did not completely normalize these parameters. Disease severity, as assessed by histomorphometric parameters, did not correlate with any pretreatment serum or urinary biochemical measurement, but did seem to correlate with symptom score. Although most patients tolerated therapy without difficulty, 1 patient developed tertiary hyperparathyroidism during treatment and renal insufficiency that progressed despite cessation of therapy. This study provides evidence that therapy with oral phosphate and 1,25-(OH)2D3 in symptomatic adults with XLH can result in significant clinical and histomorphometric improvement.


Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by right ventricular (RV) pressure overload, leading to RV dilation, failure and death. In the course of the disease, the left ventricle (LV) is often impaired, due to interventricular interaction. Although the impact of PAH treatment on the RV has been well described, less is known on the LV.

 To examine effects of advanced PAH treatments on the volumes, function and strain of the left atrium and ventricle.

 This is a retrospective study. All patients underwent CMR and right heart catheterization, both at diagnosis and at 12-months follow up. Ventricular volumes and LV filling rate were calculated from the stack of short axis cine images using Simpsons method while left atrial (LA) volumes from the 4-chamber cine images using the area-length method. Tissue tracking was used for the evaluation of myocardial deformation. The LV endocardial and epicardial borders were manually delineated in all analysed sections with the initial contour set at end-diastole. All analyses were performed offline using dedicated software.

 In total, 66 patients (mean age 56.3±17.9 years, 67%women, 77%idiopathic and heritable PAH, 23% connective tissue disease associated PAH) and 29 normal controls were included. The improvement in metrics of right and left heart size and function after the initiation of advanced PAH treatment, are presented in panel A. Of note, LV stroke volume was markedly increased (54.6±19.6ml at baseline vs 70.8±21.7ml at follow up, p<0.0001) to reach controls. LV filling was markedly increased in latter two-thirds of the diastolic phase (panel B), especially at atrial kick point (arrow). Change in LA max volume was associated with changes in diastolic filling (r=0.354, p=0.004), LV end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes and stroke volume. These correlations were more robust in patients that increased LV filling compared to those that failed to increase LV filling (panels C-E). No association between changes in LV circumferential strain and LV volume load was observed. A weak correlation of change of LV peak longitudinal strain with stroke volume (r=−0.345, p=0.006), LV end diastolic volume (r=−0.284, p=0.027), LV ejection fraction (r=−0.337, p=0.008) and LA maximum area (r=−0.447, p<0.0001) was observed. The changes of LV strain showed no correlation with the changes in patients' haemodynamics.

 Improvement in stroke volume after the initiation of advanced PAH treatment is associated with an increase in LA size, LV end diastolic volume and normalisation of strain. This reflects the improved filling state of the left ventricle and the potential of the left atrium to monitor treatment effects.
 Changes after PAH treatment

 Type of funding source: None


A model is presented for the simulation of rotary drum eddy-current separators. The most important part of the model is an improved first-order differential equation for the magnetic moment of nonferrous particles in the field of the separator magnets. The model also includes the mechanical interaction between the particles and the transportation belt, as well as aerodynamic forces. The resulting particle trajectories are compared to experimental data, both on the basis of full trajectories and statistically, in terms of the calculated and measured throw.


Germanium-on-insulator (GOI) metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors were demonstrated with a 60 nm extension on the absorption coverage and a ∼2× enhancement on the quantum efficiency across the L-band.


Upon sulfonation, carcinogenic hydroxyarylamines such as N-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene (N-OH-2AAF) can be further activated to form ultimate carcinogens in vivo. Previous studies have shown that a SULT1C1 sulfotransferase is primarily responsible for the sulfonation of N-OH-2AAF in rat liver. In the present study, two novel human sulfotransferases shown to be members of the SULT1C sulfotransferase subfamily based on sequence analysis have been cloned, expressed, and characterized. Comparisons of the deduced amino acid sequence encoded by the human SULT1C sulfotransferase cDNA 1 reveal 63.7, 61.6, and 85.1% identity to the amino acid sequences of rat SULT1C1 sulfotransferase, mouse SULT1C1 sulfotransferase, and rabbit SULT1C sulfotransferase. In contrast, the deduced amino acid sequence of the human SULT1C sulfotransferase 2 cDNA displays 62.9, 63.1, 63.1, and 62.5% identity to the amino acid sequences of the human SULT1C sulfotransferase 1, rat SULT1C1 sulfotransferase, mouse SULT1C1 sulfotransferase, and rabbit SULT1C sulfotransferase. Recombinant human SULT1C sulfotransferases 1 and 2, expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to near electrophoretic homogeneity, were shown to cross-react with the antiserum against the rat liver SULT1C1 sulfotransferase and exhibited sulfonating activities with N-OH-2AAF as substrate. Tissue-specific expression of these novel human SULT1C sulfotransferases were examined by employing the Northern blotting technique. The results provide a foundation for the investigation into the functional relevance of these new SULT1C sulfotransferases in different human tissues/organs.


As generally recognized, the performance of a CMOS gate, such as propagation delay time or short circuit power dissipation, is strongly affected by the nonzero input signal transition time. This paper presents an analytical model of the transition time of CMOS structures. The authors first develop the model for inverters, considering fast and slow input signal conditions, over a large design range of input-output coupling capacitance and capacitive load. They then extend this model to more complex gates. The validity of the presented model is demonstrated through a comparison with HSPICE simulations on a 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS process.


In this study we evaluated the oil adsorption capacity of an aliphatic polyurethane foam (PU 1) and two of its composites, produced through surface coating using microparticles of silica (PU-Si 2) and activated carbon (PU-ac 3). The oil adsorption capacity in diesel was improved up to 36% using the composite with silica and up to 50% using the composite with activated carbon with respect to the initial PU 1. Excellent performances were retained in gasoline and motor oil. The adsorption was complete after a few seconds. The process follows a monolayer adsorption fitted by the Langmuir isotherm, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 29.50 g/g of diesel for the composite with activated carbon (PU-ac 3). These materials were proved to be highly oleophilic for oil removal from fresh water and sea water samples. Regeneration and reuse can be repeated up to 50 times by centrifugation, without a significant loss in adsorption capacity.


Due to the increasing complexity of scientific models, large-scale simulation tools often require a critical amount of computational power to produce results in a reasonable amount of time. For example, multi-system wireless network simulations involve complex algorithms of traffic balancing and communication control on large geographical areas. Moreover many of these intensive applications are designed for single sequential machines and large sums of money are spent on purchasing powerful servers that can give results in a satisfactory amount of time. The aim of this paper is to introduce a general-purpose tool, dubbed transparent remote execution (TREx), which avoids resorting to expensive servers by providing a cost effective, high performance, distributed solution. TREx is a daemon that dynamically exploits idle operational in-use workstations. Based on elaborate rules of computational resource management, this daemon permits a master to scan workstations within a predefined subnetwork and share the workload among the least occupied processing elements. It also provides a clear framework for parallelization that applications can exploit. By providing a simple way of federating computational resources, such a framework could drastically reduce hardware investments.


Samples of hydroxyapatite (HA) beads smaller than 1 mg were coated with 10 microliter of either saliva, serum, or human crevicular fluid before being added to a suspension of Streptococcus sanguis or Bacteroides gingivalis. In some assays, preparations of a granular fraction, elastase, or cathepsin G from human leukocytes were used to coat HA or to treat saliva-coated HA (SHA) before mixing with bacteria. The number of cells adhering to the beads was then counted under a scanning electron microscope by a standardized procedure. More cells were found to adhere to SHA in this assay than in the conventional large-scale assay. Human crevicular fluid, even when diluted up to three times, completely inhibited the adherence of S. sanguis to HA. A 100% inhibition of S. sanguis adherence was also observed when HA was coated with the granular fraction of leukocytes, and a 65% inhibition observed when SHA was treated with the enzyme preparation. When used to coat HA, elastase and cathepsin G reduced the adherence of S. sanguis by 30 and 50%, respectively. The binding of S. sanguis to elastase- or cathepsin G-treated SHA was also reduced. B. gingivalis 33277 was found to adhere in high numbers to SHA. Coating HA with crevicular fluid or with the lysosomal enzyme preparation had a limited negative effect. We postulate that crevicular fluid prevents the adherence of S. sanguis by virtue of either its enzyme content or its albumin content or both.


This study investigated the neuroprotective effects of bread containing extract from Cirsium setidens (CS) or Aster scaber (AS) against H₂O₂-induced death of human brain neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells. Treatment with bread containing extract from CS (CSB) or AS (ASB) reduced H2O2 cytotoxicity in SK-N-SH cells, the intracellular ROS level, and the phospho-p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) level. In the sensory evaluation, wild vegetable flavor scores of CSB were higher than those of ASB and bread containing 0% CS or AS (NB). In terms of appearance, color, flavor, softness, and overall acceptability, CSB and ASB showed higher scores than NB, but no differences were observed between CSB and ASB. These results indicate that CSB and ASB have potent health benefits in terms of neuroprotection against oxidative stress mediated through antioxidant activity and inhibition of p38 phosphorylation in brain neural cells. Thus, CS and AS could be considered as a health functional material.


Variations in Brucella milk ring test reactions have been attributed to size and disparity in size of fat globules, fat content of milk, inhibitory factors, and cream-rising capacity. Physical properties of milk fat globules were studied in individual milk samples that had diverse sensitivities for detection of Brucella agglutinins. Size or disparity of globule size could not be correlated with the milk ring test sensitivity. Inhibitory and enhancing creaming factors could be transferred from the cream to the skim milk and reacted with other cream to show changes in sensitivity. The proportion of clustered milk fat globules was related directly to the quantity of agglutinins detected by the test. Sensitivity of the test was attributed to a fat globule agglutinin that caused clustering and to an inhibitory factor.


We studied the foraging behaviour of Eurasian griffons Gyps fulvus on the island of Crete during 1997–2005 by direct observations in four colonies and by monitoring the movements of seven radio-equipped individuals. The estimated foraging range of griffon colonies, based on direct observations, ranged from 206–851 km2 by using the Minimum Convex Polygon method, and 195–527 km2 by using the Adaptive Kernel method, with corresponding means of 472 and 380 km2, respectively. Meanwhile, radio-tracking showed that foraging vultures covered an area ranging from 390–1300 km2. The mean foraging radius was calculated at ca 15 km and the mean maximum one at 29.9 km. On windless days, griffons' mean cross-country speed was 5.1 m/second (maximum = 13.3 m/second), with a mean climbing rate of 0.6 m/second and a mean inter-thermal gliding speed of 18.8 m/second. Any livestock carrion located up to 9 km from a colony was exploited by its members with minimum competition from individuals of adjacent areas. In total, we recorded 23 feeding incidences which took place at a mean distance of 8.4 km from the colonies. The food types identified were sheep carcasses located near stock-farms and offal disposed in waste dumps in the vicinity of the colonies. On average, the griffons allocated 7.6 hour/day to food searching. This varied significantly between months and seasons. The shortest foraging time was recorded in December (6.4 hour/day) and the longest in June (9.3 hour/day). A significant difference of one hour after sunrise was detected in the departure time from the colony between seasons revealing that griffons departed earlier during winter trying to maintain their foraging budget within the available daytime limits.


The performance of Kuwaiti small firms was examined, with specific attention paid to gender as a differentiating factor. Differences and similarities between the two gender groups were discussed with respect to human capital variables, family situation factors, business characteristics, and financial performance indicators. The results showed that women had less business experience, higher education levels, and were older than their male counterparts. Furthermore, the results showed that women‐owned firms suffered from liability of newness and their financial performance was significantly lower than men‐owned firms.


We present a soft-error-rate analysis (SERA) methodology for combinational and memory circuits. SERA is based on a modeling and analysis approach that employs a judicious mix of probability theory, circuit simulation, graph theory, and fault simulation. SERA achieves five orders of magnitude speedup over Monte Carlo-based simulation approaches with less than 5% error. Dependence of the soft-error rate (SER) of combinational logic circuits on a supply voltage, clock period, latching window, circuit topology, and input vector is explicitly captured and studied for a typical 0.18-mum CMOS process. Results show that the SER of logic is a much stronger function of timing parameters than the supply voltage. Also, an SER peaking phenomenon in multipliers is observed where the center bits have an SER that are orders of magnitude greater than those of the LSBs and the MSBs. An increase of up to 25% in the SER for multiplier circuits of various sizes has been observed as technology scales from 0.18 to 0.13 mum


Advertising Broadcasting is the main source of revenue from radio broadcasting business. The advertiser company / agency entrusts the broadcasting of its product advertisements to radio that it believes can effectively introduce its products or services to the public. Thus the main business of the radio is to provide the advertisers with the optimal service as customers by providing confidence in their professional performance. This study discusses how to build a management information system that is intended to provide services to customers of radio advertisers to meet the demands of professional services. These needs include the accuracy of the selection of broadcasting hours for advertising a particular product or service so that the effectiveness of ad broadcasting is fulfilled, ad scheduling rapid broadcasting, easy and reliable up to the need for a disciplined performance of broadcasting ads made in accordance with the agreement contained in detail at Purchase order. The method used in this research is WaterFall Development Life Cycle System (SDLC). The first step is done in this study by conducting data collection by observation, interview and documentation study at PT. Swaramedia Pewaran (Radio Karysma FM). The results of this study is the realization of ad-based information management information system oriented to meet customer needs with system functionality such as online ad scheduling, arrangement and supervision of the broadcasting of advertisements until the presentation of reports for advertisers and management of accurate radio in the form of documentation of transactional evidence that became part Of customer advertising services.


In this study, we systematically investigated the effect of micro- and nanoscale energetic materials in formulations of aluminum microparticles (Al MPs; heat source)/aluminum nanoparticles (Al NPs; heat source)/copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs; oxidizer) on the combustion and gas-generating properties of sodium azide microparticles (NaN3 MPs; gas-generating agent) for potential applications in gas generators. The burn rate of the NaN3 MP/CuO NP composite powder was only ∼0.3 m/s. However, the addition of Al MPs and Al NPs to the NaN3 MP/CuO NP matrix caused the rates to reach ∼1.5 and ∼5.3 m/s, respectively. In addition, the N2 gas volume flow rate generated by the ignition of the NaN3 MP/CuO NP composite powder was only ∼0.6 L/s, which was significantly increased to ∼1.4 and ∼3.9 L/s by adding Al MPs and Al NPs, respectively, to the NaN3 MP/CuO NP composite powder. This suggested that the highly reactive Al MPs and NPs, with the assistance of CuO NPs, were effective heat-generating sources enabling the complete thermal decomposition of NaN3 MPs upon ignition. Al NPs were more effective than Al MPs in the gas generators because of the increased reactivity induced by the reduced particle size. Finally, we successfully demonstrated that a homemade airbag with a specific volume of ∼140 mL could be rapidly and fully inflated by the thermal activation of nanoscale energetic material-added gas-generating agents (i.e., NaN3 MP/Al NP/CuO NP composites) within the standard time of ∼50 ms for airbag inflation.


Long-standingbiases of climate modelslimit theskills of climate predictionand projection.Overlooked are tropical Indian Ocean (IO) errors. Based on the phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) multimodel ensemble, the present study identifies a common error pattern in climate models that resembles the IO dipole (IOD) mode of interannual variability in nature, with a strong equatorial easterly wind bias during boreal autumn accompanied by physically consistent biases in precipitation, sea surface temperature (SST), and subsurface ocean temperature. The analyses show that such IOD-like biases can be traced back to errors in the South Asian summer monsoon. A southwest summer monsoon that is too weak over the Arabian Sea generates a warm SST bias over the western equatorial IO. In boreal autumn, Bjerknes feedback helps amplify the error into an IOD-like bias pattern in wind, precipitation, SST, and subsurface ocean temperature. Such mean state biases result in an interannual IOD variability that is too strong. Most models project an IOD-like future change for the boreal autumn mean state in the global warming scenario, which would result in more frequent occurrences of extreme positive IOD events in the future with important consequences to Indonesia and East Africa. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) characterizes this future IOD-like projection in the mean state as robust based on consistency among models, but the authors' results cast doubts on this conclusion since models with larger IOD amplitude biases tend to produce stronger IOD-like projected changes in the future.


Distraction has been suggested as a mechanism which will facilitate attitude change. Heckling is a standard procedure used by members of society to distract from the content of a speech. The current study presented a persuasive message to six groups of students. Three of these groups received the message straight, while the other three groups received the message with heckling. A second variable, the medium of presentation, was utilized so that one group in each of the two presentation procedures received either a live presentation, a video presentation, or an audio presentation. The results indicate that the message was effective in changing attitudes. However, when the speech was heckled, the message elicited no attitude change. Further, the audio presentation was more effective than both the video and the live presentation. The results were interpreted in terms of distraction theory and media effects.


Toxic effects of combustion products originating from plane cabin constituents are studied, in vivo, in Rats. The model associates an important combustion room, and an experience room containing eight revolving cages for Rats; these cages allow a remote control of the movements of the Rats which can be electrically stimulated and ejected. Such a device permits to study the incapacitance, i.e. the inability to move. For the combustion of a seat, without ventilation, incapacitation appears in 2 to 6 min. Biochemical screening demonstrates on increase of pCO2, carboxyhemoglobin and glycemia and a decrease of pO2.


T7 RNA polymerase is an enzyme that carries out transcription using DNA as the template and ribonucleotides as the substrates. Here we report the association of the polymerase with 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonate (ANS) and 4,4'-dianilino-1,1'-binaphthyl-5,5'-disulfonic acid (bis-ANS), which are two fluorescent hydrophobic probes that are frequently used to study structural perturbations in proteins and intermediate states of proteins during folding and unfolding. Our results from the fluorescence titration data show that these two molecules bind to the enzyme with dissociation constants on the micromolar order. The results from the tryptic digestion of the enzyme in the absence and presence of the probes show that they inhibit the rate of tryptic digestion. Circular dichroism spectroscopic studies of the protein in the near UV region indicate that both probes induce tertiary structural changes in the polymerase. There is also a probe (ANS or bis-ANS) induced inhibition of the enzymatic activity. All these results are attributed to association of the probes with the enzyme, leading to an alteration in the conformation of T7 RNA polymerase. This limits the use of these extrinisic probes to the study of the folding properties of the enzyme.


The report deals with introduction of such modern information technologies as electronic processing of documents and access to INTERNET data into diagnostic and therapeutic practice.


The energy delivered by food is involved in the maintaining of the homeostasis and in the electromechanical activities that define life. The energy expenditure include basal metabolism, thermogenesis and the energy required for the physical activity. Functional food extends over providing the nutrients into playing important physiological roles into the organism. The recommendations are to increase the consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains in order to reduce the risk for degenerative diseases and cancer.


This article advocates revisiting the notion of primary care to include these dimensions: the physician-patient relationship, the notion of principal care, and the pa tient as validating the primary care relationship. The quality of primary care rests squarely on these three characteristics. From a systems perspective, the quality of primary care encompasses more than the right assort ment of clinical competencies; quality has to be grounded in and realized at the individual level where physician and patient meet and interact over time. The discussion thus rests on the assumption that primary care is a process of care rather than a collection of skills. This study was stimulated by two factors: the claim of subspecialists to at times provide primary care and L. H. Aiken et al.'s article on the contribution of specialists to primary care. The author of the present article surveyed 467 internists and subspecialists and asked if they equated principal care with general inter nal medicine (IM) care-a primary care competency. The percentage of IM in their practice was also surveyed. The 160 responses revealed that the percentage of sub- specialist care to primary care was similar to that de scribed in Aiken et al.'s article. The notion of principal care thus appears to better reflect the realities of clini cal practice.


Malignant tumours are traditionally classified according to their organ of origin and whether they are of epithelial (carcinomas) or mesenchymal (sarcomas) origin. By histological appearance the site of origin may often be confirmed. Using same treatment for tumours from the same organ is rational only when there is no principal heterogeneity between the tumours of that organ. Organ tumour heterogeneity is typical for the lungs with small cell and non-small cell tumours, for the kidneys where clear cell renal carcinoma (CCRCC) is the dominating type among other subgroups, and in the stomach with adenocarcinomas of intestinal and diffuse types. In addition, a separate type of neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) is found in most organs. Every cell type able to divide may develop into a tumour, and the different subtypes most often reflect different cell origin. In this article the focus is on the cells of origin in tumours arising in the stomach and kidneys and the close relationship between normal neuroendocrine cells and NETs. Furthermore, that the erythropoietin producing cell may be the cell of origin of CCRCC (a cancer with many similarities to NETs), and that gastric carcinomas of diffuse type may originate from the ECL cell, whereas the endodermal stem cell most probably gives rise to cancers of intestinal type.


Explicit model predictive control (eMPC) has been proposed to reduce the huge computational complexity of MPC while maintaining the performance of MPC. Therefore, this control method has been more widely employed in the automotive industry than MPC. In this paper, an eMPC is designed to perform a double-lane-change (DLC) maneuver. This task has been employed to demonstrate the efficacy of controllers in an autonomous driving situation. In this sense, the proposed controller shows better performance than a driver model designed in CarSim at a high vehicle longitudinal velocity. The main contribution of this paper is to present an eMPC for discrete-time linear time-variant (LTV) systems so that the proposed controller can be robust against parameter variation. In a state-space representation of the vehicle, the longitudinal velocity of the vehicle is assumed to be a constant so that the whole system is linear time-invariant (LTI). However, it is inevitable that this velocity varies in an actual driving situation. Therefore, an eMPC controller is designed using an add-on unit to consider the varying parameter without modification of the eMPC solution. The CarSim simulation results of eMPC show enhanced performance compared to that of eMPC for the LTI system.


The effect of copper on the concentrations of o- and m-tyrosines in the serum of guinea pigs was studied in vivo. When guinea pigs were fed the normal diet and 0.1% CuSO4 solution as a drinking water for 13 d, the concentrations of o- and m-tyrosines in the serum increased more significantly than that of guinea pigs fed normal diet and water without copper. Phenylalanine hydroxylase in the liver and kidney, and tyrosine hydroxylase in the brain and adrenal were not activated by the administration of copper to guinea pigs. The administration of copper caused an abnormal accumulation of copper in the liver, but not in the kidney, adrenal and brain, and significantly depressed the ascorbic acid content in various organs including the liver, kidney, brain and adrenal. The results obtained suggest that o- and m-tyrosines may be also formed nonenzymatically in vivo, in addition to the formation by the participation of enzymes such as phenylalanine and tyrosine hydroxylases.


Abstract Despite concerns and debates about the policy of using extended solitary confinement for managing individuals deemed to be too violent or disruptive to be controlled any other way—for the broader goal of system order and safety—empirical assessments of disparities in placements into this form of incarceration are limited. Prior studies typically have not compared extended solitary management (ESM) populations to general prison populations or dimensions along which disparities in ESM placements may arise. This paper identifies groups that may be more likely to be placed in ESM and policy concerns unique to each. Drawing on a study of one large state prison system, we examine disparities in ESM placement, including multiple, early, and longer duration placements. Implications of these disparities and the possibility that there may be differential experiences in and effects of ESM are discussed.


Effects of glucagon on insulin action in rat epididymal adipocytes were studied in vitro. [125I]iodoinsulin binding to isolated adipocytes was inhibited by preincubation of the cells with isoproterenol, epinephrine, or glucagon. Fifty percent inhibition was observed with 2 X 10(-8) M glucagon, 10(-6) M isoproterenol, and 10(-7) M epinephrine. Maximal (90%) inhibition induced by glucagon was observed at 10(-6) M. In Scatchard analysis, [125I]iodoinsulin competition data generated curvilinear plots in buffer- and glucagon-treated cells. Pretreatment of the cells with (Bu)2cAMP reduced insulin binding activity. However, the simultaneous addition of (Bu)2cAMP with [125I]iodoinsulin did not produce the inhibition of the binding when the cells were not pretreated with the agent. cAMP level in the cells was increased by incubation with glucagon. 3-O-[Methyl-3H]methylglucose uptake by isolated adipocytes was inhibited by pretreatment of the cells with glucagon. These results suggest that glucagon regulates insulin action through decrease in insulin receptor activity, and that it is possible that the inhibition is mediated by cAMP production in adipocytes.


Education is one of the paramount instruments for awareness, civilization and development. No wonder Plato noted that no man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nurture and education. A cursory analysis of the teacher-student relationship in most African (Nigeria) educational institutions reveals that education in Africa is suffering from narration sickness. This paper argues that the pedagogical system of education in Africa is a hurdle to development; it examines the challenges and the agents responsible for the peril in the educational system. And finally, it adopts an evolutionary approach to education by proposing an andragogical system of education for Africa. Keywords : Education, transformation, humanization, philosophical, Africa, Pedagogical, Andragogical.


Ethnocentrism can be seen as an expression of narcissism at the group level. However, the relationship between ethnocentrism and narcissism has rarely been studied, and there is little agreement about what this relationship might be. Both have also been treated as simple, unidimensional constructs, whereas research indicates they are better viewed as complex and multidimensional. New research using multidimensional measures of both constructs was therefore conducted in a sample of 264 undergraduates. Narcissism, primarily its covert form, related positively to intergroup expressions of ethnocentrism, but negatively to intragroup expressions. In addition, both intergroup expressions of ethnocentrism and covert narcissism were related to disliking others. The findings suggest that intergroup expressions of ethnocentrism are based on personal self-aggrandizement, whereas intragroup expressions are based on personal self-transcendence. In addition, they suggest that narcissistic people have generally selfish and exploitative attitudes, even towards their own groups. They also emphasize the importance of investigating both ethnocentrism and narcissism as complex multidimensional constructs.


The mechanisms driving pathological beta‐amyloid (Aβ) generation in late‐onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) are unclear. Two late‐onset AD risk factors, Bin1 and CD2AP, are regulators of endocytic trafficking, but it is unclear how their endocytic function regulates Aβ generation in neurons. We identify a novel neuron‐specific polarisation of Aβ generation controlled by Bin1 and CD2AP. We discover that Bin1 and CD2AP control Aβ generation in axonal and dendritic early endosomes, respectively. Both Bin1 loss of function and CD2AP loss of function raise Aβ generation by increasing APP and BACE1 convergence in early endosomes, however via distinct sorting events. When Bin1 levels are reduced, BACE1 is trapped in tubules of early endosomes and fails to recycle in axons. When CD2AP levels are reduced, APP is trapped at the limiting membrane of early endosomes and fails to be sorted for degradation in dendrites. Hence, Bin1 and CD2AP keep APP and BACE1 apart in early endosomes by distinct mechanisms in axon and dendrites. Individuals carrying variants of either factor would slowly accumulate Aβ in neurons increasing the risk for late‐onset AD.


Objectives: to quantify inaccurate and missing information and to assess the quality of data related to infant deaths in Blumenau during the year of 1998. Methods: information was obtained on 125 deaths entered in the civil registration records and of 12 other deaths from hospitals in Blumenau. A new Death Certificate was filled (New DC) for comparison with each original Death Certificate (Original DC) based on hospital records information. New coefficients of child mortality and underlying causes were compared with the original information and the consistency between variables was determined. Results: an inaccuracy of 8,8% of the death records were demonstrated with the following outcomes: official coefficients are Child Mortality Coefficient 16,7; Perinatal Mortality Coefficient 21,0, Neonatal Mortality Coefficient 3,9, and the new ones depicted, 18,0, 23,1, 13,8 and 4,1 respectively. Social and demographic variables of fetal and non-fetal deaths are poorly reported not only in the Death Certificates but in hospital records as well. In general the Original Death Certificates for fetal deaths are worse than those of non-fetal deaths. The Kappa index between Original Death Certificates and New Death Certificates for perinatal causes and congenital malformations was of 0,73 and 0,80 respectively. Conclusions: notwithstanding the deficiency of information and unsatisfactory quality of the social and demographic data of infant deaths, the causes could be used for health planning considering their consis


Background: Conventional bacterial cultures frequently fail to identify the dominant pathogen in polymicrobial foot infections, in which Staphylococcus aureus is the most common infecting pathogen. Previous work has shown that species-specific immunoassays may be able to identify the main pathogen in musculoskeletal infections. We sought to investigate the clinical applicability of a S. aureus immunoassay to accurately identify the infecting pathogen and monitor its infectivity longitudinally in foot infection. We hypothesized that this species-specific immunoassay could aid in the diagnosis of S. aureus and track the therapeutic response in foot infections. Methods: From July 2015 to July 2019, 83 infected foot ulcer patients undergoing surgical intervention (debridement or amputation) were recruited and blood was drawn at 0, 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Whole blood was analyzed for S. aureus–specific serum antibodies (mix of historic and new antibodies) and plasmablasts were isolated and cultured to quantify titers of newly synthesized antibodies (NSAs). Anti–S. aureus antibody titers were compared with culture results to assess their concordance in identifying S. aureus as the pathogen. The NSA titer changes at follow-ups were compared with wound healing status to evaluate concordance between evolving host immune response and clinically resolving or relapsing infection. Results: Analysis of serum for anti–S. aureus antibodies showed significantly increased titers of 3 different anti–S. aureus antibodies, IsdH (P = .037), ClfB (P = .025), and SCIN (P = .005), in S. aureus culture-positive patients compared with culture-negative patients. Comparative analysis of combining antigens for S. aureus infection diagnosis increased the concordance further. During follow-up, changes of NSA titers against a single or combination of S. aureus antigens significantly correlated with clinically resolving or recurring infection represented by wound healing status. Conclusion: In the management of foot infection, the use of S. aureus–specific immunoassay may aid in diagnosis of the dominant pathogen and monitoring of the host immune response against a specific pathogen in response to treatment. Importantly, this immunoassay could detect recurrent foot infection, which may guide a surgeon's decision to intervene. Level of Evidence: Level II, prospective comparative study.


Although the cell line K562 reportedly expresses a single species of β1 integrin, α5β1, surface staining with monoclonal antibodies JB1A, 12G10 and B3B11 to the β1 chain clearly demonstrated differences in the expression levels of the epitopes detected by these antibodies. The present studies were initiated to determine the basis for this molecular heterogeneity in the integrins. Cross-linking of surface integrins with B3B11 caused their selective aggregation. This distribution was similar to that observed for the α5 chain. In contrast, cross-linking the β1 chains with 12G10 did not cause codistribution of α5, suggesting that these two species were not associated on the cell surface. Immunoprecipitates of the surface integrins of K562 cells indicated the presence of 120 and 140 kDa forms of the β1 chain which were detected by 12G10 and B3B11, respectively. Immunological, biochemical and mass spectrometric analysis of K562 surface integrins also failed to demonstrate the presence of any α chain in association with the 120 kDa species of β1 of K562 cells. Treatment of the two forms of β1 with PGNase reduced their masses to ∼90 kDa, suggesting that N-glycosylation was responsible for the mass differences. Collectively, these results provide evidence for a novel species of β1 on the cell surface, which does not appear to be associated with any α chain. The data also suggest that differences in glycosylation may be involved in defining the association between the integrin α and β chains and the functional properties of these integrins.


We consider multiple agents whose task is to determine the true state of an uncertain domain so they can act properly. If each agent only has partial knowledge about the domain and local observation, how can agents accomplish the task with the least amount of communication? Multiply sectioned Bayesian networks (MSBNs) provide an effective and exact framework for such a task but also impose a set of constraints. The most notable is the hypertree agent organization which prevents an agent from communicating directly with arbitrarily another agent. Are there simpler frameworks with the same performance but with less restrictions? We identify a small set of high level choices which logically imply the key representational choices made in MSBNs. The result addresses concerns regarding the necessity of restrictions of the framework. It facilitates comparison with related frameworks and provides guidance to extension of the framework as to what can or cannot be traded off.


Biopsy-associated complications could not be eliminated in spite of recent refinement, although needle biopsy has been the standard test for diagnosis of renal diseases. The development of noninvasive diagnostic test that provides insights into the mechanisms of diseases would be expected in the field of laboratory medicine. Biological fluids potentially have important histological information whose determination could serve to detect early disease state. Recently the advent of SELDI-TOF-MS (surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry) has extended the application of mass spectrometry to the study of proteins in biological fluids. We applied a new protein-chip technology based on SELDI in a discovery of renal disease biomarkers. Proteomic patterns in serum by means of protein-chip were exemplified by elucidating a biomarker candidate for acute renal allograft rejection. SELDI protein-chip technology will be applied more frequently to a number of medical and basic research problems because of high resolution, high reproducibility, ease of use, and fentomole sensitivity.


In this paper, the comprehensive delay and performance analyses of the M-ary molecular communications with memory are presented. By taking into account any level of channel memory, the type-based and concentration-based modulation schemes are introduced and analyzed. In the type-based modulation, information symbols are encoded through different molecule types. In the concentration-based modulation, various concentration levels of one molecule type are used to encode information symbols. For both modulation schemes, the delay distributions of the molecular symbols are derived, and then, the symbol error probabilities are developed. The given distributions and the error probability expressions are validated through extensive simulation experiments. After showing that the derived expressions are valid, the performance of the modulation schemes is evaluated. The performance evaluations reveal that by properly selecting the parameters such as slot time and number of emitted molecules, the performance can be improved in both type and concentration-based molecular communication as the channel memory is increased. Furthermore, it is shown that the type-based molecular communication outperforms the concentration-based molecular communication.


Based on extended Dixon resultants, a new algorithm DR (Dixon resultants) is proposed to solve the system of multivariate polynomial equations. The basic idea of DR is to apply the extended Dixon resultants method to the system of multivariate polynomial equations, by taking x1,x2,...,xn−1 as variables and xn as parameter. The time complexity of DR technique is evaluated. It seems to be polynomial when the system is sparse and m=n, and the mixed volume is polynomial. Moreover, DR technique is compared with Buchberger's algorithm and XL technique in this paper. It is shown that DR is far more efficient than Buchberger's algorithm and XL when m=n. DR is a quite efficient algorithm and makes a good use of the sparsity of the sparse system. Besides its efficiency, another advantage of DR is that its complexity is easy to determine.


Gegen Qinlian Decoction (GQD), a well-documented traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formula, was reported with convincing anti-diabetic effects in clinical practice. However, the precise antidiabetic mechanism of GQD remains unknown. In this study, the anti-hyperglycemic and/or lipid lowering effects of GQD were demonstrated in high-fat diet with a low dose of streptozotocin induced diabetic Sprague-Dawley rats and insulin resistance (IR)-3T3-L1 adipocytes. GQD treatment increased expression and activity levels of both PPARγ and PPARα in adipocytes, which transcriptionally affected an ensemble of glucose and lipid metabolic genes in vivo and in vitro. The results clearly indicated that GQD treatment intervened with multiple pathways controlled by concomitantly downstream effects of adipocytic PPARγ and PPARα, to influence two opposite lipid pathways: fatty acid oxidation and lipid synthesis. Antagonist GW9662 decreased the mRNA expression of Pparγ and target genes Adpn and Glut4 whereas GW6471 decreased the mRNA expression of Pparα and target genes Cpt-1α, Lpl, Mcad, Lcad, Acox1, etc. Nuclear location and activity experiments showed that more PPARγ and PPARα shuttled into nuclear to increase its binding activities with target genes. GQD decreased the phosphorylation level of ERK1/2 and/or CDK5 to elevate PPARγ and PPARα activities in IR-3T3-L1 adipocytes through post-translational modification. The increase in p-p38MAPK and SIRT1 under GQD treatment may be attributed to partially reduce PPARγ adipogenesis activity and/or activate PPARα activity. Compared with the rosiglitazone-treated group, GQD elevated Cpt-1α expression, decreased diabetic biomarker Fabp4 expression, which produced an encouraging lipid profile with triglyceride decrease partially from combined effects on upregulated adipocytic PPARγ and PPARα activities. These results suggested that GQD improved diabetes by intervening a diverse array of PPARγ and PPARα upstream and downstream signaling transduction cascades, which jointly optimized the expression of target gene profiles to promote fatty acid oxidation and accelerate glucose uptake and utilization than PPARγ full agonist rosiglitazone without stimulating PPARα activity. Thus, GQD showed anti-diabetic/or antihyperglycemic effects, partially through regulating adipocytic PPARα and PPARγ signaling systems to maintaining balanced glucose and lipid metabolisms. This study provides a new insight into the anti-diabetic effect of GQD as a PPARα/γ dual agonist to accelerate the clinical use.