There is substantial evidence of the relationship between maternal depressive mood and problematic child functioning. The vast majority of studies in this area concentrate on cross-sectional designs and depressive mood at one point in time. In contrast to the existing literature, the goal of this study was to investigate the relation of change in maternal depressed mood across time and adolescent functioning, including the possible moderating effects of gender of the adolescent and the marital status of parents. Regression analyses indicated that increased depressed mood across one year predicted teacher report of higher levels of externalizing and internalizing problems and lower levels of social competence, above that which could be predicted from the initial assessment of depressed mood. With one exception, neither gender nor parental marital status qualified the findings. The results suggest that static levels of maternal depressive mood are not sufficient for forecasting adolescent functioning. Future research needs also to consider change in such mood.


OBJECTIVE
to prevent kidney injury in renal artery and juxta-renal aortic surgery. After 30 min of cross-clamping ischaemia, renal arterial inflow is temporary re-established for 3 min. The aim of the study was to retrospectively analyse the results of this original technique.

METHODS
between January 1987 and May 1999, 48 patients underwent kidney short-term arterial blood reperfusion, directly or through the Pruitt-Inahara shunt. The reperfusion was repeated every 30 min of ischaemia, whenever necessary. Fifty control patients underwent <30 min of kidney ischaemia. Patients were assessed by serum creatinine, digital angiography and radioisotope renography using technecium(99).

RESULTS
in the study group one patient developed an acute renal failure and died (2% (-95% CI: 0-11%)). In both study and control groups patients showed a similar and moderate but temporary decline in renal function, which returned to preoperative levels after 1 week.

CONCLUSIONS
the results of this study indicate that kidney short-term reperfusion may protect renal tissue from prolonged cross-clamping ischaemia (up to 100 min), also in patients considered at high risk for acute renal failure.


Publishing is a model and mechanism for crash recovery in a distributed computing environment. Published communication works for systems connected via a broadcast medium by recording messages transmitted over the network. The recovery mechanism can be completely transparent to the failed process and all processes interacting with it. Although published communication is intended for a broadcast network such as a bus, a ring, or an Ethernet, it can be used in other environments.
 A recorder reliably stores all messages that are transmitted, as well as checkpoint and recovery information. When it detects a failure, the recorder may restart affected processes from checkpoints. The recorder subsequently resends to each process all messages which were sent to it since the time its checkpoint was taken, while ignoring duplicate messages sent by it.
 Message-based systems without shared memory can use published communications to recover groups of processes. Simulations show that at least 5 multi-user minicomputers can be supported on a standard Ethernet using a single recorder. The prototype version implemented in DEMOS/MP demonstrates that an error recovery can be transparent to user processes and can be centralized in the network.


With his grammar of 1848, Det norske Folkesprogs Grammatik, and his dictionary of 1850, Ordbog over det norske Folkesprog, Ivar Aasen (1813–1896) provided the first systematic account of Norwegian dialects and initiated the era of modern Norwegian lexicography. These publications constituted the scientific basis for a national written language for Norway. Aasen had no formal academic education, but Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab in Trondheim provided Aasen with the funding he needed to collect linguistic material from the dialects. In the final stages of the work on the grammar and the dictionary, Aasen sought advice from leading academics at the University of Oslo to ensure that his account of the language was scientifically sound and up to date. The article features the collaboration between Aasen and the university academics in this period, and particular attention is given to a disagreement that Aasen and the academics had regarding how the closed and open vowels should be handled in the written code. The article also addresses how the same environment of academics who had been important for Aasen's breakthrough as a linguist and lexicographer turned against his project when it was no longer just a theoretical linguistic project, but a practical project to establish a dialect-based written Norwegian language as an alternative to Danish. Finally the focus is on how the University of Oslo in the years after Aasen has taken care of and developed the constitutionally grounded project to implement a national language.


Background and Objective: Avicenniaceae family is a member of true mangrove plants which has one genus, 11 species and several sub species . According to biologically active compounds and traditional uses of the leaves in the traditional medician it, seems that this plant has significant anti-fungal effects. The aim of this study was evaluation of antifungal effect of aqueous and methanolic extracts of Avicennia marina leaves against Alternaria alternata and Penicillium citrinum . Materials and Methods : In this labratory study antifungal effect were of extracts evaluated by two methods, "Collins method" and "disk agar diffusion method" on Alternaria alternata PTCC 5224 and Penicillium citrinum PTCC 5304 microorganisms . The minimum inhibitory concentration ( MIC ) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) for both species were determined using "dilution method". Statistical analysis was carried out using analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. Results : All methanolic extract concentrations had inhibitory effect in the disk agar diffusion method. In "Collins method" 2 mg / ml concentration of methanolic extract could prevent the growth of both strains on medium. The aqueous extract had no antifungal significant effect in 2 mg / ml concentration. The methanolic extract MIC of Avicennia marina leaves for Penicillium citrinum and Alternaria alternata were respectively 8 mg/ml and 16 mg/ml. But the aqueous extracts MIC of Avicennia marina leaves for Penicillium citrinum was 32 mg/ml and 64 mg/ml for Alternaria alternata was. The methanolic extract MFC of Avicennia marina leaves for Penicillium citrinum and Alternaria alternata were respectively 16 mg / ml and 32 mg/ml but the aqueous extracts MFC of Avicennia marina leaves for Penicillium citrinum was 64 mg/ml and 256 mg/ml for Alternaria alternata . Conclusions : The methanolic extract of Avicennia marina leaves had more inhibitory effect than the aqueous extracts on both fungal species.


Highlight: Accumulation of acidity in spiny and spineless Opuntia joints jluctuated daily due to crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in Golan Height and coastal plain. The acidity reached higher concentrations in the young joints, especially during early morning hours, before the plants were exposed to sunlight. Changes in acidity were more pronounced in the chlorenchyma than in the water-accumulating tissues. These findings provide information on the rate and time of photosynthesis of these plants and may enable the feeding of livestock on Opuntia, while acid levels taken in by livestock are kept low to reduce a cause of diarrhea. The acidity is lower on sunny warm days, during late afternoons, in shriveled, old joints which had been exposed to full sunlight or were excised and stored in light. It may, therefore, be better to let cattle feed on the shriveled Opuntia before the start of the rainy season and use shrubs such as Atriplex halimus, which is better suited after onset of the first rain, as complementary perennial feed.


Sperm migration distance through a polyacrylamide gel mimicking cervical mucus was compared among seven species: dog, cat, goat, ram, clouded leopard, dorcas gazelle, and Eld's deer. Freshly collected spermatozoa were evaluated microscopically and then assayed for migration distance in gel-filled capillary tubes in raw or diluted concentrations or after longevity declines in sperm motility and progressive status. Sperm count per milliliter of ejaculate and sperm percent motility ratings varied (P < 0.05) among selected species. Undiluted ejaculated spermatozoa from all species, except the clouded leopard, penetrated the polyacrylamide gel. Migration distance (mm) was different (P < 0.05) among species and not clearly correlated to concentration or motility factors. Although sperm concentrations in the dog and Eld's deer were similar, average migration distance of deer sperm was more than fourfold greater (P < 0.01) than that of dog sperm. The sperm motility rating for the gazelle was greater (P < 0.05) than that for the cat; however, penetration distance in the cat was more than twice as great (P < 0.05) as that in the gazelle. Species also varied in migration response after altering sperm concentration: Halving the sperm count of the dog, gazelle, and Eld's deer had no effect, but the same procedure decreased (P < 0.05) penetration distance in the goat and ram. No migration was observed in any species at a sperm concentration of 25 × 106 cells or less. Within species a decline in sperm percent motility-progressive status ratings was correlated (P < 0.05) to a subsequent decrease in penetration distance. These results provide a comparative assessment of sperm cell migration through a synthetic cervical mucus and suggest that this test may be a useful adjunct in evaluating reproductive potential. However, the assay is specific in interpretive merit, as sperm penetration distance within a single batch of gel is markedly variant among species and in some species dependent on sperm concentration. This interspecies specificity in sperm migration through a homogeneous gel suggests intrinsic species variance in sperm cell-cervical mucus interaction, suggesting that this assay could be valuable in future studies of the mechanism of sperm transport.


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Abstract Objective: This study aimed to investigate the utility of three-dimensional reconstructions of paranasal sinus computed tomography data in depicting the anatomy of the frontal sinus drainage pathway. Methods: Twenty-nine patients underwent imaging of the sinuses for various clinical indications. Variations in frontal sinus recess anatomy were determined from 0.75-mm thick coronal, axial and sagittal computed tomography images. Three-dimensional, reformatted images were generated from manually segmented volumes of interest. Observations were made on the variation and usefulness of these reconstructions. Results: Three-dimensional, reformatted images of segmented volumes aided delineation of the spatial relationships of the frontal sinus, frontal sinus drainage pathway, infundibular and meatal direction of drainage, agger nasi cells, ethmoid bulla cells, supraorbital cells, and suprabullar cells. Conclusion: Three-dimensional, reformatted images of frontonasal anatomy enable improved understanding of the frontal sinus drainage pathway anatomy and of the spatial relationships between ethmoid air cells in this region. Such images may provide a useful adjunct to surgical planning and education.


Selective oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding carbonyl compounds is one of the most fundamental reactions in organic synthesis. Traditional methods for this transformation generally rely on stoichiometric amount of oxidants represented by Cr(VI) or DMSO reagents, though their synthetic utility is encumbered by unpleasant waste materials. From ecological and atom-economic viewpoints, catalytic aerobic oxidation is much more advantageous because molecular oxygen is ubiquitous and the byproduct is basically non-toxic water or hydrogen peroxide. On the other hand, phenol derivatives undergo oxidative coupling, forming C-C or C-O bond, through radical intermediates coupled with an electron-transfer process. Molecular oxygen is also well known to serve as electron acceptor in this reaction. Thus, a variety of transition metal complexes have so far been examined for aerobic oxidations of alcohols and phenols, and high catalytic activities have been achieved in some cases. However, stereo- and chemo-selective aerobic oxidations are still limited in number and are of current interest. Presented in this paper is our recent studies on catalytic aerobic oxidations with photoactivated nitrosyl ruthenium-salen complexes, including asymmetric oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones (kinetic resolution), enantioselective oxidative coupling of 2-naphthols to binaphthols and oxygen-radical bicyclization of 2,2'-dihydroxystilbene, chemoselective oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes and diols to lactols, and asymmetric desymmetrization of meso-diols to lactols.


In this study, we presented high-performance flexible organic light-emitting diodes (FOLEDs); to do so, we prepared indium-tin oxide (ITO) thin layers by ion beam sputtering (IBS) on polyethylene terephtalate (PET) substrates in soft low temperature conditions. The IBS technology seems well adapted to us to adjust the conduction level of the interface films to the one of the various organic materials making up the fabrication processes of the organic optoelectronic components; moreover this technique does not require a high substrate temperature or an annealing after ITO deposition to crystallize the obtained layers. Because of the great number of deposition parameters (oxygen flow, substrate temperature, deposition rate...) playing interdependent roles and strongly influencing the electrical, optical and structural properties of the layers, we optimized the effects of these different parameters separately by using electrical and optical characterizations as well as X-ray diffraction analyses. The performances of FOLEDs on PET substrate with different ITO thicknesses were investigated and compared to the ones of a conventional organic light-emitting diode realized on glass substrate and according to the same device configuration.


Tyrosinase-related protein 2 (TRP2) is a melanosomal enzyme ex pressed in most mammalian melanocytes and melanomas. This protein has been identified as a melanoma antigen recognized by tumor reactive CTLs derived from tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in the context of HLA-A31 and HLA-A33. The frequencies of these HLA-A alÃ-elesamong melanoma patients in the United States is low (—6%for HLA-A31 and -2% for HLA-A33) compared with that of HLA-A*020I (-46%). There fore, to extend significantly the use of TRP2-based immunothérapies for the treatment of patients with melanoma, we searched for new III \/l*020/-restricted epitopes from this protein by screening TRP2-derived peptides for the induction of melanoma-reactive CTL. Fifty-one peptides were selected from TRP2 based on a permissive HI*A-A*020I binding motif, and the 21 peptides with the highest experimentally determined binding affinities were used to stimulate peripheral blood lymphocytes from HLA-A*0201+ melanoma patients in vitro. One peptide, TRP2U80188) (SVYDFFVWL), induced CTLs from three of four patients that specifically recognized peptide-pulsed T2 cells, COS-7 cells expressing HLA-A*020I and TRP2, and HLA-A2+ TRP2+ melanomas. TRP2U80188) is identical to a previously identified TRP2 epitope recognized by murine melanoma-reactive CTLs in the context of 112k1'. These results suggest that TRP2 may be useful for the development of murine tumor immunotherapy models and for the treatment of melanoma patients who are diverse in III, \ expression.


Traditional statistical classification approaches often fail to yield adequate results with Hyperspectral imagery (HSI) because of the high dimensional nature of the data, multimodal class distribution and limited ground truth samples for training. Over the last decade, Support Vector Machines (SVMs) and Multi-Classifier Systems (MCS) have become popular tools for HSI analysis. Random Feature Selection (RFS) for MCS is a popular approach to produce higher classification accuracies. In this study, we present a Non-Uniform Random Feature Selection (NU-RFS) within a MCS framework using SVM as the base classifier. We propose a method to fuse the output of individual classifiers using scores derived from kernel density estimation. This study demonstrates the improvement in classification accuracies by comparing the proposed approach to conventional analysis algorithms and by assessing the sensitivity of the proposed approach to the number of training samples. These results are compared with that of uniform RFS and regular SVM classifiers. We demonstrate the superiority of Non-Uniform based RFS system with respect to overall accuracy, user accuracies, producer accuracies and sensitivity to number of training samples.


Forty weaned male infants were studied during their first year of life, all hospitalized with acute diarrhea in the Gastroenterology and Metabolism Unit of the Hospital "Umberto I", São Paulo, SP, Brazil. We evaluated and quantified water fecal losses, employing the metabolic bed technique, relating the feeding formula employed with the different causal enteropathogenic agents. 67.5% of the studied infants were under six months and 40% under three months of age. Two groups were randomly assembled to receive, lactose or lactose free feeding formulae. Twenty one patients received a lactose-containing formula (Ninho 10%) and the other 19 children were fed caseine (Portagen) formulae. According to coproculture results and identification of enteropathogenic agents, we divided the studied infants relating feeding formula with the presence or absence of the enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC): I-13 with positive coproculture for EPEC and diets which included lactose--(L/EPEC+); II--eight with negative coproculture for EPEC and diets which included lactose--(L/EPEC-); III--seven with positive coproculture for EPEC and lactose free diets--(G/EPEC+); IV--12 with negative coproculture for EPEC and lactose free diets. (G/EPEC-). The most frequently isolated agent at coproculture was EPEC, in 20 of the cases (50%), followed by Campylobacter (7.5%). It was also possible to observe that the frequencies of EIEC, Salmonella and Rotavirus were all equal (2.5%). Mixed infections occurred only between EPEC and EIEC, registering a frequency of 5%. The EIEC samples, associated to EPEC 0111 were serotyped as 0 28 ac: H- and 0 152:H-. The use of metabolic bed made the evaluation of fecal volumes possible by a simple and quick technique, thus allowing a closer clinical monitoring, as well as a more reliable evaluation of the patients hospitalized with acute diarrhea. Average acceptance volumes of the formulae--either with or without lactose--were always below the amount recommended by FAO/WHO (100 kcal/day) which shows the impact of acute diarrhea on the decrease of food intake. The average volumes of watery fecal losses found among any of the studied subgroups may be considered quite relevant when compared to standard values. Especially within the L/EPEC+ group fecal losses, both on the first day (83.56 ml/kg/day) and, mainly, on the second (119.44 ml/kg/day) reached exceedingly high levels indicating a disastrous association between the presence of EPEC in the small intestine and lactose offer in the diet. Thus, the results show that there exists a positive and significant association between poor lactose absorption and the presence of EPEC in the feces. WHO's recommendation proposing the use of diluted cow milk, in universal and indiscriminate administration, in the two first days of the disease, may represent a risk factor, not only for malnutrition, but also for the survival rates of children with severe diarrhea, especially those under six months of age and hospitalized with EPEC enteroinfection.


Generating user activity is a key capability for both evaluating security monitoring tools as well as improving the credibility of attacker analysis platforms (e.g., honeynets). In this paper, to generate this activity, we instrument each machine by means of an external agent. This agent combines both deterministic and deep learning based methods to adapt to different environment (e.g., multiple OS, software versions, etc.), while maintaining high performances. We also propose conditional text generation models to facilitate the creation of conversations and documents to accelerate the definition of coherent, system-wide, life scenarios.


The literature pertaining to the use of granulocyte transfusions as treatment for progressive bacterial, yeast, and fungal infections in severely neutropenic patients is reviewed. Efficacy in treating bacterial infections that are unresponsive to antimicrobial therapy is well established—especially if bone marrow failure does not recover rapidly and neutropenia is persistent. The role of therapeutic granulocyte transfusions for yeast and fungal infections has potential merit, but current data are incomplete and findings are inconsistent. The possibility of greater success has been raised by use of recombinant granulocyte colony stimulating factor to greatly increase the yield of neutrophils collected from normal donors.


BACKGROUND
Transcatheter closure of cardiovascular defects remains a challenge. Several occlusion devices are available, but each device has limitations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the new Gianturco-Grifka vascular occlusion device (GGVOD) in a canine model.

METHODS AND RESULTS
A total of 26 GGVODs were implanted as part of short- and long-term studies. In the short-term study, 1 GGVOD was implanted in each of 11 systemic arteries from 3.2 to 9.0 mm in diameter. All 11 arteries were occluded immediately. In the long-term study, an aortopulmonary shunt was placed in 10 dogs (9, Gore-tex graft; 1, subclavian artery) followed by GGVOD implantation; additionally, a GGVOD was implanted in 5 subclavian arteries. The dogs were boarded for 3 to 6 months, then recatheterized and euthanatized. Immediately after implantation, the 5 subclavian arteries and 9 Gore-tex shunts were occluded completely; the 1 subclavian artery shunt had a small residual leak. At recatheterization, all 10 shunts and 5 subclavian arteries were occluded completely. Necropsy revealed all shunts to be occluded, with the aortic and pulmonic orifices covered with a neointimal layer. The mean fluoroscopic time needed for GGVOD implantation was 9 minutes (range, 3 to 22 minutes).

CONCLUSIONS
(1) In a canine model, the GGVOD is effective for transcatheter occlusion of arteries and aortopulmonary shunts from 3 to 9 mm in diameter. Possible indications in children include aortopulmonary collateral vessels, long patent ductus arteriosus, systemic-pulmonary shunts, AV malformations, and arteries supplying tumors. (2) GGVOD implantation requires a short fluoroscopic time.


95 boys at 3 developmental levels (ages 6-8, 8-10, 10-12) were selected on the basis of sociometric and aggression ratings to represent 4 groups: (1) aggressive and rejected, (2) aggressive (not rejected), (3) rejected (not aggressive), or (4) neither aggressive nor rejected. Behavioral observations, teacher ratings, peer ratings, and open-ended peer interviews were collected to characterize the behaviors of these boys in 3 social domains (conduct problems, sociability/withdrawal, and adaptability/responsivity to peer expectations). Distinct problem profiles emerged. Aggressive-rejected boys exhibited more diverse and severe conduct problems that did aggressive boys, along with greater deficiencies in the domain of adaptability. Nonaggressive rejected children were considered by teachers and peers to be shy and passive, deficient in prosocial behaviors, atypical, and socially insensitive. Grade-level decreases in physical aggression and increases in peer-reported atypical/insensitive behaviors corresponded to developmental differences in group characteristics.


. Work with foreign students in China is comprehensive and complex. It includes teaching, management, provid-ing services and other aspects. With the increasing number of foreign students in China, these problems are becoming more complicated and the tasks more and more burdensome. Assimilative management, based on maintaining the charact-eristics of education management for foreign students to some extent, alleviates this situation. The objective of this study is to identify the true connotation of assimilative management by interpreting the relevant policies of the Chinese go-vernment about foreign students in China and to find out ways and strategies of implementing assimilation management for foreign students in universities. The fundamental purpose of assimilative management is to optimize the allocation of university teaching, management and service resources, and ultimately improve the education quality for the foreign students. This paper analyzes the management practices of foreign students in Chinese universities for nearly 70 years, interprets the latest policies for foreign students in China and explores the strategies of implementing these policies.


The article describes the linguistic mechanisms that create an image of Szczecin
in the novel Bambino by Inga Iwasiow. The subject of examination are lexical and phraseological
forms and word interactions which present an image of the city in three dimensions:
spatial, social and both: historical and cultural. This lexical and semantic circle was
made up by the names, usage of selected colloquial lexemes and non-standard verbal collocations.
Linguistic mechanisms are various and contain also specifi c evaluation of used
forms. The article is concluded with the observation that linguistic creation of Szczecin
in analyzed novel is a multiaspectual and subjective construction.


Neutral beam injection in the START spherical tokamak induces L to H mode transitions in double null divertor configurations. The behaviour of the edge poloidal velocity, electron temperature and density, and edge neutral density during the transition are examined. The region encompassing the thermal barrier is investigated with a variety of diagnostics including Doppler spectrometry, Thomson scattering, a Balmer Dα camera and magnetics.


The self-aff'me behavior of fracture surfaces of polymeric materials was qualitatively and quantitatively studied. SEM images of fracture surfaces of both polypropylene and polystyrene show Chevron marks at several magnifications. In addition, for polystyrene the mirror and Hackle zones were also observed. For quantitative analysis, the average roughness exponent, ζ, of height profiles generated by AFM images, was estimated by applying the variable bandwidth method. Values of ζ=0.788 and ζ=0.810 were obtained for polypropylene and polystyrene, respectively. These results are in very good agreement with the claimed universal exponent of 0.8 reported in the literature for other non-polymeric materials. By choosing the AFM appropriate operating conditions, measurements of roughness on plastic material surfaces could be performed.


In order to clarify the suitability of 198Au-colloid and Na251CrO4 as a marker of transit of the gastrointestinal content of the chicken, the distribution, absorption and excretion of 198Au-colloid and Na251CrO4 in the chicken were examined. Orally administered 198Au-colloid was not absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract and excreted into feces. Intravenously injected 198Au-colloid was not excreted into the gastrointestinal tract through the gastrointestinal wall. On the other hand, orally administered Na251CrO4 was relatively well absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract and distributed over a whole body. Intravenously injected Na251CrO4 was excreted into the gastrointestinal tract through the gastrointestinal wall and bile ducts. It seemed that 198Au-colloid was not adhered to the gastrointestinal mucosa and consequently, the transport of 198Au-colloid in the gastrointestinal tract was not delayed. It is concluded that 198Au-colloid is highly suitable as a marker of gastrointestinal transit of the chicken but Na251CrO4 is unsuitable.


Physical therapists (PTs) are at risk of musculoskeletal disorders due to their strenuous working characteristics. This cross-sectional descriptive research aimed to explore ergonomic risk factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders among PTs. Study participants comprised of 207 PTs working at community hospitals in Health Region 1. The research instrument used was a self-administered questionnaire covering 3 parts; demographic information, musculoskeletal problems and ergonomic risk factors. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square test. Results showed that the prevalence rates of musculoskeletal disorders among PTs were 95.7 and 82.1% during a 12-month and 7-day period, respectively. The 3 body areas having the highest percentage of musculoskeletal problems were the shoulders, lower back and neck at 72.5, 58.9, and 56.5%, respectively. Regarding the relationship between exposure to ergonomic risk factors and musculoskeletal disorders in the past 12 months, exposure to awkward postures, repetition and forceful exertion were significantly associated with musculoskeletal disorders at p<0.05. Findings from this study could be used as significant guideline initiation for treatment plans or intervention programs to prevent and reduce the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders among PTs in community hospitals.


Bioassay-guided isolation of antibacterial components of chamomile flower methanol extract was performed by overpressured layer chromatography (OPLC) with on-line detection, fractionation combined with sample clean-up in-situ in the adsorbent bed after off-line sample application. The antibacterial effect of the eluted fractions and of those compounds remaining on the adsorbent layer after separation was tested with direct bioautography (DB) against the bioluminescent Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. maculicola and Vibrio fischeri. The fractions with high biological activity were analyzed by solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) and liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Two active uneluted compounds were characterized by off-line OPLC-MS using a thin-layer chromatography (TLC)-MS interface. Mainly, essential oil components, coumarins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and fatty acids were identified in the active fractions.


In this work, we studied the reaction mechanisms for CO2 reduction reaction (CRR) on the iron-doped graphene and its coordinating sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) variants, FeNnS4-n (n=1-4), using density functional theory calculations. Our results revealed that the electronic property and catalytic reactivity of the surfaces can be tuned by varying the N and S atoms ratio. The CRR activities of the mixed surfaces, FeN3S1, FeN2S2, and FeN1S3, were better than FeN4 and FeS4, where the absolute value of the limiting potential of the mixed surface decreased by 0.3 V. Considering the stability, we suggest FeN3S surface to be favorable for CRR. For the bare surfaces, we found a positive linear correlation between the magnetic moment and the charge of Fe metal. For these surfaces, the reduction of CO (*CO + (H++e-)→ *CHO) was important in deciding the limiting potential. We found that the adsorption energy of CO displayed a volcano relationship with the magnetic moment of the Fe atom. The study showed that the change of local coordinating structure around the Fe atom could modify the electronic and magnetic properties of the active Fe center and improve the CRR activity performance.


Infestation of Trialeurodes variabilis (Quaintance) was observed in October 2004, in papaya plants of cultivar Sunrise Solo, under screenhouse conditions, in Cruz das Almas, State of Bahia, Brazil. In infested leaves, around 20% of parasitism on nymphs was verified. Leaves with parasitized nymphs were kept in laboratory until emergence of the parasitoid, identified as Encarsia hispida De Santis. This is the first time that this parasitoid was detected on T. variabilis nymphs in Brazil.


The environment in which young people are educated today is constantly changing and developing. The conditions for education and training, forms and methods, information and communication technologies and the harmonious combination of all these factors are important for creating a modern educational environment. As stated in the Concept of the New Ukrainian School, a modern graduate should be: an innovator, a patriot, a citizen, enterprising and initiative, able to communicate effectively, apply ICT etc. Among the main set of key competences of a modern graduate, one of the important competence is a sense of entrepreneurship and initiative, which should become an indispensable characteristic of a modern person. The aim of the article is to analyze the European experience in the development of entrepreneurial competence of students in a computer-based learning environment in the context of reforming national education. To achieve this goal, a set of research methods was used: analysis and systematization of scientific literature, works of domestic and foreign authors; comparative and pedagogical analysis, which is used to compare and generalize different views on the organization of entrepreneurship education in schools of the European Union. The article examines the experience of foreign countries in the formation of entrepreneurial competence of students, namely the European framework of entrepreneurial competence for citizens, which is a guiding document used in writing standards and curricula for all levels of education, as well as in the field of employers to describe qualifications. Approaches to the formation of students' entrepreneurial competence in a computer-oriented learning environment are revealed. A virtual guide to entrepreneurship education is described, including tools and methods for implementing entrepreneurship education; practical experience of the best European schools, political and strategic documents on organization of entrepreneurship training, including using ICT tools. Suggestions for the formation of entrepreneurial competence of students for domestic professionals are given.


ABSTRACT The study explores the relationship between phonological awareness and early reading for bilingual children learning to read in two languages that use different writing systems. Participants were 57 Cantonese–English bilingual 6-year-olds who were learning to read in both languages. The children completed cognitive measures, phonological awareness tasks, and word identification tests in both languages. Once cognitive abilities had been controlled, there was no correlation in word identification ability performance across languages, but the correspondence in phonological awareness measures remained strong. This pattern was confirmed by a principal components analysis and hierarchical regression that demonstrated a different role for each phonological awareness factor in reading performance in each language. The results indicate that phonological awareness depends on a set of cognitive abilities that is applied generally across languages and that early reading depends on a common set of cognitive abilities in conjunction with skills specific to different writing systems.


Many Western-based AIDS education and prevention programmes have failed dismally in Africa and they may only succeed if traditional African beliefs and customs are taken into account. This article discusses relevant aspects of the traditional African worldview by explaining what health, sickness and sexuality mean in traditional Africa. Traditional African perceptions of causes of illness (including AIDS), perceptions of sexuality, and cultural beliefs inhibiting the usage of condoms are described in terms of the influence of the macro-cosmos (the ancestors), the meso-cosmos (witches and sorcerers) and the micro-cosmos (everyday life). The implications for AIDS education and prevention in Africa are discussed and suggestions are offered for the development of such programs.


We develop fixed-order (i.e., full- and reduced-order) controllers for systems with actuator amplitude constraints and exogenous bounded energy L/sub 2/ disturbances. The actuator amplitude saturation and disturbance rejection constraints are embedded within an optimization problem by constructing a Riccati equation whose solution guarantees closed-loop global asymptotic stability in the face of sector bounded input nonlinearities and non-expansivity (gain boundedness) of the input-output system energy. Application of the proposed framework is demonstrated via a numerical example.


We present a method for extracting local visual perceptual cues and its application for rate control of videophone, in order to ensure the scarce bits to be assigned for maximum perceptual coding quality. The optimum quantization step is determined with the rate-distortion model considering the local perceptual cues in the visual signal. For extraction of the perceptual cues, luminance adaptation and texture masking are used as the stimulus-driven factors, while skin color serves as the cognition-driven factor in the current implementation. Both objective and subjective quality evaluations are given by evaluating the proposed perceptual rate control (PRC) scheme in the H.263 platform, and the evaluations show that the proposed PRC scheme achieves significant quality improvement in block-based coding for bandwidth-hungry applications.


The surfaces generated by cleaving nonpolar, two-dimensional oxides are often considered to be perfect or ideal. However, single particle spectroscopies on Sr2RuO4, an archetypal nonpolar two-dimensional oxide, show significant cleavage temperature dependence. We demonstrate that this is not a consequence of the intrinsic characteristics of the surface: lattice parameters and symmetries, step heights, atom positions, or density of states. Instead, we find a marked increase in the density of defects at the mesoscopic scale with increased cleave temperature. The potential generality of these defects to oxide surfaces may have broad consequences to interfacial control and the interpretation of surface sensitive measurements.


To investigate the mechanisms underlying motor hyperactivity, we performed intracisternal injection of 6-hydroxydopamine or endocrine disruptors in rats on postnatal day 5. 6-Hydroxydopamine (100 μg, 488 nmol) caused a significant increase in spontaneous motor activities at 4 weeks of age. Gene-expression profiling using a cDNA membrane array revealed alterations in several classes of gene at 8 weeks of age. In the midbrain, gene expression was enhanced in dopamine transporter 1; a platelet-derived growth factor receptor; dopamine receptor D4; galanin receptor 2; arginine vasopressin receptor 2; neuropeptide Y; tachykinin 2; and fibroblast growth factor 10. Expression was also enhanced in the glutamate/aspartate transporter gene in the striatum. Rats received an endocrine disruptor (87 nmol), such as bisphenol A, nonylphenol, p-octylphenol, or diethylhexylphthalate, which also caused motor hyperactivity at 4 weeks. The effects of bisphenol A on motor activity were dose-dependent from 0.87 to 87 nmol. The phenols caused a deficit in dopamine neurons, similarly to the deficit caused by 6-hydroxydopamine. Gene-expression profiles after treatment with endocrine disruptors showed variation and differed from those of 6- hydroxydopamine. The results suggest that neonatal treatment with environmental chemicals can generate an animal model of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, in which clinical symptoms are pervasive.


The temporal properties of visual selective attention change with age as reflected in a longer and deeper impairment of identifying the second of two targets in a rapid stream of visual distracters. In younger adults, identification rates for both targets can be improved by a simultaneous, task irrelevant sound. Research in response time tasks has shown that older participants can benefit more from bimodal stimulation than younger subjects. Here we examine whether this facilitation in older participants can also be found in a setting in which relevant items need to be identified while competing rapid visual input needs to be ignored. The results of the first experiment indicated a trend in the predicted direction, but only for the first target. The second experiment tested whether increasing the probability of a sound to coincide with a target would modulate this trend. As before, the sound improved target identification rates, but an effect of age on the effectiveness of the sound was not evident. These results indicate that audiovisual integration can provide a useful means for improving visual temporal attention also in older adults, but that the gain is not larger in older than in younger adults.


Purpose: Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of death among gynaecological malignancies. Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF β1) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) are cytokines in the tumour microenvironment and may play critical roles in immune suppression. This study highlights these roles and immunosuppressive functions in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Methods: TGF-β1 and IL-10 expression was compared in malignant, benign, and borderline cancerous tissues and tumour-free tissue by immunohistochemistry. Relationships among the levels of these cytokines, correlation of expression level with EOC prognosis, and cytokine involvement in immunosuppression were investigated. Results: Immunohistochemical analysis of TGF-β1 and IL-10 in epithelial cells showed the presence of epithelial, borderline, and benign ovarian tumour growth, and normal ovarian growth. TGF-β1 (P = 0.121), residual tumour after surgery (P = 0.231) and standard chemotherapy (P = 0.121) were prognostic factors for EOC. There were no significant differences in clinicopathologic factors between specimens expressing TGF-β1 at low and high levels, indicating that TGF-β1 is an independent factor in EOC diagnosis. Higher concentrations of TGF-β1 (1754.690 ± 3416.487 pg/ml) and IL 10 (2731.7101 ± 6.1613 pg/ml) were observed in A2780-conditioned than in control medium. Conclusion: TGF-β1 and IL-10 play pivotal roles in EOC and can lead to immune evasion. Targeting these cytokines for tumour treatment, specifically at early stages, may prevent tumour progression. Keywords: Epithelial ovarian cancer, TGF-β1, IL-10, histopathology


A coaxial piping system (CPS) that involves a transition from a smaller annulus into a larger annulus is investigated to evaluate the generation of vortices and recirculation zones around the transition area. These areas are of interest for industrial applications where erosion within the piping system is a concern. The focus of this work is to evaluate the capabilities of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using commercial Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) models to predict the regions and intensity of vortices and recirculation zones. A trusted grid is developed and used to compare turbulence models. The commercial CFD solver Fluent (Ansys Inc., USA) is used to solve the flow governing equations for different CFD numerical formulations, namely the one equation Spalart-Allmaras model, and steady-state RANS with different turbulence models (standard k-epsilon, k-epsilon realizable, k-epsilon RNG, standard k-omega, k-omega SST, and transition SST) [1].CFD results are compared to time-averaged particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. The PIV provides 3D flow field measurements in the outer annulus of the piping system. Velocities in regions of interest were used to compare each model to the PIV results. An RMS comparison of the numerical results to the measured values is used as a quantitative evaluation of each turbulence model being considered. The results provide a useable CFD model for evaluation of the flow field of this flow field and highlights areas of uncertainty in the CFD results.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


The cytoskeleton network of eukaryotic cells is essential for diverse cellular processes, including vesicle trafficking, cell motility and immunity, thus is a common target for bacterial virulence factors. A number of effectors from the bacterial pathogen Legionella pneumophila have been shown to modulate the function of host actin cytoskeleton to construct the Legionella-containing vacuole (LCV) permissive for its intracellular replication. In this study, we identified the Dot/Icm effector Lem8 (Lpg1290) as a protease that interferes with host motility. We show that the protease activity of Lem8 is catalyzed by a Cys-His-Asp motif known to be associated with diverse biochemical activities. Intriguingly, we found that Lem8 interacts with the host regulatory protein 14-3-3ζ, which activates its protease activity. Furthermore, Lem8 undergoes self-cleavage in a process that requires 14-3-3ζ. We identified the PH domain-containing protein Phldb2 involved in cell migration as a target of Lem8 and demonstrate that Lem8 plays a role in the inhibition of host cell migration. Our results reveal a novel mechanism of inhibiting host cell motility by L. pneumophila for its virulence.


AIM
Failure to translate research into practice is common. The present study implemented an evidence-based model of care to address identified evidence-practice gaps in our department's weight management service.

METHODS
Implementation science frameworks were used to identify barriers to best practice and determine appropriate strategies to overcome them. No practice change occurred pre-implementation. The new model of care incorporated evidence-based interventions into a flowchart, supported by written resources, and integrated routine data collection into clinic processes. Alignment with a statewide telephone counselling program enhanced service capacity. Data were collected for adult patients whose primary intervention was weight management at a South-East Queensland hospital and included service attendance metrics, anthropometry, diet quality, and interventions delivered, and were compared with guidelines. Change in outcomes was calculated at 3 months after initial appointments.

RESULTS
Pre-implementation, 69.2% (n = 91) of patients referred were seen by a dietitian. During the new model of care (n = 60), over half (63.3%) were referred to telephone counselling. The remainder were triaged according to the flowchart with 100% attendance. Guideline adherence for reviews significantly increased over time (4.4%-50%, P < 0.001). Follow-up data were available for 31.3% and 54.5% of the pre-implementation and new model of care patients, respectively. No significant differences were observed between outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
The present study demonstrated successful implementation of weight management guidelines within routine clinical care. Following a systematic assessment of existing evidence-practice gaps resulted in a pragmatic evidence-based model of care that could be delivered within service capacity.


Patients with rheumotoid arthritis appear to be at increased risk of developing chronic leg ulcers. This review identifies the factors that predispose these patients to leg ulceration and highlights how this problem can be managed and the risk of recurrence reduced.


Eight ruminally cannulated lactating Holstein cows were used in a double 4 x 4 Latin square to determine the effects of 1) proportion of barley silage [40, 50, and 60% of dry matter (DM)] in the diet, and 2) feeding a total mixed ration (TMR) compared with separate ingredients (SI) on chewing activities, saliva production, and ruminal pH. Although cows fed SI were offered a diet containing 50% silage, they actually consumed a diet containing 43% silage (DM basis). Dry matter intake and milk yield were similar for all diets (18.2 kg of DM/d and 27.2 kg/d, respectively). Cows fed the 40% silage TMR spent more time eating than cows fed SI (243 vs. 198 min/d), but rumination time was similar (546 min/d). Eating time was similar among the TMR diets, but rumination time increased from 498 to 516 and 584 min/d as silage in the TMR increased from 40 to 50, and then to 60%, respectively. The secretion of saliva per gram of feed was 4.43, 3.18, and 1.19 ml/g of DM with consumption of silage, TMR, and concentrate, respectively. Resting salivation rate was similar for all diets (101 ml/min). Regardless of the diet, cows secreted 239 +/- 17 L/d of saliva, and ruminal pH was below 5.8 for 10 h/d. Results indicated increased chewing time did not increase total daily saliva secretion because increased eating and ruminating saliva was associated with decreased resting saliva. Feeding SI increased the risk of acidosis, because cows ate a higher proportion of concentrate than intended.


In the conditions of transformation of contemporary society there are dynamic transformations, which primarily affect changes in the individual psychological sphere of each person. These changes lead to formation of a holistic, confident and self-sufficient personality, capable of high self-regulation and self-control, which will ensure one's successful integration into society. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the importance of self-sufficiency in the development of the system of personality self-regulation. The article uses a theoretical analysis of scientific publications on self-regulation and self-sufficiency of the individual; generalization and systematization of the results of current researches and approaches. The considered main approaches to the study of self-regulation, which reflects a conscious control of behavior, contributes to the effective achievement of goals, ensures successful adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Self-regulation includes a whole system of emotional and behavioral reactions, personality traits, internal and external factors that determine one's development, among which an important place is occupied by self-sufficiency. Self-sufficient personality has a well-established system of claims, autonomy and independence, high self-esteem and determination. Self-sufficiency is associated with personality-oriented growth, self-realization, which provides motivation to effectively regulate behavior and psycho-emotional state. The conducted theoretical research allowed to state that self-regulation of personality is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon, an important place in the structure of which is occupied by self-sufficiency. It is concluded that there isa necessity to update and achieve self-sufficiency, which will promote development of self-regulation.


To establish the correlation between two methods of volume estimation of spleen, e.g., prolate ellipsoid formula and 3-D reconstruction of abdominal helical CT-image. Settings and Design: One hundred twenty-six patients were selected aged between 20 and 80 years in which male and female were 72 and 54 respectively for cross-sectional study. Patients who had underlying malignancy, infections, hematological disorders and other conditions that could alter splenic size were excluded. Methods and Material: Total volume of spleen in each patient was obtained by summation of stacks of images with the help of volume and surface rendering technique of Able 3-D doctor software. Other dimensions, e.g., length, width, and thickness were also obtained. Then volume of spleen was calculated by prolate ellipsoid method of each patient by using length, width and thickness. Then two methods were correlated by application of linear regression model. Results: The mean volume calculated by prolate ellipsoid formula was 288 ± 142.6 cm³. Splenic volume measured by prolate ellipsoid formula well correlated with volume measured by 3-D reconstruction of abdominal CT images (161.57 ± 90.2 cm³). We had developed the regression formula of ellipsoid splenic volume (cm³) = 1.224 × true splenic volume (cm³) + 61.49 (r = 0.929, p < 0.001). Conclusions: By CT-scan or sonographic measurements, prolate ellipsoid formula 0.524 × length × width × thickness provides best accuracy with helical CT determination of splenic volume. Above regression formula would be used to calculate the volume of spleen if helical CT is not used and would help in predicting diagnosis of splenomegaly in suspected clinical conditions. Keywords: Spleen, volume, helical CT, sonography, prolate ellipsoid formula


Background: People with schizophrenia are more likely to develop cannabis use disorder (CUD) and experience worse outcomes with use. Yet as cannabis is legalized for medical and recreational use, there is interest in its therapeutic potential. Objectives: To conduct a systematic review summarizing the design and results of controlled trials using defined doses of THC and CBD in schizophrenia. Method: A keyword search of eight online literature databases identified 11 eligible reports. Results: One placebo controlled trial (13 stable patients without CUD) found that intravenous THC increased psychosis and worsened learning/recall. Two reports of a functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) study of smoked or oral THC in 12 abstinent patients with schizophrenia and CUD found no change in symptoms and cognition, and an amelioration of impaired resting state brain function in areas implicated in reward function and the default mode network. One 4 week trial in acutely psychotic inpatients without CUD (mean age 30 y) found 800 mg CBD to be similarly efficacious to amisupride in improving psychosis and cognition. Two 6 week studies of CBD augmentation of antipsychotics in stable outpatients reported mixed results: CBD 600 mg was not more effective than placebo; CBD 1,000 mg reduced symptoms in a sample that did not exclude cannabis use and CUD. A brain fMRI and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study of single dose CBD in a sample that did not exclude CUD and cannabis use found that CBD improved symptoms and brain function during a learning/recall task and was associated with increased hippocampal glutamate. Discussion: There is substantial heterogeneity across studies in dose, method of drug delivery, length of treatment, patient age, whether patients with cannabis use/CUD were included or excluded, and whether patients were using antipsychotic medication. Conclusion: There is insufficient evidence for an effect of THC or CBD on symptoms, cognition, and neuroimaging measures of brain function in schizophrenia. At this time, research does not support recommending medical cannabis (THC or CBD) for treating patients with schizophrenia. Further research should examine THC and CBD in schizophrenia with and without comorbid CUD and consider the role of CBD in mitigating symptom exacerbation from THC.


The high demands on the clinical performance of a single-tooth provisional restoration necessitate that said performance be examined. The authors evaluated 24 teeth evaluated. Two test groups received bis-acrylic composite for provisional crowns (n = 12) and a single-unit, self-supporting, malleable, light-curing composite crown (n = 12). Final crowns (n = 24) served as paired controls. Evaluation of clinical success was measured using previously selected subcategories of FDI criteria. Statistical analysis was performed using McNemar's Test (α = 0.05). The null hypothesis of no improvement of the definitive crown relative to the provisionals was rejected at the 5% significance level (McNemar's P value <.001, Bonferroni corrected). Of the provisional crowns, 75% received a clinically insufficient valuation, while only 8% of the definitive crowns did. The authors concluded that, independent of the manufacturing process, a bis-acrylic composite provisional crown cannot serve as a replacement for a conventionally manufactured definitive crown.


This comparative study aims at juxtaposition of modern Western naturalistic evolutionism and the mostly similar attitude in the classic Indian philosophy in the shape of Sankhya's cosmology in the context of their corresponding critiques by contemporary creationists and Advaita-Vedanta. The long and pointed polemics with Sankhya in the Brahmasutrabhasya by Šankaracharya (7th-8th centuries A.D.) is in the focus of this investigation along with numerous references to the Sankhya-karika by Isvarakrsna (5th century A.D.) as the basic text of the philosophical school criticized by its most powerful opponent. Comparing Western and Indian evolutionism reveals some very important differences to such a degree that the Indian species of the genus would be, in the author's opinion, better identified as not evolutionism in the strict sense but as a "développisme" combining features of evolutionism with those of emanationism. As to Sankhya's naturalism, it turns to be much more "sophisticated" than that, e.g., of Thomas Huxley or the so-called New Atheists because its "stuff" is more psychological than material. Nevertheless, crucial logical gaps remain the same in both cases (along with an antitheistic "faith" instead of rationalism), while their taking into account by opponents of naturalism offers a challenge for comparative philosophical theology.


Thirty patients over 40 years of age with atrial septal defects were operated on between 1981 and 1989. They were divided into two groups according to operative technique, group A of patients with direct suture of defect (17 cases) and group B patch closure (13 cases), in order to investigate the incidence of postoperative complications. Patient age and size of defect in group B were both greater than in group A. One group A patient had pulmonary stenosis, two group B patients had mitral valvular disease and six group B patients had pulmonary hypertension. The incidence of postoperative heart failure was 29% in group A and 61% in group B and that of arrhythmia was 47% and 69% respectively, however there were no intraoperative and postoperative deaths. We concluded that, although a high incidence of postoperative complications was observed in group B, patch closure was recommended for older patients with atrial septal defect because direct suture was more likely to distort the atrial septum.


The Nandoni Dam was constructed amidst much fanfare regarding the social and economic benefits that would accrue to the local communities. Although not specifically stated, tourism was implied, which could lead to employment and the general upliftment of these communities. The potential for tourism enterprises, such as camping, picnics, sport, water recreation, and environmental conservation, were envisaged by persons living in the vicinity of the Dam. However, very little has materialized, not even the provision of roads, electricity and water infrastructure. To verify the impressions of local communities regarding the economic-tourism potential of the Dam, 100 households were visited in the study area. Simple convenience sampling was adopted, and a self-administered questionnaire was used to gather relevant data. Due to a suspected high level of illiteracy field workers translated questionnaires where necessary, and personally collected completed forms. Data were analysed by the Mathematics Department at the University of Venda, using the SPSS version 18 software. The study confirmed, generally, the impressions of the authors regarding the attitudes of communities living around the Dam towards economic-tourism development in the area.


Carbon catabolite repression (CCR) is a common mechanism pathogenic bacteria use to link central metabolism with virulence factor synthesis. In gram-positive bacteria, catabolite control protein A (CcpA) and the histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein HPr (encoded by ptsH) are the predominant mediators of CCR. In addition to modulating CcpA activity, HPr is essential for glucose import via the phosphotransferase system. While the regulatory functions of CcpA in Staphylococcus aureus are largely known, little is known about the function of HPr in CCR and infectivity. To address this knowledge gap, ptsH mutants were created in S. aureus that either lack the open reading frame or harbor a ptsH variant carrying a thymidine to guanosine mutation at position 136, and the effects of these mutations on growth and metabolism were assessed. Inactivation of ptsH altered bacterial physiology and decreased the ability of S. aureus to form a biofilm and cause infections in mice. These data demonstrate that HPr affects central metabolism and virulence in S. aureus independent of its influence on CcpA regulation.


Demand for data storage is growing exponentially, but the capacity of existing storage media is not keeping up. Using DNA to archive data is an attractive possibility because it is extremely dense, with a raw limit of 1 Exabyte/mm3 (109 GB/mm3), and longlasting, with observed half-life of over 500 years. This paper presents architecture for a DNA-based archival storage system. It is structured as a key-value store, and leverages common biochemical techniques to provide random access. We also propose a new encoding scheme that offers controllable redundancy, trading off reliability for density. We demonstrate feasibility, random access, and robustness of the proposed encoding with wet lab experiments involving 151 KB of synthesized DNA and a 42 KB randomaccess subset, and simulation experiments of larger sets calibrated to the wet lab experiments. Finally, we highlight trends in biotechnology that indicate the impending practicality of DNA storage for much larger datasets.


Preliminary evidence suggests that a CD4 cell count < 50 cells/mm3 is associated with a particularly poor short-term prognosis, and is both necessary and sufficient for death associated with HIV infection. We sought to validate these findings in a cohort of 1,415 zidovudine (ZDV)-treated patients, with advanced HIV infection, and to examine more closely the profile of CD4 cell decline over the 2 years prior to death. As of December 31, 1991, 432 patients had died. The cumulative 2 year survival of patients once their CD4 cell count fell to < or = 50 cells/mm3 (median survival = 17.3 months) was substantially shorter at 25.7%, than from when their CD4 cell counts first fell within the range 51-100/mm3 (51.4%); 101-150/mm3 (67.3%); or 151-200/mm3 (76.5%). The percent of patients with a CD4 count < 50 cells/mm3, increased from 33% at 24 months prior to death to 58% at 12 months and 86% at 1 month. Patients with a CD4 count > or = 50 cells/mm3 in the month prior to death, were significantly older (p < 0.001) and had higher CD4 cell counts (p < 0.05) at initiation of ZDV compared to those with a CD4 count < 50 cells/mm3. There were no important differences in HIV risk category, duration of ZDV therapy or use of PCP prophylaxis between the two groups. These findings highlight the importance of more intensive monitoring of patients with CD4 counts < 50 cells/mm3, since life-threatening opportunistic infections are more likely to supervene at this stage. A CD4 count < 50 may also be a useful surrogate endpoint for survival in clinical trials.


BACKGROUND
Chronic alcohol feeding induces hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy). Previously, we reported a protective role of betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT) in homocysteine-induced injury in cultured hepatocytes. In this study, we investigated the direct role of BHMT in alcohol or homocysteine-induced liver injury.

METHODS
Betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase transgenic (Tg) mice were generated. Comparisons were made between the Tg and wild type (WT) mice in their response to intragastric alcohol infusion or to oral feeding of a high methionine low folate diet (HMLF).

RESULTS
Expression of the Tg BHMT was increased in organs peripheral to the liver. The alcohol infusion for 4 weeks increased: plasma ALT by 5-fold in WT mice and 2.7-fold in Tg mice; plasma homocysteine by 7-fold in WT mice and 2-fold in Tg mice; liver triglycerides by 4-fold in WT mice and 2.5-fold in Tg mice. The alcohol-induced fatty liver was more severe in WT than in Tg mice based on H&E staining. The HMLF feeding for 4 weeks increased plasma ALT by 2-fold in WT mice and 1-fold in Tg mice; plasma homocysteine by 21-fold in WT mice and 3.3-fold in Tg mice; liver triglycerides by 2.5-fold in WT mice and 1.5-fold in Tg mice. HMLF induced accumulation of macro fat droplets in WT but not Tg mice. Betaine supplementation decreased partially the alcohol or HMLF-induced increase of ALT, homocysteine and liver lipids in WT mice. However, Tg mice were normal when fed both HMLF and betaine. In WT mice, both alcohol and HMLF induced moderate increase of sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1) protein which was partially reduced by betaine supplementation. In Tg mice, alcohol but not HMLF increased SREBP1. Carbohydrate responsive element-binding protein was increased by alcohol in either WT or Tg mice which was not affected by betaine supplementation. Ratio of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) was reduced by 50% in WT and by 20% in Tg mice fed alcohol. Ratio of phosphatidylcholine (PC) to phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) was reduced in WT but not Tg mice fed alcohol. Changes in PE methyltransferase activities were not detected in response to alcohol or HMLF feeding but were increased by betaine.

CONCLUSIONS
The BHMT Tg mice are resistant to alcohol or HMLF-induced HHcy and liver steatosis indicating that peripheral metabolism of homocysteine protected the liver without a direct effect of BHMT in the liver. Multiple mechanisms are involved in protection by betaine including increased SAM/SAH and PC/PE ratios.


BackgroundEvidence shows that 30% of healthcare services are unnecessary and unlikely to benefit patients and may even be harmful. Choosing Wisely (CW) is a physician-initiated, international campaign (with campaigns in at least 20 countries) aimed at addressing unnecessary medical care through the provision of evidence-based resources and clinical guidance. Our objectives were to evaluate the sustainability potential of CW across four Ontario community hospitals and affiliated family health teams (FHT). MethodsWe recruited CW implementation teams across Ontario hospitals and their affiliated primary care family health teams (FHTs) to participate in a mixed-methods study to identify and respond to their CW implementation and sustainability challenges. The study involved the administration of a validated sustainability Survey at baseline, 6- and 12-months follow-up, and participation in two focus groups (at baseline and 6 months) to discuss identified successes and opportunities for improvement, and to respond to implementation and sustainability challenges through a team exercise involving the co-creation and implementation of an action plan to directly address them.ResultsFifteen CW implementation teams across five Ontario community hospitals and affiliated FHTs participated in the study. Three CW de-adoption priority areas were investigated by teams: de-prescribing of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), and reducing Pre-Op testing and BUN/Urea lab testing. All 15 teams achieved a baseline sustainability team score that was well above the threshold of what is considered a potentially sustainable innovation (i.e., >55%). We observed steady improvements in sustainability scores over three time points across all primary care teams, which is a strong indication that CW is sustainable in these settings. Regardless of site or priority area, facilitators that were common across all teams were fit with existing processes and workflows, leadership support, and optimized team communication. Common challenges were: lack of awareness and buy-in, lack of leadership engagement or a champion, and lack of fit with existing workflow and culture. All teams identified at least one challenge (during the baseline focus groups) for which they co-designed and implemented a plan to address them aimed at maximizing the sustainability potential of their CW priority areas. ConclusionsEvaluating the sustainability potential of an innovation such as Choosing Wisely is critical to ensuring that they have the best potential for impact. Our work highlights that implementation teams can be empowered to influence their implementation efforts, and to realize positive outcomes for their healthcare services and patients.


Normal map is an important and efficient way to represent complex 3D models. A designer may benefit from the auto-generation of high quality and accurate normal maps from freehand sketches in 3d content creation. This paper proposes a deep generative model for generating normal maps from users' sketch with geometric sampling. Our generative model is based on conditional generative adversarial network with the curvature-sensitive points sampling of conditional masks. This sampling process can help eliminate the ambiguity of generation results as network input. It is verified that the proposed framework can generate more accurate normal maps.


The objective of this work was to study the occurrence of Listeria species in feces and on dressed and cooled carcasses of lambs at a packing plant in Brazil. Listeria spp. were recovered on Oxford and Palcam agars. The 35 fecal samples yielded Listeria welshimeri (20%) and Listeria innocua (8.6%). The 69 carcass samples yielded L. innocua (34.8%), Listeria monocytogenes (4.3%), and Listeria ivanovii (1.5%). More Listeria spp. were recovered with two selective agars than with either agar alone.


ABSTRACT As the places of monuments are reconsidered today in light of social justice concerns, the authors revisit a "monument" of language and social interaction (LSI) research. Philipsen's foundational work published nearly 50 years ago, "Speaking 'Like a Man' in Teamsterville," thus becomes a starting point for dialogue among four scholars with diverse views on the critical voice in ethnography of communication research. When read today, the homophobic speech of Teamstervillers is shocking. Also surprising by present standards is that such speech passes unremarked and does not figure in the analysis. In the present essay, the authors—an LSI scholar, discourse studies scholar, critical rhetorical scholar, and an LSI doctoral student—review early debates on the critical voice, relate individual narratives of their experiences in either reading "Teamsterville" again after a long hiatus or encountering the work for the first time, and then conduct a joint dialogue on the question: What is the ethnographer's obligation when harmful and oppressive speech is observed? Though their views remain diverse, the authors advocate for a disciplinary consensus: that the present moment calls for renewed discussion—and, even if differently practiced, affirmation—of the critical voice in the ethnography of communication.


Congenital or hereditary cataract is a condition where the lens of the eye is not completely transparent resulting in cloudy or blocked vision. Many genes have been found to influence the formation of a cataract. The gene that has been focused on in this paper is the CRYAA gene which codes for the crystallin A protein, a major constituent protein of the lens. Mutations and misfoldings of this protein have been seen to be a major cause of congenital cataract. So, we did an analysis of the gene and the protein using computational tools. As a solution to the condition, we computationally devised a vector that carries the correct CRYAA gene. This vector could be used during the pre-natal stage of pregnancy for children who are believed to inherit this condition. Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 5(2): 216-221


It is predicted that drought will be more frequent and sustained in the future, which may affect the decline of rubber tree production. Therefore, it is critical to research some of the variables related to the drought-resistance mechanism of the rubber tree. As a result, it can be used to guide the selection of new rubber drought-resistance clones. The goal of this study was to identify drought-resistance mechanisms in rubber clones from the high drought factor index (DFI) group using ecophysiological and biochemical variables. The treatments consist of two factors, namely water deficit and contrasting clones based on the DFI variable. The first factor consisted of three levels, namely normal (fraction of transpirable soil water (FTSW) > 0.75), severe water deficit (0.1 < FTSW < 0.20), and recovery condition (FTSW > 0.75 after rewatering). The second factor consisted of seven clones, namely clones G239, GT1 (low DFI), G127, SP 217, PB 260 (moderate DFI), as well as G206 and RRIM 600 (high DFI). RRIM 600 had the highest DFI among the other clones as a drought-tolerance mechanism characteristic. Furthermore, clones RRIM 600, GT1, and G127 had lower stomatal conductance and transpiration rate than drought-sensitive clone PB 260. As a result, as drought avoidance mechanisms, clones RRIM 600, GT1, and G127 consume less water than clone PB 260. These findings indicated that clone RRIM 600 was a drought-resistant clone with drought tolerance and avoidance mechanisms.


Cyclic models of the universe have the advantage of avoiding initial conditions problems related to postulating any sort of beginning in time. To date, the only known viable examples of cyclic models have been ekpyrotic. In this paper, we show that the recently proposed anamorphic scenario can also be made cyclic. The key to the cyclic completion is a classically stable, non-singular bounce. Remarkably, even though the bounce construction was originally developed to connect a period of contraction with a period of expansion both described by Einstein gravity, we show here that it can naturally be modified to connect an ordinary contracting phase described by Einstein gravity with a phase of anamorphic smoothing. The paper will present the basic principles and steps in constructing cyclic anamorphic models.


We consider a repeated regulation model in an oligopoly under asymmetric information with pollution. An iterative procedure is proposed where the regulator designs stationary taxes, and firms are not required to be perfectly rational. They can form and update simple beliefs about their competitors' aggregate output at each period. Two versions of the mechanism are provided depending on whether firms behave adaptively or with perfect foresight. Conditions under which the procedure converges to a unique steady state are provided. It is proved that there exists a suitable stationary tax policy that enables the firms to adjust to socially optimal choices in the long run. The tax rates of both versions are typically strictly less than the ones that result from a full information, Nash implementation. Moreover, in the myopic case, the tax rate decreases as the number of firms increases. We discuss problems relating to the potential implementation of the procedure.


Recently Frazier et al detected SARS-CoV-2 virus in autopsy samples from middle ear and mastoid of COVID-19 deceased. Our article presents an anatomical model for the possible route by which SARS-CoV-2 may pass into the middle ear cavity and hence to the mastoid cavity. The anatomic correlation explained in this article will not only help in explaining the pathological basis of the findings presented by Frazier et al but will also imply for the precautionary measures to be taken while dealing with COVID-19 patients with otolaryngeal problems.


The article points out that the existence of the problem of double diagnoses (DD) in psychiatry and addictology means recognizing the fact that «addiction» is a mental illness and, therefore, a brain disorder. There are common areas in the brain that are responsible for the formation of addictive pathology and for the development of other mental illnesses. It explains the high comorbidity between disorders associated with the use of psychoactive substances, and other mental illnesses. The factors of predisposition to the development of addictive pathology include: family burden with addictive pathology, early onset of use of psychoactive substances, social stress situation, and mental illness. The artificial separation of psychiatry and addictology into two services in Russia is a historical mistake. A new paradigm of dependent disorders emphasizes the need to create a special section on double disorders, with the revision of this archaic model.


The global routing problem decomposes the large, complex routing problem into a set of more manageable subproblems. The high correlation between the output of the global router and the detailed router enables the designer to efficiently use the global route to refine the design quickly before running the full detailed route. Hence, routability of the global routing solution is the key factor. The routability of the circuit depends on the congestion of the routing. In this paper, we study Steiner trees in terms of routability. We introduce the notion of flexibility, a geometric property associated with Steiner trees. We show that the flexibility of a Steiner tree is related to its routability. The main contribution of this paper is an algorithm which takes a stable Steiner tree as an input and maps it to a more flexible Steiner tree. Any existing Steiner tree algorithm can be used for the initial construction of the Steiner tree. Experiments with a global router on a subset of nets show that routing congestion is improved by approximately 20% locally throughout the region where those nets are routed.


Deep learning has achieved substantial improvement on single-channel speech enhancement tasks. However, the performance of multi-layer perceptions (MLPs)-based methods is limited by the ability to capture the long-term effective history information. The recurrent neural networks (RNNs), e.g., long short-term memory (LSTM) model, are able to capture the long-term temporal dependencies, but come with the issues of the high latency and the complexity of this http URL address these issues, the temporal convolutional network (TCN) was proposed to replace the RNNs in various sequence modeling tasks. In this paper we propose a novel TCN model that employs multi-branch structure, called multi-branch TCN (MB-TCN), for monaural speech enhancement.The MB-TCN exploits split-transform-aggregate design, which is expected to obtain strong representational power at a low computational complexity.Inspired by the TCN, the MB-TCN model incorporates one dimensional causal dilated CNN and residual learning to expand receptive fields for capturing long-term temporal contextual information.Our extensive experimental investigation suggests that the MB-TCNs outperform the residual long short-term memory networks (ResLSTMs), temporal convolutional networks (TCNs), and the CNN networks that employ dense aggregations in terms of speech intelligibility and quality, while providing superior parameter efficiency. Furthermore, our experimental results demonstrate that our proposed MB-TCN model is able to outperform multiple state-of-the-art deep learning-based speech enhancement methods in terms of five widely used objective metrics.


ABSTRACT Aim: The aim was to map and describe the university-based addiction studies programs in Africa, as part of continuing international research. Methods: The study was conducted in 2016–2017. The first phase was based on Google and literature search of academic programs through pre-defined keywords. The second phase consisted of an in-depth analysis of characteristics of the identified programs. Results: We identified six universities in Africa that provided eight specific addiction education programs, two operating in Kenya and four in South Africa. Two programs were graduate level and four postgraduate level programs, one was a certificate. Four programs were offered both in full time and part-time formats. Two were on the part-time basis, and two were available only online as distance learning programs. Six programs charged fees. Four programs offered a clinical practicum as a part of the studies. Courses included counseling skills; research methods; ethical and professional issues; assessment and screening. Two programs required a thesis or research project. Conclusion: As programs become more linked to each other through efforts like the ICUDDR, additional programs may be identified in the region. The main strength of the study lies in opening debate about African addiction studies education opportunities.


ABSTRACT Cultural socialization refers to the processes by which parents communicate cultural values, beliefs, customs, and behaviors to their children. To date, research on cultural socialization has focused primarily on racial- and ethnic-minority families, and more contemporary studies have examined these practices among international and transracial adoptive families. In general, four main themes have emerged in the literature: Cultural Socialization, Preparation for Bias, Promotion of Mistrust, and Egalitarianism. Since families with same-sex parents continue to experience stigma in society, there is reason to believe these parents engage in cultural socialization strategies specifically around issues of sexual orientation. Yet, current research on cultural socialization has not explicitly investigated same-sex parenting. Thus, the present study examined same-sex parent socialization among families headed by sexual-minority parents (52 fathers, 43 mothers) using a preexisting socialization framework. Findings revealed that the majority of parents endorsed behaviors designed to promote children's awareness of diverse family structures and prepare them for potential stigma-related barriers socialization along three dimensions: Cultural Socialization, Preparation for Bias, and Proactive Parenting. These results contribute to our empirical understanding of same-sex parenting and justify the need to broaden our conceptualization of cultural socialization to be more inclusive of these diverse family structures.


Epidermodysplasia verruciformis is a very rare, chronic disease that's characterized by persistent human papillomavirus infection. This type of lesion may transform into malignant skin tumors, usually after the age of 30 years. We report here on a 33-year-old woman who presented with squamous cell carcinoma and actinic keratosis that developed from epidermodysplasia verruciformis. Her malignant skin lesions were effectively treated by surgical excision, cryotherapy and topical application of imiquimod. (Korean J Dermatol 2008;46(10):1432∼1434)


Aims
Myocardial perfusion reserve (MPR) is defined as the maximal possible increase in myocardial blood flow (MBF) above baseline conditions. Global MBF can be measured non-invasively by means of coronary sinus flow velocity encoded cine (VENC) cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). We aimed to explore the relationship between global MBF/MPR and the extent and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients referred for CAD work-up by adenosine-stress CMR.

Methods and results
Fifty-eight patients with suspected obstructive CAD underwent both adenosine-stress CMR and invasive coronary angiography. In addition to standard cine- and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE)-imaging, first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) and coronary sinus flow measurements (VENC) were performed at rest and during peak stress (after 140 µg/kg/min adenosine), respectively. Nineteen young patients with a very low CAD pre-test probability and normal adenosine-stress CMR formed the control group. Fifty-nine percent (n = 34) of the study group showed segmental, adenosine-induced myocardial perfusion defects compared to none of the control group (P < 0.001). Global MPR was lower in the study group compared to the control group: 2.3 (1.5-3.1) vs. 3.1 (2.0-4.3), P = 0.016. The SYNTAX score was higher in the study group patients with an impaired MPR (<2) compared to those with a preserved MPR (3.0 vs. 16.0, P = 0.01)-mainly due to higher prevalence of proximal epicardial stenoses (60% vs. 27%, P = 0.02) and multi-vessel disease (56% vs. 24%, P = 0.017). The diagnostic yield of stress CMR for the diagnosis of CAD (>50% stenosis) increased from 65to 88% when global MPR assessment was considered in addition to MPI (P = 0.025).

Conclusions
Global MBF and MPR values correlate with the anatomical extent and complexity of CAD and increase the diagnostic yield of non-invasive stress CMR in the work-up of CAD. CMR-based MBF and MPR measurements may play a future role in the evaluation of the total ischaemic burden-particularly in patients with multi-vessel disease.


Without a "do not attempt resuscitation" order on a patient's chart, nurses are obliged to initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on all patients who die in hospital. Their discomfort with this situation is often related to the perception that resuscitation attempts are being carried out, at best, inappropriately and, at worst, unethically.


SUMMARY 1. Rivers and their adjacent riparian zones are intimately linked by fluxes of water, air masses, nutri-ents and organisms. Intermittent rivers constitute ideal systems to examine these linkages becausethey are characterised by alternating wet and dry phases, and hence, natural and contrasting varia-tions occur in aquatic resources and environmental conditions.2. We addressed the effects of river drying on riparian communities by collecting ground-dwellingarthropods at three perennial sites and at four intermittent sites during a wet and a dry phase in theAlbarine River (France). We first predicted that during dry phases, declines in aquatic resources andloss of water would create harsh environmental conditions and alter community structure and com-position, due to decreases in predators and hygrophilous taxa. Second, we predicted that alternatingwet and dry phases would enhance cumulative taxonomic richness over time owing to an increasein species turnover.3. We found similar decreasing temporal patterns in taxonomic richness and abundance at intermit-tent and perennial sites, indicating that river drying had no effect on the structure of riparianarthropod communities. Community composition at intermittent and perennial sites differed onlyduring the dry phase, indicating that intermittent and perennial sites gained and lost different sets oftaxa as the river dried. Nevertheless, species turnover did not differ between sites, while taxonomicrichness was always higher at intermittent sites.4. Although some taxa were sensitive to river drying, the Albarine River supports rich and abun-dant riparian arthropod communities. While several studies have reported a strong dependenceof riparian populations on aquatic resources, our results indicate that the effects of river dryingon riparian arthropods at the community level are weak and discrete in time in the AlbarineRiver.Keywords: aquatic–terrestrial linkages, ground-dwelling arthropods, riparian zones, river drying, turnover


Using cultured Y-1 mouse adrenal tumor cells which produce the steroid 20(-hydroxypregn-4-en-3-one (20-DHP), it was found that 10-5 M corticosterone and deoxycorticosterone increased basal and inhibited ACTH-induced 20-DHP production. The steroid effects were concentration-dependent, reversible, and specific since six other steroids did not stimulate steroidogenesis and varied in their ability to inhibit ACTH-induced steroidogenesis. Cytochalasin D inhibited steroid-stimulated 20-DHP production, suggesting a mechanism of steroid stimulation similar to that of ACTH. Steroidogenesis stimulated by cholera toxin, (Bu) 2 cAMP, or pregnenolone was not inhibited by exogenous steroid; corticosterone increased basal and inhibited ACTH-induced intracellular cAMP production. Steroids altered cell surface morphology. These findings suggest that steroids alter adrenal steroidogenesis by acting within the plasma membrane.


NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) is the first enzyme of the respiratory electron transport chain in mitochondria. It conserves the energy from NADH oxidation, coupled to ubiquinone reduction, as a proton motive force across the inner membrane. Complex I catalyzes NADPH oxidation, NAD+ reduction, and hydride transfers from reduced to oxidized nicotinamide nucleotides also. Here, we investigate the transhydrogenation reactions of complex I, using four different nucleotide pairs to encompass a range of reaction rates. Our experimental data are described accurately by a ping-pong mechanism with double substrate inhibition. Thus, we contend that complex I contains only one functional nucleotide binding site, in agreement with recent structural information, but in disagreement with previous mechanistic models which have suggested that two different binding sites are employed to catalyze the two half reactions. We apply the Michaelis-Menten equation to describe the productive states formed when the nucleotide and the active-site flavin mononucleotide have complementary oxidation states, and dissociation constants to describe the nonproductive states formed when they have the same oxidation state. Consequently, we derive kinetic and thermodynamic information about nucleotide binding and interconversion in complex I, relevant to understanding the mechanisms of coupled NADH oxidation and NAD+ reduction, and to understanding how superoxide formation by the reduced flavin is controlled. Finally, we discuss whether NADPH oxidation and/or transhydrogenation by complex I are physiologically relevant processes.


There has been a growing appreciation over the last decade that chemotaxis plays an important role in cancer migration, invasion and metastasis. Research into the field of cancer cell chemotaxis is still in its infancy and traditional investigative tools have been developed with other cell types and purposes in mind. Direct visualisation chambers are considered the gold standard for investigating the behaviour of cells migrating in a chemotactic gradient. We therefore drew up a list of key attributes that a chemotaxis chamber should have for investigating cancer cell chemotaxis. These include (1) compatibility with thin cover slips for optimal optical properties and to allow use of high numerical aperture (NA) oil immersion objectives; (2) gradients that are relatively stable for at least 24 hours due to the slow migration of cancer cells; (3) gradients of different steepnesses in a single experiment, with defined, consistent directions to avoid the need for complicated analysis; and (4) simple handling and disposability for use with medical samples. Here we describe and characterise the Insall chamber, a novel direct visualisation chamber. We use it to show GFP-lifeact transfected MV3 melanoma cells chemotaxing using a 60x high NA oil immersion objective, which cannot usually be done with other chemotaxis chambers. Linear gradients gave very efficient chemotaxis, contradicting earlier results suggesting that only polynomial gradients were effective. In conclusion, the chamber satisfies our design criteria, most importantly allowing high NA oil immersion microscopy to track chemotaxing cancer cells in detail over 24 hours.


The increasing exposure of patients to an ever-growing list of drugs and chemicals has led to the definition of a variety of pathophysiologic mechanisms responsible for adverse drug reactions. A major stimulus for many of these studies has been the observation that the same drug administered in the same way and in the same dose to a large number of patients may be toxic to only a few. An important example of this type of phenomenon is the selective hemolytic action of sulfonamides. Soon after the introduction of sulfonamides as antibiotic agents, Harvey and Janeway 1 noted the development of an acute hemolytic anemia in three patients receiving sulfanilamide for bacterial infections. One year later, Wood 2 emphasized the frequency and selectivity of the phenomenon by observing that 21 of 522 patients treated with sulfanilamide had a hemolytic reaction. Wood also stated that "the majority of patients who have once


An investigation steeredto ascertain the adsorption potential of fallen Platanus orientalis leaf powder (FPOLP) ascost-effective adsorbentto removeCu2+from an aqueous solution. The FPOLP was physically activated in two different forms (oxidation) and (N2) flowconditions. Batch operations for Cu2+ adsorption were performed to ascertain adsorption characteristics of FPOLP and activated samples. The results indicated that the optimum activation temperature and time were 500 oC and 180 min, respectively, while the best Cu2+ removal was achieved when the solution was controlled at pH 3 and the adsorbent dosage at 3 g/L.Additionally, an evaluation of the mechanism of adsorption fitted very well intopseudo-second-order. FTIR, scanning electron microscopy and BETmeasurements suggested that the new functional groups and the increased surface area related to the porous structure played a critical role in Cu2+ removal by the activated leaf powder. FPOLP has a great potential to remove Cu2+ in an aqueous solution.


The case of a 4.5-year-old girl with autosomal recessive vitamin D dependency is described. Although she had been effectively treated since one month postpartum with 1 alpha-hydroxycholecalciferol [1 alpha(OH)D3, alfacalcidol], her mean alkaline phosphatase (EC 220.127.116.11) activity in serum increased to 3680 U/L from a stable value [335 (SD 50) U/L; n = 12] within three weeks, then returned to baseline over the ensuing four months. Transient hyperphosphatasemia was diagnosed. Extensive investigation of an isolated episodic increase in alkaline phosphatase activity is as superfluous in the child with adequately treated metabolic bone disease as it is in other healthy and asymptomatic children.


Layered TiNb2O7/graphene composites (TNO/G) were synthesized through simple direct dispersion and blending in an aqueous solvent followed by a freeze drying process and an annealing treatment under Ar. The graphene sheets are well separated by TiNb2O7 (TNO) nanoparticles, and simultaneously, the TNO particles are uniformly anchored between the graphene sheets. The combined advantages of graphene sheets and TNO, such as the weight ratio and layered structure, exhibit tremendous benefits for high rate Li ion capability reaching around 180 mA h g−1 at a current density of 38.7 A g−1 (100C rate). Through the synergistic effects of their combination the total specific capacity of TNO/G is higher than the sum of the specific capacity of pure TNO and graphene in their relative ratios. For the study of Na ion capability, as graphene is an active material during the de-sodiation process, a reversible capacity of 340.2 mA h g−1 was obtained from this TNO/G at a current density of 25 mA g−1. Even at a higher current density of 200 mA g−1, a stable capacity of 200 mA h g−1 can still be obtained. These findings demonstrate the great potential of TNO/G for lithium/sodium ion anodes.


We propose NullSpaceNet, a novel network that maps from the pixel level input to a joint-nullspace (as opposed to the traditional feature space), where the newly learned joint-nullspace features have clearer interpretation and are more separable. NullSpaceNet ensures that all inputs from the same class are collapsed into one point in this new joint-nullspace, and the different classes are collapsed into different points with high separation margins. Moreover, a novel differentiable loss function is proposed that has a closed-form solution with no free-parameters. NullSpaceNet exhibits superior performance when tested against VGG16 with fully-connected layer over 4 different datasets, with accuracy gain of up to 4.55%, a reduction in learnable parameters from 135M to 19M, and reduction in inference time of 99% in favor of NullSpaceNet. This means that NullSpaceNet needs less than 1% of the time it takes a traditional CNN to classify a batch of images with better accuracy.