The "uncovering enzyme," which catalyzes the second step in the formation of the mannose 6-phosphate recognition marker on lysosomal enzyme oligosaccharides, resides primarily in thetrans-Golgi network and cycles between this compartment and the plasma membrane. An analysis of green fluorescent protein-uncovering enzyme chimeras revealed that the transmembrane segment and the first 11 residues of the 41-residue-cytoplasmic tail are sufficient for retention in the trans-Golgi network. The next eight residues (486YAYHPLQE493) facilitate exit from this compartment. Kinetic studies demonstrated that the 488YHPL491 sequence also mediates rapid internalization at the plasma membrane. This motif binds adaptor protein-2 in glutathione S-transferase-uncovering enzyme-cytoplasmic tail pull-down assays, indicating that the uncovering enzyme is endocytosed via clathrin-coated vesicles. Consistent with this finding, endogenous uncovering enzyme was detected in purified clathrin-coated vesicles. The enzyme with a Y486A mutation is internalized normally but accumulates on the cell surface because of increased recycling to the plasma membrane. This residue is required for efficient return of the enzyme from endosomes to thetrans-Golgi network. These findings indicate that the YAYHPLQE motif is recognized at several sorting sites, including thetrans-Golgi network, the plasma membrane, and the endosome.


Aiming at the movement balance problem of the two- wheeled robot, the operant conditioning theory of artificial cerebellar sensorimotor systems is used, and the theory adopts a learning mechanisms of Skinner's operation conditioned based on the learning algorithm of recurrent neural network, through learning and training, the two-wheeled robot can obtain the skills of movement balance control like a robot or animal in the process of gradually forming, developing and improving by self- organization. The simulation results show that the Skinner's operation conditioning has such a virtue of stronger self-learning ability and higher robustness.


The nonlinear stability and bifurcation of the one-dimensional plane–Poiseuille flow is examined for a Johnson–Segalman fluid. The methodology used is closely related to that of Ashrafi and Khayat [Phys. Fluids 12, 345 (2000)] for plane–Couette flow. The velocity and stress are represented by orthonormal functions in the transverse direction to the flow. The flow field is obtained from the conservation and constitutive equations using the Galerkin projection method. Both inertia and normal stress effects are included. The stability picture is dramatically influenced by the viscosity ratio, e. The range of shear rate or Weissenberg number for which the base flow is unstable increases (from zero) as the fluid deviates from the Newtonian limit (as e decreases). Typically, two turning points are observed near the critical Weissenberg numbers. The transient response is heavily influenced by the level of inertia. It is found that the flow responds oscillatorily when the Reynolds number is small, and monotonical...


Abstract One of the key challenges related to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is preservation of employment and protecting staff who are working in port operations and struggling to keep ports operating for ship calls. These activities performed by port labour are deemed to be crucial for the EU and European ports, since 75% of the EU external trade and 30% of intra-EU transport goods are moved by waterborne transport. As a response to the global lockdown and the vulnerability of global supply chains, the majority of international organisations and maritime ports networks have shortlisted measures necessary to keep the severe effects of the lockdown to a minimum. One of the key measures identified is how to limit physical interaction. As an effect, millions of people and organisations across the globe have had to use and/or increase their deployment of digital technologies, such as digital documentation, tracing information systems and digital group-working platforms. Hence, blockchain and data-enabling systems have become to be recognised as a core element maintaining the uninterrupted flow of goods and services at ports. In pursuing uninterrupted trade and keeping ports open and running, this research paper addresses how the current situation afflicts the small and medium-sized ports located on the Baltic Sea which are argued to be critical actors of the port-centric logistics' ecosystem. Given the topicality of this research and addressing the research gap, the authors suggest a conceptual capacity-building framework for port employees. This suggested framework is based on empirical insights: primary and secondary data collected from the project Connect2SmallPorts, part-financed by the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014–2020 from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The conceptual framework aims towards a practical training programme dedicated to fill in the missing skills or expand the limited competence of human resources and ports' capacity when adapting or advancing digitalisation in the ports' ecosystems. In particular, specific areas of capacity building are addressed and individual solutions suggested to foster a digital transformation of ports. The conceptual training framework is designed as a training tool indicating opportunities to help ports upgrade their competences with the blockchain technology, and to advance their transportation, environmental and economic performance with improved digitalisation. For this purpose, the conducted research employed mixed methods and applied concepts and approaches based on the field of management. For example, the construct of absorptive capacity, organisational learning, transformation, resource-based view and the concept of dynamic capabilities are included in the ecosystem discourse and are linked with open innovation and service design. The research presented in this article provides both theoretical and practical contributions, in which the affected stakeholders can test and utilise the developed tool as well as transfer it to other regions.


If there is such a thing as a dominant public sphere in post-reform China, its emotional tonality has often been described as overwhelmingly positive, as evidenced by the recent focus on "happiness" campaigns or state-promoted "positive energy." This special section takes the prevalence of positivity as an invitation to investigate its opposites: what, in an authoritarian context, is the political work of negative affects such as bitterness, fear, shame, indifference, deflation, or trouble? Locating the articles within a broader literature on affect and emotion in anthropology and beyond, this introduction provides an overall framing for the collection. Based on the articles, it depicts the potential of negativity as both disruptive and generative, as affects work through their evaluative and propositional force which induces transformation while often evading repression.


An electronic component on board the Landsat 5 Earth observation satellite has indicated signs of impending failure, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has stopped acquiring images from the satellite, the agency announced on 18 November. USGS engineers have suspended imaging activities for 90 days to explore options for restoring image transmissions from the satellite, which was launched in 1984 and has operated long beyond the 3 years it was designed to last. "This anticipated decline of Landsat 5 provides confirmation of the importance of the timely launch of the next Landsat mission and the need for an operational and reliable National Land Imaging System," said Anne Castle, assistant secretary for water and science at the U.S. Department of the Interior. USGS is part of the Interior department. Landsat 7, launched in 1999 with a 5-year design life, remains in orbit. Landsat 8, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, has a January 2013 scheduled launch.


In her March 'President's Message,' Kathryn Sheehy stated that now is an excellent time to open the doors and let practitioners hear about the educational environment. This article discusses challenges encountered in academia today.


The golden-collared manakin (Manacus vitellinus) is a small tropical bird, which lives in the Panama forest. The males perform elaborate, acrobatic displays to court mates [1]. During its courtship dance the male demonstrates its physical strength by jumping between saplings, producing loud wing snaps mid-flight. Mating success seems to be related to superior motor skills [2], which allow the male to execute its dance faster and more precisely. However, it is not fully clear yet how exactly the courtship dance has to be performed to impress a female. To gain more knowledge about their dance, biologists recorded the birds in the wild with high-speed cameras at 60 fps. One of the videos can be found at 1. Manually annotating the male bird in every frame of the videos to enable analyzing their behavior is a tedious process. We propose a novel approach for automatic visual tracking of the male golden-collared manakin, combining a convolutional neural network, background subtraction and a Kalman filter.


Oral cavity dermoids account for less than a quarter of those dermoids occurring within the head and neck region and about 1.6% of all dermoids. The anterior floor of the mouth is the most common site within the oral cavity, but overall, it is uncommon. Most lesions are seen in young adults; congenital sublingual dermoids occurring in infancy are thus rare. Included in this report are the background literature, including definition and classification of these cysts, and the clinical characteristics of such lesions.


Single crystals of pure and Deuterated L-alanine have been grown by both slow cooling and seed rotation techniques. The grown nonlinear optical crystals were subjected to single crystal X-ray diffraction for determining its lattice parameters and morphology. Thermal expansion measurements were carried for the Deuterated crystals of L-alanine using thermomechanical analyzer in order to ascertain the strain tensors along the three mutually perpendicular crystallographic directions. Microhardness study was also undergone on deuterated L-alanine single crystals on a prominent plane for determining the mechanical strength of the grown crystals. The results have been discussed in detail. Copyright © 2011 VBRI press.


As part of a symposium celebrating the multiple contributions of the late Alan Bromberg, this article examines implications flowing from the Supreme Court's recent decision in Omnicare Inc. v. Laborers District Council Construction Industry Pension Fund. Because Omnicare lands so squarely on the Court's earlier opaque opinion in Virginia Bankshares, Inc. v. Sandberg addressing the treatment of the materiality of opinion statements, Omnicare is the new currency in the realm that will have far-reaching implications. In Virginia Bankshares, the Supreme Court quickly concluded shareholders would attach significance to the board of directors' statement that the cash-out merger price was "fair" and "high" so that the statement met the materiality standard, but emphasized there was another, more perplexing, issue: whether such an opinion statement was a statement of fact. On this question, Virginia Bankshares' formulation is hopelessly ambiguous. As developed in this article, Omnicare Inc. returns the focus to the traditional orientation of the information's significance to the investor and thereby not only provides an understandable, indeed conventional vis-a-vis the common law, but also harbors the strong potential to dramatically change existing approaches to how we view general statements that provide optimism and reassurance, for example "puffery statements" or even what constitutes "meaningful cautionary language under the Bespeaks Caution Doctrine. The article also provides insight to how Omnicare complements the positive contributions of state law doctrine that has developed in the wake of Omnicare Inc. v. NCS Healthcare, Inc. that extended the directors' monitoring duty to their oversight of compliance systems.


Background:Anoectochilus roxburghii, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, has been widely used for treating numerous metabolic diseases. Anoectochilus roxburghii polysaccharide (ARPs) is an important constituent of Anoectochilus roxburghii. This study tried to investigate whether ARPs could improve cognitive dysfunction in diet-induced obesity.Methods: C57BL/6J male mice were randomly divided into the normal chow diet group (CD), the high-fat diet group (HFD) and HFD supplemented with ARPs (HARPs). Morris water maze test and Y maze test were used to evaluate spatial learning and memory. Serum TNF-α and LPS concentrations were detected by ELISA. Genes involved in Neurotrophic factors, inflammation and Intestinal permeability were detected by RT-PCR. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect TNF-α and ZO-1 proteins. BDNF in hippocampus was detected by immunofluorescence staining. 16S rDNA sequencing was used to detect intestinal microbial diversity.Results: Dietary supplement of ARPs ameliorates cognitive dysfunction induced by HFD. Compared with HFD mice, body weight, plasma glucose, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels in HARPs group were decreased significantly. Moreover, the cognitive function and memory of HFD mice were decreased, while ARPs abolished these effects. In addition, Tau protein levels were decreased and BDNF increased significantly in hippocampus from HARPs mice. Furthermore, compared with HFD group, IL-6 and TNF-α levels in hippocampus and colon from HARPs mice were decreased. Moreover, ARPs increased the tight junction protein levels and intestinal microbiota diversity significantly.Conclusions: Diet supplemented with ARPs prevented mice from HFD-induced cognitive dysfunction, indicated that ARPs has a good effect on obesity-related neuropathy. Mechanically, these effects at least in part attribute to the "gut-brain" axis regulation, and which can provide reference for the development of ARPs as functional foods in the future.


"CRISPR/Cas9-mediated glycolate oxidase disruption is an efficacious and safe treatment for primary hyperoxaluria type I" proposes, exactly as the title says, that the CRISPR/Cas9 system is a viable option for treating type 1 primary hyperoxaluria. It lays the groundwork for the proposal by mentioning several other genetic diseases that the CRISPR/Cas9 system has been used to treat, as well as the specifics of the gene defect that causes PH1, the AGXT gene. It states that en vivo correction is not a viable treatment option for the disease due to the lack of selective advantage for the modified cells and proposes a different approach. By targeting genes that express nonessential enzymes, the team believes that it can significantly reduces the oxalate buildup that causes the symptoms of the disease. This hypothesis is further confirmed by positive test results in mice. Human trials of GO silencing by this method were attempted in 2016, but there were some definite areas for improvement. While effective, the treatment currently needs to be administered several times to combat long term effects, and GO silencing using small molecules doesn't block the enzyme completely, meaning that oxalate buildup still occurs, but a much slower rate, reducing patients' risk of developing end stage renal disease (ESRD), an affliction of the kidneys that can be very fatal. The major questions for researchers hoping to take this topic further concern whether there is a method for more effectively inhibiting the glycolate oxidase enzyme while maintaining the standard of safety that the currently proposed procedure has?


In the search of new trypsin inhibitors caffeic acid (1), cinnamic acid (2), gallic acid (3) and eugenol (4) from Cinnamomum zeylanicum, ferulic acid (5) from Impatiens bicolor, vanillin (6) from Melia azedarach and catechol (7) from Allium cepa were isolated through bioassay guided fractionation of the plant extracts. IC 50 values of the compounds 1, 2 and 5 were found to be 0.35 ± 0.02 mM, 0.96 ± 0.05 mM and 1.22 ± 0.06 mM, respectively. Lineweaver–Burk and Dixon plots and their secondary replots showed that 1 was non-competitive inhibitor of this enzyme with Ki value 0.102 ± 0.006 mM.


Students interested in a User Experience (UX) career are facing a multitude of barriers when leaving academia: a competitive, saturated market; poorly written job descriptions and companies unsure of the duties performed by UX practitioners; a rapid evolution of the market and emerging technologies; and individual uncertainty of career direction, be it UX Research, UX Design, User Interface Design, Interaction Design, Front End Design, or more. By developing professional networks and mentor relationships with Industry professionals, students can enhance their understanding of the field of UX and become more acquainted with industry expectations such as working with clients, title definitions, current and emerging technologies, evolving business needs, and streamlining their career focus.To support the industry-academia collaborations, a strategy was developed using a hybrid teaching model, I-SPACE (Innovation for Students, Practitioners, Alumni, and Community Engagement) that brings industry professionals into a college course on UX via online platforms such as zoom and Miro thus creating a virtual internship experience. The I-SPACE teaching method was co-created by design educators and industry professionals for the purpose of simulating internship experiences within an online course. The online virtual internships with industry professionals are conducted in three 5-week segments over a 15 week semester, to give students exposure to three distinct UX industry models and three sets of industry professionals. The goal of the virtual internship is to enhance career preparedness post-graduation through industry exposure, build a social network of professionals in the field of UX, and establish mentors.This paper will discuss the structure of the course, interactions with industry professionals in UX, and engagement with subject matter experts (SMEs). It will also discuss a comparison to traditional internships and a virtual I-SPACE internship experience in terms of the impact on student work, mentorship, and professional networking that are unique to the I-SPACE collaboration strategies and the insights of the industry mentors on the virtual internship strategy. Implications for virtual internship experiences will be addressed regarding issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in internship opportunities and potential barriers will be identified.


Progressive supra-nuclear palsy is a neurologically debilitating disease of unknown cause and with no effective treatment. Learned helplessness, a major cause of depression in the institutionalized elderly, is a feeling of worthlessness and powerlessness resulting in a decreased incentive to try. This article provides insight into these two problems and specific nursing interventions to enhance self care.


This paper outlines a scheduling algorithm which leverages Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) data to determine when maintenance should be performed. The objective of the scheduler is to reduce the cost associated with Performance-Based Logistics contracts, which ultimately improves the profit margins of Product Support Providers. An example consisting of 50 aircraft for which regular recurring maintenance and CBM actions are required is analyzed as a representative problem both in term of complexity and scale. The results indicate that significant cost savings can be achieved by utilizing a CBM scheduling algorithm. In addition, to the maintenance cost savings, the CBM scheduling algorithm is also able to identify potential resource limitations within the maintenance organization.


Many novel gate oxidation processes have been developed to meet the ongoing quest for thinner and higher-quality gate dielectric layers. Among these processes, fluorination and nitridation methods have emerged as promising techniques for ultra-large scale integrated circuit (ULSI) technology. Reported data in the literature is presented to show the advantages of these two processes. There are various ways to fabricate fluorinated and oxynitrided SiO 2 films. In this work, fluorination is done by shallow F-ion implantation through polysilicon gate, followed by thermal diffusion into the underlying gate oxide. Oxynitridation is done by a heat treatment in N 2 O gas. The samples are fabricated as lot-splits of the Mitel 1.5 om process. As background, the mechanisms of generation of oxide trapped charges during hot carrier injection stress are discussed. In this light, the quality of fluorinated and oxynitrided gate-oxides are discussed, in comparison with control oxides. The dissertation also discusses methods used to characterize the electrical properties of oxides. According to the framework of DiMaria et al , gate voltage changes during Fowler-Nordheim stress are sensitive only to trapped charges located outside a tunneling distance from the cathode interface. The dissertation discusses how DiMaria's framework can be applied to obtain information about trapped-charge generated in the bulk oxide and trapped charges generated at or near the SiO 2 interfaces outside or within a tunneling distance from the cathode interface. This technique will be used to do electrical characterization on gate oxides treated by fluorination or oxynitridation. In this work, oxynitrides show convincingly better performance than the fluorinated and the conventional thermally-grown oxides under positive gate bias Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling injection stress. However, under negative gate bias Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling injection stress, only the lower-temperature oxynitrides show advantages, not the higher-temperature oxynitrides. Channel hot electron injection stress also confirms the feasibility of incorporating oxynitridation into sub-micrometer processes. The application of the developed electrical characterization technique helps to reveal the complex behaviors of charge components induced in gate oxides under Fowler-Nordheim stress.


The growth of smooth, high quality, c -axis thin films of optimally doped YBa2 Cu3 O7- on (001) MgO substrates has been studied using pulsed laser deposition. The films were characterized with Auger spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, self-inductance and four-probe resistance techniques. We have found an interesting interaction between deposition rate, substrate topography and target oxygenation in the determination of film quality. The best films are produced with dense underoxygenated targets at low laser repetition rates (1 Hz) on very smooth substrates; the optimal deposition parameters for these are given. Atomic force microscopy shows spiral growth formations with a unit-cell edge height. Oriented outgrowths observed on some films are attributed to heat-modified substrate surface morphology. a -axis films also have been grown using PrBa2 Cu3 Ox template layers.


Cultural research is dedicated to understanding the processes of knowledge dissemination and the social and technological practices in the book industry. Research on children books in the 19th century can be supported by computer systems. Specifically, the advances in digital image processing seem to offer great opportunities for analyzing and quantifying the visual components in the books. The production technology for illustrations in books in the 19th century was characterized by a shift from wood or copper engraving to lithography. We report classification experiments which intend to classify images based on the production technology. For a classification task that is also difficult for humans, the classification quality reaches only around 70%. We analyze some further error sources and identify reasons for the low performance.


The use of drones is very extended for multiple applications. Some of them impose attitude and navigation requirements that need appropriate measurements. Pixhawk is an open-source autopilot used on board drones that includes a magnetometer as part of its inertial measurement unit. A testing facility based on a Helmholtz cage is used to evaluate the metrological features of different magnetometer units. The first test induces a magnetic field rotation around six different Pixhawk magnetometers, simulating changes in attitude and course for a drone. The data show a standard deviation higher than 250 mG, in comparison with the standard deviation of 30 mG in the standard gaussmeter model HMR2300. The second test is focused on the stability of the magnetometer, where the Helmholtz cage simulates a certain flight altitude and course. Values obtained from Pixhawk magnetometers range between 25 mG and 116 mG for the highest peak-to-peak magnetic field amplitude, while the standard gaussmeter range is only between 1.3 mG to 5.4 mG. Considering these results, it is possible to determine the limitations of the Pixhawk autopilot magnetometer, both in terms of manufacturing tolerances and measuring stability. Therefore, users should be very careful when using this type of autopilot in professional applications that require precision and safety.


Calcium carbonate powder comprising uniform nanoparticles of novel morphology was synthesized under extensively optimized trial parameters. The as-prepared ultrafine rod shape CaCO3 particles after characterizations were used as an antiwear/antifriction additive in commercial lithium grease (CLG) of different specifications. The effect of the added particles on the antifriction and antiwear properties of the blended commercial greases was explored by using a ball-on-disk tribometer. The observed data were compared with the additized grease having commercially available CaCO3 powder. Results exposed that uniformity in particle size and shape is a key factor for the improvement of tribological properties and reproducibility of the experimental results. Therefore, the as-prepared monodispersed rod shapes CaCO3 particles as additives considerably improved the tribological properties of the CLG as compared with the irregular particles of the commercial calcium carbonate. These blends showed the best results at the optimum amount of 3 wt% of the added CaCO3 particles. Among the three selected greases, the additized Momin grease exhibited best antiwear/antifriction performance as compared with the additized Awami and Sinopec greases.


The case of a 680 g premature baby who developed massive spontaneous liver haemorrhage during laparotomy for necrotizing enterocolitis is reported. The infant survived due to rapid and massive fluid administration, including transfusion of large volumes of blood and blood products, in combination with high dose inotropic support and the surgical use of packing with thrombostatic sponges. Good venous access, including two central venous lines, turned out to be very useful.


Following the advent of free trade, language books have flooded developing countries like Vietnam. At the same time, many Vietnamese teachers of English have become ESL and EFL experts and wish to share their knowledge and expertise. The publication and sharing of learning materials, therefore, has become an increasing need and a trend. This poster presentation shows the complete process of evaluating a manuscript, planning, editing, publishing and disseminating it to the market from a publisher's point of view. Writing a book can be a challenging but rewarding experience. Successful case studies with appropriate timelines are offered for interested teachers who wish to become ESL authors.


Although research objectives have changed in recent years, it is still the case that our understanding of how the civitas capitals of Roman Britain developed derives largely from the excavation of their public buildings and defences. Peripheral urban areas have, like the suburbs, received far less archaeological attention. It is immediately of interest, therefore, that this report from Leicester concerns a site, excavated in 1991, in the north-eastern part of the Roman (and medieval) town, some distance from the well-known baths and forum area. Causeway Lane occupied parts of four insulae, where, in spite of extensive disturbance by eighteenth-century quarrying, important evidence was revealed for the development of Roman and medieval Leicester and the authors are to be congratulated on a thorough and, by current standards, prompt publication. In summary, Roman occupation began in the late first century and, to judge by all categories of evidence, was at its most intense until the end of the second century. Unfortunately, it was not possible to trace the development of the streets in detail as they had been largely lost to quarrying. The earliest structures found were built of timber, but stone buildings appeared in the midto late second century. In addition, there was evidence for backyards with pits and wells, and, dating to the third to fourth centuries, for gravel quarries. Apart from the quarries, the later Roman period was, as on many other sites in Leicester, poorly represented. Causeway Lane produced traces of fifth-to-sixth-century activity, but occupation only resumed in earnest in the eleventh to twelfth centuries. The report has a format which is now standard in British archaeology in providing a detailed description of the stratigraphic and structural sequence followed by the specialist reports. The data are presented clearly throughout and every effort has been made to relate the sequence to the artefacts and biological material. A useful interpretative section discusses the site in the context of Roman Leicester as a whole. The specialist reports include a contribution on small finds by Nicholas Cooper which is of interest because it attempts to use a quantification of the finds, classified by function, to throw light on the changing character of occupation on the site. The principal result of the exercise is to show that the assemblages of all periods are dominated by objects for personal adornment or dress; otherwise it is not particularly revealing. This is largely, perhaps, because of the small number of finds, there being only 341 from the Roman and post-Roman contexts. Cooper's discussion of methodology is, however, useful and suggests quantification techniques may have considerable value in the analysis of larger assemblages. As a result of extensive sampling, for which the excavators are to be commended, the biological data are substantial and the reports are excellent. One which caught my eye, in particular, was Angela Monckton's analysis of the oyster shells which indicates that the oysters themselves were brought from beds on the Essex coast. One does not want to end on a critical note, but it should be noted that this volume is really two distinct reports in one, the first concerned with the Roman period and the second with the medieval. Publication in a single volume rather than in two smaller, and cheaper, volumes will inevitably, I fear, deter some readers of this journal from putting Causeway Lane on their shelves. This is a pity because this report, which was fully funded by the site developers, the Inland Revenue, has given taxpayers something worthwhile for their money.


Construction Industry is evolving amid the fourth industrial revolution. Transportation, commerce, manufacturing and many other industries ripened the current technological advancement and are striving to utilise every development in the IT sector. The procurement of construction works is known to be very conventional and backward in the adoption of digitalisation. The construction industry's procurement and supply chain are blamed for the most inflated cost of construction projects, mainly attributed to a lack of transparency and trust between the industry stakeholders. This research explores the challenges of E-procurement adoption in the industry and identifies the potential opportunities for its usage. This investigation's data are acquired through interviews, and the data are analysed using qualitative content analysis. This study reveals compounding challenges (i.e., corruption and lack of commitment) that lead to the failure of such efforts in Nigeria and the potential prospects (i.e., transparency and efficiency). This study is essential in developing a more effective and transparent process of procurement so that the Nigerian construction industry is not be left behind in the fast-digitalising markets.


Deep neural network is difficult to train and this predicament becomes worse as the depth increases. The essence of this problem exists in the magnitude of backpropagated errors that will result in gradient vanishing or exploding phenomenon. We show that a variant of regularizer which utilizes orthonormality among different filter banks can alleviate this problem. Moreover, we design a backward error modulation mechanism based on the quasi-isometry assumption between two consecutive parametric layers. Equipped with these two ingredients, we propose several novel optimization solutions that can be utilized for training a specific-structured (repetitively triple modules of Conv-BNReLU) extremely deep convolutional neural network (CNN) WITHOUT any shortcuts/ identity mappings from scratch. Experiments show that our proposed solutions can achieve distinct improvements for a 44-layer and a 110-layer plain networks on both the CIFAR-10 and ImageNet datasets. Moreover, we can successfully train plain CNNs to match the performance of the residual counterparts. Besides, we propose new principles for designing network structure from the insights evoked by orthonormality. Combined with residual structure, we achieve comparative performance on the ImageNet dataset.


Background: a strong relation was observed between body mass index and insulin resistance which were associated with type 2 DM. Objective: to correlate between bodies mass index and levels of insulin and lipids among type 2 diabetic patients with different body mass index. Methods: this study was conducted in Khartoum state, it included 80 with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and another 80 apparently healthy with normal body mass index were included as control. Serum insulin level and lipids profile were estimated using chemistry analyzers. Results: the mean concentration of serum insulin level was significantly higher in type 2 DM than control (P=0.004), and also it was positively correlates with BMI (R=0.54, P=0.003). Also in case group, there were significant higher levels of serum lipids (TC, TG, and LDL) while there was a significant reduction of HDL. Conclusion: levels of serum insulin, TC, LDL, and TG were significantly higher in Sudanese type 2 DM patients, and insulin level correlates positively with BMI.


With full utilization of the low-temperature process of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film deposition and long carrier lifetime of high-purity crystalline silicon (c-Si) , we have developed a new type of a-Si/c-Si double heterojunction X-ray sensor. The sensor has the structure of Au/p a-SiC/n NTD c-Si/n a-Si/Al. High-purity NTD (neutron transmutation doping) crystalline silicon wafers were used as substrates. The high-purity NTD crystalline silicon has a long carrier lifetime (about 400 µs), and the low deposition temperature of a-Si has no adverse effects on the carrier lifetime. Therefore, high photogenerated carrier collection efficiency and high sensitivity can be obtained. The characteristics of this kind of X-ray sensor have been examined. The linearity of the relationship between output current and X-ray intensity was good, and the sensitivity was high.


after five decades of close alliance with roman Power, in the late 1st century aD the suebian confederation split off and its eastern members, Quadi and marcomanni, entered the way of direct conflict with rome. those events were an essential part of the violent geopolitical readjustment of the Danubian space which its main display were the Dacian wars happened under the reigns of Domitian and trajan, becoming an inflection point on the Foreign affairs of the roman Empire in Danube's high course until the burst of the marcomannic wars more than half a century later. throughout this article we are going to enter the causes of the suebian confederation breakup, the wars sustained by Quadi and marcomanni against romans and their allies, as well as the role played by the Dacian wars and its main actors in these conflagrations and their resolution.


Objective: To establish validity and reliability of the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief (TRIG) in Turkish popula-tion. Methods: One hundred and fifty-four parents whose infants deceased in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a public hospital formed the sample. The data were collected using TRIG. TRIG was developed by Faschingbauer et al. the measure the intensity of the grief reaction following loss of a loved one. The inventory includes 21 items and two sections. Adaptation of the TRIG to the Turkish included back-translation of the inventory and its lingual and content validity were established by 14 specialists. The 20 items were approved for baby loss. TRIG was applied with 154 parents through telephone calls three months after the death of their infants. The collected data were evaluated by confirmatory factor analysis, 27% extreme-group method, Pearson moments multiplication correlation analysis and Cronbach's alpha analysis. Results: The results obtained by the confirmatory factor analysis showed the factor patterns for mother and fathers were in accordance with the original inventory. For internal consistency, Cronbach's α was 0.85, item-total score reliability was 0.28 and 0.37 in two questions, and within the 0.44-0.66 range in others, item-subpart total score reliability ranged between 0.44-0.72 for the 'past behaviors' part I and between 0.39 and 0.74 for the 'present emotional feeling' part II. The correlation coefficient calculated for the scale-subpart was 0.82 for 'past behaviors' part I and 0.94 for 'present emotional feeling' part II. Conclusion: The Turkish version of the TRIG is a valid and reliable inventory to evaluate the intensity of grief reaction experienced after loss of a loved one.


We investigate how long-range scalar interactions affect the properties of dark matter haloes. For doing so we employ the ReBEL model which implements an additional interaction between dark matter particles. On the phenomenological level this is equivalent to a modification of gravity. We analyse the differences between five ReBEL models and ACDM using a series of high resolution cosmological simulations. Emphasis is placed on investigating how halo properties change in the presence of a fifth force. We report that the density profile of ReBEL haloes is well described by the NFW profile but with mean concentrations from 5% to a few times higher than the standard ACDM value. We also find a slight increase of the halo spin for haloes more massive than 5 x 10(11) h(-1)M(circle dot), reflecting a higher rotational support of those haloes due to scalar forces. In addition, the dark matter haloes in our models are more spherical than their counterparts in ACDM. The ReBEL haloes are also more virialised, with a large difference from ACDM for strong fifth forces and a much smaller change for weak scalar interactions.


With the liberalisation of European Broadcasting from the 1980s and the early identification by new commercial channels of sporting events as key content to encourage viewing/subscription the relationship between sports and media organisations has inevitably become closer and more lucrative. However with the amendment of the Television Without Frontiers directive in 1997 a new element - the state - entered the equation, rendering it all the more complex.

This paper demonstrates the extent to which in the modern era sports journalism can only offer a truly comprehensive account of events by adopting approaches more commonly associated with business and political journalism. It does so by examining the biggest Irish "sports" story of 2002: not the Irish teams participation in the World Cup but the subsequent sale of broadcast rights for that team's home games to BSkyB. The narrative throws light on the increasingly complex relationship between sport, commercial and public service media, and the state but also details an extremely novel application of the Television Without Frontiers directive by the Irish state.


By using the fuzzy min-max neural network, the quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) of mutagenicity is studied. With the established QSAR model, the mutagenicity is predicted and the results showed that QASR is superior to linear-regression model. Further discussion on the models and the results is presented in this paper.


Endothelial dysfunction/loss is a key event in the development of vascular diseases, including native atherosclerosis (AS). Recent studies have shown that endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have the ability to repair endothelial cells that have been lost or damaged following AS. As a result, the therapy of transplanting EPCs is a promising option for the treatment of AS. However, the therapeutic effect on AS with only EPCs transplantation has not been satisfactory. The upregulation of those genes, which prevent the progress of AS in EPCs, is a novel therapeutic strategy for AS. Because it can reduce macrophage foam cell formation and protect endothelial cells from the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL), paraoxonase-1 (PON1) gene is a candidate for gene therapy in AS. In this study, a recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector carrying the human paraoxonase-1 (hPON1) gene (rAAV-PON1) was constructed, and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) transfected with rAAV-PON1 were transplanted into the atherosclerosis model of Sprague-Dawley rats (SD rats). The results of doppler ultrasound and histological analysis showed that the group transplanted with the hPON1 gene-transfected EPCs was superior to the group transplanted only with the EPCs and was also better than the group with hPON1 gene injection alone. The results indicated that rAAV-mediated hPON1 gene-transfected EPCs is a potentially valuable new tool in the treatment of atherosclerosis.


Background Memantine is an N-methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) antagonist. By transferring acute postoperative pain, the NMDA channels may lead to active excess and neuropathic pain. Objectives: This study attempted to investigate the effect of preoperative use of single oral dose of memantine in controlling Dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) postoperative pain. Methods A double-blind clinical trial was conducted on 60 patients undergoing DCR. On arrival at the operating room, the memantine group received 20 mg of oral memantine and the control group received placebo. The severities of pain by visual analogue scale (VAS) and sedation by Ramsy Scale were measured immediately 1, 2, and 6 hours after the operation. The drug's side effects were recorded. Results The pain scores of patients in the recovery in 1, 2, and 6 hours after operation were significantly lower in the memantine group than the placebo group (P < 0.001). The sedation score, 1 hour after the operation, was significantly greater in the memantine group than the placebo (P < 0.001). The sedation scores did not have any statistically significant difference in recovery and 2 hours after surgery between the two groups. Moreover, the sedation scores in 6 hours after the surgery were identical in the two groups. Conclusions The oral single-dose 20 mg of memantine administered before DCR can reduce postoperative pain compared with placebo.


During the last five years the use of creative technology (e.g. smartphone applications, beacons, smart watches) to impose a healthy lifestyle has increased enormously [1, 2]. Creative technologies seem a promising method to increase physical activity in a variety of target groups among which children, elderly, and novice runners. In the current symposium, researchers working in the mentioned target groups will present their work and share their experiences and ideas. For children, gamification is a promising method to increase intrinsic motivation to participate in exercise interventions as games make participation fun [3]. Moreover, it appears that physical activity mobile phone games more often contain behavior change constructs than non-game health apps, and are therefore potentially very effective in motivating children to be more active [4]. For elderly, there is ongoing work on the utilization of digital tools such as tablets to stimulate elderly to exercise more and support selfregulation. For novice runners, the combination of apps and beacons is potentially effective in increasing physical activity. Beacons can be integrated into public spaces and offer the possibility to tailor feedback to the individual user, for example through game instructions and location specific exercise instructions [5]. Finally, the number of smartphone applications that can be downloaded in app stores is increasing rapidly, however it is not clear which app fits which user. A first step towards a decision tool for app use is increasing knowledge on the components that an exercise app should contain. In the last presentation we will focus on which app features are important in an app. With this knowledge the health enhancing effects of apps can be improved. Goal and course of the symposium In the 'tailored creative technology for a healthy lifestyle' symposium four presentations will be provided. The goal is to provide examples of tailored, interactive technologies that stimulate people to adopt an active lifestyle.


Purpose: Patients with suprasystemic idiopathic pulmonary hypertension (S-PAH) have a poor prognosis. Therapeutic options are limited. Reverse Potts shunt creation modifies physiology transforming patients with PAH into Eisenmenger physiology with a better outcome. Percutaneous transcatheter stent secured aortopulmonary connection (transcatheter Potts Shunt, TPS) is a feasible very high-risk procedural option in such patients. We report our experience with patients undergoing TPS at our institution requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support. Methods: A prospective observational study of patients with drug-refractory PAH, worsening NYHA class, and right ventricular failure undergoing TPS. Two patients required rescue ECMO for cardiac arrest during the procedure. Subsequently, "standby ECMO" was available in all the following cases and elective support was provided in patients with extremely poor conditions. Results: Ten pediatric patients, underwent TPS at our institution. Two patients were rescued by ECMO after cardiac arrest during the shunt creation. This occurred as a result of the acute loading of the left ventricle (LV) after retrograde aortic arch filling through the Potts shunt. Following this, another two patients underwent elective ECMO after the uneventful induction of anesthesia. They all died postoperatively despite a successful TPS procedure. The causes of death were not related to the use of ECMO, but the complication of severe PAH. Six patients with successful TPS did not require ECMO and survived. Conclusions: TPS is a pioneering procedure offering the opportunity to treat high-risk idiopathic drug-refractory PAH patients. Acute LV failure is a complication of TPS in patients with S-PAH. Elective ECMO, an option to avoid circulatory arrest and acute profound hypoxia secondary to exclusive right-to left shunt systemic perfusion by Potts shunt and LV dysfunction with resulting pulmonary edema, may be used at the early stage of the learning curve, but it does not influence the prognosis of these patients which remains poor.


Chromium nitride (CrN) samples with two different layer structures (multilayer and single layer) were coated on bipolar plates of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) using the reactive sputtering method. The effects with respect to layer structure on corrosion resistance and overall cell performance were investigated. A continuous and thin chromium nitride layer () was formed on the surface of the SUS 316L when the nitrogen flow rate was 10 sccm. The electrochemical stability of the coated layers was examined using the potentiodynamic and potentiostatic methods in the simulated corrosive circumstances of the PEMFC under . Interfacial contact resistance (ICR) between the CrN coated sample and the gas diffusion layer was measured by using Wang`s method. A single cell performance test was also conducted. The test results showed that CrN coated SUS316L with multilayer structure had excellent corrosion resistance compared to single layer structures and single cell performance results with in effective area also showed the same tendency. The difference of the electrochemical properties between the single and multilayer samples was attributed to the Cr interlayer layer, which improved the corrosion resistance. Because the coating layer was damaged by pinholes, the Cr layer prevented the penetration of corrosive media into the substrate. Therefore, the CrN with a multilayer structure is an effective coating method to increase the corrosion resistance and to decrease the ICR for metallic bipolar plates in PEMFC.


Objective Single level ACCF combining single level ACDF (AcA) is an ideal way to treat CSM with multiple consecutive cervical intervertebral disc herniation alongside with severe bony narrowing of the spinal canal in between. AcA with the stand-alone technics on the ACDF level and a shorter titanium plate that only covers the ACCF levels (AcAsa) may possess potential advantages than conventional AcA. We performed a retrospective study to evaluate the feasibility, safety and effectiveness of AcAsa procedure. Methods 379 patients with CSM who had conventional AcA or AcAsa were retrospectively reviewed. Related patients factors, disease factors and treatment factors were acquired and subjected into student's t test, chi-square test and survive analyses. Results Preoperative and postoperative JOA Scores in AcAsa: p<0.001. Preoperative and postoperative VAS Scores in AcAsa: p<0.001. 12months improvement of JOA Score between preoperative VAS Score≥2 and <2 in AcAsa: p=0.002. The amount of intraoperative blood loss between AcAsa and conventional AcA: p=0.011. Incidence of postoperative dysphagia between AcAsa and conventional AcA: p=0.038. Conclusion AcAsa significantly improve patients' JOA Scores and reduce VAS Scores. Compared with conventional AcA, AcAsa leads to smaller amount of intraoperative blood loss and lower incidence of postoperative dysphagia. The alleviations of neurological symptoms, cervical motions and disc space heights at the ACDF levels are similar between the two types of surgeries. And patients with preoperative VAS less than 2 may benefit more from an AcAsa procedure.


Background : It is a common axiom that HIV sero-positive patients experience more sleep disorders than the HIV sero-negative patients, but there is paucity of research to support this claim. Objective : The aim of this study was to compare sleep disorders among PLWHA on HAART with a matched HIV sero negative control group. Method : Using the Leslie Kish's Formula, 400 PLWHA attending HIV clinic and 400 sero-negative patients attending the Well Adult Clinic of Kwara state specialist Hospital were recruited for the study. The Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to measure sleep disorder. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated using the international classification. Classification of hypertension was according to the JNC 8. Results : The prevalence of sleeping disorder was 46.2% among PLWHA and 44.0% among the HIV sero-negative patients. 14.0% of PLWHA were underweight  compared with 6.0% of HIV sero-negative patients. 16.5% of PLWHA had very bad subjective sleep quality, compared with 14.8% of sero negative patients. The sleep latency was more than 60 minutes in 15.8% of PLWHA as compared with 15.0% of HIV sero negative patients. 14.5% of PLWHA slept less than 5 hours duration compared with 13.8% of HIV sero negative patients. The use of sleep medication was more among PLWHA 4.0% compared with 2.0% of HIV sero negative patients. Daytime sleep dysfunction was also more in PLWHA 77.0% compared with 68.8 of HIV sero negative patients. Conclusion : PLWHA had very bad subjective sleep quality, short sleep duration and higher sleep medication compared with HIV sero negative patients. Age, gender, educational qualification and marital status are significantly associated with sleep disorder.


Central nervous system (CNS) inflammation involves the generation of inducible cytokines such as interferons (IFNs) and alterations in brain activity, yet the interplay of both is not well understood. Here, we show that in vivo elevation of IFNs by viral brain infection reduced hyperpolarization-activated currents (Ih) in cortical pyramidal neurons. In rodent brain slices directly exposed to type I IFNs, the hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide (HCN)-gated channel subunit HCN1 was specifically affected. The effect required an intact type I receptor (IFNAR) signaling cascade. Consistent with Ih inhibition, IFNs hyperpolarized the resting membrane potential, shifted the resonance frequency, and increased the membrane impedance. In vivo application of IFN-β to the rat and to the mouse cerebral cortex reduced the power of higher frequencies in the cortical electroencephalographic activity only in the presence of HCN1. In summary, these findings identify HCN1 channels as a novel neural target for type I IFNs providing the possibility to tune neural responses during the complex event of a CNS inflammation.


In the field of human health, collecting real-time data is vital. A system that can remotely monitor heart rate and body temperature is presented in this paper. The data was collected from a group of volunteers using the sensors developed by the research team to test the system. The Arduino micro-controller is programmed to transmit the data securely to a remote PC station using an XBee wireless network for display and storage. Power consumption by the system was minimized by activating the sensors when a command from a remote PC is received.


Brain hypoperfusion observed on single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is a typical finding in the acute phase of human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) encephalopathy. However, from 2004 to 2010, we encountered three cases of HHV-6 encephalopathy in which hyperperfusion in the area of the brain lesion was observed on SPECT performed within 48 hours after disease onset. The hyperperfusion in the brain was followed by hypoperfusion in the recovery phase. These cases suggest that hyperperfusion may appear in damaged areas prior to the hypoperfusion that is normally associated with HHV-6 encephalopathy.


OBJECTIVES
Signs and symptoms of the sinonasal tract may be originated in any organ system. Distinguishing these from original sinonasal disease poses a great diagnostic challenge. The ENT specialist usually faces an unresponsive or relapsing case, with an atypical presentation. We address this issue by trying to provide a wider perspective when dealing with sinonasal manifestations.

METHODOLOGY
We reviewed the literature exploring heterogeneous groups of diseases and systemic conditions that might interfere with normal sinonasal physiology. The most current and valid information have been included in an effort to delineate such manifestations and clarify the distinguishing signs and tests.

RESULTS
A great variety of systemic conditions with sinonasal manifestations, including connective tissue, autoimmune, infectious, vascular, hematological, gastrointestinal, and endocrine diseases, were included. We address their distinguishing characteristics and diagnostic work-up.

CONCLUSIONS
Signs and symptoms of the sinonasal tract can originate from either local or systemic disorders. The keys to dealing with such disorders are understanding the patterns in which systemic diseases can manifest, and using special diagnostic tools specific to each condition to confirm or rule out particular diagnoses.


The development of beneficial management practices is a key strategy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from animal agriculture. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the impact of time and amount of hog manure application on farm productivity and GHG emissions from a cow–calf production system using two whole-farm models. Detailed model inputs (climate, soil and manure properties, farm operation data) were collected from a 3-year field study that evaluated the following three treatments: no application of hog manure on grassland (baseline); a single application of hog manure on grassland in spring (single); and two applications of hog manure as fall and spring (split). All three treatments were simulated in a representative cow–calf production system at the farm-gate using the following whole-farm models: a Coupled Components Model (CCM) that used existing farm component models and the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM). Annual GHG intensities for the baseline scenario were 17.7 kg CO2-eq/kg liveweight for CCM and 18.1 kg CO2-eq/kg liveweight for IFSM. Of the total farm GHG emissions, 73–77% were from enteric methane production. The application of hog manure on grassland showed a mean emission increase of 7.8 and 8.4 kg CO2-eq/kg liveweight above the baseline for the single and split scenarios, respectively. For the manured scenarios, farm GHG emissions were mainly from enteric methane (47–54%) and soil nitrous oxide (33–41%). Emission estimates from the different GHG sources in the farm varied between models for the single and split application scenarios. Although farm productivity was 3–4% higher in the split than in single application (0.14 t liveweight/ha), the environmental advantage of applying manure in a single or split application was not consistent between models for farm emission intensity. Further component and whole-farm assessments are required to fully understand the impact of timing and the amount of livestock manure application on GHG emissions from beef production systems.


The aim of this study was to investigate whether brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) is associated with the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) assessed by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), and to evaluate baPWV as a predictor of obstructive CAD on CCTA. A total of 470 patients who underwent both baPWV and CCTA were included. We evaluated stenosis degree and plaque characteristics on CCTA. To estimate the severity of CAD, we calculated the number of segment with plaque (segment involvement score; SIS), stenosis degree-weighted plaque score (segment stenosis score; SSS), and coronary artery calcium score (CACS). The mean baPWV was 1,485 ± 315 cm/s (range, 935-3,175 cm/s). Non-obstructive (stenosis < 50%) and obstructive (stenosis ≥ 50%) CAD was found in 129 patients (27.4%) and 144 (30.6%), respectively. baPWV in patients with obstructive CAD was higher than that of patients with non-obstructive (1,680 ± 396 cm/s versus 1,477 ± 244 cm/s, P < 0.001) or no CAD (1,680 ± 396 cm/s versus ± 196 1,389 cm/s, P < 0.001). baPWV showed significant correlation with SSS (r = 0.429, P < 0.001), SIS (r = 0.395, P < 0.001), CACS (r 0.346, P < 0.001), and the number of segment with non-calcified plaque (r 0.092, P = 0.047), mixed plaque (r = 0.267, P < 0.001), and calcified plaque (r = 0.348, P < 0.001), respectively. The optimal baPWV cut-off value for the detection of obstructive CAD was 1,547 cm/s. baPWV ≥ 1,547 cm/s was independent predictor for the obstructive CAD. In conclusion, baPWV is well correlated with the severity of CAD evaluated by CCTA. baPWV has the potential to predict severity of coronary artery atherosclerosis.


The item analysis model by Rasch is presented and examples are given from investigation of the validity of the Danish version of MCMI. It is shown, using new procedures for examining the adequacy of the model, that the syndrome P subscale measuring paranoia (after elimination of certain heavily biased and heterogeneous items) of MCMI possesses the property of local homogeneity: Items are homogeneous and responses are distributed according to the Rasch model for persons belonging to groups characterized by high raw scores. The cutting lines between domains of homogeneous and heterogeneous items, in principle corresponding to the diagnostic cutting lines associated with the original version of MCMI, are presented.


We report the first mass-specific absorption and extinction cross sections for size- and mass-selected laboratory-generated soot aerosol. Measurement biases associated with aerosols possessing multiple charges were eliminated using mass selection to isolate singly charged particles for a specified electrical mobility diameter. Aerosol absorption and extinction coefficients were measured using photoacoustic and cavity ring-down spectroscopy techniques, respectively, for lacey and compacted soot morphologies. The measurements show that the mass-specific absorption cross sections are proportional to particle mass and independent of morphology, with values between 5.7 and 6 m(2) g(-1). Mass-specific extinction cross sections were morphology dependent and ranged between 12 and 16 m(2) g(-1) for the lacey and compact morphologies, respectively. The resulting single-scattering albedos ranged from 0.5 to 0.6. Results are also compared to theoretical calculations of light absorption and scattering from simulated particle agglomerates. The observed absorption is relatively well modeled, with minimum differences between the calculated and measured mass absorption cross sections ranging from ∼ 5% (lacey soot) to 14% (compact soot). The model, however, was unable to satisfactorily reproduce the measured extinction, underestimating the single-scattering albedo for both particle morphologies. These discrepancies between calculations and measurements underscore the need for validation and refinement of existing models of light scattering and absorption by soot agglomerates.


The interplay between lipids and membrane proteins is known to affect
membrane protein topology and thus have significant effect (control) on
their functions. In this PhD thesis, the influence of lipids on the membrane
protein function was studied using three different membrane protein models.
A monotopic membrane protein, monoglucosyldiacylglyecerol synthase
(MGS) from Acholeplasma laidlawii is known to induce intracellular vesicles
when expressed in Escherichia coli. The mechanism leading to this unusual
phenomenon was investigated by various biochemical and biophysical
techniques. The results indicated a doubling of lipid synthesis in the cell,
which was triggered by the selective binding of MGS to anionic lipids. Multivariate
data analysis revealed a good correlation with MGS production.
Furthermore, preferential anionic lipid sequestering by MGS was shown to
induce a different fatty acid modeling of E. coli membranes. The roles of
specific lipid binding and the probable mechanism leading to intracellular
vesicle formation were also investigated.
As a second model, a MGS homolog from Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 was
selected. MgdA is an integral membrane protein with multiple transmembrane
helices and a unique membrane topology. The influence of different
type of lipids on MgdA activity was tested with different membrane fractions
of Synechocystis. Results indicated a very distinct profile compared to
Acholeplasma laidlawii MGS. SQDG, an anionic lipid was found to be the
species of the membrane that increased the MgdA activity 7-fold whereas
two other lipids (PG and PE) had only minor effects on MgdA. Additionally,
a working model of MgdA for the biosynthesis and flow of sugar lipids between
Synechocystis membranes was proposed.
The last model system was another integral membrane protein with a distinct
structure but also a different function. The envelope stress sensor, CpxA and
its interaction with E. coli membranes were studied. CpxA autophosphorylation
activity was found to be positively regulated by phosphatidylethanolamine
and negatively by anionic lipids. In contrast, phosphorylation of CpxR
by CpxA revealed to be increased with PG but inhibited by CL. Non-bilayer
lipids had a negative impact on CpxA phosphotransfer activity.
Taken together, these studies provide a better understanding of the significance
of the interplay of lipids and model membrane proteins discussed here.


The genus Thermophis includes the two species, T. baileyi and T. zhaoermii, which differ morphologically, geographically and molecularly. Recently, a third Thermophis species was described from Shangri-La, northern Yunnan Province, China, and named T. shangrila. The new species was based on morphological and genetic data derived from three specimens. However, the morphological features used to delimit this species seem vague, because they may fall within the range of intraspecific variation of T. zhaoermii. Furthermore, the reported genetic differences in nuclear data are questionable. They likely resulted from a misinterpretation probably due to alignment/analytical flaws or sample/sequence mix-up. Here, we used partial sequences of three mitochondrial (CO1, ND4, cytb) genes and one nuclear (c-mos) gene to analyse the genetic variation between and within species of Thermophis. We inferred the phylogeny using Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood approaches and present additional morphological data that contribute to the knowledge on intraspecific variation in the genus. Our results indicate lacking robustness in the distinguishing morphological features and in the genetic differentiation of T. shangrila and highlight the need for more detailed morphological and molecular studies from a substantially larger sample.


During the 3 years 1978–1980 146 adult patients with intracranial glioma were diagnosed in the Province of Uusimaa in southern Finland. The median survival of all patients was 15 months, of glioblastoma (n = 41) 5.1 months, of anaplastic astrocytoma (n = 29) 12.4 months, of benign grade I–II astrocytoma (n = 30) 93.5 months, of other glioma 82.9 months (n = 27), and of probable glioma 9.8 months (n = 19); 22 patients are still alive 8.9–11.9 years after diagnosis. The patients who were 15–44 years of age at the time of diagnosis survived 75.4 months in the median (n = 58), 45–64 years 10.5 months (n = 61) and 65 years or older 4.8 months (n = 27); 96 patients were operated, 89 received radiotherapy and 34 chemotherapy. According to the proportional hazards'model, follow‐up time, age and histological type of tumor were statistically highly significant in explaining differences in survival.


Large bodies of water are an integral part of nature and, thus, are of high interest for interactive 3D applications, e.g., computer games and virtual environments. We present a new scheme for real-time wave simulation in large-scale water environments with physics-based object interaction. In addition to a fast and realistic liquid representation, our method focuses on the creation of plausible detailed waves caused by moving boats. We expand the well-known wave equation by applying it to moving grids to simulate an apparently limitless body of water. Additionally, we present a fast, particle-based boat simulation, which is coupled to water simulation. Importantly, most parts of our method can be implemented efficiently on GPUs. We demonstrate the visual realism and performance of our approach with several experiments using different boats and other floating objects, achieving high frame rates on a desktop PC.


AIM
To determine the frequency with which the histopathological diagnosis of periapical lesions contributes to a change in the clinical diagnosis.

METHODOLOGY
Cases having a clinical diagnosis of disease resulting from dental pulp necrosis were selected from the database of the Oral Pathology Reference Institute between 1975 and 2005. Cases with different histopathological diagnoses were determined and information about age and gender of the patient, location of associated tooth, pulp status and the histopathological diagnosis were recorded. The percentage of nonendodontic periapical lesions was then determined.

RESULTS
In the 30-year period, 32,423 [corrected] biopsy specimens were received. Overall 4006 (9.13%) had a clinical diagnosis of pulpal necrosis with associated pathosis in the periradicular area. Within this group, 26 cases (0.65%) had a histopathological diagnosis of nonendodontic pathology. Keratocystic odontogenic tumour was the most frequent nonendodontic lesion (11 cases) in the periradicular region followed by central giant cell granuloma (three cases), chronic sinusitis (three cases) and one case each of the following lesions: nasopalatine duct cyst, lateral periodontal cyst, calcifying cystic odontogenic tumour, ameloblastic fibroma, squamous odontogenic tumour, cemental dysplasia, haemangioma, foreign body cell granuloma and amalgam tattoo.

CONCLUSIONS
The histopathological study of periapical pathosis can occasionally reveal nonendodontic lesions. Odontogenic tumours made up the largest group.


Heavy metal mobilization in the biosphere by human activities has become an important process in the geochemical recycling of these metals. In this work, 34 soil samples and 29 Tephrosia elegans plants collected in the vicinity of the Diamond Cement Factory, Aflao, Ghana were analyzed for As, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn using energy dispersive XRF. The results of the metal analysis indicated that some metallic levels were in excess of natural background and critical limits for the soil and plants respectively. The results further revealed that the metal distribution were in a fluctuating manner considering various distances and directions from the cement facility. However, it was observed that the mean metal concentrations of the soil and plants decrease as distance from the cement facility increased for most metals. This indicated that the facility which is the only industrial source in the area is the major cause of the pollutants contamination in its vicinity. In an attempt to understand the pattern of metal contamination in the area, useful tools including enrichment factor, geoaccumulation index and pollution load index were employed to indicate the sources of soil contamination were anthropogenic in character. Recommendations for the need for other studies on environmental and human health around the cement and similar facilities to protect human life and the environment are suggested.


Using student-level longitudinal data of 6th graders I estimate class composition effects impacting on individual academic achievement. The richness of the dataset allows to tackle endogeneity stemming from between and within-school nonrandom sorting of students and of teachers and other confounding factors through the inclusion of many control covariates that characterize the students' cumulative process of learning and several fixed effects, namely school, teacher and cohort fixed effects. I find that increasing the percentage of high achievers, in a 6th grade class, has a negative effect on student performance. Larger shares of low-income classmates improve performance for non-low-income students. The shares of male and foreign students yield non or faintly significant results. Using the setup of a particular school, representative of the sample, I also compute improving classrooms' allocation of students by rearranging the existing students through the existing classes using the estimates of the education production function and different social welfare functions. This way I assess how the actual distribution of students across classes of a given school-grade deviate from what can be considered an improving distribution of classmates. Pareto improving allocations were not found, nevertheless utilitarian welfare functions yield marginally improving allocations. JEL Codes: I210, I240, I28


Plant peptidase inhibitors play essential roles in the defense systems of plants. A trypsin inhibitor (PHTI) with a molecular mass of 20.5 kDa was isolated from the fresh roots of the medicinal herb, Pseudostellaria heterophylla. The purification process involved ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel filtration chromatography on Sephadex G50, and ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE 650M. The PHTI contained 3.7% α-helix, 42.1% β-sheets, 21.2% β-turns, and 33% disordered structures, which showed similarity with several Kunitz-type trypsin inhibitors. Inhibition kinetic studies indicated that PHTI was a competitive inhibitor, with a Ki value of 3.01 × 10−9 M, indicating a high affinity to trypsin. The PHTI exhibited considerable stability over a broad range of pH (2–10) and temperatures (20–70 °C); however, metal ions, including Fe3+, Ba2+, Mn2+, and Al3+, could inactivate PHTI to different degrees. Results of fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism showed that Fe3+ could bind to TI with an association constant of 2.75 × 105 M−1 to form a 1:1 complex, inducing conformation changes and inactivation of PHTI. In addition, PHTI could inhibit the growth of the phytopathogens, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Fusarium oxysporum, through disruption of the cell membrane integrity. The present study extended research on Pseudostellaria heterophylla proteins and makes PHTI an exploitable candidate as an antifungal protein for further investigation.


Background: Primary dyslipidaemia in children is a rare inherited disorder of lipoprotein metabolism with debilitating sequelae and poor outcomes. Lipid-lowering drugs have less often been used in children and long-term outcome studies are scarce. The purpose of this study was to understand the clinical and laboratory profile, response to treatment on follow up and outcome of primary dyslipidaemia in Indian children. Methods: Clinical records, including historical details, examination features and laboratory and radiological evaluation of children diagnosed with primary dyslipidaemia, presenting over the last 9 years were studied. Cascade screening was done for family members of the patients to detect dyslipidaemia in parents and siblings. All children were followed up 3 to 6 monthly for clinical and laboratory evaluation. Diet and drug therapy, initiated as appropriate, were modified as necessary. Results: Of nine children with primary dyslipidaemia, seen over the last 9 years, homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HoFH) (n = 4/9), familial hypertriglyceridaemia (FHT) (n = 3/9), familial combined hyperlipidemia (FCH) (n = 1/9), mutation proven chylomicronaemia syndrome (n = 1/9) were the phenotypes seen. Multiple xanthomas (n = 4/9), recurrent pancreatitis (n = 2/9) and incidentally found biochemical abnormality (n = 3/9) were the chief presenting features. Medical nutrition therapy and lipid-lowering drugs, as appropriate, were instituted in all. Follow-up over 16 months (range 4 to 90 months) revealed no deaths and no new onset of symptoms. Atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid artery were seen in one child, who presented late, despite fair compliance to treatment. Interestingly, lipid levels decreased in all cases and were normalised in two. Conclusion: Primary dyslipidaemia when detected early and treated aggressively can improve short-term outcomes.


In this paper we have proposed a method that uses chaotic logistic mapping and DNA encoding to encrypt the image. A 32 bit ASCII private key is used to diffuse the image. The results demonstrated clearly show that encryption algorithm based on chaotic logistic mapping and DNA encoding gives better result than encrypting only with chaotic logistic mapping. The proposed method also takes into account the possible parametric like Peak Signal to Noise Ratio and Structure Similarity.


The form factors for the semileptonic decays of heavy-light pseudoscalar mesons of the type D ! Kee are studied in quenched lattice QCD at = 6:0 using Wilson fermions. We explore new numerical techniques for improving the signal and study O(a) corrections using three diierent lattice transcriptions of the vector current. We present a detailed discussion of the relation of these lattice currents to the continuum vector current and show that the disagreement between the previous results is to a large extent due to the value of Z V used in the calculations. We also present results for the decay constants of light-light, heavy-light and heavy-heavy mesons.


In this paper we investigate the contention that the Fama-French (1993) model's ability to explain cross-sectional variation in equity returns occurs because the Fama-French factors, SMB and HML, are proxying for default risk. To assess the default risk hypothesis, we augment the CAPM and the Fama-French model with a default factor and run system regressions of the default enhanced models using the GMM approach. Our key findings are that: 1) default risk is not priced in equity returns; and, 2) the Fama-French factors are not proxying for default risk. Although our findings suggest that SMB and HML are not proxying for default risk, our analysis indicates that the Fama-French factors are capturing some form of priced risk However, what type of risk the Fama-French factors are capturing remains an open question.


Graft versus host" disease (GvHD) is one of the most frequent and severe complications of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). The optimal model of GvHD prophylaxis in allo-HSCT from alternative donors in children currently remains actual question. Materials and methods. The study was approved by the Independent Ethics Committee and the Scientific Council of the N.N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Ministry of Healthcare of Russian Federation. Two hundred fifty six allo-HSCT were made during the period 2003–2019 from matched unrelated donors (MUD). Age median was 7.1 years old. The source of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) bone marrow – 76% (n = 194), peripheral blood stem cells – 24% (n = 62). GvHD prophylaxis included: tacrolimus (Tacro), cyclosporin A (CsA), methotrexate (Mtx), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), in following combinations Tacro/Mtx (n = 98), Tacro/MMF (n = 102), tacro/Mtx + MMF (n = 3), CsA/Mtx (n = 24), CsA/Mtx + MMF (n = 12), CsA + MMF (n = 14). Median follow-up 8.9 years. GvHD prophylaxis regimen did not affect significantly the toxicity of therapy (toxicity: severe mucositis grade III–IV, nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity) (p = 0.4; p = 0.24; p = 0.62 respectively). In our study the rate of the overall survival (ОS) has significant differences in depending of the source of prevention GvHD. The using a combination of tacrolimus and cyclosporine with low doses of methotrexate had a positive effect on OS (p = 0.035) in patients of common non-malignant and malignant groups, as well as on the level of 2-year relapse-free survival in the group of children with malignant disorders (p = 0.671). In the general group the OS the worst results were achieved when MMF was included in the prophylaxis model. In this experience of treating of a large cohort of patients the choice of calcineurin inhibitors and methotrexate as the agent GvHD prophylaxis showed the efficacy and safety for non-manipulated MUD for both malignant and non-malignant diseases in children.


Electrospinning technology can easily produce different shaped fibrous structures, making them highly valuable to various biomedical applications. However, surface contamination of biomolecules, cells, or blood has emerged as a significant challenge to the success of electrospun devices, especially artificial blood vessels, catheters and wound dressings etc. Many efforts have been made to resist the surface non-specific biomolecules or cells adsorption, but most of them require complex pre-treatment processes, hard-to-remove metal catalysts or rigorous reaction conditions. In addition, the stability of antifouling coatings, especially in complex conditions, is still a major concern. In this work, inspired by the interpenetrating polymer network and reinforced concrete structure, an efficient and facile strategy for modifying hydrophobic electrospun meshes and tubes with antifouling zwitterionic hydrogels has been introduced. The resulting products could efficiently resist the adhesion of proteins, cells, or even fresh whole blood. Meanwhile, they could maintain the shapes and mechanical strength of the original electrospun structures. Furthermore, the hydrogel structures could retain stable in a physiological condition for at least 3 months. This paper provided a general antifouling and hydrophilicity surface modification strategy for various fibrous structures, and could be of great value for many biomedical applications where antifouling properties are critical.


In this paper, an adaptive signal tracking loop for a GPS L1/L2C/L5 receiver is designed. The design parameters is adjusted according to the receiver`s operating conditions such as the signal strength and the receiver dynamics by using the different characteristics of GPS L1, L2C and L5 signal. Simulation results show that the tracking accuracy of the proposed signal tracking loop is better than those of L1, L2C and L5 only signal tracking loop.


Objective: The effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on postural control in patients with low back pain which is not well known. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of TENS on postural control in chronic low back pain. Methods: This study was an experimental research design. Twenty-eight patients with chronic LBP (25-45 Y/ O) participated and by using a random allocation, were divided to samples who participated in this study. The mean center of pressure (COP) velocity and displacement were measured before, immediately and 30 min after the intervention. The tests were done with eyes open and closed on a force platform. Sensory electrical stimulation was applied through the TENS device. The descriptive statistics, independent sample T-test and ANOVA with repeated measurement on time were used for data analysis. Results: The results of the present study demonstrated that the application of the sensory electrical stimulation in chronic LBP patients showed a statistically significant improvement in postural control in Medio-lateral direction with no corresponding effect on the anterior-posterior direction immediately following the TENS application and 30 minutes after it in closed eyes conditions as compared to baseline. The application of TENS decreased the displacement and velocity of COP (p≤0.05), 30 minutes after the application of sensory electrical stimulation. The results showed that the mean displacement and velocity of COP decreased in eyes open position (p≤0.05). Also, immediately and 30 minutes after the application of sensory electrical stimulation, COP displacement and velocity in ML direction with eyes closed significantly decreased in the intervention group in comparison with control group (p≤0.05). Conclusion: The application of TENS in patients with chronic low back pain could improve postural control in these patients.


We review the controlled trials of antidepressant treatment in methadone patients. Several studies show antidepressant effects, but none demonstrate clear improvement in drug abuse. This is contrary to "self-medication" but rather suggests depression is either independent or substance induced. Methodologic limitations are noted, especially reliance on cross-sectional mood assessment, which may select transient mood disturbances rather than true affective disorder. We review our previously published pilot study of imipramine in depressed methadone patients selected by lifetime history, and we report four year treatment course in the nine patients who responded favorably during that trial. Patients remained euthymic during imipramine treatment and relapsed to depression during attempts to taper it. This suggests imipramine had an enduring antidepressant effect. However, intermittent drug use remained a problem for several patients, suggesting depression and drug abuse are at least in part independent disorders. Placebo controlled replications, combinations of antidepressant medication with psychosocial interventions, and exploration of antidepressants as adjuncts in methadone detoxification, are suggested avenues for further research.


The thermal bulk polymerization of cholesteryl acrylate was carried out in the solid phase, the mesomorphic phase, and the liquid phase to study the effect of monomer ordering on polymerization rate and polymer properties. The rate increased with decreasing ordering (or enhanced mobility) of the monomer. Formation of inhibitive by-products during the polymerization limited conversions to 35%. The sedimentation constant S0 = 6.2 S was the same for the polymers obtained in the three phases. The weight-average molecular weight (w) was 480,000 as determined by ultracentrifugation. Poly-(cholesteryl acrylate) formed in bulk is randomly coiled when dissolved in tetrahydrofuran. The thermal properties of the monomer are given.


Human-wildlife interactions continue to increase due to anthropogenic disturbances, with some interactions resulting in conflict. Leveraging a taxa's bias for a particular sensory cue is a promising management avenue for reducing the potential and realized negative consequences of human-wildlife conflict. For instance, many avian species heavily depend on acoustic communication, and acoustic cues can provide opportunities to reduce conflict with various avian species. The monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) is a gregarious parrot native to South America that has established populations worldwide and is considered an urban and agricultural pest in parts of its native and introduced ranges. We conducted playback experiments with a captive population of monk parakeets to evaluate auditory cues that may be useful for designing management protocols. Our experiment evaluated the efficacy of two stimuli: predator vocalizations as potential repulsion and conspecific vocalizations as potential attraction stimuli for parakeets. We measured two responses: (1) categorical group-level behavioral responses and (2) time to cease vigilance and return to behavior prior to playback. In the repulsion playbacks, monk parakeets were repelled by predator vocalizations in 80% of trials and took longer to cease vigilance and return to baseline behavior compared to attraction playbacks. In the attraction playbacks, monk parakeets exhibited vigilant behavior and weak or no attraction to the stimulus, with attraction only being observed in 10% of trials. Our results demonstrate that predator playbacks may be particularly useful for completing management objectives, such as temporary removal from a location.


The potato late blight disease that is caused by the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans is a major threat for potato crops worldwide. In recent years research on oomycete plant pathogens was boosted by the availability of novel genomic tools and resources for several oomycete genera, such as Phytophthora, Hyaloperonospora, Pythium and Aphanomyces. This has led to the identification of genes involved in diverse biological processes such as sporulation, mating, signaling and pathogenesis. One of the approaches that breeders use to obtain late blight resistant potato cultivars is the introgression of resistance traits from wild Solanum species into the cultivated potato Solanum tuberosum. The pathogen, however, is able to circumvent this resistance; it is often lost shortly after introduction of new cultivars. To better understand the mechanisms underlying this loss of resistance it is of utmost importance to gain insight into the characteristics of the cognate avirulence (Avr) genes of the pathogen. According to the gene-for-gene model Avr genes encode effectors that trigger resistance responses mediated by resistance (R) genes. This thesis first describes the identification of a P. infestans Avr gene, in particular the elicitor activity of the encoded effector protein, the domain structure of the effector and its putative sub-cellular localization. In the second part the recognition specificity of the corresponding R gene and the identification of a marker linked to this R gene are described. Chapter 1 summarizes the advances in oomycete genomics in recent years and the tremendous progress that has been made in gene discovery in oomycete plant pathogens. It describes the different oomycete species that have been studied in more detail and assesses which species are suitable model species for research on oomycete-plant interactions. The identification of the P. infestans avirulence gene PiAvr4 is presented in Chapter 2. PiAvr4, which encodes an RXLR-dEER effector protein, was isolated by positional cloning. AFLP markers were used for landing on BACs and cDNA-AFLP markers pinpointed the gene of interest. Transformation of race 4 strains with PiAvr4 resulted in transformants that are avirulent on the R4 differential of the Mastenbroek differential set (clone Ma-R4). Moreover, in planta expression of PiAvr4 resulted in a necrotic response on clone Ma-R4 but not on plants lacking R4 such as Bintje. All together this proves that PiAvr4 is the avirulence gene that corresponds to the R gene present in clone Ma-R4. In many identified avirulence proteins one or a few amino acid changes in the protein abolish avirulence function. In case of PiAvr4, race 4 strains have frame shift mutations in the open reading frame, resulting in a truncated protein that is not functional as avirulence factor. Effectors within the RXLR-dEER family are rapidly evolving. The selective pressure is targeted predominantly on the C-terminal region of these proteins. Despite this selective pressure the majority of these proteins carry motifs that can be distinguished using Hidden Markov Models searches. They are named W, Y and L motifs after the conserved tryptophan (W), tyrosine (Y) and leucine (L) residues, respectively. As described in Chapter 3 PiAvr4 carries three W motifs and a single Y motif. The motifs together with their flanking regions were tested for activity on Ma-R4 plants. Agroinfection of constructs carrying the W2 motif in combination with either the W1 or W3 motif resulted in a necrotic response. Moreover, we showed that the PiAvr4 homolog PmirAvh4, isolated from Phytophthora mirabilis was also able to elicit a necrotic response on the Ma-R4 potato clone. For several Phytophthora RXLR-dEER effectors it was demonstrated that these proteins are targeted into the host cell and that the RXLR-dEER motif is required for translocation. In Chapter 4 we investigated whether PiAvr4 and IPI-O, like other RXLR-dEER effectors, are also targeted into the host cell. A race 4 P. infestans isolate was transformed with constructs encoding either PiAvr4 or IPI-O fused to a monomeric red fluorescent protein (mRFP) at the C-terminus. Fluorescence microscopy of these transformants showed no specific mRFP fluorescence in free living, non-sporulating mycelium. However, in germinating cysts, the tips of germ tubes and appressoria showed mRFP fluorescence, and during infection of etiolated potato plantlets localized fluorescence was visible at the haustorial neck. Haustoria are highly specialized infection and feeding structures that are in close contact with the plant cell and have a putative role in delivering effector proteins into the host cell. In order to monitor the development of the infection a novel experimental set-up was developed. In this method etiolated in vitro grown potato plantlets are inoculated with P. infestans, which has the advantage that there is no autofluorescence of chlorophyll that masks the mRFP fluorescence and thus disturbs the microscopic analysis in green plant tissues. The lack of chlorophyll does not seem to interfere with infection; zoospores are capable to encyst and to germinate, and the etiolated tissues are readily colonized by P. infestans. The recognition specificity of R4 potato differentials is described in Chapter 5. Initially two different potato clones were developed as R4 differentials; The Mastenbroek differential set, developed in the Netherlands, contains the clone Cebeco44-31-5 (designated as Ma-R4) and the Black differential set, developed in Scotland, contains clone 1563 c (14) (designated as Bl-R4). Virulence assays using several wild type P. infestans strains revealed that the Bl-R4 clone is susceptible to all isolates that are avirulent on clone Ma-R4. Only one single isolate was found to be avirulent on clone Bl-R4, but virulent on Ma-R4. Moreover, in transient expression assays with binary PVX constructs carrying PiAvr4, the Ma-R4 clone but not the Bl-R4 clone responded with an HR. Similar to the R3 locus two different recognition specificities seem to exist for R4. The R3a and R3b genes are located on one locus but whether this is the case for the two R4 genes (named R4Ma and R4Bl, respectively) remains to be determined. Resistance to P. infestans strains carrying PiAvr4 segregates in an 1:1 ratio in two independent potato F1 populations suggesting that R4Ma resistance is determined by a single dominant locus. More in depth studies on the recognition of PiAvr4 by its cognate R protein are hampered by the fact that the resistance gene R4Ma has not yet been identified. In Chapter 6 nucleotide binding site (NBS) profiling was used to generate R4Ma-associated markers. NBS profiling is a biased approach based on PCR amplification of conserved NBS motifs in R genes and R gene homologs. In a bulked segregant analysis, DNA of resistant and susceptible F1 progeny was pooled and used as template for NBS profiling. Several candidate markers were found but eventually one amplified fragment was found to co-segregate with resistance mediated by R4Ma. DNA sequencing of this fragment revealed high similarity to BAC sequences that are mapped to potato chromosome 12. Moreover, the R4Ma marker is homologous to members of the Rx/Gpa2 gene family. Chapter 7 focuses on the secreted effectors of plant pathogenic oomycetes, with special attention to RXLR-dEER effectors, and the role of these proteins in pathogenesis. The RXLR-dEER effector family is rapidly evolving and comprises all secreted oomycete avirulence proteins that are identified up till now. There is now ample evidence that oomycetes utilize the RXLR-dEER domain to deposit effectors inside host cells. Furthermore, this chapter discusses the experimental results described in this thesis in the light of present knowledge on gene-for-gene interactions, effector recognition and late blight resistance.


The analytical and clinical performance of three radioisotopic methods for the measurement of free thyroxine—GammaCoat™ (125I) Free T4, RIA-gnost® FT4 and Amerlex-MAB* FT4—were assessed in comparison with the Sclavo two-step chromatographic method. The analytical evaluation indicated excellent performance of Amerlex-MAB FT4. For the other methods, precision and sensitivity were comparable and acceptable for routine use. Only GammaCoat FT4 showed a significant positive intra-assay drift. None of the methods showed a significant correlation with thyroxine-binding globulin. Amerlex-MAB FT4 results were weakly positively correlated with albumin. Sclavo, RIA-gnost and particularly GammaCoat FT4 results were affected by the presence of increased concentrations of free fatty acids. All methods classified hyperthyroid patients correctly. Slight overlaps existed between the hypothyroid and euthyroid populations. Significant decreases in free thyroxine (FT4) during the third trimester of pregnancy were detected by all assays. In patients with chronic renal failure, serum FT4 was within reference limits more often when measured by Sclavo or Amerlex-MAB methods than by RIA-gnost or GammaCoat techniques. In conclusion, all assays performed well from both technical and diagnostic points of view.


Cryptotanshinone is an active ingredient of Salvia miltiorrhiza that has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for treating cardiovascular disorders. Thus, we investigated the effects of cryptotanshinone on cardiac fibrosis induced by isoprenaline and examined whether cardiac matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 is involved in this process. Male C57BL/6 mice received a daily injection of 0.9% saline, 3 mg/kg isoprenaline or isoprenaline plus 20 mg/kg cryptotanshinone by gastric gavage for 2 weeks. In this study we demonstrated that cryptotanshinone was able to significantly ameliorate isoprenaline-induced cardiac fibrosis, which was associated with a marked upregulation and activation of MMP-2 in the ventricular myocardium. Additionally, we demonstrated that cryptotanshinone dose-dependently upregulated and activated MMP-2 in cultured cardiac fibroblasts. Moreover, incubation with cryptotanshinone also prevented the isoprenaline-induced downregulation and inactivation of MMP-2 in cultured cardiac fibroblasts. Taken together, our data suggest that cryptotanshinone is a novel and potent antifibrotic agent. The present findings further our understanding of the role of MMP-2 in cardiac fibrosis and the antifibrotic mechanisms of cryptotanshinone.


The previously predicted structures of human alpha-lactalbumin by homology with hen egg white lysozyme by an automatic method, after the alignment stage, are compared to the X-ray determined structure of baboon alpha-lactalbumin. The root mean square by rotation method (RMSR) deviations for 122 C-alpha atoms between the two models and the X-ray structure are 2.0 A and 2.3 A. The RMSR deviations for all atoms, except for differences in human and baboon sequences, are 2.8 A and 3.1 A. If the flexible C-terminus (residues 112-122) are removed then these RMSR deviations are reduced to 2.4 A and 2.3 A respectively. These results are consistent with the fact that the RMSR deviation between the human and baboon X-ray structures increases from residue 112 onwards and is conformationally flexible.


The drag reduction(DR) of non-ionic surfactant and polymer according to the variation of fluid velocity, temperature and surfactant concentration was investigated experimentally. For this experiment, the kind of surfactant was non ionic amine-oxide and the kinds of polymer were polyacrylamide and xantan gum. An experimental apparatus equipped with one water storage tanks was built and two flow meters, two pressure gauges for data logging system was installed. Results showed that the kinds of polymer, polyacrylamide and xantan gum, had DR of below 20% for below 500 ppm in fluid temperature of . But the kind of surfactant, amine oxide, had DR of above 40% for 500~1000 ppm in fluid temperature of . As a result, amin oxide showed better materials to use to the district heating system.