Panax ginseng is traditionally used for enhancement of physical capacities, especially in condition of severe fatigue. To evaluate the ability of ginseng in enhancing performance, we focused on the gene expression of AMPK, PGC-1α and SIRT1 genes, involved in energy balance. Gene expression was evaluated in C2C12 myotubes, using P. ginseng C.A. Meyer standardized extract G115, at various concentrations (10-50-100-200 mg/L) for 24, 48, 72 h of incubation. G115 increased significantly expression of AMPK and PGC-1α in dose and time-dependent manner: at the concentration of 10 mg/L there is an increase after 72 h of incubation while at 50 mg/L after 48 h and maintained for 72 h. G115 increased expression of SIRT1 at 10 mg/L after 24 h, while at 50 mg/L after 24 and 48 h. The treatment enhanced cellular ATP levels and O2 consumption only at 50 mg/L. We investigated AMPK, PGC-1α and SIRT1 expression in gastrocnemius muscle during acute and prolonged exercise in mice treated with G115. G115 showed no effect on acute exercise compared to untreated mice, but after prolonged exercise there were significant increases of AMPK and PGC-1α. Expression of SIRT1 was also significant in treated animals' undergone prolonged exercise. Our data indicate that treatment with G115 increases AMPK and SIRT1 expression that may be related to the induction of PGC-1α expression which improves the energy balance, as demonstrated by increased production of ATP and oxygen consumption. In addition, G115 is able to counteract the inhibition of gene expression of AMPK and PGC-1α due to the prolonged exercise.


Within the larger Seattle Heart Watch arteriography registry, surgically treated patients non randomly selected for direct myocardial revascularization were matched to medically treated patients such that each of the 287 pairs was identical in seven variables (ejection fraction, ventricular arrhythmia on resting electrocardiogram, age, heart murmur, stenosis of left main coronary artery greater than or equal to 50%, number of vessels with stenosis greater than or equal to 70%, and use of diuretics) previously demonstrated to be independently predictive of survival. Actuarial survival analyses based on cardiovascular deaths (average follow-up 3.5 years) indicate improved survival for the entire surgical matched pair cohort (p = 0.008) and for the surgically treated subgroup with two-vessel disease (p = 0.0002) when compared to the medical cohort. These results were confirmed by examination of the entire arteriography registry (n = 1524) in which these seven variables were known, using Cox's model for survival analysis. This multivariate, statistical technique indicated that the surgical mode of therapy was significantly predictive of improved survival in surgically treated patients for the entire registry (p = 0.008) and for the subgroup with two-vessel disease (p = 0.0005).


Omid Safi is a professor of classical and contemporary Islamic studies in North America. His thought influences the contemporary Islamic discourses. It is progressive Muslims, which becomes a new paradigm after liberal Islam. Actually, both of these discourses are almost the same, but Safi tries to present progressive Muslims as a discourse different from liberal Islam. Later, Safi's concept of progressive Muslims can inspire many Muslim scholars in the West. This study concludes that according to Omid Safi, progressive Muslims come from the spirit of renewal Islam and response to modernity. But after research and comparison from many aspects, progressive Muslims are doing a progressive ijtihad and interpretation to show the humanist Islam and tolerant for social issues by engaging both of tradition and modernity as the main characters. The researcher finally concludes that this discourse is redefining Islam in the manner as other several contemporary Islamic discourses, like liberal Islam and neo-modernism did.


The opportunity for patient choice in the health care system in CIS countries was created by the partial destruction of the referral system and the development of paid medical services. The data of two population surveys conducted in Russia in 2009 and 2011 show that patient choice of medical facility and physician is taking place in the post-Semashko health care system, and it is not restricted to the area of paid medical services. However for the majority of population the choice of medical facility and physician is not a necessity. Part of reason for patient choice is caused by the failure of the patient referral system to ensure the necessary treatment. For some Russian citizens, the choice of health care provider is a means to obtain better quality care, and in this respect the enhancement of patient choice is leading to the improved efficiency of the emerging health care system.


A steady state load flow analysis for an integrated heat and power system is investigated. It combines established load flow methods for both power and heat networks. The linear theory is used to solve the heat flow problem. Forward/backward iterations were used to solve the electric load flow. The two networks are coupled via the CHP unit. The model was tested on a benchmark low voltage Microgrid .


Chondrosarcoma of the larynx is a rare tumor of the upper respiratory tract that originates from cartilaginous tissue. The cricoid cartilage is the most frequent site of onset at the larynx. The diagnosis is not always easy, given the tumor's slow growth rate, the aspecificity of the symptoms, and the low degree of malignancy with which most cases present and which often causes it to be mistaken for a chondroma. A case is presented of a 61-year-old woman with a chondrosarcoma of the larynx, grade 2, originating from the cricoid cartilage and measuring about 3 cm in diameter. The patient underwent extirpation of the tumor together with the cricoid cartilage, with a successive thyrotracheal anastomosis because she refused a total laryngectomy, which would have been the indicated intervention on the basis of the extent and grade of the neoplasm. At 6 years from surgery, the patient is in a good state of health with good laryngeal function and without recurrence of the disease. This fact confirms that the surgical approach to chondrosarcoma of the larynx can in most cases be conservative, reserving demolitive surgery for the more aggressive forms, for tumors of greater extent, and for recurrences. In fact, good laryngeal function and therefore a good quality of life can be maintained even for long periods of time.


Objective. To evaluate the clinical, laboratory, and radiological presentation of 16 cases of brucellar spondylitis. Methods. The clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, and imaging findings of 16 patients (aged from 24 to 66 years) with brucellar spondylitis treated between September 2012 and September 2014 at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University (Xi'an, China) were retrospectively analyzed. Results. Clinical manifestations included high fever, severe pain, sweating, and fatigue. One patient had epididymitis, and two showed clear signs of spinal nerve damage. Laboratory tests showed elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein content. Serum brucella agglutination tests were positive, and 11 brucella blood cultures were positive. Imaging manifestations mainly consisted of abnormal signals in the intervertebral space or abnormal signals in the adjacent vertebral bodies (16/16, 100%) in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), disc space narrowing (14/16, 88%) in X-ray and MRI, or bone destruction and sclerosis around the damaged zone (13/16, 81%) in computed tomography, with rare cases of psoas abscess (2/16, 13%) and sequestrum (1/16, 6%). Conclusion. Since brucellar spondylitis exhibited characteristic clinical and imaging manifestations, it could be diagnosed with specific laboratory tests. Early MRI examination of suspected cases could improve rapid diagnosis.


Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) demonstrates an unsatisfactory clinical prognosis due to the intrinsic or acquired resistance to temozolomide (TMZ) exhibited by the tumors. One possible cause of TMZ resistance in GBM is the overexpression of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), which can repair the TMZ-induced guanine damage in DNA. Additionally, excessive activated NF-κB is reported to be a component of the major inflammatory transcription pathway that is associated with TMZ resistance in GBM. However, the association between the NF-κB pathway and MGMT expression in GBM cells is unknown. Therefore, in the present study, the TMZ resistant (TR) U251 cell line (TR/U251) was successfully constructed to detect how the TR/U251 cell line and the parental U251 cell line each interact with TMZ in vitro. The TR/U251 cells were approximately five times more resistant to TMZ compared with the parental cells. Furthermore, it was found that the NF-κB inhibitor BAY 11-7082 suppressed the expression of MGMT in TR/U251 cells and enhanced TMZ-induced cytotoxicity and apoptosis, thereby indicating that the NF-κB pathway and MGMT interact to promote TMZ resistance. The inhibition of NF-κB may be a promising strategy to reverse drug resistance in TR glioma cells. The present results propose a potential mechanism for using the NF-κB inhibitor BAY 11-7082 as a potential therapy for the treatment of TR glioma. Although BAY 11-7082 is a well-known NF-κB inhibitor, the present study further investigated its underlying mechanisms through a series of new experiments.


Two neural network implementations are applied to myoelectric signal (MES) analysis tasks. The motivation behind this research is to explore more reliable methods of deriving control for multi-degree-of-freedom arm prostheses. A discrete Hopfield network is used to calculate the time series parameter for a moving average MES model. It is demonstrated that the Hopfield network is capable of generating the same time series parameters as those produced by the conventional sequential least-squares algorithm. Furthermore, it can be extended to applications utilizing larger amounts of data, and possibly to higher-order time series models, without significant degradation in computational efficiency. The second neural network implementation involves using a two-layer perceptron for classifying a single-site MES on the basis of two features, the first time series parameter and the signal power.<<ETX>>


Numerical simulations of solar surface convection have predicted the existence of supersonic horizontal flows in the photospheric granulation. Recently, the detection of such flows in data from the Hinode satellite was reported. We study supersonic granular flows in detail to understand their signatures in spectral lines and to test the observational detection method used to identify these flows in the Hinode observations. We perform time-dependent 3D radiative MHD numerical simulations and synthesize the Fe i 6302 A spectral lines at the resolution of the Hinode data for different viewing angles covering the center-limb variation. There is very large variation in the detailed shape of the emergent line profiles depending on the viewing angle and the particular flow properties and orientation. At the full simulation resolution the supersonic flows can even produce distinct satellite lines. After smearing to the Hinode resolution sufficient signature of supersonic motion remains. Our analysis shows that the detection method used to analyze the Hinode data is indeed applicable. However, the detection is very sensitive to ad hoc parameter choices and can also misidentify supersonic flows.


Audit failure practices have been the headlines in the past decade. At the same time, auditing is associated with high stress and over-timed work. However, a concern regarding the importance of audit quality rises nowadays. This research aims to find the effect of auditor's work stress to audit quality. Additionally, it is intended to find how the presence of certain condition, such as such as initial audit partner engagement, audit firm size, and client litigation risk, impact the effect of auditor work stress to audit quality. This research utilizes data of listed Indonesian companies during 2014 – 2016. The methodology used is multiple linear regression. This research finds that auditor's work stress affect audit quality significantly and negatively. This finding enhances Interaction Theory, where generally in Indonesian audit profession; the increased job-demand is not balanced by good job-control and social support. However, initial audit partner engagement and big audit firm size can mitigate the effect of such stress. While client litigation risk does not affect the impact of auditor's work stress to audit quality. This study suggests that public accounting firms pay attention to job demand, low job control, and low social support, which are elements of work stress, to improve audit quality.


It is important to improve the quality of service by using congestion detection
technology to find the potential congestion as early as possible in wireless sensor network.

So an improved congestion control scheme based on traffic assignment and reassignment
algorithm is proposed for congestion avoidance, detection and mitigation. The congestion area of
the network is detected by predicting and setting threshold. When the congestion occurs, sensor
nodes can be recovery quickly from congestion by adopting reasonable method of traffic reassignment.
And the method can ensure the data in the congestion areas can be transferred to noncongestion
areas as soon as possible.

The simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme can reduce the number of loss
packets, improve the throughput, stabilize the average transmission rate of source node and reduce
the end-to-end delay.

: So the proposed scheme can enhance the overall performance of the network. Keywords:
wireless sensor network; congestion control; congestion detection; congestion mitigation;
traffic assignment; traffic reassignment.


Leaving the parental home is a significant step in young adults' housing careers and pathways to independence. Although a large literature examines how life course trajectories influence leaving home, much less is known about how the "linked lives" of parents and the local cost of housing shape young people's departures from the family residence. By enriching the U.K. Household Longitudinal Study with house price data, this study investigates how parental attributes and the geography of local housing costs influence home leaving in contemporary Britain. The results show that higher local house prices are associated with delayed departure from the parental home, although the relative magnitude of this effect is modest. By contrast, the effects of parental factors are more nuanced. Parental characteristics have little impact on the odds of leaving home to form partnerships, whereas the likelihood of departing to live alone or in shared accommodation is reduced by parental homeownership or living with both biological parents. Taken together, these findings suggest that young adults' residential pathways are shaped by the complex patterns of choice and constraint that are generated by disparities in family circumstances and local opportunity structures.


ABSTRACT The TP53 protein is known to affect the sensitivity of tumor cells to cell death by DNA damaging agents. We recently reported that human and mouse cells containing an African-specific coding region variant of p53, Pro47Ser (hereafter S47), are impaired in the transactivation of a small subset of p53 target genes including GLS2 and SCO2, and are markedly resistant to cisplatin. Further, mice containing this variant are markedly predisposed to cancer. Together these findings suggested that cancer-affected humans with the S47 variant might not be effectively treated with cisplatin. To more directly test this premise, we created transformed derivatives of mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) containing wild type p53 (WT) and the S47 variant and analyzed them for chemosensitivity. We find that transformation with E1A and Ras actually reverses the chemosensitivity/transcriptional differences between WT p53 and S47. Specifically, E1A/Ras-transformed S47 cells show increased sensitivity to cisplatin and paclitaxel, and comparable transactivation of GLS2 and SCO2, compared to cells with WT p53. These data suggest that the functional differences between WT p53 and S47 in primary cells may not hold true for transformed cells. They also offer hope that cisplatin and paclitaxel may be effective chemotherapeutic drugs for S47 individuals with cancer.


The modified flat-bottom potential (MFBP) is given by the combination of the flat-bottom potential with considerations for the infrared and ultraviolet asymptotic behaviour of the effective quark-gluon coupling. The π meson electromagnetic form factor is calculated in the framework of the coupled Schwinger-Dyson equation and the Bethe-Salpeter equation in the simplified impulse approximation (dressed vertex) with the MFBP. All our numerical results give a good fit to experimental values.


This essay approaches the Hegelian problem of giving and givenness through the marginal fi gures of the animal, the child, and "superstitious humanity," representing, in one way or another, the unperturbed relationship with immediacy. I argue that, for Hegel, the process of subjectivization supersedes these fi gures by learning to reject the immediately given and to accept only what is self-given. Yet, in- terspersed throughout this process are various imbalances and asymmetries, whereby the subject gives itself more than it takes, undialectically suppressing the particular and displacing the marginal.


Abstract Promoted by indium, allylic and propargyl bromides react with diorganyl diselenides in THF to give allylic and propargyl selenides in moderate to good yields.


Wilhelm Ropke is probably the most unjustly neglected economist and social critic of the twentieth century. Exiled by Hitler's regime, Ropke was a passionate critic of socialism and the welfare state who was nonetheless keenly attuned to the limits of capitalism. John Zmirak's Wilhelm Ropke, written with the touch of an accomplished writer and journalist, ably demonstrates that Ropke's humane yet sophisticated "Third Way" economics can play a vital role in shaping appropriate policies to reflect the growing communitarian consensus.


Collaborative Filtering (CF) is a popular recommendation system that makes recommendations based on similar users' preferences. Though it is widely used, CF is prone to Shilling/Profile Injection attacks, where fake profiles are injected into the CF system to alter its outcome. Most of the existing shilling attacks do not work on online systems and cannot be efficiently implemented in real-world applications. In this paper, we introduce an efficient Multi-Armed-Bandit-based reinforcement learning method to practically execute online shilling attacks. Our method works by reducing the uncertainty associated with the item selection process and finds the most optimal items to enhance attack reach. Such practical online attacks open new avenues for research in building more robust recommender systems. We treat the recommender system as a black box, making our method effective irrespective of the type of CF used. Finally, we also experimentally test our approach against popular state-of-the-art shilling attacks.


This study aims to increase students' feeling of being able to speak English. So the researcher tries to build students' confidence about their ability in speaking English by forming knowledge of pronunciation and vocabulary. The researcher used classroom action research with three instruments: observation, questionnaire and speaking assignment. The results showed that The PRO-VOC Method can improve students' self-efficacy in terms of speaking. There was a significant improvement in the results of the primary and final tests in the first and second cycles. The students' mean score of the primaty test was 41.36, in the first cycle it was 50.30 and 73.64 in the second cycle. Based on students' improvement in their achievement, it corresponds to their increase in feeling capable. It is proven by the results of the questionnaire that the average percentage of the student self-efficacy scale in the previous study was 46.36%, 64.55% in the first cycle and 73.37% in the second cycle


Previous studies have confirmed that readers can obtain sub-lexical information (e.g., orthographic or phonological) from the parafovea during reading. However, no consensus has been reached as to whether semantic information can also be extracted from the parafoveal word. A possible explanation for this controversy may be the limitations of the boundary paradigm in eye-tracking reading experiments, which have been the main methodology used in previous studies. For instance, the duration of parafoveal word viewing cannot be held constant across conditions in the boundary paradigm. Thus, in this study, an ERPs paradigm using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) with fl ankers was used to study extraction of semantic information from the parafoveal word in the reading of Chinese sentences. A total of 84 sets of Chinese sentences were constructed for this study. Unlike previous studies, in each set of sentences, the two-character verbs were manipulated, yielding a congruent or incongruent context with the target single-character noun that appeared 4 or 5 characters after the verbs. Thus the critical trials (containing the target noun as the right flanker) were the same across congruent and incongruent conditions. Each sentence was presented character by character at fixation, flanked 2 o bilaterally by the preceding character (n-1) on the left and the next character (n+1) on the right. Each viewing consisted of three characters presented on the screen for 100 ms with an inter-stimuli interval (ISI) of 400 ms. Twenty-four participants' ERPs were recorded individually with 40 tin electrodes (10-20 System) in a sound-attenuating, electrically shielded booth. The EEG and EOG signals were sampled at 500 Hz and filtered digitally offline with a 0.02 to 30 Hz band pass. Epochs of interest were selected time-locked to the onset of the critical trials with a 200 ms pre-onset baseline window and a 1000 ms window after onset. Mean ERPs amplitudes from 300~450 ms and 800~950 ms were computed for each participant and tested for significance using ANOVA. A more negative N400 component was found between 300 and 450ms when the sentence context was incongruent than when it was congruent with the right flanker. Furthermore, no significant differences between the two conditions were found between 800 and 950ms, which was the time window of the N400 effect when the target noun was fixated foveally. Since the critical trials were the same across conditions and different lexical properties in the parafovea were avoided, the only manipulation was the semantic congruence of the target noun with the prior context. Thus the significant difference in the N400 component between 300 and 450ms suggests that semantic extraction from the parafoveal word exists during the first 100 ms of current word fixation in Chinese sentence reading. These results suggest that the semantic information of a preview word may be processed in parallel with the fixated word, which supports the view of GAG models (such as SWIFT). Together with the results of previous studies, the present study also demonstrates that the flanker-RSVP ERPs paradigm may be a suitable method for the study of parafoveal processing during sentence reading.


Deltamethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide widely used for controlling pests in agriculture and public health programs. However, its toxicity towards non-target organisms, including humans, has raised concerns over its safe use. This review paper aims to summarize the current knowledge of deltamethrin toxicity, including its mechanism of action, acute and chronic toxicity, genotoxicity, and ecotoxicity. The findings suggest that deltamethrin can cause acute toxicity in humans and animals, leading to symptoms such as convulsions, respiratory distress, and even death. Chronic exposure to deltamethrin has been associated with various adverse health effects, including neurotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, and carcinogenicity. Furthermore, deltamethrin has been shown to have toxic effects on non-target organisms, such as bees and aquatic organisms, which can have significant ecological consequences. Therefore, there is a need to regulate and monitor the use of deltamethrin to ensure its safe use and protect the environment and human health.


Underwriters and co-managers play an important role in IPOs, but because they often have affiliated mutual funds, concerns about conflicts of interest can arise. On the one hand, they can use this affiliation for the benefit of their asset management business (the information advantage hypothesis); on the other hand, they can use mutual funds under their control to support their IPO clients (the quid pro quo hypothesis). In this article, we find that the behavior of lead underwriter-affiliated funds in Thailand is more consistent with the information advantage hypothesis and co-manager-affiliated funds more consistent with the quid pro quo hypothesis. We also find further evidence of strategic placement of IPO stocks within fund family.


Introduction Accurate risk assessment is central to the management of patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Many ACS risk scores are employed as near-point tests, but rely on the collection of remote data such as troponin concentration. This study investigated the long term and short term mortality prediction performance of the Frontal QRS-T Angle and Age Risk (FAAR) score, a simple ACS risk stratification tool comprising of the frontal QRS-T angle and age at admission and compared with GRACE risk score which relies on a multitude of clinical variables. Method Data from the Evaluation of Methods and Management of Acute Coronary Events EMMACE-2 and EMMACE-1 prospective studies was used to test and validate models respectively. EMMACE studies examined outcomes in consecutively admitted, unselected patients with confirmed ACS in multiple adjacent hospitals (within the catchment area of one tertiary centre) in Yorkshire, UK. Using the EMMACE-2 (2499 patients), FAAR score adjusted for patient characteristics, a stepwise logistic regression and proportional hazards Cox regression models was used to predict 30-day and 2-year mortality. Results The FAAR score offered excellent discriminative performance for 30-day, C statistic (95% CI) 0.74 (0.71 to 0.78) and 2-year 0.76 (0.74 to 0.78) mortality, maintained its performance in the EMMACE-1 validation cohort at 30-days, C statistic (95% CI) 0.76 (0.71 to 0.80) and at 2-years 0.79 (0.75 to 0.83), and compared favourably with the GRACE score. Conclusion FAAR score could be used by emergency healthcare professionals to assist the triage of patients presenting with suspected ACS.


Introduction Effective bowel preparation of ≥90% is a key quality indicator for ensuring good standards of colonoscopy1. Good quality bowel preparation improves polyp detection and caecal intubation rates. Various regimens used in Mid-Yorkshire NHS Trust (MYNHT) were assessed in 2008 leading to a change in practise. As a result, Citramag and Senna have been used in split doses since then. Aims of the study were to determine the efficacy of Citramag/Senna, and patient acceptability & tolerability of this regimen. Performance of this regimen was compared to Kleen Prep and oral Fleet used previously. Methods We prospectively studied data collected from pre-procedure questionnaires completed by patients between Aug 2010 & May 2011. Endoscopists scored bowel cleansing according to Boston Bowel Prep Scale (BBPS) for each segment (0–3)2, on the basis of guidance images and scoring system provided for the duration of the study. Qualitatively, bowel cleansing was graded as A, B or C, where A = all segments clean, B = partially removable stool preventing complete visualisation in at least one segment and C = solid stool in at least one segment. Exclusion criteria were used to philtre patients who received regimens other than Citramag/Senna, those with incomplete data and those who had had colonic resection. Results A total of 194 questionnaires were received during the study period. Of these, 19 patients were excluded from further analysis on the basis of criteria detailed above. Of the remaining 175 cases assessed, 88% patients found taste of the preparation acceptable or pleasant. 92.5% were willing to take the same regime again. 44% patients had adverse effects of which 77% were mild. This compared favourably to results of Kleen-Prep (62.9%) & Fleet (66.2%). Abdominal cramp was the commonest side effect. Mean total BBPS score was 16.91 (maximum score possible 18). 93.14% cases were graded A (qualitative score) implying good efficacy of bowel preparation, compared to 45.1% for Kleen-Prep and 69% for Fleet. Conclusion The split-dose regimen of Citramag/Senna meets the Joint Advisory Group (JAG) recommendation for bowel cleansing with efficacy of >90% and is better than other regimens previously used in MYNHT. We also found this to be superior to Kleen-Prep and oral Fleet in terms of patient acceptability and adverse effects. Hence, we recommend continuing with the current regimen, and re-assessing this to ensure ongoing efficacy/benefit. BBPS should be considered for use as a standard scoring tool for assessing efficacy of bowel preparation. However, further validation is required to demonstrate its applicability in day-to-day endoscopy. Disclosure of Interest None Declared References BSG quality and safety indicators for endoscopy. Mar 2007 Calderwood A & Jacobson B. Comprehensive validation of Boston bowel preparation scale. Gastrointestinal Endosc. 2010 October; 72(4): 686–692


The study examined deaf clients' perceptions of counseling expertise as a function of several counseling variables: counselor's signing skill, gender, and therapy type. Twenty undergraduate students at a special college for the deaf who were enrolled in either counseling courses or psychology courses viewed 4 video clips reflecting a mock counseling session. After viewing the clips, the participants were asked to complete the Counselor Rating Form—Short Form (Corrigan & Schmidt, 1983). There was no statistically significant main effect for the sex of the counselor, the match between the counselor's gender and the client's gender, or the mode of communication. While the study demonstrates the utility of the method for future research with deaf clients, further modifications of the method are necessary.


Synthetic nickel-iron olivines, equilibrated at 1000 degrees C, were investigated by means of Moessbauer spectroscopy at high and low temperature. A strong tendency towards an ordering of Ni (super 2+) into the M1 site and Fe (super 2+) into M2 was observed. K D for the exchange reaction Ni (super 2+) (M1) + Fe (super 2+) (M2) Fe (super 2+) (M1) + Ni (super 2+) (M2) varies little with chemical composition, suggesting a near ideal solid solution in Ni-Fe olivines. Gibbs free energy of exchange at 1000 degrees C is calculated to be 6.0 kcal/mole (24.9 kJ/mole).--Journal abstract.


This project examines how the quality of a code generator used in an Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) framework can be improved in terms of maintainability, testability and reusability by changing the design from a top-down perspective to a bottom up. The resulting generator is tested in a case study to verify that the new design is more cohesive and less coupled than an existing code generator.


CVD grown few walled carbon nanotubes (FWCNTs) were functionalized and decorated with Pd nanoparticle. HRSEM shows that about 5 nm spherical Pd nanoparticles where attached on the walls of the FWCNT. FTIR and Raman spectroscopy shows that the functional group on the walls of the FWCNTs and their structural stability in the decoration process. Pd decorated carbon nanotubes were spin coated on interdigitated electrode to make random network among the electrodes. The room temperature sensor shows high sensitivity and also recovered completely for hydrogen gas.


I present an inventory of theories of war causation (and on the origin of war) in preindustrial (traditional, foraging, 'primitive', hunter-gatherer, band- and tribe-level) societies, with emphasis on the roles of natural selection, sexual selection and kin selection. Also the school of sociocultural evolution is briefly discussed.


This study was carried out to evaluate the applicability of the odor source tracking using wind field and fingerprint as a solution tool. First of all, CALMET and HYSPLIT modeling system, and database of odor discharge companies were utilized to track odor from industrial complexes. Secondly, industrial odor fingerprint was made by listing on the 19 domestic industries, and compared with foreign data to assess the representative, and thus the similarity was 86.7%. On the modeling experiment, Sihwa industrial complex did not show any difference because the matching rates of day and night were 49.5% and 50.0%, respectively. However, the Banwol and Sihwa industrial complexes did show some differences due to odor facility density. Separately, in this study, odor samples were obtained from 10 odor discharging companies, located in the Sihwa and Banwol industrial complexes, They were compared with the results of odor tracking modeling. The matched companies were 4 of 10 by three cases of tracking, while the fingerprint and industry of odor monitoring networks and companies matched each other. Therefore, this study confirmed the approach applicability of source tracking system using the fingerprint.


ABSTRACT In more than four decades, Japanese society has rapidly intensified a tendency towards a very low fertility rate with a smaller number of children. It is generally confirmed that a society needs a total fertility rate of at least 2.1 in order to avoid a decline in its total population. The total fertility rate in Japan was still 2.14 in 1973, when the period of high economic growth in the post-World War II ended. It continued to decline to 1.26 in 2005. It then recovered somewhat in 2015, as the post-war "junior" baby-boom generation reacted to its last chance to have children. However, the recovery is temporary, and the Japanese total fertility rate is estimated to slide again in the 2020s. This article examines this transition through a re-examination of Marx's capitalist law of population. This approach rejects the naturalist theory of population and directs attention to Japan's demographic decline in the context of neo-liberal policies in contemporary capitalism.


We previously reported the anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic activity of a new class of sangivamycin-like molecules (SLMs). In this study we aimed to further the preclinical development of these compounds by identifying tumor types with the highest sensitivity to their cytotoxic effects. Of 35 tumor cell lines from 8 different tissues of origin that we screened, we found that multiple myeloma (MM) cells were approximately 3–10 times more sensitive to SLMs than other tumor types. SLM3 as well as SLM5, SLM6, and SLM7 reduced viability and induced apoptosis of MM cells at sub-micromolar concentrations in vitro. By contrast, SLMs induced negligible amounts of apoptosis in other tumor and normal cell lines. SLM6 exhibited the most potent activity in vivo where it significantly inhibited the growth of xenografted MM tumors. We found that SLM6 inhibited cyclin dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) resulting in hypophosphorylation of RNA polymerase II (Ser2) and transcriptional repression of oncogenes that are known to drive MM progression and resistance to therapy (c-Maf, cyclin D1, c-Myc, L-Myc, and Mcl-1). Furthermore, we found that SLM6 increased the cytotoxic activity of therapies that are currently approved for MM treatment (bortezomib, lenalidomide, dexamethasone, and doxorubicin). These findings suggest that CDK9 inhibition is a particularly effective targeted strategy for MM, and SLM6 is a promising CDK9-targeted agent, both as a single agent and in combination with currently approved therapies. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2011 Nov 12-16; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2011;10(11 Suppl):Abstract nr C77.


ABSTRACT Introduction While essential for cost-effectiveness analyses, there are no current resource use and cost data available for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT). The study aims to assess current resource use and costs in HCC and for SIRT compared to historical survey data. Areas covered To address this data gap, resource use was elicited via surveys and interviews with medical professionals experienced with HCC and SIRT in the United Kingdom. Unit costs were from publicly available databases. Resource use and costs were estimated and compared to prior surveys. Expert opinion From eleven responses, pre-progression costs for SIRT and systemic therapy were £256.77 and £292.27/month, respectively. One-off progression and post-progression costs were £209.98 and £522.84/month. Monthly costs were 54%-79% lower than in previous surveys, due to reduction in hospitalizations and funded social care. Furthermore, substantial differences in resource use associated with SIRT between clinical practice and clinical trials were found. In conclusion, increased availability and familiarity with systemic treatments has led to important changes in HCC care and SIRT administration. The uncertainty from the use of expert opinion and the limited number of hospitals with SIRT experience can be addressed with future research using large databases, registries.


Abstract Background and Objectives Due to a lifetime of experience, older adults are uniquely positioned to contribute advice and insight to others during a historical, societal crisis such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This qualitative study explores the solicited advice older adults offered their peers, family members, and communities throughout the first year of the pandemic. Research Design and Methods A sample of 72 older adults aged 70–97 from Minnesota and North Dakota were asked what advice they would provide to others in June 2020 and again in April/May 2021. Participants were asked to provide advice on individual coping and how community members should support older adults during the pandemic, as well as how others should adjust after the pandemic. Responses were coded and developed into overarching themes. Results Older adults advised others during the pandemic to foster mental and physical well-being, develop positive life perspectives, and connect to others as strategies to cope through the pandemic. Participants advised that after the pandemic people should remain vigilant, return to normal, and emerge as better people. Advice targeted to meeting the needs of older adults during the pandemic included: adopt selfless attitudes, take intentional actions, and maintain balance. A longitudinal approach revealed that advice remained consistent over time, despite the circumstances caused by COVID-19 changing. Discussion and Implications Findings suggest that older adults utilize their life experiences and coping strategies as sources for drawing advice. These findings also suggest that older adults are sources of insight during crises. Future research should investigate additional advice older adults can offer and how willingly communities listen. Applied work should give older adults opportunities to provide far-reaching advice as well as develop interventions aimed at decreasing ageist perceptions of older adults in times of crisis.


What strikes first when browsing through this book is that the main title is misleading. Polar Seas Oceanography is, first of all, a book on "an integrated case study of the Kara Sea," as the subtitle says. For readers who are interested more generally in polar oceanography, the book is probably the wrong choice.

The Kara Sea is a rather shallow shelf sea within the Arctic Ocean, located between the Barents Sea to the west and the Laptev Sea to the east. The importance of the Kara Sea is manifold: climate change issues like ice formation and freshwater runoff, environmental problems from dumping of radioactive waste or oil exploitation, and finally, the Northern Sea route, which crosses large parts of the Kara Sea, underline the economical and ecological relevance of that region. In spite of severe climate conditions, the Kara Sea is relatively well investigated. This was achieved through intense oceanographic expeditions, aircraft surveys, and polar drift stations. Russian scientists from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) carried out a major part of this outstanding work during the second half of the last century.


Optical modulation of guided mode resonance (GMR) is demonstrated in a waveguide grating structure (WGS) which contains a disperse-red1 (DR1)-doped poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) cladding layer. The resonance wavelength of a GMR mode can be tuned by pumping the cladding layer with a 442 nm wavelength laser beam, because of photoinduced refractive index change in the layer. The resonance wavelength shifts to shorter wavelength side, and the shift increases with pumping power, up to a maximum shift of 5 nm. A detector was used to monitor the intensity of the light that was reflected from the WGS at the wavelengths of the GMR peak positions, and the WGS was found to exhibit optical modulation with a shortest switching time of less than 0.3s.


Indian Diaspora has never been acknowledged and been neglected in India's cultural diplomacy for long period of time but their contribution and immense leverage in local communities and government has been recognised in recent years and the Indian Government has taken some measures to link with the diaspora and make them partners in India's growth and part of International relation. Diaspora Diplomacy plays a crucial role in the foreign policy and in increase economic, political and defense cooperation between different countries. Indian communities are spread across the global in 6 continents and 125 countries, Indian Diaspora is categorized into old, new and gulf Diaspora according to their labour characteristics. The success of Indian entrepreneurs, scientist, academics, media personalities, filmmakers, IT professionals, CEOs in the US has created trust in India's intellectual abilities abroad. It has been a major source in branding India as a source of well-educated and hard working professionals. Ethnic Indians particularly in New Diaspora countries have become known for their economic, professional academic, scientific and artistic successes and general peaceful integration. The government of India has taken many initiatives for their betterment and organize various programmes for being the India Diaspora close to their host country and also to resolve the issues and challenges faced by the government from the Indian Diaspora.


Summary

During the course of surveys for Phytophthora ramorum in coastal forests of California and Oregon, P. nemorosa and P. pseudosyringae were frequently isolated from foliage and stems of the same hosts as P. ramorum. Both species ranged from central California to Oregon within 50 km of the Pacific Ocean. Both were also found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Phytophthora nemorosa was primarily found infecting trees in coast redwood forests and was most often isolated from bay laurel leaves (Umbellularia californica), bleeding cankers on the main bole of tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), and leaf and small stem tissue of redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). Phytophthora pseudosyringae was primarily isolated from hosts found in coast live oak woodlands. Bay laurel was the most common host while infection of coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) stems was less frequent. Inoculation studies confirmed the pathogenicity of P. nemorosa and P. pseudosyringae on their most common hosts.


This work presents a robotic platform for upper-limb rehabilitation robotics. It integrates devices for human multi-sensorial feedback for engaging and immersive therapies. Its modular software design and architecture allows the implementation of advanced control algorithms for effective and customized rehabilitations. A flexible communication infrastructure allows straightforward devices integration and system expandability.


The aim of the present study was to investigate the sites and time of follistatin and inhibin alpha and beta A subunit gene expression during ovine follicular development and atresia. Prepubertal ovaries of 2-, 8- and 14-week-old ewe lambs (n = 9) were used. Regardless of age, the ovaries contained many follicles at different stages of development up to 2 mm in diameter, but large antral follicles were not found. Ovarian sections were hybridized with 35S-labelled antisense RNA probes transcribed from follistatin, inhibin alpha or inhibin beta A cDNA. Ovaries from mature gonadotrophin-stimulated ewes were used as controls. All three probes hybridized exclusively to granulosa cells, and not to other follicular or stromal cells. None of the probes hybridized to primordial follicles or primary follicles with less than two layers of granulosa cells. Follistatin mRNA was expressed strongly in the granulosa cells of all preantral follicles with two or more layers of cells, and in all non-atretic antral follicles. In addition, follistatin mRNA was found in some cells of the ovarian rete tubules. The inhibin alpha riboprobe hybridized to the granulosa cells of most preantral and all non-atretic antral follicles. In the preantral follicles, the strongest inhibin alpha expression was observed in the cells that were in close proximity to the oocyte. The inhibin beta A riboprobe hybridized exclusively to the granulosa cells of antral follicles. The labelling was observed either in the cumulus oophorus or in the cumulus oophorus and periantral granulosa cells of the non-atretic antral follicles. In adult ovaries, which were used as controls, the inhibin beta A riboprobe hybridized strongly to all granulosa cells of non-atretic large antral follicles. During follicular atresia, expression of all three mRNAs progressively decreased. In early atresia, inhibin beta A mRNA was observed only in the cells of the cumulus, whereas inhibin alpha and follistatin mRNAs were still present in the granulosa cells. As atresia progressed mRNA for inhibin alpha, and later also follistatin, disappeared. Our results suggest that there is a sequential appearance and disappearance of follistatin, inhibin alpha and inhibin beta A mRNAs during follicular development and atresia respectively. The marked expression of inhibin beta A in the cumulus cells implies a role of the oocyte in the differentiation of these cells.


The serum level of total interferon (IFN) was measured in 15 male patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in the active phase and in remission, before and during corticotherapy. The values found were correlated with the clinical and humoral signs of disease. The IFN titer was high in the active phase of disease and was correlated with fever, extension of skin rash, polyarthritis, myositis, autoimmune hemolysis, cardiac and cerebral involvement as well as with ESR, reacting protein C, CIC, ANF and the percentage of LE cells. Isolated LE nephropathy without rapidly progressive or advanced renal failure was not associated with high IFN titer.


OBJECTIVES The aetiology of clinical symptoms in patients with severe internal carotid artery (ICA) lesions may be thromboembolic or haemodynamic. The purpose was to assess whether changes in cerebropetal blood flow caused by an ICA occlusion have an effect on clinical symptoms and cerebral metabolism. METHODS Forty three patients with an ICA occlusion who had hemispheric ischaemia (transient ischaemic attack or stroke), retinal ischaemia, or without symptoms, and 34 patients without significant ICA lesions with either hemispheric ischaemia or no symptoms were studied. Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) was used to investigate total cerebropetal flow (flow in the ICAs plus basilar artery) and the flow in the middle cerebral arteries. Cerebral metabolic changes in the flow territory of the middle cerebral artery were determined with proton MR spectroscopy. RESULTS Low total cerebropetal flow (r=−0.15, p<0.05) and low middle cerebral artery flow (r=−0.31, p<0.001) were found in patients with an ICA occlusion, but did not correlate with the clinical syndrome. By contrast, patients with prior symptoms of hemispheric ischaemia had decreased cerebral N-acetylaspartate/choline ratios (r=−0.35, p<0.001). However, the presence of an ICA occlusion (and subsequent low flow) did not correlate with low N-acetylaspartate/choline ratios. CONCLUSION Neurological deficit caused by (transient) hemispheric ischaemia is associated with low N-acetylaspartate/choline ratios, whereas prior clinical features are not associated with low cerebropetal blood flow, as measured with MR angiography. As a result, differences in cerebropetal flow cannot explain why patients with similar carotid artery disease experience different neurological features.


Bacterial viruses, or bacteriophages, have numerous roles in marine systems. Although they are now considered important agents of mortality of bacteria, a second possible role of regulating bacterial community composition is less well known. The effect on community composition derives from the presumed species-specificity and density-dependence of infection. Although models have described the "kill the winner" hypothesis of such control, there are few observational or experimental demonstrations of this effect in complex natural communities. We report here on some experiments that demonstrate that viruses can influence community composition in natural marine communities. Although the effect is subtle over the time frame suitable for field experiments (days), the cumulative effect over months or years would be substantial. Other virus roles, such as in genetic exchange or microbial evolution, have the potential to be extremely important, but we know very little about them.


Magnetic signature detection provides sensitive detection of metal objects, especially in the natural environment. Our group is developing a tabletop setup for magnetic signatures of various small and model objects. A particular issue is the separation of permanent and induced magnetization. While the latter depends only on the composition and shape of the object, the former also depends on the magnetization history. With common deperming techniques, a significant permanent signature may still remain, which confuses measurements of the induced component. We investigate a basic technique of separating the two. Measurements were done by moving the object along an aluminum rail while the three field components are recorded by a detector attached near the center. This is done first with the rail parallel to the Earth magnetic field and then with anti-parallel orientation. The reversal changes the sign of the inducedbut not the permanent magnetization so that the two can be separated. Our preliminary results on a small iron block show excellent reproducibility. A considerable permanent magnetization was indeed present, resulting in a complex asymmetric signature. After separation, a much more symmetric induced signature was obtained that can be studied in detail and compared with theoretical calculations. Keywords—Magnetic signature, data analysis, magnetization, deperming techniques.


Jet fuel, besides its fuel role, can be used as a c oolant for aircraft subsystems and thus it may be exposed to temperatures above 200 °C. Between 140 and 300 °C, an autoxidation phenomenon occurs due to the presence of 70 ppm of dissolved d ioxygen in jet fuel resulting in the formation of oxidized products and solid deposits. The aim of this work is to study the behavior of je t fuel model molecules in order to highlight their oxidation sensitivity and the solid products formed. A rapid small scale oxidation test (RSSOT) is used. Within the RSSOT's test chamber, 5 mL of fuel is combined with oxygen, at 700 kPa, and heated up to 150 °C. This initiates a fast oxidation process. As the fuel oxidizes, it consumes the dioxygen resulting in a pressure drop that is recorded. Different tests are carried out and stopped at various values of time. Gaseous and liquid samples are recovered and analyzed by gas chromatography. In the case of n-dodecane, its consumption is obser ved up to a pressure drop of 64 %. At the same time, oxidized products are formed among which are alcohols, ketones and carboxylic acids. The gas analysis shows that all the dioxygen has been consumed. Oxydation reactions stop and new reactions appear. They are aldehyde decarbonylations and condensation reactions. Heavy products like esters and lactones are formed.


AACR Centennial Conference: Translational Cancer Medicine-- July 20-23, 2008; Monterey, CA

B13

Background: In 2007, over 40,000 women died from breast cancer in the United States alone. Detecting breast cancer at an early stage, or when the tumor is small, dramatically increases chances for survival, but current technologies, including mammography, have limited sensitivity and specificity. Our approach has been to use peripheral blood cells (PBCs) as a means of early breast cancer detection. PBCs act as biosensors by responding to both physiological changes and environmental exposures. These responses can be detected by microarray analysis as specific gene expression patterns, or signatures, that reflect the presence of a tumor. Methods: We used Affymetrix M430 2.0 Gene Chips to analyze gene expression in peripheral blood cell samples collected from either transgenic mice with spontaneous mammary adenocarcinomas (n= 15) or tumor-free, matched control mice (n= 15). In addition, we used Affymetrix Human U133 Plus 2.0 Gene Chips to analyze gene expression in peripheral blood cell samples collected from patients diagnosed by biopsy with either invasive breast cancer (n= 15) or a benign breast abnormality (n= 15). Expression data was subject to binary regression analysis, including leave-one-out crossvalidation, as well as validation in an independent sample set. Optimal cutoffs for predicted probabilities were calculated using receiver-operator characteristic curves. Results: We identified a 250-probe signature associated with the presence of spontaneous tumors in a transgenic mouse model of breast cancer. This signature is capable of accurately distinguishing tumor-bearing mice from tumor-free controls in a leave-one-out crossvalidation. The signature was validated in an independent sample set, where it performed with an overall accuracy of 100%. We have also developed a human breast cancer signature, which is able to accurately distinguish patients with invasive breast cancer from those with benign breast abnormalities in a leave-one-out crossvalidation. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that gene expression signatures can be derived from PBCs and can be used to not only distinguish between breast cancer patients and disease-free individuals, but also to predict cancer status. We describe breast cancer signatures derived from both mouse and human peripheral blood cells, demonstrating for the first time that this phenomenon is common to both species, suggesting that mouse models represent an opportunity to complement human biomarker studies, as well as a system in which mechanisms of tumor and PBC interaction may be revealed. These results support the concept of using blood-derived signatures as clinical diagnostic tests, although further investigation is needed to establish the specificity of such tests. We believe this is an approach to the development of clinical biomarkers for accurate, effective and noninvasive breast cancer detection.


The objective of this experiment was to test the effects of supplementation of defatted black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) meal in beagle dogs. A total of nine healthy female beagles (initial body weight 12.1±1.76 kg) were fed grain-based diets with three levels of BSFL meal (0, 1% or 2%) in a 42-day feeding trial. At the end of week 6 of the experiment, all dogs were intraperitoneally challenged with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at 100 μg/kg of body weight. Albumin concentration was linearly increased as increasing BSFL meal level (P<0.05). A linear increase (P<0.05) in calcium concentration was observed when increasing dietary BSFL meal. Although dietary treatments did not affect the digestibility of ether extract, the digestibility of dry matter and crude protein were linearly increased as increasing the level of BSFL meal. The concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α was linearly decreased but glutathione peroxidase (GPx) concentration was linearly increased when increasing the level of BSFL meal at 6 h after challenge (P<0.05). In addition, there were quadratic increases in concentrations of GPx and superoxide dismutase with increasing dietary BSFL meal level at 3 h after challenge (P<0.05). These findings from the present study demonstrate that BSFL meal can be supplemented in the diet to convert beneficial effects to beagle dogs indicated as improved digestibility of dry matter and crude protein and antiinflammatory and anti-oxidative capacity.


The effects of motivated distortion on forced-choice (FC) and normative inventories were examined in three studies. Study 1 examined the effects of distortion on the construct validity of the two item formats in terms of convergent and discriminant validity. The results showed that both types of measures were susceptible to motivated distortion, however the FC items were better indicators of personality and less related to socially desirable responding when participants were asked to respond as if applying for a job. Study 2 considered the criterion-related validity of the inventories in terms of predicting supervisors' ratings of job performance, finding that distortion had a more deleterious effect on the validity of the normative inventory with some enhancement of the validity of the FC inventory being observed. Study 3 investigated whether additional constructs are introduced into the measurement process when motivated respondents attempt to increase scores on FC items. Results of Study 3 indicated that individuals higher in cognitive ability tend to have more accurate theories about which traits are job-related and therefore are more successful at improving scores on FC inventories. Implications for using personality inventories in personnel selection are discussed.


Background. The TP53 tumor-suppressor gene is mutated or functionally inactivated in most human cancers. In MM, TP53 del on chr 17p13 defines a pts group with a particularly poor prognosis, even if its prevalence at diagnosis is quite low. One of the most potent inhibitor of p53 is MDM4, whose locus is on chr1q32.1, a region frequently amplified in MM. Aim. To investigate the possibility that both TP53 del and MDM4 amp might affect similar pathways, thus finally leading to a poor prognosis MM pts carrying at diagnosis at least one of them. Pts and methods. 89 pts treated with bortezomib-thalidomide-dexamethasone (VTD) as induction therapy prior to, and as consolidation after, double ASCT were analyzed at diagnosis by unpaired analysis CNA (Affymetrix 6.0 SNP array) and GEP (Affymetrix U133 Plus2.0 array); in 21 pts carrying MDM4 amp the p53 activity was explored both by deep sequencing of TP53 (Roche GS Junior 454 platform) and by immunoblotting assays of MDM4, p-p53 and p53. Genomic results were evaluated in the clinical context. Results. CNA analysis showed a 482 Kb minimal del region on chr17p13, including TP53, in 8/89 pts (8,9%) and a 1.1 Mb minimal amp region on chr1q32.1 including MDM4 in 27/89 pts (30,3%). GEP analysis performed in TP53 del and MDM4 amp pts generated two lists, including genes differentially expressed among pts carrying or not either amp MDM4 (4211 probes sets, p In 21 pts carrying MDM4 amp the p53 activity was evaluated by p-p53 immunoblotting assays: the absence of p-p53 protein was shown in 60% of them. The TP53 mutational rate, as detected by deep sequencing of exons 4-11, was analyzed in 21 pts carrying MDM4 amp: point mutations were shown in 15 pts, with mutated reads frequencies ranging from 1.03% to 16.9% (median coverage for each amplicon = 1000 reads). The prognostic relevance of p53 pathway impaired function was evaluated by stratifying pts into two subgroups according to the presence or absence of MDM4 amp and/or TP53 del (group A: 34 pts, 38%, group B; 55 pts, 62%). Baseline clinical characteristics were homogeneous, whereas groups A and B resulted clearly imbalanced with respect to the genomic background: the t(4,14) frequency (38% vs. 14% positive, p=0.0002) and the average number of CNAs (165 vs 103, p = 0.03) were overall higher in group A. Despite the initially slightly higher response rate after VTD (38% vs 20% ≥near complete response), group A pts showed a shorter PFS (40.13 months vs not reached, p=0.001) and OS (66.6 vs not reached, p=0.0006). The poorer impact associated with MDM4 amp was retained also in the absence of TP53 del (PFS: 50.5 months vs not reached, p=0.01). Conclusions. The involvement of the p53 pathway alteration in MM might be wider than expected, possibly due to the activation of negative regulators of p53. Citation Format: Carolina Terragna, Marina Martello, Enrica Borsi, Lucia Pantani, Elena Zamagni, Paola Tacchetti, Annamaria Brioli, Beatrice Anna Zannetti, Flores Dico, Nicoletta Testoni, Giulia Marzocchi, Katia Mancuso, Serena Rocchi, Giovanni Martinelli, Michele Cavo. Impact of p53 impaired function on outcomes of multiple myeloma patients carrying deleted TP53 and/or amplified MDM4. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 5595. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-5595


Immature follicles grow autonomously even without pituitary gonadotropins. In order to explore this reason, promoting effects of oocyte and some endocrinological substances on the proliferation of granulosa-cells (G-cells) have been investigated using the labelling index (LI) with 3H-Thymidine (3H-Tdr) and mitotic index (MI) in mature mice and immature hypophysectomized (hypox) rats. The following results were obtained: In preantral follicles with the oocyte diameter below 69 mu, the LI was low (9.5 +/- 1.7%) (m +/- SE) and the follicular diameter was small (69.0 +/- 7.7 mu). As the oocyte developed with its diameter 80-89 mu, the LI increased (20.3 +/- 3.8%) and the follicular diameter also increased (192.3 +/- 19.4 mu). In preantral follicles with the oocyte diameter over 80 mu the G-cells near the oocyte had a much higher LI than the distant G-cells. After the antrum formation, the LI and MI of cumulus layers adjacent to the oocyte were three times higher than those of mural layers. Among the mural cell layers in the antral follicle, the layer adjacent to the antrum showed remarkably high LI in comparison with the distant layers. In FSH primed group the LI of G-cells was two fold higher than that in hypox control group (p less than 0.001). In the preantral follicle of hypox control group the G-cells near the oocyte had a much higher LI than the distant G-cells. Moreover in FSH primed group the LI indicated high value not only in the cell layers adjacent to the oocyte but also in the cell layers adjacent to the theca interna. In LH, E2 and P4 primed groups the LI of G-cells had no change significantly in comparison with that in hypox control group. In FSH + LH primed group the LI of G-cells decreased significantly in comparison with that in FSH primed group (p less than 0.05). In FSH + E2 group the LI had no change significantly in comparison with that in FSH primed group. These results suggest that the granulosa-cell growth factor (GGF) in oocyte, which seems to play a role in the formation of cumulus, is secreted with the growth of the oocyte. In antral follicles the GGF is transported through the follicular fluid.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Neutralizing CD47, the 'don9t eat me signal' hijacked by different tumor types, is a novel generally applicable therapeutic strategy. Because of a distinct mechanism of action and the ability to stimulate the innate anti-tumor immunity, CD47-neutralizing agents are poised as attractive candidates for combination therapies in association with other immunotherapies. However, the development of general CD47 antagonists could be hindered by the ubiquitous and abundant expression of CD47 on virtually all healthy cells. To overcome potential pharmacological and clinical liabilities of a general CD47 antagonist, we have developed bispecific kappa/lambda bodies, which selectively target CD47 in cancer cells. These kappa/lambda bodies: (i) are full-length bispecific IgGs, (ii) bind with high affinity and neutralize the CD47-SIRP alpha interaction in cancer cells expressing a tumor-associated antigen (TAA), and (iii) mediate efficient cell killing of TAA-positive cancer cells in vitro through Fc-dependent mechanisms such as ADCP (antibody mediated cellular phagocytosis) and ADCC (antibody mediated cellular cytotoxicity). We are currently developing two molecules of this type, one targeting CD47 and CD19 (for B cell malignancies), the other targeting CD47 and mesothelin (for various mesothelin-positive solid tumors). The efficacy of the CD47/CD19 kappa/lambda body was demonstrated in vivo, using two B-cell lymphoma xenograft models in NOD/SCID mice. We also performed a pharmacokinetics study in non-human primates with the CD47/CD19 lead candidate, with the objective of assessing the potential "antigen sink" effect related to ubiquitous CD47 expression on erythrocytes, platelets and other cells. Encouragingly, the CD47/CD19 kappa/lambda body administered in a single dose to cynomolgus monkeys, at 0.5 and 10 mg/kg, showed an acceptable pharmacokinetic profile and the absence of hematological toxicities. The example of the CD47/CD19 kappa/lambda body illustrates the power of the dual-targeting approach for addressing a ubiquitous cell surface receptor such as CD47. Citation Format: Krzysztof Masternak, Lucile Broyer, Elie Dheilly, Stefano Majocchi, Valery Moine, Giovanni Magistrelli, Francois Rousseau, Ulla Ravn, Franck Gueneau, Pauline Malinge, Sebastien Calloud, Maud Charreton-Galby, Mireille Guerrier, Nessie Costes, Nicolas Bosson, Gerard Didelot, Lucie Bernard, Vanessa Buatois, Laura Cons, Laurence Chatel, Anne Papaioannou, Zoe Johnson, Walter Ferlin, Marie Kosco-Vilbois, Nicolas Fischer. Neutralizing CD47 in cancer cells with dual targeting kappa/lambda bodies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2482. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2482


Abstract The effect of mineral nutrient application on freezing tolerance in red cabbage, carrot, and spinach under cold‐acclimated and unacclimated conditions were evaluated in this study. Effects of nutrient‐solution application and cold acclimation on temperature at which 50% of leaves are injured (LT50), values, and ice nucleation activity in all of the plants were found to be statistically significant. Nutrient‐solution applications decreased LT50 values in all of the species under unacclimated and cold‐acclimated conditions. Freezing injuries in cold‐acclimated plants were significantly lower than in unacclimated plants in all of the nutrient application doses. In addition to this, 600–900 mg l−1 nutrient solutions also gave low plant injury in all conditions. Nutrient‐solution applications increased ice nucleation temperatures of apoplastic proteins, proline, and total chlorophyll contents in all of the plant species under unacclimated and cold‐acclimated conditions. Among the plant species, carrot was the most resistant plant to freezing injury under all nutrient application doses in the tested conditions.


Updating mathematics teachers' pedagogical skills and content knowledge is inevitable as the trend of students' performance in Tanzania is alarming. Currently, social media have been one of the strategies for elevating mathematics teachers' professional competencies through online learning communities. The study aimed at examining how mathematics teachers use Informal WhatsApp Groups (IWGs) as one of the social media for Continued Professional Development (CPD). Key study questions are what are the perceptions of mathematics teachers on the benefits of IWGs in CPD? How do mathematics teachers use IWGs for CPD-related activities? What are the challenges they encounter? And what Mathematics teachers recommend for better use of IWGs for CPD? Two IWGs were involved with a total of 54 mathematics teachers who are currently teaching in secondary schools. The open-ended questionnaire was shared in the IWGs, and members accepted to fill it. Ten members including those who have been in the IWGs for a longer period, those who frequently posted or asked questions, and group leaders were invited for interviews. The findings show that the IWGs have contributed to teachers developing their pedagogical skills and content knowledge through sharing experience, and materials and demonstrating teaching practices in video clips. The challenges include the problem of internet accessibility, inactiveness of members, and lack of effective criteria for evaluating the validity and reliability of information shared. The recommendation is for the authorities to set supportive policies and practices that will create enabling environments for mathematics teachers on CPD.


Distributed quantum systems and especially the Quantum Internet have the ever-increasing potential to fully demonstrate the power of quantum computation. This is particularly true given that developing a general-purpose quantum computer is much more difficult than connecting many small quantum devices. One major challenge of implementing distributed quantum systems is programming them and verifying their correctness. In this paper, we propose a CSP-like distributed programming language to facilitate the specification and verification of such systems. After presenting its operational and denotational semantics, we develop a Hoare-style logic for distributed quantum programs and establish its soundness and (relative) completeness with respect to both partial and total correctness. The effectiveness of the logic is demonstrated by its applications in the verification of quantum teleportation and local implementation of non-local CNOT gates, two important algorithms widely used in distributed quantum systems.


[1] Observations of polar mesospheric clouds by the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere Explorer show that for the Northern summers of 2007–2010, the cloud ice water content (IWC) and occurrence frequency varied with the meteorological forcing from the Southern winter stratosphere. With the increase in solar flux in the last two years, expectations were that the clouds would decrease due to reduced water vapor (H2O) and/or higher temperatures. Surprisingly, we observe more clouds in 2011 and 40% greater IWC in 2011 and 2012. The increase is particularly pronounced in the clouds with highest IWC. These high IWC clouds are associated with significant enhancements in total H2O (vapor and ice). We suggest this implies an additional source of H2O and that this is provided by space traffic exhaust. A preliminary estimate of the H2O released from summertime space traffic over the last six years is qualitatively consistent with this suggestion.


The chimpanzees with S. japonicum infections are being studied in collaboration with Dr Elvio H. Sadun, Dr Franz von Lichtenberg and Dr Duane G. Erickson.


Industrialized states find it increasingly difficult to insulate themselves from spillovers associated with underdevelopment abroad. In a globalizing world many concerns caused or enhanced by underdevelopment—migration, political instability, violence, refugee flows, trafficking in persons and illicit substances, spread of disease, lawlessness and its ability to provide havens for terrorists and criminals, pollution, and others—are not confined within national borders. Industrialized states, unable to protect themselves from the impact of events in developing countries, have responded with a strategy of targeted development: pursuing development abroad when and where it serves their own self-interest. This book examines the emergence of targeted development as an important foreign policy goal of wealthy states. Through historical comparisons, the development of a formal model, and empirical analysis of foreign aid, trade agreements, and climate finance, the book demonstrates that targeted development has emerged as an important component of foreign policy across multiple issue areas linking industrialized and developing countries. These findings show a rising importance for development in foreign policy and have implications for understanding which countries are likely to be left behind by globalization, the role of international institutions in promoting development, and the study of effectiveness for development policies.


Using static analysis to detect memory access errors, such as null pointer dereferences, is not a new problem. However, much of the previous work has used rather sophisticated analysis techniques in order to detect such errors.In this paper we show that simple analysis techniques can be used to identify many such software defects, both in production code and in student code. In order to make our analysis both simple and effective, we use a non-standard analysis which is neither complete nor sound. However, we find that it is effective at finding an interesting class of software defects.We describe the basic analysis we perform, as well as the additional errors we can detect using techniques such as annotations and inter-procedural analysis.In studies of both production software and student projects, we find false positive rates of around 20% or less. In the student code base, we find that our static analysis techniques are able to pinpoint 50% to 80% of the defects leading to a null pointer exception at runtime.


In recent years, orders for new land-based gas turbines have skyrocketed, as the planning, construction and commissioning of new power plants based on combined-cycle technology advances at an unprecedented pace. It is estimated that 65–70% of these new equipment orders is for high-efficiency, advanced "F", "G" or "H" class machines. The W501F/FC/FD gas turbine, an "F" class machine currently rated at 186.5 MW (simple cycle basis), has entered service in significant numbers. It is therefore of prime interest to owners/operators of this gas turbine to have sound component refurbishment capabilities available to support maintenance requirements. Processes to refurbish the Row 1 turbine blade, arguably the highest "frequency of replacement" component in the combustion and hot sections of the turbine, were recently developed. Procedures developed include removal of brazed tip plates, coating removal, rejuvenation heat treatment, full tip replacement utilizing electron beam (EB) and automated micro-plasma transferred arc (PTA), joining methods, proprietary platform crack repair and re-coating.This paper describes repair procedure development and implementation for each stage of the process, and documents the metallurgical and mechanical characteristics of the repaired regions of the component.Copyright © 2001 by ASME


We present the electrical and thermal performance of ultra-thin RF LDMOS devices. Following a proprietary process, we fabricated such devices with a thickness as reduced as 40/spl mu/m. This results in a reduction of the operating junction temperature, as demonstrated by infrared imaging experiments and three-dimensional finite-element-analysis simulations. As a result, the thermal resistance of our packaged devices reaches substantially lower values than industry standard. This allows for a higher power output and improved efficiency, as demonstrated by RF measurements.


Reinforced concrete structure featured by strong bearing capacity, high rigidity, good integrity, good fire resistance, and extensive applicability occupies a mainstream position in contemporary architecture. However, with the development of social economy, people need higher requirements on architectural structure; durability, especially, has been extensively researched. Because of the higher requirement on building material, ordinary reinforced concrete structure has not been able to satisfy the demand. As a result, some new materials and structures have emerged, for example, fibre reinforced polymers. Compared to steel reinforcement, fibre reinforced polymers have many advantages, such as high tensile strength, good durability, good shock absorption, low weight, and simple construction. The application of fibre reinforced polymers in architectural structure can effectively improve the durability of the concrete structure and lower the maintenance, reinforcement, and construction costs in severe environments. Based on the concepts of steel tube concrete, fibre reinforced composite material confined concrete, and fibre reinforced composite material tubed concrete, this study proposes a novel composite structure, i.e., fibre reinforced composite material and steel tube concrete composite structure. The structure was developed by pasting fibre around steel tube concrete and restraining core concrete using fibre reinforced composite material and steel tubes. The bearing capacity and ultimate deformation capacity of the structure was tested using column axial compression test.


When events are uncontrolled due to hurricanes, the communication will breakdown. During this strenuous situation there is a need for reliable communication system to provide alert and emergency services. There remains a particular attention towards portability, reconfigurability, and interoperability in a communication system to reduce response time during emergencies. The real-time implementation helps to come across alternatives to overcome practical difficulties and challenges. This motivates us to implement a Relay Node in real-time using SDR , hence an experiment is carried out in order to gain first hand experience between different types of architecture of SDR i.e.VUSDR, HackRF One, and USRP. The architecture of Low-cost VUSDR and comparison between different types of SDR has been presented in this paper. Future scope and applications are presented.


Luminous diffusion and/or variable transmission Electro actuated system comprises a functional film (1) comprising electrically conductive layers (2,3). This film comprises polarized particles or liquid crystals associated to dichroic dyes in suspension in a medium. Degradation of at least a part of these elements by photo reduction is prevented.


A two-dimensional gas of non-interacting quasiparticles in a nearly periodic potential and a perpendicular magnetic field is studied. The potential is a superposition of a periodic potential, induced, for example, by a charge-density wave or a vortex lattice of a type-II superconductor, and a weak random potential due to impurities. Approximating this model by Dirac fermions with random mass, random energy, and random vector potential, we evaluate the density of states and the Hall conductivity using a self-consistent approximation. We obtain a singular average density of states , where decreases with the strength of the randomness. The Hall conductivity has a plateau which is destroyed for strong tunnelling through the saddle points of the nearly periodic potential.


With the advent of new technologies, the demand of connecting IT systems to the Internet is increasing. This is also the case for Control systems specifically SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) systems. Traditional SCADA systems are connected only in a limited private network. Because SCADA is considered a critical infrastructure, some operators hold back on connecting it to the Internet. Connection SCADA systems to the internet can also provide a lot of advantages in terms of control, data viewing and generation. Along with these advantages, are security issues regarding web SCADA, operators are pushed to connect SCADA systems through the Internet. Because of this, many issues regarding security surfaced. Mobility is also in demand in many IT systems. In this paper, the architecture of SCADA in the web with remote sensors is discussed. We believe that having mobile components can improve the performance and it can provide larger operational coverage for SCADA systems.


Using household-level data from the Dominican communities in the Latin American Migration Project (LAMP-DR7), we examine the links between remittance receipt and business ownership. We find that while the existence of a family business attracts remittance inflows, these monetary funds are associated with a reduced likelihood of business entrepreneurship. These results are consistent with various hypotheses regarding remittances and business investments. First, remittances may be motivated by the availability of investment opportunities in the home community. Second, remittances may respond to a bequest motive on the part of the emigrant, who may wish to lay claim on family assets when returning home. Lastly, remittances may cause an income effect that reduces family labour force participation and, correspondingly, the likelihood of family-run business investments.


Recognising previously visited locations is an important, but unsolved, task in autonomous navigation. Current visual place recognition (VPR) benchmarks typically challenge models to recover the position of a query image (or images) from sequential datasets that include both spatial and temporal components. Recently, Echo State Network (ESN) varieties have proven particularly powerful at solving machine learning tasks that require spatio-temporal modelling. These networks are simple, yet powerful neural architectures that - exhibiting memory over multiple time-scales and non-linear high-dimensional representations - can discover temporal relations in the data while still maintaining linearity in the learning. In this paper, we present a series of ESNs and analyse their applicability to the VPR problem. We report that the addition of ESNs to pre-processed convolutional neural networks led to a dramatic boost in performance in comparison to non-recurrent networks in five out of six standard benchmarks (GardensPoint, SPEDTest, ESSEX3IN1, Oxford RobotCar, and Nordland) demonstrating that ESNs are able to capture the temporal structure inherent in VPR problems. Moreover, we show that models that include ESNs can outperform class-leading VPR models which also exploit the sequential dynamics of the data. Finally, our results demonstrate that ESNs also improve generalisation abilities, robustness, and accuracy further supporting their suitability to VPR applications.


1903 Background and Objectives: PSK (Krestin®) is a protein-bound polysaccharide extracted from the cultured mycelium of Basidiomycetes. Combined use of PSK and chemotherapy has been shown to prolong the survival and response period in patients with gastric cancer, colorectal cancer and small cell lung cancer. In the present study, we studied the effect of a combination of PSK and standard chemotherapeutic agents (PTX and CBDCA) in lung cancer cell lines (NCI-H69 and NCI-H441). Methods: Cell proliferation was examined using the 3H-thymidine uptake method. The cell cycle analysis was performed by propidium iodide staining approach and flow cytometry. Results: No significant change was observed with PSK alone (25 to 100 μg/mL) whereas a dose-dependent growth inhibition was observed with PTX (0.1 to 1 nM) or CBDCA (1 to 10 μM) alone, and further augmentation of dose-dependent growth inhibition was observed when PSK was added in combination. At PTX concentrations of 1 nM and below, there were no changes in the proportion of cells in sub-G1 and G2/M phase in the absence of PSK, but the sub-G1 phase cells tended to increase in the presence of PSK. Conclusions: These results suggest that PSK augments the growth inhibitory effect of anti-cancer agents in lung cancer cells, and the mechanism partially involves induction of apoptosis. The detailed mechanisms are being investigated.


Self-care in primary school age children (the 'latchkeyphenomenon') is often regarded as problematic, threatening children's psychological and physical well-being, although suggestions that it is beneficial are also sometimes made. It is likely that more Australian children are being expected to look after themselves with reducing formal out-of-school hours care facilities. This paper reviews the available evidence on the effects of self-care. It concludes that it is not possible to state categorically that self-care has either negative or positive effects on children's psychological well-being, as a range of factors influences outcome, for example, the children's age, family relationships and whether sibling care is involved. Although under-researched, the physical safety of children without adult supervision remains a concern. It is concluded that, while many children will emerge well from the self-care experience, others will not, and that it is therefore important that affordable out-of-school hours care facilities continue to be made available to families.


BACKGROUND
Paediatric neurological disorders constitute a major cause of disability in childhood. Children in the developing countries are disproportionately affected and in addition face the added burden of poverty, inadequate health facilities, stigmatisation and lack of facilities for rehabilitative care.

OBJECTIVE
To describe the spectrum of neurological disorders seen among Nigerian children presenting at the paediatric neurology clinic of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.

METHODS
All children presenting at the paediatric neurology clinic of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria over a period of 20 months were prospectively studied. Diagnoses were made from detailed history, thorough physical examination, with particular emphasis on the central nervous system and appropriate investigations as indicated.

RESULTS
There were a total of 644 cases during the study period, 369 males and 275 females, giving a male to female ratio of 1.3:1. There were 1353 consultations at the paediatric neurology clinic and these accounted for 21.0% of the total 6,442 consultations at the paediatric specialist clinics in the hospital. The most frequent paediatric neurological disorders were epilepsy (45.3%), cerebral palsy (36.0%), neuro-muscular disorders (4.5%) and mental retardation (4.5%).

CONCLUSION
Paediatric neurological disorders constitute a major reason for paediatric specialist care in Ibadan, Nigeria. Preventable causes play a major role in the aetiology of the major paediatric neurological disorders seen in this part of the world.


Abstract This paper gives an overview of LSCR (Leave-out Sign-dominant Correlation Regions), a general technique for system identification. Under normal conditions, observations contain information corrupted by disturbances and measurement noise so that only an approximate description of the underlying system can at best be obtained from a finite data set. This is similar to describing an object seen through a frosted glass. Differently from standard identification methods that deliver single models, LSCR generates a model set. As information increases, the model set shrinks around the true system and, for any finite sample size, the set is guaranteed to contain the true system with a precise probability chosen by the user. LSCR only assumes a minimum amount of prior information on the noise.


1. Department of Organic Colorants, Institute for Color Science and Technology, P.O. Box 16765-654, Tehran, Iran 2. Center of Excellence for Color Science and Technology, Institute for Color Science and Technology, P.O. Box 16765-654, Tehran, Iran 3 Petrochemical Research and Technology Company (NPC-rt), National Petrochemical Company (NPC), Tehran, Iran 4. Department of Resin and Additives, Institute for Color Science and Technology, P.O. Box: 16765-654, Tehran, Iran


Mutual information (MI) is an information-theoretic measure of dependency between two random variables. Several methods to estimate MI from samples of two random variables with unknown underlying probability distributions have been proposed in the literature. Recent methods realize parametric probability distributions or critic as a neural network to approximate unknown density ratios. These approximated density ratios are used to estimate different variational lower bounds of MI. While, these estimation methods are reliable when the true MI is low, they tend to produce high variance estimates when the true MI is high. We argue that the high variance characteristics is due to the uncontrolled complexity of the critic's hypothesis space. In support of this argument, we use the data-driven Rademacher complexity of the hypothesis space associated with the critic's architecture to analyse generalization error bound of variational lower bound estimates of MI. In the proposed work, we show that it is possible to negate the high variance characteristics of these estimators by constraining the critic's hypothesis space to Reproducing Hilbert Kernel Space (RKHS), which corresponds to a kernel learned using Automated Spectral Kernel Learning (ASKL). By analysing the generalization error bounds, we augment the overall optimisation objective with effective regularisation term. We empirically demonstrate the efficacy of this regularization in enforcing proper bias variance tradeoff on four different variational lower bounds of MI, namely NWJ, MINE, JS and SMILE.


Conservation of genetic diversity in plant species used in traditional medicine and health care has become increasingly important, both in terms of adding economic value for biological resources and creating an economic stake for future domestication and cultivation. For RET species that are in decline, in situ conservation alone may not give an adequate support. Medicinal plants are becoming increasingly threatened in nature due to various reasons. A combination of factors like overexploitation, habitat destruction and unsustainable harvesting, coupled with illegal trade practices, have driven many medicinal plant species to the brink of extinction. Attempts are being made to collect and conserve these valuable resources. A focused conservation strategy has to be followed. Biotechnological approaches that support ex situ conservation programs, besides complementing conventional methods, have the potential to broaden the genetic base in species demanding high priority. Several applications have been successfully accomplished in the science of conservation biology. These include use of tissue culture derived plants for in vitro conservation showcasing as a back up for Field Gene Banks (IVAGs) and application of cryogenic technology for long-term seed, pollen and plant tissue cryopreservation (SCB, PCB, IVBGs). Following integrated conservation approaches, using both conventional and biotechnological methods, protocols for conserving plant diversity for 22 species of medicinal plants have been optimized. The current status of specific plant species would be discussed, along with protocols developed for conservation ex situ.


This article aims to introduce in the scientific debate on the future of EU labour law and its relationship with human and fundamental rights, a redefinition of the collective labour rights in terms of 'collective labour freedoms'. This redefinition is undertaken in different steps and initiates from the so-called 'Laval doctrine' that has emancipated the economic freedoms (mainly referred to as the freedoms of the employers) from the social rights (mainly referred to as the rights of workers and trade unions): collective labour freedoms do not question the outcome of the balance struck by the CJEU but the possibility of balancing per se. In order to do so, this contribution proposes a different methodology that synthesises a socio-historical analysis of social rights as materially considered and acted by social partners with a positive reading of fundamental charters and constitutions in which the freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and industrial action are recognised as tools to regulate the interests of a social and economic nature (in form of an inseparable hendiadys) pursued by both sides of the labour market, employers and employees. Collective labour freedoms underline the inherent economic nature of labour law and, in line with the theoretical framework (but opposite in terms of political goals) with the German ordoliberals, they do not deny the freedom of market; moreover, they are valuable entitlements to achieve the social market economy as enshrined in Art. 3(3) of TEU. The article finally presents a possible outcome of the proposed methodology with an example taken from a pivotal case from the Italian Supreme Court on the limits to the exercise of the right to strike in non-standard forms.


ABSTRACT Award-winning playwright Marie NDiaye's language is, arguably, foreign to itself: Les Serpents (The Snakes) stages an implacably harsh world, meticulous precision, turns of phrase nearly stilted – inhabiting French like a stiff cloak, a rough mantle, a too-parched frock. NDiaye's language is fastidious: every comma provokes a breath, a shift in rhythm, replicating the stultifying spirit of longing and wait the author's three protagonists subject one another to in the hot sun – a transgenerational game of radical dispossession. In this article, reflecting on my translation of the play, I probe questions of language and alterity, seeing in the author's work subtle occupation of nationalistic fantasies of monolingualism, as well as the ambivalent time and place of revolutionary America/France, neither of which emerges exactly on the page, as much as do the crisp clarity of a blazing sun, a cage, an open horizon, moulting, an impossible landscape. Rather than stage, naturalistically, a heterogeneous dialect or slang, or setting the play in one realm, NDiaye inhabits the French language so completely it becomes nearly rebuffing: at once the place and medium of performance, and the occasion for criticism itself, against the grain of theoretical monolingualism, also to moult.


BACKGROUND
Epidermoid tumors represent the third most common lesion of the cerebellopontine angle (CPA). Their evolution and clinical features are distinctively characteristic. We present a comprehensive review of the clinical, imaging and surgical aspects of epidermoid cysts of the CPA.

METHODS
We conducted a case series of patients diagnosed with epidermoid cyst of the CPA who were operated on between 1998 and 2005. Lesions were classified according to their anatomic extent: grade I(-) within the boundaries of the CPA, grade II(-) extension to the suprasellar and perimesencephalic cisterns, and grade III(-) parasellar and temporomesial region involvement.

RESULTS
This study was comprised of 43 patients with a mean follow-up of 85 months. Mean age was 34 years, and 67% of the patients were female. The initial symptom was headache in 58.1% of the cases and trigeminal neuralgia in 41.8%. According to our classification, temporomesial involvement (25.6%) was significantly (p = 0.001) associated with a higher incidence of seizures, and trigeminal neuralgia was present in patients with lesions limited to the CPA (p = 0.006). The lesions were reached essentially through a retrosigmoidal approach (39.5%) and surgical excision was deemed to be complete in 65% of the cases.

CONCLUSIONS
Our grading classification according to the anatomic extension correlates well with clinical presentation, type of surgical approach and extent of surgical removal. It is desirable to reach a consensus on the classification of tumor extension.