INTRODUCTION
The impact of intrafascial versus interfascial nerve sparing during radical prostatectomy on oncologic and postoperative outcome is still controversial. This manuscript compares the outcomes of intrafascial versus interfascial techniques of nerve sparing used during robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALRP) at our institution.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Of the 171 patients who underwent RALRP at our institution from January 2006 through December 2007, the charts of 147 patients who underwent bilateral nerve sparing procedure were reviewed retrospectively. During the study period, the preferred technique of nerve sparing at our institution changed from the conventional interfascial approach to athermal intrafascial robotic (AIR) approach. The rates of positive surgical margins (+SMs), continence, and potency were measured.

RESULTS
Perioperative characteristics and complication rates were similar between the two groups. Continence rates at 1, 3, and 6 months increased from 27.3%, 68.8%, and 93.5%, respectively, after the interfascial procedure to 68.6%, 84.3%, and 92.9% after the AIR procedure. Potency rates at 3, 6, and 9 months in the interfascial group were 16.7%, 43.8%, and 66.7%, respectively, whereas in the AIR group they improved to 24.2%, 81.8%, and 90.9%. The rates of +SMs in pT2 disease were 5.88% in the interfascial group and 7.55% in the AIR group (not significant), whereas in pT3, +SMs were 22.2% in the interfascial group and 41.18% in the AIR group (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
AIR technique greatly improved potency rate and shortened the time to return of continence following RALRP. This improved outcome, though, was achieved at the price of higher +SM rates in patients with pT3 disease.


Biological data is important for medical institutions or centers. The biological data used in medical institutions or centers for specified purposes such as patient report or documentation, disease statistical, etc. Medical institutions or centers must have a good platform to manage their data sources that contain biological data. In this research, Web Service Platform (WSP) was implemented for accessing heterogeneous biological data. Heterogeneous biological data means data sources that contain biological data and allocated at different places. In WSP, all data sources were integrated. The purpose of this integration is to help medical institutions or centers access all biological data. In WSP, XML is used for searching and retrieving process. XML can improve web query processing and display the information to web user in short time. JAVA technology was used in WSP development. The application was tested. The result indicates WSP can used and implemented in medical institutions or centers for accessing heterogeneous biological data.


The present paper analyzes certain issues related to the management of international tourist demand in Costa Rica and Valle Central. In particular, tourist demand for activities such as hiking, bird-watching, nature observation and visits to volcanoes, among others, is not being met by tour operators and travel agencies. These activities are being offered without knowledge as to the best option combined or packages. Taking as reference the Survey for Non-resident Tourists, this study analyzes the global trend of preferences of the visitors in the period 2001-2007, including how these tourists would organize their holiday given the opportunity to do so. To this end, we develop a combinatory analysis with probability measures to assess levels of the demand preferences and the efficient management of the suppliers. The results show the combinations of different adventure tourism activities which are considered more appealing, as well as providing orientation for agents in this sector to improve management.


The Sultanate of Oman has a cluster of laws regulating the relationship between foreign investors and Omani society. Oman has tried to maintain a balance between its national and regional commitments in this regard. This article provides an in-depth analysis of the Foreign Capital Investment Law (OFCIL) as well as related laws in order to articulate standards of investment protection and to provide a road map for foreign investors in the Sultanate. A comparison with some Arab laws is undertaken in order to highlight weaknesses that can be improved in OFCIL.


Only recently, with the identification of antibodies to a 43-kDa muscle autoantigen, subsequently identified as cytoplasmic 50-nucleotidase 1A (cN1A) in sera from patients with inclusion body myositis (IBM), has a role for B-cell autoimmunity in IBM been demonstrated. IgG antibodies to cN1A have> 90% specificity and 34%–70% sensitivity in IBM. Detection of all 3 isotypes (IgG, IgM, and IgA) by enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) has increased sensitivity to 76%. Hence, these antibodies may be useful biomarkers for IBM. We determined the prevalence and serological associations of anti-cN1A in South Australian patients with a definitive histological diagnosis of IBM, made by accepted histological criteria. All 58 patients fulfilled the histopathological requirements, and 55 of 58 fulfilled the clinicopathological requirements of the European Neuromuscular Centre (ENMC) criteria, which have superior performance in IBM diagnosis compared with other diagnostic criteria. The clinical distribution of muscle involvement is shown in Table 1. Autoantibody production in inflammatory myopathies is at least partially genetically determined, and myositis-specific autoantibodies (MSA) and myositis-associated autoantibodies (MAA) are associated with DR3 and DR4 in South Australian patients with inflammatory myositis. Hence, we sought to further determine whether production of anticN1A is also determined by class II alleles. Antibodies to cN1A were detected by ELISA, as described elsewhere in 24 of 69 (34.8%) patients with IBM. Autoantibodies of the IgM isotype were the most frequent (n 5 17), followed by IgG (n 5 13) and IgA (n 5 5). All 3 isotypes were present in 1 patient; 9 sera showed antibodies of 2 isotypes (IgM and IgA, n 5 2; IgM and IgG, n 5 5; IgA and IgG, n 5 2). There was no gender difference between IBM patients with anti-cN1A (15 of 24 women) compared with those without antibodies (27 of 45 women). Although some MSA have been associated with malignancy, there was no difference in FIGURE 1. Pedigree of the family with a non-dystrophic myotonic syndrome and a new mutation in the CLCN1 gene. The following individuals had DNA analysis, either by complete CLCN1 sequencing (III-2), or by targeted sequencing of CLCN1 exon 9 (II-2, IV-1, and IV-2).White symbols: healthy; white symbols with ?: history of myotonia is unclear; gray symbols: clinically affected; square: man; circle: woman; arrow: proband; cross: deceased; asterisk: year of birth.


In any transaction involving the combination of two or more competitors, M&A lawyers should consider whether antitrust issues may impact the deal, and how they can be addressed in the merger…


Wildfire is one of the biggest disasters that frequently occurs on the west coast of the United States. Many efforts have been made to understand the causes of the increases in wildfire intensity and frequency in recent years. In this work, we propose static and dynamic prediction models to analyze and assess the areas with high wildfire risks in California by utilizing a multitude of environmental data including population density, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), tree mortality area, tree mortality number, and altitude. Moreover, we focus on a better understanding of the impacts of different factors so as to inform preventive actions. To validate our models and findings, we divide the land of California into 4,242 grids of 0.1 degrees 0.1 degrees in latitude and longitude, and compute the risk of each grid based on spatial and temporal conditions. To verify the generalizability of our models, we further expand the scope of wildfire risk assessment from California to Washington without any fine tuning. By performing counterfactual analysis, we uncover the effects of several possible methods on reducing the number of high risk wildfires. Taken together, our study has the potential to estimate, monitor, and reduce the risks of wildfires across diverse areas provided that such environment data is available.


Rising advancements and ICT have changed the way of life of society, every single logical zone are exploiting innovation to get a genuine improvement. Specialists understand the advantages of utilizing genuine games as a dependable device in psychoanalyst. Hence, the exploration looks at important issues in regards to Dyspraxia issue in youngsters and presents a similar report in the treatments strategies by utilizing a non autonomous riddle and by utilizing the game, a Serious Game created in the intension of helping kids suffering from Dyspraxia to enhance their engine aptitudes and deftness through innovation. The investigation of information results indicated that exist a critical distinction among the two strategies, demonstrating that youngsters spending time with Serious Game got little schedule in the movement running and furthermore enhanced execution.


The analysis of variance (ANOVA) compares means among three or more groups of observations defined by a categorical variable. Any discussion of ANOVA involves intertwined considerations of (1) scientifically informed study design, (2) computational methods, and (3) statistical theory. Our understanding advances at roughly at the same rate in all three aspects. The earliest ANOVA methods were developed in 1925 and required independent Gaussian observations with common variance. The years 1925–1950 saw the flowering of complex variations for evaluating two or more grouping variables (factors) and the possibility of interaction among factors. An interaction occurs whenever the effect of one factor differs across levels of the other. Requiring equal numbers of observations in each group allowed developing sums‐of‐squares formulas practical for electromechanical calculators. The widespread adoption of digital electronic computers during 1950–1975 stimulated a shift to regression‐based calculations allowing unequal group sizes and the use of multivariate methods. During 1975–2000, statisticians generalized ANOVA based on mixed models to allow missing data. The more general methods require iterative solutions of nonlinear systems of equations. The dominance of the mixed‐model approach creates vulnerabilities to computing and modeling errors in practice. Basic numerical analysis concerns (variable scaling, location shift, and error accumulation) can interact badly with some types of coding dummy variables and covariance model selection. Future directions include automation of access to computation and assumption diagnostics. The proliferation of data with large numbers of variables or observations presents challenges at all three interfaces of scientific modeling, computing, and statistical theory. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


The article examines the American experience of studying the workforce in the professional context. Statistical analysis of employment by occupation will reveal both trends in change in typical tasks of individual workplaces and objective knowledge, skills and competencies of workers in different sectors of the economy and the risks of their inconsistency with formal qualifications.
The results of statistical analysis of employment by occupation can be used to elaborate and adjust strategies for the development of the economy of the state or its individual sectors (for the development of the economy at federal, state and industry level), educational institutions, to choose a future profession, to determine career development tools, and to choose the business location
Comparative analysis of the contents of the normative documents on the classification of professions of the United States and Ukraine showed the need to develop a new version of the normative document for the classification of occupations in the professional context on the basis of the existing Classifier of professions and the Directory of Qualification Characteristics.
The results of the statistical study of the workforce in terms of professions are displayed on the official BLS. However, more interesting and useful for a common user is a specially created OnLine 0*NET service. On request for the chosen profession, the complete information ("summary") is provided: the title and the code of the profession, the nomenclature of professional tasks, the sample of reported job titles, the nomenclature of typical tasks of the activity, the necessary knowledge, professional skills, technology skills, abilities; work activities; the description of the work context, the required level of education; educational institutions and certification centers where you can get training or further training in the chosen profession; necessary personal qualities; related occupations; wages & employment trends (for each State and each type of industries); job openings on the web. There is no similar service in Ukraine.
In order to create an effective system for studying the workforce in Ukraine professionally and to use convenient services for the results obtained, the efforts of scientists, practitioners and IT specialists need to be combined.


In this paper, we propose an approximating framework for analyzing parametric Markov models. Instead of computing complex rational functions encoding the reachability probability and the reward values of the parametric model, we exploit the scenario approach to synthesize a relatively simple polynomial approximation. The approximation is probably approximately correct (PAC), meaning that with high confidence, the approximating function is close to the actual function with an allowable error. With the PAC approximations, one can check properties of the parametric Markov models. We show that the scenario approach can also be used to check PRCTL properties directly, without synthesizing the polynomial at first hand. We have implemented our algorithm in a prototype tool and conducted thorough experiments. The experimental results demonstrate that our tool is able to compute polynomials for more benchmarks than state of the art tools such as PRISM and Storm, confirming the efficacy of our PAC-based synthesis.


Structured high performance packing for packing columns have macrostructures, e.g., corrugated or folded sheets, and in many cases microstructures or surface topographies with geometrical dimensions in the same order of magnitude as the film thicknesses. For an optimal design of microstructured surfaces and for the development of novel methodologies to predict the mass transfer, a reliable description of the influence of these microstructures is crucial. To research the influence of these microstructures on the liquid film in detail, and later on optimize the geometry, Direct Numerical Simulations applying the Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes (CHNS) equations were performed for this study. The model and the implementation were validated against analytical solutions for undisturbed laminar film flows. The influence of two single microstructures (triangle and rectangle) on the gas-liquid interface and the velocity in the liquid were systematically investigated. Thereby, it was observed, that small microstructures in comparison to the film thickness have no influence on the gas-liquid interface. In contrast, higher structures could increase the interfacial area. The results indicate, that systematic studies on a wide range of geometries, phase properties and gas velocities can give valuable information on the path to optimal microstructures.


The paper reports the findings of a multi-jurisdictional study on companies' reporting of diversity practices at board level and below. It involved a review of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 annual reports of listed companies in Australia, Belgium, Norway, Spain and the UK. Some of the questions addressed in this research are: Are companies reporting the existence of corporate diversity policies in their annual reports to shareholders? How do companies define diversity? What reported evidence is there of real promotion of diversity as opposed to tokenism? How do different countries compare in their progress and reporting styles in their annual reports? Is there a difference in reported engagement between jurisdictions with mandatory gender quotas and disclosure requirements and those like Ireland and the UK with "comply or explain" rules?Our research on board composition indicates that a mandatory quota system is more efficient in increasing female representation at board level but that non-binding quotas and diversity reporting requirements lead to progress albeit at a slower pace. Even where women are appointed to boards, there is a noted delay in appointing them to the committee chair level. Statistics concerning gender in middle and senior management are limited. In terms of defining diversity, our research indicates that gender is the most common criteria referred to in all jurisdictions. Other aspects commonly referred to are age, disability and experience. While the existence of diversity policies is commonly reported, this tends to be rather general and imprecise. The majority of companies in the UK, Norway and Belgium do not explain their rationale for reporting diversity although this situation is improving in the UK with the "business case" being cited. In terms of addressing the pipeline issue, our research indicates that in all countries reviewed disclosure of diversity policies in respect of recruitment and promotion is increasing though the figures are not high. In Australia, the UK and Spain, reporting of mentoring and work-life balance policies is also increasing. Networks such as the UK's Women on Boards are also important to actual and aspiring board members.


Abstract Background: Expression of receptors for IgE (FcϵR) have been mainly studied on mast cells and blood basophils in the context of allergic disease. Some reports have noted limited expression of FcϵR on other leukocytes, including blood monocytes and eosinophils in certain patients. An association between human blood basophil expression of FcϵRIα and serum IgE has been noted among allergic subjects. Objective: Recent evidence supports regulation of FcϵRIα by free IgE on both mast cells and basophils. We hypothesized that this relationship would exist across an extremely wide range of IgE levels for human basophils, irrespective of underlying disease. We further examined whether a similar relationship existed between serum IgE and FcϵRIα or FcϵRII (CD23) expression on monocytes and eosinophils in these same subjects. Methods: Blood was obtained from nonallergic subjects (n = 3) and subjects with allergic asthma (n = 5), atopic dermatitis (n = 3), hypereosinophilic syndromes (n = 7), hyper-IgE syndrome (n = 6), helminth infestation (n = 6), or IgE myeloma (n = 1). Levels of serum IgE were determined by using RIA and ranged from 3 to 4.7 mg/mL. Levels of cell surface FcϵRIα, FcϵRII, and IgE were measured by using immunofluorescence and flow cytometry. Results: Basophil surface IgE density and FcϵRIα expression correlated with serum IgE levels ( r = 0.67 and r = 0.46, respectively; P r = 0.09, P > .5, n=29), and low-level eosinophil FcϵRIα expression was only detected in a single asthmatic subject. CD23 expression was not detected on basophils or eosinophils, except for the eosinophils from the donor with IgE myeloma. CD23 was present on monocytes from some donors but did not correlate with serum IgE levels. Conclusions: In a variety of disease states, FcϵRIα expression by basophils, but not monocytes or eosinophils, correlated with serum IgE levels across a 6-log range of IgE. These data support the concept of in vivo regulation of FcϵRIα on basophils by serum IgE and further demonstrate that this is independent of allergic disease per se. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2000;106:514-20.)


Purpose: This study was aimed to evaluate the current status and problems of surgical residency training program in Korea and to compare 'ward system'(WS) with 'team system'(TS). In WS, residents assigned to a ward take care of the patients in their ward regardless of diseases or specific staffs. In TS, residents assigned to a team or a specific staff treat the patients with specific diseases. Methods: A questionnaire on residency training program was sent to 637 surgical residents working in 69 surgical training hospitals in September 2005. Twenty questions about education, patients' care, and training system were included in the questionnaire and analyzed according to the training systems. Results: The response rate was 18%(113/637). Nineteen residents work in WS, 83 in TS and 11 in other system. Mean education time per week and mean operative time per weekday were longer in WS. The continuity of patients' care was better in TS. The responders chose their own training system as the better one. Conclusion: WS residents considered the advantages of WS as comprehensive training and residents' autonomy and TS residents regarded that of TS as consistent, specialized and intensive training for specific diseases. The results of this study can be used to improve and develop residency training program in surgery.


Researchers in Korea and elsewhere have carried out a wide variety of important research activities in their respective fields, producing valuable research results. The types of such results vary significantly, including the articles published in academic journals or presented in symposiums, research reports, patents, research notes, seminar presentations, school materials, and articles in newspapers or magazines. For such diverse research results to be shared and exchanged among researchers working in the same discipline and research subject there needs to be a community environment based on free utilization of information. Against this backdrop, this study seeks to classify and reprocess the reference/factual content owned by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), a state-run distributor of information on science and technology, by the different research subjects. It also seeks to develop and provide a community model based on the concepts of open archiving and open access for the researchers specialized in the related fields of research. This community model is developed focusing on the research results from the field of bioscience, where the most extensive studies are currently being conducted. To develop the community model, this study: (a) surveys the current status of the content owned by KISTI; (b) analyzes the patterns and characteristics of bioscientific content among the KISTI-owned content; and (c) designs a web platform where researchers can freely upload/download research results


The thyroid descends through the foramen cecum leaving the thyroglossal duct, which disappears between the fifth and the tenth week of pregnancy. The lack of involution of any part of this duct results in thyroglossal cyst formation. Its diagnostic approach is made by cervical ultrasound, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Approximately 1 % of the thyroglossal cyst formation contains malignant elements, and the most reported primary tumor has been papillary carcinoma. The recommended treatment for these carcinomas is controversial and it has evolved as time goes by. From Sistrunk procedure to neck dissection with total thyroidectomy and complementary therapies, such as iodine ablation and thyroid supplements, yet there is still no consensus as to the type of surgery and postoperative management it should be used to treat this carcinoma. Therapy should be applied according to each specific case, and it should be based on histological diagnosis, the invasive character of the tumor, and the lymph node affectation. In this paper we review the literature published so far with regards to the treatment of this carcinoma.


Two mathematical models for multiterminal voltage-sourced converter (VSC)-based HVDC are proposed in this paper. The first model assumes that all the converters are co-located in the same substation while the second model is a general one, in which DC network can be explicitly represented. For both models proposed, primary converters basically have the ability to independently control either active and reactive power or active power and voltage of the terminals while the secondary converter of the multiterminal VSC HVDC can be used to control terminal bus voltage and balance power exchange among the VSC converters. In addition, theoretic and numerical comparisons between the multiterminal VSC HVDC and the VSC FACTS controller-the Generalized Unified Power Flow Controller are also presented. Numerical examples are given on the IEEE 30-bus system, IEEE 118-bus system and IEEE 300-bus system.


Schools are important educational institutions which enable individuals to develop, grow and take place as qualified humanpower in society, beginning from the pre-school period and have important role during the process of socialization. From diverse life situations and different socio-economic backgrounds, students face with different kinds of problems which negatively affect their school attendance and peer relations and threaten their bio-psychosocial development. In dealing with these kinds of problems, in addition to family's and treatment institutions' responsibility, the educational institution itself has a significant role both in finding solutions, guiding and providing and protecting the wellbeing  of the student. For this reason, in school settings, collaboration with families, supporting developmental areas and multidisciplinary approaches in dealing with bio-psychosocial problems are well accepted.In struggling with these problems, the discipline of social work has one of the vital roles. Social work has a wide range of practice areas including medicine, psychiatry, delinquency, disability, poverty, education, and family and child welfare. School social work is a specialty area of the practice of social work and focuses on the performance and the bio-psychosocial factors that affect students' school achievement. School social worker carries out the psychosocial services within a teamwork perspective in the educational team, in solving problems because of the developmental stages or family or life conditions; utilization of the services and thus carry on their educational activities in a successful manner. The aim of this study is to introduce the professional role and practices of social work discipline, which can contribute to the work of educational team in dealing with bio-psychosocial and economical problems of students in school settings and highlight the necessity and value of employing social workers in school settings.


Photoreduction of CO2 into solar fuels has received great interest, but suffers from low catalytic efficiency and poor selectivity. Herein, two single-Cu-atom catalysts with unique Cu configurations in phosphorus-doped carbon nitride (PCN), namely, Cu1N3@PCN and Cu1P3@PCN were fabricated via selective phosphidation, and tested in visible light-driven CO2 reduction by H2O without sacrificial agents. Cu1N3@PCN was exclusively active for CO production with a rate of 49.8 μmolCO gcat-1 h-1, outperforming most polymeric carbon nitride (C3N4) based catalysts, while Cu1P3@PCN preferably yielded H2. Experimental and theoretical analysis suggested that doping P in C3N4 by replacing a corner C atom upshifted the d-band center of Cu in Cu1N3@PCN close to the Fermi level, which boosted the adsorption and activation of CO2 on Cu1N3, making Cu1N3@PCN efficiently convert CO2 to CO. In contrast, Cu1P3@PCN with a much lower Cu 3d electron energy exhibited negligible CO2 adsorption, thereby preferring H2 formation via photocatalytic H2O splitting.


Background: Clinical trials are a major step for the assessment of new molecules or novel treatments that may change the medical practice. Accurate estimation of patient recruitment plays a major role when planning clinical trials with new treatment modalities for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Method: We performed a systematical review of all published results from NSCLC clinical studies in Journal of Clinical Oncology and Journal of Thoracic Oncology between January 2009 and December 2010 by focusing on the parameters considered to be relevant for patient recruitment: number of patients, sites and enrollment period, indication, Phase of trial, type of study sponsor, geographic region, type of drug and line of treatment. Results: Of 104 studies identified within PubMed, data from 51 studies could be integrated into the final analysis. Fifty-three studies were omitted from this analysis as recruitment data were missing. Most of trials were performed in the metastatic or advanced setting. Overall, a mean enrollment of 0.64 Patient/Month/Site (range, 0.02 to 7.14) was estimated and the highest mean recruitment rate estimated was 1.81 Patients/Month/Site corresponding to 9 single-center studies. The mean enrollment rates in Patient/Month/Site were 0.57 for Phase I trials, 0.78 for Phase II trials and 0.33 for Phase III trials. University-sponsored trials were able to enroll patients with the highest mean rate of 1.48 Patient/Month/Site. Trials conducted in only European sites recruited patients with the highest mean rate of 1.40 Patient/Month/Site (8 studies). The majority of the studies evaluated treatments based on targeted therapy alone or combined with cytotoxic chemotherapy. Thirty-five (69%) studies assessed first-line treatment but the highest recruitment rate of 1.02 Patient/Month/Site was estimated for second- and subsequent lines of treatment. The statistically significant differences were mainly found when comparing the mean recruitment rates for (i) the different types of sponsor and (ii) the number of sites involved in the study. These best recruitment rates were found for University driven studies and in single-center trials. Conclusions: Study design aspects as phase I dose escalation and randomization are systematic burden to patient recruitment. Thorough planning of the study to optimize and adapt the treatment concept used in the study and attract the interest of the investigators and patients are key to recruitment. In that respect, phase II trials on targeted agents as single agents or in combination with high potential to impact the standard treatment showed 2-fold higher than mean enrollment rate for multi-center trials. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5522. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-5522


The article presents a comparative research of the Ukrainian and English paroemias with the lexemes denoting "marshy land" in their structure. It deals with similarities and differences of the component болото/swamp in definitions and synonymous names based on the Ukrainian and English languages. Besides, additional literal and metaphoric meanings of the above mentioned lexemes in the paremiological corpus of the compared languages have been revealed. A historical and cultural survey of the role this water-body played in the life of ancient Ukrainians and Britons has been given.


The generation of metal surfaces with biological properties, such as cell-growth-enhancing and differentiation-inducing abilities, could be potentially exciting for the development of functional materials for use in humans, including artificial dental implants and joint replacements. However, currently the immobilization of proteins on the surfaces of the metals are limited. In this study, we have used a mussel-inspired bioorthogonal approach to design a 3,4-hydroxyphenalyalanine-containing recombinant insulin-like growth-factor-1 using a combination of recombinant DNA technology and tyrosinase treatment for the surface modification of titanium. The modified growth factor prepared in this study exhibited strong binding affinity to titanium, and significantly enhanced the growth of NIH3T3 cells on the surface of titanium.


A recent interesting theoretical account of aging and memory judgments, the DRYAD (density of representations yields age-related deficits; Benjamin, 2010; Benjamin, Diaz, Matzen, & Johnson, 2012), attributes the extensive findings of disproportional age-related deficits in memory for source, context, and associations, to a global decline in memory fidelity. It is suggested that this global deficit, possibly due to a decline in attentional processes, is moderated by weak representation of contextual information to result in disproportional age-related declines. In the current article, we evaluate the DRYAD model, comparing it to specific age-related deficits theories, in particular, the ADH (associative deficit hypothesis, Naveh-Benjamin, 2000). We question some of the main assumptions/hypotheses of DRYAD in light of data reported in the literature, and we directly assess the role of attention in age-related deficits by manipulations of divided attention and of the instructions regarding what to pay attention to in 2 experiments (one from the literature and a new one). The results of these experiments fit the predictions of the ADH and do not support the main assumption/hypotheses of DRYAD.


The consumption of shellfish has increased considerably worldwide, with an associated increase in foodborne illnesses. Among the bivalves, the mussels are usually cooked by steam, which constitutes a typical dish in several regions. In this article, we demonstrate that this preparation is not sufficient to destroy completely the infectivity of Cryptosporidium parvum. Oocysts recovered from experimentally contaminated mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) were infectious to neonatal mice after cooking. Although, to date, no official cases of cryptosporidiosis linked to shellfish consumption have been reported, we recommend that people with reduced immunity avoid this type of food because they are at high risk of being infected with Cryptosporidium spp. after eating raw or undercooked contaminated bivalves.


[1] We investigate ocean-atmosphere coupling in the Japan Sea by using microwave satellite measurements of sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface wind from 1 June 2002 to 31 December 2004. First, it is observed that instantaneous wind speeds are modified by SST front meanders in widespread areas in the Japan Sea. Increased/reduced wind speeds are found over warmer/colder water. Then, we compute SST and wind speed anomalies by spatial high-pass filtering in order to present their time evolution along 132°E. SST and wind speed anomalies are negatively correlated off Vladivostok (>41°N) in winter. This is consistent with the interpretation that there is large turbulent heat flux loss due to the wind speed maximum off Vladivostok or the gap exit region of the northwesterly wind jet. However, except for this region in winter, we find strong positive correlation between SST and wind speed anomalies throughout the year at any latitudes. Wind speed anomalies are linearly related to SST anomalies. Meanwhile, we identify two pairs of positive and negative SST anomaly bands in the time-space structure of the Japan Sea and compare the band locations with meridional SST gradient magnitude. As a result, the two boundaries of the SST anomaly bands are associated with the Polar Front and the Tsushima Warm Current front. Additionally, it is found that discontinuous SST anomaly patches correspond to oceanic eddies. These results lead to the conclusion that sea surface winds over the Japan Sea come under the influence of those SST frontal systems.


The prominent N–S Palaeo-Tethys Bentong-Raub suture divides Peninsular Malaysia into a Sibumasu block on the west and an Indochina block on the east, known locally as East Malaya. The suture zone is characterized by an imbricated complex resembling an accretionary prism, of carbonaceous pelitic schist, serpentinite, amphibole schist, mélange-olistostrome and chert, as well as undated post-suture redbeds. Oceanic cherts record a Palaeo-Tethys history from Late Devonian to at least Late Permian. Extrapolation southwards is towards the Indonesian islands of Bangka and Billiton, and northwards along the Gulf of Thailand to the Sa Kaeo suture that has been strongly offset left-laterally by the Chao Phraya and Mae Ping faults to the Nan Uttaradit Suture, associated with less prominent island arcs of the Sukhothai zone, that correlates with the western part of East Malaya. Sa Kaeo and Nan-Uttaradit are now interpreted as closed back-arc basins. The suture zone accretionary prism and associated island arc rocks are known in northern Thailand as the Inthanon zone associated with the Chiang Mai suture, equivalent to the Bentong-Raub suture zone of Peninsular Malaysia, but problems of polarity remain. Sibumasu is characterized by Carboniferous–Permian glacial pebbly mudstones, whereas the East Malaya and Indochina Block are characterized by fusulinid limestones and Cathaysian equatorial Gigantopteris flora. Sumatra has a Cathaysian affinity terrain west of the Sibumasu Block, formerly referred to as the "Jambi Nappe". Characteristic Lower Palaeozoic fossils allow the Sibumasu localities of Langkawi, Tarutau and Phuket to have been positioned near the Canning Basin of Australia before its Lower Permian rifting from Gondwanaland. The Indochina and South China terranes had rifted from Gondwanaland in the Early Devonian and were spared the Upper Palaeozoic glaciation and instead developed equatorial Gigantopteris flora. Sibumasu collided with East Malaya and Indochina in the Late Triassic (the Indosinian Orogeny), causing crustal thickening resulting in important tin-bearing S-type granites, characterised by the Main Range of the Peninsula, the 'tin islands' of Indonesia and parts of central Thailand. Late Cretaceous granites, commonly associated with high grade metamorphic core complexes, have not yet been successfully integrated into the regional tectonic analyses. Eocene collision of India, with maximum impact at the Assam–Yunnan syntaxis, caused escape tectonics, resulting in oroclinal clockwise rotation of northern Sundaland brought about by a large number of right-lateral wrench faults and regional oroclines. The faults are associated with transtensional Tertiary basins and tanspressional transverse ranges of Jurassic–Cretaceous formations. Oroclinal bending of southern Sundaland resulted in anticlockwise rotations, forming a great arcuate structure known as the Anambas Zone. The right-lateral faulting of Sumatra is attributed to ongoing oblique subduction at the active trench.


A people's cosmology defines their perception of the universe and their place in it. It explains their thought systems, values, attitudes as well as hierarchy of forces and their relationships. Thus African Igbo Cosmology explains the people's perception of the universe and their place in it; their values, laws and very importantly their understanding of the purpose of existence. Igbo cosmology recognizes three ontological levels of existence in the universe where the inhabitants of these levels interact in some unique ways to give meaning to human existence. This cosmology also recognizes some elements of human existence which include life, offspring, truth, justice, wealth, love and peace as great values. But among all this values, 'life' stands tall as the greatest and most cherished value among the people. Undoubtedly, life is cherished in all human societies, but the value attached to life is not the same in all cultures. This paper therefore seeks to give a broad definition of the meaning and essence of life as a value among the Igbo and also show how the people's belief system, attitudes etc are informed by their perception of life. Apart from seeking to clarify some misconceptions about the meaning and essence of life in Igbo cosmology, this work is also a premeditated effort geared towards encouraging good and moral life among the Igbo, as bad and immoral life is seen as worthless by the people.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Lacosamide has been used in epilepsy patients in the United States, Europe and Asia since it was approved by the FDA in 2008. Many patients have benefited from this drug as a new generation of sodium channel blocker. With the worldwide use of this drug, its adverse effects have gradually emerged, especially some rare adverse events. Areas covered: The present review aims to summarize the adverse effects of lacosamide reported in the literature in recent years to promote the safe clinical application of the drug. Expert opinion: In more than 10 years of experience in drug usage, adverse reactions of lacosamide have also been gradually discovered. The review showed that lacosamide is safe and effective in antiepileptic treatment, and its common side effects are dizziness, headache, drowsiness, diplopia, and cardiovascular abnormalities. Skin rashes, hematotoxicity and heart damage, psychological symptoms and suicide risk have also been reported and emphasized.


The present study was conducted in India and examined the impact of socioeconomic factors and the variables of self-efficacy and career beliefs on the career planning orientation of 755 high school boys from disadvantaged backgrounds. The sample had four orientations to career planning, namely, the intention to begin working immediately, pursue college education, enter vocational training and no career plans. The children of illiterate and unemployed parents exhibited the highest tendency to prematurely discontinue education and enter the world of work as unskilled labourers. A significant effect of parent employment on self-efficacy was found, indicating that respondents whose parents had full time employment had higher self efficacy scores than those whose parent were unemployed. It was also found that the children of illiterate and unemployed parents had a higher level of negative beliefs about career preparation. This study also presents information regarding the translation of existing measures of socioeconomic status and self-efficacy in Kannada, a South Indian language and preliminary information about the construction of a scale to measure career belief distortions among high school students.


Schrödinger equation is a well known example of the so-called complex partial differential equations (C-PDE). This paper presents a technique based in the Differential Neural Networks (DNN) methodology to solve the nonparametric identification problem of systems described by C.PDE. In this case, the identification scheme is proposed as the composition of two coupled DNN: the first one is used to approximate the real part of the complex valued equation and the second reproduces the complementary imaginary part. The convergence of the identification is obtained by a modified Lyapunov function in infinite dimensional spaces. The adaptive laws for complex weights ensure the convergence of the DNN trajectories to the sates of the PDE complex-valued. In order to investigate the qualitative behavior of the suggested technique, it is analyzed, as an example, the approximation of Schrödinger equation. The suggested no parametric identifier converge to the trajectories of the uncertain complex systems. This novel methodology that explores the application of the DNN method for the identification of complex PDE has shown its ability to produce a numerical model of an uncertain complex valued system.


Zinc oxide (ZnO) in various nano forms (nanoparticles, nanorods, nanosheets, nanowires and nanoflowers) has received remarkable attention worldwide for its functional diversity in different fields i.e., paints, cosmetics, coatings, rubber and composites. The purpose of this article is to investigate the role of photocatalytic activity (role of photogenerated radical scavengers) of nano ZnO (nZnO) for the surface activation of polymeric natural fibres especially cotton and their combined effect in photocatalytic applications. Photocatalytic behaviour is a crucial property that enables nZnO as a potential and competitive candidate for commercial applications. The confirmed features of nZnO were characterised by different analytical tools, i.e., scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field emission SEM (FESEM) and elemental detection spectroscopy (EDX). These techniques confirm the size, morphology, structure, crystallinity, shape and dimensions of nZnO. The morphology and size play a crucial role in surface activation of polymeric fibres. In addition, synthesis methods, variables and some of the critical aspects of nZnO that significantly affect the photocatalytic activity are also discussed in detail. This paper delineates a vivid picture to new comers about the significance of nZnO in photocatalytic applications.


The order parameter, ferroelectric phase transition temperature, and critical concentrations of random-site electric dipoles, point charges and dilatational centres in disordered ferroelectrics are calculated. The calculations are carried out by the random-field method with a random-electric-field distribution function, allowing for nonlinear and spatial correlation effects. Essential differences from the linear case are revealed. First, the aforementioned effects lead to the transformation of the second-order phase transition into one of first order and vice versa for and respectively, where is the third-order nonlinearity constant. Second, for the phase transition temperature has a maximum as a function of the random-field-source concentration; its maximal value appears to be larger than that in the mean-field approximation. At the same time, for the maximum is absent and the -value is smaller than that in the linear case (i.e. at ). This means that nonlinear and spatial correlation effects enhance the long-range order in disordered ferroelectrics for and inhibit it for . It is shown that the critical concentrations of electric dipoles, point charges and dilatational centres are the same as in the linear case. The application of the theory developed to various disordered ferroelectrics is discussed.


Tropospheric ozone (O3) is widely recognized as the cause of substantial yield and quality reduction in crops. Most of the previous studies focused on the exposure of wheat cultivars to elevated O3 levels. Our main objectives were to: (i) investigate the consistency of wheat cultivars' physiological responses across two different realistic O3 levels; and (ii) compare these physiological responses with those under short acute O3 exposure. Three commercially available hard spring wheat cultivars bred under semiarid and Eastern Mediterranean conditions were exposed to two different O3 levels during two consecutive seasons (2016–2018)—36 and 71 ppbv 7 h mean O3 mixing ratios in open-top chambers. The results were compared to those following short acute O3 exposure (102.8 ppbv, 7 h mean for 10 days) in a greenhouse. Non-stomatal responses were significantly more pronounced than stomatal responses in all cultivars under different levels of O3. The specific cultivar was observed as the most O3-tolerant under all experiments. The fact that the same cultivar was found remarkably tolerant to the local semiarid ambient conditions according to other studies and to O3 exposure based on the present study supports a link between cultivar resistance to drought conditions and O3.


Objective Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are benign congenital lesions. The estimated prevalence is 10-18 per 100,000 individuals, with an incidence rate of 1.1-1.4 per 100,000 person-year; only 12% of AVMs present symptoms during life. It is important to study different characteristics associated with AVMs because these patients require multidisciplinary treatment. Methods A descriptive, observational, longitudinal, and retrospective study was carried out from January 15, 2016 to October 19, 2021. Convenience sampling was used on patients diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation. Sociodemographic data was obtained, such as: sex, age, site, predominant symptoms, clinical debut, type of malformation, data associated with post therapy evolution, type of embolizing agent used, associated complications, Rankin scale, and death. Results Data from 535 procedures was collected, we calculated an incidence of 4.4 cases per million inhabitants. Ninety procedures in 56 patients that used endovascular therapy were obtained with a female-male ratio of 0.75 and an age distribution of 35±14 (SD). A 36.3±11.5 (SD) mm diameter was registered. There was a 33% success rate for endovascular surgery. Conclusions The multidisciplinary treatment of AVMs is made up of three pillar techniques: microsurgical resection, embolization, and radio-neurosurgery. It is extremely important to make an appropriate decision, with an emphasis on achieving better functional outcomes for the patient. Although neurological endovascular therapy was initially used as an adjuvant treatment for neurosurgery and radio-neurosurgery, it has been used more and more frequently as the first line of treatment.


Using a random temporal signal for sample excitation (RATS method) is a new, capable approach to measuring photoluminescence (PL) dynamics. The method can be used in single-point measurement (0D), but also it can be converted to PL decay imaging (2D) using a single-pixel camera configuration. In both cases, the reconstruction of the PL decay and PL snapshot is affected by ubiquitous noise. This article provides a detailed analysis of the noise effect on the RATS method and possible strategies for its suppression. We carried out an extensive set of simulations focusing on the effect of noise introduced through the random excitation signal and the corresponding PL waveform. We show that the PL signal noise level is critical for the method. Furthermore, we analyze the role of acquisition time, where we demonstrate the need for a non-periodic excitation signal. We show that it is beneficial to increase the acquisition time and that increasing the number of measurements in the single-pixel camera configuration has a minimal effect above a certain threshold. Finally, we study the effect of a regularization parameter used in the deconvolution step, and we observe that there is an optimum value set by the noise present in the PL dataset. Our results provide a guideline for optimization of the RATS measurement, but we also study effects generally occurring in PL decay measurements methods relying on the deconvolution step.


In this study, electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method was used for hydroxyapatite (HA) coating on titanium substrates. Chemically synthesized nano-powders and naturally derived sub- micron powders of HA were produced and used as coating materials before and after calcination. Obtained coatings were sintered at 1000 °C for 1 hour. Besides HA coating, two applications including TiO 2 were performed: HA/TiO 2 composite coating in the one hand, and TiO 2 inner coating layer between titanium substrate and HA coating in the other. Results showed that, plate-like shaped nanosized HA powders with aspect ratio 3:1 were produced by the acid-base method. Ensuing calcination altered particle size (slightly coarsening) and shape (nodular-like). Coatings obtained using calcinated powders produced through acid-base method were seen to be free of cracks before and after sintering.


Landfills have been the major repositories of urban wastes, and they will continue to be built, so long as the humans live in communities. The costs of construction, maintenance and remediation of landfills have escalated over the years and research is therefore required to identify alternative techniques that will not only minimise the costs but also demonstrate increased environmental performance and community benefits. An alternative landfill capping technique known as 'Phytocapping' (establishment of perennial plants on a layer of soil placed over the waste) was trialled in Rockhampton, Australia. In this technique, trees were used as 'bio-pumps' and 'rainfall interceptors' and soil cover as 'storage' of water. Tree performance was measured based on their canopy rainfall interception and water uptake potential. The percolation rate was estimated using HYDRUS 1D for two different scenarios (with and without vegetation) for the thick and thin covers respectively. Results from the simulations incorporating 15 years of meteorological data showed percolation rates of 16.7 mm yr-1 in thick cover and 23.8 mm yr-1 in thin cover, both of which are markedly lower than those expected from a clay cap.


Localization is an important stage in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in order to make the collected information meaningful. For Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs), received signal strength (RSS) has been used for distance measurement through the state-of-the-art Lambert function \cite{Hosseini2010}. In this work, a hybrid RSS-based localization mechanism is presented which is comprised of three different stages including initialization, distance measurement, and position estimation. The simulation results, from comprehensive simulations, demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the hybrid localization mechanism compared to other existing distance measurement technique like Time of Arrival.


This research aims to examine HOLSERV with three dimensions namely, employee, tangible and reliability, towards its relationship on customer satisfaction and return intention rather than SERVQUAL because it suits hotel environment. The object analysis was Bandung which proclaimed herself as a tourism city with quiet number of hotels rating as non-star to five-star hotels. From 41 three-star hotels, this research managed to cover 29 hotels to conduct this research. Respondents with total number of 355 participated to fill the questionnaire with the helped of hotel managers by spreading it to their customers who were checking out of the hotel. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypothesis and the results show that tangibility and reliability influence customers' satisfaction but not employee. In addition, customer satisfaction influences return intention.


Successfully reintegrating prison inmates into society and preventing reoffending requires a much larger toolbox to allow correctional administrators to go beyond mere deterrence in order to achieve those aims of reintegration and recidivism reduction. While rehabilitative and reformative initiatives that target specific criminogenic factors are important, this paper will however, focus on measures that have primarily impacted upon the prevailing 'social climate' of the prison, that is, 'the social, emotional, organizational and physical characteristics of a correctional institution as perceived by inmates and staff'. The ensuing analysis in this paper will show that the 'social climate' of a correctional institution actually mediates between the offender and the rehabilitative or therapeutic measure. In other words, the social or institutional climate can potentially facilitate the successful rehabilitation of the inmate or it can hinder their progress. To that end, the Townsville Correctional Complex's 'social climate' programs that have been developed and/or delivered with key stakeholders will be examined, and through that analysis, will reveal insights regarding what needs to be done in the penal system so that rehabilitative or therapeutic initiatives can be more effectively implemented.


In object-oriented and functional programming, an immutable object is an object whose state cannot be modified after it is created. This is in contrast to a mutable object, which can be modified after it is created. An object can be either entirely immutable or some attributes in the object may be declared immutable; for example, using the const member data attribute in the C++ programming language. In some cases, an object is considered immutable even if some internally used attributes change but the object's state appears to be unchanging from an external point of view. For example, an object that uses memoization to cache the results of expensive computations could still be considered an immutable object. The initial state of an immutable object is usually set at its inception, but can also be set before actual use of the object.


Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a chronic condition, requiring polypharmacy, allied health supports and regular monitoring. All these factors are needed to ensure compliance and to deliver the positive outcomes demonstrated from randomized controlled trials. Unfortunately many centers around the world are unable to match trial level support. The outcomes for many communities are thus unclear. Research design factors in post-marketing surveillance to address this issue. Phase 4 studies is the name given to trials designed to obtain such community level data and thus address issues of external validity. CHF phase 4 studies are relatively underutilized. We feel the onus for this research lies with the health profession. In this commentary we provide arguments as to why phase 4 studies should be viewed as a social and corporate responsibility of health professional that care for clients with CHF.


Many results in fine-grained complexity reveal intriguing consequences from solving various SAT problems even slightly faster than exhaustive search. We prove a self-improving (or "bootstrapping") theorem for Circuit-SAT, # Circuit-SAT, and its fully-quantified version: solving one of these problems faster for "large" circuit sizes implies a significant speed-up for "smaller" circuit sizes. Our general arguments work for a variety of models solving circuit-analysis problems, including non-uniform circuits and randomized models of computation. We derive striking consequences for the complexities of these problems. For example, we show that certain fine-grained improvements on the runtime exponents of polynomial-time versions of Circuit-SAT would imply subexponential-time algorithms for Circuit-SAT on 2 o ( n ) -size circuits, refuting the Exponential Time Hypothesis. We also show how slightly faster # Circuit-SAT algorithms on large circuits can be used to prove lower bounds against uniform circuits with symmetric gates for functions in deterministic linear time. Our result suggests an "algorithmic method" approach for uniform circuit lower bounds, which trades non-uniformity for a substantial reduction in the complexity of the hard function.


This paper has two parts. The first part presents an overview of the evidence concerning intergenerational mobility in Latin America. The second part studies the correlation between mobility perceptions and political preferences. The results show, first, that educational mobility is much lower in Latin American countries than in the United States, and that Latin Americans are quite pessimistic about their own mobility experiences and social equality in general. Second, the results show that preferences for redistribution are stronger (i) among poor individuals, (ii) among those who believe that they were unable to surpass their parents´ socioeconomic status, and (iii) among those who think that market outcomes are unfair. A similar result applies with respect to the support for both market outcomes and the privatization of state-owned enterprises.


The paper provides evidence on the implementation of China's trade commitments into its institutional and legal environment, which influenced its agricultural trade. The contribution to the trade balance index and the revealed comparative advantage index are used for the identification of changes in China's export competitiveness in agricultural products between 2001 and 2015. The World Trade Organization (WTO) trade liberalisation, followed by changes in the structure of economy, contributed to China building a trade deficit in the area of the agricultural products and losing competitiveness in some products. China gradually liberalised its agricultural trade in compliance with the WTO commitments. However, relatively high protection or state regulation of the domestic market has remained in products that China exports with a revealed comparative disadvantage. The existence of the state trading can also have a negative impact on the results of China's revealed comparative advantage in its exports of agricultural products.


This paper considers combinatorial optimization models for the problem of reducing the chip area of programmable logic arrays (PLAs) by folding. In particular, we focus on the variable and block folding problems, and we present theoretical optimization models based on the compatibility graph, on the incompatibility graph and on the representative hyper-graph of a PLA.


Introduction. Oxymatrine is a natural quinazine alkaloid extracted from Sophora flavescens and has many medicinal values. Oxymatrine showed protective effects, viral inhibition and effects against lung cancer.Hypothesis/Gap Statement. Individuals with lung cancer exhibit heightened vulnerability to COVID-19 infection due to compromised immune function. In conjunction with COVID-19, it is hypothesized that oxymatrine may exert potent pharmacological effects on lung cancer patients.Aim. The objective of this study was to assess the pharmacological mechanisms and targets of oxymatrine in relation to COVID-19 lung cancer.Methodology. Utilizing network pharmacology analysis, a selection of 2628 genes were identified as co-targets for both COVID-19 and lung cancer. Subsequently, a clinicopathological analysis was conducted by integrating RNA-Seq and clinical data obtained from the TCGA-LUAD lung cancer dataset, which was acquired from the official TCGA website. The identification of pharmacological targets for oxymatrine was accomplished through the utilization of various databases including Pharm mapper, SWISS Target prediction, and STITCH. These identified targets were further investigated for protein-protein interaction (PPI) using STRING, as well as for gene ontology (GO) and KEGG pathways.Results. The effects of oxymatrine on COVID-19-induced lung cancer were mediated by immune regulation, cytoprotection, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory activities, immune regulation, and control of related signalling pathways, including the formation of the neutrophil extracellular trap, phagosome, Toll-like receptor signalling pathway, apoptosis, proteoglycans in cancer, extracellular matrix disassembly, and proteolysis involved in cellular protein catabolism. Furthermore, important substances and genes like ALB, MMP3, MMP1, and TLR4 may affect how oxymatrine suppresses lung cancer/COVID-19 development.Conclusion. To treat COVID-19 or lung cancer paired with COVID-19, oxymatrine may improve the therapeutic efficacy of current clinical antiviral medicines and immunotherapy.


Abstract Background Several lines of evidence suggest the involvement of CCND1 and FGFR1 genes in determining breast cancer (BC) resistance to endocrine therapy, however these assumptions still require a validation in clinical data sets. Methods This study included 138 tumors from patients with metastatic BC who received first-line endocrine therapy with aromatase inhibitors (AI, n = 69), tamoxifen (n = 65), goserelin (n = 2) or a combination of goserelin and tamoxifen (n = 2). DNA extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded archival specimens was tested for CCND1 and FGFR1 amplification by digital droplet PCR. Results CCND1 and FGFR1 status was successfully determined in 134 tumors. CCND1 and FGFR1 amplification was detected in 24 (18%) and 28 (21%) informative cases, respectively; 9 carcinomas had concurrent alterations of two genes. Amplifications were more common in less differentiated tumors (G1: 1/18 (6%) vs. G2-3: 34/86 (40%); p = 0.005, Fisher's exact test). Median disease-free survival in patients receiving AI with CCND1 amplification was shorter than in cases with the normal gene status (12.3 vs. 14.9 months; p = 0.014, log rank test). Objective response to aromatase inhibitors was observed in 2/13 (15%) BC with FGFR1 amplification compared to 22/46 (48%) tumors with the normal FGFR1 gene copy number (p = 0.054). Noteworthy, among patients receiving AI, CCND1 and/or FGFR1 amplification occurred in 5 out of 7 (71%) women with progressive disease compared to only 4 in 23 (17%) patients with objective response to therapy (p = 0.01). Meanwhile, none of 5 tumors showing resistance to tamoxifen harbored CCND1 or FGFR1 amplification. Conclusions The presence of CCND1 and/or FGFR1 amplification is associated with worse results of AI therapy in breast cancer patients. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 17-04-01281). Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Open access aims to make knowledge freely available to those who would make use of it. High-profile open access journals, such as those published by PLoS (Public Library of Science), have been able to demonstrate the viability of this model for increasing an author's reach and reputation within scholarly communication through the use of such bibliographic tools as the Journal Impact Factor, conceived and developed by Eugene Garfield. This article considers the various approaches that authors, journals, and funding agencies are taking toward open access, as well as its effect on reputation for authors and, more widely, for journals and the research enterprise itself.


The areas of 22 regions in a gastro-duodenal model were estimated endoscopically by 11 examiners. The procedure was then repeated with a biopsy forceps as the reference for measurement. Without the biopsy forceps, 86% of the areas were underestimated. Measurement with the biopsy forceps reduced the deviations of the estimates and the scatter of these but 75% were still underestimated. The estimates showed considerable inter-observer variation and limited reproducibility. Endoscopically estimated alteration in area of an ulcer should not be accepted as clinical documentation for healing.


Involving the talented youth in the processes of innovation development is an important factor in the development of the society and modernization of the Russian economy. The national education system defines working with gifted children and young people as a key priority. The role of universities in youth talents training and management increases inasmuch the purpose of educational institutions is not only training of specialists with the highest professional qualification but creating the so-called intellectual elite of the country as well. The model of talent management system functioning at I.N. Ulianov Chuvash State University is described in the article. The article examines the complex multi-level system presented by interaction between elements «school – higher education provider – production». The basic forms of identifying and following up gifted schoolchildren and students and forms of supporting young lecturers are considered. A number of the University structural subdivisions such as Centre for working with the gifted youth, Center of Supplementary Education, Vocational Guidance Center, Innovation-implementation Center take part in working with talents by implementing a year-round complex of events. One of the key factors in functioning the talent management system is staffing. With a view to maintaining continuity, fostering young teachers' motivation the University implements in-house target programs. One of the most effective forms of preserving and transferring the best practices of professional adaptation is tutorship. A multilevel approach makes it possible to create conditions for maximum revealing talents in students, professionals and to build the system of continuity within the system of working with young talents .


Drava is a river of Rainy-glacial regime, which enables a relatively favorable schedule of flow during the year because of the large quantities of water stored in the snow and ice. Such flow conditions are making her suitable for the efficient production of electricity from hydroelectric power plants. Three multifunctional hydroelectric power plants are built on river Drava (HE Varaždin, HE Cakovec i HE Dubrava), serving not only for electricity production, but also for the flood protection, erosion protection, irigation, drainage, plus tourism and sport. The infrastructure of these power plants creates aquatic ecosystems with specific environmental conditions that are appropriate for specific communities of fish. According to the division of flowing waters into zones from the source to the mouth, based on the dominant species of fish both with change in living communities under the influence of hydroelectric power plants, we can notice the following: the bream zone (Abramis brama) in the artificial lake, grayling zone (Thymallus thymallus) in the drainage channel, and barbel zone (Barbus barbus) in drain channel. In the old course of the river (biological minimum) we can notice all of the listed zones, mostly because of the connection with all listed water bodies and extreme antrophogenic impact, which causes the unnatural variable of the ihtiofauna. Due to exceptional anthropogenic influence on all water in the complex of hydroelectric power plants, the zonation usually typical for a complete river flow appears on a very small area. With this I conclude that the ihtiofauna composition of the river Drava in the area affected by hydroelectric power plants is heavily influenced by man. Although mostly devastated, lowland rivers such as Drava began a revolution in environmental protection and in understanding the significance of rivers for human society.


Modern detector systems use networks for data acquisition and experimental control. Often they have to be controlled by software that can be quite complex in itself. Experimental control and analysis software packages like Matlab and LabVIEW offer high-level modules for rapid development. Both packages are able to operate on standard networks provided a suitable protocol for network communication is chosen. However, the two packages tend to overlap to some degree and it isn't always clear which package, if any of them, is best suited for a specific project. We have studied these issues while developing diagnostic software for a decentralized detector system in an in-house developed SPECT camera. We have compared a Matlab and a Labview approach with each other and with a similar system developed in Java. We will discuss our conclusions about each package's suitability in our applications, including issues such as ease of use, performance and use of resources.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT) are the most common cancers in young men, and several lines of evidence point to their substantial genetic component. To date, genome-wide association (GWA) studies have uncovered six TGCT susceptibility loci. Together these loci account for 11-16% of TGCT disease risk to first degree relatives, arguing that additional genetic variation contributing to TGCT susceptibility must exist. Recently we and others indentified variation at DMRT1 associated with TGCT risk. DMRT1 is highly conserved across many species and plays a crucial role in male gonadal development and sex determination. Deletions in DMRT1 lead to male to female (XY) sex reversal. Therefore, we undertook a targeted pathway-based analysis of genes influencing XY sex reversal to identify associations with TGCT risk. Through review of the literature, we identified 27 additional genes in which mutations or deletions are associated with XY sex reversal. Using our existing GWA data in 349 cases and 919 controls, ∼570 risk markers in the 28 candidate loci were evaluated for replication based on a significance threshold of p < 2 x 10−5 for at least two SNP markers. Two markers that mapped near to MAP3K1 and FGF9 meet these criteria. We genotyped the most statistically significant SNP markers in the MAP3K1 ([rs252906][1]; p = 1.89 x 10Δ5) and FGF9 ([rs628137][2]; p = 1.66 x 10Δ5) region in two independent replication sample sets, consisting of 439 cases of TGCT and 960 controls and of 768 cases and 674 controls respectively. In combined analysis, TGCT cases had elevated odds of carriage of the [rs252906][1] major T allele [per-allele odds ratio (OR) = 1.24, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16, 1.377; P = 5.87 × 10−5] and the [rs628137][2] major G allele (per allele OR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.08, 1.34, P = 5.28 x 10−4 compared with controls. Similarly to KITLG, the susceptibility locus most strongly associated with TGCT risk, FGF9 is associated with proliferation, migration and survival of primordial germ cells, the progenitor cells for human TGCT. MAP3K1 and FGF9 play a crucial role in normal testes development. These finding strengthen the supposition that variation in genes influencing sex determination, and male germ cell development and differentiation play an important role in inherited TGCT susceptibility.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2622. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2622

 [1]: /lookup/external-ref?link_type=GEN&access_num=rs252906&atom=%2Fcanres%2F72%2F8_Supplement%2F2622.atom
 [2]: /lookup/external-ref?link_type=GEN&access_num=rs628137&atom=%2Fcanres%2F72%2F8_Supplement%2F2622.atom


In reply Responding to Goldman's comment, we, indeed, assume that heparinization was one strategy for favorable outcome in our patients.1Both bacterial and venous cerebrovascular complications account for still high mortality rates and long-term sequelae in bacterial meningitis, in particular in pneumococcal meningitis.2,3Our data point to an obstructive process of the basal cerebral blood vessels with highest risk of developing brain ischemia throughout the first 5 days. There is strong evidence that these hemodynamic changes reflect secondary vasculitis4; additionally, following initial inflammatory damage of endothelium, the endogenous coagulation cascade might be activated, converting prothrombin into thrombin. Heparin as a thrombin antagonist should, thus, counteract possible development of local thrombosis, which—in addition to narrowing of the blood vessel—could lead to cerebral ischemia or even infarction. However, anticoagulant therapy is associated with some risk due to well-known side effects. Heparin causes transient mild thrombocytopenia in up to 25%


A 3-year-old Great Dane with bilateral possible essential blepharospasm resulting in ocular complications is described. Conservative treatment was not successful and the disease was treated with local injections of botulinum toxin A into the orbicularis oculi muscle. Blepharospasm disappeared completely 5 to 6 days after injection and did not reappear until 3 to 4 months later, at which time the injection was repeated. After several treatments over a period of more than 3 years no side effects have occured. Botulinum toxin A appeared to be effective in the treatment of essential blepharospasm in this dog.


Indeterminate narrow-leafed lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L. cv. Merrit) was exposed to enriched atmo- spheric CO2 during pod-filling to enhance the availability of carbon resources for pod-filling in order to determine whether or not seed-filling, yield, and harvest index are limited by the availability of photosynthetic assimilate. Plants were grown in a glasshouse and the flowers painted with an aqueous solution containing either N 6 -benzy- laminopurine (BAP) or no BAP to generate 2 different numbers of pods per plant. From the time when pods began to fill seeds (≥5 mg/seed) until maturity, plants were exposed to either ambient (350-360 �L/L) or enriched (700 �L/L) CO2 by enclosing them in 2 transparent, box-shaped tunnels with similar temperatures, light, and water conditions. Whether or not BAP was applied to flowers, CO2 enrichment increased the final number of pods and the number of pods that filled large seeds (≥150 mg) by 20-22 pods/plant. Enriched CO2 reduced to zero the number of pods that had small seeds (≥30-80 mg) and reduced the number of pods with unfilled seeds from 16 to 1 pod/plant. This increased seed yield per plant by 44-66%, but did not affect the harvest index. Harvest index was unchanged because enriched CO2, while increasing pod-filling, also increased pod set and dry matter accumulation on the developing branches. This indicates that an increased availability of carbon resources during-pod filling changed the allocation of assimilates by filling small seeds and producing new branches. The 47-56% increase in dry matter per plant was reflected in the increase in seed yield, which occurred largely through an increased number of pods and seeds per plant. These data support the idea that seed-filling and hence seed yield in well-nodulated, indeter- minate narrow-leafed lupin is limited by carbon resources at the stage when the plant is most source-limited, which is during podset and pod-filling. Additional keywords: CO2 fertilisation, cytokinins, Lupinus angustifolius, carbon resources, seed yield.


Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious intracellular bacterium that causes the potentially fatal disease tularemia. MyD88 has previously been shown to confer protection against both attenuated and virulent strains of F. tularensis, however the underlying mechanisms of protection are largely unexplored. Here we investigated cell-specific mechanisms of protection against virulent F. tularensis infection using mice with conditional MyD88 deficiencies. MyD88 deficiency in myeloid or dendritic cells did not enhance susceptibility to F. tularensis, regardless of the route of infection. In addition, myeloid or dendritic cell MyD88 deficiency did not markedly hinder the production of inflammatory cytokines. In contrast, MyD88−/− mice, or mice with hematopoietic MyD88 deficiency display elevated bacterial burdens, and markedly reduced cytokine levels. While IL-12 levels were not diminished in MyD88−/− or hematopoietic MyD88-deficient mice infected with F. tularensis, IFN-γ production was abolished in these animals. In particular, IFN-γ production by splenic NK cells was abated in mice lacking hematopoietic MyD88. Neutralization of IFN-γ from wild-type, but not hematopoietic MyD88-deficient mice, resulted in elevated tissue F. tularensis burdens. Caspase-1/11−/− mice also displayed enhanced bacterial burdens, diminished serum IL-18 levels, and reduced IFN-γ production. Collectively, our data shows that hematopoietic MyD88 is required for IFN-γ production that is protective against F. tularensis infection. As IL-18 requires MyD88 for signaling to induce IFN-γ production, MyD88 signaling in hematopoietic cells, such as NK cells, may result in the production of protective IFN-γ via caspase1/11 dependent IL-18.


The aim of this article is to provide a conceptual analysis and an essentialist definition of sport. I will also argue that the properties attributed to sporting activities are indeed real. I compare the following two differing conceptions of sport: – SHC: socio-historical conception. In this conception, sport is conceived as the set of physical practices that emerge, evolve, disappear, and find a function and meaning within a specific social context. – REC: realistic and essentialist conception of sport. From this perspective, practicing sport consists in intensely engaging, physically and emotionally, in a competition that results from a paradoxical joint action and produces a unique outcome. Sport reflects a characteristic of human nature, that of an ability to cooperate in a new way, the way in which we have learned to cooperate to develop new and specifically human acts of language. Instead of learning how sport can be useful to us, or its value, we must simply learn what sport is.


The goals of this proposal are to investigate endodermal differentiation and proliferation of human ES cells in culture. Endodermal differentiation is a necessary step towards making pancreatic beta cells, as well as other endodermal cells such as liver cells. Pancreatic beta cells generated from human ES cells could be used to treat type I diabetics. In the past two years, we have incorporated human ES cell culture technology into our laboratory and have been able to replicate data obtained by other research groups. While several other research groups and companies around the world are focused on making pancreatic beta cells as quickly as possible, we strongly believe that a more detailed understanding of the biology of human ES cell differentiation into endoderm will help the optimization of this protocol. Therefore, we have focused our efforts on testing a number of variables in the initial step of creating definitive endoderm. We have found that different human ES cell lines have very different capacity to differentiate into endoderm under the same culture conditions. In addition, we have recently focused our research effort on the post-translational modifications of key regulators of endoderm differentiation, and found a critical role for a poorly appreciated modification, namely a sugar modification called GlcNAcylation. In summary, developing a reproducible and efficient way to differentiate human ES cells into endoderm, as well as a thorough understanding of this key step, will allow us and others to elucidate the detailed set of molecular and biochemical events underlying this critical differentiation step, and will improve differentiation protocols.


In this article, we are going to investigate the effects of snow, rain, temperature and wind on the number of backcountry and off-piste avalanche accidents. The data base of our survey is restricted on the western part of Austria (federal states Tyrol and Vorarlberg) within the winter periods 1987/88--2008/09. We are able to stratify the daily data for municipalities in Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Employing spatial kriging and hurdle models, we found a positive significant effect of the snow water equivalent measurement on avalanche accident counts (if we consider the running average over the past 3 days). The variables rain and temperature 1800 meter above sea level showed negative effects on the number of accident counts. In the case of the variable wind - ERA5 global reanalysis data turned out not to be reliable -- we had a focus on the 3 avalanche accident hot spots of Austria St. Anton am Arlberg, Lech and Sölden observing wind data of the weather stations Galzig, Warth and Obergurgl. At least in the case of St. Anton and Lech, we found significant positive effects (daily velocity totals and west wind component) on the number of avalanche counts. Calculating the daily mean wind load showed a positive effect only in the case of St. Anton am Arlberg.Finally, we tried to find conclusions in connection with `avalanche problems' such as used by several avalanche information services only finding (beside `new snow') some evidence for a `spring scenario'.


Objective Investigating the causal relationship between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and atlantoaxial subluxation (AAS) and identifying and quantifying the role of C-reactive protein (CRP) as a potential mediator. Methods Using summary-level data from a genome-wide association study (GWAS), a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis of genetically predicted rheumatoid arthritis (14,361 cases, and 43,923 controls) and AAS (141 cases, 227,388 controls) was performed. Furthermore, we used two-step MR to quantitate the proportion of the effect of c-reactive protein-mediated RA on AAS. Results MR analysis identified higher genetically predicted rheumatoid arthritis (primary MR analysis odds ratio (OR) 0.61/SD increase, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.36-1.90) increased risk of AAS. There was no strong evidence that genetically predicted AAS had an effect on rheumatoid arthritis risk (OR 1.001, 95% CI 0.97-1.03). The proportion of genetically predicted rheumatoid arthritis mediated by C-reactive protein was 3.7% (95%CI 0.1%−7.3%). Conclusion In conclusion, our study identified a causal relationship between RA and AAS, with a small proportion of the effect mediated by CRP, but a majority of the effect of RA on AAS remains unclear. Further research is needed on additional risk factors as potential mediators. In clinical practice, lesions of the upper cervical spine in RA patients need to be given more attention.


The lattice instability related to ferroelectric phase transitions of and its family has been studied by Raman scattering in the temperature range between 293 K and 958 K. The lowest optical mode of of at room temperature shows remarkable temperature variation towards . Its mode frequency decreases markedly and the damping factor increases rapidly below . The composition dependence of the low-frequency modes has been investigated in the family (A = Ba, Ca, Sr, M = Nb, Ta) and (M = Nb, Ta). All the lowest modes soften upon heating, except (M = Nb, Ta). The nature of the damping of the soft modes is discussed in relation to the ionic radius of the A site of a pseudo-perovskite unit.


Human growth factor receptor-bound protein 7 (Grb7) is an adapter protein involved in cell growth, migration and proliferation. It is now recognized that Grb7 is an emerging therapeutic target in specific cancer subtypes. Recently, the discovery of a bicyclic peptide inhibitor that targets the Grb7 SH2 domain, named G7-B1, was reported. In an attempt to probe the foundation of its interaction with Grb7, the crystallization and preliminary data collection of both the apo and G7-B1-bound forms of the Grb7 SH2 domain are reported here. Diffraction-quality crystals were obtained using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. After several rounds of microseeding, crystals of the apo Grb7 SH2 domain were obtained that diffracted to 1.8 Å resolution, while those of the G7-B1-Grb7 SH2 domain complex diffracted to 2.2 Å resolution. The apo Grb7 SH2 domain crystallized in the trigonal space group P63, whereas the G7-B1-Grb7 SH2 domain complex crystallized in the monoclinic space group P21. The experimental aspects of crystallization, crystal optimization and data collection and the preliminary data are reported.


Objectives: The aims of this report are to 1) present a rare case of fatal cerebral edema associated with late-onset ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency in a juvenile male patient receiving valproic acid and 2) review the neuropathologic changes associated with the hyperammonemia. Design: Case report. Setting: A community hospital and a tertiary pediatric critical care unit. Interventions: Carbohydrate administration, intravenous nitrogen excretion cocktail, and high-flux hemodialysis. Measurements and Main Results: Despite aggressive therapy for presumed late-onset OTC deficiency, the patient rapidly developed fatal cerebral edema with tonsillar herniation. A liver biopsy confirmed OTC deficiency with ∼3% of residual hepatic enzyme activity. Chromosomal analysis showed a normal male karyotype. A thorough molecular analysis of the coding region in the OTC gene Xp21.1 was completed, but mutations were not identified, suggesting an upstream or downstream abnormality. Severe brain swelling was evident on neuropathology, and histopathology showed Alzheimer type II astrocytes, neuronal cytoplasmic changes, and hypertrophy and eosinophilia of the small arterial walls. Conclusions: OTC deficiency is the most common urea cycle defect causing hyperammonemia. Late-onset presentations of OTC are infrequent, primarily affecting female patients. We present a rare case of a late-onset OTC deficiency in a juvenile male patient receiving valproic acid therapy who developed fatal cerebral edema. Valproic acid exacerbates acute elevations in ammonia and may contribute synergistically with ammonia to cerebral mitochondrial dysfunction.


In this paper, we review and analyse categories of user interface used in hardware and software electronic music synthesizers. Problems with the user specification and modification of timbre are discussed. Three principal types of user interface for controlling timbre are distinguished. A problem common to all three categories is identified: that the core language of each category has no well-defined mapping onto the task languages of subjective timbre categories as used by musicians.


open dipping facilities with acids also have caused reports of whole fingers being burned. Fast-paced machines that could not be regulated by the workers has led to amputation of the palms of five workers. Therefore, the study resulted in the development of surveillance and monitoring systems that should be adopted by concerned agencies, and which also can be used by the Department of Labor and Employment. It consisted of the following procedures: 1. Identification of hazardous materials, processes, and chemicals. 2. Risk and hazard assessment through the review of the material safety data sheet, and an investigation of the risk factors such as concentration of chemicals in the workplace, contact to the human body (respiratory, absorption, or dermal), the effect of combined use of chemicals at the same time (e.g., trichloroethylene together with lead), and the impact of changes in temperature and duration of exposure. 3. Surveillance and monitoring using ambient air monitoring, biological monitoring of blood (for lead) and urine (for toluene), and medical surveillance. All illnesses and unusual medical cases were noted. Among them include anemia at 92%, abortion at 35%, respiratory problems (99%) among the 500 workers interviewed. 4. Implementation of control measures including engineering as well as the use of personal protective equipments. Conclusion: The study is relevant to help to prevent disasters on health and safety among workers who are the foundation of the Philippine economy.


The design and development of a remote alarm system suitable for use on industrial power systems are discussed. A prototype was tested in the laboratory with satisfactory performance. The proposed system consists of a remote monitoring unit and a control interface module directly plugged onto an IBM-compatible PC which acts as the control center. By adopting the touch-tone dialing technique, alarm data can be encoded, transmitted, and decoded without the need to use modems. The communication time for a fault reporting session, though slower than the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system, is adequate for small industrial distribution networks.<<ETX>>


BACKGROUND
Interactions between the sympathetic and somatic nervous system play an essential role in the pathophysiologic mechanisms of neuropathic pain. The α2-adrenoceptor agonists produce effective antinociception, but sedation is an important adverse effect. Multidrug therapy is potentially valuable to decrease side effects.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible antinociceptive effect of dexmedetomidine, an α2-adrenoceptor agonist, and its combination with front-line treatment of neuropathic pain, i.e., amitriptyline or tramadol, in a chronic constriction injury (CCI) model of the sciatic nerve in rats.

STUDY DESIGN
Controlled animal study.

METHODS
Following unilateral ligation of the left sciatic nerve, the effect of intraperitoneal (i.p.) dexmedetomidine (5 ug/kg), tramadol (5 mg/kg), and amitriptyline (30 mg/kg) on mechanical allodynia (measured by electrical von Frey apparatus) and hyperalgesia (measured by Randall and Selitto test) was studied.

RESULTS
The sham-operated rats and un-operated hind paw (right paw) press normally on the floor reproduced by a weighted pain score of 0. Behavioral and mechanical tests confirmed the development of neuropathic pain after CCI. All individual drugs and dexmedetomidine combination with either tramadol or amitriptyline were effective in reducing mechanical allodynia and hyperalgesia. Dexmedetomidine, amitriptyline, tramadol, amitriptyline+dexmedetomidine, and tramadol+dexmedetomidine combination did not produce any sedation/motor impairment (P > 0.05).

LIMITATIONS
Although the combination of these drugs improved the CCI model of neuropathic pain in this study, an additional interpretation of the underlying mechanism(s) will be needed to confirm these findings.

CONCLUSION
The combination of these drugs appears to be more effective in increasing the pain threshold after peripheral nerve injury, when compared with the administration of either of amitriptyline or tramadol alone and should be considered as a possible alternative to decrease side effects of individual drug therapy.


QUESTION
A 14-year-old boy came to my office to discuss his frequent consumption of energy drinks to enhance his performance at school and while playing soccer. What is the recommended use of energy drinks in children and is there any harm in consuming them?

ANSWER
Energy drinks are beverages with a high concentration of caffeine and additional stimulants. They are sold in numerous places and are easily accessed by children, adolescents, and young adults. Many reports warn about potential adverse effects associated with their consumption, especially in combination with alcohol among adolescents, and in combination with stimulant medications among children treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Children and adolescents should avoid energy drinks, and health care providers should educate youth and their parents about the risks of caffeinated drinks.


This Institutional Plan describes what Argonne management regards as the optimal future development of Laboratory activities. The document outlines the development of both research programs and support operations in the context of the nation's R and D priorities, the missions of the Department of Energy (DOE) and Argonne, and expected resource constraints. The product of many discussions between DOE and Argonne program managers, the Draft Institutional Plan is provided to the Department before Argonne's On-Site Review. Issuance of the final Institutional Plan in the fall, after further comment and discussion, marks the culmination of the Laboratory's annual planning cycle. The final Plan also reflects programmatic priorities developed during Argonne's summer strategic planning process and the allocation of Laboratory Directed Research and Development funds.


Hypo- and disproteinemia, a decrease of total circulating proteins, an increased nitrogen excretion in the urine and aminoacid disbalance in blood serum were noted in patients with ulcerous disease complicated with stenosis. These changes were mostly pronounced in decompensated stenosis. Substitutive proteinotherapy in the preoperative period results in normalization of protein metabolism indices in blood only in patients with compensated stenosis.


A method for the systematic selection of paediatric CT technique factors is described. The approach is based on the assumption that the level of image noise acceptable for a given adult CT image is also acceptable for the equivalent paediatric examination. A simple exponential attenuation model is proposed. Effective linear attenuation coefficients were initially established from a series of phantom measurements simulating head, chest and abdomen examinations at 120 kVp, then extended for a range of tube potentials and beam qualities using a beam spectral model. Application of the method is demonstrated using phantoms representing head, chest and abdomen sections for neonate and ages 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years and adult.


Nearly 50 multicelluar animal species have ever been flown on the near earth orbit or further. Animals used in space experiments range from Primates to Cnidaria. Widely used laboratory animals on the ground, such as rats and fruit flies, are frequently flown species. Mice, however, seem less popular in space experiments, probably because of their relatively poor resistance to the stressful space environment. To keep rodents onboard the space craft in a health state requires tremendous efforts. Moreover, the use of rodents onboard the International Space Station (ISS) has become extremely difficult, due to the cancellation of the Centrifuge facility. Rearing fish in space, on the other hand, is easier than to keep rodents, since their waste excretions are borne by the water flow and can be effectively removed by filtering. Fish are suitable model for the studies on development, radiation effects and vestibular functions. Among fish, Medaka (Oryzias latipes) will be the most useful species for space experiments, with the inventory of inbred and mutant strains, their genome sequence data, and the established gene knockout technologies. Medaka together with established small laboratory animals, such as C. elegans, are most promising species for the experiments onboard the ISS. Other unique groups of animals in space experiment are those inhabit in the arid area. These animals, such as Mongolian Gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus), generally require few drinking water and produce little amount of waste. This enables flight hardware being simpler. Although the lack of their genome sequence data is a big drawback, they are useful for space experiments, especially for those utilizing recoverable capsule satellites.


Holo transferrin (TF) and the natural complex of human serum albumin and protoporphyrin IX (HSA-PPIX) are two serum carrier proteins that can interact with each other. Such an interaction may alter their binding sites. In this study, fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as zeta potential and molecular modeling techniques, have been used to compare the complexes (HSA-PPIX)-LMF and [(HSA-PPIX)-TF]-LMF. The Ka1, Ka2, values of (HSA-PPIX)-LMF and [(HSA-PPIX)-TF]-LMF were 1.1×105 M−1, 9.7×106 M−1, and 2.0×104 M−1, 1.8×105 M−1, respectively, and the n1, n2 values were respectively 1.19, 1.53 and 1.17, 1.65. The second derivative of the Trp emission scan of (HSA-PPIX)-LMF exhibited one negative band at 310 nm, whereas for the [(HSA-PPIX)-TF]-LMF system, we observed one negative band at 316 nm indicating an increase in polarity around Trp. The effect of TF on the conformation of (HSA-PPIX)-TF was analyzed using three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy. The phase diagram indicated that the presence of a second binding site on HSA and TF was due to the existence of intermediate structures. Zeta potential analysis showed that the presence of TF increased the positive charges of the HSA-PPIX system. Site marker experiments revealed that the binding site of LMF to HSA-PPIX changed from Sudlow's site IIA to Sudlow's site IIIB in the presence of TF. Moreover, molecular modeling studies suggested the sub-domain IIIB in HSA as the candidate place for the formation of the binding site of LMF on the (HSA-PPIX)-TF complex.