In our April 1997 issue (Health Devices 26[4]), we evaluated eight ESU-pencil-based smoke evacuation wands. For this issue, we have updated that study. We evaluated two new units and tested a redesigned version of one of the units from 1997. We also report on an additional unit that we didn't test but whose performance is comparable to that of a previously evaluated unit. We found the newly evaluated units to be Acceptable.


Prevalence and abundance of sealworm ( Pseudoterranova decipiens ) and other anisakid nematodes were determined in a variety of fishes from the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1990 and 1992. Sealworm abundance and prevalence were also determined in three species of seals in the Gulf between 1988 and 1992. Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) and shorthorn ( Myoxocephalus scorpius ) and longhorn sculpin ( M. octodecemspinosus ) were the fishes most heavily infected with sealworm. Grey seals ( Halichoerus grypus ) proved to be the most important definitive hosts for sealworm in the Gulf. Abundance of sealworm increased, whereas that of Anisakis simplex and contracaecine nematodes decreased, from north to south in the Gulf. Abundance of sealworm increased compared to earlier surveys in most areas of the Gulf, but decreased in both cod and grey seals during the course of this study. In contrast, abundance of Contracaecum osculatum and Phocascaris spp. in grey seals and cod continued to increase during the study period. Observed increases of nematodes are attributed to growing populations of grey seals (for sealworm) and harp seals (for Contracaecinea). Levels of  A. simplex remained relatively constant between 1988 and 1992 in both grey seals and cod. There is no evidence suggesting that observed patterns in nematode abundance were due to changes in grey seal diet. Nor was there any evidence of competition between P. decipiens and C. osculatum in grey seals affecting either sealworm abundance or fecundity. The trends detected herein are attributed to climatic events in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where water temperatures in the cold intermediate layer consistently decreased between 1986 and 1994. It is suggested that low temperatures inhibited development and hatching of sealworm eggs, but not those of C. osculatum .


The purpose of this analysis was to compare the association between adult snacking frequency and weight status and central adiposity across various definitions of a snack. Specifically, we investigated whether the definition of a snack alters the odds ratio (OR) of having overweight or obesity (OW/OB, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) by consumption frequency and the contribution to total daily energy intake. In addition, we compared the OR of waist circumference risk (WC ≥ 102 men; 88 cm women) and sagittal abdominal diameter risk (SAD ≥ 25 men and 24 cm women) with snacking frequency and contribution to total daily energy using three common snack definitions.

 Anthropometric measurements, one 24HR dietary recall, and demographic information (sex, age, race and Hispanic origin, income, and smoking status) from U.S. adults (≥20y; n = 20,146) collected during NHANES 2013–2016 were used in this analysis. Snacking events were defined by one of three definitions: 1) events defined by the reporter as a "snack," 2) any event outside of a typical meal time (i.e., breakfast, lunch, dinner, super, brunch), or 3) ingestion events that contribute <15% of total daily energy intake. PROC SURVEYLOGISTIC was used to calculate OR of elevated OW/OB, WC, and SAD with snacking frequency and % of energy contributed by snacks. One snack per day was used 5–15% of daily energy from snacks were used as reference values.

 Consumption of 3 or 4 snacks per day versus 1 snack per day was associated with decreased odds of OW/OB among women when a snack was defined as an event contributing <15% of today daily energy intake when controlled for demographic characteristics (OR, 95% CI = 0.64 (0.49, 0.84) and 0.72 (0.55, 0.94) for 3 and 4 snacks, respectively) but not when controlling for accuracy of energy intake reporting (0.75 (0.57, 0.99) and 0.93 (0.71, 1.22)). Snacking frequency was not associated with odds of OW/OB among women with any other snack definition. Snack frequency was not associated with odds of OW/OB for men regardless of snack definition.

 The association between snacking frequency and weight status and central adiposity is inconsistent and varies by snack definition among men and women. Clarification of snack definition should be emphasized when examining effects of snacking patterns and obesity and health outcomes.

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There are a number of critical factors that will affect the success of new MSc programs in Digital / Computer Forensics and E-Discovery. This paper presents the idea that there are essential, basic criteria that need to be identified, defined and addressed from a student's perspective when examining an MSc program in Digital / Computer Forensics and E-Discovery. This paper makes two contributions. The criteria presented in this paper can be used to help assess an existing MSc program from a student's perspective and it can also be used as a guide to the development of new MSc programs.


Over a one-year period, 31 episodes of acute renal failure in children have been studied for urine sediment by contrast phase microscopy (maintained diuresis: 15, oligoanuria: 16, dialysed patients: 9). The etiologies of acute renal failure were: sepsis = 8; nephrotoxicity = 7; hemolytic uremic syndrome = 5; acute nephritic syndrome = 3; hemodynamical changes = 4; obstructive renal failure = 2; others = 3; acute rejections after renal allograft were excluded. The first urine sediment examination was performed 5 days after the onset of renal failure, and has been controlled in 11 children. In 28 cases (90%), there was a good correlation between clinical, biological, ultrasonographic and pathological (4 cases) data. The mechanism of renal failure has been determined by urine sediment examination in most cases, sometimes allowing to rectify a previous diagnosis. The value of this examination seems to be more of anatomoclinical than of prognostic interest, mainly for definite (hemolytic uremic syndrome) or polyfactorial (oncohematological diseases) renal dysfunctions.


Purpose
In spring 2020, educators throughout the world abruptly shifted to emergency remote teaching in response to an emerging pandemic. The instructors of a graduate-level synchronous online geometry and measurement course for practicing school teachers redesigned their summative assessments. Their goals were to reduce outside-of-class work and to model the integration of content, pedagogy and technology. This paper aims to describe the development of a digital interactive notebook (dINB) assignment using online presentation software, dynamic geometry tools and mathematical learning trajectories. Broader implications for dINBs as assessments in effective distance learning are presented.

Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative analysis in this study consists of a sequence of first-cycle coding of mid-semester surveys and second-cycle thematic categorizations of mid-semester surveys and end-of-course reflections. Descriptive categorization counts along with select quotations from open-ended participant responses provided a window on evolving participant experiences with the dINB across the course.

Findings
Modifications to the dINB design based on teacher mid-semester feedback created a flexible assessment tool aligned with the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework. The teachers also constructed their own visions for adapting the dINB for student-centered instructional technology integration in their own virtual classrooms.

Originality/value
The development of the dINB enriched the TPACK understandings of the instructors in this study. It also positioned teachers to facilitate innovative synchronous and blended learning in their own school communities. Further analysis of dINB artifacts in future studies will test the hypothesis that practicing teachers' experiences as learners increased their TPACK knowledge.


The humphead wrasse Cheilinus undulatus formed resident spawning aggregations daily after high tide at specific locations along the seaward edge of the Palau barrier reef. The location and extent of one aggregation site remained consistent for 6 years with no physical features distinguishing it from adjacent areas. Spawning was documented most months and probably occurred year round with possible seasonal and lunar variation. Spawning males arrived first at the site, followed by females and potentially small primary males. The aggregation female to male sex ratio was estimated to be between 6:1 and 10:1. A maximum of 15 males and 100–150 females were observed at the site. A male courtship posture with the anal fin pointed, the caudal fin folded down and the dorsal fin folded against the body was maintained while swimming a few metres off the bottom in view of females. When ready to spawn females rose up as the posturing male passed and the pair released gametes in a relatively sedate fashion near the surface along the shelf break. No attempted predation on spawning adults was seen. Egg predation after spawning was uncommon. On days with early to mid-day high tides the spawning period started 2·0–2·5 h after high tide when the speed of lagoon–ocean tidal currents peaked and lasted c. 1 h. On days with later afternoon high tides, spawning occurred sooner after high tide and before current speeds peaked. Other fishes with planktonic eggs spawned at the site as pairs or small groups in a rough succession after high tide with C. undulatus, the last species to spawn.


The AIMVEE/WIM system electronically retrieves deployment information, identifies vehicle automatically, and determines total weight, individual wheel weight, individual axle weights, axle spacing, and center-of-balance for any wheeled vehicle in motion. The AIMVEE/WIM system can also perform these functions statically for both wheel vehicles and cargo with information. The AIMVEE/WIM system incorporates digital images and applies cubing algorithms to determine length, width, height for cubic dimensions of both vehicle and cargo. Once all this information is stored, it electronically links to data collection and dissemination systems to provide actual weight and measurement information for planning, deployment, and in-transit visibility. The Static Scale Conversion (SSC) system is an unique enhancement to the AIMVEE/WIM system. It enables a SSC to weigh and measure vehicles and cargo dynamically (i.e., as they pass over the large scale and is included in the AIMVEE computer code base. The material copyrighted is the ORNL Automated-In-Motion Vehicle Evaluation Environment (AIMVEE)/Weigh-In-Motion User Training and Testing material. It includes instructional material in the set-up, operation and tear-down of the AIMVEE/WIM system. It also includes a final exam associated with the training.


Proliferation of fibroblasts contributes to the adventitial thickening observed during the development of hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension. However, whether all or only specific subpopulations of fibroblasts proliferate during this process is unknown. Because lung, skin, and gingiva contain multiple fibroblast subpopulations, we hypothesized that the pulmonary artery (PA) adventitia of neonatal calves is composed of multiple fibroblast subpopulations and that only selective subpopulations expand under chronic hypoxic conditions. Fibroblast subpopulations were isolated from PA adventitia of control calves using limited dilution cloning techniques. These subpopulations exhibited marked differences in morphology, actin expression, and serum-stimulated growth. Only select fibroblast subpopulations demonstrated the ability to proliferate in response to hypoxia. Fibroblast subpopulations were similarly isolated from calves exposed to hypoxia (14 days). With regard to morphology, actin expression, and serum-stimulated growth of subpopulations, there were no obvious differences in fibroblast subpopulations between the hypoxic and the control calves. However, the number of fibroblast subpopulations with about a twofold increase in hypoxia-induced DNA synthesis was significantly greater in the hypoxic calves (26%) compared with control calves (10%). We conclude that the bovine PA adventitia comprises numerous phenotypically and biochemically distinct fibroblast subpopulations and that select subpopulations expand in response to chronic hypoxia.


The World Bank's 2020 Education Strategy establishes the new education priorities in developing countries for the next decade. Its title, Learning for All, clearly recognizes that, beyond policies focusing on access, something else must be done to ensure that schooling involves positive learning experiences. However, as this paper argues, the 2020 Strategy explicit and latent policy options might not be adequate to achieve Learning for All. This paper develops three arguments on that mater. The first one refers to the Bank's strong attachment to a disciplinary knowledge and a methodological approach that do not suffice to understand what children learn at school and why. The second one addresses its pro-market bias when it approaches the public sector reforms and the new forms of providing education. The last argument points out the main omissions of this Strategy, especially in what regards the complex relation between education and poverty.


Aim To find the predictors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in hospitalized patients. Methods A prevalence study compared the characteristics of COVID-19 patients with non-COVID-19 patients from January 19, 2020, to February 18, 2020, during the COVID-19 outbreak. Laboratory test results and pulmonary chest imaging of confirmed COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients were collected by retrieving medical records in our center. Results 96 COVID-19 patients and 122 non-COVID-19 patients were enrolled in this study. COVID-19 patients were older (53 vs. 39; P < 0.001) and had higher body mass index (BMI) than non-COVID-19 group (24.21 ± 3.51 vs. 23.00 ± 3.27, P = 0.011); however, differences in gender were not observed between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis showed that exposure history (OR: 23.34, P < 0.001), rhinorrhea (odds radio (OR): 0.12, P = 0.006), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (OR: 1.03, P = 0.049), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (OR: 1.01, P = 0.020), lymphocyte (OR: 0.27, P = 0.007), and bilateral involvement on chest CT imaging (OR: 23.01, P < 0.001) were independent risk factors for COVID-19. Moreover, bilateral involvement on chest CT imaging (AUC = 0.904, P < 0.001) had significantly higher AUC than others in predicting COVID-19. Conclusions Exposure history, elevated ALT and LDH, absence of rhinorrhea, lymphopenia, and bilateral involvement on chest CT imaging provide robust evidence for the diagnosis of COVID-19, especially in resource-limited conditions where nucleic acid detection is not readily available.


Human health is very closely linked to environmental quality. The basic objective of this study was to identify the common health problems with status and level of typical population (target group), which are residing near industrial areas in Yamuna Nagar Haryana. The results of the present study are based on the information obtained by taking help of questionnaire, focus group discussion and observation, from three different areas i.e. around sugar mill, paper mill and thermal power plant. The results of the survey in this study showed that the main pollution sources in the city were industries (78%), followed by traffic (18%) and domestic (3%). The major type of pollution which inhabitants faced in study area was noise (31%), followed by water (26%), air (26%) and land (17%). As general respiratory problems were found to be more prevalent in paper mill zone; and asthma and fever were found to be in higher extent in thermal power plant and sugar mill zone respectively. The most prevalent common and allergy problem in all industrial areas was found to be headache and eye irritation respectively; and the most prominent diseases in present study were found to be asthma, fever and malaria.


Recent advances in molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology and behavioral pharmacology together with the development of more selective ligands to the various adenosine receptors have increased our understanding of the functioning of central adenosine A(2A) receptors. The A(2A) receptor is one of four adenosine receptors found in the brain. Its expression is highest in striatum, nucleus accumbens and olfactory tubercles, although it also occurs in neurons and microglia in most other brain regions. The receptor has seven transmembrane domains and couples via Gs to adenyl cyclase stimulation. Antagonistic interactions between A(2A) receptors and dopamine D(2) receptors have been described, as stimulation of the A(2A) receptor leads to a reduction in the affinity of D(2) receptors for D(2) receptor agonists. The A(2A) receptor is thought to play a role in a number of physiological responses and pathological conditions. Indeed, A(2A) receptor antagonists may be useful for the treatment of acute and chronic neurodegenerative disorders such as cerebral ischemia or Parkinson's disease. A(2A) receptor agonists may treat certain types of seizures or sleep disorders. This review discusses the characteristics, distribution, pharmacochemical properties and regulation of central A(2A) receptors, as well as A(2A) receptor-mediated behavioural responses and their potential role in various neuropsychiatric disorders.


Pancreatic carcinoma (PC) is the one of the most common and malignant cancer in the world. Despite many effort have been made in recent years, the survival rate of PC still remains unsatisfied. Therefore, investigating the mechanisms underlying the progression of PC might facilitate the development of novel treatments that improve patient prognosis. LncRNA Taurine Up–regulated Gene 1 (TUG1) was initially identified as a transcript up - regulated by taurine, siRNA - based depletion of TUG1 suppresses mouse retinal development, and the abnormal expression of TUG1 has been reported in many cancers. However, the biological role and molecular mechanism of TUG1 in pancreatic carcinoma (PC) still needs to be further investigated. In the current study, the expression of TUG1 in the PC cell lines and tissues was measured by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), and loss-of-function and gain-of-function approaches were applied to investigate the function of TUG1 in PC cell. Online database analysis tools showed that miR-382 could interact with TUG1 and we found an inverse correlation between TUG1 and miR-382 in PC specimens. Moreover, dual luciferase reporter assay, RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP) and applied biotin-avidin pulldown system further provide evidence that TUG1 directly targeted miR-382 by binding with microRNA binding site harboring in the TUG1 sequence. Furthermore, gene expression array analysis using clinical samples and RT-qPCR proposed that EZH2 was a target of miR-382 in PC. Collectively, these findings revealed that TUG1 functions as an oncogenic lncRNA that promotes tumor progression at least partially through function as an endogenous 'sponge' by competing for miR-382 binding to regulate the miRNA target EZH2.


Abstract Background Disease severity and outcome in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) depend on the host and on the challenge of the causal microorganism(s). We measured levels of immunoglobulins (Igs) and complement in 257 hospitalized adults with CAP and examined the association of low levels of Igs or complement to microbial etiology, disease severity, and short-term and long-term outcome. Methods Serum Igs were analyzed in blood samples obtained at admission and at 6 weeks postdischarge if admission levels were low. Serum complement deficiencies were screened with a total complement activity enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), with further analyzes performed if justified. Disease severity was assessed by the CURB-65 severity score. Short-term outcome was defined as a composite end point of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and 30-day mortality, and long-term outcome as 5-year all-cause mortality. Results At admission, 87 (34%) patients had low levels of at least 1 Ig, with low IgG2 as the most prevalent finding (55/21%). IgG levels were lower in bacterial than viral CAP (8.48 vs 9.97 g/L, P = .023), but low Igs were not associated with microbial etiology. Fifty-five (21%) patients had low lectin pathway activity, of which 33 (13%) were mannose-binding lectin (MBL) deficient. Low admission levels of any Ig or MBL were not associated with disease severity, short-term outcome, or long-term outcome. Excluding patients defined as immunocompromised from analysis did not substantially affect these results. Conclusion In hospitalized adults with CAP, low admission levels of Igs or complement were in general not associated with microbial etiology, disease severity, short-term outcome, or long-term outcome.


ERIC Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Emotional Intelligence, Student Experience, Undergraduate Students, Business School Although there is an emerging body of literature demonstrating a relationship between Emotional Intelligence and academic success (i.e., GPA) and much speculation as to how Emotional Intelligence impacts academic performance, there are no studies to date, which examine students' experiences of this phenomenon in-depth. There is a need to understand the experience of students with regard to how Emotional Intelligence impacts academic achievement from the students' perspective. This dissertation presents a qualitative study based on the perceptions and lived experiences of eight undergraduate business students with respect to emotional intelligence and how it impacts perceived success.If Emotional Intelligence contributes to improved academic achievement, a greater understanding of the relationship between EI and student success, particularly within the realms of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management would benefit universities in both admissions decisions and interventions to improve student success, thereby increasing overall student retention. The knowledge gained from this research contributes to existing literature regarding how EI impacts students' perceived success in an undergraduate business program. The goal of this research project was to gather rich descriptions and a depth of understanding of the students' experiences of EI as it relates to perceived success. The most prevalent themes identified by respondents were relationship management, self-awareness, selfmanagement, and social awareness. The eight students who participated in this study emphasized and recognized that EI was an important factor in their decision-making process for academic success. Results of this research indicated that there was a strong, positive connection between EI and academic success and that the development of EI was influenced by identifiable factors. Emotions play a key role in decision making, and this research reinforced the awareness that emotional stability and EI are crucial components for academic


Ionospheric tomography systems provide data that can be used to reconstruct images of ionospheric electron density. Since ionospheric tomography systems have fundamentally poor vertical resolution, a priori information on the vertical distribution of ionospheric electron density must be used in the reconstruction algorithm. This can be accomplished using an existing technique called orthogonal decomposition. However, the poor vertical resolution of the imaging system makes the reconstruction problem numerically ill conditioned. This paper presents a new ionospheric reconstruction algorithm called the residual correction method (RCM). The RCM is a fast, efficient, and numerically stable ionospheric tomography algorithm. This paper will present results demonstrating the performance of the RCM algorithm using a realistic example.


Crystalline, pure or Mn-doped ZnGa_2O_4 powders have been prepared in situ in urea (with or without enzyme urease)-containing Zn and Ga nitrate (and Mn nitrate) solutions by simply holding those for 24–48 h, at 90 °C, in screw-capped glass bottles in a constant-temperature laboratory oven. Single-phase pure or Mn-doped zinc gallate powders synthesized with the spinel crystal structure had an average particle size around 15 to 18 nm. Powders were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, simultaneous thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis, Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy, and carbon and nitrogen analyses. Calcination behavior of the as-filtered powders was later studied in an air atmosphere over the temperature range of 90 to 1200 °C.


Cyclic esotropia is a rare and poorly understood condition normally treated by correcting the deviation measured on the squinting day. Control in some patients with this condition can be gained by correcting their refractive errors, thereby improving acuity. We report on an adult patient who developed cyclic esotropia after unilateral traumatic aphakia with failed contact lens wear whose squint was corrected by secondary intraocular lens implantation. This may be explained by the reduction in the degree of aneisokonia which subsequently improved steropsis.


Pakistan has experienced a decrease in population growth since
 the early 1990s leading to an increase in the ratio of working age
 population, known as demographic dividend. The demographic dividend may
 lead to higher savings and investments, which spurs economic growth.
 Given this postulation, the study is the first of its kind to analyse
 the impact of demographic variables on economic growth through physical
 capital for Pakistan from 1960 to 2014. In this regard, the demographic
 change is captured by taking four alternate measures, namely population
 growth, young age dependency ratio, old age dependency ratio and working
 age population ratio. In order to examine the channel effect, first the
 direct impact of demographic changes on physical capital is estimated.
 Later, the impact of demographically induced capital stock on economic
 growth is estimated. By using the FMOLS technique, the study concludes
 that the total negative impact is highest in the case of old age
 dependency, which means that higher old age dependency is the most
 threatening demographic change for economic growth. The least harmful
 demographic change is young age dependency. Moreover, the empirical
 findings highlight the importance of capital stock as the mediating
 channel in the demographic change and economic growth relationship. The
 study recommends effective long- term policies to increase youth
 employment and to enhance savings for maximising the benefits of
 demographic dividend. JEL Classification: J11; O47 Keywords: Direct and
 Indirect Impact, Demographic Transition, Demographic Age Structure,
 Capital Stock, FMOLS


The incidence of primary intracranial tumours in a well defined population of persons older than 70 years (elderly) who resided in Kumamoto prefecture was examined. During the period from 1989 to 1995, primary intracranial tumours were diagnosed in 271 elderly people; of these, 155 (57.2%) tumours were confirmed microscopically. In a mean population of 216 000 people over the age of 70 years, this yields an average annual incidence rate of 18.1 cases/100 000 population/year. The incidence was lower in men (15.2/100 000 population) than women (20.3/100 000 population). The age specific incidence/100 000/year was 23.2 for the 70-74 year age group, 18.1 for the 75–79 year age group, 15.1 for the 80-84 year age group, and 7.6 for persons older than 85 years. The most common tumours were meningiomas (50.6%), followed by malignant gliomas (13.3%), pituitary adenomas (12.9%), schwannomas (6.6%), malignant lymphomas (3.7%), and benign astrocytomas (3.7%).


Through a sequence of examinations, the research identifies that there is a difference in the liberalization process of different regions' air transport markets. This has impacted on the configuration of strategic airlines alliances. Deregulation and strategic alliances that have contributed to the air transport market globalisation to benefit air travellers' welfare, carriers and economic development of each country should be pursued simultaneously in reducing the current existing barriers to entry into the regulated air transport market. However, increased complexity in the international business environments stem from a number of sources that pose long term issues. This challenges both globalisation process and approaches. The future air transport market consolidation or fragmentation will therefore have implications for the airline operations, as well as, State of governance.


Due to the tremendous increase in use of wifi, the efficient use of available frequency spectrum has been a challenging issue. Wifi networks which are managed by non network specialist are called uncoordinated WLANs. The performance of uncoordinated WLANs can be greatly affected due to interference from neighboring uncoordinated WLANs and also due to the availability of limited number of non-overlapping channels in WiFi. Assigning a particular frequency channel to each access point is termed as channel assignment and efficient channel assignment techniques can improve the performance of uncoordinated WLANs. Wifi become more popular primarily due to its unlicensed frequency band of operation. This may lead to many interference issues, mainly co-channel interference. So it is necessary to address the interference challenges with proper channel assignment techniques. This proposal aims at the efficient use of all the available frequency channels in the wifi spectrum, with reduced interference effects and to maximize the throughput with necessary channel assignment algorithm. The proposed work is simulated using OPNET Modeler simulator and its performance is analyzed.


There were so many leaves waste in our environment. This reseach is conduct to study the possibility of using that waste as a raw material of Bio-briquettes. The leaves that useare mangoes, jackfruits, rambutans, and teak wood powder as comparison. Bio-briquettes were make with and without pyrolysis, for 2 and 5 gram starch. The characteristics test, flame test and water boiling test are conducted with Anglo and Biomassa Stove. The results of the test shows that only moisture content that meet SNI, but the good information that the calories of three type of leaves are more than 4,600 calories/gram, especially the rambutan leaves is 4960 calories/gram. The SNI standar for wood is 5,000 caloris/gram. The flame test results shows that at Biomassa Stove better than at Anglo, and 2 gram starch better than 5 gram. For water boiling test at Angglo is better than at Biomassa Stove, and 2 gram starch better than 5 gram.


(p. 29). Yet it is still surprising that for a study on 'education and empowered citizenship', the main data are based on primary schools, given that pupils are too young to be engaged directly in politics. Bleck has interestingly shown that within rural populations, pupils are linguistic brokers and parents benefit from their child's fluency in the French language and engage more confidently with the state and in electoral politics (p. 144). Her book therefore suggests new avenues for reducing democratic deficits by fostering primary education in rural populations, which constitute a majority in most developing African countries.


Background: At present, the impact of macronutrient composition and nutrient intake on sustained attention in adults is unclear, although some prior work suggests that nutritive interventions that engender slow, steady glucose availability support sustained attention after consumption. A separate line of evidence suggests that nutrient consumption may alter electroencephalographic markers of neurophysiological activity, including neural oscillations in the alpha-band (8–14 Hz), which are known to be richly interconnected with the allocation of attention. It is here investigated whether morning ingestion of foodstuffs with differing macronutrient compositions might differentially impact the allocation of sustained attention throughout the day as indexed by both behavior and the deployment of attention-related alpha-band activity. Methods: Twenty-four adult participants were recruited into a three-day study with a cross-over design that employed a previously validated sustained attention task (the Spatial CTET). On each experimental day, subjects consumed one of three breakfasts with differing carbohydrate availabilities (oatmeal, cornflakes, and water) and completed blocks of the Spatial CTET throughout the morning while behavioral performance, subjective metrics of hunger/fullness, and electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements of alpha oscillatory activity were recorded. Results: Although behavior and electrophysiological metrics changed over the course of the day, no differences in their trajectories were observed as a function of breakfast condition. However, subjective metrics of hunger/fullness revealed that caloric interventions (oatmeal and cornflakes) reduced hunger across the experimental day with respect to the non-caloric, volume-matched control (water). Yet, no differences in hunger/fullness were observed between the oatmeal and cornflakes interventions. Conclusion: Observation of a relationship between macronutrient intervention and sustained attention (if one exists) will require further standardization of empirical investigations to aid in the synthesis and replicability of results. In addition, continued implementation of neurophysiological markers in this domain is encouraged, as they often produce nuanced insight into cognition even in the absence of overt behavioral changes. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03169283


Xanthan gum, a complex polysaccharide comprising glucose, mannose and glucuronic acid residues, is involved in numerous biotechnological applications in cosmetics, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, food and petroleum industries. Additionally, its oligosaccharides were shown to possess antimicrobial, antioxidant and few other properties. Yet, despite its extensive usage, little is known about xanthan gum degradation pathways and mechanisms. Thermogutta terrifontis R1 was described as the first thermophilic representative of the Planctomycetes phylum. As other cultivated planctomycetes, it grows well on various carbohydrates including oligo- and polysaccharides, however, its capability of anaerobic growth with or without electron acceptors was a novel finding among the representatives of this phylum. The aim of this work is to examine T. terrifontis catabolic pathways with a special focus on the xanthan gum degradation pathway using genomic and transriptomic sequencing. Genomic analysis revealed more than a hundred glycosidases, polysaccharide lyases and other CAZymes, involved in oligo- and polysaccharide degradation by T. terrifontis, proteins of central carbohydrate metabolism and aerobic and anaerobic respiration. Furthermore, the combination of genomic and transcriptomic approaches revealed a putative novel xanthan gum degradation pathway involving unusual catalytic steps and enzymes: novel glycosidase(s) of DUF1080 family, hydrolyzing xanthan gum beta-glucosidic backbone linkages and beta-mannosidases instead of xanthan lyases for degradation of terminal beta-mannosidic linkages. Surprisingly, the genes coding DUF1080 proteins were found in high number in T. terrifontis and in many other Planctomycetes genomes, which, together with our observation that xanthan gum being a selective substrate for many planctomycetes, supports the important role of DUF1080 in xanthan gum degradation. Our findings shed light on the metabolism of the first thermophilic planctomycete, capable to degrade a number of polysaccharides, either aerobically or anaerobically, including the biotechnologically important bacterial polysaccharide xanthan gum. The results serve as good foundation for future exploration of T. terrifontis and its enzymes in biotechnological applications.


Currently, 16 species of the genus Ooceraea Roger, 1862 are known from the Oriental, Australian and Oceanian realms, but no identified species have ever been recorded from Thailand. Here Ooceraea siamensis sp. n. is described from Thailand based on the worker and dealate queen. The new species is most similar to O. biroi (Forel, 1907), a species widely distributed across tropical and subtropical regions of the world, but can be distinguished from the latter by postpetiole slightly longer than broad in dorsal view (clearly shorter than broad in O. biroi), by foveae on first gastral tergite and sternite denser and coarser (weak in O. biroi), and by smaller size (head width in new species 0.33–0.38 mm while in O. biroi 0.46–0.49 mm). The type series of the new species was collected from a colony in soil and partly in a coconut seed. Ooceraea duadridentata Yamada, Luong et Eguchi, 2018 is recorded from Thailand for the first time.


Explores how remittances, pensions and health care provided by Padomi, an office with the social security system, may affect the income security and well-being of old people in Peru. The demographic transition is moderate but accelerating due to a sharp drop in fertility rates, particularly in urban areas, and a rate of actual out-migration that may be larger than officially estimated by the INEI. The latter may imply that the demographic growth rate is half (0.7 percent) its reported rate (1.4 percent). Affiliation to the privately administered pension system has decreased and the national pension system is in actuarial imbalance which deters affiliation (dependency rate is 1 to 1). Thus, evasion to mandatory retirement savings will cause that by 2025, 77 percent of persons older than 65 will not have a pension. The demographic dividend that ends around 2025-30 presents an opportunity for the implementation of instruments that can help mitigate the income insecurity of older people. Further research and the use of an intergenerational approach will be needed to help inform public policy. The paper ends with a few questions for future research.


To investigate the relationship between neutralization escape and persistent high-level BK polyomavirus replication after kidney transplant (KTx), VP1 sequences were determined by Sanger and next-generation sequencing in longitudinal samples from KTx recipients with persistent high-level viruria (non-controllers) compared to patients who suppressed viruria (controllers). The infectivity and neutralization resistance of representative VP1 mutants were investigated using pseudotype viruses. In all patients, the virus population was initially dominated by wild-type VP1 sequences, then non-synonymous VP1 mutations accumulated over time in non-controllers. BC-loop mutations resulted in reduced infectivity in 293TT cells and conferred neutralization escape from cognate serum in five out of six non-controller patients studied. When taken as a group, non-controller sera were not more susceptible to neutralization escape than controller sera, so serological profiling cannot predict subsequent control of virus replication. However, at an individual level, in three non-controller patients the VP1 variants that emerged exploited specific "holes" in the patient's humoral response. Persistent high-level BK polyomavirus replication in KTx recipients is therefore associated with the accumulation of VP1 mutations that can confer resistance to neutralization, implying that future BKPyV therapies involving IVIG or monoclonal antibodies may be more effective when used as preventive or pre-emptive, rather than curative, strategies.


This study evaluated the emotional and intellectual correlates of unsuccessful suicide attempts in persons with seizure disorders. Psychosocial evaluations were completed on 198 adults with epilepsy, of whom 32 had made one or more suicide attempts. The MMPI demonstrated increased anxiety and decreased ego strength among those with histories of suicide attempts in comparison to those without such a history. Intellectual abilities as evaluated by the WAIS were slightly lower among the suicide attempters, especially on language-related tasks. Unsuccessful suicidal behavior in epilepsy is probably the product of multiple conditions and circumstances, including seizures themselves, decreased adaptive abilities, increased emotional problems, and the continual availability of agents (antiepileptic medications) with which a suicide attempt may be undertaken.


Background
Engagement is the primary metric by which researchers can assess whether participants in a mHealth intervention used and interacted with the intervention's content as intended over a pre-specified period to result in behavior change. Paradata, defined as the process data documenting users' access, participation, and navigation through a mHealth intervention, have been associated with differential treatment outcomes in mHealth interventions. Within behavioral mHealth interventions, there has been an increase in the number of studies addressing the HIV prevention and care continuum in recent years, yet few have presented engagement metrics or examined how these data could inform design modifications, promote continued engagement, and supplement primary intervention efficacy and scale-up efforts.

Methods
We review common paradata metrics in mHealth interventions (e.g., amount, frequency, duration and depth of use), using case studies from four technology-driven HIV interventions to illustrate their utility in evaluating mHealth behavioral interventions for HIV prevention and care. Across the four case studies, participants' ages ranged between 15 and 30 years and included a racially and ethnically diverse sample of youth. The four case studies had different approaches for engaging young men who have sex with men: a tailored brief intervention, an interactive modular program, a daily tool to monitor and self-regulate treatment adherence, and an online platform promoting social engagement and social support. Each focused on key outcomes across the HIV prevention and care continuum [e.g., safer sex behaviors, HIV testing, antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence] and collected paradata metrics systematically.

Results
Across the four interventions, paradata was utilized to identify patterns of use, create user profiles, and determine a minimum engagement threshold for future randomized trials based on initial pilot trial data. Evidence of treatment differences based on paradata analyses were also observed in between-arm and within-arm analyses, indicating that intervention exposure and dosage might influence the strength of the observed intervention effects. Paradata reflecting participants' engagement with intervention content was used to suggest modifications to intervention design and navigation, to understand what theoretically-driven content participants chose to engage with in an intervention, and to illustrate how engagement was linked to HIV-related outcomes.

Conclusions
Paradata monitoring and reporting can enhance the rigor of mHealth trials. Metrics of engagement must be systematically collected, analyzed and interpreted to meaningfully understand a mHealth intervention's efficacy. Future mHealth trials should work to identify suitable engagement metrics during intervention development, ensure their collection throughout the trial, and evaluate their impact on trial outcomes.


This report presents guidelines for evaluating uncertainty in mathematical equations and computer models applied to assess human health and environmental risk. Uncertainty analyses involve the propagation of uncertainty in model parameters and model structure to obtain confidence statements for the estimate of risk and identify the model components of dominant importance. Uncertainty analyses are required when there is no a priori knowledge about uncertainty in the risk estimate and when there is a chance that the failure to assess uncertainty may affect the selection of wrong options for risk reduction. Uncertainty analyses are effective when they are conducted in an iterative mode. When the uncertainty in the risk estimate is intolerable for decision-making, additional data are acquired for the dominant model components that contribute most to uncertainty. This process is repeated until the level of residual uncertainty can be tolerated. A analytical and numerical methods for error propagation are presented along with methods for identifying the most important contributors to uncertainty. Monte Carlo simulation with either Simple Random Sampling (SRS) or Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) is proposed as the most robust method for propagating uncertainty through either simple or complex models. A distinction is made between simulating a stochastically varyingmore » assessment endpoint (i.e., the distribution of individual risks in an exposed population) and quantifying uncertainty due to lack of knowledge about a fixed but unknown quantity (e.g., a specific individual, the maximally exposed individual, or the mean, median, or 95%-tile of the distribution of exposed individuals). Emphasis is placed on the need for subjective judgement to quantify uncertainty when relevant data are absent or incomplete.« less


This paper employs the methodological framework of linguistic analytic philosophy to explore the conceptual issues arising from a study (published by us elsewhere) of the different models of disorder implicit in five groups of stakeholders concerned in the community care of people with a diagnosis of long-term schizophrenia (users/consumers, carers, mental health social workers, psychiatrists and community psychiatric nurses). Linguistic analysis, (1) gives a precise fix on the nature of the practical difficulties presented by such models (as difficulties in use rather than as difficulties of definition), (2) suggests a powerful heuristic for displaying and comparing models (our models-grids as representations of the logical geography), (3) is the basis of a methodology which is neutral as between users and providers of services (it is a 'level playing field' methodology), (4) provides an intuitively powerful way of understanding the results of work of this kind (as a 'consciousness-raising exercise'), and (5) facilitates the translation of research into practice (through joint user-provider training programs aimed at improving communication skills within a 'dynamic heterogeneity' of models).


The first five years of Title XX allocations for services for the aged are analyzed from a national and a state perspective. Submitting the data to several measures of equity, the authors conclude that, generally, the aged received a "fair share" of Title XX resources. They recommend that advocates for the aged reevaluate the consequences of "group eligibility" systems and that they concentrate efforts on states with low equity-for-the-aged ratings.


The evolution in Leishmania is governed by the opposite forces of clonality and sexual reproduction, with vicariance being an important factor. As such, Leishmania spp. populations may be monospecific or mixed. Leishmania turanica in Central Asia is a good model to compare these two types. In most areas, populations of L. turanica are mixed with L. gerbilli and L. major. Notably, co-infection with L. turanica in great gerbils helps L. major to withstand a break in the transmission cycle. Conversely, the populations of L. turanica in Mongolia are monospecific and geographically isolated. In this work, we compare genomes of several well-characterized strains of L. turanica originated from monospecific and mixed populations in Central Asia in order to shed light on genetic factors, which may drive evolution of these parasites in different settings. Our results illustrate that evolutionary differences between mixed and monospecific populations of L. turanica are not dramatic. On the level of large-scale genomic rearrangements, we confirmed that different genomic loci and different types of rearrangements may differentiate strains originated from mixed and monospecific populations, with genome translocations being the most prominent example. Our data suggests that L. turanica has a significantly higher level of chromosomal copy number variation between the strains compared to its sister species L. major with only one supernumerary chromosome. This suggests that L. turanica (in contrast to L. major) is in the active phase of evolutionary adaptation.


A coding scheme for the discrete memoryless broadcast channel with {noiseless, noisy, generalized} feedback is proposed, and the associated achievable region derived. The scheme is based on a block-Markov strategy combining the Marton scheme and a lossy version of the Gray-Wyner scheme with side information. In each block, the transmitter sends fresh data and update information that allows the receivers to improve the channel outputs observed in the previous block. For a generalization of Dueck's broadcast channel, our scheme achieves the noiseless-feedback capacity, which is strictly larger than the no-feedback capacity. For a generalization of Blackwell's channel and when the feedback is noiseless, our new scheme achieves rate points that are outside the no-feedback capacity region. It follows by a simple continuity argument that for both these channels and when the feedback noise is sufficiently low, our scheme improves on the no-feedback capacity even when the feedback is noisy.


Elemental mercury (Hg0) sorption on Au thin films deposited over SiO2 (SiO2:Au) and Ti (Ti:Au) support layer is investigated by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) technique. The Hg0 sorption capacity of Au thin films is shown to be greatly influenced by the underlying support layer, where an enhancement of 267% was observed for SiO2:Au over Ti:Au films for the same Au film thickness. Furthermore, by increasing the Au film thickness, the total Hg0 captured was observed to increase even though the mercury sorption efficiency (or mass ratio of Hg0 to Au) was observed to decrease for a 8 h Hg0 exposure period. Sticking probability calculations showed that the SiO2:Au substrate maintains a sticking probability of ∼10–6, which is at least 2 orders of magnitude greater than that of the Ti:Au surface, thus indicating that Hg0 sorption capacity of a material can be greatly influenced by the choice of underlying support layer.


Superresolution T2-weighted fetal-brain magnetic-resonance imaging (FBMRI) traditionally relies on the availability of several orthogonal low-resolution series of 2-dimensional thick slices (volumes). In practice, only a few low-resolution volumes are acquired. Thus, optimization-based image-reconstruction methods require strong regularization using hand-crafted regularizers (e.g., TV). Yet, due to in utero fetal motion and the rapidly changing fetal brain anatomy, the acquisition of the high-resolution images that are required to train supervised learning methods is difficult. In this paper, we sidestep this difficulty by providing a proof of concept of a self-supervised single-volume superresolution framework for T2-weighted FBMRI (SAIR). We validate SAIR quantitatively in a motion-free simulated environment. Our results for different noise levels and resolution ratios suggest that SAIR is comparable to multiple-volume superresolution reconstruction methods. We also evaluate SAIR qualitatively on clinical FBMRI data. The results suggest SAIR could be incorporated into current reconstruction pipelines.


Toxoplasma gondii uses epigenetic mechanisms to regulate both endogenous and host cell gene expression. To identify genes with putative epigenetic functions, we developed an in silico pipeline to interrogate the T. gondii proteome of 8313 proteins. Step 1 employs PredictNLS and NucPred to identify genes predicted to target eukaryotic nuclei. Step 2 uses GOLink to identify proteins of epigenetic function based on Gene Ontology terms. This resulted in 611 putative nuclear localised proteins with predicted epigenetic functions. Step 3 filtered for secretory proteins using SignalP, SecretomeP, and experimental data. This identified 57 of the 611 putative epigenetic proteins as likely to be secreted. The pipeline is freely available online, uses open access tools and software with user-friendly Perl scripts to automate and manage the results, and is readily adaptable to undertake any such in silico search for genes contributing to particular functions.


Background and Objectives: Botulism syndrome is caused by one of the seven botulinum neurotoxins. The toxins binding domain have immunogenicity effect and can be used as a recombinant vaccine candidate against botulism disease. Due to the low immunogenicity of recombinant protein , the use of an appropriate vehicle for antigen delivery to target cells is inevitable. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of chitosan nanoparticles as carriers for oral and injection administration of Botulinum Neurotoxin Type E (BoNT/E( binding domain recombinant protein. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study Chitosan nanoparticles containing BoNT/E binding domain recombinant protein were prepared by ionic gelation method and were administered orally and subcutaneously into 5 groups of mice. IgG anti-BoNT/E binding domain titers were assayed by ELISA. Finally all groups were challenged with active botulinum neurotoxin type E and data were analyzed by t-test. Results:In all groups after each administration, the amount of IgG anti-BoNT/E increased. Chitosan nanoparticles did not show a significant increase in the production of IgG anti-BoNT/E binding domain (p greater-than 0.05). There was not a significant difference in IgG anti-BoNT/E titre of the mice immunized with nanoparticles containing antigens in the oral and intradermal route (p greater-than 0.05). The challenge with active neurotoxin botulinum type E showed that the mice immunized orally, can tolerate 500 folds LD50. Conclusion:The results of this study showed that the recombinant protein of BoNT/E is able to be absorbed through the digestive system and induce an effective immune response. The challenge of immunized mice with active botulinum neurotoxin type E created immune response in oral administration was effective but it was ineffective in injection administration. Key words: Chitosan nanoparticles, Oral vaccine, Ionic gelation, Recombinant vaccine, BoNT/E Funding: This research was funded by Imam Hosein University. Conflict of interest: None declared. Ethical approval: The Ethics Committee of Imam Hosein University approved the study. How to cite this article: Bagheripour MJ, Ebrahimi F, Hajizadeh A, Nazarian Sh, Arefpour MA, Rashidiani J. Preparation of Chitosan Based Botulinum Neurotoxin E Recombinant Nanovaccine and Evaluation of its Immunogenicity as Oral & Intradermal Route in Mice. J RafsanjanUniv Med Sci 2016; 14(11): 923-38. [Farsi]


This completely rewritten, extended, and updated text on Tumors of the Breast is number two in the second series of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Fascicles. It retains the basic purpose of "providing an atlas setting standards of diagnosis and terminology." A brief introduction including sections on epidemiology, host resistance, and theoretical aspects of breast tumor biology does not pretend to cover the extensive information available in books and articles. Unfortunately the references cited were all published before 1966. The "AFIP Fascicles", are well known among pathologists; they concentrate on presenting a comprehensive discussion and illustration of the diagnostic features of tumors. This present volume fulfills these aims admirably in the area of malignant and benign mammary tumors. In this respect it is invaluable as a daily reference book for practicing pathologists. The classification of various breast tumors is clear and practical. Superb illustrations render the text easily comprehensible


This paper proposes a new approach to program slicing based on abstract interpretation and model checking. First, the notion of abstract slicing is introduced. Abstract slicing extends static slicing with predicates and constraints by using as the program model an abstract state graph, which is obtained by applying predicate abstraction to a program, rather than a flow graph. This leads to a program slice that is more precise and smaller than its static counterpart. Second, a method for performing abstract slicing is developed. It is shown that abstract slicing can be reduced to a least fixpoint computation over formulas in the branching time temporal logic CTL. This enables one to use symbolic model checkers for CTL as an efficient computation engine for abstract slicing. A prototype implementation and experimental results are reported demonstrating the feasibility of the approach.


In this paper a model is presented which focuses on the difficult problem of predicting demands for items with extremely low usage rates. These form the bulk of repair parts in military systems. The basic notion underlying the model is the pooling of usage data for common design items with movement for the purpose of estimating usage rates for similar items which have shown no movement. A unique feature of the model is that it also makes possible the estimation of usage rates for items newly introduced into a system for which no previous usage history is available.


A medical internship is mandatory for all medical students graduating from a Danish university. The internships are distributed fairly even amongst most Danish hospitals, m.a. in order to secure a steady inflow of new doctors to all regions of Denmark. When allocating the graduates to an internship by lottery, the National Board of Health takes into account only the candidates preferences over the various internships, for reasons discussed in the paper. However, a problem, relating to the lottery which the NBH uses, is that the lottery itself is not efficient in an economic sense. By way of simulations this article shows how an alternative lottery built on the so-called EPS-algorithm developed by Katta and Sethuraman [Journal of Economic Theory 131, 231-250] performs better than the lottery used today. This, along with other problematic aspects such as black-market trading of internships, indicates that a replacement of the currently used lottery may be beneficial for the NBH as well as the graduating medical students.


It was demonstrated that combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) reduces the HIV-1 viral load (VL) in the blood and the seminal compartment. Some studies have reported that the seminal HIV-1 VL is undetectable in individuals with an undetectable blood plasma viral load (bpVL) under cART. However, some recent studies have demonstrated that seminal HIV-1 RNA may still be detected, and potentially infectious, even in the case of an undetectable bpVL. The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the detection rate of a seminal VL and whether shedding could be intermittent over a very short time. From January 2006 to December 2011, 88 HIV-1 infected men, enrolled in an Assisted Reproduction program, provided 306 semen samples, corresponding to 177 frozen sperm samples (two samples delivered at a one-hour interval (n = 129) or one sample (n = 48)). All enrolled men were under cART, with an undetectable bpVL for more than 6 months. HIV-1 RNA was quantified in seminal plasma using a Roche COBAS Ampliprep COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 test. Seminal HIV-1 RNA was detected in 23 samples (7.5%) from 17 patients (19.3%). This detection rate was stable over years. With regards to the freezing of two samples delivered at a one-hour interval, the proportion of discordance between the first and second samples was 9.3% (12/129). Our results confirm the intermittent shedding of HIV-1 in semen. While this finding has been shown by studies examining longer time intervals, to our knowledge, this has never been demonstrated over such a short time interval.


The problem of building a reconciled tree from a gene and a species tree is of great interest in bioinformatics, since it allows to highlight the relation between the evolution of the genes with the evolution of one or more species. In particular, a reconciled tree with a minimized number of crossings can help tracing down accurately the biological events of interest and avoiding wrong assumptions on the available data. The way the operation is performed affects heavily the usefulness of the resulting tree.
The Minimized Crossing Number in a Reconciled Tree problem(MCNRT) problem is an NP-Complete problem. In this thesis we present an heuristic that aims to provide a solution for this problem. The proposed algorithm is based on the solution of the Generalized Tanglegram Layout problem, that has been adapted to work for the whole tree structure. Finally, the algorithm has been integrated in a running project, namely PrimeTV. The resulting code has been tested and proved able to optimize the number of crossings under different conditions


Nanofluidics is an area that has been under study for some time in zeolites and ideal nanoporous systems. Computational studies of the behavior of molecules in nanoporous structures have played an important role in understanding this phenomenon as experimental studies of molecular behavior in nanometerscale pores are difficult to perform. In this paper computational work to study molecular motion and the separation of molecular mixtures in carbon nanotube systems is reported. The systems examined include organic molecules, such as CH4, C2H6, n-C4H10, and iC4H10, and inorganic molecules, such as CO2. The interatomic forces in the molecular dynamics simulations are calculated using a classical reactive empirical bondorder hydrocarbon potential coupled to Lennard-Jones and Coulombic potentials. Molecules moving at thermal velocities corresponding to 300 K are predicted to diffuse from areas of high density to areas of low density through the nanotubes. The simulations indicate how the structure and size of the molecules and the nanotubes influence molecular diffusion through the nanotubes and the separation of the molecular mixtures.


An electron dense tracer, horseradish peroxidase (HRP), treated with DAB-H2O2 for electron histochemical demonstration of peroxidase was used in an effort to find out whether or not the human bronchial epithelium was permeable to some macromolecules in chronic bronchitis. The biopsy specimens obtained from 5 patients at bronchoscopy and cultured in a medium with 2% HRP for 1-6 hours showed the reaction product to be distributed within intracellular spaces of the epithelium as well as in some vesicles and vacuoles of the apical portion of the ciliated cells. When 2% HRP solution was topically applied on the bronchial epithelium surface of a narcotized patient for 10 min followed by biopsy of this part of the epithelium fixation and treatment for HRP demonstration, electron dense precipitates were identified only within some intercellular spaces. It is suggested that some intercellular contacts of the bronchial epithelium in chronic bronchitis are permeable to macromolecules, and that the ciliated cells of the bronchial epithelium are capable of endocytosing some macromolecules from the surface of the mucosa.


In order to retrieve the atmospheric ozone distribution from the UV-visible satellite spectrometer GOME (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment), we have modelled inverse radiative transfer directly, using a multilayer perceptron (MLP) type neural network. This network was trained on a data set of measured GOME radiances as input, and collocated ozone profile measurements from ozonesondes, SAGE II, HALOE and POAM III as target values. A partial training method has been devised for dealing with incomplete target data, because neither occultation instruments nor ozone sondes cover the full retrieval height range (1–60 km). Around 70000 collocations from 1996 to 2001 were used for training, and another 12000 for cross-validation in a test data set. Network input consists of a combination of spectral, geolocation and climatological information (latitude and time), the latter making the use of external a priori ozone profiles unnecessary. We designate our method as Neural Network Ozone Retrieval System (NNORSY). In the stratosphere, NNORSY globally reduces standard deviation (StD) with respect to a well-tried ozone climatology by around 40%. Tropospheric ozone can also be retrieved in many cases, reducing the StD by 10-30% globally. The neural network was found capable of correcting for instrument degradation, pixel cloudiness and scan angle effects on its own, based on the input data provided. Remaining inhomogeneities in the geographical distribution of training data, combined with differing ozone field variability causes retrieval quality to vary with latitude and season. Since retrieval only requires one forward propagation through the network, NNORSY is about 103–105 times faster than classical, local retrieval techniques like, for instance, Optimal Estimation. Therefore the method is well suited for real-time application and fast data reprocessing. An operational near-real-time prototype of the system is already running successfully at three GOME receiving stations. In order to better characterize single output ozone profiles, a number of local error estimation methods has been investigated. Vertical resolution of the profiles was assessed empirically in comparisons with the high-resolution collocations, and seems to be in the order of 4–6 km. Further developments of NNORSY could involve improvement of training data composition, input parameter optimization, more sophisticated network error functions and training methods, as well as adaptation to other sensors.


Abstract Lake Uddjaur in northern Sweden was formed as a consequence of non-uniform glacio-isostatic uplift in which a forested valley was gradually flooded and high elevation areas became islands. We hypothesized that small islands in Lake Uddjaur burnt through lightning strike more frequently when they were part of a large forested area compared to when they became true islands, and that this reduction in fire impact has enhanced the domination of late successional species and humus accumulation. Fire history and vegetation dynamics were studied by analysis of macroscopic charcoal (> 0.5 mm) and pollen in humus profiles from two islands. According to a model of isostatic uplift, the islands became gradually isolated from the mainland between ca. 2000 to 1000 BP, i.e. during the same time that fire impact declined. Prior to that, both islands were part of a Pinus-Betula forest landscape affected by fires from ca. 5800 to ca. 1500 BP. Thereafter fire influence ceased and the islands became more strongly characterized by late successional species, e.g. Picea. This change was associated with substantial humus accumulation. The decreased fire influence on these islands contrasts with the regional increase in fire influence during the last 1000 yr. Long-term influence of wildfire is important in vegetation dynamics and humus accumulation and, thus, post-glacial isostatic land uplift can indirectly have a substantial influence on ecosystem development. Consequently, this effect should be further considered in long-time ecosystem studies of areas with large, non-uniform land uplift such as those found in northern Fennoscandia and eastern Canada. Abbreviations: BP = Radiocarbon based age expressed as Before Present = before 1950. Nomenclature: Lid (1985); Koponen et al. (1977).


ABSTRACT Preterm birth is the leading factor causing neonatal mortality and morbidity. Inflammation plays a central role in stimulating uterine contractility, which is responsible for approximately one-third of all preterm births. Recent studies have shown that the transcription factor Forkhead box O3 (FOXO3) regulates inflammation in nongestational tissues such as adipocytes and hepatocytes. Thus, in this study, we sought to determine the effect of 1) human term labor on myometrial FOXO3 expression and 2) FOXO3 inhibition and FOXO3 overexpression on proinflammatory and prolabor mediators in human myometrial cells. Higher FOXO3 gene and protein expression were detected in myometrium obtained from women in labor when compared to samples taken from nonlaboring women. Myometrial cells were isolated from pregnant human myometrium, and FOXO3 silencing was achieved using siRNA and overexpression using a cDNA clone. We found that the loss of FOXO3 in myometrial cells was associated with a significant decrease in IL1B-induced IL6 and IL8 expression and production, cyclooxygenase ([COX]-2, official symbol PTGS2) expression and subsequent prostaglandin (PGE2 and PGF2alpha) release, and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) and mRNA expression and activity. Conversely, FOXO3 overexpression increased cytokine expression and secretion, prostaglandin production, and MMP9 expression in myometrial cells treated with IL1B. In summary, we have identified FOXO3 as an upstream mediator of inflammation in human myometrium. Thus, FOXO3 may present an alternative therapeutic target for preventing preterm birth and its associated morbidity and mortality.


Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets from two different manufacturers were irradiated in the Omega West reactor at Los Alamos National Laboratory, with fast neutrons at temperatures of 426 K (153 degrees C) and 350 K (77 degrees C) to fluences of 5.0*10/sup 16/ N/cm/sup 2/ and 6.1*10/sup 16/ N/cm/sup 2/, respectively. At intervals during the irradiation the samples were removed from the reactor and the remanence measured at room temperature. The initial loss of remanence for irradiation at 426 K was 10% for a fluence of 10/sup 15/ N/cm/sup 2/. At 350 K the initial loss rate was roughly half this value. The loss rates were nearly the same for samples from the two different manufacturers. These losses are due to the irradiation since the remanence does not decay with annealing at 426 K. Remagnetization after irradiation results in full recovery of the remanence and roughly a 20% increase in the coercivity. Evidence from this experiment suggests that the primary mechanism for loss of remanence is nucleation of reverse domains by the collision cascade and subsequent growth into the original domain. >


A general theory for examining the dynamic as well as static interactions among inputs and outputs in a multivariable control system has been developed. Both state space and frequency domain approaches are used, and at steady state the interaction equations assume the same form as the relative gain array developed by Bristol. Implications of selecting input-output pairings with regard to steady state vs. dynamic consideration are discussed. The application of the method of analysis to a distillation column control system is presented.


Objectives:To assess whether recent advances, such as intersphincteric resection (ISR) or local excision (LE) if a suspicion of complete tumor response after radiochemotherapy (RCT), could have modified the rate of end stoma (ES) in low rectal cancer treatment. Background:ES rate remains around 30% to 50% in patients with low rectal cancer. Methods:From 2005 to 2013, all patients with low rectal cancer undergoing laparoscopic total mesorectal excision, with or without neoadjuvant RCT, and patients undergoing LE after RCT were included. Results:A total of 189 patients presented a low rectal cancer; 162 (86%) underwent RCT; total mesorectal excision was performed in 172 (90%), followed by stapled colorectal anastomosis (n = 26; 15%), manual coloanal anastomosis with partial (n = 92; 53%) or total ISR (n = 32; 19%), or ES that included abdominoperineal resection (n = 21; 12%) and low Hartmann procedure (n = 1; 1%). LE after RCT was performed in 19 of 189 (10%) patients with a suspicion of complete tumor response. Among them 2 of 19 (11%) underwent immediate secondary total mesorectal excision (1 abdominoperineal resection and 1 coloanal anastomosis with total ISR) because of poor pathological criteria. Conclusions:Management of rectal cancer with colorectal anastomosis and coloanal anastomosis with partial ISR allowed to obtain a 38% ES rate (71/189); the additional use of total ISR decreased this rate to 22% (39/189). Selective use of LE reduced this rate to only 12% (22/189). Nowadays, recent advances lead to a paradigm shift, with only 12% ES rate in low rectal cancer.


Uncontrolled diabetes mellitus is associated with both microvascular and macrovascular complications. Despite an array of treatment options available, achievement of euglycemia in most patients with diabetes is still lacking. Pramlintide acetate, a synthetic analog of the human hormone amylin and belonging to a new class of agents, was approved in March 2005 as adjunctive treatment in patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus. To evaluate the data available on the efficacy and safety of pramlintide, we conducted a search of MEDLINE (January 1966–May 2006) and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (January 1970–May 2006). Bibliographies of clinical trials were reviewed for additional references. The literature reviewed demonstrated that pramlintide is effective in reducing levels of glycosylated hemoglobin and potentially preventing weight gain. The most commonly reported adverse effects associated with pramlintide were nausea, anorexia, and hypoglycemia. These adverse effects occurred more often during the initiation of therapy and were usually mild to moderate in nature. Whether this therapy is a cost‐effective option for patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus is yet to be determined.


The higher oestrogen concentrations in women have been suggested as the reason for their slower development of atherosclerosis compared with men. Oestrogen receptors have been located on macrophages, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial cells in women and men, but it is not known whether the protective effect at the level of the arterial wall is mediated by these receptors. It has been reported that premenopausal women have fewer α oestrogen receptors in atherosclerotic than in normal coronary arteries.1 The gene for human α oestrogen receptor contains a polymorphism in the regulatory (upstream) region of the gene: this polymorphism consists of a dinucleotide (thymine and adenine) repeat, the length of which has been associated with bone mineral density, suggesting an effect on oestrogen receptor transcription.2 This prompted us to study whether this polymorphism is associated with coronary artery disease in men.

The associations of the polymorphism with atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction were studied in the Helsinki sudden death study, a prospective …


In the present study, 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D) was assessed individually for its effectiveness to induce somatic embryogenesis in tea (Camellia sinenesis L.). Embryonic axes and cotyledons explants were dissected from the seeds. Explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing 0, 1 and 5 mM 2, 4-D alone for embryonic axes and 0, 1 and 5 mM 2, 4-D along with 0 and 0.5 mM IBA for cotyledons. Embryos were observed in embryonic axes explants cultured on MS medium containing 1mM 2, 4-D. No somatic embryos were seen on cotyledons explants.


Background: This article retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics and CT characteristics of chest CT of 10 patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnosed in Heilongjiang Province. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 10 COVID-19 patients confirmed by designated hospitals in Heilongjiang Province. Results: The clinical manifestations were mainly fever (80%) and cough (50%). Laboratory tests showed elevated C-reactive protein (70%) and serum amyloid A (80%). CT mainly manifests as ground-glass opacity (100%) in the lung, more than two lung lobes (90%), and the lesions are mostly located in the right upper lobe (80%), and lobular septum thickening (60%) is common.Conclusions: In this group of patients with COVID-19, the typical CT manifestations are double lung sheet ground-glass opacity, which are mainly distributed in the subpleural area, and the range of involvement is more than or equal to two lung lobes, "paving stones" changes; pulmonary lesions were absorbed and fibrous cord foci were formed during the transition period. It is worth noting that hilum, mediastinal lymphadenopathy, and pleural effusion are less common. During the study period, follow-up imaging performed by some patients showed mild / moderate disease progression and gradually dissipating.


The focused ion beam system has been widely used as a critical failure analysis tool as microprocessor technology advances at a ramping speed. It has become an essential step in failure analysis to reveal physical defects after electrical fault isolation. In the highly competitive and challenging environment prevalent at present, failure analysis throughput time is of utmost important. Therefore, a quick, efficient and reliable physical failure analysis technique is needed. This paper discusses the applications of FIB as a defect localization and root cause determination tool through the passive charge contrast technique and pattern FIB analysis.


A fundamental principle of leader–member exchange (LMX) theory is that leaders develop different quality relationships with their employees. However, little research has investigated the impact of LMX differentiation on employees' work attitude. Therefore, this study examines the mediating influence of trust in teammates on the relationships between perceptions of LMX variability within a team and the work attitude of affective organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Data were obtained from 225 employees in diverse organizations and occupational groups in Shandong Province, People's Republic of China. The model was tested at the individual level. Controlling for individual-level perceptions of LMX quality, the results revealed that an individual's perception of LMX variability in their team was negatively related to employee's affective organizational commitment and positively related to employee turnover intentions, and these two relationships were mediated by reports of relational trust in teammates. Our study thus contributes to a better understanding of the 'black box' phenomenon that links LMX differentiation to work attitude and enriches knowledge of the social exchange mechanisms.

 Key words: Leader–member exchange (LMX), LMX variability, trust, work attitude.


We present an analytical method to estimate the condensate fraction $n_0/n$ in strongly correlated systems for which the zero-temperature static structure factor $S(p)$ is known. The advantage of the proposed method is that it allows to predict the long-range behavior of the one-body density matrix (i) in macroscopic and mesoscopic systems, (ii) in three- and two-dimensional geometry, (iii) at zero and low finite temperature, and (iv) in weakly and strongly correlated regimes. Our method is tested against exact values obtained with quantum Monte Carlo methods in a number of strongly correlated systems showing an excellent agreement. The proposed technique is also useful in numerical simulations as it allows to extrapolate the condensate fraction to the thermodynamic limit for particle numbers as small as hundreds. Our method is especially valuable for extracting the condensate fraction from the experimentally measured static structure factor $S(p)$, thus providing a new simple alternative technique for the estimation of $n_0/n$. We analyze available experimental data for $S(p)$ of superfluid helium and find an excellent agreement with the experimental value of $n_0/n$.


A good portion of our families still preserve the traditions of family prayer, of mutual fidelity between husband and wife, of respect for elders, of constant care for the moral standards of children, of hospitality to strangers and of sobriety in living. On the other hand, we cannot be blind to the fact that very many of our couples live without the benefit of Christian marriage, the number of children born out of wedlock alarmingly increasing, homes being" wrecked because husbands and wives ignore the sanctity of their commitments to each other and to their children, juvenile delinquency growing- because our homes have ceased to be the sanctuaries of Christian living. Are these families what make a true Christian nation?


Motion estimation demands intense computations. To overcome this obstacle, different techniques have been devised. In this paper an efficient spatio-temporal fuzzy search algorithm is proposed to shorten the search time without the loss of accuracy. To reduce the complexity of the algorithm a look-up table structure (LUT) is employed. Also the stationary blocks are treated separately for further reduction of the complexity. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm performs better than many of the fast block matching algorithms in terms of picture quality and computational complexity.


A diagnostic program for routine determination of the nutritional status during initial examination is presented. This program includes anthropometric methods (body weight, height, triceps skin fold, circumference of mid-arm muscle) and chemical parameters (creatinine index, albumin, prealbumin, cholesterinase). In addition, determination of the immune status through the absolute lymphocyte count in peripheral blood and intracutaneous testing with streptokinase-dornase, mumps skin test antigen and candida vaccine is recommended. This test plan allows assessment of fat stores, muscle mass, functional proteins and immune competence. The results of this study should be considered when planning adequate nutritional treatment. The results obtained for 168 patients in this test program are reported.


Scientific investigations into the structural properties of rammed earth (RE) are gaining momentum and a number of parameters (e.g. suction, particle size distribution and water
content), influential on material strength and other properties, have been identified and investigated. Cement stabilisation is undergoing continued investigation, while fibrous stabilisation, also known as fibre reinforcement, is beginning to gain attention. Recent experiments have shown that the addition of fibres such as straw or wool to RE or other earthen materials can improve its flexural strength. Less attention, however, has been paid to the fracture behaviour of RE, and to its shearing behaviour. This paper presents a preliminary investigation into the shearing behaviour of stabilised and unstabilised RE reinforced with waste natural fibres. The Direct Shear Test (DST) is used to obtain peak shear stresses and displacements, from which strength parameters (φ') and cohesion (c') are obtained. This paper
also presents some scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of these materials. The results show that wool fibres decrease the density and peak shear strength of RE. The effect of water,
wool and cement content on φ' and c' are also discussed.


A 'G-less' cassette was cloned downstream of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) long terminal repeat (LTR) to facilitate rapid identification of authentic LTR-directed transcription in T cell nuclear extracts. Despite a high constitutive level of transcription, addition of chemically synthesized full-length HIV-1(bru) tat (amino acids 1-86) stimulated transcription 3-fold but only if the template included the TAR region of the LTR. Suppression of basal transcription in T cell nuclear extracts by sodium citrate increased the relative level of tat stimulation, but neither potassium chloride nor histone H1 had an effect. A mutant synthetic tat polypeptide, lacking residues 22-32 in the cysteine-rich domain, was inactive in uptake assays and failed to stimulate transcription. Short basic peptides that competed full-length tat from complexes with TAR RNA also inhibited tat stimulation of transcription, whereas short basic peptide unable to bind TAR or compete tat from complexes were also unable to inhibit tat stimulation of transcription. These data confirm that active HIV-1 tat must first interact with TAR RNA via basic amino acid residues in order to stimulate transcription of downstream sequences. Copyright 1995 S. Karger AG, Basel


A trial was carried out to evaluate the effect of replacing wheat offal with rumen content on the growth performance of broiler chickens. A total of one hundred and fifty (150), one day-old broiler chicks were randomly allotted to five (5) dietary treatments containing 0, 5, 10% inclusion levels of sundried rumen content and 5 and 10% inclusion levels of roasted rumen content as a replacement to wheat offal. Each treatment was replicated three times with five (5) birds per replicate in a completely randomized design experiment. The trial lasted for eight (8) weeks. The results showed that there were no significant differences in the final weights, daily feed intake, daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio at the starter phase and finisher phases. Furthermore, no significant differences in the final weight (1346.60-1508.50g), daily feed intake (83.57-100.00g), and daily weight gain (36.43-39.53g), and were observed for the overall performance. However, there was a significant difference (P<0.05) in the feed conversion ratio with the highest being 2.69g and the lowest 2.33g in the overall performance. From these findings, it could be concluded that rumen content could replace wheat offal without any detrimental effect on the performance of broiler chickens.


This paper contributes to the existing literature on sports-related market anomalies by examining whether losses by the New Zealand national rugby team (the All Blacks) affect stock market returns in New Zealand. The novelty of this paper is in its use of a probability model to control for the ex-ante probability of a win in regression analysis, so that the economic effects of a rugby loss can separated from its cognitive effects on investors' behaviour. The paper finds support for statistically significant effect of the probability of an All Blacks win, but, initially, not for the cognitive effect of an All Blacks loss on New Zealand stock market returns. Further robustness tests, which correct for heteroskedasticity, use different modelled probabilities and treat the effect of a draw as the same as that of a loss similarly fail to reject the hypothesis that an All Blacks loss has no effect on the investors' trading behaviour. However, consistent with the small firm anomalies in general, tests using the small cap index offer some support.


BACKGROUND
There is a paucity of information about the impact of upper extremity (UE) injuries on patient outcomes, particularly after major trauma.

METHODS
Data were obtained from a statewide trauma registry. Cases were defined as major trauma cases (Injury Severity Score > 15) with (UE group) and without (no-UE group) an associated upper extremity injury. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of outcome.

RESULTS
Major trauma patients with UE injury were 1.5 times (p = 0.011) more likely than the no-UE group to have a length of stay greater than 7 days. After adjusting for age, mechanism of injury, and Injury Severity Score, UE injury was not an independent predictor of discharge destination.

CONCLUSION
In major trauma patients, the presence of an upper extremity injury is a significant predictor of length of stay, indicating a greater complexity and cost of care associated with this group of major trauma patients.


The knowledge of disease determinants is a pre-requisite for disease prevention. Infectious diseases determinants can be classified in three ways, as: primary or secondary; intrinsic or extrinsic; and associated with host, agent, or environment. In the specific case of COVID-19 several of these determinants are currently unknown leading to difficulties in public health approach to this disease. In this paper, we attempt to address several of the current gaps on COVID-19 using a systematic analysis on recent findings and some preliminary knowledge on animal coronaviruses. A discussion on the impact of COVID-19 determinants in disease prevention and control will be based on the Environmental Change and Infectious Disease (EnVID) systemic framework to address several challenges that may affect the control of the SARS- CoV-2 pandemic spread both in industrialized and in developing Countries.


Abstract Let U be the group of units of the group algebra FG of a group G over a field F . Suppose that either F is infinite or G has an element of infinite order. We characterize groups G so that U satisfies a group identity. Under the assumption that G modulo the torsion elements is nilpotent this gives a complete classification of such groups. For torsion groups this problem has already been settled in recent years.


Background: Telomerase is an active enzyme that produces and maintains telomere which is located at the end of chromosomes. In general, telomere become shorter as the number of cells divide increases, leading to apoptosis. However, telomerase prolongs and maintains the length of the telomere so that tumor cells continue proliferation without cell death. When the telomerase is reduced, the telomere DNA is not produced and maintained and the chromosomes become shorter and shorter. Telomerase is not well observed in normal cells and known to act as a specific antigen by over-expression in various cencer cell types. The riavex(GV1001) which is 16 amino acid sequences from the telomere combines with HLA classI to induce an immune response through activates the CD4 T cell. Methods: We analyzed 50 patients who were injected riavex. The riavex was provided through the application for emergency medication from the korea food and drug administration. Most patient who were given riavex failed several standard chemotherapy. The administration methods was injected riavex 0.2mili-liter in intradermal three times at first week and one time at 2weeks, 3weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks and then once per 28 days. A total of 12 doses were given to each patient. After the end of the administration, we evaluated anti-tumor response by RECIST 1.1 and quality of life by EORTC QLO-C30 and EQ-5D. Results: Partial response was founded in one patient with renal cell carcinoma. The rest of the patients showed a stable or progress response. However, quality of life was significantly improved in 19 patient and fifteen of them have applied for re-treatment. Only three patients had a fever of more than 38 celsius degree and no significant side effects were observed in other patients Conclusion:, Riavex as a anti-cancer vaccine is relatively safe to heavily treated solid cancer patient and is assessed to improve quality of life, although the treatment response is not promising. Keywords: Telomerase, Riavex, Quality of life, Safety Citation Format: Jonggwon Choi. A retrospective observational study of telomerase peptide immunotherapy in heavily treated solid cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 6685.


Since the seminal studies involving bacteriophages, the DNA viruses have fascinated the scientific community. DNA viruses were essential not only for the understanding of viral biological process, but also were a fundamental tool for the discovery and expanding knowledge related to cellular processes, such as transcription, translation, DNA repair, glycosylation and others. DNA viruses were also important characters during human history and evolution. The lethal and terrifying infection caused by a DNA virus, the smallpox disease caused by the variola virus, shaped and defined patterns of human migration, societies' interactions and raised innovative public health measures. In recent decades, some DNA viruses have been used as tools for heterologous protein expression and delivery, improving the field of vaccinology and diagnosis. In addition, some years ago, the discovery of the first mimiviruses shed new light on the study of DNA viruses field. Since then, many interdisciplinary studies, from distinct research groups, revealed breath-taking and controversial data regarding the origins, evolution and ecology of large and giant viruses. In this Research Topic, we received contributions from several colleagues on a broad range of topics related to large and giant DNA viruses.


Abstract T cells are central to the immune response against various pathogens and cancer cells. Complex networks of transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulators, including microRNAs (miRNAs), coordinate the T cell activation process. Available miRNA datasets, however, do not sufficiently dissolve the dynamic changes of miRNA controlled networks upon T cell activation. Here, we established a quantitative and time-resolved expression pattern for the entire miRNome over a period of 24 h upon human T-cell activation. Based on our time-resolved datasets, we identified central miRNAs and specified common miRNA expression profiles. We found the most prominent quantitative expression changes for miR-155-5p with a range from initially 40 molecules/cell to 1600 molecules/cell upon T-cell activation. We established a comprehensive dynamic regulatory network of both the up- and downstream regulation of miR-155. Upstream, we highlight IRF4 and its complexes with SPI1 and BATF as central for the transcriptional regulation of miR-155. Downstream of miR-155-5p, we verified 17 of its target genes by the time-resolved data recorded after T cell activation. Our data provide comprehensive insights into the range of stimulus induced miRNA abundance changes and lay the ground to identify efficient points of intervention for modifying the T cell response.


The onset of both chronic pain and insomnia is high during adolescence. Although a bidirectional relationship between pain and insomnia has support, how pain and sleep co-develop throughout adolescence remains unknown. Both sleep-wake patterns and pre-sleep behaviors that cause arousal may influence the co-development of pain and insomnia. Four waves of longitudinal self-report data were used (Nbaseline = 2767, Agebaseline M = 13.65 years, SD = 0.65). Multidimensional growth mixture modeling was used to identify four subgroups of adolescents with different concurrent trajectories of pain and insomnia. The trajectories followed each other across time in all classes: one class of consistently low pain and insomnia (68.7 %), one class with persistent high symptoms (4.9 %), as well as one class of increasing (13.9 %), and one of decreasing (12.5 %), trajectories. Later sleep-wake patterns and more pre-sleep behaviors causing cognitive-emotional arousal predicted both increasing and decreasing trajectories of concurrent pain and insomnia. The current study showed that developmental trajectories of pain and insomnia follow each other within adolescents and across adolescence. Both sleep-phase focused interventions as well as psychological interventions that focus on pre-sleep behaviors causing cognitive-emotional arousal may prove beneficial for adolescents with comorbid pain and insomnia.


Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology offers tremendous potential for integration of optoelectronic functionson a silicon wafer. In this letter, a 1 × 1 multimode interference (MMI) Mach-Zender interferometer(MZI) thermo-optic modulator fabricated by wet-etching method is demonstrated. The modulator has anextinction ratio of -11.0 dB, extra loss of -4.9 dB and power consumption of 420 mW. The response timeis less than 30μs.


The crystal structure of cumeng6ite, Pb21Cu2oC142(OH)4o, tetragonal, a= 15.065(2), c= 24.436(5) A, V = 5546(2) A 3, space group I4/mmm, Z = 2, has been solved by direct methods and refined by least-squares to an R index of 7.1 ~ for 1158 observed (I > 2.5~r I) reflections. The cumeng6ite structure shows a very diverse range of cation coordinations. There are five distinct Pb sites with the following coordination poly- hedra: octabedron, square antiprism, augmented trigonal prism, a very distorted biaugrnented trigonal prism and a fairly regular biaugmented trigonal prism, the latter being only half-occupied; there are two distinct Cu sites with octahedral and square pyramidal coordination respec- tively. The coordination polyhedra share elements to form prominent columns or rods of polyhedra parallel to the c-axis and centred on the 4-fold axes of the unit cell. These rods form a body-centred array, and link by sharing elements of their coordination polyhedra.


Business process intelligence improves operational efficiency that is essential for achieving business objectives, besides facilitating competitive advantage. As an organization is a collection of business processes, operations in one business process do influence or have relationship with other business processes. Consequently, from an operational intelligence standpoint, insights from one business process may have their genesis or implications in the performance of some other business process. This paper outlines a framework to sequence insights in the form of performance inferencing across multiple business processes. The framework logically sequences insights across business processes in the form of business rules. The paper illustrates the concepts through a prototype that is implemented in Oracle's PL/SQL language.


Duc, Jalaludin & Morgan (2009) (DJM) conclude that 'In all cases, the BMA [Bayesian model averaging] results should be used rather than those of the single model using either the Bayesian method or classical GLM or GAM methods.' I accept that it is better to average over a set of plausible models. Relying on a single model leads to credible intervals that are too narrow because model uncertainty is ignored (Gelman & Rubin 1995). But DJM seem to imply that because estimates differ between their hierarchical Bayesian model and BMA, the latter estimates are to be preferred (Duc et al . 2009, p. 298, 302) and I am not convinced this is so. First their hierarchical Bayesian model can also be interpreted as a model for uncertainty about the relationship between a Poisson rate parameter and a set of covariates (Albert 1988). Using the notation x ∼ D[a,b] to represent a random variable x distributed D with mean a and variance b, the first two levels of their hierarchical model can be re-written as: