Three field trials were set up to measure the effect of previous crops or soil amendments on the yields of subsequent crops of cereals under a cool temperate maritime climate in arable crop land in the east of Scotland. Winter wheat and winter barley direct drilled into legume and cereal + legume stubble (pre-crop) gave substantial yield boost compared with other pre-crop cereals, but pre-crop effects of oats were similarly great. Restored rotation after continuous barley gave expected yield enhancement to subsequent winter and spring barley but not to subsequent wheat. Some diseases were reduced on restored rotation crops. Slurry effects on yield were generally small but beneficial and compost effects were greater. However, compost had effects on plant developmental speed and was difficult to compare directly with other treatments. NDRE measurements in the restored rotation and soil amendment trials indicated that yield gains were associated with improved crop health as indicated by leaf chlorophyll content. There were no clear cultivar interactions within crop type with treatments effects in any of these trials.


Stock prices fluctuations for quoted companies occur daily due to both company specific variables like company earnings with corresponding dividend policies, and multiple macroeconomic variables. This study sought evidence supporting the existence of influence of the selected macro-economic variables of: foreign exchange rate of hard currencies, interest rate and inflation rate on share prices fluctuations based on the weighted average monthly data from January 2008 to December 2012 for the companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange in Kenya. The influence of selected macro-economic variables on stock exchange provide important implications for monetary policy, risk management practices, financial securities valuation and government policy towards financial markets. The study utilsed secondary data that was obtained from: Central Bank of Kenya, Institute of statistical Kenya and Nairobi Securities Exchange. To investigate the effect of the selected macro-economic variables on share prices of the companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, simple and multi-variate regressions analysis was used. For all of the quoted companies it was desirable to find if the stock prices fluctuations are predominantly due to the selected macro-economic variables. The Nairobi Securities Exchange may derive great benefit through more investors raising new capital in the share market when stocks are in great demand, and more extensional investment of companies by raising additional capital through stock splits or issuing more shares out of their authorized share capital. The study found that interest rate had a predominant effect on stock market price indices as compared to the other macro-economic variables. Interest rate, exchange rate for both the Euro and US Dollar had a negative effect on stock market indices for companies quoted on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. When the Kenya shilling depreciates the stock market indices gain in points. The inflation rate had a negative effect on stock market performance indicating that higher levels of inflation rate result in lower stock market indices in Kenya. Other macro-economic variables would also have impact on stock market indices for companies quoted on the Nairobi Securities Exchange since the predictor model did not account for all variables as it had a low R2 of 15.1 %.


The potential of narrative-rich games to impact emotions, attitudes, and behavior brings with it exciting opportunities and implications within both entertainment and serious game contexts. However, effects are not always consistent, potentially due to game choices not always being perceived as meaningful by the players. To examine these perceptual variations, we used a mixed-method approach. A qualitative study first investigated meaningful game choices from the players' perspectives. Building on the themes developed in this first study, a quantitative study experimentally examined the effect of meaningful game choices on player experiences of appreciation, enjoyment, and narrative engagement. Results highlight the importance of moral, social, and consequential characteristics in creating meaningful game choices, which positively affected appreciation. Meaningfulness of game choices may therefore be crucial for narrative-rich games and interactive narratives to impact players.


Well cementing is one of the important systems in oil and gas drilling. It provides support and protection to the casing, prevent the movement of fluid through the annular space outside the casing; stop the movement of fluid into vugular or fractured formations and it also use to close an abandoned well. However, Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) used are having issues with its strength since it take a long period of time to develop and lots of rig time losses for waiting on the OPC to set. This project introduced geopolymer cement as an alternative for Class G cement. It aims to compare the elastic modulus of both Class G cement and geopolymer cement. Cement samples are prepared which consist of basic case Class G cement and a mixture of fly ash and micro silica with ratio of 80:20 respectively as the geopolymer cement. All cement samples are cured in two conditions, where the first curing condition is temperature of 80 °C and pressure of 1500 psia and the second curing condition is temperature of 120 °C and pressure of 3000 psia. Cement samples are cured for 7 hours and 24 hours in both curing conditions. Results obtained based on the test conducted gave out the value for the cements' Poisson's ratio ranging from 0.1886 to 0.2987; shear modulus vary from the lowest, 3.95 GPa to the highest, 5.49 GPa; and Young's modulus ranging from 7.54 GPa to 14.39 GPa. The Geopolymer Cement has a higher elastic modulus compared to the Class G Cement for both curing condition.


Forty patients with aphakic bullous keratopathy undergoing combined penetrating keratoplasty and anterior vitrectomy using mechanical vitreous instruments were studied for a mean length of 36 months. Seventy percent of the grafts remained clear and thirty percent failed during the follow-up period. Fifty-three percent of those with clear grafts (15/28) obtained a visual acuity of 20/70 or better. In comparison to older methods of anterior vitrectomy, we have found that removal of vitreous with mechanical vitreous instruments offers more effective removal of solid and liquid vitreous, decreased surgical time, and decreased retinal traction. Further, it is easy to learn to use and handle these instruments.


The role of genes in the differentiation of the testis and ovary has been extensively studied in the human and the mouse. Despite over a decade of investigations, the precise roles of genes and their interactions in the pathway of sex determination are still unclear. We have chosen to take a comparative look at sex determination and differentiation to gain insights into the evolution and the conserved functions of these genes. To achieve this, we have examined a wide variety of eutherian sex determining genes in a marsupial, the tammar wallaby, to determine which genes have a conserved and fundamental mammalian sex determining role. These investigations have provided many unique insights. Here, we review the recent molecular and endocrine investigations into sexual development in marsupials, and highlight how these studies have shed light on the roles of genes and hormones in mammalian sex determination and differentiation.


Creating Conservatism: Postwar Words that Made an American Movement, by Michael J. Lee. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, Rhetoric and Public Affairs Series, 2014, 316 pp., $34.95 paperback. A scholarly study of this caliber is always a good thing to see, but in light of the potential for biased and unfair polemics inherent in its subject, Michael J. Lee's analysis of right-wing ideas and rhetoric is doubly welcome, for it reassures one that impartial inquiry and fair-minded treatment of fraught topics are still being produced in the American academy. The study is thoroughly researched, sensibly organized, clearly written and dispassionate in tone and attitude. "My goals in this book are expository, not critical," the author states in the prologue, and the book lives up to this modus from dedication to index (p. 10). This volume belongs in the library of any research institution and will be of particular value for those who teach or study in schools of government or departments of political science, rhetoric, communication and American studies. Lee focuses on modern American conservatism's genesis in the years between the end of WWII and Barry Goldwater's unsuccessful presidential campaign of 1964. The formative "postwar words" referred to in the title are found in the canon of books that Lee identifies as the foundational texts of this movement, along with several not-quite-canonical-but-still-important texts. Readers familiar with the currents of thought on the American right will find no surprises in the list of canonical authors, which includes Richard Weaver, Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley, Robert Nisbet, Frank Meyer, Milton Friedman, Barry Goldwater, Friederich Hayek, and Whittaker Chambers. These authors still occupy pride of place in the world of right wing media, political punditry, academic organizations and think tanks. One finds them in lists of books to read that are posted on conservative web sites, including those aimed directly at students and professional academics.^ Although Lee's choices are well-known within conservative circles, they are probably less well known within the academy, including fields where political thought is directly relevant. This is ironic when one considers that the authors work in these fields provided the impetus and intellectual sustenance for the rightward shift of American politics in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Conservatives have often pointed out that the academy leans to the left both in its personal predilections, and also, more troublingly, in too much of its professional conduct. In relation to fields where politics and ideology have actual relevance for pedagogy, curriculum or research, conservatives have charged that the American professoriate demonstrates indifference, condescension or overt hostility to right-leaning politics. An interesting development in recent years finds leftist and left-leaning academics not only admitting the truth of this charge, but calling for the academy to take steps to remedy the problems presented by such bias, which, it must be admitted, in certain fields of study amounts to a willful ignorance (see for example, Cardiff & Klein, 2005; Haidt, 2011; Lilla, 2009; Lyons, 2009; and Tierney, 2011). As Mark Lilla (2009) has put the matter, "The unfortunate fact is that American academics have until recently shown little curiosity about conservative ideas, even though those ideas have utterly transformed American (and British) politics over the past 30 years." Lee's work, then, represents an important intervention in this needed area. Creating Conservatism serves as an accessible but by no means dumbed down introduction to the works of influential right wing thinkers. At a more specific level it analyzes the rhetorical foundations these thinkers laid for their successors on the right, including, of course, not just intellectuals and academics, but politicians, pundits and activists. …


Background There are a number of different career pathways facing paediatric trainees including academia, time out of training and subspeciality training. The careers advice they receive is dependent on their trainers and the trainees accessing the available resources and networks. The Royal College of Paediatric and Child Health has careers fairs for recruitment into paediatrics and is currently actively developing its mentoring strategy for paediatricians. The aim of this study was to assess the need for a careers fair Methods A pilot regional careers evening for level 1 paediatric trainees was held in May 2014. As our level 2 and 3 trainees have the opportunities for peer networking at the existing regional training, this pilot careers evening was only aimed at level 1 trainees. The evening included talks on career pathways and signposting with questions and answer sessions with experts. Anonymous feedback was collated at the end of the event and 5 months post-event. Results Of the 21 trainees who attended, 27% had not had careers advice to date. 100% found the evening useful and all left with an action plan to explore their career options. Positive free text feedback included 'asking questions in informal manner, with immediate answers'; 'demystifying the Grid/general level 3 process'; 'discussion of different options available'; 'encouraged thinking about career plans'. Of the 47% response to the post-event survey, trainees had sought careers advice from their educational supervisors or tertiary units, had become involved in management activities and looked into out of programme options. All had attributed these actions to the careers evening and most found the evening 'useful' or 'inspiring'. These results were discussed in focus groups, comprised of training programme directors, college tutors, trainee committee members and trust representatives, to shape the programme for the next paediatric careers event. Conclusion The feedback was overwhelmingly positive with high demand for it to be held annually in our region. It will be open to all paediatric trainees,which will also further enable the senior trainees to provide careers advice in their future roles as educational supervisors and mentors.


The science of human behaviour has looked widely at how we behave and why. Behaviour has been found to be linked to a combination of factors. These include how the individual's physiological condition, knowledge, skills and social networks change over time and in different situations, which in turn gives rise to a range of possible safety outcomes. Employees working in a climate of change experience a number of challenges and pressures. What this research aims to prove is whether their attitudes and
perceptions have a bearing on their safety behaviour, and to what extent this is based upon experiences. The benefit of understanding the relationship between risk perception and safety behaviour lies in the ability to measure and
manage it.

This study looked at a number of factors that may be responsible for declining safety performance in a company that is expanding and exporting manufactured product into global markets. Five key areas were considered: the relationship between a worker's safety behaviour and risk perception, whether a worker who is aware of safety procedures is likely to follow safe systems of work, if workplace culture affects an individual's safety behaviour, whether group working leads to individuals following safe systems of work, and finally if witnessing an accident leads an individual to follow defined safety procedures. The research also looked at a number of demographics over a cross section of the workforce.

A questionnaire data collection methodology was used to look at the key areas, and a range of statistical instruments was then applied. Analysis of the results suggested that there is a positive correlation between workers' risk perception and safety behaviour, and that those respondents who had received sufficient training were more likely to follow safe systems of work. The safety culture questions did not prove or disprove the supposition that the culture within the workplace had a bearing on safety behaviour. The analysis did, however, suggest that the respondent's perception of the work environment had important significance as it indicated that respondents were in control of their own behaviour which was unaffected by others but improves when involved in group working. The research demographics showed that safety appears to a gender neutral issue and that length of service does not have a bearing on a person's attitudes or beliefs towards safety. Those respondents who had witnessed accidents appeared predisposed to ask more questions of management about what they were being tasked to do, although hypothesis that they would necessarily follow safety procedures as a result was not supported.

The benefits of the research lie in the ability to analyse what individuals think about their workplace and following safe working practices and procedures, and their understanding of both risk awareness and their own corresponding safety behaviour.

All of these factors have a bearing on measuring health and safety compliance. It is recommended that future research focuses on predictors of unsafe behaviours and accidents when taken in the context of attitudinal or ultural aspects of the workplace.


Background Patients with pelvic ring injuries present with fractures ranging from single pelvic fractures to those accompanied by many life-threatening injuries. Sacroiliac joint disruption from high-energy trauma is always complicated with chronic pain and long-term morbidity. Open reduction and anterior stabilization with anterior plating have biomechanical advantages. Patients and method Ten patients were studied at Al-Azhar University Hospital (Damietta) during the period from March 2009 to February 2011. There were eight (80%) men and two (20%) women. Their ages ranged from 20 to 50 years. All patients presented with acute pelvic pain, with a history of a road traffic accident in nine (90%) patients and falling from height in one (10%) patient. Plain radiography was the first step in the diagnosis and development of a treatment plan for patients with pelvic trauma. Computed tomography has been proven to be an effective diagnostic tool for the evaluation of pelvic fractures. Results The results were excellent in three (30%) patients, good in six (60%) patients, and poor in one (10%) patient. Complications included posterior pelvic pain in one (10%) patient, superficial infection in one (10%) patient, foot drop in one (10%) patient, and pelvic tilt in one (10%) patient. Conclusion Surgical anterior stabilization was required for type C injuries with two plates lead to excellent outcome and associated with minor complications.


B, TW, D.C.-- For more than a decade, groups around the world have been working to sequence the rice genome. As with the sequencing of the human genome, these efforts have been marked by rivalries, fears of commercial control over basic genetic data, and a controversy over the conditions under which
 Science is publishing one of the draft sequences (see "
 A Deal for the Rice Genome
 "). This article traces those efforts; the
 following story
 relates how a team in China produced a draft sequence in record time.


CADTH reimbursement reviews are comprehensive assessments of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, as well as patient and clinician perspectives, of a drug or drug class.
The assessments inform non-binding recommendations that help guide the reimbursement decisions of Canada's federal, provincial, and territorial governments, with the exception of Quebec.
This review assesses daratumumab (Darzalex), 1,800 mg/15 mL (120 mg/mL) for subcutaneous injection.
Indication: In combination with bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone, for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed light chain amyloidosis.


Forests have served as a primary reservoir of terrestrial carbon and have long been investigated in the global climate change context. In addition, increased exposure in the public domain of climate change issues has caused greater interest in the role of forests in the global energy balance. Researchers have been investigating the use of forests as carbon sequestration systems, as well as using forest products for conversion into biofuels. Remote sensing has been widely utilized as a cost-effective tool to provide forest baseline data (e.g., biomass) for effective and efficient forest management. Forest biomass is one of the forest parameters that is widely investigated using remote sensing because biomass is directly related to the productivity of forests and provides valuable information that is necessary for understanding ecosystem functions and carbon cycling. In this paper, we review remote sensing of forest biomass, focusing on recent advances and applications (published after 2000). We also explore the challenges of using forest biomass as biofuel, a topic that is often neglected in remote sensing papers.


PURPOSE: Guidelines support early integration of palliative care (PC) into standard oncology practice; however, little is known as to whether outcomes can be improved by modifying health care delivery in a real-world setting. METHODS: We report our 6-year experience of embedding a nurse practitioner in an oncology clinic (March 2014-March 2020) to integrate early, concurrent advance care planning and PC. RESULTS: Compared with patients with advanced cancer not enrolled in the palliative care nurse practitioner program, in March 2020, patients who are enrolled are more likely to have higher quality of PC (eg, goals of care note documentation [82% v 15%; P < .01], referral to the psychosocial oncology program [67% v 37%; P < .01], and referral to hospice [61% v 34%; P < .01]) and less inpatient utilization in the last 6 months of life (eg, hospital days [12 v 18; P < .01] and intensive care unit days [1.2 v 2.3; P < .01]). The program expanded over time with the support of faculty skills training for advance care planning and PC, supporting a shared mental model of PC delivery within the oncology clinic. CONCLUSION: Embedding a trained palliative care nurse practitioner in oncology clinics to deliver early integrated PC can lead to improved quality of care for patients with advanced cancer. Embedding a palliative care (PC) NP in oncology clinics to deliver integrated PC can lead to improved quality of care


Background: COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-II) has become a global pandemic disrupting public health services. Telemedicine has emerged as an important tool to deliver care during these situations. Patients receiving Vitamin K antagonists (VKA) require structured monitoring which has posed a challenge during this pandemic. We aimed to evaluate the impact of Virtual anticoagulation clinic (VAC), a Telehealth model on the quality of anticoagulation, adverse events, and patient satisfaction vis-a-vis standard Anticoagulation clinic (ACC) care. Materials and methods: A bidirectional cohort study was conducted in the Department of Cardiology, JSS Hospital, Mysore. Two hundred and twenty-eight patients in the VAC and 274 patients in the ACC fulfilling inclusion criteria were the subjects of the study. Telehealth tools like WhatsApp and telephone were used. Time in therapeutic range (TTR), Percentage of International normalized ratio in range (PINRR), and adverse events were analyzed and compared between the VAC group and the ACC group, between pre-COVID and COVID ACC groups, and between the VAC group and the same pre-COVID cohort. Patient satisfaction was assessed by a questionnaire at the end of 8 months. Descriptive statistics were used for the patient characteristics and inferential statistics for the comparisons between pre-VAC and VAC care. Results: The mean TTR was 75.4 ± 8.9% and 71.2 ± 13.4% in the VAC group and ACC group, respectively (p < 0.001). The mean PINRR was 66.7 ± 9.4% and 62.4 ± 10.9% in the VAC group and ACC group respectively, (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in TTR between the VAC group and the same pre-COVID cohort. The TTR differential between the pre-COVID and COVID ACC groups was significant. In either group, no major adverse events were seen. The most common tools used for data exchange were WhatsApp (83%) and SMS (17%). Seventy-four percent of patients were extremely satisfied with the overall VAC care. Conclusions: Virtual anticoagulation clinic, a telehealth model can be used as an alternative option to deliver uninterrupted anticoagulation care during pandemic times.


This study investigated the activity of lenalidomide in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Lenalidomide was given at 10 mg daily with dose escalation up to 25 mg daily. Three patients (7%) achieved a complete response (CR), one a nodular partial remission, and 10 patients a partial remission (PR), for an overall response (OR) rate of 32%. Treatment with lenalidomide was associated with an OR rate of 31% in patients with 11q or 17p deletion, of 24% in patients with unmutated V(H), and of 25% in patients with fludarabine-refractory disease. The most common toxicity was myelosuppression, and the median daily dose of lenalidomide tolerated was 10 mg. Plasma levels of angiogenic factors, inflammatory cytokines, and cytokine receptors were measured at baseline, day 7, and day 28. There was a dramatic increase in median interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, IL-2, and tumor necrosis factor receptor-1 levels on day 7, whereas no changes were observed in median vascular endothelial growth factor levels (20 patients studied). According to our experience, lenalidomide given as a continuous treatment has antitumor activity in heavily pretreated patients with CLL.


The aim of the scale which is developed is to measure attitudes related to superstitious beliefs . The aim of developing the scale is to separate individuals who believe superstitious beliefs within the frame of the scale items (having superstitious beliefs) and individuals who don't believe these each other. 70 items, which are scaled with five points likert scale, are adapted to two separate sample group and the psychometric characteristics of the scale are examined. The significance of difference between averages of sub-super group of item scores and statistics of explanatory factor analysis, item-total correlations and Cronbach Alpha Coefficient are evaluated on the first sample group and the final form of 23 items is created. By collecting data from the second sample of the final form which is created, the power of the scale items to represent the structure is tested with the explanatory factor analysis. It is concluded that the dependability of the final form of 23 items is high and the evidences obtained in relation to the construct validity are suitable. It is observed that participants' attitudes related to the superstitious beliefs differentiate in terms of variables of gender and educational backgrounds. Keywords: superstitious belief, attitudes, development of scale


Solid-state red-emissive π-conjugated molecules and polymers have attracted significant attention. In this work, the optical properties of alternating π-conjugated copolymers based on phenylene–bithiophene were investigated. It was found that the alternating 3,3′-dihexylbithiophene and tetrafluorophenylene structure was the primary one in the highly crystalline polymer film, while the other bithiophene–phenylene alternating copolymers did produce crystalline films. The number of fluorine atoms on the phenylene unit critically affected the film crystallinity; this could be attributed to the rigidity of the π-structure based on intramolecular H–F and S–F interactions. The crystalline polymer films demonstrated efficient red-emission. A red-shift of the emission band (+∼150 nm) and a twofold increase of the quantum yield for films compared with the 1,2-dichloroethane solution state were observed. This is likely due to crystallization-induced enhanced emission by the π-conjugated polymers. Additionally, significant tuning of the light-emission (from yellow, orange to red-colored emission) of the films was realized by controlling the crystallinity. The casting solvents and annealing treatment for film formation strongly affected the macrostructure (crystalline domain). X-ray diffraction patterns and the optical properties of the π-conjugated polymer films were used to investigate the dependence of the macrostructure on the fabrication parameters.


Using polarization-selective two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectroscopy, we measure anharmonic couplings and angles between the transition dipole moments of the four cyanide stretching (νCN) vibrations found in [(NH3)5Ru(III)NCFe(II)(CN)5](-) (FeRu) dissolved in D2O and formamide and [(NC)5Fe(II)CNPt(IV)(NH3)4NCFe(II)(CN)5](4-) (FePtFe) dissolved in D2O. These cyanide-bridged transition metal complexes serve as model systems for studying the role of high frequency vibrational modes in ultrafast photoinduced charge transfer reactions. Here, we focus on the spectroscopy of the νCN modes in the electronic ground state. The FTIR spectra of the νCN modes of the bimetallic and trimetallic systems are strikingly different in terms of frequencies, amplitudes, and lineshapes. The experimental 2D IR spectra of FeRu and FePtFe and their fits reveal a set of weakly coupled anharmonic νCN modes. The vibrational mode anharmonicities of the individual νCN modes range from 14 to 28 cm(-1). The mixed-mode anharmonicities range from 2 to 14 cm(-1). In general, the bridging νCN mode is most weakly coupled to the radial νCN mode, which involves the terminal CN ligands. Measurement of the relative transition dipole moments of the four νCN modes reveal that the FeRu molecule is almost linear in solution when dissolved in formamide, but it assumes a bent geometry when dissolved in D2O. The νCN modes are modelled as bilinearly coupled anharmonic oscillators with an average coupling constant of 6 cm(-1). This study elucidates the role of the solvent in modulating the molecular geometry and the anharmonic vibrational couplings between the νCN modes in cyanide-bridged transition metal mixed valence complexes.


Background: Abdominal cocoon (AC) is the partial or complete encasement of the intestines and sometimes other abdominal organs by a fibro-collagenous sac causing varied presentations of intestinal obstruction. It has been found in all age groups from neonates to the elderly although neonatal AC is quite rare and only very few cases have been reported. In neonates, the presentation could mimic other causes of partial or complete intestinal obstruction and preoperative diagnosis is usually difficult.
Case Presentation: We report an atypical sequela of intestinal malrotation causing neonatal intestinal obstruction due to omental encasement of the small and large bowel. The diagnosis was made intraoperatively though contrast gastrointestinal series suggested the partial obstruction at the duodenal-jejunal level. The patient made a good postoperative recovery after extraction of the bowel from the cocoon (omental sac), partial omentectomy, and Ladd's procedure.
Conclusion: A neonatal abdominal cocoon caused by an omental encasement in a malrotated intestine is a unique presentation and a rare cause of neonatal intestinal obstruction.


Traffic incidents cause a significant loss of life, economy, and productivity over injuries and fatalities, extended travel time and delay, and air pollution. Traffic incidents are one of the main causes of the Non-recurrent congestion which in turn can lead to secondary incidents. Predicting accurately incident duration plays an important role in reducing the influence of the Non-recurrent congestion on road capacity reduction and massive travel time loss. The objective of this paper is to give a thorough review of the studies and researches, mainly include the various phases of incident duration, data resources, and the different methods that are used in the duration time prediction and traffic incident duration influence factor analysis.


A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of P and Fe application on the biomass production and nutrients partitioning of two soybeans (Glycine max. L. Merr) cultivars grown in carbonated chernoziom (low in Fe and P) under water stress conditions. P and Fe were applied at two levels (0 and 100 mg P kg-1 soil; 0 and 5 mg Fe kg-1 soil). Control plants were grown at 70% water holding capacity (WHC) while their counterparts were subjected to 35% WHC water stress at initial flowering stage for two weeks. Considerable variability was observed in leaves, roots dry mass accumulation and nodulation among the soybean cultivars (Zodiac, Licurici) at both P and Fe levels in relation to water regimes. The results showed that drought significantly reduced biomass production irrespective of nutrient supply and its adverse effect was more pronounced at low nutrient supply. Leaf development and nodules growth were the most sensitive to water deficit and insufficient nutrient supply. Adequate P and Fe supply increased dry matter production and nutrient concentrations for soybean cultivars. Phosphorus concentration in plant parts was significantly higher at nil Fe compared with Fe application. Phosphorus application decreased Fe allocation to the leaves. The experimental results demonstrated that there was a positive effect of P and Fe adequate nutrition on P use efficiency. Hence, the sufficient phosphorus and iron supply maintained growth at high level, improved P and Fe status and partially alleviated drought effect on soybean plants.


Background: The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity is emerging as a public health problem in urban India and also contributes to obesity and various non-communicable diseases among adult population. Hence, it is necessary to identify potential risk factors for childhood obesity and formulate early interventions to control this epidemic. Aims & Objectives: To assess the magnitude of overweight and obesity among high-school students of Dibrugarh and to determine factors associated with it. Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional study including students enrolled in 8th- 10th grades in schools of urban Dibrugarh, Assam was conducted from October 2012 to June 2013 wherein 1000 students were selected using stratified random sampling technique. Information regarding dietary intake, amount of physical activity was collected using pre-designed, pre-tested questionnaire followed by anthropometric measurements which included body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumference was done. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS-16 software. Results: Of the 1000 students enrolled, 119 (11.9%) were overweight, 71 (7.1%) were obese and 225 (22.5%) had high waist-hip ratio. The factors significantly associated with overweight and obesity were higher socio-economic class, frequent intake of fast food items, sedentary lifestyle with less physical activity. Conclusion: Children belonging to higher socio-economic group, consuming fast food and involved in less physical activity were more predisposed to overweight and obesity.


This paper is on the effect of a T-ring shape structure to enhance the capability of a microwave coaxial slot antenna (MCA) in the treatment of liver cancer. The MCA is composed of an interstitial coaxial line that is enclosed in a catheter. The T-ring shape structure is wrapped on the outer conductor of the MCA. Thanks to the new structure, the backward heating problem appearing in many coaxial antennas is reduced and the generated heat in front of the slot is higher than those for a classical MCA.


An initial security evaluation of the proposed International Monitoring System (IMS) suggests safeguards at various points in the IMS to provide reliable information to the user community. Modeling the IMS as a network of information processing nodes provides a suitable architecture for assessing data surety needs of the system. The recommendations in this paper include the use of public-key authentication for data from monitoring stations and for commands issued to monitoring stations. Other monitoring station safeguards include tamper protection of sensor subsystems, preservation of data (i.e. short-term archival), and limiting the station`s network services. The recommendations for NDCs focus on the need to provide a backup to the IDC for data archival and data routing. Safeguards suggested for the IDC center on issues of reliability. The production of event bulletins should employ {open_quotes}two-man{close_quotes} procedures. As long as the data maintains its integrity, event bulletins can be produced by NDCs as well. The effective use of data authentication requires a sound key management system. Key management systems must be developed for the authentication of data, commands, and event bulletins if necessary. It is recommended that the trust placed in key management be distributed among multiple parties. The recommendations found in thismore » paper offer safeguards for identified vulnerabilities in the IMS with regard to data surety. However, several outstanding security issues still exist. These issues include the need to formalize and obtain a consensus on a threat model and a trust model for the IMS. The final outstanding security issue that requires in-depth analysis concerns the IDC as a potential single point of failure in the current IMS design.« less


Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (App) is the etiological agent of porcine pleuropneumonia which causes huge economic losses to the pig industry. RTX (repeat in the structural toxin, RTX) is the main virulence-associated factor of the pathogen and, plays a dual role on the pathogen's infection and immunity. Recently research progress is updated in this paper and the necessity and techniques to initiate the pathogen-host interaction study is also raised and discussed. It is believed that the research on the interaction between host and App RTX may further elucidate the pathogen' s molecular pathogenesis.


The objective of this study was to examine the relative sensitivity of femoral and lumbar bone mineral density (BMD) measurements in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and to identify the most appropriate test site for detection of osteopenia in these patients. Fourteen patients with ankylosing spondylitis had femoral and lumbar bone mineral density studies using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. Significant osteopenia was found in 93% of patients when the femoral hip was examined and in 29% of patients when the lumbar region was examined. Moreover, femoral measurements exhibited greater severity of osteopenia than lumbar measurements when average T and Z scores were compared. Bone loss was most marked at Ward's triangle and the neck of the femur. When the lumbar measurements are insensitive and inappropriate, femoral neck and Ward's triangle measurements provide a more reliable indication of the presence and severity of osteopenia in patients with AS. Interpretation of BMD at the trochanter and intertrochanter, as well as total hip BMD, yielded no additional information in the diagnosis of osteopenia.


* Equal contributors. Received March 10, 2013; Accepted April 27, 2013; Epub May 15, 2013; Published June 1, 2013 Abstract: Ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynecological malignancies. Limited efficacy of cytotoxic chemotherapy is a key obstacle in the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. This study aimed to investigate whether Mir-375 enhances Rawq01 (a ruthenium derived compound) induced cell death in ovarian cancer. Meth- ods: Three human ovarian cancer cell lines were selected, and independently treated with Rawq01+mir-375 and Rawq01+control. MTT assay and flow cytometry were performed to detect the growth of ovarian cancer cells. West - ern blot was carried out to determine the expression of apoptotic associated proteins. In addition, ovarian cancer xenografts were established to explore whether mir-375 increased the in vivo chemosensitivity of ovarian cancer cells to RAWQ01. Results: Over-expression of mir-375 sensitized the ovarian cancer cells to RAWQ01. Mir-375 en- hanced the in vitro sensitivity of ovarian cancer cells to RAWQ01 by inducing apoptosis. Mir-375 also increased the in vivo chemosensitivity of ovarian cancer cells to RAWQ01. Conclusion: Mir-375 can enhance Rawq01 induced cell death in human ovarian cancer both in vitro and in vivo.


Lansoprazole is an acid proton-pump inhibiting drug that is used for the treatment of duodenal or gastric ulcers, H. pylori infection, gastroesophageal reflux disease or Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Although lansoprazole is well known for its gastrointestinal and dermatologic adverse effects, mild pulmonary symptoms are also known to develop from taking this drug. There have been no reports about lansoprazole-induced interstitial lung disease. We report here a case of lansoprazole-induced interstitial lung disease that developed in a 66-year-old man.


Using periodic auditory stimuli, it is possible to evoke so-called auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs) in the brain, which can be measured using electroencephalography (EEG). They can be used to objectively estimate frequency-specific hearing thresholds, which is especially useful for early hearing assessment in newborns. The main problem is the extremely low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), necessitating long measurements of up to an hour for a full audiometric assessment. To speed up the detection, we apply a linear spatial filter to the multi-channel EEG measurements, resulting in a new 'virtual' channel with optimal SNR. To ensure robustness, we then consider a hybrid ASSR detection method in which the original EEG channels are complemented with this virtual channel. The addition of this virtual channel successfully speeds up the detection of ASSRs by over 15 %. Furthermore our method not only speeds up the detection, but also greatly improves its sensitivity, in particular in the (clinically most relevant) lowest SNR scenarios. This could help reduce the gap that still exists between behaviourally and objectively obtained hearing thresholds.


Moro 1 first described the embrace reflex that bears his name. He found that when an infant is placed on a table and then the table is forcibly struck on either side of the child, a motor reaction is obtained. The arms are suddenly thrown out in an embrace attitude, describing an arc and tending to approach one another with a slight tremor. The fingers are at first spread and then closed. This observation has been confirmed by Freudenberg, 2 Schaltenbrand, 3 Peiper and Isbert 4 and Gordon. 5 Gordon's observations on fifty-four new-born infants are of interest. He found that forty-seven gave a positive reaction. The intensity of the reaction seemed to be influenced by the general condition of the child. In two cases of cerebral hemorrhage a feeble response was obtained on the first two days, with improvement as the general condition became better. Of two other infants


Statin therapy is safe and effective for people at low risk of major vascular events and, therefore, current guidelines might need to be reconsidered, according to a study published online in The Lancet.


Introduction: The aim of this retrospective clinical study was to assess, in the context of the recent evolution of systemic therapies, the potential effect of targeted therapies on overall survival (OS) of patients with metastatic clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (mccRCC) in daily practice. Patients and methods: All consecutive patients with histologically confirmed mccRCC who received systemic therapy between January 2000 and December 2010 in two oncology treatment centers in our Franche-Comté region in eastern France were included in the analysis. The primary end point was OS. The analysis of prognostic factors was performed using a two-step approach: uni-variate then multivariate analysis with a stepwise Cox proportional hazards regression model. Results: For the entire cohort of 111 patients, the median OS was 17 months (95% confidence interval [CI]; 13–22 months) and the two-year OS was 39%. Three prognostic factors were independent predictors of long survival: prior nephrectomy (hazard ratio =0.38 [0.22–0.64], P,0.0001); systemic therapy by targeted therapy (hazard ratio =0.50 [0.31–0.80], P=0.005); and lack of liver metastasis (hazard ratio =0.43 [0.22–0.82], P=0.002). Median OS was 21 months [14–29 months] for patients who received at least one targeted therapy compared with 12 months [7–15 months] for patients who were treated only by immunotherapy agents (P=0.003). Conclusion: Our results suggest that targeted therapies are associated with improved OS in comparison with cytokines, which is in line with other publications.


We found that multi-layer coating of a Si substrate with SiO2 dielectric nanoparticles (NPs) was an effective method to suppress light reflection by silicon solar cells. To suppress light reflection, two conditions are required for the coating: 1) The difference of refractive indexes between air and Si should be alleviated, and 2) the quarter-wavelength antireflection condition should be satisfied while avoiding intrinsic absorption loss. Light reflection was reduced due to destructive interference at certain wavelengths that depended on the layer thickness. For the same thickness dielectric layer, smaller NPs enhanced antireflectance more than larger NPs due to a decrease in scattering loss by the smaller NPs.


What is this summary about? Bacterial pneumonia is an infection of the lung caused by bacteria that is potentially deadly, costly, and affects millions of people worldwide every year. Treatment is becoming more challenging—many current treatments no longer work well because some strains of bacteria that cause pneumonia have become resistant to current antibiotics. Many of the antibiotics that do still work have undesirable side effects. Therefore, new antibiotics that work differently are needed to treat bacterial pneumonia. Lefamulin (brand name, Xenleta®) is an antibiotic that was approved to treat bacterial pneumonia caught outside a hospital (also called community-acquired bacterial pneumonia, or CABP) based on results of two clinical studies. In both studies, participants started treatment with lefamulin before the type of bacteria causing the infection was known. Lefamulin was well tolerated and worked well in 5 to 7 days to kill the bacteria causing the infection and to improve symptoms in almost all participants with CABP. What were the results? After the studies were completed, the researchers looked back at what kinds of bacteria were identified from the study participants. Lefamulin worked well to kill bacteria and to improve CABP symptoms for most kinds of infecting bacteria, including bacteria resistant to many current antibiotics. What do the results mean? These results suggest that lefamulin, by itself, provides a much-needed treatment option for CABP that covers most of the key bacteria causing this infection.


Randomized experimentation (also known as A/B testing or bucket testing) is very commonly used in the internet industry to measure the effect of a new treatment. Often, the decision on the basis of such A/B testing is to ramp the treatment variant that did best for the entire population. However, the effect of any given treatment varies across experimental units, and choosing a single variant to ramp to the whole population can be quite suboptimal. In this work, we propose a method which automatically identifies the collection of cohorts exhibiting heterogeneous treatment effect (using causal trees). We then use stochastic optimization to identify the optimal treatment variant in each cohort. We use two real-life examples - one related to serving notifications and the other related to modulating ads density on feed. In both examples, using offline simulation and online experimentation, we demonstrate the benefits of our approach. At the time of writing this paper, the method described has been deployed on the LinkedIn Ads and Notifications system.


BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE
It has been reported that p27 is associated with prognosis of some tumor. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between expression of p27 and prognosis of colorectal carcinoma.

METHODS
The expression of p27 in 82 colorectal carcinoma specimens was detected by immunohistochemical method. The relationship between the expression of p27 and clinicopathological characteristics or survival time was analyzed by chi 2 test or log rank test, respectively, while univariate and multivariate prognostic analyses were performed by using Cox regression model.

RESULTS
High p27 expression rate in colorectal carcinoma was 53.66% (44/82), while low expression rate was 46.34% (38/82). Low p27 expression in colorectal carcinoma was significantly associated with late Dukes stage, high incidence of lymph metastasis, and distant metastasis. Long rank test showed that the p27 expression was positively correlated to survival time and Cox regression indicated that the p27 was an prognostic marker of colorectal carcinoma.

CONCLUSION
Low p27 expression in colorectal carcinoma was significantly associated with late Dukes stage, high incidence of lymph metastasis, and distant metastasis, poor prognosis, and short survival time. p27 is an prognostic marker of colorectal carcinoma.


Ano-rectal neuralgia consists of pain in the ano-rectal region without any underlying organic proctological disease. Classically, three major clinical groups are defined, although associated, successive and intermediary forms may also exist. Proctalgia fugax is the most distinctive condition, consisting of brief episodes of nocturnal pain recurring at very variable intervals. In coccygodynia, the pain is postural and reproduced by pressure and mobilisation of the coccyx. The other forms of ano-rectal pain are grouped under the heading ano-rectal neuralgia or neurosis, which are characterised by the imprecision and the variability of the symptoms described. The pathogenesis of these forms of pain is unknown. Psychiatric elements are generally involved in these conditions, especially in the third clinical group. The treatment suffers from this uncertainty about the pathogenesis. The patient should be reassured by means of the least aggressive proctological procedures.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Inhibition of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) has been determined as an attractive chemotherapeutic treatment for homologous recombination (HR)-deficient tumors. PARP is involved in repairing DNA single strand breaks (SSBs) via the base excision repair (BER) pathway; therefore, PARP inhibitor (PARPi) leads to an accumulation of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) at the sites of SSBs during DNA replication. While the cytotoxic effect of PARPi was demonstrated to be potentiated by addition of genotoxic alkylating agent temozolomide (TMZ), it is not clear that this combined treatment further increases selectivity to cause cell death in HR-deficient cells, such as BRCA-deficient cells, over HR-proficient cells. TMZ randomly increases SSBs at scattered locations in the genome; in contrast, incorporation of 5-hydroxymethyl-2'-deoxyuridine (5-HmedU) in DNA has a potential to cause multiple SSBs within a short distance during BER. We hypothesized that a combination treatment of PARPi and 5-hmedU could increase selectivity of PARPi-mediated cytotoxicity in HR-deficient cells more so than the PARPi and TMZ combination. Here we show that in single chemical treatment experiments, the IC50 of 5-HmedU was eight times lower in BRCA1-/- and BRCA2-/- mutant cells, but in TMZ treatments the IC50 was only two times lower compared HR-proficient cells. Furthermore, the 5-HmedU and PARPi agent Olaparib combination enhanced a synergistic cell killing effect in BRCA1-/- and BRCA2-/- mutant cells with higher selectivity than the PARPi and TMZ combination. Advantages of the 5-HmedU and PARPi combination is as follows: 1] 5-HmedU causes DNA damage through vast genome incorporation in highly proliferating cells. Thus, 5-HmedU is more effective at selecting highly proliferating tumor cells; 2] 5-HmedU single treatment more selectively targeted BRCA1-/- and BRCA2-/- mutant cells than TMZ. This selectivity could be due to more efficient DSB formation by 5-HmedU through accumulation of clustered SSBs; and 3] combination treatment of 5-HmedU and PARPi produces a synergistic selectivity to kill HR-deficient BRCA1-/- and BRCA2-/- mutant cells whereas TMZ and PARPi combination does not. A possible mechanism of the selective cell killing effect by 5-HmedU and PARPi could result from an accumulation of closely located DSBs with PARP-DNA strand break complexes in HR-deficient cells.

Citation Format: Jean Clement, Jun Nakamura. 5-Hydroxymethyl-2'-deoxyuridine, but not temozolomide, enhances the selective synthetic lethality in BRCA1 and BRCA2-deficient cells caused by PARP inhibition. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4486. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4486


There are three major low molecular weight RNAs (150-300 nucleotides) larger than 5S rRNA present in sea urchin embryos. Two of these are localized in the nucleus and one is localized in the cytoplasm. The nuclear species contain "capped" 5' termini, with a cap I structure. These RNAs are synthesized starting in late cleavage and continuing through pluteus. Relative to 5S RNA there is a 10-fold change in the rate of synthesis of these RNAs, due primarily to a decrease in their rate of transcription after blastula. The RNAs are metabolically stable and the nuclear RNA genes are reiterated 50--100 times in the genome. Significant amounts of these RNAs are present in sea urchin eggs, enough to supply the embryo during early cleavage, prior to initiation of their synthesis.


A novel approach to surface modification was developed to improve the corrosion performance of biodegradable magnesium alloys. Additively manufactured magnesium samples and Mg-Mn-based magnesium alloys were used in this study. This method involves the combination of plasma electrolytic oxidation to create a porous ceramic-like matrix, followed by treatment with protective biocompatible agents. The most efficient method for the PEO-layer impregnation using sodium oleate and polycaprolactone was selected and optimized. The correlation between the structure, composition, and protective properties of the hybrid coatings was established. The composition of the formed polymer-containing layers was established using XPS and Raman microspectroscopy. The presence of sodium oleate and its distribution across the coating surface was confirmed at the microscale. The corrosion-protection level of the hybrid layers was assessed using potentiodynamic polarization measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, hydrogen evolution testing, and gravimetry (mass-loss tests) in vitro. The oleate-containing polycaprolactone layers (HC-SO 0.1–2) demonstrated stable corrosion behavior even after 7 days of immersion in Hank's balanced salt solution. The corrosion-current density and impedance modulus measured at a frequency of 0.1 Hz for the samples with hybrid coating after 7 days of exposure were equal to 5.68 × 10−8 A∙cm−2 and 2.03 × 106 Ω∙cm2, respectively. The developed method of surface modification demonstrates the coating's self-healing properties. The effectiveness of employing hybrid anticorrosive bioactive PEO coatings for biomedical products made from magnesium and its alloys was demonstrated.


Abstract Objectives An acquired melanin-related hyperpigmentation that occurs in sun exposure areas is Melasma which presents as gray-brown ridges and macules with prominent margins on the skin. The aim of this assay was to assess the formulation and efficacy of topical Dorema ammoniacum among Melasma patients. Methods This study was a 30 days double-blind, randomized clinical trial in Melasma with a placebo group. The study was carried out on 49 patients with Melasma attending Haji Daii Nursing Center in Kermanshah, Iran. Optimized topical formulation of D. ammoniacum gum extract was prepared by evaluating the characteristics of different topical formulations of this plant. Mean Melasma severity index (MMASI) instrument was applied to assess the product effectiveness and to determine the skin stains. Patients were pursued to receive the treatment throughout the 30 days trial. This scaling was accomplished before the intervention and 30 days after the use of the herbal product. To analyze the quantitative variables, t-test and Mann–Whitney test were evaluated by SPSS 21 software, and p-value <0.05 was considered as the statistically significant. Results The survey was performed on 40 female subjects (81.6%) and nine male subjects (18.4%) with the mean age of 32.18 ± 8.69. According to the results, the mean MSI in the drug group was significantly lower than before treatment and decreased from 86.98 ± 69.48 to 31.03 ± 32.62 (p-value <0.05). Conclusions In compliance with findings this survey revealed a positive effect of the cream formulation of D. ammoniacum extract on Melasma. As it was represented no side effects, this formulation is appropriate for the treatment of Melasma.


: This study aimed to examine empirically whether rapid changes in the technological environment affect inter-organizational relationships. In the automotive industry, the advantage of cohesive and vertically integrated inter-organizational relationships has been pointed out conventionally. The development of automated driving in the automotive industry, which is the subject of this thesis, is eliciting significant changes in the traditional automotive products and industry structure – changes generally associated with the automotive product structure moving closer to IT products. And, sharply conflicting views are found in previous studies as to whether this traditional inter-organizational network will change. As a methodology, I aimed to clarify empirically what kind of network structure of inter-organizational relations firms is growing with changes in industrial structure by creating a database of actual firm behavior. The database was analyzed using the social network analysis method, and the characteristics of growing firms' organizational network structure were extracted. The results from an analysis of a large number of databases indicated that the technological change from automated driving may have prompted a change in inter-organizational relations toward a horizontal division of labor in the automobile industry in which so-called platform leader companies would emerge.


Abstract Plasmonic core–molecule–shell (CMS) nanojunctions provide a versatile platform for studying electron transport through conductive molecules under light excitation. In general, the impact of electron transport on the near-field response of CMS nanojunctions is more prominent than on the far-field property. In this work, we use two-photon luminescence (TPL) spectroscopy to probe the effect of electron transport on the plasmonic properties of gold CMS nanojunctions. Theoretical calculations show that the TPL response of such nanojunctions is closely related to the near-field enhancement inside the metal regions, and can be strongly affected by the electron transport through the embedded molecules. TPL excitation spectroscopy results for three CMS nanojunctions (0.7, 0.9 and 1.5 nm junction widths) reveal no perceivable contribution from their low-energy plasmon modes. This observation can be well explained by a quantum-corrected model, assuming significant conductance for the molecular layers and thus efficient charge transport through the junctions. Furthermore, we explore the charge transport mechanism by investigating the junction width dependent TPL intensity under a given excitation wavelength. Our study contributes to the field of molecular electronic plasmonics through opening up a new avenue for studying quantum charge transport in molecular junctions by non-linear optical spectroscopy.


QUESTION A 30-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with acute knee pain after she had fallen while downhill skiing. In this fall she went through a typical valgus trauma with external rotation in the right knee, in which she observed a direct pain and popping sensation. At the scene of the accident the knee was cooled directly and a pressure bandage was applied. One day later she presented at the out-patient clinic. The patient was able to bear weight on the right knee and pain was not a major problem. There was no locking, but she complained of givingway. On inspection, a large effusion was present. On physical examination valgus stress was painful and tenderness of the medial collateral ligament was present. Range of motion was only slightly limited due to pain and effusion. Lachman sign was positive in comparison with the contralateral side. The conventional lateral knee radiograph showed an abnormal deep depression in the lateral femur condyle (figure 1A). What is this indentation on the lateral femoral condyle and what causes it?


THE STUDY FOUND THAT, ALTHOUGH CALIFORNIA HAS ONE OF THE MOST ADVANCED APPROACHES TO TRAFFIC SAFETY IN THE WORLD, THERE ARE STILL MANY WEAKNESSES, GAPS, AND INCONCISTENCIES IN INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMS AS WELL AS A LACK OF EFFECTIVE OVERALL PLANNING AND COORDINATION AMONG THE AGENCIES INVOLVED IN PROMOTING TRAFFIC SAFETY. RECOMMENDATIONS ARE PRESENTED FOR IMPROVED DRIVER LICENSING PROCEDURES; MORE EFFECTIVE USE OF DRIVER RECORDS; IMPROVED POST-LICENSING CONTROL ACTIVITIES BY THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES; BETTER ALLOCATION OF TRAFFIC OFFICERS, SIMPLIFICATIONS IN TRAFFIC COURT PROCEDURES; A MORE UNIFIED APPROACH TO PENALIZING AND TREATING THE NEGLIGENT OPERATOR, DRUNK DRIVER, AND OTHER PROBLEM DRIVERS; MORE EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT OF DRIVER LICENSE SUSPENSIONS AND REVOCATIONS; MORE CENTRALIZED PLANNING AND COORDINATION OF TRAFFIC SAFETY PROGRAMS; AND A STUDY AND TESTING PROGRAM TO DEVELOP AND EVALUATE BETTER APPROACHES TO TRAFFIC SAFETY. THE FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ARE PRESENTED IN DETAIL IN VOLUME 1 AND ARE SUPPORTED BY APPENDICES A THROUGH I, PUBLISHED AS VOLUME 2. THE FOURTH VOLUME IS THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES' EVALUATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY THE CONSULTING FIRM. /AUTHOR/


Background and objective: Adequate postoperative pain control is an important component to enhance recovery. Multimodal analgesia with various pain control techniques has been widely used to alleviate postoperative pain. The use of either wound infiltration or a superficial cervical plexus block has been reported to be effective for pain management after thyroid surgery. The present study evaluated the effect of multimodal analgesia using lidocaine wound infiltration combined with intravenous parecoxib for patients monitored after thyroidectomy. Materials and Methods: A total of 101 patients with a multimodal analgesia protocol being monitored after thyroidectomy were enrolled. After the induction of anesthesia, multimodal analgesia was performed through wound infiltration of 1% lidocaine and epinephrine at a ratio of 1:200,000 (5 μg/mL) combined 40 mg intravenous parecoxib before skin excision. Patients were divided into two groups for this retrospective analysis based on the injection dose of lidocaine they received. Patients in Group I (the control, n = 52) received a 5 mL injection solution, while those in Group II (the study, n = 49) received a 10 mL dosage in a time-sequential manner, in accordance with a previous clinical trial. The primary outcome was measuring postoperative pain intensity at rest, as well as during motion and coughing, which was measured at the postoperative anesthetic care unit (PACU) and on the first day after the operation (POD 1) in the ward. Pain intensity was assessed using a numerical rating scale (NRS). The secondary outcomes were postoperative adverse events including anesthetic-related side effects, as well as airway and pulmonary complications. Results: Most of the patients reported no pain or mild pain during the observation period. The patients in Group II had a lower pain intensity during motion than Group I (NRS 1.47 ± 0.89 vs. 1.85 ± 0.96, p = 0.043) when measured at the postoperative anesthetic care unit. Pain intensity during coughing was also significantly lower in the study group than in the control group (NRS 1.61 ± 0.95 vs. 1.96 ± 0.79, p = 0.049) when measured at the postoperative anesthetic care unit. There were no severe adverse events in either of the groups. Only one patient (1.9%) in Group I experienced temporary vocal palsy. Conclusions: The use of lidocaine with an equal volume of intravenous parecoxib provided comparable analgesia with minimal adverse events when monitoring thyroidectomy.


Extant research provides ample evidence that Airbnb has an adverse impact on hotel revenues and that a majority of Airbnb hosts offer multiple listings on the platform. Arguably, multi-unit host listings are the primary driving force for the associated decreases in hotel revenues. To test this proposition, this study examines the extent to which single- and multi-unit host Airbnb host listings have differing effects on hotel revenues. The results show that the adverse impact of Airbnb supply on hotel revenues was mainly driven by decreases in hotel prices rather than decreases in hotel demand. Contrary to expectations, single-unit host listings exerted greater downward pricing pressure on hotels than multi-unit host listings. These effects were consistently observed across hotel segments, with economy-scale hotels experiencing substitution effects in addition to pricing pressure. The findings have significant implications for researchers and stakeholders impacted by the sharing economy in the lodging industry.


It was a Friday morning in June 1995, and my final day at the hospital where I had virtually lived for four years. I arrived there at 6AM, and by 10 I had visited my patients, joined in a meeting for quality improvement, and listened to the residents complain about coverage the previous night. As one of the departing chief medical residents, I was to deliver a graduation speech in the hospital's main auditorium. The ceremony was beginning in an hour, and I still had not translated all my ideas into words. There was much to say. I was among the first few exchange visitor international medical graduates (EVIMGs) to join the program and the first to have become a chief resident. I wanted my speech to capture the experiences that other EVIMGs and I had lived through during training. Despite our different backgrounds, we had confronted similar challenges


Objective: To determine frequency of different types of ulnar variance in local normal adult population.
Methodology: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted at Department of Orthopedics, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, Pakistan from 19th September 2012 to18th March 2013 using consecutive, non probability sampling technique. A total of 156 volunteers were included in the study. Subjects were selected from attendants accompanying patients in orthopedics department and accident and emergency department. Data regarding age and gender was taken. Postero-anterior radiographs of wrists were made in zero position and ulnar variance measured by method of perpendiculars. SPSS version10 was used for data analysis.
Results: Out of 156 patients, 109 were males and 47 females with a male to female ratio of 2.3:1. The mean age of all patients was 40±13.82 years. The mean age of male patients was 40.73±14.07 years while mean age of female patients was 38.30±13.21 years. Positive ulnar variance was more frequent (39.7%), followed by negative ulnar variance (35.9%) and neutral ulnar variance (24.4%). Mean ulnar variance was + 0.36 mm±1.5. Overall, the minimum ulnar variance was -3.6 mm while the maximum ulnar variance was +3.2 mm with a range of 6.8 mm.
Conclusion: In local population, positive ulnar variance is more frequent followed by negative ulnar variance followed by neutral ulnar variance.


The convergence of emerging technologies and commitments of manufacturing enterprises has formed a trend in reshaping the global manufacturing landscape. Hence, electrical and electronic (E&E) manufacturers should not be expected to 'face it alone' in the current manufacturing environment. Specifically, manufacturing companies will profit from intelligent operational relationships with suppliers and government programmes that promote and support the adoption and usage of advanced development tactics and technology. Thus, the study aims to emphasize the influence of digital technology adoption on the E&E manufacturing industry through the lens of leadership effectiveness. Additionally, the current study focused on identifying and altering the dynamics of new technologies in the E&E manufacturing sector where nations are vigorously competing for advanced manufacturing leadership.


The analysis of the variability of the uniparentally transmitted genetic systems, as the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the non-recombining region of Y chromosome (NRY), is considered a useful tool to study evolutionary processes. In the present PhD Thesis both haploid systems were analyzed in different organisms by a phylogenetic and phylogeographic approaches.
In the first part, the variability of mtDNA has been analyzed in domestic Horse. In particular, two
Sardinian native breeds -the Giara and Sarcidano horse- were studied in order to determine their genetic structure and phylogenetic history by a comparison in a global framework. The project regarding the creation of a new informatics tool- HapSign Software - to assign mtDNA haplotypes is also reported with the first results of application in horse breeds. The second part encompasses a
study focused on the mtDNA variation of a Sardinian endemic genus of Carabidae (Coleoptera) of the subterranean fauna, with the aim to establish the phylogenetic relations among species already known and potentially new ones, coming from some Sardinian caves. Finally, some studies about mtDNA and Y chromosome variation in human populations were conducted; the first one concern the high resolution phylogeny of the NRY of Sardinian population by the sequencing of a large portion of Y chromosome. The other studies has been focused on Italian and African populations in order reconstruct their history from a genetic perspective.


The glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS) is an introduced pest that spreads the bacterium Xylella fastidi-osa, which causes a variety of diseases such as Pierce's disease in grapevines and leaf scorch in oleanders. GWSS has been established in Southern California since about 1990 and has also successfully invaded French Polynesia, Hawaii and Easter Island. Researchers from UC, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture have introduced parasitic wasps for the biological control of GWSS. Four parasitoids from the southeastern United States have been released and appear to be establishing in Southern California. Parasitoids from Argentina are also being evaluated in quarantine but have not yet been released.


With the use of a properly defined physical criterion for surface potential pinning, an approximate but explicit expression is derived for the linearly extrapolated threshold-voltage of fully depleted, symmetrical double-gate metal-oxide-semiconductor (DG MOS) capacitors with intrinsic or doped silicon bodies. Good agreement is obtained between the values of threshold-voltage calculated using this expression and those extracted from the numerically simulated current-voltage characteristics of DG MOS field-effect transistors. Instead of increasing monotonically with the gate oxide thickness, the linearly extrapolated threshold-voltage of a DG MOS device with a doped silicon body is found to exhibit a global minimum. The dependence of this minimum threshold-voltage on body doping concentration is evaluated. It is also verified using numerical simulation that even after considering quantum mechanical confinement and short-channel effects, the nonmonotonic dependence of the linearly extrapolated threshold-voltage on gate oxide thickness for a silicon body with finite doping is qualitatively maintained.


Thirty-five years ago Pierre Bourdieu asserted that food preferences, as much as any other element of culture, are distributed within a space of difference more or less homologous with the social space of class positions. Plumbing data on annual spends on all manner of food items, he detected two key oppositions – a taste for the light versus a taste for the heavy on the one hand and a taste for rich foods versus a taste for healthy and exotic foods on the other – and located their generative principles in differences of volume of capital and composition of capital respectively. Deploying a correspondence analysis of similar data using the 2010 Living Costs and Food Survey, supplemented by data from the 2008 British Social Attitudes survey and the 2003 Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion Survey, we seek to examine whether comparable differences in expenditure and preferences are observable in contemporary Britain and, consequently, to illuminate the current structure of the food space and its homology with class. Ultimately, we conclude that Bourdieu's general model is essentially transposable from 1960s France to the UK at the dawn of the 21st century, though we put additional emphasis on the ethical dimension of food consumption, and reflect on the prevalent instances of symbolic violence it underpins.


A fully high temperature superconducting motor has been built in the EPEC laboratory at the University of Cambridge, U.K. Two different pulsed field magnetization (PFM) strategies have been implemented for studying the magnetization of a cylindrical rotor designed by an asymmetric array of superconducting bulks. Asymmetric or uneven distribution of superconducting bulks could occur when the size of the superconducting bulks is compromised due to the curvature of the rotor and the design aims to cover the largest area as possible for the magnetic poles. It is certainly an unusual design which nevertheless deserves to be explored, as possible misalignments between the superconducting poles to be magnetized by PFM can be studied when an uneven arrangement of columns of superconducting bulks is implemented for along a cylindrical shaft. In the first of the PFM strategies, only six out of 15 columns of superconducting bulks have been effectively magnetized, and the performance of the resulting rotor has been compared with the case when the PFM strategy leads to the magnetization of up to 93% of the superconducting bulks. The advantages and disadvantages of each of the PFM strategies are discussed.


A gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method with immunoaffinity cleanup was developed for the determination of zeranol and related compounds, taleranol, zearalanone, and alpha-zearalenol in bovine muscle. Muscle samples were extracted with methanol and cleaned up with immunoaffinity chromatography (IAC) columns containing monoclonal antibodies raised against zeranol coupled to CNBr-activated Sepharose 4B. After derivatization, the compounds were analyzed by GC/MS. The dynamic column capacities for zeranol, taleranol, zearalanone, and alpha-zearalenol were 2639.7, 2840.3, 2731.5, and 2736.3 ng/mL Sepharose gel, respectively. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.5 and 1.0 ng/g, respectively, for all 4 compounds. Mean recoveries were 79.6-110.7% with coefficients of variation of 3.2-11.4% at spiked levels of 1.0-5.0 ng/g. This IAC-GC/MS method may be used for the determination of zeranol, taleranol, zearalanone, and alpha-zearalenol residues in bovine muscle, and possibly other tissues.


Background: There are several organized factors which influence the development of diabetes among HCV-infected patients like age, sex, and family history of diabetes. Patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM) have higher risk to be infected with hepatic viruses, as hepatitis B or C virus. Objective: This study aimed to notice the prevalence of HCV and cytomegalovirus in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Patients and methods: A case-control study included 95 patients with T2DM and 95 apparently healthy individuals. We evaluated the seroprevalence of two viral antibodies including (CMV IgG, HCV IgG) beside Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in patients with T2DM in comparison to the control group. Results: There was a significant increase in HCVAb (IgG) positive patients in diabetic group compared to control group. There was a significant association between HCVAb (IgG) with systolic blood pressure (mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (mmHg), mean arterial blood pressure (mmHg), WBCs, platelets and ALT. There was a significant association between CMV IgG with age, systolic blood pressure, and mean arterial blood pressure. There was a significant association between HBV Ag with ALT, AST. Conclusion: Seropositive of anti-HCV and CMV IgG were presented in higher rate on T2DM patients than control. This confirmed a strong association between HCV, and cytomegalovirus among T2DM patients.


Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the most important pathogen that causes bacterial wilt disease in eggplant and inhibits eggplant production. Improvement of eggplant varieties resistant to bacterial wilt can be accomplished through genetic manipulation. Regeneration of in vitro plants isone of the important tools to supports plant improvementthrough biotechnology. This study was aimed to determine the rate of eggplant regeneration in various maturation media, and to find the best medium for eggplant regeneration based on maturation rate and the number of cotyledon produced. We used resistant eggplant (accession 032) as the material to produce somatic embryogenic.There were 7 types of regeneration media used in this research. MS medium was supplemented with a certain concentration of plant growt regulators , such as: 1 mg / L + BAP 1 mg / L, NAA 4mg / L, TDZ 0.005 mg / L, TDZ 0.001 mg / L, CuSO4 2mM + BAP 1 mg / L, CuSO4 2mM + BAP 2 mg / L and Kinetin 1 mg / L + CuSO4 2mM. Three clumps of callus per plate with three replications were transferred to MS suplemented medium. The parameters observed were the color of callus before and after they were transfered to regeneration medium, the day of formation of globular, heart-shaped, tubular and cotyledonary phase, and the number of cotyledons formed. The results obtained showed the somatic embryogenic color of the 032 genotype was white with friable structure before being transferred to regeneration medium and was turned to yellowish white after being transferred to the regeneration medium. On the day sixth, friable embryogenic somatic of eggplant was developed into nodule on medium MS + NAA 4 mg / L, MS + CuSO4 2mM + BAP medium 1 mg / L, and MS + CuSO4 2mM + BAP 2 mg / L. Somatic embryogenic callus of accession 032 were able to pass complete globular, heart-shaped, tubular and cotyledonary phase. The most responsive medium for somatic embryogenic callus regeneration, based on the days of the callus phases formation and the number of early-phase cotyledons obtained, were MS medium suplemented with CuSO4 2mM + BAP,and CuSO4 2 mM + BAP 2 mg / L.Keywords: eggplant, Ralstonia solanacearum, regeneration, cotyledonary, clump, BAP


Abstract. Problem statement. A wide range of modern engines, gearboxes, and massdimension characteristics of a car requires the development of efficient algorithms and methods of designing dual mass flywheels (DMFs) for the given transmission parameters. Improper selection of the design parameters of the DMF can lead to a deterioration of its properties and, consequently, to the increase of vibrations, reduction of the lifetime of the gearboxes, etc. Equally important is the problem of the DMF durability, which depends on many factors, in particular, the character of driving the car by the driver. The solution of the two mutually contradictory tasks formulated above is closely linked to the creation of simulation models of the car drive with a DMF, which will allow simulating different modes of the transmission operation, in order to optimize the parameters of the DMF to the specific design parameters of the car drive. The purpose. Taking into account the design features of the transmission and DMF, to develop and substantiate dynamic, mathematical, and stimulating models of the car drive with a DMF and to study the oscillation processes while moving a car from rest. Research methods. To construct a mathematical model of a car drive with a DMF, the Lagrange method of the 2nd kind was applied. To solve the differential equations of the car motion during acceleration and simulate oscillation processes in the transmission and DMF sections, we used numerical methods with their implementation in the MatLab Simulink environment. Results. A simulation model of a front-wheel car drive with a dual-mass flywheel has been developed in the Simulink environment. The oscillation processes in the transmission and elastic elements of the DMF by the case of moving the car of category M1 from rest were investigated. Recommendations were made to increase the lifetime of the DMF. The novelty. It has been found that the use of a DMF contributes to reducing the dynamic load applied to the drive sections, absorbing the vibration energy generated by the engine. The amplitude of torque oscillations in the transmission sections, semi-axles, and tires is approximately 1.4 times smaller in the DMF drive than in the single-mass flywheel drive. Increasing the energy dissipation coefficient in the DMF from 4 to 20 N·s·m leads to a decrease in the torque amplitude in the drive sections by 1.3 – 1.6 times at the beginning of moving the car from rest, reducing the duration of transient processes from 2 to 0.75 s, which eliminates the overloading of DMF elastic sections, increasing their lifetime. The practical value. A simulation model of a car drive with a DMF during the period of moving the car from rest has been developed, which makes it possible to simulate the influence of the design parameters of the drive and DMF on the loading of the elastic sections and to calculate their strength under long-term cyclic loading. Areas for further research. To investigate oscillation processes in the DMF and transmission sections under different modes of the car movement in order to determine ways to increase the DMF lifetime by reducing the influence of cyclic loading on their elastic sections.


Computer Vision (CV) is an interdisciplinary scientific field that discusses how computers can gain a high-level understanding of digital images or video. A system has been created that is capable of detecting a compact fluoresence lamp (CFL) light. However, in previous research there is no justification that the lamp is only a part that can glow on the lamp alone and has not been done in multi-lamp testing. This study aims to compare the lamp segmentation when it goes OFF and ON so that it could be justified the accuracy of this system and does multi-lamp testing. The method used is an experiment with collecting data by direct observation of the results of the system made. The system consists of a single board computer and a common webcam. The result is the difference between the lamp segmentation when it goes OFF and ON is small with the appropriate threshold setting. So that lamp light imaging had been made could function with good reability.


Unfertilized cotton ovules, cultured in vitro, produced fiber in response to indoleacetic acid (IAA) and/or gibberellic acid (GA(3)). Of the two hormones, IAA produced the greater amount of fiber per ovule, and the effect of both hormones applied simultaneously was approximately additive. Depending upon in vitro culture temperature, a variable number of unfertilized cotton ovules produced fiber in response to 5 mum IAA. The response to IAA was "all or none" for each ovule. The percentage of ovules responding to 5 mum IAA ranged from zero at 28 C to 100 at 34 C. The ability to respond at nonpermissive culture temperatures (i.e. 28 to 30 C) was markedly increased by including 2.5 mm NH(4)NO(3) in the KNO(3)-based medium or by increasing concentrations of IAA. The inclusion of NH(4) (+) in the basal culture medium provided only an increased percentage of ovules producing fiber in the presence of IAA, but did not increase fiber production per ovule. Temperature, like GA(3), increased both the number of ovules producing fiber in response to IAA and the amount of fiber produced per ovule.


The galaxy cluster RX J1347.5−1145 is one of the most X-ray luminous and most massive clusters known. Its extreme mass makes it a prime target for studying issues addressing cluster formation and cosmology. Despite the naive expectation that mass estimation for this cluster should be straightforward (high mass and favorable redshift make it an efficient lens, and in addition it is bright in X-rays and appears to be in a fairly relaxed state), some studies have reported very discrepant mass estimates from X-ray, dynamical and gravitational lensing. In this paper we present new high-resolution HST/ACS and Chandra X-ray data. The high resolution and sensitivity of ACS enabled us to detect and quantify several new multiply imaged sources, we now use a total of eight for the strong lensing analysis. Combining this information with shape measurements of weak lensing sources in the central regions of the cluster, we derive a high-resolution, absolutely-calibrated mass map. This map provides the best available quantification of the total mass of the central part of the cluster to date. We compare the reconstructed mass with that inferred from the new Chandra X-ray data, and conclude that both mass estimates agree extremely well in the observed region, namely within 400h 70 kpc of the cluster center. In addition we study the major baryonic components (gas and stars) and hence derive the dark matter distribution in the center of the cluster. We find that the dark matter and baryons are both centered on the BCG within the uncertainties (alignment is better than < 10 kpc). We measure the corresponding 1-D profiles and find that dark matter distribution is consistent with both NFW and cored profiles, indicating that a more extended radial analysis is needed to pinpoint the concentration parameter, and hence the inner slope of the dark matter profile. Subject headings: cosmology: dark matter – gravitational lensing – galaxies:clusters:individual:RX J1347.5-1145


ABSTRACT Modern Management of High-Risk Pregnancy, edited by Niels H. Lauersen, 508 pp, with illus, $59.50, New York, Plenum Medical Book Co, 1983. Critical Care of the Obstetric Patient is not a run-of-the-mill text. Rather, it is a modern reference work for the practicing obstetrician-gynecologist, presenting state-of-the-art diagnosis, examination, and therapy for the critically ill obstetric patient and her at-risk fetus. The underlying theme is to correlate logically and lucidly physiological alterations with development of pathology, as a rational basis for relevant therapeutic intervention.In the 21 chapters the editor has selected the major medical complications adversely affecting the mother and fetus. Six chapters are devoted to management of hemorrhage, hemodynamic instability, coagulation deficiencies, diagnostic and therapeutic intervention, radiography including arteriography, volume replacement resuscitation, and conservative and surgical approaches to postpartum hemorrhage.Additional chapters address indications and requirements for enteral and parenteral nutrition, respiratory exchange problems, anesthesia rationale, therapy for hypertensive


Drug therapy is now the preferred method of treatment for spasticity, and several effective agents have been developed. The safety and efficacy of these drugs has been established in short-term studies. Overall, due to its low incidence of sedation and serious side effects, baclofen appears to be the drug of choice in the treatment of spinal cord-related spasticity. It is, however, not without its side effects due to both its administration and abrupt withdrawal. This case illustrates some significant problems associated with the abrupt withdrawal of long-term baclofen therapy in a patient with multiple sclerosis.


This paper presents an approximate method to solve unconstrained optimal control problem (OCP).This method is classified as a direct method in which an OCP is converted into a mathematical programming problem.The proposed direct method is employed by using the state parameterization technique with the aid of Laguerre polynomials and Laguerre functions to approximate the system state variables. To facilitate the computations within this method, new properties their proofs of Laguerre polynomials and Laguerre functions are given with proof.Furthermore, we will derive the condition under which the proposed method with Laguerre functions converges to the solution of the OCP equation. We will also show that for N (the number of basis functions) sufficiently large, the approximate states stabilize the system.The proposed method has been applied on several numerical examples and we find that it gives better or comparable results compared with some other methods.


The researchers undertook the study to examine the influence of the Current Ratio and Debt-to-Equity Ratio on the Net Profit Margins of Cigarette Sub Sector Manufacturing Companies that are listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the period spanning from 2016 to 2020. The study utilized a descriptive verification methodology. The study employed a statistical methodology of multiple linear regression analysis, utilizing the IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 software program for Windows. The research employed a sample of 20 financial statements procured from the cigarette sub-sector manufacturing firms listed on the Indonesian stock exchange between the years 2016 and 2020. The present study's results indicate that the Current Ratio and Debt-to-Equity Ratio of cigarette sub-sector manufacturing firms enlisted on the Indonesia stock exchange between 2016 and 2020 significantly impact Net Profit Margin .


We present techniques for synchronizing nodes that periodically broadcast content and presence updates to colocated nodes over an ad hoc network, where nodes may exhibit Byzantine malicious behavior. Instead of aligning duty cycles, our algorithms synchronize the periodic transmissions of nodes. This allows nodes to save battery power by switching off their network cards without missing updates from their neighbors. We propose several novel attack classes and show that they are able to disrupt synchronization even when launched by a single attacker. Finally, we devise a rating based algorithm (RBA) that rates neighbors based on the consistency of their behavior. By favoring well-behaved nodes in the synchronization process, we show that RBA quickly stabilizes the synchronization process and reduces the number of lost updates by 85 percent. Our evaluation also shows that all our algorithms are computationally efficient and, for the setup considered, extend the device lifetime by 30 percent over an always-on Wi-Fi scenario.


ABSTRACT Bacterial leaf blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is one of the most destructive diseases in rice. However, the pathogenic mechanisms of Xoo have not been fully understood. In this study, we identified a novel ferric uptake regulator (Fur) protein, XanFur, in Xoo, which is conserved among the major pathogens of Xanthomonas species, but has no obvious sequence identity with reported Fur proteins. Gene deletion indicated that xanfur is required for the full virulence of Xoo in rice. The expression of xanfur was significantly induced by 0.1 mM H2O2 and its deletion caused a significant decrease in the tolerance of Xoo to H2O2, suggesting that xanfur is likely involved in the resistance of Xoo to the oxidative stress caused by H2O2 in rice. The loss of xanfur also caused significant reduction in extracellular polysaccharide production, biofilm formation, and cell motility, suggesting that xanfur may be also involved in regulating these virulence determinants of Xoo. Furthermore, both in vivo and in vitro experimental results demonstrated that the global transcriptional regulator Clp positively regulated the expression of xanfur by directly binding to its promoter region, especially in the presence of 0.1 mM H2O2, presenting the cellular regulatory pathway for the expression of this gene. These results not only contribute to a better understanding of the interaction mechanisms between rice and Xoo, but also provide reference to developing high-effective bactericides by targeting to the Fur protein in Xoo to control bacterial leaf blight in rice. IMPORTANCE Although Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) has been found to be a bacterial pathogen causing bacterial leaf blight in rice for many years, the molecular mechanisms of the rice-Xoo interaction has not been fully understood. In this study, we found that XanFur of Xoo is a novel ferric uptake regulator (Fur) protein conserved among major pathogenic Xanthomonas species. XanFur is required for the virulence of Xoo in rice, and likely involved in regulating the virulence determinants of Xoo. The expression of xanfur is induced by H2O2, and positively regulated by the global transcriptional regulator Clp. Our results reveal the function and regulation of the novel virulence-related Fur protein XanFur in Xoo, providing new insights into the interaction mechanisms of rice-Xoo. Although Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) has been found to be a bacterial pathogen causing bacterial leaf blight in rice for many years, the molecular mechanisms of the rice-Xoo interaction has not been fully understood. In this study, we found that XanFur of Xoo is a novel ferric uptake regulator (Fur) protein conserved among major pathogenic Xanthomonas species. XanFur is required for the virulence of Xoo in rice, and likely involved in regulating the virulence determinants of Xoo. The expression of xanfur is induced by H2O2, and positively regulated by the global transcriptional regulator Clp. Our results reveal the function and regulation of the novel virulence-related Fur protein XanFur in Xoo, providing new insights into the interaction mechanisms of rice-Xoo.


Cubic BaTiO3 (C-BT) and tetragonal BaTiO3 (T1-BT) nanoparticles were prepared by a solvothermal method with controlling the Ba/Ti precursor ratio. Triethanolamine was additionally employed in the synthesis to obtain ferroelectric BaTiO3 with improved particle size distribution and tetragonality (T2-BT). The prepared nanoparticles were thoroughly characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence, and second-harmonic generation. Importantly, the BaTiO3 nanoparticles were introduced into the scattering layer of dye-sensitized solar cells and T2-BT showed better power conversion efficiency than C-BT and T1-BT.


Two cases of benign polypoid tumors of the duodenal submucosa are reported. Both were located in the second portion of the duodenum. The first was found incidentally during surgery for a pyloric ulcer; the second became itself superficially ulcerated and gave rise to clinical symptoms. The tumors were composed of clusters and ribbons of columnar epithelioid cells with transitions to more spindly elements and to well‐developed ganglion cells. Nerve fibrils could be impregnated emanating from all these cell types. Under the electron microscope (case 1), the ganglion cells as well as the epithelioid and spindly elements contained granules with a central dark core and a membranous envelope characteristic of catecholamine granules. These tumors have light and electron microscopic features seen in paragangliomas as well as ganglioneuromas. They differ from the chemodectomas as seen in the carotid body or glomus jugulare area by: 1. the absence of a chemoreceptor organ in the normal duodenum, 2. the very large number of nerve cells and precursors in the duodenal tumors, sometimes giving the appearance of a ganglioneuroma, and, 3. the so far uniformly benign behavior of these tumors in contrast to the known occurrence of malignant paragangliomas in other parts of the body. The name "gangliocytic paraganglioma" is suggested for these duodenal lesions. We believe, with Taylor and Helwig, that these lesions represent a transitional or hybrid form of tumor between gangliocytomas and the nonchromaffin paragangliomas.


Pupil control has been described as the major problem facing our schools. Teachers have been described as reluctant to adopt innovative practices in the classroom for fear of being charged as soft on discipline. This paper reports on research designed to test the relationship of biology teachers' pupil control and their classroom practices.

A sample of 68 biology teachers was selected by a stratified randomized process for the study. Two groups of teachers were compared on the variables of the Biology Classroom Activity Checklist.

Analysis of the results permitted the authors to conclude that those teachers who have a more humanistic pupil control ideology may be preferred to work with the BSCS programs than those teachers who have a more custodial pupil control ideology.


This work attempts to reduce the hub vibratory loads of a lift-offset rotor using IBC (individual blade pitch control) in high-speed forward flight. As a lift-offset rotor for the present study, the rigid coaxial rotor of a XH-59A compound helicopter is considered and CAMRAD II is used to predict the hub vibration and rotor performance. Using the IBC with a single harmonic input at 200 knots, the vibration index of the XH-59A rotor is minimized by about 62% when the 3/rev actuation frequency is applied with the IBC amplitude of 1° and control phase angle of 270° (3P/1°/270°); however, the rotor effective lift-to-drag ratio decreases by 3.43%. When the 2/rev actuation frequency with the amplitude of 2° and control phase angle of 270° (2P/2°/270°) and the 3/rev actuation frequency using the magnitude of 1° and control phase angle of 210° (3P/1°/210°) are used in combination for the IBC with multiple harmonic inputs, the vibration index is reduced by about 62%, while the rotor effective lift-to-drag ratio increases by 0.37% at a flight speed of 200 knots. This study shows that the hub vibration of the lift-offset rotor in high-speed flight can be reduced significantly but the rotor performance increases slightly, using the IBC with multiple harmonic inputs.