The enzymes of the DNA synthesizing machinery constitute a group of gene products that are generally expressed co-ordinately at the G1/S boundary of the cell cycle. We have investigated how growth factors regulate the steady-state mRNA levels of two of these genes, the PCNA (proliferating cell nuclear antigen)/cyclin and the thymidine kinase genes. To detect the PCNA/cyclin mRNA, we isolated a cDNA clone from a human library. Two different cell lines were used for these studies: BALB/c3T3 cells, which are exquisitely sensitive to growth factors, and ts13 cells, a temperature-sensitive (ts) mutant of the cell cycle, which arrests in G1 at the restrictive temperature. The steady-state levels of the RNAs for these two genes under different growth conditions were also compared with the levels of histone H3 RNA which are good indicators of the fraction of cells in S phase. Both PCNA/cyclin and thymidine kinase genes share two fundamental characteristics, i.e. they are not inducible in a G1-specific ts mutant of the cell cycle at the restrictive temperature and their expression is inhibited by cycloheximide, indicating that unlike early growth-regulated genes, they require the previous expression of other growth-regulated genes. However, the two genes also show differences, the most notable being that PCNA/cyclin is inducible by epidermal growth factor alone, while thymidine kinase is not.


Everybody knows that education is the backbone of a nation. Thecountries which have realized that motto and invested a lot for a long timefor sustainable development of the education sector of the country, they arenow forerunner in innovation, world influence, employment, innovativethinking, world-class health care service, technology, ideological influenceand even military advancement. They have diversified educationinvestments which have had defused the progress in all sectors. On thecontrary, there are many countries which are wealthier than manydeveloped countries, but for creative ideas, educational advancement,climate change and even for major decisions, they rely on some specificadvanced countries. These countries cannot ensure sustainabledevelopment of their own as they rely on others. Besides, some countriesmostly depend on natural resources which are now facing constraint forplummeting of the price of those assets due to worldwide economicdepression or the invention of alternative option. The countries which havethe best education in the world, they have more researchers and diversifiedworld-class education system and creativities to cope up with the changingworld circumstances. Therefore, education financing opens up a variety ofemployment opportunities which leads to the reduction of the crime rate ofa country—consequently, leads to the sustainable economic development ofa nation.


This study analyzed self-efficacy in relation to anxiety level in young track and field athletes from Parana state. The sample consisted of 75 athletes of both genders with a mean age of 16.76 years. The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI-2) was used to assess competitive state anxiety and a structured questionnaire was used to identify self-efficacy. The Kolmogorov - -Smirnov, Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for statistical analysis. The results showed no significant difference in anxiety levels between genders. For women, no significant differences were observed between outcome expectancy and anxiety level. Men who achieved a better result than expected presented a higher anxiety level. In conclusion, athletes with high outcome expectations show higher levels of cognitive and somatic anxiety and self-confidence.


Books reviewed: The European Central Bank: The New European Leviathan, by D. Howarth and P. Loedel The European System of Central Banks: An Autonomous Actor? The Quest for an Institutional Balance in EMU, by B. Dutzler The Law of the European Central Bank, by C. Zilioli and M. Selmayr Europe in the Media: A Comparison of Reporting, Representation, and Rhetoric in National Media Systems in Europe, by D. Kevin Interest Representation in the European Union, by J. Greenwood The Europeanization of British Environmental Policy - A Departmental Perspective, by A. Jordan Competition for Technological Leadership: EU Policy for High Technology, by J. Lembke Between Competition and Free Movement: The Economic Constitutional Law of the European Community, by J. Baquero Cruz Histoire politique de l'integration europeene, by F. Larat Germany, Europe and the Politics of Constraint, edited by K. Dyson and K. H. Goetz The Emergence of a European Immigration Policy/L'emergence d'une Politique Europeene d'Immigration, edited by P. de Bruycker


The spatial organization of molecules in a cell is essential for performing their functions. Spatial transcriptomics technologies have opened the door to characterization of cellular and subcellular organization. While current computational methods focus on discerning tissue architecture, cell-cell interactions and spatial expression patterns, these approaches are limited to investigating spatial variation at the multicellular scale. We present Bento, a Python toolkit that fully takes advantage of single-molecule information to enable spatial analysis at the subcellular scale. Bento ingests molecular coordinates and segmentation boundaries to perform three fundamental analyses: defining subcellular domains, annotating localization patterns, and quantifying gene-gene colocalization. To demonstrate the toolkit, we apply these methods to a variety of datasets including U2-OS cells (MERFISH), 3T3 cells (seqFISH+), and treated cardiomyocytes (Molecular Cartography). We quantify RNA localization changes in cardiomyocytes identifying mRNA depletion of critical cardiac disease-associated genes RBM20 and CACNB2 from the endoplasmic reticulum upon doxorubicin treatment. The Bento package is a member of the open-source Scverse ecosystem, enabling integration with other single-cell omics analysis tools.


PT Sayuran Siap Saji is one of the fresh cut vegetable supplier companies that are developing. In maintaining existence as a result of increasingly fierce business competition, PT X needs to continue to improve its performance. The objectives of the research were to built performance measurement at PT Sayuran Siap Saji using Balanced Scorecard (BSC). BSC is a management tool in measuring performance comprehensively. This research used descriptive techniques through case studies. Determination of resource persons is done by purposive sampling method, namely five experts from the management of PT Sayuran Siap Saji. The data was collected through in-depth interview techniques, structured interviews using questionnaires and literature study. There were four perspectives that became variables in this research, which were financial perspective, customer perspective, internal business process perspective and growth and learning perspective. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to determined the perspective priority and strategic objectives of Balanced Scorecard. The result showed that in the customer perspective, four strategic objectives were identified and five strategic objectives for each of financial perspectives, internal business process perspectives and learning and growth perspectives were identified. In the customer perspective, enhancement of satisfaction and trust from customers shows the highest contribution, meanwhile in the financial perspective, fulfill the requirements to the supplier shows the highest contribution. In the growth and learning perspective, enhancement of the capabilities and the development of the human resources  shows the highest contribution, and in the internal business process perspective, product and production process in accordance with the standards shows the highest contribution to the companies performance. This means that the four strategic objectives of each perspective that have the highest contribution are the basis for determining targets and better strategic initiatives for companies in maintaining and improving their performance


BACKGROUND: Following resistance exercise of sufficient intensity, adult males display an acute increase in testosterone (T); such increase appears diminished in obesity. While the predominant source of T production in men is the testes, adrenocortical production of T makes up a greater relative proportion of boys' T. Adrenocortical production of both T and cortisol respond to stress such as exercise. Although obesity diminishes testicular T production, obesity increases activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. METHODS: Subjects consisted of eight obese boys (age 9±1yr, height 142±7cm, mass 48±9kg, lean mass 27±4kg, body fat 40.5±5.0%) and six lean boys (age 9±1yr, height 143±8cm, mass 32±5kg, lean mass 26±4kg, body fat 15.0±3.1%). Participants first warmed up for five minutes on a cycle ergometer, and then performed six sets of ten repetitions per leg of step-ups while wearing a weighted vest; subjects rested 1 minute between sets. Step height was adjusted to 20% of each subject's height, and the vest was weighted with 50% of each subject's lean body mass as measured by DEXA. Blood samples for serum concentrations of T and cortisol were obtained from an indwelling catheter pre-exercise (PRE) and immediately post-exercise (IP). RESULTS: T concentrations increased from PRE to IP in obese boys (+14%; p=0.018) however T concentrations did not change over time in lean boys (-8%; p=0.173). Obese boys displayed a greater percent change in T compared to lean boys (p=0.014). The percent change in concentration of T was correlated to the percent change in concentration of cortisol for all boys (Spearman's rho=0.604, p=0.022). CONCLUSION: T concentrations were increased following exercise in obese boys and changes in T correlated to changes in cortisol in all boys. Increases in T following exercise in obese boys may be the result of greater activity of the HPA axis.


An efficient two-step approach is presented for designing two-channel perfect-reconstruction linear-phase FIR filter banks. The first step involves finding a good solution by using an iterative procedure. This iterative procedure is generated by properly modifying the Lagrange-Newton method proposed by Horng and Willson (1992). In the second step, the resulting solution is then used as a good initial solution for further optimization that is carried out by the second algorithm of Dutta and Vidyasagar (1977). Several examples are included illustrating the efficiency of the proposed approach and the resulting two-channel filter banks.


In classical Islamic education endowments have a close relationship with waqf institutions. Waqf institutions were financial resources for the activities of Islamic education that Islamic education could evolve rapidly. The existence of the Islamic waqf institution was caused by the Islamic economic system, which assumes that the economy was closely linked to the Muslims faith. Beside that, a balance between the economy and the welfare of Muslime people so that economic activities represented of worship and waqf became a way to closer to Allah and the common good. Therefore, when the Islamic economic progress, Muslims did not hesitate to spend money for the sake of religion and the welfare of Muslims. Driven by the teachings of Islam that respects the function of education for the advancement of religion and state, they feel compelled to spend their wealth for the implementation of education, and ultimately developing advanced Islamic education.
Because of loving knowledge, raises the need to develop education by establishing institutions to teach and develop the science. With spearheaded by the Islamic rulers who love science, such as Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma'mun, stand up educational institutions for scientific activities, such as translation activities established by Harun al-Rashid, who at the time of al-Ma ' But the operation is perfect that resulted in the establishment Bait al-Hikmah. In further developments, the need to establish educational institutions create ideas about the need for charitable organizations that will be a source of financial institutions.
Endowments role in supporting the implementation of education. With endowments, Muslims get the ease of study. Because of endowments, Islamic education  was not too demanding a lot of cost for students so that they are either poor or rich have the opportunity to learned equally. Therefore, students and teachers were encouraged to perform a scientific journey.


The kinetics of the Ru(III)-(edta) (edta(4-) = ethylenediaminetetraacetate) catalyzed oxidation of l-arginine by H(2)O(2) mimicking the action of nitric oxide synthases (NOSs) has been studied spectrophotometrically. The time course of the reaction of [Ru(V)(edta)O](-) with l-arginine was followed at 390 nm under catalytic turn-over conditions. Formation of NO in the reacting system has been confirmed with an isolated nitric oxide free radical analyzer. A detailed reaction mechanism in agreement with the spectral and kinetic data is presented.


In semiconductor factories and electronics factories, a large multi-chiller system is needed to satisfy strict cooling load requirements. In order to save energy, it is worthwhile to design the chilled water system operation. In this paper, a design methodology is developed for multi-chiller system in which chiller units consist of different cooling capacities chiller that run in parallel. The optimal design problem can be expressed as a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) which minimizes the system energy consumption within a future time period. In order to solve this complex problem, the two-stage strategy is employed to divide the problem into a scheduling stage and an operating stage. Instead of a lag scheme obtained with general method, this forecasting scheme consists of a series of optimal scheme at each sub-time period and can offer operating reference for operator. The effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated by an industrial case


Abstract Many different polychaete-echinoderm relationships have been described, from tropical to polar environments. Most of these associations have been generally defined as 'commensal', with polychaetes guests usually found on the oral surface of their hosts or, in a very few cases, even inside the host's body. Here we present an inquilinistic association involving two Antarctic species, the polychaete Gorekia crassicirris (Willey, 1902) (Polynoidae) and the irregular sea urchin Abatus nimrodi (Koheler, 1911) (Schizasteridae) found in the Ross Sea. This record is only the second worldwide for this kind of association, after that of the polychaete Benthoscolex cubanus which lives in the gut of the spatangoid Archeopneustes hystrix in Caribbean waters. Gorekia crassicirris seems to be a polyxenous species as it was also observed on another schizasterid, Brachysternaster chescheri Larrain, 1985 in the Weddell Sea. Considering that A. nimrodi is absent from that area and that the two sea urchin species have a disjoint distribution, it is possible that a 'host-switch' phenomenon occurred at some stage. We review the available literature to compare the Antarctic pairing with the other known examples of similar associations.


AbstractTotal rupture of extraocular muscles is an infrequent clinical finding. Here we conducted this retrospective study to evaluate their causes of injury, clinical features, imaging, surgical management, and final outcomes in cases of isolated extraocular muscle rupture at a tertiary center in China.Thirty-six patients were identified (24 men and 12 women). Mean age was 34 years (range 2–60). The right eye was involved in 21 patients and the left 1 in 15. A sharp object or metal hook was the cause of this lesion in 16 patients, sinus surgery in 14 patients, traffic accident in 3 patients, orbital surgery in 2 patients, and conjunctive tumor surgery in 1 patient. The most commonly involved muscles were medial (18 patients) and inferior rectus muscles (13 patients). The function of the ruptured muscles revealed a scale of −3 to −4 defect of ocular motility and the amount of deviation in primary position varied from 10 to 140 PD (prism diopter). Computerized tomography (CT) confirmed the presence of ruptured muscles.An end-to-end muscle anastomosis was performed and 3 to 5 mm of muscle was resected in 23 patients. When the posterior border of the injured muscle could not be identified (13 patients), a partial tendon transposition was performed, together with recession of the antagonist in most patients, whereas a recession of the antagonist muscle plus a resection of the involved muscle with or without nasal periosteal fixation was performed in the remaining patients. After an average of 16.42 months of follow-up an excellent result was achieved in 23 patients and results of 13 patients were considered as a failure.In most patients, the posterior border of the ruptured muscle can be identified and an early surgery can be performed to restore function. Alternatively, a partial tendon transposition should be performed. When muscular rupture is suspected, an early orbital CT is required to confirm this possibility, which can then verify the necessity for an early surgical intervention.


Virtually every single-particle cryo-EM experiment currently suffers from specimen adherence to the air-water interface, leading to a non-uniform distribution in the set of projection views. Whereas it is well accepted that uniform projection distributions can lead to high-resolution reconstructions, non-uniform (anisotropic) distributions can negatively affect map quality, elongate structural features, and in some cases, prohibit interpretation altogether. Although some consequences of non-uniform sampling have been described qualitatively, we know little about how sampling quantitatively affects resolution in cryo-EM, especially given the numerous different projection schemes that can arise in experimental situations. Here, we show how inhomogeneity in any projection distribution scheme attenuates the global Fourier Shell Correlation (FSC) in relation to the number of particles and a single geometrical parameter, which we term the sampling compensation factor (SCF). The reciprocal of the SCF is defined as the average over Fourier shells of the reciprocal of the per-particle sampling and normalized to unity for uniform distributions. The SCF therefore ranges from one to zero, with values close to the latter implying large regions of poorly sampled or completely missing data in Fourier space. Using two synthetic test cases, influenza hemagglutinin and human apoferritin, we demonstrate how any amount of sampling inhomogeneity always attenuates the FSC compared to a uniform distribution. We advocate quantitative evaluation of the SCF criterion to approximate the effect of non-uniform sampling on resolution within experimental single-particle cryo-EM reconstructions.


Background: Follow-up of celiac disease (CD) patients is recommended for gluten-free diet (GFD) adherence monitoring and complication detection. We recently showed that 35% of children with CD were lost to follow-up (LTFU). We aimed to characterize LTFU population, and thus identify compliance barriers to GFD and follow-up. Methods: 50 LTFU patients were investigated using a telephone questionnaire, regarding frequency of follow-up, serology testing, and adherence to GFD (using the validated Biagi score). Fifty two regular follow-up patients served as controls. Results: LTFU patients had poor adherence to GFD (average Biagi score of 2.0 ± 1.4) compared to controls (3.0 ± 1.0, p < 0.001). Only 22% of LTFU performed periodic celiac serology testing compared to 82% of controls (p < 0.001). LTFU had higher prevalence of positive celiac serology tests (50% compared to 25% of controls, p = 0.01). Fewer LTFU were National Celiac Association members (24%) compared with controls (44%, p = 0.05). Regression analysis showed positive relationships between LTFU and poor adherence to GFD (R2 = 0.26737, p = 0.001), older age at diagnosis (R2 = 0.30046, p = 0.03), and non-membership in a celiac association (R2 = 0.18591, p = 0.0001). Conclusion: LTFU is associated with non-adherence to GFD and positive serology. Risk factors for LFTU should be identified and addressed in order to improve patient care.


Purpose EHealth interventions are effective in changing health behaviours, such as increasing physical activity and altering dietary habits, but suffer from high attrition rates. In order to create interventions that are adapted to end-users, in-depth investigations about their opinions and preferences are required. As opinions and preferences may vary for different target groups, we explored these in two groups: the general population and a clinical sample. Methods Twenty adults from the general population (mean age = 42.65, 11 women) and twenty adults with type 2 diabetes (mean age = 64.30, 12 women) performed 'MyPlan 1.0', which is a self-regulation-based eHealth intervention designed to increase physical activity and the intake of fruit and vegetables in the general population. The opinions and preferences of end-users were explored using a think aloud procedure and a questionnaire. During a home visit, participants were invited to think aloud while performing 'MyPlan 1.0'. The thoughts were transcribed verbatim and inductive thematic analysis was applied. Results Both groups had similar opinions regarding health behaviours and 'MyPlan 1.0'. Participants generally liked the website, but often experienced it as time-consuming. Furthermore, they regularly mentioned that a mobile application would be useful to remind them about their goals on a daily basis. Finally, users' ideas about how to pursue health behaviours often hindered them to correctly use the website. Conclusions Although originally created for the general population, 'MyPlan 1.0' can also be used in adults with type 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, more adaptations are needed to make the eHealth intervention more convenient and less time-consuming. Furthermore, users' ideas regarding a healthy lifestyle should be taken into account when designing online interventions.


Non-linear seal friction can impede the performance of hydraulic actuation systems designed for high precision positioning with favourable dynamic response. Methods for predicting seal friction are required to help develop sealing systems for this type of application. Recent simulation techniques have claimed progress, although have yet to be validated experimentally. A conventional reciprocating rod seal is analysed using established elastohydrodynamic theory and the mixed lubrication Greenwood-Williamson-average Reynolds model. A test rig was used to assess the accuracy of the simulation results for both instroke and outstroke. Inverse hydrodynamic theory is shown to predict a U0.5 power law between rod speed and friction. Comparison with experimental data shows the theory to be qualitatively inaccurate and to predict friction levels an order of magnitude lower than those measured. It was not possible to model the regions very close to the inlet and outlet due to the high pressure gradients at the edges of the contact. The mixed lubrication model produces friction levels within the correct order of magnitude, although incorrectly predicts higher friction during instroke than outstroke. Previous experiments have reported higher friction during instroke than outstroke for rectangular seals, suggesting that the mixed lubrication model used could possibly be suitable for symmetric seals, although not for seal tribology in general.


Combretastatin A4 disodium phosphate (CA4P) is a fluorescent, water-soluble prodrug able to induce vascular shutdown within tumors at doses less than one-tenth of the maximum tolerated dose. As a continued effort to develop efficient liposomal CA4P to treat solid tumor, we herein investigate the physical and spectroscopic properties of CA4P in aqueous solution and the mechanism of CA4P release from archaeal tetraether liposomes (archaeosomes). We found that cis-CA4P can be photoisomerized to trans-CA4P. This photoisomerization results in an increase in fluorescence intensity. Both cis- and trans-CA4P undergo fluorescence intensity self-quenching after they reach a critical concentration Cq (∼0.15-0.25 mM). Moreover, both cis- and trans-CA4P in buffer exhibit a red shift in their excitation spectrum and an increase in excitation spectrum band sharpness with increasing concentration, which can be attributed to the formation of J-aggregates. The onset of the dramatic change in excitation maximum occurs at concentrations close to Cq, suggesting that the self-quenching arises from extensive J-aggregate formation and that, when CA4P concentration exceeds Cq, J-aggregate formation begins to increase sharply. Our data also suggest that the extent of J-aggregate formation plays a critical role in CA4P release from tetraether archaeosomes and in the subsequent cytotoxicity on cultured human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. The drug leakage and cytotoxicity rate constants vary with the initial CA4P concentration entrapped inside archaeosomes in a biphasic manner, reaching a local maximum at 0.25-0.50 mM. A mechanism based on the concept of J-aggregate formation has been proposed to explain the biphasic changes in drug release and cytotoxicity with increasing drug concentration. Tetraether archaeosomes are extraordinarily stable and relatively nontoxic to animals; thus, they are promising nano drug carriers. The results obtained from this study pave the way for future development of archaeosomal CA4P to treat solid tumors.


This paper studies the optimal decisions of a supply chain involving one supplier and one retailer with asymmetric information after the retailer's cost was disruption. We consider two scenarios: coordination mechanism under asymmetric information in a regular scenario and in an irregular scenario (with retailer's cost disruption). Our research shows that, it is optimal for the supply chain to keep the original coordination mechanism if the retailer's cost change is sufficiently small. Decisions must be remade if retailer's cost change is larger. We illustrate the results by numerical analysis.


Dynamics of photoinduced dichroism and birefringence have been studied experimentally and theoretically (with the help of the Dumont model) by using some comb-shaped azopolymers. It is shown that the dynamics of trans-isomer concentration and their angular distribution anisotropy can be restored from the experimentally found dichroism dynamics, with the concentration and anisotropy being averaged over the thickness for optically thick samples. At the initial stage of photoinduced anisotropy when the active role of the polymer matrix can be neglected, the experimental time dependence of dichroism is shown to comply well with the Dumont model even if the orientation memory is neglected, provided that only a part of trans-isomers participates in trans-isomerisation.


Ionizing radiation has been proved a major stress that can induce carcinogenesis. Nuclear DNA is the main target of ionizing radiation, exposure of which is followed by many types of DNA damages. DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induced by ionizing radiation are considered the most relevant lesion for mutations and carcinogenesis, and unrepaired or misrepaired DSBs are a serious threat to genomic integrity. The increased mutation induced by radiation has been proved to be tightly associated with carcinogenesis. Radiation-induced bystander effect (RIBE), which was found in the 1990s, challenged the conventional dogma that no effects were expected in the cell population that had not been exposed to radiation. With the RIBE, the irradiated cells could secret some signal factor(s) to affect the nearby non-irradiated cells or cells that had received the transferred conditioned medium, and then to induce DSBs, mutation and cell death etc. in the non-irradiated cells. As such, RIBE "enlarges" the area or the target of bio-effect of radiation from the directly irradiated cells to non-irradiated cells surrounding or even away from the irradiated cells, with the effect particularly significant in the low radiation-dose regime. The existence of RIBE led to a non-linear relationship between the cancer risk and the radiation dose (in the low-dose regime). Studies on the mechanism underlying RIBE have also enlightened us on directions to radiation protection against low-dose environmental radiation as well as during radiotherapy.


The diversity, adaptation and memory of biological immune system attract much attention of researchers. Several optimal algorithms based on immune system have also been proposed up to now. The distance concentration-based artificial immune algorithm (DCAIA) is proposed to overcome defects of the classical artificial immune algorithm (CAIA) in this paper. Compared with genetic algorithm (GA) and CAIA, DCAIA is good for solving the problem of precocity,holding the diversity of antibody, and enhancing convergence rate.


Abstract The balanced scorecard (BSC) seems to be the latest management fashion to sweep the organizational world. Despite its apparent popularity, we have only limited systematic, research-based evidence on BSC applications. This study aims to find out how BSCs are applied in Finland and why companies adopt them. The study comprised a series of semi-structured interviews in 17 organizations. It appears that BSCs are used basically in two different ways. The first approaches management by objectives. The second is to use BSCs merely as an information system. Moreover, our findings suggest that the idea of linking measures together based on assumed cause-and-effect relationships was not well understood by the early adopters of BSCs. In explaining the popularity of BSCs in Finland, supply-side forces seem to have an important role. These results, as well as the definition of the BSC, are discussed and ideas for further research are presented.


Over the past decade, CBS's hit television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has been characterized as novel and innovative, as one of the first times forensic science was made palatable to a popular audience. Because of its subject matter and its popularity, the show has also sparked debates about the effects of scientific representations. In this essay, I contend that both CSI and its potential effects would be better understood as part of a longer genealogy, one that accounts for debates concerning the real and the representational in American scientific detective fiction. Using a mixed methods approach from literature and science studies, I contextualize CSI via several other cultural 'texts': American scientific detective fiction (1909–1919) and a historical newspaper archive concerning anxieties about fictional portrayals of scientific detective work (1894–1935). By triangulating CSI and its effects with earlier representations of scientific detective work and their uptake in print news media, I draw attention to similarities between historical and contemporary debates: the relative worth of the real and the representational, the role of the media in identifying and/or constructing American anxiety about forensic science and detective work, the relative authority of (forensic) science and the police, and the differing standards of judgment for science and law.


In 2 Sam 11 and Num 22, the direct speech of the first speaker (Joab and Balak, respectively) is passed on and quoted by others. However, the messenger does not convey the message exactly as it had been formulated by the first speaker but instead adapts it to his own point of view. In this short contribution I show that the differences in the Hebrew text between the original message (the first speaker's direct speech) and the message as conveyed (the embedded direct speech within the messenger's own direct speech) have a specific function in the narrative. We should respect these differences when we translate. They should therefore not be treated as text-critical problems and be harmonized on the basis of variant readings from ancient versions, as has been done from time to time.


Fabricated from ZnO, III-N, chalcogenide-based, III-V, hybrid perovskite or other materials, semiconductor nanowires offer single-element and array functionality as photovoltaic, non-linear, electroluminescent and lasing components. In many applications their advantageous properties emerge from their geometry; a high surface-to-volume ratio for facile access to carriers, wavelength-scale dimensions for waveguiding or a small nanowire-substrate footprint enabling heterogeneous growth. However, inhomogeneity during bottom-up growth is ubiquitous and can impact morphology, geometry, crystal structure, defect density, heterostructure dimensions and ultimately functional performance. In this topical review, we discuss the origin and impact of heterogeneity within and between optoelectronic nanowires, and introduce methods to assess, optimise and ultimately exploit wire-to-wire disorder.


Electrically conducting polymers have previously been used for the detection of vapours and gases by measuring the reversible change in their DC resistance. The sensors have very broad chemical specificity with higher sensitivity to polar chemicals. The change in the AC impedance characteristics of poly-N-(2-pyridyl)pyrrole in the presence of three different volatile chemicals was investigated, in order to determine whether measurement of multifrequency parameters could be used as the basis of chemical discrimination. The results demonstrate quantification of concentration and discrimination between the chemicals tested on the basis of capacitance, conductance, resistance and dissipation factor as a function of frequency. This technique may be generally applied for discrimination between many chemical species.


Flower bulb production in The Netherlands is economically successful. However, production methods rely heavily on external inputs, causing contamination of surface and ground water. The use of pesticides has been estimated 100 kg active ingredient (a.i.) per ha in 1994. In the same year the annual use of nitrogen and phosphate was 310 and 130 kg per ha respectively. Over the last decade the Dutch government established targets for the input and emission of pesticides and (in)organic fertilizers, energy use and volume of production related waste. Prototype flower bulb farming systems, with regard to these objectives, were developed, tested and improved on three experimental farms. This article concentrates on the results of two experimental farms on sandy soils in the west of The Netherlands in the period 1991-1997: 'De Noord' at St. Maartensbrug and 'De Zuid' at Hillegom. At both experimental farms the use of pesticides was reduced with at least 75% compared to the reference year of 1987-1988. Considerable reduction in the use of soil fumigants and fungicides was realised, but not of herbicides and insecticides. The use of nitrogen and phosphate decreased to approximately 215 kg and 55 kg per ha respectively. The integrated prototypes of experimental farm 'De Zuid' were economically competitive with flowerbulb farms in the same region. Integrated farming prototypes of 'De Noord' were less profitable due to suboptimal soil conditions, over-ambitious research targets and i nexperienced management. As a spin-off of this farming system research, 24 flower bulb growers are converting to integrated flowerbulb growing on their farms. They are supported by research and extension workers


To connect the wired and wireless networks particularly the Mobile ad hoc Network is very interesting in real world situations due to its popularity and usefulness. Different mechanisms have been proposed to integrate MANETs and the Internet. These strategies differ in gateway discovery mechanism, cell switching criteria, ad hoc routing protocol. In our paper we remove the limitation from the above mentioned approaches and given a new approach in which cluster head and gateway will be same and that node is known as cluster head gateway (CHG) [1], in which all the responsibilities of cluster head and gateway will be perform by the CHG and we introduces the prediction table concepts in such a way that if CHG node moves or left the network then which node will act as the CHG, because if without giving the responsibilities of CHG to any node the rest of the node of that cluster has strong chances to loss the network. By applying this approach we will reduce the overhead for deciding the cluster and gateway for an Ad hoc network and by maintaining the prediction table we can decide which node will work as CHG in future to make our communication unaffected.


Fine Particulate Matter (PM(2.5)-particles with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm) can penetrate deeply into the lung, deposit in the alveoli, and consequently impair lung function. Both short term and long term exposures to PM(2.5) are associated with the incidence of respiratory diseases (e.g. asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer). This paper summarizes the effects of ambient air PM(2.5) exposure on human respiratory system revealed by epidemiological studies.


The effect of airway-to-patient circuit on the breathing pattern actually delivered to the patient by a neonatal pulmonary ventilator is in vitro experimentally examined. To this aim, an automatic measuring system capable to record: (a) the ventilation parameter analog output signals provided by the ventilator and (b) the pressure value directly measured at patient delivery site was implemented. The experimental analysis is conducted by examining various circuit configurations (tubes that differ in dimensions and rigidity, with and without humidifier, etc.) and pressure waveform changes are reported and compared. Noticeable differences between the respiratory pattern set by physicians and that actually delivered at the patient site are observed and the measured data provide indication for correct air circuit design. Finally, the hereby presented results contributed to increase the attention of the medical therapist, who is the only one able to estimate the actual patient ventilatory needs and their ranges of variation, to a more accurate ventilator setting in order to assure the correct breathing pattern for neonate health.


The experience of severe accidents shows that reliable determination of technological process parameters is necessary but not always sufficient to avoid catastrophic consequences. The accident measures should be considered in a broader context that includes the human factor, organization of the nuclear technology, external influences and safety culture.The anticipated transient without scram (ATWS) events were not considered in the original WWER (Russian PWR) design basis accidents. The design extension conditions scenarios progress in a context which is very uncertain and highly stressful for the operators. If a specific scenario requires some operators' actions as measures to mitigate, delay or distribute the accident consequences then the dynamics of accident context seem of primary importance for 'best estimate' evaluations and enhancing the plant's capability.The paper presents the capacities of the Performance Evaluation of Teamwork (PET) procedure for enhancing plant's capability for design extension conditions based on ''best estimate' context evaluation of human performance in ATWS events. The PET procedure is based on a thorough description of symptoms of various timelines and their context quantification. It is exemplified for different ATWS scenarios of the NPP with WWER-1000 based on thermal-hydraulic simulations with RELAP5/MOD3.2 code and models.Copyright © 2016 by ASME


We propose a new parallel implementation of the neural tree feed-forward network architecture that supports efficient evaluation and learning regardless of the number of layers. The neurons of each layer operate in parallel and the layers are the elements of a pipeline that computes the output evaluation vectors for a sequence of input pattern vectors at a rate of one per time step. During the learning phase the desired outputs are presented as additional inputs and the pipeline computes in feed-forward manner the gradients of the errors with respect to the neuron evaluations. Thus it is possible to run different gradient descent learning algorithms on the pipeline with a performance comparable to the evaluation algorithm.


Using an illustrative case, this report reviews the entity of primary upper-extremity deep venous thrombosis, also known as Paget-Schroetter syndrome. The entity of Paget-Schroetter syndrome is important to military physicians because of its occurrence in young, healthy, active individuals such as those in our active duty population. A review of the literature was performed and it was concluded that a multimodal approach to therapy, as was done in this case, gives the best overall results.


Abstract 1943 Background Idiopathic pneumonia syndrome (IPS) was defined as a subset of these patients who have sings and symptoms of pneumonia, and evidence for widespread alveolar injury in the absence of lower respiratory tract infection. Risk factors for IPS include previous infections, a pre-transplant condition, a low performance status prior to transplantation, a high dose of total-body irradiation (TBI), and the presence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Although IPS is a significant clinical complication after allogeneic HSCT, progress in understanding its pathogenesis has been limited. Formerly we retrospectively analyzed the incidence of non-infectious pulmonary dysfunction (NIPD) and the ACE genetic polymorphism in 118 Japanese patients who underwent HSCT from HLA identical sibling donors( 1 ). The previously result is that patients who have D/D genotype are associated with high frequency of NIPD. Here, we show the validation study to prove the relationship of ACE polymorphism and IPS, referencing to recently American Thoracic Society criteria( 2 ), in an independent cohort. Material and Methods We analyzed 149 patients who consecutively received HSCT in Tokai University Hospital from 2006 to 2011. Patients background disease were AML; n = 61, ALL; n = 30, NHL; n = 27, MDS; n = 14, AA; n = 8, CML; n = 6, Primary Myelofibrosis; n = 2 and Multiple Myeloma; n = 1. The conventional regimen for myeloid malignancy is CY and TBI (12 Gy divided with 6 fractions); n = 66 or TAI; n = 5 or BU and CY; n = 8, for lymphoid malignancy is CY+TBI 12Gy with VP-16; n = 10. RIST regimen is Fludarabin and Melphalan; n = 60. Inclusion criteria of using RIST were more than 55 year-old or low performance status or high grade of HCT-CI score. The ACE geno-type was determined by PCR amplification of intron 16, based on a previously described method. IPS was diagnosed according to previously published criteria, such as evidence of widespread alveolar injury by multilobar infiltrate, manifest on chest X-ray or computed tomography, as well as clinical symptoms of pneumonia, hypoxemia, and evidence of abnormal respiratory physiology, including restrictive impairment in a pulmonary function test. Host factors of interest included patient age, sex and underlying diagnosis. Transplantation characteristics included level of TBI conditioning, conditioning regimen, hematopoietic stem cell source (bone marrow, peripheral blood or cord blood), donor type (human leukocyte antigen [HLA]-matched or not and related donor or unrelated donor), female to male transplantation, kind of calcineurin inhibitor and acute GVHD. Death without signs of IPS was considered a competing risk in the analysis of IPS incidence. Acute GVHD was diagnosed and graded according to standard criteria. Only grades II and higher of aGVHD were considered for the analysis of aGVHD incidence. Results There were 31 patients who had D/D genotype of ACE polymorphism in this cohort, and 12/31 (38.7%) D/D patients diagnosed as IPS, whereas I/D patients 3/64 (4.7%) and I/I patients 3/54 (5.6%), respectively. The D/D genotype was significantly more frequent in IPS patients than in non-IPS patients (RR; 8.38, P Conclusion In this single institute retrospective cohort study revealed the association between ACE insertion/ deletion polymorphism and developing IPS. These findings may confirm the association renin-angiotensin system and IPS after HSCT. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


This research seeks to verify that the teacher education-initial or continued can prepare effectively, teachers for the insertion and proper use of ICT in the classroom, given that almost all Brazilian public schools already is computerized with the installation of computers and internet network. To achieve the results obtained by the research, the methodological procedure used was qualitative research descriptive and explanatory in nature, being possible to make brief considerations about the importance of reflection-action in teacher education, about the relationship of information and communication technologies to education in a globalized world;on the efficiency of teacher education in what relates to the pedagogical practice that uses ICT as didactic-pedagogical resources and, above all, about the integration and effective use of ICTs in the classroom as a way to qualify the teaching-learning process. What you get as a result of the research is that the computerization of Brazilian public schools is apparent, considering that the training offered to teachers to the use of ICTs ineffective and unsatisfactory, which is surely proven in everyday life of these institutions.


Based on the conclusion of the related researches on China's rural poverty alleviation policies and poverty problems, studies of Chinese scholars on the convergence between rural minimum subsistence system and the development policies of poverty alleviation are illustrated and personal understandings proposed. On the one hand, considering the actual situations of the quickening of China's urbanization and deepening of poverty, it is necessary to make significant adjustment and transformation in China's poverty reduction policies and minimum subsistence security system. On the other hand, it is pointed out that there is no omnipotent experience to follow in the convergence of minimum subsistence security system and poverty reduction policies. The actual conditions in various regions should be taken into consideration. And it is suggested that China should achieve the organic integration of rural minimum subsistence security system and poverty alleviation policies from management, capital and policy.


For researchers and scientific institutions the significance of digital research data as well as their storage and publication increases permanently. Using IT-based technologies improves the generation, processing and distribution of data in the context of research projects significantly. With regard to the long-term availability and accessibility of research data the need for research data management is becoming ever clearer. The archiving, publication and therefore increased reusability of research data contribute significantly to the research activities and lead to a greater acceptance and an increase in the reputations for researchers. To date, there is no explicit requirement for doctoral students at German universities to archive the research data generated during their doctoral project or to publish them as part of their dissertation. However, the principles of good scientific practice also apply to them, as the dissertations are explicitly an independent scientific achievement of doctoral students. Therefore research data of doctoral projects should be archived and linked to the corresponding dissertation to enable the verification and traceability of the results. Considering that doctoral students often leave the university or even the academic world after completing the doctoral examination procedure, it becomes clear that research data access and availability needs to be secured directly related to the submission of the dissertation.


Stationary helical fields with toroidal mode numbers n = 1 and n = 3 are applied to beam heated DIII-D plasmas. Measurements of the 14 MeV neutron emission monitor the confinement of the 1 MeV tritium fusion product. To within ~15% uncertainty, static magnetic fields with vacuum amplitudes of δB/B ~ O(10-3) have no impact on fusion product confinement.


Course guide to support CL 449: Storytelling Before 1500: An Introduction to Historical Narrative Theory taught by Christian Schneider, Spring 2015


PURPOSE
To investigate the implant stability quotient (ISQ) values of implants placed in bone with and without dehiscence bone defects over 12 weeks and to compare the ISQ values between the two groups.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty-two patients with edentulous area at posterior mandible were enrolled. Thirty OsseoSpeed EV Astra Tech implants (Dentsply Sirona), 4.2 mm in diameter, were placed. Twenty implants were placed without bone regeneration (control group), while 10 presented with favorable bone defects and received simultaneous guided bone regeneration with dental implant placement (study group). At the time of implant placement, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks, resonance frequency analysis (RFA) was utilized. The changes in ISQ values within group were analyzed with repeated-measures ANOVA, and the mean ISQ values between the control and study groups were compared using unpaired t tests.

RESULTS
All implants were successfully integrated without complication. The control group demonstrated mean ISQ values of 74.30 ± 6.01, 69.58 ± 5.30, 71.10 ± 5.80, 75.08 ± 3.93, and 77.85 ± 3.18 at baseline, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks, respectively. The study group demonstrated mean ISQ values of 69.85 ± 7.00, 63.40 ± 8.47, 59.90 ± 10.23, 72.55 ± 3.10, and 76.20 ± 2.68 at baseline, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks, respectively. The study group showed significantly lower mean ISQ values at 2 weeks (P = .021) and at 4 weeks (P = .007) after implant placement compared to those of the control group.

CONCLUSION
Within the 12-week healing period, all implants demonstrated successful osseointegration and achieved stability in favorable bone defects. Nevertheless, clinicians should consider that significantly lower implant stability can occur in the first month.


Patients requiring hemodialysis for end-stage renal disease are vulnerable to wide fluctuations in plasma potassium concentration [K+]p. Dialysis of K+ can result in rapid and large changes of [K+]p and result in significant morbidity. Since blood is routinely diverted extracorporeally to the dialyzer, the measurement of [K+]p could be made 'on-line' in this circuit with an ion-selective electrode (ISE) with negligible additional risk. Valinomycin/tetraphenylborate embedded in polyvinylchloride (PVC) electrodes of high K:Na selectivity were manufactured in our laboratory. The electrodes were calibrated in vitro and placed in a T diverter tube upstream from the dialyzer. Intermittently small amounts of blood were diverted to flow past the electrode allowing measurement of the electrical potential developed between the ISE half cell and a Ag:AgCl electrode placed 4 mm from the valinomycin membrane which could be read as [K+]p ISE. Blood flowing through the T diverter was then collected in glass tubes for measurement of [K+]p by flame photometry. Forty-six comparative measurements were made for 6 patients who had given informed consent for study. Least squares regression analysis for all observations gave a correlation coefficient of 0.95 and a regression equation of y = 1.1 X -0.39. Only six samples were discrepant by 0.5 mmol/l, and all of these had [K+]p greater than 5.0 mmol/l where the ISE measurements were less precise. Although the correlation of the two techniques was less than perfect, the ISE shows potential utility for monitoring trends of [K+]p instantaneously during hemodialysis.


Short sections of mantle rocks were drilled at Site 895 during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 147 at Hess Deep, where tectonism has exposed lower crust and mantle generated at the equatorial East Pacific Rise. These mantle sections consist of harzburgites and dunites that are impregnated by mafic liquids and crosscut by gabbroic and diabase dikes. The mantle rocks are thought to represent the Moho transition zone. This suite of samples has been extensively altered by interaction with seawater. Ultramafics are largely serpentinized. Gabbroic rocks are strongly hydrated and recrystallized and partly rodingitized. Most recrystallization occurred under static conditions. Secondary assemblages in the gabbroic rocks provide evidence for at least three successive stages of recrystallization. High-temperature amphiboles are scarce and likely represent an early episode that also crystallized secondary clinopyroxene in veins. The major episode of alteration occurred under greenschist facies conditions and is characterized by coronas of serpentine, tremolite, chlorite, and prehnite. The coronas are contemporaneous with the bulk of serpentinization. A later alteration episode produced thomsonite and potassic micas after Plagioclase, and late carbonate veins. Comparison of temperatures determined from mineral assemblages with thermal models of the oceanic lithosphere suggests that peak alteration took place at some distance from the ridge axis. Massive penetration of seawater in the mantle is therefore interpreted to result from the rifting of the crust generated at the East Pacific Rise by the Cocos-Nazca propagator.


We use the Markov Random Field (MRF) model in order to segment sonar images, i.e. to localize the sea bottom areas and the projected shadow areas corresponding to objects lying on seaaoor. This model requires on one hand knowledges about the statistical distributions relative to the diierent zones and on the other hand the estimation of the law parameters. The Kolmogorov criterion or the 2 criterion allow to estimate the distribution laws. The Estimation Maximization (EM) algorithm or the Stochastic Estimation Maximization (SEM) algorithm are used to determine the maximum likelihood estimate of the law parameters. Those algorithms are initialized with the Kmean algorithm. Results are showing on real sonar pictures.


Low concentration of serum thyrotropin (TSH) is a common finding in patients attending primary care as well as in apparently healthy elderly individuals. Low TSH concentration in apparently healthy elderly seems to be a significant risk factor for the development of dementia and for premature mortality. In thyroxine-treated women, TSH < 0.10 mlU/L appears to be a significant risk factor for fractures of the hip and vertebrae. Considering also the decrease in anti-thyroid immunoactivity observed in thyroxine treatment of autoimmune thyroiditis, as measured with antithyroperoxidase antibodies, we conclude that TSH concentrations during thyroxine substitution treatment should be held within the lower end of the health-associated reference interval.


ABSTRACT MicroRNAs are crucial regulators in the phenotype switch of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Nonetheless, the role of miR-146b-3p in VSMCs remains unclear. In the present study, platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) at different concentrations was employed to stimulate VSMCs for different times, to establish the model of VSMC dysfunction. The relative expression of miR-146b-3p was quantified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The proliferation of VSMCs was measured by BrdU assay. Flow cytometry analysis was employed for the analysis of cell cycle. VSMC migration was detected by Transwell assay. Phosphoinositide-3 kinase catalytic subunit-gamma (PIK3CG) and markers of VSMC differentiation, including α-SMA, SM-22α, SMMHC, and Calponin were examined employing Western blot. The targeting relationship between miR-146b-3p and PIK3CG 3ʹ-UTR was affirmed by dual-luciferase gene assay. We report that the reduction of miR-146b-3p expression was induced by PDGF-BB in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05). The overexpression of miR-146b-3p counteracted the effects of PDGF-BB on the proliferation and migration of VSMCs and increased the expressions of differentiation markers (P < 0.05). Additionally, PIK3CG expression was negatively regulated by miR-146b-3p, and the restoration of PIK3CG partly eliminated the effects of miR-146b-3p on VSMCs (P < 0.05). In summary, miR-146b-3p represses the proliferation, migration, and phenotype switch of VSMCs induced by PDGF-BB via targeting PIK3CG. Therefore, miR-146b-3p/PIK3CG may be a potential target for the treatment of atherosclerosis. Graphical Abstract


An external refugee dilemma is one of the most serious North Korean humanitarian problems together with long-standing food crisis and gross human rights violations. Since the mid-1990s, hunger-stricken North Koreans have tried to escape from their country, mostly to China, but political barriers and tight border control have made the process dangerous and often unsuccessful. Even after a successful escape, those in China or countries other than South Korea are currently trapped by political, diplomatic, and legal constraints. According to the UN refugee laws, only those who leave their home countries for political reasons such as wars and persecution are entitled to seek refugee status. Deplorably, North Korean defectors in search of food, money and medicine do not meet this requirement. This legal trap has been a justification to China and other countries that are reluctant to grant the defectors protection and shelters. The Chinese government has labeled all North Korean escapees as illegal immigrants. Unless a dramatic incident such as "planned defection" happens to catch the world media, the defectors are destined to forcibly repatriation to North Korea. Once returned, they are subject to imprisonment, harsh torture, or even death penalty. Those who remained in China also face double sufferings of fugitive life and human rights abuse such as la bor exploitation, human trafficking and purchasing marriage. As China has increased their surveillance and search activities, many North Koreans in China have attempted to escape to Southeast Asian countries. North Korean refugee problem needs to be addressed from the perspectives of human rights and humanitarian issues, and yet the countries involved tend to deal with the problem in terms of their political, diplomatic priorities and national interests. Although the US, Japan, Russia and other Southeast Asian countries, as well as successive Korean governments, tend to provide North Korean defectors with assistance and have not forcibly repatriate them, more comprehensive and consistent North Korean refugee policies are required to effectively address the problem. It is particularly important considering the likelihood of the North Korean contingency and related mass defection of North Korean people. While the contingency, whether it will be caused by the fall down of Kim Jong-il's regime, the transformation of the dictatorial communist system, or the state collapse of Democratic People's Republic of Korea, can precipitate the mass refugee problem, the North Korean regime's loss of power and control over its citizen lapse can be caused by the large-scale refugee flow in combination with the uprising of the discontented North Korean people. No matter which scenario is more plausible, if the contingency and/or mass defection happen, the consequences will be astounding. Therefore, close policy coordination at the global and regional levels are crucial to prepare for detailed and systematic plans to address the problem.


Special hollow ZnFe2O4/ZnO hybrid spheres were successfully designed and synthesized via a facile hydrothermal procedure. Carbon spheres were used as the core template, which were removed during the calcination process in an air-rich atmosphere, thus leading to interior voids and an outer shell structure due to the contraction and combustion of the carbon spheres. The hybrid ZnFe2O4/ZnO hollow spheres not only possess a hollow structure, but also have a porous shell with a thickness of approximately 30 nm. Inspired by this special structure and design composition, a gas sensor based on the hybrid ZnFe2O4/ZnO hollow spheres showed a high response and fast response/recovery speed compared with nanoparticles. A short response time usually enables a gas sensor to accurately detect and real-time monitor a certain target gas. This study may give insight for the rational fabrication of high performance sensing materials.


Abstract Were synthesized hybrids nanoparticles consisting of an iron oxide nucleus and coatings of Gum Arabic (GA) and gold nanoparticles. Taking advantage of the GA, it has the function of stabilizing the iron oxide nanoparticles and protecting the surface from oxidation. Also, they have the function of reducing metals such as gold; so, in situ synthesis of gold nanoparticles was carried out to obtain the hybrid composed of iron oxide nanoparticles with GA and gold. The aim is to take advantage of the photothermal (PTT) properties of gold and the magnetic properties of iron oxide to obtain a material that works for a dual therapy: photothermal and magnetic hyperthermia (MHT) for cancer treatment. The structural, morphological, and magnetic characterization of the hybrid nanoparticles was obtained. The presence of gold nanoparticles was confirmed by X-ray diffraction: the hybrid diffraction patterns show the peaks corresponding to the NP–Au; also, the TEM images show a crystal size of 12 nm. The colloidal stability increment with the presence of gold nanoparticles obtained a zeta potential value of 21 mV. The magnetization saturation for hybrids was 47 emu/g and a blocking temperature was 336 K. These results manifest that MNP–GA–Au could be a promising alternative for dual treatment, PTT and MHT for cancer treatment. Graphical Abstract


Interferon gamma (IFNγ) is an important mediator of inflammatory liver damage as part of a complex cytokine network. In vitro, IFNγ induces hepatocyte apoptosis. We hypothesized that the hepatocyte response to IFN signalling is context‐dependent, and that specific growth factors, via phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI(3)K) and protein kinase B/Akt signalling pathways, confer a cytoprotective effect. We established an in vitro model of IFNγ‐mediated primary hepatocyte injury. We show that epidermal growth factor (EGF) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) attenuate the IFNγ‐induced hepatocyte apoptosis. IRF‐1, but not p53, is required for IFNγ‐mediated apoptosis. The loss of p21waf−1 not only sensitizes the hepatocyte to IFNγ‐mediated injury but is required for survival factor mediated cytoprotection. We show that the PI(3)K inhibitor, LY294002, partially inhibits the apoptotic response of the hepatocyte to IFNγ. In summary, we present evidence that a component of pro‐apoptotic IFNγ signalling in the primary hepatocyte occurs via the PI(3)K pathway. We show that the hepatocyte response to IFNγ is modulated by external survival factors and that this survival signalling requires p21waf−1.


Semi-supervised Learning (SSL) has witnessed great success owing to the impressive performances brought by various methods based on pseudo labeling and consistency regularization. However, we argue that existing methods might fail to utilize the unlabeled data more effectively since they either use a pre-defined / fixed threshold or an ad-hoc threshold adjusting scheme, resulting in inferior performance and slow convergence. We first analyze a motivating example to obtain intuitions on the relationship between the desirable threshold and model's learning status. Based on the analysis, we hence propose FreeMatch to adjust the confidence threshold in a self-adaptive manner according to the model's learning status. We further introduce a self-adaptive class fairness regularization penalty to encourage the model for diverse predictions during the early training stage. Extensive experiments indicate the superiority of FreeMatch especially when the labeled data are extremely rare. FreeMatch achieves 5.78%, 13.59%, and 1.28% error rate reduction over the latest state-of-the-art method FlexMatch on CIFAR-10 with 1 label per class, STL-10 with 4 labels per class, and ImageNet with 100 labels per class, respectively. Moreover, FreeMatch can also boost the performance of imbalanced SSL. The codes can be found at https://github.com/microsoft/Semi-supervised-learning.


This paper presents a theoretical and experimental study of wavepacket interferences created with a combination of two coherent ultrashort laser pulses: a chirped pulse and a Fourier-transform-limited pulse. We show that when the central wavelength of the pulse sequence is scanned, different behaviour is observed between the optical interference regime (pulse overlap in time) and the quantum interference regime (no pulse overlap). The theoretical analysis of the process is given together with experimental results in the (4s-4p) one-photon transition in potassium atoms.


OBJECTIVE
Non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) poses a significant health concern. The systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), an emerging inflammatory marker linked to conditions like stroke and cancer, has shown potential relevance. Inflammation's pivotal role in acute coronary syndromes is well-established, yet its specific association with NSTEMI and SIRI remains unexplored. This study aims to elucidate the correlation between SIRI and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with NSTEMI.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A cohort of 935 consecutive NSTEMI patients who underwent percutaneous intervention was recruited. MACE was defined to encompass all-cause death, malignant arrhythmia, and unplanned percutaneous coronary intervention. The systemic inflammation response index, a composite metric involving three distinct inflammatory cell counts, was computed as the product of neutrophil count and monocyte count divided by lymphocyte count. A receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to define a cut-off level of SIRI to predict MACE. Then, the study population was divided into two groups according to the cut-off SIRI level in ROC curve analysis. The 12-month follow-up results of the patients were recorded retrospectively.

RESULTS
The participants exhibited a mean age of 64.12. Notably, the mean SIRI level registered at 1.98 among patients experiencing MACE and 4.97 among others. Through rigorous multivariate logistic regression analysis, SIRI emerged as an independent predictor of MACE. Further analysis via ROC curve yielded a sensitivity of 68% and specificity of 76% for MACE detection, with a SIRI cut-off of 2.3.

CONCLUSIONS
In the context of NSTEMI, SIRI emerges as a robust independent predictor of MACE. These findings underscore the potential utility of SIRI as a prognostic indicator for adverse cardiovascular events, enhancing our understanding of the disease's pathophysiological mechanisms and potential avenues for improved clinical management.


The relation between high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HPR), and the level of glucose intolerance and insulin resistance (IR) was studied in clopidogrel-treated patients with minor ischemic stroke or TIA. The cohort consisted of 66 patients, 11 of which had known type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Platelet aggregation in whole blood (Multiplate™) and metabolic variables were measured 1 month after acute onset of neurological symptoms. Glucose tolerance was measured by Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). IR was estimated by homeostasis model assessment HOMA-IR. Patients were categorized as "responders" (R) or "non-responders" (NR) to clopidogrel according to an established cut-off in platelet aggregation induced by adenosine diphosphate (ADP). In total, 14/66 (21%) patients were NR. Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), impaired fasting glucose (IFG) or DM was seen in 13/14 NR (93%), while for R this was the case in 25/52 (48%), p = 0.001. The percentage of NR was 33% in patients with DM and 35% in patients with IGT or IFG. In the group with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) the percentage of NR was low, 4% (1/28). Fasting plasma glucose (f-PG) was higher for NR than for R, 6.0 (5.5–6.7) mM vs. 5.3 (5.0–6.0) mM, p = 0.023. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) did not differ between NR and R. NR also had higher arachidonic acid-induced platelet aggregation than R, and a tendency towards higher aggregation induced by thrombin receptor agonist peptide (TRAP), indicating that HPR reflects a global platelet hyper-reactivity. HOMA-IR was calculated for 52 of the patients above without known diabetes, 9 of which were NR (17%). NR were significantly more insulin resistant than R, with median HOMA-IR 4.5 (3.0–7.4) compared to 2.1 (1.5–3.2) for R, p = 0.001. HOMA-IR and fasting plasma insulin were the only metabolic variables with significant relationships to ADP-induced platelet aggregation. The results suggest that HPR develops in the pre-diabetic phase. A metabolic disturbance with glucose intolerance and/or high level of IR was a pre-requisite for HPR in the tested cohort. Conversely, normal glucose tolerance combined with normal or mildly elevated HOMA-IR excluded HPR. NR are likely to constitute a high-risk group among patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease. Measurement of f-PG or HbA1c is insufficient to identify NR, while OGTT and HOMA-IR are more predictive.


242 Background: To evaluate 12 sector analysis in the assessment and comparison of pre- and post- implant dosimetric parameters during the development of an I-125 prostate brachytherapy (PPB) service.

METHODS
50 consecutive men being treated with PPB had dose volume analysis in 12 sectors of their pre implant ultrasound (PIUS) and post implant CT (PICT) data using a Variseed 8.0 treatment planning system. PIUS dosimetry was performed 2 weeks prior to implantation and PICT dosimetry 4 weeks post implant. Individual sectors were created by dividing the cranio-caudal prostate length into 3 equal lengths creating prostate base (PB), midgland (PM) and apex (PA). Each of these volumes was then divided into four axial sectors (right and left anterior, right and left posterior). The planning target volume (PTV), dose to 90% of prostate (D90), prostate volume enclosed by 100% (V100), 150% (V150) and 200% (V200) dose were recorded in each sector on PIUS and PICT. Adjacent sectors on PIUS were assessed for dose-volume homogeneity as were adjacent sectors on PICT. Differences in individual sectors on PIUS and PICT were evaluated.

RESULTS
Adjacent sector analysis demonstrated dose homogeneity in all sectors of PIUS and the majority of sectors on PICT. Statistically significant differences between PIUS and PICT were noted in target volume, particularly in PB with PICT >PIUS. When individual sectors on PIUS and PICT were compared, statistically significant differences were noted in the majority of dosimetric parameters. The anterior PB and PM were significantly lower on PICT (p value < 0.001) and significantly higher at the posterior PM and PA (p value < 0.05). These changes were consistent across all analysed parameters. In particular, significant absolute differences in D90 in equivalent sectors on PIUS and PICT were seen.

CONCLUSIONS
12 sector analysis allows rapid assessment of PIUS and PICT dose and volume homogeneity. It offers a scientific method of identifying areas of relative over and under dosing on PICT when compared with PIUS providing both clinicians and physicists with a learning tool to refine dosimetric analysis and highlight sectors where implant quality could be improved.


John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden was published in 1952. Intended to be his magnum opus, the book received largely mixed reviews upon its release. The New York Times called it, "Clumsy in structure and defaced by excessive melodramatics and much cheap sensationalism," and literary critic Arthur Mizener claimed that, with this novel, "[Steinbeck's] insight and talent cease to work and he writes like the author of any third-rate best-seller." Steinbeck's literary reputation has long-suffered from reviews such as these, as well as from the accusation that he is a sentimentalist with a penchant for moralizing ethos which endows his work with ephemeral value. My thesis uses East of Eden to defend Steinbeck's literary reputation. By analyzing Steinbeck's exploration of the universal theme of good and evil, as well as his assertion that man may choose his own morality, I argue that East of Eden is representative of Steinbeck's best work and his true capability as a writer. I also contest the accusation that East of Eden is an imperfectly structured novel with an inconsistent theme; I inspect the character of Cathy Ames Trask and through her, argue that Steinbeck's structure for the novel is very intentional, and that his development of Cathy is not a contradictory element. Finally, my thesis evaluates the above-mentioned motifs to argue that sentimentality is not a detrimental quality to Steinbeck's work, and that deep human emotion, such as is found in East of Eden, should be celebrated, not disregarded as manipulative or unnecessary.


Breaking the Silence is an organisation of young Israelis who are publicly sharing the stories and images of what they were involved with when serving in the military in the occupied Palestinian Territories. Their work is contributing to debate within Israeli society and their exhibitions have also travelled the world, raising awareness of the consequences of occupation wherever it is taking place. This interview describes the different sorts of silences - personal, familial, national - that act to sustain occupation and the work that is required to change this. The following piece will be relevant not only to those with an interest in the Middle East, but also for those working with the military, ex-military and their families, and for those working with people who are trying to come to terms with what they may have participated with in the past. The interview took place in Jerusalem. The interviewer was Virginia Leake, who works at Dulwich Centre Publications.


In the 20 years since frameworks of employment interview structure have been developed, a considerable body of empirical research has accumulated. We summarize and critically examine this literature by focusing on the 8 main topics that have been the focus of attention: (a) the definition of structure; (b) reducing bias through structure; (c) impression management in structured interviews; (d) measuring personality via structured interviews; (e) comparing situational versus past-behavior questions; (f) developing rating scales; (g) probing, follow-up, prompting, and elaboration on questions; and (h) reactions to structure. For each topic, we review and critique research and identify promising directions for future research. When possible, we augment the traditional narrative review with meta-analytic review and content analysis. We concluded that much is known about structured interviews, but there are still many unanswered questions. We provide 12 propositions and 19 research questions to stimulate further research on this important topic.


We extend a two-component model for the evolution of fluctuations in the solar wind plasma so that it is fully three-dimensional (3D) and also coupled self-consistently to the large-scale magnetohydrodynamic equations describing the background solar wind. The two classes of fluctuations considered are a high-frequency parallel-propagating wave-like piece and a low-frequency quasi-two-dimensional component. For both components, the nonlinear dynamics is dominanted by quasi-perpendicular spectral cascades of energy. Driving of the fluctuations by, for example, velocity shear and pickup ions is included. Numerical solutions to the new model are obtained using the Cronos framework, and validated against previous simpler models. Comparing results from the new model with spacecraft measurements, we find improved agreement relative to earlier models that employ prescribed background solar wind fields. Finally, the new results for the wave-like and quasi-two-dimensional fluctuations are used to calculate ab initio diffusion mean-free paths and drift lengthscales for the transport of cosmic rays in the turbulent solar wind.


Objective: To describe the degree of disability in adult population with spinal cord injury and correlate it with social-demographic, clinical and access features as well as sufficiency and satisfaction with rehabilitation services in the city of Manizales (Colombia). Materials and methods: a descriptive correlational study with forty-five 18 year old people with varied etiology, neurological level and completeness with more than six months evolution was carried out in health and rehabilitation Institutions in Manizales (Colombia) between the second semester 2009 and the first semester 2010. The WHO DAS II and the ASIA Impairment Scale were used. Results: all participants reported some degree of disability. Significant associations were found between the type of general disability and the type of affiliation to the public health system, professional situation, neurological level, zone of partial preservation, sensory and motor ASIA rates, the lesion evolution time, and number of complications. The complications significantly associated with disability were: urinary tract infections, joint pain, autonomic dysreflexia and intestinal problems. As far as the use of rehabilitation services no meaningful relationship was found with any of the variables but meaningful differences were found between the groups that received accessories and vocational, labour, and educational guidance and those that did not receive such guidance. Conclusions: the correlations found between social-demographic, clinical and contextual variables concerning the situation of disabled people with spinal cord injury indicated the need to implement public health interventions aimed at reducing its incidence, prevent associated complications and promote integrated rehabilitation processes that foster social inclusion.


Purpose The purpose of this study was to Propose a classifier based on recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) metrics for distinguishing experts' scanpaths from those of less‐experienced readers and to explore the association of spatiotemporal dynamics of the mammographic scanpaths with the characteristics of cases and radiologists using RQA metrics. Materials and methods Eye movements were recorded from eight radiologists (two cohorts: four experienced and four less‐experienced) while reading 120 mammograms (59 cancer, 61 normal). Ten RQA measures were extracted for each recorded scanpath. The measures described the temporal distribution of recurrent fixations as well as laminar and deterministic eye movements. Recurrent fixations are fixations that are located close to a previously fixated point in a scanpath. Deterministic eye movements represent looking back and forth between two locations, while laminar eye movements indicate detailed scanning of an area with consecutive fixations. The RQA metrics along with six conventional eye‐tracking parameters were used to construct a classifier for distinguishing experts' scanpaths from those of less‐experienced readers. Leave‐one‐out cross validation was used for evaluating the classifier. For each reader cohort, the ANOVA analysis was done to study the relationship of RQA measures with breast density, case pathology, readers' expertise, and readers' decisions on the case. The proportions of laminar and deterministic movements involved fixations in the location of lesions were also compared for two reader cohorts using two proportion z‐tests. Results All RQA measures differed significantly between scanpaths of experienced readers and those of less‐experienced readers. The classifier achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.89 (0.87–0.91) for detecting experts' scanpaths. Proportionately more refixations and laminar and deterministic sequences were in the location of the lesion for the experienced cohort compared to the less‐experienced cohort (all P‐values < 0.001). Eight and four RQA measures differed between normal and cancer cases for the experienced and less experienced readers, respectively. None of metrics differed between fatty and dense breasts for the less experienced readers, while two measures resulted into a significant difference for the experienced readers. For experts, six measures differed significantly between true negatives and false positives and nine were significantly different between true positives and false negatives. For the less‐experienced cohort, the corresponding figures were seven and one measures, respectively. Conclusion The RQA measures can quantify the differences among experienced and less experienced radiologists. They also capture differences among experts' scanpaths related to case pathology and radiologists' decisions on the case.


Transport decisions, and their resulting impacts on land use patterns, fundamentally shape and define a city, both physically and through the daily living patterns of its citizens and visitors. As policy priorities change, so do the types of measures that are introduced, with resulting shifts in travel behaviour and lifestyles. What at one point in a city's history is often seen as the 'inevitable' need to adapt the urban fabric to accommodate the growing use of the motor car, may later be replaced by a focus on people movement and sustainable mobility, and a growing interest in urban quality and vitality – a city of places for people. CREATE (Congestion Reduction in Europe: Advancing Transport Efficiency) charts these changes in policy priorities and travel behaviour through the experiences of five Western European capital cities over the last 50 years, noting the policy tensions and competing city visions, the triggers leading to change and the evolving governance arrangements that have facilitated, or sometimes retarded, such developments. As policy priorities change, so do measures of success; in a car-focused city congestion is the dominant concern, but this becomes less important as more people travel by rail or on foot or by cycle, and when cities put a greater value on high quality places. Alongside this there have been technical changes, in the types of methods used to model behaviour and appraise schemes, and in the ways in which these tools are used. This document provides an introduction to the CREATE project, focusing on findings and lessons of value to practitioners, and those developing or updating their Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. It is underpinned by extensive qualitative and quantitative research, which is fully documented in several deliverables, and summarised in a series of Technical Notes. A more comprehensive set of Guidelines is also available.


Frank Johnson's landmark opinions in the 1970s recognized prisoners as rights-holders who were entitled to safety, sanitary conditions, health care, activities, and fair decision-making. In 2020, we take these propositions for granted, just as we also take for granted the power of prisoners to seek—and sometimes to win—judicial help in stopping the state from imposing certain forms of punishment on people convicted of crimes.

A first purpose of this Essay is to remind readers how radical and recent are the ideas of prisoners as rights-holders and of courts as protectors of those rights. Efforts to reform prisons are hundreds of years old. Yet the many ambitious individuals who sought to ameliorate conditions did not see prisoners as people whom law protected. Judge Johnson's contributions were to explain and to ensconce the judicial power to override prison officials' decisions about conditions of confinement. And as miserable as prisons are, those rulings have helped to alter some aspects of prisoners' daily lives.

Second, I bring to the fore more of the people who built that new law of prisons. Doing so entails mapping interactions among federal judges, lawyers, and dozens of prisoners whose names are not (yet) familiar but who deserve pride of place in the annals of the philosophy of punishment and of the law of prisons. Unrepresented, they provided insightful accounts into why the pain of their confinement was unconstitutional.

Third, I illuminate both the utility of law and the impact of the retreat from the doctrines that Judge Johnson elaborated. In the 1970s, the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed the precept that the Constitution does not stop at prisons' gates. But in later decades, the Court limited the application of the Eighth and the Fourteenth Amendments to prisoners. The Court refused to constrain prison overcrowding despite arguments that the intense density was cruel and unusual punishment. Further, the Court crafted a line of Fourteenth Amendment due process doctrine that distinguished between "typical" conditions in prisons, left largely to the unfettered discretion of prison officials, and "atypical" conditions, for which some protection against arbitrary decisions was required.

Looking back at prison litigation in the 1960s and 1970s demonstrates the importance of rejecting the "typical" as a normative baseline from which to assess the legally permissible. Prisoners and judges such as Frank Johnson understood that the U.S. Constitution requires more than subsistence warehousing of people convicted of crimes. Amidst the squalor of conditions in the 1960s and 1970s, they saw that states could not use their punishment powers to ruin people and therefore had affirmative obligations to prevent debilitation. Whether a constitutional right to rehabilitation exists is distinct from the proposition that in constitutional democracies, governments cannot set out to cause deterioration as a purpose of their punishment.


Human interest in meteorological domain has been manifested since ancient times, when scientists began to observe and describe the weather and have tried to explain most of the weather phenomena. Science in 2007 at North University of Baia Mare is continuously registered meteorological data with Oregon Scientific WMR 100 weather station type. It can follow the climatic parameters continuously from the urban area and microclimates. Recorded weather data are displayed on the main console; it has the possibility to connect to a computer and through a program allows unlimited recording of the data. Recorded weather variables are temperature indoor/outdoor, humidity indoor/outdoor, wind speed and direction, average monthly rainfall, daily, annual, atmospheric pressure, dew point temperature, the cooling produced by wind, temperature index and more. The main aim of this paper is to survey the environment for application meteoinformatics importance of projects and for ecological research. As we know, it is necessary to extend the perspectives in studying of Environment Information Systems (EISs) integrated in the urban ambient problematic. Meteoinformatic systems became usable in terms of research recently, but their efficiency and ease of use has led to an increasing rate of their use. As prospects for the future would be to create a computerized network through which to connect personal weather stations, obtaining valuable information from several regions of the country and can, thus clearly distinguish details of the mezoclimate of each region.


OBJECTIVE
The extracellular matrix (ECM) and cell adhesion molecules play crucial roles in angiogenesis, apoptosis, thrombosis, and inflammation, and also contribute to the pathogenesis of stroke. Integrin, alpha 6 (ITGA6) is a member of ECM adhesion receptors. We investigated whether two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs11895564, Ala380Thr; rs2293649, Asp694Asp) of ITGA6 were associated with the development and clinical phenotypes of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and ischemic stroke (IS).

METHODS
We enrolled 199 stroke (78 ICH and 121 IS) and 291 control subjects. Stroke patients were divided into subgroups according to the scores of the National Institutes of Health Stroke Survey (NIHSS, <6 and ≥6) and Modified Barthel Index (MBI, <60 and ≥60). SNPStats, SNPAnalyzer, and Helixtree programs were used to calculate odds ratios, 95% confidence intervals, and p values. Multiple logistic regression models were used to analyze genetic data.

RESULTS
A missense SNP rs11895564 was associated with the development of ICH (p=0.026 in codominant2, p=0.013 in recessive, p=0.02 in log-additive models; p=0.041 in allele distributions). The A allele frequency of rs11895564 was higher in the ICH group (13.5%) than in the control group (8.1%). In the clinical phenotypes, rs11895564 and rs2293649 showed significant associations in the MBI scores of IS (p=0.014 in codominant1 model; p=0.02 in allele distributions) and NIHSS scores of ICH (p=0.017 in codominant2, p=0.035 in recessive, p=0.035 in log-additive models), respectively.

CONCLUSION
These results suggest that ITGA6 may be associated with the development and clinical phenotypes of stroke in Korean population.


Neurostimulation, by way of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and spinal cord stimulation, improves signs and symptoms of myocardial ischaemia, with evidence (from non‐randomised studies) that this effect extends beyond the period of stimulation itself ('carry‐over' effect). In this randomised controlled trial, 10 patients underwent baseline treadmill‐exercise‐testing (TET), followed by two further tests at fortnightly intervals. TENS was compared to placebo in a randomised fashion. TENS produced a significant increase in total exercise time (399.3 vs. 364.5 s, p < 0.05) and time to maximum ST depression (374 vs. 324 s, p = 0.01) without a significant difference in the maximum degree of ST depression (2.0 vs. 2.1 mm, p = NS). Rate‐pressure product at peak exercise was not significantly different (197 vs. 193, p = NS). TENS produced a non‐significant change in time to onset of angina (352 vs. 325 s, p = 0.07). Pre‐treatment with TENS produces a significant improvement in exercise tolerance and measures of ischaemia but not significant improvement in symptoms.


The authors have analyzed the ecological, sanitary-and-hygienic and medicobiologic aspects of using the impoverished uranium in armaments and military equipment. The influence of impoverished uranium on human body (600 cases) was studied using medicobiologic investigation. It was shown that the particles of aerosol of mixed uranium oxide cause the radiation and chemical damage of kidneys, lungs and other internals. Uranium's alpha-radiation is very effective in induction of biologic effects during internal irradiation. Taking into account that bone tissue is the critical organ for uranium isotopes the medullar tissue is exposed to alpha-radiation. In the armed conflicts of the last decade wide use of armour-piercing means with elements consisted of impoverished uranium has led to the appearance of new technogenic risk factor for the environment and the man.


The generation of high-peak-intensity neutrons through a photonuclear reaction was demonstrated using the Laser for Fast Ignition Experiments (LFEX) at Osaka University. Up to 109 neutrons/shot were generated from a 1 mm sized gold target. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the neutron spectrum from keV to MeV was found to be independent of the γ-ray spectrum. The typical peak neutron intensity of 1021 neutrons /cm2/s at the target surface was estimated, and it should be a useful tool for nuclear synthesis experiments.


The development objective of the Greater Beirut Water Supply Augmentation Project for Lebanon is to increase the provision of potable water to the residents in the project area within the Greater Beirut region, including those in the low-income neighborhoods of Southern Beirut, and to strengthen the capacity of the Beirut Mount Lebanon water establishment in utility operations. Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: (1) locate reservoir to minimize land take and loss of natural landscape per unit volume impoundment; (2) analyze hydraulic loading to assess seismic potential and avoid areas of high risk; (3) provide agricultural extension and other services to promote low water-use crops and irrigation practices; (4) provide social support to vulnerable groups and use resettlement to aid poverty alleviation; (5) implement health awareness campaigns and provide adequate health care facilities; and (6) restrict activities on the upper watershed to those that have minimal environmental and social impact.


Abstract Pediatric patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) receive imaging studies that use ionizing radiation (radiation) such as computed tomography (CT) and cardiac catheterization to guide clinical care. Radiation exposure is associated with increased cancer risk. It is unknown how much radiation pediatric PH patients receive. The objective of this study is to quantify radiation received from imaging and compute associated lifetime cancer risks for pediatric patients with PH. Electronic health records between 2012 and 2022 were reviewed and radiation dose data were extracted. Organ doses were estimated using Monte Carlo modeling. Cancer risks for each patient were calculated from accumulated exposures using National Cancer Institute tools. Two hundred and forty‐nine patients with PH comprised the study cohort; 97% of patients had pulmonary arterial hypertension, PH due to left heart disease, or PH due to chronic lung disease. Mean age at the time of the first imaging study was 2.5 years (standard deviation [SD] = 4.9 years). Patients underwent a mean of 12 studies per patient per year, SD = 32. Most (90%) exams were done in children <5 years of age. Radiation from CT and cardiac catheterization accounted for 88% of the total radiation dose received. Cumulative mean effective dose was 19 mSv per patient (SD = 30). Radiation dose exposure resulted in a mean increased estimated lifetime cancer risk of 7.6% (90% uncertainty interval 3.0%−14.2%) in females and 2.8% (1.2%−5.3%) in males. Careful consideration for the need of radiation‐based imaging studies is warranted, especially in the youngest of children.


Abstract We aimed to assess the possible relationship between food allergy and two key adipokines – leptin and adiponectin – in children with food allergy. A total of forty patients with definite diagnosis of food allergy according to clinical history and specific IgE (sIgE) for food allergens (group I) were enrolled in this pilot study. The control group (group II) included thirty children with no evidence of allergic symptoms. Serum levels of leptin and adiponectin were measured by ELISA. Meanwhile, sIgE was measured for the eight most common food allergens by the immunoblot method in all participants. The median ages in groups I and II were 18·5 and 23·5 months, respectively. The respective Caesarean section rate was 64·9 and 16·7 % in groups I and II (P<0·001). Serum levels of adiponectin were significantly higher in the patient group compared with controls (24·11 (sd 12·14) v. 10·67 (sd 12·23) μg/ml, P<0·001), whereas no statistically meaningful difference was detected in serum leptin concentrations (P=0·92). There was a significant inverse relationship between age and adiponectin levels in group I (P=0·002, r –0·479) and group II (P=0·04, r –0·365), and it was more significant in group I. The most common allergens in the patient group were wheat (52·5 %), hazelnut (52·5 %), cow's milk (50 %) and egg white (30 %). The results of this study suggest an essential link between adiponectin and food allergy that is probably unlikely to be affected by obesity as a confounding factor.


This is a statement by Ahmed Sadoudi at the meeting of January 23, 2001 concerning the Country Assistance Strategy for Turkmenistan.


Cathepsin D is one of the main proteolytic enzymes contributing to the development of cancer. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression of cathepsin D in 48 colorectal adenocarcinomas at pT3 stage of clinical advancement and G2 histologic grade. The correlation between cathepsin D expression, anatomo-clinical advancement and the presence of chosen anatomo-clinical properties of the tumours was also analysed. Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues were investigated with anti-cathepsin D antibody. Immunolocalisation of cathepsin D was performed using Labelled Streptavidin Biotin (LSAB) method. A statistical correlation was found between high catepsin D expression in the cells of the main mass of the cancer and low cathepsin D expression in low-differentiated cancer cells which formed nests at the border of cancer invasion. There was no correlation between cathepsin D expression in the cells of colorectal cancer and other anatomo-clinical parameters of the tumours.


Motivation: Bayesian methods are widely used in many different areas of research. Recently, it has become a very popular tool for biological network reconstruction, due to its ability to handle noisy data. Even though there are many software packages allowing for Bayesian network reconstruction, only few of them are freely available to researchers. Moreover, they usually require at least basic programming abilities, which restricts their potential user base. Our goal was to provide software which would be freely available, efficient and usable to non-programmers. Results: We present a BNFinder software, which allows for Bayesian network reconstruction from experimental data. It supports dynamic Bayesian networks and, if the variables are partially ordered, also static Bayesian networks. The main advantage of BNFinder is the use exact algorithm, which is at the same time very efficient (polynomial with respect to the number of observations). Availability: The software, supplementary information and manual is available at http://bioputer.mimuw.edu.pl/software/bnf/. Besides the availability of the standalone application and the source code, we have developed a web interface to BNFinder application running on our servers. A web tutorial on different options of BNFinder is also available. Contact: email@example.com