The red cells from 5 related patients with hereditary stomatocytosis were investigated. Maximal rate constant of Na+ passive permeability was increased while that of K+ passive permeability was nearly normal. Ouabain-sensitive Na+ efflux was elevated. The Na+ component of furosemide-sensitive Na+, K+ cotransport was also increased. However, its K+ component, determined in 2 patients, remained within normal limits, thus departing from the strict 1:1 stoichiometry of the Na+, K+ cotransport system. Yet, intracellular Na+ and K+ concentrations displayed limited and inconstant changes. A variety of abnormally-shaped cells, including stomatocytes, were observed in scanning electron micrographs. Upon differential centrifugation, reticulocytes usually concentrated in the most dense region of the gradient. Red cell deformability, as studied by ektacytometry, was reduced. Membrane phosphatidylcholines and sphingomyelins were increased and decreased, respectively, where-as fatty acid distribution was unchanged. Membrane microviscosity was normal.


Virtual citizen science (VCS) projects enable new forms of scientific research using crowdsourcing and human computation to gather and analyse large-scale datasets. To attract and sustain the number of participants and levels of participation necessary to achieve research aims, some VCS projects have introduced game elements such as competitions to tasks. However, we still know very little about how some game elements, particularly competitions, influence participation rates. To investigate the impact of game elements on player engagement, we conducted a two-part mixed-methods study of EyeWire, a VCS game. First, we interviewed EyeWire designers to understand their rationale for introducing competitions. Guided by their answers, we analysed two datasets of EyeWire user task contributions and chat logs to assess the effectiveness of competitions in achieving designers' goals. Our findings contribute to the growing understanding of how competitions influence participant activity in human computation initiatives and socio-technical systems such as VCS.


Contents: Series preface Introduction Rome, Constantinople and the barbarians, Walter Goffart Roman military colonies in Gaul, salian ethnogenesis and the forgotten meaning of pactus legis salicae 59.5, Thomas Anderson Jr Nomadism, horses and Huns, Rudi Paul Lindner The Huns and the end of the Roman empire in Western Europe, Peter Heather The evolution of Slavic society and the Slavic invasions in Greece: the 1st major attack on Thessaloniki, AD 597, Speros Vyronis Jr Early Germanic warfare, E.A. Thompson War and peace in the earlier Middle Ages, J.M. Wallace-Hadrill The Battle of Adrianople: a reconsideration, Thomas S. Burns 'An airier aristocracy': the saints at war, Christopher Holdsworth Saint Augustine's views on the 'just war', R.A. Markus The historicity of the alleluja victory, Michael E. Jones Charles Martel, shock combat, the stirrup, and feudalism, Bernard S. Bachrach Carolingian arms and armor, Simon Coupland Plunder and tribute in the Carolingian Empire, Timothy Reuter Warfare and society in the Carolingian Ostmark, Charles R. Bowlus The military history of the Carolingian period, John France Pont-de-l'Arche or PA(R)tres? A location and archaeomagnetic dating for Charles the Bald's fortifications on the Seine, Brian Dearden and Anthony Clark Bookland and fyrd service in Anglo-Saxon England, Richard Abels England in the 9th century: the crucible of defeat, N.P. Brookes The battle at the Lech, 955. A study in 10th century warfare, Karl Leyser Secrecy, technology and war: Greek fire and the defense of Byzantium, 678-1204, Alex Roland The Arab-Byzantine frontier in the 8th and 9th centuries: military organisation and society in the borderlands, J.F. Haldon and H. Kennedy Name index.


Aims: To explore cancer risk from date of birth until 1994 in children, born 1958 or later, of Swedish male pesticide applicators. Methods: Records of male pesticide applicators licensed 1965–76 were linked to the Multigeneration Register. The records of their offspring were then linked to the Swedish Cancer Registry and the Cause of Death Register. Results: In total 51 cases of cancer were observed, which is significantly lower than the expected 73.0 (standardised incidence ratio (SIR) 0.70, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.92). Tumours of the nervous system was most common, amounting to 20 cases, 39% of all cancer cases (SIR 1.01, 95% CI 0.62 to 1.56). A statistically significant reduced risk for leukaemia was found (SIR 0.43, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.86). For non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, three cases were observed and 4.8 expected (SIR 0.63, 95% CI 0.13 to 1.83). For Hodgkin's disease, five cases were observed versus 3.7 expected (SIR 1.36, 95% CI 0.44 to 3.17). Two cases of testicular cancer were observed and 1.7 expected (SIR 1.19, 95% CI 0.13 to 4.28). Conclusions: None of the a priori hypotheses of increased risk of tumours of the nervous system, kidney cancer, leukaemia, lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, and testicular cancer in children of male pesticide applicators could be confirmed.


Inorganic arsenic (In-As), an occupational and environmental human carcinogen, undergoes biomethylation to monomethylarsonate (MMA) and dimethylarsinate (DMA). It has been proposed that saturation of methylation capacity at high exposure levels may lead to a threshold for the carcinogenicity of In-As. The relative distribution of urinary In-As, MMA, and DMA is used as a measure of human methylation capacity. The most common pathway for elevated environmental exposure to In-As worldwide is through drinking water. We conducted a biomarker study in northern Chile of a population chronically exposed to water naturally contaminated with high arsenic content (600 micrograms/l). In this paper we present the results of a prospective follow-up of 73 exposed individuals, who were provided with water of lower arsenic content (45 micrograms/l) for 2 months. The proportions of In-As, MMA, and DMA in urine were compared before and after intervention, and the effect of other factors on the distribution of arsenic metabolites was also analyzed. The findings of this study indicate that the decrease in arsenic exposure was associated with a small decrease in the percent In-As in urine (from 17.8% to 14.6%) and in the MMA/DMA ratio (from 0.23 to 0.18). Other factors such as smoking, gender, age, years of residence, and ethnicity were associated mainly with changes in the MMA/DMA ratio, with smoking having the strongest effect. Nevertheless, the factors investigated accounted for only about 20% of the large interindividual variability observed. Genetic polymorphisms in As-methylating enzymes and other co-factors are likely to contribute to some of the unexplained variation. The changes observed in the percent In-As and in the MMA/DMA ratio do not support an exposure-based threshold for arsenic methylation in humans. ImagesFigure 1. AFigure 1. BFigure 2. AFigure 2. B


CLICK HERE TO LAUNCH VIDEO Description:  This is a recording of a Denver Chapter webinar, held on 5/18/17. Calculation of heat transfer from building foundations is a computationally intensive three-dimensional problem that can require several weeks to solve using current computing hardware. Historically, annual building simulation tools use greatly simplified assumptions at the expense of accuracy. Kiva performs fast, multi-dimensional heat transfer calculations in a matter of seconds with highly accurate results. This presentation describes the methodology used to develop Kiva, and provide an overview of the recent implementation of Kiva in EnergyPlus.  Presenter:  Neal Kruis is Vice President of Big Ladder Software. He is a developer for both EnergyPlus and the California Simulation Engine. Neal holds a doctoral degree in architectural engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. His primary interest is developing high performance computing software for numerical analysis of buildings. This has lead to the creation of Kiva, a numerical framework for improving the calculation of heat transfer from building foundations. In addition to building foundations, Neal has also published research on simulating fenestration, direct expansion vapor compression systems, and water heating systems. Neal is an active member in the ASHRAE and serves on several committees developing research and industry standards. As of 2017, Neal serves on the Board of Directors for the U.S. chapter of the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA-USA).


OBJECTIVES
Residual stress is the stress (force per unit area) that remains when all external loads (eg, left ventricular chamber and pericardial pressures) are removed. It has been suggested that ventricular volume reduction surgery can reconstitute the residual stress-strain state of the left ventricle. To determine the extent to which residual stress is involved, we used a mathematical (finite element) model to simulate the effect of volume reduction operations on left ventricular stroke volume/end-diastolic pressure (Starling) relationships, as well as on regional distributions of stress in the local muscle fiber direction (fiber stress).

METHODS
The nonlinear stress-strain relationship for the diastolic myocardium was anisotropic with respect to the local muscle fiber direction. An elastance model for active fiber stress was incorporated in an axisymmetric geometric model of the dilated, poorly contractile left ventricular wall.

RESULTS
When residual stress is implemented in the model simulation of volume reduction operations, the additional decrease in stroke volume at fixed left ventricular end-diastolic pressure is small (10% volume reduction: 2.0% at 1 mm Hg and 2.0% at 20 mm Hg; 20% volume reduction: 2.2% at 1 mm Hg and 3.1% at 20 mm Hg). Furthermore, there is little change in the mean fiber stress throughout the left ventricular wall (10% volume reduction: +1.0% at end-diastole and -0.3% at end-systole; 20% volume reduction: +2.1% at end-diastole and -1.0% at end-systole).

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that residual stress produced by volume reduction operations has little effect on left ventricular function and the mean fiber stresses at end-diastole and end-systole.


Reconfigurable optical mode multiplexers/demultiplexers have attracted increasing attention in the academic community, because they enable convenient construction of flexible and complex on-chip optical networks. Here, we propose and demonstrate a scheme of reconfigurable and scalable optical mode multiplexer/demultiplexer with large operation bandwidth, based on three-waveguide-coupling structures. As proof of concept, a reconfigurable device that can multiplex input signals to the fundamental and first-order quasi-transverse electric mode is fully fabricated and demonstrated successfully. Static response spectra show that the optical crosstalk at the output ports of the device are less than -14.3 dB and -13.7 dB over the entire C band (> 40 nm), respectively. The dynamic performance with data transmission speeds of 40 Gbps for each multiplexing channel are also demonstrated successfully. The presented device is believed to be a potential candidate for future on-chip optical network with large-scale integration, flexible functionality, and low cost.


In the photochemical UV-H2O2 advanced oxidation process, H2O2 absorbs UV light and is decomposed to form hydroxyl radicals (OH·), which are highly excited and reactive for electron-rich organic compounds and hence can degrade organic compounds. In the present work, the UV-H2O2 process was investigated to degrade ciprofloxacin (CIP), one of India's widely used antibiotics, from aqueous solutions using a batch type UV reactor having photon flux = 1.9 (± 0.1) ×10-4 Einstein L-1 min-1. The effects of UV irradiation time on CIP degradation were investigated for both UV and UV-H2O2 processes. It was found that about 75% degradation of CIP was achieved within 60 s with initial CIP concentration and peroxide concentration of 10 mg L-1 and 1 mol H2O2/ mol CIP, respectively, at pH of 7(±0.1) and fluence dose of 113 mJ cm-2. The experimental data were analyzed by the first-order kinetics model to find out the time- and fluence-based degradation rate constants. Under optimized experimental conditions (initial CIP concentration, pH and H2O2 dose of 10 mg L-1, 7(±0.1) and 1.0 mol H2O2 / mol CIP, respectively), the fluence-based pseudo-first-order rate constant for the UV and UV-H2O2 processes were determined to be 1.28(±0.0) ×10-4 and 1.20(±0.04) ×10-2 cm2 mJ-1 respectively. The quantum yields at various pH under direct UV were calculated. The impacts of different process parameters such as H2O2 concentration, solution pH, initial CIP concentration, and wastewater matrix on CIP degradation were also investigated in detail. CIP degradation was favorable in acidic conditions. Six degradation products of CIP were identified. Results clearly showed the potentiality of the UV-H2O2 process for the degradation of antibiotics in wastewater.


The combination of solid state materials science with thin film technology has significantly reduced the sizes of electronic components / devices for various scientific and technological applications from console to portable and then to miniaturization. The thin film microelectronic circuit technology requires several types of thin films for a variety of applications. The current state of thin film technology is the result of continuous hard research in the development of new and reliable deposition technologies. Rechargeable solid state batteries are the key components of the modern portable electronic equipment required by today's information rich mobile society. Lithium Cobaltate is the most attractive cathode material for the rechargeable Li-ion battery, because it has high specific capacity, high operating cell voltage and excellent rechargeability. The effect of oxygen pressure on the growth and characterization of Lithium Cobaltate thin films was systematically studied. Pulsed laser deposition technique, a novel, versatile and effective method, has been employed for the growth of Lithium Cobaltate thin films. The detailed investigations were presented.


Examination of some Teleost fishes captured in the Maga detention lake located in the Far North Region of Cameroon, revealed the presence of three new species of Myxosporidia of the genera Myxidium Butschli, 1882 and Myxobolus Butschli, 1882 of which complete description is given in the present study. These species are: Myxidium tetraodoni sp. nov., parasite of the urinary bladder of Tetraodon lineatus Linnaeus, 1758 (Tetraodontidae) that form ellipsoidal spores with a turgid middle part and rounded ends. They measured 11.6 (10.5-12.5) μm long × 8.2 (7.2-9.6) μm broad; the spherical polar capsules are of equal size and measure 3.7 (3.0-4.3) μm. Myxidium anisocapsularis sp. nov., a parasite of the gall bladder of Distichodus engycephalus Gunther, 1964 (Distichodontidae) form spindle-shaped and elongated spores, that measure 15.2 (14.0-16.2) μm longx6.0 (5.0-6.7) μm broad; its polar capsules are quite unequal and respectively measure 6.0 (5.0-6.5) × 3.3 (3.0-3.8) μm for the larger and 4.7 (4.0-5.5) × 3.0 (2.3-3.3) μm for the smaller. Myxobolus magai sp. nov., a gill parasite of Labeo batesii Boulenger, 1911 (Cyprinidae) form ovoid spores with the anterior end larger with small protuberance, that measure 10.6 (9.0-12.0) × 6.3 (5.5-7.0) μm. Its polar capsules measure 2.8 (2.4-3.4) × 2.3 (2.0-3.0) μm.


Improving the efficiency of crop photosynthesis has the potential to increase yields. Genetic manipulation showed photosynthesis can be improved in Tobacco by speeding up relaxation of photoprotective mechanisms, known as non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), during high to low light transitions. However, it is unclear if natural variation in NPQ relaxation can be exploited in crop breeding programs. To address this issue, we measured NPQ relaxation in the 41 parents of a soybean NAM population in field experiments in Illinois during 2018 and 2019. There was significant variation in amount and rate of fast, energy dependent quenching (qE) between genotypes. However, strong environmental effects led to a lack of correlation between values measured over the two growing season, and low broad-sense heritability estimates (< 0.3). These data suggest that either improvements in screening techniques, or transgenic manipulation, will be required to unlock the potential for improving the efficiency of NPQ relaxation in soybean. Table of Abbreviations


An iterative algorithm is given for producing the parity-check functions for one-point algebraic-geometry (AG) codes, in particular (but not limited to) those related to the two towers of function fields introduced by Garcia and Stichtenoth (1995). This simple method, based on the linearity of the Qth-power map over F/sub Q/, is an alternative to the method of using Laurent series expansions. Examples are given for small values of m with characteristic p=2 for both towers.


For various reasons particle-size analysis of sediment is used in many fields of science and technology, a.o. earth sciences, agricultural and civil engineering. Relatively coarse-grained sediment like sand, with dimensions ranging from 0.06 till 2 mm, is analyzed almost exclusively by sieving. The size of particles in the silt and clay range (0.002 - 0.06 mm resp. smaller than 0.002 mm) commonly is derived from their settling velocity using Stokes' law; in this connection the important studies by Oden (1915, 1925) and Fisher/Oden (924) are recalled. Since the 1930's attempts have been made to remove this difference in analyzing technique by application of fall velocity analysis to sand-size sediment as well, using an empirical relation between size and fall velocity. A second and more important motive for the development of settling velocity analysis of sand is the surmise that the fall velocity of a particle might be a more fundamental property than its size as far as its behaviour in a stream is concerned. Hence, in studies on depositional environment of recent and ancient sediments settling velocity analysis is sometimes given preference to sieving (Reed et al., 1975; Emery, 1978). In this respect it is noted that in an alluvial stream the initiation of motion as well as the concentration distribution of suspended sediment with height are dependent on the ratio between shear velocity and fall velocity. Thirdly, in some cases the amount of material available to sampling is very small, e.g. in flume experiments on selective transport and in studies on sedimentary structures (Emery, 1978; Grace et al., 1978). Unlike sieving settling velocity analysis permits -- and sometimes necessitates the use of small samples. Fourthly, in settling velocity analysis the measurement process is continuous by nature. Therefore, more information is available than in the case of sieving, which is a discontinuous method. In addition, the application of a modern detection system and electronic data processing enables rapid analysis of a large number of samples in a short time. CONCLUSIONS 1. The specifications of the detection method applied in a settling tube are closely related to the characteristics of the sediment, the sedimentation fluid and the settling tube dimensions. 2. An underwater balance as applied in DUST is sufficiently accurate for fall velocity analysis of both fine and coarse sand. 3. Measurements in the test model of DUST have confirmed that the error due to settling convection is depending on particle size. For particles smaller than 0.2 mm the maximum value of the ratio between sample volume and settling tube volume, as estimated by the procedure of Kranenburg/Geldof (1974) is too large. 4. The reproducibility of the median fall velocity of samples of sieved sand, analyzed in the test model, is better than 2%. 5. Given a certain error in the measurement of the time of arrival of the particles at the level of measurement and given the maximum fall velocity in the samples to be analyzed, it can be shown that an optimum value of the delay time of the weighing system exists. The magnitude of the dynamic effect of the settling particles on the weighing system needs further study.


Abstract The possible geometrical structures and relative stability of titanium/phosphorus binary clusters of TiP6+ and Ti2P6+ are explored by means of density functional theory (DFT) quantum chemical calculations The effects of polarization functions and electron correlation are included in these calculations. The results show that the most stable structures of TiP6+ and Ti2P6+ belong to the C3v and D6h point group respectively. Our forecast to the properties of the clusters is in good agreement with the experimental results.


Formate-grown cells of the obligately chemolithoautotrophic acidophile Thiobacillus ferrooxidans were capable of formate- and elemental sulfur-dependent reduction of ferric iron under anaerobic conditions. Under aerobic conditions, both oxygen and ferric iron could be simultaneously used as electron acceptors. To investigate whether anaerobic ferric iron respiration by T. ferrooxidans is an energy-transducing process, uptake of amino acids was studied. Glycine uptake by starved cells did not occur in the absence of an electron donor, neither under aerobic conditions nor under anaerobic conditions. Uptake of glycine could be driven by formate- and ferrous iron-dependent oxygen uptake. Under anaerobic conditions, ferric iron respiration with the electron donors formate and elemental sulfur could energize glycine uptake. Glycine uptake was inhibited by the uncoupler 2,4-dinitrophenol. The results indicate that anaerobic ferric iron respiration can contribute to the energy budget of T. ferrooxidans.


In this comparative study I've chosen to look at the foreign policies underlying the statements made by the U.S. and EU directed against Hamas. The U.S. and EU cooperate on a higher level than expected in the difficulties surrounding Hamas and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general, and their cooperation is mainly represented by the Quartet of the Middle East and its work. The Quartet is the central player in the difficulties surrounding Hamas and it's working to mediate and promote a democratization process in Palestine. Structural realism has been applied and used for a theory-testing analysis of the U.S. and EU actions. The aim was to test whether the structural realism could explain the U.S. and EU actions against Hamas. Structural realism gave in this study a weak and unsuccessful interpretation and explanation of how and why the U.S. acted as they did. The case with EU on other hand, made structural realism a bit more relevant and gave a weak, but better explanation to why EU acted as they did.


This research project is concerned with sensor validation and sensor fusion as part of a five module hierarchical architecture for supervisory control. The goal is to enhance reliability and safety of the Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (IVHS) by taking into consideration the uncertainty of sensors and the system. Potential hazards are detected and feasible maneuvers are recommended within the upper modules of the architecture.


Correspondence Özgü Bayrak, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Erzincan, Turkey. Email: email@example.com Abstract Corrosion behavior is an important parameter for metallic biomaterials used in the body environment. To mimic bodily fluids, simulated body fluid (SBF) has been used extensively. Even though many studies focus on corrosion inside SBF, SBF has a very time consuming and delicate preparation procedure and contains no essential and organic components for the cell environment, which may affect corrosion kinetics. We aimed to investigate whether corrosion behavior or kinetics change in different solutions, SBF and Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (DMEM). For this purpose, five commonly used metallic biomaterials, AISI 316 stainless steel, CoCrMo alloy, CP‐Ti, Ti6Al4V, and Ti6Al7Nb were subjected to open circuit measurements, cyclic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Quantitative analyses were performed and surface topography was investigated via scanning electron microscope and a roughness tester. We observed that the materials exhibited similar behaviors in SBF and DMEM but the corrosion kinetics were somewhat different and the results obtained from DMEM were time dependent.


Does spatial language contribute to the growth of preschool children's spatial skills? Four-year-old children (N = 50) were randomly assigned to a play-only (n = 24) or a spatial-language and play condition (n = 26). Their mental rotation and spatial vocabulary were assessed at baseline and several days after 5 play sessions. Children in the spatial-language condition scored higher at posttest on a mental rotation task than those in the play-only condition. The amount and diversity of experimenter spatial language during the play sessions accounted for a significant amount of the variance on children's posttest mental rotation. Significant gains in mental rotation were replicated in a second study (N = 34) with a broader range of play activities and with children enrolled in Head Start. These results show that the facilitative effects of spatial language on spatial cognition are not restricted to the context in which the spatial language is provided. In particular, 4-year-old children's experience with spatial language during play can transfer to promote their mental rotation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).


To investigate the possible direct/indirect role of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as a cofactor in human papillomavirus (HPV) oncogenesis, cotransfection experiments were carried out in which a recombinant plasmid containing the HPV16 long control region (LCR) linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene was cotransfected into cultured cells with a plasmid expressing HIV-1 Tat protein. Tat expression efficiency and transactivation activity were evaluated in different cell lines by cotransfecting plasmids containing the HIV tat gene and HIV LTR-driven CAT-coding sequences. HeLa and CaSki cell lines represented the most appropriate recipient cells for Tat-directed transactivation of both the HIV LTR and the HPV LCR promoters. Furthermore, HIV tat was transfected into HeLa cells (containing 10-20 copies per cell of HPV18), and HPV18 E7 protein expression was evaluated by a radioimmunoprecipitation assay using polyclonal antibodies against the E7 protein. Our results show that the Tat protein can transactivate the HPV LCR and increase HPV18 E7 expression in HeLa cells.


The transport of food ingredients across the intestinal epithelium is an important factor determining the absorption upon oral intake. Uptake of compounds in the intestine may be influenced by transport proteins such as the ATP binding cassette transporters (ABC transporters). ABC transporters have been shown to be involved in the efflux of several food related compounds and in the efflux of xenobiotics. The pro-carcinogen 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) was found to be transported by efflux transporters from the intestinal cells back into the intestinal lumen and in this way its uptake into the body could be prevented. Also it has been shown that flavonoids, present in fruits, vegetables, nuts, wine and tea are capable of inhibiting the efflux of substrates by ABC transporters. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the possible effect of flavonoids and mixtures thereof on the transport of PhIP across the intestinal barrier and to predict the absorption of PhIP through kinetically modelling. The results presented in this thesis show that different flavonoids are capable of increasing the apical to basolateral PhIP transport through Caco-2 monolayers, an in vitro model for the intestinal epithelium. It is also shown that the flavonoids can do so by acting as inhibitors of the apical ABC transporters in the intestinal cells. Using typical inhibitors for the ABC transporters experiments in Caco-2 monolayers revealed that especially MRP2 and BCRP are involved in the apical excretion of PhIP and these transporters can be inhibited by the flavonoids. Furthermore, an in silico model describing this process taking into account passive diffusion and active transport of PhIP was developed. Using the in silico model it could be demonstrated that for several flavonoids, including flavone, kaempferol chrysoeriol, myricetin, luteolin, naringenin, quercetin and apigenin, their apparent Ki values for inhibition of the active transport to the apical side are in the 5 to 50 μM range and thus within the physiological concentration range that may be achieved within the intestine upon supplement intake. Additional experiments revealed that several binary flavonoid mixtures and one mixture containing five model flavonoids increased the apical to basolateral PhIP transport through the Caco-2 monolayer. Assuming competitive inhibition of the apparent active transporter by the flavonoids and concentration-additivity for their inhibiting effect, the kinetic model could be extended and thus adequately described the experimental values obtained for the flavonoid mixtures. This illustrates that the effect of different flavonoids present in the diet is additive and from this it can be concluded that the effects of flavonoids on PhIP bioavailability can even be expected at levels achieved upon normal dietary intake. Finally, it was demonstrated that the observation that quercetin increases the transport of PhIP through Caco-2 monolayers in vitro could be confirmed in an in vivo rat model. Co-administration of PhIP and quercetin significantly increased the blood AUC (0-8hr) of PhIP in rats to 131±14% of the AUC (0-8hr) for rats dosed with PhIP alone. Therefore, all together the studies presented in this thesis point to a flavonoid-mediated increase of the bioavailability of PhIP and, thus, a possible adverse effect of these supposed beneficial food ingredients when present in combination with the pro-carcinogen PhIP.


In the world of microelectronic assembly most process developments are aimed at making smaller components to fit more functions into ever smaller portable devices. This study was designed to look at large device underfill, where the silicon die is over 15 mm on a side, and the amount of underfill required is on the order of 30 to 50 mg. The manufacturing process for these large die are pushing throughput requirements to much higher levels than seen on production lines today, bringing new chal- lenges to dispensingunderfill. When such large devices are produced at rates over 3 000 uph the have to move a lot of material. The sheer volume of material passing through a jet may present problems in heating fluids to the desired process temperatures before dispensing. This impacts the accuracy of shot size because underfill fluids change viscosity with changes in temperature, and for a given cycle, a jet's shot volume can changeslightly. This in turn impacts material keep-out zones next to the die. Constant temperature of the underfill fluids results in greater repeatability of shot size, aids flow under the die, and improves fluid break off. During this study, it was also observed that the system thermal environment (inside the dispensing machine) had an impact on the shot weight dispensed.


Abstract Compared with seismic waves, near-field static deformation can provide more robust constraints on earthquake size and slip distribution because it is less sensitive to the rupture process and Earth structure. The static deformation data are now obtained using space-geodetic measurements. For early warning and rapid hazard assessment, such geodetic measurements are less useful because they are usually available only with a time delay of days to weeks or even longer. Recent studies have shown that coseismic static displacements can be estimated from modern seismometer records after an appropriate correction for baseline errors that may be caused by rotational motion, tilt, instrument, and other effects. For this purpose, several empirical baseline correction methods have been proposed. Algorithms, in which an acceleration or other acceleration record derived threshold is used to determine the timing of baseline shift, can be easily implemented. In practice, however, the baseline shift is not necessarily accompanying the strongest ground shaking; methods based on the threshold approach tend to lead to an over- or underestimation of the true baseline shift. Other correction schemes, which can be performed by manual calibration, rely on subjective decisions for the choice of correction parameters. In this paper, an automatic scheme is presented, in which the method used to determine the baseline shift has a stronger physical basis. Case studies on the 1999 Chi-Chi, 2007 Tocopilla, 2008 Wenchuan, and 2010 Maule earthquakes, where the strong-motion data were obtained from different types of accelerometers, show that this automatic scheme is more robust than the previously suggested ones. In all test cases, the coseismic displacements recovered from the strong-motion records agree within 10%–20% with direct GPS measurements or indirect model predictions. In addition, the automatic scheme was also successfully used to correct the strong-motion records of a low-cost sensor obtained from a laboratory test.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the frequency of ischemia after transbrachial digital subtraction angiography under ambulant conditions using diffusion-weighted imaging.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
200 patients were included in a prospective study design and received transbrachial digital subtraction angiography under ambulant conditions. Before and after digital subtraction angiography, diffusion-weighted imaging of the brain was performed.

RESULTS
In our study population no new lesions were found in diffusion-weighted imaging after digital subtraction angiography during the 3-hour window after angiography. One new lesion was found 3 days after angiography as a late onset complication. Therefore, the frequency of neurological complications is at the level of the confidence interval of 0 - 1.5 %.

CONCLUSION
The transbrachial approach under ambulant conditions is a safe method for digital subtraction angiography resulting in a low rate of ischemic lesions in diffusion-weighted imaging.


The French television series Angelique, five episodes appearing from 1963 to 1966, was a tremendous popular and commercial success. Based upon a clever mixture of exotic adventurism and soft eroticism, it recounted the escapades of a rebellious, emancipated woman of the eighteenth century. The courageous and intelligent heroine, Angelique, represented a liberated woman who prefigured the « sexual liberation » of the years to come, in particular, the right to control her own body. Less progressive, the fact that Angelique was abducted by Barbary pirates meant that, for many spectators, this television series transmitted stereotypical images of Orientals and a reductive or ambiguous vision of the Orient. Presented to the public immediately following the war in Algeria, Angelique is deeply marked by colonial ideology and imagery.


Cells previously used to study the streaming potential evident in fluid flow are modified to allow the insertion of test piece to study corrosion phenomena. The effects on metallic corrosion of induced streaming potential, charge transport mechanisms and mechanical aspects of the flow are evident in several experiments with a variety of cell configurations.


Chemical library technology plays a central role in research areas such as drug discovery and gene screening.1 The most powerful combinatorial library synthesis method is the iterative "split and mix" synthesis on insoluble microscopic beads.2 This technique is an efficient method for accessing all combinations of chosen monomers such as nucleic acids, amino acids, or sugars in a small number of reactions. Compound identification from such large pools of compounds, be it bound to resin (one compound per bead) or in solution, is achieved through covalent attachment of molecular tags to the beads3 or through iterative deconvolution technologies.4 Herein we introduce an encoding method that involves physically attaching fluorescent colloidal particles ("reporters") to the surface of solid support beads during split and mix syntheses, to produce an information-rich, colored barcode that can be easily, rapidly, and inexpensively decoded using fluorescence microscopy. This "colloidal barcoding" technique eliminates the need for compatible tagging chemistry in conventional molecular tagging3 or optical encoding5 procedures and permits unambiguous identification of compounds in libraries of any size and type.


The effect of hydrogen concentration on the ultrasonic surface wave propagation properties in the 304 stainless steel has been investigated experimentally in this paper. The cathodic hydrogen charging has been used in experiment. The properties of ultrasonic surface wave and the mechanical property changes have been tested. The experimental results show that the ultrasonic attenuation coefficient is increased clearly in the cathodic hydrogen charging duration, meanwhile the ultrasonic velocity is decreased in the same time. With the charging in progress, the attenuation coefficient and the velocity are tend to a constant value, which is indicated that the hydrogen in the surface of specimen becomes saturated. It is found that the microhardness of material after hydrogen charging is decreased remarkably.


Detailed mapping of several areas of the southern Cordillera Oriental revealed an important role of the inversion tectonics for the structural evolution of this part of the Andes. The inversion is only moderate but the compressional Andean structures are strongly controlled by the geometry and the location of previous cretaceous extensional structures. The study of growth strata and unconformities in the Cenozoic synorogenic sediments provides evidence for the eastward migration of the Andean deformation from the Puna to the Santa Bárbara System independently of the vergence of the structures.


This paper introduces the digital filter architecture that reduces power and chip-size. The implementation is largely divided into two methods. One is the software filter based on DSP, the other is the hardware digital filter. The disadvantage is that it's difficult to design a high sampling rate and to change types. In order to solve problems, we propose the new structure of the programmable digital filter, which includes a memory for controls of types and sampling-rates.


A new noncontact transportation system, which consists of multiple ultrasonic transducers and operates based on near-field acoustic levitation, is proposed to transport a large-sized planar object such as a glass substrate for liquid crystal devices. Using the proposed systems consisting of two and three transducers, the suspension characteristics of the levitated objects are studied as functions of both size difference and angles between the vibration systems and the levitated object. As a result, the holding force is proved to increase as the angle increases and is maximum when the horizontal dimensions of the system and the object coincide.


Comparative documentation on earnings and household incomes is gathered and analyzed to show recent tendencies in distributional pat terns in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. No revolutions, but important shifts mostly maintaining differences between countries have occurred since 1989. Inequality rose in both personal and household incomes, and market patterns seem to have developed at the expense of demographic determination of incomes. Whereas recent income mobility in Poland and Hungary has been caused mostly by education, firm ownership and branch of activity played a more important role in the former Czechoslovakia. Legitimacy of in equality is low in all countries and poverty is increasingly viewed as the state's responsi bility. The bottom of the income distribution is however far larger in Hungary and Poland than in the Czech Republic. Slovakia is also slowly shifting into the former group. Under increasing deprivation, income inequality and its control is likely to become one of the hottest issues.


A basal diet was added with six herbal residues viz- Bacopa monnieri Withania sominifera, Garcinia cambogia, Gingeber officinale, Emblica officinalis, Curcuma longa to make six dietary treatments (T1-T6),respectively to evaluate volatile fatty acid production and their ability to inhibit pathogen growth in a CRD model. It was observed that the lowest (P<0.05) pathogenic count was recorded for T4 as compared to others. In T1 to T6, acetic acid production non-significantly dominated propionic acid followed by butyric acid. It was concluded that herbal residues especially Zingiber officinale can be hypothetically used as an alternate to antibiotics in pigs in improving the performance indices.


While the real effects of bank competition is a classic topic in the finance literature, there has been relatively little research studying the effect it might have on local labor markets. In this paper, I utilize county level data and an exogenous shock to competition supplied by DOJ antitrust policies to look at the relationship between bank competition and local labor markets. Following this negative shock to competition, unemployment increases and wages decrease, but there is no aggregate employment effect. Industries that depend more on bank funding see an increase in employment following a negative shock to competition in the short run, but see a decrease in employment in the longer term. This is due to local banks taking a lower return on their loan portfolio to local businesses in the short run, while raising their loan rates in the long term. Once the type of industries present inside a county is taken into account, an employment effect can be documented in the aggregate. Overall, the evidence suggest that competition has a negative effect on employment outcomes, although there may be positive effects in the short run.


Arthroplasty in the haemophiliac patient is associated with higher rates of infection and is traditionally performed in a younger age group. Despite this there is little evidence in the literature regarding revision arthroplasty in this cohort of patients. We describe the case of a periprosthetic fracture in a haemophiliac patient requiring revision arthroplasty, who did not consent to receiving blood products due to religious beliefs, with a successful outcome.


Six antitumor platinum compounds were used in combination with cyclophosphamide (CY) plus one of five other antitumor drugs in the treatment of advanced (Day 3) L1210 leukemia in (C57BL/6 X DBA/2)F1 mice. The combination of CY with a platinum compound yielded a collective cure rate of 24%; the addition of a third drug to the dual regimen increased the collective cure rate to 55%. The most effective drugs when used in combination with platinum compounds plus CY were, in increasing order of efficacy, 5-fluorouracil, hydroxyurea, and methotrexate. No toxic deaths occurred with any regimen at the dose levels used.


Separation procedures of indium and thallium for both future investigation of superheavy element 113 and fundamental research of its light homologues have been developed. Two chemical methods, namely ion exchange and solvent extraction, have been applied. Cation exchange behavior in hydrochloric acid media and the reversibility of the In and Tl elution order due to oxidation state of the latter are described. Extraction of Tl(I), Tl(III), and In(III) from aqueous HCl solutions with and without tri-n-butyl phosphate into the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide has been investigated. The extraction efficiencies of Tl(I) and In(III) have been found to be much lower than those of Tl(III) both with and without an organic ligand. The extraction mechanism is suggested. Suggestions for both liquid and gas phase experiments aimed at element 113 studies have been considered based on the results observed.


Cooke (281) summarized the arguments usually presented in favor of local teachers as follows: (a) local teachers through knowledge many times avoid blunders made by the "foreign" teachers; (b) local teachers live at home and are able to maintain better health due to better living conditions; (c) superior teachers will remain in the system to be at home; and (d) local teachers are not absent from the city and the school as much as the "foreign" teachers. Wimbish and Lafferty (315) reported that schoolboards claim local teachers are an intelligent and economical investment and an insurance against teacher transiency. Young (316) stated that the home girl argues that she belongs to a permanent family which pays taxes and as a result she deserves first consideration. Arguments usually presented against local teachers as given by Cooke (281) are: (a) an excessive number of local teachers makes the danger of "inbreeding" greater; (b) low salary schedules as a result of local teachers will not attract the best teachers; and (c) local teachers are many times promoted regardless of efficiency. Wimbish and Lafferty (315) stated that schoolboards discriminate against local teachers: (a) to minimize the influence of local politics; (b) to facilitate dismissals in case of unsatisfactory teachers; and (c) to insure the selection of properly qualified and adequately trained teachers. According to Young (316) local teachers have an unfair advantage as they can live at home and shift part of their expense to their parents. Coulbourn (284) is of the opinion that even though there may be justifiable reasons for employing a large number of local teachers in times of great economic stress, sound administration requires that the dangers of too much inbreeding be avoided.


This study presents a theoretical reflection that aims at identifying teaching strategies for the development of ethical-political dimension of professional competence from the perspective of critical reflection. Professional competence has two dimensions - technical and political, mediated by ethics. Critical reflection renew search ways of thinking and doing in health, with the ultimate goal of intervention in social reality, to improve the living conditions and health of communities. Highlights some educational tools such as portfolio, the field journal and written narratives, which allow producing a clear and objective account of the experience and assigning meaning and significance of what was accomplished. Based on a critical reflection, such instruments helped develop ethical-political dimension of professional competence.


Influenza‐like illness (ILI) definitions have been used worldwide for influenza surveillance. These different case definitions can vary with regard to sensitivity and predictive values for laboratory confirmed influenza. The literature has indicated the inclusion of other viruses may be the cause of these variable results. The objective of the study was to evaluate ILI national sentinel criteria and viral etiologies in adults diagnosed with acute respiratory infection (ARI) and/or ILI from 2001 to 2003 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Clinical and laboratory evaluations were observed from 420 adults and collected on a daily basis from outpatient care units at University Hospital. The ILI definition included: fever plus at least one respiratory symptom (cough and/or sore throat) and one constitutional symptom (headache, malaise, myalgia, sweat or chills, or fatigue). DFA and RT‐PCR for influenza, parainfluenza, respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, enterovirus, coronavirus, rhinovirus, and metapneumovirus were performed on nasal washes and 61.8% resulted positive. The respiratory viruses detected most often were influenza and rhinovirus. ILI was reported for 240/420 patients (57.1%), with influenza and rhinovirus etiologies accounting for 30.9% and 19.6%, respectively. Rhinovirus peak activity was concurrent with the influenza season. These findings highlight the implications of other viruses in ILI etiology and suggest that during the influenza season, this clinical overlap must be considered in the diagnosis and clinical management of patients. J. Med. Virol. 80:1824–1827, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Company Limited as a legal entity has the responsibility to limit. He admitted the company as an institution incorporated under the Act, has placed the company as a legal subject that is considered competent to perform legal actions and be responsible for all legal actions he made. One of the important organs in the course of the company are directors. Directors are given confidence by the shareholders through the mechanism of the General Meeting of Shareholders to be organ of the company who takes care of and manage the company. In this case, if there is loss of wealth caused by the actions of the company's directors are incorrect, negligent or committed an unlawful act, the company is the only party entitled to claim the loss. There is no clear and definite statement regarding the position of directors in a company, which is obviously the company's board of directors is the governing body of the most high, and has the right and authority to run the company. In other words, the board has the scope of duties as a board member of the company. The Company can't be separated from the possible inability to pay debts that have matured and can be charged by creditors, then the existence of such circumstances, the company may be filed for bankruptcy. In the care of the company, directors should not be mistaken or negligent. Directors said wrong or negligent which resulted in the company declared bankruptcy, namely the lack of good faith by the board of directors to pay off debts to creditors. Directors negligent carry out debt payments to creditors. So the directors can be held liable jointly and severally through bankruptcy proceedings in the Commercial Court. Kata Kunci : Pailit, Perseroan, Tanggung Jawab Direksi


AbstractThe following account of the reconstruction of a 'turf house' at the Highland Folk Museum in Kingussie must be regarded as an interim report. As will become clear, the experiment is still in progress, and the conclusions being drawn at this stage may bear little resemblance to the final results. However, since this will be, by its very nature, a long-term project, and one which can only be carried out in stages as money and available manpower allow, it appears sensible to record impressions at the end of the first phase.


A rapid yearly increase in the radiocarbon content has been detected for the period from AD 993 to 994. However, this event is supported by the 14C measurements of only one cedar tree sample, and verification is necessary to confirm this event more reliably. For this purpose, this study measured the 14C content in Japanese Hinoki tree rings corresponding to the period from AD 988 to 997 using the accelerator mass spectrometry system at Yamagata University (YU-AMS). The result shows a significant 14C increase from AD 993 to 994, and is consistent with the previously measured data for the Japanese cedar tree. This marks the second case detecting an increased 14C level corresponding to the AD 994 event.


Objective Fibrous dysplasia is a benign disorder of bone that can cause cortical thinning as well as bony expansion. Full-thickness cortical bony destruction, however, typically characterizes more aggressive or malignant lesions of bone. We present three cases of fibrous dysplasia that illustrate this more aggressive and potentially confusing feature. Materials and Methods The findings on radiography and cross-sectional imaging studies are reviewed in three surgically proven cases of fibrous dysplasia that exhibited full-thickness cortical bony destruction. Results Well-defined cortical perforations without associated periosteal reaction were clearly seen on CT. This finding was suspected on plain radiography in only one of the three cases. A small associated soft tissue mass was detected by MR imaging in this case. Many cortical perforations were seen in the one case of polyostotic fibrous dysplasia. Conclusion Full-thickness cortical bony destruction can be seen in fibrous dysplasia. This finding, which may only be evident on cross-sectional imaging studies, should not by itself alter a diagnostic impression of fibrous dysplasia supported by other radiographic and clinical features.


Scripps Satellite Archive Browsing for Localized Environments (SSable) is a new interactive tool for browsing the Scripps Satellite Oceanography Center's (SSOC) archive of satellite data in your laboratory or office. The archive contains data from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration/Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(AVHRR) series of satellites dating from 1979 to present. SSOC maintains a capture station, and data are continually being added to the SSable system within 10 minutes of capture completion.

SSable provides an easy-to-use, pointand-click, mouse driven user interface developed around the OSF/Motif widget set and the X Window protocol. All options are selected by either directly clicking the mouse on the desired push button, or pulling down a sub-menu from a push-button. A "fill-inthe-blanks" window appears to guide the user in defining the operation. All SSable option menus have a cancel button to abort the operation. Users can search for data by time, day, geographic coordinate or, if the user knows the structure of the Scripps archive, by explicit archive number.


The metabolic fate of glucose in isolated muscle after addition of insulin was shown to be dependent upon the functional state of the tissue. While nonstimulated muscle responded primarily with an increased incorporation of glucose into glycogen, stimulated muscle showed predominantly an increased conversion of labeled glucose to CO2 following insulin addition. The oxidation of palmitic-1-C14 acid by muscle was not influenced by the presence of insulin. Ryanodine, used as a chemical agent for inducing contraction of diaphragm, resulted in stimulation of oxygen consumption, fatty acid oxidation and glucose oxidation to an extent comparable to that previously achieved with electrical stimulation of muscle. The conclusion was reached that insulin increased the oxidation of glucose but not of palmitate, and that the specific metabolic fate of intracellular glucose is not influenced by insulin. The data are discussed in relation to the prevailing theory that insulin acts by increasing permeability of muscle cell membranes to certain substrates.


Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive malignancy which is resistant to conventional treatments. PDAC typically contains areas that are profoundly hypoxic which both drives early epithelial to mesenchymal transition, with subsequent metastasis, and is an important determinant of resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Oncolytic Vaccinia virus (VV) is an enveloped DNA virus from the poxvirus family and has demonstrated efficacy as an anti-tumor therapy in clinical trials. It is currently the only oncolytic viral therapy to show efficacy on systemic administration, which would be crucial for the treatment of metastatic PDAC (1). No unique host cell surface receptor has been identified for VV and the reasons for its tropism for PDAC and other cancers are unclear. We have investigated VV as a vector for targeting the hypoxic regions in PDAC, as other viral vectors have been found to replicate poorly in hypoxia. We found that cytotoxicity was enhanced in hypoxia in PDAC cells up to 10 fold (2). This increase in cytotoxicity was only seen in PDAC cell lines where there was hypoxic induction of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF). Stable MiaPaca2 cell lines expressing VEGF (MPVe-165) and a paired vector control (MPVC) were used to demonstrate that VEGF can augment viral transgene expression, cytotoxicity and replication of oncolytic VV. SUIT2 cells treated with VEGF specific siRNA or control were used to demonstrate that conversely, VEGF suppression reduces viral transgene expression, cytotoxicity and replication in vitro. MPVe-165 and MPVC xenografts were established in BALB/c nude mice before treatment with systemic oncolytic VV. Increased viral replication and gene expression in MPVe-165 xenografts demonstrates this novel finding is relevant in vivo. Using qPCR, confocal microscopy of a fluorescently tagged VV (VVL-488) and specific tyrosine kinase inhibition we found that VEGF acts in an autocrine fashion to increase VV internalization, via Akt phospohorylation in PDAC. These results show that VEGF is a novel factor involved in the tropism and pathogenesis of VV for PDAC, and other tumor types, and has relevance for potential combination therapy regimes. Given these findings we then constructed an oncolytic VV to target hypoxic PDAC cells using the HIF-1α oxygen degradation domain, encephalomyocarditis virus internal ribosomal entry site and the VEGF 3' un-translated region to regulate gene expression in hypoxia. A conventional hypoxia response element promoter driven construct was not feasible given that the VV life cycle is located in the host cell cytoplasm and gene expression does not rely on eukaryotic transcription factors. We have shown a dose-, time- and oxygen-dependent effect using this construct in hypoxic cell culture, on exposure to hypoxia mimetics (DMOG/CoCl) and using a proteasomal inhibitor (MG132). We propose this concept may be adapted to regulate therapeutic genes, or produce a conditionally replicating VV, in hypoxic conditions, and enhance the specificity of this targeted therapy. References: 1. Breitbach CJ, Burke J, Jonker D, Stephenson J, Haas AR et al. Intravenous delivery of a multi-mechanistic cancer-targeted oncolytic poxvirus in humans. Nature. 2011 Aug 31;477(7362):99-102. 2. Hiley CT, Yuan M, Lemoine NR, Wang Y. Lister strain vaccinia virus, a potential therapeutic vector targeting hypoxic tumours. Gene Ther. 2010 Feb;17(2):281-7. Citation Format: Crispin T. Hiley, Louisa Chard, James Tysome, Arnaud Briat, Nicholas R. Lemoine, Yaohe Wang. Increased efficacy of oncolytic vaccinia virus, an emerging therapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, due to intratumoral hypoxia and vascular endothelial growth factor A. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Challenges; Jun 18-21, 2012; Lake Tahoe, NV. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(12 Suppl):Abstract nr A37.


CONTENTS S1. Monte Carlo Study ........................................................................................................ 1 S1.1 Estimators and Design ............................................................................................ 1 S2.2 Monte Carlo Results ................................................................................................ 2 S2. Supplemental Proofs ..................................................................................................... 6 S2.1 Additional Proofs of Main Results.......................................................................... 6 S2.2 Proofs for Remarks and Additional Statements .................................................... 17 References ......................................................................................................................... 24


A cellular disintegrin and metalloproteinase (ADAM) is a new family of genes with structural homology to the snake venom metalloproteinases and disintegrins. We screened genes which were selectively expressed in the cachexigenic colon 26 adenocarcinoma subline in vivo. It was found that one novel cDNA clone, identified as a cachexigenic tumor selective gene, encodes a cysteine-rich protein which shows a sequence similarity to that of both the snake venom metalloproteinases and thrombospondins. We named this cDNA clone isintegrin nd etalloproteinase with hrombopondin motifs (ADAMTS-1). ADAMTS1 consists of six domains, 1) a pro- and 2) a metalloproteinase, 3) a disintegrin-like, 4) a thrombospondin (TSP) homologous domain containing TSP type I motif, 5) a spacer region, and 6) COOH-terminal TSP submotifs. Unlike other ADAMs, ADAMTS-1 does not possess a transmembrane domain and is a putative secretory protein. Therefore, ADAMTS-1 is a new type of ADAM family protein with TSP type I motifs. We demonstrated that the TSP homologous domain containing the TSP type I motif of ADAMTS-1 is functional for binding to heparin. ADAMTS-1 mRNA could be induced by stimulating colon 26 cells with an inflammatory cytokine, interleukin-1, in vitro. Moreover, intravenous administration of lipopolysaccharide in mice selectively induced ADAMTS-1 mRNA in kidney and heart. These data suggest that ADAM-TS-1 may be a gene whose expression is associated with various inflammatory processes as well as development of cancer cachexia.


"Algorithm analysis and design" is one of the core curriculums of computer discipline. Theory learning and practice of algorithm are more important in the course. Directing some flaws and problems during the teaching process, combine with our teaching experience, this paper proposes some reform measures including teaching content, objectives, teaching methods and assessment methods in order to cultivate students' ability of analysis problem and enhance their capacity to solve problem.


Rosia Montana is a village located in the Apuseni Mountains, in the historical region of Transylvania in Romania. Its unique built environment has resulted from a series of contextual factors: the existence and exploitation of gold mines, the political and economic system that allowed private and state exploitation in different historical periods, the steep terrain and the spectacular landscape. From an architectural and planning point of view, the village is a traditional mining village frozen in time at the starting point of the urbanisation process.
After state mining had been interrupted at the end of the 1990s, a new mining project that requires the use of cyanide has been proposed. The heritage buildings, concentrated within and around the centre of the village, were used in the discourse of both those supporting the project and those who opposed it. On one hand, the heritage was employed to strengthen the discourse on development by selecting individual valuable buildings to be saved and renovated. On the other hand, the heritage was part of a discourse where the whole existing built fabric is valuable and needs to be protected. These two attitudes are complicated by political tactics meant to curtail small interventions into the existing fabric in order to discourage an alternative development of the area.
Through an analysis of visual material collected during fieldwork and of documents, maps and media publications, this paper navigates the complexities around heritage buildings and planning regulations that are supposed to protect valuable built environment while at the same time allow for development. In this case, tensions between heritage conservation and mining development supported by planning regulations become apparent.


I study the technique of Algebraic Bethe Ansatz for solving integrable models and show how it works in detail on the simplest example of spin 1/2 XXX magnetic chain. Several other models are treated more superficially, only the specific details are given. Several parameters, appearing in these generalizations: spin $s$, anisotropy parameter $\ga$, shift $\om$ in the alternating chain, allow to include in our treatment most known examples of soliton theory, including relativistic model of Quantum Field Theory.


The drug discovery enterprise provides strong drivers for data integration. While attention in this arena has tended to focus on integration of primary data from omics and other large platform technologies contributing to drug discovery and development, the scientific literature remains a major source of information valuable to pharmaceutical enterprises, and therefore tools for mining such data and integrating it with other sources are of vital interest and economic impact. This review provides a brief overview of approaches to literature mining as they relate to drug discovery, and offers an illustrative case study of a 'lightweight' approach we have implemented within an industrial context.


Although previous research has indicated that children's affective responses to the odor of alcohol differ as a function of parental escape drinking (i.e., drinking to avoid dysphoric emotion), little has been done to test this finding with visual cues. Moreover, research with adults indicates that those who are dependent on alcohol show attentional biases toward alcohol-related cues, but little has been done to determine whether exposure to parental drinking behavior affects attentional biases of the child. Thus the goal of the present experiment was to determine whether young children whose parents engage in problem drinking behavior also show an attentional bias towards alcohol-related cues. To measure these differences, 149 children's implicit affective and attentional responses to pictures of alcohol were measured using the Affective Misattribution Procedure (AMP) and the dot-probe task, respectively. Although there were no significant differences as a function of parental alcohol dependency or escape drinking on children's implicit affective responses, children who had an escape drinking parent demonstrated an implicit attentional bias towards alcohol when the pictures were presented for 2000 ms, but not 500 ms, whereas those whose parents were not escape drinkers did not demonstrate an attentional bias. These findings suggest that the emotional context in which the parent consumes alcohol has an effect on their child's maintained attention towards alcohol. EFFECT OF PARENTAL DRINKING ON AFFECT AND ATTENTION 4 Effect of Parental Dependence and Escape Drinking on Affect and Attentional Bias to Alcohol-Related cues in Pre-Adolescents Alcohol is the most common substance of abuse in the United States with 87% of individuals 18 years and older consuming alcohol in the past year (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2014). Excessive consumption and abuse of alcohol is prevalent among adults within every age bracket (Johnston, O'Malley, Miech, Bachman & Schulenberg, 2014; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse, 2014). If left untreated, alcohol abuse can negatively affect one's quality of life, health, and interpersonal relationships (Leonard & Rothbard, 1999; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2010). In many cases, those who are most negatively affected by an alcohol dependent adult are the children in their care (Moos & Billings, 1982; Schuckit & Chiles, 1978). Previous research indicates that parental alcohol dependence can have detrimental effects on family members. More than 10.5% of all children in the United States live with a parent who regularly abuses alcohol (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2012). Children of adults who abuse alcohol are at higher risk for mental health problems, such as depression (Anda et al., 2002). Compared to children of parents who were not alcohol dependent, children of adults who abuse alcohol are four times as likely to abuse alcohol or become alcohol dependent as adults (Brook et al., 2003; SAMHSA, 2004). Alcohol dependence has been shown to be influenced by the interaction of genetic influences (Edwards & Kendler, 2013) and environmental factors. A study conducted by Miranda and colleagues (2013) revealed that children who had a genetic predisposition for alcoholism were more likely to demonstrate an alcohol use disorder if they lived in a household with low levels of peer monitoring, and high levels of deviant peer affiliations. Additionally, children of parents who abuse alcohol are more likely to develop asocial drinking behaviors including: drinking alone, EFFECT OF PARENTAL DRINKING ON AFFECT AND ATTENTION 5 drinking to forget worries, and drinking to feel intoxicated (Chalder, Elgar, & Bennett, 2005). However, certain environments have also been shown to protect children from engaging in these asocial drinking behaviors. Jacob et al. (2003) revealed that family environments that did not contain parental alcoholism mitigated genetic effects in children with a high genetic risk for developing alcohol dependency. Because genetic and environmental factors interact to affect one's predisposition towards alcoholism, it is important to consider the effects of parental drinking behaviors on their children. Because dependent drinkers have been found to consume more drinks in a single drinking occasion and crave alcohol more frequently (e.g., Dickter, Forestell, Hammett & Young, 2014), the presence of alcohol may be more apparent in the home of dependent drinkers when compared to nondependent drinkers. As such, children of dependent drinkers may be exposed to the sensory attributes of alcohol from a very early age. In a study conducted by Mennella and Beauchamp (1998), children's preference for the scent of alcohol was investigated as a function of parental alcohol dependence. Findings from their study revealed that infants who lived in a household in which one or both parents were alcohol dependent put alcohol-scented toys in their mouths more than infants of nondependent parents, whereas the proportion of time spent mouthing other toys that were unscented or scented with vanilla was similar to that of children of nondependent drinkers. These results suggest that the presence of alcohol in households has an early effect on children's responses to the sensory properties of alcohol long before they can ascribe explicit meaning to alcohol itself. Similarly, children were also found to be sensitive to the odor of substances in their environment as a function of their parent's motivation to use these substances to avoid negative emotional states (Forestell & Mennella, 2005; Mennella & Garcia, 2000). Adults who drink alcohol in order to cope with or avoid negative emotional states are classified as escape drinkers EFFECT OF PARENTAL DRINKING ON AFFECT AND ATTENTION 6 (Cahalan, Cisin, & Crossley, 1969). In a study conducted by Mennella and Garcia (2000) in which children were asked to identify and rate four scents, including alcohol, using a game-like task, a higher proportion of children who had mothers who drank to escape rated the odor of beer as unpleasant compared to children of non-escape drinkers. A more recent study by Mennella and Forestell (2008) found that children of escape drinkers also took longer to decide whether or not they liked the scent of beer when compared to an unpleasant scent and were less likely to choose it over the scent of a neutral odor, suggesting that children of escape drinkers may feel conflicted when asked to evaluate the odor of beer. These findings are consistent with other work that investigated children's responses to the odor of other addictive substances (Forestell & Mennella, 2005) and suggest that the emotional context in which their parents drink can influence children's hedonic responses to the odor of this addictive substance. Less work has examined differences in the processing of visual alcohol-related cues between children of problem drinkers and non-problem drinkers. In the present study, we will attempt to fill this dearth in the literature by examining whether children's implicit affective responses to visual presentations of alcohol-related cues differ as a function of parental drinking behaviors. Affect reflects a pleasant or unpleasant emotional response to a given stimulus and can occur consciously or unconsciously (Russell, 2003). Conscious affective responses towards alcohol-related stimuli can be recorded through explicit measures while unconscious affective responses must be recorded through implicit measures. Explicit measures of affect in regards to alcohol consumption have previously been shown to accurately predict overt problem drinking behaviors (Larsen et al., 2012). While explicit affective responses are beneficial for collecting information regarding behavior, they measure processes that are more deliberate as opposed to automatic and are thought to inhibit automatic cognitions (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Wiers, Woerden, Smulders, & Jong, 2002). Because of this, they cannot be used to gain information EFFECT OF PARENTAL DRINKING ON AFFECT AND ATTENTION 7 about the level of emotional affect towards alcohol at the unconscious level. The findings of several studies have indicated that the constructs underlying explicit and implicit measures of alcohol consumption are not always congruent and indeed tend to be weakly correlated (Jajodia & Earleywine, 2003; Wiers et al., 2002). They also tend to predict different types of behaviors. In adults, implicit affect toward alcohol-related stimuli has been found to predict and influence drinking preferences and behaviors (Houben, Havermans, & Wiers, 2010). Increased negative implicit affect towards alcohol-related stimuli is associated with decreased alcohol consumption (Houben, Nederkoorn, Wiers, & Jansen, 2011). This decrease in consumption is attributed to a devaluation of alcohol-related stimuli rather than an increase in inhibitory control over responses to alcohol-related stimuli (Houben, Havermans, Nederkoorn & Jansen, 2012). Likewise, implicit affective responses have been shown to influence memory and behavior without introspection (Wiers et al., 2002). With consideration to alcohol consumption behaviors, using implicit measures of affect to record information has been thought to reduce the self-presentation influences that affect explicit reporting (Greenwald et al., 2002) and more accurately reflect automatic covert cognitions (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). Thus, implicit measures are preferred over explicit for understanding true emotional responses of participants because they mitigate the tendency towards self-presentation bias caused by the stigma associated with drinking. Likewise, Wiers et al. (2002) found that positive implicit affective measures more accurately predicted drinking behaviors as opposed to negative explicit measures. These findings further suggest that implicit and explici


Abstract Increased carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in individuals without hypertension might indicate other factors promoting the atherosclerotic process that are often simultaneously clustered in individuals. The present study tested the hypothesis that carotid IMT predicts new onset of hypertension in the normotensive subjects. A total of 867 participants were enrolled from our yearly physical checkup program and their carotid IMT was measured. After a baseline examination, the subjects were followed up for a median of 1091 days with the endpoint being the development of hypertension. At baseline, the carotid IMT value was 0.75 ± 0.16 mm. Hypertension developed in 184 subjects during the follow-up (76.9/1000 person-years). The incidence of hypertension was increased across the tertiles of the carotid IMT value (39.6, 70.0, and 134.5/1000 person-years in the first, second, and third tertiles, respectively, P < .001 by log-rank test). Multivariate Cox-hazard analysis after adjustment identified carotid IMT, taken as a continuous variable, as a significant predictor of new-onset hypertension (hazard ratio = 7.08, 95% confidence interval = 3.06–15.39). Furthermore, multivariate linear regression analyses indicated a significant correlation between the carotid IMT at baseline and yearly increases in systolic blood pressure during the follow-up period (&bgr; = 0.189, P < .001). Carotid IMT is an independent predictor of hypertension onset in normotensive subjects. The findings also suggested a close association between increased carotid IMT and blood pressure.


Prior to 2020, while the music industries in the Australian state of Victoria were gaining in strength and were world-renowned in many respects, they were also characterized as a sector that runs largely on luck and public good will, where many places that had previously offered some security were eroding. This luck ran out in a spectacular fashion with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research, based on surveys and interviews conducted during the extended Victorian lockdown, describes the experiences and responses of music workers across the sector to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mark Banks's concept of 'creative justice' is used to examine how the precarious nature of much music-related work prior to COVID-19 created a situation where workers were acutely vulnerable to a crisis of this nature, and where the harms they experienced during this time were compounded by how precarity positions them both financially and discursively. The understanding of precarity as a pre-existing problem in the industry discussed here makes it clear that although the pandemic was experienced as an unprecedented and unique event, the impact that it had on many in the music industries represented an exacerbation and continuation of already-existing issues. Suggestions from participants about how they can be supported in a rebuilding music sector show that questions of justice are forefront in their minds, and should be considered in decisions around rebuilding to prevent talent loss and maintain a diverse music scene. © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2021, Office 415, The Workstation


SVD has been used to design 2-D FIR filters as several parallel sections of two cascaded I-D filters. This design requires less multiplier than a direct 2- D implementation. Many well established methods can been used to design these 1-D filters. In this paper, we use a combination of SVD and GA to design 2-D FIR filters. 1-D filters coefficients are represented with CSD to improve the throughput rate of the 2-D FIR filters. Another improvement to SVD is used to reduce the number of filter's coefficients.


Revoking personal private data is one of the basic human rights, which has already been sheltered by several privacy-preserving laws in many countries. However, with the development of data science, machine learning and deep learning techniques, this right is usually neglected or violated as more and more patients' data are being collected and used for model training, especially in intelligent healthcare, thus making intelligent healthcare a sector where technology must meet the law, regulations, and privacy principles to ensure that the innovation is for the common good. In order to secure patients' right to be forgotten, we proposed a novel solution by using auditing to guide the forgetting process, where auditing means determining whether a dataset has been used to train the model and forgetting requires the information of a query dataset to be forgotten from the target model. We unified these two tasks by introducing a new approach called knowledge purification. To implement our solution, we developed AFS, a unified open-source software, which is able to evaluate and revoke patients' private data from pre-trained deep learning models. We demonstrated the generality of AFS by applying it to four tasks on different datasets with various data sizes and architectures of deep learning networks. The software is publicly available at https://github.com/JoshuaChou2018/AFS.


Bayesian optimization is an approach to optimizing objective functions that take a long time (minutes or hours) to evaluate. It is best-suited for optimization over continuous domains of less than 20 dimensions, and tolerates stochastic noise in function evaluations. It builds a surrogate for the objective and quantifies the uncertainty in that surrogate using a Bayesian machine learning technique, Gaussian process regression, and then uses an acquisition function defined from this surrogate to decide where to sample. In this tutorial, we describe how Bayesian optimization works, including Gaussian process regression and three common acquisition functions: expected improvement, entropy search, and knowledge gradient. We then discuss more advanced techniques, including running multiple function evaluations in parallel, multi-fidelity and multi-information source optimization, expensive-to-evaluate constraints, random environmental conditions, multi-task Bayesian optimization, and the inclusion of derivative information. We conclude with a discussion of Bayesian optimization software and future research directions in the field. Within our tutorial material we provide a generalization of expected improvement to noisy evaluations, beyond the noise-free setting where it is more commonly applied. This generalization is justified by a formal decision-theoretic argument, standing in contrast to previous ad hoc modifications.


The rapid penetration of magnetic flux into a Meissner phase of the type-II superconductor is studied analytically and numerically. A sharp shock wave front of the magnetic induction is formed due to the singularity of the resistivity at the transition from the mixed to the normal state. It is shown that current densities at the front reach high values, of the order of the depairing current density. The effects of the heat dissipation and transport on the motion and stability of the interface between the magnetic flux and flux-free domains are considered. The shock wave magnetic induction and the temperature profiles move with constant velocity determined by the Joule heat produced by the electric current in the normal domain at the flux front. The stability of the shock wave solution is investigated. For a sufficiently small thermal-diffusion constant, a finger-shaped avalanche instability appears.


The relationship between games and story remains a divisive question among game fans, designers, and scholars alike. At a recent academic Games Studies conference, for example, a blood feud threatened to erupt between the self-proclaimed ludologists, who wanted to see the focus shift onto the mechanics of game play, and the narratologists, who were interested in studying games alongside other storytelling media l Consider some recent statements made on this issue:


We examine a systematic comparison of jet-knots, hotspots and radio lobes recently observed with Chandra and ASCA. This report will discuss the origin of their X-ray emissions and investigate the dynamics of the jets. The data was compiled at well sampled radio (5 GHz) and X-ray frequencies (1keV) for more than 40 radio galaxies. We examined three models for the X-ray production: synchrotron (SYN), synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) and external Compton on CMB photons (EC). For the SYN sources — mostly jet-knots in nearby low-luminosity radio galaxies — X-ray photons are produced by ultrarelativistic electrons with energies 10−100 TeV that must be accelerated in situ. For the other objects, conservatively classified as SSC or EC sources, a simple formulation of calculating the "expected" X-ray fluxes under an equipartition hypothesis is presented. We confirmed that the observed X-ray fluxes are close to the expected ones for non-relativistic emitting plasma velocities in the case of radio lobes and majority of hotspots, whereas considerable fraction of jet-knots is too bright at X-rays to be explained in this way. We examined two possibilities to account for the discrepancy in a framework of the inverseCompton model: (1) magnetic field is much smaller than the equipartition value, and (2) the jets are highly relativistic on kpc/Mpc scales. We concluded, that if the inverse-Compton model is the case, the X-ray bright jet-knots are most likely far from the minimum-power condition. We also briefly discuss the other possibility, namely that the observed X-ray emission from all of the jet-knots is synchrotron in origin. Subject headings: galaxies: jets — magnetic fields — radiation mechanism: non-thermal


Walking is the main mode of transportation for many of the world's people, particularly those in cities of the majority world. In the metropolitan region of Jakarta, walking in the public realm constitutes the main transportation mode for almost 40 percent of trips—a massive contribution to urban mobility. On the other hand, there is no comprehensive planning for pedestrians in an analogous manner to other modes of transportation. Pedestrian facilities are often dilapidated, damaged, dangerous, or missing completely. Additionally, there is no process for assessing the inventory of pedestrian facilities, planning pedestrian facilities at a region-wide level, or even identifying the location of vernacular pedestrian routes in low-income and informal areas. Provincial pedestrian planning focuses on piecemeal, symbolic spaces such as monumental plazas that serve the nation-building project, but overlooks the functional network of routes that address the daily needs of the city's residents. This dissertation examines the issue of walkability planning in Jakarta by investigating what matters to pedestrians and how pedestrian space is produced. The research employs mixed methods, including pedestrian network groundtruthing, structured streetscape observations, multimodal traffic counts, pedestrian activity mapping, pedestrian surveys and interviews with policy-makers. Data is analyzed through a combination of in-depth qualitative analysis as well as quantitative and statistical analysis. Based on this research, six key elements of walkability planning are proposed for Jakarta: multidisciplinarity, ethnography, accessibility, legibility, integrated activity, and shared streets. A literature review of walkability metrics reveals that walking is a highly multidisciplinary activity, with very different metrics emerging from different fields. In order to effectively encourage pedestrian activity, new multidisciplinary metrics should integrate the perspectives of all of these related disciplines and pedestrian planning should occur through inter-agency coordination. In Jakarta, interviews with policy-makers suggested that pedestrian planning is hindered by the fact that there is no lead agency for pedestrian planning, and there is a lack of cooperation between the different agencies that plan and produce urban public space. Pedestrian planning is also hindered by a discursive framework that is both modally and geographically biased—favoring motorized, long-distance modes of transportation and employing method derived from a Western research and planning norms. In order to overcome this discursive bias, ethnography should become a standard part of urban research, planning and design. The need for ethnography and qualitative analysis was made visible by the mismatch between standard transportation terminology, and prevailing practices observed in pedestrian mapping exercises and raised by pedestrians in on-the street interviews. For example, standard survey categories do not account for informal or integrated activity patterns like mobile street vending. From surveys conducted with mobile street vendors, it was difficult to separate their pedestrian activities into categories of travel from home to work, business-related travel, and visiting friends and relatives. In fact, it was difficult to even separate their travel from their activities since many vendors carried out business as they made their way through the neighborhood. With a large portion of the population engaged in the informal sector, the discrepancy between assumed and actual behavior severely compromises the quality of transportation-related research that is conducted in Jakarta and many other majority world cities. Ethnographic and qualitative research methods may therefore assist in producing more context-sensitive planning data and outcomes. These context-sensitive methods could include new analytical methods that focus on integrated activity, rather than trip-based or activity-based analysis. In relation to pedestrian activity, context-sensitive planning encompasses new approaches to accessibility that combine the notion of transportation accessibility with disabled access and universal access standards. The need for such an approach was revealed during interviews with policy-makers, who described accessibility in terms of market goods rather than human rights. Within the market for urban public space, ordinary pedestrians were unable to compete with other modes of transportation; within the market for urban impressions, ordinary pedestrian spaces were outcompeted by prominent, symbolic spaces; and within the market for cultural capital, ordinary pedestrians were excluded from planning processes because even the discourse of pedestrian planning was inaccessible to regular residents. In response to this problem of exclusion, integrated accessibility may facilitate inclusion in both planning processes and urban spaces within the city. In particular, integrated accessibility would aim to provide comprehensive routes of travel for all pedestrians, rather than isolated pockets of so-called accessible (yet unreachable) facilities. More context sensitive planning would also be facilitated through greater legibility of fine-grained and vernacular pedestrian networks that were missing from standard planning maps. These fine-grained networks represent highly connected facilities that serve much of Jakarta's pedestrian transportation task. While the current synoptic illegibility of these areas may conveniently allow some communities to avoid state intrusion, it also means that low-income populations are chronically under-served with respect to basic urban planning and services. Increased legibility therefore allows for improvement and maintenance of urban systems like safe, functional pedestrian networks, and it may also play a role in increasing tenure security for Jakarta's significant floating population. In many of these vernacular spaces, new street design approaches would also benefit pedestrians, who tend to use the streets as shared spaces, rather than spaces that are rigidly segregated by mode. Pedestrian activity mapping revealed that only an overwhelming majority of pedestrians used streets as hybrid spaces, with activity types falling into the categories of surface sensitive, risk-averse, distance-minimizing and stationary pedestrians. More realistic shared street designs would therefore accommodate —rather than ignore—the types of activities that occur along Jakartan streets. Design standards for "great streets" in Jakarta would also emphasize the safe sharing of streets through self-enforcing approaches to speed limits, and the integration of various urban elements like drainage, mobility and public-private interaction. While walkability planning in Jakarta displays many "wicked problem" features, there is much that can be done to improve, if not resolve, conditions for pedestrians within the region. Recommended strategies for walkability planning in Jakarta include a regional walkability plan and environmental policy developed using participatory planning, reformed governance and institutional arrangements, and a constituency building approach. The strategies also include expansion of road designations and an integrated accessibility strategy that draws upon new data sources from a WikiPlaces network map, an integrated activity study and pedestrian network cost-benefit analysis. In addition to Jakarta specific proposals, a number of proposals are made to advance discourse on walkability more generally. These approaches include decentered analysis of integrated activity, informal economic activity analysis, vernacular placemaking and Asian shared street design. Pedestrians and pedestrian plans traverse diverse physical, administrative and disciplinary spaces in cities of the world. Integrated and multidisciplinary approaches are therefore required to understand and accommodate these key users of public space. In Jakarta, walkability planning has potential to improve urban transportation efficiency while contributing to traffic safety, economic vitality, environmental quality and democratic governance. Successful walkability planning in Jakarta may also provide a model for planning in other cities where Western models of planning are unrealistic, inequitable and inappropriate. Jakartan lessons on walkability planning are particularly relevant, and improvements in walkability are particularly powerful, for cities characterized by relatively low median incomes, high land use densities, a substantial informal sector, rapid urbanization and rapid motorization. By improving walkability planning in Jakarta and other cities of the majority world, policy-makers and planners can move toward more sustainable, socially equitable and efficient cities.


The formalism describing a complete set of observables for the reaction pp to pi d is presented and explicit expressions for all the spin observables are given in terms of the helicity formalism. The relation with the standard singlet-triplet representation is given. The orthogonal geometry is studied in detail and special emphasis is given to the model-independent information to be obtained from the experimental data for this geometry. A particular parameterisation which is useful for the study of the inverse reaction is presented.


The objective of this study was to investigate association between FecGH-GDF-9 gene polymorphism and litter size in Hamdani fat-tailed sheep. The genomic DNA was extracted from eighty-seven blood samples of Hamdani ewes. The FecGH-GDF-9 locus was detected by PCRs, and identified DNA genotyped by DNA sequencing. The evaluate several parameters included fertility (%), conception (%), letter size at birth, twining rate (%), triple rate (%), barrenness (%) and productivity (%) were measured and arrived 91.95, 95.40, 1.825, 150, 11.25, 8.05 and 159.77, respectively. The blast tree view results in NCBI blast show Hamdani sheep is more closely to Norway white face sheep, Han sheep and Pelibuey Sheep breeds which have high litter sizes than the Iranian Ghezel sheep.  Hamdani ewe's genome have three changed nucleotides point at 1273 bp (C to G) changed Alanine to Arginine, 1281 bp (A to T) changed lysine to Isoleucine and 1344 bp (C to A) changed Proline to Glutamine. Also three nucleotides deletion were detected at 1279 bp (C), 1283 (T) and 1376 bp (G) position with two inserted nucleotides at 1319 bp (T) and 1357 bp (G) position. The 5'….C/TNAG…3' sequence cite of mutated FecGH locus was detected by Ddel restriction enzyme which have significant effect on litter size in sheep breeds.


Urodele amphibians have a remarkable ability to regenerate and are the only adult vertebrates capable of regenerating their limbs. Mammals have a limited ability to regenerate, with urodeles and premetamorphic frogs being the only vertebrates known to regenerate this complex appendage. After amputation of a salamander limb, mature differentiated cells at the cut site de-differentiate to produce a heterogeneous population of proliferating cells which re-differentiate to form the lost tissues of the regenerate. The cells at the amputation site possess a property called positional identity such that they regenerate only the structures distal to their level of origin. This property of distal cells can be respecified by treatment with retinoic acid (RA) and synthetic retinoids.
The urodele limb is a powerful model in which to study positional identity and pattern formation in a regenerating limb. Positional information is apparently encoded in part by a small glycolipid-anchored protein called Prod 1, which is expressed in a graded manner on the proximodistal axis. If the level of expression of Prod 1 in distal cells is raised they now behave like proximal cells. This activity is also shown by the Meis homeoproteins which are implicated as determinants of proximodistal identity in limb development in drosophila, chick and mouse, as well as in limb regeneration in the axolotl. This raises the question of whether Meis proteins regulate Prod1 expression. Altering the expression of Prod 1 at the site of injury alters the positional information encoded by the cells at the site. Over-expression of Prod 1 leads to proximalisation of the limb elements; distal blastemas grafted to a proximal amputation site leads to intercalary regeneration. The current hypothesis for is, the cells detect a disparity in the level of Prod 1 leading to limb regeneration from the proximal portion of the limb stump and the distal grafted blastema giving rise only to the distal structures.
The work in this thesis has investigated the regulation of Prod 1 gene at the promoter level, firstly by use of RT-PCR to assess where in the limb Prod 1 is expressed and how RA affects Prod 1 expression in the skin and mesenchyme. These experiments revealed that Prod 1 expression was predominantly in the dermal layer of the skin. The promoters for Prod 1 were isolated from newt and axolotl genomic DNA, and a dual luciferase reporter assay was used to measure normal and mutant promoter activity after transfection in cell culture and in the animal. Meis transcription factor binding sites were found in both newt and axolotl Prod 1 promoter sequences and the effects of mutating the sites in the axolotl case was analysed in cultured salamander cells, and after transfection of axolotl limb blastemas. Intact Meis binding sites are required for normal promoter activity in cultured cells and in proximal blastemal cells.