Two of the major cutaneous consequences of ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure are immunosuppression and the development of skin cancer. This study examined whether these effects are genetically determined. Suppression of contact hypersensitivity by local, low-dose UV radiation was examined in what have been termed "UV-susceptible" and "UV-resistant" strains of mice. C3H/HeJ mice ("UV resistant") were resistant to the adverse effects of low-dose UV radiation when normal doses of hapten were applied to UV-irradiated skin; however, they were sensitive when the amount of hapten used for sensitization was reduced. A similar effect was observed in BALB/c mice ("UV resistant") and when the hapten was dimethylbenz(a)anthracene, thus indicating that the genetic variation was not strain or hapten specific. Despite the fact that some strains were sensitive and some were resistant to low-dose UV radiation when high doses of hapten were employed, all strains initially sensitized to hapten through UV-irradiated skin were found to be unresponsive when rechallenged on normal skin, no matter what the initial sensitizing dose of hapten was. To determine whether other biologic effects of UV also exhibited genetic variation, C3H/HeN and C3H/HeJ mice were compared for susceptibility to UVB-induced skin cancer formation. C3H/HeJ mice developed significantly more tumors than C3H/HeN mice when subjected to a single dose of UV radiation followed by repeated exposure to the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate. These studies provide strong evidence that genetic factors influence individual susceptibility to the biologic effects of UV radiation.


This paper presents a fast factorized back-projection (FFBP) algorithm that can satisfactorily process real P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data collected from a spiral flight pattern performed by a drone-borne SAR system. Choosing the best setup when processing SAR data with an FFBP algorithm is not so straightforward, so predicting how this choice will affect the quality of the output image is valuable information. This paper provides a statistical phase error analysis to validate the hypothesis that the phase error standard deviation can be predicted by geometric parameters specified at the start of processing. In particular, for a phase error standard deviation of ~12°, the FFBP is up to 21 times faster than the direct back-projection algorithm for 3D images and up to 13 times faster for 2D images.


Abstract:This study investigates the impact of modes of information presentation on information dimensions. Twenty-four published studies were reviewed. The results of sixteen of these were cumulated by application of meta-analysis technique. The ensuing results demonstrate that the bar presentation format is slightly better than the tabular one in terms of information precision; however, the face chart is superior to the tabular format with respect to relevancy, and the multicolor presentation is more relevant than the monocolor. In addition, two factors of influence (moderators) were verified. First, personality, which is classified as field-dependent and field-independent, acts as a moderator between color and information relevancy. Second, when comparing line graphical presentations with tabular, task environment has a moderate effect on both timesaving and precision.


Background: Previous studies had indicated that the incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) was closed related to the regional aging population and socio-economic condition. However, spatio-temporal variation and risk determinants of TB in aging population and socio-economic development unbalanced region have been unclear.Methods: The data on TB registered cases and social-economic factors from 2009 to 2014 were collected for each district/county in the region with Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province of China, which is consist of aging population and social-economic development disparity region. The Bayesian space–time hierarchy model was used to reveal the spatio-temporal variation of elderly TB incidence from 2009 to 2014, and GeoDetector was applied to measure the determinant power (q statistic) of elderly TB risk factors.Results: Elderly TB incidence present geographical spatial heterogeneity, they were higher in underdeveloped rural areas compared with that in urban areas. The hotspots of elderly TB incidence risk were mostly located in the northeastern and southern regions of the study region distant from metropolitan areas. Areas with low risk were mainly distributed in the Beijing-Tianjin metropolitan areas. Social-economic factors presented nonlinear influence on elderly TB incidence, the dominant factors were income of rural populations (q statistic = 0.20) and medical conditions (q statistic = 0.17). These factors presented nonlinearly interact with each other in influencing the elderly TB incidence; medical conditions and level of economic development showed the strongest relationship (q statistic = 0.54).Conclusions: These findings explain spatiotemporal variation and risk determinants of elderly TB incidence where there are social-economic development disparities. High-risk zones were mainly located in rural areas far from metropolitan centers. Medical conditions and economic development level were significantly association with elderly TB incidence, and they showed nonlinearly interact with each other in influencing the elderly TB incidence. Knowing this helps to optimize the allocation of health resources and to control the transmission of the TB epidemic in the aging population in this region.


Abstract: Ooimmuration is here defined as a taphonomic process by which fossils are preserved within ooids. It is a form of lithoimmuration, although depending on the role of microbes in the formation of the ooid cortex, ooimmuration can also be considered a type of bioimmuration. Fossils enclosed within ooids are protected from bioerosion as well as the abrasion common in energetic depositional environments such as ooid shoals. Many taxa in some fossil assemblages may be known only because they were ooimmured. We describe as examples of ooimmuration fossils preserved in an oolite from the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) Carmel Formation in southwestern Utah.


The most well characterized eukaryote model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae is not only preferred as a
microbial cell factory for synthesis of industrial products, e.g. bioethanol, but this eukaryote host system is also defined as a robust scaffold for commercial production of diverse chemicals e.g. isoprenoids. Therefore, a number of tools in different emerging fields e.g. systems biology, evolutionary engineering and synthetic biology have been developed. Synthetic biology offers an alternative approach that is becoming more accessible as a tool for better performing metabolic engineering of yeast. Due to the fact that the regulations of gene dosage and gene transcription are the first two key steps allowing control of metabolic pathways, improve of both gene expression and gene dosage through modulating promoter choice and plasmid copy number were pursued. The
strength of seven different constitutive or glucose based promoters, TEF1, PGK1 TPI1, HXT7, PYK1, ADH1 and
 TDH3 , was compared at different stages of a batch cultivation using LacZ as reporter. A new divergent promoter was developed, containing two strong and constitutive promoters, TEF1 and PGK1 , to support high level gene expression. Furthermore, this bidirectional promoter was used to construct new episomal plasmids, the pSP series, to optimize the endogenous mevalonate (MVA) pathway through gene overexpression and also to construct integration cassettes containing the synthetic methylerithritol phosphate (MEP) pathway genes. The last two studies showed the successful implementation of synthetic biology tools in metabolic engineering in
terms of pathway optimization and pathway reconstruction in order to improve sesquiterpene production in S.
cerevisiae . Optimization of the MVA pathway was performed in two steps, modulating the FPP branch point and
modulating the possible nodes which are directly involved or related to the MVA pathway including overexpression of tHMG1, ERG20, GDH2 and upc2-1 and deletion of GDH1, DPP1 and LPP1 . Combination of all these modifications led to a 4-fold improvement of α-santalene yield over the reference strain. In the second
study, the bacterial MEP pathway, containing 8 genes, was reconstructed through stable integration into the yeast
genome in two steps. However, a functional MEP pathway was not obtained even after reconstruction of the
possible bacterial Fe/S trafficking routes and the bacterial electron transfer system in order to circumvent lack of the enzyme activity. In another approach, improvement of gene dosage via modulating plasmid copy number was investigated. Here, two strategies, individually and in combination,were applied in order to reduce the maker gene at both protein and RNA levels, and their impact on plasmid copy number of pSP-GM1was investigated. Both methods, destabilization of the marker protein using a ubiquitin/N-degron tag and down-regulation of the marker gene employing weak promoters, elevated the plasmid copy number. Combination of the weak promoter
and ubiquitin tag showed a synergistic effect and increased the plasmid copy number by 3 fold. A proof-ofconcept study was performed to determine if the enhancement in plasmid copy number could affect patchoulol
production when patchoulol synthase was expressed from the modified plasmid. The result showed that while
the final biomass concentration was unchanged, patchoulol production reached about 30 mg/L when employing
modified plasmid, which was more than 3 times higher compared to when the synthase gene was expressed from
the original plasmid.


The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy of complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches for reducing pain intensity (primary outcome) and depressive symptoms (secondary outcome) as well as improving physical functioning (secondary outcome) among U.S. military personnel living with chronic pain. Studies were retrieved from bibliographic databases, databases of funded research, and reference sections of relevant articles. Studies that (a) evaluated a CIH approach to promote chronic pain management among military personnel, (b) used a randomized controlled trial design, and (c) assessed pain intensity were included. Two coders extracted data from each study and calculated effect sizes. Discrepancies between coders were resolved through discussion. Comprehensive searches identified 12 studies (k = 15 interventions) that met inclusion criteria. CIH practices included cognitive-behavioral therapies (k = 5), positive psychology (k = 3), yoga (k = 2), acupuncture (k = 2), mindfulness-based interventions (k = 2), and biofeedback (k = 1). Across these studies, participants who received the intervention reported greater reductions in pain intensity (d+ = 0.44, 95% CI [0.21, 0.67], k = 15) compared to controls. Statistically significant improvements were also observed for physical functioning (d+ = 0.36, 95% CI [0.11, 0.61], k = 11) but not for depressive symptoms (d+ = 0.21, 95% CI [-0.15, 0.57], k = 8). CIH approaches reduced pain intensity and improved physical functioning. These approaches offer a nonpharmacological, nonsurgical intervention for chronic pain management for military personnel. Future studies should optimize interventions to improve depressive symptoms in military populations experiencing chronic pain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).


The reasons for nurse practitioners to develop a professional network are boundless and are likely to change over time. Networking opens doors and creates relationships that support new opportunities, personal development, collaborative research, policy activism, evidence-based practice, and more. Successful professional networking involves shared, mutually beneficial interactions between individuals and/or individuals and groups, regardless of whether it occurs face to face or electronically. This article combines nuggets from the literature with guidance based on the authors' combined experience in networking activities at the local, national, and international levels.


Plasma treatments were used to modify surface properties of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and glass micro fibers, to improve their wettability. PET fibers, having diameter of 400 µm, and glass fibers (o14 µm) were exposed to low pressure oxygen plasma. A direct horizontal optical method was used for contact angle measurements on fiber surfaces submerged into distilled water. Surface morphology changes before and after treatment were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Finally, cement paste specimens reinforced with PET and lime-based mortars reinforced with glass fibers were made and after 28 days of mixture curing tested by four-point bending tests. After oxygen plasma treatment contact angles decreased by 60 % on PET fibers and by 25 % on glass fibers in comparison with untreated fibers. Next, SEM images revealed the significant surface damages of PET fibers and minor damages of glass fibers. Both four-point tested samples reinforced with treated fibers exhibited the maximum bending strength loss about to 10 to 20 percent compared to samples with untreated reinforcement. The samples reinforced with untreated PET fibers exhibited the deflection-softening, while the samples with plasma treated fibers deflection-hardening.


The methodology of constant tension-induced rupture of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) has provided information on tension-induced pore formation. This method was used to investigate the effect of spontaneous curvature (H0) for a lipid monolayer on the rate constant (kr) for constant tension (σ)-induced rupture, which originates from pore formation in lipid bilayers. Lipids were incorporated with different H0 values into GUV membranes to change the overall H0 value for the GUV monolayer. The dioleoylphosphatidylglycerol (DOPG)/dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) (4/6, molar ratio, here and elsewhere) monolayer has a negative H0, whereas the DOPG/dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) (4/6) monolayer has an essentially zero H0. A higher tension was required to induce the rupture of DOPG/DOPE (4/6)-GUVs compared with DOPG/DOPC (4/6)-GUVs. The line tension (Γ) for a pre-pore in DOPG/DOPE (4/6)-GUVs, determined by the analysis of the tension dependence of kr, was 1.5 times larger than that in DOPG/DOPC (4/6)-GUVs. The kr values for GUVs comprising DOPG/DOPC/18:1 lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) (40/55/10), which has a positive H0, were larger than those for DOPG/DOPC (4/6)-GUVs under the same tension. The Γ value for DOPG/DOPC/LPC (40/55/10)-GUVs was almost half that for DOPG/DOPC (4/6)-GUVs. These results indicate that Γ decreases with increasing H0, which results in an increase in kr. Based on these results, the effect of H0 on kr and Γ is discussed.


The congenital anomalies of the lumbosacral nerve roots have frequently been found in the past as operative findings during surgery for protruded disc and are today diagnosed preoperatively with increasing frequency. They include the more cranial or more caudal origin of a nerve root, the conjoined structure of two roots and the anastomoses between two or more roots. This study reviews the large amount of literature on these anomalies and discusses their incidence, classification and embryological origin, the anatomical structure of the anomalous roots, their clinical presentation and radiological diagnosis. Anomalous nerve roots are often asymptomatic; radicular symptoms may appear in the presence of a protruded disc or lumbar stenosis, as a result of the compression or traction of the anomalous root. Myelography with water-soluble contrast media allows a good visualization of the root sheaths and thus a good diagnostic definition of these anomalies. In symptomatic cases, the surgical treatment consists of the removal of the disc hernia, associated with hemilaminectomy and foraminotomy, to obtain a good mobilization of the anomalous root; it usually results in the remission of the radicular symptoms.


We present a new scheduler architecture, which permits adding QoS (quality of service) policies to the scheduling decisions. We also present a new scheduling synthesis method which allows a designer to obtain a safe scheduler for a particular application. Our scheduler architecture and scheduler synthesis method can be used for heterogeneous applications where the tasks communicate through various synchronization primitives. We present a prototype implementation of this scheduler architecture and related mechanisms on top of an open-source OS (operating system) for embedded systems.


The question of how to accelerate innovation is becoming more and more crucial for the pharmaceutical industry to meet the social and economic demand. Complex Products and Systems (CoPS) that is characterized by high cost, intensive engineering and information technology, and many tailored subsystems and components, provides new perspective for inproving pharmaceutical innovation. This paper aims to explore the mechanisms of applying CoPS into pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) project. After a theoretical review of CoPS and pharmaceutical innovation, it describes three R & D projects: analysis knowledge, technical complexity of those projects, and decomposition of each. This paper argues that the evolution of pharmaceutical innovation has increased the width demand of knowledge, which makes a feasible and optimal solution for pharmaceutical innovation study and practice.


Abstract. Intense crises of crustal stress appear to cross large regions, and to precede by several months the eventual occurrence of some strong earthquake within them. The phenomenon is not linear, and the stress control reflects some wide scale-size rather than local effects. The stress propagation through the crust can be effectively monitored by means of acoustic emission (AE) techniques (ultrasounds). The correlation is here investigated between crustal stress crises and the total release of seismic energy within some space domain around the AE recording site. Some clear inferences can be envisaged, although a significant diagnosis of the state of the crust within a given region ought to request arrays of simultaneously operated AE recorders. Some case histories are described dealing with the Italian peninsula and with the Cephallonia Island.


We study the effect of linearly polarized light on the band structure and longitudinal conductivity in ABC-stacked trilayer graphene. The linearly polarized light can induce a pair of additional points in ABC-stacked trilayer graphene, where conduct and valence bands touch. The locations of these points are determined by the amplitude of the light. Furthermore, the layer pseudospin polarization can be controlled by the light. When the Fermi energy locates at Dirac points, i.e. E

 f
 = 0, the longitudinal conductivity shows a resonance phenomena when the light is present. Away from the Dirac points, the longitudinal conductivity is unchanged as varying E

 f
 for weak light field at larger Fermi energy, and the amplitude of longitudinal conductivity can be controlled by tuning the light field amplitude. Moreover, the effect of linearly polarized light on resonance phenomena in k-cubic Rashba-Dresselhaus system under the irradiating of linearly polarized light is discussed.


Written for researcher and methodologists in the fields of psychology, education, and the behavioral sciences, this volume looks at the two major types of methods--the method of relative frequency and the method of specimens--and argues that although both can deliver useful information about human behavior, most social scientists have been using the method of relative frequency for the wrong purpose--to discover how the human as a species, functions. The method of relative frequency can be used effectively, Runkel asserts, only to estimate behavioral trends in a mass population. To learn how the internal workings of a species enable it to do what it does, the method of specimens must be employed.


The problem of modeling traffic in urban areas is especially relevant because of the urgent need for managing congestion in big cities. In recent years, the macroscopic fundamental diagram (MFD) has been proposed as a macroscopic description of urban traffic. The MFD has been proved useful in the design of control strategies. However, the MFD cannot be properly defined if congestion across the city is heterogeneously distributed and if its characteristics change with time. This situation is common in large cities, and a method for identifying homogeneous areas in space and time is needed. This paper proposes a spatiotemporal clustering method with which to detect homogeneous areas over the network and over time. In each of these areas, an MFD can be defined. In particular, a segmentation method is proposed that can divide the time intervals into segments optimizing the clustering results within each of them. The algorithm is applied to data collected in the city of London, where a control system called SCOOT (split-cycle offset optimization technique) is in operation.


A rational design of magnetic capturing nanodevices, based on a specific interaction with circulating tumor cells (CTCs), can advance the capturing efficiency and initiate the development of modern smart nanoformulations for rapid isolation and detection of these CTCs from the bloodstream. Therefore, the development and evaluation of magnetic nanogels (MNGs) based on magnetic nanoparticles and linear thermoresponsive polyglycerol for the capturing of CTCs with overexpressed transferrin (Tf(+) ) receptors has been presented in this study. The MNGs are synthesized using a strain-promoted "click" approach which has allowed the in situ surface decoration with Tf-polyethylene glycol (PEG) ligands of three different PEG chain lengths as targeting ligands. An optimal value of around 30% of cells captures is achieved with a linker of eight ethylene glycol units. This study shows the potential of MNGs for the capture of CTCs and the necessity of precise control over the linkage of the targeting moiety to the capturing device.


Objectives: To explore the application of health management in patients with type II diabetes and to analyze and compare the incidence of chronic complications. Methods: the relevant research work was carried out in our hospital. During September 2018 to September 2019, 100 patients with type II diabetes were randomly divided into two groups: one group was given routine nursing intervention, the other group was given health management, and they were named control group and experimental group respectively. Each group had 50 patients, the influence of different nursing methods on the incidence of chronic complications in patients was explored. Results: In the one-year follow-up results, the corresponding complications of patients mainly include cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, cerebrovascular disease, fundus disease and peripheral neuropathy. The incidence of complications in the experimental group is 10.00%, while that in the control group is 32.00%. in comparison, the incidence in the experimental group is lower, and the data difference between the two group is small(P<0.05), which exists significance. Conclusion: The application of health management method in type II diabetes has significant effect, which can reduce the incidence of chronic complications, improve the quality of life of patients, and has positive significance for clinical development.


Immediately following parturition, physiological demands for calcium increase substantially to support the onset of milk production. As a result, transitioning dairy cows may experience subclinical hypocalcemia (SCH) at some point during early lactation. Cows respond to this homeostatic challenge dynamically, such that serum total calcium concentrations (tCa) at 1 and 4 days in milk (DIM) can be used to classify cows into 4 calcium dynamic groups: normocalcemic (NC: SCH at no DIM), transient (tSCH: SCH at 1 DIM only), delayed (dSCH: SCH at 4 DIM only) and persistent (pSCH: SCH at both 1 and 4 DIM). Identifying cows in the pSCH and dSCH groups is important clinically because these groups are at greater risk of adverse health events compared to the NC and tSCH cows. Our objective was to describe the temporal patterns of milk constituents for cows in each calcium group using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic analysis of milk samples. Additionally, we hoped to ascertain whether these methods might be valuable as a diagnostic tool for grouping cows based on calcium dynamics at a clinically useful timepoint.


OBJECTIVE
By detecting the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in different syndrome types of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in patients with gastric carcinoma (GC) to investigate the correlation of VEGF and TCM syndrome type for exploring the internal relationship between disease and syndrome.

METHODS
The correlated clinical manifestations were recorded in detail and patient's syndrome type was differentiated at beside before operation. After operation, pathological examination on the resected specimen was performed routinely. The expression of VEGF in 104 GC patients of three different syndrome types, i.e. Pi-Wei asthenia type (type 1), Gan-Wei disharmony type (type 2) and phlegm-stasis-poisons stagnant type (type 3)and in 30 patients with superficial gastritis (for control) were determined by immunohistochemical method. The expressions of VEGF in different syndrome types were analyzed by combining with correlated clinical pathological characteristics.

RESULTS
(1) The VEGF protein positive expression rate in GC patients was 81.7% (85/104), it was significantly higher than that in the control group with positive rate being zero (P < 0.01). (2) The intensity of VEGF expression was positively correlated with the depth of tumor infiltration, the extent of lymph node metastasis and the pathological staging of cancer (P < 0.01), and showed no evident correlation with the size of tumor and its degree of cell differentiation (P > 0.05). (3) Levels of VEGF expression in various syndrome types were significantly different (P < 0.01), the highest expression showed in the type 3, the second in the type 2, and the lowest in the type 1, comparison between them all showed significant difference (P < 0.01 for 3 vs 1, P < 0.05 for 3 vs 2 and 2 vs 1).

CONCLUSION
(1) VEGF could be taken as an index for evaluating the infiltration, metastasis and prognosis of GC. (2) The different expressions of VEGF play different roles in the GC metastatic process of patients of different syndrome types, and the pathogenesis of GC metastasis may be probably various in different syndrome types. VEGF is the relevant gene of GC of type 2 and type 3. (3) High VEGF expression shows positive correlation with the GC metastasis of type 2 and 3, suggesting that the higher the intensity of evil excess, the more possibilities of tumor infiltration and metastasis and the worse the prognoses will be.


OBJECTIVE
To develop an emergency training program of personal protective equipment (PPE) for general healthcare workers (HCWs) who may be under the threat of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and evaluate the effect of the program.

METHODS
A three-stage training program was designed. The complete clinical workflow together with infectious disease ward was simulated. To verify the effect of the program, an experimental training with pre- and post-test was conducted before large-scale training.

RESULTS
Post-test scores were significantly improved when compared with the pre-test scores. Among all PPE, N95 respirator and protective coverall needed training most. Meanwhile, "proficiency level" and "mutual check & help" also needed to be strengthened as independent scoring points.

CONCLUSION
This training program significantly improved the performances of participants. It may therefore be applied for general HCWs on a larger scale.


It was investigated whether a deficiency of mannose-binding lectin (MBL), which binds Aspergillus species avidly in vitro, could account for chronic necrotizing pulmonary aspergillosis (CNPA), which is seen most commonly in nonimmunocompromised patients. Blood samples were obtained from 11 patients (10 white) with CNPA and were compared with blood samples from 82 white control subjects. MBL haplotype profiles were determined by polymerase chain reaction, using sequence-specific primers and sequence-specific oligonucleotide probing techniques. Seven of the 10 white patients with CNPA had MBL haplotypes that encode for low levels of the protein, compared with 25.6% of the white control subjects (P=.004). Presence of the codon 52 mutation was particularly common in patients with CNPA (P=.015), which suggests a greater involvement of this mutation.


A compact novel input offset compensation scheme with reduced sensitivity to charge injection and leakage is introduced. It stores an amplified version of the offset that is applied during normal operation on the input side through a capacitive divider. Offset compensation takes place in a voltage additive manner in a separate path from the input signal. Experimental results of a MOSIS test chip fabricated in 0.5 mum AMI CMOS technology are shown that validate the proposed scheme.


Abstract An integrated sequence stratigraphic classification of the Comanchean Series, Cretaceous strata in the Gulf Coast is developed for northeast and south-central Texas by using the eastern Gulf Coast scheme of Mancini and Puckett and the western Gulf Coast scheme of Scott et al., New outcrop biostratigraphic data are integrated with lithostrati-graphic data to identify four Aptian-Albian to lower Cenomanian, second-order, trans-gressive-regressive (T-R) sequences in Texas. The lower T-R K1 sequence consists of the Sycamore, Hammett and Cow Creek formations. The base of this sequence in Texas is defined by the unconformity (Ap SB PR1 of Scott et al.) between the Paleozoic basement and the Sycamore Sandstone. The T-R K2 sequence includes the Hensel, lower Glen Rose, and upper Glen Rose units and the lower beds of the Paluxy Formation. The base of this sequence is marked by the Cow Creek-Hensel unconformity (Ap SB PR2 of Scott et al.). The Hensel and lower Glen Rose comprise a lower, higher-order sequence, and the upper Glen Rose and lower Paluxy constitute an upper, higher-order sequence. These higher-order sequences are separated by a disconformity (Al SB GR2 of Scott et al.) a few meters below the base of the Corbula bed. The T-R K3 sequence consists of the upper beds of the Paluxy and the Walnut, Goodland (Comanche Peak and Edwards), and Georgetown Limestone or lower part of the Washita Group. The base of this sequence is defined by an intraformational unconformity (Al SB FR1 of Scott et al.) in the Paluxy Formation. The upper part of the Paluxy, Walnut and Goodland comprise a lower, higher-order sequence, and the Georgetown Limestone and lower part of the Washita represent an upper, higher-order sequence. These higher-order sequences are separated by a disconformity (Al SB WA1 of Scott et al.) at the base of the Georgetown or Kiamichi Formation. The T-R K4 sequence includes the upper Washita Grayson/Del Rio and Buda formations. The base of this sequence is defined by the Georgetown/Main Street-Grayson/Del Rio unconformity (Ce SB1.1, Al SB WA6 of Scott et al.). The top of this sequence is marked by the regional unconformity (Ce SB3 of Scott et al.) that separates the Comanchean Series (upper Washita beds at its top) from the Gulfian Series (Woodbine or Lake Waco/ Pepper Shale at its base). This unconformity correlates with the mid-Cenomanian unconformity in the Gulf of Mexico. These T-R sequences can be correlated from northeast to south-central Texas and from the western to eastern Gulf. Because the stratal architecture of these sequences delineates potential hydrocarbon reservoir facies, this classification has implications for developing enhanced petroleum exploration strategies for Comanchean Cretaceous strata in the Gulf Coast.


The present study reports the case of a 71-year-old female patient diagnosed with endometrial adenocarcinoma, which was confirmed by histopathology. In the course of performing an elective hysterectomy with adnexa removal, a solid tumor located in Meckel's diverticulum (MD) was identified and excised. Due to the unique nature of the lesion, the tumor tissue underwent broad mapping of any genomic alterations once the histopathological examination was completed. The genetic testing was conducted using a high-resolution microarray and resulted in the identification of 45 genomic abnormalities, including 4 chromosomal aneuploidies. Within those regions, alterations of 87 known cancer genes were assigned. The involvement of v-kit Hardy-Zuckerman 4 feline sarcoma viral oncogene homolog gene alteration was noted to be a key player for triggering gastrointestinal stromal tumor transformation for this unusual case. A total of 12 genes, showing mutual interaction in different cancer types or involved in diverse cellular processes, were identified. These reported data may shed light on the carcinogenesis of a rare MD tumor.


This paper presents a novel approach to biomedical image representation for classification by mapping image regions to local concepts and represent images in a weighted entropy based probabilistic feature space. In a heterogeneous collection of medical images, it is possible to identify specific local patches that are perceptually and/or semantically distinguishable. The variation of these patches is effectively modeled as local concepts based on their low-level features as inputs to a multi-class SVM classifier. The probability of occurrence of each concept in an image is measured by spreading and normalizing each region's class confidence score based on the probabilistic output of the classifier. Furthermore, importance of concepts is measured as Shannon entropy based on pixel values of image patches and used to refine the feature vector to overcome the limitation of the "TF-IDF"- based weighting. In addition, to take the localization information of concepts into consideration, each image each segmented into five overlapping regions and local concept feature vectors are generated from those regions to finally obtain a combined semi-global feature vector. A systematic evaluation of image classification on two biomedical image data sets demonstrates improvement of more than 10% for the proposed feature representation approach compared to the commonly used low level and visual word-based approaches.


Phosphorus (P) enrichment as a result of anthropogenic activities can potentially alter plant C:N:P stoichiometry. However, the influence of different P enrichment frequencies on plant C:N:P stoichiometry in P-limited ecosystems is still unclear. In this study, we conducted a P-addition experiment to elucidate the effect of various P enrichment frequencies on the plant C:N:P stoichiometry of Carex brevicuspis in a freshwater wetland at Dongting Lake, China. We used four P enrichment frequencies (treatment A: no P addition; treatment B: three 0.1 g kg−1 additions at 10-day intervals; treatment C: two 0.15 g kg−1 additions at 15-day intervals; and treatment D: one 0.3 g kg−1 addition during the experimental period) in a factorial design with an experimental duration of 30 days. Biomass accumulation was lowest in the treatment A and highest in the treatment C, and increased with decreasing P addition frequency. The shoot:root ratio did not differ significantly between the four treatments. Both foliar and root C concentrations were not significantly different between the treatments. Foliar N concentration was significantly lower in the treatment D than in the other three treatments, while root N concentration did not differ significantly between the treatments. Both foliar and root P concentrations, and foliar C:N were much higher in the treatment B than in the treatment A. However, root C:N did not differ significantly between treatments. Both foliar and root C:P and N:P of C. brevicuspis were lower in the treatment B than in the treatment A. These results indicated that different frequencies of P addition significantly influenced plant growth. Moreover, P enrichment, rather than frequency, significantly influenced plant C:N:P stoichiometry. Our results improve our understanding of the influence of different P enrichment frequencies on plant C:N:P stoichiometry and nutrient cycling in freshwater wetlands.


This paper explains how four model transformations between database
models work: (1) An ER (Entity-Relationship) database schema is
transformed into a collection of ER database states, (2) a
RE (Relational) database schema into a collection of RE database
states, (3) an ER database schema into a RE database schema, and (4) a
collection of ER database states into a collection of RE database
states. These four separate transformations may be viewed as a single
transformation between the ER datamodel and the RE datamodel.

The schemas are regarded as determining the syntax of the datamodels,
and the set of associated states is regarded as being the semantics of
the datamodels, because the states associate meaning with the
schemas. When one usually considers database models, one formally only
treats syntactical aspects, i.e., schemas, and handles the semantics
merely informally. Our approach allows to formally handle syntax and
semantics of database models and their transformation within a single
and uniform framework. The approach thus allows to precisely describe
properties of the datamodels and properties of the transformation.

The method behind our approach is to divide a language into a syntax
and semantics part and to describe a transformation between two
languages as a direction-neutral affair. Formal properties of the
languages to be transformed and formal properties of the
transformation are described uniformly. Transformation properties can
be properties regarding syntax and semantics. The method can be
applied not only to database languages but to transformations between
common computer science languages.


We constructed a modular, biomimetic red panda paw with which to experimentally investigate the evolutionary reason for the existence of the false thumbs of red pandas. These thumbs were once believed to have shared a common origin with the similar false thumbs of giant pandas; however, the discovery of a carnivorous fossil ancestor of the red panda that had false thumbs implies that the red panda did not evolve its thumbs to assist in eating bamboo, as the giant panda did, but rather evolved its thumbs for some other purpose. The leading proposal for this purpose is that the thumbs developed to aid arboreal locomotion. To test this hypothesis, we conducted grasp tests on rods 5-15 mm in diameter using a biomimetic paw with 0-16 mm interchangeable thumb lengths. The results of these tests demonstrated an optimal thumb length of 7 mm, which is just above that of the red panda's true thumb length of 5.5 mm. Given trends in the data that suggest that smaller thumbs are better suited to grasping larger diameter rods, we conclude that the red panda's thumb being sized below the optimum length suggests an adaptation toward grasping branches as opposed to relatively thinner food items, supporting the new proposal that the red panda's thumbs are an adaptation primary to climbing rather than food manipulation.


Ageing is associated with a variety of pathophysiological changes, including development of insulin resistance, progressive decline in β‐cell function and chronic inflammation, all of which affect metabolic homeostasis in response to nutritional and environmental stimuli. SIRT1, the mammalian nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)‐dependent protein deacetylase, and nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT), the rate‐limiting NAD biosynthetic enzyme, together comprise a novel systemic regulatory network, named the 'NAD World', that orchestrates physiological responses to internal and external perturbations and maintains the robustness of the physiological system in mammals. In the past decade, an accumulating body of evidence has demonstrated that SIRT1 and NAMPT, two essential components in the NAD World, play a critical role in regulating insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion throughout the body. In this article, we will summarize the physiological significance of SIRT1 and NAMPT‐mediated NAD biosynthesis in metabolic regulation and discuss the ideas of functional hierarchy and frailty in determining the robustness of the system. We will also discuss the potential of key NAD intermediates as effective nutriceuticals for the prevention and the treatment of age‐associated metabolic complications, such as type 2 diabetes.


Sm1.8Ce0.2CuO4–xCe0.9Gd0.1O1.95 (SCC–xCGO, x = 0–12 vol.%) composite cathodes supported on Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 (CGO) electrolyte are studied for applications in IT-SOFCs. Results show that Sm1.8Ce0.2CuO4 material is chemically compatible with Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 at 1000 °C. The composite electrode exhibits optimum microstructure and forms good contact with the electrolyte after sintering at 1000 °C for 4 h. The polarization resistance (Rp) reduces to the minimum value of 0.17 Ω cm2 at 750 °C in air for SCC–CGO06 composite cathode. The relationship between Rp and oxygen partial pressure indicates that the reaction rate-limiting step is the surface diffusion of the dissociative adsorbed oxygen on the composite cathode.


Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a worldwide health problem. Consensus guidelines for the treatment of chronic HBV in children have not been established, and indications for antiviral therapy in adults with chronic HBV infection may not be applicable to children. The medications that are Food and Drug Administration approved for the treatment of children with HBV include interferon (IFN)-alpha and lamivudine. Nondetectable serum HBV deoxyribonucleic acid, Hepatitis B envelope antigen (HBeAg) loss, and HBeAg seroconversion following 1 year duration of entecavir treatment. A review of the literature of entecavir treatment of chronic hepatitis B in children is also provided.


Corridors are expected to increase species dispersal in fragmented habitats. However, it remains unclear how the quality of corridors influences the dispersal process, and how it interacts with corridor length and width. Here we investigate these factors using a small-scale laboratory system where we track the dispersal of the model organism Collembola Folsomia candida . Using this system, we study the effects of corridor length, width, and quality on the probability of dispersal, net movement, body size of dispersers, and the rate of change in population size after colonization. We show that corridor quality positively affected dispersal probability, net movement, and the rate of change in population size in colonised patches. Moreover, corridor quality significantly affected the size of dispersers, with only larger individuals dispersing through poor quality corridors. The length and width of corridors affected both the rate at which populations increased in colonised patches and the net number of individuals which dispersed, suggesting that these physical properties may be important in maintaining the flow of individuals in space. Our results thus suggest that corridor quality can have an important role in determining not only the probability of dispersal occurs but also the phenotypes of the individuals which disperse, with concomitant effects on the net movement of individuals and the rate of change in population size in the colonised patches.


Among the various adsorbents used, sawdust appears to be the most attractive material in terms of cost, versatility and abundance. In the present research, synthetic contaminated water with gasoline was used. Adsorption of petroleum compounds on four types of sawdust (Walnut, Poplar, Beech and Pine) was studied by using batch adsorption techniques. It was found that walnut sawdust has higher adsorption capacity than other types of sawdust. It was also observed that equilibrium adsorption capacity was a function of pH, temperature, and H2O2 concentration in solution. Maximum adsorption of petroleum compounds was obtained at pH 8. The adsorption of petroleum compounds was increased by decreasing the temperature and H2O2 concentration in the solution. The maximum equilibrium capacity of walnut sawdust was 84.03 sawdust gr COD mg nd 606.37 sawdust gr TPH mg obtained at pH 8 and+ a temperature of 10 ̊C. The experimental adsorption data were fitted to a Freundlich and Langmuier adsorption model. Calculated correlation coefficients indicated that the Freundlich model was best suited, indicating that the nature of walnut sawdust is heterogeneous. In this study, to illustrate the relation between qe, Ce, pH and temperature, regression analysis was taken into consideration. The obtained model (with R=0.985) improved the correlation coefficient at least 1.13% compared to the Freundlich model. The maximum and minimum error of the predicted values of qe to the experimental data was obtained as 14.29% and 0.034% for regression model, while these errors for the Freundlich model were 52.15% and 1.63%. Keywords– Petroleum compound, sawdust, groundwater remediation, TPH, COD, adsorption, isotherm, regression


Since the traumatic events of September 11, 2001, the concept of closure in dealing with grief and loss has received increased attention. In this article, we challenge the popular belief that a lack of completion forms the core of neurosis resulting in a decreased ability to live a lively present-centered life. We begin by reviewing prevalent, traditional, linear models and approaches to human suffering and grief. We then provide reasons for doubting the utility of linear models that are related to constructs of closure, describe emerging non-linear paradigms for grief and loss, and emphasize the evolving Gestalt perspective. Finally, we discuss benefits of non-closure and end with a vignette illustrating our belief that closure does not occur for significant loss and that there are advantages of non-closure during a lifetime.


The Korean Conflict of Laws Act recently incorporated much of the European Union`s recent revision in "EC Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations (Rome 1980)"(hereinafter Rome Convention). With the revision of Rome Convention applied to contractual obligations,"Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I)"(hereinafter Rome I) has taken effect on December 2009. Before the effectivation of Rome I, "Regulation (EC) No 864/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (Rome II)"(hereinafter Rome II) has come into effect on January 2009. This means the revision of certain rules and its practical implications need an in-depth study on governing law rules under Rome I which provides newly effected governing laws applicable to contractual obligations. Moreover, uniform choice of law rules on non-contractual obligations needs to focus especially on marine insurance contract. Where policy assignment and subrogation causes, how to decide the governing law which will be applied to the insurer as a third party? This article attempts to analyze emerging legal issues in legal regimes determining choice of law, especially those in international marine insurance contracts. This will help Korean practitioners to be dialed in legal affairs under English Law as the governing law in their contracts.


Objectives Combination therapies have a distinct advantage over monotherapies in terms of their broad spectrum, synergistic effect and prevention of the emergence of drug resistance. In the present study, the in vitro antibacterial activity of daptomycin combinations with linezolid and dalbavancin, and dalbavancin with linezolid were evaluated against 30 clinical MRSA strains. Methods The MICs of all antibiotics were determined using microbroth dilution as described by the CLSI. The in vitro activities of antibiotics in combination were assessed by using a microbroth 'chequerboard' assay. The MIC values of all antibiotics determined were evaluated in accordance with the recommendations of the CLSI for daptomycin and linezolid, and the FDA for dalbavancin. Results All strains (100%) were found to be susceptible to daptomycin, dalbavancin and linezolid. The MIC50, MIC90 and MICrange values of these antibiotics were determined to be 1, 1 and 0.5–1 mg/L, 0.12, 0.12 and 0.03–0.12 mg/L, and 1, 2 and 1–2 mg/L, respectively. The rates of synergistic effects were 67% for daptomycin combined with dalbavancin and with linezolid, and 60% for dalbavancin combined with linezolid. Conclusions The results of this study show that in vitro combinations of these new antimicrobials will be effective in the therapy of MRSA infections.


Chronic inflammation of skeletal muscle tissues, termed myositis, is associated with inherited muscular dystrophy and acquired inflammatory myopathy. In this review, the role of the organic osmolytes taurine, betaine, myo-inositol, and sorbitol in skeletal muscles in general, and in myositis in particular, is discussed. Evidence indicates that regulated osmolyte pathway activation contributes to normal muscle functioning, which becomes further activated in myositis as part of the tissue's programme of damage control. On the one hand, osmolytes seem to act as protein stabilisers in muscle fibres counteracting tissue injury but, on the other hand, these compounds also regulate immune cell function. The possibilities for treating myositis through boosting of beneficial or targeting of adversary effects are explored.


Music cannot only provide comfort and reduce agitation associated with dementia, but can also generate connections between all who are present. This article describes an 'emergency' music intervention conducted by the author during doctoral fieldwork, which illustrates how music was used as a medium for connection and comfort with a highly agitated person with advanced dementia. This experience provides strong support for increasing the training of musicians towards providing music for people living with dementia – particularly when other nonpharmaceutical methods are not proving effective.


Multidimensional data warehouses and OLAP systems do not provide adequate means for dealing with changes in dimension data, changes appearing frequently in dynamic application areas such as current business systems. As data warehouses and OLAP tools serve as decision support systems they have to reflect such changes. Temporal data warehouses propose sophisticated modelling tools for covering any changes in dimension data but cannot be used with current OLAP systems. In this paper we show some techniques to incorporate temporal dimension data into multidimensional OLAP systems. In particular we show how to superimpose conventional multidimensional data warehouses with temporal master data, enabling queries to span multiple periods and to return correct answers.


Rabbits with a long period of visual deprivation (up to eight weeks since birth), unlike those with four-week deprivation, require a longer time period (over 30 days) to normalize elaboration of conditioned reflexes and to manifest their electrographic correlates (evoked potentials). The results obtained testify to the ability of recovering CNS functions disturbed by deprivation. It has been suggested that natural early training of the synaptic structures of specific neurones in the visual cortex play a decisive role in this phenomenon.


Foreword, Maurice Freedman. 1. People and Places. 2. Genealogy of the House of Lim. 3. The City and the Market Town. 4. The Village. 5. Houses and Families. 6. Lim Han-ci: The Father. 7. Lim Hue-lieng: An Eldest Son. 8. Lim So-lan: A Second Wife. 9. Lim A-pou: A Wife and a Sister. 10. Tan-A-hong: An Adopted Daughter. 11. Iu Mui-mue: A Rejected Bride. 12. Lim Chuiieng: An Expensive Wife. 13. Narrow Hearts. 14. A Gift of Pride. Epilogue: Separate Stories.


Three carbohydrate derivatives (starches) from paddy rice (RS), sorghum grain (SS), and cassava starches (CS) were incorporated as binding agents at 2% inclusion and compared with organic hydrocolloid sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) as reference binder in isocaloric-isoproteic 40% crude protein diets. The diets were observed in the laboratory for water stability and nutrients retention for 30 min at 5-min intervals. The diet treated with CS was not significantly (P > 0.05) different from the reference diet in water stability within the set time. The CMC-based diet was superior in water stability with 100.00, 98.64, and 97.53% at 5, 15, and 30 min of immersion, respectively. The CS-based diet ranked second with 96.97, 92.84, and 85.34%, respectively; and the least stability was recorded in the SS-based diet with 92.00, 73.10, and 54.23% for the same period of observation. There was a decreasing trend in nutrient retention with increasing time of immersion in water. However, there was no significant (P > 0.05) difference in nutrients (proteins and lipids) retention in RS and SS, but they were significantly (P < 0.05) different from CMC and CS. It was observed that the rate at which the proteins were leached was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than the lipids in all binder-based diets. Based on the results of this study and the unavailability and unaffordable cost of CMC in African countries, CS is recommended at 2% inclusion as a local binding agent in aquaculture diets.


In this paper, we propose a novel real-valued time-delay neural network (RVTDNN) suitable for dynamic modeling of the baseband nonlinear behaviors of third-generation (3G) base-station power amplifiers (PA). Parameters (weights and biases) of the proposed model are identified using the back-propagation algorithm, which is applied to the input and output waveforms of the PA recorded under real operation conditions. Time- and frequency-domain simulation of a 90-W LDMOS PA output using this novel neural-network model exhibit a good agreement between the RVTDNN behavioral model's predicted results and measured ones along with a good generality. Moreover, dynamic AM/AM and AM/PM characteristics obtained using the proposed model demonstrated that the RVTDNN can track and account for the memory effects of the PAs well. These characteristics also point out that the small-signal response of the LDMOS PA is more affected by the memory effects than the PAs large-signal response when it is driven by 3G signals. This RVTDNN model requires a significantly reduced complexity and shorter processing time in the analysis and training procedures, when driven with complex modulated and highly varying envelope signals such as 3G signals, than previously published neural-network-based PA models.


On 6 April 2009, a strong earthquake of magnitude Mw = 6.3 (red star in Figure 1) shook L'Aquila (southern Italy), causing massive damage and losses. Approximately 300 people died and more than 1,500 were injured. Following the mainshock there were many debates concerning the predictability of the earthquake. At present, earthquakes cannot be predicted (that is, there do not exist standard methods to determine with accuracy when the next earthquake will occur at a specific location and how large it will be) but only forecasted (that is, scientists can estimate the probability of occurrence of an earthquake of a given magnitude at a specific site) with a large degree of uncertainty. However, the analysis of intermediate- and short-term precursory phenomena, such as seismicity patterns ( e.g. , Kanamori 1981; Wyss et al. 1999), foreshock distributions ( e.g. , Jones and Molnar 1979; McGuire et al. 2005; Papadopoulos et al. 2010), and geochemical changes ( e.g. , Igarashi et al. 1995; Claesson et al. 2004) may allow us to make qualitative statements about the seismic potential of a given region (that is, about the likelihood of occurrence and the imminence of a large earthquake in an area) with little or no specification concerning the occurrence time and the size of the next strong event. Such statements can be useful for planning civil protection strategies.

In this study, we analyze the space-time evolution of seismic strain rate in the area struck by the L'Aquila earthquake in search of possible seismicity patterns ( e.g. , spatial and temporal seismicity gaps), with the aim of providing new insights into the nature of this earthquake. More specifically, from the historical earthquake catalog we estimate the seismic strain rates as a function of space, for several distinct time intervals. Strain rates are estimated using …


The following article is designed to provide an historical overview of the role that the Smith College School for Social Work has played in serving U.S. service members and their families throughout the past 91 years. Particular attention is paid to the building momentum of interest and activity at the School since 2005.


AIM
To explore and debate nursing leadership and challenges on organizational and group levels when conducting rehabilitation groups for people suffering from chronic pain.

BACKGROUND
Group approaches based on cognitive behavioural therapy are generally described as effective. Leadership in group approaches offered to people suffering from chronic pain is a great challenge for nurses on an organizational as well as a group level.

METHODS
One overall leader and nine group leaders conducting 13 groups constituted the sample. Qualitative content analysis was used by identifying categories, subthemes and themes.

RESULTS
The results from the content analysis revealed one main theme ('Complexity in nursing leadership') and three subthemes ('Challenges in leadership on organizational level', 'Challenges in leadership on teamwork level' and 'Challenges in leadership on group level'.

CONCLUSIONS
The results show how important it is to have firm overall leadership and trained group leaders with a common purpose, interdependent roles and complementary skills, who are thus well prepared to prevent or deal with challenging group processes.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT
The leaders of both levels, which are highly interrelated, should have a current theoretical understanding of pain theory, group leadership skills and a cognitive behavioural approach.


Usage of Azolla pinnata in wastewater treatment has great advantages in the environment. Besides its utilization as a water purifier plant on wastewater, Azolla sp. can be used as an animal feed and bio fertilizer. This research study was conducted to assess the biomass production and the treatment efficiency of Azolla sp. in different types of industrial wastewater from rice mills, the food industry and vehicle services stations. A split-plot experimental design was used with 4 replicates. For this study, eight artificial ponds were constructed by using polythene sheets. The size of each pond were 150×50×40 cm3. Out of eight ponds, three ponds were filled with three different types of wastewater, one was filled with groundwater and 90 g of Azolla sp. plants were introduced into them. Further, balance four ponds were filled with the same three different types of wastewater and groundwater. Ground water was used as a control to observe the growth of Azolla sp. without effect of wastewater. Each of the ponds was filled with 50 L of wastewater. Then the water quality parameters such as pH, EC, COD, BOD, TDS, TSS, temperature, oil and grease content and the biomass production of Azolla sp. were analyzed on the first day, the 7th day and the 14th day. Most of the water quality parameters in three different types of industrial wastewater were improved with Azolla sp. Significantly, a higher dry weight of Azolla pinnata was recorded in rice mill wastewater and the least values recorded in the service station wastewater. There are significant differences (p<0.05) among the water quality parameters such as EC, TDS and TSS of the four experiments. A significant difference was observed in EC, TDS and TSS of the Azolla sp. grown rice mill wastewater compared to control. EC of the food industry wastewater showed a higher significant difference. EC and temperature showed a highly significant difference in the service station wastewater.
Keywords: Azolla pinnata, Waste water, Biomass, Water quality


Introduction & BackgroundIn England, The Indices of Deprivation (IoD) are a widely used and referenced measure to assess local levels of deprivation across a range of domains, including health and disability. However, due to their complex nature and the number of inputs required to generate these measures, they are only updated infrequently. Typically every 4-5 years, with the most recent versions released in 2019 and 2015.
This study expands on previous research looking at the feasibility of using digital footprint data, in the form of retail loyalty card transactions, to predict local deprivation. This work focuses specifically on the health and disability subdomain of IoD. Our hypothesis is that retail behaviour relating to food purchases and their associated nutritional content, can be used to predict health deprivation.
Objectives & ApproachThe work utilises loyalty card data from a large UK grocery retailer. Anonymised geo-location data for loyalty card members was used to assign retail grocery transactions to individual Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) for each of the ten quarters in the study period (July 2019 - December 2021). A nutritional lookup was developed to enable the nutritional content of food transactions to be assigned to each LSOA.
A number of metrics based on categories of food sold and their nutritional content were developed and used in a Machine Learning model, based on a Random Forest classifier, to predict areas with high levels of health related deprivation.
Relevance to Digital FootprintsThis study uses data derived from digital footprint data of grocery transactions. It demonstrates the potential for utilising digital footprint data as a proxy for traditional demographic data without the need for expensive, both in terms of time and cost, surveying to be performed.
ResultsThe random forest classifier was able to predict neighbourhoods (at the LSOA level) with the top 20% of health related deprivation. A high level of predictive power was identified (Overall accuracy 80%). SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) and Model Class Reliance (MCR) were used to determine the importance of the input features. Areas with higher proportional spending on cigarettes and soft drinks and lower spending on fish, wine and fruit and vegtables were found to be associated with extreme levels of health deprivation. In terms of nutrition, two derived metrics, calories per pound spend and the obesogenicity of food purchased, were found to be important predictors of health deprivation.
Conclusions & ImplicationsDigital footprint data on grocery purchases have been shown to be highly effective at predicting areas of extreme health related deprivation at the LSOA level. Features related to proportional spend on food categories and proportions of nutrients associated with these purchases were identified as optimal for predicting health related deprivation.
The number of calories per pound spent and, to a lesser extent, the proportion spent on cigarettes, in an LSOA was found to be the most important predictor of high levels of health related deprivation.
The high level of predictive accuracy obtained offers the potential for using digital footprint data as a proxy for traditional deprivation measures. This could enable rapid and near real-time surveillance of areas with poor health outcomes compared to traditional approaches. This could allow early interventions to be put in place mitigating some of the negative impacts of health related deprivation.


Smartphone applications may ensure greater access to services for the many people who experience anxiety and other psychological issues but do not receive adequate treatment. ACTCompanion® is a mHealth application that incorporates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy principles into daily exercises that assist the user to confront their negative internal experiences and work towards valued outcomes. We used a single-subject A-B design with nine students and 10 employees experiencing high daily anxiety. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires before and after app use. They completed the DAS-A regularly so we could monitor anxiety levels over time. Daily anxiety levels reduced in the intervention phase, and remained low for six participants for whom follow-up data were available. There was also a significant improvement in scores of anxiety, depression, stress, positive and negative effect, psychological flexibility, and mindfulness. Our results suggest that mHealth applications have potential to improve people's psychological functioning.


Objective: To check the serum retinol concentration and assess the nutritional status of postpartum women assisted at Januario Cicco Maternity School, Natal / RN in relation to vitamin A deficiency. Methods: We recruited 190 healthy postpartum women assisted at a Brazilian public hospital. Serum retinol concentration was analyzed by high performance
liquid chromatography. Retinol values below 30 ?g g / dL were considered indicative of vitamin A deficiency. Results: The nutritional biochemistry status of vitamin A, regarding
to serum retinol, presented an average of 44.6 ± 17.6 ?g g / dL, showing normal values according to the referential (? 30 ?g g / dL). However, 45 (23.7%) mothers had deficient
levels of serum retinol, a prevalence which classifies the study population as a serious public health problem. Conclusion: The prevalence found in this study reports that the population
is at risk for vitamin A deficiency, a situation clouded by the apparent normality of the mean serum retinol.


On May 24, 2010, a cluster of 17 human Salmonella enterica serotype Chester clinical isolates with indistinguishable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns was reported to PulseNet, the national molecular subtyping network for foodborne disease surveillance. This PFGE pattern had not been reported previously. Subsequently, CDC conducted an investigation that identified 44 ill persons in 18 states during May 24-June 19, 2010. In a multistate case-control study, consumption of a brand A frozen meal was associated with illness (matched odds ratio [mOR] = 30.7; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 6.4-∞). On June 17, 2010, the manufacturer (company A) voluntarily recalled its brand A cheesy chicken and rice frozen meals. The outbreak strain of Salmonella Chester was isolated from eight unopened samples. A root cause analysis conducted by company A identified chicken as a possible contaminated ingredient. Many frozen meals are not "heat and serve" items but rather are "not-ready-to-eat" (NRTE) products that require full cooking before consumption because they might include ingredients that have not gone through a pathogen kill-step process. Because Salmonella and other pathogens can survive in NRTE products, such products must be fully cooked before eating and clearly labeled with instructions for safe handling and cooking.


An alternative N-glycosylation pathway using Glc1-3Man5GlcNAc2 as a donor to be transferred to a protein acceptor is found either in Man-P-Dol synthase deficient cells or in wild type CHO cells grown in energy deprivation conditions. Discrimination between oligomannosides of this alternative pathway and oligomannosides of the major one containing the same number of sugar residues Man6-8GlcNAc2 required structural studies. Taking advantage of the specific chromatographic behaviour of glucosylated oligomannosides, in pellicular high pH anion exchange chromatography, we developed a one-step method for the identification of the alternative N-glycosylation pathway compounds differing from those of the major one.


A 50-year-old Caucasian man with a history of obesity and type 2 diabetes presented to the emergency room with a 2-day history of blurry vision and severe polyuria and polydipsia. He was found to have diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and was admitted to the hospital for further management; endocrinology service was subsequently consulted. Review of his chart showed that he had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 2 years before this admission when at an annual screening his A1C was 6.6% (49 mmol/mol). Metformin monotherapy was then started; however, he quickly stopped the medication because of gastrointestinal upset. He further improved his diet and increased his physical activity and, about 6 months before his admission with DKA, his primary care provider had changed his follow-up visits to once per year because his A1C was 6.1% (43 mmol/mol), his blood pressure was 130/78 mmHg, random LDL cholesterol was 115 mg/dL, and triglycerides were 304 mg/dL. No medications were prescribed.

At the time of his admission with hyperglycemic emergency, the diagnosis of DKA was made based on a serum glucose level of 621 mg/dL, bicarbonate of 20 mEq/L (normal range 22–32), anion gap of 19, and presence of serum ketones. The DKA episode was resolved 10 hours after admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) for intravenous fluid resuscitation and insulin therapy.

During initial inpatient evaluation, we found no signs or symptoms supporting concurrent infection or pancreatitis; he was hemodynamically stable and had a BMI of 32 kg/m2, with a weight of 85 kg. His A1C was 12.8% (116 mmol/mol), triglycerides were 7,783 mg/dL, and total cholesterol was 411 mg/dL; thyroid-stimulating hormone and liver function tests were within normal limits.

As he was transferred from ICU to the floor to receive basal-bolus insulin therapy, further history was obtained from the …


Cryptographic Hash functions find ubiquitous use in various applications like digital signatures, message authentication codes and other forms of digital security. Their associated vulnerabilities therefore make them a prevalent target for cyber criminals. Cracking a hash involves brute force which is generally extremely time or computing power intensive. Recent times have seen usage of GPUs for brute forcing hashes thus significantly accelerating the rate of hash generation during brute force. This has further been extended to simultaneous usage of multiple GPUs over multiple machines or building GPU clusters having multiple GPUs on a single machine. Attackers use these methods to crack hashes within practical durations of time, to the tune of hours or days, depending on the strength of the password. This paper quantifies the advantage of using the CPU simultaneously with the GPU for hash cracking and describes how a potential attacker, with respect to the size of the botnet used, could come to possess capabilities of hash rates of at least greater than 11 times the rate of the world's fastest GPU cluster based MD5 brute forcing machine with no investment.


Background: Some beneficial effects of probiotics may be due to secreted probiotic-derived factors, identified as "postbiotic" mediators. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether supernatants harvested from Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) cultures (ATCC53103 strain) protect colonic human smooth muscle cells (HSMCs) from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced myogenic damage. Materials and Methods: LGG was grown in de Man, Rogosa, Share medium at 37°C and samples were collected in middle and late exponential, stationary, and overnight phases. Supernatants were recovered by centrifugation, filtered, and stored at −20°C. The primary HSMCs culture was exposed for 24 hours to purified LPS of a pathogen strain of Escherichia coli (O111:B4) (1 &mgr;g/mL) with and without supernatants. Postbiotic effects were evaluated on the basis of HSMCs morphofunctional alterations and interleukin-6 (IL-6) production. Data are expressed as mean±SE (P<0.05 significant). Results: LPS induced persistent, significant, 20.5%±0.7% cell shortening and 34.5%±2.2% decrease in acetylcholine-induced contraction of human HSMCs. These morphofunctional alterations were paralleled to a 365.65%±203.13% increase in IL-6 production. All these effects were dose-dependently reduced by LGG supernatants. Supernatants of the middle exponential phase already partially restored LPS-induced cell shortening by 57.34%±12.7% and IL-6 increase by 145.8%±4.3% but had no effect on LPS-induced inhibition of contraction. Maximal protective effects were obtained with supernatants of the late stationary phase with LPS-induced cell shortening restored by 84.1%±4.7%, inhibition of contraction by 85.5%±6.4%, and IL-6 basal production by 92.7%±1.2%. Conclusions: LGG-derived products are able to protect human SMCs from LPS-induced myogenic damage. Novel insights have been provided for the possibility that LGG-derived products could reduce the risk of progression to postinfective motor disorders.


Reports of atypical femoral fractures (AFFs) in patients receiving long‐ term bisphosphonate therapy have raised concerns regarding the genesis of this rare event. Using high‐resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR‐pQCT), we conducted a study to evaluate bone microarchitecture in patients who had suffered an AFF during long‐term bisphosphonate treatment. The aim of our study was to evaluate if bone microarchitecture assessment could help explain the pathophysiology of these fractures. We compared bone volumetric density and microarchitectural parameters measured by HR‐pQCT in the radius and tibia in 20 patients with AFFs with 35 postmenopausal women who had also received long‐term bisphosphonate treatment but had not experienced AFFs, and with 54 treatment‐naive postmenopausal women. Control groups were similar in age, body mass index (BMI), and bone mineral density (BMD). Mean age of the 20 patients with AFFs was 71 years, mean lumbar spine T‐score was −2.2, and mean femoral neck T‐score was −2. Mean time on bisphosphonate treatment was 10.9 years (range, 5–20 years). None of the patients had other conditions associated with AFFs such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes or glucocorticoid use. There were no statistically significant differences in any of the parameters measured by HR‐pQCT between postmenopausal women with or without treatment history and with or without history of atypical fractures. We could not find any distinctive microarchitecture features in the peripheral skeleton of women who had suffered an atypical fracture of the femur while receiving bisphosphonate treatment. This suggests that risk of developing an atypical fracture is not related to bone microarchitecture deterioration. Our results indicate that there may be other individual factors predisposing to atypical fractures in patients treated with bisphosphonates, and that those are independent of bone microarchitecture. In the future, identification of those factors could help prevent and understand the complex physiopathology of these rare events. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.


ABSTRACT Increasing studies have been conducted to investigate the potential of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in crop growth monitoring due to the capability of penetrating the clouds, haze, light rain, and vegetation canopy. This study investigated the sensitivity of 16 parameters derived from C-band Radarsat-2 polarimetric SAR data to crop height and fractional vegetation cover (FVC) of corn and wheat. The in-situ measured crop height and FVC were collected from 29 April to 30 September 2013, at the study site in southwest Ontario, Canada. A total of 10 Radarsat-2 polarimetric SAR images were acquired throughout the same growing season. It was observed that at the early growing stage, the corn height was strongly correlated with the SAR parameters including HV (R2 = 0.88), HH-VV (R2 = 0.84), and HV/VV (R2 = 0.80), and the corn FVC was significantly correlated with HV (R2 = 0.79) and HV/VV (R2 = 0.92), but the correlation became weaker at the later growing stage. The sensitivity of the SAR parameters to wheat variables was very low and only HV and Yamaguchi helix scattering showed relatively good but negative correlations with wheat height (R2 = 0.57 and R2 = 0.39) at the middle growing stage. These findings indicated that Radarsat-2 polarimetric SAR (C-band) has a great potential in crop height and FVC estimation for broad-leaf crops, as well as identifying the changes in crop canopy structures and phenology.


The study focuses on the problem of a new generation teacher education and training in epoch of technogenic civilization, which is characterized by further scientific and technological progress, on one hand, and, by spiritual degradation in society caused by the material benefits for society, on other hand. Moreover, "psychological" crisis, connected with the general "mental illness" of the society is becoming global. "Bringing mind to emotions" is the leading idea of the theory of emotional intelligence of American scientists, who see it as a panacea in the contemporary society. The theory of emotional intelligence, which is widely recognized in the world, is attracting the attention of Ukrainian scientists, in particular, in higher education. Ukrainian scientists interpret the emotional intelligence of the teacher as a personal and professional quality that provides professional acmeological growth, productive, professional, humanistic oriented activity, effective interpersonal communication, stress-protective function.
It is concluded, that these criteria should guide the professional training and education of new generation teachers.


We discuss some approximation properties of hybrid genuine operators. We find
 central moments using the concept of moment generating function. A
 quantitative Voronovskaya and Gruss-Voronovskaya type theorem are proven.
 Also, we obtain the degree of approximation of the considered operators by
 means of the second order Ditzian-Totik modulus of smoothness.


In this paper, we perform a parallel analysis to the model proposed in [25]. By considering the central co-tetrad (instead of the central metric), we investigate the modifications in the gravitational metrics coming from the noncommutative spacetime of the $\kappa$-Minkowski type in four dimensions. The differential calculus corresponding to a class of Jordanian $\kappa$-deformations provides metrics, which lead either to cosmological constant or spatial curvature type solutions of non-vacuum Einstein equations. Among vacuum solutions, we find pp-wave type.


The paper is dedicated to the developing methods of evaluation of life-cycle resource provision for science-intensive products. This method estimates and explains why a particular volume of resources should be involved to execute scienceintensive projects. The method of estimation and evaluation of resource costs that are needed for completion of a scienceintensive project provides a glimpse of maximum resource costs required for completion of particular types of work, as well as planned organizational and technical activities that ensure rational and effective use of resources. It uses direct resource cost calculation methods and those based on information about analogs. the method allows for evaluation of an enterprise's resource capacity and offers a resource potential calculation pattern, which helps evaluate the amount of work that needs to be carried out to male science-intensive products and which an enterprise can manage with the help of its resource potential.


The literature has suggested timing processing as a potential endophenotype for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, whether the subjective internal clock speed presented by verbal estimation and limited attention capacity presented by time reproduction could be endophenotypes for ADHD is still unknown. We assessed 223 youths with DSM-IV ADHD (age range: 10-17 years), 105 unaffected siblings, and 84 typically developing (TD) youths using psychiatric interviews, intelligence tests, verbal estimation and time reproduction tasks (single task and simple and difficult dual tasks) at 5-second, 12-second, and 17-second intervals. We found that youths with ADHD tended to overestimate time in verbal estimation more than their unaffected siblings and TD youths, implying that fast subjective internal clock speed might be a characteristic of ADHD, rather than an endophenotype for ADHD. Youths with ADHD and their unaffected siblings were less precise in time reproduction dual tasks than TD youths. The magnitude of estimated errors in time reproduction was greater in youths with ADHD and their unaffected siblings than in TD youths, with an increased time interval at the 17-second interval and with increased task demands on both simple and difficult dual tasks versus the single task. Increased impaired time reproduction in dual tasks with increased intervals and task demands were shown in youths with ADHD and their unaffected siblings, suggesting that time reproduction deficits explained by limited attention capacity might be a useful endophenotype of ADHD.


Raman MicroSpectroscopy (RMS) is a powerful label-free tool to probe the effects of drugs at a cellular/subcellular level. It is important, however, to be able to extract relevant biochemical and kinetic spectroscopic signatures of the specific cellular responses. In the present study, a combination of Multivariate Curve Resolution-Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used to analyse the RMS data for the example of exposure of primary Oral Squamous Carcinoma Cells (OSCC) to the chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin. Dosing regimens were established by cytotoxicity assays, and the effects of the drug on cellular spectral profiles were monitored from 16 to 72 hours post-exposure using an apoptosis assay, to establish the relative populations of viable (V), early (EA) and late apoptotic/dead (LA/D) cells after the drug treatment. Based on a kinetic model of the progression from V > EA > D, MCR-ALS regression analysis of the RMS responses was able to extract spectral profiles associated with each stage of the cellular responses, enabling a quantitative comparison of the response rates for the respective drug treatments. Moreover, PCA was used to compare the spectral profiles of the viable cells exposed to the drug. Spectral differences were highlighted in the early stages (16 hours exposure), indicative of the initial cellular response to the drug treatment, and also in the late stages (48-72 hours exposure), representing the cell death pathway. The study demonstrates that RMS coupled with multivariate analysis can be used to quantitatively monitor the progression of cellular responses to different drugs, towards future applications for label-free, in vitro, pre-clinical screening.


Genetic factors which may influence the activity of diagnostic enzymes in plasma are reviewed. Examples are given of the effects of race, blood group, enzyme polymorphisms, genetic variants, inborn errors and inherited disease.


A step-by-step case report describes the rehabilitation program for visual dysfunction of a 52-year-old woman, beginning 2 years post-trauma. Methods to ameliorate such symptoms as diplopia, ocular discomfort, dry eye, inefficient saccadic movement, spasms of accommodation, poor reading comprehension and very limited stamina for near visual tasks are presented. Specific procedures are discussed and results are described and tabulated.


[1] Black carbon aerosol particles from fossil fuel combustion are good absorbers of solar radiation and hence exert a positive radiative forcing, reinforcing the warming due to anthropogenic increases in CO2 and other greenhouse gases. However, it is unclear how the climate sensitivity to black carbon aerosol forcing compares with the sensitivity to greenhouse gas forcing. Here we investigate this question using the HadSM4 configuration of the Hadley Centre climate model, extended by the addition of interactive black carbon and sulphate aerosol schemes. The results confirm earlier suggestions that the climate sensitivities are not necessarily similar and indicate that the black carbon sensitivity may be weaker. Possible reasons for this are explored by studying several feedback mechanisms operating in the model.


Introduction While there is extensive literature on ergonomic hazards related to weaving, research on implementing interventions is limited. The Mapuche represent Chile's largest indigenous population and weaving represents an important source of income for women. While home-based work allows for flexible scheduling, it can also lead to working long hours, difficulty balancing professional and domestic responsibilities and greater occupational health issues. Participatory approaches have proven successful in addressing occupational health problems, however, there is scant research related to home-based artisans. Methods A convenience sample of 35 home-based Mapuche weavers in Southern Chile were recruited for the study. Of these, 10 participated in ethnographic interviews. Purposive sampling was used to obtain a representative sample across communities, identified health issues; workspace type; and years of weaving experience. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in the weavers' homes along with videos, photograph and written observations of the weaving workspaces. The interviews focused on workday organisation; weaving workspace; self-identified health issues, perceived causes and potential solutions to hazard prevention. Data were analysed using Atlas.ti. Results Each interview yielded a 'day-in-the-life' visual. This graphic model helped facilitate discussions around time management, health issues, potential causes and treatment. In addition to weaving, participants identified farm work (n=9), housework (n=9), wool production (n=7) and dyeing (n=7) as tasks that caused health issues. Respondents identified weaving as the cause of eyestrain (n=7), back (n=6), shoulder (n=5) and hand pain (n=4). Interventions identified, implemented and currently being evaluated include: provision of eye exams, a kinesiologist workshop and provision of headlamps. Conclusion This project demonstrates the importance of using ethnographic methods to strengthen participatory approaches to artisan occupational health. The data provided unique insight into the complex relationship between home-based work, health and sustainable interventions. This work yielded a culturally appropriate methodology that can be applied to other home-based artisans.


The authors report on measurements of the angular momentum of an autoionizing level of uranium obtained by using the technique of resonant ionization polarization spectroscopy. This requires that the ion yield is measured as a function of the polarizations of the several lasers used to excite the autoionizing level through a ladder of intermediate resonant bound states. The angular momentum of the autoionizing level can be obtained from only relative measurements, the source density need not be known. Results are in good agreement with a more extensive study of the excitation ladder reported elsewhere, but, in contrast to that study, give unambiguous information on the autoionizing level angular momentum.


Three major bathymetric features exist in the Bering Sea: Shirshov Ridge, Bowers Ridge, and Umnak Plateau. New refraction data over Umnak Plateau and previous geophysical data across Bowers Ridge indicate that a thickened welt of crustal material is present beneath both features. The crustal structure is transitional between oceanic and continental types. Various models for the origin of these features have been investigated. One that has not been proposed previously assumes that the protostructures of Bowers Ridge and Umnak Plateau could have formed outside of the present Bering Sea. According to this model, before formation of the Aleutian Ridge in late Mesozoic or earliest Tertiary time, these protostructures moved into their present Bering Sea positions. Prior to the arrival of these two structures in the Bering Sea, oceanic crust was subducted along the Bering continental margin connecting Alaska and Siberia. The collision of the Umnak Plateau protostructure with the southeastern edge of the margin may have caused subduction to terminate here and move southward. The new southerly position of subduction beneath the Aleutian Ridge was therefore controlled by late Mesozoic or early Tertiary locations of Umnak Plateau, Bowers Ridge, and possibly, the north-trending Shirshov Ridge farther to the west.


ABSTRACT Introduction Biocatalysis has emerged as a powerful and useful strategy for the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The outstanding developments in molecular biology techniques allow nowadays the screening, large-scale production, and designing of biocatalysts, adapting them to desired reactions. Many enzymes can perform reactions both in aqueous and non-aqueous media, broadening even further the opportunities to integrate them in complex pharmaceutical multi-step syntheses. Areas covered This paper showcases several examples of biocatalysis in the pharmaceutical industry, covering examples of different enzymes, such as lipases, oxidoreductases, and transaminases, to deliver active drugs through complex synthetic routes. Examples are critically discussed in terms of reaction conditions, motivation for using an enzyme, and how biocatalysts can be integrated in multi-step syntheses. When possible, biocatalytic routes are benchmarked with chemical reactions. Expert Opinion The reported enzymatic examples are performed with high substrate loadings (>100 g L−1) and with excellent selectivity, making them inspiring strategies for present and future industrial applications. The combination of powerful molecular biology techniques with the needs of the pharmaceutical industry can be aligned, creating promising platforms for synthesis under more sustainable conditions.


We present a calculation of interference effects in Hjj production via gluon fusion and via vector boson fusion, respectively, beyond tree level. We reproduce results recently discussed in the literature, but go beyond this calculation by including a class of diagrams not considered previously. Special care is taken in developing a numerically stable and flexible parton level Monte-Carlo program which allows us to study cross sections and kinematic distributions within experimentally relevant selection cuts. Loop-induced interference contributions are found to exhibit kinematical distributions different in shape from vector boson fusion. Due to the small interference cross section and cancelation among different quark flavor contributions their impact on the signal process is found to be negligible in all regions of phase space, however. February 3, 2008 — 13:15


In most of the wireless sensor networks, CSMA/CA is adopted as the MAC protocol. With the increase of wireless nodes, access delay will redouble. A novel nested cellular topology was proposed, which divides the network into regular subnets. End devices, routers and coordinator work at different layers and channels, so that the co-channel interference between subnets will be reduced dramatically. Moreover, the channel reuse can greatly improve the network efficiency and capacity. OPNET simulation results show that this topology has reduced the average delay, decreased the amount of data dropped, increased the network throughput and enhanced the network real-time performance and certainty. It is better than the mesh topology, and shows some inspiration for researching other wireless networks.


A 45-year-old man who had undergone surgery for a giant hepatic hydatid cyst 1 month ago presented to the emergency room with abdominal pain and fever. Computed tomography (CT) revealed a right pleural effusion and a collection in the right hepatic lobe, suggestive of a biliary leak (▶Fig. 1). After two failed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) attempts, the common bile duct (CBD) was punctured using a 22-G needle, and a 0.018-in guidewire was advanced for an endoscopic ultrasonography-guided rendezvous. Cholangiography identified a major bile leak from one of the branches of the right main bile duct (▶Fig. 2). An 80×10-mm fully-covered metal stent was inserted. Given the lack of improvement, a second ERCP was performed showing the previous stent was in place. The leaking bile branch was selectively cannulated. Four 0.035-in Tornado coils (Cook Medical, Bloomington, Indiana, USA) were introduced through a retrieval balloon and deployed in the terminal end of the leaking duct. One of the coils was placed very distal in the biliary tree, so cholangioscopy was performed using SpyGlass (Boston Scientific Corp., Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA), and the coil was removed with a SpySnare (Boston Scientific Corp.) (▶Fig. 3). During cholangioscopy, a second leak was identified and later embolized with coils. A subsequent cholangiogram revealed cessation of the leaks (▶Fig. 4; ▶Video 1). Six months after discharge, the patient presented with abdominal pain, and CT revealed a dilated CBD with a migrated coil inside (▶Fig. 5). ERCP was performed and the coil extracted. E-Videos


Neemix is a natural biopesticide developed by W. R. Grace from the neem tree, which is indigenous to rural India. Because of its medicinal and religious use by rural Indians for more than 1,000 years, the Foundation on Economic Trends is protesting Grace's patenting of Neemix. The A case raises questions concerning international intellectual-property rights and how American companies such as Grace should deal with these issues. See also the B case (UVA-E-0158). Excerpt UVA-E-0157 W.R. Grace & Co. and the Neemix Patent (A) "[Neem] seems to be one of the most promising of all plants and may eventually benefit every person on the planet." —National Research Council report on Neem, 1992 Derived from the seeds of the Indian neem tree and touted as a safe, natural biopesticide, Neemix seemed to be a benevolent product that promised W. R. Grace & Company (WRG) profits and farmers a sustainable means of fighting pests. Three years earlier, Grace researchers had been granted a patent on the pesticide, and since that time Neemix had become far more than just another product in the company's line. Grace, the world's largest manufacturer of specialty chemicals, had never expected Neemix to be a major source of income for the company, but steady sales since its introduction to market supported the prediction that consumers were interested in purchasing completely natural, environmentally friendly pesticides, rather than chemical ones. The active ingredient in Neemix, azadirachtin, is a compound that occurs naturally in neem seeds and possesses the ideal characteristic of being fatally harmful to more than 200 species of insect pests, while remaining non-toxic to other plants and beneficial animals. By early 1995, sales of Neemix brought in about $ 60 million annually out of Grace's total of $ 5 billion in annual sales, and references in the press to the effectiveness of Neemix were becoming frequent. . . .


Acute renal failure with severe loin pain and patch renal ischemia after anaerobic exercise (ALPE) is a rare cause of exercise-induced acute kidney injury. Some ALPE patients also have renal hypouricemia. Mutations in the SCL22A12 gene are among the major factors of hypouricemia. Education for the prevention of relapse and genetic counseling should be recommended to ALPE patients with renal hypouricemia. This paper reports a 25-year-old man who showed recurrent exercise-induced ARF and renal hypouricemia with R90H mutation in his SCL22A12 gene.


The evaluation of information retrieval systems is an important topic in information retrieval research. Evaluation must be accurately performed to rightly discriminate between retrieval approaches. To compare retrieval approaches, we require test collections, which consist of documents, queries and relevance assessments, the latter stating which documents are relevant to which queries. Obtaining consistent and exhaustive relevance assessment is crucial for the appropriate comparison of retrieval approaches. Whereas the evaluation methodology for retrieval approaches for flat text is well established, the evaluation of structured document retrieval approaches, such as those based on XML, is a research issue. In fact, new evaluation methodologies need to be developed for this purpose. In this paper, we concentrate on one aspect of the evaluation, that of the development of an interface to allow for the consistent and exhaustive assessment of XML documents. The interface was used at INEX, the evaluation initiative for XML retrieval. MOTS-CLES : XML, evaluation, INEX, acces a l'information, recherche d'information