Scholars have argued that demographic variables are critical factors that could also be used together with other factors to explain the variances in the behaviour of effective leaders. They are very significant to virtually all kinds of modern organizations. The current workforce is increasingly getting younger and highly educated. And an increasing proportion of female managers are also found in today's organizations. The present study therefore, explored the relationship between some demographic variables and leadership effectiveness among local government managers in Eastern Cape Province. The data were collected from a sample of 222 local government managers using a self-designed biographical and occupational data questionnaire, and a leadership effectiveness questionnaire adopted from Fleenor and Bryant. Leadership effectiveness was measured as a unitary concept. The results indicated that gender, age and education have a positive and significant relationship with leadership effectiveness. The present study therefore, recommends that, local government departments should consider these demographic variables when assigning leadership responsibilities to managers.

 Key words: Demographic variable, gender, age, education, leadership effectiveness.


Most studies evaluating chest computed tomography (CT) features in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been small-sized and have presented varied findings. We aim to systematically review these studies and to conduct a meta-analysis of their results to provide a well-powered assessment of chest CT findings in patients with COVID-19. PubMed and EMBASE databases were systematically searched to identify published studies that evaluated chest CT findings in COVID-19 patients. Data regarding study characteristics and CT findings, including distribution of lesions, the lobe of lung involved, lesion densities, and radiological patterns, were extracted. Arcsine transformed proportions from individual studies were pooled using a random-effects model to derive pooled proportions (PPs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A total of fifty-four studies (n=2693 confirmed COVID-19 patients) were included in the final review. Prevalence of different CT findings varied across studies; however, the most common findings were bilateral pulmonary involvement (PP: 74.1% [68.4%, 79.5%]; I2 = 85.76%), ground glass opacification (PP: 64.6% [57.6%, 71.4%]; I2 = 91.52%), involvement of the left lower lobe (PP: 71.2% [58.9%, 82.1%]; I2 = 90.91%), and subpleural distribution of lesions (PP: 57.2% [39.0%, 74.3%]; I2 = 93.08%). Multivariate meta-regression revealed a positive association between prevalence of air bronchograms and average age of the population (p=0.013). Bilateral ground glass opacification, a subpleural distribution of lesions, and involvement of the left lower lobe were the most notable chest CT findings in COVID-19 patients.


In this paper, boundary value problems of fractional order are converted into an optimal control problems. Then an approximate solution is constructed from translations and dilations of a B-spline function such that the exact boundary conditions are satisfied. The fractional differential operators are taken in the Riemann-Liouville and Caputo sense. Several example are given and the optimal errors are obtained for the sake of comparison. The obtained results are shown that the technique introduced here is accurate and easy to apply.


Abstract : This essay examines the strategic and operational relevance of the heavy lift capability in the United States Marine Corps. The only way to truly realize the full potential of Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare (EMW) and the capabilities of the MV-22, is to maintain the existing synergistic relationship between the medium and heavy lift aircraft working together to accomplish the mission. In current future plans the MV-22 will be required to carry external loads for 48 percent of its sorties in the movement of a Regimental Landing Team (RLT). This minimizes the speed advantage of the MV-22, as the limitations inherent with external loads (increased drag, load instability and integrity), prevent taking most external loads out toward the maximum speed of the MV-22. Accordingly, the best alternative to ensuring that we preserve the MV-22 speed advantage is to ensure there are adequate numbers of CH-53E helicopters to perform all the majority of external lift missions. If the Marine Corps changed the current ratio of medium lift to heavy lift aircraft from 3:1 to 2:1 i.e. by adding two CH-53E's to the current MEU, increasing the number of CH-53E's (to six) we would see a 20 percent reduction in total waves and a 22 percent decrease in time required to accomplish a reinforced Company movement. In the future changing the force ratio from 2:1 to 1:1 (medium to heavy), the CH-53E (SLEP) has the potential to provide a significant improvement in the ability to move the force. There is the potential for a 28 percent decrease in sorties required to accomplish a Regimental Landing Team movement by air and an overall timesaving of 29 percent in addition to the already realized savings of 25 percent from balancing the force with today's CH-53E. The projected force structure will not be capable of supporting the concepts of Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare, STOM and OMFTS without 100 percent utilization of all of the CH-53E assets forecast to be in the inventory.


Cetuximab and panitumumab are monoclonal anti-EGFR antibodies (moAbs) currently used for the treatment of 'RAS' wild type colorectal cancers (CRC). Development of acquired resistance almost invariably limits the efficacy of these agents. At relapse, about 20% of tumors treated with cetuximab and panitumumab carry EGFR extracellular domain (ECD) mutations (S492R, R451C, S464L, G465R, G465E, K467T, I491M), which impair antibody binding. We postulated that mCRC patients who become resistant to cetuximab or panitumumab due to the emergence of EGFR ECD mutations may still benefit from further line of treatment with EGFR blockade. We observed that the EGFR ECD variants are effectively targeted by the oligoclonal anti-EGFR antibody MM-151. MM-151 inhibits EGFR signaling and cell growth in preclinical models, including patient-derived cells carrying mutant EGFR. We have analyzed liquid biopsies of 11 CRC patients that developed resistance to previous treatment with cetuximab and were then enrolled in the first MM-151 phase I study. Longitudinal profiling of circulating cell-free tumor DNA (ctDNA) samples collected during MM-151 treatment revealed a decrease of EGFR ECD mutant levels that paralleled the response as measured by radiological methods.In conclusion, we provide mechanistic evidence for the efficacy and use of MM-151 as a therapeutic opportunity for patients whose tumors develop EGFR ECD mutations as the prevalent mechanism of acquired resistance to cetuximab or panitumumab treatment. Citation Format: Sabrina Arena, Giulia Siravegna, Benedetta Mussolin, Jeffrey D. Kearns, Beni B. Wolf, Sandra Misale, Luca Lazzari, Andrea Bertotti, Livio Trusolino, Alex A. Adjei, Clara Montagut, Federica Di Nicolantonio, Rachel Nering, Alberto Bardelli. MM-151 overcomes acquired resistance to cetuximab and panitumumab in colorectal cancer cells harboring EGFR extracellular domain mutations. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2015 Nov 5-9; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2015;14(12 Suppl 2):Abstract nr LB-B05.


We study a cascade laser scheme involving the 3H4 → 3H5 and 3F4 → 3H6 consecutive transitions in Tm3+-doped materials as a promising technique to favor laser emission at 2.3 µm. We examine the conditions in terms of the Tm3+ doping levels for which the cascade laser is beneficial or not. For this, Tm:LiYF4 lasers based on crystals with several doping levels in the range of 2.5 - 6 at.% with and without cascade laser are studied. For low doping of 2.5 at.% Tm3+, adding the laser emission at 1.9 µm allows to double the output power at 2.3 µm, whereas for high doping of 6 at.%, allowing the laser to operate at 1.9 µm totally suppresses the laser emission at 2.3 µm. An analytical model is developed and confronted with experimental results to predict this doping-dependent phenomenon and forecast the potential benefits. This study of cascade laser emission on the 3H4→ 3H5 and 3F4→ 3H6 transitions versus the Tm3+ doping level is finally extended to other well-known Tm3+-doped laser materials.


Demand for efficient terahertz (THz) radiation detectors resulted in intensive study of the asymmetric carbon nanostructures as a possible solution for that problem. In this work, we systematically investigate the response of asymmetric carbon nanodevices to sub-terahertz radiation using different sensing elements: from dense carbon nanotube (CNT) network to individual CNT. We conclude that the detectors based on individual CNTs both semiconducting and quasi-metallic demonstrate much stronger response in sub-THz region than detectors based on disordered CNT networks at room temperature. We also demonstrate the possibility of using asymmetric detectors based on CNT for imaging in the THz range at room temperature. Further optimization of the device configuration may result in appearance of novel terahertz radiation detectors.


To determine which clinical factors are useful for predicting concomitant injuries of the cervical spine and cervical spinal cord in persons with head injuries, we examined the nature and mechanisms of cervical injuries. For 109 forensic autopsies of persons with head injuries, the cause of injury, mechanism of cervical injury, survival time, and anatomic injury severity (1990 revision of the abbreviated injury scale [AIS] and injury severity score) were determined. Traffic accidents were the most common cause of injuries (41.3%), followed by slips and falls (24.8%), assaults (17.4%), and falls from height (9.2%). The mean maximum AIS scores and the AIS scores of the head or neck were similar in the 4 groups. Cervical spine injuries and epidural or subdural hemorrhages of the cervical spinal cord were more common in persons dying in traffic accidents and falls from height than in persons dying in slips and falls or assaults. Cervical injuries were significantly more common in persons sustaining frontal impacts than lateral or rear impacts. The most common cervical hyperextension injuries were atlanto-occipital and atlantoaxial dislocation and injuries of the 5th intervertebral disc. Our results suggest that persons with injuries of the head due to high-energy frontal impacts should be carefully examined for concomitant cervical injuries. These findings should be helpful for decreasing preventable deaths from undiagnosed cervical injuries in head-injured persons.


Systematics of several species of Bryum is discussed, with the special attention to groups where the species concept was considerably expanded by the recent suggestions of Holyoak. The observations based on material from Russia support the traditional, more narrow understanding of: (1) Bryum archangelicum and Bryum amblyodon; (2) Bryum purpurascens and Bryum arcticum; (3) Bryum calophyllum and B. axel-blyttii. Rare species, B. teres and B. sibiricum are commented, and B. planiusculum is synonymized with B. turbinatum. New records of Bryum species for some provinces of Russia are also provided.


Current environmental benign and flame retardant poly (vinyl acetate) (PVAc)/montmorillonite (MMT) clay nanocomposites were prepared by emulsifier free emulsion technique in microwave (MW) oven. MMT clay was incorporated as additional filler in PVAc/MMT nanocomposites to improve the homogeneity of the 'physical' barrier, since clay produces silicon-oxy-carbide (Si–O–C) char on heating. The fine dispersion of the MMT and the interactions between PVAc and clay created significant improvement of the flame retardancy which has been evaluated using cone calorimeter. The presence of clay in PVAc/MMT nanocomposites was characterized with infrared (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The fire retardancy of PVAc/MMT nanocomposites caused by the formation of Si– O–C char was characterized byscanning electron microscopy (SEM). The biodegradation property was tested by activated sludge water via water absorbency and was further confirmed from SEM for its better commercialization and ecofriendly nature.


There has long been an effort to develop a single unifying theory to explain the phenomenon of drug dependence. Some of these efforts have focused on psychoanalytic theory, various aspects of ego functioning, socio-economic factors, and physiological effects of drugs. Most investigators, however, have focused on character pathology in addicts and have considered addiction as representing one form of character disorder. There has been a lack of emphasis on various psychiatric conditions which could predispose and accompany drug dependence. This author considers drug dependence as a multi-etiological phenomenon. This paper explores various psychiatric problems identified in drug dependent individuals and how they interact with the drug dependence. The use of psychotropic agents in the treatment of drug dependent persons is also explored.


For a IPCS network to effectively deliver services to its mobile users, it must have an efficient way to keep track of the mobile users. The location management fulfills this task through location registration and paging. To reduce the signaling traffic, many schemes such as a local anchor (LA) scheme, per-user caching scheme and pointer forwarding scheme have been proposed in the past. In this paper, we present a new location management scheme which intends to mitigate the signaling traffic as well as reduce the tracking delay in the PCS systems. In this strategy, we choose a set of visitor location registers (VLRs) traversed by users as the mobility agents (MA), which form another level of management in order to make some registration signaling traffic localized. The idea is as follows: instead of always updating to the home location register (HLR), which would become the bottleneck otherwise, many location updates are carried out in the mobility agents. Thus, the two-level pointer forwarding scheme is designed to reduce the signaling traffic: pointers can be set up between VLRs as the traditional pointer forwarding scheme and can also be set up between MAs. The numerical results show that this strategy can significantly reduce the network signaling traffic for users with low CMR without increasing much of the call setup delay.


Lithium–sulfur batteries are poised to outcompete lithium-ion batteries in key sectors such as transportation and grid storage due to the low cost and high theoretical energy density of sulfur as a cathode material. Widespread implementation of this technology is hindered by significant degradation during cycling, including mechanical failure via cracking or detachment of insulating lithium sulfide (Li_2S) from the conductive matrix in the cathode, causing irreversible capacity fade. We developed a technique to additively manufacture Li_2S composites to fabricate rationally designed cathodes and demonstrate the utility of a three dimensionally architected Li_2S composite cathode in a battery. We additionally measure the yet unknown material properties and deformation mechanisms of Li_2S powders via in situ scanning electron microscope (SEM) nanomechanical experiments. Measuring these mechanical properties is a first step towards understanding the process of mechanical degradation and is necessary to enable the rational design of high energy density, long-cycling, and mechanically robust sulfur cathodes. Graphic abstract


Abstract SBA-15 is used to enhance the bioavailability of poorly soluble ketoprofen (KP) through stabilization of its amorphous state. Additionally, the current work provides a complete in vitro and in vivo study on preformulated KP-SBA-15 sample and formulated KP-SBA-15 in hard gelatin capsule. Loading of KP was done by a novel method called immersion-rotavapor method. KP was quantified by extraction and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Characterization of the loaded SBA-15 sample was done by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), small angle X-ray diffraction (SAXRD), nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and dissolution profiles. The loaded sample was formulated in hard gelatin capsule. The anti-inflammatory and analgesic studies were carried out on 24 adult male albino rats. TGA and extraction results showed 54.4 wt% of drug incorporated. Characterization of KP-SBA-15 sample confirmed the successful encapsulation of KP into the carrier pores in a molecular amorphous state. Additionally, loading of KP did not affect the mesoporous internal structure. During the first 5 min, the dissolution study showed very high release rates; nearly 50% of KP was released. These results were reflected on the in vivo study resulting in 82% inhibition in edema after 1 h and maximum analgesia after 30 min from the administration of the formulated sample. SBA-15 mesoporous silica nanoparticle proved to be a very promising drug delivery carrier that can be used as a facile way to enhance the bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs.


Multi-agent planning in dynamic domains is a challenging problem: the size of the configuration space increases exponentially in the number of agents, and plans need to be re-evaluated periodically to account for moving obstacles. However, we have two key insights that hold in several domains: 1) conflicts between multi-agent plans often have geometrically local resolutions within a small repair window, even if such local resolutions are not globally optimal; and 2) the partial search tree for such local resolutions can then be iteratively improved over successively larger windows to eventually compute the global optimal plan. Building upon these two insights, we introduce 1) a class of anytime multiagent planning solvers, 2) a naive solver in this class, and 3) an efficient solver in this class which reuses prior search information when improving a solution.


Polymer porous microspheres with large specific surface areas and good fluidity have promising important applications in the biomedical field. However, controllable fabrication of porous microspheres with precise size, morphology, and pore structure is still a challenge, and phase separation caused by the instability of the emulsion is the main factor affecting the precise preparation of porous microspheres. Herein, a method combining the iso-density emulsion (IDE) template and microfluidics was proposed to realize the controllable preparation of polymer porous microspheres. The IDE exhibited excellent stability with minimal phase separation within 4 h, thus showing potential advantages in the large-scale preparation of porous microspheres. With the IDE template combined microfluidics technique and the use of a customized amphoteric copolymer, PEG-b-polycaprolactone, polycaprolactone (PCL) porous microspheres with porosity higher than 90% were successfully prepared. Afterwards, the main factors, including polymer concentration, water–oil ratio and homogenization time were investigated to regulate the pore structure of microspheres, and microspheres with different pore sizes (1–30 μm) were obtained. PCL porous microspheres exhibited comparable cell viability relative to the control group and good potential as cell microcarriers after surface modification with polydopamine. The modified PCL porous microspheres implanted subcutaneously in rats underwent rapid in vivo degradation and tissue ingrowth. Overall, this study demonstrated an efficient strategy for the precise preparation of porous microspheres and investigated the potential of the as-prepared PCL porous microspheres as cell microcarriers and micro-scaffolds.


In this section, we hope to bring to life the connection between structure and function of proteins. So far, we have described notable features of the four elements (primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary) of protein structure and discussed example proteins/motifs exhibiting them. In this section, we will examine from a functional perspective a few proteins/domains whose function relies on secondary, tertiary, or quaternary structure. It is, of course a bit of a narrow focus to ascribe protein function to any one component of structure, but our hope is by presenting these examples, we can bring to life the way in which a protein's secondary, tertiary, and quarternary structure lead to the functions it has.


Abstract Seventy-five cases of contact dermatitis at the University of Hawaii Manoa campus were traced to trees planted near a residence hall. A number of university and public health offices were involved in finding the cause of the "mystery rash."


Bitcoin, the most popular blockchain system, does not scale even under very optimistic assumptions. Lightning networks, a layer on top of Bitcoin, composed of one-to-one lightning channels make it scale to up to 105 Million users. Recently, Duplex Micropayment Channel factories have been proposed based on opening multiple one-to-one payment channels at once. Duplex Micropayment Channel factories rely on time-locks to update and close their channels. This mechanism yields to situation where users funds time-locking for long periods increases with the lifetime of the factory and the number of users. This makes DMC factories not applicable in real-life scenarios. In this paper, we propose the first channel factory construction, the Lightning Factory that offers a constant collateral cost, independent of the lifetime of the channel and members of the factory. We compare our proposed design with Duplex Micropayment Channel factories, obtaining better performance results by a factor of more than 3000 times in terms of the worst-case constant collateral cost incurred when malicious users use the factory. The message complexity of our factory is n where Duplex Micropayment Channel factories need n2 messages where n is the number of users. Moreover, our factory copes with an infinite number of updates while in Duplex Micropayment Channel factories the number of updates is bounded by the initial time-lock. Finally, we discuss the necessity for our Lightning Factories of BNN, a non-interactive aggregate signature cryptographic scheme, and compare it with Schnorr and ECDSA schemes used in Bitcoin and Duplex Micropayment Channels.


The addition of chondroitin sulphate (CS) to bone cements with calcium phosphate has lead to an enhancement of bone remodeling and an increase in new bone formation in small animals. The goal of this study was to verify the effect of CS in bone cements in a large animal model simulating a clinically relevant situation of a segmental cortical defect of a critical size on bone–implant interaction and bone remodeling. The influence of adding CS to hydroxyapatite/collagen (HA/Col) composites on host response was assessed in a standard sheep tibia model. A midshaft defect of 3 cm was created in the tibiae of 14 adult female sheep. The defect was filled with a HA/Col cement cylinder in seven animals and with a CS‐modified hydroxyapatite/collagen (HA/Col/CS) cement cylinder in seven animals. In all cases the tibia was stabilized with an interlocked universal tibial nail. The animals in each group were analyzed with X‐rays, CT scans, histology, immunohistochemistry, and enzymehistochemistry, as well as histomorphometric measurements. The X‐ray investigation showed a significantly earlier callus reaction around the HA/Col/CS implants compared to HA/Col alone. The amount of newly formed bone at the end point of the experiment was significantly larger around HA/Col/CS cylinders both in the CT scan and in the histomorphometric analysis. There were still TRAP‐positive osteoclasts around the HA/Col implants after 3 months. The number of osteopontin‐positive osteoblasts and the direct bone contact were significantly higher around HA/Col/CS implants. We conclude that addition of CS enhances bone remodeling and new bone formation around HA/Col composites. © 2008 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 27:15–21, 2009


We evaluated N-methyl-D-glucamine (MEG) as a buffer for assay of alkaline phosphatase (ALP; EC 184.108.40.206) and compared the MEG-based assay with the current International Federation of Clinical Chemistry Reference Method for ALP (IFCC/RM/ALP), in which 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) is the pH buffer. The ALP assay in MEG at 30 and 37 degrees C shows excellent correlation with the IFCC/RM/ALP at 30 degrees C, but yields proportionately higher ALP activities (8.2% at 30 degrees C and 57% at 37 degrees C). ALP is unstable in both MEG and AMP at 37 degrees C. Serum incubated in MEG undergoes a pH-dependent biphasic loss of ALP activity: an initial rapid 5% loss after 1 min of incubation and a 10% loss per hour thereafter. A similar pattern was seen for incubation with AMP. The use of a serum-initiated reaction (no preincubation of enzyme with buffer) eliminated the early loss in activity. The addition of the metal ion buffer N-hydroxyethylethylenediaminetriacetic acid, along with low concentrations of Zn and Mg, as used in the IFCC/RM/ALP, reduced the slow loss in activity over time, as did decreasing the reaction temperature to 30 degrees C, but had no effect on the early rapid decay in activity seen in the first minute. Moderate transphosphorylation (45%) and nonenzymatic hydrolysis (3.3 U/L) were observed with MEG under the conditions of the assay (37 degrees C). A comparison of different lots of MEG from two manufacturers showed no significant difference in ALP activities.


Vegetation analysis of trees in Harapan Rainforest, PT.REKI, Jambi, was conducted on October-November 2009. Two 50m x 100m (0,5 ha) plots were established to obtain primary data for analysis. Plot one was made in the area of Medium Secondary Forest and plot two in the area of High Secondary Forest. Results shows that, the number of tree species were recorded from the two plots was 205 species from 550 individual trees with a total Basal Area (BA)= 64.75 m2. Plot one has 123 species from 284 individuals with BA = 10.82 m2 and Diversity Index (H')= -1.87. Bellucia axinanthera was recorded as the dominant species with Importance Value (IV)= 37.21%. Meanwhile, plot two has 126 species from 266 individuals with BA= 53.93 m2 and (H')= -1.97. Shorea acuminata was recorded as the dominant species with IV= 12.93%. Plot two (High Secunder Forest) has higher diversity of tree species than plot one (Medium Secunder Forest).The structure and composition of vegetation between plot one and plot two is different with similarity index for the two plots is only 21.46%.


During the third week of postnatal life, dramatic ontogenic changes occur in the morphology and enzymology of the small intestine of the infant rat, enabling the animal to make the transition from milk to solid food. To investigate the roles of T4 and GH in regulation of these changes, infant rats were hypophysectomized on day 6 of life by the transauricular technique. Hypophysectomy resulted in diminution of somatic and intestinal growth as well as abnormal maturation of the disaccharidases lactase, sucrase, and maltase when measured on day 25. Administration of either T4 or GH to hypophysectomized animals resulted in moderately increased intestinal growth, while complete restoration of small intestinal growth resulted from administration of the combination of both hormones. Although T4, GH, or the combination of hormones reduced lactase activities, T4 alone produced normal maturation of sucrase and maltase. Neither hypophysectomy nor hormone replacement affected aminooligopeptidase. The molecular structure of lactase, analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, was not altered to a major degree in hypophysectomized animals or animals that received hormone replacement, but minor alterations were evident in sucrase structure in hypophysectomy. These studies indicate that 1) T4 and GH actively participate in postnatal regulation of small intestinal ontogeny; 2) thyroid hormones act directly on developing intestinal tissues to independently produce the normal maturation of the disaccharidases by mechanisms that are not likely to involve alterations in processing of the enzyme-protein; and 3) maturation of aminooligopeptidase is not regulated by pituitary hormones, in distinct contrast to the disaccharidases.


Five to ten percent of pancreatic cancer (PC) clusters within families. Epidemiologic studies suggest that Familial Pancreas Cancer (FPC) is caused by highly penetrant germline mutations, but less than 20% of these genes have been identified. Characterizing the remaining genetic basis of FPC should improve outcomes through molecularly tailored prevention, screening and treatment protocols. Exome sequencing (ES) is a powerful new approach for detecting genetic causes of disease. However, the causal mutation is often indistinguishable from the hundreds of other rare nonsynonymous variants (RNV) detected by germline ES. In general, most familial cancer syndromes are caused by an inherited mutation that inactivates one allele of a tumor suppressor gene (TSG); the somatic inactivation of the second allele, i.e., loss of heterozygosity (LOH), initiates tumourigenesis. To increase the specificity of ES, we combined somatic and germline ES to identify candidate TSG (cTSG) in FPC with germline RNV and LOH. Patients with available snap frozen tumors were selected from the Ontario Pancreas Cancer Study. Histologic inspection of the snap frozen tumors determined their composition to be over 70% pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells. DNA was extracted from snap frozen tumors and peripheral blood. Exomes were enriched using the Agilent ICGC or Illumina TruSeq kits, and sequenced with the Illumina Genome Analyzer IIx. Novoalign aligned sequencing reads, and SAMtools and Picard were used to process them further. The Genome Analysis Tool Kit detected variants. ANNOVAR and custom scripts annotated variants. We defined an RNV as: i) present in less than 0.1% of alleles in the 1000 Genomes Project March 2012 dataset, the NHLBI ESP5400 dataset, and dbSNP135; and ii) a missense, nonsense or splice site single-nucleotide variant, or an exonic indel. cTSG were defined as genes containing a germline heterozygous RNV and a second somatic intragenic RNV. Three FPC probands underwent somatic and germline ES. Over 90% of target bases were covered by at least 10 sequencing reads in all samples. FPC-1 was a 67-year-old male with PC whose maternal aunt and grandmother had PC. FPC-1 carried 1032 germline RNV and 11 somatic RNV. Only 2 somatic RNV were in genes with RNV in 24 PC sequenced by Jones et al. (Jones, Science, 2008). No KRAS or TP53 mutations were detected and no cTSG was identified. FPC-2 was a 55-year-old man with PC whose sister had PC at age 42 and mother also had PC. FPC2 carried 618 germline RNV and 18 somatic RNV. 5 of the somatic RNV were in genes mutated in Jones et al. This patient's tumour has a KRAS and TP53 mutation. We identified a cTSG that may repress the mobilization of transposable elements. FPC-3 was a 20-yearold woman with PC whose maternal aunt had PC at 59. FPC-3 carried 418 germline RNV and 15 somatic RNV, 1 of which was in genes previously mutated in Jones et al. No mutations in KRAS or TP53 were detected. Here we identified a cTSG that is an ion channel strongly and selectively expressed in the pancreas. We are performing copy number analysis on blood and tumor samples to improve our sensitivity to detect LOH caused by large deletions. We are sequencing the coding region of the two cTSG we identified in 50 unrelated FPC probands to assess their contribution to FPC. These results will be ready for presentation at the AACR PC meeting. We have identified two cTSGs in FPC and characterized the somatic genetic landscape of three FPC, which seem to differ from sporadic PC. Recent studies suggest that FPC is genetically heterogeneous. Our new approach combining somatic and germline ES improves specificity, allowing the identification of causal germline mutations even when a gene is infrequently mutated in FPC. Citation Format: Robert C. Grant, Timothy Beck, Lakshmi Muthuswamy, Ayelet Borgida, Spring Holter, Stefano Serra, John McPherson, Steven Gallinger. Exome sequencing identifies candidate tumor suppressor genes in familial pancreatic cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Challenges; Jun 18-21, 2012; Lake Tahoe, NV. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(12 Suppl):Abstract nr A15.


Purpose To report on stroke patients and their informal caregivers' perceptions and experiences regarding feasibility and acceptability of home-care based rehabilitation, in the context of the implementation of an EHSD procedure. Theory EHSD procedures are considered promising alternatives to conventional care in stroke rehabilitation, as they seem to be able to reduce costs with illness and to accrue important benefits to patients and their informal caregivers. The literature in this area provides some guidelines of how to organize and assess this type of intervention, regarding the impact on patient's functionality and related costs. Less investigated are the perspectives of patients and their informal caregivers, namely, their perceptions and experiences regarding feasibility and acceptability of home-care based rehabilitation. Methods Data were collected using focus group discussion. We conducted two focus groups with key-informants, selected patients and caregivers, chosen due to the diversity and deepness of their cases, aiming at improving both evidence-based knowledge and theoretical framework. A group of three researchers with specific roles joined each focus group, namely a moderator, a recorder and a coordinator. During the sessions, participants were encouraged to speak until all views were expressed. The data were recorded, transcribed and analyzed. The content analysis was performed with NVivo 9 which allowed us to identify the main themes of each topic under discussion. Results and conclusions Home-care based rehabilitation seems to be feasible and acceptable for patients and their caregivers. Our results point out the advantages of home-care over traditional models. Moreover, patients and their caregivers identified aspects that can be improved in home-based services.


We present a design case study using DG2VHDL a tool which bridges the gap between an abstract graphical description of a DSP algorithm and its concrete hardware description language (HDL) representation, DG2VHDL automatically translates a dependence graph (DG) into a synthesizable, behavioral VHDL entity that can be input to industrial strength behavioral compilers for producing silicon implementations of the algorithm (FPGAs, ASICs). Full search block matching motion estimation was selected for its current applications (MPEG, HDTV, video conferencing) as well as for the richness of literature and architectural exploration over the last decade. We will not only demonstrate here that the behavioral VHDL code produced automatically by the tool leads, after behavioral synthesis, to an efficient distributed memory and control modular array architecture, but will also provide comparative statistics for several new FS-BMA architectures derived for real-time motion estimation.


Miss Reynolds had the good fortune to make another acquisition in the saine district in a species of Callisia, which, if not idenitical, is very near a Cuban Species, the i. meiandra of Charles Wright (his No. 3728). The genlus is nearly allied to Tratdescantia. Two othler notes of rare plants nmay be wortlh making. Dr. Mellichamip has found TVincetoxicum scopariwum, Gray, (Clynoctontiun? Chapmnan) at Bluffton, South Carolinia, an(d Mr. Shriver has sent specimens of Adiantitan ((apillusI.tneris, L., froms the banks of New River, Wythe Counity, Virginia.-Wm. M. CANBY.


Coverage path planning (CPP) is the task of designing a trajectory that enables a mobile agent to travel over every point of an area of interest. We propose a new method to control an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) carrying a camera on a CPP mission with random start positions and multiple options for landing positions in an environment containing no-fly zones. While numerous approaches have been proposed to solve similar CPP problems, we leverage end-to-end reinforcement learning (RL) to learn a control policy that generalizes over varying power constraints for the UAV. Despite recent improvements in battery technology, the maximum flying range of small UAVs is still a severe constraint, which is exacerbated by variations in the UAV's power consumption that are hard to predict. By using map-like input channels to feed spatial information through convolutional network layers to the agent, we are able to train a double deep Q-network (DDQN) to make control decisions for the UAV, balancing limited power budget and coverage goal. The proposed method can be applied to a wide variety of environments and harmonizes complex goal structures with system constraints.


A new electrooptic method was used to study the antiplatelet autoimmune process. Antiplatelet antibodies were assessed in 60 patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and 60 ones with acquired hemorrhagic thrombocytopathies. The reference group consisted of 50 donors. The relationship between the autoimmune process intensity and the disease severity, as well as blood platelet counts over the course of corticosteroid therapy was studied.


This article analyses the effect of economic assessments on attitudes towards the European Union. The literature has mostly studied this question with observational data (which does not allow to establish a causal link), and has not explored how different countries's experiences during economic hardship shape opinions about the European Union. To account for this, I run a survey vignette experiment in Germany – a creditor countries's during the Great Recession – and Spain – a debtor country. I find that having worse perceptions about the impact of the crisis erodes attitudes towards the European Union. The mechanism is, however, different across countries. In Germany, worse economic evaluations reduce the perception that the European Union is a beneficial project. Conversely, in Spain, negative assessments about the financial crisis are linked to beliefs that democratic representation is limited in the European Union. These results are relevant to understand the conditions and mechanisms by which attitudes towards the European Union are worsened.


This research was conducted aiming to design a New Student Selection Decision Support System. To help the selection process for new student admissions at the Indonesian Business Polytechnic, a decision support system (SPK) was designed to help the data processing of prospective new students who register using the Weighteded Product (WP) method. This Weighteded Product method is done by using multiplication to link the attribute rating, where the rating of each attribute must be raised first with the Weighted of the attribute in question. The criteria used in this Decision Support System consist of: capacity, achievement, academic tests, age, and passing scores. From the sample of data examined, the ranking results were found to be the best value of prospective students with a value of 0.0841 and 0.0791.


Urban drainage from paved surfaces transports a wide gradation of solids ranging from sub-micron particles to gravel size aggregates. This study measured physical characteristics of solids transported in lateral pavement sheet flow from a heavily traveled urban roadway in Cincinnati. The physical characteristic measured was particle size which was used as a surrogate of specific surface area. Solids were sorted according to particle size distributions (PSD). Solids ranged from smaller than 1 μm to greater than 10,000 μm. Particles larger than 25 μm were separated mechanically to generate PSDs. Flow rate and duration controlled the yield and size of transported solids. Metal element analysis of PSD from snow and rainfall events indicate that Zn, Cu and Pb mass increase with decreasing particle size. Cd did not exhibit a similar trend. Results provide guidance for assessment of urban runoff water quality impacts and design of in-situ treatment strategies.


Abstract. Numerical simulations of volcanic processes play a fundamental role in understanding the dynamics of magma storage, ascent and eruption. The recent extraordinary progress in computer performance and improvements in numerical modeling techniques allow simulating multiphase systems in mechanical and thermodynamical disequilibrium. Nonetheless, the growing complexity of these simulations requires the development of flexible computational tools that can easily switch between sub-models and solution techniques. In this work we present MagmaFOAM, a library based on the open source computational fluid dynamics software OpenFOAM, that incorporates models for solving the dynamics of multiphase, multicomponent magmatic systems. Retaining the modular structure of OpenFOAM, MagmaFOAM allows run-time selection of the solution technique depending on the physics of the specific process, and sets a solid framework for in-house and community model development, testing and comparison. MagmaFOAM models thermo-mechanical non-equilibrium phase coupling and phase change, and implements state-of-the-art multiple volatile saturation models and constitutive equations with composition-dependent and space-time local computation of thermodynamic and transport properties. Code testing is performed using different multiphase modeling approches for processes relevant to magmatic systems: Rayleigh-Taylor instability, for buyoancy-driven magmatic processes; multiphase shock tube simulations, propedeutical to conduit dynamics studies; bubble growth and breakage in basaltic melts. Benchmark simulations illustrate the capabilities and potential of MagmaFOAM to account for the variety of non-linear physical and thermodynamical processes characterizing the dynamics of volcanic systems.


Talk given at PASCOS 2012, Merida, Mexico describing work in progress in collaboration with Archana Anandakrishnan, Christopher Plumberg and Akin Wingerter.


There is a need to distinguish between modernization as a theory and as a process. It is noted that modernization should also be distinguished in a broad sense (as a constant process of producing certain responses to environmental challenges) and in a narrow sense (as a process of learning models of economic, social, political and cultural development of Western society).
The content of the theory of modernization as an interdisciplinary system of views, ideas, schemes, and models of analysis is revealed, which reveals the dynamics of overcoming the backwardness of traditional societies, studies the patterns of transformation of transitional societies into modern, developed ones.
As a process, modernization is interpreted by modern science as a process of acquisition by less developed societies of a number of features characteristic of more developed societies.     There are several stages in the evolution of the theory of modernization, the features of each of them are considered. The first stage (mid-1950s and 1960s) was the period of the origin and formation of the theory of modernization, the development of concrete-oriented models of socio-economic development based on it. At the second stage of modernization there was a reassessment of the ideas of the first stage, analysis of miscalculations identified in socio-political practice. It has been proved that modernization has an inverse vector. The main element on which the nature of transitional processes and transformations depends, began to be considered a socio-cultural factor. The third, modern, stage of modernization (late 1980s - early 1990s) took place in the context of the collapse of the world socialist system, when post-socialist countries tried to become on a par with developed Western countries through Westernization. There is an error in the mechanical transfer of the Western model to other countries due to disregard for the different potential of their development and the ability of developed countries to constantly improve their system.       It turns out that at the present stage it is worth talking more about "post-modernization", which is based on the desire for deep understanding of various social and political actors in society, the search for new social values, the ability to compromise on fundamental political issues and more.


This Special Issue consists of a small selection of the wide range of papers which were delivered at the seminars. It can thus only provide a snapshot. We have, however, tried to ensure that the choice of the papers included in this volume also reflects the fact that it was academics AND practitioners who contributed to the overall success of the series. Whereas the first five contributors (Schweiger, de la Porte, Funk, Allen and Aldred, Pogátsa) examine their various topics from an academic perspective, the last two papers (Galgóczi and Medhurst/Tortolano) provide assessments of the impact of the Single European Market on Central and Eastern European and wider EU member state economies and societies from a trade union perspective.


Left ventriculoatrial fistula is a very rare cardiac disorder. The case is reported of a male patient who was admitted to the authors' clinic with dyspnea and fatigue. The patient had an atrioventricular fistula between the left atrium and left ventricle, and had undergone aortic valve re-replacement for prosthesis malfunction about one year previously. The fistula was considered to be the result of iatrogenic injury related to valve re-replacement surgery.


A 37-year-old man presented with fever, loss of weitht and multiple raised skin lesions on face, neck and hands of 3 months duration. Skin biopsy and bone marrow aspirate revealed PAS posittive intracellular organism. He was treated with Amphotericin and Ketoconazole with excellent response.


Water-related diseases, particularly diarrhea in young children, kill two million people annually. To address this problem, donors and governments often provide infrastructure such as communal standpipes, wells, and protected springs in rural areas, where piping water into homes is infeasible. We study the impact of source water quality improvements achieved via spring protection in rural Kenya using a randomized evaluation. Spring protection leads to large improvements in source water quality as measured by the fecal indicator bacteria E. coli. Water quality gains at the home are smaller on average, but this finding depends critically on households' water source choices. At households that only used the sample spring at baseline, 71% of the spring water quality benefits are translated into home water gains, suggesting that re- contamination in transport and storage may be less of a concern than is sometimes claimed. Consistent with this view, the home water quality gains from spring protection are no larger for households with better baseline sanitation or hygiene knowledge. Changes in household water source choices after spring protection are used to derive revealed preference estimates of the willingness to pay for improved water quality using a travel cost approach. The average willingness to pay for the moderate gains in home water quality due to spring protection is at least US$3.27 per household per year. We find no significant child health effects of spring protection.


Summary: Femoral neck fractures account for half of all hip fractures with a rapidly increasing incidence. Since they are associated with high mortality, decrease in quality of life, and high total costs, much research on the optimal treatment of these fractures has been undertaken. In this article, we provide a summary of the available evidence comparing open reduction and internal fixation and arthroplasty. We focus on the treatment of displaced femoral neck fractures in active, healthy elderly patients. Additionally, we discuss treatment options for patients with undisplaced femoral neck fractures, younger patients, and patients with cognitive impairments. Furthermore, we present cost-effectiveness analyses on the treatment of these fractures, comparing both costs and patient benefits between internal fixation and different arthroplasty approaches.


We studied immunohistochemically the distribution of p53 overexpression and Ki-67 as a marker of cell proliferation, in 2 cases of advanced colorectal carcinomas occurring in UC, in comparison with histopathological features such as carcinoma and dysplasia. One is a case of 4 independent colorectal carcinomas surrounded by widespread dysplasia, and the other is a case of solitary rectal carcinoma. In these 2 cases, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues covering all of the resected specimens were examined for p53 and Ki-67 immunoreactivity using microwaving technique. p53 was negative in normal mucosa and inflammative mucosa without dysplasia. p53 was strongly positive in cancerous lesions except one lesion, and various degrees of dysplasia surrounding these lesions also showed p53 positive. The numbers of p53 and Ki-67 positive cells were higher in severe dysplasia than in mild dysplasia. Some areas of the dysplastic mucosa histologically represented "hyperplastic pattern of villous feature." In these areas p53 positive cells were aggregated in the basal part of the villous crypt, and the number of Ki-67 positive cells per gland was larger than in normal gland. Our examination covering the whole mucosa revealed: 1) p53 and Ki-67 are useful diagnostic markers for grading the degree of dysplasia. 2) Positivity of immunoreactive p53 in dysplasia seems to be consistent with that in cancers occurring in the surrounding dysplastic area in most of our cases.


We study the thermodynamics of ultracold Bose atoms in optical lattices by numerically diagonalizing the mean-field Hamiltonian of the Bose-Hubbard model. This method well describes the behavior of long-range correlations and therefore is valid deep in the superfluid phase. For the homogeneous Bose-Hubbard model, we draw the finite-temperature phase diagram and calculate the superfluid density at unity filling. We evaluate the finite-temperature effects in a recent experiment probing number fluctuation [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 090401 (2006)], and find that our finite-temperature curves give a better fitting to the experimental data, implying non-negligible temperature effects in this experiment.


Abstract Introduction: Amphotericin B (AmB) is a highly efficacious therapeutic for invasive fungal infections and protozoal diseases. Increasing prevalence of these conditions warrants the development of an oral AmB formulation. Efflux transporters, such as the ABCB1 gene product P-glycoprotein, affect the oral bioavailability and disposition of a range of clinically relevant compounds. At present, it remains to be determined whether AmB is a substrate of P-glycoprotein mediated efflux. The objective of this study was to determine whether P-glycoprotein contributes to the epithelial transport of AmB in a Caco-2 cell model. Methods: Stimulation of P-glycoprotein ATPase activity was assessed using membranes containing human recombinant P-glycoprotein. An ABCB1 knockdown Caco-2 cell model was employed to determine non-toxic concentrations of AmB. AmB cellular association, following a 180 min incubation, was determined using an high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) assay. Results: At the concentrations investigated, AmB did not stimulate P-glycoprotein ATPase activity. Non-toxic concentrations of AmB were 1 μg/mL–5 μg/mL; these were used in subsequent experiments. No significant difference in AmB cellular association was observed for ABCB1 small interfering ribonucleic acid transfected and non-transfected Caco-2 cells, following a 180 min incubation with 1 μg/mL and 2.5 μg/mL AmB. However, significantly greater AmB was associated with transfected cells as compared to non-transfected cells, when cells were incubated with 5 μg/mL AmB. Conclusions: These results suggest that AmB is not a substrate of P-glycoprotein mediated efflux in this Caco-2 cell model. P-glycoprotein is not expected to be a major barrier to the oral absorption and disposition of AmB.


40 keV, 50 keV and 60 keV were implanted at and into potassium titanyl phosphate ( or KTP). The depth of distribution of in was measured by the H(C nuclear reaction. The depth distributions obtained are compared with TRIM (transport of ions in matter) predictions. The results show that the TRIM simulation has described the shape of the front side of the experimental profile well, but there is significant deviation for the deep side of the profile between TRIM prediction and experimental data.


Stress Management Training (SMT) is described for teaching handicapped patients the use of relaxation as a coping skill. The procedure combines progressive muscle relaxation and clinical meditation into a standardized but flexible 8-session protocol. The training consists of 3 components: First, the patient is given a cognitive understanding of stress and relaxation. Second, the patient is taught to relax by controlling muscle tension and sympathetic activation. Third, the patient adapts the relaxation skill to real-life stress situations. Case reports demonstrating the process are included. Methods of assessing outcome and adaptations for particular handicaps are described.


An improved carry chain circuit with carry-skip capability is described. The carry-skip logic allows an arbitrarily long carry chain without the need for intermediate buffers for signal restoration, leading to an implementation that is both fast and area-efficient. The chain can flexibly accommodate technology-imposed maximum depth of NMOS transistor pull-down stack.


We examine higher-order photon statisitics of laser diodes (LDs) and microchip solid-state lasers (SSLs). When the lasers are operated above lasing threshold, significantly different features of fluctuations are exhibited, which are the result of the asymmetric non-Gaussian distribution characteristics that are always present in SSLs, whereas, in contrast, Gaussian fluctuation persists in LDs. It is found that the deterministic dynamic trajectory in phase space, which is controlled by the ratio between the fluorescence and the photon lifetimes, is crucial to the corresponding behavior of higher-order statistics.


By imitating nature, man finds ways to expand his capacities. To achieve this aim, he often takes natures designs, simplifies them to their most basic principles and then works in a retrograde fashion to add back the complexity originally stripped away to make the first discoveries. This thesis is based on previous work done on modeling snail movement on a macroscopic scale using a motor driven wave propagation machine. This project scaled down the mechanism to a size more commonly found in nature. This downscaling required a new method for producing waves. Peristaltic pumping achieved through the use of soft-lithography and pneumatics was the method chosen. This combination of ideas proved challenging for several reasons. First, the pumping method had previously only been used with one channel per pneumatic input, whereas the snail required each input to feed a multitude of branching channels creating a more complicated fluid dynamics problem. Second, the snail waves were downscaled from a continuous sinusoid to the three phase stepping mechanism of the peristaltic pump. Each three-phase cycle was considered equivalent to one wavelength. Thus, after creating a design that could move, the ratio between the traveling wavelength speed and subsequent net movement were compared to the aforementioned mathematical model. The model's ratio was 0.56 net/wave velocity. The actual ratio was .05 net/wave velocity. The difference by an order of magnitude could be attributed to the discontinuity of the pumping mechanism as opposed to the continuous niaiLec of an actual traveling wave. Thesis Supervisor: Anette E. Hosoi Title: Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering


: Image enhancement is preprocessinge method for qualitye improvement of image Echo cardiographice is critical subjeect in informatieon mininge and machine learning and it can be broadly utilized as a part of many fields. In this dissertatione a hybrid of improvement method based on wavelet transform function and neural networks is proposed. SOM were used to find correlation between noised and original DWT coefficients and approximationse. Experimentals results showed capability of proposed method to remove noise in terms of peak signal to noise ratio and visual quality. Different architectures and different activation functions is considered. The experimental results show the mean with the traditional enhancement methods, in this technique threshold-based enhancement digital image enhancement algorithm for mixed digital image enhancement is relatively clear, especially in the extra noise, extra complexs cases", can show its better presentations. In the improvements process in order to effort better enhancements effect, the systems takes more time to pay; the other for color digitals images processings has not been a good results. Therefore, focus on late goals and improves the efficiencys of color image enhancementes. after all, the algorithm has a drawbacks of needings more computing time when select a largers hybrid generations. This will be a key problem to solution in the following work.


BACKGROUND
The aim of the present study was to treat unstable asthma according to exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) and induced-sputum eosinophils (sEos) levels to assess if this strategy is better than the conventional approach based on symptoms and function to achieve asthma control.

METHODS
Fourteen patients with mild-to-moderate persistent asthma (6 men, 8 women) were recruited. During the recruitment visit, the patients, previously treated for asthma following Global Initiative for Asthma recommendations, underwent clinical evaluation and pulmonary function tests (PFTs). Then, after 4 weeks of washout from inhaled antiinflammatory treatment, the patients underwent a basal visit performing PFTs, challenge test to methacholine, and determination of eNO and sEos counts. These procedures were repeated after 3, 6, and 12 months while the patients were treated with inhaled steroids in a stepwise fashion according to eNO and sEos values.

RESULTS
At the end of the study, a significant decrease in eNO and sEos was observed (57.2 +/- 32.8 parts per billion [ppb] vs 22.1 +/- 10.8 ppb, p < 0.01; and 27.1 +/- 27.1% vs 3.7 +/- 3.5%, p < 0.01, respectively). A close correlation (r2 = 0.41, p < 0.01) between the percentage change of eNO and sEos was observed only after 6 months. Patients treated according to the levels of these inflammatory markers had fewer symptoms and fewer exacerbations compared to those the year before when they were conventionally treated.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results show the usefulness of eNO and sEos for titrating treatment in asthmatic patients in order to achieve better long-term control of the disease. The eNO decrease reflects adequately the reduction of sEos only after 6 months.


Three source regions show evidence of a low-velocity layer that is less than 15 kilometers thick on top of the core-mantle boundary and require about a 3:1 ratio of shear-to-compressional velocity reduction, which is consistent with partial melt. Layer thickness is correlated with travel time residuals of the seismic phases that are most sensitive to the lowermost mantle velocity. These observations suggest that the layer is thinned beneath downwellings but is present everywhere along the core-mantle boundary. Low viscosity accompanying partial melt can localize the upwelling of warmed mantle, making the low-velocity layer a plausible source of mantle plumes.


The outcome of clinical therapy of adult nonseminomatous testis tumor presenting with negative human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) at our hospital is reported. Of 45 nonseminoma, 28 cases showed negative hCG and they had no chorionic element. Embryonal carcinoma was found in 14 cases (50%), teratoma in 5 cases (17.9%), and teratomatous mixed tumor in 9 cases (32.1%). The 5 year actuarial survivals were 94% for stage I disease, 40% for stage II and 16.6% for stage III. Prophylactic irradiation was given to the patient with stage I disease and no relapse occurred in the irradiated area, but later, neoplasms had spread by vascular dissemination in 3 cases (17.6%). In the treatment of stage II disease, radiotherapy has proved unsatisfactory and retroperitoneal lymph nodes dissection was a choice of modality. Of 11 patients with lung metastasis including vascular dissemination from stage II and III disease, 3 cases (27.3%) were cured by localized radiotherapy and chemotherapy of the pre-VAB regimen era.


Introduction: The COVID-19 epidemic has forced a change in the way contact with the physiotherapist is organised. This sitaution has created a risk for infants exposed to worsening disorders resulting from rehabilitation measures not being implemented or being interrupted. The online physiotherapy consultations, which were practised thus far, have become widespread. Material and methods: An online diagnostic survey was conducted among 151 parents of infants who had received an online physiotherapy consultation during the pandemic period. The survey comprised 25 questions. These questions concerned the impact of online consultation on increasing parents' sense of competence, the possibility of replacing in-clinic consultation with online consultation, and identifying the benefits and limitations of conducting this form of support. Relationships between variables were tested using the chi-square test with a significance level of p = 0.05. Results: The questionnaire data showed that the reasons for using online consultation were: muscle tone disorders, positioning asymmetry, motor development delay, assessing the child's development and learning how to properly care for the infant. The benefits of an online visit included saving time by not travelling to the physiotherapist and the opportunity to consult a specialist who would otherwise be impossible to meet due to distance. The respondents indicated the lack of physiotherapists in their place of residence. The sense of security for the child in a familiar environment was emphasised, while challenges were posed by the lack of direct contact with the physiotherapist and the organisational and equipment requirements of the visit. Conclusions: Online consultations restore the possibility of continuing therapy and early diagnosis, as well as increasing parents' sense of competence. Although online consultation cannot replace in-person consultation, it can be a good complement or an alternative in some therapeutic situations.


On the example of four micro-plots, the key theses of the economic views of the Nobel laureate S. Kuznets have been revealed. The main papers of Kuznets and his supervisor – W. K. Mitchell have been analysed, the reception of methods used by S. Kuznets in the prospect of economic theory has been traced. The reception of the mechanics of S. Kuznets' research in modern political economy theory, referring to the research of D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson has been considered. In Appendix to this paper, a brief analysis of the political interpretation of the S. Kuznets cycle theory, proposed by D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson has presented. The research presented in the article summarizes the experience of research on economic views of S. Kuznets and emphasizes the prospect of using the author's experiential optics.


BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) in pregnant women with HIV is associated with adverse maternal and infant outcomes. Previous studies have described a substantial prevalence of subclinical TB in this group, but little is known about the impact of subclinical TB on maternal and pediatric outcomes.METHODS: The Tshepiso Study recruited 235 HIV-infected pregnant women with TB (and matched HIV-positive, TB-negative pregnant controls), in Soweto, South Africa, from 2011 to 2014. During enrolment screening, some women initially recruited as controls were subsequently diagnosed with prevalent TB. We therefore assessed the prevalence of subclinical TB, associated participant characteristics and outcomes.RESULTS: Of 162 women initially recruited as TB-negative controls, seven (4.3%) were found to have TB on sputum culture. All seven had negative WHO symptom screens, and six (86%) were smear-negative. Of their seven infants, one was diagnosed with TB, and three (43%) experienced complications compared to zero infants with TB and 11% experiencing complications in the control group of TB-negative mothers (P = 0.045).CONCLUSION: We discovered an appreciable prevalence of subclinical TB in HIV-infected pregnant women in Soweto, which had not been detected by screening algorithms based solely on symptoms. Infants of HIV-infected mothers with subclinical TB appear to have a higher risk of adverse outcomes than those of TB-negative mothers.


This article invites readers to reflect on the different neuroscientific theories of learning: the theory of the triune brain, the whole brain, the brain as a basis for learning, right brain versus left brain, and the theory of multiple intelligences; as well as their direct implication in the process of searching and constructing knowledge for University students, as evidenced in curriculum structure, implementation of teaching and facilitation methodologies and in evaluation systems, among others.


Though the government of Niger opted in 1975 for a policy of improving the dairy capability of the Azawak zebu cows, the national level of dairy production satisfies only 50% of population needs. Several reasons may explain this shortage, including the prevalence of mastitis. The purpose of this research was (i) to study the prevalence of mastitis at the Sahelian experimental station in Toukounous; (ii) to identify the bacterial species responsible; and (iii) to type the Staphylococcus (S. ) aureus isolates. Two hundred and sixty-five cows were tested using the California Mastitis Test (CMT) and the 112 CMT-positive milk samples (10.6%) from 104 cows (39.2%) were further tested for bacterial growth. Fifty-one of them (45.5%) gave a positive growth: half of the isolated bacteria belonged to the genus Staphylococcus and 23 (41.8%), to the species S. aureus . The majority of the S. aureus isolates belonged to the bovine biotype, formed biofilms, produced Small Colony Variants, grouped into closely related virulotypes, and belonged to two closely related pulsotypes. In conclusion, (i) the prevalence of presumptive mastitis in Toukounous is 40%; (ii) the genus Staphylococcus is the most frequent; and (ii) the 23 S. aureus isolates are closely related, though not clonal.


Ice-dammed lakes of Wurm age occupied pre-existing valleys in the Subalpine ranges of southeastern France. One of these, Lac du Trieves, accumulated over 200 m of predominantly clayey sediments in the form of varved and laminated deposits. The clay mineralogy of these sediments consists of the following suite: mica (65 to 85 percent), iron-rich chlorite (10 to 30 percent), and small amounts of poorly crystallized mixed-layer material. Bedrock lithologies in the vicinity of the lake vary from Jurassic and Cretaceous shale, silty shale, and carbonate rocks to Carboniferous meta-sedimentary rocks and Hercynian basement rocks. Jurassic shale, especially of the "terres noires" facies, consists primarily of an allevardite-type, regularly interstratified mica-montmorillonite and in some places directly underlies lacustrine sediments. The lack of incorporation of this material in lake clay indicates a relatively low surface erosion rate during Wurm maximum glaciation and suggests that mechanical and possibly geochemical alteration of metamorphic mica derived from the cirque areas accounts for the bulk of the lake clay formed.


The question of dynamical stability and stochastic behavior of large biochemical networks is discussed. It is argued that stringent conditions of asymptotic stability have very little chance to materialize in a multidimensional system described by the differential equations of chemical kinetics. The reason is that the criteria of asymptotic stability (Routh-Hurwitz, Lyapunov criteria, Feinberg's Deficiency Zero theorem) would impose the limitations of very high algebraic order on the kinetic rates and stoichiometric coefficients, and there are no natural laws that would guarantee their unconditional validity. Highly nonlinear, dynamically unstable systems, however, are not necessarily doomed to collapse, as a simple Jacobian analysis would suggest. It is possible that their dynamics may assume the form of pseudo-random fluctuations quite similar to a shot noise, and, therefore, their behavior may be described in terms of Langevin and Fokker-Plank equations. We have shown by simulation that the resulting pseudo-stochastic processes obey the heavy-tailed Generalized Pareto Distribution with temporal sequence of pulses forming the set of constituent-specific Poisson processes. Being applied to intracellular dynamics, these properties are naturally associated with burstiness, a well documented phenomenon in the biology of gene expression.


Concentration of fruit juices by membrane osmotic distillation (MOD) was studied. For the experiments, fresh juices were obtained from colourful wild berries: cornelian cherry, blackthorn, and whitebeam, which can be considered as valuable, highly nutritive beverages and characterized by high level of vitamins and antioxidant capacity. These beneficial properties may be preserved if mild but effective, environementally-safe membrane processes are applied for the concentration. MOD is a coupled operation of membrane distillation (MD) and osmotic evaporation (OE), where a hydrophobic membrane is used, while the osmotic agent was concentrated CaCl2 solution. As a result of our experiments, we found that high concentration was possible to reach in the fruit juices studied, while the flux was between 0.3 and 2.4 lm-2h-1. Comparing the analytical results of the fresh and concentrated juices, it has turned out that the antioxidant capacities were almost completely preserved during the concentration process.


Tripartite motif-containing (TRIM) E3 ligases are a recently identified family of proteins with potent antiviral activity in mammalian cells. The prototype TRIM E3 ligase, TRIM5α was initially identified as a species-specific antiviral restriction factor but subsequent studies suggest some antiviral activity by several TRIM E3 ligases in human cells. However, the mechanisms of antiviral activity by these proteins and their transcriptional, translational and post-translational regulation are poorly understood. Furthermore, the contribution of TRIM E3 ligases to relative resistance or viral control in vivo is largely unknown. Emerging data from our laboratory and other groups suggests that these proteins may have antiviral activity in vivo and contribute to HIV pathogenesis. Considering the significant difficulties so far encountered in developing an effective HIV vaccine and with the use of antiretroviral therapies, it will be important to further investigate the potential of TRIM E3 ligases as novel prophylactics or therapies.


Recent studies have explored clinician impacts of health care–based interventions that respond to patients' social and economic needs. These studies were limited by available clinician data. We used the Commonwealth International Health Policy Survey of 890 primary care physicians to examine associations between clinic capacity to respond to patients' social needs and physician satisfaction, stress, and perceived medical care quality. Results suggest that perceived capacity to address social needs is strongly associated with both clinician satisfaction and perceived medical care quality. Our findings add to a growing literature on the potential return on investment of clinical interventions to address social needs.


I. Introduction The development of human rights protection mechanisms at the United Nations has been inextricably linked with the organization's efforts to promote human rights. The two approaches have been mutually reinforcing and have created strong human rights constituencies. In fact, this process itself has been gradually depoliticizing the international mechanisms in the area of human rights. The concept of human rights has always been dynamic, as has the entire discipline of international law. Human rights concepts and mechanisms have developed historically along with interventions by civil society and by states. The right to self-determination is one of the most eloquent examples. The development of international human rights mechanisms over the past five decades since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been linked as much with the rise of pro-democracy and pro-human rights movements around the world as with the end of the Cold War and the growing interdependence of states, markets, and peoples. I therefore discuss the development of United Nations human rights protection mechanisms from this broader angle and try to explain the "whys" and "why nots" accordingly. For the purposes ofthis discussion, I concentrate on the human rights mechanisms ofthe United Nations proper without including the mechanisms ofthe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). I first discuss the treaty-based human rights mechanisms and their significance in the protection and promotion of human rights. I then refer to the extra-conventional system of protection of human rights. Third, I discuss the contribution of the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 to the protection and promotion of human rights. Fourth, I discuss the United Nations human rights field presences and their contribution. Fifth, I examine recent efforts to mainstream human rights in the areas of peace and security, humanitarian issues, and development. Finally, I outline some ofthe main challenges ahead in protecting and promoting human rights. II. A Treaty-Based System of Protection and Promotion of Human Rights After the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Universal Declaration),' the United Nations faced the challenge of preparing binding international human rights instruments. One day before the adoption of the Universal Declaration on December 9, 1948, however, the General Assembly had already adopted the first United Nations human rights treaty, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.2 Initially, the ascending Cold War ideological rift between civil and political rights on the one hand and economic, social, and cultural rights on the other was bridged by the inclusion of both families of rights in one unified document, the Universal Declaration. This was due in part to the overwhelming momentum after the tragedies of World War II and in part to the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt and her peers. Yet, this rift reemerged during the subsequent two decades when it became obvious that the polarized world around the table was not ready to allow the same fusion when preparing binding legal instruments. Thus in 1966, the United Nations separately adopted the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights3 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights4 and its (First) Optional Protocol.5 The year before, the United Nations had adopted the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.6 These three treaties corrected an omission of the earlier antigenocide convention by establishing the first three human rights monitoring mechanisms in the form of "treaty bodies," as this type of mechanism is now called.' The first treaty bodies were later joined by three others under the following subsequent human rights treaties: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,8 the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,9 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. …


The COVID-19 pandemic introduced novel incentives for adversaries to exploit the state of turmoil. As we have witnessed with the increase in for instance phishing attacks and domain name registrations piggybacking the COVID-19 brand name. In this paper, we perform an analysis at Internet-scale of COVID-19 domain name registrations during the early stages of the virus' spread, and investigate the rationales behind them. We leverage the DomainTools COVID-19 Threat List and additional measurements to analyze over 150,000 domains registered between January 1st 2020 and May 1st 2020. We identify two key rationales for covid-related domain registrations. Online marketing, by either redirecting traffic or hosting a commercial service on the domain, and domain parking, by registering domains containing popular COVID-19 keywords, presumably anticipating a profit when reselling the domain later on. We also highlight three public policy take-aways that can counteract this domain registration behavior.


Abstract 4144 Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation is a serious complication for allogeneic stem cell transplant (alloSCT) recipients which sometimes results in lethal hepatic failure. Lamivudine has widely been used as a prophylaxis, but the virus tends to acquire resistance to lamivudine by its long-term use. Entecavir is another nucleoside analogue with selective activity against HBV, and is known to induce less resistance to itself. Although there are several reports about lamivudine, anti-HBV immunoglobulin, and donor vaccination as prophylaxis for HBV reactivation in alloSCT recipients, only few reports about entecavir available so far. We retrospectively analyzed 191 alloSCT recipients (227 transplants) having chronic or resolved HBV infection from January 2005 to December 2011 in Toranomon Hospital. One hundred and forty (64%) cases were male, disease status of 170 (78%) cases was in high risk, and reduced-intensity conditioning regimens were selected in 177 (80%) cases. Related PBSCT, unrelated BMT, and unrelated CBT were 28 cases, 50 cases, 149 cases, respectively, and all the donors were free of HBV infection. Chronic HBV infection (18 cases) was defined as HBsAg-positive, and resolved HBV infection (209 cases) was defined as HBsAg-negative and positive for HBsAb and/or HBcAb before alloSCT without history of HBV vaccination. In recipients with chronic HBV infection, 12 cases had high serum HBV-DNA levels (more than 3 log copies/mL) before alloSCT. Antiviral agents were administered as prophylaxis for HBV reactivation in all cases with chronic HBV infection (entecavir 18 cases) and 140 (67%) cases with resolved HBV infection (lamivudine 12 cases and entecavir 128 cases). The dose of entecavir was 0.5 mg/day, and that of lamivudine was 100 mg/day. Antivirals were started before conditioning therapy, and were continued as long as the patients tolerated oral medication. Cumulative incidence of neutrophil engraftment was 90%. Two-year overall survival was 42%. About OS and neutrophil engraftment, there were no significant difference between entecavir, lamivudine, and non-prophylaxis group. Liver damages (transaminase more than 3 × upper normal limits) occurred in 80 cases, and cumulative incidence of sinusoidal obstructive syndrome was 2.2%. HBV was reactivated in 4 cases with resolved HBV infection and no cases with chronic HBV infection. The median duration of HBV reactivation from alloSCT was 326 days (250–1855). All 4 cases received unrelated RIC-CBT and had received no prophylactic antivirals, while none of those received prophylaxis developed viral reactivation. Immunosuppressants had been discontinued in all of them at the time of HBV reactivation. Two cases developed acute hepatitis, and successfully treated with entecavir and steroids. In other 2 cases, reversed sero-conversion occurred, but they did not develop hepatitis by starting entecavir. In conclusion, entecavir as prophylaxis for HBV reactivation in alloSCT recipients is considered to be safe and effective in this analysis. When to stop entecavir administration is the next issue to be investigated. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


In recent years investors tend to divert their investment to emerging economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), especially during the U.S.-China trade war. The present study adopts the Weighted Least Square (WLS) and PROCESS macro tool to examine the effects of foreign ownership and growth opportunity on financial performance of Vietnamese listed firms over the period 2011-2018. Our findings show that foreign ownership plays as moderator variable in the relationship between short-term and long-term performance of firms. Empirical results also reveal that mediating effects of growth opportunity on short-term and long-term performance are different before and after the trade war. These findings have important implications for investors and managers in the ASEAN countries.


Abstract Changes in life history traits can reveal adaptations to changing environments. Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) are cooperative breeders that have specific reproductive habitat needs. We examined three separate sites in the southeastern United States to see how life history traits differed among isolated populations of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers from 1980 to 2013. We examined the life history traits group size, partial brood loss, number of fledglings, lay date, clutch size, and lifespan. Traits differed among sites, suggesting that populations were adapted to local conditions and different life history trade-offs were important under different environmental conditions at each site. At the two coastal sites in Florida and North Carolina, the family group sizes, lifespans, and partial brood loss were higher when compared to the inland site in North Carolina. Clutch size and number fledged were higher at the two northernmost sites when compared to the southern site. Identifying the differences in life history traits can allow more specific and effective management practices.


To alleviate the ground heat accumulation after long term running of ground source heat pumps (GSHP), ground heat exchanger (GHE) zoning operation can be adopted. Two GHE operation modes – zoning operation and full running – are compared in a case where heat release to the ground in summer is larger than the heat extraction from the ground in winter. In this study the soil thermal conductivity, volumetric specific heat capacity, borehole depth and spacing are 2.0 W(mK), 5.0×10 J(mK), 100m and 5m respectively with the boreholes arranged in a square 20×20 array. Under the given conditions the simulation results show that GHE zoning operation depresses the increase in amplitude of GHE outlet water temperature and so that the GSHP systems operate normally throughout the whole service life. By adopting GHE zoning operation, the energy consumption of the GSHP system is found to be reduced compared with that of a GHE operated without zoning. Operation without zoning shows that the GHE summer outlet water temperature increases faster than that with zoning operation and power demands are increased for the given GSHP load. Furthermore, in this case, the GSHP would not be able to run normally in the last several years due to the condensing temperature exceeding its upper limit.


Objective. To evaluate new mothers' opinions of genetics and newborn screening. Setting. An Australian tertiary referral hospital. Population. 232 women who delivered a liveborn infant and had received written and verbal information on newborn screening from midwifery staff during their antenatal care. Methods. Participants were interviewed within 24 hours of blood being taken from their baby by heel prick for the newborn screen. Non-English speaking women were included using medical interpreters. The questionnaire evaluated opinions about newborn screening and parental consent. The opportunity was used to also question their views on the impact on lifestyle and discrimination of a theoretical diagnosis of genetic disease or carrier status in their baby. Main outcome. Descriptive data on mother's attitudes. Results. 200 women consented to participate in the study (86.2% response). New mothers supported newborn screening programs where outcomes could be used to prevent or reduce the severity of a disease (85–86% support), but were less supportive if screening had been used to assist with future family planning (65%). The majority of women (86%) felt that parental consent was mandatory before newborn screening tests were performed. A similar number felt that consent would be required before blood samples could be used if a National DNA library were to be created. The majority of women expressed concern that a child with a genetic illness would face discrimination and difficulty obtaining insurance or employment. A third of women felt that even a carrier of a genetic illness would face similar discrimination. Conclusion. Acceptance of newborn screening programs is high but mothers consider the need for consent to be mandatory. They have concerns about discrimination children with genetic illnesses may face.


The evolutionary conservation of the low-molecular-weight chloroplast-localized heat-shock protein (LMW chlpHsp) in vascular plants was examined using immunological methods. An antibody (Abmet) specific to the LMW chlpHsp was produced using a synthetic 28-residue peptide containing the most conserved elements of its unique "methionine-rich domain" as an antigen. This antibody detected a heat-inducible low-molecular-weight chloroplast protein in plants of six divergent Anthophyta species, including C3, C4, CAM, monocot, and dicot species. Abmet also detected a LMW chlpHsp in species from the Divisions Psilotophyta, Equisetophyta, Polypodiophyta, and Ginkgophyta. A preliminary examination of the relationship between accumulation of the LMW chlpHsp and habitat was also conducted. Seven Anthophyta species originating from both warm- and cool-temperature habitats were grown at 28C and then heat stressed at 40C. A positive qualitative relationship between the accumulation of the LMW chlpHsp and organismal thermotolerance in these species was observed; similar results were obtained separately with four nonAnthophyta species. The strong evolutionary conservation of this LMW Hsp and its localization to the chloroplast, and the correlation between production of this protein and plant thermotolerance, suggest that the LMW chlpHsp plays an important role in adaptation to heat stress.


Increased care provision and clinical activity in General Practice in Ireland will have important manpower implications. Recent developments in medical education policy including the introduction of graduate-entry medical degree programmes may help address this issue. The aim of this study was to determine GP career intentions among students on an Irish graduate-entry medical degree programme and to identify factors that influence these. An electronic cross-sectional study of students at University of Limerick Graduate-Entry Medical School (UL-GEMS) was undertaken. We received 139 replies (78% response rate). 41 (29%) reported GP was their current preferred career choice, while 29 (19%) reported it was their preferred career choice on entry to medical school. This first study to present data on GP career intentions among graduate-entry students in Ireland highlights the specialty as a popular preferred career choice among students, both on entry to, and during medical school. The study also identifies factors which are likely to be important in determining career intentions. Further research to examine this issue at other graduate-entry medical schools in Ireland and to determine whether our findings are pursued over time amongst graduates is a priority.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the correlation between patient self-report joint counts and standard physician joint counts, and to compare pictorial (Mannequin) and text (Rapid Assessment of Disease Activity in Rheumatology, RADAR) formats for obtaining patient self-reports.

METHODS
Baseline patient self-report joint counts were mailed and completed by 60 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) one day before and one day after being examined by a physician. Twenty-seven were randomized to the Mannequin tender and Mannequin swollen joint counts; 33 were randomized to the RADAR tender and swollen joint counts. Agreement between patient and physician self-report joint counts, diagnostic characteristics, and test-retest reliability of patient self-report joint counts was computed. Stepwise regression analyses were performed to identify predictors of patient-physician differences in total joint count.

RESULTS
Means and standard deviations of paired patient and physician total joint counts were not different for Mannequin or RADAR forms. Spearman correlations were moderate (0.58 to 0.69 for Mannequin, 0.37 to 0.58 for RADAR). Agreement (intraclass correlations) was 0.65 for the Mannequin and 0.56 for the RADAR forms. Patient test-retest reproducibility was moderate for RADAR tenderness (0.58) and high (r>0.90) for RADAR swollen and both Mannequin forms. Level of patient education predicted patient-physician differences on the RADAR swollen joint counts (p = 0.003), but was not significant in Mannequin forms, suggesting that education was not a factor in accurate completion of Mannequin forms.

CONCLUSION
Both pictorial and text format patient self-report joint counts are significantly correlated with physician joint counts. In addition to moderately high patient test-retest reproducibility, this suggests that patient self-reports in both formats may yield accurate measures of improvement in disease activity.


This second volume completes the author's account of natural law and political realism as historical traditions of political thought. In it, the development of those traditions is traced from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries, with special emphasis given to theories of human nature and the 'natural' or 'human' rights doctrines that have been derived from them. These things are examined also in the context of the comparatively recent internationalisation of political theory. The final chapter addresses the question of whether the modern rhetoric of human rights and humanitarian intervention rests upon a coherent philosophical foundation.


Abstract The aim of this article is to describe and analyze how professional gerontological workers (PGWs) from northern Israel experienced a shared reality during the Second Lebanon War: how they perceived clients' needs and their own needs, how they and their older clients functioned during this crisis, and what could be learned about the experience by exploring the PGWs' perspective. Data were based on materials collected from four PGW focus groups held simultaneously after the war, using a phenomenological perspective to analyze content expressed by individuals, not group dynamics. Findings presented three identified themes: being caught between personal life and professional obligations, acting out of resilience and growth versus vulnerability and despair, and integrating past and present experiences to learn for future events. The discussion uses a phenomenology perspective to reexamine the coexistence of vulnerability in the two populations that share mutual experiences. Further studies and intervention implications are suggested.


The strong optical absorption and scattering of noble metal nanoparticles is due to an effect called localized Surface Plasmon Resonance, which enables the development of novel biomedical applications. AuNPs are the most stable metal nanoparticles, and they present fascinating aspects such as their assembly of multiple types involving materials science, the behavior of the individual particles, size-related electronic, magnetic and optical properties [quantum size effect], and their applications to catalysis and biology likewise, AgNPs due to its excellent biocompatibility and antibacterial property raise considerable interest as nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Since the size, shape and composition of silver nanoparticles can have significant effect on their efficacy, extensive research has gone into synthesizing and characterizing silver nanoparticles. This article reviews the various synthetic routes currently used for developing stable silver nanoparticles and their biomedical applications in the areas of microbial resistance, antioxidant activity, anticancerous, drug delivery, antiplatlet, antiangiogenic activity, surface enhanced Raman scattering and metal enhanced fluorescence.


BACKGROUND
The complete blood count (CBC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) are useful inflammatory parameters for ruling out acute postoperative inflammatory complications.

AIM
To determine their changes in gastric cancer patients submitted to total gastrectomy.

METHODS
This is a prospective study, with 36 patients with gastric cancer who were submitted to elective total gastrectomy. On the first, third and fifth postoperative day (POD), blood count and CRP changes were assessed. Patients with postoperative complications were excluded.

RESULTS
Twenty-one (58%) were men and 15 (42%) women. The mean age was 65 years. The leukocytes peaked on the 1st POD with a mean of 13,826 u/mm³, and decreased to 8,266 u/mm³ by the 5th POD. The bacilliforms peaked on the 1st POD with a maximum value of 1.48%. CRP reached its maximum level on the 3rd POD with a mean of 144.64 mg/l±44.84. Preoperative hematocrit (HCT) was 35% and 33.67% by the 5th POD. Hemoglobin, showed similar values.

CONCLUSIONS
Leukocytes increased during the 1st POD but reached normal values by the 5th POD. CRP peaked on the 3rd POD but did not reach normal values by the 5th POD.


This study was conducted in order to examine relationships between the viviparous germination ability and the antioxidative system in rice seeds and seedlings. Enzyme activities was compared among the four varieties with different viviparous germination ability from the early or mid-late maturity group. -Amylase activities correlated with the viviparous germination rate (VGRs) and -amylase activity in seeds of 40 days after heading (DAH) was highest in Dongjinbyeo among midlate maturing varieties (MLMVs) and in Daeseongbyeo among EMVs. -Amylase activity in dry mature seeds was also higher in varieties with higher VGR. Glucose contents in viviparously germinating seeds and mature dry, seeds were higher in varieties with higher VGRs. Cat-alase activities did not correlate with the VGRs in both maturity groups. However, peroxidase activities in viviparously germinating seeds were higher in varieties with higher VGRs.


Advancements in internal combustion technology, such as efficiency improvements and the usage of new complex fuels, are often coupled with developments of suitable numerical tools for predicting the complex dynamic behavior of sprays. Therefore, this work presents a Eulerian multi-fluid model specialized for the dynamic behavior of dense evaporating liquid fuel sprays. The introduced model was implemented within the open-source OpenFOAM library, which is constantly gaining popularity in both industrial and academic settings. Therefore, it represents an ideal framework for such development. The presented model employs the classes method and advanced interfacial momentum transfer models. The droplet breakup is considered using the enhanced WAVE breakup model, where the mass taken from the parent droplets is distributed among child classes using a triangular distribution. Furthermore, the complex thermal behavior within the moving droplets is considered using a parabolic temperature profile and an effective thermal conductivity approach. This work includes an uncertainty estimation analysis (for both spatial and temporal resolutions) for the developed solver. Furthermore, the solver was validated against two ECN Spray A conditions (evaporating and non-evaporating). Overall, the presented results show the capability of the implemented model to successfully predict the complex dynamic behavior of dense liquid sprays for the selected operating conditions.


Determining the level of investment and support needed to maintain biodiversity across vast areas is difficult. In response to this challenge the South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources has developed an information synthesis and evaluation process known as the "Aridlands Landscape Assessment Framework" (ALAF), which attempts to provide a systematic basis for landscape-specific conservation planning and priority setting across the arid zone. The project is part of a broader scoping study that supports the development of the Trans-Australian Ecolink Initiative in South Australia (TAEL SA). The ALAF is an analytical and conceptual framework that seeks to define ecosystem components and ecological processes operating at a landscape level. This requires a systematic process to name and identify plant communities that occur in distinct biophysical settings. The next, more difficult challenge is to document the dynamic processes that drive change within a landscape, to assist our understanding of how systems vary in space and time. The last step in the ALAF is to identify which components are most under threat, where and for what reasons. Here we provide an outline of the ALAF process and snap-shot of current knowledge for Witjira National Park in northern South Australia. The most resilient ecosystem types appear to be those with physical attributes that limit soil erosion, retain water and support woody shrubs with low palatability during dry times. This is largely due to the ability of these systems to accumulate soil moisture, nutrients and biological propagules.