BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
Pediatric interfacility transport teams facilitate access to subspecialty care, and physicians often guide management remotely as transport medical control (TMC). Pediatric subspecialty fellows frequently perform TMC duties, but tools assessing competency are lacking. Our objective was to develop content validity for the items required to assess pediatric subspecialty fellows' TMC skills.

METHODS
We conducted a modified Delphi process among transport and fellow education experts in pediatric critical care medicine, pediatric emergency medicine, neonatal-perinatal medicine, and pediatric hospital medicine. The study team generated an initial list of items on the basis of a literature review and personal experience. A modified Delphi panel of transport experts was recruited to participate in 3 rounds of anonymous, online voting on the importance of the items using a 3-point Likert scale (marginal, important, essential). We defined consensus for inclusion as ≥80% agreement that an item was important/essential and consensus for exclusion as ≥80% agreement that an item was marginal.

RESULTS
The study team of 20 faculty drafted an initial list of items. Ten additional experts in each subspecialty served on the modified Delphi panel. Thirty-six items met the criteria for inclusion, with widespread agreement across subspecialties. Only 1 item, "discussed bed availability," met the criteria for inclusion among some subspecialties but not others. The study team consolidated the final list into 26 items for ease of use.

CONCLUSIONS
Through a consensus-based process among transport experts, we generated content validity for the items required to assess pediatric subspecialty fellows' TMC skills.


Over the years, the chemical market has shown significant growth, but the hazardous impact of chemical use and disposal on the environment and human health is a growing concern. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are among the most dangerous chemicals with widespread effects on the environment and living organisms, including humans. This study aimed to assess the current status of POP management and regulatory infrastructure in Ethiopia by collecting information from stakeholders responsible for recording the import, export, use, management, and regulation of POPs both in government and private sectors. Additionally, a comprehensive literature review was conducted using Boolean operators from international databases and libraries. The results indicated that Ethiopia banned the import of pesticides listed under Annex A (i.e., those to be eliminated), except endosulfan, which was imported at a quantity of 199,767 kg lt-1 from 2011 to 2015. There are 2,435 PCB-containing transformers in Ethiopia, of which 2,242 (92%) are currently in use. These transformers and capacitors contain 1,031,661 kg and 1,255 kg of dielectric fluids, respectively. As for Annex B POPs (i.e., those to be restricted), there are between 928,509 kg and 1,383,095 kg of active and obsolete dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane found in different stores across the country. Ethiopia imported approximately 337,000 kg of products containing perfluorooctane sulfonic acid from 2000 to 2020, with an annual average of 16,850 kg of photographic film, paper, and plates. POPs were also detected in different environmental matrices (soil, waterbodies, sediments, food items, and air) as well as human blood. Despite these findings, regulation and management of POP waste and stockpiles are largely inadequate in Ethiopia. Therefore, it is crucial to improve the monitoring, management, and regulation of POPs in the country. This could be achieved by strengthening the collaboration among different regulatory bodies, harmonizing the fragmented laws on POP management and control, and building institutional capacity.


We present very early, high-cadence photometric observations of the nearby Type Ia SN 2017cbv. The light curve is unique in that it has a blue bump during the first five days of observations in the U, B, and g bands, which is clearly resolved given our photometric cadence of 5.7 hr during that time span. We model the light curve as the combination of early shocking of the supernova ejecta against a nondegenerate companion star plus a standard SN Ia component. Our best-fit model suggests the presence of a subgiant star 56 R☉ from the exploding white dwarf, although this number is highly model-dependent. While this model matches the optical light curve well, it overpredicts the observed flux in the ultraviolet bands. This may indicate that the shock is not a blackbody, perhaps because of line blanketing in the UV. Alternatively, it could point to another physical explanation for the optical blue bump, such as interaction with circumstellar material or an unusual nickel distribution. Early optical spectra of SN 2017cbv show strong carbon (C ii λ6580) absorption up through day −13 with respect to maximum light, suggesting that the progenitor system contains a significant amount of unburned material. These early results on SN 2017cbv illustrate the power of early discovery and intense follow-up of nearby supernovae to resolve standing questions about the progenitor systems and explosion mechanisms of SNe Ia.


Layered metal dichalcogenide materials are a family of semiconductors with a wide range of energy band gaps and properties, and potential to open up new areas of physics and technology applications. However, obtaining high crystal quality thin films over a large area remains a challenge. Here we show that chemical vapor deposition (CVD) can be used to achieve large area electronic grade single crystal Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS2) thin films with the highest mobility reported in CVD grown films so far. Growth temperature and choice of substrate were found to critically impact the quality of film grown, and high temperature growth on (0001) orientated sapphire yielded highly oriented single crystal MoS2 films for the first time. Films grown under optimal conditions were found to be of high structural quality from high-resolution X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman measurements, approaching the quality of reference geological MoS2. Photoluminescence and electrical measurements confirmed the growth of optically active MoS2 with a low background carrier concentration, and high mobility. The CVD method reported here for the growth of high quality MoS2 thin films paves the way towards growth of a variety of layered 2D chalcogenide semiconductors and their heterostructures.


The xylose reductase (XR) gene from thermotolerant methylotrophic yeast isolated in Thailand, Ogataea siamensis N22, was isolated using specific primers designed from the conserved regions of various yeast XR genes. A partial XR gene of O. siamensis N22, was obtained as a 516 bp PCR product and the deduced amino acid sequence showed 74% identity to aldose reductase gene of Candida boidinii and 67% identity to xylose reductase gene of Kluyveromyces lactis and Pichia guilliermondii. The 1-3 kb fragments of digested genomic DNA of O. siamensis N22 was cloned and transformed into Escherichia coli. The recombinant plasmid containing the partial nucleotide sequence of XR gene was obtained using PCR screening. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the partial O. siamensis N22 XR gene revealed 678 bp encoding 226 amino acids which showed 72% identity to aldose reductase from Candida boidinii and 69% identity to xylose reductase from Pichia guilliermondii. This is the first report on xylose reductase gene of O. siamensis N22.


The main definition for meat quality should include factors that affect consumer appreciation of the product. Physical laboratory analyses are necessary to identify factors that affect meat quality and specific equipment is used for this purpose, which is expensive and destructive, and the analyses are usually time consuming. An alternative method to performing several beef analyses is near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS), which permits to reduce costs and to obtain faster, simpler, and nondestructive measurements. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of NIRS to predict shear force [Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF)], marbling, and color (*a = redness; b* = yellowness; and L* = lightness) in meat samples of uncastrated male Nelore cattle, that were approximately 2-yr-old. Samples of longissimus thoracis (n = 644) were collected and spectra were obtained prior to meat quality analysis. Multivariate calibration was performed by partial least squares regression. Several preprocessing techniques were evaluated alone and in combination: raw data, reduction of spectral range, multiplicative scatter correction, and 1st derivative. Accuracies of the calibration models were evaluated using the root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC), root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP), coefficient of determination in the calibration (R2C), and prediction (R2P) groups. Among the different preprocessing techniques, the reduction of spectral range provided the best prediction accuracy for all traits. The NIRS showed a better performance to predict WBSF (RMSEP = 1.42 kg, R2P = 0.40) and b* color (RMSEP = 1.21, R2P = 0.44), while its ability to accurately predict L* (RMSEP = 1.98, R2P = 0.16) and a* (RMSEP = 1.42, R2P = 0.17) was limited. NIRS was unsuitable to predict subjective meat quality traits such as marbling in Nelore cattle.


BACKGROUND/AIM
Chronic hepatitis due to hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections is the most common cause of chronic liver disease. In this study we aimed to find out seroprevalences and associated risk factors of hepatitis B and C in adults in Düzce.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The sample of study was determined with a cluster-type sampling method. The study included 1321 people, consisting of 667 women and 654 men who were 18 years or older. A questionnaire about demographic information and risk factors was applied.

RESULTS
Seroprevalences of HBsAg, anti-HBs, and anti-HCV were 4.8%, 9.4%, and 0.7%, respectively. HBsAg seroprevalences were found to be statistically higher in the dental visit group (8.9% versus 4.0%, P = 0.002) and in people living within the same house with hepatitis B carriers (11.5% versus 4.6%, P = 0.036). Living in Düzce during the 1999 earthquake and staying in prefabricated houses after the earthquake were not risk factors of HBsAg carriage.

CONCLUSION
HBsAg and anti-HCV seroprevalences in Düzce were in parallel with the previous data from Turkey and a low ratio of anti-HBs appeared. Identifying risk groups with large epidemiological screening studies and vaccination of nonimmune people are essential.


To investigate phylogenetic relationships among and within major lineages of Bromus, with focus on Bromus sect. Bromus, we analyzed DNA sequences from two nuclear ribosomal (ITS, ETS) and two plastid (rpl32-trnLUAG, matK) regions. We sampled 103 ingroup accessions representing 26 taxa of B. section Bromus and 15 species of other Bromus sections. Our analyses confirm the monophyly of Bromus s.l. and identify incongruence between nuclear ribosomal and plastid data partitions for relationships within and among major Bromus lineages. Results support classification of B. pumilio and B. gracillimus within B. sect. Boissiera and B. sect. Nevskiella, respectively. These species are sister groups and are closely related to B. densus (B. sect. Mexibromus) in nrDNA trees and Bromus sect. Ceratochloa in plastid trees. Bromus sect. Bromopsis is paraphyletic. In nrDNA trees, species of Bromus sects. Bromopsis, Ceratochloa, Neobromus, and Genea plus B. rechingeri of B. sect. Bromus form a clade, in which B. tomentellus is sister to a B. sect. Genea–B. rechingeri clade. In the plastid trees, by contrast, B. sect. Bromopsis species except B. tomentosus form a clade, and B. tomentosus is sister to a clade comprising B. sect. Bromus and B. sect. Genea species. Affinities of B. gedrosianus, B. pulchellus, and B. rechingeri (members of the B. pectinatus complex), as well as B. oxyodon and B. sewerzowii, are discordant between nrDNA and plastid trees. We infer these species may have obtained their plastomes via chloroplast capture from species of B. sect. Bromus and B. sect. Genea. Within B. sect. Bromus, B. alopecuros subsp. caroli-henrici, a clade comprising B. hordeaceus and B. interruptus, and B. scoparius are successive sister groups to the rest of the section in the nrDNA phylogeny. Most relationships among the remaining species of B. sect. Bromus are unresolved in the nrDNA and plastid trees. Given these results, we infer that most B. sect. Bromus species likely diversified relatively recently. None of the subdivisional taxa proposed for Bromus sect. Bromus over the last century correspond to natural groups identified in our phylogenetic analyses except for a group including B. hordeaceus and B. interruptus.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text Background: Research has revealed group-level differences in maternal blood pressure trajectories across pregnancy. These trajectories are typically constructed using clinical blood pressure data and multivariate statistical methods that are prone to bias and ignore the functional, dynamic process underlying a single blood pressure observation. The aim of this study was to use functional data analysis to explore blood pressure variation across pregnancy, and multivariate methods to examine whether trajectories are related to gestational age at birth. Methods: Clinical blood pressure observations were available from 370 women who participated in a longitudinal pregnancy cohort study conducted in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Functional data analysis was used to smooth blood pressure data and then to conduct a functional principal component analysis to examine predominant modes of variation. Results: Three eigenfunctions explained greater than 95% of the total variance in blood pressure. The first accounted for approximately 80% of the variance and was characterized by a prolonged-decrease trajectory in blood pressure; the second explained 10% of the variance and captured a late-increase trajectory; and the third accounted for approximately 7% of the variance and captured a mid-decrease trajectory. The prolonged-decrease trajectory of blood pressure was associated with older, and late-increase with younger gestational age at birth. Conclusion: Functional data analysis is a useful method to model repeated maternal blood pressure observations and many other time-related cardiovascular processes. Results add to previous research investigating blood pressure trajectories across pregnancy through identification of additional, potentially clinically important modes of variation that are associated with gestational age at birth.


Cowpea is a rich source of protein and carbohydrates in the diets of many people in developing countries. The seed, however, suffers considerable damage during storage through infestation by the cowpea weevil, Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.). Five improved varieties of cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata ) namely Asontem (IT82D-32), Bengpla (IT83S-818), Soronko (TVX2724-01F), Asetenapa (IT81D-1951) and Adom (CR-06-07) released by the Crops Research Institute of the CSIR for cultivation in Ghana were screened for susceptibility to the cowpea beetle, C. maculatus, in storage for a period of 30 days in the laboratory at an ambient temperature of 27.5 ± 0.9oC and relative humidity of 64.6 ± 2%. Each variety was placed in a plastic bag and kept in a freezer at -5oC for 24 hours to eliminate C. maculatus infestations coming from the field. Two hundred grammes of each cowpea variety was placed in a glass container and each infested with a male and female C. maculatus that were reared in the laboratory. The set up was left in the laboratory until 30 days after infestation. The total number of weevils that emerged and the developmental period were recorded. The susceptibility index was determined for each variety based on the total number of F1 adults that emerged and their developmental periods. Susceptibility indices were 17.58 ± 1.16, 16.75 ± 1.81, 15.81 ± 2.08, 14.02 ± 0.62, 12.84 ± 0.53 for Bengpla, Asontem, Soronko, Asetenapa and Adom respectively. Mean developmental period was highest in Adom (26.70 ± 0.49), followed by Asontem (26.30 ± 1.20), Asetenapa, (25.5 ± 0.89), Bengpla (23.90 ± 0.40) and Soronko (23.50 ± 0.00). To reduce post-harvest losses of cowpea, it is recommended that the cultivation of Adom which was the least susceptible amongst the five varieties be encouraged. Journal of the Ghana Science Association Vol. 10 (2) 2008: pp. 85-92


The histology and ultrastructure of venom glands in the scorpion Euscorpius mingrelicus (Kessler, 1874) are described and illustrated in the current study for the first time by employing light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The venom apparatus is composed of a pair of venom glands and a stinger, both situated in the last segment of the metasoma. The venom glands are completely separate but similar. The two glands are segregated within the telson by striated muscle bundles, and their outer surfaces are surrounded by a cuticle. An internal layer constitutes the secretory epithelium. This epithelium is made up of simple columnar cells. The nucleus and organelles involved in cellular synthetic activity are situated basally. In the apical portion, near the gland lumen, there are many secretory granules of different sizes, shapes and electron densities.


TO T H E EDITOR: This letter is in reference to the abstract on the use of cimetidine in the treatment of pruritus in the May, 1979, issue of DICP (p . 295) . We treated a 68-year-old woman for pruritus of unknown etiology with hydroxyzine, cyproheptadine, and urea lotion with no success. She was placed on cimetidine, 300 mg four times daily, and within three days the pruritus had ceased. Upon discontinuance of cimetidine (due to a five-day treatment of melphalan) the pruritus reappeared. Upon resumption of cimetidine, the pruritus disappeared.


In response to the urgent need for an inclusive society, the demand for metrics to evaluate the impact of different types and scales of organizations has grown significantly in recent years. The challenge of how to evaluate the impact coming from social innovation (SI) has emerged as an important question posed by various actors, such as academic researchers, students, project managers, leaders of organizations, and policymakers. To find an answer to this question, this research seeks to contribute to bridging the gap between SI initiatives and the evaluation of their impacts. Despite the interest and popularity of the topic of SI, this gap can be justified due to the lack of tools and frameworks to help organizations approach SI impact assessment. Although indicators have been widely used by researchers in different fields of study, the current literature has failed to develop indicators, frameworks or methodologies to assess the impact of SI initiatives. The research includes an investigation of the state of the art in terms of measuring the impact of SI, based on both scientific literature and practitioners' reports. Based on this analysis, a set of thirty-eight indicators was identified to assess the impact of SI. From the literature consulted, it can be seen that the results highlight the gap in the literature regarding the lack of instruments and frameworks. Regarding the set of thirty-eight indicators identified, if applied as a complement to a measurement tool, the indicators can be used as a first attempt to help organizations address the evaluation and effectiveness of the SI impact on their actions. The proposal may contribute to bring to light new evidence in the SI domain for policymakers, researchers and governments, then contributing to a better understanding of the impact of SI.


The availability of large-scale authentic face databases has been crucial to the significant advances made in face recognition research over the past decade. However, legal and ethical concerns led to the recent retraction of many of these databases by their creators, raising questions about the continuity of future face recognition research without one of its key resources. Synthetic datasets have emerged as a promising alternative to privacy-sensitive authentic data for face recognition development. However, recent synthetic datasets that are used to train face recognition models suffer either from limitations in intra-class diversity or cross-class (identity) discrimination, leading to less optimal accuracies, far away from the accuracies achieved by models trained on authentic data. This paper targets this issue by proposing IDiff-Face, a novel approach based on conditional latent diffusion models for synthetic identity generation with realistic identity variations for face recognition training. Through extensive evaluations, our proposed synthetic-based face recognition approach pushed the limits of state-of-the-art performances, achieving, for example, 98.00% accuracy on the Labeled Faces in the Wild (LFW) benchmark, far ahead from the recent synthetic-based face recognition solutions with 95.40% and bridging the gap to authentic-based face recognition with 99.82% accuracy.


Lectin-sugar recognition systems are of interest in the pharmaceutical field, especially for the development of drug carriers, tailored for selective delivery. This paper deals with the anhydrous and aqueous self-organization properties of a synthetic cholesteryl oligoethyleneglycol glycoside with the aim of their incorporation in liposomes. Successive phases (lamellar, R3m, Im3m, micelles) have been described depending on water content and temperature. As a result of the presence of sugar residues and their hydration ability, this glycolipid shows a large range of packing parameter with increasing water content. However, because of oligoethyleneglycol spacer, a slight dehydration has been observed with increasing temperature from 20 to 60 degrees C.


The cholesterol content of the high-density plasma lipoproteins (d over 1.1 g.cm-3) of guinea-pigs with experimental vitamin C deficiency, followed by realimentation with suboptimal (1 mg/animal per day) or optimal (10 mg/animal per day) doses of L-ascorbic acid for 6-9 weeks in the continued presence of an elevated alimentary cholesterol intake (0.5 g/kg diet), did not exceed 5% of the total plasma cholesterol concentration and did not alter significantly with changes in the degree of vitamin C saturation of the organism. The maximum total body tissue cholesterol concentrations were found in C-deficient guinea-pigs (plasma, adrenals) and in the group with partial vitamin C deficiency (liver, brain); the lowest values were found in the group whose organism was fully saturated with vitamin C. Under conditions of a raised cholesterol intake, ascorbic acid stimulated its elimination from the organism, but did not affect the proportion of plasma cholesterol bound in high-density lipoproteins.


Optimization of recombinant protein production using lactic acid bacteria (LAB) remains an important obstacle on the road to realizing LAB as oral vaccine delivery vehicles. Despite this, there have been few published investigations to explore the higher limits of LAB recombinant protein expression in fed‐batch fermentations. In this study, results from response surface experiments suggested an optimal set of conditions for expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP), a model recombinant protein, in bench‐scale, fed‐batch Lactococcus lactis IL1403 fermentations. The 48 4‐L fed‐batch fermentations in this set of experiments, along with preliminary studies, investigated the effects of pH, temperature, hemin concentration, concentration of the nisin inducer per cell, and time of induction. Cell densities in this data set ranged from 2.9 to 7.4 g/L and maximum GFP expression per cell ranged from 0.1 to 4.4 relative fluorescence units (RFU)/g. The optimal 4‐L, fed‐batch fermentation process found here yields growth and protein expression values that dramatically improve upon results from traditional test tube and flask processes. Relative to the traditional process, the experimental optimum conditions yield 4.9 times the cell density, 1.6 times the protein per cell mass, and 8 times the total protein concentration. Unexpectedly, experiments also revealed that the compound hemin, known previously to improve growth and survival of Lactococcus lactis (L. lactis), negatively impacted recombinant protein production when added in concentrations from 5 to 20 µg/mL with this strain. The improvement in protein expression over traditional processes demonstrated here is an important step toward commercial development of LAB for oral delivery of recombinant vaccines and therapeutic proteins. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007;96:1127–1138. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


: (1) Background: age-related changes in behaviour and health may be thought of as "normal" ageing; however, they can reflect under-diagnosed, potentially treatable, conditions. This paper describes the prevalence of age-related behavioural changes and disease in two UK cat populations at separate time-points. (2) Methods: owners of cats aged ≥ 11 years completed questionnaires in 1995 (cohort 1: n = 1236), and from 2010–2015 (cohort 2: n = 883). (3) Results: the most important behavioural changes in these cats were increased a ff ection towards their owners (reported by 51.9% in 1995; 35.8% in 2010–2015), increased vocalisation (63.5%; 58.9%, respectively), particularly at night (32%; 43.6%), and house-soiling (29.3%; 55.8%). Most (79.4%; 81%) of the cats had visited a veterinary surgeon since becoming 11 years old. The main reasons, aside from vaccinations, were dental disease, renal disease and lower urinary tract disorders in 1995, and dental disease, renal disease and hyperthyroidism in 2010–2015. All major diagnoses were reported significantly more frequently in 2010–2015 than in 1995; behavioural changes were variably associated with these diseases. (4) Conclusion: elderly cats display age-related behavioural changes and develop diseases that may be under-diagnosed. Veterinarians need to ask owners about these behavioural changes, as they may signify manageable conditions rather than reflect "normal" ageing.


OBJECTIVE
This study examined predictors of psychiatric rehospitalization among elderly persons.

METHODS
Readmission within six months of an index hospitalization was modeled by using Medicare data on all hospitalizations with a primary psychiatric diagnosis in the first half of 2002 (N=41,839). Data were linked with state and community-level information from the U.S. census.

RESULTS
Twenty-two percent of beneficiaries were rehospitalized for psychiatric reasons within six months of discharge. After the analyses adjusted for sociodemographic factors, readmission was most likely among persons with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia (hazard ratio [HR]=2.63), followed by bipolar disorder (HR=2.51), depression (HR=1.75), and substance abuse (HR=1.38) (reference group was "other" psychiatric conditions). A baseline hospital stay of five or more days for an affective disorder was associated with a reduced readmission hazard (HR=.68, relative to shorter stays), yet the opposite was true for a nonaffective disorder (HR=1.26). For persons with nonaffective disorders, an elevated hazard of readmission was associated with comorbid alcohol dependence (HR=1.32), panic disorder (HR=1.76), borderline personality disorder (HR=2.33), and drug dependence (HR=1.17). However, for persons with affective disorders, having a personality disorder other than borderline personality disorder or dependent personality disorder (HR=1.27) and having an "other" anxiety disorder (HR=1.15) were significantly associated with an increased risk of rehospitalization. Obsessive-compulsive disorder increased the readmission hazard in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Readmission risk factors may differ for affective disorders and nonaffective disorders. Very short hospitalizations were associated with increased risk of rehospitalization among persons with an affective disorder, which underscores the need for adequate stabilization of this group of patients during hospitalization. Results also highlight the specific types of comorbidities associated most strongly with rehospitalization risk.


This paper investigates codimension-two bifurcations that involve grazing–sliding and fold scenarios. An analytical unfolding of this novel codimension-two bifurcation is presented. Using the discontinuity mapping techniques it is shown that the fold curve is one-sided and cubically tangent to the grazing curve locally to the codimension-two point. This theory is then applied to explain the dynamics of a dry-friction oscillator where such a codimension-two point has been found. In particular, the presence and the character of essential bifurcation curves that merge at the codimension-two point are confirmed. This allows us to study the dynamics away from the codimension-two point using a piecewise affine approximation of the normal form for grazing–sliding bifurcations and explain the dynamics observed in the friction system.


Summary Background Previous studies have shown that administration of ghrelin exhibits protective and therapeutic effects in the gut. The aim of the present investigation was to examine the influence of ghrelin administration on the course of cysteamine-induced duodenal ulcers, as well as effects on mucosal production of oxygen free radicals and duodenal antioxidant defense. Material/Methods Duodenal ulcers were induced in male Wistar rats by cysteamine administered intragastrically at the dose of 200 mg/kg in 1 ml of saline, 3 times at 4-h intervals. Starting 24 h after the first dose of cysteamine, rats were treated intraperitoneally twice a day with saline or ghrelin given at the dose of 4, 8 or 16 nmol/kg/dose. Seven days after administration of the first dose of cysteamine, the study was terminated. Results Induction of ulcers by cysteamine was accompanied by a reduction in duodenal blood flow, mucosal DNA synthesis and mucosal activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD); whereas mucosal concentration of interleukin-1β and malonyldialdehyde (MDA – an index of lipid peroxidation) were increased. Treatment with ghrelin increased healing rate of duodenal ulcers and enhanced duodenal blood flow, mucosal DNA synthesis and mucosal activity of SOD, and reduced mucosal concentration of interleukin-1β and MDA. Conclusions Treatment with ghrelin increases the healing rate of duodenal ulcers and this effect is related, at least in part, to improvement of duodenal mucosal blood flow, mucosal cell proliferation and antioxidant defense, as well as being related to reduction in mucosal oxidative stress and inflammatory response.


To be perfectly clear, the American Association of Repiratory Care has never submitted legislation to allow respiratory therapists (RTs) to practice independently and bill Medicare directly for their services, nor do we intend to. In fact, HR 2619, the Medicare Respiratory Th erapist Access Act, 5 does the exact opposite because it would require the physician to provide direct supervision of the RT and for the physician to bill and be paid directly by Medicare for the RT's services.


Abstract The Dutch colonial policy in Bali was a rather similar tothose of the colonial policies in the rest of the Indonesianarchipelago, namely from indirect and informal rule to directand formal rule. These were due to the limited Dutch colonialman powers in their colonized regions and also due to thefact that there were many traditional cooperations in order tobe able to implement their powers, particularly in the 18th to19th centuries. Indeed, the Dutch colonial policy implementedthe indirect and informal power as far as possible and thedirect and formal policy if it was necessary in the contextof "Pax Neerlandica". However, due to the rise of a certainpolitical development not only in Europe, but also in theNetherlands Indies, this policy could not be maintained anylonger. Additionally, the competing situation amongst theEuropean colonial powers was considered to be a threatagainst the Dutch colonial interests in the Netherlands Indies.This was a significant factor behind the reason why the Dutchcolonial rulers expanded to all of the indigenous rulers in theNetherlands Indies, including the Bali traditional rulers in thebeginning of the twentieth century. In Bali, this was called thePuputan, meaning the "end", in which the traditional Bali rulers were finally defeated. In relation to this, this paper isattempted to show the different perspectives on the idea of Puputan between the local and Dutch. Furthermore, this isexpected to contribute a better understanding on how theBalinese rulers and their people defended their souvereignityfrom the foreign powers.


Firefly oxyluciferin presents a pH-sensitive fluorescence in aqueous solutions. Its fluorescence spectra are composed of two green peaks at different pH values, despite the enolate anion being the only emitter. A computational approach was used to further elucidate the photoprotolytic cycle of oxyluciferin and investigate its pH sensitivity. It was found that oxyluciferin forms π-π stacking complexes both in the ground and excited states, at basic and acidic/neutral pH. However, at different pH values, these complexes adopt a different conformation, which explains the lower energy of the emission at acidic/neutral pH, in comparison with the emission at basic pH.


The 62Ni( alpha ,n gamma )65Zn reaction has been studied at bombarding energies from 8.0 to 14.0 MeV. Angular distributions, linear polarisations and yield curves have been measured for transitions arising from odd-parity states with excitation energies up to about 2 MeV. Gamma-gamma coincidence measurements have been carried out. The Doppler-shift attenuation method has been applied to determine the lifetimes of the levels, and branching ratios, mixing ratios and transition rates have been deduced for the various gamma rays. Two transitions, not previously reported, have been found. Angular momenta and parities have been determined for all the states discussed. The predictions of the phonon-quasiparticle-coupling and shell models have been compared with the experimental results and found to be in reasonably good agreement.


The elementary requirements for energy transfer in a photosynthetic antenna are discussed. Energy migration between chlorophyll molecules in the PSI antenna reaction centre complex was modelled using a geometry based on the recent X–ray structure. The migration is trap–limited and an intrinsic electron transfer rate constant of 1.3 ps−1 was obtained by modifying the model to account for experimental results obtained from antennae of different sizes. Exciton coupling between pairs of Chlorophyll molecules was calculated and it is found that to prevent self–quenching their interplanar separation must be greater than or equal to 5 Å. In the PSI reaction centre, exciton coupling between adjacent chlorophylls was found to be around 300 cm−1 with no particularly large value between the special pair being necessary to describe the experimentally observed transient spectra of P+700−P700 and A0−−A0. Electrochromic interaction is particularly important in reproducing the A0−−A0 spectrum.


We have developed a surface acoustic wave (SAW) multisensor array with five acoustic sensing elements configured as two-port resonator 433.92 MHz oscillators and a reference SAW element to recognize different individual components and determine their concentrations in a binary mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as methanol and acetone, in the ranges 15-130 and 50-250 ppm, respectively. The SAW sensors have been specifically coated by various sensing thin films such as arachidic acid, carbowax, behenic acid, triethanolamine or acrylated polysiloxane, operating at room temperature. By using the relative frequency change as the output signal of the SAW multisensor array with an artificial neural network (ANN), a recognition system has been realized for the identification and quantification of tested VOCs. The features of the SAW multisensor array exposed to a binary component organic mixture of methanol and acetone have been extracted from the output signals of five SAW sensors by pattern recognition (PARC) techniques, such as principal component analysis (PCA). An organic vapour pattern classifier has been implemented by using a multilayer neural network with a backpropagation learning algorithm. The normalized responses of a reduced set of SAW sensors or selected principal components scores have been used as inputs for a feed-forward multilayer perceptron (MLP), resulting in a 70% correct recognition rate with the normalized responses of the four SAW sensors and in an enhanced 80% correct recognition rate with the first two principal components of the original data consisting of the normalized responses of the four SAW sensors. The prediction of the individual vapour concentrations has been tackled with PCA for features extraction and by using the first two principal components scores as inputs to a feed-forward MLP consisting of a gating network, which decides which of three specific subnets should be used to determine the output concentration: the first subnet for methanol only, the second subnet for acetone only and the third subnet for methanol and acetone in the binary mixture. Good 0.941 and 0.932 correlation coefficients for the predicted versus real concentrations of methanol and acetone, respectively, as individual components in a binary mixture have been obtained. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed binary organic vapour mixture classifier is effective in the identification of the tested VOCs of methanol and acetone. Also, the combination of PCA and ANN techniques provides a rapid and accurate quantification method for the individual components' concentration in the tested binary mixture of methanol and acetone.


The effect of olive mill wastewater (OMW) on growth of tulip plants infected by common diseases as well as on their new bulbs production is analyzed in this work. Filtered and sterilized OMW was tested as growth inhibitor of Botrytis tulipae, Fusarium oxysporum, Aspergillus niger and Penicillium spp. mycelium. The effect of filtered OMW on uninfected tulip bulbs was also tested as well as on the growth of bulbs infected with the fungus B. tulipae and A. niger in vivo. The mycelium length, severity of scab-like lesions, plant height (PH), fresh mass (FM) and dry mass (DM) of plants and production of new bulbs were recorded. Only the filtered OMW inhibited the in vitro mycelium growth of all tested fungi. However filtered OMW caused infections when it sprayed on uninfected bulbs, malformations on 30% of the plants grown from these bulbs and decrease PH, FM and DM as well as new bulbs production at 75%, 72.4%, 79.1% and 50% respectively. The treatment of B. tulipae infected bulbs with filtered OMW reduced further the PH, FM, DM and the production of new bulbs in 92.1%, 81.4%, 78.7% and 97% respectively. In contrast the treatment of infected bulbs by B. tulipae + A. niger with filtered OMW did not affect PH, FM and the number of new bulbs produced and significantly improved plants DM and the mass of new bulbs.


Abstract Objectives Opioids are often used in treatment of severe pain, although many patients experience gastrointestinal side-effects like constipation. The aim of the current study was to investigate changes in colonic volume, as the result of both colonic motility and fluid transport, in healthy volunteers during opioid treatment with tapentadol as compared with oxycodone and placebo. Methods In a randomized, double-blind, cross-over study, 21 healthy male volunteers were administered equianalgesic dosages of oral tapentadol (50 mg bid), oxycodone (10 mg bid) or corresponding placebo for 14 days. Segmental colonic volumes were quantified using T2-weighted magnetic resonance images, and gastrointestinal side-effects were assessed with questionnaires. Results Total colonic volume increase during treatment was higher during tapentadol and oxycodone treatment (median 48 and 58 mL) compared to placebo (median −14 mL, both p≤0.003). Tapentadol (and placebo) treatment resulted in more bowel movements (both p<0.05) and softer stool consistency as compared with oxycodone (both p<0.01). Only oxycodone treatment was associated with increased constipation, straining during defecation, and tiredness (all p≤0.01). The colonic volume increase during treatment was directly associated with softer stools during tapentadol treatment (p=0.019). Conclusions Tapentadol treatment increased colonic volume without leading to harder stools, likely as the opioid sparing effects result in less water absorption from the gut lumen. Oxycodone treatment also increased colonic volume, but with a simultaneous increase in stool dryness and gastrointestinal and central nervous system side-effects. The results confirm that tapentadol treatment may be advantageous to oxycodone regarding tolerability to pain treatment.


The prediction of Software quality during development life cycle of software project helps the development organization to make efficient use of available resource to produce the product of highest quality. "Whether a module is faulty or not" approach can be used to predict quality of a software module. There are numbers of software quality prediction models described in the literature based upon genetic algorithms, artificial neural network and other data mining algorithms. One of the promising aspects for quality prediction is based on clustering techniques. Most quality prediction models that are based on clustering techniques make use of K-means, Mixture-of-Guassians, Self-Organizing Map, Neural Gas and fuzzy K-means algorithm for prediction. In all these techniques a predefined structure is required that is number of neurons or clusters should be known before we start clustering process. But in case of Growing Neural Gas there is no need of predetermining the quantity of neurons and the topology of the structure to be used and it starts with a minimal neurons structure that is incremented during training until it reaches a maximum number user defined limits for clusters. Hence, in this work we have used Growing Neural Gas as underlying cluster algorithm that produces the initial set of labeled cluster from training data set and thereafter this set of clusters is used to predict the quality of test data set of software modules. The best testing results shows 80% accuracy in evaluating the quality of software modules. Hence, the proposed technique can be used by programmers in evaluating the quality of modules during software development. Keywords—Growing Neural Gas, data clustering, fault prediction.


Instruments which collect viable airborne particles by inertial impact may be divided into two classes. Class I embraces instruments which project the viable particles straight onto the surface of a nutrient agar gel. Here they grow during incubation into one colony per viable particle, regardless of the size of the particle or the number of viable cells it contained. In class I are the slitsampler, cascaded slit-sampler, sieve sampler, and the cascaded sieve or Andersen sampler, the features of all of which are conveniently summarized by Decker et al. (1). There is also the design of Lidwell (4). Class II samplers, with which we are concerned in this paper, project the particles into liquid, where they are broken up into their individual component cells. The liquid is serially diluted, plated out, and incubated to give a colony count and an estimation of the total viable cells in the original sample. Typical of class II is the widely used Porton or capillary impinger (6, 14) in which a jet of air, accelerated to sonic velocity by suction in excess of 15 inches (38.1 cm) of mercury depression, impinges into liquid where small particles are collected with high efficiency. The sonic velocity jet serves also to limit the flow to a constant value. The impinger is simple, cheap, convenient, easily sterilized, and, by the addition of a pre. impinger (5, 7), becomes an approximate simulant of the upper and lower parts of the respiratory system. Class II devices have the following features not possessed by those of class I. (i) They can cope with any high concentration of aerosol by virtue of the serial dilution process, whereas class I devices are easily overloaded. (ii) They permit counts of several different organisms from


We measured in-situ pick-up rates of sediment and particulate components of nitrogen (P-N) and phosphorus (P-P) in an urban river and a lake with a new device we developed. Field sites for this study were Lake Teganuma and its influent river, Oohori River. The measured results show that the temporal variations of pick-up rates of P-N, P-P and sediment in Oohori River were appreciably found and mainly caused by hydrologic conditions and sedimentation environments. Pick-up rates of P-N, P-P and sediment in the river and lake increase with flow velocity. Note that the pick-up rates of P-N and P-P are appropriately modeled with power functions of bottom shear stress similar to that of sediment.


We study integer sequences and transforms that operate on them. Many of these transforms
are defined by triangular arrays of integers, with a particular focus on Riordan arrays and
Pascal-like arrays. In order to explore the structure of these transforms, use is made of
methods coming from the theory of continued fractions, hypergeometric functions, orthogonal
polynomials and most importantly from the Riordan groups of matrices. We apply the
Riordan array concept to the study of sequences related to graphs and codes. In particular,
we study sequences derived from the cyclic groups that provide an infinite family of colourings
of Pascal's triangle. We also relate a particular family of Riordan arrays to the weight
distribution of MDS error-correcting codes. The Krawtchouk polynomials are shown to
give rise to many different families of Riordan arrays. We define and investigate Catalannumber-
based transformations of integer sequences, as well as transformations based on
Laguerre and related polynomials. We develop two new constructions of families of Pascallike
number triangles, based respectively on the ordinary Riordan group and the exponential
Riordan group, and we study the properties of sequences arising from these constructions,
most notably the central coefficients and the generalized Catalan numbers associated to
the triangles. New exponential-factorial constructions are developed to further extend this
theory. The study of orthogonal polynomials such as those of Chebyshev, Hermite, Laguerre
and Charlier are placed in the context of Riordan arrays, and new results are found. We
also extend results on the Stirling numbers of the first and second kind, using exponential
Riordan arrays. We study the integer Hankel transform of many families of integer sequences,
exploring links to related orthogonal polynomials and their coefficient arrays. Two particular
cases of power series inversion are studied extensively, leading to results concerning the
Narayana triangles.


The paper presents the results of the physicochemical parameters of the springs of Andros which were studied to evaluate the chemistry of the major ions and solute acquisition processes, which control the chemical composition and the suitability of the quality of water for drinking use. Forty two samples were taken for physicochemical analysis almost at the end of the summer period, in September 2014. The Piper plot was used for the hydrogeochemical classification of groundwater which also indicated that the majority of groundwater samples belong to the Ca-NaHCO3-Cl type. According to the Durov plot the majority of samples, can be positioned in field 2 in which a process of cation exchange is in progress. Also, the HCO3 / (HCO3 +SO4) ratio indicates a weathering process from carbonic acid. In general, the majority of samples can be characterized as potable.


The miscibility of poly (ethylene terephthalate (ET) -- caprolactone (CL) (TCL)/poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) blends were examined by Differential Scanning Calorimeter(DSC). In these blends, a miscibility limit specified by ET content in the TCL was found tobe about 70 (wt%). In the blends of TCL/TCL with different ET contents, a miscibilitywindow defined by ET content was also found to range from 82 to 58 (wt%). Based on theexperimental miscibility limits and the mean field binary interaction model, the interactionparameter between monomeric units of ET and CL was obtained.


The aim of this paper is to describe a development process for bookAI, a system that takes printed books into the Internet of Things by applying smartphones, different identification methods, mobile internet, and cloud computing. BookAI connects the books into the Internet with NFC, RFID or barcode identifiers that are read by smart phones. The challenge in the book identification is recognizing the object from various coding sets and connect it to the existing metadata and content: In bookstores the EAN-13 barcodes are used, while in libraries there are several RFID standards as well as several barcode formats in use. Metadata and available digital content, related to the physical object, are read from different sources. The received data is not in a structured format, which means there are incomplete records and missing data that makes challenges for further computing. BookAI applies semantic computing to build a network of detailed relations between the books and personal reading interests. The personal reading interests are recorded as self-evaluations of the users, so bookAI requires several evaluations before it can make personalized suggestions. After the system has learned the user preferences, it enables searching interesting books from the libraries, bookstores or even from private book shelfs by optimizing the personal content and context map taught by the user. One of the challenges, in designing and enduser product, is user interface. The first version of the bookAI was evaluated complex to use, so the second revision is built based on end-user feedback. Computationally built semantics and ontologies save remarkably time when modeling big domains or big data like library collections. The future research is focusing in building methods to collect more complete datasets about books as well as designing the overall user experience of the system. Keywords; smartphones; mobile internet; books; libraries; cloud computing


Containing growth in health care expenditures is considered to be essential to improving both the long-term fiscal outlook of the federal government and the future affordability of health care in the US. As health care expenditures have increased, so too have concerns about the quality of health care. Better information on the clinical effectiveness of alternative treatments and other interventions is needed to improve the quality of care and restrain growth in expenditures. This article explains the key role played by the federal government in defining the context and process of comparative effectiveness research as well as its funding. Subsequently, the article explores the mission, priorities, and research agenda of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, which is an independent, nonprofit corporation established in 2010 by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.


Access to health care services for the poor and elderly have improved dramatically over the last 15 years, largely as a result of Medicare, Medicaid, and other Federal initiatives. The poor now consume roughly the same volume of health services as the nonpoor. Yet there are still substantial access barriers for many of the chronically ill, minorities, and residents of inner cities and rural areas. Of broader concern, the improvements in access are now threatened by the response to rising health care costs. Those cost increases are themselves partly—but only partly—attributable to Medicare and Medicaid themselves. True cost containment, as opposed to program cost containment, can restrain cost increases without damaging access, but is politically more difficult to accomplish than measures to reduce access.


We report control of droplet-deposit uniformity of long silver nanowires suspended in solutions by microscopic influence of the liquid contact line. Substrates with microfabricated line patterns with a pitch far smaller than mean wire length lead to deposit thickness uniformity compared to unpatterned substrates. For high boiling-point solvents, two significant effects were observed: The substrate patterns suppressed coffee ring staining, and the wire deposits exhibited a common orientation lying perpendicular over top the lines. The latter result is completely distinct from previously reported substrate groove channeling effects. This work shows that microscopic influence of the droplet contact line geometry including the contact angle by altered substrate wetting allows significant and advantageous influence of deposition patterns of wire-like solutes as the drop dries.


An aqueous extract of polyphenols was prepared from China green tea under optimised conditions and then freeze-dried (green tea polyphenols extract, GTPE). This extract that contained 28% of total polyphenols had an antioxidant activity above 90% in solution when measured by the N,N,-diethyl-p-phenylenediamine (DPD) method. The GTPE was encapsulated either in the sodium-caseinate (Na-caseinate) or the calcium-caseinate (Ca-caseinate) beads in order to protect its antioxidant activity. The beads containing GTPE were stored at 21 °C and 44% relative humidity in darkness for 42 days. The antioxidant activity of the encapsulated GTPE was measured during storage using the DPD method. The antioxidant activity of the unencapsulated GTPE and the beads without GTPE was measured as controls under the same environmental conditions. Antioxidant activity of all beads was measured after dissolution in filtered and deionised water (80 °C) at pH 2.4 ± 0.1, before and after removing the hydrolysate caseinates that formed during beads' dissolution. The results showed that the antioxidant properties of unencapsulated tea polyphenols (GTPE) and of both the caseinate beads with GTPE were maintained almost stable over 42 days. No significant difference (P > 0.05) was observed between the antioxidant properties of the Na- or Ca-caseinate beads and unencapsulated GTPE. On the other hand, the presence of GTPE either in the Na- or in the Ca-caseinate beads did not change significantly (P > 0.05) the antioxidant properties of the protein beads. However, the antioxidant activities of the Na- or Ca-caseinate beads containing GTPE were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher than those of the same beads without GTPE after removing the caseinate hydrolysates present in the bead solutions (82% and 78% vs. 10% and 20%, respectively). These results showed that antioxidant activities of the beads without GTPE in solutions were principally caused by caseinate hydrolysates. Among the beads, Ca-caseinate beads with GTPE showed the best antioxidant properties. Antioxidant properties of caseinate beads were compared with those of Trolox. The results showed that a concentration of 5 mg*mL−1 of Na- or Ca-caseinate beads without GTPE had antioxidant activity equivalents to 192 and 205 μmol*L−1 of Trolox equivalent per mL of Trolox.


Abstract Canis lupus (Gray Wolf or Wolf) have killed subordinate canids that scavenge on Wolf-killed prey, but little evidence is available for antagonistic behavior of Wolves toward other canids at interspecific den sites. We investigated clusters of locations from a global positioning system (GPS)collared male Wolf, translocated to Isle Royale National Park, MI, on 23 March 2019. On 17 May 2019, we investigated a GPS cluster of the Wolf and observed 3 Vulpes vulpes (Red Fox) kit carcasses at an excavated Red Fox den site. We report details from this event and evidence for interspecific aggression and implications for Wolf–Red Fox interactions. To our knowledge, this represents the first reported killing of Red Fox kits at their den by a Wolf. Limited reports of interspecific killings by Wolves of Red Foxes suggests this interaction was opportunistic and rare.


The Royal Air Force (RAF) came into being during World War I as the world's first independent air force on the 1 April 1918, amalgamating elements of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), itself established in 1912 and the Royal Naval Air Service which had formally separated from the Admiralty's administered Air Wing of the RFC in 1915. The RAF therefore celebrates its 100th anniversary in the same year that the Royal College of Physicians of London celebrates its 500th. This article will cover the contribution that military aviation has made to medicine since 1913 with the emphasis of three examples focusing on delivering care by air, providing care in the air and in developing systems for supporting aircrew or patients at the extremes of physiological stress.


Multimodal medical information processing is currently the epicenter of intense interdisciplinary research, as proper data fusion may lead to more accurate diagnoses. Moreover, multimodality may disambiguate cases of co-morbidity. This paper presents a framework for retrieving, analyzing, and storing medical information as a multilayer graph, an abstract format suitable for data fusion and further processing. At the same time, this paper addresses the need for reliable medical information through co-author graph ranking. A use case pertaining to frailty based on Python and Neo4j serves as an illustration of the proposed framework.


The need to access information technology in modern day occupations has encouraged the use of laptops on a daily basis.  It is assumed that using a laptop in a static position over a prolonged period of time may cause postural risk as well as musculoskeletal discomfort.  A previous study identified 3 most preferred positions assumed during laptop use.  This study investigates the postural risk involved during laptop use by students while assuming these 3 preferred positions.  It also investigates the musculoskeletal discomfort experienced by students during laptop use as well as the methods students use to alleviate this discomfort.  A quantitative, cross-sectional study design was used amongst a sample of 72 third year academic students from the University of the Free State. Data was collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire and the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment tool (RULA).  For all 3 positions, 69.1% of participants scored in the postural risk category 3-4, indicating a low postural risk.  Most (62.5%, n=45) participants experienced musculoskeletal discomfort with regard to pain or numbness, stiffness and spasms with 95% CI for prevalence [ 51.0% ; 72.8%].  Stiffness in the neck was experienced by 47.2% (n=34) participants and spasms in the neck experienced by 44.4% (n=32).  Tendencies and statistical significant differences are indicated between genders for adaptations made during laptop use.  A recommendation for further studies could be to investigate the postural risk involved while the students assume their most preferred posture within the 3 positions. KEYWORDS :  laptop, university students, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), postural risk, musculoskeletal discomforts


The transformer manufacturing cost minimisation (TMCM), also known as transformer design optimisation, is a complex constrained mixed-integer non-linear programming problem with discontinuous objective function. This paper proposes an innovative method combining genetic algorithm (GA) and finite element method (FEM) for the solution of TMCM problem. The main contributions of the proposed method are: (a) introduction of an innovative recursive GA with a novel external elitism strategy associated with variable crossover and mutation rates resulting in an improved GA, (b) adoption of two particular finite element models of increased accuracy and high computational speed for the validation of the optimal design by computing the no-load loss and impedance and (c) combination of the innovative recursive GA with the two particular finite element models resulting in a proposed GA-FEM model that finds the global optimum, as concluded after several tests on actual transformer designs, while other existing methods provided suboptimal solutions that are 3.1-5.8% more expensive than the optimal solution.


New experiments have been performed on a high-K basalt (PST-9) from Stromboli volcano, Italy, to constrain the physical conditions of golden pumice magmas at their storage level and discuss their petrogenesis. Fluid-present, H2O- and CO2-bearing, near-liquidus experiments were performed at 11508C between 100 and 400MPa and under oxidizing conditions. Glasses were analyzed by Fourier transform IR spectroscopy and their H2O and CO2 concentrations compared with those in glass inclusions.Most glass inclusions cluster near the 200MPa isobar, suggesting entrapment at a depth of ~8 km. Golden pumice magmas have viscosities of 7.9 Pa s and densities of 2.48-2.57 g/cm3. Compositions of experimental fluids coexisting with melts along the liquidus have been estimated by mass balance. They range from CO2-rich (XH2O~0.2) at 400MPa to H2O-rich (XH2O~0.8) at 100MPa.The free fluid phase present at the reservoir level has an XH2O of ~0.6, consistent with equilibration with a near-liquidus golden pumice magma below 300MPa. Clinopyroxene is the liquidus phase in all highpressure experiments, either fluid-absent (H2O) or fluid-present (H2O-CO2). In contrast, at 0.1MPa, cpx and ol appear together on the liquidus and olivines are more Fo-rich (up to 89.1) than those crystallizing at high pressures (up to 87.3).The composition of cotectic liquids multiply saturated in cpx and ol has been experimentally determined. Most pumices and a majority of melt inclusions have compositions of cotectic melts. In contrast, PST-9 plots in the cpx field and is representative of less evolved ankaramitic magmas parental to golden pumices. Melt inclusions trapped in Fo 487 olivines form a group of ultra-calcic compositions plotting in the cpx field, interpreted as boundary layer melts locally generated by cpx dissolution in the deep reservoir. Ankaramitic melts in the Stromboli feeding system are proposed to derive from primitive mantle melts by combined crystallization, mixing, wall-rock interaction and assimilation.


Background : Type II diabetes and obesity are important risk factors for post-menopausal luminal A (LA) and triple negative (TN) pre-menopausal breast cancers, particularly in African American (AA) and Hispanic women. Breast cancer patients with these chronic metabolic diseases also have a worse prognosis, independent of other factors. We have published that metformin inhibits cell growth (S phase arrest) and induces apoptosis, only in TN cell lines in vivo and in vitro. It is less active, growth inhibitory (G1 arrest) and does not induce apoptosis in other breast cancer cell subtypes (Cell Cycle, 2009). Methods : We investigated the effects of glucose as a mitogen at physiologic (5mM), metabolic syndrome (7mM) or diabetic levels (10mM), with or without insulin (100 ng/ml) or leptin (100 ng/ml) using cell lines representing all molecular subtypes of breast cancer. Metformin was then used in combination with the above, to determine whether it would block the mitogenic or signaling effects of supraphysiological glucose, insulin or leptin. Results : The LA (MCF-7) and 2 of 5 TN cell lines (derived from AA patients; HCC 1806 and MDA 468) showed the most cell growth in response to glucose >5mM (75% for MCF-7, 30-50% for AA TN lines). Three TN cell lines from Caucasians (MDA231, HCC1937, BT20), the HER2 (SKBR3) and luminal B (BT-474) cells showed less growth induction with glucose >5mM. In TN lines only, glucose associated mitogenesis was associated with increased EGFR, pEGFR, IGF1R, pIGF1R, AKT and pAKT and decreases in AMPK, pAMPK, p38, IRS2, and the cyclins D1, E and A in a dose dependent manner. Metformin abrogated glucose induced cell growth and the aforementioned protein expression/phosphorylation changes involving EGFR, IGF1R, and AKT, increased AMPK and pAMPK and induced a profound reduction in Cyclin D1 across all glucose concentrations in TN cell lines from AA women. It reduced but did not eliminate glucose associated mitogenesis in the TN cell lines from Caucasian patients. Metformin had a more variable effect on cell lines of other molecular subtypes grown under high glucose conditions. The 5 TN breast cancer cell lines were uniformly resistant to both leptin and insulin associated mitogenesis, across a wide range of glucose concentrations. In contrast, both leptin and insulin significantly promoted LA breast cancer cell growth. These effects were resistant to metformin treatment. Leptin and insulin had the least growth promoting effects on HER2 breast cancer cell lines, whereas they induced modest growth induction in LB cell lines. Conclusions: All TN cell lines showed significant mitogenesis in response to glucose >5mM, whereas they were uniformly resistant to both leptin and insulin. The glucose associated mitogenesis was more pronounced in lines derived from AA patients, as were the anti-mitgenic effects of metformin. LA cells showed marked growth induction by glucose, leptin and insulin, whereas HER2 cell lines showed general resistance to all of these factors. These data suggest that metabolic and hormonal shifts with obesity and diabetes, as well as metformin response vary by the molecular subtype of breast cancer cells and ethnicity. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 5154.


Objectives Our aim of this study was to quantify the physical demands of elite rugby union players by each position as a step towards designing position-specific training programme using a Global Positioning System/accelerometer system. Methods This study was performed as a retrospective observational study. Data were obtained from 45 official matches. The sample size used for the analysis was 298. The per-match total distances, accelerations and impacts were calculated and statistically compared for the forwards and backs and for individual positions. Results Total distances for the forwards and backs were 5731.1±507.8 and 6392.1±646.8 m, respectively. The high-velocity running distances (>18.0 km/hour) covered by the forwards and backs were 317.4±136.9 and 715.0±242.9 m, respectively. The number of accelerations (>1.5 m/s2) for the forwards and backs were 76.3±18.9 and 100.8±19.6 times, respectively, and the number of high impacts (>10 g) were 48.0±46.9 and 35.6±28.3 times for the forwards and backs, respectively. All characteristics were significantly different between the forwards and backs (p<0.05). The per-position characteristics were also calculated. Within the backs, scrum half (SH) and wingers (WTBs) covered high-velocity running significantly higher distance than fly-half (SH d=2.571, WTBs d=1.556) and centres (SH d=1.299, WTBs d=0.685) (p<0.05). Conclusion By clarifying the physical demands according to the positions, it will be possible to create optimised position-specific training programmes.


We describe the "Linear Response Transport Centre" (LinReTraCe), a package for the simulation of transport properties of solids. LinReTraCe captures quantum (in)coherence effects beyond semi-classical Boltzmann techniques, while incurring similar numerical costs. The enabling algorithmic innovation is a semi-analytical evaluation of Kubo formulae for resistivities and the coefficients of Hall, Seebeck and Nernst. We detail the program's architecture, its interface and usage with electronic-structure packages such as WIEN2k, VASP, and Wannier90, as well as versatile tight-binding settings.


In recent years, image recognition applications have developed rapidly. A large number of studies and techniques have emerged in different fields, such as face recognition, pedestrian and vehicle re-identification, landmark retrieval, and product recognition. In this paper, we propose a practical lightweight image recognition system, named PP-ShiTu, consisting of the following 3 modules, mainbody detection, feature extraction and vector search. We introduce popular strategies including metric learning, deep hash, knowledge distillation and model quantization to improve accuracy and inference speed. With strategies above, PP-ShiTu works well in different scenarios with a set of models trained on a mixed dataset. Experiments on different datasets and benchmarks show that the system is widely effective in different domains of image recognition. All the above mentioned models are open-sourced and the code is available in the GitHub repository PaddleClas on PaddlePaddle.


A 2-month-old female llama with a history of tetraparesis was presented for necropsy. This cria was apparently normal until it became ataxic during its second week of life. It had diminished flexor reflexes of the left forelimb and both hind limbs. Hematology and serum biochemistry revealed neutrophilia, elevated alkaline phosphatase, elevated phosphorus, and modest hyperglycemia. Radiography of the cervical spine demonstrated an abnormal C3–C4 intervertebral disc and bony proliferation of the vertebral end plates. The llama was treated with antibiotics and corticosteroids but failed to respond. Postmortem examination revealed cervical intervertebral disc disease and vertebral exostosis. Microscopically, there was necrosis of intervertebral connective tissue and focal malacia of the spinal cord. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated from the intervertebral disc space and from cerebrospinal fluid. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first description of Pseudomonas-associated discospondylitis in a llama.


We investigated emulsions of water and toluene stabilized by (co)polymers consisting of styrene (S) and 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) monomer units with different compositions and structures such as a PDMAEMA homopolymer, a P(S-co-DMAEMA) random copolymer and various PS-b-PDMAEMA and PS-b-(S-co-DMAEMA) block copolymers. The model system is used to study the fundamental conditions under which the different kinds of polymer-stabilized emulsions (direct oil in water, inverse water in oil and multiple emulsions) are stabilized or destabilized by pH change (at constant temperature). Polymer properties like chain conformation at the toluene-water interface as probed by SANS and neutron reflectivity at the liquid-liquid interface, the oil-water partitioning of the polymer chains (Bancroft's rule of thumb) as determined by UV spectroscopy and interfacial tensions measured by the rising and spinning drop techniques are determined. Overall, results evidence that the curvature sign, as defined by positive and negative values as the chain segments occupy preferentially the water and toluene sides of the interface respectively, reliably predicts the emulsion kind. In contrast, the Bancroft rule failed at foreseeing the emulsion type. In the region of near zero curvature the crossover from direct to inverse emulsions occurs through the formation of either unstable coexisting direct and inverse emulsions (i) or multiple emulsions (ii). The high compact adsorption of the chains at the interface as shown by low interfacial tension values does not allow to discriminate between both cases. However, the toluene-water partitioning of the polymeric emulsifier is still a key factor driving the formation of (i) or (ii) emulsions. Interestingly, the stabilization of the multiple emulsions can be tuned to a large extent as the toluene-water polymer partitioning can be adjusted using quite a large number of physico-chemical parameters linked to polymer architecture like diblock length ratio or polymer total molar mass, for example. Moreover, we show that monitoring the oil-water partitioning aspect of the emulsion system can also be used to lower the interfacial tension at low pH to values slightly higher than 0.01 mN m(-1), irrespective of the curvature sign.


Approximately twelve hours' difference lies between New York and Beijing: The West and the East are, literally, night and day apart. Yet "East-West Montage" crosscuts the two in the manner of adjacent filmic shots to accentuate their montage-like complementarity. It examines the intersection between East and West - the Asian diaspora (or more specifically Asian bodies in diaspora) and the cultural expressions by and about people of Asian descent on both sides of the Pacific. Following the introduction "Establishing Shots," the book is divided into seven intercuts, which in turn subdivide into dialectically paired chapters focusing on specific body parts or attributes. The range of material examined is broad and rich: the iconography of the opium den in film noir, the writings of Asian American novelists, the swordplay and kung fu film, Japanese anime, the "Korean Wave" (including soap operas like "Winter Sonata" and the cult thriller "Oldboy"), Rogers and Hammerstein's Orientalist musicals, the comic "Blackhawk", the superstar status of the Dalai Lama, and the demise of Hmong refugees and Chinese retirees in the U.S. Highly original and immensely readable, "East-West Montage" will appeal to many working in a range of disciplines, including Asian studies, Asian American studies, cultural studies, ethnic studies, film studies, popular culture, and literary criticism.


We report here on the diets of four apex predators in Hawai'i: the native pueo or Hawaiian short-eared owl (Asio flammeus sandwichensis) and three introduced species, the barn owl (Tyto alba pratincola), the feral cat (Felis catus) and the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes javanicus). To better understand dietary relationships between these predators, we studied diet, focusing on areas where they occur together. We collected disgorged owl pellets, and cat and mongoose faecal scats from eight areas located on five of the main Hawaiian Islands and identified prey items to the lowest possible taxonomic level. All species consumed rodents, birds, and arthropods, and the mammal species also included plants in their diets. The two owl species and the cat preyed primarily on rodents, whereas small cockroaches predominated in the diet of the mongoose. Diets of the owl species and the cat, but not the mongoose, varied significantly between areas. Dietary overlap was highest between the pueo and the barn owl and lowest between the owl species and the mongoose. Although barn owls took more rats than pueo, there was no evidence that the two owl species partitioned house mouse prey by size. On islands where there are no mongoose, both owls took a greater proportion of large arthropods in their diet, suggesting that mongoose reduced the abundance of the arthropod species that owls commonly took. There was no significant difference in pueo diets before and after introduction of the barn owl.


Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) is an advanced manufacturing process for composite components, and is widely applied in industries such as aerospace. A full resin impregnation during RTM is essential to obtain a high-quality component with reduced defects content. To reduce the level of experimental work as well as the cost for optimizing processing parameters, numerical simulation tools are widely used nowadays.
The work presented in this thesis is based on one work package from a company sponsored project, focused mainly on research in permeability characterisation and defects generation during the RTM process. From another point of view, this research can be considered as a multi-scale study of RTM process modelling, which consists of a micro-scale study of the fluid-porous interface to determine fibre tow boundary conditions for permeability modelling, a meso-scale study of textiles permeability based on unit cell modelling, and a macro-scale study of RTM process modelling to characterize void formation. Furthermore, experimental work is also included for validation against simulation results.
As a key input for RTM process modelling, permeability prediction based on meso-scale unit cell is studied in this research. Micro-CT technology is employed to characterize the internal geometry of 3D woven fabric, which is the input for the generation of unit cell. Besides, geometrical variability is studied for its influence on the permeability prediction results, Due to the dual flow characteristic within 3D woven fabric, proper fibre yarn boundary conditions are developed for permeability modelling with unit cell. Fibre yarn with random fibre distribution models are generated. Flow transverse with the fibre yarn is studied and it's found that no-slip boundary condition can be applied in the present research. Considering the geometric variability inherent with fabrics, permeability variability study is also conducted in this research. The geometric variability characterization methods are introduced and based on that, the influence of geometric variability on the permeability prediction is studied. Regarding with macro-scale RTM process modelling, parametric study of injection conditions are conducted to investigate its effect on voids formation.
Furthermore, permeability experiment of 3D woven fabrics with different fibre volume fraction, as well as parametric study of RTM experiments for voids formation are also included in this research. Comparison of permeability measurement value and modelling results are made, with which the unit cell model is optimized.


Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by insidious and progressive loss of language. Current diagnostic criteria require symptoms to be largely restricted to language dysfunction for at least the first 2 years of the syndrome. However, as the disorder progresses - and sometimes even in the early stages - patients with PPA may exhibit neuropsychiatric symptoms. In this article, we review the phenomenology and frequency of neuropsychiatric symptoms in PPA. Among the few studies of this topic that have been performed, there is consistent agreement that neuropsychiatric symptoms are not uncommon among PPA patients. In some cases, particularly the semantic variant of PPA, symptoms are similar to those found in the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia. We further review the approach to assessment of behavioral symptoms in PPA and their possible management strategies, and speculate regarding their potential neurobiological substrates.


The natural world has hidden wisdom and resources that are disregarded as we misuse our responsibility to care for them. The benefits of being in tune with nature have been traded for a culture that manipulates nature on the altar of expediency, waste, and unquenchable desire. Healing Sanctuary presents a duality. My work speaks about the relationship between the seen and unseen, represented by ten larger-than-life drawings of medicinal herbal plants that have had a profound physical healing effect on me. At the same time, plants, roots, and seeds create visceral metaphors for mental health. Our accomplishments, outlook on life, and behavior mostly grow from the gut-wrenching, dirty work of developing a thought life that serves us. Our mental resilience can be strengthened by \planting\ various strategies beneath the surface.


Many important forms of data are stored digitally in XML format. Errors can occur in the textual content of the data in the fields of the XML. Fixing these errors manually is time-consuming and expensive, especially for large amounts of data. There is increasing interest in the research, development, and use of automated techniques for assisting with data cleaning. Electronic dictionaries are an important form of data frequently stored in XML format that frequently have errors introduced through a mixture of manual typographical entry errors and optical character recognition errors. In this paper we describe methods for flagging statistical anomalies as likely errors in electronic dictionaries stored in XML format. We describe six systems based on different sources of information. The systems detect errors using various signals in the data including uncommon characters, text length, character-based language models, word-based language models, tied-field length ratios, and tied-field transliteration models. Four of the systems detect errors based on expectations automatically inferred from content within elements of a single field type. We call these single-field systems. Two of the systems detect errors based on correspondence expectations automatically inferred from content within elements of multiple related field types. We call these tied-field systems. For each system, we provide an intuitive analysis of the type of error that it is successful at detecting. Finally, we describe two larger-scale evaluations using crowdsourcing with Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform and using the annotations of a domain expert. The evaluations consistently show that the systems are useful for improving the efficiency with which errors in XML electronic dictionaries can be detected.


Below $T_N = 1.1$K, the XY pyrochlore Er$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ orders into a $k=0$ non-collinear, antiferromagnetic structure referred to as the $\psi_2$ state. The magnetic order in Er$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ is known to obey conventional three dimensional (3D) percolation in the presence of magnetic dilution, and in that sense is robust to disorder. Recently, however, two theoretical studies have predicted that the $\psi_2$ structure should be unstable to the formation of a related $\psi_3$ magnetic structure in the presence of magnetic vacancies. To investigate these theories, we have carried out systematic elastic and inelastic neutron scattering studies of three single crystals of Er$_{2-x}$Y$_x$Ti$_2$O$_7$ with $x=0$ (pure), 0.2 (10$\%$-Y) and 0.4 (20$\%$-Y), where magnetic Er$^{3+}$ is substituted by non-magnetic Y$^{3+}$. We find that the $\psi_2$ ground state of pure Er$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ is significantly affected by magnetic dilution. The characteristic domain selection associated with the $\psi_2$ state, and the corresponding energy gap separating $\psi_2$ from $\psi_3$, vanish for Y$^{3+}$ substitutions between 10$\%$-Y and 20$\%$-Y, far removed from the 3D percolation threshold of $\sim$60$\%$-Y. The resulting ground state for Er$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ with magnetic dilutions from 20$\%$-Y up to the percolation threshold is naturally interpreted as a frozen mosaic of $\psi_2$ and $\psi_3$ domains.


MR microscopy is becoming an increasingly valuable tool, particularly as medicine moves to the cellular level. Researchers have demonstrated exquisite resolution through technical advances in RF surface coil design. This entails the use of a microcoil and a corresponding small field-of-view, representing a limitation of the technique. This paper examines using parallel imaging techniques and large arrays of microcoils to increase the field-of-view at no expense to imaging time.


Electrical installation and maintenance are a fast growing service demand in the electrical industry. Educators are obliged to make sure the transfer of technology to college students is practically realized to meet the skill requirement of the industry. The dilemma of providing sufficient training device that is similar to the actual industry setting is very scarce. Educators are challenged to improvise training device for individual hands-on experience in electrical installation and maintenance. This study aimed to develop a prototype training device in electrical installation and maintenance for Bachelor in Industrial Technology students specializing in Electrical Technology in the College of Industrial Technology of Bulacan State University. The study used project development method. The training device was designed and constructed using cheaper second-hand materials but of good quality. The respondents were chosen using the convenience sampling method. The training device was evaluated in terms of the following variables: (a) ergonomic design; (b) usability; (c) efficiency; and (d) portability. It was rated to be highly acceptable. The recommendation includes improvement on a case-type design for safe keeping; use of industrial set up wiring and, extra terminal blocks provision when in use. Keywords - Mechatronics technology, Prototype Training Devices, electrical Installation, experimental method, Philippines


Korea's experience with its new jury system offers many lessons for those interested in juries and jury reform worldwide. Aiming for a unique jury system that was ideally suited to Korean citizens and their legal system, those who crafted Korea's jury incorporated elements of both classic jury systems and mixed tribunals. Initially, the jury deliberates on guilt independently of the judge, but the procedure includes optional as well as mandatory opportunities for the presiding judge to advise the jury during its deliberation. The Korean jury delivers an advisory rather than binding jury verdict. These and other features of the Korean jury system are analyzed and contrasted with practices elsewhere. The unique procedures associated with Korean jury trials offer a natural experiment and deserve continuing serious study.


Profile imaging by in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy is used to elucidate reconstructions of the GaN(0 0 0 -1) surface during annealing in the TEM. We have successfully captured a detailed process of a change from the stacking sequence of the wurtzite to that of the zincblende structure in the topmost three Ga layers for the surface with nanoscale hill-and-valley structures. For ab initio calculations of the change in the sequence, a model structure is approximated by the addition of a 1 × 1 Ga layer on the GaN(0 0 0 -1) surface (i.e., 1 × 1 Ga-adlayer structure). The ab initio calculations predict that, as the surface size decreases, the 1 × 1 Ga-adlayer structure with the wurtzite stacking sequence in the topmost three Ga layers becomes destabilized against the adlayer with the zincblende stacking sequence in the surface layers, which well elucidates the experimental observation.


The focus of quality-of-service routing has been on the routing of a single path satisfying specified QoS constraints. Upon failure of a node or link on the path, a new path satisfying the constraints has to be established. However, resources needed to satisfy the QoS requirements are not guaranteed to be available at the rerouting instant, so QoS is not guaranteed upon failure. Restorable QoS routing, where active and backup paths must be simultaneously set up, has been previously studied. This is mostly motivated by the incorporation of mechanisms to establish QoS guaranteed paths with failure protection in multiprotocol label switching networks. This article describes some previously developed algorithms for dynamic routing of restorable QoS guaranteed paths.


Benzathine penicillin, procaine penicillin, and mixtures of both are opaque preparations for intramuscular injection. Visualization of aspirated blood, the fail-safe for avoiding intravascular injection, is predictably problematic. A spectrum of injuries, sometimes permanent, to the gluteal region, distal extremities, perineum, and spinal cord probably results from inadvertent intra-arterial injection, possibly due to vascular occlusion by large crystals of the penicillin salt(s). Since the arterial injuries disproportionately affect infants, use of these preparations in that age group should be minimized. The corresponding intravenous injection probably is Hoigne's syndrome, a procaine-induced central nervous system syndrome. Though usually brief and transient complications may be profound, including coma, convulsions, and death. Careful attention to details of anatomy and manufacturer's recommendations is critical.


AIM
The purpose of this international longitudinal study is to examine patterns and monitor trends and changes in dental hygiene.

METHOD
Information was collected from national dental hygienists' associations through surveys conducted in 1987, 1992, 1998 and 2001. Sample size increased from 13 countries in 1987 to 22 by 2001--of which 19 were included in the analysis.

RESULTS
Overall, characteristics of the profession were remarkably similar; most noteworthy was the scope of dental hygiene clinical practice. Regarding historical development, educational programmes and professional organisation, the profession was more similar than dissimilar. Greater variation was evident regarding numbers, distribution, regulation, workforce behaviour, predominant work setting, and remuneration. Over the relatively short 14-year period, several observations were of particular interest: marked increase in the supply of dental hygienists, accompanied by a decline in their ratio to populations and to dentists and a high workforce participation rate; increase in baccalaureate dental hygiene programmes, with a gradual shift from the diploma as the entry-level qualification; and increase in scope of practice and professional autonomy, including for Europe and North America in particular, a decline in mandated level of work supervision and a slight but gradual increase in independent practice.

CONCLUSION
By 2001, the profiles reflected the vast majority of the world's population of dental hygienists. Rate of change varied across the countries examined; however, the nature of the change overall was consistent, resulting in a continuing homogeneity in the profession worldwide. Observed trends, changes and persistent issues have implications for service accessibility and technical efficiency and should continue to be monitored.


The AXL receptor tyrosine kinase is expressed by several tumor types and is associated with poor overall survival in patients. AXL signaling is an important regulator of tumor cell plasticity related to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stem cell traits that drive metastasis, drug resistance and immune evasion. AXL is also expressed on several cells associated with the inflammatory tumor immune microenvironment including natural killer (NK) cells, dendritic cells and tumor-associated macrophages. Signaling via AXL is a key suppressor of the anti-tumor innate immune response. Hence, AXL signaling contributes uniquely to tumor cell intrinsic and microenvironmental anti-tumor immune suppression mechanisms in cancer. We evaluated whether blocking AXL signaling with BGB324, a selective clinical-stage small molecule AXL kinase inhibitor, enhanced the effect of immune checkpoint blockade in aggressive adenocarcinomas that display limited immunogenicity. Immune therapy with anti-PD-1/anti-PD-L1 or anti-CTLA-4/anti-PD-1 increased AXL and EMT-marker expression in the murine lung cancer (Lewis lung, LL2) and mammary adenocarcinoma (4T1) syngeneic models, and correlated with a lack of response to immune checkpoint therapy. Combination treatment with BGB324 (50 mg/kg bid) significantly enhanced responsiveness to anti-PD-1/anti-PD-L1 or anti-CTLA-4/anti-PD-1 treatment (10 mg/kg of each, 6 doses for LL2; 4 doses for 4T1) in mice bearing established LL2 or 4T1 tumors respectively. BGB324 in combination with anti-PD-1/anti-PD-L1 or anti-CTLA-4/anti-PD-1 enhanced tumor infiltration of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Increased CTLs were also detected in spleens from animals responding to treatment. BGB324 + anti-CTLA-4/anti-PD-1 combination treatment increased the number of NK cells, macrophages and polymorphonuclear neutrophils, but decreased the number of tumor-associated myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC). In the 4T1 model, the combination of BGB324 + anti-CTLA-4/anti-PD-1 resulted in durable primary tumor clearance in 23% of treated mice versus 5.6% obtained with anti-CTLA-4/anti-PD-1 alone (p = 0.0157). In a separate study, BGB324 + anti-CTLA-4 therapy treated resulted in 22% long-term primary tumor clearance while no response was observed with anti-CTLA4 treatment alone. The extensive metastasis to the lung, liver and spleen characteristic of this model was concomitantly abrogated in the animals responding to the combination treatment. Importantly, responding animals rejected orthotopic 4T1 tumor cell re-challenge, demonstrating sustained tumor immunity These findings along with the favorable safety profile and clinical activity of BGB324 in ongoing monotherapy clinical trials, support a rationale for clinical testing of BGB324 in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors in cancer patients. Citation Format: Katarzyna Wnuk-Lipinska, Kjersti Davidsen, Magnus Blo, Linn Hodneland, Agnete Engelsen, Jing Kang, Maria Lie, Sebastien Bougnaud, Kristina Aguilera, Lavina Ahmed, Agata Rybicka, Elina Milde, Paulina Deyna, Anna Boniecka, Oddbjorn Straume, Salem Chouaib, Rolf Brekken, Gro Gausdal, James Lorens. BGB324, a selective small molecule inhibitor of AXL receptor tyrosine kinase, enhances immune checkpoint inhibitor efficacy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Second CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; 2016 Sept 25-28; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2016;4(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B027.


Overall, over 35 people participated in the workshop and we had inspiring conversations while learning about different phases of academic careers. Several members commented after the workshop that we need more conversations or opportunities like this. And, the majority of the participants, a total of 27, stated that they want to be mentors for others based on the experiences we had during the 2017 workshop. To respond to such requests, our group proposed (a) to write a newsletter with the summary of the 2017 workshop discussion over the 2018 calendar year to further disseminate our conversations with the rest of ITAA members; (b) to propose a monograph related to inter-generational mentoring, and (c) to host another workshop in 2018 to continue our inter-generational mentoring efforts.


Mosquito larvae were collected in different areas on Lombok Island during December 199 1 to clarify the mosquito fauna. Approximately 300 larvae and adults belonging to 4 1 species in 11 genera were mounted and identified during this study. They include 24 new records for the island.


Exploring novel functional materials via chemical substitution-oriented design is an emerging strategy. The method can be expanded to the discovery of high performance ultraviolet (UV) nonlinear optical (NLO) solid state materials by a careful tuning of the substituted atoms. This minireview presents a brief introduction to chemical substitution-oriented design including single-site substitution, dual-site substitution, and multisite substitution. Several state-of-the-art UV NLO materials such as K3VO(O2)2CO3-type, KBe2BO3F2 (KBBF)-type, Ca5(PO4)3(OH)-type, and KTiOPO4 (KTP)-type phases successfully discovered by the chemical substitution method are discussed.


Synthetic aluminum-substituted maghemites were characterized by total chemical analysis, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Mossbauer spectroscopy (ME), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The aim was to determine the structural, magnetic, and hyperfine properties of γ-Fe2-xAlxO3 as the Al concentration is varied. The XRD results of the synthetic products were indexed exclusively as maghemite. Increasing Al for Fe substitution decreased the mean crystalline dimension and shifted all diffraction peaks to higher o2θ angles. The a0 dimension of the cubic unit cell decreased with increasing Al according to the equation ao = 0.8385 - 3.63 x 10-5 Al (R2= 0.94). Most Mossbauer spectra were composed of one sextet, but at the highest substitution rate of 142.5 mmol mol-1 Al, both a doublet and sextet were obtained at  300 K. All hyperfine parameters from the sub-spectra were consistent with high-spin Fe3+ (0.2 a 0.7 mms-1) and suggested a strong superparamagnetic component associated with the doublet. The magnetic hyperfine field of the sextets decreased with the amount of Al-substitution [Bhf (T) = 49.751 - 0.1202Al; R2 = 0.94] while the linewidth increased linearly. The saturation magnetization also decreased with increasing isomorphous substitution.


This paper presents the analytic solution of a fundamental open problem in the framework of state estimation/nonlinear observability, which is the Unknown Input Observability problem (UIO problem). The problem consists in deriving the analytic criterion that allows us to automatically obtain the state observability in presence of disturbances (or unknown inputs). In other words, the problem is to extend the well known observability rank condition to the case when the dynamics are also driven by unknown inputs. Enunciated in the seventies by the control theory community, this problem was only solved in the linear case. The solution here provided holds for nonlinear systems in presence of a single unknown input. The first part of the paper presents this analytic solution. Very surprisingly, the complexity of the overall analytic criterion is comparable to the complexity of the observability rank condition. The second part of the paper applies this analytic criterion to a robotics system when its dynamics are affected by an external disturbance (e.g., due to the presence of wind). To corroborate the results of our observability analysis we perform extensive simulations and we show that, a simple estimator based on an Extended Kalman Filter, provides results that agree with what we could expect from the observability analysis.