OBJECTIVE
To investigate the clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of glomus jugulare tumor.

METHODS
The data of 37 patients of glomus jugulare tumor diagnosed by digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and/or operation and pathology, 14 males (37.8%) and 23 females (62.2%), with an average age of 37.2 (3.5 approximately 66 years) and an average course of 4.3 years (1 month - 19 years), were analyzed.

RESULTS
The tumor was located in the left ear in 19 cases, in the right ear in 17 cases, and in both ears in 1 case, totally 38 ears. The tumor was chromaffin in one case with hypertension. One case was complicated by ipsilateral carotid body tumor, and 2 cases were complicated by ipsilateral cholesteatoma. Thirty cases (81.1%) presented pulsatile tinnitus and hearing loss as the main symptoms. Thirteen cases (35.1%) were diagnosed as glomus jugulare tumor at the first visit, and 24 cases (64.9%) were diagnosed as other diseases with an average misdiagnosis period of 4.4 years. Eighteen tumors originated from typanum and 28 tumors from glomus jugulare. According the Fisch classification 1981, the tumors in 11 ears were type A, in 7 ears were type B, in 7 ears type C, in 5 ears type D1, and in 8 ears type D2. All cases, except the one with bilateral lesions, underwent operation. The tumor was completely resected in 30 cases. Postoperatively, facial paralysis was seen in 6 cases, dizziness, hoarseness, and subauricular necrosis was seen in one case respectively. Of the 25 patients followed up with a mean follow-up time of 5.2 years (1.1 - 16.1 years), 3 died of lung cancer, neuroblastoma, or extensive involvement of glomus jugulare tumor respectively, 19 survived without tumor, and 3 survived with the tumor.

CONCLUSION
Glomus jugulare tumor is likely to involve surrounding important tissues, and to be misdiagnosed. Early surgical removal of the lesion is important.


How to cite this paper: Suseno, B. D., Dwiatmadja, C., & Yuniawan, A. (2017). This study aims to provide clear explanation and answer based on the research gap of previous studies that studied about the relationship between managerial trait from family business and managerial performance. also investigates the phenomenon about low managerial performance that triggered low continuity of bus industry belonged to family business in Indonesia. Justification of this research is the first research about manager from family in bus transportation the previous research conducted by related to succession of CEO leadership of family in batik industry in small scope in City of Pekalongan, Central Java. The model used for testing in this study is multivariate analyses with Structural Equation Model (SEM), which is based on AMOS program. The sample in this study is the manager that holds a position as supervisor and managerial controller of 505 persons. The number of samples is determined by proportion (%) of managers in the bus ownership industry. The questionnaires were distributed through direct distribution and by letter in June, July and August 2015. Of the distributed questionnaires, there are left 283 questionnaires. After being selected, there are 262 questionnaires that can be retested using SEM AMOS 22.0. Based on the result for 9 proposed hypotheses, there are 6 accepted hypotheses and 3 rejected ones. The accepted hypotheses are as follows: the influence of managerial trait in family business on soft governance capability which has coefficient value of 0.517 that shows positive and significant relationship since CR value is 2.705 and significant at 0.007, the influence of soft governance capability on managerial performance which has coefficient value as 0.506 that shows positive relationship since CR value is 6.183 and significant at 0.000. These results prove that soft governance capability has an ability to mediate the relationship between casualties of managerial trait variable on bus transportation industry in Jakarta, and it is significant with alpha value 5%


The skin of aquatic vertebrates surrounds all the mechanical lineages of the body and must, therefore, play an important role in locomotion. A cross‐woven collagenous dermal design has converged across several clades of vertebrates. Despite this intriguing pattern, the biomechanical role of skin in swimming fishes remains largely unknown. A direct force transmission role for fish skin has been proposed, a hypothesis that is supported by the arrangement of the connective tissues linking the skin to the axial musculature. To evaluate this direct force‐transmission hypothesis, we undertook hundreds of uniaxial tensile tests on skin samples from coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus), and red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus). To do this, we developed highly precise, low‐cost, custom‐built material testing units. To augment our data, we also assembled a data set of skin stiffness of four additional species of actinopterygians fishes from previously published studies. We found that stiffness varies significantly between species and that the skin of our study species was increasingly stiff along a rostrocaudal gradient. Placing our results in the context of the limited body of previous work, we found that species with lower skin stiffness exhibit shorter propulsive wavelengths and low thrust production at the caudal fin and species with higher skin stiffness possess longer propulsive wavelengths and high thrust production at the caudal fin. In addition, we found that mean collagen fiber angle was close to 50° and that fiber angle was lower in posterior samples than in anterior and midlateral samples. Taken as a whole, our mechanical and morphological results support the hypothesis that the skin functions as an important direct force‐transmission device in actinopterygians whereby muscular force generated in anterior myotomes is transmitted to the posterior of the body through the increasingly stiff skin.


Interactional strategies are very important especially for English as a foreign language learners which can help the learners negotiate of the meaning during the interaction in speaking activity. The aim of this research is to analyze the interactional strategies (ISs) utilized by three students at different levels (Low, Average, High) in speaking activity at the eighth grade students of SMP Islam As-Sakinah Sidoarjo. This research uses qualitative descriptive as a research design, which all of the data are obtained through observation and interview for three students at different level such as low level learner (LLL), average level learner (ALL) and high level learner (HLL). In brief, the results of this research show that LLL uses all aspects of interactional strategies in her speaking activity, average level learner (ALL) uses some aspects of interactional strategies and high level learner (HLL) almost never use the aspects of interactional strategies in his speaking activities.


This paper provides an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of innovative sport technology brought about by cross-disciplinary research in sport, engineering, medical and material sciences. Sport technology has subsequently contributed greatly to the enhancement of epidemiology, prevention and management of injuries, management of non-communicable diseases, physical activity and sport performance. The debate raging between sport scientists and academics pertaining to the greater amount of attention paid to sport technology and cross-disciplinary research in sport and the diminished quality and quantity of subject matter is highlighted. The paper also raises the following ethical question: Should only affluent elite athletes have the opportunity to capitalise on this technology? Is this jeopardising the success of less affluent athletes?


Background The total effective rate of first-line chemotherapy based on fluorouracils and platinum for advanced gastric cancer is about 31%-64%, but most of Patients will develop worse after 3-8 months, while second-line chemotherapy is seems inefficient and prone to serious adverse chemotherapy reactions. The new oral fluorouracil chemotherapeutic drug, S-1, has been increasingly used in clinical maintenance after first-line chemotherapy for stage III and IV gastric cancer because of its its own advantages. In addition, the effects of XiangshaLiujunzi Decoction(XSLJZD) and other traditional Chinese medicines(TCM) on alleviating the side effects of chemotherapy and improving the quality of life of cancer patients have been gradually confirmed, no more reports about the maintenance treatment mode of combination of western medicine and TCM. We designed the trial of XSLJZD combined with S-1 in the maintenance treatment of Stage III and IV Gastric Cancer, hoped that this research program will go further and comprehensively evaluate its effectiveness, safety and superiority.Methods/design This trial is an open, Single-center, randomized trial. Patients with stage III and stage IV gastric cancer will be randomized into group A (S-1), group B (S-1 combined with XSLJZD), and group C (symptomatic treatment/observation) for five year of corresponding treatment. Accordingly, the primary endpoint of this trial was progression-free survival (PFS), along with the secondary end point was Overall survival(OS) and Quality of Life Assessment (QOLA), the latter includes improvement in symptoms before and after treatment, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), and adverse events (AEs) assessment.Discussion The results of this trial can uncover to some extent that S-1 or S-1 combined with XSLJZD on PFS, OS and QOLA in the maintenance period of stage III and IV gastric cancer, as well as provide a preliminary basis for the effectiveness of S-1 combined with XSLJZD in the maintenance period of stage III and IV gastric cancer.


Tourangeau lends an historical perspective to photographic practices and the limits of representation. Tweedie comments on excerpts from conversations with some of the 25 selected artists. Biographical notes. Bibl. 5 p.


X-ray diffraction techniques were used to analyze 38 sphalerite samples for FeS and 27 pyrrhotite samples for Fe. The samples were selected from throughout the massive sulfides of the Quemont ore zones [Noranda, Quebec]. The data indicate the average temperature of formation of the sphalerite was 540 degrees C. with a standard deviation of + or -72 degrees C. The average temperature of formation of the pyrrhotite was 325 degrees C, with a standard deviation of + or -47 degrees C. This discrepancy is explained on the basis of the ore having formed from a sulfide melt with an original sphalerite-pyrrhotite equilibrium at around 540 degrees C., then subsequently the pyrrhotite phase has undergone readjustment in the solid state to form a more Fe-rich pyrrhotite plus pyrite. This readjustment was completed at around 325 degrees C.


Background High-risk sexual behavior (HRSB) is associated with an increased burden of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); therefore, CDC recommends those at high risk are screened more frequently than persons without HRSB. Because providers are able to document patients as having 3 types of HRSB: heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual, using the International Classification of Disease Tenth Revision (ICD-10), this study assessed STD/HIV screening frequencies among patients with HRSB diagnoses. Methods A large commercial claims database for outpatient visits for 2016 was analyzed. We included in the analysis patients diagnosed with any HRSB based on ICD-10 codes. The initial diagnosis for HRSB was considered as the index date for each patient. Testing frequencies for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV were assessed by 3 types of HRSB. For those diagnosed with HRSB from January 1-June 30, 2016, an additional 6 month follow-up testing period was also assessed. Results 52,160 patients were diagnosed with HRSB in 2016: 90.3% were heterosexual, 7.7% homosexual, and 2.1% bisexual HRSB. Testing for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV was 65.3%, 65.2%, 38.1%, and 43.6% for heterosexual, 49.9%, 49.8%, 51.5%, and 57.8% for homosexual, and 57.7%, 56.6%, 41.6%, and 48.2% for bisexual HRSB patients at the initial diagnosis date. 35.5%, 20.9%, and 36.5% of heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual HRSB patients were found to have follow-up claims within 6 months after the index date, respectively. Of those who had follow-up claims, follow-up testing for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV was 77.2%, 77.6%, 50.6%, and 56.4% for heterosexual, 71.8%, 72.7%, 74.5%, and 80.4% for homosexual, and 69.7%, 71.1%, 58.2%, and 66.7% for bisexual HRSB patients. STD/HIV follow-up testing rates were higher among patients who were screened at the index date than those who were not. Conclusion STD/HIV screening and follow-up screenings among HRSB patients are sub-optimal. Most HRSB patients do not have timely follow-up visits. Disclosure No significant relationships.


Aims Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an independent risk factor for developing lung cancer. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of COPD and emphysema as well as impacts on survival. Methods We retrospectively reviewed patients with diagnosed primary lung cancer from 2008 to 2010. History, pulmonary function tests and CT scans of the lungs were studied. We used comparisons between groups and Cox regression analysis. Results Of the 174 patients, 67 (38.5 %) had COPD and 102 (58.6 %) had emphysema. The male : female ratios were 101 (58.0 %) : 73 (42.0 %), 40 (59.7 %) : 27 (40.3 %) and 65 (63.7 %) : 37 (36.3 %), respectively. When adjusted for age, smoking status, obstructive lung disease and stage of lung cancer, we found a significantly poorer survival in women above 75 years of age (p = 0.0006). Survival was also significantly poorer in patients with undiagnosed COPD without coexisting emphysema (p = 0.008). Among never smokers, survival of women was significantly increased (p = 009). Conclusion Emphysema was more common than COPD among our lung cancer patients. Patients with undiagnosed COPD without coexisting emphysema showed the poorest survival.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effects of gut decontamination on endotoxin, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) levels, and the associated lung injury in a rat model of bowel ischemia.

SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA
Gut ischemia induces disruption of the intestinal mucosal barrier, allowing translocation of bacteria and endotoxin into the blood, which may trigger a systemic inflammatory response and lung injury.

METHODS
Thirty anesthetized rats were randomized into three groups: (1) ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) alone (a 60-min superior mesenteric artery occlusion and 4 h of reperfusion, n=10); (2) rats that underwent gut decontamination prior to ischemia (I/R+GD, n=10); and (3) control rats (sham operated, n=10). Serum levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and TNF were measured at the end of the experiment. Lung permeability was measured using bovine serum albumin labeled with 125I, and organ injury was assessed histologically.

RESULTS
One hour of bowel ischemia and 4 h of reperfusion (I/R) led to elevations of blood LPS and TNF levels of 0.33+/-0.005 EU/mL and 173+/-56 pg/mL, which were higher than the sham group (p<0.01). Gut decontamination (I/R+GD) significantly attenuated the LPS and TNF generation, 0.09+/-0.005 and 56.2+/-6 pg/mL (p<0.01). Lung injury as assessed by pulmonary permeability index was also reduced by gut decontamination, 2.1+/-0.42 vs 5.3+/-0.82 in the control group (p<0.03). Surprisingly no difference was detected in the number of pulmonary neutrophils in sequestration between the groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that gut decontamination can reduce the generation of LPS, TNF, and the severity of lung damage that often follows ischemia and reperfusion of the intestine in rats.


. It is of great theoretical interest and practical significance to study how to control a system by applying perturbations to only a few driver nodes. Recently, a hot topic of modern network researches is how to determine driver nodes that allow the control of an entire network. However, in practice, to control a complex network, especially a biological network, one may know not only the set of nodes which need to be controlled ( i.e. target nodes ) but also the set of nodes to which only control signals can be applied ( i.e. constrained control nodes ) . Compared to the general concept of controllability, we introduce the concept of constrained target controllability ( CTC design a novel graph-theoretic algorithm called CTCA to estimate the ability of a given network to control targets by choosing driver nodes from the set of constrained control nodes. We extensively evaluate the CTC of numerous real complex networks. The results indicate that biological networks with a higher average degree are easier to control than biological networks with a lower average degree, while electronic networks with a lower average degree are easier to control than web networks with a higher average degree. We also show that our CTCA can more eciently produce driver nodes for target-controlling the networks than existing state-of-the-art methods. Moreover, we use our CTCA to analyze two expert-curated bio-molecular networks and compare to other state-of-the-art methods. The results illustrate that our CTCA can eciently identify proven drug targets and new potentials, according to the constrained controllability of those biological networks.


ABSTRACT Cholera is a severe diarrheal disease, caused by Vibrio cholerae, for which there has been no reproducible, nonsurgical animal model. Here, we report that orogastric inoculation of V. cholerae into 3-day-old rabbits pretreated with cimetidine led to lethal, watery diarrhea in virtually all rabbits. The appearance and chemical composition of the rabbit diarrheal fluid were comparable to those of the "rice-water stool" produced by cholera patients. As in humans, V. cholerae mutants that do not produce cholera toxin (CT) and toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP) did not induce cholera-like disease in rabbits. CT induced extensive exocytosis of mucin from intestinal goblet cells, and wild-type V. cholerae was predominantly found in close association with mucin. Large aggregates of mucin-embedded V. cholerae were observed, both attached to the epithelium and floating within the diarrheal fluid. These findings suggest that CT-dependent mucin secretion significantly influences V. cholerae's association with the host intestine and its exit from the intestinal tract. Our model should facilitate identification and analyses of factors that may govern V. cholerae infection, survival, and transmission, such as mucin. In addition, our results using nontoxigenic V. cholerae suggest that infant rabbits will be useful for study of the reactogenicity of live attenuated-V. cholerae vaccines. IMPORTANCE Cholera remains a significant threat to populations in developing nations. Currently, there is no reproducible, nonsurgical animal model of cholera, the secretory diarrheal disease caused by Vibrio cholerae. We found that oral infection of infant rabbits with V. cholerae led to lethal, watery diarrhea in most rabbits. Using this disease model, we discovered a new role for cholera toxin (CT) during infection. This toxin not only caused secretory diarrhea but also profoundly influenced how V. cholerae associates with the intestine and how the pathogen exits from the host. Rabbits inoculated with V. cholerae that does not produce CT developed mild diarrhea, suggesting that this model may prove useful for generating improved live attenuated-V. cholerae vaccine candidates. Overall, our findings suggest that the infant rabbit model will enable pursuit of several new avenues for research on cholera pathogenesis, as well as serve as a vehicle for testing new therapeutics. Cholera remains a significant threat to populations in developing nations. Currently, there is no reproducible, nonsurgical animal model of cholera, the secretory diarrheal disease caused by Vibrio cholerae. We found that oral infection of infant rabbits with V. cholerae led to lethal, watery diarrhea in most rabbits. Using this disease model, we discovered a new role for cholera toxin (CT) during infection. This toxin not only caused secretory diarrhea but also profoundly influenced how V. cholerae associates with the intestine and how the pathogen exits from the host. Rabbits inoculated with V. cholerae that does not produce CT developed mild diarrhea, suggesting that this model may prove useful for generating improved live attenuated-V. cholerae vaccine candidates. Overall, our findings suggest that the infant rabbit model will enable pursuit of several new avenues for research on cholera pathogenesis, as well as serve as a vehicle for testing new therapeutics.


This microreview deals mainly with the synthesis and the electronic and chemical properties of gold nanoparticles. Modern synthetic routes, based on physical and on chemical procedures, as well as structural and optical features, are described. The bulk-to-molecule transition is discussed by studying size-controlled quantum-size effects, resulting in the determination of discrete electronic energy levels in Au55 clusters. Conductivity measurements of three- and two-dimensionally organized ligand-protected Au55 clusters are described, as well as the current techniques for the generation of ordered monolayers and artificial patterns of quantum dots. Finally, some aspects of the chemical activity of gold nanoparticles are discussed by considering ligand-exchange processes and, last but not least, the expanding role of gold nanoparticles in catalysis is considered. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2003)


Beliefs about psychological therapy for psychosisA thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Clinical PsychologyJoanne Cater Holding, University of Manchester, 2014The thesis provides a detailed exploration of the beliefs people with experiences of psychosis have about psychological therapy. It is presented in three papers: (1) a literature review, (2) an empirical study and (3) a critical evaluation and reflection on the research process.The literature review used a narrative synthesis approach to systematically review, explore and consolidate the existing qualitative and quantitative literature available on beliefs about therapies for psychosis. Thirty-five studies were identified for inclusion. Distinct themes and subthemes were developed for two distinct types of beliefs: Expectations and Experience. Within expectations, three themes were described: outcomes, process and barriers. Within experience, four themes were described: satisfaction, outcomes, process and therapist characteristics. Subtheme descriptions were used to highlight the multi-faceted and complex beliefs services users hold about therapy. Levels of satisfaction were high and many positive outcomes were reported. However, the available data is primarily limited to those who have completed therapy, resulting in an unbalanced account available in the literature. Data about expectations has also not been adequately addressed. Key areas for clinical intervention and future research opportunities are highlighted. The empirical study attempted to build on findings from the literature review and employed Q-methodology to explore beliefs about therapy for psychosis with young people in Early Intervention Services (EIS). Four distinct belief factors were identified: (1) Therapy is helpful and gives hope for the future; (2) Therapy is just talking, people need medication; (3) Therapy is useful but stigmatising; (4) Therapy is better than medication. Positive accounts of therapy were most strongly expressed within factor 1, but all factors contained some regard for the therapeutic process. Other important views were present in these accounts as well, including both the importance and dislike of medication, as well as concerns about potential stigmatisation. Q methodology proved to be a useful tool for engaging with young people and developing a rich understanding of a complex topic. The Q study has addressed some of the limitations described in the literature review and highlighted important areas for clinical consideration. Further research is still required to address outstanding issues, such as beliefs of people who are difficult to engage and people from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities. The third paper is a critical evaluation of the research process in totality. This includes reflections on decision-making processes, as well as lessons learned for the future. It provides a final overview of the clinical and research implications highlighted by the previous two papers, concluding that beliefs about therapy are important and warrant further detailed exploration by clinicians and researchers, to improve practice and service user experience.


In March 2010, the Dagstuhl Seminar 10102 explored the grand challenges confronting research and practice in the domain of discrete event logistics systems. This Executive Summary describes the process of the seminar and discusses the key conclusions regarding grand challenges for research and practice. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar are put together in the online proceedings.


Communication synthesis is an essential step in hardware-software co-synthesis: many embedded systems use custom communication topologies and the communication links are often a significant part of the system cost. This paper describes new techniques for the analysis and synthesis of the communication requirements of embedded systems during co-synthesis. Our analysis algorithm derives delay bounds on communication in the system given an allocation of messages to links. This analysis algorithm is used by our synthesis algorithm to choose the required communication links in the system and assign interprocess communication to the links. Experimental results show that our algorithm finds good communication architectures in small amounts of CPU time.


This paper discusses demonstrated results from the electrical safety improvement strategy documented in the paper, Creating a Continuous Improvement Environment for Electrical Safety, presented at the 1992 IEEE Industry Applications Society Petroleum and Chemical Industry Conference. Two of the original authors present this follow-up paper with a critique of the continuous improvement strategy outlined in the original paper and discussion of lessons learned from its implementation. The paper shows how this strategy is aligned with leading edge developments in advanced safety management of hazards with high potential for fatality and includes a discussion on applying this strategy to these other hazards.


John Locke discusses the notions of identity and diversity in Book 2, Chapter 27 of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. At the beginning of this much-discussed chapter, Locke posits the place-time-kind principle. According to this principle, no two things of the same kind can be in the same place at the same time (2.27.1). Just what Locke means by this is unclear, however. So too is whether this principle causes problems for Locke, and whether these problems can be resolved. This is significant because the place-time-kind principle is foundational to Locke's discussion of identity. Moreover, the place-time-kind principle stands at the center of a number of lively and long-standing debates in Locke scholarship. These include the debates over the ontological status of Lockean persons, and whether Locke is a relative identity theorist, to name just two. In this paper, I offer a survey of how Locke's place-time-kind principle has been interpreted in the secondary literature. The aim of this taxonomy is to clarify where the differences between competing interpretations lie, and additionally show just how challenging it is to determine which reading is best.


Various examples of differential-difference equations encountered in applications show a rich variety of relaxation properties which, being important exceptions, do not permit the construction of a general theory. The authors study and give a new interpretation of a relaxation system which is typical from many points of view and which has been well known in the theory of quantum oscillators for 60 years. Two theorems on the existence of relaxation cycles are proved, and then a study of their stability properties is prepared, as usual, by constructing the asymptotics of the relaxation oscillations. Bibliography: 6 titles.


Mobile phone security has become an important aspect of security issues in wireless multimedia communicati ons. In this paper, we focus on security issues related to mobile phone cameras. Specifically, we discover several new attacks that are based on the use of phone cameras. We implement the attacks on real phones, and demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the attacks. Furthermore, we propose a lightweight defense scheme that can effectively detect theseattacks.In this paper, we are going to develop an Android application such that when a user loses his/her phone, the spy camera could be launched via remote control and capture what the thief looks like as well as the surrounding environment. Then the pictures or videos along with lo cation information (GPS coordinates) can be sent back to the device owner so that the owner can pinpoint the thief and get the phone back. We conduct a survey on the threats and benefits of spy cameras. Then we present the basic attack model and two camera based attacks: the remote- controlled real time monitoring attack and the pass code inference attack. We run these attacks along with popular antivirus software to test their stealthiness, and conduct experiment to evaluate both types of attack.


Transposons are ubiquitous genetic elements discovered so far in all investigated prokaryotes and eukaryotes. In remarkable contrast to all other genes, transposable elements are able to move to new locations within their host genomes. Transposition of transposons into coding sequences and their initiation of chromosome rearrangements have tremendous impact on gene expression and genome evolution. While transposons have long been known in bacteria, plants, and animals, only in recent years has there been a significant increase in the number of transposable elements discovered in filamentous fungi. Like those of other eukaryotes, each fungal transposable element is either of class I or of class II. While class I elements transpose by a RNA intermediate and employ reverse transcriptases, class II elements transpose directly at the DNA level. We present structural and functional features for such transposons that have been identified so far in filamentous fungi. Emphasis is given to specific advantages or unique features when fungal systems are used to study transposable elements, e.g., the evolutionary impact of transposons in coenocytic organisms and possible experimental approaches toward horizontal gene transfer. Finally, we focus on the potential of transposons for tagging and identifying fungal genes. BioEssays 20:652–659, 1998.© 1998 John Wiley & Sons Inc.


BACKGROUND
Our main goal was to evaluate the pattern and time course of changes in relative muscle power and its constituting components throughout the lifespan.

METHODS
A total of 1305 subjects (729 women and 576 men; aged 20-93 years) participating in the Copenhagen Sarcopenia Study took part. Body mass index (BMI), leg lean mass assessed by DXA, and leg extension muscle power (LEP) assessed by the Nottingham power rig were recorded. Relative muscle power (normalized to body mass) and specific muscle power (normalized to leg lean mass) were calculated. Segmented regression analyses were used to identify the onset and pattern of age-related changes in the recorded variables.

RESULTS
Relative muscle power began to decline above the age of 40 in both women and men, with women showing an attenuation of the decline above 75 years. Relative muscle power decreased with age due to i) the loss of absolute LEP after the fourth decade of life and ii) the increase in BMI up to the age of 75 years in women and 65 years in men. The decline in absolute LEP was caused by a decline in specific LEP up to the age of 75 in women and 65 in men, above which the loss in relative leg lean mass also contributed.

CONCLUSIONS
Relative power decreased i) above 40 years by the loss in absolute power (specific power only) and the increase in body mass, and ii) above ̴ 70 years by the loss in absolute power (both specific power and leg lean mass).


Introduction: Numerous studies have explored the relationship of the local food environment and obesity. However, results have been inconsistent, and existing literature reviews have not taken into account study quality or the heterogeneity of measures of the local food environment. Methods: We used systematic keyword searches in Pubmed and Scopus to identify studies conducted in the US and Canada that assessed the relationship of obesity to the local availability of supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, fast food restaurants or indices combining these measures. We developed a quality metric based on study design, exposure and outcome measurement and analysis, and then assigned each study a score. Results: We identified 71 studies representing 65 cohorts. Overall, study quality was low; 60 studies were cross-sectional. The approach to measuring local food environments varied: fast food availability was measured 31 ways in 44 studies. Associations between food outlet availability and obesity were predominantly null. In adults, we saw a trend among the non-null associations toward inverse associations between supermarket availability and obesity (22 inverse, 4 direct, 67 null) and direct associations between fast food and obesity (29 direct, 6 inverse, 71 null). In children, we saw robust direct associations between fast food availability and obesity in lower income populations only (12 direct, 7 null). In adults, indices made up of multiple types of outlets had resulted in the most consistent associations with obesity (18 expected, 23 null). Limiting analyses to higher quality studies did not affect results. Conclusions: We found limited evidence for associations between the local food environment and obesity. Quality issues, however, make causal inference difficult. Absent compelling direct evidence linking local food environments to obesity, policy makers will need to rely on other types of evidence as they address the environmental changes that contribute to the steep increase in obesity in the US.


With the continuous effort to discover and produce cheap but high quality excipients for drug production Anogeissius leiocarpus gum (ALG), a brownish exudate obtained from the bark of Anogeissius leiocarpus a commonly occurring tree in Nigeria has been investigated for its potential as a binder in tablet formulation, by studying the properties of metronidazole granules prepared with it as binder. The properties of the resulting granules were compared with those of corn starch and poly vinyl pyrolidone (PVP) at various concentration levels. The granule elegance, mean particle size and particle size distribution, bulk, tapped and true densities, friability, angle of repose and compressibility (Carr's index) were determined and used to assess the gum relative to PVP and corn starch in granule formulation. Results of the various studies showed that lower concentrations of ALG produced granules that were quite comparable to those prepared with corn starch and PVP. However, higher concentrations of ALG produced granules that were comparatively different from those of corn starch and PVP. The optimal binding concentration of ALG lies within the concentration range of 1 – 3 % w⁄v. Anogeissius leiocarpus was found to have good binding potential for the formulation of Metronidazole granules. Key words : Anogeissius leiocarpus gum (ALG); Corn starch; PVP; Metronidazole; Granule properties
 Journal of Pharmacy and Bioresources Vol. 2 (1) 2005: 13-19


This paper presents one method for introducing macroeconomic concerns into the standard microeconomic models of law, using the canonical economic model of tort law as an example. When an economy suffers from inadequate aggregate demand, expendi-tures on precautions to avoid injuries have aggregate demand externalities. In addition to reducing damages from injury, expenditures on precautions raise incomes for the sellers of precautions (e.g., car brake mechanics). With higher incomes, the sellers, in turn, con-sume and invest more. This multiplier effect of the original expenditure on total spending and output can be modelled as an aggregate demand externality and incorporated into the standard economic models of law. When I introduce aggregate demand externalities into the seminal economic model of tort law, we come to very different conclusions than is standard. Specifically, the strict liability rule and the Hand Rule for negligence both pro-duce inefficient outcomes with respect to expenditures on precaution and activity levels. Instead, negligence rules with more stringent standards of care than the Hand Rule be-come more efficient. If standards of care get too high, however, then an enhanced negligence rule no longer yields a better outcome than strict liability or the Hand Rule. Optimal tort law therefore looks very different when we introduce aggregate demand ex-ternalities. If efficient tort law changes when we introduce macroeconomic effects, then we can presume that our law and microeconomic conclusions regarding other areas of law will change as well.


Ambipolar organic field-effect transistors with a mixed active layer of n-conducting fullerene and p-conducting copper-phthalocyanine were prepared. The influence of the mixing ratio and the preparation conditions on the mobilities and the threshold voltages was determined for both charge carrier types. Hole accumulation in the phthalocyanine at the fullerene/phthalocyanine interface is observed. A strong correlation between contact resistance and mobility indicates that carrier injection is diffusion limited.


Our study examines superiors' allocation decisions for otherwise homogeneous agents facing disparate performance risk (i.e., unequal likelihoods a given amount of effort will translate to an anticipated level of performance). We predict and find that superiors sympathize, through their bonus allocation decisions, with those agents confronted with greater performance risk. However, this behavior changes when superiors are responsible for allocating initial resources between the agents and have task-irrelevant reputational information concerning the agents, such that superiors favor the advantaged agent and give less sympathy to the disadvantaged agent. We provide additional evidence that such favoritism toward the advantaged agent leads to disparity in agents' fairness and satisfaction perceptions. Our results have implications for organizations, given the pervasiveness of discretion in allocation decisions and concerns for fairness, job satisfaction, and their effects on performance.


Interleukin-15 (IL-15) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine which signals via a specific alpha receptor subunit (IL-15Rα). Increased IL-15 level has been observed in cardiovascular patients and IL-15 immunoreactivity has been detected at vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques. Due to the association between adipose tissue distribution, inflammation and coronary artery disease (CAD), we quantified IL-15 and IL-15Rα in CAD patients with different adiposity and adipose tissue distribution and we evaluated whether epicardial adipose tissue (EAT), a visceral fat depot surrounding and infiltrating myocardium, may be a source of both molecules. IL-15 and IL-15Rα proteins were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Gene expression of IL-15 and IL-15Rα in EAT depots was evaluated by one colour microarray platform. EAT thickness was measured by echocardiography. Plasmatic IL-15 and IL-15Rα levels were higher in CAD than non-CAD patients. After classification according to adipose tissue distribution, IL-15 was higher in CAD patients with increased abdominal adiposity. Increased level of IL-15Rα was observed both in CAD and non-CAD patients with increased abdominal fat. EAT was a source of IL-15 and IL-15Rα and their expression was higher in CAD patients with increased EAT thickness. In conclusion, our data suggest that circulating levels of IL-15 and IL-15Rα seem to reflect visceral distribution of adipose tissue and that EAT may be a potential source of both IL-15 and IL-15Rα. Future studies on the relationship between IL-15, visceral fat and characteristics of atherosclerotic plaques could help to better understand the complex biology of this cytokine.


The maintenance of short-term memories is critical for survival in a dynamically changing world. Previous studies suggest that this memory can be stored in the form of persistent neural activity or using a synaptic mechanism, such as with short-term plasticity. Here, we compare the predictions of these two mechanisms to neural and behavioral measurements in a visual change detection task. Mice were trained to respond to changes in a repeated sequence of natural images while neural activity was recorded using two-photon calcium imaging. We also trained two types of artificial neural networks on the same change detection task as the mice. Following fixed pre-processing using a pretrained convolutional neural network, either a recurrent neural network (RNN) or a feedforward neural network with short-term synaptic depression (STPNet) was trained to the same level of performance as the mice. While both networks are able to learn the task, the STPNet model contains units whose activity are more similar to the in vivo data and produces errors which are more similar to the mice. When images are omitted, an unexpected perturbation which was absent during training, mice often do not respond to the omission but are more likely to respond to the subsequent image. Unlike the RNN model, STPNet also produces a similar pattern of behavior. These results suggest that simple neural adaptation mechanisms may serve as an important bottom-up memory signal in this task, which can be used by downstream areas in the decision-making process. Author Summary Animals have to adapt to environments with rich dynamics and maintain multiple types of memories. In this study, we focus on a visual change detection task in mice which requires short-term memory. Learning which features need to be maintained in short-term memory can be realized in a recurrent neural network by changing connections in the network, resulting in memory maintenance through persistent activity. However, in biological networks, a large diversity of time-dependent intrinsic mechanisms are also available. As an alternative to persistent neural activity, we find that learning to make use of internal adapting dynamics better matches both the observed neural activity and behavior of animals in this simple task. The presence of a large diversity of temporal traces could be one of the reasons for the diversity of cells observed. We believe that both learning to keep representations of relevant stimuli in persistent activity and learning to make use of intrinsic time-dependent mechanisms exist, and their relative use will be dependent on the exact task.


In the early 1970's, a developer sought a zoning change to a parcel of land in Arlington Heights, Illinois that would allow for the construction of government-subsidized low income housing. Arlington Heights denied the zoning change and the developer and several potential residents of the housing sued Arlington Heights arguing that this denial violated both equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA). In Vil. Of Arlington Heights v. Metro. Housing Dev., 429 U.S. 252 (1977), the case reached the United States Supreme Court on the equal protection issue and the Court held that the plaintiffs did not establish an equal protection violation because they failed to prove that a racially discriminatory purpose had motivated the denial of the zoning change by Arlington Heights officials. The Supreme Court remanded the case to the lower courts to consider plaintiffs' claims under the FHA. On remand, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that the denial of the zoning change that the developer sought from Arlington Heights had the racially discriminatory effect of perpetuating residential racial segregation and unless another low income housing project could feasibly be built there, the denial of the zoning change constituted a violation of the FHA. After this decision by the Seventh Circuit, the parties entered into a consent decree in which Arlington Heights agreed to annex another parcel of property and allow the construction of the developer's low income housing project on it. The developer's project was eventually built on the land that Arlington Heights annexed and the low income housing project opened to residents in 1983. The construction of the developer's low income housing project in Arlington Heights was facilitated by the Seventh Circuit's decision that a denial of housing that has a racially discriminatory effect may violate the FHA even if a racially discriminatory purpose is not established. In 2013, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a regulation that indicated that the FHA could be violated by housing decisions that had a discriminatory effect. In 2015, the United States Supreme Court definitively determined in Texas Dept. of Housing and Community v. ICP, 135 S.Ct. 2507 (2015) that a housing practice that has a disproportionately adverse effect on minorities and otherwise lacks a legitimate rationale is actionable under the FHA. The purpose of this article is to analyze how the Seventh Circuit's decision in the Arlington Heights case represents an important judicial precedent for using the FHA to challenge housing decisions that perpetuate housing segregation. The article also seeks to explain how the Seventh Circuit's decision that Arlington Heights must accommodate this construction of government-subsidized low income housing in order to comply with the FHA presages interpretations of the FHA by both HUD and the Supreme Court that occurred more 35 years later. These broad interpretations of the FHA create valuable tools to achieve one of the primary goals of the FHA-the residential integration of the races in the United States. Finally, this article will address 2018 efforts by HUD to review its 2013 regulation in light of the Supreme Court's decision in 2015. This article will examine how HUD's regulatory review process might alter how the discriminatory effects standard is applied to determine whether the FHA has been violated.


A liquid chromatographic method for the determination of penicillin V potassium in tablets was collaboratively studied by 7 laboratories. The method uses an octadecyl silane reverse-phase column, a mobile phase of acetonitrile-methanol-0.01 M potassium phosphate monobasic (21 + 4 + 75 v/v/v), photometric detection at 225 nm, and sulfadimethoxine as an internal standard. Each collaborator received 6 samples: powdered composites of 2 commercial tablet preparations and 1 synthetic tablet powder mixture, each with blind duplicates. The mean repeatability and reproducibility relative standard deviations for commercial samples were, respectively, 1.10 and 1.46% (250 mg dosage), and 0.84 and 2.82% (500 mg dosage). The average standard recovery from the synthetic formulation was 99.1%, with repeatability and reproducibility relative standard deviations of 1.30 and 3.66%, respectively. The method has been adopted official first action.


This paper analyses whether Switzerland has still expanded its social programmes after the end of the so-called golden age. Quantitative evidence points to this trend and ana-lysing reforms in pensions, health insurance, unemployment insurance and family pol-icy reinforces this conclusion, with the most important elements being the creation of mandatory unemployment and health insurance as well as occupational benefits within the Swiss pension scheme. Swiss family policy was clearly enhanced during the last 30 years, as were means-tested supplementary benefits for low income pensioners. Still Switzerland witnessed cutbacks, too, the best examples of which are the higher retire-ment age for women in both the first (state) and second (occupational) pillar of old age protection, substantial benefit reductions in unemployment insurance and higher co-payments in health insurance. All things considered, qualitative analysis however sup-ports the notion of welfare state expansion in Switzerland since the mid-1970s and clearly contradicts the "race to the bottom" approach. But expenditure growth does not only reflect an enhancement of social protection but also socioeconomic factors, mainly low economic growth rates during the period under scrutiny and a higher number of benefit recipients (mainly in unemployment insurance and pensions).


Importance
Evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exist, but all require 8 to 15 sessions and thus are less likely to be completed than brief treatments. Written exposure therapy (WET) is a brief and efficacious treatment that has not been directly compared with prolonged exposure therapy (PE), a more time-intensive, exposure-based treatment.

Objective
To determine whether WET is noninferior to PE in treating PTSD among veterans.

Design, Setting, and Participants
A randomized noninferiority clinical trial was conducted between September 9, 2019, and April 30, 2022. Participants were 178 veterans with PTSD presenting to 1 of 3 Veterans Affairs medical centers. Inclusion criteria consisted of a primary diagnosis of PTSD and stable medication. Exclusion criteria included current psychotherapy for PTSD, high suicide risk, active psychosis, unstable bipolar disorder, and severe cognitive impairment. Independent evaluations were conducted at baseline and 10, 20, and 30 weeks after the first treatment session. Data were analyzed from January 1 to March 31, 2023.

Interventions
Participants assigned to WET (n = 88) received five to seven 45- to 60-minute sessions. Participants assigned to PE (n = 90) received eight to fifteen 90-minute sessions. The WET sessions included 30 minutes of writing-based imaginal exposure conducted in session, whereas PE sessions included 40 minutes of in-session imaginal exposure and between-session in vivo exposures.

Main Outcomes and Measures
The primary outcome was change in PTSD symptom severity measured with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) from baseline to the 20-week assessment; noninferiority was defined as a less than 10-point difference between the 2 treatment groups. Difference in treatment dropout was also examined.

Results
Of the 178 participants, 134 (75.3%) were men, and the mean (SD) age was 44.97 (13.66) years. In terms of race, 37 participants (20.8%) were Black, 112 (62.9%) were White, 11 (6.2%) were more than 1 race, and 18 (10.1%) were of other race (including American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander [some participants did not specify their race when selecting the category "other"]); in terms of ethnicity, 19 participants (10.7%) were Hispanic. Changes in PTSD symptom severity from baseline to all subsequent assessments among individuals randomized to WET were noninferior relative to individuals randomized to PE. The largest difference between treatments was observed at 10 weeks and was in favor of WET (mean difference, 2.42 [95% CI, 0.35-1.46] points). Participants were significantly less likely to drop out of WET compared with PE (11 [12.5%] vs 32 [35.6%]; χ2 = 12.91; Cramer V = 0.27).

Conclusions and Relevance
In this study, WET was noninferior to PE in PTSD symptom change and was associated with significantly less attrition. Findings suggest that WET may transcend previously observed barriers to PTSD treatment for both patients and clinicians.

Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03962504.


In this article the conceptual approach to the organization of production and the technology of obtaining a thermo-isolative material is presented. Advantages of the new thermo-isolative material as compared to other existing ones are considered too.


In host range investigations with 152 plant species of 37 families, 96 species from 28 families proved to be experimentally susceptible to asparagus virus 2 (AsV 2). From these, 82 species of 26 families were systematically infectible and 14 species of 10 families only locally. Most frequently were symptomless systemic infections. Of 86 species, their susceptibility for AsV 2 was unknown before. The number of families that contant experimental hosts of the virus increased from 11 to 33. Transmission of AsV 2 was neither possible with Myzus persicae nor with Cuscuta californica or C. campestris. AsV 2-infected mother plants transmitted the virus by about 40 per cent to their seedings. Open-pollinated plants, not infested by AsV 2, showed 3 to 22 per cent of infected seedings. Mechanical back-transmission of AsV 2 from test plants to asparagus succeeded only in one case. The properties of the virus in vitro were as follows: thermal inactivation point between 64 and 66 degrees C, dilution end point between 10(-3) and 10(-4), stability in sap, stored at room temperature, up to 96 hours. Serological investigations demonstrated no relationship to the virus to numerous other viruses. An antiserum with a titer of 1 to 16 was useful for the detection of AvV 2 in asparagus sap. Electron microscopical investigations proved for the virus isometric particles for the first time. In negatively stained preparations they had a diameter of 27 nm.


Future generation of wireless networks will solicit the cooperation of heterogeneous radio access networks (RANs) in order to provide multimedia traffic to different classes of users with varying quality of service (QoS) requirements over regions and time zones. The use of such RANs as subsystems of a larger wireless network, i.e, a multi-access network, claims for an access selection (AS) scheme to coordinate the load sharing so as to meet the optimum combined network performance. Depending on the individual subsystem capacities, the traffic load conditions and the subsystem channel quality, an intelligent AS algorithm can provide capacities beyond the sum of the subsystems capacities. This paper addresses the issue of the AS in the context of multi-access networks. We intend to provide an analytical formulation which indicates the suitable/unsuitable scenarios for employment of an intelligent AS strategy. The usability of the proposed qualitative studies are demonstrated by means of simulations


Abstract To evaluate, through a systematic review, the assessment of genotoxicity of glass ionomer cements in vitro and in vivo. A systematic review was performed with the problem, intervention, control, and outcomes (PICOS) strategy, aiming to answer the following question: "Can glass ionomer cements induce genetic damage in vitro and in vivo?" A systematic search was performed in the following electronic databases: PubMed (including MedLine), Web of Science, and Scopus. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP). After the authors performed the review of all articles, a total of 13 manuscripts met all the inclusion criteria in the systematic review. Following the parameters of the EPHPP, eight articles were classified as strong or moderate quality. The other ones (five studies) were weak. Taken together our results demonstrated that, six studies reported genotoxicity of the modified glass ionomer cements tested and two studies concluded that the effect of genotoxicity was time dependent.


A QTL involved in the primary antibody response toward keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) was detected on chicken chromosome 14 in the experimental population, which was created by crossing commercial White Leghorn and a Polish native chicken breed (green-legged partridgelike). The current QTL location is a validation of previous experiments pointing to the same genomic location for the QTL linked to a primary antibody response to KLH. An experimental population was typed with microsatellite markers distributed over the chicken chromosome 14. Titers of antibodies binding KLH were measured for all individuals by ELISA. Statistical models applied in the Grid QTL Web-based software were used to analyze the data: a half-sib model, a line-cross model, and combined analysis in a linkage disequilibrium and linkage analysis model. Candidate genes that have been proposed were genotyped with SNP located in genes exons. Statistical analyses of single SNP associations were performed pointing out 2 SNP of an axis inhibitor protein (AXIN1) gene as significantly associated with the trait of an interest.


The mechanism by which atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) acts on cells remains obscure. Using cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) from rat aorta, we studied the structure-activity relationship of alpha-human(h) ANP and attempted to clarify its cellular mechanism of action. Binding studies using a variety of synthetic alpha-hANP analogs with deletion and substitution of amino-acid residue(s) within the ring structure and deamino-dicarba analogs with replacement of the disulfide bond with an ethylene linkage, suggested that the original cyclic structure is a minimum requirement for biological activity and the disulfide bond is not essential for receptor binding. The present study using VSMC loaded with a fluorescent Ca2+ indicator quin-2 revealed that alpha-rat(r) ANP has no effect on increases in cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration stimulated by angiotensin (A) II or arginine-vasopressin (AVP). While both vasoconstrictive hormones rapidly stimulated phosphatidylinositol (PI) response in VSMC, pretreatment with rANP did not affect AII- or AVP-induced PI response. However, AII-stimulated phosphorylation level of 20 K-dalton (Da) myosin light chain (MLC), a regulatory contractile protein of VSMC, was attenuated by pretreatment with rANP. These data suggest that ANP may not act at site of either agonist-induced membrane PI hydrolysis or intracellular Ca2+-signal system, but may partly be involved in phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of 20 K-Da MLC in cultured rat VSMC.


Introduction CT PET scan with fluorine-18 (F-18) fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), is a increasingly common investigation in the evaluation and management of several malignant and non-malignant conditions. (1–3). The usefulness of this technique in diagnosing incidental gastrointestinal lesions in literature is scanty. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of PET scan in detecting incidental significant gastrointestinal disease. Methods 696 PET scans were undertaken in Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Trust from 2009 to 2012. The principal indications were malignancy (lung 57%, GI tract 16%, head and neck 7%, haematological 4%, breast 2%) and nonmalignant 11%, unknown indication 3%. Of these, 44 cases (males 61%, median age 70) of incidental increased focal FDG uptake in gastrointestinal tract were detected. All patients underwent endoscopic procedure (Gastroscopy 10, Flexible sigmoidoscopy 10 and colonoscopy 24). Results 21 of 44 (48%) had polyps (malignant n = 3, tubulovillous adenoma n = 11, hyperplastic n = 6, not retrieved n = 1). Other pathologies included vascular lesions, inflammation, and diverticular disease. 11 patients had a false positive PET scan. The overall correlation between PET scanning and Endoscopic findings were found to be 75%. Conclusion PET scan is a valuable tool in localising incidental gastrointestinal pathology and a positive incidental finding merits further follow up endoscopy. The technique detected 6% new gastrointestinal lesions of which nearly half were polyps and two-thirds of these were malignant or adenomatous. References 1 Wong PS, Lau WF, Worth LJ, Thursky KA, Drummond E, Slavin MA, Hicks RJ. Clinically important detection of infection as an 'incidental' finding during cancer staging using FDG-PET/CT. Int Med J 2012;42(2):(176–83) 2 Gambhir SS, Czernin J, Schwimmer J, Silverman DH, Coleman RE, Phelps ME. A tabulated summary of the FDG PET literature. J Nucl Med. 2001;42(suppl): 1S–93S 3 I Takayoshi, et al. Detection of unexpected additional primary malignancies with PET/CT. J Nucl Med. 2005;46(5):752–757 Disclosure of Interest None Declared.


Using an elastic vibration model for phonons of a small metallic particle, size dependence of the superconducting transition temperature Tc is derived. It is shown that enhancement of Tc with decrease in particle size stems mainly from the associated increase of surface modes contribution. Comparison is made with other treatments and inconsistencies are noted.


In today's market conditions there has been an increase in the power of retailers in the distribution channels for consumer goods; at the same time the competition between them has been intensified. Retail chains permanently explore and identify the sources of competitive advantage in order to benefit from them. This article focuses on retailers' private labels as a competitive strategy of the present day. The relationship between the degree of concentration of retailing and the share of private label goods is investigated based on empirical data. The factors facilitating private label goods to penetrate the market are outlined, and the benefits for retailers, manufacturers and consumers in developing such labels are discussed. The theoretical considerations are corroborated by examples from retailers' business practices.


Function, Impairment, and Disability are words in which many physicians have little interest. Most physicians are trained to deal with structure and physiology and not function and disability. The purpose of this article is to address some of the common questions that many physicians have with the use of functional capacity evaluation and disability and also to provide a unifying model that can explain the medical and societal variables in predicting disability. We will first define the functional capacity evaluation (FCE) and explore the different types available as well as their uses. We will review several studies exploring the validity and reliability of the FCE on healthy and chronic pain patients. We will examine the few studies that look into whether an FCE is predictive of return to work and whether an FCE is predictive of disability. In the second half of this article, we will focus on the Assessment of Disability from the origins of the United States Social Security Administration to a bold new concept, the World Health Organization's International Classification of Function, Disability and Health.


There is an increasing demand for infrastructure projects all over the world. One important model adopted in providing them is Public –private partnership. To this end, this study aims at identifying the most influential factors as well as new factors that will serve as barriers against the adoption of PPP as a model in procurement of social projects in Technical Universities in Ghana. Using a survey questionnaire, appropriate data were obtained from Ghanaian Technical Universities. In all, a total of 152 questionnaires were collected from the participants. The research found that `lack of governmental guidelines and procedures' was perceived as the most important factor with a mean score of 4.12. The remaining four factors in descending order include; 'high risk relying on the public sector, high charge to direct users, very few scheme reach the contract stage and high participation cost. These are depicted with the following mean scores (4.10, 4.02, 4.01 and 3.99 respectively. The factors considered as neither most important nor least important include; less employment positions, lack of experience and appropriate skills, a great deal of management time spent on contract transactions and lengthy delays in negotiations. Interesting enough, the factors that are considered as least important include; excessive restrictions on participations for PPP with a mean score average of 3.67. Also, high project cost and political instability were also perceived as least important. This shows that these two factors were not seen as the same most important hindrances. The results shows that practitioner's (public institutions and private investors) should consider these key factors as barriers to be address for adoption and implementation of a successful achievement of PPP projects.
Citation: Mumuni Ishawu, Chen Guangyu, Emelia Darko Adzimah, Aliu Mohammed Aminu. A Survey Analysis on Institutional Challenges in implementing Public Private Partnership (PPP) Projects: A perspective from a developing economy of Ghana, 2020; 5 (2): 24-35.
Received: April 14, 2020 Accepted: June 30, 20


The central nervous system injury that can result after radiotherapy has been suggested to involve induced gene expression and cytokine production. We have previously shown that irradiation of primary cultures of rat astrocytes results in the activation of NF kappa B. To determine whether such an effect also occurs in vivo, NF kappa B activity was analyzed in the cerebral cortex of the rat brain after whole body irradiation. After a single dose of 15 Gy, NF kappa B activity was increased by 2 h postirradiation, returning to unirradiated levels by 8 hours. The increase was dose-dependent beginning at 2 Gy and continuing to at least 22.5 Gy. NF kappa B activity in the irradiated cortex was not accompanied by I kappa B alpha degradation. When 7.5 Gy was delivered 24 h before the 15 Gy, the increase in NF kappa B activity after 15 Gy was significantly reduced. These results suggest that an initial exposure to radiation induced a refractory period in the brain during which the susceptibility of NF kappa B to activation by subsequent irradiation was significantly reduced. This period of reduced sensitivity to radiation was also apparent for the induction of the NF kappa B-regulated cytokines IL-1 beta, IL-6, and TNF alpha.


Random regret minimization models have mostly relied on the assumption of identically and independently distributed error terms. Professionally designed stated choice experiments use various design and implementation principles to ensure that any errors meet this assumption. Based on the behavioral theory that individuals arrive at a decision by first processing the attribute values of a choice alternative according to an integration rule to derive the stochastic utility associated with the choice alternatives and then apply the deterministic utility maximizing rule, this assumption can be reasonable met for utility maximizing models. The question is whether this assumption is equally defendable for random regret minimization models in light of the difference in model specification, rooted in fundamental behavioral differences between the underlying decision theories. This study focuses on the effect of omitted variables which is one of main sources of error. Based on a formal analysis and empirical comparison, we argue and show that omitted variables cause correlation between unobserved regrets. Consequently, the independence assumption is difficult to defend because the omitted variables simultaneously affect the comparison of choice alternatives. To capture this effect, we propose an error components structure for regret-based choice models. Empirical results obtained for classic random regret-minimization models for two different data sets support our theoretical arguments. If these results can be generalized to other data sets, it is advisable to adopt an error components structure when estimating these classic random regret-minimization models unless one has reason to believe the effect of the omitted variables is small and therefore can be ignored.


Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cells spread from the primary tumor into the bloodstream that might represent an important biomarker in lung cancer. The prognosis of patients diagnosed with lung cancer is generally poor mainly due to late diagnosis. Recent evidences have reported that tumor aggressiveness is associated with the presence of CTCs in the blood stream; therefore, several studies have focused their attention on CTC isolation, characterization, and clinical significance. So far, the CellSearch® system is the only approach approved by FDA for metastatic breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer intended to detect CTCs of epithelial origin in whole blood and to assess prognosis. To date, no specific biomarkers have been validated in lung cancer and the identification of novel tumor markers such as CTCs might highly contribute to lung cancer prognosis and management. In the present review, the significance of CTC detection in lung cancer is examined through the analysis of the published studies in both non-small cell and small cell lung cancers; additionally the prognostic and the clinical role of CTC enumeration in treatment monitoring will be reported and discussed.


Falls are one of the main reasons to injury, especially in the elderly people. These injuries can be reduced by quick and accurate response or reaction, but this is not possible often in elderly people because they usually live alone and after injury caused the falling, cannot call for help. This paper presents a fall detection system to do twomajor tasks properly and quickly; firstly, it shoulddetect fall from other daily activities andsecondly, transmit falling person's necessary information to help. This system is implemented on Android-based smartphone and it used tri-axial accelerometer and microphone to fall detection. Everydayinteraction with the smartphone makes our system more familiarto the user. The accelerometer is used to record variations of acceleration in three directions.Thissystem isimproved with detecting the noise caused the falling, by analyzing environmental sounds. After fall detection, a warning text message that contains information about time and location of the falling will besent to the caregivers. A comprehensive evaluation with 18 volunteers shows that the proposed system has sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 77% for different types of fall in quiet and noisy environments.


In the 2018 intervention campaign, CNOOC aimed to improve production by retrofitting a horizontal well offshore of China. Water mobility in the reservoir was at least 20 times higher than oil mobility and a strong aquifer was located below the well. The well was drilled along a heterogeneous formation with varying properties resulting in an uneven reservoir influx toward the wellbore. Although the well was already completed with passive ICDs, oil production from the well started suffering severely from an early water breakthrough in a couple of weeks after starting production.
 It was recognized that the challenges could be mitigated by deploying Autonomous Inflow Control Devices (AICDs) which can control the reservoir fluid influx toward the wellbore and therefore optimise the well performance. An AICD is an active flow control device that delivers a variable flow restriction in response to the properties of a fluid and the rate of flow passing through.
 An integrated workflow comprising history matching and performance evaluation of the existing completion and sensitivity analyses was adopted to determine the best retrofit completion for the well. A well with a horizontal length of 300m was drilled in a thin formation with the oil column averaging 15ft. The optimum retrofit completion was to install a 2 3/8″ inner string consisting of AICD subs, swellable packers inside the existing ICD completion. The well was segmented in three compartments and a tailored AICD completion based on log data from the well was designed to properly restrict the production of water. The string was then connected to a redesigned ESP pump lifting the fluids to the surface. Through teamwork between the companies, the well was successfully re-completed with RCP AICD completions.
 Over a 9-month period of production, the well performance has been optimised with AICD devices. The AICDs significantly reduced the water cut (WC) of the well from 97% to 87% helping produce 200% more oil compared to production prior to re-completion. This application not only saved the cost of treating extra water but also added value by producing more oil. It also facilitated the connection of another well to the production system due to the enhanced capacity of the system which was then producing a lower volume of liquid.
 This well is an example that demonstrates the possibility of retrofitting AICDs in existing screens successfully. AICD completions ensured a balanced contribution from all reservoir sections and limited water production significantly. The lessons learnt from pre and post-installation studies will be discussed throughout. The AICD completions enabled the operator to implement an optimum reservoir drainage strategy that uses downhole control that can be manipulated autonomously based on well dynamic conditions to produce more oil.


Biological functions stem from coordinated interactions among proteins, nucleic acids and small molecules. Mass spectrometry technologies for reliable, high throughput single-cell proteomics will add a new modality to genomics and enable data-driven modeling of the molecular mechanisms coordinating proteins and nucleic acids at single-cell resolution. This promising potential requires estimating the reliability of measurements and computational analysis so that models can distinguish biological regulation from technical artifacts. We discuss approaches for developing both abstract and mechanistic models that aim to biologically interpret the measured differences across modalities. Mechanistic models of direct molecular interactions will provide generalizable and predictive representations of biological systems.


Abstract Objective: To investigate an apparent outbreak involving simultaneous isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples. Design: Retrospective and prospective cohort studies using chart review, environmental sampling, and ribotyping of all available isolates. Cleaning and disinfection procedures for the bronchoscopes were also evaluated. Setting: A 380-bed private hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Patients: Forty-one patients who underwent bronchoscopic procedures between December 1994 and October 1996 and from whom P. aeruginosa and S. marcescens were concomitantly isolated. Bronchoscopes and related items were microbiologically assessed. Results: P. aeruginosa and S. marcescens were simultaneously isolated from BAL samples 12.6% of the time (41 of 324) during the epidemic period versus 1.8% of the time (1 of 54) in the pre-epidemic period (P = .035). Ribotyping revealed two strains of P. aeruginosa and one of S. marcescens that were isolated from BAL samples of patients with no signs of respiratory tract infection, suggesting a pseudo-outbreak. Evaluation of bronchoscope disinfection revealed that inappropriate methods were being used. Implementation of simple control measures resulted in a significant decrease in simultaneous isolation of these species. Conclusion: Prevention of pseudo-outbreaks requires meticulous use of preventive measures for infection-prone medical procedures.


The image of Magellan as a modern hero who strongly wanted and tried at any price to complete the circumnavigation of the earth, but whom death prevented from doing so partly arose as soon as the first reports of the journey following the arrival of the only ship, Victoria, with 18 survivors were issued. Among these, there is the account Maximilianus Transylvanus gave on the basis of the information obtained interviewing a group of survivors, including Captain Elcano. He immediately understood the political relevance and the propaganda potential of the success of Magellan's enterprise. In this article we will analyze De Moluccis insulis, highlighting the content and linguistic choices that contribute to creating an image of the expedition, of Magellan and of the role of Spain in the new world.


In Part 1 of this article the reasons for the establishment of specialist labour courts
were explored, and the stages of development of the former industrial, and present
labour courts were considered. However, as already pointed out, the drafters of the
Constitution and the Labour Relations Act of 1995 (the "LRA") had different goals in
mind when creating the overall scheme of the courts respectively responsible for the
adjudication of civil and constitutional matters and those in relation to labour matters.
Ultimately, this prepared fertile ground for the superior courts to clash over the
ultimate power to consider appeals in labour matters. Part 2 of this article explores
the development of jurisprudence after the inception of the Constitution, which
illustrates the gradual erosion of the Labour Appeal Court's status in labour-related
matters to the point where there is no logical reason for its continued existence.


The ethanol, methanol and water extracts of Tecoma stans effective against tested bacteria ( Pseudomonas fluorescens , Clavibacter michiganensis sub sp. michiganensis , Xanthomonas axanopodis pv. malvacearum , Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumonia ) and fungi (all species of Aspergillus and Alternaria ). Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, phenols, steroids, anthraquinones and tannins. The three extract fractions have showed highest total Phenolic content (177-216 mg gallic acid equivalent/g). These three solvent fractions possessed strong radical scavenging activity from FRAP and DPPH. It was ranged from 1433.75 to 3841.17 g/ml. The results indicate that this plant is a potential candidate to be used as an antimicrobial and antioxidant. Key words: Tecoma stans , Antimicrobial, antioxidant, phytochemicals Govindappa M et al. Antimicrobial, Antioxidant Activity and Phytochemical Screening of Tecoma stans (L.) Juss. ex Kunth. J Phytol 3/3 (2011) 68-76.


The article deals with the issue of integrative approach to language training of air traffic controllers in air traffic control simulator. The integrative approach is viewed in terms of two elements of English communicative competency: oral speech skills (listening comprehension and speaking) and language of radiotelephony communication (radiotelephony phraseology and plain English in aviation context).


Past work on the political impact of racial diversity has focused on direct effects, demonstrating that diverse environments are associated with more negative—or in some circumstances, more positive—racial attitudes and race-targeted policy preferences. We show that diversity functions in a second way, as a variable that magnifies the political impact of individual differences in the psychological disposition of authoritarianism. Using a national sample, we find that in white areas with minimal diversity, authoritarianism had no impact on racial prejudice, political intolerance, and attitudes toward immigration. As diversity rises, however, authoritarianism plays an increasingly dominant role in political judgment. In diverse environments, authoritarians become more racially, ethnically, and politically intolerant and nonauthoritarians less so. We conceptually replicate these findings in a dorm setting with plausibly exogenous levels of local diversity and discuss the implications of our findings in terms of the various ways in which ethno-racial diversity structures political attitudes.


Wavelength and temperature-dependent characteristics of silicon P-I-N laser detectors are studied using the modified Baraff theory. Both the electron or hole injection effect and photogeneration effect are considered in the calculation of the power spectral density of multiplication noise and efficiencies. The results thus obtained are compared with previous papers where the photogeneration effect was neglected.


Nucleated RBCs (NRBCs) are immature RBCs normally they are not seen in the peripheral blood after the neonatal period. Their presence in peripheral blood of children and adults signifies bone marrow damage or stress and potentially serious underlying disease. The presence of numerous NRBCs increases the WBC count in automated hematology analyzers. Most analyzers generate suspect flags for identifying abnormal cells, and the samples involved should be reviewed manually. Unfortunately, analyzers may not detect low levels of NRBCs. We recommend correcting the WBC count with even 1 NRBC/100 WBCs and reporting "occasional NRBC seen." This alerts clinicians for the significance of unexplained normoblastemia. Keywords: Nucleated RBCs, Peripheral blood, Normoblastemia.


Land cover maps can provide valuable information for various applications, such as territorial monitoring, environmental protection, urban planning and climate change prevention. In this purpose, remote sensing based on image classification approaches undergoing a high revolution can be dedicated to land cover mapping tasks. Similarly, deep learning models are considerably applied in remote sensing applications; which can automatically learn features from large amounts of data. Prevalently, the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), have been increasingly performed in image classification. The aim of this study is to apply a new approach to analyse land cover, and extract its features. Experiments carried out on a coastal town located in north-western Algeria (Ténès region). The study area is chosen because of its importance as a part of the national strategy to combat natural hazards, specifically floods. As well as, a simple CNN model with two hidden layers was constructed, combined with an Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA). In this regard, a Sentinel-2 image was used, to perform the classification, using spectral index combinations. Furthermore, to compare the performance of the proposed approach, an OBIA based on machines learning algorithms mainly Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), was provided. Results of accuracy assessment of classification showed good values in terms of Overall accuracy and Kappa Index, which reach to 93.1% and 0.91, respectively. As a comparison, CNN-OBIA approach outperformed OBIA based on RF algorithm. Therefore, Final land cover maps can be used as a support tool in regional and national decisions.


Rhizoma Acori Graminei(RAG) has been used in Korea for many centuries as a therapeutic agent for cerebral disease. The effect of RAG on the vascular system is not known. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of RAG on Blood Pressure(BP) and regional Cerebral Blood Flow(rCBF) of male Sprague-Dawely rats. The changes in rCBF were determinated by Laser-Doppler Flowmetry(LDF). The results were as follows : 1. Blood pressure was not affected by RAG in rats. 2. rCBF was increased by RAG in a dose-dependent manner. 3. Pretreatment with propranolol significantly inhibited RAG induced increased rCBF. 4. Pretreatment with methylen blue and ODQ significantly inhibited RAG induced increased rCBF. 5. Pretreatment with L-NNA significantly inhibited RAG induced increased rCBF. These results suggest that RAG causes a diverse response of blood pressure and regional cerebral blood flow(rCBF). The increased in rCBF is also mediated by adrenergic β-receptor, nitric oxide synthease and guanylate cyclase.


As part of the Canada Council for the Arts' Equity Office' s mandate, support is maintained for artists of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American, and mixed-race heritage. To fulfill this duty, grant programs have been developed specifically for these artists who are identified as 'culturally diverse'. As an art world unto itself, the Canada Council is responsible not only for creating its own conventions but also for determining what kind of artists may operate within it. With differentiated grant programs for culturally diverse artists, it appears that this group occupies a marginal space within the Canada Council's art world. Drawing from the experiences of two culturally diverse artists, this paper examines issues of belonging, representation, and identity. It was found that while the artists are aware and uncomfortable with the stigma that arises from the 'culturally diverse' label, the reception of public funding takes precedence over feelings of Otherness.

Key words: Canada Council for the Arts; culturally diverse; artist; equity; Othering


Iron overload caused by hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) increases free reactive oxygen species that, in turn, induce lipid peroxidation. Its 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) by-product is a well-established marker of lipid peroxidation since it reacts with accessible proteins with deleterious consequences. Indeed, elevated levels of HNE are often detected in a wide variety of human diseases related to oxidative stress. Here, we evaluated HNE-modified proteins in the membrane of erythrocytes from HH patients and in organs of Hfe−/− male and female mice, a mouse model of HH. For this purpose, we used one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, immunoblotting and MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis. We identified cytoskeletal membrane proteins and membrane receptors of erythrocytes bound to HNE exclusively in HH patients. Furthermore, kidney and brain of Hfe−/− mice contained more HNE-adducted protein than healthy controls. Our results identified main HNE-modified proteins suggesting that HH favours preferred protein targets for oxidation by HNE.


Education is an important base in a nation. Thus, education is an important issue in the development plan. Education plays a very important role in developing the process of transforming Aceh into a superior Province in the next decade. Since 1956, Vocational High Schools began operating in Aceh to become a human resources printing institution that is ready to work in the world of government or industry. Therefore, Project-Based Learning (PBL) was introduced as a reliable method to be implemented in vocational schools. PBL appears as a method that focuses on student-centered learning. This research is a quantitative research that aims to find out students' perceptions of Project Based Learning in SMK N 2 Meulaboh. The sample in this study were students of class XII majoring in TIPTL, TGB, TAB, TAV, TKK, TKR and TSM, totaling 91 people. The results show that in general students believe that Project Based Learning has been running smoothly starting from the initial stage, implementation and final stage. In the initial stage, students state that the teacher starts learning with problems, gives direction and monitors the work of the student project design (min = 4.03). During the PBL implementation phase, students also mentioned that they were able to work in groups, discuss, find tools and submit projects on time (min = 3.98). Finally, at the final stage of PBL, students are confident and believe that the products produced from PBL are useful even though they are not ready to show or sell the product (min = 3.88).


Characteristics of physical activity are indicative of one's mobility level, latent chronic diseases and aging process. Accelerometers have been widely accepted as useful and practical sensors for wearable devices to measure and assess physical activity. This paper reviews the development of wearable accelerometry-based motion detectors. The principle of accelerometry measurement, sensor properties and sensor placements are first introduced. Various research using accelerometry-based wearable motion detectors for physical activity monitoring and assessment, including posture and movement classification, estimation of energy expenditure, fall detection and balance control evaluation, are also reviewed. Finally this paper reviews and compares existing commercial products to provide a comprehensive outlook of current development status and possible emerging technologies.


This paper evaluates the impact of the second series of Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTRO2) on the amount of credit granted to non-financial private corporations and on the interest rates applied to loans in Italy, using data on credit transactions, bank and firm characteristics and a difference-in-differences approach. We find that TLTRO2 had a positive impact on the Italian credit market, encouraging medium-term lending to firms and reducing credit interest rates. While firms overall benefited from TLTRO2 irrespective of their risk category and size, we document heterogeneous treatment effects. Regarding firms' risk category, the effects on credit quantities are larger for low-risk firms while those on credit interest rate are larger for high-risk firms. Regarding firms' size, smaller firms benefited the most both in terms of amounts borrowed and interest rates. Furthermore, our evidence suggests that monetary policy transmission of TLTRO2 is stronger for banks with a low bad debt ratio in their balance sheets.


As part of the development of an advanced, more consistently accurate transmission line fault location system (AFLS), an evaluation of the performance and requirements for voltage and current input transducers was made. Measurements of current transformer and burdens were made, and computer models of the steady-state and transient responses were developed. Burdens from the electromechanical relaying and metering equipment in the secondary circuits were found to be large enough to cause transient distortion of the current waveforms for some fault causes, and would not meet the stringent requirements for an AFLS. A recommendation was made to place the AFLS in the primary relaying circuits, where electronic relays having low burdens are installed. >


Heavy metal pollution is a great threat to the environment. These metals are enters to the soil-plant environment through anthropogenic sources. A survey study was conducted to assess the heavy metals contamination of soils, plants and waters of Madina town of Faisalabad, Metropolitan area in 2010. Soil, plant and water samples were collected in the vicinity of Faisalabad following 4 × 4 Km grids. Soil samples were taken from 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm depths and prepared for the determination of metals (Cd, Pb and Ni). Plant samples were also taken from the same location and dried and digested in HClO4:HNO3 in the ratio of 1:3. AB-DTPA extract of soil, plants extract and water samples was analyzed on Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (Model Thermo S series). The results of the study showed the concentration of metals in Soils ranged from Cd (0.00-0.111 ppm), Pb (0.87-8.97 ppm) and Ni (0.017-1.72 ppm) at 0-15 cm while Cd (0.00-0.88 ppm), Pb (0.43-6.77 ppm) and Ni (0.055-0.852 ppm) at 15-30 cm respectively. Cd, Pb and Ni concentration in the plants ranged from 0.00-2.25 ppm 1.11-5.29 ppm and 1.51-4.96 respectively. Concentration of metal in the ground water ranged from Cd (0.00-0.06 ppm), Pb (0.10-11.10 ppm) and Ni (0.03-0.05). The concentration Pb and Ni was below the permissible limits while concentration of Cd in waters and plants above the permissible limits. Finally it was concluded that soil, plant and water of Madina town were in the safe limits with respect to metals. The use of city effluent is increasing the level of metals into the soils that ultimately contaminate the soils, plants and waters. So, it is suggested that city effluent must be treated for the detoxification of metals before use in irrigation purposes for crops.


This paper explains current Korean law related to several main issues in bioethics such as a legal status of an embryo, abortion, criteria of death, euthanasia, refusal of life-sustaining treatment, human subject research, and assisted reproductive technology. I presents some problems of acts relevant to bioethical issues in Korea referring to Civil Act, Criminal Act, Bioethics and Safety Act, Mother and Child Health Act, and Internal Organs, etc. Transplant Act. For embryonic research, Bioethics and Safety Act allows research on spare embryos. This means that an embryo does not have the same status as a person. The Act allows the production of SCNT embryos only for research. This shows that SCNT embryos are considered to be different from spare embryos. Mother and Child Health Act presents justification for which abortion is allowed and does not accept social and economic reasons. But some justification has problems. Mother and Child Health Act does not reflect current genetic test. Korea adopts still the criteria of cardiopulmonary death even though a patient with whole brain death may give their organs after the judgment of whole brian death. This paper argues that the discussion of criteria of death should be separated from organ donation. Grandma Kim's case made an important landmark in Korean discussion of euthanasia and the refusal of life-sustaining treatment. However, this case also shows that it is hard to discern hastening death from not prolonging natural death. I emphasize that any legislated act will be abused without the improvement of medical insurance for palliative care. Korea does not have any comprehensive act to cover human subject research in general. Especially there is no law to regulate non-genetic research using human material as well as non-invasive human subject research. We have to legislate regulations for human subject research in general.


For many NLP tasks, EM-trained HMMs are the common models. However, in order to escape local maxima and find the best model, we need to start with a good initial model. Researchers suggested repeated random restarts or constraints that guide the model evolution. Neither approach is ideal. Restarts are time-intensive, and most constraint-based approaches require serious re-engineering or external solvers. In this paper we measure the effectiveness of very limited initial constraints: specifically, annotations of a small number of words in the training data. We vary the amount and distribution of initial partial annotations, and compare the results to unsupervised and supervised approaches. We find that partial annotations improve accuracy and can reduce the need for random restarts, which speeds up training time considerably.


The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of peppermint feeding on dry matter intake, nutrient digestibility, ruminal fermentation and milk production in early lactating cows. Four Holstein cows were offered a diet with 5% dried peppermint and four Holstein cows remained on a diet without 5% of dried peppermint on a dry matter basis. The addition of peppermint to feed did not affect dry matter intake, although the eating time of feed was increased by mixing the feed with peppermint. There were no significant differences in the nutrient digestibilities between the two treatments. The ruminal ammonia and volatile fatty acids concentrations were similar in the two treatments, however, peppermint ingestion by cows led to a decrease in ruminal pH. The lowered pH value was within the stable pH condition range. No significant differences in the treatments were observed in milk production or milk composition except for the milk fat content. These results suggest that feeding peppermint to early lactating cows had little effect on their dry matter intake, nutrient digestibility, ruminal fermentation and milk production.


The placement of enclitic pronouns in the Rigveda displays great variety; however, as enclitics, they must attach to a preceding prosodic unit. Frequently, they occur in second position within a clause, and the syntactic domains to which they belong (as verbal arguments or possessors of noun phrases) become ambiguous. As sentential constituents, they are subject to the same ordinary syntactic processes that accented personal pronouns undergo, notably including frequent fronting toward the beginning of a clause. The enclitic pronouns, therefore, are projected as ordinary syntactic arguments that are prosodically prevented from following a natural pause, such as the beginning of a clause. Since they are subject to both syntactic processes and prosodic constraints, they are an ideal subject for explorations into the syntax-phonology interface in Rigvedic Sanskrit. The framework of this investigation employs an extended CP (cf. Rizzi 1997 and Hale 2009) as a position to which elements of a sentence may be fronted as well as a late phonological readjustment called Prosodic Inversion that allows a clitic that has no prosodic support to trade places with an adjacent prosodic unit (Halpern, 1995). The poetic nature of the Rigveda provides additional evidence of the prosody of Vedic Sanskrit in support of an analysis invoking Prosodic Inversion. To account for the extreme variety of sentence structures in a poetic text in a nonconfigurational language such as Vedic Sanskrit, poetic employment of extraposition and dislocation are occasionally necessary. Such dislocation or extraposition is frequently motivated contextually and reflected prosodically in the placement of caesurae and line breaks.


The serotonin (5HT1A) receptor subtype is one member of the 5HT1 receptor family and is constitutively expressed on Jurkat cells and is elevated on human T lymphocytes after mitogenic activation. Published reports show that human T lymphocytes and monocytes also release 5HT after stimulation with PHA or IFN-gamma. In lymphocytes and the central nervous system, the 5HT1A receptor is coupled to regulation of adenylate cyclase. The 5HT1A receptor agonists inhibit activation of adenylate cyclase. The purpose of the experiments reported here was to investigate further the role 5HT and the 5HT1A receptor may play in the regulation of human and murine T cell activity. For this purpose, human PBMC or murine spleen cells were used for experimental purposes rather than Jurkat cells. The results show that inhibition of 5HT synthesis inhibits IL-2-stimulated human T cell proliferation and that addition of 5-hydroxytryptophan, a precursor of 5HT, reverses inhibition of T cell proliferation. The 5HT1 receptor antagonist, metitepine, and the 5HT1A selective antagonist, pindobind-5HT1A, also block T cell proliferation. Inhibition by metitepine is reversed by 5HT and by the selective 5HT1A receptor agonist, 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino) (8-OH-DPAT). Selective 5HT1A receptor antagonists cause elevation of cAMP in human T cells. In a murine model, selective 5HT1A receptor antagonists inhibit contact sensitivity responses but not Ab responses to oxazalone in vivo. Inhibition is reversed by 8-OH-DPAT. In addition, production of Th1 cytokines, such as IL-2 and IFN-gamma, by Ag-stimulated, immune murine spleen cells is inhibited by 5HT1A receptor antagonists in vitro but not by 5HT1C/2 receptor antagonists.