In this paper, we address Novel Class Discovery (NCD), the task of unveiling new classes in a set of unlabeled samples given a labeled dataset with known classes. We exploit the peculiarities of NCD to build a new framework, named Neighborhood Contrastive Learning (NCL), to learn discriminative representations that are important to clustering performance. Our contribution is twofold. First, we find that a feature extractor trained on the labeled set generates representations in which a generic query sample and its neighbors are likely to share the same class. We exploit this observation to retrieve and aggregate pseudo-positive pairs with contrastive learning, thus encouraging the model to learn more discriminative representations. Second, we notice that most of the instances are easily discriminated by the network, contributing less to the contrastive loss. To overcome this issue, we propose to generate hard negatives by mixing labeled and unlabeled samples in the feature space. We experimentally demonstrate that these two ingredients significantly contribute to clustering performance and lead our model to outperform state-of-the-art methods by a large margin (e.g., clustering accuracy +13% on CIFAR-100 and +8% on ImageNet).


This study was conducted to examine the relationships between problem solving skills, perceived stress and life satisfaction. In addition, it was aimed to determine how these variables changed according to demographic characteristics. The sample group of the research consists of a total of 430 high school students determined by the convenient sampling method. The research was designed with the Relational Screening Model. In the research, ' Sociodemographic Information Form', 'Problem Solving Skills Inventory', 'Perceived Stress Scale' and 'Life Satisfaction Scale' were used as data collection tools . Independent Groups t-Test, One-Way Analysis of Variance and Pearson Correlation Analysis were used in the analysis of the data.

Findings obtained from the research show that there is a negative correlation between problem solving skills and perceived stress; It shows that there is a positive relationship between problem solving skills and life satisfaction, and a negative and statistically significant relationship between perceived stress and life satisfaction.


ABSTRACT Objective: To present a case of granulomatous perioral dermatitis (GPD) with extra-facial involvement and good response to short-term treatment with oral macrolide. Case description: A 9-year-old girl presented with exuberant GPD with extra-facial involvement. During follow-up, she received multiple ineffective therapies, but showed significant improvement of the lesions after the use of azithromycin for five days. Comments: GPD is an inflammatory dermatological condition represented by papulo-erythematous eruptions on perioral, nasal and periorbital regions, more prevalent in children and adolescents. It rarely extends to the genital region, trunk, and extremities, which characterizes its extra-facial manifestation. Its etiology is unknown, but it seems to have a correlation with the use of topical corticosteroids and other agents.


Abstract Background  Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are likely to have a poor prognosis including bleedings following transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Closure time of adenosine diphosphate (CT-ADP) is a primary hemostasis point-of-care test and is a predictor of bleeding events following TAVR. We aimed to evaluate the impact of ongoing primary hemostatic disorders on bleeding events in TAVR patients with AF. Methods  We enrolled 878 patients from our prospective registry. The primary endpoint was VARC-2 major/life-threatening bleeding complications (MLBCs) at 1 year after TAVR and secondary endpoint was major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) at 1 year, defined as a composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction, stroke, and heart failure hospitalization. Ongoing primary hemostatic disorder was defined by a postprocedural CT-ADP >180 seconds. Results  Patients with AF had a higher incidence of MLBCs (20 vs. 12%, p  = 0.002), MACCE (29 vs. 20%, p  = 0.002), and all-cause mortality (15 vs. 8%, p  = 0.002) within 1 year compared to non-AF patients. When the cohort was split into four subgroups according to AF and CT-ADP >180 seconds, patients with AF and CT-ADP >180 seconds had the highest risk of MLBCs and MACCE. Multivariate Cox regression analysis confirmed that the patients with AF and CT-ADP >180 seconds had 3.9-fold higher risk of MLBCs, whereas those patients were no longer associated with MACCE after the adjustment. Conclusion  In TAVR patients, AF with postprocedural CT-ADP >180 seconds was strongly associated with MLBCs following TAVR. Our study suggests that persistent primary hemostatic disorders contribute to a higher risk of bleeding events particularly in AF patients.


The dynamics of the phosphate chains and the attendant shear relaxation in a short-chain silver phosphate glass-forming liquid with the composition 51.5%Ag2O-48.5% P2O5 are studied using a combination of high-temperature 31P NMR spectroscopy and parallel plate rheometry. The temperature-dependent evolution of the 31P NMR spectral line shapes indicates that the constituent PO4 tetrahedral chains in this liquid undergo rapid rotational reorientation. The time scale of this dynamics is in complete agreement with that of shear relaxation and, thus, must be responsible for the viscous flow of this liquid. These results demonstrate for the first time that, although the shear relaxation of the network oxide glass-forming liquids is typically controlled by the scission and renewal of bonds between the network-forming cations and oxygen atoms, such a scenario may not always be tenable for liquids with low-dimensional structures consisting of chains.


While toothpaste F(-) concentration and rinsing regimen have well-characterised impacts on fluoride's effectiveness, other aspects of brushing regimen have much less well-established effects, in particular, dentifrice quantity and brushing duration. An in vivo study (n = 42) of oral fluoride delivery (i.e. oral disposition post-brushing), and retention (i.e. concentration of F(-) in saliva post-brushing, a known efficacy predictor), was performed to compare effects observed with those of dentifrice F(-) concentration and rinsing regimen. Subjects brushed with a NaF-silica dentifrice (Aquafresh Advanced, 1,150 ppm F(-) ) or a control dentifrice (250 ppm F(-) , same base), for 45, 60, 120 or 180 seconds with 0.5 or 1.5 g dentifrice, and rinsed with 15 ml water once or three times in a cross-over design. The F(-) concentration was measured in post-brushing expectorate, rinse and toothbrush washing samples, and in saliva between 5-120 minutes after brushing. Using 1.5 g versus 0.5 g dentifrice increased F(-) in all samples: oral retention of F(-) was almost doubled by this increase. Increasing duration of brushing had more complex effects. The amount of F(-) in the expectorate increased but decreased in both rinse and toothbrush washing samples. Oral F(-) retention increased, but only in the period 30-120 minutes after brushing. Over the ranges investigated, the order of importance on oral F(-) retention was: dentifrice F(-) concentration > quantity > rinsing regimen > brushing duration. Hence, increasing dentifrice quantity and, to a lesser extent, the duration of brushing, can elevate oral fluoride post-brushing. Evidence is accumulating that the importance of these variables to fluoride efficacy may have been underestimated.


Type B lactic acidosis is rare among patients with malignant diseases. To date only one case report has documented lactic acidosis occurring in a patient with multiple myeloma (MM). Our patient, a 55-year-old black man, was diagnosed with stage IIIA immunoglobulin G-kappa (IgG- κ ) MM in September 1995. He was found to have severe lactic acidosis at the time of second relapse. During the terminal phase of his disease, he required multiple hospitalizations for management of lactic acidosis and other complications of his MM. No other cause of his elevated lactate levels was identified. Although type B lactic acidosis may more commonly occur in patients with leukemia or lymphoma, it may rarely present in patients with rapidly progressive and refractory MM.


Objectives Although many trials have assessed the effect of acupuncture on knee osteoarthritis (KOA), its efficacy remains controversial. Sham acupuncture techniques are regarded as representative control interventions in acupuncture trials and sometimes incorporate the use of sham devices (base units) to support a non-penetrating needle. To achieve successful blinding, these trials also use acupuncture base units in the verum acupuncture group. Base units are not used in real-world clinical settings. We aimed to assess the effect sizes of verum and sham acupuncture for KOA in sham-controlled trials with or without base units. Methods A total of 10 electronic databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the efficacy of verum manual acupuncture and sham acupuncture for the treatment of KOA were searched for articles published before April 12, 2022. The primary outcome was pain intensity, and the secondary outcomes included physical function. The first assessment after the end of treatment was chosen for analysis. Effect sizes are reported as standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, and publication bias was evaluated using a funnel plot and Egger's test. The quality of evidence for estimates was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) approach. Results Fifteen RCTs were included. There was generally a low risk of bias except for the difficulty in blinding acupuncture therapists (performance bias). Compared to verum acupuncture in sham-controlled trials using base units, verum acupuncture in sham-controlled trials without base units was more effective for improving pain (SMD −0.56, 95% CI −1.09 to −0.03) and function (SMD −0.73, 95% CI −1.36 to −0.10) in KOA. The quality of evidence for network estimates was moderate to low due to the risk of bias and imprecision. Conclusion These findings suggest that verum acupuncture in different types of sham-controlled trials has different effect sizes for KOA. Because base units are not used in clinical settings, the results of verum acupuncture in sham-controlled trials with base units need to be interpreted carefully. Systematic review registration https://www.researchregistry.com/browse-the-registry#registryofsystematicreviewsmeta-analyses/registryofsystematicreviewsmeta-analysesdetails/6269f962606c5e001fd8790c/, identifier reviewregistry1351.


Background: Primary pulmonary sarcoma (PPS) accounts for less than 1.1% of all pulmonary tumors. Few data outcomes are reported. This study aims to clarify the predictive value of clinicopathologic features on the overall survival (OS) of PPS patients.Methods: Patients with primary pulmonary sarcoma (PPS) were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (from 2000 to 2015) and divided randomly into training and validation cohorts at a ratio of 1:1. Univariate Cox analysis and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) were implemented to identify prognostic factors related to overall survival of primary pulmonary sarcoma patients. Then, we performed multivariate Cox regression to establish a prognostic factors signature. The Kaplan- Meier (K-M) survival curves and time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to estimate the prognostic power of the signature. In addition, multivariate Cox regression screened out independent prognostic factors and constructed a nomogram. Results: PPS patients with training group were divided into low- and high-risk group based on risk score, and high-risk group had a shorter survival time. The validation group got the same result. (P<0.001). On multivariate analysis of the training cohort, independent factors for survival were marriage, age, sex, grade, operation, metastasis and tumor size, which were all selected into the nomogram. The calibration curve and ROC plots for probability of 3-year and 5-year survival were in accord with prediction by nomogram and actual observation. And the C-index of the nomogram for predicting survival was 0.77 (95% CI, 0.74 to 0.80, P<0.05), which was statistically significant. Conclusion: We constructed a risk prognosis model based on PPS patients from SEER database. In addition, the construction of nomogram provides one more idea for clinical treatment.


The variation of the rainfall-runoff relationship t will lead to the disappearance of the consistency assumption of engineering hydrology, which will influence the planning, design, operation management and development and utilization of water resources. Therefore, the variation diagnosis of the rainfall -runoff relationship has become one of the hot topics and key issues in this area. In this study, the variation points of the precipitation-runoff relationship are defined, the difference between the variation point and the mutation point is distinguished, and the method of variation classification is proposed based on the the dimensionless mean and variation coefficients. Then, a comprehensive diagnosis system of the rainfall-runoff relationship variation is constructed on the basis of systematically summarying and analyzing of the diagnosis method of rainfall - runoff relationship variation at home and abroad. Taking the Weihe River Basin as a case study, the comprehensive diagnosis system is verified by applying it to test the change point the annual runoff time series at the Huaxian hydrological station. And the results show that the comprehensive diagnosis method proposed in this paper is scientific and reasonable.


Introduction : self-care activities require a lot of adaptation from people living with type 2 diabetes.Context : existing interventions to support self-care are often determined by a conventional vision focused on managing the disease.Objective : this article aims to present the difficulties of people living with type 2 diabetes in relation with the Audulv, Asplund and Norbergh self-care integration model.Method : a narrative review of the literature on self-care in adults with type 2 diabetes was conducted on the CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PASCAL and FRANÇIS databases.Results : 29 articles were selected. The main difficulties related to self-care are identified according to the four phases of the self-care integration model and the four factors related to the person's life context.Discussion : nurses could pull out some benefits from using the Audulv model by understanding the difficulties that the patients are living with and using this method, they could intervene with a better understanding towards the patients.Conclusion : further studies are needed to elaborate strategies to support people according to each of the identified difficulties.


With the advent of novel services such as IPTV and videoconferencing broadband DSL networks are facing enormous challenges. These services have strict QoS demands in terms of packet loss, jitter and delay. In an effort to meet these demands, operators introduced centralized admission control mechanisms to avoid congestion when too many session were allowed. These centralized approaches often fail to effectively manage the available resources mainly because of the bursty nature of multimedia traffic. When transmitting variable bit rate videos resources are reserved based on the peak rate of the video. This leads to under-utilisation of the network. Measurement based admission control mechanism have been proposed such as the IETF Pre-Congestion Notification (PCN) to allow better network utilisation. Each node in the PCN domain measures the network load and admits or blocks accordingly sessions at the edges of the network. Previous research proposed bandwidth metering and an autonomic rate adaptation algorithm which led to a better utilisation of the network but still introduced unnecessary bandwidth headroom caused by the variable bit rate of videos. In this paper, we propose an additional buffering step before traffic enters the PCN domain and determine configuration guidelines for the parameters. The performance of this buffering step has been evaluated in an NS - 2 based simulator environment. The conducted tests show a 26.5% increase of network utilisation.


Organophosphorus pesticides are used widely for agriculture, vector control, and domestic purposes. Despite the apparent benefits of these uses acute organophosphorus pesticide poisoning is an increasing worldwide problem, particularly in rural areas. Their toxicity has been recognised since the 1930s, when they were also developed for use as chemical warfare agents. Our aim is to provide an evidence based review of the pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of acute organophosphorus pesticide poisoning. We emphasize that in future, especially in developing countries, Government authorities should be encouraged to control organophosphate product licensing, manufacture, storage, import, methods of use and delivery, food contamination and disposal.


In view of the long-recognized difficulties in detecting interactions among continuous variables in moderated multiple regression analysis, this article aims to address the problem by providing feasible solutions to power calculation and sample size determination for significance test of moderating effects. The proposed approach incorporates the essential factors of strength of moderator effect, magnitude of error variation, and distributional property of predictor and moderator variables into a unified framework. Accordingly, careful consideration across different plausible and practical configurations of the prescribed factors is an important aspect of power and sample size computations in planning moderated multiple regression research. The performance of the suggested procedure and an alternative simplified method is illustrated with detailed numerical studies. The simulation results demonstrate that an acceptable degree of accuracy can be obtained using the recommended method in assessing moderated relationships.


The moire crack tip strain measurements made on double-edge-notched specimens loaded into the region of general yielding are compared with the finite element method (FEM) calculations. If the ratio of specimen thicknessand the total net cross-sectional width, (W-2a)/t, is equal to or more than ten, the bulk of the strain measurements agree well with the results of the plane stress calculations except in the small area close to the crack tip. The crack tip region is stiffened by the triaxial state of stress, and the deformation within the stiffened zone is less than that calculated for the plane stress model. The region affected by the crack tip stiffening extends to a distance from the crack tip equal to specimen thickness. This crack tip stiffened zone is imbedded in the characteristic plane stress zone if (W-2a)/t is larger or equal to ten.


Tetragonal (space group f4 macr) single crystals of NaY(WO4)2 doped with Yb to a density of 4.52 times 1020 cm-3 have been employed as laser active materials for the 1-mum spectral range, operating at room temperature. Using Ti:sapphire laser pumping, slope efficiencies as high as 74.6% were achieved without special cooling for the pi-polarization. The Yb-laser was continuously tunable from 1003.7 to 1073.0 nm with a birefringent filter. Pulses as short as 53 fs were obtained at 1035 nm by SESAM passive mode-locking with intracavity dispersion compensation and additional extracavity pulse compression using analogous prism pairs. Experimental data on the spectroscopic properties of Yb3+ in the 5-300 K temperature range and the room temperature optical properties of this novel Yb-host is also presented.


Superconducting implementation of neural circuits is presented. A neuron element is composed of a coupled-SQUID, which is a combination of a single-junction SQUID and a double-junction SQUID. A synapse element is composed of multiple double-junction SQUIDs. To demonstrate the abilities of these circuits experimentally, a 8-bit neural-based A/D converter, which contains three neurons and three synapses, has been fabricated using a niobium integration technology. This is the first successful implementation of both neuron and active synapse elements into a superconducting neural network.<<ETX>>


A Mus dunni cell line has been developed that is permissive for all four classes of murine leukemia viruses (MuLV): ecotropic, amphotropic, xenotropic, and mink cell focus-forming viruses. The M. dunni cells contain fewer MuLV-related sequences than do feral or domestic mouse, rat, or mink cells. Infection of the line by ecotropic MuLV induces a distinct cytopathic effect, and the cells can be readily transfected by MuLV DNA. The M. dunni line has been used to isolate an endogenous MuLV from the SC-1 feral mouse cell line.


AIM To study the relation between fetal growth and markers of collagen metabolism and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) in term infants. METHODS Cord vein plasma was obtained from 67 term infants of gestational age 37.1–41.7 weeks (39 appropriate for gestational age (AGA), 11 large for gestational age (LGA; relative birth weight ⩾ 2.0 SD), and 17 small for gestational age (SGA; relative birth weight ⩽ −2.0 SD)) for analysis of markers of metabolism of collagen type I (PICP and ICTP) and III (PIIINP) and of IGFBP-1. RESULTS Negative correlations existed between gestational age and PICP (r = −0.294, p = 0.0158), ICTP (r = −0.338, p = 0.0052), and PIIINP (r = −0.432, p = 0.0003). These correlations were also found in SGA infants (all p < 0.05). IGFBP-1 showed negative correlations with birth weight and relative birth weight (r = −0.644, p = 0.0001, andr = −0.693, p = 0.0001 respectively) but not with gestational age (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS In the term fetus, collagen metabolism is primarily dependent on maturity and not on intrauterine growth status, whereas IGFBP-1 reflects intrauterine growth independently of maturity.


Dinitrotoluene (DNT) and toluene diamine (TDA) are intermediates in the production of toluene diisocyanate and polyurethane plastics. Some reproductive effects in rodents have been reported; and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reported probable reproductive toxic effect to humans after a preliminary survey. Accordingly, 84 workers exposed to DNT/TDA (classified by intensity and recency of exposure) and 119 nonexposed workers were studied at Olin's chemical complex at Lake Charles, La. Each worker was the subject of a physician's urogenital examination, a reproductive and fertility questionnaire, an estimation of testicular volume, an assessment of serum follicle-stimulating hormone, and an analysis of semen for sperm count and morphology. No differences were found between the exposed and control groups among any of these variables. Although both TDA and DNT are readily absorbed (percutaneous, inhalation, ingestion), they did not present detectable reproductive hazard to the workers.


A 31-year-old woman was admitted to the local department of endocrinology for control of known anti-TPO positive hypothyroidism during pregnancy. The clinician noticed a remarkable hyperpigmentation. Primary adrenal insufficiency was diagnosed and treatment with cortico- and mineralosteroids commenced. Diagnosis of primary adrenal insufficiency during pregnancy is challenging as many symptoms overlap with normal symptoms of pregnancy. The usual diagnostic criteria cannot be used due to the altered hormone concentrations during pregnancy.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common multifactorial diseases, including a range of abnormal cellular/molecular processes occurring in different regions of the brain. This disease is considered to be a major contributor to dementia in the elderly people. The pathophysiology involves accumulation of extracellular plaques containing the β-amyloid protein which is generated by the breakdown of the β-amyloid precursor protein (APP) in the brain. Another mechanism involves formation of intracellular neurofibrillary tangles of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. The AD can be classified into two types, familial AD (FAD) and sporadic AD (SAD) based on heritability apart from this the early-onset AD (EOAD) and late-onset AD (LOAD) forms are based on the age of onset. Some proteins, such as APOE, APP, BACE (b-amyloid cleaving enzyme), secretases, PS1/2 and tau proteins are reported in AD brain and have been correlated with disease. It is still unclear whether this disease comprises genetic or environmental factors or both. Many palliative drugs are available for the disease but there is still thirst for curative drugs with greater efficacy. It is required to understand the key factors involved in disease progression and their suitability as drug targets for discovering new drugs against Alzheimer's disease. Main purpose of this review is to highlight the potential targets for Alzheimer's disease that have been studied in recent years.


ABSTRACT Wang, A. M.; Wang, H. J.; Bi, N. S., and Wu, X., 2016. Sediment transport and dispersal pattern from the Bohai Sea to the Yellow Sea. Suspended sediment flux, dispersal patterns and its possible mechanisms in the Bohai Sea were investigated based on the observational data in May and November, 2012, data retrieved from MODIS imageries and the ocean current data from HYCOM. The sediment dispersal pattern and the annual net sediment flux presented evident seasonal variability. During wintertime, the prevailing strong northerly winds and the related high wave heights resuspended the sediment along the coast of the Huanghe Delta that was transported into the Laizhou Bay along its western coast and exported to the Bohai Strait through the eastern Laizhou Bay as enhanced by the coastal current. The wintertime contributed approximately 4.84 Mt of suspended sediment flux to the Yellow Sea, as higher than the flux in summertime by one order. In summertime, the less energetic environment together with the stratified water column was unfavorable to the sediment export to the Yellow Sea. As a result, the sediment delivered by the Huanghe to the sea in summertime mostly accumulated within the subaqueous delta, which acted as a primary source of sediment export to the Yellow Sea in wintertime.


Two cases of suicide are reported for clients whose treating therapists disagreed about treatment. Therapists treating depressed and suicidal clients should be aware of the dangers to the client should such disagreement occur. Therapists should work together to formulate a treatment plan that is in a client's best interest.


Database design is often described as an intuitive, even artistic, process. Many researchers, however, are currently working on applying techniques from artificial intelligence to provide effective automated assistance for this task. This article presents a summary of the current state of the art for the benefit of future researchers and users of this technology. Thirteen examples of knowledge-based tools for database design are briefly described and then compared in terms of the source, content, and structure of their knowledge bases; the amount of support they provide to the human designer; the data models and phases of the design process they support; and the capabilities they expect of their users. The finding show that there has apparently been very little empirical verification of the effectiveness of these systems. In addition, most rely exclusively on knowledge provided by the developers themselves and have little ability to expand their knowledge based on experience. Although such systems ideally would be used by application specialists rather than database professionals, most of these systems expect the user to have some knowledge of database technology.


AUTHOR Scanlan, Peter A.; Dokecki, Paul R. TITLE The Effects of Adult Constraint and Peer Influence on the Development of Facial Awareness-Attitudes of Three-, Foul-, and Five-Year-Old Children. INSTITUTION George Peabody Coll. for Teachers, Nashville Tenn. Demonstration and Research Center for Early Education. SFOHS AGENCY National Coordination Center for Early Childhood Education, St. Ann Mo,; Office of Education (DBEW), Washington, D.C. REPORT NO DARCEE-P-3H0P03-2 PUB DATE May 73 CONTRACT WPECE-70-006 NOTE 33p.


We described a 4-month-old boy with cerebral infarction due to streptococcal meningitis. He complained of cough and high fever for 2 days. On the next day he admitted to our hospital because of bad humor, drowsiness, and vomiting associated with high fever, respiratory failure and loss of consciousness. On admission, he had opisthotonic posturing, anisocoria and elevated deep tendon reflexes with left side dominance. The cerebrospinal fluid showed increased cells (564/mm3), protein (295 mg/dl), and decreased sugar (1 mg/dl). Streptococcus pneumoniae was detected in the cerebrospinal fluid. Despite intensive treatment by antibiotics, glycerol, and dexamethasone, general condition was worsened, MRI showed a high intense area along the territory of bilateral anterior cerebral arteries and left middle cerebral artery 3-D time-of-flight MRA revealed a decreased signal of these arteries, confirming cerebral infarction. Recanalization of the arteries were observed 17 days after the first MRA examination. Since complication of cerebral infarction influences the prognosis of meningitis, repetitive MRA is very beneficial in patients with bacterial meningitis in order to evaluate the vascular lesion.


This paper proposes an isolated cascaded multilevel inverter employing low-frequency three-phase transformers and a single DC input power source. The proposed circuit configuration can reduce a number of transformers compared with traditional three-phase multilevel inverters using single-phase transformers. It controls switching phase angles to obtain an optimal switching pattern identified with the fundamental frequency of the output voltage. Owing to this control strategy, harmonic components of the output voltage and switching losses can be diminished considerably. To verify the performance of the proposed approach, we implemented computer-aided simulations and experiments using a prototype.


A novel method is used for preparing liquid rubber-toughened epoxy blend, in which an initiator was added to the liquid rubber–epoxy mixture to initiate crosslinking reaction of liquid rubber, and then curing agent was added to form the thermoset. Two epoxy blends with carboxyl-terminated butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymers were prepared using traditional and novel methods respectively. Results indicated that the novel rubber-toughened epoxy blend exhibited much better mechanical properties than its traditional counterpart. The morphologies of the blends were explored by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), it was revealed that the use of the novel method formed a local interpenetrating network structure in the blend, which substantially improved the interfacial adhesion. The impact fracture surfaces of the two blends were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to explore the toughening mechanism, it was found that crack pinning was the major toughening mechanism for the novel rubber-toughened epoxy blend. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was applied to determine the Tg values of the blends, which were found to be close. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 41110.


Background Microbial species often harbor substantial functional diversity driven by structural genetic variation. Rapid adaptation from such standing variation in pathogens threatens global food security and human health. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) provide a powerful approach to identify genetic variants underlying recent pathogen evolution. However, the reliance on single reference genomes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) obscures the true extent of adaptive genetic variation. Here, we show quantitatively how a combination of multiple reference genomes and reference-free approaches captures substantially more relevant genetic variation compared to single reference mapping. Results We performed reference-genome based association mapping across 19 reference-quality genomes covering the diversity of the species. We contrasted the results with a reference-free (i.e., K-mer) approach using raw whole genome sequencing data. We assessed the relative power of these GWAS approaches in a panel of 145 strains collected across the global distribution range of the fungal wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici. We mapped the genetic architecture of 49 life history traits including virulence, reproduction and growth in multiple stressful environments. The inclusion of additional reference genome SNP datasets provides a nearly linear increase in additional loci mapped through GWAS. Variants detected through the K-mer approach explained a higher proportion of phenotypic variation than a reference genome based approach, illustrating the benefits of including genetic variants beyond SNPs. Conclusions Our study demonstrates how the power of GWAS in microbial species can be significantly enhanced by comprehensively capturing functional genetic variation. Our approach is generalizable to a large number of microbial species and will uncover novel mechanisms driving rapid adaptation in microbial populations.


We reconsider the singular control problem with marginal stability of the closed loop system, when the transfer matrix from the input to the output can have linearly dependent columns, and zeros on the extended imaginary axis. We present a new theoretical (existence) result and a new numerical algorithm, based on finding an orthogonal transformation of the matrix pencil associated to the Euler-Lagrange differential equations into a block-triangular form. We present an application in linear quadratic control of descriptor systems, under the constraints of physical realizability of the control and impulse-free and marginally stable closed-loop system.


OBJECTIVES
In this retrospective study, we aimed to compare single-port (SP) and multiport (MP) video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for the surgical resection of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

METHODS
Between October 2013 and October 2014, a total of 411 consecutive NSCLC patients who underwent VATS lobectomy in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, were enrolled. Propensity-matched analysis, incorporating preoperative clinical features, was used to compare the perioperative outcomes and analyse the safety and efficacy between SP and MP VATS lobectomies for NSCLCs.

RESULTS
There were 115 patients in the SP group, and 296 patients in the MP group from October 2013 to October 2014. Propensity matching produced 100 pairs in this retrospective study. During the operation, the lobectomy took less time in the SP than in the MP (65.7 ± 14.8 vs 81.3 ± 13.6, P < 0.001) group, while the duration of lymphadenectomy was longer in the SP group (29.6 ± 16.7 vs 17.4 ± 13.3, P < 0.001). The total operation duration, the volume of estimated blood loss (55.1 ± 9.0 ml vs 58.7 ± 7.1 ml, P = 0.22) and the length of postoperative hospital stay (4.7 ± 1.2 days vs 5.3 ± 1.4 days, P = 0.05) were similar between the two groups. Postoperatively, SP and MP groups showed similar results in terms of morbidity and mortality.

CONCLUSIONS
In comparison with conventional VATS, SP VATS lobectomy showed better safety and efficacy in the surgical resection of NSCLCs. Further studies based on larger populations and better methodology are required to determine its further benefits towards patients.


A patient is described who presented hemolysis after a chest and head trauma. We checked out every possible cause of anemia and our conclusion is that trauma itself was the cause of hemolysis. As an explanation, we suggest that red blood cells were broken in lung capillaries because of endothelial damage due to pulmonary injury.


Tommy J. Curry considers Wright's views on gender in terms of the historical reality of black males' vulnerability to sexual violence at the hands of white men and white women. Curry explores Wright's impassioned response to the 1951 trial and execution of fellow Mississippi native Willie McGee. McGee had been charged with having raped a white woman, Williametta Hawkins, who had been described as his mistress but who, in fact, had threatened to cry rape if he refused her advances. Curry reports that at that time, black men, often out of economic need, were sometimes coerced into sexual intercourse by threats of false accusations of rape. Otherwise, they would be either literally or metaphorically lynched. In a way unprecedented in Wright scholarship, Curry frames Wright's "The Man of All Work" as an allegory for the rape of McGee. In the story, a black man cross-dresses in search of employment in domestic work. This leads to a series of misunderstandings and misidentifications by whites that almost kill him. Curry concludes that this story was far more than a clever plot: it effectively expressed a particular set of humiliations and dilemmas faced by black men.


Silicon nitride (SiN) drumhead resonators offer a promising platform for thermal sensing due to their high mechanical quality factor and the high temperature sensitivity of their resonance frequency. As such, gaining an understanding of heat transport in SiN resonators as well as their sensing noise limitations is of interest, both of which are goals of the present work. We first present new experimental results on radiative heat transport in SiN membrane, which we use for benchmarking two recently proposed theoretical models. We measure the characteristic thermal response time of square SiN membranes with a thickness of 90 $\pm$ 1.7 nm and side lengths from 1.5 to 12 mm. A clear transition between radiation and conduction dominated heat transport is measured, in close correspondence with theory. In the second portion of this work, we use our experimentally validated heat transport model to provide a closed-form expression for thermal fluctuation-induced frequency noise in SiN membrane resonators. We find that, for large area SiN membranes, thermal fluctuations can be greater than thermomechanical contributions to frequency noise. For the specific case of thermal radiation sensing applications, we also derive the noise equivalent power resulting from thermal fluctuation-induced frequency noise, and we show in which conditions it reduces to the classical detectivity limit of thermal radiation sensors. Our work therefore provides a path towards achieving thermal radiation sensors operating at the never attained fundamental detectivity limit of bolometric sensing. We also identify questions that remain when attempting to push the limits of radiation sensing, in particular, the effect of thermal fluctuation noise in closed-loop frequency tracking schemes remains to be clarified.


This article investigates the language choice in shop names in Saudi Arabia, and the factors that determine the language choice and the reasons for preferring English to Arabic names. A sample of 500 shop names in 12 cities was collected from a Saudi Mall Directory and analyzed. In addition, a sample of 75 students and instructors from the departments of languages, translation, education, computer science and business and 25 shop owners and workers were surveyed. It was found that 64% of the shops have foreign names (25% international foreign names and 39% local names); 24% have pure Arabic names and 12% have mixed names. Some shops with a foreign name add an Arabic descriptor which is a translation of the foreign name (Perfume (عطورات بارفيوم. Foreign names are used in some mall and shop names although Arabic equivalents exist. The students, faculty and shop owners and workers gave promotional, sociocultural, linguistic and globalization factors, and lack of a business naming policy. They indicated that foreign shop names are used as a marketing strategy to attract customers who prefer foreign merchandise to local ones. They think it is more glamorous to use a foreign name as foreign names are associated with modernity, prestige, and elitism. They can reach more customers. A foreign name gives the customer the impression that the store is keeping abreast of latest international markets. They faculty added that in our cognition, foreign names are connected with high quality. Our culture looks at English as more sophisticated and fancier. An English name has a different effect. Shop owners indicated that new entrepreneurs adopt a foreign name because they are worried about their ability to compete with other shops. Shops like to Imitate shops in the West. Some think that translating a shop name to Arabic creates a barrier between the customer and the foreign franchised company as the original name is in English. As an example, foreign names are used for promoting the Riyadh Season (Oasis, Winter Wonderland, Park Avenue (بوليفارد . The article gives recommendations for protecting the Arabic language, translating shop names, and choosing glamorous and attractive Arabic names.


Introduction Access to health care and care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic may be challenging for cancer patients. Several guidelines have been developed, which recommend treatment adjustments depending on the site of cancer, grade, and stage. However, few studies in India and across the globe have looked into the real challenges faced by cancer patients and assessed the effectiveness of the adopted interventions. This study was undertaken with the objective to study the challenges faced by cancer patients in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods This was a cross-sectional study undertaken between May 1, 2020 and May 15, 2020. A link to a prestructured questionnaire was sent through email to 100 randomly selected cancer patients in different stages of treatment and follow-up. Data were decoded and entered in Microsoft Excel 2010 and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Slot availability for teleconsultation, network issues, deferral of radiotherapy dates and long waiting hours beyond appointment time, transportation problems from residence to hospital, restriction of visitors/attendants, deferral of surgery, deferral of tumor boards, delay and deferral of advice of the nutritionist, problems faced in extension of visa, unavailability of peer group support services and psychological counseling sessions, difficulty in maintaining precautionary measures, availability of chemotherapy medications and availability of chemotherapy slots in day care were cited as problems faced by cancer patients. Majority (91.7%) of the study respondents mentioned an increase in their anxiety levels. Conclusion As highlighted in the study, cancer patients faced challenges in cancer care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study suggests the need for larger studies on cancer patient care during a pandemic.


Rising house prices in China have been of concern for investors and policymakers. Prices have risen substantially in the last decade, especially in large urban cities, and some economists have expressed concerns about the affordability of residential housing for young adults. This phenomenon becomes a major concern for policymakers, in terms of managing policies to balance the residential needs of individuals and the transition to a market economy. Theoretically, house prices ought to be linked to economic factors such as disposable income, availability of land to build and credit policy. However, it appears that traditional economic theories fail to appropriately explain house prices in China. We provide an explanation from the perspective of capital inflows into China. In terms of per capita remittances, China receives the highest inflow of foreign capital, and this may have a significant impact on risk adjusted returns in the Chinese market. To investigate this relationship, we use the vector error correction model to assess the impact of capital inflows on house prices. We find that capital inflows have a significant positive effect on house prices. The study makes important contributions to understanding the relationship between house prices and foreign remittances after controlling for other economic factors. China is a large economy. Because the impact of economic development in China has not been consistent across the country, we address the regional differences in the house price changes to capital inflows. Using regional data, we show that capital inflows have an asymmetric effect on the housing market across different provinces and cities of China. This has important implications for the development of economic policies in China that aim to provide fair access to residential housing for everyone. These findings are also relevant to investors in the housing market, whether investing for a personal residential home or as part of their diversified investment portfolio. It will also be informative to see how a reversal of capital inflows associated with tighter financing conditions in advanced countries will affect house prices in China.


Accurate three-dimensional (3D) models of lumbar vertebrae can enable image-based 3D kinematic analysis. The common approach to derive 3D models is by direct segmentation of CT or MRI datasets. However, these have the disadvantages that they are expensive, time-consuming and/or induce high-radiation doses to the patient. In this paper, we present a technique to reconstruct a scaled 3D lumbar vertebral model from a single two-dimensional (2D) lateral fluoroscopic image and a statistical shape model of the lumbar vertebrae. Four cadaveric lumbar spine segments (totally twelve lumbar vertebrae) were used to validate the technique. To evaluate the reconstruction accuracy, the surface models reconstructed from the lateral fluoroscopic images were compared to the associated ground truth data derived from a 3D CT-scan reconstruction technique. For each case, a surface-based matching was first used to recover the scale and the rigid transformation between the reconstructed surface models and the ground truth model before the distances between the two discrete surface models were computed. An average error of 1.0 mm was found when the present technique was used to reconstruct the surface models of all twelve lumbar vertebrae.


Western Baltic spring-spawning herring (WBSSH, Clupea harengus L.) perform seasonal migrations between feeding grounds in the Skagerrak and Kattegat and their spawning sites in the Western Baltic Sea. The Sound, connecting the Kattegat to the Western Baltic Sea, is an important aggregation and transition zone for this herring stock during its spawning migration. We analysed data from the German autumn acoustic surveys of the years 1993 –2009. These data revealed at least two different distribution patterns of herring in autumn: herring generally aggregated in the Sound, but in some years the majority of herring were detected further south, being outside of the Sound by the time of the survey. We tested whether observed annual differences in the herring migration can be explained by either stock characteristics (age and size) or hydrographical variables (salinity and oxygen concentration). Our results suggest that rather than being related to stock characteristics, the distribution pattern of herring was related to environmental conditions, i.e. to marine inflow events into the Baltic Sea. Barotropic inflow events in late summer and early autumn seem to prevent deoxygenation in the Sound and thereby favour the prolonged aggregation of herring in the Sound.


Collision prevention strategy in ATM is not only a short-term coordination between safety and efficiency, but also a long-term planning for national policy of airspace and air transportation system. The optimization of system should be based on good command of equipment, staff, procedure and operation restriction to meet the real-time requirement and integrity. Essentially, collision prevention strategy in ATM consists in finding synthetic and effective automatized avoidance methods in order to reduce the possibility of dangerous approach or collision, of which the conflict detection, conflict resolution and resolution trajectory optimization are the key technology. This paper proposes a research on the standard of intelligent prevention of collision, and theory and methodology of its optimization from the systems engineering perspective. This paper describes thoroughly the decisionmaking procedure of ATC, establishes the optimized target for ATC's decision-making, and puts forward an optimization of conflict detection and conflict resolution between several aircrafts in 4D space. The medium and long term collision prevention strategy through adjusting speed or altitude and short-term collision prevention strategy through adjusting heading makes the intelligent ATC system a perfect one.


Peri-implantitis is an infection of the tissue around an implant, resulting in the loss of supporting bone. Risk factors for peri-implantitis consist of a history of periodontitis, dental plaque, poor oral hygiene, smoking, alcohol consumption and diabetes. A clinical diagnosis indicates inflammatory signs including bleeding on probing with or without suppuration and a peri-implant pocket depth ≥5 mm. A radiograph shows images of marginal bone loss ≥2 mm. A differential diagnosis of peri-implant mucositis, occlusal overload, retrograde peri-implantitis and inflammatory implant periapical lesions suggests the appropriate treatment in each case. The non-surgical treatment of peri-implantitis, including a mechanical treatment alone or combined with antiseptics or antibiotics can improve clinical parameters in the short term but residual defects may still persist. Surgical treatment such as guided bone regeneration results in a gain of clinical attachment level and bone reconstruction in the long term. The limited effect of laser-assisted therapy needs to be further evaluated. The concept of prevention based on early detection and regular maintenance plays a principal role in reducing the occurrence of peri-implantitis.


> "Sic transit gloria mundi"
>
> The glories of this world are brief (Thomas a Kempis, 1379–1471)

To give a talk at a world congress is a great privilege, but when the speaker is well past his prime and has nothing new to say, attendance is likely to be frugal. A strategy that might gain a modicum of attention is to add the above title to your intended talk. Experience indicates that you may thus gain unwarranted attention of many, including senior physicians, from many countries who may listen in unspoken hope that you might mention their names in your differential diagnosis. Failure to do so could lose many old friends. To avoid this hazard, your talk should also contain two safety clauses. 'Best known' should be construed as a name familiar not only to neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuroscientists and general physicians but also to the general public and the world at large, including the media; a second precaution is to emphasise that fame should be enduring. The audience could be reminded that at the inaugural ceremony of each newly elected pope, ashes are thrice scattered across his path accompanied by recitation of above quotation.

Distinguished clinicians are no exception to this salutary reminder. Recall the fate of once eminent physicians. Influential lectures, authoritative books and publications soon fade from library shelves and contemporary reference lists; portraits which once graced the walls of medical schools and universities are gradually replaced, and within a generation or so memories of great neurologists are all but forgotten. How many present readers can recall the names of eight of my outstanding teachers (figure 1)?

Figure 1
Eight outstanding teachers.

At this point, members of your audience may show signs of disappointment as the odds against nomination increase; others may then reflect on possible candidates from their own countries …


Two novel endornaviruses, Phytophthora endornavirus 2 (PEV2) and Phytophthora endornavirus 3 (PEV3) were found in isolates of a Phytophthora pathogen of asparagus collected in Japan. A molecular phylogenetic analysis indicated that PEV2 and PEV3 belong to the genus Alphaendornavirus. The PEV2 and PEV3 genomes consist of 14,345 and 13,810 bp, and they contain single open reading frames of 4,640 and 4,603 codons, respectively. Their polyproteins contain the conserved domains of an RNA helicase, a UDP-glycosyltransferase, and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, which are conserved in other alphaendornaviruses. PEV2 is closely related to Brown algae endornavirus 2, whereas PEV3 is closely related to Phytophthora endornavirus 1 (PEV1), which infects a Phytophthora sp. specific to Douglas fir. PEV2 and PEV3 were detected at high titers in two original Phytophthora sp. isolates, and we found a sub-isolate with low titers of the viruses during subculture. We used the high- and low-titer isolates to evaluate the effects of the viruses on the growth, development, and fungicide sensitivities of the Phytophthora sp. host. The high-titer isolates produced smaller mycelial colonies and much higher numbers of zoosporangia than the low-titer isolate. These results suggest that PEV2 and PEV3 inhibited hyphal growth and stimulated zoosporangium formation. The high-titer isolates were more sensitive than the low-titer isolate to the fungicides benthiavalicarb-isopropyl, famoxadone, and chlorothalonil. In contrast, the high-titer isolates displayed lower sensitivity to the fungicide metalaxyl (an inhibitor of RNA polymerase I) when compared with the low-titer isolate. These results indicate that persistent infection with PEV2 and PEV3 may potentially affect the fungicide sensitivities of the host oomycete.


This review presents a survey of work using resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization and double-resonance techniques to study excited-state photoionization dynamics in molecules. These techniques routinely provide detail and precision that are difficult to achieve in single-photon ionization from the ground state. The review not only emphasizes new aspects of photoionization revealed in the excited-state experiments but also shows how the excited-state techniques can provide textbook illustrations of some fundamental mechanisms in molecular photoionization dynamics. Most of the examples are confined to diatomic molecules.


That dilatation of the ureter will result from obstruction is apparent, but that it may be acquired in the absence of any form of mechanical obstruction is perhaps less obvious and at first glance paradoxical. Atony of the ureter, by which is meant loss of functional ability of the muscle of the ureter, whereby peristalsis is weak or absent, was first recognized by Russian observers as a cause of ureteral dilatation. Further, they conceived the idea that atony and dilatation may result from inflammation. In this country Braasch repeatedly has called attention to this inflammatory dilatation, but by most observers such a possibility has not been appreciated or has been frankly doubted. It is also true that certain obstructive factors commonly assumed to cause ureteral dilatation are in fact of obscure mechanism. Thus, there has been much speculation over the ureteral dilatation which accompanies pregnancy, and also over that which


Abstract. Melt from supraglacial ice cliffs is an important contributor to the mass
loss of debris-covered glaciers. However, ice cliff contribution is
difficult to quantify as they are highly dynamic features, and the paucity
of observations of melt rates and their variability leads to large modelling
uncertainties. We quantify monsoon season melt and 3D evolution of four ice
cliffs over two debris-covered glaciers in High Mountain Asia (Langtang
Glacier, Nepal, and 24K Glacier, China) at very high resolution using
terrestrial photogrammetry applied to imagery captured from time-lapse
cameras installed on lateral moraines. We derive weekly flow-corrected digital elevation models (DEMs)
of the glacier surface with a maximum vertical bias of ±0.2 m for Langtang Glacier and ±0.05 m for 24K Glacier and use change detection
to determine distributed melt rates at the surfaces of the ice cliffs
throughout the study period. We compare the measured melt patterns with
those derived from a 3D energy balance model to derive the contribution of
the main energy fluxes. We find that ice cliff melt varies considerably
throughout the melt season, with maximum melt rates of 5 to
8 cm d−1,
and their average melt rates are 11–14 (Langtang) and 4.5 (24K) times higher
than the surrounding debris-covered ice. Our results highlight the influence
of redistributed supraglacial debris on cliff melt. At both sites, ice cliff
albedo is influenced by the presence of thin debris at the ice cliff
surface, which is largely controlled on 24K Glacier by liquid precipitation
events that wash away this debris. Slightly thicker or patchy debris reduces
melt by 1–3 cm d−1 at all sites. Ultimately, our observations show a
strong spatio-temporal variability in cliff area at each site, which is
controlled by supraglacial streams and ponds and englacial cavities that
promote debris slope destabilisation and the lateral expansion of the
cliffs. These findings highlight the need to better represent processes of
debris redistribution in ice cliff models, to in turn improve estimates of
ice cliff contribution to glacier melt and the long-term geomorphological
evolution of debris-covered glacier surfaces.


A key challenge in developing conversational systems is fusing streams of information provided by different sensors to make inferences about the behaviors and goals of people. Such systems can leverage visual and audio information collected through cameras and microphone arrays, including the location of various people, their focus of attention, body pose, the sound source direction, prosody, and speech recognition results. In this paper, we explore discriminative learning techniques for making accurate inferences on the problems of speaker, addressee and overlap detection in multiparty human-computer dialog. The focus is on finding ways to leverage withinand across-signal temporal patterns and to automatically construct representations from the raw streams that are informative for the inference problem. We present a novel extension to traditional decision trees which allows them to incorporate and model temporal signals. We contrast these methods with more traditional approaches where a human expert manually engineers relevant temporal features. The proposed approach performs well even with relatively small amounts of training data, which is of practical importance as designing features that are task dependent is time consuming and not always possible.


This article argues that the political economy of communication is ready and ethically obliged to expand its moral vision beyond human life, as other disciplines of the social sciences and humanities have already done. Such an expanded moral vision does not mean pushing human suffering to the background, but rather realizing that humans only form part of the planet, and are not above it. Not assigning individuals of other species the same moral consideration we do human beings has no ethical grounding and is actually deeply entangled with our own suffering within capitalist societies – it being particularly connected with human inequality, power relations, and economic interests. Decentering humanity to embrace a truly egalitarian view is the next natural step in a field driven by moral values and concerned with the inequality triggered by power relations. To make this step forward, this article considers the tenets of critical animal studies (CAS), an emerging interdisciplinary field which embraces traditional critical political economy concerns, including hegemonic power and oppression, from a nonanthropocentric moral stance. Critical media and communication scholars are concerned with what prevents human equality and social justice from blossoming. More particularly, they examine the fundamental role media and communication play in preventing or promoting social change. Those scholars devoted to the political economy of communication (PEC) focus upon the structural power relations involved in capitalism or, in Vincent Mosco's words, in the "power relations that mutually constitute the production, distribution and consumption of resources, including communication resources" (2009: 2). As a critical approach, PEC has always been involved in a process of rethinking, renewal and, in particular, broadening of scope. From focusing mainly on media imperialism and corporate concentration in US and European old media, the field went on to experience the globalization of its research. PEC now incorporates a commitment to the history of communication (particularly the history of resistance to dominant powers) and a variety of approaches to new media (including the continuities and discontinuities of capitalistic patterns). The field has also engaged with the disciplines on its borders (mostly cultural studies, sociology, economics, and political science). It


We report the fabrication and the characterization of carbon fibre tips for use in combined scanning tunnelling and force microscopy based on piezoelectric quartz tuning fork force sensors. We find that the use of carbon fibre tips results in a minimum impact on the dynamics of quartz tuning fork force sensors, yielding a high quality factor and, consequently, a high force gradient sensitivity. This high force sensitivity, in combination with high electrical conductivity and oxidation resistance of carbon fibre tips, make them very convenient for combined and simultaneous scanning tunnelling microscopy and atomic force microscopy measurements. Interestingly, these tips are quite robust against occasionally occurring tip crashes. An electrochemical fabrication procedure to etch the tips is presented that produces a sub-100-nm apex radius in a reproducible way which can yield high resolution images.


The first direct NMR spectroscopic evidence of defects in crystalline Li2O powders containing aliovalent impurities is reported. Quadrupole-perturbed 7Li satellite transitions are seen above 600 K, which clearly arise from interaction of lithium defects. At about 900 K structure in the satellite transitions indicates two distinct quadrupolar interactions. The relative intensity of the satellites decreases with increasing temperature, which is interpreted as thermal dissociation of an impurity-vacancy complex.


A model to predict cleavage failure of precracked bodies in the transition region for steels was recently proposed by the author. It is based on the concept that the stress-controlled fracture of a weak link triggers the failure of the entire body. The stress that triggers fracture is predicted by a numerical crack-tip stress analysis. The model uses toughness measured at one condition as input to predict toughness at another. For example, toughness measured at one temperature can be used to predict toughness at another temperature, or toughness measured from one geometry can be used to predict toughness for another geometry. In this paper the model is applied to predict transition toughness for some cases where the toughness is known so that the predictions from the model can be evaluated. The results show that the predictions have the same trends as many of the measured transition toughness results. The model is also applied to several component-type geometries to show that it can be used to transfer laboratory results to structural component models.


There are two popular schools of thought about corruption in pre-colonial Africa – the Afrocentric view and that of decolonisation. The latter argues that there were corrupt practices broadly defined in pre-colonial Africa, since corruption is a universal concept. It further argues that many traditional African leaders were and are still corrupt, independent of colonial influence. Therefore, they could not be insulated from corruption. The Afrocentric school argues that pre-colonial African leaders were responsible and responsive to their subjects and avoided corruption as much as possible. It maintains that traditional African leaders in the pre-colonial period could hardly be said to be corrupt, because of the communal spirit that guided their operation. This paper critically examines both views and posits that corrupt practices as a human rights violation were present in pre-colonial Africa and still resonate in post-colonial Africa.


Stored-grain insects were managed traditionally with grain protectants and the fumigant phosphine. Protectant use leads to undesirable pesticide residues on grain. Many stored-grain insects are resistant to grain protectants and phosphine. Therefore, novel technologies are needed in the future to replace traditionally used methods. Preliminary laboratory and pilot scale field trials have shown catalytic infrared radiation of 2.8 to 7 μm wavelength to be effective in killing insects associated with stored wheat. The effectiveness of catalytic infrared radiation in killing life stages of three economically-important stored-grain insects in hard red winter wheat were evaluated. Wheat (113.5 or 227.0 g) infested with eggs, various ages of larvae, pupae, and adults were exposed for 45 or 60 sec at a distance of 8.0 or 12.7 cm from the catalytic infrared emitter. Infested wheat samples unexposed to infrared radiation served as the control treatment. Temperatures attained by the wheat samples during infrared exposure were monitored continuously using a non-contact infrared thermometer. The three insect species tested were the lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.); rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae L.; and red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst). The life stages of R. dominica and S. oryzae developing within wheat kernels were age-graded using radiographic techniques. The mean temperatures attained by wheat at the various treatment combinations ranged from 80 o to 114 o C. Both the time-dependent temperature profiles and mean wheat temperatures were greater in 113.5 g of wheat, exposed at a distance of 8.0 cm from the infrared emitter for 60 sec. The most heat tolerant stage in R. dominica was the older larvae, whereas in S. oryzae it was the egg, and in T. castaneum it was the pupa. In general, older larvae of all three species were less susceptible to infrared radiation than young larvae. The differences in susceptibility among life stages of all species to infrared radiation decreased with an increase in the mean temperature attained, and temperatures ≥105 o C were needed to obtain 98 to 100% mortality of all life stages. Exposure to catalytic infrared radiation at the temperatures used to disinfest wheat did not adversely affect wheat, flour, and baking quality.


ABSTRACT Chromatin remodeling enzymes form large multiprotein complexes that play central roles in regulating access to the genome. Here, we characterize the nuclear import of the human CHD4 protein. We show that CHD4 enters the nucleus by means of several importin-α proteins (1, 5, 6 and 7), but independently of importin β1. Importin α1 directly interacts with a monopartite 'KRKR'-motif in the N-terminus of CHD4 (amino acids 304–307). However, alanine mutagenesis of this motif only leads to an ∼50% reduction in nuclear localization of CHD4, implying that there are additional import mechanisms. Interestingly, we could show that CHD4 was already associated with the nucleosome remodeling deacetylase (NuRD) core subunits, such as MTA2, HDAC1 and RbAp46 (also known as RBBP7), in the cytoplasm, suggesting an assembly of the NuRD core complex before nuclear import. We propose that, in addition to the importin-α-dependent nuclear localization signal, CHD4 is dragged into the nucleus by a 'piggyback' mechanism using the import signals of the associated NuRD subunits.


Lung cancers may present separately as synchronous lesions and can pose a diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma. A 75-year-old man is reported who presented with two synchronous lung cancers, in his left upper and lower lobes, respectively. Extensive radiologic evaluation and mediastinoscopy failed to detect any evidence of metastatic disease. He underwent lung preserving surgery consisting of wedge resection and segmentectomy. Unfortunately, this patient relapsed six months after surgery. Long-term survival after surgical resection has been reported in such instances indicating the need for an individualized approach to treatment.


Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is a distributed network of connected cars, roadside infrastructure, wireless communication networks, and central cloud platforms. Wireless recommendations play an important role in the IoV network, for example, recommending appropriate routes, recommending driving strategies, and recommending content. In this paper, we review some of the key techniques in recommendations and discuss what are the opportunities and challenges to deploy these wireless recommendations in the IoV.


An experimental investigation was made of the interaction of radiation from a frequency-selective pulsed electron-beam-controlled discharge CO laser on polymer materials (nylon and polyethylene terephthalate) with intense absorption bands near the wavelength ∼ 6 μm. The parameters of the interaction (geometry and method of irradiation of a material; temporal, spectral, and energy characteristics of the laser radiation) corresponding to the appearance of microstructures of different types on the surface of the processed material were determined. An analysis was made of the relationship between the structural changes in the materials at the microscopic level and visual macroscopic changes in the physical properties of the samples processed by laser radiation.


Over 90% of untreated CFTR S489X homozygous (CF) mutant mice reportedly die of intestinal obstruction by 40 days of age, significantly limiting their usefulness as a model for the human disease. Because the period of highest mortality is during the week after weaning, we hypothesized that providing a low-residue liquid diet would improve survival and growth. When 99 CF mice that survived to 10 days of age were fed Peptamen (Clintec Nutrition), an elemental liquid diet, and housed on corn-cob bedding, 88% of them survived to maturity (50 days). The diet causes only minor histologic and ion transport changes in the intestines of normal mice and does not reduce growth rate or size. CF mice raised on Peptamen continue to display severe pathological changes in the intestine and completely lack a adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate-inducible chloride current in the cecum. This combination of dietary and bedding changes provides a reliable method for keeping CF mice alive well into adulthood and will be useful for the evaluation of the effect and duration of potential therapies for CF.


In this paper, we present a temporal search engine supporting content time retrieval for Web pages, which is called TISE. The main purpose of TISE is to support the Web search on temporal information embedded in Web pages. Compared with commercial search engines such as Google and Baidu, and other temporal search prototypes, which mainly focus on the creation or crawled time of Web pages, our system concentrates on the extraction and search on content time of Web pages, and can provide more meaningful time-based search facilities, such as temporal relation query. In detail, TISE is based on a unified temporal ontology of Web pages, in which different types of time are defined. We introduce a new type of time ldquoprimary timerdquo to denote the most appropriate time describing the content of a Web page. After an overview of the general features of TISE, we discuss the architecture of TISE and some key modules. And finally, experiment results and analysis is conducted based on fix types of temporal-text queries on TISE and www.baidu.com. The experiment results show that TISE is more efficient when processing temporal-text Web queries.


giving a subarachnoid block for emergency Caesarean section. This reflects an unfortunate gap in their training, which may be related to the fact that many of the present generation of consultants were not trained in subarachnoid analgesia for obstetrirr--the writer included. A controlled trial in the sphere of maternal anaesthetic mortality is impossible but perhaps the basic principles of the problem should be considered. Protective respiratory reflexes exist for a purpose: their preservation must surely be Seen as a fundamental objective, and their abolition as a physiological trespass, the risks of which must be justified for each obstetric patient. These reflexes are abolished during induction of general anaesthesia at a time when the stomach must be assumed to contain highly acid material or possibly equally harmful particles of alkali. Rapid protection of the trachea (by tracheal intubation) cannot be guaranteed. This is a potentially hazardous situation, although it is argued that the anaesthetist with sufficient expertise and skilled assistance will always be able to steer the patient through it without mishap. Unfortunately, the coatinuing Occurrence of deaths, even in teaching hospitals where conditions are supposed to be good, would suggest that this argument is pie-in-the-sky. Effective management of difficulties is commendable; their avoidance is fundamentally more sound. The list of possible causes of death due to regional analgesia for Caesarean section also invites comment. Murphy's Law states that if something can go wrong it will: sevcre hypotension might thus replace acid aspiration as a leading cause of mortality. However. hypotension of a life-threatening degree (when accompanied by reduced cardiac output) differs a s a hazard from intubation/acid aspiration problems in two important aspects. Firstly, if the basic principles of management of regional block in obstetric patients are observed. severe hypotension need rarely occur. whereas unpredictable tracheal intubation problems will continue to Occur, as will Mendelson's syndrome pending the advent ofeffective prophylactic measures. Secondly. the treatment of severe hypotension is merely an extension of that of mild hypotension, with which any anaesthetist who practises regional analgesia in obstetncs should be thoroughly familiar. On the other hand failed intubation drill* cannot for ethical reasons be practised in the absence of genuine failure. and remains for many anaesthetists something which is learned for examinations and subsequently taught without ever being practised. Correspondence 287


While numerous studies have examined the impact that powerful CEOs have on their compensation and overall firm decisions, relatively little is known about how powerful CFOs influence their compensation and important firm financial reporting and operational outcomes. This is somewhat surprising given the critical role CFOs play in the financial reporting process of a firm. Using managerial power theory (Bebchuk and Fried in J Econ Perspect 17:71–92, 2003) and the theory of power and self-focus (Pitesa and Thau in Acad Manag J 56(3):635–658, 2013), we predict that powerful CFOs employ a two-part strategy to camouflage excessive incentive compensation above what efficient contracting would dictate. First, powerful CFOs use their power and influence to negotiate shorter incentive pay duration to maximize the present value of their performance—based compensation. Second, when their incentive equity compensation vests, we suggest that CFOs manage earnings to further enhance their personal income. Consistent with our theoretical expectations, we find higher levels of income-increasing accrual-based earnings management and real transactions management, a potentially unethical practice, in firms with powerful CFOs who have short pay durations. We discuss the implications of our analysis in the context of mitigating CFO power and managing the ethical environment "tone at the top."


Two bacterial strains designated as EO1 and EO2, were isolated by selective culture enrichment from Lagos lagoon water and mangrove soil samples. They were subsequently identified based on morphological and physiological characteristics as well as 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis as Klebsiella pneumoniae strain EO1 and Pantoea cypripedii strain EO2 with accession numbers KX355800 and KX355801. Microbial growth assessment was performed in triplicates under aerobic batch conditions. The two isolates were capable of utilizing tannic acid, gallic acid, glucose, succinate, benzoic acid, and protocatechuic acid as sole carbon sources. Growth experiments along with enzymatic studies indicated that the organisms hydrolyzed tannic acid through gallic acid and pyrogallol as metabolic intermediates. The organisms have potential for the elimination of polyphenolic pollutants such as gallotannins associated with wood residues in Nigerian estuarine environments.


It has been shown that inflammation and oxidative stress are important factors in postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF). Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and apelin have a close relationship with inflammation and oxidative stress. The effect of ACE and apelin on POAF after off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCABG) remains a question. The concentrations of serum ACE, angiotensin II (Ang II), apelin, bradykinin (BK), malondialdehyde (MDA), and C reactive protein (CRP) were measured in the perioperative period of OPCABG. The levels of serum ACE in the POAF group were higher than in the no POAF group both preoperatively and postoperatively. Apelin in the POAF group was lower than in the no POAF group. There was a correlation between serum ACE and apelin. Postoperatively, CRP and MDA in the POAF group were higher than in the no POAF group; however, there was no difference before the operation. Preoperative ACE and apelin were both significant and independent risk factors for POAF. In conclusion, the high ACE and low apelin preoperatively led to CRP and MDA being increased postoperatively, which was probably associated with POAF after OPCABG. Apelin may be a new predictor for POAF.


Total serum cholesterol was measured for 12,067 people as part of a community-based cholesterol screening program in New South Wales, Australia, in the fall of 1987. Forty-three percent had levels over 210 mg/dl and the average was 207 mg/dl. Those with levels over 210 mg/dl were counseled on how to reduce their cholesterol level and invited to take a second test in four to five months. Subjects were randomly allocated to one of three interventions: testing and counseling plus either 1) a reminder letter one month before the retest, 2) all of the above plus additional information on nutrition and exercise, or 3) all of the above plus a lottery ticket giving them a chance to win a microwave oven if they completed the retest. A total of 3,157 (60.8%) returned for the retest. There was no significant difference between the three intervention conditions in participation rates and a number of biometric measures. These results suggest that additional health information and prize incentives do not enhance rates of return for retest or changes in dietary and exercise behaviors within the context of a community screening program in Australia.


A BSTRACT : Analysis of biostratigraphic information from 31 industry wells in the Qiong Dong Nan and Ying Ge Hai Basins in the South China Sea establishes a chronostratigraphy for the area. Microfossil biostratigraphy of the wells permits recognition of individual regressive sequences and overlying marine flooding events. Dating of the sequences and unconformities shows a definite correlation of the transgressions and regressions to those depicted on published global sea-level curves. This tie indicates the influence of sea level on sediment dispersal enhancing local rift-related deposition. Age control developed for the basins in this study has improved stratigraphic correlations by verifying seismic-to-well ties and providing bracketing ages across hiatuses. Wells in the basins penetrate a thick Holocene–Pliocene clastic interval to reach an Upper Miocene deep-water clastic reservoir in offshore downdip wells or a Lower Miocene–Upper Oligocene shallow-water clastic reservoir horizon on structural highs. Although the hydrocarbon source is assumed to be local Lower Tertiary (Eocene or older) nonmarine coals, these units have not yet been reached by drilling. The regional seal is an upper Middle Miocene marine flooding event. Paleoecology and paleobathymetry were determined on the basis of foraminiferal analyses. Biostratigraphic dating with foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils permits construction of time-slice maps to show the basin configuration at correlative horizons. Synthesis of many individual well paleobathymetry curves yields a general sea-level curve for the basins. The overall shape of this sea-level curve compares favorably with published global curves.


Prognostics for condition-based maintenance does not only consist of prognostic algorithms but also involves steps such as data pre-processing, feature extraction, and feature selection, all of which contribute to the quality of the remaining useful life estimation. This process requires a lot of expertise and technical knowledge, which for many application systems is neither feasible nor affordable. In this paper, therefore, we present a generic framework with the capability to automatically choose the optimal settings for prognostics, given a specific data set. The framework consists of two phases. In the first one, a genetic algorithm optimizes the choice of methodologies together with hyperparameter settings for the feature extraction, feature selection, and prognostic algorithm selection. In the second phase, the identified settings define the prognostic setup, which in turn is used to train the model for remaining useful life estimation. This framework is then applied to a simulated aircraft engine data set. The first results show that remaining useful life estimates are comparable to the values obtained using established prognostic algorithms on the same data set. In addition, the framework is applied to estimate the remaining useful life of real aircraft systems. Results on underlying data sets suggest that the generic prognostic framework can easily and quickly be adapted to various systems. In further consequence, such a generic framework offers a way to assess the feasibility of prognostics for systems depending on the underlying existing data sets.


In recent years, a bioinformatics method for interpreting genome-wide association study (GWAS) data using metabolic pathway analysis has been developed and successfully used to find significant pathways and mechanisms explaining phenotypic traits of interest in plants. However, the many scripts implementing this method were not straightforward to use, had to be customized for each project, required user supervision, and took more than 24 h to process data. PAST (Pathway Association Study Tool), a new implementation of this method, has been developed to address these concerns. PAST has been implemented as a package for the R language. Two user-interfaces are provided; PAST can be run by loading the package in R and calling its methods, or by using an R Shiny guided user interface. In testing, PAST completed analyses in approximately half an hour to one hour by processing data in parallel and produced the same results as the previously developed method. PAST has many user-specified options for maximum customization. Thus, to promote a powerful new pathway analysis methodology that interprets GWAS data to find biological mechanisms associated with traits of interest, we developed a more accessible, efficient, and user-friendly tool. These attributes make PAST accessible to researchers interested in associating metabolic pathways with GWAS datasets to better understand the genetic architecture and mechanisms affecting phenotypes.


Little is known of the excitatory mechanisms that contribute to the tonic contraction of the corpus cavernosum smooth muscle in the flaccid state. We used patch-clamp electrophysiology to investigate a previously unidentified inward current in freshly isolated rat and human corporal myocytes. Phenylephrine (PE) contracted cells and activated whole cell currents. Outward current was identified as large-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) current. The inward current elicited by PE was dependent on the Cl(-) gradient and was inhibited by niflumic acid, indicative of a Ca(2+)-activated Cl(-) (Cl(Ca)) current. Furthermore, spontaneous transient outward and inward currents (STOCs and STICs, respectively) were identified in both rat and human corporal myocytes and derived from large-conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) and Cl(Ca) channel activity. STICs and STOCs were inhibited by PE and A-23187, and combined 8-bromoadenosine cAMP and 8-bromoadenosine cGMP decreased their frequency. When studied in vivo, chloride channel blockers transiently increased intracavernosal pressure and prolonged nerve-evoked erections. This report reveals for the first time Cl(Ca) current in rat and human corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells and demonstrates its key functional role in the regulation of penile erection.


In this paper, which accompanied a series of specimens presented to the Museum of the Society, the author described the section presented by the hills in the neighbourhood of Kazirún. The general surface was described as consisting of nearly unfossiliferous Post-tertiary deposits, immediately beneath which is an unstratified marine deposit containing a great abundance of fossils, among which are species of Ostrea, Pecten, and Cidaris (?). Below this deposit is a succession of strata, repeated several times in the hills; and at the bottom of the series in each case is a bed of gypsum. The spaces between the recurrent series are filled up with conglomerates. Beneath the gypseous series is a formation of compact limestone, which rises to a height of about 1500 feet both north and south of the plain of Kazirún; its beds dip 25°; and their strike is from N.E. to S.W. The author mentioned the occurrence, in a gypsum quarry near Kazirún, of three long cylinders from 6 to 10 feet in diameter, composed of the same material as the surrounding rock. He also stated that he had examined several caverns in the neighbouring mountains, and also the great cave at Shahpoor, but without discovering any organic remains.


The majority of bladder cancer patients who develop brain metastasis have widely disseminated disease. Isolated cerebellar metastasis in patients with transional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder is a rare event. We present the case of a patient with organ-confined bladder cancer who developed isolated cerebellar metastasis.


A global crisis struck the world in the shape of the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020. As a result, supermarkets have experienced panic buying behaviors, empty store shelves, out of stocks, and a large increase in online sales. Supermarkets, producers, marketers, and businesses have had to adapt to consumers' changed buying behavior in food consumption. In previous research, it has been found that price and quality are two of the most influential factors in the consumer decisionprocess, in particular, increased price sensitivity and perceived quality of food products concerns consumers in crisis situations. The aim of this study was to research beyond panic buying behaviors, by investigating if consumer buying behavior has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding price sensitivity and perceived quality within two specific food categories, meat as well as fruits and vegetables. In addition, a moderating effect of residency in either Austria or Sweden was tested. A quantitative method has been used, in which consumers in Austria and Sweden were surveyed in an online questionnaire. 169 responses from consumers were analyzed. The result suggests that the buying behavior in regard to price sensitivity and perceived quality of meat, fruits, and vegetables has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. No moderating effect of residency was found. The findings in the study create a foundation in a unique crisis situation that has never been studied before and the exploratory nature of the study gives multiple indicators for future research.


Abstract Regulated hunts of carnivores are believed to prevent property damage and other conflicts with people. Few studies have tested if public hunting reduces subsequent complaints about carnivores. We analyzed 10 years of data on nuisance complaints from a hunted American black bear (Ursus americanus) population in Wisconsin, USA. At the statewide scale, complaints about agricultural damage, other property damage, or human safety concerns did not correlate with each other or with number of bears taken by hunters in the preceding 1–2 years. At the smaller scale of bear management zones, there were positive correlations between the number of bears taken by hunters in one year and all categories of nuisance complaints in subsequent years. Once corrected for the estimated bear population size, only property damage retained a significant positive correlation with hunter take in prior years. Age and sex profiles of bears taken by hunters differed significantly from those of bears live-trapped around sites of nuisance complaints. Hunters took significantly younger bears and a lower proportion of males. The most common method (shooting over bait) produced age–sex profiles most different from bears live-trapped after nuisance complaints. Although hunters removed 356 bears implicated in nuisance complaints, they took these bears in proportion to their availability. We conclude that the Wisconsin bear-hunting season did not show clear evidence of reducing nuisance complaints during 1995–2004, probably because hunting was not effectively designed for that goal. We call for additional research on hunter and bear behavior, including experimental tests of hunting individuals with different levels of involvement in property damage.


This paper re-examines the evidence for early contacts between Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and the languages of the Caucasus. Although we were not able to find certain proofs of lexical borrowing between PIE and North Caucasian, there are a few undeniable areal-typological parallels in phonology and grammar. Some features generally attributed to PIE are not found in the majority of languages of North and Northeastern Eurasia, while they are common, or universally present, in the languages of the Caucasus (especially North Caucasus). Those features include the high consonant-to-vowel ratio, tonal accent, number suppletion in personal pronouns, the presence of gender and the morphological optative and, possibly, the presence of glottalized consonants and ergativity.


This paper presents a new modelling of positive-discharge development, based on new simplifying assumptions. It presents these assumptions, which are deduced from the existing theoretical models and concern mainly the coupling between the leader corona and the corona region. This model has been validated through the comparison of simulations with experimental results in the reference configuration of a rod - plane gap subjected to various positive impulse voltages. It has also been used to simulate the discharge behaviour with perturbations of the applied potential form.


In recent years, nanotechnology has played an important role in the design of an efficient radiation shielding polymeric composites. It is well known that, high loading of nanomaterials with radiation absorption properties can enhance the radiation attenuation efficiency of shielding structures. However, due to difficulties in dispersion of nanomaterials into polymer matrices, there has been a limitation in higher loading percentages of nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. Therefore, the objective of the present work is to provide a methodology to fabricate and then to characterize the functionally graded radiation shielding structures, which can provide an efficient radiation absorption property along with good structural integrity. Sandwich structures composed of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) fabric as face sheets and functionally graded epoxy nanocomposite as core material were fabricated. A method to fabricate a functionally graded core panel with controllable gradient dispersion of nanoparticles is discussed. In order to optimize the design of functionally graded sandwich composites and to analyze the stress distribution throughout the sandwich composite thickness, a finite element method was used. The sandwich panels were discretized using 3-Dimensional 8 nodded brick elements. Classical laminate analysis in conjunction with simplified micromechanics equations were used to obtain the properties of the face sheets. The presented finite element model would provide insight into deformation and damage mechanics of the functionally graded sandwich composites from the structural point of view. Keywords—Nanotechnology, functionally graded material, radiation shielding, sandwich composites, finite element method.


ABSTRACT Governments invested substantially in renewable energy industries in responding to climate change, while seeking to promote economic growth. They also engaged in a series of major trade disputes, notably in the solar photovoltaic and wind sectors. The European Union (EU)–China solar dispute is one of the largest such cases. In 2013, the European Commission (EC) announced duties on imports of solar products from Chinese manufacturers. This decision was at odds with the fact that the majority of the European solar industry opposed tariffs. We propose that the decision was affected by a shift in negotiating power between business and the EC. We suggest that the rise of global supply chains undermined the structural power of industry by dividing manufacturers over trade policy and by fragmenting the information conveyed to policy-makers. This provided an opportunity to the Commission to engage in 'interest shopping' by selecting an industry position that matched its own interest. Evidence from a comparative case study on EU and German responses to solar imports supports our argument. The findings suggest that the globalisation of production can strengthen the negotiating power of policy-makers, and implies that policy-makers face new trade-offs at the intersection of manufacturing and climate policy.


The pathogenesis of Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw (MRONJ) is not fully understood, however, surgical trauma is thought to play a role. Therefore, the aim of the current pilot study was to compare the incidence and characteristics of MRONJ following single or multiple molar tooth extractions in a rat model. To this aim, twenty male Lewis rats were treated with subcutaneous injection of zolendronic acid (ZA), an established bone anti-resorption agent, (7.5 µ g/kg) and dexamethasone (Dex), (1 mg/kg), or saline, once a week, for 11 weeks. At three weeks, the first or both first and second maxillary molar teeth were extracted. Eight weeks following extraction, rats were sacrificed and extraction sites were evaluated. Clinical macroscopic examination showed MRONJ-like lesions in all single extraction ZA/Dex-treated rats, showing exposed bone. In the control and multiple extraction ZA/Dex-treated groups, none of the rats showed visible signs of MRONJ. Histological characteristics of MRONJ were found in all ZA/Dex-treated rats (both single and multiple extractions), whereas rats treated with saline showed almost no empty lacunae and necrotic bone. In conclusion, the extent of the surgical field may not be the key factor in MRONJ development since only rats with single tooth extraction displayed exposed bone. However, histological characteristics were identified in both models. Therefore, preclinical studies that aim to evaluate histological features of MRONJ may use both models, whereas when a clinically exposed bone is required, the single tooth extraction model appears to be preferable. Further large scale studies are warranted to corroborate the present findings.


Introduction Clinicians are being asked to play a major role leading the NHS. While much is written on about clinical leadership, little research in the medical literature has examined perceptions of the term or mapped the perceived attributes required for success. Objective To capture the views of senior UK healthcare leaders regarding their perception of the term `clinical leadership' and the cultural backdrop in which it is being espoused. Setting UK Healthcare sector Participants Senior UK Healthcare leaders Methods Twenty senior healthcare leaders including a former Health Minister, NHS Executives, NHS Strategic Health Authority, PCT and Acute Trust chief executives and medical directors, Medical Deans and other key actors in the UK medical leadership arena were interviewed between 2010 and 2011 using a semi-structured interview technique. Using grounded theory, themes were identified and subsequently analysed in an attempt to answer the broad questions posed. Main outcome measures Not applicable for a qualitative research project Results A number of themes emerged from this qualitative study. First, there was evidence of changing attitudes among doctors, particularly trainees, towards becoming involved in clinical leadership. However, there was unease over the ambiguity of the term 'clinical leadership' and the implications for the future. There was, however, broad agreement as to the perceived attributes and skills required for success in healthcare leadership. Conclusions Clinical leadership is often perceived to be doctor centric and 'Healthcare Leadership' may be a more inclusive term. An understanding of the historical medico-political context of the leadership debate is required by all healthcare leaders to fully understand the challenges of changing healthcare culture. Whilst the broad attributes deemed essential for success as a healthcare leaders are not new, significant effort and investment, including a physical Healthcare Academy, are required to best utilise and harmonise the breadth of leadership talent in the NHS.