Soon after launch, the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS), one of the focal plane instruments on the Chandra X-ray Observatory, suffered radiation damage from exposure to soft protons during passages through the Earth's radiation belts. The ACIS team is continuing to study the properties of the damage with an emphasis on developing techniques to mitigate charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) and spectral resolution degradation. A post-facto CTI corrector has been developed which can effectively recover much of the lost resolution. Any further improvements in performance will require knowledge of the location and amount of sacrificial charge - charge deposited along the readout path of an event which fills electron traps and changes CTI. We report on efforts by the ACIS Instrument team to characterize which charge traps cause performance degradation and the properties of the sacrificial charge seen on-orbit. We also report on attempts to correct X-ray pulseheights for the presence of sacrificial charge.


The G-protein coupled chemoattractant receptor formylpeptide receptor-2 (FPR2 in human, Fpr2 in mice) is expressed by mouse colon epithelial cells and plays a critical role in mediating mucosal homeostasis and inflammatory responses. However, the biological role of FPR2 in human colon is unclear. Our investigation revealed that a considerable number of human colon cancer cell lines expressed FPR2 and its ligands promoted cell migration and proliferation. Human colon cancer cell lines expressing high levels of FPR2 also formed more rapidly growing tumors in immunocompromised mice as compared with cell lines expressing lower levels of FPR2. Knocking down of FPR2 from colon cancer cell lines highly expressing FPR2 reduced their tumorigenicity. Clinically, FPR2 is more highly expressed in progressive colon cancer, associated with poorer patient prognosis. These results suggest that FPR2 can be high-jacked by colon cancer cells for their growth advantage, thus becoming a potential target for therapeutic development.


One of the aims of social indicator research is to develop a comprehensive measure of quality-of-life in nations that is analogous to GNP in economic indicator research. For that purpose, several multi dimensional indexes have been proposed. In addition to economic performance, these also acknowledge the nation's success in matters like schooling and social equality. The most current indicator of this type is the 'Human Development Index'. In this approach QOL is measured by input; the degree to which society provides conditions deemed beneficial. The basic problem is that one never knows to what extent the cherished provisions are really good for people. An alternative is measuring QOL in nations by output, and consider how well people actually flourish in the country. This 'apparent' QOL can be measured by the degree to which citizens live long and happily. This conception is operationalized by combining registration based estimates of length-of-life, with survey data on subjective appreciation-of-life. Lifeexpectancy in years is multiplied by average happiness on a 0-1 scale. The product is named 'Happy Life-Expectancy' (HLE), and can be interpreted as the number of years the average citizen in a country lives happily at a certain time. HLE was assessed in 48 nations in the early 1990's. It appears to be highest in NorthWest European nations (about 60) and lowest in Africa (below 35). HLE scores are systematically higher in nations that are most affluent, free, equal, educated, and harmonious. Together, these country-characteristics explain 70% of the statistical variance in HLE. Yet HLE is not significantly related to unemployment, state welfare and income equality, nor to religiousness and trust in institutions. HLE does not differ either with military dominance and population pressure. The conclusion is that HLE qualifies as the envisioned comprehensive social indicator. It has both clear substantive meaning (happy life-years) and a theoretical significance (ultimate output measure). HLE differentiates well. Its correlations fit most assumptions about required input, but also challenge some. The indicator is likely to have political appeal.


Organoclays were assayed as matrices in which to associate herbicides, with the aim of decreasing product losses that could give rise to water contamination from agricultural activities. Fenuron was selected as model of a very mobile and highly water-soluble herbicide. Two different organoclays of high (A-HDT) and low (H-C18) reversible fenuron sorption were selected. Herbicide-organoclay complexes were prepared from the two organoclays and with two different fenuron contents (20 and 40 g AI kg-1) and two different mixing times, so as to form a series of weak and strong complexes. The release of fenuron from those complexes into water and water/soil suspensions gave values of T50 (time to release 50% of the fenuron content) ranging from 0.3 min to 2400 h. The total fenuron released in these closed systems ranged from 48 to 80% of the fenuron in the complex. The organoclay type (high or low sorptivity) had the greatest influence on fenuron release, followed by the strong or weak complex, suggesting that herbicide-organoclay interactions are the main factors controlling release. Soil column leaching experiments showed fenuron-organoclay complexes to be effective in reducing the peak herbicide concentration in the leachate to a half (6 microns) or a quarter (3 microns) of that obtained from the free technical compound (12 microns). Herbicide lost through leaching was reduced from 78% for the free technical fenuron to 50-30%, depending on the organoclay used as carrier and the strength of the complex. Bioassay with ryegrass showed that the weak fenuron/H-C18 complex (40 g AI kg-1) gave the same herbicidal activity as technical fenuron. The potential suitability of low-sorptive organoclays for conferring slow-release properties on the fenuron complex has been demonstrated.


A fibrosarcoma is a malignant mesenchymal tumor derived from fibrous connective tissue. It usually develops in the deep soft tissues of the extremities, as well as the trunk, head, and neck. In extremely rare cases, a fibrosarcoma may occur in the gastrointestinal tract. Most cases of fibrosarcoma in the gastrointestinal tract have been observed in the pediatric age group while only a few cases have been reported in adults. A 61-year-old male presented with pain in the entire abdominal region. Chest radiography showed free air in the subphrenic space. After an emergency operation, we found a solid mass around the transverse colon and performed a segmental resection with a lymphatic dissection of the transverse colon, including the mass. A pathologic examination showed a fibrosarcoma with a perforation. There was no perioperative complication. The patient was discharged on postoperative day 11 and had follow-ups for 1 year without any recurrence.


Drug delivery systems are methods which are used to ensure that drugs get into the body and reach the area where they are needed. These systems must take a number of needs into account, ranging from ease of delivery to effectiveness of the drugs. Several companies specialize in developing methods of drug delivery, marketing these products to pharmaceutical companies, and other pharmaceutical companies develop their own systems. Many of these methods are patented and proprietary. When a drug is administered, the dosage must be carefully calculated so that the body can use the drug, which requires a drug delivery system which allows for precise dosing. Drug delivery systems also need to consider the way in which a drug is metabolized by the body. For example, some drugs are destroyed in the intestinal tract, which means that they cannot be introduced to the body in this way. Others may be dangerous in large amounts, which means that a time release method should be used to deliver the drug for patient safety. Topical drug delivery systems involve the introduction of a drug to the surface of the body, in a formulation which can be absorbed. Skin patches are an example of topical drug delivery systems. Other systems involve sprays applied to the mucus membranes of the nose, inhalation aerosols, eye drops, or creams which may be rubbed into the skin. These systems are often very easy for patients to use, which makes them appealing.In all cases, the goal of a drug delivery system is to get the right dosage to the right place. Patients tend to prefer methods which are painless and easy, which is why many pharmaceuticals come in the form of topical and enteral methods which can be taken by mouth or applied directly to the skin. In clinical environments, perenteral routes can be more common, especially for controlled substances, because these methods allow for greater control over how and when the drugs are used. Keyword: Topical Drug Delivery Systems, Skin Patches, Skin Penetration, Localized Drug Delivery System


In this paper we present the novel design, implementation, and evaluation of an ad-hoc parallel I/O system (AHPIOS). AHPIOS is the first scalable parallel I/O system completely implemented in the Message Passing Interface (MPI). The MPI implementation brings the advantages of portability, scalability and high performance. AHPIOS allows MPI applications to dynamically manage and scale distributed partitions in a convenient way. The configuration of both the MPI-IO and the storage management system is unified and allows for a tight integration of the optimizations of these layers. AHPIOS partitions are elastic: they conveniently scale up and down with the number of resources. We develop two collective I/O strategies, which leverage a two-tiered cooperative cache in order to exploit the spatial locality of data-intensive parallel applications. The file access latency is hidden from the applications through an asynchronous data staging strategy. The two-tiered cooperative cache scales with both the number of processors and storage resources. Our experimental section demonstrates that, with various optimizations, integrated AHPIOS offers a substantial performance benefit over the traditional MPI-IO solutions on both PVFS or Lustre parallel file systems.


Lack of knowledge about biopsy techniques and management of biopsy specimens can cause artifacts. Artifacts are false structures that change the normal morphological and cytological features of tissues. This review article aims to familiarize the clinicians/dentists/surgeons with the factors causing artifacts and with the efficient strategies to prevent or minimize their occurrence. Non-adherence to several rules can result in the formation of artifacts. The clinician's performance during and after the surgical procedure (until the sample is received by the laboratory) may damage the biopsy specimen or make it susceptible to damage. Artifacts may not be clinically considered noteworthy. However, by modifying the histopathological features of the specimen, they can lead to serious errors in the interpretation of lesions. Knowledge on the part of clinicians/dentists/surgeons regarding the factors and potential conditions that can lead to artifacts can decrease risk of their occurrence and considerably help the pathologists and patients by paving the path to make a correct diagnosis and consequently suggest an appropriate treatment plan.


The manufacturing sector in Taiwan has a market structure composed of large numbers of small firms, a focus on less capital-intensive industries, and a dense network of firms specializing in subcontracting and trading services. It has been argued that these features lower the start-up costs of new manufacturing firms. Recent theoretical models of market evolution show that low sunk entry and exit costs act to speed firm turnover by facilitating entry and increasing the pressure on inefficient firms to exit. As a result, low cost entry and exit may help improve aggregate productivity by allowing for the rapid transfer of resources from less to more efficient producers within an industry. Using comprehensive firm-level panel data from the Taiwanese Census of Manufactures for 1981, 1986, and 1991, we measure differences in total factor productivity among entering, exiting, and continuing firms, and quantify the contribution of firm turnover to industry productivity improvements. We find notable differences in productivity across manufacturing firms that are reflected in turnover patterns in both the domestic and export market. Cohorts of new firms have lower average productivity than incumbents but are also a heterogeneous group. The more productive members of the group survive and in many cases their productivity converges to the productivity level of incumbents. Exiting firms are less productive than survivors. Exporters, including firms that recently left the export market, are more productive than nonexporters. These patterns are consistent with the view that both the domestic and export market sort out high productivity from low productivity firms and that the export market is a tougher screen.


A green facile method has been successfully used for the synthesis of graphene oxide sheets decorated with silver nanoparticles (rGO/AgNPs), employing graphite oxide as a precursor of graphene oxide (GO), AgNO3 as a precursor of Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs), and geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) extract as reducing agent. Synthesis was accomplished using the weight ratios 1:1 and 1:3 GO/Ag, respectively. The synthesised nanocomposites were characterised by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The results show a more uniform and homogeneous distribution of AgNPs on the surface of the GO sheets with the weight ratio 1:1 in comparison with the ratio 1:3. This eco-friendly method provides a rGO/AgNPs nanocomposite with promising applications, such as surface enhanced Raman scattering, catalysis, biomedical material and antibacterial agent.


For some years now a trend toward the employment of high-throughput technologies in the development of new catalysts has been apparent in 'academic and industrial research. One reason is the unmanageably large parameter space present in heterogeneous catalysis, which implies that an increase in throughput in the preparation and testing of candidate substances is necessary, in order to be able to identify a new catalyst in a practicable amount of time. We have tried to locate the current boundaries in achievable throughput. To is end, we developed as workflow in which 10,000 substances per day were synthesised and their activity tested in a heterogeneously catalysed gas phase reaction (alkene epoxidation) The substances were synthesised by dosing: precursor solutions onto a single substrate, using ink-jet printer technology and subsequent thermal treatment. for the activity testing, the product stream of each candidate was conducted through a detection layer, where the target product was converted into a fluorescent substance. By locally resolved fluorescence spectroscopy a rough assessment of each candidate was possible. Because a throughput of 10, 000 substances per day is still not able to may the whole parameter space in a practicable amout of time. we used a combination of evolutionary optimisation and data mining as our experiment design strategy for the reduction of the experimental parameter space. It became apparent that a throughput of 10,000 substances per day was only possible at the cost of abstraction and simplification with a concomitant reduction in knowledge gain per individual experiment. Because not every reaction is suited to be simplified in such it manner, whether a high-throughput screening approach is effective or not has to be considered on a case by case basis.


Abstract:  Recommendations for the evaluation of an unexplained death in infancy include a postmortem skeletal survey (PMSS) to exclude skeletal trauma. Objectives of this study were to assess adherence to these recommendations in forensic autopsies in children equal to or less than 36 months of age, and what factors influence the use or nonuse of the PMSS. We surveyed pathologists who were members of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. The survey included practice characteristics about where, when, and how PMSS were done. Nearly all respondents (99.6%) indicated they performed PMSS at least some of the time; however, almost a third did not use PMSS for all suspected Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), abuse, unsafe sleep, or undetermined causes of death. Despite evidence that "babygrams" are inappropriate in a SIDS workup, 30% of pathologists use them preferentially. Despite SIDS being a diagnosis of exclusion that requires a PMSS, almost 10% of pathologists do not order a PMSS. Future research is necessary to reduce barriers to this important component of the pediatric forensic autopsy.


OBJECTIVE
To analyse the health system performance in the provision of primary health care in Pakistan's southern Punjab region.

METHODS
The cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted in October 2014 in three tehsils of district Multan in the Punjab province of Pakistan, and comprised recipients of primary health care at basic health units. SPSS 16 was used for data analysis.

RESULTS
Of the 77 basic health units, 19(24.7%) were selected for this study. Of them, 4(23.5%) were located in Jalalpur Pirwala, 3(17.6%) in Shujabad and 12(70.6%) in Multan Sadar. Besides, of the 300 respondents interviewed, 72(24%) were from Jalalpur Pirwala, 48(16%) from Shujabad and 180(60%) from Multan Sadar. The majority of the population was not fully satisfied with the services provided by the basic health units and was unable to gain the entire facilities adequately. Most importantly, the long distance of basic health units from residing areas, low quality and shortage of medicine were the basic reasons affecting the performance of basic health units.

CONCLUSIONS
The majority of the population was not fully satisfied with the services provided by basic health units.


BACKGROUND
Current antimicrobial susceptibility/resistance data versus skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) pathogens help to guide empirical treatment using topical antimicrobials.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the in vitro activity and resistance rates of fusidic acid, mupirocin, ozenoxacin and comparator agents against pathogens isolated from patients with SSTIs in Canada.

METHODS
SSTI isolates of MSSA (n = 422), MRSA (n = 283) and Streptococcus pyogenes (n = 46) obtained from CANWARD 2007-18 were tested using CLSI broth microdilution. Fusidic acid low-level resistance was defined as an MIC of ≥2 mg/L and high-level resistance as an MIC ≥512 mg/L. Mupirocin high-level resistance was defined as an MIC ≥512 mg/L and low-level resistance was an MIC of 2-256 mg/L.

RESULTS
Low-level and high-level fusidic acid resistance in MSSA was 10.9% and 1.7%, respectively. Low-level and high-level fusidic acid resistance in MRSA was 10.6% and 3.5%, respectively. High-level mupirocin resistance was identified in 1.4% of MSSA and 14.1% of MRSA, respectively. Versus MSSA, ozenoxacin demonstrated MIC50 and MIC90 of 0.004 and 0.25 mg/L, respectively. Against MRSA, ozenoxacin inhibited all isolates at an MIC of ≤0.5 mg/L, including isolates with ciprofloxacin MICs >2 mg/L, clarithromycin-resistant, clindamycin-resistant, high-level fusidic acid-resistant and high-level mupirocin-resistant isolates.

CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that fusidic acid low-level resistance exceeded 10% for both MSSA and MRSA while fusidic acid high-level resistance was ≤3.5%. Mupirocin high-level resistance exceeded 10% in MRSA. Ozenoxacin is active versus SSTI pathogens including MRSA resistant to fluoroquinolones, macrolides, clindamycin, fusidic acid and mupirocin.


This research is a study that examines how pesantren as an Islamic education institution in Indonesia is able to survive amid the current modernization of pesantren education that changes the education system from traditional to modern. In this study there are several formulations of the problem, namely: 1) how was the initial development of Al-Barokah pesantren education, 2) how was the strategy of using the applied learning methods and models, 3) how was the final evaluation process at the Al-Barokah Islamic boarding school?. This research uses the content study method or literature study using several written studies and the use of qualitative methods in writing this article.


— We examine the sensitivity of the particle spectrum to the parameters of the U(1)′-extended MSSM with R-parity violation. This model provides a simultaneous solution to both the μ-problem and the proton decay problem which plague the MSSM. We focus on variations of neutralino, chargino and Higgs boson masses in various lepton number violations couplings, scanning over all the space to find allowed regions of the parameter space consistent with the experimental constraints for these masses.


Rheological properties of pitch and pitch/coke mixtures at temperatures around 150 °C are of great interest for the carbon anode manufacturing process in the aluminum industry. In the present work, a cohesive viscoelastic contact model based on Burger's model is developed using the discrete element method (DEM) on the YADE, the open-source DEM software. A dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) is used to measure the viscoelastic properties of pitch at 150 °C. The experimental data obtained is then used to estimate the Burger's model parameters and calibrate the DEM model. The DSR tests were then simulated by a three-dimensional model. Very good agreement was observed between the experimental data and simulation results. Coke aggregates were modeled by overlapping spheres in the DEM model. Coke/pitch mixtures were numerically created by adding 5, 10, 20, and 30 percent of coke aggregates of the size range of 0.297–0.595 mm (−30 + 50 mesh) to pitch. Adding up to 30% of coke aggregates to pitch can increase its complex shear modulus at 60 Hz from 273 Pa to 1557 Pa. Results also showed that adding coke particles increases both storage and loss moduli, while it does not have a meaningful effect on the phase angle of pitch.


We all make mistakes. Nobody is perfect. And that includes five of the greatest scientists in history -- Charles Darwin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle, Albert Einstein. But the mistakes that these great scientists made helped science to advance. Indeed, as Mario Livio explains in this fascinating book, science thrives on error; it advances when erroneous ideas are disproven. All five scientists were great geniuses and fascinating human beings. Their blunders were part of their genius and part of the scientific process. Livio brilliantly analyses their errors to show where they were wrong and right, but what makes his book so enjoyable to read is Livio's analysis of the psychology of these towering figures. Along the way the reader learns an enormous amount about the evolution of life on earth and in the universe, but from an unusual vantage point -- the mistakes of great scientists rather than the achievements that made them famous.


A model of elastic plates is constructed on the basis of continuum mechanics with simple constraints. The function of deformation of the plate is assumed, to be linear in the unknown functions describing the motions of its lower and upper surfaces and in the coordinate normal to those surfaces. These limitations are called the linear constraints of deformation. The fundamental equations of the model are derived by means of variational methods. A criterion of estimating the accuracy of the solutions derived is then formulated and closed form solutions of the plane strain cases are given for a general case of loading. In conclusion, the boundary value problems are considered for an elastic layer loaded by self-equilibrated forces normal to the surfaces.


This paper presents a two layer multi-agent architecture designed to support communities of practice in organizations which are concerned about knowledge sharing. The main goal of this proposal is, therefore to facilitate knowledge exchange in organizations whose employees are organized into communities.


With definitive advantages in cost and size, PXI is gaining ground as the mainstream technology for military test application development. However, there are many instances where a military test system must be operated without the assurance of a reliable power source. There is a growing demand for a portable system that can be easily packed, carried and used anywhere. Furthermore, it would be ideal if the same system used in development can be simply unplugged and deployed in the field directly, with no change in functionality or capability. Similar to the development of commercial notebook computers, the portable PXI platform must be designed from the ground up, putting power supply design, power management, and platform packaging at a high priority. PXI is an open standard, and system integrators may configure a test system with varying degrees of power requirement. The ability to tolerate a wide range of power consumption must be factored in when the platform is designed. Wireless data communication should also be addressed by the platform. In this paper, we provide the technical overview of this platform, and the salient features of a 3U 8-slot implementation.


The use of ultrasound is now commonplace in medicine and elsewhere but demonstrating how it works is not easy. The suggestion here is to use coaxial cables of different impedance to model the different Specific Acoustic Impedances of parts of the body.


EDCA is a contention-based channel access scheme defined in the 802.11e standard. It is part of the HCCA for infrastructure networks and may be used as a separate coordination function for wireless ad-hoc networks. In this paper, we propose to extend EDCA with a non-linear dynamic adaptation algorithm of the minimum contention window (CWmin) that enables each station to tune the size of the CWmin used in its back-off algorithm at run time. The purpose of our scheme is to reduce delay and jitter and increase the efficiency of the transmission channel. The performance of the IEEE 802.11e EDCA, enhanced with our non-linear adaptation algorithm, is extensively investigated by simulations and compared with other contention window adaptation schemes. Results obtained indicate that our CWmin adaptation scheme outperforms basic EDCA, AEDCF and SD in terms of channel utilization, throughput, and packet delay. Indeed, the delays for high priority and medium priority access categories decrease by respectively up to 63% and up to 96%. In addition, total throughput increases by up to 24%, and channel capacity is at least 30% higher as compared to EDCA


Outline
"The project launched in 2004 aims to contribute to modernising the teaching offered at universities as well as the
postgraduate and continuing training of social workers in accordance with the requirements of the psychiatry
reforms and to networking universities and other institutions in South Eastern Europe. A three-semester,
postgraduate continuing training module taught by German and Macedonian lecturers was completed at the
University of Skopje (Institute of Social Work and Social Policy) in 2006. The same year saw the Network for the
Empowerment of Social Work in Mental Health in South Eastern Europe established – because there can be
no doubt that there is a need for such empowerment to be delivered, especially by engaging in professional
development and in-service training measures and research projects in this field for the South Eastern European
and German participants of the foundation workshop held in Ohrid.
The opening of a 3-Semester Postgraduate Degree Programme in "Mental Health", at the Goce-Dolcev
University in Stip for nursing staff who already hold a Bachelor's degree will be the degree key project in 2009.
The planned start for the degree programme is scheduled for the Winter Semester 2009/2010.
The 4th Workshop of the Network for the Empowerment of Social Work in Mental Health in South Eastern
Europe will be held in Belgrade on the topic of "Prevention/Health Promotion in respect of mental health".A Summer School is planned in Ohrid on the topic of Project Management in August, whereby the generation
of a project concept in the field of Stress Management is planned in the sense of interlinking theory and practice,
and is to be implemented as well. The Ss. Cyril and Methodius University Skopje is continuing to work on
developing a Master's degree programme in "Clinical Social Work".
Three postgraduate workshops for social workers organised by Macedonian social workers for Macedonian social
workers are also to be funded".


The domain of online algorithms with predictions has been extensively studied for different applications such as scheduling, caching (paging), clustering, ski rental, etc. Recently, Bamas et al., aiming for an unified method, have provided a primal-dual framework for linear covering problems. They extended the online primal-dual method by incorporating predictions in order to achieve a performance beyond the worst-case case analysis. In this paper, we consider this research line and present a framework to design algorithms with predictions for non-linear packing problems. We illustrate the applicability of our framework in submodular maximization and in particular ad-auction maximization in which the optimal bound is given and supporting experiments are provided.


A steerable catheter having a Doppler crystal at the tip to measure the velocity of blood in vivo-and inferen tially the blood flow. The catheter includes two pas sageways, one passageway being exposed to the blood stream with the other passageway containing the elec trical leads to the Doppler crystal. The one passageway is dimensioned for receiving a wire guide for accurately manipulating the catheter. Preferably, the catheter in corporates an inflatable angio-balloon operable to dis tend the blood vessel in the region of a stenosis. Thus, blood flow can be determined in the region of the steno sis before and/or after the vessel is distended. The pas sageways are preferably defined by a pair of generally concentric tubes with the Doppler crystal doughnut shaped and sealingly disposed at the tip of the catheter.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic, multifactorial metabolic disease whereby insulin deficiency or resistance results in hyperglycemia. Endothelial cells (ECs) form the innermost layer of the blood vessel and produce and release a variety of vasoactive substances and growth factors to regulate vascular homeostasis and angiogenesis. Hyperglycemia and insulin resistance can cause endothelial dysfunction, leading to vascular complications such as coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, diabetic nephropathy, neuropathy and retinopathy. The detrimental effect exerted on ECs by hyperglycemia and insulin resistance underlines the importance of reparatory mechanisms in DM. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), derived from bone marrow, have been recognized as endogenous cells involved in endothelial repair and new blood vessel formation. Initially isolated from a subset of circulating CD34+ mononuclear cells, EPCs were found to possess the ability to differentiate into ECs when cultured in vitro and incorporate into newly formed vessels upon transplantation in animal models of ischemia. Due to the low frequency of CD34+ cells in circulation, the vast majority of studies investigating EPC actions have used cells that are generated through the culture of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) for 4 - 7 days in endothelial selective medium. These cells, mainly of myeloid hematopoietic cell origin, were termed "Early EPCs," of which, few expressed stem/progenitor-cell markers. Therefore, early EPCs were also termed "myeloid angiogenic cells" (MACs). When PBMNCs are cultured for over 2 weeks, early EPCs gradually diminish while so-called late EPCs appear. Late EPCs share phenotypic features with mature ECs and are therefore also termed blood-derived ECs; they will not be addressed in this review. MAC dysfunction has been observed in a variety of disease conditions including DM. In this article we review the activities and therapeutic potential of MACs in DM. We will interchangeably use "EPCs" and "MACs" to refer to the cells procured by culture of PBMNCs in EC selective medium for approximately 7 days.


Centromeric histones (CenH3s) are essential for chromosome inheritance during cell division in most eukaryotes. CenH3 genes have rapidly evolved and undergone repeated gene duplications and diversification in many plant and animal species. In Caenorhabditis, two independent duplications of CenH3 (named hcp-3 for HoloCentric chromosome-binding Protein 3) have been previously identified: in C. elegans and C. remanei. Here, using phylogenomic analyses in Caenorhabditis, we find strict retention of the ancestral hcp-3 gene and eight additional independent hcp-3 duplications, most of which are only found in one or two species. hcp-3L (hcp-3-like) paralogs are expressed in both sexes (males and females/ hermaphrodites) and have a conserved histone fold domain. We identified novel N-terminal protein motifs, including putative kinetochore protein-interacting motifs and a potential separase cleavage site, which are well-conserved across Caenorhabditis HCP-3 proteins. Other N-terminal motifs vary in their retention across paralogs or species, revealing potential sub-functionalization or functional loss following duplication. C. afra encodes an unprecedented protein fusion, where the hcp-3 paralog fused to duplicated segments from hcp-4 (nematode CENP-C). Extending our analyses beyond CenH3, we found gene duplications of six inner and outer kinetochore genes in Caenorhabditis, including co-retention of different kinetochore protein paralogs in a few species. Our findings suggest that centromeric protein duplications occur frequently in Caenorhabditis nematodes, are selectively retained under purifying selection but only for short evolutionary periods, then degenerate or are lost entirely. We hypothesize that unique challenges associated with holocentricity in Caenorhabditis may lead to this rapid 'revolving door' of kinetochore protein paralogs.


ABSTRACT We tested different alga-bacterium-archaeon consortia to investigate the production of oil-like mixtures, expecting that n-alkane-rich biofuels might be synthesized after pyrolysis. Thermosipho globiformans and Methanocaldococcus jannaschii were cocultured at 68°C with microalgae for 9 days under two anaerobic conditions, followed by pyrolysis at 300°C for 4 days. Arthrospira platensis (Cyanobacteria), Dunaliella tertiolecta (Chlorophyta), Emiliania huxleyi (Haptophyta), and Euglena gracilis (Euglenophyta) served as microalgal raw materials. D. tertiolecta, E. huxleyi, and E. gracilis cocultured with the bacterium and archaeon inhibited their growth and CH4 production. E. huxleyi had the strongest inhibitory effect. Biofuel generation was enhanced by reducing impurities containing alkanenitriles during pyrolysis. The composition and amounts of n-alkanes produced by pyrolysis were closely related to the lipid contents and composition of the microalgae. Pyrolysis of A. platensis and D. tertiolecta containing mainly phospholipids and glycolipids generated short-carbon-chain n-alkanes (n-tridecane to n-nonadecane) and considerable amounts of isoprenoids. E. gracilis also produced mainly short n-alkanes. In contrast, E. huxleyi containing long-chain (31 and 33 carbon atoms) alkenes and very long-chain (37 to 39 carbon atoms) alkenones, in addition to phospholipids and glycolipids, generated a high yield of n-alkanes of various lengths (n-tridecane to n-pentatriacontane). The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) profiles of these n-alkanes were similar to those of native petroleum crude oils despite containing a considerable amount of n-hentriacontane. The ratio of phytane to n-octadecane was also similar to that of native crude oils.


Sodium deficiency has been associated with such reproduction disorders as poor conception, irregular oestrus cycle, genital catarrh, loss of appetite, decreased milk yield and licking. Forages are generally poor in sodium, and supplementation with sodium chloride (stock salt) is necessary. Although requirements are well defined, situations with sub-optimal or insufficient sodium supply are not rare in practice. Furthermore, as sodium and potassium are antagonistically regulated, high dietary potassium can aggravate a situation with sub-optimal sodium supply. The purpose of this study as to evaluate the sodium supply in dairy herds with serum and urine analyses and compare different methods of evaluation. These biochemical findings were compared to the anamnestic declared amount of sodium chloride offered to the cows.


Abstract The outcrop of Lower Palaeozoic rocks on the Isle of Man is dominated by thin- to medium-bedded sand-rich turbidites over most of the southeast side of the island (Lamplugh's Lonan and Agneash Grits, comprising greywacke and quartz arenite, respectively, interbedded with mudstone) and on the northwest coast south of Peel (the Niarbyl Flags). Recent work has shown that the latter, the Niarbyl Formation, is Silurian in age and thus distinct from the otherwise early Ordovician sequences. The composition of the Niarbyl sandstone is also distinct, with comparatively low silica (SiO2 60–66%) but elevated CaO, MgO and Cr, relative to the Ordovician sandstones. The Ordovician sandstones fall into two compositional groups: a very mature, silica-rich (SiO2 78–95%) quartz arenite (Agneash type) and a greywacke (Lonan type) with lower silica (SiO2 65–78%). Most element contents vary with silica but there is a compositional hiatus. It is here inferred that the two sandstone groups represent material from separate source areas. The three tectonostratigraphical sequences distinguished in the southeast of the island all include sandstone of both compositional types in different proportions. These usually occur as units of one or other composition, but in one sequence the two are locally closely interbedded while remaining compositionally distinct. Sandstone in two possibly equivalent units may, however, vary gradationally between the two types, implying more intimate mixing. In the absence of biostratigraphical control, the geochemical data are used to constrain the various ways in which the tectonostratigraphical sequences might correlate. The chemical signature of the Isle of Man sandstones also provides constraints on possible correlatives in adjacent areas. The Lonan type is very similar to mid-Arenig sandstone in the upper part of the Skiddaw Group of the English Lake District. The more siliceous Agneash type has no compositional comparative in the main Skiddaw Group outcrop, although sandstone comprising the enigmatic Redmain Formation is similar in composition. The Wenlock Niarbyl Formation is lithologically and chemically comparable with Wenlock turbidite sequences in the Southern Uplands terrane and in the Windermere Supergroup in the Lake District, and they may all be closely related. None provides a precise match but compositionally the Niarbyl sandstone closely resembles the sandstone of the same age in the Birk Riggs Formation of the Windermere Supergroup. Subject to a number of constraints, the chemical composition of sandstone can also provide information on the probable tectonic environment of the source rocks. On this basis, the Lonan and Niarbyl sandstones include substantial components of first- or second-cycle volcanic debris, whereas the Agneash type is dominated by mature debris reworked from older sedimentary rocks or derived from a granite/gneiss basement source.


This article aims to establish the fingerprints, determine the hemostatic pharmacodynamic indicators, and explore the spectrum-effect relationship of Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma in 12 different specifications. Firstly, HPLC and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry(LC-MS) were employed to establish the fingerprints of Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma. The rat plasma recalcification experiment and the rat gastric bleeding experiment were conducted to determine the pharmacodynamic indicators, including plasma recalcification time(PRT), thrombin time(TT), prothrombin time(PT), and activated partial thromboplastin time(APTT). Afterwards, the partial least squares method was employed to explore the spectrum-effect relationship of Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma in different specifications. Twenty-six common peaks were detected in the HPLC fingerprints of different specifications of Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma, and 11 out of the 26 common peaks represented saponins. The content of dencichine was determined by LC-MS. The rat experiments showed that the pharmacodynamic indicators were significantly different among different specifications of Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma. The spectrum-effect relationship was explored between 27 common components and pharmacodynamic indicators. Among them, 16 components had positive effects on the pharmacodynamic indicators of Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma, and 11 exerted negative effects. This study provides a basis for the precision medication and quality control of Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma.


In this article, we describe the latest developments of the minimally invasive hepatic surgery simulator prototype developed at INRIA. The goal of this simulator is to provide a realistic training test bed to perform laparoscopic procedures. Therefore, its main functionality is to simulate the action of virtual laparoscopic surgical instruments for deforming and cutting tridimensional anatomical models. Throughout this paper, we present the general features of this simulator including the implementation of several biomechanical models and the integration of two force-feedback devices in the simulation platform. More precisely, we describe three new important developments that improve the overall realism of our simulator. First, we have developed biomechanical models, based on linear elasticity and finite element theory, that include the notion of anisotropic deformation. Indeed, we have generalized the linear elastic behaviour of anatomical models to 'transversally isotropic' materials, i.e. materials having a different behaviour in a given direction. We have also added to the volumetric model an external elastic membrane representing the 'liver capsule', a rather stiff skin surrounding the liver, which creates a kind of 'surface anisotropy'. Second, we have developed new contact models between surgical instruments and soft tissue models. For instance, after detecting a contact with an instrument, we define specific boundary constraints on deformable models to represent various forms of interactions with a surgical tool, such as sliding, gripping, cutting or burning. In addition, we compute the reaction forces that should be felt by the user manipulating the force-feedback devices. The last improvement is related to the problem of haptic rendering. Currently, we are able to achieve a simulation frequency of 25 Hz (visual real time) with anatomical models of complex geometry and behaviour. But to achieve a good haptic feedback requires a frequency update of applied forces typically above 300 Hz (haptic real time). Thus, we propose a force extrapolation algorithm in order to reach haptic real time.


In the last four decades, we have witnessed vast and important transitions in the social, economic, political, and health contexts of the lived experiences of gay men in the United States. This dynamic period, as evidenced most prominently by the transition of the gay rights movement to a civil rights movement, has shifted the exploration of gay men's health from one focusing primarily on HIV/AIDS into a mainstream consideration of the overall health and wellbeing of gay men. Against this backdrop, aging gay men in the United States constitute a growing population, for whom further investigations of health states and health-related disparities are warranted. In order to advance our understanding of the health and wellbeing of aging gay men, we outline here a multilevel, ecosocial conceptual framework that integrates salient environmental, social, psychosocial, and sociodeomgraphic factors into sets of macro-, meso-, and micro-level constructs that can be applied to comprehensively study health states and health care utilization in older gay men.


Conclusion No. 4 of the American Academy of Dermatology Consensus Conference on Photoaging and Photodamage in 1988 was: "There is no safe way to tan." The article by Levine et al 1 on "The Effects of Bergapten and Sunlight on Cutaneous Pigmentation" in this issue of theArchivessuggests that this conclusion is incorrect and that a tan may be healthy after all. The article is not earth shattering in its content, but it raises very important philosophical and scientific questions for the dermatologic community. Therefore, we should critically evaluate the evidence these authors present before we adopt a fundamental shift in this direction. The shift is fundamental because this article suggests that we condone, or even recommend, putting a carcinogen in a sunscreen. FIRST: THE PHILOSOPHY The dermatologic community is in the midst of its most successful public relations exercise with its campaign to educate fair-skinned people about the adverse


Abstract
One hundred and forty-two post mortem reports of road accident deaths in the Windsor accident area have been reviewed. Although head and chest injuries accounted for the deaths of most of these victims, twelve died of inhalation asphyxia and another eighteen died of hypovolaemia due to haemorrhage from otherwise minor injuries. Some of these cases would perhaps have survived if they had received skilled medical attention at the most critical time.


This volume contains 33 papers presented at the 42th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale held at the University of Leuven in July 1995. The main purpose of the conference on Languages and Cultures in Contact was to focus on contacts and exchanges between the various cultures in the Syro-Mesopotamian realm by re-evaluating the geographical limits of 'Mesopotamian' civilization to include the Upper- and Middle-Euphrates regions of Syria. These proceedings cover areas of research in the fields of philology, archaeology and history alike. They bring together essays on a great number of topics, including comparative linguistics, the spread of literacy and administrative practices, cultural exchanges, diffusion and acculturation. Finally the book contains reports on current excavations and surveys in the Ancient Near East.


Green economy is an important pathway to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) while simultaneously helps drive economic growth as well as fosters innovation for new low-carbon production technologies and products. It has been widely recognized that one of the non-technical barriers to the wider participation of businesses, project developers, and innovators in the green growth is lack of financial supports and investments. As green economy is still a contested and relatively new concept in Malaysia, the government has played a major role in the policy agenda-setting process of green growth in Malaysia. Despite these policy initiatives, the uptake of green growth remains low due to a number of barriers. This paper highlights several enabling conditions for the development and growth of green economy in Malaysia, with a focus on the current financing policies and initiatives such as Green Technology Financing Scheme (GTFS). An overview of issues and challenges in financing the green industry are also highlighted in the study. The overview of enablers and barriers of green growth should provide a perspective from which green industry's viability can be evaluated but also will help industry participants such as project developers, technology and product innovators, financiers, and policy makers to better understand enabling factors and challenges affecting the green growth and promote collaborative efforts among these participants as well as improve existing policies or structure new policy frameworks to support the green growth in Malaysia.


2917 The L1 CAM has been implicated in a variety of motile processes, including neurite extension, cerebellar cell migration, melanoma cell extravasation and glioma dissemination in the brain. We have previously demonstrated that L1 CAM was overexpressed by androgen-independent (AI) and highly metastatic human prostate cancer cell lines DU145, PC3 and ARCaP, and played a role in cancer cell adherence to bone marrow endothelium (Abstract#3653, AACR 95th annual meeting, 2004). For this communication, we further investigated the role of L1 CAM in prostate cancer progression using a genetic approach. Our in vitro studies demonstrated that overexpression of L1 CAM in AI and L1 CAM-deficient prostate cancer C4-2 cells (L1/C4-2) by retrovirus-mediated gene transduction had no effects on cell growth rate but significantly promoted their growth on soft agar, increased intercellular adhesion as measured by bead assay, and inhibited in vitro migration and invasion of C4-2 cells due to enhanced intercellular adhesion among cells. Conversely, permanent downregulation of L1 CAM in PC3 cells (PC3-RZ#4-7) using L1 CAM-targeting ribozyme decreased anchorage-independent growth and homotypic cell-cell adhesion, and increased migration and invasion in vitro. Unlike L1 CAM, which is membrane-bound, the ectodomain of L1 CAM secreted by L1/C4-2 cells in the conditioned medium showed chemotactic activity for C4-2 cells in transwell migration assay. Since L1 CAM protein in clinical prostate cancer specimens was found to bind to stroma matrices adjacent to tumors, we propose that L1 CAM may serve as a chemoattractant for prostate cancer cell migration into tissue stroma. Furthermore, in a "proof-of-principle" study we demonstrated that PC3-RZ#4-7 cells systemically injected into nude mice resulted in prolonged survival of mice with no evidence of bone metastastic lesions shown by radiograph, in comparison with parental and vector control PC3 cells. Taken together, these results suggest that in primary lesions, prostate cancer cells and/or tumor-associated stroma released L1 which acted as a chemoattractant and adhesive matrix for metastatic cell dissemination. In the bone microenvironment, L1 CAM expressed on the cell surface of metastatic cancer cells promotes cancer cell extravasation and growth in the skeleton. The regulation of L1 CAM gene expression in prostate cancer cells is currently under investigation.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the value of coronary CT angiography in assessment of bifurcation lesions.

METHODS
The original image of 79 established and suspected coronary artery disease patients who underwent both coronary CT angiography and conventional artery angiography (CAG) sequentially were included in this analysis. Bifurcation lesions were assessed on primary and secondary vessels with diameter ≥ 2.0 mm, bifurcation lesions were graded according to Chen's classification. CAG was used as golden standard. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were calculated. Spearman's test and Kappa test were used to evaluate the correlation and classification identity of the two methods.

RESULTS
CAG evidenced 177 bifurcation lesions out of 445 bifurcation vessels and coronary CT detected 168 bifurcation lesions out of 404 bifurcation vessels with satisfactory imaging quality and 390 bifurcation vessels could be analyzed by both CAG and coronary CT. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of coronary CT angiography were 94.2%, 94.6%, 90.7%, 96.1%, respectively. The results for the lesions at LM-LAD/LCX + LAD/Mid, LAD/Diag, RCA/PDA were more satisfactory and the sensitivity and specificity were as high as: 97.1% and 94.2%, 95.7% and 89.5%, 92.3% and 98.7%, respectively. There were significant correlations for evaluating the narrow degree of the opening of the bifurcation branch with these two methods (r = 0.799 58, P < 0.01) and for identifying I, II, III type bifurcation lesions (Kappa coefficient = 0.7959, P < 0.01) as well as for identifying the subtype bifurcation lesions (Kappa coefficient = 0.6328, P < 0.01) using the two methods.

CONCLUSION
Coronary CT angiography is efficient in identifying the bifurcation lesions and offers a reasonable indication for bifurcation lesion classification.


The current campus network has become the basic equipment in campus construction. The safe and reliable campus network not only can utilize various resources inside and outside the schoolreasonably, safely and effectively, but also improve the working environment of the campus network, facilitate the management and maintenance of the campus network, and improve the reliability of the campus network. Therefore, it is especially important to build a reasonable campus network security system; Based on the security design in the network construction of a university campus network, this paper analyzes comprehensively the possible security problems, the current security status of campus network and the needs of campus network security. Based on the existing information organization structure of colleges and universities, this paper uses various management methods and technical methods to divide the campus network into various functional area modules, and deploys corresponding solutions in each regional module to solve the network security existing in the campus network. The problem is ultimately to protect the online system resources and services, and to alleviate the security threats of the campus network.


Recently, the attention of specialists to medicines of natural origin has been constantly growing. The interest in the use of such drugs obtained from natural raw materials is justified by high efficiency, a wide range of pharmacological activity, as well as the possibility of using them for a long time without complications and side effects. The share and volume of production of medicinal products is increasing all over the world, through synthetic transformations of substances isolated from wild and cultivated plants. Substances of plant origin are widely used as biologically active additives, agrochemical agents. Research in the field of modern chemistry of plant substances in the Republic and abroad is devoted to a comprehensive and comprehensive study of plant raw materials, including the extraction and designation of the structure and chemical properties of plant components, the study of their biological activity, the development of effective and environmentally safe methods for complex processing of plant raw materials. The attractiveness of alkaloid derivatives to compounds is due to the versatility of their reactivity, as well as the practical use of alkaloid derivatives as medicines. Modification of the molecules of natural compounds by introducing such a substituent is one of the promising directions in the search for new biologically active compounds. Analysis of the results of analgesic activity assessment experiments showed that(s)-1-methyl-3-(1-(5-phenylisoxazole-3-carbonyl) piperidine-22 Il) pyridine-2-Il) pyridine-1-IUM iodide has the ability to reduce the severity of specific nociceptive responses in rats during chemical irritation of the peritoneum. The analgesic activity of the test sample was analyzed on diclofenac sodium.


This paper explores Kahn and Scherer's results in search of a better understanding of this complex issue. We accept their result of a 20 percent salary differential. In an expanded sample of NBA season, however, we find no evidence of customer discrimination by NBA fans. To the contrary, if anything, there is a preference for more black players and more black playing time in our results. We employ the same empirical model as Kahn and Scherer, but add two more seasons' worth of attendance data. We also model playing time for NBA players as a function of performance and race. Definitively, black players are allotted more minutes than comparable white players. In light of these results, we are left with the following: a) a large salary differential between black and white players, b) little basis for a claim of customer discrimination, and c) more playing time for black players, all else equal. This pattern of results, in our view, is not driven by racial discrimination but by price discrimination. NBA owners and executives are engaging in price discrimination across classes of players who have different elasticities of supply. For whatever reason (including past racial discrimination), black players have a higher elasticity of supply with respect to providing professional basketball services than do comparable white players. The salary differential identified by Kahn and Scherer is most likely a result of this condition.


This article presents a critical discussion of the legal institution of adult guardianship in Israel. Based on a critical discourse analysis' study of official guardianship reports for older adults submitted by social workers to family courts in Israel, findings reveal how guardianship institutional procedures construct the personal life stories of older persons into legalistic guardianship paradigm, and in doing so they create a new identity of 'a person in need of guardianship'. The article further delineates how 'a person in need of guardianship' (as well as a 'guardian') is a discursive identity, a subject who never existed prior to the guardianship proceeding, a legal creation which does not reflect the complexities and realities of older persons.


A 2012 hazardous materials field exercise identified two types of opportunistic cooperation between a small UAV and UGV, the impact on the human-robot interaction, and provided practical advice for coordinating UAV-UGV teams that have not worked together. UAV-UGV cooperation research assumes that the cooperation is planned, while the use of unmanned systems for disasters suggests that the cooperation will be spontaneous. The 2012 field exercise tracked how emergency response professionals used an AirRobot 100B UAV and Packbot 510 UGV to gather information about a simulated chemical train car derailment and collateral damage. The expectation had been to use the UAV and UGV independently but the robots were used cooperatively for object-based task with coordination by the Incident Command staff (opportunistic mediated cooperation) and then for a robot-based task with direct coordination between the UAV and UGV teams (opportunistic active cooperation). These two new forms of cooperative heterogeneous teams introduced human-robot interaction bottlenecks, but overall the teaming allowed the robots to meet the mission objectives faster.


The authors aim to evaluate the utility of ultrasound biometry in the diagnosis of IUGR. In a prospective study over 2.5 year period 142 pregnants at risk for IUGR were followed and their ultrasound results compared to those of 50 controls, investigated once after the 24 gestational week. The authors conclude that: BPD and FAC, evaluated only once, are unreliable in IUGR diagnosis; FAC is the most sensitive and specific index in onefold fetal biometry, particularly after the 34 gestational week; combing linear with non-linear parameters significantly increases.


The unique properties of the plasma utilized in ETC guns, such as the low viscosity, high momentum and high temperature, can lead to a more uniform ignition over the entire cartridge volume, even in large-caliber guns. Since 2002, the united research group leaded by Beijing Institute of Special Electromechanical Technology (BISET) has completed a lot of experiments with a novel surface discharge plasma igniter, which generates plasma from a cylindrical surface and distributes it through radial port. The results of these experiments have shown this igniter can present perfect ignition. This paper presents an overview of this ETC program including the igniter, pulsed power supply, 120 mm ETC launchers, and some experimental results. The further experimental studies are being continued.


Abstract Objective: The management of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is time-critical, with a focus on early reperfusion to decrease morbidity and mortality. It is imperative that prehospital clinicians recognize STEMI early and initiate transport to hospitals capable of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with a door-to-balloon time of ≤90 minutes. Three patterns have been identified as STEMI equivalents that also likely warrant prompt attention and potentially PCI: Wellens syndrome, De Winter T waves, and aVR ST elevation. The goal of our study was to assess the incidence of these findings in prehospital patients presenting with chest pain. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review from a large urban tertiary care emergency department. We reviewed the prehospital ECG, or ECG upon arrival, of 861 patients who were hospitalized and required cardiac catheterization between 4/10/18 and 5/7/19. Patients who had field catheterization lab activation by EMS for STEMI were excluded. If a prehospital ECG was not available for review, the first ECG obtained in the hospital was used as a proxy. Each ECG was screened for aVR elevation, De Winter T waves, and Wellens syndrome. Results: Of 278 charts with prehospital ECGs available, 12 met our criteria for STEMI equivalency (4.4%): 6 Wellens syndrome and 6 aVR STEMI. There were no cases of De Winters T waves. Of 573 charts with no prehospital ECG available, 27 had initial hospital ECGs that met our STEMI equivalent criteria (4.7%): 7 Wellens syndrome and 20 aVR STEMI. Again, there were no cases of De Winters T waves. Conclusions: These preliminary data suggest that there are significant numbers of patients whose prehospital ECG findings do not currently meet criteria for field activation of the cardiac catheterization lab, but who may require prompt catheterization. Further studies are needed to look at outcomes, but these results could support the need for further education of prehospital clinicians regarding recognition of these STEMI equivalents, as well as quality initiatives aimed at decreasing door-to-balloon time for patients with STEMI equivalents.


In this essay, I argue that where the 20th century saw the emergence of a reflective philosophy of technology, one that attempted to understand technology and its implications for society, our focus in the 21st century should be on a constructive philosophy of technology that actively seeks to change technology and its implications for society. A constructive philosophy of technology does not see as its primary task the understanding of technology, but the active philosophical guidance and support of actors in society that are responsible for the development, regulation and use of technology. I will make the case for a constructive approach, and I will try to sketch what it could look like. I will also argue that the constructive approach is currently becoming influential and will probably become still more influential in the future.


Human blood is an excellent example of a thixo-elasto-visco-plastic (TEVP), shear-thinning fluid, with an apparent yield stress. We demonstrate a series of unique strain-controlled experiments to elucidate the evolving elastic and viscous properties of human blood and show the associated unique viscoelastic and thixotropic signatures. The experimental techniques and procedures outlined here, and the robust mechanical analysis framework offers a window into the complex nonlinearity of the relationship between the microstructure and mechanical properties of human blood. Rather than using the traditional discrete Fourier transform to analyze the data, two contemporary methods, the MITlaos, Chebychev analysis technique, and the other sequence of physical processes (SPP), are applied to these oscillatory tests. These methods are advantageous because they both allow for the analysis of large amplitude oscillatory shear flow. These frameworks will highlight how the blood undergoes thickening-thinning and hardening-softening cycles that are directly related to microstructures during large amplitude oscillatory shear flow. We show these results with a series of Cole-Cole and Lissajous-Bowditch plots, then compare to an aqueous solution of xanthan gum and glycerol. The analysis presented here is independent of a specific TEVP rheological model. (We acknowledge that the protein film on surface of blood air interface issue may exist; based on literature we estimate this to contribute no more than +0.375 mPa s to viscosity at, or 0.0375 Pa to the stress measurement at shear rates below 100 s-1.)BACKGROUND:Human blood is a thixo-elasto-visco-plastic (TEVP) material that exhibits unique fluctuations in mechanical properties based on physiology, and shear rate. We demonstrate new visual tools to help visualize and characterize these varied mechanical properties.

OBJECTIVE
Our objective is to demonstrate contemporary visual and numerical tools to help visualize and characterize the varied mechanical properties of human blood.

METHODS
Using the ARESG2 strain-controlled rheometer with double wall couette geometry and eight human blood donors, with lab test results, elastic and viscous properties are investigated using Series of Physical Processes (SPP) and MITLaos to both analyze and visualize the mechanical signatures of the blood.

RESULTS
Variations of mechanical properties are shown via SPP generated Cole-Cole plots and MITLaos analysis. These variations are a function of physiological properties of blood on the day of the blood draw based on hematocrit, fibrinogen, cholesterol, triglycerides, and a host of other proteins and constituents. Each rheological experiment with blood is replicated with an analogous experiments with 0.04 wt% xanthan in glycerol, and water to demonstrate that the mechanical properties of the human blood, and its rheological signatures are unique to human blood.

CONCLUSIONS
Human blood is proven to be a TEVP material, as shown on a series of Cole-Cole plots for eight different donors, at two different frequency and strain amplitude combinations. Variations in Cole-Cole plots for each donor are shown. MITLaos average mechanical properties are calculated and shown. Aggregated elastic and viscous projections and a Cole-Cole plot is shown for Donors 1-8, along with 95% confidence interval.


Cholecystectomy remains the gold standard in the treatment of cholelithiasis. With the emerging of laparoscopic techniques a new modality in the surgical therapy is available. However efficacy, morbidity and pretended advantages have to be judged in comparison to the conventional technique. Indications for cholecystectomy are not altered by the new technique. Beside some few preoperative contraindications, the definite choice of the operative procedure is determined intraoperatively according to the anatomical facts and the experience of the surgeon. The frequency of the laparoscopic approach varies between 67 and 97%. A conversion to open cholecystectomy is necessary in 3.6-4.7%. The overall complication rate is 2.6-5.1%. Outstanding from those are the iatrogenic lesions of the bile-duct, especially in the initial learning period with 1-2%. The hospital stay is dramatically reduced to 1.2-3 days as well as the postoperative recovery period with 7-14 days. Thus resulting in a cost saving up to $1200 per patient. Because of the obvious advantages of less pain, early mobilisation, less scars and an enormous cost saving the laparoscopic cholecystectomy will be the gold standard in the future. Open cholecystectomy will be restricted to complicated cases. However, in order to prevent serious injuries of the bile-duct an appropriate training in laparoscopic surgery is necessary.


Mitochondrial DNA region V deletion-insertion polymorphism was examined in three Tuvinian populations inhabiting western, northeastern, and southeastern parts of the republic. The 9-bp deletion was characterized by nonrandom distribution across the Tuva territory: its frequency in the western population (13.37%) was statistically significantly higher than that in the northeastern (4.62%), and southeastern populations, as well as in Mongols, who are territorially and ethnically close to Tuvinians. The insertion mutation in the region V was detected with a frequency of about 3% in two out of the three populations tested.


It is common knowledge that the metastatic liver infection produced by the Entamoeba histolytica proceeds in many cases from hepatitis to suppuration. The resultant abscess must always be thought of as the " cold " variety and be treated with as much circumspection as are those due to the Mycobacterium tuberculosum. This lesion progresses, and seeks to establish an outlet whose track may lead into any structure which is in immediate anatomical relation to the liver. Adhesions will form in practically every case, and so prevent general contamination of a serous cavity. Many years of observation have shown that the amoebic .liver abscess is usually solitary and large, and is situated -in the right lobe. Again, in the case of the female, liver abscess is relatively uncommon. Rogers observed nearly 400 cases of liver abscess in Calcutta, 97% being in males, and quotes Ludlow's series of 240 cases in Korea, of which 90% were in males; while Manson-Bahr states that European women in the Tropics rarely develop the condition. The undermentioned case presented several uncommon features, in addition to the fact that the abscess occurred in the left lobe and in a female.


Given a binary relationship between objects and attributes, concept analysis is a powerful technique to organize pairs of related sets of objects and attributes into a concept lattice, where higher level concepts represent general features shared by many objects, while lower level concepts represent the object-specific features. Concept analysis was recently applied to several software engineering problems, such as: restructuring the code into more cohesive components, identifying class candidates, locating features in the code by means of dynamic analysis, reengineering class hierarchies. This paper provides the background knowledge required by such applications. Moreover, the methodological issues involved in the different applications of this technique are considered by giving a detailed presentation of three of them: module restructuring, design pattern inference and impact analysis based on decomposition slicing. The paper is concluded by an overview on other kinds of applications.


The stable borosilico-phosphate new base glass which has good chemical durability, low ex-pansion coefficient, low nonlinear refraction index and can dope high concentration of dopant has been developed. Yb3+-Er3+ codoped borosilico-phosphate glass probably is candidates for economical nuclear fusion system pumping by diode laser because it can satisfy the require-ments of K. Naito (Osaka Univ.) for economical nuclear fusion system which are (a) a thermal shock parameter large than 3 W/cm, (b) saturation parameter of -10 J/cm2, (c) fluorescence lifetime longer than 4 ms, (d) a nonlinear refraction index small than 3 × 10-13 esu. The strong fluorescence intensity in Yb3+-Er3+ codoped borosilico-phosphate glass at 1.54 μm also can be used for eye safe range finder laser. The Yb3+ doped special phosphate glass which has a high concentration of modifier was developed. It also may be used for economical nuclear fu-sion system since it has some advantages below: a) the lifetimes are almost 5 times longer than Nd3+ doped phosphate glass (LHG8) which is using for nuclear fusion system, b) the emission intensities are stronger than LHG8, c) the emission wavelength are close that of LHG8. The energy transfer and energy backtransfer in Yb3+-Er3+ and Yb3+-Nd3+ systems were in-vestigated.


Phototherapy of newborn infants with hyperbilirubinemia was shown to result in an increase in hematocrit values and in the activity of the erythrocyte enzyme acetylsalicylic acid esterase. The elevation of the enzyme activity also could be produced in light-treated rabbits and in vitro after illumination of blood from adult volunteers. The binding of bilirubin to serum albumin and of salicylate to plasma proteins did not alter, nor did the concentrations of albumin or total proteins in plasma. It is concluded that light does not increase the unbound fraction of bilirubin in blood.


The paper is concerned with the statistical distribution of asperity heights of a rough flat surface. Since the sensor of a profile machine passes over the shoulders of most asperities and not over their peaks, the profile trace so produced will not indicate the distribution directly. The paper derives a means of transforming this apparent distribution to the real peak height distribution.


An example of a symptomatic intradural arachnoid diverticulum is presented. The usefulness of computed tomographic metrizamide myelography in conjunction with conventional positive contrast myelography in the evaluation of such lesions is discussed.


We aimed at understanding the relapse-driving processes in pediatric T-ALL and performed an integrated longitudinal multi-level omics analysis of 13 T-ALL patients at initial diagnosis (INI) and relapse (REL). We compared the mutation (SNV/InDels) and copy number alteration (CNA) patterns as well as gene expression, methylation levels and chromatin accessibility by ATAC-Seq.
 Aberrant expression of T-ALL transcription factors (TAL1, TAL2,LMO2, TLX1, TLX3, NKX2.4 and NKX2.5) was preserved from initial presentation to relapse in all patients. These leukemia-driving events defined the expression patterns, methylation profiles and the chromatin accessibility landscapes.
 A global differential analysis of the RNA-Seq data (DESeq2, padj<.05) revealed only 0.3% of the genes to be either up- or down-regulated at relapse when compared to the matched initial sample. Likewise, we detected methylation changes in only 3% of the promoters and differential chromatin accessibility in only 0.26% of the analyzed ATAC-peaks (DESeq2, padj<.05).
 We then focused our analysis on the 2 types of relapse in pediatric T-ALL, which we have previously defined on the basis of subclonal mutation profiles (Kunz et al., 2015). These types of relapse are characterized by either clonal evolution of cells derived from the major clone at initial presentation (type 1) or emergence and evolution of a minor initial clone showing a molecular profile that is distinct from the predominant initial clone (type 2). When considering type 1 and type 2 relapses separately we identified a strong trend for type 2 relapses to acquire more mutations (p=0.0879, ttest) than type 1 relapses. Further to the known activating mutations in NT5C2 acquired at relapse by 8/13 patients no other mutations or CNAs were recurrently acquired in the relapses of this group of patients. However, mutations in proto-oncogenes or genes involved in DNA surveillance were acquired by 7/8 type 2 relapse patients in our series. Changes of CNAs also occurred more frequently in type 2 than in type 1 relapses (pval= 0.0267, ttest). This increased complexity on the genetic level was also apparent on the epigenetic level, with an increase of changes in the methylation pattern (mean difference in β value between INI and REL: type 1 - 0.00034; type2 - 0.002 (pval< 0.0001, chi2)), chromatin accessibility (number of differentially accessible ATAC-peaks: type 1 - 4 (0.006%) ; type 2 - 1018 (1.3%); (pval< 0.0001, chi2)) and on the expression level (number of differentially expressed genes: type 1 - 11; type 2 - 111, pval<0.0001, chi2).
 When considering differences between leukemias at the time of initial diagnosis, which later develop either type 1 or type 2 relapses we found 1.016 genes to be differentially expressed (524: up; 492: down in type 1; DE-Seq2: padj<0.05). Differential expression analysis revealed that genes involved in early T-cell differentiation were upregulated at initial diagnosis of type 1 in comparison to initial diagnosis of type 2, which was also reflected by more accessible chromatin surrounding their cis-regulatory regions as analyzed by ATAC-seq suggesting an early arrest of these samples during differentiation process. Altogether 1.4% of all ATAC-peaks were more accessible in type 1, whereas 0.7% of peaks were more accessible in type 2 leukemia (DE-Seq2: p<0.05). Remarkably, the chromatin surrounding DNA-repair genes was more accessible in initial leukemias of type 1, which was reflected by up-regulated mRNA expression level of such genes. These data suggest that an increased propensity of DNA repair may represent an important mechanism of T-ALL to develop a type 1 relapse, an interpretation that is consistent with previous reports linking the epigenetic silencing of the methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase promoter with compromised DNA repair and longer survival in patients with glioblastoma receiving alkylating agents (Esteller et. al., 2000).
 In sum, the multilevel omic comparison of pediatric T-ALL that develop either a type 1 or a type 2 relapse show remarkably more complex changes of the genetic and epigenetic profiles during the transition from initial to relapsing disease. Notably, pediatric T-ALLs, who later develop a type 1 relapse display an epigenetic and transcriptomic landscape predicting an upregulation of DNA repair functions, which we suggest to potentially play a role in developing resistance to DNA damaging agents in this type of relapse.

 Muckenthaler: Novartis: Research Funding. Bourquin:Amgen: Other: Travel Support. Kulozik:bluebird bio: Consultancy, Honoraria.


Progressive loss of ovarian estrogen (E2) production is a hallmark feature of, if not a driving force behind, reproductive aging and the menopause. Recent genetic studies in mice have shown that female germline or oogonial stem cells (OSCs) contribute to maintenance of adult ovarian function and fertility under physiological conditions through support of de-novo oogenesis. Here we show that mouse OSCs express E2 receptor-α (ERα). In the presence of E2, ERα interacts with the stimulated by retinoic acid gene 8 (Stra8) promoter to drive Stra8 expression followed by oogenesis. Treatment of mice with E2 in vivo increases Stra8 expression and oogenesis, and these effects are nullified by ERα (Esr1), but not ERβ (Esr2), gene disruption. Although mice lacking ERα are born with a normal quota of oocytes, ERα-deficient females develop premature ovarian insufficiency in adulthood due to impaired oogenesis. Lastly, mice treated with reversible ER antagonists show a loss of Stra8 expression and oocyte numbers; however, both endpoints rebound to control levels after ceasing drug treatment. These findings establish a key physiological role for E2-ERα signaling in promoting OSC differentiation as a potential mechanism to maintain adequate numbers of ovarian follicles during reproductive life.


Within–year variation in clutch size has been claimed to be an adaptation to variation in the individual capacity to raise offspring. We tested this hypothesis by manipulating brood size to one common size, and predicted that if clutch size is individually optimized, then birds with originally large clutches have a higher fitness than birds with originally small clutches. No evidence was found that fitness was related to the original clutch size, and in this population clutch size is thus not related to the parental capacity to raise offspring. However, offspring from larger original clutches recruited better than their nest mates that came from smaller original clutches. This suggests that early maternal or genetic variation in viability is related to clutch size.


This paper describes an experimental and theoretical approach to evaluate cycloid drive reducer efficiency. The tests are carried out on 7.5 kW two-disc cycloid drive with a gear ratio of 19. The torque and speed are measured on the input and output shaft. The efficiency is calculated based on the obtained results. The main goal of the second part of the study is to deduce equations of cycloid reducer in order to predict and analyze experimental results. In this way, the following points are set for the simulation: a working condition in which the input speed and the output load are imposed; then, the output speed is determined by the gear ratio, and finally, the input torque is obtained by solving the dynamic problem. A new model for cycloidal reducers is proposed. This model is based on kinematics and dynamics of rigid bodies and a non-linear stiffness based on contact dynamics. The overall elasticity effects are all condensed between the input shaft and the cycloidal disk. The proposed model allows to predict the efficiency for several operational conditions and offer a drastic reduction of computational costs suitable for the optimization process.


Experiments on decision-making show that, when people evaluate risk, they often engage in "narrow framing": that is, in contrast to the prediction of traditional utility functions defined over wealth or consumption, they often evaluate risks in isolation, separately from other risks they are already facing. While narrow framing has many potential real-world applications, there are almost no tractable preference specifications that incorporate it into the standard framework used by economists. In this paper, we propose such a specification and demonstrate its tractability in both portfolio choice and equilibrium settings.


Purpose - This paper aims at theoretical exploration of price and quantity setting behaviors of a monopolist encountering uncertain product demand within the mean-risk frameworks. In the microeconomic literature, the relationships between price and quantity have been traditionally studied using the expected utility approach. This paper moves away from the traditional assumptions and compares various types of risk-return approaches and explains why most of the monopoly firms follow pricing strategy instead of quantity setting strategy. Design/methodology/approach - Price setting behavior and quantity setting behavior monopoly firms were examined with endogenous target value and comparative statics were used. Findings - Comparison of various approaches reveals that risk-averse customers might decrease purchases because of the price uncertainty or shift to other suppliers, which may explain why monopoly firms prefer their power over price setting rather than quantity setting. Research limitations/implications - The present study has introduced some testable propositions by comparing different behavioral models of price and quantity setting behaviors of a monopolist facing uncertain product demand. Practical implications - This study contributes to understanding of firm's behavior in the face of uncertainty. Originality/value - The conceptual nature of the paper makes the paper original in its contribution to the existing literature of the theory of firm.


The economy of Pakistan is significantly contributed by the pharmaceutical industry which is growing at a rapid rate. For pharmaceutical industry doctor is one of the most important stakeholders because he is the ultimate decision maker rather than the direct user. Pharmaceutical industry focuses on doctors rather than the direct users; BTL i.e. below the line marketing strategy is the basis of marketing in pharmaceutical industry, the importance of sales promotion officers as a marketing technique in pharmaceutical industry cannot be denied and ignored. In order to reach the doctors i.e. the prescribers, pharmaceutical industry takes the help of sales promotion officers that constitutes a major place in pharmaceutical marketing strategies. The connection of pharmaceutical industry with physicians is controversial due to the involvement of personal benefits and clash between money and ethics. Trust is one of the fundamental factors of patient-physician relationships, despite of its recognized significance and efforts to measure patient trust have been quite insufficient. This study investigates the patients' perspective regarding the sales promotion by pharmaceutical industry, it highlights the viewpoint of one of the most important stakeholders of health care industry i.e. the patients regarding the matter. Questionnaire was used as the research tool to collect the primary data from patients, 100 questionnaires were filled up from a hospital of Karachi.


Maritime emissions play an important role in anthropogenic emissions, particularly for cities with busy ports such as Hong Kong. Ship emissions are strongly dependent on vessel speed, and thus accurate vessel speed is essential for maritime emission studies. In this study, we determined minute-by-minute high-resolution speed profiles of container ships on four major routes in Hong Kong waters using Automatic Identification System (AIS). The activity-based ship emissions of NO(x), CO, HC, CO(2), SO(2), and PM(10) were estimated using derived vessel speed profiles, and results were compared with those using the speed limits of control zones. Estimation using speed limits resulted in up to twofold overestimation of ship emissions. Compared with emissions estimated using the speed limits of control zones, emissions estimated using vessel speed profiles could provide results with up to 88% higher accuracy. Uncertainty analysis and sensitivity analysis of the model demonstrated the significance of improvement of vessel speed resolution. From spatial analysis, it is revealed that SO(2) and PM(10) emissions during maneuvering within 1 nautical mile from port were the highest. They contributed 7%-22% of SO(2) emissions and 8%-17% of PM(10) emissions of the entire voyage in Hong Kong.


This paper presents the basic elements of a conceptual model for the development of epikarst in US mid-continent, horizontally-bedded carbonates in which flow is largely confined to secondary and tertiary porosity. The model considers the development of epikarst regimes in carbonate sequences beginning shortly after non-carbonate rocks are eroded away to expose the underlying carbonates and follows this through capture of the shallow flow by deeper dissolution conduits with reorientation of the epikarst to a more vertical form. The model does not require an underlying zone of vadose flow and in many cases considers development of such a zone to depend on the water supply provided by prior development of the epikarst. It is not claimed that all epikarsts form in the accordance with this model; rather this paper presents a viable additional model for epikarst formation under appropriate starting conditions. Factors influencing the development of epikarst are a combination of: 1) the pre-karst topography and modifications to this as the system evolves, 2) the original distribution and aperture of fractures as well as the distance and orientation of physically favorable fractures relative to potential discharge points, such as existing dissolutionally-enhanced channels with low head or nearby valleys, 3) character of soil cover as this affects percolation of water to the rock, erodability of the soil, sediment filling of conduits, and transport of sediment 4) variations in availability of dissolutionally aggressive water with time and location, and 5) low solubility layers, such as shale or chert, that promote lateral flow until a penetration point can be found. These interact to form an epikarst and deeper karst system that progressively increases its capacity both by internal improvement of its flow routes and extension into adjacent areas. The availability of water needed to promote dissolution also often has a positive feedback relationship to epikarst, in which locations of most active dissolution modify their vicinity to progressively increase capture of water, which promotes further dissolution. In early stages, lateral flow through the overlying soils and along top-of-rock must dominate the groundwater flow because the relatively intact carbonates have insufficient transmissivity to convey the available recharge through the body of the rock. Top-of-rock runnels developed by a combination of dissolution of their floors and piping erosion of their roofs would carry a significant portion of the flow. Horizontally-oriented epikarst develops with discharge to local drainage. Cutters and pinnacles, collapse-related macropores, and areas of concentrated recharge would begin to form at this stage. Initial downward propagation of this system would occur mostly due to lateral flow. Mixing corrosion could occur in sumps in these lateral flow routes when fresh, percolating rainwater mixes with older water with a higher dissolved load. Should conditions be suitable, leakage from this system promotes the migration of deeper karst conduits into the area by Ewers multi-tiered headward linking. Other sources of water may also bring in such deeper conduits. Once such deeper conduits are present, the epikarst can evolve into a more vertically oriented system, at least in the vicinity of master drains into this deeper system. Former shallow epikarst routes may then plug with sediment. In some areas, deeper systems may never develop due to unfavorable conditions. The epikarst may be the only significant system in these cases. This includes the case of poor karst formers such as interbedded shales and carbonates that may have very shallow horizontal epikarst flow paths that channel shallow subsurface flows.


In this paper we show the surprising effectiveness of a simple observed features model in comparison to latent feature models on two benchmark knowledge base completion datasets, FB15K and WN18. We also compare latent and observed feature models on a more challenging dataset derived from FB15K, and additionally coupled with textual mentions from a web-scale corpus. We show that the observed features model is most effective at capturing the information present for entity pairs with textual relations, and a combination of the two combines the strengths of both model types.


A 42-d feeding experiment with growing Ross x Ross 508 broilers showed that the nutritional value of insect-protected and herbicide-tolerant corn was comparable to that of the genetically similar control and 5 commercial reference corn hybrids. MON 88017 provides protection from feeding damage by coleopteran pest corn rootworm and is tolerant to the action of glyphosate, the active ingredient in the Roundup family of agricultural herbicides. MON 88017 x MON 810 was developed by the traditional breeding of MON 88017 with MON 810, which provides protection from the European corn borer and other lepidopteran pests. A randomized complete block design was used with 8 dietary treatments in each of 5 replicated blocks of pens. No differences among diets were observed (P > 0.05) in performance (final live weights, feed intake, feed conversion, and adjusted feed conversion), carcass yield (chill, fat pad, breast, thigh, wing, and drum weight), or percentage of moisture, protein, and fat in breast meat and moisture and fat in thigh meat. Thigh protein was similar (P > 0.05) in broilers fed diets containing MON 88017 x MON 810 and conventional control or all commercial reference corns; however, differences (P < 0.05) were noted for the percentage of thigh protein among broilers fed the control and 2 of the 5 reference diets, attributable to biological variability among the conventional corn hybrids. Broilers overall performed consistently and had similar carcass yield and meat composition when fed diets containing MON 88017 or MON 88017 x MON 810 as compared with those fed the conventional control and commercial diets, supporting a conclusion of nutritional equivalence.


While audio description as a technique has been round for centuries, its research in academia has just started. In some countries, such as Spain, norms and standards have been officially drafted before taking into consideration any scientific research results.This paper analyses some of the widely available audio description style sheets in Europe and the USA through a practical case: the creation of the audio description for the infamous Spanish film Torrente 3


O_LIIndependent origins of cultivated Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) have been identified in the Old-World Tropics corresponding to the Pacific and Indo-Atlantic oceanic basins. We use unknown coconut cultivated varieties in northern South America to conduct genetic diversity and population structure analysis for the region using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) markers along the genome and phenotypic data.nC_LIO_LIAnalyses revealed two highly genetically differentiated subpopulations corresponding to Pacific and Atlantic oceanic basins. While, this pattern was initially revealed at a global scale, it has now been confirmed at a local scale using genomics in northern South America. We use genotypes identified here to estimate diversification times for main cultivated coconut varieties at a global scale: An early divergent Atlantic tall cultivar, splits from sisters Pacific Tall and Pacific Dwarf cultivars approximately 5400 years ago, while Pacific Tall and Pacific Dwarf cultivars split from a shared common ancestor approximately 1600 years ago.nC_LIO_LIFive loci have been identified as candidate domestication targets, including genes related to vital functions such reproduction, respiration, and defense.nC_LIO_LIThese results propose a dated evolutionary hypothesis for the independent origins of cultivated coconut globally were diversification between coconut populations has happened very recently and within few generations.nC_LI


To investigate the renal actions of the converting enzyme inhibitor enalaprilic acid, incremental doses of this drug were infused into the renal artery of hypertensive patients just before renal angiography. One group (n = 6) received doses of 0.1, 0.3 and 1 microgram/kg per min, while in another group (n = 7) doses of 1, 3 and 10 micrograms/kg per min were given. Each dose was infused for 10 min, at the end of which renal blood flow was assessed by means of xenon-washout. At the same time, blood was sampled from the renal artery and vein for determination of converting enzyme, renin and angiotensin II. Enalaprilic acid caused a dose-related suppression of converting enzyme activity, which was maximal at a dose of 1 microgram/kg per min; arterial levels fell more steeply than venous ones. Angiotensin II disappeared in parallel with the drop in converting enzyme. Renal blood flow, on the other hand, began to increase only when 3 micrograms/kg per min was given, and no further changes occurred with the highest dose. Intra-arterial blood pressure fell only when the highest dose was given. Renin secretion tended to increase, but changes were not statistically significant. It is concluded that systemic suppression of converting enzyme is needed for renal vasodilatation to occur. However, the renal vascular response comes well before blood pressure falls.


A 12-wk experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding program, dietary fiber, and CP content of the diet on productive performance of Ross broiler breeder hens (41 wk of age). There were 12 treatments arranged factorially with 2 levels of CP (14.5 vs. 17.4%), 3 fiber sources (0 vs. 3% inulin vs. 3% cellulose), and 2 levels of feed intake (160 vs. 208 g/d) that corresponded to restricted (R) or ad libitum (AL) feeding systems. The experimental diets contained 2,800 kcal ME with either 0.65 (14.5% CP) or 0.78% Lys (17.4% CP).


Chondrosarcomata seldom occur in the foot, the total reported experience comprising only twelve cases. The average age of the patients is thirty-eight years, with eight males and four females being affected. The symptoms are usually pain and swelling, with an average duration of fifteen months. Roentgenograms demonstrate. a poorly defined lytic lesion with destruction of the cortex and extension into the soft tissues. Spotty calcification is often present in the lesion. On gross examination the tumor is generally lobulated, and microscopically the cells show variation in size and shape, bizarre nuclei, and multinucleated malignant chondrocytes. The treatment is ray resection or en bloc excision, depending on location. The prognosis of this malignant tumor is good, three of ten patients having survived five years or longer.


Background : Self-medication with antimalarials and antibiotics is highly practiced worldwide particularly in developing countries including Tanzania. This study was carried out to determine self-medication practices with antimalarials and antibiotics, and as well as predictors for self-medication among urban communities of Mbeya in Tanzania. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive community survey was conducted in Mbeya City in the South-western highlands of Tanzania from April to June 2016. The study population comprised of adults participants aged 18 years and above. Face to face interviews were conducted using a structured pre-tested questionnaires. Data on self-medication practices and predictors of self-medication was assessed. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used s to assess predictors associated with self-medication with either antibiotic or antimalarials. Results: A total of 300 individuals (mean age= 35.4 ± 13.4 years) were involved in the study. Prevalence of self-medication with either of the drugs, antibiotic only and antimalarial only was 55.7%, 19.7% and 19.0%, respectively. Participants who were employed had higher odds of self-medicating with antibiotics than students (OR=4.13, 95% CI: 1.14-14.96). Participants who kept medicines at home had lower odds of self-medicating with either antibiotic or antimalarial than those who do not keep. The main reason that was indicated for the self- medication was emergency illness. The main source of medicines was the private pharmacies. Conclusion: There is generally high self-medication practice among urban communities of Mbeya, Tanzania. Community awareness on the practice of self-medication and its implications especially on the harmful effects of self-medication that are less known. The self-medication rates with antibiotics and antimalarials are higher among urban communities of Mbeya, Tanzania. There is an urgent need for the government to enforce regulations on pharmacies dispensing medications, especially antibiotics, without prescriptions. Public education on the implication of self-medication is equally important to address to reduce self-medication with antibiotics and antimalarials among Tanzanian populations.