A number of thinkers and scholars of education, especially in the West, the show anxiety and disillusionment with the modern education system and the results, as seen in a number of articles and scientific meetings held in several places. They feel the lack of correlation between the modern and the view of its findings to the Supreme Creator, and the recognition that there is life beyond this life as something that is missing in terms of knowledge of modern people of today. Departing from the above mindset, this article discussed the importance of building scientific view, which is the basis for the establishment of an Islamic university established centers of excellences, as building an integrated and inter-connectivity between the various elements, both in the process of excavation and branches. Inter-connectivity paradigm assumes that to understand the complexity of the phenomena encountered and lived the life of man, every building of any science, whether science of religion (including Islam and other religions), social sciences, humanities, and natural can't stand alone. Cooperation, mutual scolds address, mutual need, mutual correction and the interconnectedness between scientific disciplines will be able to help people understand the complexities of life they lived and solve problems that it faces. For an Islamic university, inter-connectivity is an epistemological paradigm is the answer or response to difficulties experienced during this, which is inherited and passed on for centuries in the dichotomy of Islamic civilization on the religious sciences and science. Inter-connectivity paradigm, the axiological, about offering a world view of human religion and a new scientists, more open, able to open up dialogue and cooperation, transparent, publicly accountable and forward-looking. Ontologically, the relationship between various academic disciplines become more open and fluid, although the blocks and borders between supporters of scientific culture is rooted in religious texts (Hadlarah al-Nash), and the culture of science supporting the empirical historical knowledge of factual social sciences and natural sciences (Hadlarah al-Ilm) and philosophical culture of ethical scientific support (Hadlarah al-Falsafah) could still exist. As the container (agent) for the development of sciences, Islamic universities can realize the cosmopolitan Islamic civilization. Therefore, the Islamic university should be able to enforce a dominant element of cosmopolitanism of Islamic civilization, such as the loss of ethnic boundaries, the strength of the plurality of cultural and political heterogeneity. Islamic cosmopolitanism has been a historical reality that paved the way for the formation of human heritage that isn't constrained by narrow nationalist views and parochialism. In the perspective of science, Islamic cosmopolitanism facilitates the struggle and the struggle of Islamic science that isn't uncommon to find a progressive and versatile process of dialogue that will bring up the dialectical antithesis to the thesis of the previous establishment. It can be concluded, that the cosmopolitanism of the Islamic civilization will be achieved or are on point as far as the optimal balance between the two spectra are mutually influence the success of a civilization, namely the normative tendencies of Muslim thought and freedom of all citizens (including those with non-Muslims). A new agenda can be developed from now to show again the universality of the teachings of Islam and cosmopolitanism of Islamic civilization in the future.


Fecal and urinary incontinence is an exceedingly unusual manifestation of aortoiliac occlusive disease, with only 4 previous cases having been reported in the literature. The authors report the case of a sixty-two-year-old woman with a long history of bilateral lower extremity claudication and exercise-induced urinary and fecal incontinence. Angiography demonstrated a complete infrarenal aortic occlusion. Following aortofemoral bypass, peripheral perfusion normalized and the patient experienced complete relief of claudication and incontinence. The authors propose that the patient's incontinence was due to intermittent pelvic ischemia as a consequence of her aortoiliac disease. In contrast to the cauda equina syndrome, a "steal" mechanism is the most likely explanation for the pathophysiology of exercise-induced pelvic ischemia, which may be completely eradicated by aortoiliac revascularization.


The paper "Comparative study of ZnO thin films prepared by different sol-gel route" by H. Absalan and F. E. Ghodsi, which appeared in Iranian Journal of Physics Research, Vol. 11, No. 4, 423428 (in Farsi) is translation of the paper "Comparative Study of ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Different Sol-Gel Route" by F. E. Ghodsi and H. Absalan, which appeared in ACTA PHYSICA POLONICA A, Vol 118 (2010) (in English) and for this reason is retracted from this journal. The corresponding author (and also the first author) is the only responsible person for this action.


Angiotensin and kinin metabolic pathways are reported to be altered by many diseases, including COVID-19. Monitoring levels of these peptide metabolites is important for understanding mechanisms of disease processes. In this paper, we report dimethyl labeling of amines in peptides by addition of formaldehyde to samples and deutero-formaldehyde to internal standards to generate nearly identical isotopic standards with 4 m/z units larger per amine group than the corresponding analyte. We apply this approach to rapid, multiplexed, absolute LC-MS/MS quantitation of renin angiotensin system (RAS) and kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) peptides in human blood serum. Limits of detection (LODs) were obtained in the low pg mL-1 range with 3 orders of magnitude dynamic ranges, appropriate for determinations of normal and elevated levels of the target peptides in blood serum and plasma. Accuracy is within ±15% at concentrations above the limit of quantitation, as validated by spike-recovery in serum samples. Applicability was demonstrated by measuring RAS and KKS peptides in serum from COVID-19 patients, but is extendable to any class of peptides or other small molecules bearing reactive -NH2 groups.


Developmental exposure of mouse fetuses to estrogens results in dose-dependent permanent effects on prostate morphology and function. Fetal prostatic mesenchyme cells express estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and androgen receptors and convert stimuli from circulating estrogens and androgens into paracrine signaling to regulate epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation. To obtain mechanistic insight into the role of different doses of estradiol (E2) in regulating mesenchymal cells, we examined E2-induced transcriptomal changes in primary cultures of fetal mouse prostate mesenchymal cells. Urogenital sinus mesenchyme cells were obtained from male mouse fetuses at gestation day 17 and exposed to 10 pM, 100 pM or 100 nM E2 in the presence of a physiological concentration of dihydrotestosterone (0.69 nM) for four days. Gene ontology studies suggested that low doses of E2 (10 pM and 100 pM) induce genes involved in morphological tissue development and sterol biosynthesis but suppress genes involved in growth factor signaling. Genes involved in cell adhesion were enriched among both up-regulated and down-regulated genes. Genes showing inverted-U-shape dose responses (enhanced by E2 at 10 pM E2 but suppressed at 100 pM) were enriched in the glycolytic pathway. At the highest dose (100 nM), E2 induced genes enriched for cell adhesion, steroid hormone signaling and metabolism, cytokines and their receptors, cell-to-cell communication, Wnt signaling, and TGF- β signaling. These results suggest that prostate mesenchymal cells may regulate epithelial cells through direct cell contacts when estrogen level is low whereas secreted growth factors and cytokines might play significant roles when estrogen level is high.


As new product of information technology, micro lessons have stepped into English teaching of higher vocational college. They gather contents of English teaching and innovations of teaching methods. This paper generalized about micro lessons. It analyzed the application of micro lessons in English teaching of higher vocational college from classroom instruction to autonomous learning on line. Meanwhile, it reflected designs and actual effects of micro lessons, development and sharing in resources of micro lessons.


Mouse bone marrow (BM) was separated into low-density, lineage-negative, wheat germ agglutinin-positive (WGA+), Rhodamine-123 bright (Rhbright) or dim (Rhdim) cells to obtain populations that were highly enriched for committed progenitors (Rhbright cells) or for more primitive stem cells (Rhdim). When 2,500 Rhbright or Rhdim cells were seeded onto 6-week-old irradiated (20 Gy) long-term BM cultures (LTBMC), the nonadherent cell production from Rhbright cells was transient and ended after 5 weeks. Production from Rhdim cells did not begin until week 3, peaked at week 5, and ended at week 8, when the irradiated stroma seemed to fail. Termination of cell production from Rhdim cells did not occur in nonirradiated LTBMC from W41/Wv mice. During peak nonadherent cell production, 25% to 30% of the cells in the nonirradiated LTBMC from W41/Wv mice had donor cell markers. Two approaches were tested to try to enhance the proportion or number of donor cells. Addition of Origen-HGF at the time of seeding Rhdim cells caused a nonspecific increase in both host and donor cell production, but a specific increase in production of donor cells was obtained by seeding the cultures at 2 weeks rather than 6 weeks. Limiting dilution of Rhdim cells gave the same frequency of wells producing cells on both irradiated +/+ and nonirradiated W41/Wv or W/Wv cultures.


The Annals of Joseon Dynasty (AJD) contain the daily records of the Kings of Joseon, the 500-year kingdom preceding the modern nation of Korea. The Annals were originally written in an archaic Korean writing system, `Hanja', and were translated into Korean from 1968 to 1993. The resulting translation was however too literal and contained many archaic Korean words; thus, a new expert translation effort began in 2012. Since then, the records of only one king have been completed in a decade. In parallel, expert translators are working on English translation, also at a slow pace and produced only one king's records in English so far. Thus, we propose H2KE, a neural machine translation model, that translates historical documents in Hanja to more easily understandable Korean and to English. Built on top of multilingual neural machine translation, H2KE learns to translate a historical document written in Hanja, from both a full dataset of outdated Korean translation and a small dataset of more recently translated contemporary Korean and English. We compare our method against two baselines: a recent model that simultaneously learns to restore and translate Hanja historical document and a Transformer based model trained only on newly translated corpora. The experiments reveal that our method significantly outperforms the baselines in terms of BLEU scores for both contemporary Korean and English translations. We further conduct extensive human evaluation which shows that our translation is preferred over the original expert translations by both experts and non-expert Korean speakers.


Abstract Computer simulations are considered efficient in supporting exploratory learning. This paper highlights instruction challenges and undesirable consequences on student learning in exploratory learning with computer simulations in classroom situations. A classroom with students who explore using simulations contains ideas explicated on several communicative channels. We use the professional noticing paradigm to demonstrate how a teacher's ability to listen to students' thinking via a brief encounter in real classroom setups can yield misconstrued interpretation of students' activity and impede learning. We present a case study where a teacher listens to students' thinking in building a model with a dynamic mathematics environment. We show how the teacher's response exacerbated those local confusions in ways that compromised the lesson's goals. We reflect on how the lesson's design influenced these outcomes and survey technology and activity developments to support teachers' noticing.


New products on the market are likely to be simulated in a computer sometime during the development process. The environment for which the physical model of the product is developed may not always be the optimal for control simulations of the model. To be able to export models from one environment to another a common model definition must be defined. The Functional Mock-up Interface, FMI, provides such a model definition and makes it possible to incorporate models from different environments together. In this thesis we will witness a successful implementation of the interface for model exchange, FMI, into the well known MATLAB and Simulink environment. Simulink is widely used in industry to develop control systems but not that used for physical modelling. It is therefore of great interest to be able to simulate models created from other physical modelling environments in to Simulink. A block is developed in Simulink and a user interface in MATLAB such that models created according to the FMI standard can be simulated. The FMI is a standard for solving ODEs with events. The thesis discusses the most essential parts of the FMI standard. Events may be discontinuities that the ODE solver needs to take special care of and is therefore discussed in more detail. In Simulink an S-function block is used with a GUI developed for the user to easily configure the model. The MATLAB interface is developed using MEX functions and is discussed based on how MATLAB's ODE solvers can be used to simulate a model. MEX functions are MATLAB's way to incorporate C, C++ and Fortran code. The FMI standard models consists of DLL functions that enforce the use of MEX functions.The implementations are verified to be correct by comparison of simulation results from different environments such as Dymola and JModelica.org. A comparison of simulation times and the number of function evaluations are also done where we can see that the S-function and the MEX interface performs on a similar level as the other simulation environments. (Less)


Increasing complexity and costs of satellite missions promote the idea of looking for opportunities to extend the operational lifetime or to improve the performance of a satellite instead of simply replacing it by a new one. Satellites in orbit can severely be affected by ageing, limited fuel source, or degradation of their hardware components. Also the disposal of spacecraft after the end of lifetime will play a more and more important role in the future, especially, if the involved orbits are of strategic importance. Therefore, satellite on-orbit servicing (OOS) has increasingly caught the interests of both satellite developers and users. One of the critical issues of a satellite on-orbit servicing mission is to ensure a safe and reliable Rendezvous and Docking (RvD) process. DLR is developing new navigation algorithms using standard camera systems and advanced 3D sensor systems like PMD (Photonic Mixing Device). Furthermore DLR has built a new and more advanced RvD simulation facility called EPOS 2.0 (European Proximity Operations Simulator). The facility uses robotic manipulators to generate the relative motion between two satellites and allows full RvD test and simulation capabilities for OOS missions up to a range of 25m.


We report the results of a new test, indium oxine in 111 scanning, in the diagnosis of postoperative infection. Indium 111 was used to label autologous polymorphonuclear leukocytes, which when reinjected migrate to sites of infection, inflammation, or both. Standard scintigraphy localizes the labeled inflammatory cells at these sites. Sixty-six scans were performed in 43 surgical patients. Thirty-seven scans were categorized as true-positive; 19 scans were categorized as true-negative. Therefore, the accuracy rate was 85%. Two scans (3%) in one patient represented false-positive results. Two scans (3%) were positive for inflammation but there was no infection present; this group was denoted as equivocal. Six scans (9%) were false-negative; false-negative scans are more likely in old lesions with poor blood supply and in areas that overlap regions of normal uptake. The noninvasive nature of the test, high accuracy rate, and ease of administration make it a potentially useful tool in the diagnosis of postoperative infection.


The paper deals with study of SMC for a robot manipulator. The property of the robot manipulator has low sensitivity to distortions and more efficient than other controllers. The tracking control difficulty for two-link robot manipulator which obeys the Lyapunov stability theorem, the back stepping control (BC) and (SMC) is denoted. The comparison of PID controller and SMC controller has been done by the application of Two-link robot manipulator by using MATLAB technique by constructing simulink models. The stability has been elaborated by comparing the performance of the PID and SMC and investigating the most efficient controller.


The Center for Expanded Data Annotation and Retrieval is studying the creation of comprehensive and expressive metadata for biomedical datasets to facilitate data discovery, data interpretation, and data reuse. We take advantage of emerging community-based standard templates for describing different kinds of biomedical datasets, and we investigate the use of computational techniques to help investigators to assemble templates and to fill in their values. We are creating a repository of metadata from which we plan to identify metadata patterns that will drive predictive data entry when filling in metadata templates. The metadata repository not only will capture annotations specified when experimental datasets are initially created, but also will incorporate links to the published literature, including secondary analyses and possible refinements or retractions of experimental interpretations. By working initially with the Human Immunology Project Consortium and the developers of the ImmPort data repository, we are developing and evaluating an end-to-end solution to the problems of metadata authoring and management that will generalize to other data-management environments.


A simple medium is described which allows adequate growth of Vibrio cholerae with the production of only trace amounts of neuraminidase. When added to this medium to give a final concentration of 6 0 0 , ~ ~ ~ sialyl lactose or sialyl-Nacetylgalactosamine, two oligosaccharides which contain ketosidically bound N-acetylneuraminic acid and which are substrates of neuraminidase, caused at least a 100-fold increase in the amount of neuraminidase produced during growth of the organisms. N-Acetylneuraminic acid was also found to stimulate neuraminidase production. Galactose and N-acetylgalactosamine had no effect. N-Acetylneuramink acid was metabolized by V . cholerae as indicated by the disappearance from such enriched medium of substances giving the direct Ehrlich reaction. Evidence is presented which suggests that neuraminidase is an extracellular enzyme.


Background Screening potential live kidney donors is an intense process for both candidates and the healthcare system. It is conventionally implemented using a standard generic protocol. Efficiencies in this process could potentially be achieved using personalized protocols that are optimized for a given candidate. Aim: To create personalized protocols (by age, sex, and paired exchange status) and evaluate them relative to the standard generic protocol. Methods Two personalized protocols were created. One sequenced tests according to probability (high to low) of excluding a given candidate. The other sequenced tests according to the expected cost (low to high) per exclusion. Test costs and exclusion probabilities were extracted predominantly from Australian sources. These were integrated into a decision analysis incorporating Markov processes. This estimated the expected financial cost and expected number of tests performed to exclude an ineligible candidate in the standard generic and personalized protocols. Results The standard generic protocol consistently ranked poorest in terms of expected costs and expected tests per exclusion across all ages, sexes, and paired exchange status. Compared with the most efficient personalized protocol, the standard generic protocol was on average A$1767.49 more expensive and required 3.53 more tests. Conclusions Personalized protocols enhance the ability of a kidney transplant unit to effectively exclude live kidney donor candidates more quickly and cost effectively compared with the conventional standard generic protocol.


In this work microfluidic flow-through chambers are investigated. They are filled with magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) suspension in order to facilitate enzymatic reactions. The enzyme is immobilized on the surface of the MNPs. These reactions have been found to be flow rate dependent. To overcome this issue various chamber geometries have been examined and optimized geometries have been designed and tested experimentally. The investigation is supported with dedicated CFD simulations using the open source software OpenFOAM. The paper presents the theoretical background and the results of the simulations. The simulations have been verified with measurements and these too are presented in the paper.


Interferometric gravitational wave detectors operate by sensing the differ-ential light travel time between free test masses. Correspondingly, they are sensitive to anything that changes the physical distance between the test masses, including physical motion of the masses themselves. In ground-based detectors the test masses are suspended as pendula, in order that they be approximately "free" above the pendulumn frequency. Still, thermal or other excitations of the suspension wires' violin modes do impart a force on the masses that appears as a strong, albeit narrow-band, "signal" in the detectors wave-band. Gravitational waves, on the other hand, change the distance between the test masses without disturbing the suspensions. Consequently, violin modes can confound attempts to observe gravitational waves since "sig-nals" that are correlated with a disturbance of the suspension violin modes are not likely due to a passing gravitational wave. Here we describe the design of a Kalman filter that determines the time-dependent vibrational state of a detector's suspension "violin" modes from time dependent observations of the detector output. From the estimated state we can predict that component of the detector output due to suspension excitations, thermal or otherwise. The wire state can be examined for evidence of suspension disturbances that might, in the absence of such a diagnostic, be mistaken for gravitational wave signals. Additionally, from the wire state we can subtractively remove the contribution from suspension disturbances, thermal or otherwise, from the detector output, leaving a residual free from this instrumental artifact. We demonstrate the filter's effectiveness both through numerical simulations and application to real data taken on the LIGO 40 M prototype detector.


INTRODUCTION
Temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD) is a condition that affects the stomatognathic system.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the effect of treatment with an occlusal splint (OS), manual therapy (MT), counselling (CS) and the combination of an occlusal splint and counselling (OSCS) on pain and anxiety in patients with TMD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A randomised clinical trial was conducted with 89 patients diagnosed with TMD through RDC/TMD (Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders) and divided into four groups of treatment: OSCS (n = 25); OS (n = 24); MT (n = 21); and CS (n = 19). Participants were assessed before and after 1 month of therapy for pain, anxiety and TMD diagnosis. Pain was measured by a visual analogue scale. To assess anxiety, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S and T) were used. The data were analysed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) 22.0.

RESULTS
The four groups obtained a significant reduction (P < 0.001) in the pain after 1 month of treatment. Treatment in all groups promoted a significant reduction in anxiety symptoms 1 month after completion, HADS (P < 0.001), BAI (P < 0.001), STAI-T (P = 0.006). Thus, no group was superior to the other in reducing the studied variables.

CONCLUSION
The therapies used were effective in reducing pain and anxiety in patients diagnosed with TMD. However, no treatment was superior to the other in reducing the studied variables.


For the last 25 years, organizations have invested heavily in information technology to support their work processes. In today's organizations, intra- and interorganizational work systems are increasingly IT-enabled. Available evidence, however, suggests the functional potential of these installed IT applications is underutilized. Most IT users apply a narrow band of features, operate at low levels of feature use, and rarely initiate extensions of the available features. We argue that organizations need aggressive tactics to encourage users to expand their use of installed IT-enabled work systems.

This article strives to accomplish three primary research objectives. First, we offer a comprehensive research model aimed both at coalescing existing research on post-adoptive IT use behaviors and at directing future research on those factors that influence users to (continuously) exploit and extend the functionality built into IT applications. Second, in developing this comprehensive research model, we provide a window (for researchers across a variety of scientific disciplines interested in technology management) into the rich body of research regarding IT adoption, use, and diffusion. Finally, we discuss implications and recommend guidelines for research and practice.


Sounds are an important part of the communication behavior, the so-called dances, of the honey bee. Stingless bees, which do not use dances for communication, use sound signals to indicate the existence and, in some cases, the distance of a feeding place. The social organization of communities of stingless bees is more primitive than that of honey bees, yet certain commonfeatures of communication behavior in these two groups lead to a new hypothesis of the evolution of dancing behavior of the honey bee.


This paper is about designs placed on house-boards, shields and drums in the Min cultural sphere of Papua New Guinea. It is argued that the shields and drums can be understood as extensions of the Taro Mother ritual house built in the last of seven male initiation rituals performed in the area. The drum grows taro like the ritual house grows men, the shield attracts ancestral support to warriors like the facade of the ritual house attracts ancestral benevolence to the novices inside. In order to accomplish this the objects, and importantly their designs, are imbued with qualities considered agreeable to the ancestral spirits. It is suggested that as much as these qualities can be understood as part of the visual aspect of the designs, they are also, and importantly so, inherent in the substances used in their composition.


"England's two dominant legal systems, the ecclesiastical and the common-law, had opposite attitudes towards intentionality," Barrington writes. "According to the Church, intention was all. According to the common-law courts, intention counted for nothing" (134), except, she explains, during a brief period during King Richard's reign when Gower happened to be composing CA. In his poem, Gower juxtaposes and places into confrontation the assumptions from the two systems. "Throughout, Genius adopts a position comparable to the one found in penitential manuals: intention is all. Amans, however, maintains the common-law position that only the deed counts. Only reluctantly does Amans admit the culpability of his intentions even when he is unable to bring those intentions to pass. . . . Genius positions Amans as a penitential confessant, but Amans positions himself as a defendant in a criminal case" (136). As her principal illustration, Barrington uses the lesson on Sacrilege in CA Book 5. In interrogating Amans, "Genius adopts a position comparable to the one found in penitential manuals: the soul is judged by its intentions," while "Amans, in contrast, adopts the position associated with the law courts: the deed, intended or not, is all that counts. When Genius asks Amans if he ever committed sacrilege, the lover repeatedly admits to intending sacrilege but denies doing the deed and therefore sees himself as innocent" (137). Both, however, attribute a significant role to chance in determining whether or not an intent is carried out in deed. Chance also plays a large role in the "Tale of Paris and Helen" that follows. In its disjointedness, the tale resembles a "trial narrative" (140), made up of different accounts provided by different witnesses; and in its focus, finally, on the single issue of sacrilege, it recalls the need for a prosecutor to identify a prosecutable offense. The debate that occurs at the beginning of the tale identifies conflicting views of how the Trojans should proceed, but it links the eventual destruction of the city to the collective intention of the entire populace. Paris is given a kind of claim to Helen, but his ability to enforce it depends upon a series of unforeseen events. Once he sees Helen in the temple, however, he proceeds with conscious intention. But "the Trojans' collective involvement and Paris's intended deed--to abduct Helen--are set aside in preference to a legal model that limits the case to a single, provable deed: Paris's sacrilege. In this way, the tale entangles the penitential and the juridical, allowing Genius to rest his argument on a deed both intended and done" (138). Even such a perspective, however, offers no satisfying explanation either for the war or for the destruction of Troy. "The tale provides a barometer for the increasing difficulty of ignoring intention in the courtroom, indicating why Ricardian courts briefly made an allowance for intention because it invariably impinged on the proceedings and on the jurors' perceptions. Yet, the tale and framework also demonstrate why the courts found it the better part of wisdom to ignore the issue of intention. As long as criminal law was tied to a system of pleading that limited the case to a single issue, finding a prosecutable correlation between deed and intention adds complications that return us to the same problems caused by ignoring intention altogether" (140-41). Barrington's analysis is enlightening, but we do not read Amans' confession in V.7094-7182 in the same way. While he excuses himself from the type of indiscriminate flirting that Genius uses as his example of Sacrilege, Amans freely admits to a different sort of Sacrilege (5.7156), both in intent and deed, with regard to his own lady. This passage does not seem as good an illustration of a difference in understanding between Amans and Genius on the nature of culpability as Barrington suggests. [PN. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 35.1.]


BACKGROUND
To assess coronary lesion severity in the catheterization laboratory, several guide wire-based methods have been proposed. The purpose of the present study was to compare the feasibility and the reproducibility of coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR), instantaneous hyperemic diastolic velocity-pressure slope index (IHDVPS), and pressure-derived myocardial fractional flow reserve (FFRmyo).

METHODS AND RESULTS
From distal coronary pressure and flow velocity signals (0.014-in guide wires), CFVR, IHDVPS, and FFRmyo were computed in 15 stenoses (13 patients) under the four following pairs of conditions: (1) twice under baseline conditions; (2) during atrial pacing at 80 and 110 bpm; (3) before and during intravenous infusion of nitroprusside; and (4) before and during intravenous infusion of dobutamine. A total of 104 measurements were obtained. Both CFVR and FFRmyo could be calculated in all cases. IHDVPS could be calculated in only 79% of cases. The mean value of CFVR did not change between the two baseline measurements and during infusion of nitroprusside but decreased from 1.85 +/- 0.41 to 1.66 +/- 0.45 (P < .05) during atrial pacing and from 1.90 +/- 0.50 to 1.41 +/- 0.28 (P < .05) during dobutamine infusion. The mean values of IHDVPS and FFRmyo remained similar, whichever the changes in hemodynamic conditions. The coefficient of variation between two consecutive measurements was significantly lower for FFRmyo (4.2%) than for CFVR (17.7%) and for IHDVPS (24.7%).

CONCLUSIONS
CFVR is easy to measure but sensitive to hemodynamic changes. IHDVPS can be measured only in < 80% of cases and is highly variable even without changes in hemodynamic conditions. FFRmyo is easy to measure and almost independent of hemodynamic changes.


Background: Despite new 3-dimensional imaging modalities, 2-dimensional fluoroscopy remains the standard intraoperative imaging modality. The elbow has complex anatomy, and defined standard fluoroscopic projections are lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to define standard projections of the elbow for intraoperative fluoroscopy. Methods: This study consisted of 2 parts. In part I, dissected cadaveric elbows were examined under fluoroscopy, and their radiographic anatomical features were assessed, with focus on projections showing defined anatomical landmarks. In part II, projections from part I were verified on entire cadavers to simulate intraoperative imaging. Standard projections for anteroposterior (AP) and lateral views as well as oblique and axial views were recorded. Results: Eight standardized projections could be defined and included 3 AP, 1 lateral, 2 oblique, and 2 axial views. By applying these specific projections, we could visualize the epicondyles, the trochlea with its medial and lateral borders, the capitellum, the olecranon, the greater sigmoid notch, the coronoid process including its anteromedial facet, the proximal radioulnar joint with the radial tuberosity, and the anterior and posterior joint lines of the distal part of the humerus. These standard projections were reliably obtained using a specific sequence. Conclusions: Knowledge about radiographic anatomy and standard projections is essential for visualizing important landmarks. With the presented standard projections of the elbow, important anatomical landmarks can be clearly examined. Thus, fluoroscopic visualization of anatomical fracture reduction and correct implant placement should be facilitated. Clinical Relevance: This basic science cadaveric study defines fluoroscopic standard projections of the elbow essential for visualization of anatomical landmarks during surgery.


The most recent need to update airplane gust load design requirements became apparent in the late 1980's as new aircraft designs evolved whose active control systems depended on better descriptions of design level atmospheric gusts. As a result, the various national certifying agencies began to require various new and different, but often overlapping, gust load design analyses for certification and delivery of new airplane models. This led to recent efforts by the manufacturers and the certifying agencies to harmonize the various national requirements; which, in turn, required a redefinition of atmospheric disturbances or gusts. The past and continued evolution and development of airplane gust loads design requirements is discussed and is shown to depends on the definition and characterization of gust structure, accurate aircraft response analysis, and good gust encounter and aircraft operations statistics.


Regulated adhesion of T cells to extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins is likely to be essential in T cell migration. Constitutive binding of various other cell types to ECM components is mediated by members of the VLA (very late antigen) subfamily of integrins. We describe here the regulated binding of resting CD4+ human T cells to ECM through three VLA integrins: VLA-4 and VLA-5 binding to fibronectin (FN), and a novel pathway of VLA-6 binding to laminin (LN). Binding to ECM is regulated in two ways. First, unlike other VLA-mediated interactions, VLA binding activity of the T cells is rapidly and dramatically augmented with cell activation without change in level of expression of the VLA molecules. Second, binding is regulated with T-cell differentiation; memory T cells express three- to four-fold more VLA-4, VLA-5, and VLA-6 than do naive cells, and bind more efficiently through them to FN and LN.


288 The PI3 Kinase/AKT pathway plays a critical role in cell survival signaling and the activation of this pathway has been linked to tumorigenesis. Upregulation of AKT (PKB) and PI3 Kinase is seen in many tumor types and the negative regulator of this pathway PTEN is deleted in a number of tumor types. Therefore, this pathway remains an attractive target for cancer drug discovery. Glycogen Synthase Kinase-beta (GSK3b) is characterized to be phosphorylated at its Ser 9 site by AKT. Phosphorylation of GSK3b by AKT results in inactivation of the kinase activity of GSK3b and downstream activation of glycogen synthesis and metabolic events leading to and promoting cell proliferation. Therefore, phosphorylation of GSK3b at the Ser 9 site can be utilized as a pharmacodynamic marker for evaluating the in vivo PK/PD effects of AKT/PI3K inhibitors. We developed a novel in cell ELISA to measure the phosphorylation of GSK3b in U87MG cells. In order to link cellular target inhibition to in vivo target inhibition, we utilized a commercially available sandwich ELISA to measure the in vivo activity of PI3 Kinase/AKT pathway inhibitors quantitating the phosphorylation level of GSK3b in native U87MG glioblastoma cells. We treated these cells and mice bearing U87MG xenografts with the PI3 Kinase inhibitor wortmannin and an Isoquinoline Sulfonamide (IS) AKT inhibitor. The ELISA analysis showed that PI3 Kinase inhibitor Wortmannin and IS AKT inhibitor inhibits GSK3b phosphorylation U87MG cells potently in vitro and in vivo. The inhibition correlates well with the inhibition of phosphorylation of other known AKT substrates such as phospho-Forkhead and phospho-TSC2. In vivo pGSK3b inhibition shows excellent correlation with serum exposure of compound. These results show that phospho-GSK3b can be utilized as a in vitro and in vivo PD marker to develop inhibitors of AKT and PI3 Kinase as potential targeted cancer therapeutic agents.


The details of a synthesis method for biologically relevant hydrated calcium pyrophosphates (CPPs, Ca2P2O7·nH2O) has been elucidated. Control of the pH (from 3.6 to 5.8) and the
temperature (from 25 to 90 °C) during the synthesis enabled the preparation of four pure CPP phases within one hour without intermediates: monoclinic and triclinic calcium pyrophosphate
dihydrate (CPPD, Ca2P2O7·2H2O), which are the two CPP phases detected in vivo in joints of arthritic patients, monoclinic tetrahydrate β (CPPT, Ca2P2O7·4H2O) and an amorphous phase (a-CPP, Ca2P2O7·nH2O). Four domains corresponding to the four different phases of hydrated calcium pyrophosphate were identified; a-CPP was synthesised over a very wide pH and temperature range (up to 90 °C) within the domain of synthesis conditions explored, including physiological conditions (pH 7.4 and 37 °C). The as-synthesised hydrated CPP phases were characterised by complementary techniques (powder X-ray diffraction, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetry) and chemical analyses. Rietveld refinement analyses of the as-synthesised crystalline phases were performed, andthere were significant differences between the m-CPPD Xray diffraction pattern observed and previously published cell parameters. Vibrational spectroscopy allowed the crystalline and amorphous phases synthesised to be clearly distinguished
and identified owing to the high flexibility of the pyrophosphate anion. Chemical analyses showed that the synthesis conditions used in this study did not allow significant
hydrolysis of the pyrophosphate ions into phosphate ions, and the number of water molecules associated with each synthesised CPP phase was determined by thermogravimetric
analysis. Different mechanisms of dehydration were also identified. The study of the formation of synthetic and well-characterised hydrated calcium pyrophosphate phases and their availability in large amounts in vitro could allow progress to be made on the biological role of these phases and their possible transformations. This could also aid their detection in patients suffering from disease caused by calcium salt crystals and could clarify the mechanism by which CPP crystals form and evolve in vivo.


Post-transcriptional regulation underlies the circadian control of gene expression and animal behaviors. However, the role of mRNA surveillance via the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway in circadian rhythms remains elusive. Here, we report that Drosophila NMD pathway acts in a subset of circadian pacemaker neurons to maintain robust 24 h rhythms of free-running locomotor activity. RNA interference-mediated depletion of key NMD factors in timeless-expressing clock cells decreased the amplitude of circadian locomotor behaviors. Transgenic manipulation of the NMD pathway in clock neurons expressing a neuropeptide PIGMENT-DISPERSING FACTOR (PDF) was sufficient to dampen or lengthen free-running locomotor rhythms. Confocal imaging of a transgenic NMD reporter revealed that arrhythmic Clock mutants exhibited stronger NMD activity in PDF-expressing neurons than wild-type. We further found that hypomorphic mutations in Suppressor with morphogenetic effect on genitalia 5 (Smg5 ) or Smg6 impaired circadian behaviors. These NMD mutants normally developed PDF-expressing clock neurons and displayed daily oscillations in the transcript levels of core clock genes. By contrast, the loss of Smg5 or Smg6 function affected the relative transcript levels of cAMP response element-binding protein B (CrebB ) in an isoform-specific manner. Moreover, the overexpression of a transcriptional repressor form of CrebB rescued free-running locomotor rhythms in Smg5-depleted flies. These data demonstrate that CrebB is a rate-limiting substrate of the genetic NMD pathway important for the behavioral output of circadian clocks in Drosophila.


The problem of How to efficiently uncover the knowledge hidden within massive and big data remains an open problem. It is one of the challenges is the issue of 'concept drift' in streaming data flows. Concept drift is a wellknown problem in data analytics, in which the statistical properties of the attributes and their target classes shift over time, making the trained model less accurate. Many methods have been proposed for data mining in batch mode. Stream mining represents a new generation of data mining techniques, in which the model is updated in one pass whenever new data arrive. This one-pass mechanism is inherently adaptive and hence potentially more robust than its predecessors in handling concept drift in data streams. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of a family of decision-tree-based data stream mining algorithms. The advantage of incremental decision tree learning is the set of rules that can be extracted from the induced model. The extracted rules, in the form of predicate logics, can be used subsequently in many decision-support applications. However, the induced decision tree must be both accurate and compact, even in the presence of concept drift. We compare the performance of three typical incremental decision tree algorithms (VFDT [2], ADWIN [3], iOVFDT [4]) in dealing with concept-drift data. Both synthetic and real-world drift data are used in the experiment. iOVFDT is found to produce superior results.


Starting from the original concept proposed by Carter, Howard and Fast, this paper reviews the description of fracturing fluid leakoff in view of modeling flow in porous media. It is shown how various linear leakoff models have been developed and why a new, radial leakoff concept is necessary for high-permeability fracturing, where the injection time is commensurable to the response time of the reservoir. Using Laplace space methods, the new radial leakoff law is calculated and compared to linear leakoff. For comparison purposes a calibration test executed in high-permeability formation is interpreted using several approaches, namely: linear leakoff1bulk leakoff coefficient; filtercake resistance1linear flow in the formation and finally, filtercake resistance1radial flow in the formation.


A retrospective study of 103 patients with histogically proved cutaneous malignant melanoma was made in order to assess the validity of a simple prognostic index, based upon a multivariate analysis of weighted pathological and clinical factors, in predicting the expected outcome in a given case. The results of the study were almost identical to those observed by Cochran (1968); 16 per cent of the patients with a low prognostic index (less than 20) died or developed recurrence of melanoma during the period of follow‐up, in contrast to those with a high prognostic index (greater than 25) of whom 64 per cent were similarly affected. It is concluded that the predicted outcome based upon such an index is valid for the 5 postoperative years in some 90 per cent of patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma. It is suggested that the use of such an index may be of great value in selecting patients in whom the expected outcome to surgical therapy is poor and in whom adjuvant therapy may be of value.


A case of acute pseudo-obstruction of the colon is presented. Treatment consisted of placing a Bilbao-Dotter hypotonic duodenography tube in the transverse colon, threaded over an angiographic guidewire placed endoscopically. A discussion of acute pseudo-obstruction of the colon is given.


Amniotic fluid is an important component that engulfs the fetus inside the mother's womb. Oligohydramnios, means abnormally decreased in the amount of amniotic fluid It has a risk to the fetus during pregnancy, afect about 1 to 2 percent of pregnancies, iatrogenic preterm causes illness and death to the fetus before delivery. Operative deliveries are risky for both the fetus and the mother. They might cause problems due to some of the commonly known factors or Oligohydramnios association could be identified, there could be some other unknown factors that are termed "Isolated Oligohydramnios". Amniotic fluid's rate of evolution could serve as an indicator to how the fetus is growing, it can provide protection, and it helps predict the gender of the newborn. The mother should undertake a hydration therapy in order to improve her amniotic fluid and the fetus well been. Drinking good amounts of water found to be helpful in increasing the amniotic fluid volume without using any other supplements. The sonographic evaluation for all patients with oligohydramnios were reviewed to determine whether sonographically detectable fetal anomalies were present, and when these anomalies were present, how this information was used in maternal fetal management.


We report the discovery of energetic neutral hydrogen atoms (ENAs) emitted during the X9 solar event of 2006 December 5. Beginning ∼1 hr following the onset of this E79 flare, the Low Energy Telescopes (LETs) on both the STEREO A and B spacecraft observed a sudden burst of 1.6–15 MeV protons beginning hours before the onset of the main solar energetic particle event at Earth. More than 70% of these particles arrived from a longitude within ±10° of the Sun, consistent with the measurement resolution. The derived emission profile at the Sun had onset and peak times remarkably similar to the GOES soft X-ray profile and continued for more than an hour. The observed arrival directions and energy spectrum argue strongly that the particle events < 5 MeV were due to ENAs. To our knowledge, this is the first reported observation of ENA emission from a solar flare/coronal mass ejection. Possible origins for the production of ENAs in a large solar event are considered. We conclude that the observed ENAs were most likely produced in the high corona and that charge-transfer reactions between accelerated protons and partially stripped coronal ions are an important source of ENAs in solar events.


The main morphological features that make it possible to identify the majority of the creeping juniper ornamental forms ( Juniperus horizontalis  Moench.), are the needle color and the habit of the plants. When identifying cultivars similar in these features, one should take into account the type of needles, the position of the first-order branchlets and the density of their placement on branches, the length of the penultimate and last order branchlets, the color of growing and lignified sprays, the aroma of needles during trituration.


We consider all purely magnetic, locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) spacetimes. It is shown that such spacetimes belong to either LRS class I or III by the Ellis classification. For each class the most general solution is found exhibiting a disposable function and three parameters. A Segré classification of purely magnetic LRS spacetimes is given together with the compatibility requirements of two general energy–momentum tensors. Finally, implicit solutions are obtained, in each class, when the energy–momentum tensor is a perfect fluid.


This article expands upon adult-centric migration histories by analyzing the international and domestic migration of Mexican youth to and within the United States, mainly in the post–World War II period. It uncovers an overlapping set of far-reaching legal regimes composed of federal child labor regulations, state residence requirements, compulsory school attendance and border enforcement policies that jeopardized the welfare of all border-crossing Mexican youth, making even US–born children of immigrants subject to a domestic form of migrant exclusion. Through an examination of geographically disparate and neglected archival records, this article makes the case that an expansive view of national (im)migrant exclusion can account for overlooked injuries to child welfare and unique mechanisms of expulsion. Beyond deportation, exclusion in mid-twentieth-century America relied upon domestic forms of removal to exclude citizen and non-citizen migrant youth from public schools and relegate them to isolated sites of agricultural labor exploitation and incarceration.


Among 124 consecutive patients undergoing operation for pure or predominant mitral stenosis between 1964 and 1969, closed commissurotomy was carried out in 53 (43%). There were no early or late deaths, and the hemodynamic and symptomatic results of operation were excellent. In 51 (41%) of the patients, valvular anatomy was such that valve replacement proved necessary. As a group, these patients were more severely symptomatic preoperatively and had worse hemodynamics than patients in the closed-commissurotomy group. With replacement, operative (24%) and late (12%) mortality were high, but surviving patients enjoyed hemodynamic and symptomatic benefits comparable to those of the patients undergoing closed commissurotomy. In 20 patients whose preoperative clinical and hemodynamic characteristics were intermediate between those of the closed-commissurotomy and valve-replacement groups, open commissurotomy was performed. Early (10%) and late (5%) mortality were less than witlh mitral replacement, but in general hemodynamic and symptomatic benefits were modest.


We present electronic-structure calculations for molecular solid hydrogen with emphasis on the study of the metallization via band overlap. Both orientationally ordered and randomly oriented molecules in h.c.p. arrangements are considered. It is found that orientational order favors a smaller band gap and thus metallization. This result is consistent with the observed discontinuity in the vibron frequency if it is assumed that an order-disorder transition occurs simultaneously with metallization.


In a previous paper, we presented new results on non-Riemannian geometry. For an asymmetric connection, we showed that a projective change in the symmetric part generates a vector field that is not arbitrary, but is the gradient of a non-arbitrary scalar field. As a consequence, Weyl's geometry is a conformal differential geometry and is associated with asymmetric geometry by this projective change. In the present paper, important differences between light-like and non-light-like intervals are analysed. We show that integrability condition in Weyl's geometry implies microscopic spacetime oscillations of Weyl's and Einstein's geometries. We show that the integrability condition in Weyl's geometry, together with the condition that null and massive particles interact locally in an Einstein spacetime. We construct an equation for linear transverse waves and make a qualitative application in a hydrogen atom, which, from qualitative viewpoint, agrees with Bohr's hydrogen model and Schrodinger's quantum mechanics.


Abstract For decades, research has been highlighting the positive impact of physical activity on health. Despite the immense efforts made by many professional and scientific organizations to raise individual and societal awareness about the role of a sufficient quantity and intensity of physical activity in everyday life and to increase the level of adherence, the situation is still very worrying. Even more worrying is the fact that increasingly prolonged periods of physical inactivity are insidiously and aggressively taking over modern people's lives – at school, at work, at home, even at leisure. It is probably incomprehensible and difficult for many to accept, but physical inactivity is becoming the first and worst enemy of health in today's society.


The role of diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) in the regulation of energy utilization in preterm infants was investigated by measuring energy expenditure and nutrient deposition in groups of subjects fed either banked drip breast milk (BBM) or a preterm formula (PF). Nutrient deposition was determined by combining a 3-d nutrient balance study and measurement of energy expenditure. Infants fed PF consumed 57 per cent more metabolizable energy (ME) than those fed BBM. There were significant differences between groups in energy expenditure, energy deposition and protein deposition; 76 per cent of the additional ME intake consumed by the PF-fed group was deposited while the remaining 24 per cent was expended. Infants fed PF gained weight 39 per cent faster than those fed BBM (19, compared to 14 g/kg/d), and deposited 128 per cent more fat and 86 per cent more protein. These findings indicate that nutrient deposition, rather than DIT, was the primary use of the extra ME received by the infants fed PF. However, the effect of the high energy intake on weight gain in these subjects was reduced, compared to its effect on nutrient deposition, by increases in the concentrations of fat and protein in new tissue.


Lebanon's history along with its pluri-confessional nature explain the difficulties in carrying out reforms in the country. A culture of secrecy and a lack of political will have created a breeding ground for corruption in the Land of the Cedars. Long disillusioned and disinterested in the country's politics, Lebanese citizens have contributed themselves by their passivity to the worsening of the country's economic, political and social situation. Exacerbated today by the accumulation of scandals and supported by a new generation, Lebanese citizens took to the streets for the first time in more than 15 years and demanded accountability for political and economic management. In solidarity, the Lebanese people demanded the right to a sincere, transparent, non-corrupt, accountable and responsive government. The current situation – a mixture of political, economic and health crises – has created or reinforced the "need for statehood" among Lebanese citizens. This need concentrates the expectations of a new form of government, a moral government capable of truly protecting citizens and guaranteeing their welfare. The Lebanese demand a responsible state capable of assuming and fully performing its functions. The establishment of a new governance; one that is more transparent, participatory and collaborative, is more than needed today. The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is one of the means to re-establish relations, facilitate the modernization of the state and enable Lebanon to benefit from greater openness. Joining the OGP will promote transparency and collaboration within Lebanese public administrations and will lead to a deepening of democratic life. To better understand Lebanon's interest in joining the OGP, it is necessary to review the main requirements of the OGP, starting with transparency. We will first examine the level of transparency existing in Lebanon (§ 1) and then move on to the importance of developing a policy of openness (§ 2).


Programming code snippets readily available on platforms such as StackOverflow are undoubtedly useful for software engineers. Unfortunately, these code snippets might contain issues such as deprecated, misused, or even buggy code. These issues could pass unattended, if developers do not have adequate knowledge, time, or tool support to catch them. In this work we expand the understanding of such issues (or the so called "violations") hidden in code snippets written in JavaScript, the programming language with the highest number of questions on StackOverflow. To characterize the violations, we extracted 336k code snippets from answers to JavaScript questions on StackOverflow and statically analyzed them using ESLinter, a JavaScript linter. We discovered that there is no single JavaScript code snippet without a rule violation. On average, our studied code snippets have 11 violations, but we found instances of more than 200 violations. In particular, rules related to stylistic issues are by far the most violated ones (82.9% of the violations pertain to this category). Possible errors, which developers might be more interested in, represent only 0.1% of the violations. Finally, we found a small fraction of code snippets flagged with possible errors being reused on actual GitHub software projects. Indeed, one single code snippet with possible errors was reused 1,261 times.


To accelerate the implementation of network functions/middle boxes and reduce the deployment cost, recently the concept of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) has emerged and became a topic of much interest attracting the attention of researchers from both industry and academia. Unlike the traditional implementation of network functions, a software-oriented approach for network functions create more flexible and dynamic network services to meet a more diversified demand. In this paper, we study the Virtual Network Function (VNF) chaining scheduling problem with limited network resources. We consider VNF transmission and processing delays, and formulate the VNFs chaining scheduling as a new Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem. Our objective is to minimize the latency of the overall VNFs' schedule. Reducing the scheduling latency enables cloud operators to service (and admit) more customers, thereby increasing operators' revenues. Owing to the complexity of the problem, we develop a Genetic Algorithm (GA) based method for solving the problem efficiently. Finally, the effectiveness of our heuristic algorithm is verified through numerical results.


Abstract Cover crops can be utilized to suppress weeds via direct competition for sunlight, water, and soil nutrients. Research was conducted to determine if cover crops can be used in label-mandated buffer areas in 2,4-D-resistant soybean cropping systems. Delaying termination of cover crops containing cereal rye to at or after soybean planting resulted in a 25 to more than 200 percentage point increase in cover crop biomass compared to a control treatment. Cover crops generally improved horseweed control when 2,4-D was not used. Cover crops reduced grass densities up to 54% at four of six site-years when termination was delayed to after soybean planting. Cover crops did not reduce giant ragweed densities. Cover crops reduced waterhemp densities by up to 45%. Cover crops terminated at or after planting were beneficial within buffer areas for control of grasses and waterhemp, but not giant ragweed. Yield reductions of 14% to 41% occurred when cover crop termination was delayed to after soybean planting at three of six site-years. Terminating the cover crops at planting time provided suppression of grasses and waterhemp within buffer areas and had similar yield to the highest-yielding treatment in five out of six site-years. Nomenclature: Giant ragweed; Ambrosia trifida L.; waterhemp; Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) Sauer; cereal rye; Secale cereale L.; soybean; Glycine max (L.) Merr.


We present a study of seismic inversion using deep learning tools. The purpose is to investigate the feasibility of using neural networks to construct acoustic and elastic earth models directly from pre-stack seismic data. Training and testing of the neural networks are done using thousands of synthetic 1D earth models and seismic gathers. We use 2 different types of neural network architectures in our numerical experiments to investigate seismic inversion in different geological scenarios. In both cases, the quality of the prediction is comparable with that obtained from conventional model building processes as such as travel-time and waveform inversion methods. The predicted earth models contain abundant low and medium wave-number information. In terms of performance, training took only less than 30 minutes on 4 GPUs whilst prediction adds negligible cost.


Performance examinations of a dual-Diesel cycle engine in point of engine performance characteristics such as exergy efficiency, power and power density have been conducted. The effect of design parameters of the engine cycle such as intake temperature, intake pressure, piston friction coefficient, average piston velocity, engine revolution, stroke length, residual gas fraction, engine pressure ratio, engine temperature ratio, compression ratio, ratio of bore diameter to stroke length, and equivalence ratio, on the performance characteristics are evaluated by considering variable specific heats and irreversibilities resulting from exhaust output, heat transfer, incomplete combustion and friction. The results can provide substantial information researchers who study on dual-Diesel cycle engine design and manufacture.


Testicular germ-cell tumour (TGCT) is the most common cancer in young men, and genetic epidemiological studies suggest that the disease has a strong genetic basis. Until 2009, very little of this genetic component had been explained. Genome-wide association studies have since identified eight SNPs at six loci which together account for approximately 15% of the genetic risk of TGCT and offer novel biological insights into testicular germ-cell oncogenesis. In this review, we summarize the genetic epidemiology of TGCT, detail the contribution genome-wide association studies have made to our understanding of the genetic basis of TGCT and reflect on how future technological advances may assist in revealing the remaining genetic factors underlying TGCT susceptibility.


E fever in this century, typhoid fever was common in the United States and interest in it was great. As its incidence decreased as a result of safe water supplies and improved sewage disposal, knowledge of the disease has ceased to be of general concern. Indeed, many physicians are no longer familiar with the clinical presentations of patients with typhoid fever. Butler and co-workers in this issue of theArchives(p 407) present a study of patients with typhoid fever in Vietnam where the disease is still common. Their study aims to resolve some of the unknown fundamental information on the pathogenesis of the symptoms and signs of typhoid fever. The authors attempt to identify whether circulating endotoxin exists in this disease; if so, is it the basis of the prolonged fever? In addition, as Butler and his colleagues demonstrate, this Gram-negative rod infection produces a coagulopathy that fortunately causes


The objective of this study was to evaluate the magnified endoscopic findings in the diagnosis of follicular lymphoma in the small intestine in comparison with those of intestinal follicular lymphoma and lymphangiectasia. Four patients with follicular lymphoma and 3 with lymphangiectasia in the small intestine were retrospectively analyzed. A prototype magnifying singleballoon enteroscope was used. The findings of the intestinal follicular lymphoma and lymphangiectasia were retrospectively analyzed to determine the magnified endoscopic findings of follicular lymphoma in the small intestine. Opaque white granules were observed in 3 of the 4 patients with follicular lymphoma. Magnified narrow-band imaging (NBI) of the opaque white granules showed stretched microvessels, which had a diminutive tree-like appearance. The remaining patient had no opaque white granules and only displayed whitish villi. Magnified NBI observation of the whitish villi revealed the absence of marginal villus epithelium, which was confirmed by histology. The magnified NBI enteroscopy revealed the diminutive tree-like appearance on the opaque white granules and the absence of marginal villus epithelium of the whitish villi in intestinal follicular lymphoma. These findings may be useful in diagnosing follicular lymphoma.


Contact charge electrophoresis (CCEP) uses steady electric fields to drive the continuous, oscillatory motion of conductive particles and droplets between two or more electrodes. These rapid oscillations can be rectified to direct the motion of objects within microfluidic environments using low-power, dc voltage. Here, we compare high precision experimental measurements of CCEP within a microfluidic system to equally detailed theoretical predictions on the motion of a conductive particle between parallel electrodes. We use a simple, capillary microfluidic platform that combines high-speed imaging with precision electrical measurements to enable the synchronized acquisition of both the particle location and the electric current due to particle motion. The experimental results are compared to those of a theoretical model, which relies on a Stokesian dynamics approach to accurately describe both the electrostatic and hydrodynamic problems governing particle motion. We find remarkable agreement between theory and experiment, suggesting that particle motion can be accurately captured by a combination of classical electrostatics and low-Reynolds number hydrodynamics. Building on this agreement, we offer new insight into the charge transfer process that occurs when the particle nears contact with an electrode surface. In particular, we find that the particle does not make mechanical contact with the electrode but rather that charge transfer occurs at finite surface separations of >0.1 μm by means of an electric discharge through a thin lubricating film. We discuss the implications of these findings on the charging of the particle and its subsequent dynamics.


It has been evident since the first publication by Armand Trousseau (1865) that there is correlation between venous thromboembolism (VTE) and malignant tumors. This correlation has also been shown by recent studies. In patients with malignant tumors not only the incidence of VTE is higher but the course of VTE is more severe and relapses are more frequent. The procedures applied for the management of tumors (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, tamoxifen, central venous catheters) also increase the risk of VTE. It is generally accepted in Europe and in the U.S.A. (and also this constitutes the basis of the Hungarian guidelines) to group surgical patients by the risk of VTE by taking into account the characteristics of both the patients and the procedures. Recommendations also agree that for patients with medium or higher risk pharmacological prophylaxis is needed. Heparin or low molecular weight heparins in risk dependent doses and duration are administered most frequently. According to the recommendation of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) patients with malignant tumors should receive thromboprophylaxis in accordance with their actual risk category and independent of the treatment they are receiving (surgery or chemotherapy). In a placebo controlled study with prolonged pharmacological thromboprophylaxis for patients with operated malignancies 60% VTE risk reduction could be reached and this risk reduction could also been observed after 3 months while the incidence of hemorrhagic complications was not significantly increased. Recent guidelines recommend 4 week long prophylaxis for patients with malignancies.


In this paper we develop a computational procedure in order to find the efficient frontier, i.e. a non-decreasing curve representing the set of Pareto-optimal or non-dominated portfolios, for the standard Markowitz mean-variance model enriched with integer constraints. These constraints limit both the portfolio to contain a predetermined number of assets and the proportion of the portfolio held in a given asset. The problem is solved by adapting the multiobjective algorithm NSGA (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm) that ranks the solutions of each generation in layers based on Pareto non-domination. The algorithm was applied in 60 assets of ATHEX and a comparison with a single genetic algorithm was realized. The computational results indicate that the procedure is promising for this class of problems. JEL Classifications: C61, C63, G11.


A method based on the error space division of principal component analysis (PCA) is proposed to improve both the spectral and colorimetric reconstruction accuracy in spectral dimensionality reduction. Founded on the error source analysis of PCA from a geometric point of view, an objective function minimizing the within-cluster spectral reconstruction error is established to divide the error space of PCA. PCA is implemented again to each divided cluster to reduce the dimensionality of spectral reflectance. The proposed method, error-space-divided PCA (ESDPCA), is tested using four different spectral datasets. The root mean squared error (RMSE) and CIEDE2000 colour difference are adopted as the spectral and colorimetric evaluation metric respectively. Statistical results indicate that ESDPCA can outperform PCA by at least one principal component (PC) in colorimetric accuracy, while it can outperform PCA by at least two or three PCs in spectral accuracy. Comparisons with other three representative methods (i.e., LabPQR, LabRGB, and XYZLMS) show that ESDPCA outperforms them both in spectral and colorimetric accuracy significantly. In addition, the proposed method is robust for spectral datasets and compatible with few other methods involving PCA. Moreover, the computation complexity of ESPCA has the same order of magnitude as that of PCA.


An algebraic methodology for defining new metrics over two-dimensional signal spaces is presented in this work. We have mainly considered quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellations which have previously been modeled by quotient rings of Gaussian integers. The metric over these constellations, based on the distance concept in circulant graphs, is one of the main contributions of this work. A detailed analysis of some degree-four circulant graphs has allowed us to detail the weight distribution for these signal spaces. A new family of perfect codes over Gaussian integers will be defined and characterized by providing a solution to the perfect t-dominating set problem over the circulant graphs presented. Finally, we will show how this new metric can be extended to other signal sets by considering hexagonal constellations and circulant graphs of degree six.


The article, "At Least Noah Had Some Warning," by Wendell Duffield (Eos, July 10, 2001) provides a fascinating story, but suffers from a malady common to many publications dealing with historic events. The terms "Anno Domini" or the abbreviation A.D.,and the corresponding "Before Christ" or B.C., refer to a calendar in common use across global cultures, but these particular terms specifically reflect events that are only of significance to Christian cultures. The "Domini" in "A.D." may be the author's lord, but it is not mine, and it certainly was not Tlachoc's either.There is a parallel usage, which lacks the specific religious connotation of A.D. and B.C. .The terms Common Era and Before the Common Era, and the abbreviations CE and BCE, refer to the adoption of the Julian/Gregorian calendar's zero year as a common benchmark in history rather than to its religious connotations. (This is actually a simplification. For a more detailed discussion, go to http://serendipity.magnet.cn/hermetic/cal_stud/cal_art.htm#Astronomical).


The temperature dependence of acoustic properties of the Sn2P2(SexS1−x)6 uniaxial ferroelectric in the vicinity of the Lifshitz point (LP) was investigated by Brillouin spectroscopy and analysed in the Landau–Khalatnikov approximation. An anomalous decrease of the longitudinal hypersound velocity in the paraelectric phase caused by fluctuation effects and crystal structure defects has been found near the LP. Besides this, a small softening of the transverse acoustic phonons is observed, which is due to their linear interaction with the soft optic mode found for incommensurate phase transitions in proper ferroelectrics. The lattice instability analysis of Sn2P2S6 and Sn2P2Se6 crystals and their solid solutions in a polarizable ion model shows that a possible reason for the absence of a soft acoustic mode is nonorthogonality of the spontaneous polarization vector and modulation wavevector which both lie in the monoclinic symmetry plane.


Amonafide is extensively metabolized, including conversion by N-acetylation to an active metabolite. Our previous studies have shown that fast acetylators of amonafide have increased toxicity, and we have recommended doses of 250 and 375 mg m-2 day-1 for 5 days, for fast and slow acetylators, respectively. Despite phenotype-specific dosing, significant variability in leukopenia persisted. The goal of this study was to construct and validate a pharmacodynamic model-based dosing strategy for amonafide, to try to further decrease inter-patient variability in leukopenia. The model was based on a training data set of 41 patients previously treated with amonafide. The first cycle nadir WBC was modelled as a function of dose, acetylator phenotype and baseline patient factors. This model was validated prospectively on patients similar to those in our previous studies. Based on the training data set, the optimal model was defined by three factors: acetylator phenotype, gender, and pretreatment WBC. Using this model and a target WBC nadir of 1700 microliters-1, six dosing strata were prospectively evaluated. A total of 24 fast acetylators received either 238 or 276 mg m-2 day-1 and 20 slow acetylators received between 345 and 485 mg m-2 day-1. The mean (+/- SE) error (deviation from target nadir) was 430 (+/- 240) cells microliters-1. Submaximal treatment (yielding grade 0-1 leukopenia) was limited to 20% of patients, while 55% experienced grade 2-3 toxicity. A complex dosing strategy for amonafide is feasible, employing prospective acetylator phenotyping, model-guided dosing, and adaptive control.


The growing number of virtual museums and applications today available arises many questions concerning the problems connected to their fruition and maintenance. This paper aims at setting up an analysis of the topic, through the steps of three VM projects carried on by the Virtual Heritage Lab (2008, 2010, 2012 (in progress)). Such case studies are taken into account on the basis of three topics: technical maintenance, reliability and semantic density. The analysis aims also at contributing the debate on the future development of VMs and on the management of the relationships between reliability and wide dissemination.


Aims and Background To evaluate the influence of radiation therapy target volume on the treatment outcome of adjuvant chemoradiotherapy for pancreatic cancer after curative resection. Methods Between February 1987 and July 2001, 70 patients treated with curative resection and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma were analyzed. There were 49 males and 21 females, with a median age of 57 years. Whipple's operation was performed in 44 patients, pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy in 14, distal pancreatectomy in 9, and subtotal pancreatectomy in 3. Postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy was given up to 40 Gy at 2 Gy per fraction with a two-week planned rest. Intravenous 5-fluorouracil (500 mg/m2/day) was given on days 1 to 3 of each split course of radiotherapy. Until 1991, whole pancreas or preoperative tumor volume and retroperitoneal lymph nodes were irradiated (extended field, n = 14). Thereafter, the target volume included the retroperitoneal lymph nodes and the involved pancreatic resection margin (limited field, n = 56). The median follow-up period of all the patients was 16 months (range, 2-99). Results The overall 2- and 5-year survival rate of all patients was 29.7% and 14.0%, respectively. According to the radiotherapy target volume, the median survival time was 14 months in the extended field group and 16 months in the limited field group (P = 0.65). Conclusions From the viewpoint of the target volume of radiotherapy, a limited field did not worsen the treatment outcome, although the survival rate was poor in both groups.


With the aim of advancing anatase TiO2 anodes for sodium ion batteries, crystalline titania nanocubes were employed and they delivered a gradually increasing capacity during the initial cycles, termed as an activation process. The number of necessary discharge–charge loops for total activation is dependent on the galvanostatic current density (about 20 cycles at 0.2 C, or 90 cycles at 1 C). A percentage of Ti3+ was detected after the activation, indicating an amount of irreversibly trapped sodium ions in the lattice. After the activation process, an excellent rate capability and outstanding cycling stability were presented. The reversible capacity reached 174, 132, and 108 mA h g−1 at rates of 1 C, 5 C, and 10 C, respectively. The capacity was sustained with a loss of less than 10% after 1000 discharge–charge cycles at a rate of 2 C or 10 C. The superior battery performance achieved by the nanocubes is related to the encircled {100} facets that are more favorable for sodium ion attachment compared to the {001} and {101} facets, as supported by first-principles calculations. From this work we can see the feasibility of optimizing electrode materials via rational surface structure construction based on theoretical calculations.


We present a new model for characterizing the interactions of excess electrons with (H2O)n- clusters. This model combines a modified Thole-type water model with distributed point polarizable, denoted DPP, with quantum Drude oscillators for treating polarization and dispersion interactions between the excess electron and the water molecules. It is demonstrated by examining several small water clusters that this model closely reproduces the relative energies of different isomers of the anions as well as the electron binding energies from ab initio MP2 calculations. The Drude/DPP model is used to carry out parallel tempering Monte Carlo simulations of (H2O)6-.


The changes that occur at the psychological level have affected the ability to perceive reality and control emotional stress. Increased anxiety is associated with a feeling of loss of control and the inability to distance oneself from automatic negative thoughts that arise as a result of psychological contagion.The purpose of the study is to highlight the features of the psycho-emotional state of schoolchildren in conditions of quarantine restrictions and distance learning.A questionnaire was chosen as a methodological study, the purpose of which is to study the psychological state of schoolchildren and determine their attitude to the need for quarantine and, therefore, distance learning. Studies show that the negative effects of stress are deeper in children under 10 years old. Children of different ages react differently to stressful events.The development of recommendations for children of different ages in order to overcome the consequences of social isolation involves creating opportunities for children of different ages to acquire the necessary psychological knowledge, skills and abilities, which will reduce the effects of quarantine.The creation of a new social reality, due to inevitable changes in the minds of citizens of Ukraine and each individual state, is a systemic process that requires reconstruction of the focus of perception, increasing the vitality and awareness of each person. However, in our opinion, it is necessary to influence children first, because they are more receptive and only form worldviews and values. Eventually, their influence will be decisive in changing the attitude of older generations to the consequences of quarantine, which will establish an internal readiness for negative external factors and formation of adaptive coping strategies of behavior in conditions of social uncertainty and existential crisis.


Abstract The second half of the 20th century is commonly considered to be a time in which German companies lost their innovative strength, while promising new technologies presented an enormous potential for innovation in the US. The fact that German companies were quite successful in the production of medium data technology and had considerable influence on the development of electronic data processing was neglected by business and media historians alike until now. The article analyses the Siemag Feinmechanische Werke (Eiserfeld) as one of the most important producers of the predecessors to said medium data technologies in the 1950s and 1960s. Two transformation processes regarding the media – from mechanic to semiconductor and from semiconductor to all-electronic technology – are highlighted in particular. It poses the question of how and why a middling family enterprise such as Siemag was able to rise to being the leading provider for medium data processing office computers despite lacking expertise in the field of electrical engineering while also facing difficult location conditions. The article shows that Siemag successfully turned from its roots in heavy industry towards the production of innovative high technology devices. This development stems from the company's strategic decisions. As long as their products were not mass-produced, a medium-sized family business like Siemag could hold its own on the market through clever decision-making which relied on flexible specialization, targeted license and patent cooperation as well as innovative products, even in the face of adverse conditions. Only in the second half of the 1960s, as profit margins dropped due to increasing sales figures and office machines had finally transformed into office computers, Siemag was forced to enter cooperation with Philips in order to broaden its spectrum and merge the production site in Eiserfeld into a larger business complex.


Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a key pro-angiogenic cytokine expressed by most human tumours. Two isoforms, VEGF121 and VEGF165, are soluble and can be assayed in serum. Serum VEGF has been shown to be significantly raised in patients with solid tumours and shows some promise as a potentially useful tumour marker. Serum levels of VEGF were assayed in 52 patients with untreated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and 104 healthy controls. Serum VEGF is significantly raised in patients with HNSCC (P < 0.001), but there was no association with either tumour stage or specifically the presence of nodal metastases. Sixteen patients (31%) had a higher serum VEGF than 95th centile of controls, suggesting that serum VEGF measurement is of little practical use as an initial diagnostic tool. The finding that patients with HNSCC have significantly raised serum VEGF probably relates to enhanced platelet aggregation in these patients.


This study fills a gap in our understanding of the soil arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community distribution, community composition changes, and diversity of Stipa species along different Stipa population substitution distributions and of their adaptive relationships; furthermore, the differences in the glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) contents in the rhizospheres of different Stipa species and GRSP's contribution to the grassland organic carbon pool were investigated. These findings provide a theoretical basis for the protection and utilization of regional biodiversity resources and sustainable ecosystem development. ABSTRACT Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have been reported to have a wide distribution in terrestrial ecosystems and to play a vital role in ecosystem functioning and symbiosis with Stipa grasses. However, exactly how AMF communities in the rhizosphere change and are distributed along different Stipa population with substituted distribution and their relationships remain unclear. Here, the changes and distribution of the rhizosphere AMF communities and their associations between hosts and the dynamic differences in the glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) in the rhizosphere soil of seven Stipa species with spatial substitution distribution characteristics in arid and semiarid grasslands were investigated. Along with the substituted distribution of the Stipa populations, the community structures, taxa, species numbers, and alpha diversity index values of AMF in the rhizosphere changed. Some AMF taxa appeared only in certain Stipa species, but there was no obvious AMF taxon turnover. When the Stipa baicalensis population was replaced by the Stipa gobica population, the GRSP tended to decline, whereas the carbon contribution of the GRSP tended to increase. Stipa grandis and Stipa krylovii had a great degree of network modularity of the rhizosphere AMF community and exhibited a simple and unstable network structure, while the networks of Stipa breviflora were complex, compact, and highly stable. Furthermore, with the succession of zonal populations, the plant species, vegetation coverage, and climate gradient facilitated the differentiation of AMF community structures and quantities in the rhizospheres of different Stipa species. These findings present novel insights into ecosystem functioning and dynamics correlated with changing environments. IMPORTANCE This study fills a gap in our understanding of the soil arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community distribution, community composition changes, and diversity of Stipa species along different Stipa population substitution distributions and of their adaptive relationships; furthermore, the differences in the glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) contents in the rhizospheres of different Stipa species and GRSP's contribution to the grassland organic carbon pool were investigated. These findings provide a theoretical basis for the protection and utilization of regional biodiversity resources and sustainable ecosystem development.


Introduction: Rectal cancer is a complex pathology that requires a multidisciplinary approach according to current guidelines, and surgery is one of the main stages of treatment, the type of intervention being established in relation to the location of the tumor at the rectal level. Material and method: The present study aims to analyze the diagnostic features, study the evolution, treatment and complications of patients with rectal cancer in a period marked by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. After completing the inclusion criteria, but also the exclusion group, the remaining group consisted of 55 patients with rectal cancer. Results: For the 55 patients, abdominal-pelvic rectal amputation was performed in 17 cases, rectosigmoid resection with colostomy in 13 cases, and rectosigmoid resection with anastomosis in 25 cases. It was also taken into account that the access to medical services was delayed compared to the pre-pandemic period, the increase of the time interval between the treatment stages being an important aspect of the study. Complications associated with surgery have been reported in 13 patients, the most common being the pelvic abscess. Conclusions: The results of the study show a high incidence rate in the age group 60-69 years, with a predominance of males, a delay in making the diagnosis of certainty, an extension of the period from the beginning of neoadjuvant treatment to access to surgery, and the rate of postoperative complications is similar to that described in other studies conducted during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but also outside it.


Iran's focus on food self-sufficiency has led to an emphasis on increasing water volumes available for irrigation with little attention to water use efficiency, and no attention at all to the role of consumption and trade. To better understand the development of water consumption in relation to food production, consumption, and trade, we carried out the first comprehensive water footprint assessment (WFA) for Iran, for the period 1980–2010, and estimated the water saving per province associated with interprovincial and international crop trade. Based on the AquaCrop model, we estimated the green and blue water footprint (WF) related to both the production and consumption of 26 crops, per year and on a daily basis, for 30 provinces of Iran. We find that, in the period 1980–2010, crop production increased by 175%, the total WF of crop production by 122%, and the blue WF by 20%. The national population grew by 92%, and the crop consumption per capita by 20%, resulting in a 130% increase in total food consumption and a 110% increase in the total WF of national crop consumption. In 2010, 26% of the total water consumption in the semi-arid region served the production of crops for export to other regions within Iran (mainly cereals) or abroad (mainly fruits and nuts). Iran's interprovincial virtual water trade grew by a factor of 1.6, which was mainly due to increased interprovincial trade in cereals, nuts, and fruits. Current Iranian food and water policy could be enriched by reducing the WFs of crop production to certain benchmark levels per crop and climatic region and aligning cropping patterns to spatial differences in water availability and productivities, and by paying due attention to the increasing food consumption per capita in Iran.


Get your Web security, network perimeter security, and application layer security gateway up and running smoothly. This indispensible, single-volume reference details the features and capabilities of Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG). You'll gain the real-world insights, implementation and configuration best practices, and management practices you need for on-the-job results. Discover how to: Implement TMG integrated security features Analyze your Web and perimeter security requirements and infrastructure Plan, install, and configure TMG Implement network intrusion prevention, proxy, caching, filtering Configure security for the Web, Microsoft Exchange Server, and SharePoint Products and Technologies Implement remote access and site-to-site VPNs Select and configure clients Monitor and troubleshoot protected systems with Network Monitor 3 and other tools Use scripting to configure systems and automate administration Plus, get a fully searchable eBook on the companion CD


There is a renewed focus on targeted therapy against epigenetic events that are altered during the pathogenesis of lung cancer. However, the use of epigenomic modifiers as monotherapy lacks efficacy; thus, there is a need to develop safe and effective drug combinatorial regimens, which reverse epigenetic modifications and exhibit profound anticancer activity. Based on these perspectives, we evaluated, for the first time, the efficacy and associated mechanisms of a novel combinatorial regimen of histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi)—trichostatin A (TSA) and suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA)—with silibinin (a flavonolignan with established pre-clinical anti-lung cancer efficacy) against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Silibinin inhibited HDAC activity and decreased HDAC1–3 levels in NSCLC cells, leading to an overall increase in global histone acetylation states of histones H3 and H4. Combinations of HDCAi with silibinin synergistically augmented the cytotoxic effects of these single agents, which was associated with a dramatic increase in p21 (Cdkn1a). Subsequent ChIP assay indicated increased acetylated histone H3 and H4 levels on p21 promoter region, resulting in its increased transcription. The enhanced p21 levels promoted proteasomal degradation of cyclin B1, the limited supply of which halts the progression of cells into mitosis. Indeed, the resultant biological effect was a significant G2/M arrest by the combination treatment, followed by apoptotic cell death. Similar epigenetic modulations were observed in vivo, together with a marked reduction in xenograft growth. These findings are both novel and highly significant in establishing that HDACi with silibinin would be safe and effective to suppress NSCLC growth.


We extend an iterative approximation method to nonlinear, distributed parameter systems given by partial differential and functional equations. The nonlinear system is approached by a sequence of linear time-varying systems, which globally converges in the limit to the original nonlinear systems considered. This allows many linear control techniques to be applied to nonlinear systems. Here we design a sliding mode controller for a nonlinear wave equation to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method.


Abstract Geomorphology of Lebanon presents a unique pattern of contrasting landforms. These include two notable mountain ranges, the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains, the Beqaa Valley, the elongated coastal area and a significant amount of karst relief forms. This study focuses on the investigation of the topographic and geologic setting of Lebanon by visualizing datasets covering Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains and the Beqaa Valley. Data were collected using the open source repositories of the high-resolution data (GEBCO, ETOPO1, DEM embedded in R). Three 3D models of the relief of the country are presented based on the 'grdview' package of GMT with azimuth rotations of the view point at 205°/30° and 165°/30°. The geologic map is based on the compiled datasets of the USGS. The R based modelling allowed division of the raster grid into several geomorphological zones according to the slope steepness and aspect orientation. The extreme elevations of the study area range from -2007 m and 2973 m. The key contribution of this work is the topographic and geologic data synthesis for 2D and 3D modelling of Lebanon. Another aspect concerns technical integration of GMT and R scripting approaches with QGIS mapping into the cartographic framework for visualizing of the Lebanese topography as a multi-tool approach. For the future similar studies on Lebanon this paper can serve as a guide for completing a project on the multi-source 2D and 3D data mapping as a conceptual foundation for research on Lebanese environment.


Primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers in Thailand; chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is endemic and represents a major risk factor for the development of this cancer. Several mechanisms for HBV‐related hepatocarcinogenesis have been proposed, among them a direct role of HBV in the promotion of genetic recombination leading to chromosomal alterations. Minisatellite DNA sequences are hypervariable regions dispersed throughout the genome which are susceptible to genetic recombination events. In the present study, somatic rearrangements affecting minisatellite sequences were examined in a total of 26 HCC from Thai patients. Multilocus DNA fingerprinting using probes 33.15 and 33.6 detected rearrangements in 11 and 12 HCC, respectively, all of them carrying integrated HBV DNA. The frequency of rearranged bands was calculated for each probe based on the total number of rearrangements observed in the 26 tumours and the total number of bands revealed by DNA fingerprinting in the non‐tumour DNA. With each probe a total of 23 rearrangements was observed, yielding rearrangement frequencies of 3.7% and 4.2% for the 33.15 and 33.6 minisatellite families, respectively. To test for possible clustering of these rearrangements at specific loci, we used minisatellite locus‐specific probes previously cloned from 33.15 and 33.6. Minisatellites located at 1p33‐35, 7q36‐ter and 12q24.3‐ter were shown to be frequently affected by rearrangement events in this series of HBV‐positive HCC. Frequent rearrangements at minisatellite locus D7S22 (7q36‐ter) in HBV‐positive human HCC have not been reported so far. Int. J. Cancer 72:248–254, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Isatuximab is a CD38-directed antibody indicated for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The Division of Pharmacovigilance at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed case reports from postmarketing sources, including the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), PubMed, and Embase, to investigate a potential association between isatuximab and the risk of varicella zoster virus (VZV) reactivation. We identified 20 reports of which 15 met our case definition and causality criteria. All 15 patients (80% male, median age = 60 years) received isatuximab for a hematologic neoplasm; eight (53%) for previously untreated multiple myeloma. All cases described additional risk factors for VZV reactivation, including concomitant proteasome inhibitor and/or immunomodulatory drug (n = 10, 67%) use. Based on this postmarket analysis, the U.S. Prescribing Information for isatuximab was updated to include this new safety information, including recommendations for antiviral prophylaxis.