Fungal opportunistic infections have increased in recent decades due to the increase in the immunosuppressed patients and the indiscriminate use of antifungals. In Brazil, a country with the greatest biodiversity in the world, studies that seek new antifungals from natural sources have been stimulated. Protium ovatum Engl., belongs to the Burseraceae family and is a shrub tree found mainly in Brazil, in the Cerrado biome, and has medicinal, food and aromatic uses. This study aims to investigate the chemical composition and the anti-Malassezia furfur and anticandidal activities of essential oils (EOs) from Protium ovatum ripe fruit (RF-EO) and unripe fruit (UF-EO). The EOs antifungal activities were determined by microdilution broth methodology. GC-FID and GC-MS analyses showed that limonene, α-pinene and myrcene were the major components of both EOs. MIC values of RF-EO and UF-EO against M. furfur were 375 and 1500 µg/mL, respectively. RF-EO exhibited MIC values between 62.5 and 250 µg/mL while UF-EO was slightly active (> 1000 µg/mL) against Candida species. In addition, RF-EO showed antibiofilm activity against Candida species and was not toxic to C. elegans larvae. This study suggests that EOs from P. ovatum could be an alternative therapeutic option for infectious diseases caused by M. furfur and Candida species.


We present an open-source software framework for parameter-space exporation, named OACIS, which is useful to manage vast amount of simulation jobs and results in a systematic way. Recent development of high-performance computers enabled us to explore parameter spaces comprehensively, however, in such cases, manual management of the workflow is practically impossible. OACIS is developed aiming at reducing the cost of these repetitive tasks when conducting simulations by automating job submissions and data management. In this article, an overview of OACIS as well as a getting started guide are presented.


The paper considers a Cournot-type duopoly game, in which linear demand and cost functions are used. The two players produce differentiated goods and offer them at discrete times on a common market. In the cost functions of the players, in addition to the production cost, the cost of transporting the products is also included. Each firm does not care only about its profits but also about the percentage of its opponents' profits, using a generalized relative profit function. In this model, the players follow different strategies. More specifically, the first player is characterized as a bounded rational player while the second player follows an adaptive mechanism. The existence of the Nash Equilibrium is proved, and its stability conditions are found. The complexity that appears for some values of the game's parameters is shown. A mechanism by which the chaotic behavior of the discrete dynamical system is presented, importing a new parameter m. The algebraic results are verified, and the apparent complexity is shown by plotting bifurcation diagrams and strange attractors, computing the Lyapunov numbers, and checking the system's sensitivity on its initial conditions.
Keywords: Cournot duopoly game, discrete dynamical system, heterogeneous expectations, stability, chaotic behavior, chaos control


Background and Objectives Interest in spinal anesthesia (SA) is increasing because of concern about the long-term effects of intravenous (IV) and inhaled anesthetics in young children. This study compared SA versus general anesthesia (GA) in infants undergoing pyloromyotomy. Methods Between 2000 to 2013, the University of Vermont Medical Center almost exclusively used SA for infant pyloromyotomy surgery, whereas Columbia University Medical Center relied on GA. Outcomes included adverse events (AEs) within 48 hours of surgery, operating room (OR) time, and postoperative length of stay (LOS). Regression was used to evaluate the association between anesthesia technique and outcomes, accounting for demographic and clinical covariates. Results We studied 218 infants with SA at the University of Vermont Medical Center and 206 infants with GA at Columbia University Medical Center. In the SA group, 96.3% of infants had adequate initial analgesic levels, but 35.8% required supplemental IV or inhaled anesthetic agents. Compared with GA, the risk of AEs in SA (adjusted odds ratio, 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.27–1.36) did not significantly differ, but SA was associated with shorter OR times (17.5 minutes faster; 95% CI, 13.5–21.4 minutes) and shorter postoperative LOS (GA is 1.19 times longer; 95% CI, 1.01–1.40). Conclusions Infants undergoing pyloromyotomy with SA had shorter OR times and postoperative LOS, no significant differences in AE rates, and decreased exposure to IV and inhaled anesthetics, although SA infants often still required supplemental anesthetics. Whether these differences result in any long-term benefit is unclear; further studies are needed to determine the risk of rare AEs, such as aspiration.


: In this paper the design and the magneto-static simulation of axial-flux per-manent-magnet stepper motor with the disc type rotor is presented. Disk motors are parti-cularly suitable for electrical vehicles, robots, valve control, pumps, centrifuges, fans, machine tools and manufacturing. The brushless machine with axial flux and permanent magnets, also called the disc-type machine, is an interesting alternative to its cylindrical radial flux counterpart due to the disk shape, compact construction and high torque density. This paper describes a design of four phase microstepping motor with the disc type rotor. The FEM modeling and the 3D magneto-static simulation of the disk stepper motor with permanent magnets is being subject of the article, too. Disc rotor type permanent magnet stepper motor for high torque to inertia ratio is ideal for robotics and CNC machines.


Two techniques for leveling aeromagnetic survey data are compared. The first estimates a set of values for the magnetic intensity at each flight‐line/tie‐line intersection point. These are obtained after an intersection‐moving procedure to reduce loop closures and are subject to the constraint that the datums calculated from the differences between the raw data and the corrected data have minimum along‐line variation. The procedure (a least‐squares method) is equivalent to the older manual loop closure methods used for magnetic, gravimetric, and geodetic surveying. The second method involves the fitting of polynomials to the observed flight‐line/tie‐line intersection errors along each line in the survey. These are then subtracted from the raw data and intersection locations are adjusted to give minimum intersection errors. In the analysis of two surveys the least‐squares method was found to be superior as a leveling procedure. It produced datums which were similar in amplitude and had a high correlation w...


CT brain is the integral part of investigation in any case of cranio-cerebral trauma patient in emergency room. It is an extremely useful diagnostic tool that is used routinely in the care of trauma patients in emergency department. It has been suggested that even a brief educational effort of these persons can provide considerable proficiency to interpret cranial CT scans. With an increasing role of dental experts in the management of craniofacial trauma patients it is anticipated that it would be helpful to know how to read a CT scan of a suspected traumatic brain injury patient in an emergency department. It is important to recognize and familiarize with the normal appearance of different anatomical parts of the brain on CT scan (Cerebral, cerebellum, brain stem, ventricles and skull bones etc.). The present article discusses the basic s of CT scan and provides a pictorial presentation of commonly seen intracranial lesions in patient with traumatic brain injury.


The study of free Baxter algebras was started by Rota and Cartier thirty years ago. We continue this study by applying two recent constructions of free Baxter algebras. We investigate the basic structure of a free Baxter algebra, and characterize in detail when a free Baxter algebra is a domain or a reduced algebra. We also describe the nilpotent radical of a free Baxter algebra when it is not reduced.


The overexpression of neuropeptide receptors observed in many cancers provides an attractive target for tumor imaging and therapy. Bombesin is a peptide exhibiting a high affinity for the gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) receptor, which is overexpressed by a variety of tumors such as breast or prostate cancer. In the present study, we have evaluated if the bombesin analogue [N(alpha)-histidinyl acetate]bombesin(7-14), radiolabeled with the novel [99mTc(OH(2))(3)(CO)(3)]+, has the potential to be used as a diagnostic radiopharmaceutical. Receptor saturation studies, carried out on the GRP receptor-expressing PC-3 human prostate cancer cell line, revealed for [99mTc(CO)(3)-N(alpha)-histidinyl acetate]bombesin(7-14) K(d) values in the subnanomolar range. Competitive binding assays, using the cold rhenium(I)-labeled analogue as a surrogate for the 99mTc-conjugate, also showed high affinity binding. Incubation of the radioconjugate with PC-3 cells resulted in a rapid temperature- and time-dependent specific internalization. At 37 degrees C more than 70% was internalized within the first 15 min and remained constant up to 2 h. Despite the weak proteolytic stability of [99mTc(CO)(3)-N(alpha)-histidinyl acetate]bombesin(7-14) in vitro, biodistribution studies, performed in PC-3 tumor-bearing mice, showed low uptake in the tumor (0.89 +/- 0.27% ID/g 30 min pi) but high uptake into the pancreas (7.11 +/- 3.93% ID/g 30 min pi), a GRP receptor-positive organ. Blockade experiment (coinjection of 300 microg bombesin/mouse with the radioligand) showed specificity of the uptake. Despite the low tumor uptake, tumor-to-blood ratios of 2.0 and 2.7 and tumor-to-muscle ratios of 8.9 and 8.0 were obtained at 30 min and 1.5 h postinjection, respectively. The promising results merit the future in vivo investigation of 99mTc/188Re-tricarbonyl-labeled bombesin analogues.


The low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP) functions in the catabolism of numerous ligands including proteinases, proteinase inhibitor complexes, and lipoproteins. In the current study we provide evidence indicating an expanded role for LRP in modulating cellular signaling events. Our results show that platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) BB induces a transient tyrosine phosphorylation of the LRP cytoplasmic domain in a process dependent on PDGF receptor activation and c-Src family kinase activity. Other growth factors, including basic fibroblast growth factor, epidermal growth factor, insulin-like growth factor-1, were unable to mediate tyrosine phosphorylation of LRP. The basis for this selectivity may result from the ability of LRP to bind PDGFBB, because surface plasmon resonance experiments demonstrated that only PDGF, and not basic fibroblast growth factor, epidermal growth factor, or insulin-like growth factor-1, bound to purified LRP immobilized on a sensor chip. The use of LRP mini-receptor mutants as well as in vitro phosphorylation studies demonstrated that the tyrosine located within the second NPXY motif found in the LRP cytoplasmic domain is the primary site of tyrosine phosphorylation by Src and Src family kinases. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that PDGF-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of LRPs cytoplasmic domain results in increased association of the adaptor protein Shc with LRP and that Shc recognizes the second NPXY motif within LRPs cytoplasmic domain. In the accompanying paper, Boucher et al. (Boucher, P., Liu, P. V., Gotthardt, M., Hiesberger, T., Anderson, R. G. W., and Herz, J. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 15507–15513) reveal that LRP is found in caveolae along with the PDGF receptor. Together, these studies suggest that LRP functions as a co-receptor that modulates signal transduction pathways initiated by the PDGF receptor.


Heather Shirey In the streets and plazas of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, representations of the orixás, the deities of the African-Brazilian religion Candomblé, are visible throughout the city. Mural paintings appear on walls and signs where they blend in with advertisements and graffiti, allowing motorists to contemplate the entire pantheon of orixás while filling up the gas tank (Fig. 1). A sculpture of Exú, the guardian of the crossroads and the orixá who oversees all forms of communication, is positioned, most appropriately, in front of the city's central post office (Fig. 2); a painted mermaid associated with Yemanjá overlooks the sea (Fig. 3); and on the Dique do Tororó, a large lake and recreation zone in the middle of the city, a group of orixá statues dances in a circle on the surface of the water (Fig. 4). Richly varied in scale and medium, visual references to Candomblé in the streets of Salvador are so frequent that they blend in with the surrounding urban landscape, merging with the multitude of colors that adorn nearly every surface. Although most Candomblé ritual practices take place in private spaces, the frequency of public art with a focus on the religion makes the presence of these images in the secular realm seem as natural and acceptable as advertisements for toothpaste and legal services. The movement of imagery from the sacred space of the Candomblé terreiro (temple) to the city streets, however, requires extensive intervention, as the complicated aesthetics of Candomblé must be recast in a way that is comprehensible and palatable to a broad public. The group of sculptures on the Dique do Tororó by the Bahian artist Tatti Moreno is arguably the most famous public and popularized representation of Candomblé in Bahia.1 This sculptural project effectively illustrates the artistic mediation that is necessary in order to present Candomblé effectively in the public sphere. This transformative process in the realm of public art, explored here using Moreno's orixás as a case study, parallels the popularization of Candomblé in festivals, most notably Bahia's carnival and the annual summer festivals dedicated to Yemanjá and Nosso Senhor do Bonfim/Oxalá (Crowley and Ross 1981:56, Crowley 1984:13, Pinho 2006:275, Shukla 1998). Given that Candomblé is rich in its aesthetic principles and that engagement with empowered objects is central to ritual practice, one must ask how, and to what end, are these secularized images constructed? In what ways, for example, does a representation of Oxum in the city ALL PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR


hand, the author's reinterpretation of Bell's data, although forced at points, is quite attractive. Given the likely mixture and movement of cultural material within the deposit, a "changing single complex" appears more likely than Bell's three distinct assemblages. Although the various reports (and their illustrations) that led to this monograph are not terribly well integrated, and few new ideas are presented, Mayer-Oakes's synthesis is very useful in bringing it all together. At times it reads like a history, or even a justification of history, but it is straightforward, basically unassuming, and refreshingly honest. Mayer-Oakes does not play tricks with his data. In the end he delivers considerably more than the title suggests. The volume is not only a study of El Inga, with special attention to Paleoindian technology, but also a careful review and assessment of most of the other early Ecuadorean lithic collections.


Engineering education research has empirically validated the effectiveness of active learning over traditional instructional methods. However, the dissemination of education research into instructional practice has been slow. Faculty workshops for current and future instructors offer a solution to promote the widespread adoption of active learning in engineering classrooms. However, most of the existing research has relied on faculty self-reporting to evaluate the success of engineering faculty workshops. Researchers have noted variations in self-reporting and the actual classroom implementation. In this paper, using classroom observations, faculty interviews, student surveys, and focus groups, the authors examine an engineering instructor's postworkshop implementation of active learning in an electrical engineering course. The findings demonstrate the influence of faculty conceptions of teaching in the selection and design of activities and the subsequent impact of these design choices on student engagement. The authors report the instructor's and students' responses to the active learning exercises and present recommendations for engineering faculty development.


Wear is a common phenomenon in sliding parts. In wire drawing pulleys the friction between the pulley and wire leads to the wear of pulley. In this study Al2O3-13TiO2 and Ni20Cr coatings were prepared on different grades of cast iron (grey iron grade 250, high-carbon grey iron). These samples are investigated through standard procedure of pin-on-disk tests. The rotating disc at 1m/s is subjected to pressures of 30, 40, 50N. The samples were weighed before and after the test. And the results of coated samples were compared with the uncoated samples.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of aluminum on the integrity of blood brain barrier in juvenile rats.

METHODS
The 40-day old Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were exposed to aluminium chloride by intraperitoneal injection, at a dose of Al3+ 0 mg/kg, 2.5 mg/kg, 5 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg, respectively. Morris water amaze system was used to test the learning and memory ability. The Evans blue content in brain was analyzed after injection. The ultrastructure's change of the blood brain barrier (BBB) was observed with transmission electron microscope. The expression of occluding protein in BBB was determined by Western blot method.

RESULTS
As compared with control group, the permeability of BBB in mid-level Al and high-level Al was enhanced (P <0.01), the expression of occluding protein was descended (P <0.01). The ultrastructures of the BBB were changed. No differences between every group on learning and memory ability (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Short time and low dose of Al might not change the ability of learning and memory in juvenile rats, however the permeability and ultrastructures of the BBB might be significantly changed.


We present a realistic theoretical treatment of a three-level Λ system in a hot atomic vapor interacting with a coupling and a probe field of arbitrary strengths, leading to electromagnetically-induced transparency and slow light under the two-photon resonance condition. We take into account all the relevant decoherence processes including collisions. Velocity-changing collisions (VCCs) are modeled in the strong collision limit effectively, which helps in achieving optical pumping by the coupling beam across the entire Doppler profile. We take into account a dynamic rate of influx of atoms in the two lower levels of the Λ, and an outflux from all the three levels. The steady-state expressions for the atomic density-matrix elements are numerically evaluated to yield the experimentally measured response characteristics. Our predictions are in excellent agreement with the reported experimental results for 4He*. The role played by the VCC parameter is seen to be distinct from that by the transit time or Raman coherence decay rate.


In the context of the IHP-VI Project 2.1 (Extreme events), and the cross-cutting activities of the FRIEND and HELP programmes, the UNESCO Division of Water Sciences has initiated a working group on identifying the relative role of climatic variability and land-cover change on floods and low flows as a function of spatial scale. The mandate of the working group is to summarize the state of the art of the subject, develop the key science questions, plan a five year research strategy for testing in HELP basins and other research experimental basins, and plan a series of workshops. This paper summarizes the findings of the first working group meeting held in Vienna during November, 2005.


The beautiful "birds-eye-view" of Mexico City by Juan Gomez de Trasmonte is extremely well-known as almost the only surviving representation of the city in the seventeenth century. The origin, intentions and history of this map are, however, less well-known. In fact, classical texts on the subject are mostly inaccurate or incomplete. Incorporating new cartobibliographic evidence, this article reinterprets Trasmonte's plan from the point of view of four methodological statements: i) The map is the territory. ii) The map is not the territory. iii) Territories are maps and iv) The maps is the map. Hopefully, this analysis contributes some innovative methodological principles for studying historical urban cartography.


This paper reports the pathologic and functional changes of the sciatic nerve indirectly injured by firearms and its effect on wound healing. Twelve dogs were used. Their hind legs were shot with 1.03-gram steel spheres, avoiding direct injury to the sciatic nerve. The experimental animals were divided into two groups according to the impact velocity, that is, a 1,500 m/sec high velocity projectile (HVP) group and a 400 m/sec, low velocity projectile (LVP) group as a control. After wounding, the same procedure was followed in all dogs. At intervals, the tissues of the wound track were excised to determine the level of cyclic nucleotides (cAMP, cGMP), secondary messengers of neurotransmitters, the activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and the content of hydroxyproline, which indicates the degree of wound healing. The sciatic nerve next to the wound track was excised for light and electron microscopic study. The neurofilament in the sciatic nerve was examined by immunohistochemistry with monoclonal neurofilament-200 antibody. The results showed that the indirect injuries to the sciatic nerves of the HVP group were more severe than in those in the LVP group and included naked axons, stripped myelin sheaths, widened nodes of Ranvier, and decrease in the numbers of neurofilaments. At 6 hours, cAMP content in the HVP group was significantly lower than that in the LVP group. It began to rise and approached to the level of LVP group at 10 days. The cGMP content, activity of AChE, and hydroxyproline content of the HVP group were significantly lower than those of the LVP group. The results suggested that the indirect injury to sciatic nerves, especially to the cytoskeleton, after HVP wounds may induce the disturbance of an axoplasmic flow and influence the metabolism of trophic factors such as cAMP, cGMP, and AChE. All changes could contribute to the delay in wound healing.


Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder which impacts many aspects of function at each stage of the life journey through which it passes. Central to the understanding of this process is the recognition of the symptoms of ADHD itself and how they change over time. Beyond this the process itself has to be appreciated in terms of how this core integrates with parallel emerging patterns of comorbid disorders. The key to understanding how ADHD and its comorbidity integrate into and become part of the developing person is to realise that at each developing stage the symptoms of ADHD (as well as the comorbidity) will impact the overall development, creating backlogs or impairments which may 'colour' the persons as they grow and will not be as amenable to treatment as the ADHD or its comorbidity. If ADHD has this potential impact as the individual gets older, what are the treatment considerations in terms of early intervention?


To exploit high-performance and stable sensing materials with a room working temperature is pivotal for portable and mobile sensor devices. However, the common sensors based on metal oxide semiconductors usually need a higher working temperature (usually above 300 °C) to achieve a good response toward gas detection. Currently, metal halide perovskites have begun to rise as a promising candidate for gas monitoring at room temperature but suffer phase instability. Herein, we construct 1D/3D PyPbI3/FA0.83Cs0.17PbI3 (denoted by PyPbI3/FACs) bilayer perovskite by post-processing spin-coating Pyrrolidinium hydroiodide (PyI) salt on top of 3D FACs film. Benefitting from the 1D PyPbI3 coating layer, the phase stability of 1D/3D PyPbI3/FACs significantly improves. Simultaneously, the gas sensor based on the 1D/3D PyPbI3/FACs bilayer perovskite presents a superior selectivity and sensitivity toward NO2 detection at room temperature, with a low detection limit of 220 ppb. Exposed to a 50 ± 3% relative humidity (RH) level environment for a consecutive six days, the 1D/3D PyPbI3/FACs perovskite-based sensor toward 10 ppm NO2 can still maintain a rapid response with a slight attenuation. Gas sensors based on hybrid 1D/3D-structured perovskite in this work may provide a new pathway for highly sensitive and stable gas sensors in room working temperature, accelerating its practical application and portable device.


The poor impact resistance of Polystyrene (PS) was enhanced by the addition of elastomeric material, SEBS-g-MA. To prevent the reduction in strength and stiffness, organoclay Cloisite® 25A was used as filler and introduced into the matrix by a corotating twin screw extruder. Throughout the study, the clay content was kept at 2 wt%, whereas the content of SEBS-g-MA was varied between 5 and 40 wt%. It was found that Cloisite® 25A displays well dispersion in the ternary nanocomposites and the degree of dispersion increases with the elastomer content. The elastomeric phase has a greater viscosity than pure PS. Thus, as expected, at low elastomer contents, it forms the dispersed phase in the matrix as droplets. Transmission electron microscopy results show that the clay layers reside at the interphase between PS and elastomer and also inside the elastomeric phase. Owing to the location of the clay particles, the average elastomer domain size in ternary nanocomposites are found to be greater than that in the relative binary blends of PS-(SEBS-g-MA). Moreover, with the organoclay addition, phase inversion point shifts to lower elastomer contents. The mechanical test results showed that the nanocomposites containing 15 and 20 wt% SEBS-g-MA have the optimum average domain size that results in high-impact strength values without deteriorating the tensile properties. POLYM. COMPOS., 31:1853–1861, 2010. © 2010 Society of Plastics Engineers.


Islamic religion has a conception of beliefs, rules, norms or ethics which indeed must be believed and implemented consistently. Islamic values are essentially a collection of principles of life, also in the form of teachings about how humans should live life. In the process of internalizing values, the chosen strategies, approaches and methods are needed. Transinternal is one of the appropriate strategies in internalizing religious values. Transinternal strategy is a way to teach values with several stages, namely by carrying out the transformation of values, followed by the transaction of values, and the transinternalisation of values. Islamic values can be actualized through Islamic Religious Education in several environments, both family, school, and community. the three environments must be able to work well together so that the values that have been instilled internalized in the individual so that they will become personalities. The approach to inculcating Islamic values uses the approach to instilling values with a variety of methods, both exemplary, habituation, advice, supervision, and punishment. Strategies that can be used so that the embedded Islamic values are well internalized in individuals, can use a strategy of value transformation, value transactions and value transinternalisation


The reemergence of tuberculosis in the industrialized countries has hastened the development of new laboratory techniques. Hence, well-known shortcomings of traditional techniques such as the lack of a rapid and specific detection system, the delayed availability of species identification and drug susceptibility results, and the lack of a reliable method for determining strain identity for epidemiological purposes, have become immediate targets for implementing molecular biology techniques. In particular, nucleic acid amplification techniques, restriction fragment-length polymorphism and single-strand conformation polymorphism analyses have dramatically improved diagnostic timeliness and accuracy of mycobacteriology laboratory results. Our paper reviews recent developments and comments on the diagnostic applications of the new tools as compared to traditional techniques.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to measure plasmatic concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) and placental growth factor (PIGF) in pregnant women, and to evaluate their relationship with age, hormonal status, gestational age, and different diseases of pregnancy.

METHODS
We selected a control group of 163 patients (96 fertile and 67 in menopause) and a group of 214 pregnant patients during the whole gestational period. VEGF-A and PlGF were assayed by ELISA and EIA methods, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney test.

RESULTS
The control group showed mean VEGF-A and PlGF values of 89.87 pg/ml and 10.22 pg/ml, respectively; PlGF showed the highest values in menopausal patients. The group of pregnant patients showed VEGF-A values of 27.05 pg/ml and PlGF values of 231.36 pg/ml respectively, with lower (for the VEGF-A) and higher (for the PlGF) statistical significance. These values were not influenced by biological age, but were related to gestational age: VEGF-A showed a decrease and PlGF an increase particularly after the 20th gestational week. PlGF showed a statistically significant decrease compared to physiological gestation in spontaneous and threatened abortions (p < 0.0001) and in ectopic pregnancies (p < 0.0001), an increase in ultrasound and CTG alterations (p < 0.05), and threatened premature delivery and uterine hypercontractility (p < 0.01); on the other hand VEGF-A showed a statistically significant increase in ectopic pregnancies (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
VEGF-A and PlGF may play a diagnostic and prognostic role in pregnancy. Further studies are required to better understand the meaning of variability of their values.


Background Remission is the target of treatment in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In clinically-defined remission, subclinical disease activity may persist leading to flare and joint damage progression. Musculoskeletal ultrasonography (MSUS) is a good candidate to overcome the limitations of clinimetric indexes. The role of MSUS synovitis is well-known in the literature but no data are available for tenosynovitis. Objectives The study aims to evaluate the association between US synovitis (S) and tenosynovitis (T) and 6-month flare in RA patients in clinical remission. Methods The STARTER study is a multicentre cohort study promoted by the Italian Society for Rheumatology. Ultrasonographers were selected by an inter-reader reliability exercise. Consecutive patients with RA and clinical remission underwent a full clinical evaluation and Grey Scale (GS) and power Doppler (PD) US exam (assessing -S and -T) at wrists, MCP, PIP and extensor/flexor tendon sheets. Six-month flare was defined as: 1) increase of >1.2 or >0.6 if final DAS28>3.2; 2) change in treatment; 3) change of >4 points in the flare questionnaire (FQ) if FQ<4 at baseline. The relationships between presence of GS-T/-S, PD-T/-S were evaluated by logistic models, presented as odds ratios (OR) and 95%CI, adjusted for pre-specified confounders. Results A total of 427 patients were included in the analyses: 113 (26.5%) men, mean (SD) age 56.6 (13.4), median (IQR) disease duration 7.3 (3.8-13.5) years, median (IQR) remission duration 12 (8-24) months, RF positive 287 (67.4%), mean (SD) DAS28 2.2 (0.8), median (IQR) HAQ 0.125 (0-0.375), on DMARDs 322 (75.4%), on biologics 183 (42.9%), on glucocorticoids 187 (43.8%). GS-T was present in 198/373 (53.1%) patients, PD-T in 88/372 (23.7%) while GS-S in 270/368 (73.4%) and PD-S in 171/372 (46.5%). The association between US variables and flare is reported in the Table. Conclusions MSUS PD-S confirms its predictivity on flare defined according to DAS28 definitions while PD-T is more specifically associated with patient-related flare and symptoms exacerbation. US-T should be take into account in the management of RA patients in clinical remission. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Objective To investigate the anti-fertility effect of peppermint oil on male mice. Method 60 adult healthy male KM mice were randomly divided into three experiment groups and one control group. The mice of three experiment groups were orally administrated with peppermint oil mixed with 0. 5% sodium carboxymethyl cellulose at the concentrations of 0. 135 g /( kg·d),0. 27 g /( kg·d) and 0. 54 g /( kg·d),respectively,and the mice in control group were orally administrated with 0. 5% sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. After one week,adult female KM mice were lumped with experimental male mice at the ratio of 2∶1,and the male mice were treated by peppermint oil till day 19. Finally,the blood of male mice was collected to determine the biochemical indices. The male and female mice were anatomized and the rate of pregnancy was observed. The organ coefficient of testis and epididymis,sperm survival rate and deformation rate,pathology and histology of the testis and epididymis tissues were studied. Results Compared with the control group,the pregnancy rate of peppermint oil treated male mice was decreased; the organ coefficient of testis and sperm survival rate was declined,and the sperm deformation rate was significantly increased. Under the optical microscope,the testis and epididymis of peppermint oil treated male mice were damaged. The spermatogenic cells of testis were loosely arranged and the interstitial was reduced. The seminiferous tubules were infiltrated by macrophages. Although normal structure of epididymal duct was observed,there was hardly any sperm in the lumen. Conclusions The anti-fertility effect of peppermint oil can be used to inhibit the spermatogenesis and destroy the spermatogenic tissue of male mice.


Current physio-pathological data suggest that Parkinson's Disease (PD) symptoms are related to important alterations in subcortical brain structures. However, structural changes in these small regions remain difficult to detect for neuro-radiologists, in particular, at the early stages of the disease (de novo PD patients). The absence of a reliable ground truth at the voxel level prevents the application of traditional supervised deep learning techniques. In this work, we consider instead an anomaly detection approach and show that auto-encoders (AE) could provide an efficient anomaly scoring to discriminate de novo PD patients using quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data.


The ready availability of pooled plasma, whether secured through commercial channels, state departments of health or local blood bank programs, has been a boon to medical practice. However, the fact that plasma may carry a virus capable of inducing hepatitis in the recipient has created a new public health problem of major importance. The occurrence of homologous serum jaundice in recipients of blood and of blood derivatives has been reported by many investigators in both civilian and military fields. In a recent review Neefe1has presented an excellent description of both infectious hepatitis and homologous serum jaundice, and his list ofreferences is extensive. The present study was designed to evaluate the risk of homologous serum jaundice inherent in the utilization of the dried pooled plasma which is now being distributed to meet civilian needs. The problem was approached through two avenues. Part A: A follow-up study was made


Our analysis presents an explanation of the Sun–Earth coupling mechanism during declining phase of a solar cycle, and how the dominant 13.5 and 27 day periods play roles in the coupling mechanism which led to intense terrestrial magnetic storms during this declining phase compared to the rising phase of a solar cycle. Moreover, it is observed that while the 27 day period gets strongly modulated in the rising phase, the 13.5 day period modulation is more prominent during the declining phase. It is suggested that out of the 27 and 13.5 day periods of Sun–Earth interaction, the preferred period of modulation happens to be the one which is more dominant for the less random or quieter system participating in the coupling. It is reported for the first time that the 13.5 day period is more prominent in the Sun–Earth interaction during the declining phase of a solar cycle, as it is the most dominant period of Earth's magnetic system, which happens to be more persistent as a dynamical system and hence quieter or more receptive than the Sun.


This paper addresses the problem that Bayesian statistical inference cannot accommodate theory change, and proposes a framework for dealing with such changes. It first presents a scheme for generating predictions from observations by means of hypotheses. An example shows how the hypotheses represent the theoretical structure underlying the scheme. This is followed by an example of a change of hypotheses. The paper then presents a general framework for hypotheses change, and proposes the minimization of the distance between hypotheses as a rationality criterion. Finally the paper discusses the import of this for Bayesian statistical inference.


INTRODUCTION

Possible adverse health effects of nanoparticles are little understood. Pilot study was performed in workers exposed to TiO2 aerosol.

METHODS

Dynamics of aerosol number size distributions at the workplaces was monitored by SMPS and APS spectrometers in size range 15 nm-10 μm. Spatial distributions of total concentrations were determined using monitors of particle number (P-TRAK) and mass concentrations (DustTRAK DRX). Pre-shift and post-shift FeNO and markers in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) were measured in 20 workers, and 17 controls. Malondialdehyde (MDA), 4-hydroxy-trans-nonenale (HNE), 4-hydroxy-trans-hexenale (HHE), 8-isoProstaglandin F2α (8-isoprostane), 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), 8-hydroxyguanosine (8-OHG), hydroxymethyl uracil (HMeU), o-tyrosine (o-Tyr), 3-chloro-tyrosine (3-Cl-Tyr), nitrotyrosine (NO-Tyr), C6-C13, and leukotrienes (LTs) were analyzed by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry.

RESULTS

Total aerosol concentrations in the production plant varied in space and time; number concentrations 1x104-2x105 particles/cm3, mass concentrations 0.1-30 mg/m3. In the workshops, 90% of particles were under 100 nm in diameter. All pre-shift markers, except LTD4 and FeNO, were increased in workers. Markers of lipid oxidation were elevated (p<0.01): MDA, HNE, HHE, 8-isoprostane and C6-C13. Markers of oxidation of nucleic acids and proteins were higher (p<0.001): 8-OHdG, 8-OHG, HMeU, 3-Cl-Tyr and NO-Tyr. Elevated was o-Tyr, LTB4, LTC4 and LTE4. No difference was noted for post-shift EBC and FeNO.

CONCLUSION

This first study of EBC in workers suggests deleterious effects of TiO2 exposure to aerosol particles with nano-sized fractions.

P28/1LF/6.


University students are one of the social groups that are most involved in volunteering. This study was designed to explore some va- riables that facilitate why a person decides to become a volunteer. The study involved 168 participants and analyzed the influence of different motives on volunteering, the commitment the participants would be ready to take on, and previous experience as a volunteer. The results show the importance of different motives as the humanitarian interest in helping others in performing adequate volunteering work. Also according to the participants, esteem enhancement motives were the least important ones. Moreover, the findings emphasize the weight of previous experience in volunteering activities in ensuring a greater commitment to an organiza- tion.


OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to assess the diagnostic value of labial salivary gland changes in female patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) having different European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Sjögren's syndrome disease activity index (ESSDAI) and serological markers using conventional ultrasound and shear wave elastography (SWE).

METHODS
A total of 82 female inpatients diagnosed with SS were retrospectively examined at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from July 2020 to December 2021. The patients were divided into two groups based on the ESSDAI score: remission group (ESSDAI <5) and active group (ESSDAI ≥5). The prognosis of patients was assessed using serological markers. The ultrasound examination of bilateral labial glands was performed in all patients to analyze the quantity and area of the largest single labial gland per unit detection range (Smax). The SWE of labial glands was performed in different groups.

RESULTS
The Smax and quantity of labial glands on both sides were correlated with patient age in 82 female patients with SS. Emin, Emean and Emax of remission group based on ESSDAI were significant lower than active group (p<0.001), and the areas under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve for these three in diagnosing were 0.720, 0.728 and 0.734, respectively. The differences in Emean, Emin and Emax values of labial gland between the two groups of immunoglobulin G (IgG) <16g/L and IgG ≥16g/L were statistically significant differences (p<0.05), and the area under the ROC curve(AUC) for the three values were 0.825, 0.830, and 0.815, respectively. There were statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in Emin, Emean, and Emax of labial glands between the hypocomplementemic and non-hypocomplementemic groups, and the AUC for the three values were 0.840, 0.843, and 0.819, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Conventional ultrasound and SWE of the labial gland can reflect the disease activity and prognosis of patients with SS, and more conveniently assess the progression in the patients and provide imaging evidence.


To study the effects of insecticides (deltamethrin, chlorpyrifos, phosphin, and diatomaceous earth) on the insect control of stored corn seeds during 12 months, this research was performed to find an alternative product, using a randomized design. Seeds of the hybrid AG 303 were treated with either isolated or combined deltamethrin and chlorpyrifos, phosphin and diatomaceous earth, and they were further arranged into multifoliated paper bags and stored for twelve months (May/1997 through April/1998) under normal environmental conditions. Seeds were submitted to an infested seed exam, mass of 100 seeds, germination test, cold test, accelerated aging, electric conductivity test, emergence of seedlings in field and rate of seedling emergence, seven times in bimonthly intervals. Interpretation of the results showed that: deltamethrin and chlorpyrifos insecticides (alone or combined), phosphin and diatomaceous earth promoted the control in a similar manner, of pest-insects occuring during storage without causing toxicity to corn seeds. The physiological quality of corn seeds was effectively preserved by the addition of chemical insecticides and diatomaceous earth.


Epithelial repair after luminal acid exposure was studied in the rabbit duodenum in vivo, HCl (200 mM for 30 min) caused uniform damage of the mucosa confined to the villi, 50% of the total villus height was affected by the acid-induced lesion in the proximal, and 70% in the distal duodenum. After demarcation and detachment of the necrotic tissue the defect was bridged by the remaining viable epithelial cells underneath a layer of mucus and necrotic debris (= necrotic layer). Mucosal repair resulted in a reduction of villus height by 62% in the proximal, and 77% in the distal duodenum. This process of mucosal repair progressed continuously, so that 9 hours after acid damage only 33% of villi in the proximal, and 41% in the distal duodenum were not yet fully restored, irrespective of luminal pH(pHL = 7 or pHL = 3). The difference between proximal and distal duodenum is due to the higher acid susceptibility of the distal duodenum. Rapid epithelial repair of the duodenal mucosa in vivo provides an important protective mechanism against the aggression from luminal acid.


Portable low-cost Kinect sensor was used to analyze standing balance ability of the elderly. Eighty subjects who can walk alone and have a normal cognitive level participated in this experiment. Based on Berg Balance scale (BBS) test with 52 points, subjects were divided into Healthy older (HO: 46 persons, BBS: 53.80 ± 1.19) and Impaired older (IO: 34 persons, BBS: 49.06 ± 2.03) group. Each subject performed 30 seconds four different standing balance tests (EO: Eyes Open, EC: Eyes Close, EOf: Eyes Open on foam, ECf: Eyes Close on foam). Five variables (Mean distance, Range of distance, Root mean square, Mean velocity, 95% ellipse area) were calculated from the hip joint center movement of Kinect sensor. Results showed that there were significant differences between groups for four different standing tests. Calculated variables from kinect sensor showed significant correlation with BBS score. Especially, mediolateral mean distance, mediolateral root mean square, mediolateral range of distance and 95% ellipse area showed discriminative ability for all tests. Mean values of variables of IO were higher than those of HO, which means the decreased balance ability in IO compared with HO. Therefore, it was possible to estimate simple balance assessment of the elderly using portable low-cost Kinect sensor.


Nowadays, the use of Web based Education (WbE) in distance learning education is considered to be an innovative method of learning. Supportive parties argue that WbE renews the educational practice through the use of computers and their applied methodology, as well as the technologies provided by the use of the internet. These result in consciously renewing the educational material and in creating a flexible structure which promotes the individualization of learning. The proposed model aims at delivering technological classes through the internet, offering a flexible use of means and tools, allowing a synthetic presentation of selected bibliographic texts that cover the whole cognitional object, developing a cooperative spirit and individualising the learning procedure.


Alphabet sign language recognition with high accuracy is a tedious task in computer vision due to several reasons like the lack of sufficient quantities of the annotated dataset, signer variety, continuous signing, etc. The relative scarcity of labelled data in the sign language recognition field has impeded the exploitation of the different models. For the above-mentioned problems, the researchers perform other augmentation techniques. In this paper, we evaluate four different transfer learning approach on three publically available datasets. The various transfer learning models explore the influence of different data augmentation techniques that should increase the performance of the classification model. All the four model makes a comparison with data augmentation and without data augmentation. This study suggested that the transfer learning can improve the classification accuracy.


In this article, we discuss several properties of filters corresponding to orthogonal wavelets. In particular, we are interested in the behavior of odd-lagged autocorrelations of some standard wavelet families as well as the design of wavelets conforming to autocorrelation constraints. Two interesting empirical properties of wavelet filter autocorrelations are illustrated.


Embryos in the morula to blastocyst stage were collected from superovulated goats either surgically or after slaughter. Embryos with good or fair morphology were bisected with a microblade without the aid of a holding pipette or other microinstruments. Of 103 morulae and 77 blastocysts that were split, 200 (97%) and 151 (98%) demi-embryos, respectively, with no major morphological aberrations were obtained. Zona-free demi-embryos derived from blastocysts were incubated in vitro for 2 h, and those derived from morulae for 24 h so that they would reach the blastocyst stage. Demi-embryos were transferred either fresh or after freezing and thawing. After 2 h of incubation, a significantly higher proportion of zona-free demi-embryos derived from blastocysts were of good quality than were zona-free demi- embryos derived from morulae (75 vs 45%). Seventy-six percent of zona-free demi-embryos derived from morulae developed to the blastocyst stage after 24 h in vitro. The quality of the embryos before splitting had a significant effect on the development of the demi-embryos in vitro. Transfer of 11 pairs of zona-free demi-embryos resulted in the birth of five twin and three singleton kids. Transfer of 11 pairs of demi-embryos frozen-thawed without zonae pellucidae resulted in the delivery of two singleton kids.


CASE REPORT
We present the case of a 47-year-old female suffering from progeria who developed an eyelid Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) following cyclosporine treatment for a corneal transplant. She underwent excision of the lesion by Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) and received adjuvant treatment with radiotherapy. Later she had a recurrent tumour for which a wide excision with orbital exenteration was performed. The patient was fit and well at the 24-month follow-up.

DISCUSSION
MCC is an aggressive tumour that has a larger incidence in elderly people, women and immunosuppressed patients. Our approach with the patient must be global, avoiding risk factors in predisposed subjects. MMS seems unsuitable for the treatment of MCC; if tumour recurrence occurs a wide resection should be performed (Arch Soc Esp Oftalmol 2009; 84: 581-584).


Polar ordination is used to project all pixels in Landsat TM band space onto a single axis whose endpoints are the centroids of training areas in two spectrally distinct natural forest types – one with and the other without bamboo – which dominate the landscape in the southwest Amazon. Assuming the same wood density in both forests, biometric data collected in the training areas (Oliveira, 2000) indicated that biomass of forest with high bamboo density was 29% lower than forest without bamboo. Linear interpolation along the ordination axis models biomass of spectrally intermediate pixels. Thresholds based on band-space distance from the axis and ordinated distance beyond the axis endpoints are used to mask pixels unacceptable for modeling: water, beaches, pastures, roads, urban area, and deep topographic shade. The final product is a biomass image of an area covering 90x90 km, with 79% of all pixels being modeled. Because of spectral variability between bamboo forests in different recovery stages after their last monocarpic dieback, the model should only be applied to landscapes with mature, spectrally stable bamboo populations.


Thirteen boys and five girls with leukemia were investigated with lymphography. Eleven of these children were followed-up with postlymphography films. Children with small atrophic lymph nodes seemed to have worse prognosis than children with normal appearance of the nodes. No prognostic meaning of contrast medium persistence could be evaluated.


Efforts to understand the inter-relationship between environmental trends and local livelihoods has led to the adoption of qualitative fieldwork approaches in many interdisciplinary environmental studies in developing countries. This paper discusses how bias, presuppositions and power relations affect and form part of such approaches, with a particular emphasis on data genera - tion through qualitative household interviews. Specifically, the paper critically reviews the notion that we may shed our roles as pre-disposed outsiders by entering the field with an "open mind", and by developing close relationships with community members. It is argued that these approaches, while effective in many ways, contain and are constrained by a number of biases, and that they therefore need to be complemented by explicit reflexivity. Such reflexivity includes greater attention to the power relations and epistemological frames of reference within which the researcher is embedded, as well as dedicated attempts to engage other disciplines and actors in highlighting unreflected biases and worldviews.


The ACL of 21 adult mongrel dogs was replaced with a knitted dacron velour prosthesis. The biologic fate of these synthetic grafts was then evaluated at various intervals from 1 to 12 months postoperatively using routine histology and a vascular injection (Spalteholz) technique. Following implantation the knitted dacron prosthesis was encapsulated with a vascular synovial tissue in a manner similar to that observed with autogenous pa tellar tendon grafts. This revascularization process was followed by a proliferation of fibroblasts throughout the extent of the prosthesis. While the grafts appeared to support a fibrous tissue proliferation in and around the design of the prosthesis, this tissue demonstrated only a random orientation of collagen fibers as late as 1 year postoperatively. It would appear, therefore, that al though the knitted dacron prosthesis is capable of inducing and supporting tissue encapsulation and in growth, it does not allow for the functional orientation of this tissue.


A case is presented of unruptured aneurysm of the non coronary sinus of Valsalva, causing involvement of A-V node and right coronary artery compression. The patient was a 68 year-old woman with a complaint of general fatigue. Electrocardiogram showed complete A-V block. Computed tomography showed an aneurysm of the non coronary sinus of Valsalva. A temporary pacemaker was implanted, but the patient developed respiratory failure and heart failure and died. At autopsy, macroscopically disseminated tuberculosis was noted in both lungs and kidneys. Microscopically a tuberculous inflammatory lesion extending into the A-V node was found. We report this rare case with some consideration of the literature.


Blood cell malignantly growth has been accounted for to be one of the most transcendent types of disease maladies. ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemias) is the malignant types of blood cancer and their detection and classification in earlier stage is biggest issue. Automatic detection and classification of ALL from microscopic images is a challenging and intellectual assignment in medical science. Existing techniques for ALL detection and classification are an understandable alternative for real-time dermoscopic data analysis. Existing microscopic image processing approaches are unable to analyze the ALL data with non-stationary nature. In this perspective, the focus of this research is to design hybrid Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture by utilizing Firefly Optimization Algorithm (FOA/FFA) to detect the ALL from microscopic images of human blood cell into malignant or normal blood cell. Methods: For training and testing of proposed ALL Detection and Classification (ALL-DC) Model, Standard ALL-IDB (Acute-Lymphoblastic-Leukaemias Image Database for Image Processing) is used with hybrid CNN architecture based on the FOA. Here, Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) descriptor with FOA is used as feature extraction and selection mechanism from the Region of Blood Cell (ROBC).Feature extraction approach plays an important responsibility to classify lots of blood diseases. On the way to achieve this goal, we proposed ALL-DC model that combines recent developments in deep learning with fuzzy based CNN structure and for ROBC segmentation, hybridization of K-means segmentation algorithm with FOA that are capable to segment the accurate blood cell region from microscopic images. Using k-means segmentation technique, the foreground and background component is separated into two regions and after that to improve the segmentation results; FOA is used with the novel concept of image enhancement approach. Results: The proposed ALL-DC system is evaluated using the largest publicly accessible standard ALL-IDB dataset, containing 600 training and 400 testing microscopic images. When the evaluation parameters of proposed work is compared with a number of other state-of-art schemes, the proposed scheme achieves the most excellent performance of 98.5% in terms of accuracy which also known as area under the curve (AUC) in differentiating ALL from benign cell using only the extracted and optimized HOG feature. Conclusion: When the proposed model is tested on different microscopic images, evaluation parameters is calculated and compared with a few other state-of-art methods and we obtained the proposed method achieves the best performance in terms of classification accuracy. ALL-DC model is implemented and constructed using the concept of Image Revised Manuscript Received on August 22, 2019. * Correspondence Author Mr. Anuj Sharma Ph. D from Career Point University, Kota (Rajasthan). Dr. Bala Buksh , Ph. D. (Comp. Sc.) Birmingham, United Kingdom. Processing and Neural Network Toolbox within MATLAB Software.


With the advance in algorithms, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) offers solutions to trajectory planning under uncertain environments. Different from traditional trajectory planning which requires lots of effort to tackle complicated high-dimensional problems, the recently proposed DRL enables the robot manipulator to autonomously learn and discover optimal trajectory planning by interacting with the environment. In this article, we present state-of-the-art DRL-based collision-avoidance trajectory planning for uncertain environments such as a safe human coexistent environment. Since the robot manipulator operates in high dimensional continuous state-action spaces, model-free, policy gradient-based soft actor-critic (SAC), and deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) framework are adapted to our scenario for comparison. In order to assess our proposal, we simulate a 7-DOF Panda (Franka Emika) robot manipulator in the PyBullet physics engine and then evaluate its trajectory planning with reward, loss, safe rate, and accuracy. Finally, our final report shows the effectiveness of state-of-the-art DRL algorithms for trajectory planning under uncertain environments with zero collision after 5,000 episodes of training.


Some of the work that has been recently carried outjointly by the Optical Communications Group of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and the Optical Fibre Group of the Universidad de Valancia on the applications of fiber Bragg gratings to microwave photonics is described. The paper investigates separately some applications of linearly chirped fiber Bragg gratings (LCFBGs) and uniform fiber Bragg gratings (UFBGs).


The microbial degradation of 2,4- and 2,6-dinitrotoluene was complete or nearly complete in surface water from two locations downstream from the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. No degradation was detected in surface water from four local (Frederick, MD area) sites. Either isomer could serve as a sole carbon and energy source, with about 60 percent of substrate carbon appearing as CO2, and with an increase in the population of degrading organisms. In both the rate of mineralization in percent degraded per day increased with increasing substrate concentration. At 2,4-Dinitrotoluene, 2,6-Dinitrotoluene, Microbial degradation, Mineralization 10 mg/L, degradation rates of 32 and 14.5 percent/day were observed for the 2,4 and 2,6 isomers, respectively. At very low concentrations of the 2,6 isomer a degrading population did not develop, and significant degradation did not occur. The rate of substrate utilization was far greater, and the lag time shorter, for the 2,4 isomer, consistent with a far greater density of 2,4-DNT degraders. Mixed enrichment cultures were developed for each DNT isomer separately, by sequential transfer to increasing substrate concentrations. maximum substrate concentrations utilized were about 130 mg/L, and cell yields of 6.8 to 7.3 X 105 CFU/ug input DNT were calculated. Disappearance of 2,4-DNT in themore » presence of high concentrations of 2,4-DNT Mixed enrichment culture approximated first-order kinetics; pseudo-first order rate constants varied from 0.043 to 0.190 min-1. The mean second-order constant was 3.9 X 10-10 ml/cell min. If one assumes a concentration of 106 cells/ml, at 250C, a half-life of 29.7 hours can be estimated for this isomer.« less


The present study expresses the turbulent flow characteristics through a 90° pipe bend using a numerical method by determining the solutions for Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) expression using the k-ω (SST) turbulence model. For that purpose, numerical analysis has been carried out by solving RANS equations using ANSYS FLUENT 16.2, considering incompressible fluid in turbulent flow conditions. Simulations have been carried out for three different Reynolds number ranging from 1×10 5 to 10×10 5 at three different bend curvature ratios (Rc/D = 1, 1.5, and 2). Pipe bends with guide vane are generally used where flow separation and space problem makes an issue in mechanical design. The presence of guide vane inside the bend positively suppressed the flow separation and presence of cross-flow which can cause the engine to run off design, thus reducing the engine efficiency. So, to observe the effect of guide vane and its position on turbulence characteristics, four different positions of guide vane inside the bend are considered in the present study. At first, an analysis was led to make sure that the results obtained from the present numerical model are reliable and in line with previous results obtained from similar published experiments and numerical work. Research has been conducted to find out the impact of Reynolds number, bend curvature ratio and position of guide vane on different turbulence characteristics namely; turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent intensity, and wall shear stress at bend outlet position. In general, the turbulent intensity is found larger for the lower bend curvature ratio at the inner wall curvature side. Results for turbulent kinetic energy have similarities in results with turbulent intensity. Significantly, the wall shear stress represented a strong dependency on the circumferential angle at the bend outlet cross-section, and curvature ratio rather than Reynolds number and guide vane positions.


The main objective of this thesis was to contribute to immunomodulatory interventions that are important for the clinical outcome in patients undergoing haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and in patients with antibody deficiency or increased susceptibility to infections. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), infections, and relapse of the underlying disease are the main complications after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In study I, we retrospectively examined 179 patients who had undergone HSCT, with the aim of evaluating the effects and kinetics of IgG levels after HSCT. We concluded that IgG levels increased after transplantation throughout the five-year study period. Patients with low IgG levels (< 4 g/L) on two occasions during the first year after HSCT showed a reduced survival rate and an increased incidence of transplant-related mortality compared with patients with normal levels. Persistently low levels of IgG were found to be a risk factor for death after HSCT. In vivo T-cell depletion with anti-thymocyte globulin is a commonly used strategy for the prevention of GVHD and to avoid rejection after transplantation. In study II, we retrospectively compared 36 patients given Campath as part of the conditioning with a matched cohort of 72 patients receiving thymoglobulin (TMG). The objective was to compare the two different drugs with regard to clinical outcome after HSCT. No differences in transplant related mortality, overall survival, or relapse-free survival were found between the two groups. Furthermore, Campath was associated with less overall acute GVHD but more chronic GVHD. Finally, we noted a trend towards more fungal infections in the patients treated with Campath. In conclusion, TMG and Campath as part of the conditioning appear to result in a similar clinical outcome. Low serum levels of vitamin D are associated with an increased risk of respiratory tract infections (RTIs). To date, clinical trials with vitamin D against various infections have not been conclusive. Thus, our objective was to investigate whether supplementation with vitamin D could reduce infectious symptoms and antibiotic consumption in patients with antibody deficiency or increased susceptibility to RTI. 140 patients with > 42 days of symptoms from the respiratory tract over a 12-month period prior to inclusion were included in study III. They were randomized to receive vitamin D (4,000 IU) or placebo daily for 1 year. The primary endpoint was an infectious score based on five parameters: symptoms from the respiratory tract, ears and sinuses, malaise, and antibiotic consumption. Secondary endpoints were serum levels of 25(OH)D, microbiological findings, and levels of anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) in nasal fluids. The key message from this study was that vitamin D supplementation reduced symptoms and antibiotic consumption in patients with an increased frequency of respiratory tract infections. The role of vitamin D in HSCT is not fully understood. To address this issue, we designed a study which included 123 children who were followed retrospectively for up to 8 years after HSCT. The aim of study IV was to determine whether vitamin D levels at baseline were associated with shortand long-term outcome parameters. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as a pre-transplant level of 25(OH)D below 50 nmol/L. We found that the frequency of acute GVHD was higher and that of chronic GVHD lower in patients with sufficient vitamin D levels (> 50 nmol/L) compared with those with vitamin D deficiency. In patients transplanted due to malignancies, overall survival was higher in the group with sufficient vitamin D levels. We also found that relapse was more common in the insufficient-level group. Since vitamin D deficiency was associated with an increased risk of death, relapse, and chronic GVHD, we concluded that baseline vitamin D status appears to influence the clinical course in children undergoing HSCT. However, randomized and placebo-controlled trials will fully clarify this issue. The main conclusions are that (1) low IgG levels are a risk factor for death after HSCT, (2) TMG and Campath as part of the conditioning before HSCT result in similar outcome, (3) supplementation with vitamin D may reduce disease burden in patients with frequent RTIs, and (4) vitamin D appears to affect the clinical outcome in children undergoing HSCT. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS I. A-C Norlin, D Sairafi, J Mattsson, P Ljungman, O Ringdén, M Remberger. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation: low immunoglobulin levels associated with decreased survival. Bone Marrow Transplantation 2008;41:267-273. II. A-C Norlin, M Remberger. A comparision of Campath and Thymoglobulin as part of the conditioning before allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. European Journal of Haematology 2010;86:57-66. III. P Bergman, A-C Norlin, S Hansen, R S Rekha, B Agerberth, L BjörkhemBergman, L Ekström, J D Lindh, J Andersson. Vitamin D3 supplementation in patients with frequent respiratory tract infections: a randomized and doubleblind intervention study. BMJ Open, 2012;2:e001663. PB and ACN contributed equally to this study. IV. M E A Hansson, A-C Norlin, B Omazic, A-C Wikström, P Bergman, J Winiarski, M Remberger, M Sundin. The role of vitamin D in pediatiric haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Manuscript.


Historically, research in non-human beings, primarily rodents, has played a fundamental role in understanding neural dysfunctions underlying pathological conditions and how they can be treated. To date, several animal models have been proposed to recapitulate autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We can never fully recapitulate human neuropsychiatric symptomatology in non-human beings; some symptoms, such as low self-esteem and suicidal ideation, are impossible to model in mice. Moreover, brain anatomy between humans and mice is considerably different (i.e. the cerebral cortex is highly elaborated in humans). However, the brains of vertebrates have a common structural organization in which the cerebral cortex is intimately interconnected with subcortical structures that are well conserved across mammals (Tecott, 2003). Furthermore, many fundamental physiological and behavioural responses have been evolutionarily conserved between species. The study of these responses in lower species can therefore provide a better understanding of the neural circuits and the genetic factors subserving them and, through inference, of human behaviour and disease. One of the criteria that are commonly used to validate an animal model (McKinney, 1984) is based on a conceptual analogy of the proposed model to the causes of the human disease (construct validity). Mutant mice with a targeted mutation in a gene implicated in a given neuropsychiatric disorder, neuroanatomical lesions, prenatal drug exposures, and environmental toxins offer examples of putative causes of human diseases that can be replicated in animal models. The etiopathogenesis of autism however has not been clearly elucidated so far and diagnosis of ASD is mainly based on presentation of three core symptoms: profound alterations in social interaction, communication deficits and stereotyped behaviours (i.e. repetitive behaviours and restricted interests). Different approaches have therefore been adopted to model these pathologies in rodents. Table 1 provides a schematic view of currently available mouse models of ASD-like symptomatology.


This paper investigates whether a country's level of financial development influences its earnings management in an international setting. Financial development is likely to heighten the monitoring and scrutiny of accounting figures because of strengthened investor protection laws and regulations as well as sophisticated market participants. Therefore, we first hypothesize that both accrual-based and real earnings management decrease with greater financial development. However, research shows that managers tend to apply real earnings management, instead of accrual-based earnings management, under strict accounting standards, regulations, and close auditor scrutiny. Thus, we explore the alternative hypothesis that accrual-based earnings management decreases but real earnings management increases along with higher financial development. We examine the relationship between financial development and both types of earnings management using 56,830 observations in 37 countries covering 2009 to 2012. The results indicate that both types of earnings management are more restrained under higher levels of financial development.


This thesis describes investigations of the effects of low dimensionality on two different antiferromagnetic systems. First, coherent spin-density-waves (SDWs) were studied in thin films of epitaxial chromium grown on MgO. This system exhibits antiferromagnetic ground states where the density of the spin of the conduction electrons is spatially modulated with an incommensurate period. The SDW features a wave vector Q and is accompanied by a charge-density-wave (CDW) and a sinusoidal lattice distortion, or strain-wave (SW), whose wave vectors are related by the rule QSW = QCDW = 2QSDW . The CDW and the SW produce satellite peaks around Cr ionic reflections. It is known that the SDW antinodes coincide with the maxima elongation of the lattice constant and by fitting the X-Ray diffraction data collected from our samples we extracted the phase of the SW which implies that the SDW has a node at the interface with non-magnetic MgO and an antinode at the free surface (where a ferromagnetic oxide layer is expected to grow). This confirms the idea that the SW and CDW are consequences of magnetic order. Second, a new technique was designed and implemented to grow single crystals of BaNi2V2O8. This material is a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) antiferromagnet on a honeycomb lattice, made of edge-sharing NiO6 octahedral layers separated by V5+O4 and Ba2+ layers. The only ion carrying a magnetic moment is Ni2+, which in octahedral coordination has an e2 g configuration making BaNi2V2O8 a spin-1 system. Neutron inelastic scattering studies of the magnetic excitations of this compound were conducted, as a detailed investigation is still missing due to the lack of large single crystals. The correlation lengths above TN= 48 K extracted from the analysis of the critical properties are compatible with the Berezinskii-Kosterliz-Thouless behaviour, indicating the presence of vortex-type excitations.


The behavioral assessment of parent-child interactions is an important component of treatment planning and evaluation in many evidence-based parent training programs. However, numerous factors unrelated to the parent-child interaction may add error to the assessment. This study investigated the impact of task instructions on parents' behaviors during the analogue parent-child interaction observation, the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS). Forty-eight mother-child dyads were randomly assigned to one of two conditions that differed on level of specificity of instructions. Significant differences were observed between groups, with parents who received specific instructions using more praises during the DPICS tasks. Specific instructions may shift parents' behaviors toward optimal, rather than typical, interaction patterns and should be considered in the context of the assessment goals.


This paper presents the theory for the proper hydraulic design of rock chutes and introduces a spreadsheet-based computer program, CHUTE, to design and analyse the performance of a chute under a range of flow conditions. The design procedure allows the computation of the water surface profile on a proposed rock chute for a given design condition. This allows the location of the hydraulic jump to be checked. The so-called factor of safety method is used to determine the median rock size required for stability at the critical location on the chute. It is shown that the critical hydraulic conditions on a rock chute occur at a flow that may be substantially less than the maximum flow for which the channel is designed. An innovative feature of the presented design procedure is the ability to analyse the hydraulic conditions over a range of flow rates (and associated range of tail-water levels) from the lowest to the highest expected flow. The critical flow rate with respect to rock size is identified and the design carried out. The full water surface profile is computed and the location of the hydraulic jump identified. The paper presents the full design procedure and demonstrates the associated spreadsheet-based software. The correct identification of appropriate downstream water levels and elements of practical chute design are also briefly discussed.


We report a novel approach for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (NPs) stabilized on polymer-wrapped carbon nanotubes (Ag@polymer/CNTs) for the non-enzymatic glucose sensing and antibacterial activity applications. Poly(styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) (PSM) was functionalized with amino furan to obtain furan-modified poly(styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) (PSMF), which was later grafted onto the surface of CNTs by Diels–Alder "click" reaction to afford a polymer/CNTs hybrid material. The photo-deposition technique was applied to immobilized small-sized (∼10 nm) AgNPs on the surface of the polymer/CNTs hybrid material using visible light irradiation. The resulting material, Ag@polymer/CNTs, showed promising electrocatalytic activity for the non-enzymatic glucose sensing and antibacterial activity in vitro assays toward Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus cereus bacteria strains. Covalent-bonded polymer layer-bearing carboxylic pendent groups to the CNTs might be playing a pivot role in not only stabilizing AgNPs but also facile electron-transfer reaction, thus demonstrating better activity.


Recently developed time series techniques are applied to the problem of predicting the possible regional impacts of a full employment policy in Canada. A brief critique of existing spatial labor market methods is presented. The focus of this critique is concerned with issues of serial autocor-relation and the high risks of finding spurious relationships associated with Brechling-type models. It is argued, on the basis of the derived results, that a full employment policy would substantially benefit regions with already high levels of unemployment. However, it also appears that many depressed regions would not attain national levels of full employment.


Residues of nitrofen in farm soils, persistence of nitrofen in field microplots, mobility of nitrofen in natural soils and the role of microbial flora in its degradation were studied. Muck soils from vegetable farms in southwestern Ontario contained up to 35 ppm nitrofen in mid-season (August), which decreased to 18 ppm by October. The herbicide was less persistent in sand than in muck. Degradation was slightly faster in sand and muck soils receiving two sprays, than in those sprayed once. From an initial deposit of ca. 2 and 10 ppm resp., in sand and muck field microplots, ca. 2 and 15% persisted after 16 wk. Leaching of nitrofen by water through sand was negligible, and it was even more strongly adsorbed onto organic soil. Natural microbial flora seemed to play an important role in the degradation of nitrofen in soil. Ca. 15 and 38% resp., of the initial concentration persisted in natural sandy loam and muck 16 wk after treatment at 10 ppm, whereas about 94 and 82% resp., persisted in sterilized sandy loam and muck at the same period.


Today in physics there are two fundamental approaches to time. The first and most common approach says we use clocks to measure the time component of space-time, space and time being cofounded as the basis of physical reality. However this approach has no experimental support. There is no evidence whatsoever that clocks measure one aspect of space-time, and in truth we cannot observe space-time at all. The second approach says time is cofounded with motion through space. This approach is supported by experiment and observation. We employ clocks to accumulate local internal motion, and then use the result to calibrate duration. This is then employed in the measurement of external motion or material change, and the comparative rate of such change. Our evidence tells us that this rate of change varies with gravity, being commonly known as gravitational time dilation. However we can only measure space and motion, not time, and thus we must assert that the true basis of fundamental reality is space and motion rather than space-time.


Recent serious events, such as the coronavirus pandemic and the war conflict in Ukraine, have significantly increased the amount of fake news in the online space. This news contributes to society's radicalization, destabilizes democratic regimes, and can result in violence and damage to health and property. The most effective approach to address fake news is prevention and the education associated with it. The current education system is not ready for these challenges, which is why more and more attention is being paid to alternative solutions such as game-based learning. Game-based learning enables the acquisition of new knowledge and skills in a fun yet effective way. These games include a game developed by Impact Games studio named Follow me, which is focused on developing critical thinking skills in the context of countering fake news. This study aims to validate the contribution of the game Follow me in building resilience to fake news through an experiment on a sample of 130 secondary school students from six different schools. The results suggest that although there was no global statistically significant improvement measured in students' ability to recognize fake news, students are healthily skeptical of information, this is also indicated by the fact that on average they were more likely to label news as untrustworthy despite varying attitudes towards the selected topics. We also managed to make findings based on the data acquired from this experiment, which provide a deeper look into students' attitudes toward fake news and therefore can improve games and experiments prepared in the future.


ABSTRACT The current study examined a mediation model of help-seeking stigma towards group therapy in a community sample of clinical and non-clinical Arabs adults in Israel (n = 196). Path analyses indicated that public stigma demonstrated an indirect effect with intentions to seek group therapy through self-stigma, and self-stigma demonstrated a direct relationship with intentions. The strengths of these paths did not differ based on gender or clinical/non-clinical presentation. Examination of differences in public stigma, self-stigma and intentions based on gender and mental health group (clinical/non-clinical) revealed a significant interaction between mental health group and gender. Clinical males demonstrated greater public stigma, self-stigma and intentions compared with non-clinical males. Clinical women demonstrated reported self-stigma, but there were no differences in public stigma or intentions based on mental health group. Among non-clinical participants, women reported lower public stigma and intentions than men, but there were no gender differences observed among clinical participants. These findings build upon group therapy research that has examined help-seeking stigma in samples of non-Israeli Arabs, samples of predominantly Jewish Israeli participants and/or undergraduate students. Implications for future research are discussed.


The process of Ultra High Definition TV videos requires a lot of resources in terms of memory and computation time. In this paper we consider a block-propagation background subtraction (BPBGS) method which spreads to neighboring blocks if a part of an object is detected on the borders of the current block. This allows us to avoid processing unnecessary areas which do not contain any object thus saving memory and computational time. The results show that our method is particularly efficient in sequences where objects occupy a small portion of the scene despite the fact that there are a lot of background movements. At same scale our BPBGS performs much faster than the state-of-art methods for a similar detection quality.


One hundred and seventy-seven patients were evaluated after therapy with 5-azacytidine using a dose of 1.6 mg/kg/day X 10 days followed by a maintenance regimen. One hundred and forty-eight of the patients received the drug by rapid iv infusion and 29 received the drug daily by and infusion that lasted between 18 and 24 hours. Hematologic toxicity was significant but transient in both groups. Nausea was severe using the rapid iv infusion and minimal with the slow infusion. Antitumor effect was seen in 17% of the evaluable patients with carcinoma of the breast and 21% of the patients with malignant lymphomas. Occasional responses were seen with a variety of other solid tumors. The responses were transient, and clinically, resistance to 5-azacytidine appeared to develop quite rapidly. No clear-cut difference was seen in response rates or duration of response between the two groups of patients. Cross resistance to other anticancer agents was not noted. It is believed that the drug is only of minimal value as a single agent in solid tumors using either of the methods of administration described.


Objective: To study the immediate sensorimotor neurophysiological effects of cervical spine manipulation using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Design: Experimental design. Setting: This study was carried out at the Human Neurophysiology Laboratory at the University of Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand. Participants: Thirteen (13) subjects with a history of recurring neck stiffness and/or neck pain, but no acute symptoms at the time of the study were invited to participate in the study. Intervention: Three (3) interventions were carried out in a randomised order: a control with no intervention, a passive head movement control condition, and a session of spinal manipulation of dysfunctional cervical joints. Main Outcome Measures: Motor evoked potentials (MEP) and cortical silent periods (CSP) in the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle of the dominant hand following transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the motor cortex. Results: The major finding of this study was that the TMS-induced CSP measured in APB was significantly decreased for the first 20 minutes following spinal manipulation. No such changes were observed following either control condition, i.e. following no intervention or following passive head movement. Conclusion: Spinal manipulation of dysfunctional cervical joints can lead to transient central neural plastic changes, as demonstrated by shortening of the TMS-induced CSP. This study suggests that cervical spine manipulation may alter sensorimotor integration. These findings may help to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the effective relief of pain and restoration of functional ability documented following spinal manipulation treatment.


summary:This essay argues that considering disability and disability history needs to be part of any history of epidemics. Recent scholarship has shown the many intersections of disability history and history of medicine. This essay argues that disability plays many roles in an epidemic from establishing pre-existing conditions, to affecting the acute phase of the disease, to creating lingering disabilities in the long aftermath. Histories of epidemics that ignore the many ways in which disability affects the experience of an epidemic are incomplete.


The increasingly pervasive practice of veiling among Muslim women has stimulated a great deal of scholarly investigation and debate. This study brings empirical evidence to bear on current debates about the meaning of the veil in Islam. This article first examines the conflicting meanings of the veil among Muslim religious elites and Islamic feminists. Although the dominant gender discourse among Muslim elites strongly favors this cultural practice, an antiveiling discourse promulgated by Islamic feminists has gained ground within recent years. This study then examines how these discursive disputes affect gender identity negotiation among veiled and unveiled Muslim women living in Austin, Texas. Interviews with these women highlight how their gender identities reproduce and reformulate existing Muslim gender discourses. Special attention is paid to the subjective disparities and points of congruence between both groups of respondents. This study concludes by suggesting avenues for future research on the intersection of gender, religion, and cultural difference.


Based on the concepts of green science and environmental protection, LiFePO4/C is successfully encapsulated by the biomineralization of nontoxic and pollution-free yeast. A novel biosynthetic solgel method is applied to prepare LiFePO4/C, leading to an excellent electrochemical performance compared with that of conventional LiFePO4. Yeast acts as a biocarbon source in the preparation process. The effects of sintering temperature on the electrochemical properties of LiFePO4/C are studied. LiFePO4/C synthesized at 800°C exhibits the best rate capacity of 158.3 mAh/g at 0.1 C, and the discharge capacity remains at 94.3 mAh/g at 5 C after 100 cycles. These results prove that LiFePO4/C synthesized at 800°C has the promise to be a positive-anode active material with excellent properties.


The starting point of this study is the war that took place in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s. Serbian soldiers and police targeted their use of violent force directly against the civilian populations in northwestern Bosnia. In their quest to expel Bosniacs and Croats from this area, Serbian soldiers and police used mass executions, forced flight, systematic rape, and concentration camps. The aim of this study is analyzing the narratives of survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia. The focus lies on analyzing interviewees' description of war-time violence and also analyzing discursive patterns that contribute in constructing the phenomenon "war violence". Analysis shows that the interpersonal interactions that caused the violence continue even after the violent situation is over. Recollections from perpetrators and those subjected to violence of the war do not exist only as verbal constructions in Bosnia of today. Stories about violent situations live their own lives after the war and continue being important to individuals and social life. The crimes committed in northwestern Bosnia are qualified as genocide according to indictments against former Serbian leaders Radovan Karadžic and Ratko Mladic. All interviewees in this study experienced and survived the war in northwestern Bosnia. These individuals have a present, ongoing relation with these communities: Some live there permanently, and some spend their summers in northwestern Bosnia. Institutions in the administrative entity Republika Srpska (to which northwestern Bosnia now belong administratively) deny genocide, and this approach to war-time events becomes a central theme in future, post-war analysis of the phenomena "war violence", and "reconciliation". Therefore, it is very important to analyze the political elite's denial of the systematic acts of violence during the war that have been conveyed by the Hague Tribunal, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on War Crime, and Bosnian media. The narratives in my empirical material seem to be influenced by (or coherent with) the rhetoric mediated in these fora. When informants emphasize extermination and the systematization of violence during the war, they produce and reproduce the image of a mutual struggle on a collective level. The aim of this struggle seems to be that the described acts of violence be recognized as genocide.


My (Nissim-Sabat, 1984) paper proposing a method for measuring the speed of light on a one-way trip is wrong and I am retracting it. Briefly, I had proposed that if one had two identical clocks at A and B respectively one could measure the speed of light from A to B: the fact that the two clocks could not be synchronized would be remedied by the interchange of the positions of the two clocks. Winnie [1970] has shown that if the two clocks are transported in exactly the same way (i.e., with identical velocities as measured by round trip methods), then the two clocks would show exactly the same time lapse (including relativistic time dilation) for their respective trips. Thus I had argued that any inherent time difference between the two clocks having been preserved, its effect would have been cancelled out after the interchange. Yet, following Winnie's reasoning, one can show that all observations made this way would lead experimenters to conclude that the velocity of light from A to B is the same as that from B to A, regardless of whether this is indeed the case. One objection that one can make to my method is to point out that I had assumed that laboratory bound observers would necessarily agree with the moving clocks that the trip from A to B took the same time as that from B to A. I was led to the above reconsiderations by the objections of an anonymous referee for the American fournal of Physics to another synchronization method I had presented.


To investigate the effect of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) on bone resorption mediated by interleukin-1 beta(IL-1 beta) in vitro, the osteoclasts isolated from the long bones of newborn SD rats were co-cultured with osteoblasts on ivory slices placed in 24-well plates. 24 h later, conditioned media containing CGRP and/or IL-1 beta were added to the wells respectively, and continued culturing for 48 h. After the cells were stripped off by ultrasonication, the ivory slices were stained in toludine blue. The number and the total area of resorption lacunae on each slice were measured by computer imaging analysis system. Our results showed that IL-1 beta significantly stimulated bone resorption, but CGRP inhibited the effect mediated by IL-1 beta in a dose-dependent manner. It is suggested that CGRP may inhibit osteoclastic bone resorption through two ways: One is that CGRP functions directly on osteoclasts to block their activation; the other is that CGRP regulates the release of cytokines by osteoblasts and indirectly affects the function of osteoclasts.


The function of the cardiovascular system during hypoxia is an important determinant of neurologic outcome. Oscillations in blood pressure, particularly type-3 waves with a duration of 10 to 160 s, have been shown to occur in the presence of hypoxia in the neonatal rat. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics and occurrence of type-3 waves in the neonatal piglet and any relationship to neurologic damage after acute global hypoxia. Hypoxia/hypercarbia was induced in 32 anesthetized piglets by reducing the fraction of inspired oxygen to 0.1 and the ventilation rate from 30 to 10 breaths per minute for 45 min. The degree of neurologic damage was assessed using both physiologic (EEG amplitude and cerebral impedance at 6 h posthypoxia) and structural (microtubule associated protein-2 immunohistochemistry) markers. Type-3 waves in cardiovascular function occurred in 56% of animals. An oscillating pattern was significantly associated with less neurologic damage (p = 0.01) and a lower duration of hypotension during hypoxia (p = 0.02), and occurred more frequently in females (p = 0.024).


Endometriosis is a common finding at laparoscopy. In order to make a correct diagnosis and institute appropriate management it is recommended that laparoscopy be performed on all patients with chronic pelvic pain and on most patients with infertility or acute pelvic pain.


Background: Ipilimumab (Ipi) improves survival of patients (pts) with advanced melanoma. It is unknown which biomarkers predict antitumor activity. Methods: 81 pts with advanced melanoma who had failed to at least one prior systemic treatment were included in the Ipi Expanded Access Program (EAP) (Table 1). All pts received induction therapy with Ipi 10 mg/kg i.v. q 3 weeks x4 doses. At week 24, pts without progressive disease or toxicity received maintenance therapy with Ipi q 12 weeks. Pertinent biomarkers (CTLA-4, PD-1, PD-L1, pAKT, pS6, fas-l, Ki67, and BRAF V600E) were analyzed by immunohistochemistry on pre-treatment tumor specimens and results were correlated with clinical outcomes. Results: Median progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 3.7 and 10.6 mos. Higher stages, ECOG (1 and 2), elevated LDH, and low absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) at baseline were associated with poor survival. Of the 71 pts with progression, 32 received alternative treatment and 39 did not; the OS from the time of disease progression was 17 and 2.6 mos, respectively. Increased CTLA-4 in tumor (p=0.003) and TILs (p=0.02) correlated with poor OS. pS6 expression in TILs (p=0.04), high pAkt in tumor (p=0.03) correlated with poor PFS. Low CTLA-4 (p=0.05) and pAkt (p=0.04) expression in tumor cells correlated with better outcome. High CTLA-4 expression in TILs associated with poor OS (p=0.003) in pts who received alternative treatment post-ipi. Conclusions: High CTLA-4 expression in tumor & TILs as well as activated Akt pathway in tumor cells correlated with poor clinical outcome. High CTLA-4 expression in TILs correlated with poor survival in pts received alternative therapy after Ipi. Analyses of biomarkers predict antitumor activity of Ipi. Citation Format: Nitin Chakravarti, Isabella C. Glitza, Van A. Trinh, Roland L. Bassett, Wen-Jen Hwu, Victor G. Prieto. Biomarker analysis predicts antitumor activity of Ipilimumab therapy in patients with refractory metastatic melanoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr CT332. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-CT332


Background and objectives Expression of Fc Receptor like 4 (FcRL4) identifies a memory B cell subset, which is enriched in the joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and in mucosa associated lymphoid tissue. Their high level of RANKL production indicates a unique pathogenic role. Here, B cell receptor characteristics, antigen specificity and transcriptomic profile of FcRL4+ B cells sorted from the joints of RA patients were investigated. Materials and methods FcRL4+ and FcRL4- B cells were sorted from synovial fluid (SF) and tissue of patients with active RA. Their immunoglobulin variable region (IgVH) genes were sequenced and expressed to generate recombinant monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Reactivity of 63 mAbs towards native and citrullinated peptides derived from α-enolase, fibrinogen, vimentin, histones 3 and 4 was determined by ELISA and Phadia's ImmunoCAP ISAC microarray system. RNA sequencing was carried out on sorted SF FcRL4+ and FcRL4- B cells. After preamplification using the SMARTer amplification kit, library preparation was carried out using Illumina's TruSeq Stranded prep and sequenced on the Illumina platform. Data analysis was carried out using the programs rna-star, DESeq2 and ToppGene. Results Analysis of IgVH genes usage in FcRL4+ and FcRL4- B cells indicated that the Ig repertoire was highly diverse in both B cell subsets, however VH1–69 gene segment was significantly over-represented in the FcRL4+ B cell population (P = 0.013). Out of the 63 mAbs tested, eight antibodies displayed high level of binding to citrullinated peptides. These were exclusively derived from the FcRL4+ subset (p = 0.018). Another eleven antibodies showed low levels of binding to citrullinated peptides. These were derived from both FcRL4+ and FcRL4- B cells. Global transcriptome analysis showed clear differences between the two B cell subsets, including 64 genes which were significantly over or under-expressed in FcRL4+ B cells. Among the genes underexpressed in FcRL4+ B cells, the majority were associated with antibody production and plasma cell differentiation. Conclusions Reactivity of FcRL4+ B cells towards citrullinated autoantigens suggests that they are a component of the citrulline-specific autoimmune response, however, their low level of expression of immunoglobulin and plasma cell differentiation genes suggests functions alternative to antibody production.