Mammography is the standard screening toolfor post-operative breast cancer, with annualcheck -ups recommended; however, it misses some cancers. We report a case a metachronous contralateral breast cancer detected by breast ultrasound 8 years and 6 months after operation. A 72-year-old women visited our hospital for follow-up 8 years and 6 months after the operation. She was diagnosed with right breast cancer at 63 years of age and underwent partial mastectomy with axially lymph node dissection. The pathological diagnose was scirrhous carcinoma. After chemotherapy and radiation therapy, she underwent screening with annual examinations. The mammography finding was normal, but an ultrasound showed a mass lesion in the contralateral breast. The pathological diagnosis of the biopsy specimen was mucinous carcinoma. A history of breast cancer is known to suggest an increased risk of metachronous contralateral breast cancer. Therefore, regular follow-up with breast ultrasound, not only mammography, is recommended.


EACH YEAR dozens of bills that govern the activities of managed care plans are introduced in state legislatures. Often, opponents refer to these as "anti-HMO," "anti—managed care," or "anticoordinated care," and supporters refer to them as "patient protection acts" or "fair managed care acts." Some of these bills ensure enrollees direct access to certain types of medical specialists without the need for a referral from their primary physician, and others ban exclusive relationships between health plans and physician providers. In addition, more than a dozen bills were introduced in state legislatures in 1995 that set minimum lengths of hospital stays for deliveries. This study traces the growth of 3 types of state laws that regulate managed care plans (direct-access laws, laws that prohibit exclusivity clauses, and laws that mandate minimum lengths of stay for deliveries). Arguments advocating and resisting these laws are examined along with information about their impact on


Telecare – services employing technology to monitor people's movement, medication and home environment at a distance – has emerged as a key component of global social care and health policies. The relationship between policies about telecare and the experiences and aspirations of service users has been under-interrogated. This article draws on findings from an organisational case study involving people living with complex conditions using various telecare devices and employs Hajer's (1995) concept of argumentative discourse analysis to identify two key storylines arguing that telecare improves people's quality of life and promotes independence. While these storylines point to seemingly logical and incontestable objectives, uncritical policy and practice fails to recognise and prioritise the aspirations of service users, leading to unintended consequences that can deepen people's isolation and minimise organisational benefits.


Age-adjusted mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) showed a striking decline in Jews living in Israel between 1974 and 1979. The decline was evident for both males (age-adjusted rate, age 25+, declining from 441 to 347/100,000) and females (declining from 303 to 205/100,000, respectively), and probably for each of the different immigrant groups. A similar decline in Arabs and Druse has not been identified and awaits further analysis. The decline has been associated with the presentation of coronary care units, coronary bypass surgery, improved emergency service and cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedures. The modernization of diagnostic procedures, discharge and rehabilitation, and possibly pharmacologic therapy may also have contributed, but available data do not provide unequivocal proof for the role of secondary prevention. In the realm of primary prevention, evidence for improved screening, treatment and control of hypertension is suggestive but not conclusive. Little, if any, change in serum cholesterol levels and cigarette smoking habits has been observed. A continuous increase of the percent of calories derived from fat has been apparent, while energy derived from carbohydrates, notably starch, has been declining. Thus, changes in CHD mortality were not accompanied by putatively anti-atherogenic trends in eating habits. The reasons behind the striking decline of CHD mortality in Israel are not clear, but so far there is very little in the available data to suggest a meaningful effect of life-style modifications on mortality trends.


Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is the forefront disorder of the bone marrow among others that disrupt the normal production of blood cells and platelets. The bone marrow microenvironment or the bone marrow niche (BM niche) that orchestrates the proliferation and survival of Leukaemic stem cells (LSC) is the reason for relapse after complete remission and also chemotherapy drug resistance. As for most cancers oxidative phosphorylation, a fundamental mitochondrial process of energy production, is under focus for the treatment of AML and a novel strategy of targeting heat shock proteins appears as a promising route for further research.


OBJECTIVE
Type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) is frequently accompanied by thyroid autoimmunity (TAI). The aims of the present study were to estimate the prevalence of TAI and to determine the contribution of HLA-DQA1 and -DQB1 polymorphisms to TAI susceptibility among children with DM1. PATIENTS AND METLHODS: Screening for TAI was performed in 285 children with DM1 by measuring autoantibodies against thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) and thyroglobulin (anti-Tg). HLA-DQA1 and -DQB1 were genotyped using PCR-SSP.

RESULTS
Repeated positivity of anti-TPO and/or anti-Tg was found in 45/285 children with DM1 (15.8%). The prevalence was significantly higher in girls than in boys (26.7% vs 6.7%; p<10(-5)). The HLA-DQB1*0302 allele conferred susceptibility to TAI in children with DM1 (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.1-6.4), while the DQB1*05 alleles acted protectively (OR 0.2, CI 95% 0.08-0.7).

CONCLUSIONS
HLA-DQ polymorphisms significantly modify the risk of TAI in children with DM1.


Morganella morganii is a gram negative pathogen and may cause potentially lethal disease especially in patients with underlying or immunosuppressive disease. It is commonly found in long-term urinary catheter used and immune system deficiency patients as nosocomial disease. Involving other systems such as skin, skeletal system and central nervous system can be seen too. Sporadic occurrence is rare and can be seen in any system by various causes like AIDS, snake bites and poisoning. In this case we present sporadic Morganella morganii infection on sinonasal region with the presence of sinusitis, sino-cutaneous fistula, preseptal cellulitis and hard palate defect on 58 year old male diabetic patient. Microbiological assessment from open wound and sinuses were reported as Morganella morganii. To our knowledge, this is the first case of sino-nasal Morganella morganii infection with sino-cutaneous fistula, preseptal cellulitis and maxillofacial bone destruction. J Clin Exp Invest 2013; 4 (3): 383-386


CONTEXT
The External Mobile Geriatric Team (EMGT) of the University Hospital of Grenoble-Alps (UHGA) intervenes with elderly subjects in a complex medicosocial situation at home at the request of the general practitioner (GPs).

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the satisfaction of GPs after EMGT intervention. The secondary outcomes were the follow-up of recommendations and the training request of community partners.

METHOD
Retrospective monocentric satisfaction survey of the 124 GPs who used EMGT from January 2015 to December 2018.

RESULTS
Participation rate of 44 %, representative of GPs liberal urban or semi-rural. Participants were "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the responsiveness of EMGT to 84,2 % and 85,5 % respond favorably to the content of the evaluation. EMGT was described as having an expert and supportive role for GPs. The recommendations were followed more than 89 %. The participants wanted to 83,6 % that the EMGT conducts training sessions, mainly for "behavioral disorders management". Following this survey, five improvement proposals were formulated: decrease the response time by recruiting trained staff, systematically send an e-mail post-analysis of the report to the doctor-applicant, use a platform of exchange, develop the partnership with the psychiatry team, and create a dematerialized resource space.

CONCLUSION
This study contributed to the improvement of the city-hospital relationship by strengthening the links between the GPs of the CHUGA sanitary territory and the EMGT.


The purpose of this study was to develop a method comparing Russian and Swedish value systems with the overarching aim to increase the understanding in intercultural communication. Value systems, as organized systems of nationally specific social concepts, are viewed as part of the cognitive, mental representations determining the behaviour of both individuals and communities. In comparative studies of value systems concepts in the national languages are often translated into English. Our Russian-Swedish project has indicated that similar national concepts, when translated into English, expose significant differences in their connotations. For example, when comparing the Swedish and Russian translations of 'security', much of the nationally specific contents are lost, thus, making data invalid. To overcome this problem, methods were developed to obtain comparable data, by use of experimental design, employing Russian and Swedish university students as informants. In our presentation we will explicate how simple value concepts coinciding for the two cultures were obtained and how differences in similar concepts were identified. We will describe the overall structure of the multilayer value systems of both countries, where similarities and differences related to gender and ethnicity, are made visible. The methodology, results and presumptive usages of these methods will be presented.


Depressive symptoms are associated with cognitive-functional impairment in normal aging older adults (NA). However, less is known about this effect on people with mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer's disease dementia (AD). We investigated this relationship along with the NA-MCI-AD continuum by reanalyzing a previously published dataset. Participants (N = 274) underwent comprehensive neuropsychological assessment including measures of Executive Function, Language/Semantic Memory, Episodic Memory, Visuospatial Abilities, Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and the Geriatric Depression Scale. MANOVA, logistic regression and chi-square tests were performed to assess the association between depression and cognitive-functional performance in each group. In the NA group, depressed participants had a lower performance compared to non-depressed participants in all cognitive and functional domains. However, the same pattern was not observed in the MCI group or in AD. The results suggest a progressive loss of association between depression and worse cognitive-functional performance along the NA-MCI-AD continuum.


The body We will consider the body as a complex adaptive system, far from equilibrium − an environment actively nested within a larger environment. The body can be understood as an open system − changing subtly in an ongoing relation to new knowledge, new technologies, new linguistic definitions, biological change over time, and new forms of relationality to other beings, organisms and environmental factors. We seek to understand what is at operation in the body that leads to thinking, and in a larger sense, leads to our human sentience. In this sense we seek to understand the body as a complex intra-active system of systems that can be articulated from the vantage points of many different disciplinary perspectives, given the complexity of our being. We will view the body as an ultra-complex adaptive unity from the perspective of an 'Open Order Cybernetics'. Here we are interested both in thinking as an embodied process and (re)thinking the body as a multivalent entity. Also, we are understanding the importance of many different qualities of human/machine processes and how these extend our senses and human abilities in new ways, enabling us to further articulate the body's entailments as an ongoing endeavour. We will define the notion of 'entailment' to be all causal processes that are at operation in the body. In particular, we are interested in how these processes intra-act with each other in a dynamic manner over time, contributing both directly and indirectly to ongoing thought processes and human change.


Copolymerization of the cyclic ketene acetal 5,6-benzo-2-methylene-1,3-dioxepane (BMDO) with methyl methacrylate (MMA) is studied with respect to its copolymerization parameters and the suitability to control BMDO/MMA copolymerizations via the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) technique to obtain linear and 4-arm star polymers. BMDO shows disparate copolymerization behavior with MMA and r1 = 0.33 ± 0.06 and r2 = 6.0 ± 0.8 have been determined for polymerization at 110 °C in anisole from fitting copolymer composition vs. comonomer feed data to the Lewis–Mayo equation. Copolymerization of the two monomers is successful in RAFT polymerization employing a trithiocarbonate control agent. As desired, polymers contain only little amount of polyester units stemming from BMDO units and preliminary degradation experiment show that the polymer degrades slowly, but steadily in aqueous 1 M NaOH dispersion. Within ten days, the polymers are broken down to low molecular weight segments from an initial molecular weight of Mn = 6000 g mol−1. Star (co)polymerization with an erythritol-based tetra-functional RAFT agent following the Z-group approach proceeds efficiently and polymers with a number-average molecular weight of 10,000 g mol−1 are readily obtained that degrade in similar manner as the linear copolymer counterparts. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014, 52, 1633–1641


Transportation is the largest application field of satellite navigation at present, which has the characteristics of "large scale, multi-mode, wide range, high demand" and so on. Currently, Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China is promoting the construction of "Four Traffic (Comprehensive Traffic, Intelligent Traffic, Green Traffic and Safe Traffic)" and higher demand for the precision, continuity and reliability of satellite navigation service is proposed. The construction of satellite navigation augmentation system has become the objective demand for the in-depth application of satellite navigation in transportation. Satellite navigation augmentation system can be divided into temporary augmentation system and permanent augmentation system based on the analysis in this paper. Permanent augmentation system includes dedicated system, professional public service system, general public service system and commercial service system. Permanent augmentation system has experienced the preliminary development stage and the independent development stage oriented to various professional applications. At present, permanent augmentation system has entered the stage of resource sharing and integration development which has the main characteristics of basic integration, products segmentation, diversity service and application popularization. The construction of China satellite navigation augmentation system is under the second development stage and the augmentation system should be constructed according to the characteristics of the third stage. The construction of China Beidou ground-based augmentation system was started in the middle of 2014 which will have the effect of basic fusion. Based on this, Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China is discussing the construction of China transportation BeiDou augmentation application system. This paper analyzed the inland, coast, road transport, road infrastructure and public transport demand for high precision navigation position service, and then proposed the general concept of the construction of China transportation on satellite navigation augmentation system and experimental verification is carried out focus on transportation satellite navigation augmentation service application.


Myofibroma is a rare benign neoplasm occurring in the head and neck, arising primarily in infants and children. Frequently, myofibromas grow rapidly leading to suspicion of malignancy and the potential for overaggressive surgical excision. We aim to report a rare case of myofibroma with ulceration and bone destruction. A nine-year-old female presented with an ulcerated left hard palate mass. Open biopsy was performed with pathology suggestive of myofibroma. A left partial maxillectomy and reconstruction with a buccal advancement flap were performed. Final pathology confirmed the diagnosis of a benign myofibroma. Myofibroma is a rare benign tumor of the head and neck which must be considered in the differential diagnosis by the clinician and the pathologist in order to prevent inappropriate and/or overaggressive treatment.


Objective: Resistant hypertension (RH) is defined as the condition whose the blood pressure (BP) remains above the target (above140/90mmHg) despite the concurrent use of three or more classes of antihypertensive (anti-HT) at optimal doses. It is known that cardiovascular risk increases with the lack of BP control. Thus, optimized treatment - pharmacological or no pharmacological - is important to attempt the reduction of the risk of cardiovascular events in subjects with RH. Design and method: In this study, we performed a retrospective cohort with 57 RH patients regularly followed-up in a specialized clinic during a five years period, from 2009 until 2014, in order to compare clinical and biochemical data. We assessed office and ambulatory (ABPM) BP measurements. The left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was assessed by echocardiography. The biochemical tests such as aldosterone, renin, glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL); low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL) and triglycerides. Microalbuminuria and urinary sodium excretion were also evaluated. Results: The office BP levels decreased from 2009 to 2014 (135/78 mmHg vs. 122/72mmHg, p < 0.01) as well as ABPM (147/85mmHg vs. 136/78 mmHg, p = 0.02). The number of anti-HT drugs used increased in 2014, due to the greater use proportion of beta-blockers (BBs) and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA). In addition, the hypoglycemic agents and statins use increased in the same period. Even with the increase of the number of drugs over the evaluated period, we found that the defined diary dose of the medications in 2014 were similar when compared to 2009. Finally, LVH significantly decreased in 2014 compared to 2009 (93 ± 27 g/m2 vs. 143 ± 38 g/m2, p < 0.0001, respectively). Conclusions: We conclude that an intensive treatment may improve BP control and target organ damage. A close follow-up is essential to assess and assist the evolution of the patients, and consequently, provide better cardiovascular outcomes.


The use of software by medical device companies is growing exponentially. In addition to software providing major functionality of medical functionality of medical devices, software is being used to manufacture medical devices, and to validate the efficacy of medical devices prior to use. Many medical device companies have implemented software quality assurance programs to ensure software products and software development processes conform to established requirements. In most cases, however, these programs are not well defined, resulting in inconsistent support between projects. The author provides the framework used by one medical device company to define their software quality assurance program.<<ETX>>


A novel chiral oxazoline copper(II)-based complex {[Cu(C13H14NO3S)2]}2 (Cu-A) was synthesized by an in situ reaction using L-methioninol, 4-hydroxyisophthalaldehyde, sodium hydroxide and copper(II) nitrate trihydrate as reactants. Its crystal structure was characterized. In vitro, Cu-A was superior to cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum (DDP) in cytotoxicity and angiogenesis inhibition. Cu-A significantly induced apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells (SKOV3) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), showing significant anti-ovarian cancer and anti-angiogenesis effects. Notably, Cu-A significantly inhibits the growth of ovarian cancer in nude mice xenografted with SKOV3 cells, and it is less renal toxic than DDP. The molecular mechanism of anti-ovarian cancer and anti-angiogenesis is possibly that it down-regulates the expression of the proteins ERK1/2, AKT, FAK, and VEGFR2 and their phosphorylated proteins p-ERK1/2, p-AKT, p-FAK, and p-VEGFR2 in the VEGF/VEGFR2 signal transduction pathway to inhibit SKOV3 cell and HUVEC proliferation, induce apoptosis, suppress migration and metastasis, and inhibit angiogenesis. What's more, Cu-A significantly inhibits ovarian tumor growth in vivo by inhibiting tumor cells from inducing vascular endothelial cells to form their own vasculature and by inhibiting the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and up-regulating the expression of the pro-apoptotic proteins Caspase-9 and Bax to induce apoptosis of tumor cells.


Angiopoietin-like protein 8 (ANGPTL8) is an hepatokine altered in several metabolic conditions, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We sought to explore whether ANGPTL8 is involved in NAFLD amelioration after bariatric surgery in experimental models and patients with severe obesity. Plasma ANGPTL8 was measured in 170 individuals before and 6 months after bariatric surgery. Hepatic ANGPTL8 expression was evaluated in liver biopsies of patients with severe obesity undergoing bariatric surgery with available liver pathology analysis (n = 75), as well as in male Wistar rats with diet-induced obesity subjected to sham operation, sleeve gastrectomy or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) (n = 65). The effect of ANGPTL8 on lipogenesis was assessed in human HepG2 hepatocytes under palmitate-induced lipotoxic conditions. Plasma concentrations and hepatic expression of ANGPTL8 were increased in patients with obesity-associated NAFLD in relation to the degree of hepatic steatosis. Sleeve gastrectomy and RYGB improved hepatosteatosis and reduced the hepatic ANGPTL8 expression in the preclinical model of NAFLD. Interestingly, ANGPTL8 inhibited steatosis and expression of lipogenic factors (PPARG2, SREBF1, MOGAT2 and DGAT1) in palmitate-treated human hepatocytes. Together, ANGPTL8 is involved in the resolution of NAFLD after bariatric surgery partially by the inhibition of lipogenesis in steatotic hepatocytes.


The modulation of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotype during cellular proliferation and migration may represent a potential therapeutic approach for vascular intimal hyperplasia prevention. However, the precise role of this process in VSMC biology and remodeling remains unclear. In the present study, western blotting, PCR, MTT and Transwell assays were used to analyze related protein and mRNA expression, cell viability and cell migration, respectively. It was demonstrated that miR-92a modulated VSMCs into a synthetic phenotype via the Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) pathway. Targeting microRNA (miRNA/miR)-92a in VSMCs using a KLF4 inhibitor suppressed the synthetic phenotype and inhibited VSMC proliferation and migration. To further confirm this finding, the expression levels of miR-92a were measured in patients undergoing coronary artery intervention. The serum miR-92a expression levels were significantly higher in patients with in-stent restenosis (ISR) compared with those in patients without ISR, whereas KLF4 expression was significantly reduced in the non-ISR group. Bioinformatic analysis and promoter-luciferase reporter assays were used to examine the regulatory mechanisms underlying KLF4 expression. KLF4 was demonstrated to be transcriptionally upregulated by miR-92a in VSMCs. miRNA transfection was also performed to regulate the level of miR-92a expression. miR-92a overexpression inhibited VSMC proliferation and migration, and also increased the mRNA and protein expression levels of certain differentiated VSMC-related genes. Finally, miR-92a inhibition promoted the proliferation and migration of VSMCs, which could be reversed using a KLF4 inhibitor. Collectively, these results indicated that the local delivery of a KLF4 inhibitor may act as a novel therapeutic option for the prevention of ISR.


The high incidence of retrolental fibroplasia (RLF) in premature infants of low birth weight has led to an intensive search for factors contributing to its pathogenesis. Although it probably is not a new disease,1it has been recognized with increasing frequency since 1942, when Terry2first described the condition, until now it has become one of the two leading causes in the United States of blindness in children.* The currently high occurrence rate cannot be explained either by the higher survival rate in the low-birth-weight group3or by the more concerted search for the condition. It undoubtedly indicates a true rise in incidence of the disease. The development of efficient incubators in the last 15 years has led to the liberal use of oxygen in the care of premature infants. In many nurseries all small premature infants, regardless of respiratory pattern, are routinely placed in incubators supplied


Thirty-two patients with metastatic breast cancer refractory to chemotherapy with combinations of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-FU, vincristine, and prednisone were treated with doxorubicin, mitolactol (dibromodulcitol), and mitomycin C. Two complete and 12 partial remissions were observed for a response rate of 435. When only those patients who were considered evaluable were included (the 26 patients who had received more than one course of therapy), the response rate was 53%. Hematologic toxicity was moderate-to-severe. Responses were seen in visceral, osseous, and soft tissue tumor sites. The median time to the development of disease progression was 30 weeks for responding patients. The median survival of responders has not yet been reached at 48 weeks.


We report here the design, synthesis, and pharmacological properties of a series of compounds related to tranylcypromine (9), which itself was discovered as a lead compound in a high-throughput screening campaign. Starting from 9, which shows modest activity as a 5-HT(2C) agonist, a series of 1-aminomethyl-2-phenylcyclopropanes was investigated as 5-HT(2C) agonists through iterative structural modifications. Key pharmacophore feature of this new class of ligands is a 2-aminomethyl-trans-cyclopropyl side chain attached to a substituted benzene ring. Among the tested compounds, several were potent and efficacious 5-HT(2C) receptor agonists with selectivity over both 5-HT(2A) and 5-HT(2B) receptors in functional assays. The most promising compound is 37, with 120- and 14-fold selectivity over 5-HT(2A) and 5-HT(2B), respectively (EC(50) = 585, 65, and 4.8 nM at the 2A, 2B, and 2C subtypes, respectively). In animal studies, compound 37 (10-60 mg/kg) decreased immobility time in the mouse forced swim test.


I characterize how house price shocks affect consumption inequality using a life-cycle model of housing and nonhousing consumption with incomplete markets. I derive analytical expressions for the dynamics of inequalities and use these to analyze large house prices swings seen in the UK. I show that movements in consumption inequality were large, that they correspond with the theoretical predictions qualitatively, and that the model explains a large fraction of the movements quantitatively. I demonstrate the accuracy of this analysis using an extended model's full non-linear solution. Finally, accounting for house price shocks alters estimates of labour-income risks using cross-sectional data.


Vadocaine hydrochloride (2',4'-dimethyl-6'-methoxy-3-(2-methylpiperidyl)propionanilide+ ++ hydrochloride, OR K-242-HCl; INN: vadocaine) is an anilide derivative with antitussive and local anaesthetic properties. The pharmacokinetics of this new compound were studied in two Phase I clinical trials during safety evaluation. 6 (Part I) and 8 (Part II) healthy male volunteers participated in these studies. The pharmacokinetics were studied after single oral doses of 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 50 mg (Part I) and 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 mg (Part II) of vadocaine in aqueous solution. Vadocaine was rapidly absorbed at each dose level. The AUCo----infinity value and 24-h urinary recovery of intact compound increased linearly as functions of the dose. The elimination half-life varied from 2.2 +/- 0.2 h to 3.7 +/- 1.6 h in a dose range from 5 to 50 mg, and from 2.7 +/- 0.3 h to 4.0 +/- 1.0 h in a dose range from 100 to 500 mg. The peak concentration of vadocaine after the highest dose was 2317.3 +/- 31.5 ng/ml at 1 h. When higher doses were used renal clearance did not change, although total body clearance seemed to diminish. Over 90% of vadocaine is metabolized, and the metabolic pathways may become saturated at a dose of 400 mg.


We propose a new method to reveal a direct transformation from solar energy to solar electricity. Instead of using electricity in the process, we use concentrated solar rays with a crucibleless process to upgrade metallurgical silicon into solar-grade silicon feedstock.


Grady Nutts specialty IS communication. He is a master at communicating with a live audience, and in this brief book he is equally adept. The book is basically a retelling of some fam iliar stories from the Gospels: Nicodemus, The Woman at the Well, The Cleansing of the Temple, Zacchaeus, the Parable of the Sower, the Good Samaritan, and of Thomas the disciple, The stories are told by a likable character named "Norton" (as in Norton Hall l ], who is introduced in the first chapter. "Norton" is a young collegian, full of wonder and hope, who joins up with Jesus and is constantly amazed by the words and works of the Master. Norton tells the familiar stories in a way that would open up the Bible for young people imbued with a dry, humorless approach, and the whole book fits in rather well with the theological emphasis of Harvey Cox, Andrew Greeley, and others as to the value of stories in communicating faith.


Rampant inter-patient and intra-tumor heterogeneity present formidable challenges in the clinical management of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and mandate a "divide-and-conquer" approach wherein deep biomarker profiling drives patient segmentation and development of customized treatments. Genomic and proteomic studies have uncovered several TNBC subtypes each of which represents a distinct disease pathobiology and harbors unique actionable targets that may illuminate sensitivities to specific classes of therapeutics. This review details the mind-boggling complexity of TNBC, its ramifications for prognosis and therapeutic response, and discusses what treatments might befit each TNBC subtype. Additionally, focused efforts geared toward translating these findings into the clinic are urged. This review also supports an evidence-based paradigm shift towards inclusion of agents that target the mechanisms that drive intra-tumor heterogeneity, in order to improve long-term outcomes for TNBC patients.


ABSTRACT It has been recently demonstrated that intracellular heat shock cognate protein 70 (HSC70) can be released into extracellular space with physiologic effects. However, its extracellular function in sepsis is not clear. In this study, we hypothesize that extracellular HSC70 can protect against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)–induced myocardial and hepatic dysfunction because of its anti-inflammatory actions. In Wistar rats, septic shock developed with hypotension, tachycardia, and myocardial and hepatic dysfunction at 4 h following LPS administration (10 mg/kg, i.v.). Pretreatment with recombinant bovine HSC70 (20 &mgr;g/kg, i.v.) attenuated LPS-induced hypotension and tachycardia by 21% and 23%, respectively (P < 0.05), improved myocardial dysfunction (left ventricular systolic pressure: 33%; max dP/dt: 20%; min dP/dt: 33%, P < 0.05), and prevented hepatic dysfunction (glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase: 81 vs. 593 IU/L; glutamic-pyruvic transaminase: 15 vs. 136 IU/L, P < 0.05) compared with LPS-treated rats at 4 h. Heat shock cognate protein 70 also prevented LPS-induced hypoglycemia (217 vs. 59 mg/dL, P < 0.05) and elevated lactate dehydrogenase (1,312 vs. 6,301 IU/L, P < 0.05). Furthermore, HSC70 decreased LPS-induced elevation of circulating tumor necrosis factor &agr; and nitrite/nitrate, and tissue expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase 2, and matrix metalloproteinase 9 in the heart and liver. To investigate underlying mechanisms, we found that HSC70 attenuated LPS-induced nuclear translocation of nuclear factor &kgr;B subunit p65 by blocking the phosphorylation of inhibitor of nuclear factor &kgr;B. Finally, we showed that HSC70 repressed the activation of MAPKs caused by LPS. These results demonstrate that in LPS-induced septic shock, extracellular HSC70 conveys pleiotropic protection on myocardial, hepatic, and systemic derangements, with associated inhibition of proinflammatory mediators including tumor necrosis factor &agr;, nitric oxide, cyclooxygenase 2, and matrix metalloproteinase 9, through mitogen-activated protein kinase/nuclear factor &kgr;B signaling pathways. Therefore, extracellular HSC70 may have a promising role in the prophylactic treatment of sepsis.


The Authors report a case of Lyell's syndrome. Previous administration of sulfadossine was identified as the precipitating cause of the syndrome. The clinical history and the treatment of the case are described. Two aspects of the latter were considered to be particularly important: a careful control of the hydroelectrolytic balance and positive action to favour the rapid re-epithelialization of the cutaneous area affected.


Cyclophosphamide which acts as cytotoxic alkylating agent can induce a renal damage through the toxic metabolites which result from metabolic activation of Cyclophosphamide by cytochrome P-450 inside hepatocyte and develop renal toxicity by direct binding with cellular organelles in the urinary tract cells. Guggulsterone is a sterol derived from plant has ability to bind to farsenoid X receptor, mineral corticosteroid receptor, androgen receptor, glucocorticoid receptor and estrogen receptor.


Abstract One major characteristic of tumor cells is the aberrant activation of epigenetic regulatory elements, which remodel the tumor transcriptome and ultimately promote cancer progression and drug resistance. However, the oncogenic functions and mechanisms of ovarian cancer (OC) remain elusive. Here, super‐enhancer (SE) regulatory elements that are aberrantly activated in OC are identified and it is found that SEs drive the relative specific expression of the transcription factor KLF5 in OC patients and poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase inhibitor (PARPi)‐resistant patients. KLF5 expression is associated with poor outcomes in OC patients and can drive tumor progression in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, KLF5 forms a transcriptional complex with EHF and ELF3 and binds to the promoter region of RAD51 to enhance its transcription, strengthening the homologous recombination repair (HRR) pathway. Notably, the combination of suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) and olaparib significantly inhibits tumor growth and metastasis of PARPi‐resistant OC cells with high KLF5. In conclusion, it is discovered that SEs‐driven KLF5 is a key regulatory factor in OC progression and PARPi resistance; and potential therapeutic strategies for OC patients with PARPi resistance and high KLF5 are identified.


Rev. Franciszek Dziasek, S.Th.D. was a lecturer of the Archbishop's Seminary in Poznan from 1950 to 1964. In his lectures, Introduction to Theological Sciences, step by step he justifies claims of theology to be science in the university sense. From the reception of his lectures we learn that he was living with what he preached. In the integral view of the two realities, [theologian and his knowledge] we are shown a trait of theology wisdom, which shows its specificity as the queen of sciences. A Poznan lecturer argues that theology is a science in the ordinary sense of the word. It is also the science of sui generis, because it derives its data from a revelation that is credible in the community of the Church.


One of the main reasons for the high maternal mortality rates in developing countries is the need to transfer patients long distances to city hospitals when they develop complications. Local obstetric facilities would relieve this situation.


Although it has been suggested that there may be adrenocortical hypofunction in Africans as compared to Europeans, very few studies have been carried out to measure whether there is an associated difference in plasma and cellular cation composition. To test this, blood was collected from Nigerians and from European expatriates living in Port Harcourt, and serum sodium and potassium were measured. No differences in serum cation composition were found between the two races.


Real-time dissociation dynamics induced in [Fe(CO)5]nXem mixed molecular clusters by femtosecond IR radiation in the 5 μm region was studied for the first time by means of time-resolved methods based on resonant excitation of C≡O vibrations in the molecular core of the cluster and photoionization probing (λ = 400 nm) of its decay products. It was found that IR-excited clusters in the initially cold particle beam are heated and dissociated as a result of relaxation processes, giving rise to free neutral Xe aggregates and Fe(CO)5 molecules. Thus, the formed particles are the origin of signal variations from Xe+ and Fe(CO)5+ ions, which grow on a picosecond time scale. It is concluded that the initial laser excitation of C≡O vibrations in clusterized molecules is followed by the process of cluster dissociation accompanied with the formation of free neutral particles according to the hierarchy of binding energies: weakly bound shells of Xe atoms are evaporated first and much faster than the Fe(CO)5 molecules from the cluster core. The characteristic times of relaxation processes as well as the cluster temperature were estimated.


From the aerial parts of Eupatorium fortunei, four thymol derivatives (1-4) were isolated and structurally elucidated by NMR and mass spectroscopic methods. Of which, a new dimeric thymol derivative (1) was characterized and its absolute configuration was established by electronic circular dichroism quantum method. In addition, the 1D and 2D NMR as well as HR-ESI mass spectral data of 2 were provided for the first time. Compounds 2-4 were evaluated for their inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase and acetylcholinesterase enzymes. All tested compounds showed weak inhibition at the concentration range of 1-256 μg/mL in both enzymatic assays.


The Domus of Europa has been under excavation since 2004. This particular building seems more like a labyrinth than like a Roman private house at first glance, due to its complex plan. The typical Roman domus is characterized by an axial and symmetrical disposition of the rooms, which seems to be completely missing in the Domus of Europa. This labyrinth like plan is due to the fact that this house is the result of the union of two different buildings, named respectively as "Building A" and "Building B". In the following pages, the life phase of these two buildings will be outlined into their junction during 150-200 A.D. until the destruction of the Domus of Europa due to fire, which has been agreed to have happened during the IV century A.D. After this tragic event, it is argued here that during the V Century A.D. a new building rose on top of the old one (referred to as "Building C").


The sample is called 'purposn~e', i.e., it attempts to be representative of the population while adequately representing important categories. Unfortunateh. one vanable which could not be controlled between the Arts and Science groups is sex. There are only 16 per cent of women m the Science sample, whereas there are 72 per cent of women m the Arts group. The differences therefore which Little notes between Arts and


PURPOSE
To evaluate the outcome of surgical treatment in patients with type 1 monocular elevation deficiency.

METHODS
Patients who were diagnosed as having type 1 monocular elevation deficiency by forced duction test and exaggerated traction test between 2000 and 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Epidemiologic and clinical features of the patients were noted. The efficacy of ipsilateral inferior rectus recession to vertical misalignments and limitation of elevation were evaluated. The clinical features of the patients who did not achieve surgical success after inferior rectus recession were determined. The surgical and functional results of contralateral superior rectus recession were evaluated for patients who had residual hypotropia under inferior rectus recession.

RESULTS
Thirty-nine patients were included in the study. Preoperatively, vertical deviations were 20.53 ± 4.50 prism diopters (PD) for near and 22.21 ± 5.12 PD for distance. After inferior rectus recession, the amount of vertical deviation corrected was 15 ± 1.14 PD for near and 17.01 ± 2.00 PD for distance. Ten (25.64%) patients did not achieve surgical success (> 6 PD residual hypotropia). Nine patients (preoperative inferior rectus recession measurements = 28.77 ± 7.25 PD for near and 27 ± 7.44 PD for distance) underwent contralateral superior rectus recession as a second surgery. After contralateral superior rectus recession, 7 of 9 (77.78%) patients achieved surgical success. The limitation of elevation significantly improved after both surgeries (Wilcoxon test, P < .05). No diplopia or other complications after surgeries were reported.

CONCLUSIONS
Inferior rectus recession is the first surgical option for patients with type 1 monocular elevation deficiency. Contralateral superior rectus recession is an effective alternative surgical treatment for residual hypotropia after ipsilateral inferior rectus recession. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 2018;55(6):369-374.].


Russel Jones is a consultant, working through World Expertise LLC. Until recently he was senior Advisor at the Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, a new institution in Abu Dhabi, UAE. KUSTAR offers undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering and science. Prior to that, he served as Founding President of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, UAE – a new university dedicated to graduate education and research, focused on alternative energy. He serves as President of World Expertise LLC, a consulting company offering services to a select clientele. His primary interests are international higher education and human capacity building through engineering education. Dr. Jones received his education at Carnegie Institute of Technology, earning degrees in civil engineering and materials science. Prior to returning to Carnegie for his doctoral study, he worked as a practicing civil engineer. He has spent much of his career as an educator, starting with engineering education and broadening to higher education as a whole. After completing his doctoral degree in 1963, he taught for eight years on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then served in a succession of administrative posts in higher education, for several years each: Chairman of Civil Engineering at Ohio State University, Dean of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Academic Vice President at Boston University, and President and University Research Professor at the University of Delaware. Prior to forming World Expertise L.L.C. as president, he served as Executive Director of the National Society of Professional Engineers, an individual member society for the licensed professional engineer with offices in Alexandria, Virginia. Long active in the engineering profession, Dr. Jones has served as a national officer of the American Society of Civil Engineers, has chaired major task committees for such groups as the American Society for Engineering Education and the American Association of Engineering Societies, and has served as President of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. He was General Chairman for UPADI '90, the biannual meeting of the Pan American Association of Engineering Societies, and has served as Co-chair of the UNESCO Steering Committee on Human Resources Development for Technical Industry Stimulation. Prior to becoming its Executive Director, Dr. Jones was active as a volunteer in the National Society of Professional Engineers, and served as President of its Delaware Engineering Society. He has been an elected member of the Council of the Delaware Association of Professional Engineers, the state PE registration board. He is licensed as a Professional Engineer in several states, and as a Euro Engineer with FEANI. Dr. Jones has been honored with the Collingwood Prize and the Friedman Professional Recognition Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and was elected to Distinguished Member status in ASCE in 2004. He has been awarded the International Medal for Distinguished Contributions to Engineering Education of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education, and has been honored as the Outstanding Delaware Engineer of the Year for 1994. Dr. Jones has been honored as the recipient of the 2005 Chair's Award of the American Association of Engineering Societies. In 2012, Dr. Jones was recognized with a distinguished alumni award from his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University. He is a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce. He was a Senior Fellow of the American Council on Education in 1988-90. Recently, Dr. Jones has been most active in consulting on the enhancement of engineering education in developing countries, and in chairing volunteer activities in that area. He was President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations Committee on Capacity Building, establishing programs to build technical capacity in developing countries in order to stimulate economic development there. He also has recently served as Chair of the International Division of the American Society for Engineering Education, and as President of the Committee on Engineering Education of the Pan American Association of Engineering Societies. Dr. Jones also recently served as a member of the United States National Commission on UNESCO, providing guidance to the US State Department and to its Ambassador to UNESCO.


ABSTRACT Bladder cancer can range from noninvasive to invasive tumors. When non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) recurs, patients could endure long-term invasive malignancies with a high disease-specific death rate. Immune escape frequently results in tumor development, metastases, unfavorable prognosis, and failure of immunotherapy. Based on the median immune score, this study used ESTIMATE scores to evaluate 411 bladder cancer cases from TCGA-BLCA. Two hundred two ncRNAs were differentially expressed in two groups, where 29 candidates appeared to be associated with the overall survival of bladder cancer patients. LASSO algorithm was performed to establish the risk score model of 13-ncRNA. Risk scores were computed for cases in the training set, validation set, and TCGA-BLCA set; Poor prognosis in cases with higher risk scores was based on the training set, validating set, and TCGA-BLCA set. Among the 13 ncRNAs, IGF2BP2-AS1, MAGF-AS1, ARHGAP5-AS1, and LINC00942 were significantly correlated with the overall survival of bladder cancer patients. Pearson's correlation analysis based on TCGA-BLCA identified 2093, 3107, 386, and 936 mRNAs co-expressed with IGF2BP2-AS1, MAGF-AS1, ARHGAP5-AS1, and LINC00942, respectively. Conclusively, the 13 ncRNA signature exhibited a feasible predictive prognostic value for bladder cancer patients. IGF2BP2-AS1 expression was higher in bladder cancer tissues and significantly correlated to immune-related factors, suggesting that IGF2BP2-AS1 represents a promising immune-related target for treating bladder cancer patients.


We propose an interactive approach for 3D instance segmentation, where users can iteratively collaborate with a deep learning model to segment objects directly in a 3D point cloud. Current methods for 3D instance segmentation are generally trained in a fully-supervised fashion, which requires large amounts of costly training labels, and does not generalize well to classes unseen during training. Few works have attempted to obtain 3D segmentation masks using human interactions. Existing methods rely on user feedback in the 2D image domain. As a consequence, users are required to constantly switch between 2D images and 3D representations, and custom architectures are employed to combine multiple input modalities. Therefore, integration with existing standard 3D models is not straightforward. The core idea of this work is to enable users to interact directly with 3D point clouds by clicking on desired 3D objects of interest (or their background) to interactively segment the scene in an open-world setting. Specifically, our method does not require training data from any target domain and can adapt to new environments where no appropriate training sets are available. Our system continuously adjusts the object segmentation based on the user feedback and achieves accurate dense 3D segmentation masks with minimal human effort (few clicks per object). Besides its potential for efficient labeling of large-scale and varied 3D datasets, our approach, where the user directly interacts with the 3D environment, enables new AR/VR and human-robot interaction applications.


. Slope unit extraction is integral to earthquake-induced landslide analysis. The conventional watershed and hydrological slope unit extraction methods are precarious with a sudden change in slope gradient along the flow direction, which result in slope unit heterogeneity, conjoint slopes, and boundary defects of the extracted slope unit. This paper addresses this research gap by proposing a mechanical slope unit extraction method that combines watershed points, hydrological, and segmentation methods. This proposed method defines a slope unit as a closed homogeneous space of points overlaid by a mesh having a vari- 5 ance in the slope gradient along its flow direction. The method extracts and uses 3D points to solve slope heterogeneity defects associated with the conventional watershed methods, segmentation to solve boundary defects, and considers the slope pattern and incident ray at a depth to estimate the possibility of earthquake-induced landslides. Ghana (West Africa) is selected to test the proposed slope unit extraction method. The result shows that the method overcame boundary problems, heterogeneity, sudden gradient change, and conjoint slope unit defects associated with the conventional watershed and hydrological method 10 and shows a uniform slope unit for landslide analysis in Ghana. The landslide prediction rate of Ghana also presents 70.9% landslide inventory, giving an estimated threshold displacement of 9 cm.


According to WHO, "Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to
improve, their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behavior towards a wide range of social and
environmental interventions". As like the other countries Pakistan also working on MDGs but the studies showed
that the progress in achieving those goals is relatively slow. This review paper was aimed to see the role of health care providers especially nurses in context of health promotion in Pakistan .The search was relevant to the predetermined topic, performed by accessing the database Science Direct, EBSCO, CINAHL and
MEDLINE,NCBI PMC were restricted to last 10 years.Literature shows that healthcare providers generally find eHealth beneficial for their professional development, and useful for the patients. It saves their time, and provides communication and learning opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills. Changes to the role are necessary including increased education of the assistant manager CHNs and preparing administration to work with the assistant mangers for effective leadership. To achieve competencies and maximum efficiency must consider the advance and ongoing education to evaluate the needs of community and build capacity about new emerging field like utilizing eHealth for promotion of community health


The idioms that represent the concept stupidity in the Russian language on the background of the Chinese language are being studied in this paper. The article considers the theoretical notions of the concept and phraseological meaning and investigate the signs that represent concept glupost' (stupidity) in the Russian language on the background of the Chinese language. The phraseological corpuses of the two languages have similarities and difference The Russian language is the basic material of the study, and the Chinese language serves as a background of the cultural identity of the phraseological material.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Disturbed somatosensory evoked potentials have been demonstrated in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (but this functional delay was found to originate above the C5–6 level, while the lower cord level was unaffected). Together with MR imaging observation of tonsillar ectopia and a relatively tethered cord, we hypothesized that there is disturbed mean diffusivity integrity along the spinal cord. In this study, advanced DTI was used to evaluate whether there was underlying decreased WM integrity within the brain stem and spinal cord in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and any relationship to cerebellar tonsillar ectopia. Clinical impact on balance testing was also correlated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirteen girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis with right thoracic curves were compared with 13 age-matched healthy girls. DTI of the brain and whole spinal cord was performed. ROIs were manually defined for the medulla oblongata and along each intervertebral segment of the cord. Mean values of fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity were computed at the defined regions. Between-group comparisons were performed by 1-way ANOVA. RESULTS: Significantly decreased fractional anisotropy values and increased mean diffusivity values were found at the medulla oblongata and C1–2, C2–3, C3–4, and C4–5 segments in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis compared with healthy subjects. No significant difference was found in the lower cord levels. Significant correlation was found between the tonsillar level and fractional anisotropy value at the C4–5 level in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis only. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this study are in agreement with previous findings showing abnormal somatosensory evoked potential readings occurring only above the C5–6 level in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis; these findings might partially explain the pathophysiology of the neural pathway involved.


In this paper, we present a novel meta-heuristic technique for the nurse scheduling problem (NSP). This well-known scheduling problem assigns nurses to shifts per day taking both hard and soft constraints into account. The objective is to maximize the preferences of the nurses and to minimize the total penalty cost from violations of the soft constraints. The problem is known to be NP-hard. Due to its complexity and relevance, many algorithms have been developed to solve practical, and often case-specific versions of the NSP. The enormous amount of different constraints has led to an overwhelming amount of exact and meta-heuristic procedures, and hence comparison and state-of-the-art reporting of standard results seem to be a utopian idea. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we present a meta-heuristic procedure for the NSP based on the framework proposed by Birbil and Fang (2003). The Electromagnetic (EM) approach is based on the theory of physics, and simulates attraction and repulsion of sample points in order to move towards a promising solution. Second, we present computational experiments on a standard benchmark dataset, and solve problem instances under different assumptions. We show that our procedure performs consistently well under many different circumstances, and hence, can be considered as robust against case-specific constraints.


Measurement of adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) in coke waste activated sludge can provide a simple method for estimating the levels of viable microbes in the sludge. However, the presence of inhibitors such as phenol in the sludge interferes when the luciferin-luciferase method is used to measure ATP. These inhibiting substances can be removed from the sludge before extraction of ATP by washing the cells with dilute sodium dodecyl sulfate.


Direct and indirect dissociative recombination are compared. If the attractive potential energy curve of the ground state of the ion is not crossed by a suitable repulsive potential energy curve of the molecule formed by neutralization the indirect process can be much faster than the direct process. However, in the case of, for example, HCO+ its rate coefficient alpha (I) is several orders of magnitude less than the measured value even though the radiationless transition involved is of the extremely rapid single-electron type. A new process, multi-step indirect dissociative recombination, that entails the system passing successively through several intermediate states in Delta nu =1 step is introduced. Examination of the formula for its rate coefficient alpha (I*) obtained from high-order perturbation theory shows that the final pre-dissociation step is rate-limiting. Extensive computations are done on the overlap integrals between the bound vibrational wavefunctions of the ion and the wavefunction for the separating molecular fragments.


Saudi Arabia labour law was devoid of preexistent tools suitable to face the COVID-19 emergency. The legislator promptly reacted to the crisis, issuing a Sr 120 billion (USD 35.2 billion) stimulus package, with Sr 70 billion reserved to the private sector. The strategy moves on two fronts: provide liquidity to companies (and workers) and avoid mass dismissals. The legislator implements the former goal mainly via a postponement of taxes and fees. For the latter, it introduced a temporary layoff scheme, in some cases supported by a public allowance up to the 60% of the wage. On top of this, the government implemented several social distancing rules and strongly promoted the smart working.


microRNA (miRNA) genes transcribed by RNA polymerase II generate small noncoding miRNAs of 18 to 24 nucleotides after maturation process. The mature miRNAs and their associated isomirs specifically bind to different mRNA transcripts, resulting in down regulation of multiple genes within the cell in a highly multiplexed way. miRNA expression profiles differ between human cell types suggesting cell-specific impacts of each miRNA on the regulation of different biological processes. Comparison of miRNA profiles of tumor samples and adjacent normal tissues showed that some miRNAs are up- or down- regulated and suggested their implication during tumor progression. However, such a miRNA profiling approach is not sufficient to identify the respective role of each miRNA gene during the tumorigenesis.

Here, to assess the individual role of each miRNA gene and its different isomirs in a specific cell environment, we have constructed a lentiviral miRNA expression library containing more than 1100 human known and novel miRNA precursors. The arrayed layout of our library allowed high-throughput screens with a large spectrum of functional read-outs using either normal or tumor cells. To exemplify this approach, the results of three different screens will be presented; i.e. identification of miRNAs that inhibit the BRAF pathway, miRNAs that inhibit tumor angiogenesis and miRNAs that stimulate the mesenchymal to epithelial transition. In addition, beyond this hit identification step, we will present detailed characterization of the role of the identified miRNAs in tumor progression by means of molecular and cellular functional assays.

Combining our unique miRNA expression library with a functional screening platform has allowed the identification and the further characterization of several miRNAs able to significantly impact on tumor behavior supporting the therapeutic interest of some candidates.

Citation Format: Paula I. van Noort, Negar Babae, Gerald W. Verhaegh, Willemijn M. Gommans, Francesco Cerisoli, Mark Verheul, Raymond M. Schiffelers, Arjan W. Griffioen, Jack A. Schalken, Eugene Berezikov, Edwin Cuppen, Roel Q. J. Schaapveld, Jos B. Poell, Gregoire P. Prevost, Meriem Bourajjaj, Suzanna Vidic, Judy R. van Beijnum, Rick J. van Haastert, Iman Schultz, Thijs de Gunt, Onno van Hooij. Identification of microRNA-based therapeutic candidates using a unique lentiviral microRNA overexpression library [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Noncoding RNAs and Cancer; 2012 Jan 8-11; Miami Beach, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A12.


ABSTRACT Objective: A review of the evidence was conducted regarding asthma associated with the use of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. Data Sources: A search of the English literature was performed via PubMed/Medline and EMBASE using the search terms asthma AND cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. When pertinent articles were found, salient references in those articles were assessed. Study Selection: Due to the relatively small number of studies, we included all studies and cases. Results: For several decades, case reports, retrospective studies, and laboratory investigations have demonstrated that inhalation of cocaine or heroin is associated with increased asthma symptoms and reduced pulmonary function. Smoking crack cocaine, nasal insufflation of cocaine or heroin, and smoking heroin increases the risk of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for asthma. Although frequent smoking of marijuana may cause symptoms of cough, sputum production, and wheezing in the general population, more studies are needed specifically in patients with asthma. Smoking marijuana with concomitant tobacco use is common and further worsens the respiratory symptoms. Conclusions: Use of cocaine and heroin in patients with asthma should be avoided. Pending further studies, it would be prudent for patients with asthma to avoid smoking marijuana. Clinicians need to be vigilant regarding use of these drugs in their patients with hyperreactive airway disease.


Programming interaction usually involves specifying causal relationships such as input events triggering a state change or the propagation of values. Such code may reside in several locations and its execution is driven by multiple causal chains, which hinders the programmer's ability to understand and fix it. We designed Causette, a set of four novel interaction techniques for a code editor. They consist in rearranging causal constructs on demand to make the code representation consistent with the causal chain being ana-lyzed by the user. We ran an experiment showing that Causette may be more usable than a regular editor for some code understanding tasks. This work suggests that rearranging interaction code may help developers better understand and fix it.


This overview of the operative and post-operative complications encountered in a personal series of 10.190 classical surgical procedures out of 43.395 patients gives an idea about the nature and rate of problems in the classical way of surgery. While there is a new trend to abandon this way of surgery as much as possible, it will be useful, when other surgeons publish the results and also the complication rate in detail of their new techniques to compare the advantages and disadvantages and the final results of the different kinds of surgery. In cases of breast cancer the survival after 5, 10 and 15 years, will finally decide about all the different ways of treatment used at this moment. A larger and better consensus about all these treatments is necessary before a clearer opinion will be obtained.


This paper presents a stochastic cost model and a solution technique for optimal scheduling of the generators in a wind integrated power system considering the demand and wind generation uncertainties. The proposed robust unit commitment solution methodology will help the power system operators in optimal day-ahead planning even with indeterminate information about the wind generation. A particle swarm optimization based scenario generation and reduction algorithm is used for modeling the uncertainties. The stochastic unit commitment problem is solved using a new parameter free self adaptive particle swarm optimization algorithm. The numerical results indicate the low risk involved in day-ahead power system planning when the stochastic model is used instead of the deterministic model.


Quasi solid zinc batteries (QSZBs) based on gel electrolyte have performed as a significant application prospect as advanced high energy density electrochemical storage devices with safety, low cost, eco-friendliness, and flexibility. While, the practical application of QSZBs was enormously restricted by low ionic conductivity and poor strength of pure gel electrolyte. Here, in order to activate the zinc ion conduction in gel electrolyte, the kinds of inorganic fillers constituting the composite electrolyte was investigated. The theoretical study was also revealed by density functional theory to have deep insight into the mechanism. In particular, appropriate filler amount (ZnO#20) can make a noteworthy ion conductivity elevation (1.3 × 10-3 S cm-1) which is much better than the control sample (2.0 × 10-4 S cm-1) at -20 °C. As a result, the symmetric cell with ZnO#20 can achieve a long-term cycling life of over 1500 h. Moreover, the pouch cell coupled with vanadium pentoxide is assembled, and corresponding versatility is also identified with twisting, refrigeration (-20 °C) and cutting.


Introduction: E-content development must be considered the most important factor in e-learning and should be compatible with the principles of education. The reason is that in this kind of leaning, learners themselves actively incorporate with the content. In this descriptive-analytical research, subsystems of e-learning have been introduced after presenting the basic concepts of e-content and its components and its most important standard SCROM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) has been analyzed and finally WEB 2 has been introduced as a wondrous evolution in e-content production. Conclusion: In an e-learning system, establishing the subsystem of E-content and the planning and learning management which have the duty of managing the education of the individuals is an important affair. Developing the E-content based on the standards of content development also seems to be essential. Due to the special characteristics of SCROM standard, technology developers try to accommodate their products with this model and customers also insist on the compatibility of products with this model. One of the novel E-content development systems has provided the possibility of E-content development for general population through applying Web 2. Concurrent with the reduction of the complexity of E-content development systems, content development will be simply available for all individuals and people themselves can develop and publish any intended content in future.


We present a list of interstellar absorption lines in the direction of HD 37061 in the M 43 nebula. Some of the absorption lines arise from atomic excited levels that are uncommon in interstellar clouds. The excited levels of Fe II are populated by fluorescence. We found a large number of H2 molecular absorption lines arising from vibrationally excited levels. The ortho/para H2 ratio is equal to 2.7. The H2 rotational temperature of vibrational levels 1 - 5 exceeds 2000 K.


The paper provides insight into social interactions among primary school pupils in Slovakia focused on manifestations of bullying behaviour. The study was conducted in the sample of 289 pupils with an average age of 10.6 years. Peer interactions are very important for the child's psychosocial development and are of a key importance in the period of adolescence. As many studies from the area of ontogenetic psychology state (for example: Macek, 2013; Santrock, 2013; Di Clemente, 2009), in the period of adolescence individuals start to intensively perceive what their peers think about them and how they perceive them. They need to be a part of peer social groups, have their status in them, and feel they are accepted by others. In this period, there are many changes in the areas of relationships and perceptions of authorities, and adolescents build their own social status in various spheres of life. The developmental role of the period of adolescence is formation of one's identity. The developmental failures can lead to the onset of risk behaviour in adolescents. In the school environment, the frequently identified risk behaviours include bullying (Kolář, 2011; Říčan, Janoušková, 2010; Čerešník, 2016). In the study, we focused on the situations in which pupils feel frightened, insecure, excluded from a group, are physically hurt, or are teased and defamed. We studied the perceptions of such situations by pupils at schools. Furthermore, we focused our attention on the determinants of the onset of bullying behaviour and reactions to such manifestations in the school environment. The findings show that bullying behaviour is most frequently experienced by overweight pupils and pupils who look different. The most frequently identified forms of bullying behaviour include defamation and insulting.


Crustacean males grasp and/or guard females before copulation to ensure mating, but females typically resist males during pair formation. The benefit of resistance for females might allow (1) females to optimize mate quality, or (2) to avoid costs incurred during guarding. However, it has not been fully investigated which benefits actually improve female fitness. Here we investigated female resistance, temporal dynamics of intersexual conflict during reproduction, and the effect of male size and male mating frequency on female fecundity in the marine isopod, Cleantiella isopus to examine the relative importance of the two mechanisms mentioned before. Females resisted even after they had become receptive. Females which mated with small males showed lower fecundity than the ones with large males, and small males were frequently unable to form pairs. These results suggest that female resistance of C. isopus against males can function as a way to optimize mate quality.


Benzalkonium chloride (BAK) is an acknowledged irritant but has also been identified as a cause of allergic contact dermatitis. The antiseptic bath emollient Oilatum® Plus (Stiefel, High Wycombe, U.K.) contains a relatively high concentration of 6% BAK. We describe six patients who presented with flexural eczema, particularly involving the anogenital area, who had a history of using Oilatum® Plus. Patch testing showed all six to have a type 4 allergy to BAK as well as other allergens. Avoidance of Oilatum® Plus led to a resolution of the flexural eczema in each case.


Recent work by Fisher and Shapiro has used Gomory's group theoretic methods together with Lagrange multipliers to obtain bounds for the optimal value of integer programs. Here it is shown how an extension of the associated abelian group to a supergroup can improve the bound without the artificiality of adding a cut. It is proved that there exists a finite group for which the dual ascent procedure of Fisher and Shapiro converges to the optimal integer solution. Constructive methods are given for finding this group. A worked example is included.


Due to the emerging
technology era, today a number of firms share their service/product
descriptions. Such a group of information in the textual form has some
structured information, which is beneath the unstructured text. A new
attainment which facilitates the form of a structured metadata by recognizing
documents which are likely to have some type and this information is then used
for both segregation and search process. The idea of this advent describes some
attributes of a text that will match with the query object which acts as
identifier both for segregation as well as for storage and retrieval. An
adaptive technique is proposed to deal with relevant attributes to annotate a
document by satisfying the users querying needs. The solution for
annotation-attribute suggestion problem is not based on the probabilistic model
or prediction but it is based on the basic keywords that a user can use to
query a database to retrieve a document. Experiment results show that Querying
value and Content Value approach is much useful in predicting a tag for a
document and thus prediction is also based on Querying value and Content value
which greatly improves the utility of shared data which is a drawback in the
existing system. This approach is different, as we consider only the basic
keywords to be matched with the content of a document. When compared with other
approaches in the existing system, Clarity is a primary goal as we expect that
the annotator may improve the annotations on process. The discovered tags
assist on quest of retrieval as an alternative to bookmarking.


In this paper, we present a case study of predicting topics of scientific papers using a co-authorship graph. Co-authorship graphs constitute a specific view on bibliographic data, where scientific publications are modelled as a graph's nodes, and two nodes are linked by an undirected edge whenever the two corresponding papers share at least one author. We apply a simple collective classification algorithm based on relaxation labelling to the ILPnet2 bibliographic database. The approach is based on the assumption that papers in the same neighbourhood of the co-authorship graph tend to be on the same topics, and that the predicted topic for one node in the graph depends on the actual or predicted topics of the nodes linked to it. We evaluate the performance of this method on the ILPnet2 data in terms of ROC analysis, and explain the results in terms of the co-authorship graph and the position and properties of papers on a certain topic in the graph.


The purpose of this study was to establish reliability of the Tone Assessment Scale (TAS) translated into Korean in patients with stroke. The TAS consists of resting posture, response to passive movement, and associated reaction to active effort. Fifteen patients (14 males, 1 female) were examined by two raters. Surface electromyography (EMG) data at elbow flexor muscle and joint excursion were collected from 6 patients. To identify the correlation between muscle activity and angular changes of elbow muscle, Pearson product moment correlation was used. The inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the TAS ranged from very good to good (K/Kw=.61~1.00 for intra-rater and K/Kw=.73~1.00 for intra-rater comparisons) in the sections of resting posture and associated reaction. However, in the section of response to passive movement, the reliability coefficients ranged from very good to fair (Kw=.29~1.00). In the 11th item, correlation between EMG ratio of elbow flexor and angular changes of elbow joint showed statistically strong positive relationship (r=.94, p


Organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) sensors have been recently attracting the attention for their potential exploitation as novel sensors. Specificity and sensitivity are still open issues. Chiral discrimination is both a scientific and technological achievement in itself and, indeed, one of the most challenging sensorpsilas bench-test. In the present work, a chiral bilayer OTFT gas sensor - comprising an outermost layer with built in enantioselective properties - is demonstrated to exhibit field-effect amplified sensitivity that allows differential detection of optical isomers in the tens part-per-million (ppm) concentration range. The ad hoc designed organic semiconductor, endowed with chiral side groups, the bilayer structure and the TFT transducer, provide a significant step further in the development of a performing and versatile sensing platform compatible with flexible organic electronic technologies.


Abstract. To evaluate the quality of general purpose particle interaction and transport codes widely used in the high-energy physics community, express benchmarking is conducted. Seven tasks, important for high-energy physics applications, are chosen. For this first shot, they are limited to particle production on thin and thick targets and energy deposition in targets and calorimetric setups. Five code groups were asked to perform calculations in the identical conditions and provide results to the authors of this report. Summary of the code inter-comparison and verification against available experimental data is presented in this paper. Agreement is quite reasonable in many cases, but quite serious problems were revealed in the others.


One of the most useful markers of non-small cell lung cancer is epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein expression. Recently it was found that the EGFR gene may be amplified or mutated in non-small cell lung cancer rendering this gene product an ideal target for therapy. The introduction of molecularly targeted therapy into the clinical practice represents a milestone in the management of non-small cell lung cancer. However, our knowledge on the prognostic and predictive factors that will define the efficiency of anti-EGFR therapy is limited. In clinical practice, some common patient and disease features (e. g., smoking habit, gender, histological type) are still more dependable predictors than the fine molecular properties that may directly affect therapeutic response. The indication of anti-EGFR therapy in Hungary is based on the immunohistochemical detection of the EGFR protein, therefore, it is important that these tests are performed as reliably as possible. On the other hand, mutations in the EGFR gene may render the tumour resistant or, in contrary, especially sensitive to EGFR inhibitor therapy. The sequence of the diagnostic steps to define the genotype and phenotype of non-small cell lung cancer has a great importance in terms of cost-efficiency of the therapy.


This study aims to find out the use, contextual meaning, and types of idioms in a film titled "The Rising of the Shield Hero". An idiom is an expression that contains words, phrases or clauses that often use figurative language that is often used in communication. The meaning of an idiom is very different from the literal meaning, the idiom itself does not describe one of the words that form it. The researcher used the theory of idiom types based on Boatner and Gates and contextual meaning based on Parera. The purpose of this research; identify what types of idioms in the film, and analyze the contextual meaning in the film. This research is qualitative method, the data has been taken from the film script and analyzed. The result is indicate that idioms can be found in each forms with idiom identified in the film: there are 72 idioms in 4 forms, 52 lexemic idioms, 16 phraseological idioms, 1 frozen idiom, 3 proverbs. The most idiom are lexemic and it is hard to find frozen idioms. Finally, all of these idioms have related meanings based on the contextual meaning in the film.


Although the exact causes for presbyopia are not known with certainty, there is the general understanding that it is associated with aging. This is one of the major paradigms of science because the analysis of the symptoms observed during the treatment of presbyopia in the first author of this paper indicates that presbyopia is associated with metabolic dehydrated secretions that have accumulated in various parts of the eyes. As a process of accumulation it is not difficult to associate it statistically to aging. The metabolic secretions produced by the cells inside the human eye are accumulated simultaneously in the cornea, trabecular meshwork, in the lens and retina, subject only to its origin, however, the symptomatology is well characterized by the location of accumulation. Genetic factors are directly related to how the clumps of metabolic secretions occur and the accumulation form is very specific according to the movement of the eyes based on the activities performed by the patient, so any outcome is unpredictable. This paper introduces the hypothesis that macular degeneration may be caused by transport mechanism failure by forced convection of nutrients and metabolic mass produced by the retina. The hypothesis examined in this paper considers the symptoms observed during treatment of presbyopia the first author, the analysis of some clinical procedures to diagnose the degeneration, the symptoms described in the publications on this subject as well as showing how some genetic factor may anticipate the disease. It is not hard to make a statistical association of macular degeneration with aging in the hypothesis that it is caused by of metabolic accumulation of secretions produced in the retina.


Importance
The prevalence and characteristics of bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) are mainly reported from selected cohorts. BAV is associated with aortopathy, but it is unclear if it represents a fetal developmental defect or is secondary to abnormal valve dynamics.

Objective
To determine the prevalence of BAV and BAV subtypes and to describe the associated aortopathy in a large, population-based cohort of newborns.

Design, Setting, and Participants
The Copenhagen Baby Heart Study was a cross-sectional, population-based study open to all newborns born in Copenhagen between April 1, 2016, and October 31, 2018. Newborns with BAV were matched 1:2 to newborns with a tricuspid aortic valve (non-BAV group) on sex, singleton/twin pregnancy, gestational age, weight, and age at time of examination.

Exposures
Transthoracic echocardiography within 60 days after birth.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Primary outcome was BAV prevalence and types, ie, number of raphes and spatial orientation of raphes or cusps (no raphes), according to the classification system of Sievers and Schmidtke (classified as type 0, 1, or 2, with numbers indicating the number of raphes). Secondary outcome was valve function and BAV-associated aortopathy, defined as aortic diameter z score of 3 or greater or coarctation.

Results
In total, 25 556 newborns (51.7% male; mean age, 12 [SD, 8] days) underwent echocardiography. BAV was diagnosed in 196 newborns (prevalence, 0.77% [95% CI, 0.67%-0.88%]), with male-female ratio 2.1:1. BAV was classified as type 0 in 17 newborns (8.7% [95% CI, 5.5%-13.5%]), type 1 in 178 (90.8% [95% CI, 86.0%-94.1%]) (147 [75.0% {95% CI, 68.5%-80.5%}] right-left coronary raphe, 27 [13.8% {95% CI, 9.6%-19.3%}] right coronary-noncoronary raphe, 4 [2.0% {95% CI, 0.8%-5.1%}] left coronary-noncoronary raphe), and type 2 in 1 (0.5% [95% CI, 0.1%-2.8%]). Aortic regurgitation was more prevalent in newborns with BAV (n = 29 [14.7%]) than in those without BAV (1.3%) (absolute % difference, 13.4% [95% CI, 7.8%-18.9%]; P < .001). Newborns with BAV had higher flow velocities across the valve (0.67 [95% CI, 0.65-0.69] m/s vs 0.61 [95% CI, 0.60-0.62] m/s; mean difference, 0.06 m/s [95% CI, 0-0.1]) and larger aortic root and tubular ascending aortic diameters than those without BAV (10.7 [95% CI, 10.7-10.9] mm vs 10.3 [95% CI, 10.2-10.4] mm; mean difference, 0.43 mm [95% CI, 0.2-0.6 mm] and 9.8 [95% CI, 9.6-10.0] mm vs 9.4 [95% CI, 9.3-9.5] mm; mean difference, 0.46 mm [95% CI, 0.30-0.70], respectively) (P < .001 for all). Aortopathy was seen in 65 newborns (33.2%) with BAV (62 with aortic z score ≥3; 3 with coarctation).

Conclusions and Relevance
Among newborns in Copenhagen, the prevalence of BAV was 0.77%. Aortopathy was common in newborns with BAV, suggesting that it also represents a fetal malformation.


The use of finiteness markers copula BE, auxiliary BE, and auxiliary DO were examined in the spontaneous speech of children with specific language impairment (SLI). Of particular interest to this study was whether the categorical distinctions between main verbs and auxiliaries and/or between the auxiliary types influenced the relative order of emergence among these forms. In addition, error analyses were used to reveal the extent of the children's grammatical knowledge with regard to the use of these forms. We argue that despite the late emergence of finiteness markers, children with SLI demonstrate knowledge of how finiteness interacts with verb movement and accurate agreement marking from the earliest appearance of these forms. These findings provide further support for descriptions of SLI as a condition characterized by selective deficits within a basically intact grammatical system.


This paper introduces an algorithm that minimises conflicts between aircraft at the strategic level taking into account uncertainties on aircraft position due to errors into wind forecast. The strategy relies on subliminal speed control. Owing to the complexity of this kind of optimisation problem, a simulated annealing metaheuristic approach is employed. A scenario with four hours of traffic overflying the Spanish (structured, continental) airspace has been selected. Traffic has been retrieved from NEST Eurocontrol database with the corresponding wind ensemble probabilistic forecasts from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Due to uncertainties and to the little range of speed changing allowed by a subliminal control, it becomes not possible to resolve all conflicts. However, their number can be significantly reduced by slightly modifying flight plan speeds while not touching the selected route by the airspace user.


The island of Maiao, also called Tubuai Manu or Tapamanoa, lies in the central Pacific Ocean in lat. 17° 38′ south, long. 150° 37′ west. It is a member of the Society Group, and is situated about 50 miles west of Tahiti. It was discovered by Capt. Wallis in 1767. Charles Darwin describes it as a small island rising to a height not exceeding 500 feet, and surrounded by a reef at a considerable distance from the shore. It was visited by the first-named Author and other members of the St. George Expedition in March 1925, and was found to consist of small volcanic island, about a mile long, surrounded by a barrier-reef, which has an extreme diameter from east to west of 6 miles (see figs. 1&2, p.343). At the spot where the landing was made, on the northern coast, there is a reef-flat, 200 or 300 yards wide, covered at high tide by about 6 feet of water in its central part, but by not more than a foot at its edge. At the back of the flat are traces of a limestone platform elevated to about 2 feet above sea-level and undercut. Behind this platform, and in places concealing it, a beach of calcareous sand and coral-dé slopes up gradually to a height of 6 feet above sea-level. The crest of the beach forms the highest point of the barrier-reef island, which swlopes down very gently to the lagoon, and is here between 500 and 600 yards


Scattered magnetoelastic waves were observed in as-quenched and annealed amorphous Fe-Si-B wires in order to clarify the nature of the scattering centers. Neither a magnetic field nor tensile stress applied to the wire changed the waveform of the scattered waves. According to observations of scattered waves in annealed wire, the annealing process has no significant effect on the properties of the scattering centers. These experimental results indicate that the scattering centers are caused by fluctuations of some elastic properties along the wire which are introduced by the quenching process, and that they are spaced a few millimeters apart on average.


The effective real-time face detection framework proposed by Viola and Jones gained much popularity due its computational efficiency and its simplicity. A notable variant replaces the original Haar-like features with MBLBP (Multi-Block Local Binary Pattern) which are defined by the local binary pattern operator, both detector types are integrated into the OpenCV library. However, each descriptor and its evaluation method has its own set of strengths and setbacks. In this paper, an enhanced two-layer face detector composed of both Haar-like and MB-LBP features is presented. Haar-like features are employed as a coarse filter but with a new evaluation involving dual threshold. The already established MB-LBPs are arranged as the fine filter of the detector. The Gentle AdaBoost learning algorithm is deployed for the training of the proposed detector to reach the classification and performance potential. Experiments show that in the early stages of classification, Haar features with dual threshold are more discriminative than MB-LBP and original Haarlike features with respect to number of features required and computation. Benchmarking the proposed detector demonstrate overall 12% higher detection rate at 17% false alarm over using MB-LBP features singly while performing with ×3 speedup.


A best evidence topic in cardiac surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was whether dialysis-dependent patients with upper limb arterio-venous fistulae (AVFs) undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting should avoid having ipsilateral in situ internal mammary artery (IMA) grafts. A literature search performed yielded 28 peer reviewed articles, of which 21 represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes and results of these papers are tabulated. The papers identified included 478 patients, of whom 219 had in situ IMA grafts with ipsilateral upper limb arterio-venous fistulae. There was a substantial variation between the papers, from single case reports to small retrospective cohort studies, but no randomized, controlled trials. The largest retrospective study included 155 patients and followed up for up to 5 years. Methods used to determine coronary steal included clinical assessment, electrocardiogram or echocardiographic changes, Doppler ultrasound of mammary arteries and angiography. The aggregate evidence suggested that 61 of the 219 patients with ipsilateral IMA grafts developed some clinical or physiological evidence of malperfusion during the use of the AVFs for dialysis. Comparisons with the contralateral IMA suggested that 27 of the 61 patients suffered similar problems when dialysis was applied. A number of studies used controls, including in situ right internal mammary artery (RIMA) flow and patients not on dialysis. In total, 32 patients had their in situ RIMA flow measurements studied, of which none showed any statistically significant flow alteration. While further strong evidence to demonstrate long-term outcomes is required, we recommend the avoidance, where possible, of ipsilateral in situ IMA grafts in patients with an upper limb AVF. There is sufficient experimental and anecdotal evidence to suggest that steal occurs and that in some patients, this has clinical implications on both morbidity and mortality. In this scenario, the use of the contralateral mammary is strongly advocated to maximize the patency of grafts in an already high-risk population.


For optimization of alternating current imposing period in the crystal alignment process in which both a static magnetic field and an alternating current are imposed on an alloy during solidification, experimental work has been done using a Sn–10mass%Pb alloy. Index of crystal alignment decreases with increase in the imposing period of the alternating current because the electromagnetic torque induced in the sample disturbs the alignment of solid particles suspended in the liquid phase. Electromagnetic torque is dominant as resistance of the crystal rotation to magnetically preferred direction when the size of the crystal is 21 μm or larger. For the optimization of the crystal alignment in this process, imposing period of the electric current and the magnetic field should be controlled as follows. The electric current and the magnetic field are simultaneously imposed on the alloy only in the initial stage of the solidification. Then the electric current is turned off and only the magnetic field is imposed during the solidification.


The ever increasing complexity of software and rapidly changing development environments continues to drive the evolution of new technologies, techniques, and tools. This special issue, Software Engineering in Practice, provides the software engineering community with a valuable collection of current, high-quality research articles that explore topics driven by real problems in industry. The inspiration for this special issue has drawn upon the ICSE Software Engineering in Practice Track (ICSE SEIP 2020),1 part of the Industry Program at the 42nd International Conference on Software Engineering2; it builds upon the success of the previous special issues with the same theme.1,2 The ICSE SEIP Track provides a premier venue for researchers and practitioners to discuss innovations and solutions to concrete software engineering problems. The Guest Co-editor team for this special issue is an international collaboration involving: the organizer of the ICSE SEIP 2020 Track, Moonzoo Kim; research scientist Heiko Koziolek; and two editors of the Journal of Software: Practice and Experience3 (JSPE), Judith Bishop and Kendra M. L. Cooper.


Building change detection aims to identify the change in buildings in the same geographic area. Recently, many methods based on deep learning (DL) have achieved encouraging performance. However, some challenges remain in effectively exploiting the temporal–spatial correlation and achieving good discrimination in the neighborhood of the edge. To relieve these issues, we develop a selective attention module (SAM) to model the relationship between the semantic and the state (i.e., unchanged or changed) of the pixel, which is integrated into an existing metric learning-based architecture. Moreover, inspired by recent advances in contrastive learning, we present a novel edge neighborhood contrastive learning method to force the network to learn discriminative and compact features, leading to improving the accuracy of building change detection. Experimental results demonstrate that our method achieves competitive performance in terms of objective metrics and visual comparisons.


Several cases of visceral larva migrans syndrome in children led to an investigation of the ova of Toxocara spp. and other species in stool specimens from stray dogs and cats in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Fecal samples from 474 stray dogs and 299 stray cats were examined. Ova of Toxocara canis or cati were present in stools from 26.6% of the dogs and 25.1% of the cats. In dogs the prevalence of Toxocara canis was noticeably greater in puppies (56.1%) than in mature animals (11.9%).


Duplex stainless steels (DSS) are corrosion resistant alloys largely used in chemical and petrochemical industries. Some commercial DSS contain 0.5-1.0% copper addition to improve the corrosion resistance by reducing the corrosion rate in non-oxidizing environments. Higher copper addition (≥ 2%) can also hard by precipitation, especially when fine copper precipitates (ε phase) are produced. In this work, a cast copper alloyed DSS type ASTM A890 grade 1B with 3.01%Cu was investigated. Different levels of hardness were produced by solution treatment and aging at 450, 500, 550 and 600 oC for periods of time up to 1 hour. The corrosion resistance of aged DSS was evaluated by electrochemical tests in three media: 0.6 mol/L NaCl, 0.3 mol/L H2SO4 and 0.6 mol/L NaCl + 0.3 mol/L H2SO4 solutions. The results indicate that the effect of Cu addition depends on the media studied. Polarization studies in 0.6 mol/L NaCl showed a small anodic current peak occurred at around 400 mV vs. Ag/AgCl, with a strong influence on the passive film stability. Additionally, chronoamperometric measurements at 400 mV vs. Ag/AgCl showed a high electrochemical activity for the samples in 0.6 mol/L NaCl.


Objectives: For decades, monosyllabic word-recognition in quiet (WRQ) has been the default test of speech recognition in routine audiologic assessment. The continued use of WRQ scores is noteworthy in part because difficulties understanding speech in noise (SIN) is perhaps the most common complaint of individuals with hearing loss. The easiest way to integrate SIN measures into routine clinical practice would be for SIN to replace WRQ assessment as the primary test of speech perception. To facilitate this goal, we predicted classifications of WRQ scores from the QuickSIN signal to noise ratio (SNR) loss and hearing thresholds. Design: We examined data from 5808 patients who underwent audiometric assessment at the Stanford Ear Institute. All individuals completed pure-tone audiometry, and speech assessment consisting of monaural WRQ, and monaural QuickSIN. We then performed multiple-logistic regression to determine whether classification of WRQ scores could be predicted from pure-tone thresholds and QuickSIN SNR losses. Results: Many patients displayed significant challenges on the QuickSIN despite having excellent WRQ scores. Performance on both measures decreased with hearing loss. However, decrements in performance were observed with less hearing loss for the QuickSIN than for WRQ. Most important, we demonstrate that classification of good or excellent word-recognition scores in quiet can be predicted with high accuracy by the high-frequency pure-tone average and the QuickSIN SNR loss. Conclusions: Taken together, these data suggest that SIN measures provide more information than WRQ. More important, the predictive power of our model suggests that SIN can replace WRQ in most instances, by providing guidelines as to when performance in quiet is likely to be excellent and does not need to be measured. Making this subtle, but profound shift to clinical practice would enable routine audiometric testing to be more sensitive to patient concerns, and may benefit both clinicians and researchers.