A linear unsaturating magnetoresistance at high perpendicular magnetic fields, together with a quadratic positive magnetoresistance at low fields, has been seen in many different experimental materials, ranging from silver chalcogenides and thin films of InSb to topological materials like graphene and Dirac semimetals. In the literature, two very different theoretical approaches have been used to explain this classical magnetoresistance as a consequence of sample disorder. The phenomenological Random Resistor Network model constructs a grid of four-terminal resistors, each with a varying random resistance. The Effective Medium Theory model imagines a smoothly varying disorder potential that causes a continuous variation of the local conductivity. Here, we demonstrate numerically that both models belong to the same universality class and that a restricted class of the Random Resistor Network is actually equivalent to the Effective Medium Theory. Both models are also in good agreement with experiments on a diverse range of materials. Moreover, we show that in both cases, a single parameter, i.e. the ratio of the fluctuations in the carrier density to the average carrier density, completely determines the magnetoresistance profile.


Prevailing wind along the west coast of South America is equatorward, driven by the southeast Pacific anticyclone. The wind induces strong coastal upwelling that supports one of the most important fisheries in the world. This region lacks a dense network of in situ observations, so the high resolution (0.313°) NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis is used here to present a synoptic climatology of the coastal wind along the Chile/Peru coast. Covariability between the alongshore pressure gradient and alongshore wind, which was previously identified for synoptic time scales near central Chile, is generalized for the whole coast and over annual time scales. Particular attention is paid to three prominent upwelling regions: Pisco (14.8°S), Punta Lengua de Vaca (30.0°S), and Punta Lavapie (36.4°S). Previous work has identified local maxima at these points but these are embedded in a broader low‐level jet that exhibits a marked seasonal cycle of strong wind days due to the migration of the anticyclone and is associated with a shift of both the mean wind and a more frequent recurrence of strong wind events. Alongshore wind near Pisco is normally distributed year‐round with a seasonal shift in the mean. Larger variability in the mean and distribution is found at Lavapie, associated with the seasonal change in storm tracks. The synoptic evolution that drives high‐wind events at each location is characterized. A midlevel trough and surface cyclone precede wind maxima at each location and are followed by strong midlevel ridging and a strengthened surface anticyclone. © 2013 Royal Meteorological Society


Aim of special session Thousands of companies globally report publicly on their occupational health programs and impacts. This information is used by a variety of stakeholders, such as investors, to inform decision making about companies. The availability of this information is, however, not yet widespread, and there are challenges with the quality and comparability of the data. A number of efforts are underway to improve and standardise this information. This session offers to learn from key organisations and experts in the field about latest developments on what is expected from companies regarding occupational health measurements and public disclosure. This session will also unveil the updates to the GRI Occupational Health and Safety reporting standard, which will outline minimum transparency expectations for companies globally around occupational health – including basic data on work-related illnesses, the management of health hazards, and the use of occupational health services and worker health promotion programs. 1Ms. Nancy J. Leppink, 2Ms. Laura Espinach, 3Mr. William G. Perry, 4Dr. Herbert J. Schilthuis 1International Labour Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland 2GRI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 3U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Washington, DC, USA 4Heineken International, Amsterdam, The Netherlands


The Intag cloud forest region of northwestern Ecuador is characterized by exceptional biodiversity, large known and unknown deposits of copper and other valuable minerals, and a high level of environmental awareness and concern among the human population. Its 1000 km of rivers and streams are essential for household use, crop irrigation, livestock production and sustaining unique ecosystems. However, no published data exist on water quality in the region. This study characterizes water quality in five river systems in Intag and relates it to land use (protected forest, agriculture/pasture, urban development or mining) upstream of the sampling point. Additionally, we sampled 15 community water supply systems. Parameters measured included turbidity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, faecal indicator bacteria (FIB), nitrate, phosphate, ammonium, Ni, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, As, Cr, discharge and aquatic invertebrate diversity. Significant differences in pH, aquatic invertebrate diversity, and the concentrations of FIB, nutrients and dissolved metals were observed between land use groups. Forested streams consistently had the lowest pollutant concentrations, whereas those flowing past population centres or mining areas showed the greatest impairment. Elevated As concentrations were observed in association with abandoned mining boreholes, hot springs and wastewater discharges. FIB, nutrient and metal concentrations in water systems were similar to those in forested streams, indicating that these systems maintain water in an unpolluted condition. To preserve and enhance Intag's generally good water quality, we recommend installing wastewater treatment systems in larger towns and approaching all mining activity, including exploration, with extreme caution. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The Future Circular Collider (FCC) Study is aimed at assessing the physics potential and the technical feasibility of a new collider with centre-of-mass energies, in the hadron-hadron collision mode, seven times larger than the nominal LHC energies. Operating such machine with heavy ions is an option that is being considered in the accelerator design studies. It would provide, for example, Pb-Pb and p-Pb collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 39 and 63 TeV, respectively, per nucleon-nucleon collision, with integrated luminosities above 30 nb^-1 per month for Pb-Pb. This is a report by the working group on heavy-ion physics of the FCC Study. First ideas on the physics opportunities with heavy ions at the FCC are presented, covering the physics of the Quark-Gluon Plasma, of gluon saturation, of photon-induced collisions, as well as connections with other fields of high-energy physics.


Many mathematics teacher educators encounter the challenge of creating or choosing mathematical tasks that evoke important mathematical insights and connections yet remain firmly grounded in school mathematics. This challenge increases substantially when trying to meet the needs of practicing secondary mathematics teachers pursuing graduate work in mathematics. This paper articulates characteristics of mathematical tasks that can help teachers develop their mathematical knowledge grounded in school mathematics by drawing on (a) work with practicing secondary mathematics teachers in a mathematics graduate program and (b) relevant research literature on the professional development of mathematics teachers and profound understanding of fundamental mathematics for teaching.


Introduction: Progressive language impairment is among the primary components of cognitive decline in Alzheimer ' s disease (AD). Because expressive and receptive language help to maintain emotional connections to caregivers and support the management of AD patients ' functional needs, language plays a critical role in patients ' emotional and physical health. Using data from a large prospective clinical trial comparing two doses of donepezil in patients with moderate to severe AD, we performed a post hoc analysis to determine whether a higher dose of donepezil was associated with greater benefits in language function. Methods: In the original randomized, double-blind clinical trial, 1,467 patients with moderate to severe AD (baseline Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score 0 to 20) were randomized 2:1 to receive donepezil 23 mg/day or to continue on donepezil 10 mg/day for 24 weeks. In this post hoc analysis, the Severe Impairment Battery-Language scale (SIB-L) and a new 21-item SIB-derived language scale (SIB[lang]) were used to explore differences in language function between the treatment groups. Correlations between SIB-L and SIB[lang] scores and scores on the severe version of the Alzheimer ' s Disease Cooperative Study-Activities of Daily Living inventory (ADCS-ADL-sev), the Clinician ' s Interview-Based Impression of Severity-plus caregiver input/Clinician ' s Interview-Based Impression of Change-plus caregiver input (CIBIS-plus/CIBIC-plus) and the MMSE were also investigated. Results: At week 24, treatment with donepezil 23 mg/day was associated with an improvement in language in the full intention-to-treat population, whereas language function declined in the group treated with donepezil 10 mg/ day (SIB-L treatment difference 0.8, P = 0.0013; SIB[lang] treatment difference 0.8, P = 0.0009). Similar results were observed in a cohort of patients with more severe baseline disease (MMSE score 0 to 16). At baseline and week 24, correlations between the SIB-derived language scales and the ADCS-ADL-sev and CIBIC-plus were moderate, but the correlations were stronger between the language scales and the MMSE scores. Conclusions: Patients with moderate to severe AD receiving donepezil 23 mg/day showed greater language benefits than those receiving donepezil 10 mg/day as measured by SIB-derived language assessments. Increasing the dose of donepezil to 23 mg/day may provide language benefits in patients with moderate to severe AD, for whom preservation of language abilities is especially critical.


This paper presents a discussion of the design and test phases of the Low-Pressure Compressor (LPC) used in the FT8 Gas Turbine. Design objectives, including efficiency, durability, and stall margin goals, are covered along with actual test results indicating successful accomplishment of these objectives. Unique features of the test program and an overview of the FT8 gas Generator in comparison to the JT8D Aircraft Engine are also presented


Many types of retinal neurone are arranged in a spatially regular manner so that the visual scene is uniformly sampled. Several mechanisms are thought to be involved in the development of regular cellular positioning. One early-acting mechanism is the lateral inhibition of neighbouring cells from acquiring the same fate, mediated by Delta-Notch signalling. We have used computer modelling to test whether lateral inhibition might transform an initial population of undifferentiated cells into more regular populations of two types of differentiated cells. Initial undifferentiated cells were positioned randomly, subject only to a minimal distance constraint. Each undifferentiated cell then acquired either primary or secondary fate using one of several lateral inhibition mechanisms. Mosaic regularity was assessed using the regularity index and the packing factor. We found that for irregular undifferentiated mosaics, the arrangement of resulting primary (but not secondary) fate cells was more regular than in the initial undifferentiated population. However, for regular undifferentiated mosaics, no further increases in the regularity of the primary fate mosaics were observed. We have used this model to test the specific hypothesis that on- and off-centre retinal ganglion cells emerge from an initial, irregular undifferentiated population of ganglion cells. Lateral inhibition can subdivide an initially irregular population into two types of cell that are mildly regular. However, lateral inhibition alone is insufficient to produce mosaics of the same regularity as observed experimentally. Likewise, and in contrast to earlier reports, cell death alone is insufficient to match the regularity of experimental mosaics. We conclude that lateral inhibition can transform irregular distributions into regular mosaics, upon which subsequent processes (such as lateral cell movement or cell death) can further refine mosaic regularity.


In fact food security can be increased through improved land use and land management practices. In Ethiopia much of the increase in crop production in the past decade has been due to increases in area of cultivated. To what extent expansion can continue remains a question, therefore obtaining higher yield rates is the challenge of Ethiopia's agricultural system. Conservation agriculture (mulching); which here refers to minimizing soil disturbance through no-till practice, application of organic mulch cover, and cropping in time; has the potential to improve soil quality, water, and crop productivity. The objectives of this critical review is to collect available information in similar production environments, indicators on the essential of CA contributions to soil quality, crop and water productivity both in dry and rainfall seasons of Ethiopian agriculture. Recently a study on the role of conservation agriculture indicates improve soil quality, crop yield and water productivity. In addition to this CA can be protect soil layer for erosions either wind or runoff, to optimize infiltration rate minimize runoff, to crate the path of soil it contributes micro nutrients move easily. So, reviewer concluded that conservation agriculture is potentially important to improve sustainable Ethiopian agricultural production and productivity. This agricultural practice (CA) should be able to adopt for irrigated and rain fed farms of Ethiopia.


© 2017 by Aditi Sengupta, Nagabhushana Rao Vadlamani, Paul Tucker. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. The transition of a separated shear layer over a at plate in presence of free-stream turbulence (FST) and regular three-dimensional (3D) roughness elements, is numerically investigated. A at plate with a contoured inviscid upper wall imposes the necessary streamwise pressure gradient to simulate the suction surface of a 'ultra high-lift' low-pressure turbine (LPT) blade. Results obtained from the current investigation compare favourably with extensive experimental and numerical data of previous investigations. The flow physics surrounding the transition process is examined. The benefits associated with the suppression of the separation bubble by introducing FST and surface roughness is established for the blade profile. The instantaneous flow features are an essential tool to identify the various streak formations associated with introduction of upstream disturbance. The turbulent kinetic energy budget is obtained for the various test cases and the individual and cumulative effect of FST and roughness is shown.


O-GlcNAcylation is an atypical, dynamic and reversible O-glycosylation that is critical and abundant in metazoan. O-GlcNAcylation coordinates and receives various signaling inputs such as nutrients and stresses, thus spatiotemporally regulating the activity, stability, localization and interaction of target proteins to participate in cellular physiological functions. Our review discusses in depth the involvement of O-GlcNAcylation in the precise regulation of skeletal muscle metabolism, such as glucose homeostasis, insulin sensitivity, tricarboxylic acid cycle and mitochondrial biogenesis. The complex interaction and precise modulation of O-GlcNAcylation in these nutritional pathways of skeletal muscle also provide emerging mechanical information on how nutrients affect health, exercise and disease. Meanwhile, we explored the potential role of O-GlcNAcylation in skeletal muscle pathology and focused on its benefits in maintaining proteostasis under atrophy. In general, these understandings of O-GlcNAcylation are conducive to providing new insights into skeletal muscle (patho) physiology.


Abstract Objectives: (1) To evaluate the proportion who correctly classify- or misclassify maternal weight gain; (2) to investigate weight gain attitudes, and (3) to compare weight gain attitudes with weight gain recommendations by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), as well as background and lifestyle factors. Methods: This is secondary analysis of cohort data collected as part of a prospective study of determinants of macrosomic infants in Norway (the STORKproject). The participants (n = 467) answered a self-administered questionnaire, including report on maternal weight gain and attitudes towards weight gain, in mean gestation week 36.4 (SD = 1.7). The women were also weighted (kg) at the hospital using a digital beam scale. Results: A significant discrepancy was found between self-reported and measured maternal weight gain. About 76% reported to be satisfied with maternal weight gain while 24% were dissatisfied. Women reporting to be dissatisfied were significantly more likely to be sedentary, sick-listed, reporting poor eating habits and to be multiparous. Conclusions: Most women reported to be satisfied with their maternal weight gain, but had gained excessively according to recommended weight gain ranges issued by IOM. Pregnant women may need targeted advice on their specific weight gain and impact of increased weight gain on health variables for mother and child.


Artificial Intelligence is an excellent tool to improve efficiency and lower cost in many quantitative real world applications, but what if the task is not easily defined? What if the task is generating creativity? Poetry is a creative endeavor that is highly difficult to both grasp and achieve with any level of competence. As Rita Dove, a famous American poet and author states, "Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful." Taking Doves quote as an inspiration, our task was to generate high quality haikus using artificial intelligence and deep learning.


The orientation relationships between the compression twins and their matrices in magnesium were investigated using EBSD technique. Schmid factor analyses were applied to determine the orientation dependency of compression twins and the condition for double twinning. Results show that thin compression twin bands of {1011) type lose easily their exact twin relation of 56°(1120) to ∼40° due to the instability of twin orientation and immobility of twin boundaries. And the basal orientation with TD-rotation tends to induce tension twinning in compression twins.


Atypical neuropsychiatric disease pictures resulting from chronic abuse of barbiturate-free soporifics are often misinterpreted diagnostically. The problems of diagnosis are discussed on the basis of experience gathered by the authors and with due consideration of results reported in the literature.


The role played by alcohol and its consumption in the creation of personal, group and national identity has received considerable academic attention. A central feature of this has been the recognition that, in addition to the many potential negative personal and social outcomes of heavy drinking, the consumption of alcoholic drinks invariably involves significant articulations of personal identity, collective belonging and, as Mary Douglas and her co-authors (1987) have established, the construction and perpetuation of culture itself. We must acknowledge, therefore, that alcoholic drinks exhibit remarkable symbolic power. Indeed, some even take on totemic positions in relation to national culture, history and identity; Roland Barthes (1972, 67) famously asserted that the performance of drinking wine 'is a national technique which serves to qualify the Frenchman, to demonstrate at once the performance, his control and his sociability' (Barthes 1972, 67). More recently, Marion Demossier (2010, 29) has used her extensive study of wine production and consumption in France to explore how 'through wine consumption, individuals compete and construct their identity and relate to concepts of what it means to be French, exploring the relationship between regions and the nation'.


To enable better use of IT, investigation is done into how the IT function within the public sector should be organized. To start with, an analytical framework is developed. We then turn our attention to several different programmes and projects at Dutch departments of state, clustered to form three case studies, to see how they draw upon IT's power to innovate in their own organization. In virtually none of these cases the IT function occupies a meaningful position. To change this improvements must be made in the organization of information services in such a way that it becomes possible to conduct programmes and projects in a more co-ordinated, multidimensional way and so to allow the IT function to assume a position of greater significance. Based on the necessary improvements three types of demands are formulated. To test this approach, we applied it at three pilots. Our experiences in applying the design framework resulted in the definition of four interferences and three conditions to create and enable the necessary changes. Based on the results of this research it can be argued that without these changes, it will be difficult - also on a longer term - to integrate IT innovation and policy renewal.


This paper describes a 3D finite element scheme for use in dynamic simulations of electromagnetic devices with moving parts connected to an external circuit. The scheme handles source coils through a special coil region based on the magnetic scalar representation with an additional basis for each coil. The finite element model can be directly coupled to external circuits and motion of moving parts within the model is handled by using a Lagrange sliding interface technique.


The idea of ending poverty seemed absurd years ago, but now we have measures helping achieve the ruling. The key aim of this study is to investigate the role of social entrepreneurship in poverty alleviation in India. We aim to study previous investigations, associated with this study earlier while adopting this study method. We want to propose a conceptual framework to study the relationship between social entrepreneurship and organizational effectiveness. We also aim to explain various theories of change that social entrepreneurs have pursued in overcoming poverty in the country. The study will utilize qualitative methods to collect data of social enterprises organizations in the main cities in India. The data collected will be evaluated to determine how organizational effectiveness can help social entrepreneurship to overcome urban poverty. Although no single social enterprise venture had put a huge dent in poverty, there certainly have been many initiatives that have notable stories to tell about how they have helps poor people. The findings could benefit not only individual social entrepreneurs but also public, policy maker and firms by clarifying how much social entrepreneurship could be relied upon to help alleviate poverty as compared to government and business initiatives.


Background Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) may occur despite antibiotic prophylaxis. We investigated whether the addition of probiotics to norfloxacin enhances its efficacy in the prevention of SBP. Methods A double-blind, randomized-controlled trial was conducted among consecutive cirrhotic patients who had either recovered from SBP (secondary prophylaxis) or who were at a high risk for the development of SBP (low ascitic fluid protein or serum bilirubin ≥2.5 mg/dl; primary prophylaxis). Norfloxacin 400 mg/day with probiotics capsules (Enterococcus faecalis JPC 30 million, Clostridium butyricum 2 million, Bacillus mesentericus JPC 1 million, Bacillus coagulans 50 million spores) at a dose of two capsules three times daily (group 1) or norfloxacin with a placebo (group 2) was given and the occurrence of SBP within a period of 6 months (primary endpoint) or side-effects of therapy and mortality (secondary endpoints) were recorded. Results From April 2005 through August 2007, 110 patients were randomized to group 1 (n=55) or group 2 (n=55) and 45 (82%) and 43 (78%) of them completed the trial, respectively. The baseline characteristics were comparable. On intention-to-treat analysis, the cumulative probability of treatment failures was similar in both the groups [19/55 (34%) in group 1 vs. 20/55 (36%) in group 2, P=0.840]. The cumulative probability of mortality was also similar [13/45 (29%) in group 1 vs. 14/43 (32%) in group 2, P=0.834]. The frequency of side-effects was also comparable. In subgroup analyses, the frequencies of SBP and deaths were similar in the two groups in the subgroups of primary and secondary prophylaxes. The presence of encephalopathy and serum bilirubin of greater than 3.65 mg/dl were found to predict mortality independently. Conclusion The addition of probiotics to norfloxacin does not improve its efficacy in primary or secondary prophylaxis of SBP or in reducing the mortality in cirrhotic patients with ascites.


Mont Blanc has been represented by Professor James Forbes, in his admirable work on the Alps, as consisting of a mass of stratified granite, in which the strata are arranged in the form of a fan with one vertical axis running through the whole chain: on both sides the granite is stated to overlie a great formation of limestone, its beds dipping under the granite in perfect conformity with the strata of the granite itself, and a similar conformable superposition of granite upon limestone is stated to occur in the Montagne de la Saxe on the east of Mont Blanc*. The section given by Professor Studer adopts the above views with the following modifications: instead of granite, the chain is stated to consist of protogine flanked by gneiss and metamorphic slates, the beds dipping under these are described as black limestone and slate, and the Montague de la Saxe as felspar-slate.† There are two apparent anomalies in these statements which stand in contradiction to the general experience of geologists elsewhere: 1st, the alleged conformity of stratification between the crystalline and the secondary rocks; 2nd, the superposition of the granite or protogine upon the latter. It is of such vital importance to the progress of geology that we should have correct views upon these points, that no apology is needed for a re-examination of the evidence on which they rest ; since the higher the authority on which an error is promulgated, the more pernicious is it to the progress of


A speech delivered by Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Vice-Chancellor of KNUST on the occasion of the 41st congregation (Afternoon Session) on Friday, 8th June, 2007 at the Great Hall


Switching power converters with synchronous rectification utilize transitioning between inductor's current continuous and discontinuous conduction operation modes (CCM and DCM) in order to achieve improved power efficiency across wide load and input voltage ranges. The inductor current zero crossing is sensed in order to detect the operation modes transition point between CCM and DCM. The challenges associated with this include inductor current zero crossing point sensing accuracy, noise effect near the zero crossing point, and the sensing circuitry speed and power loss. Moreover, additional hardware such as analog-to-digital converter is required if the controller used is a fully digital controller. In this letter, a control scheme for sensorless operation and detection of CCM and DCM in a switching power converter is presented. The presented controller utilizes dual control loops and does not require sensing the inductor current or any current in the converter, which eliminates or reduces challenges associated with inductor current sensing for the zero point detection. The presented controller is discussed, and proof-of-concept experimental prototype results are presented.


We develop the multi-slice method for calculating wavefunction of a crystal consisting of atomic columns. The new method reduces numerical calculation from two dimensions to one dimension and is much faster than that of the traditional multi-slice method. The calculated result by the one-dimensional method is in agreement with that of the traditional one.


Systems requirements dictate that a memory, capable of storing 108- 109bits, be bit or quasi-bit organized. Present-day techniques for controlling the geometric and material properties of a large, vacuum deposited, thin-film cryoelectric array are not sufficient to produce a 2-wire bit-organized memory with an acceptable operating margin. To circumvent this problem new systems, whose electrical operation is relatively independent of these variations, are needed. One such random access memory, the 3-wire cryoelectric memory system, is an example of this philosophy. The storage and selection functions are separated, the former being handled by an S line, while the latter is handled by an X and Y line. For particular memory cell design, the system can be operated in a mode in which the selection current is independent of stored current. This eliminates one of the parameters responsible for variations in the threshold and disturb currents. An added feature of such a system is the uniformity in the stored current levels (in a properly designed cell), since the S line can be serially connected throughout all bits common to a particular digit. Although such a cell requires more structure than previously proposed cells, the operational advantages are judged to be the over-riding consideration.


In this paper, a framework to support the transition of existing (legacy) production systems to a new Intelligent Autonomous Mechatronics Components-based (IAMC) collaborative structure has been addressed. After a first overview of the key enabling technologies and methods, the authors propose integrating Web-based service-oriented architecture and a software-based framework for implementing a platform to allow collaborative production automation behaviours. As one of the major outcomes of the application of this approach at industrial level, the authors address the few hardware investments and the facilitation of integrating legacy systems. In the research and development contexts of the contribution, the authors identify some key objectives that still need to be realised and/or improved, in order to allow a broad implementation of IAMC-based collaborative automation systems in the industry.


The increasing popularity of smartwatches as affordable and longitudinal monitoring devices enables us to capture photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor data for detecting Atrial Fibrillation (AF) in real-time. A significant challenge in AF detection from PPG signals comes from the inherent noise in the smartwatch PPG signals. In this paper, we propose a novel deep learning based approach, BayesBeat that leverages the power of Bayesian deep learning to accurately infer AF risks from noisy PPG signals, and at the same time provide the uncertainty estimate of the prediction. Bayesbeat is efficient, robust, flexible, and highly scalable which makes it particularly suitable for deployment in commercially available wearable devices. Extensive experiments on a recently published large dataset reveal that our proposed method BayesBeat substantially outperforms the existing state-of-the-art methods.


This Paper analyses the relationship between different equity rules and the incentives to sign and ratify a climate agreement. A widespread conjecture suggests that a more equitable distribution of the burden of reducing emissions would enhance the incentives for more countries – particularly big emitters – to accept an emission reduction scheme defined within an international climate agreement. This Paper shows that this conjecture is only partly supported by the empirical evidence that can be derived from the recent outcomes of climate negotiations. Even though an equitable sharing of the costs of controlling GHG emissions can provide better incentives to sign and ratify a climate agreement than the burden sharing implicit in the Kyoto agreement, a stable global agreement cannot be achieved. A possible strategy to achieve a global agreement without free-riding incentives is a policy mix in which global emission trading is coupled with a transfer mechanism designed to offset incentives to free ride.


The engine test bed has been used widely in automotive industry to test the protetypey developed Engine in order to understand the engine operation process and find the optimum parameters for the engine operation. As a result, thousand and thousands data will be obtained from Engine Test Bed.for this purpose. It is a time consuming task to get the data and it is hard to analyse those data directly from the huge number of the data. The best way to reduce the tested data from the test bed is to create a mathematics model from the limited engine tested data. The paper will list three different models used for the Engine Test Data modelling, Polynomial model, Combined Exponational model and Neural Network model. The principle and equations of each model has been introduced in the paper. The experiment results of each model have been listed as well. The results from last two developed models show that the models provide the achievement which can meet the customers requirement.


This paper demonstrates how to make investment decisions that optimally improve water supply resilience, taking into consideration both future uncertainty and management flexibility. The demonstration is done by evaluating investment strategies for a 38 Ml/d water treatment plant serving an urban area with approximately 75 000 inhabitants, where there is uncertainty with respect to future population growth, industrial production, external demand and the amount of rainfall due to climate change. It is shown that the quantification and comparison of the possible reductions in service and intervention costs over comparably long periods enables the optimal investment decisions – that is, the ones with the optimal trade-offs between stakeholders. Additionally, it can be seen that the used methodology enables the consistent and transparent consideration of (a) the concerns of multiple stakeholders, (b) the future deep uncertainty associated with key concerns and (c) the flexibility of infrastructure managers to make decisions in the future using new information. The methodology also ensures that managers have clear plans of action and considerable insight into the extent of required future financing.


A substance which increases the entry of extracellular calcium into arterial smooth muscle may decrease cirrhosis‐induced vasodilation. The aim of the present study was to measure the effects of the L‐type Ca2+ channel activator, Bay K 8644, on the haemodynamics of rats with cirrhosis. Vascular reactivity to this substance was also investigated. Splanchnic and systemic haemodynamic responses to Bay K 8644 (50 μg/kg) were measured in cirrhotic and normal rats. Contraction induced by 0.1 μmol/L Bay K 8644 was measured in arterial rings (aorta and superior mesenteric artery) from cirrhotic and normal rats. In cirrhotic rats, Bay K 8644 significantly decreased portal pressure (15%) and portal tributary blood flow (24%), significantly increased portal territory vascular resistance (54%) and did not significantly change hepatocollateral vascular resistance. Bay K 8644 significantly increased arterial pressure (7%) and systemic vascular resistance (24%) and did not change the cardiac index. In normal rats, Bay K 8644 significantly increased vascular resistance (150%) in portal, hepatocollateral and systemic territories and significantly decreased the cardiac index (44%). Changes in portal territory, hepatocollateral and systemic vascular resistances were significantly less marked in cirrhotic than in normal rats. In rings from the aorta and superior mesenteric artery, Bay K 8644‐induced contraction was significantly lower in cirrhotic than in normal rats. In conclusion, in rats with cirrhosis, Bay K 8644 administration reduced vasodilation in splanchnic and systemic arteries and did not affect hepatocollateral vascular resistance. The Bay K 8644‐induced reduction in splanchnic vasodilation caused a decrease in portal hypertension. This study also shows that Bay K 8644‐induced vascular contraction was less marked in cirrhotic than in normal rats, in systemic and splanchnic vascular beds.


The jihad of Uthman dan Fodio in the early ninteenth century had by 1806 established Islamic cultural and religious hegemony over the Hausa territory of present-day Northern Nigeria. In the process, Islam had succeeded in pushing indigenous religious and cultural practices such as Bori to the margins or underground. However, while most of the other indigenous forms died or became inactive and ineffectual, Bori has managed to hold its own against the persecution and cultural war waged against it by Islam, mainly because the belief in the power and ability of the spirits to influence human life which is at the centre of Bori practice was never lost. In this article, Osita Okagbue argues that marginalization has made Bori attractive to groups and individuals in Hausa society who feel themselves similarly marginalized and oppressed for articulating alternative identities and viewpoints to those of the mainstream society. He also examines how the possession performances of the Bori cult enable members to subvert and occasionally to use moments of trance and possession to invert the power relationships between oppressed groups and their oppressors. Osita Okagbue teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is the author of African Theatres and Performances (Routledge, 2007). He is President of the African Theatre Association (AfTA) and editor of African Performance Review.


Although tornadoes produced by quasi-linear convective systems (QLCSs) generally are weak and short lived, they have high societal impact due to their proclivity to develop over short time scales, within the cool season, and during nighttime hours. Precisely why they are weak and short lived is not well understood, although recent work suggests that QLCS updraft width may act as a limitation to tornado intensity. Herein, idealized simulations of tornadic QLCSs are performed with variations in hodograph shape and length as well as initiation mechanism to determine the controls of tornado intensity. Generally, the addition of hodograph curvature in these experiments results in stronger, longer-lived tornadic-like vortices (TLVs). A strong correlation between low-level mesocyclone width and TLV intensity is identified (R2 = 0.61), with a weaker correlation in the low-level updraft intensity (R2 = 0.41). The tilt and depth of the updraft are found to have little correlation to tornado intensity. Comparing QLCS and isolated supercell updrafts within these simulations, the QLCS updrafts are less persistent, with the standard deviations of low-level vertical velocity and updraft helicity approximately 48% and 117% greater, respectively. A forcing decomposition reveals that the QLCS cold pool plays a direct role in the development of the low-level updraft, providing the benefit of additional forcing for ascent while also having potentially deleterious effects on both the low-level updraft and near-surface rotation. The negative impact of the cold pool ultimately serves to limit the persistence of rotating updraft cores within the QLCS.


The growing popularity of location-based systems, allowing unknown/untrusted servers to easily collect huge amounts of information regarding users' location, has recently started raising serious privacy concerns. In this paper we introduce geoind, a formal notion of privacy for location-based systems that protects the user's exact location, while allowing approximate information -- typically needed to obtain a certain desired service -- to be released. This privacy definition formalizes the intuitive notion of protecting the user's location within a radius $r$ with a level of privacy that depends on r, and corresponds to a generalized version of the well-known concept of differential privacy. Furthermore, we present a mechanism for achieving geoind by adding controlled random noise to the user's location. We describe how to use our mechanism to enhance LBS applications with geo-indistinguishability guarantees without compromising the quality of the application results. Finally, we compare state-of-the-art mechanisms from the literature with ours. It turns out that, among all mechanisms independent of the prior, our mechanism offers the best privacy guarantees.


We report a case of breast cancer hemorrhage locally controlled with zinc chloride paste (Mohs' paste), which is usually applied as a fixative for 24 h before micrographic surgery of cutaneous neoplasms. A 73-year-old woman was suffering from continuous bleeding from an advanced right breast cancer; this bleeding stopped after 15 min by hemostatic treatment with Mohs' paste. Long-term hemostasis and decreased exudates were maintained by weekly treatment. Although radical operation and chemotherapy were recommended, she rejected both without hormone therapy. The tumor size has been locally controlled for 2 years. This rapid treatment with Mohs' paste is effective for controlling bleeding and breast tumor exudates without adverse events, and improves the patients' quality of life.


Reference is made in this paper to cardiotocographic monitoring of labour by the principle of selective alarm recording, using trend memory scope, TMS-2, and a modified cardiotocographic recorder, FTS-101.--Upper or lower limits of individually preselected thresholds of foetal heart rate as well as upper limits of amplitude, frequency, basal tonus, and Montevideo units of uterine contractions were chosen as criteria by which to signal alarm. High-economy monitoring and savings on recording paper are some of the advantages provided by the system. Automatic alarm function as well as cardiotocographic recording twelve minutes prior to, during, and any time after an alarm signal proved to be sufficient for proper documentation of findings.


Smoking is a bad habit that danger the smoker and the non-smoker. In SMKN 2 Bandar Lampung, some amounts of students, have started smoking. Therefore, it is urgent to conduct socialization and found anti-smoking. We proposed to form agents (name of agent is Mr. Narsis) to rehabilitation for smoking students that aimed to educate students about danger of smoking and delegate the students of SMKN 2 Bandar Lampung will be anti-smoking representatives who understand and able to do socialization, management, and rehabilitation for smoking students as the solution to create a healthy environment in school. The method is agents were selected from qualified participants of socialization. The selected students will go through counseling training and become peer counselor for their smoker friends. There will be 50 agents who will be divided into 17 groups, each group will counsel 5 active smoker. There were three simulations conducted with three different skills of counselor in each simulation. Another method used is snake and ladder game about anti-smoking campaign. Finally, there were three evaluations, in pre-socialization, after socialization, and the overall skills of anti-smoking counselor. The result from this program is will be form agents anti-smoking as counselor and decrease smokers at school


This paper describes some theoretical and experimental investigations into the possible use of the reflexion of electromagnetic waves by an acoustic shock wave. Satisfactory detection of reflected microwave signals has been achieved in a number of experiments and the Doppler frequency shift of the signals has been shown to give a satisfactory indication of the wind velocity along the line of sight of the EMAC (ElectroMagnetic-ACoustic) probe arrangement. Remote indication of radial wind velocity has been achieved at ranges in excess of 450 m (1500 ft) and greater ranges should be obtained with improved experimental equipment.


Urban flood modelling has been evolving in recent years, due to computational facilities as well as to the possibility of obtaining detailed terrain data. Flood control techniques have also been evolving to integrate both urban flood and urban planning issues. Land use control and flow generation concerns, as well as a set of possible distributed measures favouring storage and infiltration over the watershed, also gained importance in flood control projects, reinforcing the need to model the entire basin space. However, the use of 2D equations with highly detailed digital elevation models do not guarantee good results by their own. Urban geometry, including buildings shapes, walls, earth fills, and other structures may cause significant interference on flood paths. In this context, this paper presents an alternative urban flood model, focusing on the system behaviour and its conceptual interpretation. Urban Flood Cell Model-MODCEL is a hydrological-hydrodynamic model proposed to represent a complex flow network, with a set of relatively simple information, using average values to represent urban landscape through the flow-cell concept. In this work, to illustrate model capabilities, MODCEL is benchmarked in a test proposed by the British Environmental Agency. Then, its capability to represent storm drains is verified using measured data and a comparison with Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). Finally, it is applied in a lowland area of the Venetian continental plains, representing floods in a complex setup at the city of Noale and in its surroundings.


An excess of classic Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in individuals of southern European ancestry has long been suspected and recently quantified in terms of age-standardized rates. In Italy and most notably in southern Italy for the period 1976-84, prior to the AIDS epidemic, KS incidence rates were two-to-three-fold higher than in the United States and Sweden and many ten-fold higher than in England and Wales and Australia. A high frequency of classic KS has also been documented in Israel and, in low-risk countries, in individuals born in southern Europe and the Middle East. Many infections have been suspected to play a role in the etiology of KS, including cytomegalovirus, malaria and, most recently, a new virus of the herpes family, identified in AIDS-associated and classic KS. The present review deals with epidemiologic data concerning KS in the Mediterranean and stresses the opportunity to combine the study of KS in AIDS as well as non-AIDS patients in order to shed light on this no longer rare disease.


This paper examines the history of chiropractic education in the province of Ontario, Canada, as an example of how the chiropractic profession established educational legitimacy. The development of chiropractic education in Ontario occurred in two phases. An early phase was poorly organized, leading most Canadian chiropractors to seek education in the United States. A second phase was instituted in 1945 with the establishment of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. The paper discusses developments with the Canadian College.


Imperforate anus is now corrected with substantial success, due to a better understanding of the anatomy and physiology of defecation. 1,2 The anomaly is usually recognized promptly, and the surgical procedures for its correction and their timing are well standardized. Experience reveals that considerable morbidity and potential mortality may result from late recognition of the occult anomalies which may accompany imperforate anus. The most dangerous latent anomalies are found in the genitourinary and alimentary tracts. Definition of the frequency of the associated defects was accomplished by study of the last 100 consecutive cases of imperforate anus seen at the University of Michigan Hospital during the 20-year period from 1949 to 1969. Imperforate anus patients were divided according to the classification of Ladd and Gross. 3 Anal or rectal stenosis is termed type 1 imperforate anus, a type 2 anomaly is a persistent proctadeal or posterior cloacal membrane, and anal atresia


Radiographic joint space narrowing (JSN) is the hallmark of progression in osteoarthritis (OA). We developed a technique of measuring joint space of the hip by computer analysis of digitally stored pelvic radiographs. The interobserver coefficient of variation was 3.3%. Mean joint space width (MJSW) and joint space surface were more sensitive to change than interbone distance. In a retrospective analysis of 69 OA hips, MJSW decreased 0.43 +/- 0.43 mm per year and was lower in patients with the hypertrophic form of OA. Limitations were due to radiograph quality. This computerized measurement method is applicable to monitor progression of hip OA and appears to be of value in the evaluation of disease-modifying therapies for OA.


This thesis is an investigation of the magmatic processes that operated in the plumbing
system of the Franklin Large Igneous Province (LIP). The Franklin LIP (~723-716 Ma)
extends >2500 km across northern Canada and is superbly exposed in the Minto Inlier of
Victoria Island. The exposed plumbing system is dominated by sills, with subordinate
fault-guided feeder dykes. Locally, sills are characterised by olivine-enriched bases, with
overlying doleritic gabbros. One example is the Lower Pyramid Sill. This sill was
investigated in detail using petrography, whole-rock chemistry and in-situ mineral
chemistry. Petrological and geochemical observations, combined with inverse melt
modelling show that the olivine-enriched layer formed by olivine slurry replenishment into
a resident gabbroic mush. In contrast, the overlying gabbros formed by in-situ
differentiation. Intervening clinopyroxene-rich cumulates formed by a metasomatic
reaction between different pore melts. The study emphasises that both slurry emplacement
and in-situ differentiation played a role in the formation of cumulate layering in this sill.
Sections examined through the same sill along strike, collectively termed the Fort
Collinson Sill Complex, reveal that the olivine slurry propagated >50 km downstream.
Radiogenic and stable isotope data support this interpretation. The geochemical
consequences of cumulate remobilisation and mixing in the sill complex are demonstrated,
as well as quantified, using Fe=Mg modelling. Additionally, the effects of dolostone
assimilation are considered, which can potentially affect phase equilibria.
This thesis also investigates the Ni-Cu-PGE potential of the Franklin LIP by studying the
Southern Feeder Dyke Complex. This dyke complex was fault-guided and brecciated
dykes contain microdoleritic microxenoliths that are impregnated by sulphides. Immiscible
sulphide liquids formed when the magma became sulphur saturated due to the ingestion of
local sulphur-rich wallrock. This study demonstrates the importance of external sulphur
addition to magma in triggering sulphide mineralisation and highlights the economic
potential of the Franklin LIP.


The pulmonary circulation is, under physiologic conditions, a low-pressure, low-resistance system. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is diagnosed when the mean pulmonary arterial pressure rises above 20mmHg (1). PH is an etiologically heterogeneous condition affecting the pulmonary circulation. PH can be divided into five major groups on the basis of etiology and clinical characteristics: 1) pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH); 2) PH because of left heart disease; 3) PH because of chronic lung diseases and/or hypoxia; 4) PH because of pulmonary obstructions; and 5) PH with unclear and/or multifactorial origin, including hematologic and systemic disorders (1). Despite differences in etiology, all PH groups exhibit some degree of vasoconstriction and vascular remodeling that contributes to the elevated mean pulmonary arterial pressure. This includes stiffening of the proximal arteries, thickening of the muscularized arteries, andmuscularization of the precapillary arterioles. These structural changes are thought to be driven by endothelial and smooth muscle cell dysfunction leading to abnormal proliferation and recruitment of immune cells and fibroblasts to the vasculature, although the initiation and/or sequence of these events is still under investigation (2). A hallmark of PAH is the occurrence of progressive and severe vaso-occlusive lesions thought to arise from a population of vascular wall cells that become abnormally proliferative and migratory and are also resistant to apoptosis (3). Evidence suggests the highly proliferative andmigratory cells found in occlusive lesions are endothelial or myofibroblasts of endothelial origin, as these cells express endothelial markers (4). In all forms of PH, pulmonary vascular remodeling leads to an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance, which in turn increases right ventricular afterload. Initially, this increase in afterload causes adaptive right ventricular hypertrophy, but this often progresses to maladaptive right ventricular hypertrophy, dilation, and fibrosis, eventually leading to right ventricular failure. Despite decades of research andmultiple therapies approved for clinical use, PAH remains an incurable disease, with a 5-year survival rate of 60% (5). Furthermore, despite being more common than PAH, other groups of PH have limited available therapeutic options to directly treat the disease. There are no approved therapeutics affecting pulmonary vascular remodeling. Although finding a targetable pathway to reverse or prevent pulmonary vascular remodeling has long been a goal, most available PH therapies target pathways regulating vascular tone, stimulating vasodilatory signaling. It is with this goal in mind that Huang and colleagues put forward the RNA-binding protein Quaking as a candidate for reversing pulmonary vascular remodeling in this issue of the Journal (pp. 159–171) (6). RNA binding proteins (RBPs) are critical regulators of pre-mRNA posttranscriptional processing, splicing, localization, and stability. Quaking (QKI) is a member of the STAR (signal transduction and activation of RNA) family. There are three isoforms of QKI: QKI-5, QKI-6, and QKI-7. Each isoform has been reported to regulate pre-mRNA splicing, transportation, and stability distinctly and in a cell-specific manner. Although QKI plays a role in neurological development and has been implicated in neurological disorders, recent work has further demonstrated a role for QKI in other biological systems, including cardiovascular development, immune cell differentiation, bone metabolism, cancer progression (7), and more recently, in the regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell phenotypic switch to a fibroproliferative response after vascular injury (8). Huang and colleagues describe for the first time a role for QKI in the pulmonary vasculature and PH pathogenesis (6). They found total QKI, primarily isoforms QKI5 and QKI6, were increased in the lungs of patients with PH and rodent models of experimental PH. Overexpressing QKI in control cells increased proliferation in PASMCs, corroborating the findings in patients, while overexpressing it in vivo exacerbated experimental PH. They also identified one of the target mRNAs of QKI in pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells (PASMCs), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), showing QKI was able to directly bind to STAT3mRNA and regulate its expression. The upregulation of QKI appeared to be sensitive to hypoxia, increasing in cells after exposure to hypoxia or hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-stabilizing agents. In addition, they describe a mechanism in which STAT3 regulates the expression of microRNAmi146b, STAT1, and Tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2 (TET2) to induce proliferation in human PASMCs. It remains unknown whether inhibiting QKI in PH patient PASMCs would affect proliferation and STAT3 signaling or if targeting QKI in established PHwould reverse pulmonary vascular remodeling in vivo. It is clear, however, that QKI is a regulator of STAT3 signaling in PASMCs, which may be of therapeutic interest. Given that numerous pathways have been identified as key regulators of pulmonary vascular remodeling, shown promising therapeutic effects in preclinical PHmodels, and yet have not translated to or yielded clinical results underscores the need to deepen our knowledge of drivers of pulmonary vascular remodeling. The current study by Huang and colleagues does this by describing a novel role for RBPs in PH pathogenesis, but it also raises multiple questions: How far up do we go? Is therapeutically targeting a broader regulatory network like RBPs effective and safe, or will it have too many offtarget effects? Is it possible to target injured cells involved in pulmonary


The most common form of DNA is a right-handed helix or the B-form DNA. DNA can also adopt a variety of alternative conformations, non-B-form DNA secondary structures, including the DNA G-quadruplex (DNA-G4). Furthermore, besides stem-loops that yield A-form double-stranded RNA, non-canonical RNA G-quadruplex (RNA-G4) secondary structures are also observed. Recent bioinformatics analysis of the whole-genome and transcriptome obtained using G-quadruplex–specific antibodies and ligands, revealed genomic positions of G-quadruplexes. In addition, accumulating evidence pointed to the existence of these structures under physiologically- and pathologically-relevant conditions, with functional roles in vivo. In this review, we focused on DNA-G4 and RNA-G4, which may have important roles in neuronal function, and reveal mechanisms underlying neurological disorders related to synaptic dysfunction. In addition, we mention the potential of G-quadruplexes as therapeutic targets for neurological diseases.


Urgent need for effective interventions in resource poor countries

What has happened to AIDS? Headlines are now rare, and advances in research and treatment occur in only small increments.1 An ambitious programme of vaccine trials has been delayed owing to the absence of promising candidate vaccines.2 In industrialised countries the incidence of AIDS is expected to have continued to rise in 1994 and then to stabilise for the rest of the decade. This implies continuing transmission of HIV infection and thus some failure of prevention. Men who have sex with men, the group most heavily affected by HIV and AIDS in industrialised countries, have shown that behavioural change to prevent infection is possible. Nevertheless, concern is growing about the lack of sustained behavioural change among people at high risk and especially about the incidence of new infections in younger members of affected communities.3 The incidence of heterosexually acquired AIDS in Britain continues to rise, as does the proportion of cases of AIDS attributable to heterosexual transmission17% in 1993.4 Maintaining preventive measures is a long term challenge.

In contrast to the relative stability of AIDS in industrialised countries, the epidemic is …


The four preceding articles in this series have been devoted to the chapter 'Verbs' of Das chwaresmische Sprachmaterial einer Handschrift der 'Muqaddimat al-adab' von Zamaxšari, I, attention being focused chiefly on the doubtful or erroneous transliterations of the Xw. glosses provided by the editor, Johannes Benzing. In this final article we return to the incomplete chapter on 'Nouns' which begins the book. Many of the glosses in Muq., 1–72 (Benzing, 1–60) remain sadly obscure, being insufficiently pointed hapax legomena of the type CCByk, BC'Dyk. Even some of these entries show the inadequacy of Benzing's transliteration scheme, e.g. TBBc 22.1 to indicate 'BBBc with the points of t, probably for the first letter',RNB 25.4 for 'RBB with one point, probably for -n-', B'BBwk 40.3 which could well be B'mwk. kCYNyk 26.5 but BCBByk 44.4 for the identical sequence of undotted letters, šY'MY'Nyk 49.1 for what could as well be šΛS'Byk, NTY 58.4 'owl' for what is undoubtedly, if surprisingly, nty. In every such case reference to the facsimile is absolutely essential, and occasionally profitable, as will be seen below.


Mining biological networks can be an effective means to uncover system level knowledge out of micro level associations, such as encapsulated in genetic pathways. Analysis of human disease genetic pathways can lead to the identification of major mechanisms that may underlie disorders at an abstract functional level. The focus of this study was to develop an approach for structural pattern analysis and classification of genetic pathways of diseases. A probabilistic model was developed to capture characteristic components ('fingerprints') of functionally annotated pathways. A probability estimation procedure of this model searched for fingerprints in each disease pathway while improving probability estimates of model parameters. The approach was evaluated on data from the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (consisting of 56 pathways across seven disease categories). Based on the achieved average classification accuracy of up to ~77%, the findings suggest that these fingerprints may be used for classification and discovery of genetic pathways.


Four hundred and fifty-three cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx were treated during the period from 1969 to 1978 at the Department of Otolaryngology, Kobe University Hospital. Two hundred and flinty-cases were treated by irradiation therapy and one hundred and five cases developed local recurrence following initial irradiation. In 17 cases radical reirradiation was performed for local recurrence. Seven cases were successful and ten unsuccessful. Eight of the latter received total laryngectomy with good results.In all of the unsuccessful reirradiation cases, the involvement of the anterior commissure was macroscopically evident before the initial irradiation and the reirradiation, and in the removed specimen observed microscopically following the failure of reirradiation. In the successful reirradiation cases on the other hand, the anterior commissure was not involved on clinical examination. Based on the above-mentioned fact, the choice of reirradiation for the relapsed laryngeal carcinoma should be confined to those in whom the involvement of the anterior commissure is completely deniable.On histopathological study, the effect of irradiation is different in each specimen examined regardless of the similarity in type and amount of irradiation. A centripetal shrinkage of the tumor was not seen in any microscopically examined specimens, but islands of the tumor left in the primarily involved area was the marked finding which was obtained.


Some cases of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) cannot be explicitly diagnosed, especially when the skin and nail lesions present years after the joint disease or are absent. Autoimmunity may also play a role in the development of Dupuytren's disease. However, the simultaneous presence of PsA and Dupuytren's disease is very rare. We present a patient displaying arthritis in multiple small joints, with bone erosions and bony fusions in all four extremities, combined with Dupuytren's disease. Because of the atypical clinical manifestation, the diagnosis perplexed doctors for decades. Without formal treatment, the disease followed a natural course over time. Reviewing the patient's data, a potential diagnosis of PsA, combined with Dupuytren's disease, was eventually made. After surgery, contractures of palmar and plantar fascia as well the thumb web were released, and the hallux valgus was corrected.


The invention concerns single-chain antibodies directed against the p53 protein, capable of being expressed in tumoral cells, capable of restoring a DNA binding in vitro and a transcription activator function in vivo. The invention also concerns nucleic acids coding for these molecules, the vectors containing them and their uses.


Intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) and abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) and contribute to new-onset and persistent organ failure. The optimal management of ACS involves a multi-disciplinary approach, from its early recognition to measures aiming at an urgent reduction of intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). A targeted literature search from January 1, 2000, to November 30, 2022, revealed 20 studies and data was analyzed on the type and country of the study, patient demographics, IAP, type and timing of surgical procedure performed, post-operative wound management, and outcomes of patients with ACS. There was no randomized controlled trial published on the topic. Decompressive laparotomy is effective in rapidly reducing IAP (standardized mean difference = 2.68, 95% confidence interval: 1.19-1.47, P < 0.001; 4 studies). The morbidity and complications of an open abdomen after decompressive laparotomy should be weighed against the inadequately treated but, potentially lethal ACS. Disease-specific patient selection and the role of less-invasive decompressive measures, like subcutaneous linea alba fasciotomy or component separation techniques, is lacking in the 2013 consensus management guidelines by the Abdominal Compartment Society on IAH and ACS. This narrative review focuses on the current evidence regarding surgical decompression techniques for managing ACS in patients with SAP. However, there is a lack of high-quality evidence on patient selection, timing, and modality of surgical decompression. Large prospective trials are needed to identify triggers and effective and safe surgical decompression methods in SAP patients with ACS.


CD44 or hyaluronan receptor is a transmembrane receptor associated with aggressive tumour growth, proliferation, and metastasis. In normal physiology, this receptor has a crucial role in cell adhesion, inflammation, and repair processes. However, many tumour cells over-express this receptor and abuse it to become progressive and perpetual units. The article comments from common functioning of the CD44 receptor, to its diabolic multi-dimensional effects in promotion of malignant cells. It also illuminates the relations of CD44 endorsed processes with other biomolecular events in cancer progression. In an end, the review focuses comprehensively at ongoing researches to exploit the CD44 over-expression as a probable target in treatment, management, and diagnosis of malignancy.


It might seem surprising that one of the most essential functions on the internet, linking –or "what webs the Web" – is still topical twenty years after the adoption of the InfoSoc Directive. Yet, on 9 March 2021 the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), comprising 15 judges, handed its 56-paragraph long judgment in the latest piece of the linking puzzle: This time in relation to thumbnails, framing and effective technological protection measures in Case C-392/19, VG Bild-Kunst.

Hyperlinks, as Advocate General (AG) Szupnar notes in his Opinion to the case, allow internet users to "'travel' through 'cyberspace'" in a similar fashion as "[t]he heroes of George Lucas' Star Wars film saga were able to travel through 'hyperspace' faster than the speed of light using a 'hyperdrive'". He continues in his science fiction analogy that "[a]lthough those links do not defy the laws of physics, as did the hyperdrives of the spacecraft in Star Wars, they nonetheless present a number of challenges from the point of view of the law, in particular copyright law." With this science fiction analogy in mind, it is less surprising that the question of whether hyperlinking to copyright-protected material constitutes a communication to the public in the sense of Article 3(1) InfoSoc Directive has kept the CJEU and legal scholarship busy for the last decade. With the recently performed update of EU copyright rules in the CDSM Directive, no legislative clarification is in sight. And just like George Lucas' successful Star Wars imperium, the linking saga keeps on going.


The principal constituent of the living cell is water. The role of the hydration shell and bulk H(2)O solvent is well recognized in the dynamics of isolated proteins, but the role of water in the dynamics of the integrated living cytoskeleton (CSK) remains obscure. Here we report a direct connection of dynamics of water to dynamics of the integrated CSK. The latter are known to be scale-free and to hinge upon a frequency f(0) that is roughly invariant across cell types. Although f(0) is comparable in magnitude to the rotational relaxation frequency of water (gigahertz range), the physical basis of f(0) remains unknown. Using the human airway smooth muscle cell as a model system, we show here that replacing water acutely with deuterium oxide impacts CSK dynamics in major ways, slowing CSK remodeling dynamics appreciably, and lowering f(0) by up to four orders of magnitude. Although these observations do not distinguish contributions of bulk solvent versus hydration shell, they suggest a unifying hypothesis, namely, that dynamics of integrated CSK networks are slaved in a direct fashion to fluctuations arising in intracellular water.


Mice fed a diet containing 1% (w/w) 3-hydroxy-4(1H)-pyridone (DHP) developed goitre even with a diet high in iodine whereas mimosine (0.5% w/w) did not produce goitre even with a low-iodine diet. Thyroid enlargement was apparent (measured morphometrically) by the 7th week and was advanced by the 11th week. Histologically the goitre was hyperplastic in type. No marked histological changes were found in other organs of mice fed DHP or any organs of mice fed mimosine, except for some atrophy of hair follicles. A single intragastric dose of DHP inhibited the uptake of 125I by the thyroid in the rat but an equivalent dose of mimosine did not. Evidence is presented that the inhibition occurs at the iodine binding step, as with methyl thiouracil, rather than at the iodide trapping step, as with thiocyanate. Chronic treatment of mice with DHP, as with 6-methyl thiouracil, increased the avidity of the thyroid in taking up 125I. The major conjugated form of DHP in mammals, DHP-3-O-glucuronide, was almost as effective a goitrogen as the unconjugated compound when given by mouth but considerably less active than the free form in the blood stream. It was concluded that DHP is a potent antithyroid compound of the thiouracil type with low general toxicity, since mammals can tolerate a level of intake sufficient to produce goitre in spite of iodine supplementation.


Summary Lafutidine (CAS 118288-08-7, FRG-8813) is a novel histamine H2-receptor antagonist with gastroprotective activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the property of the gastroprotective activity of lafutidine by examining the effect on ammonia-induced change in transmucosal potential difference (PD), basal gastric mucosal blood flow (GMBF) and noxious agent-induced cell damage. Intragastrical application of lafutidine accelerated the recovery of the PD reduction after exposure of the mucosa to 0.25% ammonia solution and the accelerating effect was abolished by chemical deafferentation, but not with indometacin, a cyclooxygenase inhibitor. The application of capsaicin, as a reference compound, significantly promoted the recovery of the ammonia-induced PD reduction and this effect was not altered with indometacin. Lafutidine given intragastrically caused a sustained increase in GMBF in a dosedependent fashion, which was also completely inhibited in the deafferentated rats. In vitro studies revealed that, in contrast to 16,16-dimethyl prostaglandin E2, lafutidine did not protect isolated gastric superficial epithelial cells from ethanolor ammonia-induced damage. In conclusion, the gastroprotection of lafutidine is induced by promoting the restitution of the damaged mucosa after a noxious agent, not by directly protecting the epithelial cells and this effect may be caused through the mechanism of capsaicin-sensitive afferent nerves.


Due to the FEC and ARQ mechanisms in UMTS the wireless part will not introduce loss, but instead introduces latency. This thesis aims to optimize the radio network (RAN) parameters in UMTS affecting TCP and then to optimize the parameters in TCP to perform better in this network.The tests have been performed in a live 3G network. A traffic model has been implemented into a client/server allowing us to simulate a UMTS customer in the cell, with which we can test different parameter settings. Radio parameters controlling radio connection supervision, channel switching, and power control's BLER-target have been examined. Performance has been measured in terms of throughput and cell capacity.The results show that we can improve TCP performance by 25% with better static parameter settings. However, the system would be even better with a dynamic approach that would adjust the RAN parameter settings to better match the current load in the cell. In this way the performance/user can be increased significantly and as an example for one user the average throughput given a specific traffic pattern can be increased from 65 kbps up to 300 - 320 kbps.


Rustication of students in Nigerian Universities ranges from different levels of suspension to outright expulsion. This can be occasioned by negative activities on the campus such as examination malpractice, wanton destruction of school property, impersonation, plagiarism of project work and worst of all, cultism, with their attendant poor academic performance. This paper surveys the possible effect of inclusion of students in the decision-making concerning their disciplinary matters as a means of curbing the excesses that lead to their rustication and thereby enhancing the overall goal achievement in universities. The study is based on a test-retest result of Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient statistic (r= 0.64), followed by frequency count and percentages along with chi-square analysis of pooled responses to questionnaire items administered to Principal Officers and Students' Union Executives of nine universities in South Eastern States of Nigeria. Chi-square values of 29.53 for Principal Officers and 14.83 for Students' Union Executives when compared to table value of 9.24 for 5 degrees of freedom at 0.05 level of significance confirm the need for students' participation in decision-making on their disciplinary matters. Indeed, the researcher recommends this approach since the students who know themselves better are in a greater position to effect self discipline.


A one-pot procedure for the enantioselective hydroazidation of non-activated trisubstituted alkenes is described. Hydroboration with monoisopinocampheylborane (IpcBH2 ) provides dialkylboranes that are in situ selectively converted into monoalkyl-substituted catecholboranes; these undergo radical azidation upon treatment with benzenesulfonyl azide and a radical initiator. Enantiomerically enriched azides were thus obtained in yields of 59-81 % and enantioselectivities of up to 94:6 e.r. (98:2 e.r. if the intermediate dialkylborane is purified by crystallization). A rapid access to enantiomerically pure (+)-rodocaine is also described. The use of other arenesulfonyl radical traps enables enantioselective hydroallylation, hydrosulfanylation, and hydrobromination reactions with yields of 71-86 %.


Gendering the Trans-Pacific World introduces an emergent interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field that highlights the inextricable link between gender and the trans-Pacific world. The anthology examines the geographies of empire, the significance of intimacy and affect, the importance of beauty and the body, and the circulation of culture.


BACKGROUND
Methods described in the literature for designing shielding for treatment rooms for radiotherapy systems often involve assumptions that lead to overestimations of the wall thicknesses required to meet dose rate constraints outside the room. The Leksell Gamma Knife (LGK) has built-in shielding that results in primarily scattered photons leaking into the room. The field of leakage radiation, therefore, has a wide spectrum of energies, up to the primary energies of cobalt-60, and is highly anisotropic, making standard site planning methods difficult to adapt to the LGK. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are an alternative for dose calculations but are computationally expensive.

PURPOSE
The aim was to develop a dose calculation algorithm for fast estimations of dose rates outside the barriers of a treatment room. The algorithm could then be employed in iterative methods to optimize treatment room parameters such as wall thicknesses and position of the LKG unit.

METHODS
The algorithm uses pre-calculated MC simulation data in two steps. First, it uses phase spaces that describe single photons in the radiation field around the LGK. Using each photon's position and direction, they are raytraced to the outside of the room. Based on their energy, angle of incidence to the barrier, and the barrier's thickness, a depth-dose profile is sampled from a pre-calculated library of profiles. The contribution from each photon is added to the space outside the barriers, giving the total dose distribution. The barrier thicknesses are optimized by iteratively running the algorithm and finding the minimum thickness required to keep the resulting maximum dose rate outside below a given upper limit.

RESULTS
Comparisons between dose distributions from the dose algorithm and full MC simulations of two typical rooms show good agreement, with the maximum dose rate outside each barrier being estimated within what represents a 2 cm error in concrete barrier thickness. The algorithm is successfully used in optimizing the barrier thicknesses and the results show potential decreases in most barriers' thickness, compared to a conventional method.

CONCLUSIONS
The algorithm is a promising alternative to conventional barrier design methods, eliminating several shortcomings of the latter whilst being significantly faster than a full MC simulation. The flexibility of the algorithm would further enable solving more complex cases, such as optimizing the LGK position or barrier material to further reduce material use and cost. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Among the most-read corporate documents are chief executive officers' (CEOs') shareholder letters. Using institutional isomorphism as lens, this study examines the extent to which the narrative styles used by South African CEOs in their shareholder letters are similar to the styles used by CEOs at leading international companies. The study also explores the degree to which impression management techniques are present in the South African CEOs' shareholder letters. The study uses DICTION software to conduct a narrative analysis of South African CEOs' shareholder letters for a single financial year, and compares the findings with those drawn from the Craig and Amernic (2018) study of the shareholder letters of CEOs from samples of international Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies. The study finds that optimism and realism are the two most-used narrative styles in South African CEOs' shareholder letters, and that these findings are markedly similar to those generated by the Craig and Amernic (2018) study of international companies. The study contributes to the understanding of normative institutional isomorphism in corporate reporting by providing empirical evidence that the narrative styles employed by CEOs of companies in a developing economy with high corporate governance standards conform to the same norms as those of CEOs of large international companies. The study also finds that the South African CEOs' dominant communication styles in the shareholder letters lend themselves to being tools of impression management.


The rapid proliferation of textual and multimedia online databases, digital libraries, Internet servers, and intranet services has turned researchers' and practitioners' dream of creating an information-rich society into a nightmare of info-gluts. Many researchers believe that turning an info-glut into a useful digital library requires automated techniques for organizing and categorizing large-scale information. This paper presents research in which we sought to develop a scaleable textual classification and categorization system based on the Kohonen's self-organizing feature map (SOM) algorithm. In our paper, we show how self-organization can be used for automatic thesaurus generation. Our proposed data structure and algorithm took advantage of the sparsity of coordinates in the document input vectors and reduced the SOM computational complexity by several order of magnitude. The proposed Scaleable SOM (SSOM) algorithm makes large-scale textual categorization tasks a possibility. Algorithmic intuition and the mathematical foundation of our research are presented in detail. We also describe three benchmarking experiments to examine the algorithm's performance at various scales: classification of electronic meeting comments, Internet homepages, and the Compendex collection.


Tuberculous disease of the shoulder joint recovers slowly by fibrous ankylosis which becomes sufficiently firm to maintain the abducted position only after several years' fixation. The disease occurs most commonly in the adult, and the average duration of conservative treatment is three to five years. Attempted acceleration of treatment reduces the scapulohumeral angle and abduction movement is lost.

For these reasons operative fusion of the joint is indicated as a terminal stage of treatment after quiescence has been secured by conservative measures. Roentgenographic evidence of quiescence, shown by recalcification of the bones, appears within about twelve months.

A new operation is described by which solid bony fusion can be secured without opening the joint, and the arthrodesis is definitely extraarticular. The cosmetic result is considerably improved by the operation.

Three cases are reported in which a sufficient interval of time has elapsed to judge the operation. In no case was there any aggravation of the disease or recurrence elsewhere, and in all three cases bony ankylosis resulted.


✓ Prolonged experimental cerebral vasospasm, determined by angiography, can be produced in animals by puncture of an intracranial artery (IAP) or subarachnoid injection of blood (SAI). Following these stimuli, several patterns of blood flow evolve. The biphasic pattern, seen only with hemorrhage from mechanical trauma to the vessel, seems to resemble most closely the clinical phenomenon. Presumably because of autoregulation, only angiographic constriction of cerebral arteries to less than one-half of their control value is associated with significant reduction of cerebral blood flow. Cerebral blood flow recordings and vessel caliber measurements should complement experiments in cerebral vasospasm to ascertain whether the spasm is producing significant ischemia and to assess the efficacy of subsequent treatment techniques.


Abstract: Seed processing or conditioning is important for improving soybean seed lot quality as it improves the physical characteristics by eliminating inert materials, weed and non-standard seeds and increases physiological quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of processing on physical and physiological qualities of soybean seed, before and after each equipment and transport system, during processing in a Seed Processing Plant. Samples of six cultivars were obtained during processing while seeds passed through each machine, totaling fifteen sampling sites. The experimental design was entirely randomized, treatments arranged in 15 x 6 factorial scheme, with 10 replications. Characteristics evaluated were germination; vigor by accelerated aging test; tetrazolium test for viability (TZ 1 to 5), vigor (TZ 1 to 3), weathering damage (TZ 3), mechanical damages (TZ 2 to 8), stinkbug damages (TZ 2 to 8) and moisture content. Results showed that processing improves the physiological and physical qualities of soybean seeds and enhances average quality seeds. The equipment and the system of transport (lifts and conveyor belts) used in this study did not cause mechanical damages to the seeds; the mechanical damages were mostly detected in larger seeds and stinkbug damages were found in smaller seeds; and seeds with weathering damage were neither eliminated nor reduced by any processing line.


Background Chest computed tomography (CT) has been accepted to provide reference for the diagnose and assessment the severity of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Decrease in the counts of lymphocyte and leukocyte is used as the diagnostic indicator of suspected COVID-19 cases. However, there is few study on exploring the hysteresis of chest CT changes and the predictive role of lymphocyte count in peripheral blood before treatment in the severity of the disease. Methods A retrospective analysis was carried out focusing on the data of patients tested to be positive for RNA nucleic acid test of SARS-CoV-2 with nasopharyngeal swabs in 4 hospitals. An independent assessment was performed by one clinician using the DEXIN FACT Workstation Analysis System, and the assessment results were reviewed by another clinician. Furthermore, the mean hysteresis time was calculated according to the median time from progression to the most serious situation to improvement of chest CT in patients after fever relief. The optimal scaling regression analysis was performed by including variables with statistical significance in univariate analysis. In addition, a multivariate regression model was established to investigate the relationship of the percentage of lesion/total lung volume with lymphocyte and other variables. Results In the included 166 patients with COVID-19, the average value of the most serious percentage of lesion/total lung volume was 6.62, of which 90 patients with fever had an average hysteresis time of 4.5 days after symptom relief, with a similar trend observed in those without fever. Multivariate analysis revealed that lymphocyte count in peripheral blood and transcutaneous oxygen saturation decreased with the increase of the percentage of lesion/total lung volume. Meanwhile, age, fever and C-reactive protein exhibited no such effect in the established model. Conclusions There is a hysteresis effect in the improvement of chest CT image in relative to fever relief in patients with COVID-19. Besides, the percentage of lesion/total lung volume of chest CT correlates negatively with lymphocyte count in peripheral blood and transcutaneous oxygen saturation. Findings in our study may contribute to understanding the disease status of patients with COVID-19 and grasping the opportunity of treatment by clinicians.


Microbial growth kinetics is often used to optimize environmental processes owing to its relation to the breakdown of substrate (contaminants). However, the quantification of bacterial populations in the environment is difficult owing to the challenges of monitoring a specific bacterial population within a diverse microbial community. Conventional methods are unable to detect and quantify the growth of individual strains separately in the mixed culture reactor. This work describes a novel quantitative PCR (qPCR)-based genomic approach to quantify each species in mixed culture and interpret its growth kinetics in the mixed system. Batch experiments were performed for both single and dual cultures of Pseudomonas putida and Escherichia coli K12 to obtain Monod kinetic parameters (μmax and Ks). The growth curves and kinetics obtained by conventional methods (i.e., dry weight measurement and absorbance reading) were compared with that obtained by qPCR assay. We anticipate that the adoption of this qPCR-based genomic assay can contribute significantly to traditional microbial kinetics, modeling practice, and the operation of bioreactors, where handling of complex mixed cultures is required.


The highly conserved catalytic sites in protein kinases make it difficult to identify ATP competitive inhibitors with kinome-wide selectivity. Serendipitously, during a dedicated fragment campaign for the focal adhesion kinase (FAK), a scaffold that had lost its initial FAK affinity showed remarkable potency and selectivity for serine-arginine-protein kinases 1-3 (SRPK1-3). Non-conserved interactions with the uniquely structured hinge region of the SRPK family were the key drivers of the exclusive selectivity of the discovered fragment hit. Structure-guided medicinal chemistry efforts led to the SRPK inhibitor MSC-1186, which fulfills all hallmarks of a reversible chemical probe, including nanomolar cellular potency and excellent kinome-wide selectivity. The combination of MSC-1186 with CDC2-like kinase (CLK) inhibitors showed additive attenuation of SR-protein phosphorylation compared to the single agents. MSC-1186 and negative control (MSC-5360) are chemical probes available via the Structural Genomics Consortium chemical probe program (https://www.sgc-ffm.uni-frankfurt.de/).


Automatic knowledge graph construction aims to manufacture structured human knowledge. To this end, much effort has historically been spent extracting informative fact patterns from different data sources. However, more recently, research interest has shifted to acquiring conceptualized structured knowledge beyond informative data. In addition, researchers have also been exploring new ways of handling sophisticated construction tasks in diversified scenarios. Thus, there is a demand for a systematic review of paradigms to organize knowledge structures beyond data-level mentions. To meet this demand, we comprehensively survey more than 300 methods to summarize the latest developments in knowledge graph construction. A knowledge graph is built in three steps: knowledge acquisition, knowledge refinement, and knowledge evolution. The processes of knowledge acquisition are reviewed in detail, including obtaining entities with fine-grained types and their conceptual linkages to knowledge graphs; resolving coreferences; and extracting entity relationships in complex scenarios. The survey covers models for knowledge refinement, including knowledge graph completion, and knowledge fusion. Methods to handle knowledge evolution are also systematically presented, including condition knowledge acquisition, condition knowledge graph completion, and knowledge dynamic. We present the paradigms to compare the distinction among these methods along the axis of the data environment, motivation, and architecture. Additionally, we also provide briefs on accessible resources that can help readers to develop practical knowledge graph systems. The survey concludes with discussions on the challenges and possible directions for future exploration.


In this paper, a problem of allocation and sizing of multiple active power-line conditioners (aplcs) in power systems is handled with novel formulation. The utilized objective function comprises two main factors such as reduction of total harmonic distortion and the total cost of active power-line conditioners (aplcs). The formulated problem is solved by optimization technique SHUFFLE FROG LEAP ALGORITHM(SHFLA) using MATLAB. To evaluate the competence of the proposed formulation, the IEEE 18-bus  distorted distribution test system is employed and investigated with various number of aplcs placement. These cases are based on the discrete and limited size for aplcs, requiring the optimization method to solve the constrained and discrete nonlinear problems. The comparison of results in this paper showed that the proposed SHFLA is the most effective result among others in determining optimum location and size of APLC in distribution systems.


The New Female Coterie was a group of disgraced upper-class women in the late eighteenth century traditionally dismissed as 'scandalous', 'fallen' or victims. This thesis re-evaluates these women, exploring the ways in which they utilised their agency to navigate divorce and separation proceedings which were designed for the benefit of men. It also investigates the constraints, such as family or wealth, that restricted their agency. The thesis further considers the ways in which the women were empowered by combining as a collective. This thesis utilises under-examined sources such as satirical cartoons, pamphlets, and The Rambler's Magazine to show that media itself could constrain women either by side-lining women's agency or by portraying it as a negative and dangerous thing. Media representations of the New Female Coterie provide evidence of the sex panics which, historians argue, reached their apex in the 1790s. This thesis posits instead that anxieties regarding women's sexual behaviour originated earlier than is often suggested. By examining the under-explored women of the New Female Coterie, this thesis contributes to scholarship on female agency in the Georgian period.


Continual generation of HIV-1 recombinant forms might contribute to its genetic diversity. In this study, a novel B/C/CRF01_AE recombinant virus (GX2016EU13) was identified, which was isolated from a HIV-positive man who was infected through heterosexual sex in Guangxi, China. GX2016EU13 was identified as CCR5-tropic. As shown in the near full-length genome (NFLG) analyses, five recombinant breakpoints were found only in the pol gene of GX2016EU13, which divided the NFLG into three subtype B segments, two subtype C segments, and one CRF01_AE segment. The whole gag sequence of GX2016EU13 belongs to subtype B, and the whole env sequence of GX2016EU13 belongs to CRF01_AE. The recombinant form was distinct from the other circulating recombinant forms and unique recombinant forms reported. The emergence of GX2016EU13 may suppose the complexity of the HIV-1 epidemic in high-risk sexual populations in Guangxi, China.


Demodex has been considered to be related with multiple skin disorders, but controversy persists. In this case-control study, a survey was conducted with 860 dermatosis patients aged 12 to 84 years in Xi'an, China to identify the association between facial dermatosis and Demodex. Amongst the patients, 539 suffered from facial dermatosis and 321 suffered from non-facial dermatosis. Demodex mites were sampled and examined using the skin pressurization method. Multivariate regression analysis was applied to analyze the association between facial dermatosis and Demodex infestation, and to identify the risk factors of Demodex infestation. The results showed that total detection rate of Demodex was 43.0%. Patients aged above 30 years had higher odds of Demodex infestation than those under 30 years. Compared to patients with neutral skin, patients with mixed, oily, or dry skin were more likely to be infested with Demodex (odds ratios (ORs) were 2.5, 2.4, and 1.6, respectively). Moreover, Demodex infestation was found to be statistically associated with rosacea (OR=8.1), steroid-induced dermatitis (OR=2.7), seborrheic dermatitis (OR=2.2), and primary irritation dermatitis (OR=2.1). In particular, ORs calculated from the severe infestation (≥5 mites/cm2) rate were significantly higher than those of the total rate. Therefore, we concluded that Demodex is associated with rosacea, steroid-induced dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis, and primary irritation dermatitis. The rate of severe infestation is found to be more correlated with various dermatosis than the total infestation rate. The risk factors of Demodex infestation, age, and skin types were identified. Our study also suggested that good hygiene practice might reduce the chances of demodicosis and Demodex infestation.


Background. To determine if physical examination can reliably detect or exclude abdominal or pelvic injury in adult trauma activation patients. Methods. Trauma registry and medical record data were retrospectively reviewed for all adult blunt trauma patients with Glasgow coma scale score > 8, from 6/30/05 to 12/31/06. Attending surgeons' dictated admission history and physical examination reports were individually reviewed. Patients' subjective reports of abdominal pain were recorded as present or absent. Exam findings of the lower ribs, abdomen, and pelvis were each separately recorded as positive or negative, and were compared with findings on a subsequent objective evaluation of the abdomen (OEA). ''Clinically significant'' injuries were defined as those that would change patient management. Results. One thousand six hundred sixty-three patients were studied. Of patients with a negative abdominal exam, 10% had a positive OEA. When abdominal pain was absent, and exam of the lower ribs, abdomen, and pelvis was normal, OEA was positive in 7.6%, and 5.7% had a clinically significant injury. While a positive abdominal exam was predictive of a positive OEA (P < 0.01), a negative exam, even when broadened (pain, lower ribs, abdomen, pelvis) did not exclude significant injuries. Conclusion. Ten percent of trauma activation patients with a negative abdominal exam have occult abdominal/pelvic injuries. Even when exam of the lower ribs, abdomen, and pelvis are all negative and abdominal pain is absent, 5.7% have occult injuries that would change management. OEA should be used liberally for adult blunt trauma activation patients regardless of physical exam findings, to avoid missing clinically