Objectives Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 (FGF23) is well documented as a crucial player in the systemic regulation of phosphate homeostasis. Moreover, loss-of-function experiments have revealed that FGF23 also has a phosphate-independent and local impact on skeletogenesis. Here, we used ATDC5 cell line to investigate the expression of FGF23 and the role it may play locally during the differentiation of these cells. Methods ATDC5 cells were differentiated in the presence of insulin, and treated with recombinant FGF23 (rFGF23), inorganic phosphate (Pi) and/or PD173074, an inhibitor of FGF receptors (FGFRs). The mRNA expressions of FGF23, FGFRs and markers of hypertophy, Col X and MMP13, were determined by qPCR analysis and FGF23 production was assessed by ELISA. FGFR activation was determined by immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting. Results FGF23 mRNA expression and production were increased during ATDC5 differentiation. At D28 in particular, rFGF23 stimulation increased hypertrophic markers expression, as Col X and MMP13, and mineralization. A synergic effect of Pi and rFGF23 stimulation was observed on these markers and on the mineralization process. The use of PD173074, a pan-FGFR inhibitor, decreased terminal differentiation of ATDC5 by preventing rFGF23 pro-hypertrophic effects. Conclusions Altogether, our results provide evidence that FGF23 plays an important role during differentiation of ATDC5 cell line, by promoting both hypertrophy and mineralization.


The carbamate pesticide, aldicarb, demonstrates significant acute toxicity in mammals, birds, and fish through the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and may present high potential for exposure of aquatic organisms during periods of runoff. Toxicity studies have shown that channel catfish are less sensitive to the acute toxic effects of aldicarb than are rainbow trout or bluegill. An earlier in vitro study suggests that the aldicarb resistance in catfish may be related to a low level of bioactivation to the potent aldicarb sulfoxide. The current study examines the toxicity, AChE inhibition, plasma kinetics, and in vivo metabolism of aldicarb in channel catfish. A 48-h LC50 of 9.7 mg/l was determined for juvenile channel catfish. Mortality was accompanied by dramatic loss of brain AChE. Further characterization of tissue-level effects suggests that muscle AChE plays a causal role in mortality. Aldicarb was metabolized in channel catfish to aldicarb sulfoxide, along with the formation of minor hydrolytic products. The toxicokinetics of aldicarb in catfish are bi-compartmental with rapid elimination (t1/2 = 1.9 h). Plasma AChE was inhibited in a pattern similar to that of the elimination of total aldicarb-derived compounds. A comparison of aldicarb uptake between catfish and rainbow trout showed no difference in compound absorbed in 24 h. The pattern of in vivo metabolism, however, was quite different between these species. Rainbow trout produce significantly more hydrolytic derivatives and have a 3-fold higher aldicarb sulfoxide to aldicarb ratio at 3 h. These data give strength to the hypothesis that a slower rate of bioactivation in the catfish (vs. rainbow trout) is acting as a protective mechanism against the acute toxicity of aldicarb.


It is known that plant arboviruses infect insect vector cells by endocytosis; however, the cellular receptors that mediate endocytosis have not been well defined. In our recently published work and this study, by clarifying the vertical transmission mechanism of Rice stripe virus (RSV) in Laodelphax striatellus, we provide a novel paradigm for how arboviruses enter insect germ-line cells. Instead of direct interaction with a viral receptor, the virus binds to a secreted ligand protein, hitchhiking the ligand-receptor pathway to achieve cell entry. Vitellogenin (Vg) is an indispensable protein for embryo development that is synthesized extra-ovarially and taken up by germ-line cells through Vg receptor (VgR)-mediated endocytosis. After revealing that RSV invades L. striatellus ovary by a specific molecular interaction with the insect Vg in haemolymph, this study addressed VgR's function in mediating the RSV invasion of the germarium nurse cells, further confirming the ligand's receptor-mediated viral cell-invasion mechanism. Understanding the viral ovary-entry pathways in vectors will help to find suitable measures to block the trans-generation transmission of the viruses. This article is part of the theme issue 'Biotic signalling sheds light on smart pest management'.


The effects of the three-carbon compound pyruvate on plasma lipid concentrations and body composition were evaluated in hyperlipidemic patients consuming a low-cholesterol (165-180 mg), low-fat (22-24% of energy; 18-20% of energy as saturated fatty acid) diet (0.091-0.099 MJ.kg body wt-1 x d-1). After consuming the above diet for 4 wk, during which time plasma lipid concentrations decreased, 34 subjects were randomly assigned to receive either 22-44 g pyruvate (n = 17) or 18-35 g polyglucose (placebo, Polycose, n = 17), iso-energetically substituted for a portion of carbohydrate energy for 6 wk. Despite greater weight and fat losses with pyruvate (P < 0.05), plasma concentrations of cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglyceride were not different between the two groups of subjects. We conclude that subsequent to diet-induced reduction in plasma lipid concentrations, pyruvate supplementation of a low-cholesterol, low-fat diet providing 6.7-7.6 MJ/d for 6 wk has no effect on plasma lipid concentrations but enhances body weight and fat losses.


This paper investigates a hybrid solution which combines deep reinforcement learning (RL) and classical trajectory planning for the "following in front" application. Here, an autonomous robot aims to stay ahead of a person as the person freely walks around. Following in front is a challenging problem as the user's intended trajectory is unknown and needs to be estimated, explicitly or implicitly, by the robot. In addition, the robot needs to find a feasible way to safely navigate ahead of human trajectory. Our deep RL module makes decisions at a high level by implicitly estimates the human trajectory and produces short-term navigational goals to guide the robot. These goals are used by a trajectory planner, which is responsible for low-level execution, to smoothly navigate the robot to the short-term goals, and eventually in front of the user. We employ curriculum learning in the deep RL module to efficiently achieve a high return. Our system outperforms the state-of-the-art in following ahead and is more reliable compared to end-to-end alternatives in both the simulation and real world experiments. In contrast to a pure deep RL approach, we demonstrate zero-shot transfer of the trained policy from simulation to the real world.


In this paper, we investigate the controllability of RLC electrical circuits with ideal components. For this, we make use of Differential Algebraic Equations (DAE) and model the circuits by the use of the so-called branch-oriented model. When considering the controllability of the circuits, we will make use of the Kalman Controllability Decomposition (KCD) and in particular the augmented Wong sequences which are tremendously help-full in constructing KCDs that decouple the system into a completely controllable part, a behavioral controllable part and an uncontrollable part. This paper will be concluded with some ob- servations regarding the controllability of electrical circuits.


A simple and scalable method of decorating 3D-carbon nanotube (CNT) forest with metal particles has been developed. The results observed in aluminum (Al) decorated CNTs and copper (Cu) decorated CNTs on silicon (Si) and Inconel are compared with undecorated samples. A significant improvement in the field emission characteristics of the cold cathode was observed with ultralow turn on voltage (Eto ∼ 0.1 V/μm) due to decoration of CNTs with metal nanoparticles. Contact resistance between the CNTs and the substrate has also been reduced to a large extent, allowing us to get stable emission for longer duration without any current degradation, thereby providing a possibility of their use in vacuum microelectronic devices.


I support Peppé's (2009) claim that prosody should be put on the research agenda of those working on aspects of language and speech-language pathology. But while her lead article mainly focuses on auditory forms of prosody, such as intonation, rhythm and voice quality, I argue that visual forms of prosody, in particular facial expressions, also need to be explored in this domain. Indeed, both variations in the voice and face are part of a speaker's expressive style, and are picked up as communicatively relevant cues by addressees. At the same time, there is preliminary evidence from studies of people with autism to suggest that they may have problems both with the production and comprehension of visual forms of prosody, and have difficulties to integrate input from different modalities. And finally, I propose a game-based paradigm which is potentially useful for the diagnosis and therapy of people who experience problems with the use of facial expressions in their social and linguistic interactions.


BACKGROUND Topical application of glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) ointment heals chronic anal fissures, providing an alternative to the traditional first line treatment of surgical sphincterotomy. AIMS To determine the most effective dose of topical GTN for treatment of chronic anal fissures and to assess long term results. METHODS Seventy consecutive patients with chronic anal fissure, were randomly allocated to eight weeks treatment with placebo, 0.2% GTN three times daily, or GTN starting at 0.2% with weekly 0.1% increments to a maximum of 0.6%, in a double blind study. RESULTS After eight weeks fissure had healed in 67% of patients treated with GTN compared with 32% with placebo (p=0.008). No significant difference was seen between the two active treatments. Headaches were reported by 72% of patients on GTN compared with 27% on placebo (p<0.001). Maximum anal sphincter pressure reduced significantly from baseline by GTN treatment (p=0.02), but not placebo (p=0.8). Mean pain scores were lower after treatment with GTN compared with placebo (NS). Of fissures healed with placebo 43% recurred, compared with 33% of those healed with 0.2% GTN and 25% healed with escalating dose GTN (p=0.7). CONCLUSIONS GTN is a good first line treatment for two thirds of patients with anal fissure. An escalating dose of GTN does not result in earlier healing. Significant recurrence of symptomatic fissures and a high incidence of headaches are limitations of the treatment.


Sepsis is a syndrome with life-threatening organ dysfunction induced by a dysregulated host response to infection. The heart is one of the most commonly involved organs during sepsis, and cardiac dysfunction, which is usually indicative of an extremely poor clinical outcome, is a leading cause of death in septic cases. Despite substantial improvements in the understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to the origin and responses to sepsis, the prognosis of sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction (SICD) remains poor and its molecular pathophysiological changes are not well-characterized. The recently discovered group of mediators known as long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have presented novel insights and opportunities to explore the mechanisms and development of SICD and may provide new targets for diagnosis and therapeutic strategies. LncRNAs are RNA transcripts of more than 200 nucleotides with limited or no protein-coding potential. Evidence has rapidly accumulated from numerous studies on how lncRNAs function in associated regulatory circuits during SICD. This review outlines the direct evidence of the effect of lncRNAs on SICD based on clinical trials and animal studies. Furthermore, potential functional lncRNAs in SICD that have been identified in sepsis studies are summarized with a proven biological function in research on other cardiovascular diseases.


The author reviews the requirements placed on the controller in real-time aerospace control applications and compares them with those found in the digital signal processing (DSP) field. The application of a family of powerful DSP microchips to the field of aerospace control systems is studied. An example of a simple control system is used to present the basic concepts and to show the effects of data sampling rate. The code sequence required to implement the control law is shown for a floating-point DSP microchip, and the timing is also given. It is concluded that DSP microchips, such as the Motorola DSP56001 and DSP96002, are extremely powerful and have the speed necessary for real-time control applications. Their instruction sets easily meet the requirements for real-time operating systems. Fixed-point units, such as the DSP56001 with 24-b precision, are more than adequate for many applications. For complicated control systems, like those using Kalman filtering to predict the state of the system, DSP microchips with floating-point capability, such as the 32-b DSP96002, would be the logical choice, for they increase dynamic range and are much easier to use.<<ETX>>


Hyperammonaemia is a common complication of chronic liver failure. Two main factors are thought to underlie this complication: a loss of hepatic detoxification function and the development of portosystemic shunting. However, few studies have tried to quantify the importance of portosystemic shunting. Here, we used a theoretical approach to test the hypothesis that the development of portosystemic shunting is sufficient to cause hyperammonaemia in cirrhosis.


The aim of this study was to find out the distribution pattern of phosphate, nitrate and silicate in the Jakarta Bay. The research were carried out in May and October 2004. Water samples were collected from 30 stations at surface and buttom layers using Nansen Bottle Sampler. Samples were analyzed using spectofotometer for phosphate, nitrate and silicate concentrations. The results showed that in May 2004, concentration of phosphate (0.03-0.05 ppm) and nitrate 90.05-0.29 ppm) were the highest in the western area, while in the central part, phosphate (0.002-0.07 ppm) and nitrate (0.05-0.29 ppm) were the lowest, respectively. In contrast to silicate, the highest was (0.61-2.93 ppm) found in the eastern part and the lowest (0.43-1.05 ppm) occurred in the western part. In October 2004, the highest concentration for phosphate (0.01-0.11 ppm) was found in eastern part, nintrate (0.03-0.19 ppm) and silicate (0.34-3.54 ppm) were found in central part, respectively. While the lowest for phosphate (0.007-0.06 ppm) occurred in central part, nitrate (0.015-0.15 ppm) in western part and silicate (0.31-1.77 ppm) in eastern part, respectively. It was suggested to manage water discharge into the Bay to reduce eutrophication.


Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cancer are serious health problems worldwide, and their prevalences have been on the rise in recent years. It has been reported that adropin plays an important role in the development of T2DM, oxidative stress, inflammation, and obesity. However, there is limited information available on T2DM from human studies, especially for the Korean population. In this study, we aimed to investigate the correlation between adropin levels and obesity of Korean T2DM patients. Methods Thirty-six T2DM patients were recruited for this study. The participants were further classified into female (n = 12) and male (n = 24). Their body composition, metabolic parameters, inflammatory factors, and oxidative stress were measured. Results The severity of obesity is more manifested in male than in female. Plasma triglyceride (TG) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels of male were significantly higher than female. The plasma adropin and adiponectin level of female was significantly higher than male. The body weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat mass were negatively correlated with the plasma adropin level in female, whereas adropin has positive correlation with adiponectin in female. The hs-CRP was negatively correlated with the plasma adropin level in female and male. malondialdehyde, reactive oxidative species, and TNF-α was not significantly correlated with adropin in patients with T2DM. Conclusions These findings suggest that adropin may be more used as a biomarker for predicting the risk of obesity and inflammation in Korean patients with T2DM, especially women.


About 20 p. cent of cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are familial (FALS). Fifteen percent of FALS cases are associated with an abnormality in the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene. To date, more than 100 different genetic abnormalities have been reported, all except two are autosomal dominant. The clinical characteristics of patients presenting with FALS associated with an SOD1 abnormality is homogeneous when there is no doubt about the hereditary aspect of the genetic abnormality: mean age at onset 42 years, limb onset, slow evolution. Except when present in the setting of a clearly inherited disease (FALS) (several patients through several generations), the causality of a given SOD1 mutation often remains an open question. Consequently, search for SOD1 mutation is not warranted when atypical features such as young age at onset or slow progression are present. Conversely, a complete family study is justified to determine the precise role of a given SOD1 mutation because of the large number of potential SOD1 mutations, the variability of the transmission mode, and the non-exceptional absence of proven causality for ALS. Specific cases where a frequent SOD1 mutation with a recognized causal effect is recognized (no more than 15 out of more than 90 mutations) would be an exception.


Here, we report non-detection of radio bursts from Fast Radio Burst FRB 121102 during two 5-hour observation sessions on the Robert C. Byrd 100-m Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, USA, on December 11, 2017, and January 12, 2018. In addition, we report non-detection during an abutting 10-hour observation with the Kunming 40-m telescope in China, which commenced UTC 10:00 January 12, 2018. These are among the longest published contiguous observations of FRB 121102, and support the notion that FRB 121102 bursts are episodic. These observations were part of a simultaneous optical and radio monitoring campaign with the the Caltech HIgh- speed Multi-color CamERA (CHIMERA) instrument on the Hale 5.1-m telescope.


In this study, lightweight ultra-high-performance concrete (L-UHPC) was prepared by using SP to replace part of the cement. The main study investigated the effect of the amount of SP on the spread diameter, apparent density and mechanical properties of L-UHPC. The mechanism of the effect of SP on the hydration product of L-UHPC was studied and the pore structure of L-UHPC was also analyzed. The results show that the incorporation of SP can effectively improve the spread diameter and reduce the apparent density of L-UHPC to a certain extent. With the increase in SP content, the compressive strength of L-UHPC at 7 days of age did not change significantly. However, the compressive strengths at 3 and 28 days of age changed significantly. When the amount of SP was less than 12%, there was no significant decrease flexural and compressive strength at 28 days of age. However, the flexural and compressive strength of L-UHPC gradually decreased when the amount of SP was greater than 12%. The microstructure shows that SP can reduce the content of portlandite. This is mainly due to the fact that the addition of SP improved the stacking compactness of L-UHPC and promoted secondary hydration reactions. The content of portlandite and the hydration degree of cement were reduced. At the same time, the exothermic hydration of L-UHPC with SP was less, the hydration process was slow, and the exothermic rate of initial hydration was low. An appropriate amount of SP can effectively improve the pore structure of L-UHPC and significantly reduce the pore volume of harmful pores (50~200 nm). SP can make the L-UHPC structure more compact and has a positive effect on the development of L-UHPC strength.


Specialists of the urologic clinic of the I.M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy studied effectiveness of lipidosterol extract Serenoa repens (permixon) in 26 patients with prostatic hyperplasia (total prostate-specific antigen was under 4 ng/ml). The trial has been performed from November 1995 up to now. The drug was taken before meal with a small quantity of water in a total daily dose 320 mg twice a day. Initial IPSS values ranged from 8 to 18 scores (mean 11.65 +/- 0.59). Life quality index was 1 to 4 scores (mean 2.46 +/- 0.15). Initial size of the prostate varied from 26 to 63 cm3 (mean 36.23 +/- 1.57 cm3). Maximal urinary flow rate (Qmax) made up 8.7 to 14.6 ml/s (mean 11.83 +/- 0.31 ml/s). Residual urine was initially 0-60 ml (mean 10.58 +/- 2.91 ml). Permixon significantly reduced the disease symptoms and improved quality of life. 5 years of treatment decreased mean IPSS by 8.8 +/- 0.18 (75.5%). QOL--by 1.31 +/- 0.08 (53.3%), size of the prostate--by 10.81 +/- 0.55 cm3 (29.8%). Neither the symptoms nor quality of life became worse for these five years. The size of the prostate reduced in 16, unchanged in 9 and increased only in 1 patient. Qmax was initially under 15 ml/s and rose after the treatment by 4.13 +/- 0.51 ml/s (35%), on the average. Qmax rose above 15 ml/s in 16 patients. Residual urine increased during the treatment in one patient only. Permixon intolerance was not observed. Thus, continuous 5-year therapy with lipidosterol extract Serenoa repens (permixon) proved highly effective and safe in 26 patients with initial or moderate symptoms of prostatic hyperplasia.


This paper deals with car license plate detection (CLPD) system in order to identify vehicles by capturing their car license plates (CLP). Car license plate detection (CLPDS) is an emerging area of research due to various applications such as prevention of crime, electronic toll system, intelligent traffic control system etc. In the proposed system, after converting the color input image into grayscale, an adaptive thresholding is used to obtain the binary image. Then the unwanted lines are removed through an unwanted-line elimination algorithm (ULEA). Finally to detect the license plate, vertical edges are detected by Sobel operator. Experiments were carried out for detection of front view as well as rear view of license plates. The experimental evaluation is carried out for 60 images taken from roadside and parking lots. The proposed method yields 96.9% detection accuracy.


Fredholm determinants associated to deformations of the Airy kernel are closely connected to the solution to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation with narrow wedge initial data, and they also appear as largest particle distribution in models of positive-temperature free fermions. We show that logarithmic derivatives of the Fredholm determinants can be expressed in terms of a 2x2 Riemann-Hilbert problem, and we use this to derive asymptotics for the Fredholm determinants. As an application of our result, we derive precise lower tail asymptotics for the solution of the KPZ equation with narrow wedge initial data, refining recent results by Corwin and Ghosal.


DVB-H is a mobile digital video broadcasting technology based on DVB-T with the advantages of time-slicing and multiprotocol encapsulation¿forward error correction (MPE-FEC) to reduce the power consumption and enhance the stability of receiver. The encapsulated data is compatible with the Internet Protocol which makes the integration of broadcast and telecommunication much easier. Therefore, digital content can be transmitted by adding encapsulation for each layer. In this paper, we developed a portable middleware for DVB-H clients. It could parse the Transport Stream according to the IP Data Casting (IPDC) protocol stack to achieve interactive multimedia services. Moreover, channel information contained in Electronic Service Guide (ESG) could also be decoded. Several applications were developed on our middleware to demonstrate its feasibility as an interactive multimedia platform.


Stroboscopic spin flips have already been shown to prolong the coherence times of quantum systems under noisy environments. Uhrig's dynamical decoupling scheme provides an optimal sequence for a quantum system interacting with a dephasing bath. Several experimental demonstrations have already verified the efficiency of such dynamical decoupling schemes in preserving single-qubit coherences. In this work we describe the experimental study of Uhrig's dynamical decoupling in preserving two-qubit entangled states using an ensemble of spin-1/2 nuclear pairs in solution state. We find that the performance of odd-order Uhrig sequences in preserving entanglement is superior to both even-order Uhrig sequences and periodic spin-flip sequences. We also find that there exists an optimal order of the Uhrig sequence in which a singlet state can be stored at high correlation for about 30 seconds.


This research project sought to establish the influence of investment groups on creation of small and medium size enterprises in Nairobi County. Investment groups are started by like-minded persons with a common vision geared towards investments. In Kenya investment groups are powerful resources mobilizer and are seen as a solution to providing SME's start-ups, with capital and human resources capacity. Large businesses have emerged from this investment groups enabling the membership acquire large assets, undertake large projects that would not have been possible individually. The study sought to determine the influence of resources mobilization, ideas generation, risk spreading and social capital on creation of small and medium size enterprises. The study adopted a descriptive study design looking at all investment groups registered by Kenya Association of Investment groups (KAIG) as at December, 2014 in Nairobi County to determine if investment groups that are involved in enterprise creation. The investment group had to be involved in business outside agricultural production. Value addition, manufacturing and service industry enterprises were considered. A sample of 96 investment groups statistically determined was stratified and randomly selected from a study population of 1500 investment groups domiciled in Nairobi County. Data was collected by administering a questionnaire to respondents. The researcher administered a total of 96 questionnaires and managed to obtain 70 filled questionnaires constituting a response rate of 72.92%. This rate was adequate to enable the researcher to carry out the analysis and draw adequate conclusions. The collected questionnaires were edited and cleaned for completeness and consistency. After the questionnaires were coded, they were keyed into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 21) for analysis. From the study findings, this study concluded that investment groups highly influences the formation of small and medium enterprises in Nairobi County. This is achieved through resource mobilization, sharing of business ideas, spreading risks and taking advantage of social networks of the group members.


Hearing problems such as hearing loss and susurrus aurium are said to improve with occlusal treatment, but few objective clinical reports have been published in the dental field. We looked at the effect of occlusal treatment and chewing instruction on hearing ability in five patients who had an occlusal disorder and the unilateral chewing habit. The following results were obtained: 1. Unilateral chewing due to occlusal disorder may cause differences in hearing ability between the right and left sides (Cases 1, 2 and 3). 2. A reduction in the vertical dimension of occlusion is considered to be one of the factors that cause a decrease in hearing ability (Cases 4 and 5). 3. In all cases, occlusal treatment and chewing instruction lead to a improvement in hearing and to equalizing of hearing ability between low and high frequencies. These clinical findings indicate that there is a relationship between changes in hearing ability and oral function.


The geroscience hypothesis posits that therapies to retard biological processes of aging can prevent disease. To test such "geroprotective" therapies in humans, surrogate endpoints are needed for extension of disease-free lifespan. Methods to quantify biological aging could provide such surrogate endpoints, but different methods have not been systematically evaluated in the same humans. We studied seven measures of biological aging in 964 middle-aged humans in the Dunedin Study: telomere-length, three epigenetic-clocks, and three biomarker-composites. Agreement between these different measures of biological aging was low. We also compared associations between biological aging measures and outcomes that geroprotective therapies will seek to modify: physical functioning, cognitive decline, and subjective signs of aging. The 71-CpG epigenetic clock and the biomarker composites were consistently related to these outcomes. Effect-sizes were modest. Quantification of biological aging is a young field. Next steps are to move toward systematic evaluation and refinement of methods.


Background: Saffron roast chicken is one of the most popular and delicious foods in Iran, which is prepared from a mixture of saffron with chicken meat and then cooking the mixture. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of saffron on the chicken meat stored at refrigerator temperature. Methods: After mixing chicken meat with saffron powder stigma, the microbial, physicochemical and texture factors such as Staphylococcus aureus , Fecal coliforms, mold and yeast, pH, water holding capacity (WHC), percentage of cooking loss, lipid oxidation (TBARs) and textural profile analysis were measured. All of these experiments were carried out during the storage period. Results: In samples treated with saffron, TBARs ( Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) were less than control samples, and other parameters had no significant difference with the control sample. The overall conclusion is based on this principle that saffron reduces fat oxidation in chicken breast meat during storage, but has no statistically significant effect compared to the control sample in relation to other microbial parameters and texture quality. No antimicrobial activity was observed due to the lack of use of saffron as an aqueous or alcoholic extract. Conclusion: saffron stigma powder can be considered as an improving agent of physico-chemical characteristics of chicken meat.


The previous articles of this series provided presumptive evidence that the four main differentiated cell types in the epithelium of the mouse small intestine: villus columnar, mucous, entero-endocrine, and Paneth cells, originate from the same precursor, the crypt-base columnar cell. In the present work, direct evidence was obtained in support of this view. It was first found that crypt-base columnar cells phagocytose non-viable cells in their vicinity, with the result that a large phagosome appears in the cytoplasm. Such phagosomes were then used as markers to follow the evolution of crypt-base columnar cells.

In normal control animals, a rare crypt-base columnar cell includes a large phagosome containing Paneth cell remnants. By six hours after injection of two μCi 3H-thymidine per g body weight, a fair number of crypt-base columnar cells include a different type of phagosome containing labeled nucleus and granulefree cytoplasm, which is attributed to phagocytosis of a labeled crypt-base columnar cell killed by beta-radiation from the incorporated 3H-thymidine.

By 12 hours after 3H-thymidine injection, phagosomes have appeared in partly differentiated mid-crypt columnar cells and oligomucous cells; by 18–24 hours, in fully differentiated columnar cells and in Paneth cells; and by 30 hours, in an entero-endocrine cell. Since phagosomes are first found in crypt-base columnar cells and only later in the four differentiated cell types, it is concluded that crypt-base columnar cells transform into cells of these four types and, therefore, behave as the stem cells of the epithelium.

The finding of rare epithelial cells containing two different types of secretory material (either mucous globules and entero-endocrine granules, or mucous globules and Paneth cell granules) confirms that the stem cells are multipotential. These findings support the Unitarian Theory of epithelial cell formation in the small intestine.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

Testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) are the most common solid tumors of 15-35 year old men. TGCT patients are frequently cured with cytotoxic cisplatin-based therapy. However, TGCT patients refractory to cisplatin-based chemotherapy have a poor prognosis, as do those having a late relapse. Pluripotent embryonal carcinoma (EC) are the malignant counterparts to embryonic stem (ES) cells and are considered the stem cells of TGCTs. Here we show that human EC cells are highly sensitive to 5-aza-deoxycytidine (5-aza-CdR) as compared to a variety of somatic solid tumor cells. This is associated with markedly abundant expression of the pluripotency-associated DNA methyltransferase 3B, DNMT3B, as compared to somatic tumor cells. Knockdown of DNMT3B in EC cells resulted in substantial resistance to 5-aza-CdR, strongly implicating that 5-aza-CdR sensitivity is mechanistically linked to high levels of DNMT3B. Intriguingly, cisplatin resistant EC cells retain an exquisite sensitivity to low dose 5-aza-CdR treatment and pretreatment of 5-aza-CdR re-sensitizes these cells to cisplatin-mediated toxicity. These findings indicate that high expression of DNMT3B, a likely byproduct of their pluripotent and germ cell nature, sensitizes TGCT-derived EC cells to low dose 5-aza-CdR treatment. Decreased proliferation and survival with low nanomolar concentrations of 5-aza-CdR is associated with ATM activation, H2AX phosphorylation, increased expression of p21, and the induction of genes known to be methylated in TGCTs. Data pertaining to the mechanism of DNMT3B-dependent, 5-aza-CdR hypersensitivity in TGCTs will be presented. Efforts to extend this work to clinical samples are ongoing.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4273.


Distinguishing between brain-damaged and schizophrenic patients remains a significant clinical problem. However, substantive and methodological difficulties have led to discouragement and consequent loss of interest in this area of differential diagnosis. Several models for making this distinction were proposed: cognitive, empirical-psychometric, attentional motivational, neuropsychological and information processing. In evaluating these models, three persistent methodological problems were identified: diagnostic inaccuracy, inadequate sampling, and difficulty in interpretation of the subject's performance. Various suggestions were made for resolving these difficulties through such means as equating samples for level of deterioration, utilizing modern, objective diagnostic techniques in the selection of samples, comparing subtypes of brain damage and schizophrenia, and using test procedures that have been shown to assess dispositional characteristics of the conditions under study, rather than their epiphenomena. It was suggested that recent substantive findings, mainly those involving neurological deficit in schizophrenia and detection of major behavioral differences among various subtypes of schizophrenia and brain damage, could be used in attempts to resolve the differential diagnostic problem under discussion. It was suggested that resolution of the methodological problems posed in combination with new substantive data concerning schizophrenic and brain-damaged patients may set the stage for a new start for investigating an old problem.


A garnetite xenolith, KC-99-M5, from Malaita Island reported to contain minerals from the mantle transition zone was investigated using micro-Raman spectroscopy and electron probe microanalysis. The xenolith is mainly composed of Ti-bearing pyropic garnet. It contains many amoeboid areas with radiating cracks and veins that suggest fracturing during decompression. The phases in the veins and amoeboid areas are identified as orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, amphibole, spinel, and plagioclase. High-pressure minerals such as majorite and silicate perovskite were not confirmed in this work. Texture, mineral chemistry, and Raman spectroscopic data indicate that the minerals in the veins and amoeboid areas are the reaction products of primary minerals with the melt from the hosting alnoite magma that penetrated along the cracks.


Hadoop is an open source implementation of MapReduce. Performance of Hadoop is affected by the overhead of communication during the transmission of large datasets to the computing node. In a heterogeneous cluster if a map task wants to process the data, which is not present in the local disk then the data transmission overhead occurs. To overcome this issue, Data Prefetching for Heterogeneous Hadoop cluster for resource optimization is proposed. data prefetching is used to fetch the input data in advance from the remote node to a particular computing node. Hence transmission of data occurs in parallel with data processing and the job execution time is reduced. Different MapReduce jobs are used to conduct the experiment. The results demonstrate that the time taken to transmit the data is reduced. The job execution time is reduced by 15% for the input data size greater than or equal to 2GB and performance improvement of 25% is obtained for 64MB block size.


This paper seeks to evaluate the capacity to manage foreign exchange risk among two groups of interest – practitioners in business and recent graduates of higher educational institutions in Tanzania. It also assesses the adequacy of the content of programmes of study in third-level business training institutions in preparing graduates to manage foreign currency risk effectively. The research was mainly in the form of a survey. Interviews with key informants provided additional insight from which mini cases were developed to demonstrate some specific issues of interest concerning foreign currency management in Tanzania. This paper concludes that foreign currency risk is perceived to be a significant challenge by the overwhelming majority of both respondents in business and recent graduates of higher education institutions. It also concludes that the capacity to manage foreign currency risk is either weak or mostly non-existent and there is a need to strengthen that capacity. In self-assessment of capacities and competencies for managing foreign currency risk through hedging techniques it was evident from the results that awareness of foreign currency risk management techniques as well as competencies to put them to use were significant challenges among respondents – both in firms and to a lesser extent recent graduates. Practitioner respondents were less knowledgeable and less able to use foreign currency hedging techniques and this was the case for both internal and external hedging techniques. Financial intermediaries on the other hand did not have readily available instruments and products for managing foreign currency risk and this did not help in enhancing the practices in place within firms.


Basalt samples recovered on Ocean Drilling Program Leg 120 from the Kerguelen Plateau were investigated by thermomagnetic analysis, X-ray diffraction, and ore microscopy. The basement samples could be divided into two groups based on Curie temperatures, cell-edge parameters, and optical magnetic mineralogy. Samples from Sites 748 and 750 underwent only low-temperature oxidation and displayed Curie temperatures for the titanomaghemites that ranged from 340° to 395°C. The basalts from Sites 747 and 749 mainly experienced high-temperature oxidation. High-temperature oxidation produced titanium-poor titanomagnetites with ilmenite-exsolution lamellae. Curie temperatures of the deuterically oxidized titanomaghemites varied from 490° to 620°C.


Abstract A set of 146 representative adzuki (Vigna angularis var. angularis and var. nipponensis) germplasm from six Asian countries with a tradition of adzuki bean production, together with an outgroup standard rice bean (Vigna umbellata), were analysed by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) methodology using 12 informative primer pairs. A total of 313 unambiguous polymorphic bands were created. According to the dendrogram, using cluster analysis based on AFLP banding, 143 of the accessions were distinct and revealed enough genetic diversity for identification and classification of accessions within Vigna angularis. A neighbour-joining tree was generated using the newly developed Innan's nucleotide diversity estimate from the AFLP data. From analysis, seven distinct evolutionary groups, named 'Chinese cultivated', 'Japanese cultivated', 'Japanese complex-Korean cultivated', 'Chinese wild', 'China Taiwan wild', 'Nepal- Bhutan cultivated' and 'Himalayan wild', were detected. Nucleotide diversity with geographical distribution of each group is discussed, regarding the evolutionary relationships between wild and cultivated adzuki beans. The preliminary results indicated that cultivated adzuki beans have been domesticated from at least four progenitors with at least three geographical origins.


Plant-based beverage consumption is increasing markedly. Value-added dehulled rice (Oryza sativa) germination was investigated to improve beverage qualities. Germinating brown rice has been shown to increase health-promoting compounds. Utilizing green processing, wholesome constituents, including bran, vitamins, minerals, oils, fiber and proteins should should convey forward into germinated brown rice beverages. Rapid visco-analyzer (RVA) data and trends established that brown rice, preheated brown rice and germinated brown rice had higher pasting temperatures than white rice. As pasting temperature in similar samples may be related to gelatinization, RVA helped guide the free-flowing processing protocol using temperatures slightly above those previously reported for Rondo gelatinization. Particle size analysis and viscometric evaluations indicate that the developed sprouted brown rice beverage is on track to have properties close to commercial samples, even though the sprouted brown rice beverage developed has no additives, fortifications, added oils or salts. Phenolics and γ-aminobutyric acid increased slightly in germinated brown rice, however, increases were not maintained throughout most stages of processing. Significantly lower inorganic arsenic levels (113 ng/g) were found in germinated (sprouted) brown rice, compared to Rondo white and brown rice, which is far below the USA threshold level of 200 ng/g.


Despite the remarkable progress achieved on automatic speech recognition, recognizing far-field speeches mixed with various noise sources is still a challenging task. In this paper, we introduce novel student-teacher transfer learning, BridgeNet which can provide a solution to improve distant speech recognition. There are two key features in BridgeNet. First, BridgeNet extends traditional student-teacher frameworks by providing multiple hints from a teacher network. Hints are not limited to the soft labels from a teacher network. Teacher's intermediate feature representations can better guide a student network to learn how to denoise or dereverberate noisy input. Second, the proposed recursive architecture in the BridgeNet can iteratively improve denoising and recognition performance. The experimental results of BridgeNet showed significant improvements in tackling the distant speech recognition problem, where it achieved up to 13.24% relative WER reductions on AMI corpus compared to a baseline neural network without teacher's hints.


The deployment of wind power plants in cold climate becomes ever more attractive due to the increased air density resulting from low temperatures, the high wind speeds, and the low population density. However, the cold climate conditions bring some additional challenges as itt can easily cause wind turbine blades to freeze. The frizzing ice on blades not only increases the energy required for the rotation of blades, resulting in a reduction in the power generation, but also increases the amplitude of the blades' vibrations, which may cause the blade to break, affecting the power generation performance of the wind turbine and poses a threat to its safe operation.
 Current published blade icing detection methods focus on studying the blade icing mechanism, building the model and then judging if it is iced or not. These models vary with different wind turbines and working conditions, so expertise knowledge is required. However, deep learning techniques may solve the abovementioned problem based on their excellent feature learning abilities but until now, there are only few studies on wind turbine blade icing detection based on the deep learning technology. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel blade icing detection model, named two-dimensional convolutional neural network with focal loss function (FL-2DCNN). The network takes the raw data collected by the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system as input, automatically learns the correlation between the different physical parameters in the dataset, and captures the abnormal information, in order to accurately output the detection results.
 However, the amount of normal data collected by SCADA systems is usually much larger than the one of blade icing fault data, leading to a serious data imbalance problem. This problem makes it difficult for the network to obtain enough features related to the blade icing fault. Therefore the focal loss function is introduced to the FL-2DCNN to solve the aforementioned data imbalanced problem. The focal loss function can effectively balance the importance of normal samples and icing fault samples, so that the network can obtain more icing-related feature information from the icing fault samples, and thus the detection ability of the network can be improved. The experimental results of the proposed FL-2DCNN based on real SCADA data of wind turbines show that the proposed FL-2DCNN can effectively solve the sample imbalance problem and has significant potential in the blade icing detection task compared with other deep learning methods.


With the wide applications of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in various fields, such as environment monitoring, battlefield surveillance, healthcare, and intrusion detection, trust establishment among sensor nodes becomes a vital requirement to improve security, reliability, and successful cooperation. The existing trust management approaches for large-scale WSN are failed due to their low dependability (i.e., cooperation), higher communication, and memory overheads (i.e., resource inefficient). In this paper, we propose a novel and comprehensive trust estimation approach (LTS) for large-scale WSN that employs clustering to improve cooperation, trustworthiness, and security by detecting malicious (faulty or selfish) sensor nodes with reduced resource (memory and power) consumption. The proposed scheme (LTS) operates on two levels, namely, intra-cluster and inter-cluster along with distributed approach and centralized approach, respectively, to make accurate trust decision of sensor nodes with minimum overheads. LTS consists of unique features, such as robust trust estimation function, attack resistant, and efficient trust aggregation at the cluster, head to obtain the global feedback trust value. Data trust along with communication trust plays a significant role to cope with malicious nodes. In LTS, punishment and trust severity can be tuned according to the application requirement, which makes it an innovative LTS. Moreover, dishonest recommendations (outliers) are eliminated before aggregation at the base station by observing the statistical dispersion. The theoretical and mathematical validations along with simulation results exhibit the great performance of our proposed approach in terms of trust evaluation cost, prevention, and detection of malicious nodes as well as communication overhead.


Lee Silverman Voice Treatment-BIG (LSVT BIG) has been used in Parkinson's disease and in two case studies with individuals post-stroke. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary clinical effect of the LSVT BIG program for individuals post-stroke. This study was a waitlist crossover design. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, after 4 weeks, and after crossover. The primary outcomes were feasibility and acceptability; clinical outcomes were also assessed. We contacted 888 potential participants. Of the 35% of individuals who were interested in the study, most were ineligible to participate because they lacked transportation to the clinic. Five individuals were eligible and enrolled in the study. All completed 100% of in-clinic sessions. Four participants rated their occupational performance higher after the LSVT BIG intervention. It is feasible to deliver the LSVT BIG in the chronic stroke population. Individuals who complete the protocol demonstrate clinically relevant improvements.


As US oil and gas share prices languish, there is some nagging concern about the financial health of the industry. Despite turning the world's largest importer of crude oil into a global exporter, questions linger about profitability and financial leverage – some skeptics have gone so far as to ask if the industry is a "Ponzi Scheme." Moreover, as oil and gas prices continue their lower-for-longer (but volatile) trajectory, and investors clamor for ever-more cash – in the form of dividends and share repurchases – operators struggle to balance competing demands on cash.

We analyzed 35 publicly-traded, US and Canadian tight/shale oil and gas specialists over the six years since global oil prices collapsed and found the industry to be largely profitable (i.e., aggregate Net Income of $5 per oil-equivalent-barrel produced), despite relatively low oil and gas prices. Moreover, with aggregate operating cash flow of $19 per oil-equivalent-barrel (boe) produced the industry has matured sufficiently to self-finance its own growth. In fact, despite heavy investment in both production-growth and reserves-growth, total financial leverage is modest (1.6x EBITDA) and one-third of operators' credit ratings are investment grade. And in a separate comparative analysis with conventional Independents, we found that US tight oil operators have demonstrated superior profitability, growth and reinvestment, and financial leverage. Across the North American onshore E&P industry, technology-led, operational continuous improvement is driving dramatic, sustainable gains in well-productivity and cost per boe.


The existence of the corona virus outbreak hampers teaching and learning activities that usually take place face-to-face. The learning system is carried out remotely by utilizing information technology. One of the big challenges in implementing the distance learning model is that the academic community is not yet accustomed to using a blended and online learning system. Teaching lecturers must pay attention to student learning styles because in each teaching, their effectiveness will closely match the student's learning method or style, in addition to their personal characteristics and intellectual abilities. Lecturers' lack of understanding of learning styles has a negative impact on students. The purpose of this study was to examine the learning styles of students of the Faculty of Economics, University of Semarang in a bold manner. This study used a descriptive research design. The population in this study were all 500 USM FE students who took sports courses in the odd semester of 2020/2021, aged 18-25 years. Sampling in this study using total sampling. The data analysis technique in this research is descriptive statistical analysis method. The result of this research is that the learning style of FE USM students has the highest kinesthetic, namely 40.8%, the second is visual as much as 33.8%, the third is auditory as much as 25.4%. Many students prefer an online lecture system by actively viewing, listening and doing direct question and answer with the lecturer, which is 41.2%. The suggestion that can be given is that the lecturers should increase the proportion of teaching the online system with live video, audio, display material and do direct question and answer. Systems with only live audio and display only material should be greatly reduced since few people like them.


A fundamental aspect of visual cognition is our disposition to see the 'forest before the trees'. However, damage to the posterior parietal cortex, a critical brain region along the dorsal visual pathway, can produce a neurological disorder called simultanagnosia, characterized by a debilitating inability to perceive the 'forest' but not the 'trees' (i.e. impaired global processing despite intact local processing). This impairment in perceiving the global shape persists even though the ventral visual pathway, the primary recognition pathway, is intact in these patients. Here, we enabled global processing in patients with simultanagnosia using a psychophysical technique, which allowed us to bias stimuli such that they are processed predominantly by the intact ventral visual pathway. Our findings reveal that the impairment in global processing that characterizes simultanagnosia stems from a disruption in the processing of low-spatial frequencies through the dorsal pathway. These findings advance our understanding of the relationship between visuospatial attention and perception and reveal the neural mechanism mediating the disposition to see the 'forest before the trees'.


The magnetic circuit of an acoustic vibration element is analyzed using giant magnetostrictive material (AVEG). Such elements are used as the vibration source for undersea acoustic propagation of over 1000 km. The analysis uses the finite element method. Two magnetic circuits (an initial and an improved model), developed to obtain an even flux density distribution in both the axial and radial directions of the vibrator, are discussed. For both the initial and improved models, the flux density variations in the axial and radial directions within the vibrator are defined, compared, and examined. >


Description of the deltaic plain, fluvial and paludal, and the fluvial-marine environments, mainly the delta front, in the delta of Rio Ebro (Spain). This plain is built up by the constructive development of succesive lobate deltas, later abandoned and partially eroded. The temporary succession of these different lobes is described. The recent evolution of the deltaic plain is governed by the abandonment of the active streams that recently occured at the latitude of the island of Buda and by the formation and erosion of bars in front of the present mouth of the active stream and in different points of the delta coast. The variations undergone by the coast in the last 25 years are established by means of a detailed aerial photographic survey.


Last year the Resuscitation Council (UK) together with the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing updated their statement "Decisions relating to cardiopulmonary resuscitation". This short document should be read by all healthcare professionals whose practice may involve "do not resuscitate" (DNR) decisions. It is designed to be a framework on which hospital and other trusts may build their own more detailed guidelines.

The advice contained within the document seems simple enough. There are three situations in which a DNR order is appropriate: if cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is unlikely to be effective; if it is known that the patient does not wish to receive CPR; and if successful CPR would not result in a length, or more importantly a quality, of life which would be in the patient's best interest.

Surely few would disagree? Yet there has been considerable misunderstanding, particularly on the part of the public, and some reluctance by the medical profession to follow these guiding principles.

It must be fully understood by all concerned—patients, doctors, nurses, and relatives—that DNR orders apply only to the decision whether or not to initiate CPR in the event of respiratory or cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, there is, at least in the USA, evidence that this principle is …


An ectopic pregnancy (EP) involves the implantation of the gestational sac outside the uterine cavity. In the event of diagnosing an EP, the current medical approach is to avoid surgery and to preserve fertility whenever possible; therefore, methotrexate (MTX)-based therapy has become prominent in recent years. MTX, a drug usually used to treat severe forms of autoimmune diseases and several types of cancer, has proven its utility in the conservative treatment of EPs. The success rate of MTX correlates with lower values of β subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (β-hCG) serum levels, especially below 2,000 mUI/ml, side effects being insignificant. In the present study, the results obtained concerning the success rate of MTX in the conservative treatment of EPs were obtained at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Bucharest University Emergency Hospital from January 2014 to December 2020. The aim of the present study was to highlight the necessity for revising current guidelines for ectopic pregnancy medical treatment in order to manage this pathology optimally and to select carefully the proper treatment, whether medical, surgical or expectant management, so that morbidity is reduced to a minimum.


A unifying one-step-ahead prediction observer (identifier) for system parameter estimation or identification of autoregressive moving average (ARMA) processes has been developed. Four specific algorithms can be derived from the unifying algorithm. The properties of the four algorithms developed will be investigated.


Magnetic coupling is used where required high reliability. because magnetic coupling's durability is stronger than mechanical coupling's durability. This paper shows the characteristics of radially magnetized tubular type magnetic coupling by using Analytical method such as space harmonic method. Analytical method was used, to find force characteristics. First, on the basis of the magnetic vector potential and two-dimensional(2-D) polar-coordinate system, the magnetic field solutions of the radially magnetized permanent magnet are obtained. And we obtain the analytical solutions for the flux density produced by permanent magnet. Finally, we can calculate the force by using the Maxwell stress tensor. And then, Finite element method(FEM) is used to validate force characteristics.


Boyd, J. T., Doll, R., Faulds, J. S., and Leiper, J.(1970).Brit. J. industr. Med.,27, 97-105. Cancer of the lung in iron ore (haematite) miners. The mortality of Cumberland iron-ore miners has been studied by examining the death certificates of 5 811 men resident in two local authority areas (Ennerdale R.D. and Whitehaven M.B.) who died between 1948 and 1967. Comparison of the iron miners' experience with (1) that of other local men and (2) the relevant national experience has provided an assessment of the suspected occupational risk of lung cancer associated with haematite mining. During the 20-year period there were 42 deaths attributed to lung cancer among iron mine employees resident in the study area: 36 of these occurred in miners working underground, which was significantly greater than that expected from local non-mining (20·6 deaths) or national (21·5 deaths) experience. In contrast to these findings, there was no evidence of any excess mortality from lung cancer among surface workers and, for iron miners as a whole, mortality from other cancers was close to the national experience. A parallel analysis of mortality among coal miners showed a deficit of deaths from lung cancer in line with other studies. The patterns of other respiratory mortality in the two local mining groups were also in line with previous experience, and confirmed the existence of a substantial silicotic hazard associated with haematite mining in Cumberland. These findings strengthen previous necropsy evidence and indicate that West Cumberland iron-ore miners who work underground experience an occupational hazard of lung cancer. They suggest that the miners suffer a lung cancer mortality about 70% higher than `normal'. The risk may be due to radioactivity in the air of the mines (average radon concentration of 100 p Ci/litre) or to a carcinogenic effect of iron oxide.


We present a technique for speeding up the convergence of value iteration for partially observable Markov decisions processes (POMDPs). The underlying idea is similar to that behind modified policy iteration for fully observable Markov decision processes (MDPs). The technique can be easily incorporated into any existing POMDP value iteration algorithms. Experiments have been conducted on several test problems with one POMDP value iteration algorithm called incremental pruning. We find that the technique can make incremental pruning run several orders of magnitude faster.


Treatment of major depression in menopausal women is controversial. Estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) treats mild depression but may not treat more severe depression in this population. Antidepressants are recommended as treatment for major depression in menopausal women, but the specific efficacy of antidepressants has not been examined in menopause-associated depression. Twenty-two perimenopausal and postmenopausal women aged 40-61 taking stable doses of ERT who met Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-IV) criteria for major depression were accessioned into an open-label clinical trial of mirtazapine. Subjects were treated with 30-45 mg/day mirtazapine for 8 weeks and were assessed every 2 weeks with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 (HDRS-17), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Scale. Remission of depression was defined as an HDRS-17 score < or =7 at the week 8 study visit. Sixteen (73%) of the enrolled subjects completed the 8-week study. The median HDRS-17 score declined from 20.5 (range 12-37) at baseline to 2 (range 0-9) at week 8 (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, p < 0.001). Remission of depression was achieved by 14 of 16 (87.5%) study completers. Subjects responded well to mirtazapine regardless of whether their depression preceded ERT use or developed after ERT was initiated. Therapeutic response also appeared independent of menopausal status (perimenopausal vs. postmenopausal), ERT preparation, and concomitant use of medroxyprogesterone. Mirtazapine is an effective treatment for major depression in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women whose depression precedes ERT use and does not respond to ERT or whose depression develops after ERT is initiated.


Lung from 19 days' gestation male and female rat fetuses was grown in mixed monolayer culture. Cultures from female lungs synthesized twice as much 3H-saturated phosphatidylcholine (3H-SPC) from 3H-choline as cultures from male lungs. Preincubation with cortisol caused a doubling in 3H-SPC synthesis by cultures from both sexes. Study of sex-specific fibroblast cultures revealed significantly higher 11-oxidoreductase activity and basal and cortisone- or cortisol-stimulated fibroblast-pneumonocyte factor activity in female cultures. In contrast to the findings in the fibroblast cultures, sex-specific type II cell cultures showed no difference in basal 3H-SPC synthesis or in response to cortisol-stimulated fibroblast-conditioned medium. Furthermore, the type II alveolar cells had no 11-oxidoreductase activity. These data indicate that there are sex differences in both cortisol metabolism and fibroblast-pneumonocyte factor production by the fetal lung fibroblast. These differences would lead to a sex difference in the synthesis of pulmonary surfactant.


All-solid-state batteries are promising candidates for next-generation energy storage devices. Although the list of candidate materials for solid electrolytes has grown in the past decade, there are still many open questions concerning the mechanisms behind ionic migration in materials. In particular, the lithium thiophosphate family of materials has shown very promising properties for solid-state battery applications. Recently, the Ge-substituted Li6PS5I argyrodite was shown to be a very fast Li-ion conductor, despite the poor ionic conductivity of the unsubstituted Li6PS5I. Therein, the conductivity was enhanced by over three orders of magnitude due to the emergence of I−/S2−exchange, i.e.site-disorder, which led to a sudden decrease of the activation barrier with a concurrent flattening of the energy landscapes. Inspired by this work, two series of elemental substitutions in Li6+xP1−xMxS5I (M= Si and Sn) were investigated in this study and compared to the Ge-analogue. A sharp reduction in the activation energy was observed at the same M4+/P5+composition as previously found in the Ge-analogue, suggesting a more general mechanism at play. Furthermore, structural analyses with X-ray and neutron diffraction indicate that similar changes in the Li-sublattice occur despite a significant variation in the size of the substituents, suggesting that in the argyrodites, the lithium substructure is most likely influenced by the occurring Li+– Li+interactions. This work provides further evidence that the energy landscape of ionic conductors can be tailored by inducing local disorder.


In this work, the photovoltaic performance and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) based on a dopant-free hole transport layer (HTL) are efficiently improved by inserting a two-dimensional (2D) interfacial layer. The benzyl ammonium lead iodide (BA2PbI4) 2D perovskite is used as an interfacial layer between the 3D CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite and two moisture-resistant dopant-free HTLs including poly[[2,3-bis(3-octyloxyphenyl)-5,8-quinoxalinediyl]-2,5-thiophenediyl] (TQ1) and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). TQ1 with a facile synthesis procedure has a higher moisture resistivity compared to P3HT which can improve the stability of PSCs. The 2D BA2PbI4 perovskite with a less-volatile bulkier organic cation efficiently passivates the defects at the perovskite/HTL interface, leading to 11.95% and 15.04% efficiency for the modified TQ1 and P3HT based cells, respectively. For a better understanding, the structural, optical, and electrical properties of PSCs comprising P3HT and TQ1 HTLs with and without interface modification are studied. The interface modified PSCs show slower open-circuit voltage decay and longer carrier lifetimes compared to unmodified cells. In addition, impedance spectroscopy reveals lower charge transport resistance and higher recombination resistance for the modified devices, which could be associated with the modification of the interface between the 3D CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite and HTL caused by the 2D interfacial layer. Also after aging under ambient conditions for about 800 hours, the modified PCSs retain more than 80% of their initial PCEs. These results give us the hope of achieving simpler, cheaper, and more stable PSCs with dopant-free HTLs through 2D interfacial layers, which have great potential for commercialization.


Women in a leadership position has been a matter of concern the world over especially in information technology (IT)/ information technology enabled services (ITES). However, for the advancement of women in leadership positions, individual characteristics are not enough. Besides individual factors, it is the detection of organizational factors that enable the advancement of women into leadership positions. The present article develops a multidimensional scale on the perceived enablers for the advancement of women in leadership position in the IT/ITES sector. The scale considers both individual factors (characteristics) and organizational factors, such as welfare schemes, career development support, and training. The article also reveals that individual factors, such as self-confidence, ambition, and perceived competency are also enablers of advancing women to leadership positions. Researchers could examine the considered dimensions of the proposed scale in other sectors and with respect to other constructs related to women's work-life balance.


The author previously defined (1991) an infinite-valued switching function, called the fuzzy threshold function, on an extended logic system and showed that process control using the fuzzy threshold functions is 50 times faster than fuzzy control by the MAX-MIN-CG (center of gravity) method. The procedure of process control using the fuzzy threshold functions is discussed in terms of multivalued logic to show the problems remaining. The method is compared with the simplified fuzzy control method.<<ETX>>


Abstract : SUBJECT and PURPOSE: This translational epidemiologic study conducted online aims to confirm preclinical data on the chemopreventive potential of chloroquine (aminoquinoline), a well-characterized anti-malarial drug. BACKGROUND: Exposure to chloroquine, an off-patent anti-malarial drug with a 60-year history of use by millions, reduces the incidence of breast cancer in genetically programmed rats by 37%. METHODS and SCOPE: About 65% of Peace Corps volunteers received chloroquine prophylactically between 1965 and 1990. Therefore, we will collect chloroquine exposure, breast cancer risk, and breast cancer diagnosis data from returned volunteers who served during this period through an online application. We will characterize participants into chloroquine exposed and unexposed groups, based on country of service and self-reported exposure status. The cost and time efficiencies afforded by this study design will allow the translation of preclinical data on breast cancer chemoprevention into public health and potentially promote the repositioning of a well-characterized and inexpensive drug.


The revolution you dream of is not ours. You don't want to change the world, you want to blow it up. -- Jean-Paul Sartre, Dirty Hands (1948).In this Article the author discusses the problem of how to distinguish terrorists and freedom fighters by offering a new perspective on the matter: the constitutional and international law concept of the right of revolution.The Article contains a historical and a comparative constitutional analysis which lead to the recognition of terrorism as a crime under international law and of the right of revolution as a general principle of law. The Article addresses legal issues arising in some of the major contemporary events from 9/11 to Arab Spring Uprisings (with a special focus on Syria) as well as the 2011 interlocutory decision of the Special tribunal for Lebanon. Finally, the analysis provides criteria of when and how a revolutionary use of force is justified.


In this paper we evaluate empirically the impact of policies on farm investment and output decisions, considering risk-averse farmers making inter-temporal choices on current and future profits. We refer specifically to the recent reform of the CAP, while estimation and simulation results are carried out on a FADN sample of Italian arable crop farms. The main message of the paper is that a policy change that shifts resources from price support to direct payments tend to consistently reduce farm investments, mainly as a result of the increased output price volatility, which increases the level of uncertainty faced by farmers. However, this is not clearly reflected in a negative impact on farm output.


ABSTRACT The future sustainable production of chemicals and fuels from nonpetrochemical resources and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are two of the greatest societal challenges. Gas fermentation, which utilizes the ability of acetogenic bacteria such as Clostridium autoethanogenum to grow and convert CO2 and CO into low-carbon fuels and chemicals, could potentially provide solutions to both. Acetogens fix these single-carbon gases via the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway. Two enzyme activities are predicted to be essential to the pathway: carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH), which catalyzes the reversible oxidation of CO to CO2, and acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) synthase (ACS), which combines with CODH to form a CODH/ACS complex for acetyl-CoA fixation. Despite their pivotal role in carbon fixation, their functions have not been confirmed in vivo. By genetically manipulating all three CODH isogenes (acsA, cooS1, and cooS2) of C. autoethanogenum, we highlighted the functional redundancies of CODH by demonstrating that cooS1 and cooS2 are dispensable for autotrophy. Unexpectedly, the cooS1 inactivation strain showed a significantly reduced lag phase and a higher growth rate than the wild type on H2 and CO2. During heterotrophic growth on fructose, the acsA inactivation strain exhibited 61% reduced biomass and the abolishment of acetate production (a hallmark of acetogens), in favor of ethanol, lactate, and 2,3-butanediol production. A translational readthrough event was discovered in the uniquely truncated (compared to those of other acetogens) C. autoethanogenum acsA gene. Insights gained from studying the function of CODH enhance the overall understanding of autotrophy and can be used for optimization of biotechnological production of ethanol and other commodities via gas fermentation. IMPORTANCE Gas fermentation is an emerging technology that converts the greenhouse gases CO2 and CO in industrial waste gases and gasified biomass into fuels and chemical commodities. Acetogenic bacteria such as Clostridium autoethanogenum are central to this bioprocess, but the molecular and genetic characterization of this microorganism is currently lacking. By targeting all three of the isogenes encoding carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) in C. autoethanogenum, we identified the most important CODH isogene for carbon fixation and demonstrated that genetic inactivation of CODH could improve autotrophic growth. This study shows that disabling of the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway via the inactivation of acsA (encodes CODH) significantly impairs heterotrophic growth and alters the product profile by abolishing acetate production. Moreover, we discovered a previously undescribed mechanism for controlling the production of this enzyme. This study provides valuable insights into the acetogenic pathway and can be used for the development of more efficient and productive strains for gas fermentation. Gas fermentation is an emerging technology that converts the greenhouse gases CO2 and CO in industrial waste gases and gasified biomass into fuels and chemical commodities. Acetogenic bacteria such as Clostridium autoethanogenum are central to this bioprocess, but the molecular and genetic characterization of this microorganism is currently lacking. By targeting all three of the isogenes encoding carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) in C. autoethanogenum, we identified the most important CODH isogene for carbon fixation and demonstrated that genetic inactivation of CODH could improve autotrophic growth. This study shows that disabling of the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway via the inactivation of acsA (encodes CODH) significantly impairs heterotrophic growth and alters the product profile by abolishing acetate production. Moreover, we discovered a previously undescribed mechanism for controlling the production of this enzyme. This study provides valuable insights into the acetogenic pathway and can be used for the development of more efficient and productive strains for gas fermentation.


Purpose
This study aims to investigate the contingent roles real effective exchange rates (REERs) play in mediating the effects of oil revenue on the agriculture sector value-added in 25 major and minor oil-exporting (MIOEC) countries during the period of 1975–2014.

Design/methodology/approach
The panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) estimator proposed by Pesaran et al. (1999) was relied upon to achieve the objectives of the study. This estimator involves a pool of small cross-sectional units over a long-time span that covers for 25 oil-exporting countries over 39 years (1975–2014).

Findings
This paper reveals the following findings. Firstly, oil revenue has a direct negative effect on agricultural value-added in the short- and long-term. This finding holds for full sample and subsamples of major oil-exporting (MAOEC) and MIOEC countries. Further assessment reveals that the magnitude of the impact is larger for MAOEC than that of the MIOEC. Secondly, the finding for the long-run effect shows that the contingent effect of real exchange rate on the nexus between oil revenue and agricultural value-added is negative and statistically significant at the conventional level for the full sample. This suggests that, in the long-run, the appreciation in real exchange rates exacerbate the negative marginal effects of oil revenue on agricultural value-added in all oil-exporting countries. However, when sub-samples of MAOEC and MIOEC are considered, the contingent effect disappeared (become insignificant) in MAOEC while it is positive and statistically significant in MIOEC. Thus, in the long-run, the appreciation in real exchange rates diminishes the negative marginal effects of oil revenue on agricultural value-added in MIOEC. While oil revenue has a direct negative effect, its effect is also moderated by the variations in REERs in MIOEC in the long-run. Finally, in the short-run, fluctuations in the real exchange rate do not matter for the nexus of oil revenue and agriculture sector in these countries whether minor or MAOEC countries.

Originality/value
This study contributes to the debate in the empirical literature on the Dutch disease effect and "oil curse". Using the appropriate panel ARDL empirical framework, it provides evidence on how exchange rate variations in the oil-exporting countries influence the nature of the effects of the oil revenue on agricultural sectors in the long-run but not in the short-run. Contingent effects of REERs only appear to exist in MIOEC in the long-run.


Enantiomers of local anesthetics are useful probes of ion channel structure that can reveal three-dimensional relations for drug binding in the channel pore and may have important clinical consequences. Bupivacaine block of open hKv1.5 channels is stereoselective, with the R(+)-enantiomer being 7-fold more potent than the S(-)-enantiomer (Kd = 4.1 mumol/L versus 27.3 mumol/L). Using whole-cell voltage clamp of hKv1.5 channels and site-directed mutants stably expressed in Ltk- cells, we have identified a set of amino acids that determine the stereoselectivity of bupivacaine block. Replacement of threonine 505 by hydrophobic amino acids (isoleucine, valine, or alanine) abolished stereoselective block, whereas a serine substitution preserved it [Kd = 60 mumol/L and 7.4 mumol/L for S(-)- and R(+)-bupivacaine, respectively]. A similar substitution at the internal tetraethylammonium binding site (T477S) reduced the affinity for both enantiomers similarly, thus preserving the stereoselectivity [Kd = 45.5 mumol/L and 7.8 mumol/L for S(-)- and R(+)-bupivacaine, respectively]. Replacement of L508 or V512 by a methionine (L508M and V512M) abolished stereoselective block, whereas substitution of V512 by an alanine (V512A) preserved it. Block of Kv2.1 channels, which carry valine, leucine, and isoleucine residues at T505, L508, and V512 equivalent sites, respectively, was not stereoselective [Kd = 8.3 mumol/L and 13 mumol/L for S(-)- and R(+)-bupivacaine, respectively]. These results suggest that (1) the bupivacaine binding site is located in the inner mouth of the pore, (2) stereoselective block displays subfamily selectivity, and (3) a polar interaction with T505 combined with hydrophobic interactions with L508 and V512 are required for stereoselective block.


The problem and the solution. From the post-9/11 effect on financial and transportation industries to the corporate fraud scandals involving Enron and Tyco, organizational crises are a pervasive threat to organizational performance and sustainability.The authors' review of the literature suggests that although the impact of crises on organization effectiveness has been increasingly recognized, it has not attracted much attention from human resource development (HRD) scholars and practitioners. As a result, HRD has not considered how learning, change, and performance interventions might be used to support crisis management processes. The purpose of this article is to explore the role of HRD in organizational crisis management. Specifically, the authors review the theoretical underpinnings of organizational crisis management research, identify opportunities for HRD to be involved in crisis management processes, and explore how HRD research and practice may contribute to supporting organizations' crisis management efforts.


Paclobutrazol at 0, 12.5, 25 and 37.5 mg/L and uniconazole at 0, 5, 10 and 15 mg/L were applied both as a foliar spray and as a soil drench to 'Eckespoint Freedom Red' and 'Gross Supjibi Red' poinsettia plants. In both poinsettia cultivars plant size was effectively reduced by paclobutrazol and uniconazole as soil drenches at all concentrations. Applying paclobutrazol (12.5 mg/L) or uniconazole (5 mg/L) as a soil drench reduced poinsettia plant size for a longer period of time than applying either as foliar spray. Growth regulators applied as a soil drench also reduced the bract diameter of both cultivars. The use of growth regulators such as paclobutrazol and uniconazole on poinsettia production can improve plant quality (size) in Puerto Rico.


Defect-prediction techniques can enhance the quality assurance activities for software systems. For instance, they can be used to predict bugs in source files or functions. In the context of a software product line, such techniques could ideally be used for predicting defects in features or combinations of features, which would allow developers to focus quality assurance on the error-prone ones. In this preliminary case study, we investigate how defect prediction models can be used to identify defective features using machine-learning techniques. We adapt process metrics and evaluate and compare three classifiers using an open-source product line. Our results show that the technique can be effective. Our best scenario achieves an accuracy of 73 % for accurately predicting features as defective or clean using a Naive Bayes classifier. Based on the results we discuss directions for future work.


The Armed Confl ict in Ukraine and its Representation in Contemporary Ukrainian Literature. Margaryta Surzhenko's АТО. Історії зі Сходу на Захід. The essay examines Margaryta Surzhenko's novel АТО. Історії зі Сходу на Захід (2015). In the context of the ongoing fi ghting in the Donbass area, this type of narrative brings refl ection to the national identity of the inhabitants of Eastern Ukraine and their escape from the war zone. Th e author focuses not only on the migration but also on the information space (pro-Russian) under the infl uence of which the inhabitants of Donbass lived their whole lives. Ordinary people suddenly found themselves in the center of a dangerous armed confl ict. Such a course of the situation needs to be analyzed in the context of the long-term coexistence of Russians and Ukrainians, as well as the infl uence of power in those areas. Changing the balance of power in the region aff ected ordinary residents, oft en forcing them to escape.


Abstract. We compare the atmospheric column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of carbon
dioxide ( XCO2 ) and methane ( XCH4 ) measured with a pair of
COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network (COCCON) spectrometers at
Kiruna and Sodankyla (boreal areas). We compare model data provided by
the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) between 2017 and 2019 with XCH4 data from the recently launched Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P)
satellite between 2018 and 2019. In addition, measured and modeled gradients
of XCO2 and XCH4 ( Δ XCO2 and Δ XCH4 ) on
regional scales are investigated. Both sites show a similar and very good
correlation between COCCON retrievals and the modeled CAMS XCO2 data,
while CAMS data are biased high with respect to COCCON by 3.72 ppm ( ±1.80  ppm) in Kiruna and 3.46 ppm ( ±1.73  ppm) in Sodankyla on
average. For XCH4 , CAMS values are higher than the COCCON observations
by 0.33 ppb ( ±11.93  ppb) in Kiruna and 7.39 ppb ( ±10.92  ppb)
in Sodankyla. In contrast, the S5P satellite generally measures lower
atmospheric XCH4 than the COCCON spectrometers, with a mean difference
of 9.69 ppb ( ±20.51  ppb) in Kiruna and 3.36 ppb ( ±17.05  ppb)
in Sodankyla. We compare the gradients of XCO2 and XCH4 ( Δ XCO2 and Δ XCH4 ) between Kiruna and
Sodankyla derived from CAMS analysis and COCCON and S5P measurements to
study the capability of detecting sources and sinks on regional scales. The
correlations in Δ XCO2 and Δ XCH4 between the
different datasets are generally smaller than the correlations in XCO2
and XCH4 between the datasets at either site. The Δ XCO2 values
predicted by CAMS are generally higher than those observed with COCCON with
a slope of 0.51. The Δ XCH4 values predicted by CAMS are mostly higher
than those observed with COCCON with a slope of 0.65, covering a larger
dataset than the comparison between S5P and COCCON. When comparing CAMS
 Δ XCH4 with COCCON Δ XCH4 only in S5P overpass days
(slope  =  0.53), the correlation is close to that between S5P and COCCON
(slope  =  0.51). CAMS, COCCON, and S5P predict gradients in reasonable
agreement. However, the small number of observations coinciding with S5P
limits our ability to verify the performance of this spaceborne sensor. We
detect no significant impact of ground albedo and viewing zenith angle on
the S5P results. Both sites show similar situations with the average ratios of
 XCH4 (S5P/COCCON) of 0.9949±0.0118 in Kiruna and 0.9953±0.0089 in Sodankyla. Overall, the results indicate that the COCCON
instruments have the capability of measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) gradients
on regional scales, and observations performed with the portable
spectrometers can contribute to inferring sources and sinks and to
validating spaceborne greenhouse gas sensors. To our knowledge, this is the
first published study using COCCON spectrometers for the validation of
 XCH4 measurements collected by S5P.


Abstract
 This chapter discusses the economic importance, geographical distribution, host range, damage symptoms, biology and life cycle, interactions with other nematodes and pathogens, recommended integrated management, and management optimization of the northern root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne hapla) infesting carrots in Germany. Future research requirements and future developments are also mentioned.


The propagation of Solar events and the response of planetary environment is a fundamental area of interest in the study of the solar system, object of several models and tools for data analysis. In the framework of the starting Europlanet-2024 program, the Virtual Activity (VA) SPIDER (Sun-Planet Interactions Digital Environment on Request) aims a publicly available and sophisticated services, in order to model planetary environments and solar wind interactions. One of these services is focused on the prototype for the model of the Mercury exosphere, in particular to study its exospheric density and the solar wind precipitation to the surface. Mercury is a unique case in the solar system: absence of an atmosphere and the weakness of the intrinsic magnetic field. The Hermean exosphere is continuously eroded and refilled by interactions with plasma and surface, so the environment is considered as a single, unified system – surface- exosphere-magnetosphere.  The study of the generation mechanisms, the compositions and the configuration of the Hermean exosphere will provide crucial insight in the planet status and evolution.

The MESSENGER/NASA mission visited Mercury in the period 2008-2015, adding a consistent amount of data but a global description of planet’s exosphere is still not available; the ESA BepiColombo mission will study Mercury orbiting around the planet from 2025. For this reason, it is important to have a modelling tool ready for interpreting observational data and testing different hypothesis on release mechanism.  Considering different generation and loss mechanisms, we present a Monte Carlo three-dimensional model of the Hermean exosphere, that considers all the major sources and loss mechanisms. In fact, this numerical model includes among the processes responsible of the formation of such an exosphere the ion sputtering (IS), the thermal desorption (TD), the photon-stimulated desorption (PSD) and micro-meteoroids impact vaporization (MMIV) from the planetary surface. The model calculates the trajectories of ejected particles from which we obtain the spatial and energy distributions of atmospheric particles. Furthermore, an analytical model is obtained by fitting the numerical data with parametric functions. In this way, it is possible to model the exosphere of Mercury for each source separately and we can investigate the role of each physical source independently of the others.

Here we present the web-based interface of the model and the functionalities of this infrastructure that is being implemented in SPIDER. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149.


Abstract Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic increased demand for alcohol-based hand sanitizers. We aimed to describe the epidemiological trends in pediatric alcohol-based hand sanitizer cases reported to United States poison centers. We characterized clinically significant pediatric reports involving alcohol-based hand sanitizer products before and during the pandemic and methanol-containing hand sanitizers during the pandemic. Methods We included all single-substance cases involving alcohol-based hand sanitizers reported to the National Poison Data System among children ≤ 19 years from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2021, and methanol-containing hand sanitizers from 23 June 2020 to 31 December 2021. Multiple product exposures and non-human exposures were excluded. Clinically significant outcomes included moderate or major effects or death. Results There were 95,718 alcohol-based hand sanitizer pediatric cases during the study period. Most (n = 89,521; 94%) were unintentional, occurred by ingestion (n = 89,879; 93.9%), occurred at home, and were managed at the exposure site (n = 89,774; 93.8%). Common symptoms were vomiting (n = 2,969; 3.1%), coughing (n = 1,102; 1.2%), ocular irritation (n = 1,244; 1.3%), and drowsiness (n = 981; 1.0%). Most children (n = 3,937; 66.2%) managed at a health care facility were treated and released; a minority were admitted (n = 527; 9.0%). Few children (n = 81; 1.4%) were admitted to the intensive care unit. The prevalence of clinically significant cases increased in 2020 and 2021, compared to 2017. Population-adjusted rates, by state, of alcohol-based hand sanitizer cases ranged from 280 to 2,700 per million children. Of the 540 reported cases involving methanol-containing hand sanitizers, the majority (n = 255) occurred in July 2020. Thirteen cases (2.4%) had clinically significant outcomes. The prevalence of clinically significant cases remained similar in 2020 and 2021 and exhibited lower prevalence compared to alcohol-based products. Population-adjusted rates, by state, ranged from fewer than 0.9 to 40 per million children. Conclusions Clinically significant pediatric cases involving alcohol-based hand sanitizers increased during the pandemic and remained elevated in 2021. Cases involving methanol-containing products were less frequent. Our findings may inform heightened product quality control and regulatory oversight.


Under laboratory conditions,the effects of the high-consistency refining on the poplar APMP fibre morphology and paper properties were studied.The fiber length,curl,kink parameters and changes in fines content was analyzed using fiber quality analyzer(FQA).The rusult showed that fiber length decreased,curl and kink parameters declined after rising a few though high-consistency refining.With the freeness decreasing,the internal bonding strength and tensile intensity increased,the whiteness and bulk decreased slighely,tear index had the same rusult as the kink paprameters.


As global conflicts increasingly force people to leave their homelands, it is important we become aware of the issues that impact on different aspects of refugees' lives in foreign lands. A variety of problems are associated with forced migration, notably challenges of cultural adaptation such as language issues, cultural assimilation, cultural adaptation, identity, loss of social networks of relatives, friends and neighbours, harsh climates, racism and so on. This article discusses some of the concerns expressed by Somali refugees living in MidWest United States of America. They fear that the Somali language and oral traditions might be lost if attempts are not made to preserve them. Specifically, the authors examine the efforts to and challenges of preserving the language and oral traditions in a post-conflict setting. The article concludes by pointing to a question about the future of third generation Somali-Americans who have adapted the English language and see no economic and social benefits in the Somali language for them. Key Terms: Somali refugees, language, oral traditions, culture, post-conflict setting.


Information age in the 21st century is witnessing the dramatic increase in computerrelated jobs. Many employers are now recruiting candidates who have knowledge and experience in information technology or those who are computer literate. Therefore, potential candidates should master at least some level of computer literacy. Thus, the main objective of this study is to analyse the level of computer literacy among graduating Bachelor of Accountancy students in Malaysian public higher institutions. Based on the findings, computer literacy can be group into basic,
advanced, self-efficacy and technical level. Evidence shows that, graduating accountancy students are computer literate at the basic, advanced and self-efficacy level. Significant difference is also found in the students' perceptions on Accounting Information System (AIS) suggesting that the educators should give due attention to AIS courses, particularly in enhancing students' computer literacy level. There are also evidence that the level of basic and advanced computer literacy of male students are significantly higher than female students; those who owned computers are significantly more computer literate in terms of basic and advanced computer literacy than those who did not own computers; and finally, previous computer
experience is not generally related to computer literacy achievement, except for self-efficacy computer literacy level.


Many recent studies on the deterioration of the public infrastructure in the United States have concluded that an effective planning process is an essential element of a government's response to meeting capital investment needs. In at least one instance, a study further concluded that "if planning is to assume a central role in influencing public capital investments, it is important to ensure that the people doing the job have experience of how agencies operate and understand the day-to-day problems faced by those managing public programs and facilities" (R.J. Vaughan and R. Pollard, Rebuilding America: Planning and Managing Public Works in the 1980s). The purpose of this paper is to examine, within the context of a changing political and fiscal environment of transportation decisions, these and other planning skills desired by transportation organizations. In the first section of this paper recent studies of the changing nature of transportation planning are reviewed. This section concludes with several propositions on what, in general, appear to be the likely characteristics of transportation planning in the future. In the second section these propositions are related to the desired skills of transportation planners.


In order to influence properties of polymers, several different type of additives can be used. Often, time consuming experimental work is needed to assess performance and suitable concentrations for the chosen polymer-additive system. Therefore, it is preferable to be able to estimate the properties by means of theoretical work. In the present work, dielectric constant and loss for polypropylene-meso-erythritol compounds were studied. The experimental results were compared to the theoretically assessed properties. The compounds were prepared in three different concentrations. The obtained samples were pressed to plates which were characterized by dielectric response measurements. The dielectric constants were also assessed using Maxwell-Garnett estimation and molecular dynamics simulations. For the later, both atomistic model and a more coarse multiscale model were used. The Maxwell-Garnett equation gave a good estimation of the dielectric constant level whereas with the molecular dynamics simulations the obtained dielectric constant were in exact accordance to the measured values. With the molecular dynamics simulation, also the loss could be estimated. As expected, the atomistic model gave better correlation to the measured loss levels than the multi-scale model.


Cell Biology
Senescence is a permanent arrest to cell cycling induced by stress or damage. It is reinforced in tissues by the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) in which secretion of various mediators maintains the proliferative arrest. If senescent cells (called senolysis) could be therapeutically targeted to remove them from tissues, function might be restored to organs compromised by age-associated pathology. Some senolytic drugs have already entered clinical trials, but biomarkers are needed to measure their efficacy and selectivity. Wiley et al. show that senescent cells synthesize oxylipins, which are bioactive lipids that reinforce senescence associated with SASP. A specific oxylipin is released upon senolysis, and so detection of this in extracellular compartments could be the biomarker that is needed.

Cell Metab. 10.1016/j.cmet.2021.03.008 (2021).