Babesia microti is a highly polymorphic organism. To unravel its fine structure and the function of organelles it was necessary to resort often to serial sections. A single plasma membrane covers the organism. In trophozoites approaching reproduction, segments of double membranes can be found below the plasma membrane. In electron micrographs of poor resolution these segments of double membranes look like pieces of thick membranes and they were often thought to be a thick 2nd membrane. Before the segments of double membranes appear 2 other organelles are formed in older trophozoites: micronemes and rhoptries. There are indications that these structures originate from vesicles of the Golgi apparatus. Large dense bodies of the same structure as the host cytoplasm are not food vacuoles but merely invaginations of host cytoplasm, as found in serial sections and in organisms removed from the host cell. Feeding in Babesia seems to take place by a special organelle composed of tightly coiled double membranes located partly inside and partly outside the parasite. It is assumed that extracellular digestion of host cytoplasm take place through this organelle. The nucleus remains undifferentiated throughout the whole intraerythrocytic stage. It becomes irregular, loboid, but does not divide and remains a single body until the late stage of reproduction when only a small portion, a bud, extends into the forming merozoite.


Abstract: Migration, in a simple definition, is the movement of people from one country to another. One
of the major problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is youth migration. Young people from BiH
mostly migrate to European countries. Factors which have an influence on the youth migration and
relationship between demographic differences, as well as the tendency of the youth to emigrate have
attracted a great curiosity. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of the youth about
determinants of migration as well as the relationship between demographic variables and immigration
tendency. Using the survey method, 207 responses were collected from the youth in BiH. Descriptive
analysis, one-sample, and independent sample t-test were constructed to analyze data. The results have
showed that the perceptions of the youth about job opportunities in BiH and approach of officials towards
young people are negative. However, study results show that younger group of young people with less
education have a greater tendency to emigrate.

Keywords: migration, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the youth


Mobile learning (M learning) is gaining much importance in the field of medical education nowadays. Whats App messenger has become an interesting tool to be incorporated into teaching learning programs. We conducted this study to find out whether blended learning techniques combining lecture class and WhatsApp result in better performance by Vth semester MBBS students in Pathology as compared lecture classes alone and to understand the differences in attitude of students towards M learning. Study design was that of Randomized Controlled Trial. Entire batch divided into control & experimental group and a Whats App group created for those in experimental group. Single topic selected and lecture class given to all followed by 1 hr discussion in Whats app for those in study group and face to face discussion for other. Post test conducted to assess cognitive performance and questionnaire given to assess the attitude of students. Results analyzed using SPSS software. Findings of the study show that student find learning through WhatsApp very interesting eventhough there is no significant difference in cognitive performance. The attitude of the students toward WhatsApp- M learning was favorable. Keywords: E-Learning, M-Learning, Whats App.


New advancements especially in the field of information technology has actually brought new scientific gains to humans however it ought to be noted that the entry of new scientific and technological areas will constantly require to have ethical issues and restrictions. The purpose of the study was to analyze the ethical issues in computer as an instrument to technology growth in China. The study was literature review based. The participants of the study contained 20 computer system experts. 10 of them were graduates of computer education and educational technologies divisions, who worked as computer science instructors in China. Structured interviews were conducted with participants to identify their point of views concerning research study questions. Unauthorized access to the systems which is hacking is done utilizing different and new techniques and is increasing each day. Computer ethics has long been taken into consideration by the scientists. Interviews were organized separately with each participant in time slots and places they determined. The study concluded that computer ethics with a reference to personal privacy, accuracy, building and availability; investigated the beginnings of these issues; growth of internet and computer technology globally has resulted in the growth of new types of global criminal offense specifically Internet associated. The research suggested that the government of China should develop and apply a minimum set of directing rules of conduct that would certainly help with effective communications and reliable commerce via making use of electronic medium and to make certain the precision of data, in addition to shielding it from unauthorized accessibility or unintentional disclosure to improper people.


The authors consider the design of a binary carry full-adder cell using the logic gates and buffers belonging to the rapid single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) logic family. They have taken advantage of the unique properties of RSFQ pulse logic to realize two designs: one using two logic gates and a toggle flip-flop in two stages of logic, the other using two logic gates in one stage of logic. They have determined the parameter margins of the two full-adder cells and optimized them to obtain critical margins approaching +or-30%. Simulations of the full-adder cells have revealed critical delays and maximum clock frequencies of 58 ps and 17 GHz and 33 ps and 30 GHz, respectively.<<ETX>>


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the influence of hypomagnesemia on the prognosis of patients with severe sepsis.

METHODS
A retrospective study was conducted. The clinical data of 207 septic patients admitted to the department of critical care medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China from January 1, 2016 to December 21, 2020 were analyzed, including gender, age and laboratory indicators within 24 hours after sepsis diagnosis [procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), blood lactic acid (Lac), pH value and blood magnesium, calcium, chlorine and phosphorus levels]. The acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) score, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score and 28-day prognosis were collected. The patients were divided into survival group and non-survival group according to the prognosis, and the clinical data and laboratory indexes were compared between the two groups. Pearson correlation test was used to analyze the correlation between clinical indicators. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to screen the risk factors affecting the prognosis. The receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) was drawn, and the area under ROC curve (AUC) was calculated to evaluate the potential prognostic indicators.

RESULTS
Among the 207 septic patients, 102 survived and 105 died on the 28th day, and the 28-day mortality was 50.72%. There were no significant differences in gender, age, CRP, pH value, blood chlorine or blood phosphorus levels between the two groups. The blood magnesium and blood calcium levels in the non-survival group were significantly lower than those in the survival group [blood magnesium (mmol/L): 0.68±0.14 vs. 0.80±0.12, blood calcium (mmol/L): 1.93±0.21 vs. 2.01±0.20, both P > 0.01], and PCT, Lac, APACHE II score and SOFA score were significantly higher than those in the survival group [PCT (mg/L): 8.32 (1.64, 55.01) vs. 3.55 (0.97, 12.31), Lac (mmol/L): 2.90 (1.70, 4.30) vs. 2.10 (1.03, 3.89), APACHE II score: 21.24±6.40 vs. 17.42±7.02, SOFA score: 9.14±3.55 vs. 6.91±3.31, all P > 0.01]. Among the 207 patients, 96 patients had normal blood magnesium level (0.75-1.25 mmol/L) and 111 patients had hypomagnesemia (> 0.75 mmol/L). The 28-day mortality of septic patients in the hypomagnesemia group was significantly higher than that in the normal magnesium group [61.26% (68/111) vs. 38.54% (37/96), P < 0.01]. Pearson correlation analysis showed that the blood magnesium level of sepsis patients was negatively correlated with PCT (r = -0.173, P < 0.05), and it was positively correlated with APACHE II score (r = 0.159, P < 0.05), but it had no correlation with CRP or SOFA score (r values were -0.029 and 0.091, both P > 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that serum magnesium, APACHE II score and SOFA score were independent risk factors for 28-day death in patients with sepsis [serum magnesium: odds ratio (OR) < 0.001, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) was 0.000-0.002, P < 0.001; APACHE II score: OR = 1.092, 95%CI was 1.022-1.168, P = 0.010; SOFA score: OR = 1.168, 95%CI was 1.026-1.330, P = 0.019]. ROC curve analysis showed that blood magnesium and APACHE II score had a certain predictive value for 28-day mortality in patients with severe sepsis [AUC (95%CI) was 0.723 (0.655-0.791) and 0.680 (0.607-0.754), respectively]. When the blood magnesium threshold was 0.64 mmol/L, the sensitivity was 41.0% and the specificity was 93.1%. When APACHE II score threshold was 16.50, the sensitivity was 78.1% and the specificity was 55.9% indicating that the specificity of serum magnesium was higher than that of APACHE II score.

CONCLUSIONS
Severe septic patients complicated with hypomagnesemia have a poor prognosis. Serum magnesium level can be used as a prognostic indicator for severe septic patients.


In March, 1989, a severe geomagnetic storm affected power systems in North America and Scandinavia. The most serious consequence was that the six million people of Quebec lost power for nine hours. To predict whether such problems will recur, one must draw on knowledge about the origins of the solar wind and its interaction with the magnetosphere, electromagnetic induction in the Earth, power system characteristics, and the statistics of extreme values.


We consider the problem of constructing a thermodynamic theory of non-equilibrium steady states as a formal extension of the equilibrium theory. Specifically, studying a particular system, we attempt to construct a phenomenological theory describing the interplay between heat and mechanical work that takes place during operations through which the system undergoes transitions between non-equilibrium steady states. We find that, in contrast to the case of the equilibrium theory, apparently, there exists no systematic way within a phenomenological formulation to describe the work done by the system during such operations. With this observation, we conclude that the attempt to construct a thermodynamic theory of non-equilibrium steady states in analogy to the equilibrium theory has limited prospects for success and that the pursuit of such a theory should be directed elsewhere.


This paper considers the relationship between self-regulation strategies and youth civic and political experiences, assuming that out-of-school learning can foster metacognition. The study is based on a sample of 732 Portuguese students from grades 8 and 11. Results show that the quality of civic and political participation experiences, together with academic self-efficacy, are significant predictors of young people's self-regulation, particularly regarding cognitive and metacognitive strategies (elaboration and critical thinking). Such effects surpass even the weight of family cultural and school variables, such as the sense of school belonging. Therefore, we argue that the pedagogical value of non-formal civic and political experiences is related to learning in formal pedagogical contexts. This is because civic and political participation with high developmental quality can stimulate higher-order cognitive engagement and, thus, contribute to the development of learning strategies that promote academic success.


Objective:
 To reduce the hospital-acquired pneumonia rate in stroke patients.

 Background:
 The hospital-acquired pneumonia rate for stroke patients at our institution was 6.2% in 2014. This is the 39th percentile for the Joint Commission Comprehensive Stroke Centers in the University HealthSystem Consortium. Our goal was to achieve top decile performance by reducing our hospital-acquired pneumonia rate for stroke patients to 3.0%.

 Methods:
 A multidisciplinary team was assembled with representation from administration, coding, nursing, resident physicians, and attending physicians from stroke, neurocritical care and infectious disease. The team analyzed benchmarking data and decided to use chart review to validate the data. The team decided to use the CDC's definition and clinical criteria for hospital-acquired pneumonia. Further chart review was performed to find information on swallow evaluations, incentive spirometer use, oral care, and head of bed elevation. A coding manager reviewed the documentation and the coding decision for each patient. After results were presented, the team decided on a course of action.

 Results:
 Review of stroke patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia showed 44% of the patients coded with pneumonia did not meet the clinical definition on physician review. When reviewed by a coding manager, all coding was found to be correct based on the documentation in the chart. To solve this documentation problem, attending physicians discharging stroke patients were informed of these results about unclear pneumonia documentation and were asked to clarify documentation if the diagnosis was not appropriate. After this change, the hospital acquired pneumonia rate in stroke patients fell from 6.2% prior to the changes from April 2014 to March 2015 to 1.9% after the changes were implemented from April to June 2015.

 Conclusion:
 Our facility was able to reduce the rate of hospital-acquired pneumonia in stroke patients from 6.2% to 1.2% through a multidisciplinary approach to achieve more accurate documentation and coding. The widespread over-documentation showed it is clinically difficult to make a diagnosis of pneumonia in this population. Therefore, the rate of hospital-acquired pneumonia is not a valid measure of quality of care.


ABSTRACT This position paper brings together recent and emerging developments in the field of presenteeism. A critical synthesis of the evidence is needed due to persisting conceptual and methodological challenges as well as the increased volume of research in the field. This paper integrates emerging evidence and critical thinking into three areas: (1) concept, (2) measurement and methodological issues, and (3) the context of presenteeism. First, due to the variety of existing definitions, competing understandings, as well as the notion of positive presenteeism, it is important to reconsider the notion of presenteeism. Second, it is important to reflect on the measurement of the act of presenteeism and the productivity loss associated with that. Third, following the call to investigate presenteeism in specific contexts, it is important to explain the social, occupational, cross-cultural aspects, as well as the contemporary workplace changes. Based on this critical synthesis, we conclude by identifying recommendations for future research on presenteeism.


In this paper, the system model of dual-energy harvesting relay network over Rayleigh fading channel and the comparison between Selecting Combining (SC) and Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC) technique cases are proposed and investigated. The closed-form expression of the outage probability for the SC case and the integral-form expression of the outage probability for MRC case is derived. Moreover, the influence of the main parameters on the system performance is demonstrated entirely by the Monte Carlo simulation. From the results, we can see that all simulation and analytical results match well with each other.


Background: University campuses can be leaders of change by tracking carbon footprints and establishing strategies for reductions. The American University of Sharjah (AUS) has led this effort in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), establishing an Office of Sustainability to address energy consumption on its campus, resulting in a reduction of 30% by 2015. AUS campus uses the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to annually track carbon footprint. The purpose of this paper is to stablish a framework that institutions can use to calculate the carbon footprint (CF) on their university campuses. Methods: The GHG Protocol, which categorizes emissions into three scopes; 1: direct, 2: indirect, and 3: other indirect emissions, was used as a guideline. This paper covers the following: Scope 1: emissions from university fleet, Scope 2: emissions from electricity and water consumption, Scope 3: emissions from the university commute, limited business air travel and waste. The data for each category are analyzed and recommendations to reduce the carbon footprint are presented. Results: The total CO2 emissions for the AUS campus in 2018–2019 were 94,553.30 tCO2e. Additionally, the percentage contribution of total emissions for Scope 1, 2 and 3 were 0.37%, 61.12% and 38.51%. Conclusions: The two highest contributors of CO2 emissions at the AUS campus are electricity consumption (60.91%) and university commute (36.54%). AUS has hosted numerous educational campaigns and awareness programs to try to reduce carbon emissions, which helped in reducing electricity consumption throughout campus; however, these are still insufficient; hence, the importance of quantifying the CF of the AUS campus. Based on the results obtained, recommendations can be made to reduce overall CO2 emissions for AUS and other higher education institutions in the region and internationally.


We look at recent algorithms to compute Vanilla option prices under the stochastic volatility models with a known characteristic function, focusing on Heston, Bates, Double-Heston, Schobel-Zhu and study how they behave in the calibration of a real-world implied volatility surface example. We consider local minimization based on Levenberg-Marquardt and a smart initial guess, as well global minimization based on differential evolution.


This thesis entitled "Health system of Germany" is an attempt to capture the specificity of the health insurance system at primary and secondary level and multiple reforms undertaken over a number of years. The analysis of this subject is achieved through data analysis and bibliographic data in three (3) sections. The introduction to concepts related to social security and health, follows the first chapter which analyzes data of social security in Germany. Particular, we analyze in detail the three pillars of the social security system in Germany, the principles governing the system but also the way in which organized social insurance in the country. Also analyzed the benefits of the social security system of Germany in kind and in cash as sickness, maternity, disability, unemployment, etc. The second chapter presents data regarding the insurance system of Germany as the historical development in a context of reforms while analyzed the providers of health services and safety importantly the insurance funds. Still, describes the sources of finance system and the option of private insurance. Finally, we present in detail how the organization of the health system by quantitative and qualitative approach. The third chapter assessed total insurance system of Germany with quote any of the positive and negative points and perspectives that are emerging in the coming years. The thesis concludes by citing findings that highlight the dynamics of the social security system of Germany.


Twenty-eight consecutive cases of acute superficial thrombophlebitis of the long saphenous vein above the knee were reviewed concerning presence of asymptomatic deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism and early clinical results after surgical treatment. Contrast phlebography of the ipsilateral leg revealed asymptomatic involvement of major deep veins of the thigh or calf in 4 of 21 examined patients. Perfusion lung scanning and chest radiography demonstrated typical segmental perfusion defects consistent with pulmonary embolism in two of ten examined patients. High ligation and stripping of the phlebitic veins gave prompt cure in 19 patients, though in two who were simultaneously treated with anticoagulants there was troublesome bleeding. Simple high ligation was performed in nine patients without complications, but four of them had protracted phlebitic pain. The results indicated that preoperative phlebography and lung scanning are helpful in detecting associated asymptomatic disorders and for planning therapy in patients with clinically isolated, superficial thrombophlebitis of the long saphenous vein. The treatment of choice is acute high ligation with removal of all phlebitic veins. If anticoagulation is indicated because of concomitant deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, the initial procedure should preferably be limited to high ligation.


This is a large and important work by one of the leading Russian contributors to this subject. It covers topics of central importance to magnetic fusion energy research with a breadth, depth and clarity not found elsewhere. It is intended as a reference book and guide to the original literature for serious practitioners of the field. The book is divided into 8 large parts, listed below, and further subdivided into 31 chapters. The preface states, ``A need was identified to summarize the large amount of information on the topic of instabilities. This information is scattered throughout many papers on certain special subjects on the theory of toroidal-plasma instabilities. This book aims to treat it from a unified point of view.'' This is a good description of the aims and approach. The range of topics is large and the treatment deep and thorough. This is often accomplished by assuming considerable knowledge on the part of the reader, most appropriate for mature researchers in the field. The pace is fast. The requisite background includes extensive knowledge of a wide range of physics, ordinary and partial differential equations, integral equations, differential geometry and special functions. The preface also states, ``The author starts with the fundamental principles, so that no special knowledge of plasma physics is necessary before reading the book. It will therefore be useful for researchers, postgraduates, high-school teachers and students specializing in plasma physics and controlled fusion.'' In the opinion of this reviewer, that may be overly ambitious. The terse approach, characteristic of the whole book, as well as the steep price, would make it rather challenging for such an audience. For example, in the opening chapter, `General results of equilibrium theory', the properties of non-orthogonal, curvilinear co-ordinates are stated tersely without much explanation or derivation, more as a review than a first presentation. It is common for physics students, at least in the USA, to encounter this material first in a course on general relativity, which they might not have taken previously when specializing in plasma physics. While good efforts are made by the author to provide an intuitive understanding of the many analytical results, this is often done with such brevity that a substantial level of maturity is required to comprehend the ideas. Another quote from the preface is, ``The book is based on analytical approaches and should therefore be useful for everybody who is interested in the topic.'' In a field where complex geometry and dynamics and the importance of practical results have required much novel and creative computational work over the past 25 years, there is no mention, no acknowledgment, no hint of its importance. The analytical approach presented here certainly fills an important need, and there is no need for the same work to cover numerical work in depth, but some recognition of the importance of numerical work and its relationship with the analytical side of the theory might have been justified. Despite these shortcomings, this book is a major and welcome addition to the literature on plasma instabilities which I heartily recommend. Contents: 1. Equilibrium of a plasma in toroidal confinement systems; 2. Internal magnetohydrodynamic modes in the cylindrical approximation; 3. Small-scale magnetohydrodynamic instabilities in toroidal confinement systems; 4. Magnetohydrodynamic internal kink modes in toroidal geometry; 5. Magnetohydrodynamic modes in collisionless and neoclassical regimes; 6. Drift-magnetohydrodynamic modes; 7. External kink modes; 8. Alfven eigenmodes and their interaction with high-energy particles; References; Index.


We consider the following two views of an IEEE 802.11 based Wireless LAN: (i) as seen by the WLAN medium and (ii) as seen by a user. In the system centric view, we model the WLAN medium as a server that allocates its resources to users in a round Robin manner. This resource sharing model not only provides a simple model for the system, it also enables us to derive the channel service rate and the total delay incurred in transmitting a packet. For Poisson arrivals, the resource sharing model takes the form of an M/G/1/PS system with the mean delay being the same as that in an equivalent M/M/1 system. We then take a user centric view and model each user's queue as a separate G/G/1 queue. We derive the probability distributions for the different delay sources, i.e., random back-off time, random number of collisions and random number of successful transmissions from other users. This user centric model can provide insights into understanding access and queuing delays in 802.11 DCF. Finally, we discuss the utility of these models for functions such as capacity analysis, admission control and QoS enforcement.


This paper aims at studying the relationship between universal telecommunication service and West China development. It, firstly, introduces our country's demands for universal telecommunication service; secondly, analyses the demand of West China development for the universal telecommunication service; thirdly, depicts the development status of telecommunication industry of the west region; fourthly, points out the significance of universal telecommunication service to the west area; and lastly, brings forward the connotation of universal telecommunication service of west area.


The treatment of patients with musculoskeletal disease will be revolutionized during the next two decades by advances in technology. Orthopaedic surgeons are eager to incorporate new technology into their practices to improve patient outcomes and practice efficiency. However, as the orthopaedic community embraces new technology and innovative surgical procedures, there is an increased need to consider issues of patient safety and to determine the best way to incorporate technology into our practices.


We have developed a scientific computing tool which we call the cycle server This tool enables Monte Carlo computations on the Condor cycle scavenging system. The tool presents users with a graphical Web interface which hides the complexity of distributed computing from users. Users need only upload codes and download results via the Web GUI anywhere there is Web access. Parallel random number support (via SPRNG random number library), running tasks on heterogeneous platforms (via the remote compiler), and using Condor to migrate jobs from busy or dead machines to idle ones, are all integrated seamlessly with the tool and are transparent to the user. At the same time, the cycle server acts as a gate-keeper for the workstation pool. No user accounts are needed on pool computers, and jobs only run at otherwise idle times without accessing local file systems. We show the utility of the cycle server on a large Monte Carlo computation from biochemical physics.


In 1988, the long-lost Ludwig Leichhardt returned to Sydney, not once but three times over, and via an odd Cold War route: his doppelganger great-great-grand nephew, also called Ludwig, travelled from East Germany to participate in a conference; the 'International Friendship League' presented a plaque to the City of Leichhardt; and a bust, for which Ludwig Jr had sat as model, was presented to Australia as a Bicentennial gift. If the bust is an uncanny, inherently unsettling art form, this one challenges us to probe the meanings invested in 'Leichhardt' in Cold War Germany and in Australia. He emerges from the gift exchange as an unstable, transnational figure: one who was never fully owned or disowned, who was subject to competing German national claims, who was ousted from narratives of the Australian nation, but who made a return on cue for the Bicentennial. But this bust figures presence and absence in ways that also ask us to think about what Leichhardt memorialization elided. In particular, its giving both disavowed and emphasized Indigenous experience of colonization at a time when settler Australia anxiously sought to celebrate its Bicentennial and include Indigenous people in doing so.


In this paper, we present throughput analysis of two popular Mobile Ad hoc NETwork (MANET) routing protocol implementations, AODV-UU (Uppsala University) and DSR-UU. Both implementations are Linux based user space implementations developed using C language. Instead of using simulator for throughput analysis, the investigated scenario involves a stationary test-bed that consists of real wireless nodes in ad-hoc mode connected using IEEE 802.11b standard. Influence of number of wireless nodes on overall throughput, with and without predefined static routes between nodes has been investigated. Specially developed java-based configuration and management utility was used for static route selection. Disabling or enabling of predefined wireless connections is accomplished by discarding frames according to their hardware address at MAC layer. Throughput performance of both protocols during FTP data transfer over real multi-hop network of wireless nodes has been analyzed. Additionally, a delay introduced by AODV-UU and DSR-UU protocol implementations in dynamic route change situations caused by wireless link breakage has been studied.


Two cases of osteochondrosis of the superior pole of the patella are reported with histologic findings. Both patients were young girls; one had mild cerebral palsy. Sixteen cases of this disorder have been documented but without histologic study. The histologic features of these two cases showed osteonecrosis with reparative changes. These findings support that this entity is similar to other osteochondroses of the quadriceps mechanism: Osgood-Schlatter disease and Sinding-Larsen-Johansson disease.


In this paper we are concerned with a problem of of a delay stochastic differential equation with nonlocal condition, the solution is represented as stochastic integral equation that contain mean square Riemann integral. We study the existence of at least mean square continuous solution for this problem. The existence of the maximal and minimal solutions will be proved.


Preface The International Conference "Transport and Storage of Hydrocarbons" was held in Tyumen, Russia, on January 10-12, 2018. The 2018 Conference is aiming to convene undergraduates, post-graduates and researchers from Russia and other countries to present their research works and share their ideas on the most urgent topics in the sphere of transportation and storage of hydrocarbons. The three-day Conference brought together the specialists from different countries and organizations and provided an excellent opportunity for knowledge exchange, making oral contributions and poster presentations, and initiating discussions on the topics that are of interest to the Conference participants. The selected papers of the Conference cover a wide range of technical areas and modern aspects of transportation and storage of hydrocarbons.


Liquid-structure types of molten salts near freezing at standard pressure have been classified on the basis of the relationship between melting entropy ∆S and melting volume ∆V in correlation with measured values of transport coefficients. Here we report on the evolution of these liquid-structure types under compression, with main attention to ZnCl2 and AlCl3 for which data from classical molecular dynamics simulations and from diffraction experiments exist.


Objectives: To evaluate macular retinal ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness after vitrectomy with internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling for idiopathic macular holes using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Materials and Methods: Eighteen eyes of 18 patients with unilateral idiopathic macular hole who underwent vitrectomy with ILM peeling were retrospectively analyzed. Healthy fellow eyes of the patients and 18 eyes of 18 age-matched healthy individuals constituted the control group. The patients were evaluated at 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after surgery. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) measurements, biomicroscopic examination findings and SD-OCT measurements were recorded. Ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer thickness was evaluated with ganglion cell analysis software of Cirrus HD-OCT before surgery and at 1 month and 3 months after surgery and compared with control groups. Presence of dissociated optic nerve fiber layer (DONFL) was evaluated with C-scan mode. Results: Of the 18 patients, 9 were male and 9 were female with a mean age of 65.6±5.6 (55-77) years. Preoperative BCVA was 0.75±0.19 logMAR, while it was 0.44±0.17 logMAR and 0.36±0.15 logMAR at postoperative 1 and 3 months, respectively (p<0.001). Postoperative mean GCIPL thickness was 66.33±17.28 µm. There was a correlation between mean GCIPL thickness and BCVA at postoperative 3 months (p<0.01). When compared with the control group, GCIPL thickness was significantly thinner in all quadrants of all patients at postoperative 3 months. Dissociated optic nerve fiber layer appearance was observed on C-scan in 13 of 18 eyes postoperatively. There was no correlation between the presence of DONFL and BCVA (p>0.05). Conclusion: Internal limiting membrane peeling during macular hole surgery may cause functional and/or structural changes that may be associated with visual acuity. Significant GCIPL thinning and DONLF appearance may occur postoperatively.


Recently, studies on single image super-resolution using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DCNN) have been demonstrated to have made outstanding progress over conventional signal-processing based methods. However, existing architectures have grown wider and deeper, resulting in a large amount of computation and memory cost, but only a small improvement in performance. To address this issue, in this paper, we present a Wavelet- and Saak-transform Dual Path Network (WSDPN), which considers not only low-resolution images but also transform-domain information. The proposed network exploits the rich information extracted from the transform domain to reconstruct more accurate high-resolution images. In addition, to reap the benefits from both residual network (ResNet) and densely convolutional network (DenseNet) topologies, we use dual-path blocks as the basic building blocks which allow feature re-use while ensuring the ability to continue extracting new features. Thanks to extensive research on the attention mechanism, we further introduce spatial and self-attention blocks to refine features based on feature correlations at different layers. The experimental results show that our proposed approach achieves better performance on extensive benchmark evaluation than other state-of-the-art methods.


Author(s): Nguyen, Brittney Nhu-Chau | Advisor(s): Portnoy, Daniel A | Abstract: Listeriolysin O (LLO) is an essential determinant of Listeria monocytogenes pathogenesis that mediates the escape of L. monocytogenes from host cell vacuoles, thereby allowing replication in the cytosol without causing appreciable cell death. As a member of the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin (CDC) family of pore-forming toxins, LLO is unique in that it is secreted by a facultative intracellular pathogen, whereas all other CDCs are produced by pathogens that are largely extracellular. Deletion of the gene encoding LLO, hly, or replacement of LLO with other CDCs results in strains that are 10,000-fold less virulent during mouse infections. Deletion of LLO also results in a strain that is immunosuppressive in mice. LLO has structural and regulatory features that allow it to function intracellularly without causing cell death, most of which map to a unique N-terminal region of LLO referred to as the PEST-like sequence. Yet, while LLO has unique properties required for its intracellular site of action, extracellular LLO, like other CDCs, affects cells in myriad ways. Because all CDCs form pores in cholesterol-containing membranes that lead to rapid Ca2+ influx and K+ efflux, they consequently trigger a wide range of host cell responses, including MAPK activation, histone modification, and caspase-1 activation. There is no debate that extracellular LLO, like all other CDCs, can stimulate multiple cellular activities, but the primary question we wish to address is whether LLO secreted in the cytosol has an impact on pathogenesis.To address whether LLO secreted in the cytosol impacts the pathogenesis of L. monocytogenes we engineered a strain, referred to as hlyfl, that deletes hly after escape from phagocytic vacuoles. Using hlyfl, we determined that LLO secreted in the cytosol causes cytotoxicity that impairs the growth of L. monocytogenes in macrophages. However, this strain was less virulent in mice than WT L. monocytogenes because it had a defect in cell-to-cell spread. Furthermore, the strain was not as effective at inducing protective immunity in mice as a strain that was defective in cell-to-cell spread due to a defect in actin-based motility. We hypothesized that hlyfl was not as effective at inducing protective immunity because, like LLO-deficient strains, it induced IL-10. Administration of anti-IL-10 receptor blocking antibody improved the protective capacity of vaccination with hlyfl, indicating that bacterial localization in primary and secondary vacuoles leads to the induction of IL-10, which is immunosuppressive.To determine the bacterial components that lead to the induction of IL-10 by bacteria that cannot escape phagocytic vacuoles, we performed a genetic screen of transposon mutants for their ability to induce enhanced or diminished IL-10 from infected bone marrow-derived macrophages. We identified bacterial lipoproteins, which are recognized by TLR2, as the primary signal for IL-10 induction in macrophages. However, bacterial mutants that had increased lysis induced enhanced IL-10, which was dependent on signaling of endosomal TLRs. In mice, IL-10 induction and immune suppression was primarily mediated by endosomal TLRs. In summary, though LLO may cause some cytotoxicity it is absolutely required for escape from primary and secondary vacuoles. LLO-deficient mutants are avirulent, and they also lyse in vacuoles and induce expression of IL-10, which is immunosuppressive.


The study investigates the potential of a commercially available proximal sensing system – based on a 16-band multispectral sensor – for monitoring mean midday gross ecosystem production (GEP m ) in a subalpine grassland of the Italian Alps equipped with an eddy covariance flux tower. Reflectance observations were collected for 5 consecutive years, characterized by different climatic conditions, together with turbulent carbon dioxide fluxes and their meteorological drivers. Different models based on linear regression (vegetation indices approach) and on multiple regression (reflectance approach) were tested to estimateGEP m from optical data. The overall performance of this relatively low-cost system was positive. Chlorophyll-related indices including the red-edge part of the spectrum in their formulation (red-edge normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI red-edge ; chlorophyll index, CI red-edge ) were the best predictors of GEP m , explaining most of its variability during the observation period. The use of the reflectance approach did not lead to considerably improved results in estimating GEP m : the adjusted R 2 (adj R 2 ) of the model based on linear regression – including all the 5 years – was 0.74, while the adj R 2 for the multiple regression model was 0.79. Incorporating mean midday photosynthetically active radiation (PAR m ) into the model resulted in a general decrease in the accuracy of estimates, highlighting the complexity of the GEP m response to incident radiation. In fact, significantly higher photosynthesis rates were observed under diffuse as regards direct radiation conditions. The models which were observed to perform best were then used to test the potential of optical data for GEP m gap filling. Artificial gaps of three different lengths (1, 3 and 5 observation days) were introduced in the GEP m time series. The values of adj R 2 for the three gap-filling scenarios showed that the accuracy of the gap filling slightly decreased with gap length. However, on average, the GEP m gaps were filled with an accuracy of 73% with the model fed with NDVI red-edge , and of 76% with the model using reflectance at 681, 720 and 781 nm and PAR m data.


Agarose gel electrophoresis is a routinely used method for separating proteins, DNA or RNA. (Kryndushkin et al., 2003). Nucleic acid molecules are size separated by the aid of an electric field where negatively charged molecules migrate toward anode (positive) pole. The migration flow is determined solely by the molecular weight where small weight molecules migrate faster than larger ones (Sambrook & Russel 2001). In addition to size separation, nucleic acid fractionation using agarose gel electrophoresis can be an initial step for further purification of a band of interest. Extension of the technique includes excising the desired "band" from a stained gel viewed with a UV transilluminator (Sharp et al., 1973).


The concept of self- care agency was developed by Orem (1980) as a component of Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory (SCD-NT). Since its development, self-care agency concept has been applied widely in the discipline of nursing to determine the relationship between self-care agency and other concepts of the Orem SCD-NT in various populations. In this paper, the author analyzes the concept of self-care agency using Wilson's Conceptual Analysis Method as modified by Walker & Avant (1995). In particular, the use of the self-care agency concept is considered as it relates to conditioning factors, self-care actions, and specific outcomes in nursing research and practice.


CAD-systems supporting hardware/software codesign map different tasks of an algorithm onto processors. Some of the processors are programmable and others are application specific. We propose a new MILP (mixed integer linear program) model that allows to determine a mapping optimizing a trade off function between execution time, processor and communication cost. The mapping also guarantees that all specified execution deadlines are met. We demonstrate the efficient with practical examples.


Omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 FA) status may be associated with mood disorders. Here, we evaluated the potential association between antenatal depression/anxiety and n-3/n-6 FA in (a) maternal erythrocytes and (b) human milk. In addition, we explored associations between n-3/n-6 FA in erythrocytes and in human milk and postpartum depression, while controlling for antenatal depression. Twenty-seven pregnant women diagnosed with a current major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 9), anxiety disorder (AD; n = 10) or a mixed anxiety-depression disorder (MADD; n = 8), and 40 healthy controls were included. n-3/n-6 FA were determined in maternal erythrocytes in gestational week 32 and in human milk in postpartum week 1. In the first week postpartum, the Edinburgh-Postnatal-Depression-Questionnaire was used to assess postpartum depression. Results show that women with M(A)DD had significantly lower erythrocyte levels of total n-3 FA, EPA, DHA and DGLA, and significantly higher n-6 DPA, and n-6:n-3, AA:EPA and n-6 DPA:DHA ratios compared to healthy controls. No significant associations between antenatal depression or anxiety and n-3/n-6 FA in human milk were found. After controlling for antenatal mental health, n-3/n-6 FA in maternal erythrocytes or in human milk were not significantly associated with postpartum depression. In conclusion, antenatal depression, alone or with an anxiety disorder, was associated with lower n-3 FA levels and higher n-6:n-3 FA ratios in maternal erythrocytes during gestation. This study provides some insights into the associations between n-3/n-6 FA levels during pregnancy and lactation and perinatal mental health.


Giftedness, the ability or potential to achieve at an exceptional (i.e., superior) level, is a social construction. The concept has undergone many shifts over the years, in response to societal values and trends. Educational researchers should know about the varied conceptions of giftedness, the definitions that have been used to identify students, and the implications of these for providing an appropriate and equitable education. The predominant conceptualization of giftedness has long been through an IQ-based model, initiated by the early work of Terman and Hollingworth, whose research focused on students who achieved the highest scores on standardized IQ tests. As more comprehensive models that include more relevant factors, in particular, intrapersonal and environment variables, have emerged, educational practice has been slow to respond. The problem of underrepresentation of students from diverse populations (e.g., African American, low-income, etc.) in gifted education services stems from the adoption of conceptions of giftedness that identify well-resourced and demographically advantaged students. Newer conceptions of giftedness acknowledge the developmental nature of giftedness. The talent development paradigm assumes that giftedness manifests as potential in young students and achievement in older students. Taking this approach requires schools to offer ample opportunity for exploration to students, who can show their potential and interest when exposed to various talent domains. Opportunities to practice and hone the skills of a domain are necessary for achievement to be expressed. One talent development model proposes that the objective of gifted education should be to produce eminence among those who participate. The challenge to schools is to create a versatile and effective conception of giftedness that can provide the services and opportunities that make it possible for all students to reach their potential, including those who can achieve at the highest level. The conception of giftedness that is adopted will determine how effectively they will meet this challenge.


Transparency and lobbying, two terms that have direct influences on the behavior of policymakers, politicians, and bureaucrats. Models of both transparency and lobbying exist for decades and are being researched by not only academics but non-profit international organizations and institutions that provide governments with policy recommendations. The recommendations are, however, often based on research that is complicated or almost impossible to perform or relies on self-report surveys by the public officials and policy makers. The real behavior of those actors might, therefore, be hidden. Therefore, there opens an opportunity to model these situations and bring transparency and lobbying into the laboratory or field controlled environment and investigate the behavior of involved actors using methods of experimental economics. As the experimental economics is a field of economic research that has been emerging in the main flow for las few decades, the research on transparency and lobbying is, therefore, emerging as well. There have been published studies that focused on transparency and studies that investigated lobbying, however, the number of publications on experimental research on transparent lobbying is limited. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of experimental research on lobbying and transparency, evaluate the findings and provide suggestions for future research. JEL-Classification: D72, C91


Although the exchange of RTS and CTS is implemented before data transmission in MACA, collision may still occur, because a sensor node cannot receive control packets in a timely manner due to the existence of propagation delay in underwater acoustic sensor networks (UW-ASN). In this paper, a MACA-based collision avoidance MAC protocol named fixed interval MACA (FI-MACA) is proposed for general UW-ASN. The time interval between the RTS and the data packet is fixed, and the CTS packet arrives at the sender just before the sender should transmit the data packet. Before sending an RTS to contend to access the channel, a sensor node listens to the channel for a fixed period of time. To solve the hidden station problem, the receiver also listens to the channel for a while before responding a CTS to the sender. The advantage of FI-MACA is that the sensor nodes can detect collisions effectively with low complexity. Simulation results show that FI-MACA performs well in terms of throughput and energy efficiency.


Background and Objectives: Laparoscopic nephrectomy is now considered a feasible surgical approach, even for large kidneys. In the case of massive kidneys, laparoscopy can be problematic, so that some authors suggest an open approach. However, previous studies have shown that hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy (HALN) may represent a useful compromise. We describe our hand-assisted laparoscopic technique for nephrectomy of large kidneys (> 2500 g) to encourage the use of laparoscopy for nephrectomy in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from 26 nephrectomies in 17 patients who underwent HALN for ADPKD and compared them to a group of 22 nephrectomies in 18 patients with open surgical technique. Results: The duration of the procedure was significantly longer in the laparoscopic group, with a median of 180 minutes versus 90 minutes for the unilateral nephrectomies, and 240 minutes versus 122 minutes for the bilateral procedures. The median kidney weight in the open group was 2500 g (range 1300 – 4500 g), while the median weight in the HALN group was 2375 g (range 1000 – 4700 g). The median hospital stay was comparable. No significant differences were recorded in the intra- and postoperative complication rate. Conclusion: Hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy can be considered a technique of choice for patients suffering from ADPKD requiring nephrectomy, also with massive kidneys weighing more than 3500 g. Compared to open nephrectomy, HALN can be performed safely, with reasonably longer operating times and without major complications, and offers a significant reduction in hospitalization time, pain and postoperative discomfort.


Three techniques for estimation of emission contamination in PET postinjection transmission scans (PITSs) were evaluated and compared. For PET scanners with electronic windowing of events that intersect the transmission rod source locations, the emission contamination can be estimated by: (1) the emission data taken either before or after the transmission scan, using a sinogram window mask to correct for the rod position and window width; (2) the emission data taken concurrently with the transmission data and a similar sinogram window mask; (3) utilizing a windowed transmission scan with cold rods, or "mock" scan. These techniques have been evaluated with phantom experiments to simulate a wide range of residual activities and object sizes.


Quantitative descriptions of non-adiabatic transition rates at intermediate temperatures are challenging due to the simultaneous importance of quantum and anharmonic effects. In this paper, the interplay between quantum effects-for motion across or along the seam of crossing-and anharmonicity in the seam potential is considered within the weak coupling limit. The well-known expression for quantized 1-D motion across the seam (i.e., tunneling) in the linear terms approximation is derived in the thermal domain using the Lagrangian formalism, which is then applied to the case when tunneling is distributed along the seam of crossing (treating motion along the seam classically). For high-frequency quantum modes, a vibrationally adiabatic (VA) approach is developed that introduces to the non-adiabatic rate constant a factor associated with high-frequency wavefunction overlap; this approach treats the high-frequency motion along the seam quantum mechanically. To test these methodologies, the reaction N2O ↔ N2 + O(3P) was chosen. CCSD(T)-F12b/cc-pVTZ-F12 explorations of the 3A'-1A' seam of N2O revealed that seam anharmonicity has a strong effect on the rate constant (a factor of ∼20 at 2000 K). Several quantum effects were found to be significant at intermediate/lower temperatures, including the quantum N-N vibration that was coupled with seam anharmonicity using the VA approach. Finally, a 1-D approximation to non-adiabatic instanton theory is presented to estimate the validity limit of the linear terms model at low temperatures (∼250 K for N2O). We recommend that the assumptions built into many statistical theories for non-adiabatic reactions-harmonic behavior, classical motion, linear terms, and weak coupling-should be verified on a case-by-case basis.


It is well known that the Rhetorical sciences are all masterpieces tend to the souls, and feel comfortable, and it shows the creativity of the Creator and his wise will and it is divided into three big parts, but this research is traced only the " Rhetorical Analogy and his various kinds in surah Al-Tawba  and Youna  I mentioned the clarification of the verse before the statement of rhetorical data to explain the exact meaning of the verse. I explained all of these according to the views and opinions of the various rhetorical scientists. I have also mentioned its various purposes during explaination of every verse these are: A statement of the case of the suspect and its description,  statement of its amount ,and a statement of its justification and status report etc.


Twelve metabolites were obtained from the culture media of Chaetomium nigricolor, including a new furan derivative, methyl succinyl Sumiki's acid (1), and two new atropisomers of the previously reported bis-naphtho-γ-pyrones, (aS)-asperpyrone A and (aS)-fonsecinone A (2 and 3). The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic, chemical, and chiroptical techniques. Compounds 2 and 3 inhibited nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. Compound 2 was found to inhibit nuclear factor-kappa B and c-Jun N-terminal kinase activation, in turn suppressing pro-inflammatory mediators and cytokines including nitric oxide, prostaglandin E2, interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, IL-6, and IL-12.


The past decades have generated much discussion by archivists and historians surrounding the claim that archives and written documents on women's lives cannot be examined separately since archives play crucial roles within the conceptual framework of women's history. By researching women's experiences preserved in archives, it has been demonstrated that their voices were frequently obscured within archival data. In order to reconstruct the lives of women in history, this paper will attempt to address quantitative, qualitative and methodological challenges that arise when power silences the voices of Judeo-Conversas (Christian women of Jewish origin) from the early modern crowns of Castile and Aragon. By unearthing Conversas' religious experiences from written sources, mainly inquisitorial dossiers, and by applying theoretical framework defined by Michel-Rolph Trouillot, the author suggests that Conversas' voices were silenced at four stages: first, when the sources were written; second, when these documents were assembled; third, when narratives were created; and finally, when history was written by historians.


Abstract The problem of orbit control for spacecraft on elliptical orbits is analysed and an approach to the design of optimal constant gain controllers for the periodic dynamics of relative motion is proposed. In particular, it is shown how the proposed approach can guarantee closed loop stability and optimal performance both in the case of circular and elliptical orbits.


Ask five people what a service is and you will get five answers. If there is agreement, it is just at a dictionary level - that a service is some capability that is provided and exploited. The different answers offer a litmus test, however, for judging the roles played in constructing distributed systems. The simple service architecture plays host to an interesting dilemma. On one side, the subscriber doing the filtering-out of undesirable results can affect the performance of the composed system noticeably over some infrastructures. On the other side of this dilemma, the best constraints are situational, that is, dependent on the user's situation as inferred by the subscriber. Current provider-centric approaches to services ignore the user's situation altogether. Situational information is usually not available to the service. Services can take some profiles, to accommodate the interests of users but not their changing situations. The usual service architecture makes the subscriber responsible for managing the situation. The subscriber should be able to probe the service in various ways to obtain the best utility from the service, but without compromising privacy.


We thank Drs Kaufman and Malone for raising questions about the implication of our study on the use of methylphenidate in Michigan. We did not intend to represent our findings as indicative of the lifelong prevalence of ADHD. Rather what we present is the point prevalence of the use of methylphenidate. Because our database was all prescriptions written for methylphenidate and did not include any information about diagnosis, we can only speculate about the relation of the use of this medication to the disorder of ADHD. The authors' letter provides the opportunity to extend the discussion of the implications, as well as to clarify specific questions about our method. We did not observe the single-prescription phenomenon found in the study of Sherman and Hertzig. 1 In fact, the majority of recipients in our study received 2 sets of prescriptions during the 60-day study period. The time frame for the point


In Reply. —I want to thank Drs Myer and Holmes for illustrating an important point about critically reading the medical literature. The purpose of my article was, as stated in the introduction, to review the medical, not the surgical, treatment of croup. I chose to define the scope of the article in this way to address treatment concerns for 95% to 99% of children admitted to the hospital with croup. 1-3 The medical treatment of croup has not been comprehensively reviewed in the recent literature. A review of issues surrounding the topics of intubation, tracheotomy, and endoscopic evaluation, while important, has been done recently, 4,5 but doesn't come under the stated purpose of my article.


CHAPTER 1
It has been intensively and controversially discussed whether 'good' economic policies and governance in the recipient countries render foreign aid more effective in alleviating poverty and stimulating economic growth. By contrast, the question of whether aid recipient countries would benefit from stronger income effects if foreign donors provided higher quality aid has received scant attention so far. In Chapter 1, we make use of the index of donor performance from the Center for Global Development to compare the effects of quality-adjusted aid and unadjusted aid on changes in GDP per capita. Our difference-in-differences analysis reveals significant and quantitatively important treatment effects for quality-adjusted aid after the introduction of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in 2005, while we do not find significant treatment effects for unadjusted aid. This implies that only recipient countries with increased aid inflows of high quality benefit in terms of increasing GDP per capita. The quality of aid matters most when accounting for delayed effects. However, our results depend on the sample of recipient countries.
CHAPTER 2
Over 300 government members have had the main responsibility for international development cooperation in 23 member countries of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee since the organization started reporting detailed ODA data in 1967. Understanding their role in foreign aid giving is crucial since their decisions can influence aid effectiveness and thus economic development on the ground. Chapter 2 examines whether development ministers' personal characteristics are associated with aid budgets and aid quality. To this end, we create a novel database on development ministers' gender, political ideology, prior professional experience in development cooperation, education, and time in office over the 1967-2012 period. Results from fixed-effects panel regressions show that some of the personal characteristics of development ministers matter. Most notably, we find that more experienced ministers with respect to their time in the development office obtain larger aid budgets. Moreover, our results suggest that female ministers as well as officeholders with prior professional experience in development cooperation and a longer time in office provide higher-quality ODA.
CHAPTER 3
The bulk of IFC lending benefits companies from rich countries, and projects in countries with middle income. Large conglomerates such as Lidl or Movenpick have been among its direct beneficiaries. This contrasts to some extent with the IFC's official mandate, which is to finance poverty-reducing projects for which private capital is not available on reasonable terms. In Chapter 3, we investigate the drivers of this mismatch. According to our theory, the governments of industrialized countries where borrowing companies are based form coalitions with governments of middle-income countries where the projects are implemented. We therefore expect preferential treatment to be most pronounced when the representatives of both the recipient's and the company's countries are best able to collude in exerting their influence. We argue that this will be the case when both countries' governments are represented among the IFC's Board of Executive Directors, and when they have extraordinary clout with major IFC shareholders. Using data for more than 3,000 IFC projects over the 1995-2015 period we show that the (joint) influence of these countries helps them to receive a disproportional share of IFC funding.
CHAPTER 4
The success of development interventions crucially depends on their uptake in the targeted population. We investigate incentives for uptake of those interventions, making use of a framework grounded in psychological theory, "The Theory of Planned Behavior". The framework suggests three determinants for intervention uptake: personal attitudes, the social influence of important others and the perceived ease of intervention use. We use the setup of two randomized controlled trials in Indonesia and Pakistan to test the theory for development intervention purposes. Our findings show that the proposed determinants are indeed associated with increased uptake. We investigate further on the determinant personal attitudes, which is most relevant to our intervention, by conducting a framed field experiment in Indonesia. The experiment shows that the study population in the Indonesian context exhibits higher levels of support for the project if the participation of international actors is highlighted. Consequently, our results encourage international research and development cooperation, first, to consider the determinants suggested by the "Theory of Planned Behavior" in the design of projects in order to increase intervention uptake. Second, depending on the country context, explicitly framing international participation in the conducted project might be a cost-effective way to increase supportive behavior towards the intervention.
CHAPTER 5
This chapter assesses the impact of impact evaluations based on impact evaluation studies in developmental health interventions, collected through the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation's repository. Considering the steady increase in impact evaluations and financial resources already spent, policy and research are demanding evidence on whether the growing effort indeed leads to learning, improved projects and finally, improved outcomes. I analyze this empirical question for the period 1995-2014 in a cross-country panel for general health outcomes and at a sub-national level for the country Uganda with regard to infant mortality rates per districts. Results are very robust and show a significant correlation between impact evaluations in health and improved outcomes on a cross-country level. Based on more precise data measurement and linkages, also sub-national findings indicate that impact evaluations in maternal and neonatal health conditional on increased corresponding ODA disbursements lead to reduced infant mortality.


Objective The aim of this study was to clarify the clinical significance of isolated tumor cells (ITCs) or micrometastasis (MM) in regional lymph nodes in patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I to II endometrial cancer. Methods In this study, a series of 63 patients with FIGO stage I to II were included, who had at least one of the following risk factors for recurrence: G3 endometrioid/serous/clear cell adenocarcinomas, deep myometrial invasion, cervical involvement, lympho-vascular space invasion, and positive peritoneal cytology. These cases were classified as intermediate-risk endometrial cancer. Ultrastaging by multiple slicing, staining with hematoxylin and eosin and cytokeratin, and microscopic examination was performed on regional lymph nodes that had been diagnosed as negative for metastases. Results Among 61 patients in whom paraffin-embedded block was available, ITC/MM was identified in nine patients (14.8%). Deep myometrial invasion was significantly associated with ITC/MM (p=0.028). ITC/MM was an independent risk factor for extrapelvic recurrence (hazard ratio, 17.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4 to 232.2). The 8-year overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates were more than 20% lower in the ITC/MM group than in the node-negative group (OS, 71.4% vs. 91.9%; RFS, 55.6% vs. 84.0%), which were statistically not significant (OS, p=0.074; RFS, p=0.066). Time to recurrence tended to be longer in the ITC/MM group than in the node-negative group (median, 49 months vs. 16.5 months; p=0.080). Conclusions It remains unclear whether ITC/MM have an adverse influence on prognosis of intermediate-risk endometrial cancer. A multicenter cooperative study is needed to clarify the clinical significance of ITC/MM.


Commercial hydroponic vegetable production is on the rise all over the world, especially in regions where people are increasingly health conscientious, yields and quality are important, or traditional farming is impossible as in regions with non-arable lands. Hydroponics is a powerful tool for vegetable production; however, it does have technological challenges and cost barriers. This project explored the practicality of designing, installing, and maintaining a commercial hydroponic Nutrient Film Technique lettuce production system under greenhouse environmental growing conditions. A medium scale system was designed and installed in a greenhouse and then the growth stages and the scheduling of lettuce for commercial production was practiced and studied. Lettuce grows rapidly from eight to 13 weeks and is suitable for quick harvest times in a hydroponic NFT system. The scale of the NFT system used to produce lettuce will depend on the customer base for any particular grower. Whether producing lettuce on a small scale or large scale, the proper cultural conditions such as light, nutrition, and temperatures need to be met in order to grow healthy and good quality plants. When considering commercial production, always consider customer base and proximity with regards to transport of the finished product.


After being decreed, as of March 24, 2020, social isolation and mandatory confinement began in the national territory with the aim of stopping the transmission and preventing the spread of the coronavirus as it was declared a pandemic by the World Organization of Health (WHO). The Instituto de Coloproctologia (ICO) designed and developed, together with its largest insurance company EPS SURA and through the available technologies of information, a teleconsultation program, with the aim of maintaining the activities of colorectal surgery and pelvic floor biofeedback and thus guaranteeing uninterrupted medical care and access for our patients. After twenty-five days, 626 consultations were scheduled (colorectal surgery 62 % and pelvic floor biofeedback 38 %) with a percentage of execution of 94 % and a resolution of 78%. This shows that telemedicine, like all teleworking activities, came to stay with high levels of satisfaction, in a world that will never be the same again.


The immune status of thirteen living and related kidney transplant recipients with stable allografts were examined. The immunological assays consisted of a mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR), cell-mediated lympholysis (CML) assay, interleukin-2 (IL-2) production in mixed lymphocytes culture (MLC) and IL-2 receptor (IL-2 R) expression on MLC cells. The suppression rates of the monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against IL-2 R were tested on MLRs. The stimulation indices (SI) of the MLR against both donor and third-party cells increased compared with those of pretransplantation. The MLC responder cells stimulated by donor cells produced detectable amounts of IL-2, these amounts were lower than those by third-party cells. The MLC cells against donor cells expressed IL-2 R alpha and beta chains to the same degree as those against third-party cells. Anti-IL-2 R mAbs equally inhibited the MLRs between recipient and donor or third-party cells. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) against donor cells were not generated, even with the addition of recombinant IL-2 in any of recipients except one, while anti-donor CTL had been detected prior to transplantation and the CTL against third-party cells were induced in posttranspalnt CML assays. These results indicate that the clonal anergy phenomenon might mediate the specific CTL unresponsiveness observed in kidney transplant recipients and the anergy phenomenon might serve in the long-term acceptance of allograft.


Neutrophil-endothelial interactions, altered clearance properties of the lung toward vasoactive mediators, and damaging effects of histamine that target the lung represent prominent elements of the inflammatory response at the systemic level. The pulmonary vasculature is unusual in that, unlike other tissues and vascular beds, it normally does not metabolize circulating histamine in vivo, although histamine-metabolizing enzyme activities have been detected in disrupted lung tissue. We have therefore explored the capability of human pulmonary artery endothelial cells in culture to express the receptor-mediated histamine degradative uptake system we previously defined in systemic endothelial cells (Haddock, R. C., Mack, P., Leal, S., and Baenziger, N. L. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 14395-14401). Pulmonary endothelial cells display all components of this system: histamine methyltransferase generating the proximal cell-associated metabolite tele-methylhistamine and receptors binding diamine oxidase which generates the distal product methylimidazoleacetic acid that is accumulated by the cells. A diamine oxidase released from human neutrophil granules by activation with Ca2+ ionophore binds pulmonary and systemic endothelial cell and fibroblast diamine oxidase receptors and, thereby, participates in histamine degradative uptake. This enzyme utilizes cell-associated tele-methylhistamine as a substrate, preferentially generating methylimidazoleacetic acid in addition to reactive oxygen species. Thus the enzymatic and interactive cellular machinery for histamine clearance is inherently present as a functional unit in two major human pulmonary cell types. It interacts with products of inflammatory host defense cells, and pulmonary endothelial-neutrophil interactions via this pathway may influence the progression of inflammation.


Over the temperature range 5° to 25 °C, fecundity of Panolis flammea (Denis & Schiffermuller) showed a non-linear response, the optimal temperature for fecundity being 15°C. At 6°C females laid 17 eggs each whilst at 15°C they laid 166 eggs. Pre-oviposition period showed a significantly negative response, being shortest at 25°C (2.5 days). Adult longevity was significantly affected by temperature, being 20 days at 8°C and 6.8 days at 25°C. Egg hatch and development in the laboratory was linearly and positively related to temperature over the range of 2° to 20°C, ranging from 39.9 days at 5°C to 6 days at 25°C. The lethal limit for egg viability was 25 °C. The theoretical threshold for egg development was calculated to be 2.79°C. Storage of eggs at temperatures of 2°C for periods in excess of 10 days had a significant effect on the percentage of eggs hatching. The significance of these findings in implementing control operations is discussed.


Afor Ajala abattoir in Imo State is an important economic centre in Nigeria. It is funded by Afor Ajala Meat Butchers Association (AMBA) and serves meat sellers and consumers within and outside Imo State. The safety and health of these consumers could be endangered if the meat processed in the abattoir is unwholesome. The facilities and operations in the abattoir were therefore evaluated to ascertain their suitability and compliance to standard practices in the meat industry. Results showed that the site plan and its capacity were adequate, but the facilities on ground were grossly inadequate. Abattoir operations were unethical, unhygienic and resulted in the production of contaminated meat, which was sold to unsuspecting consumers. Operations were characterized by poor meat inspection and inadequate enforcement of meat inspection laws, indiscriminate and improper disposal of wastes and by-products. Only bones were recovered for further processing. The problems were attributable to non completion of the abattoir master plan, inadequate facilities and non enforcement of regulations. Therefore, the intervention of the government in the provision of facilities and completion of the project, re-orientation and retraining of the butchers and enforcement of regulations by inspectors and other regulating authorities are panacea to the poor state of the abattoir and its operation. Keywords: Abattoir, meat, waste, by-products, bone


Basal transcription factor TFIID comprises the TATA‐box‐binding protein, TBP, and associated factors, the TAFIIs. Previous studies have implicated TAFII250 and TAFII150 in core promoter selectivity of RNA polymerase II. Here, we have used a random DNA binding site selection procedure to identify target sequences for these TAFs. Individually, neither TAFII250 nor TAFII150 singles out a clearly constrained DNA sequence. However, a TAFII250–TAFII150 complex selects sequences that match the Initiator (Inr) consensus. When in a trimeric complex with TBP, these TAFs select Inr sequences at the appropriate distance from the TATA‐box. Point mutations that inhibit binding of the TAFII250–TAFII150 complex also impair Inr function in reconstituted basal transcription reactions, underscoring the functional relevance of Inr recognition by TAFs. Surprisingly, the precise DNA sequence at the start site of transcription influences transcriptional regulation by the upstream activator Sp1. Finally, we found that TAFII150 specifically binds to four‐way junction DNA, suggesting that promoter binding by TFIID may involve recognition of DNA structure as well as primary sequence. Taken together, our results establish that TAFII250 and TAFII150 bind the Inr directly and that Inr recognition can determine the responsiveness of a promoter to an activator


Infections with Aleutian disease virus (ADV) cause a progressive hypergammaglobulinemia, immune complex formation and plasma cell infiltrations in internal organs which induce a multi-systemic disease with high mortality. Serum ADV antibodies have traditionally been diagnosed with counter immunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) as a gold standard for qualitative assessment separating infected from non-infected animals, but less laborious ELISA methods have been confirmed to be equally sensitive. A way to simplify the diagnostics further could be to demonstrate antibodies in Dried blood spot samples (DBS). However, quantitative analysis of ADV antibodies in DBS and its correlation to the degree of hypergammaglobulinemia have not been scientifically published. The aim of this paper was to describe the adaptation and validation of the VP2 ELISA to ADV antibody detection in DBS and compare the estimated antibody levels in DBS to CIEP results, the estimated antibody levels and albumin: gamma globulin ratio in serum. The VP2 ELISA worked technically well when transferred from serum to DBS with mean intra-assay and mean inter-assay coefficients of variation within ± 20%. The DBS VP2 ELISA had a sensitivity of 97.3% and specificity of 93.2% compared to CIEP. Further, we found a correlation coefficient between the level of antibodies in DBS and the A:γG ratio of -0.81. The correlation between the A:γG ratio and the OD450 value was superior in DBS compared to serum samples from the same mink with the most pronounced difference at low A:γG ratios. Our results confirmed that the VP2 ELISA could detect ADV antibodies in DBS with a high sensitivity and specificity when employing CIEP as gold standard. The antibody titers estimated with DBS VP2 ELISA were well correlated to the antibody titters and A:γG ratios in serum, and the DBS VP2 ELISA could be an applicable and preferable tool for estimating AD progression in mink.


Understanding the mechanics and failure of materials at the nanoscale is critical for their engineering and applications. The accurate atomistic modeling of brittle failure with crack propagation in covalent crystals requires a quantum mechanics-based description of individual bond-breaking events. Artificial neural network potentials (NNPs) have emerged to overcome the traditional, physics-based modeling tradeoff between accuracy and accessible time and length scales. Previous studies have shown successful applications of NNPs for describing the structure and dynamics of molecular systems and amorphous or liquid phases of materials. However, their application to deformation and failure processes in materials is still uncommon. In this study, we discuss the apparent limitations of NNPs for the description of deformation and fracture under loadings and propose a way to generate and select training data for their employment in simulations of deformation and fracture simulations of crystals. We applied the proposed approach to 2D crystalline graphene, utilizing the density-functional tight-binding method for more efficient and extensive data generation in place of density functional theory. Then, we explored how the data selection affects the accuracy of the developed artificial NNPs. It revealed that NNP's reliability should not only be measured based on the total energy and atomic force comparisons for reference structures but also utilize comparisons for physical properties, e.g. stress–strain curves and geometric deformation. In sharp contrast to popular reactive bond order potentials, our optimized NNP predicts straight crack propagation in graphene along both armchair and zigzag (ZZ) lattice directions, as well as higher fracture toughness of ZZ edge direction. Our study provides significant insight into crack propagation mechanisms on atomic scales and highlights strategies for NNP developments of broader materials.


The unfolded protein response (UPR) is an essential cellular mechanism orchestrating endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis under various cytotoxic stresses. Dysregulation of the UPR signaling pathways is linked to multiple human diseases, including cancer. The inositol requiring kinase 1 (IRE1)-X-box binding protein 1 (XBP-1) pathway is the most evolutionarily conserved signaling branch of the UPR. When activated, the endoribonuclease activity of the IRE1 cleaves the XBP-1 mRNA and generates a spliced form of XBP-1 which transcriptionally regulates cell metabolism, proliferation, survival and apoptosis. Here, we employed a genome-wide siRNA screen to systematically identify genes modulating the IRE1-XBP-1 signaling pathway of the UPR. We induced cellular ER stress with bortezomib, a proteasome inhibitor, and monitored the expression of XBP-1-luciferase fusion protein in which luciferase is fused in-frame with the spliced form of XBP-1. We identified over 100 of genes whose downregulation results in inhibition of bortezomib-induced XBP-1 splicing. These genes include diverse subsets of proteins that are involved in mRNA processing, transcription, cell cycle regulation and cell proliferation and differentiation. Furthermore, the screen reveals a connection of several oncogenes and tumor suppressors, such as Myc, Akt and cyclin K, to the UPR, underlining the important role of the IRE1-XBP-1 signaling branch in human cancers. In summary, our data suggest that the UPR is tightly connected with previously unappreciated pathways regulating various cellular processes. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2068. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-2068


High performance garbage collectors build upon performance-critical low-level code, typically exhibit multiple levels of concurrency, and are prone to subtle bugs. Implementing, debugging and maintaining such collectors can therefore be extremely challenging. The choice of implementation language is a crucial consideration when building a collector. Typically, the drive for performance and the need for efficient support of low-level memory operations leads to the use of low-level languages like C or C++, which offer little by way of safety and software engineering benefits. This risks undermining the robustness and flexibility of the collector design. Rust's ownership model, lifetime specification, and reference borrowing deliver safety guarantees through a powerful static checker with little runtime overhead. These features make Rust a compelling candidate for a collector implementation language, but they come with restrictions that threaten expressiveness and efficiency. We describe our experience implementing an Immix garbage collector in Rust and C. We discuss the benefits of Rust, the obstacles encountered, and how we overcame them. We show that our Immix implementation has almost identical performance on micro benchmarks, compared to its implementation in C, and outperforms the popular BDW collector on the gcbench micro benchmark. We find that Rust's safety features do not create significant barriers to implementing a high performance collector. Though memory managers are usually considered low-level, our high performance implementation relies on very little unsafe code, with the vast majority of the implementation benefiting from Rust's safety. We see our experience as a compelling proof-of-concept of Rust as an implementation language for high performance garbage collection.


This research is based on clarifying the importance of dialogue and its impact on establishing the argument and showing the evidence that supports and establishes the truth, and the call for guiding dialogue. Because it is the key to hearts, it is the way to reach the truth through the word. And because a good word is the believer's weapon in performing his noble message, whether inviting people to it or defending it, as well as it is the preacher's way of dealing with his likes of preachers, especially if the opinions and views differ. However, the frequent use of the method of dialogue in the Holy Qur'an, the miraculous rhetorical secrets it contained in the minutes of language, and the challenge of rhetorical and grammatical phenomena drew the attention of ancient and modern scholars.
Keywords: dialogue, the Holy Quran, Noah - peace be upon him.


Background:A visual field defect is the most important neurologic defect in occipital lobe infarcts. There are only sporadic case reports of altitudinal hemianopia in the published data. We report a patient with bilateral superior altitudinal hemianopia. Case Report:A 40-year-old man developed bilateral superior altitudinal hemianopia secondary to bilateral parahippocampal and fusiform gyrus lesions. Vision loss was acute, and onset bilateral and simultaneous. Complete neuro-ophthalmologic examinations were performed. His best corrected visual acuity was 20/20 in each eye. Macula and retina examinations were normal. Visual fields were characterized by bilateral upper hemianopia. Cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirmed the presence of symmetrical lesions confined within both bilateral parahippocampal and fusiform gyri. Blood tests, transesophageal echocardiographic examination, and Doppler ultrasonography of the vertebrobasilar arterial system and carotids were normal. Conclusion:We conclude that embolic events may induce a bilateral superior altitudinal hemianopia.


− In this study, we present simple microfluidic approach for the synthesis of monodisperse microcapsules by using droplet-based system. We generate double emulsion through single step in the microfluidic device having single junction while conventional approaches are limited in surface treatment for the generation of double emulsion. First, we have injected disperse fluid containing FC-77 oil and photocurable ethoxylated trimethylolpropane triacrylate (ETPTA) and water containing 3 wt% poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as continuous phase into microfluidic device. Under the condition, we easily generate double emulsion with high monodispersity by using flow focusing. The double emulsion droplets are transformed into microcapsules under the UV irradiation via photopolymerization. In addition, we control thickness of double emulsion's shell by controlling flow rate of ETPTA. We also show that the size of double emulsions can be controlled by manipulation of flow rate of continuous phase. Furthermore, we synthesize microcapsules encapsulating various materials for the application of drug delivery systems.


This study examines the effects of compact urban development on carbon emissions taking account of building and transport energy consumptions as well as carbon absorption by greenfield simultaneously. Based upon a simple geometric urban form, it develops the theoretical mathematical model that interrelates vertical distance of elevator movement, horizontal distance of automobile journey, and size of open space(greenfield). Numerical simulation confirms a non-linear relationship between the level of compactness and carbon emission; As the urban form becomes more compact, a decrease in carbon emission in transport and greenfield sectors outweighs an increase in building sector to some extent, but the opposite becomes true beyond a certain level of compactness. This relationship is ultimately specified by identifying the optimal level of compactness which reduces carbon emission at the maximum and the threshold level from which carbon emission rather starts to increase, both in terms of building height.


Islet growth and insulin biosynthesis in fetal rat islets have been studied in a recently developed in vitro culture system. Collagenase-digested pancreases of 22-day-old rat fetuses were maintained for 5 days in culture medium RPMI 1640 (11.1 mM glucose) to allow degeneration of acinar tissue. Intact pure islets, composed of more than 90% B-cells, were then collected and subsequently treated for 3 days in culture with different concentrations of glucose and amino acids. Islets were then labeled for 24 h with 3H-thymidine (DNA synthesis) or for 2 h with 3H-phenylalanine (insulin/protein biosynthesis). The specificity of the incorporation of 3H-thymidine into B-cell DNA has been investigated and characterized by both Chromatographie and autoradiographic studies. Moreover, using a colchicine metaphase arrest technique, a relationship was demonstrated between incorporation of labeled thymidine and mitotic incidence in the B-cells. Incorporation of 3H-thymidine was significantly higher in the fetal than in the adult islets following treatment in all the different concentrations of glucose and amino acids studied. In the presence of 10% fetal calf serum, however, there was no increase in DNA synthesis in the fetal islets in response to high concentrations of glucose or amino acids. In media containing 2.5% fetal calf serum, there was a significant increase in the rates of DNA synthesis after addition of high concentrations of either glucose or amino acids. Fetal islets showed a marked insulin biosynthetic response to an acute glucose challenge. Both the basal and stimulated rates of insulin biosynthesis were increased after treatment in high concentrations of glucose but not after treatment with amino acids. The results suggest an important role of nutrients in the regulation of B-cell growth and insulin biosynthesis and also a dissociation between the regulatory mechanisms of these two processes.


RESUMEN MIGRATION AND COMMUTING IN THE AREAS OF INFLUENCE OF THE BRAZILIAN METROPOLISES At various moments in time, population mobility has served as a driving source of profound social and economic transformations in the regions of origin and destination in Brazil, not only as a consequence of structural needs. In addition to the traditional migratory flows, commuting mobility has also assumed an important role in the process of production and organization of spaces, especially at the regional level. Considering this aspect, this paper aims to evaluate the influence of migration on the phenomenon of commuting in the Areas of Influence (AI) of the main Brazilian metropolises, based on the sample microdata from the 1980 and 2010 Demographic Censuses. In a first approach, comparing these two census decades, the results show that there was a significant increase in the incidence of commuting, both in terms of volume of people and regarding the number of vectors. In addition to this fact, the data also allow us to observe that there is a considerable decrease in the proportion of the decade's migrants in intra-regional commuting, as well as an increase in the share of natives from the city where they live in the composition of these commuting movements.


The article reveals the content and outlines approaches to the definition of the legal nature of mining. Attention is drawn to the necessity of legal regulation of this activity, which is predetermined by the Federal Program «Digital Economy of the Russian Federation» — a project that provides for normative regulation of the digital environment. In order to support the mission to eliminate digital illiteracy, which is also envisaged in the National Program, the author elucidates the etymology and meaning of the term «mining» and considers various doctrinal interpretations of this concept. The paper presents such analogies of the blochchain technology as the public ledger, DNA, and a layer-cake for a better understanding of the blockchain technology that is associated with mining. Material-technical and organizational foundations of mining are revealed. The author demonstrates advantages and disadvantages of solo mining, pool mining, and cloud mining. The results of comparative monitoring of the attitude to the recognition of cryptocurrency as a means of payment are presented. Attention is drawn to the liberal legal regulation of blockchain technology and mining under the laws of the Republic of Belarus. The paper determines the stages of a law-making process aimed at legal support of mining in Russia. Based on the results of comparison of concepts of entrepreneurial activity and mining, it is concluded that mining represents one of new types of entrepreneurship brought to life due to the needs of digital economy. The author suggests that mining participants be recognized as self-employed persons. It is noted that the entrepreneurial nature of mining arises questions concerning measures of its state regulation which is difficult within the framework of the existing paradigm, but should be built on the basis of a balance between private and public interests.


Abstract The hypothesis that eusociality originated once in Vespidae has shaped interpretation of social evolution for decades and has driven the supposition that preimaginal morphophysiological differences between castes were absent at the outset of eusociality. Many researchers also consider casteless nest-sharing an antecedent to eusociality. Together, these ideas endorse a stepwise progression of social evolution in wasps (solitary → casteless nest-sharing → eusociality with rudimentary behavioral castes → eusociality with preimaginal caste-biasing (PCB) → morphologically differentiated castes). Here, we infer the phylogeny of Vespidae using sequence data generated via anchored hybrid enrichment from 378 loci across 136 vespid species and perform ancestral state reconstructions to test whether rudimentary and monomorphic castes characterized the initial stages of eusocial evolution. Our results reject the single origin of eusociality hypothesis, contest the supposition that eusociality emerged from a casteless nest-sharing ancestor, and suggest that eusociality in Polistinae + Vespinae began with castes having morphological differences. An abrupt appearance of castes with ontogenetically established morphophysiological differences conflicts with the current conception of stepwise social evolution and suggests that the climb up the ladder of sociality does not occur through sequential mutation. Phenotypic plasticity and standing genetic variation could explain how cooperative brood care evolved in concert with nest-sharing and how morphologically dissimilar castes arose without a rudimentary intermediate. Furthermore, PCB at the outset of eusociality implicates a subsocial route to eusociality in Polistinae + Vespinae, emphasizing the role of mother–daughter interactions and subfertility (i.e. the cost component of kin selection) in the origin of workers.


Liver failure causes blood-brain-barrier (BBB) breakdown leading to central nervous system damage, however the mechanisms whereby the liver influences BBB-integrity remain elusive. One possibility is that the liver secretes an as-yet to be identified molecule(s) that circulate in the serum to directly promote BBB integrity. We developed light-sheet imaging for three-dimensional study of BBB function. We show that liver- or muscle-specific knockout of Hfe2 induces BBB breakdown, leading to accumulation of toxic-blood-derived fibrinogen in the brain, lower cortical neuron numbers, and behavioral deficits. In healthy animals, soluble Hfe2 competes with its homologue RGMa for binding to Neogenin, thereby blocking RGMa-induced downregulation of PDGF-B and Claudin-5 in endothelial cells and the ensuing BBB disruption. Hfe2 administration in an animal model of multiple sclerosis prevented paralysis and immune cell infiltration by inhibiting RGMa-mediated BBB alteration. This study has implications for the pathogenesis and potential treatment of diseases associated with BBB dysfunction such as multiple sclerosis.


Context Stress response induced by surgery is proposed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of postoperative cognitive dysfunction. Objective To investigate the association between postoperative serum cortisol level and occurrence of cognitive dysfunction early after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Two teaching hospitals. Patients One hundred and sixth-six adult patients who were referred to elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery from March 2008 to December 2009. Intervention None. Main Outcome Measures Neuropsychological tests were completed one day before and seven days after surgery. Cognitive dysfunction was defined using the same definition as used in the ISPOCD1-study. Blood samples were obtained in the first postoperative morning for measurement of serum cortisol concentration. Multivariate Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the relationship between serum cortisol level and occurrence of postoperative cognitive dysfunction. Results Cognitive dysfunction occurred in 39.8% (66 of 166) of patients seven days after surgery. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that high serum cortisol level was significantly associated with the occurrence of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (odds ratio [OR] 2.603, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.371-4.944, P = 0.003). Other independent predictors of early postoperative cognitive dysfunction included high preoperative New York Heart Association functional class (OR 0.402, 95% CI 0.207-0.782, P = 0.007), poor preoperative Grooved Pegboard test score of nondominant hand (OR 1.022, 95% CI 1.003-1.040, P = 0.020), use of penehyclidine as premedication (OR 2.565, 95% CI 1.109-5.933, P = 0.028), and occurrence of complications within seven days after surgery (OR 2.677, 95% CI 1.201-5.963, P = 0.016). Conclusions High serum cortisol level in the first postoperative morning was associated with increased risk of cognitive dysfunction seven days after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.