Leishmaniasis is a major public health problem of the world and Turkey. Recently there has been increasing interest in vaccine studies among strategies for control of leishmaniasis. Recently the increase of interest in vaccine studies among leishmaniasis control strategies makes the subject more up to date. So the aim of this review is to present information about recent vaccine studies, problems and new strategies for vaccine development studies. There are 3 generations of vaccine against leishmaniasis. First-generation vaccines are killed or live attenuated parasites; second-generation vaccines are recombinant or native antigens and live genetically modified parasites (knock out and suicidal cassettes), third generation vaccines are DNA vaccines. Also vector salivary proteins, dendritic cells and non-pathogenic L. tarentolae have been used as vaccine candidates. However there is still no effective vaccine against leishmaniasis. Since polymer conjugates considerably increase immunogenicity, polymer based vaccine studies have gained importance in recent years. However, there has not been such a study for an antileishmanial vaccine yet. LPG, surface antigen of Leishmania promastigotes, and polymer conjugates may be promising in antileishmanial vaccine studies so we are carrying out a TUBITAK Project on this subject which has been given the number, 1085170SBAG-4007.


This article explores the negotiations involved in the process of Chinese migrants converting to Christianity in Singapore. For many Chinese people, migration involves being exposed to religion for the first time, and for some, it involves them converting to Christianity. In Singapore, the conversion of Chinese migrants to Christianity occurs in a context of "shared" Chinese ethnicity, which can provide both bridges and barriers to the formation of Chinese Christian identities and communities. This "shared" ethnicity causes many Christian groups in Singapore to target Chinese migrants in their evangelisation efforts, which can result in migrant and non-migrant Chinese communities being formed and fractured through religion. Drawing on qualitative data, we use four dialectical pairings – freedom and control, giving and receiving, questioning and authority, community and identity – to understand the negotiations and compromises involved in the conversion of Chinese migrants to Christianity. Through these understandings, we show how conversion often involves reconciling different mindsets, practices and expectations in the transition to Christianity for Chinese migrants in Singapore.


Owners of the Hawaii Macadamia Nut Company (HMNC) are facing an expansion opportunity. A land owner has preperty available that would enable the HMNC to expand its acreage and revenue by about 20%. To fully consider this opportunity the owners must decide 1)whether the expansion is strategically and financially viable, 2)how to raise capital to finance the expansion, and 3)whether they have the skills to manage the company's growth during expansion. This is a case study describing a real company facing a real opportunity in Hawaii. The names of the company and its principals have been disguised.


In case of large suprasellar hypophyseal adenomas, on which the author operates through the transphenoidal access after Cushing, he carries out peroperation air ventriculography. This enables him to demonstrate by means of the X-ray picture intensifier and a TV monitor the actuaL shape of the expansion during the operation, to visually control the tumour extirpation from the third ventricle and in this way make it safer. Ventriculography also enables the intraoperative appraisal of the radicality of the tumour extirpation. The artificially developed intracranial overpressure exerts a favourable influence on the radicality. None of the twenty patients operated on died from a hypothalamus lesion syndrome.


Background: Oral cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers. Thymoquinone has a potential therapeutic activity against cancer cells. Aim: to compare the effect of thymoquinone and thymoquinone loaded on gold nanoparticles (GNPs-TQ) as systemic therapeutic agents through intraperitoneal injection for 3&6 weeks after painting of with DMBA 3 times/week for 14w. Material and Methods: This study was carried out on ninety male Syrian golden hamsters (n=90), its age ranged from 6 to 7 weeks, weighting 90-110 gm, purchased from Theodore Blhars Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt. Characterization of GNPs was achieved through using Ultraviolet-Visible spectroscope and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Tissue samples were examined through routine H&E stain, and nuclear factor kappa B cells (NF-κB) immunoreactivity. Results: Formation of spherical and well dispersed gold nanoparticles (GNPs) (27nm). Histopathological evaluation showed retardation of carcinogenesis in hamster buccal pouch and regeneration of striated muscle layers when treated with thymoquinone loaded on gold nanoparticles (GNPs-TQ). These observations were in line with decrease nuclear factor-kappa B expression. Conclusions: GNPs-TQ is a promising chemo-therapeutic agent in regression of carcinogenesis, and improving the general animal health.


The precise mechanism of action of the intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD) is uncertain. In this study we compared the circulating concentrations of a specific endometrial protein, placental protein 14 (PP14), in 62 women with an IUCD and 16 controls. The concentrations of PP14 were substantially lower in IUCD users. There was no difference in the concentrations of another and less specific endometrial protein, insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1). There was no difference in PP14 concentrations between those women with and without intermenstrual bleeding. We conclude that the reduced concentrations of PP14 in IUCD users reflect defective endometrial function in these women, probably related to the contraceptive effect. We propose that the measurement of PP14 might be a means of comparing the efficiency of different devices.


Many applications compute on sensitive data, such as confidential user information. Even if these applications are terminated, sensitive data often persist in the main memory indefinitely until the deallocated pages are overwritten by OS. The conventional software-only solution of zeroing pages at deallocation generates a significant amount of bursty memory traffic to slow down other processes running concurrently. To address this, we propose Secure DRAM, a novel DRAM architecture that enables low-cost, secure deallocation of physical page frames. By preventing access to unallocated DRAM pages and not refreshing them, Secure DRAM effectively closes the window of vulnerability with minimal performance overhead.


Identity theorists have been concerned with several distinct types of identifications: of a person with his body, of a particular sensation (or event or state of having the sensation) with a particular brain state (Jones's pain at 06:00 was his C-fiber stimulation at that time), and of types of mental states with the corresponding types of physical states (pain is the stimulation of Cfibers). Each of these, and other types of identifications in the literature, present analytical problems, rightly raised by Cartesian critics, which cannot be avoided by a simple appeal to an alleged confusion of synonymy with identity. I should mention that there is of course no obvious bar, at least (I say cautiously) none which should occur to any intelligent thinker on a first reflection just before bedtime, to advocacy of some identity theses while doubting or denying others. For example, some philosophers have accepted the identity of particular sensations with particular brain states while denying the possibility of identities between mental and physical types. I will concern myself primarily with the type-type identities, and the philosophers in question will thus be immune to much of the discussion; but I will mention the other kinds of identities briefly.


We investigated the correlation between Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression and the tumor response in patients with cervical cancer that were treated with curative radiotherapy (RT). Fifty-seven patients with squamous cell carcinoma were treated with concurrent radiochemotherapy (CRCT, n=29) or RT alone (n=28). The response of each patient was evaluated by three serial Magnetic Resonance Imaging examinations: before the start of RT, at four weeks after the start of RT (mid-RT) and at four weeks after the completion of RT (post-RT). Forty-three patients had positive COX-2 expression. The COX-2 negative patients achieved a higher rate of complete response (CR) at mid-RT than did the COX-2 positive patients (28.6% vs. 7.0%, P=0.054), but not at post-RT (64.3% vs. 69.8%). The initial tumor volume was a significant predictor of CR at mid-RT (P=0.003) and post-RT (P=0.004). The multivariate analysis showed that the initial tumor volume (at mid-RT and post-RT) and CRCT (at post-RT) were significant predictors of CR; however, the COX-2 expression was not. In conclusion, the COX-2 expression status has no significant correlation with the tumor response. Further studies on the changes in COX-2 expression levels during RT may be helpful for determination of its role in the tumor response to treatment and patient prognosis.


A 64-year-old man was found to have a 15-mm tumor in the pancreatic tail by CT angiography 1 year after resection of a left renal pelvic tumor. Clinically, the tumor was preoperatively suspected to be autoimmune pancreatitis. However, surgical resection was performed under a diagnosis of pancreatic ductal cancer, because atypical epithelial cells were detected by endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA). Pathological examination of the tumor revealed a mass-forming autoimmune pancreatitis. Mass-forming autoimmune pancreatitis is often difficult to preoperatively differentiate from pancreatic carcinoma. Response to steroid treatment and the detection of extrapancreatic lesions may contribute to an accurate diagnosis, thereby avoiding unnecessary surgery.


It is widely accepted that many students with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HF-ASD) experience anxiety which reportedly affects their performance at school and particularly their abilities in mathematics. However, although mathematics is an area of great interest for students with HF-ASD, the degree of their math anxiety is not clear. The present research examined the math anxiety of 32 students with HF-ASD, aged 12 to 17, and 32 typical developing (TD) students who were chosen as a control group. The two groups of students were matched for age, gender and full IQ scale while they were exposed to the same level of mathematics curriculum material. Results showed that students with HF-ASD experience significantly lower math anxiety compared to TD students. Furthermore, in both groups of students, factors such as their grade in mathematics, their attitude towards mathematics and the support they receive significantly affect their math anxiety.


Social Network Analysis (SNA) has shed light on cultures where the influence of patronage, preferment, and reciprocal obligations are traditionally important. We argue here that episcopal appointments, culture, and governance within the Catholic Church are ideal topics for SNA interrogation. This paper presents preliminary findings, using original network data for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. These show how a network-informed approach may help with the urgent task of understanding the ecclesiastical cultures in which sexual abuse occurs, and/or is enabled, ignored, and covered up. Particular reference is made to Theodore McCarrick, the former DC Archbishop recently "dismissed from the clerical state", and Michael Bransfield, Bishop Emeritus of Wheeling-Charleston. Commentators naturally use terms such as "protégé", "clique", "network", and "kingmaker" when discussing both the McCarrick and Bransfield affairs, and church politics more generally: precisely such folk-descriptions of social and political life that SNA is designed to quantify and explain.


filE nervous system of the Lobster consists of a chain of ganglia (or pairs of ganglia), the most anterior ganglion being termed the brain on account of its connexion with the organs of sense. This brain is placed in front of the gullet, and probably consists of the proper ganglia of the first three somites fused together. It is connected with the next ganglion by commissural nervous cords, one passing on each side of the gullet; all the ganglia, except the first, being placed behind that part. A gangliated system of nerves is connected with the stomach, and appears to answer, as regards function, to the pneumogastric and sympathetic parts of the nervous system of vertebrate animals. There are two eyes, each placed on a stalk and covered externally by a transparent portion of the integument divided into very many square facets. Behind each facet is a hollow sheath, tapering backwards, the apices of the various sheaths abutting against what is undoubtedly an expansion of the optic nerve. Inside each sheath (interposed between the integumentary facet and the nervous expansion) are two bodies placed end to end. The external body is called a " transparent cone and refracts strongly; the internal body is a rod with tranverse striations. Lining each sheath, and enclosing more or less of the rod and cone, there is a layer of.granular matter with pigment. Some observers say that fibres of the optic nerve can be traced up as far as the hinder end of the transparent cones. The action of this complex eye is difficult to understand. It was formerly supposed that each compartment was a complete eye in itself; but the hypothesis of " mosaic vision" proposed by John Muller has more probability. Should it turn out that the fibres of the optic nerves pass up inside the sheath, and become connected with the distal end of each rod, there will then be a most striking and interesting resemblance between the structure of the lobster's eye and that of the retina in man; the "rods" in each fully corresponding, though the lobster can then have no distinct vision in our sense of the word. If, however, only the proximal ends of the lobster's rods are connected with the optic nerve, there will then be a remarkable divergence. It seems, however, probable that the resemblance mentioned will be found to exist. An auditory organ, in the form of a sac, opens on the upper surface of the basal joint of each antennule. Its narrow aperture is protected by hairs; and other very delicate hairs (with which the fibres of the auditory nerve are connected) are placed inside the sac, which is filled with fluid and always contains some silicious particles derived from the exterior. That these particles are so derived, has been experimentally proved by Henson, who deprived some lobsters of access to any hard matters except small crystals of uric acid, which they, however, managed to introduce. The resemblance of this auditory sac to the primitive structure of the vertebrate ear is very striking. the situation of the auditory organs varies: thus in Mysis they are placed on the appendages of the sixth abdominal somite. The male lobster is readily distinguishable from the female by its narrow abdomen, the hard and grooved structure of its first pair of abdominal appendages, and the situation of the reproductive apertures, which are placed at the base of the last (instead of the penultimate) pair of thoracic limbs. The sexual glands are very similar in form in both sexes. The spermatozoa are not locomotive, but each consists of a body with three filaments. The ova become coated, as they pass outwards, with a viscid secretion, which hardens in water and attaches them to the hairs of the abdominal appendages of the mother. Incubation is very important; the respiration of the embryo being facilitated by the maternal locomotion. The eggs will not hatch in still water. There is a very partial yelk-division, and in development the ventral surface is first formed. The young lobster differs considerably in form from the adult; but in the crab the metamorphosis is much more striking, the earlier stages having been first described under distinct names; viz., Zoea and Megalopa. In the opossum shrimp, the first skin has two pairs of appendages (the future antennary organs), which are functionless. Inside this skin, the embryo gradually assumes the adult form. The existence of this useless primary structure is explained by the development of Peneus (traced by Fritz Miller). Here the first embryo is actively locomotive by means of three pairs of limbs (the future antennary organs and mandibles); it then assumes the condition of a Zoca, and only after that the structure of the adult Peneus. The question arises, Is the first skin of the opossum shrimp the last relic of an active larval state once undergone by its more or less remote ancestors ? The Crustacea may be thus divided: Podophtlhalmia Stomapoda Branchiopoda Edriophthalmia Ostracoda Merostomata Pectostraca Trilobita Copepoda. The Podophthalmia are the lobsters, crabs, hermit-crabs,-anid shrimps. The crabs have the abdomen very small, destitute of all non-sexual appendages, and folded up beneath the cephalo-thorax. The nervous system is exceedingly concentrated; and the front part of the carapace is so modified that the position of the eyes is apparently, but not really, changed. The females have spermathecze. The very aberrent Diastylide have the eyes sessile, the carapace produced forwards in two horn-like prolongations, and there are scarcely any abdominal appendages.


This exercise/activity book is a powerful learning tool -- and a must-have resource for every nursing student! It focuses on thinking critically in a variety of healthcare situations. Well organized, it progresses from simple to complex issues and uses nursing examples and non-traditional examples (including literature) to help students master true critical thinking. Designed for use across the curriculum, students in all areas of nursing will find helpful guidance and reinforcement in this essential text. Coverage includes aging, death and dying, and nursing ethics. More than 75 critical thinking activities address varied areas and perspectives


: Normal female guinea pigs were examined for organisms of the order Mycoplasmatales. Thirty-nine isolations were made from nose or vagina of 108 guinea pigs. Seven isolates were identified as Mycoplasma caviae, 9 were unidentifiable mycoplasmas, and 23 were identified as nonsterol-requiring acholeplasmas.


There is a significant role of jute industry in Indian economy with one of its most important centres in WestBengal, specifically in Hooghly basin. It is given the title of the 'Golden Fibre' internationally with its highversatility and cheap price. But unfortunately its market is deterioration with decrease in productivity. Suchdeterioration has resulted in closing down of various mills stretching its effects on the workers engaged inthem. This study deals with the effect on livelihood of former labours of the industry of Titagarh, a majorzone concentrating jute mills in north 24 parganas in the left bank of river Hooghly.. The main objectives ofthe study are to bring out the present scenario of livelihood of former jute workers in and around TitagarhJute Mill area concentrating in Ward 1, 2 and 3 and illustrate the physical and socio economic attributes thatencompasses them. The research is done based on quantitative and qualitative methods based on structuredquestionnaires on sample size summing up to 150 based on direct interviews with 50 from each ward, andsecondary data from various sources. It is found out that the physical setting have provided favourableconditions for settling up of the industry and attracting labours to settle down around it. Unfortunately afterclosing down of the mills, the conditions of the former workers have deteriorated with dense settlement andlower standard of living which need attention for development. Unfortunately, the deteriorated conditionsare intermingled with social unrest and disruptions


Primary renal lymphoma (PRL) is a controversial and rare disease and there is still no agreement on its existence. Many cases have been reported in the literature, but clear diagnostic criteria have not yet been established. Most of the reported cases are questionable because of incomplete staging or the presence of extrarenal disease. Here we report a new case and a review of the literature based on a critical examination of the diagnostic procedure. Thus, probably only 29 cases, ours included, should be recognized as PRL, because only these cases fulfil the three diagnostic criteria and underwent complete diagnostic screening, including renal biopsy, bone marrow biopsy and thoraco-abdominal computerised tomography (CT).


A 3-D finite element scheme is described for calculating probe responses in eddy current nondestructive evaluation (NDE) problems if massive conducting regions with small penetration depth are in the vicinity of the host specimen. These problems are related to the eddy current inspection of the tube support plate or tube sheet zones in PWR steam generator tubing. Recently, an efficient finite element scheme has been introduced to calculate the probe responses outside these zones. As a sequel to that work, the authors extend the technique for the tube support plate and the tube sheet zones. They use impedance boundary conditions (IBC) on the surface of the massive conductors and evaluate the probe responses due to these components by performing an integral over these IBC surfaces, thereby ensuring the same accuracy as in the previous work for the flaw signals. Benchmark problems-models of tube support plate zones with defects-have been measured and analyzed. The calculated probe responses show good agreement with the experimental data.


The rate of increase of isocitrate lyase activity was measured in darkened Chlorella fusca var. vaculoata cultures in the presence and absence of acetate and compared with the rate of incorporation of [35S]methionine into isocitrate lyase enzyme protein under the same conditions. Isocitrate lyase enzyme protein was isolated for this purpose by specific immunoprecipitation and sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. After 4h in the dark, in the presence of acetate the rate of increase of isocitrate lyase activity was 75 times that in the absence of acetate. Incorporation of [35S]methionine into isocitrate lyase was 140 times greater in the presence of acetate. Incorporation of [35S]methionine into the trichloroacetic acid-insoluble fraction overall was about five times as fast in the presence of acetate. These data are not consistent with an increased turnover of isocitrate lyase enzyme molecules, sufficient to account for the low rate of increase of isocitrate lyase activity in the absence of acetate. The greater rate of enzyme synthesis in the presence of acetate must therefore be due to some effect of this metabolite on the processing or translation of isocitrate lyase mRNA.


For the past year the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks has been leading the development of environmental assessment legislation for British Columbia. The major features of the proposed legislation that support the symposium theme -"building confidence" -will be outlined. These include: • creation of a comprehensive process that will address impacts throughout the life cycle of the project and that will use follow-up programs to verify the accuracy of the assessment and mitigation measures, • the ability to set time frames for public comments and government action • formation of an Environmental Assessment Directorate to administer the process in a neutral and efficient manner, • establishment of an Environmental Assessment Board to conduct public reviews of complex and contentious projects, • access to information and opportunities for public involvement throughout the review process, and • the ability to directly involve First Nations, the federal government and local governments in the review process.


Environmental Values 15.1 Environmental Values 15.1 be so damaged) irrespective of relative welfare considerations. This amounts to a deontological rather than a utilitarian approach. Second, there is the issue of whether ceasing to inflict damage on someone is the same as providing them with benefits. Economists often argue that it would be better to increase development aid to poor people in the current generation than mitigate climate change to benefit future generations, as if the two actions are both commensurable and morally equivalent. But in most systems of justice ceasing to inflict harm (which may be legally required) is not at all the same thing as failing to do good. Through a detailed exploration of such issues Spash shows that the human response to climate change goes well beyond, and cannot be appropriately confined to, economic discourse. As Spash notes, in respect of such issues: ʻDeliberation is required as to what is right and just if humans are to maintain any status as ethical beings ̓(p. 245). Such a conclusion may resonate, but it does not make life any easier for policy makers, faced with a determination of current generations to pursue climatechanging lifestyles, and the final chapter of Spash's book alternates uneasily between a recognition of moral imperative and the more pragmatic response of the IPCC and others, which is rooted in a recognition of the day-to-day power of utilitarian considerations. Undoubtedly the debate between these two will continue. The value of the book is that it provides a solid foundation from which the moral arguments may be articulated.


One-dimensional crystal growth allows the epitaxial integration of compound semiconductors on silicon (Si), as the large lattice-mismatch strain arising from heterointerfaces can be laterally relieved. Here, we report the direct heteroepitaxial growth of a mixed anion ternary InAsyP1-y nanowire array across an entire 2 in. Si wafer with unprecedented spatial, structural, and special uniformity across the entire 2 in. wafer and dramatic improvements in aspect ratio (>100) and area density (>5 × 10(8)/cm(2)). Heterojunction solar cells consisting of n-type InAsyP1-y (y = 0.75) and p-type Si achieve a conversion efficiency of 3.6% under air mass 1.5 illumination. This work demonstrates the potential for large-scale production of these nanowires for heterogeneous integration of optoelectronic devices.


When Ronald Dworkin was to deliver his 1988 Tanner Lecture on Human Values at Stanford University, he was introduced by the university's president, Donald Kennedy. Kennedy offered an appreciative account of Dworkin's background and achievements, noted the title of the upcoming talk, then gathered up his notes and turned the podium over to the speaker. Dworkin proceeded to give a two-hour oration on the foundations of liberal equality, breathtaking in its detail and logical rigor and flowing eloquently without a hitch or hesitation. Just as he was concluding, Kennedy rushed up to the dais and exclaimed to the audience: "Please forgive me, I just realized that when I picked up my notes, I also inadvertently picked up Professor Dworkin's manuscript." Without missing a beat, Dworkin had delivered his entire lecture from memory.


The 14th European Immunology Meeting--EFIS 2000, held in Poznan, Poland on 23-27 September 2000, was the last major meeting of European immunologists in the second millennium. This conference was intended to summarise past achievements and to present future prospects in immunology. The philosophy of the scientific program was to fuse fundamental and clinical immunology and give a chance for basic scientists and clinicians to discuss mutual topics in a general view. There were eight state-of-art lectures, 12 'meet an expert' sessions, 20 plenary sessions and 46 workshops. More than 900 works were presented. Significant interest was focused on several aspects of cancer immunology and immunotherapy. EFIS 2000 was accompanied by six pre-congress satellite symposia held in various Polish cities. The topics were, 'Heat shock proteins: immune, stress response and apoptosis' (Gdansk), 'Infectious immunity and vaccines' (Kazimierz Dolny), 'Mononuclear phagocytes in basic and clinical immunology' (Cracow), 'Immunology of reproduction' (Poznan), 'Primary immunodeficiencies' (Warsaw) and 'Glycoimmunology' (Wroclaw).


Automobile travel costs have long been neglected in travel behavior analyses and travel demand models. The socioeconomic determinants of automobile travel cost choices are explored as part of a study into the effects of quality of work on work-related travel conducted in the Road and Traffic Laboratory, Technical Research Center of Finland. The study was motivated by the need to assess driving cost estimates for the mode choice model. It was approached through separate functions for fixed, variable, and total driving costs of the respondent. Within-household effects were examined through driving cost regressions of the household members of the respondent. The within-household regressions indicate that there are within-household work life effects on driving costs. The effects take place on a detailed level, which is not captured in a variable describing the household member's employment status. Rather, it appears that the quality of occupations of the household members has more effect on driving costs than the number or share of employed persons in the household. Automobile operating costs are not equal for everybody. They are an outcome of a choice and are influenced by the characteristics of the individual and his activities and the other household members and their activities. The same applies for automobile capital costs. The operating costs of automobiles had a low statistical significance on mode choice, and high capital costs were associated with automobile choice. These findings are not surprising but ones not believed nor a part of present travel demand model systems. But it is believable that automobile operating costs do not influence mode choice, or, that once automobile is chosen, it is an expensive one--comfort costs--by choice. The driving cost models indicate that travel choices are a part of complex behavioral interplay within a household in which the costs of transport have a major role.


INTRODUCTION Down syndrome patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (DS ALL) are less likely to have a favorable (cyto)genetic subtype and are at higher risk of relapse and treatment-related mortality (TRM) than non-DS ALL (Buitenkamp et al., Blood 2014). At present, the independent predictive value of minimal residual disease (MRD) is unclear and may be biased by an unequal distribution of (cyto)genetic risk groups among DS ALL and non-DS ALL patients. This study was aimed to decipher the prognostic implications of MRD and IKZF1 deletions and the frequency of TRM in a matched cohort of DS ALL cases and non-DS ALL controls.
 METHODS Each DS ALL patient was matched to 3 non-DS ALL patients based on treatment protocol, induction treatment, cytogenetic subtype, IKZF1 status, age (cutoff at 10 years), and white blood cell count (cutoff at 50,000 cells/µl). For MRD analysis, matching was only on induction treatment and excluded the MRD-guided treatment arm; for survival analyses, matching included the MRD-guided treatment arm, thus resulting in two separately matched cohorts. Patients who died during induction were excluded from matching. Absolute MRD levels were measured with RQ-PCR, log-transformed and analyzed with a multilevel mixed-effects linear regression model. Matched Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to analyze event-free survival (EFS), overall-survival (OS), relapse-free survival (RFS) and mortality in remission as surrogate for TRM.
 RESULTS Patients treated between 2002 and 2018 on Dutch DCOG-ALL10/11 trials, Australian ANZCHOG-ALL8 and AIEOP-BFM-ALL2009 trials, and UKALL2003 trial were included, resulting in 160 DS ALL and 5313 non-DS ALL patients. Out of these 160 DS ALL patients, 13 died during induction versus 42/5313 non-DS ALL patients (8.1% versus 0.8%, p<0.0001). Exclusion of induction deaths and patients with missing IKZF1 or MRD data, resulted in 110 DS ALL matched to study MRD differences (1 DS ALL could not be matched and was excluded), and 93 DS ALL matched to analyze survival (ALL11 was excluded due to short follow-up; 3 DS ALL could not be matched and were excluded). In the matched cohort, 22% (24/110) had favorable cytogenetics, 19% (21/110) had an IKZF1 deletion, 26% (29/110) were ≥10 years, and 17% (19/110) had a WBC ≥50,000 cells/µl. Only 3 cases (2 DS, 1 non-DS) did not achieve complete remission (excluding induction deaths). Median follow-up time of survivors was 7.1 years.
 The MRD levels did not differ between DS ALL and matched non-DS ALL patients at end of induction (p=0.96) nor when analyzed over time (p=0.43). In accordance, the 5-yr RFS did not differ between DS ALL and matched non-DS ALL patients (85 ± 4% versus 89 ± 2%, p=0.09). The 5-yr TRM of patients in remission was higher in DS ALL compared to non-DS ALL (11 ± 3% versus 3 ± 1%, p=0.001). In line, 5-yr EFS was lower in DS ALL compared to non-DS ALL patients (74 ± 5% versus 86 ± 2%, p=0.0007), as was 5-yr OS (77 ± 5% versus 93 ± 2%, p=0.0001). Multivariable analysis revealed that IKZF1 deletion can discriminate DS ALL patients at high risk of relapse (RFS: HR>3, 95% CI=1-12, p=0.05). The effect of IKZF1 deletion was stronger in DS ALL patients than in the non-DS ALL patients in our cohort.
 CONCLUSION The MRD levels did not differ between DS ALL and non-DS ALL patients when matched for (cyto)genetics and other risk factors. In accordance, the overall relapse rate of DS ALL patients did not differ from that of matched non-DS ALL patients. Similar to non-DS ALL, IKZF1 deletion is an adverse risk factor for DS-ALL, indicating the need for treatment aimed at reducing the high relapse risk. DS ALL patients suffer more frequently from death in induction and from treatment while in remission, which jeopardizes treatment intensification. Therefore, the efficacy of targeted, less toxic therapies such as immunotherapies should be assessed in DS ALL.

 van der Velden: Jansen: Research Funding; BD Biosciences: Research Funding; Amgen: Honoraria, Research Funding. Pieters:jazz farmaceuticals: Consultancy; medac: Consultancy. Zwaan:Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Pfizer: Research Funding; BMS: Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy; Servier: Consultancy; Roche: Consultancy; Incyte: Consultancy; Sanofi: Consultancy; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Other: Travel support; Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy.


Background Missing data are an unavoidable problem in clinical trials. Most existing missing data approaches assume the missing data are missing at random. However, the missing at random assumption is often questionable when the real causes of missing data are not well known and cannot be tested from observed data. Methods We propose a specific missing not at random assumption, which we call masked missing not at random, which may be more plausible than missing at random for masked clinical trials. We formulate models for categorical and continuous outcomes under this assumption. Simulations are conducted to examine the finite sample performance of our methods and compare them with other methods. R code for the proposed methods is provided in supplementary materials. Results Simulation studies confirm that maximum likelihood methods assuming masked missing not at random outperform complete case analysis and maximum likelihood assuming missing at random when masked missing not at random is true. For the particular missing at random model where both of missing at random and masked missing not at random are satisfied, theory suggests that maximum likelihood assuming missing at random is at least as efficient as maximum likelihood assuming masked missing not at random. However, maximum likelihood assuming masked missing not at random is nearly as efficient as maximum likelihood assuming missing at random in our simulated settings. We also applied our methods to the TRial Of Preventing HYpertension study. The missing at random estimated treatment effect and its 95% confidence interval are robust to deviations from missing at random of the form implied by masked missing not at random. Conclusion Methods based on the masked missing not at random assumption are useful for masked clinical trials, either in their own right or to provide a form of sensitivity analysis for deviations from missing at random. Missing at random analysis might be favored on grounds of efficiency if the estimates based on masked missing not at random and missing at random are similar, but if the estimates are substantially different, the masked missing not at random estimates might be preferred because the mechanism is more plausible.


The carrying capacity of pure pastoralist livelihood strategies only to attain food and livelihood security is extremely declining from time to time. Diversifying livelihood strategies at current time become a standard phenomenon within the study area. The general objectives of this study are, therefore, to characterize the existing livelihood strategies adopted by pastoral households and its determinants in the Sawena district, Oromia National Regional State, Southeast Ethiopia. To examine this general objective, the study employed descriptive statistics and bivariate probit model. Both primary and secondary data sources were used for the study. For the purpose of this study primary data collected from 350 sample households through face-to-face interviews. In addition, focus group discussions and personal observation are used. Relevant secondary data were also obtained from concerned zonal and district government offices. Descriptive statistics was applied to characterize livelihood strategies of the sample households. The finding of the survey result indicates that about 66.57% of households engaged on pure pastoralist activities, whereas about 33.43% were relying only on agro pastoralist activities to achieve their livelihood goal(s). This result indicates that most of the pastoral household heads are engaged in pure pastoralist activities rather than diversifying toward agro pastoral and related non-pastoral livelihood activities. Bivariate probit model applied to investigate factors influencing the households' choice of livelihood strategies. The Econometric model result indicated that age, family size, dependency ratio, tropical livestock unit of holding, access to mass media, distance from the nearest market, access to rural electrification, access to irrigation, total farmland size and access to rangeland were determining pastorals' choice of livelihood strategies. The results of this study suggest that development interventions, policies and capacity-building activities should be designed to suit the felt needs and circumstances of different groups of pastorals households.


The morphology of groups of platelets aggregated by means of an extract of the venom of the snake Trimeresurus okinavensis was contrasted with the appearances which occur when platelets aggregate to form an artificial thrombus in Chandler's apparatus. The adhesion of platelets induced by venom extract illustrated many of the features usually seen at an early stage in the aggregation of platelets in plasma except for the absence of the formation of fibrin. The form and content of platelet profiles within the aggregates were readily distinguishable. Two platelet aggregates, one containing 43 profiles and the other 123 profiles, each typical of a type of aggregate, were taken for close study. The majority of platelet profiles in section which were greater in size than 1 µm2 contained granules and in general those that were smaller than this did not. No granules were seen external to the aggregates. It is suggested that granule-free profiles of platelets represent peripheral processes from a granule-rich core cytoplasm and that as such these platelets are not 'degranulated'.


The rising popularity of learning via e-learning platforms, coupled with the accelerated pace in mobile devices' uptake during the post-COVID-19 environment, presents tremendous learning demands on mobile and wireless networking infrastructure. Some fundamental principles and components are essential to maximizing user experience and online program success. This paper will explore the gaps between traditional learning and mobile learning by presenting a comprehensive survey of the two areas' cusps. We trace the practices in mainstream schools with potential online program development and delivery strategies to meet the school's ratification. We identify the critical learning and performance support. We then discuss several techniques and platforms that facilitate the efficient deployment of learning onto mobile systems. Finally, we discuss how to tailor learning to mobile environments, propose a set of activities that would augment online presence for students, and open directions for future research.


Kerr-Schild (KS) geometry is based on a congruence of twistors which is determined by the Kerr theorem. We describe time-dependent KS solutions for electromagnetic excitations of black-holes taking into account the consistent back-reaction to metric. The exact solutions have the form of singular beam-like pulses supported on twistor null lines of the Kerr congruence. The twistor-beams have very strong back reaction to metric and BH horizon and produce a fluctuating KS geometry which takes an intermediate position between the Classical and Quantum gravity.


Rapporti verticali e strategie competitive delle imprese agro-alimentari: alcune evidenze empiriche (di Gervasio Antonelli, Elena Vigano) - ABSTRACT: The goal of the present study is to examine the extent and the nature of vertical coordination between small and medium food firms and their agricultural inputs suppliers. In particular, we attempt to verify the extent to which single solution depends upon organisational structures, innovative processes and market strategies. To do this, in the first part of the paper, the main elements of the vertical integration and its causes are presented and discussed, with particular attention to the implications for the agro-food system. A theoretical grid is used to interpret, in the second part of the paper, the behaviour of firms. The study has been carried out by means of a survey. A questionnaire was given to a sample of firms operating in the food industries of the region Marche in the sectors of processing pork and poultry meat as well as in wine production. The results show in recent years a growing concern in all of the cases considered on contractual relationships with the suppliers of raw materials, mainly farms. Although these results highlight different solutions across different industries and across the firms of the same industry, in all the cases they show as vertical coordination tends to represent a reference scheme for the management of quality at various stages of the supply chain. In particular, the paper shows that the growing emphasis of consumers on quality and food safety has led to the development of marketing relationships with suppliers of agricultural products. Such a relationship, built with "selected" groups of suppliers, relies mainly on trust and incentives the growth of cooperative solutions which allow to reduce the cost of transactions. Furthermore, such a cooperative solution enables the firms to adjust their offering to changing market environment and to develop competetive strategies based on higher quality and other quality characteristics perceived.


Simple Summary All of the veterinary schools in Australia and New Zealand worked together to develop the online One Welfare learning and teaching portal (OWP) for sharing teaching resources to assist veterinary graduates to become leaders in animal welfare and ethics (AWE). The materials in the portal are organised around eight key themes including two overarching themes of animal ethics and animal welfare science, and six context-specific themes: companion animals; animals used in research and teaching; livestock/production animals; animals used for sport, recreation or display; animals in the wild, and aquatic animals. The arrangement of these resources aligns with those of the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy (AAWS). As part of the OWP development, animal welfare educators from the eight veterinary schools met and used modified deliberative polling to prioritise resource development. Surveys of students and educators in all participating schools investigated their attitudes to current AWE issues across six context-specific themes: companion animals; animals used in research and teaching; livestock/production animals; animals used for sport, recreation or display; animals in the wild and aquatic animals. The prioritised resources include (1) student AWE essays arranged by subject; (2) an online reflection tool that can be used repeatedly to gain understanding of change in attitudes over time; (3) eight overarching themes that host a group of interactive scenarios; (4) research papers for each context-specific theme; (5) a bank of multiple choice questions with feedback to support AWE assessment; (6) a novel online discussion tool 'Chatterbox;' and (7) a 'toolbox' containing directions to the doglogbook, an owner app designed to monitor management practices, and evaluate quality of life in dogs. Abstract This article introduces the online One Welfare learning and teaching portal (OWP) and describes its development, use, importance and relevance to animal welfare and ethics (AWE) stakeholders. As animal welfare issues increase in importance, veterinarians must be trained to lead the science that underpins AWE discourses. The OWP is a collection of resources designed to engage and challenge veterinary science students as they become advocates for animals. It was developed collaboratively by all eight veterinary schools in Australia and New Zealand, and funded by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. Surveys to investigate the attitudes of students and educators to AWE issues in six context-specific themes based on the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy (AAWS) (companion animals; animals used in research and teaching; livestock/production animals; animals used for sport, recreation or display; animals in the wild and aquatic animals) were administered through all participating schools. Students assigned more importance to Day One competence in knowledge of welfare concepts than did educators for the following groups: production animals, companion animals, animals in the wild, aquatic animals, animals used in research and teaching, and animals used for sport, recreation or display (all p < 0.01). Agreement between educators and students was closer regarding the importance of Day One competence for euthanasia for all six context-specific themes (p < 0.01–0.03). Students assigned more importance than educators to social, economic and cultural drivers of welfare outcomes in production animals (p < 0.01); slaughter and preslaughter inspections in production animals (p < 0.01); animal abuse and hoarding in companion animals (p < 0.01); shelter medicine in companion animals (p < 0.01); disaster preparedness in wildlife animals (p < 0.01); pain and distress caused by fishing in aquatic animals (p < 0.01); conscientious objection related to animals held for research and teaching (p < 0.01); behaviour, selection and training of animals used for sport, recreation and display (p = 0.046) and educating the public around sporting animal welfare (p < 0.01). Agreement between educators and students was closer for strategies to address painful husbandry procedures in production animals (p = 0.03); behaviour and training of companion animals (p = 0.03); veterinarians' duties to wild animals in wildlife (p = 0.02); the 3Rs in animals held for research and teaching (p = 0.03) and ownership responsibility in sporting animals (p = 0.01). This report discusses the reasons for differences among students and educators as they approach these issues. The portal is expected to gather more content as veterinary schools in other countries use its resources and users submit scenarios and discussion topics that reflect local needs.


Received: 15 February 2016 Accepted: 30 May 2016 Published: 31 July 2016 Lontar Roga Sanghara Bhumi was a script about natural disasters that occurred in the world, natural disaster signs, natural phenomenon unlike good and bad signs, as well the forecast towards earthquake impact based on sasih (month of Bali) the earthquake occurrence. The signs were analyzed of eco-semiotic and meaning was knowable behind it. Balinese society trust that peace and harmony in life happened if it was occurred Tri Hita Karana (there was a balance correlated between human and God, human and fellow human beings, and human beings with bhutakala/Balinese term of evil). Conversely, natural disasters was occurred due to human activity that has soiled the world so that the Gods was angry. The bhutakala was instructed to make a disaster by the Gods. In order to anticipate and naturalize natural disasters occurrence, Balinese society regularly performed rituals of salvation as a means of 'communication' apologize to God. The ritual has its level i.e. prayascita, guru piduka, labuh gentuh.


Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum) is a member of the Poaceae family and tetraploid (genomes of AABB) with 28 chromosomes (2n=4x=28). Narrow genetic variability was a problem to develop genotypes with better adaptation to different agro-ecologies. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the genetic variability, divergence, and path coefficient analysis of durum wheat genotypes by using morphological traits and identifying essential yield-related traits of durum wheat, and to identify promising candidate genotypes to be used in future durum wheat breeding program. The study was carried out on 81 genotypes and the experiment was laid out in a triple lattice design with an arrangement of 9 x 9 x 3 treatment, which made 243 experimental units. Results obtained on genetic variability, path coefficient, and genetic divergent analysis among yield-related traits are presented here under the present study. Generally, the present study revealed the existence of significant genetic variability among the tested genotypes for different traits helpful for direct and indirect selection. This study recommended that the potential durum wheat genotypes 214552, 208150, 238516, 5645, Mekuye, 236984, 7960, 7152, 231599, and 208242 could be used for durum wheat breeding programs for yield and yield component traits improvement under similar agro-ecologies.


Lee, Sun Gu, M.S., Department of Economics, Wright State University, 2008. An Analysis of the Influence of CEO Characteristics on Research and Development Expenditures in Large Corporations (2005 Data). This study analyzes the influence exerted by CEO characteristics (specifically, CEO stockholding percentages and CEO age) on research and development (R&D) expenditures in large American corporations over the twenty year period from 1986 to 2005. Using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) to measure market share concentrations, and making specific reference to two Schumpeterian hypotheses on the correlation between R&D and increases in firm size, this study establishes a positive linear relationship between the dependent variable, R&D expenditure, and the independent variables of CEO stockholding, CEO age, firm size, and market share. This study next describes the corporate and market conditions which promote the development of a positive linear relationship between CEO characteristics and R&D and concludes by identifying the point of high market concentration at which the prominence of R&D activity is superseded by expenditures for advertising. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page


Recently, deep learning methods have shown significant improvements in communication systems. In this paper, we study the equalization problem over the nonlinear channel using neural networks. The joint equalizer and decoder based on neural networks are proposed to realize blind equalization and decoding process without the knowledge of channel state information (CSI). Different from previous methods, we use two neural networks instead of one. First, convolutional neural network (CNN) is used to adaptively recover the transmitted signal from channel impairment and nonlinear distortions. Then the deep neural network decoder (NND) decodes the detected signal from CNN equalizer. Under various channel conditions, the experiment results demonstrate that the proposed CNN equalizer achieves better performance than other solutions based on machine learning methods. The proposed model reduces about 2/3 of the parameters compared to state-of-the-art counterparts. Besides, our model can be easily applied to long sequence with $\mathcal{O}(n)$ complexity.


Examined the dream reports of 27 hypnotic, 23 task-motivated, and 16 control imagination Ss to analyze the nature of the relation between the S and hypnotist. Dreams were judged by independent raters in response to a request for dreaming about hypnosis. Categories of analysis pertained to rapport-involvement, self, and the hypnotist. Data show that hypnotic Ss' dreams were distinguished from nonhypnotic Ss' dreams by being characteristically more positive. Hypnotic Ss also perceived the hypnotist in an authoritative manner more than waking Ss, the rapport present indicating protection-care or guidance. This pattern of data was especially evident for Ss whose objective performance, as indexed by their expectancy behavior, independently classified them as the most highly motivated in the sample. Data index the transference-like involvement of some hypnotic Ss. With respect to dreaming, however, that involvement is more appropriately viewed in terms of Ss' motivated cognitive commitment to the task of dreaming rather than as the regressive display of infantile wish fulfillment implied by orthodox psychoanalysis. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).


This article analyses love that emerges in dancing clubs, by integrating Emmanuel Levinas' ethics of face with sociological theories on emotional consumption. The seemly ideal appearance of a strip dancer with which a regular customer falls in love is not a true display of her authentic self, but rather a mask, which is a product of her emotional labor, sold to increase her income. The customer develops emotional ties with this fabricated persona and desires her love in return. In a commercial context, the customer often fails to recognize her complex subjectivity and to welcome her true otherness. He exploits her emotional labor, while she manipulates his emotions for money. His love, which is predicated on an imaginary foundation, cannot sustain outside of dance clubs. A "mask" and a Levinasian "face" may share the same physical body yet have distinct personalities, and can thus be confusing. Levinas' ethics calls for our immediate responsibility in the face of the Other. However, not all appearances of the Other are authentic. Sometimes it is even part of one's job to be disguised, such as in the case of strip dancers, actors, etc. It is vital to first identify and embrace the Other's true face before engaging in a relationship which requires mutual responsibility.


The effect of a random disturbance on the ecosystem is one of the oldest scientific observations of which its effect on biodiversity is no exception. We have used ODE 45 numerical scheme to tackle this problem. The novel results that we have obtained have not been seen elsewhere; these are presented and fully discussed quantitatively.


The missions for the police and fire fighters are to protect for public safety and to fight and prevent from fires, respectively. In this dynamic environment, however, there are many potential dangers and uncertain factors that can't be predicted. In order to improve the total performance, some rules extracted from criminal and fire-fighting records are needed. The purpose of this paper is to mine association rules from a database to support crime management or fire-fighting resources allocation. The mining procedure consists of two essential modules. One is a clustering module based on a neural network, a Self-Organization Map (SOM), which performs grouping tasks on the tremendous number of database records. The another is a rule extraction module applying rough set theory that can extract association rules for each homogeneous cluster and the relationships between different clusters. An example is for illustration.


This study presents first the fabrication of a nano-composite material based on Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes, and on a thermoplastic polymer matrix. First, a twin-screw mixer had been employed for preparing polypropylene nano-composites loaded at 1, 2, and 5wt% of MWCNT. Second, a characterization of rheological behaviour for polypropylene as well as polypropylene/multi-walled carbon nanotube mixtures, at three temperatures (180, 200, and 220 °C,) has been carried out using cone and plate rheometer. And then, its thermo-mechanical properties have been also studied. The work demonstrates how the addition of functionalized CNTs to a polypropylene will allow it to act as thermal conductor rather than as insulator.


Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (NAIT) is the leading cause of thrombocytopenia in otherwise healthy new-born. (1,2) Maternal antibodies raised against paternally inherited alloantigen carried on fetal platelet causing NAIT. Maternal IgG antibodies passed through to the fetal via the placenta, attack and cause the destruction of the fetal platelet. (3) We present a case of NAIT without any complications in a premature baby (35 weeks) with VACREL association, G6PD deficiency, left calcified cephalohaematoma, cardiomegaly and hypospadias with severe thrombocytopenia (platelet counts is 23 109/L) at day two of life and received twice platelet transfusion. Platelet count initially 123 109/L at birth but significantly drop and persistently less than 50 109/L until day 10 of life before it normalized. Maternal serum antibody screening was negative, but platelet immunology test detected maternal platelet-reactive antibody Anti-HLA Class I and correlates with incompatible parental crossmatch indicating that parent had "platelet-antigen incompatibility". The goal of obstetric management is to identify pregnancies at risk and prevent intracranial haemorrhage. (4) There is no evidence to support routine screening for pregnancies as per current practice. (2, 5) The latest treatments include maternal administration of intravenous immunoglobulin to suppress maternal antibody production and or to reduce placental transfer of antibodies; with or without steroids during antepartum period besides planning of mode, timing and method of delivery. (2, 5, 6, 7) This is a rare and unique case of NAIT secondary to Anti-HLA Class I antibody and hence clinician should be au fait with the diagnosis and management as it is infrequent among Malaysian. International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Supplementary Issue-2: 2021 Page: S21


Dynamic binding capacity (DBC) decreases with increasing conductivity in the equilibrium regime for ion exchange chromatography. An exclusion regime has been demonstrated in ion exchange resins where DBC increases with increasing conductivity and decreasing protein charge. The purpose of this work was to examine the impact of the exclusion regime on impurity removal. Resin performance was evaluated based on dynamic binding capacities and purity within the exclusion and equilibrium regimes. The results revealed that Chinese hamster ovary proteins (CHOP), a major impurity, exhibit similar exclusion trends as the MAb proteins. The results further the understanding of the exclusion regime and its impact on product purity, a critical area for IEX development and optimization.


With the rapid development of the Internet-of-Things (IoT), sensors are being widely applied in industry and human life. Sensor networks based on IoT have strong Information transmission and processing capabilities. The security of sensor networks is progressively crucial. Cryptographic algorithms are widely used in sensor networks to guarantee security. Hardware implementations are preferred, since software implementations offer lower throughout and require more computational resources. Cryptographic chips should be tested in a manufacturing process and in the field to ensure their quality. As a widely used design-for-testability (DFT) technique, scan design can enhance the testability of the chips by improving the controllability and observability of the internal flip-flops. However, it may become a backdoor to leaking sensitive information related to the cipher key, and thus, threaten the security of a cryptographic chip. In this paper, a secure scan test architecture was proposed to resist scan-based noninvasive attacks on cryptographic chips with boundary scan design. Firstly, the proposed DFT architecture provides the scan chain reset mechanism by gating a mode-switching detection signal into reset input of scan cells. The contents of scan chains will be erased when the working mode is switched between test mode and functional mode, and thus, it can deter mode-switching based noninvasive attacks. Secondly, loading the secret key into scan chains of cryptographic chips is prohibited in the test mode. As a result, the test-mode-only scan attack can also be thwarted. On the other hand, shift operation under functional mode is disabled to overcome scan attack in the functional mode. The proposed secure scheme ensures the security of cryptographic chips for sensor networks with extremely low area penalty.


An important research issue in RBF networks is how to determine the gaussian centers of the radial-basis functions. We investigate a technique that identifies these centers with carefully selected training examples, with the objective to minimize the network's size. The essence is to select three very small subsets rather than one larger subset whose size would exceed the size of the three small subsets unified. The subsets complement each other in the sense that when used by a nearest-neighbor classifier, each of them incurs errors in a different part of the instance space. The paper describes the example-selection algorithm and shows, experimentally, its merits in the design of RBF networks.


The aim of this article is to consider, from various theoretical perspectives, the correlations between rationality of terrorism and other key elements that make the phenomenology of terrorism. Starting from the premise that understanding of the aspect of rationality determines the assessment of the risks of terrorism and affects counter-terrorism policy, the author first analyzes the viewpoint of Pavlićević (2015) and the insights of several theoretical sources for the sake of attaining a complete and deeper understanding of these relationships. The author emphasizes the significance of analytical models and points out that in the assessment and risk analysis it is of primary importance to take into account different concepts of terrorist motivations and levels of rationality, as well as the character of the terrorist goals. The author supports the conclusions of researchers that only comprehensive understanding of rationality from different scientific perspectives may generate the basis for building an efficient counter-terrorism strategy. Yet, in understanding the phenomenon of terrorism, it must be noted that the political motive, goals and the instrumental rationality of terrorism remain in the forefront.


The paper introduces a multiresolution face recognition system using features extracted from eigen and fisher spaces. Discrete wavelet transform has been used to generate images at varying resolutions. Two methods are proposed to combine the features extracted from a set of face images with varying resolution. The first method is called the multiresolution feature concatenation (MFC), where we use principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) as a dimensionality reduction process on each subband. Then the resulting projection coefficients of each subband are concatenated to perform classification. The second method is called the multiresolution majority voting (MMV), where the classification are done separately on each subband and then the majority voting is applied for making decision. The results obtained from both of the methods show promising results and MMV approach outperforms the MFC approach. Moreover, the two methods outperform the conventional PCA and LDA approaches respectively approach.


Introduction. Cystic echinococcosis is a zoonosis caused by the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus. In most of cases hydatid cysts are found in the liver but in rare cases a migration of the hydatid cyst can occur following rupture of hepatal pericist.Case. A 38 year old female presented with abdominal pain, fatigue, weakness and fever for more than three months. Computed tomography show segment II and IV hepatic per-magna cystic formations with dimensions: No I: 80×60×74 mm and No. II: 70×60×58 mm. Per magna cystic formation in the Douglas space, with dimensions of 93×90×62 mm with clearly expressed mass effect on surrounding organ structures.Discussion. Active hydatid disease may show migration of cysts due to rupture of hepatal pericyst, pressure difference between the anatomic cavities, and by contribution of gravity. Sudden death, anaphylactic shock and dissemination of disease can be seen with cystic content spillage into the peritoneal cavity.Conclusion. Migrated hydatid cysts are very rare parasitic manifestation presenting with symptoms deriving from the neighboring organs. They are diagnosed typically by CT and managed with evacuation of cysts following abdominal exploration. Full abdominal organ ultrasonography, with accent on the liver, should be performed in any case of intraabdominal simple cyst presence.


To the Editor:

We found two errors in our published article:

Ki Young Son, Cheol Min Lee, BeLong Cho, Youl Lee Lym, Seung Won Oh, Wonjoo Chung, Jin-Seok Lee, DuShin Park, and Han Suk Kim. Effect of aditional brief counseling after periodic health examination on motivation for health behavior change. J Korean Med Sci. 2012; 27: 1285-1291.

The corrected and affiliations are as below.

Effect of Additional Brief Counselling after Periodic Health Examination on Motivation for Health Behavior Change

Ki Young Son1,*, Cheol Min Lee2,*, BeLong Cho1, Youl Lee Lym3, Seung Won Oh2, Wonjoo Chung1, Jin-Seok Lee4, DuShin Park5, and Han Suk Kim6

1Department of Family Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul; 2Department of Family Medicine, Healthcare System Gangnam Centre, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul; 3Department of Family Medicine, Konkuk University Hospital, Seoul; 4Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul; 5National Health Insurance Corporation, Seoul; 6Ministry for Health and Welfare, Seoul, Korea


We describe an approach to ordered nanoporous poly(lactide) that relies on self-assembly of poly(butadiene)-poly(lactide) (PB-PLA) diblock copolymers followed by selective degradation of PB using olefin metathesis. The block copolymers were obtained by a combination of anionic and ring-opening transesterification polymerizations. The molar mass of each block was tailored to target materials with either a lamellar or cylindrical microphase-separated morphology. Orientation of these nanoscale domains was induced in thin films and monolithic samples through solvent annealing and mechanical deformation, respectively. Selective degradation of PB was achieved by immersing the samples in a solution of Grubbs first-generation catalyst in cyclohexane, a nonsolvent for PLA. Successful elimination of PB was confirmed by size-exclusion chromatography and (1)H NMR spectroscopy. Direct imaging of the resulting nanoporous PLA was obtained by scanning electron microscopy.


Background Improving rigor and transparency measures should lead to improvements in reproducibility across the scientific literature; however, the assessment of measures of transparency tends to be very difficult if performed manually. Objective This study addresses the enhancement of the Rigor and Transparency Index (RTI, version 2.0), which attempts to automatically assess the rigor and transparency of journals, institutions, and countries using manuscripts scored on criteria found in reproducibility guidelines (eg, Materials Design, Analysis, and Reporting checklist criteria). Methods The RTI tracks 27 entity types using natural language processing techniques such as Bidirectional Long Short-term Memory Conditional Random Field–based models and regular expressions; this allowed us to assess over 2 million papers accessed through PubMed Central. Results Between 1997 and 2020 (where data were readily available in our data set), rigor and transparency measures showed general improvement (RTI 2.29 to 4.13), suggesting that authors are taking the need for improved reporting seriously. The top-scoring journals in 2020 were the Journal of Neurochemistry (6.23), British Journal of Pharmacology (6.07), and Nature Neuroscience (5.93). We extracted the institution and country of origin from the author affiliations to expand our analysis beyond journals. Among institutions publishing >1000 papers in 2020 (in the PubMed Central open access set), Capital Medical University (4.75), Yonsei University (4.58), and University of Copenhagen (4.53) were the top performers in terms of RTI. In country-level performance, we found that Ethiopia and Norway consistently topped the RTI charts of countries with 100 or more papers per year. In addition, we tested our assumption that the RTI may serve as a reliable proxy for scientific replicability (ie, a high RTI represents papers containing sufficient information for replication efforts). Using work by the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology, we determined that replication papers (RTI 7.61, SD 0.78) scored significantly higher (P<.001) than the original papers (RTI 3.39, SD 1.12), which according to the project required additional information from authors to begin replication efforts. Conclusions These results align with our view that RTI may serve as a reliable proxy for scientific replicability. Unfortunately, RTI measures for journals, institutions, and countries fall short of the replicated paper average. If we consider the RTI of these replication studies as a target for future manuscripts, more work will be needed to ensure that the average manuscript contains sufficient information for replication attempts.


Objective To examine the effect of dietary fiber intake on blood pressure (BP). Design Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Setting and participants A total of 110 trial participants aged 30 to 65 years who had untreated, but higher than optimal BP or stage-1 hypertension were recruited from the community in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Interventions Study participants were randomly assigned to receive 8 g/day of water-soluble fiber from oat bran or a control intervention. Main outcome measures Nine BP measurements were obtained by trained observers using random-zero sphygmomanometers, over three clinical visits, at the baseline and termination visits of the trial. An average of the nine measurements was used to determine mean BP at the baseline and termination visits. Results The net changes [95% confidence interval, (CI)] in systolic blood pressure were −1.8 mmHg (−4.3 to 0.8, P = 0.17) following 12 weeks, −2.2 mmHg (−5.3 to 1.0, P = 0.18) following 6 weeks, and −2.0 mmHg (−4.4 to 0.3, P = 0.09) for an average of the 6- and 12-week visits. The corresponding net changes (95% CI) in diastolic blood pressure were −1.2 mmHg (−3.0 to 0.5, P = 0.17) following 12 weeks, −0.8 mmHg (−3.1 to 1.4, P = 0.47) following 6 weeks, and −1.0 mmHg (−2.6 to 0.5, P = 0.19) for an average of the 6- and 12-week visits. Conclusions Our findings suggest that a diet rich in fiber may have a moderate BP-lowering effect and indicate the need for further investigation of this important question.


Ceramide has been identified as a putative lipid messenger that mediates diverse cellular processes including cell death. Since glutathione (GSH) depletion is known to sensitize cells to many cytotoxic agents and as a result of the reported regulation of neutral sphyngomyelinase (NSMase) by GSH, the present study compared the role of individual SMases in the induction of oxidative stress, regulation of cellular GSH, and apoptosis of rat hepatocytes. Exposure of cultured rat hepatocytes to exogenous Bacillus cereus sphingomyelinase (bSMase), a neutral SMase, or human placenta sphingomyelinase (hSMase), an acidic SMase (ASMase), generated similar ceramide levels in a dose‐dependent manner. However, whereas bSMase increased hepatocellular GSH levels, hSMase depleted GSH stores, an effect that was prevented by monensin and mannose 6‐phosphate (M‐6‐P), suggesting that exogenous hSMase enters hepatocytes by endocytosis and is delivered to an endosomal/lysosomal acidic compartment. Interestingly, despite the differential effect of either SMases on cell GSH levels, both bSMase and hSMase increased γ‐glutamylcysteine synthetase heavy‐subunit chain (γ‐GCS‐HS) mRNA levels. Consistent with these findings on GSH regulation, hSMase, but not bSMase, generated reactive oxygen species (ROS), being accompanied by mitochondrial depolarization, suggesting that hSMase targeted mitochondria, leading to oxidative stress. Accordingly, hepatocytes displayed a selective sensitivity to hSMase in contrast to bSMase exposure, and depletion of GSH stores enhanced susceptibility to hSMase as a result of potentiation of ROS formation and caspase 3 activation. Thus, these findings reveal the ability of ASMase to induce oxidative stress as a result of the targeting of mitochondria, and that GSH depletion sensitizes hepatocytes to the ASMase‐induced apoptosis.


The paper examines the effect of chloride on the oxidation of 2,6-dichlorophenol (DCP) performed at TiO2/RuO2 DSA anodes, which are specific catalysts for chlorine evolution. The results indicate that chlorine/hypochlorite originating from chloride oxidation in certain favourable conditions reacts with the organic substrate at the diffusion layer near the anode, accelerating the mass transfer of the reactant towards the electrode surface. When the bulk concentration of organic substrate has become very low, the oxidising species can accumulate in the bulk solution where the accomplishment of the oxidation of residual reactant and of its intermediates takes place. Solutions which also contained glucose were electrolysed in order to verify the high level of selectivity of DCP oxidation with respect to a biodegradable substrate: glucose was found to be unchanged up to nearly complete elimination of DCP. The toxicity of the solution was sufficiently reduced to reach values compatible with the subsequent biological treatment.


Abstract
 Bovine embryonic development is closely associated with mitochondrial biogenesis, which is regulated by the sirtuin 1 (SIRT1). Resveratrol, which is a type of natural phenol produced by several plants and used as a dietary supplement, is the activator of SIRT1. Although it has been reported that resveratrol increased SIRT1 level in in vitro bovine blastocysts, there are no in vivo reports on the change in the plasma SIRT1 level in cows. Therefore, we investigated the change in the level of plasma SIRT1 by injecting different concentrations of resveratrol into the uterus of Korean cattle heifer. The level of plasma SIRT1 in the 1.0 μM resveratrol-injected group was the highest among all groups (P < 0.05). Although the level of plasma SIRT1 increased on days 7, 9, and 14 in the resveratrol-injected group, the level of plasma SIRT1 in the control group decreased. When 1.0 µM resveratrol was directly injected into the uterus of cows during artificial insemination, a pregnancy rate was 21.0% higher than that in the control group. In conclusion, our results identified that the level of plasma SIRT1 was increased by direct injection of resveratrol and improved conception rate by injection into uterus of cow during artificial insemination.


In tribute to Alan M. Thomas (1998) and his book chapter entitled "The Tolerable Contradictions of Prior Learning Assessment," this article explores the tolerable contradictions of the explosive trend in open learning: Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). There is significant potential in synergies that can be made between MOOCs and the PLA community. This article explores the potential role of prior learning assessment as a mechanism to recognize formal academic credit from MOOCs and the implications for practice. Keywords : Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs); Prior Learning Assessment (PLA), Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR); Disruptive Innovation; Open Education Resource (OER)


PURPOSE
To apply tissue-engineered cell sheet transplantation after excimer laser keratectomy as a novel approach for the reduction of postoperative corneal haze.

METHODS
Limbal biopsy specimens were obtained, and epithelial cells were cultured on temperature-responsive culture inserts without the use of feeder cells. Laser keratectomy (7.0-mm ablation zone and 160-microm depth) was performed in the contralateral eye, and autologous epithelial cell sheets were transplanted to the ablated corneal stroma. Transplant and control group eyes were assessed by slit lamp biomicroscopy, and corneal haze was scored in a masked fashion, according to the Fantes grading scale. For further examination histologic and immunohistochemical analyses were performed.

RESULTS
Tissue-engineered cell sheets produced stable attachment to the laser-ablated sites, resulting in epithelialization, 5 minutes after transplantation. Conversely, control corneas required 3 to 5 days for complete re-epithelialization. At both 1 and 2 months after surgery, corneal haze was significantly inhibited in the transplant group. Histologic analyses showed that the number of keratocytes undergoing apoptosis was decreased in the transplant group at 3 days after surgery. Similarly, the expression of both collagen III and alpha-smooth muscle actin, which may enhance corneal haze, were diminished in the transplant group at 2 months.

CONCLUSIONS
The transplantation of tissue-engineered epithelial cell sheets can successfully prevent the development of corneal haze after excimer laser keratectomy.


Abstract The Brazil-Falklands/Malvinas Confluence (BFMC), a highly energetic convergence of surface currents in the western South Atlantic, has shifted southward in recent years and this shift is projected to progress in the future. Palaeoecological insights documenting past changes of these currents may help in anticipating future impacts on the environment. We used dinoflagellate cyst analyses from a marine sediment core to reconstruct environmental changes in the Argentine continental margin, western South Atlantic, during the last ca. 12,600 years. The dynamics of the BFMC were reconstructed using the relative frequency of warm-water indicators for the Brazil Current (BC) versus cold-water taxa thriving in the Falklands/Malvinas Current (FMC). We found that the latitudinal position of the BFMC was relatively stable with only minor amplitude migrations between 12.6 and 8.7 cal kyr BP, followed by periods with stronger shifts to the south and the north until 0.66 cal kyr BP. After that, the BFMC shifted continuously to the south. The increase in freshwater algae abundance after ca. 5.7 cal kyr BP suggests an increase in precipitation over the adjacent Rio de la Plata drainage basin in south-eastern South America. As previously documented, such an increase in precipitation was probably related to a higher El Niño-Southern Oscillation frequency and longer, stronger El Niño events since the mid-Holocene. The dinoflagellate cyst record indicates a phase of the enhanced presence of nutrient-rich waters over the core site between ca. 6.3 and 5.7 cal kyr BP, as well as from 0.66 cal kyr BP to the recent. The highest eutrophication in the ocean surface occurred during the last ca. 100 years, most probably due to stronger human impact in the area of the Rio de la Plata drainage basin.


Ordinary bladder hernia is a fairly common condition, and many articles have been written about it. A recent and excellent one is that by Kollbert. 1 Iason 2 concludes from various statistical studies that the over-all incidence of bladder hernia is between 1% and 3%. In his own personal cases, 3 however, he found the incidence to be 10% in men more than 50 years of age. Erdman, 4 in a study of 8600 cases from the literature, found the incidence to be 4 per 1000. Sliding hernia of the bladder is also fairly common, both in direct inguinal hernias and in femoral hernias. 5 This paper, however, deals with sliding hernia of a diverticulum of the bladder. While I have encountered no description of this condition in the textbooks, it is probably not as rare a condition as one would judge from a perusal of the literature. REPORT OF


Higher education plays a key role in training qualified individuals who are capable of implementing new technologies and using innovative methods to establish more efficient enterprises and institutions and thus allocate resources more effectively to enhance quality education. University of Nairobi has been ranked through webometrics ranking of world universities 2015 as fourth out of 1448 universities in Africa and one of the main criteria used is webometric that to extend reflects the quality of education offered at the university. The study analyzed institutional capacity influencing quality education provision in public universities: case of school of education, university of Nairobi, Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives; To assess how lecturer-student ratio influence provision of quality education in public universities in Kenya, to examine how internet access level influence provision of quality education in public universities in Kenya, to assess the availability of teaching-learning resources influence provision of quality education in public universities in Kenya and to analyze how the adequacy of physical facilities influence provision of quality education in public universities in Kenya. The research employed descriptive survey design and was built on Human Capital Theory. The target population for this study was the undergraduate students, master of education students and dean school of education. The study used simple random sampling and purposive sampling. There was use of questionnaires, interview and observation schedules as tools for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used and data analysis and results presented using frequency tables, bar graphs, percentages and pie charts. The study concluded that institutional capacity factors influence the provision of quality of education. On the first objective the study concluded that the availability of lecturers for individualized learning, attendance and course content coverage affect the provision of quality education. On the second objective, internet accessibility at the various places affect the performance of the course work hence affecting quality of education. The study also concluded that availability of teaching learning resources and their adequacy influence the provision of quality education. As a result of this the study recommends that the school of education ought to add the teaching staff to increase the lecturer student ratio so as to ensure that the students get an individualized and personalized tutorials, there is need to add more computer laboratories because many students use them to access internet, add internet ports in the lecture rooms to enhance connectivity even when the wireless connectivity is limited, library materials also need to be customized to ensure that even student with disability can access all electronic materials with ease, lecture halls should be fitted with better furniture, public address system, projectors (electronic equipment that facilitate projection by lecturers) smart boards, proper lighting and hostels need to be increased and the existing ones need renovation. There is also need for more classroom space, offices and tutorial space. This will help promote the quality of service provided by the school and university at large.


The lightcurve of CoRoT-2 shows substantial rotational modulation and deformations of the planet's transit profiles caused by starspots. We consistently model the entire lightcurve, including both rotational modulation and transits, stretching over approximately 30 stellar rotations and 79 transits. The spot distribution and its evolution on the noneclipsed and eclipsed surface sections are presented and analyzed, making use of the high resolution achievable under the transit path. We measure the average surface brightness on the eclipsed section to be (5 ± 1)% lower than on the noneclipsed section. Adopting a solar spot contrast, the spot coverage on the entire surface reaches up to 19% and a maximum of almost 40% on the eclipsed section. Features under the transit path, i.e. close to the equator, rotate with a period close to 4.55 days. Significantly higher rotation periods are found for features on the noneclipsed section indicating a differential rotation of ΔΩ > 0.1. Spotted and unspotted regions in both surface sections concentrate on preferred longitudes separated by roughly 180°.


This work aimed to develop a Quality Index Method (QIM) for octopus species Octopus insularis and apply it to samples of eviscerated and non-eviscerated specimens in order to establish stability in cold storage. Initially we carried out the recruitment of judges, who were trained to verify the changes undergone by the octopus during storage under refrigeration. The development of QIM Table took place in three experiments. At first, a QIM Table for Octopus vulgaris from literature was presented to judges together with specimens of O. insularis, so they could assess whether the parameters were suited to this specie.  In the second experiment the objective was to validate the table, verifying if changes were needed in the predefined parameters or if it was also necessary to add new ones. Finally, the QIM Table was applied to determine the shelf life of non-eviscerated (NEV) and eviscerated (EV) octopuses (O. insularis) during refrigerated storage (2 ± 2 °C). The sum of demerit points for all parameters was named Quality Index (QI). To determine the value of QI at rejection point, N-TVB and N-TMA contents were determined. The data were submitted to analysis of variance and Tukey test at 5% significance, besides correlation and regression analysis by the GLM routine. The developed Quality Index Method for Octopus insularis consists of 8 parameters, totalizing 24 demerit points. The NEV samples were rejected at the tenth day of storage, while the rejection of EV samples occurred only at the end of the experiment.


The life and history of the Hawaiians has been documented ever since the contact with Western adventurers at the end of the 18th century. In connection with the arrival of American missionaries in 1820, these missionaries introduced and established a puritanical doctrine and method of communicating knowledge by way of the written word. The encounters between the different cultures have been described as peaceful. It has, however, proven that these descriptions are not entirely truthful – there is another side to the story. It is thus reasonable to ask how the introduction to the Christian doctrine and so-called Western civilisation unfolded.

Many Hawaiian academics and researchers emphasise that the way history has hitherto been written, which is considered colonial both in composition and expression, should be revised. It has become apparent that situations of conflict and resistance existed from the first encounter with Westerners, a fact that has not been made clear in the writing of history to date. Hence, relevant questions are: How have "we" Westerners interpreted and understood the Hawaiian culture and history? How has this understanding and interpretation been perceived by the Hawaiians themselves?

In this thesis, focus is directed at the encounters that occurred between missionaries and Hawaiians chiefly in the first half of the 19th century. In these situations of encounter, a number of problems arose as a consequence of disparate opinions concerning the outlook on the human body, modes of dressing, sexuality, education, knowledge and, not least, opinions on social relationships. The strategies of dealing with these issues and situations, from the part of the Hawaiians as well as the missionaries, are in this context of utmost importance. Higly significant and also discussed, is the role of the missionaries as civilizational colonialists, and the colonial context in which the missionaries not only acted, but also generated.

Thus, the aim and direction of this thesis is to locate, document and discuss discrepancies between the two cultural groups in the apprehension of history, civilization, culture, behavior, morality and religion. Furthermore, the intent is to question previous writings of Hawaiian history, and its angles, with the purpose not only to find a wider but also a new understanding of Hawaiian culture and histoy.


O June8-10,1981, the Lipid Metabolism-Atherogenesis Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute sponsored a workshop entitled, "The Relationship of Hypertriglyceridemia to Atherosclerosis," in Bethesda, Maryland. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together a large number of investigators with primary interests in epidemiology, genetics, nutrition, pathology, and basic and clinical research to discuss recent advances in the knowledge of triglyceride metabolism and to summarize the relationships of the hypertriglyceridemias to atherosclerosis. The agenda was planned by Drs. Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, Bryan Brewer, John Brunzell, Christopher Fielding, Scott Grundy, Kenneth Lippel, Arno Motulsky, and Donald Zilversmit. More than 80 scientists attended the workshop; 26 made formal presentations or served as panel discussants. The other attendees participated in the discussions and in the question and answer periods that followed each presentation. We present here a summary of the major presentations made at the workshop as well as a list of some questions that will likely be the basis for future research in triglyceride metabolism and in the relationships of the hypertriglyceridemias to atherosclerosis. The summary is organized into three sections which correspond to the framework of the workshop.


Sensory overloaded environments present an opportunity for innovative design in the area of Human-Machine Interaction. In this paper we study the usefulness of a tactile display in the automobile environment. Our approach uses a simple pneumatic pump to produce pulsations of varying frequencies on the driver's hands through a car steering wheel fitted with inflatable pads. The goal of the project is to evaluate the effectiveness of such a system in alerting the driver of a possible problem, when it is used to augment the visual display presently used in automobiles. A steering wheel that provides haptic feedback using pneumatic pockets was developed to test our hypothesis. The steering wheel can pulsate at different frequencies. The system was tested in a simple multitasking paradigm on several subjects and their reaction times to different stimuli were measured and analyzed. For these experiments, we found that using a tactile feedback device lowers reaction time significantly and that modulating frequency of vibration provides extra information that can reduce the time necessary to identify a problem.


A new variant of human apolipoprotein B has been identified in a subject with decreased low density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein B concentrations. Although no clinical signs of fat malabsorption were observed the subject was diagnosed, on the basis of his low cholesterol and apolipoprotein B level, as having hypobetalipoproteinaemia. iv The variant of apolipoprotein B was first identified by Western blot analysis. The analysis revealed an abnormal low molecular weight form of apolipoprotein B as well as normal apolipoprotein B-1 00 indicating that the subject was heterozygous for a truncated form of apolipoprotein B. The new variant (apo B-32) was a result ofa C--+-T transition at nucleotide 4548 in exon 26 of the apolipoprotein B gene. This mutation changes a CAG codon which codes for glutamine into a TAG stop codon resulting in translation of a truncated apolipoprotein B protein approximately 32% the length of normal apolipoprotein B-1 00. Although only 32% of the length ofapolipoprotein B-IOO, apo B-32 was still capable of forming lipoprotein particles as indicated by its presence in both the low density and high density lipoprotein fractions. This density distribution is unique since apo B-32 is the shortest known truncated apolipoprotein B to be found in the low density lipoprotein fraction. This finding clearly indicates that the region of apo B-32 is important in the lipid binding characteristics of apolipoprotein B-100. The binding of apo B-32 to heparin confirmed three heparin binding sites previously predicted to be in the amino-terminal 30% of apolipoprotein B-100. Isolated lipoproteins formed from apo B-32 appeared to be similar to high density lipoproteins in size and composition. However, unlike high density lipoproteins, the apo B-32 lipoproteins in plasma were partially precipitated by polyanionlcation reagents normally used to precipitate very low density and low density lipoproteins. The presence of both apolipoproteins Al and E on the apo B-32 lipoproteins suggested that apolipoprotein Al or E may mediate the metabolism of apo B-32 since apo B-32 does not posses the receptor binding region for the low density lipoprotein receptor. v Four further subjects were identified as having reduced low density lipoprotein and apolipoprotein B concentrations. However a lack of any truncated apolipoprotein B in their plasma made it difficult to link their hypobetalipoproteinaemia with the apolipoprotein B gene. The cause of the hypobetalipoproteinaemia in these subjects remains uncharacterised although future linkage analysis studies in these individuals and family members will at least establish whether their hypobetalipoproteinaemia is related to the apo B gene.


Driver fatigue is a significant contributor to motor vehicle accidents and fatalities, although the exact share of those events attributable to fatigue is still uncertain. In 2013, accidents involving heavy trucks killed more than 3,944 people in the United States, with over 80 percent of those killed not in the truck. Numerous factors contribute to driver fatigue among commercial drivers, including shiftwork schedules; high prevalence of alcohol and substance use; extended hours; comorbid medical conditions, such as pain; and high prevalence of sleep disorders. Many of these factors have been studied extensively in the trucking industry. Whole-body vibration (WBV) is another potential factor that may contribute to driver fatigue, but it has received little attention. Beginning in January 2015, Bose Corporation and AIG commissioned the RAND Corporation to study the link between WBV and driver fatigue. This article summarizes the findings from RAND's systematic review of the literature on WBV and fatigue as well as considers appropriate study designs and methodology that will inform new areas of research focused on improving the safety of truckers and those who share the road with them. The literature review identified 24 studies examining the impact of WBV on fatigue or sleepiness. The majority of studies (n = 18) found a significant association between WBV and fatigue or sleepiness; however, there are several limitations of the existing literature that preclude definitive conclusions regarding the impact of WBV on these outcomes. This research concludes with recommendations for future studies to strengthen the evidence base.


The authors consider the problem of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging of 3D targets, given a limited amount of measured data. They explore an image reconstruction method proposed by Webb and Munson. This approach employs interpolation and a series of 2D inverse FFTs to cast the 3D imaging problem into the form of a high-resolution spectral estimation problem. The series of 1D spectral estimation problems can be solved using a variety of methods. The authors apply two of those methods: ESPRIT and RELAX to simulated 3D data for a maximum of 2 and 4 elevations. They also compare the performance of the image reconstruction algorithms with the Cramer-Rao lower bound.


This investigation was undertaken to clarify the three dimensional ultrastructure of the subependymal layer in relation with the ependymal cell layer in rat brain using the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The subependymal layer existing below the ependyma of the third ventricle in the brain of mature albino rats was examined with S E M. The hypothalamus freshly excised after median sagittal section was treated by collagenase with or without trypsin for a short while to remove the ependymal cells at the ventricular wall. After the enzymatic pretreatment of the specimen, many ependymal cells were removed and the subependymal layer was partially exposed. Most of the ciliated ependymal cells remaining at the ventricular wall extended long, single basal processes which then penetrated into the subependymal layer. The subependymal layer was composed of a delicate framework of thin processes of glial cells, ependymal cells and, in addition nerve cells. Scattered among the neuropil just beneath the ependymal cell layer, there were relatively small, globular subependymal cells. Occasionally, there were large bundles of unmyelinated nerve fibres in the subependymal layer. The individual nerve fibres distinctly showed many axonal varicosities within the fibres. Intermingled with the nerve fibres, glial processes of various forms were present. The structure of the ependymal cells and the subependymal layer was compared with the findings already reported in the studies using light and transmission electron microscope.