COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the roots of healthcare facilities worldwide, with the US being one of the most affected countries irrespective of being a superpower. Along with the current pandemic, COVID-19 can cause a secondary crisis of mental health pandemic if left unignored. Various studies from past epidemics, financial turmoil and pandemic, especially SARS and MERS, have shown a steep increase in mental and psychological issues like depression, low quality of life, self-harm and suicidal tendencies among general populations. The most venerable being the individuals infected and cured due to social discrimination. The government is taking steps to contain and prevent further infections of COVID-19. However, the mental and psychological wellbeing of people is still left ignored in developing countries like India. There is a significant gap in India concerning mental and psychological health still being stigmatized and considered 'non-existent'. This study's effort is to highlight the importance of mental and psychological health and to suggest interventions based on positive psychology literature. These interventions can support the wellbeing of people acting as a psychological first aid. Keywords: COVID-19, Coronavirus, Pandemic, Mental wellbeing, Psychological Wellbeing, Positive Psychology Interventions. KEYWORDS - COVID-19, Coronavirus, Pandemic, Wellbeing, Positive Psychology, Interventions, PPI.


PurposeThe development of digital inclusive finance appears to be able to solve the difficulty of traditional finance, which cannot completely cover agriculture and farmers and provides better financial services and products to Chinese farmers. Thus, it improves the farmers' enthusiasm for agricultural production. The purpose of this paper is to clarify whether this goal is indeed being achieved.Design/methodology/approachThis paper theoretically analyzes the mechanism that influences the effect of digital inclusive finance on rural households' agricultural production decisions and conducts an empirical study based on a sample from the Chinese family database (CFD).FindingsFirst, the development of digital financial inclusion in general can encourage rural households to reduce agricultural production. Second, the negative effect of digital inclusive finance on households' agricultural output is realized by widening the gap between the efficiency of non-agricultural economic activities and the efficiency of agricultural production. The wider the gap is, the lower the enthusiasm of households for agricultural production. Third, the mediating effect of "digital financial inclusion – difference in efficiency – agricultural output" has a significant negative effect on households with low agricultural production efficiency, but not households with high agricultural production efficiency. Digital inclusive finance has no significant effect on the difference in efficiency between the two economic activities of high-efficiency households, but a greater difference in efficiency between the two economic activities corresponds to higher enthusiasm of households for agricultural production.Originality/valueTo the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to analyze the impact of digital financial inclusion on Chinese farmers' agricultural production. The findings of this study can provide policy-related insights to help local governments promote the development of digital finance in China's agricultural economy.


Direct administration of bombesin (1, 10, and 100 ng/microliter) into the preoptic anterior hypothalamic area caused a dose-related fall in rectal temperature at ambient temperatures (Ta) of 8 and 22 degrees C. The hypothermia in response to bombesin was brought about by a decrease in metabolism at Ta 8 degrees C, whereas at Ta 22 degrees C the hypothermia was brought about by both a decrease in metabolism and an increase in cutaneous temperature. However, at Ta 30 degrees C, intrahypothalamic administration of bombesin caused an insignificant change in thermoregulatory responses. On the other hand, 51 single neurons in the preoptic anterior hypothalamic area were examined in 20 rats under urethan anesthesia. Each animal was subjected to scrotal warming or cooling and to the administration of bombesin. Microiontophoretic application of bombesin resulted in inhibition of the majority (62.5%) of cold-responsive neurons as well as excitation of the majority (50%) of warm-responsive neurons recorded in the preoptic anterior hypothalamic area. However, the majority (74%) of thermally unresponsive neurons were not affected by bombesin application. The data indicate that bombesin, when administered intrahypothalamically, excites warm-responsive neurons and inhibits cold-responsive neurons within the preoptic anterior hypothalamic area to induce hypothermia by promoting an increase in heat loss and a decrease in heat production.


A. J. S., a farmer aged fifty-eight, applied for treatment Nov. 21, 1924. There was no history of cancer in his family. About four years previously he had noticed at the inner corner of his left eye a small black spot about the size of a pinhead. Since that time the spot had grown larger, growth having been more rapid during the last year. Exposure to dust irritated the eye and caused tears to flow from it. The patient could not recall any injury to the eye. He had had no trouble with vision until he was about forty-five years old. At that time he was fitted with glasses, which he used only for near vision. Recently the left eye had felt irritated when he read, and he had had to close it frequently. For the past few months he had noticed some obstruction to nasal breathing.

Examination showed the right eye to be normal. In the left eye the tension was slightly increased and the eye was slightly sensitive to touch. Under homatropine an opaque area was seen just to inner side of the left disc. Vision: O. D. 6/V-3, 0. S. 6/VI-1 or 2. Projecting from the inner canthus of the left eye and involving the entire caruncle was a dark brown tumor of firm consistence (Fig. 1). The tumor was attached to the conjunctiva of the globe but not to the sclera. Where it lay in apposition to the lids, there was beginning infiltration of the lid margins with brown pigmentation. X-ray examination did not show bone involvement. Fluoroscopic examination of the chest was negative. Examination of the nasopharynx showed a general thickening of the nasal mucosa and enlargement of the posterior end of the left lower turbinate.


According to some studies, there are well over 300 different Internet of Things (IoT) platforms and several dozens of (so-called) standards. In practice, this has led to a situation where most of the deployed IoT systems are closed and largely incapable of communicating with other IoT systems. Furthermore, it is likely that at least a few different basic IoT communication protocols will co-exist, including the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT), and HTTP. In this paper we introduce SOFIE, Secure Open Federation for Internet Everywhere. SOFIE is a proposal for applying distributed ledger technology (DLT) to securely and openly federate IoT platforms. SOFIE's approach is based on the idea of using interconnected distributed ledgers as a cornerstone to build decentralised business platforms that support the interconnection of diverse IoT systems. Among other things, the ledgers are used to provide openly accessible metadata about the individual IoT platforms, to define business and other rules on how to connect to the platforms, and to securely record audit trails that can be used to resolve disputes. The SOFIE concept will be prototyped and studied in an EU Horizon 2020 funded project, commencing in early 2018 and running for three years.


Exercise is inevitable to keep health in good status. There are few scientific studies to show the differences between different types of exercises in health and disease. In our study we compared the treadmill exercise and bicycle ergometer exercise and their effect on maximum heart rate attained, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure in twenty one healthy volunteer aged between eighteen to twenty years. We recorded these subjects's blood pressure before exercise and after exercise; heart rate before exercise, during exercise and after exercise. Also we enlisted the advantages and disadvantages of treadmill exercise and bicycle ergometer exercise, so that these two types of exercise can be appropriately used for health promotion, diagnosis of diseases and for rehabilitation of the individuals.


The Palau islands of western Micronesia comprise one of the most physiographically varied archipelagos in the Pacific. There are some 350 islands of volcanic and coralline origin that range from Babeldaob at 333 km2 (about 80% of Palau's total land area) to others, unnamed, that are less than one hectare. A barrier reef encircles most of the archipelago creating a lagoon up to 20 km wide. The majority of the islands are uninhabited, accessible with difficulty only by boat at high tide, and are densely vegetated over steep, rocky terrain. Because of their proximity to the Philippines, New Guinea, the Moluccas, and Borneo, the Palau islands host a significantly richer herpetofauna with more unique taxa than is found on other Pacific islands to the east. As with most other Pacific island groups, however, the herpetofauna has been poorly documented. Since the earliest investigations that began in the nineteen century, Palau's herpetofauna has been uncovered piecemeal. No sustained field effort had been conducted until we began a systematic survey of the islands in 1992. Since then we have collected in Palau every month of the year at least once. This checklist of 46 species of reptiles and amphibians includes almost twice as many taxa as were known from Palau (Owen, 1977) at the beginning of our study. Among these are new species or Palauan records of Gehyra, Hemiphyllodactylus, Lepidodactylus, Nactus, Perochirus, Emoia and Sphenomorphus. Because of the difficulties in surveying so many islands we believe that additional taxa and distributional records await discovery; even the smallest island in Palau can turn up surprises. Nonetheless, it is appropriate to consolidate what is now known about this intriguing fauna and environment. We provide an historical summary of previous collecting efforts, an overview of the islands' geology and habitats, and for each species account we include distributional information, taxonomic and systematic discussion, natural history observations, and a comprehensive bibliography.


Obtaining informed consent for bloodspot research from newborn screening is particularly challenging due to the hectic environment of the postnatal period and the relatively abstract nature of future, unspecified research on the biospecimens. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in three Michigan hospitals to compare two different consent processes (video and interactive tablet "app") with standard brochure-based consent in the Michigan BioTrust for Health. Results indicated higher knowledge scores for the video and app groups as well as significantly higher scores on satisfaction, amount of information, and clarity with the information provided. More research is needed to find the right amount of information for informed decision-making, and additional feasibility studies are needed to assess implementation strategies.


Introduction Breathlessness is distressing and disabling, and common in advanced cancer and non-cancer conditions. Informal carers (family members/friends) provide unpaid support, but many lack knowledge and confidence in caring, experiencing anxiety, uncertainty, and helplessness when faced with breathlessness. The Learning about Breathlessness programme (LaB) is addressing this. LaB1 identified six topics carers want to learn about breathlessness (Farquhar, Penfold, Benson, Lovick et al., 2017). LaB2 is working with carers, patients and healthcare professionals to co-develop and test a prototype web-based educational intervention for carers on breathlessness. Content for five of the six topics was developed, but additional work was needed for the sixth topic, What to expect in the future', to ensure utility and sensitivity. Methods Two disease-specific focus groups and six interviews were conducted with bereaved carers of people with breathlessness due to cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (n=12). Data were sought on what carers would have liked to have learnt about the topic, and sensitive ways to present this for potentially co-present patients. Transcripts were analysed using content analysis, and validation sought from the Carer Advisory Group (CAG) and Study Advisory Group (SAG: includes clinical experts). Follow-on workshops with current carers and patients reviewed resulting draft webpages on this topic for utility and sensitivity. Results Carers learning preferences for 'What to expect in the future' included support with: coping with symptom changes as a patient's condition worsened, discussing 'the future' with others, accessing care and support, administrative tasks (e.g. death registration), and bereavement. Findings were validated by the CAG and SAG. Current carers and patients provided valuable feedback on drafted webpages. Conclusion Co-developed webpages on the topic of 'What to expect in the future' covered subjects bereaved carers identified as important to learn about. Their utility and sensitivity was confirmed by current carers and patients. Follow-on work is testing the prototype website with carers, patients and health care professionals to enable refinement.


RATIONALE
To evaluate the morphological changes occurring during the Years following radiosurgery in order to better define the cure-failure parameters.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Between July 1992 and January 2002 the otoneurosurgical group of the Timone Hospital in Marseille have operated 1000 vestibular schwannomas. The MR imaging performed before (at diagnosis) during and after radiosurgery (6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, 7 years and 10 years) was carefully studied. Systematically six lenghts measurements were obtained for each lesion.

RESULTS
Preoperatively 129 patients were had progressive tumors. At time of radiosurgery, median tumor Volume was 732mm3 (mean: 1346, range: 20-14405). According to the Koos topographical classification, lesions were stage I in 80 patients, stage II in 538 patients, stage III in 322 patients and stage IV in 56 patients. A clear loss of the central enhancement was visible on the postoperative MR control at 6 months and/or 1 Year in 45.5% of patients. In 64% of these patients, this loss of the central contrast enhancement have disappeared. A significant increase of the tumor size was recorded in 15% of the patients. The median increase was 62% (mean: 78%, range: 30-350%). Progression led to salvage surgery (either resection or radiosurgery), in only 3% of the patients.

CONCLUSION
The specificity of the morphological changes after radiosurgery, when ignored, can lead to misinterpretation and eventually to inappropriate decisions, dangerous for the patient. The analysis of our results had led us to consider continuous progression after 3 Years as mandatory to retain the diagnosis of failure.


The ultra high energy cosmic neutrinos are powerful astroph ysical probes for both astrophysical mechanisms of particle acceleration and fundamental inter ac ions. They open a window into the very distant and high-energy Universe that is difficult to ac cess by any human means and devices. The possibility of detecting them in large exposure space-b ased apparatus, like JEM-EUSO, is an experimental challenge. In this paper we present an estim ation of the feasibility of detection of UHE tau neutrino by the JEM-EUSO telescope. The interacti ons of tau-neutrino in sea water and Earth's crust have been investigated. The estimation of the propagation length and energy of the outgoing tau-lepton shows that if its decay occurs in t he atmosphere close enough to the Earth's surface, e.g. below∼ 5km altitude, the cascade is intensive enough and the generated light can be detected from space. We have evaluated the geome trical aperture of the JEM-EUSO detector for the Earth-skimming (horizontal and upward-go in ) tau-neutrinos by making specific modifications to the standard CORSIKA code and developing an interface to the existing ESAF (EUSO Simulation and Analysis Framework) software.


Scale-up of granular processes is notoriously difficult and there is little guidance at the present time. This is true even in the simplest case of noncohesive powders consisting of spherical grains, the scenario considered here. However, flows in granular materials are often restricted to thin regions of rapid surface flow with the rest of the material suffering only slow plastic rearrangements. This seemingly trivial observation leads to understanding of the entire system and to the concept that an understanding of surface flows constitutes the key element for scale-up of granular flow processes. A surface flow is characterized primarily by its thickness and the shear rate. For large particles, both are controlled primarily by the Froude number and the particle-size ratio (particle diameter to cylinder radius), whereas material properties have a secondary effect. Modern experimental techniques are yielding further insight into the physics of shear flows and theoretical analysis is providing guidance and scaling insights. The assembly of experimental and theoretical components opens the class of problems dominated by surface flows to serious engineering analysis and predictability. Current understanding is extended and integrated, the governing scaling laws are made explicit, and the results obtained in terms of rules are summarized. The use of the integrated knowledge by means of an example is exemplified.


Neutrophil-specific granule deficiency is a disorder of leukocyte maturation associated with decreased levels of mRNA for a distinct subset of granule proteins. Our work indicates that this disorder, previously thought to be limited to the neutrophil lineage, can also include eosinophils. Immunofluorescence staining led to the discovery of a small but distinct population of peripheral white blood cells containing eosinophil peroxidase (EPO). Unlike normal eosinophils, these EPO+ cells do not have large, eosin-staining cytoplasmic granules, and are indistinguishable from granule-deficient neutrophils by light microscopy. The EPO+ cell lineage did resemble the normal eosinophil lineage in its ability to respond dramatically to granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF); the size of the EPO+ peripheral cell population increased approximately 70-fold over baseline in response to GM-CSF administration. The EPO+ cells contained eosinophil Charcot-Leyden crystal protein, but were deficient in three eosinophil-specific granule proteins; neither eosinophil cationic protein, eosinophil-derived neurotoxin, nor major basic protein could be detected in these EPO+ cells, despite the presence of mRNA transcripts for each of the three absent proteins.


Grawitz first described a group of tumors of the kidney which resembled the adrenal tissue in histologic elements. He named these tumors or this condition struma supra-renalis aberrata, and from that time on a war has been waged over these forms under various names, all of which are more or less significant. We may say, however, that at present, a tumor of the kidney is recognized, growing out of remnants of the embryonal adrenal gland left behind in the kidney substance itself. Similar tumors are found throughout the whole genito-urinary tract. These tumors are sometimes malignant, but more often benign. They sometimes produce constitutional symptoms, but usually they come to the notice of the physician or surgeon solely on account of their size and location. The case which I wish to present to you very imperfectly and briefly is an illustration of that form of adrenal tumor which produces on


The prevaleace or trypanosome infections among trade cattle in the sub-humid and humid zones or Nigeria was investigated during a twelve-month period. The infections were prevalent throughout the year and a mean infection rate of 11.04% was recorded in both zones, among 1,775 selected cattle. In the more northern area of subhumid zone (Kaduna), mean prevalence was 12.16% in 989 cattle and monthly figures ranged from 2.10% to 19.62%. Trypanosoma vivax and T .  congolense contributed almost equally to the infections being responsible for 36.6% and 35.0%, respectively of all positive cases. The importance of T. vivax, however. increased in Gboko (in the humid zone) where it was responsible for 50% of the parasitaemia encountered. Monthly prevalence in Gboko averaged 9.46% and ranged between 4.17% and 16.88%. Peak infections were common at the beginning of the dry season. The difference in PCV between infected and non-infected cattle was significant (P < 0.05) only in Kaduna where higher prevalence was also associated with increased differences in mean monthly PCV. T. brucei subspecies isolated from Gboko did not exhibit potentials for human infectivity: they were all T. brucei brucei, an animal pathogen. Key Words : Trypanosome; Trade cattle, Humid, sub-humid


A lesion of Paget's disease arising in the skin of the nipple in a black woman is reported. The lesion simulated histologically a malignant melanoma because of the abundance of melanin within neoplastic cells in the epidermis as well as within the underlying ductal carcinoma of the breast. It was only after differential staining that the diagnosis of Paget's disease could be substantiated unequivocally.


A lack of clarity in role definition can pose a risk to the care of patients in the peri-operative phase. Health care teams are often made up of multi-skilled-nursing-care-providers that are not statutorily registered professionals. This may undermine who is actually responsible and accountable in practice. This delegation dilemma is due to certain market forces, like changes and reforms in health service provision, shortages of doctors and nurses, and ever rising costs. Change and development in practitioners' scope of practice has been encouraged with training to enable practitioners to take on certain specific aspects of health care provision that were traditionally part of a doctor and, or a nurse's role. These changes should be monitored and considered by risk managers or those responsible for clinical governance, as they raise important legal and professional issues. In short, there is confusion over accountability driven by issues of role expansion. The respective professional bodies, both medical and nursing and the Department of Health need to come together and find a consensus of opinion in resolving the confusion over accountability and role delineation.


The «Green Revolution» of the 20th century led to fundamental changes in food production. However, the formed industrial structure of the agrarian sector aimed at maximum efficiency resulted in a number of problems in the world agro-food complex in the beginning of the new millennium. The main problems, such as food deficit, food quality reduction, pollution and depletion of agricultural resources along with the issues related to international regulation of food trade and caused by agribusiness transnationalization are defined in the article. It is stressed that prior to addressing these problems it is required to understand the principal features of modern agro-food complex, the most important of which are agroglobalization and intensive farming based on technologies. Proceeding from the analysis of economic literature, it is concluded that a complex solution implying investments stimulation, technologies enhancement, improvement of the international trade regulation and production localization should be implemented.


The objective of this study was to establish a withdrawal period for flunixin in milk by quantifying 5-hydroxyflunixin, the marker residue, in bovine milk as a function of time, following intravenous treatment of lactating dairy cows with flunixin-N-methyl glucamine (Banamine or Finadyne). Lactating dairy cows were dosed on three consecutive days at 2.2 mg of flunixin free acid/kg of body weight/day. Milk was collected twice daily and assayed using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) procedure. The method was validated at concentrations in the range 0.5-250 ppb. The concentrations for 5-hydroxyflunixin measured 12 h after the last administration of drug ranged from 1.56 to 40.6 ppb for all cows. Milk concentrations for 5-hydroxyflunixin were used to establish withdrawal periods of 36 h using guidelines established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration/Center for Veterinary Medicine and 24 h using guidelines established by the European Medicinal Evaluation Agency/Committee on Veterinary Medicinal Products.


Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are thought to be the most powerful events on the Sun. They can release energy as high as ∼1032 erg in tens of minutes, and also can release solar energetic particles (SEPs) into interplanetary space. We explore global energy budgets of solar major eruptions that occurred on 2017 September 6, including the energy partition of a powerful solar flare, and the energy budget of the accompanying CME and SEPs. In the wavelength range shortward of ∼222 nm, a major contribution of the flare radiated energy is in the soft X-ray (SXR) 0.1–7 nm domain. The flare energy radiated at wavelengths of Lyα and mid-ultraviolet is larger than that radiated in the extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, but it is much less than that radiated in the SXR waveband. The total flare radiated energy could be comparable to the thermal and nonthermal energies. The energies carried by the major flare and its accompanying CME are roughly equal, and they are both powered by the magnetic free energy in the NOAA AR 12673. Moreover, the CME is efficient in accelerating SEPs, and the prompt component (whether it comes from the solar flare or the CME) contributes only a negligible fraction.


Oxidation and absorption of nitric oxide can be achieved by using cobalt (Ⅱ) in aqueous ammonia solution. Nitric oxide is oxidized to soluble nitric dioxide in liquid phase. The Co(NH3)6(superscript 2+) produced by cobalt (Ⅱ) ions complexing with ammonia acts as the catalyst. The oxidant is the oxygen in flue gas. Oxidation and absorption of nitric oxide proceed simultaneously. A stirred vessel with a plane gas-liquid interface was used to measure the chemical absorption rates of nitric oxide into Co(NH3)6(superscript 2+) solutions. The reaction of NO with Co(NH3)6(superscript 2+) can be considered as instantaneous. The gas-liquid reaction becomes gas film controlling as Co(NH3)6(superscript 2+) concentration exceeds 20mmol•L^(-1). Oxygen in the gas phase is favorable to the absorption of nitric oxide, but the effect is less significant at oxygen concentration above 5.2%. The NO absorption rate decreases with increasing temperature. The kinetic equation of NO absorption into Co(NH3)6(superscript 2+) solutions in the presence of oxygen is presented.


BACKGROUND: Elderly experience physical infirmity, brain devolution, slow metabolic rate, slow cell replacement, which eventually have inadvertent impact on cognitive capability, emotional stability, and social interaction. These natural changes may cause depression in the elderly. Spiritual experience may improve coping strategy, lower depression, and enhance quality of life. This study aimed to estimate the relationship between spiritual experience, depression, and quality of life in the elderly. SUBJECT AND METHODS: This was a cross sectional study, conducted in Mojokerto, East Java. A sample of 100 elderly was selected by random sampling from 18 villages in Mojokerto. The exogenous variable in this study was spiritual experience, which was measured by a set of questionnaire. The endogenous mediating variable was the rate of depression, which was measured by Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). The quality of life in the elderly was measured by Index Barthel. Psychological wellbeing and social relationship were measured by a struc-tured questionnaire. The relationships among variables were estimated using Structural Equation Model (SEM) run in AMOS. RESULTS: The spiritual experience had negative effect on depression, and it was statistically significant (p=0.004). Larger spiritual experience reduced depression level. In turn depression level had negative effect on quality of life, and it was statistically significant (p=0.003). Deeper depression reduced quality of life. CONCLUSION: Spiritual experience can reduce depression and enhance quality of life in the elderly.


The legume-rhizobia symbiosis provides the necessary nitrogen for plants growth and contributes to the improvement of soil nitrogen level. However, environmental constraints prevailing in many Moroccan regions constitute the limiting factors for this symbiotic interaction. For this reason, the present work aims to select some rhizobial strains nodulating alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.) for their performance under environmental stresses. Rhizobial strains nodulating alfalfa were isolated from soils of Tafilalet region ( Arfoud 1 , Arfoud 4 , Aoufous and Rich ) and purified in yeast extract mannitol (YMA) medium. After nodulation test, 20 strains were able to induce root nodulation in alfalfa and they were tested for their tolerance to high salinity, water deficit, acidity and temperature. These strains were also assessed for their abilities to solubilize inorganic phosphorus using Pikovskaya (PVK) medium. The results indicated that the studied strains developed different behaviors in response to all considered abiotic stresses. The positive correlations between strains behaviors and origin were noted. In general, strains from Arfoud1 and Arfoud 4 were qualified as the most tolerant to salt stress and can grow under extreme pH levels (4 to 10). Whereas, strains from Rich were the most tolerant to water deficit. Results recorded on PVK medium mentioned that some strains ( Arf1RL1 , RYRL9 and Arf4RL16 ) showed a high potential of inorganic phosphorus solubilization. Some strains such as Arf1RL1 and Arf4RL13 both high tolerance level to considered environmental constraints and high potential of inorganic phosphorus solubilization.


This paper studies optimal information disclosure under the threat of collusion. A prin- cipal seeks to procure a good from one of two agents who can collude against the principal. The first agent has a publicly known cost of production and the second agent's cost is his private information. The principal decides how much information the first agent receives about the costs of the second agent. In the choice of the optimal disclosure policy, the principal faces a trade-off: More information disclosure makes the elicitation of private in- formation easier but facilitates collusion at the same time. It is optimal for the principal to partially disclose information. Under the optimal information structure, none of the agents receives a positive information rent.


Traditional knowledge in food security is important for achieving sustainable food production systems. One example of food security is tenderness and meat quality. This article investigates the lack of Sámi reindeer herders' knowledge of meat tenderness and explores its relation
 to gastronomy and food sovereignty. Sámi family-produced reindeer meat is regarded as tender, while such meat is rarely available for visiting tourists. Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach combines different knowledge of meat tenderness in this article. When slaughtering in cold
 temperatures, a common slaughtering procedure is performed: dievás njuovvat (slaughtering reindeer outdoors on the ground) and bakkahit (a deliberate action of reindeer herder to leave the rumen inside the reindeer for tenderization). Decrease in intramuscular pH in sirloin,
 longissimus dorsi, from the baggan reindeer supports Sámi traditional knowledge of highquality meat. In the Sámi language there are a variety of concepts that include knowledge of slaughtering practices and quality of meat. This is the first scientific study of Sámi
 reindeer herders' traditional knowledge and their specialist language of reindeer meat quality. The Sámi language is a prerequisite for the food sovereignty governed by Sámi reindeer herders' families through generations, regardless of state policies and modernization. Everyday
 food from Sámi households could offer an important template for future Sámi gastronomy, and lead to stronger food sovereignty and improved food for visiting tourists.


In this paper it is argued that, in an economy with heavy loans such as Greece, structural reforms are not enough to lead the country out of the crisis. Only a Grexit with deep cuts and restructuring of debts, together with efficient state management and development policies may lead to growth. Greece has fallen in a huge debt trap which is perpetually growing by new loans. A little less than half of these loans have been created during the euro zone period and particularly after the 2008 crisis. In accordance with the Eurogroup agreements, Greece is obliged to pay every year to its lenders 15% of its GDP (27 billion euro) up to the year of 2023 and 20% of its GDP (36 billion), between the years 2023 and 2060. No country in the world can survive under such a heavy burden of debt obligations. It is argued that, even a country with heavy loans such as Greece, can succeed growth by imposing structural reforms such as sweeping impediments of labour, goods and service markets, breaking business and union monopoly power, make it easy to fire unwanted employees, removing regulations, red tape and licensing fees, privatizing state assets, increasing taxes and suppressing pensions etc. This is nothing but a totally false hypothesis. It has been illustrated in research that, structural reforms may provide in the long run a yearly growth of a little over 1%. It is also found that, they do not increase output during a crisis and they might have negative effects in the medium run. Thus, in the case of Greece, only deep cuts and restructuring of the debt (as with the German debt in the London 1953 agreement), accompanied with Grexit, development policies, efficient state management and reasonable structural reforms, may lead to the way out of the crisis and to growth.


OBJECTIVE
The authors hypothesized that a patient who has posterior hip dislocation after total hip replacement does not have the same clinical manifestations of malposition as with a natural hip. The present study aimed to study clinical manifestation of hip dislocation after total hip arthroplasty.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
Thirty-five cases of posterior dislocation after total hip replacement were retrospectively studied by medical records and radiographic evaluation. The study included leg position after hip dislocation, leg length, and leg abduction/adduction angles.

RESULTS
External rotation of the patient's leg was found in 13 cases (37.1%), neutral position in six cases (17.2%), and internal rotation in 16 cases (45.7%). Measurements of the femoral shaft-vertical axis angle found adduction in 17 cases (average 17.4 degrees, range 1-25 degrees), abduction in 15 cases (average 6 degrees, range 1-15 degrees), and 0 degrees in three cases. Average leg shortening was 3.55 cm (range 0.6-13.5 cm).

CONCLUSION
The present study shows that patients with hip dislocation after hip replacement can manifest many signs of limb deformity in rotation (internal, external, and neutral) and abduction/adduction positions.


We propose the theory of indeterminate natural transformation (TINT) to investigate the dynamical creation of meaning as an association relationship between images, focusing on metaphor comprehension as an example. TINT models meaning creation as a type of stochastic process based on mathematical structure and defined by association relationships, such as morphisms in category theory, to represent the indeterminate nature of structure-structure interactions between the systems of image meanings. Such interactions are formulated in terms of the so-called coslice categories and functors as structure-preserving correspondences between them. The relationship between such functors is "indeterminate natural transformation," the central notion in TINT, which models the creation of meanings in a precise manner. For instance, metaphor comprehension is modeled by the construction of indeterminate natural transformations from a canonically defined functor, which we call the base-of-metaphor functor.


Abstract:  The first lobopodian known from the Ordovician is described from the Soom Shale Lagerstätte, South Africa. The organism shows features homologous to Palaeozoic marine lobopodians described from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang biota, the Lower Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte and the Lower Cambrian of the Baltic. The discovery provides a link between marine Cambrian lobopodians and younger forms from the Silurian and Carboniferous. The new fossil preserves an annulated trunk, lobopods with clear annulations, and curved claws. It represents a rare record of a benthic organism from the Soom Shale, and demonstrates intermittent water oxygenation during the deposition of the unit.


Abstract Bone sarcoidosis is an uncommon manifestation of the multisystemic disease with skull involvement being rare. We present the case of a 32-year-old female who was referred by her General Practitioner with a left calvarial lesion on a background of previous unilateral 7th nerve palsy and diabetes mellitus. Images demonstrated a left frontoparietal calvarial osteolytic lesion. She underwent resection by the neurosurgical team with histopathological study revealing noncaseating granulomas, consistent with sarcoidosis. Given absence of other systemic features of sarcoidosis, she did not undergo systemic treatment.


Qualitative and mixed research methods have been reaching important achievements throughout the academic world. However, there are still open challenges for multidisciplinary coherence, methodological focus, rigor and systematization towards the holistic integration and quality of research. The International Symposium on Qualitative Research (ISQR2016) aims at being an important international discussion forum that sheds light on these and many other challenges in the area. The 1 st ISQR2016 took place from 12 th to 13 th July 2016, at the Lusofona University of Porto, Portugal. For the 1 st ISQR2016 the submission of scientific articles was encouraged that focused on i) Qualitative Research in Health (emphasis on the processes of research in the fields of Medicine, Nursing, Geriatrics, Gerontology, Psychology, etc.); ii) Qualitative Research in Education (emphasis on the processes of research in various areas of Higher Education, Basic Education, Assessment, Curriculum, Teaching, Teaching of Sciences, Languages, History, Technology, etc.); iii) Qualitative Research in Social Science (emphasis on the processes of research in the fields of Communication, Linguistics, Sociology, Anthropology, Business Administration, Marketing, Management and Economics, Political Science, etc.): iv) Qualitative Research in Engineering and Technology (emphasis on the research processes in the areas of Computer Science, Information Systems, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering and Engineering Education). This was a way of fostering the scientific community identify itself with its foundational academic background in a more immediate manner, but afterwards, and attempting to experiment with a multidisciplinary effort, we elaborated a set of topics transversal to all these areas.


A detector setup with three LN‐cooled Si(Li) diodes is used to measure soft x‐ray spectra (0.8–20 keV) emitted from the inside walls of the PDX vessel during the plasma discharge. The setup is part of a pulse‐height‐analysis system, which is used to measure the plasma and wall radiation simultaneously at five different radial positions. The wall and the plasma radiation are measured under different plasma conditions (e.g., OH and neutral beam heating). The wall radiation is very much increased during the neutral beam heating, with an enhancement factor of at least 10 over the OH wall radiation. Since we measure the plasma and the wall radiation at the same time, the measurements allow the conclusion that the wall radiation can be attributed essentially to fluorescence (line radiation, e.g., Ti‐Kα) and scattering (continuum part of the wall radiation spectrum). The fluorescence and the scattering are both caused by soft x‐ray radiation flux coming from the plasma. There seems to be no need to invoke other,...


Most of the articles on safety in anesthesia take the mortality as the criterion. This is fallacious. The anesthetist's area of responsibility must be clearly defined before his contribution to any given mortality can be assessed. The development of the field of anesthesiology has extended this area enormously. As a result, the techniques employed and the results obtained need to be reviewed and reconsidered. Outdated attitudes must be resolutely abandoned, particularly with regard to monitoring. The use of a coding system for anesthetic complications helps towards an objective assessment of the degree of safety achieved. The results obtained by this means in the Institute of Anesthesiology in Utrecht are reported.


The lack of availability of historical and reliable river water level information is an issue that can be overcome through the exploitation of modern satellite remote sensing systems. This research has the objective of contributing in solving the information-gap problem of river flow monitoring through a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) signal processing technique that has the capability to perform water flow elevation estimation. This paper proposes the application of a new method for the design of a robust procedure to track over the time double-bounce reflections from bridges crossing rivers to measure the gap space existing between the river surface and bridges. Specifically, the difference in position between the single and double bounce is suitably measured over the time. Simulated and satellite temporal series of SAR data from COSMO-SkyMed data are compared to the ground measurements recorded for three gauges sites over the Po and Tiber Rivers, Italy. The obtained performance indices confirm the effectiveness of the method in the estimation of water level also in narrow or ungauged rivers.


BACKGROUND
As part of their indirect defense, plants under herbivore attack release volatile chemicals that attract natural enemies of the herbivore. This is a very well-documented phenomenon. However, relatively few studies have investigated the response of plants to different population levels of herbivores and their feeding duration.

RESULTS
Working with larvae of the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hübner), and tomato plants, Lycopersicon esculentum Mill cv. clarence, and using an ultrafast gas chromatograph (the zNose™) for volatile analyses, the authors studied the effect of larval density and feeding duration on levels of plant volatile emissions. Intense herbivory caused higher emission levels of the herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, (E)-β-ocimene and β-caryophyllene than those caused by moderate herbivory. When herbivory had ceased following 12-24 h of larval feeding, plants kept releasing HIPVs at a high level for a longer period of time than they did following only 6 h of larval feeding. The plants' slow adjustment in their volatile emissions following prolonged larval feeding might be strategic, as such feeding is more likely to have ceased just temporarily.

CONCLUSION
This information may help in the development of a pest monitoring system that is based on herbivore-induced plant volatiles.


Telomeres are DNA-protein complexes that help protecting the end of linear chromosomes. They consist of repetitive DNA, in mammals the repeat unit is the hexanucleotide TTAGGG, these repeats span 5-20 kb. Under normal conditions in somatic cells, telomeres get shorter with every population doubling until they reach a critical length and then, the cell enters a checkpoint called senescence or M1 where it stops dividing. If the cell escapes senescence and continues dividing with further telomere shortening, it reaches a second checkpoint called crisis or M2. Crisis is characterized by telomere dysfunction leading to genomic instability that can end with cell death. However, some cells achieve to maintain telomere length by activating a telomere maintenance mechanism (TMM). The presence of a TMM is a hallmark of cancer cells. Two TMM have been described in human cells, one is the through the enzyme telomerase, which is active in 85% of cancers, and the second is a homologous recombination (HR) based mechanism called Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) active in 15% of cancers. The evidence that the ALT pathway relies in HR was the observation that sequences can be copied from one telomere to another in ALT+ but not in telomerase+ cells and that several genes involved in HR are necessary for ALT progression. The ALT pathway is not the only event involving HR at telomeres. It has been shown that the human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) can integrate into human telomeres. Interestingly, HHV6 possesses perfect telomeric repeats within its genome. The proposed mechanism for integration if through HR between the telomeric repeats present in the virus with the human telomere repeats. The aim of this work is to unravel the molecular mechanism underlying the ALT pathway and HHV-6 integration. The data obtained will contribute to the understanding of HR in human telomeres.


This study assessed the prevalence and the predisposing factors on pedophilic occurrence and, furthermore examines the public perception on ways of preventing it. The study adopted the survey research design. The sample comprised of 1200 respondents which includes, teachers in both private and public schools, church members, mosque members, civil servants and traders/artisans adults between the ages of 18 years and above, both educated and uneducated. Three senatorial district were selected from the state, and from each of the senatorial district one Local Government Areas (LGAs) was selected using simple random sampling technique making a total of three LGAs. From each of the LGAs 400 adults were selected between the ages of 18years and above. Ask instrument, Questionnaire on pedophilic occurrence (QPO) was used to collect information from the respondents it was divided into three sections and titled prevalence of pedophilia occurrence (PPO). Predisposing factors pedophilic occurrence (PPPF). Perceived measures of preventing pedophilia (PMPP). Data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, simple percentages and chi-square. The results showed that the prevalence of pedophilic occurrence in the respondents environment is 24.7% and knowledge of pedophilia occurrence is also low (27.11): Factors that influence pedophilia occurrence include, social media, family background, loneliness, pornography, sexually deprived partner, sexually abused, not reporting of offenders, low self-esteem, depression, health problem and social economic factor, these factors are arranged in order of influence. There was significant influence of some of the predisposing factors (social, media, pornography, sexually deprived, sexually abused No reporting of offender, family background) on the occurrence of pedophilia. The study concluded that since the knowledge of pedophilia occurrence is low in the respondent Environment. The public needs to be educated on what pedophilia is and what to be done when such occurs, and also the need for reporting when such occurs.


Purpose
This paper aims to empirically assess the performance of Islamic banks (IBs) and conventional banks (CBs) in Qatar before and after the imposition of the economic blockade on Qatar and the significance of the blockade's subsequent impact.

Design/methodology/approach
This study focuses only on the domestic commercial banks comprising four IBs and five CBs operating in Qatar. The banks' financial reports are used as a secondary source to generate data. A study period from 2015 to 2019, separated into pre-blockade and post-blockade periods and comprising data on a semi-annual basis, was examined. Financial ratios and t-tests are used to compare bank performance and test the significance level of the blockade, respectively.

Findings
Generally, the findings show that IBs slightly outperformed CBs. Solvency ratios show strong capitalization (measured by capital adequacy ratio, CAR) and external fund (measured by equity multiplier ratio, EMR) reliance of the banks, despite minor fluctuations. Yet, only the CAR of CBs has been significantly affected by the blockade. Profitability (measured by return on assets, ROA and return on equity, ROE) of both bank groups grew unsteadily over the period, but IBs remained more efficient (measured by operating efficiency, OEOI) than CBs. Liquidity ratios indicate almost similar depositor fund utilization (measured by loans to deposit ratio, LDR) and credit offering (measured by loans to assets ratio, LAR) by the banks. All three metrics were weakly impacted. In terms of asset quality, bad loans (measured by non-performing loans ratio, NPL) and provisions (measured by loan loss provisions, LLP) surged moderately post-blockade. The blockade affected both groups' asset quality.

Originality/value
To the author's knowledge, this is the first study to comparatively examine the performance of Qatari IBs and CBs during the latest economic embargo and their exposure to the crisis.


An electrode contact structure having a high reliability is provided. The structure comprises an Au electrode formed on a GaAs substrate, a contact hole open in an insulating film on the Au electrode, and an Al wiring being in contact with the Au electrode through the contact hole. The difference between the height of the portion having the maximum thickness of the Al wiring and the height of the portion having the minimum thickness of the Al wiring is substantially equal to or smaller than the thickness of the insulating film. It is preferable that the thickness of the Au electrode is in the range of 0.1-0.2 mum, the overlapped width between the peripheral portion of the Au electrode and the insulating film is 1 mum or less, or the area of the contact hole is at least 16 mum 2 or more.


The Galerkin boundary node method (GBNM) is a boundary only meshless method that combines an equivalent variational formulation of boundary integral equations for governing equations and the moving least‐squares (MLS) approximations for generating the trial and test functions. In this approach, boundary conditions can be implemented directly and easily despite of the fact that the MLS shape functions lack the delta function property. Besides, the resulting formulation inherits the symmetry and positive definiteness of the variational problems. The GBNM is developed in this paper for solving three‐dimensional stationary incompressible Stokes flows in primitive variables. The numerical scheme is based on variational formulations for the first‐kind integral equations, which are valid for both interior and exterior problems simultaneously. A rigorous error analysis and convergence study of the method for both the velocity and the pressure is presented in Sobolev spaces. The capability of the method is also illustrated and assessed through some selected numerical examples. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In many cases, nding a maximum likelihood estimator or a Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test estimate becomes an optimization problem. The challenges come when the problem is not formulated as what we usually see, or the size of the problem is too large to be manageable by conventional methods. We present three examples that have this avor. They are (1) nding the maximum likelihood estimate of a curve embedded in a noisy picture, (2) nding a penalized maximum likelihood estimate for embedded linear features, and (3) computing an M-estimate. We present that they can be solved by applying (a) network ow algorithms from Operation Research, (b) a \best basis" algorithm from Computational Harmonic Analysis, and (c) methods from nonlinear optimization. We present some computational results. The philosophical point that we advocate is that incorporating optimization techniques from elds other than statistics enables us to solve some \hard" problems in statistical estimation.


To define the effect of a tongue retaining device (TRD) on genioglossus (GG) muscle activity in seven obstructive sleep apnea subjects, two overnight sleep studies were carried out with two TRDs. TRD-A had no anterior bulb and incorporated two electrodes to record GG electromyographic (EMG) activity. TRD-B had a bulb and it had electrodes similar to those in TRD-A. Episodes of apnea/hypopnea (AH) were analyzed during both rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM (NREM) sleep. The peak GG muscle activity was measured for the breath immediately before the AH (pre-AH), for the first (first-E) and last (last-E) inspiratory efforts during the AH, and for the first breath after the AH (post-AH). The time lag between the peak GG EMG activity and the maximum inspiratory effort was calculated. The AH index decreased with both TRDs. The peak GG EMG activity preceded the maximum inspiratory effort throughout the periods, however the time lag changed considerably with TRD-A. The time lags with TRD-A and TRD-B differed significantly for the first-E and the last-E during NREM sleep and for the first-E during REM sleep. The TRD reduces AH severity, normalizes the time lag, and counteracts fluctuating GG EMG activity observed when no bulb is present.


The real part of the optical-model potential reproducing the elastic scattering data is used to describe the fusion of 6Li, 9Be and 12C with 28Si. The localisation of the strong absorption region is discussed.


This paper describes the effect of the interrelation between the base and weld metal postyield characteristics on the CMOD (Crack Mouth Opening Displacement) and the straining capacity of a defective weld. The effect is discussed and illustrated by means of test data obtained from standard CTOD and tension loaded wide plate tests.


Abundant academic research has shown evidence of the growing polarization across the globe both in general and in terms of affective polarization. Previous research on this topic primarily employed reactive research methods like surveys or experiments, which however do not allow researchers to observe the behavior of the units of analysis in a natural setting. Presents an alternative approach that involves analyzing the observed behavior of social media users and identifying the key polarizing cleavages through the study of hate speech with respect to distinct target groups. We present a novel coding schema for textual data, which includes two components: first, an operationalized definition of hate speech as a phenomenon with at least one of the three elements - insult, discrimination, or aggression; and second, an original coding guide for human coders annotating the use of hate speech. We apply our approach to the analysis of empirical data that includes over 5000 posts on the social media platform VK about the meetings between the Presidents of Russia and Belarus in 2020-2021. After coding the collected data, we performed the empirical analysis that identified two generic cleavages. One is about domestic politics in Belarus and Russia, whereas the other is related to the opposition between these two countries on the one hand, and Western countries on the other. We also found an additional Russian/Belarusian cleavage that is peculiar to the collected dataset. Our methodology also allowed us to identify and analyze the dynamics of macro-groups that were targets of hate speech. Importantly, these results - as any other dynamic aspect of analysis - would be highly challenging in research based on reactive methods. Thereby our results highlight the prospects of applying the proposed methodology to a broad range of textual data, as well as the benefits of exploratory analysis that helps overcome the limitations of survey instruments.


Graphene is well-known to be two-dimensional material made of carbon atoms. Graphene is the basic material to form nanotube, fullerene and graphite. Graphene is a substance that attracts attention not only as parts of the nanocarbons but also for its own interesting electronic and mechanic properties ( T. Ando, A. K. Geim et.al, K.S. Novoselov et.al). In the last decade, the most significant problem is how to make wide and high quality graphene itself. Nowadays, good quality graphene can be made in labolatories, for example, using SiC(0001) surface. Thus, one of the next step of the research related to graphene is how to make nano structures on graphene plane (V. M. Karphan et.al ). Recently, H.Fujioka et al. has suceeded for the growth of GaN on graphite using PLD (Pulsed Laser Deposition) method and they success to make light emission diode using GaN on graphite (K. Ueno et.al, A. Kobayashi et.al 2006, A. Kobayashi et.al 2007, G. Li et.al, M.-H. Kim et.al, H.Fujioka 2009 ). Since the graphite is made of the stacking of many graphene plane, similar growth will be possible for graphene, if the graphene plane is supported mechanically with the other certain material. Such growth is not limited to GaN, but many other possibilities to form nano structures, nano devices or thin films on graphite plane. In order to apply graphene for such purpose, however, we should first investigate deeply for the interaction between adatoms and graphene plane ( A. Ishii. et.al 2008, K.Nakada et.al). In experiments, the adatom adsroption on graphene is reported for some atomic species (I. Zanella et.a, K. Kong et.al, K. Okazaki et.al, A. Lugo-Solis et.al, M. Wu et.al, H.Gao et.al, J. Dai et.al ) , but not for all atomic species. In this chapter, we introduce the adsorption mechanism, atomic structures, stabilty, migration barriere energies and electronic properties of the adatom adsorption system on graphene plane for most all atomic species using the density functional theory. First, we review briefly the basic properties of graphene used in the following sections as remarks. The band structure of graphene is shown in figure 1. Because of the in-plane hexagonal symmetry, the p


With the advent of Industry 4.0, many new approaches towards process monitoring, benchmarking and traceability are becoming available, and these techniques have the potential to radically transform the agri-food sector. In particular, the chilled food supply chain (CFSC) contains a number of unique challenges by virtue of it being thought of as a temperature controlled supply chain. Therefore, once the key issues affecting the CFSC have been identified, algorithms can be proposed, which would allow realistic thresholds to be established for managing these problems on the micro, meso and macro scales. Hence, a study is required into factors affecting the CFSC within the scope of Industry 4.0. The study itself has been broken down into four main topics: identifying the key issues within the CFSC; implementing a philosophy of continuous improvement within the CFSC; identifying uncertainty within the CFSC; improving and measuring the performance of the supply chain. However, as a consequence of this study two further topics were added: a discussion of some of the issues surrounding information sharing between retailers and suppliers; some of the wider issues affecting food losses and wastage (FLW) on the micro, meso and macro scales. A hybrid algorithm is developed, which incorporates the analytic hierarchical process (AHP) for qualitative issues and data envelopment analysis (DEA) for quantitative issues. The hybrid algorithm itself is a development of the internal auditing algorithm proposed by Sueyoshi et al (2009), which in turn was developed following corporate scandals such as Tyco, Enron, and WorldCom, which have led to a decline in public trust. However, the advantage of the proposed solution is that all of the key issues within the CFSC identified can be managed from a single computer terminal, whilst the risk of food contamination such as the 2013 horsemeat scandal can be avoided via improved traceability.


The electrochemical properties of VPO4O as a cathode for Mg batteries were studied by performing first principles calculations. Mg insertion features a plateau at about 2.8 V up to Mg0.5VPO4O and then another plateau at around 2.2 V up to MgVPO4O, with a theoretical capacity of about 154 mA h g-1 and 144 mA h g-1, respectively. MgVPO4O is found to be dynamically stable with the absence of negative frequencies in the phonon density of states. The insertion of one Mg reduced two VO6 units instead of reducing only one VO6 unit. In addition, MgVPO4O shows an energy barrier of about 0.58 eV for Mg-ion vacancy migration along the [111] direction, which is comparable to that of many other cathode materials. Our results indicated that MgVPO4O has the potential to be a promising candidate as a cathode material for Mg batteries.


Because of our interest in developing new hybrid peptide radioconjugates with suitable biochemical properties for multiplereceptors targeting properties that are overexpressed on many human cancers especially ovarian cancer, we have synthesized Ga-NODAGA-MUC1 and Ga-NODAGA-MUC1-FA hybrid peptide conjugates using a straightforward and one-step simple reaction. Radiochemical yields were found to be higher than 95% (decay corrected), with a total synthesis time of less than 20min. Radiochemical purities were always higher than 95% without HPLC purification. In vitro studies on KB cancer cells showed that substantial amounts of the radioconjugates were associated with cell fractions and held great affinities and specificities toward the KB cell line. In vivo characterization in normal female Balb/c mice revealed rapid blood clearance of these radioconjugates with excretion predominantly by the urinary system. Biodistribution studies in nude mice bearing human KB cell line xenografts demonstrated significant tumor uptake and favorable biodistribution profile for Ga-NODAGA-MUC1-FA hybrid peptide conjugate compared to the Ga-NODAGA-MUC1 peptide monomeric counterpart.*e uptake in the tumors was blocked by the excess injection of hybrid peptide, suggesting a receptor-mediated process. *ese results demonstrate that Ga-NODAGAMUC1-FA hybrid peptide conjugate may be useful as a molecular probe for early detection and staging of folate and MUC1 receptor-positive cancers such as ovarian cancer and their metastasis as well as monitoring tumor response to treatment.


A study of power sector development in Pakistan is like other essential infrastructure and basic social overhead facilities. The provision of electricity is a pre condition for the advancement of other services to accelerate economic development. Of the total consumption, households is 41 percent, agriculture 15 percent; industry 27 percent; others 12 percent includes railway traction.


Abstract Hypertension is a serious medical condition that leads to various adverse health complications when left untreated. In addition to psychological challenge that female migrant refugees are exposed to premigration, they encounter barriers to care postmigration from xenophobia that affects their hypertension. We investigated the extent and mental health drivers of hypertension in refugees in Durban, South Africa. We interviewed 178 adult female African help-seeking refugees/migrants for hypertension (blood pressure ≥130/90 mm Hg) and mental health challenges (e.g., adverse childhood experience [ACE] and depression using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression scale). Eighty-six percent (n = 153) of participants were hypertensive, and based on the adjusted regression models, exposure to at least one ACE (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11–7.26) and depression (aOR, 3.54; 95% CI, 1.10–11.37) were associated with hypertension, independent of smoking, alcohol, obesity, and physical exercise status. Hypertension and its associated mental health challenges are overlooked conditions in this population, with further efforts for screening being needed.


Random sequences from alphabet $\{1, \ldots,r\}$ are examined where repeated letters are allowed. Binary search trees are formed from these, and the average left-going depth of the first $1$ is found. Next, the right-going depth of the first $r$ is examined, and finally a merge (or 'shuffle') operator is used to obtain the average depth of an arbitrary node, which can be expressed in terms of the left-going and right-going depths. The variance of each of these parameters is also found.


Recently, we reported the synthesis of 3-(sulfonylamino)-2(1H)-quinolones, a new series of alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA)/kainate and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA)/glycine antagonists. By exploring the structure-activity relationships (SAR) in this series, we were able to identify the 6,7-dinitro derivative 6 as a potent and balanced antagonist at both receptors. Unfortunately, compound 6 was devoid of in vivo activity in mice anticonvulsant testing. To overcome this critical limitation, new compounds bearing various acidic moieties at the 3-position of the quinolone skeleton were synthesized and evaluated. The SAR of these new analogues indicated that not all acidic groups are acceptable at the 3-position: A rank order of potency going from carboxylic approximately phosphonic > tetrazole > mercaptoacetic > hydroxamic >> other heterocyclic acids was defined. In addition, the selectivity between the AMPA/kainate and NMDA/glycine sites is dependent on the nature of the substitution (nitro > chloro for AMPA selectivity), its position (5,7- > 6,7-pattern for glycine selectivity), and the distance between the quinolone moiety and the heteroatom bearing the acidic hydrogen (the longer the distance the more AMPA selective the compound). Among these new AMPA antagonists, we have identified 6,7-dichloro-2(1H)-oxoquinoline-3-phosphonic acid (24c) as a water soluble and selective compound endowed with an appealing pharmacological profile. Compared with the reference AMPA antagonist NBQX, the phosphonic acid 24c is much less potent in vitro but almost equipotent in vivo in the audiogenic seizures model after intraperitoneal administration. Moreover, unlike NBQX, compound 24c is also active after oral administration. In the gerbil global ischemia model, compound 24c shows a neuroprotective effect at 10 mg/kg/ip, equivalent to the reference NBQX.


Medical care for geriatric patients is a great challenge, mainly due to various overlapping deficits relevant to numerous coexisting diseases, of which the most common are diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis. In the case of diabetes, the glycation process is intensified, which accelerates atherosclerosis development and diabetic complications. Our goal was to investigate the relationship between the classical biochemical parameters of diabetes and atherosclerosis, as well as parameters which may indicate a nephropathy, and the parameters strictly related to glycation, taking into account the pharmacological treatment of patients. Methods: We analyzed the patients' serum concentrations of fluorescent glycation product—pentosidine, concentrations of soluble receptors for advanced glycation products (sRAGE), lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1), galectin 3 (GAL3), scavenger receptor class A (SR-A), and scavenger receptor class B (SR-BI), as well as the level of lipid peroxidation and free amine content. Among the identified correlations, the most interesting are the following: sRAGE with triglycerides (r = 0.47, p = 0.009), sRAGE with SR-BI (r = 0.47, p = 0.013), SR-BI with LOX-1 (r = 0.31, p = 0.013), and SR-BI with HDL (r = −0.30, p = 0.02). It has been shown that pentosidine and reactive free amine contents are significantly higher in elderly patients with ischemic heart disease. Pentosidine is also significantly higher in patients with arterial hypertension. Malondialdehyde turned out to be higher in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 that was not treated with insulin or metformin than in those treated with both medications (p = 0.052). GAL3 was found to be lower both in persons without diabetes and in diabetics treated with metformin (p = 0.005). LOX-1 was higher in diabetic patients not treated with metformin or insulin, and lowest in diabetics treated with both insulin and metformin, with the effect of metformin reducing LOX-1 levels (p = 0.039). Our results were the basis for a discussion about the diagnostic value in the clinical practice of LOX-1 and GAL3 in geriatric patients with diabetes and also provide grounds for inferring the therapeutic benefits of insulin and metformin treatment.


Lyme disease was suspected in 271 patients seeking hospital care between 1992 and 1996. The sera of all these patients were tested by ELISA for antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi. Twenty-nine cases of Lyme disease were identified, each involving neurological and articular problems. These results demonstrate that Lyme disease occurs in Tunisia and suggest that this diagnosis should be considered more frequently in patients presenting with the characteristic symptoms.


The screening process of journal articles, done to determine the suitability for publication, is presently done manually. The chief editor or an assistant will read and check the submitted articles against some standard criteria of the journal. With the increase in the number of submissions, this task becomes a burden, which in turn causes delays in giving initial feedback to the authors. The objective of this paper is to describe the design and implementation of an automated document analyser that can be used by editors for initial screening of journal articles. This analyser was developed so that it can be used within a Microsoft Word environment via VBA macros. The current version of the software can determine the length of the title, information about author(s), the length of the abstract, number of keywords, the number of words in the content, the presence or absence of an acknowledgement, and whether a specific journal is cited in the article.


How can performers detect and potentially respond to the reactions of a live audience? Audience members' physical movements provide one possible source of information about their engagement with a performance. Using a case study of the dance performance "Frames" that took place in Theatre Royal in Glasgow during March 2015, we examine patterns of audience movement during contemporary dance performances and explore how they relate to the dancer's movements. Video recordings of performers and audience were analysed using computer vision and data analysis techniques extracting facial expression, hand gestural and body movement data. We found that during the performance audiences move very little and have predominantly expressionless faces while hand gestures seem to play a significant role in the way audiences respond. This suggests that stillness i.e. the absence of motion may be an indicator of engagement.


Energy scenarios link long term policy goals to near term decisions and may thus guide the transition to more sustainable energy systems. Yet, systematic empirical analyses of how energy scenarios are understood and used by relevant actors are rare. This working paper addresses the situation in Switzerland, where several competing public energy scenarios have been developed by different organisations in reaction to the government's decision to phase out nuclear power. The analysis focuses on the energy research community, which has a double-role in the dissemination of scenario-based insights: On the one hand, researches develop energy scenarios which may in turn be used by decision-makers in policy and industry to create or assess action alternatives. On the other hand, many researchers are scenario users themselves. We conducted 13 structured in-depth interviews with energy researchers. The sample covers a broad field of institutions and disciplinary backgrounds, including economics, engineering, geography, sociology and law. We find that while most researchers do use energy scenarios, there are essentially two contrasting types of scenario use among them: One group of researchers, which we labelled divers, is interested in very specific data and assumptions that it wants to fully understand. A second group, which we labelled sailors, refers to the results of a scenario analysis in a more general manner. We identified different interpretations of scenario content between sailors and divers. These discrepancies are a result of the highly specialised modelling activities on which energy scenarios are based on. Implicit knowledge that is generated during the development process of energy scenarios is inaccessible to most scenarios users. We therefore conclude the study with a discussion about the usefulness of participative stakeholder involvement and scenario documentation that is adjusted to the interests and competencies of its users. Because energy scenarios increasingly serve as a scientifically derived information basis for societal debates about energy transitions, their use needs to be studied more extensively.


Commercial densitometers generally have no vibration isolation features incorporated in them. Consequently, when an installation is made in a location subject to external vibrations, some sort of isolation is necessary. In a particular situation of this kind encountered by the writer, the use of large rubber stoppers or a sponge rubber pad was not satisfactory.


Human rights forensic anthropology does not have an ethical code developed specifically for this field. Currently, forensic anthropologists look to ethical codes in different fields. These codes may offer differing opinions. They do not address the specific work and issues forensic anthropologists may encounter in the field. An analysis of existing ethical codes in anthropology and forensic science was done to show which areas of the code were applicable to human rights forensic anthropology. Areas that these codes needed to address were also demonstrated. It was found that there was an emphasis on honesty and responsibility. Professionals had responsibilities to their subjects, to the profession, to their students, to the public and to publishing. On a whole these codes did not address expert testimony, publishing on a sensitive subject or the treatment of human remains. A code was developed by drawing from existing ethical codes in related fields. The Proposed Code of Ethics and Conduct attempts to reconcile differences in the ethical codes reviewed. The Proposed Code addressed not only professional responsibilities but also the unique aspects of human rights forensic anthropology. The mission of this Proposed Code is to encourage discussion within the field of human rights forensic anthropology. Through discourse in the field, ethical guidelines can be further developed and adopted by human rights forensic anthropologists.


Disputes over land and territory that are proliferating in the African continent are increasingly related to armed conflicts and displacement. Religious conflicts, violent insurgencies, and civil wars have important spatial dimensions revolving around territories, boundaries, and questions of belonging. Violent conflict is increasingly recurrent, causing population displacement on both microand macro-scales and disrupting local livelihoods and property institutions. The central focus of this ASR Forum is on the dynamics and consequences of conflict, displacement, and land disputes in Africa that occur on various levels of formality and sociality. In settings of forced mobility and resettlement, land property claims often become central in the continuing struggles over community membership and access to resources. Novel modes of belonging and changing patterns of association give rise to new resource and property claims, and new forms of evidence


Investing in ECDE is one of the challenging cost-effective commitments that a government can undertake. Investing in quality ECDE can improve a child's well-being and minimize educational and poverty gap. Teacher competence is an important tool towards the realization of holistic development of children. It is with this background that the researcher sought to study teacher competence on Learners' promotion in Embu County integrated public primary schools, Kenya. The study adopted cross-sectional survey research design across a target population of 381 public primary schools, 381 head teachers, 3951 primary teachers and 380 ECD teachers in the five sub-counties. Stratified random sampling was used to select schools from the five sub-counties; simple random sampling was used to select public primary teachers and head teachers in five sub- counties. Questionnaires were utilized as the instruments of the study. Quantitative data collected was analyzed using SPSS software. Based on the results, the study found that most (73%) of the primary teachers are unable to handle ECD pupils transiting to primary section since they could not understand the content taught and teachers have inadequate experience for teaching ECDE class. The study also found that most (50%) of the head teachers do not avail curriculum support materials. The study recommends that the teacher training colleges should incorporate courses that equip teachers with skills to handle pupils transiting from ECD classes to primary section. The schools also should provide books to a pupil book ratio of 1:1 so as to execute the new competent based curriculum.


With the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, social media has rapidly become a crucial communication tool for information generation, dissemination, and consumption. In this scoping review, we selected and examined peer-reviewed empirical studies relating to COVID-19 and social media during the first outbreak starting in November 2019 until May 2020. From an analysis of 81 studies, we identified five overarching public health themes concerning the role of online social platforms and COVID-19. These themes focused on: (i) surveying public attitudes, (ii) identifying infodemics, (iii) assessing mental health, (iv) detecting or predicting COVID-19 cases, (v) analyzing government responses to the pandemic, and (vi) evaluating quality of health information in prevention education videos. Furthermore, our review highlights the paucity of studies on the application of machine learning on social media data related to COVID-19 and a lack of studies documenting real-time surveillance developed with social media data on COVID-19. For COVID-19, social media can play a crucial role in disseminating health information as well as tackling infodemics and misinformation.


Sleep disorders are frequently reported in autistic patients. Evidences suggest that increased oxidative stress and reduced antioxidants may play a major role in the pathogenesis of these disorders. Carnosine acts as an antioxidant, antitoxic and neuroprotective agent. The aim of this trial study was to examine the effects of carnosine supplementation on the sleep disorders and severity of autism core symptoms in autistic patients. In this double‐blind, randomized clinical trial, 43 autistic patients (31 boys and 12 girls; aged 4 to 16 years) were divided into two groups of carnosine and control that received 500 mg of carnosine and 500 mg of placebo per day for 2 months, respectively. Sleep disorders were measured using Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaires. Gilliam Autism Rating Scale 2 was used to assess the effects of carnosine supplementation on the autism severity. Carnosine supplementation did not change anthropometric indices (p > 0.05) and showed no effect on autism severity (p > 0.05), whereas it significantly reduced sleep duration (p = 0.04), parasomnias (p = 0.02) and total sleep disorders score by 7.59% (p = 0.006) when compared with the control group. The results suggest that carnosine supplementation could be effective in improving sleep disturbances, in particular sleep duration and parasomnias subscales.


The species complex and infestations of aphids on peach trees ( Prunus persica) in Bulgaria were investigated during the period 2013-2017. Eight species from the Aphididae family were found: Green peach aphid ( Myzus persicae, Sulzer), Peach-clematis aphid ( Myzus varians, Davidson), Black peach aphid ( Brachycaudus persicae, Passerini), Peach aphid (Brachycaudus schwartzi, Börner), Almond aphid ( Brachycaudus amygdalinus, Schouteden), Mealy peach aphid (Hyalopterus amygdali, Blanchard), Waterlily aphid (Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae, Linnaeus) and Peach trunk aphid ( Pterochloroides persicae, Cholodkovsky). Myzus persicae and Peach-clematis aphid Myzus varians were of the greatest importance as pests due to their wide distribution and high population density. The former was more widely spread in South Bulgaria, while the attack of the latter was almost even across the country. The recently reported species Brachycaudus schwartzi is already distributed throughout the country. The species has a higher density in the southern part of the country, in regions where peach trees are grown. Hyalopterus amygdali also occurs mainly in the southern p art of the country and cоuld be a dangerous pest in infested orchards. The rest of the species occur more rarely and in low density thus being of no importance as pests in peach orchards.


The chromatin-remodelling complex B-WICH, comprised of William syndrome transcription factor, the ATPase SNF2h and nuclear myosin, specifically activates RNA polymerase III transcription of the 5S rRNA and 7SL genes. However, the underlying mechanism is unknown. Using high-resolution MN walking we demonstrate here that B-WICH changes the chromatin structure in the vicinity of the 5S rRNA and 7SL RNA genes during RNA polymerase III transcription. The action of B-WICH is required for the binding of the RNA polymerase machinery and the regulatory factors c-Myc at the 5S rRNA and 7SL RNA genes. In addition to the c-Myc binding site at the 5S genes, we have revealed a novel c-Myc and Max binding site in the intergenic spacer of the 5S rDNA. This region also contains a region remodelled by B-WICH. We demonstrate that c-Myc binds to both sites in a Max-dependent way, and thereby activate transcription by acetylating histone H3. The novel binding patterns of c-Myc and Max link transcription of 5S rRNA to the Myc/Max/Mxd network. Since B-WICH acts prior to c-Myc and other factors, we propose a model in which the B-WICH complex is required to maintain an open chromatin structure at these RNA polymerase III genes. This is a prerequisite for the binding of additional regulatory factors.


Large‐scale audit and research projects demand robust, efficient systems for accurate data collection, handling and analysis. We utilised a multiplatform 'bring your own device' (BYOD) electronic data collection app to capture observational audit data on theatre efficiency across seven hospital Trusts in South Yorkshire in June–August 2013. None of the participating hospitals had a dedicated information governance policy for bring your own device. Data were collected by 17 investigators for 392 individual theatre lists, capturing 14 148 individual data points, 12 852 (91%) of which were transmitted to a central database on the day of collection without any loss of data. BYOD technology enabled accurate collection of a large volume of secure data across multiple NHS organisations over a short period of time. Bring your own device technology provides a method for collecting real‐time audit, research and quality improvement data within healthcare systems without compromising patient data protection.


Although endometriosis is a benign disease, it has malignant characters such as invasion and migration. Besides, there is an endometrial type of ovarian cancer, which means endometriosis is similar to malignant disease at some extent. Existing researches showed that patients with endometriosis often have high level of chronic stress. Furthermore, chronic stress can promote the growth of endometriosis by activating the β-adrenergic signaling pathway. Gut microbiota is reported to be related to the stress level through the gut-brain axis. So we wonder whether gut microbiota is associated with chronic stress level in endometriosis patients, which may provide a new clinical intervention method to improve prognosis. We grouped the endometriosis patients into stress group and control group with GAD-7 and PHQ-9 questionnaires and collected patients9 fecal and tissues samples. Gut microbiota compositions were analyzed by the 16SrRNA gene sequencing-based method and we performed Immunohistochemistry (IHC) to detect the activation of inflammatory pathways in endometriosis tissues. We found that in patients with endometriosis, dysbiosis of gut microbiota is associated with patients9 stress levels and Paraprevotella, Odoribacter, Veillonell and Ruminococcus show significant differences with reduced levels in chronic stressed endometriosis patients group, which represents a disease-specific change of gut microbiota on the genus level. Besides, compared to the control group, the expression level of inflammatory cytokines, NF-κB p65 and COX-2, increased in the chronic stressed patients group, which means that dysbiosis of gut microbiota may active the inflammatory pathway of gut-brain axis. In conclusion, we found new disease-specific changes of gut microbiota in chronic stressed patients with endometriosis, which can be a new examination target of chronic stress level and may provide an adjuvant therapy method for clinical psychological intervention, reducing the stress level and improving the prognosis of endometriosis patients. Citation Format: Jing Xu, Yu Kang, Yinhua Yu. Dysbiosis of gut microbiota in chronic stressed patients with endometriosis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 134.


In this paper, a new switching table is presented for direct power control (DPC) of three-phase PWM rectifiers. The proposed switching table is synthesized by analyzing the instantaneous active and reactive power correction. For this reason, and based on the sign and magnitude of the change in instantaneous active and reactive power, the best converter switching state allowing smooth control of active and reactive power simultaneously during each sector is selected. The dc-bus voltage is maintained at the required level by controlling active power to be constant and equal to its reference value. The unity power factor (UPF) operation of the converter is achieved by maintaining the reactive power zero during all sectors. Simulation and experimental results have proven that the proposed DPC is much better than the classical one and verify the validity and performance of the presented DPC.


This study provides a general diversity analysis for joint complex diversity coding (CDC) and channel coding-based space-time-frequency codeing is provided. The mapping designs from channel coding to CDC are crucial for efficient exploitation of the diversity potential. This study provides and proves a sufficient condition of full diversity construction with joint three-dimensional CDC and channel coding, bit-interleaved coded complex diversity coding and symbol-interleaved coded complex diversity coding. Both non-iterative and iterative detections of joint channel code and CDC transmission are investigated. The proposed minimum mean-square error-based iterative soft decoding achieves the performance of the soft sphere decoding with reduced complexity.


Abstract China has the largest and fastest‐growing breast milk substitutes (BMSs) market and a disproportionately low exclusive breastfeeding rate. Many BMS manufacturers have established Chinese e‐commerce stores. This marketing is of concern as it is likely to undermine breastfeeding. This study aimed to identify: (1) the marketing themes and strategies used to promote BMSs on the Chinese BMSs e‐commerce websites; (2) if and how digital BMSs marketing may deviate from the World Health Organization Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes (the Code) recommendations. Content analysis was conducted on the flagship websites of 10 BMSs companies on the Chinese e‐commerce platform "TMall" in July 2019. The main landing page (n = 10) of the flagship TMall website and the product description page (n = 113) of all individual formulas (Stages 1–3) within each company's TMall website were examined. The content was analysed and coded using an iterative thematic analysis approach. Emphasis on Premiumization and Science & Nutrition was the most commonly used marketing approaches. A total of 27.4% of the product description pages sampled used images of infants (<12 months), 33.6% made favourable comparisons of BMSs to breast milk, and only 34.5% included probreastfeeding statements. Marketing strategies were often inconsistent with the Code, and companies used "creative" ways to target mothers, often circumventing the Code recommendations. Unsubstantiated information was commonplace and of concern, because the e‐commerce platform provided easy opportunities for bulk purchases. National regulatory actions are urgently needed to monitor online BMS marketing and the undermining of breastfeeding in China.


The extra-adrenal formation of deoxycorticosterone (DOC) from plasma progesterone has been demonstrated in humans. In those studies it was shown that in some persons the volume of plasma cleared of progesterone by DOC formation was great, namely, 75 liter/24 hr. Because steroid 231-hydroxylase activity [steroid 21-monooxygenase; steroid, hydrogen-donor:oxygen oxidoreductase (21-hydroxylating), EC 22.214.171.124] could not be demonstrated in homogenates or microsome-enriched preparations of human lung or liver tissue, we speculated that the 21-hydroxylation of plasma progesterone might take place in the kidney. Employing whole tissue homogenates and microsome-enriched preparations of human kidney tissue, we demonstrated the formation of [3H]DOC from kidney tissue, we demonstrated the formation of [3H]DOC from [3H]progesterone. The rate of formation of DOC from progesterone in microsomal preparations from kidney tissues of adult humans varied from 0 to 803 pmol per mg of microsomal protein per hr. The value computed for the apparent Km of the enzyme for progesterone was 0.140 microM. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that steroid 21-hydroxylase activity is present in human kidney tissue and that the kidney may be an important site of DOC formation as well as a site of DOC action.


Based on the analysis of the existing evaluation methods and with the combination of the characteristic of cohesive zone characteristic in blast furnace (BF) and softening–melting and dropping experimental result of iron bearing burden, a new evaluation method of softening–melting and dropping characteristic of iron bearing burden was put forward, which can be used for evaluating various kinds of iron bearing burden. The softening–melting and dropping characteristics of the mixed burden and the high metalized burden are evaluated through the new method, which verified that the new method is reasonable and feasible. The results showed that the new method can judge not only the corresponding relation between the shrinking percentage and the unit charge column pressure drop, but also the influence of softening and melting temperature interval, melting temperature interval and dropping temperature interval on the softening–melting and dropping characteristic value of iron bearing burden. This new method is expected to provide technical guidance for BF smelting.


The mechanism of involvement of the basal ganglia in processing of visual information on the basis of dopamine-dependent modulation of efficacy of synaptic transmission in interconnected parallel associative and limbic loops (cortex--basal ganglia--thalamus--cortex) is proposed. Each loop consists of one of the visual or prefrontal cortical areas connected with the thalamic nucleus and corresponding loci in different nuclei of the basal ganglia. Circulation of activity in such a loop provides reentrance of information into the thalamus and neocortex. Dopamine releasing in response to a visual stimulus oppositely modulates the efficacy of "strong" and "weak" corticostriatal inputs. Subsequent reorganization of activity in the loop leads to a disinhibition (inhibition) of activity of those cortical neurons that were "strongly" ("weakly)" excited by the visual stimulus simultaneously with activation of dopaminergic cells. A selected neuronal pattern in each cortical area represents a property of the visual stimulus processed by this area. Excitation of dopaminergic cells by the visual stimulus via the superior colliculi requires parallel activation of a disinhibitory input to the superior colliculi via the thalamus and a "direct" pathway through the basal ganglia. The prefrontal cortex excited by the visual stimulus via the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus performs a top-down control over the dopaminergic cell activity, supervising simultaneous dopamine release in different striatal loci and thus promotes the interconnected selection of neuronal representations of individual properties of the visual stimulus and their binding in an integrated image.


Ninety-eight fractures of the femoral neck treated with a sliding screw-plate system were followed from 6 to 65 months. Two cases developing deep infection and four cases of primary technical failure were reoperated. Union was encountered in 80/92 of the fractures; 13/80 of the united fractures developed necrosis of the femoral head. Serious complications were thus encountered in 31/98 of the fractures, and 27 of these were reoperated. On the basis of comparison with reports on other methods for internal fixation, the sliding screw-plate method is recommended for fixation of femoral neck fractures.


We present an architecture for organizing the programmable sub-systems necessary to configure and operate software defined radio modems. To aid in the architectural organization a classification system for modem components is developed. The architecture also addresses the organization of software components registered within the system. Library modules are developed to aid in the component management and organization. The architectural model addresses the of life-cycle issues of managing, configuring and operating programmable radio components


Allergic asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the upper airway. It is well appreciated that maladaptive Th2 immunity promotes the allergic phenotype, the underlying mechanisms of which remain elusive. The disease is associated with activation of complement, an ancient danger-sensing component of the innate immune system. Different models of experimental allergic asthma suggest that the small complement fragments of C3 and C5, the anaphylatoxins C3a and C5a, not only promote proallergic effector functions during the allergic effector phase but regulate the development of Th2 immunity during allergen sensitization. The available data support a concept in which C5a is dominant during allergen sensitization and protects against the development of maladaptive Th2 immunity. By contrast, C3a and C5a appear to act synergistically and drive allergic inflammation during the effector phase. In this article, we will review the recent findings in the field to judge the benefit of complement targeting in allergic asthma.


Introduction Lung Clearance Index (LCI) is a measure of lung gas mixing derived from the Multiple Breath Washout (MBW) test. We present LCI, FEV1 and CT data from the Run-In Study, a longitudinal study in preparation for a multi-dose trial of nebulised gene therapy for CF. Methods MBW, spirometry and low-dose HRCT chest were performed as part of the first Run-In Study visit. LCI was reported as the mean result from at least two technically acceptable sulphur hexafluoride MBW tests performed using a modified Innocor gas analyser. Spirometry was performed to ERS standards. CT scans were assessed by two independent radiologists for extent and severity of bronchiectasis, wall thickening, presence of small and large airway plugs, and gas trapping. Results 191 patients attended visit 1, mean (range) age 22.6 (10–59.1) years. Validated LCI, FEV1 and CT results were available for 167, 191 and 150 patients, respectively. Mean (SD) FEV1 was 72(19)% predicted. Mean (SD) LCI was 10.7 (2.7), with mean intravisit coefficient of variation of 4.9%. LCI correlated negatively with FEV1 (r=−0.68, p<0.001), but was abnormally elevated in 72% of participants with normal FEV1 (see Abstract S22 Figure 1; triangles indicate FEV1 >80% and LCI >7.5). 95% CI for LCI in normal subjects 5.9 to 7.5. Both FEV1 and LCI correlated with all CT measures (p<0.001), most strongly with extent of bronchiectasis. LCI correlated better than FEV1 with extent of bronchiectasis, r=0.72 (p<0.001) vs r=−0.61 (p<0.001), respectively.Abstract S22 Figure 1 Conclusions Results from this large cohort suggests that LCI is a more sensitive test of early CF lung disease, and correlates better with extent of bronchiectasis seen on CT, than FEV1. Validation of data from subsequent study visits is in progress and will be reported at a future date.


Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophin that regulates synaptic function and plasticity and plays important roles in neuronal development, survival, and brain disorders. Despite such diverse and important roles, how BDNF, or more generally speaking, neurotrophins affect synapses, particularly nerve terminals, remains unclear. By measuring calcium currents and membrane capacitance during depolarization at a large mammalian central nerve terminal, the rat calyx of Held, we report for the first time that BDNF slows down calcium channel activation, including P/Q-type channels, and inhibits exocytosis induced by brief depolarization or single action potentials, inhibits slow and rapid endocytosis, and inhibits vesicle mobilization to the readily releasable pool. These presynaptic mechanisms may contribute to the important roles of BDNF in regulating synapses and neuronal circuits and suggest that regulation of presynaptic calcium channels, exocytosis, and endocytosis are potential mechanisms by which neurotrophins achieve diverse neuronal functions.