PURPOSE
To determine the value of MRI in the preoperative evaluation of chronic paranasal sinusitis and to compare the results with CT and intraoperative findings.

METHOD/MATERIALS
42 patients with clinical signs of chronic paranasal sinusitis underwent MRI after CT evaluation on one day, with subsequent functional endoscopic sinus surgery on the next day. Coronary CT was obtained with 5-mm slices and table-feed in the prone position, while MRI was performed in the supine position with coronary T2-TSE + pd and coronary and transverse HASTE, each with 5-mm slice thickness. Aquisition time in MRI was less than 8 minutes. Two radiologists reviewed the CT and MRI scans for signs of sinusitis and detection of anatomical landmarks. The results were correlated with the intraoperative findings.

RESULTS
MRI offered no artifacts of dental work and showed more often high quality pictures than CT. CT and MRI demonstrated a good correlation in the detection of mucosal pathologies (kappa = 0.46-0.87) and anatomic variants (kappa = 0.55-0.86). All important anatomical structures could be evaluated sufficiently with MRI for preoperative management. Both diagnostic tools showed an unsatisfactory correlation with intraoperative findings in the ethmoidal complex and maxillary sinus (tau = -0.08-0.3).

CONCLUSIONS
MRI is a fast and reliable alternative to preoperative CT in examining paranasal sinuses and offers a good visualization of mucosal changes. CT and MRI both give an unreliable representation of the ethmoidal complex.


The investigation of arterial blood flow has always been an important topic in physiology. Large proportion of the cardiovascular diseases (arteriosclerosis, vasoconstriction) affects the arterial part of the circulatory system. Physiologists place huge efforts in the improvement of the diagnosis and the treatment of these diseases. During the last decades fluid mechanics has become a powerful tool in the analysis of arterial blood flow. In the current paper a numerical approach for the calculation of one dimensional unsteady blood flow in the arterial network is presented. The continuity and momentum equations are solved using the method of characteristics (MOC). Furthermore a viscoelastic material model is applied to describe the behavior of the arterial walls. The network model of the arterial system is set up using 45 viscoelastic branches. The heart is modeled using an unsteady volume flow rate boundary condition. Arterioles and capillaries are treated as linear resistance boundary conditions. The parame
ters of the viscoelastic material model were fine-tuned by comparing the results of the calculation with previously measured blood pressure curves. The resulting model is capable for simulating arteriosclerosis in an arbitrary part of the arterial network. The viscoelastic material model and the calculation method are presented in detail. Results of the calculation are presented and discussed.


Since 2007 a number of African countries including Zimbabwe have adopted
male circumcision as another HIV prevention strategy following recommendations
by the WHO and UNAIDS. The study interrogates this simplistic portrayal
of male circumcision by first identifying and examining the discursive
shifts regarding this practice since colonial times. Using the Foucauldian approach
to power and knowledge, the research explores the representation of
male circumcision by specific powerful western dominated institutions notably
the WHO/UNAIDS and the church. Taking male circumcision as a case study,
the study challenges the perceived neutrality of development and scientific
health discourse revealing instead how these discourses are used not only to
justify interventions, but to also sustain the unequal power relations between
powerful institutions and indigenous people – the former having more power
to name and shame. After analysing the data, the study problematizes the
monolithic presentation of the West by revealing the conflicting interests of
the WHO/UNAIDS and the church as well as the complexities and contradictions
in their discourses regarding male circumcision. Sometimes the discourses
contradict each other as the study shows; sometimes they reinforce each other,
but are never monolithic. Further, the paper highlights the plurality nature of
the discourses of the people, unlike Escobar and Said who homogenize both
the West and the rest and ends by advocating for pluralities rather than singularities
in studying these discourses as a way out of these dichotomies. Methodologically,
the study highlights the importance of the need to transfigure the
conventional way of doing research (i.e. attempting to fit data within a predetermined
model) and proposes elasticity where the data gathered should instead
determine the choice of the theoretical and analytical framework.


The shot noise characteristics of a resonant tunnelling diode are calculated from the model which includes the effects of the effective transmission coefficient of electrons in the conduction band and in the subband of the accumulation layer in the emitter. The transit time is formulated for a double barrier structure. However, the transit time for electrons at the Fermi level and the subband of the emitter are different because of the energy difference. The results show that the shot noise spectrum is independent of the frequency at low and intermediate frequencies and dependent on the frequency at high frequencies.


In this paper, the author has made an attempt to analyze the identification of rural urban continuum of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal where the Barasat Town has played a vital role of maintaining the relationship between rural urban areas of the district. Between the purely urban areas and the purely rural areas lies a region which is transitional between the two extremes. The region is extremely volatile and dynamic in the face of rapid change, principally from rural to urban character. In this age of rapid urbanization urbanity rapidly encroaches into rural area and the rural area recedes back towards more rural areas. District North 24 Parganas of West Bengal is one of the districts where the disparity of economic activity influences the regional status of the area that develop the rural urban dichotomy. Basically, in North 24 Parganas district, urban area is concentrated in western part where, the rural area is stretches from north to south and east to central part. At present, there are 27 municipalities in North 24 Parganas within 22 blocks. Where, 10 blocks are purely rural, means, 47.8% of the total area. Rural North 24 Parganas is densely populated compared to at least 15 district of the state. According to census 2011, it was 457 per sq. km. Rest part is purely rural where the development is quite negligible. In between these two extreme, Barasat town is maintaining a relation between these rural and urban areas. In this connection, it is mentionable that, Barasat town is district headquarter of North 24 Parganas. So, not only the rural area, but also some municipalities which are mainly situated in the eastern part of this district both depend on Barasat town and this inter dependent relation forming the process of rural urban continuum. To investigate the nature of continuum or to find out the process of this continuum of North 24 Parganas, some important points have been taken to discuss. Secondly, urban and rural scenario of North 24 Parganas has been studied, because it will help to find out the disparity of development of the whole region and also give an idea, why these areas are dependent on Barasat town.Now, some parameter has been taken to delineate the continuum. These parameters are directly related with population density. Through some statistical analysis, the rural urban continuum zone of North 24 Parganas has been demarcated. The result, which has come out, i.e. the continuum, is strongly activated in north–east direction of this district. However, this zones and the direction may change over time. This is the actual outcome of the whole study.


Background: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an unpredicted neurologic disorder that may cause death; previous reports have failed to find a prognostic marker for the disease. Aim: To determine the impact of comorbidities in patients with Myasthenia gravis. Material and Methods: From January of 2002 to February of 2008 a database was created for patients with Myasthenia gravis (MG). The following variables were studied: age at onset of MG, gender, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, arterial hypertension, dysthyroidism, autoimmune disease, thymectomy procedure and histopathologic result, myasthenic crisis, emergency room visits due to weakness, use and maximum dose of pyridostigmine, prednisone and azathioprine. Results: In a total of 253 patients, we found comorbidities in 73%. The most frequent associated disorders were dyslipidemia, thyroid disease, diabetes, hypertension and other autoimmune conditions. Patients with MG and thymoma, diabetes, dyslipidemia, dysthyroidism and/or hypertension had higher rates of ER visits, myasthenic crises, and required higher doses of drugs. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that comorbidities are frequent in patients with MG (73%) and that they might worsen the prognosis of MG.


Age differences in affective/experiential and deliberative processes have important theoretical implications for cancer decision making, as cancer is often a disease of older adulthood. The authors examined evidence for adult age differences in affective and deliberative information processes, reviewed the sparse evidence about age differences in decision making, and introduced how dual process theories and their findings might be applied to cancer decision making. Age-related declines in the efficiency of deliberative processes predict poorer-quality decisions as we age, particularly when decisions are unfamiliar and the information is numeric. However, age-related adaptive processes, including an increased focus on emotional goals and greater experience, can influence decision making and potentially offset age-related declines. A better understanding of the mechanisms that underlie cancer decision processes in our aging population should ultimately allow us to help older adults to better help themselves. Cancer 2008;113(12 suppl):3556–67. (cid:1) 2008 American Cancer Society.


The paper presents a model of CD4 + lymphocyte dynamics in HIV-infected persons. The model incorporates a feedback mechanism regulating the production of T lymphocytes and simulates the dynamics of CD8 + lymphocytes, whose production is assumed to be closely linked to that of CD4 + cells. Because CD4 + lymphocyte counts are a good prognostic indicator of HIV infection, the model was used to simulate such therapeutic interventions as chemotherapy and active and passive immunization. The model also simulated the therapeutic administration of anti-CD8 antibodies; this intervention was assumed to activate T-cell production by activating a feedback mechanism blocked by the high numbers of CD8 + lymphocytes present in HIV-infected persons. The character and implications of the model are discussed in the context of other mathematical models used in HIV infection.


We examined the ventilatory response to moderate (arterial O2 saturation 80%), sustained, isocapnic hypoxia in 20 young adults. During 25 min of hypoxia, inspiratory minute ventilation (VI) showed an initial brisk increase but then declined to a level intermediate between the initial increase and resting room air VI. The intermediate level of VI was a plateau that did not change significantly when hypoxia was extended up to 1 h. The relation between the amount of initial increase and subsequent decrease in ventilation during constant hypoxia was not random; the magnitude of the eventual decline correlated confidently with the degree of initial hyperventilation. Evaluation of breathing pattern revealed that during constant hypoxia there was little alteration in respiratory timing and that the changes in VI were related to significant alterations in tidal volume and mean inspiratory flow (VT/TI). None of the changes was reproduced during a sham control protocol, in which room air was substituted for the period of low fractional concentration of inspired O2. We conclude that ventilatory response to hypoxia in adults is not sustained; it exhibits some biphasic features similar to the neonatal hypoxic response.


In this work we introduce a modified version of the
simple genetic algorithm (MGA) and will show the results of its application to
two GMA power law models (a general theoretical branched pathway system and a
mathematical model of the amplification and responsiveness of the JAK2/STAT5
pathway representing an actual, experimentally studied system). The two case
studies serve to illustrate the utility and potentialities of the MGA method
for concerning parameter estimation in complex models of biological
significance. The analysis of the results obtained from the application of the
MGA algorithm allows an evaluation of the potentialities and shortcomings of
the proposed algorithm when compared with other parameter estimation algorithm such
as the simple genetic algorithm (SGA) and the simulated annealing (SA). MGA
shows better performance in both studied cases than SGA and SA, either in the
presence or absence of noise. It is suggested that these advantages are due to
the fact that the objective function definition in the MGA could include the
experimental error as a weight factor, thus minimizing the distance between the
data and the predicted value. Actually, MGA is slightly slower that the SGA and
the SA, but this limitation is compensated by its greater efficiency in finding
objective values closer to the global optimum. Finally, MGA can lead to an
early local optimum, but this shortcoming may be prevented by providing a great
population diversity through the insertion of different selection processes.


Background: Undesirable risk events, such as falls, aspiration pneumonia and pressure ulcers, are associated with functional decline and cause low quality of life among the elderly. This study analyzed and compared the frequency of major risk events and the effect of standard risk management on their prevention.
Methods: Subjects: This study recruited elderly persons with disabilities using Japanese geriatric intermediate care facilities (GICFs); these individuals provided written informed consent. Intervention: A standardized intervention process of risk management was in place in half of the facilities. The other half provided conventional risk-prevention models.
Outcome variable: The six-month preadmission incidence and three-month postadmission incidence of undesirable events, including falls, aspiration pneumonia, pressure ulcers, dehydration, and fever, were collected.
Analysis: The effect of multidisciplinary care management on the reduction of undesirable events was analyzed.
Results: Overall, 862 elderly persons from 132 facilities using geriatric intermediate care facilities in Japan participated in this study. Falls (35.2%), fever (21.9%), bone fractures (18.2%), and pressure ulcers (12.1%) were frequent undesirable events. There was no reduction in postadmission incidence in the intervention group in any of the patients regardless of the previous incidence. The intervention reduced the occurrence of postadmission pressure ulcers among patients with a previous incidence (odds ratio: 0.34). There were no reductions in falls, fever, or dehydration.
Conclusions: The effect of standardized risk-management implementation is limited to pressure ulcers. The improvement of risk-management processes is needed to understand their limitations in long-term care facilities.


After briefly reviewing the literature on the subject, the Authors describe a case of Lasthénie de Ferjol's syndrome. Its most outstanding feature is at first an unexplicable hypochromic iron-deficiency anaemia, later discovered to be due to repeat, self-induced blood letting on the basis of the patient's altered personality. An account is therefore given of the main events of the disease and the hysterical behaviour, which seems to lead the patient, day after day, to a real organic suicide.


Research on childhood in anthropology and neighboring disciplines has continuously broadened the range of the social partners that are considered relevant for young children's development—from parents to other caregivers, siblings, and peers. Yet most studies as well as interventions in early childhood still focus exclusively on parents, who are presumed to be the most significant socializing agents. Objecting to such a hierarchical understanding of the social world of children, I propose a complementarity view. Rather than being linearly ranked in a hierarchy of significance, children's social partners may complement each other by providing different but equally significant experiences. My suggestions are based on an ethnographic study in a rural community in Madagascar. Focusing on children in the first 3 years of life, I explore the full range of their social partners and the respective experiences they provide. Caregivers focus on children's physical needs and aim to keep them in a calm emotional state, while other young related children are the most crucial partners when it comes to play, face-to-face interaction, and the exchange of intense emotions. These complementary roles, I argue, lead to the parallel formation of two distinct socioemotional modes: a hierarchical one and an egalitarian one.


Black soybean paste (BSP) is a bealmijang manufactured with barley flour and black soybeans. This study investigated the quality characteristics of BSP prepared with Bacillus subtilis HJ18-4 (HJ18-4). α-Amylase and protease activities of BSP rapidly increased on day 6 and day 9, respectively, (41.45±0.3-42.72±0.16, 21.84±0.24-23.11±0.35 unit/ g) after which the activities were constant or decreased slightly. Amino type nitrogen contents increased until day 23 (173.78±3.51-195.63±1.51 mg %), whereas ammonia type nitrogen sharply decreased on day 9. On day 30, lactic acid bacteria counts were higher compared with the initial count (7.91±0.05-8.17±0.02 log CFU/g). Meanwhile, B. cereus and total aerobic counts in HJ18-4 added BSP were lower than that in the control. These results implied that BSP could be edible after 30 days of fermentation, and the addition of HJ18-4 in meju could contribute to the safety of the black soybean paste by the inhibition of B. cereus growth.


ABSTRACT The biogenesis of the proton pump V-ATPase commences with the assembly of the proton pore sector V0 in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). This process occurs under the control of a group of assembly factors whose mutations have recently been shown to cause glycosylation disorders with overlapping phenotypes in humans. Using whole exome sequencing, we demonstrate that mutations of the accessory V-ATPase subunit ATP6AP2 cause a similar disease characterized by hepatosteatosis, lipid abnormalities, immunodeficiency and cognitive impairment. ATP6AP2 interacts with members of the V0 assembly complex, and its ER localization is crucial for V-ATPase activity. Moreover, ATP6AP2 mutations can cause developmental defects and steatotic phenotypes when introduced into Drosophila. Altogether, our data suggest that these phenotypes are the result of a pathogenetic cascade that includes impaired V-ATPase assembly, defective lysosomal acidification, reduced MTOR signaling and autophagic misregulation.


This research project attempts to give a critique of the peace building process in Kibera following the early 2008 post-election violent conflict. In particular, the researcher assesses Care-International's peace building project in Kibera between 2008 and 2010, with the ultimate objective of recommending better and more suitable ways of engaging international NGOs in the on-going peace building process in Kenya.

This is a relevant and viable study as the research findings will not only contribute to the available peace building knowledge, it wilf also offer valuable insights into the current national debate on how to address the post 2008 conflict situation in Kibera and Kenya as a whole. To carry out this study, the researcher will use both qualitative and quantitative data, which will be analyzed using Thematic Analysis and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), respectively.


In CDMA mobile cellular systems, wireless quality is improved by soft handoff techniques. However, it requires to hold multiple channels of cells, which is likely to increase call blocking at wired channels. It is therefore necessary to consider the entire system including the wired and wireless portions of systems for investigating an effectiveness of the soft handoff. In this paper, we also clarify the effect of interference power from mobile stations that are not in the soft handoff because of lack of wired channels. In the analysis, we model three-way soft handoff which has not been considered in past researches. We also show the effect of a call admission control to wireless quality. key words: CDMA, three-way soft handoff, blocking probability, handoff refused probability


We develop a Markovian master equation in the Lindblad form that enables the efficient study of a wide range of open quantum many-body systems that would be inaccessible with existing methods. The validity of the master equation is based entirely on properties of the bath and the system-bath coupling, without any requirements on the level structure within the system itself. The master equation is derived using a Markov approximation that is distinct from that used in earlier approaches. We provide a rigorous bound for the error induced by this Markov approximation; the error is controlled by a dimensionless combination of intrinsic correlation and relaxation timescales of the bath. Our master equation is accurate on the same level of approximation as the Bloch-Redfield equation. In contrast to the Bloch-Redfield approach, our approach ensures preservation of the positivity of the density matrix. As a result, our method is robust, and can be solved efficiently using stochastic evolution of pure states (rather than density matrices). We discuss how our method can be applied to static or driven quantum many-body systems, and illustrate its power through numerical simulation of a spin chain that would be challenging to treat by existing methods.


This introduction provides an overview of the intersection between Applied Cognitive Linguistics and Second/Foreign Language Learning. First, the relevance of Cognitive Linguistics (CL) for Applied Linguistics in general is discussed. The second section explains the main principles of CL and how each relates to the acquisition of second languages: (i) language and human cognition, (ii) language as symbolic, (iii) language as motivated; and (iv) language as usage-based. Section three offers a review of previous literature on CL and L2s that are different from English, as it is one the main aims of this Special Issue to provide state-of-the-art research and scholarship to enhance the bigger picture of the field of Second Language Acquisition beyond English as the target language. Spanish as L2/FL in Applied Cognitive Linguistics is the focus of the next section, which leads to a brief overview of the papers included in the Issue, featuring Spanish as the L2 with L1s such as English, French, German and Italian. Polysemy, Motion Events Typology, Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar are the Cognitive Linguistics areas addressed in the contributions here presented.


ABSTRACT In this essay, Miriam Greenspan reviews her life's work as an early pioneer of Feminist Therapy, the influence of her birth in a displaced person's camp to parents who were Holocaust survivors, and her development as a feminist, social activist, and psychotherapist. She discusses her most influential works, including A New Approach to Women & Therapy (1983, 1993) and Healing Through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair (2003). She concludes with a look back at her own spiritual evolution, her assessment of the ultimate contribution of Feminist Therapy to society, the need for a wide model of therapy that incorporates the political and spiritual dimensions of experience, and the challenges that psychology and psychotherapy face in an age of global threat.


ABSTRACT Introduction Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has revolutionized patient care in ophthalmology within the last two decades. Initially conceptualized as a means to visualize the posterior segment, advances in OCT technology now allows enhanced, high-resolution imaging of the anterior segment (AS-OCT). Areas covered In this review, we begin by revisiting very briefly the history of OCT, it's working principles and technical aspects specific for anterior segment imaging. We then provide an overview of diagnostic applications of AS-OCT in corneal diseases with clinical examples on how AS-OCT can be instrumental in the differential diagnosis, treatment monitoring, surgical planning, and prognostication. We proceed by summarizing its use as an adjunctive tool in the management of glaucoma including its complementary function in evaluating the iridocorneal angles and ancillary role in visualizing the internal structures of the bleb and the minimally invasive glaucoma implants. Expert opinion Although AS-OCT currently has a wide range of application areas, future research is expected to focus on improving acquisition speed, penetration, and image resolution further increasing the utility of AS-OCT in the clinic.


A method of treating antisymmetrisation in calculations on alpha decay is presented and is compared with the method proposed recently by Fliessbach (1975). The application of these methods to alpha transfer is also discussed.


ABSTRACT: A metal worker had repeated episodes of contact dermatitis over a period of years. Patch tests with 5% ammoniated mercury were strongly positive but occupational contact could not be proved. Recurrence of the dermatitis one day after amalgam dental fillings had been made and again one year later, this time without new fillings, raised the possibility that it was due to the old amalgam fillings. Removal of all the amalgam fillings resulted in a new outbreak of severe dermatitis; during the 5 years ensuing there has been no recurrence. This case history suggests that contact dermatitis may be caused by not only the mercury in new fillings but also by that in old fillings.


Thyroxine dynamically regulates levels of type II iodothyronine 5′-deiodinase (5′D-II) by modulating enzyme inactivation and targeting the enzyme to different pathways of internalization. 5′D-II is an ∼200-kDa multimeric protein containing a 29-kDa substrate-binding subunit (p29) and an unknown number of other subunits. In the absence of thyroxine (T4), p29 is slowly endocytosed and transported to the lysosomes. T4 treatment rapidly activates an actin-mediated endocytotic pathway and targets the enzyme to the endosomes. In this study, we have characterized the influence of T4 on the intracellular trafficking of 5′D-II. We show that T4 accelerates the rate of 5′D-II inactivation by translocating the enzyme to the interior of the cell and by sequestering p29 in the endosomal pool without accelerating the rate of degradation of p29. This dichotomy between the rapid inactivation of catalytic activity and the much slower degradation of p29 is consistent with the reuse of p29 in the production of 5′D-II activity. Immunocytochemical analysis with a specific anti-p29 IgG shows that pulse affinity-labeled p29 reappears on the plasma membrane ∼2 h after enzyme internalization in the presence of T4, indicating that p29 is recycled. Despite the ability of p29 to be recycled in the T4-treated cell, 5′D-II catalytic activity requires ongoing protein synthesis, presumably of another enzyme component(s) or an accessory enzyme-related protein. In the absence of T4, enzyme inactivation and p29 degradation are temporally linked, and pulse affinity-labeled p29 is internalized and sequestered in discrete intracellular pools. These data suggest that T4 regulates fundamental processes involved with the turnover of integral membrane proteins and participates in regulating the inter-relationships between the degradation, recycling, and synthetic pathways.


The expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA and the secretion of BDNF protein are tightly regulated by neuronal activity. Thus, BDNF has been proposed as a mediator of activity-dependent neural plasticity. Previous studies showed that dark rearing (DR) reduces BDNF mRNA levels in the primary visual cortex (V1), but the effects of visual experience on BDNF protein levels are unknown. We report that rearing in constant light or DR alters BDNF mRNA and protein levels in the retina, superior colliculus (SC), V1, hippocampus (HIPP), and cerebellum (CBL), although the changes in mRNA and protein are not always correlated. Most notably, DR increases BDNF protein levels in V1 although BDNF mRNA is decreased. BDNF protein levels also undergo diurnal changes. In the retina, V1, and SC, BDNF protein levels are higher during the light phase of the circadian cycle than during the dark phase. By contrast, in HIPP and CBL, the tissue concentration of BDNF protein is higher during the dark phase. The discrepancies between the experience-dependent changes in BDNF mRNA and protein suggest that via its effects on neuronal activity, early sensory experience alters the trafficking, as well as the synthesis, of BDNF protein. The circadian changes in BDNF protein suggest that BDNF could cause the diurnal modulation of synaptic efficacy in some neural circuits. The fluctuations in BDNF levels in nonvisual structures suggest a potential role of BDNF in mediating plasticity induced by hormones or motor activity.


A total of 234 growing pigs (PIC TR4 × 1050, initially 91.4 lb) were used in an 89-d trial to determine the effects of feeder adjustment on finishing pig performance. Pigs were randomly allotted to 1 of 3 treatments. The treatments consisted of a narrow feeder adjustment (minimum gap opening of 0.50 in.), medium feeder adjustment (minimum gap opening of 0.75 in.), and wide adjustment (minimum feeder gap opening of 1.00 in.). The feeders were adjusted to the minimum gap setting, but the agitation plate could be moved upward to a maximum gap opening of 0.75, 1.00, or 1.25 in., respectively. Treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design with 9 replications of 8 pigs per pen and 1 replicate with 6 pigs. To ensure equal floor space, pen gating was adjusted to provide 8 ft2 /pig during the study. All pens had the same feeder with 2, 14-in.-wide by 4.5-in.-deep feeder holes. Pigs had ad libitum access to feed and water. All pigs were fed a corn-soybean meal-based diet containing 20% dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) in 4 phases. Pen weights and feed disappearance were measured every 2 wk. Also, pictures of feeders were taken and scored by a panel to detemine percentage pan coverage. Results showed that narrow, medium, and wide feeder adjustments averaged approximately 28, 58, and 75% pan coverage, respectively. From d 0 to 28, pigs exposed to increasing feeder gap had improved (linear; P ≤ 0.05) ADFI, with the greatest ADFI observed at 1.00 in. However, from d 28 to 56 and 56 to 89, ADG was not different among pigs fed from different feeder openings, and F/G was best for those fed from the 0.50-in. opening. Overall (d 0 to 89), there was a trend (P = 0.08) for increased ADG with increasing feeder opening. However, pigs fed with a 0.50-in. feeder gap had improved (linear; P < 0.03) F/G compared to those with a 0.75or 1.00-in. feeder opening. These results suggest that from 90 to 150 lb, maximum ADG was observed with a feeder setting of 0.75 in (approximately 58% pan coverage). However, pigs fed from 150 to 270 lb had greater ADG and the best F/G at a setting of 0.50 in (approximately 28% pan coverage). Thus, it appears that optimum feeder-gap setting may differ with growth phase.


: More and more employees are determining their own future within their work--a trend likely to pick up during the '80s.


The first case of Q fever in Poland in a 5-year girl is presented. A girl is inhabitant of the Lublin region where this disease is of endemic character. Q fever was diagnosed on the base of the clinical examinations and serological tests. The course of the disease was acute. Doxycycline and lincomycin were given. A short time lapse between the treatment and eradication of Coxiella burnetii antigen indicates rather spontaneous recovery.


Ternary B-C-N coatings were deposited on Si(100) wafer substrate from target by RF magnetron sputtering technique in gas mixture. In this work, the effect of reactant gas ratio, on the composition, kinds and amounts of bonding states comprising B-C-N coatings were investigated using two different bias power sources of continuous and unipolar DCs. In addition, the tribological properties of coatings were studied with the composition and bonding state of coating. It was found that the substrate bias power had an effect on chemical composition, and all of the obtained coatings were nearly amorphous. Main bonding states of coatings were revealed from FTIR analyses to be h-BN, C-C, C-N, and B-C. The amount of C-C bonging mainly increased with increase of the reactant gas ratio. From our studies, both C-C and h-BN bonding states improved the tribological properties but B-C one was found to be harmful on those. The best coating from tribological points of view was found to be composition.


Summary.

1
The mouth-parts of the wasp are designed for biting, licking, and mastication; they are well developed in all castes; their musculature is fully described and compared with larva, and also with the bee and Dytiseus.

2
The pharynx is a large sac with complicated muscles designed for pumping and swallowing. The elasticity of chitin is used to antagonize certain muscles; it co-operates with others, and these show reduced size.

3
Certain direct homologies of larval and adult muscles are defined, and the significance of this possibility discussed.

4
The esophagus and crop are typical.

5
The proventriculus is well developed and acts as a pump in conjunction with the pharynx.

6
The ventriculus is typical and is built upon a definite, geometric pattern which conditions the features seen in sections cut in known planes. The replacement cells are few and lie within the basement-membrane; any idea that they exist external to this is due to confusing them with a layer of fine longitudinal muscle-fibres whose presence confirms White's record of a third layer of ventricular muscles.

7
The peritrophic membrane arises by "delamination," probably as the result of condensation of cell-secretions, and not from the striated border nor the esophageal valve. It may represent a partially chitinous intima of the mid-gut.

8
The small intestine has two well-marked histological areas and a local anterior muscle concentration acting as a sphincter or as a means of hastening peristalsis.

9
The Malpighian tubules show well-marked secretion phases.

10
The rectum has a general syncytium, with characteristic rectal pads. The interpretation of these structures awaits the further study of their development.

11
The intrinsic muscles of the gut are attached to the basement-membrane lying below the digestive epithelium.


Earthquake activity in Greenland has been registered and mapped since 1907 (Larsen et al. 2006) and thus a long (albeit relatively sparse) record of seismic activity is available for evaluation of seismic hazard and risk. Seismic hazard assessment is carried out by judging the probability of future earthquakes in a given region and is based on statistic treatment of earthquake data. The determination of the seismic hazard is the first step in an evaluation of seismic risk, i.e. the possible economic costs and loss of human life after an earthquake. The motivation for this seismic hazard study is the registration of four significant earthquakes in Greenland in 2005. The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) received reports of all four earthquakes from residents who had felt the shaking. The 2005 earthquakes were located at or near Qeqertarsuaq on 30 March, Sisimiut on 23 July, Station Nord on 30 August and Attu on 23 October (Fig. 1), with magnitudes on the Richter scale of 4.3, 4.1, 5.1 and 2.5, respectively. The earthquake in Attu led to the inhabitants fleeing in their boats.


Knowledge is analysed as a homogeneous and endogenous production factor in economic, while disciplines related to economic such as philosophy, management, sociology, knowledge analyse it as a heterogeneous factor. The assertion of heterogeneity challenge the recommendations made by economists of growth new growth theory. The purpose of this study is to improve economic analysis with results found in other disciplines.


This article describes a geometric model for computing the relative proportion of sunlit vegetation, shaded vegetation, sunlit soil, and shaded soil appearing in a circular or elliptical radiometer footprint for row crops, where the crop rows were modeled as continuous ellipses. The model was validated using digital photographs of row crops, where each component was determined by supervised classification. Root mean squared errors (RMSE) between modeled and observed components were 35, 49, 29, and 44% of observed means for sunlit vegetation, shaded vegetation, sunlit soil, and shaded soil, respectively. Mean bias errors (MBE) were, respectively, −5.6, 16.6, −4.0, and −0.5% of observed means. The continuous ellipse model was compared to the commonly used clumping index model, where the latter estimates total vegetation and total soil, but does not resolve these into their sunlit or shaded components and does not account for radiometer footprint shape dimensions. The continuous ellipse model resulted in RMSE for vegetation and soil of 22 and 19%, respectively, whereas the clumping index model resulted in respective RMSE of 37 and 31%. The continuous ellipse model had MBE of 3.3 and −2.6% for vegetation and soil, respectively, which was slightly greater than the respective MBE of −1.5 and 1.4% for clumping index model. Given the model sensitivity and uncertainty of leaf area index (LAI), the RMSE and MBE resulting from the continuous ellipse model would not be expected to be less than 20% of the observed means, and model performance was therefore deemed reasonable in this study.


The present study investigates the link between immigration, multilingualism, acculturation and personality profiles (as measured by the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire) of 193 residents in Israel. Participants born in Israel tended to score higher on Emotional Stability than those born abroad. Participants with one immigrant parent (but not two) scored higher on Cultural Empathy, Open-mindedness and Social Initiative. Participants who had become dominant in Hebrew as a foreign language scored lower on Emotional Stability than Hebrew L1-dominant participants. The number of languages known by participants was not linked to their personality profile. A high level of use of various languages was linked to significantly higher scores on Cultural Empathy and Open-mindedness. Gender and age were also linked to personality profiles. Advanced knowledge of more languages and frequent use of more languages were linked to higher levels of Social Initiative and Open-mindedness, while advanced knowledge of more languages was also linked to higher levels of Cultural Empathy. These findings confirm that some personality traits are shaped by individuals' linguistic history, degree of multilingualism and a combination of social and biographical factors.


Introduction The diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) remains challenging. In this study, a novel echocardiography index based on three-dimensional and tissue Doppler echocardiography for diagnosing and estimating prognosis in HFpEF. Materials and Methods Patients with symptoms and/or signs of heart failure and normal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF ≥50%) who underwent right heart catheterization were screened. Patients were divided based on pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) of ≥15 mmHg and PCWP <15 mmHg. A diagnosis of HFpEF was confirmed by PCWP of ≥15 mmHg according to ESC guidelines. A novel index was calculated by the ratio between stroke volume standardized to body surface area (SVI) and tissue Doppler mitral annulus systolic peak velocity S' (SVI/S'). Its diagnostic and prognostic values were determined. Results A total of 104 patients (mean age 64 ± 12 years) were included. Of these, 63 had PCWP ≥15 mmHg and 41 patients had PCWP <15 mmHg. Compared to the PCWP <15 mmHg group, the ≥15 mmHg group had a significantly lower SVI/S' (P < 0.001). Logistic regression showed that SVI/S' was associated with high PCWP measured invasively. The SVI/S' had an area under the curve of 0.761 for diagnosing classifying between PCWP ≥15 mmHg and <15 mmHg. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that the lower SVI/S' group showed a poorer prognosis. Conclusions SVI/S' is a non-invasive index calculated by three-dimensional and tissue Doppler echocardiography. It is a surrogate measure of PCWP and can be used to diagnose and determine prognosis in HFpEF.


A 7.5-kilobase-pair multiresistance transposon, Tn1331, harboring amikacin resistance was identified as part of Klebsiella pneumoniae plasmid pJHCMW1. Restriction mapping, hybridization, and transposition complementation experiments demonstrated that Tn1331 belongs to the Tn3 family. Its structure is similar to that of Tn3 with the insertion of a DNA fragment encoding resistance to amikacin, kanamycin, and tobramycin.


Background
This study aims to investigate the efficacy and safety of umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) without serotherapy for treating children with leukocyte adhesion deficiency type I (LAD-I).

Methods
Clinical characteristics and data of five children with LAD-I who underwent UCBT at our hospital between September 2016 and September 2018 were retrospectively analyzed.

Results
Five (two boys and three girls) patients with LAD-I were included. The median age at UCBT was 9 months (range, 8 to 32 months). The same myeloablative conditioning regimen was administered for each patient and included busulfan, fludarabine, and cyclophosphamide. HLA matching of patients and umbilical cord blood was 8/10 to 10/10. The median dose of total nucleated cells (TNC) infused was 10.2×107/kg (range, 4.5×107 to 20.6×107/kg) and the median dose of CD34+ cells was 3.2×105/kg (range, 1.9×105 to 5.7×105/kg). The median time of neutrophil engraftment was 20 days (range, 13 to 28 days). The median time of platelet engraftment was 36 days (range, 32 to 56 days). All patients received complete donor chimerism (CDC). Four of the five patients developed grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). The median follow-up time after transplantation was 19 months (range, 8 to 38 months). Four of the patients survived and achieved complete clinical remission. The other patient died of bronchiolitis obliterans 8 months after UCBT.

Conclusions
UCBT is an effective treatment method for LAD-I patients. Also, severe LAD-I patients should undergo stem cell transplantation as early as possible.


Machine learning approaches relying on such criteria as adversarial robustness or multi-agent settings have raised the need for solving game-theoretic equilibrium problems. Of particular relevance to these applications are methods targeting finite-sum structure, which generically arises in empirical variants of learning problems in these contexts. Further, methods with computable approximation errors are highly desirable, as they provide verifiable exit criteria. Motivated by these applications, we study finite-sum monotone inclusion problems, which model broad classes of equilibrium problems. Our main contributions are variants of the classical Halpern iteration that employ variance reduction to obtain improved complexity guarantees in which $n$ component operators in the finite sum are ``on average'' either cocoercive or Lipschitz continuous and monotone, with parameter $L$. The resulting oracle complexity of our methods, which provide guarantees for the last iterate and for a (computable) operator norm residual, is $\widetilde{\mathcal{O}}( n + \sqrt{n}L\varepsilon^{-1})$, which improves upon existing methods by a factor up to $\sqrt{n}$. This constitutes the first variance reduction-type result for general finite-sum monotone inclusions and for more specific problems such as convex-concave optimization when operator norm residual is the optimality measure. We further argue that, up to poly-logarithmic factors, this complexity is unimprovable in the monotone Lipschitz setting; i.e., the provided result is near-optimal.


We test the "white backlash" hypothesis—that white racial conservatism grows as black population density increases—using methods and data parallel to those upon which the concept was originally developed. A 1996 Kentucky referendum vote to strike school segregation from the state constitution serves as a rare measure of "old-fashioned racism." We estimate the white vote for segregation using ecological inference techniques, and show that the county-level pattern of white segregationist support for this referendum actually runs in the opposite direction from that predicted by the backlash hypothesis. Precinct-level Kentucky analysis and county-level analysis of a related South Carolina referendum validate our finding against the white backlash hypothesis. We conclude that the frequent failure of recent research to find white backlash, especially among urban voters, therefore cannot be explained away by the absence of measures of old-fashioned racism. Rather, the geographical pattern of American racial conservatism seems to have changed since the successes of the Civil Rights movement.


Summary We report symptomatic asthma, associated with objective and highly significant increases in both airway responsiveness and airflow limitation, presenting de novo in a male patient 6 weeks after suddenly discontinuing lithium carbonate therapy.


Speaking is one important skill of English to present opinions, ideas, and convey our feeling to other people. Based on my observation teaching practicum in a vocational school, the students speaking ability have less confidence in practicing English speaking. Except for the students' problem in speaking teacher's media in the classroom also influence the process of teaching and learning. The use of conventional media is still found in the process of teaching speaking in class. The writer will focus on her research in improving students speaking skills by using media is Vlog. The purpose of this study is 1. To what extent student's speaking ability taught without using video vlogs in procedure text? 2. To what extent student's speaking ability taught using vlogs in procedure text? 3. Is there any significant difference between students speaking ability taught using vlogs in procedure text and those taught without using vlogs in procedure text?. The design of this study is quasi-experimental. The data were gathered through quantitative data. The writer takes XI AKL 2 as a control class and  XI AKL 1 as an experimental class. The research instrument is a test. There are two types of tests given, namely pre-test and post-test. After collecting data, there are significant differences between the classes taught using video vlogs and the classes taught without video vlog. The results of the study can be seen on the post-test after giving treatment. Were the mean score pre-test was 57.11 which was classified as unsatisfactory and the mean score post-test was 70.67 which was classified as good. The result of the sig 2 tailed was 0.00. If the value of sig ( 2 tailed) < 0.05 then there is a significant difference between the learning outcomes taught without using video vlog between taught using video vlog meanwhile, the value of sig (2 tailed) was 0.000 < 0.005. So it can be concluded that there was a significant difference between the students speaking skills taught using video vlog.


Background: The relationship between socio demographic status and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) has not been well documented in most population of Asian countries including Iran. This study aimed to investigate the determinants of HRQOL in general population living in Bandar Abbas. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted among general population living in Bandar Abass, Iran from Jun to Jul, 2007. Using a multistage sampling method, a random sample of individuals aged 15 years and over were interviewed through SF-36 questionnaire .Multiple logistic regression analysis were used to predict determinant factors on health related quality of life. Results: Overall, 1675 Iranian adults were interviewed. The majority of the participants were female (50.4%), married (70.9%) and employed (36.8%). The range of education years of most participants (56.7%) were from 6 to 12 years. Female participated in this study had significantly poorer HRQOL than male in all aspects of SF-36 except for Role Emotional (P< 0.001). Furthermore there were significant differences between different age groups in all individually scales and two summaries (P< 0.001). After adjusting for the impacts of other socio demographic factors, variable such as older age, female gender and lower educational level could independently decrease both mental and physical aspect of HRQOL (P< 0.01). Conclusion: Female, older and less educated people are at higher risk of poorer health quality of life in both mental and physical aspects and should be considered as high risk groups in priority health programs.


BACKGROUND
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers have been associated with improved outcomes in inflammatory bowel disease. We aimed to investigate any possible effect of antihypertensive medications on inflammatory bowel disease course.

METHODS
One hundred and fifty inflammatory bowel disease patients with hypertension were compared using a 1:1 ratio with age- and gender-matched control patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The class of antihypertensive medication, traditional risk factors for atherosclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease characteristics, and history (surgery, hospitalizations, and treatment) were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS
Of 150 (44.7% Crohn's disease) patients with hypertension, 46.7% were on angiotensin receptor blockers, 30.6% on angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, 40% on β-blockers, and 40.7% on calcium channel blockers. Univariate analysis revealed significantly higher rates of traditional risk factors for atherosclerosis among antihypertensive users. When analyzing by class of antihypertensive medication, angiotensin receptor blockers were significantly associated with milder course as indicated by less frequent immunomodulator (P = 0.039) and steroid use (P = 0.041). Rates of lifetime steroids were statistically significantly lower among angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (odds ratio = 1.191, 95% confidence interval, 1.005-1.411). After adjustment with confounding factors, only angiotensin receptor blockers were associated with milder inflammatory bowel disease course (P = 0.037) and lower rates of immunomodulator use (P = 0.038).

CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests a possible protective effect of angiotensin receptor blockers on overall inflammatory bowel disease course by targeting the renin-angiotensin system. Their effect on inflammatory bowel disease needs to be studied in larger cohorts.


The generation and controllability of valley splitting are the major challenge in effectively utilizing valley degrees of freedom in valleytronics. Using first-principles calculations, we propose a novel multiferroic system, a AgBiP2S6/CrBr3 van der Waals heterostructure, with ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity and ferrovalley behaviors. The ferroelectric monolayer AgBiP2S6 originally has two degenerate valleys with a large spin splitting (∼423.1 meV) at the conduction band minimum of K/K' points, due to inversion symmetry breaking combined with strong spin orbit coupling. Magnetic proximity coupling with the ferromagnetic layer CrBr3 breaks the time-reversal symmetry, damaging the degeneracy of K/K' valleys and causing valley splitting (∼30.5 meV). The transition energy barrier between two ferroelectric states with opposite polarization direction of the heterostructure is sufficient to prevent the spontaneous transition at room temperature, and the large intermediate barrier suggests that the ferroelectric state should be observed experimentally under ambient conditions. Nonvolatile electrical control of the valley degrees of freedom is achieved by switching the polarization direction of the ferroelectric layer in the heterostructure. The modulation of valley splitting can also be achieved by applying an external electric field and biaxial strain, as well as changing the magnetization direction. The research of nonvolatile electrical control of valley splitting in the two-dimensional AgBiP2S6/CrBr3 multiferroic heterostructure is crucial for designing all-in-one valleytronic devices, and has important theoretical significance and practical value.


Asthma is an atopic disorder characterised by the activation and recruitment of eosinophils to the lung resulting in chronic swelling and inflammation of the airways. Allergic disorders such as atopic asthma and dermatitis have been increasingly prevalent in developed countries, and the inverse correlation between exposure to major diseases such as tuberculosis and atopy prevalence has been reported. Intranasal administration of Mycobacterium bovis-Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) has been demonstrated to suppress airway eosinophilia in a model of atopic asthma. This immunomodulation is attributed to the ability of interferon (IFN)-gamma produced by BCG-specific T(H)1 lymphocytes to inhibit the development of lung T(H)2 responses such as airway eosinophilia. The mechanism of IFNgamma-induced inhibition is yet to be defined, but could involve activation of macrophages, direct suppression of developing T(H)2 lymphocytes, or altered dendritic cell activation and antigen presentation. Mycobacteria such as BCG and certain mycobacterial fractions are strong inducers of a T(H)1 immune response. The effectiveness of BCG in inhibiting atopic airway eosinophilia suggests its potential as a useful therapeutic agent in the treatment of atopic asthma.


The impact of consuming curcuminoids containing curcumin at 500 mg/day and 6 g/day for 7 days on plasma antioxidant capacity and serum cholesterol level were determined by using vitamin E 200 IU/day consumption as a comparison. Group A and group B subjects consumed 500 mg and 6 g curcumin, respectively, but group C subjects consumed vitamin E 200 IU. By using the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, it was found that plasma antioxidant capacity of group A rose from a baseline of 13% to 24% on day 1 and day 7, as against a 19–20% increase for group B. Serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels were significantly decreased after curcumin treatment at 500 mg/day. By consuming vitamin E, both ORAC values and plasma α‐tocopherol concentrations were significantly increased, but only very slight responses on serum cholesterol or triglyceride levels were observed. It is therefore suggested that curcumin supplement would not be appropriate for healthy people except for reducing serum cholesterol or triglyceride levels. The dosage of a daily curcumin supplement at 500 mg is more effective than 6 g, although vitamin E is also considered to be an effective antioxidant supplement. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The objective of this study was to develop a decision support system (DSS) to select the optimal road freight transportation route. This DSS is a proactive road freight transportation routing system which employs the standard criteria from the road freight transportation route's physical characteristics for potential evaluation. The descriptions of potential scale were derived by the Delphi method based on accommodation of transportation. Moreover, the DSS can also calculate the relative weights of the decision criteria by Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP). Multilayer Zero One Goal Programming (MZOGP) is used as an optimization algorithm to select road freight transportation routes. The operation of this algorithm is to calculate the total deviation from three objectives: cost, time and, the deviation of road freight transportation route's physical characteristic score which is calculated by comparing the route's physical characteristic potential score with potential scores from users. The approach was tested on a realistic road freight transportation routing operation of a logistics service provider company. The empirical study showed that this DSS works successfully.


We propose ProSpeCT, a generic formal processor model providing provably secure speculation for the constant-time policy. For constant-time programs under a non-speculative semantics, ProSpeCT guarantees that speculative and out-of-order execution cause no microarchitectural leaks. This guarantee is achieved by tracking secrets in the processor pipeline and ensuring that they do not influence the microarchitectural state during speculative execution. Our formalization covers a broad class of speculation mechanisms, generalizing prior work. As a result, our security proof covers all known Spectre attacks, including load value injection (LVI) attacks. In addition to the formal model, we provide a prototype hardware implementation of ProSpeCT on a RISC-V processor and show evidence of its low impact on hardware cost, performance, and required software changes. In particular, the experimental evaluation confirms our expectation that for a compliant constant-time binary, enabling ProSpeCT incurs no performance overhead.


The two-phase Stefan problem describes the temperature distribution in a homogeneous medium undergoing a phase transition such as ice melting to water. This is accomplished by solving the heat equation on a time-dependent domain, composed of two regions separated by an a priori unknown moving boundary which is transported by the difference (or jump) of the normal derivatives of the temperature in each phase. We establish local-in-time well-posedness and a globalin-time stability result for arbitrary sufficiently smooth domains and small initial temperatures. To this end, we develop a higher-order energy with natural weights adapted to the problem and combine it with Hopf-type inequalities. This extends the previous work by Hadžić and Shkoller [Comm. Pure Appl. Math., 68 (2015), pp. 689–757; Philos. Trans. A, 373 (2015), 20140284] on the one-phase Stefan problem to the setting of two-phase problems, and simplifies the proof significantly.


The paper first reviews the literature from the quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results show that the knowledge management mainly focuses on the research of higher education, education theory as well as education management. Moreover, the researchers also focus on elementary, secondary and adult education, but less on preschool, special education and disadvantage education. The application of knowledge management mainly reflects in the school development and school organization, curriculum and pedagogy, teacher education and teachers' professional development, knowledge management tools and its effect on E-education. At last, some problems are pointed out.


Abstract. Grounded in situ, or invasive, cosmic ray neutron sensors (CRNSs)
may allow for continuous, unattended measurements of snow water equivalent
(SWE) over complete winter seasons and allow for measurements that are
representative of spatially variable Arctic snow covers, but few studies
have tested these types of sensors or considered their applicability at
remote sites in the Arctic. During the winters of 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 we
tested a grounded in situ CRNS system at two locations in Canada: a cold,
low- to high-SWE environment in the Canadian Arctic and at a warm, low-SWE
landscape in southern Ontario that allowed easier access for validation
purposes. Five CRNS units were applied in a transect to obtain continuous
data for a single significant snow feature; CRNS-moderated
neutron counts were compared to manual snow survey SWE values obtained
during both winter seasons. The data indicate that grounded in situ CRNS
instruments appear able to continuously measure SWE with sufficient accuracy
utilizing both a linear regression and nonlinear formulation. These sensors can provide
important SWE data for testing snow and hydrological models, water resource
management applications, and the validation of remote sensing applications.


Introduction:
 Autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) is the standard of care for eligible patients with multiple myeloma (MM). With the considerable advances in supportive care for patients receiving ASCT, many institutions now perform ASCT for MM on a completely outpatient basis. The National Inpatient Sample (NIS) tracks all inpatient hospitalizations in the United States. Hence, using the NIS, hospital admissions for MM patients undergoing ASCT and their mortality over a period of time can be tracked. We interrogated the NIS to analyze characteristics of these patients.
 Methods:
 From the years of 2002 to 2014, admissions for ASCT for MM patients were identified using the NIS via procedural ICD 9 codes for autologous bone marrow transplantation and MM. Annual trends in mortality, hospital length of stay, and costs of admission were assessed with a linear regression analysis. Chronic co-morbid conditions were investigated for associations with in-hospital mortality in the years of 2013 and 2014 using univariate logistic regression analysis.
 Results:
 A total weighted estimate of inpatient admissions for ASCT among MM patients totaled 47,253 (unweighted N=10,231) between the years of 2002 and 2014. Annual inpatient transplants increased from 1,601 in 2002 to 5,170 in 2014. Publicly available data from the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant research indicates that the number of ASCT for MM in the US were approximately 2100 in 2002, compared to 7500 patients in 2014, hence the number of inpatient transplants as a ratio of overall transplants decreased significantly from 76.2% in 2002 to 68.9% in 2014 (p <0.001)
 The in-hospital mortality decreased non-significantly from 0.018% in 2002 to 0.007% in 2014 (p=0.077). The mean length of stay decreased only slightly from 18.8 days in 2002 to 17.3 days in 2014 (p=0.005), Costs of admission increased from $97,391 in 2002 to $184,002 in 2014 (p <0.001), despite the minimal change in the length of stay.
 Amongst common co-morbidities, significant associations with in-hospital mortality were seen in congestive heart failure (odds ratio (OR) = 4.60), weight loss (OR=4.15), chronic renal disease (OR=4.99) and valvular heart disease (OR=6.16) (Table 1).
 Conclusion:
 The proportion of patients receiving ASCT for MM as an outpatient has increased significantly from 2002 to 2014. Among those patients admitted for ASCT, the average length of stay has changed minimally, but the average cost of hospitalization has almost doubled. The presence of co-morbid conditions including congestive heart failure, previous weight loss, chronic renal disease, and valvular disease are significantly associated with a higher incidence of in-hospital mortality for patients with MM undergoing ASCT and likely drive up the cost for inpatient stays. As institutions continue to shift ASCT for MM from an inpatient to outpatient setting, further analysis of the inpatient drivers of cost is needed, as well as a cautious understanding of risk factors for mortality in this setting.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


The effect of starvation on carbohydrate metabolism in the last instar larvae of the silkworm Bombyx mori was examined. Trehalose concentration in the hemolymph increased slightly during the first 6 h of starvation and decreased thereafter, whereas glucose concentration decreased rapidly immediately after diet deprivation. Starvation-induced hypertrehalosemia was completely inhibited by neck ligation, suggesting that starvation stimulates the release of a hypertrehalosemic factor(s) from the head. The percentage of active glycogen phosphorylase in the fat body increased within 3 h of starvation and its glycogen content decreased gradually. These observations suggest that production of trehalose from glycogen is enhanced in starved larvae. However, hypertrehalosemia during starvation cannot be explained by the increased supply of trehalose into hemolymph alone, as similar changes in phosphorylase activity and glycogen content in the fat body were observed in neck-ligated larvae, in which hemolymph trehalose concentration did not increase but decreased gradually. When injected into larvae, trehalose disappeared from hemolymph at a rate about 40% lower in starved larvae than neck-ligated larvae. The hemolymph lipid concentration increased during starvation, suggesting that an increased supply of lipids to tissues suppresses the consumption of hemolymph trehalose and this is an important factor in hypertrehalosemia.


In order to achieve an agroecological transformation of the proximity conventional food systems such as green belts next to cities, particularly in its technological dimension, an active and synergic interaction between science researchers, rural extensionists and farmers as well as government institutions is needed. Using the "Participatory Action Research" as methodology and the complex system perspective, emerged a multi-actoral process in order to promote sustainable agriculture, environmentally healthier and socially accepted in Cordoba's peri-urban green belt (Cordoba Province, Argentina). The "Interinstitutional team to support the ecological intensification of food production" emphasized its actions through a "learning by doing" practice, recognizing the relevance of tacit, scientific and situational knowledge, co-constructed between all involved actors throughout the process. In the present work we developed a brief analysis about the current technological and productive reality in the periurban horticultural system at the green belt of Cordoba city, with an interdisciplinary and systemic point of view in order to develop possible solutions to achieve an agroecological transition. Even though adoption of new technology such as bio-products is part of our results, the greatest achievement could be the integration of the actors involved in the shared construction of knowledge, and the impact that these processes imply for possible reconfigurations of institutional intervention and technological linkage.


The phenomenon of local-modern architecture acculturation is important to explore because it can be used as a concept of contemporary architecture (kiwari architecture). The research object in this study is Casablancka Residence building in Bali. The object of research is a new building which is still rarely studied, especially from the aspect of architectural acculturation. This research aims to uncover various forms of acculturation of local and modern architecture in terms of various aspects of the form of acculturation, also to see which one is more dominant between local and modern architecture in the Casablancka Residence building. The Archetype Theory is then used to uncover the architectural phenomenon of Casablancka Residence building. Through a descriptive-analytical-interpretative approach, the characteristic of the acculturation will be revealed. The results of this study found a stronger dominance of local elements whose outlines appear on the roofs and floors of buildings that use strong local forms and materials, while modern elements are more dominant on the walls of buildings dominated by modern glass materials. The benefits of this study are expected to contribute positively for the community to raise the awareness of the importance of locality in building and preserving local culture and architecture. The other benefits are to increase architectural knowledge for academics and practitioners.


this paper, we consider the problem of occupancy grid map merging which is an important issue especially for multi-robot exploration task in search and rescue environments. We present scale invariant feature transform based methodology for combining individual partial map of robot units acquired from different parts of the mission environment. Proposed approach is designed not only for structured work areas, but also it is designed for unstructured and complex environment such as wide collapsed buildings. The proposed approach handles the limitations of existing works in the literature such as; first, merged robots' maps not required being in the same scale, secondly little overlapped region area between partial maps is enough for good merging performance and finally unstructured partial environment maps can be merged efficiently. The simulation results support the potential of the proposed methodology for occupancy grid map merging task.


Recently some core flood experimental data were reported following a new CO2 Huff-n-Puff (H-n-P) injection technique. This technique optimized CO2 injection pressure and volume to improve CO2/resident fluid interactions for enhanced gas and condensate recovery and CO2 storage purposes. This simulation study aims to complement and generalize the corresponding core flood experimental results. The simulation data confirm the dominant governing mechanism and the importance of using appropriate CO2/gas-condensate kr data while accounting for the effect of compositional changes on gas and condensate mobility during CO2 H-n-P injection.
 Laboratory PVT tests were performed to generate relevant data sets that describe the complex phase behavior changes when CO2 interacts with gas condensate systems. These data sets were applied for EOS tuning, phase behavior prediction, and quantifying the level of CO2/gas condensate interactions. A CO2 H-n-P injection core-flood simulation model was developed. H-n-P injection cycles with the incremental injection of CO2 volumes were simulated to replicate experimental procedures performed on a high-permeability Berea sandstone core.
 Experimental data showed that conventional CO2 H-n-P injection treatment significantly improves hydrocarbon gas and condensate recovery efficiency but at the cost of injecting and producing high volumes of CO2. While the proposed method applied at the maximum condensate saturation for the corresponding CO2/gas-condensate mixture can match the recovery efficiency achieved when applying the conventional injection technique, but with much lesser volumes of CO2 injected and produced.
 The relative permeability data measured for gas and condensate fluids (GC-kr) were significantly affected by the compositional changes resulting from CO2/resident fluid interactions below the saturation pressure. The numerical model predicted a close match for the pressure profile after adjusting the GC-kr data. However, it could only match the production profile for the pre-CO2 and first CO2 injection cycle, where the volume of CO2 injected was small and had a negligible effect on condensate recovered relative to the volume of condensate in place. Sensitivity analyses were performed on GC-kr data attempting to history match the experimental and simulated data. The generated data were analyzed to quantify the effects of CO2/resident fluid interactions on condensate revaporization and the model's predictability. These data will aid in bridging the gap in the level of CO2/gas-condensate interactions during CO2 flooding, which is vital for designing an efficient CO2 H-n-P injection process.


We discuss supersymmetry in twelve dimensions and present a covariant supersymmetric action for a brane with worldsheet signature (2, 2), called a super (2 + 2)-brane, propagating in the osp(64,12) superspace. This superspace is explicitly constructed, and is trivial in the sense that the spinorial part is a trivial bundle over spacetime, unlike the twisted superspace of usual Poincaré supersymmetry. For consistency, it is necessary to take a projection of the superspace. This is the same as the projection required for worldvolume supersymmetry. Upon compactification of this superspace, a torsion is naturally introduced and we produce the membrane and type IIB string actions in 11 and 10 dimensional Minkowski spacetimes. In addition, the compactification of the twelve dimensional supersymmetry algebra produces the correct algebras for these theories, including central charges. These considerations thus give the type IIB string and M -theory a single twelve dimensional origin.


Increased urinary excretion of thromboxane B2 and 2,3-dinor-TxB2 in cyclosporin A nephrotoxlcity. Cyclosporin A (CsA) administration to rats is associated with a selective increase in urinary excretion of immunoreactive thromboxane B2 (i-TxB2), the stable breakdown product of TxA2. The exaggerated synthesis of TxA2 may play a role in the reduction of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) observed both in animals and humans undergoing CsA treatment. The present study was designed to get further insight into the origin of the abnormal i-TxB2 urinary excretion. Rats given orally CsA (50 mg/kg/day) for 30 days had a significant increase in the urinary excretion of both 2,3-dinor-TxB2 and TxB2 measured by technique of capillary column gas chromatography-negative ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry (HRGCNICIMS). Urinary TxB2 is more likely to reflect the renal synthesis of the parent compound, whereas 2,3-dinor-TxB2 is considered to reflect the amount of TxB2 formed in the circulation. Experiments in isolated perfused kidney (IPK) taken from animals given CsA for 30 days showed a lower percentage increase in urinary TxB2 over vehicle treated animals. Moreover in IPK the ratio 2,3-dinor-TxB2/TxB2 was lower than in vivo. The amount of i-TxB2 detectable in serum of animals given CsA was not different from that of control animals. In contrast, isolated glomeruli taken from rats given CsA had an increase in their TxA2 synthesis measured as i-TxB2 in the supernatants. Ultrastructural studies on kidney specimens from animals given CsA showed a focal glomerular endothelial damage together with a marked infiltration of blood borne cells of monocyte-macrophage type in the glomerular tuft. In contrast, kidney specimens taken from IPK preparations were devoid of inflammatory cells. In vitro CsA did not interfere with platelet arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism as shown by a normal i-TxB2 generation in vitro by rat platelet-rich plasma (PRP) exposed to CsA and then challenged with AA or ADP. Similarly isolated glomeruli and isolated proximal tubules from normal rats when challenged with CsA in vitro converted AA into TxA2 normally. It is suggested that the cause of the increased urinary excretion or 2,3-dinor-TxB2 is the consequence of intrarenal platelet and macrophage activation, probably triggered by the endothelial damage. The parallel increase in the urinary excretion of unmetabolized TxB2 is likely to reflect a concomitant activation of resident renal cell AA metabolism induced by CsA.


ABSTRACT Substance Abuse, Violence, and AIDS/HIV (i.e., SAVA) tend to co-occur and the clustering of these adversities may be associated with increased psychopathology. Little is known about how these co-existing adversities affect the mental health of women. Further, few studies have examined protective factors that could weaken the relationship between these SAVA adversities and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). The current study assessed this relationship, as well as the moderating effect of social support. Participants included 178 women (M age = 35.23, SD = 8.44; 71.0% Black) who were living with HIV, experiencing intimate partner violence, and/or using illicit substances. Women were recruited from community organizations and completed hour-long interviews. Findings indicated that experiencing more than one SAVA was associated with greater PTSS (ß =.28; p =.036). Results also supported the moderating role of social support (F(2,168) = 3.41, p=.035, R2 =.31, f 2 =.45). Among women with higher levels of support, having one SAVA adversity was associated with lower PTSS. However, among women with lower levels of support, having one SAVA was associated with higher PTSS. Results not only underscore how co-occurring adversities exacerbate PTSS, but also highlight the central role of social support as a protective factor among women.


The link between human capital and economic growth still remains unexplained because of the measurement issues connected to the human capital stock. This study investigates the link between human capital stock and economic growth using inclusive wealth index and ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees as proxy for human capital stock. Data from the global workplace and inclusive wealth reports are used in order to provide an international comparison of the link between human capital and inclusive wealth. Cross country comparison show human capital largerly contribute to the inclusive wealth formation. Formal education is important but also motivating working environment is needed to achieve sustainable economic growth. The finding further indicates that standard human capital growth model should be revised taking into the account variables addressing sustainable growth (not just growth) and environmental variables (work conditions) affecting human capital stock. Countries encouraging investments in the development of individuals both through formal education and inspiring work environments achieve higher sustainable economic growth


A panoramic view of the amebiasis concept, its pathogenesis and its epidemiologic importance is presented. Besides, a brief description of the characteristic lesions of the mainly affected organs is done. Then it is proposed a sequential relationship must occur in the amebic lesion production. Finally, the best characterized amoebal infective factors are analyzed. This paper does not pretend to be an exhaustive review, but to offer an image of the pathogenetic mechanisms of amebiasis.


This article interrogates Pan-Africanism and Kwame Nkrumah's contribution to the growth of African unity. It argues that Pan-Africanism was a global movement to unite Africans against racial oppression and exploitation associated with European hegemony. It emerged as a response to the inferior social status to which Africans in white dominated societies were consigned. The article also portrays Pan-Africanism as a political and cultural phenomenon that regards Africa, Africans and African descendants in the Diaspora as a single unit. Relying on available evidence, the article then argues that Pan-Africanism sought to regenerate and unify Africans by promoting a feeling of oneness among the people of the African world. It therefore establishes that Pan-Africanism became the instrument of African nationalism, solidarity and unity in the struggle against colonialism, imperialism and neo-colonialism. The study further argues that the greatest impediment to the realization of Nkrumah's dream of African unity was the issue of the newly acquired sovereignty by the African states. Indeed, the newly independent states of Africa viewed Nkrumah's dream of a "United States of Africa" with common planning, defence, diplomacy and foreign policy goals with great suspicion and even hostility. Finally, the article concludes that it was an admixture between the Casablanca Charter that needed supranational organization and the Monrovia Protocol that required a gradualist functional organization that gave birth to the Organization of African Unity in May 1963 in Addis-Ababa.


Simple Summary Optimising horse–human relationships can promote positive experiences and advance the welfare and safety of both dyad members. Attachment and bonding are key components in such relationships, and horses are good candidate subjects for studying bonding processes due to their social nature, artificial selection for trainability and their dependence on human care in a domestic context. However, the factors that contribute to successful relationships remain unclear. This preliminary study on 12 horses investigated whether horses develop an attachment bond with their trainer after a short period of frequent interactions. The study also aimed to explore how the type of training method (negative reinforcement and two types of combined reinforcement) may affect the horse–human relationship and how this manifests as ease of handling in a novel environment. The horses showed reduced reactions in both the fear test (encountering novel objects with the trainer and a stranger present while moving freely) and handling test (encountering novel objects while being led by the trainer versus a stranger) after training compared to before training. However, we could not provide conclusive evidence that horse–human relationships established during training constitute an attachment. Suggestions for future studies are provided. Abstract The study investigated equine responses to novelty and handling, aiming to reveal whether horse–human relationships reflect criteria of an attachment bond. Twelve adult Standardbreds were subjected to a fear-eliciting test (novel objects presented close to two humans) and a handling test (being led passing novel objects) to study attachment-related behaviours and ease of handling. The tests were performed both before (pre-test) and after (post-test) horses had been trained by the same female handler (10 sessions of 15 min). Horses were assigned to three groups of four, each of which underwent different operant conditioning protocols: negative reinforcement (NR; pressure, release of lead, and whip tap signals) or combined NR with either positive reinforcement using food (PRf) or wither scratching (PRs). Results showed that neither familiarity of the person nor training method had a significant impact on the horses' behavioural responses in the post-tests. However, horses showed decreased heart rates between pre- and post-tests, which may indicate habituation, an effect of training per se, or that the presence of the familiar trainer served to calm the horses during the challenging situations. There were large individual variations among the horses' responses and further studies are needed to increase our understanding of horse–human relationships.


The direct arterial blood pressure was monitored over 24 hours in unrestricted untreated patients in order to obtain the average pressure and standard deviation over 24 hours. The standard deviation was taken as the index of variability of pressure. In eight subjects the study was repeated three months after commencement of treatment with a beta-adrenergic blocking agent (tolamolol, 300 mg/day). In these subjects tolamolol resulted in a fall in mean blood pressure from 107 to 92 mmHg (P less than 0-05) and a fall in heart rate from 82 to 70 beats per minute (P less than 0-01). The variability in blood pressure, however, was unaffected by treatment.


Au nanoparticle (NP)-modified Si nanomembrane (Si NM) Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) were fabricated by using a transfer-printing method to create pedestals using only one photomask on a flexible substrate. The transfer using the pedestals afforded a yield of >95% with no significant cracks. The plasmonic Au NPs can facilitate the improvement of the incident optical absorption. The Au NP-modified Si NM SBD exhibited enhanced photoresponse characteristics with an external quantum efficiency ( &eegr; EQE ) ?> of 34%, a photosensitivity ( P ) ?> of 27 at a voltage bias of −5 V, a light intensity of 1.2 W cm−2, and a responsivity ( R ph ) ?> of 0.21 A W−1. Additionally, the mechanical bending characteristics of the device were observed while a compressive strain up to 0.62% was applied to the diode. The results suggest that the Au NP-modified Si NM SBD has great potential for use in multifunction devices as a strain sensor and photosensor.


This work has been motivated by the need to test interoperability of systems carrying voice calls over the IP network. The voice over IP (VoIP) systems must be integrated and interoperate with the existing public switched telephone network (PSTN) before they are widely adopted. Standards have been developed to address this problem, but unfortunately different standards bodies and commercial consortiums have defined different standards. Furthermore, the prevailing VoIP standard such as H.323 is incomplete, complex, and presents the implementers with "vendors latitudes". As a result, there is no guarantee that the integrated VoIP systems would interoperate properly even if the implementations are all H.323-compliant. Thus interoperability testing has become indispensable. We want to test all the system interoperations by exercising all the required patterns of "interoperating behaviors". On the other hand, test execution in real environment is expensive, and we want to minimize the number of tests while maintaining the coverage. We present a general method for automatic generation of test cases, which cover all the required system interoperations and contain a minimal number of tests. We study data structures and efficient test generation algorithms, which take time proportional to the total test case size. Finally, we report experimental results on VoIP systems.


Natural fibers are subdivided based on their origins, coming from plants, animals or minerals. All plant fibers are composed of cellulose while animal fibers consist of proteins (hair, silk, and wool). Plant fibers include bask (or stem or soft sclerenchyma) fibers, leaf or hard fibers, seed, fruit, wood, cereal straw, and other grass fibers. Over the last few years, a number of researchers have been involved in investigating the exploitation of natural fibers as load bearing constituents in composite materials. The use of such materials in composites has increased due to their relative cheapness, ability to recycle and for the fact that they can compete well in terms of strength per weight of material. Natural fibers can be considered as naturally occurring composites consisting mainly of cellulose fibrils embedded in lignin matrix. The cellulose fibrils are aligned along the length of the fiber, which render maximum tensile and flexural strengths, in addition to providing rigidity. The reinforcing efficiency of natural fiber is related to the nature of cellulose and its crystallinity. The existing traditional yoke is made up of the wood of trees like Tun and Haldu which are not easily available in different parts of India. The life of a yoke is about 3 to 5 years, due to this 628 tons of wood is required at every 3-5 years in India that would create a burden to the presently available forests. To overcome these problems, there is a need to develop yoke from waste bio-materials. Keeping this in view, a yoke from composite material was designed and developed and relative comparison between traditional wooden and developed yoke has been done.


We report experimental observation of bound states of soliton in passively mode-locked erbium-doped double-clad fiber laser. Operating in the anomalous dispersion regime with a double-clad fiber 10 W amplifier allows generation of up to several thousands of solitons per round trip. By increasing the pumping power we pass from one bound state to several separated bound states. The bound states self-organize them leading to harmonic mode-locking of soliton crystals.


In this paper we study the connection between matrix measures and random walks with a block tridiagonal transition matrix. We derive sufficient conditions such that the blocks of the n-step block tridiagonal transition matrix of the Markov chain can be represented as integrals with respect to a matrix valued spectral measure. Several stochastic properties of the processes are characterized by means of this matrix measure. In many cases this measure is supported in the interval [-1,1]. The results are illustrated by several examples including random walks on a grid and the embedded chain of a queuing system.


Increasing number studies were conducted to explore the heat extraction performance of the enhanced geothermal system (EGS). However, most previous studies ignore the wellbore fluid flow and heat transfer effects and the variation of water thermophysical properties. It is difficult to accurately evaluate the influence of each engineering parameter on the heat extraction performance of the system. Hence, based on the fully coupled wellbore-reservoir model, this paper explores the influence of formation temperature and engineering parameters on the heat extraction performance of the system. The effects of fluid flow and heat transfer in the wellbore on the system heat extraction performance under different formation temperatures is compared and analyzed. The effect of the injection temperature and flow rate on the system heat extraction performance is studied. Results show that the effects of wellbore flow and heat transfer on the system heat extraction performance increase with the formation temperature. Increasing the injection temperature will decrease the system pressure difference, but it also reduces the thermal power of the system. Increasing the flow rate will increase the thermal power of the system, but it also increase the system pressure difference.

 The middle and deep high-temperature geothermal resources in China are abundant. The Enhanced geothermal system (EGS) is an effective means to develop deep high-temperature geothermal resources (Xu et al., 2018). Water is the most common working fluid for the EGS due to its high heat capacity and thermal conductivity.


Objective: Previous proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) studies in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) report decreased hippocampal N-acetylaspartate (NAA), an indicator of neuronal integrity. However, other areas of the brain need to be explored. The objective of this study was to investigate the specificity of hippocampal NAA concentration changes in PTSD by also examining a control region, the occipital white matter (OWM). Methods: Eight patients with PTSD and 5 control subjects underwent single-voxel 1H-MRS of the hippocampi and bilateral OWM. Absolute neurometabolite concentrations were determined. Preliminary Results: Trends toward reduced left hippocampal NAA and creatine (Cre) were found in the PTSD group. PTSD subjects also had reduced bilateral OWM Cre. Conclusions: The preliminary results of our study in civilians with PTSD replicate previous MRS studies and are consistent with decreased hippocampal neuronal integrity without effects in the OWM. Replication of our findings is needed.


Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) has demonstrated very impressive performance in novel view synthesis via implicitly modelling 3D representations from multi-view 2D images. However, most existing studies train NeRF models with either reasonable camera pose initialization or manually-crafted camera pose distributions which are often unavailable or hard to acquire in various real-world data. We design VMRF, an innovative view matching NeRF that enables effective NeRF training without requiring prior knowledge in camera poses or camera pose distributions. VMRF introduces a view matching scheme, which exploits unbalanced optimal transport to produce a feature transport plan for mapping a rendered image with randomly initialized camera pose to the corresponding real image. With the feature transport plan as the guidance, a novel pose calibration technique is designed which rectifies the initially randomized camera poses by predicting relative pose transformations between the pair of rendered and real images. Extensive experiments over a number of synthetic and real datasets show that the proposed VMRF outperforms the state-of-the-art qualitatively and quantitatively by large margins.


Cashew nut allergy can be a severe food allergy of which the prevalence appears to be increasing. The aim of this thesis was a comprehensive molecular and serological characterisation of the cashew nut allergens Ana o 1, 2 and 3 for improved diagnosis and characterisation of patient populations. Chapter 1 in this thesis provides background information on cashew nuts, allergy, the allergens Ana o 1, 2 and 3, the effect of heat treatments on cashew nut proteins, the digestibility of cashew nut proteins, cross-reactivity between cashew nut proteins and other tree nuts, and the detection of cashew nut in food products. Subsequently, in Chapter 2, a review is presented on the topic of epithelial protein and allergen transport. This review describes multiple pathways of intestinal protein transport, sums up existing experimental data concerning protein and peptide transport, and presents different methods to study this. Interestingly, the pathway of (allergenic) protein transport can differ between sensitized and non-sensitized persons. In sensitized persons, protein transport occurs transcellularly via enterocytes, and paracellularly with the involvement of mast cells, while in non-sensitized persons microfold cells and enterocytes are considered most important. In the next three chapters, cashew nut allergens were studied. Cashew nut allergy and cashew nut allergens were chosen because of a high number of undiagnosed cashew nut allergic children reported at the children's hospital "Kinderhaven", in Rotterdam, an outpatient clinic that is involved in this study. Chapter 3 describes a protocol for the purification of Ana o 1, 2 and 3 from cashew nuts. Ana o 1 and 3 were purified by protein extraction, salt precipitation and filtering over a 30kDa molecular weight membrane. Ana o 2 was purified by protein extraction followed by gel filtration chromatography. These purified proteins were characterised by SDS-PAGE, western blot, glycoprotein stain, and protein identification. In this chapter also more in-depth analysis was performed on the N- and C-termini of the large and small subunits of Ana o 3. These N- and C-termini of Ana o 3, as well as the SDS-PAGE protein profiles were compared between cashew nuts of different origins in Chapter 4. In this chapter also the effects of different heat treatments on the electrophoretic behaviour of cashew nut allergens from various origins were studied, using both 1D and 2D electrophoresis. In these data no significant differences were detected between the electrophoresis patterns of Ana o 1, 2 or 3 in the various origins of cashew nuts. Some small but significant differences in Ana o 1, 2 and 3 content, however, were detected between the differently heated cashew nuts. No major differences in N- and C-terminal micro-heterogeneity were detected between cashew nuts of different origins. Next, in Chapter 5, the cashew nut allergens Ana o 1, 2 and 3 were produced as recombinant proteins using a yeast (P. pastoris) production system. This procedure was used as recombinant allergens often produce higher yields of higher purity compared to native purified allergens. The recombinant proteins were compared to the native cashew nut proteins for their glycosylation pattern, IgE binding capacity, and 2D electrophoresis profile. In Chapter 6, the major findings of this thesis are discussed. An overview of the protein characteristics (e.g. 1D and 2D electrophoresis profile, glycosylation, IgE binding, pepsin-digestibility) was provided, as well as a discussion on the clinical benefits that can be derived from the results obtained in this thesis. Also some additional results are presented, studying the serologic cross-reactivity between cashew nuts and other tree nuts and Anacardiaceae nuts and fruits. This thesis provides an in-depth study regarding the protein characteristics of the cashew nut allergens Ana o 1, 2 and 3. Using the allergens that were purified in this thesis project, the serum IgE levels of Ana o 1, 2 and 3 could be measured in cashew nut-allergic children. The allergens were also recombinantly produced to obtain higher quantity of allergens for regular use in diagnostics of cashew nut allergy. The results from this thesis can potentially expand clinical patient characterisation with measurements of IgE levels to purified and recombinantly produced major cashew nut allergens. These results might have applications for other food allergens or patient populations.


In this paper, a characteristic-point-based fuzzy inference classifier (CPFIC) is proposed to perform two-class classification. Through fuzzy interpolation, a subset of classified samples can be taken as representatives of all samples. They are called characteristic points (CPs). A closeness matrix representing the closeness of two samples in a same class is proposed in selecting CPs. By solving a number of constrained minimizations, the CPFIC is systematically built. Experiments were conducted on four classification problems with known Bayes errors, two benchmark classification problems, and a real-world application used in our research. The CPFIC performs well in accuracy evaluations in all the seven experiments. The summarizing abilities from the CPs into the linguistic descriptions of the fuzzy rule bases were also demonstrated in these examples