The Glass Sentence, BCCB 9/14), still hoping to find her parents and still seeking knowledge about this wonky, rearranged, mysterious new world that exists since the Great Disruption of 1799. It's been a year since the last adventure, and her uncle is now too involved in politics to keep teaching her cartography or help her find more clues about where her parents went; Sophia's not one for waiting, though, and she takes matters into her own hands when she thinks she has a lead. Of course, Sophia meets allies along the way, adding fresh characters into the familiar mix from the first volume, and Grove also carefully develops events in the Boston that Sophia leaves behind, setting up multiple open-ended plot threads for the final outing. There isn't much point in trying to read this as a stand-alone novel, as the first book sets up much of the richness, complexity, and integral elements. However, return readers will find a wealth to explore, as the author manages to create memorable characters, an endlessly intriguing world that, even with the provided maps and her uncle's careful explanations, still remains an almost complete mystery, and a plot that merits every single page of this lengthy volume. AS


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of employees' wage perception on behavioral intentions in tourism firms. Previously a literature review related to competence, justice, payment and scope of wages and behavioral intentions was conducted and then questionnaire was developed from the studies in the literature. Data were collected at hotels and travel agencies in Antalya and Mugla Regions by researchers in face-to-face interviews with 511 employees and were analyzed with SPSS statistical programs. Structural and convergent validity of the data have revealed with the factor analysis. Then, correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. Moreover, the differences of wage perception between two groups have revealed with t test and it was tested using a regression analysis to determine the affects of independent variables on dependent variable. As a result, research findings suggest a linear relationship between independent variables and dependent variable.


The honeybee (Apis mellifera) visual system contains three classes of retinal photoreceptor cells that are maximally sensitive to light at 440 nm (blue), 350 nm (ultraviolet), and 540 nm (green). We performed a PCR-based screen to identify the genes encoding the Apis blue- and ultraviolet (UV)-sensitive opsins. We obtained cDNAs that encode proteins having a high degree of sequence and structural similarity to other invertebrate and vertebrate visual pigments. The Apis blue opsin cDNA encodes a protein of 377 amino acids that is most closely related to other invertebrate visual pigments that are thought to be blue-sensitive. The UV opsin cDNA encodes a protein of 371 amino acids that is most closely related to the UV-sensitive Drosophila Rh3 and Rh4 opsins. To test whether these novel Apis opsin genes encode functional visual pigments and to determine their spectral properties, we expressed them in the R1–6 photoreceptor cells of blindninaE mutant Drosophila, which lack the major opsin of the fly compound eye. We found that the expression of either the Apis blue- or UV-sensitive opsin in transgenic flies rescued the visual defect of ninaEmutants, indicating that both genes encode functional visual pigments. Spectral sensitivity measurements of these flies demonstrated that the blue and UV visual pigments are maximally sensitive to light at 439 and 353 nm, respectively. These maxima are in excellent agreement with those determined previously by single-cell recordings fromApis photoreceptor cells and provide definitive evidence that the genes described here encode visual pigments having blue and UV sensitivity.


Background: Radiation-induced sarcoma (RIS) is a rare complication following radiotherapy of head and neck carcinoma. It occurs mostly within the limits of the irradiated area and always suggests a poor prognosis. Case summary: Herein, we reported one case of a 61-year-old male with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), who had a history of surgery and radiotherapy. In 2014, this patient was admitted in our hospital for increasing hoarseness five years after surgery and radiotherapy. Finally, the patient was diagnosed as fibrosarcoma and was given total laryngectomy, the patient was died in August 2019 within following up. In addition, the clinical and pathological characteristics of similar cases and their probable tumorgenesis were also reviewed. Conclusion: RIS is increasingly important. They usually occur mostly within the limits of the irradiated area. SCC is the most common malignant tumour in the head and neck region, and radiotherapy is a primary adjuvant therapy method. For patients receiving radiotherapy, physicians should follow up more carefully for early detection the RISs. For sarcomas occurring in head and neck region, especially RIS, complete surgical resection is the primary treatment. The choice of radiotherapy and chemotherapy should be more cautious. The prognosis of primary sarcomas or RISs is still controversial. No matter primary sarcomas or RISs, we believe that complete surgical resection should be considered as a top priority in surgery.


Software systems inherently contain vulnerabilities that have been exploited in the past resulting in significant revenue losses. The study of various aspects related to vulnerabilities such as their severity, rates of disclosure, exploit and patch release, and existence of common vulnerabilities in different products can help in improving the development, deployment, and maintenance process of software systems. It can also help in designing future security policies and conducting audits of past incidents. Furthermore, such an analysis can help customers to assess the security risks associated with software products of different vendors. In this paper, we conduct an exploratory measurement study of a large software vulnerability data set containing 56077 vulnerabilities disclosed since 1988 till 2013. We investigate vulnerabilities along following eight dimensions: (1) phases in the life cycle of vulnerabilities, (2) evolution of vulnerabilities over the years, (3) functionality of vulnerabilities, (4) access requirement for exploitation of vulnerabilities, (5) risk level of vulnerabilities, (6) software vendors, (7) software products, and (8) existence of common vulnerabilities in multiple software products. Our exploratory analysis uncovers several statistically significant findings that have important implications for software development and deployment.


Climate change and urbanisation in combination put great pressure on terrestrial and ocean ecosystems, vital for subsistence and wellbeing in both rural and urban areas of Pacific islands. Adaptation is urgently required. Nature-based solutions (NbS) offer great potential, with the region increasingly implementing NbS and linked approaches like ecosystem-based adaptation in response. This paper utilises three Pacific island nation case-studies, Kiribati, Samoa and Vanuatu, to review current NbS approaches to adapt and mitigate the converging resilience challenges of climate change and urbanisation. We look at associated government policies, current NbS experience, and offer insights into opportunities for future work with focus on urban areas. These three Pacific island case-studies showcase their rich cultural and biological diversity and, importantly, the role of traditional ecological knowledge in shaping localised, place-based, NbS for climate change adaptation and enhanced wellbeing. But gaps in knowledge, policy, and practice remain. There is great potential for a nature-based urban design agenda positioned within an urban ecosystems framework linked closely to Indigenous understandings of wellbeing.


Giant-cell tumor of the tendon sheath is a common lesion of the synovial membrane, and it frequently occurs in the hand. It is related to pigmented villonodular synovitis, has variable areas of involvement, and rarely causes osseous destruction 1. We describe a rare case of a giant-cell tumor of the tendon sheath in the cervical spine.

An otherwise healthy twenty-seven-year-old woman presented to us with a three-month history of neck pain and intermittent numbness in the fingers of both hands. The patient also described severe migraine-type headaches over the previous two years. The neck pain was worse on the left side, and there was no inciting trauma or history of similar pain. The patient had no arm pain, and her medical and surgical histories were unremarkable.

The physical examination revealed mild tenderness to palpation of the mid-cervical spine, which was worse on the left side. No masses were palpated. Motion of the cervical spine, especially extension, was limited. Neurological testing failed to detect any functional deficits in the upper or lower extremities. Radiographs revealed an osteolytic lesion involving the left fourth and fifth cervical facet joints ( Fig. 1 ) with a minimal amount of subluxation of the vertebral body visible on the lateral radiographs. Computerized tomography demonstrated an expansile lesion in the left facet joint between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae that was encased in an osseous rim measuring 2 by 2 cm ( Fig. 2 ). Magnetic resonance imaging showed a mass with soft-tissue density that had increased signal intensity relative to muscle on T2-weighted images. The tumor was noted to abut the vertebral foramen and obliterate the lateral recess, but it did not impinge on the spinal cord ( Fig. 3 ).

Fig. 1:
Anteroposterior radiograph demonstrating a …


AIM
To investigate the factors association with dental caries experience in the primary dentition of Thai preschool children with cerebral palsy.

METHODS AND RESULTS
A cross-sectional study was conducted among sixty Thai preschool children with cerebral palsy, aged 3-6 years old. Caries experience was determined by identifying decayednon-cavitated and cavitated lesion, missing, and filled surfaces of deciduous teeth(dmfs). Sociodemographic data, CP motor types, dietary habits, oral health behaviors and dental plaque index were collected. Multiple linear regression analysis was carried out to identify the strength of the association between factors and dental caries experience. The prevalence of dental caries was 91.66%. The average dmfs was 20.30 ± 21.63 surfaces/individual. The multiple linear regression indicated that dmfs was significantly associated with snacking carbohydrate between meals more than two times/dayβ ± SE = 0.372 ± 0.125; p = 0.004, spastic type of cerebral palsyβ ± SE = 0.309 ± 0.124; p = 0.015 and one-time daily tooth brushingβ ± SE = 0.306 ± 0.124; p = 0.017.

CONCLUSIONS
Nine out of 10 preschool children with CP experienced dental caries. Spastic type of CP had more risk to develop dental decay. Caries prevention for preschool children with CP should emphasis on controlling the frequency of carbohydrate snack no more than two times/day and reinforcing tooth brushing at least twice daily.


In a time period of 21 days an experimental gingivitis was induced in 8 volunteers. Four volunteers received a carbohydrate-reduced, the other 4 persons a carbohydrate-enriched diet. Clinical investigations on the development of plaque and gingivitis and bacteriological examinations of the supragingival microflora were performed simultaneously. The change in the composition of the supragingival plaque-microflora were nearly independent of the amount of food-carbohydrate. In the beginning of the experiment all volunteers had an almost pure streptococcal microflora but during the course of the experiment, the supragingival flora developed to a complex microflora with 50% anaerobes. The reduction of the number of streptococci was accompanied by an increase in the number of Gram-negative rods and actinomycetes. The development of gingivitis in persons with carbohydrate-enriched food was more rapid than in persons with carbohydrate-reduced food. It was striking that the occurrence of clinical symptoms correlated with the increase of the number of Actinomyces viscosus in the plaque material.


Through the last years, different strategies to enhance synchronization in complex networks have been proposed. In this work, we show that synchronization of nonidentical dynamical units that are attractively coupled in a small-world network is strongly improved by just making phase-repulsive a tiny fraction of the couplings. By a purely topological analysis that does not depend on the dynamical model, we link the emerging dynamical behavior with the structural properties of the sparsely coupled repulsive network.


Mature akee trees, Blighia sapida K. Koenig, in a local south Florida commercial orchard had wilt and dieback symptoms during spring 1999. A fungus isolated from the gray xylem root tissue on V8 agar was identified as Verticillium dahliae Klebahn at the Division of Plant Industry of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Twenty akee seedlings were transplanted into 3.85-liter plastic pots and grown in a greenhouse at a daytime temperature of 28°C and nighttime temperature of 23°C. When plants were approximately 25 cm high, a 15-cm knife was used to sever roots in the four quadrants of each pot. Inoculum was made from a 2-week-old culture of V. dahliae on V8 agar and blended with 160 ml of sterile water, and 15 ml of this slurry was poured into the disturbed soil of each of 10 treated plants. A plate of uninoculated V8 agar was applied, as above, to 10 control plants. Plants were kept in the greenhouse. After 6 weeks, inoculated plants showed symptoms of leaf wilt, dieback and plant death. No symptoms were seen on control plants. V. dahliae was isolated directly from the gray vascular tissue of inoculated plants. The inoculation experiment was repeated three times, fulfilling Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Verticillium dieback on B. sapida in the United States.


The distribution of elements at the bonding interface in Pd-plated Cu bonding wire and changes in the surface condition of the wire during long-term storage were investigated, and package reliability was evaluated, using an actual device. In the ball at the tip of the wire and in the first bonding portion after wire bonding, segregation of Pd was observed in the near surface region at the rate of 20-30 at% in the state of the PdCu alloy. Pd density was highest at the surface, and the PdCu alloy layer was thicker than the initial thickness of the Pd. In the bonding process, when both the first and second sides contacted the groundwork, the Pd plating moved to the surrounding area. The Cu core was thus connected directly to the groundwork, and the contribution of Pd to the bonding was found to be small. Keeping the wire in an air atmosphere for six months had little influence on its surface state. It is thought that the bonding wire used in this study could potentially solve the oxidation problems associated with conventional Cu wire. The reliability of a TSOP (thin small outline package) that was assembled using an actual semiconductor device and Pd-coated Cu wire was evaluated, and its ability to meet all required standards was confirmed.


FSO is a developing technology that has a great chance to compliment the traditional wireless communications and offer some inherent advantages compared to microwave links due to transmitting higher speed of data, easily deployment, and no license spectrum required. However, FSO is very vulnerable to the climatological phenomena such as fog, snow, rain, and haze that reduce the link availability. Most researches and studies are focusing on improving the FSO system for terrestrial link based on data in temperate region. Therefore, this paper is aiming to provide the feasibility analysis on performing FSO from earth to satellite in Malaysia as the performance of FSO is dependent on local weather conditions and in tropical region, the attenuations are dominant by rain and haze. The analysis is based on measurement of rain intensity, visibility and variation of optical free space signal level which has been done at Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University (IIUM) Kuala Lumpur campus. From the terrestrial data, it will be scaled up for earth to satellite especially Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite and will be compared with calculated of FSO earth-to-satellite data. The analysis will determine the operability of FSO for long distance and as a benchmark for future design.


Samples of two subalkaline metavolcanic suites, the Tudor formation (ca. 1.28 Ga) and the overlying Kashwakamak formation, have been analysed for major elements and 27 trace elements (including rare-earth elements). The Tudor formation is tholeiitic and contains mainly basaltic flows, whereas the Kashwakamak formation is calc-alkaline and contains mainly andesitic rocks with minor felsic rocks. The succession has been regionally metamorphosed to upper greenschist – lower amphibolite facies. Trace-element abundances and ratios indicate that rocks of the Tudor and Kashwakamak formations are island-arc type. Geochemical modelling using rare-earth elements, Zr, Ti, and Y indicates that the Tudor volcanic rocks are not derived from a single parental magma through simple fractional crystallization. Equilibrium partial melting of a heterogeneous Proterozoic upper mantle can explain the trace-element abundances and ratios of Tudor formation volcanic rocks. The intermediate to felsic rocks of the Kashwakamak formation appear to have been derived from a separate partial melting event. The data are consistent with an origin of the arc either on oceanic crust or on thinned continental crust, and with accretion of the arc to a continental margin between the time of extrusion of Tudor volcanic rocks and that of Kashwakamak volcanic rocks.


In the "years of stagnation" before glasnost changed the cultural map of the Soviet Union, Iurii Trifonov (1926-1981) defied the rules of censorship. In Invented Truth, Josphine Woll examines how, within the repressive artistic and political constraints of the Soviet publishing world, Trifonov managed not only to write on controversial tropics such as Soviet history but even to achieve and maintain popular status in doing so. Woll analyzes the aesthetic strategies Trifonov deployed to transmit his ideas and opinions to Soviet readers and elucidates the major themes of his late fiction: the moral climate that permitted the triumph of Stalinist immorality, the relationship between the Bolshevik revolutionary past and present-day Soviet amorality, and, finally, art's prismatic interpretation of reality. Drawing on both Western and Soviet scholarship, as well as interviews with many Soviet and emigre writers, literary critics, and personal acquaintances of Trifonov, Woll provides detailed background on the Soviet literary milieu and the rules governing literary production.


Significant guidelines are presented for the successful design of aerospace tanks and tank components, such as expulsion devices, standpipes, and baffles. The state of the art is reviewed, and the design criteria are presented along with recommended practices. Design monographs are listed.


Studies are reported of the upper critical fields of Nbo.53Tio.47-Ge multilayers consisting of thick Ge layers and varying-thickness Nbo.s3Tio.47 layers. Both the angular dependence and the temperature dependence of the upper critical fields indicate a dimensional crossover at a Nbo.s3Tio.47 layer thickness near 200 ~ . All the 2D samples display a cusplike upper critical field angular dependence with a sharper cusp for thinner Nbo.s3Tio.47 layers. The parallel upper critical fields are tentatively fitted with an expression combining the 2D field dependence of Rickayzen, the paramagnetic limiting behavior of Maki, and the disorder-related Coulomb interaction effects of Maekawa and Fukuyama. The perpendicular fields are fitted with the Maekawa, Ebisawa, and Fukuyama theory; better agreement is obtained for thinner Nbo.53Tio.47 sublayers when the paramagnetic limiting effect is included.


Replicating DNA regions on barley chromosomes were investigated by a replication banding technique. Of all chromosomal regions, the late replicating regions, in which DNA replicated in the last third of S phase, were detected as exceptionally distinct bands. Each late replicating region had its own timing and duration to replicate, which were not influenced by any translocations. This suggested that the late replication was highly associated with the structure of its related chromosomal region. By using the series of translocated chromosome lines, the late replication banding patterns of seven barley chromosomes were identified. The late replication banding pattern was similar to the C-banding pattern. The relationships of the late replicating regions with heterochromatin and C-banding regions are also discussed.


A common narrative of the Syrian conflict suggests that it began with a grassroots uprising and devolved into a violent war between armed actors, leaving civilians to become victims or warriors. A more careful consideration of developments in and around Syria uncovers evidence of continued unarmed mobilization among civilians. Indeed, refugees in neighboring countries like Jordan are deeply engaged in humanitarian, developmental, and political endeavors. In this study, qualitative research and a unique survey together demonstrate that Syrians in Jordan have engaged in abundant activism on behalf of the Syrian cause. Still, the overwhelming militarism and humanitarianism that have characterized the Syrian crisis have had their impacts: activist organization is constricted and configured by security imperatives and, paradoxically, by the aid regime assisting civilians in the conflict. In turn, activism has evolved from grassroots mobilization to a formal and aid-based response to a humanitarian crisis.


This study investigates the impact of return distribution such as skewness and kurtosis on lagged market risk premium to risk premium in Indonesia capital market during COVID-19 pandemic. Data are monthly, from january to December 2020, and 674 firms. Panel data predictive regression is used The method  For this study, I first looked for market risk premium and risk premium desripitives. Second, I used monthly panel data predictive regression from lagged market risk premium and risk premium in 2020. Third, I incorporate skewness and kurtosis simultaneously. Fourth, I exclude kurtosis or skewness in previous model. The results are market risk premium and risk premium having negative return. Risk premium has lower returns than market risk premium. The beta lagged market risk premium is significant to risk premium. The skewness and kurtosis market risk premium do not signify to risk premium together but significant separately. I can clonclude that the movement market risk premim and risk premium during COVID-19 pandemic are average negative. Beta lagged market risk premium can explain the future monthly risk premium. Contrary skewness and kurtosis, those can not be run together. When the model used to beta lagged market risk premium and skewness, partially the skewness was significant and the direction was positive. However, only beta lagged market risk premium and kurtosis were staying negative to the previous model. Incorporating lagged assumptive distribution only explain the risk premium under 1 % about 0.24%.


Various state insurance departments and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners compile complaint ratios for insurance companies. Aside from the obvious aid this provides consumers in deciding among insurance companies, the question arises as to whether the companies themselves take advantage of these reports. This paper exam-ines whether or not insurance companies use complaint information to improve their customer service. It does so from two perspectives. First, do the complaint ratios tend to improve after a decline? Second, do they tend to improve when their ratios fall below those of comparable companies? It was found that there is a significant tendency toward improvement in both situations.


This study compares fluid velocity magnitude and direction for three different glassy carbon (GC) electrode systems effecting alternating current (AC) electroosmotic pumping. The flow behavior is analyzed for electroosmotic pumping performed with asymmetric coplanar electrodes. Subsequently, effects of adding microposts array of two different heights (40 μm and 80 μm) are studied. Experimental results demonstrate that as peak-to-peak voltage is increased above 10 V peak-to-peak, the flow reversal is achieved for planar electrodes. Utilization of microposts-enhanced asymmetric electrodes blocks the flow reversal and alters the magnitude of the fluid velocity at the application of larger voltages (above 10 V peak-to-peak). Understanding of the consequences of three-dimensional geometry of asymmetric electrodes would allow designing the electrode system for AC electroosmotic pumping and mixing, as well as bidirectional fluid driving with equal forward and backward flow velocities.


The diagnosis of indeterminate mediastinal lymph nodes, masses, and peripheral pulmonary nodules constitutes a significant challenge. Options for tissue diagnoses include computed tomography-guided percutaneous biopsy, transbronchial fine-needle aspiration, mediastinoscopy, left anterior mediastinotomy, or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery; however, these approaches have both advantages and limitations in terms of tissue yield, safety profile, and cost. Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) is a new minimally invasive technique that expands the view of the bronchoscopist beyond the lumen of the airway. There are two EBUS systems currently available. The radial probe EBUS allows for evaluation of central airways, accurate definition of airway invasion, and facilitates the diagnosis of peripheral lung lesions. Linear EBUS guides transbronchial needle aspiration of hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes, improving diagnostic yield. This article will review the principles and clinical applications of EBUS, and will highlight the role of this new technology in the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer.


In this paper we present the design of fuzzy systems for the longitudinal control of an F-14 airplane using genetic algorithms. The longitudinal control is carried out by controlling only the elevators of the airplane. To carry out such control it is necessary to use the stick, the rate of elevation and the angle of attack. These 3 variables are the inputs to the fuzzy inference system, which is of Mamdani type, and we obtain as output the value of the elevators. After designing the fuzzy inference system we turn to the simulation stage. Simulation results of the longitudinal control are obtained using a plant in Simulink and those results are compared against the PID controller. For optimizing the fuzzy logic control design we use a genetic algorithm. The main contribution of the paper is the optimal design of type-1 and type-2 fuzzy system for longitudinal control of the plane.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the effect of thermal and mechanical cycling on the degree and pattern of nanoleakage on cervical margins of Class II restorations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Forty box-type Class II cavities were prepared on bovine incisors. The cavities were restored with Single Bond and Z-250 composite resin (3M-ESPE) according to manufacturer's instructions. The teeth were randomly assigned to 4 groups: G1, control; G2, thermal cycling (2000 cycles, 5 to 55 degrees C); G3, mechanical load cycling (100,000 cycles, 50 N); G4, thermal and mechanical load cycling group (2000 cycles 5 to 5 degrees C/100,000 cycles, 50 N). The specimens were then sealed leaving a 1 mm window around the cervical margin interface. Samples were immersed in a 50% w/v ammoniacal silver nitrate solution for 24 h, and exposed to a photodeveloping solution for 8 h. Specimens were sectioned longitudinally, embedded in epoxy resin, polished and mounted on stubs, gold sputter coated, and examined under SEM using backscattered electron mode. Silver particle penetration length was measured directly on the SEM monitor and calculated as the percentage of the total length of cut dentin surface that was penetrated by silver nitrate. The data were analyzed with ANOVA and Fisher's PLSD test (p < 0.05).

RESULTS
The degree of nanoleakage significantly increased when thermal and mechanical cycling was performed on the same specimens, as compared to the other groups (p < 0.05). No differences were observed between the control, thermal cycling, and mechanical cycling groups. No difference in nanoleakage pattern was observed between the groups.

CONCLUSION
Thermal and mechanical cycling combined adversely affected nanoleakage values. Simulation of the oral condition might be crucial to better evaluate and understand the performance of adhesive materials.


About 500 species of 170 genera of the Cecidomyiidae are known in the Neotropical Region. The cecidomyiids are poorly known in Brazil, where 159 named species of 75 genera have been reported. Most of the species known in Brazil have been reported from the State of Rio de Janeiro where 95 species of 47 genera have been recorded. The main goal of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of the diversity of the cecidomyiids in the State of Rio de Janeiro.


Urban food deserts are neighborhoods typically defined as low-income areas with low access to healthy food. These areas often have no grocery stores, grocery stores with limited or no produce, or convenience stores with unhealthy options. When children and their caregivers reside in urban food deserts, they are more susceptible to becoming food insecure. In the United States, over 10% of households are food insecure households with children. Despite these food insecure homes having children, adults generally protect their children from the burden of food insecurity. When children become food insecure, they can develop a variety of physical and mental conditions that can affect their ability to concentrate in school. In urban food deserts, children face similar barriers as adults. However, children are particularly affected as they are unable to autonomously travel for better food options. Subsequently, they must rely on their parents' choices, which are often limited by low incomes. Healthy food access is paramount to child development and achievement, particularly regarding education and standardized test scores. The public health significance associated with obtaining nutritious food items and living a healthy lifestyle is worth studying. Research indicates that a lack of access to nutritious food can lead to lower test scores among children from low-income backgrounds. This review of literature explores the association among urban food deserts, children's nutrition, and children's academic achievement.


ABSTRACT Mental Toughness (MT) development is an important consideration when seeking to increase and maintain high levels of performance in sport settings. There has been limited research on effective methods to develop MT, and an opportunity exists to incorporate other developmental frameworks in psychology that have shown a positive effect on performance. In this article, we detail a coach-targeted education program aimed at increasing the frequency of desirable mentally tough behaviors (MTb) in elite athletes, which draws on recent work on MTb and an established behavioral coaching model (i.e., GROW) as the guiding framework. The theoretical foundations of behavioral coaching and relationship with improving performance are briefly discussed. We then describe how we applied the behavioral coaching model in a professional team sport environment during the course of a competitive season, including learning points and future considerations for those practitioners looking to develop MT in sporting contexts.


Background: Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) are considered to increase the risk of thrombosis and bleeding. However, whether DM is an independent risk factor for events in patients anticoagulated with bivalirudin during elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is not clear. Methods: Patients anticoagulated with bivalirudin during elective PCI from January 2017 to August 2018 in 3 centers were enrolled. The primary endpoint of thrombotic events was major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE, including all-cause death, myocardial infarction, ischemic revascularization, stent thrombosis, and stroke); the primary endpoint of bleeding events was Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) 2, 3 or 5 bleeding. Results: 1152 patients were finally enrolled. After one-year follow-up, 89 (7.7%) MACCE and 21 (1.8%) BARC 2, 3 or 5 bleeding occurred. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed DM was not an independent risk factor for MACCE (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.029, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.674-1.573, P = .893), but peripheral artery disease (PAD) history (HR: 2.200, 95%CI: 1.290-3.751, P = .004) was an independent risk factor for MACCE. DM was not an independent risk factor for BARC 2, 3 or 5 bleeding (HR: 0.732, 95%CI: 0.293-1.831, P = .505), but PAD history (HR: 3.029, 95%CI: 1.102-8.332, P = .032) and low hemoglobin level (HR = 0.972, 95%CI: 0.947-0.998, P = .036) were independent risk factors for BARC 2, 3 or 5 bleeding. Conclusions: DM was not an independent risk factor for one-year thrombotic and bleeding events in patients anticoagulated with bivalirudin during elective PCI. More attention should be paid to PAD history and hemoglobin level to identify high-risk patients.


Medical students learn clinical skills related to the management of emergencies during their clerkships, mainly via peripheral participation and observation. Simulation-based training is identified as an adjunct to clinical practice enabling students to learn clinical skills in a safe environment. Nevertheless, simulation-based training is still underutilised in many countries in the developing world. The purpose of this study was to explore the value of simulation-based learning using an intermediate fidelity simulator to train medical undergraduates on the management of medical emergencies. A pilot group of 80 fourth year medical students attended four simulation-based clinical skills sessions. The students completed a self-administered evaluation, which included both open and close-ended questions postsimulation. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyse the responses to close-ended questions, and the responses to open-ended questions were analysed for recurring themes. All participating students responded to the evaluation. Students rated the simulation-based learning experience with high positivity. The self-competency of 74 (92.5%) students had increased following the sessions. The sessions have provided a "safe" learning environment to all students, and 70 (87.5%) felt it helped apply theory into practice. Thirty-three (41.2%) noted the simulation session as an important learning tool for practising clinical skills. Thirty-one (38.5%) wished to participate in more sessions, and 39 (48.7%) felt that simulation should be introduced to the curriculum from the first-year. Students have recognised intermediate fidelity simulators as a valuable learning tool to train on the management of clinical emergencies and should be integrated into undergraduate medical curricula.


In 18 spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) of the Münster strain the circulation was connected to that of normotensive animals using the carotid arteries and external jugular veins. The circulations were mixed by a peristaltic pump. In this model the normotensive rats were made hypertensive after a 10-min cross-perfusion cross unidentified humoral factors causing vasoconstriction play an essential role for the development of hypertension in SHRs.


A mobile device according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: a communication unit for communicating with an external device; a first sensor for sensing a state and a state change of the mobile device or an external environment; a memory unit for storing digital data; and a processing unit for controlling the communication unit, the first sensor and the memory unit, and performing a task by executing an application, and controls operations of sensors by comparing sensor data.


Epidemiological studies have shown that use of non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) by the elderly is associated with a decreased relative risk and a delayed onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In contrast, the apolipoprotein E (apoE) gene has proven to be a risk factor for AD with apoE ε4 AD patients having been found to show lower levels of brain apoE. In the present study, treatment of primary rat mixed glial cell cultures with the common NSAIDs, indomethacin and aspirin, induced significant increases in extracellular apoE protein levels. Similarly, treatment of primary rat astrocyte cell cultures with aspirin and a cyclooxygenase (COX)‐2‐selective aspirin derivative also stimulated significant increases in apoE protein. However, astrocyte and mixed glial apoE protein levels were significantly reduced following exposure to COX‐2‐specific indomethacin amides and an inactive indomethacin derivative. ApoE protein modulation was observed at physiological and subphysiological concentrations well below the COX inhibition IC50 values of the NSAIDs used, suggestive of a COX‐independent mechanism. In contrast to these results, indomethacin and aspirin treatment failed to induce any significant changes in apoE mRNA levels. The failure of NSAIDs to significantly alter apoE expression may have been indicative of a nontranscriptional mechanism of apoE protein induction. Consequently, NSAID‐induced increases in apoE protein may enhance apoE‐mediated immunosuppression and compensatory synaptic plasticity, potentially resulting in decreased AD risk and delay of disease onset.


The modern image of the Armed Forces demands a change in the structure of the medical service. The staff of а medical station of a military unit must include at least four medical specialists; and the medical station must be managed by an officer of the medical service. The lack of infirmaries makes it impossible to treat for acute illnesses at the early stages and will lead to poor epidemic well-being.


Background: The situation of Women with infertility problems in third-world nations particularly Pakistan   remains to be miserable. They are persistently experiencing to such conditions which lead toward psychological and physiological problems. This present research was illustrated to highlight the numerous deleterious factors that affecting the performance of women in Pakistan culture. The primary purpose of present   study was to identify prevalence rates of demographic variables in Women with Primary and Secondary Infertility in Pakistan. Moreover, it examined the mediating role of quality of life between coping strategies and psychological distress in Pakistani infertile women.
Methods: 150 women (Primary infertility, n =76; Secondary infertility, n = 74) age ranged from 20 to 40 years were recruited from different hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Purposive sampling technique was used based on cross-sectional design.  Three instruments, Brief cope (BC) (Akhtar, 2005), Psychological Distress (PD) (Mehwish, 2013) Quality of Life (Jahanlou & karami, 2011)   were used to assess quality of life, coping styles and psychological distress.
Results: Correlational and moderation analyses were applied to analyze objectives of present study.   The results revealed that positive coping style was statistically significant predicted psychological distress (?=-.35, p <.001) and quality of life (? = -.27, p<.05) for primary infertile women. Whereas it was also significant predicted to quality of life (?=-.28, p<.05) for secondary infertile women. The findings also demonstrated that quality of life was statistically significant predicted psychological distress (?=-.48, p<.001) for primary infertile women. However, it was also significant predicted (?=-.68, p<.001) for secondary infertile women. Moreover, the results found that secondary infertility women had more prevalence of religious denial coping strategy as compare to primary infertile women.  These results suggested quality of life was partial mediator between positive coping styles and psychological distress for secondary infertile women.
 Conclusions: The result of present study would be beneficial in clinical settings to spread awareness in the society about this important issue. Moreover, it also assists in developing effective prevention and intervention programs to overcome this problem.


The distribution of lightning current in the lightning protective system (LPS) of a test residential building was experimentally studied in 2004 and 2005 at Camp Blanding, FL. Lightning was initiated using a rocket-and-wire technique and its current was injected into the LPS. Results are presented in the companion paper. The current distribution is modeled here using a model based on the lumped circuit theory in the frequency domain. The injected lightning current is represented in the model by an ideal current source. The effect of electromagnetic field radiated by the lightning channel is also accounted in the model (for one of the configurations tested). In field calculations, the lightning channel and the wire connecting the rocket launcher and the test house are modeled as vertical and horizontal electric dipoles above lossy ground. The discrete complex images method is used to calculate the electromagnetic field radiated by the electric dipoles. The time-domain current waveforms are obtained by means of the inverse Fourier transform. The calculated currents in the LPS are compared with those measured.


Mount St. Helens Volcano, Cascade Range, Southern Washington, U.S.A. (46.20°N, 122.18°W). All times are local (GMT-7 hours). The devastating May 18th eruption of Mount St. Helens was followed by explosions on May 25 and June 12 that were much smaller but produced substantial ashfalls over wide areas of Oregon and Washington. A series of explosions ejected tephra from Mount St. Helens during the evening of July 22, nearly 6 weeks after the June 12 activity. Eruption cloud heights were similar to those of May 25 and June 12, but ashfall thicknesses were significantly less.


We appreciate the comments from Jean-François Bonneville on our study entitled "Differentiation between Cystic Pituitary Adenomas and Rathke Cleft Cysts: A Diagnostic Model Using MRI." As Dr Bonneville mentioned, differentiating cystic or hemorrhagic adenoma and Rathke cleft cyst (RCC) is sometimes challenging, and preoperative differentiation of these conditions is important for treatment planning; therefore, we suggested a diagnostic tree model for differentiating cystic pituitary adenoma from RCC by using preoperative MR imaging and reported an improved diagnostic accuracy when using the diagnostic tree model. We agree with Dr Bonneville that pituitary adenomas, especially corticotroph-secreting adenomas, may be on the midline as seen in Fig 5, and 16.7% of pituitary adenomas in our study were also located on the midline. In addition, other imaging findings were seen with various frequencies: fluid-fluid levels in 68.5%, T2-hypointense rims in 75.9%, septations in 38.9% of pituitary adenomas, and intracystic nodules in 67.9% of RCCs. Therefore, we tried to develop a diagnostic tree model that included several imaging features because differential diagnoses are sometimes inconclusive with only 1 or 2 imaging findings. By applying the diagnostic tree model, we were also able to attain high diagnostic accuracy in the validation group (91.7%). Dr Bonneville also raised concerns about applying the diagnostic tree to subcentimeter lesions. In our study, we included cystic pituitary adenomas and RCCs that were confirmed histopathologically. Small asymptomatic RCCs showing typical imaging features were not treated surgically; therefore, they were not included in our study. Although this omission can be considered a limitation of our study, we think that preoperative differentiation between cystic adenoma and RCC is important in patients who are considered for surgery due to hormonal or nonhormonal symptoms because different surgical procedures are required according to the different diagnoses. The diagnostic tree model may provide guidance to neurosurgeons for appropriate surgical planning. We agree with Dr Bonneville that intrasellar pituitary adenoma can show mass effects such as a bulging sellar diaphragm and erosion of the body contours of the sella, which we did not include in our diagnostic tree. Therefore, further studies that add these imaging features to the diagnostic tree model will be helpful in the differential diagnosis of cystic pituitary adenoma and RCC.


Nanotoxicology is projected as an emerging branch of toxicology to address the gaps in knowledge and adverse health effects likely to be caused by nanomaterials. This branch of nanotoxicology would make an important contribution to the development of a sustainable nanotechnology and covers the physicochemical factors, routes of exposure, biodistribution, molecular factors, genotoxicity and regulatory aspects. It is also involved in proposing reliable, healthy, and safe test protocols for nanomaterials in human and environmental risk assessment. Some nanoparticles such as copper is harmful to aquatic life, a small fraction of its nanoparticles can dissolve in water and produce toxic impacts on fish and other aquatic life. Copper nanoparticles are widely used as antimicrobial (antiviral, antibacterial, antifouling, antifungal), antibiotic treatment alternatives, nanocomposite coating, catalyst, lubricants, inks, for filtration of air and liquid. Fish are vulnerable to copper nanoparticles because it can induce gill injury and acute lethality. They are also emitted as particulates from smelters, metal foundries, and as pollutant from asphalt and rubber tires. Their long-term biological consequences on aquatic species are still unclear so it is pertinent to assess the toxicity of Cu nanoparticles and Cu salt in aquatic life. In view of these facts the following review article presents the toxicity, ways of exposure and effects of Cu nanoparticles on different organisms in vivo and vitro.


The purpose of this study is to expand the current research on the usefulness of CBM reports in the schools. Specifically we wanted to study the types of information included in typical achievement reports and how much teachers like and can use the typical information for picking good interventions. The participants in the study were 80 teachers and personnel from elementary schools in rural southeastern North Carolina. Participants were given a survey packet containing a description of the study a sample achievement report a report utility scale an intervention selection activity and a demographic survey. The achievement report varied on the content featured depending on group. PNRT group received a report featuring only published norm-referenced test while CBM group featured additional information through CBM measures. The report utility scale was used as a measure of teachers' satisfaction and was the primary measure of the report's differences. The intervention selection activity provided a second measure of utility as related being able to interpret and understand information in the classroom. The study was designed to better understand how teachers prefer different types of information in reports done by school psychologists and will help us learn how to make reports user friendly. We also want to know what information is useful to help teachers plan instruction that is well matched to the data included in the report. The implications of this study should include improvement in training of school psychologists to better help children through clear and useful reports.


In this paper, we present a polynomial-sized linear programming formulation of the Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP). The proposed linear program is a network flow-based model. Hence, it provides for the solution of the QAP in polynomial time. Computational testing and results are discussed.


In this study, a medium frequency power transformer has been designed analytically and its sizes have been obtained. The transformer's analyses were made numerically by 2D AnsysMaxwell Solver software package. The Solver has also helped to study suitable transformer core and winding samples. Unlike medium frequency transformer, which is generally driven by unipolar PWM method, the designed transformer is driven by bipolar PWM method in the study. The core losses were obtained for different core materials (Trafoperm N3 and Amorfous 2605SA1) by AnsysMaxwell numerical and analytical calculations. The calculated losses for no-load working conditions were compared with each other. The designed transformer has been analyzed for its noload and loaded working conditions magnetically. Finally, the radial and axial forces created in the windings have also been examined for loaded working condition.


Taking a multi-disciplinary perspective, and one grounded in human rights, this book explores in depth the journeys unaccompanied child migrants take through the UK legal and care systems. Arriving with little agency, the book considers what becomes of these children as they grow and assume new roles and identities, only to risk losing legal protection as they reach eighteen. Through international studies, and crucially of the young migrants themselves, the book examines the narratives they present, and the frameworks of culture and legislation into which they are placed. Challenging existing policy, it questions, from a social justice perspective, what the treatment of this group tells us about our systems and the cultural presuppositions on which they depend. Contributors are researchers and practitioners in film-making, human geography, law, psychology, psychotherapy, social work and sociology,


Since its discovery in 1962, the Derveni papyrus has been the object of keen scholarly interest. The text consists in the main of an allegorical interpretation of an Orphic poem. The cosmology of the author comes from pre-Socratic physics, in terms of which he casts the Orphic theogony, presumably in order to reveals its truth. The extant text also contains a few badly damaged columns about the afterlife and, seemingly, some rites that facilitate the passage of the soul to the beyond. Here, we find a reference to a rite performed by the magoi that the author compares with the mysteries. Scholars have generally taken the view that these magoi are either Greek religious experts or charlatans. Because of this, scant attention has been paid to the question of possible Iranian background of the rite and the daimones. In this article, I will address this question in reference to relevant Iranian evidence. My conclusion is that, in column 6 of the papyrus, we indeed have an authentic description of a rite rooted in Iranian religious lore, and that behind the magoi's daimones may well be the ancient Iranian gods, the daēvas.


The first seven volumes of the American Academy of Religion's "Teaching Religious Studies" series provide informative glimpses of how teachers in very different contexts understand the intellectual decisions, strategies, and actions that constitute their craft. Although individual volumes have different formats, the dominant image of good teaching that emerges is that it is founded on deep and sophisticated knowledge of the particular subject matter. Beyond that, many essays provide instructive anatomies of particular syllabi, moments in the classroom, or other aspects of teaching. Much of the material in the essays comes from reflective practitioners and there is relatively little sustained engagement with the contemporary literature on teaching and learning. Nonetheless, virtually any teacher can find in these volumes stimulating reflections on the intersections of substantive research and pedagogy in a variety of classroom contexts.


Reed and Mayer combine the scholarship of Steven Saylor with the humor of Lindsey Davis. Starred review in Booklist 12/00.It is now two years after One For Sorrow and John the Eunuch, Lord Chamberlain to the Emperor Justinian, is faced with a new and byzantine problem: why are Constantinople's holy stylites bursting into flames as they stand atop their pillars? His investigations are hampered by a pagan philosophy tutor from his youth and a heretical Christian prophet whose ultimatums threaten to topple the Empire.Then murder strikes close to home and John has only days to find a solution before he, his friends, his Emperor, and the city itself are destroyed. The sumptuous halls of the Great Palace and the riot-torn streets are filled with the same danger and deception. A colorful cast of characters that includes a runaway wife, servants and soldiers, madams and mendicants, a venomous court page and a wealthy landowner or two -- not to mention John's bete noire, the Empress Theodora -- adds texture to this rich, exotic tale of sixth century life and mysterious death.


Pathogenic aspects of interstitial cystitis (IC) are reviewed on the basis of the current literature applying the criteria of evidence-based medicine (EBM). Three hundred forty-six peer-reviewed publications of the past 30 years were retrieved via MEDLINE employing the key words "interstitial cystitis and pathogenesis or etiology" and classified according to EBM criteria and subject categories. The papers were then reviewed and summarized and are discussed considering the theory of acute and chronic inflammatory responses. In the literature, nearly all steps of the normal inflammatory response are considered pathogenically important in development of the IC syndrome. Applying EBM criteria, all studies fail to meet the criteria for sound statistical evaluation and to demonstrate reproducibly a reliable pathogenic factor. Most publications report only small numbers of patients. Control groups are frequently lacking or too small. Clinically useful criteria for the diagnosis of IC are not properly defined. There is no commonly accepted animal model in which IC occurs naturally or can be artificially induced. Of the 683 IC papers studied, 346 (50.7%) deal with pathogenic or etiological aspects of IC. The inflationary use of the terms pathogenesis or etiology in one out of every two papers calls for more prudent application of terminology in the future. As yet, none of the published pathogenic factors was found to represent the main trigger of the IC syndrome. Some of them seem to be part of a vicious cycle of the inflammatory reaction present. Detailed knowledge of the process of chronic inflammation can lead to treatments that may interrupt an inflammatory response. This might contribute to solving the pathogenic issue of IC and could be helpful in designing further investigations. Advances in understanding the causes of IC require objective criteria to subclassify the heterogenous patient cohort presently referred to as IC syndrome. Such subclassifications are a predisposition for pathogenic investigations and determining future treatment strategies.


Tuberous sclerosis is a rare genetic disorder. The diagnosis of tuberous sclerosis requires the presence of two major or one major and two minor features. Pulmonary involvement has been reported to occur in less than 1% in patients and carries a poor prognosis. We present a female tuberous sclerosis patient with pulmonary involvement, evaluated for a positive PPD reaction.


NFV management and orchestration (MANO) systems are being developed to meet the agile and flexible management requirements of virtualized network services in the 5G era and beyond. In this regard, ETSI ISG NFV has specified a standard NFV MANO system that is being used as a reference by MANO system vendors as well as open-source MANO projects. However, in the absence of MANO specific KPIs, it is difficult for users to make an informed decision on the choice of the MANO system better suited to meet their needs. Given the absence of any formal MANO specific KPIs on the basis of which a performance of a MANO system can be quantified, benchmarked and compared, users are left with simply comparing the claimed feature set. It is thus the motivation of this paper to highlight the challenges of testing and validating MANO systems in general, and propose MANO specific KPIs. Based on the proposed KPIs, we analyze and compare the performance of the two most popular open-source MANO projects, namely ONAP and OSM, using a complex open-source vCPE VNF and identify the features/performance gaps. In addition, we also provide a sketch of a test-jig that has been designed for benchmarking MANO systems.


Abstract Under the influence of processes of globalisation, higher education in the countries of Europe, including Latvia, has been reshaped, restructured, re-evaluated and reoriented towards the establishment of a European higher education area. New issues have emerged at both the content and metacontent level, the most significant of which are intercultural and media literacy matters. Considering the tendencies of globalisation, this article focuses on the issues of intercultural and media literacy as a metacontent of teacher education. The article introduces the teachers' view and experience of intercultural and media education in Latvia and frames several suggestions to implement intercultural and media literacy in the teacher education curriculum.


3-oxohexadecanoyl-CoA was synthesized for the study of D-bifunctional protein (EC 4. 2. 1. 107, EC 4. 2. 1. 119, EC 1. 1. 1. n12) and L-bifunctional protein (EC 4. 2. 1. 17, EC 5. 3. 3. 8, EC 1. 1. 1. 35). First, tetradecanal was subjected to the Reformatsky reaction with ethyl bromoacetate, and the product was then converted into ethyl 3-oxohexadecanoate. After acetalization of the 3-oxo ester with ethylene glycol, 3,3-ethlenedioxyhexadecanoic acid was obtained by alkaline hydrolysis. The acid was condensed with coenzyme A (CoA) by the mixed anhydride method, and the resulting CoA ester was deprotected with 4 M HCl to obtain 3-oxohexadecanoyl-CoA. In addition, the behavior of the CoA ester under several conditions of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was also investigated. We established separation detection of (R)-3-hydroxyhexadecanoyl-CoA, (S)-3-hydroxyhexadecaboyl-CoA, 3-oxohexadecanoyl-CoA, and trans-2-hexadecenoyl-CoA.


The term El Nino (means Christ child in Spanish) was originally used by fishermen along the coasts of Ecuador and Peru to refer to a warm ocean current that typically appears around Christmas time and lasts for several months. Fish are less abundant during these warm intervals, so fishermen often take a break to repair their equipment and spend time with their families. Over the years, the term 'El Nino' is referred to these exceptionally strong warm intervals that not only disrupt the normal lives of the fishermen, but also bring heavy rains. El Nino phenomenon (current) was first observed by the German explorer/geographer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859). The Humboldt Current was named after him. In a letter dated 18 September 1839, Humboldt wrote to Charles Darwin as follows: '. . .I wished to tell you still more about this running cold water which runs alongside the Peru of which I am very concerned, believing that it will much modify the climate of the littoral. . .'. The cool Humboldt Current flows north along the west coast of South America. It is part of the anti-clockwise flow of the South Pacific gyre, a circular current on the ocean's surface. As the wind and current push seawater away from the coast, upwelling occurs, which allows cool, deep, nutrient-rich waters to rise to the sunlit zones. This, in turn, creates a food-rich marine environment that includes penguins and sea lions, and productive fishing grounds. The cool upwelling also produces fog, but little rainfall in the desert coasts of Peru and northern Chile. Occasionally, the pattern is broken, the upwelling stops and is overridden by warm tropical waters from the central Pacific. This reversal of marine temperature conditions is known as El Nino. This causes great loss of marine life and changes conditions from dry and desert-like to stormy and humid. On rare occasions, such as in 1982 and 1983, a prolonged El Nino may extend beyond the Humboldt Current region to as far north as California and as far south as the Antarctic. Table 1 shows the El Nino events which were noted during the 20th century. When El Nino event occurs, there is a decline in the production of plankton which has repercussions on fish and sea bird populations.


ABSTRACT The North American Dendroecological Field week (NADEF) is an intensive dendrochronology workshop, funded in part by the National Science Foundation. The 2019 Introductory Group at NADEF developed two precisely dated tree-ring width chronologies for Pinus contorta (lodgepole pine) and Pinus flexilis (limber pine) at the Wolf Knob site ca. 5 km west of Beartooth Lake, WY, within the bounds of the Shoshone National Forest (SNF), in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Wolf Knob is a semi-arid, S- to SW-facing, mid- to high-elevation site, making it an ideal location to examine the climate sensitivity of annual tree-ring width increments. Here, we show that two co-located Pinus species exhibit differing climate–growth relationships, with P. contorta exhibiting relatively weak correlations with precipitation (r = 0.37; p < 0.01) and temperature (r = –0.23; p < 0.05) during the late summer, and P. flexilis exhibiting stronger overall correlations with both cool-season (r = 0.48; p < 0.01) and warm-season precipitation (r = 0.51; p < 0.01) as well as with snowpack records (r = 0.45; p < 0.05). Our results suggest these two Pinus species may face disparate threats in the face of regional climate change, with P. flexilis being particularly vulnerable to drought conditions and declining snowpacks in the GYE. The differing seasonal climate sensitivities of the two species is likely caused by microsite conditions (e.g. soil moisture capacity, incoming solar radiation) and distinct species-climate responses, underscoring the importance of not only site selection, but also microsite and individual selection in dendroclimatological sampling. Finally, this work contributes to identifying Snow Water Equivalent (SWE)-sensitive tree-ring proxies in the GYE, critical for understanding ongoing warming-induced snowpack declines across western North America, particularly given the projections of a largely snow-free (April 1) GYE by 2075.


An experiment was conducted to study the effect of concentrate supplementation on growth and reproductive performance of female sheep and goats under grazing condition. Six females each of sheep and goats aged about 6 month s and weighing on average 9.80 and 9.77 kg respectively were studied for 224 days. Goats and sheep were allocated to tw o feeding regimes in a 2x2 factorial experiment. Feeding of animals (sheep and goats) with concentrate supplement significantly (P<0.01) increased DM (477.7 vs. 253.0 g/d) intake compared with those of the control group. The higher intake of DM resulted in significantly (P<0.01) higher live weight gain in animals of supplemented group than those of control group. However, between sheep and goats significant difference was observed in live weight gain (P<0.01) and DM intake (P<0.05). The results showed that certain reproductive parameters such as age at puberty, gestation weight and kid birth weight may be improve d by supplementary feeding of concentrate. Therefore, feeding of grazing goats and sheep with concentrate supplement may be suggested to optimize growth performance.


Is North Korea ready and willing to give up its nuclear weapons? Proponents of arms control and sustained engagement with North Korea maintain that Pyongyang's desire to acquire nuclear weapons stemmed from ingrained insecurity vis-à-vis the United States or more specifically, the threat that the US poses to fundamental regime security. However, the primordial source of Kim Jong Il's existential insecurity stems largely from the abnormal, structural idiosyncracies of his regime and not, as many naively believe, the hardline policies of the Bush administration. Accordingly, the Kim Jong Il regime's fundamental dilemma boils down to the fact that the domestic political costs of giving up its nuclear capabilities are just as high as the costs of retaining them. Debunking the myth that the US, rather than North Korea, poses the greater challenge to South Korean security is as important as ensuring that North Korea dismantles its nuclear arsenal.


We present images of the barred galaxy NGC 7479 in the optical and near infrared broad--bands $B,V,R,J,H,K$, and images in H$\alpha$+[N II] and CO(J=1$\rightarrow$0) emission. The H$\alpha$ and CO emission in the bar are coincident and confined to narrow linear features that are offset from the center of the bar as observed in the near infrared. We estimate the gravitational potential from the $K$ image, which provides an estimate of the torque on the gas at the position of the CO emission in the bar. We find that the implied gas inflow velocity derived from the torque is $10-20$ km s$^{-1}$. Our inflow velocity is independent of the large streaming motions which can be observed in CO and HI.


In this paper we present some preliminary result on the spectral and timing analysis of the X-ray pulsed emission from the 16 ms pulsar PSR J0537−6910 in the energy range 0.1–30 keV, based on archival BeppoSAX and RossiXTE observations. This pulsar, discovered by Marshall et al. [1] in the LMC field with RXTE, is the fastest spinning pulsar associated with a supernova remnant. It is characterized by strong glitch activity with the highest rate of all known Crab-like system.


The accurate simulation of crop growth is important in the effort to apply computer simulation models to improvements in the management of N resources in agricultural systems. The objective of this study was to validate the crop growth submodel of the model NCSWAP using seasonal corn (Zea mays L.) growth and final grain yields from a 3-yr N rate-study conducted in central Pennsylvania. The results of the validation suggest that the model poorly simulated crop growth response under conditions of limited water or N availability. However, NCSWAP accurately simulated observed seasonal corn growth and harvested yields in treatments with no N or water limitations. The crop growth submodel has the potential to be useful in simulation of crop production, because with a minimum of inputs it can be calibrated for any crop and can incorporate variables that influence crop growth and are specific to a local environment [...]


We report the discovery of Mothra, an extremely magnified monster star, likely a binary system of two supergiant stars, in one of the strongly lensed galaxies behind the galaxy cluster MACS0416. The star is in a galaxy with spectroscopic redshift $z=2.091$ in a portion of the galaxy that is parsecs away from the cluster caustic. The binary star is observed only on the side of the critical curve with negative parity but has been detectable for at least eight years, implying the presence of a small lensing perturber. Microlenses alone cannot explain the earlier observations of this object made with the Hubble Space Telescope. A larger perturber with a mass of at least $10^4$\,\Msun\ offers a more satisfactory explanation. Based on the lack of perturbation on other nearby sources in the same arc, the maximum mass of the perturber is $M<2.5\times10^6$\,\Msun, making it the smallest substructure constrained by lensing above redshift 0.3. The existence of this millilens is fully consistent with the expectations from the standard cold dark matter model. On the other hand, the existence of such small substructure in a cluster environment has implications for other dark matter models. In particular, warm dark matter models with particle masses below 8.7\,keV are excluded by our observations. Similarly, axion dark matter models are consistent with the observations only if the axion mass is in the range $0.5\times10^{-22}\, {\rm eV}


Roger Wolcott Sperry (1913 to 1994) was a ground-breaking neuroscientist who won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Medicine for splitbrain research that revealed functional specialization in the cerebral hemisphere1. Sperry spent the major part of his academic career at Caltech in the field of psychobiology at the intersection of biology, zoology, psychology, and neurology, but also teaching and conducting research at leading institutions throughout the world. He received his doctoral degree in zoology at the University of Chicago in 1941, studying under the preeminent Austrian/American biologist Paul Weiss who become well-known for his early forays into organicistic or "holist" systems biology.


This study aims to characterize and develop Islamic education services for disabled children. The type of research used in this research is library research, to discuss how Islamic Religious Education learning methods and services are for students with special needs with disabilities. Data collection techniques use documentation techniques by collecting data through data source documents such as books, journals and scientific articles. The results of the study show that there are several characteristics of children with physical impairment, including: physical characteristics, academic characteristics, and social or emotional characteristics. Children with special needs who experience damage or loss of physical members, the process of developing Islamic religious education materials in providing material or teaching methods is almost the same as children with visual impairments and hearing impairments. Meanwhile, the development model for disabled children is through the school environment, family environment, and community environment.


Photographic systems used in the Apollo program for photometric data reduction require more precise methods of photometric calibration than are used to determine the nominal operating parameters. A technique for more precise photometric calibration of cameras is described. This involves the determination of the absolute magnitude and spatial variation of illuminance in the image plane of a camera as a function of the nominal operating parameters such as f-stop. The method involves photographing an artificial scene of known, luminance which has the same approximate color temperature as the object to be photo-graphed. This calibration must be performed at all of the various camera settings. The processed photographs will be scanned by a microdensitameter to analyze the transmission efficiency and the error in calibration of shutters and lenses. By use of this calibration information a determination of scene brightness can be made from image density when using the proper sensi-tometric calibration (density vs. log exposure).


PDF documents containing formulae generated by LATEX are usually not accessible by assistive technologies for visually impaired people (i.e., by screen readers and Braille displays). The LATEX package axessibility.sty that we developed manages this issue, allowing to create PDF documents where the formulae are read by such assistive technologies, through the insertion of hidden comments. In this paper we describe the evolution of the package, that now automatically generates also the tagging of the formulae. The package does not generate PDF/UA.


Recently, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) embarked on a campaign to educate health care providers regarding the benefits of exercise for a wide variety of diseases and conditions.1 As Cardiovascular and Pulmonary physical therapists, this idea is certainly not new to us. Several groups of which I am a part have taken up this motto and attempted to educate providers regarding the role of exercise and physical activity in the care of various patient types.

Recently, I was struck by the ways in which this motto fits, and perhaps, does not really fit what we do. Yes, exercise is like medicine in so many ways. Exercise is prescribed, in a specific dosage and formulation to each individual patient diagnosed with a disease. The prescription must be very specific regarding exercise modality, intensity, frequency, and duration. Clearly, it is not enough to have providers tell patients "you should exercise for your disease" without giving them these specifics. It would be equivalent to telling a patient to "just take some pills"—and no provider would do that! Clearly, there is much work to be done in this area and fortunately, there are many great minds focused on this task, many of whom share their work through this journal.

Dosage of a medicine is also critical to its success. Pharmacology and pharmacokinetics have informed us that a drug must be in a therapeutic range in order to have the desired effect. Too much, and you risk toxic effects, too little and there is no benefit. To relate to exercise, it is critical to know how much exercise must be "absorbed" by the patient to have the most benefit. When an exercise program does not result in any change in aerobic capacity, strength, or flexibility (depending on the mode and goal of exercise)—it is clear that the patient has not absorbed enough to have therapeutic effects. Thus, measurement of the key intended effects both at baseline and after the prescription is critical to understanding how to prescribe exercise. On the other hand, it is important to know that exercise can have toxic effects. Musculoskeletal injuries, cardiac events, bronchospasm, blood glucose, and electrolyte abnormalities are many of these known effects. So, just as a provider would not dream of telling a patient "just take as many pills as you can" to treat a disease, similarly, telling a patient "just exercise regularly" does not provide for safety in avoiding complications.

Formulation of a drug also affects its absorption, and the same applies to exercise. In this case, it is important to determine if general physical activity or specific goal-directed exercise is most appropriate for an individual patient. In this arena, we must consider each patient's stage of readiness to increase physical activity/exercise. Prescribing exercise that a patient perceives as impossible to perform is like prescribing a pill for a patient who cannot swallow. We must match the delivery method of activity to what the patient can accomplish successfully. Sometimes, that might mean not achieving the full therapeutic dose, but still getting into the range of effectiveness. Patient motivation is critical and an equal partnership between the "prescriber" and the "receiver" of exercise must exist. If a patient will not "take the medicine," no benefits can be seen.

So, how is exercise NOT like medicine? Exercise and physical activity are preventative. No physician would prescribe a medicine to a patient who is currently healthy. However, we do need to encourage all people to be physically active on a regular basis. It is more than preventing disease or rehabilitating from disease, but staying healthy. Fortunately, there are also many great minds working in this area, and again, we are happy to share their work through this journal.

This issue of the Journal highlights two papers dealing with several aspects of exercise as medicine. Lefebvre and colleagues examine characteristics of the prescribers and potential barriers to measuring exercise's therapeutic effects. McVey and Hillegass highlight the effects of exercise in a patient with chronic kidney disease. In addition, we include the abstracts for platform and poster presentations for the 2011 Combined Sections Meeting. Certainly, there is a great diversity of research being presented, but the theme of exercise and physical activity for our patients and clients is strongly evident. So, I hope you will think, discuss, teach, and research about "Exercise is Medicine" but don't forget….it is so much more!


In the race to establish themselves, many early-stage marketplaces choose to accelerate their growth by adding marquee (established brand name) sellers. We study the implications of marquee seller adoption on smaller, lesser-known unbranded sellers in the marketplace. While recent literature has shown that higherquality unbranded sellers fare better than their lower-quality peers, we posit that this tendency may depend on the quality of entering marquee sellers. To this end, we collaborate with a B2B platform and exploit its two marquee sellers' adoptions of contrasting qualities. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we causally identify the effect. We find that while higher-quality unbranded seller revenues increase relative to low-quality unbranded sellers when the entering marquee seller is of high quality (consistent with the literature), the effect is reversed when the entering marquee seller is of low quality. Further, unbranded sellers change their supply quantities such that their average supply quality shifts in the direction of marquee entrant quality. Using a stylized theoretical model, we identify two mechanisms that drive our findings – (i) new buyers brought in as a result of the marquee's entry disproportionately favoring unbranded sellers of neighboring quality, and (ii) the unbranded seller's ability to adjust their supply quantities. Our findings have implications on marquee sellers' adoption strategies for marketplaces where sellers strategically set their supply quantity (a key feature of several marketplaces, including many gig-economy marketplaces). The choice of marquee sellers, examined through the lens of their externality on unbranded sellers, can foster or undermine the platform's long-term growth objectives.


Possibilistic logic program (PLP) is a logic system for representing incomplete and uncertain knowledge in a non-probabilistic way. One of the existing semantics is less expressive and the other one is not tools-oriented, none of them characterises the possibilistic integrity constraints, resulting in the semantics are not compatible for software development. In this paper, we consider a monotonic PLP-a fully grounded possibilistic definite logic program (PDLP)-and formalise a tools-oriented numerical method to determine the answer set of the PDLP. To do so, firstly, we define an atom-wise transformation of a PDLP into a system of equality constraints of necessity degrees. Secondly, we formalise iterative formulas to determine those necessity degrees. Finally, we extend our method to characterise the possibilistic integrity constraints appearing in PDLP. We consider the theoretical aspect to understand the efficiency and the computational complexity of the proposed method and prove that the number of iterations required here for a PDLP is at best the number of rules of the program.


The painting of the Kronstadt St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral is one of the largest and little-studied monuments of Russian church painting of the early 20th century. Тhe study of the iconographic program of the painting of the cathedral will fill in the gaps in our understanding of the development of Russian art of that period. The article undertakes an iconographic analysis of some compositions united by liturgical symbolism, which brings us closer to a more complete understanding of the artistic method of the authors of the painting.


We analyze a sample of solar neighborhood stars that have high-quality abundance determinations and show that there are two distinct regimes of [α/Fe] versus age, which we identify as the epochs of the thick and thin disk formation. A tight correlation between metallicity and [α/Fe] versus age is clearly identifiable for thick disk stars, implying that this population formed from a well mixed interstellar medium, probably initially in starburst and then more quiescently, over a time scale of 4−5 Gyr. Thick disk stars have vertical velocity dispersions which correlate with age, with the youngest objects of this population having small scale heights similar to those of thin disk stars. A natural consequence of these two results is that a vertical metallicity gradient is expected in this population. We suggest that the youngest thick disk set the initial conditions from which the inner thin disk started to form about 8 Gyr ago, at [Fe/H] in the range of (−0.1, +0.1) dex and [α/Fe] ∼ 0.1 dex. This also provides an explanation for the apparent coincidence between the existence of a step in metallicity at 7−10 kpc in the thin disk and the confinement of the thick disk within R < 10 kpc. We suggest that the outer thin disk developed outside the influence of the thick disk, giving rise to a separate structure, but also that the high alphaenrichment of those regions may originate from a primordial pollution of the outer regions by the gas expelled from the forming thick disk. Metal-poor thin disk stars ([Fe/H] < −0.4 dex) in the solar vicinity, whose properties are best explained by them originating in the outer disk, are shown to be as old as the youngest thick disk (9−10 Gyr). This implies that the outer thin disk started to form while the thick disk was still forming stars in the inner parts of the Galaxy. Hence, while the overall inner (thick+thin) disk is comprised of two structures with different scale lengths and whose combination may give the impression of an inside-out formation process, the thin disk itself probably formed its first stars in its outskirts. Moreover, we point out that, given the tight age−metallicity and age–[α/Fe] relations that exist in the thick disk, an inside-out process would give rise to a radial gradient in metallicity and α-elements in this population, which is not observed. Finally, we argue that our results leave little room for radial migration (in the sense of churning) either to have contaminated the solar vicinity, or, on a larger scale, to have redistributed stars in significant proportion across the solar annulus.


The Atoms in Molecules (AIM) analysis for triosmium cluster, which contains trihydridede, carbon, carbonyl and 2-methylbenzothiazolide ligands, [Os3(μ-H)3(μ 3-ɳ2-CC7H3(2-CH3)NS)(CO)8] is reported. Bonding features in this cluster has been analyzed based on QTAIM ("Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules") in this work. The topological indices derived from electron density of relevant interactions in triosmium compound have been studied. The major interesting point of the AIM analyses is that the core of part (Os3H3) reveals the absence of any critical points and bond paths connecting any pairs of Os metal atoms. However, bond critical points with their bond paths occurring between all Os-H interactions were observed. For the bridged core part (Os3H3), a 6c–6e multicenter interaction is proposed. The topological parameters computed for the bridging 2-methylbenzothiazolide ligand interactions indicate that all of these interactions are typical related to the covalent bonds with a contribution of some double-bond character.


The Physics CTI Centre's role is to encourage the use of software in undergraduate teaching. High quality software is now available that offers generalized tools as well as content-based material. A new initiative offers more integrated support for teaching.


Proceedings: AACR 107th Annual Meeting 2016; April 16-20, 2016; New Orleans, LA

Recent progress in cancer research has been marked by the continued development of exciting drugs that selectively target vulnerabilities present only in cancer cells, so-called targeted therapies. Too often, however, we are lacking the proper predictive biomarkers to identify which patients will benefit most from individual targeted therapies. Since most chemotherapeutic agents ultimately function by inducing the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway, we hypothesized that a tool that measures mitochondrial sensitivity may serve as a broadly predictable biomarker. Hence to address the unmet need for predictive biomarkers, we have developed a tool called Dynamic BH3 Profiling (DBP). In this approach, we briefly treat cancer cells (14h) from patients with targeted drugs and measure the apoptotic threshold of a cell "priming" by treatment with peptides derived from BH3 domains of pro-apoptotic proteins. Previous studies from our laboratory demonstrated that when a patient's cells exhibit robust death signaling in the DBP assay in response to a particular drug, it predicts a good clinical response to that drug in patients.

Using xenotransplantation of primary AML samples into NSG mice (PDX models), we validated the utility of DBP to personalize acute myeloid leukemia therapy. We established 12 independent AML PDX models and determined the mitochondrial response of splenic myeloblasts from each PDX to 25 targeted agents. Ex-vivo DBP measurement demonstrated heterogeneous responses; while some drugs induced priming in all PDXs, others increased priming in only selective PDX models. For instance, JQ-1 (BRD-4 inhibitor) and birinapant (SMAC mimetic) demonstrated inverse correlation of their activity among 3 different PDXs. These suggested that mitochondrial priming can stratify AML PDX models according to predicted sensitivity to targeted agents. When we compared DBP results with cell death assay, we found that myeloblasts from most of the PDXs failed to sustain long-term culture (72h), a requirement for cytotoxicity measurements. However, myeloblasts from 3 of the PDXs with high starting viability showed strong correlation between mitochondrial priming and cell death, implying that cells with increased mitochondrial response are destined to commit apoptosis. By testing functional state of the apoptotic pathway in myeloblasts from spleen, bone-marrow and peripheral blood with BH3 profiling, we found that splenic blasts were relatively more primed for apoptosis in 8 out of 10 PDXs. Correlatively, drug induced priming also varied between myeloblasts from these 3 different sites. Finally, we are directly testing the performance of DBP as a predictive biomarker by treating a variety of PDX models with drugs, including drugs predicated to be active and drugs predicated to be inactive.

Collectively, mitochondria based measurements can predict good and bad response to individual targeted agents and may serve as a powerful biomarker to choose patient therapy.

Citation Format: shruti bhatt, david weinstock, Anthony Letai. Mitochondrial perturbations as a novel approach to personalized medicine. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 418.


poetry. Cesário's interpretation of urban women is almost always archetypical, and points to the diff erences existing between social classes. Reverting back to biblio-biographic details of the late 1870s/early 1880s, Machado Rodrigues focuses on Cesário's affi nity with the countryside and how his personal circumstances directly infl uenced his verse. Th ough the material of the fi rst section in this article is not entirely new, the fi nal analysis is nicely accomplished with pertinent examples and critical sources. Th e next and last essay, "Florbela Espanca e duas memórias do mar," by Simone Pereira Schmidt, exemplifi es the engendered concept of the sea in Portuguese literature, from the medieval cantigas in which the sea is the recurring symbol of the feminine poetic voice's feelings and desires to the seaborne images of male adventures of travel and conquest. She concludes that in Espanca's poetry the sea is not that of maritime heroes and navigators, but of quiet, submersed voices found at the margins of this masculinist poetic history. Th ough this essay is nicely written and presents some interesting ideas that tie the work of Florbela Espanca to the well-established tradition of Portuguese poetry, its inclusion in this volume is rather bizarre as there is little connection between this study and the theme of the collection. An introduction or preface to the volume would have certainly been useful to situate the essays and provide an explanation as to the genesis of this collection. Only the title of the volume lends any sort of binding thread to the individual essays, and the reader is left wondering how these eclectic studies came together as a collection of essays. It is possible that these essays were presented at the international conference "Mulheres Más/Mujeres Malas" held in Porto in June 2003, or stem from a series of seminars at UERJ, where three of the fi ve contributors are professors, but this is just speculation. For the most part, the essays are well written and present interesting readings of the texts examined. Th ey are best considered as individual studies rather than as a coherent group of essays that engage in a dialogue under the umbrella theme "As mulheres são o diabo."


Abstract The genus Nagiella was studied using morphological and DNA barcode data. Nagiella bispinasp. nov. is described as a new species, and N. hortulatoides Munroe is recorded in China for the first time. The diagnosis of this genus is revised, and the genitalia description of N. quadrimaculalis (Kollar and Redtenbacher) and N. inferior (Hampson) are given in English for the first time. Nosophora incomitata (Swinhoe) stat. rev. is removed from the synonym of N. quadrimaculalis. Photographs of the habitus and genitalia as well as COI DNA Barcode data of these four species are provided.


Selective toxicity against cancer cells is a most important determinant for anticancer agents. Therefore, we have preferably evaluated anticancer effects in vivo using murine tumor models for several decades. Approximately 50 anticancer agents are currently available for clinical therapy, but very few agents are effective against some types of cancer. Much progresses in cell culture techniques resulted in establishment of various human tumor cell lines. Currently, we are able to use human tumor lines as well as murine ones for the examination of drug sensitivity. A number of assay methods to evaluate anticancer activity have been developed. In the beginning, growth inhibitory activity was evaluated by counting cell numbers after drug exposure. Then, human tumor clonogenic assay (HTCA) was designed to measure only proliferative cells. Recently colorimetric MTT assay and SRB assay in 96-well microplates were developed, which were adopted in the screening system in the NCI, based on a new idea, that is, disease-oriented screening (DOS) using about 60 human tumor cell lines. In this paper outline of each method was described, adding especially several comments on disease-oriented screening.


Coeliac disease (CD) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory condition of the small bowel; the only treatment is lifelong adherence to a gluten free diet (GFD). Adherence to a GFD also minimises the risk of associated conditions such as osteoporosis in CD patients. The present study aimed to evaluate and optimise management of bone disease in CD patients in a dietetic-led clinic. This study was conducted in two parts: study 1 utilised retrospective data to evaluate management of bone disease with reference to British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) guidelines in 229 CD patients. Based on the results from study 1, study 2 developed a tool to estimate dietary calcium intake in CD patients, which was then trialled on 50 patients. There were no significant differences between the population demographics for study 1 and study 2. 65% of patients had a diagnosis of osteopenia or osteoporosis, in a female predominant population (74.6%). Reported mean dietary calcium intake was over estimated at 1239.6mg/day (SD ± 377.1mg) in study 1 and corrected to 852mg/day (SD ± 264.57mg) using improved methodology (study 2) (p≤0.05). Understanding and compliance with dietary advice correlated positively with GFD (p≤0.001) but not osteoporosis or fracture risk. Overall patients attending the clinic did not meet the BSG recommended calcium intake. However, 30% of patients could meet the 2014 BSG target from oral diet alone. Utilising individual dietary prescriptions and targeted use of calcium supplementation maximised the opportunity to reduce risk of bone disease and improved compliance with BSG recommendations.


The effect of maleic anhydride(MAH)/styrene(St)multi-monomers melt grafting NR, NR-g- (MAH-co-St),on the mechanical properties of nano-silica modified NR/PP blended thermoplastic elastomer was studied. The morphology structure of the tensile section of thermoplastic elastomer was analyzed by scanning electron microscope(SEM).The results showed that, when the mass ratio of nano-silica was 0.03, the compatibility and interfacial interaction between NR and PP were increased greatly by improving depressive equality of nano-silica and thinning crosslinked NR dispersion phase in the presence of NR-g- (MAH-co-St). The mechanical properties of the NR/PP/ nano-silica TPV were enhanced effectually.


Aflastatin A inhibits aflatoxin production by Aspergillus parasiticus via an unknown mechanism. We found that aflastatin A clearly inhibited production of norsolorinic acid, an early biosynthetic intermediate of aflatoxin, at a concentration of 0.25 microg/ml. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and real-time quantitative PCR (TaqMan PCR) experiments indicated that the transcription of genes encoding aflatoxin biosynthetic enzymes (pksA, ver-1, and omtA) and a gene encoding a regulatory protein for expression of the biosynthetic enzymes (aflR) were significantly reduced by the addition of aflastatin A. We also found that aflastatin A elevated the glucose consumption and ethanol accumulation by A. parasiticus, and repressed transcription of genes involved in ethanol utilization. These results suggest that aflastatin A inhibits a very early step in aflatoxin biosynthesis prior to the transcription of aflR and can influence glucose metabolism in the fungus.


It has already been reported that 3-(indol-2-yl)quinoxalin-2-ones have a potent inhibitory effect on the growth of tumor cells based on anti-angiogenesis activity. We have also carried out a structure-activity relationship (SAR) study of 3-(indol-2-yl)quinoxalin-2-ones, which showed a potent inhibitory activity toward the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced proliferation of human mesangial cells and the VEGF-induced auto-phosphorylation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Moreover, one of these compounds has a potent medicinal effect based on anti-angiogenic action, by oral administration (Chart 1, 9). However, since the existing synthetic methods for the preparation of 3-(indol-2-yl)quinoxalin-2-ones consist of multiple steps some of which require strict anhydrous conditions, a convenient and simple synthetic method in place of the existing method is desirable. As a result of the investigations into the synthetic procedures, 3-(3-substituted indol-2-yl)quinoxalin-2-ones can be easily prepared by the condensation of 3-substituted indoles with quinoxalin-2-ones in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). Herein, we report the examination of these reaction conditions and the application of this new synthetic method to the synthesis of the derivatives as VEGF inhibitors.


Neuroscience
Music can bring great joy to our lives, yet the extent to which humans find music pleasurable varies greatly. Several brain regions have been suggested to play a role in music perception, but we do not yet understand how they connect. Martinez-Molina et al. looked at brain areas such as the superior temporal gyrus, nucleus accumbens, and the orbitofrontal cortex known to be involved in experiencing reward and integration of information. They found differences in the microstructure of white-matter pathways between these brain regions in healthy adults. When the relationship of these pathways with the individuals' specific musical sensibility was tested, the authors concluded that details of the structure of the white-matter pathways influences the extent to which individuals perceive music as pleasurable.

J. Neurosci. 39 , 5018 (2019).


Stormwater pollution is one of most important issues that the District of Columbia faces. Urban stormwater pollution can be a large contributor to the water quality problems of many receiving waters, as runoff transports a wide spectrum of pollutants to local receiving waters and their cumulative magnitude is large. Therefore, evaluations of stormwater runoff quantity are necessary to enhance the performance of an assessment operation and develop better water resources management and plan. However, some computational intelligence methods that have most successful applications on time series prediction have not yet been investigated on water quantity prediction. Only a limited number of neural networks models were applied to the water quantity monitoring. Therefore, we proposed an Elman style based recurrent neural network on the water quantity prediction. A hybrid learning algorithm incorporating particle swarm optimization and evolutional algorithm was presented, which takes the complementary advantages of the two global optimization algorithms. The neural networks model was trained by particle swarm optimization and evolutional algorithm to forecast the stormwater runoff discharge. The USGS real-time water data at Four Mile Run station at Alexandria, VA were used as time series input. The excellent experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method provides a suitable prediction tool for the stormwater runoff monitoring.