Introduction: Previous studies have demonstrated that frailty is associated with mortality among patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). However, no studies have examined frailty in an unselected population-based sample of patients with DLBCL, nor have data on health care utilization been considered as a potential mediator of this relationship.
 Objective: To determine whether frailty is associated with one-year survival in an unselected population of patients with DLBCL, and examine whether its impact is mediated by health care utilization during chemotherapy treatment.
 Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using population-based health care data in Ontario, Canada. Patients >65 years diagnosed with DLBCL or transformed follicular lymphoma between January 2006 and December 2017 and receiving first-line chemo-immunotherapy were included. Frailty was defined by modifying a previously validated score developed for use with population-based data in Ontario, comprising 30 multidimensional variables (McIsaac, Ann Surg. 2019;270(1):102-108). Patients were categorized as "frail" (score >0.21) vs. "non-frail" (score ≤0.21). Covariates included age, number of comorbidities based on the Johns Hopkins Aggregated Diagnosis Groups (ADGs), and health care utilization during chemotherapy (defined as emergency department (ED) visit or inpatient hospitalization not resulting in death during treatment, and analysed as a time-varying covariate). Cox regression was performed to examine the association between frailty and one-year mortality (primary outcome). Secondary outcomes included health care utilization, chemo-immunotherapy exposure, and cause of death.
 Results: 5,527 patients were included in the study. 5,216 patients (94%) had de novo DLBCL, and 311 (6%) of patients had transformed follicular lymphoma. The median age was 75 years (IQR 70-80), and 48% (N=2672) were female (Table 1). 2,699 (49%) of patients were classified as frail (Table 2). Frail patients tended to be older (median age 76 (IQR 71-81) vs. 74 years (IQR 70-79)).
 The difference in mortality between frail and non-frail patients was most pronounced in the initial year following start of treatment (Figure 1a). Within 90 days of first-line rituximab, 14% (N=370) of frail vs. 7% (N=185) of non-frail patients had died (p<0.0001). Within one-year of first-line treatment, 32% (N=868) of frail patients had died compared to 20% (N=553) of non-frail patients (unadjusted HR 1.8, 95% CI 1.6-2.0, p<0.0001, Figure 1b). Among frail patients who died within 1 year (N=868), 34% (N=298) had only received 1 cycle of chemotherapy. In multivariable modelling controlling for age, number of ADG comorbidities, and health care utilization during chemotherapy, frailty (binary exposure) remained independently associated with one-year mortality (adjusted HR 1.6, 95% CI 1.5-1.8, p<0.0001).
 The relationship between frailty and survival remained consistent when measured in quartiles (HR 1.6 (95% CI 1.3-1.9) for Q2, 2.0 (95% CI 1.7-2.4) for Q3, 2.7 (95% CI 2.3-3.2) for Q4, p<0.0001, Figure 1b). Frail patients were significantly more likely to receive only 1 cycle of chemotherapy than non-frail patients (14% vs. 7%, p<0.0001). Frail patients also had higher health care utilization during chemotherapy (mean ED visits 0.75 + 1.47 vs. 0.59 + 1.17, p<0.001; mean hospitalizations 0.9 + 1.12 vs. 0.72 + 1.05, p<0.001). Frail patients were also more likely to die of DLBCL (38.3 vs. 29%, p<0.0001).
 Conclusion: Frailty is significantly associated with one-year mortality in patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL, even after adjusting for age, comorbidities, and health care utilization. Frailty appears to be associated with poor tolerability of chemotherapy and a higher likelihood for requiring acute hospital-based care, and future analyses will explore whether this is related to patients suffering increased treatment-related toxicity. Future analyses of these data will also address whether frail patients who die within one-year of first-line treatment have different clinical characteristics compared to frail patients who survive beyond one year. Future prospective studies may help clinicians understand whether any frailty-related variables are modifiable and the role of alternative treatment strategies for vulnerable patients.

 Prica: astra zeneca: Honoraria; seattle genetics: Honoraria; Gilead: Honoraria.


Background As GPS tags and data loggers have become lighter, cheaper, and longer-lasting, there has been a growing influx of data on animal movement. Simultaneously, methods of analyses and software to apply such methods to movement data have expanded dramatically. Even so, for many interdisciplinary researchers and managers without familiarity with the field of movement ecology and the open-source tools that have been developed, the analysis of movement data has remained an overwhelming challenge. Description Here we present stmove, an R package designed to take individual relocation data and generate a visually rich report containing a set of preliminary results that ecologists and managers can use to guide further exploration of their data. Not only does this package make report building and exploratory data analysis (EDA) simple for users who may not be familiar with the extent of available analytical tools, but it sets forth a framework of best practice analyses, which offers a common starting point for the interpretation of terrestrial movement data. Results Using data from African elephants (Loxodonta africana) collected in southern Africa, we demonstrate stmove's report building function through the main analyses included: path visualization, primary statistic calculation, summary in space and time, and space-use construction. Conclusions The stmove package provides consistency and increased accessibility to managers and researchers who are interested in movement analysis but who may be unfamiliar with the full scope of movement packages and analytical tools. If widely adopted, the package will promote comparability of results across movement ecology studies.


Decline in sexual activities caused by diseases or by medication affecting the functions of the central nervous system has often been described, but there are few reports on diseases or medications causing hypersexuality. Bilateral lesions of the temporal lobes may result in the Klüver-Bucy syndrome, symptoms of which include hypersexuality, excessive eating, and mood changes. In this article, the authors describe moclobemide-induced reversible hypersexuality, without other features of the Klüver-Bucy syndrome, in two patients with stroke and one patient with Parkinson's disease.


The spin and orbital magnetic moments of the Fe3O4 epitaxial ultrathin film synthesized by plasma assisted simultaneous oxidization on MgO(100) have been studied with X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The ultrathin film retains a rather large total magnetic moment, i.e. (2.7+-0.15) uB/f.u., which is ~ 70% of that for the bulk-like Fe3O4. A significant unquenched orbital moment up to (0.54+-0.05) uB/f.u. was observed, which could come from the symmetry breaking at the Fe3O4/MgO interface. Such sizable orbital moment will add capacities to the Fe3O4-based spintronics devices in the magnetization reversal by the electric field.


Dental conservation methods are those processes that can be utilized to maintain good oral health. They can be instituted at both individual and professional levels like; tooth brushing, amalgam fillings, inlays, among others. Like most other diseases, oral diseases affect all age groups irrespective of their nationality, race, and creed (WHO, 1999). Oral health describes a standard of health of dental and related tissues which enable an individual to eat, speak and socialize without active disease, discomfort or embarrassment and which contributes to the general wellbeing.This is stressed further by the Commonwealth Dental Association(CDA) which states that "good oral health is an essential and important component of general health and it is a birthright of every individual in the world".


In view to overcome the major problem of 'hidden hunger' mainly caused by micronutrient deficiency, breeding for micronutrient enriched staple food crops is important. In developing countries, iron and zinc deficiencies are reported to be major health risk factor causing a high mortality rate. So, for overcoming these nutritional deficiencies through genetic improvement, F2 population of two rice crosses obtained by crossing diverse parents for micronutrients (mainly, Fe and Zn) were evaluated using randomised complete block design  during  Kharif, 2019  to study the relationship between different traits and to study the estimates of direct and indirect effect. Among the F2 population of cross-I, grain yield per plant exhibited significant and positive association with seeds per panicle, tillers per plant, flag leaf area, harvest index, test weight, days to 50% flowering and days to maturity while negative and significant correlation with canopy temperature. For cross-II, grain yield per plant exhibited significant and positive association with seeds per panicle, tillers per plant, plant height, flag leaf area, SPAD value, harvest index, test weight and days to maturity while significant and negative correlation with grain Zn content, grain Fe content and canopy temperature. Hence, selection for the traits showing positive and significant association with grain yield in both the crosses will be rewarding. Highest positive direct effect on yield was shown by harvest index in cross-I. So, selection based on harvest index for grain yield per plant would be the most effective strategy for improvement of grain yield. No direct positive or negative effect of grain Fe and Zn content on yield was found.


Meander line antenna (MLA) is an electrically small antenna which poses several performance related issues such as narrow bandwidth, high VSWR, low gain and high cross polarization levels. This paper describe the design ,simulation and development of meander line microstrip antenna at wireless band, the antenna was modeled using microstrip lines and S parameter for the antenna was obtained. The properties of the antenna such as bandwidth, beamwidth, gain, directivity, return loss and polarization were obtained.


Background: Correcting hyponatremia too quickly can lead to osmotic demyelination syndrome. During citrate dialysis, a significant sodium load is brought to the prefilter. We reviewed the impact of this sodium load on the evolution of sodium levels in patients undergoing continuous renal replacement therapy with citrate anticoagulation. Materials and Methods: The medical records of 5 patients with hyponatremia who received dialysis with citrate anticoagulation, over a 10-year period, were reviewed. The sodium of the dialysate and of the reinjection fluid was adapted according to the serum sodium level recommended by the guidelines of the time. Data from the first 24 h after initiation of dialysis was evaluated. Results: The difference in serum sodium levels between day 1 and day 2 was statistically significant, with a rise of 7.8 ± 3.7 mmol/L. Discussion: The mean serum sodium increase in our series of patients did not exceed the increase of 10–12 mEq/L/day permitted by the guidelines. The excess sodium was absorbed by the filter. Conclusion: In this small series of patients, with adjustment of the sodium concentration of dialysate and reinjection fluid, the use of citrate was found to be safe.


We applaud the authors and editors of this second issue of the Medical Hypothesis, Discovery, and Innovation Ophthalmology Journal in 2013 for presenting new research and innovative ideas on the vast array of issues and diseases related to ocular health. In its scope as a peer-reviewed journal, it covers articles and studies from leading causes of preventable blindness to promising advanced medical therapies. The content focuses on difficult-to-treat diseases that encourage us as eye care professionals to think outside the box, or in our case, slit lamp. We hope that such progressive thinking regarding visual impairment can be extended outside the clinical setting and into the communities, the schools, the nursing facilities, and homes of the patient population. Below we discuss the VISION 2020 program global activities in the prevention of blindness.


The location of the septin ring in the germ tubes of Candida albicans hyphae and pseudohyphae was studied using an antibody to Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cdc11p. In pseudohyphae induced by growth at 35°C in YEPD or Lee's medium, a septin ring formed at or near (mean 1.8 µm) the neck between the mother cell and the germ tube. This became double later in the cycle, and the first mitosis took place across the plane of this double ring. A septin ring also formed at the germ tube neck of developing hyphae induced by serum or growth on Lee's medium at 37°C. However, at later times, this ring became disorganized and disappeared. A second double ring then appeared 10–15 µm (mean 12.5 µm) along the length of the germ tube. The nucleus subsequently migrated out of the mother cell into the germ tube, and the first mitosis took place across the plane of this second septin ring. The relocation of the septin ring in developing hyphae provides a clear‐cut molecular distinction between hyphae and pseudohyphae. Commitment to one type of septin localization and mitosis was shown to occur early in the first mitotic cycle, well before evagination. Germ tubes of hyphae and pseudohyphae also have different widths. A point of commitment to germ tube width was also demonstrated, but occurred later in the cycle, approximately coincident with the time of evagination.


Energy balance measurements were made simultaneously at a terrestrial site in southern James Bay (SJB) and one in central Hudson Bay (CHB) during the growing season of 1985. Both sites were located 1 km inland from east-west trending coastlines and both were fully vegetated with sedge grasses growing in standing water. The SJB site is in a non-permafrost environment, whereas the CHB site is underlain by continuous permafrost.

The measurements indicate that the magnitudes of all components of the energy balance, except net radiation, are strongly dependent on wind direction. Onshore winds are dominant. With onshore winds, the ground heat flux, evaporative heat flux and air temperature are smaller than for offshore winds and the sensible heat flux is larger. These relationships are apparent when the wind is directionally persistent for a full day and when there is a major wind shift between onshore and offshore during the day.

With colder air temperatures the Bowen ratio becomes much larger than would be expected under conditions of potential evapotranspiration. This appears to be caused by a rapid increase in the canopy resistance of sedge grasses which occurs when air temperatures drop below 16°C.

Components of the energy balance are linearly correlated with air temperature. This could be useful in predicting the impact of human activities which result in long term temperature change in the Hudson Bay lowlands, which is a large area with a very sparse climate database.


One of the most important indicators characterizing the operating conditions of the fields is the water cut. It negatively affects the way of mining and the possibility of effective use of modern mining technologies. The high water cut of the cover and ore-hosting rocks often serves as the main reason for a decrease in their stability and the manifestation of negative processes (quicksand properties of rocks, caving), as a result of which the safety of miners deteriorates and high-performance mining methods become inapplicable, which generally leads to a decrease in the technical and economic indicators of the open pit. Thus, the study of the regularities of the formation of water inflows in the "Severny" open pit, based on the use of factual material and the development of a sound forecasting methodology are relevant. Purpose of the study. Analyze and assess the mininggeological and mining-technical conditions of the open pit "Severny" using mathematical models. Research methodology. The work uses a modeling method to predict water inflow and calculate the drainage of a quarry field in difficult mining conditions. Devices simulating natural mining conditions were used: a device for electrohydrodynamic analogies (EGDA). Research results: An analogy has been drawn between the phenomenon of laminar steady-state filtration of water in rocks and the passage of current in an electrically conductive medium in the form of electrically conductive paper, less often in liquid electrolytes. The EGDA device was used to determine the water inflows into the quarry, taking into account the factors that complicate the calculations of groundwater filtration (for example, taking into account the movement of the walls of the quarry, the operation of drainage devices, the infiltration of atmospheric precipitation, the movement of water in neighboring aquifers of different permeability), modeling of objects with a complex configuration boundary contours. Conclusion. The modeling method has been improved, which makes it possible to substantiate the use of a specific mining method under certain hydrogeological conditions and to select the optimal drainage scheme to increase the operational reliability of the open pit. The conducted research, observation, study of the existing dam showed the technical feasibility of further development of the deposit with minimization of financial costs. In order to ensure the safety of mining operations, it is envisaged to conduct constant and systemic mining and technical monitoring of mining operations and study the state of the water protection dam and pit walls.


Background  The extensive research on prediction of risk in offenders has developed a number of reliable static risk predictors. There is also a developing body of work on proximal, dynamic risk factors and their importance in predicting violent and sexual offending. Although this work has not been done specifically on offenders with intellectual disabilities, there is some preliminary evidence that it is equally relevant in this field. The current study extends this work.

Method  Fifty-two sexual offenders and abusers were included as participants and 18 of them had re-offended or were strongly suspected of having re-offended. A checklist of static and dynamic factors were derived from the literature and clinical experience and a retrospective, correlational method was employed. Two respondents provided information on the presence or absence of each variable and this information was checked through extensive case records. These variables were correlated with re-offending and suspicion of re-offending.

Results  Several variables correlated significantly with the two dependent variables and a standard multiple regression investigated the predictive quality of each independent variable. Significant variables were allowances made by staff, antisocial attitude, poor relationship with mother, denial of crime, sexual abuse in childhood, erratic attendance and poor response to treatment. Certain variables, found significant in earlier studies, did not emerge in the current analysis. These predictors accounted for around 53% of the variance for evidence of re-offending and around 74% of the variance for suspicion of re-offending.

Conclusions  The variables which emerge are similar to those found in the mainstream offender literature. Some hypotheses are presented on why certain variables did not emerge. Like other similar studies, the results should be treated with caution because of retrospective bias.


People of color are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, yet African American HIV/AIDS researchers are in short supply. Complex historical, structural, sociocultural, and personal barriers can prevent African Americans from becoming well-trained biomedical, behavioral, and social HIV/AIDS researchers. Institutional factors that influence the numbers of African Americans conducting HIV/AIDS research include the limitation of early-career decisions and a lack of exposure to research, research socialization, and mentoring. Two individual-level factors that influence the submission of federally funded research proposals are the limited availability of support for culturally congruent HIV research and African Americans' negative perceptions of their own competence and ability to contribute to society. We discuss progress toward eliminating disparities experienced by African American HIV/AIDS researchers at the individual, academic institution, and sociopolitical levels.


This study uses oyster shells as an aggregate substitute for marine concrete structures. The initial strength of concrete according to the proper particle size composition of the crushed oyster shell was experimentally analyzed. The particle size of the crushed oyster shell obtained through the shredder is out of the range of general aggregates' standard particle size curve because the ratio of 5 mm or less exceeds 50%. It was confirmed that if less than 5 mm was left abroad, it was within the range of the standard particle size curve, and only these were applied as thick aggregate substitutes. The crushed oyster shells impair workability due to their relatively high absorption rate. This study attempted to overcome poor workability by using two methods: using the crushed oyster shells in a saturated-surface-dry (SSD) state and adding an air entraining agent (AE). The SSD case showed that the slump increased, but the strength decreased by about 40%. The AE added case showed a slight decrease in strength while the slump more than doubled.


Plasma cleaning is a useful technique to clean transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample surfaces from carbon hydroxide. However, selective material removal rates can be hard to establish. As a result, carbonaceous samples are significantly impacted by the plasma process since by the very nature of an oxygen plasma it chemically reacts with carbon structures. We propose the use of a shield, provided by Fischione Instruments, to see whether this reduces significantly the plasma cleaning speed without reducing its effectiveness and without the need for a delicate tuning of the gas mixture or instrumentation parameters. Plasma cleaning could then be applied to carbonaceous samples such as graphite, diamond, amorphous carbon films as well as to any sort of powder deposited on holey carbon films. Tests were performed by electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) using a post-column GIF attached to a Philips CM 30-UT and by high resolution imaging (HREM) with a top-entry JEOL 4000 EX.


ABSTRACT This study addresses the information literacy needs of undergraduate forensic science students to become lifelong learners throughout their careers. Researchers designed a one-credit hour course combining information literacy instruction with forensic science professional seminars. Two separate cohorts were evaluated. The majority of students (75 percent) showed improvement in information literacy skill levels by the end of the course. Students initially scoring lower than the cohort average on a pretest appeared to gain the greatest benefit. Results suggest that this type of instruction could serve as a baseline for undergraduate science programs seeking to improve how students utilize scientific and legal information.


We present a search for RR Lyrae stars using the full six-year data set from the Dark Energy Survey covering ∼5000 deg2 of the southern sky. Using a multistage multivariate classification and light-curve template-fitting scheme, we identify RR Lyrae candidates with a median of 35 observations per candidate. We detect 6971 RR Lyrae candidates out to ∼335 kpc, and we estimate that our sample is >70% complete at ∼150 kpc. We find excellent agreement with other wide-area RR Lyrae catalogs and RR Lyrae studies targeting the Magellanic Clouds and other Milky Way satellite galaxies. We fit the smooth stellar halo density profile using a broken-power-law model with fixed halo flattening (q = 0.7), and we find strong evidence for a break at R0=32.1−0.9+1.1kpc with an inner slope of n1=−2.54−0.09+0.09 and an outer slope of n2=−5.42−0.14+0.13 . We use our catalog to perform a search for Milky Way satellite galaxies with large sizes and low luminosities. Using a set of simulated satellite galaxies, we find that our RR Lyrae-based search is more sensitive than those using resolved stellar populations in the regime of large (r h ≳ 500 pc), low-surface-brightness dwarf galaxies. A blind search for large, diffuse satellites yields three candidate substructures. The first can be confidently associated with the dwarf galaxy Eridanus II. The second has a distance and proper motion similar to the ultrafaint dwarf galaxy Tucana II but is separated by ∼5 deg. The third is close in projection to the globular cluster NGC 1851 but is ∼10 kpc more distant and appears to differ in proper motion.


Recently we have witnessed the growth of social innovation initiative as a viable approach to address many challenges of contemporary societies across the social, cultural, economic, educational and environmental domains. Social innovation stes up to develop alternative, and sustainable solutions to social issues by means of organizational models that rely on strong civic engagement and participation across private and public sectors. As such, social innovation holds a strong potential for the transformation of societies and has attracted a growing interest from researchers, practitioners and policy makers around the world. A key domain of concern is the need for developing adequate models and methodologies for the qualification of indivduals for social innovation. In this vein the Students4Change project aims to develop and implement an integrative methodology to embed social innovation and entrepreneurship in the academic experience of students in Latin America. This paper offers a preliminary description of the advancements led by 10 universities in 5 Latin America countries engaged in the project, in order to develop competences for social innovation and social entrepreneurship through innovations in academic curricula.


Extracranial meningiomas are rare tumors, comprising ∼2% of all meningiomas. Previously reported sites include the orbit, parapharyngeal space, and rarely, the paranasal sinuses. A retrospective chart review of patients with meningiomas was performed over the last 25 years, and three patients were identified with meningiomas involving the paranasal sinuses. The locations included the frontal sinus, the ethmoid sinus, and the sphenoid sinus. Presenting symptoms included facial pain and nasal obstruction; two patients noted facial swelling. Diagnosis was established via endoscopic transnasal biopsy in two patients. Computed tomographic (CT) guided biopsy was utilized to confirm the diagnosis in the third patient. Surgical extirpation was successfully performed with tumors arising from the ethmoid and frontal sinuses. The patient with neoplasm in the sphenoid sinus underwent radiation therapy. Extracranial meningiomas of the paranasal sinuses are rare tumors that may present a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. We present three cases and discuss the clinical presentation, radiographic findings, diagnostic evaluation, and treatment options.


A multicentre trial was conducted to evaluate a new test for anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) in serum (Coeliac Screening Kit, CSK, Medical Innovations Limited, Artarmon, NSW, Australia). The test showed excellent reproducibility for both anti-gliadin IgA and IgG detection. The average intraassay coefficient of variation (CV) was 3.0% for IgA and 2.4% for IgG (n = 6), while the average interassay CV was 6.4% for IgA and 4.3% for IgG (n = 3). By defining a positive test as both IgA and IgG elevated, a sensitivity of 93% in untreated coeliacs (n = 75) was observed. The corresponding specificities in healthy adults (n = 130) and healthy children (n = 77) were > 99% and 100% respectively, while in patients with other gastrointestinal disorders (disease controls) the specificity was 94% (n = 129). The test was also useful in monitoring patients, with anti-gliadin IgA and IgG falling for up to a year after commencing a gluten-free diet (GFD) (12 adults). In some patients however, antibody levels did not reach the normal cutpoint after many months on a GFD, which may reflect the patients' poor adherence to their gluten free diet. The test was superior to the Pharmacia anti-gliadin ELISA, and should be useful as an aid to the diagnosis of coeliac disease, as well as in the follow-up of treated patients.


Clear cell odontogenic carcinoma (CCOC) is a rare odontogenic malignancy with a female preponderance occurring in the adult age group. CCOC was classified as a malignant neoplasm of odontogenic origin by the World Health Organization in 2005 because of its aggressive nature, local recurrence tendency, and the potential for regional and distant metastasis. Histologically, CCOC is characterized by sheets and islands of vacuolated and clear cells. Metastasis at presentation is rare; it usually involves cervical lymph nodes and lungs, less frequently to bone. As clear cells are present in few odontogenic tumors; salivary gland neoplasms; and metastatic tumors to the jaws, especially metastatic renal cell carcinoma, the presence of clear cells in a lesion of the head and neck region poses a diagnostic challenge. So knowledge about the clinical course, histopathological pattern, and immunoprofile of CCOC helps in differentiating the other clear cell tumors.


An electronic warfare (EW) system with two spatially separated intercept receivers, targeting military communication systems is considered. The EW system estimates the direction-of-arrival via a correlation-based time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) method without any prior knowledge of the signals-of-interest. An important practical consideration is the oscillator frequencies of the two intercept receivers where a difference, or error, degrades the TDOA estimator performance. A measure of this degradation, or loss in power due to the frequency error, is derived and used to describe the robustness against receiver frequency errors. In the multisource scenario, time and frequency overlapping sources can be separated using direction-filtering of the cross-correlation function between the receiver outputs with good result if one signal at a time can be selected by the direction-filter. However, the performance of the considered estimator is degraded in a multisource scenario compared to the single source case.


Chemical degradation studies on micrococcin P1 have established that the stereochemistry of the valine residue in the natural product is S and not R as previously assigned in the literature. This confirms Ciufolini's hypothesis that the Bycroft-Gowland structure of MP1 differs from the natural product on stereochemical grounds. A range of conditions for the synthesis of amino acid-derived thiazoles have been investigated and previously reported conditions found to be unreliable. Evidence has been provided to suggest that racemisation in the Hantzsch thiazole synthesis occurs in the elimination step of the reaction. The peptide backbone of micrococcin P1 has been prepared in 10 steps and 44% overall yield, incorporating S-valine based on the results of our degradation studies. A microwave-assisted method for the conversion of sterically hindered (3-ketoesters to enamines has been devised, which is suitable for single- and multimode instruments, and for scale-up to produce multigram quantities of material. The central heterocyclic domain of the micrococcin thiopeptides has been prepared in 15 steps and 9% overall yield via a highly convergent strategy incorporating the Bohlmann-Rahtz pyridine synthesis and featuring an efficient two-directional thiazole elaboration. The micrococcin thiopeptide macrocycle has been synthesised in 20 steps and 4% overall yield. Three micrococcin P1 side chain dipeptides have been prepared, each incorporating different protecting groups, enabling a range of different approaches to the natural product to be investigated. HPLC analysis of degradation products from newly isolated cyclothiazomycin thiopeptides and comparison with synthetic material has provided evidence that the alanine-derived residue in the cyclothiazomycin core domain is of S stereochemistry, and not R as previously assigned in the literature.


In urban drainage modelling, uncertainty analysis is of undoubted necessity; however, several methodological aspects need to be clarified and deserve to be investigated in the future, especially in water quality modelling. The use of the Bayesian approach to uncertainty analysis has been stimulated by its rigorous theoretical framework and by the possibility of evaluating the impact of new knowledge on the modelling estimates. Nevertheless, the Bayesian approach relies on some restrictive hypotheses that are not present in less formal methods like GLUE. One crucial point in the application of Bayesian methods is the formulation of a likelihood function that is conditioned by the hypotheses made regarding model residuals. Statistical transformations, such as by the use of the Box– Cox equation, are generally used to ensure the homoscedasticity of residuals but this practice may affect the reliability of the analysis leading to a wrong estimation of the uncertainty. The present paper aims to study the impact of such a transformation considering five cases one of which is the "real" residuals distributions (drawn from available data). The analysis was applied to the Nocella experimental catchment (Italy) which is an agricultural and semi-urbanised basin where two sewer systems, two wastewater treatment plants and a river reach were monitored during both dry and wet weather periods. The results show that the uncertainty estimation is greatly affected by residual transformation and a wrong assumption may also affect the evaluation of model uncertainty. The use of less formal methods always provide an overestimation of modelling uncertainty with respect to Bayesian method but such effect is reduced if a wrong assumption is made regarding the residuals distribution. If residuals are not normally distributed, the uncertainty is over-estimated if Box-Cox transformation is not applied or non calibrated parameter is used.


In the paper a new approach for estimating the radar signal multivariate probability density is suggested. It is based on the use of a projection of a random process to the set of random variables, with the probability density defined as a product of two-dimensional densities. The estimates of two-dimensional probability densities are obtained with the help of filtering the two-dimensional characteristic function. So we are suggesting a nonparametric estimate of the characteristic function. On the basis of these estimates nonparametric algorithms of signal detection are constructed. Examples for remote sensing of atmosphere are suggested


We reported the observation of Y(2175) in ϕf0(980) mass spectrum in J/ψ → ηϕf0(980) with f0(980) → π+π− and the observation of a broad 1−− resonance of K+K− mass in J/ψ → K+K−π0. The results from the partial wave analyses of J/ψ → γπ+π− and γπ0π0, as well as J/ψ → πK− are also presented.


Vanadium-niobium oxide catalysts containing variable amounts of vanadium and prepared by coprecipitation were investigated using 51V solid-state NMR. It was found that, in samples containing less than about 8 mol % V2O5, vanadium occurs in three different oxygen environments: in isolated tetrahedra, in comer-sharing tetrahedra (pyrovanadate), and in distorted octahedra. The number of octahedral sites increased as the amount of vanadium in the bulk of the catalyst was increased. The compound 8-(Nb,V)205 was found to occur in samples containing more than 7 mol % V2O5. In this compound, vanadium occurs not only in isolated tetrahedral sites but also in comer-sharing tetrahedral sites. For a catalyst having the niobia in the crystalline T form, it was found that an increase in the bulk concentration of vanadium caused the number of neighboring sites occupied by vanadium to increase and the vanadium partially to replace niobium in the T-niobia structure.


The paper presents our preliminary work on developing a remote hardware development lab using mixed reality technology (mRLab). The mRLab allows a group of students to remotely and simultaneously work on a VHDL project with an FPGA development board. All lab objects are created in 3D and an interactive layer on the 3D objects is added to host learning information along with caveats to assist learning.


ABSTRACT: Surface water impairment by fecal coliform bacteria is a water quality issue of national scope and importance. In Virginia, more than 400 stream and river segments are on the Commonwealth's 2002 303(d) list because of fecal coliform impairment. Total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) will be developed for most of these listed streams and rivers. Information regarding the major fecal coliform sources that impair surface water quality would enhance the development of effective watershed models and improve TMDLs. Bacterial source tracking (BST) is a recently developed technology for identifying the sources of fecal coliform bacteria and it may be helpful in generating improved TMDLs. Bacterial source tracking was performed, watershed models were developed, and TMDLs were prepared for three streams (Accotink Creek, Christians Creek, and Blacks Run) on Virginia's 303(d) list of impaired waters. Quality assurance of the BST work suggests that these data adequately describe the bacteria sources that are impairing these streams. Initial comparison of simulated bacterial sources with the observed BST data indicated that the fecal coliform sources were represented inaccurately in the initial model simulation. Revised model simulations (based on BST data) appeared to provide a better representation of the sources of fecal coliform bacteria in these three streams. The coupled approach of incorporating BST data into the fecal coliform transport model appears to reduce model uncertainty and should result in an improved TMDL.


The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between exposure to carbon disulfide, as measured by personal air sampling, and the excretion of 2-thiothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (TTCA) in urine. The subjects of investigation were 29 workers involved in the production of viscose rayon fibers. The average exposure level was 12.6 mg/m3 (range less than 1-66). The present Dutch occupational exposure limit ("MAC-value") is 60 mg/m3. After logarithmic transformation of the data, the following linear regression equation was found: log (TTCA) = 0.84 log (CS2) - 1.10, wherein TTCA is expressed as mmol/mol creatinine and CS2 as mg/m3. The correlation coefficient was 0.95. Neither the hepatic drug-metabolizing capacity (antipyrine clearance) nor the degree of obesity (Quetelet index) influenced the relationship significantly. On basis of the equation it was possible to establish tentative biological limit values corresponding to the respective occupational exposure limit values. The calculated biological limit value of 0.77 mg/g creatinine (= 0.57 mmol/mol creatinine) corresponds, with 95% confidence, to time-weighted average of air concentration lower than the TLV level of 30 mg/m3.


This study examines accounting standard ASR 118 mandating the reporting of fair values of investment securities. Using a unique setting, the United States public venture capital industry, we test whether ASR 118 would be important to investors, or whether relevance would come at the expense of representational faithfulness. We examine the relevance and representational faithfulness of managerreported fair value estimates and find that fair value estimates do provide relevant information incremental to historical cost as evidenced by its effect on share value. We also find that fair value estimates are representationally faithful, based on comparing fair value estimates provided during the last year before the exit to actual cash realized exit price.


Highly oriented VO_2 (M1) thin films are difficult to produce using non-crystalline substrates. For example, to produce such films on glass has required post-annealing or the use of a ZnO transparent layer. Here, we overcome this challenge and report highly oriented VO_2 (Ml) in the (100) plane directly on the glass substrate by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). We study the influence of the laser wavelengths (1064, 532, 355 and 266 nm) on the orientation of VO_2 (Ml) deposited on Corning glass. We find that the laser wavelength of 532 nm leads the most highly a-axis textured VO_2 (Ml) demonstrating the highest reversible metal-to-insulator at about 62 °C with a lowest hysteresis width of approximately 9 °C. One of the conditions is to select the green 532 nm wavelength laser in PLD as this particular laser wavelength also produces films with highest roughness value (of more than 60 nm) when compared to other wavelengths which produce films of roughness values less than 40 nm.


Flotation is an important part of coal preparation, and the flotation column is widely applied as efficient flotation equipment. This process is complex and affected by many factors, with the froth depth and reagent dosage being two of the most important and frequently manipulated variables. This paper proposes a new method of switching and optimizing control for the coal flotation process. A hybrid model is built and evaluated using industrial data. First, wavelet analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) are applied for signal pre-processing. Second, a control model for optimizing the set point of the froth depth is constructed based on fuzzy control, and a control model is designed to optimize the reagent dosages based on expert system. Finally, the least squares-support vector machine (LS-SVM) is used to identify the operating conditions of the flotation process and to select one of the two models (froth depth or reagent dosage) for subsequent operation according to the condition parameters. The hybrid model is developed and evaluated on an industrial coal flotation column and exhibits satisfactory performance.


The framework of the Research Program 1 (RP1) in the HiLASE[1] project is to develop both the 500-mJ at 1-kHz repetition rate and the 5-mJ at 100-kHz repetition rate laser systems with 1-2ps pulse duration based on thin disk technology for industrial, scientific, and medical applications. The front-end of our laser system contains a regenerative amplifier as the first stage of amplifier chain. We are developing the Yb:YAG thin disk regenerative amplifier with pulse energy of 120-130mJ before pulse compression at the repetition rate of 1-kHz. As the first step towards the 100-mJ class regenerative amplifier, we have developed a prototype of Yb:YAG thin disk regenerative amplifier operating in the range of 1-kHz to 10-kHz repetition rate.


Undoped polycrystalline AgInSe2 crystals were successfully grown at low temperature (650°C) using a hot-press method. The sizes of the samples were 2 cm in diameter. The largest grain size was approximately 90 nm. The presence of lattice defects such as Ag interstitials might lead to an enhancement in n-type electrical conductivity. The crystals had a resistivity of 2.2 Ω cm, a carrier concentration of 4.2 × 1016 cm3 and a mobility of 70 cm2V-1s-1 obtained by Hall measurement at RT.


It is shown how quantum mechanical time correlation functions [defined, e.g., in Eq. (1.1)] can be expressed, without approximation, in the same form as the linearized approximation of the semiclassical initial value representation (LSC-IVR), or classical Wigner model, for the correlation function [cf. Eq. (2.1)], i.e., as a phase space average (over initial conditions for trajectories) of the Wigner functions corresponding to the two operators. The difference is that the trajectories involved in the LSC-IVR evolve classically, i.e., according to the classical equations of motion, while in the exact theory they evolve according to generalized equations of motion that are derived here. Approximations to the exact equations of motion are then introduced to achieve practical methods that are applicable to complex (i.e., large) molecular systems. Four such methods are proposed in the paper--the full Wigner dynamics (full WD) and the second order WD based on "Wigner trajectories" [H. W. Lee and M. D. Scully, J. Chem. Phys. 77, 4604 (1982)] and the full Donoso-Martens dynamics (full DMD) and the second order DMD based on "Donoso-Martens trajectories" [A. Donoso and C. C. Martens, Phys. Rev. Lett. 8722, 223202 (2001)]--all of which can be viewed as generalizations of the original LSC-IVR method. Numerical tests of the four versions of this new approach are made for two anharmonic model problems, and for each the momentum autocorrelation function (i.e., operators linear in coordinate or momentum operators) and the force autocorrelation function (nonlinear operators) have been calculated. These four new approximate treatments are indeed seen to be significant improvements to the original LSC-IVR approximation.


A simple protocol based on low-weight Pauli Hamiltonians is introduced for performing quantum gates that are robust to control noise. Gates are implemented by an adiabatic sequence of single-qubit fields and two-qubit interactions with a single ancillary qubit, whereas related techniques require three-qubit interactions, perturbation gadgets, higher dimensional subsystems, and/or more ancilla qubits. Low-weight interactions and low qubit overhead open a viable path to experimental investigation, while operation in a degenerate ground space allows for physical qubit designs that are immune to energy relaxation. Simulations indicate that two-qubit gate error due to control noise can be as low as $10^{-5}$, for realizable coupling strengths and time-scales, with low-frequency noise that is as high as 15% of the control pulse amplitude.


Agouti-related protein (AGRP) is a potent orexigenic peptide that antagonizes the melanocortin-3 and -4 receptors (MC3R and MC4R). While the C-terminal domain of AGRP, AGRP(87-132), is equipotent to the full-length peptide, further truncation decreases potency at the MC3R and MC4R. Herein, we report AGRP-derived peptides designed to mimic the active β-hairpin secondary structure that contains the hypothesized Arg-Phe-Phe pharmacophore. The most potent scaffold, c[Pro-Arg-Phe-Phe-Asn-Ala-Phe-DPro], comprised the hexa-peptide β-hairpin loop from AGRP cyclized through a DPro-Pro motif. A 20 compound library was synthesized from this scaffold for further structure-activity relationship studies. The most potent peptide from this library was an asparagine to diaminopropionic acid substitution that possessed sub-nanomolar antagonist activity at the mMC4R and was greater than 160-fold selective for the mMC4R versus the mMC3R. The reported ligands may serve as probes to characterize the melanocortin receptors in vivo and leads in the development of novel therapeutics.


Objective We aimed to explore whether nursing professionals' psychological states affect their grief response for a patient's death in the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) inpatients' ward. Methods Survey was conducted among frontline nursing professionals working in COVID-19 inpatients wards at three tertiary-level affiliated hospitals of the University of Ulsan during April 7–26, 2022. Participants' information such as age, years of employment, or marital status were collected, and their responses to rating scales including Pandemic Grief Scale (PGS) for healthcare workers, Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-9 items (SAVE-9), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Loneliness and Social Isolation Scale, and Insomnia Severity Scale (ISI) were collected. Results All 251 responses were analyzed. We observed that 34% reportedly suffered from depression. The linear regression analysis showed that a high PGS score was expected by high SAVE-9 (β=0.12, p=0.040), high PHQ-9 (β=0.25, p<0.001), high loneliness (β=0.17, p=0.006), and high ISI score (β=0.16, p=0.006, F=20.05, p<0.001). The mediation analysis showed that the depression of nursing professionals directly influenced their pandemic grief reaction, and their work-related stress and viral anxiety, insomnia severity, and loneliness partially mediated the association. Conclusion We confirm that frontline nursing professionals' depression directly influenced their grief reaction, and their work-related stress and viral anxiety, insomnia severity, and loneliness partially mediated the association. We hope to establish a psychological and social support system for the mental health of nurses working in the COVID-19 wards.


Warpage is one of the main defects in multi-pass roll forming. It manifests as the horizontal deviation in the sheet flange part after forming, impacting the final quality of the sheet. In this manuscript, we focus on the cap-shaped part of a small section profile. Considering the lack of previous scientific guidance on the distribution of forming angles—angles that lead to warpage defects and other defects reducing the quality of these products—a five-boundary condition distribution function of forming angle is proposed. We propose a mechanism for warpage defects in roll bending of a cap-shaped part based on this five-boundary condition forming angle distribution function. Furthermore, we examine the effects of forming angle, sheet thickness, and material yield strength on the warpage defects by examining the designed fluctuation of the edge wave, ∆z, and the maximum deviation of the profile curves of the flange edge, z', to test this theory, roll bending experiments are compared to simulation.


The Interdistrict Audit of Vascular Surgery project entails the compilation of data on all new vascular patients who are referred, investigated and/or treated in three UK health authorities. The main aim is to create an accurate database containing process/outcome criteria, which can be interpreted as quality measures and which facilitates review of current practices. Data collection, which began in June 1990 and is scheduled to continue until March 1992, is by a series of proformas. Currently 503 patients are registered on the database, and preliminary results have shown that 28% of initial assessment patients go on to have an arteriogram, 9% are admitted to the hospital immediately and 7% are discharged back to the care of their general practitioner. At follow-up consultation, the patient's main presenting symptom had been cured in 38% of cases, but remained unchanged in 27% and had worsened in 5%. The paper concludes by examining the project against some success criteria and recounting some of the practical difficulties of data collection encountered so far.


A 2p + 5 parametric family of black holes is constructed in dilaton - axion gravity with p vector fields using a holomorphic representation of U-duality in three dimensions. The metric of the non-extremal black holes has a Reissner - Nordström-type structure and generically possesses an internal horizon. However, in the extremal limit the generic solution exhibits a dilatonic-type null singularity. The solution thus interpolates between the well known Reissner - Nordström and charged dilatonic spacetimes. Only in the case of the orthogonal electric and magnetic charges (if p > 1) may the extremal solution have a non-singular event horizon.


The thesis consists of an introduction and three parts. The introduction states the scope and purpose of the survey. Its aim is to discover and set out the salient features in the social life of mining population in east Kent, and thereby to bring to light social problems with which Kentish people are at present faced or which they are likely to have to solve in the future.
Part 1 is intended to present a systematic study of existing conditions. it includes a statistical analysis of certain verifiable facts of social life in East Kent and deals with them under the following headings:-
1 - The Extent of the Coalfield.
2 - Population.
3 - Housing and Town Planning.
4 - Employment, Output and Earnings
5 - Some Public Social Services - (a) For the Welfare of the Mother and Pre-school Children
 (b) For the Welfare of the School Child and Adolescent
6 - Education.
7 - Provision for the Sick, the Infirm. for the Aged, and Others in Need
8 - Some Voluntary Social Services

Part II aims at portraying a picture of local impressions of the new mining estates in East Kent. It is based partly upon personal observation: partly upon the spoken and written views of responsible persons living among the mining population, and of the miners themselves. The statements made are quite unverifiable but are intended to provide local colour necessary wanting in the analytics account given in Part I.
It embodies a mass of 'floating opinion' with which the observer of social conditions in the coalfield area is confronted. This 'floating opinion' does not present in any way the views of the writer. These are given in Part III which states and criticises the main problems which the survey appears to have revealed, and attempts to suggest possible solutions.


ABSTRACT Natural colorants from plant-based materials have gained increasing popularity due to health consciousness of consumers. Among the many steps involved in the production of natural colorants, pigment extraction is one of the most important. Soxhlet extraction, maceration, and hydrodistillation are conventional methods that have been widely used in industry and laboratory for such a purpose. Recently, various non-conventional methods, such as supercritical fluid extraction, pressurized liquid extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, pulsed-electric field extraction, and enzyme-assisted extraction have emerged as alternatives to conventional methods due to the advantages of the former in terms of smaller solvent consumption, shorter extraction time, and more environment-friendliness. Prior to the extraction step, pretreatment of plant materials to enhance the stability of natural pigments is another important step that must be carefully taken care of. In this paper, a comprehensive review of appropriate pretreatment and extraction methods for chlorophylls, carotenoids, betalains, and anthocyanins, which are major classes of plant pigments, is provided by using pigment stability and extraction yield as assessment criteria.


Due to its low drag and suppression effectiveness, fairings are considered to be an attractive alternative to helical strakes for mitigation of riser Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV). The Norwegian Deepwater Programme has conducted a project with the objective to develop and qualify effective low drag fairing concepts with respect to VIV and galloping. Furthermore, emphasis is put on easy handling and installation.By use of 2D small scale tests in a towing tank and in a large cavitation tunnel, a total of 10 different fairing designs have been evaluated and screened in terms of hydrodynamic performance [1]. Three fairing design candidates were promoted for further development. This paper describe the work and findings when studying the effectiveness of promoted fairings on a 3D flexible riser model with respect to galloping and VIV. Three different fairing profiles have been studied in the present model tests.The tests were carried out in the sub-critical Reynolds number regime with Rn up to about 53000. Four different fairing coverages were tested for each design: full coverage, 60 % coverage, 40 % coverage and full coverage of the lower half of riser.Differences in performance have been noticed for the fairing profiles, and the findings have laid the ground for further development of the most promising candidates for real life applications. Further, it is concluded that the combination of 2D and 3D tests, as well as combination of small scale and prototype scale tests, has been an efficient strategy in development of VIV suppression devices.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


Labridae is a large and diverse fish family. Many species under Labridae inhabits Indonesian coral reefs. However, limited scientific data are available on ornamental fish diversity in Labridae from the South Coast of West Java. The purpose of the research is to give information about species diversity and phylogenetic relationships among species of Labridae fish family in the South Coast of West Java. This research will be conducted using a survey method with a purposive sampling technique. The observed parameters include morphometric and meristic characters and evolutionary relationships among species within  Labridae family species collected from the South Coast of Sukabumi and Garut, West Java. Morphological data will be analyzed descriptively based on morphometric and meristic data. Species-level identification performed by referring to the available identification guide book. Phylogenetic relationships will be analyzed statistically using cladistics method as implemented in PAUP 4.0 applying maximum parsimony algorithm.  The cladogram has a consistency index of 0.563, indicating low homoplasy and proved that the tree was the most parsimonious. Labridae formed monophyletic clade compared to Acanthurus maculiceps , and Cheilio inermis was basal species while the others derived species.


Assessing the potential of building damage is a critical issue for existing and new building projects. Simple analytical approaches up to now are still mainly considered to assess the vulnerability of structures. This paper presents a new approach based on a small-scale physical model (1/40 scale factor on the dimensions) under normal gravity. It has been designed for developing and validating experimentally new methods of prediction of damages to masonry structures induced by subsidence (generally resulting from underground excavations of tunnels and mines). The analogical soil is homogeneous sand, allowing the realization of different simulations. The masonry structure consists of walls built with wood pieces without cohesion (mortar) and resting on an elastic foundation. The vertical displacements are applied through the use of an electro-mechanical jack. The technique of digital image correlation (DIC) is used to measure accurately the displacements and the deformations of the structure. The identification of the damage level is based on the crack width resulting from different vertical displacements. A specific algorithm has been developed to quantify the strain of joints. The total length of opened cracks appears to be a more relevant indicator of damage than the maximum width of cracks. The damage evolution with the vertical displacement can be divided into an initial linear part and a subsequent non-linear part. Guidelines are suggested for the assessment of the masonry damages due to underground excavations.


Population spatial distribution analysis allow environmental researchers to describe,
and understand how individuals (study subjects) grow and interact in a given study site,
this information might be used in numberless applications from classical ecology, pest
management, sample design optimization, particles dispersion patterns, so forth, to
epidemiology and public health. Probability discrete models (Poisson, Binomial and
Negative Binomial) are used to asses the three principal spatial patterns (random,
uniform and aggregated distributions respectively). In this paper a matlab algorithm is
presented to perform spatial patterns analysis through the evaluation of probability
models. Likelihood Ratio Goodness of Fit Test (G-test) was used to test for agreement
between observed vs expected density data for the three probability distributions, and
two sets of random count data (m = 100 and 2229) were simulated for the three
probability distributions in order to test the algorithm. Results showed that the
algorithm was sensitive in assessing for agreement random generated counts for the
three discrete probability models but in less measure for contagious distribution when
m = 2229 (p > 0.05 for poisson and binomial models, and p < 0.05 for negative
binomial model in both cases). Likelihood Ratio test reported significant difference
from negative binomial when in fact it was the population distribution for m = 2229,
although graphical distribution analysis showed agreement between observed and
expected negative binomial counts.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of presurgical nasoalveolar molding in an infant with incomplete cleft lip and alveolar notch. The patient was a 15-day-old female infant with a two-thirds vertical separation of the left side of the upper lip, with an intact nasal sill. A modified molding appliance was made to improve nasal esthetics and correct the alveolar notch. Although the nasal and alveolar region abnormalities were not serious, the molding appliance improved the nasal and lip esthetics and was stable during the 4-year follow-up.


That the incidence of pellagra is not decreased by improved sanitation and general disease prevention methods, and that it is materially increased by business depression and increased prices of food, is the conclusion that must be drawn from the experience obtained in this city during the past five years. The following tables show the improvement in health conditions which have been secured since 1911 through improved water supply, excreta disposal by means of sanitary sewers, the general sanitation of the city, incineration of all waste and refuse, strict laboratory control of milk and water supply and the infections that are subject to laboratory control, market and food inspection, improved drainage, medical school inspection, and the various other methods used for human conservation in modern public health work. The percentages in Table 5 are computed to show the relation between the total number of deaths and the number of deaths from


We use simulated maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy to quantify the ability of different statistical tests to discriminate between Gaussian and non-Gaussian models. Despite the central limit theorem on large angular scales, both the genus and extrema correlations are able to discriminate between Gaussian models and a semianalytic texture model selected as a physically motivated non-Gaussian model. When run on the COBE 4 year CMB maps, both tests prefer the Gaussian model. Although the bispectrum has comparable statistical power when computed on the full sky, once a Galactic cut is imposed on the data, the bispectrum loses the ability to discriminate between models. Off-diagonal elements of the bispectrum are comparable to the diagonal elements for the non-Gaussian texture model and must be included to obtain maximum statistical power.


Abstract : Electronic technology has advanced to a level that was previously unimaginable. Two new issues are the meaning of confrontation in an electronic age and the constitutionality of televised or videotaped testimony. The new technology provides tremendous opportunities to graphically recreate facts and events; however, it also raises the dangers of factual distortion and undue influence. Nowhere is the use of electronic imagery more evident than in the prosecution of child sex abuse. Testimony via videotape or closed circuit television is being used with increasing frequency as a substitute for live, in-court testimony in the area of child sexual abuse. Forty-six states have statutes that specifically permit the use of a procedural substitute for a child's in-court testimony under certain limited conditions. The United States Congress has followed suit with the passage of the Crime Control Act of 1990, which authorizes federal courts to order the use of closed circuit television and videotaped testimony under specified circumstances in federal prosecutions for child abuse. Contrary to the trend in both federal and state courts, the military provides no procedural or judicial guidelines governing the use of televised or videotaped testimony by a child witness. Military judges are forced to improvise procedures on an ad hoc basis, relying upon case law and common sense. This situation is untenable, first, because the law fluctuates as new issues arise, and second, because the Supreme Court has refused to dictate any "categorical evidentiary prerequisites for the use of the [alternative] procedure." This thesis recommends the adoption of a rule for courts-martial that would provide uniform procedural alternatives to in-court testimony in child abuse cases.


A 128/spl times/128 element photodetector array has been fabricated using lateral bipolar phototransistors in a standard 1.2 /spl mu/m digital CMOS process. One-bit image processing for the array is accomplished through the use of a current mode comparator. Images focused on to the photodetector array have been successfully captured and are presented in this paper.


The purpose of the present study was to investigate effects of Leadership style on Organizational commitment with the mediated role of satisfaction .Data was gathered by closed ended questionnaires distributed to five OFWEL's in oromia. The scales used were the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, MLQ, the Job Satisfaction Survey, JSS and the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, OCQ. The study population consisted permanent employees of OFWE's and 315 employees were selected by simple random sample. After processing and modifying the data, only 309 respondents used as the main resources analyzed by using Structural Equation Model (SEM). Confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) has been employed as a statistical tool to validate these interdependence relationships. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) would be used to estimate the adequacy of the measurement model for each construct. Some of the results were according to the expectation after theory examination, but others were surprisingly contradictive. Transformational leadership had a direct and indirect effect on organizational commitment. Leadership style had positive indirect effects on organizational commitment. Based on the result of this research it is recommended that transformational leadership style should be practiced in OFWEs to gain satisfied and committed employees. The findings of the study are expected to provide a source of information for policy makers, researchers and human resources professionals to understand link between organizational cultures, leadership style on organizational commitment, with mediating role of job satisfaction in OFWEL's.


Oxygen free radicals may act as second messengers in signal transduction pathways and contribute to inflammatory diseases. We studied the action in vitro of radiolytically generated hydroxyl radicals (⋅OH) and superoxide radicals (O⨪2) on the cAMP-dependent protein kinases, I and II (PKAI and -II, respectively). The effects of the gasses O2 and N2O used to produce O⨪2 or⋅OH radicals by γ-radiolysis of the water were also studied. PKAI is more sensitive than PKAII to oxygen gas (10 mmsodium formate) and to hydroxyl and superoxide radicals. Hydroxyl radicals decreased the kinase phosphotransferase activities stimulated either by cAMP or its site-specific analogs for both PKAI and PKAII; however, PKAI was more affected. The binding of [3H]cAMP and of 8-N3-[32P]cAMP to RI regulatory subunits was decreased. ⋅OH caused a loss of tryptophan 260 fluorescence at site A of PKAI and of bityrosine production. Superoxide radicals affected only PKAI. O⨪2 modified both cAMP-binding sites A and B of the regulatory subunit but had a smaller effect on the catalytic subunit. The catalytic subunit was more sensitive to radicals when free than when part of the holoenzymes during exposure to the oxygen free radicals. These results suggest that oxygen free radicals alter the structure of PKA enzymes. Thus, oxidative modifications may alter key enzymes, including cAMP-dependent protein kinases, in certain pathological states.


Weight (kg)-age (days) data of 524 Horro sheep of Ethiopia were fitted to a Brody function to estimate parameters of growth curve and their genetic and phenotypic parameters. Genetic and phenotypic relationships were also estimated between growth curve parameters and weight at birth (BW), weaning (WW) six-month (WT6) and yearling (YW). For ewes Pearson correlations were also calculated between growth curve parameters and ewe productivity over first to fourth parities. Least squares means of growth curve parameters A (asymptotic mature weight, kg), B (proportion of mature weight attained after birth) and K (the rate of maturity, kg gain kg -1 body weight) were 37.6, 0.88, and 0.27∙10 -2 , respectively. Heritability estimates were 0.29, 0.18 and 0.14 for A, B, and K, respectively. Genetic correlations between A and B, A and K, and B and K were 0.39, −0.07, and 0.25 respectively. Genetic correlations of A and K with BW, WW, WT6, and YW were 0.27 and −0.13, 0.34 and 0.37, 0.44 and 0.61, and 0.67 and 0.66, respectively. The growth curve parameters have small but positive (r=0.05 to 0.28) relationship with indicators of lifetime productivity. Medium heritability estimates of A and K indicate that progress in improving these traits can be made through selection. WT6 and YW have medium genetic correlations with the growth curve parameters and these may allow the use of these weights as indirect early selection criteria for optimum growth curve.


The contemporary state of media and communications policy studies is disparate and incohesive because of the varying research backgrounds of its scholars, imprecise use of terms and lack of linkages to broader policy research. This article argues that there is a need for more consideration of the mechanisms and tools and of the institutional processes and practices of policy-making. The article argues that policy-making needs to be seen as a public sphere in which debate and compromise takes place, rather than an arena from which only one contestant can emerge—an approach that reduces the possibilities for reasoned debate, conciliation and cooperation. The article argues that the lack of this approach leads to normative intransigence, policy drift and protectionism that actually reduce the ability to pursue democratic and culture values in media and communications policy-making.


Background
Current methods for retrospective review of medical records require both time- and cost-wise a substantial effort. Therefore, we wanted to find the best method (based on natural language processing (NLP)) to select cases out of the medical records for further investigation in search for a (potentially preventable) adverse event (AE) to the decrease this effort.
Methods
The basic dataset consisted of 2987 medical records of patients who died during their hospitalization. To gain insight into the signal to noise ratio of the various resources, several subsets of our basic dataset were tested. Thereafter, we tested the scalability. After the best subset was chosen, several NLP algorithms were tested to select the best performing algorithm for the detecting of AEs. In the last experiment we tested the performance of the computer algorithms to predict potentially preventable AEs. The results of the NLP were compared with the outcome of the original retrospective medical record review.
Results
The dataset which contained he last three letters of the medical record showed the biggest potential. The scalability experiment showed that more data leads to a better performance of the algorithm. The best performing algorithm in the third test was the one based on support vector machine (SVM), with a precision of 79%, a negative predictive value (NPV) of 95% and a specificity of 85%. The results of the preventability experiment showed that the performance of the algorithms was almost equal to the results of the AEs.
Conclusions
In this study, we have shown that the SVM algorithm generates the most accurate results for the selection of cases for further investigation in the search for a (potentially preventable) AE. The sensitivity of the algorithms was around 75%. However, the SVM algorithm selected fewer cases to be examined for AEs compared to the original method. Consequently, this would lead to a lower workload for the committee. At the same time, there are a substantial number of cases, with potentially preventable AEs, not detected by machine learning.


Psychological literacy, a construct developed to reflect the types of skills graduates of a psychology degree should possess and be capable of demonstrating, has recently been scrutinized in terms of its measurement adequacy. The recent development of a multi-item measure encompassing the facets of psychological literacy has provided the potential for improved validity in measuring the construct. We investigated the known-groups validity of this multi-item measure of psychological literacy to examine whether psychological literacy could predict (a) students' course of enrolment and (b) students' year of enrolment. Five hundred and fifteen undergraduate psychology students, 87 psychology/human resource management students, and 83 speech pathology students provided data. In the first year cohort, the reflective processes (RPs) factor significantly predicted psychology and psychology/human resource management course enrolment, although no facets significantly differentiated between psychology and speech pathology enrolment. Within the second year cohort, generic graduate attributes (GGAs) and RPs differentiated psychology and speech pathology course enrolment. GGAs differentiated first-year and second-year psychology students, with second-year students more likely to have higher scores on this factor. Due to weak support for known-groups validity, further measurement refinements are recommended to improve the construct's utility.


The identification of ocular microbiota may allow early diagnosis and treatment strategies against eye diseases and disorders with canines. However, clinical microbial identification has been limited to cloning and conventional culturebased studies, which typically underestimate community diversity. In this report, lllumina MiSeq analysis of the 16S rRNA gene was used to examine the microbiome of the lacrimal caruncle region from five healthy dogs. The breeds sampled were a Golden Retriever (Dog A), a Weimaraner (Dog B), a Shih Tzu mix (Dog C), a Yorkie mix (Dog D), and a Dachshund (Dog E). MiSeq analysis revealed a total of 370 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) representing 79 families of bacteria. Generally, Dog A had the most unique bacterial profile in terms of families that were represented, with samples from this dog having contributions from families that were not observed above 2% of total OTUs in the other dogs. For example, the Oxalobacteraceae (Massilia spp.), Micrococcaceae (Arthrobacterspp.), and Enterobacteriaceae (Pantoea spp.) families were uniquely found in Dog A at levels above 2% of the total OTUs. Dogs A and B harbored very high percentages of Pseudomonadaceae (up to 65% in the right eye of Dog A), which was attributed entirely to the genus Pseudomonas. These dogs also had relatively high percentages of Moraxellaceae (up to 21 % in the left eye of Dog A), which were almost entirely from the Psychrobacter and Acinetobacter genera. The microbiomes from Dog A and Dog B were similar with respect to the families present and their relative abundance, while the microbiomes of Dogs C, D, and E were more similar to each other. Overall, this


The interrelationships between plasma beta-carotene, alpha-tocopherol, and the level of systemic inflammation and oxidative stress were investigated in patients with advanced coronary artery disease (CAD). Plasma beta-carotene, alpha-tocopherol, malondialdehyde, free radicals, interleukin-6, high sensitive C-reactive protein levels, and other risk factors of CAD were determined in a group of patients with advanced CAD [significant stenosis according to coronarographic examination (n=91) and a control group of examined patients with coronary arteries with no stenosis (n=49)]. Between-group differences in continuous variables were analyzed with the Hotelling T2-test (software NCSS2000), analyses of correlation matrix with the software STATISTICA. Advanced CAD coincided with significantly lower plasma concentrations of high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol and beta-carotene as well as with elevated levels of all inflammatory markers, but only with mild increase of oxidative stress. Beta-carotene significantly inversely correlated with interleukin-6. This inverse correlation could suggest potential protective effect of beta-carotene on atherosclerosis due to the inhibition of inflammatory processes.


Objective: to investigate the efficacy and safety of low-dose colchicine in patients with gout receiving urate-lowering therapy (ULT).Patients and methods. A single-center prospective study included 113 patients with gout. The main group consisted of 92 patients who were prescribed colchicine 0.5 mg/day combined with ULT (allopurinol or febuxostat), control group – 21 patients with contraindications to colchicine therapy who received only ULT. Patient data were entered into individual registration cards at the first visit, as well as on the 90th and 180th day after the start of drug intake. The presence of arthritis attacks was recorded by doctor or patient using a validated questionnaire. We compared the mean frequency of arthritis attacks in the groups, their duration and maximum pain intensity according to the visual analogue scale (VAS). Laboratory tests included: complete blood count test, general urinary test, uric acid (UA), blood glucose, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, creatinine, serum creatine phosphokinase.Results and discussion. Patients who did not receive prophylactic anti-inflammatory therapy had significantly longer duration of the disease and higher number of affected joints. For 6 months of follow-up, there were no arthritis attacks in 54% of patients who were prescribed colchicine, and only in 19% of patients who did not use prophylactic anti-inflammatory therapy (p=0.004). The duration of arthritis attacks and the intensity of pain according to the VAS were also statistically significantly lower in the colchicine group (p<0.031 and p<0.01, respectively). Due to the development of adverse events, related to colchicine therapy, only 3 were excluded from the study. The mean serum UA level by the end of the study in colchicine group did not differ from that in the control group.Conclusion. Administration of colchicine, 0.5 mg/dai for 6 months after initiation of ULT is safe and can reduce the frequency and severity of arthritis attacks.


We measured oxygen consumption (VO2) during spontaneous breathing with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), assist control ventilation (AC), and control ventilation during muscle relaxation (AC-MR) in eight patients undergoing resuscitation from cardiopulmonary failure. VO2 decreased in all eight patients between CPAP and AC-MR; mean VO2 (255 +/- 92 ml/min) on CPAP exceeded that on AC-MR (209 +/- 79 ml/min) (p < 0.005). Compared with CPAP, AC without MR reduced VO2 in five of eight patients and mean VO2 (227 +/- 59 ml/min) tended to decrease (p = 0.14); clinical examination did not distinguish patients requiring MR to reduce VO2 further. If VO2 on CPAP approximates VO2 during spontaneous breathing, the difference between CPAP and AC-MR (VO2resp) represents the decrement of VO2 that can be obtained during muscle rest. Both VO2resp and the mechanical work performed by the ventilator on the respiratory system were increased to about five times the efficiencies reported for normal patients, but VO2resp did not correlate with the mechanical work because of a wide range of respiratory muscle efficiencies. These efficiencies are less than those reported in normal patients, which may reflect the effect of sepsis, acidemia, hypoxia, or other conditions in these patients. We conclude that mechanical ventilation with muscle relaxation reduces VO2 by more than 20%; beyond stabilizing pulmonary gas exchange, these interventions preserve limited O2 delivery (QO2) for other vital organs.


An increase in low molecular weight fibrin-fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) was demonstrated in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 17 of 18 patients with bacterial or viral meningitis compared with 29 patients without meningitis. The CSF also showed an increase in coagulation proteins of molecular weight less than 90000 (factors VII, IX, and plasminogen) but did not contain fibrinogen (MW 340000) or plasminogen activator. It is concluded that low molecular weight FDP in the CSF in infective meningitis result from leakage through a damaged blood-CSF barrier rather than from local digestion of fibrin deposited on the meninges.


A new package structure based on printed circuit board (PCB) as carrier substrate was proposed, aiming at providing an implementation of System-in Package (SiP) emphasizing small size and more importantly low cost. This structure is built upon a multilayer PCB, where open cavities are created in the top and bottom layers to house active dies, allowing package size reduction as well as protection against handling and impact. An application prototype was devised to integrate an RF IC and a baseband digital IC, typical of a wireless communication Rx system. Thermo-mechanical simulation models of the prototype are constructed to comparably assess certain aspects of its reliability and manufacturability. The results show comparable thermal performance compared with currently mainstream substrate material. Thermal cycling test of the new structure to experimentally evaluate its reliability is planned with results to be reported in a separate report.


The partial differential equation describing unsteady velocity profile of electroosmotic flow (EOF) in a cylindrical capillary filled with a nonconstant viscosity electrolyte was derived. Analytical solution, based on the general Navier‐Stokes equation, was found for constant viscosity electrolytes using the separation of variables (Fourier method). For the case of a nonconstant viscosity electrolyte, the steady‐state velocity profile was calculated assuming that the viscosity decreases exponentially in the direction from the wall to the capillary center. Since the respective equations with nonconstant viscosity term are not solvable in general, the method of continuous binding conditions was used to solve this problem. In this method, an arbitrary viscosity profile can be modeled. The theoretical conclusions show that the relaxation times at which an EOF approaches the steady state are too short to have an impact on a separation process in any real systems. A viscous layer at the wall affects EOF significantly, if it is thicker than the Debye length of the electric double layer. The presented description of the EOF dynamics is applicable to any microfluidic systems.


Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an emerging nosocomial pathogen. Despite the broad spectrum of syndromes associated with S. maltophilia infections, little is known about its virulence factors, including siderophore production. The aims of this work were to detect S. maltophilia siderophores and to determine their chemical nature. We studied 31 S. maltophilia isolates from device-associated infections, recovered over the period 2006-2011 at Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the strain K279a, whose genome has been fully sequenced. The production of siderophores was screened by the chrome azurol S (CAS) agar assay, previously modified to detect siderophores in this species. When grown on modified CAS agar plates, all the clinical isolates and K279a were CAS-positive for siderophore production. In order to determine the chemical nature of siderophores, the Csáky (hydroxamate-type) and Arnow (catechol-type) assays were used. All S. maltophilia isolates produced catechol-type siderophores, but hydroxamate-type siderophores were not detected.


Multilevel examinations of sport policy institutionalization are scarce in sport management scholarship. As sport policies diffuse across geographic boundaries, there is often variation in the timing of adoption. In this study, the authors used event history analysis to examine the effect of institutional factors, within and between states, on the speed of youth sport concussion legislation adoption. Our quantitative analyses show that a series of intrastate factors—state norms, disruptive events, and local advocacy—had a significant influence on the timing of state policy adoption, but interstate social networks did not. Supporting qualitative data provide additional insight about the relationship between disruptive events and local advocacy in the adoption of concussion legislation. This study contributes to a better understanding of institutional factors in the diffusion of sport policy across geographic boundaries and offers an approach for future research examining variation in sport policy or practice adoption.


Abstract Purpose To examine the need, feasibility and acceptability of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) implementing a systematic, routine, unmet social needs identification and referral pathway, as a means of promoting health equity and addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Method Quality Improvement methodologies were used to adapt and pilot an unmet social needs identification and referral pathway for use with parents/carers of children with communication disabilities referred to an urban Australian speech-language pathology service. SLPs were surveyed about the acceptability and feasibility of this practice. Result The majority of parents/carers, 289 of 293 (99%), agreed to participate in the study, with 31 of the 289 (11%) reporting concerns about unmet social needs. The most common unmet need related to household bills (n = 17, 28%), followed by childcare (n = 12, 20%), employment (n = 10, 16%), food (n = 8, 13%), housing (n = 7, 11%), and parent/carer education (n = 7, 11%). The majority of these families, 26 of 31 (84%), requested referral to, or information about, local community services/resources. SLPs reported high levels of acceptability (93%) and feasibility (98%). Conclusion This study demonstrates the need, feasibility and acceptability of SLPs implementing an unmet social needs identification and referral pathway, and the potential to scale this initiative across other speech-language pathology services and allied health contexts. This paper focusses on SDG 1, SDG 2, SDG 3, SDG 4, SDG 8, SDG 10, SDG 11, SDG 16, and also addresses SDG 17.


Objective: Competency-based surgical education requires detailed and actionable feedback to ensure adequate and efficient skill development. Comprehensive operative capture systems such as the Operating Room Black Box (ORBB; Surgical Safety Technologies, Inc), which continuously records and synchronizes multiple sources of intraoperative data, have recently been integrated into hybrid rooms to provide targeted feedback to endovascular teams. The objective of this study is to develop step, error, and event frameworks to evaluate technical performance in elective endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) comprehensively captured by the ORBB (Surgical Safety Technologies, Inc; Toronto, Canada). Methods: This study is based upon a modified Delphi consensus process to create evaluation frameworks for steps, errors, and events in EVAR. International experts from Vascular Surgery and Interventional Radiology were identified, based on their records of publications and invited presentations, or serving on relevant journal editorial boards. In an initial open-ended survey round, experts were asked to volunteer a comprehensive list of steps, errors, and events for a standard EVAR of an infrarenal aorto-iliac aneurysm (AAA). In subsequent survey rounds, the identified items were presented to the expert panel to rate on a 5-point Likert scale. Delphi survey rounds were repeated until the process reached consensus with a predefined agreement threshold (Cronbach α>0.7). The final frameworks were constructed with items achieving an agreement (responses of 4 or 5) from greater than 70% of experts. Results: Of 98 invited proceduralists, 38 formed the expert consensus panel (39%), consisting of 29 vascular surgeons and 9 interventional radiologists, with 34% from North America and 66% from Europe. Consensus criteria were met following the third round of the Delphi consensus process (Cronbach α=0.82–0.93). There were 15, 32, and 25 items in the error, step, and event frameworks, respectively (within-item agreement=74%–100%). Conclusion: A detailed evaluation tool for the procedural steps, errors, and events in infrarenal EVAR was developed. This tool will be validated on recorded procedures in future work: It may focus skill development on common errors and hazardous steps. This tool might be used to provide high-quality feedback on technical performance of trainees and experienced surgeons alike, thus promoting surgical mastery.


Background: Magelang Regency is one of the endemic area of malaria in central Java. The working area of Health centre of Kajoran I, Banjaretno, has the highest incidence of malaria annually (Dinkes Magelang, 2010). Malaria is is transmitted through the bite of female Anopheles infected by Plasmodium sp. Its most effective prevention is vector eradication. This study was aimed at finding out the behavioral risk for the incidence of malaria.Design and Methods: In this observasional study using case control design include 40 cases and 40 controls using the simple random sampling. Chi square test followed by double-logistic regression was applied for the data analysis with p=5%. Results: Bivariate analysis on the 6 factors resulted in p<0.05 and 2 factors resulted in p>0.05. multivariate analysis showed that the habit factor of going out in the evening, installing wire gauze on the ventilation, hanging used clothes, mowing lawn, the existence of closed waste basket, washing the curtain resulted in the p=0.010 (OR = 10; 95% CI = 3.4-39.2), p=0.001 (OR = 4.1; 95% CI = 3.5-15.8), p=0.018 (OR = 3.3; 95% CI = 1.9 -16.2), p=0.044 (OR = 6.5; 95% CI = 2.1-30.9), p=0.380 (OR = 0.43; 95% CI = 0.1-1.2), p=0.002 (OR = 2.4; 95% CI =3.4 -5.6) respectively.Conclusion: The habit of going out in the evening has been shown to be most important behavioral factor associated with the malaria incidence (Sains Medika, 3(2):168-184).


In their daily activities, people will need to interact with other people. In this interaction, people use language as a means of communication. A conversation, as a way of people doing communication, can only take place by the presence of both speakers and hearers under a particular circumstance. As one of the pragmatic aspects, cooperative principle becomes something that should be noticed in a conversation. Grice (1975) said that the conversation will run well if both of the speaker and hearer obey the rules of conversation which he arranged into four conversational maxims, namely Maxim of Quantity, Maxim of Quality, Maxim of Relevance, and Maxim of Manner. For Islamic followers, these conversational rules, however, have long time been known well since Islam has ruled its people to treat other people well in all aspects, not to mention in speaking. This present article will see how Grice's conversational maxims, which were proposed in 1975, are in line with the Islamic conversational rules which were mentioned in Quran and hadith long time ago, since 600s. It means that this broadly-known pragmatic theory is not something new in Islam. It is also to prove that Islam, to some extent,  is the source of knowledge and value which are often developed further by western scholars.

Keywords: pragmatics, Grice's conversational maxims, Islamic conversational rules


Impingement of the iliopsoas muscle due to a protruding acetabular component is an uncommon cause of pain after total hip arthroplasty. We report the case of a 59 year old female patient who developed groin pain one year after revision arthroplasty and reconstruction of the acteabular defect with an acetabular reinforcement ring due to a loosened cup. THERAPY AND FOLLOW UP: After revision of the right hip via an anterior approach we used bone cement to smooth the anterior edge of the acetabular reconstruction ring and created a smooth rim for the iliopsoas tendon. At follow up 2 years later the patient was satisfied with the result, she complained about very rare recurrent groin pain, without any need for further treatment.


Background: The SF-6D was derived from the SF-36. A single summary score is obtained allegedly preserving the descriptive richness and sensitivity to change of the SF-36 into utility measurement. We compared the SF-6D and EQ-5D on domain content, scoring distribution, pre-treatment and change scores. Methods: The SF-6D and the EQ-5D were completed prior to intervention and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months post-intervention in a study enrolling 561 patients with symptomatic coronary stenosis. Patients were randomized to off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), standard on-pump CABG, or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Baseline and change over time scores were compared using parametric and non-parametric tests. Results: The relative contribution of similar domains measuring daily functioning to the utility scores differed substantially. SF-6D focused more on social functioning, while EQ-5D gave more weight to physical functioning. Pain and mental health had similar contributions. The scoring range of the EQ-5D was twice the range of the SF-6D. Before treatment, EQ-5D and SF-6D mean scores appeared similar (0.64 versus 0.63, p = 0.09). Median scores, however, differed substantially (0.69 versus 0.60), a difference exceeding the minimal important difference of both instruments. Agreement was low, with an intra-class correlation of 0.45. Finally, we found large differences in measuring change over time. The SF-6D recorded greater intra-subject change in the PTCA-group. Only the EQ-5D recorded significant change in the CABG-groups. In the latter groups changes in SF-6D domains cancelled each other out. Conclusion: Although both instruments appear to measure similar constructs, the EQ-5D and SF6D are quite different. The low agreement and the differences in median values, scoring range and sensitivity to change after intervention show that the EQ-5D and SF-6D yield incomparable scores in patients with coronary heart disease. Background Measurement of health utility is an important part of costeffectiveness analysis in health care. Health utility can be measured by several preference-based utility measures, of which the EuroQol (EQ-5D) [1,2] and the Health Utility Index [3] are the most widely used. Recently, a new index Published: 25 March 2006 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2006, 4:20 doi:10.1186/1477-7525-4-20 Received: 24 August 2004 Accepted: 25 March 2006 This article is available from: http://www.hqlo.com/content/4/1/20 © 2006 van Stel and Buskens; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Iso-1-cytochrome c from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (YCC) contains a surface cysteine residue, Cys102, that is located opposite to the lysine-rich side containing the exposed heme edge, which is the docking site for enzymes. Site-specific vectorial immobilization of YCC via Cys102 on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) thus provides a selective interface between nanoscopic electronic devices and complex enzymes. We have achieved this by modification of Cys102 with an oligonucleotide (dT(18)). Atomic force microscopy, fluorescence imaging, and cyclic voltammetry show the specific adsorption of YCC, modified with dT(18), on the SWNT sidewall with retention of its native properties. Pretreatment of the SWNT with Triton-X405 blocks the nonspecific binding of untreated YCC but does not interfere with binding of the oligonucleotide-modified YCC.


We investigated the frequency dependences of Y22 of FD-SOI MOSFETs, in which the drain current response delay is observed for the first time. Short channel FD-SOI devices operating in linear region show significant drain current response delay. It is confirmed that FD-SOI MOSFET's RF behavior can be well reproduced with the proposed model including the drain current response delay.


Hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives (HADs) and anthocyanins in corn (Zea mays L.) have recently been reported to have anticarcinogenic, anti-hypertensive, antidiabetic, antifungal, antioxidant, and anti-melanogenic activities. Five HADs and anthocyanins in corn were quantified by HPLC according to cultivars and heat processes. In addition, major anthocyanin of a black waxy corn was isolated and identified by several instrumental analysis, and its content was also quantified by HPLC according to heat processes. Of the ten corn cultivars, five waxy corn cultivars had moderate five HADs contents except "Baksa" waxy corn with higher two free cinnamic acids (FCAs), p-coumaric and ferulic acids. In contrast, three dent corn cultivars contained higher levels of three polyamine conjugates (PCs), CFP, DCP and DFP, and especially "P3394" had the highest amount of the three PCs. Two sweet corn cultivars had generally intermediate HADs levels between waxy and dent corn cultivars. Of the three colored-waxy corns, a black Mibaek waxy corn had the highest anthocyanin content. During heat processes, levels of two FCAs in the black waxy corn generally increased, whereas no significant change on three PCs contents was observed except the puffing process. Roasting, retort and puffing processes significantly increased two FCAs and especially, the puffed black waxy corn had the highest amount of FCAs. Meanwhile, most heat treatments except retort process, considerably decreased total anthocyanin contents, and especially the puffed black waxy corn had nearly no anthocyanin. Level of one major anthocyanin, pelargonidin 3-glucoside (P3G) isolated from a black waxy corn was appreciably decreased by heat treatments except retort process, which greatly increased P3G content. These results suggest that the retorted black waxy corn may be a promising high quality functional corn product.