The molecular dynamics method with a many-body potential is used to calculate the formation energies and combination energies of a monovacancy, bivacancy, trivacancy and tetravacancy with different configurations in under periodic boundary conditions. The favourable configurations in energy for the small vacancy clusters are obtained. In addition, we evaluate the activation energies for monovacancy migrations and analyse the effect of a vacancy cluster on its neighbouring vacancy migrations.


Four kinds of annealed polyethylene (PE) films with varying densities were photo-irradiated with a medium pressure mercury lamp. Photodegradation processes were followed by ultraviolet (UV) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic techniques and by gel and mechanical property measurements. Oxygenated products build-up was more favored in linear low density (LLD) PE and the rate of formation increased in the reverse order of polymer density. A similar trend was seen in gel formation. Measurements of elongation at break (%) showed that the embrittlement time of photo-irradiated PE increased with the decrease of polymer density. The experimental results on unquenched samples were compared with those of quenched samples. It was found that the density (or crystallinity) and crystal size of PE play important roles in determining photostability.


Glycolysis of polyethylene terephthalate waste fibers was carried out using excess ethylene glycol in the presence of different simple chemicals, namely, glacial acetic acid, lithium hydroxide, sodium sulfate, and potassium sulfate. Good yields (> 60%) of the monomer bis(2-hydroxyethylene terephthalate) were obtained using these chemicals as depolymerization catalysts. The purified monomer was characterized by elemental analysis, melting point, IR spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance. The qualitative and quantitative yields of the monomer obtained using these catalysts are most comparable with the conventionally used heavy metal catalysts such as zinc acetate and lead acetate. The chemicals used, being cheap and comparatively less harmful to the environment, offer further advantages in chemical recycling of polyester waste fibers. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 97: 513–517, 2005


TO THE EDITOR: I considered the novel findings of Rabsztyn et al. (1) to be of interest. This study demonstrates that the elevation in total amylase sometimes observed in celiac disease is actually related to the presence of macroamylasemia (1). Pancreatic pathology is well described in celiac disease, with the spectrum varying from pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (2) to a more recently described association with recurrent pancreatitis (3). Recent reports have suggested that abdominal pain may be the only presenting feature of celiac disease, although serum amylase was not measured in these studies (4, 5). It would have been interesting to know whether the patients with celiac disease in Rabsztyn's cohort (in particular the 23/124, new diagnoses with macroamylasemia) had any symptoms of pancreatic disease (1). In addition, were any further investigations performed (e.g., ERP or fecal pancreatic elastase)? The pathogenesis of pancreatic disease in association with celiac disease is not clear, with suggested mechanisms involving abnormalities of cholecystokinin, impaired secretin release (2), and papillary stenosis (3). Rabsztyn hypothesized that an ongoing autoimmune process may explain the presence of macroamylasemia (1). Although this association has not previously been quantified, this study perhaps raises more questions than it answers. Further prospective evaluation of patients with celiac disease and pancreatic abnormalities is required. Correlation of symptoms with investigation of pancreatic function, anatomy, and serum macroamylase may help elucidate the importance of Rabsztyn's unique observation.


The complex processing of data from the shipborne lidar survey of the Black Sea coastal areas was carried out. In this area, internal waves are often observed according to contact and satellite observations. The source of probing linearly polarized laser pulses in the lidar is a solid-state laser with diode pumping of the YAG: Nd active element with a pulse power of 20 mJ at a wavelength of 532 nm and a duration of 7 ns. The co- and cross-polarized components of the echo signal were recorded during the lidar survey. The cross-polarized component of the echo signal was mainly used due to its greater sensitivity to various kinds of inhomogeneities in the vertical distribution of hydrooptical characteristics. The purpose of processing is to identify quasi-periodic structures in the spatial distribution of the characteristics of lidar echo signals caused the propagation of short-period internal waves. Three processing methods were applied: the approximation method, the wavelet analysis method, and the Hilbert-Huang transform method. A large array of data obtained during 50 hours of lidar survey has been processed. Three 60-minute tracks containing quasi-periodic structures have been identified. The three processing methods results are in good agreement with each other and make it possible to obtain the most complete information about the parameters of the studied processes. The parameters of the recorded quasi-periodic processes are typical for internal waves observed in the coastal areas of the Black Sea. In the future, when processing a large amount of lidar sounding data, it is advisable to carry out fast processing by automated spectral methods at the first stage, and to carry out detailed processing by the approximation method only for those survey areas where quasi-periodic processes have been identified.


Alkali Activated Concrete (AAC) is an alternative kind of concrete that uses fly ash as a total replacement of Portland cement. Fly ash combined with alkaline solution and cured at high temperature reacts to form a binder. Four point bending tests on two full scale beams made with AAC are described in this paper. Companion small material specimens were also casted with the aim of properly characterizing this new tailored material. The beam's length was 5000 mm and the cross section was 200 mm × 300 mm. The AAC consisted of fly ash, water, sand 0–4 mm and coarse aggregate 6–10 mm; and the alkaline solution consisted of sodium hydroxide mixed with sodium silicate. No cement was utilized. The maximum aggregate size was 10 mm; fly ash was type F, containing a maximum calcium content of 2%. After a rest period of two days, the beam was cured at 60 °C for 24 h. Data collected and critically discussed included beam deflection, crack patterns, compressive and flexural strength and elastic modulus. Results show how AAC behavior is comparable with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) based materials. Nonlinear numerical analyses are finally reported, promoting a better understanding of the structural response.


In 2008, a landmark trial (ACCORD) was stopped early after it reported unexpected extra deaths associated with intensive hypoglycaemic treatment for type 2 diabetes. Two separate papers from the same trial now report the effect of very tight control on microvascular complications. The first paper found that aiming for a glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) target below 6% did not protect patients from advanced renal disease, advanced eye disease, or peripheral neuropathy over three to five years compared with a higher target (7.0-7.9%). Fewer of the intensively treated patients developed more subtle signs of microvascular damage, however, such as albuminuria, worsening visual acuity, or isolated signs of neuropathy. A second report looked in more detail at risk of retinopathy in close to 3000 of the original 10 251 participants. Over a follow-up of four years, patients aiming for the lower target HbA1cwere a third less likely to show progression of retinopathy on fundal photographs than those aiming for the higher target (7.3% v 10.4%; adjusted odds ratio 0.67, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.87). Half of those in the eye study had signs of retinopathy at baseline. Aggressive control of serum lipids—by adding fenofibrate to statins—also reduced the odds of progressive retinopathy in this analysis (0.6, 0.42 to 0.87, relative to adding placebo). Aggressive control of blood pressure, the third element of the ACCORD trial, did not. None of the interventions prevented moderate visual loss. What are doctors to make of these results? Two editorials (doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61028-8; doi:10.1056/ NEJMe1005667) remain upbeat about the importance of good glycaemic control in people with type 2 diabetes and a high risk of cardiovascular disease, the inclusion criteria for ACCORD. Aiming for an HbA1c of lower than 6% was probably too ambitious, however, and higher targets are already recommended by US guidelines. The possibility that fenofibrate might delay retinopathy is particularly exciting, says one editorial. Further evaluation of this drug should follow.


Since the 1990s, many countries have witnessed the emergence of organizations publishing environmental, social, and quality-of-life indicators at a city level in order to promote public awareness, democratic participation, and sustainability policies. Many such initiatives are short-lived, however, and reasons for their success and failure under-researched. Using interviews, surveys, and documental data, we explored the survival rates, obstacles, and achievements of 49 initiatives in 10 Latin American countries. Contrary to those in other world regions, most initiatives have civil society stakeholders (notably universities, media, and businesses), excluding governments. Implementing citizen perception surveys proved effective to gain public attention. Several initiatives obtained name recognition and policy influence, which are significant achievements in megacities such as Bogotá, São Paulo, and Lima, where numerous NGOs vie for attention. Frequent obstacles include a lack of finances. After a seven-year period (2014–2021), 55% of the sampled initiatives remained active, ranging from 90% in Colombia to none in other countries. Organizational continuity appeared to be associated with network membership and discontinuity with diverging obstacles, including political pressures in some countries (e.g., Mexico), data scarcity in poorer ones (e.g., Bolivia), and a lack of sustained interest in relatively richer ones (e.g., Chile). Recent increases in socio-economic inequalities are strengthening the potential of community indicators.


Parameter sensitivities of prices for derivative contracts play an important role in model calibration as well as in quantification of model risk. In this paper a unified approach to the efficient numerical computation of all sensitivities for Markovian market models is presented. Variational approximations of the integro-differential equations corresponding to the infinitesimal generators of the market model differentiated with respect to the model parameters are employed. Superconvergent approximations to second and higher derivatives of prices with respect to the price process' state variables are extracted from approximate, computed prices with low, C regularity by postprocessing. The extracted numerical sensitivities are proved to converge with optimal rates as the mesh width tends to zero. Numerical experiments for uniand multivariate models with sparse tensor product discretization confirm the theoretical results.


In a typically Canadian way, we (Canadian scientists and physicians) have been quietly performing surgical research in an efficient manner without much fanfare. It has been an ongoing initiative here at the Canadian Journal of Surgery to showcase this research, which is often difficult to have accepted elsewhere. In this issue, we have published unique Canadian perspectives on arthroplasty surgery and outcomes of transplantation after cardiac death. Although they contain sound research, these manuscripts may be refused elsewhere because of the mention of socialized medicine, regional databases or practices not accepted elsewhere. It has become apparent though that, in some ways, we can perform better clinical trials than centres to the south. Our medical system is more accepting of randomized trials, and there seems to be more compromise at the surgeon level to try other treatment modalities. Certainly, the cost of projects with nonoperative arms of treatment is less than at American centres.

American researchers have noticed our success, which has elicited several reactions. In the orthopedic community, Canadian groups have won a disproportionate number of international research awards. The Orthopaedic Research Society, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Hip Society, and the Orthopaedic Trauma Association research awards, among others, have been given to Canadian groups over the last decade with astounding regularity. Research groups in the United States were brought into existence to imitate our local efforts. These groups approached established Canadian researchers to be members in their groups to ensure expertise and recruitment. The editors of Injury asked Ross Leighton, president of the Canadian Orthopaedic Trauma Society, to write a how-to guide on group research.1 I know some American researchers who have tried to join their effort with Canadian groups preferentially because they liked the way we do research. These are resounding measures of success for Canadian groups, and these successes have paved the way for larger multicentre trials with international cooperation as other countries see the success of Canadian-led projects. These projects can be funded by multiple federal agencies around the world, allowing for meaningful answers to some of the more basic questions in clinical research.

However, with all our success came an initially limited amount of envy. Most researchers just kept doing the right thing and ignored the discontent. Recently, in my specialty, the amount of discontent has increased. Bias at other centres has been amplified no doubt because of the general decrease in funding opportunities globally. I have personally experienced some bias over Canadian research projects at the international level. This was an infuriating experience that I warn other specialties to be vigilant about preventing. I think we should continue to do research in a Canadian way and continue to perform world-class science to answer meaningful questions. CJS will continue to support this. But, I also think we should be non-Canadian in the way that we defend our right to perform research, get acceptance for funding and present outcomes at consequential venues. Even if we are Canadian, if we are the best, we should lead and not follow!


TUNA arose from two observations concerning the state of the art in the Generation of Referring Expressions (GRE). Firstly, we observed that the area contained a number of separate algorithms, each of which addresses a separate aspect of reference (e.g., reference to sets, or the treatment of salience) in isolation, without trying to address several aspects in one algorithm. Secondly, we observed that algorithms in this area were lacking an empirical basis; even though some algorithms were partially motivated by psycholinguistic concepts, it was unclear to what extent these algorithms reflected actual language use by human speakers or writers, or to what extent the descriptions generated by them were useful to hearers or readers. In response to these shortcomings, TUNA promised empirical results, and progress towards a unified algorithm.


1. The motor response of the antrum to feeding was examined in relation to gastric acid content in six adult rats fitted with electrodes and strain gauges on the antrum, two of them also having a small cannula in the fundus. 2. After fasting overnight, feeding was accompanied by an immediate increase in antral activity of seventeen to nineteen strong contractions lasting 5.33 +/‐ 1.15 min. Both the duration and amplitude of this antral motor response were increased 2 hr after ingestion of cimetidine (20 mg/kg) or 60 min after intramuscular administration of the same dose of proglumide. 3. By contrast, the response to feeding was reduced by 43% in duration and by 58% in amplitude during an intravenous infusion of pentagastrin (5 mg/kg per hr) and disappeared after an infusion of HCl into the stomach. The area under the curve of the pressure developed by the gauge, used as a motility index, was nearly doubled when the pH of the gastric contents increased from 3.1 to 5.7 and was halved when the pH decreased from 3.1 to 2.2. 4. In normal or inhibitory gastric acid secretion, the blockade of the antral motor response to feeding appeared when the total acid content of the gastric juice reached 35‐70 mu equiv/ml. 5. The results indicated that the rate of gastric secretion is of paramount importance in regulating the magnitude of the antral motor response to feeding. It is suggested that the vagally stimulated antral motility is rapidly counteracted by the increased acid secretion.


Brachylaima cribbi is a recently described species of terrestrial trematode that infects mammals and birds with helicid land snails as its first and second intermediate hosts. The adult worm is 2.5-6.0 mm long by 0.5-0.8 mm wide being a long slender cylindrical worm with oral and ventral suckers in the anterior quarter and genital pore in the posterior quarter. Scanning electron microscopy shows that there is a dense covering of tegumental spines at the anterior end which diminishes towards the posterior extremities of the worm. Development of spines was observed in juvenile and mature adult worms. In young worms 1-3 weeks post infection (wpi) spines appear as buds with a serrated edge each having 1-4 spikes per spine. As the worm ages the spines broaden and by 5 wpi the number of spikes per spine increases to an average of 8.1. The serial development of oral sucker papillae in the cercaria, metacercaria and adult worm was observed with the finding of an elongated papilla with a bifurcated tip on the cercaria becoming a shorter and thicker elongated papilla with a large central stoma on the metacercaria. In the adult worm, this papilla becomes dome-shaped with a small central stoma. For some of these papillae a cilium could be seen extended from the central stoma. Other life-cycle stages illustrated were the hatched egg with an extruded egg membrane minus an operculum and a portion of the branched sporocyst dissected from the digestive gland of the land snail Theba pisana showing a terminal birth pore. Scanning electron microscopy morphological features of the adult worm observed for the first time in a Brachylaima were the unarmed cirrus extended from the genital pore with released sperm present and the Laurer's canal opening visible in tegumental folds on the dorsal surface approximately 300 microm posterior to the genital pore.


In this paper, we investigate a cross-layer design for the packet scheduling and the resource allocation in UWB systems. This design considers the combination of queuing and channel state information (CSI) which provides QoS support for multimedia applications in UWB. For the physical layer, the use of a linear precoded orthogonal division multiplexing (LP-OFDM) waveform is proposed because of its significant performance increase compared to the WiMedia proposal. For the medium access control layer, scheduling is performed in order to differentiate between the different users and to satisfy their quality of service constraints. This cross-layer approach optimizes the system spectral efficiency and solves the problem in the WiMedia solution of cohabitation of more than three users sharing the three sub-bands of the same channel. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme leads to a considerable improvement in resource allocation and can guarantee the required quality of service.


Multilingual BERT has been shown to generalize well in a zero-shot crosslingual setting. This generalization was measured on POS and NER tasks. We explore the multilingual BERT cross-language transferability on the reading comprehension task. We compare different modes of training of question-answering model for a non-English language using both English and language-specific data. We demonstrate that the model based on multilingual BERT is slightly behind the monolingual BERT-based on Russian data, however, it achieves comparable results with the language-specific variant on Chinese. We also show that training jointly on English data and additional 10,000 monolingual samples allows it to reach the performance comparable to the one trained on monolingual data only.


Abstract : Environmental managers utilize a variety of tools when assessing lotic systems for stressors attributed to anthropogenic sources. Stream deposited sediment has been recognized as one of the major stressors affecting streams in the U.S. The detrimental effect on aquatic biota of sediment depositing within the interstitial spaces of stream substrate (embeddedness) has been established, yet lacking is an effective in situ method of quantifying embeddedness over short time periods. The goal of this research was to develop a short-term embeddedness (EMB) quantification method that can be linked to benthic macroinvertebrate health. Such a method would be a valuable tool when conducting biological and physical habitat assessments of wadeable streams and rivers. An in situ embeddedness chamber was developed to capture sediment deposited within the interstitial spaces of a uniformly sized substrate. Using sediment accumulation and macroinvertebrate colonization as endpoints, three exposure periods were evaluated (4, 7, and 14 days) on a small order stream (Honey Creek, New Carlisle, Ohio, USA) and a medium order stream (Stillwater River, Covington, Ohio, USA). The experiment was conducted during low flow conditions with little variation in flow, turbidity, and total suspended solids. Three treatment areas located downstream of the EMB chambers also were established to assess benthic macroinvertebrate colonization rates. Different levels of substrate disturbance (disturbed, slightly disturbed, and undisturbed) were mimicked by removing the embedded fine sediments. Embeddedness chamber results show correlations between newly deposited fine sediment and insect colonization rates. Measured percent embeddedness (USGS method) results at both sites were close to a natural stream condition (~33-35% embedded).


Background: Combined pituitary hormone deficiency (CPHD) presents a wide spectrum of pituitary gland disorders. The postnatal gonadotropic surge provides a useful period to explore the gonadotropic axis for assessing the presence of congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH). Aim: To explore the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in the postnatal gonadotropic surge for an early diagnosis of CHH in newborns or infants suspected of having CPHD. Subjects and Methods: A cohort of 27 boys under 6 months and 19 girls under 24 months of age with suspected hypopituitarism was studied. Serum concentrations of LH, FSH, testosterone, inhibin B, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and estradiol were measured, and male external genitalia were characterized as normal or abnormal (micropenis, microorchidism and/or cryptorchidism). Results: CPHD was confirmed in 36 out of 46 patients. Low LH and testosterone levels were found in 66% of the hypopituitary males, in significant association with the presence of abnormal external genitalia. This abnormality had a positive predictive value of 93% for CHH. No significant association was observed between serum FSH, AMH and inhibin B and the patient's external genitalia. Conclusion: In newborn or infant boys with CPHD, LH and testosterone concentrations measured throughout the postnatal gonadotropic surge, together with a detailed evaluation of the external genital phenotype, facilitate the diagnosis of CHH at an early stage.


This study discusses improving early reading skills using animated videos in dyslexic students in fourth grade at SD Negeri 22 Koto Lalang. This research was motivated by a problem that the researchers found when conducting observations in the fourth grade of SD Negeri 22 Koto Lalang, Padang City who had difficulty learning to read (dyslexia). Students have difficulty in beginning reading, especially in reading nouns that use the letter E and letter F. The purpose of this study was to prove that the use of animated video media can improve early reading skills in dyslexic students in grade IV SD Negeri 22 Koto Lalang in the city of Padang. This research uses quantitative research methods with experimental research types and uses a single subject research form with an A - B - A design. The research subject used is a dyslexic student in class IV SD Negeri 22 Koto Lalang, Padang City. The data collection technique used is an action test. The data were analyzed using graphic visual analysis. The results of the research that have been carried out show that the initial reading ability increases after being given an intervention using animated video media.


Today, there are still no uniform guidelines for the treatment of epistaxis. Furthermore, it is widely debated whether embolization or surgical approaches should be the first choice of treatment for intractable posterior epistaxis after conservative measures have failed. In several meta-analyses, it is reported that endoscopic sphenopalatine artery ligation and embolization have similar success rates, but embolization was associated with more severe neurological complications. Regarding existing literature, there are many comparative analyses of surgical methods but none for embolization protocols. Against this backdrop of a lack of uniform standards in embolization techniques, we present a retrospective evaluation of what has emerged to be best procedural practice for endovascular treatment of epistaxis in our department using microsphere particles and microcoils, in particular regarding precaution measures to avoid neurological complications. In our retrospective data analysis of 141 procedures in 123 patients, performed between 2008 and 2019, we find success rates very similar to those reported in other studies (95.1% immediate-stop-of-bleeding success and 90.2% overall embolization success) but did not encounter any major neurological complication opposed to other reports. We suggest some aspects of our protocol as precaution measure to avoid neurological complications. More generally and perhaps even more importantly, we make a strong case for standardization for embolization techniques to the level of details in surgical procedure standardization to enable an apples to apples comparison of embolization techniques to each other and of intervention vs. surgery.


This article discusses the central conceptual role that linguistics plays in Sarah Hulsey's visual art. By referencing the theory of generative grammar, she discusses how she creates visual analogs of sentences, sound patterns, and other linguistic structures through printmaking and artist's books. Two projects are discussed,  Diagraphia  and  The Space of Poetics , along with their influences, both visually and linguistically.


Invertebrate biodiversity remains poorly explored although it comprises much of the terrestrial animal biomass, more than 90% of the species-level diversity and supplies many ecosystem services. The main obstacle is specimen- and species-rich samples. Traditional sorting techniques require manual handling and are slow while molecular techniques based on metabarcoding struggle with obtaining reliable abundance information. Here we present a fully automated sorting robot, which detects each specimen, images and measures it before moving it from a mixed invertebrate sample to the well of a 96-well microplate in preparation for DNA barcoding. The images are then used by a newly trained convolutional neural network (CNN) to assign the specimens to 14 particularly common, usually family-level "classes" of insects in Malaise trap samples and an "other-class" (N=15). The average assignment precision for the classes is 91.4% (75-100%). In order to obtain biomass information, the specimen images are also used to measure specimen length and estimate body volume. We outline how the DiversityScanner robot can be a key component for tackling and monitoring invertebrate diversity. The robot generates large numbers of images that become training sets for CNNs once the images are labelled with identifications based on DNA barcodes. In addition, the robot allows for taxon-specific subsampling of large invertebrate samples by only removing the specimens that belong to one of the 14 classes. We conclude that a combination of automation, machine learning, and DNA barcoding has the potential to tackle invertebrate diversity at an unprecedented scale.


This study presented work considering the development and initial assessment of an augmented reality approach to provide a user interface for operators that could be a part of an equipment maintenance and diagnostics system. Its purpose was to provide an equipment system for graduate students of engineering and technology to experiment with the design of augmented reality technology. The proposed system took place three hours per week over a period of four weeks of corrective actions that were triggered in the Department of Industrial Education and Technology at the National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan. The students adopted augmented reality technology to achieve big data acquisition and analysis for pre-diagnostic and maintenance applications. Preliminary assessment of the proposed system was encouraging and showed that it achieved success in helping students understand concepts and using augmented reality technology for equipment maintenance and diagnostics. The study provided important initial insights into its impact on student learning.


Thin sections of lymph nodes from 14 rats were examined by phase contrast microscopy as regards direction of lymphoctes with amoeboid movement configuration (AMC) relative to the basement membrane of post-capillary high-endothelium venules (HE-cenules). Out of 118 lymphocytes with AMC, 82 appeared to be on theyr way into the venule from the lymph node parenchyma. This observation suggests that the lymphocyte traffic over the HE-venules is bi-directional, with the main migratory stream of lymphocytes from the lymph node parenchyma into the post-capillary venules.


Direct multidimensional numerical simulation is the most reliable approach for calculating the fluid dynamics and observational signatures of relativistic jets in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We present a two-dimensional relativistic hydrodynamic simulation of a GRB outflow during the afterglow phase, which uses the fifth-order weighted essentially nonoscillatory scheme and adaptive mesh refinement. Initially, the jet has a Lorentz factor of 20. We have followed its evolution up to 150 years. Using the hydrodynamic data, we calculate synchrotron radiation based upon standard afterglow models and compare our results with previous analytic work. We find that the sideways expansion of a relativistic GRB jet is a very slow process and previous analytic works have overestimated its rate. In our computed light curves, a very sharp jet break is seen and the postbreak light curves are steeper than analytic predictions. We find that the jet break in GRB afterglow light curves is mainly caused by the missing flux when the edge of the jet is observed. The outflow becomes nonrelativistic at the end of the Blandford–McKee phase. But it is still highly nonspherical, and it takes a rather long time for it to become a spherical Sedov–von Neumann–Taylor blast wave. We find that the late-time afterglows become increasingly flatter over time. But we disagree with the common notion that there is a sudden flattening in light curves due to the transition into the Sedov–von Neumann–Taylor solution. We have also found that there is a bump in light curves at very late times (∼1000 days) due to radiation from the counter jet. We speculate that such a counter jet bump might have already been observed in GRB 980703.


Objective Several abbreviated versions of the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) have been developed and are widely used in clinical settings. In this study, we provide evidence supporting the use of abbreviated versions of AUDIT by comparing the utility of various abbreviated versions and determining cut-off values for the population of South Korea. Methods Data were obtained from the 4th to 6th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. After calculating the whole AUDIT score, we applied the cut-off value of at-risk drinking proposed by the World Health Organization and divided the study sample into normal and at-risk drinking groups. Receiver operating characteristic curves were drawn for AUDIT-3rd question (Q3) alone, AUDIT-quantity and frequency (QF), AUDIT-consumption (C), AUDIT-4, and AUDIT-primary clinic (PC), and optimal cut-off values were obtained for each group. Results A total of 46,450 subjects were analyzed. The at-risk drinking group comprised 29.2% of all subjects. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of the abbreviated versions of AUDIT increased from 0.954 to 0.991 as the number of questions increased from one to four. The differences in AUROC between the abbreviated versions of AUDIT were statistically significant. The most appropriate cut-off values for AUDIT-Q3 alone, AUDIT-QF, AUDIT-C, AUDIT-4, and AUDIT-PC for adults over age 19 were 2, 4, 5, 6, and 4 points, respectively. Conclusion As the number of items analyzed increased from one to four items, the AUROC increased to a statistically significant level. Cut-off values for abbreviated versions of AUDIT are similar in South Korea to other countries.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:
1. To study the prevalence of hyperuricaemia in prehypertensive individuals.
2. To study the relationship between uric acid and
microalbuminuria in prehypertensive adults.
3. To study if hyperuricemia has an independent role in target organ damage among prehypertensive subjects, as reflected by microalbuminuria.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
SETTING:
Outpatient clinic of Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai
DESIGN OF STUDY:
Analytical-cross sectional study.
PERIOD OF STUDY:
Six months (March 2010-October 2010).
SAMPLE SIZE AND SELECTION OF STUDY SUBJECTS:
Hundred prehypertensive subjects(both newly and previously
diagnosed) attending the outpatient clinic were included in this Analytical cross sectional study. This study group included males and females in the age group of 20-45years.
SUMMARY:
This study "CORRELATION BETWEEN SERUM URIC ACID AND MICROALBUMINURIA IN PREHYPERTENSION" was carried out in Govt. Rajaji Hospital, Madurai Medical College, Madurai from March 2010 to October 2010.
100 cases of prehypertension in the age group of 20-45years
were studied during this period.Male subjects-43% and females-57%.
Hyperuricaemia was found to be strongly associated with
microalbuminuria in prehypertensive subjects.
Increased uric acid level in a prehypertensive group should be considered as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
CONCLUSION:
The following conclusions were derived from the study,
1.Prehypertension clusters with other cardiovascular risk factors like smoking, alchoholism, dyslipidemia ,microalbuminuria and hyperuricaemia.
2.Hyperuricaemia is an independent risk factor for microalbuminuria and thereby cardiovascular risk in prehypertension.
3. Urinary albumin excretion rate can be used as an immediate end point to evaluate the outcome of lowering the uric acid level in future investigations, and this will help draw a conclusion regarding its relation with cardiovascular disease.
4. As per JNC 7, pharmacological treatment is recommended for prehypertension, only if associated with diabetes, chronic kidney disease,microalbuminuria, etc, this study suggests that the subset of patients with hyperuricaemia can also be regarded as a high risk group who could benefit from blood pressure lowering therapy.


The ultimate load analysis of RC pile groups has assumed a lot of significance under liquefying soil conditions, especially due to post-earthquake studies of 1964 Niigata, 1995 Kobe and 2001 Bhuj earthquakes. The present study reports the results of numerical simulations on pile groups subjected to monotonically increasing lateral loads under design amounts of pile axial loading. The soil liquefaction has been considered through the non-linear p-y relationship of the soil springs, which can vary along the depth/length of the pile. This variation again is related to the liquefaction potential of the site and the magnitude of the seismic shaking. As the piles in the group can reach their extreme deflections and rotations during increased amounts of lateral loading, a precise modeling of the inelastic behavior of the pile cross-section is done, considering the complete stress-strain behavior of concrete, with and without confinement, and reinforcing steel, including the strain-hardening portion. The possibility of the inelastic buckling of the individual piles is considered in the overall collapse modes. The model is analysed using Riks analysis in finite element software to check the post buckling behavior and plastic collapse of piles. The results confirm the kinds of failure modes predicted by centrifuge test results reported by researchers on pile group, although the pile material used is significantly different from that of the simulation model. The extension of the present work promises an important contribution to the design codes for pile groups in liquefying soils. Keywords—Collapse load analysis, inelastic buckling, liquefaction, pile group.


This research studies how populations depend on road networks for access to health care during crises or natural disasters. So far, most researchers rather studied the accessibility of the whole network or the cost of network disruptions in general, rather than as a function of the accessibility of specific priority destinations like hospitals. Even short delays in accessing healthcare can have significant adverse consequences. We carry out a comprehensive stress test of the entire Austrian road network from this perspective. We simplify the whole network into one consisting of what we call accessibility corridors, deleting single corridors to evaluate the change in accessibility of populations to healthcare. The data created by our stress test was used to generate an importance ranking of the corridors. The findings suggest that certain road segments and corridors are orders of magnitude more important in terms of access to hospitals than the typical one. Our method also highlights vulnerable municipalities and hospitals who may experience demand surges as populations are cut off from their usual nearest hospitals. Even though the skewed importance of some corridors highlights vulnerabilities, they provide policymakers with a clear agenda.


We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally the difference between the band compression mechanisms of plasmonic gratings and plasmonic heterogratings. The plasmonic grating can pick out a fixed polarization bandwidth with changing the incidence angle, while the plasmonic heterograting composed of two different nanogratings can pick out a tunable bandwidth with changing the incidence angle and the period ratio of two gratings. The range of the plasmonic resonances of the heterograting is about 30% wider than that of a conventional grating. Thus, the plasmonic heterograting can work efficiently in a wider wavelength range. Moreover, high polarization extinction ratio is achieved in these plasmonic devices. This gives more insights into the mechanisms in plasmonic filters and is helpful to promote the actual applications.


Aim The accident rate in the State Fire Service from 2015 to 2021 related to sports activities was analyzed in relation to the regions of the country per year. Materials and methods The study included analysis of data from the SFS Headquarters – Department for Occupational Health and Safety and Preventive Health. Data collected from across the country in the form of an annual analysis of the accident. The reports included such information as: the number of accidents, the cause and circumstances of accident (injury), with a breakdown listing individual and group accidents. Results During the observation period, about 30,000 officers were on duty in the SFS, of which about 20% were on daily (8-h) duty, and 80% were on shift (24-h) duty. Between 2015 and 2021, there were N = 11,332 (Mean: 1617.4; SD: 284.1) accidents in SFS. Total accident covers individual and mass accidents. The number of sports injuries was N = 4,254 (Mean: 532.2; SD: 137.9). Conclusion There is a need for comprehensive approach to physical training in the firefighter population. Physical activity should be continuous and systematic strengthening of the whole body. Sports activities should begin with performing thorough warm-ups. It is necessary to maintain facilities, premises, equipment and technical devices in a condition that sets the ground for doing sports safely and in a hygienic manner. Most of the sports injuries sustained by firefighters are related to team sports.


Non linear gravitational actions obtained generalizing the tensor scalar density √−det∥gαβ∥ along the line of the Born infeld actions are studied. The requirements that the theory reduces to Einstein-Hilbert action for small curvature, be free of spin two ghosts and free of Coulomb like Schwarschild singularity, selects one Effective lagrangian whose dynamics is dictated by the tensors gµν and Rµνρ∼ (not Rµν or the scalar R).


An identification of individual adrenergic and cholinergic nerve terminals would appear to be possible at the ultrastructural level. It is submitted that there exists a significant dual innervation of the feline dilator muscle and to a lesser extent a dual innervation of the feline sphincter muscle. Selective degeneration experiments have been performed showing a rapid degeneration of the specific nerve terminals with sparing of the unaffected fibers.


Abstract Rectangular, thin plates are common structural elements employed in many engineering applications and are subject to a wide variety of excitations, including acoustic excitations. This article analyses the deflection of an isotropic rectangular clamped thin plate. An exact solution of the governing equation of the problem is given in the form of a double series expansion in terms of a set of orthogonal functions. Furthermore, a simple and efficient finite element for thin-plate bending applications is also used. Numerical solutions for rectangular plates with various side ratios are presented and compared to the previous results and the finite-element analysis.


Most comparisons between single carrier and multicarrier modulations assume frequency-domain linear equalization of the channel. We propose a new frequency-domain decision feedback equalizer (FD-DFE) for single carrier modulation, which makes use of a data block transmission format similar to that of the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing with cyclic prefix (OFDM). The scheme is a nonadaptive DFE where the feedforward part is implemented in the frequency domain, while feedback signal is generated by time-domain filtering. Through simulations in a HIPERLAN-2 scenario, we show that FD-DFE yields a capacity very close to that of OFDM. This result is also confirmed by analytical derivations for a particular case. Furthermore, when no channel loading is considered, FD-DFE performs closely to OFDM for the same averaged frame error rate in a coded transmission. Design methods of the FD-DFE are investigated and a reduced complexity technique is developed, with the result that FD-DFE and OFDM have a similar computational complexity in signal processing.


Applicants' pretest expectations about the forthcoming selection procedure may serve as a key factor in applicants' decision-making. The current study examined the validity of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as an explanatory mechanism of the relationship between pretest selection expectations (warmth/respect, chance to demonstrate potential, difficulty of faking, unbiased assessment, feedback) and job pursuit behavior. Data were collected at two points in time, using a sample of applicants for the military. Selection expectations, job pursuit attitude, subjective norm, and controllability were significantly related to job pursuit intention. Job pursuit attitude mediated the relationship between selection expectations and job pursuit intention. Subjective norm and time lag were the only significant predictors of job pursuit behavior. Practical implications, strengths and limitations, as well as directions for further research are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract Objective To improve the low coverage and performance of a programme on community-based management of acute malnutrition, implemented between October 2015 and April 2018 in Kupang district in rural Indonesia. Methods To investigate why the coverage and performance were low in the first year of the programme, we conducted a semiquantitative evaluation between August and September 2016. We used the results from the evaluation to inform programme improvement, by developing and modifying community mobilization strategies. We employed a multipronged approach to improve community awareness on acute malnutrition and on community-based services for such condition. This approach involved workshops, focus discussion groups in the community and sensitization events at health posts that had issues with community engagement. Community health workers increased their efforts in active case finding by visiting households with children who had missed the community health post sessions. We measured the performance using three Sphere minimum standard performance indicators: proportion of children recovering (> 75%); defaulting (< 15%); and dying (<10%). Results The community mobilization efforts increased the screening rate from 17% (564/3278) in October 2015 to 66% (6793/10 251) in March 2018. In 2017, the programme met the three performance indicators: 79% (256/326) of children recovered; 10% (34/326) defaulted; and less than 1% (2/326) died. Conclusion In Indonesia, community mobilization is central for addressing severe acute malnutrition in children younger than five years. This strategy includes securing political leadership and effective messaging alongside locally tailored strategies and continuous ground-level support.


Background: Tuberculosis is a major public health problem in Kenya as well as other developing countries. Diagnosis of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis is a common challenge especially where direct Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) technique is employed. Objective: This study was aimed to establish whether modification of ZN by use of 3.5% NaOCl-Xylene Floatation would improve the detection of acid-alcohol fast bacilli (AAFBs) from lymph node aspirates. Design: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Setting: Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya. Subjects: One hundred cases suspected of clinically having TB with lymphadenopathy referred for fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in FNA Clinic at Kenyatta National Hospital. Methodology: The study was approved by Kenyatta National Hospital/ University of Nairobi/ Ethics and Research Committee (KNH/UON/ERC) and informed consent sought from patients. Analysis was done using SPSS version 12.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc.). McNemar's test was used to assess the level of significance for the two test procedures. Chisquare was used to assess for the heterogeneity of the association between the two study methods. Results: Thirty (30%) of the specimens were positive with fluorescent microscopy, 17% were modified ZN positive while 6% were direct ZN positive. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for the modified technique (3.5% NaOCl-Xylene Floatation) were 53.3%, 98.6%, 94.1%, and 83.1% respectively. Conclusions: Liquefaction of the aspirated specimens with NaOCl followed by Xylene floatation significantly increased the yield of AAFBs. This finding is of great interest in developing countries where smear-negative for acid-alcohol fast bacilli (AAFBs) has become common. Recommendation: Local settings should consider adopting use of modified ZN technique in order to increase the sensitivity and detection rate of AAFBs from lymph node aspirates. 1Division of Forensics


ADOLESCENT medicine began more than 30 years ago when J. Roswell Gallagher established the first Adolescent Unit at Boston Children's Hospital in 1952. 1 His rationale was that "medical clinics devoted to the care of a single age group foster a physician's tendency to consider his patient, diminish the likelihood that he will focus upon disease alone, and help to increase his knowledge of what patients are like and what they require at various times of their life." 2 A new breed of physician was spawned—part psychiatrist, part gynecologist, part internist, part dermatologist, and part pediatrician. Twenty years later, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) clearly staked out adolescents as being within a pediatrician's practice "boundaries": "The purview of pediatrics includes the growth, development, and health of the child... and continues through childhood and adolescence.... The responsibility of pediatrics may therefore begin during pregnancy and usually terminates by 21 years


ABSTRACT As the Cold War waned, civil society came to be regarded as the domain that made democracy work. Optimism and attention nevertheless faded as new democracies failed to thrive. Now, once again we find regimes in flux globally, amidst what seems to be a "democratic recession". Heightened political angst has prompted renewed attention to civil society, as a possible antidote to institutional malaise. A sequence of incomplete or reversing transitions from forms of authoritarianism across Asia since the 1980s makes these concerns especially germane. Opening the public sphere allows for full-throated rights claims, but also for demands for exclusivity in conferring those rights. Similarly, economic globalisation fosters mobility and far-flung community, but also deference to business interests in policy processes. Even so, I argue that the nature and confluence of Asian states' transitions, situated amidst structural changes to media and markets, increase transparency and information flows, and nurture creativity born of urgency. Civil society remains heterogeneous across the region, but even where weakly organised and embattled, it can still support effective, if oblique, efforts at shaping norms and contesting violations. The current balance warrants tempered expectations, but also cautious optimism for a civil-societal role in claiming and maintaining human rights.


We propose an experimental method to fully characterize the energy exchange of particles during the physical vapor deposition process of thin surface layers. Our approach is based on the careful observation of perturbations of the oscillation frequency of a Quartz Crystal $\mu$-balance induced by the particles interaction. With this technique, it is possible to measure the momentum exchange of the atoms during the evaporation process and determine the ideal evaporation rate for an uniform energy distribution. We are able to follow the desorption dynamics of particles immediately after the first layers have been formed. These results are in close relation to the surface binding energy of the evaporated material, they offer a better control to obtain the desired properties of the thin surface layer. We applied our technique to investigate the physical vapor evaporation process for diverse elements, usually implemented in the development of film surface layers, such as Cu, W, Au, Gd and In, and confirm that our results are in agreement with measurements done previously with other techniques such as low-temperature photoluminescence.


This essay is based on a plenary address at the 2005 annual meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities, delivered upon acceptance of a Lifetime Achievement Award. ********** I do not consider myself primarily an ethicist, but I have spent most of my life as a physician thinking about what to do for sick people. Like many other internists, I have usually found the technical aspects of these problems easier to solve than the personal and moral issues. We are all unique individuals living in a world of others, and it is a sometimes uncomfortable fact that whatever is done for one person inevitably has implications for others, some of whom are so close to that person as to be almost one with him or her. Despite all the thought we in bioethics have devoted to these problems, and despite the considerable and continued growth of bioethics, some of our most difficult questions remain unanswered. This realization is driven home for me when I recall my inaugural experience in bioethics. I was introduced to The Hastings Center (then the Institute for Society, Ethics, and the Life Sciences) at a meeting of the Task Force on Death and Dying in January 1971. Leon Kass, who went on to chair the President's Council on Bioethics, had read my essay "Death and the Physician," and Dan Callahan thought the perspective of a practicing internist might be useful. My presentation, "The Care of the Dying," responded to a chapter, "On (Only) Caring for the Dying," in Paul Ramsey's book The Patient as Person. The chapter broached many ethical issues concerning patients who are dying, but I restricted my comments to the most common problems. I included what some of my patients thought about the problems, in addition to the disparity between what patients mean by the term "dying" and what "dying" means to physicians. Ramsey asked: "Must a terminal cancer patient be urged to undergo major surgery for the sake of a few months palliation?" "How much blood are we going to give a terminal patient ...?" "Should transfusions for the treatment of hemorrhage from gastrointestinal cancer be discontinued when an operation to relieve this condition is not contemplated or feasible?" "Is there no end to the doctor's vocation to maintain life until the matter is taken out of his hands?" Or, put another way, "[O]ught there be any relief for the dying from a physician's search for exquisite triumphs over death in a sort of salvation by works?" (1) The gist of the chapter is that physicians have no obligation to continue the lives of persons who had been "seized by their particular process of dying," and that a physician should "make room for the dispensability of extraordinary life-sustaining treatments because he as a man acknowledges that there may be sufficient moral and human reasons for this decision" (my italics). Ramsey gives an example of incompetent patients where further treatment would be of no avail and families are unable, because of guilt, to cease treatment. "[G]uilt ridden people in their grief may be unable to bear the additional burden of a decision to discontinue treatment, and they are often relieved if this decision is not wholly placed on them." "This means that the physician must exercise the authority he has acquired as a physician and as a man in relation to the relatives and take the lead in suggesting what should be done. In doing this the doctor acts more as a man than as a medical expert, acknowledging the preeminence of the human relations in which he with these and all other men stand" (italics mine). (2) His emphasis on the central importance in medical relations of the person (the physician as well as the patient) and human relations was something I, a high-technology (for the times) internist, had not previously encountered. Many of his other ideas were also new to me. Even the style of the writing was very different from medical writing. As imposing as he was in print, Paul Ramsey was an even more impressive speaker. …


Many elderly persons who fall have multiple problems, which often present in a nonspecific manner. Identification of the cause of the falls is not always possible but is well worth attempting in view of the often disastrous consequences. Because the home is the most common site of falls, various safety measures are recommended to help compensate for the normal frailties of aging.


ABSTRACT The introduction of PD-1/PD-L1 pathway inhibitors has marked a significant milestone in the treatment of various types of solid tumors. The current situation in multiple myeloma (MM) is rather unclear, as distinct research groups have reported discordant results. This discrepancy dominantly concerns the expression of PD-1/PD-L1 molecules as well as the identification of the responsible immune effector cell population. The results of monotherapy with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors have been unsatisfactory in MM, suggesting that a combination approach is needed. The most logical partners are immunomodulatory agents as they possess many synergistic effects. We are also proposing other rational and promising combinations (e.g., daratumumab, ibrutinib, anti-CD137) that warrant further investigation.


A total of 938 healthy 3-year-old children, divided into two unselected cohorts within the same geographic area, had tympanometric screening and re-screening. The results were assessed according to the parameters: season and the way the children were cared for. In all tests children in day-care centres had the highest prevalence of secretory otitis and tubal dysfunction due rather to an excess of long courses of illness than of an increased incidence. Regardless of the season, 8-13% of all children in day-care centres exhibited persistent secretory otitis through 6 months as compared with 2-4% of children not attending day-care centres. The lowest morbidity rate and the shortest course was found in children cared for at home whose tympanometric results were also to a marked extent independent of the season. Children in family day-care had results which in summer corresponded to those in children cared for at home and in winter approximately to those in the day-care centres. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.


It has long been recognized that heredity plays a part in the aetiology of glaucoma. In open-angle glaucoma an autosomal recessive inheritance has been suggested (Waardenburg, 1949), but in the majority of families reported in which a high prevalence has been found, an autosomal dominant transmission seems apparent (Miller and Paterson, I962; Fransois, Heintz-de Bree, and Tripathi, I966; Francois and Heintz-de Bree, I966; FranSois, i966). The penetrance of the dominant gene appears, however, to be highly variable; Fransois and Heintz-de Bree (i966) noted a 98 per cent. penetrance in some families but admitted that in many others the penetrance was very low. On the other hand, Armaly, Monstavicius, and Sayegh (i968) suggested a multifactorial aetiology for the condition. A similar controversy exists in regard to the aetiology of angle-closure glaucoma. The influence of ocular dimensions in the aetiology of angle-closure glaucoma is well established (Priestley-Smith, 1883; Rosengren, I950; Tornquist, 1956; Lowe, I970; Storey and Phillips, 1971). Tomlinson and Leighton (1973) have considered the role of ocular dimensions in the heredity of angle-closure glaucoma in an attempt to define the importance ofindividual dimensions in the aetiology and heredity of the condition. Their results, which may favour a multifactorial determination, were discussed in the light of conflicting views concerning the heredity of that form of glaucoma. The influence ofocular dimensions on the aetiology ofopen-angle glaucoma is apparently not as great as it is in angle-closure glaucoma, but there is some evidence to show that the myopic eye may be particularly sensitive to raised intraocular pressure. Perkins and Jay (I960) reported that 22 per cent. of 205 patients with open-angle glaucoma over the age of 50 years were myopic; under the age of 50 the incidence of myopia was 37-8 per cent. A high incidence ofopen-angle glaucoma in myopic patients has been observed by Weekers, Lavergne, and Prijot (1958) and by Diaz-Dominguez (I96I, I966). A relationship between myopia and a high response of ocular tension to topical corticosteroids also appears to exist (Podos, Becker, and Morton, i966). T6rnquist and Broden (I958) and Tomlinson and Leighton (1972) have observed that eyes with open-angle glaucoma have significantly shallower anterior chambers than normal eyes. This may be a contributory factor to the development of open-angle glaucoma, as Francois, Rabaey, Neetens, and Evens (I958) found the reduction in anterior chamber depth to have more effect on the outflow of aqueous humour from the eye than any other factor considered. An investigation was carried out in which certain ocular dimensions were measured in patients with open-angle glaucoma and in their first-degree relatives. A similarity in these dimensions between the patients and relatives may explain an increased liability to the


Many values originating in Africa and in China, and ones that continue to influence much of everyday communication in those societies, are aptly placed under the common heading of "harmony." After first spelling out what harmony involves in substantially Confucian China, and then in Africa, this article notes respects in which the Confucian and African conceptions of harmony are similar, an awareness of which could facilitate smooth communication. The article then indicates respects in which the Confucian and African conceptions of harmony are different, a lack of awareness of which could undermine smooth communication. The point of the article is to facilitate Sino-African communication by means of an awareness of indigenous moral-philosophical mindsets that continue to be salient in China and Africa, despite the influence of the West.


Despite sufficient evidence on the role of nutrition in psychosocial health, Marriage and Family Therapists lack the knowledge for sufficient assessment and referrals in treatment. The purpose of this article is to orient MFTs to human metabolism and the effects of various nutrients, or lack thereof, on the psychosocial health in their clients. The roles of several micronutrients and macronutrients will be described as well as the effects of eating patterns and overall metabolic health on mental health. Finally, implications for MFTs as sole practitioners, domains for assessment and psychoeducation, and recommendations for collaborating with nutrition professionals will be discussed.


The aim of the present study was to analyze the Quality of Life at Work and Burnout Syndrome of health professionals who work in the Family Health Strategy program of a municipality in southern Santa Catarina. This was a cross-sectional study conducted with 145 health professionals. Data were collected using a sociodemographic questionnaire, Quality of Life Assessment Instrument WHOQOL–bref, and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Pearson's chi-squared test was used to quantify the association or independence between Quality of Life and Burnout Syndrome and workrelated variables. The results were analyzed using the SPSS Software and indicated the prevalence of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and average personal fulfillment, with the possibility of progressing to a Burnout Syndrome. Regarding the Quality of Life, most of the interviewees demonstrated physical, psychological domains, and environment as regular. These domains are directly related to professional occupation, and Community Health Agents are the professionals who most need to improve them, a fact that may be related to their insertion in the community and role assignments. This research points out the illness of health workers related to occupational suffering. The need to create reception strategies, as well as prevention and health recovery actions for these professionals, is highlighted.


ABSTRACT Regulating the data market will be one of the major challenges of the twenty-first century. In order to think about regulating this market, however, we first need to make its dimensions and dynamics more accessible to observation and analysis. In this paper we explore what the state of the sociological and legal research on markets can tell us about the market for data: what kind of market it is, the practices and configurations of actors that constitute it, and what kinds of data are traded there. We start from the subjective opacity of this market to researchers interested in regulation and governance, review conflicting positions on its extent, diversity and regulability, and then explore comparisons from food and medicine regulation to understand the possible normative and practical implications and aims inherent in attempting to regulate how data is shared and traded. We conclude that there is a strong argument for a normative shift in the aims of regulation with regard to the data market, away from a prioritisation of the economic value of data and toward a more nuanced approach that aims to align the uses of data with the needs and rights of the communities reflected in it.


With liver diseases, jaundice syndrome is one of the most common. It is extremely important for the doctor to suspect and identify this syndrome in the early stages of the disease, as well as decide which hospital to hospitalize the patient: infectious, surgical or therapeutic. The detection of jaundice syndrome during the initial examination, as a rule, does not require therapeutic additional research methods, but a common pathology accompanied by jaundice syndrome is an alcoholic liver disease.


The pharmacognostical identification of Panax quinquefolius was carried out. The microscopic characteristics of its root, stem, leaves, flowers and fruit were described and illustrated.


ABSTRACT With growing use of shape memory alloy (SMA) components in different engineering applications, the issue of material performance over its designed life is of great concern to researchers lately. In order to analyze SMA components performance under coupled thermomechanical effects, theories considering both mechanical and thermal effects in a single framework must be employed rather than modifying classical empirical fatigue theories (like S–N or ϵ–N) developed for capturing pure mechanical loading effects. The core idea is to use driving force versus number of cycles rather than classical S–N or ϵ–N curves to quantify thermomechanically coupled functional degradation and life under cyclic thermomechanical loads. To this end, a two-species Gibbs potential is employed to develop "thermodynamic driving force for the phase transformation" and "extent of phase transformation" relationships by separating the thermoelastic and dissipative part of the SMA component responses under tension and torsion loading cases. Such an approach can be used to analyze shakedown effects for cyclic superelastic responses and capture coupled thermomechanical responses and functional degradation for SMA. To demonstrate the application of this approach, experiments on SMA extension springs are performed using a custom designed thermomechanical test rig capable of simulating shape memory effect during thermal cycling of SMA springs held under constant deformation. For every thermomechanical cycle, load and thermocouple (temperature) are continually recorded as a function of time using LabVIEW® software. The sensor data over the specimen lifetime is used to construct "driving force amplitude v/s no. of cycles" variation that can be used as a potential substitute to classical fatigue theories for analyzing functional degradation of SMA components. It is shown that different combinations of mechanical and thermal loads with approximately the same calculated driving force lead to approximately similar lives. In addition, cyclic stress–strain results on SMA wire capturing the superelastic responses are used to analyze shakedown effects in SMA components.


We diagnosed a Japanese female as having severe achondroplasia with developmental delay and acanthosis nigricans (SADDAN) syndrome. Genetic analysis revealed a K650M point mutation in the fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) gene, described in only six other individuals in the world. The medical history of the present case includes severe skeletal dysplasia at birth, progressive acanthosis nigricans in infancy, and severe central nervous system structural abnormalities, consisting of the absence of right cerebral hemisphere (hydranencephaly), ventricular dilatation, both indicating congenital brain malformation, and porencephaly indicating destructive brain damages. The patient is severely retarded and has suffered from intractable seizures. This is the first report of a Japanese patient and the seventh case of SADDAN syndrome confirmed genetically.


In the context of the strategic development objectives of the European Union for the next strategic cycle until 2030, a priority issue is the decarburization of the economy, oriented towards the design and monitoring of strategies in order to achieve the objectives regarding climate change, the simultaneous stimulation of economic growth and ensuring social cohesion. A special place belongs to the progress of climate change, which requires progressive steps in the implementation of strategies and policies for all member countries of the EU. We propose in this article to focus on the application of decarburization strategies and policies in the countries of the European Union with an emphasis on Romania, with a necessary approach to social inclusion issues. The development of proposals for efficient strategies for the decarburization of economies in EU, the comparative analysis between the diversification of macroeconomic policies and instruments with different evaluation criteria, having as an essential support - the digitalization tools, which will accelerate the process of decarburization of the countries' economy EU. We propose the development of decarburization strategies based on a mix of policies focused on establishing emission prices; standards and regulations; the implementation of capital, labor and innovation reallocation policies.
Key words: Decarburization of the economy, strategies and policies, digitalization, innovation


This research aimed to provide the guidelines for designing and developing the pork skin drying process in producing the pork scratchings of a women group association. The main problem of this group was to use the old technique in drying pork skin that had poor hygiene and took a long time. Therefore, this research was to apply the Quality Function Deployment technique (QFD) to develop the pork skin drying process in producing pork scratchings. The results of this research found that after applying QFD technique, the development of pork skin drying process could meet the needs of women group.


Needles of 'the golden yew' Taxus baccata var. Aurea Corr. were extracted with methanol followed by pre-purification of the crude extract and column chromatographic (CC) separation on florisil in gradient mode (an increasing concentration of acetone in dichloromethane). The obtained fractions were concentrated and purified on silanized silica gel SPE cartridges and taxoids eluted with 75% methanol were analysed by HPLC-PDA procedure using Waters Symmetry C(18) column with gradient elution. The applied method enabled not only determination of four taxoids commonly occurring in yew extracts (10-deacetylbaccatin III, baccatin III, paclitaxel and cephalomannine), but also, on the basis of chromatographic behaviour and UV spectrum, 10-deacetylated taxoids (10-deacetylpaclitaxel, 10-deacetylcephalomannine, 7-xyloside-10-deacetylpaclitaxel and 10-deacetyltaxol C) could be detected together with 7-epi-10-deacetylpaclitaxel. From the needles of Taxus baccata var. Aurea Corr. the largest amounts isolated were of 10-deacetylbaccatin III, then 10-deacetylpaclitaxel and 7-xyloside-10-deacetylpaclitaxel, all compounds considered to be paclitaxel precursors in semisynthesis. The efficient mechanism of the separation of 10-acetylated taxoids from their 10-deacetylated derivatives on florisil on the basis of electron acceptor-electron donor interactions is discussed.


The surface of the intestinal tract in healthy people is free of bacteria in all segments of the intestine. Thus, the attachment of bacteria to epithelial cells is a sign of infection. Unlike the mucous membrane, the intestinal lumen is never sterile. The reason for this is the polymicrobial nature of the gut microbiota. In the intestine, segments such as the stomach or small intestine, where bacteria are actively suppressed, the microbiota is random in appearance, composition, and concentration. However, the situation is completely different in the colon, where the growth of bacteria increases and their suppression is suspended. The concentration and diversity of bacteria in the colon reaches astronomical numbers. Some of these bacteria are required for the colon to function. Many of the local bacteria in the colon are potential pathogens: Bacteroides, Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococci, and Clostridium histolyticum. Control of pathogens in the colon is achieved through an impenetrable mucus layer. Inflammatory bowel disease is a polymicrobial infection characterized by persistent disruption of the mucosal barrier, subsequent migration of bacteria to the mucous membrane, and overgrowth of a complex bacterial biofilm on the surface of the epithelium, resulting in invasive and cytopathological effects. As long as the mucosal barrier function is impaired, the inflammatory process cannot successfully remove bacteria from the mucosal surface, and inflammation itself is detrimental. Due to the inflammatory reaction, the composition and structure of the fecal microbiota changes. Based on the biostructure of the fecal casts, active Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis can be distinguished from each other and from other gastrointestinal diseases. The relationship between the gut microbiome and various dermatological diseases (psoriasis, acne, rosacea, atopic dermatitis) is discussed.


In order to assess the risk associated with the transport of stock calves imported from France to Italy, information obtained from inspections carried out in Piedmont by competent authorities between 2001 and 2010 were considered. The inspections concerned 246 trucks transporting a total of 13,857 fattening calves. Based on the types of infringements recorded, several hazards related to animal welfare, such as overcrowding, tying by the horns and inappropriate mixing, were identified and characterized. The inspection of vehicles revealed hazards concerning partitions, bedding, decks, lighting, drinking and mechanical ventilation systems. A calculation was made of the incidence of these infringements and the consequent exposure of calves to such hazards and risk characterization was performed. The ranking shows overcrowding and the absence of partitions to be major risks in stock calf transportation from France to Italy. A logistic regression was adopted to evaluate the effect on the exposure to hazards of the only two variables recordable during the inspections: number of calves inside each vehicle and the travelled distance. The results showed a direct relationship between the number of calves per vehicle and exposure to absence of partitions or to overcrowding. The relationship between the travelled distance and the exposure to the absence of partition was found not significant. The information obtained from the inspections provides not only a basis for evaluating the welfare of calves during transport but also an objective contribution to the assessment of the risks related to their transportation.


Purpose of the study: The aims of this paper are to investigate drug utilization in the utilization in the management of diabetes mellitus and hypertension is sagamu, Ogun state and its environment and to evaluate their agreement with established guideline
Methodology: prescription on both diabetes and hypertension were collected over a period of the weeks at the Ogun state University Teaching Hospital and from a general (state) hospital in its environment. Statistical analysis was by using a chi – square test for proportions and students t – test for parametric data. Ap – value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: the study involved 1360 consecutive prescriptions form the medical unit of the general hospital and 1440 consecutive prescriptions from the Teaching Hospital (712from the diabetic clinic and 728 from the hypertensive clinic). A total of 210 patients (15.4%), 1040 patients (76.5%) and 110 patients (8.1%) in the general hospital were prescribed one or more antidibetic agents, antihypentensive and combination of both respectively. In the teaching hospital a total of 330 patients (22.9%) 633 patients (43.9%) and 477 patients (33.1%) considered respectively to be diabetic alone, hypertensive alone and combined diabetic and hypertensive. In both setting, most 50% of the diabetics were treated with glibenclamide, About 90 (27.3%) of the patient in the general hospital were on two sulfonylurea. Insulin was prescribed top 3 (0.9%) and 16 (2.2%) of the prescribed in both hospitals: even when prescribed, it is in combination with a sulfonylurea.
The use of antihypertensive drugs was more prevalent among patients without diabetes than those with diabetes in both population [general hospital 202 (19.4%) vs 28 (19 .7%) and in the teaching hospital 1239 (20.4%) vs. 27 (4.3) %, p
Conclusions; The prescription pattern of antidiabetice and more importantly antihypertensive is still at variance with established guidelines in these hospitals Key Words: prescription profile, Antidiadetics Antithypertesives Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice Vol.7(1) 2004: 15-20


Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) are emerging as a solution for large scale high speed internet access through their scalability, self configuring and low cost. But as compared to wired networks, WMNs are largely prone to different security attacks due to its open medium nature, distributed architecture and dynamic topology. Denial of service (DoS) attacks is one of the most common types of attack which is possible in WMNs. DoS attacks are most common in networks which connect to internet and since WMNs are mainly designed for fast and long distance internet access this type of attacks are common in the network. In our work we mainly concentrate our study on two denial of service attacks namely gray hole attacks (a.k.a selective forwarding attacks) and black hole attacks. Wireless mesh networks consist of both mesh routers and mesh clients. We confine our studies to mesh routers which are stationary. We implement both gray hole attack and black hole attack in mesh routers and study the delivery ratio of the network with and without the presence of attack routers. By simulating the scenario with AODV protocol we studied the delivery ratio of packets and find out how it is affecting the network in the presence of an attack router. After studying the results we propose a new detection algorithm based on overhearing the neighboring node to which the packet is forwarded. By keeping the history of number packets forwarded and the number of packets overheard the algorithm determines the number of packets dropped and determines the probability of attack. This probability is checked with the threshold value of probability and determines whether a router is misbehaving or not. We also considered the possibility of false positives and took necessary measures in the algorithm to reduce it. If a router is found misbehaving it is removed from the network and excluded from further forwarding of packets. We analyze our algorithm in the presence of an attack router and detect the attack router and study the improvement in the delivery ratio. Through simulation we evaluate the performance of our algorithm depending on the packet delivery ratio achieved and time.


Eastern Myanmar is an indispensable part of the Cimmerian Continent with Gondwana provenance. Fusulinids from Eastern Myanmar remain poorly known despite their biochronological and paleogeographical significance. This paper describes Rugososchwagerina (Xiaoxinzhaiella) subrotunda sp. nov. and Chusenella quasidouvillei of Murgabian age (Middle Permian) from the Thitsipin Formation at the Pindaya in the Shan Plateau, Eastern Myanmar. Taxonomic analysis of this new collection and of Rugososchwagerina (s.l.) in the literature leads us to suppress Xiaoxinzhaiella Shi, Yang & Jin, 2005 as a subgenus of RugososchwagerinaMiklukho-Maklay, 1959. This subgenus is diagnosed with much tighter coiling and reduced septal folding in juvenarium as well as relatively smaller test diameter throughout the ontogeny, compared with Rugososchwagerina (s.s.) which is typified by R. yabeiSkinner & Wilde, 1966. Furthermore, our comprehensive review reveals that the known occurrences of R. (Xiaoxinzhaiella) are strictly confined within blocks that previously constituted the Cimmerian Continent during the Permian period, and they were even more widespread than Rugososchwagerina (s.s.) among these blocks. Therefore, the previous understanding that Rugososchwagerina (s.l.) is characteristic for the Middle Permian Cimmerian region can be refined. We propose that R. (Xiaoxinzhaiella) is more appropriate as the truly endemic foraminiferal index signifying Cimmerian affinity.


The Stanford Prison Experiment demonstrated some important lessons about the power of social situations, settings, and structures to shape and transform behavior. At the time the study was done, the authors scrupulously addressed the issue of whether and how the dispositions or personality traits of the participants might have affected the results. Here the authors renew and reaffirm their original interpretation of the results and apply this perspective to some recent socially and politically significant events.


The benefit of data mining for police seems tremendous, yet only a few limited applications are documented. This paper starts with describing the implementation problems of police data mining and introduces a new approach that tries to overcome these problems in the form of a data mining system with associative memory as the main technique. This technique makes the system easier to use, allows uncomplicated data handling and supports many different data types. Consequently, data preparation becomes easier and results contain more information. A number of Dutch police forces have already been using this system for several years with over 30 users. Since the analytical process within the police is very knowledge-intensive, a high level of domain expertise is essential, which makes it harder to find a police data miner with sufficient domain knowledge plus technical skills in the area of databases, statistics and data mining. The police domain also has data quality issues and a very diverse information need. This is why the system design tries to reduce the need for technical skills as much as possible by working with one standard datawarehouse, techniques that can be configured automatically and active user guidance. The ease of use is also ensured by integrating many tools and techniques from statistics, business intelligence and data mining into one interactive environment that does not require the analytical process to be designed beforehand. Instead, the analysis is performed through step by step interaction. This paper discusses the benefit of police data mining, the design of the system, a number of practical applications, best practices and success stories. Experiments have shown a factor 20 efficiency gain, a factor 2 prediction accuracy increase, a 15% drop in crime rate, and 50% more suspect recognition.


In this study, mires are regarded as living heritage and experienced landscapes. Mires form a cultural context for interface, where the mindscape of human-mire relationships are represented and renewed by diverse types of art projects. As a part of the global concern on climate crisis among artists, intertwined environmental challenges are highlighted through mire art projects. Based on the 12 semi-structured interviews in Finland, artists' subjective perceptions, expressions and experiences on mires and art in mire landscapes are examined. Artists use culturally sustainable methods, e.g., they engage local tensions and mire users in their art projects. Mire art highlights the flora and fauna of mire and illustrates changes in mire. Mire art mediates the relation between future, society and environment by participating in public discussion on the protection and environmental values of mire. The biocultural heritage of mires consists of e.g., value of biodiversity, local knowledge, experienced landscapes and place related memories.


Abstract The analysis of dust collected on the filters installed in the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, filter forensics, is a useful approach to explore concentration, size distribution, and composition of indoor particles. The extraction of dust from filters represents one of the biggest challenges to obtain accurate results from filter forensics. Although vacuuming is one of the most common dust extraction techniques, it is unclear how efficient it is and whether it provides a representative sample in terms of particle size. In this article, we used a high-capacity vacuum sampler to extract dust from 20 filters artificially loaded with well-characterized test dust as well as from 41 filters naturally loaded in residential HVAC systems. After all extractions, we recovered 0.1–5.5 g and 0.02–11.4 g of dust from the artificially and naturally loaded filters, respectively. These ranges were equivalent to 11.3–52.2% and 1.8–72.9% recovery efficiency, the ratio of dust recovered to the dust loaded in the filters. Multiple extractions were found to be an effective strategy to add to the recovery to enable filter forensics for the detection of multiple analytes. The recovered samples were slightly over-representative of particles greater than 10 µm. Therefore, caution should be taken when applying filter forensics for studying contaminants associated with smaller particles. Copyright © 2020 American Association for Aerosol Research


This study aims to highlight the impact of policy lending by international banks in Europe on equity prices in emerging stock markets (Argentina, Mexico, Tel Aviv, Malaysia, Hong Kong) during the period 1999-2010, using linear regression models and the concept of Granger causality tests in 1988, the study concluded and there is a significant inverse relationship between the rate of lending between international banks in Europe (EURIBOR) and Equity prices in emerging stock markets, as there is a causal relationship with the importance in both directions between them, which calls for policymakers in developing countries, taking into account the policy of lending by international banks in Europe when formulating monetary policy, economic, and strategic objectives.


A new method for conducting laboratory measurements of the velocities and polarizations of compressional and shear waves in rock samples uses a laser Doppler interferometer (LDI). LDI can measure the particle velocity of a small (0.03 mm 2 ) element of the surface of the sample along the direction of the laser beam. By measuring the particle velocity of the same surface element in three linearly independent directions and then transforming those velocities to Cartesian coordinates, three orthogonal components of the particle-velocity vector are obtained. Thus, LDI can be used as a localized three-component (3C) receiver of ultrasonic waves, and, together with a piezoelectric transducer as a source, it can simulate a 3C seismic experiment in the laboratory. Performing such 3C measurements at various locations on the surface of the sample produces a 3C seismogram, which can be used to separate the P-wave and two S-waves and to find the polarizations and traveltimes of those waves. Then, the elasticity tensor of the medium can be obtained by minimizing the misfit between measured and predicted polarizations and traveltimes. Computation of the polarizations and traveltimes of body waves inside a sample with a given elasticity tensor is based on the Christoffel equation. The predicted polarizations on the surface then are obtained using the anisotropic Zoeppritz equations. The type of velocity measured (phase or group velocity) depends on the acquisition geometry and the material properties. This is taken into account in the inversion procedure. A "walkaway" laboratory experiment demonstrates the high accuracy of this method.


Abstract Background Vancomycin is the most common antimicrobial drug administered to hospitalized patients, including children >90 days old, although the prevalence of β-lactam antibiotic resistance among Gram-positive pathogens is relatively low in children. Reducing inappropriate vancomycin use in children can reduce harm from antibiotic-associated adverse events and antimicrobial resistance (AR). We developed an approach to evaluating pediatric intravenous (IV) vancomycin prescribing quality using medical record data. Methods Hospitals in three Emerging Infections Program (EIP) sites (CA, NM, and TN) were recruited to participate. Patients <18 years who received IV vancomycin in 2013 were identified through pharmacy records, excluding those on IV vancomycin solely for surgical prophylaxis. Trained EIP staff collected medical record data. We created a prescribing quality evaluation pathway using data on infection type, signs, symptoms, penicillin allergy, and AR risk factors. Clinically supported prescribing events were those with a positive culture for a Gram-positive organism with β-lactam resistance or unknown susceptibility; severe penicillin allergy; bone, joint, skin/soft tissue or central nervous system infection; pneumonia with AR risk factors; or events where vancomycin was stopped within 1 day of culture results for an oxacillin or penicillin/ampicillin-susceptible organism. Results Sixty-five patients in 12 hospitals were evaluated. The median age was 7 years (interquartile range [IQR] 4–14), and median hospital stay was 7 days (IQR 3–16). The median vancomycin treatment length was 3 days (IQR 2–6); 41 patients (63%) received ≥3 days. Vancomycin use was clinically supported in 47 patients (72%) and unsupported in 18 (28%) (figure). Most unsupported use was for infections lacking microbiology data and for which vancomycin would not usually be indicated, such as pneumonia without AR risk factors (9/18, 50%). Conclusion The use of IV vancomycin was not supported for >25% of children, indicating opportunities to improve prescribing and reduce unnecessary vancomycin use. Further analysis will utilize this prescribing pathway to evaluate the most recent prevalence survey data to identify areas to target stewardship interventions. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.


Access to daylight in buildings is the combined effect of a building's own physical attributes along with its surrounding physical context. There is thus growing interest among researchers to extend the use of building performance simulation (BPS) tools for daylight performance evaluation, not just for an individual building, but to the neighborhood scale and beyond. In the design process of neighborhoods, massing models are often utilized and are a pivotal early design-stage work-product. These models are typically simple and delineate broad geometric dimensions of built enclosures. They are thus attractive for fast early design stage assessment using BPS tools and maybe used to determine daylight access potential. However, at this stage, the designer may have limited and imprecise information regarding the building façade, the vital element for daylight intake and distribution in the building interior. In this study, we assess the dependability of simple massing models for comparative indoor daylight assessments of neighborhood forms. Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI) metric based performance values were calculated for five neighborhood design options using common practice for façade related inputs in early design stage simulation models and then ranked in decreasing order of performance. A virtual progression of the design-process was then carried out to develop multiple plausible façade design solutions for all proposed massing schemes. The main finding of this study is that significant changes can be observed in neighbourhood rankings when increasing the degree of detail in the façade design solutions. While the highest performing designs were found to maintain their ranks, the rankings of other projects shifted considerably when façade related information was supplied. This work informs on the possibility of erroneous design decisions resulting from simplified façade inputs in early design stage models and fosters the growing discussion on appropriate utilization of BPS tools for informing design decisions.


In order to assess the extent of the sports injury problem, it is necessary to identify both the incidence and severity of sports injuries. In the literature, the severity of sports injuries is usually described on the basis of 6 criteria: (i) nature of sports injury; (ii) duration and nature of treatment; (iii) sporting time lost; (iv) working time lost; (v) permanent damage; and (vi) monetary cost. It is important to include information on the severity of injuries in a sports injury registration system. This kind of information will help to set targets for preventive strategies. The more severe the injuries sustained, the higher the priority will be to prevent these injuries regardless of the injury incidence. When assessing injury severity one should take into account that, in order to enhance the comparability of research data, uniform definitions are also important in this area of sports injury surveillance. This paper briefly discusses the 6 criteria used to describe the severity of sports injuries.


Recent advances in the design of convolutional neural network (CNN) have yielded significant improvements in the performance of image super-resolution (SR). The boost in performance can be attributed to the presence of residual or dense connections within the intermediate layers of these networks. The efficient combination of such connections can reduce the number of parameters drastically while maintaining the restoration quality. In this paper, we propose a scale recurrent SR architecture built upon units containing series of dense connections within a residual block (Residual Dense Blocks (RDBs)) that allow extraction of abundant local features from the image. Our scale recurrent design delivers competitive performance for higher scale factors while being parametrically more efficient as compared to current state-of-the-art approaches. To further improve the performance of our network, we employ multiple residual connections in intermediate layers (referred to as Multi-Residual Dense Blocks), which improves gradient propagation in existing layers. Recent works have discovered that conventional loss functions can guide a network to produce results which have high PSNRs but are perceptually inferior. We mitigate this issue by utilizing a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) based framework and deep feature (VGG) losses to train our network. We experimentally demonstrate that different weighted combinations of the VGG loss and the adversarial loss enable our network outputs to traverse along the perception-distortion curve. The proposed networks perform favorably against existing methods, both perceptually and objectively (PSNR-based) with fewer parameters.


Dyskinesias as the neurologic complications of hematologic disorders were described in detail on abetalipoproteinemia and ataxia telangiectasia as well as in summary on other hematologic diseases. Dyskinesias as the iatrogenic neurologic manifestations in hematologic disorders were also briefly described. Although the pathogenetic mechanisms of dyskinesias observed in hematologic disorders were quite heterogeneous, they could provide us with good suggestions and clues to clarify the true mechanisms of their own as well as other dyskinesias.


In this paper the creep behaviour of a combinatory quartz resonant force sensor is discussed and a method for decreasing this behaviour is analysed. A viscoelastic model of the sensor which considers the viscoelastic characteristics of the adhesive used to glue the sensing element and other components is introduced to analyse the creep behaviour of the sensor. The result indicates that the features of the adhesive can bring about remarkable effects on the creep behaviour of the sensor. Among the feature parameters for the applied adhesive the glass transition temperature is the most important one. The adhesive must have a glass transition temperature much higher than its working temperature so as to reduce the creep error of the sensors. These conclusions result in the design and development of a new adhesive, which can be used over a wide temperature range.


A quantitative understanding of the sub-cellular distributions of nanospheres taken up by cells is of key importance to the development of effective nanomedicine. With gold nanospheres as a model system, here we demonstrate, for the first time, how to quantify the numbers of nanospheres bound to plasma membrane, accumulated in cytosol, and entrapped in endo-lysosomes, respectively, through stepwise, site-selective etching. Our results indicate that the chance for nanospheres to escape from endo-lysosomes is insensitive to the presence of targeting ligand although ligand-receptor binding has been documented as a critical factor in triggering internalization. Furthermore, the presence of serum proteins is shown to facilitate the binding of nanospheres to plasma membrane lacking the specific receptor. Collectively, these findings confirm the potential of stepwise etching in quantitatively analyzing the sub-cellular distributions of nanospheres taken up by cells in an effort to optimize the therapeutic effect.