ABSTRACT Null mutations in the Escherichia coli uup locus (at 21.8 min) serve to increase the frequency of RecA-independent precise excision of transposable elements such as Tn10 and to reduce the plaque size of bacteriophage Mu (Uup−phenotype). By the combined approaches of physical mapping of the mutations, complementation analyses, and protein overexpression from cloned gene fragments, we have demonstrated in this study that the Uup− phenotype is the consequence of the absence of expression of the downstream gene (uup) of a two-gene operon, caused either directly by insertions in uup or indirectly by the polar effect of insertions in the upstream gene (ycbY). The promoter for uup was mapped upstream of ycbY by primer extension analysis on cellular RNA, and assays of reporter gene expression indicated that it is a moderately active, constitutive promoter. The uup mutations were also shown to increase, in a RecA-independent manner, the frequencies of nearly precise excision of Tn10 derivatives and of the deletion of one copy of a chromosomal tandem repeat, suggesting the existence of a shared step or intermediate in the pathways of these latter events and that of precise excision. Finally, we found that mutations that increase the frequency of precise excision of Tn10 are divisible into two categories, depending upon whether they did (uup, ssb, polA, and topA) or did not (mutHLS, dam, and uvrD) also increase precise excision frequency of the mini-Tn10 derivatives. It is suggested that the differential response of mini-Tn10 and Tn10 to the second category of mutations is related to the presence, respectively, of perfect and of imperfect terminal inverted repeats in them.


MC50 is the first cyclotron installed at Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. It has been utilized for basic medical researches and production of radioisotopes in addition to treatment of cancer patients since 1986. Additionally, MC50 has contributed to many nuclear sciences researches, such as SER test for semiconductor chipsets, development of variable species by ion beam irradiation, and so on. Recently, we have been running another cyclotron, which is named KIRAMS-30 and only for production of radioisotopes. Therefore, MC50 has become placed more weight on the nuclear sciences researches. It is available to support some researches which use proton, deuteron, He-3, and He-4 beam about


This paper describes a novel method of generating a pulse sequence using step-recovery diodes shunting a transmission line. Individual pulses in the train may have risetimes less than 60 DS with amplitudes qreater than 10 V. The many potential applications of the device include a short RF pulse generator, an FM generator, and a high-speed word generator.


Background: Optimal timing of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) surgery in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is uncertain. Methods: A single-centre retrospective study of pre-dialysis CKD patients having first AVF surgery. Results: The median estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at the time of AVF surgery in 100 patients was 15 ml/min/1.73 m2, with patients classified as having an early AVF if eGFR was >15 ml/min/1.73 m2 (n = 46) or a late AVF if eGFR was ≤15 ml/min/1.73 m2 (n = 54). In the eGFR ≤15 group, 81% of patients started haemodialysis (HD), compared with 63% of the eGFR >15 patients (p = 0.04). The median time to starting HD was 30.3 months in the eGFR >15 group compared to 10.7 months for the eGFR ≤15 group (log rank p = 0.018). There were no differences in the requirements for a dialysis catheter (eGFR >15 24% vs. eGFR ≤15 11%, p = 0.20) or additional access procedures between the two groups. Conclusions: AVF surgery with an eGFR >15 ml/min/1.73 m2 was associated with a higher risk of AVF non-use and a more prolonged time to the need for HD.


A polarization which remains constant over a period of time and is caused by the accumulation of carriers in deep surface traps is observed in EL ZnSMn films. The polarization characteristics (i.e., the number of polarization charges, the time-dependence of its formation and destruction, the ionization energy of the traps, etc.) are determined in order to study the role of carrier polarization in the mechanism of EL. It is established that the polarization mainly affects the change in the internal field and therefore the impact ionization probability. Also, at the instant of voltage-polarity reversal, the polarization charge ionization leads to an increase in the number of carriers which can accelerate. All the EL properties and features of ZnSMn films may be explained on the basis of an impactionization mechanism if the polarization effects are taken into account.

[Russian Text Ignored]


Stress corrosion cracking (SCC), which affects the structural integrity of reactor component, has been observed at some piping joints made by austenitic stainless steel in BWR plants. It is well known that the SCC behavior is significantly scattered depending upon the various conditions such as materials, piping geometry, crack growth rate, weld residual stress, and so on. Since probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) analysis method treats such scatter and uncertainties in the structural integrity evaluation, it is, therefore, useful to apply the PFM analysis to the evaluation of the piping integrity. In JAEA, the PFM analysis code of PASCAL-SP for aged piping has been developed based on Monte Carlo method as described in our previous paper1). Among the conditions related to SCC behavior, weld residual stress near the welded joint is one of the most important factors to assess the structural integrity of piping because the tensile residual stress becomes a driving force of a SCC. Welding conditions such as heat input, welding speed and piping geometry affect weld residual stress distribution at the welded joint of piping. Effect of the welding conditions on the weld residual stress distribution has not yet been evaluated quantitatively. Hence, in this study, an effect of uncertainty of welding conditions, such as scatters of heat input and welding speed during welding, on weld residual stress at the piping butt-welds was evaluated using the simulation method by varying the welding conditions. Probabilistic fracture mechanics analysis using PASCAL-SP was also performed to evaluate the effect of uncertainty of weld residual stress on the break probability of piping. It was clarified that the break probability increased with increasing the uncertainties of residual stress.


Author(s): Camacho, Sayil Camacho | Advisor(s): Rhoads, Robert A | Abstract: The knowledge productivity of world-renowned universities is greatly advanced by the fastest growing research workforce—60,000 postdoctoral scholars in the United States. This increasingly instrumental segment of academe's labor force is also the most internationalized group within higher education. However, despite the diversity of the workforce and their recognized academic capital, the postdoctorate is oftentimes experienced as a low-paying academic position that offers limited employment stability due to the nature of temporary workplace visas. The purpose of this study, Postdoctoral Scholars at the University of California: Constructing a Migrant Identity Within the Workplace, is to better support international postdoctoral scholars that are employed through temporary workplace visas and makeup over 50 percent of the workforce. The study examined the workplace experiences of international postdocs at the University of California (UC), and was guided by two theoretical frameworks—Mary Waters (1999) migrant identity framework and Kimberle W. Crenshaw's (1989, 1991) intersectionality framework. Waters' (1999) migrant identity framework posits that migrants' attitudes, beliefs, and actions are changed and influenced by experienced conditions in the U.S., inclusive of race relations and social hierarchies. The transformative mixed methods research design was employed to support the application of critical frameworks and a research process that sought to understand the relationship between work experiences and academic migrant identity formation. Quantitative (550 multilingual surveys) and qualitative (26 in-depth interviews) data was collected from all ten UC campuses. The findings extended Waters' framework, and identified the personal characteristics and work experiences that negatively influenced the migrant identity formation. The findings also unpacked the nuances of workplace agency and illustrated the spectrum of vulnerabilities that academic migrants experience as a result of their temporary workplace visas. The triangulation of data supported the development of a new academic migrant model that interrogates previous class and race assumptions in regards to migrant identity formation. The newly proposed model can be utilized as a tool to measure campus climate for academic migrants. The ability to examine academic migrant identity formation within the institution that employs the largest number of international postdocs advances knowledge for an understudied population. Findings from this research study also support equitable policies that recognize the challenges international academic employees navigate within U.S. postsecondary institutions.


The growing interest in the Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats poetic cycle by T. S. Eliot, associated with the theatrical release of the film Cats in 2019, which is based on the musical under the same name by E. L. Webber, as well as the lack of serious academic research on the poetics of the great modernist poet's cycle, determine the novelty and relevance of this study. The article provides a comparative analysis of Russian translations (by A. Sergeev, S. Dubovitskaya, V. Betaki, S. Sapozhnikov) of poetic refrains in the poems included in the cycle. The research is based on the material presented in the annotated, authoritative edition of Eliot's poetry full collection The Poems of T. S. Eliot (Volume Two, 2015), compiled and edited by one of the leading modern Eliot researchers Christopher Ricks. The analysis is focused on such aspects as the degree of translation accuracy, the refrain subject structure, professional challenges and translation decisions adopted by the authors to convey the typical characteristics of English children's folk poetry (nursery rhymes), the traditions of which Eliot follows. This article also discusses various approaches to defining refrain. Existing in many forms and having various goals, the refrain is a universal graphic and expressive tool that is used to highlight the main theme of the work and create its structure, in order to bring any important points to the attention of the reader and to facilitate their memorization. The translators' desire to reproduce all the signs of the original refrain: the poetic structure, graphic highlighting of components that are significant for the author, the rhyming methods and the refrain emotional reflection, makes it possible to embody the features of children's folk poetry as a literary tradition on which the stylistic unity of all the texts included in the cycle is based.


In the present work, a three-dimensional numerical model for MAG (Metal Active Gas) welding of thin plate is developed. In MAG welding, metal is deposited into the molten pool from the electrode wire, and the metal plays an important role in determining weld bead profiles. In the model, the thermal energy enters the plates through two mechanisms, i.e., direct heating from arc plasma and indirect heating by melting wire. The transient temperature distribution on base metal is numerically analyzed in order to estimate the molten pool size by using a finite difference model based on heat flow equation, and the theoretical configuration of molten pool is calculated, taking account of the balance of gravity, surface tension and arc pressure.By using these models, the transient MAG welding process is numerically analyzed. The numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental results for bead-on-plate-MAG welds on mild steel plate. Accordingly, it is concluded that the model, proposed in the present work, is useful for prediction of MAG weld bead formations.


Congenital atresia of the left main coronary ostium is a rare coronary anomaly presenting in adulthood. A 48-year-old man presented with unstable angina. Coronary angiography showed an absent left coronary ostium with a super-dominant right coronary artery retrogradely filling the left system. Computed tomography-angiography with 3-dimensional reconstruction confirmed the absence of the left main coronary artery. In view of ongoing chest pain, the patient was offered coronary artery bypass surgery. Total arterial revascularization was performed with a left internal mammary artery-left radial artery Y-graft.


Mitochondria are multifaceted organelles which are important for bioenergetics, biosynthesis and signaling in metazoans. Mitochondrial functions are frequently altered in cancer to promote both the energy and the necessary metabolic intermediates for biosynthesis required for tumor growth. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) contribute to chemotherapy resistance, relapse, and metastasis. Recent studies have shown that while non-stem, bulk cancer cells utilize glycolysis, breast CSCs are more dependent on oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) and therefore targeting mitochondria may inhibit CSC function. We previously reported that small molecule ONC201, which is an agonist for the mitochondrial caseinolytic protease (ClpP), induces mitochondrial dysfunction in breast cancer cells. In this study, we report that ClpP agonists inhibit breast cancer CSC function in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we found that OxPhos inhibition downregulates multiple pathways required for CSC function, such as the mevalonate pathway, YAP, Myc, and the HIF pathway. ClpP agonists showed significantly greater inhibitory effect on CSC functions compared with other mitochondria-targeting drugs. Further studies showed that ClpP agonists deplete NAD(P)+ and NAD(P)H and induce redox imbalance, and dysregulate one-carbon metabolism and proline biosynthesis. Downregulation of these pathways by ClpP agonists further contribute to the inhibition of CSC function. In conclusion, ClpP agonists inhibit breast CSC functions by disrupting mitochondrial homeostasis in breast cancer cells and inhibiting multiple pathways critical to CSC function.


Formation of the reversed austenite by intercritical annealing has been studied in the 0.2C–5Mn steel by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. It is found that the volume fraction of reversed austenite increases solely with increasing annealing temperature. While the volume fraction of retained austenite begins to go up around 575°C and exhibits a maximum value of 33.0% at 650°C; and when above 650°C, the retained austenite volume fraction decreases with increasing annealing temperature. At the same time, the concentrations of C and Mn in austenite which contribute a lot to the thermal stabilization of austenite are investigated to explain the variation of retained austenite volume fraction. And the microstructure evolution of different annealing temperatures is also observed.


A method for the determination of alpha-linolenic acid in perilla oil was developed using the reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography coupled with evaporative light-scattering detector (RP-HPLC-ELSD). The perilla oil was saponified by 0.5 mol/L KOH-CH3OH solution for 20 min in a 60 degrees C water bath, then acidified by 6 mol/L HCl and finally the dissociative fatty acids, including alpha-linolenic acid, was extracted by anhydrous ether. After the ether was blown out by nitrogen, the residuals were dissolved by 10 mL methanol. The calibration curve was found to be linear over the range of 6.2 - 45.4 microg (r = 0.997 3, n = 5) and the detection limit was 0.11 microg (S/N = 3). The average recovery was 102% and their relative standard deviation (RSD) was 6.3% (n = 5). The content of alpha-linolenic acid in the determined perilla oil was 6.79% which is consistent with the previous report.


This paper presents a novel non-rigid medical image registration method to improve the quality in image registration based on feature. As DTCWT (Dual-Tree Complex Transform) is directionally selective, optimally decimated at coarse scales, invertible and has smoothly shift invariance, it is adopted instead of DWT (Discrete Wavelet Transform) in the algorithm presented. First multi-scale keypoints are detected using DTCWT, and then HD (Hausdorff distance) is used as the similarity measure between two point sets. Finally optimal affine transformation parameters are computed with NPSO (Niche Particle Swarm Optimization). The experiment results show the method presented has better robustness, antinoise and accuracy.


In this paper, we report a successful electroencephalogram (EEG) measurement using polymer-based dry microneedle electrodes. The electrodes consist of needle-shaped substrates of SU-8, a silver film, and a nanoporous parylene protective film. Differently from conventional wet electrodes, microneedle electrodes do not require skin preparation and a conductive gel. SU-8 is superior as a structural material to poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS; Dow Corning Toray Sylgard 184) in terms of hardness, which was used in our previous work, and facilitates the penetration of needles through the stratum corneum. SU-8 microneedles can be successfully inserted into the skin without breaking and could maintain a sufficiently low skin-electrode contact impedance for EEG measurement. The electrodes successfully measured EEG from the frontal pole, and the quality of acquired signals was verified to be as high as those obtained using commercially available wet electrodes without any skin preparation or a conductive gel. The electrodes are readily applicable to record brain activities for a long period with little stress involved in skin preparation to the users.


Background : Prevalence of COPD and resistance towards drugs available for its treatment are increasing day by day. Objectives : To assess the impact of socio-economic status, rural background and gender on the prevalence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Methods : This observational, prospective, open study was conducted in the Department of Chest and TB Rajindra Hospital, Patiala. A total of 250 patients were included in the study over a period of 1 year of mild to very severe stage of COPD according to GOLD guidelines for COPD 2011. Impact of rural background, household medium of cooking food, male: female ratio of disease occurrence, and patient's socio-economic status were evaluated using modified kuppuswami grading. Results : In the rural population 100 patients out of 215 patients were males and 115 patients were females showing the rising trend of COPD in females of rural background and using biomass combustion and kerosene stove as the medium for cooking food, moreover most of the patients were living in the overcrowding. According to modified kuppuswami classification of socio-economic status, 170 patients were in the lower lower class, and 45 patients were in lower middle class socio-economic status in the rural background. Conclusion : Highest prevalence of COPD was seen in 51-60 years age group and among the patients of rural background with 215 patients (86%) affected with COPD out of 250 patients. With modified kuppuswami grading of Socio-economic status (SES), we found out that maximum patients in the rural background were from lower lower class SES thus signifying that poor socio-economic status can be a link to COPD.


Summary: Washed suspensions and particulate fractions of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
paci incorporated radioactivity from [i-14C]decanoic acid into bound 3-hydroxydecanoate, and from [i-14C]dodecanoate into bound 2- and 3-hydroxydodecanoate. Washed suspensions incorporated [i-14C]acetate into all three hydroxyacids, which are components of Lipid A in this organism. Degradation studies suggested that 2-hydroxydodecanoate was synthesized by direct hydroxylation of dodecanoate. Coenzyme A was required for synthesis of both 2- and 3-hydroxydodecanoates, synthesis of the former being stimulated by pyridine nucleotide coenzymes. Coenzyme A could not be replaced by acyl carrier protein which inhibited synthesis, but it was not required if [i-14C]dodecanoyl Coenzyme A was used as substrate. The hydroxyacids appeared to be incorporated into lipopolysaccharide since the radioactivity incorporated was extracted by hot 45% phenol and labelled hydroxyacids were then released only after acid or alkali hydrolysis.


The paper provides a critical assessment of an authoritative study "From Soviets to oligarchs" (2017) on evolution of economic inequality in Russia by F. Novokmet, T. Piketty and G. Zucman where Russia is portrayed as a country with abnormally polarized income distribution by international standards. The author examines main quantitative results obtained by Piketty's team, describes peculiar methodological features of their measuring procedure and analyzes how they dissect available empirical data sets. A general conclusion is that the trio uses an unconventional methodology that does not allow to apply equivalence scales; their argument suffers from internal inconsistencies (different units of observation and different definitions of income are used); they misunderstand the nature of data that form a base for their calculations (simulated estimates are perceived as raw survey data, post-tax incomes as pretax ones, etc.); deduction and declaration coefficients that they impose on tax data are empirically improbable; their final estimates of income inequality for Russia are higher than empirically realistic ones approximately by one third (Gini coefficients 0.5—0.6 instead of 0.3—0.4 by other researchers).


Purpose: To study the relationship between morphologic findings using spectral domain optical coherence tomography and surgical outcomes in patients with submacular hemorrhage (SMH) secondary to age-related macular degeneration. Methods: Medical charts of nine eyes of nine patients who underwent tissue plasminogen activator–assisted vitrectomy for SMH secondary to age-related macular degeneration were retrospectively reviewed. The preoperative height and lateral width of both SMH and pigment epithelial detachment documented with optical coherence tomography, were measured. The status of ellipsoid layers was also analyzed. Results: Complete displacement of SMH from the fovea was achieved in all nine eyes. The preoperative status of the ellipsoid layer under the fovea was detectable in four eyes and absent in the remaining five eyes. Postoperative best-corrected visual acuity was significantly better in eyes with preoperative detectable ellipsoid layers (P < 0.01). Eyes with preoperative SMH heights <400 &mgr;m also exhibited better best-corrected visual acuity (P < 0.05). There was no significant correlation between postoperative best-corrected visual acuity and the specific features of pigment epithelial detachment, including height, lateral width, and number. Conclusion: The preoperative presence of detectable ellipsoid layers and a lower height of SMH may predict good visual prognosis. In contrast, no specific features of pigment epithelial detachment correlated with postoperative best-corrected visual acuity.


Postischemic alterations of spontaneous discharges of complex spike cells (CS cells) and evoked potential in the rat hippocampal CA1 region were studied. Following 5 min of ischemia, CS cell discharge reappeared approximately 5 min after reperfusion and the frequency remained low, reaching a final value of 66.1 ± 16.0% (n = 11) of preischemic frequency 2 h later. However, only one of 7 CS cells subjected to 20 min of ischemia exhibited discharges 2 h later. In the group with 5 min of ischemia, we obtained CS cell discharges from all rats at both 1 and 2 days after ischemia, with cluster frequencies indistinguishable from preischemic levels. In the group with 20 min of ischemia, discharges were noted in 7 neurons of 11 rats after 1 day, and in only 2 neurons of 8 rats after 2 days: their mean frequencies were lower than preischemic levels. In experiments of evoked potentials, the mean percentages of amplitudes of the post‐synaptic potential (psp) 2 h after 3, 5 and 20 min of ischemia were 98.0 ± 10.7 (n = 8), 70.7 ± 8.22 (n = 9) and 45.1 ± 6.34% (n = 7) of preischemic amplitudes, respectively. These results suggest that the functional deterioration of spike generation, as well as synaptic transmission, starts during transient ischemia and/or at the early stage of reperfusion.


Sequence retrieval has a fundamental importance in information processing by the brain, and has extensively been studied in neural network models. Most of the previous sequential associative memory embedded sequences of memory patterns have nearly equal sizes. It was recently shown that local cortical networks display many diverse yet repeatable precise temporal sequences of neuronal activities, termed "neuronal avalanches." Interestingly, these avalanches displayed size and lifetime distributions that obey power laws. Inspired by these experimental findings, here we consider an associative memory model of binary neurons that stores sequences of memory patterns with highly variable sizes. Our analysis includes the case where the statistics of these size variations obey the above-mentioned power laws. We study the retrieval dynamics of such memory systems by analytically deriving the equations that govern the time evolution of macroscopic order parameters. We calculate the critical sequence length beyond which the network cannot retrieve memory sequences correctly. As an application of the analysis, we show how the present variability in sequential memory patterns degrades the power-law lifetime distribution of retrieved neural activities.


Analysis of the responses to telephone and personal interviews by 21 teacher supervisors from six school districts in Pennsylvania revealed three possible patterns of direct supervision of teachers. "Nominal" supervision consists of voicing compliance with statutory requirements for observation of teaching, a clear focus on identifying and eliminating substandard teaching, and a view of the supervisor as "quality control inspector." "Patterned" supervision uses a highly structured system of observation and communication to help all teachers improve teaching beyond state-mandated minimums, follow uniform teaching procedures, and make improvements in areas other than those affected by other interventions. "Integrated" supervision combines patterned supervision with other approaches to professional development and adapts the process to the specific needs of the setting and the teachers served. This report describes the supervisory and staffing patterns followed in each of the districts studied, places the study in the context of a larger study of supervisory practices in Pennsylvania, and explains the study's planning and interviewing methods. (Confidentiality was preserved by giving the districts fictional names). The development of techniques for analyzing the data are described, with supporting evidence from the interviews. The complete interview questionnaire and selected responses are presented in appendixes. (PGD)


In a basic-level writing course at the University of Minnesota, students were asked to read and engage in intelligent conservation about Keith Gilyard's "Voices of the Self." The book is about education but alternates autobiographical material with scholarly analysis. Literacy researchers expect students to read a text, understand what it has to say, and use it in some way (in writing or speaking) that demonstrates their understanding as part of the conversation of their classes. Many students, however, are not familiar with academic culture and ideology; they do not know what constitutes a literate reading; and they do not have the confidence to read texts that would be considered standard in the academy. Writing instructors may want to help students overcome these limitations but they also want to make the experience of academic discourse human and meaningful. Students need to make sense of their reading in light of their own experience and lives. Frequent and informal writing assignments handled over electronic mail can help attain these objectives since the instructor has a chance to respond personally to the development of each student, to encourage them to cultivate their own readings of a text. Excerpts from students' e-mail messages and essays shows their noteworthy development over the course of a semester. In the final weeks of the class, they communicated with Gilyard himself. Their understanding of literate conversation is shown by the critical nature of their questions. (TB) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** To and Through the Academic Conversation Linda Adler-Kassner University of Minnesota


Finding the energy minima of systems with constraints is a challenging problem. We develop a minimization method based on the projection operator technique to enforce distance and angle constraints in minimization and reaction-path dynamics. The application of the projection operator alone does not maintain the constraints, i.e., they are slightly violated. Therefore, we use the SHAKE-methodology to enforce the constraints after each minimization step. We have extended theta -SHAKE for bend angles and introduce phi-SHAKE and chi-SHAKE to constrain dihedral and out-of-plane angles, respectively. Two case studies are presented: (1) A mode analysis of united-atom n-butane with various internal degrees of freedom kept frozen and (2) the minimization of chromene at a fixed approach toward the catalytic site of a (salen)Mn. The obtained information on energetics can be used to explain why specific enantioselectivity is observed. Previous minimization methods work for the free molecular case, but fail when molecules are tightly confined.


Foam in porous media exhibits an unusually high apparent viscosity, making it useful in many industrial processes. The rheology of foam, however, is complex and not well understood. Previous pore-level models of foam are based primarily on studies of bubble flow in circular capillaries. A circular capillary, however, lacks the corners that characterize the geometry of the pores. We study the pressure–velocity relation of bubble flow in polygonal capillaries. A long bubble in a polygonal capillary acts as a leaky piston. The 'piston' is reluctant to move because of a large drag exerted by the capillary sidewalls. The liquid in the capillary therefore bypasses the bubble through the leaky corners at a speed an order higher than that of the bubble. Consequently, the pressure work is dissipated predominantly by the motion of the fluid and not by the motion of the bubble. This is opposite to the conclusion based on bubble flow in circular capillaries. The discovery of this new flow regime reconciles two groups of contradictory foam-flow experiments. Part 1 of this work studies the fluid films deposited on capillary walls in the limit Ca → 0 (Ca ≡ μU/σ, where μ is the fluid viscosity, U the bubble velocity, and σ the surface tension). Part 2 (Wong et al. 1995) uses the film profile at the back end to calculate the drag of the bubble. Since the bubble length is arbitrary, the film profile is determined here as a general function of the dimensionless downstream distance x. For 1 [Lt ] x [Lt ] Ca−1, the film profile is frozen with a thickness of order Ca2/3 at the centre and order Ca at the sides. For x ∼ Ca−1, surface tension rearranges the film at the centre into a parabolic shape while the film at the sides thins to order Ca4/3. For x [Gt ] Ca−1, the film is still parabolic, but the height decreases as film fluid leaks through the side constrictions. For x ∼ Ca−5/3, the height of the parabola is order Ca2/3. Finally, for x [Gt ] Ca−5/3, the height decreases as Ca1/4x−1/4.


Protein disulphide isomerase (PDI) is an oxidoreductase enzyme abundant in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In plants, PDIs have been shown to assist the folding and deposition of seed storage proteins during the biogenesis of protein bodies in the endosperm. Cloning and characterization of the complete set of genes encoding PDI and PDI like proteins in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum cv. Chinese Spring) and the comparison of their sequence, structure and expression with homologous genes from other plant species were reported in our previous publications. Promoter sequences of three homoeologous genes encoding typical PDI, located on chromosome group 4 of bread wheat, and PDI promoter sequence analysis of Triticum urartu, Aegilops speltoides and Aegilops tauschii had also been reported previously. In this study, we report the isolation and sequencing of a ~700 bp region, comprising ~600 bp of the putative promoter region and 88 bp of the first exon of the typical PDI gene, in five accessions each from Triticum urartu (AA), Aegilops speltoides (BB) and Aegilops tauschii (DD). Sequence analysis indicated large variation among sequences belonging to the different genomes, while close similarity was found within each species and with the corresponding homoeologous PDI sequences of Triticum aestivum cv. CS (AABBDD) resulting in an overall high conservation of the sequence conferring endosperm-specific expression.


The present study was carried out to assess and evaluate the distribution of minerals and nutritional composition of various parts of Moringa oleifera plant (Horseradish or Drumstick tree popularly called Ewe-igbale in Yoruba language) which were investigated with the aim of ascertaining the various compositions of nutrients and nutritionally valuable minerals. The Moringa oleifera plant used in this work was obtained from Afao-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. The proximate composition was carried out using the AOAC methods while minerals were analysed using x-ray diffraction fluorescence spectroscopic technique as Sodium and potassium were determined using flame atomic spectroscopy. The results of the analyses showed that the various parts of the plant contained high percentage of nutritional components as well as macro and micro elements of nutritional important. The respective plant parts contained higher concentration of one important nutritional component or the other. The nutritional composition showed that Protein and Fat content of the seed (33.87% and 40.61%) respectively are higher than other parts of the plant as ash content of the root (15.04%) is far higher than all the other parts of the plant. Sodium and potassium proportions were higher in the bark (3150mg/100mL and 7690mg/100mL) and root (3160mg/100ml and 6740mg/100ml) respectively than in the other parts of the plant. Calcium, another important element and manganese were higher in the leaf than other parts of the plant. These results actually showed that the Moringa oleifera plant is a rich source of nutritionally valuable minerals, protein and fat, which are of great nutritional importance. Keywords: Moringa oleifera, plant parts, nutritional composition, elements composition.


Early childhood parenting in a family is a process fraught with problems and transformative states. One of the cases is 'anak karbitan' (adultish child) as a result of parents' ambition which is prevalent in urban areas, while in rural areas many parents do a variety of mistakes in parenting. It is caused by a lack of parental understanding on the parenting ideal knowledge. This study aims at finding the transformative learning process that occurs in the early childhood parenting in a family environment. The researcher employs a qualitative approach with a case study design. The informants of this study were parents who had children aged 0-6 years. The processes of data collection involved in-depth interviews, group discussions, participatory observation, and documentation. The researcher used the interactive analysis models to analyze the data. The results showed that parents did not realize that the learning experience they had, give transformative impact on their parenting style their children in their family environments. The problems faced by the parents in early childhood parenting were those dealing with: (1) with the unique character of the child, (2) the habituation of a child, (3) training the children's independence, discipline, and responsibilities, (4). The child's social interaction, (5) training their children's confidence, (6) sex education of early childhood. The actions that the parents did to solve their problem were giving rewards, advice, warnings, and punishment, and neglecting their children. Transformative impacts that occurred on the parents were internal and external impacts.


Summary Benign biliary tumor are common lesions that are often an incidental finding in subjects who undergo medical imaging tests for other conditions. Most are true neoplasms while few result from reactive or malformative proliferation. Benign tumors have no clinical consequences, although the premalignant nature or potential for malignant transformation is of concern in some cases. The main practical problem for pathologists is the need to differentiate them from malignant biliary tumours, which is not always straightforward. Premalignant lesions of the bile duct have been described, although their incidence has been poorly characterized. These lesions include biliary mucinous cystic neoplasms, intraductal papillary neoplasms of the bile duct, and biliary intraepithelial neoplasia. In this article, histopathology of benign biliary tumors and biliary tumor precursors is discussed, with a focus on the main diagnostic criteria.


An hypothesis is proposed which states that the characteristic hepatic changes seen after the administration of carbon tetrachloride are the result of stimulation of central sympathetic areas which produce a massive discharge of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system. Stimulation of the sympathetic supply to the blood vessels of the liver results in restriction of blood flow in the liver, leading to anoxia and the characteristic necrosis around the central vein of the hepatic lobule. Similarly the discharge causes the release of unesterified fatty acids from the peripheral fat depots and the consequent deposition of lipid in the liver. This hypothesis is based upon experimental evidence using the following physiologic and pharmacologic maneuvers: adrenergic blocking agents, pretreatment with reserpine, adrenalectomy and section of the spinal cord—all are effective to a greater or lesser extent in preventing the changes characteristically seen in oxidative phosphorylation of the liver mitochondria, activation of a Mg-dependent ATPase and deposition of lipid in the liver. Transection of the spinal cord is the most effective treatment and prevents entirely the characteristic changes seen in the above-mentioned functions.


The major drawback of the Bayesian approach to model calibration is the computational burden involved in describing the posterior distribution of the unknown model parameters arising from the fact that typical Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) samplers require thousands of forward model evaluations. In this work, we develop a variational Bayesian approach to model calibration which uses an information theoretic criterion to recast the posterior problem as an optimization problem. Specifically, we parameterize the posterior using the family of Gaussian mixtures and seek to minimize the information loss incurred by replacing the true posterior with an approximate one. Our approach is of particular importance in underdetermined problems with expensive forward models in which both the classical approach of minimizing a potentially regularized misfit function and MCMC are not viable options. We test our methodology on two surrogate-free examples and show that it dramatically outperforms MCMC methods.


This work describes a new procedure to obtain optimal molecular superposition based on quantum similarity (QS): the geometric‐quantum similarity molecular superposition (GQSMS) algorithm. It has been inspired by the QS Aufbau principle, already described in a previous work, to build up coherently quantum similarity matrices (QSMs). The cornerstone of the present superposition technique relies upon the fact that quantum similarity integrals (QSIs), defined using a GTO basis set, depend on the squared intermolecular atomic distances. The resulting QSM structure, constructed under the GQSMS algorithm, becomes not only optimal in terms of its QSI elements but can also be arranged to produce a positive definite matrix global structure. Kruskal minimum spanning trees are also discussed as a device to order molecular sets described in turn by means of QSM. Besides the main subject of this work, focused on MS and QS, other practical considerations are also included in this study: essentially the use of elementary Jacobi rotations as QSM refinement tools and inward functions as QSM scaling methods. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011


Objective: To investigate the accuracy of psychiatric patients' statements on coercive measures compared with medical file information using empirical methodology, and relating the statements to patients' psychopathology.

Method: One hundred and forty-three in-patients were identified consecutively, and interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Psychopathology was measured using BPRS, and social functioning using GAF. Patients' statements about coercion were compared with information in the medical files.

Results: In general, patients stated to have been subjected to more coercion than was evident from the files. In particular, statements about forced medication, earlier involuntary commitments and present legal status showed low accordance with information in the files. Low accordance was related to the severity of psychopathology and being schizophrenic.

Conclusion: The existence of a 'grey zone' between patients' and doctors' perception of coercion was confirmed. Knowledge of patients' psychopathology seems essential when considering medical, legal and ethical aspects of the use of coercion.


Characterization of the drift in the 18-GHz brightness temperature (TB) measured by the TOPEX microwave radiometer (TMR) is presented. The appropriate correction is not a constant drift but varies with TB. Using this correction results in a more accurate path delay retrieval that varies appropriately with cloud cover and surface wind speed.


Life expectancy (LE) is a core measure of population health. Studies have confirmed the predictive importance of modifiable determinants on LE, but less is known about their association with LE change over time at the US county level. In addition, we explore the predictive association of LE change with COVID-19 mortality. We used a linear regression model to calculate county-level annual LE change from 2011 to 2016, and categorized LE change (≤−0.1 years change per year as decreasing, ≥0.1 years as increasing, otherwise no change). A multinomial regression model was used to determine the association between modifiable determinants of health indicators from the County Health Rankings and LE change. A Poisson regression model was used to evaluate the relationship between change in life expectancy and COVID-19 mortality through September 2021. Among 2943 counties, several modifiable determinants of health were significantly associated with odds of being in increasing LE or decreasing LE counties, including adult smoking, obesity, unemployment, and proportion of children in poverty. The presence of an increasing LE in 2011–2016, as compared to no change, was significantly associated with a 5% decrease in COVID-19 mortality between 2019 and 2021 (β = 0.953, 95% CI: 0.943, 0.963). We demonstrated that change in LE at the county level is a useful metric for tracking public health progress, measuring the impact of public health initiatives, and gauging preparedness and vulnerability for future public health emergencies.


Comfort is required for soaking in bathwater. Although several studies investigated comfort during soaking from a biomechanical viewpoint, these previous studies employed two-dimensional models in the sagittal plane of a bather. The objectives of this study were to take three-dimensional postures of the bather into account and to evaluate the biomechanical loads for three-dimensional soaking postures. A three-dimensional biomechanical model was constructed, and an experiment to measure the soaking postures and reaction forces from the bathtub was conducted for eight participants. In addition, a supplementary experiment to measure the passive elastic joint torques was conducted for the same participants as well. Using the experimental results, the joint torques during soaking were calculated. In addition, the biomechanical load during soaking was defined as the sum of weighted joint torques, and the weighting coefficients were determined so that the tendencies of the biomechanical load were consistent with those of sensory evaluation of comfort. Finally, the biomechanical loads were calculated for various bathtub conditions and evaluated. It was found that the contributions of joint torques at the hip and neck to the comfort were dominant. It was also found that hip joint torques not only in the flexion/extension direction but also in the abduction/adduction direction were affected by the difference in bathtub length. It was suggested that the biomechanical load in the convex foot wall was smaller than those in the flat and concave ones for male bathers.


Investigation of in-situ ground in cold region is difficult due to low accessibility and environmental factors. In this study, correlation between dynamic cone resistance and shear strength is suggested to estimate the strength of frozen soils by using instrumented dynamic cone penetrometer. Tests were conducted in freezing chamber after preparing sand-silt mixture with 2.3% water content. Vertical stresses of 5 kPa and 10 kPa were applied during freezing, shearing, and penetration phase to compare the dynamic cone resistance and shear strength. The dynamic cone resistance, additionally, is calculated to minimize the effect of energy loss during hammer impact. Experimental results show that as the shear strength increases, the dynamic cone penetration index (DCPI) decreases nonlinearly, while the dynamic cone resistance increases linearly. This study provides the useful correlation to evaluate strength properties of the frozen soils from the dynamic cone penetration and direct shear tests.


Over past few decades ambient environmental noises increased tremendously due to man made and natural factors. There are various reasons for these noises such as noisy heavy engine, pumps, spacecraft, lighting and earthquake. These noises often degrade the quality of very low frequency (VLF) signal observed by satellite. Due to this lot of information associated with these signals are lost. To retrieve signal with significant geologic information many types of denoising methods are used, but these traditional methods are based on linear pass band filter. These families of filters are useful according to phase properties but their efficiency is reduced when we used these filters for denoising of VLF signals. This is due to the fact that these signals are nongaussian, which contains gaussian background and narrow pulses due to lighting discharge, Power Line Harmonic Radiation (PLHR) and some time due to earthquake and volcanic eruptions. In this work we developed a new method for signal denoising which is based on wavelet threshold algorithms. We show that thresholding the wavelet coefficients of a VLF signal allows to restore the complete shape of the original signal. In this approach we substantially improve the performance of classical wavelet denoising algorithms, both in terms of SNR and of visual artifacts.


We present the results of an extended theoretical study of the structure, phonon, electronic and optical properties of 2D alkaline-earth metal silicides, germanides and stannides (2D Me2X, where Me=Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba and X=Si, Ge, Sn). The performed analysis has shown the occurrence of the pseudo passivation effect and ionic chemical bonding in these 2D Me2X. In addition, the preformed investigation of their phonon spectra has shown the absence of imaginary frequencies indicating the stability of these 2D structures. The band structure calculations performed using the hybrid functional have revealed that all 2D Me2X are semiconductors with the gap varying from 0.12 to 1.01 eV. Among them Mg- and Ca-based 2D materials are direct band-gap semiconductors with the first direct transition having appreciable oscillator strength. We also propose to consider ternary 2D silicides, germanides and stannides with different Me atoms as a feasible way to modify properties of parent 2D Me2X.


This paper describes how one can implement distributed λ-calculus interpreter from scratch. At first, we describe how to implement a monadic parser, than the Krivine Machine is introduced for the interpretation part and as for distribution, the actor model is used. In this work we are not providing general solution for parallelism, but we consider particular patterns, which always can be parallelized. As a result, the basic extensible implementation of call-by-name distributed machine is introduced and prototype is presented. We achieved computation speed improvement in some cases, but efficient distributed version is not achieved, problems are discussed in evaluation section. This work provides a foundation for further research, completing the implementation it is possible to add concurrency for non-determinism, improve the interpreter using call-by-need semantic or study optimal auto parallelization to generalize what could be done efficiently in parallel.


Background Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 is an inherited multisystem disorder with a European prevalence of 3–15 per 100,000. Cardiorespiratory complications (e.g. arrythmia, respiratory failure) account for around 70% of early deaths. In many cases this could be prevented though periodic screening and timely intervention, including with pacemakers or non-invasive ventilation, where indicated. Recently, international consensus-based care recommendations have been published with a view to reduce mortality by improving quality and standardising care for patients with Myotonic Dystophy type 1. We hypothesised that nationally, adherence to these recommendations is likely to be poor. Methods We audited the care of patients with Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 at the Manchester Centre for Clinical Neuroscience (MCCN) and the University Hospital South Manchester (UHSM) Ventilation Clinic against consensus-based care recommendations. A data collection proforma was created based on the recent care recommendations. Retrospective case note review was performed. Results and conclusion Data collection and analysis is ongoing. Full results will be presented at the conference along with a quality improvement action plan. These results will also feed in to a planned redevelopment of tertiary neuromuscular services in the region.


A major premise upon which this paper by Macaulay was written is flawed as is the formulation (both conceptually and mathematically) of the scattering models. The formulation is actually an assemblage and adaptation of previously published approximate solutions rather than a generalization. The physics of the scattering is blurred through a multitude of empirical parameters. In order for this new ''generalized'' model to fit the data, the animals are required to change shape as the acoustic frequency changes (for any animal of fixed size, it is required to be a sphere at low frequencies, prolate spheroid at intermediate frequencies, and bent cylinder at high frequencies). The scattering models, as presented, are not only physically incorrect, but in two cases are not even dimensionally correct (terms that are dimensionless are added to terms of dimension area). These and other errors are listed in several categories and commented upon with references given.


The existence of daily seasonal patterns in the returns to 5 base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange (Aluminium, Copper, Zinc, Lead and Nickel) is examined, using robust methods, over the 1989-2002 period. The paper begins by examining the extent of daily seasonality in asset returns, the majority of papers on this area dealing with equities. However, there is some evidence of daily seasonality in areas other than corporate liabilities, particularly in gold. No papers have to date been published that have examined the issue in base metals. The paper then describes the operations of the London Metal Exchange, the exchange on which the metal contracts analysed here are traded. The data are cash market data on a daily frequency from January 1989 to the end of August 2002. The paper then proceeds to discuss methodological issues, pointing out the need to adjust for large sample sizes and for the distributional characteristics of the data prior to making any inferences regarding the existence or otherwise of seasonality. The roles of resampling methods, robust regressions (Least Trimmed of Squares, M-Class Estimators and Least Absolute Deviation Regression) are also discussed, as are non-parametric methods. The results indicate that daily seasonality does appear to exist in the metal markets, particularly important days being Monday and Thursday. Monday is the lowest return of the week and also negative, with Thursday being the highest (Friday being the second highest). Thus the metal market appears to show the stereotypical pattern of daily seasonality that was commonly described in the literature on the equity markets.


Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of renal sympathetic nerves on the production of interleukin (IU-6 in the kidney of normotensive Wistar rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Design: In acute studies, the left kidney was exposed and the renal nerves were electrically stimulated to decrease renal blood flow by either 15 or 30% for 1 h. The changes in renal function induced by nerve stimulation were measured and IL-6 production estimated at the end of the experiment. Method: Pentobarbitone anaesthetized rats were prepared for the measurement of renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate and water and sodium excretion. IL-6 production was estimated by the level of IL-6 messenger (m)RNA present in the kidney tissue. Results: At the lower level of nerve stimulation there were reductions in the glomerular filtration rate of 12 and 24% in Wistar and SHR, respectively, and a decrease in sodium excretion of approximately 30% in both rat strains. At higher rates of stimulation these haemodynamic and tubular responses were proportionately larger. The mRNA for IL-6 and P-actin were measured by densitometric analysis of Northern blot gels following hybridization. Renal IL-6 mRNA levels in the Wistar rat demonstrated that the gene was actively expressed and was increased some threefold by renal nerve stimulation. By contrast, IL-6 mRNA was extremely low in SHR compared with that found in the kidneys of Wistar rats and did not appear to be changed by renal nerve stimulation. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the renal sympathetic nerves are an important regulatory mechanism for IL-6 production under normal conditions. However, in the SHR, production of IL-6 in the kidney appears to be suppressed.


This article focuses the reader's attention on understanding trust as a research category in the context of the functioning of modern families. This issue is sufficiently represented in research work, especially overall trust as the context of the functioning of modern man in the interpersonal space. However, there is no reference to family ties and their strength, which are shaped by the trust. This article is the result of part of a large research project carried out in 2020 on Polish families. The questionnaire's questions for the analysis concerned intimate issues such as betrayal or faithfulness. The respondents were also asked about other family members having access to their personal belongings, including mutual assistance or small loans. The article draws the reader's attention to the issues of interpersonal relations and the importance of the family in the respondents' minds. The research contains interesting information on the preferences of the research category in shaping family relationships, the strength of family ties and the social roles performed based on these. The data show a change in the functioning of the modern family, especially in the context of its functions and family members' roles.


PURPOSE
To study the biocompatibility of Bio-oss collagen with cultured bone marrow stromal cells.

METHODS
The bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) of rhesus monkey were cultured with Bio-oss collagen in vitro. Cell attachment was observed with laser confocal microscope. Cell proliferation rates were assessed with MTT assay. ALP activity was also detected. The data was statistically analyzed with SAS6.12 software package for Student's t test.

RESULTS
The rhesus BMSCs could attach to the surface of Bio-oss collagen. In cell proliferation rates, there was no significant difference between the control group and experimental group at 2-day and 5-day(P>0.05). However, at 8-day, the difference was significant (P<0.05). For ALP activity, there was no significant difference among different time point (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The Bio-oss collagen has good biocompatibility with rhesus BMSCs, and could be used to repair periodontal bone defects as a biomaterial in tissue engineering.


An advanced memory cell for a 16-Mb SRAM (static RAM) has been developed. The cell has ring-shaped gate electrode (ring-gate) driver transistors and PMOS TFT (thin film transistor) loads utilizing steps of underlayers. The ring-gate driver transistors achieve more than 3.2 large cell-ratio ( beta r) which is free from misregistration, and also 2-fA low-leakage current of the memory cell node. The titanium silicided source region (Rs=7 Omega / Square Operator ) of driver transistors is common to both in a cell, so there is little imbalance of the ground line. The 14-fA off-current (Vd=3 V, Vg=0 V) of the TFT makes possible less than 0.3- mu A standby current in a 16-Mb SRAM. It is noted that these device characteristics will certainly make it possible to fabricate a 16-Mb SRAM with this cell.<<ETX>>


Abstract : The propulsive lift system induced aerodynamics of multi-jet V/STOL aircraft configurations were experimentally evaluated over a moving deck and at static hover conditions. Several model configurations representative of advanced subsonic and supersonic V/STOL aircraft were tested. Dynamic jet-induced force and moment data were obtained for heaving, pitching, and rolling motions of a simulated seaborne landing platform over a range of heights, amplitudes, and frequencies. Configuration effects were assessed at both static hover and deck motion conditions, including the effects of wing height, fuselage contouring, lift improvement devices, and nozzle arrangement. In addition, tests were performed to separate the effects of deck motion on the fountain impingement forces. Empirical procedures were defined to aid in predicting the dynamic jet- induced forces and moment variations with deck motion. Configuration design and model testing guidelines for V/STOL aircraft are described. Recommendations are also made for further research to provide additional information required to develop generalized prediction procedures.


We see that of the many operations devised to correct flexion and adduction deformity only two, the Adams operation and the Gant subtrochanteric osteotomy are still largely in use. Of these the most used is the Gant. This operation has many good points—notably, its simplicity, lack of injury to soft parts, distance from infected area and consequently less danger of lighting up old disease. It is less apt to be followed by a return of the deformity. On the other hand, it has several disadvantages. the most important of these are, the fact that one is working in the dark and that it is often very difficult to find the lower end of the trochante. so that frequently the line of division is an inch or more below. As a result a very bad angle is produced in the shaft. The line of weight-bearing is not transmitted in a straight line, which is a bad mechanical principle.

In contrast to this, the operation consisting of a semi-circular division of the femur at the trochanter has only one or two disadvantages which have been answered, and these are not as serious as those raised against the other operations. It has several advantages which seem to indicate that it might well be used as a substitute for both the Gant and the Adams. The greatest advantage is that mechanically the principle seems correct. Very severe deformities have been corrected, and at the same time the X-ray does not show any awkward carrying angle.


It is shown that for a teaching sample size smaller than the problem dimension K N case and the reduction is greater, the smaller K is. Quantitative estimates of this effect are obtained, relating the average value of the output interference-to-noise ratio to the eigenvalues of the input signal correlation matrix. The analytical estimates are confirmed by the results of an experiment on a digital model.


ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of abiotic factors (conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, precipitation, and water temperature) on the abundance of Macrobrachium amazonicum (Heller, 1862), as well as to compare the relative growth among demographic groups throughout the seasons in a lagoon system located in the municipality of Perdões, Minas Gerais. Monthly, from August/2013 to July/2014, the prawns were collected on macrophytes of the genus Eichhornia using a semi-circular sieve. In the laboratory, the specimens were categorized into juveniles, males, ovigerous females and non-ovigerous females, and measured as total length (TL), carapace length (CL), and abdomen length (AL). The predominance of juveniles was evident, representing 74.4%, followed by 16.7% males, 2.8% ovigerous females and 6.1% non-ovigerous females. The total abundance and the abundance of juveniles, males, and females were negatively correlated with conductivity. The relative growth of TL and AL, in relation to CL, was different for juveniles, males and females thought the year, except during summer (for TL and AL) and autumn (for AL), when the same pattern was observed for the three demographic categories (p>0.05), possibly due to the highest abundance of juvenile individuals obtained in these seasons. The highest abundance of juveniles can be related to its occurrence in microhabitats that provide refuge, as Eichhornia. Despite some similar characteristics here observed in relation to the other populations throughout its distribution, as the high number of juveniles and the smaller size of males compared to females, the present study provides information that expands the knowledge on the plasticity of M. amazonicum, considering the sampled local - a lateral lagoon system. The obtained results promote the comprehension of the vast occurrence of the species and its adaptations to each specific environment, contributing to the elaboration of conservation and management guidelines for M. amazonicum and for the environment where it inhabits.


General Practitioners (GPs) report frustration in locating, customising and prioritising data in Electronic Health Records, which impairs their situation awareness (SA) and consequently impacts decision making and quality of care. Gaining SA in primary care before and during the clinical consultation is challenging, mainly due to barriers including time constraints, fragmented data, limitations in GP-patient interaction, usability issues of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) and information overload. This is enhanced with an increasing ageing population, and patients with multimorbidity. Timely and effective communication of information through data visualizations and visual analytics are promising avenues to address some of the GPs situation awareness needs and barriers, potentially supporting clinicians in making more accurate and rapid decisions. In this paper we propose a taxonomy of situation awareness failure factors in Primary Care, based on interviews with Primary Care GPs and Endsley's SA error taxonomy. We then discuss design implications towards enhancing situation awareness in Primary Care when using EHR systems, supporting the potential of holistic visualisations to enhance SA before and during the clinical consultation.


When examining the reasons why NPD projects are late, over budget, or why they suffer from performance problems, complexity is often directly linked to the results achieved. While some research has been done in the complexity area, more research is needed to assess the role that complexity plays in the successful development of new products. In this paper complexity is defined and several reasons are examined why this factor can be a significant issue in successfully managing NPD efforts. Several sources of complexity are also examined including technological; market; development; marketing; organizational; and intraorganizational complexity, i.e., one company partnering with another to develop a new product or technology. A template is then constructed to help product developers evaluate complexity in their development projects. Finally, the paper concludes with suggestions of how the complexity template can be applied by development managers and their teams.


This article summarises the results of a recently published synthesis study on the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded Digital Preservation & Asset Management (DPAM) programme. The DPAM programme ran from 2004 until 2006 and aimed to establish a basis for the development of institutional strategies and policies for long-term preservation and asset management. Eleven projects were funded by the project across three main themes: Institutional management support & collaboration; Digital asset assessment tools (DAATs); and institutional repository infrastructure development.

The study found that the programme was a resounding success. Projects delivered a number of highly relevant and reusable outputs such as demonstrative shared services, survey and assessment tools, costing formulae, case studies, and a number of different training courses. Issues addressed by projects ranged from metadata, repository software and repository frameworks to business planning, life-cycle planning, legal issues and strategy development.

In summarising the DPAM synthesis study, this article provides an overview of each of the funded projects and explores project outputs with regards to a selected number of recurring themes. Further themes are explored in the synthesis study itself and readers are encouraged to refer to the study for more information.


Herein, we report the development and validation of an HPLC method to analyze ceftolozane and tazobactam simultaneously in human plasma, human serum, swine serum and saline matrixes. A reversed-phase column was used with a UV detector set at 260 nm and switched to 218 nm. The mobile phase consisted of methanol and sodium phosphate buffer at a flow rate of 1.1 mL/min. Cefepime was used as the internal standard. The standard curves were linear over a range of 0.4-50 μg/mL. This methodology represents a simple, reproducible approach to the determination of drug concentrations with sufficient accuracy and precision for pharmacokinetic studies undertaken with this recently FDA-approved antimicrobial therapy.


ABSTRACT
 Caryocar brasiliense Camb. (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) trees have a wide distribution in the Cerrado, a tropical Brazilian savanna, with high diversity and endemism. This plant is protected by federal laws and is untouched in deforested areas of the Cerrado. This situation increases the damage to leaves from galling insects (Hymenoptera). We studied populations of galling insects and their natural enemies on C. brasiliense trees for 3 successive yr during each season in the Cerrado. A globoid gall-inducing Eurytoma sp. (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae) and its parasitoid Sycophila sp. (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae) adults and predator Zelus armillatus (Lepeletier and Serville) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) on the leaves were most abundant in the winter. The numbers of vein galls correlated negatively with the numbers of discoid and spherical galls, and the numbers of spherical galls correlated negatively with the numbers of discoid galls on C. brasiliense leaflets. Increased percentages of defoliation were correlated with reductions in the percentages of leaflets with total galls and leaflet area with total galls. Increased numbers of Sycophila sp. and decreased numbers of Ablerus magistretti Blanchard (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) were correlated with reduction in the numbers of Eurytoma sp. Numbers ofQuadrastichus sp. (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and A. magistretti correlated negatively with the numbers of Sycophila sp. Increased numbers of Z. armillatus were correlated with reduction in the numbers of Eurytoma sp. and its galls and parasitoids. We concluded that this differential temporal distribution of galling insects and their natural enemies was influenced by plant phenology and time of colonization on C. brasiliense leaves.


It's Monday, 24 September. The equinox passed a few days ago; the last of the monsoon showers seems to have gone. After Mass on my pre-breakfast walk, I notice the difference: the air fresh without the monsoon humidity, the lush green paddy crops, the dappled green and yellow of the early morning sun on the Sal trees. Out beyond the back of the parish is an unsurfaced road, good for stretching out. I first pass the houses of some of our Catholics, pukka, brick and cement, the fruit of their hard work and years of government employment.


Roadmap and especially technology roadmap is a management tool and technique to achieve future goals in order to link business to technology. With the increasing trend and the need to use different types of roadmaps, new tools are needed to analyze the complex relationships between layers and roadmap elements. The purpose of this study is to focus on a new tool for analyzing the relationships between roadmap layers with a combined method with a proposed framework. Previous research has addressed relationships between layers only with tools such as quality function deployment (QFD) and the linking grid. Although DSM and TRM have been extensively studied independently so far, this study, therefore, proposes an integrated six-step framework combining a multi-domain matrix and design structure matrix and fuzzy set theory in designing, creating, and developing technology roadmaps for Suggest systems to support decision making and case studies. In this study, multi-domain MDM matrix and fuzzy inference, and network theory were used in designing the technology roadmap. The advantage of using a multi-domain matrix is the simultaneous analysis of each domain specifically in the DSM format as well as the entire domain in the MDM format. The results of the present study indicate the provision of detailed instructions for managers to prepare a suitable roadmap.


The study examined the efficacy of rational emotive behaviour therapy on depression among secondary school going adolescents in Yobe Islamic Centre Damaturu, Yobe State, Nigeria. Quasi-experimental research design was used in the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 30 students for the study. The sample participants consist of 15 male and 15 female students. Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) was administered to assess depression before and after the intervention with .85 reliability co-efficient. REBT was employed as the treatment to the experimental group. T-test statistical tool was used to test the 3 hypotheses formulated. The result revealed that REBT was significantly effective on the management of depression; difference in the management of depression was significant to Gender but not for age. In view of these findings, the study recommended that students should be trained on the effective usage of this intervention (REBT), Experts in educational Counseling/Educational psychologists should intensify their effort to organize seminars/conferences on the implications of this intervention.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

Anti-tumor effect of an apoptosis-targeting peptide-conjugated heparin derivative in breast cancer xenografts.

Sang Mun Bae1, Jong-Ho Kim1, Kai Wang1, Sungwoo Chung2, Youngro Byun2, Byung-Heon Lee1, In-San Kim1 and Rang-Woon Park1

1Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 700-422, Republic of Korea

2College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea

Abstract

Angiogenesis, the development of new blood vessels, is an essential process during tumor growth and metastasis. In the process of tumor angiogenesis, tumor cells secret various angiogenic growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor basic (bFGF), platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PDGF), insulin-like growth factors (IGF-1 and IGF-2) and scatter factors, which are potential targets for development of angiogenesis inhibitor and depend on heparin sulfate for their biological functions. Angiogenic endothelial cells are a central challenge for therapeutic intervention since its easy accessibility. Recently, researchers have sought to develop angiogenesis inhibitor for tumor therapy since tumor cannot grow without blood-supplied oxygen and nutrients. Heparan sulfate is located in cell surface and in the extracellular matrix and plays pivotal regulatory roles in growth factor. For this reason, heparin has been highlighted as a growth factor inhibitory therapeutic agent beyond its anticoagulant indications. In a previous study, we reported new angiogenesis inhibitor, low molecular weight heparin derivative (heparin-taurocholic acid conjugate; HT), showed delay of in vivo tumor growth in MDA-MB231 human breast cancer. In this study, we sought to design a new angiogenesis inhibitor targeting tumor tissue by introducing the actively targeting moiety, tumor homing peptide, to previously developed HT. Here, we evaluate the inhibitory effect of HT-Apopep by in vivo antitumor efficacy and show the body distribution image of HT-Apopep in tumor-bearing mice.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2277.


We introduce a novel decidable fragment of first-order logic. The fragment is one-dimensional in the sense that quantification is limited to applications of blocks of existential (universal) quantifiers such that at most one variable remains free in the quantified formula. The fragment is closed under Boolean operations, but additional restrictions (called uniformity conditions) apply to combinations of atomic formulae with two or more variables. We argue that the notions of one-dimensionality and uniformity together offer a novel perspective on the robust decidability of modal logics. We also establish that minor modifications to the restrictions of the syntax of the one-dimensional fragment lead to undecidable formalisms. Namely, the two-dimensional and non-uniform one-dimensional fragments are shown undecidable. Finally, we prove that with regard to expressivity, the one-dimensional fragment is incomparable with both the guarded negation fragment and two-variable logic with counting. Our proof of the decidability of the one-dimensional fragment is based on a technique involving a direct reduction to the monadic class of first-order logic. The novel technique is itself of an independent mathematical interest.


In the course of our research on spiro-compounds as neurokinin receptor antagonists, N-[2-aryl-4-(spiro-substituted piperidin-1'-yl)butyl]carboxamides were designed, based on YM-35375 (3) as a lead compound, and evaluated for NK2 receptor-antagonistic activities. Some derivatives inhibited the binding of radio-labeled neurokinin A to the NK2 receptor with IC50 values at the level of 10(-9) M. Among these compounds, (+/-)-1'-[4-(N-benzoyl-N-methylamino)-3- (3,4-dichlorophenyl)butyl]spiro[benzo[c]thiophene-1(3H), 4'-piperidine] 2-oxide (58, YM-38336) showed 10 times more potent NK2 receptor binding affinity than compound 3 (IC50 values of 8.9 and 84 nM, respectively). It showed more potent inhibitory activity (ID50 20 micrograms/kg (i.v.)) against [beta-Ala8]-NKA(4-10)-induced bronchoconstriction in guinea pigs than compound 3 (ID50 41 micrograms/kg (i.v.)). This compound was also effective intraduodenally in the same model, exhibiting an ID50 value of 0.41 microgram/kg.


In recent decades researchers in a variety of disciplines have developed a new "urban science," the central goal of which is to build general theory regarding the social processes underlying urbanization. Much work in urban science is animated by the notion that cities are complex systems. What does it mean to make this claim? Here we adopt the view that complex systems entail both variation and structure, and that their properties vary with system size and with respect to where and how they are measured. Given this, a general framework regarding the social processes behind urbanization needs to account for empirical regularities that are common to both contemporary cities and past settlements known through archaeology and history. Only by adopting an explicitly historical perspective can such fundamental structure be revealed. The identification of shared properties in past and present systems has been facilitated by research traditions that define cities (and settlements more broadly) as networks of social interaction embedded in physical space. Settlement Scaling Theory (SST) builds from these insights to generate predictions regarding how measurable properties of cities and settlements are related to their population size. Here, we focus on relationships between population and area across past settlement systems and present-day world cities. We show that both patterns and variations in these measures are explicable in terms of SST, and that the framework identifies baseline infrastructural area as an important system-level property of urban systems that warrants further study. We also show that predictive theory is helpful even in cases where the data do not conform to model predictions.


In this work, we study the fractional power series solutions around regular singular point 𝑥 = 0 of conformable fractional Bessel differential equation and fractional Bessel functions. Then, we compare fractional solutions with ordinary solutions. In addition, we present certain property of fractional Bessel functions.


Merker argues that subcortical regions are sufficient for the constitution of consciousness as "immediate, unreflective experience" as distinguished from self-consciousness. My point here is that Merker neglects the differentiation between pre-reflective self-awareness and reflective self-consciousness. Pre-reflective self-awareness allows us to immediately and unreflectively experience our self, which functionally may be mediated by what I call self-related processing in subcortical regions.


The first chapter is devoted to tensor products: This basic and fundamental notion is hardly taught at undergraduate level, and I want the reader to be immediately familiar with it, once and for all. • Chapter 2 is a general introduction to group representations (using a bit of categorical language). In particular, we treat the case of representations on sets, their classification, as well as Burnside marks, and we also introduce the reader to general linear representations, their language, basic facts such as Schur's lemma, and common examples and counterexamples. • Chapter 3 contains the general results about characteristic zero representations, without any further assumption about the ground field (hence, the ground field may be Q). For example, it provides a proof of the general "Fourier inversion formula" in this general context, as well as the more classical results about the Galois action on conjugacy classes in relation to the number of irreducible characters. One paragraph is devoted to what was, for Frobenius, the origin of the whole character theory: the group determinant. • Chapter 4 "plays around with the ground ring." It contains a description, free of the theory of central simple algebras, of the integers which constitute the degree of an irreducible character: Character theory is sufficient to establish, for example, that the dimension of the occurring skewfields over their center is a square. It also contains a short introduction to reflection groups. • Chapter 5 is devoted to induction–restriction. The first part has no assumption about the characteristic of the field, insisting on the formal equalities and isomorphisms between occurring bimodules or functors. The second part deals, more classically, with the setting of characteristic zero ground fields and class functions. • The first part of Chap. 6 contains a proof of Brauer's characterization of characters, while its second part contains some (less classical in textbooks) applications to "subgroups controlling ...-fusion" and normal ...-complements. As an application, it also contains a treatment of Frobenius groups. • In order to study representations of finite groups on graded modules, Chap. 7 starts with a short introduction to basic notions concerning graded modules and graded algebras. In the second part, we introduce the notion of graded characters with applications to generalization of Molien's Formula. As a particular case, we study the action of G on SðVÞ (the symmetric algebra of V) if G acts on a vector space V . We conclude by an introduction to the main characterization of reflection groups. • The last chapter is devoted to the study of the Drinfeld double of a finite group. We start by a quick introduction to Hopf algebras and their algebra representations, then we introduce the notion of universal R-matrix and show that the representation category of the Drinfeld double is a ribbon category. We conclude by the definition of the S-matrix of that ribbon category, and by explicitly computing the associated representation of GL2ðZÞ. viii Preface


to estimate the difficulty of learning Chinese. It all depends, of course, on what one means by " learning Chinese ". If one's goal is simply to be able to converse in one or other of the modern dialects, there is not much difficulty about it. But to master the written language so as to be able to delve into the treasures of Chinese literature is undoubtedly a formidable task which demands long experience and extensive reading. Unlike some lesser authorities, he evidently attaches little importance to the study of such grammatical rules as have been laboriously excogitated by foreigners to be fastened round the neck of this most obstinate of languages. LIONEL GILES.


Background: Physical inactivity is a major risk factor and aerobic exercise is protective for cardiovascular health. Aim: To determine the effects of aerobic exercise on systolic and diastolic blood pressure in children, adolescents and adults. Material and Methods: We studied 13 children aged 10 ± 1.9 years, 13 adolescents aged 14.3 ± 1.5 and 55 adults aged 41 ± 11.5 years. Participants completed 60 minutes of aerobic exercise in one session. Body weight, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and resting heart rate were measured before and after the exercise period. Results: Adult men and women experienced a significant decrease in body weight after exercise (-8 and -6%, respectively). No significant changes in weight were observed in children and adolescents. After exercise systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly in children (-8.3 and -5.4% respectively), adolescents (-7.6 and -8.4% respectively) and adults (-7 and -5.1% respectively). Conclusions: A 60 minute period of aerobic exercise is associated with a reduction in blood pressure in children, adolescents and adults.


In vivo platelet activation by circulating immune complexes has been suggested as one of the underlying mechanisms in preeclampsia. Using a modification of the polyethylene glycol protein-A immune complex assay, immune complexes were found in excess of the equivalent of 20 micrograms/ml heat aggregated IgG in fourteen out of twenty patients diagnosed as having pre-eclampsia. Only six out of nineteen normal controls were found to have similar levels of immune complexes. Furthermore, using a small volume bio-assay method, concentrations of heat aggregated IgG in excess of 20 micrograms/ml were found to activate platelets to release sufficient concentrations of vasoactive agents to constrict a human blood vessel in vitro. These results support the hypothesis that in vivo platelet activation by immune complexes can release sufficient concentrations of vasoactive agents to contribute to the hypertension characteristic of pre-eclampsia.


Changes in rostral structures and the nuclear events which occur in dividing cells of Trichonympha agilis (obtained from experimentally refaunated termites) were studied by means of electron microscopy of serial sections. It is possible to characterize 5 stages of division: Stage I. During this earliest recognizable division stage, the bilaterally symmetrical hemirostra have begun to separate and spindle microtubules appear in the intervening space. As in interphase, the kinetochore regions of chromosomes are distinguishable as fibrillar masses underlying the intact nuclear envelope; and, in individual sections, they are often seen to occur in pairs. These pairs are taken to be sister kinetochores. Stage II. The extranuclear spindle has become established between the posterior ends of well separated hemirostral tubes. Elaboration of daughter rostral structures begins and will continue through the subsequent stages of division. Kinetochores differentiate, becoming bipartite structures consisting of a fibrillar element underlain by a dense disk. The fibrillar kinetochore element is associated with the still-intact nuclear envelope which lies between kinetochores and cytoplasmic spindle microtubules. Reconstruction from serial sections shows all kinetochores to be disposed in pairs which are distributed randomly over the nuclear surface. Stage III. The fibrillar elements of kinetochores are enclosed in evaginations of the nuclear envelope, while the disk elements have come to lie in the plane of the nuclear surface. Kinetochores remain separated from the extranuclear spindle microtubules by the intact nuclear envelope. The distribution of kinetochores has changed relative to that seen in stage II: kinetochores no longer appear to be paired, and they are confined to that hemisphere of the nuclear surface closest to the spindle. Stage IV. The nuclear envelope opens at the sites of kinetochores, leaving the dense disk kinetochore element inserted in pore-like discontinuities of the nuclear envelope and the fibrillar element in the cytoplasm. Direct interaction between fibrillar kinetochore element and extranuclear spindle microtubules is, however, not yet established. Stage V. The cytoplasmically situated fibrillar elements of 'inserted' kinetochores are now in direct contact with spindle microtubules. As seen in reconstructions of the nucleus from serial sections, kinetochores have become segregated in 2 groups on the nuclear surface, one near each spindle pole. It is during this stage that final elaboration of rostral structures takes place. On the basis of the observed changes in kinetochore distribution which occur between stages II and III while the intact nuclear envelope prevents any direct interaction between intra-nuclear kinetochores and extranuclear spindle microtubules, it is suggested that kinetochore-membrane interaction is involved in early chromosome movement in Trichonympha agilis. Only during stage V, when direct contact between kinetochores and spindle microtubules is established, may the microtubules assume their usual role in chromosome movement.


A local perturbation theory for the spectral analysis of the Schr¨odinger operator with two periodic potentials whose periods are commensurable has been constructed. It has been shown that the perturbation of the periodic 1D Hamiltonian by an additional small periodic potential leads to the following spectral deformation: all gaps in the spectrum of the unperturbed periodic Hamiltonian bear shifts while any band splits by arising additional gaps into a set of smaller spectral bands. The spectral shift, the position of additional gaps and their widths have been calculated explicitly. The applications to the operational regime of a nanoelectronic device based on Mott-Peierls stimulated transition have also been discussed.


The double ionization of the atomic K shell in the process of annihilation of a polarized positron with a bound K electron is studied. Analytical expressions valid in the relativistic energy region for the total and differential cross sections are obtained.


Continuous
increase in demand of wireless services such as voice, data and multimedia is
fueling the need of spectrally efficient techniques in communication networks.
The MCCDMA-MIMO, a system of Multi Carrier Code Division Multiple Access
(MCCDMA) technique with multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver
gets benefits of ability to adopt multiple access capability from MCCDMA
technique, achieves high data rate from MIMO concepts and becomes a very
attractive multiple access technique for the future wireless communication
systems. But, the wireless channels in MCCDMA-MIMO networks are known to
display significant variations across active users' subcarriers as well as
among subcarriers of the same user due to simultaneous spectrum utilization.
This leads to the undesirable Multiple-Access Interference (MAI) and Inters
Carrier Interference (ICI), accordingly degrades the performance of the system.
So, the interference mitigation methodology in the MCDMA-MIMO system has
received a lot of attention in next generation mobile environment. The power
control and sub carrier grouping methods have been long standing open solutions
for capacity enhancement. The strategic choice of assigning the transmission
power to each individual subcarrier in the MCCDMA-MIMO system is subjected to
the knowledge of Channel State Information (CSI), which usually becomes
imperfect due to the time varying nature of the channels. The goal of this
paper is to allocate proper power to sub-carriers of MCCDMA-MIMO system by
playing water filling game theory against the CSI errors to improve the
performance of the system.


Peer-to-peer systems based on Distributed Hash Tables face tradeoffs between the performance (latency or availability) and their desired functionality. In fact, lookup latency is affected by the mismatch problem between the overlay hop and the underlying topology. So, applications built on top of such systems can be impacted. A core problem in peer-to-peer systems is the distribution of items to be stored or computations to be carried out by peers in the system. Many works have been done concerning storage and key distribution but little work has been done regarding the distribution of operations carried out by peers in the system. This paper presents a query execution load balancing strategy that allows improving performance of declarative query execution in P2P DHT-based systems. A performance evaluation, using Grid5000 platform, is provided to verify the improvement achieved by the strategies presented.


Abstract This is the second of two papers that generate and analyze quantitative estimates of the development of English caselaw and associated legal ideas before the Industrial Revolution. In the first paper, we estimated a 100-topic structural topic model, named the topics, and showed how to interpret topic-prevalence timelines. Here, we provide examples of new insights that can be gained from these estimates. We first provide a bird's-eye view, aggregating the topics into 15 themes. Procedure is the highest-prevalence theme, but by the mid-18th century attention to procedure decreases sharply, indicating solidification of court institutions. Important ideas on real-property were substantially settled by the mid-17th century and on contracts and torts by the mid-18th century. Thus, crucial elements of caselaw developed before the Industrial Revolution. We then examine the legal ideas associated with England's financial revolution. Many new legal ideas relevant to finance were well accepted before the Glorious Revolution. Finally, we examine the sources of law used in the courts. Emphasis on precedent-based reasoning increases by 1650, but diffusion was gradual, with pertinent ideas solidifying only after 1700. Ideas on statute applicability were accepted by the mid-16th century but debates on legislative intent were still occurring in 1750.


Background Metabolic Syndrome (MS) may contribute to increased cardiovascular risk in the population. Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is involved in the modification of lipids within atheromatous plaques. The increased prevalence of MS in SLE patients has been reported. However, few studies report the prevalence of MS in patients with SLE in southern China, and no study reveals its association with Lp-PLA2. Objectives To investigate the prevalence and clinical features of MS in patients with SLE in southern China, and to evaluate its association with Lp-PLA2. Methods 415 inpatients with SLE diagnosed in our Rheumatology Department from 2012 to 2014 were retrospectively investigated for their incidence of MS, compared with 830 age- and gender-matched general individuals. MS was defined according to the 2009 consensus statement of the International Diabetes Foundation.Data of medical records review, physical examination and laboratory tests were collected. Furthermore, SLE patients were classified according to the prevalence of MS. Plasma Lp-PLA2 level, SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) and lupus characteristics were compared between SLE group with MS and SLE group without MS. Results There were 140 patients with SLE presented MS. The prevalence of MS in the cohort was 33.73% (140/415), significantly higher than that of the matched controls (14.22%, 118/830, P<0.05), the same both in males (30.51% vs 20.0%) and females (34.27% vs 13.27%) (P<0.05). However, no significant difference was found regarding the incidence of MS between male and female groups with SLE (30.51% vs 34.27%, P>0.05). The MS component with the highest prevalence in the SLE population was low HDL-Cholesterol (<50mg/dL) with a prevalence of 58.60%. And the ratios of patients with higher TG, higher LDL-C and impaired fasting glucose in SLE group were 33.12%, 31.74% and 19.11% respectively. The incidence of MS in the age group (44 years old) with SLE was significantly higher than that of the age-matched controls (28.45% vs 10.37%, P<0.05), but we found no significant difference in the age ranges of both 45–64 years and 65 years (P>0.05). The plasma Lp-PLA2 level of SLE group with MS was significantly higher than that of SLE group without MS (497.40 vs 324.65, ng/ml, P<0.05), while neither SLEDAI nor renal involvement showed significant difference between these two SLE groups (P>0.05). Conclusions Patients with SLE have a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome, compared with the general population in southern China, characterized prominently by dyslipidemia. The Lp-PLA2 signatures may contribute to the increased cardiovascular risk in the SLE patients with MS. SLE patients should begin to pay attention to the occurrence of MS before 45 years old. References Sabio JM, Zamora-Pasadas M, Jimenez-Jaimez J, et al. Metabolic syndrome in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus from Southern Spain. Lupus 2008;17:849–59. Serruys PW, García-García HM, Buszman P, et al. Effects of the direct lipoprotein associated phospholipase A (2) inhibitor darapladib on human coronary atherosclerotic plaque [J]. Circulation, 2008,118 (11): 1172-1182. Colley KJ,Wolfert RL,Cobble ME.Lipoprotein associated phospholipase A (2):role in atherosclerosis and utility as a biomarker for cardiovascular risk [J]. EPMA J,2011,2(1):27-38. Disclosure of Interest None declared