Summary.  We consider joint probability distributions generated recursively in terms of univariate conditional distributions satisfying conditional independence restrictions. The independences are captured by missing edges in a directed graph. A matrix form of such a graph, called the generating edge matrix, is triangular so the distributions that are generated over such graphs are called triangular systems. We study consequences of triangular systems after grouping or reordering of the variables for analyses as chain graph models, i.e. for alternative recursive factorizations of the given density using joint conditional distributions. For this we introduce families of linear triangular equations which do not require assumptions of distributional form. The strength of the associations that are implied by such linear families for chain graph models is derived. The edge matrices of chain graphs that are implied by any triangular system are obtained by appropriately transforming the generating edge matrix. It is shown how induced independences and dependences can be studied by graphs, by edge matrix calculations and via the properties of densities. Some ways of using the results are illustrated.


Rats with hippocampal lesions (HC), cortical control lesions, or sham operations were trained to lever press on a differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) schedule requiring 12 sec between responses. In four experiments, factors affecting performance efficiency in this paradigm were manipulated. Providing extra opportunities for collateral mediating behavior (Experiment 1) aided all groups nondifferentially. Adding a limited hold (Experiment 2) or administering chlordiazepoxide HCl (Experiment 3) reduced DRL efficiency in all groups nondifferentially. However, adding an auditory stimulus marking the halfway point in the DRL requirement (Experiment 4) differentially aided the HC group. The implications of these findings for different theories of hippocampal function are discussed.


The frontal eye field (FEF) influences saccade generation via direct projections to the superior colliculus and an indirect pathway through the basal ganglia. To test whether different reward information is represented in the FEF and the basal ganglia, we recorded from the FEF and the caudate nucleus in monkeys performing an asymmetrically rewarded memory-guided saccade task. A peripheral cue at one of two opposing positions was flashed briefly to indicate the saccade target. In a given block, one position was associated with big reward and the other with small reward. Big-reward position was alternated between blocks. In this task, the FEF and caudate displayed similar prevalence of neuronal activity before cue onset that was larger in blocks with specific big reward–cue position associations. They also exhibit comparable reward modulation of visual responses that were spatially selective. In contrast, visual responses that were specific to expected reward size, instead of spatial locations, were commonly observed in caudate but rarely seen in the FEF. Thus, both the FEF and basal ganglia may contribute to reward bias in saccade generation, with the FEF providing spatially relevant reward information and the basal ganglia providing additional reward-specific information.


Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and periodontal diseases (PDs) have shown a bidirectional and vice versa relationship. Hence, this study aimed to identify the extent and magnitude between MetS and PDs in females. Materials and Methods: A published literature was explored by considering case–control, cross-sectional, and cohort studies that involved patients with measurements of MetS and PD. Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, and Cochrane Library databases were used for the search. This study examined the relationship between the MetS and PD among females. Results: Of the initial 4150 titles screened, a total of 37 reported papers were eligible for quantitative review. A gender-wise analysis of the findings revealed a crude odds ratio (OR) of 1.385 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.043–1.839, I2 = 94.61%, P < 0.001] for the females relative to the average OR of 1.54 (95% CI: 1.39–1.71, I2 = 90.95%, P < 0.001). Further subgroup analysis for directionality in females revealed the crude ORs of 1.28 (95% CI: 0.91–1.79, I2 = 96.44%, P < 0.001) for the relationship between PD and MetS, whereas an OR of 2.12 (95% CI: 0.78–5.73, I2 = 88.31%, P < 0.001) was found between MetS and PDs. Conclusion: This study lacks convincing proof of a link between MetS and PDs in females when compared with an overall association between MetS and PDs. Directionality indicated higher odds of linking between MetS and PD than PD and MetS among females. Further longitudinal and treatment trials are needed to confirm the association among females.


MCAT elements are essential for cardiac gene expression during development. Avian transcriptional enhancer factor-1 (TEF-1) proteins are muscle-enriched and contribute to MCAT binding activities. However, direct activation of MCAT-driven promoters by TEF-1-related proteins has not been uniformly achieved. Divergent TEF (DTEF)-1 is a unique member of the TEF-1 multigene family with abundant transcripts in the heart but not in skeletal muscle. Herein we show that DTEF-1 proteins are highly expressed in the heart. Protein expression is activated at very early stages of chick embryogenesis (Hamburger-Hamilton stage 4, 16-18 h), after which DTEF-1 becomes abundant in the sinus venosus and is expressed in the trabeculated ventricular myocardium and ventricular outflow tracts. By chromatin immunoprecipitation, DTEF-1 interacts with the cardiac troponin T (cTnT) promoter in vivo. DTEF-1 also interacts with MEF- 2 by coimmunoprecipitation and independently or cooperatively (with MEF-2) trans-activates the cTnT promoter. DTEF-1 isoforms do not activate the cTnT promoter in fibroblasts or skeletal muscle. DTEF-1 expression occurs very early in chick embryogenesis (16-18 h), preceding sarcomeric protein expression, and it activates cardiac promoters. As such, DTEF-1 may be an early marker of the myocardial phenotype. DTEF-1 trans-activates the cTnT promoter in a tissue-specific fashion independent of AT-rich, MEF-2, or GATA sites. The observed spatial pattern suggests decreasing levels of expression from the cardiac inlet to the ventricular outflow tracts, which may mark a cardiogenic or differentiation pathway that parallels the direction of flow through the developing chick heart.


two expansion theorems are established, the convergence being pointwise or in a L2-setting. If the positive parameter M tends to zero, these two expansion theorems reduce to the classical Hankel transform of order zero. In a previous paper the authors have proved that in one of the introduced Lebesgue-Stieltjes Hilbert function spaces, the differential expression xLM gives rise to exactly one self-adjoint operator SM . In this paper it is proved, together with the corresponding expansion theorems, that SM has a complete eigenpacket. The orthogonality property of this eigenpacket is reflected in a distributional orthogonality on which the expansion theorems are based.


Resonance energy transfer from tris(2,2′‐bipyridyl)ruthenium (II) ([Ru(bpy)3]2+) to nile blue A is demonstrated in aqueous solution in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). At SDS concentrations below the critical micelle concentration, aggregates that permit energy transfer between these dyes at optically dilute (10 μM) concentrations with nearly 100% efficiency are formed. The disparity between the lifetimes of the donor and acceptor results in the lengthening of the photoluminescence lifetime of the sensitized emission observed from nile blue A. Time‐resolved luminescence measurements confirm that the long‐lived components of the emission originate from sensitized acceptor emission.


During MESSENGER's first flyby of Mercury, numerous narrow‐band ultra‐low‐frequency (ULF) waves and their harmonics were detected between closest approach (CA) and the outbound magnetopause (MP) crossing. The fundamental mode was at frequencies between the He+ (fcHe+) and the H+ (fcH+) cyclotron frequencies. A boundary layer (BL) was detected before the MP crossing. The ULF frequency and amplitude increased from CA to the edge of the BL. In the BL the frequency dropped by a factor of 2, and the amplitude increased by an order of magnitude. There was a large variation in the wave‐normal angle (Ψ), with a slight tendency for Ψ to be perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field near CA and parallel away from CA. Near CA the parallel power tended to be larger than the perpendicular power, while away from CA the perpendicular power dominated. Large variations in wave polarization properties were observed.


Introduction The importance of diaphragmatic function and wholeness in relationship to pulmonary and gastrointestinal physiology has been well documented. A "second look" at the structure and action of the diaphragm has been warranted, however, because of recent stress on the surgical aspects of esophageal hiatal hernias and the clinical appearance of pathologic syndromes related to diaphragmatic malfunction following thoracic surgical procedures. A study of the dynamic anatomy of the diaphragm was therefore undertaken, and the results of this investigation with its clinical applications are herein reported. Methods of Study The diaphragm and attached phrenic nerves were studied in situ and in the fresh state after complete excision in 25 postmortem specimens. Photographs and drawings were utilized to record pertinent findings. Observations on diaphragmatic motion were made on eight patients undergoing transthoracic repair of a hiatus hernia after dissection of the hiatus and crura. In addition, two patients were carefully evaluated


To survive and gain a competitive advantage in today's ever-fast moving business environment, a company needs to constantly adapt its supply chain based on the changing market demands. Achieving an adaptive supply chain has therefore become crucial to its business success. For a company to adopt adaptive supply chain as its strategy, the most important metric to assess is reconfigurability -which is rather difficult to measure quantitatively like good, normal or poor and includes a number of second-level metrics. Therefore one of the key R&D challenges is how to model, measure and assess the reconfigurability of adaptive supply chain in a rational and flexible way so that such model could be adaptable to the changing needs of the company in various industry domains. This paper presents a fuzzy logic model for assessing the supply chain's reconfigurability, which could be further customized based on different measurement metrics, end-users' domain knowledge and self-defined business rules. This enables the reconfigurability metric to be measured and implemented, and expands the dimension of supply chain performance measurement.


These clinical guidelines, which have been reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors of the American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA), provide recommendations for the practice of sleep medicine in North American with regards to the use of oral appliances for the treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. Oral appliances have been developed for the treatment of snoring and have been applied to the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea, a syndrome associated with morbidity. Based on a review of the relevant scientific literature, the Standards of Practice Committee of the ASDA has developed guidelines describing the use of oral appliances for the treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea in adults.


East Antarctica formed by amalgamation of a number of cratons along distinct Ediacaran mobile belts. They include the ca. 600-500 Ma old East African-Antarctic Orogen (EAAO) and the Kuunga Orogen, which seem to converge in the region of Dronning Maud Land. In central Dronning Maud Land, the major Forster Magnetic Anomaly separates rocks with Grenville-age protolith ages (ca. 1130-1000 Ma) to the West from rocks with Early Neoproterozic protolith ages (ca. 1000-930 Ma) to the East. The Forster Magnetic Anomaly is therefore interpreted as a suture between these two provinces. New field work during three recent international expeditions, Geodynamic Evolution of East Antarctica (GEA) I to III, and first geoscientific results reveal a complex tectonic architecture between central Dronning Maud Land and Sor Rondane in eastern Dronning Maud Land. East of the Forster Magnetic Anomaly, the magnetic anomaly pattern changes significantly and typical Maud-type crust is apparently lacking. Particularly, the GEA II campaign targeted a range of previously unvisited nunataks between Sor Rondane and central Dronning Maud Land (from Blaklettane and Bergekongen in the East to Urna and Sorsteinen in the West). These nunataks are dominated by medium- to high-grade metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of possibly Neoproterozoic age, including abundant marble and graphite schists. Sor Rondane in eastern Dronning Maud Land, on the other hand, is dominated by two distinct blocks separated by the dextral Main Shear Zone. The northwestern block appears as part of the EAAO or the Kuunga Orogen, where new SHRIMP zircon data from metamorphic rims provide ages of ca. 560 Ma. The southeastern block is made up of a TTG terrane, which provides 12 new zircon crystallization ages ranging from 1000-930 Ma. The TTG terrane has predominantly oceanic affinities and the wide range of ages might indicate long-lasting accretionary tectonics. The TTG terrane shows in part limited tectonic overprint and could be the southeastern foreland of the EAAO or the Kuunga Orogen. Close to the contact of the two blocks, grey gneisses and augen-gneisses gave zircon crystallization ages of ca. 750 Ma. Such ages were previously unknown from the EAAO. The Forster Magnetic Anomaly therefore separates distinctly different parts of the EAAO. These are (i) a reworked, mainly Grenville-age crust to the West representing the overprinted margin of the Kalahari Craton, and (ii) a part of the orogen dominated by Neoproterozoic accretionary tectonics to the East. This difference is also reflected in the geochemistry of voluminous late-tectonics granitoids across the whole belt.


This article discusses the term erotology, which was applied to medieval Islamicate 'ilm al-bah (the science of coitus), as well as other world traditions of sexual knowledge, by European sexologists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who contrasted it with their own forms of inquiry into sexual matters in the modern field of sexual science. It argues that the homogenisation and minimisation of all ancient and non-European forms of medical knowledge about sex, even one as substantial as the 'ilm al-bah tradition, supported a particular story about the origins of sexology's own emergence as a new and unprecedented biomedical and scientific way of knowing, characterised by an opposition assumed between sexuality and religion, by a view of sexual variations as perversions or pathologies, and by a view of Arabs and Muslims as sexually excessive. The article focusses on French, English, German, Austrian, and Italian sources of the 19th century that discussed the history of sexual medicine, relating these accounts to recent attempts to historicise sexology. It considers how forms of colonial hierarchy and exoticist views of non-European cultures impacted the dismissal of 'ilm al-bah among European sexual scientists and how they may continue to exert an influence on forms of modern historical inquiry that are not attentive to scholarship on medieval Islamicate sexual medicine.


Intelligent robotic systems are becoming essential for inspection and measurements in harsh environments, such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) accelerators complex. Aiming at increasing safety and machine availability, robots can help to perform repetitive or dangerous tasks, reducing the risk for the personnel as the exposure to radiation. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) tunnel at CERN has been equipped with fail-safe trains on monorail able to perform autonomously different missions as radiation survey, civil infrastructures monitoring through photogrammetry, fire detection as well as survey measurements of accelerator devices. In this paper, the entire control architecture and the design of the low-level control to fulfil the requirements and the challenges of the LHC tunnel are described. The train low-level control is based on a PLC controller that communicates with the surface via 4G through VPN, where a user-friendly graphical user interface allows the operation of the robot. The lowlevel controller includes a PLC fail-safe program to ensure the safety of the system. The results of the commissioning in the LHC are presented.


The standard of education can be improved if educators actively assess themselves or have someone else evaluate their teaching skills. Reflection on multiple aspects of teaching can be used as a powerful tool for worldwide educationists. Teaching, particularly in nursing discipline, strives to move beyond the simple divulgence of facts and knowledge. It widens student's horizons, stimulates their intellects, and teaches them to become self directed. This manuscript is a qualitative review of observations in a class of nursing with context to teaching skills and its impact on students' interest in learning during the class. The authors have used their reflections to discuss the ways to improve teaching methodology and related them with various teaching learning theories.


Oppression refers to systemic discrimination where the injustice targets or disproportionately impacts specific groups of people. The Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale (TSDS) is a self-report measure designed to assess the traumatizing impact of discrimination broadly by measuring anxiety-related symptoms of trauma due to discriminatory experiences. This may include symptoms arising from racism, homophobia, sexism, poverty, or other forms of marginalization. Almost all studies of the TSDS have examined its use in marginalized ethnoracial groups, primarily African Americans. This paper will extend prior work to help us better understand racial trauma across groups by reporting and comparing TSDS mean scores across ethnoracial identities in a diverse national sample (n  =  923). It also explores trauma with other marginalized identities and demographic dimensions, including gender, sexual minority/LGBQ status, education, and income. The relationship of TSDS scores to clinical psychopathologies are examined, including stress, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. We also examine the unique risks associated with intersectionality, and how having multiple marginalized identities may increase traumatization. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.


Because theories in finance rely critically on what agents know, designing powerful tests of these theories requires measuring information transmission. In this review, I characterize the rapidly growing subfield directly analyzing information in financial markets. Its three hallmarks are the examination of (a) a wide array of informative events, (b) different mechanisms for transmitting information, and (c) measures of information content based on nonnumeric information. Recent research directly measures flows of information to shed light on diverse phenomena in asset pricing, such as market reactions to news and nonnews, investors' portfolio choices, and mutual fund flows and returns, and in corporate finance, such as mergers and acquisitions, initial public offering (IPO) underpricing, and executive compensation. Continued improvements in access to data and computing power are likely to propel this line of research for years to come.


We approach the task of topological localization in mobile robotics without using a temporal continuity of the sequences of images. The provided information about the environment is contained in images taken with a perspective colour camera mounted on a robot platform. The main contributions of this work are quantifiable examinations of a wide variety of different global and local invariant features, and different distance measures. We focus on finding the optimal set of features and a deepened analysis was carried out. The characteristics of different features were analysed using widely known dissimilarity measures and graphical views of the overall performances. The quality of the acquired configurations is also tested in the localization stage by means of location recognition in the Robot Vision task, by participating at the ImageCLEF International Evaluation Campaign. The long term goal of this project is to develop integrated, stand alone capabilities for real-time topological localization in varying illumination conditions and over longer routes. 1998 ACM Subject Classification I.2.10 Vision and Scene Understanding, I.4.3 Enhancement, I.4.6 Segmentation, I.4.10 Image Representation


OBJECTIVES
Guanfacine extended- release (GXR) is approved for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents. As part of the clinical development of GXR, and to further explore the effect of guanfacine on QT intervals, a thorough QT study of guanfacine was conducted (ClinicalTrials. gov identifier: NCT00672984).

METHODS
In this double-blind, 3-period, crossover trial, healthy adults (n = 83) received immediaterelease guanfacine (at therapeutic (4 mg) and supra-therapeutic (8 mg) doses), placebo, and 400 mg moxifloxacin (positive control) in 1 of 6 randomly assigned sequences. Continuous 12-lead electrocardiograms were extracted, and guanfacine plasma concentrations were assessed pre-dose and at intervals up to 24 hours post-dose. QT intervals were corrected using 2 methods: subject-specific (QTcNi) and Fridericia (QTcF). Time-matched analyses examined the largest, baseline-adjusted, drug-placebo difference in QTc intervals.

RESULTS
In the QTcNi analysis, the largest 1-sided 95% upper confidence bound (UCB) through hour 12 was 1.94 ms (12 hours postdose). For the 12-hour QTcF analysis, the largest 1-sided 95% UCB was 10.34 ms (12 hours post-supratherapeutic dose), representing the only 1-sided 95% UCB > 10 ms. Following the supra-therapeutic dose, maximum guanfacine plasma concentration was attained at 5.0 hours (median) post-dose. Assay sensitivity was confirmed by moxifloxacin results. Among guanfacine-treated subjects, most treatment-emergent adverse events were mild (78.9%); dry mouth (65.8%) and dizziness (61.8%) were most common.

CONCLUSIONS
Neither therapeutic nor supra-therapeutic doses of guanfacine prolonged QT interval after adjusting for heart rate using individualized correction, QTcNi, through 12 hours postdose. Guanfacine does not appear to interfere with cardiac repolarization of the form associated with pro-arrhythmic drugs.


Liver transplant recipients are a model of rapid progression of hepatitis C virus (HCV)–related liver disease, from normal to cirrhosis. The aim of the study was the analysis of the relationship between portohepatic hemodynamics and modification in liver histology during the progression of HCV liver disease after transplant. Patients transplanted for HCV cirrhosis were considered for the study. At least every 6‐12 months, the portal blood flow velocity, hepatic and splenic pulsatility indices, and a portal hypertensive index (obtained from the combination of the portal blood velocity and splenic pulsatility index) were measured with echo‐Doppler. Liver biopsy was performed whenever necessary. The time course of echo‐Doppler parameters during the histological progression of the liver disease was analyzed. Posttransplant patients without HCV were included as controls. Forty‐nine patients with histology‐proven relapse of HCV hepatitis were included in the study. At the onset of recurrent hepatitis, the portal blood flow velocity significantly decreased (P < 0.001), and the splenic pulsatility index increased (P = 0.020), whereas the hepatic pulsatility index remained unchanged. In the following years, in addition to a further slight decrease in the portal blood velocity (P = 0.027), a progressive increase in the hepatic and splenic pulsatility indices was also detected (P = 0.009 and P < 0.0001, respectively). The portal hypertensive index steadily increased with the progression of the disease and was related to the degree of liver fibrosis. In conclusion, the information obtainable from splanchnic Doppler parameters can be used to monitor the progression of liver fibrosis in transplant patients with HCV reinfection. Liver Transpl 2008. © 2008 AASLD.


Neutral endopeptidase (EC 22.214.171.124) is a wide-spread enzyme that degrades atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). We studied the effects of a potent neutral endopeptidase inhibitor, SQ 28,603, given intravenously (30 mg/kg over 45 min) to anesthetized, bilaterally nephrectomized Sprague-Dawley rats. Infusion of vehicle alone was accompanied by a modest increase, 3.2 +/- 2.2% (mean +/- SE), in mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and a slight rise in hematocrit (Hct) of 0.9 +/- 0.7%. After administration of SQ 28,603, MAP fell 3.2 +/- 0.5%, and Hct rose 4.9 +/- 0.5%, both significantly different from the changes with vehicle alone; the lesser increase in plasma protein concentration (2.5 +/- 0.4%) suggested an increase in vascular permeability to both plasma protein and fluid similar to that caused by ANP. When SQ 28,603 was given to rats pretreated with rabbit antirat ANP antiserum, blood pressure rose by 3.8 +/- 0.5%, and Hct increased by 1.0 +/- 0.4%, values very similar to those observed with vehicle alone. Inhibition of neutral endopeptidase therefore amplifies the actions of endogenous ANP on blood pressure and fluid partition.


Abstract Objectives Physical activity is a key health behavior that reduces disease risk, and yet most older adults are not very active. This study examined time-varying associations between physical activity and a recognized barrier, namely, precipitation. And it examined the moderating role of physical activity intentions and functional mobility on precipitation–physical activity associations. Method One hundred and twenty-six older adults (M age = 72 years; 64% women) from Metro Vancouver provided health and background information and wore triaxial accelerometers for up to 10 consecutive days. Daily weather information was collected from local weather stations. Results Multilevel models corroborate previous research by showing that older adults engaged in less physical activity on days with increased precipitation across four indices: activity counts, step counts, minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and bout-corrected minutes of MVPA. Older adults with strong physical activity intentions engaged in more physical activity overall. Physical activity intentions also modified the association between time-varying precipitation and activity counts and step counts, whereas functional mobility moderated the negative association between precipitation and activity counts and minutes of MVPA. Discussion Findings highlight the important role of time-varying influences on physical activity and how these associations are moderated by psychological and biological factors.


The article presents an original method for determining the modulus of elasticity of natural materials. A studied solution was based on vibrations of non-uniform circular cross-section cantilevers solved using Bessel functions. The derived equations, together with experimental tests, allowed for calculating the material's properties. Assessments were based on the measurement of the free-end oscillations in time using the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) method. They were induced manually and positioned at the end of a cantilever and monitored in time using a fast Vision Research Phantom v12.1 Camera with 1000 fps. GOM Correlate software tools were then used to find increments of deflection on a free end in every frame. It provided us with the ability to make diagrams containing a displacement–time relation. To find natural vibration frequencies, fast Fourier transform (FFT) analyses were conducted. The correctness of the proposed method was compared with a three-point bending test performed on a Zwick/Roell Z2.5 testing machine. The presented solution generates trustworthy results and can provide a method to confirm the elastic properties of natural materials obtained in various experimental tests.


Objectives Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has been reported to be effective for chronic insomnia (CI). However, the appropriate population for taVNS to treat insomnia is unclear. Methods Total twenty-four patients with CI and eighteen health controls (HC) were recruited. Rest-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (Rs-fMRI) was performed before and after 30 min' taVNS at baseline. The activated and deactivated brain regions were revealed by different voxel-based analyses, then the seed-voxel functional connectivity analysis was calculated. In the CI group, 30 min of taVNS were applied twice daily for 4 weeks. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Flinders Fatigue Scale (FFS) were also assessed before and after 4 weeks of treatment in the CI group. The HC group did not receive any treatment. The correlations were estimated between the clinical scales' score and the brain changes. Results The scores of PSQI (p < 0.01) and FFS (p < 0.05) decreased after 4 weeks in the CI group. Compared to the HC group, the first taVNS session up-regulated left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and decreased the functional connectivity (FCs) between dlPFC and bilateral medial prefrontal cortex in the CI group. The CI groups' baseline voxel wised fMRI value in the dlPFC were negatively correlated to the PSQI and the FFS score after 4 weeks treatment. Conclusions It manifests that taVNS has a modulatory effect on the prefrontal cortex in patients with CI. The initial state of dlPFC may predict the efficacy for taVNS on CI.


The technique is presented of intraoperative large bowel lavage, making possible cleansing of the bowel in patients in whom this was impossible to perform in the preoperative period. This method in some patients enables abandoning of diverting fistula creation and thus avoiding of multistage treatment.


The dynamics of yolk sac utilization and changes of leptin levels in serum, hypothalamus, and yolk sac with age were investigated in Beijing-You (BY) and Arbor Acres (AA) male broilers during 11 d after hatch. The growth rate and feed intake of BY broilers were lower (P < 0.0001) than those of AA broilers, but the dynamics of the weights and total energy contents of yolk sacs were similar between both strains and decreased exponentially with age. Leptin levels in yolk sacs of both broiler strains increased with age during 3 d posthatching. Compared with those of AA broilers, leptin levels in yolk sacs of BY broilers were greater (P <or= 0.0413) on d 0 and 3. There was no change in serum leptin levels in BY broilers, whereas in AA broilers, serum leptin levels on d 1 and 3 were greater (P <or= 0.0306) than that on d 0 and then decreased with age. Compared with AA broilers, BY broilers showed lower (P <or= 0.0254) levels of serum leptin on d 1 and 3. Hypothalamic leptin levels of both strains decreased with age except AA broilers on d 0. Hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY) levels of BY and AA broilers increased with age until d 7 and then decreased. There were no differences in hypothalamic leptin and NPY levels between both strains during 11 d after hatch. Correlation analysis showed that average daily feed intake had a negative correlation with serum and hypothalamic leptin and positive correlation with hypothalamic NPY. Our results indicated that the dynamics of yolk sac utilization were similar between BY and AA broilers and decreased exponentially with age. The developmental changes of leptin and NPY in serum and hypothalamus with age varied in parameter and strain, and both signal molecules might be involved in the early programming of feed intake in chickens, but the mechanisms need further studies.


Lean and creating value – A study of a lean initiative in the public sector

The concept of lean has been spread all over the world - from first being spotted in the automotive industry of Toyota, back in the 50's, to the service business area, hospitals and now also public sector organizations. In Sweden, lean is dominating the discussion of how to best improve the work of municipalities. A key line in the concept of lean is to create value for the customer, and reduce waste activities. The aim of this study was to examine how the concept of lean in used in the public sector, and set the lens on how employees describe an increased value for the user, by implementing lean. Furthermore, the aim was to reveal the various factors that influenced the public sector to put their trust in a management concept born out of the automotive industry. The study was designed as a single case study in which several different methods were used. The primary method used was semi-structured interviews with different key persons such as the executive, one of the board members, main offender of activity development and team leaders. A group interview was also conducted with one of the pilot groups working with lean. Furthermore written documents were studied
and a lean team meeting was observed. The empirical data was analyzed with an institutional theory approach combined with a marketing theory. The findings in this study suggest that lean in the public sector can be seen as a way to increase legitimacy, both in the public sector and in the market, rather than a way to create costumer value. According to descriptions from employees costumer value is primary created when unnecessary administrational work is reduced.


In contrast with traditional academic disciplines, online educators do not have a generally accepted list of scholarly journals, which is in part a result of the multidisciplinary nature of the field, the relative infancy of online learning, and the view of online pedagogy as an instructional modality rather than a discrete academic discipline. The purpose of this study is to determine a comprehensive listing and relative value ranking of scholarly journals whose content informs online educators and motivates scholarship. After defining the scope of investigation to target peer-reviewed, scholarly journals with an explicit focus on computer-mediated learning (e.g., virtual, electronic, distance, distributive, mobile, and blended learning), 46 scholarly journals were identified as advancing the knowledge base in computer-mediated learning. Popularity, importance, prestige, and overall rankings for each journal are presented. The results inform online educators about the range of scholarly journals available and provide insight into the relative value of journals devoted to computer-mediated learning.


The aim of this study was to determine the location of mandibular foramen (MF) of 8-18 years old Turkish individuals by analyzing cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. CBCT images of 63 females and 64 males with an age range of 8-18 years were examined. The distance of the MF to the anterior border of the ramus (A), posterior border of the ramus (P), inferior point of the mandibular incisura (MI), superior point of the curvature of the mandibular notch (MN), and the straight line of the cusps of the mandibular permanent molars (O) were measured and recorded. Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), the Bonferroni test, independent t-test, and Student′s t-test at a significance level of P < 0.05. The MN-MF, MI-MF, A-MF, and MN-MF values of females aged 9, 13, 14, and 18 were statistically higher than those of males aged 9, 13, 14, and 18 (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in the O-MF values or A-MF values among the age groups (P > 0.05); however, the P-MF, MI-MF, and MN-MF values increased with age (P < 0.05). This study concluded that the location of the MF is just posterior to the middle of the ramus, 2.5-3.6 mm above the occlusal plane of the molars. The P-MF, MI-MF, and MN-MF values increase with age.


Background Chronic pain is a part of daily life for many people with RMD and leads to reduced quality of life, high risk of losing work ability, impaired functions and a poor social life. The chronic pain also means that many patients need painkillers. In Denmark there is a very high consumption of strong painkillers (opioids) compared to the other countries in Scandinavia. Therefore, the authorities have a great focus on reducing this and are urging the doctors to reduce the prescription of strong painkillers to patients with chronic pain, including patients with RMDs. In the Danish Rheumatism Association, we have many inquiries to our professional helpline from patients regarding pain. Especially about the use of painkillers, sleeping problems caused by pain, and the negative influence that pain has on one's mood. The patients experience side effects and discomfort associated with the painkillers. Some must phase out their consumption of strong painkillers, because of the authorities' focus on this - and have problems with this. In order to get a more detailed knowledge about the influence of pain among patients with RMD, the Danish Rheumatism Association made this study. Objectives To investigate the influence of pain on sleeping problems, mental health and the use of strong painkillers among members of a user-panel. Methods The study was carried out in November 2018 as an online questionnaire survey sent to 1328 members of a user-panel in The Danish Rheumatism Association. 69% answered the questionnaire. The user-panel consists of people with at least one RMD. It is not representative of patients with RMD in Denmark. Results The most important results are: Sleep 67% rarely or never feel fully rested when they wake up in the morning, and 36% takes painkillers to improve their sleep. 69% have experienced that the quality of their sleep has affected their pain negatively. Mental health: During the past four weeks, 58% have felt that everything is unmanageable for them due to pain, 11% indicated having had thoughts of taking their own life due to pain, and 45% have not wanted to be together with other people because of their pain. Use of strong painkillers: 83% have pain on a daily basis or several times a week. Among these, 46% have received strong painkillers over the last year, and 78% have not been offered alternatives to strong painkillers. More results from the survey will be presented on EULAR. Conclusion The study indicates that pain and poor quality of sleep, has surprisingly large influence on patient's daily life. More than one third takes painkillers to improve their sleep. Pain seems to have a severe negative influence on their sleep and reversed - poor sleep worsens their pain. Surprisingly many are still using strong painkillers, despite the authorities focus on reducing prescription of strong painkillers, and the patients' state, that they are not been given an alternative to strong painkillers. Finally, the study shows that pain has a surprisingly negative influence on mental health and the patients' hope for the future. In general, it has been a surprise for the Danish Rheumatism Association, that pain has such a huge impact on the participants' daily life, especially on their mental health. Therefore, the organization has been using the result of this study in our political work for better treatment and support to patients with chronic pain in our healthcare system, and in our political campaigning about the importance of a focus on pain among patients with RMDs. It is to be explained on EULAR, how we more concrete have applied the results of the study in our political work. Disclosure of Interests None declared


Unconventional gas resources from tight-sand and shale gas reservoirs have received great attention in the past decade around the world because of their large reserves and technical advances in developing these resources. As a result of improved horizontaldrilling and hydraulic-fracturing technologies, progress is being made toward commercial gas production from such reservoirs, as demonstrated in the US. However, understandings and technologies needed for the effective development of unconventional reservoirs are far behind the industry needs (e.g., gas-recovery rates from those unconventional resources remain very low). There are some efforts in the literature on how to model gas flow in shale gas reservoirs by use of various approaches—from modified commercial simulators to simplified analytical solutions—leading to limited success. Compared with conventional reservoirs, gas flow in ultralow-permeability unconventional reservoirs is subject to more nonlinear, coupled processes, including nonlinear adsorption/ desorption, non-Darcy flow (at both high flow rate and low flow rate), strong rock/fluid interaction, and rock deformation within nanopores or microfractures, coexisting with complex flow geometry and multiscaled heterogeneity. Therefore, quantifying flow in unconventional gas reservoirs has been a significant challenge, and the traditional representative-elementary-volume(REV) based Darcy's law, for example, may not be generally applicable. In this paper, we discuss a generalized mathematical framework model and numerical approach for unconventional-gas-reservoir simulation. We present a unified framework model able to incorporate known mechanisms and processes for two-phase gas flow and transport in shale gas or tight gas formations. The model and numerical scheme are based on generalized flow models with unstructured grids. We discuss the numerical implementation of the mathematical model and show results of our model-verification effort. Specifically, we discuss a multidomain, multicontinuum concept for handling multiscaled heterogeneity and fractures [i.e., the use of hybrid modeling approaches to describe different types and scales of fractures or heterogeneous pores—from the explicit modeling of hydraulic fractures and the fracture network in stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) to distributed natural fractures, microfractures, and tight matrix]. We demonstrate model application to quantify hydraulic fractures and transient flow behavior in shale gas reservoirs.


The rate change of gene frequency in a population subject to emigration obviously depends on differences in the effective reproductive size (and resulting random genetic drift effects) between emigrants and natives. An important additional force may be the different selection pressures of the original and the new environment into which the population penetrates. Discrete traits and monolocus systems have been studied in many natural populations of various species. However, knowledge about the migration influence on quantitative, i.e. polygenic, characters is very limited. The present study set out to answer the following biological questions: (1) Does migration induce changes in sets of phenotypic, genetic and environmental correlations? (2) If so, are these changes expressed in levels and/or structure of the correlation matrices? Data on 20 anthropometric traits in 305 Mexican families [129 families from Mexico (sedentary population) and 176 families living in Texas (migrant population)] were used for analysis. The curves of distribution and average values of phenotypic, genetic and environmental correlations remained unchanged between the two populations. However, qualitatively (i.e., as far as the agreement between matrix compositions is concerned), all three matrices changed significantly. The phenotypic correlations appear to be the most highly canalized, the correspondence between the two matrices being 62.1%. The environmental matrices had the highest variation, and although 26.3% of the correlations were in agreement, this was statistically nonsignificant. The most important finding in the present study was the relatively low correspondence between the two genetic matrices (35.6%). We suggest that these changes were provoked by preselection (i.e., by a nonrandom sample) of migrating individuals.


Objective evaluation (OE) is essential to artificial music, but it's often very hard to determine the quality of OEs. Hitherto, subjective evaluation (SE) remains reliable and prevailing but suffers inevitable disadvantages that OEs may overcome. Therefore, a meta-evaluation system is necessary for designers to test the effectiveness of OEs. In this paper, we present Armor, a complex and cross-domain benchmark dataset that serves this purpose. Since OEs should correlate with human judgment, we provide music as test cases for OEs and human judgment scores as touchstones. We also provide two meta-evaluation scenarios and their corresponding testing methods to assess the effectiveness of OEs. To the best of our knowledge, Armor is the first comprehensive and rigorous framework that future works could follow, take example by, and improve upon for the task of evaluating computer-generated music and the field of computational music as a whole. By analyzing different OE methods on our dataset, we observe that there is still a huge gap between SE and OE, meaning that hard-coded algorithms are far from catching human's judgment to the music.


Use of recommended IV aminophylline dosage regimens in 48 older, acutely ill, hospitalized patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) resulted in excessive plasma theophylline concentrations in 29 percent of these patients. A mean dose of 0.89 mg/kg/hr produced a plasma concentration which ranged from 7 to 52 mcg/ml with a mean of 21.9 mcg/ml. Plasma theophylline concentration was determined spectrophotometrically from plasma samples drawn at least 12 hours after a loading dose and initiation of a constant infusion. Severity of toxicity strongly correlated with the plasma theophylline concentration in 18 patients. Nausea and/or vomiting preceded life-threatening drug-induced arrhythmias and seizures less than half the time. Tachycardia was found to be the most consistent symptom associated with toxicity. These patients had lower plasma clearances than otherwise healthy younger adult asthmatics and healthy volunteers. Toxicity and identifiable risk factors for excessive plasma levels strongly correlated with reduced plasma clearance. Dosage modifications based upon plasma clearances from COPD patients without concurrent functional abnormalities and those with liver dysfunction and cardiac decompensation ranged from 0.7 to 0.12 mg/kg/hr. This study clearly demonstrates the poor correlation between dose and plasma concentration and the strong relationship between toxicity and plasma concentration. These results as well as those previously reported mandate that the relatively simple, rapid and inexpensive theophylline plasma measurement be used in all patients receiving IV aminophylline for longer than 24 hours in order to prevent toxicity.


The aim of this study was to present the clinical characteristics of and the evaluation methods for the motor complications sometimes observed in the early stages of Parkinson's disease, differentiating motor fluctuations and levodopa-induced dyskinesias. The most common forms of motor fluctuations are the predictable end-of-dose deterioration (wearing off), the early-morning akinesia, and the on-off phenomenon. Non-motor fluctuations are often associated with different symptoms: dysautonomia, pain, psychic or cognitive signs during off periods and sometimes also during on periods. Levodopa-induced dyskinesias are classified according to their temporal profile after drug administration, namely peak-dose dyskinesias (mainly choreic movements), biphasic dyskinesias--onset and end-of-dose--(mainly dystonic and ballic movements), and finally off-period dyskinesias (dystonic movements). Clinical evaluation of motor complications must be performed precisely to establish the best therapeutic strategy.


The article covers the history of psychotherapy in the present-day Czech Republic, focusing mainly on the era of the Communist dictatorship which lasted from 1948 to 1989. However, we also investigate how psychotherapy developed before Communism and how the period of totalitarianism is reflected in the present state of psychotherapy in the Czech Republic. Apart from psychotherapy in the narrow sense, we will mention related fields such as psychohygiene, philosophy, religion, development of psychology as a scientific discipline, mental health care, consultancy, etc. In the first part, we describe the history of psychotherapy in Czechoslovakia, which we will divide into five periods: 1. before the Communist putsch in 1948; 2. from the Communist putsch to the late 1950s (severe dictatorship); 3. the 1960s (liberalisation of the regime and a development of civic society); 4. from 1968 to 1989 (a period of the so-called normalisation when the regime strengthens again in the 1970s and weakens in the 1980s); 5. the period after the so-called Velvet Revolution (1989). In the second part, we will briefly address two specifically Czech therapeutic approaches (Mr. and Mrs. Knobloch's integrated psychotherapy and the SUR training program).


Reduction of combinatorial filters involves compressing state representations that robots use. Such optimization arises in automating the construction of minimalist robots. But exact combinatorial filter reduction is an NP-complete problem and all current techniques are either inexact or formalized with exponentially many constraints. This paper proposes a new formalization needing only a polynomial number of constraints, and characterizes these constraints in three different forms: nonlinear, linear, and conjunctive normal form. Empirical results show that constraints in conjunctive normal form capture the problem most effectively, leading to a method that outperforms the others. Further examination indicates that a substantial proportion of constraints remain inactive during iterative filter reduction. To leverage this observation, we introduce just-in-time generation of such constraints, which yields improvements in efficiency and has the potential to minimize large filters.


Lutzomyia verrucarum (Townsend, 1913) (Diptera: Psychodidae); the natural vector of Bartonella bacilliformis, agent of human bartonellosis (peruvian verruga or Carrion's disease), is a native species of Peru; its geographic distribution occurrs between latitudes 5 degrees and 13 degrees 25' South: in the Occidental and Interandean valleys of the Andean. The altitudinal distribution of Lu. verrucarum in the different valleys is as follows: Occidental between 1100 and 2980 m sea level and Interandean from 1200 to 3200 m sea level. Some discrepancies between the distribution of Carrion's disease and Lu. verrucarum suggest the existence of secondary vectors in certain areas where Lu. verrucarum is not present.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the oral hygiene of orthodontically treated patients. The hygiene of orthodontic appliances was also examined. Two kinds of research were conducted. Approximal Plaque Index and the presence of tartar on orthodontic appliances were clinically assessed. At the same time patients were questioned on their oral hygiene habits (mainly concerning the ways and frequency of cleaning their teeth and appliances). Ninety seven patients were examined, age 8-49 years, 72 were treated with removable, 25 with fixed appliances. It was found that oral hygiene of examined patients was unsatisfactory without correlation to the kind of appliance used. The tartar was more frequently present on removable appliances, fixed ones had more plaque.


In this paper we describe a case study where researchers in the social sciences (n=19) assess topical relevance for controlled search terms, journal names and author names which have been compiled by recommender services. We call these services Search Term Recommender (STR), Journal Name Recommender (JNR) and Author Name Recommender (ANR) in this paper. The researchers in our study (practitioners, PhD students and postdocs) were asked to assess the top n preprocessed recommendations from each recommender for specific research topics which have been named by them in an interview before the experiment. Our results show clearly that the presented search term, journal name and author name recommendations are highly relevant to the researchers topic and can easily be integrated for search in Digital Libraries. The average precision for top ranked recommendations is 0.749 for author names, 0.743 for search terms and 0.728 for journal names. The relevance distribution di↵ers largely across topics and researcher types. Practitioners seem to favor author name recommendations while postdocs have rated author name recommendations the lowest. In the experiment the small postdoc group favors journal name recommendations.


Despite a continuously growing interest in the integration of coordination polymer (CP) colloids toward functional materials, collective properties of the CP colloids have rarely been addressed mainly due to the difficulty in assembling pure CP colloids into superstructures with impressive mechanical strength. We demonstrated that CP nanoplates could stack together spontaneously upon drying the slurry of the nanoplates. The stacked CP nanoplates could work like polymeric adhesives. Versatile articles could be glued when the CP nanoplates were sandwiched between two substrates. In addition, the CP nanoplates themselves could form well-defined bulk structures without using any additional adhesives. The anisotropic shape together with the lamellar stacking way of the CP nanoplates were found to be the key points in leading to the adhesion and cohesion effect. The reasonable adhesion strength of the CP nanoglues can allow the exploration of further applications of integrated CP colloids in the future.


SYNER-G is research project which has the following main goals: (1) To elaborate appropriate, in the European context, fragility relationships for the vulnerability analysis and loss estimation of all elements at risk, for buildings, building aggregates, utility networks (water, waste water, energy, gas), transportation systems (road, railways, harbors) as well as complex medical care facilities (hospitals) and fire-fighting systems. (2) To develop social and economic vulnerability relationships for quantifying the impact of earthquakes. (3) To develop a unified methodology, and tools, for systemic vulnerability assessment accounting for all components (structural and socio-economic) exposed to seismic hazard, considering interdependencies within a system unit and between systems, in order to capture the increased loss impact due to the interdependencies and the interactions among systems and systems of systems. The methodology and the proposed fragility functions will be validated in selected sites (urban scale) and systems and it will implemented in an appropriate open source and unrestricted access software tool. Guidelines will be prepared and the results and outputs will be disseminated in Europe and world wide with appropriate dissemination schemes. SYNER-G is integrated across different disciplines with an internationally recognized partnership from Europe, USA and Japan. The objectives and the deliverables are focused to the needs of the administration and local authorities, which are responsible for the management of seismic risk, as well as the needs of the construction and insurance industry. URL: http://www.vce.at/SYNER-G


solid lesion size 4.5 3.7 ABSTRACT Abdominal schwannomas are a very rare entity and retroperitoneal schwannomas even more so. Here, we present the case of a 59-year-old male. The patient presented with undiagnosed intermittent pain abdomen. Workup and imaging revealed a well-defined solid cystic mass in the retroperitoneal lumbar region compressing the inferior vena cava. There was no evidence of disseminated disease. Laparotomy was done and the mass was excised. Histological examination revealed a benign schwannoma. The patient had an uneventful post-operative period and was discharged and is currently on follow-up.


The current study examined the interpersonal coordination of nonverbal immediacy behaviors in the emotional support process. Participants (N = 216) disclosed a distressing event to a confederate who was trained to exhibit emotional support that varied in high, moderate, or low nonverbal immediacy. After the 5-minute conversation, participants evaluated the confederate on several scales. Trained coders coded 10 immediacy cues of confederates and participants. Results indicated that participants tended to match confederates, regardless of the immediacy condition. Perceived liking for the helper did not moderate immediacy matching and exerted only a main effect on confederate immediacy; participants reported liking better highly immediate helpers than either moderately immediate or nonimmediate helpers. The study also generated several sex differences, such that, with the exception of eye contact, women tended to match confederates more than did men.


Soil is a basic building block for the most terrestric ecosystems and a complex heterogeneous medium consisting of both solid and fluid phases. Their physico-chemical characterization is of prime importance in understanding their prospective in various civil engineering applications. On the other hand, the ability of soils in absorbing and desorbing metal ions from the aqueous phase assumes importance since it governs both the environmental and agricultural issues. In this study, two different types of soils originating from diversified terrains of Saudi Arabia have been chosen and their potential application in various geotechnical and geo-environmental applications validated by carrying out typical characterization tests, including particle size distribution, density, shear and swelling characteristics. Further, in order to validate their potential applicability in typical landfill liners to retain toxic metal ions, their relative performance in retaining the heavy metal ions has been evaluated. Heavy metal ions such as copper and chromium were used to carry out sorption studies. Experimental data was used to plot adsorption isotherms. Langmuir isotherm was found to be more suitable than Freundlich isotherm for both the soils. It is observed both the soils, exhibited different physical and chemical characterization due to their difference in particle size gradations, as well as in mineralogy and surface morphology. Further, it is concluded that Al-Qatif soil can be used as a filter material and Al-Ghat soil as the main liner material to attenuate selected heavy metals, when they are used in the construction of a typical industrial landfill liner.


In the field of case-based and rule-based reasoning in artificial intelligence, the general formal derivation of so-called similarity measures is still an unresolved open question. In this work the theoretical framework of dimensional analysis is used to derive appropriate similarity measures for a case-based and rule-based reasoning technique. For the subclass of case descriptions in engineering design consisting of real-valued quantities with physical units it is shown how the Pi-Theorem of Buckingham can be used to construct similarity measures from these case descriptions. The necessary functional model assumptions are defined and the theoretical foundations are discussed. Within this functional model approach a proof for the correctness of the case-based and rule-based reasoning technique can be derived. An application of the case-based reasoning technique based on dimensionless groups is demonstrated using the reasoning on power efficiency in gas turbines and is compared to a conventional approach using a Voronoi-technique.


The article presents the results of a sociological study of the manifestations of social activity of representatives of various age groups (young, mature, old age) of citizens of the Russian Federation. The relevance of the study is caused by the need to assess the scale and specifics of intergenerational contradictions and gaps in modern Russian society. These contradictions are due to disproportions in the demographic structure of the population and the financial situation of generations. Intergenerational gaps are manifested primarily in differences in value systems, vision of the image of the future, mastery of digital skills, as well as in the practices of forms of activity and motivations for civil participation.
The study is based on the theory of generations. The network approach was chosen as the methodological basis. The method of collecting empirical data was an online survey of Russian citizens aged 15 years and older (N = 1600), the formation of a sample population was subject to representation by age, gender and area of residence. The study compared the civil activity of generations by the level of social interaction, readiness for joint actions and the intensity of civil actions. There were revealed differences in the problem field and motives for civil participation of generations. The study shows the preferred forms of civic engagement of generations in offline and online spaces. The revealed ratio of forms of civil activity is compared with the data of the survey of the social and political activity of Russians VCIOM-Sputnik. The vision by different age groups of key ways for the development of civil engagement is also indicated.
The article partly explains generational gaps by age differences in the choice of informational channels and the level of digital skills. If previouly in offline civil engagement, a higher level of participation corresponded to an increase in the age of citizens, then in the digital environment, the younger generation shows a greater readiness for civil action. Based on the analysis, the author comes to the conclusion about the low potential of civil engagement, that is due to the frustration of Russians' social relations during periods of socialisation of generations. The author believes that there is a weak social interaction and a high level of disunity between citizens in Russian society. The younger generation, despite the high declared civil activity, unlike the older generations, is not disposed to make significant efforts in social activity and shows a penchant for collectivist forms of participation. With a weak potential for activity, the development of Russian civil society can be facilitated by the assistance of state institutions that harmonise relations between generations.


In the Japanese colonial state of Manchukuo, opiate addiction was condemned by officials and critics alike. But the state-sponsored creation of a monopoly, opium laws, and rehabilitation programs failed to reduce rates of addiction. Further, official media condemnation of opiate addiction melded with local Chinese-language literature to stigmatise addiction, casting a negative light over the state's failure to realise its own anti-opiate agenda. Chinese writers were thus transfixed in a complex colonial environment in which they applauded measures to reduce harm to the local population while levelling critiques of Japanese colonial rule. This paper demonstrates how the Chinese-language literature of Manchukuo did not simply parrot official policies. It also delegitimised Japanese rule through opiate narratives that are gendered, consistently negative, and more critical of the state than might be expected in a colonial literature.


The conventional methods available for routine growth of animal ceils in vitro demand the presence of a large cell population in order that sustained multiplication be initiated. This requirement for multicellularity has prevented application of many of the techniques developed for study of cellular growth, genetics, and genetic biochemistry in microorganisms, and, indeed, has raised the question whether somatic animal cells might not be fundamentally different from independent microorganisms like bacteria in the distribution of reproductive potential among the members of the cell population (1). In an earlier paper of this series (2), we have described a method for growth of colonies from single HeLa cells, a strain of human epithelium cultured from a cervical carcinoma (3). The procedure is simple and rapid; it permits screening of large numbers of cells for genetic as well as physiologic studies; it is quantitative in that every cell of a HeLa population readily yields a colony, within an uncertainty no greater than sampling error. In the present communication, further methodological developments are presented and some of the characteristics of the resulting clonal populations are described.


OBJECTIVES To assess the clinical usefulness of bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (B-AKP) to detect or rule out bone metastases in patients with prostate cancer. METHODS Between November 2001 and July 2003 111 patients with the diagnosis of prostate adenocarcinoma were evaluated to rule out bone metastases. Bone metastases were studied after clinical suspicion, PSA value higher than 10 ng/ml, or Gleason score higher than 7. Bone scan was used as detection test. Patients were tested for serum B-AKP with a reference value equal or higher than 30ng/ml. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of B-AKP were measured in comparison to bone scan as the gold standard. RESULTS 111 patients with the diagnosis of prostate adenocarcinoma were evaluated to rule out bone metastases. Mean age was 69.70 years (50-83 years). Average B-AKP value was 29.28 ng/ml (9-56 ng/ml). Bone scan was positive in 31 patients. Among these 31, 26 patients had positive B-AKP and five negative. AP patients had negative bone scan. From this AP patients, B-AKP was positive in 17 and negative in 63. The sensitivity of the test was 83.8%. The specificity was 78%. Positive predictive value was 60% and negative predictive value was 92%. CONCLUSIONS Bone alkaline phosphatase is a greatly useful test for the study of patients with prostate cancer in whom bone metastases are suspected either to confirm them or to rule out their presence.


In this paper, we introduce a class of truncated tangent polynomials which generalizes tangent numbers and polynomials, and establish various properties and identities. Moreover, we obtain some interesting correlations of truncated tangent polynomials with the Stirling numbers of the second kind and with the hypergeometric Bernoulli polynomials.


Congenital bulbar urethral stenosis arises from incomplete opening of the urogenital membrane. The etiology may possibly be genetic or else a disturbance in the maternal hormones during the embryonic phase. The diagnosis from other types of stenosis is made by urethroscopy. The urodynamic consequences are a compensatory hypertrophy of bladder muscle, in extreme cases finally followed by hydronephrosis. Symptoms of stenosis include dysuria, polyuria, enuresis, and recurrent urinary tract infection. The whole urinary tract should be investigated. At present, the operation of choice for dealing with this type of stenosis, is internal urethrotomy under direct vision (Sachse's operation). Short-term indwelling catheterization, prophylaxis against infection, and hydraulic auto-bougination (raising the internal urethral pressure by compressing the penis during micturition) help to ensure success. The percentage of complications is low. The risk of recurrence is less than with the use of electrocautery.


Adrenal cortical tumour-induced malignant hypertension is rare, except for some documented aldosterone-producing adenomas. Hypertension is a common feature of Cushing's syndrome, whereas malignant hypertension is rarely seen. This case in Taiwan is only the second reported case with malignant hypertension secondary to a cortisol-secreting adrenal tumour. The immunohistochemical study of the excised tumour showed strong positive staining of interleukin (IL)-6. IL-6 can trigger inflammatory vascular damage, which is typical in the malignant phase of hypertension. We hypothesise that IL-6 may have played an important role in this case.


China is currently the world's largest single source of fossil fuel related CO2 emissions. In response to pressure from the international community, and in recognition of its role in global climate change mitigation, the Chinese government has announced a series of climate policy commitments, in both the Copenhagen Accord and its domestic 12th 5 Year Plan, to gradually reduce emissions intensity by 2020. Emissions intensity reduction commitments differ significantly from emission level reduction commitments that are commonly adopted by developed economies. In this paper, we investigate the economic implications of China's recent commitments to reduce emissions intensity, and highlight the complexities involved in modelling intensity targets under uncertainty. Using G-Cubed, an intertemporal, computable general equilibrium model of the world economy, we show that China's emissions intensity targets could be achieved with a range of low and high growth emissions level trajectories corresponding to low and high growth GDP scenarios, which lead to different welfare consequences.


We apply path-integral techniques to study the dynamics of agent-based models with asymmetric information structures. In particular, we devise a batch version of a model proposed originally by Berg et al. [1], and convert the coupled multi-agent processes into an effective-agent problem from which the dynamical order parameters in ergodic regimes can be derived self-consistently together with the corresponding phase structure. Our dynamical study complements and extends the available static theory. Results are confirmed by numerical simulations. PACS numbers: 02.50.Le, 87.23.Ge, 05.70.Ln, 64.60.Ht E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com


Objective To investigate a modified surgical method within inferior series of consecutive 26 traumatic patients with inferior rectus scleral ruptur rectus scleral rupture eyes. Methods Clinical records were studied retrospectively for a e. A modified method of surgery was performed to these cases. Rectus was split medial instead of cutting down and two 0-0 suture were drag from medial rectus. The sutures were drag contralateral separately to exposure and suture scleral rupture. Results All cases were managed perfectly and all the traumatic eyes were saved without severe obstacle of eye movement. Almost all the cases achieved improved visual acuity. Conclusion The modified surgical method within inferior rectus scleral rupture is a safe and effective surgery manner which is suitable for some cases of traumatic eyes.


The effect of dipole modifying agents phloretin and RH 421 on the membrane conductance induced by surfactin, a lipopeptide antibiotic from Bacillus subtilis, was studied. Surfactin added on both sides of a bilayer formed from diphytanoylphosphocholine in 1 M KCl (pH 6.5) leads to the formation of voltage-independent channels of different conductance levels. The conductance of different states of SA channels varies from tens of picosiemens for small pores up to tens of nanosiemens for large ones. Small channels demonstrate pronounced cationic selectivity, whereas large ones practically lose their K(+)/Cl(-) selectivity, most probably because of their large effective radii. The addition of phloretin to the bilayer bathing solution, the agent known to decrease the membrane dipole potential, results in a decrease in the surfactin-induced membrane conductance. At the same time, increasing the membrane dipole potential because of the introduction of RH 421 leads to a rise in the steady-state conductance. Increasing dipole potential is accompanied by increases in both the number of open channels and their conductance. The observed changes in the channel-forming activity of surfactin might be caused by varying the partition coefficient of lipopeptide between the lipid and aqueous phases.


Limited tryptic hydrolysis of the estradiol cytoplasmic receptor from calf uterus has been demonstrated to yield in a high-salt buffer a stable estradiol-binding molecule with the following characteristics: sedimentation coefficient 4.0 +/- 0.1 S; Stokes radius 3.5 +/- 0.05 nm; molecular weight 60000 (for an assumed v value of 0.73 ml g-1) and frictional ratio 1.36. Nuclear KCl extracts, prepared from uteri preincubated at 37 degrees C with labeled estradiol, were analysed by Sephadex G-200 chromatography and sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The following molecular parameters were found for the estradiol-receptor complex: sedimentation coefficient 4.4 +/- 0.1 S; Stokes radius 4.12 +/- 0.02 nm; molecular weight 77000 and frictional ratio 1.47 (v = 0.73 ml g-1). Limited tryptic proteolysis of this extract gave an estradiol-binding fragment with molecular characteristics identical to the trypsin-modified cytoplasmic receptor. In addition, mild tryptic digestion of whole labeled nuclei allowed us to solubilize almost quantitatively the nuclear [3H]estradiol in a macromolecular bound form. The molecule thus obtained showed molecular parameters very similar to the 60000-dalton trypsin fragments obtained from high-salt cytoplasmic and nuclear extracts. These molecules were undistinguishable by gel electrophoresis analysis at six different acrylamide concentrations. These results in conjunction with those derived from dissociation kinetics experiments and ligand specificity studies indicate the cytosolic protein is a functional part of the nuclear receptor. Based upon these and other studies we suggest that proteolytic cleavage of the estradiol-receptor complex, which results in the removal of the estradiol-binding sites from the nuclear recognition sites of the molecule, could play a role in the inactivation of the estradiol receptor in vivo.


In order to examine the expression of exogenous genes introduced into ascidian eggs, two recombinant plasmids pmiwZ and pHrMA4aCAT were microinjected into the cytoplasm of fertilized eggs of Ciona savignyi and Halocynthia roretzi, respectively. The plasmid pmiwZ contains the coding sequence of bacterial β‐galactosidase gene (lac‐Z) fused with animal gene promoters, while pHrMA4aCAT was constructed by fusing about 1.4‐kb long 5′ flanking region of H. roretzi muscle actin gene HrMA4a with bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene (CAT). Injection of approximately 160 pl of 10 μg/ml pmiwZ DNA into Ciona eggs did not affect the embryogenesis, although introduction of the same volume of 30 μg/ml pmiwZ DNA resulted in abnormal development of injected eggs. When the expression of lac‐Z was examined by histochemical detection of the enzyme activity, the expression was evident in the early tailbud embryos and later stage embryos, and larvae, irrespective of linear or circular form of the plasmid. The enzyme activity appeared in various cell‐types including epidermis, nervous system, endoderm, mesenchyme, notochord, and muscle. In contrast, when pHrMA4aCAT was introduced into Halocynthia eggs and the appearance of CAT protein was examined later by the anti‐CAT antibody, the CAT expression was restricted to muscle cells. These results indicate that the recombinant genes introduced into ascidian eggs could express during embryogenesis and that the 1.4‐kb long 5′ flanking region of HrMA4a contains regulatory sequences enough for the appropriate spatial and temporal expression of the gene.


An N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA) copolymer-doxorubicin conjugate is currently under clinical evaluation as a new antitumour agent. It has been shown previously that such conjugates exhibit selective tumour accumulation. In this study HPMA copolymer doxorubicin conjugates of low (LMW) or high (HMW) molecular weight were synthesised (which had a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of 25,000 and 94,000 respectively) and additionally contained a small amount (1 mol%) of the comonomer methacryloyltyrosinamide to permit labelling with [123I or 125I]iodide. Gamma camera imaging using the 123I-labelled probes was used to follow time-dependent biodistribution after intraperitoneal (i.p.) or intravenous (i.v.) administration to mice bearing subcutaneously either B16F10 melanoma or a mammary carcinoma. Imaging showed more rapid clearance of LMW conjugate from the peritoneal cavity than HMW conjugate. The images of mice given the LMW conjugate revealed rapid urinary excretion of radioactivity after both i.p. and i.v. injection with an early high concentration of tracer in the bladder, and subsequently a very high concentration in the kidneys, which came to dominate the views. Dissection analysis 2 days after administration of the LMW conjugate revealed a kidney level of radioactivity corresponding to 25-40% dose/g tissue in mice bearing the two tumour models. Following administration of the HMW conjugate kidney accumulation at 2 days was less due to retention of the higher molecular weight polymer molecules in the circulation, and spleen and liver displayed the highest concentrations of radioactivity. The tumour accumulation of LMW and HMW conjugates was; mammary carcinoma 3.18 and 5.29% dose/g respectively; B16F10 melanoma 3.23 and 8.82 %dose/g although these levels of tracer enabled visualisation in the images of the mammary carcinoma with HMW conjugate at later time points. The smaller size of the B16F10 tumour masses did not permit clear visualisation.


The article mainly discusses the design objective of an object oriented database management system called OMNIX. It explains the function and structure, as well as the implementation of the whole system.


Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is widely distributed all over the world. Quite a large number of the population worldwide is exposed to the virus. It is estimated that 378 million are chronically infected and at risk of developing serious complications like liver cirrhosis and hepatocelluar carcinoma leading to death. Fortunately, an effective vaccine has been introduced to prevent infection with the virus. The rate of infection by HBV has been effectively reduced by universal vaccination with that vaccine. Post-vaccination concentration of vaccine induced neutralizing antibodies against HBsAg above 10 mlU is considered protective against the virus. Objectives: To assess the state of immunization of Sudanese individuals previously vaccinated by HBV vaccine in Khartoum State. Methodology: A total of 90 individuals previously vaccinated with HBV vaccine and 70 unvaccinated persons (control) had their blood tested anti-HBsAg. Specimens negative for anti-HBs Ag were further tested for total (IgM & IgG) anti-HBcAg and HBsAg by ELISA. Specimens positive for total antiHBcAg were further tested for IgM anti-HBcAg. Results: The majority 76(88.4%) of the vaccinated subjects and 4.28% of the control were found to be positive for anti-HBsAg. Out of the 76 subjects with positive antibody response; 68.4% showed good antibody response (protected against the virus). The remaining (31.6%) showed low antibody response and are therefore at risk of infection. In general 42.2% of the vaccinated subjects and all the control group revealed low or no antibody response and are at risk of infection. The results of this study showed statistically significant difference in the antibody response between those who received three vaccine doses (72.7%) and one dose (18.8%) with P value < 0.05. Two (2.22%) of the vaccinated subjects have developed HBV infection, compared to four (5.71%) of the control group. Conclusion: Antibody response to HBV vaccine was found 88.4% of the vaccinated subjects, however, considerable number of the vaccinated subjects revealed low or no antibody response. Individuals, who received three doses of the vaccine, had statistically significant antibody response than those who received only one dose.


O6-Methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (O6-MT) has been described as a DNA repair enzyme that reverses alkylation damage at the O6 position of guanine in DNA. We demonstrate that the concentration of this protein decreases immediately prior to DNA synthesis in cultured chick hepatocytes. If intracellular levels are experimentally depleted by treatment of cultures with O6-methylguanine, DNA synthesis occurs as an associated resultant. This effect is dose dependent and can be followed by discernible morphological changes of organoids in culture. Increased and altered growth caused by O6-methylguanine was quantified and was also found to be dose dependent. Therefore, O6-MT may play a role in the regulation of DNA synthesis.


Environmental impacts of agricultural production, such as greenhouse gas (GHG) and nitrogen emissions, are of major concern for scientists and policy makers throughout the world. Global agricultural activities account for about 60% of nitrous oxide and about 50% of methane emissions. From a global perspective, methane and nitrous oxide constitute crucial GHGs. They contribute substantially to climate change due to their high potential for effecting global warming compared to carbon dioxide. Emissions of these gases depend on the extent of agricultural production and applied technologies. Therefore, analysis of potential mitigation opportunities is challenging and requires an integrated approach in order to link agricultural economic perspectives to environmental aspects. In view of this, a mathematical programming model has been developed which enables assessment of cost-effective strategies for mitigating GHG and nitrogen emissions in the agricultural sector in Switzerland. This model is applied to improve understanding of the agricultural sector and its behavior with changing conditions in technology and policy. The presented recursive-dynamic model mimics the structure and interdependencies of Swiss agriculture and links that framework to core sources of GHG and nitrogen emissions. Calculated results for evaluation and application indicate that employed flexibility constraints provide a feasible approach to sufficiently validate the described model. Recursive-dynamic elements additionally enable adequate modeling of both an endogenous development of livestock dynamics and investments in buildings and machinery, also taking sunk costs into account. The presented findings reveal that the specified model approach is suitable to accurately estimate agricultural structure, GHG and nitrogen emissions within a tolerable range. The model performance can therefore be described as sufficiently robust and satisfactory. Thus, the model described here appropriately models strategies for GHG and nitrogen abatement in Swiss agriculture. The results indicate that there are limits to the ability of Swiss agriculture to contribute substantially to the mitigation of GHG and nitrogen emissions. There is only a limited level of mitigation available through technical approaches, and these approaches have high cost.


Background/Aim Assessing prognosis for acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure (APAP-ALF) patients often presents significant challenges. King's College (KCC) has been validated on hospital admission, but little has been published on later phases of illness. We aimed to improve determinations of prognosis both at the time of and following admission for APAP-ALF using Classification and Regression Tree (CART) models. Methods CART models were applied to US ALFSG registry data to predict 21-day death or liver transplant early (on admission) and post-admission (days 3-7) for 803 APAP-ALF patients enrolled 01/1998–09/2013. Accuracy in prediction of outcome (AC), sensitivity (SN), specificity (SP), and area under receiver-operating curve (AUROC) were compared between 3 models: KCC (INR, creatinine, coma grade, pH), CART analysis using only KCC variables (KCC-CART) and a CART model using new variables (NEW-CART). Results Traditional KCC yielded 69% AC, 90% SP, 27% SN, and 0.58 AUROC on admission, with similar performance post-admission. KCC-CART at admission offered predictive 66% AC, 65% SP, 67% SN, and 0.74 AUROC. Post-admission, KCC-CART had predictive 82% AC, 86% SP, 46% SN and 0.81 AUROC. NEW-CART models using MELD (Model for end stage liver disease), lactate and mechanical ventilation on admission yielded predictive 72% AC, 71% SP, 77% SN and AUROC 0.79. For later stages, NEW-CART (MELD, lactate, coma grade) offered predictive AC 86%, SP 91%, SN 46%, AUROC 0.73. Conclusion CARTs offer simple prognostic models for APAP-ALF patients, which have higher AUROC and SN than KCC, with similar AC and negligibly worse SP. Admission and post-admission predictions were developed. Key Points • Prognostication in acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure (APAP-ALF) is challenging beyond admission • Little has been published regarding the use of King's College Criteria (KCC) beyond admission and KCC has shown limited sensitivity in subsequent studies • Classification and Regression Tree (CART) methodology allows the development of predictive models using binary splits and offers an intuitive method for predicting outcome, using processes familiar to clinicians • Data from the ALFSG registry suggested that CART prognosis models for the APAP population offer improved sensitivity and model performance over traditional regression-based KCC, while maintaining similar accuracy and negligibly worse specificity • KCC-CART models offered modest improvement over traditional KCC, with NEW-CART models performing better than KCC-CART particularly at late time points


This paper investigates the emergence in the Modernity of an economic discourse intended to be autonomous from moral and political philosophy. The article demonstrates that the existence of economics as separated field of knowledge is recent and its creation related to the appearance of market economies, which might be regarded as an "objective condition for the possibility" of the economic discourse. The argument seeks to uncover the theoretical and practical assumptions of this particular branch of the social sciences in order to submit its "validity claims" to a critical scrutiny.


In this paper, we explain an implementation of an accrual failure detector, that we call the phi failure detector. The particularity of the phi failure detector is that it dynamically adjusts to current network conditions the scale on which the suspicion level is expressed. We have done the experiment in a LAN in a whole day and evaluated the behavior of our phi failure detector. Then we discuss on the parameters of the failure detector based on our experimental result


Starch readily dissolves in dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) to give a clear, colourless solution which is stable and forms a convenient stock starch solution for amylase determinations. Dimethylsulphoxide has no inhibitory effect on serum amylase over a wide range of concentrations.


Indonesian university students have limited background knowledge about writing in English. They do
not have enough exposure to writing when they are in high school, since the focus in the high school curriculum
is on the rerceptive skills – listening and reading. Writing is limited to producing loose sentences, while the skill
to develop ideas is not developed. These limitations hamper their writing skills in higher education and cause
problems when they study English for Academic Purposes at the university. This study focuses on the inadequate
writing skills of freshmen at the University of Indonesia and what should ideally be done to address the issues. In
an attempt to analyze what students need to develop ideas as well as writing skills, an analysis toward their
writing has been done. To further find information about their writing background, a sixteen-item questionnaire
was completed by 50 students at the University of Indonesia. The study concludes that students need to be
facilitated more to write since they are in high school.


The present study investigated whether epistemological beliefs (i.e. learners" beliefs in acquiring knowledge and knowledge itself) can significantly predict self-determination (i.e. drive that comes primarily from the self which pushes an individual to engage in a task) among Filipino preservice teachers. Specifically, the study aimed to determine whether each subscale of epistemological belief (i.e. Complexity of Learning and Structure of Learning) was correlated and would significantly predict self-determination (i.e. Perceived Choice and Awareness of Self). There were 310 preservice teachers in the undergraduate level from different colleges and universities in the Greater Metro Manila area who were asked to complete two measures: Schommer Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire derived by Bernardo (2008) and Self-Determination Scale. The average age of the participants was 19.16 years (SD = 1.63). Correlation and multiple regressions conducted in the study revealed that only complexity of learning significantly increased with each subscale of selfdetermination.


In this retrospective report, we present two cases of unilateral Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease. These patients were evaluated with clinical, ophthalmological and laboratory examinations. Their response following corticosteroid administration was evaluated. Both patients had the characteristic clinical features of VKH involving only one eye, including disc edema, choroidal striae, multiple sub retinal yellow lesions and exudative retinal detachment. These cases indicate that the clinical and angiographic features were typical of VKH disease despite the unilateral involvement.


Breast cancer is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in Brazil. Some studies have analyzed the potential role of organochlorine compounds in breast cancer etiology. These chemical compounds have been widely used in agriculture and in vector‐control programs in Brazil. A case‐control study was carried out in the main cancer hospital of the Instituto Nacional de Câncer in Rio de Janeiro to investigate exposure to organochlorinated pesticides as a risk factor for breast cancer. We investigated 177 cases of invasive breast cancer at the hospital, between May 1995 and July 1996, and 350 controls selected among female visitors at the same hospital. In addition to information obtained from interviews, blood samples were taken, to analyze residual amounts of organochlorine by gas chromatography using an electron capture detector. [1,1‐Dichloro‐2,2‐bis(p‐chlorophenyl)ethylene] (DDE) was determined in sera of 457 women from a total of 493 participants who had serum samples available. Residues of hexachlorobenzene were found in 11 women only. No statistically significant association was found between breast cancer risk and serum level of DDE or history of exposure to pesticides. Serum levels of DDE (ng/ml) were similar in patients (median = 3.1, mean = 5.1) and controls (median = 3.1, mean = 4.8) (p = 0.93). The age‐adjusted odds ratio of breast cancer for women in the upper quintile compared with those in the lowest quintile was 0.90 (95% confidence interval 0.47–1.73). When adjusted for other variables, the risk remained not statistically significant (upper quintile odds ratio = 0.79, 95% confidence interval 0.39–1.60). In our hands, exposure to organochlorinated pesticides measured by history or serum analysis was thus not a risk factor for breast cancer. Int. J. Cancer 83:596–600, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Education is now considered a pre-condition in all societies, particularly in the developing societies, for inclusive development and to fight different inequalities. This can only be possible if access to higher education is based on equity, and a public-funded education system can ensure this. The paper is based on qualitative research and analyses the changes in the higher education system in India from a largely public-funded education system towards a commercial, profit-driven system. The policy shifts are analyzed from comparative and historical perspectives. The neo-liberal approach to education facilitates commercialization, leading to the exclusion of the poor from the higher education system and defeating the constitutional goals of building an inclusive democratic society. The functioning of democracy is also dependent on education as it creates citizens and empowers the marginalized to enter into the democratic system, thus legitimizing the state. The paper concludes that the neo-liberal paradigm of development is contradictory to inclusive education and inclusive development as it commoditizes education.


Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding varicella vaccination and disease were assessed among health care providers participating in the Varicella Active Surveillance Project in Antelope Valley, California, in 2005. Compared with those of a similar survey conducted in 1999, results suggest a reduction in concerns about vaccine safety and efficacy. Routine assessment of adolescents for varicella susceptibility was reported by 87% of respondents, but only 42% reported routine assessment of adults. Several respondents were unaware that disease in a vaccinated person is infectious, and some did not know the vaccination recommendations pertaining to susceptible health care workers, suggesting a need for provider education on these issues.


Abstract. We present SELEN4 (a SealEveL EquatioN solver), an open-source program written in Fortran 90 that simulates the Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) process in response to the melting of the late-Pleistocene ice sheets. Using a pseudo-spectral approach complemented by a spatial discretization on an icosahedron-based spherical geodesic grid, SELEN4 solves a generalised Sea Level Equation (SLE) for a spherically symmetric Earth with linear viscoelastic rheology, taking the migration of the shorelines and the rotational feedback on sea level into account. The approach is gravitationally and topographically self-consistent, since it considers the gravitational interactions between the solid Earth, the cryosphere and the oceans, and it accounts for the evolution of the Earth's topography in response to changes in sea level. Program SELEN4 can be employed to study a broad range of geophysical effects of GIA, including past relative sea-level variations induced by the melting of the late-Pleistocene ice sheets, the time-evolution of paleogeography and of the ocean function since the Last Glacial Maximum, the history of the Earth's rotational variations, present-day geodetic signals observed by Global Navigation Satellite Systems and geopotential field variations detected by satellite gravity missions like GRACE (the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment). The GIA fingerprints constitute a standard output of SELEN4. Along with the source code, we provide a supplementary document with a full account of the theory, some numerical results obtained from a standard run, and a User guide. Program SELEN was conceived by GS in 2005 as a tool for students eager to learn about GIA. Still, it is the only open-source program for the solution of the SLE available to the community.


The C-class MADS box gene AGAMOUS (AG) plays crucial roles in Arabidopsis thaliana development by regulating the organ identity of stamens and carpels, the repression of A-class genes, and floral meristem determinacy. To examine the conservation and diversification of C-class gene function in monocots, we analyzed two C-class genes in rice (Oryza sativa), OSMADS3 and OSMADS58, which may have arisen by gene duplication before divergence of rice and maize (Zea mays). A knockout line of OSMADS3, in which the gene is disrupted by T-DNA insertion, shows homeotic transformation of stamens into lodicules and ectopic development of lodicules in the second whorl near the palea where lodicules do not form in the wild type but carpels develop almost normally. By contrast, RNA-silenced lines of OSMADS58 develop astonishing flowers that reiterate a set of floral organs, including lodicules, stamens, and carpel-like organs, suggesting that determinacy of the floral meristem is severely affected. These results suggest that the two C-class genes have been partially subfunctionalized during rice evolution (i.e., the functions regulated by AG have been partially partitioned into two paralogous genes, OSMADS3 and OSMADS58, which were produced by a recent gene duplication event in plant evolution).


summary We have investigated the role of videoconferencing in allied health service provision to high-care clients in rural residential facilities. Videoconferencing equipment was set up at a rural aged-care facility and a metropolitan allied health centre; ISDN transmission at 384 kbit/s was used to link the equipment. Twelve residents were assessed by both videoconference and face to face across five allied health disciplines (a total of 120 assessments). User satisfaction was measured using questionnaires and focus groups. Face-to-face assessment took significantly longer than videoconferencing assessment. However, the mean satisfaction ratings for face-to-face assessments were higher than for videoconferencing and the majority of the staff preferred the face-to-face format. Videoconferencing was particularly useful for consultations and the initial stages of the assessment process. A number of issues relating to the videoconferencing equipment, to the environment in which assessments were performed and to the clients themselves need to be addressed in order for this form of service delivery to be effective.


Vascular remodeling due to hypertension is one of the major health challenges facing countries around the world. Neohesperidin, a flavonoid glycoside found in citrus fruits, is an antioxidant. Neohesperidin has been studied for a variety of diseases in addition to hypertension. In this study, angiotensin II was used to induce hypertension in mice (490 ng/kg/min, 14 days). We used H&E, Masson, immunofluorescence, dihydroethidine and qPCR to evaluate the effect of Nehesperidin (50 mg/kg/day, 16 days) on pathological hypertension in mice. Estimating the effect of Nehesperidin on human umbilical vein endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells stimulated by angiotensin II. We found that neohesperidin inhibited angiotensin II-induced hypertension in mice. Neohesperidin reduced angiotensin II-induced vascular hypertrophy, fibrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress in vivo. Neohesperidin inhibited angiotensin II-induced ROS and DNA damage in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Neohesperidin inhibited angiotensin II-induced migration of vascular smooth muscle cells. The results showed that Nehesperidin acts as an antioxidant and could significantly inhibit angiotensin II induced hypertension and vascular remodeling in vitro and in vivo.