A review of color holography is presented as an introduction. A new method of recording and processing high-quality color holograms in an ultrahigh-resolution silver halide emulsion has been developed. Color reflection holography presents no fundamental problems with regard to the geometry of the recording setup, but the final result is highly dependent on the recording material used and its processing. By the introduction of extremely high-resolution panchromatic emulsions it has become possible to obtain high-quality, large-format color reflection holograms. The use of three laser wavelengths on a single-layer emulsion in the recording process makes the holographic recording technique similar to the early Lippmann photography technique of the last century. That combination not only promotes good color rendition, but, additionally, because no dyes or pigments are used in the emulsion of the final hologram, high archival color stability can be predicted for the image. The recording procedure, employing a Denisyuk setup and three laser wavelengths, and the processing technique are described. The processing of such holograms is critical to obtain high diffraction efficiency and good color rendering. In particular, the prevention of emulsion shrinkage is extremely important. Color holograms up to 30 x 40 cm have been recorded.


Human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) can increase human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication in vitro, and several studies suggest that HTLV-I accelerates the progression of HIV infection. To determine whether HTLV-I enhances HIV replication in vivo, a case-control study was done of serum HIV viral load, using polymerase chain reaction, in 23 subjects with HTLV-I/HIV coinfection and 92 control subjects with HIV single infection. The geometric mean serum RNA level was 11,482 copies/mL in the coinfected group and 13,804 in the single-infection group (P = .57), a result that did not change after adjustment for zidovudine use and CD4 cell count. Among subjects with advanced HIV infection, there was a trend toward higher viral load among singly infected subjects. HTLV-I did not appear to increase HIV plasma RNA levels in subjects with coinfection. These results do not provide a biologic basis for the hypothesis that HTLV-I accelerates the course of HIV infection.


To the Editor .—The report of a case by Dr. Athreya et al of aspirin-induced abnormalities of liver function that was published in the November issue of theJournal(126:638-641, 1973) is important because it focuses attention on the hepatotoxicity of salicylates. Although the authors refer to the article by Manso et al on the effect of aspirin on transaminases in rheumatic fever, 1 they later omit this observation and in their conclusion they state: "the possibility of liver dysfunction secondary to salicylates should be considered in children receiving chronic salicylate therapy for rheumatoid arthritis, in addition to the following causes of liver disease in arthritis: (1) rheumatoid arthritis with liver involvement; (2) chronic active hepatitis with arthritis; (3) viral hepatitis with arthritis; and (4) inter-current liver disease." Following the article by Russell et al on serum transaminases during salicylate therapy, 2 we repeatedly stressed that similar hepatotoxicity can be


The effect on gain and the first few sidelobes of Cassegrain antennas due to axial feed and subreflector shifts is investigated. The shaped and classical Cassegrain designs are the objects of study, and the motivation is the concern over possible compromise introduced by the maximum G/Ta design philosophy on a radio telescope antenna. The result of the investigation is a set of general design rules for shaped Cassegrain antennas, based on the examples studied.


Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have the potential to differentiate along the retinal lineage. We have efficiently differentiated human pluripotent stem cells into optic cup-like structures by using a novel retinal differentiation medium (RDM). The purpose of this study was to determine whether the retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) derived from hESCs can integrate into the host retina and differentiate into retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in vivo. In this study, hESCs (H9-GFP) were induced to differentiate into optic cup-like structures by using our novel differentiation system. The RPCs extracted from the optic cup-like structures were transplanted into the vitreous cavity of N-methyl-d-aspartic acid-treated mice. Sham-treated eyes received the same amount of RDM. The host retinas were analyzed by triple immunofluorescence on the fourth and fifth weeks after transplantation. The optic cup-like structures were efficiently differentiated from hESCs by using our novel differentiation system in vitro for 6-8 weeks. The RPCs extracted from the optic cup-like structures migrated and integrated into the ganglion cell layer (GCL) of the host retina. Furthermore, the remaining transplanted cells were spread over the GCL and had a complementary distribution with host residual RGCs in the GCL of the mouse retina. Surprisingly, some of the transplanted cells expressed the RGC-specific marker Brn3a. These findings demonstrated that the RPCs derived from hESCs could integrate into the host GCL and differentiate into retinal ganglion-like cells in vivo, suggesting that RPCs can be used as an ideal source in supplying countless RGC and embryonic stem cell-based replacement therapies may be a promising treatment to restore vision in patients with degenerative retinal diseases.


Two different techniques of small intestinal examination were assessed in 29 patients. Comparison between small intestinal enema and small intestinal follow-through examination ("fluoroscopic" small intestinal meal) did not reveal any difference in the diagnostic values.


The main advantages of pasture keeping as one of the components of organic keeping of animals are revealed. Types of natural pastures of Zhytomyr Polissya of Ukraine and their productivity are described. The main types of harmful and poisonous plants for farm animals are given. Also described are the most common poisonings by various species of grazing plants, signs of poisoning, first aid and prevention. The effects of ruminants' consumption of certain pests and their effects on milk and meat quality have been described. The toxic effect of cultivated plants when eating them at different stages of the growing season is described. The component composition of the stands of the studied pastures has been established. The results of researches of natural pastures of different farms of Zhytomyr Polissya for the presence of poisonous plants and their species are given. A description of the toxic organs of plants, organs and systems of the affected animals is given. Recommendations on measures to control poisonous pasture plants have been developed and substantiated.


Artificial roughness applied on the absorber plate is the most efficient method to improve thermal performance of solar air heaters .Experimental investigations appropriate to distinct roughness geometries shows that the enhancement in heat transfer is accompanied by considerable rise in pumping power Several studies have been carried out to determine the effect of different roughness element geometries on heat transfer and friction in solar air heaters. The objective of this paper is to review various studies, in which different artificial roughness elements are used to enhance the heat transfer rate with little penalty of friction. Heat transfer coefficient and friction factor correlations developed by various investigators for artificially roughened ducts of solar air heaters have also been reported in the present article. The effects of various rib parameters on heat transfer and fluid flow processes are also discussed.


Growing high-quality crystals is a bottleneck in the determination of protein structures by x-ray diffraction. Experiments find that materials with a disordered pitted surface seed the growth of protein crystals. Here we report computer simulations of rapid crystal nucleation in nanoscale pits. Nucleation is rapid, as the crystal forms in pits that have filled with liquid via capillary condensation. Surprisingly, we find that pits whose surfaces are rough are better than pits with crystalline surfaces; the roughness prevents the growing crystal from trying to conform to the pit surface and becoming strained.


Current HMD applications are hampered by the limitations of head-tracking technologies now in use. Commercially available magnetic, optical, acoustic, and mechanical head- trackers suffer form various problems such as vulnerability to interference, line-of-sight restrictions, jitter, latency, small range, and high cost. This paper presents inertial-sensor-based hybrid tracking technology that was developed to combat all these problems. Two commercially available products, the IS-300 and the IS-600, are described, both based on the same miniature triaxial inertial sensor device. The IS-300 is a sourceless 3-DOF orientation tracker, using gravimetric tilt-sensing to prevent any gyroscopic drift in pitch and roll, and optical geo-magnetic compassing to prevent any gyroscopic drift in yaw. The IS-600 is a hybrid acousto-inertial 6-DOF position and orientation tracking system. It tracks changes in orientation and position by integrating the outputs of its gyros and accelerometers, and corrects drift using a room- referenced ultrasonic time-of-flight range measuring system. The is paper overviews the theory of operation of both systems, and reports bench-testing results designed to evaluate the resolution, accuracy, and latency of each system.


Abstract. In boreal forests an important part of the photo assimilates are allocated
belowground to support symbiosis of ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF). The
production of EMF extramatrical mycelium can contribute to carbon (C)
sequestration in soils, but the extent of this contribution depends on the
composition of the EMF community. Some species can decrease soil C stocks by
degrading soil organic matter (SOM), and certain species may enhance soil C
stocks by producing hydrophobic mycelia which can reduce the rate of SOM
decomposition. To test how EMF communities contribute to the development of
hydrophobicity in SOM, we incubated sand-filled fungal-ingrowth mesh bags
amended with maize compost for one, two or three growing seasons in
non-fertilized and fertilized plots in a young Norway spruce (Picea abies) forest. We
measured hydrophobicity as determined by the contact angle and the C/N ratios
in the mesh bags contents along with the amount of new C entering the
mesh bags from outside (determined by C3 input to C4 substrate), and related
that to the fungal community composition. The proportion of EMF species
increased over time to become the dominant fungal guild after three growing
seasons. Fertilization significantly reduced fungal growth and altered EMF
communities. In the control plots the most abundant EMF species was
Piloderma olivaceum, which was absent in the fertilized plots. The hydrophobicity of the
mesh bag contents reached the highest values after three growing seasons only
in the unfertilized controls plots and was positively related to the
abundance of P. olivaceum, the C/N ratios of the mesh bag contents and the amount of new C
in the mesh bags. These results suggest that some EMF species are associated
with higher hydrophobicity of SOM and that EMF community shifts induced by
fertilization may result in reduced hydrophobicity of soil organic matter,
which in turn may reduce C sequestration rates.


Following the growth accounting approach introduced by Oliner & Sichel (2000, 2002) to evaluate the impact of information and communications technologies on the U.S. economy in the 1990s, this paper analyses the impact of electricity on Spanish economic growth in the period 1958-1970. Spain was a follower country that exhibited the benefits of electricity nearly half a century after it had its biggest impact in the U.S. The results confirm that electricity played a significant role in Spain via the three channels identified in the literature for quantifying the contribution of a general purpose technology (GPT): capital deepening, the total factor productivity effect and the spillover effect. The overall impact is greater than that estimated for other follower countries in the 1920s. The main boost to growth came from improvements in productivity in developments in electric plants electricity and the production of electrical capital goods, not from electricity use. We also find a weaker positive effect of spillovers in electricity-using industries. The laggard effect of electrification in Spain, in spite of its early start, confirms that a GPT needs time to establish new institutional arrangements and complementary investments in order to display positive linkages deriving from the new technology.


In this paper, efficient clock delayed domino logic with variable strength voltage keeper is proposed. The variable strength of the keeper is achieved through applying two different body biases to the keeper. The circuits used to generate the body biases are called capacitive body bias generator and cross-coupled capacitive body bias generator. Compared to a previous work, the body bias generator circuits presented in this paper are simpler and do not require double or triple power supply while consuming less area and power. To show the efficiency of the proposed technique, the implementation of a carry generator circuit by the proposed techniques and the previous work are compared. The simulation results for standard CMOS technologies of 0.18 mum and 70 nm show considerable improvements in terms of power and power delay product. In addition, the proposed technique shows much less temperature dependence when compared to that of previous work


Kandhamal is the major turmeric growing district of Odisha. It is the primary cash crop for the financial improvement of the district. Kandhamal Turmeric is an important product and growing in popularity in the organic food market. It has gained an excellent marketplace share in international and local markets and has also received the GI tag on 1st April 2019. The current study was carried out in two blocks of the district to understand the knowledge level of the farmers about organic turmeric cultivation practices. A total of 100 respondents were selected randomly from 4 villages, two villages from each block. Data analysis was done by following proper statistical methods. The result showed that the knowledge index of the farmers towards land preparation, cultural management, harvesting and post-harvesting management was more than 90 per cent. The majority (71%) of the farmers had a medium level of knowledge towards organic turmeric cultivation and extension agent contact, annual income, land under turmeric cultivation and total landholding showed a significant relationship with the knowledge of the turmeric grow


Background and Purpose: Interleukin (IL)-6 is a multi-functional pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine, and it has been a reliable biomarker of cardiac function status and myocardial damage. However, the characteristics of IL-6 expressions in the cardiac surgical patients have not been comprehensively described. The purpose of this review is to present the current knowledge on the role of IL-6 in the field of cardiac surgery. Materials and Methods: Medical literature of IL-6 in cardiac surgical disorders of recent 3 decades were carefully collected as studying materials, and comprehensively reviewed and analyzed. Results: Plasma IL-6 was significantly elevated 1 hour and peaked 3-6 hours after the start of cardiopulmonary bypass with a gradual decrease constant maintenance thereafter. No significant differences were found between patients with biological and mechanical heart valve replacements between on-poump and off-pump coronary artery bypass, or between cyanotic and acyanotic congental heart patients. The elevation of IL-6 was higher in mitral valve replacement than in coronary artery bypass grafting patients and in non-heart transplantation than heart transplantation patients. Il-6 was involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary artery hypertension and infective endocarditis, and predicted adverse cardiac events, such as coronary graft occlusion, aortic dissection progression, and cardiac myxoma recurrence. Conclusions: In cardiac surgical patients, the expression of IL-6 reflects the inflammatory situation of the patients and also predicts their prognosis. The higher elevation of IL-6 in mitral valve replacement and in non-heart transplantation might be attributed to cardiotomy suction, and to lack of sterioid use. Early administrations with steroid, α 2 -adrenergic agonists, incretin hormones, or ischemic conditioning could reduce the inflammatory response and prevent from pertinent postoperative complications. Anesthetic agents and technique of choices may also reduce immune reactions and lower circulating cytokines. Extracorporeal IL-6 removal facilities have been successfully applied in clinical practice. The potential alternative therapies with IL-6 antibodies might be further developed and used in such patients for preventing myocardial apoptotic processes.


Abstract Background Weak grip strength is associated with a range of adverse health outcomes and an accelerated decline in grip strength confers an even greater risk. The factors associated with change in grip strength in mid-life remain to be fully determined. Methods We used data from 44,315 UK Biobank participants who had grip strength measured at baseline (2006-10) and a subsequent visit approximately nine years later. At baseline, participants' long-term conditions (LTCs) were categorised against a hierarchy, with multimorbidity characterised by the number of LTC categories. Lifestyle factors were assessed. Change in grip strength was grouped into four patterns: decline, stable low, stable high or reference (no change or increase) and used as the outcome in multinomial logistic regression. Results Most LTC categories were associated with adverse patterns of change in grip strength (stable low and/or decline): for example, musculoskeletal/trauma conditions were associated with an increased risk of the stable low pattern (Relative Risk Ratio [RRR] = 1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.49-1.79). Multimorbidity and lifestyle factors had independent associations with grip strength change. Those with 3+ categories of LTCs were more likely to experience decline in grip strength (RRR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.08-1.28) compared to those with none. Low physical activity was associated with adverse patterns of grip strength, while raised body mass index (BMI) had divergent associations. Conclusions Individuals living with multimorbidity and those with lifestyle risk factors such as low physical activity are at increased risk of low muscle strength and the loss of strength over time.


The article deals with clarifying the species composition of black currant (Ribes nigrum l.) pests in the Right-Bank Forest- Steppe of Ukraine. During 2005-2020, 29 species of phytophagous insects from 15 families of 7 series and 2 species of phytophagous mites (Cecidophyopsis ribis Westw., Tetranychus urticae Koch.) were found in black currant plantations. The largest part (29% of the total number of detected species) in the structure of insect pests was occupied by representatives of a number of beetles (Coleoptera, among which the most common and harmful is the agrilus (Agrilus viridis L. ab aubei C-C.). Pests of the lepidopterans (Lepidoptera) were represented by 7 species from 5 families and accounted for 24% of the structure of the harmful entomocomplex. The most harmful representatives of this series are the currant clearwing moth (Aegeria tipuliformis Cl. (Synanthedon tipuliformis Cl.)) and common currant tortrix (Pandemis ribeana Hb.). The part of the series of homopterans (Homoptera) in the structure of the phytophagous complex was 17%, which were represented by five species of pests of the family Aphididae (aphids), among which the aphid currant (Aphis schneideri Born) is dominant. Phytophagous insects from the series hemipterans (Hemiptera), hymenopterans (Hymenoptera), dipterans (Diptera) and orthopteroids (Orthoptera) were represented by only 1–4 species and had no economic significance in terms of population density and harmfulness. Two species of herbivorous mites were also identified: the currant bud (Cecidophyopsis ribis Westw.) and the common spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch.). In terms of trophic specialization, polyphagous insects dominated, and phytophiles (dendrobiots) dominated in life forms.


The challenges of 2020 and 2021 may destine those years to be some that school children learn about in social studies classes as marking a turbulent event in history. These were challenging years, but they also presented opportunities for learning, change, and growth. An action or event that creatively re-directs the future could be a catalyst or a disruption, and might depend on the observer's position. The cycle of change and re-invention can feel oddly familiar to landscape architects, even if the wavelength of that change begins to oscillate more dramatically. Landscape architecture has long managed a tension between the creative and rational cycles of Lyle's (1985) alternating currents. However, nothing could have prepared landscape architecture practitioners, administrators, educators, and scholars for the disruptions of the last few years. The norms for landscape architecture have been adjusted several times since the profession was established. As CELA returned to its annual meeting cycle in 2021, practitioners and academics recalled universal upheavals that had preceded the global pandemic as a universal disruption but not the only one. Practitioners and educators remember many prior disruptions that include computer-aided revolutions in almost all aspects of practice, teaching, and learning: space observation of the earth, satelliteguided positioning and land measurement, and a growing awareness of the need for authentic responses to calls for equity and social change. All of these have been disruptive or catalyzing to the trajectory of landscape architecture. This volume assembles articles by eight authors who provide scholarly reflections on how disruption may evolve into positive change. These authors presented papers and panels for the CELA 2022 theme track Evolving Norms: Adapting Scholarship to Disruptive Phenomena. The articles relate to past landscape architecture norms and recent responses to change, including technological advancements resulting from the COVID-19 crisis, whose impacts are likely to shape the future of the field. The authors have documented disruptions, alternatives, adjustments, projections of future trajectories, and speculations that have affected and will continue to affect the academy and practice. The issue cannot hope to encompass every disruption and perspective. Instead, it brings together an overall theme that disruption can be "a positive stimulus." In a retro-speculative essay, Joan Iverson Nassauer writes that the discipline of landscape architecture should recognize landscapes as transdisciplinary objects within socio-environmental systems and learn from other disciplines to promote change. Nassauer argues that the "two cultures" problem, in which science is perceived as limiting creativity, inhibits the field's potential to credibly support sustainable and equitable landscape design and planning innovations. Synthesizing common words currently used in landscape architecture, N. Claire Napawan, Linda Chamorro, Debra Guenther, and Yiwei Huang pose the question, "How might landscape architecture change if we embrace alternative readings of the term 'landscape' itself?" The team explores words that suggest a disruptive context and promotes the use of "alternative terms" to convey the evolving norm of a more inclusive worldview. Zhifang Wang offers a theoretical framework to organize new design norms for sustainable practice. Focusing on the changing norms of landscape architecture in China, Wang discusses four phases of change in landscape practice that can be applied worldwide. These design evolutions have occurred in response to societal disruptions and complex sociopolitical situations. In the context of landscape architectural education and administration, Ming-Han Li, Sadik Artunç, Terry Clements, and Diane Jones Allen reflect on the L an ds ca pe Jo ur na l 4 2: 1 IS SN 0 27 724 26 eIS SN 15 53 -2 70 4 do i:1 0 .3 36 8/ lj. 4 2. 1. v


Purpose
The Industry 4.0 phenomenon is bringing unprecedented disruptions for all traditional business models and hastening the need for a redesign and digitisation of activities. In this context, the literature concerning the digital supply chain (DSC) and its capabilities are in the early stages. To bridge this gap, the purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for digital supply chain capabilities (DSCCs).

Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a narrative literature approach, based on the main Industry 4.0 elements, supply chain and the emerging literature concerning DSC disruptions, to build an integrative framework to shed light on DSCCs.

Findings
The study identifies seven basic capabilities that shape the DSCC framework and six main enabler technologies, derived from 13 propositions.

Research limitations/implications
The proposed framework can bring valuable insights for future research development, although it has not been tested yet.

Practical implications
Managers, practitioners and all involved in the digitalisation phenomenon can utilise the framework as a starting point for other business digitalisation projects.

Originality/value
This study contributes to advancing the DSC literature, providing a well-articulated discussion and a framework regarding the capabilities, as well as 13 propositions that can generate valuable insights for other studies.


Abstract

Objective – To assess the impact of community college academic librarians upon student retention and grades through reference desk visits and attendance in library instruction classes.

Methods – Student ID data used for this research was collected from students that visited the reference desk to consult about a course-related question or attended a library instruction class for a specific course. After consenting to share their student ID number, the students' IDs were scanned and uploaded to a Blackboard Analytics data warehouse. A Pyramid Analytics reporting tool was used to query and extract student-level retention and grade data based upon whether the student had visited the reference desk or attended a library instruction class. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used to discern any statistical difference in retention rates and grades between students that engaged a librarian through reference or instruction and the general student population.

Results – When comparing fall-to-fall retention for all degree-seeking students, students that visited the reference desk or attended a library instruction class had a statistically higher rate of retention. When comparing fall-to-fall retention within low-retention student cohorts, students that visited the reference desk or attended a library instruction class had higher rates of retention among all low-retention cohorts. Eight of 10 cohorts were statistically higher for library instruction and 6 of 10 cohorts were statistically higher for reference visits. With respect to course grades, only 1 of 5 high enrollment courses showed a higher grade average for students that attended a library instruction class. None of the differences in average grades between students that attended a library instruction class and all students in the five courses were statistically significant. For the impact of a reference visit upon a course grade, all five courses showed a higher average grade average for students that visited the reference desk for a question related to their course than all students in the course. Four of the 5 differences were statistically significant.

Conclusions – The data collected by systematically tracking students that interact with community college librarians suggests that reference desk visits and attendance of library instruction classes both have a positive, statistically significant impact upon student retention. When looking at course grades, the data does not indicate a statistically significant positive or negative impact for library instruction. The impact of visiting the reference desk upon course grades does suggest a strong, statistically significant positive correlation.


We study in this work the existence of minimizing solutions to the critical-power type equation $\triangle_{\textbf{g}}u+h.u=f .u^{\frac{n+2}{n-2}} $ on a compact riemannian manifold in the limit case normally not solved by variational methods. For this purpose, we use a concept of "critical function" that was originally introduced by E. Hebey and M. Vaugon for the study of second best constant in the Sobolev embeddings. Along the way, we prove an important estimate concerning concentration phenomena's when $f$ is a non-constant function. We give here intuitive details.


Throughout history, people have always tried to get through many different spheres. Their incessant thirst for knowledge brought them in close contact with other cultures and provided them with means to transfer their opinions to other cultures and civilizations that are different or similar to them. One of the effective means of ensuring this cultural exchange is translation. This paper is mainly concerned with the difficulties and the challenges that Arab translators are confronted with when they deal with religious texts. A case in point here is Shalabi's insightful book, Islam Between Truth and False Allegations: A Response to the False Allegations against Islam.(1997) This religious book is full of instances which demonstrate clearly the diverse difficulties that Arab translators face while translating source texts which encompass very sacred religious terms. It seems that grammatical equivalence, redundancy and paragraphing are the most important key elements that ought to be taken into account in order to produce an accurate and appropriate translation. The main objective in this paper is to draw the reader's attention to the difficulties and challenges that I encountered while translating some religious extracts from Shalabi's book.


Mineral Policy Monitoring Programme Report 2007–2010 Methods and procedures Since 2006, the role of the Minerals Policy Monitoring Network (LMM) has widened. This change in scope has affected the organisation of the programme, as well as its methods and procedures. In this report RIVM and LEI Wageningen UR have documented these changes in the set-up of the programme and the associated changes in methods and procedures. Monitoring results are reported separately. Objective of the LMM, prior and after 2006 The objectives of LMM are monitoring the water quality on farms and explaining the results in relation to agricultural practice on those farms. Up to 2006, the results of the LMM were primarily used to assess the effectiveness of Dutch agricultural mineral policies. Since then, LMM was expanded with a so-called derogation-monitoring network. This network monitors the impacts associated with the EU derogation, adjudicated to the Netherlands, for the permissible amounts of nitrogen from manure on grassland farms. Modifications The expansion of LMM tasks was accompanied by various modifications in the programme. First, the number of farms monitored has increased considerably. Secondly, since 2006 the network consists of a stationary group of farms. Prior to that, monitoring was done on a revolving group of farms from the total number of participating farms. Thirdly, the sampling frequency for water quality monitoring has gone up. Finally, the interest in the quality of surface water has gradually increased; at the onset, LMM focused largely on groundwater, water from drains and soil moisture


Abstract : An evaluation of the acute inhalation hazard from radioactive fall-out materials has been made by analysis of results from animal exposures during field operations and from controlled inhalation studies in the laboratory. The results from exposing several groups of rabbits to fall-out material (by inhalation only) at stations located along two arcs, 7 and 106 miles from a tower detonation, are almost entirely negative. Urine specimens obtained during the first day following detonation contained minute but measurable amounts of soluble radioactive material which had a relatively short half life (1 to 2 days). Lung specimens had no detectable radioactivity when measured 6 to 21 day later; however, samples of intestine from the same animals still had measurable levels of beta activity. From careful consideration of numerous pertinent physical and physiological factors and from analysis of field and laboratory investigations, it is evident that there is no apparent situation in nuclear warfare where, during the first few days after the detoantion, one could inhale sufficient radioactive material to induce a serious radiation injury to lungs or intestines without simultaneously being subjected to supralethal doses of external beta-gamma radiation.


Immunotoxins are chimeric proteins comprising a specific cellular targeting domain linked to a cytotoxic factor. Here we describe the design and use of a novel, peptide-based immunotoxin that can initiate selective cytotoxicity on ErbB2-positive cells. ErbB2 is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is overexpressed in the tumor cells of approximately 30% of breast cancer patients. Immunotoxin candidates were designed to incorporate a targeting ligand with affinity for ErbB2 along with a membrane lysin-based toxin domain. The use of a membrane lysin as the toxin domain distinguishes our immunotoxins from numerous others in that internalization of the toxin is not required to induce cell death. One particular peptide candidate, NL1.1-PSA, demonstrated selective cytotoxicity towards ErbB2-overexpressing cell lines. We utilized a bioengineering strategy to show that recombinant NL1.1-PSA immunotoxin expression by Escherichia coli also conferred selective cytotoxicity towards ErbB2-overexpressing cells. Our findings hold significant promise for the use of effective immunotoxins in cancer therapeutics. While Herceptin treatment has been effective in patients with ErbB2 positive breast cancer, our novel immunotoxin may ultimately prove to be a novel and efficacious addition to the arsenal of approaches used to eliminate Herceptin-resistant breast cancer cells. Citation Format: Luqun Shen, Kelsey Weigel, Clayton Thomas, Lauren Drapalik, Zachary T. Schafer, Shaun Lee. Developing a novel immunotoxin that targets cells overexpressing ErbB2. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 347.


This qualitative research describes the gains of servicelearning on students' self-concept, social engagement and emotional and cognitive development. Through semistructured interviews, essential accounts on servicelearning experiences are elicited and explicated according to Richard Hycner's guidelines for the phenomenological analysis of interview data. By capturing the essence of the students' experiences, the researchers hope to establish voluntary evidences of the advantages and promises of academic service-learning for the holistic formation of students in keeping with the school's unique academic policies and services. Results may provide basis for more consideration of innovative pedagogical institutional policies and may direct future education and curriculum implementers/managers towards the uncharted areas of service-learning.


This guide organizes library resources to help in identifying companies, locating data, and understanding the techniques, involved with identifying customer requirements and satisfying them by providing customers with appropriate products.


Abstract The expansion of halal commodities globally reveals how Muslims are an object of increasing commercial interest. In Australia, despite a hostile political context, the recognition of Muslims as consumers, captured by the growing availability of halal goods, is providing alternate modalities of belonging. Drawing on fieldwork from Melbourne, Australia, this paper illustrates the ways halal consumption works to produce local, national and global orientations in citizenship and belonging for Australian-Muslims. By paying close attention to ethnographic encounters, the paper demonstrates how participation in the research process played a significant role in shaping the way participants defined, delimited and expanded the meanings of halal and its relationship to identity claims and ethical consumption. The paper argues that the concept of consumer-citizenship offers an important prism for understanding these experiences and for challenging prevailing binaries of minority and mainstream belonging in a consumer society.


Characterization of phytoconstituents in the 70% methanolic extract of Cissus rotundifolia (Forssk.) Vahl. was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Furthermore, tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was performed to assist in the structural elucidation of compounds. Twenty-seven compounds were identified. The identified compounds were four acids, sixteen phenolics, two steroidal saponins, two coumarins, two stilbenoids and one triterpene. Astragalin 1, β-amyrin 2 and 1β-hydroxy-kryptogenin-1-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-L-arabinopyranoside 3 were isolated by column chromatography and their structures were identified by spectral analysis including 1D and 2D NMR. The plant extract and the isolated compounds 1-3 were evaluated for their radical scavenging activity. Compounds 1 and 2 showed significant activity relative to that of ascorbic acid as a standard. The cytotoxicity of the plant extract, the isolated compounds and the standard doxorubicin was evaluated using the three human tumor cell lines HT116, MCF-7 and PC-3. The plant extract exhibited significant cytotoxicity against MCF-7 while showing no activity against the other cell lines. The isolated compounds 1-3 showed no activity against the used cell lines.


SETTING
Procalcitonin (PCT), a propeptide of the hormone calcitonin, is a novel marker of the inflammatory response to infection. It has been used to discriminate between infectious and non-infectious causes of inflammation, and as a marker of severe sepsis in the intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the utility of PCT in distinguishing community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) due to common bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Pneumocystis jirovecii in a high human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence setting.

METHODS
Two hundred and sixty-six patients admitted with a diagnosis of CAP were investigated. Serum samples for PCT were collected on admission. PCT levels were measured using a commercial immunoluminometric assay.

RESULTS
A microbiological diagnosis was obtained in 169/266 patients: 44 pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), 31 P. jirovecii pneumonia (PJP), and 35 bacterial pneumonia. The PCT levels were PTB 4.16 ng/ml (SEM 1.197; 95% CI 1.749-6.579); PJP 1.138 ng/ml (SEM 0.2911; 95% CI 0.543-1.734); and bacterial pneumonia 19.48 ng/ml (SEM 5.64; 95% CI 8.021-30.938, P < 0.0004). Thirty-six had co-infections.

CONCLUSION
PCT levels differ significantly in patients with CAP due to TB, PJP and bacteria. PCT may be important in distinguishing M. tuberculosis and PJP in a high HIV prevalence setting where atypical presentations often confound the empirical clinical diagnosis.


The aim of this project was to study haematological recovery in patients following different types of bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Forty-three patients were analysed. The duration of haematopoietic suppression following conditioning regimens was much shorter in 12 peripheral blood stem cell transplantation patients than in 19 allogeneic BMT patients and in 12 autologous BMT patients. Among 12 different variables, the parameters with the highest specificity or predictive value for monitoring recovery in these patients were the absolute neutrophil count (ANC) at the classical cut-off point of 0.5 x 10(9)/l, an absolute reticulocyte count (RET) above 20 x 10(9)/l and a high fluorescent reticulocyte fraction (HFR) above 5%,. It is suggested that these parameters be used as the reference measurements for monitoring haematological recovery in similar studies. Among these variables, the HFR fraction was the earliest and most sensitive index of engraftment in 79.1% of patients, HFR recovery requiring a median time of 13 days after infusion, in comparison with a median period of 19 and 18 days, respectively, for RET and ANC (P<0.0001).


Members of the Academy and guests: It is with a feeling of humble dedication that I assume the position of President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. I am grateful to you for the honor you have bestowed upon me and I am well aware of the responsibilities of the office. Following in the footsteps of our outgoing President, Jim Hughes, I shall endeavor to carry forward the progressive course he has so ably set during his term of office. Never before in the history of the Academy have we had such an opportunity for leadership as we have today. I am convinced that the Academy can and will meet every new challenge. During the next few years, we will see many changes in the practice of pediatrics. Problems of private practice have become more and more complicated. Having been in the private solo practice of pediatrics for over 30 years, I am proud to be in that, almost extinct, group of pediatricians who still make house calls. I am well aware of these problems and, as one of you, I am honored to serve as your representative in the office of President. A year ago a telegram from Surgeon General William Stewart welcomed consultation with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Since that time there has been an "open line" of communication between the Academy and governmental health agencies. During the coming year these lines of communications will be kept open to insure that the highest standards of pediatric care be established and maintained, to preserve the identification of the pediatrician in private practice, and to guarantee that he will receive proper remuneration for services rendered.


In these times of increasing competition, customer loyalty is a concept which is critically important for businesses. Now it is more advantageous to keep existing customers rather than gaining new ones. Companies arrange various campaigns to actualise this. However, customer loyalty is not something that can be attained just by certain activities. Numerous factors such as the quality of the service provided to customers, product quality, process improvements, service speed, behaviours of company employees, etc. are critically important for customer loyalty. Within the scope of this study, consumers were asked what businesses should do to gain customer loyalty. The factors necessary for attaining customer loyalty from their perspective were listed. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to 300 people, and the findings obtained were subjected to variance analysis, crosstabs and correlation analyses. According to the results obtained, businesses should keep the promises they make and offer warranty for their products in order to gain customer loyalty. Consumers volunteer to do word-of-mouth marketing for those companies that meet these needs, and thus customer loyalty is ensured.


The thermodynamic Bethe ansatz equations for the attractive Hubbard chain are solved numerically. The entropy, specific heat, gamma -values, band filling, spin and charge susceptibilities are obtained as a function of temperature, interaction strength and chemical potential in zero magnetic field. The dominant states at low temperatures are spin-paired electrons. The spin susceptibility is vanishingly small at low temperatures due to the spin gap.


We can divide modern mainstream approaches to monetary policy evaluation in roughly four groups: large-scale Keynesian macroeconometrics, Monetarism, New Classical macroeconomics, and the most recent consensus approach of New Keynesian DSGE modeling. In a brief historical overview it is shown that the overarching element in all four approaches is a distinctly positivistic framework of mathematical model building and testing in light of continuously gathered macro data. It is argued that this is precisely the reason why the modern consensus approach cannot be seen as an adequate solution to the fundamental problem indicated by the Lucas Critique. The latter must not be seen as a critique of any particular modeling approach within modern mainstream macroeconomics, but rather as one addressing its positivistic research program in general. A more radical critique of positivism is presented in order to clarify the core problem implicit in the Lucas Critique and to hint at a more promising route to circumvent it – a route that has been mostly neglected by mainstream economics.


Gravity models utilize the attractive force concept as an analogy to explain volume of trade or capital flows. This paper aims at proving that direct investment flows between China and a group of South-East Asian countries are determined by standard variables included in gravity models such as: Gross domestic products of home and host economy and distance between them. In our gravity model on foreign direct investment (FDI) we include not only gravity variables but also other variables that may explain what factors affecting Chinese outward FDI (OFDI): Political risk, cultural proximity, the degree of openness to international trade and a proxy for natural resources. This paper, after having defined the variables that are capable of influencing Chinese OFDI, will suggest a method of econometric calculation of the gravitational model based on Prais-Winsten regression; correlated panels corrected standard errors.


We analyze the radiative leptonic Bc decay Bc− → τ−ν̄γ in the Standard Model and the two-Higgs-doublet model using the non-relativistic constituent quark model. The results confirm that this channel is experimentally promising in view of the large number of Bc mesons which are expected to be produced at future hadron facilities. We also find that this decay is sensitive to the parameters of the two-Higgs-doublet model, and it can be tested in future experiments.


Abstract Background: Physician requests for additional testing on an existing laboratory specimen (add-ons) are resource intensive and generally require a phone call to the laboratory. Verbal orders such as these have been noted to be associated with errors in accuracy. The aim of this study was to compare a novel computerized system for add-on requests to the prior verbal system. Method: We compare the computerized add-on request system to the verbal system with respect to order completeness and workflow. Results: We demonstrate that the computerized add-on system resulted in the complete in-laboratory documentation of the add-on request 100% of the time, compared to 58% with the verbal add-on system. In addition, we show that documentation of a verbal add-on request in the electronic medical record (EMR) occurred for 4% of requests, while in the computerized system EMR documentation occurred 100% of the time. We further demonstrate that the computerized add-on request process was well accepted by providers and did not significantly change the test mix of the add-on requests. Conclusions: In computerized physician order entry (CPOE) implementations, add-on order functionality should be considered so these orders are documented in the EMR.


A non-stick coating composition comprising diamond particles of relatively large size, i.e., greater than 1 micrometer, preferably greater than 10 micrometers, and a fluoropolymer, can be applied to a substrate. In addition, a structure comprising a substrate and an undercoat applied to the substrate, where the undercoat comprises a primer layer comprising a heat resistant non-fluoropolymer polymer binder and diamond particles, and optionally a midcoat also comprising diamond particles.


Infrastructure and productivity in Brazil. This article analyses the relationship between infrastructure and total factor productivity (TFP) in Brazil during the second half of the twenty century. Public capital is used as a proxy for infrastructure capital. The hypothesis to be tested is that an increase in infrastructure - more than than a rise in the private capital stock - has a positive effect on productivity on the long run. In that sense, it was used the Johansen methodology for testing the cointegration between TFP and the public/private capital ratio. In fact, it was found that this complementary relation (public-private) helps in explanning TFP's path from 1950 to 2000. The results were robust to different measures of productivity and the public/private ratio. In addition, the short (medium) run analysis has indicated that shocks in this ratio have a significant effect over the TFP, but the opposite is not true. Therefore, the cuts in infrastructure investment could be a possible explanation for the TFP's fall during the 70's and 80's.


Calculation expressions for the determination of part of a light-receiving surface of a semicylindrical solar radiation receiver actually exposed to direct solar radiation depending on the season and time of the day are established. The solar receivers are positioned in the equatorial and meridional directions with respect to cardinal points and are oriented to the south at an angle to the horizon.


An investigation into a two-element phased antenna array mobile handset using the MoM/FDTD hybrid method is presented. The array is designed to provide a spatial null in the near field zone in the direction of the human head. Compared with an omnidirectional antenna, the overall efficiency and azimuth coverage are improved and the peak specific absorption rate in the head can be reduced by at least 10 dB.


This paper reviews research on the welfare cost of inflation. New estimates are provided, based on U.S. time series for 1900-94, interpreted in a variety of ways. It is estimated that the gain from reducing the annual inflation rate from 10 percent to zero is equivalent to an increase in real income of slightly less than one percent. Using aggregate evidence only, it may not be possible to estimate reliably the gains from reducing inflation to a rate consistent with zero nominal interest.


Forty-four Chinese male long-distance runners were surveyed regarding their running history, running habits, and injuries, as well as their experience of the "runner's high" phenomenon. The typical runner could be described as single, in his late 20s, well-educated, and running 60 km a week. He was also likely to be controlled and disciplined, not risk-taking, and not oriented intellectually or esthetically. While he was motivated to run to improve his physical health, he derived benefits for his emotional well-being from his running. Implications for the use of running as a therapeutic adjunct are discussed.


Teaching morals is one of the most important purposes of storytelling. An essential ability for understanding and writing moral stories is bridging story plots and implied morals. Its challenges mainly lie in: (1) grasping knowledge about abstract concepts in morals, (2) capturing inter-event discourse relations in stories, and (3) aligning value preferences of stories and morals concerning good or bad behavior. In this paper, we propose two understanding tasks and two generation tasks to assess these abilities of machines. We present STORAL, a new dataset of Chinese and English human-written moral stories. We show the difficulty of the proposed tasks by testing various models with automatic and manual evaluation on STORAL. Furthermore, we present a retrieval-augmented algorithm that effectively exploits related concepts or events in training sets as additional guidance to improve performance on these tasks.


The six members of the E2F family of transcription factors play a key role in the control of cell cycle progression by regulating the expression of genes involved in DNA replication and cell proliferation. E2F-1, -2, and -3 belong to a structural and functional subfamily distinct from those of the other E2F family members. Here we report that E2F-1, -2, and -3, but not E2F-4, -5, and -6, associate with and are acetylated by p300 and cAMP-response element-binding protein acetyltransferases. Acetylation occurs at three conserved lysine residues located at the N-terminal boundary of their DNA binding domains. Acetylation of E2F-1 in vitro and in vivo markedly increases its binding affinity for a consensus E2F DNA-binding site, which is paralleled by enhanced transactivation of an E2F-responsive promoter. Acetylation of E2F-1 can be reversed by histone deacetylase-1, indicating that reversible acetylation is a mechanism for regulation also of non-histone proteins.


Relying on the advantages of the integration of art and technology of BIFT, this paper investigates the effect when we introduce the CDIO engineering quality education model into teaching and practice. The teaching system of the course focuses on "the cultivation of engineering practice ability, engineering design ability and innovation ability", strive to promote the research-oriented learning method based on the problem, the project and the cases, combined with the discipline competition and various extracurricular activities of science and technology, strengthen the mutual promotion between the professional teaching and the discipline competition, so as to realize the students' ability of electronic system which includes the full development of the theory , practice and engineering. Keyword—teaching research; electronic system design;


We discuss the problem of time in quantum mechanics. In the traditional formulation of quantum mechanics time enters the model as a parameter, not an observable, as was suggested by the famous Pauli theorem. It is now known, that Pauli's assumptions were too strong and that by removing some of them time can be represented as a quantum observable. In this case, instead of the unitary time evolution, other operators which map the initial space of states into the final space of states at each step of the evolution can be used. This allows to treat time as a quantum observable in a consistent way.


In a renewable energy based small remote area power supply system, the frequency response is supported during frequency dip by conventional generators only. This may result in a less effective recovery of system frequency. Renewable energy resources, i.e. wind turbine can support the frequency recovery if they have power reserve and fast response capability. In this paper, an improved control technique has been proposed for PMSG based wind turbine so that it can have reserve power and be able to support frequency response.


The usual procedures for ecological risk assessment (ERA) have been based for decades on simplified approaches in order to provide basic information on the huge amount of chemicals introduced into the environment. These approaches allowed the development of international regulatory tools capable of substantially reducing the adverse effects on ecosystems in developed countries. Nevertheless, these approaches suffer from a lack of ecological realism and are poorly suitable for understanding the actual consequences for ecosystem health. The need for more ecologically-based approaches is now recognized by the scientific community and has been highlighted by a recent document of the European Commission. In this paper, a synthesis is presented of the most important issues and the need for research to improve the ecological realism of exposure and effect assessment and the tools that should be developed to reach this objective. In particular, the major challenges are the following: the effects of variable exposure patterns; the vulnerability of ecosystems; the indirect ecological effects; the responses to multiple stress factors; the improvement of ecological modeling. The possibilities for using new scientific achievements in regulatory ERA are also discussed.


PURPOSE
The aim of the work was to evaluate the prognostic importance of the sequence of radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy (CT) as adjuvant treatment in women with breast cancer who were treated with modified radical mastectomy or total mastectomy and their correlation also with other known prognostic factors.

METHODS
In this retrospective study, 200 women with breast cancer were evaluated. The age ranged from 25 to 73 years, with the mean age of 44 years; 125 patients had stage II and 75 had stage III disease. All were subjected to mastectomy. The influence of the following prognostic factors were evaluated: Age, histological grade, nodal status, number of positive nodes, tumor size, estrogen receptor status, menstrual status and as well as the sequence of radiotherapy and chemotherapy on 5-year locoregional disease free survival, 5-year systemic disease-free survival, and 5-year overall survival.

RESULTS
The 5-year locoregional disease free survival was 90.9% for the entire patient population. Nodal status, number of positive nodes and estrogen receptor status were prognostically significant for locoregional recurrence. The 5-year systemic disease-free survival was 67.6% for the whole group. On univariate analysis, the presence of positive axillary nodes, grade III tumor, ER-negative disease and radiotherapy first followed by chemoyherapy, were independent poor risk factors for systemic recurrence. The 5-year overall survival was 71.8%. On univariate analysis, the presence of positive axillary nodes, grade III tumor, ER-negative disease and radiotherapy first followed by chemotherapy, were independent poor risk factors for death from breast cancer

CONCLUSIONS
In patients with breast cancer, a treatment protocol consisting of 6 cycles of CT followed by RT resulted in a better 5-year OS and DFS, and was easier to administer when compared with other treatment protocols. Ideal candidates are those with early-stage, age >35 years, low tumor grade, positive ER, and absence of positive axillary lymph nodes. Longer follow-up will be necessary to assess efficacy and a randomized clinical trial that included a group for simultaneous comparison would be required to produce definitive results.

KEY WORDS
Breast cancer - Prognostic factors - Radiotherapy sequence.


LBL-27034 ('. ~ Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Accelerator & Fusion Research Division I)ty';' ..· Presented at the CERN Accelerator School, Chester, U.K., April 6-13, 1989 Prospects for the FEL A.M. Sessler TWO-WEEK LOAN COpy April 1989 This is a Library Circulating Copy which may be borrowed for two weeks. I Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract Number DE-AC03-76SF00098


A simple scheme is proposed to reduce the peak-to-average ratio (PAPR) for multi-carrier systems with block-based channel estimation, where each user simultaneously transmits multiple traffic blocks across the frequency, and the channel estimation is done within each block. Unlike most existing schemes, the proposed scheme does not require additional side information or estimation at the receiver. Results indicate significant improvements in both the PAPR and cubic metric reduction.


This report describes research conducted at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Support for this research was provided in part by the Office of Naval Research of the Department of Defense under Contract N00014-75-C-0522.


ABSTRACT Three different hydrophobins (Vmh1, Vmh2, and Vmh3) were isolated from monokaryotic and dikaryotic vegetative cultures of the edible fungus Pleurotus ostreatus. Their corresponding genes have a number of introns different from those of other P. ostreatus hydrophobins previously described. Two genes (vmh1 and vmh2) were expressed only at the vegetative stage, whereas vmh3 expression was also found in the fruit bodies. Furthermore, the expression of the three hydrophobins varied significantly with culture time and nutritional conditions. The three genes were mapped in the genomic linkage map of P. ostreatus, and evidence is presented for the allelic nature of vmh2 and POH3 and for the different locations of the genes coding for the glycosylated hydrophobins Vmh3 and POH2. The glycosylated nature of Vmh3 and its expression during vegetative growth and in fruit bodies suggest that it should play a role in development similar to that proposed for SC3 in Schizophyllum commune.


Liberia was founded by the American Colonization Society (ACS) in the 1820s as an African refuge for free blacks and liberated American slaves. While interest in African migration waned after the Civil War, it roared back in the late nineteenth century with the rise of Jim Crow segregation and disfranchisement throughout the South. The back-to-Africa movement held great new appeal to the South's most marginalized citizens, rural African Americans. Nowhere was this interest in Liberia emigration greater than in Arkansas. More emigrants to Liberia left from Arkansas than any other state in the 1880s and 1890s. In Journey of Hope, Kenneth C. Barnes explains why so many black Arkansas sharecroppers dreamed of Africa and how their dreams of Liberia differed from the reality. This rich narrative also examines the role of poor black farmers in the creation of a black nationalist identity and the importance of the symbolism of an ancestral continent. Based on letters to the ACS and interviews of descendants of the emigrants in war-torn Liberia, this study captures the life of black sharecroppers in the late 1800s and their dreams of escaping to Africa.


Aim: To establish whether the timing of delivery between 37 + 0 and 41 + 6wk gestation influences neonatal respiratory outcome in elective caesarean delivery, following uncomplicated pregnancy, thus providing information that can be used to aid planning of elective delivery at term. Methods: All pregnant women who were delivered by elective caesarean delivery at term during a 3‐y period were identified from a perinatal database and compared retrospectively with pregnant women matched for week of gestation, who were vaginally delivered. Maternal characteristics, neonatal outcome, incidence of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN) were analysed. During this time, 1284 elective caesarean section deliveries occurred at or after 37 + 0 wk of gestation. Results: Neonatal respiratory morbidity risk (odds ratio, OR), including RDS and TTN, was significantly higher in the infant group delivered by elective caesarean delivery compared with vaginal delivery (OR 2.6; 95% CI: 1.35–5.9; p < 0.01). While TTN risk in caesarean delivery was not increased (OR 1.19; 95% CI: 0.58–2.4; p > 0.05), the RDS risk was significantly increased (OR 5.85; 95% CI: 2.27–32.4; p < 0.01). This RDS risk is greatly increased in weeks 37 + 0 to 38 + 6 (OR 12.9; 95% CI: 3.57–35.53; p < 0.01). After 39 + 0 wk, there was no significant difference in RDS risk.


This special issue of Portal brings together papers examining the intersection of health and borders. In this analysis health is understood not only as the absence of illness, but also as knowledge, as a right, and as the pursuit of identity and self-transformation. Similarly, borders here are used as both physical and mental constructs. The special issue represent a multidisciplinary effort that looks at health from a social science perspective through historical, socio-economic, and cultural approaches. It is also concerned with the health inequities across and within national borders, due to economic imperatives, changing technologies and environments. The articles in this special issue explore lessons learned and new ways of understanding health across time and borders, with specific reference to the cases of India, Australia, Hong Kong and China, Pakistan, and Thailand.


Streamside management zones (SMZs) and road beautifying buffers (RBBs) in Georgia have had an unknown impact on the available wood supply in the state. We used Forest Inventory and Analysis data, Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery, Gap Analysis Program and other geographic information system data to estimate the potential impact of SMZs and RBBs in the current and future Georgia forest inventories. The analyzed scenarios are based on long-term simulations of wood supply in the State under various assumptions of regulatory constraints, expected harvesting, and intensities of management practices. The results are expressed in the form of affected areas and volumes. Obtained results suggest that introducing only some of the harvesting constraints would not drastically affect sustainable fiber supply in the State, even in the presence of increased future harvesting. The cumulative impact of obligatory SMZs, RBBs, and other anticipated factors, such as potential loss of forested land to urban expansion, could have a strong negative impact on the level of sustainable harvesting, reducing the future fiber supply in Georgia.


INTRODUCTION
Medial rotation deformity of the hip is a problem to patients who are handicapped by cerebral palsy but able to walk, because the knees point inward during gait ("kissing patellae") and cause falls and frequent injuries. Knees and ankles are subject to stress and, therefore, they assume compensating positions. Lower legs assume position of valgus and external rotation, whereas feet rotate either inwards or outwards. Secondary deformities make gait more difficult and cause rapid tear of footwear.

AIM
The purpose of the paper was to retrospectively analyze the effects of transposition of the gluteus medius and minimus muscles, a procedure introduced for the first time in our country in order to correct the deformity. A new method of binding the muscles by wire was described. There had been no previous experience with this method.

METHOD
This operation was indicated in patients with spastic form of cerebral palsy, who were able to walk, who had difficulties in gait and whose lateral rotation was less than 10 degrees along with the medial rotation of over 70 degrees of the hip on the side of the deformity. Additional prerequisite for the operation was the absence of flexion contracture of more than 15 degrees of either the hip or the knee on the side of deformity, as there is possibility of aggravation of the flexion hip deformity due to transposed gluteal muscles (now in front of the hip joint). Fifteen hips of 10 patients were operated on. Five patients were operated on bilaterally at one time. The average age was 8 (6-12) years. The majority of patients, 8 (80%) were aged between 6 and 8. The average follow-up was 5 years (3-8). The assessment of the results was based on the comparison of rotational abilities of both hips before and after the operation (in unilateral and bilateral deformities), as well as on individual complaints before and after the operation. In patients with unilateral deformity, their "healthy" hips were the control hips. The analysis of the femoral neck anteversion before and after operation was performed.

RESULTS
Average values of medial and lateral rotation of the deformed hips before operation exhibited significant statistical difference when compared to control hips. The difference of average values of rotatory movements of control and operated hips was not statistically significant after operation. The difference of average preoperative values of the femoral neck anteversion in hips with deformity was statistically significant (49.40+/-4.63 degrees compared to 32.8+/-3.11 degrees ). Postoperative average values of anteversion in operated and control hips were not statistically significant. The difference between average preoperative (49.40+/-4.63 degrees ) and postoperative (35.80+/-7.66 degrees ) values of the femoral neck anteversion was statistically significant. Excellent results were achieved in 5 (50%) patients, i.e. 8 (53.3%) hips; good results were achieved in 3 (30%) patients, i.e. 5 (33.3%) hips; poor result in 2 (20%) patients, i.e. 2 (13.3%) hips. All 5 patients who had undergone surgery of both hips had symmetric outcome. Three patients had excellent results, while two had good results. Patients with excellent and good results (80% of patients, 86.6% of hips) showed neither weakening of the operated hip abduction nor pelvic instability (positive Trendelenburgh hip test). No complications were recorded postoperatively.

CONCLUSION
Transposition of gluteal muscles can be recommended in patients under 10 years of age as there is still a chance for their femoral neck to change orientation, to decrease the anteversion and thus to achieve long-lasting effect. Fixation of transposed muscles by wire proved to be effective.


Abstract: The Serra da Bocaina National Park (SBNP) is a large remnant of Atlantic Forest located within an endangered biodiversity hotspot, which contributes to the connectivity among protected areas in the region. Despite the ecological importance of the SBNP, its bat fauna is poorly-known, and no comprehensive inventory is available. The present study provides an updated list of the bat species found in the SBNP. The four-year study was based on a capture-mark-recapture approach at four sites within the park, in the municipality of Paraty, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. A total of 22 bat species were recorded, representing two families, Phyllostomidae (n = 19 species) and Vespertillionidae (n = 3). This added 14 species to the known bat fauna of the SBNP, which is hereby updated to 24 species, including Dermanura cinerea Gervais, 1856, Platyrrhinus recifinus (Thomas, 1901), and Myotis ruber (É. Geoffroy, 1806), which are listed as endangered in Rio de Janeiro state. The specimen of Trinycteris nicefori (Sanborn, 1949) captured in the present study is the first record of the occurrence of this species in Rio de Janeiro state. This record extends the geographic range of the species by approximately 650 km to the southeast. Additional inventories, in particular at poorly-studied Atlantic Forest sites, combined with environmental suitability analyses, and taxonomic and biogeographic data, are urgently required to elucidate the distribution of many Brazilian bat species, such as T. nicefori.


Multicarrier techniques based on affine Fourier transform (AFT) have been recently proposed for transmission in the wireless channels. The AFT represents a generalization of the Fourier and fractional Fourier transform. We derive the exact and approximated interference power, upper bound and measure of applicability for the AFT based multicarrier (AFT-MC) system. It is demonstrated that the AFT-MC system effectively minimizes interference in time-varying multipath channels with line-of-sight component and narrow beamwidth of scattered components that often occurs in aeronautical and satellite communications.


Levels of cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP in adult newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) intact and 22- and 35-day regenerate forelimbs were studied, as were the levels in the contralateral intact forelimbs and hind limbs. MS 222 anaesthetization results were compared with those of liquid nitrogen fixation. We observed an elevation in the levels of cAMP in animals having undergone MS 222 anaesthetization as compared with those immersed in liquid nitrogen. Cyclic GMP levels appear to be comparatively unaffected. Both the anaesthetic and liquid nitrogen animal series displayed differences in cAMP and cGMP levels according to the particular tissue sample taken and the stage of regeneration.


Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are endemic in UK hospitals. Treatment options for the infections caused by these multiresistant strains include vancomycin, teicoplanin and linezolid. Mutational resistance to these antibiotics, although rare in the clinic, has been detected. Resistance to linezolid requires at least one chromosomal mutation followed by subsequent internal recombination. The hypothesis tested was that resistance to linezolid or glycopeptides could emerge in hypermutable strains and that hypermutability could be co-selected with resistance to linezolid or glycopeptides. Accordingly, this work studied linezolid and teicoplanin-resistant clinical isolates and laboratory-selected linezolid-resistant S. aureus mutants for evidence of hypermutability. Mutation frequencies to a range of antibiotics were determined to evaluate the occurrence of hypermutability. Linezolid-resistant mutants were selected by serial passage in the presence of increasing concentrations of linezolid. Mutations conferring linezolid resistance were characterized by PCR-RFLP and sequencing. Pyrosequencing and hybridization were used to detect and quantify six mutations known to confer linezolid resistance. Pre-existing hypermutability increased the ability of a laboratory strain to generate linezolid resistant mutants. However, few clinical linezolid or teicoplanin-resistant isolates or mutants were found to be hypermutable, indicating that stable hypermutability is not a prerequisite for the emergence of these resistances. Likewise, no laboratory-selected linezolid-resistant mutants were hypermutable, demonstrating the lack of co-selection of linezolid resistance with hypermutability. Most linezolid-resistant laboratory-selected mutants were unstable. There was a direct correlation between the number of mutated 23 S rRNA genes and linezolid MIC in clinical and laboratory mutants, although analysis was complicated by the fact that the 23 S rRNA gene copy number was variable among the laboratory mutants. Cross-resistance between linezolid and chloramphenicol was detected in some laboratory mutants. In conclusion, there was no evidence for the co-selection of hypermutability and linezolid or teicoplanin resistance, and hypermutability was not found to be a prerequisite for the emergence of linezolid resistance.


Prehypertensive individuals are at increased risk for developing hypertension and cardiovascular disease compared with those with normal blood pressure. Early compromises in left ventricular structure may explain part of the increased risk. We assessed echocardiographic and exercise parameters in prehypertensive individuals (n=790) to determine associations between exercise blood pressure and left ventricular structure. The exercise systolic blood pressure at 5 metabolic equivalents (METs) and the change in blood pressure from rest to 5 METs were the strongest predictors of left ventricular hypertrophy. We identified the systolic blood pressure of 150 mm Hg at the exercise levels of 5 METs as the threshold for left ventricular hypertrophy. There was a 4-fold increase in the likelihood for left ventricular hypertrophy for every 10-mm Hg increment in systolic blood pressure beyond this threshold (OR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.12 to 1.18). There was also a 42% reduction in the risk for left ventricular hypertrophy for every 1 MET increase in the workload (OR: 0.58; P<0.001). When compared with low-fit, moderate, and high-fit individuals exhibited significantly lower systolic blood pressure at an exercise workload of 5 METs (155±14 versus 146±10 versus 144±10; P<0.05), lower left ventricular mass index (48±12 versus 41±10 versus 41±9; P<0.05), and prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (48.3% versus 18.7% versus 21.6%; P<0.001). This suggests that moderate improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness achieved by moderate intensity physical activity can improve hemodynamics and cardiac performance in prehypertensive individuals and reduce the work of the left ventricle, ultimately resulting in lower left ventricular mass.


Abstract Introduction: Gastric adenocarcinoma of the fundic gland type (GA-FG) is a newly described entity that is characterized by well-differentiated neoplasm with unclear etiopathogenesis. Patient concerns: A 60-year-old Chinese man was referred to our hospital for abdominal distension. Diagnosis: Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) showed a depressed lesion found using in the greater curvature of the stomach. The pathological diagnosis of the biopsy specimens indicated that the tumor was GA-FG (chief cell predominant type, GA-FG-CCP). Interventions: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) was performed. The histopathological examination of the ESD specimen revealed gastric hyperplasia of the fundic gland type around the adenocarcinoma cells. Outcomes: The surgical outcomes were good. The EGD showed a scar with no recurrence, and no symptoms were observed 1 year postoperatively during the follow-up. Conclusion: We present a rare case of a depressed lesion with a pathogenic expression suggesting gastric hyperplasia of the fundic gland type around the adenocarcinoma cells. Considering the origin of oxyntic mucosa, we consider that it may develop into GA-FG. To understand this issue better, similar cases should be monitored in the future.


Hospital-at-home has been promoted as a potentially effective means of replacing costly inpatient care with cheaper domiciliary care. We studied three hospital-at-home schemes in West London providing intensive home care for early discharge orthopaedic patients, comparing their costs with those of standard inpatient care. Although costs per day of hospital-at-home care were lower than those of inpatient care, the schemes appeared to increase the total duration of orthopaedic episodes, so that the costs of standard care, per episode, were lower than those of hospital-at-home. While hospital-at-home may offer considerable future potential, substitution of home care for inpatient care will not necessarily save resources.


We study the diffraction of a monochromatic electromagnetic plane wave by a dielectric&metal-core/metal-shell nanoparticle surrounded by a dielectric medium. This problem was solved by using generalized Mie's theory and both the scattering cross section and the square module of the electric field were calculated as a function of shell thickness. Numerically, the first particles studied were gold-core/silver-shell nanoparticles and their inverse configuration. The gold-core/silver-shell particle presented more variation of their optical properties. The second particles were vacuum-core/metal-shell surrounded by vacuum, symmetric configurations. In this case, the dispersive Drude dielectric function for the metal was used, and a comparative study between the positions of the resonance frequencies obtained from quasi-static limit and electrodynamic theory was performed. Thus, consequently the formula obtained from the quasi-static limit can be used to calculate the positions of the resonance frequencies instead of the electrodynamic theory, when the external radius is smaller than 20 nm.


The purpose of this study was to identify the research trend through content analysis of the previous researches on wayfinding issues in the field of spatial design in Korea. Total 91 research articles published in domestic academic journals from 1991 to 2015 were collected through the online search and analyzed using descriptive statistics. As conceptual framework for content analysis, research article publication year, academic field based on journal title, research methodology, target space for analysis, and type of research purpose were included. The major findings were as follows. Substantially, wayfinding research in Korea was begun in 1990s and was peaked in the latter half of 2010s. Healthcare facilities including hospitals and nursing homes were most frequently analyzed as target space, i.e., research subject. Majority of the researches analyzed were published in the diverse journals of design area. In many cases, qualitative research methods such as spatial construction analysis using Space Syntax, field study, observation, interview, etc were used by the researchers frequently. It was found that the majority of researchers focused on behavioral and psychological response of space users in the process of wayfinding. For further study, it is recommended to extend the scope of analysis to sign system which support effective wayfinding. In addition, foreign academic journal articles should be included for in-depth analysis.


More than about 20 central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNs) have been observed spectropolarimetrically, yet no clear, unambiguous signal of the presence of a magnetic field in these objects has been found. We perform a statistical (Bayesian) analysis of all the available spectropolarimetric observations of CSPN to constrain the magnetic fields in these objects. Assuming that the stellar field is dipolar and that the dipole axis of the objects is oriented randomly (isotropically), we find that the dipole magnetic field strength is smaller than 400 G with 95% probability using all available observations. The analysis introduced allows integration of future observations to further constrain the parameters of the distribution, and it is general, so that it can be easily applied to other classes of magnetic objects. We propose several ways to improve the upper limits found here.


The genesis of the North Atlantic Treaty and the politico-military organization to which it gave rise has become so overladen with the mythology of the pacifist, anti-nuclear, anti-American camps et al., with a disregard for the facts surpassed only by the Cominform, that a brief reminder of the situation in 1948 may be useful. Stalin's military adventurism following the end of World War II, backed by armed forces which retained much of their wartime strength, alarmed the democratic states of Europe. The United Nations seemed unable to prevent the annexation of formerly independent nations under Soviet occupation. Some of the European countries entered a union for common defence, but it was apparent that this lacked sufficient strength to keep the Soviet Armed Forces out — the Federal Republic of Germany had not then re-emerged as a sovereign state — and it was clear that collective defence could not be assured without the United States, and not simply because of American nuclear supremacy. The United States did not push its way back into European defence leadership; it came at the pressing invitation of Europe. With that accomplished, a number of smaller nations which had for more than a century eschewed defensive alliances in peace — the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway, for example — joined the Alliance because the menace persisted, a menace manifest, for example, in the rough language which Stalin used to Norway on the eve of the parliamentary vote on accession or otherwise to the Treaty, though he misjudged the temper of the Storting in so doing.


The clinical findings and CT images are investigated in order to fulfill an early preoperative diagnosis and increase awareness of low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm (LAMN) confined to the appendix. 17 cases with histologically proven LAMNs confined to the appendix were included in this study. All patients had received multiphase CT examinations before the surgery. The imaging criteria included shape, size, margin, attenuation, secondary degeneration and internal mass enhancement pattern. In CT images, all cases appeared as oval or tubular cystic masses (average attenuation 20.4±3.6 Hounsfield units), with the longest dimensions ranging from approximately 38 to 106 mm (mean 66.3 mm), and the ratio of length against width was 1.83 in average. The cystic wall was unevenly thickened, with a mean maximal wall thickness of 5.7 mm (>10 mm in 3 cases). The inner capsule wall was rough, and calcification was observed in 3 cases. A few amounts of periappendiceal fat stranding were noted in 2 cases. Mild ring mural enhancement of the cystic wall was seen during the arterial phase, with progressive enhancement during the portal venous phase. In addition, mini enhancing mural nodules was observed in 5 cases. Although preoperative diagnosis of LAMNs confined to the appendix remains challenging, it should be considered when a focal well-defined cystic mass with slightly higher than water attenuation, thickened cystic wall with ring mural enhancement and a characteristic progressive contrast enhancement in CT imaging, especially in older females with non-specific symptoms similar to appendicitis.


Based on 14 Miras located in seven globular clusters, we derived the first gr-band period–luminosity (PL) at maximum light for the large-amplitude Mira variables using the multiyear light-curve data collected from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). Since Miras are red variables, we applied a color-term correction to subsets of ZTF light curves, and found that such corrections do not have a large impact on period determinations. We applied our derived PL relations to the known extragalactic Miras in five local galaxies (Sextans, Leo I, Leo II, NGC 6822 and IC 1613), and determined their Mira-based distances. We demonstrated that our PL relations can be applied to short-period (≲300 days) Miras, including those in the two most distant galaxies (NGC 6822 and IC 1613) in our sample even when only a portion of the light curves around maximum light have detections. We have also shown that the long-period extragalactic Miras do not follow the PL relations extrapolated to longer periods. Hence, our derived PL relations are only applicable to the short-period Miras, which will be discovered in abundance in local galaxies within the era of Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time.


The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in two dimensions are stabilized by a modified residual method, and then discretized by hierarchical elements. The stabilization is necessary to escape from the Ladyzhenskaya-Babuska-Brezzi(LBB) constraint and hence to achieve an equal order formulation. To expedite a standard iterative method such as the conjugate gradient squared(CGS) method, a preconditioning technique called the Hierarchical Iterative Procedure(HIP) has been applied. In this paper, we increased the order of interpolation within an element up to cubic. The hierarchical elements have been used to achieve a higher order accuracy in fluid flow analyses, but a proper efficient iterative procedure for higher order finite element formulation has not been available so far. The numerical results by the present HIP for the lid driven cavity flow and others showed the present procedure to be stable, very efficient and useful in flow analyses in conjunction with hierarchical elements.


This paper investigates the major determinants of non-performing loans in the MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) economies. Identifying major determinants of non-performing loans, which are observed to be growing in these countries in recent time, will also guide policy and forecasting future levels that will be useful for pre-emptive policies and actions. It uses static panel data and dynamic panel model analyses. Evidence suggests that in the four economies, capital adequacy ratio, liquidity ratio, total bank credit andreturn on assets are significant bank-specific determinants of non-performing loans. Also, while the return on assets, liquidity ratio and capital adequacy ratioshow a negative and significant relationship with non-performing loans, nominal exchange rate, money supply growth rate, total bank credit and lending rate show positive and very significant relationships with non-performing loans. Finally, corruption, an institutional variable, shows a very strong positive relationship with non-performing loans.


PurposeStabile fixation underpins most visual tasks such as reading, and is important for accurate assessment of visual function and treatment. Retinal imaging instruments average images over time to improve the signal to noise ratio, discarding useful eye movement data. We determined whether the frame-to-frame motion of the retina during non-mydriatic color fundus imaging could provide fixation stability measures, e.g. Bivariate Contour Ellipse Area (BCEA). MethodsNon-mydriatic color fundus images were acquired using the Digital Light Ophthalmoscope (DLO). Twenty subjects with varied fundus pigmentation were tested without mydriasis. The DLO uses a digital light projector with LED light sources to provide the illumination for both confocal imaging and fixation stimuli. The DLO projects a series of lines across the fundus that is synchronized to the 2D CMOS sensor, providing high contrast confocal imaging. Monochromatic 40 deg images were acquired with alternating red and green LED illumination at 14.3 Hz and overlayed to present a pseudo-color image to the operator in real time. To reduce pupil constriction and patient discomfort, the green LED was long-pass filtered with a 570 nm filter. A 1.5mm entrance pupil and time-averaged power of l30 uW were used. Images were aligned automatically with custom software (MATLAB) using cross-correlation and 2D translation. A canvas of twice the image size was used to allow image alignment despite moderate eye movements. Blinks and large saccades were discarded and BCEA was computed. ResultsThe image alignment algorithm successfully aligned nearly all the frames, rejecting 3.7%, and allowing fixation stability to be computed from color fundus image data. The BCEA for 1 standard deviation was 2.97 log minarc2 for all subjects and both the red and yellow-orange illumination. There was no difference between the BCEA for red or yellow-orange illumination (t = .86). ConclusionsThe color DLO records sufficiently high quality images to reliably calculate measures of fixation stability. Despite recruiting an especially challenging population that included dark fundi, small pupils, high refractive errors, and media issues, we achieved success in all subjects tested to date.


The purpose of this paper is to advocate for immediate access to SNAP (Food Stamps) benefits for immigrant kids applying for and granted Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) in both New York State and at the federal level through the historical background of exclusionary immigration policies, an examination of PRWORA, and the application of a case study. First, this paper will briefly discuss the historical background of U.S. immigration policy as exclusionary of certain groups of immigrants, particularly those thought to become a public charge, and the correlation between anti-immigrant sentiment and the passage of laws restricting access to public benefits. Next, this paper will examine the SNAP sections of the PRWORA in great depth, after almost twenty years since its passage and enactment, through the review of pre-PRWORA immigrant eligibility rules and the expansion of post-PRWORA categories since 1996.


The main cause of food insecurity in the semi–arid parts of Eastern Kenya is decline in soil fertility, unsuitable cropping systems, low and unreliable rainfall. This has led to low food productivity. An experiment was carried out in semi-arid parts of Eastern Kenya during short rains 2014 and long rains 2015 to determine the effect of tied ridges, fertilizers and cropping systems on growth parameters, yields and yield components of maize. The experiment was a 2 x 4 x 2 factorial laid in a randomized complete block design. The results showed that, interaction between tied-ridges x fertilizers x cropping systems had a significant effect (P<0.05) on plant height, number of leaves/plant, leaf length, leaf width and leaf area. Treatment combinations with maize mono crop resulted to increased vegetative growth compared to treatment combinations of maize cow pea intercrop. During the short rains 2014, treatment combinations of flat bed planting, farm yard manure 5t/ha + 20kgN/ha in maize mono crop recorded the highest value for vegetative growth. However, during the long rains 2015, treatment combinations of tied-ridging with 20kgN/ha in maize mono crop had increased vegetative growth. The interaction between tied ridging x fertilizers x cropping system was significant (P < 0.05) on ears weight, biomass and grain yields. The highest value for grain yield was registered by tied ridging with farm yard manure 5t/ha in maize mono crop and tied ridging plus 20kgN/ha in maize mono crop (0.15t/ha); an increase of 650% above the control treatment. Variations in seasonal rainfall affects the effectiveness of soil and water management practices. From this study, farmers in semi-arid regions of Eastern Kenya could adopt farm yard manure 5t/ha or 20kgN/ha with maize mono crop under tied ridging in order to improve maize yields in seasons when the rain fall amount is below average.


The use of tumor marker determinations for monitoring patients with cancer is common, but this practice is not always evidence-based. Guidelines for monitoring of testicular cancer invariably recommend the use of serum marker determinations, but the recommendations are not based on randomized studies. Vesprini et al have evaluated the validity of this practice in a retrospective study based on chart review of serum tumor marker results during surveillance of stage I seminoma. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) together with clinical and imaging data were registered. Elevated serum markers were found in 11 of 65 (17%) patients at relapse, but in only 1 did the marker elevation precede detection of relapse by imaging or clinical examination. Thus, the authors conclude that routine measurement of serum markers can be discontinued during surveillance of seminoma. In a study on 42 patients with seminoma, we found elevated concentrations of the hCG heterodimer in 17% of the patients preoperatively, but of the free beta-subunit (hCGb) in 52%. It is noteworthy that in 17 cases (40%), hCGb was the only elevated marker. Of 4 patients with seminoma who had a relapse, 2 had an elevated hCGb level; in 1 patient, this was the first sign of relapse. Of 51 patients with nonseminomatous cancers, hCG was elevated in 37 patients (73%) and hCGb in 40 patients (78%) preoperatively, and at relapse, 5 of 18 (28%) patients had an isolated increase in hCGb level. Thanks to rapid improvement of imaging methods, the need for markers in monitoring of seminoma patients has decreased. However, the radiation burden of repeated imaging is not negligible. As Vesprini et al suggest, gathering additional data on the utility of serum marker determinations is certainly recommended. The results from our study suggest that serum markers, and especially hCGb, still may have a role in the monitoring of patients with seminoma. These results need to be confirmed in larger studies.


OBJECTIVE Oxidative stress plays an important role in the development of microangiopathic complications in type 1 diabetes. We investigated polymorphic markers in genes encoding enzymes regulating production of reactive oxygen species in association with diabetic retinopathy or diabetic nephropathy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 124 patients with type 1 diabetes were investigated in this case-control study. All subjects were matched for sex, age, and duration of diabetes. Genotyping was conducted using real-time PCR for p.Val16Ala polymorphism in the MnSOD gene and c.C−262T in the promoter region of the CAT gene. Multiplex PCR method was used for determination of GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphic deletions. Fluorescence-labeled PCR amplicons and fragment analysis was used for assessing the number of pentanucleotide (CCTTT)n repeats in inducible nitric oxide synthase. RESULTS A positive association of MnSOD genotype Val/Val (odds ratio [OR] 2.49, 95% CI 1.00–6.16, P = 0.045) and GSTM1–1 genotype (2.63, 1.07–6.47, P = 0.031) with diabetic retinopathy but not with diabetic nephropathy was demonstrated. Additionally, the combination of the two genotypes conveyed an even higher risk (4.24, 1.37–13.40, P = 0.009). No other investigated genetic polymorphisms were associated with either diabetic retinopathy or diabetic nephropathy. CONCLUSIONS Selected polymorphisms in genes encoding MnSOD and GSTM1 could be added to a panel of genetic markers for identification of individuals with type 1 diabetes at an increased risk for developing diabetic retinopathy.