The FAIR data guiding principles have been recently developed and widely adopted to improve the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets in the face of an exponential increase of data volume and complexity. The FAIR data principles have been formulated on a general level and the technological implementation of these principles remains up to the industries and organizations working on maximizing the value of their data. Here, we describe the data management and curation methodologies and best practices developed for FAIRification of clinical exploratory biomarker data collected from over 250 clinical studies. We discuss the data curation effort involved, the resulting output, and the business and scientific impact of our work. Finally, we propose prospective planning for FAIR data to optimize data management efforts and maximize data value.


In American politics, the issues of poverty and race have become inextricably intertwined. The political rhetoric surrounding poverty is replete with stereotypical images of African Americans. In other words, poverty has become race coded. In this paper, the authors analyze the representation of poverty in American government college textbooks. It is found that these textbooks portray poverty as a Black problem and perpetuate other stereotypical images of the poor.


Despite the difficult period for retail, Russian retail chains continue to develop and find new resources to improve the efficiency. The largest retail chains are expanding markets and continue to grow steadily. However, modern economic conditions place high demands on the activities of managers and staff in retail. Moreover, the unstable external environment forces the management to look for new opportunities of improving their enterprises competitiveness. An organizational culture is the important resource for improving the retail enterprise efficiency. Nevertheless, the effective organizational culture can be built only on the shared values of all staff. The article describes the results of the study of value orientations of managers and subordinates in connection with their work activity. We analyzed the "TD Intertorg" ("Narodnaya 7-ya Family") which was one of the largest food retail companies in St. Petersburg. We used the formalized survey methodology to study the value orientations of 170 employees of the company. We identified and characterized the differences in the value orientations of the administrative, retail and operational staff with high and low labor activity. Also we defined the key values for the creation of the organizational culture that increases the efficiency of the personnel of the retail company. We offered the mechanism of development organizational culture for the trade enterprise on the basis of values compatibility of the managers and subordinates. The results help us to optimize business communication process and improve the efficiency of the retail enterprise.


Chronic pain acceptance is developing as a vital concept to understand ways that chronic pain patients can remain engaged with valued parts of life. If patients find their pain inacceptable, they will likely work to avoid it at all costs and readily seek to reduce or eliminate it. Such measures may not be of best interest when they require no pain reduction and many missed opportunities to work more effectively and productively. The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of chronic pain acceptance among individuals who suffering chronic disease as well as to identify the differences in chronic pain acceptance due to gender and age. Furthermore, the study aimed to identify the extent to which social support (family, friends, and government organizations) contribute to predict the acceptance of chronic pain in patients with chronic diseases. The researchers selected a random sample consisted of (254) (104 males, 150 females) patients, their age ranged between (20-60) year were participated in this study. Two measurement tools have been used; chronic pain acceptance questioner (CPAQ) and social support scale. The results showed that females were reported higher level of chronic pain acceptance than male. In addition, the results found a statistically significant positive correlation between a type of social support (family, friends, and government) and acceptance of chronic pain. To measure the contribution of social support sources to the acceptance of pain, the results showed that all sources of social support (family, friends and government) contributed to the acceptance of pain, but the support of friends was the highest contribution to the acceptance of pain.


The dynamical properties of liquid caesium near the melting point are investigated within the generalized collective-modes approach in a Markovian approximation. The generalized thermodynamic quantities and spectra of collective modes have been obtained for the five-variables description of longitudinal fluctuations. As the basis variables, three conserved and two nonconserved quantities have been used: the number density, longitudinal momentum, and energy density; and the first time derivatives of the longitudinal momentum and the energy density. All of the static and dynamic correlation functions were calculated directly from molecular dynamics simulations for 500 particles over 165 000 time steps, avoiding any fitting parameters. A comparison with the experimental data and results of previous molecular dynamics simulations is made.


: The trial of oxymethacyl was conducted in 20 CNSPD patients. Clinicoimmunological examinations provided evidence on the drug effectiveness as it stimulated cell immunity, phagocytosis, was well tolerated, caused no side effects. The highest response was achieved in combination of oxymethacyl with antibacterial therapy. Normalization of clinical and immunological indices in CNPD patients suggests immunocorrective effect of oxymethacyl.


Abstract The eccentric contraction mode was proposed to be the primary stimulus for optimum angle (angle at which peak torque occurs) shift. However, the training range of motion (or muscle excursion range) could be a stimulus as important. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of the training range of motion stimulus on the hamstring optimum length. It was hypothesised that performing a single set of concentric contractions beyond optimal length (seated at 80° of hip flexion) would lead to an immediate shift of the optimum angle to longer muscle length while performing it below (supine at 0° of hip flexion) would not provide any shift. Eleven male participants were assessed on an isokinetic dynamometer. In both positions, the test consisted of 30 consecutive knee flexions at 4.19 rad · s−1. The optimum angle was significantly shifted by ∼15° in the direction of longer muscle length after the contractions at 80° of hip flexion, while a non-significant shift of 3° was found at 0°. The hamstring fatigability was not influenced by the hip position. It was concluded that the training range of motion seems to be a relevant stimulus for shifting the optimum angle to longer muscle length. Moreover, fatigue appears as a mechanism partly responsible for the observed shift.


Transcatheter embolization for intractable hemorrhage from pelvic organs was performed in 46 patients. Advantages are discussed regarding different embolic materials, particle size, and embolization directed at branch vessels versus divisional arteries. An optimal approach for managing hemorrhage of different etiologies is developed, taking advantage of (a) selective embolization techniques, (b) pharmacologic manipulation of blood flow, and (c) the ability of embolic material to allow restitution of flow and/or continued collateral perfusion via the precapillary plexus.


INTRODUCTION
Sudden health-threatening conditions with cardiovascular aetiology constitute a great number of all interventions of emergency medicine teams. Diagnostic and therapeutic abilities of modern cardiology lead to the necessity of introducing diagnostic methods which enable effective pre-hospital diagnostics in patients with circulatory system diseases also in emergency medicine. The ECG teletransmissions performed by emergency medicine teams prior to hospitalization increase the accuracy of the diagnosis and thus improve the organization of medical transport of patients to the medical centres appropriate to their medical condition.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
A 12-lead ECG teletransmission system and a system of teleconsultations was set up in September 2009 at the Voivodship Emergency Service and Medical Transport Station (WSPRiTS) "Meditrans" in Warsaw. The system consists of: emergency medicine teams and the Teletransmission Centre located in the Cardiac Department of WSPRiTS "Meditrans. The WSPRiTS "Meditrans" emergency medicine teams and helicopter emergency medicine teams performed standard ECGs at the place of the incident, sending them then via telephone to the Teletransmission Centre. Performing an ECG is recommended in the following cases: a pain in the chest, collapse and syncope, perceptible cardiac arrhythmia, dyspnoea and in any case when the head of the emergency medicine team (ZRM) took the decision to perform an ECG. The ECG record as well as the information about the patient supplied by the head of the team were analyzed by a consulting doctor on 24-hour duty at the receiving station. On basis of the received information the doctor from the Teletransmission Centre instructed the ZRM as to further procedure with the patient. There were 20117 ECG teletransmissions performed within the analyzed period.

RESULTS
In the period between September 2009 and September 30th, 2012 there were 20 117 12-lead ECG teletransmissions performed, where 18139 (90.2%) were successful. 1978 (9.8%) were unsuccessful. 19 997 ECG transmissions were sent from WSPRiTS "Meditrans"ambulances and 120 by helicopter emergency teams. Women constituted 55% and men 45% of the investigated population of patients. The average age was 61 years. The average ECG transmission time was 7 minutes 10 seconds and did not extend the time of emergency medicine actions. The analysis of collected data revealed that ZRMs applied the teletransmission system particularly in cases others than acute coronary syndromes - 16 998 (93.7%) cases. The most frequent reasons to perform an ECG and consultation were pains in the chest - 23% cases, cardiac arrhythmias (18%) and collapses and syncope (13%). Among cardiac arrhythmias, arterial fibrillations (11%) were most often stated and in this group 79% cases were paroxysmal arrhythmias. During the 3 years 1141 cases of acute coronary syndromes were diagnosed in the pre-hospital period, what constituted only 6.3% of all teletransmissions. During a 9-month period 389 transports were carried out to primary health care centres from where the ECG records were then transferred to the Teletransmission Centre. In 117 cases (30%) the consultant changed the initial decision and patients were transported to other medical centres withour interventional cardiology departments.

CONCLUSIONS
The system of ECG teletransmissions and consultations was appreciated by ZRMs and significantly supported their actions. The system should be supervised and coordinated by emergency medicine centres such as the Teletransmission Centre, Emergency Departments or Emergency Rooms. ECG teletransmissions make it possible to extend the paramedics and nurses' competences as regards emergency medical actions with patients with circulatory system diseases. The introduction of ECG teletransmissions from the place of the incident and the doctor's consultation have led to the optimization of transport of patients to appropriate in respect to their condition medical centres.


Sedimentary rocks intruded by Tertiary mafic dikes on the Colorado Plateau typically display systematic dike-parallel joints. These closely spaced joints occur only near dikes, their spacing commonly increasing with distance from the dike contacts. Igneous breccias along some of these joints indicate that the joints are not younger than the dikes and, therefore, did not form during cooling. Field relations are best explained if the joints form in host rocks beyond the dike tip, becoming juxtaposed against the dike with continued propagation: an interpretation supported by previously reported descriptions of ground surface cracks formed near eruptive fissures and of microcracks formed near the tips of larger extension cracks during laboratory experiments. Tensile stress generated by magmatic pressure is sufficient to fracture host rocks beyond dike tips. The tensile maxima are located on either side of the dike plane, beyond the tip. The stresses increase in magnitude closer to the tip, thus explaining the greater abundance of joints near the dike plane. Noting that dikes may parallel regional joint sets, we contrast (1) emplacement along older joints oriented arbitrarily with respect to the principal stress directions acting at the time of intrusion and (2) emplacement along self-generated fractures propagated in a plane perpendicular to the least compressive stress direction. Magma can invade along older joints if magmatic pressure exceeds the horizontal stress acting across the joint plane. This situation is most common if the horizontal principal stress difference is small compared to the magmatic driving pressure or if joints are nearly perpendicular to the direction of least compressive regional stress. Magma must advance by filling self-generated fractures if older, suitably oriented, joints are absent.


Based on an analytical reading of Moroccan diaspora fiction, this book seeks to explore the role of diaspora in shaping alternative versions of space, history, identity and memory. It seeks to respond to the contemporary debate on diaspora literature in an increasingly mobile world attempting to provide a reading in literary texts of contemporary Moroccan writers in the diaspora.Thus, this book concentrates on Moroccan diaspora fiction in Europe namely Brick Oussaid's Mountains Forgotten by God, Betty Batoul's Un coquelicot en hiver? Pourquoi pas…, Hafid Bouazza's Abdullah's Feet, Abdelkader Benali's Wedding by the Sea. As to fiction of Moroccan diaspora in North America, my study focuses on Anouar Majid's Si Yussef, Laila Lalami's Hope and other Dangerous Pursuits, "The Turning Tide", and Secret Son, Majid Blal's Une femme pour pays, and Rachida M'Faddel's Canada, aller simple. The book explores these writers' works with regard to contemporary discourses on diasporic identity, representation, migration, exile and the recent socio-political debate on movements across boundaries.


What is purposed in the article is the thinking of the body in perception from a single experience or from the body and its relationship with the camera and with the act of being photographed or portrayed. Thinking that the camera can be an expanded body and also referring to the photographer and his/her act not only with the shoot but loaded with all the circumstances that embrace the space. Here who proposes a thought around this relationship is not even the author, but the character explaining a revealing and impulsive experience about the creation of the movement and the statics, consciously. From this experience - The confrontation between the character and the author - taking the character to impose its ideas and work with the image, photographer, camera and body as his/her leitmotiv throughout the authorial work.


Background: Elderly patients are steadily becoming a growing part of the population. The aim of this study is to evaluate the outcome of open inguinal hernia repair in patients aged over 65 years. Methods: From January 1999 to December 2008, a total of 719 patients underwent open tension-free inguinal hernia repair with mesh-plug; 301 among them were ≥ 65 years old. Results: Elderly patients had a mean age of 72.4 years (women 3.3%), while the mean age of younger patients was 48.7 years (women 5.7%). According to the ASA score, patients aged ≥ 65 years were at significantly higher risk than the younger patients. Spinal anesthesia was used most frequently in both groups. No significant differences were found in postoperative pain, mortality and recurrence. Morbidity and hospital stay were significantly higher in patients aged ≥ 65 years. Conclusions: Open hernia repair in the elderly is safe and well tolerated, but it is associated with higher morbidity and longer hospitalization.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the predictive factors of circulating tumor DNA targeted sequencing in the efficacy of diverse treatment in mCRPC patients. METHODS: From 2016 to 2017, we recruited 67 mCRPC patients and performed targeted germline and somatic sequencing of 50 genes including DNA repair pathway and AR pathway etc. PSA-PFS were assessed in relation to initial ADT and subsequent therapy using Kaplan-Meier analysis. RESULTS: 58 mCRPC patients have plasma ctDNA fraction(ctDNA%, the proportion of tumor-derived cfDNA) above 2%. The matched primary tumor tissue biopsy of 5 patients and the matched metastatic tumor tissue biopsy of one patient were also sequenced. It showed 100% consistency between the metastatic tumor tissue and the matched plasma. However, 3 of 5 patients showed <20% consistency between the primary tumor tissue and the matched plasma (other 2 of 5 patients showed 100% consistency between the primary tumor tissue and the matched plasma). In patients with ctDNA% above 2%, the most frequent mutated gene was AR(mutation or amplification). 32 of 58 (55.2%) patients have genes alteration in DNA repair pathway, and the most frequent mutated genes were BRCA2, ATM and CDK12. In patients treated with abiraterone (AA), patients with BRCA2 and ATM pathogenic alteration had a worse clinical outcome even with primary resistance. However, these patients had similar response to docetaxel compared with wild type patients. The patients with P53 mutation had worse clinical outcomes compared with wild type patients.regardless of receiving AA or docetaxel treatment. 8 of 12(75%) patients with DNA repair pathway genes alteration which had received PARPi or platinum based chemotherapy showed initial response. Among these patients with initial response, 8 of 8 patients had germline or somatic pathogenic homologous recombinational repair (HRR) pathway genes alteration. CONCLUSIONS: It was the first multi-institutional study which explored the genomic alterations in Chinese mCRPC patients by liquid biopsy. These findings established genomic drivers of resistance to first-line and second line AR-targeted therapies and chemotherapy in mCRPC, which could identify minimally invasive biomarkers. Furthermore, our findings suggest that liquid biopsy analysis can guide the use of PARPi and platinum-based chemotherapy in general practice. Source of Funding: none


This paper deals with computation of stabilizing decentralized PI controllers for fractional order two-input-two-output (FOTITO) systems. Inverted and simplified decoupling methods are adapted to FOTITO systems and the systems are decoupled into simpler subsystems. Stability regions of the subsystems are obtained and the parameters of the decentralized PI controllers that allows to be stable are calculated. It is demonstrated that both outputs of the FOTITO system are stable when the controller parameters are selected from the common of stable regions of subsystems.


Tidal flows suitable for the installation of tidal stream turbines are highly turbulent with a broad range of turbulent scales, and intensities of around 10%. It is important to understand how turbulent flows affect the performance and wake profiles for the accurate prediction of the performance of single devices and arrays. Previous studies have considered the effects of turbulence intensity, but the effects of turbulent eddy size have not been investigated. This paper presents a new method for generating turbulence in large eddy simulations of uniform actuator disc rotor models. The advantage of the gridded actuator disc is that the generated turbulence may be controlled, so the effects of turbulence length scale and intensity may be investigated. Initial results show the wake recovery is faster behind a rotor generating larger turbulent length scales and intensities, with a corresponding increase in axial induction and thrust. Therefore turbines may be positioned closer together if they generate more turbulence, increasing the power output of an array for a given area, although the individual device performance may be lower. Future work will consider the effects of free-stream turbulence on the performance and wake profiles of the gridded actuator disc, and validation against experimental data.


The effect of progesterone and prostaglandin administration on the timing of farrowing was studied in three groups of 25 sows each. Progesterone treatment (100 mg/day) on days 112, 113 and 114 of gestation (group I) significantly prolonged the gestation length to 116.4 +/- 0.4 (mean +/- s.e.) days compared to the control sows (group III; 115.5 +/- 0.2; P less than 0.05). Administration of prostaglandin (200 micrograms Cloprostanol intramuscularly) on day 115 of gestation following progesterone treatment (group II) resulted in a gestation length of 116.0 +/- 0.1 days, with the sows farrowing 25.4 +/- 1.0 h after the prostaglandin injection. 80% of the sows farrowed between 0800 and 1700 h of day 116 of gestation. Plasma progesterone levels were maintained by the exogenous progesterone during treatment. At farrowing, higher levels of progesterone were observed in groups I and II compared to controls. Prostaglandin treatment did not significantly alter withdrawal of progesterone in progesterone treated sows, suggesting that the actions of exogenous prostaglandin is primarily on the myometrium and the cervix. Hormonal treatment in late pregnancy did not have any adverse effects on piglet viability and growth rate, or subsequent reproductive performances of sows. Lactation was initiated normally, and the concentrations of lactose, protein, fat, IgG, Na+, Ca2+ and K+ in colostrum and milk were similar in all groups during the first 5 days of lactation.


The effects of extreme-ultraviolet (EUV)-irradiation-induced damage on the characteristics of a silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory device are investigated. After EUV irradiation, changes in the memory window and program/erase speed indicate the generation of positive charges and new traps. Retention performance degrades after high-dose irradiation, which indicates that the tunneling layer is damaged. Endurance performance degrades severely because the damage in the blocking oxide results in serious electron back injection after cycling operations. These defects cannot be recovered after 600°C annealing. It is recommended that in-process high-dose EUV irradiation on a SONOS stack after a front-end-of-line process should be avoided.


Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) constitute a heterogeneous population. Some tumor cells are cancer stem cells (CSCs), while others are in the process of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT); however, most CTCs are neither stem cells nor participants in the EMT. There is increasing interest in the study of the molecular biological characteristics of CTCs. Many researchers consider circulating tumor cells (CTC) as one of the variants of «liquid biopsy in real time». In this review, we discuss the clinical significance of CTCs in breast cancer and in particular the prognostic and predictive significance both in early stage and metastatic breast cancer, as well as the pathogenetic role of CTCs in venous thromboembolism. Evaluation of various characteristics of CTCs is promising for the study of new biomarkers and targets for targeted therapies. The clinical importance involves the determination of the heterogeneity of the CТC and in particular of the stem subpopulation of these cells, cells with signs of EMТ, with no evidence of stem cells, and with a combination of these features.


Hypomethylating agents (HMA) and lenalidomide (LEN) are approved and used in the treatment of patients (pts) with MDS, though these drugs fail in most pts. No method exists to predict drug response beyond associating single actionable mutations with a single drug9s response. We hypothesized that MDS pts can be clustered by similarities in genomic/molecular profiles, & that each cluster may be assigned combos of FDA-approved drugs to target their unique biomarker profile. Bone marrow cells from 88 MDS pts & the MDS-L cell line were analyzed by cytogenetics & for mutations in 14 myeloid genes using NGS. 31 pts had sufficient data for analysis. 20 profiles had similar aberrations & were grouped. Genomic data from pts and MDS-L were entered into a computational biology modeling (CBM) software, which generates a disease-specific protein network map using PubMed to create digital models and identify characteristic biomarkers unique to each pt. An algorithm was created to cluster the models based on overlapping disease-specific biomarkers. Digital drug simulations (DDS) were conducted both on MDS-L & pt simulation models by quantitatively measuring drug effect on a cell growth score (CGS), a composite of cell proliferation, viability & apoptosis. DDS identified drugs by assessing their impact on disease-specific biomarkers and calculated CGSs. Predictions were validated using MTT. 14/31 MDS pt profiles, including the MDS-L cell line, clustered into 4 groups based on biomarker characteristics.MDS-L cells harbor NRAS (G12A) mutation,-7,-12,+1,+8,+19,+20 and +21. Genes associated with increased copy number (CN) include AURKA, IGFR, PAR5, MTOR, IL6, JAK3, MDM4, MYC, MCL1, COX2, PDE4A, and RCE1; genes associated with decreased CN include DUSP1, RASA1, NR3C1, IRF1, ETV6, and SHH. CBM identified active biomarkers in MDS-L cells (90RSK, MAPK7, AKT and BTK), validated by western blot. DDS predicted nelfinavir+celecoxib to be effective in MDS-L. MDS-L cells were treated with nelfinavir, celecoxib, and nelfinavir+celecoxib with increasing doses. Nelfinavir & celecoxib reduced MDS-L viability in a dose-dependent manner, while nelfinavir+celecoxib showed additive reduction of MDS-L viability. DDS was performed on each pt to predict response to HMA and LEN. Two of the clusters (n=2/cluster) were predicted to be non-responders to any SOC therapy. A third cluster (n=3) was predicted to respond to HMA, but not LEN, and the fourth cluster (n=6) showed varying or no response to either HMA/LEN. These results use a novel concept of using genomics & CBM to cluster profiles with overlapping disease-relevant biomarkers & similar drug response predictions. CBM can identify pt populations who may benefit from certain therapeutic regimens, improving response rates, & give insights into the mechanisms by which each drug impacts the MDS-specific biomarkers Citation Format: Leylah M. Drusbosky, Kimberly E. Hawkins, Amy Meacham, Elizabeth Wise, Neeraj Kumar Singh, Chandan Kumar, Sumanth M. Vasista, Rakhi P. Suseela, Taher Abbasi, Shireen Vali, Kaoru Tohyama, Maher Albitar, Peter P. Sayeski, Christopher R. Cogle. Genomics-driven clustering of disease-related biomarkers identifies therapeutic options in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4285.


The development of new technologies is responsible for the generation and storage of continuous and massive amounts of data. Such type of data is known as data stream. The analysis of data streams may be advantageous in many fields, like bioinformatics, medicine, companies and others, as it may result in important information about the data. In this work, we propose a new software tool for Data Visualization that permits the analysis of the evolution of clusters in real time during the data streaming. The proposed visualization tool is add-on for SAMOA, a new variant of MOA (Massive Online Analysis) for massive data streams mining and processing distribution.


BACKGROUND
Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a serious acute complication of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes that requires prompt management. Limited data exist supporting the use of a 2-bag DKA protocol in adult patients across all levels of care.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a 2-bag DKA protocol in comparison with a traditional DKA management strategy.

METHODS
Retrospective review of patients admitted with DKA between January 1, 2021, and February 28, 2022, at a single center. Patients were separated into 2 cohorts, traditional or 2-bag. The primary outcome was time to anion gap closure and/or beta-hydroxybutyrate normalization. Secondary outcomes include length of hospitalization, insulin infusion time, and hypoglycemic events.

RESULTS
One hundred forty-three patients had a DKA order set initiated during their admission, 59 in the traditional cohort and 84 in the 2-bag cohort. Mean time to anion gap closure was shorter in the 2-bag cohort (12.7 vs 16.9 hours; P = 0.005) and beta-hydroxybutyrate normalization (15.6 vs 25.6 hours; P = 0.026). No difference in hospital length of stay (4 vs 6 days; P = 0.113), duration of insulin infusion (41.6 vs 40.6 hours; P = 0.455), or rates of hypoglycemia (6 vs 4; P = 0.872) was seen.

CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE
Implementation of a 2-bag DKA protocol in the inpatient setting was associated with a shorter time to anion gap closure and beta-hydroxybutyrate normalization. These findings support the option of expansion of a 2-bag DKA protocol to adult patients across all levels of care irrespective of the admission diagnosis.


The free market era provided uninterrupted traffic in goods and services throughout the world, and was initially formed to offer benefits. Although there were still protests in technical problems and rising disputes that led a sue to legal institutions, countries agreed to maintain the free market. As a counterpart, the free market cannot ignore consumer's protection as a standard of service. The liability development between consumer and producer relationship arranged from caveat emptor, to caveat vendor and finally to strict liability in the consumer protection system, implies disclosure of information on products and services. This research faces the legal theory of a free market regime with the theory of consumer's protection law. This research proceeds to discuss two main issues. The first issue is an essential of Financial Technology or Fin-tech of services. The second issues is the influence of Fin-tech on the free market and consumer protection. Research uses a normative legal research method and the data obtained are secondary data from literary sources such as literature, articles and internet sites. Results of the analysis shows; first, the free market regime is both an opportunity as well as a challenge, therefore it is still worth to maintain. The consumer protection's regime is the balance point of the free market's regime. Theoretically, consumer's protection must be used as a tool to protect the consumer's interests. Moreover, it could manage the behaviour of service providers. Secondly, the role of the Financial Services Authority is a key to ensuring that balance is still on maintained. Supervision and determination of financial service providers broadly provide information for the public to choose carefullyof their necessity financial services


Genetic control of changes in alkaline phosphatase activity was studied in adult individuals from two strains of Drosophila virilis under normal conditions and at a high temperature (38 degrees C). Flies from strain 101 responded to the heat shock with a reduction in enzyme activity, whereas flies from strain 147 lacked this response. Strains 101 and 147 were shown to differ in alkaline phosphatase activity at a normal temperature. Genetic analysis of these differences was performed. They were shown to be controlled monogenically (or by a battery of tightly linked genes). The gene determining alkaline phosphatase activity was localized on an autosome.


Electroclinical, morphological, biochemical and molecular genetic data from 17 patients affected by progressive myoclonus epilepsies (PME) are reported. Twelve patients were characterized by prominent action myoclonus, sporadic seizures, mild ataxia, lack of dementia and persistence of normal EEG background activity; three patients showed a more rapid worsening of symptomatology, characterized by early mental impairment, massive and action myoclonus, cerebellar signs and tonic clonic seizures; in these patients EEG background activity was slow, even in early stages of the disease. In two patients, previously classified as cryptogenetic PME, a mitochondrial aetiology was recognized by the presence of ragged red fibers in muscle biopsy and by a reduction of the respiratory chains enzymes. Molecular genetical investigation of mtDNA demonstrated the reported heteroplasmic point mutation at nt 8344 of mtDNA in the two MERRF patients, while it was negative in all of the others.


BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY
This study was performed to elucidate the mechanism of primary tissue failure of bioprosthetic heart valves, which were fabricated from autologous pericardium (Autogenics). Results were compared with the degeneration pattern of heterologous pericardial bioprostheses.

METHODS
Between March 1994 and December 1996, 87 Autogenics heart valves were implanted in the aortic position. Since then, 15 valves had to be explanted due to structural deterioration. The average implant period was 33+/-8 months. All explants were examined by gross morphological evaluation and X-ray analysis to identify the failure mode of these devices. In eight explanted autologous tissue valves and six explanted heterologous pericardial bioprostheses, exact morphological evaluation was performed by scanning electron microscopy, microscopic and immunohistochemical techniques.

RESULTS
All autologous tissue valves failed due to cuspal tears localized at the commissures. Nocalcification could be detected by X-ray analysis and microscopic methods. Endothelial cell coverage was evident at the outflow surface of all autologous bioprostheses. Histological examination showed severe disintegration of the collagen fibers by insudated plasma proteins and erythrocytes, and the absence of the original fibroblasts. Collagen fibers were vigorously altered between the inner and outer stent of the Autogenics valve. In contrast, heterologous pericardial valves failed due to severe calcification of the cusps. Histological evaluation displayed invasion of macrophages and calcific deposits. The collagenous texture of the pericardial tissue was significantly better preserved compared with autologous tissue.

CONCLUSION
High biocompatibility of autologous tissue valves is indicated by the absence of calcium deposits, macrophages and foreign body giant cells, and the presence of endothelial cell ingrowth. Severe disintegration of autologous tissue suggests that brief immersion in glutaraldehyde generates inadequate mechanical stability of bioprosthetic heart valve material. Heterologous valves exhibit low biocompatibility but superior preservation of the collagenous biomaterial.


Objective To assess the bone strength of Urumqi 0-3 years old children. Methods Four hundreds and twenty Urumqi 0-3 years old children were examined. In all children height and weight were measured. The speed of sound(sos) was measured at midshaft tibia. The reference curves by gender was obtained from the SunLight System, SunLight company. Results The result of the SOS at midshaft tihiain Urumqi 0-3 years old children determined was analysised,The SOS of the boys and the girls was not different (P>0.05) , There were obvious differsnces between the SOS of each season in Uygur 0-3 years healthy old children. Conclusion SOS value proves its stability and credibility, this result prove the feasibility of using children and guesting clinic treatment,in order to reduce the occurring of child suffered with low SOS.

Key words:
Bone strength ;  Ultrasonography ;  Ultrasonic


Abstract Data governance is an emerging field of study concerned with how a range of actors can successfully manage data assets according to rules of engagement, decision rights, and accountabilities. Urban studies scholarship has continued to demonstrate and criticize lack of community engagement in smart city development and urban data governance projects, including in local sustainability initiatives. However, few move beyond critique to unpack in more detail what community engagement should look like. To overcome this gap, we develop and test a participatory methodology to identify approaches to empowering community engagement in data governance in the context of the Monash Net Zero Precinct in Melbourne, Australia. Our approach uses design for social innovation to enable a small group of "precinct citizens" to co-design prototypes and multicriteria mapping as a participatory appraisal method to open up and reveal a diversity of perspectives and uncertainties on data governance approaches. The findings reveal the importance of creating deliberative spaces for pluralising community engagement in data governance that consider the diverse values and interests of precinct citizens. This research points toward new ways to conceptualize and design enabling processes of community engagement in data governance and reflects on implementation strategies attuned to the politics of participation to support the embedding of these innovations within specific socio-institutional contexts.


In this study, a composite perovskite film composed of lead cesium triiodide (CsPbI3) quantum dots (QDs) and methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3; MAPbI3) was proposed. The CsPbI3 QDs prepared by hot-injecting were used as an anti-solvent in precursors to passivate the surface of this composite perovskite film. The further argon (Ar) plasma treatment improves the surface of the film. The effects of the powers from 100 to 200 W on the composite perovskite film structure, chemical element composition, and optical properties were studied. The experimental results demonstrate that the CsPbI3 QDs passivation boosts the ultraviolet light absorption (350–450 nm) and inhibits the formation of the PbI2 phase. Furthermore, Ar plasma treatment effectively improved CsPbI3 QDs passivation on MAPbI3 film. The powers lower than 140 W cause C=O bonds to dissolve and coordination bonds to form between OA carboxyl moieties and undercoordinated Pb2+ ions. At 160 and 140 W, the obvious crystal phase segregation and a decrease in light absorption are observed, respectively. Meanwhile, the strong bombardment of Ar ions at higher than 160 W causes the severe degradation of MAPbI3 film.


The degree of success in creating quality care for people suffering from dementia is limited despite extensive research. This article describes healthcare providers' experience with the ethical challenges and possibilities in the relationship with patients suffering from dementia and its impact on quality care. The material is based on qualitative, in-depth individual narrative interviews with 12 professional healthcare providers from two different nursing homes. The transcribed interview texts were subjected to a phenomenological–hermeneutical interpretation. To provide quality care to patients with dementia, the healthcare providers emphasized the importance of sensing and understanding the patients' emotional and bodily expressions through sentient attentiveness and recognition of the patient as a person. They also described reciprocity of expressions in the relationship where the patient recognized them both as persons and healthcare providers. The analyses of the findings are, inter alia, discussed in light of Løgstrup's relational philosophy of ethics.


AIM
To quantify the apoptotic phenomenon on endometrial biopsies in postmenopausal patients under hormonal replacement therapy (HRT).

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The study lot consisted of 30 endometrial biopsies on which we studied the apoptotic phenomenon through morphological and molecular biology techniques (TUNEL reaction). Examination of endometrial biopsies before and post-therapeutically has been made.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
From morphological point of view, pre-therapeutically, endometrial biopsies presented apoptotic changes in about 1-3% of cells and under TSH there have been observed apoptotic changes in about 1-2% of cells. In female reproductive system, we found out a raised rate of cellular proliferation and concurrently a raised rate of apoptosis. Apoptotic phenomenon can be observed in endometrium at every menstrual cycle. In proliferative endometrium apoptosis rate is low, but in endometrial carcinoma apoptosis rate grow up. Bcl2 and Bax are expressing in normal and hyperplastic endometrium, but in endometrial carcinoma Bcl2/Bax ratio decline.

CONCLUSIONS
Quantification of apoptosis, using morphological and TUNEL reaction methods, on endometrial biopsies in postmenopausal patients before and after therapy indicate a low rate of apoptotic phenomenon.


Persons at increased risk for osteoporotic fracture can be identified by clinical assessment and bone-density measurements. General measures (adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D, along with an active lifestyle) can slow the rate of bone loss and should be recommended for all patients. Estrogen and parenteral salmon calcitonin are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of osteoporosis; these agents prevent bone loss in most patients and produce modest increases in bone mass, even in patients with advanced disease. Newer agents, such as bisphosphonates, provide additional therapeutic options.


SummaryOur study focused on investigating the mechanism of action of estrogen in regulating p53 levels within osteoblasts. In the studies reported here, we attempted to understand the role of estrogen receptors, ER-alpha and ER-beta, in the regulation of p53 and osteoblast differentiation. We stably expressed ER-alpha and ER-beta in ROS 17/2.8 cells and isolated several single cell clones. These clones were initially characterized for expression of the exogenous receptors, and representative clones from each type were chosen for further analyses. Cell proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity, and the viability of these clones in culture were tested. The cells expressing exogenous ER-alpha exhibited more differentiated characteristics than cells expressing ER-beta. Morphologically, ER-beta-overexpressing cells were more rounded than the ER-alpha-overexpressing cells, which were more elongated and fibroblastic in appearance. The ER-beta-expressing cells had a higher survival and growth rate when compared with ER-alpha cells. The ER-alpha clones were not as viable as ER-beta clones, and some of the ER-alpha cell lines showed signs of senescence, with an increase in senescence-associated (SA) galactosidase activity. The basal levels of p53 functional activity were higher in cells expressing ER-alpha as was protein expression of the p53-regulated gene p21. The significance of these receptors to osteoblast differentiation and p53 regulation is discussed.


Multiresistant Gram-positive cocci, including Staphylococcus aureus, the group of coagulase-negative staphylococci, Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium, as well as Streptococcus pneumoniae and other streptococci, represent emerging pathogens. This issue is especially concerning in the setting of immunocompromised, hospitalized patients, in particular when surgery, invasive procedures, or prosthetic implants are carried out, patients are admitted in intensive care units, or underlying chronic disorders and immunodeficiency are of concern, and broad-spectrum antibiotics are widely used in the environment; moreover, a community spread of resistant Gram-positive cocci has been recognized during recent years. The spectrum of antimicrobials available for an effective management of these relevant infections is significantly threatened by the emer ging of methicillin-resistant and more recently glycopeptide-resistant strains. The streptogramine association represented by quinupristin/ dalfopristin, the oxazolidinone derivative linezolid, and the recently licensed daptomycin and tigecycline, together with a number of glycopeptides, fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins, and other experimental compounds, represent an effective response. It is due to the innovative mechanisms of action of these compounds, their maintained or enhanced activity against multiresistant pathogens, their effective pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic properties, their frequent possibility of synergistic activity with other compounds effective against Gram-positive pathogens, and a diffuse potential for a safe and easy administration, also to compromised patients. The main problems related to the epidemiology of multiresistant gram-positive infection, the potential clinical indications of all recently available compounds compared with the standard of care of treatment of resistant Grampositive infections, and updated data on efficacy and tolerability of all these compounds, are updated and outlined on the ground of a review of recent literature evidences.


Epidemiological data, clinical and pathological findings of the spontaneous andexperimental poisoning by nitrate and nitrite in cattle fed oats (Avena sativa) and/or ryegrass (Lolium spp.), diphenylamine test, and the nitrate content in the samples of the pasture where the outbreaks occurred, are described. The disease occurs in different regions of the State of Santa Catarina, in which pastures have exuberant growth, after receiving excessive amounts of chemical and/or organic fertilizer, mainly when raining occurs after a period of dry wheather. The animals grazing these pastures quickly develop brown mucosa, tachypnea, staggering gait, frequent urination, bloating, lateral recumbency and death in few minutes or hours. At necropsy of four animals that died spontaneously, the main lesions found were brown mucosa, dark color of the blood (chocolate), intense red color of the skeletal muscles and of the left part of the myocardium. The experimental reproduction of the disease was performed in seven cattle, with pastures from four farms where the disease occurred. The animals were fed with fresh oats and ryegrass and/or hay of it. Four animals died, two became ill and recovered, and one was treated with 2mg/kg per body weight of methylene blue 1%, and one cattle did not show changes. Clinical signs and lesions of the diseased animals that died were similar to natural cases. Microscopic changes were not observed in spontaneous and experimental poisoning. The diphenylamine test was positive in all the farms where the outbreaks occurred. The chemical analysis performed on samples of the pastures from several farms, in which outbreaks of the disease occurred, ranged from 0.30to 3.36% of nitrate in the dry matter. The disease is associated with the ingestion of oats and/or ryegrass pastures heavily fertilized, which accumulates high levels of nitrate after a period of rain and is characterized by rapid breathing, dark-colored blood, brown mucous and rapid death.


Infrared spectroscopic measurements are used to obtain insights into the three-dimensional architecture of peptidoglycan (murein), the rigid component of almost all bacterial cell walls. The infrared spectra of various types of peptidoglycans (including all chemotypes and examples of the so called A and B groups) were compared to each other and to those obtained from crystalline chitin. All peptidoglycans investigated exhibited very similar infrared spectra. In particular the conformationally sensitive amide A, I and II absorption bands were found to be constantly centered around 3300 cm-1, 1657 cm-1 and 1534 cm-1 respectively; furthermore, the spectral region between 1200 cm-1 and 800 cm-1, characterized by several strong absorption bands connected to complex sugar ring modes, proved to be remarkably uniform. Additionally the infrared spectra remained significantly constant between -175 degrees C and + 75 degrees C and turned out to be rather independent of sample preparation (solvent replacement, freeze-drying and film producing). An analysis of band half-widths revealed no high crystalline state of order of peptidoglycan. On the basis of band positions and half-widths of amide bands, regular conformations like alpha helices of beta pleated sheets could be excluded. Several distinctive, fingerprint-like spectral features of the various murein samples permitted a facile identification of individual peptidoglycans. Moreover, infrared spectroscopy seems to be very promising as an analytical tool, e.g. for tracing variations of cell wall structure, detecting conformational changes and estimating crosslinking indices in a quick and simple way. The comparative analysis of amide band positions and band half-widths yielded substantial differences between infrared spectra of chitin and murein, thus rejecting previous models based on the assumption of a nearly crystalline chitin-like structure of the glycan chains of murein.


We describe our work in progress on a model checker for verifying ConGolog programs. ConGolog is a novel high-level programming language for robot control which incorporates a rich account of concurrency, prioritized execution, interrupts, and changes in the world that are beyond robot's control. The novelty of this language requires new methods of proving correctness. We apply the techniques from XSB tabling and the µ-calculus, to overcome the challenge of verifying complex non-terminating programs, in a terminating time.


microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in adipogenesis that is closely linked to obesity and energy homeostasis. Thus far, only a few miRNAs have been identified to regulate adipocyte development, arousing interest in the detailed function of miRNAs during adipogenesis. In this study, we found that the miR-26b expression showed an increasing trend during 3T3-L1 cells differentiation. To investigate the role of miR-26b in adipogenesis, the synthetic miR-26b agomirs and antagomirs were used to perform overexpression and knockdown experiment, respectively. Our data revealed that overexpression of miR-26b significantly accelerated the mRNA expression of the adipogenic markers, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), fatty acid synthase (FAS), CCAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPα), and lipoprotein lipase, and the protein level of PPARγ and FAS. miR-26b overexpression also resulted in a significant increase in lipid accumulation. In contrast, inhibition of miR-26b expression decreased differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells. By target gene prediction and luciferase reporter assay, we demonstrated that miR-26b may directly bind to the 3' UTR of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN). Taken together, these results demonstrate that miR-26b might participate in regulating adipogenic differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells by inhibiting the PTEN expression, further highlighting the importance of miRNA in adipogenesis.


This paper presents the selection and the implementation of a model based predictive speed control — the Generalized Predictive Control — for a drive system with torsional loads. In drive applications where long or thin drive shafts are used torsional oscillations can occur due to the finite torsional stiffness of the shafts material. These unwanted oscillations can stress both mechanical and electrical drive components. Further, when shaft torsion is neglected during the control synthesis, the achievable bandwidth of the speed control is dramatically reduced. To avoid these problems a model based predictive speed control is designed that takes the torsional shaft behavior into account. To ensure a practical and realizable speed control, an aposteriori actuating value limitation in addition to the classical GPC approach is presented. The predictive speed control is verified in simulations and measurements. Additionally to that a comparative study to a PI based speed control is carried out.


In past, inter-symbol interference (ISI) channels with data dependent Gauss Markov noise have been prevalently used to model read channels for magnetic recording and other data storage systems. The maximum likelihood sequence detection in such channels is solved using the Viterbi algorithm. However, the problem of finding an analytical lower bound on the bit error rate of the Viterbi detector in this case has not been fully investigated. Current techniques do not give the tight lower bound as the bound computation involves only minimum-length error events. In this work, we consider a subset of the class of ISI channels with data dependent Gauss-Markov noise. We derive a lower bound on the pairwise error probability (PEP) between the correct bit sequence and the estimated bit sequence that can be expressed as a product of functions depending on current and previous states of the correct and the estimated sequence. In this case, the PEP is asymmetric which precludes the usage of error state diagram method for the bound computation. We present a method of finding a lower bound on the BER through constructing a product trellis. Simulations results corroborate the analysis of the lower bound and demonstrate that the analytic lower bound on BER is tight in a high SNR regime.


Data-driven modeling of spatiotemporal physical processes with general deep learning methods is a highly challenging task. It is further exacerbated by the limited availability of data, leading to poor generalizations in standard neural network models. To tackle this issue, we introduce a new approach called the Finite Volume Neural Network (FINN). The FINN method adopts the numerical structure of the well-known Finite Volume Method for handling partial differential equations, so that each quantity of interest follows its own adaptable conservation law, while it concurrently accommodates learnable parameters. As a result, FINN enables better handling of fluxes between control volumes and therefore proper treatment of different types of numerical boundary conditions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach with a subsurface contaminant transport problem, which is governed by a non-linear diffusion-sorption process. FINN does not only generalize better to differing boundary conditions compared to other methods, it is also capable to explicitly extract and learn the constitutive relationships (expressed by the retardation factor). More importantly, FINN shows excellent generalization ability when applied to both synthetic datasets and real, sparse experimental data, thus underlining its relevance as a data-driven modeling tool.


An improved model for the surface potential and drain current in negative capacitance ferroelectric field effect transistors (NC-FeFETs) was presented by introducing the doping concentration. The influence of the doping concentration and temperature on the electric characteristics of NC-FeFET was investigated based on this model. The derived results demonstrated that the subthreshold slope of the metal–ferroelectric–semiconductor NC-FeFET increases, while the drive current decreases when the substrate doping concentration increases from 1017 m−3 to 1020 m−3. Additionally, in the temperature range from 290 K to 380 K, the voltage amplification gradually shrinks, resulting in the subthreshold swing increasing from 51 mV dec−1 to 71 mV dec−1. These results indicated that silicon doping concentration and temperature are two key factors for optimizing the operation voltage in NC-FeFETs.


The possible magnetophoretic migration of iron oxide nanoparticles through the cellulosic matrix within a single layer of paper is challenging with its underlying mechanism remained unclear. Even with the recent advancements of theoretical understanding on magnetophoresis, mainly driven by cooperative and hydrodynamics phenomena, the contributions of these two mechanisms on possible penetration of magnetic nanoparticles through cellulosic matrix of paper have yet been proven. Here, by using iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs), both nanospheres and nanorods, we have investigated the migration kinetics of these nanoparticles through grade 4 Whatman filter paper with a particle retention of 20-25 μm. By performing droplet tracking experiments, the real-time stained area growth of the particle droplet on the filter paper, under the influences of a grade N40 NdFeB magnet, were recorded. Our results show that the spatial and temporal expansion of the IONP stain is biased toward the magnet and such an effect is dependent on (i) particle concentration and (ii) particle shape. The kinetics data were first analyzed by treating it as a radial wicking fluid, and later the IONP distribution within the cellulosic matrix was investigated by optical microscopy. The macroscopic flow front velocities of the stained area ranged from 259 μm/s to 16 040 μm/s. Moreover, the microscopic magnetophoretic velocity of nanorod cluster was also successfully measured as ∼214 μm/s. Findings in this work have indirectly revealed the strong influence of cooperative magnetophoresis and the engineering feasibility of paper-based magnetophoretic technology by taking advantage of magnetoshape anisotropy effect of the particles.


Use-after-free (UAF) vulnerabilities, in which dangling pointers remain after memory is released, remain a persistent problem for applications written in C and C++. In order to protect legacy code, prior work has attempted to track pointer propagation and invalidate dangling pointers at deallocation time, but this work has gaps in coverage, as it lacks support for tracking program variables promoted to CPU registers. Moreover, we find that these gaps can significantly hamper detection of UAF bugs: in a preliminary study with OSS-Fuzz, we found that more than half of the UAFs in real-world programs we examined (10/19) could not be detected by prior systems due to register promotion. In this paper, we introduce HeapExpo, a new system that fills this gap in coverage by parsimoniously identifying potential dangling pointer variables that may be lifted into registers by the compiler and marking them as volatile. In our experiments, we find that HeapExpo effectively detects UAFs missed by other systems with an overhead of 35% on the majority of SPEC CPU2006 and 66% when including two benchmarks that have high amounts of pointer propagation.


We study the global existence and asymptotic behaviour in time of solutions of the Cauchy problem for the relativistic nonlinear Schrödinger equation in one space dimension where the real-valued functions f and g are such that |f(j)(z)| Cz1+-j, j = 0,1,2,3, for z+0, where >0, and g C5([0,)). Equation (A) models the self-channelling of a high-power, ultra-short laser in matter if for all z 0. When = 0,f = 0 equation (A) also has some applications in condensed matter theory, plasma physics, Heisenberg ferromagnets and fluid mechanics. We prove that if the norm of the initial data is sufficiently small, where then the solution of the Cauchy problem (A) exists globally in time and satisfies the sharp L time-decay estimate ||u(t)||L C(1+|t|)-1/2. Furthermore, we prove the existence of the modified scattering states and the nonexistence of the usual scattering states by introducing a certain phase function when 0. On the other hand, the existence of the usual scattering states when = 0 follows easily from our results. AMS classification scheme number: 35Q55


The nonlinear Burgers' equation is a simple form of Navier-Stocks equation. The nonlinear nature of Burgers' equation has been exploited as a useful prototype differential equation for modeling many phenomena. This paper proposes two meshfree methods for solving the one-dimensional nonlinear nonhomogeneous Burgers' equation. These methods are based on the multiquadric (MQ) quasi-interpolation operator and direct and indirect radial basis function networks (RBFNs) schemes. In
the present schemes, the Taylors series expansion is used to discretize the temporal derivative and the
quasi-interpolation is used to approximate the solution function and its spatial derivatives. In order to
show the efficiency of the present methods, several experiments are considered. Our numerical solutions
are compared with the analytical solutions as well as the results of other numerical schemes. Furthermore,
the stability analysis of the methods is surveyed. It can be easily seen that the proposed methods are
efficient, robust, and reliable for solving Burgers' equation.


The 16 July 2010 M  3.4 Germantown, Maryland, earthquake was the largest recorded earthquake to occur within 50 km of Washington, D.C. I estimated the source parameters of the Germantown earthquake and its M  2.1 aftershock using the empirical Green's Function (EGF) method. I found that both earthquakes have small‐radius, high‐stress drops (static and dynamic) and high radiated energy, comparable to the source parameters of other Northeastern America earthquakes obtained using similar EGF methods. These results are consistent with previous observations that intraplate earthquakes have higher stress drops than plate‐boundary earthquakes. Higher stress drops of intraplate earthquakes may result from longer healing times and lower strain rates characteristic of intraplate regions. I estimated the frequency‐independent attenuation factor, Q , for all available source‐station paths, constraining the solution with the previously estimated source parameters, and find attenuation to be low, with constant Q varying from 743 to 3000 (maximum resolvable Q ), and 889 to 3000, for P and S waves, respectively, at hypocentral distances from around 100 to 200 km, and at frequencies between 1 and 40 Hz. The occurrence of high‐stress‐release earthquakes within regions where seismic attenuation is low makes these intraplate earthquakes potentially more damaging than their plate‐boundary counterparts.


To determine whether baroreflex sensitivity changes with age, we compared drug-induced reflex responses in 2- and 9-mo-old female Sprague-Dawley rats anesthetized with urethan-chloralose. Baroreflexes were stimulated by elevating or lowering blood pressure with intravenous infusions of phenylephrine or sodium nitroprusside. Reflex responses in heart rate and sympathetic nerve activity during phenylephrine infusions were weaker in 9- than in 2-mo-old rats, as were reflex tachycardia during sodium nitroprusside infusion and decreases in heart rate and sympathetic nerve activity elicited by electrical stimulation of the left aortic depressor nerve. Afferent aortic nerve activity was also appreciably lower in 9-mo-old rats at pressures greater than 130 mmHg but did not differ between rat groups at normotensive pressures. These results suggest that baroreflex sensitivity in 9-mo-old rats can be characterized as follows: 1) impaired at pressures greater than 130 mmHg but still adequate at normotensive pressures, and 2) all reflex arc components may be impaired.


Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) has become an important tool to investigate the structure of proteins in solution. In this paper we present a novel ab-initio method to represent polypeptide chains as discrete curves that can be used to derive a meaningful three-dimensional model from only the primary sequence and experimental SAXS data. High resolution crystal structures were used to generate probability density functions for each of the common secondary structural elements found in proteins. These are used to place realistic restraints on the model curve's geometry. To evaluate the quality of potential models and demonstrate the efficacy of this novel technique we developed a new statistic to compare the entangled geometry of two open curves, based on mathematical techniques from knot theory. The chain model is coupled with a novel explicit hydration shell model in order derive physically meaningful 3D models by optimizing configurations against experimental SAXS data using a monte-caro based algorithm. We show that the combination of our ab-initio method with spatial restraints based on contact predictions successfully derives a biologically plausible model of the coiled–coil component of the human synaptonemal complex central element protein. SIGNIFICANCE Small-angle X-ray scattering allows for structure determination of biological macromolecules and their complexes in aqueous solution. Using a discrete curve representation of the polypeptide chain and combining it with empirically determined constraints and a realistic solvent model we are now able to derive realistic ab-initio 3-dimensional models from BioSAXS data. The method only require a primary sequence and the scattering data form the user.


For detecting timing errors in a distributed real-time program (distributed real-time debugging) it is essential to know all combinations of execution paths where a given path experiences a worst-case blocking time through communication (server calls) among the subprograms. In this paper we deal with the subproblem of blocking sequences of server call pairs between 2 paths. For determining their worst-case blocking time a polynomial algorithm had been found recently by D. Huizinga. We build on this result for constructing an efficient algorithm that computes all worst-case blocking sequences. Its correctness and practicality for distributed real-time debugging are discussed. Its extension to the general case of n+1 paths is outlined.<<ETX>>


We have previously demonstrated that versican stimulated NIH3T3 fibroblast proliferation. Since versican is expressed in cartilage, we investigated whether versican plays a role in chondrocyte proliferation. We developed a technique to stably express a recombinant versican mini‐gene in chicken chondrocytes, and its effect on chondrocyte proliferation was analyzed by the increase in cell number. The effect of cell adhesion on cell proliferation was tested. Finally, the versican mini‐gene was truncated to assess the role of EGF‐like motifs in cell proliferation. Expression of the recombinant versican mini‐gene stimulated chondrocyte proliferation. Antisense oligonucleotides complementary to versican inhibited chondrocyte proliferation. The G1 domain of versican stimulated chondrocyte proliferation by destabilizing chondrocyte adhesion. Furthermore, deletion of the two EGF‐like motifs from the G3 domain also reduced the function of versican in stimulating cell proliferation. Versican enhances chondrocyte proliferation through a mechanism involving its G1 and G3 domains. This finding may have implications for our understanding of the pathogenesis of various joint diseases. J. Cell. Biochem. 73:445–457, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Coral reefs worldwide have become increasingly affected by a phenomenon known as "coral bleaching," the loss of the symbiotic algae from the host corals. The underlying causes and mechanism(s) of coral bleaching are not well known, although several have been hypothesized. While coral bleaching has been a primary focus in recent years, corals respond differentially to numerous environmental stresses. The impacts of heat, hydrocarbons, salinity, sewage effluents, biocides, heavy metals, and ultraviolet light have been investigated in both laboratory experiments and field surveys among multiple coral species. Herein what is known regarding the biological impacts of such stresses on corals at the molecular level of organization is summarized. The objective is to focus attention at the early stages of biological effects in order to encourage and facilitate research that provide ways to understand how changes at the molecular level might elucidate processes likely occurring at the population level. This, in turn, should accelerate studies that may elucidate the cellular and physiological changes contributing to coral decline, rather than just document the continued global loss of coral diversity and abundance.


Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP), possessing congestion control and unreliable transmission, specially suits real-time multimedia applications. Nevertheless, losses of key packets will cause a substantial decline on quality of services (QoS) in some applications. This paper proposes a DCCP partial reliability extension (PR-DCCP) that can retransmit lost packets as needed. Since DCCP uses an incremental sequence number, the retransmitted packets cannot utilize their original sequence number. To solve this problem, PR-DCCP adopts sequence number compensation, which appends an offset to the retransmitted packet; thus the receiver can use the sequence number of this retransmitted packet and the attached offset so as to re-obtain the original sequence number. The simulation uses two performance metrics: Decodable Frame Ratio (DFR) representing QoS, and Useless Data Received Ratio (UDRR) representing the bandwidth waste. These are used to evaluate different transport protocols, namely, PR-DCCP, DCCP, SCTP, TCP, and UDP. Simulation results show that PR-DCCP has the better DFR and UDRR than other transport protocols in almost all cases. For various movies, a DFR of PR-DCCP is 1.2% – 12.4% higher than that of DCCP; while UDRR is lower by 73.2% – 85.1%. Furthermore, the reliability policies to determine which packets require reliability are investigated.


Proanthocyanidins are extracted from grapes during red wine fermentation. The aim of this study was to understand the effect of proanthocyanidins on yeast metabolism, plasma membrane H+-ATPase, and wine fermentation. Two strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (industrial strain AWRI R2 and newly selected strain BH8) and a simple model fermentation system containing different concentrations of proanthocyanidins were used. The proanthocyanidins inhibited the activity of H+-ATPase during the initial phase of the fermentation, parallel to a decrease in cell growth, CO2 release, sugar consumption, and ethanol production. However, proanthocyanidins increased in the metabolism of cells and the activity of plasma membrane H+-ATPase at the mid-exponential phase. The period of fermentation was shortened by adding proanthocyanidins. In addition, yeast cells preincubated in YPD medium containing proanthocyanidins before inoculation in fermentation medium exhibited weaker inhibition during the initial phase of the fermentation, which may be among the mechanisms of the adaptive response to proanthocyanidins in yeasts. Results suggested that fermentation could be controlled by manipulating proanthocyanidin supplementation.


Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of stathmin 1 (STMN1) in ovarian cancer and its effect on prognosis. The effect and mechanism of STMN1 on the proliferation and migration of ovarian cancer cells were also investigated. Methods Expression of STMN1 was measured by immunohistochemical staining in ovarian cancer tissues. The effects of STMN1 on the proliferation and migration capacity of ovarian cancer were evaluated using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assays, colony formation assays, immunofluorescence staining, wound healing assays, and Transwell assays. Transcription factors were predicted by bioinformatic analysis of TCGA database. Results STMN1 was upregulated in ovarian cancer tissues as compared to paracancerous tissues and associated with shorter overall survival. STMN1 expression significantly correlated with FIGO staging and tumor differentiation (P < 0.05). Furthermore, STMN1 promoted proliferation and migration in ovarian cancer cell lines. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that STMN1 was potentially regulated by E2F transcription factors. Then, we found that E2F1 regulated the expression of STMN1 and affected proliferation. Conclusion STMN1 is overexpressed in ovarian cancer, and its high expression suggests a poor prognosis. STMN1 promotes the proliferation and migration of ovarian cancer and is regulated by E2F1. Thus, STMN1 may serve as a negative prognostic factor and possible target for the treatment of ovarian cancer patients.


Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a highly aggressive non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma characterized by the translocation and deregulation of the MYC (MyeloCytomatosis) gene on chromosome 8. Three distinct clinical forms of BL are recognized: endemic (African), sporadic (non-endemic), and immunodeficiency-associated. Bilateral renal infiltration leading to acute kidney injury (AKI) is a rare initial presentation of BL. Diagnosis is usually made after evaluating the histology and immunophenotyping of the affected tissue. We report a case of a 46-year-old male who presented with symptoms of AKI resulting from infiltrative disease, a primary presentation of lymphoma. The patient was a known case of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) for the last five years and was referred to the nephrology department due to acute elevation in creatinine, from 0.8 mg/dL to 3.57 mg/dL. On physical examination, there was no lymphadenopathy. Nephrology and SLE workup revealed low complement protein levels and absolute neutrophils, lymphocytes, and metamyelocytes. Renal ultrasound (USG) showed both kidneys with symmetric and edematous appearance. Biopsy affirmed high-grade B-cell lymphoma, positive for BCL-6 (B-cell leukemia/lymphoma) and CD-10 (cell surface marker) and negative for BCL-2 (B-cell leukemia/lymphoma). PET (positron emission tomography) scan showed extensive hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy in multiple areas. The patient was started on chemotherapy and on continuous renal replacement therapy. He improved clinically, and his creatinine lowered down to 0.8 mg/dL. Repeat USG showed decreased edematous appearance of both kidneys. Primary renal infiltration by BL is a rare presentation in adults. Prompt renal biopsy will change the course of treatment and can affect the prognosis. It is thoroughly advised to keep this malignancy in mind when making a diagnosis for AKI.


Background: The potential for medication errors in a hospital setting has led to a change from daily order writing to scheduled dosing. It has also been hypothesized that scheduled dosing may decrease the pharmacists' workload in a community teaching hospital. Objective: To evaluate the impact that scheduled warfarin dosing would have on patient safety for a pharmacist-run anticoagulation service. Methods: Two methods for managing warfarin in a pharmacist-run anticoagulation service were compared. A retrospective chart review was conducted on a random sample of 80 inpatients who received warfarin either from January 2006 through December 2006 (control/daily dosing group) or from January 2007 through March 2007 (scheduled dosing group). Patients not managed by pharmacists or with a target international normalized ratio (INR) range other than 2 to 3 were excluded. Results: A total of 35 patients met inclusion criteria; 20 patients were in the daily order (control) group and 15 were in the scheduled dosing group. A total of 7 doses were omitted in the daily dosing group, compared with none in the scheduled dosing group. Of the 7, 4 were omissions in administration and 3 were order omissions. In the control group, the dose was changed 47 times (36%) compared with 23 times (28%) in the scheduled dosing group. In the daily dosing group, 28 (22%) INRs were within the therapeutic range and 97 (78%) were in the nontherapeutic range. In the scheduled dosing group, 24 (25%) INRs were within the therapeutic range and 72 (75%) were in the nontherapeutic range. Conclusions: Scheduled dosing eliminated omission-type medication errors and was more efficient than daily dosing. The process change decreased pharmacist workload without having a negative impact on patient care.


Short-timescale microlensing events are likely to be produced by substellar brown dwarfs (BDs), but it is difficult to securely identify BD lenses based on only event timescales because short-timescale events can also be produced by stellar lenses with high relative lens-source proper motions. In this paper, we report three strong candidate BD-lens events found from the search for lensing events not only with short timescales ( ) but also with very small angular Einstein radii ( ) among the events that have been found in the 2016–2019 observing seasons. These events include MOA-2017-BLG-147, MOA-2017-BLG-241, and MOA-2019-BLG-256, in which the first two events are produced by single lenses and the last event is produced by a binary lens. From the Monte Carlo simulations of Galactic events conducted with the combined and constraint, it is estimated that the lens masses of the individual events are , , and and the probability of the lens mass smaller than the lower limit of stars is ∼80% for all events. We point out that routine lens mass measurements of short-timescale lensing events require survey-mode space-based observations.


Scheduling plays an important role in project management. However, in addition to providing suitable scheduling, constraints during project implementation should also be noted. This paper proposes bi-objective resource-constrained project scheduling model with the objectives of minimizing project completion time, as well as minimizing the leveling cost of the used resources, in accordance with the employer demands and the contractor developed. To better study this model performance, a real case study related to the topic, were selected. Since the proposed research problem has been proven to be NP-hard as well as large-scale case study, after analyzing the landscape, genetic algorithm to solve problem were offered. Finally, the results of solving real-world algorithms were compared with the results. Results show that the model and algorithm can be used in other similar projects as well.


Background. The U.S. healthcare system has consistently struggled with inefficiencies in Emergency Department (ED) usage (Enard & Ganelin, 2013). Other studies have established that interventions focusing on care coordination are not able to reduce utilization (Finkelstein, 2020), and current ED reduction programs in the literature focus on establishing patients in primary care (Raven, 2016). In community paramedicine programs, paramedics collaborate with interdisciplinary partners to address the needs of patients outside of traditional health care settings. The Gainesville Community Resource Paramedic Program (Gainesville CRP) was implemented in 2017 to provide an intervention to address social determinants that primary care providers (PCP) cannot address. Methods. A Student's t-test for paired samples was used to compare total ED visits as well as ED visits with and without hospital admission six months before and after program enrollment. Pearson's correlation between final change in total ED visits and total PCP visits for pre-CRP, post-CRP, and full-CRP were calculated to determine if there was evidence for bias in utilization patterns. Results. Among program participants (n = 53), significant reductions were observed among total (mean = 2.94, p < 0.001), without admission (mean = 1.30, p = 0.006), and with admission (mean = 1.64, p = 0.002). Significant reductions were also found among selected demographics and morbidities. Reductions in total ED visits were not associated with visits to a PCP before, after, or throughout. Conclusions. Gainesville CRP was able to reduce ED visits independent of PCPs indicating that the approach could inform other ED diversion programs.


generally recognized as the principal narrative source of medieval French passion plays; it was created through an imaginative use of legendary and apocryphal as well as canonical sources. Throughout the discussion Perry stresses the importance of the social context. She also maintains that the Passion des jongleurs, as it appears in Geufroi's work, is "semi-dramatic," occupying an intermediate stage between earlier narrative and later fully theatrical reproductions of the passion (p. 29). There is a moralizing feature in this literature which resembles some of the sermonic and commentary literature of the period. It is sad that Perry's untimely death will prevent us from reading further contributions from her lucid pen.


In this paper we analyze the X-ray, UV, and optical data of the Seyfert 1.5 galaxy 1H0419-577 with the aim of detecting and studying an ionized-gas outflow. The source was observed simultaneously in the X-rays with XMM-Newton and in the UV with HST-COS. Optical data were also acquired with the XMM-Newton Optical Monitor. We detected a thin, lowly ionized warm absorber (log ξ ≈ 0.03, logNH ≈ 19. 9c m −2 ) in the X-ray spectrum, which is consistent to be produced by the same outflow already detected in the UV. Provided the gas density estimated in the UV, the outflow is consistent to be located in the host galaxy at ∼kpc scale. Narrow emission lines were detected in the X-rays, in the UV and also in the optical spectrum. A single photoionized-gas model cannot account for all the narrow lines emission, indicating that the narrow line region is probably a stratified environment, differing in density and ionization. X-ray lines are unambiguously produced in a more highly ionized gas phase than the one emitting the UV lines. The analysis also suggests that the X-ray emitter may just be a deeper portion of the same gas layer producing the UV lines. Optical lines are probably produced in another disconnected gas system. The different ionization condition and the ∼pc scale location, suggested by the line width for the narrow lines emitters, are evidences against a connection between the warm absorber and the narrow line region in this source.


The previously reported effect of slower color-naming speed for connotatively inconsistent color-word combinations was investigated. As before, the effect was found when connotatively consistent cards were presented for color naming before connotatively inconsistent cards.


Previous studies using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) D-dimer in pulmonary embolism have suggested that the D-dimer cut-off should be adjusted for age. (Douma et al. BMJ 2010; 340 c.1475) Using a retrospective analysis from our DVT clinic we compared latex agglutination assay D-dimer values for patients without DVT in 10 year age brackets (1696 patients). There was a significant D-dimer level rise (compared to under 50 years) with advancing age.

View this table:

We analysed the data from positive DVTs to look for an age adjusted D-dimer cut-off. (212 patients)

![Figure][1]

By generating receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves we calculated 95% sensitivity D-dimer cut-off limits for the various age brackets. A clear relationship between age and D-dimer cut-off could not be shown.

![Figure][1]

Our data again showed that D-dimer level rises with advancing age. However, with our assay an age adjusted D-dimer cut-off could not be deduced without reducing sensitivity.

 [1]: pending:yes


A 72-year-old Japanese man was referred to our hospital with yellow discoloration of the sclera and liver dysfunction. He was diagnosed with acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on the basis of HCV-RNA positivity and anti-HCV seroconversion. A transjugular liver biopsy confirmed submassive hepatic necrosis. Five days after admission, no flapping tremor was observed, and the prothrombin time-international normalized ratio (PT-INR) and total bilirubin level showed increases of 1.70 and 17.8 mg/dL, respectively. The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score was determined to be 25, and the risk of acute liver failure (ALF) was estimated to be 48% according to the Japan Hepatic Encephalopathy Prediction Model. Considering that rapid HCV clearance and temporary suppression of the immune response would prevent ALF, we prescribed oral ledipasvir (LDV) 90 mg and sofosbuvir (SOF) 400 mg for 12 weeks and intravenously injected methylprednisolone 1 g for 3 days. His PT-INR promptly improved, although the total bilirubin level increased to 30.3 mg/dL. Plasma bilirubin absorption was performed three times, and the total bilirubin level gradually decreased. HCV-RNA was still detectable at six weeks after the start of LDV/SOF therapy and finally undetectable at eight weeks. There were no adverse events associated with LDV/SOF. The patient was discharged 73 days after admission. A sustained virological response was achieved at 12 and 24 weeks after treatment. The findings from this case suggest that LDV/SOF therapy can be a promising option for acute HCV monoinfection associated with a high risk of ALF.


BACKGROUND
Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma is a rare tumor of vascular origin with nonspecific clinical and radiologic presentation. Cytologic findings described in the few case reports are variable.

CASE
We describe a rare case of unifocal, hepatic hemangioendothelioma in a 47-year-old woman; a broad differential diagnosis of malignant neoplasm was considered during on-site evaluation of fine needle aspiration (FNA); diagnosis was made on subsequent core biopsy. To better describe the cytologic findings, FNA was performed on the resected tumor. The cytologic feature of this tumor, comparison with histol ogy findings and the differential diag nosis are discussed in detail.

CONCLUSION
A correct diagnosis of hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma can be rendered in cytology when an adequate specimen is obtained. The smears are characterized by a discohesive population of atypical cells in a clean background, fragments of metachromatic stroma, scattered benign hepatocytes and bile duct epithelium. The atypical cells are polygonal with abundant, dense cytoplasm and occasional tailing. On careful review, a few cells with a sharp, punched out intracytoplasmic lumen can be seen. The nuclei are round to reniform, with fine chromatin and occasionally prominent nucleoli. Sharply defined intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusions are seen in many cells, better appreciated in Papanicolaou-stained smears.


Purpose

This study aims to investigate whether organizational commitment in small and medium-sized family enterprises (FSMEs) is associated with their employees' contextual performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative and exploratory research approach was adopted focusing on FSMEs based in an inland region of Portugal. These were considered family firms, being owned exclusively by one or a small number of families. The data-collecting instrument was based on a questionnaire, with the final sample being composed of 101 employees.

Findings

The results obtained allow the conclusion that in FSMEs, affective commitment has a positive influence on contextual performance, as employees in this firm segment have an emotional connection in the context in which they are situated.

Practical implications

The authors can point out the fact that the strong association between affective commitment and employees' contextual performance has a relevant role in FSMEs. Therefore, these firms must be aware of this type of organizational commitment, as affective commitment increasingly influences their employees' and teams' performance.

Originality/value

The study contributes to advancing theory regarding the relationship between organizational commitment and contextual performance in small and medium-sized enterprises with a family structure. A new dimension of organizational commitment (Imperative) was considered in the family firm context.


Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. More than 90% of primary thyroid cancers are differentiated papillary or follicular types. The prognosis for patients with differentiated thyroid carcinomas is favorable. Female gender and younger age (<50 years) are good prognostic factors. The diagnosis of papillary thyroid cancer is not difficult with ultrasonography and fine-needle aspiration cytology under ultrasonography, whereas that of follicular cancer is difficult, especially of minimally invasive follicular carcinoma. The diagnosis of most follicular cancer is made by pathologic diagnosis postoperatively. The primary treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinoma is thyroid surgery with lymph node dissection. The extent of resection of the thyroid gland depends on size the of the thyroid cancer and area of invasion. If a patient has distant metastasis, total thyroideectomy and radioactive iodine ablation therapy, followed by L-thyroxine therapy, should be offered. The extent of initial surgery, indications for radioiodine ablation therapy, and the degree of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) suppression are all issues that are still being debated. The aim of TSH-suppressive therapy is to restore euthyroidism and to decrease serum TSH levels to reduce the growth and progression of thyroid cancer.


Abstract Objective: We examined whether breakfast frequency was associated with chronic inflammatory, as assessed by high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Kailuan community, China. Participants: Included were 70 092 Chinese adults without CVD and cancer in 2014 with CRP concentrations <10 mg/l, when breakfast frequency was assessed via a questionnaire, and plasma CRP concentration was measured. Results: Breakfast frequency was associated with CRP concentration (P-trend < 0·001). The adjusted mean CRP was 1·33 mg/l (95 % CI 1·23, 1·44) for the 'no breakfast' group and 1·07 mg/l (95 % CI 1·0, 1·14) for the 'breakfast everyday' group (P-difference < 0·001), adjusting for age, sex, diet quality, total energy, obesity, education, occupation, marital status, smoking, alcohol consumption, blood pressure, sleep parameters, fasting blood glucose and lipid profiles. Consistently, the adjusted OR for CRP ≥ 1·0 mg/l and CRP ≥ 3·0 mg/l were 1·86 (95 % CI 1·73, 2·00) and 1·27 (95 % CI 1·15, 1·40), respectively, when comparing these two breakfast consumption groups (P-trend < 0·001 for both). The associations were more pronounced among older adults, relative to those who were younger (P-interaction < 0·001). Significant association between breakfast skipping and elevated CRP concentration was observed in those with poor diet quality, but not those with good diet quality. Conclusions: Habitually skipping breakfast is associated with elevated concentrations of CRP. Future prospective studies including repeated assessment of inflammatory biomarkers and a collection of detailed information on type and amount of breakfast foods are warranted.


Colloidal nanocrystals are appealing candidates for low cost optoelectronic applications because they can combine the advantages of both organic materials, such as their easy processing, and the excellent performance of inorganic systems. Here, we report the use of two-dimensional colloidal nanoplatelets for photodetection. We show that the nanoplatelets photoresponse can be enhanced by two to three orders of magnitude when they are incorporated in an all solid electrolyte-gated phototransistor. We extend this technique to build the first colloidal quantum dot-based bicolor detector with a response switchable between the visible and near-IR.


Tributaries and headwaters of major rivers are known to be important spawning and nursery habitats of freshwater endemic fishes in south-western Australia (see for example the Collie River in Pen & Potter 1990, and the Blackwood River in Beatty et al. 2006, 2008). Fishes of the Margaret River have previously been examined by Morgan et al. (1998) and Morgan & Beatty (2003) with the monitoring of the functioning of the two fishways on the river documented in Morgan & Beatty (2004, 2007) and Beatty & Morgan (2008). The river is known to be of conservation importance due to it housing five of the eight endemic freshwater fishes of the south-west region, as well as housing the majority (five of the six species) of the Cherax species of freshwater crayfishes found in the south-west; including the Margaret River endemic Critically Endangered Hairy Marron.

Despite this known value and considerable volume of research on the fishes in the main channel of the Margaret River, little is known on the fishes and freshwater crayfishes of the river 19s major tributaries. The aim of this study is to document the freshwater fish distribution in the major tributaries of the Margaret River (i.e. Bramley, Darch, and Yalgardup Brooks) during or close to the breeding period for the majority of the species and to provide a broad assessment and comparison of population demographics of the different species in the different tributaries. This information is required for the formulation of River Action Plans for these systems by the Cape to Cape Catchments Group.


Studies previously conducted in our laboratory have shown that an extract from the leaves of Chromo‐laena odorata is mitogenic for human skin fibroblasts and keratinocytes. However, lipopolysaccharides, sometimes present in plant extracts, can also play a role in cell growth and might have been responsible for or contributed to the mitogenic activity observed. The present study aimed to investigate whether a lipopolysaccharide would have any effect on the proliferation of human fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Cells were seeded in 96‐well plates and concentrations from 0.0 to 5.0 μg/mL of lipopolysaccharide in basal or growth medium were added. Cell growth was determined over a period of 10 days using a colorimetric assay. Lipopolysaccharide at concentrations between 0.05 μg/mL and 0.5 μg/mL in the growth medium significantly stimulated fibroblast proliferation after incubation for more than 6 days. In basal medium, more than 8 days of incubation was needed for significant stimulation of growth. Lipopolysaccharide stimulation of keratinocytes was evident at 0.5 μg/mL by day 3 in basal medium and by day 5 in growth medium. Although the lipopolysaccharide did stimulate cell growth it did so only at higher concentrations than were present in our plant extracts and to a lesser degree. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Genetic susceptibility to coeliac disease (CD) is strongly associated with the expression of the HLA-DQ2 (alpha1(*)0501, beta1(*)0201) allele. There is evidence that this DQ2 molecule plays a role in the pathogenesis of CD as a restriction element for gliadin-specific T cells in the gut. However, it remains largely unclear which fragments of gliadin can actually be presented by the disease-associated DQ dimer. With a view to identifying possible CD-inducing antigens, we studied the peptide binding properties of DQ2. For this purpose, peptides bound to HLA-DQ2 were isolated and characterized. Dominant peptides were found to be derived from two self-proteins: in addition to several size-variants of the invariant chain (li)-derived CLIP peptide, a relatively large amount of an major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I-derived peptide was found. Analogues of this naturally processed epitope (MHClalpha46 - 63) were tested in a cell-free peptide binding competition assay to investigate the requirements for binding to DQ2. First, a core sequence of 10 amino acids within the MHClalpha46 - 63 peptide was identified. By subsequent single amino acid substitution analysis of this core sequence, five putative anchor residues were identified at relative positions P1, P4, P6, P7, and P9. Replacement by the large, positively charged Lys at these positions resulted in a dramatic loss of binding. However, several other non-conservative substitutions had little or no discernable effect on the binding capacity of the peptides.


This paper is going to explain the substance of the SPS Agreement, which is focused on achieving a balanced relationship between biotechnology and international trade. Various cases decided by the WTO settlement system in this area will also be referenced (Part II). In addition, the paper will focus on a particularly controversial aspect of applying the SPS Agreement: the Assessment of Risk and Determination of the Appropriate Level of Sanitary or Phytosanitary Protection. The strict interpretation of what the DSS has been doing in regards to Article 5 SPS Agreement has meant so far that all national measures have been considered inconsistent with the SPS Agreement. This result is questionable and calls for reflection on how regulatory diversity on sensitive issues such as SPS measures can be considered as beneficial, or at least tolerable, in the realm of the WTO (Part III). To analyze this question from different prisms, the paper will also devotes a section to study the SPS Agreement from the perspective of the developing countries (Part IV). Once all of these considerations have been made, the paper will present a final conclusion (Part V).


Vector clip-art images consist of regions bounded by a network of vector curves. Users often wish to reshape, or rescale, existing clip-art images by changing the locations, proportions, or scales of different image elements. When reshaping images depicting synthetic content they seek to preserve global and local structures. These structures are best preserved when the gradient of the mapping between the original and the reshaped curve networks is locally as close as possible to a uniform scale; mappings that satisfy this property maximally preserve the input curve orientations and minimally change the shape of the input's geometric details, while allowing changes in the relative scales of the different features. The expectation of approximate scale uniformity is local; while reshaping operations are typically expected to change the relative proportions of a subset of network regions, users expect the change to be minimal away from the directly impacted regions and expect such changes to be gradual and distributed as evenly as possible. Unfortunately, existing methods for editing 2D curve networks do not satisfy these criteria. We propose a targeted As-Locally-Uniform-as-Possible (ALUP) vector clip-art reshaping method that satisfies the properties above. We formulate the computation of the desired output network as the solution of a constrained variational optimization problem. We effectively compute the desired solution by casting this continuous problem as a minimization of a non-linear discrete energy function, and obtain the desired minimizer by using a custom iterative solver. We validate our method via perceptual studies comparing our results to those created via algorithmic alternatives and manually generated ones. Participants preferred our results over the closest alternative by a ratio of 6 to 1.