Microarray-based gene expression analysis allows us to understand a comprehensive transcriptional profile as one of the fine cellular phenotypes after anticancer drug treatment. Analytical programs with bioinformatics are also useful to connect a gene expression fingerprint pattern with relevant cellular pathways to drug treatment. We have so far tested more than 40 anticancer small molecules, including standard drugs and investigational ones, with respect to their transcriptional profiles using a unified microarray assay condition. Interestingly, our pilot study to evaluate14 different anticancer agents simultaneously using Affymetrix GeneChip arrays illuminated that 6 sulfonamide derivatives had highly correlated transcriptional profiles with cosine coefficients being more than 0.70 in all pairwise combinations. By contrast, cosine coefficients were less than 0.30 in all combinations between one from the 6 sulfonamide derivatives and the other from the remaining 8 test compounds. These sulfonamide derivatives consist of chloroquinoxaline sulfonamide (CQS), LY186641 (sulofenur), LY295501, LY573636 (tasisulam), E7070 (indisulam) and E7820, all of which have been actively investigated in clinical trials. Among them, LY573636 is a most advanced agent, currently undergoing a phase III study in comparison with paclitaxel as second line treatment in patients with melanoma. E7820 is also being evaluated in a phase II study in combination with cetuximab in patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. To examine whether these 6 sulfonamide derivatives truly share the same cellular target and mechanism of action (MOA), we further carried out 40 cancer cell line COMPARE analysis and cell-based cross-resistance assays. In the former experiment, these 6 sulfonamide derivatives demonstrated very similar antiproliferative meangraph profiles with Pearson9s correlation coefficients being more than 0.82 in all pairwise combinations. The latter experiment revealed that two E7070-resistant sub-clonal colorectal cancer cell lines HCT116-C9C1 and -C9C4 were cross-resistant to the other 5 sulfonamide derivatives than E7070. Importantly, the drug resistance mechanism was considered irrelevant to P-gp overexpression. Despite long and intensive exploratory researches, the precise cellular target and MOA of this class of anticancer agents have yet to be fully elucidated. A piece of information has been reported on the production of reactive oxygen species and mitochondria-mediated cellular apoptosis with LY573636 and E7820, independently. Our chemical transcriptomic profiling and pathway analysis herein define a novel class of anticancer sulfonamide derivatives. The present data may provide some insight into their unique MOA based on the distinctive and profound down-regulation of sets of critical cellular metabolism genes. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 580. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-580


Study Design. A quantitative meta-analysis was conducted on published studies reporting fusion rates after open or minimally invasive/mini-open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) procedures for single or multilevel degenerative disease including stenosis with spondylolisthesis and degenerative disc disease. Objectives. The primary aim of this study was to establish benchmark fusion rates for open TLIF and minimally invasive TLIF (mTLIF) based on published studies. A secondary goal was to review complication rates for both approaches. Summary of Background Data. Lumbar fusion for the treatment of degenerative disease has evolved from a purely posterior noninstrumented approach to a combination of anterior and/or posterior surgery with instrumentation. The increasingly popular transforaminal approach has advanced to incorporate minimally invasive spinal techniques. There currently exist no controlled comparisons between open TLIF and mTLIF. Methods. A Medline search was performed to identify studies reporting fusion rate on open TLIF or mTLIF with instrumentation. A database including patient demographic information, fusion rate, and complication rate was created. Fusion and complication rates were pooled according to whether TLIF was performed with open or minimally invasive technique. Publication bias was assessed with Egger's test, and adjustments were performed using Duval and Tweedie's Trim and Fill algorithm. Results. Twenty-three articles were identified that fit inclusion criteria. In each of the 23 studies, TLIF was performed with pedicle fixation and fusion was evaluated using radiograph or computed tomography scan at minimum 6-month follow-up. Overall, the studies included 1028 patients, 46.8% of which were female. The mean age of all patients was 49.7 (range, 38–64.9), and mean follow-up interval for assessment of fusion was 26.6 months (range, 6–46 months). The usage of recombinant bone morphologic protein was higher in the mTLIF group (50% vs. 12%). Mean fusion rate from 16 studies (716 patients) of open TLIF was 90.9%, whereas mean fusion rate from 8 studies (312 patients) of mTLIF was 94.8%. Complication rate was 12.6% and 7.5% for open and mTLIF, respectively. Conclusion. Fusion rates for both open and mTLIF are relatively high and in similar ranges. Complication rates are also similar, with a trend toward mTLIF having a lower rate. This analysis provides clear benchmarks for fusion rates in open and mTLIF procedures for spine surgeons.


Over the last several years, the observation of large scale turbulent flow structures in turbulent boundary layer
flows has stimulated intense experimental and numerical investigations with the aim of characterizing not only the
topological features of the coherent structures but also their dynamics. Due to the large length of the structures
(approximately 7-14 times the boundary layer thickness) it is very difficult to analyze them reliably since both a
large field of view and a high spatial resolution are simultaneously required to measure all relevant spatial scales.
Moreover, a low uncertainty of the experimental techniques is required as the disturbance of the mean velocity field
due to the large scale structures can be quite weak. This holds in particular true for investigations at small Reynolds
numbers. As a consequence of the recent technological progress, the required measurement uncertainty can be
reached with sophisticated image analysis techniques but the resolution of the structures requires a high number of
cameras. Therefore, 16 sCMOS cameras in total were provided by different research organizations in order to
perform large scale turbulent boundary layer measurements with appropriate spatial resolution. In the case of adverse pressure gradients (APG) the topology and dynamics of the large scale turbulent flow structures is
unknown, as is their significance for the statistical properties of the flow. Therefore the fundamental aim of this project was to resolve and characterize these structures in an APG boundary layer flow at the Laboratoire de Mecanique de Lille (LML) wind tunnel. To access the span-wise / wall normal signature of the structures as well,
stereoscopic PIV measurements in span-wise/wall-normal planes were performed at specific stream-wise locations
in addition. To complement these large field of view measurements, long-range micro-PIV, time resolved near wall velocity profiles and film-based measurements were performed in order to determine the wall-shear stress and ist fluctuations at some specific locations along the model, see Soria et al. (2016).


The title compound, C8H6S2, is disordered [occupancy ratio = 0.839 (2):0.161 (2)] and sits across a centre of symmetry. In the crystal, the molecules are linked by a weak C—H⋯π interaction.


Cardiac cells' total homogenates and subcellular components Ca++, CaATPase and alkaline protease levels were matched with their respective microscopic samples in order to ascertain their role in the formation of contraction bands. It was seen that those samples having contraction bands also had a high incidence of intracellular Ca++, low CaATPase and high alkaline protease levels. This study confirms reports that contraction bands are not limited to pathological hearts (Adomian et al., 1977), but neither are they limited to artifacts related to autopsy procedures. They were seen in varying degrees of severity in hearts of healthy rats sacrificed by decapitation and less frequently with only sarcomeric involvement to absence of in animals sacrificed by diethyl ether overdose. It is postulated that the elevated Ca++ activated alkaline protease (pH 8.5) by inhibiting its inhibitor (Waxman and Krebs, 1978). It may have inhibited total CaATPase activity (Hasselbach, 1974) as well. We believe that the activated alkaline protease produced irreversible contraction bands by lysing the microhinge between light and heavy meromyosin.


BACKGROUND
Blood pressure (BP) is a reflection of hemodynamic variables. It is an important vital sign and indicator of clinical stability. Accurate measurement of this physiological signal is essential for the optimal management of the ill infant. An increase in the awareness of hypertension among neonates has resulted to increased ability to diagnose neonates with the disease.

OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to determine BP values in apparently healthy term newborns in the first 48 h of life and evaluate the factors affecting BP at birth.

METHODS
Three hundred and ten healthy appropriate for gestational age term newborns were consecutively recruited. BP measurements were determined using the oscillometric technique with the neonate supine after an appropriate size cuff was applied on the right arm. The monitor (Dinamap 8100) is switched on while the cuff inflation and deflation is automatically done by the instrument with subsequent display of the BP values on the screen. BP measurements were taken at age 0-24 h and 25-48 h. Their weight was measured with infant's weighing scale, and data analyzed with SPSS version 15.

RESULTS
The mean systolic BP (SBP), diastolic and mean arterial BP at 0-24 h were 63.3 ± 5.5 mmHg, 36.8 ± 5.3 mmHg and 46.4 ± 5.2 mmHg respectively. There was a positive correlation between birth weight and SBP at birth. No significant correlation was found between BP and gender, mode of delivery or maternal age.

CONCLUSION
This study provides current normative BP values that can be used in neonatal Intensive Care Unit.


The study of women in management in the Ghanaian business literature is a fairly neglected area. In relation to Ghana however, there is no study that has sought to explore the nuances that characterise the work of women in marketing. This study investigated the characteristics of successful Ghanaian women in the marketing. Criteria for choosing successful women included the completion of at least a decade of marketing practice and the acquisition of substantial marketing knowledge before or during their marketing careers either through formal degree programmes, diplomas or executive education programmes. Key findings included 90% of the successful women surveyed indicating that had control over their own careers, 50% of the respondents agreeing that others had control over their careers, with another 50% disagreeing. 80% of the successful marketing women had mentors but these mentors were not engaged in the marketing profession themselves. 60% of the mentors for these women were men however. Family takes a central role in the lives of successful marketing women in Ghana and this finding contradicted the findings of White et al (1997), who contend that work takes a central role in the lives of successful women. All the respondents believed that their marketing success could be traced to their high need for achievement and this is consistent with Nath (2000) who observed that professional women in India also possessed individual drive for success. This study was exploratory. Recommendations for future research included the replication of the study for the other professional disciplines in Ghana like accountancy and human resources management. Other studies also need to be carried out among female professionals in Ghana; which studies will focus on middle-level and female junior staff; to begin to understand the challenges they might be facing in their quest to climb up the corporate ladder. Gender & Behaviour Vol.3 2005: 348-360


This paper presents and discusses results from the research project LETS 2050 that studies the governance challenges of a transition to a low-carbon transport and energy system in Sweden by 2050 (www.lets2050.se ). A key starting point of the project was that a low carbon transition is technically possible and economically feasible, while the main challenge is political. At the moment there is an on-going process both internationally and by national governments to develop road maps for a low carbon transition. While there is an emerging consensus on the need for a low carbon transition there is disagreement and uncertainty regarding how such a transition will look like. Furthermore, there is even more uncertainty on what kind of politics is needed for a successful transition. The aim of the paper is to explore how a politics for a low carbon transition might look like for Sweden. The Swedish case is analysed through the lens of two theoretical perspectives – transition studies and political ecology – which both deal with the question of system change towards sustainability. In the paper we discuss the potential role of a positive narrative about a low-carbon future and the need for a re-negotiated 'social contract' for change. The objective to avoid dangerous climate impact will in itself not be enough to establish societal consensus for the transition. Instead, in analogy with the genesis of the welfare state, a transition embracing society as a whole has to appeal to other societal interests and to all major social groups. Special attention is devoted to rethinking the role of the state in a future transition. We argue that the challenge will require a revitalization of politics and the return of the state, although not necessarily in its traditional hierarchical form. The paper is based on empirical research in Sweden and we illustrate our findings with examples from the fields of energy and transport policy. The results show that there is a lack in Swedish climate governance when it comes to supporting technology development and in institutionalising low-carbon priorities in policy making. (Less)


A mandatory tomato-free period (TFP) was implemented in the state of Goiás, Brazil, in 2007 to help manage diseases caused by whitefly-transmitted begomoviruses. The impact of the TFP was examined in five locations across three states in Central Brazil from 2013-2016. Surveys revealed significant differences in begomovirus disease incidence among locations, i.e., low in Guaíra-TFP and Patos de Minas-TFP, moderate-high in Itaberaí-TFP and Morrinhos-TFP, and high in the non-TFP (NTFP) control, Cristalina-NTFP. PCR tests and DNA sequencing were used to validate the symptoms, and showed that all collected symptomatic plant samples were infected with tomato severe rugose virus (ToSRV), a common indigenous bipartite begomovirus. Early season surveys (20-40 days after transplants [DAT]) in Itaberaí-TFP and Morrinhos-TFP revealed significantly less begomovirus disease in fields established sooner after the TFP (0-2 months) compared with incidences in (i) equivalent early-planted fields in the Cristalina-NTFP control; and (ii) in fields established longer after the end of the TFP (>2-5 months). Whitefly infestation of crops was detected year-round in all locations and years, and all tested adults were classified in the Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 cryptic species. Infestation levels were significantly higher during the summer, but did not vary significantly among locations. Results of monthly monitoring of adult whiteflies for general begomovirus and ToSRV detection was positively correlated, and was an indicator of disease incidence in the field. Notably, ToSRV was not detected in whiteflies collected from non-tomato plants during the TFP, and there was a longer lag period before detection in whiteflies collected from processing tomatoes for Itaberaí-TFP and Morrinhos-TFP compared with Cristalina-NTFP. Taken together with the low levels of ToSRV infection detected in potential non-tomato reservoir hosts at all locations, our results revealed low levels of primary inoculum during the TFP. Thus, even in a complex agroecosystem with year-round whitefly infestation of crops, the TFP was beneficial because of delayed and reduced begomovirus disease pressure during a critical stage of plant development (first month) and for favoring low levels of primary inoculum. Thus, we concluded that the TFP should be part of a regional IPM program targeting ToSRV in Brazil.


The rail is one of the most important components of railways. It serves directly as a running track for the rolling stock in this transportation system, suffering wear because of this. Most of the manual equipment for measuring these problems does not allow fast data acquisition, requiring point-to-point measurements, besides it usually has a high price. As an alternative to collecting data efficiently and detecting wear on rails, it was proposed to build an equipment prototype for discrete image acquisition in a row and, through the processing of these images using computational techniques, to extract the desired measure of the wear. It was developed a mobile rail track cart for capturing images of the rail with the profile demarked by a laser beam. All the photos of the databank were processed in laboratory using the implemented processing routine, being possible to extract the values of the vertical wear measurement and compare it with the measurements made with a template tool. The results showed a maximum absolute mean error of 0,80 millimeters (comparing the average of the measurements with the measurement of the manual template) and maximum standard deviation of 0,9794 mm for vertical wear, in addition to the values of absolute mean error of 0,43 mm and maximum standard deviation among the experiments of 0,6046 mm for lateral wear. It was possible to verify that the built prototype and the processing algorithm were able to acquire the data efficiently and portray the wear.


Outliers are often ignored or even removed from data analysis. In cancer, however, single outlier cells can be of major importance, since they have uncommon characteristics that may confer capacity to invade, metastasize, or resist to therapy. Here we present the Single-Cell OUTlier analysis (SCOUT), a resource for single-cell data analysis focusing on outlier cells, and the SCOUT Selector (SCOUTS), an application to systematically apply SCOUT on a dataset over a wide range of biological markers. Using publicly available datasets of cancer samples obtained from mass cytometry and single-cell RNA-seq platforms, outlier cells for the expression of proteins or RNAs were identified and compared to their non-outlier counterparts among different samples. Our results show that analyzing single-cell data using SCOUT can uncover key information not easily observed in the analysis of the whole population.


The existing scheme of disaster-tolerant cann't satisfy the requirments for confidential datum. The systemic framework of distributed secure storage is put forward. The structure of metedata servers, storage servers and the mechanism of data renewal are designed. According to the requirement for security of the storage system, the secure coding scheme of information dispersal algorithm based on cross-checksum is realized. When the users who have no authority access or the storage servers are faulty exhibiting Byzantine behavior, the shecme is effectively. The results show that the methods in this paper build a balance between the security and the computing cost, and it can meet the requirements of some special applications.


Metastases of solid tumors to the eye and ocular adnexa are rare. Herein, the authors describe the clinical, histologic, and immunohistochemical findings of a patient with a history of adenocarcinoma of the colon and a uterine carcinosarcoma (malignant mixed Müllerian tumor) who presented with proptosis and decreased vision. Positive staining with PAX-8, p16 and negative reaction for CK20 and CDX2 helped to establish the uterine origin of the metastasis. This rare case demonstrates the utility of immunohistochemical probes, especially in patients with a complex oncological history, where multiple primary sources of the metastasis are in the differential diagnosis.


In gene therapy for congenital disorders, treatments during neonate and infant stages are promising. Replication-incompetent adenovirus (Ad) vectors have been used in gene therapy studies of genetic disorders; however, the transduction properties of Ad vectors in neonates and infants have not been fully examined. Accordingly, this study examined the properties of Ad vector-mediated transduction in neonatal mice. A first-generation Ad vector containing a cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter-driven luciferase expression cassette was administered to neonatal mice on the second day of life via retro-orbital sinus. The highest Ad vector genome copy numbers and transgene expression were found in the neonatal liver. The neonatal heart exhibited the second highest levels of transgene expression among the organs examined. There was an approximately 1500-fold difference in the transgene expression levels between the adult liver and heart, while the neonatal liver exhibited only an approximately 30-fold higher level of transgene expression than the neonatal heart. A liver-specific promoter for firefly luciferase expression conferred a more than 100-fold higher luciferase expression in the liver relative to the other organs. No apparent hepatotoxicity was observed in neonatal mice following Ad vector administration. These findings should provide valuable information for gene therapy using Ad vectors in neonates and infants.


: A cab and operator's workplace on a caterpillar tractor of the traction class 3 DT-175C called Volgar' has a number of constructive disadvantages, i.e., lack of correspondence of some ergonomic parameters with permissible values. Constructive disadvantages of the workplace cause forced bent, asymmetric work posture of a tractor driver which, combined with uneven distribution of the work load on the locomotor system, specify the appearance of hand ache and pain in the small of driver's back along with deterioration of the functional state of the nervous muscular system (hand and back muscular force).


Abstract Explaining the growth of disturbances superimposed on mean flows is a central problem in meteorology. Most widely studied models of the development process involve perturbations to shear flows with shear restricted to the meridional direction. Recently the importance of zonal variation of the mean flow was recognized and the study of shear flows extended to include zonal variation in shear. These studies found that the eigenfunctions associated with unstable modes in the simple shear problem are highly sensitive to zonal variation of the mean flow. However, there also exists another mechanism for development in a zonally inhomogeneous flow field: transient growth not associated with exponential instability. Properly configured perturbations exhibit transient growth in deformation fields associated with regions of confluence and diffluence at rates comparable to development in shear flow. In this work analytic solution of the linear initial value problem for the barotropic vorticity equation in de...


In this paper, an optimized efficient VLSI architecture of a pipeline Fast Fourier transform (FFT) processor capable of producing the reverse output order sequence is presented. Paper presents Radix-2 multipath delay architecture for FFT calculation. The implementation of FFT in hardware is very critical because for calculation of FFT number of butterfly operations i.e. number of multipliers requires due to which hardware gets increased means indirectly cost of hardware is automatically gets increased. Also multiplier operations are slow that's why it limits the speed of operation of architecture. The optimized VLSI implementation of FFT algorithm is presented in this paper. Here architecture is pipelined to optimize it and to increase the speed of operation. Also to increase the speed of operation 2 levels parallel processing is used.


Background:Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common chronic liver diseases worldwide. Experimental evidence has proposed the beneficial effects of Cornus mas L. (cornelian cherry) extract, as a rich source of anthocyanins, on steatosis and central obesity. However, very few clinical trials were conducted in this regard. We investigated the effect of total anthocyanin-base standardized cornelian cherry fruit extract on hepatic steatosis index (HSI) and NAFLD liver fat score (NAFLD-LFS), and visceral adiposity index (VAI) in patients with NAFLD.Methods:The present study was conducted as a double-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial among 50 subjects suffering from NAFLD. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive cornelian cherry extract (20 cc/d, which provides 320 mg/d total anthocyanin) or placebo for 12 weeks.Results:There was no difference between the two groups in HSI, NAFLD-LFS and VAI at the baseline. After 12-week intervention, cornelian cherry extract compared to the placebo demonstrated no significant effect on HSI (change: -0.9 ± 3.5 vs. -1.2 ± 3.2; P = 0.72), NAFLD-LFS (change: 0.2 ± 1.3 vs. 0.1 ± 0.7; P = 0.62), and VAI (change: 0.05 ± 0.7 vs. 0.07 ± 1.0; P = 0.94).Conclusion:Cornelian cherry extract (20 cc/d) for 12 weeks has no effect on steatosis and visceral obesity. To better conclude, further trials with longer intervention durations are required. Trial registration: The study protocol was registered on 30 September 2018 at Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials under code IRCT20180419039359N1 (https://www.irct.ir/trial/30707).


Software built on top of machine learning algorithms is becoming increasingly prevalent in a variety of fields, including college admissions, healthcare, insurance, and justice. The effectiveness and efficiency of these systems heavily depend on the quality of the training datasets. Biased datasets can lead to unfair and potentially harmful outcomes, particularly in such critical decision-making systems where the allocation of resources may be affected. This can exacerbate discrimination against certain groups and cause significant social disruption. To mitigate such unfairness, a series of bias-mitigating methods are proposed. Generally, these studies improve the fairness of the trained models to a certain degree but with the expense of sacrificing the model performance. In this paper, we propose FITNESS, a bias mitigation approach via de-correlating the causal effects between sensitive features (e.g., the sex) and the label. Our key idea is that by de-correlating such effects from a causality perspective, the model would avoid making predictions based on sensitive features and thus fairness could be improved. Furthermore, FITNESS leverages multi-objective optimization to achieve a better performance-fairness trade-off. To evaluate the effectiveness, we compare FITNESS with 7 state-of-the-art methods in 8 benchmark tasks by multiple metrics. Results show that FITNESS can outperform the state-of-the-art methods on bias mitigation while preserve the model's performance: it improved the model's fairness under all the scenarios while decreased the model's performance under only 26.67% of the scenarios. Additionally, FITNESS surpasses the Fairea Baseline in 96.72% cases, outperforming all methods we compared.


Purpose : As declines in the quality of residential environments occur, such as urban heat island effect, tropical night phenomenon, and violations of right to light and privacy due to urban densification and high rise building, these problems are emerging as social issues. In order to improve these issues, design factors which consider environmental aspects must be selected when planning apartment complexes, and ways to reflect them in the planning phase must be explored. Method : In this study, the analytical hierarchy process(AHP) was used to deduce design factors that considered environmental elements during the planning of apartment complexes. Furthermore, the priority and weight for each evaluation index were assessed. The objective was to propose a guideline for planning apartment complexes by finding the best solution for each evaluation index using complex weight values. Result : Floor area ratio was selected as the most important evaluation criterion in the environmentally conscious evaluation index for apartment complex planning. The shape and placement of skylights were selected as the most important evaluation criteria in the sunshine environment for a pleasant residential environment. Ground surface cover design was selected as the most important criterion in the outdoor thermal environment index for improving the microclimate within cities and apartment complexes. Thus, the results of this study can serve as an investigation guideline that concerns policy and regulations, and as reference data that can be used in planning apartment complexes.


Abstract There is some evidence from studies in adults and limited evidence from studies in children that eating later in the day may increase the risk of overweight and obesity. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated associations between evening meal timing in children and their weight status and energy intake. Dietary data obtained from the UK's National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme (2008–2012) for 768 children aged 4–10 years and 852 children aged 11–18 years were analysed. We tested for an association between evening meal timing (consuming the evening meal before or after 20.00 hours) and risk of overweight and/or obesity, adjusting for relevant confounding variables. We also explored whether evening meal timing was associated with overall nutrient intake. We found no association between evening meal timing and risk of obesity or risk of overweight and obesity combined in either the 4–10 years age group (obesity: OR 1·43; 95 % CI 0·49, 4·13; obesity and overweight combined: OR 1·33; 95 % CI 0·53, 3·33) or the 11–18 years age group (obesity: OR 0·50; 95 % CI 0·24, 1·02; obesity and overweight combined: OR 0·83; 95 % CI 0·50, 1·38), split by sex or as combined. No significant associations were found between evening meal timing and energy intake, and no clear patterns in variation of nutrient intakes with evening meal times were identified. In conclusion, we found no evidence that, for children aged 4–18 years in the UK, eating the evening meal after 20.00 hours was associated with excess weight or increased energy intake.


"Crack" is a crystalline form of cocaine that is readily available and sold in the form of small granules. The authors report a unique case of forced intranasal impaction of crack cocaine with subsequent extensive necrosis of the nose and upper lip accompanied by a necrotizing infection of the subcutaneous soft tissue of the cheeks, forehead, and temporal regions. The treatment of extensive facial necrosis resulting from infection and ischemia centers around the early diagnosis of the infectious process, prompt and aggressive surgical debridement, and the administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics.


The present study deals with the first-hand information of ethno-medicinal plants which are used traditionally by the
Ralte tribes of Mizoram. The treatment includes various ailments such as hypertension, tuberculosis, rheumatism,
allergies, fractured bones, jaundice, dysentery, cuts and wounds. The Ralte people of the study area represent a
well-organized tribe with unique dialect and identities. The study has revealed 106 plant species of ethno-botanical
importance belonging to 96 genera and 57 families. The need for complete inventory and documentation of such
indigenous knowledge is very important before they are being lost forever from the community.


It is not unusual for a poet to turn to fiction at some point in his career, as if finding in the scope afforded by narrative an opportunity to extend and contextualise the more atemporal focus of the poetry. Typically, he will produce one or two novels characterized by easy elegance of language rather than by formal inventiveness: Clarke's Hiberno-Christian romances, Kavanagh's Tarry Flynn, George Barker's The Dead Seagull, Larkin's A Girl in Winter and Jill. These fictions are inevitably overshadowed by their writers' poetic achievements to the extent that it is nearly impossible to read the prose without referring it at some point to our knowledge of the poems.


The paper describes a service for using on Computational Grids, that highlights the variations in the thermal environment that exist throughout a region due to different land cover types. The paper addresses a Supervised Classification algorithm and the computation of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Land Surface Emissivity (LSE) and Land Surface Temperature (LST) based on satellite imagery for a certain geographic area. A Web-based client interface was also built. We consider the service will be greatly useful and convenient for those who are studying the ground thermal environment and urban heat island effects by using Landsat TM/ETM+ bands, and have typical workstations, with no special computing and storing resources for computationally intensive satellite image processing and no license for a commercial image processing tool.


A successful slope management program depends on understanding the  interaction between the potential slope failure and the elements at risk. This interaction defines the magnitude and likelihood of the potential consequences, which in turn defines the need for allocating resources for risk mitigation. The interaction can be divided into the probability of  interaction between the displaced material and the elements at risk, and the degree of  loss  should  impact occur.  In  this paper,  the  temporal and  spatial aspects of  landslides are analysed along a section of a railroad corridor through the Canadian Cordillera. The temporal and spatial aspects  of  the  elements  at  risk  are  discussed  and  illustrated within  the  context  of  railroad  freight  train operations. An  example  is  presented where  the  annual  frequency  of  interaction  between  landslides  and freight  trains  is  estimated,  and  the  associated  spatial  and  temporal  variability  analysed.  The  paper highlights  the  importance, within a slope  risk management strategy, of understanding  landslide  trends  in space  and  time  and  how  these  spatial  and  temporal  trends  are  related  to  morphology,  geology  and triggering mechanisms.


This course, held in June 2017, was the fourth course to be organised by the ERS to teach the basics of pulmonary vascular disease and pulmonary hypertension to participants with good knowledge of respiratory medicine, but only a background understanding of pulmonary vascular disease. The first course was held in Edinburgh, UK, in 2007, but since then it has been held in Lausanne at CHUV hospital on a biannual basis in June. Holding the course in a hospital allows access to patients and to equipment such as echocardiography, which ensures that workshops can be conducted live on real patients. Faculty and delegates of an @ERStalk course on PH and pulmonary vascular disease describe their experiences http://ow.ly/AzZ630hFjHV


This paper presents an analysis of linear viscous stress Favre-Averaged turbulence models for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of fully turbulent round jets with a long straight tube geometry in the near field. Although similar work has been performed in the past with very relevant solutions, considerations were not given for the issues and limitations involved with coupling between an Eulerian and Lagrangian phase, such as in fully two-way coupled CFD-DEM. These issues include limitations on solution domain, mesh cell size, wall modelling, and momentum coupling between the two phases in relation to the particles size. Therefore, within these considerations, solutions are provided to the Navier-Stokes equations with various turbulence models using a three-dimensional wedge long straight tube geometry for fully developed turbulence flow. Simulations are performed with a Reynolds number of 15000 and 50000 using two different tube diameters. It is found that a modified k−ε turbulence model achieved the most agreeable results for both the velocity and turbulent flow fields between these two flow regimes, while a modified k−ω SST/BSL also provided suitable results.


Arsenic contamination of groundwater in the West Bengal basin in India is unfolding as one of the worst natural geo-environmental disasters to date. Chelation therapy with chelating agents is considered to be the best known treatment against arsenic poisoning; however, they are compromised with certain serious drawbacks/side-effects. Efficacy of combined administration of Moringa oleifera (M. oleifera) (English: Drumstick tree) seed powder, a herbal extract, with a thiol chelator monoisoamyl DMSA (MiADMSA) post-arsenic exposure in mice was studied. Mice were exposed to 100 ppm arsenic in drinking water for 6 months, followed by 10-days treatment with M. oleifera seed powder (500 mg/kg, orally through gastric gavage, once daily), MiADMSA (50 mg/kg, intraperitoneally, once daily) either individually or in combination. Arsenic exposure caused significant decrease in blood glutathione, δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD), accompanied by increased production of reactive oxygen species in blood and soft tissues. Significant inhibition of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activities in tissues (liver in particular) along with significant increase in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and metallothionein levels in arsenic intoxicated mice was also noted. Combined administration of MiADMSA with M. oleifera proved better than all other treatments in the recovery of most of the above parameters accompanied by more pronounced depletion of arsenic. The results suggest that concomitant administration of M. oleifera during chelation treatment with MiADMSA might be a better treatment option than monotherapy with the thiol chelator in chronic arsenic toxicity.


Various types of epoxy/BN composites were prepared to optimize material conditions for high thermal conductivity and high breakdown strength. The best composite was found to be epoxy/conglomerated h-BN/ nano silica nano micro composite with thermal conductivity 12 W/m•K and BD strength 15 kVpeak/0.2 mm. One of the most important factors to obtain high values of the two performances is to reduce void content. Surface treatment of fillers and nano filler addition are also useful.


We find an exact solution of BPS wall in five-dimensional supergravity using a gravitational deformation of the massive Eguchi-Hanson nonlinear sigma model. The warp factor decreases for both infinities of the extra dimension. Our solution requires no fine-tuning between boundary and bulk cosmological constants, in contrast to the Randall-Sundrum model. Wall solutions are also obtained with warp factors which are flat or increasing in one side by varying a deformation parameter.


OBJECTIVE
To compare cefazolin concentrations in biopsied tissue samples collected from surgically created wounds treated with negative pressure wound therapy to those collected from surgically created wounds treated with nonadherent dressings.

STUDY DESIGN
Prospective, controlled, experimental study.

ANIMALS
Adult female spayed Beagles (n = 12).

METHODS
Full thickness cutaneous wounds were created on each antebrachium (n = 24). Immediately after surgery, cefazolin (22 mg/kg intravenously [IV]) was administered to each dog and continued every 8 hours during the study. The right wound was randomly assigned to group I or group II whereas the wound on the contralateral antebrachium was assigned to the other group. Group I wounds were treated with negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) and group II wounds were treated with nonadherent dressings for 3 days. Dressings were changed and tissue biopsies obtained from wound beds at 24 hours intervals for both groups. Cefazolin wound tissue and plasma concentrations were measured by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Blood samples for measuring plasma cefazolin concentrations were collected before biopsy sampling. At the time of surgery and at each subsequent bandage change, wound beds were swabbed and submitted for aerobic and anaerobic culture.

RESULTS
After initiating cefazolin treatment, wound tissue antibiotic concentrations between treatment groups were not significantly different at any sampling time. Similarly, after initiating cefazolin treatment, plasma cefazolin concentrations were not significantly different at any sampling time for individual dogs.

CONCLUSIONS
Using a canine experimental model, NPWT treatment of surgically created wounds does not statistically impact cefazolin tissue concentrations when compared with conventional nonadherent bandage therapy.


Abstract Verification of beam-column resistance can be accomplished according to design approaches given in EN 1993-1-1 [1]. These approaches are derived from verification of single span beam with pinned end conditions subjected to compression and bending moments. In the case of different end conditions, the application of those approaches is not so accurate and more difficult. Therefore, the comparison of verification according to above standard EN 1993-1-1 [1] as well as EN 1999-1-1 [2] to results of experimental analyses of beam-columns having pinned-fixed end conditions subjected to an eccentric compressive force simulating the behaviour of columns integrated into frames is presented in this paper.


We have previously shown that the anti-tumorigenic indolylcytochalasin Chaetoglobosin K (ChK) concomitantly down-regulates Akt and JNK activation in ras-transformed cells. This dual inhibition was found not be regulated by Rac1, a Rho protein that is involved in both signaling pathways, or MKK4, an upstream kinase of JNK. The purpose of this study was to determine: 1) the effect of ChK on the activation of downstream mediators of the PI3K/Akt (including mdm2), and JNK (including the activator protein-1 (AP-1) proteins and stat3) signaling pathways; 2) whether the upstream mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 7 (MKK7) is involved in ChK9s effect on JNK. The AP-1 transcription factor complex, composed of proteins of the JUN, FOS, and ATF families, has become a promising therapeutic target due to the proposed role of AP-1 activation in tumorigenesis. In these studies, ras-transformed rat liver epithelial cells were grown to confluence and treated with either ChK (5μM or 10μM) or vehicle (DMSO) for 24 hours. Cell proteins were extracted and separated using SDS-PAGE. Western blot analysis was performed using phosphorylation site-specific antibodies to monitor changes in MKK7, c-JUN, ATF-2, mdm2, and stat3 protein activation levels. The results of these studies indicate that ChK treatment decreased c-JUN and ATF-2 phosphorylation, but had no effect on stat3 phosphorylation. Additionally, ChK treatment decreased mdm2 phosphorylation. ChK did not alter MKK7 activation levels and, taking into consideration its lack of effect on MKK4, suggest ChK does not inhibit JNK via its archetypical MAPK signaling pathway. These studies indicate ChK may serve as a small molecule inhibitor of the AP-1 pathway proteins, as well as the Akt/mdm2 pathway. This data further supports ChK9s potential as a unique targeted tumor therapy. This project was funded by NIH grant 1R15CA135415 Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1810. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1810


A formalism for treating interactions between optical modes in the presence of time-varying parameters is developed. The problems of parametric oscillation, frequency conversion, and internal laser modulation are treated, as well as a new class of interactions involving parametric modulation in the presence of negative losses.


The Institute for Multiscale Modeling of Biological Interactions (IMMBI) has two primary goals: Foster interdisciplinary collaborations among faculty and their research laboratories that will lead to novel applications of multiscale simulation and modeling methods in the biological sciences and engineering; and Building on the unique biophysical/biology-based engineering foundations of the participating faculty, train scientists and engineers to apply computational methods that collectively span multiple time and length scales of biological organization. The success of IMMBI will be defined by the following: Size and quality of the applicant pool for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellows; Academic performance; Quality of the pre-doctoral and post-doctoral research; Impact of the research broadly and to the DOE (ASCR program) mission; Distinction of the next career step for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellows; and Faculty collaborations that result from IMMBI activities. Specific details about accomplishments during the three years of DOE support for IMMBI have been documented in Annual Progress Reports (April 2005, June 2006, and March 2007) and a Report for a National Academy of Sciences Review (October 2005) that were submitted to DOE on the dates indicated. An overview of these accomplishments is provided.


We review various aspects of the structure and functioning of Danish estuaries from data collected by the National Monitoring Program and from information in published sources. We present data on the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of estuaries in Denmark, we evaluate the functioning of these systems as filters and transformers of nutrients and we evaluate the outlook for Danish estuaries in the future. Danish estuarine systems are for the most part shallow (<3 m deep), have short residence times, and tend to be heavily loaded with nutrients primarily from agricultural sources. Total average loads from land per unit watershed area are 112 kg P km−2 yr−1 and 2,400 kg N km−2 yr−1 during the period 1989–1995. The total phosphorus (TP) load in estuaries has been significantly reduced over the last decade, following implementation of the 1987 Action Plan for the Aquatic Environment (Vandmiljøplan in Danish) that prescribed that nitrogen loads to the total aquatic environment should be reduced by 50% and phosphorus loads by 80%. Reductions in the total nitrogen (TN) load have been more modest. Nutrient loading is one of the primary determinants of estuarine nutrient concentration with 70% of the annual variation in TN concentration and 55% of the annual variation in TP concentration explained by variation in the load. Many Danish estuaries have rich communities of macrophytes and benthic filter feeders, such asMytlis edulis andCiona intestinalis, that can control water column chlorophyll concentrations by their filter feeding activities. Many of the estuaries experience hypoxia and anoxia, especially during warm and calm summer months. Further reductions in nutrient loading are expected following implementation of the Action Plan for the Aquatic Environment II, with predicted improvements in oxygen concentrations and in the functioning of these shallow, dynamic estuarine systems.


A new class of devices based on hot-electron transfer between two conducting layers is proposed. The essential feature of these devices is a pronounced negative differential resistance (NDR) in the drain circuit, controlled by gate and substrate voltages. This allows a novel type of bistable logic element, which, although being unipolar, is comparable to the CMOS inverter in that a significant current is drawn only during switching. Another possible application is a gate-controlled microwave generator and amplifier. In the present work, the above device concepts are analyzed in the instance of GaAs/ GaAlAs heterojunction realizations.


Background. Syndromes are defined by traditional Chinese medicine as consisting of different pattern elements. Few scales have been designed for differentiating pattern elements of dementia and have shown major flaws. Thus, a new pattern element scale (PES) was developed. This study aimed to evaluate the utility of the PES in dementia patients. Methods. A total of 171 dementia patients were enrolled, and their pattern elements were ascertained, first by clinicians using the PES, then compared with results by two experts to be used as a standard criterion independently. Reliability of the subscales of the PES was assessed by receiver operator characteristic curves. Correlations between the subscales of the PES and cognition were calculated by canonical correlation analysis. Results. The PES consisted of 11 pattern element subscales. The area under the curves of all subscales was 0.7 or above. Phlegm muddiness, blood stasis, and yang hyperactivity subscales showed optimal sensitivity and specificity in discriminating pattern elements. Other subscales showed relatively lower sensitivity but higher specificity. Memory and language were significantly correlated to qi deficiency and the blood stasis pattern element. Conclusion. The PES can accurately and easily discriminate pattern elements and is a helpful tool for traditional medical subtyping of dementia.


This study of Jean Genet's 'Quatre heures a Chatila' explores the relationship between the writer's literary ouvre and his political action, both of which constitute part of his same endeavour to define our socialized reality. It draws upon other Genetian works, notably Un captif amoureux for which 'Quatre heures' might be seen as a prologue, to describe how Genet's reality, or reel, originates essentially in his feerie-the dissemination of mask, stagecraft, fable. Reality for Genet comprises a plurality of ever-shifting truths played out within the mise-en-scene of social existence. The essay suggests that in 'Quatre heures' Genet champions the Palestinian Fedayee rebels because their ceaseless reinvention of politics, religion and society prevents any original cause from existing beyond the permanently unstable site of discursive relativity, or the feerie. The essay illustrates how, moreover, Genet's aesthetic is indissociable from Palestinian ethics. 'Quatre heures' bears witness to the Palestinian rejection of monolithic ideology both in its macrostructural thematics, which discuss the Palestinian revolt, and in its microstructural stylistics: perspectives are proliferated through a multiplicity of discontinuous styles, structures and registers; time-space unities are fragmented; genre is hybridized so that journalistic fact is fuelled with poetic imagery and reference to visual art. The essay concludes by suggesting that Genet's refusal of teleological development and definitive affirmation in his account of the Palestinian insurrection and of the Shatila and Sabra massacres, affords him and his Palestinians the possibility for perpetual poetic and political hermeneutic renewal. In addition, it enables the reader to metamorphosize the absence of essence into a creative affirmation, through constant interrogation of the text.


Unlike the French travelers of the nineteenth century, those of the years 1480 to 1550 have not considered Cyprus as a country with specific links with the kingdom of France, despite the long period of Lusignan's domination. In their eyes, the island was a country part of the Christian West, even if the indigenous population had specifics ritual practices ; testimonies expressing resentment from the Frankish elites against Venice are exceptional.


The present invention is directed to the use of a combination of a polymeric chelant and coagulant to treat metal containing wastewater. More particularly, the invention is directed at removing copper from CMP wastewater. The composition includes a combination of (a) a polymeric chelant derived from a polyamine selected from the group consisting of diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylenetetraamine (TETA), tertraethylenepentaamine (TEPA), poly[vinylamine], and branched or linear poly[ethylenimine] (PEI); and (b) a water soluble or dispersible copolymer of a tannin and a cationic monomer selected from the group consisting of methyl chloride or dimethyl sulfate quaternary salt of dimethyl aminoethyl acrylate, diethylaminoethyl acrylate, dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate, diethylaminoethyl methacrylate, dimethylaminopropyl methacrylamide, dimethylaminopropyl acrylamide, and diallyl dimethyl ammonium chloride.


Purpose The field of obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) is facing growing competition for young professionals in Germany, with high interest rates among female graduates and a declining proportion of male students who choose residency training in the field. The aim of this study is to analyze general and gender-dependent factors that influence the decision for or against specialty training in OB/GYN among medical students in Germany. Methods Between February and November 2019, n = 346 medical students in their 5th and 6th year of undergraduate training at Heidelberg University received a questionnaire with 44 items. Results N = 286 students (61.3 female; 38.7% male) participated in the study. 28% of the female students and 9% of the male students had considered OB/GYN for their specialty training. The students reported different general and gender-specific influencing factors in their choice of a specialty. In comparison with their female colleagues, male students had heavily weighted factors related to their later careers and professional success, including competition among colleagues. Male students had gained little practical experience during compulsory internships (26.9% for females vs. 8.8% for males) or had chosen their final-year elective in OB/GYN (15.9% for females vs. 5.5% for males). Female students had worried about the negative effects of their sex on their career (35.4% for females vs. 5.9% for males). Conclusion OB/GYN must become more appealing and attractive to young female and male professionals alike. Better support for female clinicians in leadership positions should go hand in hand with the implementation of differentiated, (extra)curricular teaching approaches that take the different preferences of female and male students into account.


SUMMARY With the beginning of the Industrial Era, specially after the II World War, man lives exposed progressively to more pollutants and has confronted huge environmental disasters like Minamata, Bophal, and Chernovyl. Cadmium is an environmental and industrial toxic pollutant that produces in man effects at the enzymatic, renal, respiratory and digestive levels, aggravated by its very extended mean life. To face this problem, we would have to make a survey of the principal sources of industrial pollution, mainly metallurgic, in order to protect the worker, applying TLVs and BEIs criteria concurrent with the state of the art.


We present an approach that can be useful when the network or system performance is described by a model that is not Markovian. Although most performance models are based on Markov chains or Markov processes, in some cases the Markov property does not hold. This can occur, for example, when the system exhibits long range dependencies. For such situations, and other non-Markovian cases, our method may provide useful help.


Experiments were designed to investigate the effects of lens calcium on the Na/K pump since elevated calcium and sodium often accompanies lens opacification. An increase in lens calcium was accomplished by culturing lenses in calcium-rich media at 21 degrees C in the absence of poisons which might directly alter sodium transport. Calcium loaded lenses were subsequently incubated at 37 degrees C in a normal culture medium to assess membrane transport function. A five-fold increase in total lens calcium to 1.45mM, resulting in a 4% increase in membrane bound calcium, had little effect on the cation pump. However, an increase in lens calcium by a factor of 100 caused a 4-fold increase in membrane bound calcium, a 50% decrease in (Na/K)-ATPase activity, and a 40% decrease in 86Rb uptake after an incubation period of 20 hrs. Details of the mechanism of enzyme inhibition remain obscure, but the data suggest the inhibition is predominantly irreversible and does not involve an interaction between calcium and ATP.


Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) are self-configured and are formed by autonomous mobile nodes to exchange various types of data such as video, voice, best effort and background or access different application. Further, MANETs are used by various profiles of users. Hence providing differentiated services becomes mandatory for MANETs. Literature provides various research results on different number of priorities to support differentiated services. In this paper we propose a proportional bandwidth sharing model which supports multiple priorities, takes care of scheduling and MAC layer prioritization (N-MAC). Multiple Priority model is simulated in ns2. Results show that 16% of starvation is reduced in our proposed scheme than the existing scheme. Proportional bandwidth sharing is verified analytically using Jain"s Fairness Index and the waiting times are evaluated using Queuing theory. It is also observed that the overhead of differentiated services increases by 7.5% and overall throughput decreases by 7% with the increase in number of priorities.


Separate tests of mathematics skills, proportions and translations between words, and mathematical expression given the first week of class were correlated with performance for students who completed a college physics course (completes) and students who dropped the course (drops). None of the measures used discriminated between completes and drops as groups. However, the correlations between score on the test of math skills and on both of the measures involving mathematical reasoning (proportions, and translations) were dramatically different for the two groups. For the completes, these correlations were slightly negative, but not significant. For the drops, the correlation was positive and signficant at the p < 0.01 level. This suggests the possibility that the students who complete the course tend to have independent cognitive skills for the "mechanical" mathematical operations and for questions requiring some degree of reasoning, while, in contrast, the same skills for students at high risk for dropping overlap significantly. The study also found that when students are given the results of mathematics skills tests in a diagnostic mode, with feedback on specific areas of weakness and time to remediate with self study, the correlation between mathematics and physics is lower than previously reported values.


The poultry industry in Uganda is mainly based on free-range (scavenging) indigenous chickens, kept at the subsistence level. Chicken population rose from 23.5 million in 2005 to 37.4 million in 2008; and most of these chicken (over 80%) were indigenous to the country. A survey was conducted in Central Uganda to assess the available feed resources for chicken. The study involved300 household heads purposively selected. A focus group discussion involving 50 farmers from the same community, was also involved. Issues related to feeds, especially high prices were the main factors contributing to reduced chicken production in the study areas. Less than 5% of the farmers knew the nutritive contents of the chicken feeds. Sixty percent gave alternative feeds depending on season of availability. There was a clear difference between farmers who had some knowledge about feed nutrient composition and those who had no idea. Furthermore, the competition between food and feed furthered the increase in feed prices, thus forcing producers to look for alternative feeds and locally available feeds. The possibility for utilising by-products for poultry feeds need research attention. Key words : Feed resources, feed competition, indigenous chicken


The Pilot library offers a new method for programming parallel clusters in C. Formal elements from Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) were used to realize a process/channel model of parallel computation that reduces opportunities for deadlock and other communication errors. This simple model, plus an application programming interface (API) fashioned on C's formatted I/O, are designed to make the library easy for novice scientific C programmers to learn. Optional runtime services including deadlock detection help the programmer to debug communication issues. Pilot forms a thin layer on top of standard Message Passing Interface (MPI), preserving the latter's portability and efficiency, with little performance impact. MPI's powerful collective operations can still be accessed within the conceptual model.


Introduction: Dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 inhibitors, a novel oral anti-diabetic agents, exert a protective effect on pancreatic β-cell function in patients with type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM). However, their beneficial effect in hypertensive T2DM patients treated with angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) has not been investigated. Methods: In this open-label multicenter randomized study, a total of 55 hypertensive T2DM patients treated with ARBs were randomly assigned to receive the DPP-4 inhibitor sitagliptin or sulfonylurea (SU). Results: After 24 weeks of treatment, a significant reduction in fasting blood glucose was only observed in the sitagliptin group, while HbA1c was significantly reduced in both groups. Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance was not significantly improved in either group. Indicators of pancreatic β-cell function, including proinsulin to insulin ratio and homeostasis model assessment of β-cell function, were significantly improved in the sitagliptin group, but not in the SU group. The beneficial effects of sitagliptin were observed in hypoglycemic drug naïve patients, but not in patients who had received SU monotherapy prior to the study. Conclusion: Treatment with the DPP-4 inhibitor sitagliptin might exert beneficial effects on pancreatic β-cell function in ARB-treated T2DM patients and its efficacy might be more pronounced in hypoglycemic drug naïve patients.


This paper reports on a post-CMOS compatible micromachining technology for passive RF circuit integration. The micromachining technology combines the formation of high performance microelectromechanical systems solenoid inductors and metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors by using a post CMOS process on standard CMOS substrate. Utilizing this process, novel on-chip 3-D configured RF filters for 5 GHz band are integrated on-chip. Two types of compact filters are designed and fabricated, with the layout size of the bandpass filter as 0.65 times 0.67 mm2 and that of the low-pass filter as 0.77 times 1.25 mm2. From the measurement results, the fifth-order low-pass filter shows less than 1.06 dB insertion loss up to 5 GHz and -1.5 dB cutoff frequency at 5.3 GHz. The bandpass filter is a secondorder coupled-resonator type, with measured 4.3 dB minimum insertion loss and better than 13 dB return loss in the pass band. Both simulation and shock testing results have shown that the filters are almost free of influence from environmental vibration and shock. From the measured results in various temperatures, the bandpass filters were found to show lower loss under low temperatures, while the passband shift is negligible in the various temperatures. Together with the fabricated filters, the developed micromachining technique has demonstrated the potential of onchip integration and miniaturization of passive RF circuits.


Four new analogues of beta-cazomorphine-5 modified at the C-end with ethylenediamine- and glycine-containing derivatives were synthesized by the standard method of peptide chemistry (mixed anhydrides, carbodiimide, activated esters): H-Tyr-Pro-Phe-Pro-Gly-EtDA-Gly-II (I) H-Tyr-Pro-Phe-Pro-Gly-EtDA-Gly-Gly-II (II) H-Tyr-Pro-Phe-Pro-Gly-EtDA-Gly-Gly-CO-CH3 (III) H-Tyr-Pro-Phe-Pro-Gly-EtDA-Gly-Gly-CO-CH2-CH2-COOH (IV) The level of affinity and the degree of selectivity of the peptides towards the mu- and delta-opioid receptors of the rat brain lyophilized membranes were studied by the radioreceptor method. All the new peptides displayed analgetic activity, largely depending upon their structure.


The electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of Cr3+ in LiNbO3 and heavily Mg-doped LiNbO3, have been measured and analysed according to the superposition model. The axial spectrum of Cr3+ in LiNbO3 is consistent with Nb substitution. On the other hand, the dominant isotropic spectrum found in Mg-doped LiNbO3 can be accounted for if an appropriate ( approximately=0.1 AA) relaxation of the Cr3+ along the c-axis is allowed. Moreover, a point-ion calculation shows that the axial shift of the impurity ion is also qualitatively consistent with recent observations of an enhanced pi -polarization character of the optical transitions in LiNbO3:Mg, Cr.


The whole-blood lead levels of a group of motor mechanics in the Cape Peninsula were determined. Blood was analysed using a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer. The mean whole-blood lead levels of the motor mechanics and of urban controls were 28,4 micrograms/dl and 9,7 micrograms/dl respectively, and comparison of these with that of a group from an unpolluted rural area (3,4 micrograms/dl) revealed highly significant differences.


Electoral results of the United Russia at the Election of the State Duma Deputies in 2011 are analyzed. It is suggested to adjust the activities of the political party regional branch taking into account the results of voting.


The atomic configuration, electronic states and a local vibrational mode of the Li-saturated vacancy in Si are determined using ab initio calculations. The author finds in agreement with an earlier theoretical suggestion, that this defect consists of a tetrahedral combination of a negatively charged vacancy and four positively charged Li interstitials. A C3V configuration is found to be higher in energy. This confirms recent experimental suggests that a symmetry lowering, which is found in the luminescence spectrum, is due to excitonic effects. The geometric simplicity of this defect complex suggests that it may be universal for irradiated Si doped with column I and (from chemical symmetry) column VII elements. As an example of the latter he considers the structure of the Br-saturated vacancy.


This paper presents a 900MHz low voltage, low power down-conversion mixer with high linearity for direct-conversion receivers. As a way to improve the third-order linearity, this paper proposes a very linear transconductance amplifier in which the size of the transistors is optimized to minimize the third-order intermodulation distortion (IMD3). A folded mixer topology is used in the designed mixer to enable the mixer to operate at low supply voltage. The design is based on a standard 0.25/spl mu/m CMOS technology, and the simulation results show 15dBm of input IP3, 80dBm of input IP2, and -6.5dB of power conversion gain while dissipating a total current of 3mA from 1.25V supply.


ABSTRACT Inhalation therapy is the preferred route of administration of anti-asthmatic drugs to the lungs. However, the vast majority of patients cannot use their inhalers correctly, particularly pressurised metered dose inhalers (pMDIs). The actual proportion of patients who do not use their inhalers correctly may even be under-estimated as GPs tend to over-estimate correct inhalation technique. Dry powder inhalers (DPIs) have many advantages over pMDIs. Unlike pMDIs, they are environmentally-friendly, contain no propellant gases and, more importantly, they are breath-activated, so that the patient does not need to coordinate actuation of the inhaler with inspiration. Three key parameters for correct inhaler use should be considered when evaluating existing or future DPI devices and especially when choosing the appropriate device for the patient: (1) usability, (2) particle size distribution of the emitted drug and (3) intrinsic airflow resistance of the device. The Novolizer* is a breath-activated, multidose, refillable DPI. It is easy to use correctly, has multiple feedback and control mechanisms which guide the patient through the correct inhalation manoeuvre. In addition, the Novolizer has an intelligent dose counter, which resets only after a correct inhalation and may help to monitor patient compliance. The Novolizer has a comparable or better lung deposition than the Turbuhaler† at similar or higher peak inspiratory flow (PIF) rates. A flow trigger valve system ensures a clinically effective fine particle fraction (FPF) and sufficient drug delivery, which is important for a good lung deposition. The FPF produced through the Novolizer is also relatively independent of flow rate and the device shows better reproducibility of metering and delivery performance compared to the Turbuhaler. The low-to-medium airflow resistance means that the Novolizer is easy for patients to use correctly. Even children, patients with severe asthma and patients with moderate to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have no problems to generate the trigger inspiratory flow rate required to activate the Novolizer. The Novolizer uses an advanced DPI technology and may improve patient compliance. * Novolizer is a trademark of the VIATRIS Group, Bad Homburg, Germany † Turbuhaler is a registered trade name of the AstraZeneca Group


Purpose Currently, there are no recommendations for the management of a second local recurrence of prostate adenocarcinoma except for the introduction of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Case report A 69-year-old man underwent a third salvage local treatment with high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDRB), for a second biochemical relapse for local recurrence. Thirty-five Grays in 5 fractions were delivered on the whole prostate extended to the proximal part of left seminal vesicle. Given the availability of new treatment techniques in our radiation therapy department, a dosimetric comparison between HDRB and stereoatactic radiosurgery (SRS) was performed. Results Immediate tolerance of HDRB was acceptable with achievement of prostate specific antigen (PSA) nadir in 24 months (0.03 ng/ml). Observed late toxicities were only grade 2 urinary incontinence. Dosimetric comparison showed a slight advantage on clinical target volume coverage and rectum protection for the SRS. The HDRB showed an advantage on bone irradiation including femoral heads and the volume receiving 0.5 Gy (EQD2 = 1 Gy with α/β = 3). Conclusions A third local treatment with good tolerance could be a therapeutic option in case of a second local prostate cancer recurrence in order to delay, as long as possible, the chemical castration. Both techniques (HDRB and SRS) seem valid and should be chosen based on the availability and experience in a treatment center.


: Objective: This study aimed at estimating the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in older adults living in Central Africa and at investigating its association with dementia using data from the Epidemiology of Dementia in Central Africa programme, a population-based study. Methods: A cross-sectional multicenter population-based study was carried out among participants aged ≥65 years living in rural and urban areas of the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. Blood samples were collected from each consenting participant. The detection of anti-T.gondii immunoglobulin G antibodies was done in France using a commercially available ELISA kit. Participants were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics. DSM-IV criteria were required for a diagnosis of dementia. Multivariate binary logistic regression models were used to estimate the ABSTRACT Objective: We aimed at estimating the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in older adults 34 living in Central Africa and investigating its association with dementia using data from the 35 Epidemiology of Dementia in Central Africa (EPIDEMCA) programme. 36 Methods: A cross-sectional multicentre population-based study was carried out among participants 37 aged 73 (±7) years on average, living in rural and urban areas of the Central African Republic and the 38 Republic of Congo between November 2011 and December 2012. Blood samples were collected from 39 each consenting participant. The detection of anti- T.gondii immunoglobulin G antibodies was 40 performed in 2014 in France using a commercially available ELISA kit. Participants were interviewed 41 using a standardized questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics. DSM-IV criteria were 42 required for a diagnosis of dementia. Multivariate binary logistic regression models were used to 43 estimate the association between toxoplasmosis infection and dementia. 44 Results: Among 1,662 participants, the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis was 63.0% (95% confidence 45 interval (CI): 60.7-65.3) overall, 66.6% (95%CI: 63.4-69.8) in Central African Republic and 59.4% 46 (95%CI: 56.1-62.7) in the Republic of Congo. In multivariate analyses, toxoplasmosis status was 47 significantly associated with increasing age (p=0.006), Republic of Congo (p=0.002), urban area 48 (p=0.001) and previous occupation (p=0.002). No associations between dementia and toxoplasmosis 49 status or anti- T.gondii IgG titres were found. 50 Conclusion: T.gondii infection was not associated with dementia among older adults in Central Africa. 51 Our findings are consistent with previous studies and add to the knowledge on the relationship 52 between T.gondii infection and neurological disorders. 53 plasma samples were kept stored at -80°C until analysed. In 2014, the detection of anti- T.gondii immunoglobulin G (IgG) was done using the VIDAS TOXO IgG II test (Biomérieux, France), according to the manufacturer's instructions. This test is validated for detection of anti- T.gondii IgG in 140 plasma. Results were reported in International Units per millilitre (IU/mL). Samples with anti- T.gondii 141 IgG <4 IU/mL were considered as seronegative. A sample was considered as positive when the titre 142 was equal or greater than 8 IU/mL. Samples with titres ≥300 UI/mL were diluted in the negative 143 control included with the VIDAS TOXO IgG II test until titres could be determined. Titres comprised 144 between 4 IU/mL and 8 IU/mL were considered as equivocal and further analysed by VIDAS TOXO 145 competition (Biomérieux, France), which better correlated with low titres of the usual reference test, 146 namely dye-test. Samples with indexes below 1.6 were considered as seropositive according to the 147 manufacturer's instructions. The T.gondii positive group included all participants that were positive 148 either with VIDAS Toxo IgG II or with VIDAS Toxo Competition assay.


Managers, geologists, reservoir and completion engineers are faced with important challenges and questions when it comes to producing from and operating shale assets. Some of the important questions that need to be answered are: What should be the distance between wells (well spacing)? How many clusters need to be included in each stage? What is the optimum stage length? At what point we need to stop adding stages in our wells (what is the point of diminishing returns)? At what rate and at what pressure do we need to pump the fluid and the proppant? What is the best proppant concentration? Should our completion strategy be modified when the quality of the shale (reservoir characteristics) and the producing hydrocarbon (dry gas, vs. condensate rich, vs. oil) changes in different parts of the field? What is the impact of soak time (starting production right after the completion versus delaying it) on production? Shale Analytics is the collection of the state of the art data driven techniques including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining that addresses the above questions based on facts (field measurements) rather than human biases. Shale Analytics is the fusion of domain expertise (years of geology, reservoir, and production engineering knowledge) with data driven analytics. Shale Analytics is the application of Big Data Analytics, Pattern Recognition, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to any and all Shale related issues. Lessons learned from the application of Shale Analytics to more than 3,000 wells in Marcellus, Utica, Niobrara, and Eagle Ford is presented in this paper along with a detail case study in Marcellus Shale. The case study details the application of Shale Analytics to understand the impact of different reservoir and completion parameters on production, and the quality of predictions made by artificial intelligence technologies regarding the production of blind wells. Furthermore, generating type curves, performing "Look-Back" analysis and identifying best completion practices are presented in this paper. Using Shale Analytics for re-frac candidate selection and design was presented in a previous paper [1].


1562 Angiogenesis is the process of building of new blood vessels. In a healthy body, this process is required for wound healing and in cancer, it is essential for solid tumor growth. Having as much knowledge about genes implicated as possibly playing a role in the process of angiogenesis is extremely useful in developing agents to target these as a therapy for controlling cancer. The richest source of gene annotation data exists in the biomedical literature and is constantly expanding (>2,000 new articles/month). However, the unstructured nature of biomedical text poses a challenge for the efficient extraction of useful information. Here, we have demonstrated a method based on text mining to automatically identify a set of genes implicated in angiogenesis. A subset of MEDLINE abstracts selected as being relevant for angiogenesis were annotated with a named entity tagger that can automatically identify mentions of genes and proteins. The tagged genes were normalized against an exhaustive human gene lexicon that was built to contain all gene names and all their aliases. The normalized genes were ranked according to frequency of mention. The resulting gene list was validated by comparing it to a list of angiogenes compiled manually by experts, as well as to online resources listing angiogenesis-related genes. The final gene list contained 2,460 unique official gene names. All but 2 of the genes in the manual list were also identified by the text-mined list [99.2% recall (sensitivity)]. The text-mined list was relevance ranked based on the number of documents in which each gene was mentioned, and the 247 highest-ranking genes were compared with the comparably-sized manual list for precision. All of the 100 highest-ranked text-mined genes were identified as being legitimately associated with angiogenesis after further literature review. Furthermore, article recall was 17-fold higher than for articles linked to genes in Entrez Gene, and gene recall was 95-fold higher than for genes assigned to angiogenesis-related GO terms through AMIGO, demonstrating the current under-annotation of these resources for human genes. The method's performance was assessed using a gene expression array-based classifier distinguishing angiogenic from non-angiogenic tumor samples (human). The findings suggest clearly the usefulness of this method in assimilating and annotating genes involved in a biological process from descriptive text.


The paper deals with the vicissitudes of well over 500 OOO Japanese, taken prisoner by the Soviets in Manchuria, Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands between 9 August and 3 September 1945. A historical background explains why Japanese forces had been stationed in those areas, one chapter gives general information about captivity whilst the main chapter centres on how the POW describe a difficult period of their lives - captivity - hunger - slave Jabour - illness - death - homesickness - and how feelings were expressed. The memories published by the POW veterans over a period of 50 years are remarkably sober, hatred is seldom expressed, rather deep sorrow. The reports are testimony of comradeship, compassion, endurance and the capacity to differentiate between the Soviet political system, camp personnel and local population, who too were victims of the system.


Background: XG-102 (formerly D-JNKI1), a TAT-coupled dextrogyre peptide which selectively inhibits the c-Jun N-terminal kinase, is a powerful neuroprotectant in mouse models of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) with delayed intracerebroventricular injection. We aimed to determine whether this neuroprotection could also be achieved by intravenous injection of XG-102, which is a more feasible approach for future use in stroke patients. We also tested the compatibility of the compound with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA), commonly used for intravenous thrombolysis and known to enhance excitotoxicity. Methods: Male ICR-CD1 mice were subjected to a 30-min-suture MCAo. XG-102 was injected intravenously in a single dose, 6 h after ischemia. Hippocampal slice cultures were subjected to oxygen (5%) and glucose (1 mM) deprivation for 30 min. rtPA was added after ischemia and before XG-102 administration, both in vitro and in vivo. Results: The lowest intravenous dose achieving neuroprotection was 0.0003 mg/kg, which reduced the infarct volume after 48 h from 62 ± 19 mm3 (n = 18) for the vehicle-treated group to 18 ± 9 mm3 (n = 5, p < 0.01). The behavioral outcome was also significantly improved at two doses. Addition of rtPA after ischemia enhanced the ischemic damage both in vitro and in vivo, but XG-102 was still able to induce a significant neuroprotection. Conclusions: A single intravenous administration of XG-102 several hours after ischemia induces a powerful neuroprotection. XG-102 protects from ischemic damage in the presence of rtPA. The feasibility of systemic administration of this promising compound and its compatibility with rtPA are important steps for its development as a drug candidate in ischemic stroke.


Researchers of measures of state support and regulation of small businesses in the Tyumen region. The legal basis of the mechanism of state support for small businesses in the region is represented by documents of the Federal and regional level. The infrastructure of state support for small business in the Tyumen region includes regional authorities, as well as organizations of a commercial and non-commercial nature, whose operation is aimed at promoting the implementation of small business development programs, providing assistance to small businesses and providing conditions for their creation and development. The main measures of state support in relation to small businesses include regional investment support, the region's guarantee investment Fund, providing loans, providing subsidies, microloans, and legal support for small businesses. The authors conducted a study of the system of state support for small businesses in the Tyumen region allows us to evaluate it as a fairly balanced and diverse set of measures and forms of assistance to small businesses. However, despite this, the current system of small business support needs further improvement. In this regard, the authors propose specific measures to improve state support for small businesses, which can be directly implemented in the practice of the Tyumen region, namely: the system of rating candidates for state support from the point of view of socio-economic impact of their activities designed to reduce the level of bureaucracy; the system of obtaining insider information about activity of subjects of small business, designed to increase the efficiency of the state support; the response of the system of state registers in order to exchange regional experience of measures of state support and prevention of abuses.


ostanzo Di Girolamo (1981: 66) provides an insight into literature and criticism, which will constitute the starting point of our discussion of Algerian and American literary connections. We shall deal with these connections with reference to the themes of freedom, literary imagination, and literary tradition in Algerian literature in French, and with particular reference to Mohamed Dib's novels. He writes that a "text is not literary but becomes so; this means that a reader's function is fundamental. Before his intervention the text is only a text; the literary object begins to exist only with him and thanks to his attention." This point is significant enough for our purpose and warrants further amplification in connection with Algerian literature in French and its criticism. The Algerian literature in French has been saddled with the deadweight of two basic fallacies, the anthropological and sociological, that have denied its literary value and have reduced it, to what Roland Barthes (1991) calls "writing degree zero." Because of its initial "enabling conditions" (cf. Bakhtin Mikhail, 1974), i.e., colonialism, the Algerian writers' use of a conqueror's tongue, their "scenes of instruction" (cf. Bloom Harold, 1980) that is their schooling in French educational institutions, the Algerian War of Independence, postindependence disillusionment and so on, very often western critics have approached this literature A) with the postulate that its texts are so many archeological sites on which any number of anthropological and sociocultural data can be excavated and B) with a literal mindedness, whose end result is the confusion of the real and facts with fiction and imagination.


AIM
To test the hypothesis that production of superoxide in mesenteric resistance arteries is increased and contributes to the development of hypertension induced by sensory denervation plus high salt intake.

METHODS
Newborn Wistar rats were given capsaicin 50 mg/kg sc on the 1st and 2nd d of life. After weaning, male rats were grouped as follows and treated for 3 weeks with: capsaicin pretreatment plus normal sodium diet (0.5 %, CAP-NS), CAP plus high sodium diet (4 %, CAP-HS), control plus NS (CON-NS), or CON-HS. Both tail-cuff systolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were measured in each of the groups. Western blot analysis was used for measurement of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in the mesenteric resistance arteries. Lucigenin chemiluminescence assay was used for superoxide production in the mesenteric resistance arteries. The Griess method was used for measurement of nitrite/nitrate levels in plasma.

RESULTS
Both tail-cuff pressure and MAP were higher in CAP-HS compared with CAP-NS, CON-HS, and CON-NS rats (P<0.05). Both MnSOD and eNOS in the mesenteric resistance arteries were increased in CAP-HS compared with CAP-NS, CON-HS, and CON-NS (P<0.05). However, nitrite/nitrate levels in plasma were not different among 4 groups. Acute iv administration of tempol, a membrane-permeable superoxide scavenger, decreased MAP in both CAP-HS and CON-HS when compared with their respective controls. However, the decreases of MAP between these two groups were not different. Chronic treatment with tempol failed to prevent the development of hypertension in CAP-HS rats. Superoxide production in the mesenteric resistance arteries was increased in CAP-HS compared with CAP-NS, CON-HS, and CON-NS (P<0.05). However, chronic treatment with tempol did not prevent the increase of mesenteric superoxide production in CAP-HS rats.

CONCLUSIONS
Regardless of increased vascular MnSOD levels, salt sensitive hypertension induced by sensory degeneration is associated with increased vascular superoxide production. Although tempol is incapable of preventing the development of hypertension in sensory denervated rats fed a high salt diet, increased superoxide levels may contribute to exacerbated vascular impairment which may take longer time to develop. Given that superoxide may be produced by sources other than mitochondrion, future studies using other inhibitors (eg, inhibitors of NADPH oxidase and xanthine oxidase) may unveil the effectiveness of reducing superoxide on lowering blood pressure in this model.


The Syrian National Seismological Network has been operational since January 1995. The network consists of 27 analog short‐period (1 Hz) stations (SS‐1 single‐ or three‐component stations). The spatial distribution of the network covers most of western and northeastern Syria and is designed to monitor all discernible earthquake activity along the Dead Sea fault system (DSFS) and its branches in Syria and nearby Lebanon. The stations were deployed at ∼50  km spacing in the western parts of Syria and at ∼100  km spacing in the northeastern region. As part of the national seismological network expansion project, up to 24 three‐component 1 Hz high‐dynamic range digital seismic stations have been deployed in Syria since 2008 and have been operational since December 2008. As recent analog seismic station locations are favorable for monitoring the seismicity of the fault system, stations of the digital network were installed in the same positions as the previous network stations, with the intention of moving these stations to new locations after completion of a detailed geographic and topographic survey. Seismic data collected from the digital network were analyzed with the aim of quantifying the size of local earthquakes in our dataset by accurately estimating local earthquake magnitude ( M L).

Local magnitude was the first magnitude scale to be developed in an attempt to describe the size of an earthquake, and the M L scale provides the best consistency and stability for local and regional distances. The M L scale was originally developed by Richter (1935) specifically for earthquakes in southern California. The large variability of velocity and attenuation structure of the Earth's crust makes it impossible to develop a unique, internationally standardized calibration function for local events. Therefore, to assure consistency of the M L scale, it is necessary to calibrate it for any region and tectonic environment different from southern …


Digitalization offers new opportunities and changes how firms can explore and enter new markets. Current literature has deepened our understanding of the internationalization process of digital-based firms, but it provides very little guidance on how the specific characteristics of digital artifacts enable and accelerate internationalization or of the role of cross-national distance and cultural difference. We use a longitudinal single-case approach to explore how a Business-to-Business (B2B) platform provider internationalized its operations from inception. The case study illustrates that the ongoing development of the digital service and the integration with new devices played an important role in the firm's internationalization and expansion into new markets. We also observed that cross-cultural distance and cultural differences played an unexpected role. Finally, we propose avenues for future research.


: Similarly like classical topological groups, the point-free counterparts, localic groups, possess natural uniformities (see e.g. [4, 2, 10]) obtained from an involutive binary operation on L (roughly corresponding to the algebra of subsets of a classical group). It is the operation that naturally induces the uniformities (even if it would not result from a group) and a study of this aspect of the construction is the main topic of this article. We have here a functor associating with the localic groups quantales of a special type (and with frame group homomorphisms quantale homomorphisms) which are shown to create the uniformities, in fact as a special case of the natural uniformities connected with metric structures. Also, we present a condition under which the quantale allows a reconstruction of the localic group.


The process of fixation identification—separating and labeling fixations and saccades in eye-tracking protocols—is an essential part of eye-movement data analysis and can have a dramatic impact on higher-level analyses. However, algorithms for performing fixation identification are often described informally and rarely compared in a meaningful way. In this paper we propose a taxonomy of fixation identification algorithms that classifies algorithms in terms of how they utilize spatial and temporal information in eye-tracking protocols. Using this taxonomy, we describe five algorithms that are representative of different classes in the taxonomy and are based on commonly employed techniques. We then evaluate and compare these algorithms with respect to a number of qualitative characteristics. The results of these comparisons offer interesting implications for the use of the various algorithms in future work.


Present day Centrifugal Compressor (CC) technology trend is moving towards innovative designs for improved performance. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) plays an important role in the assessment and improvement of CC component design. Statoric parts like inlet plenum, diffuser, return channel, and exit scroll play a vital role in determining the overall performance of any compressor.Exit scrolls (volute) are an integral part of any CC. A volute is essentially a flow collecting duct with its cross-section area increasing around the circumference as more volume of fluid is added. There are different types of volutes used for CC based on the type of application, casing size and the site conditions. The performance of a volute is very important in terms of magnitude of losses, static pressure recovery as well as impact on the upstream impeller. It is essential that the volute is well matched with the impeller and diffuser at the best stage efficiency point.In addition to that, some obstructions needed for mechanical purposes (spacers, bolts, grooves) result in more losses, decreasing overall compressor efficiency affecting severely the upstream impeller. The purpose of this paper is to describe an extensive CFD analysis that was performed to understand and quantify the negative impact arising due to the presence of spacers, their shapes and circumferential location on the performance of the whole compressor.The paper is divided into two sections. First section describes the CFD studies to understand performance of a typical scroll with spacers (boat tail spacers) as obstacles and effect of tangential location of spacers. The second section describes the CFD studies to understand the impact of the shape of spacers in a comparative manner.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


In this issue of International Journal of Eating Disorders, Walsh et al. review the research to date comparing atypical anorexia nervosa (atypical AN) and AN. Most of the differences observed related to weight; eating disorder and noneating disorder psychopathology and complications were similar. The results could suggest that atypical AN and AN are not really different, and these findings should spur further research. Whether informative weight thresholds exist is a critical question. Beyond, why weight differs in these two groups is of great interest. If the two entities can be separated, does this separation predict longitudinal outcome or response to treatment? The high prevalence of atypical AN in clinical settings emphasizes the urgency of continuing research.


Qubit routing is a key problem for quantum circuit compilation. It consists in rewriting a quantum circuit by adding the least possible number of instructions to make the circuit compliant with some architecture's connectivity constraints. Usually, this problem is tackled via either SWAP insertion techniques or re-synthesis of portions of the circuit using architecture aware synthesis algorithms. In this work, we propose a meta-heuristic that couples the iterative approach of SWAP insertion techniques with greedy architecture-aware synthesis routines. We propose two new compilation algorithms based on this meta-heuristic and compare their performances to state-of-the-art quantum circuit compilation techniques for several standard classes of quantum circuits and show significant reduction in the entangling gate overhead due to compilation.


We point out the relation between the orthogonal polynomials with respect to (w.r.t.) varying measures and the so-called orthogonal rationals on the unit circle in the complex plane. This observation enables us to combine different techniques in the study of these polynomials and rationals. As an example, we present a simple and short proof for a known result on the weak-star convergence of orthogonal polynomials w.r.t, varying measures. Some related problems are also considered.


mRNA based vaccines and therapeutics are gaining popularity and usage across a wide range of conditions. One of the critical issues when designing such mRNAs is sequence optimization. Even small proteins or peptides can be encoded by an enormously large number of mRNAs. The actual mRNA sequence can have a large impact on several properties including expression, stability, immunogenicity, and more. To enable the selection of an optimal sequence, we developed CodonBERT, a large language model (LLM) for mRNAs. Unlike prior models, CodonBERT uses codons as inputs which enables it to learn better representations. CodonBERT was trained using more than 10 million mRNA sequences from a diverse set of organisms. The resulting model captures important biological concepts. CodonBERT can also be extended to perform prediction tasks for various mRNA properties. CodonBERT outperforms previous mRNA prediction methods including on a new flu vaccine dataset.