Molecular biology owes its prominent role in the biological sciences to the tools of recombinant DNA. While the foundations of recombinant DNA were laid in the 1970s with the discovery of type II restriction endonucleases,1,2 development of robust sequencing technology,3 and pioneering work on gene synthesis,4,5 it was not until the turn of the new millennium before the first complete synthetic viral genomes saw the light of day including that of hepatitis C,6 poliovirus,7 and bacteriophage PhiX174.8 Recombinant DNA has come of age as entire cellular genomes are sequenced and stored as digitized information. So what's next? One novel branch of recombinant DNA, referred to as synthetic genomics,9 is occupied with (re)-construction of entire cellular genomes from virtual sequence information and using chemical components. Here we look at the most recent developments in such de novo construction. For a broader and more extensive review on genome engineering, the reader is referred to the excellent paper by Carr and Church.10


The author considers the problem of the research of the lexical verbalization of the concept "Ideal" in A. Blok's poetic language, gives the notion of the concept from the perspective of linguo-culturology, emphasizing the cultural component of the concept, and pays special attention to the description of the concept "Ideal" that was not previously subjected to research.


Neural Fuzzy Inference System (NFIS) has been intensively investigated due to its aptitudes in accurate data processing as well as extractable and human interpretable inference rule base. However, most NFIS architectures focus primarily on modeling accuracy. Lesser attention has been devoted to improve the interpretability of the fuzzy inference rule base. In this thesis, a high-level interpretability of the rule base is manifested through the use of a small number of features and a small number of simple rules without redundancies and inconsistencies. Furthermore, a small number of fuzzy membership functions without much overlap between the adjacent ones promote greater legibility. With a high-level accuracy and better interpretability, intelligent systems become more convincing to developers, experts, and users. However, many established methods that perform knowledge reduction are applied to the derived rule base. Lesser attention has been devoted to derive a compact fuzzy inference rule base from the initial design and during an iterative optimization process. This thesis aims to construct an NFIS that achieves a high-level interpretability with competitive accuracy in an integrated framework focusing on leveraging the trade-off between accuracy and interpretability from the design phase and throughout the iterative optimization process. To realize this objective, rough set theory is incorporated to perform knowledge reduction and genetic algorithm is incorporated to search for pseudo optimal solutions. A hybrid architecture, named Genetic Algorithm and Rough Set Incorporated Neural Fuzzy Inference System (GARSINFIS), is proposed in this thesis. GARSINFIS employs Genetic Algorithm based Rough Set i Clustering (GARSC) technique, which systematically divides data into clusters and represents them using minimal amount of necessary knowledge. GARSC ensures a relatively small network size of GARSINFIS. The trade-off between interpretability and accuracy can be tuned by adjusting the coefficients of different components defined in the fitness evaluation function. Moreover, the Recursive Least Squares (RLS) algorithm, which boosts accuracy but degrades interpretability, can be applied to increase the order of the employed fuzzy rules and further fine-tunes them after the network structure has been automatically determined according to the clustering result. A committee of multiple GARSINFIS networks with the weighted voting scheme can be employed to increase the overall accuracy. GARSINFIS is applied to eight publicly available and widely used data sets for performance comparisons against other classical and similar models. Furthermore, it is applied to two real-world applications for performance evaluations, wherein the automatically selected input features and systematically derived inference rules are compared to the ones used by the experts to demonstrate how well GARSINFIS performs in terms of knowledge reduction without prior knowledge and human intervention.


This article summarizes the arguments and counterarguments in the framework of the scientific discussion on determining priority directions of developing banking systems, modern problems and prospects of introduction of financial innovations in the process of development of banking services. Its pace and current trends require a completely scientific basis. Accordingly, the purpose of the study is to determine the impact of modern information technology in the banking systems of the European Union countries and the future prospects for their development. For this purpose, the hypothesis was, first of all, proposed that the level of business activity of the banking activity is related to the level of development of the country's economy and it will determine in the future the development of the banking systems of these countries. An appropriate empirical study was conducted to confirm this hypothesis. The systematization of literary sources and approaches to the solution of this problem has shown that in scientific sources the analysis of the impact of financial innovations on the banking systems of individual European Union countries is mainly carried out. Taking into account the different levels of development of these countries, these studies do not allow us to make conclusions and suggestions as to the future of European banks. Electronic banking, the creation of a large number of fi tech companies, crypto volume, blockade – radically change the classical banking business. These changes are gaining momentum and the future of the banking system is now very ambiguous. Will classical banks be able to function effectively, or will new financial companies come to their place? What should I do to manage the bank to lay the groundwork for its successful operation, in the context of the rapid development of information technology? Who and how will regulate global financial markets? There are no clear answers to these questions. The methodical toolkit of the study was a clustering method, methods of systematization, grouping, comparison, expert evaluations. The study period covers 2015-2018, which shows the most rapid dynamics of changes in the processes of customer service of banks from the offline to the online sphere. In addition, this period of time is characterized by the rapid development of financial innovation, which radically changes the approaches to traditional banking activities. The article presents the results of cluster analysis, the results of which allowed to group the countries of the European Union at different levels of digitalization. As a result, it was found that the most advanced economies and the most developed countries have the highest level of deductibility of banking activity (related to clusters 2 and 1). As a higher level of economic development provides more opportunities for investment, Internet access and better education of the population. In addition, it can be argued that it is the countries from the first group in the near future will or will become leaders in the European market of banking services, and it is on them that they will need to be guided by the orientation of the development of the banking system. The results of empirical analysis, have shown that banking institutions understand the lack of prospects of activities without financial innovation. On the other hand, as the study showed, such activity is characterized by high-risk banks. The issue of safety of up-to-date financial transactions is extremely important for supervisors who can not at the moment agree on what measures to apply and implement in order to minimize the risks of financial transactions. The study empirically confirms and theoretically proves that it is important to understand and justify the basic principles of the future development of banks, to identify and develop measures to minimize the levels of financial risks associated with the implementation of financial innovations, as well as to simply understand and evaluate changes expected by users of banking services during the next 5 to 10 years. The results of the research can be useful for scientists, management of banking and other financial institutions, as well as for users of banking services.


Background: Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) gained popularity in the early 2000s as a purely restrictive procedure with modest weight loss. The potential for complications requiring reoperation has since become evident. A retrospective review was performed to determine the incidence of long-term complications and predictive factors requiring surgical reintervention after LAGB. Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained, and a retrospective review of 200 consecutive patients undergoing LAGB over a period of six years was conducted at a single institution with American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence designation. Data were collected on patient characteristics, comorbid conditions and complications requiring reintervention. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Statistics software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results: Of the 200 patients, 176 (90.7%) were female with an average age of 53.6 years and preoperative body mass index (BMI) of 44.2 kg/m2. The average follow-up was 46 months. Complications occurred in 55 (28.4%) patients with band slippage/prolapse as the most common need for reoperation. Younger age, lack of comorbidities and diet/exercise compliance were associated with reintervention. Conclusions: LAGB has a high rate of reoperation secondary to complications associated with younger age. Alternative bariatric procedures may be more appropriate in these patients who have fewer comorbid conditions and are motivated to improve his or her health.


The purpose of this case study was to investigate reflex inhibition of the quadriceps femoris in a subject with postsurgical edema of the left knee. The subject was a 45-year-old male with a traumatic knee injury with resultant edema who underwent elective arthroscopic surgery. Reflex inhibition was assessed by H-reflex elicitation in the femoral nerve and surface electromyography of the quadriceps. To assess the degree of edema, direct circumferential measurements were taken. On the first presurgical visit, the left knee demonstrated mild edema with a decrease in H-reflex amplitudes. Two days after surgery, a further reduction in amplitudes and more swelling were demonstrated followed by an increase in amplitudes and a reduction in edema on the 28th postoperative day. These findings document a relationship between reflex inhibition and joint swelling that was previously described in experimental models where joint edema was simulated.


This study was performed at 2 sites of Nak-Dong River to investigate the changes of nitrifiers depending on the presence and absence of organic pollutants (due to the effluents of domestic wastewater treatment plant, WWTP). Conventional chemical parameters such as T-N, -N, -N, -N were measured and the quantitative nitrifiers at the 2 sites were analyzed comparatively by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with NSO190 and NIT3, after checking the presence of gene amoA of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and 16S rDNA signature sequence for Nitrobacter sp. that belongs to nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Also -Proteobacteria were detected using FISH to get a glimpse of the general bacterial community structure of the sites. Based on the distribution structure of the -Proteobacteria and the measurement of nitrogen in different phases, it could be said that the site 2 was more polluted with organics than site 1. Corresponding to the above conclusion, the average numbers of AOB and NOB detected by NSO160 and NIT3, respectively, at site 2 [AOB, ; NOB, (cells/ml)] was more than those at site 1 [AOB, ; NOB, (cells/ml)] and also their ratios to total counts were higher at site 2 (AOB, 27%; NOB, 34%) than those at site 1 (AOB, 18%; NOB, 23%). Thus, it could be concluded that the nitrification at site 2 was more active due to continuous loading of organics from the effluents of domestic WWTP, compared to site 1 located closed to raw drinking water supply and subsequently less polluted with organics.


INTRODUCTION
The objective of this study was to describe and evaluate the management of patients with renal trauma and their complications at the Department of Urology at Aarhus University Hospital (AUH), Denmark.

METHODS
All patients diagnosed with renal injury due to trauma and with contact to the Department of Urology at the AUH, Denmark, between March 2016 and March 2021 were included. Patients were identified by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth version, code and data obtained from electronic patient records.

RESULTS
A total of 58 patients were identified. The median age was 33 years (7-95 years) and the median length of hospitalisation was five days (range: 0-52 days). All patients were evaluated with a multiphase computed tomography upon admission. Injuries to the kidney were graded using the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma kidney injury scale. Twelve percent had grade I injury, 26% had grade II injury, 26% had grade III injury, 36% had grade IV injury and 3% had grade V injury. In the acute phase, all patients were managed non-operatively. Early complications were found in 24% of patients. Pulmonary embolism was diagnosed in 7%. Furthermore, 7% had an infection as a late complication and all of these patients had also had an early infection. A total of 60% were followed up with a renal-scintigraphy three months after their renal trauma. This examination had no consequence for any of the patients.

CONCLUSIONS
No patients died due to the renal trauma. However, many experienced complications in terms of infections and pulmonary embolisms. These data support earlier findings and suggest that a renal scintigraphy after renal traumas may be obsolete.

FUNDING
None.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
Not relevant.


A novel window structure realized by selective N ion implantation and subsequent rapid thermal annealing has been applied to overcome the catastrophic optical damage (COD) of a GaInAs-GaInP laser emitting in the 0.98-/spl mu/m wavelength region. A kink-free output power up to 220 mW at 25/spl deg/C was obtained. Laser characteristics including the I-L, far-field pattern, and lasing spectrum were almost the same as those of a conventional nonwindow laser consisting of the same structure except for the window region. In a 50/spl deg/C, APC-150 mW aging test, the window lasers have operated stably beyond 16 000 h, and no damage has been observed. Under this aging condition, a median lifetime of 280 000 h was obtained from log-normal plotting of aging characteristics. This marked improvement in reliability is due to a remarkable increase of damage tolerance realized by the window structure. In addition, there was minimal change in the characteristic of the window laser during the aging, indicating the absence of serious inner degradation. These results clearly show that our 0.98-/spl mu/m window laser suppresses both COD failure and inner degradation satisfactorily and can be used in practical applications.


A facile ammonia-atmosphere pre-hydrolysis post-synthetic route that can uniformly and selectively deposit Fe(2) O(3) nanoparticles in the predefined mesopores (5.6 nm) of a bimodal (2.3, 5.6 nm) mesoporous carbon matrix is demonstrated. The mesoporous magnetic Fe(2) O(3) @C encapsulates show excellent performance for arsenic capture with remarkable adsorption capacity, fast uptake rate, easy magnetic separation, and good cyclic stability.


Existing datasets for regular expression (regex) generation from natural language are limited in complexity; compared to regex tasks that users post on StackOverflow, the regexes in these datasets are simple, and the language used to describe them is not diverse. We introduce StructuredRegex, a new regex synthesis dataset differing from prior ones in three aspects. First, to obtain structurally complex and realistic regexes, we generate the regexes using a probabilistic grammar with pre-defined macros observed from real-world StackOverflow posts. Second, to obtain linguistically diverse natural language descriptions, we show crowdworkers abstract depictions of the underlying regex and ask them to describe the pattern they see, rather than having them paraphrase synthetic language. Third, we augment each regex example with a collection of strings that are and are not matched by the ground truth regex, similar to how real users give examples. Our quantitative and qualitative analysis demonstrates the advantages of StructuredRegex over prior datasets. Further experimental results using various multimodal synthesis techniques highlight the challenge presented by our dataset, including non-local constraints and multi-modal inputs.


37 Abstract— Cloud Services are becoming a major system for constructing distributed systems. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is widely working in electronic business, electronic -government, automotive systems, multimedia services, process control, finance, and a lot of other domains. Quality-of-Service (QoS) is usually employed for describing the non-functional characteristics of Cloud services and employed as an important differentiating point of different Cloud services. With the prevalence of Cloud services on the Internet, Cloud service QoS management is becoming more and more important. This paper first study a distributed QoS evaluation technique for Cloud services. In this technique, users in different geographic locations collaborative with each other to evaluate the target Cloud services and share their observed Cloud service QoS information. Based on this Cloud service evaluation technique, several large-scale distributed evaluations are conducted on many real-world Cloud services and the detailed evaluation results are released for future research. Cloud service evaluation is time and resource consuming. Moreover, in some scenarios, Cloud service evaluation may not be possible (e.g., the Cloud service invocation is charged, too many service candidate, etc.). Therefore, Cloud service QoS prediction approaches are becoming more and more attractive. In order to prediction the Cloud service QoS as accurate as possible, this paper studies three prediction methods. The first prediction method employs the information of neighborhoods for making missing value prediction. The second method discusses matrix factorization techniques to enhance the prediction accuracy. The third method predicts the ranking of the target Cloud services instead of QoS values. The predicted Cloud service QoS values can be employed to build fault-tolerant service-oriented systems. In the area of service computing, the cost for developing multiple redundant components is greatly reduced, since the functionally equivalent Cloud services are provided by different organizations and are accessible via Internet. Hence, based on the predicted QoS values, this paper study two methods for building fault tolerance Cloud services. Firstly, this paper studies an adaptive fault tolerance strategy for Cloud services. Then, this paper presents an optimal fault tolerance strategy selection technique for Cloud services.


Stem cell factor (SCF) and its receptor KIT play an important role in various biologic phases, such as hematopoiesis, reproduction, and regeneration. It has been possible to measure both soluble SCF and soluble KIT using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay since 1993 and 1995, respectively. Although the significance of interaction of soluble SCF with soluble KIT has not yet been elucidated, in certain diseases proteins fluctuate in human sera. We found that serum SCF levels were fivefold higher in patients with chronic renal failure than levels in healthy controls. We review the results of the analysis of SCF. In addition, possible pathologic mechanisms in various clinical abnormalities and the clinical potential for recombinant human SCF are discussed.


Music is commonly regarded as expressive of emotions that can be perceived by listeners. Nevertheless, the specific characteristics of this perceptual process are not well understood. This study aims to investigate the relationships between various features of musical structure and the emotions perceived by listeners, with a focus on the role of interactions among such features. Eight musical features (pitch, mode, melodic progression, rhythm, tempo, sound level, articulation and timbre) were systematically manipulated in a factorial design through synthesis. Ten musically trained listeners judged the resulting 384 pieces of music on five emotion scales. The relationships between musical features and listener judgements were modelled by means of multiple regression analysis. The results (1) confirmed empirically based predictions from previous post hoc analyses with respect to which musical features are associated with each emotion; (2) suggested that different musical features were important for different emotions; (3) indicated that some features (e.g. tempo) were more powerful than others overall; and (4) revealed that interactions made significant but small contributions to the predictive power of the regression models.


Blast furnace procedure is a set of a large number of physical and chemical, thermal and mechanical processes, which do not take place separately, but are rather in certain mutual relation. The flow and the efficiency of the blast furnace process can be significantly affected by the quality of the input raw materials, which can be evaluated using a number of different criteria. That is why the selection and evaluation of the suppliers of strategic resources play very important role. Metallurgical enterprises must often compare and evaluate dozens of offers and they must monitor a number of regular and irregular suppliers. The evaluation of the suppliers of raw materials for metallurgical production can be realized in different ways. Most of the methods are based on monitoring the pre-defined criteria. During the decision-making itself, it is possible to consider a number of criteria related to the offered raw materials and services, in particular their quality, price and the contract terms. In practice, however, the number of the monitored criteria is usually limited to those that have certain weight in terms of the specific technological conditions of the company. Their selection must naturally be considered very carefully. The definition of importance of the individual criteria represents a key aspect in the evaluation. This will always be subjective to some extent. To define the weights of the individual criteria, it is possible to use the methods that reduce the subjective nature of the decision-making process. The article deals with the analysis of current approaches in the evaluation of suppliers in the area of metallurgical production. At the same time, it analyzes the possible utilization of the methods of distance from a hypothetical option and the methods of pair comparisons in the evaluation of the suppliers of input raw materials for metallurgical production.


In this paper, an artificial neural network (ANN) based method is developed for quickly estimating the long-term voltage stability margin. The investigation presented in the paper showed that node voltage magnitudes and the phase angles are the best predictors of voltage stability margin. Further, the paper shows that the proposed ANN based method can successfully estimate the voltage stability margin not only under normal operation but also under N-1 contingency situations. If the voltage magnitudes and phase angles are obtained in real-time from phasor measurement units (PMUs) using the proposed method, the voltage stability margin can be estimated in real time and used for initiating stability control actions. Finally, a suboptimal approach to determine the best locations for PMUs is presented. Numerical examples of the proposed techniques are presented using the New England 39-bus test system and a practical power system which consists of 1844 buses, 746 load buses, and 302 generator buses.


CLINICAL QUESTION
Do statins reduce rates of cardiovascular events when used for primary prevention?

BOTTOM LINE
When used for primary prevention, statins are associated with lower rates of all-cause mortality, major vascular events, and revascularizations compared with placebo. Statin therapy is not associated with increased rates of life-threatening adverse effects such as cancer.


Increased knowledge of the physiological basis behind the signal enhancement in tumors during dynamic contrast‐enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging may be useful in development of predictive assays based on this technique. In the present work, the relative signal intensity (RSI) increase in gadopentetate dimeglumine (Gd‐DTPA)‐enhanced MR images of patients with cervical carcinoma was related to tumor perfusion, vascular density, cell density, and oxygen tension (pO2). The patients were subjected to MR imaging before the start of treatment (N = 12) and after two weeks of radiotherapy (N = 8). Perfusion was determined from the kinetics of contrast agent in tumors and arteries, vascular density and cell density were determined from tumor biopsies, and pO2 was determined by polarographic needle electrodes. The maximal RSI was correlated to perfusion (P = 0.002) and cell density (P = 0.004), but was not related to vascular density. There was also a correlation between pO2 and perfusion (P < 0.001). Moreover, pO2 tended to be correlated to cell density (P = 0.1), but was not related to vascular density. There was a significant correlation between RSI and pO2, regardless of whether the median pO2 (P < 0.001) or the fraction of pO2 readings below 2.5 mmHg (P < 0.001), 5 mmHg (P < 0.0001), or 10 mmHg (P < 0.001) was considered. Our results suggest that the Gd‐DTPA‐induced signal enhancement in MR images of cervical tumors is influenced by both perfusion and cell density. These parameters are also of major importance for tumor oxygenation, leading to a correlation between signal enhancement and oxygenation. Dynamic contrast‐enhanced MR imaging may therefore possibly be useful in prediction of treatment outcome. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2001;14:750–756. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Human papillomavirus (HPV) can activate Toll-like receptor (TLR)/nitric oxide (NO) signaling pathways; however, whether the TLR/NO pathway is involved in cervical cancer caused by high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) remains unclear. In this study, 43 HR-HPV-positive patients with cervical cancer (CC group), 39 HR-HPV-positive patients with a healthy cervix (HR-HPV group), and 33 HR-HPV-negative controls were recruited. NO concentration in cervical canal and expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) in cervical tissues were detected. Expressions of key TLR/NO pathway genes (TLR3/4/7/8, NF-κB p65, and iNOS) in cervical epithelial cells were detected by quantitative reverse transcription PCR. Expressions of TLR4, NF-κB p65, and iNOS in CaSki, HeLa, and C33a cells were determined by Western blot. NO concentration in cervical canal of CC group was significantly higher than in other groups (P < 0.05). Positive rates of iNOS in cervical tissues were 72.1%, 28.2%, and 3.1% in the CC group, HR-HPV group, and controls, respectively (P < 0.05). Levels of TLR3, TLR4, TLR7, TLR8, NF-κB p65, and iNOS in cervical epithelial cells were higher in CC group than in other groups (P < 0.05). Both mRNA and protein levels of TLR4, NF-κB p65, and iNOS were higher in HPV-positive HeLa and CaSki cells than in HPV-negative C33a cells (P < 0.05). Together, these results suggest that TLR/NO signaling pathway may be involved in pathogenesis of cervical cancer caused by HR-HPV.


Abstract Using a sample of all U.S. firms listed on the U.S. major stock exchanges for the period covering 1988 through 2014, we investigate the relation between firm earnings components and matching. Following the methodology of Hui et al. (2016), we decompose earnings into industry-wide and firm-specific earnings. Then, we partition them into cash flows and accruals, four earnings components. As our matching measure, we use the correlation between revenues and expenses over the five-year rolling period. We investigate how matching affects the persistence of each earnings component and our results indicate that matching enhances the persistence of earnings components. Furthermore, our study shows that the effect is more outstanding on firm-specific accruals, which are more prone to the management discretion, than cash flows.


Cellular heterogeneity and structural complexity of the nervous system, coupled with regional and cellular differences in the metabolic capabilities of neurons, glia and other non-neuronal elements, may underlie the selective cellular involvement following exposure to neurotoxicants. Determination of the role of biotransformation of xenobiotics in neural pathoclisis requires an understanding of the cellular distribution of both phase I and phase II enzyme systems in the brain. While ependyma, choroid plexus and endothelial linings of blood vessels throughout the nervous system appear to contain appreciable amounts of several isoforms of cytochrome P450 (CYP450), glia and neurons tend to be highly specific in which forms of CYP450 they express. Regional and cellular heterogeneity similarly characterize the distribution of glutathione (GSH) and the conjugating enzyme glutathione S-transferase (GST) in the brain. While all cells of the embryonic nervous system express high levels of GSH and pi-GST (with lesser amounts of alpha- and mu-class), by adulthood neurons and non-neuronal cells differ in the distribution of GSH and isoforms of GST. Neurons (except the dorsal root ganglia and the cerebellar granule cells) become GSH-negative but contain alpha-, mu-, and pi-GST. Glia, ependyma, choroid plexus and neurovascular cells are rich in GSH and variously express GSTs. The differences found in the cellular distribution of GSH and GSTs may contribute to changes in the vulnerability of the nervous system to neurotoxicants at different ages. A comprehensive understanding of the neurotoxicological and pharmacological consequences of the cellular heterogeneity in the localization the CYP450s and glutathione S-transferases pre- and postnatally will require systematic study of the distribution, substrate specificity, and inducibility of the various isoforms of these enzyme systems.


A voltage-controlled duty-cycle oscillator (VCDCO) devel- oped for use with integrated silicon sensors is described. The circuit's transfer function is, to first order, completely independent of component values. Measured results indicate that the circuit is capable of resolving input voltage changes as small as 6 pV in a 2ooo-ps period and has a dynamic range of 72 dB over the full commercial temperature range while operating from a 3-V supply. A two-terminal temperature transducer built using the circuit is also presented.


1 The role of acupuncture on the pregnancy rate has not been evaluated in frozen2 thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles. This randomized double blind study aimed to 3 determine whether acupuncture performed on the day of FET improves clinical outcomes. On 4 the day of FET, 226 patients were randomly allocated to either real or placebo acupuncture 5 according to a computer-generated randomization list in sealed opaque envelopes. They 6 received a session of real or placebo acupuncture for 25 minutes on site immediately after 7 FET. The anxiety level and serum cortisol concentration were evaluated before and after real 8 and placebo acupuncture. There were no significant differences in rates of overall pregnancy, 9 clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, livebirth and implantation in the placebo acupuncture 10 group, when compared with the real acupuncture group. The anxiety level and serum cortisol 11 concentration were similar for both groups. Only the placebo acupuncture group had 12 significantly higher ongoing pregnancy (P=0.022) and implantation rates (P=0.038) than 13 those who declined to join the study and received no acupuncture. In conclusion, comparable 14 pregnancy and live birth rates of FET treatment were found in patients who had one session 15 of real or placebo acupuncture after FET. 16 17


Heart failure (HF) remains a major public health problem, affecting 5 million patients in the United States. The personal burden of HF includes debilitating symptoms, activity limitations, frequent hospitalizations, arrhythmias, and increased mortality. Despite the compelling scientific evidence that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, beta-blockers, and aldosterone antagonists reduce hospitalizations and mortality in patients with HF, these life-prolonging therapies continue to be underutilized. Device therapy for HF, including implantable cardioverter defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy, has recently been demonstrated to also result in substantial mortality reduction. Accurate evaluation of patients with HF is critical for the appropriate selection and monitoring of therapy to reduce symptoms as well as for the prevention of recurrent hospitalizations. A number of studies in a variety of clinical settings have documented that a significant proportion of patients with HF are not receiving treatment with guideline-recommended, evidence-based therapies. Treatment gaps have also been documented in providing other components of care for patients with HF, including assessment for congestion and patient education. Recent studies demonstrate that hospital-based systems can improve medical care and education of hospitalized HF patients and accelerate use of evidence-based, guideline-recommended therapies by administering them before hospital discharge. HF disease management programs have also been shown to improve HF treatment, resulting in substantial reduction in hospitalizations and mortality. Application of validated and reproducible noninvasive techniques to monitor patients with chronic HF is an important step in maximizing interventions to improve outcomes in this patient population. Further efforts are clearly needed to improve the monitoring of HF patients in the hospital and outpatient settings, as well as to ensure the implementation of effective strategies and systems that increase the use of evidence-based therapies, in order to reduce the substantial HF morbidity and mortality risk.


The English common law has, for the purpose of describing the rights of ownership of animals, divided them into two classes, those the subject of absolute ownership and those the subject of a limited property right. In this system, fish have long been regarded as the subject of a limited property right, one dependent on possession.

The principles underlying those concepts follow the Roman law concepts applicable to the proprietorship of animals and adopted in much of Europe. Those principles were further developed and adapted over many centuries in England, but more significantly in the common law countries outside of England, over the last century. They are principles that have a limited relationship to domestication. Drawing on the recent decisions outside of England it is possible to refashion the commonly presented tests as to the absolute ownership of animals. Based on those decisions, it may be asserted, that a person may absolutely own an animal that is a member of a population of animals that have had a long association with humans, or are exploited by a community in a recognized manner, other than by hunting. When applied to fish, particularly those from stock enhancement, sea ranching and aquaculture escapes, those principles raise a number of questions. Does the aquaculturist remain the owner of the fish that have escaped? Is it possible to retain ownership of stock enhancements and sea ranched fish? In some cases they may also raise an issue as to the liability for those fish at large.


In this paper, the Et of broad-leaved Korean pine forest on Changbai Mountain was determined by water balance method, and calculated by Bowen ratio-energy balance (BREB) method in July, August and September, 2001. The total Et was 288.18 mm and 214.94 mm, respectively, and the daily average Et in each month was gained, while the rainfall is 301.9 mm. Furthermore, the daily Et and hourly Et rate were computed by BREB method, and the availability and precision of the Et determined by water balance and calculated by BREB method was discussed.


Nearly 1 in 4 women undergo surgery for pelvic organ prolapse or urinary incontinence in the US. The weakened pelvic floor, which could be caused by childbirth injury, aging, or obesity, fails to support the pelvic organs, resulting in urinary incontinence, sexual difficulties, and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Polypropylene (PP) meshes are often used in reconstructive surgeries as a reinforcement to provide long-term, durable support. However, commercial polypropylene meshes have a risk of complications, such as pain, mesh erosion, and infection. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has consequently re-classified the polypropylene mesh as a high-risk device. Therefore, the need for new meshes to cure POP with a rapid prototyping technique is urgent, especially for personalized medicine.
 Therefore, we developed a new implantable mesh using biocompatible polymers (e.g., gelatin, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), chitosan) with controlled bonding strength and tunable lifetime. Our group has leveraged additive manufacturing for porous scaffold structures beneficial for cell attachment and nutrition transmission. Our POP scaffold mesh has demonstrated high biocompatibility and controlled biodegradability. We will also leverage our manufacturing expertise and clinical partnerships to examine cell proliferation and differentiation for tissue regeneration. Our advanced manufacturing method is compatible with other materials and has potential use in layered structures for dental, heart, or bone engineering applications.


. Three new records of Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) are recorded within the state of Hawai'i, USA. Diomus roseicollis (Mulsant, 1853) is newly recorded from the state based on four specimens collected on the island of O'ahu. Cycloneda sanguinea sanguinea (Linnaeus, 1763) and Brumoides suturalis (Fabricius, 1789), both already established in the state, are newly recorded from the island of Hawai'i. Additional sampling is recommended to determine the distribution of D . roseicollis within the island of O'ahu. Further surveys are warranted to determine particular habitats and prey for D . roseicollis , C . sanguinea sanguinea , and B . suturalis in Hawai'i, as well as their impact on the insect fauna there.


The present contribution tested the general hypothesis that individual tendencies in the choice of terms at different levels of abstraction are enhanced when the same descriptions are formulated by a group. We compared the level of abstraction of individual and collective written judgements about applicants for a job position and found that the selection linguistic bias collectively expressed by hiring committees became more extreme in the direction established by initial individual judgements. Negative terms used to describe rejected applicants became more abstract, and those used to describe selected applicants became more concrete from individual to collective judgements. Conversely, positive terms employed to describe rejected applicants were more concrete in collective than individual judgements. Implications of these findings for the notion of language as a tool that enables coupling between group-shared knowledge and group goals activated by the task at hand are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


ABSTRACT The physiological functions of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) autoregulation, the ultra-short feedback loop inhibition of TSH by TSH itself, have not been determined. In this work we explored the role of TSH autoregulation in thyroid homeostasis. We synthesized the known physiology of autoregulation with theknown physiological relationships between thyroid hormones; in particular between free thyroxine and TSH. We analysed the implications of TSH autoregulation, on the generation of the TSH response to free thyroxine (the 'TSH curve'), and on the variation inthis response, which might result from variations in hypothalamopituitary or thyroid gland function. Our analysis demonstrated that, in the circumstances of inter-individual and intra-individual variations to hypothalamo-pituitary function TSH autoregulation lessens variation in the TSH curve. This in turn enhances the probability of generating and maintaining a euthyroid free thyroxine value. This contribution of TSH autoregulation to the stabilisation of thyroid physiology offers a logical explanation for the evolutionary selection of this physiological process.


Abstract We investigate the geometry and electronic structure of an interstitial H atom in the BaTiO3 crystal considering both cubic and tetragonal crystallographic lattices. A quantum-chemical method based on the Hartree-Fock formalism is used throughout the study. Interstitial H is found to bind to one of the O atoms, forming the so-called OH group. At equilibrium, the O-H distances are found to be 0.89 and 0.91 Å for cubic and tetragonal lattices respectively. The performed automated geometry optimization procedure of the defective region shows considerable outward movements of atoms closest to the impurity. The role of the H impurity in ferroelectric polarization in the BaTiO3 crystal is analysed using the results obtained in connection with the available experimental data on ferroelectric perovskites.


Abstract The Upper Triassic to Middle Jurassic stratigraphy of the Atlantic margin basins west of the British Isles (including Celtic Sea, Porcupine, Slyne, Erris, Hebrides, and west of Shetland) is summarized in terms of six major genetic sequences, defined as packages of conformable strata separated by surfaces of abrupt major facies change. They indicate common tectonic histories and are interpreted as representing episodes of evolution comprising extensional phases with laterally variable sequences (1A Late Triassic to Early Sinemurian; 2A latest Toarcian to Late Bajocian), thermal and loading sag phases (1B mid-Sinemurian to earliest Toarcian; 2B Late Bajocian to Bathonian) and stabilization phases with sequences of reduced thicknesses and hiatuses (1C Toarcian; 2C Late Bathonian to Callovian). The basins west of Shetlands, north of the Wyville-Thomson Ridge, have a different history, especially in the Early Jurassic. Similarly, basins south of an extension of the Clare Lineament (south of Celtic Sea and Porcupine Basins) differ in having limited Middle Jurassic subsidence. These transverse elements divide the Atlantic basin system into local subsystems, each of which has a different tectonic history.


Solution composition-sensitive disjoining pressure acting between the mineral surfaces in fluid-filled granular rocks and materials controls their cohesion, facilitates the transport of dissolved species, and may sustain volume-expanding reactions leading to fracturing or pore sealing. Although calcite is one of the most abundant minerals in the Earth's crust, there is still no complete understanding of how the most common inorganic ions affect the disjoining pressure (and thus the attractive or repulsive forces) operating between calcite surfaces. In this atomic force microscopy study, we measured adhesion acting between two cleaved (104) calcite surfaces in solutions containing low and high concentrations of Ca2+ ions. We detected only low adhesion between calcite surfaces, which was weakly modulated by the varying Ca2+ concentration. Our results show that the more hydrated calcium ions decrease the adhesion between calcite surfaces with respect to monovalent Na+ at a given ionic strength, and thus Ca2+ can sustain relatively thick water films between contacting calcite grains even at high overburden pressures. These findings suggest a possible loss of cohesion and continued progress of reaction-induced fracturing for weakly charged minerals in the presence of strongly hydrated ionic species.


Rituximab (RTX) is a chimeric monoclonal antibody against CD20+ B cells increasingly used to treat kidney disorders. RTX-induced pulmonary disease has been reported in patients treated for haematological disorders, and a few cases have been observed in patients with underlying rheumatological conditions. We report a case of non-infectious interstitial pneumonitis associated with RTX use in a 49-year-old patient with primary (fibrillary) glomerulonephritis. As typically observed, discontinuation of the drug and prompt initiation of glucocorticoids led to resolution of pulmonary manifestations. However, fatalities have been reported and nephrologists treating glomerulonephritis patients with RTX should be aware of the existence of this potentially lethal complication.


Hibernation is an energy-saving strategy adopted by a wide range of mammals to survive highly seasonal or unpredictable environments. Arctic ground squirrels living in Alaska provide an extreme example, with 6- to 9-mo-long hibernation seasons when body temperature alternates between levels near 0 degrees C during torpor and 37 degrees C during arousal episodes. Heat production during hibernation is provided, in part, by nonshivering thermogenesis that occurs in large deposits of brown adipose tissue (BAT). BAT is active at tissue temperatures from 0 to 37 degrees C during rewarming and continuously at near 0 degrees C during torpor in subfreezing conditions. Despite its crucial role in hibernation, the global gene expression patterns in BAT during hibernation compared with the nonhibernation season remain largely unknown. We report a large-scale study of differential gene expression in BAT between winter hibernating and summer active arctic ground squirrels using mouse microarrays. Selected differentially expressed genes identified on the arrays were validated by quantitative real-time PCR using ground squirrel specific primers. Our results show that the mRNA levels of the genes involved in nearly every step of the biochemical pathway leading to nonshivering thermogenesis are significantly increased in BAT during hibernation, whereas those of genes involved in protein biosynthesis are significantly decreased compared with summer active animals in August. Surprisingly, the differentially expressed genes also include adipocyte differentiation-related protein or adipophilin (Adfp), gap junction protein 1 (Gja1), and secreted protein acidic and cysteine-rich (Sparc), which may play a role in enhancing thermogenesis at low tissue temperatures in BAT.


Private foreign investment in Pakistan is regulated by the government's statement of industrial policy issued in 1959 which recognises, welcomes, and facilitates the inflow of priva.te foreign investment in the country. In order to attract foreign investors, the government offers liberal incentives and concessions. In addition all profits are repatriable at the official rate of exchange. An attempt has been made in this note to determine the size and nature of private foreign investment in relation to the rest of the economy and to examine the inflows of private investment and remittances of profits, dividends, etc., made abroad.


abstract:The study seeks to answer the phenomenological question: What in essence is religious experience—specifically, the lived experience of "remembrance" (dhikr) in Sufi practice within the schools of Sufism shaped by the "Greatest Master," Ibn al-'Arabi? The eidetic structure of remembrance is the awakening of the individuated human subject to recollecting the primordial ground of his or her identity as a dynamic instantiation of the Absolute. This is simultaneously experienced as the subject becoming the object of remembrance—that is, being remembered by the Absolute. This transforms the psychological ego's relationship to its own embodied, affective, and cognitive living, as the "center of gravity" of that ego shifts from an egocentric one—that is, an identification with the natural attitude standpoint of the personal ego—to progressively greater centeredness in the transcendental ego as a locus of ongoing world constitution and primordial self-presence, while nevertheless living as a unique individual.


To investigate the morphological features of mediastinal extramedullary hematopoietic tissue in beta-thalassanemia patients and its diagnosis, the morphological features of tumor-like hyperplastic in extramedullary hematopoietic tissue were analyzed by using fine needle aspiration cytological (FNAC) biopsy and compared with bone marrow smear sample. The results indicated that in the FNAC smears of mediastinal tumor, neutrophilic myelocyte, neutrophilic metamyelocyte, neutrophilic stab granulocyte and neutrophilic segmented granulocyte were observed in granulocytic series; early normoblast, polychromatic normoblast and orthochromatic normoblast were observed in erythrocytic series; and granular megakaryocyte, thromocytogenic megakaryocyte, scattered platelet and matured lymphocyte also were observed. Cell morphology and distribution in different stages were are similar to that in bone marrow smear, and these cells belong to the extra-medullary hemopoietic tissue. It is concluded that tumor-like hyperplasia in extra-medullary hemopoietic tissue of beta-thalassanemia patient is a rare phenomenon, FNAC detection is a quick, convenient and effective method for its diagnosis.


The past decade has witnessed an explosion in both the breadth and depth of computer utilization in all developed countries. Most U.S. installations are hard-pressed simply to keep themselves aware of new hardware and software, much less to play any active role in the always exciting area of applications development. Universities feel this burden with special sensitivity due to their traditional dual roles of education and research. Not as visible, but nonetheless critical, are the needs associated with the effective administration of a modern university complex. Pushed on by a strong sense of professional responsibility and pulled into the whirlwind by an increasingly demanding user base, educational centers have typically responded by simply placing themselves into motion, hoping to satisfy requirements due to action itself. Many such actions have been next to useless and have led to frustration among all involved parties. It is mandatory that a sense of direction be maintained during any period of rapid change; the alternative is Brownian motion.


hCG, LH, FSH, and TSH are a family of heterodimeric glycoprotein hormones that share a common alpha-subunit, but differ in their hormone-specific beta-subunits. Using site-directed mutagenesis and gene transfer, we studied the region in the common alpha-subunit that has been implicated in the assembly with the beta-subunits. The wild-type or mutated alpha-gene was cotransfected into Chinese hamster ovary cells with the wild-type hCG beta gene. Deletion of the sequence Pro38-Thr39-Pro40 or a change in Tyr37 or Thr39 in the alpha-subunit eliminated or reduced combination with the beta-subunit. Deletion of the sequence Leu41-Arg42-Ser43 had little effect on hCG dimer formation. Disruption of the disulfide bone in the carboxyl end of the subunit did not affect assembly, which suggests that the disulfide bond of Cys59 and Cys87 is not critical for dimer formation. Based on our data and the previously published results from several laboratories, the region encompassed by amino acids 37-40 is a key determinant in initiating and maintaining alpha:beta assembly.


The cement sheath are damaged around the hole after perforation, and the micro-cracks in the cement sheath will cause fluid channeling during hydraulic fracturing. Focused on this problem, a numerical model was set up to calculate the crack propagation length in cement sheath during hydraulic fracturing by using the Cohesive Zone Method (CZM). Then the influence of different parameters on the unsealing length of cement sheath during hydraulic fracturing was analyzed. The results show that higher casing pressure can help to reduce the unsealing length of cement sheath. It is significant to perforate with lower density and phase to ensure the sealing integrity of the cement sheath. This research can evaluate the sealing performance of the cement sheath during hydraulic fracturing and give some guiding for the design of fracturing schemes.


Warneckea consists of shrubs and small trees endemic to tropical forests in Africa, Madagascar, and Mauritius. Phylogenetic analyses of sequence data from the transcribed spacers of nuclear ribosomal DNA (ETS, ITS) indicate that W sect. Carnosa Jacq.-Fel. (I sp., East Africa and Madagascar) is a divergent element that is best treated at subgeneric level. The analyses recovered three major lineages in W. subg. Warneckea, together forming a basal trichotomy. The three lineages represent W. sect. Strychnoidea (western and central Africa), sect. Warneckea (East Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius), and a third group With three West African species (W. Fascicularis W guineensis, W mangrovensis) comprising the newly proposed W sect. Guineensea.


BACKGROUND
Semaphorin4F (Sema4F) is a member of the semaphorin family and exhibits important regulatory functions in cancer biology. We aimed to explore the prognostic value and biologic function of Sema4F in gastric cancer (GC) through clinical data, laboratory studies, and bioinformatic methods.

METHODS
We investigated Sema4F-related data and the prognostic values of patients with GC based on several databases, including Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER), the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 (GEPIA2), The University Of Alabama At Birmingham Cancer Data Analysis Portal (UALCAN) and Kaplan-Meier Plotter. We detected the expression of Sema4F in cell lines and tumor tissues by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), western blotting and immunohistochemistry. The prognostic value of Sema4F expression on patient overall survival was analyzed retrospectively using Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox regression analyses. Moreover, we used Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG), Gene Ontology (GO) and Gene-set enrichment analysis (GSEA) analyses to explore the relevant pathways of Sema4F in GC.

RESULTS
The expression of Sema4F was markedly increased in cancer tissues and cancer cell lines. Furthermore, high Sema4F expression was positively associated with various clinicopathologic data and independently predicted poor prognosis for overall survival in GC. Our functional enrichment analysis revealed that Sema4F was mainly involved in oxidative phosphorylation and tumor-related signaling pathways.

CONCLUSIONS
Sema4F may be a valuable prognostic biomarker and a novel target for gastric cancer.


This paper begins with a brief review of the history of problem-based learning (PBL) integrated with online learning, and surveys relevant learning theory, including constructivism and cognitivism. Recent case-study research on a postgraduate diploma module in learning and teaching for faculty and lecturers in higher education is then provided to illustrate the key issues for both faculty and students in this evolving area. Emerging trends in combining PBL and online learning are outlined, along with potential opportunity to continue to research the topic in a different light. The paper concludes with an overview of the research area, aspects of which have been confirmed as strengths, and others that have been highlighted for change.


The category of one-looped fibula type with asymmetrical plate has been discussed since the late 1980s, especially with regard to their connection with Greek "geometric" models. The aim of the paper is first to supplement the previous studies about the fibula type by re-examining the typological details and to propose several variants. The integration of one-looped bow fibulae with square/rectangular plate into the discussion as well as the spatial distribution of the proposed variants shall complete the study. The heterogeneity of the type and even the variants lead to chronological problems regarding the exact dating within the first horizon of the Early Iron Age (8th/7th century BCE). Therefore, the chronological position of the fibulae variants is discussed based on existing relative chronological systems taking into account the local contexts in which the fibulae in question occur.


New products and services increasingly follow a data-driven strategy, creating the need for designers, product developers, and teams of individuals to develop products and services with data in mind. This paper provides a data-informed ontology for visual collaboration tools. It presents a prototype of a canvas that could be used during data-oriented design thinking workshops. Using action design research, the Data Innovation Board is tested through iterative cycles of building, intervention, and evaluation and the results are analyzed using triangulation. The suggested datainformed ontology and the proposed canvas facilitate the development of data-driven products and services. The canvas helps teams sharpen their perspective on data challenges from the start and presents a more holistic view on data projects.


Fishes are among the most well-studied groups in papers aiming to analyze food webs and the trophic relations between their organisms. Their importance comes from the potential of the ichthyofauna to consume different types of prey, allowing the fishes to be representative at different trophic levels. However, the feeding plasticity showed by this group makes it difficult to reach a conclusive evaluation about their diets. The goal of this review is to describe the different tools used to evaluate fish diets, including their limitations and advantages. The stomach contents analysis describes and quantifies the diet, but it does not take into account the assimilation of food items. This information can be obtained through stable isotope analyses, influenced by turnover and fractionation rates. The bioaccumulation of mercury along a food web makes it a good indicator of the trophic level of organisms. These tools can provide complementary data, and thus studies including a multiple approach can give a better understanding of how different groups participate in the fish diets. Keywords: fishes, stomach contents, stable isotopes, total mercury.


platelet-rich-plasma is increasingly used in De Quervain's Disease. This study show the clinical outcomes of a single PRP injections.my study was done between Dec. 2015 and Oct. 2016, thirty patient receive single injection of platelet-rich –plasma All patients underwent prospective clinical evaluation, including visual analog scale (VAS) for pain for six month follow up .most of the patient (VAS) significantly improve from 5.9,to 2.0 (p > 0.05) after injection with platelet-rich –plasma .PRP injections in De Quervain's Disease showed better improvement in outcomes


This thesis examines the influence that Spanish literary culture had on Kate O'Brien's work. There are overt Spanish elements in a number of O'Brien's writings; however upon a closer inspection of both her fiction and her non-fiction, this research reveals how a more subtle influence of Spain runs through the core of all her work and that her experimental writing style is inextricably linked to Spanish literary culture. As such, this thesis illuminates the way in which O'Brien's engagement with the writings of Concha Espina, Jacinto Benavente, Miguel Cervantes and Teresa of Avila provided her with a model with which to negotiate the social, religious and familial restraints faced by a female Catholic novelist in post-independence Ireland. The thesis is structured in four parts with a chapter devoted to the unique influence of each writer on O'Brien. Importantly, the thesis confronts some received critical assumptions about O'Brien. More specifically, it challenges the idea that O'Brien was a conservative writer whose work was stylistically timid and outdated in tone. In doing so, this re-assessment of O'Brien's work offers a new approach to her writing, as it situates her in both an Irish and an international context of writers who are regarded as modernist novelists.


VPL is a visual programming language and environment for interactive image processing. VPL uses a novel system architecture which separates interaction and computation components in order to provide a highly interactive visual programming user-interface. VPL is based on a declarative, demand driven dataflow model of computation. It is a practical, usable visual programming system, integrating tools for browsing, inspecting and editing components and documentation. VPL also provides data persistence and data import/export mechanisms. The visual programming model supports both function extensibility and higher order functions, allowing users to build their own program dataflow structures within the VPL environment.<<ETX>>


This paper outlines a novel approach to engineering education research that provides three dimensions of learning through an experiential class activity. A simulated decision activity brought current research into the classroom, explored the effect of experiential activity on learning outcomes and contributed to the research on innovation decision making. The 'decision task' was undertaken by more than 480 engineering students. It increased their reported measures of learning and retention by an average of 0.66 on a five-point Likert scale, and revealed positive correlations between attention, enjoyment, ongoing interest and learning and retention. The study also contributed to innovation management research by revealing the influence of different data visualisation methods on decision quality, providing an example of research-integrated education that forms part of the research process. Such a dovetailing of different research studies demonstrates how engineering educators can enhance educational impact while multiplying the outcomes from their research efforts.


Extra chromosomes of 3 trisomic types, M, N and O, discovered recently in rice were clarified. Adding these 3 types to 9 types previously found, a complete set of 12 primary trisomics, having the homogeneous background of the cultivar Nipponbare, was established in japonica rice. The relationships among trisomics, chromosomes and linkage groups made clear up to the present time are shown.


A number of Intrusion Detection System (IDS) techniques for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) have been proposed in the research literature. These techniques include trust building and cluster-based voting schemes, statistical anomaly detection, host-based watchdogs, and finite state machines for specifying correct routing behavior. Comparing and evaluating the effectiveness of these IDS techniques has been hindered by the limited number of large-scale MANET deployments, the lack of publicly available network traces of actual MANET traffic, and the difficulty in defining typical application and mobility scenarios. Network simulation tools have allowed researchers to study MANET IDSs without purchasing mobile nodes or conducting costly and time-consuming field trial tests. These simulations, however, have been conducted using widely varying assumptions on background network traffic, mobility, previous security associations, and the type of malicious network activity. This paper describes how we use our mLab testbed to create publicly available MANET network traces. These network traces allow researchers to compare the effectiveness of different MANET IDS techniques on the same data set, and conduct offline experiments with new IDS techniques without requiring expensive hardware.


Background/context Dying Matters (2014) suggests that many of us would like to die at home (70%) but that the majority of us die in hospital (50–60%). Unfortunately, the experience of being treated with dignity and respect is lower in the hospital compared to other settings (VOICES 2014). We also know "How people die remains on in the memory of those left behind" (Dame Cicely Saunders). To help improve the memory and experience of the final hours in the hospital setting, a hospital trust, working with local hospices decided to implement the rose project. This was based on previous work done by Hospice Friendly Hospitals (Ireland) and The Royal's Alliance Bereavement Service. Aim of the rose project "To promote dignity, respect and compassion at the end of life. The rose symbol is displayed when a patient is expected to die in the next few hours or when a patient has just died – to encourage an atmosphere of quiet and respect at this significant time. On seeing the symbol, staff should be considerate in their activity and in any encounters with people who may be grieving or distressed." Approach used Staff were involved in the development of guidelines relating to the use of the rose. Project aims were shared across the Trust and training was given across different staff groups (clinical and non-clinical). The project was supported with funding from League of Friends (£7500). Outcomes The rose project was rolled out onto the wards throughout the Trust and the impact monitored. Conclusions The roll out of the rose project at the hospital trust helped promote interest amongst all level of staff to encourage a caring, compassionate environment at end of life. Application to hospice practice Aspects of the rose project could be adopted by inpatient hospice units and the concept shared with care homes/hospitals with which hospices work.


Objective Tracheotomy and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) are sometimes performed in critically ill hemorrhagic stroke patients in order to avoid complications associated with prolonged intubation and nasogastric feeding. However, there is a paucity of information regarding the optimal timing of these procedures. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the role of early tracheotomy and PEG in hemorrhagic stroke patients. Methods A series of patients treated at University of Kentucky for hemorrhagic stroke between June 1, 2011 and June 1, 2015 was retrospectively reviewed. Data regarding diagnosis, demographics, comorbidities, treatment, hospital course, and performance of tracheotomy and/or PEG were collected and then analyzed using logistic regression and multiple linear regression. Results Of 366 hemorrhagic stroke patients, 75 underwent tracheotomy and 86 received PEG. Factors significantly associated with tracheotomy and PEG included patient age (p < 0.01), pneumonia present on admission (p < 0.005), and subtype of hemorrhagic stroke (p < 0.05). Tracheotomy and PEG were not significantly associated with patient survival or development of complications. Earlier PEG placement was correlated significantly with shorter overall hospital stay in survivors (p < 0.001), but neither tracheotomy nor PEG was correlated with ICU length of stay. Conclusions Hemorrhagic stroke is a devastating neurovascular event that requires prompt intervention and vigilant management. Our study identified patient risk factors that may suggest candidacy for tracheotomy and PEG. Additionally, we found that timing of PEG may shape a patient's hospital course. Complication rates related to tracheostomy and PEG in this population were minimal. In conclusion, this retrospective data set supports some benefit to early PEG placement in this population, and justifies the need for further prospective study. Disclosures M. McCann: None. J. Fraser: None.


Dear Sir, Non-vascularized bone grafts have been used to treat scaphoid nonunion stabilized with different fixation methods (Chen et al., 1999; Daly et al., 1996). We retrospectively studied the radiological and functional outcomes of 44 nonunions of scaphoid fractures in 44 patients treated between December 1994 and April 2004 with a volar tricorticocancellous graft from iliac crest and stabilized with an Acutrak screw (20 with a MiniAcutrak screw). Three were lost to follow-up. Patients were reviewed at a mean of 75 (range 60–96) months. There were 38 men and six women with a mean age of 28 (range 19–44) years at the time of surgery. The mean time from injury to surgery was 14 (range 8–20) months. The dominant side was involved in 24 patients. Twenty-nine fractures were located at the waist of scaphoid, five at the distal and ten at the proximal pole. We used curettes or a high speed burr to debride fibrous tissue from the nonunion site, taking care not to damage the outer cortical shell. The tourniquet was released after the debridement to note any punctate bleeding from the bone surfaces. After aggressive resection of the fibrous tissue and sclerotic bone the resulting big defect needed a large tricorticocancellous graft which was obtained from iliac crest. The graft was inserted with wrist placed in maximum dorsiflexion and ulnar deviation to hold the gap open. In one patient the graft shattered during drilling and another graft was obtained and secured using a smaller sized headless, cannulated compression Mini-Acutrak screw. At final follow-up, bone healing, assessed by trabeculae crossing the fracture site and absence of pain, was achieved in 40 of 44 cases. All patients were pain free. The mean arc of wrist motion was 130 compared to 150 on the opposite side. The mean postoperative grip strength was 28 kgf compared to 30 kgf on the opposite hand. Radiographs showed that four patients had slight decrease in joint space (grade one osteoarthritis) between the radial styloid and scaphoid. There were no wound infections or neurovascular complications. Two patients had complex regional pain syndrome which recovered spontaneously 6 months after the operation. The nonunion did not heal in four patients, all with proximal third nonunions. All were revised with a vascularized bone graft and healed 6 months later. The grafts did not dislodge and implant position was satisfactory. There was no donor site morbidity. The advantages of this method were: (1) the impaction of the tricorticocancellous graft gave some stability; (2) the shape and correct carpal alignment were restored correcting any humpback deformity; (3) the compression screw increased stability; and (4) the risk of the graft dislodging compared to that for cancellous bone chips was small. We feel that the good union rate in our patients was related to the aggressive resection of the fibrous tissue and sclerotic bone. Impaction of the graft into the scaphoid together with internal fixation gave increased stability.


equipping and assessing the scholastic development of children. However, there is an immediate need to strengthen co-scholastic areas like life-skills, values and attitudes to equip students to face real life challenges. Audiovisual technology and their respective media can make a significant contribution to a value based learning curriculum. Thus, co-scholastic skills need to be effectively nurtured by a medium that is entertaining and impactful. Films in general have a tremendous impact in our society. Films with a positive message make a formidable learning experience that can influence and inspire generations of learners. Leveraging on this powerful medium, EduMedia India Pvt. Ltd. has introduced School Cinema a well researched film-based learning module supported by a fun and exciting workbook, designed to introduce and reaffirm life-skills and values to children, thereby having a positive influence on their attitudes.


Starting with the fractal-inspired distribution functions for Maxwell-Boltzmann, Bose-Einstein, and Fermi systems, as reported by Büyükkiliç and Demirhan, we obtain the corresponding probability distributions and study their thermodynamic behavior. We compare our results with those corresponding to ideal gases (q=1) and Bose-Einstein and Fermi systems with quantum group symmetry. In particular, we show that the Hamiltonian that gives the Bose-Einstein generalized distribution function can be interpreted as a q deformation of the ideal gas Hamiltonian.


We have many applications of a vision-based robotic handling system for casting parts in our works. We have focused on a three-dimensional model-based matching technique to decide the position and orientation of an object, because most of the target objects are rigid and have some visible patterns or holes as line segments and closed-curves on their surfaces. By combining model-based vision and stereo ranging, the system can recognize randomly stacked casting parts in a bin with no special lighting facilities. The paper describes the recognition methodology, system configuration, and successful experiments to recognize and pick up an actual object in our works.


To compare the effect of integration processing technology of origin (IPTO) and traditional cutting processing technology (TCPT) of Moslae Herba for lung-Yang deficiency rats caused by complex factors, analyze the mechanism, and provide the modern pharmacology basis for the implementation of IPTO of Moslae Herba. The rat models of lung-Yang deficiency were established by smoking + swimming in ice water + drinking ice water. The model rats were randomly divided into different groups, and were treated with intragastric administration for 30 d. Then the general signs, anal temperature and autonomic activity of the rats were observed. The pathological morphology of lung tissues was observed, and the positive expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) was observed by immunohistochemical method, and the hematological indexes were determined. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method was used to detect serum nitric oxide (NO), immunoglobulin G (IGG), malondialdehyde (MDA), thromboxane B2 (TXB2) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) level, and the organ coefficients of heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and other organs were calculated. According to the results, Moslae Herba volatile oil and decoction could improve the general signs and autonomic activities of lung-Yang deficiency rats, improve the body weight, rectal temperature, and the content of IGG in serum of lung-Yang deficiency rats, reduce organ coefficients of heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney, serum NO, MDA, TXB2, IL-8 contents, white blood cell and TNF-α mean optical density in the lung tissues of rats. witg statistically significant difference (P<0.01 or P<0.05). The effects of IPTO volatile oil and water decoction were slightly higher. Therefore, Moslae Herba has therapeutic effect on lung-Yang deficiency rats, and ICPT has better effect, whose mechanism may be related to the intervention of TNF-α expression, improving the level of IGG, and inhibiting NO, MDA, IL-8, and TXB2 levels.


Pulse electrochemical polishing process has been used to improve mechanical properties such as surface roughness and corrosion resistance on conductive metallic materials. In addition, pulse electrochemical polishing process with various frequency may produce a lustrous, smoother, deburred and cleaned surface on workpiece. The aim of this paper is to study surface characteristics of pulse electrochemical polishing for various frequency conditions using AFM to verify localized surface variation in nanometer scale.


A prototype system to explore Linked Data that semantically integrates geospatial data in various formats from different publication sources with data from The National Map of the U.S. Geological Survey is presented. The focus is on accessing advanced feature descriptions for data from The National Map with data coreferenced from other sources. The prototype uses Geoserver to access The National Map data, which are converted to Resource Description Framework triples using Karma and stored in the Marmotta triplestore. Marmotta uses a Postgres relational database as a backend for the project and queries to the Marmotta triplestore are converted to structured query language and executed by Postgres. Triples retrieved are linked with same_as relationships to external data sources. The links to these sources provide additional attributes and relationships of the data from The National Map. Visualization of the results is provided using Leaflet and workflows for all parts of the system are defined. A use case for the system is provided to access structures and names information from The National Map for the Washington, D.C., area and link these to Geonames data, with visualization of the graphical and tabular results.


The relationships between teacher efficacy, teacher self-esteem and orientation to seeking help were investigated in this study. Three questionnaires were used with a sample of 151 prospective teachers and 67 experienced teachers. The three questionnaires were Personal Teaching Efficacy Scale (from the Japanese Teacher Efficacy Scale, Huang, Liu, & Shiomi, 2006a), Teacher Self-Esteem Scale (Tamura & Ishikuma, 2002) and Orientations to Seeking Help Scale (Tamura & Ishikuma, 2001). As a result of correlation analyses, the correlation coefficients between Personal Teaching Efficacy and Teacher Self-Esteem scores were found to be significant ( p < 0.01), and a significantly positive correlation ( p < 0.05) was found between Teacher Self-Esteem and Orientations to Seeking Help scores. The influence of gender and teaching experience on these findings was also examined.


Measurements of parameters of hemostasis like thromboplastine time (PT) have primary significance in many clinical settings including extensive surgery, dialysis or innate disorders of hemostasis. Recently, several reports have documented the principle suitability of Quartz Crystal Microbalances (QCM) for measuring parameters of hemostasis like PT or platelet aggregation. But for the establishment of an exact QCM based method as alternative to standard coagulometer measuring QCM coatings with significantly enhanced robustness and reusability have to be worked out. For this purpose we utilized a new semi-automated equipment qCell T for measuring and compared different coatings consisting of polymer films and absorbed nanoparticles (NPs). We demonstrated that affinity based poly ethylene NPs absorbed to polymer films on the QCM constitute a powerful tool with no need for pretreatment for measuring PT in whole blood samples in real time, while these coatings are reusable up to 10 times. PT measurements in excellent agreement with coagulometer tests pave the way for possible future application of QCM in clinical routine.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background and Purpose: The incidences of intracranial aneurysm and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage are high in postmenopausal women. Although population-based studies suggest that hormone replacement therapy is beneficial for postmenopausal women with intracranial aneurysms, estrogen replacement may no longer be recommended for the prevention of chronic diseases given its association with adverse outcomes, such as cancer and ischemic stroke. The isoflavone daidzein and its intestinal metabolite equol are bioactive phytoestrogens and potent agonists of estrogen receptors. Given their estrogenic properties, we investigated whether the isoflavones daidzein and equol are protective against the formation and rupture of intracranial aneurysms in a mouse model of the postmenopausal state. Methods: We induced intracranial aneurysms in ovariectomized adult female mice using a combination of induced systemic hypertension and a single injection of elastase into the cerebrospinal fluid. We fed the mice with an isoflavone-free diet with/without daidzein supplementation, or in a combination of intraperitoneal equol, or oral vancomycin treatment. We also used estrogen receptor beta knockout mice. Results: Both dietary daidzein and supplementation with its metabolite, equol, were protective against aneurysm formation in ovariectomized mice. The protective effects of daidzein and equol required estrogen receptor-β. The disruption of the intestinal microbial conversion of daidzein to equol abolished daidzein's protective effect against aneurysm formation. Mice treated with equol had lower inflammatory cytokines in the cerebral arteries, suggesting that phytoestrogens modulate inflammatory processes important to intracranial aneurysm pathogenesis. Conclusions: Our study establishes that both dietary daidzein and its metabolite, equol, protect against aneurysm formation in ovariectomized female mice through the activation of estrogen receptor-β and subsequent suppression of inflammation. Dietary daidzein's protective effect required the intestinal conversion to equol. Our results indicate the potential therapeutic value of dietary daidzein and its metabolite, equol, for the prevention of the formation of intracranial aneurysms and related subarachnoid hemorrhage.


This paper reviews the literature in relation to virtual organisations and virtual organising, from this, the authors develop two instruments to measure the espoused readiness of the organisation to collaborate virtually (external strategies) and the actual preparedness to operate virtually (internal strategies). The use of the instruments and implications for the future


ABSTRACT Purpose To describe outcomes of patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) seropositivity undergoing cataract surgery, as well as investigate risk factors for surgical complications. Methods This is a retrospective cohort study of all consecutive patients who underwent cataract surgery at a tertiary care hospital in the United States between 2014 and 2019. The exposure of interest was HCV seropositivity and outcomes included surgical complications and associated risk factors, visual acuity, and post-operative complications. Results A total of 11,276 eyes of 6,858 patients were included in the study, of which 122 patients (1.78%) and 210 eyes (1.86%) were HCV positive. Average age at surgery was 63.4 (8.4) years for HCV positive patients and 69.1 (10.6) years for HCV negative patients. Patients with HCV were more likely to suffer a complication during cataract surgery, 2.9% versus 1.2% (OR 2.27, 95% CI 1.03 to 5.01, p = .0415). Postoperative best corrected visual acuity was excellent: median and range 0.00 (−0.13, 3.00) logMAR for HCV positive eyes versus 0.00 (−0.30, 3.00) logMAR for HCV negative eyes. Among HCV positive patients, elevated alanine transaminase (>52 U/L) was associated with a higher intraoperative complication rate (10.0% vs 1.8%, OR 5.53, 95% CI 1.05 to 29.2, p = .044). Conclusion While patients with HCV are more likely to have complications during cataract surgery, final best corrected visual acuity was excellent regardless of HCV status. Patients with HCV are more likely to undergo cataract surgery at a younger age, and those with elevated alanine transaminase are at highest risk for complications.


Since its introduction by Valiant in 1984, PAC learning of DNF expressions remains one of the central problems in learning theory. We consider this problem in the setting where the underlying distribution is uniform, or more generally, a product distribution. Kalai, Samorodnitsky and Teng (2009) showed that in this setting a DNF expression can be efficiently approximated from its "heavy" low-degree Fourier coefficients alone. This is in contrast to previous approaches where boosting was used and thus Fourier coefficients of the target function modified by various distributions were needed. This property is crucial for learning of DNF expressions over smoothed product distributions, a learning model introduced by Kalai et al. (2009) and inspired by the seminal smoothed analysis model of Spielman and Teng (2001).
We introduce a new approach to learning (or approximating) a polynomial threshold functions which is based on creating a function with range [-1,1] that approximately agrees with the unknown function on low-degree Fourier coefficients. We then describe conditions under which this is sufficient for learning polynomial threshold functions. Our approach yields a new, simple algorithm for approximating any polynomial-size DNF expression from its "heavy" low-degree Fourier coefficients alone. Our algorithm greatly simplifies the proof of learnability of DNF expressions over smoothed product distributions. We also describe an application of our algorithm to learning monotone DNF expressions over product distributions. Building on the work of Servedio (2001), we give an algorithm that runs in time $\poly((s \cdot \log{(s/\eps)})^{\log{(s/\eps)}}, n)$, where $s$ is the size of the target DNF expression and $\eps$ is the accuracy. This improves on $\poly((s \cdot \log{(ns/\eps)})^{\log{(s/\eps)} \cdot \log{(1/\eps)}}, n)$ bound of Servedio (2001).


Patchouli oil is part of the essential oils obtained from patchouli plants by distillation. Patchouli oil is widely used in industry as provider of aroma and flavour. Quality of patchouli oil is determined by its natural characteristics and foreign materials contain in the patchouli oil. The foreign materials contain in the patchouli oil can be damage the quality of patchouli oil. Aceh Province is the largest contribute in producing patchouli oil in Indonesia. Patchouli oil processing areas in the Aceh region, precisely in the North Aceh and South Aceh district. In generally farmer of patchouli in Aceh is traditional farmer and many of them not yet follow the best refine system. They do it base of previously experience. Refinery equipment that used from former drum that can be reaction with patchouli oil, with the result can to change chemistry structure of patchouli oil, so that the oil produced is dirty and has dark colour and does not meet the specified quality requirements). The main purpose of this research is to increase yield and the quality of patchouli oil by using of refinery equipment modification process to meet quality standards. In this research the former drum is replaced by stainless steel drum. Method of test quality and procedure of test quality same as standard method of SNI-06-2385-2006. The results showed that the using of refinery equipment (stainless steel drum) able to increase the yield and oil quality, especially in terms of colour, physicochemical properties and concentration of its main components and also meet the quality requirements of national standards


Background The evaluation of soft tissues in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment plays a critical role in diagnosis and treatment planning. This study aims to evaluate the effect of body mass index (BMI) on facial soft tissues in skeletal Class I patients with normal vertical growth. Methods The study included 72 patients with a normal vertical growth pattern (SN-GoGn 26–38°) and skeletal Class I (ANB 2‒4°) malocclusion. According to their BMI (kg/m2) values, the patients were divided into three groups of 24 individuals each: underweight (>5th percentile) (13 females, 11 males; mean age, 11.58 ± 1.95 years), normal weight (5‒85th percentile) (12 females, 12 males; mean age, 11.54 ± 1.95 years), overweight (85‒95th percentile) (12 females, 12 males; mean age, 11.62 ± 2.01 years). Soft tissue thickness and height measurements were made on lateral cephalometric radiographs. Results In all soft tissue thickness measurements, except for the nasion, the overweight weight group had higher values. In comparing the underweight and normal weight groups, statistically significant differences were found in the thickness measurements at the nasion and gnathion (p < 0.05). The differences in thickness measurements at the glabella, labiale superius, stomion, labiale inferius, pogonion, gnathion, and menton are statistically significant between the underweight and overweight groups (p < 0.005). Comparing the normal and overweight groups revealed statistically significant differences the thickness measurements at the glabella, labiale superius, stomion, pogonion and menton (p < 0.05).


The use of end milling process for machining of fibre reinforced polymer composites has been widespread in various industries. Until recently, very little work has been reported with regard to characterisation of chip formation mechanisms while end milling these composite materials. This paper reports such study which was accomplished via high speed photography and quick stop procedure. It is apparent that the heterogeneity and insufficient ductility of the composites have produced discontinuous and fracturing chips. Information disclosed by the high-speed photography footages has shown that a layer of delaminated chip was formed as the tool cutting edge fractured the workpiece along the fibre orientation at the lowest cutting speed. The increased cutting speed accelerates the fracture of chips into smaller segments, which make it difficult to denote any chip formation processes. Similarly, shorter chip fragments were created as the tool cut at different fibre orientation (45° and 90° with respect to tool feed direction).


In this article we present a survey of the power control techniques for modern wireless DS-CDMA communication systems. Power control is the single most important system requirement for DS-CDMA systems. Well-defined power control is essential for proper functioning of the DS-CDMA system. In the absence of power control the effect of near⁄far phenomena is dominant, and the capacity of the DS-CDMA mobile system is very low, even lower than that of mobile systems based on FDMA. However, when the power control in DS-CDMA systems exists, it allows users to share resources of the system equally between themselves. Also, with a proper power control it is possible to lower total transmitting power of the mobiles and prolong the battery life.


The recent success of neural networks for solving difficult decision talrt has incentivized incorporating smart decision making "at the edge." However, this work has traditionally focused on neural network inference, rather than training, due to memory and compute limitations, especially in emerging non-volatile memory systems, where writes are energetically costly and reduce lifespan. Yet, the ability to train at the edge is becoming increasingly important as it enables real-time adaptability to device drift and environmental variation, user customization, and federated learning across devices. In this work, we address two key challenges for training on edge devices with non-volatile memory: low write density and low auxiliary memory. We present a low-rank training scheme that addresses these challenges while maintaining computational efficiency. We then demonstrate the technique on a representative convolutional neural network across several adaptation problems, where it out-performs standard SGD both in accuracy and in number of weight writes.


The glucan composed of α -(1→6) linkages with α -(1→3) and α -(1→4) branched linkages points was produced from Leuconostoc mesenteroides NRRL B-742. The glucan was hydrolysed by acid using microwave oven for production of gluco-oligosaccharides for time intervals of 2 min and 3 min and the optimum time period for oligosaccharide production was determined. The yield of oligosaccharides production from glucan was 2.5% for 2 min of hydrolysis time. The hydrolysed glucan was run on Sephadex G-10 column using FPLC and oligosaccharides produced were eluted and analyzed by MALDI Q-TOF mass spectrometer in MS/MS mode. The glucan sample hydrolysed by microwave for 2 min yielded the peak at ~527 m/z value showing the presence of 3 glucose units (m/z ~180) corresponding to the glucooligosaccharide with degree of polymerisation 3.


The majority of agriculture practitioners worldwide are smallholders. Compliance with market related standards, such as set by EurepGAP, is crucial for obtaining and maintaining international market access, particularly to the European Union. Private standards must allow for innovative and cost efficient certification systems to avoid that small growers get marginalized from national and international economy, especially in developing countries. For farmer group certification under EurepGAP standards, lessons can be learned from the ample experience with small holders groups certification regarding social (e.g. fair trade) and environmental (e.g. organic / IFOAM) standards. Cases studies reflect that elements determining the viability and sustainability of group certification include the social cohesion of the group, professional capacity. Market related factors, important for smallholders' access even if compliance with standards is not an issue, determine successful participation in international market chains including minimal economy of scale to decrease costs, minimal internal coordination to guarantee compliance with transactions and even quality, as well as international communication, marketing and general business skills. One of the problems identified with private standards certification is that the benefits of certification are too uncertain or intangible when compared with the immediate and real financial costs. Moreover, EurepGAP certification is a B2B certification for main stream markets, not addressing specific niche market which would give added value to suppliers. EurepGAP certification for small growers is not limited to option 2 only. Importers and retailers ascribe more commercial risks of non compliance to option 2, tending to prefer working with option 1 suppliers. Small holders can be certified under option 1 by participating in outgrowers' schemes. The producer cedes all autonomy over the production process, contributing with land as only input in a leasing scheme, and providing the necessary labour. Outgrowers' schemes tend to be more efficient commercially, as no investments on group cohesion and decision making processes are required. Professional capacity tends to be more easily available, administrative systems easier to set up and operate. From a social viewpoint however, market access does not change power balances in the supply chain nor the distribution of added value, while opportunities for learning lest to fully participate in the international economy are less.


Methylated quartz surfaces are extensively used in colloid science for wettability studies and the control and impact of hydrophobicity in key physicochemical processes. In this study, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) has been used to correlate the surface chemistry of trimethylchlorosilane-methylated quartz surfaces with the contact angle. Models have been developed for the calculation of both advancing and receding contact angles based on measurements of the ToF-SIMS signals for SiC(3)H(9)(+) (TMCS) and Si(+) (quartz). These models enable the contact angle across surfaces and, more importantly, that of individual particles to be determined on a micrometer scale. Distributions of contact angles in large ensembles of particles, therefore, can now be determined. In addition, from the ToF-SIMS analysis, the surface coverage of the methylated species can be quantitatively determined, in line with the Cassie equation. Moreover, advancing and receding contact angle maps can be calculated from ToF-SIMS images, and hence the variation in microscopic hydrophobicity (e.g., at the particle level) can be extracted directly from the images.


A series of fluoroquinolone conjugates was synthesised by linking the carboxylic acid functionality of the carboxylate-type siderophore staphyloferrin A and its derivatives to the piperazinyl nitrogen of ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin via amide bond formation. Four siderophore-drug conjugates were screened against a panel of bacteria associated with infection in humans. Whilst no activity was found against ciprofloxacin- or norfloxacin-resistant bacteria, one of the conjugates retained antibacterial activity against fluoroquinolone-susceptible strains although the structure of its lysine-based siderophore component differs from that of the natural siderophore staphyloferrin A. In contrast, three ornithine-based siderophore conjugates showed significantly reduced activity against strains that are susceptible to their respective parent fluoroquinolones, regardless of the type of fluoroquinolone attached or chirality at the ornithine Cα-atom. The loss of potency observed for the (R)- and (S)-ornithine-based ciprofloxacin conjugates correlates with their reduced inhibitory activity against the target enzyme DNA gyrase.


1, MD, 1 , MD The principles of management in congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) cover a high degree of controversy that is still going on. During the first 30 years of this century, the treatment for neonates with congenital diaphragmatic hernia was conservative and inevitably the mortality was very high. Many changes have occurred up to now for congenital diaphragmatic hernia patients regarding subgroups of the etiology, pathophysiology, and treatment. Mainly, researches are going on trying to determine the best time for surgery, the most appropriate type of preoperative and postoperative ventilation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), the feasibility of fetal surgery, and measures to predict outcome. The basic controversies do not seem to resolve in the near future for congenital diaphragmatic hernias. [Journal of Turgut Ozal Medical Center 1997;4(1):123-128]