Liver cirrhosis has been increasingly diagnosed at an early stage owing to the non‐invasive diagnostic techniques. However, it is difficult to identify patients at high risk of disease progression. Screening cirrhotic patients with poor prognosis who are most in need of surveillance is still challenging. Gene expression data GSE15654 and GSE14520 were downloaded for performing unsupervised clustering analysis. The prognostic differences between the different clusters were explored by Cox regression. Integrative analysis of gene expression signature, immune cell enrichments and clinical characterization was performed for different clusters. Two distinctive subclasses were identified in HCV‐related GSE15654, and Kaplan–Meier analysis indicated that subtype 2 had lower survival rates than subtype 1 (p = 0.0399). Further analysis revealed subtype 2 had a higher density of follicular T helper cells, resting natural killer cells and M0, M2 macrophages while subtype 1 with a higher fraction of naive B cells, memory B cells, resting memory CD 4 T cells, activated natural killer cells and monocytes. 226 differentially expressed genes were identified between the two subtypes, and Reactome analysis showed the mainly enriched pathways were biological oxidations and fatty acid metabolism. Five hub genes (AKT1, RPS16, CDC42, CCND1 and PCBP2) and three significant modules were extracted from the PPI network. The results were validated in HBV‐related GSE14520 cohort. We identified two subtypes of patients with different prognosis for hepatitis C‐related early‐stage liver cirrhosis. Bioinformatics analysis of the gene expression and immune cell profile may provide fresh insight into understanding the prognosis difference.


Whether failure in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) is related to implant design remains unclear. We hypothesize that current available UKAs fit within 2 mm. Forty-eight CTs of cadaveric knees were compared to current available UKA brands. Overall no-fit compared to at least one component within 2 mm is high (91.7%) and worse for males (100%) compared to females (833%). Good fit was observed for the medial but not for the lateral tibia plateau. Seven males (29.2%) had larger dimensions of more than 2 mm. For the widest UKA brand, 12 (57%) males and 2 females (8. 3%) had lateral femoral condyles 3 mm larger. Current UKA's in our sample population fit less on the lateral tibia and on femoral condyles.


This paper provides an overview of the academic literature on the market for corporate control, and focuses specifically on firms' performance around and after a takeover. Despite the aggregate M&A market amounting to several trillions USD on an annual basis, acquiring firms often underperform relative to non-acquiring firms, especially in public takeovers. Although hundreds of academic studies have investigated the deal- and firm-level factors associated with M&A announcement returns, short-run returns are often not sustained in the long run. Moreover, the wide variety of performance measures and heterogeneity in sample sizes complicates the drawing of accurate and unambiguous conclusions. In this light, our survey compiles the recent literature and aims to identify the areas of research for which short-run returns predict (or fail to predict) long-run performance. We find that post-takeover deal performance is affected by key determinants including serial acquisitions, CEO overconfidence, acquirer-target relatedness and complementarity, and shareholder intervention in the form of voting or activism.


We have observed the rare occurrence of trapezius muscle atrophy after whiplash injury. Only one similar case has been reported previously.' A 24 year old woman was waiting at traffic lights in her car and was changing a cassette with her right arm outstretched when another car ran into the back of hers. She was not wearing a safety-belt. Immediately she felt pain and-tingling on the back of the neck but no other symptoms. Later that day she developed nausea and dizziness. The same day a neurological exaamination was normal. There was no radiological evidence of fracture or dislocation ofthe cervical spine. A soft collar did not control the neck ache. One month later, she noticed a lowering of her right shoulder. Six months later examination revealed weakness and atrophy of the right trapezius: with her arms at her side, the right shoulder drooped and the scapula was slightly winged and laterally displaced. Abduction of the arms made these defects worse and increased the prominence of the rhomboid muscles. Muscle tests showed a global involvement of the right trapezius, more marked in the middle and lower parts. The sternomastoid and the other shoulder girdle muscles were not affected. Slight hypoaesthesia for touch and pinprick was appreciable in the region of the supraclavicular branches of the cervical plexus. Thoracic fluoroscopy showed normal diaphragm motility. CT and MRI ofthe cervical regions were normal. EMG examination revealed total denervation of the middle and lower parts of the right trapezius and a reduced recruitment of low amplitude, and polyphasic potentials in the upper part at full effort. There was no spontaneous activity. Conduction studies along the right accessory nerve' showed a slight delay of the motor action potential derived from the upper part ofthe trapezius (4-2 ms; normal range 2-1-3-7 ms), whereas no motor responses could be evoked in the middle and lower parts. There was no clinical improvement the following year. The accessory nerve, after supplying the stemomastoid muscle with the contributions from C2 or C2-C3, often divides and forms a plexus with the fibres from C3-C4, or C4 alone, before entering the deep surface of the trapezius.' A complete lesion of the accessory nerve in the posterior triangle, frequently observed in neck surgery, results in a partial denervation of the whole muscle, the upper trapezius being clinically more affected.' The third and fourth cervical roots, in addition to containing the afferent fibres, provide motor innervation mostly to the lower trapezius through the cervical plexus.4 There is, however, some variability as occasionally the whole trapezius is supplied by these roots.' In this case, the clinical and electrophysiological findings are consistent with a prominent lesion of the radicular contributions. The unusual position of our patient at the time of the collision, implying torsional components in addition to the usual hyperextension-flexion movement of the neck, may explain the rarity of this condition. The combination of these rapid movements may have produced a stretch-induced lesion ofthe cervical plexus fibres, which suggests a poor prognosis. L TOSI G ZANETTE Servizio di Neurologia, Ospedale "Sacro Cuore" Negrar, Verona, Italy


Closed-loop, rate-one, channel orthogonalized space-time block codes (CO-STBCs) for three and four transmit antennas using a single (real) phase feedback term have been proposed . These codes achieve full diversity and result in maximum likelihood (ML) decoding with only linear processing at the receiver similar to OSTBCs. In this paper, we propose a closed-loop STBC for five and six transmit antennas with rate 3/4, where the one parameter feedback angle can be evaluated in closed form. These codes achieve full diversity and are delay optimal. Simulation results comparing the error-rate performance of the CO-STBC with open-loop OSTBC as well as some quasiorthogonal space-time block codes are also provided. While the 1- to 5-dB gain accrued by the closed-loop scheme (over the open-loop methods) is not surprising, the novel contribution of this work is in the approach taken to derive the feedback parameter as a single phase term, which is purely a function of the channel gains.


A relatively new method, homogenization in liquid phase, was used to produce aluminum-matrix composite reinforced by graphite particles. The graphite content was chosen from zero to 4.5wt.% in this study. Composite samples were produced using the mixed powder by two ways: spark plasma sintering and cold-press sintering under different pressure, temperature and time conditions. The specimens' microstructure was investigated by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. To evaluate the mechanical properties of the samples, compression tests and hardness measurements were performed. According to the results, homogenization in liquid phase method caused significant improvements in the distribution of graphite particles in the matrix. Improved mechanical properties were obtained at 3wt.% graphite. According to the results, the compressive strength of Al-2.5wt.% Gr composite, obtained from this mixing process and cold-press sintering, was increased at least 113.8% compared to the pure aluminum. Moreover, SPS process increased the strength of Al-3wt.% Gr composite to about 206.2%, compared to pure aluminum.


A syringe needle assembled with a glass tube has been used as a plasma jet device for biomedical applications. According to the various types of ground electrode installed at the glass tube, argon plasma from an atmospheric pressure discharge has been investigated with a dc-ac inverter of several tens of kilohertz. When the ground electrode is absent or floated, the length of the plasma jet is about 10 mm at an ignition voltage of about 3 kV, and it extends further to a few tens of millimeters as the voltage increases to 5 kV. If the ground electrode is inserted inside the end of the glass tube, all plasma current is sunk directly to the ground electrode so that the plasma plume cannot emit out of the glass tube. For the case of an external ground electrode which is similar to a dielectric barrier discharge, the ignition voltage is as low as 1 kV, and the plume length is easily adjustable to be 1-10 mm in the voltage range of 1-3 kV.


We demonstrate that a large set of asset pricing factors (anomalies) are significantly exposed to "noise trader" risk, which arises from uninformative demand shifts of mutual fund investors. Mutual fund investors are largely ignorant of systematic factors and respond to simple signals when allocating capital to mutual funds. We measure the uninformed demand of factors by aggregating flow-induced trades of individual stocks underlying the factors. We find that mutual funds' flow-induced trading significantly determines average returns, volatilities, and comovements among the well-studied factors, indicating that these factors are exposed to "noise trader" risk. Importantly, we show that this flow-driven "noise trader" risk is significantly priced by arbitrageurs and other investors.


ff erencebetween Grade 3 (25-50,000/mL) and Grade 2 (50-75,000/mL) (OR 1.75, 0.93-3.29). There was also no di ff erence among severity of thrombocytopenia and bleeding risk when post-biopsy data was isolated. Conclusion: Mostlowriskendoscopicproceduresarelikelysafeintheseverelythrombocytopenicpatient,whenconsideringbleedrisk,andstatisticallysigni fi cantbleedsonlyoccurwithcountslessthan25,000/mL.Diagnostic endoscopy without intervention is likely safe at all platelet counts.


The optical and the power characteristics of various synchrotron radiation sources are summarized. The optical characteristics flux, brightness, coherence, polarization, etc. determine the quality of the source for photon experiments. The power characteristics determine the heat load on beam line elements. After discussing the cases for the bending magnet, wiggler and undulator, the case for the helical undulator is considered separately emphasizing its different power characteristics from the planar case.


We construct extremal self-dual codes with lengths 44, 50, 54, and 58. They have weight enumerators for which extremal codes were previously not known to exist. Two methods are used for constructing the codes using self dual codes of same or smaller length. To obtain the codes we use a combinatorial optimization search.


Entrepreneurship in the public sector is a form of entrepreneurship which is currently being implemented in public companies, state and/or local government and public institutions. It is often recognized as part of operations management because it relies on: the operations that change conditions of enterprises, ideas, innovation, resources, actions, planning, and other areas of operations management. This paper is part of the survey on entrepreneurship in the public sector of Serbia, which was carried out by the FOS Center for Entrepreneurship and SMEs in 2014 by interviewing 65 employees in the public sector. The aim of the survey was to explore whether the Serbian public sector was ready for entrepreneurial concept - through public sector employees' awareness of the concept of entrepreneurship, as well as through the application of entrepreneurial practice in public enterprises and organizations. The results showed a low level of employees' awareness of the entrepreneurship concept, as well as a low level of implementation of this concept in the public sector of Serbia. Based on the results presented in this paper, it can be concluded that it is necessary to stimulate the development of entrepreneurship concept in the public sector, primarily by further informing management and employees of the public sector about the potentials of entrepreneurship, and also educating them to use the possibilities and opportunities for the application of this concept.


The study examined the e˙ects of the historical development and regulation of Nigeria's capital market on its sanitization and performance. Accordingly, the normative and positiveforms of theory of regu-lation were adopted with a qualitative research methodology. The preliminary findings of the study suggest that, the two principal regulatory instruments of the Nigerian capital market are the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as its apex institutional framework, and Investment and Securities Act (ISA), 2007 as its legal framework.It was, however, found that, regulatory failure has been respon-sible for adverse performance of the Nigeria capital market over the years. It was also found that, the performance of Nigeria's capital market has been negatively a˙ected by the global financial crisis of 2007 to 2011, and that, this was heightened by the economic recession that bedevilled the country shortly after the inauguration of the present administration in 2015. It was, therefore, concluded that, historical development and regulation of the Nigerian capital market have not influenced its sanitiza-tion and favourable performance. The study recommended, among other things, that, the selection of oycials of the Securities and Exchange Commission should be based on integrity, merit and credibility, and not on political grounds, party loyalty, sentiments, vested interests, nepotism, favouritism and federal character principle. Also, the leadership of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission should maintain their integrity and uprightness in order to e˙ectively run the a˙airs of the Commis-sion and to enforce its rules and the provisions of the Investment and Securities Act. Furthermore, loopholes in the legal system of the Nigerian capital market should be blocked to a reasonable degree; and there should be a rigorous review of the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) to reflect the dictates of corporate governance for listed companies. Not only that, appropriate sanctions should be given to culprits in order to serve as a deterrent. As such, any case of insider abuse and violation of Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) rules should be duly prosecuted. Finally, the Nigerian Stock Exchange should dilute the extent of foreign capital in its market capitalization so as to reduce its vulnerability to external shocks.


Objective The aim of this study was to describe our experience with, and identify risk factors associated with, breakthrough cytomegalovirus disease (CMVD) in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant during regular monitoring and preemptive therapy for CMV viremia. Methods This was a retrospective study comparing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients who developed CMVD despite a preemptive treatment strategy to patients with CMV viremia without CMVD. Results Of 104 recipients transplanted at a single institution, who developed CMV viremia and/or disease, we identified 15 cases of biopsy-proven CMVD and 74 recipients with CMV viremia alone; 30 of 74 were included as control subjects after appropriate surveillance. The rate of CMVD was low at 5%. While patients are monitored for CMV viremia, CMVD was the presenting manifestation of CMV infection in the majority of cases (60%), and 40% did not have viremia at the time of diagnosis. No one risk factor predicted CMVD. Patients with CMVD tended to have high-risk CMV serostatus, moderate to severe graft-versus-host disease, and to have higher mortality rate. Conclusions Preemptive strategy with targeted therapy to patients with CMV viremia is effective with rare and unpredictable events of breakthrough CMVD. Patients with high-risk CMV serostatus and moderate to severe graft-versus-host disease may need more vigilant observation. Cytomegalovirus disease may occur without viremia requiring close monitoring for symptoms suggestive of CMVD.


ABSTRACT In Poland, the majority of roadside memorials erected at the site of fatal accidents are anonymous. The purpose of this article is to explain the reasons for their anonymity. It was assumed that a roadside memorial is anonymous when it is not marked in any way with letters identifying the person who it is devoted to or who erected it (e.g. names or nicknames). Based on six semi-structured interviews, it was concluded that the main reasons for the anonymity of roadside memorials were of social and not private nature. The main reason for the anonymity of roadside memorials is the lack of the need to share information, through an inscription, about the deceased and their death, in a neighbourhood where everybody knew the person and most of the inhabitants have heard about the victim and the circumstances of the accident. Some respondents referred to the general rule of not inscribing roadside memorials, partly resulting from the cult of the dead, strongly rooted in the Polish culture and commonly observed at cemeteries.


Estrogen is critical for epiphyseal fusion in both young men and women. In this study, we explored the cellular mechanisms by which estrogen causes this phenomenon. Juvenile ovariectomized female rabbits received either 70 μg/kg estradiol cypionate or vehicle i.m. once a week. Growth plates from the proximal tibia, distal tibia, and distal femur were analyzed after 2, 4, 6, or 8 weeks of treatment. In vehicle-treated animals, there was a gradual senescent decline in tibial growth rate, rate of chondrocyte proliferation, growth plate height, number of proliferative chondrocytes, number of hypertrophic chondrocytes, size of terminal hypertrophic chondrocytes, and column density. Estrogen treatment accelerated the senescent decline in all of these parameters. In senescent growth plates, epiphyseal fusion was observed to be an abrupt event in which all remaining chondrocytes were rapidly replaced by bone elements. Fusion occurred when the rate of chondrocyte proliferation approached zero. Estrogen caused this proliferative exhaustion and fusion to occur earlier. Our data suggest that (i) epiphyseal fusion is triggered when the proliferative potential of growth plate chondrocytes is exhausted; and (ii) estrogen does not induce growth plate ossification directly; instead, estrogen accelerates the programmed senescence of the growth plate, thus causing earlier proliferative exhaustion and consequently earlier fusion.


Background
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a deadly disease with the poor prognosis in the world. The distal metastasis is the most death reason of ESCC. It is needed to have a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanism of metastasis to increase the free survive rate. T-LAK cell-originated protein kinase (TOPK) which is a MAPKK-like kinase takes an vital role in many physical and pathophysiological progress. However, the function of TOPK in ESCC metastasis was unclear.
Methods
Tissue array was used to evaluate the relationship between TOPK and ESCC patient with lymph node metastasis. Wound healing assay, transwell assay and lung metastasis mice model were assessed for the role of TOPK in the migration of ESCC cells in vitro and in vivo respectively. Protein kinase array, MS and molecular modeling were carried out to find the relational pathways and target protein of TOPK. Even, immune-fluorescence and western blot were performed to evaluate the mechanism of TOPK.
Results
We found that the high level of TOPK was correlated with the aggressive phenotype in ESCC tissues. Knocking down TOPK inhibited the invasion and migration of ESCC cells. We also verified that TOPK inhibitor HI-TOPK-032 inhibited the lung metastasis in ESCC cell exnograft model. Even more, molecular investigation indicated that TOPK promoted the invasion of ESCC cells by activing Src/GSK3β/STAT3, ERK pathway by binding with γ-catenin.
Conclusion
These findings reveal that TOPK was sincerely related with ESCC cell metastasis and TOPK promoted the invasion of ESCC cells by activing Src/GSK3β/STAT3, ERK pathway. This means that TOPK may be a potential molecular target for ESCC in clinic.


Eradication of biofilms that may harbor pathogens in water distribution systems is an elusive goal due to limited penetration of residual disinfectants. Here, we explore the use of engineered filamentous coliphage M13 for enhanced biofilm affinity and precise delivery of lytic polyvalent phages (i.e., broad-host-range phages lysing multiple host strains after infection). To promote biofilm attachment, we modified the M13 major coat protein (pVIII) by inserting a peptide sequence with high affinity for Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) extracellular polysaccharides (commonly present on the surface of biofilms in natural and engineered systems). Additionally, we engineered the M13 tail fiber protein (pIII) to contain a peptide sequence capable of binding a specific polyvalent lytic phage. The modified M13 had 102- and 5-fold higher affinity for P. aeruginosa-dominated mixed-species biofilms than wildtype M13 and unconjugated polyvalent phage, respectively. When applied to a simulated water distribution system, the resulting phage conjugates achieved targeted phage delivery to the biofilm and were more effective than polyvalent phages alone in reducing live bacterial biomass (84 vs 34%) and biofilm surface coverage (81 vs 22%). Biofilm regrowth was also mitigated as high phage concentrations induced residual bacteria to downregulate genes associated with quorum sensing and extracellular polymeric substance secretion. Overall, we demonstrate that engineered M13 can enable more accurate delivery of polyvalent phages to biofilms in flow-through systems for enhanced biofilm control.


Low-grade central osteosarcoma is a well-differentiated subtype of osteosarcoma, which is often confused with benign lesions. Males and females were affected about equally in our study. The tibia and femur were most commonly involved. Three case reports demonstrate the distinct features of the tumor. Excision of the tumor almost invariably led to recurrences. Wide resection was almost never followed by recurrence and seems to be the treatment of choice for this very rare variant of osteosarcoma.


An implantable electrode has been developed for recording chronically from skeletal muscle, It consists of two Pt-Ir wires embedded on a silicone rubber block. The electrode was implanted on the longissimus thoracis muscle of rabbit. The impedance changes of the implanted electrode that take place over time were studied. After about two months the impedance value of the implanted electrode became steady.


These guidelines are designed to assist the pediatrician in caring for the child in whom the diagnosis of Down syndrome has been confirmed by karyotype. Although the pediatrician's initial contact with the child is usually during infancy, occasionally the pregnant woman who has been given the prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome will be referred for counseling. Therefore, these guidelines offer advice for this situation as well.


Evidence-based practice has become part of nurse practitioner education. One innovative approach to teaching and evaluating evidence-based practice is the implementation of oral examinations, in which students orally present their review of a research article. Prior to the examination, students are given a research article to critique and can prepare for the examination using their notes and textbooks. At a scheduled time, they meet with a faculty member to respond to both predetermined and unexpected questions requiring critique of the research and thorough explanation of how it will (or will not) influence their practice. Although this approach may produce anxiety in students, it provides another way to evaluate students' ability to communicate about a complex topic and is an excellent complementary evaluation method to other approaches, such as case studies or written examinations.


Sentiment analysis related with distinguishing and classifying opinions or sentiments expressed in given text. Social media is completing a colossal quality of wealthy knowledge within the type of tweets, standing updates, diary posts etc. Sentiment analysis of this user generated knowledge is incredibly helpful in knowing the opinion of the gang. Twitter sentiment analysis is troublesome compared to general sentiment analysis thanks to the presence of slang words and misspellings. Knowledge base approach and Machine learning approach square measure the 2 methods used for analyzing sentiments from the text. Public and private opinion a few wide range of subjects' square measure expressed and unfold frequently via numerous social media. Twitter offers organizations quick and effective thanks to analyze customers' view toward the crucial to success within the market place. Developing a program for sentiment analysis is an approach to be accustomed computationally live customers' perceptions. This project cognitive content together with varied patterns for tweets along a side multiple strategies to discover the sentiment class expressed in a very tweet and if a tweet is real or not. We proposed work to classify sentiments of tweets from people to determine if people are happy, sad, angry, etc. about particular topic. Also the purpose of the work is to check genuineness of tweets so that rumors about any topics can be detected and mitigated. This approach can be used in various fields further as like detecting people sentiment about particular social issues. Also fake tweets and rumors which may further exploit to social issues like riots, religion complexities can be removed. To achieve these goals and fetch tweets we used Twit4j API and various techniques such as NLP, TF-IDF, and Sentiment Classifications are applied to get results accordingly. We had maintained our own database of words for dictionary purpose as well as have been used OpenApache NLP with their predefined dictionaries


Abstract It is well documented that cancer treatment may temporarily or permanently impair childbearing potential of young women with breast cancer. Given that many patients have not initiated or completed their families when diagnosed, fertility issues are of utmost importance in this clinical population. This review addresses the importance of incorporating fertility issues into the clinical care of young breast cancer patients, focusing on recent knowledge and counselling practices about fertility-related issues and the complexity of fertility-related decisions in this population. Multiple studies report cancer-related infertility may have serious psychological consequences and reduce Quality of Life for some patients. To guide health care providers and patients regarding appropriate, safe, and cost-effective fertility care for women who desire biological children, several professional organizations have developed clinical practice guidelines. However, the extent to which health professionals use these guidelines and provide timely and appropriate fertility-related information to patients is questionable. Fertility should not be neglected by health care providers and a multidisciplinary team is needed to target fertility issues at diagnosis and into survivorship care, providing timely, clear information that includes support, resources, and appropriate referral to fertility specialists. This information will assist in making well-informed decisions about fertility after breast cancer.


A wide variety of flora can be found and can be used ,  as a medicinal plant .  Medicinal plants are a major source of new chemical compounds discovery with therapeutic effects .  One of the plants that can be used as a medicinal plant is a cambodia plant ( Plumeria  alba L cv .  Acutifolia ).  Cambodia plants including the Apocynaceae family .  Cambodia is a traditional crop plants that are reported to have various properties , including its leaves as a laxative ,  itching and antibacterial ,  fruit and bark reported anti-inflammatory effect . The purpose of this study was to determine the potential of  cambodia  leaves as antibacterial ,  determining the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration Growth ( KHTM)  of cambodia leaf extract which has the highest inhibitory activity and determine what class of chemical compounds contained in extracts of cambodia leaves which has the highest antibacterial activity . Research results showed that the leaf extract of cambodia leaves with 1000 ppm can inhibit the growth of S. aureus  bacteria .  Concentration of 30 ppm is the lowest concentration that could inhibit the growth of  S. aureus with inhibition zone of 1.3 mm .  Analysis of FT - IR  spectrophotometer , the ethanol  leaves  extract of the cambodia have functional group  of  C-H sp 3  (methyl) ( methyl),  C-C ,  C = C alkenes aliphatic ,  OH and CO .


An argument for skepticism about the past exploits a circularity in the arguments connecting present observations to claims about past events. Arguments supporting claims about the past depend on current observations together with processes linking current observations to those claims. But knowledge of processes requires knowledge of the past: Knowledge of the present alone cannot provide evidence for claims about the past. A practical, coherentist response to this challenge rejects the assumption that we come to the problem with no information about the past. Beginning with partial and imperfect information about the past, a coherentist tests ideas about processes against the particular evidence of traces left by past processes, and particular claims about the past against ideas about the processes linking those events to present traces. However, this common-sense response is inadequate when faced with a radical skeptic prepared to insist on the problem of the criterion. An answer to this radical skeptic can be drawn from Wilfrid Sellars 'bootstrap' argument in "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind." The result is a better response to the problem of the criterion than Chisholm's 'particularism.'


We experimentally demonstrate wavelength-independent all-optical packet header replacement at 1 Gb/s. The new header is modulated onto a relatively long continuous-wave region that was created by repeatedly replicating the string of "1's" in the original packet's flag. Consequently, the wavelength of the new header is at exactly the same wavelength as that of the original payload. A power penalty of /spl sim/1.5 dB at a bit-error rate =10/sup -9/ is measured when performing the header replacement.


Marshmallow ( Althaea officinalis L.) root is used as a drug in medicine, pharmaceutical, cosmetic as well as in food products, due to the content of mucilage with a broad range of physicochemical properties. Since mucilage content in roots depends on genotype and growing conditions, the quality control is, therefore, one of the major tasks in the rational use of the drug.  In this paper we compare data for mucilage content in roots obtained by standard procedure which implies measuring of swelling ratio in dried samples, with anatomical features of roots obtained by different methods for anatomical analysis, and we have shown that anatomical method could be used for determination of mucilage content in marshmallow root.


BACKGROUND
The aim of our study was to evaluate in stable outpatients with systolic heart failure (HF) the 3 months effect of ivabradine on LV synchronization and Tei index in stable outpatients with systolic HF.

METHODS
We evaluated prospectively 40 (30 males, 10 females) patients with HF. All patients were evaluated before and after treatment by transthoracic M mode, two dimensional (2D), pulsed-wave (PW), continuous wave (CW), color flow and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and tissue synchronization imaging (TSI). Standard deviation of Ts of the 12 LV segments (Ts-SD-12) is the most widely used parameter of intra-LV asynchrony.

RESULTS
Thirty men and 10 women with mean ± SD age of 64.7 ± 9.9 years were included in this study. Most of the patients benefitted from some degree of clinical improvement, 12/16 (75.0%) from NYHA III to II and 18/24 (75.0%) from II to I, respectively. Resting heart rate was significantly reduced after ivabradine treatment (84.3 ± 11.4 vs. 66.5 ± 11.5 bpm, p < 0.001). E/E' and Tei index were significantly changed after ivabradine treatment (17.3 ± 9.0 vs. 14.8 ± 7.1, p = 0.02 and 0.86 ± 0.74 vs. 0.81 ± 0.69, p = 0.02). Intra-LV synchrony parameters Ts-SD-12 and Ts-12 were significantly reduced after ivabradine (46.8 ± 13.6 vs. 42.7 ± 13.1, p = 0.01 and 142.5 ± 44.0 vs. 128.5 ± 45.2, p = 0.009).

CONCLUSIONS
The present study demonstrated that adding ivabradine to the standard therapy reduced HR and significantly improved LV ventricular asynchrony and Tei index in systolic HF patients.


Serum concentrations of 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-OHD3) were measured in seven Asians of Indian extraction and eight Europeans before and at intervals after taking 1 mg vitamin D3 by mouth. In all subjects the concentrations rose in the 24 hours after ingestion. There was little change over the next nine days in the concentrations in the Europeans but those in the Asians continued to rise until about day 10. Subsequent rates of fall in 25-OHD3 were similar in the two groups. Our observations suggest that the low serum concentrations of 25-OHD3 found in Asians are not caused by either impaired intestinal absorption of vitamin D or rapid clearance of 25-ODH3 from the plasma.


Neospora caninum is an economically significant parasitic protozoan causing the disease neosporosis in cattle and dogs. Although a close relative of the zoonotic apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii, the two organisms exhibit differing host ranges and infection dynamics. T. gondii is a model organism that has been much studied, and a great deal is known about the genes and proteins involved when it invades a host cell. This thesis explores protein expression in the proliferative and invasive tachyzoite stage of N. caninum, in particular the expression of proteins pertaining to the apical complex of organelles; those responsible for entry and establishment within a host cell. Almost 20 % of the predicted proteome has been identified by this analysis to be expressed in the tachyzoite stage, with approximately 50 % of the predicted repertoire of apical proteins being detected.
The discovery of differences between these two parasites' highly syntenic genomes could lead to a better understanding of the process by which T. gondii is able to cause disease in humans, while N. caninum has not been observed to do so. One finding of the recent genome sequencing and annotation project in N. caninum was that a key T. gondii virulence determinant, rhoptry gene 18 (ROP18) was pseudogenised in N. caninum. This finding was investigated further in this thesis to demonstrate that the pseudogenisation of ROP18 was conserved across a range of N. caninum isolates and that in vitro, N. caninum was not able to subvert the murine interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) immune response using ROP18 in the way that virulent T. gondii tachyzoites do.
The tissue-dwelling Coccidia have a multi-stage life cycle which includes a latent tissue cyst-encapsulated stage called the bradyzoite. Tachyzoites convert to this more quiescent form when induced by cellular stress, and are able to remain as such for long periods, even years. At times of weakened host immunity, bradyzoites can recrudesce to produce an active infection, which can cross the placenta in a pregnant animal to infect the foetus. This a major route by which N. caninum infection is maintained within cattle herds, therefore the biology of stage conversion from tachyzoite to bradyzoite and vice-versa is of interest to researchers. An RNA-Seq analysis of cultured tachyzoites and bradyzoites identified a marked reduction in rhoptry gene expression, and differing expression profiles of other invasion-related genes from the micronemes and dense granules.
Overall, these data identify proteins released from the apical organelles in N. caninum and give an insight into the different repertoires expressed by the tachyzoite and bradyzoite life stages. Furthermore, a comparison between N. caninum and T. gondii predicted apical proteomes indicates that although most genes are shared in a one-to-one orthologous relationship between the two organisms, there are a small number of differences which may turn out to be important to the biology of the parasite, as in the case of ROP18.


Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are found in a wide range of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. The major component of NFTs is aberrantly hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau. Because appropriate in vivo models have been lacking, the role of tau phosphorylation in NFTs formation has remained elusive. Here, we describe a new model in which adenovirus-mediated gene expression of tau, ΔMEKK, JNK3, and GSK-3β in COS-7 cells produces most of the pathological phosphorylation epitopes of tau including AT100. Furthermore, this co-expression resulted in the formation of tau aggregates having short fibrils that were detergent-insoluble and Thioflavin-S-reactive. These results suggest that aberrant tau phosphorylation by the combination of these kinases may be involved in "pretangle," oligomeric tau fibril formation in vivo.


A guide to National University Library's resources for the Special Education Program Use reference books to find background, trends, theory, and statistics


Net community production (NCP) and gross primary production (GPP) are two key metrics for quantifying the biological carbon cycle. In this study, we present a detailed characterization of NCP and GPP in the western equatorial Pacific during August and September 2006. We use continuous measurements of dissolved gases (O2 and Ar) in the surface water in order to quantify NCP at subkilometer scale resolution. We constrain GPP in discrete samples using the triple isotopic composition of O2. We find the average NCP in the western equatorial Pacific is 5.9 ± 0.9 mmol O2 m−2 d−1 (equivalent to 1.5 ± 0.2 mol C m−2 yr−1 with error estimates reflecting 1σ confidence levels) and the average GPP is 121 ± 34 mmol O2 m−2 d−1 (equivalent to 32 ± 9 mol C m−2 yr−1). The measurements reveal significant spatial variability on length scales as small as 50 km. The NCP/GPP ratio is 5.7% ± 1.8%. We also present results for NCP and GPP in the coastal area off Papua New Guinea and for GPP in the central Pacific along the equator.


A mathematical analysis is made of the changes in body fluid volume and solute composition that occur during hemodialysis. The analysis considers the movement of water and solutes across the dialyzer membrane and between the intracellular and extracellular compartments. Dialyzer operating variables such as dialysate addition rate, solute dialysances, and ultrafiltration rate are included. The output of the mathematical model agrees well with data obtained during clinical dialysis. The results of the analysis indicate that the intracellular volume changes that would be expected during dialysis as a result of osmotic gradients are very small. The effects on solute removal of varying dialysate addition rate, ultrafiltration rate, and dialysance are analyzed.


BACKGROUND
Spontaneous coved ST-segment elevation ≥2 mm followed by a negative T-wave in the right precordial leads (type 1 Brugada ECG) is diagnostic of Brugada syndrome (BS), but there is a false-positive rate.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Computer-processed analysis of a 12-lead ECG database containing 49,286 females and 52,779 males was performed to select patients with a spontaneous type 1 Brugada ECG for an examination of the association of this ECG characteristic with long-term prognosis. There were 185 patients with a spontaneous type 1 Brugada ECG and of these, 16 (15 males; mean age, 46.7±14.0 years) were diagnosed with BS and 15 patients (all males; mean age, 50.1±13.4 years) were undiagnosed. The PQ interval was significantly longer in the diagnosed patients than in the undiagnosed patients (187.4±28.3 ms vs. 161.2±21.5 ms; P=0.0073). The T-wave in lead V(1) was more negative in the diagnosed patients than in the undiagnosed patients (-170.2±174.6 µV vs. -43.2±122.3 µV, P=0.027). Multivariate analysis revealed that a PQ interval ≥170 ms and T-wave amplitude <105 µV in lead V(1) were independent risk stratifiers of life-threatening events. Survival analysis (mean follow-up, 78.6±81.8 months) showed that the PQ interval and a negative T-wave in lead V(1) were significantly associated with poor prognosis.

CONCLUSIONS
Analysis of a standard 12-lead ECG can stratify the prognosis of patients with a spontaneous type 1 Brugada ECG.


With the evolution of web technology, there is a huge amount of data present in the web for the internet users. These users not only use the available resources in the web, but also give their feedback, thus generating additional useful information. Due to overwhelming amount of user's opinions, views, feedback and suggestions available through the web resources, it's very much essential to explore, analyse and organize their views for better decision making. Opinion Mining or Sentiment Analysis is a Natural Language Processing and Information Extraction task that identifies the user's views or opinions explained in the form of positive, negative or neutral comments and quotes underlying the text. Various supervised or data-driven techniques to Sentiment analysis like Naive Byes, Maximum Entropy and SVM.For classification use support vector machine (SVM), it performs the sentiment classification task also consider sentiment classification accuracy.


The aim – to carry out 3D modelling of the wound canal formed by a stab-cuttingtool with one-sided sharpening of the blade, using photogrammetry method for furtherinvestigation of its morphological peculiarities and obtaining linear dimensions withhigh accuracy in the space of the graphic editor "3ds Max".Material and methods. Fifteen experimental wound canals were reconstructedby means of an alginate imprinting mass with a rubber-like effect "Hydrogum 5"(Zhermack, Italy), which hardens quickly, remains elastic after polymerization, allowsto obtain imprints with an extremely smooth surface andmost accurately preserves andreproduces the properties of the immersed in it blade of the knife under study. Astabcutting tool - a knife with one-sided sharpening of the blade, blade length - 9.6 cm,width in the place of the greatest blade thickening - 2.6 cm, butt thickness - 0.24 cmwas used to mark experimental damage. Given dimensions of the stab- cutting toolwere obtained by means of sliding caliper with an error of ± 0.03-0.15 cm. The formedwound canal was divided into fragments with a step of about 3.5 cm. Each fragmentof the wound canal was contrasted with dye (1% alcohol solution of diamond green).These fragments of the wound canal were opened parallel to its length and placed on arotating table, which was located in a light cube to provide sufficient illumination andphotography was performed. A SONY RX 10 II digital camera was used for taking aphotograph. The index number and a fragment of a scale ruler 1.0 cm long were placedon the object for further calibration of the scale and control of the dimensions of theobject under study in computer programs. The photos obtained in JPEG format wereloaded to the computer program "Agisoft Photoscan", where 3D textured models of thewound canal fragment were created. The obtained model and texture were exportedin OBJ format. Then the obtained 3D models were moved to the graphic space of theprogram "3ds max" to calibrate the scale of the model and in the graphic editor thereconstruction of the wound canal was carried by means of 3D models of its fragments.Results. Measurements of the linear dimentions of damages were carried out at firstby a classical method (by means of a ruler). In addition to, that the depth of the woundcanal, which consists of three fragments, was obtained according to the method ofmeasuring the depth of the wound canal in the body of the corpse by putting togetherits seperate parts in accordance with immersion and permeability of the blade in thevictim's body (skin, subcutaneous muscle tissue, cavity wall and in it itself, the internalorgan and other anatomical formations). Similarly, the width of the wound canal andthe distance between the corners from the side of the butt, which illustrate the thicknessof the blade of the cutting edge and the length of its separate fragments, which in itsturn reproduce the parameters of the blade of an acute traumatic object, were fixed at different levels of immersion.The next stage of our work was to study and obtain the linear dimensions of 3Dmodels'damage by means of a graphic editor "3ds max". In this case, the mentionedcomputer program allowed to obtain the dimensions, described by us,already by anorder with higher accuracy (up to 0.001 cm).The results, obtained by us in the experiment, allow to assert about the high accuracyof measurements, carried out using a computer program for 3D modeling "3ds Max".When combining the obtained linear dimensions of the damage with increased accuracyand the possibility to conduct retrospective diagnosis of the most specific part of thewound canal, formed by the blade belly, the level of accuracy and visualization of thecarried out forensic medical examination is significantly increased.Conclusions. The results, obtained by photogrammetry and 3D modeling of the woundcanal, make it possible to assert the increased accuracy of investigations of individualmorphological characteristics of the lesions and allow to conduct retrospectiveidentification of fragments of the wound canal with the instrument of injury. In additionto that, forensic medical experts receive a modern objective tool for the selection andidentification of the used stab- cutting tool among those provided for examination byjudicial investigation organs. The introduction of the modern methods of 3D modelinginto forensic medical and medical-criminal practice allows to improve the accuracyand visualization of the carrying out examinations and brings them to a new higherlevel.


In this paper, we describe AMASP, a proposal for an open standard communication protocol / model whose objective is providing a novel and lightweight solution to the problem of communication between small computers acting in particular on embedded systems, but not limited to them. The protocol establishes addresses for computers or peripherals, allowing them to send messages directly to these addresses. It is based on message interchanging, being the messages composed by ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) text or binary streams, according to the user customization. AMASP is very customizable using four different packets to send the messages and manage a master / slave communication  model. The protocol is designed to work where a direct communication link is established or a bus architecture is available - by serial, USB connections, etc - and it supports to many error checking algorithms that can be used in unsafe links. Due to the focus on simplicity, low overhead and metadata, it is a connectionless protocol and does not support routing.


Objective: To describe clinical findings, biochemical profile and genetic analysis in an Iranian kindred with hereditary hypophosphatemic rickets with hypercalciuria (HHRH). Methods: Clinical examination and biochemical profile results and gene analysis of 12 members of a family of a patient previously diagnosed with HHRH due to SLC34A3 mutation. Ten healthy controls were also evaluated. Results: Of the twelve family members three were homozygote and seven heterozygote for the same SLC34A3 variant found in the proband while two others were unaffected. All patients had significantly increased risk of kidney stone formation, bone deformities and short stature compared with unrelated healthy controls. The heterozygous patients displayed milder clinical symptoms compared with homozygous patients. In particular they had mild or no hypophosphatemia and they did not develop skeletal deformities. Recurrent renal stones and hypercalciuria were the main presentations of the heterozygous patients which may be confused with familial hypercalciuria. In addition, biochemical analysis showed significantly low serum sodium and elevated alkaline phosphatase levels in these patients. Conclusion: Genetic counseling and screening for SLC34A3 mutations can be helpful in adult onset phenotype with unexplained osteoporosis, bone deformities and especial recurrent renal stones. In subjects with vitamin D deficiency the results should be interpreted cautiously.


A 65-year-old woman was referred to our clinic with multiple erythematous plaques on the trunk and arms (Figure 1). The eruption occurred three days after starting a 75 mg daily dose of gabapentin prescribed by a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist for neuropathic pain in her arm. The skin lesions were accompanied by a fever of 38.3°C. The laboratory investigations revealed a white blood count of 18.820/mm3 and neutrophilic leukocytosis with a percentage of 89.4%. Further investigations revealed no infectious condition. A punch biopsy was performed with preliminary diagnoses of Sweet's syndrome and generalized fixed drug eruption (FDE). Histopathological examination showed a perivascular and interstitial mixed type of inflammatory infiltration with a predominance of neutrophils. A small number of eosinophils was also noted (Figure 1). Gabapentin was immediately discontinued and intramuscular betamethasone dipropionate, topical methylprednisolone, and oral desloratadine were administered; however, the patient was lost to follow-up. Two months later, the patient was readmitted with similar lesions on the same sites and she reported that the lesions appeared again two days ago, after taking a new drug prescribed by another physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist for the intense pain in her arm (Figure 2). The new drug was switched to gabapentin with a different brand name, as the patient did not inform the physician regarding the reaction to the previous drug. A fever of 38.0°C once again accompanied the rash, and the blood tests revealed a white blood count of 16.230/mm3 with 88.2% neutrophils. A diagnosis of generalized neutrophilic FDE was established based on the clinical and pathological findings. Gabapentin was discontinued, and the lesions resolved within one week following the administration of oral desloratadine and a short course of topical and oral methylprednisolone. A written informed consent was obtained from the patient.


Background and objectives: Family planning not only improves women'shealth but also promotes gender equality, better child health, and education, including poverty reduction. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the utilization of family planning methods and associated factors in Sunsari, Nepal.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among women of the reproductive age group (15-49 years) in Sunsari in 2020. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to collect information from 212 respondents through face-to-face interviews using a Semi-structured interview schedule from ward no 1 of Barju rural municipality. Descriptive and inferential analysis (binary logistic regression)were used to find the association of utilization of family planning methods with selected demographic variables. All the variables with a p-value <0.1 in bivariate analysis were included in multivariate analysis. A p-value of <0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance at a level of significance of 5%.
Results: This study showed that the mean age and standard deviation of the respondents was 26±7.03 and 91.5 % of respondents' age at marriage was less than 20 years.Likewise,67.5% of respondents use any methods of family planning and 55.2% of respondents use family planning services from the government health facility. Furthermore, education ((AOR 1.579, CI 1.013-2.462), husband's occupation (AOR1.095,CI 0.744-1.610), type of family ((AOR 2.741, CI 1.210-6.210), and no of the living son ((AOR 0.259, CI 0.077-0.872) are the factors associated with the utilization of family planning methods.
Conclusion: This study concludes that two-thirds of the reproductive age women utilize family planning methods. Furthermore, education, husband's occupation, type of family, and no of living son are the factors associated with the utilization of family planning methods. This reflects that awareness through mass media including behavioral communication is needed to increase the utilization of family planning methods.


Cohomology and cohomology ring of three-dimensional (3D) objects are topological invariants that characterize holes and their relations. Cohomology ring has been traditionally computed on simplicial complexes. Nevertheless, cubical complexes deal directly with the voxels in 3D images, no additional triangulation is necessary, facilitating efficient algorithms for the computation of topological invariants in the image context. In this paper, we present formulas to directly compute the cohomology ring of 3D cubical complexes without making use of any additional triangulation. Starting from a cubical complex Q that represents a 3D binary-valued digital picture whose foreground has one connected component, we compute first the cohomological information on the boundary of the object, ∂Q by an incremental technique; then, using a face reduction algorithm, we compute it on the whole object; finally, applying the mentioned formulas, the cohomology ring is computed from such information.


We study the effects of the high interest rate policy implemented in Mexico under the inflation targeting (IT) scheme on the price level and on GDP and its components. We specify a macroeconomic model inspired by the theory of the effective demand, and on this basis we demonstrate, through comparative statics, the complex set of relationships between the variables involved, and the chain of reactions that a shock to the interest rate is likely to provoke. Our main conclusions show that an interest rate rise may be instrumental to control inflation. However, this rise contributes to appreciate the exchange rate, which is the main channel through which inflation is tamed. Currency appreciation raises the share of wages in GDP even as it reduces the debt service of firms indebted in dollars. It follows that the interest rate rise may have, under certain conditions, an indirect positive impact on output. Thus, our results diverge from those entailed by the theory that is at the basis of the inflation-targeting strategy, and even from some contemporary non-conventional approaches. JEL Classifications: E52, E11, E12, E43


Fibrinolytic activity in the biopsied gastrointestinal mucosa was investigated in patients with protein-losing gastroenteropathy, and the increased activity was observed in patients associated with erosive gastritis, Menetrier's disease, atrophic gastritis, or Crohn's disease. However, patients with intestinal lymphangiectasia showed normal mucosal fibrinolysis. Antifibrinolytic therapy with tranexamic acid revealed significant therapeutic effect in the group with increased mucosal fibrinolysis. It is concluded that tranexamic acid appeared to be successful in blocking the vicious circle of "membrane disorder","increased tissue fibrinolysis", "increased vascular permeability", and "hypoproteinemia" in protein-losing gastroenteropathy.


Large-scale phenotyping of tip-growing cells such as pollen tubes has hitherto been limited to very crude parameters such as germination percentage and velocity of growth. To enable efficient and high-throughput execution of more sophisticated assays, an experimental platform, the TipChip, was developed based on microfluidic and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. The device allows positioning of pollen grains or fungal spores at the entrances of serially arranged microchannels equipped with microscopic experimental set-ups. The tip-growing cells (pollen tubes, filamentous yeast or fungal hyphae) may be exposed to chemical gradients, microstructural features, integrated biosensors or directional triggers within the modular microchannels. The device is compatible with Nomarski optics and fluorescence microscopy. Using this platform, we were able to answer several outstanding questions on pollen tube growth. We established that, unlike root hairs and fungal hyphae, pollen tubes do not have a directional memory. Furthermore, pollen tubes were found to be able to elongate in air, raising the question of how and where water is taken up by the cell. The platform opens new avenues for more efficient experimentation and large-scale phenotyping of tip-growing cells under precisely controlled, reproducible conditions.


Litchi is a highly perishable fruit. Ripe litchi fruit loses quality quickly as they hang on tree, giving a very short hanging life and thus harvest period. This study attempted to explore the roles of cytokinin in regulating fruit ripening and senescence of litchi and examine the possibility of applying cytokinin in "on-tree storage" of the fruit. Exogenous cytokinin, forchlorfenuron (CPPU), was applied at 20 mg L−1 7 weeks after full bloom on litchi (Litchi chinensis cv. Feizixiao) fruit clusters. Color parameters, chlorophylls, anthocyanins, fruit and fruit part weights, total soluble solutes (TSSs), soluble sugars, organic acids, non-anthocyanin flavonoids, ethanol, and also CPPU residue in fruit were traced. CPPU residue was higher but decreased faster in the pericarp than in the aril, where it maintained < 10 μg kg−1. CPPU had no significant effect on fruit weight but tended to increase pericarp weight. The treatment suppressed chlorophyll loss and anthocyanin accumulation in the pericarp, increased non-anthocyanin flavonoids in the aril, but had no significant effects on non-anthocyanin flavonoids in the pericarp and total sugar and organic acids in the aril. As the commercially ripe fruit hanged on tree, TSSs, total sugar, and sucrose decreased with ethanol and acetic acid accumulation in the aril. CPPU significantly suppressed the loss of sucrose and total sugar and the accumulation of ethanol and acetic acid in the aril and inhibited malondialdehyde accumulation in the pericarp of the overripe fruit. Soluble invertase, alcohol dehydrogenase, and pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) activity and gene expression in the aril were downregulated by CPPU. The results suggest that cytokinin partially suppresses the ripening process in litchi and is effective to slow quality loss in the overripe fruit on tree.


Terrien's marginal corneal degeneration is an uncommon disease from the group of peripheral corneal degenerations. Although this corneal degeneration, as a special entity in ophtalmological practice, has been known for more than 90 years, its clinical essence, and especially aetiopathogenesis and methods of surgical treatment, still intrigue ophthalmologists and ophthalmic surgeons. The uncommon and interesting corneal degeneration is studied in great detail according to referential literature and experience of the author in the light of the latest discoveries and achievements. Special attention was paid to the facts suggesting immunological nature of the disease and soma new information related to clinical course and evolution of the disease. All procedures and methods of conservative and surgical treatment of this type of corneal degeneration are described in the paper.


We investigated prospectively the association between serum levels of interleukin (IL)-18 and the risk of type 2 diabetes in a case-cohort study conducted in middle-aged men and women who represented 7,936 participants of the three MONItoring of trends and determinants in CArdiovascular disease (MONICA)/Cooperative Research in the Region of Augsburg (KORA) surveys. Levels of IL-18 were measured in stored samples of 527 case subjects with incident type 2 diabetes and 1,698 noncase subjects. Elevated levels of IL-18 were associated with a significantly increased risk of type 2 diabetes after adjustment for age, sex, survey, BMI, systolic blood pressure, ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol, physical activity, alcohol intake, smoking status, and parental history of diabetes. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals comparing quartile extremes were 1.73 (1.25-2.40). Further adjustment for C-reactive protein and IL-6 had no impact on the observed associations. However, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes was highest among subjects with elevated levels of both IL-18 and CRP or IL-18 and IL-6, respectively. In conclusion, elevated levels of IL-18 are associated with a considerably increased risk of type 2 diabetes. This association is independent of a generalized proinflammatory state, but subjects with elevated levels of several inflammatory markers seem to be particularly prone to develop type 2 diabetes.


In this work we report the dispersive behavior of the most characteristic Raman contributions of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite at biaxial stresses up to 10 GPa, using a moissanite anvil cell as a pressure device. The stress coefficients and the relative Gruneisen parameters are obtained for two different excitation wavelengths, 488.0 and 532.0 nm. We observe for some of the Raman contributions different stress slopes depending on the excitation energy (2.54 and 2.33 eV). Specifically, the stress coefficients vary with the excitation wavelength for those contributions originated by resonant processes. Additionally, we have carried out selected experiments at lower excitation energies of 2.18 and 1.96 eV. Finally, the analysis of the dispersive behavior of strained graphite allows us to qualitatively estimate the influence of the stress on the electronic structure of graphite, associating the changes in the dispersion with stress to an energy gap closure.


Testosterone replacement therapy is a treatment utilized for male hypogonadism. A subcutaneous testosterone pellet is a long-acting, slow-release delivery system that can be utilized as androgen replacement therapy. A 77-year-old man who was treated with testosterone pellets developed dermatitis consisting of erythematous plaques and patches on both buttocks and thighs within 28 days following the subcutaneous insertion of testosterone pellets. The skin lesions rapidly resolved with high-potency topical corticosteroid application. The same cutaneous eruption occurred with each subsequent insertion of testosterone pellets. Other cutaneous adverse events associated with testosterone pellet insertion include acne, hirsutism, and male pattern alopecia. Bleeding, bruising, fibrosis, infections, pellet extrusion, scarring, and subcutaneous nodules may also occur at the injection site. In summary, testosterone pellet-induced dermatitis is a rare adverse cutaneous event, which should be added to the list of potential testosterone pellet associated skin side effects.


Abdominal trauma can be mysterious to some physicians. If patients are evaluated for being stable or unstable, then abdominal trauma can be easily managed. Using a combination of physical examination, ultrasound and CT scans, patients can be quickly and efficiently evaluated.


A comparison of PPD-S and RT 23 was carried out in three pairs of population groups. Tuberculin sensitivity was thought to have resulted, in one of each pair, almost entirely from infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and in the other, from the diverse causes operating in the United States of America. Among persons with specific tuberculin sensitivity, 2.5 TU of RT 23 in a saline buffer containing Tween 80 were approximately equivalent to 5 TU of PPD-S in phosphate-buffered saline diluent. Among persons whose sensitivity appeared to have resulted from infections with organisms antigenically similar to the Battery strain of unclassified mycobacteria, 2.5 TU of RT 23 in Tween 80 gave considerably more reactions than 5 TU of PPD-S.


This paper reports some preliminary research in which the various mnemonic components of the Cognitive Interview were isolated and compared with an instruction to try harder. The purpose of this was to control for possible motivational effects. Adult and children (aged 5- 9 years) were asked to recall details of a staged event under one of four instruction conditions. In the first condition, they were encouraged to reinstate context; in the second condition to change perspective; in the third condition to report the event on reverse order and in the fourth condition to try harder. There were no significant differences in correct recall or errors as a function of instruction condition. An analysis of different types of information reported in the interviews suggested some types of information were more frequently reported. Accuracy rates were high and while the older children recalled more information correctly they were no more accurate than the younger children. The implications of the findings are discussed with reference to some of the theoretical and methodological issues raised by research on cognitive interviewing.


The effects of DMSO are thought to result from the formation of hydrogen bonds with proton-donor groups on biopolymers, which are stronger than those formed with water. Since DMSO contains methyl groups, however, effects on hydrophobic bonding in proteins could be expected at higher DMSO levels. Our studies of the effects of DMSO on model subunit proteins can be interpreted in the above terms. At a concentration of 20% or less, DMSO changed glutamate dehydrogenase into the inactive monomer and the effects were fully reversible with the activator (ADP). Higher DMSO levels resulted in irreversible inactivation. The predominant effect noted on beta-glucuronidase was irreversible inactivation by 20% or more DMSO at 37 degrees C. Purified beta-glucuronidase exhibited an activation in 20% DMSO at high substrate levels; this resulted from an apparent substrate inhibition in the absence of DMSO. DMSO inhibited the clotting of fibrinogen by purified thrombin, but the major effect appeared to be due to competition between thrombin and DMSO for binding sites on fibrinogen. These effects appear to be largely due to interactions between DMSO and hydrophobic bonding in fibrinogen, although DMSO also appears to interfere with the aggregation of fibrin monomers through its effects on hydrophilic groups. These results suggest that reversible alterations in protein structure are the major effect of exposure of subunit proteins to low DMSO levels at low temperatues, while irreversible denaturation of subunit proteins may be an appreciable effect a higher temperatures and higher DMSO concentrations.


Why did the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti come to dominate the cultural geography of England between 1850 and 1910? And why, having attained that kind of eminence, did Rossetti's star decline so precipitously with the advent of Modernism? Finally, what is there about Rossetti's work and its historical aftermath that makes these questions important ones to ask? The cultural and aesthetic problems raised by those questions are the subject of this fascinating book. Jerome McGann, an eminent authority on Rossetti, demonstrates the programmatic aims of Rossetti's innovative multimedia work by focusing on two issues, one philosophical and one cultural. First, McGann shows how in Rossetti's work high-order thinking processes are modeled and executed as aesthetic practices. Second, from Rossetti's Pre-Raphaelite 'art of the inner standing point' McGann argues that Rossetti forces a revision of the cultural norms commonly used for evaluating artistic success and failure.


Through a simple regression model, the study tries to examine whether the economic growth in Sudan responses to changes in financing policies adopted by the Central Bank of Sudan(CBOS) during the period (1997-2018. Gross Domestic Product growth rate was used to measures economic growth (The dependent variable). While flow of banking finance to economic sectors includes; Agriculture, Industry, Local Trade, Foreign Trade, Transport and Storage, Energy and Mining and Real Estate were used to indicates changes in financing policies (The independent variables). Data were collected from annual reports of the CBOS. The results reveal that economic growth significantly responses to changes in financing policies but with different degrees during the period of the study. Moreover, it is found that imbalanced economic growth is directly related to imbalanced distribution of finance to economic sectors. The study strongly recommends that, the monetary authority should be issuing financing policies lead to equitable distribution of banking finance among economic sectors in order to achieve sustainable and balanced economic growth.


IN A STUDY of children in Tennessee in 1942 Gass and his associates 1 observed that many children exhibiting negative reactions in tuberculin tests had pulmonary calcifications. Later, Christie 2 reported the same observation and began a search for a condition other than tuberculosis as a cause of these lesions. On the basis of reports that in the western states coccidioidomycosis caused pulmonary calcifications, he tested the reactions in his patients to various fungous antigens. Although none of the children gave strongly positive reactions to coccidioidin, many gave positive reactions to histoplasmin, an antigen made from Histoplasma capsulatum. The purposes of this study were to determine the percentage among the school children in an Alabama city who gave positive reactions to histoplasmin and to tuberculin, and also to study the roentgenograms of those with positive reactions in the tests. Of 1,200 Negro children in grammar school in a crowded area


This article offers an analytical framework to investigate levels of media coverage and effective international negotiation. The framework includes three theoretical models based on the degree to which officials and negotiators allow diplomatic negotiations to be exposed to the media and public opinion. In the secret diplomacy model, the media and the public are totally excluded from negotiations, while in closed-door diplomacy they are partially excluded. In the open diplomacy model, negotiations are much more open to the media and coverage is more extensive. The framework helps to explore fundamental theoretical and professional implications of each model for government officials and negotiators, journalists and public opinion. This article demonstrates the analytical usefulness of the models through applications to various examples and case studies of significant contemporary diplomatic processes.


OBJECTIVES
In 2011, the tuberculosis (TB) incidence rate in Japan was 17.7 per 100,000 population, and TB still remains a public health issue in Japan. In addition to early and sufficient medical services for the TB patients, effective health communications with the public as well as with the high risk groups are needed to prevent new TB incidences. With an aim of advancing knowledge that supports effective and efficient strategies for TB prevention, the current study was designed to examine factors relevant to TB preventive intentions and behaviors, which have not been well explored in Japan.

METHODS
Questionnaire surveys were conducted for 1040 female study participants, involving the following two groups. The Women's Organization group consisted of 746 attendees of seminars held by the National Federation of Community Women's Organizations for TB Control and the Japan AntiTuberculosis Association; The female college students group consisted of 294 female students from two women's colleges in Tokyo. Surveys were carried out between February 2010 and February 2012.

RESULTS
The Women's Organization group scored significantly higher than the female college student group in average for five of the six measured variables: Subjective Health Status, Critical Thinking Disposition (Objectiveness), Self-Assessed Understanding of TB, Prevention Intention, and Prevention Behavior. There was no significant difference in one variable: Subjective Threat. Critical Thinking Disposition (Objectiveness) and Self-Assessed Understanding of TB were significantly and positively correlated with both Preventive Intention and Preventive Behavior for the both of the two groups. Multigroup analyses of the hypothesized model showed that Critical Thinking Disposition (Objectiveness), Subjective Threat, and Self-Assessed Understanding of TB explained 33 to 38 per cent of the variance in Preventive Behavior, mediated by Preventive Intention.

DISCUSSION
The results from the current survey revealed that enhancing the sense of understanding of TB and recognizing the appropriate level of threats of TB contribute to the promotion of TB preventive intentions and behaviors. The results suggest that TB preventive intentions and behaviors should be influenced by devising contents of TB information to enhance subjective threats and the sense of understanding of TB. It is also suggested that promoting objective thinking dispositions, such as making unbiased judgments, being open to different perspectives, and examining multiple perspectives, should be related to TB preventive behaviors. It may be useful to consider these suggestions for effective health communication on TB prevention.


In this essay I wish to add my voice to Michael H. Mitias's polemic with Robert E. Allinson's view that an Enlightenment-driven reform of the human world is desirable, and even necessary. Allinson calls the outcome of such a reform the "New Enlightenment." I also consider the few main threads of Mitias's alternative proposal for repairing the human world, which involves the reinterpretation of the Enlightenment ideology, and I strive to show that, contrary to Mitias's belief, both his and Allinson's positions have important common points. Moreover, I also take a closer look at Mitias's project, especially his postulate to begin funding the reforming of the human world in human nature.


Recent years multi-view semi-supervised learning has become research focus. In most cases multiple views are often supposed to be given previous to learning. However it is not the case in the real-world application, which makes multi-view semi-supervised learning algorithms impractical and infeasible. A view partitioning method called ViewPartition was proposed. It's used to partition input features into two parts. Based on ViewPartition, a new multi-view semi-supervised learning algorithm called Co-VP was presented. Co-VP can construct classifiers from labeled and unlabeled data. Studies comparing classification algorithms have found Co-VP to be comparable in performance with classification trees and with neural network classifiers. They have also exhibited high accuracy when applied to real-world databases, especially for those with more redundant features


Information technology is becoming an integral part of the lives of modern youth, opening wide opportunities for their use in various fields of public practice. The statistics presented in the article on increasing the demand for products of the gaming IT industry update the search for ways to implement components of gamification in the educational space in order to optimize the process of professional development of a competitive specialist. The article considers the introduction of gamification in the educational process of higher education institutions in order to develop stress resistance of the individual, as a factor in choosing constructive strategies for overcoming life crises in young. Based on the analysis of scientific research, the concept of gamification is investigated. The advantages of using gamification in the educational and psychocorrectional process are determined. The use of simulator games with elements of augmented and virtual reality in the process of development of constructive coping strategies of individual behavior in conditions of uncertainty and overcoming life crises is substantiated. The article presents the experience of interdisciplinary research in the framework of scientific cooperation between STEAM-laboratory, Laboratory of Psychophysiological Research and Laboratory of Health Psychology of Bogdan Khmelnytsky Melitopol State Pedagogical University. The paper describes in detail the stepby-step empirical study on the introduction of gamification components and augmented and virtual reality technologies in a comprehensive training program aimed at developing resilience, emotional stability, as a predictor of constructive strategies for overcoming life crises in young. The implementation of the experience is described in the implementation of the ascertaining and shaping stages of the study. According to the results, it was found that the implementation of a psycho-correctional program with elements of gamification helped to increase the level of emotional stability and stress resistance of the individual. Representatives of the experimental group, who underwent active training using gamification elements and AR / VR technologies, in contrast to the control group, which did not undergo training, showed significant changes in the choice of constructive strategies for overcoming life crises.


Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the most important cause of chronic viral hepatitis worldwide. The genome of HBV is 3.2 kb partially double-stranded DNA, which is translocated to the nuclei of infected hepatocytes and converted to complete double-stranded DNA, aka covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA). Typical course of chronic HBV infection results in inactive carrier state with clearance of viral particles in the bloodstream. However, the cccDNA can be detected in the hepatocytes from inactive carriers by sensitive methods. It has been increasingly known that epigenetic mechanisms contribute to the control of HBV replication in the inactive stage of HBV infection. Histone modification and DNA methylation have been identified in the HBV cccDNA, leading to modification of tran - scriptional activity. The understanding of epigenetic control of transcription will shed light on the development of new therapeutic strategy against HBV cccDNA.


1,3-Benzothiazin-4-ones (BTZs) are a novel class of TB drug candidates with potent activity against M. tuberculosis. An in silico ligand-based model based on structure-activity data from 170 BTZ compounds was used to design a new series. Compounds were tested against a panel of mycobacterial strains and were profiled for cytotoxicity, stability, and antiproliferative effects. Several of the compounds showed improved activity against MDR-TB while retaining low toxicity with higher microsomal, metabolic, and plasma stability.


Background: Chemotherapy still relies on the use of pentavalent antimonials, amphotericin B, paromomycin, miltefosin, and allopurinol. In this study, we explained about the native plant that grows in different regions of Iran and used as anti-leishmanial in Iran and even many other countries. Methods: This narrative review covers all information about local herbal medicine in Iran that used in treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in all the worlds, published in local and international journals from 1996 to 2015 using various databases including PubMed, SID, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Science Direct. Results: Overall, 150 articles in databases were identified. Many local plants grown in some places of Iran were used to treat this endemic disease. Conclusion: The cutaneous leishmaniasis is also a major health problem in Iran, especially in Mashhad (Northeast of Iran). Therefore, many patients seek for herbal therapy that is cheaper and readily available. This review provides information regarding plant that exists in Iran and exhibiting effects on anti-Leishmania activity. Among the anti-leishmanial mentioned in this review, most have never been tested for cytotoxicity and very few have been tested for in vivo activity.


The vast majority of conjugated polymer-based light emitting field-effect transistors (LEFETs) are characterized by low charge carrier mobilities typically in the range 10 to 10 cm V s range. Fast carrier transport is a highly desirable characteristic for high frequency LEFET operation and, potentially, for use in electrically-pumped lasers. Unfortunately, high mobility organic semiconductors are often characterised by strong intermolecular π-π interactions that reduce luminescence. Development of new materials and/or device concepts that overcome this hurdle are therefore required. We report single organic semiconductor layer, light-emitting transistors that combine the highest hole mobilities reported to date for any polymer-based LEFET, with encouraging light emission characteristics. We achieve this in a single polymer layer LEFET, which was further enhanced through the use of a small-molecule/conjugated polymer blend system that possesses a film microstructure which supports enhanced charge carrier mobility (3.2 cm V s) and promising light emission characteristics (1600 cd m) as compared to polymer-only based LEFETs. This simple approach represents an attractive strategy to further advance the performance of solution-processed LEFETs.


Virtual manufacturing technology has been applied in actual production sites with the development of virtual reality technology. However, the current virtual manufacturing technology requires experts for application of the system. Furthermore, the sense of reality is diminished as the entire simulation is driven by virtual objects. In contrast, mixed reality can visualize virtual objects and an actual work place simultaneously, and thus the sense of reality of the virtual manufacturing simulation can be improved. This paper introduces a method that applies mixed reality in the manufacturing process, and proposes a method to adapt general safety sign post in the factory instead of a black square marker for visual fiducial recognition.


The paper examines the nexus between poverty and the rise in social vices in Nigeria since independence. These vices include Prostitution, Drug Abuse, Cultism, Kidnapping, etc. The paper is of the view that there is feminization of poverty in Nigeria, where it affects more women than men. This is due to gender inequality in employment, education, land ownership and other economic opportunities. There is also increased number of households headed by women. Thus the impoverished women are faced with no choice but to turn to prostitution which has social, economic and health consequences. The paper therefore recommends government's provision of social protection services for single mothers, female house heads, as well as make poverty alleviation programmes more gender-sensitive. Data for the study was obtained from secondary and tertiary sources.


ABSTRACT This research offers a post-mortem on political advertising in 2018, providing important context for 2018's "blue wave." In a majority of US House of Representatives races, there were more pro-Democratic than pro-Republican ads, including in the most competitive contests. The one theme that united pro-Democratic advertising was health care, which was mentioned in nearly three of every five Democratic ads in the fall campaign. Contrary to the narrative that television is declining, a record number of television ads aired in the 2018 midterms, whereas digital spending still constituted a small percentage of overall advertising spending for most candidate campaigns. Finally, there was a healthy volume of outside-group spending in 2018, with "dark-money" groups increasing their involvement—especially in support of Democratic candidates.


The authors study the phase diagrams of SrTiO3 as function of temperature and of uniaxial stress along a general direction. In particular, new results are presented for stress along (110) and along (1+ delta , 1+ delta , 1-2 delta ). In the latter case, the trigonal pseudotetragonal phase transition is described by a three-state Potts model Hamiltonian with both quadratic and linear symmetry-breaking fields. Far away from the (zero-stress) multicritical point, the leading fluctuations are described by the underlying XY model. The first-order Potts model transition is turned second order by the symmetry-breaking fields via a tricritical point, at delta t( 0). The universal ratio delta t/ delta c is calculated to order epsilon =4-d. In the close vicinity of the multicritical point, the XY model underlying all of these results undergoes a crossover to a Gaussian model, and the Potts line approaches the temperature axis tangentially.


Colloidal lithography (CL) is a newly developing nanofabrication technique and can produce various nanostructures at low cost and large scale. The CL‐based nanostructures offer great performances in plasmonics, which holds a unique capability to concentrate light into subwavelength volumes. Valuable physics effects accompanied with plasmonics, such as heat generation, optical near‐field enhancement, and excitation of hot electrons have been verified to benefit chemistry reactions, leading to a new field of plasmonic nanochemistry. Starting from CL, by way of plasmonic nanostructures, toward chemistry reaction, it shows a powerful strategy to develop all these three research areas, like the silk road which has a wide profit. In this scenario, a nanoscale "silk road" from CL to plasmonic nanochemistry is presented. Recent plasmonic nanostructures fabricated via CL are summarized and are morphologically classified into multilayer, hierarchical, hollow, asymmetric, and other nanostructures. Mechanism and development of plasmonics nanochemistry are introduced. Application prospects of several unique CL‐based structures will be expected. Finally, challenges and perspectives are offered to inspire more ingenious developments of using CL in plasmonic nanochemistry.


Growth-related changes in the histochemical property and collagen architecture of the iliotibialis lateralis muscle were compared among Silky, layer and meat cockerels. Histochemical and immunohistochemical methods were employed to observe the collagen architecture. The total intramuscular collagen was also determined. The muscle consisted of type IIA, IIB and IIC myofibers, of which type IIB occurred at the highest frequency. The diameter of type IIB myofibers in each week was largest in the layer, followed by the meat, and was smallest in the Silky. The total amount of collagen reached 3.38 mg/g in the meat bird, 3.03 mg/g in the layer and 2.71 mg/g in the Silky by 30 weeks of age, respectively. In the perimysium, the collagen bundles increased in size and density of fibrils with growth. At 30 weeks of age the layer had compact collagen platelets while the Silky had loose collagen bundles. In the meat bird, the collagen bundles were moderately compact. The endomysial collagen network had a large mesh size at 1 week and thereafter accumulated many collagen fibrils to form a felt-like fabric of fibrils at 30 weeks of age. From these results it appears that growth-related changes in the iliotibialis lateralis muscle are not necessarily causally affected by the different growth rates of chicken breeds.


Abstract The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the effects of alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGP), two group sizes, and their interaction on nursery pig performance to serve as a model for future AGP alternative studies. A 41-d experiment was conducted in a commercial wean-to-finish barn; 1,300 piglets weaned at 21 d of age (weaned 2 or 4 d prior to experiment; 6.14 ± 0.18 kg BW; PIC 1050 sows and multiple sire lines) were blocked by sire, sex, and weaning date, then assigned to eight treatments: four dietary treatments each evaluated across two group sizes. The four dietary treatments were: negative control (NC), positive control (PC; NC + in-feed antibiotics), zinc oxide plus a dietary acidifier (blend of fumaric, citric, lactic, and phosphoric acid) (ZA; NC + ZnO + acid), and a Bacillus-based direct-fed-microbial (DFM) plus resistant potato starch (RS) (DR; NC + DFM + RS). The two group sizes were 31 or 11 pigs/pen; floor space was modified so area/pig was equal between the group sizes (0.42 m2/pig). There were 7 pens/diet with 11 pigs/pen and 8 pens/diet with 31 pigs/pen. Data were analyzed as a randomized complete block design with pen as the experimental unit. Diagnostic assessment of oral fluids, serum, and tissue samples was used to characterize health status. Pigs experienced natural challenges of acute diarrhea and septicemia in week 1 and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) in weeks 4–6. There was a significant interaction between diet and group size for ADG (P = 0.012). PC increased ADG in large and small groups (P < 0.05) and ZA increased ADG only in large groups (P < 0.05). Small groups had improved ADG compared to large groups when fed NC or DR diets (P < 0.05). Similarly, PC increased ADFI (P < 0.05). Compared to NC, ZA improved ADFI in large groups only (P < 0.05; diet × group size: P = 0.015). Pigs fed PC had greater G:F than NC (P < 0.05), and small groups had greater G:F than large groups (P < 0.05). There was no effect of ZA or DR on G:F. Pigs fed PC required fewer individual medical treatments than NC and pigs fed ZA were intermediate (P = 0.024). More pigs were removed from large than small groups (P = 0.049), and there was no effect of diet on removals (P > 0.10). In conclusion, careful study design, protocol implementation, sample collection, and recording of important information allowed us to characterize the health status of this group of pigs and determine treatment effects on growth performance and morbidity.


The complexes of Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), and Cd(II) with sulfasalazine (H3L) were studied in the solution and in the solid states. The stability constants of the metal complexes were calculated pH-metrically. The solid products were isolated and characterized by elemental, i.r, molar conductance, magnetic moment, diffused reflectance and thermal analyses. The mono- and biscomplexes were isolated with the formula [M(L)(H2O)n]mH2O and [M(HL)2(H2O)n]mH2O, respectively, where H2L is sulfasalazine, n=0,2 or 3, m=0,1,2,3 or 4 and M=Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Cd. The mono- and bis-iron(III) complexes were found to have the formulae [M(L)Cl(H2O)3]·2H2O and [M(HL)2Cl(H2O)]·H2O, respectively.


Background. Red gurnard, Chelidonichthys cuculus (Linnaeus, 1758), is distributed in the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from Norway to Mauritania, although it is rarely found in the North Sea and on the Norwegian shelf. The aim of this work was to conduct a comprehensive study of red gurnard in the Adriatic Sea on selected aspects the population biology and some of its environmental implications . Materialsandmethods. The sampling covered the entire subdivision GSA17 (north-central Adriatic Sea) and it was based on several bottom trawl surveys of MEDITS and GRUND projects from 2000 through 2009. Biometric parameters, as well as the spatial- and depth distributions were analyzed. The parameters such as the length–weight relation, sex, gonad maturity stage, and the stomach content were determined on a subsample of 539 specimens collected seasonally (summer and autumn–winter) within 2007–2009. The data were processed statistically . Results. Chelidonichthys cuculus was mainly distributed in the central Adriatic. Juveniles showed a distribution in shallower waters while adults tended to migrate towards the Croatian coast at greater depths. The total length of the fish sampled ranged from 40 to 303 mm (TL). We assumed the length of 100 mm as a threshold separat ing juveniles from adults and the length range of 170–190 mm as the maturity size for females and males. Isometric- and allometric growth patterns were showed for the juveniles and the adults, respectively. The diet was based almost exclusively on crustaceans (IRI% > 98%) and it did not change upon reaching the sexual maturity. Chelidonichthys cuculus should be considered a specialist predator feeding mostly on necto-benthic lophogastrids (IRI% > 72%) . Conclusion. This work constitutes an attempt to summarize some environmental and biology aspects of the red gurnard in Adriatic population: differences in depth distribution and growth were found between juveniles and adults but not in diet. Males and females showed differences in growth parameters. Extending the studied area and collecting data of red gurnard in the main areas of production should help in better understanding the biolo gy and dynamics of this species .


Binary arithmetic coding involves recursive partitioning the range [0,1) in accordance with the relative probabilities of occurrence of the two input symbols. We describe a modification of this approach in which the overall length within the range [0,1) allocated to each symbol is preserved, but the traditional assumption that a single contiguous interval is used for each symbol is removed. A key known to both the encoder and decoder is used to describe where the intervals are "split" prior to encoding each new symbol. The repeated splitting has the effect of both scrambling the intervals and altering their lengths, thereby allowing both encryption and compression to be obtained simultaneously.


Highly sensitive and moderately reactive derivatization reagents having an anthracene moiety as a fluorophore and carboxylic acid hydrazide of O -aralkylhydroxylamine as a reacting group toward the carbonyl function have been developed. The derivatization reagents, anthracene-1- and 2-carboxylic acid hydrazides and O -(1-, 2 - and 9-anthrylmethyl)-hydroxylamines, were readily prepared from the corresponding anthracenecarboxylic acids in several steps. The carbonyl compounds underwent facile derivatization with these reagents under mild conditions. The resulting hydrazones and oximes were highly responsive to a fluorescence detector in high performance liquid chromatography, the limits of detection being 50 and 20 fmol, respectively.


Purpose

Prolonged life expectancy coupled with the retirement of the "post war baby boomers" has resulted in an exponential rise in the 50+ population, peaking in the UK in 2035. Recognising that longevity is often not accompanied by health, mobility or quality of life, the "shifting the balance of care" agenda promotes an integrated care model based around the resident's home. This study aims to explore the adaptability of the existing social housing stock and how it relates to the requirements and preferences of the ageing population.

Design/methodology/approach

This research focuses at the local authority level, with the lead author embedded within North Ayrshire Council to establish the evidence base for their housing strategy for older people. Following a constructivist grounded theory approach, key themes emerge through consultation with a working group, wider stakeholder groups and an iterative review of policy and literature. These themes were explored through an evidence base of available health and housing datasets, and a questionnaire survey of 1,500+ people aged 50+ exploring housing preferences and needs for older people; six focus groups split between residents and social housing providers and stakeholder interviews.

Findings

The scale and acute nature of the problem facing social housing providers is highlighted and reveals an alarming information gap within housing data sets, exposing an in-balance between the supply and demand and realising the cost implications for adapting the housing stock.

Practical implications

It is important to resolve this information gap to develop the social housing stock to respond to preferences and establish solutions appropriate for its residents.

Originality/value

This work strengthens calls for a cohesive and integrated housing, health and social care system and exposes the challenge of delivering this at a local authority level.


Group consensus is an important method for making business decisions. In this paper, the consensus process is defined as a dynamic and interactive group decision process, which is coordinated by a moderator who helps the experts to gradually move their opinions closer to each other. This paper describes the importance of group consensus and the need to minimize the cost of this process. Furthermore, this paper describes the costs associated with decision making using group consensus and then describes three methods of reaching consensus assuming quadratic costs for a single-criterion decision problem. The first method finds the group opinion (consensus) that yields the minimum cost of reaching throughout the group. The second method finds the opinion with the minimum cost of the consensus provided that all experts must be within a given distance of the group opinion. The last method finds the maximum number of experts that can fit within the consensus, given a specified budget constraint.


We evaluate the tau lepton energy loss produced by photonucl ear interactions at high energies by using different theoretical and phenomenological model s. The theoretical uncertainty is estimated by taking different extrapolations of the DIS structure funct ion F2 in the low and moderateQ range, at extremely low values of x where nuclear shadowing and parton saturation effects coul d be stronger than usually considered. For tau leptons of energy above E = 10 GeV photonuclear interactions are the dominant energy loss mechanism which controls the effectiv volume for converting Earth-skimming tau neutrinos into tau leptons that exit the Earth.