Introduction: Basal-like breast cancer is frequently associated with triple negative phenotype, and there is a need for novel therapeutic strategies for this patient population. Inhibitors of cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) have been suggested to block both MAPK and PI3K signalling and have a high potential for activity in basal-like breast cancer (Lin 1993, Wen 2013). In this study, we compared the expression of PLA2G4A between luminal B and basal-like breast cancer, both in patient-derived xenograft models (PDX) and human cancer tissue. In addition, we studied the effect of the novel cPLA2 inhibitor AVX235 on tumor growth in a basal-like PDX model.

Materials and methods: Tumor tissue specimens were obtained from PDX models (n = 26) and a clinical breast cancer biobank (n = 32). Gene expression analysis was carried out on Agilent 8×60K microarrays. The expression of 54 genes directly involved in choline metabolism was examined. Differential expression of choline genes between basal-like and luminal B tumors was calculated by subtraction of log2 expression values. Mice carrying bilateral MAS98.12 basal-like xenografts (Bergamaschi 2009) were treated with the cPLA2 inhibitor AVX235 (30 mg/kg i.p. daily for 7 days then every second day for 14 days, n = 6) or drug-free vehicle (control group, n = 6).

Results: The PDX models were subtyped into basal-like (n = 19) and luminal B (n = 7) subtypes based on the expression of 500 intrinsic genes [Sorlie 2003]. For the human cancer tissue, there were 18 basal-like and 14 luminal B tumors. There was a significant correlation between differential choline gene expression in basal-like vs luminal B tumors in PDX models and human cancer tissue (p<1.3*10−12). Both in PDX models (p<0.04) and human cancer tissue (p<0.0003), PLA2G4A was significantly higher expressed in basal-like than luminal B tumors. Treatment with AVX235 markedly reduced the growth rate of MAS98.12 xenografts compared to controls. After 19 treatmment days, the mean tumor volume (normalised to volume at start of treatment) in the treatment group was 36% of the tumor volume in the control group, the difference being statistically significant (p = 0.023). No signs of treatment-related adverse effects were observed.

Conclusion: PLA2G4A is higher expressed in basal-like than in luminal B breast cancer. Treatment with the cPLA2 inhibitor AVX235 significantly inhibits tumor growth. These data suggest that cPLA2 inhibitors may be of particular value in treatment of basal-like breast cancer.

References: Lin LL et al: cPLA2 is phosphorylated and activated by MAP kinase. Cell 1993; 72; 269-278. Wen ZH et al: Critical role of arachidonic acid-activated mTOR signaling in breast carcinogenesis and angiogenesis. Oncogene 2013; 32; 160-170. Bergamaschi A et al: Molecular profiling and characterization of luminal-like and basal-like in vivo breast cancer xenograft models. Mol Oncol 2009; 3; 469-482. Sorlie T et al: Repeated observation of breast tumor subtypes in independent gene expression data sets. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2003; 100; 8418-8423.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P6-04-08.


Objectives: Previous studies have shown that gene expressions can be regulated in the hippocampus of rats after seizures induced by kainic acid (KA). The purpose of this study was to examine the potential regulatory impact of KA administration on gene expression levels of enzymes responsible for drug metabolism in the rat hippocampal tissue. Materials and Methods: Rats received intraperitoneal injections of KA and saline at a dose of 10 mg/kg each. Behavioral changes were observed in experimental animals following the administration of KA. Four hours after receiving treatments, all rats were decapitated, and the brains were removed. Hippocampal tissues were used for total RNA isolation, and cDNA synthesis was achieved by reverse transcription PCR. Gene expression levels of enzymes responsible for drug metabolism were determined by qPCR using the RT 2 Profiler PCR Array Rat Drug Metabolism PCR array system containing the relevant primers for a total of 84 genes. The gene expression levels of drug-metabolising enzymes (DMEs) were quantified using comparative Ct (2-ΔΔCt) method. Student's t-test was used for data analysis. Results: Our results indicate that KA treatment caused significant changes in the gene expression levels of metallothionein 3 (Mt3), glucose phosphate isomerase (Gpi), ATP-binding cassette protein C1 (Abcc1), cytochrome P450 enzymes (Cyp2c6v1, Cyp3a23/3a1, Cyp2c7), glutathione peroxidase 1, 4 and 5 (Gpx1, Gpx4, Gpx5), glutamic acid decarboxylase 1 and 2 (Gad1, Gad2), paraoxonase 2 (Pon2), carbohydrate sulfotransferase 1 (Chst1), glutathione S-transferases (Gsta3, Gstm1, Gstm4), microsomal glutathione S-transferase 3 (Mgst3), carboxylesterase 2C (Ces2c), fatty acid amide hydrolase (Faah), pyruvate kinase-muscle (Pkm2), arachidonate 5-lipoxygenase (Alox5), apolipoprotein E (Apoe), cytochrome b5 reductase 5 (Cyb5r5), xanthine dehydrogenase (Xdh), N-acetyltransferase 1 (Nat1), glucokinase regulator (Gckr), hexokinase 2 (Hk2), myristoylated alanine rich protein kinase C substrate (Marcks), and stannin (Snn) in hippocampus compared to control (p<0.05). Conclusion: As a conclusion, it can be said that the seizure activity triggered by KA has the potential to change the gene expression levels of the enzymes responsible for drug metabolism in the hippocampus of rats.


Objective This article reviews the epidemiological evidence of the relationship between diabetes and periodontal disease, possible physiological mechanisms for the association, and effects of interventions on the occurrence and severity of periodontal disease among individuals with diabetes. Research Design And Methods A comprehensive qualitative review of published literature in the area was performed. Results Much of the research in this area was found to contain methodological problems, such as failing to specify the type of diabetes, small sample sizes, and inadequate control of covariates such as age or duration of diabetes. Conclusions Trends indicate that periodontal disease is more prevalent and more severe among individuals with diabetes. This trend may be modified by factors such as oral hygiene, duration of diabetes, age, and degree of metabolic control of diabetes. Generally, poor oral hygiene, a long history of diabetes, greater age, and poor metabolic control are associated with more severe periodontal disease. The association of diabetes and periodontal disease may be due to numerous physiological phenomena found in diabetes, such as impaired resistance, vascular changes, altered oral microflora, and abnormal collagen metabolism. With some modifications, the same prevention and treatment procedures for periodontal disease recommended for the general population are appropriate for those with diabetes. People with diabetes who appear to be particularly susceptible to periodontal disease include those who do not maintain good oral hygiene or good metabolic control of their diabetes, those with diabetes of long duration or with other complications of diabetes, and teenagers and pregnant women.


Thymoma, the most common tumor mediastinum, is a neoplasm arising from the epithelial cells of thymus. Nearly all thymomas present in adult life. Thymomas in children are exceptional. Chest X-ray, CT, magnetic resonance and fine-needle aspiration help for diagnosis. Surgical resection represents the treatment of choice and the outcome of surgery has been shown to depend on the local invasiveness of the tumor.


The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of adinazolam mesylate (10 mg), N‐desmethyl adinazolam mesylate (NDMAD, 10 mg), and alprazolam (1 mg) were investigated in 9 healthy male subjects in a randomized, blinded, single‐dose, 4‐way crossover study. All drugs were intravenously infused over 30 minutes. Plasma adinazolam, NDMAD, and alprazolam concentrations, electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in the β (12–30 Hz) range, performance on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), and subjective measures of mood and sedation were monitored for 12 to 24 hours. Mean pharmacokinetic parameters for adinazolam, NDMAD, and alprazolam, respectively, were as follows: volume of distribution (L), 106, 100, and 77; elimination half‐life (hours), 2.9, 2.8, and 14.6; and clearance (mL/min), 444, 321, and 84. More than 80% of the total infused adinazolam dose was converted to systemically appearing NDMAD. All 3 benzodiazepine agonists significantly increased β EEG activity, with alprazolam showing the strongest agonist activity and adinazolam showing the weakest activity. Alprazolam and NDMAD significantly decreased DSST performance, whereas adinazolam had no effect relative to placebo. Adinazolam, NDMAD, and alprazolam all produced significant observer‐rated sedation. Plots of EEG effect versus plasma alprazolam concentration demonstrated counterclockwise hysteresis, consistent with an effect site delay. This was incorporated into a kinetic‐dynamic model in which hypothetical effect site concentration was related to pharmacodynamic EEG effect via the sigmoid Emax model, yielding an effect site equilibration half‐life of 4.8 minutes. The exponential effect model described NDMAD pharmacokinetics and EEG pharmacodynamics. The relation of both alprazolam and NDMAD plasma concentrations to DSST performance could be described by a modified exponential model. Pharmacokinetic‐dynamic modeling was not possible for adinazolam, as the data did not conform to any known concentration‐effect model. Collectively, these results indicate that the benzodiazepine‐like effects occurring after adinazolam administration are mediated by mainly NDMAD.


Alzheimer's disease (AD), one of the most common forms of dementia, is primarily ascribed to the cholinergic deficits and neuronal dysfunction. Magnolol (Mag), a bioactivator extracted from Magnolia officinalis, has protective effects on cholinergic neurons, but the specific mechanism remains unknown. To further evaluate the therapeutic effects of Mag on the learning and memory impairment in a scopolamine (Scop)-induced mouse model, the passive avoidance and the Morris water maze tests, the measurement of the ratio of brain/hippocampus to body weight, activities of acetyl cholinesterase (AChE), superoxide dismutase (SOD), total nitric oxide synthase (total NOS) and the content of methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA) in hippocampus homogenate as well as the immunefluorescence staining of the AChE positive nerve fibers were performed. Therapeutically treated with Mag, the impaired abilities of learning and memory of the Scop-induced mice were almost restored to the native levels. The restored AChE, total NOS and SOD activities and the MDA level were observed, with a relatively normal density of AChE positive nerve fibers in hippocampus CA3 molecular layer. The improving efficacy of Mag on learning and memory impairment induced by Scop is dose-dependent, indicating that Mag has potential neuroprotective effects against neuronal impairment and memory dysfunction induced by Scop in mice. The underlying mechanisms may be associated with the anti-oxidative effects of Mag and its protective effects on hippocampus cholinergic neurons.


Acute toxicity of textile mill effluent to two brackish fauna species, Oreochromis niloticus (finfish) and Paleamonetes africanus. (Shrimp) fingerlings were assessed in a static renewable bioassay for 96h to determine median lethal concentrations (LC50).
Seven different graded concentrations were prepared as 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0 and 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12mg L-1 for Oreochromis niloticus and Paleamonetes africanus fingerlings, respectively. However, a control experiment (0mgL-1) was set up accordingly. The 96h (LC50) value computed on logarithm were 1.21 and 5.11mgL-1 for Oreochromis niloticus and Paleamonetes africanus fingerlings, respectively. The median LC50 were 24, 48, 72 and 96h for 4.83, 2.01, 1.38 and 1.20 mgL-1 on Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings, exposed to different concentration textile mill effluent. However, median LC50 were 24, 48, 72 and 96h for 9.02, 7.82, 6.76, and 5.09 mgL-1 on Paleamonetes africanus fingerlings, exposed to different concentrations of textile mill effluent. The fingerlings of tilapia and shrimps exposed to various concentration of effluent showed uncoordinated behaviour, increase in their movements, ventilation, spiral swimming, sideway swimming, effort to swallow air from the surface for the tilapia fingerlings while shrimp fingerlings showed backward swimming and static swimming for few minutes. Mortality was recorded early in Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings at 0.5mgL-1 during a 24h exposure to the textile mill effluent while for the Paleamonetes africanus, mortality was recorded at 6mg L-1 for 24h exposure to the textile mill effluent physico-chemical assessment of the textile mill effluent were given as: Total Suspended Solids TSS (400-mgL-1) Biological Oxygen Demand BOD (362.6-397.1 mgL-1, Detergent (40.2-49.9 mgL-1) Alkalinity (575-1225 mgL-1), Oil and grease 28.3-31.2 mgL-1), Dissolved Oxygen DO (3.30-3.90 mgL-1). These were higher than the FEPA limit for effluent discharge. However, physico chemical analysis revealed low, species diversity of aquatic fauna in Ibeshe River. This suggests that effluent discharge into the river is hig7hly toxic to brackish water fauna species.
 Keywords : Toxicity, effluent, Oreochromis niloticus, Paleamonetes africanus , physico-chemical parameters. JOAFSS Vol. 4 (1) 2006: pp. 194-203


1. The symptoms of the rind disease are the eruptions on the rind of the cane from wliich protrude black masses of spores, together with a drying up of the leaves. 2. The disease has been studied for the last twenty years at least in various parts of the world. 3. The fungus causing the rind disease has only one known spore form in its life history. 4. The rind fungus occurs in the Southern United States, all through the West Indies and Demerara; in Natal, Mauritius, British India, Java (?), Australia, and Hawaii. 5. The fungus is what is known as a wound parasite, i. e., capable of infecting cane only through wounds, or cane that is in an otherwise unhealthy condition. It may be classed as an active parasite on certain weak or soft canes such as Bourbon and D116. 6. The rind disease is caused by Melanconium sacchari , one of the fungi imperfecti. 7. Treatment of the disease is restricted to the use of hardy varieties, to adopting such methods as will reduce the moth borer, and to grinding the cane before it is overripe. 8. Melanconium saccharinum and M. iliau have,also heen described on cane, but are not to be considered as causes of the rind disease. 9. The rind disease is common in Porto Rico.


This article presents an idea of a progressive mesh as a lossless approximation of the original mesh, of any, smoothly adjusted, level of detail. The main part of this work is devoted to the extension of progressive meshes for hierarchical representation associated with a dependence on the position of observation. This allows selective adjustment of the level of detail, measured in the number of triangles that appear in any fragment of the model, independently from the rest. Sample solution was presented, method of construction and the main criteria for the refinement. Remaining part of the work is devoted to the implementation of the view-dependent progressive meshes in the ME3D environment, its testing and attempts to estimate the future paths of development.


The invention relates to a mixture of polymer comprising an aromatic polycarbonate, styrene-containing copolymer AND / OR CONTAINING STYRENE GRAFT POLIMEO and a flame retardant. It HAS FOUND THAT USE OF SOME KIND flame retardant oligomeric Nominally FOSFATOS points to a polymer mixture having improved properties. IN PARTICULAR A mixture of polymer having a good combination of flame retardancy, PLASTIDIFICADOR good effect and good heat resistance.


ABSTRACT Ranked set sampling (RSS) is an efficient method for estimating parameters when exact measurement of observation is difficult and/or expensive. In this paper, we provide maximum likelihood estimation of the shape and scale parameters concerning generalized Rayleigh distribution based on RSS and its some modifications. We compare the biases, mean squared errors and relative efficiencies of estimators in simple random sampling, RSS, extreme RSS and median RSS with different set and cycle sizes. Comparison of the mean squared errors of estimators in RSS for the case of imperfect ranking are also given. Monte Carlo simulation study is performed by using Mathematica 11.0 with 10,000 repetitions.


The article analyzes the work of Akhmetolla Khaliuly, one of the representative works of Kazakh literature in China, the novel "Arda Altai". This is the first research article by the writer, ethnographer Akhmetolla Kaliuly, which tells about the life and work of the writer. Literary works, memoirs, and articles are discussed the historical event of the "revolution of the three regions", which became the reason for the birth of the work. Based on the theory of literature, it is proved that the work is a psychological novel.
Based on the application of different methods and techniques of studying poetics, the theory of literary studies shows that the writer used artistic means harmoniously in his work. The article shows that the completeness of the embodiment of the idea is achieved through the description of the epoch that the artist created in his work. The study and scholarly implementation of Kazakh literature abroad is an urgent issue. The analysis will touch upon the artistic, linguistic and stylistic peculiarities of the novel. Characteristic features of the writer's pen are analyzed and examples are given. The main value of the work lies in the portrayal of historical personalities. Through the theme "Three Regions" the novel is analyzed in the most detailed way where the destiny of the rebellious citizen Issa and his daughter Damesh is discussed. Reading the work makes an aesthetic impression on the reader. The results of the study allow us to see that through the novelist's novel, the value of a work of fiction is determined by the presence of poetics.


Knowledge of Group B Streptococcus (GBS) carriage and infections in Africa is very scanty but few cases have been reported in Nigeria in particular. Streptococcus agalactiae has been reported to cause infections and diseases in non-parturients and adults ranging from bacteremia, osteomylitis, arthritis, and endocarditis to breast abscess among others, hence the necessity for this study. Fifty six non-pregnant women of different age groups and social status were screened for GBS in Plateau State Specialist Hospital using the Christie, Atkins and Munch-Petersen (CAMP) and hippurate hydrolysis tests. Two (3.6 %) of the 56 women were positive for GBS. The 2 isolates were all from the anorectum. The endocervix yielded no culture. The antibiogram showed that ampicillin is the drug of choice with all isolates (100%) sensitive to the drug. No statistically significant relationship was observed between the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the patients and GBS carriage (P>0.05). This survey shows a much lower carriage proportion than that reported in Ibadan, Nigeria from non-parturients. Key words: Streptococcus agalactiae , epidemiology, anorectum, endocervix, non-parturients


The leaves of Mitragyna speciosa Korth (Rubiaceae) have been used in folk medicine for its unique medicinal properties. This study examined the water, methanolic and crude alkaloidal extracts from M. speciosa leaves and its major constituent mitragynine for the enhancement of glucose transport. Cellular uptake of radioactive 2-deoxyglucose was determined in rat L8 myotubes. Involving signalling pathway was determined with the specific inhibitors. Cell cytotoxicity was monitored by lactate dehydrogenase assay. Protein levels of glucose transporters (GLUTs) were measured by Western blotting. The results show that test samples significantly increased the rate of glucose uptake. The uptake was associated with increase in GLUT1 protein content. Co-incubation with insulin had no additional effect, but the cellular uptake was decreased by wortmannin and SB 203580, specific inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK), respectively. It is concluded that the increased glucose transport activity of M. speciosa is associated with increases in activities of the key enzymes dependent to the insulin-stimulated glucose transport for its acute action, and increases in the GLUT1 content for its long-term effect. This study demonstrated the effect of M. speciosa in stimulating glucose transport in muscle cells, implicating the folkloric use of M. speciosa leaves for treating diabetes.


In typical trials, judges and juries will find it easier to remember the proof that occurs early in the process than what comes later. Moreover, once a fact-finder starts to form a working hypothesis to explain the facts of the case, they will be biased towards interpreting new facts in a way that confirms that theory, rather than undermines it. These two psychological mechanisms will often combine to create a strong "primacy effect," in which the party who goes first gains a subtle but significant advantage over the opposing party. In this article, I propose a new method of ordering proof, designed to minimize the inaccuracy or unfairness that can arise due to primacy effects. A neutral third person, rather than the parties, would have the responsibility to prepare an opening "statement of the dispute," which would take the place of partisan opening statements. In lieu of separate, partisan cases-in-chief, this neutral third party would also decide the order in which witnesses testify, balancing considerations of clarity, efficiency, and neutrality between the parties. This proposed ordering would, however, be subject to variations by agreement among the parties. In a jury trial, the presiding judge could perform this function, while in non-jury trials, a magistrate judge or an appointed master would do so. After exploring the reasons why this new mode of ordering proof would be likely to improve the fairness and accuracy of our system without excessive cost or inconvenience, I propose a policy experiment, in which the proposed method is tested in a random selection of jurisdictions, so that its impacts on outcomes, costs, and litigant satisfaction can be measured.


General assumptions of 1D and 2D modeling and inversion were presented in this paper. Methodology of magnetotelluric data interpretation was described including analysis of dimensionality of geoelectrical medium and its influence on choosing the proper interpretation model. Relations between initial model and final results of inversion were shown based on magnetotelluric (AMT and CSAMT) data from Grabownica oil and gas field. The second example was from the Lodyna oil field. A possibility of interpretation of thin vertical layers, which can ap- proximate the Lodyna field by 1D and 2D MT inverse procedures was analyzed. Dependences be- tween final geological models and MT curve type (TE mode or TE mode) taken to interpretation were shown. Finally, methodology of interpretation was proposed.


a neurally controlled system of dynamic defense against visual predators. Camouflage is a widespread form of defense throughout the animal kingdom in every known habitat - land or sea. In the oceans, cephalopods (cuttlefish, octopus, squid) have evolved a sophisticated sensorimotor system called Rapid Adaptive Coloration, which can instantaneously change their total body appearance within a fraction of a second to range from highly camouflaged to startlingly conspicuous for a wide range of behaviors. The forms and functions of this dynamic system will be teased apart in integrative fashion in a top-down approach from ecology to organismal biology to organs, tissues and cells. The course touches on neural anatomy, sensation, visual perception (including psychophysics) and animal behavior. There are also applied biology aspects of this system that will be presented as well. In this course, we will begin by trying to define the term and consider the so-called "hard" and "easy" problems of consciousness. A brief history of ancient civilizations' views on mental experience will be discussed. We will then go over basic neuroscientific concepts and methods that are being used to study the neural correlates of consciousness. We will explore different states of consciousness and disruptions of consciousness in human patients. We will touch on the related problems of intentionality and free will. Finally, we will discuss prevailing scientific theories of consciousness.Instructor(s): Introduction to Learning and Memory. 100 Units. This course examines basic questions in learning and memory. We discuss the historical separation and division of these two areas as well as the paradigmatic differences in studying learning and memory. We also discuss basic research methods for investigating learning and memory and survey established and recent research findings, as well as consider several different kinds of models and theories of learning and memory. Topics include skill acquisition, perceptual learning, statistical learning, working memory, implicit memory, semantic vs. episodic memory, and memory disorders. This examines the biology of pain and the mechanisms by which anesthetics alter the perception of pain. The approach is to examine the anatomy of pain pathways both centrally and peripherally, and to define electrophysiological, biophysical, and biochemical explanations underlying the action of general and local anesthetics. We discuss the role of opiates and enkephalins. Central theories of anesthesia, including the relevance of sleep proteins, are also examined. Anatomy of Selected Brain Circuits. Units. The course will provide an introduction to the anatomy and function of specific brain circuits. Students will participate in the dissection of human and sheep brains to uncover and describe gross-anatomical connectivity patterns of brain areas involved in cognition, learning, emotion, and movement control. We will use histological and microscopic techniques to visualize and describe circuits and specific types of neurons within these circuits. The course will further introduce students to the latest EM/histological reconstruction techniques. The Psychology and of This course explores the topic of stress consequences of postsynaptic receptor activation.


Nanostructures in a ferritic and an oxide dispersion strengthened steel induced by dynamic plastic deformation Nanostructured metals and alloys are expected to have much higher strength and better irradiation tolerance than their counterparts with a coarse-grained structure. Therefore, nanostructuring is suggested to be a promising approach to improve the properties of structural materials for advanced fission and fusion reactors. In this study, two candidate steels for nuclear reactors, namely a ferritic/martensitic steel (modified 9Cr-1Mo steel) and an oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic steel (PM2000), were nanostructured by dynamic plastic deformation (DPD). The resulting microstructure was characterized in detail, and the annealing behavior regarding the thermal stability and microstructural response was investigated across several length scales by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution TEM (HRTEM), and scanning TEM (STEM). A nanoscale lamellar structure with a <100>+<111> duplex fibre texture develops in both the modified 9Cr-1Mo steel and PM2000 during DPD to high strains. The strength is improved significantly, but the thermal stability is largely reduced. A very pronounced orientation dependent recovery and recrystallization take place, when both steels after DPD are annealed. Both oriented nucleation and oriented growth of <111> oriented lamellae are demonstrated to account for such an orientation dependence. The underlying mechanisms are discussed, including the differences in stored energy, structural variation, and recovery processes. Higher strain rates are demonstrated to be able to facilitate the structural refinement; nevertheless, the general annealing behavior resembles that of the material after deformation at low strain rate. In addition to the microstructure of the matrix materials, the oxide nanoparticles in PM2000 were systematically investigated with respect to their structure in the as-received, substantially deformed and annealed material. The majority of oxide nanoparticles in PM2000 are orthorhombic YAlO3 (YAP) and have a cuboid-on-cube orientation relationship with the ferrite matrix. Annealing at 1300 °C and above leads to considerable coarsening; the orientation relationship between YAP/Fe changes into a pseudo-cube-on-cube relationship. It is remarkable that YAP nanoparticles with diameters smaller than 20 nm are substantially deformed during DPD. The average equivalent strain of the YAP nanoparticles is about 1.2 estimated in the sample after DPD to a strain of 2.1. Mechanical twinning is found to be the dominant deformation mechanism for the YAP nanoparticles. Nanovoids are found to form at the YAP/Fe interface at low strain. With increasing strain, these nanovoids become closed around the smaller particles which are considerably deformed, whereas those voids associated with the undeformed, larger particles remain open. When a sample with substantially deformed YAP nanoparticles is annealed, the morphology of the deformed particles changes dramatically leading to the formation of much smaller YAP particles distributed in the ferrite matrix. These findings provide insight in the strengthening mechanism and ductility of ODS steels, and, most importantly, open a novel approach to refine oxide nanoparticles in ODS steels by a combination of thermomechanical treatments.


The theory of holography is reviewed, and applications to nondestructive testing are described. A brief comment on possible future application concludes the article.


Peter Worley's latest book provides a wealth of interesting and engaging lessons based around the pedagogy of philosophical discussions in the classroom. The book's subtitle references the curriculum, and indeed the book contains 'thought adventures' to deepen and enliven learning in many of the subjects taught in schools. While the curriculum in question is pretty clearly the National Curriculum in England, none of the lessons are so closely tied to the details of that curriculum that they could not be used in other countries.


An eight-channel 10-MHz wide-bandwidth electrical impedance tomography (EIT) IC is proposed for early breast cancer detection system. To increase the resolution of EIT images, the proposed IC has three key features: 1) wide-bandwidth instrumentation amplifier (WB-IA) to detect large impedance changes in cancer cells at a high frequency; 2) dual-mode driver (DM-driver) to obviate the complex switching network to reduce the noise and the system form factor; and 3) phase compensation loop (PCL) to efficiently correct the phase error for accurate images without artifacts. The proposed EIT IC occupies 16 mm2 in the 65-nm CMOS technology and consumes 9.6 mW for each channel. Thanks to the key features, the proposed breast cancer detection system with the dedicated EIT IC can operate up to 10 MHz with a small phase error of 4.32° and a state-of-the-art impedance resolution of 1.6 $\text{m}\Omega /\surd $ Hz eventually can detect a small-size target object of 0.5 cm and verify with the phantom experiments.


Objective
Our aim is to evaluate the expression of interleukin-17-producing CD4 + T cells (Th17) in peripheral blood of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and whether these cells show a potential to exacerbate liver damage during chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.
 Background
Interleukin-17-producing CD4 + T cells (Th17)-mediated immune response has been shown to play a critical role in inflammation-associated disease; however, its role in chronic HBV infection remains unknown. Here, we characterized peripheral Th17 cells and analyzed their association with liver injury in HBV-infected patients.
 Participants and methods
This study included 15 patients with CHB without cirrhosis (11 men and four women), 15 patients with CHB with cirrhosis (eight men and seven women), and 15 healthy controls (10 men and five women). Laboratory investigations including complete blood picture, liver function tests, hepatitis viral markers (HBsAg, anti-HCV-Ab), a-fetoprotein, and HBV DNA PCR were performed for all participants. Evaluation of the level of Th17 cells in the peripheral blood was carried out using the flow cytometry technique.
 Results
The data showed that the frequency of circulating Th17 cells was increased in patients with CHB viral infection compared with the healthy controls, and was significantly higher in patients with CHB-associated cirrhosis. In addition, the increasing levels of circulating Th17 cells were correlated positively with serum alanine transaminase levels.
 Conclusion
Our results showed that Th17 cells were highly enriched in the peripheral blood of CHB patients, and their levels were related to disease progression, suggesting its role in exacerbation of liver damage during chronic HBV infection.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the genetic basis for a proband with Shprintzen-Goldberg syndrome (SGS).

METHODS
Whole exome sequencing was carried out to detect potential variants associated with the relevant phenotypes. Candidate variants were verified by Sanger sequencing of the patient and her family.

RESULTS
DNA sequencing revealed that that the proband has carried a de novo heterozygous missense c.94C>G (p.Leu32Val) variant in exon 1 of the SKI gene (NM_003036), which has been reported previously. The same variant was not detected in either parent. Based on the guidelines of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, the variant was predicted to be pathogenic (PS1+PS2+PM1+PM2+PP2+PP3).

CONCLUSION
The SKI c.94C>G (p. Leu32Val) variant probably underlay the autosomal dominant SGS in this patient.


In the present experiments I sought to identify the properties of visual scenes relevant for simulating low-altitude flight. The approach was first to identify the relevant properties of real-world scenes. The stimuli were videotape segments or still photographs of real-world scenes exhibiting a variety of scene properties. Ratings of similarity between stimulus pairs were submitted to multidimensional scaling analyses. Results using videotape segments provided consistent evidence for two relevant scene properties: variation in terrain shape and variation in object size or spacing. Results using still photographs were less interpretable, supporting the argument that motion information is important. Results suggest that designers of flight simulator visual scenes should focus specifically on rendering elements of terrain shape and objects in scenes.


This work,written for and dedicated to the performers, received its world premiere at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on 16th January, 2012.


Rice is a vital cereal crop, coming after wheat in the most consuming crop list. Rice was considered to be one of the most water-consuming crops, so it was severely affected by drought stress. Drought stress is currently affecting more than 50% of agricultural land worldwide. Rice suffers from drought stress more than one time during its life cycle. Thus, we are dealing with a big problem that possesses a great risk to the crop. The present study was conducted on two rice cultivars that vary in their tolerance to drought stress, Giza 179 (Gz179) (tolerant cultivar) and Sakha 101 (Sk101) (sensitive one), to compare their responses to drought treatment (40% water holding capacity). Fifteen sugar types, seventeen phenolic acids, and fifteen flavonoid compounds and phytohormones (including indole acetic acid, indole butyric acid, gibberellic acid, abscisic acid, and salicylic acid) were analyzed and quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography to identify strategies behind stress tolerance. Tolerant cultivar (Gz179) was less affected by water deficit and oxidative stress resulting from drought stress than the sensitive cultivar (Sk101). This could be attributed to the metabolic changes detected in the tolerant cultivar, which showed an increased accumulation of osmoprotectants including proline, sugars (mannitol, stachyose, sucrose, and galacturonic), and organic acids (tartaric and glutaric) to maintain osmotic adjustment of the cell, as well as a significant increase in nonenzymatic antioxidants such as phenols (isoferulic, cinnamic, and pyrogallol) and flavonoids (kaempferol and quercetrin) compared to the sensitive cultivar.


In recent years, the increasing popularity of consumer-grade drones has not been matched by the development of the techniques necessary to regulate their use. If misused, these drones can pose a security threat or become a hazard to other aerial vehicles. Because of their small size, locating and tracking them is a challenge, and traditional aerial detection methods are ineffective. However, they are very noisy when in flight. This thesis proposes using the sound emitted by a drone to track and locate it, through what is known as acoustic source localization. The underlying problem, positioning sound sources in space, will be explored from a mathematical perspective. Two solutions will be proposed, one of which has been implemented into a prototype. The design, construction and testing of this prototype will also be presented.


With a changing geopolitical landscape following the Northern-induced global financial meltdown, stagnation on global governance reform and failure to reach agreement on issues ranging from trade (Doha Development Round) to climate change (United Nations Convention on Climate Change), the India–Brazil–South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum finds itself at the proverbial crossroads. At this point, with no summit having taken place since 2011, the future of IBSA is uncertain in part because the three IBSA partners have allowed ambivalence and lack of leadership to hold sway. Yet the current fluidity in the international environment has ironically meant that IBSA is more relevant and needed than ever before. IBSA is well placed to play a vital role in arresting the current trajectory of the global governance architecture, particularly when it comes to concerns of development. As this article argues, it is in the area of development cooperation that IBSA has found its niche in demonstrating the possibilities that development diplomacy and South–South cooperation avail, while challenging traditional norm conceptions when it comes to the future of international development financial institutions. Yet the question remains as to how this will be used going forward, as there is little strategic discussion between the trilateral partners on the future of development diplomacy and the IBSA Fund.


This study describes an analysis of 1520 papers that were published in six medical informatics journals from 1992 through 1996, and indexed in NLM's MEDLINE. Of retrieved publications the countries of origin were determined, and insight in the subject of the publication was obtained by analysing the used MeSH terms. The main conclusion is that despite the fact that publications in medical informatics stem from a wide international community, scientific recognition can still not be demonstrated by high impact factors of journals.


Bunker, DJ, Rhea, MR, Simons, T, and Marin, PJ. The use of whole-body vibration as a golf warm-up. J Strength Cond Res 25(2): 293-297, 2011-The purpose of this case series was to test the effectiveness of an active warm-up for recreational golfers using a whole-body vibration (WBV) platform. The variables that the warm-up tested for were increased flexibility, power, and golf performance. Ten adult men (age: 45 ± 15 yr) volunteered to perform their personal warm-up and record 7 of their golf swings. They then participated in an active warm-up involving flexibility exercises on the iTonic WBV platform and then recorded 7 more golf swings. The settings for the iTonic WBV platform were set to a frequency of 50 Hz and an amplitude of 2 mm, and each exercise was performed for 30 seconds. Eight different exercises were used for this warm-up. Significant changes (p < 0.05) were measured after the WBV warm-up in the following variables: sit and reach, ball speed, carry distance, and total distance. In a subgroup of subjects less than 45 years of age (n = 5), results mimicked those reported for the entire group in that both flexibility and power measures improved significantly. Subjects older than 45 years (n = 5) did not significantly (p < 0.05) improve in power measures but did improve sit and reach similarly to the younger group. These data suggest that a profound increase in the flexibility and power output of individual golfers occurs when a WBV warm-up bout is performed.


Fundraising is an activity to influence the community, both individuals and organizations to distribute funds or assistance both materially and non-material. Some funders currently still use sporadic and traditional methods so that fundraising often fails. This research is a library research. It aims to collect theories related to social organization fundraising strategies. Information data obtained by using literature searches, books, documentation, journals or other research results related to the object of research. Data analysis uses content analysis, namely drawing conclusions from the data that has been obtained by finding the core message of the theory objectively and systematically. The results of the study explained that there were three strategic social organization fundraising strategies, namely First; Communication strategy in fundamental must be directed at creating effective communication. Of course by fulfilling the communication elements as described above .. Second; Through rational and effective considerations, faundraising is directed at appropriate programs and according to community needs so that donors are willing to give donations. Third; It is hoped that Community Organizations will be able to diversify programs and methods of raising funds to attract potential donors more broadly and optimally. The organization should take a different and unique approach with the uniqueness of each organization. He can choose to use the right model, for example, face to face, direct mail, special events, and campaigns.


In the bone marrow and spleen, the developing B cell populations undergo both negative and positive selections to shape their B cell receptor repertoire. To gain insight into the shift of the immunoglobulin heavy (IgH) chain repertoire during B cell development, we undertook large scale Ig μ chain repertoire analysis of pre-B, immature B and spleen B cell populations. We found that the majority of VH gene segments, VH families, JH and D gene segments, were observed to have significantly different usage frequencies when three B cell populations were compared, but the usage profile of the VH, D, and JH genes between different B cell populations showed high correlations. In both productive and nonproductive rearrangements, the length of CDRH3 shortened signifi- cantly on average when B cells entered the periphery. However, the CDRH3 length distribution of nonproductive rearrangements did not follow a Gaussian distribution, but decreased successively in the order 3n-2, 3n-1 and 3n, suggesting a direct correlation between mRNA stability and CDRH3 length patterns of nonproductive rearrange- ments. Further analysis of the individual components comprising CDRH3 of productive rearrangements indi- cated that the decrease in CDRH3 length was largely due to the reduction of N addition at the 5' and 3' junctions. Moreover, with development, the amino acid content of CDRH3 progressed toward fewer positively charged and nonpolar residues but more polar residues. All these data indicated that the expressed Ig μ chain repertoire, especially the repertoire of CDRH3, was fine-tuned when B cells passed through several checkpoints of selection during the process of maturation.


In order to develop veterinary serological multiplex assays, a singleplex bead-based array on the Luminex platform was developed, and with this experience the study was expanded by building a multiplex serological assay. First a serological Luminex assay was developed for Trichinella in swine. As the developed assay performed comparable to commercial ELISA's, work on this platform was continued by developing a serological multiplex assay for Salmonella in swine. This assay is based on five LPS variants of the most important serogroups occurring in pigs. The serological multiplex assay for Salmonella performed comparable to a commercial ELISA. The results from this study demonstrate the feasibility of the Luminex platform for multiplex serology. Ultimately, this type of assay can be used for routine screening of porcine serum samples for immune responses against multiple pathogens in one assay.


Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a chronic liver disease that increases cardiovascular disease risk. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO1)-mediated tryptophan (Trp) metabolism has been proposed to play an immunomodulatory role in several diseases. The potential of IDO1 to be a link between NASH and cardiovascular disease has never been investigated. Using Apoe−/− and Apoe−/−Ido1−/− mice that were fed a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet (HFCD) to simultaneously induce NASH and atherosclerosis, we found that Ido1 deficiency significantly accelerated atherosclerosis after 7 weeks. Surprisingly, Apoe−/−Ido1−/− mice did not present a more aggressive NASH phenotype, including hepatic lipid deposition, release of liver enzymes, and histopathological parameters. As expected, a lower L-kynurenine/Trp (Kyn/Trp) ratio was found in the plasma and arteries of Apoe−/−Ido1−/− mice compared to controls. However, no difference in the hepatic Kyn/Trp ratio was found between the groups. Hepatic transcript analyses revealed that HFCD induced a temporal increase in tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (Tdo2) mRNA, indicating an alternative manner to maintain Trp degradation during NASH development in both Apoe−/− and Apoe−/−Ido1−/mice−. Using HepG2 hepatoma cell and THP1 macrophage cultures, we found that iron, TDO2, and Trp degradation may act as important mediators of cross-communication between hepatocytes and macrophages regulating liver inflammation. In conclusion, we show that Ido1 deficiency aggravates atherosclerosis, but not liver disease, in a newly established NASH and atherosclerosis comorbidity model. Our data indicate that the overexpression of TDO2 is an important mechanism that helps in balancing the kynurenine pathway and inflammation in the liver, but not in the artery wall, which likely determined disease outcome in these two target tissues.


Correct choice of the design, thorough fitting of the carcass and its stability on abutment teeth during occlusion and articulation, prosthesis fixation with composite material whose storage time has not expired, strict adherence to the rules recommended by the firm manufacturing the composite are necessary for strong fixation of adhesive dentures.


The medical records of 973 previously untreated patients diagnosed between January 1960 and December 31, 1978 with childhood cancer were reviewed. Siblings in 13 families were diagnosed with cancer 9/12 to 15 years after the diagnosis of cancer in the index sibling. Previously unreported association of acute lymphoblastic leukemia with Hodgkin's disease, neuroblastoma with malignant hemangiopericytoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with malignant melanoma, Wilms' tumor with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease with malignant teratoma of the testis and craniopharyngioma with acute myeloblastic leukemia were identified. Two families appeared to transmit a predisposition to childhood tumors. The data from these families extend previous observations regarding multiple cases of cancer in sibships.


The Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform is currently running an inquiry on mapping the pathway to codifying the UK constitution. As part of its research, the committee has taken evidence from experts on major constitutional changes that have taken place or are about to take place in other European countries. Bill Kissane appeared before the Committee at the start of July, and here reflects how the countries he gave evidence on, Ireland and Turkey, are relevant to the UK case.


A 20-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for further evaluation on persistent pyuria. Physical examination showed a tender solid suprapubic mass. Computed tomography showed a right ovarian multilocular cystic tumor just above the urinary bladder. Cystoscopy showed pus leakage from an orifice in a hemisphere protrusion of the bladder wall. A small catheter could be inserted into the orifice. It revealed a fistula 4 cm in length between the right ovarian tumor and the vesical cavity. The tumor and the adjacent thickened bladder wall with an abscess and fistula were resected en bloc. Also a small left ovarian cyst was enucleated. Histopathological examination showed bilateral ovarian dermoid cysts, abscess formation, and marked inflammatory change around the fistula in the vesical wall. The fistula was thought to be the consequence of infection of the ovarian cyst.


Abstract Introduction The synthesis of clandestine drugs is a widespread worldwide phenomenon, with clandestine drug laboratories occurring both in rural and urban areas. There is considerable unfamiliarity among medical professionals about the health risks that are associated with chemicals used in clandestine drug laboratories. Objective To evaluate the adverse health effects resulting from exposure to chemicals involved in the production of clandestine drugs. Methods The US National Library of Medicine PubMed database and the Excerpta Medica database (EMBASE) were searched from their date of inception to October 26, 2021 using combinations of relevant search terms. This yielded 1,558 unique articles, which were subjected to two eligibility criteria: (i) exposure to clandestine drug laboratory chemicals resulting in adverse health effects; (ii) subjects were human. A total of 22 unique articles were retrieved, consisting of 10 reviews, eight case reports/series and four retrospective studies. Further searches among the references cited in these publications yielded another seven case reports/series and six retrospective studies. Results Inhalation: Surveillance studies reported respiratory symptoms (including cough, throat irritation, nasal irritation, and dyspnea) in 59% (n = 1,657 of 2,803) of those exposed. The case reports/series described respiratory symptoms in 43% of the cases (n = 36 of 84). Lung edema was reported occasionally (n = 2). Eye exposure : Surveillance studies reported eye irritation and burns in 23% (n = 647 of 2,803) of those exposed. The case reports/series described ocular adverse events in 36% of the cases (n = 30 of 84). More severe ocular effects, such as corneal damage and conjunctival necrosis, were reported after direct eye contact with caustic fluids. Skin exposure : Surveillance studies reported dermal effects, ranging from skin irritation to severe burns, in 6% of those exposed (n = 174 of 2,803). The case reports/series described dermal effects in 30% of the cases (n = 25 of 84). Ingestion : Gastrointestinal burns were observed after ingestion of caustic substances in 5% of the patients reported in the case reports/series (n = 4 of 84). Systemic effects : Surveillance studies reported headache and dizziness in 31% (n = 882 of 2,803) and 7% (n = 187 of 2,803) of those exposed, respectively. The case reports/series described sympathomimetic effects, including mydriasis, hypertension, tachycardia, in 4% of the cases (n = 3 of 84). Fatalities : Surveillance studies reported death in 1% of those exposed (n = 29 of 2803). Ten percent of the people reported in the cases report/series died (n = 8 of 84). Death was reported after inhalation of phosphine (n = 5), hydrogen sulfide (n = 1), methanol (n = 1), and after ingestion of sulfuric acid (n = 1). Conclusions Exposure to chemicals involved in the production of clandestine drugs mostly resulted in mild to moderate respiratory, ocular or dermal effects, usually caused by caustic chemicals or solvents. Systemic effects were generally mild, but severe symptoms and eight deaths were reported after exposure to phosphine, hydrogen sulfide, methanol and sulfuric acid.


The corrosion protection of metallic substrates with corrosion inhibitors, either in solution or dispersed in a coating formulation, has been the focus of many research topics for many decades and has intensified in recent years even more with industry moving away from hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI))- based corrosion inhibitors. While mainly concentrating on the electrochemical behaviour and the underlying corrosion protective mechanism, the study of the time-effect, i.e. the study of how the electrochemical system behaves and the stabilization of the electrochemical system is altered over time, is often not taken into account when studying corrosion inhibitor-containing electrochemical systems. To gain a better understanding of the kinetic aspect of corrosion inhibitors changing the overall electrochemistry, this study focusses on the quantification of the time-effect of corrosion inhibitors' electrochemical behaviour. Therefore odd random phase electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (ORP-EIS) is selected, a multisine alternative to the classical electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique, capable to measure and quantify the stability of electrochemical systems over time. Two different electrochemical systems are considered: lithium-based corrosion inhibitor technology on aluminium alloy AA2024-T3 and silica- and phosphate-based corrosion inhibitors for hot-dip galvanized steel. The former, already well-understood system, served as the proof of concept to design a well-defined methodology to study corrosion inhibitor-containing electrochemical systems, and gain deeper knowledge of the latter system.


Purpose We evaluated the use of massive transformer-based language models to predict glaucoma progression requiring surgery using ophthalmology clinical notes from electronic health records (EHRs). Methods Ophthalmology clinical notes for 4512 glaucoma patients at a single center from 2008 to 2020 were identified from the EHRs. Four different pre-trained Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT)-based models were fine-tuned on ophthalmology clinical notes from the patients' first 120 days of follow-up for the task of predicting which patients would require glaucoma surgery. Models were evaluated with standard metrics, including area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) and F1 score. Results Of the patients, 748 progressed to require glaucoma surgery (16.6%). The original BERT model had the highest AUROC (73.4%; F1 = 45.0%) for identifying these patients, followed by RoBERTa, with an AUROC of 72.4% (F1 = 44.7%); DistilBERT, with an AUROC of 70.2% (F1 = 42.5%); and BioBERT, with an AUROC of 70.1% (F1 = 41.7%). All models had higher F1 scores than an ophthalmologist's review of clinical notes (F1 = 29.9%). Conclusions Using transfer learning with massively pre-trained BERT-based models is a natural language processing approach that can access the wealth of clinical information stored within ophthalmology clinical notes to predict the progression of glaucoma. Future work to improve model performance can focus on integrating structured or imaging data or further tailoring the BERT models to ophthalmology domain–specific text. Translational Relevance Predictive models can provide the basis for clinical decision support tools to aid clinicians in identifying high- or low-risk patients to maximally tailor glaucoma treatments.


With 18 psychiatrists as subjects, and utilizing filmed samples of patient behavior, the authors designed a study to investigate the relative importance of personal impression data versus life history information in arriving at a psychiatric diagnosis. Results indicated the importance of contact with the patient and further showed that psychiatrists deal comfortably and efficiently with personal impression information. However, the authors found that psychiatrists do not agree reliably on certain patient characteristics.


Objective—Inbred mouse strains have different susceptibilities to experimental atherosclerosis. The C57BL/6 strain is among the most sensitive and has, therefore, been the most widely used in atherosclerosis studies, whereas many strains are resistant. The FVB/N strain is highly resistant to atherosclerosis on the apolipoprotein E (apoE)– and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor–deficient backgrounds. High-density lipoprotein and its major apoprotein, apoA-I, have been shown to be protective against atherogenesis on the C57BL/6 background. We here examine the influence of genetic background on the atheroprotective nature of apoA-I. Approach and Results—ApoE-deficient/apoA-I-deficient mice were generated in the C57BL/6 and FVB/N strains from apoE-deficient mice. After 6 to 10 weeks on a Western-type diet, plasma lipids and atherosclerotic lesion size were assessed. Macrophage recruitment, cholesterol regulation, and blood monocyte levels were examined as potential mechanisms driving lesion size differences. FVB/N knockout mice had higher plasma very-LDL/LDL cholesterol than their C57BL/6 counterparts. ApoA-I deficiency decreased very-LDL/LDL cholesterol in C57BL/6 mice but not in FVB/N mice. FVB/N single and double knockout mice had less lesion than C57BL/6 6 to 10 weeks on diet. ApoA-I deficiency augmented lesion development only in C57BL/6 mice. Macrophage recruitment to thioglycollate-treated peritoneum and diet-induced blood monocyte levels reflected the pattern of lesion development among the 4 genotypes. ApoA-I deficiency increased macrophage cholesterol content only in C57BL/6. FVB/N plasma was a better acceptor for macrophage cholesterol efflux than C57BL/6. Conclusions—ApoA-I is atheroprotective only in certain genetic contexts. In the C57BL/6 context, but not FVB/N, apoA-I decreases inflammatory macrophage recruitment and monocytosis, contributors to lesion formation.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the molecular mechanisms of FAM129A in regulating the progression of esophageal cancer and its prognosis.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
FAM129A levels in esophageal cancer tissues and paracancerous ones were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Its influences on clinical features and prognosis in esophageal cancer patients were analyzed. Changes in proliferation and apoptosis in esophageal cancer cells after knockdown of FAM129A were examined by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), 5-Ethynyl-2'- deoxyuridine (EdU) assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The feedback loop FAM129A/CXCL14 was finally assessed.

RESULTS
FAM129A was upregulated in esophageal cancer tissues. High level of FAM129A predicted advanced tumor staging, large tumor size and poor prognosis in esophageal cancer patients. Knockdown of FAM129A inhibited proliferative ability and induced apoptosis in OE19 and OE33 cells. In addition, knockdown of FAM129A upregulated protein level of CXCL14 in esophageal cancer cells. CXCL14 was downregulated in esophageal cancer tissues and negatively correlated to FAM129A level. The negative feedback loop FAM129A/CXCL14 was responsible for aggravating the malignant phenotypes of esophageal cancer cells.

CONCLUSIONS
FAM129A is upregulated in esophageal cancer samples, and it is linked to tumor staging, tumor size and poor prognosis. FAM129A aggravates the progression of esophageal cancer by negatively regulating CXCL14 level.


The creation of new degrees at an academic institution often requires additional library resources to provide adequate support. Identifying the needed library materials can be especially difficult for interdisciplinary programs. The process of serials analysis undertaken for new interdisciplinary degrees at the University of Texas at Dallas was explained in this session. The presenter also discussed results and the need for ongoing analysis of serials collections used for academic programs.


The aim of this work is to provide a method to calculate single event upset (SEU) cross sections by using experimental data. Valuable tools such as PROFIT and SIMPA already focus on the calculation of the proton cross section by using heavy ions cross-section experiments. However, there is no available tool that calculates heavy ion cross sections based on measured proton cross sections with no knowledge of the technology. We based our approach on the diffusion-collection model with the aim of analyzing the characteristics of transient currents that trigger SEUs. We show that experimental cross sections could be used to characterize the pulses that trigger an SEU. Experimental results allow yet defining an empirical rule to identify the transient current that are responsible for an SEU. Then, the SEU cross section can be calculated for any kind of particle and any energy with no need to know the Spice model of the cell. We applied our method to some technologies (250 nm, 90 nm and 65 nm bulk SRAMs) and we show that the proton (respectively heavy ions) cross-section curve can be obtained without any further parameter when the heavy ion (respectively protons) cross-section curve is known.


Anthocyanin pigmentation of various organs develops during plant ontogeny in response to adverse and damaging abiotic and biotic stressors (environmental factors). Using the monosome method, the genes responsible for anther and culm anthocyanin pigmentation (Pan1 and Pc2, respectively) were localized to 7D chromosome in introgressive lines from crosses between common wheat Triticum aestivum L. and the species Triticum timopheevii Zhuk. Genetic analysis of ten common wheat genotypes using testers carrying genes Pan1, Pn1, and Pn2 showed that these genotypes contained Pan1 and Pn2 genes. Visual examination of plants from 70 and 76 varieties of respectively winter and spring common wheat revealed anthocyanin pigmentation of anthers and culms in 36 varieties. Pan1 and Pn2 genes were presumably introduced into common wheat from Aegilops tauschii (Fig.) Tzvel., a donor of the D genome.


Eighteen analogues of somatostatin have been used in order to elucidate the structure-activity relationship of the peptide on the release of insulin and glucagon from the isolated perfused rat pancreas. Neither the amino terminal nor a free carboxyl terminal seemed to be essential for the activity of the cyclic peptide. Addition of amino acids to the amino terminal did not decrease the activity. On the other hand, minor changes in the structure of linear somatostatin, which lead to the loss of ability to form a cyclic peptide, impaired the activity. Deletion of Asn5 was accompanied by decreased action on glucagon but not on insulin release. It seems that the major actions of somatostatin on the pancreas are bound to the amino acid sequence 4-13 in the molecule and to the ability of the molecule to cyclize.


In this paper the Controller Area Network (CAN) Controller is presented. CAN is an advance serial bus communication protocol that efficiently supports distributed, broadcast real-time control and fault tolerance features for automobile industries to provide congestion free networking. The CAN Controller is designed for scheduling of messages, consist of the Transmitter Controller, FIFO buffer, CRC generator and bit stuffer. Scheduling messages on CAN corresponds to assigning identifiers (IDs) to message according to their priorities. Non Return to Zero (NRZ) coding and Non Destructive Bitwise Arbitration (NDBA) is used. The data is taken from the buffer FIFO, bit stuffed and then transmitted after CRC is performed. The whole design is captured entirely in VHDL language using bottom up design and verification methodology. The proposed controller was designed for applications needing high level data integrity and data rates upto 1Mbps. The applications of CAN are factory automation, machine control, automobile, avionics and aerospace, building automation.


Despite theoretical predictions, there is little empirical evidence that kin competition avoidance promotes dispersal. We show that dispersal by male Platyscapa awekei pollinating fig wasps is promoted by both low returns in the natal fig and kin competition avoidance, with strategies depending on the interaction between phenotype (body size) and local conditions. We discuss the paucity of similar work, how males might assess conditions, and then contrast male dispersal and fighting behaviour. This indicates that differences in the scale at which behaviours affect competition can mean that they are the product of dissimilar selective forces even when they have the same recipients. More generally, this could explain why other social interactions are often mixtures of cooperation and conflict.


The Miss America beauty pageant has faced widespread criticism for the swimsuit portion of its show. Feminists claim that the event promotes objectification and oversexualization of contestants in direct contrast to the Miss America Organization's (MAO) message of progressive female empowerment. The MAO's position as the leading source of women's scholarships worldwide begs the question: should women have to compete in a bikini to pay for a place in a cellular biology lecture? As dissent for the pageant mounts, the new head of the MAO Board of Directors, Gretchen Carlson, and the first all-female Board of Directors must decide where to steer the faltering organization. The MAO, like many other businesses, must choose whether to modernize in-line with social movements or whole-heartedly maintain their contentious traditions. When considering the MAO's long and controversial history, along with their recent scandals, the #MeToo Movement, and the complex world of television entertainment, the path ahead is anything but clear. Ultimately, Gretchen Carlson and the Board of Directors may have to decide between their feminist beliefs and their professional business aspirations. Underlying this case, then, is the question of whether a sufficient definition of women's leadership is simply leadership by women or if the term and its weight necessitate leadership for women. Will the board's final decision keep this American institution afloat? And, more importantly, what precedent will it set for women executives who face similar quandaries of identity?


Copper(I)-catalyzed propargylic substitution of linear precursors with (Me(2)PhSi)(2)Zn predominantly yields the γ isomer independent of the propargylic leaving group. The thus formed allenylic silane reacts regioselectively with another equivalent of (Me(2)PhSi)(2)Zn, yielding a bifunctional building block with allylic and vinylic silicon groups. The reaction rates of both steps are well-balanced for chloride (γ:α ≥ 99:1) where the propargylic displacement occurs quantitatively prior to the addition step. Substitutions of α-branched propargylic phosphates are also reported.


Knowledge sharing of radiotherapy risk contributes to keep the safety practice between the oncologists, medical physicists, and therapists. But the mechanisms of risks tend to complex because of its diversities. Recently, an ontological analysis is tried to share knowledge in the various domains. Therefore, the aim of this study is to construct Radiotherapy Risk Ontology (RRO) and clarify the implicit structures of risks towards knowledge sharing. The method of this study is below. First, the classes and relations were extracted from the risk categorization of the publications. Second, these classes and relationships were connecting and mapping by the ontology editor. Third, the total relationships of classes were verified using paired comparison chart. This paper distinguishes between publication-oriented relationships and the other relationships. And these relationships was defined the explicit and implicit relationships. RRO was constructed 789 classes and 14 types of the explicit relationships. The 22 types of the implicit relationships were clarified using paired comparison. RRO provided the conceptual mapping and the implicit knowledge. The result of this study assisted the knowledge sharing.


Informed decisions for the selection of protected areas (PAs) are grounded in two general problems in Operations Research: the minimum set covering problem (minCost), where a set of ecological constraints are established as conservation targets and the minimum cost PAs are found, and the maximal coverage problem (maxCoverage) where the constraint is uniquely economic (i.e. a fixed budget) and the goal is to maximize the number of species having conservation targets adequately covered. We adjust minCost and maxCoverage to accommodate the dynamic effects of climate change on species' ranges. The selection of sites is replaced by the selection of time‐ordered sequences of sites (climate change corridors), and an estimate of the persistence of each species in corridors is calculated according to the expected suitability of each site in the respective time period and the capacity of species to disperse between consecutive sites along corridors. In these problems, conservation targets are expressed as desired (and attainable) species persistence levels. We also introduce a novel problem (minShortfall) that combines minCost and maxCoverage. Unlike these two problems, minShortfall allows persistence targets to be missed and minimizes the sum of those gaps (i.e. target shortfalls), subject to a limited budget. We illustrate the three problems with a case study using climatic suitability estimates for 10 mammal species in the Iberian Peninsula under a climate change scenario until 2080. We compare solutions of the three problems with respect to species persistence and PA costs, under distinct settings of persistence targets, number of target‐fulfilled species and budgets. The solutions from different problems differed with regard to the areas to prioritize, their timings and the species whose persistence targets were fulfilled. This analysis also allowed identifying groups of species sharing corridors in optimal solutions, thus allowing important financial savings in site protection. We suggest that enhancing species persistence is an adequate approach to cope with habitat shifts due to climate change. We trust the three problems discussed can provide complementary and valuable support for planners to anticipate decisions in order that the negative effects of climate change on species' persistence are minimized.


Teaching spaces are seen as institutions presenting relevant power to promote sustainability. Thus, in addition to knowledge (re)producers, they must also assume ethical obligations to incorporate daily sustainability-oriented actions. In this context, this study evaluates faculty perceptions regarding contributions to the teaching–learning process and the diffusion of a pedagogical practice adhering to sustainability assumptions, arising from the insertion of photovoltaic solar systems in educational institutions. A study was conducted at the Rio Grande do Norte Federal Institute of Education Science and Technology, with 2.2 photovoltaic MWp distributed throughout its 21 campuses. This study investigated teacher knowledge and attitudes towards renewable energy sources in their school practice, as a way of understanding these issues and presenting propositions that will strengthen their role in daily school life. Teachers are aware of the importance of these sources, but their knowledge does not form links with their practice. Thus, the necessary connections to promote sustainability from the existence of institutional photovoltaic systems were proven insufficient. They did not support the concept, nor the adoption of pedagogical practices linked to this technology. In addition, teacher inability to bring knowledge related to renewable energies to the classroom and link them to daily student lives was also noted. The adoption of renewable energy to promote a sustainability culture demands the formation of teacher knowledge and attitudes, and this training must follow a continuous path.


It is indeed a bold spirit who would attempt to prophesy the final objective in graduate medical instruction. There are, however, certain evidences of trends or tendencies that may be evaluated at this time. One given to divination is seldom chagrined by his mistaken predictions, and it is reasonably certain that few now here will be present when the final formula is evolved. In the first decade of the century the majority of men seeking graduate medical instruction were well on into mature life and were seeking to fill the gaps in their medical knowledge. Many were graduates of the hundred medical schools that have ceased to function and the doctor was conscious of two fundamental defects in his training: ( a ) the lack of preliminary educational qualifications and ( b ) the inadequacy of his medical training. To his everlasting credit he had the inspirational value of ambition and the desire to


OBJECTIVE
To provide an overview of cognitive and motor outcome, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with congenital central hypothyroidism (CH-C).

DESIGN
Systematic review with individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis.

METHODS
OVID MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycInfo were searched from inception to June 11th, 2019. Studies in patients with CH-C, either isolated or with multiple pituitary hormone deficiency (MPHD), were included if CH-C patients could be separated from any additional patient groups. Primary outcomes were full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) and motor outcome; secondary outcome was QoL. Following data-extraction, one-stage IPD meta-analysis was performed, fitting a linear mixed model with FSIQ as dependent variable. Random intercepts were fitted for each study.

RESULTS
Six studies measuring FSIQ were eligible for meta-analysis, comprising 30 CH-C patients (20 males; 27 MPHD patients). FSIQ range was wide (64 - 123). Mean weighted FSIQ was 97 (95% CI 88 - 105). Twenty-seven percent had an FSIQ below 85 (≥1 SD below norm score), and 10% below 70 (≥2 SD below norm score). There was no significant association between FSIQ and sex or age. Age at treatment initiation was available from three studies only, thus impeding a reliable analysis of this parameter. Motor outcome and QoL were each studied in one study; no quantitative analyses could be performed for these outcomes.

CONCLUSION
A wide range in FSIQ scores was observed in CH-C patients. Results should be interpreted with caution, because included patients mainly had MPHD and age at treatment initiation was unknown for the majority of patients.


We present several examples of moving stimuli comprising several harmonic components that can be perceived either as moving independently, or together as a coherent moving pattern. A simple example is two sinusoidal gratings of equal contrast and spatial frequencies moving in opposite directions that are perceived as a single grating modulated sinusoidally over time (counterphase). However, two square waves drifting in opposite directions, while being a superposition of counterphasing pairs, are perceived as two distinct patterns drifting in transparency one over the other. Intermediate situations such as pairs of counterphase gratings can be perceived alternatively as counterphases or as drifting in two directions. We show that the relative phase of the components plays a fundamental role in whether they group or become transparent. The tendency of a component to become part of a pattern is maximal when the phase relationship is 0 deg, and gradually decreases to a minimum at 90 deg. This agrees quantitatively with previous measurements on different stimuli (paper presented at Del Viva and Morrone, ARVO96), suggesting a common computational mechanism. The data were well modelled by a nonlinear model of motion analysis based on feature tracking, showing sensitivity to the exact degree of nonlinearity.


Background
Cryptosporidiosis affects all human populations, but can be much more severe or life-threatening in children and individuals with weak or weakened immune systems. However, current options to treat cryptosporidiosis are limited.

Methods
An in vitro phenotypic screening assay was employed to screen 1200 existing drugs for their anticryptosporidial activity and to determine the inhibitory kinetics of top hits. Selected top hits were further evaluated in mice. The action of the lead compound vorinostat on the parasite histone deacetylase (HDAC) was biochemically validated.

Results
Fifteen compounds exhibited anticryptosporidial activity at nanomolar level in vitro. Among them, the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor vorinostat retained outstanding efficacy in vitro (half maximal effective concentration, EC50 = 203 nM) and in an interleukin 12 knockout mouse model (50% inhibition dose = 7.5 mg/kg). Vorinostat was effective on various parasite developmental stages and could irreversibly kill the parasite. Vorinostat was highly effective against the parasite native HDAC enzymes (half maximal inhibitory concentration, IC50 = 90.0 nM) and a recombinant Cryptosporidium parvum HDAC (the inhibitor constant, Ki = 123.0 nM).

Conclusions
These findings suggest the potential for repurposing of vorinostat to treat cryptosporidiosis, and imply that the parasite HDAC can be explored for developing more selective anticryptosporidial therapeutics.


The economic development of country depends on the effective banking system. In recent years, there have been considerable pressures on the profitability of banks. The study investigates the long run equilibrium relationship between the return on assets (ROA) and nine variables over the period 2005 to 2014. Johansen's co-integration test and vector error correction model have been applied to explore the long-run equilibrium relationship. The analysis reveals that the returns on assets of the Indian public sector banks are positively co-integrated with all the nine variables under the study and hence, a long-run equilibrium relationship exists between them. The results of VECM revels that secured advances to total advances, burden to total assets, burden to interest income, operating profits to total assets, non-interest income to total assets and profit per employee causes return on asset in long run and short run. While, non performing assets, deposits to total liabilities and net interest margins causes return on assets in short run only. The findings from Granger causality based on the VECM indicate bidirectional causality exists between all the variables tested and return on assets except non-performing assets. Non-performing assets granger causes return on assets but not the other way round.


One approach to camera characterization is to attempt to recover the spectral properties of the surfaces in a scene and then compute the tristimulus values from these estimated reflectances. This paper addresses the question of whether such spectral-based characterization methods can outperform traditional characterization methods. In this paper we have evaluated three different techniques for camera characterization that employ multispectral methods. The Imai and Berns method and the Hardeberg method are based on the use of a linear model of reflectance with three basis functions whereas the Shi and Healey method allows the use of a higher dimensional linear model. The characterization performance (median ∆E) of the techniques using the full set training samples was found to be 3.69, 4.26 and 3.55 respectively for the Imai and Berns method, the Hardeberg method and the Shi and Healey method. In a previous study we found that polynomial and neural-network methods are able to perform characterization on the same data with a median ∆E of 2.02 and 2.01 respectively. We find no evidence, therefore, that multispectral imaging techniques provide any advantage over traditional characterization methods for a three-channel camera imaging under a single illuminant. Further work is required to evaluate multispectral techniques for multiple imaging under more than one light source and for cameras with more than three color channels.


Energy efficiency was first mandated for commercial buildings in 2006 in Part J of The Building Code of Australia (BCA) and regulators are already implementing increased measures in 2010 (ABCB 2010). Further increases will follow as part of the co-ordinated effort to reduce building related greenhouse gas emissions. The introduction of the Energy Efficiency Disclosure Bill 2010 will establish a national scheme to promote the disclosure of information about the energy efficiency of office buildings as well as further highlighting the need for efficiency. Increased energy efficiency in the form of insulation, energy efficient light fittings, sophisticated Building Management Systems (BMS), micro-generation such as solar and wind turbines all result in measurable quantifiable reductions in operating costs for owners and tenants. However convincing all building owners about the sound business case for adopting sustainability measures has not been fully realised. To-date the adoption of cutting edge sustainable buildings in Australia is restricted to a few industry leaders, such as Investa and ISPT in Victoria for example. Sustainable building owners and tenants often benefit from reduced operating costs during the building lifecycle although the 'intangible' effect on businesses (e.g. employee productivity) is uncertain. This aspect has not been accurately quantified and has not been included as part of the measurement of sustainability in buildings. This study will allow property stakeholders, including government policy-makers and investors/developers, to better understand the optimal type and level of sustainability to be incorporated into the built environment. In addition this knowledge will enable policymakers to make more informed decisions with regards to the likely impact of the legislative measures they propose in respect of sustainability and buildings in The Building Code of Australia (BCA) and other relevant legislation.


Vision systems trained in closed-world scenarios fail when presented with new environmental conditions, new data distributions, and novel classes at deployment time. How to move towards open-world learning is a long-standing research question. The existing solutions mainly focus on specific aspects of the problem (single domain Open-Set, multi-domain Closed-Set), or propose complex strategies which combine several losses and manually tuned hyperparameters. In this work, we tackle multi-source Open-Set domain adaptation by introducing HyMOS: a straightforward model that exploits the power of contrastive learning and the properties of its hyperspherical feature space to correctly predict known labels on the target, while rejecting samples belonging to any unknown class. Hy-MOS includes style transfer among the instance transformations of contrastive learning to get domain invariance while avoiding the risk of negative-transfer. A self-paced threshold is defined on the basis of the observed data distribution and updates online during training, allowing to handle the known-unknown separation. We validate our method over three challenging datasets. The obtained results show that HyMOS outperforms several competitors, defining the new state-of-the-art. Our code is available at https://github.com/silvia1993/HyMOS.


This paper deals with performance evaluation of the European lightning location system EUCLID in France during the HyMeX [1] Special Observation Period 1 (SOP1) in 2012. Beside other instruments a Lightning Mapping Array (HyLMA) and a mobile Video and Field Recording System (VFRS) was deployed in the south of France. The data of those independent systems are used to determine the performance of the EUCLID lightning location system (LLS) in terms of detection efficiency (DE) and location accuracy (LA) for both CG


Background: Baseline CTC count already demonstrated its accuracy as an independent prognostic marker in metastatic breast cancer (MBC), before the start of any treatment (Cristofanilli, NEJM 2004; Pierga Ann Oncol 2011) for progression free survival and overall survival. Multivariate analyses performed in both a pooled analysis (Liu, ASCO 2011) and in the IC 2006–04 study showed that the other independent prognostic factors were the performance status and hormone-receptor (HR) status. Oppositely, the other criteria that are frequently used to choose between hormone therapy and chemotherapy for the treatment of first line hormone receptor-positive MBC patients (e.g. number of metastatic sites, visceral disease, metastasis-free interval…) were not independent prognostic factors. As CTC count is highly correlated to PFS, we designed a large pivotal phase III trial to evaluate the use of CTC to determine the disease aggressiveness and the choice of first line treatment in potentially hormonosensitive MBC. Trial design: First line metastatic breast cancer patients will be randomized between the clinician choice and CTC count-driven choice. In the CTC arm, patients with ≥5 CTC/7.5ml will receive chemotherapy whereas patients with Eligibility criteria: Main inclusion criteria include hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer patients with no previous treatment for the metastatic disease, and who can receive either hormone therapy or chemotherapy as first line treatment. Statistical methods: As every patient will receive a treatment, this pivotal trial has been designed to show a non-inferiority of the CTC arm for PFS (primary clinical endpoint) and a superiority of the CTC arm for the medico-economics study (co-primary endpoint). Present accrual and target accrual: This trial began in March 2012 and more than 15 French cancer centers participate to this study. The accrual of 996 metastatic breast cancer patients should be completed in 2 to 3 years. 20 patients have been included in 2 months in the first opened center. Contact information for people with a specific interest in the trial The STIC CTC METABREAST trial has been funded by the French Ministry of Health (STIC program) and Veridex. The promoter is the Institut Curie (Paris). Citation Information: Cancer Res 2012;72(24 Suppl):Abstract nr OT3-4-06.


The Tibetan Plateau, known as the "Roof of the World" and "The Third Pole", harbors numerous saline lakes primarily distributed in the Northern Tibetan Plateau. However, the challenging conditions of high altitude, low oxygen level, and harsh climate have limited investigations into the actinobacteria from these saline lakes. This study focuses on investigating the biodiversity and bioactive secondary metabolites of cultivable actinobacteria isolated from the sediments of four saline lakes on the Northern Tibetan Plateau. A total of 255 actinobacterial strains affiliated with 21 genera in 12 families of 7 orders were recovered by using the pure culture technique and 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic analysis. To facilitate a high-throughput bioactivity evaluation, 192 isolates underwent OSMAC cultivation in a miniaturized 24-well microbioreactor system (MATRIX cultivation). The antibacterial activity of crude extracts was then evaluated in a 96-well plate antibacterial assay. Forty-six strains demonstrated antagonistic effects against at least one tested pathogen, and their underlying antibacterial mechanisms were further investigated through a dual-fluorescent reporter assay (pDualrep2). Two Streptomyces strains (378 and 549) that produce compounds triggering DNA damage were prioritized for subsequent chemical investigations. Metabolomics profiling involving HPLC-UV/vis, UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS, and molecular networking identified three types of bioactive metabolites belonging to the aromatic polyketide family, i.e., cosmomycin, kidamycin, and hedamycin. In-depth analysis of the metabolomic data unveiled some potentially novel anthracycline compounds. A genome mining study based on the whole-genome sequences of strains 378 and 549 identified gene clusters potentially responsible for cosmomycin and kidamycin biosynthesis. This work highlights the effectiveness of combining metabolomic and genomic approaches to rapidly identify bioactive chemicals within microbial extracts. The saline lakes on the Northern Tibetan Plateau present prospective sources for discovering novel actinobacteria and biologically active compounds.


In the time period 1990-2004 we conducted a multisite case-control study in order to examine the relationship of mate consumption and risk of 13 cancer sites in Montevideo, Uruguay. The study included 13,201 participants (8,875 cases and 4,326 controls) drawn from the four major public hospitals in the city of Montevideo. Newly diagnosed and microscopically confirmed cases of cancers of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, larynx, lung, female breast, cervix uteri, prostate, bladder and kidney were included in the study. Controls were drawn from the same hospitals and in the same time period and were afflicted by non-neoplastic conditions not related with tobacco smoking or alcohol drinking and without recent changes in their diets. Odds ratios for mate consumption was directly associated with cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract (UADT), esophagus, stomach, larynx, lung, cervix uteri, prostate, bladder, and kidney. In conclusion these results suggest that chemicals, like benzo[a]pyrene, could be responsible of the carcinogenic effect of mate in the above mentioned cancer sites.


Background SARS-CoV-2 infections have resulted in a global pandemic, but an antiviral therapy for this novel strain of coronavirus does not currently exist. The objective of our study was to investigate the antiviral potential of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nACHR) agonist varenicline tartrate against SARS-CoV-2. Methods We assessed antiviral activity using in vitro human cell assays and we assessed in vivo efficacy in a rhesus macaque model. Results In vitro studies found that varenicline tartrate, over a range of concentrations, reduced the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 wildtype, alpha, and beta variants in Calu-3 cells and Caco-2 cells, with maintenance of cell viability. In vivo studies found that varenicline tartrate, administered as a nasal spray to rhesus macaques, reduced SARS-CoV-2 wildtype viral load and inhibited viral replication in the nasal mucosa and upper airway. Conclusion Although the study reported here was exploratory, we have confirmed that the nAChR agonist varenicline has the potential to interact with and inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication.


Using a step-graded (SG) buffer structure via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, we demonstrate a high suitability of In0.5Ga0.5As epitaxial layers on a GaAs substrate for electronic device application. Taking advantage of the technique's precise control, we were able to increase the number of SG layers to achieve a fairly low dislocation density (∼106 cm−2), while keeping each individual SG layer slightly exceeding the critical thickness (∼80 nm) for strain relaxation. This met the demanded but contradictory requirements, and even offered excellent scalability by lowering the whole buffer structure down to 2.3 μm. This scalability overwhelmingly excels the forefront studies. The effects of the SG misfit strain on the crystal quality and surface morphology of In0.5Ga0.5As epitaxial layers were carefully investigated, and were correlated to threading dislocation (TD) blocking mechanisms. From microstructural analyses, TDs can be blocked effectively through self-annihilation reactions, or hindered randomly by misfit dislocation mechanisms. Growth conditions for avoiding phase separation were also explored and identified. The buffer-improved, high-quality In0.5Ga0.5As epitaxial layers enabled a high-performance, metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor on a GaAs substrate. The devices displayed remarkable capacitance–voltage responses with small frequency dispersion. A promising interface trap density of 3 × 1012 eV−1 cm−2 in a conductance test was also obtained. These electrical performances are competitive to those using lattice-coherent but pricey InGaAs/InP systems.


OBJECTIVES
Recurrence of thymoma is described in 10-30% of cases after surgical resection. Iterative surgery for thymoma pleural relapses (TPRs) is often part of a multimodal treatment. Hyperthermic intrathoracic chemotherapy (HITHOC) following macroscopic radical surgery is an option that combines the effects of mild hyperthermia with those of chemotherapeutic agents. We evaluated the effectiveness of surgery + HITHOC, compared with surgery alone, in the treatment of TPR.

METHODS
We retrospectively collected data of all patients who underwent surgery for TPR in our centre from 2005 to 2017. Relapses were treated by partial pleurectomy with radical intent, followed by HITHOC when not contraindicated. Patients were divided into 2 groups: surgery + HITHOC and surgery alone. We collected demographic and clinical data and analysed postoperative results together with oncological outcomes.

RESULTS
Forty patients (27: surgery + HITHOC, 13: surgery alone), mean age 49.8 (±13.7) years, were included in this study. There were no perioperative deaths. We experienced 33.3% perioperative morbidity in the surgery + HITHOC group compared with 23.1% in the surgery alone group (P = 0.71). The overall survival rate was comparable between the 2 groups (P = 0.139), whereas the local disease-free interval was 88.0 ± 15 months in the surgery + HITHOC group and 57 ± 19.5 months in the surgery alone group (P = 0.046). The analysis of factors affecting the outcomes revealed that radical surgery is related with a better survival rate whereas the local disease-free interval was significantly influenced by HITHOC.

CONCLUSIONS
The safety and feasibility of HITHOC in the treatment of TPR are already known, even if it should be reserved for selected patients. Surgery + HITHOC seems to be associated with a longer local disease-free time compared to surgery alone.


Internal curing is provided, normally, but the use of some proprietary fine aggregates which provide sufficient water from within to promote the ongoing hydration of cement and hence, result in a relatively high performance concrete. Two concretes, one total lightweight concrete (TLWC) and the second sand lightweight concrete (SLWC) of 28-day cube strength of approximately 40 MPa were designed. A total of 6 mixes were cast out of these 2 concretes--4 TLWCs and 2 SLWCs. The variation in the mixes was due to moisture condition of the aggregates and the use of seawater in mixing and curing of the concretes. The effect of these variations on the cube compressive strength, water permeability, sulphate and chloride content, depth of carbonation, and shrinkage of these 6 concretes was studied. The presaturation of the lightweight aggregates (LWAs) used do not seem to have improved the compressive strength and water permeability of these concretes. The drying shrinkage strains of the concrete using presaturated aggregates decreased considerably. The application of seawater in making and curing LWCs increased the compressive strength by about 15%.


Acoustic radiation force has many applications. One of the related technologies is the ability to noninvasively expel stones from the kidney. To optimize the procedure it is important to develop theoretical approaches that can provide rapid calculations of the radiation force depending in stone size and elastic properties, together with ultrasound beam diameter, intensity, and frequency. We hypothesize that the radiation force nonmonotonically depends on the ratio between the acoustic beam width and stone diameter because of coupling between the acoustic wave in the fluid and shear waves in the stone. Testing this hypothesis by considering a spherical stone and a quasi-Gaussian beam was performed in the current work. The calculation of the radiation force was conducted for elastic spheres of two types. Dependence of the magnitude of the radiation force on the beam diameter at various fixed values of stone diameters was modeled. In addition to using real material properties, speed of shear wave in the stone was varied to reveal the importance of shear waves in the stone. It was found that the radiation force reaches its maximum at the beamwidth comparable to the stone diameter; the gain in the force magnitude can reach 40% in comparison with the case of a narrow beam.


The scope of this study is to relate the acoustic activity of damage in composites to the failure mechanisms associated with these materials. Cross ply fiber reinforced composites were subjected to tensile loading with recording of their acoustic activity. Acoustic emission (AE) parameters were employed to monitor the transition of the damage mechanism from transverse cracking (mode I) to delamination (mode II). Wave propagation measurements in between loading steps revealed an increase in the relative amplitude of the propagated wave, which was attributed to the development of delamination that confined the wave to the top longitudinal plies of the composite.