Abstract: The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of infestation by Meloidogyne javanica on the vegetative development, nutritional characteristics, and antioxidant potential of beet (Beta vulgaris). Inoculation in beet seedlings was performed with 0, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, and 10,000 eggs and with possible second-stage juveniles (J2) of nematodes. Plants were collected 60 days after inoculation for the evaluation of the nematological and vegetative parameters, the physicochemical composition, and the content and activity of antioxidant compounds. The population levels of M. javanica reduced the mass and diameter of the tuber, comparing inoculum levels of 0 and 10,000 eggs + J2 of nematodes. There was a significant difference for the number of galls and nematodes per root system, with a proportional increase of population density according to the inoculation level. The reproduction factor in all infected treatments was above 1. Although the infection by M. javanica reduced the plant protein content, other compounds, such as betalains, sugars, and phenolics, were not affected. The inoculation by M. javanica negatively affects tuber development, but does not alter the antioxidant potential of beet.


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) influences the market for plumbing fixtures and fittings by encouraging consumers to purchase products that carry the WaterSense label, which certifies those products as performing at low flow rates compared to unlabeled fixtures and fittings. As consumers decide to purchase water-efficient products, water consumption will decline nationwide. Decreased water consumption should prolong the operating life of water and wastewater treatment facilities. This report describes the method used to calculate national water savings attributable to EPA?s WaterSense program. A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet model, the National Water Savings (NWS) analysis model, accompanies this methodology report. Version 1.0 of the NWS model evaluates indoor residential water consumption. Two additional documents, a Users? Guide to the spreadsheet model and an Impacts Report, accompany the NWS model and this methodology document. Altogether, these four documents represent Phase One of this project. The Users? Guide leads policy makers through the spreadsheet options available for projecting the water savings that result from various policy scenarios. The Impacts Report shows national water savings that will result from differing degrees of market saturation of high-efficiency water-using products. This detailed methodology report describes the NWS analysis model, which examines the effects of WaterSense by tracking the shipments of products that WaterSense has designated as water-efficient. The model estimates market penetration of products that carry the WaterSense label. Market penetration is calculated for both existing and new construction. The NWS model estimates savings based on an accounting analysis of water-using products and of building stock. Estimates of future national water savings will help policy makers further direct the focus of WaterSense and calculate stakeholder impacts from the program. Calculating the total gallons of water the WaterSense program saves nationwide involves integrating two components, or modules, of the NWS model. Module 1 calculates the baseline national water consumption of typical fixtures, fittings, and appliances prior to the program (as described in Section 2.0 of this report). Module 2 develops trends in efficiency for water-using products both in the business-as-usual case and as a result of the program (Section 3.0). The NWS model combines the two modules to calculate total gallons saved by the WaterSense program (Section 4.0). Figure 1 illustrates the modules and the process involved in modeling for the NWS model analysis. The output of the NWS model provides the base case for each end use, as well as a prediction of total residential indoor water consumption during the next two decades. Based on the calculations described in Section 4.0, we can project a timeline of water savings attributable to the WaterSense program. The savings increase each year as the program results in the installation of greater numbers of efficient products, which come to compose more and more of the product stock in households throughout the United States.


Esophageal rupture is a potentially mortal condition. Rapid and correct diagnosis, and urgent surgical treatment with esophagectomy is indicated, but conservative and other surgical treatments have also been reported recently. The treatment strategies for esophageal rupture are discussed here, based on our experiences with four cases during the last 10 years. They were admitted urgently and each was treated by a different method. Three of them underwent emergency operations, one undergoing primary closure of the ruptured esophagus, another received a T-tube insertion from the ruptured site with omental flap, and the third an esophagogastrectomy. The fourth case was treated conservatively. All patients survived and were discharged 36-144 days post treatment. One of them was readmitted for debridement of necrotic rib. In conclusion, the prompt and accurate diagnosis of esophageal rupture is crucial for a subsequent successful treatment. Conservative treatment or operation including esophagectomy will be determined by the severity of the condition.


Fredric Jameson once pointed out that the Marxist tradition is already our Antiquity due to its significance and historical distance. This distance allows us to view it from the outside, and to reinvent Marxism for our own time. The same could be said about the most paradoxical version of this tradition's Soviet Marxism. However, there are particular qualities that single it out from the classical antiquity of Marxist tradition. Even internationally known Soviet works (by Vygotsky, Bakhtin, amongst Вothers) are not perceived as belonging to a unitary theoretical tradition, and are even less associated with Marxism and the heritage of 1917. It may therefore seem that the October Revolution of 1917, although being recognized as the key event of the short twentieth century has not created a universally recognizable and consolidated body of thought. It is, therefore, a difficult task to outline this field, and this is why the current lens of historical distance might be helpful in attempting to grasp both this unity and the richness of its internal differentiations.


1. A study on seven Caucasian glucose-tolerant women with previous gestational diabetes and seven matched control subjects is presented. The insulin response to oral glucose, insulin sensitivity and fasting glucose production rates were measured by using a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test, an insulin tolerance test and a non-radioactive tracer, [6,6-2H]glucose, respectively. 2. Fasting plasma glucose levels were similar between the women with previous gestational diabetes and the control subjects (4.8 +/- 0.3 versus 4.7 +/- 0.2 mmol/l), as were fasting plasma insulin levels (median 4 m-units/l, range 1-13 m-units/l versus median 4 m-units/l, range 1-24 m-units/l). After oral glucose the 60 min plasma glucose levels in the women with previous gestational diabetes were significantly higher (8.5 +/- 0.6 versus 6.7 +/- 0.8 mmol/l, P less than 0.05), whereas the plasma insulin level was significantly lower at both 30 min (median 23 m-units/l, range 4-47 m-units/l versus median 55 m-units/l, range 23-100 m-units/l, P less than 0.02) and at 60 min (median 23 m-units/l, range 4-43 m-units/l versus median 60 m-units/l, range 16-126 m-units/l, P less than 0.02). 3. Insulin sensitivity, expressed as the slope of the regression line of plasma glucose level against time after intravenous infusion of insulin (0.05 unit/kg), was similar in the women with previous gestational diabetes and the control subjects (mean slope, -0.17 +/- 0.01 versus -0.17 +/- 0.01). 4. Fasting glucose production rates were similar in the women with previous gestational diabetes and the control subjects (2.2 +/- 0.3 versus 1.9 +/- 0.1 mg min-1 kg-1).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The author presents a synchronous token-based communicating state (STOCS) model for specification and analysis of concurrent systems. The STOCS model attempts to combine algebraic and net-theoretic approaches for the study of concurrent systems. It shares the notion of tokens, transitions and reachability with the net theory and the notions of processes, interactions and traces with the algebraic theory of concurrent systems. It is shown that it has the same power as that of Petri nets but is more convenient for modeling and analysis. The author presents many examples of modeling by STOCS. He also presents techniques to analyze systems expressed in STOCS model for their correctness. A STOCS simulation and analysis package is implemented on Unix 4.2 BSD.<<ETX>>


The effect of strain on the CeNi5 system has been investigated using density functional theory (DFT). The studies have shown that localised Ce 4f and Ni 3d states carry the magnetic moment of the material. The Ce 4f moment remains relatively unchanged during strain whereas the Ni 3d moment increases as the strain becomes increasingly tensile in both the basal and non-basal directions. A significant strain-dependent interaction exists between delocalised, non-magnetic Ce 6s–Ni 4s states. A weaker group of Ni 3d–Ce 6s/Ni 4s and Ni 3d–Ni 3d interactions exist, indicating that competing localised and delocalised mechanisms act on the Ni 3d states during strain.


VAL201 is a specific inhibitor of androgen receptor (AR) and estrogen receptor (ER) associated src signaling that has shown promising effects to reduce prostate cancer growth, and the compound is considered as a potential treatment for castration-resistant prostate cancer. Inhibition of src by VAL201 takes place after androgen binding, allowing inhibition of growth without blocking desirable receptor-dependent transcriptional activity, and thereby eliminating the majority of side effects associated with androgen deprivation therapies. The ER positive human prostate cancer cell line PC-3 is usually cited as AR negative, but there is evidence of low levels of AR expression as a form without transcriptional activity that could associate with src. We have studied the effects of Val201 on PC-3 cell proliferation in vitro and growth and metastasis in vivo in an orthotopic xenograft model. The proliferation effects were studied for 100 pM, 1 nM, 10 nM, 100 nM and 1 μM concentrations of VAL201 by measuring WST-1 values at days 3, 5, 7 and 9. Groups with vehicle and 1 μM gemcitabine as reference compound were included in the study. The xenograft study was performed with 6-7 week-old immunodeficient BALB/c nude mice that were allocated to 6 groups (with n=15/group) according to the body weight, one group receiving vehicle and the others VAL201 at doses 0.04, 0.4, 4, 10 and 20 mg/kg. PC-3 cells in Matrigel were inoculated orthotopically into the prostate. Subcutaneous dosing was started at day 1 and continued daily for 28 days. The mice were weighed twice a week. Orthotopic tumors were measured by caliper and the prostate and the regional lymph nodes were harvested at sacrifice. Metastases in lymph nodes were determined from HE stained paraffin sections. VAL201 showed dose-dependent inhibition of PC-3 cell proliferation that was statistically significant with all doses above 100 pM. In the xenograft study VAL201 had no effect on body weight. Statistically significant effects on orthotopic tumor growth were not observed despite of a 35% decrease observed in tumor volume with the 0.4 mg/kg dose. However, 0.04 and 0.4 mg/kg doses of VAL201 showed a significant 50% inhibition of the development of lymph node metastases. As a conclusion, VAL201 inhibited proliferation of PC-3 cells in vitro and development of lymph node metastases in a xenograft model, demonstrating its potential in inhibiting prostate cancer growth and metastasis without adverse effects associated with androgen deprivation. Citation Format: George S. Morris, Mari I. Suominen, Katja M. Fagerlund, Jukka-Pekka Rissanen, Jussi M. Halleen, Satu Vainikka. Inhibiting androgen receptor-associated Src signaling by VAL201 inhibits prostate cancer metastasis in an orthotopic mouse model. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2080. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-2080


The previous literature on general equilibrium has assumed that all traders belong to a single market. However, traders often participate in more than one exchange to diversify their portfolios. Moreover, there is evidence that the security listings of exchanges overlap. Our model captures these facts: there are multiple exchanges, the same security is listed in different exchanges, and traders can belong to more than one exchange. We show that, in the presence of convex transaction costs, there exists an equilibrium, and that individual demand is a continuously differentiable function in prices.


This paper deals with basic problems of glucocorticoid eosinopenia and of regulations within the eosinophile cell system.

The effects of glucocorticoids on single regulatory factors of this system, such as eosinotactic stimuli, eosinopoiesis, life span and rate of removal of eosinophils, are discussed in detail. Eosinophilopoiesis is not influenced by glucocorticoids. This finding, added to the observation that blocking the reticuloendothelial system suppresses the glucocorticoid eosinopenia and that these compounds have no eosinolytic properties in vitro, speaks against the contention that the eosinopenic effect of the glucocorticoids is actually due to a direct lytic effect on the eosinophils. A distributional shift of eosinophils in vascular sectors functioning as blood depots, or a migration into tissues can be abandoned as explanations of glucocorticoid eosinopenia. The hypothesis of a fixation at sites of physiologic demand is certainly not a valid explanation of glucocorticoid eosinopenia, since glucocorticoids suppress the eosinotactic stimuli. Blocking experiments of the RES show that the rate of disappearance of the eosinophils is a resultant of the functional condition of the RES and of the sum of the eosinopenic stimuli.

On the basis of our investigations we arrive at the conclusion that glucocorticoid eosinopenia depends upon an inhibition of the release of mature eosinophils from the bone marrow and upon an increased destruction of eosinophils in the reticuloendothelial system. The level of the original eosinophilia, that is to say, the percentage of young forms with a long life expectancy, determines the degree of eosinopenia attained by a single application of glucocorticoid and the time lapse before aneosinophilia develops under continuous glucocorticoid administration.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS Metachronous cecal and sigmoid volvulus is very rare. MATERIAL AND METHODS A case report. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION Two different volvuli necessitated three operations. Cecal volvulus was treated by caecostomy and sigmoid volvulus by detorsion three years later. Sigmoid volvulus recurred after simple operative detorsion, but the patient recovered without complications after a mesocolosplasty. We recommend operative treatment when recurrent colonic volvulus is suspected, and resection is preferable in medically fit patients.


As many of you already know, Meaningful Use is the buzzword being applied by Feds in conjunction with EHR stimulus package; a package that is slated to pay providers that adopt EHRs anywhere from $44,000 to $63,750 over five years. The heart of the legislation is Meaningful Use, which stipulates that it is not enough to simply buy an EHR; you must use the EHR in very specific way. In my humble opinion, this is a truly unique opportunity, offering a very generous subsidy to help practices offset the expense of an EHR. Here is some of what you need to know.


Despite the numerous benefits of palliative care for cancer patients, there have been few studies on palliative care services for terminal cancer patients, particularly near the end of life. This study aimed to evaluate whether there were differences in length of stay and cost of care associated with how early or late a patient received palliative care intervention. Another objective was to compare the length of stay and cost of care of those who received palliative care intervention and those who did not. This study used a cohort retrospective design at Hospital A, Jakarta, Indonesia, from January to December 2019. The diagnosis of terminal cancer was based on medical records. Data on length of stay and costs of care were based on medical records and finance billing. The hospitalized terminal cancer patients (392) were recruited by consecutive sampling. The length of stay and costs of care for patients with advanced cancer who received palliative care consultations were longer and higher than for patients who did not receive them. However, if palliative care consultation is provided early, the increase in length of stay and costs are less.


Coffee of salak  seeds is an innovation in coffee. This product is not popular yet in society. Thus, market testing of this product is needed. The attributes that have been tested in this research are aroma, acidity, body, flavor, aftertaste, sweetness, conformance, aesthetic, and innovation. This research uses the importance-performance analysis (IPA) and also customer satisfaction index (CSI). Result shows that there is one attribute that has to be kept the good work, which is the body of coffee, while attribute aftertaste, sweetness, and innovative are considered to have a higher performance that its importance. Flavor and aesthetics of the coffee are considered to be in low priority. Their performances are not good enough but thesociety think that the two attributes are not too important. The attributes that need a high concern and top priority are aroma, acidity, and conformance because they are considered to have a high importance but their performances are not good. CSI analysis shows that society's index of satisfaction to coffee of snakefruit's seedsis 75.35% which is considered as satisfy.


Efforts to improve the efficiency of the hospital sector in the National Health Service (NHS) have concentrated on measuring the unit costs of service provision. Hospitals identified as having high unit costs are considered poor performers. Several indices have been constructed to measure unit costs. These produce conflicting messages: hospitals with relatively high unit costs as measured using one index may have low unit costs according to another index. Furthermore, the publication of cost information may lead to unintended consequences and perverse behaviour, rather than genuine performance improvements. To get a more accurate picture of performance, cost information should be included within a broader performance assessment framework for hospitals.


To reflect on justice and rhetoric is a minefield, or a field littered with commonplaces. However, rhetoric, as hermeneutic, accompanies justice, right from its very first steps into this minefield: as I have described it elsewhere through a close reading of the opening sentences of Aristotle's Rhetoric, in Kantian terms rhetoric is condition of possibility of justice. To do rhetoric is to pay attention to attitudinal situations shaped by social situations of exigency, and words as mental institutions in the sense lent them by.


We describe a procedure for using orientational restraints from solid-state NMR in the atomic refinement of molecular structures. Minimization of an energy function can be performed through either (or both) least-squares minimization or molecular dynamics employing simulated annealing. The energy, or penalty, function consists of terms penalizing deviation from "ideal" parameters such as covalent bond lengths and terms penalizing deviation from orientational data. Thus, the refinement strives to produce a good fit to orientational data while maintaining good stereochemistry. The software is in the form of a module for the popular refinement package CNS and is several orders of magnitude faster than previous software for refinement with orientational data. The short computer time required for refinement removes one of the difficulties in protein structure determination with solid-state NMR.


Objectives: Copy number variants (CNVs) have been recognized as a source of genetic variation that contributes to disease phenotypes. Alzheimer disease (AD) has high heritability for occurrence and age at onset (AAO). We performed a cases-only genome-wide CNV association study for age at onset of AD. Methods: The discovery case series (n = 40 subjects with AD) was evaluated using array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH). A replication case series (n = 507 subjects with AD) was evaluated using Affymetrix array (n = 243) and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (n = 264). Hazard models related onset age to CNV. Results: The discovery sample identified a chromosomal segment on 14q11.2 (19.3–19.5 Mb, NCBI build 36, UCSC hg18 March 2006) as a region of interest (genome-wide adjusted p = 0.032) for association with AAO of AD. This region encompasses a cluster of olfactory receptors. The replication sample confirmed the association (p = 0.035). The association was found for each APOE4 gene dosage (0, 1, and 2). Conclusion: High copy number in the olfactory receptor region on 14q11.2 is associated with younger age at onset of AD.


The microbes that live in and on plants (the plant microbiome) are critical for plant health and exert their influence by facilitating the nutrient acquisition, regulating plant hormone levels, and helping to withstand pathogen attack. Plants are meta-organisms that are associated with complex microbiomes. The majority of the microorgansims including epiphytes and endophytes generally play a significant role in providing essential nutrients to the plants where they live. In addition, plant microbe interaction affects the content of secondary metabolites and their derivatives in the host plant. In this review article we summarizes the interaction of the plant and microbe interaction especially the microorganisms of the rhizosphere and their effect on the secondary metabolites level in plants. The current knowledge of the plant- microbe interaction at molecular level are also being reviewed in brief.


We present the use of halide (PbCl2) and non-halide lead precursors (Pb(OAc)2 (OAc = CH3CH2COO−), Pb(NO3)2, Pb(acac)2 (acac = (CH3COCHCOCH3)−) and PbCO3) for the preparation of perovskite solar cells. We have confirmed by X-ray diffraction the growth of CH3NH3PbI3 in all the analyzed cases, except for PbCO3, independently of the lead precursor used for the synthesis of the perovskite. In addition, different cell configurations, thin films and mesoporous scaffolds, TiO2 or Al2O3, have also been prepared. We have observed that the lead precursor has a strong influence on the structural properties of perovskite (grain size), as well as on the solar cell performance. Photovoltaic conversion efficiencies comparable to those achieved when using the commonly employed PbCl2 have been obtained with Pb(OAc)2 as a lead source. Stability studies of the perovskite films and devices have also been carried out, which demonstrate that the lead precursor also plays a role. The stability is not only strongly affected by atmosphere and illumination conditions, but also by the lead precursor employed for the perovskite synthesis. These results highlight that other lead sources, different to the commonly used PbCl2 and PbI2, are also suitable for the development of PSCs, opening a new way for device performance optimization.


It is often emphasized that working shifts impairs sleep and natural biological body rhythms, tends to increase psychosocial stress, and thus paving the way for Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) related physiological problems. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Mets and the relationship between shift work and Mets diagnostic components among nurses working shifts. This cross-sectional study was performed on totally 110 volunteer female nurses, aged between 25 and 50 (mean age 33.0±6.3 years), who work day (56) and shifts (54) at a hospital in Ankara. Research data were obtained through a questionnaire. Also, the participants' anthropometric measurements, biochemical measurements and blood pressure measurements were taken. According to the criteria of International Diabetes Federation (IDF), 7.3% of all the individuals, 9.3% of the day workers, and 5.4% of the shift workers were diagnosed with MetS. The most common components of MetS in the participants were found to be abdominal obesity and low HDL-cholesterol levels. Individuals working in shifts should be informed about the health risks that may arise due to their working arrangements.


Introduction Avoidable surgery cancellations in an acute trust were often attributed to inadequate preoperative assessment. These assessments, undertaken shortly before surgery, were delivered across eight different locations, 60% by a central nursing team and the remainder by other healthcare professionals. There was inconsistency in what and who were assessed, and inadequate time to optimise patients. There was difficulty finding capacity for urgent patient assessment, plus a lack of a pool of 'ready-assessed' patients to fill last-minute operating list gaps. Methods A diagnostic phase using data analysis, root cause analyses and clinic observations identified multiple systemic issues confirming the need for system change. Interventions Other trusts operating different models were visited and their processes were adapted to create a preassessment model relevant to our trust context. Key features included early preassessment, triage and streaming, in-clinic support from a prescribing pharmacist and consultant anaesthetist, a standardised outcome form documenting specific patient requirements needing action when a surgery date was agreed, surgery dating only on confirmation of patient optimisation, an administrative office (hub) with a tracking database to coordinate follow-up tasks and a patient hotline. A key enabler was a single, bespoke location. Where possible, testing took place in advance of the go-live. However, due to the transformational nature of the new model, some changes could only be tested and refined at scale in the new, single location. Results Two months post implementation, a preliminary audit was positive, but clinic observations indicated that patient clinic flow was suboptimal. Further structural and process modifications were made. Ten months post implementation, a further root cause audit showed a near-elimination of on-the-day surgery cancellations for patients assessed in the redesigned service. Conclusion The bundle of 17 interlinked interventions proved highly effective in delivering sustained improvements, which could be adopted by other trusts.


In a multisystem partit ioned database system, the databases are partit ioned among the multiple systems and a facility is provided to support the shipping of database requests among the systems. In contrast, in the data sharing multisystem approach, all systems have direct access to the shared database. There are a number of tradeoffs between these two approaches. In this paper we propose and evaluate a hybrid architecture that combines the approaches, and offers the advantages of each. Some databases are shared between systems, while others are retained private by specific systems. The issue is to determine which databases to share, which to retain private, and how to route transactions and partition the private databases among systems so as to minimize response time or overheads, while balancing the load among systems. A simulated anneal ing heuristic is used to solve this optimization problem. Trace data from large mainframe systems running IBM's IMS database management system are used to illustrate the methodology and to demonstrate the advantages of the hybrid ap-


Composite sandwich reinforcement  kenaf fiber polyester with Styrofoam core is an alternative material that has the potential to be developed as an application in various fields with an excess of nature that is strong, lightweight, rigid, able to withstand bending loads, impact, vibration damping and sound. This study is intended to overcome the problems of fishermen Muncar - Banyuwangi in the selection of materials manufacture of safe fish robust and insulated to preserve or maintain the freshness of the fish catch of fishermen low temperature. This study was conducted to determine the effect of variations in fiber volume fraction of the increase in impact strength and bending composite materials sandwich.Untuk get impact strength values using the tool impact test with a maximum capacity of 300 joules specifications, pendulum mass of 20.9 kg, 0.83 m long pendulum arm, while to obtain bending strength values using a universal testing machine capacity of 300 KN. Variations were used in this study is the percentage of fiber volume fraction of 10% fiber, 20%, 30%, and 40%. The results showed that the variation of fiber volume fraction of 40% had values higher impact strength and bending of 0.30 Joules / mm² and 5,65MPa than the fiber volume fraction of 10% has impact and bending strength values were lower at 0.14 joules / mm2 and 0.30 MPa. So in this study limits the variation of fiber volume fraction of 10% to 40% proved that if the greater the percentage of fiber volume fraction value will increase the value of impact strength and bending in composite sandwich. Keywords: fiber volume fraction, impact strength and bending, composite sandwich


Background: In most ophthalmic surgeries, patients are conscious or semi-conscious, and hence, they may experience varying levels of anxiety during surgery. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of an interdisciplinary supportive educational program on anxiety among patients undergoing cataract surgery (CS). Methods: This quasi-experimental study was carried out in February–August 2019 using a two-group pretest–posttest design. Participants were 64 patients with cataract who were referred to Feiz Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, for undergoing CS. They were consecutively recruited and randomly assigned to either a control or an intervention group. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Participants in the intervention group received an interdisciplinary supportive educational intervention, while their counterparts in the control group received routine care services. State anxiety and trait anxiety were assessed both on the sampling day and after regaining full postoperative consciousness. Data analysis was done via the independent and the paired samples t-, the Mann–Whitney U-, and the Chi-square tests. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the intervention and the control groups respecting the pretest mean scores of state anxiety (35.25 ± 8.51 vs. 35.72 ± 9.43; P = 0.83) and trait anxiety (38.25 ± 7.002 vs. 39.16 ± 8.58; P = 0.64). However, there were statistically significant differences between the groups regarding the posttest mean scores of state anxiety (28.66 ± 10.39 vs. 34.84 ± 9.36; P = 0.02) and trait anxiety (31.76 ± 8.51 vs. 38.13 ± 10.29; P = 0.01). Conclusion: As a simple and inexpensive intervention, an interdisciplinary supportive and educational program through both face-to-face communication and telecommunication methods is effective in significantly reducing anxiety among patients undergoing CS.


Managing the patient who requests removal of her silicone gel implants, either intact or ruptured, can be difficult because the treatment depends on the desires and perceptions of the individual patient, especially in the present absence of data concerning the possible long-term adverse consequences of a silicone gel implant, intact or ruptured. Over 12 months, 46 women underwent removal of 74 silicone gel implants placed for augmentation in 26 and reconstruction in 20. Reason for removal was fear of possible consequences of the silicone gel in 17 patients, aesthetic concerns related to encapsulation in 14, systemic symptoms in 8, rupture determined by mammography in 7, and fear of interference with mammography or clinical examination for breast cancer in 4. Ten of 26 augmented patients rejected replacement because of their concern about saline devices, but only 2 of 20 reconstructed patients declined. Capsulectomy was performed in 34 patients (74 percent). Mammography correctly predicted gel implant rupture in 7 of 8 patients. Eleven of 46 consecutive explantations were broken during removal. Only 1 of 7 patients with severe systemic symptoms was asymptomatic postoperatively, but with no changes in laboratory values. Two patients had 3 implants (6.5 percent) deflate at 10, 13, and 90 days as a result of manufacturing defects. Subcutaneous mastectomy patients (5) had the least aesthetic improvement because of prominent rippling of the anterior skin of their breasts. Two patients developed infection after capsulectomy. We conclude that patients seeking explantation of silicone gel implants because of fear of the possible adverse effects of the silicone will be pleased despite aesthetic limitations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


ABSTRACT The performance of Latin American countries in reducing poverty and expanding the middle class has been remarkable. By taking a close look at the Peruvian experience, we examine how this aggregate behavior relates to business cycle conditions and whether different population groups share this behavior. We find that social mobility is cyclical; it decreases in recessions but increases with strong economic growth. The reduction in poverty in Peru appears to be the result of a sustained increase in the poverty exit rate together with a prolonged decrease in the poverty entry rate. These results hold among heterogeneous groups and are particularly marked for households regarded as initially disadvantaged.


A palladium-catalyzed ring-opening reaction of optically active ferrocenyl tertiary alcohols for the construction of planar chiral ketones is reported. The stereochemistry of the hydroxyl group in ferrocenyl alcohols markedly affects reaction: ferrocenyl alcohols with a β-hydroxyl group show better reactivity and chemoselectivity than the corresponding α-hydroxyl analogues. The treatment of α-hydroxyl substrates with trifluoroacetic acid successfully realizes the inversion of the orientation of hydroxyl group to the corresponding β-analogues.


Stereolithography is an additive manufacturing technology commonly used to build either prototypes or final parts. Nevertheless, the manufacture of structural parts has been ruled out owing to the poor mechanical properties of conventional UV-curable resins. Moreover, the inventory of available commercial resins is still limited and they exhibit low thermal and electrical conductivity values. In this work, some composite materials were designed using Al microparticles dispersed within an SLA commercial resin matrix. These composites overcame the difficulties caused by the light scattering effect during the photopolymerisation process in the SLA technology. Dispersion of the filler was characterised by means of SEM/EDX and AFM. The composites exhibited improved thermal and mechanical behaviour in comparison with the pristine resin. The simplicity of the synthesis method used to prepare the composites provides a convenient starting point to explore new ways of designing composites for SLA with improved mechanical and functional properties.


Variations in how human biospecimens are collected, processed and stored have been shown to significantly affect downstream molecular analyses. FFPE (formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded) specimens are valuable resources for biospecimen based research, since many such samples are routinely collected and stored in biobanks. With an aim to evaluate the impact of delay to fixation on total protein and phosphoprotein profiles, we used a label free mass spectrometry based proteomic and phosphoproteomic analysis on FFPE renal cell carcinoma (RCC) tumor tissues from 20 patients at four "delay to fixation" time points (1h, 2h, 3h and 12h delay to fixation), collected under the National Cancer Institute9s (NCI) Biospecimen Pre-analytical Variables (BPV) program. In addition, we compared tumor and adjacent normal kidney tissue at the four delay to fixation time points. This comparison was performed using both FFPE and frozen (OCT) tissue from case-matched tumor specimens to assess the relative impact of the two biospecimen preservation methods. We employed a label-free intensity based quantitation for the proteome profiling using high resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometry. A total of 3475 proteins and 1690 phosphoproteins were quantitated in the FFPE specimens and 3728 proteins and 1817 phosphoproteins in the OCT (frozen) tumor specimens. Very few significant changes were observed at the proteome level with different delay to fixation times. However, at the phosphoprotein level, significant numbers of phosphopeptides were observed to change and these changes were observed across the majority of patients. Approximately 8% of the phosphopeptides were significantly changed after a 12 h delay in time to fixation (vs. 1 h) compared to just 0.5% of the nonphosphopeptides. The observed changes to the phosphoproteome do not appear to be completely random. The phosphopeptides that are differentially expressed are enriched in proteins associated with renal cell death. In the tumor versus normal tissue comparison, large numbers of changes were observed at both the proteome and phosphoproteome level. These changes were consistent between the FFPE and OCTtumor specimens. In general, however, greater magnitude fold changes were observed in OCT versus the FFPE tumor specimens. Many of the differentially expressed proteins observed in this study have previously been identified in urine. These findings could potentially lead to the development of a urine-based biomarker assays for renal cell carcinoma that could aid in the early detection of this cancer. This work is funded by NCI Contract No. HHSN261200800001E. Citation Format: Fiona E. McAllister, Rachana Agarwal, Bich Nguyen, Yiyong Zhou, Sushmita Roy, Daniel Chelsky, Ping Guan, Mary Barcus, Hana Odeh, Lararsha Carithers, Helen Moore. FFPE preanalytical variables: Investigating the effect of delayed times to fixation on the proteome and phosphoproteome for FFPE kidney tumor samples and a comparison of tumor versus normal for matching FFPE and OCT frozen tissue. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1821. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1821


ABSTRACT In arid and semiarid regions, extreme temperature events and the frequency and duration of drought will increase toward 2050, leading to increased salinisation of inland waters, aggravated by catchment erosion and human activities (e.g., crop irrigation). With salinisation, a decline in biodiversity is expected, with potential negative effects on food web structure and ecosystem dynamics. Our objective was to assess the changes in community and food web structure in 24 lakes along a wide salinity gradient (i.e., subsaline to hypersaline) in a semiarid region in northwest China. Fish, zooplankton, and macroinvertebrate communities were sampled for taxonomic determination, size structure, and stable isotope analysis (SIA; δ13C and δ15N). Based on SIA, we calculated the Layman metrics: nitrogen range, carbon range, total area, standard ellipses area, and the trophic position, for each community and for the entire food web. We found a reduced number of taxa of all analysed communities, and the complexity of the entire food web decreased in most saline lakes. In addition, the trophic diversity and trophic position declined, less so in the larger lakes, but these effects were not significant when studying the community food webs separately. Our results suggest that increasing salinisation with ongoing climate warming will have negative effects on lake ecosystems in arid and semiarid regions, emphasising the need to implement management measures at the watershed level to prevent or mitigate future changes in food web structure and biodiversity due to salinisation.


There are several ways to represent 3D scene information. One popular way is based on N-view plus N-depth representation. In applications based on this representation, efficient compression of both view and depth is important. In this paper, we present a depth coding method that uses depth downsampling and a novel depth upsample filter that uses the color view in the depth upsampling. Our method of depth down- and up-sampling is able to reconstruct clear object boundaries in the upsampled depth maps, and, therefore, we can obtain a better coding efficiency. Our experimental results show that the proposed depth resampling filter, used in combination with a standard state-of-the-art video encoder, can increase both the coding efficiency and rendering quality, particularly at lower bit rates.


This study draws on a feminist perspective on time and space, or a feminist time and space literacy, in order to better understand the times and spaces in distance learning. I seek to respond to some of the key gaps in the literature by considering the multiplicity of times and spaces in distance learning, and the underpinning power relations, within respondents' stories of being a distance learner. This research makes a substantial contribution to the research on time, space and distance learning. This is not only in terms of bringing a feminist time and space literacy to the area of distance learning but, by doing so in conjunction with data collected over time and space, it also adds many new layers to the stories about the multiplicity of times and spaces in distance learners' lives, and the ways in which gendered and other power relations shape these. Moreover, this study has contributed to the wider body of feminist knowledge in seeking to explore a multiplicity of times and spaces in women and men's lives- as opposed to a binary of women's time and space and men's time and space - and in seeking to focus on time and space simultaneously.


In many applications of deep learning, particularly those in image restoration, it is either very difficult, prohibitively expensive, or outright impossible to obtain paired training data precisely as in the real world. In such cases, one is forced to use synthesized paired data to train the deep convolutional neural network (DCNN). However, due to the unavoidable generalization error in statistical learning, the synthetically trained DCNN often performs poorly on real world data. To overcome this problem, we propose a new general training method that can compensate for, to a large extent, the generalization errors of synthetically trained DCNNs.


The most important enzyme immunoassay techniques are described. The enzymes currently used as labels, the methods of coupling them to antigens or haptens and the possible applications of these assays are reviewed. Furthermore, an overview is given of the reliability and practicability of commercially available enzyme immunoassay kits used in clinical chemical laboratories. Special consideration is given to possible interferences, the detection limits and the mechanization of these tests. Various methods for curve-fitting are listed. It is concluded that most of the currently commercially available enzyme immunoassays are suitable for routine application in appropriate centers like clinical chemical laboratories of larger hospitals. The future role of enzyme immunoassays in clinical chemistry is briefly discussed.


There is tremendous concern about the potential harmful effects of cell phone microwaves. The results are contradictory. However, the effects of these waves on the body have been reported. In this study, the effect of cellular microwaves on sperm parameters and total antioxidant capacity in relation to the duration of exposure and frequency of these waves were studied. This experimental study was conducted on male Sprague Dawley rats (150-200 g). The animals were randomly assigned to three groups (n = 18). Group 1 Natural control rat were fed to standard laboratory feeding Animals for 14 days. Group 2 animals were exposed to cell phone receiver stimulated waves (915 MHz frequency) for 14 days, and Group 3 animals were exposed to simulated waves of a cell phone antenna (950 MHz frequency) for 14 days. The results indicated that the total antioxidant capacity in all exposure groups decreased significantly compared with the control group (P <0.05). Increased exposure time within two weeks caused a statistically significant decrease in sperm motility and mobility (P <0.05).Effect of phone waves on liver and kidney of male Sprague Dawley rat. The study of pathological anatomy revealed a clear and appropriate deviation. These results found blood enzymes such as amino-aspartase transferase (AST), amino amines (ALT), and creatinine levels. The results showed no significant changes in both liver and kidney physiological functions. Malondialdehyde level (MDA) and total antioxidant contents were performed. The level of glutathione (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD) was in normal ranges. Exposure to cell phone waves can reduce sperm movement and mobility in rats. These waves can also reduce the total antioxidant capacity in rats and lead to oxidative stress.


Drugs that have a good intracellular passage are used in the treatment of brucellosis. According to our knowledge, there is no report in English about rifabutin usage in brucellosis. We present a case that developed intolerance to many anti-brucella drugs, who was then successfully treated with a combination of rifabutin, ofloxacin, and ceftriaxone.


Previously derived Faraday rotation constraints on the volume-filling intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) have used analytic models that made a range of simplifying assumptions about magnetic field evolution in the intergalactic medium and did not consider the effect of baryonic feedback on large-scale structures. In this work we revise existing Faraday rotation constraints on the IGMF using a numerical model of the intergalactic medium from the IllustrisTNG cosmological simulation that includes a sophisticated model of the baryonic feedback. We use the IllustrisTNG model to calculate the rotation measure and compare the resulting mean and median of the absolute value of the rotation measure with data from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS). The numerical model of the intergalactic medium includes a full magneto-hydrodynamic model of the compressed primordial magnetic field as well as a model of the regions where the magnetic field is not primordial, but is rather produced by the process of baryonic feedback. Separating these two types of regions, we are able to assess the influence of the primordial magnetic field on the Faraday rotation signal. We find that by correcting for regions of compressed primordial field and accounting for the fact that part of the intergalactic medium is occupied by magnetic fields spread by baryonic feedback processes rather than by the primordial field relaxes the Faraday rotation bound by a factor of ≃ 3. This results in B0 < 1.8 × 10−9 G for large correlation length IGMFs.


For the problem of horizontal convection the Nusselt number based on entropy production is bounded from above by $C\,Ra^{1/3}$ as the horizontal convective Rayleigh number $Ra\rightarrow \infty$ for some constant $C$ (Siggers et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 517, 2004, pp. 55–70). We re-examine the variational arguments leading to this 'ultimate regime' by using the Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin method to solve the variational problem in the $Ra\rightarrow \infty$ limit and exhibiting solutions that achieve the ultimate $Ra^{1/3}$ scaling. As expected, the optimizing flows have a boundary layer of thickness ${\sim}Ra^{-1/3}$ pressed against the non-uniformly heated surface; but the variational solutions also have rapid oscillatory variation with wavelength ${\sim}Ra^{-1/3}$ along the wall. As a result of the exact solution of the variational problem, the constant $C$ is smaller than the previous estimate by a factor of $2.5$ for no-slip and $1.6$ for no-stress boundary conditions. This modest reduction in $C$ indicates that the inequalities used by Siggers et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 517, 2004, pp. 55–70) are surprisingly accurate.


This paper is based on Nonaka's knowledge evolution and innovation SECI model, combining with other scholars' knowledge evolution model in supply chain. The authors think the knowledge evolution has three dimensions. Moreover, different from the one-way logistic and financial flow in traditional supply chain enterprises, knowledge flow is bi-directional. And according it, the bi-directional knowledge evolution and innovation model in supply chain model is established in this paper.


SZ117 is a monoclonal antibody against matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and exhibits anti-tumor angiogenic effect. In this study, we observed that SZ117 bound to a 280 kDa protein, which was detected in tumor cell-derived Matrigel and various tumor cells. Using immunoprecipitation, mass spectrometry analysis, and Western blot analysis, we identified the 280 kDa protein as filamin A and found that filamin A and its degraded products, notably a 53 kDa fragment, were released from a variety of tumor cells. This suggests that SZ117 is useful in the study of the pathogenesis of filamin A and that blockage of filamin A by SZ117 might contribute to the anti-tumor angiogenic effect of the monoclonal antibody.


ABSTRACT A new method for the rapid and sensitive detection of Legionella pneumophila in hot water systems has been developed. The method is based on an IF assay combined with detection by solid-phase cytometry. This method allowed the enumeration of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 and L. pneumophila serogroups 2 to 6, 8 to 10, and 12 to 15 in tap water samples within 3 to 4 h. The sensitivity of the method was between 10 and 100 bacteria per liter and was principally limited by the filtration capacity of membranes. The specificity of the antibody was evaluated against 15 non-Legionella strains, and no cross-reactivity was observed. When the method was applied to natural waters, direct counts of L. pneumophila were compared with the number of CFU obtained by the standard culture method. Direct counts were always higher than culturable counts, and the ratio between the two methods ranged from 1.4 to 325. Solid-phase cytometry offers a fast and sensitive alternative to the culture method for L. pneumophila screening in hot water systems.


In this paper, we consider a version of the inverse problem for a homogeneous, cubically anisotropic, elastic half space. Such a medium is characterized by four constants, and our goal is to study the properties of the mapping which associates to these constants the normal component, but not the transverse components, of a corresponding point source response. This may be viewed as the first stage in a 'layer stripping' approach to the inverse problem when the four parameters are allowed to be depth dependent.


Understanding the spatiotemporal trend of land cover (LC) change and its impact on humans and the environment is essential for decision making and ecosystem conservation. Land degradation generally accelerates overland flow, reducing soil moisture and base flow recharge, and increasing sediment erosion and transport, thereby affecting the entire basin hydrology. In this study, we analyzed watershed-scale processes in the study area, where agriculture and natural shrub land are the dominant LCs. The objective of this study was to assess the time series and spatial patterns of LCC using remotely-sensed data from 1973 to 2018, for which we used six snapshots of satellite images. The LC distribution in relation to watershed characteristics such as topography and soils was also evaluated. For LCC detection analysis, we used Landsat datasets accessed from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) archive, which were processed using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. Using these data, four major LC types were identified. The findings of an LC with an overall accuracy above 90% indicates that the area experienced an increase in agricultural LC at the expense of other LC types such as bushland, grazing land, and mixed forest, which attests to the semi-continuous nature of deforestation between 1973 and 2018. In 1973, agricultural land covered only 10% of the watershed, which later expanded to 48.4% in 2018. Bush, forest, and grazing land types, which accounted for 59.7%, 16.7%, and 13.5% of the watershed in 1973, were reduced to 45.2%, 2.3%, and 4.1%, respectively in 2018. As a result, portions of land areas, which had once been covered by pasture, bush, and forest in 1973, were identified as mixed agricultural systems in 2018. Moreover, spatial variability and distribution in LCC is significantly affected by soil type, fertility, and slope. The findings showed the need to reconsider land-use decision tradeoffs between social, economic, and environmental demands.


A study of band gap surface states of silicon in a MOSFET using surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) is presented. The metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure inside the MOSFET was utilized in the measurements. Surface state energy positions, as well as surface state parameters that govern the charging and discharging of surface states, were determined from the surface photovoltage spectra and surface photovoltage transient plots respectively.


This article reviews the major features of the transputer, highlighting aspects of parallelism that are useful for prototyping (used in the sense of simulation and 'breadboarding'). From the simulation point of view the parallelism allowed in occam can be exploited with advantage, and the resulting model can be run with efficient execution. Recent experience in the simulation of a very long instruction word computer is reported. If occam and the transputer are to be effective in breadboarding systems then it must be easy to•verify against requirements expressed in different ways•develop, in particular easy to read, debug, update and analyse•interface, particularly to signal channels•map to a permanent implementation.The article discusses how the transputer performs against these requirements and includes recent experience in interfacing and implementation mapping, and concludes that the transputer is an excellent tool for prototyping.


Functional law and economics, which draws its influence from the public choice school of economic thought, stands in stark contrast to both the Chicago and Yale schools of law and economics. While the Chicago school emphasizes the inherent efficiency of legal rules, and the Yale school views law as a solution to market failure and distributional inequality, functional law and economics recognizes the possibility for both market and legal failure. That is, while there are economic forces that lead to failures in the market, there are also structural forces that limit the law's ability to remedy those failures on an issue by issue basis. The functional approach then uses economic tools to analyze market and legal behavior in order to create metarules which limit the extent of the failures in each realm. These meta-rules are designed to induce individuals to reveal their preferences in cases where collective choices are necessary and to internalize the effects of their actions generally. This mechanism design or functional approach to law and economics focuses on ex ante social welfare maximization, rejecting both the ex post corrective function of law assumed by the Yale school of thought and the naturally evolving efficient system view espoused by the Chicago School. This ex ante perspective on the law evokes many interesting parallels with the internalized moral code presented in the Judeo-Christian tradition. * Jonathan Klick is Assistant Professor, Florida State University College of Law and Associate Director, Liability Project, The American Enterprise Institute. Francesco Parisi is Professor of Law and Director, Law and Economics Program, George Mason University School of Law. Wealth, Utility, and the Human Dimension 591 Vol. 1 NYU Journal of Law & Liberty No.


OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: To evaluate the extent to which the curriculum delivered via an innovative program, the Early Scholars Certificate in Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) at the University of Iowa (UI), develops a translational science workforce pipeline by increasing awareness of and interest in translational science as a career goal for highly prepared undergraduates. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The CCTS's objective is to increase the awareness of the philosophy and tools of translational science and to incorporate critical evaluation and self-appraisal of the translational aspects of a scholar's own research. CCTS is a 16-semester-hour (sh) academic certificate program introducing translational science concepts and careers to undergraduate students. The CCTS is a selective program with requirements including a minimum GPA, minimum sh completed, completion of course prerequisites, and already engaged and supported by mentored research. The curriculum includes electives in the area of their research interests (6 sh); graduate level Epidemiology (3 sh); Biostatistics (3 sh); and 2 core Translational Research courses (4 sh total). The first core course, an Introduction to Translational Research, is a survey course providing students the opportunity to learn how translational research is conceived and developed. It is designed to instruct the student how to interpret their research in a translational T1 to T4 paradigm. The program's capstone course, Practicum in Translational Research, provides undergraduate students the opportunity to address how their research experience translates into clinical practice. Student's spend the majority of this course's contact hours in a shadowing experience with a clinician in the area of their research. Students reflect on this shadowing experience and its relevance to their academic and professional goals. The students also spend time developing skills in peer review—not only learning to provide constructive feedback to other research professionals, but also how to receive and integrate the feedback. The course includes a mock research fair where both UI faculty and classmates provide feedback that is later integrated into their capstone projects—a poster presentation at the UI Carver College of Medicine Research Fair as well as a final translational paper. As part of the ongoing evaluation of the program and graduates, we examined the participant data, the course satisfaction with content, the change in understanding of translational science, and the intention to incorporate translational science into research and career goals. We also conducted course evaluation surveys and qualitative analysis of a focus group and interviews. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Since 2015, the CCTS program has introduced translational science curriculum to 20 undergraduate participants (men/woman 40%/60%; 5% Hispanic or Latino; 15% Center for Diversity and Enrichment Eligible). Areas of academic interest include: biology, genetics, engineering, bioinformatics, biochemistry, neuroscience, psychology, and microbiology. Graduates of the Certificate and degree program to date (n=8) have gone onto: Fullbright awards (1), medical school/Masters in public health (1), combined MD/PhD programs (2), biomedical PhD program (1), or currently work in translational science positions in industry (2). In questionnaire and focus group results, we found that in general, students reported increased understanding of the translational spectrum and felt the certificate program helped them clarify their educational or career goals. Data from both the focus group and the questionnaire demonstrate that students are strongly positive about the program in general, including its quality, faculty and guest speakers, structure, goals, opportunities, personality, and personnel. All students highly valued many elements of the program and each course, and particularly the opportunity for clinical shadowing. Among the questionnaire findings for 2016–17, all students (100%) rated program quality "excellent," and 7 of 8 (87.5%) "strongly agreed" that they better understood translational science, that they saw themselves continuing in translational science research after graduation, and they were better able to communicate how their lab research fits within the translational spectrum. In each case 1 of 8 "agreed." Participants also generally felt that their career goals had been affirmed or realigned, and that they were better able to communicate the meaning of translational science to multiple audiences. Responses on changes to career aspirations and plans were mixed, and are ambiguous. Questionnaire Item 4, "My UI curricular and/or co-curricular plans changed as a result of the CCTS program," which had mixed responses, asked specifically about the CCTS program as a reason for change, but it is not clear if, whether, or how the program specifically wants to change curricular plans. In the focus group, students reported using their individual shadowing and lab experience in determining preferences and intentions about future career choices (e.g., whether or not to apply to medical school and/or pursue basic science research). Participants perceived the shadowing experience, complementing or contrasting their lab research, as particularly relevant in deciding about their future careers. Other themes that emerged from the focus group and/or open section of the questionnaire demonstrate the impact of various course elements on participants' understanding of translational science and potential careers, including: quality of instruction, program and course content (including guest speakers, the shadowing experience, and the poster development process); the exposure to a range of possibilities along the translational spectrum and the expansion of ideas about what research could look like; the value of connections (to faculty, researchers and clinicians, and other CCTS students and alumni); the attributes of the cohort; and the "personality" of the program and personnel. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Developing a pipeline for translational science workforce development has been problematic because a lack of the understanding of the need of translational research and a structuring a time efficient program for early career clinical and basic scholars. Undergraduates making critical decisions about educational paths and career goals and plans may not be aware of opportunities in translational science or the type of choices they need to make to prepare for such opportunities. Our data demonstrates that CCTS was an effective way of introducing translational science concepts and career paths to undergraduate students and potentially a powerful way to encourage them to consider these career paths. Participants in our program improved their knowledge of the field and expressed interest and intention to incorporate translational science training into their career plans. However, improvements can be made in the CCTS program. Additionally, CTSAs should consider ways to incorporate findings like these into a wider sphere of training to help develop and strengthen a translational science workforce for the future. The exposure to a variety of translational science career possibilities and specialties was important to students. Based on both focus group discussion and questionnaire data, a few students did expand slightly their sense of career possibilities, but the larger benefit may be their concrete experiences that validate or solidify their interests, making them more skilled at talking about and supporting their career goals on applications and in interviews. Shadowing did not always encourage students to go into clinical medicine, but often solidified interests or leanings students already had, giving them a more grounded basis for refining their decisions. For some students, shadowing a clinician confirmed ideas of being a physician; for others, it steered them away from it. Some now found ethical challenges, bureaucracy, or emotional challenges daunting or newly necessary to consider before focusing on clinical careers. This may be just what students need at this point, and emphasizes for them the relation between different kinds of research and application within translational science. Our evaluation suggests that CCTS contributes to academic choices for career development and additionally can help attract highly skilled students into TS research, including students of color. Future work to evaluate CCTS impact on graduates' career outcomes will inform the translational research direction and content. In terms of program design, it could be useful to build in multiple opportunities for students to understand the diversity of translational science careers and provide students more exposure to different possibilities in clinical and translational work.


CLICK BAIT 'Click bait' is the derogatory term used to decry a flashy headline that encourages web users to click and read further. A typical example of this is 'Drug reverses memory deficits following traumatic brain injury' omitting the essential caveat. . . 'in mice'. This report, however, has the potential for major therapeutic consequences. The integrated stress response (ISR) is a universal intracellular signalling pathway that responds to cellular conditions and regulates protein translation via phosphorylation of the translation initiation factor— eIF2a. In a murine model, suppression of the ISR with a drug-like small-molecule inhibitor produced beneficial and sustained cognitive benefits, even if it was given 2weeks following injury. They show data to support their hypothesis that this is through restoration of long-term potentiation in the hippocampus.


Swing-by techniques are extensively used in interplanetary missions to minimize fuel consumption and to raise payloads of spacecrafts. The effectiveness of this type of maneuver has been proven since the beginning of space exploration. According to this premise, we have explored the existence of a natural and direct link between low Earth orbits and the lunar sphere of influence to get low-energy transfer trajectories to the Near Earth Objects (NEOs) 99942 Apophis, 1994 WR12, and 2007 UW1 through swing-bys with the Moon. The existence of this link is related to a family of retrograde periodic orbits around the Lagrangian equilibrium point L1 predicted for the circular, planar, restricted three-body Earth-Moon-particle problem. The trajectories in this link are sensitive to small disturbances. This enables them to be conveniently diverted reducing so the cost of the swing-by maneuver. These maneuvers allow a gain in energy sufficient for the trajectories to escape from the Earth-Moon system and to stabilize in heliocentric orbits between the Earth and Venus or Earth and Mars. Therefore, the trajectories have sufficient reach to intercept the NEOs' orbits.


Whereas straight liquid-core optical fibers have the capability of transporting linearly polarized light with any incident polarization angle,bent fibers exhibit form birefringence with the principal axes fixed to the plane of curvature. The effect of this curvature-dependent birefringence can be compensated by either periodically altering the plane of curvature by 90 degrees or winding the fiber into a helix.


Background: Bacteriocins are small peptides which are ribosomally synthesized and have been shown to have wide range of antimicrobial activity. The aim of this study was to optimize the production of L. paracasei MG847589 bacteriocin. Furthermore, the potential antibacterial properties of the novel bacteriocins were characterized and evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus.
Methods: The present study optimized the growth media constituents of Lactobacillus paracasei MG847589 to improve bacteriocin yield by applying One-Factor-at-a-Time (OFAT) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) methods.
Results: At OFAT, two-fold activity increased against Staphylococcus aureus in the presence of whey (22.5 g/L) as nitrogen source and sucrose (30 g/L) as carbon source. RSM tool was performed with media compounds using design expert 188.8.131.52. Whey (22.5 g/L), sucrose (30 g/L), temperature (30 ºC), and pH (6.5) condition yielded 25,600 AU/ml of bacteriocin against S. aureus. Bacteriocin was stable at pH range of 2.0 to 8.0 for one h and at 60 ºC for 15 min. The produced antimicrobial peptide is a novel bacteriocin with molecular mass of 2,611.122 Da.
Conclusion: Bacteriocin of L. paracasei MG847589 isolated from traditional Egyptian cheese (Kareish) showed great antimicrobial activity and could be applied as food preservative in food manufacturing.


A bstract Research of this class action of background by lack of result and creativity learn student in study of mathematics. Target of this research is to depict result and creativity learn class student of IV in study mathematics by using approach of Open-Ended Learning in SDN 27 Rawang Sub-Province coastal area of south. This research is Research of Action Class which consist of 2 cycle. Subjek of this research is class studentof IV SDN 27 Rawang Sub-Province coastal area of south amounting to 23 people. This research instrument is teacher activity observation sheet, student creativity observation sheet and sheet of tes result of learning student. Creativity learn natural student is make-up of from cycle of I equal to 61,91% becoming 77,99% at cycle of II so that there are mounting 18,08%.  Result learn class student of IV at study of natiral mathematichs is make-up of from cycle of I 39,13% becoming 78,26% at cycle of II by using approach of Open-Ended Learning in SDN 27 Rwang Sub-Province coastal area of south. Pursuant to result of this research, inferential that with approach of Open-Ended Learning can improve result and creativity learn student mathematics. Researcher suggest that approach of this Open-Ended Learning can be made by alternative to increase result and creativity learn student in elementary school. Keywords: Creativity, result of learning, approach of Open-Ended Learning.


Radioactively labelled cRNA for the rat AVP gene exon C was synthetized from a pSP64-vector and used for solution hybridization measurement of AVP mRNA ("SP6 test"). For comparison hybridization was carried out with a gel-purified radioactively labelled cDNA probe synthetized by primer extension of AVP gene exon C cloned into an M13mp9 phage vector DNA ("S1 test"). Both tests had a comparable sensitivity of up to 0.2 pg AVP mRNA. Under optimal hybridization conditions kinetics were similar in both tests. The fast and easy preparation of large amounts of labelled cRNA probe and simple determination of absolute amounts of mRNA by saturation kinetics without need of a mRNA standard makes the "SP6 test" an attractive alternative to the known "S1 test". The "SP6 test" should be applicable for a wide variety of genes.


The mineralogy and geochemistry of the fine and clay fractions oftill in different moraine types and in different bedrock areas innorthern Finland have been studied. A total of 250 till samples from 140test pits were studied mineralogically and geochemically. X-raydiffraction, differential thermal and thermogravimetric analyses,transmission electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence and atomicabsorption spectrometry were used as analytical methods. In the clay fraction of till quartz, plagioclase, microcline andamphibole are the primary minerals occurring. The clay minerals properinclude vermiculite, chlorite, illite, swelling-lattice vermiculite andmixed-layer clay minerals. Kaolinite occurs most abundantly in the clayfractions of till in the Kittilä, Jerisjärvi, Kaaresuvanto and Puljuareas. In the clay fraction of Kittilä and Jerisjärvi illite isdioctahedral type, but in their of other study areas both diandtrioctahedral types occur. Kaolinite and dioctahedral illite areevidence of the mixing of the weathered bedrock material into the tillmatrix. In the fine fraction of till most abundant minerals are primaryminerals and clayminerals are in a minor role. In the clay fraction of till the content of primary minerals areat higher and secondary minerals are at lower level in the Granitic andArchaean gneiss areas than in the Greenstone Belt, Svecokarelian schistsand gneiss and Granulite areas. Amphibole, microcline and plagioclaseoccur in very low amounts or are totally destroyed by chemicalweathering in the clay fraction of the till in the Kittilä area. Themineral composition of fine and clay fractions in the tills of northernInari gives an indication that there occur much more mafic volcanitesthan is known today. The mineralogical compositions of fine fraction ofthe tills correlates quite well with the underlying bedrock in all studyareas, but clay fraction does not. Geochemical results are in accordance with the mineralogicalcomposition of both fractions. In the fine fraction of the till Si, Caand Na contents are higher than in the clay fraction. Clay fraction isenriched in Al, Fe, Mg, K and trace elements as compared to the finefraction. Present study material points out that the distribution ofchemical elements in the clay fraction of the till does not correlatewith the composition of the underlying bedrock, but fine fraction doesso with a few exceptions. The chemical composition of till inKaaresuvanto and Inari does not fully correspond to the composition ofthe underlying bedrock as known today. In northern Inari and Kittilä theresults give an indication that there are more mafic volcanites and/orsulphide mineralizations occurring in these areas than is known at thepresent time. The most important factors controlling the mineralogical andgeochemical composition of the fine and clay fractions of the tills innorthern Finland are the composition of the bedrock and the possibleoccurrence of an old weathering crust. The final grain size compositionof the tills and consequently the quantitative proportions of thedifferent minerals are often related to the last glacial quarrying andsorting processes; therefore the mineralogical composition of the tillsis to a certain extent bound also to the respective moraine type.


The monocentric city framework is generalized to comprise a system of metros. A "representative" closed metro calibrates parameters and establishes a reservation utility and perimeter land price that must be matched by open metros. The open metros are assumed to have exogenous productivity below and above that in the representative metro. For a given level of productivity, transportation technology proves to be the most important quantitative determinant of population, land area, population density, and house prices across and within metros. Changes in highway capacity primarily affect these quantities while leaving commute speeds unchanged. Open metro land area asymptotes to a maximum at only moderately high relative productivity. Open metro land area and population fall to near zero at only moderately low relative productivity. Individuals with long commutes who are required to work a fixed number of hours have a marginal value of leisure time that is far above their wage. The framework yields a number of quantitative insights into how preferences, production technologies, and transportation technologies shape outcomes within and across metros.


Virtualization is the creation of components, such as hardware platform, operating system, storage, processing power, memory, or network resource, in virtual environments. The applications of virtualization are spreading rapidly and the critical systems are working on virtualization infrastructures. However; the effects of security vulnerabilities which may occur can also be high. In this study, security risks that may arise in virtualization systems, ways to avoid risks, and security configuration of a sample virtualization system have been examined. It is aimed to create security awareness to users and administrators of virtualization systems, to show how the steps of risk avoidance which can be implemented by examining a sample system.


Discrimination and victimization drive health disparities among sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals, yet little is known about the relative impacts of specific experience types on hazardous substance use. Using data from 704 SGM adults, we examined SGM-related discrimination vs. victimization and specific experiences as predictors of hazardous substance use. SGM-related victimization, not discrimination, predicted hazardous substance use, and SGM-related sexual assault and harassment predicted hazardous alcohol use, although only sexual assault predicted hazardous drug use. These findings implicate lifetime SGM-related victimization, and SGM-related sexual assault and harassment specifically, as key correlates of recent hazardous substance use among SGM adults.


Neoadjuvant chemotherapy can be used before radiotherapy to combat microscopic metastatic loci and to facilitate irradiation. Improvement in the survival time by impeding the dissemination of metastases seems to be real for breast cancer, but has not been observed to date in randomized studies of ENT cancers. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in Hodgkin's disease has improved survival time and tolerance to irradiation, allowing a lowering of the total doses used and the volumes irradiated. In breast and ENT cancers, it has become possible, due to tumor regression, to replace mutilating treatments with more conservative ones consisting of radiotherapy alone, without increasing the risk of local relapse. Indeed, it is in this domain that neoadjuvant chemotherapy is the most useful. Two important conditions must be met for its successful application: a) a sufficiently effective regimen must be chosen, in order to prevent tumor growth prior to irradiation (which would aggravate the prognosis); and b) an accurate identification and localization of the tumor before undertaking any treatment so as to not detract from the effectiveness of the radiotherapy.


The modulation, nitrogen fixation and nitrogen uptake of four pigeonpea genotypes belonging to extra short duration, short duration and long duration maturity groups grown on an Inceptisol were studied to examine why, despite the poor nodulation of pigeonpea in this soil, it still produces greater yields, than in Alfisols and Vertisols. The percentage nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (%Ndfa) was estimated by 15N natural abundance and N-difference methods using a long duration sorghum as the non-fixing reference crop. In general, nodulation of pigeonpea in the Inceptisol was much lower than that reported in Alfisols and Vertisols. The above-ground dry matter ringed from 3.1 to 17.1 t ha−1 while the N uptake ranged from 62.3 to 215 kg ha−1 The fallen plant parrs of pigeonpea genotypes ranged from 1.4 to 4.9 t ha−1 and their N contents ranged from 25 to 84 kg ha−1. The estimates of percentage Ndfa obtained by the two methods were different. Those obtained by the 15N natural abundance appeared more appropriate as the δ15N of sorghum harvested along with short duration pigeonpea and later when it was mature did not change significantly. The extra short duration pigeonpea genotype ICPL 84023 contained very little N from atmospheric N2, while the short duration pigeonpea cv. ICPL 151 had 17% Ndfa and the long duration genotypes. ICPL 366 and T7 had up to 36 % Ndfa. It can be concluded that one of the causes of high yields of pigeonpea on Inceptisols compared to Alfisols and Vertisols despite poor nodulation could be the high N supplying capacity of these Inceptisols. Strategies have been suggested as to how pigeonpea genotypes grown in Inceptisols could improve their nodulation and nitrogen fixation and thus better contribute to a sustainable agriculture.


Fashion and identity are deeply intertwined with one another and in situated performativity, entailing not only individuals but atmospheres and relations to others and the Other. Something drawn upon by fashion retail, perhaps most noticeably through mannequins (living or dolls). Comparatively, fashion museums can be argued to have difficulties evoking similar reactions and participation even though often ostensibly operating with the same tools.This can be argued to depend on a number of factors, including degrees of interactivity and directionality. While mannequin dolls are seldom directly for interaction, their incarnation in commercial space represent interactivity to commodities in, within, and through spaces around them, and they have a temporal as well as an ownership directionality that proposes identities and identification. The logic of the mannequin, as Vanessa Osborne names it, is dependent on this, as well as an abstracted or de-personalized character of the mannequins, requiring the viewer to participate through completion, often involving placing oneself in the mannequin's place.A situated experience rather than a person-object relation architecture, atmosphere, other mannequins, and other consumers participate. Thus the understanding of the mannequin can be said to be dependent on understanding its situatedness on a stage of multiple actors and actants where consumers complete the composition, much like Giovanna Stavroulaki and John Peponis observes the choreography of statues in Castlevecchio demands the visitor to complete their internal, configuratively staged narrative.By balancing the concrete and the abstract, providing enough information to trigger reading but not enough for stable interpretation, these situated presentations draw upon the viewer"s imagination, allowing and requiring completion. In this sense, the mannequins perform diagrammatic operations, as discussed by Gilles Châtelet, but ones situated in space as almost bodies, almost persons.The recent exhibition at the Dance Museum, Stockohlm, Koroly's Costume Drama, offered a unique opportunity to investigate this in-betweenness, as well as questions of situatedness, abstraction, expression, atmosphere, and various forms of interaction – from directly completing or participating in the staged drama to ignoring them altogether, to treating them "as is"; that is, as inanimate objects. As few other exhibitions it allowed touch and interaction, and the staging was elaborate, dramatic, and playful. It allowed questions of architectural staging, situation, identity, and the curious operations performed by the mannequin dolls to be investigated in hands on experiments, upon which this presentation elaborates, comparing to material on mannequins in commercial as well as traditional museum environments.


The research presented here has a double objective: comparing two undergraduate courses on research methods at Bar-Ilan University (BIU) in Israel, and examining students' attitudes toward the subject matter, as well as their attitudes toward incorporating online learning into the learning process. The subject matter in both courses—one in the School of Education and the other in the Department of Political Science—was almost identical. Each of the first two authors of this paper taught one of the courses. The pedagogical online model of the courses is different; while the education course is categorized as fully online with no required class meetings and the predetermined content occupies most of the course, the political science course uses the wrap-around model, combining class setting, online interaction and discussions with predetermined content. Students' attitudes were examined twice, at the beginning of the courses and at their end. Research findings reveal significant differences between the courses and between the two points in time. One possible explanation of these findings is based on processes of instructor-students interaction.


With the increasing reliance on intensive arable agriculture, analysis of the problems associated with continuous cropping has become a global research focus. Here, high-throughput sequencing and non-targeted metabolomics were used to evaluate the responses of soil microbial community structure and soil metabolic function to continuous cucumber cultivation (from one to 18 years of continuous cultivation) in greenhouses. Continuous cucumber cropping resulted in increased soil nutrient concentrations but decreased concentrations of available nutrients. The abundance of several bacterial genera associated with nutrient cycling, such as Bacillus and Sphingomonas, was reduced by continuous cucumber cultivation. The abundance of several beneficial fungal genera, including pathogen antagonists (e.g. Chaetomium, Mortierella, Aspergillus, and Penicillium), were found to gradually decrease in response to the increased duration of continuous cropping. 3-amino-2-naphthoic acid and L-valine increased initially and then decreased as the cropping continued, which were related to fatty acid metabolism and amino acid biosynthesis. We also confirmed a close association between microbial community structure and soil metabolites. This study linked the changes in microbial community structure and metabolites in the rhizosphere soil and provided new insights into soil-microbial interactions in continuous cucumber culture systems.


With the prevalence of graphs for modeling complex relationships among objects, the topic of graph mining has attracted a great deal of attention from both academic and industrial communities in recent years. As one of the most fundamental problems in graph mining, the densest subgraph discovery (DSD) problem has found a wide spectrum of real applications, such as discovery of filter bubbles in social media, finding groups of actors propagating misinformation in social media, social network community detection, graph index construction, regulatory motif discovery in DNA, fake follower detection, and so on. Theoretically, DSD closely relates to other fundamental graph problems, such as network flow and bipartite matching. Triggered by these applications and connections, DSD has garnered much attention from the database, data mining, theory, and network communities. In this survey, we first highlight the importance of DSD in various real-world applications and the unique challenges that need to be addressed. Subsequently, we classify existing DSD solutions into several groups, which cover around 50 research papers published in many well-known venues (e.g., SIGMOD, PVLDB, TODS, WWW), and conduct a thorough review of these solutions in each group. Afterwards, we analyze and compare the models and solutions in these works. Finally, we point out a list of promising future research directions. It is our hope that this survey not only helps researchers have a better understanding of existing densest subgraph models and solutions, but also provides insights and identifies directions for future study.


Cosmic ray induced ionization (CRII) is an important factor of outer space influences on atmospheric properties. Variations of CRII are caused by two different processes – solar activity variations, which modulate the cosmic ray flux in interplanetary space, and changes of the geomagnetic field, which affects the cosmic ray access to Earth. Migration of the geomagnetic dipole axis may greatly alter CRII in some regions on a time scale of centuries and longer. Here we present a study of CRII regional effects of the geomagnetic field changes during the last millennium for two regions: Europe and the Far East. We show that regional effects of the migration of the geomagnetic dipole axis may overcome global changes due to solar activity variations.


Important effects of noise on a one-dimensional gene expression model involving a single gene have recently been discussed. However, few works have been devoted to the transition in two-dimensional models which include the interaction of genes. Therefore, we investigate here, a quantitativetwo-dimensionalmodel (MeKS network) of gene expression dynamics describing the competence development in the B. subtilis under the influence of L´evy as well as Brownian motions, where noises can do the B. subtilis a favor in nutrient depletion. To analyze the transitions between the vegetative and the competence regions therein, two deterministic quantities, the mean first exit time (MFET) and the first escape probability (FEP) from a microscopic perspective, as well as their averaged versions from a macroscopic perspective, are applied. The relative contribution factor (RCF), the ratio of non-Gaussian and Gaussian noise strengths, is adopted to implement optimal control in these transitions. Schematic representations indicate that there exists an optimum choice that makes the transition occurring at the highest probability. Additionally, we use a geometric concept, the stochastic basin of attraction, to exhibit a pictorial comprehension about the influence of the L´evy motion on the basin stability of the competence state.


Seaside is the open source framework of choice for developing sophisticated and dynamic web applications. Seaside uses the power of objects to master the web. With Seaside web applications is as simple as building desktop applications. Seaside lets you build highly dynamic and interactive web applications. Seaside supports agile development through interactive debugging and unit testing. Seaside is based on Smalltalk, a proven and robust language implemented by different vendors. Seaside is now available for all the major Smalltalk including Pharo, Squeak, GNU Smalltalk, Cincom Smalltalk, GemStone Smalltalk, and VA Smalltalk.


In this paper I will overview the classes of methods employed to measure the dielectric properties of solids and liquids and will discuss the criteria one should consider when selecting a measurement technique. The focus will be on those techniques useful for measuring the relative permittivity and loss tangent of dielectric materials, both liquid and solid, over a frequency range that covers 100 MHz to 1.1Thz.


A remarkable headline in the paper is that reading Immediate Danger of Natural Primary Infection Overemphasized." A series5 of 813 infected children is quoted of whom only 11 died of tuberculosis and 11 developed chronic disease (the italics are mine). In another series6 of 2,979 reactors 137 developed chronic tuberculosis. Thus among 3,810 reactor children 159 developed "the chronic reinfection (clinical) type of tuberculosis which causes so much illness and death." The 17 emphasize the 3,651 who had escaped illness so far, but if B.C.G. had been used before natural infection a still larger number of children would have escaped illness. It is relevant in this connexion to quote Miller et al.,' who examined the records of 313 children in Newcastle upon Tyne known to have been infected in the first two years of life. 150 were admitted to hospital ill and 62 were admitted during observation as contacts. The presenting illnesses in the 150 included tuberculous meningitis in 48 and pulmonary disease, including miliary tuberculosis, in 56. These were not the backlog of two decades ago. Professor J. A. Myers and his colleagues are highly to be commended for the steps they have taken to protect medical students and other hospital personnel from the occupational hazard of tuberculosis by introducing rigid contagious-disease technique where necessary, by patient-admission examination for tuberculosis, and pre-employment examinations of all personnel with subsequent periodic re-examination. There is a lesson here for those in charge of British medical schools and hospitals. J. D. Aronson's now classical trial of B.C.G. vaccination in North American Indians' is dismissed because the diagnosis of tuberculosis was made too much on radiological evidence. It is not mentioned that 65 of 1,457 controls died of tuberculosis in the period of observation compared with 12 of 1,551 vaccinated persons. The finding in the interim report of the Tuberculosis Vaccines Clinical Trials Committee of the Medical Research Council' is discounted also, this time because the physicians concerned may have failed to differentiate between tuberculosis and x-ray shadows. It is not mentioned that 68% of the persons in whom tuberculosis was diagnosed by the standards of the trial were sufficiently ill to be taken off wqrk for at least three months. This interim report covered two and a half years only, but further information has been made available by Hart et al." They report no waning of protection up to at least four years. Trhis added information does not appear to have reached the United States. The question of the possible mutation of B.C.G. towards increased virulence is discussed. The subject should be kept always under review. It is, however, well known that bacteriologists are more concerned with progressive attenuation of the strain and its consequent failure as a protective vaccine. The work of Petroff et al." in dissociating B.C.G. into harmless and pathogenic colonies is rightly mentioned, but there should also have been mention of the failure of many other investigators to repeat his experiments with the same result-viz., the emergence of a strain which invariably produced progressive tuberculosis in guinea-pigs.-I am, etc.,


This study addresses the design of riprap aprons as a scour countermeasure near abutments under clear-water conditions. It deals with the lateral extent of riprap aprons and the geometry of the scour hole prevailing at the apron edge. The study applies to riprap aprons acting as granular filters. The scour depth appears to be independent for a sufficiently long relative abutment length. Scour holes develop farther away from spill-through abutments than from vertical-wall abutments; the distance between the point of maximum scour depth and the abutment increases with the relative abutment length. The effect of contraction on this distance was not identified. The angle defining the position of the deepest scour point is close to 30°. Neither the abutment shape nor the flow contraction seems to influence the minimum stable apron width.


This paper describes security solutions for collecting and processing data in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Adequate security capabilities for medium and large scale WSNs are a hard but necessary goal to achieve to prepare these networks for the market. The paper includes an overview on security and reliability challenges for WSNs and introduces a toolbox concept to support such a framework.


Background : Meconium ileus (MI) is one of the common cause of intestinal obstruction in neonate. It can be present with various complications (about 50%) like volvulus, atresia, and gangrene of the gut, perforation and meconium cyst.
Objective : This study aimed to compare various surgical procedures used in the treatment of meconium ileus and to assess their efficacy regarding survival and complications in our center.
Methods : This retrospective study was done to all cases of meconium ileus admitted in the Department of neonatal surgery of Dhaka Shishu (Children) Hospital during the past 5 years (2011 to2016). The medical records of all patients with meconium ileus were studied. The surgical procedures were Mikulicz procedure, Bishop-Koop procedure done in case of complicated cases and Mikulicz procedure, Bishop-Koop and T tube ileostomy done in uncomplicated cases. Outcomes were compared between complicated and uncomplicated group and between the surgical procedures.
Results : Total patients were 224. Among them 8 were excluded due to incomplete data. The mean age was 3.23 days. Twenty four neonates were preterm. Fifty-two percent were uncomplicatedMI and 48.15% were complicated. Among 112 uncomplicated cases, Mikulicz procedure done in 33 cases, Bishop-Koop procedure done in 37 cases and rest were treated by T tube ileostomy procedures. Among 104 cases of complicated meconium ileus, Mikulicz procedure done in 75 cases and 42 cases were treated by Bishop-Koop stoma. Predominant complications in Mikulicz procedures were high output fistula (67.6%), sepsis (34.84%) and skin excoriation (58.33%), while in Bishop-Koop procedure were sepsis (59.25%), anastomotic leak and reoperation (25.75%). In T tube ileostomy, complications were intra-peritoneal leak with reoperation and sepsis (9.52%). Twenty five (11.6%) stoma prolapse were found in Mikulicz ileostomy. The overall mortality of meconium ileus was 36.6%, in simple MI 23 out of 112 and in complicated MI 56 out of 104. This difference was significant.
Conclusion : Considering the study result we concluded that complications occur more frequently in Mikulicz procedure and it is significantly associated with mortality, Bishop- Koop ileostomy can be considered but anastomotic leak is still an important complication of this procedure. In uncomplicated cases T tube ileostomy found as the best option.
Northern International Medical College Journal Vol.10(1) Jul 2018: 326-329


Antennas are normally characterised in terms of their far field radiation patterns, directive gain and aperture efficiency. The paper describes how to characterise antennas that are focused in the near field, in terms of a focusing gain and a focusing efficiency. The paper also presents an algorithm from which the location of the near-field focus can be calculated directly from the aperture field of the antenna. The definitions and the algorithm are applied to an extensive numerical study of focusing of the beam of the Arecibo tri-reflector system at low altitudes. The focusing is obtained by displacing the feed, or the tertiary reflector, or both at the same time. Finally, an approximate formula is presented, from which results can be calculated easily at other frequencies and altitudes than those being computed.