Rationale: Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways. The airway epithelium is a major source of inflammatory mediators. The transcription factor NF-kB drives inflammation by recruitment of transcriptional cofactors such as the bromodomain-containing protein Brd4. Brd4 binds acetylated lysine residues and links NF-kB activation with inflammatory gene expression and may represent a novel anti-inflammatory target. Aim: To determine whether human bronchial epithelium (HBE) cells from asthmatics have a greater inflammatory gene expression than from healthy subjects and if this is due to enhanced Brd4 and p65 interaction and binding inflammatory genes. Methods: Primary asthmatic and normal HBE cells were treated with JQ1 (200nM), a Brd4 inhibitor, or AS602868 (10µM), an NF-kB inhibitor. After IL-1β (1nM) stimulation the production of CXCL8, IL-6 and GM-CSF was measured. Co-immunoprecipitation was performed for p65 and Brd4 association. Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis of p65 and Brd4 binding to inflammatory gene promoters was performed in the presence of JQ1 and IL-1β. Results: Inflammatory gene expression was higher in asthmatic HBEs. NF-kB and Brd4 inhibition attenuated inflammatory gene and protein production in all HBEs. The association between Brd4 and p65 was similar in asthmatic and normal HBEs and unaffected by IL-1β stimulation. ChIP shows that JQ1 reduced p65 and Brd4 binding to IL8, IL6 and CSF2 promoters. Conclusion: Asthmatic HBE cells produce more inflammatory mediators than cells from healthy subjects that are not due to increased Brd4-NF-kB binding. Inhibiting Brd4 may prevent asthmatic inflammation.


A 70-year-old farmer was found dead in front of a barn. The emergency doctor did not note any significant findings at the external examination of the body. When the corpse was picked up by the undertaker, he noticed facial injuries. Several domestic cats were strolling around the barn at this time. External examination by a forensic pathologist revealed both sharp and crenated wound margins around the removed ear with punctured stabs adjacent to the mutilation. Further small perforating but not mutilating skin lesions were found also on other parts of the face. Given the typical morphology of the skin lesions and the observation of cats at the death scene, it is concluded that the injuries were inflicted by at least one domestic cat. In the forensic literature, reports on depredation of human corpses by cats are rare. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of outdoor cat depredation in the early postmortem interval. The case shows that domestic cats feed on human corpse even if other food is available.


Different differentiation strategies was applied by different competitors at Chinese asymmetric technical background. For the upper-side multinational enterprises to apply a vertical horizontal differentiation are good choice for keeping in leadership state in technical; while for the lower-side domestic competitors horizontal differentiation strategy can not only reduce consumer's attention to vertical difference, but also reduce the price competition pressure from other domestic counterparts. Horizontal differentiation strategy is also an outlet for lower-side domestic competitors to step out the dilemma in relatively technical progress. But on the other hand horizontal differentiation strategy can not eliminate competition intensity completely. Too much differentiation in a market may also increase the possibility of competitors dropping out.


This paper present Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) controller for solving partial shading problems in photovoltaic (PV) systems. It is well-known that partial shading is often encountered in PV system issue with many consequences. In this research, PV array is connected using TCT (total cross-tied) configuration including sensors to measure voltage and currents. The sensors provide inputs for MPPT controller in order to achieve optimum output power. The Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) is utilized in this paper as the controller methods. Then, the output of MPPT controller is the optimum power duty cycle (α) to drive the performance DC-DC converter. The simulation shows that the proposed MPPT controller can provide PV voltage (VMPP) nearly to the maximum power point voltage. The accuracy of our proposed method is measured by performance index defined as Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). In addition, the main purpose of this work is to present a new method for detecting partial condition of photovoltaic TCT configuration using only 3 sensors. Thus, this method can streamline the time and reduce operating costs.


The objectives of this study were to propose behavioral-based definitions for the adjectives used in an observer rating method, and to use this approach to characterize temperament over time in cattle kept under rotational stocking method. We also analyzed the feasibility of the rating method under commercial cattle farming conditions. We evaluated the temperament evolution of 1,979 pure and crossbred Nellore young bulls over time on three commercial farms located in Northeastern Para State, Brazil. All animals were kept under a rotational stocking method. The observer rating method included 14 behaviorally predefined adjectives for which we defined the minimum and maximum scores. The first factor was considered a qualitative temperament index (QTI) ranging from 'relaxed'/'calm'/'comfortable' to 'fearful'/'agitated'. According to the QTI, cattle temperament improved over time. For Farms A and B, QTI decreased over evaluations, and for Farm C, QTI did not differ from the first to the second evaluations, but decreased from the second assessment onwards. The observer rating method consisting of behaviorally pre-defined adjectives is an adequate indicator of cattle temperament that may be feasible under farm conditions. The method captures different aspects of cattle temperament and distinguishes between slight variations in cattle body language that successfully reveal temperament changes over time.


Molecular events leading to epithelial ovarian cancer are poorly understood but ovulatory hormones and a high number of life-time ovulations with concomitant proliferation, apoptosis, and inflammation, increases risk. We identified genes that are regulated during the estrous cycle in murine ovarian surface epithelium and analysed these profiles to identify genes dysregulated in human ovarian cancer, using publically available datasets. We identified 338 genes that are regulated in murine ovarian surface epithelium during the estrous cycle and dysregulated in ovarian cancer. Six of seven candidates selected for immunohistochemical validation were expressed in serous ovarian cancer, inclusion cysts, ovarian surface epithelium and in fallopian tube epithelium. Most were overexpressed in ovarian cancer compared with ovarian surface epithelium and/or inclusion cysts (EpCAM, EZH2, BIRC5) although BIRC5 and EZH2 were expressed as highly in fallopian tube epithelium as in ovarian cancer. We prioritised the 338 genes for those likely to be important for ovarian cancer development by in silico analyses of copy number aberration and mutation using publically available datasets and identified genes with established roles in ovarian cancer as well as novel genes for which we have evidence for involvement in ovarian cancer. Chromosome segregation emerged as an important process in which genes from our list of 338 were over-represented including two (BUB1, NCAPD2) for which there is evidence of amplification and mutation. NUAK2, upregulated in ovarian surface epithelium in proestrus and predicted to have a driver mutation in ovarian cancer, was examined in a larger cohort of serous ovarian cancer where patients with lower NUAK2 expression had shorter overall survival. In conclusion, defining genes that are activated in normal epithelium in the course of ovulation that are also dysregulated in cancer has identified a number of pathways and novel candidate genes that may contribute to the development of ovarian cancer.


In a Linux cluster, as in any multiprocessor system, the inter-processor communication rate is the major limiting factor to its general usefulness. This research is geared toward improving the communication performance by identifying where the inefficiencies lie and trying to understand their cause. The NetPIPE utility is being used to compare the latency and throughput of all current message-passing libraries and the native software layers they run upon for a variety of hardware configurations.


Over the course of the XVIIIth-XIXth centuries, in the Russian Academy of Sciences investigations were actively pursued into the physiology of the nervous system. These studies were published and widely discussed. A valuable contribution was made by D. Bernulli, P. A. Zagorskiĭ, G. F. Bidder, F. V. Ovsiannikov, I. M. Sechenov, I. R. Tarkhanov, N. E. Vvedenskiĭ, I. G. Orshanskiĭ and others.


Epithelial ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynecological malignancies worldwide with an incidence of 225000 cases annually. For most patients, multimodality treatment including cytoreductive surgery and combination chemotherapy is an accepted standard of care. Despite the relatively favorable response to initial treatment, relapse free survival and overall survival are disappointing in patients with advanced ovarian cancer. Therefore, new treatment approaches have been proposed in recent years. The present review aims to describe the most relevant data published during the last four years on new approach to advanced ovarian cancer. Therefore, relevant studies were searched through Pubmed, Cochrane library and Scopus database published online until 2019. The most important changes studied in recent years have included the addition of new chemotherapy or targeted agent to first-line chemotherapy. Although combination of intravenous paclitaxel and carboplatin is currently accepted as the standard of care for treatment of advanced ovarian cancer, discussion around the intraperitoneal chemotherapy is still an important challenge. Additionally, much efforts have been dedicated to design an appropriate maintenance treatment as a goal of diminish the risk of recurrence. This review summarizes the results of most recent phase 3 trials surrounding optimal first-line chemotherapy, addition of a targeted agent including bevacizumab and maintenance treatment.


The frond-like fimbriae surrounding the oral disc of the lamprey, Geotria australis, have been examined in living specimens, and by using histological, histochemical and ultra-structural techniques. Approximately 57 fimbriae are present in this species, with those at the posterior end of the disc being significantly larger than those in the anterior and lateral regions. The terminal finger-like projections of the fimbriae possess a stratified epithelium composed solely of a series of rows of mucous-producing cells. Tests have shown that the mucus of the epithelial cells contains large amounts of N-acetyl neuraminic acid. Since the adjacent fimbriae are closely apposed when the lamprey is using its oral disc for suction, it is suggested that their flexible shape, mucous secretions and production of an increased surface area for attachment, help to provide a more efficient seal. Since fimbriae are present in all lampreys except those species belonging to the Mordaciidae, it is postulated that their absence in this latter family can be related to known differences in the behaviour of their adult stages.


certain biochemical aspects of its multiplication may have more in common with the bacteria than with many of the viruses. It is therefore of great interest that two independent groups of workers' 2 have reported that a conventional antibacterial antibiotic of proved pharmacological acceptability in man inhibits the growth of some viruses. This agent is rifampicin, and both reports describe the inhibitory effect it exerts on vaccinia virus. In addition, the second report2 shows that, as well as various poxviruses, it also inhibits an adenovirus. Though it is not new to find an antibacterial agent also active against viruses (methisazone is known to work against the tubercle bacillus as well as against poxviruses) it is of great microbiological interest. The discovery was not the result of an empirical observation but sprang from sound reasoning. It had been shown that the drug inhibits the D.N.A.dependent R.N.A. polymerase of Escherichia coli.3 This enzyme has a vital role in the bacterial cell. Mammalian cells also contain an R.N.A. polymerase, and what makes rifampicin usable as an antibiotic is that the enzyme of the animal cell is much less sensitive to the drug than the bacterial one. Recently it has been shown that vaccinia virus also has an R.N.A. polymerase in the virus particle.4 Hence it was a logical step to see if rifampicin inhibited the growth of vaccinia, and of other D.N.A. viruses too, even though at present it is uncertain whether they contain their own R.N.A. polymerase or whether they use that of the cell. The inhibition of the trachoma agent by rifampicin is no surprise, because this organism is much nearer to the bacteria than are the poxviruses, but a report last week by Y. Becker and Z. ZakayRones5 has the important suggestion that it may be of immediate clinical application in ophthalmology. So far as its clinical use as an antiviral agent is concerned, rifampicin has several hurdles to pass. Its activity against viruses is 500-1,000-fold less than against bacteria, and hence the maintenance of a suitable concentration in the body without serious toxic effects might be impossible. Another difficulty is the matter of timing. In the experimental work it was applied one hour after absorption of virus and was effective when applied up to five hours later, but it is an open question whether it would be too late to apply this drug when a viral infection is well under way. Besides this it is clear from the paper by J. H. Subak-Sharpe and others2 that antibioticresistant variants of vaccinia virus only too readily appear, and this might also be true of adenoviruses. It seems likely that rifampicin will be of value only for infections by viruses which have their own R.N.A. polymerase, and these may be only a minority of D.N.A. viruses. This excludes all D.N.A. viruses which do not have their own R.N.A. polymerase, and all of the R.N.A. viruses, so that there is no question of its becoming a universal antiviral agent. Nevertheless the fact that antiviral activity has been detected in any compound as the result of a logical deduction from known biochemical effects,6 rather than from a hit-and-miss screening project, gives ground for hope in a field where for years optimism has been all too scarce a commodity.


Concurrent kernel execution is a relatively new feature in modern GPUs, which was designed to improve hardware utilization and the overall system throughput. However, the decision on the simultaneous execution of tasks is performed by the hardware with a leftover policy, that assigns as many resources as possible for one task and then assigns the remaining resources to the next task. This can lead to unreasonable use of resources. In this work, we tackle the problem of co-scheduling for GPUs with and without preemption, with the focus on determining the kernels submission order to reduce the number of preemptions and the kernels makespan, respectively. We propose a graph-based theoretical model to build preemptive and non-preemptive schedules. We show that the optimal preemptive makespan can be computed by solving a Linear Program in polynomial time, and we propose an algorithm based on this solution which minimizes the number of preemptions. We also propose an algorithm that transforms a preemptive solution of optimal makespan into a non-preemptive solution with the smallest possible preemption overhead. We show, however, that finding the minimal amount of preemptions among all preemptive solutions of optimal makespan is a NP-hard problem, and computing the optimal non-preemptive schedule is also NP-hard. In addition, we study the non-preemptive problem, without searching first for a good preemptive solution, and present a Mixed Integer Linear Program solution to this problem. We performed experiments on real-world GPU applications and our approach can achieve optimal makespan by preempting 6 to 9% of the tasks. Our non-preemptive approach, on the other side, obtains makespan within 2.5% of the optimal preemptive schedules, while previous approaches exceed the preemptive makespan by 5 to 12%.


Splitting functions govern the scale evolution of parton distribution functions. Through a Mellin transformation, they are related to anomalous dimensions of twist-two operators in the operator product expansion. We study off-shell operator matrix element, where the physical operators mix under renormalization with other gauge-variant operators of the same quantum numbers. We devise a new method to systematically extract the Feynman rules resulting from those operators without knowing the operators themselves. As a first application of the new approach, we independently reproduce the well-known three-loop singlet splitting functions obtained from computations of on-shell quantities. dimensions for 𝑛 = 6 and of the four-loop anomalous dimensions for 𝑛 up to 4.


Six decades of observations at 20 coastal airports, from Alaska to southern California, reveal coherent interannual to interdecadal variation of coastal low cloudiness (CLC) from summer to summer over this broad region. The leading mode of CLC variability represents coherent variation, accounting for nearly 40% of the total CLC variance spanning 1950–2012. This leading mode and the majority of individual airports exhibit decreased low cloudiness from the earlier to the later part of the record. Exploring climatic controls on CLC, we identify North Pacific Sea Surface Temperature anomalies, largely in the form of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) as well correlated with, and evidently helping to organize, the coherent patterns of summer coastal cloud variability. Links from the PDO to summer CLC appear a few months in advance of the summer. These associations hold up consistently in interannual and interdecadal frequencies.


Objective: To investigate the differential expression profile of urinary exosomal microRNA (miRNA) in patients with mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (MsPGN) and healthy controls and their potential role in the pathogenesis of MsPGN. Methods: Urine specimens were collected from five MsPGN patients and five healthy controls, and differentially expressed miRNAs were screened using high-throughput sequencing technology. The sequenced urinary exosomal miRNAs were further investigated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in a validation cohort (16 MsPGN patients and 16 healthy controls). Correlation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were used to determine the association between clinical features and miRNA expression in MsPGN. Finally, fluorescence in situ hybridization was performed to detect miRNA expression in the renal tissues of MsPGN patients. Results: Five differentially expressed miRNAs (miR-125b-2-3p, miR-205-5p, let-7b-3p, miR-1262, and miR-548o-3p) were identified by qRT-PCR. The expression of these miRNAs correlated with ACR, 24hUpro, mAlb, UA, and combined yielded a ROC curve area of 0.916 in discriminating MsPGN patients from the controls. In addition, the expression of miR-205-5p, let-7b-3p, miR-1262, and miR-548o-3p was elevated in the MsPGN patient group, and miR-125b-2-3p was decreased in the MsPGN patient group. Conclusions: Differential expression of urinary exosomal miRNAs may pose a risk of MsPGN and help distinguish MsPGN patients from controls. Certain miRNA expressions may be associated with disease progression, contributing to the epigenetic understanding of the pathophysiology of MsPGN.


Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a growing health problem worldwide. One strategy to face this problem in a reasonable way is training health personnel for the rational use of antimicrobials. There are some difficulties associated with medical staff to receiving training with E-learning education, but there is a lack of studies and insufficient evidence of the effectiveness of this method compared to face-to-face learning. Methods: An educational intervention on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antimicrobial prescription practice (APP) was designed and implemented using two approaches: face-to-face and E-learning among physicians of the intensive care unit (ICU) and internal medicine ward (IMW) at Eugenio Espejo Hospital in Quito. Modalities of interventions were compared to propose a strategy of continuous professional development (CPD) for all hospital staff. An interventional study was proposed using a quasi-experimental approach that included 91 physicians, of which 49 belong to the IMW and 42 to the ICU. All of them received training on AMR—half in a face-to-face mode and the other half in an asynchronous E-learning mode. They then all participated on APP training but with switched groups; those who previously participated in the face-to-face experience participated in an E-learning module and vice-versa. We evaluated self-perception about basic knowledge, attitudes and referred practices towards AMR and APP before and after the intervention. A review of medical records was conducted before and after training by checking antimicrobial prescriptions for all patients in the ICU and IMW with bacteremia, urinary tract infection (UTI), pneumonia, and skin and soft tissue infection. The study received IRB clearance, and we used SPSS for statistical analysis. Results: No statistically significant difference was observed between the E-learning and the face-to-face methodology for AMR and APP. Both methodologies improved knowledge, attitudes and referred practices. In the case of E-learning, there was a self-perception of improved attitudes (p < 0.05) and practices (p < 0.001) for both AMR and APP. In face-to-face, there was a perception of improvement only in attitudes (p < 0.001) for APP. In clinical practice, the use of antimicrobials significantly improved in all domains after training, including empirical and targeted treatment of bacteremia and pneumonia (p < 0.001) and targeted treatment of UTI (p < 0.05). For the empirical treatment of pneumonia, the mean number of antibiotics was reduced from 1.87 before to 1.05 after the intervention (p = 0.003), whereas in the targeted management of bacteremia, the number of antibiotics was reduced from 2.19 to 1.53 (p = 0.010). Conclusions: There was no statistically significant difference between the effect of E-learning and face-to-face strategy in terms of teaching AMR and APP. Adequate self-reported attitudes and practices in E-learning exceed those of the face-to-face approach. The empiric and targeted use of antimicrobials improved in all reviewed cases, and we observed an overall decrease in antibiotic use. Satisfaction with training was high for both methods, and participants valued the flexibility and accessibility of E-learning.


C opeptin, the C-terminal part of the vasopressin prohormone, is secreted stoichiometrically with vasopressin that is more easily measured than Arginine vasopressin. The present study was conducted in Kirkuk Teaching Hospital in Kirkuk city during the period from June 2016 to January 2017, to determine serum copeptin concentration in women with and without polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and investigate the relationship between copeptin with insulin, and C-peptide, parameters. A total of 80 cases were enrolled in the study. All were over 18 years of age, and consisted of 40 women with POCS, and 40 healthy subjects. Blood samples were collected from all women with PCOS and healthy between 8 and 11 AM, after fasting overnight. Copeptin, insulin, and C-peptide levels in each of the cases have been measured. There was a significant increase in serum copeptin, insulin, C-peptide, and glucose levels in PCOS group when compared with healthy controls . So the copeptin assay may be a useful alternative method to direct measurement of Arginine vasopressin concentration.


We consider several types of internal queries: questions about subwords of a text. As the main tool we develop an optimal data structure for the problem called here internal pattern matching. This data structure provides constant-time answers to queries about occurrences of one subword x in another subword y of a given text, assuming that |y| = O(|x|), which allows for a constant-space representation of all occurrences. This problem can be viewed as a natural extension of the well-studied pattern matching problem. The data structure has linear size and admits a linear-time construction algorithm.

Using the solution to the internal pattern matching problem, we obtain very efficient data structures answering queries about: primitivity of subwords, periods of subwords, general substring compression, and cyclic equivalence of two subwords. All these results improve upon the best previously known counterparts. The linear construction time of our data structure also allows to improve the algorithm for finding δ-subrepetitions in a text (a more general version of maximal repetitions, also called runs). For any fixed δ we obtain the first linear-time algorithm, which matches the linear time complexity of the algorithm computing runs. Our data structure has already been used as a part of the efficient solutions for subword suffix rank & selection, as well as substring compression using Burrows-Wheeler transform composed with run-length encoding.

The model of internal queries in texts is connected to the well-studied problem of text indexing. Both models have their origins in the introduction of suffix trees. However, there is an important difference: in our model the size of the representation of a query is constant and therefore enables faster query time. Our results can be viewed as efficient solutions to "internal" equivalents of several basic problems of regular pattern matching and make an improvement in a majority of already published results related to internal queries.


This paper presents the fuzzy linear control design method for a class of stochastic non-linear time-delay systems with state feedback. First, the Takagi and Sugeno fuzzy linear model is employed to approximate a non-linear system. Next, based on the fuzzy linear model, a fuzzy linear controller is developed to stabilize the nonlinear system. The control law is obtained to ensure stochastically exponential stability in the mean square, independent of the time-delay. The sufficient conditions for the existence of such a control are proposed in terms of certain linear matrix inequality. Finally, a simulation example is given to illustrate the applicability of the proposed design method. Copyright © 2005 IFAC


Endoparasitism is a problem in Trinidad, as it is in most tropical countries. Parasite infection has been suspected to contribute to the pathogenesis of swayback disease (which is also prevalent in Trinidad), but the mode of action has not been clearly defined, although it has been suggested that parasites interfere with the absorption of copper from the gastrointestinal tract. The objectives of the study were to assess the effect of endoparasitism on blood copper levels and hemoglobin (Hb) concentration in sheep in Trinidad. Copper was administered intramuscularly to parasite infected and noninfected animals. The results showed that parasitism has a depressing effect on blood copper and Hb levels, even when administered parenterally. It is concluded that parasitism can aggravate existing hypocupremia and possibly influence the expression of swayback disease.


New metrics and a new methodology for determining system infrastructural–operational resilience are presented for the optimal real-time operation of two critical interdependent infrastructure systems—the water distribution systems (WDS) and the electric power system (EPS) under critical conditions of limited water and/or limited electrical energy resulting from extreme drought or electric grid failure, respectively. Operational resilience (OR) and infrastructural resilience are defined. The integrated resilience computation method is presented and utilizes results from a combined optimization–simulation framework, which involves capturing the interactions and associated dynamics between the EPS and WDS. A realistic example of the WDS and EPS is used to demonstrate the application of the resilience concepts to assess the interdependent systems' performance.


Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring activating mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) benefit from treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). However, almost all of the patients eventually develop resistance to EGFR-TKIs within approximately one year. The resistance mechanisms of EGFR-TKIs have not been fully elucidated. We previously established an erlotinib-resistant NSCLC cell line named PC-9/ER3 after continuously exposing PC-9 cells, which harbor an in-frame deletion in EGFR exon 19, to erlotinib. PC-9/ER3 cells were 136-fold more resistant to erlotinib than the parental cells. Although the PC-9/ER3 cells did not carry the T790M mutation or MET amplification and had similar levels of pSTAT3, pJAK2 increased in the resistant cells (Cancer Sci 103, 1795-802; 2012). Meanwhile, pacritinib is a novel macrocyclic pyrimidine-based JAK2/FLT3 inhibitor with clinical activity in patients with myelofibrosis and lymphoma, which will be used as a standard therapy for myelofibrosis. In this study, we evaluated the synergistic effect of pacritinib combined with erlotinib on JAK2-medatited EGFR-TKI resistant NSCLC. Drug sensitivity was determined using an MTT assay and the combination index was calculated according to the methods based on the median-effect analysis. The combination of pacritinib with erlotinib showed synergistic effects on JAK2-medated EGFR TKI-resistant PC-9/ER3 cells in some cases. Western blotting showed that the combination treatment markedly suppressed pAKT and pERK although pSTAT3 was equivalent regardless of treatment with the pacritinib, erlotinib, pacritinib plus erlotinib, or control in PC-9/ER3 cells. Receptor tyrosine kinase array profiling demonstrated that pacritinib suppressed MET in the PC-9/ER3 cells. The combined treatment of pacritinib and erlotinib in PC-9/ER3 xenografts showed more tumor shrinkage compared with each drug as monotherapy. Western blotting revealed that pMET in the tumor samples was inhibited. These results suggest MET suppression by pacritinib may play a role in overcoming the EGFR-TKI resistance mediated by JAK2 in the PC-9/ER3 cells. In conclusion, pacritinib combined with EGFR-TKI might be a potent strategy against JAK2-mediated EGFR-TKI resistance. Citation Format: Nobuaki Ochi, Hideko Isozaki, Masami Takeyama, Jack W. Singer, Hiromichi Yamane, Yoshihiro Honda, Katsuyuki Kiura, Nagio Takigawa. Synergistic effect of pacritinib with erlotinib on JAK2-mediated resistance in epidermal growth factor receptor mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4675.


Abstract : The "pore tree" model of pore structure (Simons and Finson, 1979; Simons, 1982) was developed for catalyst and sorbent grains to allow coupled reactions and diffusion into and out of immobile porous media in the absence of convection through the media. The pore tree model is extended herein to describe the permeable (mobile) pore structure which characterizes the subsurface transport of gas and water in soil, the dispersion of contaminants, and in-situ remediation. The interconnectivity of the pore structure is obtained via a statistical determination of the "branches" that are common to several trees to allow convection and diffusion through the large scale (mobile) structure in addition to diffusion and reactions in the small scale (immobile) structure. The extended pore tree model has explained the measurement errors in the permeability of soil due to the measurement scale size (Shouse et. al., 1994) and has successfully predicted the bulk gaseous diffusivity in partially saturated soil (Washington et. al.,1994) as a function of a saturation scale size. The theory also depicts a permeable sub-range in which small scale convection bridges the flow between the bulk convection and the small scale diffusion.


Budd-Chiari syndrome is a rare disease, caused by obstruction of the hepatic venous outflow at the level of either the large hepatic veins or (and) the subdiaphragm segment of the inferior vena cava. The hematological disorders (myeloproliferative disorders, factor V Leiden deficiency), tumor and chronic inflammatory diseases are the most frequent causes of BCS in Europe and North America. Two cases of BCS, recognized in 24 and 43 years old females with subacute and chronic forms of the disease are presented in this article. The underlying cause was polycythemia rubra vera and osteomyolofibrosis. In first case, except causal and anticoagulation therapy, a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic stent has been performed. In the second one low - sodium diet and diuretic for the control of ascites and oedemas were used. Hydroxycarbamid was the first choice line medication in treatment hematological disorders and acenocumarol in the prevention of the trombotic complications.


Capstone courses are used extensively in teaching information technology to expose students to realistic, work-like situations, though in a controlled environment. The value of the experiences the student engages in, and the skills and knowledge they develop are not questioned, as they are accepted as a beneficial precursor to professional work. The pedagogical methods used to deliver capstone courses vary across academic programme, institution, country and culture. The research explores information technology students' preferences for the delivery of capstone projects from three different pedagogical delivery approaches and suggests that students want a certain level of anonymity, but at the same time they want direction and assistance when they determine they require it. Emerging from the findings are several recommendations that developers of capstone  projects and courses may wish to address.


length of the surface. The twist in the cord was double-that is, the organ ha(] performedl two complete revolutions from left to right in a horizonital plane. The adhesions between the external spermatic fescia and the (lartos were quite organized, showing thiat the condition lhad been of some standiing. I lhave little dloubt that tlle condclition was present some time before the nurse observed it, probably just before, during, or imtwiediately after birtlh. The points of interest were: (1) The insidiousness of onset; and (2) tlle lack of constitutional disturbance. ]R. CAMPBELL BEGG, M.A., M.Sc., M.B., Honorary Surgeon. Clildren's Hospital, Wellington, N.Z.


Thermal Mapping using MRI is a non-invasive method for probing the body and has both diagnostic and interventional applications. If conducted on more accessible low field strength systems, these can improve the accessibility of the method for wider use. In order to validate and compare thermal mapping, a temperature control phantom was developed with tools for heating the phantom and externally tracking the temperature of the phantom. A heating study was performed with the phantom at two temperatures, and the thermometry methods showed good connection to the change in temperature in the phantom.


Two-photon fluorescence was observed for 18 organic dyes in a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) matrix excited by a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser. The product of the cross section for two-photon absorption by the quantum yield of fluorescence (two-photon fluorescence cross section) is estimated by comparing it with fluorescence of Rhodamine 6G in ethanol. Using this parameter, dyes are selected that exhibit the most intense fluorescence in PMMA and their concentrations in PMMA are optimised. Coumarin and rhodamine dyes in polymer matrices are proposed for using as visualisers of femtosecond radiation of a Ti:sapphire laser and as detectors in self-triggering systems.


Although an increase in the systolic pressure is a physiological phenomenon of the ageing process, the beneficial effect of treatment in the elderly, in terms of reducing risk of cerebral vascular events, heart failure and coronary artery disease, leads to a common definition of hypertension in adults. A subject is considered to have hypertension if the systolic pressure is greater than 160 mmHg or the diastolic pressure is greater than 95 mmHg. A subject whose blood pressure is less than 140/90 mmHg is considered to be normotensive. The rules and strategy for the prescription of antihypertensive drugs remain the same whatever the age of the patient. But, despite the large number of drugs available, it is often difficult to obtain normal levels in the elderly. Treatment should thus be based on a pragmatic strategy, setting the target level as a function of the initial blood pressure. A decrease of 20 to 30 mmHg in the systolic pressure should be considered as a satisfactory result. In the elderly patient, the rule should be to limit prescription to two drugs since these patients risk exposure to interactions with other pharmaceutical classes because of the multiple disease situations encountered. In case of "non-response" to a two-drug regimen, the physician should carefully question patient compliance, search for an unrecognized primary cause, and reconsider the validity of pressure assessment at consultation. A third drug cannot be justified unless non-response has been confirmed with ambulatory or self-measurement of blood pressure levels.


The comparative growth and efficacy of three strains of Trinidadian Isaria fumosorosea Wize (T,T10 and T11) blastospores were assessed as spray suspensions for controlling greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood. Percent germination of all the three strains were unaffected by the surfactants Triton X -100 or Tween 80 compared to the control (water). Radial growth of fungal strain T11 was faster than either T or T10 which were similar in their growth patterns. Virulence of blastospores of three strains were tested against pharate adult greenhouse whiteflies on bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The corrected mortality of whitefly for strains T, T10 and T11 was 56, 68 and 98% at 107 blastospores mL-1 and the median lethal concentration observed was 2.1 x 107 , 1.3 x 107 and 2.5 x 106 blastospores mL-1, respectively. Strain T11 was the most virulent (range: 97-98% mortality) and had the lowest LC50 (range: 1.1-2.5 x 10 viable blastospores mL-1) value of the Trinidadian blastospore treatments tested against greenhouse whitefly on P. vulgaris.


This paper investigates the relationship between consumer credits and interest rates in Turkey based on the fractional cointegration approach by using daily observations over the period from 4 January 2002 to 24 December 2010. First, we ignore the possible structural breaks in the series and perform the Geweke and Porter-Hudak (GPH) test on the residuals for fractional cointegration. Second, we determine the structural breaks "endogenously" by using a minimum LM unit root test and reapply the GPH test on the new residuals obtained from a cointegrating regression estimated with the detrended series. The results indicate that consumer credits and interest rates are fractionally cointegrated in both cases, with and without structural breaks.


For an active power filter (APF), the three-phase current source PWM converter is not always used in place of three-phase voltage source PWM converter with voltage regulated DC capacitor. This is due to the difficulty of current control implementation for current source PWM converters. In this paper, an effective method to apply a three-phase current-source PWM converter with a deadbeat controller to an APF is presented. In this APF, the compensation of current harmonics is attained by setting the control purpose, compensating the instantaneous reactive current component in the load current and reducing the ripple in the instantaneous effective current component. In a three-phase current source PWM converter, the time-optimal response of the utility AC grid side input current is two-dimensional finite time settling response, in which two sampling periods are required for a settling time. To cancel this delay, and one more delays caused by the DSP control strategy, a reference value three sampling periods ahead has to be predicted. For this prediction, the reference value detected previously can be useful, because the waveform of harmonic current is periodical in many cases. Finally, it is proven, from an experimental point of view, that the compensating ability of this APF is very high.


A spin-on organic Graded Bottom AntiReflective Coating (GBARC) was developed to enable appropriate reflectivity control during advanced photoresist patterning using 193nm immersion lithography up to 1.35 NA (limits of hyper-NA lithography using water as immersion fluid). This novel technology constitutes a simplified reflectivity control approach over more conventional schemes such as dual-layer BARCs, trilayer stacks or single layer BARCs. The GBARC layer is formed upon vertical phase separation of optically tuned polymeric components present in a GBARC casting solution during the spin-coating and post-applied baking steps. The substrate surface energy is found to dictate the direction of the spatial assembly for any given phase-separating polymer blend combination. The index of refraction (n193) of the GBARC polymeric components is approximately matched to that of the photoresist and substrate layers for optimum reflectivity control, while the extinction coefficient (k193) increases gradually towards the substrate. Analytical characterization of the varying optical constants throughout the GBARC film is achieved by Variable Angle Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (VASE) which allows for a quantitative description of the optical gradient present within the GBARC layer. The optical gradient sharpness is shown to be impervious to total GBARC thickness variations at constant relative polymer mass loading as well as changes in the relative mass loading of polymeric components at fixed total GBARC thickness. Also, the link between image profile afforded by various levels of reflectivity control and the mechanical stability of photoresist nanostructures is investigated at 1.2NA by designing GBARC formulations with variable residual reflectivity. Substrate reflectivity in excess of 1% is shown to limit the focus-exposure window due to pattern collapse. Last, adhesion of 193 nm photoresist patterns to a GBARC film is compared to a commercially available single layer BARC. Enhanced adhesion is demonstrated in the case of the GBARC surface, despite the low surface energy that typifies GBARC layers


P2P are the most popular resource sharing systems in Internet environment. The designing of P2P overlay network topology and application systems is the current study focus. With the advantages of scalability and reliability, P2P architecture is suited for applications which have a mass of participants and is used by more and more domain applications. By exploring features of mobile devices and characteristics of mobile users, in this paper we proposed a novel P2P system - NUMP2P, which is developed for mobile resource consumers. With a hybrid P2P architecture, overlay network of NUMP2P spans Internet and mobile wireless network, which has a two-level architecture. The structured DHT-based P2P level resolves the resource location and contributes the scalability. Edge-peers in NUMP2P, which reside at the margin P2P level, are divided into two unequal categories by their different role and function. In addition, in order to reduce the mobile device online time, agent and cache techniques are integrated into NUMP2P. The simulation examination results show that NUMP2P enables flexible and seamless communications for mobile devices in P2P networks.


In order to compare the impact of copepods and cladocerans on phytoplankton biomass, phytoplankton species and nutrient stoichiometry, and to investigate trophic interactions, mesocosm experiments were carried out in freshwater (Schohsee), saltwater (Hopavagen fjord) and brackish water (Kiel Bight). While freshwater cladocerans decreased the spring phytoplankton bloom and phytoplankton biomass considerably, copepods in salt- and brackish water increased phytoplankton biomass. Thus, even by a high reduction of the spring diatom bloom by copepods in saltwater, no clear water phase could be induced due to growth of small phytoplankton species. The dissolved nutrients (TDN:TDP) were impacted according to stoichiometric theory: copepods decreased the dissolved N:P ratios, while freshwater cladocerans increased the dissolved and particulate N:P ratios. Cladocerans even increased the C:P ratio of the particulate fraction up to extremely high values of ~1000, however, cladocerans did not seem to be limited in phosphorus, they still increased in abundance. By stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen it could be shown that cyclopoid copepods are not only able to prey on cladocerans, but can also change the food source of cladocerans probably by an indirect increase of bacterial abundances. In the saltwater experiment, results suggest that the calanoid copepod Calanus finmarchicus can be more predatory than generally assumed.


This study was aimed to investigate the protective, ameliorative and preventive effects of aqueous Date fruit extract on paracetamol induced nephrotoxicity in wistar rats. A total of 30 male albino wistar rats were used for this study. Rats were randomly divided into five groups containing 6 animals each. Treatments were given daily for fourteen days. The animals in the control group (Group I) did not receive any treatment, while those in group 2 received paracetamol (2 g/kg/day). Group 3 were pretreated with aqueous date fruit extract (400 mg/kg/day) for a week before paracetamol administration. Rats in group 4 received paracetamol (2 g/kg/day) for a week before treatment with aqueous date palm extract (400 mg/kg). Group 5 was administered paracetamol (2 g/kg/day) in concurrent with 400 mg/kg aqueous date fruit extract. Exposure of rats with a nephrotoxic dose of paracetamol disturbed the kidney function tests; blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (SC) levels increased significantly (P>0.05). The protective use of aqueous date fruit extract on paracetamol-induced nephrotoxicity resulted in a significant improvement in most evaluated parameters.

 Key words: Date fruit, paracetamol, wistar rats, kidney.


ABSTRACT The disposal of industrial brine sludge waste (IBSW) in chlor-alkali plants can be avoided by utilization of IBSW as a sorbent in wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD). The shrinking core model was used to determine the dissolution kinetics of IBSW, which is a vital step in wet FGD. The effects of solid-to-liquid ratio (m/v), temperature, pH, particle size, and stirring speed on the conversion and dissolution rate constant are determined. The conversion and dissolution rate constant decreases as the pH, particle size, and solid-to-liquid ratio are increased and increases as the temperature, concentration of acid, and stirring speed are increased. The sorbents before and after dissolution were characterized using x-ray fluorescence (XRF), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). An activation energy of 7.195 kJ/mol was obtained and the product layer diffusion model was found to be the rate-controlling step. Implications: The use of industrial brine sludge waste as an alternative sorbent in wet flue gas desulfurization can reduce the amounts of industrial wastes disposed of in landfills. This study has proved that the sorbent can contain up to 91% calcium carbonate and trace amounts of sulfate, magnesium, and so on. This can be used as new sorbent to reduce the amount of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere and the by-product gypsum can be used in construction, as a plaster ingredient, as a fertilizer, and for soil conditioning. Therefore, the sorbent has both economic and environmental benefits.


External corrosion control for buried pipelines and other metallic underground structures is accomplished industry-wide by using dielectric coatings supplemented by cathodic protection. Relationships between these two corrosion control methods are outlined to show how effective corrosion control can be achieved. The long-term changes of protective coatings in relation to their porosity, permeability, and osmotic action under electrical potentials are discussed. Evaluation of existing criteria for adequate cathodic protection of underground metals with poor or dis-bonded coatings, in conditions conducive to stress corrosion cracking and other localized corrosion phenomena, indicates a need to consider revisions in corrosion control measurement techniques and criteria.


This paper describes a new recon gurable processor architecture called REMARC (Recon gurable Multimedia Array Coprocessor). REMARC is a recon gurable coprocessor that is tightly coupled to a main RISC processor and consists of a global control unit and 64 programmable logic blocks called nano processors. REMARC is designed to accelerate multimedia applications, such as video compression, decompression, and image processing. These applications typically use 8bit or 16-bit data therefore, each nano processor has a 16-bit datapath that is much wider than those of other recon gurable coprocessors. We have developed a programming environment for REMARC and several realistic application programs, DES encryption, MPEG-2 decoding, and MPEG-2 encoding. REMARC achieves speedups ranging from a factor of 2.3 to 21.2 on these applications.


The identification of cancer‐associated fibroblast (CAF)‐derived proteins that mediate interactions between the tumor stroma and cancer cells is a crucial step toward the discovery of new molecular targets for therapy or molecular signatures that improve tumor classification and predict clinical outcome. CAF are α‐smooth muscle actin positive, representing a myofibroblast phenotype that may differentiate from multiple precursor cells, including bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). Transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGF‐β1) is a crucial inducer of α‐smooth muscle actin positive CAFs. In this study, we aimed to identify CAF‐derived regulators of colon cancer progression by performing a high‐throughput differential secretome profiling between CAF compared to noncancer‐activated bone marrow‐derived MSC. In addition, we explored the effect of TGF‐β1 on the secretion of proteins by bone marrow‐derived MSC in comparison with the protein secretion profile of CAF. TGF‐β1 induced de novo secretion of 84 proteins in MSC, of which 16 proteins, including stromal‐derived factor‐1α and Rantes, were also present in CAF secretome. Immunohistochemistry further validated the expression of selected candidates such as tenascin C, fibronectin ED‐A domain and stromal‐derived factor‐1 in clinical colon cancer specimens. In conclusion, this differential secretome approach enabled us to identify a series of candidate biomarkers for colon cancer that are associated with a CAF‐specific phenotype.


Two reports have been published suggesting an association between the personality trait of novelty seeking and the DRD4*7R allele at the D4 dopamine-receptor locus (with heterozygotes or homozygotes for DRD4*7R having higher novelty seeking). We studied novelty seeking and four coding-sequence polymorphisms affecting protein structure in the D4 dopamine-receptor gene (DRD4) in a sample of 341 American subjects, of whom 224 are of primarily European ancestry and 117 are of primarily African ancestry. These subjects had diagnoses of substance dependence or personality disorder (PD) or were screened to exclude major psychiatric diagnosis. We found that, although the substance-dependent subjects had significantly higher novelty seeking than the control and PD subjects, they did not differ in DRD4*7R allele frequency. There was no association between any DRD4 polymorphism and novelty seeking in any population or diagnostic group, except for a significant association between the DRD4*7R allele and lower novelty seeking among European American females and African American substance abusers. The novelty seeking of subjects heterozygous for a null mutation did not differ from that of subjects with two functional alleles. We conclude that the most likely explanation of these results is that the DRD4 VNTR does not influence directly the trait of novelty seeking, in these samples.


ABSTRACT
 Research question In 2019, women's sport was reported as being on the rise. Increased participation rates, media coverage, investment and support were evident. Following the spread of COVID-19 across the globe, which halted most forms of competitive sport, there were repeated concerns about the future of women's sport. This research aims to document elite sportswomen's perceptions of the state of women's sport pre-COVID-19 and the possible impact moving forwards. Research methods Ninety five responses from an online, anonymous, qualitative questionnaire completed by elite sportswomen mainly based, in the UK, on the impact of COVID-19 on women's sport were collected. Data were subject to a thematic analysis, to determine key concerns, and the frequency data of responses were quantitatively recorded. Results and findings Most sportswomen felt that women's sport was on an upward trajectory, but many juxtaposed that against inequality compared to men's sport in terms of media coverage and finance. There were concerns that the subordinate position women's sport, with less resources and support, will have severe implications post-COVID-19. However, there were considerations that a pause in sport would allow for personal development, increased participation upon sports return and space for a reconfiguration of sport. Implications Those involved in sport are encouraged to think more critically about progress narratives in women's sport. We caution that these hide perpetual, structural and symbolic inequalities and propose that they are positioned more coherently within wider gender equity agenda. This is a process that will require widespread cultural change.


Cordycepin (3'-deoxyadenosine) is one of the active components isolated from Cordyceps militaris, and has been shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-aging, and anti-cancer effects. Mast cell-derived thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of allergic inflammatory reactions. Here, we investigated the regulatory effect and mechanisms of cordycepin on the expression of TSLP in the human mast cell line, HMC-1 cells, and in the human keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT cells. Cordycepin significantly decreased the production and mRNA expression of TSLP through the inhibition of caspase-1 and nuclear factor-κB activation. Cordycepin also significantly reduced the phosphorylation of receptor-interacting protein 2 and inhibitory kappa B (IκB) kinase β. Cordycepin significantly decreased the production and mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-8, IL-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α in activated HMC-1 cells. Moreover, cordycepin significantly decreased the levels of TSLP in activated HaCaT cells. Our studies suggest that cordycepin can be applied to the treatment of allergic inflammatory diseases exacerbated by TSLP.


Zero-shot slot filling has received considerable attention to cope with the problem of limited available data for the target domain. One of the important factors in zero-shot learning is to make the model learn generalized and reliable representations. For this purpose, we present mcBERT, which stands for momentum contrastive learning with BERT, to develop a robust zero-shot slot filling model. mcBERT uses BERT to initialize the two encoders, the query encoder and key encoder, and is trained by applying momentum contrastive learning. Our experimental results on the SNIPS benchmark show that mcBERT substantially outperforms the previous models, recording a new state-of-the-art. Besides, we also show that each component composing mcBERT contributes to the performance improvement.


Objectives A few studies has shown that achievement of normal sinus rhythm (NSR) with amiodarone alone or in combination with direct current (DC) cardioversion is effective and superior to ventricular rate control in rheumatic atrial fibrillation (AF) with mitral stenosis (MS), albeit at the cost of amiodarone related adverse effects. We aim to study the efficacy of a less toxic drug sotalol in this patient population. Methods Patients of severe MS with persistent AF who were planned for balloon mitral valvotomy (BMV), received oral sotalol therapy 80 mg twice a day for 1 month. Patients who continued to have AF after sotalol therapy and BMV were DC cardioverted. All Patients who achieved NSR with sotalol alone or with DC cardioversion were given sotalol for 6 months. Primary end points of the study were (1) Rate of conversion to NSR with sotalol alone or sotalol with DC shock and (2) Proportion of patients maintaining NSR at 6 months. Secondary end points were improvement in NYHA class and exercise capacity (on Bruce treadmill protocol). Predictors of conversion to NSR were also identified. Results A total of 37 patients with mean age of 36.9±7.3 (22 female and 15 male) were included in the study. Thirty-six patients were included in the final analysis. 14 (38.8%) patients spontaneously converted to NSR with sotalol alone and 18 (50%) patients achieved NSR with DC shock and sotalol therapy. Four patients failed to convert after DC shock. A total of 32 patients were evaluated after a follow up of 6 months. 27 (75%) patients maintained NSR with sotalol therapy at 6 months. Mean improvement in NYHA class and exercise capacity were 1.5 (p=0.001) and 4.3±1.0 min (p=0.007), respectively. On univariate analysis, Left atrial size<6 cm, duration of AF<17 months and age <45 years were the only predictors of successful conversion to sinus rhythm. On multivariate analysis none of the variables were found to be significantly associated with outcome. None of the patients experienced sotalol related significant adverse effects. These results show equal efficacy of sotalol, when compared to results shown in previous studies with amiodarone, with no significant side effects. Conclusions Sotalol therapy alone or in combination with DC cardioversion is effective in conversion and maintenance of sinus rhythm in rheumatic AF with mitral stenosis. This strategy significantly improves the cardiovascular morbidity in combination with BMV.


Channel estimation techniques for code-division multiple access (CDMA) systems need to combat multiple access interference (MAI) effectively. Most existing estimation techniques are designed for CDMA systems with short repetitive spreading codes. However, current and next-generation wireless systems use long spreading codes whose periods are much larger than the symbol duration. We derive the maximum-likelihood channel estimate for long-code CDMA systems over multipath channels using training sequences and approximate it using an iterative algorithm to reduce the computational complexity in each symbol duration. The iterative channel estimate is also shown to be asymptotically unbiased. The effectiveness of the iterative channel estimator is demonstrated in terms of squared error in estimation as well as the bit error rate performance of a multistage detector based on the channel estimates. The effect of error in decision feedback from the multistage detector (used in the absence of training sequences) is also shown to be negligible for reasonable feedback error rates using simulations. The proposed iterative channel estimation technique is also extended to track slowly varying multipath fading channels using decision feedback. Thus, an MAI-resistant multiuser channel estimation and tracking scheme with reasonable computational complexity is derived for long-code CDMA systems over multipath fading channels.


Abstract While both sociologists and organizational theorists have incorporated qualitative data into theory building, contemporary social psychologists have resisted this trend. This resistance may be the product of long-standing perceptions of the discipline of social psychology that equate it with controlled experimentation. Yet, this was not always the case. Many respected social psychologists, including Muzafer Sherif, Edgar Schein, and Leon Festinger, relied on qualitative data from real-world contexts to ground theory building. Following their example, we discuss the possibilities of reviving social psychological approaches to theory building that integrate qualitative field data with quantitative data collected in laboratory experiments. We first justify why qualitative data are important to social psychological theory building by examining some of the strengths and weaknesses that have been demonstrated in other research domains. We then use several "classic" social psychological studies to illustrate specific tactics for integrating qualitative data with traditional experimental data in social psychological research. These examples demonstrate the flexibility and synergies of combining qualitative and quantitative data. They also suggest that social psychological theory building may benefit from a "return to our roots" and an embrace of qualitative data.


The article deals with the problem of influence of the phraseological image upon the formation of the phraseological meaning in Russian and English idioms involving number, both motivated and demotivated for linguistic and extra-linguistic reasons.


Free current operators are constructed for massive particles with arbitrary spin j. Such current operators are related to representations of the U(N,N) type groups and are covariant under the (extended) Poincaré group and charge conjugation, where the charge conjugation operation is defined as an automorphism on U(N,N) elements. The currents are also required to satisfy current conservation, hermiticity, and locality. The condition that the currents be local is shown to be equivalent to certain integral constraints on form factors. These constraints are satisfied by writing the currents in terms of free local spin j fields. It is shown that there are (2j +1) different local currents for a spin j particle, each with an arbitrary form factor, generalizing the Dirac and Pauli currents for spin 1/2 particles. Static properties of the various currents are also given.


The future service needs of baby boomers are unclear. A survey addressing work/retirement, family, civic engagement, health, caregiving, leisure, and perceptions of senior services was mailed to 800 addresses randomly selected from a upper Midwestern county voter registration list. The response rate was 28%. Fifty-three percent of the respondents (N = 225) intended to work and increase civic engagement. They expected more time for hobbies and friends, and to travel more. Family will continue to be their highest priority. These findings will be useful to service providers who are invested in providing services that are attractive to boomers.


It is shown that the MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) explains the tilt of the fundamental plane of elliptical galaxies without the need of non-baryonic dark matter. Results found for elliptical galaxies extends to globular clusters and galaxy clusters, showing that MOND agrees with observations over 7 order of magnitude in acceleration.


Deep neural networks (DNNs) have been shown to be powerful models and perform extremely well on many complicated artificial intelligent tasks. However, recent research found that these powerful models are vulnerable to adversarial attacks, i.e., intentionally added imperceptible perturbations to DNN inputs can easily mislead the DNNs with extremely high confidence. In this work, we enhance the robustness of DNNs under adversarial attacks by using pruning method and logits augmentation, we achieve both effective defense against adversarial examples and DNN model compression. We have observed defense against adversarial attacks under the white box attack assumption. Our defense mechanisms work even better under the grey box attack assumption.


Space weather effects on the ground are produced by magnetic field changes associated with electric currents resulting from the solar wind/magnetosphere interaction. For most ground events the principal currents involved are the auroral electrojet systems. However, on August 4, 1972, there was a major magnetic disturbance and an outage of the L4 cable system in the mid‐western US that was thought to be caused by currents on the magnetopause. New model calculations now show that the observed magnetic disturbance was too localised to have been caused by magnetopause currents. Contour plots of the disturbance are instead consistent with an ionospheric current as the source. Equivalent current plots derived from the observed magnetic field variations show that a rapid intensification of an eastward electrojet was responsible for the magnetic disturbance and the cable system outage.


This communication presents preliminary results of the first attempt to monitor rice crop growth from space from transplanting to harvesting with an active microwave instrument using ERS-1 C-band SAR. The variation of /spl sigma//sup 0/ for a test rice field in the Akita Prefectural College of Agriculture obtained from multitemporal SAR data is evaluated by comparing with ground truth data of the rice crop condition. The feasibility is shown of estimating the number of days after transplanting and hence the rice crop growth stage from the /spl sigma//sup 0/ measurement. Correlation analysis suggests a close relationship between /spl sigma//sup 0/ and the two dimensional extent of the rice crops. >


AIM
The present study tested the hypothesis that having two proximal contacts (PCs) at access is associated with improved survival of root canal treated (RCT) teeth, controlling for important presenting conditions, endodontic variables and restorative factors.

METHODOLOGY
A treatment database at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry was used to identify permanent teeth undergoing obturation between 1 July 1985 and 31 December 1987. The list was restricted to teeth of patients with at least one dental visit in each two-year interval from 1985 to 1996, and a simple random sample of 280 patients (n = 400 teeth) was selected. Dental charts, radiographs, and computerized databases were examined to ascertain variables of interest and to verify study inclusion criteria. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates were generated for the 221 teeth satisfying study inclusion criteria. Multivariate Cox models were developed, with standard errors adjusted to account for clustering of teeth within patients.

RESULTS
The final Cox model showed that teeth with < or =1 PC at access were lost at a rate three times that of teeth with 2 PCs (hazard ratio = 3.1; 95% confidence interval = 1.9-5.1), controlling for tooth type, presence of radiographic caries at access, and presence of a crown before or after obturation.

CONCLUSIONS
Because RCT teeth with two PCs at access experienced substantially better survival than teeth with fewer than two PCs, the influence of PCs on prognosis should be recognized during treatment planning. Future research should employ prospective study designs, capture additional variables, and provide data to support endodontic treatment decisions.


Manufacturers have found themselves unable to effectively continue improving microprocessor performance the old-fashioned ways by shrinking transistors and packing more of them onto single-core chips. Multicore chips improve performance by handling various parts of an application in parallel. Single-core chips, on the other hand, undertake tasks serially. Multicore challenges involve (i) dividing activities into smaller parts, (ii) data dependency, (iii) data splitting, (iv) testing.


This volume presents the most up-to-date synthesis of the Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery sequence of Knossos, one of the most significant archaeological sites in Mediterranean and European prehistory. The Knossos pottery sequence has formed the backbone of Aegean prehistoric chronology for over a century, and this is the first publication since Sir Arthur Evans' "Palace of Minos" that provides - within one cover - a complete overview of the main ceramic developments, which have occurred at this key site during more than five millennia (ca. 6500-1100 BC). The volume is written by a small international team of archaeologists with extensive and first-hand knowledge of Knossian ceramics, whose work, over the years, has thoroughly questioned and modified previous dating of important ceramic assemblages and traditional definitions of ceramic phases. Their chapters present not only new updates of their previous works, but also a thorough re-examination of the stratigraphic and stylistic evidence currently available, and include previously unpublished material. The volume is provided with over one hundred black-and-white illustrations, and is accompanied by a CD with colour images of selected Knossian ceramics. It will be an indispensable work of reference for archaeologists working in the prehistoric Aegean as well as other Mediterranean and European regions.


Previous studies have indicated that hepcidin, which can regulate iron efflux by binding to ferroportin-1 (FPN1) and inducing its internalization and degradation, acts as the critical factor in the regulation of iron metabolism. However, it is unknown whether hepcidin is involved in acute renal ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI). In this study, an IRI rat model was established via right renal excision and blood interruption for 45 min in the left kidney, and iron metabolism indexes were examined to investigate the change in iron metabolism and to analyze the role of hepcidin during IRI. From 1 to 24 h after renal reperfusion, serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen were found to be time-dependently increased with different degrees of kidney injury. Regular variations in iron metabolism indexes in the blood and kidneys were observed in renal IRI. Renal iron content, serum iron and serum ferritin increased early after reperfusion and then declined. Hepcidin expression in the liver significantly increased early after reperfusion, and its serum concentration increased beginning at 8 h after reperfusion. The splenic iron content decreased significantly in the early stage after reperfusion and then increased time-dependently with increasing reperfusion time, and the hepatic iron content showed a decrease in the early stage after reperfusion. The early decrease of the splenic iron content and hepatic iron content might indicate their contribution to the increase in serum iron in renal IRI. In addition, the duodenal iron content showed time-dependently decreased since 12 h after reperfusion in the IRI groups compared to the control group. Along with the spleen, the duodenum might contribute to the decrease in serum iron in the later stage after reperfusion. The changes in iron metabolism indexes observed in our study demonstrate an iron metabolism disorder in renal IRI, and hepcidin might be involved in maintaining iron homeostasis in renal IRI. These findings might suggest a self-protection mechanism regulating iron homeostasis in IRI and provide a new perspective on iron metabolism in attenuating renal IRI.


Our research seeks to measure End user satisfaction and identify the contributors of satisfaction in mobile healthcare system. We gathered data from internal end users from Hallym University hospital at the level of clinicians, such as medical doctor and nurse. We employed PLS (Partial Least Square) to analyze data and our results show that all three factors- content, accuracy, and ease of use explain the contributors of satisfaction. Moreover, our results provide the evidence that Korean Mobile Healthcare System priorities are Ease of Use and Content. Our study could contribute to mobile healthcare system developer to measure user's satisfaction with mobile system. Data collected from Hallym University Medical Center year 2012 and analyzed using PLS (Partial Least Square) Out of 1668 clinical employees, only 7% response for the survey and majorities were nurses (93).


The present review paper summarizes the most significant theoretical knowledge and factors of correct selection of emulsifiers for cosmetic and pharmaceutical topical emulsions. The problems discussed include securing the stability of emulsions, the origin ant the health and ecological defectlessness of the emulsifier, as well as some others. The comparative study presents also a list of some trade names of traditional and newly designed nonionic emulsifiers produces by important manufacturers used or recommended for this type of emulsions.


Abstract Structural imaging of the "odd" m = 17 antigorite polysome is in keeping with the X-ray structure refinement, supplying direct evidence for the presence of 8-reversals. HRTEM also displays the polysomatic and stacking disorder features modeled during X-ray refinement to achieve convergence. Polysomatic faults occur in Mg159 antigorite as (100) lamellae, with wavelength differing from the matrix by only one serpentine module (m = 16 or 18 vs. 17). Mixed ordered polysomes may also occur, such as a regular alternation of m = 16 and m = 17 lamellae, producing a complex polysome with an a repeat distance of 84.5 Å. "Odd" and .even. antigorite polysomes differ in layer topology. "Odd" polysomes (m ≠ 2n, with n = integer) have a primitive cell with Pm space group, m tetrahedral and m-1 octahedral modules, and one 6-reversal and one 8-reversal per unit cell. Polysomes with m = 2n have C-centered cells (C2/m), m tetrahedral and m-2 octahedral modules, and two 6-reversals and two 8-reversals per cell.


Haydon White's Metahistory (1973) interprets representations of history as inherently reflecting historians' subjectivity. That is, the modes in which historians represent history are significantly determined and grounded by their ideological commitments. In this article, I offer a metahistorical analysis of the modes of doing history undertaken by the African Islamic intellectual historians Ousmane Kane and Souleymane Bachir Diagne. I critically evaluate the consistency between the object of history as they assume it to be and the discourses they (re)produce, taking account of their ideologically grounded mode of realizing their chosen object of history. Taking the general object of history for the African intellectual to be the resistance of the colonial library, I argue that, in their pursuit of this object of history, Kane and Diagne fall short owing to their use of the Islamic library to assert the existence of an African intellectual history.


, the objective of this paper is to present, discuss and compare, in some detail, the arc models used to represent an arcing fault, in order to determine which of them is the most precise for this purpose. At the beginning of the paper a brief explanation of arcing faults is given, bringing out the importance of a realistic simulation of them. A theoretical description of the black box equations to model arc is explained. The paper concludes with a comparison of the most representative arc models. Results will be useful not only in arcing fault detection but also in the design of autoreclosure schemes on transmission lines. Implementation and simulation method are based on ATP/EMTP.


Quantum computers have provided exponentially faster solutions to several physical and engineering problems over existing classical solutions. In this paper we present two quantum algorithms to analyze the forced vibration of a mechanical system with cyclic symmetry. Our main algorithm solves the equation of motion of an undamped and nonelastic rotating system with cyclic symmetry consisting of n sectors, by encoding the displacements of each sector at time t in a quantum state. The runtime of this algorithm is polylog in both n and t, thus exponentially faster than the analogous classical algorithm. Also we consider damped and elastic systems with cyclic symmetry and present another quantum algorithm to solve it in runtime polylog in n and polynomial in t.


With the rapid development of information and communications technology, increasing number of data centers is required to support the cloud computing, and critical web-based services that run our daily lives. The conventional cloud data centers usually adopt computer room air conditioner or inRow units as the cooling sytem, while the rack mountable cooling unit is a more promising equipment due to the economy, exact controllability, flexibility, and scalability. To ensure the efficiency of control system in rack mountable cooling unit and the security of servers in the data centers, the information of temperature distribution is very essential. Basically, the temperature distribution could be obtained through physical sensors easily. However, considering the cost of whole system and the burden of fault diagnosis in sensor networks, the number of temperature sensors should be kept down to a bare minimum. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an effective and real-time observer to estimate the temperature distribution in the system. Besides, due to the complex air flow and heat transfer in the container, it is quite difficult to construct a physics model. To this end, a novel observer embracing data-driven model and adaptive Kalman filter is proposed in this work. Auto regression exogenous model is adopted as the framework of data-driven model, and the model is identified through a algorithm of partial least square. Moreover, to represent the nonlinear behaviors in the system, fuzzy c-means is applied for data classification and getting multiple local linear models. Finally, adaptive Kalman filter is utilized to estimate the temperature distribution on the basis of proposed data-driven model. The estimation results based on experimental data indicate the performance of proposed approach is remarkable.


Abstract In this paper, an experimental study aiming at understanding the seismic behaviour of dry stone retaining walls is presented. Harmonic shaking table tests have been carried out on scaled-down dry-joint retaining walls involving parallelepiped bricks. It is found that a thicker wall is more resistant and that a given retaining wall is less sensitive to higher frequencies. For those higher frequencies, the walls accept larger displacements before collapsing. The displacements start to occur from a given threshold, which depends on the wall geometry but not on the frequency of the base motion. The typical toppling failure is observed for slender wall and/or low frequency inputs. For less slender walls or higher frequency inputs, walls experience local sliding failures until the complete collapse of the system. The acceleration at failure reported during the dynamic tests has been compared to the corresponding pseudo-static resistance, enabling a conservative estimate of the seismic behaviour coefficient for pseudo-static analysis of this class of retaining walls. This novel experimental dataset is aimed to serve as a validating framework for future numerical or analytical tools in the field.


Consumerization of IT refers to privately-owned IT resources, such as devices or software that are used for business purposes. The effects of consumerization are considered to be a major driver that redefines the relationship between employees (in terms of consumers of enterprise IT) and the IT organization. While there has been extensive debate on these matters in practice, IS research has not developed a clear theoretical understanding of the phenomenon. We present a theory and practice review, where the existing literature on consumerization is reviewed and a clear definition of the concept is developed. This study contributes to a theoretical understanding of IT consumerization in relation to fundamental aspects of IS. Our analysis shows, first, which distinct aspects of IS are affected by consumerization. Secondly, we provide an overview over major advantages and disadvantages for employees and organizations by conducting a systematic analysis of current literature available on the topic.


Preoperative diagnosis of pancreatic cysts benefits from integrating the clinical, radiological, and cytological features. As patient management algorithms evolve to increasingly nonsurgical options, accuracy in distinguishing mucinous from nonmucinous and benign from malignant mucinous cysts is important. This review focuses on pseudocysts, serous cystadenomas, intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs), and mucinous cystic neoplasms. Patients with pseudocysts almost always present with pancreatitis and are usually medically managed. Radiological studies reveal a unilocular cyst mostly in the pancreatic tail. Cyst fluid is thin, with high amylase but low carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels. DNA mutations are absent. Serous cystadenomas are benign and do not require resection. Patients are usually asymptomatic and have microcystic or macrocystic masses anywhere in the pancreas. Cytology is frequently nondiagnostic. CEA and amylase levels are low. DNA analysis may reveal loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at 3p if associated with Von Hippel‐Lindau disease. Neoplastic mucinous cysts are highly variable in their presentation. Most are resected. Mucinous cystic neoplasms typically arise in the body or tail of the pancreas of middle‐aged women and demonstrate a septated cyst without dilatation of the main pancreatic duct. Branch duct IPMNs are more common in the pancreatic head of elderly men. Main duct dilatation correlates with main duct or combined type IPMN. Both types of mucinous cysts produce variable amounts of mucin. Cytologically nonmalignant but atypical epithelial cells, even when scant, are an indication of a high risk for malignancy. High CEA level supports a mucinous cyst, as do KRAS mutation and good quality DNA levels. KRAS mutation and multiple LOH support malignancy. Cancer (Cancer Cytopathol) 2010. © 2009 American Cancer Society.


Electrodiagnostic methods are crucial for the diagnosis of ALS. In nerve conduction studies, normal sensory conduction and absence of the sign of demyelination is required. Here, false-positive signs for demyelination should be paid special attention. Loss of motor units in ALS alone can cause significant slowing and absence of F-waves. Needle electromyography shows active neurogenic changes with denervation potentials (fibrillation potentials and positive sharp waves) and polyphasic and unstable motor unit potentials (MUPs). High-amplitude or giant MUPs may not be evident in rapidly progressing cases. Complex repetitive discharges are frequently seen. World Federation of Neurology established criteria for the diagnosis of ALS at El Escorial workshop in 1994, which was later revised (Airlie House criteria; AHC, 1998). The problem of AHC is its low sensitivity, especially in early cases. Specificity should also be cautioned because widespread fibrillations and frequent high-amplitude MUPs in chronic myopathies, such as inclusion body myositis, may easily fulfil the electrodiagnostic criteria in AHC. The diagnostic value of fasciculation potentials (FPs) is devaluated in AHC because of its "low specificity". However, our investigation using EMG database actually revealed high specificity of FPs for ALS, which may be a key point in considering the pathophysiology of ALS.


The purpose of this research is to compensate the lack of research regarding the above-mentioned fields, and literature in particular, and to take a leading part to open the path for new studies regarding the subject. With regards to this purpose, it is planned to measure the attitude of high school students towards literature via an objective tool and thus, Attitude Scale Towards Literature (ASTL) was generated. The scale, which was implemented on 739 high school students during 2019-2020, consists of total 33 statements of which 20 are positive and 13 are negative. Respondents of the survey are students of three different schools and are from 4 different grade levels, namely 9, 10, 11 and 12th grades. With the aim of determining the factor pattern of the scale, principle components analysis was preferred as method of factoring and varimax was chosen as the spinning method. In accordance with these data, explanatory factor analysis was carried out on the scale and it was determined that the scale has a structure of two factors. The first factor is Attitude Towards Personal Development; and the second factor is Attitude Towards Internalization of Literature.


This study employed three units, "Air and Combustion", "Heat Effects toward Substances", and "Healthy Diet", from the Science Education Website set by the Ministry of Education (Tainan) to assist students' learning. This multifunctional website offers teaching resources, interesting experiments, inquiry experiments, virtual animations, multi-assessments, and supplementary materials, which are highly interactive and simulative. Cognitive Load Theory was adopted in this study to investigate the influences on learning achievement under distinct multimedia combinations and learner-controlled modes. The subjects in this study were six classes of fifth graders (n = 192). Our findings were: (1) Learner-controlled modes were significantly influential. (2) Multimedia combination forms brought apparent influences on learning effects. We spied that the "animation + narration" group performed evidently better than the "animation + subtitles" group. This shows that inappropriate AV combinations may interfere with learning; more functions and information inputs don't guarantee better learning effects.


Microdialysis is an in vivo technique that permits monitoring of local concentrations of drugs and metabolites at specific sites in the body. About a decade ago the microdialysis technique entered the field of pharmacokinetic research, in the brain, and later also in peripheral tissues and blood. Microdialysis has several characteristics, which makes it an attractive tool for pharmacokinetic research. The objective of this review is to survey the recent literature regarding the application of microdialysis in pharmacokinetic studies and facilitating many other studies and peripheral tissues, subcutaneous adipose tissue, heart, lung etc and in blood. Microdialysis measures the unbound concentrations in the peripheral tissue fluid which have been shown to be responsible for the pharmacological effects. With the increasing number of applications of microdialysis, it is obvious that this method will have an important place is studying drug pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics.


Fluorescent nanoprobes show similar fluorescence properties to traditional organic dyes, but the addition of nanotechnology accurately controls the size, shape, chemical composition, and surface chemistry of the nanoprobes with unique characteristics and properties, such as bright luminescence, high photostability, and strong biocompatibility. For example, modifying aptamers or antibodies on a fluorescent nanoprobe provides high selectivity and specificity for different objects to be tested. Fluorescence intensity, life, and other parameters of targets can be changed by different sensing mechanisms based on the unique structural and optical characteristics of fluorescent nanoprobes. What's more, the detection of fluorescent nanoprobes is cost-saving, simple, and offers great advantages in rapid food detection. Sensing mechanisms of fluorescent nanoprobes were introduced in this paper, focusing on the application progress in pesticide residues, veterinary drug residues, heavy metals, microbes, mycotoxins, and other substances in food safety detection in recent years. A brief outlook for future development was provided as well.


Organizations are investing ever-increasing amounts of resources into Strategic management system though it is still not clear what they can expect in return or how this might influence the likelihood of positive system outcomes. An effective Strategic management system clearly defines expectations and helps to align employee behavior with the culture and business needs of the organization. In an increasingly competitive world, Strategic management system is not optional but rather it is essential for enhancing organization`s effectiveness and competitiveness. Today`s organizations have to face a turbulent environment where change seems to be the only constant. To meet this challenge, organizations are forced to accelerate effectiveness in all activities, be flexible to changes in the internal and external environment, improve quality and service delivery, reduce cost and fully use their intellectual capacity. Furthermore, as the system is becoming more complex, emphasis is given to the process orientation and cross functional approaches. To succeed, knowledge, skills, experience and perspectives of a wide range of people must be integrated. There needs to be understanding of the relationship between strategy, people, organizational design and performance systems in order for strategic management to be achieved in the insurance industry. The objective of the study was to establish the perceived factors that affect employee Strategic management system in ICEA LION group. A descriptive research design was adopted with the total population of the study comprising of 400 employees with 15% being from senior management, 34% from middle level management and 51% from lower level management. Stratified sampling was used for ease of classifying the sample into the three categories with the sample comprising of 10% from each strata of the target population. Data was collected using Likert's scale questionnaire method, which was self-administered questionnaire. Multiple correlation analysis was used to give an insight into the relationship between the factors affecting and strategic management system. This was done with the help of the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) for production of graphs, tables, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that ICEA LION insurance experienced challenges in the adoption and implementation of strategic management system which was greatly influenced by: employee training, organization culture and leadership commitment. The study concluded that employee training, organization culture and leadership commitment are statistically significant in explaining Strategic management system of insurance firms in Kenya. The study recommends that insurance firms should emphasize and enhance that the employee training is managed well; managers should demonstrate willingness to give energy and loyalty to the strategy implementation process and also promote the best organization values in their firm. Future researchers and academicians should research on how employee training, organization culture and leadership affect other aspects of businesses especially making management easier and internal customer satisfaction. It is also necessary to investigate their effect on strategic management system in specific insurance company institutions listed in Nairobi security exchange in Kenya.


The objective of this study was to develop new cultivars of triticale possessing high yield and quality which would be adaptable to ecological conditions of Marmara Region. For this purpose, seven selected lines from breeding programs conducted previously and one standard cultivar were used as plant entries of the research. Yield and yield components were taken up to determine the best lines to be candidate for future varieties. Field experiments were conducted on the Research Center of Agriculture Faculty, Uludag University, Bursa, during 2004 - 2005 and 2005 - 2006 growing seasons. A randomized complete block design with three replications was chosen for experimentation. ANOVA of two-year results indicated that differences among genotypes were significant for grain number/spike, grain weight/spike and hectoliter weight. Genotype x year interaction was found to be significant for grain number/spike, grain weight/spike and grain yield. There were no significant differences among genotypes in term of their grain yield. This means that the new lines produced grain yield at par with the standard cultivar used in this experiment. Yields of the genotypes ranged between 6512 and 7133 kg ha-1. As a result of correlation analysis, simple correlation coefficient analysis revealed that there had been positive and significant correlations of grain yield with the grain number/spike, grain weight/spike, plant height and hectoliter weight.

 Key words: New triticale genotypes, yield, yield components.


Andreas Demetriades (May 2004 JRSM1) comments on the difficulty educators face in deciding which clinical techniques deserve preservation in an age of imaging technologies. Even Laennec faced opposition from those who saw the stethoscope as a threat to traditional practice. Today a case in point is the diagnosis of varicose veins. Management decisions depend on assessment of valvular incompetence, for which medical students are taught the tap test, the cough test and the Trendelenburg tourniquet test. Yet in practice vascular surgeons use hand-held doppler probes and perform duplex scans as necessary. We reviewed the published work regarding accuracy of these clinical tests.

In 1984 McIrvine et al.2 compared clinical tests for saphenofemoral incompetence with findings at surgery in 105 patients. The simplest and most accurate method was the tourniquet test plus hand-held doppler (sensitivity 0.90, specificity 0.45). More recently, De Palma et al.3 found the sensitivities of clinical tests and hand-held doppler to be about the same (0.48) but the addition of doppler to clinical tests raised the sensitivity and increased positive predictive value to 83%. Singh et al.4 asked surgeons 'hypothetically' to commit to one of a selection of management protocols having seen findings at preoperative assessment. Inappropriate surgery would have been performed in 20% of limbs on the basis of clinical examination with a tourniquet and in 13% on the basis of tourniquet examination plus hand-held doppler. Kim et al.,5 using duplex scanning as their gold standard, found that the sensitivities of clinical tests ranged from 0.18 to 0.97 and specificities from 0.20 to 0.92. Hand-held doppler was far superior, with sensitivity 0.97 and specificity 0.73 at the saphenofemoral junction.

On the above evidence, clinical tests alone are of low value in assessment of varicose veins and medical education should embrace hand-held doppler.


Moral theorists often invoke sociopaths and psychopaths as the quintessential example of a morally impaired agent. In the current debate, both moral rationalists, who argue that moral competence consists in the ability to apply a set of moral rules, and moral sentimentalists, who define moral competence as appropriate emotional responding, refer to evidence regarding these pathologies to support their theory. Neither experimental data on antisocial pathologies nor neuroscientific data provide definitive support for either moral theory, but both of these empirical literatures sug- gest a deep complexity in the mechanisms supporting moral competence, and perhaps an inadequacy of our current conceptions of "emotional" versus "rational" or "cognitive" systems, and how these contribute to psychopathology and influence "moral" capacities.


: Three cases of gastrocolic fistula due to benign gastric ulcer seen during a 5-year period are presented. Although colonic or gastric malignancy is said to be the commonest cause of gastrocolic fistula, in the same period only 1 case due to colonic carcinoma was seen. The important role played by radiology in the diagnosis of gastrocolic fistula is emphasized and the clinical presentation is discussed, together with the possible role of analgesics in the aetiology.


In this work, the feasibility to exploit optoelectronic chemo-sensors based on cadmium arachidate (CdA)/single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) composites for detection of chemical pollutants both in air and water environments has been investigated. The nanocomposite sensing layers have been transferred upon the distal end of standard optical fibers by the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique. Single wavelength reflectance measurements (&lgr;=1310 nm) have been carried out to monitor chemicals concentration through changes in the optical length of the Fabry-Pérot (FP) cavity induced by the interaction of the sensitive layer with the analyte molecules. The preliminary experimental results evidence the good potentiality of these fiber optic nanosensors to detect toluene and xylene at ppm level both in air and water environments at room temperature.


The dynamics of bacteremia on white mice subcutaneously infected with an inoculum of 100 and 10 cells of F. tularensis (strain 273) was compared in two parallel experiments. The rise of bacteremia was relatively uniform, about 3 logarithms a day in both groups of animals, so that it reached values of 10(9)-10(10) cells per 1 ml of blood ante finem. Larvae of Ixodes ricinus were fed on white mice in different stages of bacteremia, so that groups of ticks with different degrees of infection were obtained. Our results of quantitative examination show an evident correlation between the degree of bacteremia of the host and the degree of infection of ticks. The highest values of positivity 10(6)-10(7) cells were recorded in larvae, which finished their feeding on the day of the host's death, during the time when bacteremia was reaching the highest degree 10(10) cells per ml of the blood. Persistence of the agent in the organism of infected larvae could be observed up to hatching, under given experimental conditions one month after infection. In nymphs developed from larvae with the highest degree of infection this ability was preserved in about one third of individuals still after 5 months of starvation. In ticks with low degrees of infection it disappeared during the experiments.