31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic determinations of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) concentrations in erythrocytes have been compared with values obtained by an enzymatic assay. It was found that the mean difference over a concentration range from 2 to 20 mmol 2,3-DPG/1 red blood cells (RBC) was 0.18 +/- 0.39 (SEM) mmol/l RBC (n = 10). 31P NMR spectroscopy was further tested by simultaneous measurements of 2,3-DPG and intracellular pH under conditions where the concentration of 2,3-DPG was varied. Thereby a linear relation between the pH gradient (delta pH) over the erythrocyte membrane and 2,3-DPG concentrations was found. The data fit a Donnan equilibrium model for the pH difference over the erythrocyte membrane. We conclude that 31P NMR spectroscopy is a sensitive and accurate method that makes possible simultaneous and non-invasive measurements of intracellular pH and 2,3-DPG.


A robust computer procedure for weight minimisation of a high–rise and portal frames under the deflection constraint at various locations is presented. It replaces the conventional tedious and unreliable manual assessment for minimum weight design. Several practical considerations such as the Invariance or lower limit of wall thickness for fire resistance or building services requirements are Included in the optimisation procedure. The method is readily used in practical optimisation design of steel and reinforced concrete structures against the deflection limit.


We are concerned with designing feedback-based adaptive network coding schemes with the aim of minimizing decoding delay in each transmission in packet-based erasure networks. We study systems where each packet brings new information to the destination regardless of its order and require the packets to be instantaneously decodable. We first formulate the decoding delay minimization problem as an integer linear program and then propose efficient algorithms for finding its optimal solution(s). We show that our problem formulation is applicable to memoryless erasures as well as Gilbert-Elliott erasures with memory. We then propose a number of heuristic algorithms with worst case linear execution complexity that can be used when an optimal solution cannot be found in a reasonable time. We verify the delay and speed performance of our techniques through numerical analysis. This analysis reveals that by taking channel memory into account in network coding decisions, one can considerably reduce decoding delays.


A letter was published in the Lancet last week, entitled "Sepsis hysteria: excess hype and unrealistic expectations."1 It triggered lively Twitter exchanges under the hashtag #sepsishysteria.2 The ensuing discussion starkly exemplified some issues doctors now face when discussing contested, emotionally charged topics on social media.

What made the Lancet letter especially interesting was that the authors were recognised experts in sepsis deterioration and scores for identifying physiological decline. Mervyn Singer has been a key player in international consensus definitions of sepsis and an advocate for improving care3; Matt Inada-Kim is a national clinical adviser on sepsis and deterioration4; and Manu Shankar-Hari is a recognised sepsis researcher.5 This made their pause for critical thought all the more noteworthy and added to …


Abstract We consider the decentralised consensus optimization problem in this paper. A fast decentralised gradient-based algorithm is proposed for a general class of problems with convex and differentiable objective functions. The developed method guarantees that all the nodes in the network would reach consensus on the global variable eventually. Based on the proposed decentralised algorithm, a broadcast-based protocol is designed, which is capable of providing solution for real-time in situ seismic imaging. Extensive numerical experiments on both synthetic and real sensor network seismic data sets validate the superior efficiency of the proposed algorithm over the other benchmarks. Graphical Abstract It is the architecture of the seismic tomography in sensor networks.


The research contains data about virologic and molecular-genetic evaluation of sewage samples, obtained in 2010-2011. The efficacy of Bortnichi aeration station in an eliminating of viral agents has been evaluated. An efficiency of PCR as a method of sewage sample analysis has been proved, that results an enchanced evaluation of enteroviruses contamination in different environmental objects.


Abstract In Germany the legal planning and approval processes for airport expansion projects are heavily politicized, and legal disputes take years to resolve. Thus, doubts arise about the rationality, not only of specific approval decisions but also of the institutional setting within which these decisions are made. We analyze the deficiencies of the current institutional framework for planning and approving airport infrastructure projects in Germany and develop guidelines for an institutional reform.


Contact granuloma of the vocal cords is a recognised but unusual complication of prolonged endotracheal intubation. The authors have however encountered a case of contact granuloma associated with short-term intubation of just four hours following orthognathic surgery. Here we briefly describe the orthodontic case and orthognathic surgery. We further explain the presenting symptoms and treatment undertaken for the contact granuloma.


An extensive phytochemical analysis of the polar extracts from bulbs of shallot, Allium ascalonicum Hort., led to the isolation of two new furostanol saponins, named ascalonicoside A1/A2 (1a/1b) and ascalonicoside B (4), respectively, along with compounds 2a and 2b, most likely extraction artifacts. On the basis of 2D NMR and mass spectrometry data, the structures of the novel compounds were elucidated as furost-5(6)-en-3beta,22alpha-diol 1beta-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl 26-O-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->2)-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside] (1a), its epimer at position 22 (1b), and furost-5(6),20(22)-dien-3beta-ol 1beta-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl 26-O-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->2)-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside] (4). This is the first report of furostanol saponins in A. ascalonicum. High concentrations of quercetin, isorhamnetin, and their glycosides were also isolated and described.


We prove a sharp version of the Hopf boundary point lemma for Black-Scholes type equations. We also investigate the existence and the regularity of the spatial derivative of the solutions at the spatial boundary.


G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) plays a central role in the regulation of a variety of signaling pathways associated with many important cellular processes. Alternation of GRK2 expression has profound effects on cell physiological functions and induces diseases such as heart failure, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer. In this study, we investigated the role of GRK2 in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) HepG2 cells. We created a GRK2 knockdown cell line using a lentivirus containing GRK2 specific shRNA. Under IGF-1 (50 ng/ml) stimulation, HepG2 cells with reduced GRK2 expression showed increased tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS1 at the residue 612 and increased phosphorylation of Akt. We then treated the cells with gefitinib, an EGFR inhibitor. We found HepG2 cells displayed gefitinib sensitiveness with the increase of drug concentration. Moreover, gefitinib treated cells with reduced expression of GRK2 showed decreased phosphorylation of Akt in a dose dependent manner, but had relatively more IGF-1R expression. However, HepG2 cells with reduced expression of GRK2 did not display any growth difference in culture as compared with the scramble control cells. We further detected that reduced expression of GRK2 induced a small G2/M phase arrest by overexpressing cyclin A, B1, and E. DNA microarray analysis showed decreased transcription levels of IGF binding protein 1 and 4, which were confirmed by quantitative PCR analysis. Our results demonstrated that GRK2 has a role in the regulation of IGF-1R signaling pathway and involves in cell cycle progression in HCC HepG2 cells. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1234. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1234


Indigenous School Education Officer for Civil-directed, School Opleiding voor Inlandsche Ambtenaren (OSVIA) in Serang Banten years 1900-1927. This research is based on a system of government that the Dutch East Indies in the program directed by the Government is required to be able to perform administrative tasks in the province but because of the high officials who have to come from the Netherlands to the Dutch government established a school to meet educational officials natives in the province. The purpose of this thesis writers to learn the system of government in the province with the native elite-modern with the traditional school as a condition for becoming a regent. The method that I use the method of Historical done through several stages, namely: (1) Heuristics, (2) criticism, (3) interpretation, (4) Historiography. While the techniques used to obtain data through library research by studying and analyzing various resource books, newspapers, interviews and archival materials related to the issues discussed. The results reveal that the purpose of recruitment administration in Banten just to get the officer natives are very cheap and the Dutch government considers important role for indigenous political elite bureaucracy native is an intermediary between the government and the people using its traditional authority. So the Dutch government established a school to become an administrative officer at the school named Banten OSVIA. After the establishment of the school in Serang Banten OSVIA traditional governance with the pedigree of the king replaced by a modern system which breeds not be the main requirement to be governor, but education has to be provided to the regents, in which a minimum standard of education graduates OSVIA and able to speak Dutch. Thus the author can give lessons to the community and fellow students with thesis title so that I can learn a transitional government would be traditional-modern in Banten after the arrival of the Dutch.


A new study challenges a previous hypothesis that a comet explosion or impact about 12,900 years ago caused devastating fires over much of North America and Europe and triggered an abrupt global cold period known as the Younger Dryas. Proponents of the impact theory claim that carbonaceous spherules and nanodiamonds found in deposits from the Younger Dryas formed through intense heat following a comet impact. The new study, however, finds that the carbon spherules are actually fossilized balls of fungus, charcoal, and fecal pellets created by low-intensity wildfires.


In dealing with endangered languages, focus has been shifting from the languages themselves and their scientific documentation to the communities that speak such languages. This paper is an attempt to examine how linguistic, scientific research can be conducted in a way that actively involves and empowers the target community-an approach which falls under the umbrella of what may be known as participatory research. In this paper, we will address the particular goals and theoretical bases of a participatory-research-based approach to linguistic research, we will present some of the projects that have been or are presently being conducted in Nicaragua, and we will evaluate the preliminary results of those projects.


Nitric oxide (NO) can exert both protective and proinflammatory actions in the gastrointestinal tract. NO, formed physiologically by constitutive NO synthases, regulates vascular tone, protects the microvasculature from injury, and modulates adhesion of inflammatory cells. In contrast, expression of an inducible isoform of NO synthase, capable of producing excessive NO levels, is implicated in tissue injury. Such proinflammatory effects of NO, observed in epithelial and endothelial cells, may depend on degree of expression, as well as local environment, and involve further cytotoxic moities such as peroxynitrite. Therapeutic potential of selective inhibitors of NO formation is thus anticipated.


Hashimoto's encephalopathy is a rare, chronic relapsing and remitting encephalopathy associated with auto-antibodies against thyroid components. Clinically it is characterized by tremor, myoclonus, stroke-like episodes, seizures, impairment of consciousness, and dementia. We described here a 13-year-old boy who presented with generalized tonic clonic seizures associated with Hashimoto's encephalopathy. After corticosteroid treatment, his neurological features improved dramatically. As a result, Hashimoto's encephalopathy should be considered in cases of unexplained encephalopathy and seizures in pediatric patients.


This work proposes an "N2-1" sacrificial strategy to help to improve the accuracy of the bonding technique from the existing level. The target micropattern is copied N2 times, and (N2-1) of them are sacrificed to obtain the most accurate alignment. Meanwhile, a method for manufacturing auxiliary solid alignment lines on transparent materials is proposed to visualize auxiliary marks and facilitate the alignment. Though the principle and procedure of alignment are straightforward, the alignment accuracy substantially improved compared to the original method. With this technique, we have successfully fabricated a high-precision 3D electroosmotic micropump just using a conventional desktop aligner. Because of the high precision during the alignment, the flow velocity is up to 435.62 μm/s at a driven voltage of 40 V, which far exceeds the previous similar reports. Thus, we believe that it has great potential for high precision microfluidic device fabrications.


In this article, a new multiple-mode floating-point fused multiply–add (FMA) unit is proposed for deep learning processors. The proposed design supports three functional modes—normal FMA mode, mixed FMA mode, and dual FMA mode—and four types of precision—single-precision (SP), half-precision (HP), BFloat16 (BF16), and TensorFloat-32 (TF32)—based on the practical requirements of deep learning applications. In the normal FMA mode, conventional FMA operations, one SP operation or two parallel HP operations, are performed every clock cycle. In the mixed FMA mode and dual FMA mode, mixed-precision operations, the fused multiply–accumulate and the dot-product, are implemented, respectively. Specifically, the product of lower precision multiplication can be accumulated to a higher precision addend. Compared with the mixed FMA mode, the throughput is doubled in the dual FMA mode due to the full utilization of the multiplier operand bandwidth. In addition to FMA operations, numerical precision conversion (NPCvt) is also supported in this work: higher precision FMA results can be converted into lower precision numbers, corresponding to the datatype transform in the datapath of deep neural network (DNN) training. The FMA design presented herein uses both the segmentation and reusing methods to trade off performance, such as throughput and latency, against area, and power. Compared with the state-of-the-art multiple-precision FMA unit, the proposed design supports more types of floating-point operation and NPCvt, with higher throughput and lower hardware overhead.


The angiographic pictures of 155 certified malignant melanomas, 15 metastatic intraocular tumours and 16 haemangiomas of the uvea are discussed. Eight angiographic signs are differentiated which can be observed in different combinations by different types of intraocular tumours. Correlation between the number of the angiographic signs by which the tumour is presented and its prominence, calculated by means of ultrasound biometry is proved. A malignant melanoma with high prominence is demonstrated by 3 signs, while for a certain diagnosis of tumours with low prominence, at least 6 angiographic signs should be observed. by means of methods of statistics, such as correlation and variation diagnostic differences in the angiographic pictures of the discussed 3 types of tumours are found, having compared tumours with equal prominence. It turns out that malignant melanomas with low prominence present a marked fluorescence (6 signs at least), while the haemangiomas of the uvea, with the same prominence are presented with less fluorescentic signs (maximum 4), and the metastatic tumours with even less (2-3 signs).


BackgroundIn the attempt to face the COVID-19 pandemic, the global scientific community has been expending great efforts to produce useful and reliable data aiming to help patients, physicians and guiding public health policies. A huge amount of information is being released every week, making impossible for a single person (or even for a research group) to read everything and get constantly updated on the scientific literature concerning COVID-19 and its etiological agent, SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, we developed PlatCOVID (www.platcovid.com), a Web platform designed to analyze, cluster, classify and discuss COVID-19 literature available on LitCovid (NCBI). ResultsPlatCOVID has been created as a novel COVID-19 hub able to add features of text mining and syntax analyses methods, such as word and sentence atomization and tokenization, clusterization and classification. The main division of the literature comprehends five categories: 1) Diagnosis; 2) Epidemiology; 3) Clinical, Signs & Symptoms; 4) Transmission; and 5) Treatment & Prevention. Consequently, it is possible to reduce the amount of text to be read with minimal loss of information, identifying target subjects by mining as new insights arise, enhancing data analysis efficiency. PlatCOVID has been designed with central panels (Gene, Drug and Tissue panels) to easily gather and share with the scientific community important COVID-19 information.ConclusionsAlthough most of the text mining and syntax analysis is made by using automated computing processes, the final results must to be humanly curated. With this in mind, PlatCOVID allows researchers to be part of our effort to curate, analyze, discuss and rate each matter of interest (helpus.platcovid.com). We welcome user feedback for further enhancement.


The purpose of this research was to determine the factors which influence the capital structure among microenterprises. The objectives of the study were to identify the factors affecting capital structure of micro-enterprises, to establish the extent to which the factors affect capital structure of micro-enterprises and to analyze the extent to which micro-enterprises have used external finances. The results identified the major determinants of the capital structure of micro-enterprises as being access to capital markets, size of the business, profitability of the business and lender's attitude towards the firm. Banks and financial institutions were noted as the most preferred form of external financing for the micro-enterprises. The study concluded that there are a number of factors affecting the capital structure of micro-enterprises and that micro-enterprises prefer borrowing from various external sources and this affects the capital structure of the micro-enterprises.


This paper presents a model-based learning segmentation algorithm to detect the left ventricle (LV) boundary of the heart from ultrasound (US) images by combining a random forest classifier with an active shape model (ASM). Our method applies an ASM for initial detection of the LV landmarks. Each landmark is subsequently directed radially inward or outward as a result of the random forest classifier identifying the landmark as outside or inside the LV boundary, respectively. This is done while preserving the shape characteristics obtained from the ASM. Our objective is to evaluate the combined application of a random forest classifier with an ASM for detecting the LV boundary with US images. Accuracy of this method is evaluated by comparing both our method and ASM to LV contours traced by an expert. A dataset of 85 randomly selected patient studies was chosen. The method exhibits improved accuracy compared to the ASM, producing a global overlap coefficient of 90.09% compared to 83.8% obtained with an active shape model.


Recently, Golterman and Shamir presented an effective field theory which is supposed to describe the low-energy physics of the pion and the dilaton in an $SU(N_c)$ gauge theory with $N_f$ Dirac fermions in the fundamental representation. By employing this formulation with a slight but important modification, we derive a relation between the dilaton mass squared~$m_\tau^2$, with and without the fermion mass~$m$, and the pion mass squared~$m_\pi^2$ to the leading order of the chiral logarithm. This is analogous to a similar relation obtained by Matsuzaki and~Yamawaki on the basis of a somewhat different low-energy effective field theory. Our relation reads $m_\tau^2=m_\tau^2|_{m=0}+KN_f\hat{f}_\pi^2m_\pi^2/(2\hat{f}_\tau^2)+O(m_\pi^4\ln m_\pi^2)$ with~$K=9$, where $\hat{f}_\pi$ and~$\hat{f}_\tau$ are decay constants of the pion and the dilaton, respectively. This mass relation differs from the one derived by Matsuzaki and~Yamawaki on the points that $K=(3-\gamma_m)(1+\gamma_m)$, where $\gamma_m$ is the mass anomalous dimension, and the leading chiral logarithm correction is~$O(m_\pi^2\ln m_\pi^2)$. For~$\gamma_m\sim1$, the value of the decay constant~$\hat{f}_\tau$ estimated from our mass relation becomes $\sim50\%$ larger than $\hat{f}_\tau$ estimated from the relation of Matsuzaki and~Yamawaki.


The global mid-ocean ridge system is the site of 75% of Earth's volcanism. Whilst mid-ocean ridges have been studied for decades, ultraslow-spreading ridges, such as the Gakkel Ridge have received comparably little attention. These ultraslow-spreading ridges are important because, in addition to representing a spreading ridge end-member, they are also volumetrically significant and make up ~36% of the global mid-ocean ridge system. Despite this, we have very few constraints on the physical nature of the underlying magma plumbing systems or the magmatic processes occurring within them. To address this knowledge gap, this thesis presents the first systematic and quantitative analysis of crystal cargo textures and compositions of ultraslow-spreading mid-ocean ridge basalt (Gakkel Ridge, Arctic Ocean). These data are used to infer the physiochemical conditions present within the Gakkel Ridge magma plumbing system. Using the textures and compositions of >1800 plagioclase crystals, the Gakkel Ridge crystal cargo is shown to be complex, with both individual plagioclase and glomerocrysts showing large variations in crystal habit, zoning and resorption. These textures, combined with basalt modal crystal contents, indicate that the crystal cargo is not generally phenocrystic in origin, and that undercooling, magma mixing, decompression and mush disaggregation are important processes occurring within the magma plumbing system. To constrain the depths of crystallisation within the Gakkel Ridge magma plumbing system, volatile contents of olivine- and plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions have been determined. The volatile contents of plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions correspond to significantly higher crystallisation pressures (mean 270 MPa) than olivine-hosted melt inclusions (mean 145 MPa). The higher pressures recorded in plagioclase-hosted inclusions, which correspond to crystallisation as deep as 16.4 km below the seafloor, are consistent with both the proposed thickness of the Gakkel Ridge lithosphere and pressures reconstructed from glass compositions. Contrary to previous studies using olivine-hosted melt inclusions alone, these results demonstrate that mid-ocean ridge volcanoes, at least at ultraslow-spreading ridges, have magmatic roots deep in the lithospheric mantle. The observed dichotomy in pressure recorded in olivine vs. plagioclase indicates that a multi-mineral melt inclusion approach is required to constrain the full range of crystallisation depths present in magmatic systems. Examination of along axis changes in mineral textures, mineral and melt geochemistry, melt inclusion crystallisation pressures, crystal content and ridge bathymetry demonstrates that the nature of the plumbing system and processes occurring within it are variable. There are no systematic changes with decreasing spreading rate along-axis. Instead, variations in the extent of partial melting and the degree of melt focussing along the base of the lithosphere play a key role in influencing the nature of magma plumbing systems at the Gakkel Ridge. Taken together, this thesis builds on our growing understanding of the complexity of processes occurring within mid-ocean ridge magmatic systems. It demonstrates that, contrary to the often-held view that mid-ocean ridges are nominally simple and have shallow magma plumbing systems, the observed textural and compositional complexity and crystallisation depths attest to the presence of vertically extensive plumbing systems within which complex magmatic processes occur.


The pharmaceutical industry, especially the biopharmaceutical segment, is a high-tech sector characterized by high investments and high prices. But it is also a sector with high risk. Traditionally, only advanced industrialized economies have been able to support such an industry. Recently, however, the internationalization of R&D activities for new drug development, combined with favourable local factor conditions in emerging economies, has worked to change this situation. Small and specialized biopharmaceutical firms from emerging markets have begun to compete successfully along the global value chain. This study examines three of the leading Chinese firms in this sector to illustrate the primary factors that have driven their growth. The study shows that the global shift of R&D activities to developing countries has provided market demand to stimulate the growth of indigenous firms. At the same time, the local, sectoral innovation system in China, including universities, state research institutions and the regulatory environment, has provided financial and human resources, as well as infrastructure to support this growth. Yet the histories of these firms also underline the critical role played by the entrepreneurial founders of these firms in pursuing innovation through capability building and development. How these companies may continue to develop within the Chinese context and become more global players as the industry grows and matures is an interesting question for research.


Background: Data on recruitment of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) samples are seldom reported and this issue can be an important source of research waste. Aims: To describe the recruitment challenges and reasons for non-eligibility faced during a bi-centres clinical study assessing the predictive value of a neuropsychological battery of the progression to dementia. Methods: Potential MCI participants were identified from databases of the two memory clinics based in Milan (Italy) and invited to the screening assessment. Results: About 50% of the cases initially identified were ineligible according to inclusion/exclusion criteria and the two sites took 22 months to recruit the planned 150 people. The main reason for non-eligibility were the MMSE score (41%), age (14%), presence of cerebrovascular disorders (9%), perceptual deficits (6%), neurological (6%) or psychiatric (4%) comorbidities and low education (5%). Discussion/ Conclusion. Awareness of the reasons for exclusion and of the time needed to recruit the planned sample would provide hints for the planning of future studies on MCI.


The degradation of 3-chlorophenol(3-CP) by various AOPs(Advanced Oxidation Processes) including the ultraviolet / hydrogen peroxide, the Fenton and the ultraviolet(UV)-Fenton process has been conducted. The highest removal efficiency for 3-CP in the aqueous phase was obtained by the UV-Fenton process among the AOPs. In the UV-Fenton process, The removal efficiency of 3-CP decreased with increasing pH in the range of 3 to 6, and it decreased with increasing initial concentration. As the intermediates of 3-CP by UV-Fenton reaction, 3-chlorocatechol, 4-chlorocatechol, and chlorohydroquinone were detected thus the degradation pathways were proposed.


Multiple myeloma with isolated third nerve palsy as the presenting complaint is a rare entity. We report a case of a 30-year-old man who developed sudden onset left-sided complete abducens nerve palsy without pain. Cranial and orbital magnetic resonance imaging and cerebrospinal fluid examination demonstrated no abnormalities. He was diagnosed as having IgG type multiple myeloma, based on the immunological and pathological investigation. After instituting chemotherapy, palsy resolved within 3 weeks. Etiology is not established beyond doubt but probably palsy was caused by nerve ischemia due to hyperviscosity of the serum.


unit the carrier truck was allowed to stand out in the open for several hours. The turkeys were then taken to the school and on the following day were prepared for cooking, that is on the afternoon before consumption. During the preparation one of the workers noted that one of the three turkeys had a peculiar red colour-but did not smell bad, nor did she notice any bad smell at all. The turkeys were cooked in the normal manner, and, because they were very hot and it was relatively cool weather, the cook left the turkeys out on the kitchen table at room temperature until the next morning, when the meat was shredded and divided up, a sauce being poured over the shredded meat. No pupil or teacher complained of anything objectionable about the dinner at the time of eating, although practically without exception the children and teachers who partook of the dinner had a sharp turn of diarrhoea, nausea, and general upset within 24 hours, mostly within eight to ten hours of eating the turkey. The normal reports were made to the State Health Department but no conclusions were come to as to the possibility of the toxic properties caused by the clostridium being responsible for the upset. This staff felt, however, that the large anaerobic Grampositive rod (resembling a clostridium) was in fact responsible for the illness. Later the bacteriologist in the unit, Mrs. Marjorie Dunlap, experimented with turkeys, and she noticed that the turkey meat cooked promptly after defrosting remained sweet and firm for six days although kept at room temperature. Organisms from the turkey which had been recovered from the garbage can were inoculated into this meat and they stayed alive at room temperature but did not cause any particular decomposition. But she felt that possibly decomposition would have occurred if moisture had been added. On the other hand, turkey meat allowed to defrost and kept raw for five days at room temperature was found on examination to have Gram-positive rods in the meat taken from the shoulder or from the skin. These organisms were not seen in the abdominal cavity. It was unfortunate that in this outbreak very few stool specimens were obtained and in those no special organisms were found. In conclusion it was felt that (although not proved) turkey meat properly cooked but carelessly handled was in fact responsible for the outbreak.


Fluctuations in production and prices are a problem faced by farmers in the red chili farming, so that it has an impact on the level of farm income obtained. This study aims to analyze the efficiency of marketing of red chili in Watangpulu District, Sidrap Regency. The number of samples or respondent farmers is determined by census, that is, the entire population in the research location is used as a sample or research respondent, while the red pepper respondent traders are determined using the snowball sampling method or following the marketing channel / chain formed based on instructions from the red chili farmers. The research data was taken in May -July 2018. Data analysis used was descriptive qualitative and quantitative. Marketing efficiency is analyzed using market structure, market behavior, and market performance. The results showed that the EP value was 4.87%, so the commodity farming business was very efficient to be undertaken. Keywords: Red Chili, Marketing.


Carbohydrate absorption was assessed during acarbose administration to investigate the actions of this drug. In 7 healthy volunteers, breath hydrogen concentration was measured at 15‐min intervals after administration of 6 g of lactulose, and continued until 4 h after the breath hydrogen level exceeded its pretreatment value by ≥10 ppm, then the amount of undigested carbohydrate was calculated following administration of various doses of acarbose and Ensure Liquid. Breath hydrogen data were also obtained before and after administration of acarbose to 8 patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus for 2 and 4 months. After administration of 50 mg of acarbose with 250 ml or 500 ml of Ensure, the mean amount of unabsorbed carbohydrate was 5.3 g and 7.7 g, respectively, while unabsorbed carbohydrate increased to 10.8 g after 100 mg of acarbose with 500 ml of Ensure. In the diabetic patients, breath hydrogen excretion decreased to 31.6 % of baseline after 2 months of acarbose administration, indicating decreased carbohydrate malabsorption. Despite this, the haemoglobin A1c level remained stable after 5 months. In conclusion, the extent of carbohydrate malabsorption depended on the acarbose dose and the carbohydrate load. Although carbohydrate malabsorption decreased with continued acarbose administration, the improvement of glycaemic control was maintained. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This research project examined the context and interaction variables that were associated with reciprocity in communication interaction between adolescents using augmentative/alternative communication (AAC) systems and their non-disabled peers. The participants were five adolescents with physical and/or cognitive disabilities who communicated with various AAC systems and the non-disabled peers in their high school homeroom classes. Six interactive and communicative behaviors were coded on-line by investigators during 15 minute unstructured homeroom sessions. These interactions were coded for reciprocity, and situational variables that distinguished episodes of high and low reciprocity were compared. Results indicated clusters of context/interaction patterns that tended to co-occur with more balanced levels of communication behaviors between the interactants observed. Results are discussed in terms of seven specific guidelines that provide implications for clinical practice.


The Catholic Church has always cared for and continues to cherish the memory of the past. For centuries, the Catholic clergy tried to spread Polish culture related to faith in God and the Church. A beautiful page in this field was written by Fr. Władysław Skierkowski (1886-1941), priest of the Płock diocese, builder of the parish church in Płock-Imielnica, and, above all, a researcher and popularizer of Kurpie culture, songs and historiographer of marriage and family life. The aim of the article is to discuss the existing forms of preserving the memory of this priest and martyr, murdered in the German Nazi camp of Soldau. The text contains information about all plaques and inscriptions devoted to this priest-ethnographer, and the history of the birth of the idea and circumstances of erecting a monument to this priest in Bogurzyn in 2021, where he was baptized in the parish church and grew up until his studies at the Płock seminary.


The least‐squares finite element method (LSFEM) based on first‐order formulations of governing equations has been used successfully for incompressible and compressible flows and transport processes. It has not been applied to turbulent flows. In this work, large eddy simulation (LES) with dynamic subgrid‐scale models is used to simulate turbulent flows. The LSFEM is implemented to solve the filtered LES equations for turbulent flows and transport processes. Numerical experiments have been carried out for three types of turbulent flows, turbulent channel flow, transitional recirculating flow, and thermal convective turbulent flow. Numerical results are compared with experimental data or direct numerical simulation results. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A new species of glyptosternine catfish of the genus Exostoma is described from the Chakpi River, a tributary of the Chindwin-Irrawaddy drainage in northeastern India. The new species can be distinguished from congeners of the Chindwin-Irrawaddy drainage except E. chaudhurii and E. vinciguerrae in having an adipose fin confluent (vs. separate) with the upper procurrent caudal-fin rays. It differs from E. chaudhurii in having anastomosing, rounded (vs. parallel) striae on the anterolateral surfaces of the lips and from E. vinciguerrae in having shorter adipose-fin base (29.1–32.3% SL vs. 35.4–39.4). This is the sixth species of Exostoma known from the Chindwin-Irrawaddy drainage.


Arakawa and Schubert proposed convective quasi equilibrium as a guiding principle for the closure of convection parameterization. However, empirical experiences from operational implementation efforts suggest that its strict application does not work well. The purpose of the present paper is to explain mathematically why this closure does not work in practice, and to suggest that problems stem from physically unrealistic assumptions. For this purpose, the closure hypothesis is examined in its original form, and without imposing a condition of a positiveness to the convective mass fluxes. The Jordan sounding with idealized large-scale forcing is used for diagnosis purposes. The question is addressed from several perspectives including the completeness of the entraining-plume spectrum, and a singular vector decomposition of the interaction kernel matrix. The main problems with the quasi-equilibrium closure are traced to (i) the relatively slow response of shallower convective modes to large-scale forcing and (ii) detrainment at convection top producing strong cooling and moistening. A strict application of the convective quasi-equilibrium principle leads to a singular response of shallow convection. An explicit coupling of convection with stratiform clouds would be crucial for preventing this unrealistic behavior, recognizing that the reevaporation of detrained cloudy air is a relatively slow process.


AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 18-22, 2009; Denver, CO

The elevated incidence of breast cancer in women has been associated with prolonged exposure to high levels of estrogen and we have demonstrated that 17 \#946;-estradiol (E2) is capable of in vitro transforming the human breast epithelial cell (HBEC) MCF-10F that is ER\#945;-negative (FASEB J 2006;20:1622-34). In the present work we aim to determine whether recombinant human chorionic gonadotrophin (rhCG) prevents the initiation of the neoplastic process induced by E2. The rationale in the use of rhCG is that there is a reduction in breast cancer incidence resulting from early and multiple full-term pregnancies and that rhCG mimics this preventive effect by inducing gland differentiation. For this purpose we studied the effect of the rhCG on the transformation induced by E2. MCF-10F cells were cultured during two weeks in the presence of 70nM E2 alone or in combination with 50IU/ml rhCG. As controls, MCF-10F were treated with DMSO (solvent in which E2 was dissolved) or rhCG alone. At the end of the treatments, the cells were plated in collagen (3-D culture) for detecting two main phenotypes of cell transformation that are the loss of ductulogenic capacity and the concomitant formation of solid masses of cells. In these structures we have determined the length and diameter of the main ducts, the diameter of solid masses, and the number of primary, secondary and tertiary branching arising from main ducts. Analysis of the variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey\#8217;s test was used for the comparisons of quantitative parameters. We found that E2 significantly increased solid mass formation (both in number and size) (p<0,001) and it also increased the main duct width (p<0,001) although, it did not affect the length and branching of the ducts. E2 also caused a remarkable disruption of the luminal monolayer architecture. The total numbers of ducts were found to be similar between the different groups however, the number of intermediate forms in the E2+rhCG group was significantly higher than the others (p<0,001). In the E2+rhCG group, the number of primary and secondary branching was higher than the control in regular media and DMSO groups (p=0,005; p=0,010). The ducts showed tertiary branching only in the rhCG-treated groups (rhCG and rhCG+E2). In addition, number of tertiary branches in rhCG group was higher than combination (Student\#8217;s t test, p<0,001). Main ductal lengths in rhCG-treated groups (rhCG and rhCG+E2) were significantly longer than the others (p<0,001). In conclusion the rhCG was able to abrogate the transforming abilities of estradiol and it had a differentiating property on the human breast epithelial cells by increasing the branching pattern. These observations indicate that rhCG has significant potential as chemo-preventive agent, protecting the normal cells from becoming malignant. (This study was supported by Grant R21 ES015894-01 from the NIEHS)

Citation Information: In: Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res; 2009 Apr 18-22; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2009. Abstract nr 5.


The pressure-flow characteristics of 100 left circumflex stenoses in 10 chronically instrumented unsedated dogs were studied under resting conditions and during pharmacological coronary vasodilation. At rest, the pressure loss (ΔP) due to a stenosis and arterial flow velocity (V) were related by the equation, ΔP = FV + SV2, where F is the coefficient of pressure loss due to viscous friction in the stenotic segment and S is the coefficient of pressure loss due to flow separation at the diverging end of the stenosis. The linear term due to viscous friction accounted for 65% and the nonlinear term due to flow separation accounted for 35% of the total pressure loss at resting coronary flow. At peak coronary flow after coronary vasodilation, the pressure loss due to viscous friction accounted for 33% and pressure loss due to flow separation accounted for 67% of the total pressure loss. The pressure gradient-velocity relationship at high flows was characterized by the same general equation but with proportionately larger values of the coefficient S and therefore greater pressure loss associated with flow separation than predicted by the resting gradient-velocity relationship. The pressure loss predicted for high coronary flow velocities on the basis of the gradient-velocity equation at rest was only 64% of the actual experimentally observed pressure gradient at peak coronary flow. The augmented separation loss following coronary vasodilation probably was due to dilation of the epicardial artery adjacent to the fixed stenotic segment which caused more severe relative percent narrowing and a larger divergence angle at the distal end of the stenosis, the primary geometric determinants of separation losses.


: Metabolic syndrome is a congregation of central obesity, dyslipidemia, raised blood sugar levels, increasing the individual's susceptibility to Type II Diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Objectives: (1) To determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in young, urban, female population. (2) To determine the risk factors in poor, urban, female population. Study Design: This was a descriptive cross sectional study. Setting: The department of Gynae/ Obst Unit II KMDC/Abbasi Shaheed hospital. Period: One year starting from January 2016 to December 2016. Material and Method: Approval was taken from ESRC of KMDC. All healthy asymptomatic married/single women between 18-49 years of age were included while women <18 or >50 years of age, diabetic, hypertensive or having bleeding disorders were excluded from study. Laboratory data included blood sugar, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, collected by phlebotomist from the participants in fasting state through venipuncture. A Chi-square test was applied to evaluate the association of demographic group variables and metabolic syndrome. P-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. There was no conflict of interest. Result: A total of 343 participants were recruited. The socio and demographic data is summarized in Table-I. The prevalence of Metabolic syndrome was found to be high. 227(66.2%) of participants were having Metabolic syndrome according to NCEP ATP III criteria. 63(18.4 %) had history of PIH while 52(15.2%) had family history of hypertension and 126(36.7 %) had family history of both Hypertension and Diabetes. 232 (67.6 %) of women had sedentary life style and only 3(0.9%) practiced aerobic exercises. 287(83.7%) had their waist circumference of >80cm, the mean systolic blood pressure was 127.5 +-23.76 while the mean diastolic blood pressure was 86.99+-57.36. The mean of BMI was at higher level 30.97+-6.41. Obesity is the most common risk factor for Metabolic syndrome. The mean of fasting blood sugar was 105.08+-42.16 which was on higher side. The mean of Triglycerides 142.43+-61.12 and HDL 39.04+-12.45 were within normal limits. Increased prevalence was observed in women who had PIH during pregnancy and childbirth 25.1% v 5.2%(p value=0.001). Conclusion: Prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome is a big challenge. Lifestyle interventions should begin from the early childhood to reduce weight and to prevent development of obesity and metabolic syndrome. develop.


Abstract. Cropland mapping is very important for food security, policy development, land use planning, and environmental protection. Scientists have developed methods and techniques for cropland mapping with remote sensing image data. Both single date and multitemporal image data are used for generation of cropland and crop type maps. Multitemporal image data has advantages over single date image data from reliability and accuracy point of view because multitemporal image data allows to eliminate seasonality of vegetation. In this paper, the authors present new algorithm for cropland and crop type mapping with multitemporal Landsat image data. The algorithm requires for analysis of all Landsat scenes observed during one year and if needed, scenes in some years back to compensate clouds and cloud shadows. Phenology of land cover is constructed based on six bimonthly cloud free land covers that were automatically classified using the selected scenes. By grouping land covers within two months to six land covers of periods January–February, March–April, May-June, July–August, September–October, and November–December we create six bimonthly cloud free land covers that formulate a database for mapping cropland and crop types. By analysis of 50 Landsat scenes of path/row number 128/45 (northwest of Vietnam) observed mainly from 2017, 2016 and 2015 we success to map upland cropland and 14 crop types with area ranging from 145,143 ha to 3,373 ha per crop type. The study pointed out that phenology characterized by six bimonthly land covers is acceptable to identify cropland distribution and some specific crop types. For better results, apparently we need higher temporal resolution of image data. Due to uncertainty of the atmosphere, it is almost impossible to rely only on optical remote sensing data to achieve high temporality of data so application of multitemporal SAR data could be a way to overcome this obstacle.


We report a three generation Indian pedigree with the proband having 45 repeats at the Machado Joseph Disease (MJD)/spinocerebellar ataxia 3 (SCA3) disease locus. The proband exhibited clinical features of SCA and showed signs of cerebellar and brainstem atrophy on the MRI scan. The 45 repeat allele was unstable upon inter‐generational transmission and was associated with a haplotype found in the majority of MJD/SCA3 patients from around the world. This is the smallest unstable allele reported till date at the MJD/SCA3 locus and may greatly reduce the gap between normal and pathological repeat ranges. This article contains supplementary material, which may be viewed at the American Journal of Medical Genetics website at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/0148‐7299:1/suppmat/index.html. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


ABSTRACT Response times (RTs) are commonly used to assess cognitive abilities, though it is unclear whether face processing RTs predict recognition ability beyond accuracy. In the current study, we examined accuracy and RT on a widely used face matching assessment modified to collect meaningful RT data, the computerized Benton Facial Recognition Test (BFRT-c), and measured whether RTs predicted face recognition ability and developmental prosopagnosia (DP) vs. control group membership. 62 controls and 36 DPs performed the BFRT-c as well as validated measures of face recognition ability: the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) and a Famous Faces Memory Test (FFMT). In controls, BFRT-c accuracy robustly predicted CFMT (r = .49, p < .001), FFMT (r = .43, p < .001), and a CFMT-FFMT composite (r = .54, p < .001), whereas BFRT-c RT was not significantly associated with these measures (all r's  .21). We also found that BFRT-c accuracy significantly differed between DPs and controls, but RT failed to differentiate the groups.


Considerations of totally electronic picture archiving system (PACS) often neglect the fact that every radiology practice currently has some system for storing and retrieving images and related alphanumeric data. Although these systems are usually manual, many departments now use on-line computers to help manage film flow. In either event, the creation of electronic PACS can be viewed as a classic data processing problem of automating an existing system, and the conversion should proceed through the usual steps of documenting the existing system in detail, and conducting feasibility studies and cost-benefit analyses. Documenting current systems should be facilitated by computer-assisted PACS - particularly documenting transaction volumes which can be provided as a by-product of radiology information management systems. Similarly cost-benefit analysis should be facilitated, although the cost/benefit ratio may be less favorable when comparing automated to computer-assisted PACS. Finally, information management features such as those provided by current on-line radiology systems provide a framework necessary to realize the full benefits of automated PACS.


In article on the basis of specific calculations the author shows the level of tax burden of the economy and some manufacturing industries in Russia in comparison with foreign countries. On average, this level is about 1.4–1.8 times higher in Russia compared to most developed countries. In order to reduce the tax burden on the business proposes to modernize tax policy in Russia on two fronts. The first direction involves redistribution of gravity of taxation from legal enties to physical with the introduction of their progressive income tax. The second direction to reduce the tax burden, the author relates an urgent need to modernize the depreciation policy in Russia, which should allow to accelerate the pace of economic growth. This direction in the process of reproduction, the author considers as a manifestation of the «new economy», the characteristic feature of which is the active use of «soft power» aimed at forcing the business to better use its profits on investment.


The notion of semantic roles is usually attributed to Fillmore [8], however its history can be traced back through TesniSre [16] to Panini. Following this tradition, many researchers recognize their usefulness in the description of language even if they do not agree on their significance [7]. However, a weak or strong commitment to this notion does not elude the fact that it proves to be very difficult to settle on a finite set of labels along with their formal definitions. The d i lemma resulting from this challenge is well known: to require a univocal identification by each role results in an increase in their number while to abstract their semantic content gives rise to an inconsistent set. If a finite set is possible, one has to find a proper balance between these two extremes. As a result, every flavor of roles have been used from time to time in linguistics (e.g., GB, in the spirit of Fillmore, HPSG, in the line of situation semantics), and also in AI [10, see also 4]. Between the total refusal to use those labels (as in GPSG) and the acceptance of individual roles (as in HPSG) there is a wide range of proposals on what consti tute a good set o f L(inguistic)-Roles [7] and, as a consequence, on the way to differentiate between them and define them. Most of the definitions have been based on the referential properties that can be associated with each role bearer (e.g. an AGENT is a volitional animate entity). Even if this approach is necessary at one time or another, this kind of definition inevitably leads to either the "let 's create another role" or the "let 's abstract its definition" syndromes. Properties are not always of the static kind though. Sometimes, dynamic properties are also used (e.g. an AGENT is the perceived instigator of the action). Since one of the desired characteristic of a roles system is the power to discriminate events [5] (another "desired" property being to offer an easier selection of grammatical functions), the recognition of semantic roles should be linked to the interpretation of the event, that is to their dynamic properties. In a study on locative verbs in French, Boons [3] has convincingly shown the importance of taking into account aspectual criteria in the description of a process, suggesting that GOAL and SOURCE roles should be reinvestigated in the light of those criteria. It is our hypothesis that proliferation of roles is a natural phenomenon caused by the specialized properties required by the interpretation of a predicate within a specific semantic field: to overlook these properties yields the over-generalization already mentionned. The best way to approach the expansion/contraction dilemma is to search for the minimal relations required for a dynamic interpretation of events (in terms of their aspectual criteria and through an identification of all the participants in i0. Our first step toward this abstraction was to consider each par t ic ipant ( individuals or properties) either as a localized entity (a token) or a location (a place), and to determine its role in the realization of the process expressed by the predicate. The model exhibits some common points with a localist approach [1,11] since it recognizes (in an abstract sense) the importance of spatio-temporal "regions" in the process of individuation of events [14]. To express the change of localization (again in an abstract sense), the notion of transitions is used. The entire construction is inspired by Petri net theory [15]: a set S of places, a set T of transitions, a flow relation F: (S x T) ~ (T x S) and markers are the categories used to define the structure of a process (and as a consequence of the events composing it). For example, the dynamic representation of Max embarque la caisse sur le cargo [3J/Max embarks the crate on the cargo boat can be analyzed in two steps. First there is a transition from an initial state IS where the crate is not on the cargo boat to a final state FS where the crate is on the cargo boat. The final state can be expressed by the static passive, la caisse est embarqude sur le cargo~the crate was embarked on the cargo boat, and is schematized in (2). One of the argument (cargo boat) is used as a localization while the other argument is used as a localized entity (crate), the THEME according to Gruber [9]. The initial state can be expressed (in this case) by the negation of the final state and is schematized in (1). The realization of the entire process is then represented by the firing of the net which can be illustrated by the snapshots (1) and (2). 1. Is:t~ir-~O:Fs 2. IS:O---[---(~):Fs To integrate the participation of "Max" in the model, we recognize the importance of


Abstract This article demonstrates the important role that the European statistical agency – Eurostat – plays in shaping tools for responding to banking crises. From 2009, Eurostat used its position as the interpreter of member state budget statistical rules to implement increasingly stringent rules for how financial crisis responses would affect public budgets. Rather than mere technical details, these rules affected crisis responses. Elected politicians, and especially those under bailout programmes, have strong incentives to minimise the direct budgetary effects of aiding failing financial institutions. By establishing and enforcing new rules about which crisis responses directly hit member state budgets and which did not, Eurostat created incentives to choose certain policies. The article explores this process by examining the creation of bad banks and the European Stability Mechanism. It makes an original contribution to both the study of the European banking union and the general role that statistical agencies can play in shaping crisis responses.


Yellowtail Seriola quinqueradiata were fed on brown fish meal diets supplemented with 40mg/100g of α-tocopherol (α-Toc) and 9% of sardine oil whose POV was 4.7 (group I) or 100 (group II) for 30 days, and changes in a-Toc contents, 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values, and superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities in the liver were analyzed. No pathological changes were observed in either group after the experiment. TBARS value and both enzyme activities of group I were lower and the α-Toc content of the group was higher than those of group II. These results suggest that in vivo lipid peroxidation may progress in the liver of yellowtail fed on a diet containing lipid peroxides whose contents are lower than those bringing about pathological changes, and that to suppress in vivo lipid peroxidation α-Toc may be consumed while SOD and GSH-Px might be induced.


Looking back at the 1988 presidential campaign the charges traded over grain embargoes, supply management, and Belgian endive were, to say the least, less than enlightening. It was a campaign short on specifics but long on accusations and ridicule. Perhaps that's because the issues facing American agriculture today do not readily lend themselves to 30-second TV commercials or staged political events.


This article reviews the therapeutic significance of the close genotype–phenotype association in papillary thyroid carcinoma, namely regarding the association between genetic alterations in RET, BRAF or RAS genes and the histopathological variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Based upon the aforementioned review on morphology and molecular pathology, the most recent prognostic and therapeutic data are reviewed and the role of targeted therapies, namely those interfering with BRAF-activated pathways are discussed, which may play a role in the treatment of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma unresponsive to radioactive iodine.


The purpose of this study is to produce nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) that can solubilize poorly water-soluble velutin and verify an improved tyrosinase synthesis inhibition. A solubility test for velutin was conducted. Cetyl palmitate and caprylic/capric triglyceride were selected as solubilizer. The lipid matrix was produced using the ultrasound dispersion method. The morphology and size distribution of the produced NLC was analyzed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), and the release and tyrosinase inhibition of velutin was evaluated through the Franz diffusion cell method and tyrosinase inhibition assay. Lipid matrix nanoparticles showed an average size of approximately 250 nm and polydispersity of 0.2, and it was confirmed that the velutin incorporated within nanoparticles sustained release at a constant rate over 36 hours. Due to extremely low aqueous solubility, the tyrosinase synthesis inhibition of velutin suspension was 0%, and the value of velutin incorporated within the NLC formulation was greatly improved 56.5% (40 μg/mL). As a result, it was verified that lipid-based NLC nanoparticles are an efficient formulation for the topical delivery of poorly water-soluble flavonoids such as velutin.


In order to assess cascading effects in directed networks, we present a model for the dynamics of failure spreading. The model combines network nodes as active, bistable elements
 and delayed interactions along directed links. Through simulations, we study the dynamics behaviour of generic sample networks. Besides evaluating the failure cascades, for which we observe
 a critical threshold for the undamped spreading of failures in a network, we simulated the effect of different strategies for the management of spreading disasters. Our recovery strategies
 are based on the assumption that the interaction structure of the challenged network remains unchanged, while additional resources for mitigation actions, improving the recovery capacities
 of system components, can be distributed over the network. The simulations clearly demonstrate that the topology of a network is a crucial factor both for the behaviour under external
 disturbances and for the optimality of different strategies to cope with an evolving disaster. Our model may be used to improve disaster preparedness and anticipative disaster response
 management.


Ever-increasing electrification of the drive train offers new possibilities for the power train layouts as well as for vehicle dynamics control. For a single-wheel driven electric vehicle, one should utilize the advantages of the electric engines compared to conventional components. Within this contribution, an optimized arrangement regarding installation space of the drive train with single rear wheel drive was investigated. The electric motors were used for acceleration and deceleration, hence regenerative braking. Often, for brake situations with excessive wheel slip, electric engines are switched off and conventional components as the hydraulic wheel brakes are used to control the wheel speed. A control scheme for a rear-wheel driven electric vehicle with single wheel drives is presented, where only the rear engines and no friction brakes are used for all driving and braking torques. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme has been proven in real vehicle tests for acceleration as well as for braking situations on low friction coefficient surface (snow).


We propose a multi-issue point mechanism to be used in conflict resolution situations. This mechanism extract "gains from trade" inherent in the differing valuation towards the various issues where conflict exists. In order to assess the performance of this mechanism vis-a-vis unconstrained communication, we run a series of controlled laboratory experiments and find that both mechanisms reach similar levels of welfare, but the multi issue point mechanism allows subjects to reach an agreement more swiftly. In order to analyse in detail the performance of both mechanisms we introduce a classical measure of conflict and see that when conflict is highest, free negotiation sustains most losses: (1) subjects need more time to reach an agreement; (2) the likelihood of gridlock (no agreement) increases.


The specific detection and enumeration of Lactobacillus brevis LB62, Carnobacterium divergens V14 and Carnobacterium piscicola VI were studied by in situ hybridization–flow cytometry. The method was performed on the exponential growth phase with three probes targeting 16S rRNA labelled with fluorescein isothicyanate (FITC) : EUB338 probe universal for Eubacteria, Lb probe specific for Lact. brevis and Cb probe specific for the genus Carnobacterium. EUB338 was used to determine the permeabilization and hybridization conditions for the cells. The Lb probe gave no hybridization signal whereas the Cb probe allowed the detection and quantification by flow cytometry at 520 nm of the two Carnobacterium strains in pure culture or in mixtures with Listeria innocua F.


A patient with hand dermatitis reported that switching her smoking hand resulted in reduced symptoms. When allergy to cigarettes is suspected the literature supports standard allergy testing as well as testing the individual components of cigarettes. Initial standard patch testing revealed an allergy to formaldehyde and the formaldehyde releasing agent, quaternium‐15. The patient did not react to her usual roll‐your‐own cigarette components but reacted to the smoked filter paper of a particular brand of cigarette she frequently borrowed from a friend. Possible explanations include either a variation of ingredients between cigarettes that alters the formaldehyde concentration or another unidentified allergen in the branded cigarette causing allergic contact dermatitis.


PurposeThe aim was to identify the competencies professionals need to promote co-creation engagement within communities.Design/methodology/approachCo-creation could contribute to building community capacity to promote health. Professional development is key to support co-creative practices. Participants were professionals in a position to promote co-creation processes in health-promoting welfare settings across Denmark, Portugal, France and United Kingdom. An overarching unstructured topic guide was used within interviews, focus groups, questionnaires and creative activities.FindingsThe need to develop competencies to promote co-creation was high across all countries. Creating a common understanding of co-creation and the processes involved to increase inclusivity, engagement and shared understanding was also necessary. Competencies included: How to run co-creation from the beginning of the process right through to evaluation, using feedback and communication throughout using an open action-oriented approach; initiating a perspective change and committing to the transformation of co-creation into a real-life process.Practical implicationsOverall, learning about underlying principles, process initiation, implementation and facilitation of co-creation were areas identified to be included within a co-creation training programme. This can be applied through the framework of enabling change, advocating for co-creative processes, mediating through partnership, communication, leadership, assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation and research, ethical values and knowledge of co-creative processes.Originality/valueThis study provides novel findings on the competencies needed for health promoting professionals to embed co-creative processes within their practice, and the key concerns that professionals with a position to mediate co-creation have in transferring the abstract term of co-creation into a real-world practice.


Attendance at professional conferences is an important component of career development, because conferences are a major forum for presenting new research, interacting with colleagues and networking. An extensive literature documents differences in the professional experiences of women and men, including experiences at professional conferences. We hypothesized that women are less likely than men to ask questions at conferences, thus forgoing opportunities for professional development. To address this issue, we analyzed the question-asking behavior of women and men at the 2019 Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology. In all, 112 sessions (55% of those eligible) were randomly chosen for coding, yielding data on 577 presentations. Although approximately 50% of moderators and speakers were women, the proportion of questions asked by women was significantly lower compared with the estimated proportion of women attending the conference (23% vs 39%; P < .0001). Women were more likely to ask questions if another woman asked the first question or if the session topic was red cells. These results suggest that although women are represented equally as moderators and speakers, they are less likely to engage in the postpresentation discourse by asking questions. Encouraging women to speak up in professional situations and providing training on question-asking skills can help address this gender gap that potentially contributes to disparities in professional visibility and career advancement for women in hematology.


The project deals with the finite element approximation of the monodomain equation, which models the propagation of the electrical potential in the cardiac muscle through a coupled system of PDE's. The goal is to recover the shape of an infarcted area inside the cardiac muscle, by measuring the electrical potential on the boundary of the domain representing a portion of tissue. An optimal control formulation of the inverse problem will be analyzed, by considering infarcted areas described by few parameters (e.g width and position). To reach the description of the state problem through a monodomain model for the transmembrane potential, coupled with a system of ODEs describing the ionic model, some steps will be performed by considering first a linear time-dependent state problem; then a nonlinear time-independent state problem; finally, a nonlinear coupled state problem.


Cyclodextrin-based delivery systems have been intensively used to improve the bioavailability of drugs through the modification of their pharmaceutically relevant properties, such as solubility, distribution and membrane permeation. The present work aimed to disclose the influence of HP-β-CD and SBE-β-CD on the distribution and permeability of nortriptyline hydrochloride (NTT•HCl), a tricyclic antidepressant drug. To this end, the distribution coefficients in the 1-octanol/buffer and n-hexane/buffer model systems and the coefficients of permeability through the cellulose membrane and lipophilic PermeaPad barrier were determined at several cyclodextrin concentrations. The results demonstrated a dramatic decrease in both the distribution and the permeability coefficients as the cyclodextrin concentration rose, with the decrease being more pronounced in SBE-β-CD due to the charge–charge attraction and electrostatic interactions between NTT and SBE-β-CD. It is these interactions that were shown to be responsible for the greater value of the constant of NTT's association with SBE-β-CD than that with HP-β-CD. The findings of this study revealed similar trends in the 1-octanol/buffer 6.8 pH distribution and permeability through the PermeaPad barrier in the presence of CDs. These results were attributed to the determinative role of the distribution coefficient (serving as a descriptor) in permeation through the PermeaPad barrier modeling the lipophilic nature of biological barriers.


Hydrogen has the potential to revolutionalise the transportation fuels market towards a greener future. (Photo)electrocatalytic water splitting into oxygen and hydrogen, at present, is one of the most promising technologies that could render large-scale hydrogen production commercially viable. One of the main challenges that has hampered the widespread use of water electrolysis techniques is the large overpotential involved in the water oxidation (anode) reaction, that accompanies the hydrogen evolution (cathode reaction). Therefore, the development of efficient catalyst materials for water oxidation is of crucial importance. Nano-materials have been found to exhibit unique, improved properties over bulk materials when used as either water oxidation or reduction catalysts. This finding mirrors those in many other applications in different fields of science. This thesis investigates the effect of nanostructuring on two prominent catalyst materials, ZnO and MnOx. The fabrication of nanostructured electrodes was explored first by a well-established electrodeposition method, then screen printing was introduced as a novel deposition method for water splitting catalysts. The results indicate that, besides intrinsic material properties and electrode geometry, the method of deposition has a significant effect on catalytic activity. Screen-printing was found to be a particularly effective and versatile method for the preparation of highly active, uniform catalyst films. A series of electrodeposited zinc oxide photoanodes were prepared first. ZnO, a wide-bandgap semiconductor, had previously been found to be a highly active water oxidizing photoanode when illuminated by UV light. With an aim to optimize the performance of electrodeposited ZnO photoanodes, a series of ZnO nanorod arrays was prepared with a variation in the seeding layer deposition. The effect of the inclusion of small amounts of Al in the ZnO films was also tested with a view to improve charge transfer from the semiconductor/liquid junction to the conducting glass substrate. The seeding layer was found to greatly affect film morphology and, consequently, catalytic performance. The inclusion of Al had little effect on catalytic activity. A preliminary investigation of the effects of the electrolyte pH showed a strong influence on catalytic activity and stability. This finding led to the further exploration of these effects on a reproducible model nano-ZnO catalyst, with a focus on addressing photodecomposition of the electrode. Photoanodes, using commercial ZnO nanoparticles, were prepared via a screen-printing process. The catalyst films were highly uniform, which allowed a systematic assessment of the effects of the electrolyte pH on photocorrosion of ZnO in aqueous electrolytes. The pH range, where ZnO is least susceptible to photodecomposition, was proposed to lie between pH 9 - 12.5 based on thermodynamic considerations. The hypothesis was tested by long-term controlled potential electrolysis and was, in most aspects, verified. Using a pH 10.5 borate buffer, 75% of the initial activity was preserved after 12 hours, representing a more than ten-fold improvement over standard testing conditions. High photocatalytic activity by the screen-printed ZnO films was observed, especially at little or no applied potential. At pH 10.5, a light current of 0.6 mA/cm2 was measured under zero-bias conditions, which is one of the highest currents reported recently under similar conditions. The promising results observed when using screen-printed ZnO electrodes led to the adaptation of the screen-printing method to the preparation of other water oxidizing catalysts. Initially, a series of nano-structured Mn-Ce composite oxides was tested, as these materials had been previously shown to exhibit high activity in the oxidative breakdown of organic pollutants in wastewaters, mainly alcohols. The screening of a series of these composites, differing mainly in their Mn:Ce ratios, showed that, unlike in wastewater treatment, the presence of Ce was detrimental to catalytic activity. However, the pure MnOx catalyst showed promising activity as a ``dark" electrocatalyst in water oxidation. The nano-MnOx catalyst film was characterized by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and electrochemical testing methods. The manganese oxide phase was identified as beta-MnO2 with one or two other phases being present in small concentrations. The nano-MnO2 film exhibited much higher catalytic activity than a beta-MnO2 commercial reference sample, especially in alkaline media. At pH 13.6, the onset of oxidation current was below 300 mV overpotential, and current density reached 10 mA/cm2 at 500 mV overpotential. The catalytic activity, verified by oxygen evolution measurements, matched that of the most active manganese oxide catalysts reported to date. Additionally, the ease, versatility and high throughput capability of the screen-printing technique could potentially contribute to rendering this process attractive for commercial up-scaling in the future.


This paper presents the stiffness analysis and design of a 3-DOF parallel robot with one constraining leg, which takes into account of elastic deformations of joints and links. The parallel manipulator in this study is made up of three SPS (Spherical-Prismatic -Spherical) legs and one UP (Universal-Prismatic) leg at the center. The role of the UP leg constrains the motion of the moving platform to 3-DOF and the three SPS legs drives the moving platform by three linear actuators. The stiffness matrix is derived as follows. The reaction forces due to actuations and constraints in each serial chain are determined by making use of the theory of reciprocal screws. The stiffness of this manipulator is modeled such that the moving platform is supported by 6 springs related to the reciprocal screws of actuations and constraints. A general 6times6 stiffness matrix is derived, which is the sum of the stiffness matrices of actuations and constraints. Then the compliance of each spring is precisely determined by modeling the compliance of joints and links in a serial chain. Using the suggested methodology, the stiffness of the 3-DOF parallel robot with one constraining leg has been analyzed. Finally, a numerical example of the optimal design to maximize stiffness in a specified box-shape workspace is presented.


Storage of red cells in acid-citrate-dextrose (ACD) solution for more than a week has been shown to cause a reduction in red cell 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG), resulting in a decrease in the half-saturation pressure (P50) of stored blood, thus increasing hemoglobin-oxygen affinity and theoretically decreasing oxygen delivery to the tissues. A method to isolate and perfuse the hindlimb in a dog has been developed and used successfully to compare the difference of oxygen release between banked and fresh ACD blood. Ten dogs were perfused using canine blood collected in standard blood transfusion bags containing ACD and stored at 4 degrees C and fresh blood collected in a similar manner but used immediately. The total oxygen release in the limb during perfusion with fresh blood was significantly greater than during perfusion with stored blood.


Aim: After conventional aqueous disinfectant solutions, it was shown that microorganisms were still protected in hair follicles. We hypothesized that those aqueous disinfectant solutions when used in combination with alcohol may be more effective on the inhibition of recolonization of skin and therefore catheter tip colonization. Materials and methods: Skin surface samples were taken from epidural catheter insertion sites prior to catheterization, and before and after disinfection with different combinations of povidone-iodine, chlorhexidine, and alcohol. Before catheter removal, cultures were taken once more and tips of the catheters were cultured. Results: Catheter tip colonization and skin culture results of 10% povidone-iodine + 70% alcohol group were significantly lower than those of other groups after disinfection. Conclusion: Sequential use of alcohol and povidone-iodine is the most effective combination for limiting re-colonization of skin flora. Contamination of catheters appears to take place at removal or via the spread of these re-colonized bacteria along the catheter tract.


"Aldosterone breakthrough," which is observed in patients receiving long term treatment with angiotensin blockade, is strongly associated with the increased risk of a declining glomerular filtration rate through the profibrotic actions of aldosterone. Sacubitril/valsartan is a newly created combination medicine (the angiotensin receptor blocker valsartan and the neprilysin-inhibitor sacubitril). Therefore, sacubitril/valsartan should have additional organ-protective actions besides the angiotensin blockade.

 In this study, we examined the renal protective effect of sacubitril/valsartan in a salt-sensitive hypertension model using angiotensin II type 1a receptor (AT1aR) knockout mice. An oral administration of 1% NaCl solution with sacubitril/valsartan (30 or 60 mg/kg/day) or valsartan (15 or 30 mg/kg/day) alone beginning 7 days before administration of aldosterone was examined in an aldosterone infusion AT1R knockout mouse model as an aldosterone breakthrough model.

 A significant decrease in Blood Pressure (BP) was observed in the sacubitril/valsartan group compared to the valsartan group under low and high doses. In addition, the pathological analysis of the kidney for glomerular fibrosis by Sirius red staining and for injury by PAS staining demonstrated significant reductions accompanied by a significant reduction in TGF-β in the sacubitril/valsartan group compared to the valsartan group. Overall, sacubitril/valsartan, which has the dual actions of the AT1R blockade and neprilysin inhibition, may have additional clinical values for the treatment of hypertensive patients with aldosterone breakthrough.


Problem formulation in this research is Is queuing system of double track and single service applied to the PT. Pos Indonesia (Persero) Branch Sangatta already efficient. The aim of this study was to analyze to determine the queuing system of double track and single service at Post Office branches Sengata if it runs efficiently and analyze the application of the theory of queuing at the Post Office branch Sangatta Used theoretical basis of this research is the Operational Management that includes the definition of management, the definition of Management Operations, Objectives and Functions ROP, and Queueing Theory. Queue System Hypothesis double track and single service at PT. Pos Indonesia (Persero) Branch Sangatta not efficient. The analysis tool in this research is the modeling formula proposed by T. Hani Handoko (2000: 5) which is used to 1). To calculate the level of usefulness of single services and facilities section doubles. 2). Calculating the level of utility services 3). Calculating the amount of the average - average in the queue 3) calculate the waiting time for customers 4). Calculate the average number in the queue. Research Associate Service process and a single lane, the level of busyness officer PT. Pos Indonesia (the Company) Branch Senggata is 40% means the clerk special letters have idle time 60% .artinya often occur no customers were queuing up, this is corroborated by the results of the calculation of the probability of the absence of a system to wait for 0.4347 or 43.47 %. Results of average calculation - average queue time is 0.1545 customers per day per hour of work, while the average - average wait to be served is 34 seconds using multiple queue system facilities and single track. From the above calculation, the value P = 0.4 When consulted by Criteria Testing Hypothesis which states that if p 0, then the average - average number of queues is not efficient, means the hypothesis is accepted. Similarly, the average - average wait to be served at the counter special letters Wg = 0.0096 value is greater than zero, this is when adjusted for hypothesis testing criteria Wq> 0, then the average - average waiting time in the queue is not efficient, meaning hypothesis be accepted


A computer can be used as a storage oscilloscope with an AD converter and suitable software. Experiments are described using a PC-compatible computer and a data acquisition and handling system. The electronic equipment and software are now commercially available.


A five-degree-of-freedom dynamic wind-tunnel rig is used in the observation of large-amplitude, stall-related and self-sustaining, pitch oscillations of a model aircraft. These oscillations are investigated on the dynamic wind-tunnel rig during a quasi-steady ramp input to the aircraft model's elevator surfaces in one-degree-of-freedom pitch mode and in the longitudinal two-degree-of-freedom pitch and heave modes. A mathematical model of the aerodynamics, incorporating the effects of dynamic stall, is proposed. The aerodynamic model is coupled to the test rig equations of motion, which include terms for joint friction, and its parameters are fitted to the experimental data. This latter process is achieved using continuation and bifurcation analysis, which also helped to reveal the influence of friction forces on the oscillatory behavior. The quality of the fit and the use of a phenomenological model allow a possible cause for these oscillations to be proposed.


For a narrowband multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system the singular value decomposition has the ability to provide multiple spatial channels for data transmission. We extend this work to obtain spatial diversity techniques for frequency selective MIMO systems using a polynomial matrix decomposition known as the sequential best rotation using second order statistics (SBR2) method. This algorithm diagonalizes a MIMO frequency selective channel yielding various spatial modes for data transmission. We evaluate the diversity performance of the dominant channel provided by the SBR2 based broadband decomposition and compare it with a transmit antenna selection method (TAS) and a MIMO orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) singular value decomposition (SVD) based approach. Simulation results show SBR2 significantly outperforms the average bit error rate (BER) of TAS, making it very suitable for time division multiple access (TDMA) and code division multiple access (CDMA) systems. SBR2 and MIMO-OFDM systems are shown to have identical BER performance, confirming the efficiency of the proposed low delay spatial-temporal scheme.


This research analyzes how different types of frames adopted by news organizations and social media affected the support for protests against austerity measures in Spain. We pay special attention to the individual understandings of the crises based on materialistic grievances and nonmaterialistic accounts of the economic crises. We identified frames using a supervised approach and a data set of 2 million tweets gathered during the major demonstrations of the Indignados Movement between 2011 and 2013. Our second data set included the news-related content published by the top Spanish newspapers, in terms of circulation, during those demonstrations. We found that support for antiausterity protests was conditioned by understandings of the crisis. Frames addressing the political system were negatively related to the support for protests against austerity measures, as compared with those referring to the crisis as an economic matter. In addition, more challenging and controversial frames generated lower acceptance of the protests among the population than those that primed social problems.


Teamwork and communication are two important processes within multi-agent systems designed to act in a coherent and coordinated manner. Modeling teamwork involves interleaving steps within shared plans that will allow agents to work together towards common goals. These steps involve reasoning about roles, responsibilities, and joint-intentions in order to coordinate activity amongst individuals. Communication facilitates teamwork. There are various complex forms of communication such as synchronization, coordination, and cooperation that allow for members of teams to use teamwork to their advantage. Explicitly defining every possible communication point within a team plan is too cumbersome and inflexible. In this paper, we describe a method to automatically decompose a team plan into a collection of individual agent plans, inserting all of the necessary communication points needed to properly generate coordinated behavior. This approach could be used to more accurately and easily model teamwork in multi-agent systems.


Colonoscopy is an endoscopic technique that allows a physician to inspect the inside of the human colon. In current practice, videos captured from colonoscopic procedures are not routinely stored for either manual or automated post-procedure analysis. In this paper, we introduce new algorithms for automated detection of the presence of the shape of the opening of the appendix in a colonoscopy video frame. The appearance of the appendix in colonoscopy videos indicates traversal of the colon, which is an important measurement for evaluating the quality of colonoscopic procedures. The proposed techniques are valuable for (1) establishment of an effective content-based retrieval system to facilitate endoscopic research and education; and (2) assessment and improvement of the procedural skills of endoscopists, both in training and practice


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Docetaxel-based chemotherapy prolongs life and relieves symptoms in patients with castration resistant prostate cancer. However, this needs to be improved because of limitations by lack of specificity, systemic toxicity, and progression of docetaxel-resistance. Nanotechnology has served a new role in medical sciences by a variety of nanotechnology platforms, leading to theranostics. Among these platforms, Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MgNPs) have potential applications in drug delivery, cancer diagnosis and hyperthermia. We have already shown that MgNPs would modify the effect of chemotherapy in prostate cancer cells based on the observations that MgNPs increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and induced oxidative DNA damage in prostate cancer cell lines. Combined treatment of docetaxel and MgNPs has also shown to suppress nuclear transcription factor kappa B expression in DU145 cells. In this study, we analyzed the combined effects of docetaxel-MgNPs with different surface modifications on a prostate cancer cell line, DU145 and their mechanisms. The combination treatment of docetaxel and carboxylic acid-modified MgNPs (MgNPs-COOH) more effectively inhibited cancer cell growth and induced apoptosis compared with docetaxel-MgNPs combination. While MgNPs produced ROS in a dose-dependent manner and inhibited cancer cell growth slightly, MgNPs-COOH did exert no ROS production, however cell membrane damage in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, MgNPs-COOH showed the involvement of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. These results suggest that MgNPs-COOH may induce different responses compared with MgNPs, and result in favorable development of current chemotherapy for the advanced disease and leading to new theranostics.

Citation Format: Nao Furuta, Sou Yamaguchi, Ayumi Iwasaki, Daiki Okamoto, Akiko Sato, Yoshihiro Endo, Daisuke Kurioka, Tadashi Nittami, Hitoshi Ishiguro, Hiroji Uemura, Yoshinobu Kunota, Masatoshi Watanabe. Combined effects of docetaxel-magnetic nanoparticles with different surface modifications on prostate cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 5501. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-5501


In 2 experiments, when rats were placed in 1 pair of contexts, A and B, 2 relationships were in force (X --> food and Y --> no food), and when they were placed in another pair of contexts, C and D, the complementary relationships were operative (Y --> food and X --> no food). In Experiment 1, rats then received a 2nd discrimination that was either contextually congruent (in A and B, Y --> food and X --> no food; in C and D, X --> food and Y --> no food) or contextually incongruent (in A and D, Y --> food and X --> no food; in C and B, X --> food and Y --> no food) with the 1st discrimination. In Experiment 2, the 1st discrimination, involving X and Y, was interleaved with a 2nd discrimination, involving V and W, that was again either congruent (in A and B, V --> food and W --> no food) or incongruent (in A and D, V --> food and W --> no food) with the 1st discrimination. The congruent discriminations were acquired more readily than were the incongruent discriminations.


In today's marketplace, the customer is presented with a myriad of products and services of greater variety and value than ever before. As competition becomes more intense, product and service providers are increasingly turning towards "service" or "service quality" as a means of achieving competitive advantage. Even in industries such as telecommunications, where significant technological advances have characterized the industry, companies are realizing that the best product no longer guarantees an advantage over the competition. The key ingredient in the formulation of a competitive service strategy is the proper measurement of service quality dimensions, as defined by the customer, and the continual monitoring of company performance along those dimensions. This article describes the process of identifying service quality dimensions as applied in two telecommunications network providers, one in Canada and one in Ireland. Results are compared and contrasted between the two countries.


BACKGROUND
By examining patients with testicular torsion (TT) that caused problems in medicolegal terms, the present study aims to define markers causing medical neglect or malpractice in similar conditions and perform a retrospective examination to characterize the medical aspects of patients with TT.

METHODS
In this study, 53 patients who underwent orchiectomy for TT following interventions made between 2004 and 2019 in different hospitals of Turkey and had satisfactory clinical findings in their files based on medicolegal inspections were included.

RESULTS
The median age of the patients was nine years. Twenty-three (43.4%) of the patients had TT on the left side, 29 (54.7%) had TT on the right side, and one (1,9%) patient had bilateral TT. It was noticed that 31 (58.5%) patients had epididymo-orchitis (EO), seven patients had (13.2%) urinary infection, five (9.4%) patients had a hydrocele, and four (7.5%) patients had renal colic, and the others had testicle contusion, gastroenteritis, inguinal hernia, and acute appendicitis as misdiagnoses. The mean time that passed between admission and TT diagnosis was detected as 59±11.2 hours. A statistically significant relation was detected between the branch of the physician who first evaluated the patients and the presence of performing scrotal examination and imaging during admission. The ratio of physical scrotal examinations by emergency service physicians was lower than with the urologists. Among the preliminary examiner allowed to be an advanced evaluation for the possibility of missing diagnosis by an independent specialist physicians, 25 (47.2%) were urologists, 22 (41.5%) were emergency service physicians, four (7.5%) were pediatricians, and two (3.8%) were radiologists.

CONCLUSION
Physicians should perform the required evaluations for a suitable diagnosis and treatment by putting aside their medicolegal concerns and prevent the problems by giving priority to patient health. For the correct diagnosis and proper management of TT, it is necessary to increase the information levels of physicians, and patients should be explored urgently in the event of any clinical suspicion.


Cognitive functions like motor planning rely on the concerted activity of multiple neuronal assemblies underlying still elusive computational strategies. During reaching tasks, we observed stereotyped sudden transitions (STs) between low and high multiunit activity of monkey dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) predicting forthcoming actions on a single-trial basis. Occurrence of STs was observed even when movement was delayed or successfully canceled after a stop signal, excluding a mere substrate of the motor execution. An attractor model accounts for upward STs and high-frequency modulations of field potentials, indicative of local synaptic reverberation. We found in vivo compelling evidence that motor plans in PMd emerge from the coactivation of such attractor modules, heterogeneous in the strength of local synaptic self-excitation. Modules with strong coupling early reacted with variable times to weak inputs, priming a chain reaction of both upward and downward STs in other modules. Such web of "flip-flops" rapidly converged to a stereotyped distributed representation of the motor program, as prescribed by the long-standing theory of associative networks.


Fair clustering under the disparate impact doctrine requires that population of each protected group should be approximately equal in every cluster. Previous work investigated a difficult-to-scale pre-processing step for $k$-center and $k$-median style algorithms for the special case of this problem when the number of protected groups is two. In this work, we consider a more general and practical setting where there can be many protected groups. To this end, we propose Deep Fair Clustering, which learns a discriminative but fair cluster assignment function. The experimental results on three public datasets with different types of protected attribute show that our approach can steadily improve the degree of fairness while only having minor loss in terms of clustering quality.


We demonstrate a method to preserve entanglement and improve fidelity of three-qubit quantum states undergoing amplitude-damping decoherence using weak measurement and quantum measurement reversal. It is shown that we are able to enhance entanglement to the greatest extent, and to circumvent entanglement sudden death by increasing the weak measurement strength both for the GHZ state and the W state. The weak measurement technique can also enhance the fidelity to the quantum region and even close to 1 for the whole range of the decoherence parameter in both of the two cases. In addition, the W state can maintain more fidelity than the GHZ state in the protection protocol. However, the GHZ state has a higher success probability than the W state.


Immune function is suppressed in periparturient dairy cows, and risk of infectious and metabolic disease is increased. Several studies have shown that transition cows supplemented with vitamin E in feed and/or parenterally had decreased risk of retained placenta (RP) or mastitis. However, these benefits are not universally reproducible and may depend on the animals baseline vitamin E and selenium status and other factors. Additionally, a fraction of animals will have hypersensitive reactions to parenterally administered vitamin E. This study investigated the effect of vitamin E on the incidence of periparturient health problems when administered subutaneously to prepartum cows.