Background : The Philippines continues to face the problem of double burden of malnutrition. Local nutrition committees have been formed to address maternal and child malnutrition. The committee is composed of various stakeholders whose awareness and knowledge of nutrition concepts are varied. Likewise, the functionality of the local nutrition committees is varied. It is important to know the level of awareness and knowledge of the service providers as this affects the functionality of the local nutrition committees in delivering nutrition services. Objective : This study aimed to examine the awareness and knowledge of service providers on selected nutrition concepts and the functionality of local nutrition committees in selected areas in the Philippines. Methodology : A cross-sectional study was done with members of the local nutrition committees, such as the Municipal Nutrition Action Officer and Municipal Health Officer as respondents. Data collection instruments were developed. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis and Tobit regression model. Results : The total knowledge and functionality scores were low and varied across regions. This is indicative of considerable possibilities for improvement in terms of the appropriate knowledge and good practices in health and nutrition interventions. There is a significant difference between the level of knowledge and of functionality, and data tend to suggest that knowledge does not necessarily translate to good practices in food and nutrition security services. Furthermore, the analysis showed that awareness of certain reference terms does not necessarily lead to a meaningful conceptual understanding of its dimensions, e.g. nature, basis, or mechanisms. Conclusion : The level of knowledge that influences institutions and service providers' level of functionality merits serious consideration in terms of capability building needs. There is a need for a full comprehension of commonly used concepts and terms in nutrition at the local level since total or partial lack of understanding will not translate to practice. The variability in the level of knowledge and functionality can serve as the basis for prioritization.


If creativity is the heart and soul of innovation, design is the main catalyst for this process. To design in a very simple sense, is to move from a certain situation into a better one; this amelioration can manifest in new products, services, processes, or merely by exposing the real problems at hand. Settling on a high momentum as an immersive human-centered method, design thinking has been promoted by many scholars and academic institutions for its strategic potential in solving different contemporary challenges faced by many organizations in different domains. This paper present a practical framework for how this form of intelligence can be introduced, learned and disseminated across the organization for a sustainable innovation to be achieved.


Industry - Industry 4.0 [I4.0] is the main topic of discussions and proposals for innovative changes. In the last five years, inside industry sectors took place the intellectual clashes among digitisation, robotisation and automation. These concepts have been combined with performance, efficiency gains, steady economic growth, employment, labour migration, and increasing labour productivity in all managerial or economic forums. In particular, the European Union [EU] is one of the foremost leaders in improving workforce quality, given the increasing share of robotics and automation. The competitive pressure, beset on individual EU member states by countries with low-cost labour, is increased by assessing economic growth, increasing labour productivity, and setting social-law standards in the EU.
On the other hand, increasing the automation of production plants leads to increased employment pressure and contributes to managed labour migration. This migration is mainly about the pressure on competencies, quality, number of employees and the negative development of the demographic curve in the EU. All this reflects the demand for more robust legal protection for workers in the field of social assistance and legal regulations generally linked to a rapid change in labour market conditions. The resulting mix will have a significant impact on the economy's performance and competitiveness.


Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and hypertension is a modifiable risk-factor for CVD. In addition, comorbidities may shorten the life span of RA patients, which appears to be the consequence of an increased prevalence of CVD. RA patients with comorbidities might not be given the equal treatment in daily practice compared with patients without comorbidities.To investigate the prevalence of hypertension and its associated factors in Chinese RA patients.Consecutive patients with RA were recruited from August 2015 to September 2019 at Department of Rheumatology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital. Demographic and clinical characteristics were collected including indicators of disease activity, functional assessment and radiographic assessment and CV-related comorbidities.There were 674 RA patients recruited with 82.3% female and mean age 49.9±13.0 years. The prevalence rate of hypertension in RA patients was 32.9%, followed by dyslipidemia (9.9%), type 2 diabetes (8.8%), hyperuricemia (8.5%), fatty liver disease (8.0%), CVD (6.2%) and chronic kidney disease (3.3%). The prevalence of hypertension was 38.7% and 31.7% in male and female RA patients respectively (P = 0.144). Further age stratification showed no hypertension in RA patients at 16-19 years, 2.0% at 20-29 years and 8.1% at 30-39 years. The prevalence of hypertension greatly increased after 40 years old with 24.5%, 38.6%, 54.9%, and 63.6% in RA patients of 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, ≥ 70 years old respectively, and there was no significant difference between male and female RA patients of different age (Figure 1). Compared with those without hypertension, RA patients with hypertension had advanced age (57.3 ± 9.3 years vs. 46.3 ± 13.0 years), long-standing disease duration (median 60 months vs. 48 months), higher disease activity indicators [including PtGA (median 4 vs. 3), PrGA (median 3 vs. 3) and ESR (median 33 mm/h vs. 27 mm/h)], higher functional indicator [HAQ-DI (median 0.25 vs. 0.13)], worse joint destruction [JE subscore (median 10 vs. 6)] and higher proportions of comorbidities [including type 2 diabetes (14.9% vs. 5.8%), hyperuricemia (13.1% vs. 6.1%), chronic kidney disease (6.3% vs. 1.8%), dyslipidemia (15.8% vs. 7.1%), CVD (10.4% vs. 4.2%) and fatty liver disease (13.5% vs. 5.3%), all P < 0.005]. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that comorbidities including hyperuricemia (OR = 1.977, 95% CI: 1.002-3.900), dyslipidemia (OR = 1.903, 95% CI: 1.102-3.288) and fatty liver disease (OR = 2.335, 95% CI: 1.278-4.265) were associated factors of hypertension after adjustment for age and genderFigure 1.The prevalence of hypertension in different age and sex groups of RA patients.Hypertension is the most common CV-related comorbidity in Chinese RA patients which is associated with hyperuricemia, dyslipidemia and fatty liver disease. Detection and management of hypertension and other CV-related comorbidities in RA patients should be emphasized.Fund program:National Natural Science Foundation of China (81801605, 81801606, 81971527); Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (2018A030313541, 2018A030313690, 2019A1515011928); Guangzhou Science and Technology Program (201904010088); Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2020A1515110061); Guangdong Medical Scientific Research Foundation (A2018062)None declared


The present study examined the effects of reserpine on the extracellular concentration of accumbal dopamine in high responders (HR) and low responders (LR) to novelty rats. Reserpine reduced the baseline concentration of extracellular accumbal dopamine more in HR than in LR, indicating that the dopamine release is more dependent on reserpine‐sensitive storage vesicles in non‐challenged HR than in non‐challenged LR. In addition, reserpine reduced the novelty‐induced increase of the extracellular concentration of accumbal dopamine in LR, but not in HR, indicating that the dopamine release in response to novelty depends on reserpine‐sensitive storage vesicles only in LR, not in HR. Our data clearly demonstrate that HR and LR differ in the characteristics of those monoaminergic storage vesicles that mediate accumbal dopamine release.


Correlation has been established between the size of the main pulmonary arteries, as seen on the postero-anterior radiograph, and the pulmonary artery pressure. In this study the distance between the bifurcations of the right and left pulmonary arteries, referred to as the transpulmonary artery distance (TPD), has been used as a measure of the size of these vessels. In 293 patients with simple pneumoconiosis TPD was significantly correlated with height but not with stem-height, age, weight or forced expiratory volume. The mean TPD of patients with simple pneumoconiosis with or without chronic bronchitis was similar. Among 367 patients with complicated pneumoconiosis those with early fibrosis (A shadows) had a mean TPD similar to that found in simple pneumoconiosis, but those patients with extensive fibrosis (B or C shadows) had significantly greater values. The pathological changes of pulmonary hypertension in complicated pneumoconiosis are reflected in these measurements.


Abstract Vital signs are signs that show important functions of the human body, from these signs can be known whether a person is relatively healthy, has a serious illness, or suffers from a life-threatening disorder. Vital signs are the value of physiological functions consisting of blood pressure, temperature, oxygen saturation, pulse and respiratory rate. Vital sign monitoring tools researchers used four parameters, namely blood preasure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, and body temperature. The tool uses the IoT (Internet of Things) system, where this tool uses sensors used, namely the DS18B20 temperature sensor, the Heart Rate sensor and the SPO2 MAX 30100 sensor, the OMRON HME-7130 sensor, the ESP 32 microcontroller as a data processor and Wi-Fi connection. The patient's vital condition data will be displayed on the android smartphone and on the mydevices.com WEB page. This tool is rule-based with a Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) system to determine the status of patients and assist medical personnel in monitoring the vital parameters of patient signs in real time at each location and responding quickly and precisely so as to improve the quality of life of patients. Comparison using patient monitor tools, body temperature measurements produce the highest and lowest percentage of error that is 0.19% and 0.08% with an average temperature of 36.06oC and 35.96oC, then heart rate measurements obtained the highest and lowest percentage of errors of 0.08% and 0.3% with an average heart rate of 74 bpm and 87.3. Then the measurement of SpO2 obtained the highest and lowest percentage of error of 1% and 0% with an average SpO2 of 97% and 97.3%, then the NIBP measurement obtained the highest and lowest percentage of error systole / diastole of 7.4% / 7.2% with NIBP with an average systole / diastole of 109.6 / 64 mmHg and the lowest error percentage is 0.3% / 1.1% with an average NIBP of 125 / 62.3 mmHg. Data transmission to the internet using the cayene application on Android smartphones and WEB is greatly influenced by the quality of the connection from the internet network. Key words: Vital Signs, Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS), DS18B20, MAX 30100, ESP32 Microcontroller, IoT.


In this work, we describe the use of the one-pot, photoinduced but photoinitiator-free combined copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne click cycloaddition (CuAAC) and atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) protocol to provide a graft copolymer of polystyrene-g-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-g-PMMA) in desirable conversion and polydispersity. Poly(styrene-co-4-chloromethylstyrene) (poly(S-co-4-CMS)) was prepared using nitroxide mediated polymerization (NMP). The benzylic chloride functional groups of poly(S-co-4-CMS) were substituted for azide functional groups using a conventional azidation procedure to provide poly(styrene-co-4-azidomethylstyrene) (poly(S-co-4-AMS)). Poly(S-co-4-AMS) was then used as the backbone of the graft copolymer. The alkyne-bearing ATRP initiator propargyl 2-bromoisobutyrate (PgBiB) could then be grafted to the backbone via photoinduced CuAAC, while meanwhile initiating in tandem the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) chain growth via the ATRP mechanism. The graft polymer was provided in good conversion and polydispersity and was characterized appropriately using 1H NMR, FT-IR and GPC.


Adaptation of the dataset shift has grown to be of great importance in machine learning problems in recent years. Reframing has emerged as a new machine learning technique that adapts the context changes between training and target domains. One of the advantages of reframing is that it can offer good performances with a limited amount of deployment data. Reframing has already been implemented in classification and regression by reusing labelled training data with the help of few labelled target data. However, reframing in clustering is still a challenging research problem because of its unsupervised nature. In this paper, we concentrate on building a reframing method for clustering. We also show the necessity and effectiveness of our method in contrast to retraining, which is the process of learning new model in the testing and deployment phases. Our evaluation results with extensive experiments using both synthetic and real-life datasets show that our method correctly identifies most of the shifts between datasets and builds better clustering model than retraining.


Where does the Greek novel come from? This book argues that whereas much of Greek literature was committed to a form of cultural purism, presenting itself as part of a continuous tradition reaching back to definitively Greek founding fathers, the novel revelled in cultural hybridity. The earliest Greek novelistic literature combined Greek and non-Greek traditions (or at least affected to combine them: it is often hard to tell how 'authentic' the non-Greek material is). More than this, however, it also often self-consciously explored its own hybridity by focusing on stories of cultural hybridisation, or what we would now call 'mixed race' relations. This book is thus not a conventional account of the origins of the Greek novel: it is not an attempt to pinpoint the moment of invention, and to trace its subsequent development in a straight line. Rather, it makes a virtue of the murkiness, or 'dirtiness', of the origins of the novel: there is no single point of creation, no pure tradition, only transgression, transformation and mess. The novel thus emerges as an outlier within the Greek literary corpus: a form of literature written in Greek, but not always committing to Greek cultural identity. Dirty Love focuses particularly on the relationship between Persian, Egyptian, Jewish and Greek literature, and covers such texts as Ctesias's Persica, Joseph and Aseneth, the Alexander Romance and the tale of Ninus and Semiramis.


A novel beta-catenin/CBP binding modulator E7386 is expected to affect colorectal carcinoma (CRC) cells particularly those with aberrant activation of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway. The Wnt signaling pathway is recently reported to play important roles for activation of not only CRC cells but also cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Here, we established an in vitro model of CRC-derived organoids as well as a co-culture method of the CRC organoids with CAFs, and effects of E7386 on the growth of the organoids were examined. Fragments of CRC tissues from a total of 45 patients who underwent surgery were obtained, dissociated into single cells, which were seeded on polymerized Matrigel (Corning), and cultured with serum-free media containing EGF and Noggin optimized for organoids using 12-well plates. Fourteen CRC organoids from 45 cases were successfully established. For 2D culture of CAFs from CRC tissues of each patient, RPMI medium containing 10% FBS was used. A co-culture method of the CRC organoids with CAFs was applied using a double chamber system with transwell inserts in 24-well plates. Cell viabilities of the organoids and CAFs were measured using CellTiter-Glo Luminescent Cell Viability Assay reagent (Promega). Gene aberrations in original CRC tissues were analyzed using NCC Oncopanel, and gene expression profiles in established CRC organoids and CAFs were analyzed using SurePrint G3 Human GE microarray (Agilent). [Effects of CAFs on cell viabilities and gene expressions of organoids] Cell viabilities of organoids and CAFs appeared to increase at 72 hours after beginning of the culture by 2 to 8 and 1 to 2-fold, respectively. When organoids were co-cultured with CAFs, cell viabilities of organoids were increased and epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related gene expressions were dramatically changed in several cases, but not in all cases. The organoids co-cultured with CAFs appeared to be more sensitive to E7386 as compared to those cultured alone. [Possible relationship between gene mutations in CRCs and activity of E7386 in CRC organoids] Cell viabilities of organoids without APC mutations (n=1) and organoids with APC and TP53 mutations alone (n=2) were less than those of organoids with other oncogene mutations, e.g., KRAS or PIK3CA (n=4). Efficacy of E7386 on the cell viabilities of organoids with APC and TP53 mutations alone was found at lower concentrations at 30-100 nM, as compared to those of organoids without APC mutations. From the results, CRC organoids were established from 14 patients, and activity of E7386 appeared to be related to gene mutation profiles in the established CRC organoids. Citation Format: Toshio Imai, Mie Naruse, Masako Ochiai, Yoichi Ozawa, Takashi Owa, Atsushi Ochiai. A possible relationship between gene mutation profiles and activity of E7386 in in vitro models of colorectal cancer organoids [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 275.


Voronezh State N.N. Burdenko Medical Academy, st. Student, 10, Voronezh, Russia, 394036 Abstract. The article discusses the assessment of the level of interconnection of non-linear dynamic and os- cillatory processes in the microvasculature of periodontal tissues by laser Doppler flowmetry. For this purpose an examination of 62 patients aged 18-36 years was carried out. The control group consisted of 20 healthy individuals without co-morbidities with intact periodontium. The 1st group was 20 patients with chronic catarrhal gingivitis mild; the 2 nd group - 22 patients with chronic generalized periodontitis mild. The laser Doppler flowmetry with spectral continuous wavelet analysis of the blood flow oscillations was carried out by the apparatus LACC-02 (SPE "LAZMA", Russia). In the course of the study the authors evaluated the relative vibration energy of E0 flow using spectral analysis of the records of the LDF (program 2.2.509 - SPE "LAZMA", Russia) and normalized nonlinear dynamic parameters of microcirculation of periodontal tissues. This allows to reveal their relationship to the para- meters of the oscillatory process, to conduct its analysis, to understand the state of the macroscopic behaviour of the modulating factors, both in normal and in pathological conditions. As result of this study, it was found that the changes of the normalized nonlinear parameters microvasculature of periodontal tissues during the inflammatory process (I and II study group) were characterized by a decrease of the chaotic behavior of the system of microcircu- lation and its order on the basis of the numerical parameters of randomness (*, D2 N).


Treatment of alcohol use disorders typically involves a combination of pharmacotherapy and psychosocial interventions. About one-quarter of people with alcohol dependence ('alcoholics') who seek treatment remain abstinent over 1 year. Research has consistently shown that less intensive, community treatment (particularly brief interventions) is just as effective as intense, residential treatment. Many psychosocial treatments are probably equally effective. Techniques for medically assisted detoxification are widespread and effective. More recent evidence provides some support for the use of drugs such as acamprosate to prevent relapse in the medium to long term.


In this paper a new approach to solve constrained multi-objective problems by way of evolutionary multi-objective optimization is introduced. In contrast to former evolutionary approaches, which amalgamate objective space dominance relations with feasibility of solutions considered in the design spaces, the hereby suggested approach relies solely on objective space based analysis. It is shown in this paper that considering the violation of constraints within the design space is problematic as it may lead to misleading conclusions. Moreover, the current approach is inherently capable of dealing with constraints that are imposed directly in the objective space.


EU has set sustainable growth as a goal for 2020, by which a transition to a more resource efficient greener and competitive economy should be achieved. This requires new skills in business life. We have studied how vocational education and training and higher education may serve as a promoter of a green and low-carbon economy in Finland. Based on results from interviews of companies three main areas were chosen. These areas were decentralized renewable energy production, use of organic by-products and promotion of energy efficiency in properties. Education in vocational education and training and universities of applied sciences, for the selected areas, was mapped in 2014-15. The results were presented on workshops, where knowledge supply chains for a green economy on the selected areas were developed. If was found that cooperation between different fields and levels of education is important, as the new skills often emerge at the interfaces.


This paper argues that state trust land management experience is potentially a source of valuable insights and examples for the U.S. Forest Service. The paper sketches historic and current trends in public resource administration to define what constitutes useful new ideas which might aid the agency in its present crisis. In spite of being this nation's oldest approach to public resource management, the state trust lands are an appropriate source of new ideas in an era in which, the paper suggests: (1) the courts are receding as a major source of executive accountability, (2) the legitimacy of federal agencies, particularly those whose authority is rooted in science, is declining, and (3) the institutional framework for public resource management is rapidly fragmenting and diversifying. The Forest Service could fruitfully explore (1) the trust standard of prudence, particularly requirements for trustee accountability and record keeping; (2) the role of the beneficiary in trust accountability and constituency building; (3) the state trust manager's adaptation of the trust notion of a portfolio and risk management; and (4) state trust land agency's different approaches to tying program funding to income without eliminating the legislature's role in appropriations. The trust mandate as embodied in western trust land management organizations also provides (5) examples of institutional flexibility that could be instructive to the agency in this new era of partnerships, and (6) a raft of experience doing the same thing the Forest Service does (e.g., leasing grazing and minerals) which ought to inform Forest Service consideration of alternative management tools.


ABSRACT Nausea and vomiting are one of the most important side effects of chemotherapy. Psychological factors such as anxiety, fear and negative moods have significant role in the chemotherapy induced emesis. Each chemotherapy course cause state anxiety like an invasive medical procedure. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the effect of addition a sedative-anxiolytic agent to a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist in improving the control of chemotherapy induced emesis. Seventy chemotherapy courses in 18 children who received at least one highly emotogenic drugs were interpreted. Courses were randomly assigned to receive ondansetron (group I) or ondansetron plus hydroxyzine as a sedative agent (group II). Control of emesis was evaluated according to Soukop-Smith criteria. Performance of patients and degree of symptoms was assessed by using Lansky Play-Performance Scale and the Symptom Distress Scale, respectively. The complete and major control rate of acute emesis in group II (56%) was higher than group I (22%) (p= 0.006). The effect of combination antiemetic therapy was more obvious in female than male (p= 0.03), and in patients whose age greater than 10 years (p= 0.02). The mean play performance scale and symptom distress scale score were similar in two groups, before the chemotherapy course. After completion of course, play performance and symptom distress scale score were significantly better in group-II than that of group-I. Patients and parents in group-II declared significantly better sleeping quality, appetite, activity and mood than group-I. Hydroxyzine may enhance the activity of ondansetron in controlling acute chemotherapy-induced emesis and provided a better performance and lesser symptom distress.


To improve the outcome of gastric cancer, novel markers that predict postoperative prognosis are required. For this purpose, the function of cellular retinoic acid binding protein 1 (CRABP1) in gastric cancer cells was investigated and it was determined whether it serves as a novel biomarker for gastric cancer. Reverse transcription-quantitative (RT-q) PCR and a PCR-array method were used to determine whether the expression of CRABP1 mRNA in gastric cancer cell lines correlated with the expression of cancer-related genes. The correlations of CRABP1 mRNA expression in tissues with clinicopathological factors of 230 patients who underwent radical gastrectomy were further evaluated. CRABP1 mRNA levels varied among gastric cancer cell lines and showed significant positive correlations with numerous epithelial-mesenchymal transition factors. Additionally, CRABP1 knockdown significantly suppressed the proliferation, migration and invasion of gastric cancer cell lines. In a mouse xenograft model of peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer, it was found that the total weight of disseminated nodules was lower in the group, in which CRABP1 mRNA levels were knocked down compared with those of the untransfected group. Disease-free survival (DFS) was significantly shorter in patients with high expression of CRABP1, and multivariate analysis of DFS revealed that high expression of CRABP1 in the tumor area and lymph node metastasis served as an independent factor associated with poor prognosis. High expression of CRABP1 in cancer tissues was associated with a greater incidence of peritoneal recurrences after curative gastrectomy. These findings indicated that CRABP1 contributes to the malignant phenotype of gastric cancer cells and may serve as a biomarker for prognosing recurrence after curative resection, particularly peritoneal dissemination.


Abstract The Natural History Museum, London (NHMUK), has a large Arachnida collection in alcohol. Although the NHMUK follows best-practice in alcohol collections standards, there are still standards that have yet to be agreed upon, e.g., the choice of optimum printer and ink for producing labels. In 2012, I designed a survey to establish how alcohol collections are curated in other institutions around the world. I sent a questionnaire relevant to all collection sizes, materials, and storage spaces to 49 institutions in 36 countries. Responses from 42 institutions indicated: (1) collection size did not determine specific procedure; (2) museums with the largest collections are not restricted to one geographic region; (3) funding was the primary determinant of equipment and storage method, which sometimes resulted in unsuitable conditions; (4) although some methods were similar (e.g., use of ethanol), factors such as materials and equipment among other issues varied widely; (5) several issues are universal, ...


Blackleg, caused by Leptosphaeria maculans, is a major disease of oilseed rape (Brassica napus), worldwide, including Australia and France. The aims of these studies were first, to determine if higher levels of resistance to L. maculans could be generated in double haploid (DH) lines derived from spring-type B. napus cv. Grouse, which has a good level of field resistance to blackleg; and second, to determine whether the resistance to blackleg disease of individual DH lines responds differentially to different L. maculans field populations within and between the two countries. DH lines were extracted from cv. Grouse and tested in field experiments carried out in both France and Australia against natural L. maculans populations. Extracting and screening DH lines were an effective means to select individual lines with greatly improved expression of resistance to blackleg crown canker disease in comparison with the original parental population. However, relative disease resistance rankings for DH lines were not always consistent between sites. The higher level of resistance in France was shown to be because of a high expression level of quantitative resistance in the French growing conditions. Big differences were observed for some DH lines between the 2004 and the 2005 field sites in Australia where the L. maculans populations differed by their virulence on single dominant gene-based resistant lines derived from Brassica rapa ssp. sylvestris. This differential behaviour could not be clearly explained by the specific resistance genes until now identified in these DH lines. This investigation highlights the potential to derive DH lines with superior levels of resistance to L. maculans compared with parental populations. However, in locations with particularly high pathogen diversity, such as in southern Australia, multiyear and multisite evaluations should be performed to screen for the most efficient material in different situations.


We report a case of a large peritoneal loose body diagnosed on computed tomography. The most common causes of a peritoneal loose body are thought to be torsion and separation of the appendices epiploicae. Peritoneal loose bodies are usually small, 0.5 to 2.5 cm in diameter. However, "giant" peritoneal loose bodies, larger than 4 cm in diameter, are an uncommon disease and present with various symptoms, and are difficult to diagnose preoperatively. Especially, abdominal large peritoneal loose bodies are frequently misdiagnosed as tumorous disease preoperatively. In our case, the loose body appeared as a round pelvic mass with central calcifications and a distinct fat plane separating it from adjacent organs. Preoperatively, we suspected a tumorous lesion from the wall of the upper rectum; however, at laparoscopy, a large peritoneal loose body was detected. An extraction of the giant peritoneal loose body was performed laparoscopically.


This article explores the ambiguous nature of the EU's relationship to international order and places it within the framework of recent scholarship on the EU's international relations and international roles. These ideas are explored and illustrated by reference to three levels of the EU's engagement with international order: the 'EU order', the EU in the European order and the EU in the global order. The article argues that in respect of the first of these (the EU order), the stalling of EU reform symbolized by the rejection of the Constitutional treaty has raised major questions about the EU's capacity to export its values and institutions and to mobilize resources for collective action. In respect of the second (the EU in the European order), the EU has internalized major parts of the broader European order, and this raises questions about its exercise of structural power within the European arena and the neighbourhood. In respect of the third (the EU in the global order), the EU is increasingly encountering the costs and risks associated with the conduct of a 'real' foreign policy, and this will constitute a key constraining element in its approach to problems of global order for the foreseeable future.


This study aims to determine the effect of high glycemicindex (GI) diet on blood glucose, serum insulin, number of islet cells, Akt, and Pdx1 expression in beta cells. Eight weeks-old healthy male Balb/c mice were divided into two groups. The control group was given standard diet. The high glycemic index (highGI) group was given standard diet added with oral gavage of glucose solution everyday for 4 weeks. The dose of glucose solution was 0.013 g/gBW or 3-5% additional calories each day. Random blood glucose (BG) was taken before (pre) and after (post) treatment from tail vein. Serum insulin (SI) was taken after treatment from blood cardiac. Islet was removed after treatment. The number of islet cells was counted in HE staining. Akt and Pdx1 were analyzed in IHC staining. The results revealed that the changes of body weight before and after treatment were significantly different between groups (P=0.025). BG post in the highGI increased significantly compared to that in the control (P= 0.032). However, SI in the highGI decreased significantly compared to that in the control (P=0.003). The number of islet cells in the highGI decreased insignificantly (P=0.346). Meanwhile, Akt and Pdx1 in the highGI increased slightly (P=0.729; P=0.701). It can be concluded that a high GI diet can increase blood glucose level but reduce serum insulin level. However, there is no evidence of underlying mechanism of this chronic condition via Akt and Pdx1. Thus, further research is needed, especially for observing apoptosis and other modulators on beta cells.


Engineering quantum phenomena of two-dimensional nearly free electron states has been at the forefront of nanoscience studies ever since the first creation of a quantum corral. Common strategies to fabricate confining nanoarchitectures rely on manipulation or on applying supramolecular chemistry principles. The resulting nanostructures do not protect the engineered electronic states against external influences, hampering the potential for future applications. These restrictions could be overcome by passivating the nanostructures with a chemically inert layer. To this end we report a scalable segregation-based growth approach forming extended quasi-hexagonal nanoporous CuS networks on Cu(111) whose assembly is driven by an autoprotecting h-BN overlayer. We further demonstrate that by this architecture both the Cu(111) surface state and image potential states of the h-BN/CuS heterostructure are confined within the nanopores, effectively forming an extended array of quantum dots. Semiempirical electron-plane-wave-expansion simulations shed light on the scattering potential landscape responsible for the modulation of the electronic properties. The protective properties of the h-BN capping are tested under various conditions, representing an important step toward the realization of robust surface state based electronic devices.


The education of First Nations people has been used primarily for assimilation purposes. The last 30 years have witnessed the beginnings of First Nations' control of education with the primary impetus being selfdetermination. Achieving self-determination through education has been hindered by the social and cultural problems associated with colonization. To combat colonization and effect healing, the concept of wholistic education has been offered. Wholistic education describes the pedagogical approach that develops the whole First Nations child: intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. A wholistic education is compatible with traditional tenets of Native peoples' conceptualizations of well-being and the good life. The standardized Ontario provincial curriculum obstructs selfdetermination by interrupting the transmission from Elder to child of Indigenous knowledge, and understanding of the earth, omitting Indigenous perspectives on history, presenting Indigenous world views as irrational and unscientific, and not using Indigenous languages. Wholistic education can effect cultural survival by providing an education that affirms Indigenous world views and traditions, restores the role of the land and Nature as teachers, teaches history from a Native perspective, restores the Elders to their rightful place as transmitters of Indigenous knowledge, reconnects the generations, and uses Native languages as the medium of instruction. (Contains 19 references.) (TD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Reconciling Epistemological Orientations: Toward a Wholistic Nishnaabe (Ojibwe/Odawa/Potawatomi) Education


The impaction of the lower second molar is rare. The diagnosis is by means of radiographic examination. There are many treatment regimen options, including orthodontics and surgical intervention. This report presents a case with radiographic sequence showing the influence of the lower third molars on the impaction of the second molars and orthodontic treatment regimen for the uprighting of the second molar.


Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a frequent source of infections affecting premature and critically ill infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Neonates are particularly vulnerable to colonization and infection with MRSA, and many studies have attempted to identify risk factors that predispose certain infants to its acquisition to discover potential areas for clinical intervention. In addition, epidemiologic assessment of transmission patterns and molecular analysis of changes in the characteristics of MRSA strains over time have helped clarify additional factors affecting MRSA infections in the NICU. Numerous strategies for prevention and eradication have been used with variable rates of success. Despite these interventions, MRSA remains a significant source of morbidity in the NICU population.


The present paper deals with special solutions for linear functional differential equations with small delays. The importance of special solutions relies on the fact that, under some conditions, they can be used to describe the asymptotic behaviour of all solutions. Sufficient conditions for the existence of special solutions for non-autonomous equations in IR are given. For autonomous equations in IR, results relating special solutions and characteristic values are presented. We also consider linear autonomous functional differential equations in Banach spaces, and use special solutions to study the asymptotic behaviour of their solutions. Several applications are given.


N-type GaN layers doped with Si are grown on sapphire substrates with AlN buffer layers by the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition method. The electron density is 2×1017 cm-3. The GaN surface is treated with hydrogen (H2) plasma produced by supplying microwave power. Etching of GaN with H2 plasma leads to the formation of a roughened GaN surface. An enhancement of the electric field at the roughened surface makes it possible to reduce the average electric field between the anode electrode and the sample surface for electron emission. The turn-on electric field for the electron emission is estimated to be as low as 12.4 V/µm.


The production of lactic acid (LA) from glycerol in alkaline medium was investigated using Cu catalysts supported on CaO, MgO and xCaO/MgO (x = 5, 10, 15 wt%), employing a continuous flow reaction system over a period of 30 h. In addition to assessing the effect of the composition of the catalytic support, the influence of the temperature (200–260 °C), NaOH/glycerol molar ratio (0.5–1.5), hydroxide type (NaOH and KOH), as well as the influence of concentration (10 and 20 vol%) and purity of glycerol was investigated. The catalysts were prepared by a wet impregnation method and characterized by XRF, XRD, N2 adsorption–desorption, H2-TPR and CO2-TPD. The catalytic tests showed that the use of NaOH results in higher yields to LA. Cu catalysts supported on xCaO/MgO exhibited better catalytic performance than the CuCa and CuMg catalysts. The LA yield increases with the increase of the reaction temperature from 200 to 240 °C, and then decreases with a subsequent increase to 260 °C. NaOH/glycerol molar ratios greater than 1.25 are not necessary, since high yield to LA (96.9%) was obtained in the catalytic test performed using a molar ratio of 1.25. The catalysts showed excellent stability without evidence of deactivation over the evaluated period.


Federal agencies engage in a wide range of non-binding action, issuing guidance documents such as policy statements and interpretive rules. Although these guidance documents may have a substantial impact on industries or members of the public, courts often refuse to review their substance. The Administrative Procedure Act requires agency action to be "final" before courts can review it. The D.C. Circuit and the Ninth Circuit have taken conflicting and often messy approaches in determining whether interpretive rules and policy statements are final and thus reviewable. This Comment proposes a new approach: the substantial impact approach. Under this approach—repurposed from a rejected test for procedural sufficiency of guidance documents—courts could review a guidance document that has a substantial impact on affected parties. This Comment analyzes the 2017 Department of Homeland Security memorandum rescinding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, highlighting it as an example of a subset of policy statements that should be reviewable under the proposed substantial impact approach. * J.D. Candidate, University of Washington School of Law, Class of 2020. I would like to thank Professor Kathryn A. Watts for her invaluable guidance and comments throughout the drafting process. I am also grateful to the Washington Law Review editors, whose attention to detail and insight contributed greatly to the piece. All errors are my own. 19 Parsons.docx (Do Not Delete) 4/28/20 7:23 PM 496 WASHINGTON LAW REVIEW [Vol. 95:495


The global robust output regulation problem of nonlinear systems in output feedback form has been studied via a linear internal model. In this paper, we study the same problem using a class of nonlinear internal models. An advantage of nonlinear internal models is that it exists even when the system contains nonpolynomial nonlinearity and the exosystem is nonlinear. Thus, the result of this paper applies to a larger class of nonlinear systems and a larger class of exosystems. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


ASME Section XII Transport Tank Code will have an impact on the regulations related to the construction and continued service of highway cargo tanks used in the transportation of dangerous goods. Modal Appendix 1 of this code specifically addresses these transport tanks, and is intended to replace a large portion of the DOT regulations currently governing how they are built and serviced. This paper presents a preview of Modal Appendix 1, one of the mandatory appendices related to cargo tanks, and how these changes will affect manufacturers and repair shops.


We try to reconstruct the scale factor a(t) of the universe from the SNe Ia data, i.e. the luminosity distance dL(z), using only the cosmological principle and the assumption that gravitation is governed by a metric theory. In our hence model-independent, or cosmographic study, we fit functions to dL(z) rather than a(t), since dL(z) is what is measured. We find that the acceleration history of the universe cannot be reliably determined in this approach due to the irregularity and parametrization-dependence of the results. However, adding the GRB data to the dataset cures most of the irregularities, at the cost of compromising the model-independent nature of the study slightly. Then we can determine the redshift of transition to cosmic acceleration as zt ∼ 0.50 ± 0.09 for a flat universe (larger for positive spatial curvature).If Einstein gravity (GR) is assumed, we find a redshift at which the density of the universe predicted from the dL(z) data is independent of curvature. We use this point to derive an upper limit on matter density, hence a lower limit on the density of dark energy. While these limits do not improve the generally accepted ones, they are derived only using the dL(z) data.


Background The present study examined personality, situational and organizational predictors of burnout during COVID-19 in a military setting, based on the salutogenic theory of health (Antonovsky, 1987). Method Questionnaires were completed by 116 reserve Israeli Home Front Command medical staff (71% males). Background variables (e.g., gender), personality variables (self-efficacy and sense of coherence - SOC), situational variables (state-anxiety, self-rated health and sense of threat) and organizational variables (satisfaction with military's and government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis) were measured as predictors of burnout. Results Females had higher levels of state anxiety and burnout compared to males. Females also reported a lower level of satisfaction with the military's handling of the COVID-19 crisis than males. SOC and state anxiety were the only statistically significant predictors of burnout after controlling for sociodemographic variables. The entire model explained 59.4% of the burnout variance. Conclusion In accordance with salutogenic theory, SOC is associated with active adaptation through use of generalized and specific resistance resources to avoid burnout in a stressful milieu. Psychological support, psychoeducation and simulation training are offered to increase manageability in crisis situations. Limitations Following a large dropout rate due to being quarantined, the final sample size was much smaller than planned. Also, although previous longitudinal studies have found SOC to be a causal factor in burnout, the present cross-sectional design limits such conclusions.


In this study, the volatile compounds in 24 commercial Korean black raspberry wines were isolated by headspace solid-phase microextraction and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 43 volatile components, including 15 esters, 12 terpenes, 7 alcohols, 4 acids, 3 ketones, and 2 aldehydes, were identified. Ethyl esters and alcohols such as ethyl acetate, ethyl octanoate, isoamyl alcohol, and phenethyl alcohol were the most represented groups among the quantified volatiles. In particular, various terpenes such as DL-limonene, linalool, alphaterpineol, and myrtenol were identified. The differences in volatile components among the 24 black raspberry wines and possible sample grouping were examined by applying principal component analyses to the GC-MS data sets. The first and second principal components explained 43.9% of the total variation across the samples. No apparent sample groupings were observed according to manufacturing locations. The samples KU, BH, SR, and MO showed higher overall levels in the concentrations of terpenes originating from black raspberry, while other samples such as BB and HB, showed higher in ethyl ester and alcohol contents produced by yeast fermentation, respectively.


This study is not only aimed at analyzing the structural effects of behavioral determinants for shopping travel on walking activity by using a path analysis methodology for the data of 1,684 respondents surveyed by phone in Seoul. But it is also to compare its results to the results of commuting behavior related to walking pattern for workers in Seoul with the same questionnaire except for shopping behavior. The analysis results demonstrate that walking activity conducted for shopping purpose have statistically significant structural impacts on total walking time. It suggests that transportation intervention policy on shopping behavior could be further applied to improving walking-related physical activities for public health. In addition, the comparison results of shopping to commuting behavior for walking activity suggest that their structural paths and directions affecting walking-related physical activity has played differentiating roles in enhancing it. In conclusion, it implies that the approach on a transportation policy framework not only to decrease car-driving behavior but also to increase physical activity for health needs to be differently designed by travel purpose.


A desiccant cooling process equipped with a multi-divided adsorption dehumidifier is proposed to achieve double stage dehumidification in one adsorbent rotor. In this process, once dehumidified and cooled air is dehumidified again at a different adsorption zone of the same desiccant rotor. It has been found experimentally that dehumidifying performance is strongly influenced by the supply position of outside air to the adsorbent rotor. Humid outside air should be supplied to the latter half of the adsorption zone and once dehumidified air should be sent to the first half of the adsorption zone to maintain a suitable adsorption capacity and rate for the whole adsorption zone. Consideration of the appropriate outside air inlet position and the optimal rotation speed yields a 30% larger amount of dehumidification than that of conventional processes under a humid summer condition.


1. Dynamic occupancy models are often used to investigate questions regarding the processes that influence patch occupancy and are prominent in the fields of population and community ecology and conservation biology. Recently, multistate occupancy models have been developed to investigate dynamic systems involving more than one occupied state, including reproductive states, relative abundance states and joint habitat-occupancy states. Here we investigate the sensitivities of the equilibrium-state distribution of multistate occupancy models to changes in transition rates. 2. We develop equilibrium occupancy expressions and their associated sensitivity metrics for dynamic multistate occupancy models. To illustrate our approach, we use two examples that represent common multistate occupancy systems. The first example involves a three-state dynamic model involving occupied states with and without successful reproduction (California spotted owl Strix occidentalis occidentalis), and the second involves a novel way of using a multistate occupancy approach to accommodate second-order Markov processes (wood frog Lithobates sylvatica breeding and metamorphosis). 3. In many ways, multistate sensitivity metrics behave in similar ways as standard occupancy sensitivities. When equilibrium occupancy rates are low, sensitivity to parameters related to colonisation is high, while sensitivity to persistence parameters is greater when equilibrium occupancy rates are high. Sensitivities can also provide guidance for managers when estimates of transition probabilities are not available. 4. Synthesis and applications. Multistate models provide practitioners a flexible framework to define multiple, distinct occupied states and the ability to choose which state, or combination of states, is most relevant to questions and decisions about their own systems. In addition to standard multistate occupancy models, we provide an example of how a second-order Markov process can be modified to fit a multistate framework. Assuming the system is near equilibrium, our sensitivity analyses illustrate how to investigate the sensitivity of the system-specific equilibrium state(s) to changes in transition rates. Because management will typically act on these transition rates, sensitivity analyses can provide valuable information about the potential influence of different actions and when it may be prudent to shift the focus of management among the various transition rates.


The aim of the research was to study vegetative growth response of three varieties of palm oil tree at some palm waste as planting medium in pre nursery. The research has been conducted in Kompleks Medan permai on November 2014 to February 2015. The research design used randomized block design with two factor. The first factor was composition palm waste for planting medium (top soil, top soil + fiber 1:1, top soil + empty fruit bunches1:1, top soil + solid decanter 1:1 and top soil + fiber + empty fruit bunches + solid decanter 1:1:1:1) and the second factor was palm tree varieties (Yangambi, Simalungun, and Avros). Result from the research determined that treatment of planting medium significant effect to shoot length and stem diamer (12 and 14 week after showing), shoot wet weight and root dry weight. Yangambi, Simalungun and Avros not responding for planting medium composition. The best planting medium combination from this study were : top soil : fiber : empty fruit bunches : solid decanter (1:1:1:1).Keywords: Varieties, Planting media, palm oil


With the computational capabilities of parallel computers, we should investigate new methods which have performance advantages on parallel computers even if they are not faster than conventional methods on sequential computers. One such method is the partitioning finite-element method (FEM). In this paper, we consider the implementation of the partitioning FEM on both the Gray Y-MP and the Intel Touchstone Delta. The partitioning method is shown to have many advantages over a traditional finite-element approach. On the Gray YMP and sequential computers, the partitioning method requires significantly less memory. For parallel processors such as the Intel Delta, we show that the partitioning FEM has a higher parallel efficiency than traditional FEM. EM scattering from an infinitely long dielectric cylinder is used as an example.


Under sponsorship of the Morgantown Energy Technology Center of the Department of Energy, the Westinghouse Electric Corporation and Avco Research Laboratory/Textron (ARL) are developing a direct coal-fired 80-MW combustion turbine. This is to be an element in a 207-MW direct coal-fired combustion turbine combined cycle, comprising another combustion turbine, a heat-recovery steam generator, and a steam turbine. Following conceptual and economic studies, the first experimental task has been to develop a direct coal-fired slagging combustor in small scale. A year's testing with this unit has now been accomplished. It is thus possible to discuss experimental results in the areas of slag management, general combustor operability, coal fuel feed, heat loss, pressure loss, combustion efficiency, and emissions.Westinghouse and ARL selected the slagging combustor for use in this program because of its unique ability to accept inexpensive standard utility-type coal without sending excessive pollutants and particulates to the expander-turbine. It accomplishes this by burning the coal at a temperature high enough to melt the ash, and then removing the molten slag with an impact separator. This combustor is also of the rich-lean type, which allows it to emit very low levels of NOx. Sulfur oxides are controlled through injection of a sorbent which combines with gaseous forms of sulfur in the rich zone, and then takes them out with the slag.The plan in this program is to develop the slagging combustor in small scale at 12 million Btu/h (12.66 million kJ/h) heat input, 6 atmospheres pressure, and then move to design and verification testing of a full-scale 70 million Btu/h (73.85 million kJ/h), 14-atmosphere unit. It is with the smaller burner that this paper is concerned. During this period, coals have been fed into the 6-atm combustor exclusively in the dry-pulverized form with air as the carrier gas. To date, high- and low-sulfur eastern bituminous, and low-sulfur western subbituminous coals have been evaluated, with, and without sorbents, which have included various calcium and iron containing minerals. Coal samples have been of the 200 mesh size, and have not been beneficiated.Combustor operation has been efficient and repeatable and slag flow has been symmetrical and manageable. Slag removal has been greater than 90 percent and carbon burnout has been greater than 99 percent. Nitrogen oxide emissions meet the goals of EPA's NSPS for coal-fired plants. Current tests are focused on the goal of 90 percent sulfur removal. Although some results are available, various sorbents and injection techniques continue under test.Copyright © 1990 by ASME


Vet Ivan Crotaz and registered veterinary nurse Jo Hinde recently set up a veterinary CPD company, Lagolearn, that focuses purely on rabbits.


Objective To characterize the association between industry payments and prescriptions of 2 brand-name proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs). Study Design Cross-sectional retrospective. Setting Physicians nationwide. Subjects and Methods We identified all physicians receiving industry payments for Dexilant and Nexium 2014-2015 from the Open Payments database. We linked this to records of prescriptions for PPIs paid for by Medicare Part D these same years and compared the proportion of prescriptions written for Dexilant and Nexium in industry-compensated vs nonindustry compensated physicians. The number and dollar amount of payments were associated with the rate of drug prescriptions. Results We identified 254,452 physicians prescribing PPIs; 8586 and 2766 physicians received industry payments for Dexilant and Nexium, respectively. A total of 5052 of 7876 (64%) physicians compensated for Dexilant prescribed Dexilant vs 39,778 of 246,571 (16%) noncompensated physicians (P < .001). For Nexium, 2525 of 2654 (95%) compensated physicians prescribed Nexium, compared to 123,913 of 252,067 (49%) noncompensated physicians. For both Dexilant and Nexium, there was a significant correlation between the number (ρ = 0.22, P < .001 and ρ = 0.12, P < .001) and dollar amount (ρ = 0.22, P < .001 and ρ = 0.13, P < .001) of payments and the percentage of prescriptions written for the compensated drug. Industry payments for Nexium remained associated with rate of prescription even after generic esomeprazole became available. Conclusion Both the number and dollar amount of industry payments were associated with increased prescriptions for both Dexilant and Nexium. Although unable to show causality, this study suggests that industry payments may increase physician prescriptions of costly, brand-name drugs.


Summary: The present study investigates the effect of described nonsteroidal phospholipase inhibitors [mepa-crine, papaverine, trifluoperazine (TFP), p-bromophen-acyl bromide (pBPB), compound CB 874] and of glucocorticoids on endothelium-dependent and -independent relaxations of rabbit aorta. Endothelium-dependent relaxations were elicited by acetylcholine, Ca2+ ionophore A23187, melittin, and thimerosal. These four agents also stimulated vascular prostacyclin formation. Prostacyclin does not relax rabbit aorta; it was measured as an indicator of phospholipid hydrolysis. All putative nonsteroidal phospholipase inhibitors blocked acetylcholine-in-duced relaxations. Since papaverine did not inhibit prostacyclin production, it cannot be considered a phospholipase inhibitor in this tissue. Relaxations in response to A23187 were blocked only by pBPB and CB 874, which can interact with phospholipases directly. Melittin-induced relaxations were suppressed by mepacrine. TFP, pBPB, and CB 874. Relaxations elicited by thimerosal were not affected by mepacrine, but were abolished by the other three inhibitors. All inhibitors were ineffective against endothelium-independent relaxations induced by glyceryl trinitrate. Effective blockade of endothelial relaxations correlated with inhibition of prostacyclin formation. In the presence of glucocorticoids, no inhibition of endothelium-mediated relaxations and no inhibition of prostacyclin formation occurred, indicating unimpaired phospholipase activity. These findings suggest that cleavage of phospholipids may be important in the triggering of the production of endothelium-derived relaxing factor.


A trial was conducted to study the effect of Mentha piperita on broilers fed ochratoxin. The results of the present study reveals that feeding of ochratoxin at both the levels (2 and 4 ppm) significantly (P<0.05)reduced the level of serum total protein and albumin and significantly increased serum creatinine, ALP, AST and ALT. whereas no significant change observed due to administration of M. Piperita at both the levels (2 and 4 g/kg feed). There was non significant increase in serum total protein in group VI.


Leaf litter decomposition is a significant ecosystem process for streams' energy provisioning, while species‐specific decomposition rates often form a continuum from slow to fast decomposing species allowing for resources' availability to stream consumers over a longer time period after leaf fall. Leaf litter mixtures in streams typically comprise leaf species varying in their traits, allowing for litter diversity effects on decomposition. At the same time, agricultural land use, habitat characteristics, water quality and invertebrate composition modulate leaf litter decomposition. To identify leaf litter diversity effects and disentangle the roles of agricultural intensity, habitat characteristics, water quality and invertebrate composition for leaf litter processing in streams, we quantified leaf litter decomposition of three leaf species covering a gradient from slow to fast decomposing species, tested either individually or as a three‐species mixture. The study was conducted over 21 days across 18 streams with a gradient of agricultural intensity (percent agricultural land use) in their catchments. We found leaf litter diversity effects in terms of complementarity under low to intermediate agricultural intensity, given that slow decomposing leaf species decomposed almost twice as fast in the three‐species mixture compared to the observations on individual leaf species. This leaf litter diversity effect decreased with increasing agricultural intensity, suggesting that agriculture weakens the biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationship. However, pathways by which agriculture affected decomposition differed between single‐species and mixed‐species scenarios. For the single‐species scenario, negative effects of agriculture appeared to be mediated through effects on the proportion of sensitive detritivore species and altered habitat characteristics. For the mixed‐species scenario, altered water quality negatively affected the proportion of sensitive detritivore species, in turn reducing the diversity effect on functioning. Our results suggest that the weakened biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationship under increasing agricultural intensity might be a significant factor threatening carbon cycling and food web integrity in streams.


This paper presents a stochastic discrete choice model with non-linear externalities and a related methodology to carry out inferential analysis on its parameters. Such framework allows to disentangle the role of the intrinsic features of alternatives from the effect of externalities in determining individual choices. The stochastic process underlying the model is demonstrated to be ergodic, so that numerical methods are adopted to estimate the parameters by Chi-square minimization and evaluate their statistical signicance. In particular, optimization rests on computational procedures that consider also iterative methods such as successive parabolic interpolation. Comparisons among various computational techniques and simulation implementations are analyzed. For completeness, the Chi-squared is compared to the approach of maximum likelihood optimization, underling the advantages of the first in this model.


The past decade has witnessed a remarkable expansion and globalisation of the private security sector. These developments mark the emergence of public—private, global—local security networks that play increasingly important roles in global governance. Rather than representing a simple retreat of the state, security privatisation is a part of broad processes in which the role of the state — and the nature and locus of authority — is being transformed and rearticulated. Often presented as apolitical, as the mere effect of market forces and moves towards greater efficiency in service delivery, the authority conferred on private actors can alter the political landscape and in the case of private security has clear implications for who is secured and how. The operation and impact of public/private, global/local security networks is explored in the context of security provision in Cape Town, South Africa.


Ethiopia is highly susceptible to the effects of climate change and variability. This study evaluated the performances of 37 CMIP6 models against gridded rainfall product of Ethiopia known as Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) in simulating the observed rainfall from 1981 to 2014. Taylor diagrams and Taylor Skill Score were used for ranking the performance of individual models for mean monthly, June–September and February–May seasonal rainfall. Comprehensive rating metrics (RM) were used to derive the overall ranks of the models. Results show that the performances of the models were not consistent in reproducing rainfall distributions at different statistical metrics and timeframes. More than 20 models simulated the largest dry bias on high topographic and rainfall-receiving areas of the country during the June–September season. The RM-based overall ranks of CMIP6 models showed that GFDL-CM4 is the best-performing model followed by GFDL-ESM4, NorESM2-MM, and CESM2 in simulating rainfall over Ethiopia. The ensemble of these four GCMs showed the best performance in representing the spatiotemporal patterns of the observed rainfall relative to the ensembles of all models. Generally, this study highlighted the existence of dry bias in climate model projections for Ethiopia, which requires bias adjustment of the models, for impact assessment.


Roundup Ready® (RR) crops provide growers greater flexibility in weed management due to the ability of glyphosate to control larger weeds than other herbicides. Although this is advantageous, it can lead to yield losses if the glyphosate application is delayed too long. Another concern is the risk of selecting glyphosateresistant weeds due to extensive use of glyphosate. Research was conducted to determine the value of preemergence herbicides in protecting crop yields and reducing selection pressure in Roundup Ready® soybeans.


The electron-molecule collision process for β-D-ribose and β-D-deoxyribose in gas-phase is here characterized in the range 0-20 eV. The description of the ensuing dissociative electron attachment in terms of the Transient Negative Ions (TNIs) is complemented by new calculations on the integral cross sections which show significative differences between ribose and deoxyribose in their furanosic, 5-memberring conformers. Such finding could suggest a similar response of RNA versus DNA to secondary electrons in the condensed phase with interesting implications for the radiation damage research field.


In flow batteries generally the entire surface of the electrodes are conductive. Due to the highly corrosive nature of the electrolytes of many types of flow batteries there exists a dilemma in choosing electrode materials: highly corrosion resistant materials have very high cost and low cost materials have low corrosion resistance and thus low durability. To overcome this difficulty, a novel design of electrodes with conductive dots and corrosion resistant film is proposed [1]. Such electrodes can be made of low-cost base metals covered with corrosion resistant film and evenly distributed conductive dots, which can be made of highly corrosion resistance material such as gold, titanium, etc. Since the area covered by the highly corrosion resistance metals can be only a small percentage of the total electrode area the cost of the electrode can be relatively low. In this study, numerical simulations have been performed to study the effectiveness of such a design. In this work, lead-acid flow batteries are used as a model for redox flow batteries. The results from the electrode with conductive dots are compared with those from conventional electrodes. When conventional electrodes are used, the entire electrode surface is active for electrochemical reactions. When redox reactions occur under charging and discharging cycles, the redox species are consumed very fast and the electrolyte concentrations on the electrode surface decrease sharply from those in the bulk flow, leading to sharp decrease in reaction rate along the flow direction. When electrodes with conductive dots are used, though the active area is much smaller, reaction rates in the down-stream are similar to those in the upstream. This is due to the recovery of electrolyte concentrations in the non-active area surrounding the conductive dots, mainly from diffusion. The more uniform reaction rates from the upstream to the downstream results in much higher average current density per unit active area. Thus, even though the active area of the electrode with conductive dots is much smaller, the total reaction rate per unit apparent electrode area is not much lower. The modeling results show that the electrodes with conductive dots are highly effective even when the area covered by the conductive dots is only a few percent of the total electrode area.Copyright © 2016 by ASME


During the 1980s and 1990s, the debate on the Marxist theory of history centred largely around the work of Robert Brenner's property-relations-centred construal of it, and G.A. Cohen's attempt to revive the classical, determinist argument. This article examines two influential arguments by Erik Wright and his colleagues, and by Alan Carling, which acknowledge important weaknesses in Cohen's work, but which also try to construct a more plausible version of his theory. I show that the attempts to rescue Cohen are largely unsuccessful. And, to the extent that they render the argument plausible, they do so at the cost of turning it, willy-nilly, into a kind of class-struggle theory. I conclude that this spells the demise of the classical version of historical materialism, but also observe that this does not leave us with a voluntaristic understanding of history, as some of its defenders fear.


Curcumin is a natural product with immense medicinal assets. The low aqueous solubility and consequent poor bioavailability of curcumin are the most serious limitations to its utilization as a potential therapeutic agent. In order to enhance the aqueous solubility and bioavailability of the drug, we covalently conjugated curcumin onto the surface of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) aided by a water soluble polymer via a succinate linker. Conjugation of curcumin was confirmed by fluorescence, FTIR, 1H NMR and UV-Visible spectroscopy and XRD studies. The size and surface charge of the AuNPs were determined by DLS, and the morphology was visualized by TEM. Aqueous solubility of curcumin was augmented upon conjugation with the polymer stabilized AuNPs. The pH responsive release of curcumin from the nano-vehicle ensures safer delivery of the drug at physiological pH. Cytotoxic potential and cellular uptake of curcumin conjugated AuNPs were assessed by MTT assay and fluorescence microscopy, respectively, using C6 glioma cancer cells. Thus, the curcumin conjugated polymer stabilized AuNPs circumvent limitations of curcumin and can find applications in pH responsive drug delivery.


A total of 120 Pekin ducks were distributed at random into four experimental groups, vaccinated or not against Newcastle disease (ND): G1 (Ulster 2C strain), G2 (B1 strain), G3 (LaSota strain), and G4 (nonvaccinated group). At 60 days of age, all groups were challenged with a pathogenic ND virus (NDV) suspension, and a group of specific pathogen free (SPF) chicks (G5) was also inoculated. Cloacal and tracheal swabs from all birds were collected after six, 14, 20, and 30 days postchallenge for virus isolation. NDV was isolated in 100% of SPF chicks. Pekin ducks from all groups, vaccinated or not, did not show any ND clinical signs, demonstrating that these birds are not susceptible to ND clinical disease. In the control group (G4), the virus was isolated 20 to 30 days after challenge, suggesting their possible NDV carrier state. In the vaccinated groups, no virus was isolated. This demonstrates that vaccination of white Pekin ducks against NDV is important to reduce NDV shedding in the field.


The bidding of generation companies is a risk decision-making process. The prospect theory describes the relationship of the human being risk preference with the expected profit: when the profit is bigger than the expected, most people might prefer to the risk avoidance; when the profit is smaller than the expected, people might incline to the risk preference to attempt to realize the target. A new bidding method based on prospect theory is proposed in the paper. Since the influences of the bidding failure risk and the target of expected profit on the decision cognitive psychology of the generation companies are both taken into account, the bidding strategy gained by the method is more consistent with the generation companies' psychological desire. The results of the examples demonstrate the feasibility of the method proposed.


Hungary is one of the largest common carp-production countries in Europe and now, there is a large number of local breeds and strains in the country. For proper maintenance of the animal genetic resources, information on their genetic diversity and structure is essential. At present, few data are available on the genetic purity and variability of the Hungarian common carp. In this study, we genetically analyzed 13 strains in Hungary and, in addition, the Amur wild carp, using 12 microsatellite markers. A total of 117 unique alleles were detected in 630 individuals. Low levels of genetic differentiation (Fst and Cavalli–Sforza and Edwards distance) were estimated among strains. The AMOVA showed the low but significant level of genetic differentiation among strains (3.79%). Bayesian clustering analysis using STRUCTURE classified the strains into 14 different clusters. The assignment test showed that 93.64% of the individuals could be assigned correctly into their original strain. Overall, our findings can be contributed to complementing scientific knowledge for conservation and management of threatened strains of common carp.


We have investigated the effect of size of a single neutral ring substituent on the induction of hemolytic anemia and the formation of a ferrihemochrome by substituted phenylhydrazines. The severity of induced anemia decreased with increase in size of a halogen atom or an alkyl group ortho to the hydrazino group, little anemia resulting from 2-iodophenylhydrazine and no anemia from 2-tert-butylphenylhydrazine. The size of a halogen atom or an alkyl group at the meta or para position had relatively little effect on the severity of induced anemia. The ability of an arylhydrazine to induce hemolytic anemia paralleled its ability to produce a ferrihemochrome with an exogenous ligand, probably the corresponding aryldiazene. In general, rapid and complete formation of ferrihemochrome occurred with arylhydrazines that induced severe anemia. The degree of hemolysis induced by an arylhydrazine was not related to its rate of autooxidation, i.e., the rate at which oxidants are formed by the reduction of oxygen. We propose a mechanism of arylhydrazine-induced oxidative denaturation based on the simultaneous formation of hydroxyl radical and aryldiazene ferrihemochrome in a reaction of oxyhemoglobin with arylhydrazine. We suggest that after oxidation of the porphyrin ring is initiated by a hydroxyl radical, oxidative cleavage of the ring is facilitated by the presence of a large ligand in the heme crevice. Thus, aryldiazene ferrihemochrome may contribute to instability in a hemoglobin molecule, whereas globin ferrihemochrome results from instability.


To reduce the number of power electronic devices in multilevel converters, a new switched-diode multilevel converter is proposed in this study. This topology generates a large number of levels with fewer number of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), gate driver circuits and power diodes. For recommended multilevel converter, a novel method for determination of dc voltage sources magnitudes is presented. Also, the optimal structures is presented for different aims including less number of IGBTs, gate driver circuits, dc voltage sources and power diodes in order to generating a large number of levels. The proposed structure is compared with other topologies to reflect the merits of the proposed structure. The operation and performance of the proposed topology is verified by experimental and simulation results.


The objective of antimalarial drug treatment in severe malaria is to save the patient's life. In uncomplicated malaria it is to reduce the parasite biomass to zero, or down to a level where host defences can deal with the remainder. Treatment regimens with rapidly eliminated drugs must generally cover four asexual life-cycles (i.e. > 6 days for Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax) to eradicate all the parasites in the blood. For slowly eliminated drugs, blood concentrations must exceed the parasites' minimum inhibitory concentration (and preferably the minimum parasiticidal concentration) until all parasites have been eradicated. Resistance means that there is a right shift in the concentration-effect relationship. This may be large and abrupt, as with the point mutations that confer pyrimethamine, sulphonamide or atovaquone resistance, or slow and gradual, as with the processes that determine resistance to chloroquine, quinine or mefloquine. Although treatment failure in malaria usually results from poor compliance, inadequate dosing, pharmacokinetic factors or resistance, some infections will recrudesce when none of these factors operates. How parasites persist despite apparently adequate antimalarial treatment remains unresolved.


We have measured the cross section for π+π− production in two-photon collisions using a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 85.9 fb−1 collected with the Belle detector. The f0(980) resonance is observed as a peak in the energy spectrum of the cross section. We also report preliminary results for γγ → π0π0 with two-photon center-of-mass energies ranging from 0.6 to 4.0 GeV, based on a 95 fb−1 data sample. We find at least four resonant structures including a peak from f0(980). In addition, there is evidence for χc0 production. We also make a preliminary discussion of the angular dependence and cross section ratio of γγ → π+π− and γγ → π0π0.


This paper investigates the 'serial reproduction' of new downtowns as up-to-date business and financial districts and high-end residential neighborhoods in the central areas of Beirut and Amman. These new monumental spaces are designed as the 'icons' of the cities reflecting their international character. As illustrative examples of neoliberal policy experiments, their overarching goal consists in mobilizing city space as an arena for market-oriented economic growth and elite consumption practices. Implemented through public-private partnerships, the Beirut Central District Reconstruction and the Al-Abdali Urban Regeneration Project in Amman are prestigious urban 'flagship' projects attempting to reorient the cities' image in order to re-enforce their competitive position in a context of rapidly changing local, national and global conditions in which cities are challenged by an intensifying competition over international investments. The involvement of one and the same investment network in both projects as the major agent is of particular interest to this research


In East Asia, Zingiber officinale has been used traditionally to stimulate hair growth. In the present investigation, extraction of the powdered rhizomes of Zingiber officinale was carried out using alcohol: water (1:1), water, and alcohol. Preliminary pharmacognostic evaluation of various phytoconstituents was done by various chemical tests. Obtained extracts were studied for their antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. The further herbal gel of 5% of extracts of Zingiber officinale and 5% minoxidil (standard) were prepared using carbopol 934 as a base. Prepared formulation (F1-F4) were evaluated for various parameters like pH, viscosity, spreadability, homogeneity, stability studies, drug content, in vitro release, skin irritation, and in vivo hair growth activity.  Amongst the prepared formulations, a gel containing hydroalcoholic extract (F1) showed better spreadability, homogeneity, optimum viscosity, nearly neutral pH, faster release, produced negligible erythema and edema, was stable at different temperature. It was found that gel (F1) showed better results on the length of the hair strand (28mm), which was nearly equivalent to the standard solution of minoxidil (25mm). Conclusively, the hydroalcoholic extract of Zingiber officinale could be used to improve hair growth.


Angelman syndrome (AS) is characterized by severe intellectual disability, limited, or absent speech and a generally happy demeanor. The four known etiological mechanisms; deletions, uniparental disomy, imprinting defects, and UBE3A mutation all affect expression of the UBE3A gene at 15q11‐q13. An atypical phenotype is seen in individuals who are mosaic for a chromosome 15q11‐q13 imprinting defect on the maternal allele. These patients present with a milder phenotype, often with hyperphagia and obesity or non‐specific intellectual disability. Unlike typical AS syndrome, they can have a vocabulary up to 100 words and speak in sentences. Ataxia and seizures may not be present, and the majority of individuals do not have microcephaly. Here we review the current literature and present three individuals with atypical AS caused by a mosaic imprinting defect to demonstrate why DNA methylation analysis at the SNRPN locus needs to be considered in a broader clinical context. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


In the September issue of the Journal of Toxicology (pp. 210), researchers from Loma Linda University suggested that patients sustaining bites from this Southern Pacific rattlesnake can be treated with up to 26 vials of the new monoclonal known as Crofab. They recommended that Crofab be re-dosed at four hour intervals if needed due to the short half-life of this compound. They also recommend that Crofab can be used up to four or five days after the evenomation. Report A 46-year-old white male, forest ranger in excellent physical health, who at the end of his shift, changed into his running shoes and ran down the mountain in his sneakers, and thus was bitten in the back of his left lower leg by a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake. Southern Pacific Rattlesnake is known to be in the endemic area, and then known no other rattlesnakes known to be in that area. The patient then walked three miles to his car and from the Ranger Station, was helicoptered to the emergency department. On arrival, the patient had mildly swollen left leg. Initial platelets were 46,000. At that time, four vials of Crofab were administered and the patient was admitted to the hospital. Approximately four hours later, the patient had markedly increased swelling of his left lost leg requiring two repeated doses of four vials each of Crofab. The swelling continued and within 18 hours, the patient developed ecchymosis about both his legs and his flank. At this time, an additional four vials of antivenom was given was a total of 20 vials. Consult was obtained from vascular surgery, orthopedic surgery, internal medicine and hematology. The patient's pulse remained strong and was felt that no fasciotomy was needed. The patient's platelet count continued to drop and by the fifth day of hospitalization was down to 11,000. Consultations with numerous toxicologist across the country felt that further administration of Crofab at this time would not be indicated. A decision was made by hematology to transfuse with patients with platelets. The patients did not develop any neurologic dysfunction. After prolonged hospitalization, the patient was discharged with mild residual in his left leg. Current review of the packing insert on Crofab fails to show the use of Southern Pacific rattlesnake and the production of this antivenom.Recommendation at this time: The patient is sustaining severe rattle snake bites from Southern Pacific Coast rattler, not showing a robust response to the new monoclonal antibody Crofab should be administered one Crofab in the higher recommended dose of up to 26 vials or more. Practically, the patient should be given the old Wyatt's horse serum antivenom.


Lactoferrin (LF) is a multifunctional milk protein with antimicrobial activity against a range of pathogens. While numerous studies report that LF is active against fungi, there are considerable differences in the level of antifungal activity and the capacity of LF to interact with other drugs. Here we undertook a comprehensive evaluation of the antifungal spectrum of activity of three defined sources of LF across 22 yeast and 24 mold species and assessed its interactions with six widely used antifungal drugs. ABSTRACT Lactoferrin (LF) is a multifunctional milk protein with antimicrobial activity against a range of pathogens. While numerous studies report that LF is active against fungi, there are considerable differences in the level of antifungal activity and the capacity of LF to interact with other drugs. Here we undertook a comprehensive evaluation of the antifungal spectrum of activity of three defined sources of LF across 22 yeast and 24 mold species and assessed its interactions with six widely used antifungal drugs. LF was broadly and consistently active against all yeast species tested (MICs, 8 to 64 μg/ml), with the extent of activity being strongly affected by iron saturation. LF was synergistic with amphotericin B (AMB) against 19 out of 22 yeast species tested, and synergy was unaffected by iron saturation but was affected by the extent of LF digestion. LF-AMB combination therapy significantly prolonged the survival of Galleria mellonella wax moth larvae infected with Candida albicans or Cryptococcus neoformans and decreased the fungal burden 12- to 25-fold. Evidence that LF directly interacts with the fungal cell surface was seen via scanning electron microscopy, which showed pore formation, hyphal thinning, and major cell collapse in response to LF-AMB synergy. Important virulence mechanisms were disrupted by LF-AMB treatment, which significantly prevented biofilms in C. albicans and C. glabrata, inhibited hyphal development in C. albicans, and reduced cell and capsule size and phenotypic diversity in Cryptococcus. Our results demonstrate the potential of LF-AMB as an antifungal treatment that is broadly synergistic against important yeast pathogens, with the synergy being attributed to the presence of one or more LF peptides.


Inversion of three-dimensional transient electromagnetic (TEM) data to obtain electrical conductivity and permeability can be done by a time-domain algorithm that extends to diffusive electromagnetic (EM) fields the imaging methods originally developed for seismic wavefields (Claerbout, 1971; Tarantola, 1984). The algorithm uses a conjugate-gradient search for the minimum of an error functional involving EM measurements governed by Maxwell's equations without displacement currents. The connection with wavefield imaging comes from showing that the gradient of the error functional can be computed by propagating the errors back into the model in reverse time and correlating the field generated by the backpropagation with the incident field at each point. These two steps (backpropagation and cross correlation) are the same ones used in seismic migration. The backpropagated TEM fields satisfy the adjoint Maxwell's equations, which are stable in reverse time. With magnetic field measurements the gradient of the error functional with respect to conductivity is the cross correlation of the backpropagated electric field with the incident electric field, whereas the gradient with respect to permeability is the cross correlation of the backpropagated magnetic field with the time derivative of the incident magnetic field. Tests on two-dimensional models simulating crosswell TEM surveys produce good images of a conductive block scatterer, with both exact and noisy data, and of a dipping conductive layer. Convergence, however, is slow.


In this review, we adapt and extend a model recently used to account for differences in risk and resiliency outcomes to explain individual differences in temperamental shyness. The differential susceptibility to environmental influences model posits that heightened biological sensitivity and reactivity in the individual can predict different outcomes for better or for worse, depending on environmental influences outside (i.e., exogenous) of the individual. In this article, we extend this existing model and argue that the environment can also be conceptualized as a unique set of dynamic conditions and influences operating within (i.e., endogenous) the individual that are orthogonal to some biological sensitivity factors. In this new model, continuous brain electrical activity at rest constitutes one endogenous environmental condition that can vary (leftward to rightward) and influence gene expression to confer different outcomes, for better (sociability) or for worse (shyness). We then discuss how this model can be tested, as well as its potential implications for theory, development, and practice.


-This paper analyzes a high-power (50 kW) high frequency (150 kHz) voltage-fed inverter with a seriesresonant load circuit for industrial induction heating applications, which is characterized by a full bridge inverter made of insulated-gate bipolar transistor and a power control based on pulse density modulation (PDM). This power control strategy allows the inverter to work close to the resonance frequency for all outputpower levels. In this situation, zero-voltage switching and zerocurrent switching conditions are performed, and the switching losses are minimized. Results are verified experimentally using a prototype for induction hardening applications.


We present the results of a study comparing five directed-edge representations for use in 2D, screen-based node-link diagrams. The goal of this work is to extend the understanding of tradeoffs and best practices for the representation of edges in directed graphs and to help practitioners choose among different options. Our work applies to graphs in which directed links are depicted using lines connecting the nodes. We tested five different edge representations chosen carefully based on user feedback to thoroughly cover the directed-edge design space. We also investigated how the use of pattern compression affects performance and subjective user preference. The article presents detailed results regarding the significant performance and preference differences between directed-edge representations and provides practical recommendations on their use.


Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in man is associated with an increase in the incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). The biological and clinical characteristics of these patients differ from those of subjects with other HIV-associated diseases. Here we report that levels of serum-soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM 1) are increased in HIV-1-positive patients with KS, but not in patients belonging to other CDC classification groups. KS patients with elevated levels of serum sICAM 1 had a significant lowering of CD4 cell counts during the follow-up period compared with those KS subjects whose sICAM 1 levels were only moderately higher. We suggest that increased sICAM 1 levels may have a pathogenetic role in the development of HIV-associated immunodeficiency in KS patients and may also be considered an important prognostic factor.


Infusion nursing is a unique hybrid of inpatient and ambulatory nursing. The subspecialty of nurses cares for patients requiring treatment over long periods, including cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and patients who require short bursts of treatment, such as those with multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. Infusion nurses are exposed to many of the common root causes of moral distress in their practice, similar to nurses caring for terminally ill or critically ill patients. The specific aims of this article are to (1) define moral distress, moral residue, and the crescendo effect; (2) describe ethical stressors that can be confused with moral distress; (3) review the effects of moral distress on different health care providers; and (4) provide strategies to manage moral distress in the workplace using a case example.


Graph classification is a significant problem in many scientific domains. It addresses tasks such as the classification of proteins and chemical compounds into categories according to their functions, or chemical and structural properties. In a supervised setting, this problem can be framed as learning the structure, features and relationships between features within a set of labelled graphs and being able to correctly predict the labels or categories of unseen graphs.
A significant difficulty in this task arises when attempting to apply established classification algorithms due to the requirement for fixed size matrix or tensor representations of the graphs which may vary greatly in their numbers of nodes and edges. Building on prior work combining explicit tensor representations with a standard image-based classifier, we propose a model to perform graph classification by extracting fixed size tensorial information from each graph in a given set, and using a Capsule Network to perform classification.
The graphs we consider here are undirected and with categorical features on the nodes. Using standard benchmarking chemical and protein datasets, we demonstrate that our graph Capsule Network classification model using an explicit tensorial representation of the graphs is competitive with current state of the art graph kernels and graph neural network models despite only limited hyper-parameter searching.


The control of coronary heart disease (CHD) depends primarily on its prevention at an early stage. It is generally agreed that this depends upon the elimination or treatment of the known risk factors for CHD. Among these, hyperlipidaemia occupies a central position. The diagnosis and treatment of this condition is the subject of this statement. Before initiating therapy for primary hyperlipidaemia the common causes of secondary hyperlipidaemia are sought and dealt with, including diabetes, hypothyroidism, over-use of alcohol, renal and liver diseases and certain drugs. Next, an assessment of all risk factors for CHD is carried out, i.e. family history of CHD, smoking, hypertension, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol measurement, diabetes mellitus and overweight. More intensive therapy is called for in patients with multiple risk factors than in those with lone hyperlipidaemia, and also after successful bypass operation or after coronary angioplasty. Evaluation of hyperlipidaemia in the patient's family is often appropriate. The diagnosis and follow-up of the hyperlipidaemic patient depend on reliable and well-controlled laboratory support. The primary hyperlipidaemias include several distinct diseases that are characterized by elevated serum levels of cholesterol and/or triglyceride with or without abnormally low levels of HDL cholesterol. From these measurements, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels are calculated [except when triglyceride levels are greater than 500 mg dl-1 (5.6 mmol l-1)]. Elevated LDL levels are causally important in atherosclerosis, and occur in three disorders: familial hypercholesterolaemia, familial combined hyperlipidaemia and common hypercholesterolaemia. The finding of elevated serum triglyceride without marked hypercholesterolaemia may occur in familial hypertriglyceridaemia and sometimes in familial combined hyperlipidaemia. Elevation of serum cholesterol and triglyceride can have several genetic bases, including remnant (type III) hyperlipidaemia and familial combined hyperlipidaemia. The characteristic feature of remnant (type III) hyperlipidaemia (demonstrated by ultracentrifugation in a specialized laboratory) is the presence of cholesterol and triglyceride-rich very low density lipoproteins (VLDL), whereas combined (mixed) hyperlipidaemia is diagnosed when both VLDL (of normal composition) and LDL levels are elevated. Investigation of other family members is necessary to make the diagnosis of familial combined hyperlipidaemia. It depends on the identification of different lipoprotein profiles in affected members of the same family.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Abstract Objectives: This study aimed to compare the reporting of high-resolution computed tomography of temporal bones for otosclerosis by general radiologists and a neuroradiologist within a local National Health Service Trust. Methods: A retrospective case review of 36 high-resolution temporal bone computed tomography images obtained between 2008 and 2015 from 40 otosclerosis patients (surgically confirmed) was performed in a district general hospital setting. The main outcome measures were correct identification of otosclerosis by high-resolution computed tomography and adherence to the petrous temporal bone imaging protocol. Results: Correct diagnosis rates were significantly different when made by general radiologists vs a neuroradiologist (p < 0.0001; two-tailed Fisher's exact test). None of the high-resolution computed tomography scans adhered to the temporal bone imaging protocol. Conclusion: The use of high-resolution computed tomography for suspected otosclerosis is helpful for diagnosis, disease staging, obtaining informed consent, surgical planning and prognosis. This study suggests that radiological detection of otosclerotic changes by high-resolution computed tomography of the temporal bone is significantly better when performed by a dedicated neuroradiologist than by a general radiologist. Use of a standardised temporal bone computed tomography protocol is recommended to provide consistently high-quality images for maximising disease detection.