Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is an aggressive human pediatric cancer. Despite robust expression of myogenic regulatory factors, RMS cells are blocked in a proliferative state and do not terminally differentiate. The extent to which the skeletal muscle lineage is represented in RMS tumors and the mechanisms leading to developmental arrest remain elusive. Here, we combined single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq), mass cytometry (CyTOF) and high-content imaging to resolve RMS heterogeneity. ScRNAseq and CyTOF analysis of a total of 17 patient-derived primary cultures and three cell lines uncovered plastic myogenic subpopulations that delineate a branched trajectory. The less aggressive embryonal RMS (eRMS) harbor primarily muscle stem cell (MuSC)-like cells and exhibit sparse commitment to differentiation. The more aggressive alveolar RMS (aRMS) comprise primarily actively cycling committed progenitors with a paucity of differentiated cells. The oncogenic fusion protein PAX3:FOXO1 sustains aRMS cells in the cycling trajectory loop, which we show can re-wired towards differentiation upon its downregulation or by dual pharmacological RAF and MEK inhibition. Our findings provide insights into the developmental states and trajectories underlying RMS progression and identify the RAS pathway as a promising target of differentiation therapy for human aRMS. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE We present the first comprehensive single-cell transcriptomic and proteomic atlas of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), in which we identify impaired myogenic trajectories with prognostic value. We demonstrate that RAS pathway inhibitors disrupt the oncogenic trajectory and induce terminal differentiation, revealing novel therapeutic targets for the aggressive alveolar RMS subtype.


Multiple ribonucleases are widely found in living organisms, but the function and regulation of individual ribonucleases are still not clear. In the present study, we found that one oocytic ribonuclease, RC-RNase, is developmentally expressed in the liver and stored in the oocyte of the bullfrog, while another ribonuclease, RC-RNase L1, is constitutively expressed and retained in the liver at all stages. In females, the expression of RC-RNase increased with the degree of maturity and the concentration of plasma estradiol during oogenesis. In males, the RC-RNase gene was activated in the liver and the newly synthesized protein was secreted into plasma if estradiol was administered. To investigate the mechanism of estrogen-mediated activation of ribonuclease expression, we cloned the RC-RNase promoter and analyzed the putative transcription factor binding sites, e.g. TATA box, ERE, AP1 and CAAT box. Using luciferase as a reporter gene, we found that an estrogen response element in the promoter of RC-RNase was essential for both basic transcription and estradiol-mediated gene activation in estrogen receptor-positive MCF7 cells. These results support the hypothesis that RC-RNase is synthesized in the liver upon stimulation by estradiol during oogenesis, then secreted into the bloodstream and stored in oocytes for embryonic development.


Objective: To evaluate the clinical and radiographic results of suprasyndesmotic ankle fracture fixation with a minimally invasive technique. Methods: Retrospective study of 11 patients with suprasyndesmotic fractures of the lateral malleolus who underwent surgery between 2016 and 2018. Retrospective analysis of medical records considered the following: radiographic assessments (preoperative, immediate postoperative, six weeks postoperative), clinical evaluation, and strength scale and movement test results. Results: Of the 18 patients qualified for inclusion, 7 failed to appear at the follow-up appointment and were excluded. The patients' age varied from 20 to 53 years, and 72.7% were male. The trauma mechanisms included torsion (46% of the cases), automobile accidents (36.4%) and direct trauma (17.6%). The mean time between trauma and definitive surgery was 3.27 days. The mean talocrural angle in the preoperative period was 83.13o, ranging from 80.63o in the immediate postoperative period to 81.27o at 6 months postoperatively. Approximately 90% of the patients did not lose strength. Regarding the range of motion, the mean dorsiflexion and plantar flexion 6 months postoperatively were 10.72o and 34.4o, respectively. Conclusion: The minimally invasive technique had excellent technical results in patients treated surgically for ankle fractures and required smaller incisions than conventional surgery. Osteolysis or fatigue of the osteosynthesis material is a possibility with this technique, which generally occurred between three and four months postoperatively. Level of Evidence IV; Therapeutic Studies; Case series.


Tumour necrosis factor α (TNF) blockers were a major step forward in the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In view of their immunosuppressive effects, concerns about enhancement of cancer development have arisen. So far there is no firm evidence that TNF-blockers increase the risk of solid tumours or lymphomas. However, it appears likely that TNF-blockers enhance the risk of non-melanoma skin cancer in patients with RA. Hence, it is recommended to screen patients treated with TNF-blockers periodically for skin cancer whereas routine screening for other malignancies is not useful.


We present a novel approach for the on-line detection of Complex Events in Wireless Sensor Networks. Complex Events are sets of data points that correspond to unusual patterns that can not be detected using threshold-based techniques. Our method uses an efficient implementation of SAX, a mature data mining algorithm, that transforms a stream of readings into a symbolic representation. Complex Event Detection is then performed via four alternative modes: (a.) multiple pattern detection using a suffix array, (b.) distance-based comparison, (c.) unknown pattern detection, and (d.) probabilistic detection. The method allows users to specify complex events as patterns or to search for interesting changes without supplying any information. The appropriateness of the approach has been verified by applying it to four sensor data sets. In addition, we have developed an efficient implementation for the TinyOS operating system, and further validated our assertions by collecting and analyzing data in real-time.


Researchers often query online social platforms through their application programming interfaces (API) to find target populations such as people with mental illness~\cite{De-Choudhury2017} and jazz musicians~\cite{heckathorn2001finding}. Entities of such target population satisfy a property that is typically identified using an oracle (human or a pre-trained classifier). When the property of the target entities is not directly queryable via the API, we refer to the property as `hidden' and the population as a hidden population. Finding individuals who belong to these populations on social networks is hard because they are non-queryable, and the sampler has to explore from a combinatorial query space within a finite budget limit. By exploiting the correlation between queryable attributes and the population of interest and by hierarchically ordering the query space, we propose a Decision tree-based Thompson sampler (\texttt{DT-TMP}) that efficiently discovers the right combination of attributes to query. Our proposed sampler outperforms the state-of-the-art samplers in online experiments, for example by 54\% on Twitter. When the number of matching entities to a query is known in offline experiments, \texttt{DT-TMP} performs exceedingly well by a factor of 0.9-1.5$\times$ over the baseline samplers. In the future, we wish to explore the option of finding hidden populations by formulating more complex queries.


The effects of beta-funaltrexamine (beta-FNA), an irreversible mu-opioid receptor antagonist, were determined on water and food intake of non-deprived rats. Intracerebroventricular administration of 1.25 or 2.5 micrograms of beta-FNA did not affect drinking or eating. However, 5.0 micrograms first transiently increased food intake and then reduced both water and food intake for at least 72 h. Locomotor activity was unaffected by 5.0 micrograms of beta-FNA; thus, changes in ingestive behavior were not a secondary consequence of drug-induced behavioral stimulation or depression. The early increase in food intake may be due to the short lived and reversible kappa-agonist activity of beta-FNA. On the other hand, selective blockade of mu-opioid receptors appears sufficient to reduce the intake of water and food.


Abstract Scherberich, D. & J. Duruisseau (2017). Two new species of Begonia sect. Erminea (Begoniaceae) from Nosy Mangabe in Madagascar. Candollea 72: 257–263. In English, English and French abstracts. Begonia nosymangabensis Scherber. & Duruiss. and Begonia pteridoides Scherber. & Duruiss. are described and illustrated. Both new species belong to Begonia sect. Erminea A. DC. Begonia nosymangabensis is compared to Begonia keraudreniae Bosser, from which it differs in having larger and more deeply incised leaves which lack adaxial hairs. Begonia pteridoides is related to Begonia bogneri Ziesenh. but differs by its very divided leaves. Both new species are micro-endemics, restricted to Nosy Mangabe island in northeast Madagascar and are assessed as "Vulnerable" according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.


[1] Shear wave splitting measurements using teleseismic SKS and SKKS phases recorded by the INDEPTH-IV arrays has revealed a strong upper mantle anisotropic fabric in northeastern Tibet with large delay times of up to 2.2 s, suggesting that anisotropy exists in both the lithospheric and asthenospheric mantle. The coherence among fast polarization orientations of split core phases and the left-lateral slip on eastern-striking, southern-striking faults in eastern Tibet and the surface deformation fields calculated from both GPS observations and Quaternary fault slip rates support the idea that left-lateral shear strain is the predominant cause of the orientation of the upper mantle petrofabrics. We suggest the bending of the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis around the foundering Burma-Andaman-Sumatra slab also contributes to the observed seismic anisotropy in the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis region. Two plausible competing processes are proposed for the flow of asthenosphere in eastern Tibet. In the first, the deforming lithosphere glides over the passive asthenosphere inducing flow in the asthenospheric mantle. In the second, the asthenosphere beneath northeastern Tibet is squeezed between the advancing Indian continental lithosphere and the thick Tarim and Qaidam lithospheric blocks to the north. A westward retreat of the Burma slab from Eurasia may induce flow that is toroidal and located exclusively around the northern edge of the slab. The rotation of fast orientations for stations in the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis region are consistent with the toroidal flow pattern as well as the rotational deformation of the overlying lithosphere.


The individual variation of R. pedestris males and females in their attractiveness to the same species and the amounts of five pheromone components were examined in field experiments and GC-MS analysis, respectively. The number of adults attracted by a single male varied greatly among the individuals tested. The number of adults attracted was 0.92 0.12 (mean SE/day). Of 64 males examined individually, four attracted three or more adults per day, while 12 males attracted only 0.5 adults or fewer per day and 14 individuals attracted no adults. The five pheromone components also differed greatly among those males. As for tetradecyl isobutyrate (14:iBu), which is thought to be an essential component of the pheromone, it was apparently detected from 46 males while eight had only a low amount of 14:iBu and ten had no 14:iBu. Some of the males had 14:iBu without having (E)-2-hexenyl (E)-2-hexenoate (E26:E2Hx) and (E)-2-hexenyl (Z)-3-hexenoate (E2-6:Z3Hx), which are synergistic components of the pheromone, and the rest had E2-6:E2Hx and/or E2-6:Z3Hx without having 14:iBu. The amount of 14:iBu or octadecyl isobutyrate (the fourth pheromone component) showed a positive and significant co-relationship with the number of attracted adults. Males with a well-developed fat-body tended to have more 14:iBu and to attract more adults than those with an undeveloped fat-body. Most of the females tested individually did not attract conspecific adults, and had only (E)-2-hexenyl hexanoate, the fifth component of the pheromone.


The lattice structure and electronic properties of perfect and defective CoSi2 and NiSi2 have been calculated using an ab initio plane-wave ultrasoft pseudopotential method based on the generalized gradient approximations (GGA). Special attention is paid to the formation energies of the vacancies, which largely depend on the atomic chemical potentials of Si and metal atom: in Si-rich limit, the formation energies of Si and Co vacancies are 2.39 eV and 0.56 eV whilst those are 1.53 eV and 2.29 eV in Co-rich limit in CoSi2, respectively. For NiSi2, the formation energies of Si and Ni vacancies are 0.56 eV and 1.25 eV in Si-rich limit and those are 0.04 eV and 2.3 eV in Ni-rich limit.


Made in Rome around A.D. 400, the "Vatican Vergil" is the most famous and the most attractive illustrated book surviving from classical antiquity. David H. Wright introduces this masterpiece of late antique art and shows why it is such an impressive example of the new form of book, the codex, that replaced the traditional papyrus roll and permitted more elaborate illustrations. Here are thirty-two of the most interesting illustrations from the Vatican Vergil, reprinted in full color from the 1980 facsimile published in Graz, Austria, in collaboration with the Vatican Library.Facing each reproduction is the appropriate text from Vergil, in Latin and in English, together with explanatory comments. Wright discusses how the manuscript was made, describing the style of the capital script and of the illustrations as well as their sources in older classical traditions. He examines the "Vatican Vergil" as an example of the revival of classical culture in pagan circles in Rome at a time when Christian authority was systematically suppressing pagan religion. Finally, he surveys the "afterlife" of the codex, tracing how the work was studied and copied first in the Carolingian era and then in the Italian Renaissance. All the illustrations not reproduced in color are given at full size in black and white in a concluding list of the illustrations that have survived in this unique masterpiece.


Introduction Vocal problems among teachers are considered a common professional hazard and a significant source of disability, leading to reductions in quality-of-life and professional capacities. Factors related to fitness-for-work reductions were not evaluated so far. Recommendations for voice-therapy, rest and microphone use are common interventions in occupational medicine aimed at preserving the working capability of these teachers and reducing work disability. Research on the impact of such interventions on employment capacity is lacking. The aims of the study regarding dysphonic teachers referred to occupational medicine clinic: evaluate employment outcomes following voice-therapy, voice rest and microphone use, and identify other predictors to limitations in fitness-for-work. Methods Teachers who were first referred to occupational medicine clinic due to voice disorders between 1/2007 and 12/2012 were followed-up. Data were collected from medical records and from interviews conducted in 2014. Logistic regression models were utilised to assess associations between interventions and other covariates, and employment outcomes. Survival analysis was performed to evaluate association between undergoing voice-therapy and length of retained fitness-for-work. Results A sample of 153 dysphonic teachers comprised the prospective study cohort, which was followed for 2–8 years. Thirty-four (22.2%) suffered declines in working capabilities. Voice-therapy was protective against such declines [OR=0.05(0.01–0.27)], in contrast to voice rest and microphone use. Compliance with voice-therapy recommendation was less than 50%. Most of declines in fitness-for-work among non-compliant teachers occurred within 20 months after referral. Other predictors were associated with work fitness reduction. Discussion Voice-therapy, especially when instituted early, is the strongest predictor for retaining fitness-for-work among dysphonic teachers. Pilot study with employers is warranted to estimate compliance and economic feasibility of preventive measures including voice-therapy aimed at reducing disability and preserving work capacities.


The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is known to play critical roles in a wide range of cellular processes: cell proliferation, differentiation, migration and embryonic development. Importantly, dysregulation of this pathway is tightly associated with pathogenesis in most human cancers. Therefore, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has emerged as a promising target in anticancer drug screening programs. In the present study, we have isolated three previously unreported metabolites from an undescribed sponge, a species of Monanchora (Order Poecilosclerida, Family Crambidae), closely related to the northeastern Pacific species Monanchora pulchra, collected from deep waters off the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Through an assortment of NMR, MS, ECD, computational chemical shifts calculation, and DP4, chemical structures of these metabolites have been characterized as spirocyclic ring-containing sesterterpenoid (1) and cholestane-type steroidal analogues (2 and 3). These compounds exhibited the inhibition of β-catenin response transcription (CRT) through the promotion of β-catenin degradation, which was in part implicated in the antiproliferative activity against two CRT-positive colon cancer cell lines.


The discovery of disease subtypes is an essential step for developing precision medicine, and disease subtyping via omics data has become a popular approach. While promising, subtypes obtained from conventional approaches may not be necessarily associated with clinical outcomes. The collection of rich clinical data along with omics data has provided an unprecedented opportunity to facilitate the disease subtyping process and to discovery clinically meaningful disease subtypes. Thus, we developed an outcome-guided Bayesian clustering (GuidedBayesianClustering) method to fully integrate the clinical data and the high-dimensional omics data. A Gaussian mixed model framework was applied to perform sample clustering; a spike-and-slab prior was utilized to perform gene selection; a mixture model prior was employed to incorporate the guidance from a clinical outcome variable; and a decision framework was adopted to infer the false discovery rate of the selected genes. We deployed conjugate priors to facilitate efficient Gibbs sampling. Our proposed full Bayesian method is capable of simultaneously (i) obtaining sample clustering (disease subtype discovery); (ii) performing feature selection (select genes related to the disease subtype); and (iii) utilizing clinical outcome variable to guide the disease subtype discovery. The superior performance of the GuidedBayesianClustering was demonstrated through simulations and applications of breast cancer expression data.


Electroconvulsive therapy has been a method used in psychiatry since 1938 and despite its rather turbulent history, it is still the most effective method of treating severe mental disorders. Despite its high efficiency and good safety profile, patients with catatonia usually require a large number of treatments. It entails a long hospitalization time and the necessity to repeatedly induce general anesthesia. In 1966, Blachly proposed to induce more than one seizure during a single anesthesia. According to this method, the patient was to be constantly monitored (ECG, EEG) during a series of electroconvulsions, which consisted of two to even eight treatments. For simplicity, the method is called multiple-monitored ECT (MMECT). The work is based on the medical history of a patient diagnosed with catatonic schizophrenia. Due to the insufficient effect of single treatments, we decided to use the MMECT method, which was performed in series of three treatments, twice a week. Thanks to the therapy, catatonic symptoms remitted. Studies in various patient populations have shown that MMECT reduces hospitalization time, the duration of acute symptoms, and the patient's total exposure to anesthetics and muscle relaxants. As the above case shows, MMECT can potentially be considered as a safe treatment alternative in patients that require a large number of treatments, resistant to standard forms of therapy.


Open Trip Planner was identified as the most promising open source multi-modal trip planning software. Open Street Map, which provides mapping data to Open Trip Planner, is one of the most well-known open source international repository of geographic data. General Transit Feed Specification, which provides transportation data to Open Trip Planner, has been the standard for describing transit systems and platform for numerous applications. Together, when used to implement an instance of Open Trip Planner, these software has been helping in traffic decongestion all over the world by assisting commuters to shift from using private transportation modes to public ones. Their potential however goes beyond providing multi-modal public transportation routes. This paper aims to first discuss the researchers' experience in implementing a public transportation route planner for the purpose of traffic decongestion.The researchers would examine the prospective of using the system for disaster preparedness and recovery and concrete ways on how to realize them.


English literature as a traditional core course of English Language and Literature Major in Chinese colleges and universities has been more and more marginalized in recent years. This paper attempts to explore the possibility of changing the marginalized status of English literature course through discussing the application of blackboard platform and blog as two information technologies in the teaching and learning process. Through empirical research, it concludes that as a new application of information technology in education, teaching of English literature course in the context of blackboard platform and blog can inspire a series of reforms in teaching concepts, teaching mode, teaching contents and pedagogy, and revitalize the traditional course of the humanities by motivating the teacher's teaching initiative and student's learning interest and promoting their consciousness and ability of self-reflective teaching and autonomous learning.


Discussions of world history often focus on the pros and cons of thinking on large spatial scales. However, world history also tends to employ unusually large timescales, both for research and teaching; frequently it is framed around a teleology and a series of "revolutions" which mark milestones taking humans from a very distant past to "modernity." Moreover, world history usually rejects regionally specific period markers (e.g. Renaissance), making periodization within this long timespan especially difficult. This article surveys various approaches to these problems, and shows that any of them, if treated as sufficient by itself, introduces significant distortions. It argues for a world history that highlights this problem, rather than hiding it, and which uses the need to deploy multiple timescales simultaneously to clarify the distinctive intellectual contribution of historical thinking.


Idiopathic spontaneous pneumoperitoneum is caused by free air in the peritoneum when no established cause has been diagnosed. We present the case of a 61-year-old male with idiopathic spontaneous pneumoperitoneum, which started as abrupt abdominal pain. He described burning abdominal pain radiating to his right shoulder and endorsed symptoms of nausea, abdominal bloating, and heartburn but denied fever, chills, or vomiting. Chest radiograph and computed tomography demonstrated massive amounts of free air under the diaphragm, concluding an extensive pneumoperitoneum. He was diagnosed by standard imaging modalities and then underwent diagnostic laparoscopy, which did not reveal any areas of perforation. Subsequently, the patient had an uncomplicated recovery. The complexity of diagnosis and treatment has made it difficult for surgeons to treat spontaneous pneumoperitoneum patients.


PURPOSE Diabetes affects approximately 34 million Americans and many do not achieve glycemic targets. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is associated with improved health outcomes for patients with diabetes. Most adults with diabetes receive care for their diabetes in primary care practices, where uptake of CGM is unclear. METHODS We used a cross-sectional web-based survey to assess CGM prescribing behaviors and resource needs among primary care clinicians across the United States. We used descriptive statistics and multivariable regression to identify characteristics associated with prescribing behaviors, openness to prescribing CGM, and to understand resources needed to support use of CGM in primary care. RESULTS Clinicians located more than 40 miles from the nearest endocrinologist's office were more likely to have prescribed CGM and reported greater likelihood to prescribe CGM in the future than those located within 10 miles of an endocrinologist. Clinicians who served more Medicare patients reported favorable attitudes toward future prescribing and higher confidence using CGM to manage diabetes than clinicians with lower Medicare patient volume. The most-needed resources to support CGM use in primary care were consultation on insurance issues and CGM training. CONCLUSIONS Primary care clinicians are interested in using CGM for patients with diabetes, but many lack the resources to implement use of this diabetes technology. Use of CGM can be supported with education in the form of workshops and consultation on insurance issues targeted toward residents, recent graduates, and practices without a nearby endocrinologist. Continued expansion of Medicare and Medicaid coverage for CGM can also support CGM use in primary care.


INTRODUCTION
Langerhans cell histiocytosis is a heterogeneous disease, more frequently diagnosed during childhood. Between 1/2001 and 12/2013, 20 adult patients were admitted at both Hospitals. This work aimed at characterizing this population.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Retrospective study, review of clinical records.

RESULTS
16 patients were eligible to analysis. The median age at diagnosis was 34 years (15-48); 10 males and 6 females. The referral motive was: respiratory complaints - 37.5%; bone changes - 37.5%; dental complaints - 25%; constitutional symptoms - 19%; mucocutaneous lesions - 6% and one patient (6%) was accidentally diagnosed after a thyroidectomy. The tissue of histological diagnosis was: bone - 50%; pulmonary tissue - 37.5%; liver, genital mucosa and thyroid - 6%, respectively. Staging was: single organ involvement (uni/multifocal) - 69% and multisystem disease in 31%. Clinical re-evaluation of these cases is being done at the moment. The median follow up was 5 years (1 month - 11 years) and the overall survival was 92%. Currently 19% are alive without signs of disease; 44% are alive with disease; 25% are under treatment and 12% died.

DISCUSSION
These results agree with published literature. Considering the actual guidelines 56% patients were incompletely staged, which probably lead to suboptimal treatment. There is heterogeneity of clinical procedures aiming at staging and treatment of these patients.

CONCLUSION
The diagnosis of adulthood Langerhans cell histiocytosis is difficult considering the diversity of clinical behavior. Frequently this also leads to diagnosis delay. Prospective international clinical trials enrolling adult patients are important.


Exposed temperature level is one of the important parameters for concrete-bar bond in reinforced concrete. Subjecting reinforced concrete to high temperature, as in fire, leads to loss in concrete-bar bond. Environmental factors also can be stated as temperature level, heating rate, and heating time. In this study, the effects of temperature level, concrete cover, and mechanical properties of concrete on concrete-bar bond have been investigated in different concrete classes. Concrete strength, concrete cover, and temperature level were chosen as parameters. Pullout and mechanical tests were conducted on the specimens exposed to 20, 300, and 500°C (68, 572, and 932°F). As a result, it was seen that as concrete cover increases, concrete-bar bonds were less affected by high temperature. Furthermore, the empirical relationship between the experimental pullout loads and parameters has been defined.


The recent inauguration of a new administration led by President Cubas presents an opportunity to activate economic growth by implementing policies that increase economic efficiency and attract private investment. Key to this effort is macroeconomic policies aimed at fiscal discipline, low inflation and interest rates, and an exchange rate that encourages productive activities. A failure to carry out such policies will lead to a continuation of the recent stagnation of incomes and may well lead to a significant decline in incomes and social unrest. In the short term this will require actions to restore confidence in the banking system, ensure the integrity of pension funds, and reduce the economic and fiscal drain caused by inefficiency run public services, banks, and enterprise. In the medium term, the government should reduce its fiscal expenditures, prevent future banking crises, and ensure long term viability of the pension systems. Measures aimed at shifting the informal economy toward a formal one should yield high dividends. Fiscal reform accompanied by measures to make the labor market more flexible should help stimulate formal sector activity.


Objectives. This study reports the 5-year outcomes of treatment for patients with prostate cancer treated largely with conformal three-dimensional radiation therapy. Methods. Results are presented for 456 consecutive patients treated prior to December 31, 1993 whose pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels are known. Biochemical failure was defined as two consecutive rises in the PSA that equals or exceeds 1.5 ng/mL. Kaplan-Meier product limit methods, the logrank test, and Cox regression models were used in evaluating the data. No patient was lost to follow-up. Results. The 5-year biochemically free of failure (bNED) rate for all patients was 61% and 57% at 7 years. In the group with pretreatment PSA less than 10 ng/mL, the 5-year bNED rate for patients with localized disease (T1,2AB disease, Gleason sum of 6 or less) was 85% and for those with locally advanced disease (T2C,3), 70%. In the group with pretreatment PSA of 10 to 19.9 ng/mL, the 5-year bNED rate for patients with localized disease was 66% and for those with locally advanced disease, 44%. In the group with pretreatment PSA of 20 ng/mL or above, the patients with localized or locally advanced disease had 5-year bNED rates of 31% and 21%, respectively. Conclusions. The results of largely conformal three-dimensional external beam treatment of localized prostate cancer produced 5-year bNED results that are comparable to recent reports of nerve-sparing prostatectomy. Preliminary 7-year bNED results in all patients and in patients with localized tumors indicated a modest decrease in the cancer-free rate from that observed at 5 years, suggesting the results are durable.


The number of electric vehicles (EVs) is increasing rapidly, and charging infrastructure must keep up with that pace. With increasing charging load, a power system must adapt to the increasing power demand. The research question of this study is: what impact of EV charging on electric load profile is depending on the number of EVs and the mix of charging units (slow, medium, fast)? How much of the total power demand of EVs can be supplied from renewables, i.e., wind and solar power, considering the installed capacities of these technologies, and the match between power production and consumption. Energy system modeling on an hourly basis for different scenarios of the mix of charging units, number of EVs, and installed capacities of wind power plants and solar PVs was used as the method. EnergyPLAN software was used as the modeling tool. The results show the total power demand, peak load, and share of EV charging power demand that can be covered by renewable power technologies for Latvia's power system in the year 2050. The results are obtained for scenarios of different combinations of EV charging units.


Sagittal sacral orientation within the pelvic girdle of humans is a key component of posture and obstetrics. On the one hand, sacral orientation has direct influence on the lumbar curvature; while on the other hand, it has an impact on the dorsoventral dimension of the birth canal. In this study, we aim to explore the evolution of sacral orientation in the sagittal plane and its relationship with the lumbar curvature in hominins. To do this, we measured sacral orientation using the pelvic incidence (PI) angle of the pelves of 53 modern humans, 19 nonhuman hominoids, and 4 fossil hominins. Our results show that the PIs of modern and fossil H. sapiens are the highest while the PI of nonhuman hominoids is the lowest (a nearly parallel sacrum in relation to the hip bone). Australopithecines PI is higher than that of nonhuman hominoids, but lower than that of modern humans. The PI of Homo heidelbergensis and H. neanderthalensis (Neandertal lineage hominins) is the lowest among hominins. We also found a strong correlation between lumbar lordosis and PI in nonhuman hominoids and hominins, indicating that PI angle is a good predictor of the lumbar lordosis when only the pelvis is preserved. We conclude that sacral orientation changed during the course of human evolution. When Neandertal lineage hominins are ignored, the results indicate a fairly simple path of evolution from nonhuman hominoid-like to human-like sacral orientation with two stages of the development. Neandertal lineage hominins show a reversal of this trend.


With Artificial Intelligence on the rise, human interaction with autonomous agents becomes more frequent. Effective human-agent collaboration requires that the human understands the agent's behavior, as failing to do so may lead to reduced productiveness, misuse, frustration and even danger. Agent strategy summarization methods are used to describe the strategy of an agent to its destined user through demonstration. The summary's purpose is to maximize the user's understanding of the agent's aptitude by showcasing its behaviour in a set of world states, chosen by some importance criteria. While shown to be useful, we show that these methods are limited in supporting the task of comparing agent behavior, as they independently generate a summary for each agent. In this paper, we propose a novel method for generating contrastive summaries that highlight the differences between agent's policies by identifying and ranking states in which the agents disagree on the best course of action. We conduct a user study in which participants face an agent selection task. Our results show that the novel disagreement-based summaries lead to improved user performance compared to summaries generated using HIGHLIGHTS, a previous strategy summarization algorithm.


Receptor activator of NF-kappaB ligand (RANKL) is a membrane-bound signal transducer necessary for the induction and maintenance of osteoclasts. To clarify the molecular mechanism by which 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (1,25-(OH)(2)D(3)) augments osteoclasts, we characterized the promoter region of the mouse RANKL gene. Mirroring in vitro osteoclastogenesis demonstrated by a coculture of bone marrow macrophages with ST2 stromal cells, Northern blot, and nuclear run-on analyses showed that 1,25-(OH)(2)D(3) upregulate RANKL gene expression at the transcriptional level. Using a series of deletion mutants of mouse RANKL promoter-luciferase reporter gene constructs, transient transfection studies revealed that the inductive effect of 1,25-(OH)(2)D(3) was abolished when the region up to -723 was deleted. An electrophoretic motility shift assay demonstrated that the VDR-RXRbeta heterodimer bound to AGGTCAGCCTGGTTCA (-937/-922), and VDRE/nuclear protein supershift complexes that bound to anti-VDR and -RXRbeta antibodies were detected in the nuclear extract of 1,25-(OH)(2)D(3)-treated ST2 cells. Furthermore, induction of mutation to the putative VDRE also diminished the inductive effect of 1,25-(OH)(2)D(3). We therefore concluded that mouse RANKL gene is one of the target genes of 1,25-(OH)(2)D(3) containing a functional VDRE in the promoter region.


Perceptive Content Portal leverages the power of Jadu Continuum and provides rich and powerful ways to present content and eforms for Hyland Software's Enterprise Software to Web users on any device.


(1) Background: To explore the effects of the 2008 economic crisis on maternal, perinatal and infant mortality in Greece and the socio-economic determinants associated with them; (2) Methods: The annual rates of stillbirth (SBR), perinatal mortality (PMR), infant mortality (IMR), neonatal mortality (NNMR), post-neonatal mortality (PNMR), low birth weight (LBW), and maternal mortality (MMR) were calculated for the years 2000–2016. Average Annual Percent Changes (AAPC) were calculated by the period before and after 2008. The expected rates of 2009–2016 and the observed-to-expected rate ratios (RR) were calculated. Correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were used to test the impact of socio-economic variables on health outcomes; (3) Results: A reverse in downwards trends of PNM, IMR, and NNMR is observed since 2009. All observed values of 2009–2016 were found significantly higher than the expected ones by 12–34%. All indicators except SBR were found negatively correlated with GDP and DHI. A positive correlation was found between IMR, NNMR, and LBW and long-term unemployment, and no association with public health expenditure; (4) Conclusions: Economic crisis was associated with remarkable adverse effects on perinatal outcomes and infant mortality, mainly determined by long-term unemployment and income reduction. The findings stress a need for interventions to protect maternity and child health during crises.


This chapter reflects upon some of the theoretical ramifications of the authors' work on an award-winning anthology of early modern women's manuscript poetry published by Manchester University Press in 2005. We discuss the tension between our foregrounding of the materiality of the manuscripts from which we take our texts and our gynocritical desire to present and celebrate women writers, mapping the former onto the 'new textualism' of Jerome J. McGann and the latter onto the author-centred 'new bibliography' of W. W. Greg and Fredson Bowers (against which McGann was reacting). Our conclusion is that the author-by-author structure of our anthology, far from undermining our work on manuscript contexts, enriches it, whilst our bibliographical biases enrich 'gynocritics' by finding a more detailed way in which to situate women's agency. We also discuss our decision to focus on poetry at the expense of other manuscript genres and end by looking at how the terms of our discussion might be affected in the future by the digital medium.


PKZ is a fish-specific protein kinase containing Zα domains. PKZ is known to induce apoptosis through phosphorylating eukaryotic initiation factor 2α kinase (eIF2α) in the same way as double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR), but its exact role in detecting pathogens remains to be fully elucidated. Herein, we have found that PKZ acts as a fish-specific DNA sensor by initiating IFN expression through IRF3- or ISGF3-like mediated pathways. The expression pattern of PKZ is similar to those of innate immunity mediators stimulated by poly (dA:dT) and poly (dG:dC). DNA-PKZ interaction can enhance PKZ phosphorylation and dimerization in vitro. These findings indicate that PKZ participates in cytoplasmic DNA-mediated signaling. Subcellular localization assays have also shown that PKZ is located in the cytoplasm, which suggests that PKZ acts as a cytoplasmic PRR. Meanwhile, co-IP assays have shown that PKZ can separately interact with IRF3, STING, ZDHHC1, eIF2α, IRF9, and STAT2. Further investigations have revealed that PKZ can activate IRF3 and STAT2; and that IRF3-dependent and ISGF3-like dependent mediators are critical for PKZ-induced IFN expression. These results demonstrate that PKZ acts as a special DNA pattern-recognition receptor, and that PKZ can trigger immune responses through IRF3-mediated or ISGF3-like mediated pathways in fish.


The idea of the Squam Lake Report was to bring together some fifteen leading U.S. financial economists to see what regulatory changes they could jointly agree and thereby influence policy discussions. Seeking to find a consensus, however, meant that many issues were not mentioned in the Report, e.g., structural limitations, Pigovian taxes, procyclicality, and boundary problems between banks and nonbanks. But what is presented is generally, though not invariably, admirable, and the book is beautifully written in good, easily accessible English. (JEL E44, E52, G01, G21, G28, L51)


SUMMARY The comparative study of the ultrastructure of the midgut epithelium of stingless bee larvae that eat plant protein (pollen) and animal protein (carrion) throughout the larval phase, shows variations in the digestive cells that are only relative to larval aging and not to the type of larval diet. The cells of older larvae present a cytoplasm with empty spaces that result from emptying of lipid and glycogen stocks, and the presence of autophagic vacuoles. These results are discussed in relation to the hypothesis that variations in the digestive tract of insects may be associated with different diets or phylogeny. We conclude that different diets do not determine cell morphology adaptations in the studied species. As the variations in the ultrastructure of the midgut epithelium are the same in all studied species, including the necrophagous species Trigona hypogea, throughout the larval stage, this sequence of changes seems to be due to different physiological state during larval development.


The superconducting magnets on Maglev vehicles when running vibrate mechanically due to electromagnetic disturbance from the ground coils. Therefore, the current leads fixed on the superconducting coil, which is vibrating at about 98m/s2 (=10g), are also required to endure the vibration. We executed dynamic vibration tests for two types of current leads (straight & arc types) which had a multi-stacked configuration of Ag-sheathed Bi2223 tapes impregnated with epoxy resin in a concaved reinforcing gutter. We evaluated the straight-type lead for an operating current of 700A after every vibration test in liquid nitrogen for one hour under the dynamic strain deformation of 50-100μ on the surface of the reinforcing material covering the current lead. We could not detect degradation of the current lead by vibration through the total cycles of 3.9×106 after continuous vibration tests. We also executed vibration tests for arc-type current leads which were combined with an actual energized superconducting coil for a Maglev. Large accelerations of these current leads occurred at frequencies of 308 and 375Hz. In spite of the maximum acceleration of 600-700m/s2 generated by actuating the excessive force on a superconducting coil for two seconds, which occurred on these current leads carrying 500A, the superconductivity of the current leads did not shift to normal conductivity. There was no damage to either type of current lead during these vibration tests. So we confirmed the good prospect for the application of these current leads to actual Maglev superconducting magnets.


Presented herein is a clinical case report showing possibilities of endovascular surgery in comprehensive treatment of a multi-level stenosing lesion in an elderly male patient presenting with pyo-necrotic alterations of the crus and foot. A 67-year-old male patient suffering from diabetes mellitus, lower-limb vessels atherosclerosis, critical ischaemia, indolent wound of the left foot following amputation of the toes was subjected to collaterally approached balloon-mediated angioplasty of critical stenoses of the left common iliac artery and deep femoral artery. During the operation, we used elements of coronary interventions technique. The wound healed completely. Two years after the operation, a good result persists, with the patient being capable of moving unassisted, completely serving himself, and the distance of pain-free walking amounts to more than 150 metres.


Introduction:Fish oil has been shown to reduce serum triglyceride (TG) concentrations. In HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy, high TG concentrations likely contribute to increased risk of cardiovascular disease. AIDS Clinical Trials Group A5186 examined the safety and efficacy of fish oil plus fenofibrate in subjects not achieving serum TG levels ≤200 mg/dL with either agent alone. Methods:One hundred subjects on highly active antiretroviral therapy with serum TG concentrations ≥400 mg/dL and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ≤160 mg/dL were randomized to 3 g of fish oil twice daily or 160 mg of fenofibrate daily for 8 weeks. Subjects with a fasting TG level >200 mg/dL at week 8 received a combination of fish oil and fenofibrate in the same doses from week 10 to week 18. Results:Median baseline TG was 662 mg/dL in the fish oil group and 694 mg/dL in the fenofibrate group (P = not significant). Fish oil reduced TG levels by a median of 283 mg/dL (46%), fenofibrate reduced them by 367 mg/dL (58%), and combination therapy reduced them by 65.5%. Combination therapy achieved TG levels of ≤200 mg/dL in 22.7% subjects. Fish oil had no measurable effect on immunologic parameters or the pharmacokinetics of lopinavir. Conclusions:Fish oil was safe when administered alone or combined with fenofibrate and significantly reduced TG levels in HIV-infected subjects with hypertriglyceridemia.


Posterior reversible encephalopathy (PRE) is a recent syndrome characterized by headache, vomiting, seizures, visual loss, altered mental status with or without motor or sensitive deficit. Neuroimaging demonstrates symmetrical posterior cortical and subcortical lesions. The aetiology remains uncertain but vascular hypotheses is the most retained. We report a case of a 21 year old man with posterior cerebral encephalopathy, the toxic hypo these remains the most probable.


In a very recent paper, we introduced (i) a specific hyper-spectral mixing model for the sea bottom, based on a detailed physical analysis which includes the adjacency effect, and (ii) an associated unmixing method, which is not blind in the sense that it requires a prior estimation of various parameters of that mixing model. We here proceed much further, by first analytically showing that this model can be seen as a specific member of the general class of mixing models involving spectral variability. Therefore, we then process such data with the IP-NMF and UP-NMF blind unmixing methods that we recently proposed in other works to handle spectral variability. Such a variability especially occurs when sea depth significantly varies over the considered scene, and we show that IP-NMF and UP-NMF then yield significantly better pure spectra estimation than a classical method from the literature which was not designed to handle such a variability.


In light of increased immigration to the U.S., our objective is to examine the unique patterns of health status among immigrants aged 55 and over across a wide array of racial and ethnic groups. We explore health disparities within the immigrant population and between immigrants and natives of the same racial/ethnic group. Logistic regression is used to analyze data from the 1992-1995 National Health Interview Survey. Immigrants are less likely than natives to report an activity limitation or to be obese, but more likely than natives to report themselves in poor or fair general health. There are significant differences among immigrants arriving from different countries and between immigrants and natives who are of the same race/ethnicity. For some groups and health measures, a large share of the differences are explained by disparities in socioeconomic status. Older immigrants are not a large enough share of the population, nor do they have distinct enough health status, to substantially alter the aggregate prevalence of health conditions in the total population. However, the diversity in health status within the immigrant population is enormous. These estimates can be used to target populations with especially high rates of obesity and limitations.


A series of 79 flavones related to centaureidin (3,6,4'-trimethoxy-5, 7,3'-trihydroxyflavone, 1) was screened for cytotoxicity in the NCI in vitro 60-cell line human tumor screen. The resulting cytotoxicity profiles of these flavones were compared for degree of similarity to the profile of 1. Selected compounds were further evaluated with in vitro assays of tubulin polymerization and [3H]colchicine binding to tubulin. Maximum potencies for tubulin interaction and production of differential cytotoxicity profiles characteristic of 1 were observed only with compounds containing hydroxyl substituents at C-3' and C-5 and methoxyl groups at C-3 and C-4'.


Existing cross-modal retrieval methods assume a straightforward relationship where images and text contain portrayals or mentions of the same objects. In contrast, real-world image-text pairs (e.g. an image and its caption in a news article) often feature more complex relations. Importantly, not all image-text pairs have the same relationship: in some pairs, image and text may be more closely aligned, while others are more loosely aligned hence complementary. In order to ensure the model learns a semantically robust space which captures nuanced relationships, care must be taken that loosely-aligned image-text pairs have a strong enough impact on learning. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to prioritize loosely-aligned samples. Unlike prior sample weighting methods, ours relies on estimating to what extent semantic similarity is preserved in the separate channels (images/text) in the learned multimodal space. In particular, the image-text pair weights in the retrieval loss focus learning towards samples from diverse or discrepant neighborhoods: samples where images or text that were close in a semantic space, are distant in the cross-modal space (diversity), or where neighbor relations are asymmetric (discrepancy). Experiments on three challenging datasets exhibiting abstract image-text relations, as well as COCO, demonstrate significant performance gains compared to recent state-of-the-art models and sample weighting approaches.


A hardness based similarity index for studying the quantum similarity for atoms is analyzed. The investigation of hardness and Fukui functions of atoms leads to the construction of a quantum similarity measure, which can be interpreted as a quantified comparison of chemical reactivity of atoms. Evaluation of the new measure reveals periodic tendencies throughout Mendeleev's table. Moreover on the diagonal the global hardness was recovered. Considering a corresponding quantum similarity index reveals that renormalization of the measure can mask periodic patterns. The hardness was calculated for atoms with nuclear charge 3<or=Z<or=103, using the best single configuration electron density functions available. Different hardness kernels were used and the importance of the different contributions to the kernel was investigated. The atomic self-similarities constructed in this way show a fair correlation with experimental atomic polarizability.


Mycobacteria comprise a diverse group of bacteria that are widely distributed in nature, some of which cause significant diseases in humans. The most prominent representative of this group is the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, which includes the etiological agents of tuberculosis (TB), which, with over 8 million new cases and nearly 2 million deaths annually, continues to cause one of the major health burdens for humans. This complex also includes the causative agents of TB in animals, of which Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine TB, is the most prominent. Whereas the prevalence of TB has been closely monitored in most parts of the world, the epidemiology of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections remains poorly defined, in spite of the fact that the importance of NTMs as a cause of opportunistic infections of humans has been increasingly recognized over the last two decades, particularly in areas where the incidence of TB is in decline.

The purpose of this special issue is to provide the reader with some recent achievements in mycobacteriology, with particular emphasis on the developments which have direct relevance to the clinical practice and diagnostic performance.

The issue opens with a comprehensive state-of-the-art review on the molecular typing methods for M. tuberculosis and some NTM species, most commonly associated with human disease. For the various methods, technical practicalities as well as discriminatory power and accomplishments are discussed.

The next two studies focus further on genotyping methods in the molecular epidemiology of TB. Both describe the principle, technical advantages, and discriminatory power of the ligation-mediated PCR systems, namely, fast ligation amplification polymorphism (FLAP) method and fast ligation-mediated PCR (FLiP) (A. Żaczek et al.).

Genotyping methods allow for delineating phylogenetic relationships between the strains. To improve the utility of genotyping and to increase international consensus in the interpretation of genotyping results, M. Aminian et al. propose a new algorithm, publicly available online, useful for classification of M. tuberculosis complex isolates into phylogenetic clades, based on the spoligotyping profiles.

Molecular interrogation has entered both the epidemiological and the clinical field today. For clinical practice, molecular tools can help in detecting mycobacteria in clinical samples as well as detecting markers for drug resistance. In this context, Z. Bakula et al. examine the mutational "hot spots" in the embB gene potentially related with resistance of M. tuberculosis to ethambutol (EMB). Similarly, but from a different angle, N. Alvarez et al. investigate the molecular mechanisms behind resistance of tubercle bacilli to fluoroquinolones and the binding of levofloxacin to the mycobacterial DNA gyrase in particular.

Identification of M. tuberculosis complex isolates by nonmolecular means is described in the contribution by D. Machado et al. Here, the usefulness of the MGIT TBc Identification Test (Becton Dickinson), an immunochromatographic assay which detects the MPB64 protein, is evaluated for routine identification of M. tuberculosis complex in a network of hospital mycobacteriology laboratories in Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries.

Despite all advances in clinical diagnostics and molecular epidemiology, there still is no truly effective vaccine against TB. In a broad stream of research on new anti-TB vaccines is a study of M. V. Bianco et al., who investigate the efficacy of a new vaccine candidate against TB based on a M. bovis mutant in p27–p55 operon.

Pharmacokinetic analyses are gaining foothold in the treatment of TB, where they are available. An interesting issue is addressed by A. Zabost et al., who explore the correlation between the N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) genotype with isoniazid (INH) acetylation in TB patients and demonstrate NAT2 genotyping as an important tool for the adjustment of INH dosing regimens.

Four studies deal with NTM. The first one focuses on Mycobacterium kansasii which is among the most frequently isolated NTM species from human clinical cases worldwide. Since only certain genotypes of M. kansasii are clinically important, a paper by Z. Bakula et al. gives a snapshot of the distribution of M. kansasii subtypes among patients in Poland suspected of having pulmonary NTM disease. In the second paper, M. Slany et al. report on a distinct NTM skin disease in humans, known as fish tank granuloma and caused by Mycobacterium marinum. The remaining two NTM papers come from the veterinary field. C. Goepfert et al. report cases of Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium infection in veal calves, highlighting the diagnostic problems surrounding these infections. A. Ledwon et al. report the results of the experimental infection with M. avium subsp. avium in budgerigars positive for the beak and feather disease circovirus (BFDV) in order to determine how mycobacteriosis affects the course of the viral disease.

The articles within this issue differ considerably from each other with respect to their research scopes and methodologies, thus reflecting the multidirectional character of the research in the ever-expanding field of mycobacteriology. We face an exciting era in mycobacteriology, where greater understanding of the mycobacteria leads to technical improvements that change clinical practice and these techniques in turn help to curb the epidemic of mycobacterial diseases of humans and animals.

Tomasz Jagielski

Jakko van Ingen

Nalin Rastogi

Jaroslaw Dziadek


New applications for wireless communications are typically accompanied by a need for antennas that integrate several frequencies and functionalities under a single aperture. Different requirements for pattern, gain, and polarization at each operating frequency further complicate the design of such antennas. Novel slot spiral antenna designs for dual-band/multiband operation are introduced. Typically excited to operate in the first mode, the proposed two-arm slot spiral is redesigned to operate efficiently in the second mode and in a hybrid first/second mode for better functionality. Several key features are introduced to achieve requirements for impedance matching, pattern, and gain suitable for a specific automotive dual-band DAB/SDARS (digital audio broadcasting/satellite digital audio radio services) antenna system. Among these features are new feeding systems, a suitable mix of spiral growth rates, and a low-loss spiral arm termination. The design is accomplished using full-wave finite-element boundary integral simulations and is verified with measurements.


Cobalt-containing hybrid particles have been prepared through the encapsulation of cobalt tetrafluoroborate hexahydrate (CoTFB) via inverse miniemulsion polymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA). We systematically varied the amount and type of cosolvent (water, methanol, ethanol, ethylene glycol), apolar continuous phase (cyclohexane, isooctane, isopar M, hexadecane), amount of cobalt salt, and molecular weight of the polymeric surfactant. The influence of those parameters on the particle size, size distribution, and particle morphology were investigated. Narrowly size-distributed hybrid particles with good colloidal stability could be obtained in a wide range of cobalt content between 5.7 and 22.6 wt % salt relative to the monomer. The addition of a cosolvent such as water not only promotes the loading of metal salt but also has a positive influence on narrowing the particle size distribution. We assume that generally narrowly size-distributed particles can be obtained for a large variety of combinations of polar/apolar phase by adjusting the balance between osmotic and Laplace pressure via the solubility of the metal salt in the continuous phase and lowering the interfacial tension by adjusting the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) value of the surfactant. The results show a significant advantage of the inverse miniemulsion over the direct system with respect to the variability and total amount of metal salt without losing the narrow particle size distribution and colloidal stability.


Background Weaning from mechanical ventilation is classified as simple, difficult, or prolonged according to weaning process. Theoretically, simple weaning group usually has better clinical outcomes than non-simple group; however, the results of previous studies were still inconsistent. Objectives The purpose of the study was to determine the incidence, predictors, and outcomes of ventilator weaning and causes of weaning failure. Methods A prospective observational study was performed between June and December 2013 in all patients (n = 164) who required mechanical ventilation with endotracheal intubation in medical wards at Thammasat University Hospital, Thailand. Duration of weaning, causes of weaning failure, extubation, reintubation, tracheostomy, number of ventilator-free days within 28 days, length of hospital stay, and hospital mortality were measured. Results 103 patients were eligible for final analysis. Mean ± SD age was 65.1±17.5 years and 55.3% were males. The incidences of simple, difficult and prolonged weaning were 46.6%, 36.9% and 16.5%, respectively. The mortality rates for simple, difficult, and prolonged weaning were 0%, 10.5% and 23.5% (p = 0.006), respectively. The 3 causes of weaning failure in non-simple weaning were bronchospasm, pneumonia, and malnutrition. Conclusions Non-simple weaning increased mortality. Bronchospasm, pneumonia, and malnutrition were key risk factors for weaning failure. Strategies are needed to minimize their effects.


This correspondence examines the number of users that can be supported at a given signal-to-interference ratio in asynchronous direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) systems. It is shown that for many chip waveforms the user capacity for asynchronous systems is larger than for optimally designed synchronous systems. The degree to which the user capacity improves by exploiting asynchrony is characterized by defining the effective dimension of the chip waveform. Finally, simulation results are shown to verify the analysis.


Survival with online hemodiafiltration (OL‐HDF) is higher than with hemodialysis; frequent hemodialysis has also improved survival and quality of life. Home hemodialysis facilitates frequent therapy. We report our experience with 2 patients with stage 5 CKD who started home hemodialysis with OL‐HDF in November 2016. After a training period at the hospital, they started home hemodialysis with OL‐HDF after learning how to manage dialysis monitors and how to administer water treatment. We used the "5008‐home" (FMC©) monitor, and the Acqua C© (Fresenius Medical Care) for water treatment. Water conductivity was always checked before and during dialysis sessions and was always 2.5 to 3 mS/cm. Water cultures always fulfilled the criteria for ultrapurity. As far as we know, this is the first report on patients receiving OL‐HDF at home. The technique proved to be safe and valid for renal replacement therapy and transfers the benefits of hospital convective therapy to the home setting. Future data will enable us to determine whether survival has also improved.


To assess the potential and capability of different MPI scanner designs and architectures, defined reference phantoms for imaging studies are required. For the preparation of well-defined structures as well as realistic vessel structures, 3D printed molds were filled with magnetic nanoparticles embedded into a long term stable polymeric matrix or perfused with a flowing ferrofluid. Different types and layouts of 3D printed phantoms will be presented which were imaged by means of MPI successfully.


This work uses empirical data from the HELCOM database and a new empirically-based model to predict the concentration of cyanobacteria in the Baltic Proper. The aim has been to estimate nitrogen fixation. The inherent variabil- ities/patchiness in the variables regulating nitrogen fixation are great. This means that different approaches may provide complementary information so that several relatively uncertain estimates may together provide less uncertainty in the es- timate for nitrogen fixation in a given system. We show that there is marked variability in nitrogen fixation among differ- ent years (a factor of 20 between the year 2001 with the smallest value and 2005 with the highest value of about 900 kt/yr of N-fixation). The mean value for the period from 1997 to 2005 was 190 kt/yr. TN/TP based on median monthly data has been higher than the Redfield ratio of 7.2 since 1994. 6.5% of all individual data (n = 3001) from the surface-water layer (44 m) in the Baltic Proper for samples with temperatures higher than 15°C (when risks of getting cyanobacteria blooms are favoured) have TN/TP lower than 7.2. The mean TN/TP is 20 for surface-water sites with temperatures higher than 15°C, indicating that the average trophic conditions in the Baltic Proper are likely more limited by phosphorus than nitro- gen. Nitrogen fixation is an important contributor to the nitrogen concentration and we give overall budgets for nitrogen and phosphorus in the Baltic Proper, including nutrient data from land uplift, which is the most important contributor for nutrients and often neglected in discussions about sources of nutrients to the Baltic Sea.


Some results are presented of the Earth's microseismic background. It is assumed that background peaks should correspond to the resonance gravity-wave exchange in the system of two gravity-connected bodies. The microseismic spectrum is compared with the distribution of gravity potential of the nearest stars. A close peak-to-peak correspondence is found. This correspondence and resonance condition lead to an evaluation of the gravity-wave velocity. The resulting value is nine orders of magnitude more than the velocity of light. Some consequences of such result are discussed.


The electronic excitation temperature in a direct current positive streamer discharge based on ultra-thin sheet electrodes was measured by optical emission spectrometry in order to deposit materials for potential future applications. It was remarkable that the electronic excitation temperature (Texc) did not vary monotonically with the discharge current, but demonstrated a peak at a certain position. In a mixture of oxygen and argon (80% oxygen), the maximum Texc reached about 6300 K at an average current of 600 μA. Both the positive ions accumulation in the discharge region and the increase of the local temperature around the streamer channel caused by Joule heating are considered to be the main reasons for the variations of Texc.


Observation of the microcirculation of the hamster cheek pouch by intravital microscopy revealed five steps of neutrophil migration from the venules after topical application of leukotriene B4 to the microvasculature: rolling along the venular wall (Step 1), adhesion to it (Step 2), disappearance from the vascular lumen (Step 3), presence between the endothelial cells and the subendothelial basement membrane (Step 4) and passage through the basement membrane (Step 5). The present study was performed to examine whether a metalloproteinase inhibitor inhibits neutrophil migration at any of the above five steps. Chymostatin and leupeptin did not inhibit any of these five steps. In contrast, FN-439, a selective inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase, reduced the number of neutrophils in the perivascular space without affecting Steps 1 to 3. It was concluded that neutrophils may use metalloproteinase (collagenase/gelatinase) to penetrate the subendothelial basement membrane.


We consider accretion disks consisting of counterrotating gaseous components with an intervening shear layer. Configurations of this type may arise from the accretion of newly supplied counterrotating gas onto an existing corotating gas disk. For simplicity we consider the case where the gas well above the disk midplane is rotating with angular rate +Ω and that well below has the same properties but is rotating with rate -Ω. Using the Shakura-Sunyaev alpha turbulence model, we find self-similar solutions where a thin (relative to the full disk thickness) equatorial layer accretes very rapidly, essentially at free-fall speed. As a result, the accretion speed is much larger than it would be for an alpha disk rotating in one direction. Counterrotating accretion disks may be a transient stage in the formation of counterrotating galaxies and in the accretion of matter onto compact objects.


A new pterosaur Moganopterus zhuiana gen. et sp. nov. is erected based on a complete skull with lower jaws and anterior cervical vertebrae. It is characterized by much elongated upper and lower jaws with at least 62 total, long, curved teeth with sharp tips, a well developed parietal crest extending posterodorsally, forming an angle of 15 degrees with the ventral margin of the skull, the ratio of length to width of cervical vertebrae greater than 5:1. The skull length is 750 mm, and it is the largest toothed pterosaur found so far in the world. Based on this new pterosaur, the Boreopteridae can be divided into two subgroups: Boreopterinae sub‐fam. nov. and Moganopterinae sub‐fam. nov., which is also confirmed by the phylogenetic analysis.


The principle of proportionality is one of the core principles of international humanitarian law. The principle is not easy to apply on the battlefield, but is even harder to apply retrospectively, in the courtroom. This article discusses the challenges in applying the principle during international criminal trials. It discusses the principle itself, followed by an explanation of the general challenges of dealing with violations of international humanitarian law, and more specifically the rules related to the conduct of hostilities, during war crime trials. The way in which the principle has been used before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is examined, including an in-depth discussion of the recent Gotovina case. The second part consists of an evaluation of Article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and discusses the difficulties the International Criminal Court would face in cases dealing with violations of the principle of proportionality.


The 1st part of the study describes the distribution in the body and the functions of copper, iron, and zinc and the symptoms of deficiencies found in human and animal tests. The 2nd part describes the methodology used to measure the level of the 3 minerals in the plasma, erythrocytes, and umbilical cord of 55 healthy women during delivery and 55 infants, and reports the findings from the tests, discussing their significance. Some differences between these findings and previously published data are attributed to the greater accuracy and reliability of the advanced methods used by the authors.


Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a management paradigm to understand and analyze the flow of goods, services and the accompanying values reaching to the consumers followed by the processes of purchasing, production and distribution with combining and connecting the whole system. Today, SCM is regarded as an essential strategic factor which has a great deal of influence on earning competitiveness in the abruptly changing global business environment. Multi-agent technology becomes the best candidate for problem solver under these circumstances. An agent performs given tasks automatically using inter-collaboration or negotiation with other agents on behalf of a human on the basis of real-time connectivity. There will be the conflict among the pursuit of the profit of all members of the SCM. In order to maximize the total profit of the SCM, negotiation among all members is necessary. In this research, we propose to find the best negotiation strategy that makes all members of the SCM satisfied in a simple SCM. We suggest a new negotiation algorithm in the SCM environment with using multi-agent technology. The ideas behind the suggested model are negotiation algorithm with a trading agent and we consider multiple factors that are price, review point and delivery time. We created agents with Java Agent Development Framework (JADE) and performed the simulation under JADE and Eclipse environment. The case study denotes that our algorithm gives a better result than the Kasbah system that is a typically well known system where users create autonomous agents that buy and sell goods on their behalf. We've used benefit/cost ratio as a performance measure in order to compare our system with the Kasbah system.


Reading habits of university students, which is crucial in building a robust individual, are affected by various factors. This study was conducted to explore the effect of gender differences in reading habits of university undergraduates in Sri Lanka. Data were obtained using a questionnaire from 192 male and 474 female students of six universities. Enjoying reading, reading preferences, how often they are reading and reading frequency showed significant variations between the two genders (p<0.05). Female students enjoyed reading and spent more time in reading than their male counterparts. Most female students preferred novels (28.5%), while male respondents (7.5%) selected books to read. Both male (14.5%) and female (33.1%) students selected education as their preferred genre while politics and poetry were preferred by least number of female students (6.6%) and male students (2.1%) respectively. Personal satisfaction was the main reason for reading to both the male (17.4%) and female students (39.9%) while the least number of male (2.1%) and female (7.2%) students read for reinforcing their lessons. The majority of the female students responded that preparation for exams (39.6%) was the main barrier against reading, while male students selected social networks (16.5%). In terms of frequency, the majority of the girls (19.5%) read once a week, while 9.3% of boys read less frequently, whereas 0.9% of them never read. Based on this study, female are better in reading than male students in Sri Lankan universities.


Pt(Ⅱ) and Pd(Ⅱ) complexes with 2',3',4',5,7-pentahydroxy-flavone were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductance, IR, 1HNMR, TG-DTA, UV-Vis spectroscopic techniques, and fluorescence analysis.The scavenging effect on the superoxide radical ( O-2 ) and the inhibitory effect on lipid peroxides were also investigated.Both the ligand and the complexes exhibit scavenging effect on superoxide radicals, and the effect of the complexes is greater than that of the ligand. The Pt(Ⅱ) complex exhibits the strongest scavenging efficiency. Both Pt(Ⅱ) and Pd(Ⅱ) complexes have the inhibitory effect on lipid peroxides, and the effect of the complexes is greater than that of the ligand, but the Pt(Ⅱ) complex has a high effect of promoting lipid peroxides.


Characterization and genetic diversity assessment among 30 conserved coconut accessions collected from Pacific Ocean Islands and Nicobar Islands for morphological traits, physico-chemical traits of tender nut water, leaf biochemical parameters and molecular characterization by using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were undertaken at World Coconut Germplasm Centre, Andaman. Significant variations were observed for most morphological and nut component traits. Out of the 30 accessions characterized, four accessions, namely, Niu Leka, Hari Papua, Niu Oma and Nikkore were dwarfs among which Niu Leka was identified as a unique dwarf with higher copra content. A dendrogram of genetic relationship obtained through RAPD markers showed distinct variation with 66% in all accessions. The average polymorphic information content (PIC) value of 13 selected primers was 0.29 and maximum and minimum PIC values was 0.46 and 0.17 for primers OPF-19 and OPH-25, respectively. Cluster analysis by UPGMA method grouped the accessions into two major clusters. The results will be useful in the selection among these conserved accessions for specific traits for future utilization in crop improvement initiatives based on their performance for different desirable traits and the level of diversity. Key words : Coconut, genetic diversity, characterization, RAPD, cluster analysis.


Michigan Abstract We propose and demonstrate reduction of aerodynamic drag for a realistic geometry at highway speeds using serpentine dielectric barrier discharge actuators. A comparable linear plasma actuator fails to reduce the drag at these speeds. Experimental data collected for linear and serpentine plasma actuators under quiescent operating conditions show that the serpentine design has profound effect on near wall flow structure and resulting drag. For certain actuator arrangement, the measured drag reduced by over 14% at 26.8 m/s (60 mph) and over 10% at 31.3 m/s (70 mph) opening up realistic possibility of reasonable energy savings for full scale ground vehicles. In addition, the power consumption data and drag reduction effectiveness for different input signals are also dielectric


We investigate some simple finite element discretizations for the axisymmetric Laplace equation and the azimuthal component of the axisymmetric Maxwell equations as well as multigrid algorithms for these discretizations. Our analysis is targeted at simple model problems and our main result is that the standard V-cycle with point smoothing converges at a rate independent of the number of unknowns. This is contrary to suggestions in the existing literature that line relaxations and semicoarsening are needed in multigrid algorithms to overcome difficulties caused by the singularities in the axisymmetric Maxwell problems. Our multigrid analysis proceeds by applying the well known regularity based multigrid theory. In order to apply this theory, we prove regularity results for the axisymmetric Laplace and Maxwell equations in certain weighted Sobolev spaces. These, together with some new finite element error estimates in certain weighted Sobolev norms, are the main ingredients of our analysis.


History, the thought of history, begins today with a series of negations. History is no longer mythos, it can no longer be salvational history or a period that would need to be interpreted in messianic terms. It can no longer be conceived as teleology, not in the sense of the enlightenment and/or of the freedom of reason or even of decline. It is no longer destiny, no longer the "history of Being" (Heidegger). Every form of narration falls back on the narrator, remains within his own perspective, and loses its claim to universal validity.Even the most challenging thought, namely, that the Shoah was a historical rupture that changed all thought and life (Arendt and Adorno1), is hardly still recognized. At times it is numbered among other epochal ruptures such as the Fall of the Wall or 9/11, which leads to their leveling. Yet this means that there is no historical rupture, but rather only disturbances that do not imperil the continuity of history.The thought that there is no longer any historical narrative that can comprehend history appears to have itself become a narrative. Indeed: even if there is no longer any argument that speaks for a specific historical narrative, there is also none that speaks against it. The claim that there is no longer any mythos seems itself to become a mythos.2 Yet that is only a rhetorical hyperbole. There is no longer any Grand Narrative; at any rate none that philosophers recognize. Silence reigns.3Universal validity-can history lay claim to this? Right away it becomes clear that history is primarily to be experienced when it relates to something particular, to a people, a nation, a state. History is then the gathering of a plural into the one. Would, then, only what Schiller, for example, called "universal history"4 be questionable, a history that would relate to many peoples and the connection between them and would develop into a "history of mankind"?5 No: the finitude of the one, the fateful gathering of histories into a history, is already problematic. History would have to be experienced in the infinitude of the many, in the dispersal of biographies, in the individual life that begins to tell its own story.It can hardly be claimed that the "philosophy of history" is in crisis. Rather, it appears that the crisis of the patient took a fatal turn some time ago. The philosophy of history is itself only the object of a historiography of the philosophies of history that has come to understand its own historiographic perspective. Historiographic investigations into the philosophy of history thus themselves become traces of a historiographic consciousness that desires to know itself only in the historiographic moment, and no longer in the big picture.These negations, this blotting out of historico-philosophical sketches, could easily be contradicted by the fact that, here and there, there are philosophers who emphasize one or another conception of history. With Benjamin messianic figures of thought are gladly taken up again, and with Habermas the spirit of the Enlightenment is invoked. That all might make sense within specific projects-yet these figures of thought no longer lead to any consensus about how to understand history. There is no justification for attributing a theological or rational motivation to history. Only the history of technologies could be narrated along the lines of progress. Yet even this history would only orient itself by the empirical aspects of these moments of progress; no one would claim any more that technology itself signifies something like a redemption from nature.Whoever writes today about history writes about history in . . . e.g., Heidegger. To be sure, using a noteworthy philosopher to problematize a theme is an academic requirement. But in relation to history this requirement seems to shirk the difficulties.I cannot write a comprehensive text on the problem. Perhaps the fragment is the only appropriate form. History is only still accessible in and as a fragment, as rubble, as splinters. …


Around half of Peru's public investment is made by local governments. Through the estimation of a dynamic panel data model for 1796 local governments between 2010 and 2018, we find that the most important drivers for local public investment are: (i) availability of funding sources, especially those associated to non-renewable natural resource revenues; (ii) variables associated with each local government's capacity to plan, budget and execute public investment; and (iii)  political budget cycle effects, especially during the year following local elections. Furthermore, we extend our analysis by differentiating between local governments with reelected and non-reelected authorities, and by grouping local governments according to their economic size. Most of our results are shown to be robust across different specifications. Results from this paper can be used as a starting point to design mechanisms that make public investment more stable and predictable in a context where reelection banning can further deepen public investment's fall.


This study aims to investigate the use of communication strategies by the first-year students at Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF) while performing one-way and two-way speaking tasks. The participants were 30 first year students, major in Forestry. They were randomly selected by using the convenience sampling method. Data were collected by the observation form and transcribed data of two different tasks: a picture description task (a one-way task) and a role-play task (a two-way task). The frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation (SD), and Chi-square were employed to analyze the data. The results showed that the students used all 5 main types of communication strategies which included avoidance strategy, target language-based strategy, L1based strategy, modification devices, and nonlinguistic strategy. The most frequently used type of communication strategies was modification devices and the least used type of communication strategies was avoidance strategy. The findings also showed that the students used various types of communication strategies while performing two different tasks.


The damage caused by the diamondback moth is a limiting factor in the production of brassicaceous plants worldwide and biological control by an egg parasitoid may be an effective way to control this pest. Thus, understanding oviposition preferences of pests and parasitoids in crop plants can be a key factor in optimizing biological control programs. The present study was aimed at determining the oviposition preference of Plutella xylostella and Trichogramma pretiosum in collard greens. Bioassays consisted of collard plants in cages and P. xylostella adults released inside to lay eggs on the leaves. After 24 hours, the adults were removed and T. pretiosum females released. In another experiment, cardboard strips containing P. xylostella eggs were offered to T. pretiosum released in cages with a collard greens plant inside and replaced every 2 hours for 24 hours. The results showed that P. xylostella has a preference for laying eggs on the leaves of the middle region of the plant, on the upper part of the adaxial surface. For T. pretiosum , no preference was observed, but mean parasitism rates were highest on the upper region of the adaxial surface, where most of the eggs were found. In the second experiment, the highest mean parasitism rates by T. pretiosum were observed at temperatures ranging from 25.9 to 37.4 °C and relative humidity between 42 and 78% in the photophase. No parasitism occurred in scotophase, indicating that field releases should be performed preferably in the early hours of the morning.


The red cell membrane stearic acid to oleic acid ratio was analysed in 34 men with histologically proven carcinoma of the prostate and distant metastases. This ratio was expressed as the saturation index (SI). A mean SI of 0.97 was found in control patients without evidence of any malignancy whereas all patients with advanced prostatic cancer showed a reduced stearic to oleic acid ratio (mean SI 0.466). Untreated patients had a significantly lower SI (mean 0.36) than those who had responded to hormonal therapy (mean 0.547; P less than 0.0001). A drop in SI correlated well with more advanced disease as judged by radiological findings and serum PSA. It is suggested that red cell membrane SI correlates well with radiological and biochemical markers of advanced prostatic carcinoma and may be used as a marker to assess progress and response to treatment.


Bankfull hydraulic geometry relationships relate bankfull stream dimensions, such as cross-sectional area, width, mean depth, mean velocity, width to depth ratio, and slope to bankfull discharge. These relationships can assist in determining a design discharge for stream restoration and management projects. This study assessed 27 stable streams located in the Inner Bluegrass and Outer Bluegrass regions of Kentucky. Reaches were selected based on the presence of a U.S. Geological Survey gage, as well as other conditions such as presence of readily identifiable bankfull indicators, stability indices, and site accessibility. Bankfull channel dimensions and discharges were determined, and hydraulic geometry relationships were developed for both the Inner Bluegrass and Outer Bluegrass regions. These scaling relationships for karst-influenced streams were similar to others reported in the literature for non-karst areas. Significant differences between the regions were found only for bankfull width and width-to-depth ratio. Streams in the Inner Bluegrass tended to be more narrow and deep at bankfull discharges less than 10 m3s−1 and wider and shallower at bankfull discharges greater than 20 m3s−1 as compared to stream in the Outer Bluegrass. It is suspected that physiographic conditions related to local geology and/or riparian vegetation at three sites in the Outer Bluegrass accounted for these differences. Results of this study indicate that in instances of geologic variation within a physiographic region, hydraulic geometry relationships may require evaluation at the watershed scale.


Phosphorus (P) is an essential element involved in numerous biochemical reactions. In plants, stress responses, such as the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs), are induced to help them adapt to low phosphate (Pi) concentrations. In this study, deep sequencing was performed using the roots and leaves of maize seedlings grown under low Pi concentrations to identify miRNAs that are differentially expressed during the early stages of Pi deficiency. Eight small RNA libraries were constructed, and 159 known miRNAs representing 32 miRNA families and 10 novel miRNAs. Members of the miR396 family were extremely abundant. Further, 28 Pi-responsive miRNAs were identified (27 known and 1 novel) of which 8 and 7 were significantly expressed exclusively in leaf and root tissues, respectively. The analysis of Pi-responsive miRNAs target genes suggested that most target genes functioning as transcription factors were involved in root and leaf development. The expression profiles of selected Pi-responsive miRNAs and target genes were confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Moreover, we discuss the significance of the differences in expression patterns of these miRNAs during the early and later stages of Pi starvation. This study provides useful information concerning the role of miRNAs in response to Pi starvation and will further our understanding of the mechanisms governing Pi homeostasis in maize.


Palm forests of Copernicia alba are a rare habitat in the semi-arid Chaco of Northwestern Argentina, are centres of high species diversity, and provide key resources for many species. Our goal was to assess the conservation status of five C. alba patches in Northwestern Argentina: Reserve; Embarcación; Palma Sola; Vinalito; and, Talar. We compared patches to identify the sites with greatest conservation needs based on four criteria: population size structure; palm density (of individuals with height >1.30 m); probability of seedlings being browsed; and, presence of potential seed dispersers. We found that three (Embarcación, Reserve, and Talar) out of five sites had palm densities greater than 200 individuals/ha and only one site (Embarcación) showed a reverse J-shaped size structure for height. Reserve and Embarcación had the greatest probability of seedlings being browsed (0.99 ± 0.01 and 0.88 ± 0.12, respectively). A total of 14 potential disperser species of mammals and birds were recorded across the five sites. Only Reserve alms eed dispersal harboured all of the potential dispersers, but at least two potential disperser species were recorded at the other sites. None of the palm patches studied had an adequate conservation status. However, Embarcación met three out of four criteria, and therefore it can be considered to have the best conservation status in the semi-arid Chaco. Palma Sola and Vinalito have the greatest conservation needs. To conserve C. alba in Northwestern Argentina, strategies are needed that ensure seedling establishment for future populations to reach an adequate density and structure.


A report is given of the present status of the KAMIOKANDE (Kamioka Nucleon Decay Experiment) detector, that is now in operation at the 1000 m underground in the Kamioka mine in Japan. A brief account is made on the preliminary results obtained in the first one month running of the detector.


Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck Indonesia, there have been many changes that have affected various aspects of life, including education. The difficulties, among others, are the difficulty of getting materials, this makes the use of technology very much needed. This journal aims to review the important role of educational technology as a solution to learning problems during the pandemic, using a descriptive-analytical literature study method. The results of this review indicate that digital technology has an important role in the teaching and learning process during the current pandemic. Submission of material is also done using technology. In carrying out something, there are always obstacles and obstacles to be overcome, including those related to values, knowledge, attitudes, skills, and facilities and infrastructure used when learning online. Sufficient training and literacy can be a solution to face these challenges. Utilization of digital-based technology is considered effective and becomes a teacher's solution in carrying out online learning. The hope is that this digital technology can continue to be used as a sustainable medium.


An analysis has been made here to illustrate the historical roots and the causes of reality of the national identity for Taiwanese,as well as their influence on Taiwan politics.It is well argued that the colonial experience of Taiwan is the main cause concerning the national identity for Taiwanese,while Taiwanese national identity deteriorated with the mistakes made by Kuomintang government.Therefore,with the reform and development of Taiwan society,national identity has resulted in chaos.


Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 46, 2005

3847

The use of liposomes as vehicles to transport anticancer drugs to increase drug effectiveness and decrease toxicity has been studied for several decades. A large number of reports on the uptake of liposome particles by tumor cells in vitro and dispersion in solid tumor have been published. However, since liposome particles are not stable under the conditions of the regular procedures of tissue staining, the standard methodologies have not clearly demonstrated the exact process by which liposome particles penetrate solid tumor tissue. In this study, we used rhodamine-labeled latex microspheres that mimic the particle size (100 nm) and electric charge of liposome particles as well as DSPC pegylated liposomal doxorubicin to visualize pentration of nanoparticles into solid tissue tumors. Solid tumors of L1210 cells transplanted subcutaneously in DBA2 mice and human oral carcinoma cells transplanted in SCID mice were used as animal models in this study. After i.v. injection through the tail vein, tumor tissue samples were collected at different time points, and immediately embedded in O.C.T. Cryosections (0.6 μm) of this sample were stained using anti-mouse CD31 to localize endothelial cells in blood vessels which were visualized by the green fluorescence of a FITC-streptavidin-biotin system. In these sections, the blue fluorescence of the dye DAPI was used to identify the nuclei of the tumor cells. Red fluorescent liposomal particles or rhodaminine-labeled latex microspheres were also readily detected in the sections under a fluorescent microscope. The results showed that the model nanoparticles could only enter the tumor tissue at certain foci presumably representing leaky sites in the blood vessels and spread locally. The findings could be used to explain the observed differences in anticancer effectiveness among tissue-targeted liposomal doxorubicin, non-targeted liposomal doxorubicin and free doxorubicin.


This thesis takes a grounded theory approach in an attempt to seek, articulate and communicate a deeper understanding of the practice known as archival description. In so doing, it also seeks to allow readers to experience for themselves the process through which this thesis took shape, the research journey through which emerged both the questions and the answers. A more detailed exposition of the stages within this process is given in chapter three, which thereby acts as one route map to the whole. Another such map is provided here, in the following brief summary.
Undertaking this journey, the questions that emerged included; what does autonomy mean, how is it possible to communicate, to bridge the gap between the separateness of individuals, and ultimately, how is it possible to have separateness without being separate? Then again, the answers that evolved concurrently seemed to lie in using a cybernetic perspective, and employing the concept of autopoiesis or self-production, whereby it is thought possible to become separate without being so.
Further, as a result of the questions and answers explored above, a thesis took shape, that practicing archival description is a point of view, one from which it is difficult to lose sight of the observing within the observation, that is to say it is a point of view about how we look at the world and form a point of view in respect of it, about how we know what we know. It is this thesis which will be laid out in later chapters of this work, but first will follow introductions to both the substantive area of interest (archival description) and the approach taken (grounded theory).


Objectives This study investigated the clinical efficacy and safety of metformin hydrochloride sustained-release (SR) tablet (II) produced by Dulening and the original metformin hydrochloride tablet produced by Glucophage in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods This randomized, open and parallel controlled clinical trial consecutively recruited a total of 886 patients with T2DM in 40 clinical centers between May 2016 and December 2018. These patients were randomly assigned to the Dulening group (n=446), in which patients were treated with Dulening metformin SR tablets, and the Glucophage group (n=440), in which patients were treated with Glucophage metformin tablets, for 16 weeks. The changes in the levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbAc1) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) as well as weight loss were compared between these two groups. Also, the overall incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and the incidence of ADR of the gastrointestinal system observed in patients of these two groups were also compared. Results There were no significant differences in demographic and basal clinical characteristics between these two groups. The Dulening and Glucophage groups showed comparable levels of decrease in HbA1c levels, FBG and weight loss after 12-week treatment (all p>0.05). The Dulening group had a significantly lower overall incidence of ADRs as well as gastrointestinal ADR than the Glucophage group. Conclusions Metformin SR tablets (II) and the original metformin tablets exhibit similar therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of T2DM, but metformin SR tablets (II) has the significantly lower incidence of ADRs than the original metformin tablets.