s for Research Relating Interpersonal Communication to Life or Future Occupation of Student (2) 10 % of grade GRADING SCALE: 100-90 (A), 89-80 (B), 79-70 (C), 69-60 (D), 59 and Below (F) ATTENDANCE POLICY: It is my belief that what you gain from a course is dependent on what you put into it. Attendance will determine a student's level of success. If you miss a class, you will miss a learning opportunity. In addition, please note that attendance and participation is 10% of your grade; it can bump your grade up or down one level. Test makeup policy: I believe the classroom setting should be treated like any other professional setting. Employers and coworkers tend to be forgiving of a person's absence for an important meeting or engagement if that person has proven to be dependable in the past. My policy follows this principle. If the following conditions are met, you may be given an opportunity to make up a test: 1. You must be in good standing in the class. This means fewer than three absences, no late assignments and passing grades on all completed assignments. 2. You must notify me prior to missing the test that you will be unable to attend that class period, and provide an explanation for your absence. Personal illness, family emergencies and unexpected events are acceptable reasons for rescheduling a test. You may be asked for documentation of verification of your excuse. 3. You must schedule an appointment to make up your test with the Academic Support Center within 24 hours of missing the test. The Academic Support Center requires that you schedule an appointment with them 48 hours before the time you plan to take your test. This policy is applied at the discretion of the instructor. THERE ARE NO MAKEUPS ON DAILY ASSIGNMENTS AND PAPERS. *COURSE POLICIES ARE APPLIED AT THE DISCRETION OF THE INSTRUCTOR. ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT: Plagiarism and academic dishonesty will be dealt with according to university policy (see Student Conduct Code). Plagiarism consists of representing another person's words, ideas, data, or materials as one's own. All material submitted in this course must be your own. Cite research where it is used. Academic misconduct also includes knowingly submitting false information, i.e. in research papers, and it includes submitting work previously submitted in another course. Confirmation of academic misconduct may result in failing the assignment, failing the course, disciplinary warning, suspension or expulsion from the University. DISABILITY STUDENT SERVICES: Eligible students with disabilities will receive appropriate accomodations in this course when requested in a timely way. Please speak with me after class or in my office. Please be prepared to provide a letter from your DSS Coordinator. For students planning to request testing accomodations, be sure to bring the DSS testing form to me in advance of the two-day deadline for scheduling in ASC. DROP POLICY: "Beginning the thirty-first day of the semester through the last day of instruction before scheduled final exams, documented justification is required for dropping courses by petition. Some examples of documented circumstances that may merit approval are: registration errors, accident or illness, family emergency, change in work schedule, no assessment of performance in class until after the deadline, or other circumstances beyond the student's control" (UM Catalogue). Failing is not an acceptable reason to drop the course. REQUIRED TEXTS: Wood, J. T. (2004). Interpersonal communication: Everyday encounters (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Coopman, S. J, & Wood, J. T. (2004). Student companion for Wood's Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. FINAL TIME: We will meet for Exam #3 during our prescribed final time: Friday, December 17th, 8-10. COURSE OUTLINE: The following readings, tests, and assignments are due on the day they are listed. Daily assignments (e.g. student companion assignments) are not listed; they will be announced as we progress through the course. August 30 Introductions September


This study was conducted in four adopted villages i.e. Pauri Shahjadpur, Pohpa Burj, Jalal and Barka Nagla of Block Farah, District Mathura, U.P. where "Multi-disciplinary Project on Transfer of Technology for Sustainable Goat Production System" of CIRG, Makhdoom is being implemented. There were 50 landless, 77 marginal and 04 small (total 131) goat farmers. All the goat farmers of four adopted villages were purposively selected which formed the sample of the study. The present study was undertaken to assess the factors restraining and helping in adoption of scientific goat farming. The factors restraining in the adoption of scientific goat farming in the adopted villages which were taken into account include lack of grazing land, lack of veterinary services in the adopted villages, non-availability of improved breeding bucks, lack of money, non – availability of medicines, lack of sweet water for drinking, non –availability of vaccination facility against contagious diseases, lack of knowledge about improved goat farming, sometimes goats delay in releasing placenta, lack of knowledge about goat diseases, problems of pre-mature delivery/abortion, delay puberty in goats and distant goat market were perceived by the goat farmers as the factors restraining in adoption of scientific goat rearing. Similarly, provision of availability of veterinary doctor in time, grazing land, providing loan on low rate of interest from the nationalized banks, provision of availability of medicines free of cost , improved breeding bucks on low price, providing facility of vaccination against contagious diseases, providing knowledge about improved goat farming, knowledge about goat diseases, training on scientific goat rearing free of cost, arrangement of sweet water for drinking, provision of remunerative price of goats on selling and goat market and transport facility were suggested by the goat farmers as factors helping in the adoption of scientific goat rearing.


Background and Aims With regard to excessive consumption of fast foods as an indicator of a lifestyle characterized by urbanization, overworking, low resting time, insufficient time for choosing or preparing food and lack of a pertinent study about this issue in Iran, the present study was conducted aiming at analyzing the relationship between consumption of fast foods and the amount of micronutrient intake as well as anxiety. Methods We conducted a cross-section study with 488 pupils aged 8–12 years living in Tehran selected by cluster sampling from 22 districts of Tehran. Diet assessments were done using 24 hours recall in two times with a week interval. Levels of anxiety were determined using the Persian version of the validated Speilburger test. A regression analysis model with appropriate odds was used to assess the effect of fast food consumption on anxiety variables. Results Significant statistical relationship was observed between consumption amount of fast foods and trait and state anxiety levels. Adjusting for age, gender and body mass index, the Proportional Odds Regression Model showed a significant relationship between consumption amount of fast foods and trait and state anxiety. odds of getting either moderate or severe anxiety in those students who frequently consumed fast foods was seven folds higher than those students who rarely used fast foods. Conclusions High consumption of Fast-foods was associated with the increased anxiety levels.


It is shown that a degradation level of exogenic high-polymeric RNA does not change their stimulating effect on beta-galactosidase synthesis in yeast protoplasts. Nucleoside monophosphates are a product of RNA degradation which promotes an increase in the beta-galactosidase activity. The exogenic RNA is established to act at the transcription level. RNA and its degradation products stimulate the beta-galactosidase synthesis without any effect on the intensity of the total RNA and protein synthesis in the yeast protoplasts. All mentioned permitted a conclusion that products of RNA decay participate in the regulation of the beta-galactosidase synthesis of yeast. A possible mechanism of their action is under discussion.


We study the existence of different notions of value in two-person zero-sum repeated games where the state evolves and players receive signals. We provide some examples showing that the limsup value (and the uniform value) may not exist in general. Then we show the existence of the value for any Borel payoff function if the players observe a public signal including the actions played. We also prove two other positive results without assumptions on the signaling structure: the existence of the $\sup$ value in any game and the existence of the uniform value in recursive games with nonnegative payoffs.


ACTH infusion at the time of unilateral adrenalectomy inhibits the early rapid compensatory growth (CAG) in the remaining adrenal. We examined the hypothesis that different duration of surgery and/or the enhanced response to the stress of surgery, induced by estradiol treatment, might modify CAG. Adult male rats untreated, estradiol benzoate treated (EB) 300 microg/kg or vehicle treated (VE) for 3 days, were Sham or left adrenalectomized after 18 to 20 min procedure (prolonged surgery) or after 14 to 16 min procedure (short surgery). The response to surgical stress was evaluated by comparison of the left adrenals between Sham and left adrenalectomized animals matched for treatment, surgery and body weight. Autopsy was done 88-90 h after surgery. The right adrenals following prolonged surgery for unilateral adrenalectomy after EB or VE treatment were examined histologically. The number of rats with enlarged zona glomerulosa was greater (p<0.01) in EB than in VE-treated rats. Prolonged surgery induced significant stress response in untreated and EB-treated rats in parallel with attenuation of CAG. Stress response of lower magnitude in VE (22%) than in EB-treated rats (61.4%) was followed by significant CAG. After short duration surgery, significant CAG, with an absence of stress response, was apparent in VE and EB rats. The extent of CAG was found inversely related to initial adrenal size. In conclusion, these results suggest that prolonged surgical stress, increased response to this stress and enlarged glomerulosa are negatively related to CAG, possibly through CAG suppression by increased ACTH and/or adrenocortical secretion.


An understanding of the influence of contractor monitoring on performance of road infrastructural projects in Uganda provided an impetus for this study. The objectives of the study were to: assess the relationship between contractors monitoring and performance of national road infrastructure projects and the relationship between contractor monitoring components and performance of national road infrastructure projects in Uganda. Purposive sampling was employed in selecting the procurement professionals, engineers and simple random sampling was adopted in selecting private consultants, members of parliament and respondents from the civil society organizations. Data for this study were collected using a closed ended questionnaire and interviews. Some of the major finding from this study include: weak procurement rules which lead to awarding road projects to incompetent contractors; contractor monitoring being handled by unqualified, incompetent and inexperienced professionals; lack of contractors and contract supervisors appraisal system; delay of contractors payments which affects timelines in services delivery; lack of a strong internal project monitoring and evaluation mechanism at the Uganda National Roads Agency (UNRA). The research therefore recommends the establishment of an Independent Public Infrastructure Development and Monitoring Unit by government and adoption of systems that appraise both contractors and contract supervisors with clear disciplinary actions for unsatisfactory performance by the UNRA.


The sinusoidal encoder is used as an absolute position (velocity) transducer to implement the position (velocity) of actuators in many industrial applications. However, the performance of the position (velocity) can be degraded due to nonideal factors such as differential amplitudes of the encoder signals, offset, and phase shift. To analyze this problem, we formulate the relationship between the coefficients of ideal signals and the nonideal signals characteristic, which is an ellipse formed by plotting the encoder signals versus each other. In this article, we propose a nonideal signal calibration for the imperfect components of existing sinusoidal signals to improve position (velocity) regulation performance. The fictitious cosine function is used to detect the phase shift between the sine and cosine signals, and it can be designed by using the frequency of sinusoidal signals. The proposed method is validated by simulation and experimental implementation, showing noticeable improvement in estimating nonideal signal components, Lissajous error curve, phase distribution, and the position (velocity) error signal. Experimental results show that the proposed method is able to obtain the components of the nonideal signals and the accurate position (velocity) with a small error in real time, while other calibration methods are difficult to apply to fast motion.


We describe a numerically efficient strategy for solving a linear system of equations arising in the Method of Moments for solving electromagnetic scattering problems. This novel approach, termed as the characteristic basis function method (CBFM), is based on utilizing characteristic basis functions (CBFs)-special functions defined on macro domains (blocks)-that include a relatively large number of conventional sub-domains discretized by using triangular or rectangular patches. Use of these basis functions leads to a significant reduction in the number of unknowns, and results in a substantial size reduction of the MoM matrix; this, in turn, enables us to handle the reduced matrix by using a direct solver, without the need to iterate. In addition, the paper shows that the CBFs can be generated by using a sparse representation of the impedance matrix-resulting in lower computational cost-and that, in contrast to the iterative techniques, multiple excitations can be handled with only a small overhead. Another important attribute of the CBFM is that it is readily parallelized. Numerical results that demonstrate the accuracy and time efficiency of the CBFM for several representative scattering problems are included in the paper.


A high-speed ten-channel optical receiver, integrated in a standard 0.6-/spl mu/m CMOS technology, is presented. Each data channel consists of a spatially modulated light detector (SML-detector) and a low-offset receiver. The SML detector has a much higher intrinsic bandwidth than a conventional photodiode junction implemented in standard CMOS. One channel of the ten is sacrificed and used as a reference to define the threshold level for the other channels. The optical receiver can handle up to 250 Mb/s of noncoded data (including dc) per channel at 20 /spl mu/W average light input power (/spl lambda/=860 nm). Power dissipation per channel is only 4 mW. When combined with appropriate light emitters, a compact and low-cost optocoupler can be obtained with improved speed performance compared to existing optocouplers.


An efficient enforcement mechanism is one of the pre-requisites for a spectrum sharing system. The enforcement system should be able to verify conformance and take prompt action to ensure compliance. Thus verification is the first step of any enforcement system. Verification should be prompt to ensure that licensed users can use the spectrum access system with a minimum of delay. In addition the verification system should be sensitive and able to ascertain with high probability whether the location information provided by a user is valid or not. A basic verification approach is outlined here, based on some anchor nodes and a trusted transmitter (which may itself be one of the anchor nodes). The locations of the anchor nodes and the transmitter are known. To begin, the received signal strength of the known transmitter is recorded at the different anchor points and then all pairwise differences are computed. From these pairwise values, the corresponding differential quantity obtained from the log-distance relationships are subtracted, resulting in residuals. These residuals – which are modeling errors in the DRSS (differential received signal strength) localization criterion – account for the stochastic characteristics (e.g. shadowing) of the environment under consideration and act as a point of reference. When an untrusted transmitter announces its location the above process is used to compute a second set of residuals and the two sets of residuals are compared using appropriate statistical tests in order to arrive at the conclusion that they are, or are not, drawn from the same distribution. While extensive simulation and refinement of the DRSS residual approach is in progress, our initial simulation results show that this approach can detect differences between the announced and actual location of an untrusted transmitter down to as low as 100 m. It is relevant to further note that evaluation of the modeling residuals is based on known locations, does not require any optimization, and is therefore a quick process.


During the absorption of fat by the intestinal epithelium of the mouse, spindle-shaped particles of lipoid material can be seen in the free border of the epithelial cells. The spindles, which lie with their axes at right angles to the surface of the free border, correspond in position with the spindle-shaped canals previously described by the author in various vertebrates.


The main purpose of this study is to determine the relation between team training components and team performance, with the intention of filling the gap that presently exists in the team training research and the given guidance to team training practitioners on how to effectively use their oftentimes limited resources to have the maximum impact on team performance effectiveness.
Results were mostly inconclusive, due to the limitations of the research. However, the researcher discovered a significant relationship between team training content and team training strategies with team performance effectiveness. Also, some interesting results were found in relation to individual components of training contents (technical skills, problem-solving skills, and group meeting skills) which significantly influenced to team
performance effectiveness. Furthermore, individual components of training strategies (informal learning, high quality training, and ongoing training) were found as top three components that influence team performance effectiveness. Unfortunately, the scope of this research prevented results decisive enough to be comprehensive for team training practitioners. However, the research provided a better understanding in the relation between team training and team performance. Thus, it is emphasized that there is still a need to conduct additional researchers to filling the gap has not being solved by the current study. In the last chapter, some recommendations were provided for future use to any researcher enhancing this academic field.


Seldom has the lyric poetry of Mira de Amescua served as a source for the study of his poetic abilities. In the meditative poem "A vos, fruto sagrado...," Mira employs the Ignatian meditative process to provide a structured dramatic expression to his personal religious encounter, which is central to this poem. The poem sheds new light on Mira as a lyric poet and is an example of the diffusion in Golden Age Spain of the genre of the meditative poem, already established by modern scholarship as having been widely popular among Mira's English contemporaries.


Ketoconazole is an antifungal azole derivative which also inhibits the cytochrome P-450(17)alpha, catalyzing the conversion of progestins into androgens. The effects of ketoconazole on human, dog and rat testosterone biosynthesis were compared using short term incubations of dispersed testicular cells. The results showed that ketoconazole inhibited androgen biosynthesis at lower concentrations in dispersed human testicular cells (IC50: 0.08 mumol/l) than in canine (IC50: 0.1 mumol/l) and rat cells (IC50 greater than or equal to 0.2 mumol/l). Furthermore, they demonstrated that ketoconazole first inhibited the 17,20-lyase activity and then the 17-hydroxylation in rat and dog cells whereas only the 17-hydroxylation was affected in human cells.


The chip carrier package is gaining acceptance as a largescale integration (LSI) and very large-scale integration (VLSI) circuit package which can be integrated with medium-scale integration (MSI), small-scale integration (SSI), and passive components onto conventional printed wiring boards. In addition, the chip carrier package is being used to manufacture high density small modules which can be used as stand-alone functions or interfaced with conventional printed circuit boards as modular building blocks. In manufacturing high density small ceramic modules with devices in chip carriers, a soft assembly and test approach has been found to be useful during the start-up phase of a new product.


Using a language and social psychological approach, the articles in this special issue explore complex health communication issues from a variety of perspectives. Despite their considerable diversity, however, all these articles highlight the importance of two constructs that are often underappreciated in health communication research: identity and context. Across a range of domains, these studies consistently show how identity concerns can influence interaction, and how communication and language use can both shape and be shaped by context. If we want to successfully address the challenges we face in health care today, we need to look beyond individual actors and messages, and consider the environmental, social, and relational contexts in which they are situated, and the associated identities at play. These two themes, highlighted in these articles, point the way forward for health communication research.


Detailed clinical information of 13 adult patients with acute atlantal fractures underwent nonoperative treatment was retrospectively studied. "Rule of Spence" was found inaccurate in predicting either integrity of transverse atlantal ligament (TAL) or atlantoaxial stability, whereas Dickman's classification of TAL injury was more superior to "rule of Spence" on both prediction. Study Design. A retrospective study. Objective. To evaluate the prediction accuracy of "Rule of Spence" and Dickman's classification of the transverse atlantal ligament (TAL) injury on clinical outcomes (mainly focused on atlantoaxial stability) of atlas fractures treated nonoperatively. Summary of Background Data. TAL is regarded as primary stabilizer of the atlantoaxial complex. Atlas fractures are categorized as unstable and stable according to TAL injury or not. "Rule of Spence" and Dickman's classification have been widely used to evaluate the integrity of TAL indirectly or directly. However, there is controversy about how to interpret and apply these image measures appropriately in treatment decision making, and comparing the two measures in same cohort has been lack. Methods. From January 2013 to December 2015, 13 adult patients with atlas fractures, treated nonoperatively at acute posttraumatic phase and followed up for at least 2 years, were enrolled in the study. Lateral mass offset (LMO) and TAL injury were measured by radiography. Atlantoaxial stability, pain in occipital region, limitation of cervical motion, neurological dysfunction, and quality of daily life were evaluated as clinical outcomes. Results. LMO less than 6.9 mm was inaccurate either to exclud TAL injury (4/8, 50% failed) or to predict clinical outcomes (2/8, 25% failed), whereas LMO greater than 6.9 mm was accurate to determine TAL injury (5/5, 100% succeeded) but not to predict atlantoaxial stability (4/5, 80% failed). Two cases with Dickman's classification type I injury (100%) failed to restore C1-2 stability and six of seven type II (85.7%) succeeded. Three patients were indicated for fusion surgery due to instability, and one due to traumatic arthritis. Overall clinical outcomes were satisfactory as pain and quality of life were considered. Conclusion. Dickman's classification of TAL injury is of higher superiority to "Rule of Spence" in term of the accuracy of predicting atlantoaxial stability of nonoperatively treated atlas fractures. Level of Evidence: 4


The results of the first inventory of Myxomycetes from the subtropical region Upper Egypt are reported. The substrates were wood, bark of living and dead tree and leaf litter. 20 species belonging to 17 genera of Myxomycetes were identified. Wood was the best substrate for Myxomycetes colonization. Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa, Didymiun melanospermum, Licea biforis and Lycogala epidendrum were the most common species. Brief description and classification of species are provided.


Abstract The application of a two-dimensional, time-dependent cloud model to describe the effects of dry ice cloud seeding is demonstrated. A conservation equation and associated auxiliary equations for the mixing ratio of dry ice (CO2) are presented. The importance of identical time steps in both seeded and unseeded cases is discussed. Small convective clouds are seeded at about the −10°C level and the seeding agent (CO2) traced as it falls through the cloud creating a mass of cloud ice in its trail. The cloud ice transforms to snow and the snow to graupel/hail which then melts into rain as it falls below the zero degree isotherm level. Precipitation starts about 6 min earlier in the seeded cloud and the timing of the rain fallout affects the interaction with a second cell. Approximately 20% more rain falls from the seeded cell in a very light shower.


– The gravitational hydrodynamics of the primordial plasma with neutrino hot dark matter is considered as a challenge to the bottom-up cold-dark-matter paradigm. Viscosity and turbulence induce a top-down fragmentation scenario before and at decoupling. The first step is the creation of voids in the plasma, which expand to 37 Mpc on the average now. The remaining matter clumps turn into galaxy clusters. At decoupling galaxies and Jeans clusters arise; the latter constitute the galactic dark-matter halos and consist themselves of earth mass milli brown dwarfs. Frozen milli brown dwarfs are observed in microlensing and white-dwarf-heated ones in planetary nebulae. The approach explains the Tully-Fisher and Faber-Jackson relations, and cosmic microwave background temperature fluctuations of sub-milli-kelvins.


Competition indices may improve tree growth modelling in high-density stands, found often in new cork oak plantations. Distance-dependent competition indices have hardly been considered for juvenile cork oak plantations since existing models were developed for low-density mature stands. This study aims at inspecting the potential of including distance-dependent competition indices into diameter at breast height (d) and total height (h) growth models for Quercus suber L., comparing several distance-dependent and distance-independent competition indices. Annual d and h growth were modelled with linear and non-linear growth functions, formulated as difference equations. Base models were initially fitted considering parameter estimates depending only on site index (S) and/or stand density (N). They were refitted, testing the significance of adding each competition index to the model parameters. Selected models included the best-performing distance-dependent or -independent competition indices as additional predictors. Best base d and h growth models showed a modelling efficiency (ef) of ef = 0.9833 and ef = 0.9900, respectively. Adding a distance-dependent competition index slightly improved growth models, to an ef = 0.9851 for d and ef = 0.9902 for h. Best distance-dependent competition indices slightly overperformed distance-independent ones in diameter growth models. Neither S nor N were included on best fitted models. If inter-tree competition is present in juvenile undebarked cork oak plantations, it does not yet strongly impact individual tree growth, which may diminish the importance of using, at this stage, more complex spatially explicit competition indices on predicting individual tree growth.


The Albanian transition to democracy has been long, violent and problematic. In these years, the political life in the country is dominated by two major parties: the Democratic Party and the Socialist Party. The political debate between the two parties has been accompanied by arrogance and total lack of democratic culture. This descriptive-analytical study will be an overview of political polarization in Albania during the transition period, based on the documents of international institutions and studies of Albanian and foreign authors. This book will present all the culminating moments of political debate. From the analysis that was done, is concluded that the Albanian extreme political polarization has caused discontent and distrust among people; it has hindered the development of the country; is damaging the functioning of democracy in Albania and it is preventing significant reforms which are necessary for the country's progress towards EU integration and the functioning of the rule of law.


Etidocaine has been evaluated in extradural block with regard to its absorption, toxicity and clinical effectiveness, which have been compared with those of bupivacaine. Etidocaine is associated with lower plasma concentrations than bupivacaine and its absorption is decreased by the addition of adrenaline 1:200,000 to a greater extent than is the case with bupivacaine. Etidocaine causes motor paralysis more frequently than does bupivacaine, especially if adrenaline is added. The duration of action of the two drugs is similar when comparing etidocaine 1% and bupivacaine 0.5%. Bupivacaine 0.75%, however, acts for a significantly longer time than etidocaine 1%. The drug is a useful addition to the range of local anaesthetics, especially with regard to the degree of motor blockade it can achieve during surgical procedures.


Recent studies have shown changes in myelin genes and alterations in white matter structure in a wide range of psychiatric disorders. Here we report that DBZ, a central nervous system (CNS)‐specific member of the DISC1 interactome, positively regulates the oligodendrocyte (OL) differentiation in vivo and in vitro. In mouse corpus callosum (CC), DBZ mRNA is expressed in OL lineage cells and expression of DBZ protein peaked before MBP expression. In the CC of DBZ‐KO mice, we observed delayed myelination during the early postnatal period. Although the myelination delay was mostly recovered by adulthood, OLs with immature structural features were more abundant in adult DBZ‐KO mice than in control mice. DBZ was also transiently upregulated during rat OL differentiation in vitro before myelin marker expression. DBZ knockdown by RNA interference resulted in a decreased expression of myelin‐related markers and a low number of cells with mature characteristics, but with no effect on the proliferation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells. We also show that the expression levels of transcription factors having a negative‐regulatory role in OL differentiation were upregulated when endogenous DBZ was knocked down. These results strongly indicate that OL differentiation in rodents is regulated by DBZ. GLIA 2014;62:709–724


Cholinesterases are associated with pathology characteristic of conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and are therefore, considered targets for neuroimaging. Ester derivatives of N-methylpiperidinol are promising potential imaging agents; however, methodology is lacking for evaluating these compounds in vitro. Here, we report the synthesis and evaluation of a series of N-methylpiperidinyl thioesters, possessing comparable properties to their corresponding esters, which can be directly evaluated for cholinesterase kinetics and histochemical distribution in human brain tissue. N-methylpiperidinyl esters and thioesters were synthesized and they demonstrated comparable cholinesterase kinetics. Furthermore, thioesters were capable, using histochemical method, to visualize cholinesterase activity in human brain tissue. N-methylpiperidinyl thioesters can be rapidly evaluated for cholinesterase kinetics and visualization of enzyme distribution in brain tissue which may facilitate development of cholinesterase imaging agents for application to conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.


Introduction: Eribulin mesylate is a novel non-taxane microtubule inhibitor. The primary objective of this study was to explore feasibility of administering eribulin plus capecitabine as adjuvant therapy in subjects with early-stage, estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer. Methods: In this phase 2, open-label, multicenter study, 67 postmenopausal women with early HER2-normal/HER2-negative, ER+ breast cancer received four 21-day cycles of treatment with eribulin mesylate (1.4 mg/m 2 IV on day 1 and day 8 of each cycle) in combination with capecitabine (900 mg/m 2 orally twice daily on days 1 through 14 of each cycle). A second dosage regimen for capecitabine was initiated after dose reductions and treatment discontinuations were noted and attributed to capecitabine-related toxicities, such as grade 3/4 GI events and hand-foot syndrome. As a consequence, capecitabine was administered to an additional cohort of 10 subjects at a fixed dose of 1500 mg given orally twice daily on a 7 days on/7 days off schedule for the 4 cycles; eribulin mesylate was administered on the same dosage schedule as the original regimen (1.4 mg/m 2 IV on day 1 and day 8 of each cycle). The 7 days on/7 days off regimen for capecitabine was based on mathematical modeling and has been shown to have an acceptable toxicity profile, including minimal gastrointestinal toxicity, when given in combination with bevacizumab to patients with metastatic breast cancer. Feasibility was assessed based on relative dose intensity (RDI) of the combination using prespecified criteria of 80% of subjects achieving an RDI of at least 85% of the regimen with lower 95% confidence boundary >70%; safety and tolerability were also assessed. Results: Among subjects on the original eribulin plus capecitabine dosing schedule (n=64), the average (SD) RDI was 90.6% (11.94%) and the feasibility rate was 81.3% (95% lower CI: 71.4%), indicating that this dosage regimen is feasible. Dose reductions, missed doses, and withdrawals due to adverse events were ascribed more to capecitabine (36%, 85%, and 18%, respectively) than to eribulin (21%, 8%, and 12%, respectively), which led to higher RDI and feasibility rates for eribulin (93.5% and 82.8%, respectively) than for capecitabine (87.8% and 71.9%). Grade 3/4 hand-foot syndrome ascribed to capecitabine only, led to dose reductions in 11.9% of subjects under the original dosing schedule. The most common adverse events under the original dosing schedule were alopecia (77.6%), fatigue (58.2%), and nausea (52.2%). With the new dosing schedule (n=9), higher RDI and feasibility rates were achieved, the average RDI was 96% and the feasibility rate was 100%, indicating that this alternative regimen is also feasible, and probably better. (Detailed feasibility and safety data with new dosing regimen will be available at the time of the presentation.) Conclusions: Adjuvant use of the combination of eribulin plus capecitabine is feasible in patients with early, HER2-normal/HER2-negative, ER+ breast cancer. The combination had an acceptable safety profile under the original dosing schedule and has the potential to be improved by use of a 7 day on/7 day off regimen of capecitabine. Citation Format: John W Smith II, Svetislava Vukelja, Anthony Hoffman, Vicky Jones, Kristi McIntyre, Erhan Berrak, Angela Teng, David Cox, Joyce O9Shaughnessy. Eribulin mesylate plus capecitabine for adjuvant treatment in post-menopausal ER+ early-stage breast cancer: A phase 2, multicenter, open-label study using 2 different dosage regimens [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-09-09.


In the process of logistics, shock and vibration are the most important factors contributing to product damage. Assembling honeycomb paperboard and EPE is commonly used to provide cushioning and anti-vibration effects to materials. Therefore, it is necessary to study the vibration transmission properties of this kind of assembly in the anti-vibration process. The aim of this paper was to experimentally determine the vibration transmission properties of assemblies with honeycomb paperboard and expanded polyethylene (EPE). Through a sinusoidal sweep vibration test of this assembly, the vibration transmission characteristic curves of assemblies with honeycomb paperboard and EPE of different thicknesses were obtained and compared. Assuming the assembly and mass block as a single degree of freedom with a small damping linear system, the damping energy dissipation of the assembly and the resonance frequency were obtained. The vibration transmission property curves of the assembly can be divided into four regions. With an excitation acceleration of 0.5 g and a honeycomb paperboard with a thickness of 60 mm (F60), the vibration transmission rate and the resonance frequency—of the material dampened with EPE at a thickness of 60 mm (E60), and the assembly (F30/E30) with a 30 mm thick honeycomb paperboard and 30 mm thick EPE—increased by −2.5% and −17.5%, −86.9% and 79.3%, and −95.9% and −85.7%, respectively. Compared to the assembly with 20 mm thick honeycomb and 20 mm thick EPE (F20/E20), the vibration transmission rate, the resonance frequency, and the material damping and damping energy dissipation of F40/E20, F30/E30, and F20/E40 increased by 75.6%, 48.3%, and 66.1%; 1.2%, −21.5%, and −38.9%; 241.5%, 82.8%, and 13.3%; and 12.5%, 98.9%, and 106.8%, respectively. Compared to F60 and E60, the damping energy dissipation of F30/E30 increased by 2816.7% and 133.3%, respectively. The assembly of F30/E30 has the smallest vibration transmission rate and the most vibration energy dissipation among these assemblies. This means that the assembly of F30/E30 absorbs the most external vibration energy, while the acceleration that is transmitted to the internal product is minimal. Therefore, in the design of cushioning packaging, according to the characteristics and natural frequency of the internal products, an appropriate assembly can be selected, which should have a lower vibration transmission rate and more vibration energy dissipation, and should not resonate with the internal product. This will provide a theoretical basis for the design of cushioning packaging.


The purpose of this research project is the introduce readers to the experiences of peace officers assigned to field teams that investigate incidents involving mental illness and the lessons learned throughout the evaluation process. This paper also endeavors to expose readers to how law enforcement agencies across the United States are addressing mental illness and improving response to incidents involving subjects with mental illnesses. Also included are highlights focused on training and the collaborations taking place between mental health professionals and law enforcement agencies wanting to combine judicial supervision with community based mental health treatment.


Farm animal movement usually occurs during grazing, watering, and dipping and livestock trade among others. These movements create contacts between different farms and the contacts created form networks of varying magnitude ranging from local to international depending on the scale of movement of animals. The networks are dynamic in nature and are mostly influenced by season which determines the availability of pasture and water. Contacts created act as routes through which disease pathogens may spread between farms in various geographical locations. Farms which are infected act as sources of infection to other farms when there is movement of animals from the infected farms to non-infected farms.
Limited studies have been done in Africa on contact networks between herds to give a better understanding of the spread of infectious pathogens. Most predictive models for farm animal diseases focus on gathering information and estimating transmission parameters with little attention on modeling the underlying network of contacts. These models also ignore the complex structures present at different levels including between animals, farms and the regions. Lack of accurate information on contact structures and the factors affecting them is also a challenge when complex structures are considered. Therefore understanding of the contact networks between farms is critical in instituting proper surveillance and control measures. The overall objective of the study was to determine and assess the types of contact networks between herds and the potential for transmission of diseases. The specific objectives were to determine the existing contact networks between cattle herds, to determine the frequency of the contact network between farms and to determine the factors affecting heterogeneity in contact in the study area.
The study area was in Kimilili Sub-county of Bungoma County. This was a cross sectional study involving seven villages randomly sampled. A census of all cattle keeping households in the sampled villages was undertaken. Farm contacts within these villages of Bungoma County were explored using contact structure interview which involved a combination of photo-elicitation, structured questionnaire and a contact collection form.
In total 329 farms were included in the study. The farm contacts as a result of sharing grazing fields, water points for the four weeks during the wet season (October-December) together with breeding and ploughing contacts for the last one year of the study was reconstructed and analyzed for the seven villages. The overall farm networks for the various farm contacts in the villages were also visualized.
There was significant difference in the proportion of farmers that took their animals for grazing outside their farms daily during dry and rainy season (z =6.52, p=0.0000,) and the proportion of farms that took their livestock for water daily outside their homestead during dry and rainy seasons was also significantly different (z =2.75, p=0.006). The overall farm contacts and the distances among the farms were negatively correlated in all the villages. Contact of cattle at common water points was significantly influenced by extensive grazing management practice in the farm (p=0.0000, OR=9.57), number of animals kept in the farm (p=0.0212, OR=1.23) and presence of cross breeds in the farm (p=0.0044, OR=0.37). The networks in the villages resembled undirected scale free graphs with a normalized degrees; 9.6 (Namunyiri), 10.6 (Malaha), 11.5 (Sango), 11.8 (Kibunde), 12.9 (Lutonyi), 13.1 (Lurare) and 14.0 (Chebukwabi). The topology of the networks was heterogeneous with some farms exhibiting high degree of contacts compared to others.
It is observed that an introduction of some disease pathogen in the villages would lead to increased rate of spread of the disease in Chebukwabi, Lutonyi and Kibunde due to higher values of coefficient of variation which basic reproduction number (Ro) incorporates due to heterogeneous in networks. Therefore Ro will be higher in the three villages compared to the other villages. There was high rate of bull sharing in the farms both within and outside the villages and this posed a major risk to the spread of sexually transmitted infections. Extensive grazing management and the keeping of higher number of cattle in the farms were more likely to increase farm contacts in the villages. It is recommended that studies should be conducted to describe farm contacts during dry season and also contacts between the villages so as to give a better understanding of the structure of the networks which will help in the design of effective surveillance and control strategies by the veterinary department.


The granites El Mogote, Mata Oscura and Pinero outcrop in the El Baul massif, next to metasedimentary, volcanic and   sub volcanic rocks, to the south of Cojedes state, Venezuela. El Mogote  Granite, is sintectonic respect to the Taconic orogenesis (Caledonian) and is the most representative of the massif. The lower Permiangranitoids are controlled by the Apalachian event (Hercinian or equivalent) and are post-orogeny to this event. El Mogote Granite was emplaced at shallow crustal and represents a magmatic event-granite of the Early Paleozoic. The Mata Oscura and Pinero granites, were emplaced in middle and higher crustal levels, respectively, together with the Volcanic of Guacamayas. The aplitic dykes of this last event cut metasedimentary   units and granite. El Mogote Granite is characterized by presenting porphydic seudo rapakivi texture with alkalifeldspar.The Mata Oscura Granite are of medium to coarse grain and The Pinero Granite have fine grain and present myrmekite, micrographic, symplectite, grano phydicandperthite textures. The diferente textures and mineralogical compositions described in this work have provided novel geological subunits contributing new petrological information on the evolution of El Baul massif.


The fluids as deformable bodies without own shape, when starting from rest, experience interactions between the flowing fluid and the physical surfaces marking the bounds of flow. These interactions are a kind of impact process where there is a momentum exchange between two colliding bodies, i.e. the flow and its boundary surfaces. Within a short time of contact a post-impact shear flow occurs where two main effects are triggered off by the flowinduced collision: dramatic redistribution of the momentum and the boundary vorticity followed by the shear stress/viscosity change in the microstructure of the fluid which at the beginning behaves as linear reactive medium and latter as nonlinear dispersive medium. The disturbance of the starting flow induces the entanglement of the wall-bounded flow in the form of point-vortices or concentrated vorticity balls whence waves are emitted and propagated through flow field. The paper develops a wave mechanism for the transport of the concentrated boundary vorticity, directly related to the fascinating turbulence phenomenon, using the torsion concept of vorticity filaments associated with the hypothesis of thixotropic/nonlinear viscous fluid.


In the experiment performed in mature male Wistar rats using histochemical method of nitric oxide synthase revealing it was shown that the enzyme may be produced in brain by neurons, glial cells, epitheliocytes of vascular plexuses of lateral ventricles and endotheliocytes of different caliber vessels. Distribution of nitric oxide synthase in neurons and their processes indicate the possibility of both post- and presynaptic localisation of the enzyme.


BACKGROUND
Laser and radiofrequency induced volume reduction of the inferior turbinates are frequently used treatment modalities. Which of both is superior, however, is not clear to date due to a lack of controlled prospective studies. Here, we compare both methods regarding improvement of nasal breathing, complications, patient comfort and wound healing.

METHODOLOGY
Prospective, randomized, single-blinded clinical trial with intra-individual design. After randomization, one side of the nose was treated with a 940nm diode laser and the other side with bipolar radiofrequency therapy. Pre- and postoperative evaluation was performed using visual analogue scales, nasal endoscopy and objective measurements of nasal patency.

RESULTS
Of 27 enrolled patients, 26 completed the protocol. No severe complications were observed. Intraoperative discomfort was significantly more severe on the radiofrequency side. After three months, a significant reduction of nasal obstruction was observed for laser treatment and radiofrequency therapy with no significant difference between them. Objective parameters did not improve significantly. When asked which treatment modality they would chose again 50 % of the patients decided for radiofrequency treatment, 23 % for laser treatment, and 19 % for both.

CONCLUSION
DLVR and RFVR are well-tolerated treatment modalities and both significantly reduce the degree of nasal obstruction in patients with hypertrophic inferior turbinates. There was no significant difference between both treatment modalities regarding efficiency.


This article argues that there is nothing inherently bad about power over others – it depends on how it is used; that in many ways power over others does not have to be a zero-sum game; and that perspectives and strategies for transforming power from below, vital as they are, should not distract from the potentials for transformations from above. Power over others can be used as power to empower. This requires changes in mindsets and behaviour, with actions like convening, catalysing, facilitating, asking questions, and providing support. Through empowering others, those who are powerful can gain: from better learning and realism, reducing the distortions and delusions of 'all power deceives'; from less stress; from better relationships; and from satisfactions which are fulfilling and enjoyable. It is overdue to pay more attention to uppers – officials, political leaders, priests, teachers, professional service providers, and pervasively to men – to enable them to gain from the win-wins of changing their behaviour, using their power to empower others. One big frontier in development thinking and practice is to evolve and apply a pedagogy for the powerful, for which five practical actions are suggested.


The objective of this research was to analyze the sustainability of the production system of the goat-Aloe vera in the semiarid region of Cauderales located at Urdaneta municipality, Lara state, Venezuela. Using the methodology of Participatory Research and Agro-ecological approach, based on the Framework for the Assessment of Management Systems Incorporating Sustainability Indicators (MESMIS), a characterization of the system and the measurement of twenty-one (21) indicators identified by farmers, within the environmental, social and economic dimensions. The data allowed determining a sustainable index of 2.8, which allows the system to classify as moderately sustainable; influenced mostly by the economic dimension, while the environmental and social had more constraints to sustainability. The indicators with value of four (4) were distributed between the attributes of equity and self management. The indicators under a program for improvement of the system were: Aloe Vera by products, natural resource conservation, sustainable agro-biodiversity, food security and use of production records, as well as level of employment and innovation among the marketing, because they were rated as potentially unsustainable and unsustainable, respectively.


Assessing future market prospects and environmental impacts of electric vehicles requires taking into account the competitive situation with regard to established conventional vehicle propulsion technologies. The Modelica library AlternativeVehicles is used to analyse energy consumption of battery (BEV), extended range electric (EREV) as well as fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles (FCHEV). Costs of technical measures for enhancing conventional vehicles, as well as cost curves for batteries and fuel cells are assessed. Using a newly developed model, VECTOR21, customer purchase decision is modeled to derive future market shares of propulsion technologies and fuels, taking into account energy consumption, energy prices and taxation as relevant influencing factors. Two different scenarios demonstrate the dependency of future market prospects on a set of general conditions. With electricity and hydrogen being produced from renewable energy sources, as well as implementation of strict regulations regarding CO2, BEV and FCHEV could achieve a market share of up to approx. 65 % on the German new passenger car market by 2030. CO2 emissions of the vehicle stock could be reduced by approx. 65 % in this scenario. In a less ambitious scenario a market share of approx. 20 % is seen for BEV, with no application of FCHEV in the long run. CO2 emissions of the vehicle stock could be reduced by approx. 40 % in this scenario.


Toosendanin (TSN) is a major triterpenoid existing in Melia toosendan, which has been used as a digestive tract parasiticide and insecticide but with serious hepatotoxicity. An ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry method was developed for determination of TSN in rat plasma. Plasma samples were separated on Acquity UPLC(TM) BEH C(18) column with acetonitrile and water as flow phase by gradient elution and determined by quadrupole mass spectrometer in negative selective ion monitoring mode. Usolic acid was used as internal standard. The calibration curves were linear over 0.02-3.0 µg/mL for TSN with a lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of 20 ng/mL in rat plasma. The extraction recoveries of TSN were within 74.3-80.7% with an accuracy of 94.5-108.9%. The intra- and inter-day precision values of the assay at three quality control levels were 8.8-13.8% and <13.9% at LLOQ level, respectively. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of TSN in rats after a single intravenous and oral administration of 2 and 60 mg/kg. The shorter T(max) , higher V(d) and Cl of TSN after oral administration indicated that TSN could be absorbed, distributed and eliminated quickly in rats in vivo. The absolute bioavailability of TSN after oral administration was 9.9%.


With the development of the network technology and the increasing demands on communication, more complex, heterogeneous, and suitable network structures are right on their way to come. Cognitive networks can perceive the external environment; intelligently and automatically change its behavior to adapt the environment. This feature is more suitable to provide security for users with QoS. This paper proposes a hybrid traffic prediction model, which trains BPNN with Ant Colony Algorithm based on the analysis of the present models, in order to improve the cognitive feature in the cognitive networks. The proposed model can avoid the problem of slow convergence speed and an easy trap in local optimum when coming up with a fluctuated network flow. At the beginning, the model rejects the abnormal traffic flow data, and then use wavelet decomposition, in the following steps, the model predicts the network traffic with the hybrid model. Thus, the traffic prediction with high-precision in cognitive networks is achieved.


Public financial support for intellectual disability in the United States grew from 2.3 billion in 1955 to 82.6 billion in 2004, and the federal government emerged during this period as the principal provider of such support. Notwithstanding this unprecedented growth in financial support, many inequities persist today in the distribution of financial resources and services across states, communities, families and to individual disabled consumers. Moreover, tens of thousands of persons with intellectual disabilities continue to live in institutions and nursing homes, waiting lists and aging caregivers are growing rapidly, and family support and supported employment programs receive limited funding. Research and training support has declined significantly in comparison to the growing financial commitments for services and income maintenance. To address these and other issues, the author suggests commissioning a new "President's Panel on Intellectual Disability" modeled on President Kennedy's landmark 1961 Panel on Mental Retardation. The new panel would be appointed during the first months of the new presidential administration in 2009 and deliver its report to the President in 2011, commemorating the 50(th) anniversary of the original President's Panel.


Recent applications of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in cosmology have successfully revealed the accelerating expansion of the universe. However, as distance indicators used in measuring the expansion history of the universe and probing the nature of dark energy, these objects must pass more strict tests. We propose a K-S test to investigate if there exists any systematic bias when deriving the luminosity distances under the standard candle assumption. Two samples, one comprising 71 high-redshift SNe Ia and the other, 44 nearby ones, are used in our investigation. We find that it is likely there exists a bias in the adopted samples, which is probably caused by a systematic error, e.g. in the color parameter used in the luminosity calibration and a bias may be caused by the SN evolution or by varying properties of the dust surrounding the SNe Ia.


We propose a flexible prices model where endogenous market structures and search and matching frictions in the labour market interact endogenously. The interplay between firms' endogenous entry, strategic interactions among producers and labour market frictions represents a strong amplification channel for technology shocks on labour market variables and helps in addressing the unemployment- volatility puzzle. Consistently with US evidence, new firms create a large fraction of new jobs and grow faster than more mature firms, net entry of firms is procyclical and the price mark-up is countercyclical.


Helical gears are commonly used in industry as they have advantages of higher power density, quieter operation etc., compared to spur gears. Conventional gear design is based on various design criteria, including durability and bending strength load rating. In recent times, fracture failure modes are gaining importance in addition to conventional failure modes. Stresses due to operating fatigue loads and internal residual stresses can cause fatigue fracture failure on the surface, sub-surface of gear flanks or at tooth root of gears. During gear design, various parameters are optimized, and one such parameter is the helix angle that is optimized for power density and gear noise. However, effect of possible defects (voids and inclusions) in the gear tooth is not usually considered in these calculations. This paper is a study on severity of defects in a gear blank relative to power density increment. Three different gear geometries (spur and helical gears with two different helix angles) each with similar defects are considered. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used to analyze Tooth Interior Fracture (TIF), and study variation of Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) with crack size and helix angle. It is seen that power density increment of a common gear blank through helix angle increment poses a higher risk of crack severity, as the same gear blank is exposed to higher operating loads.


OBJECTIVE
To assess differences in risk (measured by expected costs associated with sociodemographic and clinical profiles) between Veterans receiving outpatient services through two community care (CC) programs: the Fee program ("Fee") and the Veterans Choice Program ("Choice").

DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING
Administrative data from VHA's Corporate Data Warehouse in fiscal years (FY) 2014-2015.

STUDY DESIGN
We compared the clinical characteristics of Veterans across three groups (Fee only, Choice only, and Fee & Choice). We classified Veterans into risk groups based on Nosos risk scores and examined the relationship between type of outpatient utilization and risk within each CC group. We also examined changes in utilization of VHA and CC in FY14-FY15. We used chi-square tests, t tests, and ANOVAs to identify significant differences between CC groups.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
Of the 1,400,977 Veterans using CC in FY15, 91.4 percent were Fee-only users, 4.4 percent Choice-only users, and 4.2 percent Fee & Choice users. Mean concurrent risk scores were higher for Fee only and Fee & Choice (1.9, SD = 2.7; 1.8, SD = 2.2) compared to Choice-only users (1.0, SD = 1.2) (p < .0001). Most CC users were "dual users" of both VHA and CC in FY14-FY15.

CONCLUSIONS
As care transitions from VHA to CC, VHA should consider how best to coordinate care with community providers to reduce duplication of efforts, improve handoffs, and achieve the best outcomes for Veterans.


A method giving highly purified zymogen granules from Macaca irus and Cercopithecus aethiops parotid glands in reported. A 0.3 M sucrose medium for homogenization was supplemented with 10 mM tris/HCl, pH 7.3, and 0.1 mM lauric acid to stabilize the fragile monkey zymogen granules. Nuclei and cell debris were sedimented at 150 times g. A "crude" zymogen granule fraction was trapped in the 1.0 M sucrose layer of a discontinuous sucrose gradient at 1000 times g. Equilibrium centrifugation in a continuous sucrose gradient gave a fraction of zymogen granules at 1.85 M sucrose. Compared to the homogenate, this fraction exhibited about two-fold increase in zymogen granule marker, whereas mitochondrial marker was reduced to 1/4 and lysosomal marker to 1/2. A low level of contamination from other cell organelles was confirmed by electron microscopic investigation.


For small zero-one knapsack problems, simple branch-and-bound and depth-first methods generate solutions much faster than our genetic algorithms. For large problems, branch-and-bound and depth-first methods outperform the genetic algorithms both for finding optimal solutions and for finding approximate solutions quickly. The simple methods perform much better than genetic algorithms on this class of problem in spite of the existence of a genetic encoding scheme which exploits useful local information. The results highlight the need for a better understanding of which problems are suitable for genetic algorithms and which problems are not.


Liver disease has affected more than one million new patients in the world. which is where the liver organ has an important role function for the body's metabolism in channeling several vital functions. Liver disease has symptoms including jaundice, abdominal pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, back pain, abdominal swelling, weight loss, enlarged spleen and gallbladder and has abnormalities that are very difficult to detect because the liver works as usual even though some liver functions have been damaged. Diagnosis of liver disease through Deep Neural Network classification, optimizing the weight value of neural networks with the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm. The results of optimizing the PSO weight value get the best accuracy of 92.97% of the Hepatitis dataset, 79.21%, Hepatitis 91.89%, and Hepatocellular 92.97% which is greater than just using a Deep Neural Network.


The DNase I sensitivity of chromosomal DNA regions carrying integrated proviral genomes of Moloney (M-MuLV) and AKR Murine Leukemia Virus (AKR-MuLV), and the cellular homologue of the mos-gene (c-mos) of Moloney Sarcoma Virus (MSV) were studied in tumor tissues of leukemic mice. The genetically transmitted sequences of M-MuLV, AKR-MuLV, and the c-mos gene are all in DNase I resistant chromatin conformations in M-MuLV-induced tumors. Each M-MuLV-induced tumor contained at least one somatically acquired integrated recombinant MuLV genome that displayed two main characteristic features of active chromatin: a) a configuration hypersensitive to DNase I, and b) extensive hypomethylation. DNase I hypersensitive sites were mapped at the junction of cellular sequences and the 5'-viral large terminal repeat (LTR). Expression of a recombinant MuLV seems therefore to be a necessary feature to maintain the transformed state.


The prevention and management of type 2 diabetes mellitus has become a major global public health challenge. Decursin, an active compound of Angelica gigas Nakai roots, was recently reported to have a glucose-lowering activity. However, the antidiabetic effect of Angelica gigas Nakai extract (AGNE) has not yet been investigated. We evaluated the effects of AGNE on glucose homeostasis in type 2 diabetic mice and investigated the underlying mechanism by which AGNE acts. Male C57BL/KsJ-db/db mice were treated with either AGNE (10 mg/kg, 20 mg/kg, and 40 mg/kg) or metformin (100 mg/kg) for 8 weeks. AGNE supplementation (20 and 40 mg/kg) significantly decreased fasting glucose and insulin levels, decreased the areas under the curve of glucose in oral glucose tolerance and insulin tolerance tests, and improved homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistant (HOMA-IR) scores. AGNE also ameliorated hepatic steatosis, hyperlipidemia, and hypercholesterolemia. Mechanistic studies suggested that the glucose-lowering effect of AGNE was mediated by the activation of AMP activated protein kinase, Akt, and glycogen synthase kinase-3[Formula: see text]. AGNE can potentially improve hyperglycemia and hepatic steatosis in patients with type 2 diabetes.


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Introduction Although risk stratification, detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) and implementation of novel therapeutic agents have improved outcome in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), survival in adult T-ALL patients still remains unsatisfactory. Therefore, new prognostic markers and potential therapeutic targets are warranted. BCL11B , a key player in normal T-cell development, has recently gained interest due to its high mutation rate (9-16%) in T-ALL. We investigated the frequency of BCL11B mutations, expression levels and the prognostic value in a large uniformly treated cohort of adult T-ALL.

Patients and methods We analyzed bone marrow (BM) samples of 201 adult T-ALL patients sent to the reference laboratory of the German Multicenter Study Group for Adult ALL (GMALL). BCL11B expression was determined in 195 patients by qRT-PCR, BCL11B mutations were assessed in 178 patients by Sanger sequencing of exon 4 (including all 6 zink finger [ZF] domains). Low expression of BCL11B was defined by expression levels in the lowest quartile ( BCL11B low), high expression by levels in the three remaining quartiles ( BCL11B high). Samples had previously been characterized for expression of BAALC , IGFBP7 , MN1 , WT1 , GATA3, ERG as well as for the mutations status of NOTCH1 , WT1, and TCR rearrangements. Clinical data were available for 169 patients enrolled on the GMALL trials. We generated BCL11B associated gene expression profiles (GEP) derived from an independent set of 86 T-ALL patients enrolled in the Microarrays Innovations in LEukemia multicenter study.

Results BCL11B was aberrantly expressed in adult T-ALL with significantly higher expression levels in thymic compared to early T-ALL (0.6 vs. 0.3, P=0.01). Expression of genes associated with a prognostic impact ( BAALC , IGFBP7 , ERG ) or/and T-cell stage dependent expression profile ( GATA3 , IGFBP7 ) showed that BCL11B low (n=49) had higher MN1 (1.6 vs, 0.3, P=0.01), IGFBP7 (1.3 vs. 0.5, P=0.02), and lower GATA3 expression (2.1 vs. 5.7, P<0.01) compared to BCL11B high patients (n=146). This maturation stage specific expression of BCL11B was stressed by a higher rate of TCR rearrangement in BCL11B high patients (73% vs. 27%, P=0.005) and further underlined by the BCL11B derived GEP linking low BCL11B to an immature molecular signature characterized by high expression of BAALC , IGFBP7 , FLT3 , CD34 . Regarding clinical characteristics, low BCL11B expression was associated with a poor prognosis (5-year overall survival (OS): low 35% (n=40) vs. high 53% (n=129), P=0.02) in the overall T-ALL cohort. In the standard risk group of thymic T-ALL (n=102), BCL11B low identified patients with an unexpected poor outcome (5-year OS: 20%, n=18) compared to BCL11B high (62%, n=84, P<0.001). In addition, BCL11B low thymic T-ALL patients showed a lower remission rate (5 years: 38% vs. 72%, P=0.02).

BCL11B mutations were found in 24 of the 178 (13.5 %) T-ALL patients. In 9 patients, mutations resulted in frame shifts, whereas the remaining, except for a single one, missense mutations were located in the ZF domains: three resulting in introduction of a stop codon. BCL11B mutations were enriched in the mature immunophenotype (thymic: 20%, mature: 8%, early: 3%, P=0.03). No differences were observed in mRNA levels for BAALC , IGFBP7 , MN1 , WT1 , GATA3, ERG, but patients with BCL11B mutations were less frequently assigned to the BCL11B low group compared to those with high expression (5% vs. 95%, P=0.02). Regarding the clinical characteristics, BCL11B mutations had no prognostic impact regarding OS, neither in the total T-ALL cohort (5-year OS: 56% vs. 48%, n.s.) nor in the thymic T-ALL subgroup (5-year OS: 65% vs. 51%, n.s).

Conclusion Our data confirmingly show a high frequency of BCL11B mutations (13.5%) in the so far largest cohort of adult T-ALL patients. As loss of function mutations were restricted to functional ZF domains and recurrently occurred in thymic T-ALL, these data stress a potential pathogenetic role of BCL11B as T-cell specific transcription factor. Importantly, low expression was associated with poor prognosis; in particular in the standard risk group of thymic T-ALL, BCL11B low is a novel marker that identifies patients with an unacceptable poor prognosis. These findings might help to improve risk stratification in a significant proportion of adult T-ALL patients, which fail to standard therapy despite the favourable immunophenotypic characteristics.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

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The use of virtual conversational agents is awaited in the tutoring of physical skills such as sports or dances. This paper describes an ongoing project aiming to realize a virtual instructor for ballroom dance. First, a humanhuman experiment is conducted to collect the interaction corpus between a professional instructor and six learners. The verbal and non-verbal behaviors of the instructor is analyzed and served as the base of a state transition model for ballroom dance tutoring. In order to achieve natural and highly interactive instruction during the multi-modal interaction between the virtual instructor and the learner, it is necessary to divide the learner's motion into small but meaningful segments in real-time. In the case of ballroom dance, the smallest meaningful unit of dance steps is called count which should be synchronized with the beats of accompanied music. A method of automatic extraction from the learner's dance practice motion into count segments is proposed in this paper. This method is based on trajectory similarity comparison between the motion of the learner and the data collected from a professional dance instructor using Angular Matrix for Shape Similarity (AMSS). Another algorithm for identifying the worst performed portion and the corresponding improvement of the learner's motion is also proposed. Finally, a comparison experiment between the prototype system and a non-interactive self-training system was conducted and reported.


Background: Post-cardiac arrest syndrome is the insufficiency of cardiac and cerebral functions caused by ischemia after sudden cardiac arrest. We aimed to determine the hematological parameters associated with mortality in the intensive care follow-up of patients with post-cardiac arrest syndrome. Methods: The hematological parameters of 285 cardiovascular patients who were admitted to the emergency department of Harran University Medical Faculty between 2013 and 2018 and followed up in the intensive care unit with post-cardiac arrest syndrome were examined. A total of 85 patients were included in the study. These parameters were recorded as the time of arrival to the emergency department (0 hour) and hematological parameters at the 24th and 48th hours of intensive care follow-up. Results: In the mortality group, albumin (P:0.030), hemoglobin (Hg) (P: 0.049), and hematocrit (HCT) (P: 0.020) values in the blood parameters, at the time of admission to the emergency department, were significantly lower than those in the survival group. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) (P: 0.009) and urea (P <0.001) values at the time of arrival were higher than the survival group. In the 24th and 48th hours, mean hemoglobin (MCHC) (P <0.05) values were lower and RDW (P <0.05) values were higher in the mortality group compared to the survival group. Conclusions: In this retrospective validation, low albumin, Hg, HCT, MCHC, and high RDW and urea levels may increase mortality in cardiovascular patients who develop post-cardiac arrest syndrome within the first 48 hours. Correcting these values early may reduce mortality.


The Sympton Check List-90 (SCL-90) scores of 900 methadone patients were compared by sex and race using a two-way multivariate analysis of variance. The mean profiles did not differ with respect to sex, but did for race. White methadone patients were more obsessive-compulsive and depressed than the Black patients. However, the magnitudes of the mean differences were less than 2.5, and such small mean differences indicate that the employment of separate sex- or race-based normative values for the interpretation of the SCL-90 is unnecessary with methadone patients.


Background: Endostar is an anti-angiogenesis agent with a favorable toxicological profile. Previous studies demonstrated that the combination of Endostar and combretastatin A4 phosphate (CA4P) had synergy in the antitumor effect in an osteosarcoma xenograft. The present study addressed whether this combination could possess a strong anti-cancer activity in vitro . Methods: CA4P and/or Endostar were assessed pharmacological properties on K562, K562/ADR, MNNG/HOS, MCF-7, T-47D, HT29 cells. Cell inhibition rate of CA4P and/or Endostar was measured using MTT assay. Cell cycle distribution was analyzed by flow cytometry. Apoptosis was assessed using annexin-V/PI assays, whereas mRNA expression levels of caspase 3, caspase 9, caspase 8, Bax, and Bcl-2 were evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).
 Results: Among six cell lines, MNNG/HOS cells and HT29 cells are chosen to further study. The IC50 values obtained with the combination of Endostar and CA4P were the lowest. Further analyses clarified that in comparison to CA4P alone or Endostar alone, Endostar + CA4P significantly increased G2/M-phase blockage, apoptosis and necrosis, up-regulation caspase 3, caspase 8, caspase 9 and Bax mRNA and down-regulation of Bcl-2 mRNA.
 Conclusions: Our results indicated that the combination of Endostar and CA4P had the effect of synergistic cytotoxicity and provide a useful insight into combined effects of Endostar and other traditional microtubule-targeting drugs.


The surgical repair of inguinal hernia represents one of the most frequent procedures used in general surgery. The new surgical techniques are simpler, with a lower morbidity and recurrence of less than 2%. The laparoscopic totally extra-peritoneal (TEP) technique is contraindicated in complicated hernias (occlusion, incarceration) and in voluminous inguino-scrotal hernias. Purpose The evaluation of the TEP technique, of the risk factors and of the postoperative results on the group of patients who have undergone surgery in the Surgical Clinic 2 Cluj Napoca. Material and method The study is prospective, on a group of 40 patients operated with the TEP technique in the Surgical Clinic 2 during the period May 2013 – July 2014. The following have been assessed: the demographic data, the risk factors, the immediate complications, the recurrence of the hernias. Results The average duration of hospitalization was 6.79 days. The intraoperative incidents were: 7 minimal peritoneal lesions with pneumoperitoneum and a hemorrhagic lesion of the epigastric vessels repaired endoscopically by the clipping of the lesion. There were 2 recurrences, 24 hours and 1 year after surgery, solved by the Lichtenstein technique. After 30 interventions, the average duration of the surgery was of 64 minutes, being longer in the case of bilateral hernias and being influenced by the team's learning curve. Conclusions The TEP technique is a safe option followed by a low rate of complications, a low recurrence rate and low intensity postoperative pain.


We introduce a continuous-time Markov chain describing dynamic allelic partitions which extends the branching process construction of the Pitman sampling formula in Pitman (2006) and the birth-and-death process with immigration of Karlin and McGregor (1967), in turn related to the celebrated Ewens sampling formula. A biological basis for the scheme is provided in terms of a population of individuals grouped into families, that evolves according to a sequence of births, deaths and immigrations. We investigate the asymptotic behaviour of the chain and show that, as opposed to the birth-and-death process with immigration, this construction maintains in the temporal limit the mutual dependence among the multiplicities. When the death rate exceeds the birth rate, the system is shown to have reversible distribution identified as a mixture of Pitman sampling formulae, with negative binomial mixing distribution on the population size. The population therefore converges to a stationary random configuration, characterised by a finite number of families and individuals.


Objective: Waveform capnography use has been incorporated into guidelines for the confirmation of tracheal intubation. We aim to describe the trend in waveform capnography use in emergency departments and PICUs and assess the association between waveform capnography use and adverse tracheal intubation–associated events. Design: A multicenter retrospective cohort study. Setting: Thirty-four hospitals (34 ICUs and nine emergency departments) in the National Emergency Airway Registry for Children quality improvement initiative. Patients: Primary tracheal intubation in children younger than 18 years. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Patient, provider, and practice data for tracheal intubation procedure including a type of end-tidal carbon dioxide measurement, as well as the procedural safety outcomes, were prospectively collected. The use of waveform capnography versus colorimetry was evaluated in association with esophageal intubation with delayed recognition, cardiac arrest, and oxygen desaturation less than 80%. During January 2011 and December 2015, 9,639 tracheal intubations were reported. Waveform capnography use increased over time (39% in 2010 to 53% in 2015; p < 0.001), whereas colorimetry use decreased (< 0.001). There was significant variability in waveform capnography use across institutions (median 49%; interquartile range, 25–85%; p < 0.001). Capnography was used more often in emergency departments as compared with ICUs (66% vs. 49%; p < 0.001). The rate of esophageal intubation with delayed recognition was similar with waveform capnography versus colorimetry (0.39% vs. 0.46%; p = 0.62). The rate of cardiac arrest was also similar (p = 0.49). Oxygen desaturation occurred less frequently when capnography was used (17% vs. 19%; p = 0.03); however, this was not significant after adjusting for patient and provider characteristics. Conclusions: Significant variations existed in capnography use across institutions, with the use increasing over time in both emergency departments and ICUs. The use of capnography during intubation was not associated with esophageal intubation with delayed recognition or the occurrence of cardiac arrest.


Information on oceanic migrations and spawning areas of tropical Pacific freshwater eels (genus Anguilla) is very limited. Lake Letas and its single outflowing river, Mbe Solomul on Gaua Island, Vanuatu, were surveyed for large migrating individuals. Twenty-four Anguilla mar- morata (87 to 142 cm), 39 A. megastoma (50 to 131 cm), and 3 A. obscura (119 to 126 cm) were caught. Seven individuals were tagged with pop-up satellite transmitters and released offshore. One A. marmorata migrated 843 km towards the South Equatorial Current. The tag surfaced only 330 km from the point where the smallest leptocephalus has been captured so far. Tags on A. megastoma and A. obscura popped up within the archipelago. All 3 species exhibited pronounced diel vertical migrations. Eels descended from around 200 m nighttime depth, to 320 (A. obscura), 650 (A. marmorata), and 750 m (A. megastoma) during the day. A clear impact of the lunar cycle on the upper limit of migration depths was found in A. marmorata (full moon: 230 m, new moon: 170 m). These behaviours may be explained as a trade-off between predator avoidance and the necessity to maintain a sufficiently high metabolism for migration.


Abstract The 'posthumanist turn' in critical theory comprises efforts to recognize and analyze the interdependence of human existence with non-human entities, including other animals, spaces, and technologies. Scholarship aligned to and debating posthumanism pertains to public health, but has yet to be clearly articulated for a public health audience. This commentary and an appended glossary illustrate the relevance of these ideas for enhancing critical theory in public health. 2013 Taylor & Francis. Rock, Toward stronger theory in critical public health: Insights from debates surrounding posthumanism. Public Health, 24 (3), 337-348. ABSTRACT The "posthumanist turn" in critical theory comprises efforts to recognize and analyze the interdependence of human existence with non-human entities, including other animals, spaces, and technologies. Scholarship aligned to and debating posthumanism pertains to public health, but has yet to be clearly articulated for a public health audience. This commentary and an appended glossary illustrate the relevance of these ideas for enhancing critical theory in public health.


Tuning the composition and morphology of bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) offers an effective strategy to improve their electrocatalytic performance. In this work, we present a facile wet-chemistry procedure to engineer PdSb NPs with controlled morphology. Spherical or branched NPs are produced by tuning the heterogeneous nucleation of Sb on Pd seeds. Compared with pure Pd NPs, the incorporation of Sb not only decreases the amount of Pd used but also results in a significant increase of activity and stability for the electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). Best performances are obtained with highly branched PdSb NPs, which deliver a specific activity of 109 mA cm-2 and a mass activity of up to 2.42 A mgPd-1, well above that of a commercial Pd/C catalyst and branched Pd NPs. Moreover, PdSb displays significant stability enhancement of over 10 h for the EOR measurements. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the improved performance of PdSb NPs is related to the role played by Sb in reducing the energy barrier of the EOR rate-limiting step. Interestingly, as a side and value-added product of the EOR, acetate is obtained with 100% selectivity on PdSb catalysts.


The need for light, durable, fuel efficient, cost effective aircraft requires the development of engine structures which are flexible, made from advanced materials (including composites), resist higher temperatures, maintain tighter clearances and have lower maintenance costs. The formal quantification of any or several of these requires integrated computer programs (multilevel and/or interdisciplinary analysis programs interconnected) for engine structural analysis/design. Several integrated analysis -computer programs are under development at Lewis Research Center.These programs include: (1) COBSTRAN-Composite Blade Structural Analysis, (2) CODSTRAN-Composite Durability Structural Analysis, (3)CISTRAN-Composite Impact Structural Analysis, (4) STAEBL-Structural Tailoring of Engine Blades, and (5) ESMOSS-Engine Structures Modeling Software System. Three other related programs, developed under Lewis sponsorship, are described.


A well is in natural flowing state when its bottom-hole pressure is enough to produce to the surface. Natural flowing well's production is regulated by using surface restrictions to regulate the production rate in such a way that the overall well performance is a function of several variables. Examples of these variables are tubing size, choke size, wellhead pressure, flow line size, and perforation density. This implies that changing any of these variables will modify well performance. One of the techniques for the analysis of production performsnce is studying the wellhead pressure declination, since, in critical flow conditions, flow is a function of wellhead pressure. From wellhead pressure trends you can identify the behavior of each well and determine some issues, such as: choke erosion due to sand production, choke o tubing paraffin plugging or choke obstruction. In order to achieve an effective real-time monitoring of this type of wells, and in this way reduce the production losses, the challenge was to create online tools that could detect those mentioned issues.
 The present work performs the analysis of wellhead pressure curves using data science, with the purpose of predicting real time anomalies that could occur for timely correction. The data correspond to 130 flowing wells from the Loma Campana Field. The study began with a filtering process of the pressure curve, with two specific objectives: first, eliminate atypical values from the time series, and second, smooth the curve in such a way that future predictions can be performed. Next, the Prophet methodology was applied with the purpose of predicting values of the curve. This is based on historicsl values of the time series to predict future values; the trend characteristic of the curve was used to apply this methodology. Then, to identify the anomaly a model was designed based on the declination of the curve. The pressure declination curve is a descending exponential function, so the first and second derivatives indicate the trend (ascending - descending) and curvature (concave or convex) of it. Once these values are available, they are classified according to the anomaly: paraffin, encrustation or obstruction. Finally, the model is being tested in the Loma Campana control room, delivering a probability of occurrence of any anomalies every hour.


The present study aimed to explore patient preferences for attributes of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatments. A stated preference survey was completed by 150 patients with HCC living in Europe. Overall survival (OS) was the most important attribute, closely followed by risk of diarrhea and hypertension, and other adverse event (AE) risks. Patients were willing to trade OS to reduce AE risks. While less important than OS and AEs, patients also preferred shorter waiting times, and one-off administration of selective internal radiation therapy and oral tablets over intravenous infusions. Although patients placed the most value on extending OS, they were willing to forego OS to avoid risk of treatment-related AEs, to maintain their quality of life.


A novel electrospinning process, bubble electrospinning, was used to produce porous nonwoven fibrous mats, of which the fiber diameter can range from nano- to microscales. The deformation of a charged bubble, from which multiple jets were ejected, was observed using a high-speed motion camera. The effects of different applied voltages on diameter, morphology, and structure of bubble-electrospun ultrafine fibers were theoretically analyzed and then experimentally validated by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The results showed that the average diameter of fibers increased with the increase of the applied voltage in bubble electrospinning, which is quite different from that in traditional electrospinning process under the similar conditions. The number of beaded fibers decreased with increasing applied voltage. Additionally, the crystallinities of polyvinylpyrrolidone ultrafine fibers obtained in this process were higher than that of polyvinylpyrrolidone powders. The production rate of bubble electrospinning was higher than that of the traditional electrospinning. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011


Single domains up to 2.5 cm in diameter of YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) (Y-123 + 30 mol% Y-211 + 0.1 wt% Pt) doped with varying Zn content have been fabricated by melt processing. The Zn2+ ions substitute onto the in-plane Cu sites [Cu(2)] in the superconducting YBCO phase matrix, resulting in a well-known decrease in Tc. Despite this decrease, a significant increase in Jc is observed for very small amounts of Zn doping, even under relatively high applied magnetic fields. Here, we report the effect of varying the Zn content on the structural and physical properties of melt-processed YBCO samples for doping levels of Zn between 0 and 0.6%.


Changes in serum phosphate during diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) treatment are not well characterised, although it is known that serum phosphate falls with treatment. We sought to define the nature of these changes and whether the severity of acidosis on admission influenced the severity of subsequent hypophosphataemia. We retrospectively reviewed data on all patients with confirmed DKA presenting to our unit between 2007 and 2010 inclusive. Forty‐three patients with 64 episodes of DKA were evaluated. At presentation, 62.5% of patient episodes were hyperphosphataemic. Initial serum phosphate in all patient episodes correlated significantly with the initial serum creatinine (r = 0.694, P < 0.01) and the initial blood glucose (r = 0.593, P < 0.01). Serum phosphate fell during the course of treatment in all episodes (mean absolute fall 1.28 ± 0.77 (SEM) mmol/L). The mean nadir phosphate was 0.58 ± 0.19 mmol/L. Ninety per cent of nadir phosphate levels were hypophosphataemic (<0.8 mmol/L), and 11% were severely hypophosphataemic (<0.32 mmol/L). Mean initial bicarbonate differed significantly between those with nadir phosphates <0.5 mmol/L (9.26 ± 4.55) and those with nadir phosphates >0.5 mmol/L (13.0 ± 4.59, P = 0.0031). Similar significant bicarbonate differences were noted between those with nadir phosphates less than and more than 0.32 mmol/L respectively (7.42 ± 2.44 and 12.2 ± 4.87, P < 0.01). The initial hyperphosphataemia is reflective of intravascular volume depletion and pre‐renal renal impairment. The severity of subsequent hypophosphataemia can be predicted by the degree of metabolic acidosis on presentation. As profound hypophosphataemia can be associated with serious complications, clinicians should recognise the likelihood of this biochemical derangement in those DKA patients presenting with profound acidosis.


Acupuncture is largely used for pain control in several pathological conditions. Its effects on the central nervous system are not well defined. We investigated the effect of the application of acupuncture to 13 normal subjects (males, 21-32 years). H2(15)O bolus PET scans were read before the application of the needles (Rest, R) and after 25 min of needle insertion. Data were acquired by scanning in 3-D mode. The acupuncture application, true acupuncture (TA), was alternated to a placebo needle application (PA) in two different sequences (seven and six subjects, respectively), either R,PA,R, TA or R,TA,R,PA, a period of 15 min being left after every first TA or PA to allow for the recovery of basal conditions. Here we show that classic acupuncture activates the left Anterior Cingulus, the Insulae bilaterally, the Cerebellum bilaterally, the left Superior Frontal Gyrus, and the right Medial and Inferior Frontal Gyri. Most of the activated areas are shared with areas activated in acute and chronic pain states as described in the literature. Thus acupuncture appears to act by activating areas also involved in pain. This indicates that acupuncture could relief pain by unbalancing the equilibrium of distributed pain-related central networks.


The gastric mucosal distribution of azithromycin, the prototype of a new class of macrolide antibiotics named azalides, was studied in patients with duodenal ulcer and Helicobacter pylori-related gastritis. The time course of ulcer healing, H. pylori infection, and gastritis activity was also evaluated. Twenty patients (median age 50 years) received the following treatment for 1 month: three cycles of azithromycin (500 mg/day for 3 consecutive days) on days 1-3, 11-13 and 21-23 plus omeprazole (40 mg/day) for 30 consecutive days. Endoscopic biopsy specimens of gastric mucosa and blood samples were collected on days 0, 4, 7, 10, 20 and 30. An additional follow-up endoscopy was carried out on day 60. H. pylori infection was determined by both histology and rapid urease test. Azithromycin concentrations in both plasma and gastric mucosa were measured by a microbiological plate assay, using Micrococcus luteus NCTC 8440 as the reference organism. Azithromycin concentrations in plasma ranged between 0.17 mg/L (95% CI: 0.08-0.26; n = 5) and 0.32 mg/L (95% CI: 0.21-0.43; n = 5) throughout the treatment period. In addition, azithromycin concentrations in gastric mucosa were significantly higher than plasma concentrations at all times examined and ranged from 18.5 mg/kg (95% CI: 15-20; n = 20) to 24.6 mg/kg (95% CI: 16.8-32.4; n = 5), Indicating that the drug was highly retained in the target tissue. Accordingly, the ratio of azithromycin mucosal level to plasma concentration varied between 77.9 (95% CI: 56.5-99.3; n = 5) and 112.7 (95% CI: 100.2-125.2; n = 5). At the end of treatment (day 30) H. pylori was no longer detected in 16 of 20 patients (80%), and this finding was consistent with a marked decrease in the grading of gastritis activity. At the follow-up endoscopy (day 60) the infection was eradicated in only four patients (20%). These data indicate a favourable distribution of azithromycin into gastric mucosa of patients with H. pylori infection and suggest that this new macrolide antibiotic represents a valuable option for treatment regimens against H. pylori. However, the low eradication rate achieved with azithromycin plus omeprazole is a source of concern and requires further investigation.


Max Beerbohm, the foremost caricaturist of his day, was hailed by "The Times" in 1913 as "the greatest of English comic artists", by Bernard Berenson as "the English Goya", and by Edmund Wilson as "the greatest...portrayer of personalities - in the history of art". This book is an anthology of Beerbohm's best images, accompanied by historical and analytical commentary by John Hall that is enriched by quotation from Beerbohm's own essays, criticism, letters, and fiction. The 213 caricatures reproduced here are arranged in chapters by category: writers, including Wilde, Kipling, James. Conrad, Yeats, Twain, Wells, Hardy, Strachey, Forster, and Pound; theatre people, including Ibsen, Shaw, and Barrie; artists, including Whistler, Sargent, and Fry; politicians, including Disraeli, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson, and Churchill; royalty, especially King Edward VII (Beerbohm's favourite subject), but also Queen Victoria, George V, and Edward VIII; and miscellaneous contemporaries, including Caruso, Sousa, and financier Albert De Rothschild. Also reproduced are generous selections from Beerbohm's two books of caricatures dealing with the past: Dante, Burns, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Tennyson,and Browning from "The poet's corner", and Rossetti, Elizabeth Siddal, Fanny Cornforth, Swinburne, Ruskin, Morris, and others from "Rossetti and his circle". The final chapter is devoted to self-portraits.


It is shown that complexities in a problem of elastic scattering of a photon on a pair of Rayleigh particles (two small metallic spheres) are similar to the complexities of the classic problem of three bodies in celestial mechanics. In the latter problem, as is well known, the phase trajectory of a system becomes a nonanalytical function of its variables. In our problem, the trajectory of a virtual photon at some frequency could be considered such as the well-known Antoine set (Antoine's necklace) or a chain with interlaced sections having zero topological dimension and fractal structure. Such a virtual "zero-dimensional" photon could be localized between the particles of the pair. The topology suppresses the photon's exit to the real world with dimensional equal-to-or-greater-than units. The physical reason for this type of photon localization is related to the "mechanical rigidity" of interlaced sections of the photon trajectory due to a singularity of energy density along these sections. Within the approximations used in this paper, the effect is possible if the frequency of the incident radiation is equal to double the frequency of the dipole surface plasmon in an isolated particle, which is the only character frequency in the problem. This condition and transformation of the photon trajectory to the zero-dimensional Antoine set reminds of some of the simplest variants of Poincare's catastrophe in the dynamics of some nonintegrable systems. The influence of the localization on elastic light scattering by the pair is investigated.