The Abu Fishery Cooperative has planted hatchery-reared seed of the abalone Haliotis discus discus since 1981. The number of 15-40-mm seeds planted annually varied from 34000 to 180000 between 1981 and 1992. Catches were sampled on seven to 10 days during each fishing season (29-56 days between July and September) from 1983 to 1992. The numbers of both seeded and wild abalone were recorded per 8-kg shipping basket on each sampling day. The numbers of seeded abalone in the catch were estimated by a two-stage sampling method. Variances were estimated from the data, which were stratified into two periods: the first when divers dived at depths of less than 5 m, and the second during the subsequent period of deeper diving. The values of these variances were substantially lower than the values of variances estimated from unstratified data. Some of the planted abalone reached 90 mm in length 21 months after seeding, and they could not generally be found in the wild stock after the age of 6 years. Recapture rates were estimated to range from 12% to 51% in the 1980-85 year classes that had been fished for their entire lives.


A new Matrix Pencil (MP) method including mutual coupling effects based on a Uniform Linear Array (ULA) is presented. By setting a group of elements as auxiliary on each side of the ULA, it can accurately estimate the Direction of Arrival (DOA) using a single snapshot of data and the effect of mutual coupling can be eliminated by the inherent mechanism of the proposed method. Theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.


Toxicity induced by a higher concentration of lead (Pb) can significantly decrease plants growth, gas exchange and yield attributes. It also caused cancer in humans. Use of organic amendments especially biochar has the capability to alleviate Pb toxicity in different crops. Application of biochar can decrease the uptake Pb by roots in plants. However, high pH of thermo pyrolyzed biochar makes it unfit amendment for high pH soils. As Pb is an acute toxin and its uptake in rice is a major issue, current experiment was conducted with the aim to explore the efficacy of chemically produced acidified carbon (AC) for mitigation of Pb toxicity in rice. Leas has introduced artificially at the rate of (0, 15 and 30 mg kg-1 soil) in combination with 0, 0.5 and 1 % AC underground water (GW) and waste water irrigation (WW) in rice. Results confirmed that addition of 1% AC significantly improved plant height, number of tillers, spike length fresh and dry weights of spikes and straw, 1000 grains weight, photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance over 0 % AC under GW and WW irrigations at 30 mg Pb kg-1 soil (30Pb) toxicity. A significant decrease in electrolyte leakage and plant Pb concentration by application of 0.5 and 1 % AC validated their effectiveness for mitigation of 30Pb toxicity in rice over 0 % AC under GW and WW. In conclusion, 1 % AC is effective amendment in the alleviation of Pb toxicity in rice irrigated with GW and WW at 30Pb.


A hydroponic experiment was carried out to study the effects of nitrogen (N) supply on the nutritional quality and antioxidative enzyme activities of spinach. The results showed that when the N supply increased from 4 to 8 mmol x L(-1), the biomass of spinach and its leaf vitamin C (Vc) content increased significantly, but a further increase of the N supply induced an obvious decrease of Vc content. An increasing N supply increased the nitrate content in leaves. The soluble oxalate content in leaves decreased slightly with the N supply from 4 to 8 mmol x L(-1) N, but increased with a further increase of supplied N. Total oxalate content increased firstly, and then decreased with increasing N supply. SOD and POD activities increased with the N level up to 8 mmol x L(-1) N, but drastically decreased with increasing N levels. CAT activity decreased when N level elevated. MDA content decreased firstly and then increased with increasing N levels, while free proline content decreased with increasing N supply. All of these indicated that 8 mmol x L(-1) N was an appropriate N supply level for spinach to improve its biomass, nutritional quality, and resistance.


With the purpose of reception of energy of generation 0,2-1 J, two types of electrodischarge XeCl-laser excitation system with was created. The modeling procedure of XeCl-laser excitation systems is developed, allowing calculate the form of a voltage pulse on laser electrodes and energy input in the active medium. The dependence of discharge gap resistance on time is usually simulated by exponential empirical dependence. In this case the breakdown voltage of inter-electrode gap must be taken from experimental data also. For each gas mixture, parameters of time dependence of discharge gap resistance and value of inter-electrode breakdown voltage have different values. Consequently, the results, which are obtained in this manner, have practical significance for definite gas ratio of mixture. We have developed the simple model, which takes into account the dependence of discharge gap parameters from gas pressure and composition. The solution of Boltzmann equation for electrons in electrical field (E/N) and calculation of kinetic processes may be carried out. In this case the effective rate of electrons formation may be approximated as function of gas composition and (E/N). Results of one model are compared to results of other model and experimental data.


Bacteriophage S13, one of the isometric phages, was first described by Burnet (1927) as one of a series of phages isolated from Salmonella cultures; these phages were given the prefix S followed by arabic numerals. Soon after its discovery S13 was found to have anomalous properties in comparison with the other phages. For example, it was shown to migrate to the cathode in an electric field, and this electrical behavior was strikingly affected by changes in pH (Burnet and McKie 1930). It was relatively stable to reducing dyes and diffused much more rapidly than other phages. The latter result led to the speculation that S13 was smaller than most other phages (Burnet and McKie 1930). Evidence to support this hypothesis came from early centrifugal studies by Elford (1936), and an estimate was made of its size as 15 to 17 nm—a figure in agreement with results from previous ultrafiltration analyses (Elford and Andrewes 1932). Subsequent studies concentrated mainly on the action of various compounds on S13 (S13 having been chosen as a test phage because of its small size). One study revealed the unusual result that, unlike other phages, when S13 was irradiated by ultraviolet light it failed to kill its host (Mills 1955). In 1958, Zahler published a comparison of some of the biological properties of S13 and the more recently discovered ϕ X174; a close serological relationship between the two phages was found. In 1959, I. Tessman showed by 32 P-decay studies that the DNA of phage S13 is...


OBJECTIVE
We describe the mammographic appearance of axillary lymph node calcification in three patients with metastatic ovarian carcinoma.

CONCLUSION
Axillary lymph node calcification may be identified mammographically in patients with metastatic ovarian carcinoma and may be evidence of unsuspected metastatic disease. The pattern of calcification differs from that seen with metastatic breast carcinoma.


Increasing competition in construction requires improvement in human resources. An integrated project team that combines all project participants to work collaboratively requires a high level of coordination in working together and sharing knowledge to achieve goals. "Knowledge, it self-power," means that in the economic era of the twenty-first century, we have moved into a world where knowledge sharing is power. Therefore, the competitiveness of the company is derived from knowledge sharing to increase team efficiency and effectiveness in achieving goals. In the other hand, soft skill refers to various necessary skills, knowledge, and values of life, conceptual thinking, communicating well, working well, influencing others, and getting along with others. A further innovation is influenced by factors that come from individuals, such as locus of control, tolerance, values, education, experience. Knowledge sharing, in addition to changing innovation, also influence performance. This paper aims to build a framework of the project team performance and knowledge sharing on design and build project, through literature study. A review of some literature has been carried out, and the conceptual framework of knowledge sharing and project team performance relation is developed through soft skill and innovation.


Aim: to evaluate the structure, development and functionality of families with more than one woman with breast malignancy and mastectomies. Method: this is a qualitative study involving the theoretical basis of structural, developmental and functional categories, as proposed by the Calgary model, and using case study as a methodological strategy. Data was collected through home visits with 10 families with mastectomized women, between August 2014 and February 2015.Results: conflicting subsystems were present in only two families and all presented with support network elements from systems other than family, including neighbors and health institutions. In the care process, the link established that support and frequent monitoring helped to ease some of the difficulties experienced. Conclusion: it is believed that the Calgary model enables a broader view of the family to be taken, better understanding in terms of internal and external relations, and enabled weaknesses and strengths to be balanced. Descriptors: Family; Neoplasms; Nursing; Women's Health.


The authors of this paper propose a Markov-chain-based method for the synthesis of naturalistic, high-sampling-rate driving cycles based on the route segment statistics extracted from low-sampling-rate vehicle-tracking data. In the considered case of a city bus transport system, the route segments correspond to sections between two consecutive bus stations. The route segment statistics include segment lengths and maps of average velocity, station stop time, and station-stopping probability, all given along the day on an hourly basis. In the process of driving cycle synthesis, the transition probability matrix is built up based on the high-sampling-rate driving cycles purposely recorded in a separate reference city. The particular emphasis of the synthesis process is on satisfying the route segment velocity and acceleration boundary conditions, which may be equal to or greater than zero depending on whether a bus stops or passes a station. This enables concatenating the synthesized consecutive micro-cycles into the full-trip driving cycle. The synthesis method was validated through an extensive statistical analysis of generated driving cycles, including computational efficiency aspects.


Paleo-detectors are a recently proposed method for the direct detection of dark matter (DM). In such detectors, one would search for the persistent damage features left by DM-nucleus interactions in ancient minerals. Initial sensitivity projections have shown that paleo-detectors could probe much of the remaining weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) parameter space. In this paper, we improve upon the cut-and-count approach previously used to estimate the sensitivity by performing a full spectral analysis of the background- and DM-induced signal spectra. We consider two scenarios for the systematic errors on the background spectra: (i) systematic errors on the normalization only, and (ii) systematic errors on the shape of the backgrounds. We find that the projected sensitivity is rather robust to imperfect knowledge of the backgrounds. Finally, we study how well the parameters of the true WIMP model could be reconstructed in the hypothetical case of a WIMP discovery.


Abstract AIMS: To identify the major diseases or disease processes affecting both captive and wild populations of takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri) in birds submitted for post-mortem examination between 1992 and 2007, and to survey archived wild dead takahe for the presence of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae. METHODS: Reports of 199 post-mortem examinations submitted between 1992 and 2007 were reviewed retrospectively. The reports comprised 56 eggs, 51 chicks up to 6 months of age, 13 sub-adults 6–18 months old, 74 adults and five birds where age was not recorded. Bone marrow flushed from the keel of 34 frozen adult takahe was assayed for the presence of E. rhusiopathiae, using PCR analysis. RESULTS: Of the eggs examined, 6/56 (11%) had no recorded diagnosis, 24/56 (43%) were infertile and 26/56 (46%) showed embryonic mortality at various stages. Excluding eggs, the cause of death could not be determined in 64/138 (46%) birds with a recorded age that were examined. Contributing factors for the low rate of diagnosis included advanced decomposition of many carcasses, the freezing of some birds prior to pathological investigation, long delays between recovery and submission for post-mortem examination, and variation in the extent of post-mortem examination and ancillary diagnostic testing. Common post-mortem examination findings in chicks included those related to cardiac disease [11/51 (22%)], infectious or inflammatory disease [9/51 (18%)] and trauma [7/51 (14%)]. In adult birds, the most common post-mortem examination findings were due to infectious or inflammatory disease [15/74 (20%)] including septicaemia due to E. rhusiopathiae [3/74 (7%)], followed by degenerative conditions due to diet, age and husbandry [9/74 (12%)]. Bacteria implicated in the causes of death included Escherichia coli, E. rhusiopathiae, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Only 1/34 (3%) of the frozen carcass examined using PCR was positive for E. rhusiopathiae. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights a need for improved recovery, storage and submission of dead takahe for pathological examination; consistency in post-mortem examination, ancillary testing and recording of findings; and finally, regular communication between wildlife pathologists, conservation workers and representatives of Ngai Tahu.


NIR femtosecond laser ablated particles were collected for Transmission Electron Microscopy analyses. Natural Monazite single crystal (Moacyr, Itambe, Brazil), Zircon (Mudtank), NIST 610 glass standard, Quartz and a Silicon wafer were studied. Two types of amorphous particles were observed: <1μm clusters of 5-20nm particles and 10-100nm round shaped beads. These features are observed in all samples, regardless of their nature or bulk composition. However, qualitative analyses using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX) show that they are chemically fractionated according to the original solid composition. Increasing pulse duration from 60fs to 3ps or reducing energy from 1mJ/pulse to 0.1mJ/pulse tends to reduce the number of particles (smaller ablated volume) and to increase the predominance of round beads. We observe that the essential part of aerosols is collected during the first third of ablation time. The generation of a plasma above the target surface and its shockwave propagation may be at the origin of the decrease in the amount of aerosols exiting the ablation cell when craters become deep enough[1]. Up to now, mechanisms responsible for the elemental fractionation of laser-induced aerosols remain unclear in the femtosecond regime. Element-dependent saturation vapor pressure during the condensation step of the expanding plume may be one of the main parameters involved[2]. But the refractory character of species or their ionization potential might affect the process as well.


Interpretive methods for the calculation of plasma equilibria consistent with experiment are common in tokamak analysis but are generally unsuited to stellarators, due to the computational resources required by current 3-D MHD equilibrium codes. To overcome this, we apply function parameterization techniques to facilitate fast equilibrium recovery on W7-AS. These are used as the basis for a rapid interpretive method of equilibrium reconstruction, whereby the plasma pressure profile is inferred from the spatial to flux transformation implicit in electron pressure profile measurements made with the Thomson scattering diagnostic. This interpretive method produces results of comparable or superior quality to conventional methods, but is many orders of magnitude faster. The scheme is tested against standard simulations of W7-AS discharges.


Diabetes has been reported to increase propensity to peptic ulceration through its effect both on offensive and defensive mucosal factors. Seeds of Syzygium cumini have been reported to have both antidiabetic as well as ulcer protective effects. The present study evaluated the antidiabetic effects of ethanolic extract of dried seed kernel of Syzygium cumini (200 mg/kg) and its comparative effect on gastric ulceration with standards Acarbose (5 mg/kg) an α-glucosidase inhibitor and natural standard Quercetin 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg. The study also investigated the combined effect of Syzygium cumini seed kernel extracts with oral hypoglycemic agents in diabetes induced ulcer. The development of diabetic ulcers was assessed biochemically. Diabetes was induced by high fat diet/low dose streptozotocin (35 mg/kg). The protective effects of Syzygium cumini in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus were investigated by oral glucose tolerance test. Single and repeated dose study was performed in normal and diabetic rats. Diabetic rats were exposed to gastric ulceration by indomethacin and ethanol induced models to study the role of oral hypoglycemics in diabetes induced increase in susceptibility to ulcerogenic stimuli. Syzygium cumini and its combination with standard showed significance in reducing the elevations of gastric ulcer index in the induced models and restored the depleted antioxidant defenses (superoxide dismutase, catalase and total proteins activities) caused by indomethacin administration. It was concluded that Syzygium cumini along with Acarbose represents a potential therapeutic option to reduce the risk of Diabetes induced gastric ulcerogenic stimuli in type 2 diabetic patients.


In heterogeneous catalysis, single-atom catalysts are the frontier and important prototypes for many reactions, and revealing the intrinsic structure-activity relationship is presently a critical task, but remains challenging. In this work, water electrolysis and oxygen reduction performances of FeXYi N3 -i (X, Y = B, C, O, P and S; i = 0, 1) moiety in Fe-porphyrin are studied by the first-principles calculations, aiming at unraveling how and why tuning the coordination microenvironment of the active metal atom can improve the activity. It can be concluded that breaking the coordination shell symmetry breaks the well-accepted standard scaling relationship, adjusts *O adsorption behavior and thus optimizes the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity, for example, to an extremely low overpotential of 0.17 V. In combination with the Fe atom spin configuration and ligand field theory, the dramatically improved OER activity can be well explained. In the present work, the significance of the coordination microenvironment of central metal atom in studies of electrocatalysis is highlighted.


ABSTRACT Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of death due to an infectious disease. The rise of multi-drug resistance (MDR) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of TB, presents a significant obstacle to TB control. While human studies report dysregulated immune responses during MDR TB, a clear understanding of the host-pathogen interactions of MDR Mtb is lacking. Here, we studied the immune responses induced by Mtb strains carrying two of the most common rifampicin drug-resistance (RDR)-conferring single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the RNA polymerase gene of Mtb, which accounts for nearly 90% of drug-resistance mutations found clinically in Mtb. During Mtb infection of primary human macrophages, we found that pro-inflammatory cytokine production was reduced upon infection with Mtb carrying the H445Y SNP but not the S450L SNP. Using a mouse model, we also characterized the host immune response in vivo following infection. Despite similar establishment of Mtb infection in the lung and dissemination to the peripheral organs, we show that infection with the RDR Mtb rpoB-H445Y strain, but not with the rpoB-S450L strain, resulted in a suppressed lung myeloid and lymphoid immune responses through type I IFN-dependent pathways, relative to wt Mtb. This suppressed host immunity had functional consequences in limiting control of RDR Mtb strains harboring rpoB-H445Y and led to worse pathology during chronic TB disease. Collectively, our results suggest that disease pathogenesis may be associated with specific RDR mutations in Mtb, which may differentially regulate immune responses. IMPORTANCE This study highlights the impact of specific rifampicin-resistance-conferring mutations on the host immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB). Clinical reports have previously suggested that multi-drug-resistant) TB patients exhibit altered peripheral immune responses as compared with their drug-sensitive TB counterparts. The murine model of infection with Mtb strains carrying drug-resistance-conferring mutations recapitulated these findings and allowed us to mechanistically interrogate the pathways responsible for driving the divergent immune responses. Our findings underscore the need for greater investigation into bacterial heterogeneity to better appreciate the diversity in host-pathogen interactions during TB disease. This study highlights the impact of specific rifampicin-resistance-conferring mutations on the host immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB). Clinical reports have previously suggested that multi-drug-resistant) TB patients exhibit altered peripheral immune responses as compared with their drug-sensitive TB counterparts. The murine model of infection with Mtb strains carrying drug-resistance-conferring mutations recapitulated these findings and allowed us to mechanistically interrogate the pathways responsible for driving the divergent immune responses. Our findings underscore the need for greater investigation into bacterial heterogeneity to better appreciate the diversity in host-pathogen interactions during TB disease.


Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that is associated with multiple coexisting conditions. Extensive literature suggests that psoriasis is a T-cell-mediated condition, and its pathogenesis is related to dysfunction of the immune system. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a group of heterogeneous myeloid cells that have suppressive effects on T cells. MDSCs are present at very low levels in healthy individuals but can substantially expand in tumours or inflammatory conditions. PSORI-CM02, a Chinese medical formula designed based on the Chinese medicine theory (Blood Stasis), has been prescribed extensively for psoriasis therapy and shows a stable clinical effect and safety. This study discusses the mechanisms of MDSCs involved in disease development and therapeutic progress. Our data provides evidence that monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (M-MDSCs) play a role in IMQ-induced psoriatic dermatitis. Functional characterization and correlation analysis indicated that MDSCs are positively correlated with Th17 cells. PSORI-CM02 alleviated IMQ-induced psoriatic dermatitis and suppressed the proliferation of Th17 cells via M-MDSC-induced Arg1 upregulation, suggesting M-MDSCs could be a novel therapeutic target for psoriasis, and PSORI-CM02 exerted its effects via the perturbation of M-MDSCs and Th17 cell crosstalk.


The aim of the study was to assess the level of life and job satisfaction of Polish anesthesiologists and to explore the impact of extrinsic-hygiene and intrinsic-motivating determinants. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among consultant anesthesiologists in Lodz region. The questionnaire concerned patient care, burden, income, personal rewards, professional relations, job satisfaction in general, and life satisfaction. Respondents were asked to rate their level of satisfaction for each item on a seven-point Likert scale (1: extremely dissatisfied; 7: extremely satisfied). Results. 86.03% of anesthesiologists were satisfied with their economic status, 77.94% found their health status satisfactory, and 52.21% viewed their personal future optimistically. In general, 71.32% of anesthesiologists were satisfied with their current job situation. Among the less satisfying job aspects were work-related stress (2.49; SD = 1.23), administrative burden (2.85; SD = 1.47), workload (3.63; SD = 1.56), and leisure time (3.09; SD = 1.44). Conclusions. Considerable work-related stress leads to job dissatisfaction among anesthesiologists. There is an association between job satisfaction and health status, social life, and economic status. Working for long hours by anesthesiologists results in a high risk of burnout.


The following article was submitted to The American Journal of Chinese Medicine by China Features in the People's Republic of China. It will be of interest to those individuals concerned with the comparative study of medical and health-care systems. We welcome readers to communicate their opinions on this article to the Editor.


Some information is not accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing in public transportation because it is diffused in an auditory mode with loud speakers. The present study aims to transcribe graphically five messages of disruption and test their understanding by an audience of people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Four graphic formats, more or less involving animation techniques have been developed. Messages have been tested experimentally to determine what format is the most adapted, i.e. the most understandable (understanding task), and to find out the favorite among the four proposed (judgment task). Three groups of subjects were involved in the experimentation: 36 born deaf people, 32 people who became deaf and 20 elderly with age-associated deafness. Visuo-spatial attention, processing speed, working memory and the ability to analyze an image were assessed to take into account their contribution in the treatment of graphic information. Knowledge about train transportation as well as the frequency of use of multimedia supports were also collected through a questionnaire. Results indicate that messages are better understood, less misinterpreted and preferred by the majority of the participants in the animated format compared to other more static formats. Moreover, the ability to quickly process visual information as well as the ability to quickly analyze an image positively contribute to treatment of graphic animations. In addition, a young age, frequent use of transportation as well as good familiarity with multimedia support promote understanding of the messages, as well as a young age being more correlated than the age at which deafness occurred. In conclusion, visual animated messages can be an effective solution to relay disruption for users who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. This solution also provides interesting perspectives to respond at objectives of accessibility information for all traveller.


This article seeks to verify the commonly formulated assertion to the effect that the citizen, the resident and the foreigner have in Canada substantially the same rights. Doing so, it goes through the constitutional and ordinary law of the land in order that the consequences of each of the three status be identified and assessed. Of course there are differences. The Constitution, for instance, gives to the citizen only the right to enter and stay in Canada. A distinction which goes to the very reason of the existence of citizenship in a sovereign State. The ordinary law, on the other hand, for practical and obvious reasons, reserves certain social rights for residents only. But on the whole the effective state of the law, constitutional, federal and provincial (in Quebec), does not contradict the above mentioned statement. The exceptions that exist do not invalidate it.


Introduction To observe the changes of left atrium function in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) using two-dimensional (2D) speckle tracking echocardiography (STE). Methods The study population consisted of 33 patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and 30 age, sex-matched control subjects in sinus rhythm (SR) who were referred to our echocardiography laboratory. All of the patients were in sinus rhythm when they were checked. Left atrial diameter (LAD), left atrial area (LAA), interventricular septum thickness (IVST); Left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) were measured in 2-dimensional echocardiography imaging. LV ejection fraction was determined. Measured mitral valve A wave velocity time integral (VTI-A) and maximum velocity (VA). LA wall strain in the longitudinal direction obtained using 2DSTE. Measured peak atrial longitudinal strain (PALS) and atrial contraction longitudinal strain (ACLS) in apical 4-chamber view and apical 2- chamber view. Measured time to peak longitudinal strain (TPLS). ∆\TPLS was defined as the difference between the TPLS in apical 4-chamber view and apical 2- chamber view. Results There were no significant differences between the 2 groups regarding age (63±12 vs 60±9 years), sex (males 48% vs 60%) and history of hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Compared with control group, ∆-TPLS were significantly increased in AF group (52.83±32.2 vs 31.33±20.2, p<0.05). In Patients with AF, ACLS were significantly decreased than in control group (10.09±3.3 vs 13.74±3.1 p<0.05). The PALS; LAD; LVEDD; IVS; EF; VA; VTI-A and LAA between paroxysmal AF and control group did not show statisticant difference (p>0.05). Conclusions 2DSTE can effectively and easily measure LA ∆-TPLS and ACLS, speckle tracking echocardiography could be a method to non-invasively assess LA function in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation patients.


Three isostructural pillared-layer frameworks with M-BDC-X layers supported by ditopic HL connectors, [M(HL)(BDC)0.5X] n (HL = 4′-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4,2′:6′,4″-terpyridine, BDC = terephthalate, M = Cd, X = Cl for (1), M = Cd, X = formate for (2), and M = Co, X = formate for (3)), were solvothermally synthesized, and used as photocatalysts for Pt-assisted visible-light-initiated hydrogen evolution from water splitting. These water-durable frameworks exhibit varied hydrogen production rates of 361.2, 271.3, and 327.5 μmol · g−1 · h−1 in 12 h due to their slightly different donor environments of the octahedral CdII and CoII ions. Further experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that the metal ions and the local coordination surroundings have essentially dominated the conduction band minimum and electric resistance of the charge transport, which play highly important roles for the improved catalytic hydrogen evolution ability. These findings demonstrate the electronic effect of the slightly ligand field modifications on the boosting hydrogen generation activity in the noble metal-assisted MOF photocatalytic systems.


The proliferation of electric scooters in urban areas is responsible for a growing number of serious injuries to the head and mostly to the face. The risk factors are related to the design of the machines, the user, the sharing of public space in urban centers and the lack of respect for prevention rules. Each one of these parameters deserves corrections to be applicable in this social phenomenon.


In mass disaster situations, human remains are often subjected to extreme conditions, and identification by traditional anthropological means may need to be supplemented by DNA analysis. In extreme cases, bones and teeth are potentially the only viable source of DNA. The present research evaluates the correlation between the taphonomic state and the quantity and quality of nuclear DNA obtained from thermally altered teeth. This study used an extraction procedure involving the use of a demineralization extraction buffer followed by concentration and purification. After heat exposure, each tooth was assigned a color value of 1 to 5 to score the state of combustion of the sample. The results indicate a strong correlation between the quantity of DNA recovered, the quality of the DNA obtained, and the color value. The highest recovery rates and lowest degradation index values were obtained from teeth assigned a color value of 1 (unaltered beige) or 2 (yellow to orange). These teeth were exposed to room temperature, 100°C, or 200°C. At temperatures exceeding 200°C, the amount of DNA recovered drastically decreased or was undetected, indicating that DNA processing of thermally altered specimens should be limited to samples with beige, yellow, or orange post-burn coloration. Samples that are brown, black, or gray in coloration (carbonizing to calcining) will likely provide low or undetectable DNA quantification results and little information as to the identity of the remains.


Background: Currently, a diagnosis of non-organ confined bladder cancer (NOCBCa) confers a grave prognosis. The mainstay of treatment consists of systemic chemotherapy. However, it must be recognized that NOCBCa is a heterogeneous disease state with important clinical distinctions. While surgical extirpation has traditionally been regarded as overly aggressive for all NOCBCa patients, its utility as part of a multimodal treatment strategy in various clinical scenarios has not been thoroughly investigated. Objective: To perform a review of the literature regarding the role of radical cystectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection (RC-LND) in the setting of NOCBCa. Methods: Medline, and Pubmed electronic database were queried for English language articles from January 1990 to Nov 2016 on RC-LND for cT4, lymph node positive, and metastatic urothelial cancer. NOCBCa was separated into four distinct clinical scenarios: 1. Locally advanced/unresectable disease (cT4bN0M0); 2. Occult pelvic nodal disease (pN+) (cTxN0M0 and pTxN1-3Mx); 3. Clinical node positive disease (cN+) (cTxN1-3M0); and 4. Distant metastatic disease (TxNxM1). Evidence for the role of RC-LND in each of these clinical scenarios was summarized. Results: cT4b may be more effectively treated by presurgical chemotherapy (PSC) than other forms of NOCBCa. Although clinical response predicted improved survival, surgical factors, such as surgical margin status may also play a role in determining outcomes. In well selected patients, 5-year CSS may reach 60% after consolidative RC-LND. Survival in patients found to have pathologic nodal metastases without PSC was dictated not only by the histologically verified metastatic nodal disease burden, but also by the meticulousness of the lymph node dissection. In these patients, adjuvant chemotherapy may improve survival. On the other hand, in patients undergoing RC-LND after PSC, pathologic complete response (pCR) was the strongest predictor of improved CSS. The results of population based studies have suggested a therapeutic role by consolidative RC-LND in both patients with cN+ and metastatic BCa (mBCa). For the cN+ population, 5-year OS was 31% in patients undergoing RC-LND after PSC vs. 14% in those receiving chemotherapy alone. Similarly, consolidative intensive local therapy improved OS by approximately 5 months in patients with mBCa. Metastasectomy has also been shown to be effective in small retrospective series and may especially be useful in patients with solitary pulmonary lesions. Conclusions: Extirpative treatment of the primary tumor may be an important step in the management of de novo NOCBCa. The current retrospective and population based studies have demonstrated improved survival outcomes in patients with NOCBCa following RC-LND, especially in those with favorable response to PSC. With the advent of minimally invasive surgery and the enhanced post-surgical recovery protocols, RC-LND has not only been demonstrated to be feasible, but also tolerable in the setting of advanced BCa. Well designed, prospective trials are needed to definitively assess the value of surgical extirpation for NOCBCa patients.


For cervical cancer prevention, Cervarix(HPV-16/18)was approvedin Japan andvaccination programs against HPV-16/18 were startedin December, 2009. This vaccine is almost 100% effective in preventing high-grade precancer associated with the HPV types; it is safe and well tolerated. In Japan, universal vaccination of females between 11 and 14 years is recommended. We all look forward to eradicating cervical cancer in the not too distant future.


Drought events remain a major threat to lives and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) due to the high exposure and vulnerability of populations. In the last three decades, Kenya experienced high frequency of drought events. The frequency of drought is projected to increase in the future more so due to anthropogenic climate change  whose impacts include erratic  seasonal rainfall and increased frequency of extreme rainfall events such as drought. Droughts present extreme conditions of water scarcity which have adverse effects on the physical environment and water resource systems particularly for arid and semi arid regions. The design and implementation of drought mitigation and response strategies requires an understanding of the nature and impacts of drought. Previous mitigation measures have been done randomly without establishing the nature of drought , reason as to why drought in Makueni County whether major or minor has severe impacts on this community.Makueni County of, Kenya has suffered many severe and extreme drought conditions the nature and impacts of which have however remained unknown and undocumented.  The objective of this study was to examine the nature of drought in Makueni over the last three decades. Secondary data comprising of rainfall records from Makindu, Mavindini and Kibwezi areas was used to compute a drought index. The standardised precipitation index SPI was used to identify the nature of drought occurring in the study area. The results revealed that Makueni County experienced three episodes of extreme meteorological droughts in the last three decades. In the same period, Hydrological drought persisted for over 8 years while over five extreme and severe Agricultural droughts were analysed in the study area. Though the drought conditions in the study area are pathetic, the residents of Makueni County seemingly did not fathom the nature of drought that they experienced. The findings of this study are anticipated to inform decision makers and development actors in Kenya, whose interest is to mitigate, and respond to drought on Kenyans lives, economy and development as a whole.


Given a Lax system of equations with the spectral parameter on a Riemann surface we construct a projective unitary representation of the Lie algebra of Hamiltonian vector fields by Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov operators. This provides a prequantization of the Lax system. The representation operators of Poisson commuting Hamiltonians of the Lax system projectively commute. If Hamiltonians depend only on action variables then the corresponding operators commute


In the last decade, the fast growth of Instagram and its tendency to replace traditional media as a source of glamour images stimulated research into the effects of Instagram on body image of its users. The purpose of the present research was to investigate gender differences in Instagram use and its links to body dissatisfaction in a sample of young adult daily users of Instagram in Lithuania. The sample included 346 participants (100 male and 246 female) aged 18 to 34 years. Along with age and body mass index, measures included self-reported daily Instagram checking frequency, daily duration of Instagram use, Instagram engagement, and appearance-related comparisons which all were used to predict body dissatisfaction. Results revealed that among young adult daily users of Instagram in Lithuania women spent more time on Instagram, were more engaged with Instagram and were more prone to appearance-related comparisons on Instagram than men, but did not differ from men in Instagram checking frequency. For both men and women, higher body dissatisfaction was predicted by more frequent appearance-related comparisons on Instagram and higher body mass index. Higher daily Instagram checking frequency made a small, but statistically significant contribution towards predicting higher body dissatisfaction for women, but not for men.


Statement Of Problem;Developments in ceramic core materials such as lithium disilicate, aluminium oxide, and zirconium oxide have allowed more widespread application of all-ceramic restorations over the past 10 years. However, establishing a reliable bond of resin cement to zirconia based materials has been proven to be difficult, which is the major limitation against fabricating zirconia restoration , and there is no clear recommendation in the literature regarding surface treatment before bonding. Purpose; This study evaluated the effect of zirconia surface treatments namely Airborne Particle Abrasion, Hydrofluoric acid etching, Hydrofluoric acid etching followed by silanation and Primer application on shear bond strength to a self etch dual cure resin cement bonded to dentin specimens. Material And Methods; Twenty zirconia rods (3 x 2.5 mm) were prepared from zirconia blocks and assigned into 5 groups. Each group were subjected to the following surface treatments. (1) group I - Control ( C ) no treatment , (2) group II - airborne-particle abrasion (APA), (3) group III – hydrofluoric acid etching ( HF ), (4) group IV - hydrofluoric acid etching followed by silanation ( HF/S ), and (5) group V - application of zirconia primer ( Z ) . Dentin specimens were prepared from extracted molars stored in 0.5% chloramine-T. Zirconia rods were bonded to dentin using a resin cement (Multilink Speed), then light polymerized. The specimens were loaded to failure with the notched shear bond test method in a universal loading apparatus. Results were analyzed using 1-way ANOVA (alpha=.05). Results;ANOVA showed significant differences in bond strength among the different surface treatments ( p value 0.001). The highest values were obtained with group V (Z) ( 8.66 Mpa) followed by group II (APA) (6.71 Mpa ), group IV (HF/S) (4.41 Mpa) . The least values were obtained for group III (HF) (3.88 Mpa ) and there were no significant difference ( p value 0.53 ) between group III (HF) ( 3.88 Mpa ) and group I (C) (3.70 Mpa).Conclusion:The resin bond to Y-TZP was improved by surface treatment. Zirconia Primer application is practically a reliable surface treatment . Airborne Particle Abrasion , although not so reliable , is also an effective treatment while bonding zirconia to a resin cement .


The 2-D electrical-field-dependent hot-hole-related negative-bias temperature instability (HH-NBTI) behaviors of pMOSFETs with 1.7-nm decoupled-plasma-nitridation oxynitride dielectrics are investigated. The lateral-channel electric-field-induced turnaround HH-NBTI degradation that is associated with the enhanced breaking effect of the interfacial Si-H bonds at the Si interface is demonstrated. For the first time, the lateral-electric-field-dependent activation energy of ≡ Si- H bond dissociation is presented. A new model taking into account the 2-D electric field effects is proposed to depict the HH-NBTI behaviors related to the lateral- and vertical-channel electric fields. The proposed model is verified by the experimental data.


Editor,—Pigment deposits on the anterior lens capsule may be seen in a variety of conditions. In this case report, we describe unusual bilateral pigmentation of the anterior lens surface in a young woman. Recognition of this benign condition should diminish the clinician's concern that other potentially progressive disorders such as pigmentary glaucoma are likely.

### CASE REPORT

A 21 year old white woman with myopia was referred for evaluation of pigmentary dispersion syndrome. There was no previous history of ocular inflammation, trauma, or use of topical or systemic medications. There were no visual complaints.

On examination, her best corrected visual acuity was 20/15 right eye and 20/20 left eye with −1.25 D sph both eyes …


In the course of some experiments on anesthetized dogs and cats concerned with the production experimentally of ventricular flutter and ventricular fibrillation, Fastier and Smirk (1948) noted that R waves sometimes appeared on the descent of the antecedent T waves, shortly before the onset of veittricular flutter. The flutter was induced by a substance amarin * which had been found by one of us (F.H.S.) to alter the response of the animals to adrenaline so that a moderate dose of adrenaline, ordinarily well tolerated, would now give rise to ventricular flutter. These observations led me to seek more closely for such phenomena in human electrocardiograms. The present paper concerns 17 patients in whom R waves have been observed on the T waves of antecedent complexes. It seems that interruptions of T waves by R waves are not very uncommon, are likely to prove important prognostically, and seem to provide an indication for treatment. Little has been written on this subject either from the experimental or from the clinical standpoint, and such information as is available may be unfamiliar to some of the authors who have published records without commenting upon the-phenomenon. The first reference I was able to discover to the occurrence of an R wave on a T wave was in a footnote by Katz (1928) in the course of his comprehensive review on the T wave. Katz mentioned here that an example of an R wave on a T wave has been observed by Dr. Ashman, three examples by Drs. reil and Seigel, and three by himself. He mentioned that the only published record was by Wenkebach and Winterberg (1927) and that Wiggers had seen it in dogs. I have been unable to find any record of subsequent reports on the finding of R waves on the T waves with the exception of Scherf * C.H5-CH-NH\


Carnitine acetyltransferase activities have been determined in the testes of developing and cryptorchid rats. This enzyme appears to be associated with the primary spermatocytes and early spermatids of the rat testis since activities increased markedly when these cells were proliferating. The usefulness of carnitine acetyltransferase as a `marker enzyme' in the spermatogenic process is re-emphasized. Serum testosterone levels in the same animals closely paralleled the increased enzymatic activity (r = 0\m=.\59;P<0\m=.\01).The testes of rats made experimentally cryptorchid contained reduced activity of carnitine acetyltransferase. The enzyme activity of 1-day cryptorchid testes was reduced to approximately half, and the activity of 10-day cryptorchid testes was reduced to one-sixth that of normal adult testes.


Abstract Previous research showed growth regulator herbicides, such as picloram and aminopyralid, have a sterilizing effect on Japanese brome (Bromus japonicus Thunb.) that can reduce this invasive annual grass's seed production nearly 100%. This suggests growth regulators might be used to control invasive annual grasses by depleting their short-lived seed banks. The goal of this study was to extend the previous Japanese brome research to downy brome (Bromus tectorum L.), the most damaging invasive annual grass of U.S. grasslands. In a greenhouse, we found picloram did not greatly influence downy brome seed production, while point estimates suggest aminopyralid reduced seed production 55 to 80%. If not for a highly abnormal retillering response that we somewhat doubt would occur in the field, point estimates suggest aminopyralid would have reduced downy brome seed production approximately 90% when applied at the heading stage and approximately 98% when applied at three earlier growth stages. Our greenhouse study should encourage field studies designed to further explore the potential for using growth regulators to control downy brome and other invasive annual grasses. Nomenclature: Picloram; aminopyralid; downy brome, Bromus tectorum L.; Japanese brome, Bromus japonicus Thunb. Management Implications: Growth regulator herbicides, such as aminopyralid, picloram and dicamba, are widely used to control broadleaf weeds in grasslands. In recent studies, we discovered these herbicides interfered with reproductive processes in the invasive annual grass Japanese brome, thereby reducing its seed production nearly 100% in the greenhouse and field. This suggests growth regulators might be used to control invasive annual grasses by depleting their short-lived seed banks. Compared to currently used invasive annual grass herbicides, such as glyphosate and imazapic, growth regulators have the advantage of being less damaging to desirable perennial grasses, though all herbicides currently used for invasive annual grass control can severely damage desirable forbs and shrubs. The objective of the current study was to extend our Japanese brome research to downy brome, a much more widespread and damaging congener of Japanese brome. In a greenhouse, we found that picloram was not effective against downy brome while aminopyralid greatly reduced downy brome seed production. This encouraging result should promote field studies designed to more fully evaluate the potential for using aminopyralid to control downy brome. Our findings will perhaps prove most applicable to areas co-dominated by invasive annual grasses and invasive forbs, such as yellow starthistle, spotted knapweed, etc. Downy brome often dominates sites after herbicides are used to control invasive forbs. It may sometimes be possible to overcome this problem by using one appropriately timed growth regulator herbicide application to simultaneously target both invasive forbs and invasive annual grasses.


Major depressive disorder (MDD) is phenomenologically heterogeneous, which has prompted investigation of intermediate MDD phenotypes based on specific key symptoms. Presence and type of psychomotor disturbance may be an important psychopathologic feature that differentiates clinically distinct forms of juvenile MDD. This study examined the phenotypic status of three putative MDD phenotypes in a community sample of 941 youths: (1) agitated depression (MDD with psychomotor agitation), (2) retarded depression (MDD with psychomotor retardation), and (3) agitated–retarded depression (MDD with psychomotor agitation and retardation within an episode). Hasler et al.'s [2004: Neuropsychopharmacology 29:1765–1781] criteria of specificity (degree of association with relevant symptoms and conditions related to the disease of interest versus other psychiatric conditions), stability (degree of stability over time), and heritability (degree of familial aggregation with relevant conditions) were used to evaluate the phenotypic significance of these subtypes. Results were suggestive that agitated depression was a relatively specific phenotypic syndrome characterized by irritability, arousal, physical complaints, and vulnerability to anxiety disorders and alcohol dependence; low stability across depressive episodes; and low heritability. Agitated–retarded depression was relatively specific and characterized by increased severity, recurrence, vegetative symptoms, suicidal ideation, social impairment, endogeneity, and vulnerability to anxiety disorders and bulimia; low stability across episodes; and modest heritability. Although retarded depression was associated with some specific distinguishing characteristics, most associations were explained by the increased severity of this phenotype. Retarded depression evidenced little stability or heritability. These findings offer partial support of the phenotypic status of agitated and agitated–retarded depression in youths. Depression and Anxiety 0:1–18, 2007. Published 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


AIM
to describe the feeding and growth patterns of preterm-born children at preschool age, considering feeding problems based on behaviours and skills, diet quality and parental feeding practices.

METHODS
a cross-sectional study was performed on preterm children born in Asturias (Spain) in 2016 (n = 94). When preterm-born children reached 3-4 years of age their families were asked to complete the Behavioral Pediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale and a food frequency questionnaire to identify possible feeding problems and assess diet quality (KIDMED index), respectively. Self-reported anthropometric data were also collected to assess weight growth. Electronic health records were reviewed to gather gestational and neonatal clinical data.

RESULTS
feeding problems were found in 7.4 % of children and 20.2 % of parents. According to the KIDMED index, 25.5 % of children had a high-quality diet. Feeding problems were higher in children born before 32 weeks of gestation, and decreased in frequency as the gestational age increased (p = 0.030). No differences were found in parental feeding practices (p = 0.455) or diet quality according to gestational age (p = 0.399), but body weight at 3-4 years was lower in preterm-born children (p = 0.015).

CONCLUSIONS
feeding patterns of preterm-born children were suitable at the age of 3-4 years, but diet quality was moderate to poor in the majority of children. Follow-up of very preterm children beyond 3-4 years of age becomes necessary as they displayed more feeding problems and lower body weight.


Medical treatment of ascites is aimed at reverting sodium retention, that is, at creating a negative sodium balance to relieve ascites. Bed rest and low-sodium diet induce the disappearance of ascites in about 10% of patients. Loop diuretics and aldosterone antagonists must be administered to the patients not responding to the previous regimen. Available evidence indicates that aldosterone antagonists are the first-choice drugs, as these substances are more effective than furosemide. Nevertheless, loop diuretics potentiate the effects of aldosterone antagonists. The reduced efficacy of furosemide in these patients, when compared with that of spironolactone, may be related to an impairment of both pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. In fact, most sodium not reabsorbed in Henle's loop, due to the action of furosemide, is subsequently taken up in the distal nephron because of hyperaldosteronism. A further mechanism of resistance may be related to an impaired excretion of furosemide into the tubular lumen. The use of diuretics in the treatment of ascites is associated with several side effects, including prerenal azotemia, hepatic encephalopathy, and electrolyte and acid-base disorders. A stepped-care approach, together with careful monitoring of patients, is the best way to reduce the incidence of these complications. Ethacrynic acid has been shown to be highly effective in the treatment of ascites, even in patients refractory to other diuretics, but its use is associated with a high incidence of hypokalemia and hypochloremic alkalosis. Bumetanide and piretanide are comparable to furosemide, in terms of both efficacy and side effects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


An electron impact ionization source suitable for residual gas analysis (RGA) with a quadrupole mass spectrometer has been studied both experimentally and by computer simulation. The electronic space charge is shown to play a role in limiting the extracted current from RGA ion sources and the simulation treats this aspect of the problem self-consistently. Under certain source conditions, the ion extraction efficiency is observed to decrease for electron currents above approximately 1 mA-well below the current at which space charge limiting of the electron emission is expected. The observed effects are well reproduced by the simulation. It is shown that whereas the electron trajectories are only weakly perturbed by space charge effects, the loss of ionization efficiency can be attributed to drastic changes in the ion trajectories.


We imaged the mantle structure beneath northern Sumatra by inverting high‐quality seismic arrival time data and using a newly developed eikonal equation‐based teleseismic tomography method. Traveltime differences between neighboring stations were reliably extracted by cross‐correlating teleseismic waveforms, which were recorded by 26 stations from January 2009 to January 2018. Both P and S wave tomographic results show the oblique subduction of the Indo‐Australian oceanic lithosphere beneath the Sunda plate. The maximum penetration depth of the subducted slab into the mantle varies roughly from 400 km in the north to 800 km in the south. The plunging fold of the subducted slab, which mimics the shape of the trench and the volcanic arc, has less curvature than that reported in the literature; additionally, our results suggest that the gentle slab fold can be traced to a depth of about 500 km. Furthermore, a slab tear may exist beneath northern Sumatra.


"House of Cards" is a story bringing into power the fringe lives of individuals, with the uncomplicatedness of town life clashing with the city life. Mridula, the protagonist who carries on with her life by her very own sumptuously and her life changes has been depicted by the author spreading blooms of the real world. The story is a genuine delineation of female characters who in hate of being amazing, bargains and modify. The story line depends on how the family defeats every one of these issues and understands the better importance of life and family. This book gives a message that how Money and popularity can strain individual connections." Money is a valuable apparatus, it resembles a hatchet, you can either execute an individual with it, or cut a vegetable." A character whole it up carefully. Consuming desire, the enthusiasm to succeed and turn out to be too rich and incredible on the planet is the longing of particularly the youthful age. Be that as it may, will this all spell into satisfaction and harmony for the future, the appropriate response is eccentric. This book gives experiences into these essential yet significant issues of life. Self-centeredness, covetousness and so forth characteristics and their debacles can choke an individual to its end. The more Mridula sees the world, the more she understands how narrow minded and materialistic individuals can be. In any case, she doesn't take the ups and downs of life to heart and lives every day with positive vitality. Inconvenience mixtures when Sanjay quit his administration employment and begins a colossally fruitful private practice. With material solace comes the endless aspiration for additional, and the predictable moves into degenerate practices. For quite a while, Mridula has no clue that Sanjay has sold his spirit; when the truth hits her, she must choose the option to leave him to locate her very own space. This unpredictably woven novel investigates human connections in telling point of interest and holds up a mirror to our society with openness and with conviction. In this way, the story is about how falseness can influence a connection.


One way to interpret the reasoning power of transformer-based language models is to describe the types of logical rules they can resolve over some input text. Recently, Chiang et al. (2023) showed that finite-precision transformers can be equivalently expressed in a generalization of first-order logic. However, finite-precision transformers are a weak transformer variant because, as we show, a single head can only attend to a constant number of tokens and, in particular, cannot represent uniform attention. Since attending broadly is a core capability for transformers, we ask whether a minimally more expressive model that can attend universally can also be characterized in logic. To this end, we analyze transformers whose forward pass is computed in $\log n$ precision on contexts of length $n$. We prove that any log-precision transformer can be equivalently expressed as a first-order logic sentence that, in addition to standard universal and existential quantifiers, may also contain majority-vote quantifiers. This is the tightest known upper bound and first logical characterization of log-precision transformers.


Background:: Cholelithiasis is a very common condition whiich may be complicated by the presence ssessing the ability of non-invasive test as useful predictors of Common Bile Duct of common bile duct stones (Choledocholithiasis). This prospective descriptive study was aimed at assessing the ability of non-invasive test as useful predictors of Common Bile Duct Stones (CBDS) in a resource limited environment. The Setting was a hospital-based cohort over a six year period in Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria. Methods: A total of 40 consecutive patients (16 males and 24 females), aged between 12 and 67 years with gall bladder stones; 7 of whom had clinical, morphologic and biologic indices of CBDS underwent open cholecystectomy wiithout operative cholangiography. Selection of patients for common bile duct exploration can be achieved using the three predictive criteria (clinical, morphologic and biologic) where facilities for intraoperative cholangiography are not available. A short and dilated cystic duct, a dilated common bile duct and/or palpable common bile duct stones found at surgery are complementary predictive indices. Results: The overall prevalence of CBDS was 17.5%. The prevalence was 15% in patients over 50 years of age and 2.5% in patients under 50 years of age. In those over 60 years, it was 5%. Age and the existence of jaundice, recurrent low grade fever and abdominal pain were found to be associated with CBDS. Serum bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase were increased 7.8, 1.6, 2.95 and 3.85 times beyond their average normal reference values. The mean CBD diametter was 1.74cm. All CBDS were palpated at operation. Serum amylase was normal in all our patients including those with CBDS. All patients who had gall bladder stones but no CBDS had normal serum bilirubin, aspartate aminotransaminase, alanine aminotransaminase and alkaline phosphatase. They also had no jaundiice, fever, abdominal pain or a dilated CBD and/or CBDS. Conclusiion: Evaluation of patients at risk for choledocholithiasis can be achieved with safety using clinical, sonographic and biologic parameters. Such parameters might contribute to reducing unnecessary costly or invasive investigations and help rationalize the diagnostic strategy for choledocholithiasis in countries with limited resources.


Biotic interactions have been considered as an important factor to be included in species distribution modelling, but little is known about how different types of interaction or different strategies for modelling affect model performance. This study compares different methods for including interspecific interactions in distribution models for bees, their brood parasites, and the plants they pollinate. Host–parasite interactions among bumble bees (genus Bombus: generalist pollinators and brood parasites) and specialist plant–pollinator interactions between Centris bees and Krameria flowers
were used as case studies. We used 7 different modelling algorithms available in the BIOMOD R package. For Bombus,
the inclusion of interacting species distributions generally increased model predictive accuracy. The improvement was better when the interacting species was included with its raw distribution rather than with its modeled suitability. However, incorporating the distributions of non-interacting species sometimes resulted in similarly increased model accuracy despite their being no significance of any interaction for the distribution. For the Centris-Krameria system the best strategy for modelling biotic interactions was to include the interacting species model-predicted values. However, the results were less consistent than those for Bombus species, and most models including biotic interactions showed no significant improvement over abiotic models. Our results are consistent with previous studies showing that biotic interactions can be important in structuring species distributions at regional scales. However, correlations between species distributions are not necessarily indicative of interactions. Therefore, choosing the correct biotic information, based on biological and ecological knowledge, is critical to improve the accuracy of species distribution models and forecast distribution change.


Community forestry and related small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) can contribute towards the achievement of REDD+ goals, since they can promote sustainable use and conservation of forests and, therefore, a reduction in forest-related carbon emissions. Additionally, they can improve the quality of life of forest-dependant people by generating alternative sources of income and employment. However, SMFEs often face a number of challenges, including non-conducive policy environments, inadequate business skills, and moreover, limited access to financial services. In this paper, we propose to direct a portion of REDD+ readiness efforts towards promoting the generation of an enabling environment for SMFEs that includes: the construction of an adequate Business Environment (BE), the provision of Business Development Services (BDS) and better access to Financial Services (FS). With the application of this framework, SMFEs will be more likely to proliferate and succeed, leading to enhanced community resilience and empowerment, in addition to increasing the likelihood of forest carbon stock permanence and the long term achievement of REDD+ goals. Opportunities and challenges of applying this approach in Latin America are discussed.


BACKGROUND
Spinal catheters, because of their smaller diameter, have lower tensile strength than epidural catheters. This study was designed to measure the withdrawal forces needed to remove lumbar spinal catheters and to determine whether patient position affects withdrawal forces.

METHODS
Eighty-two patients with a 24-gauge spinal catheter placed midline at the lumbar L3/4 or L4/5 level were randomly assigned to catheter removal either in flexed lateral or sitting position. Withdrawal forces were measured using a tension spring balance.

RESULTS
Mean withdrawal force was 0.91 N (95% CI: 0.73, 1.09) with extremes up to 5 N. Withdrawal force in the flexed lateral position was 1.04 N (95% CI: 0.73, 1.34) or in the sitting position was 0.78 N (95% CI: 0.59, 0.97). The 95% CI for the difference of the means was -0.62 N, 0.10 N. Thus, the absolute mean difference between the positions can be assumed to be smaller than 0.62 N. Neither the length of the spinal catheter under the skin or in the subarachnoid space, nor BMI influenced withdrawal force.

CONCLUSION
Withdrawal force of spinal catheters is not influenced by body position during catheter removal, length of catheter under skin, or BMI.


Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have an excellent application to monitor environments such as military surveillance and forest fire. However, in many scenarios, WSNs are of interested to adversaries and these sensor nodes are deployed in open and unprotected environments, the security of WSNs is still an important issue. Traditionally cryptographic mechanisms such as authentication and encryption only address part of the problem of security in WSNs. In recent years, the use of reputation and trust systems has become an important mechanism for security in WSNs. In this paper, we develop a distributed agent- based trust model in WSNs. We also discuss some attacks in reputation and trust system, and offered some schemes to defense these attacks. The simulation results and analysis show that our model can detect the malicious nodes fast and accurately and efficiently prevent these attacks in WSNs.


Background: Low Back pain is a musculoskeletal disease, and the main specific contributor to years lived with disabilities. The physical properties of the water and its thermal capacity trigger therapeutic effects and the benefits provided are related to the heat of the water acting in an analgesic way, reducing the pain and the spasm present in the musculature. Objective: This study aims at analyzing systematically all available evidence in the literature about the effects of Aquatic Physical Therapy as a treatment for individuals with unspecific chronic low back pain. Methods: A comprehensive search of Scielo, Pubmed, UpToDate, PEDro, LILACS and MEDLINE was conducted. The data were analyzed through the systematization of some elements, using date, relevance and methodological quality criteria. Results: After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 10 articles were selected for reading. The effects of Aquatic Physiotherapy analyzed were pain, quality of life, disability, physical fitness, kinesiophobia, in addition to positive effects on the cardiovascular system and body composition.Studies showed a significant difference both in relation to pain, disability and quality of life, as well as in the cardiovascular system, physical fitness and kinesiophobia. Conclusion: Aquatic Physiotherapy is a physiotherapeutic resource of great magnitude for the recovery of patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain, because in addition to working strength and range of motion, it performs respiratory work, stabilizes the musculature of the lumbar region and guides the posture, providing positive results not only during treatment, but for a long period thereafter.


Measurements of current velocity, temperature, salinity, and water level were made over a period of two months in Rupert Bay, James Bay (Canada). From an analysis of the current meter time series, the circulation and distribution of physical properties were found to be dominated by the tides, with the semi-diurnal component being the predominant component. An analysis of variance revealed that 77% of the salinity variations were related to the tides. Vertically homogeneous conditions prevailed in many areas because of a large tidal amplitude/depth ratio of 0.625, causing intense mixing in two-thirds of the estuary. Non-tidal velocity components were found to be 0(1) less than tidal currents, with the long-term mean circulation directed out of the bay. Non-tidal water level variations were well correlated with the wind. The maximum cross-correlation coefficient was calculated to be 0.77 for a 7 hour lag. The centrifugal force, Coriolis force, and baroclinic pressure gradient were dominant forces driving the secondary flows of the bay. Tidal fronts were found to be either aligned parallel to the main axes of principal channels or around small downstream islands with the arrangement influenced by bottom topography. Key words: estuary, circulation, tides, salinity, mixing, secondary flow, front


The foot consists of many small bones with complicated joints that guide and limit motion. A variety of invasive and noninvasive means [mechanical, X-ray stereophotogrammetry, electromagnetic sensors, retro-reflective motion analysis, computer tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)] have been used to quantify foot bone motion. In the current study we used a foot plate with an electromagnetic sensor to determine an individual subject's foot end range of motion (ROM) from maximum plantar flexion, internal rotation, and inversion to maximum plantar flexion, inversion, and internal rotation to maximum dorsiflexion, eversion, and external rotation. We then used a custom built MRI-compatible device to hold each subject's foot during scanning in eight unique positions determined from the end ROM data. The scan data were processed using software that allowed the bones to be segmented with the foot in the neutral position and the bones in the other seven positions to be registered to their base positions with minimal user intervention. Bone to bone motion was quantified using finite helical axes (FHA). FHA for the talocrural, talocalcaneal, and talonavicular joints compared well to published studies, which used a variety of technologies and input motions. This study describes a method for quantifying foot bone motion from maximum plantar flexion, inversion, and internal rotation to maximum dorsiflexion, eversion, and external rotation with relatively little user processing time.


PURPOSE
Progression-free survival (PFS) in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) trials has been inconsistently defined and poorly associated with overall survival (OS). A reproducible quantitative definition of radiographic PFS (rPFS) was tested for association with a coprimary end point of OS in a randomized trial of abiraterone in patients with mCRPC.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
rPFS was defined as ≥ two new lesions on an 8-week bone scan plus two additional lesions on a confirmatory scan, ≥ two new confirmed lesions on any scan ≥ 12 weeks after random assignment, and/or progression in nodes or viscera on cross-sectional imaging, or death. rPFS was assessed by independent review at 15% of deaths and by investigator review at 15% and 40% of deaths. rPFS and OS association was evaluated by Spearman's correlation.

RESULTS
A total of 1,088 patients were randomly assigned to abiraterone plus prednisone or prednisone alone. At first interim analysis, the hazard ratio (HR) by independent review was 0.43 (95% CI, 0.35 to 0.52; P < .001; abiraterone plus prednisone: median rPFS, not estimable; prednisone: median rPFS, 8.3 months). Similar HRs were obtained by investigator review at the first two interim analyses (HR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.41 to 0.60; P < .001 and HR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.45 to 0.62; P < .001, respectively), validating the imaging data assay used. Spearman's correlation coefficient between rPFS and OS was 0.72.

CONCLUSION
rPFS was highly consistent and highly associated with OS, providing initial prospective evidence on further developing rPFS as an intermediate end point in mCRPC trials.


Germany Reports. (German Federal Government: Press and Information Office. 1953. Pp. 367. $3.00.) Germany traditionally was well supplied with official and unofficial yearbooks, handbooks, and manuals containing detailed information on governmental institutions. These were casualties of the Second World War and of the troubled years which immediately followed. The remarkable revival of West Germany since 1948 has been paralleled by a reappearance of this type of literature. Among the various private undertakings, one may cite the excellent Deutschland Jahrbuch, edited by Klaus Mehnert and Heinrich Schulte (1st ed., 1949; 2nd ed., 1953). The West German cities and states have resumed their official manuals and directories. Since its inception in 1949, the Federal Republic has produced official publications of all sorts. For example, the Handbuch fUr die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, the successor to the Handbuch fur das Deutsche Reich, was published in 1953 by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. In the following year, the Press Office of the German Diplomatic Mission in Washington prepared the attractive Handbook of German Affairs.


The increasing occurrence of VRE will dramatically affect the management of infections in hospitalized patients, as well as increase morbidity and mortality. Vancomycin is the therapy of choice for certain gram-positive infections in patients with significant allergic histories to beta-lactam antibiotics and for infections with gram-positive microorganisms that are resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics. Conservative use of vancomycin in the future may help to avoid the further development of resistant organisms.


AIMS AND BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to define the clinical impact of MIBI scan combined with neck ultrasonography on the detection of metastates in differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) patients with elevated serum Tg levels but negative 131I scan (non-functioning DTC).

METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN
Eighty-two patients with non-functioning DTC, 19 patients with 131I-positive metastases (functioning DTC), and 24 DTC patients who were disease free after therapy (no cancer patients) were enrolled. 131I scan was performed after administration of low diagnostic and high therapeutic tracer doses. Early and delayed images were obtained after MIBI injection. Neck-chest CT scan and/or MRI were also performed in patients with non-functioning DTC.

RESULTS
In the group of non-functioning DTC patients, metastatic foci were detected in 71/82 cases: in the cervical lymph nodes in 51 cases (sensitivity 94.1% with MIBI, 90.2% with US, 35.3% with CT/MRI), mediastinal lymph nodes in 31 cases (sensitivity 100% with MIBI, 58% with CT/MRI), lungs in 8 cases (sensitivity 100% with both MIBI and CT/MRI), and bone in 2 cases (sensitivity 50% with MIBI, 100% with MDP bone scan). Among the 19 patients with functioning DTC a close relationship between MIBI and 131I findings was observed. As regards the 24 tumor-free patients, MIBI was correctly negative in all cases, while US visualized enlarged cervical lymph nodes that were suspected to be neoplastic but proved to be inflammatory lesions at cytology in three patients.

CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of these data, MIBI scan combined with neck US could be proposed as a first-line diagnostic imaging modality in the follow-up of DTC patients with elevated serum Tg levels and negative 131I scan.


Since Kaiser and Garrett's pioneering work on two-photon absorption 40 years ago, observations of blue-shifted fluorescence have been widely used as a marker and measure of non-linear excitation. In doped crystals or in molecular multi-chromophore systems, where resonance energy transfer conveys excitation from the sites of initial photoabsorption to others which yield the fluorescence, this process can play a possible intermediary role in the generation of two-photon fluorescence. Recent work has revealed other competing mechanisms, involving energy transfer between three fluorophore sites, that should be equally or more significant in strongly pumped systems depending on the conditions. It is the purpose of this paper to identify fully the characteristics of one such process involving the coupling of fluorescence energy transfer with Raman emission, and to determine the precise nature of the conditions under which it may be observed.


Grown crystals are used for a range of novel innovations supporting a wide array of industries. Within the jewellery industry however, grown crystals are only used in a limited capacity and mainly as a surrogate for mined gemstones. This paper investigates the methodology of Crystal Growing Design, through conducting experiments testing four hypotheses developed around the practice. Through utilising a DIY approach the author investigates the opportunities and challenges presented by incorporating the methodology into her jewellery design practice. Sugar, alum and salt are experimented with to provide a theoretical experimentation of the methodology to justify the further incorporation and adaptation of more enhanced growing processes as used for the growing of gemstone quality crystals.


Any effort to reform health insurance in the United States must tackle the prices we pay for health care. There are many complex challenges to addressing prices. Some proposals build on the existing Medicare fee schedule, while others suggest promoting alternative payment mechanisms—or even starting from scratch. The stakes are substantial, as many reform proposals rely on reining in prices to achieve the savings necessary to expand health insurance to the uninsured. At Penn's LDI Medicare for All and Beyond conference, a panel of researchers, hospital administrators, and policy experts considered issues related to health care payment and pricing that any health care reform proposal must address, including the implications of rate setting for providers and patients. At what level should these rates be set to assure access and quality of care, while incentivizing innovation and rewarding excellence?


The objective of this paper was to investigate the electrical and rheological behaviors of polypropylene (PP) filled with 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0 wt.-% multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The flow behavior was analyzed in terms of the melt flow index measured at temperatures relevant for the injection molding process and the flow activation energy was calculated using an Arrhenius type equation. The electrical behavior of PP/MWCNTs composites was examined by DC resistance measurements on injection molded samples.The experimental results have shown that the incorporation of MWCNTs effectively enhances the electrical conductivity of the injection molded PP/MWCNTs composites. The composites under analysis can be classified as semi-conductors with the conducting network arranged in 4 dimensions, i.e. the critical exponent of the power-law dependence of the conductivity on the wt.-% MWCNTs is 2.37. The increased conductivity is explained by the orientation of the MWCNTs along the melt flow and the increased nanotubes-to-nanotubes contact after the formation of the percolation network.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


Second order active filters using single and two operational amplifiers at high frequencies
and/or large-signal levels are investigated for their nonlinear performance. A general
procedure using the Volterra series in presented regarding intermodulation distortion.
Computer results by implementation in a program "Distortion Analysis" demonstrate
the accuracy of the analysis technique.


Objectives: To determine the recurrence of body disappointment, loss of control and self- related wellbeing in interpose the relationship among body weight and impairments in self-esteem among students of Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT) in both campuses of IPMR of DUHS, Karachi.
Material and Methods: The research was among youthful understudies of the two sexes (boys and girls) of Doctor of Physiotherapy in both campuses of IPMR of Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Karachi. Concluded an overview through the questionnaire (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale according to the sample size of 298 computed through online programming Open Epi. The survey was acknowledged globally and it was standardized questionnaire. The data was assembled by figuring the BMI among body weight understudies of (DPT) and to check the level of self-esteem by Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The survey conducted from January 2019 to February 2019.
Results: Normal weight was adjusted to 18.50 till 24.90 – a total of 81 respondents, Overweight was adjusted to 25.00 till 29.90 of 35 respondents, obese category was adjusted to 30.00 or more a total of 17 respondents were adjudged to be in this category as per weigh ranges BMI. After analyzing the Chi-Square tabulation, it was found that the highest self-esteem was found in the normal weight BMI category respondents followed by the overweight category and the lowest self-esteem was found in obese category. As the table shows that girls have more self-esteem as compared to the boys, although the girl's respondents are more so than boys are.
Conclusion: It has been conclude that the proportion of the highest self-esteem were found in the normal weight BMI category respondents followed by the overweight category and the lowest self-esteem was found in obese category.
Keywords: Body Mass Index, Stress, Obesity, Body image, Depression and Self-esteem.


This paper aims at designing and analyzing an inverse controller for stable inversible (minimum phase) fuzzy interval linear and/or multilinear systems. The controller is designed from the fuzzy interval ranges of the system parameters using an /spl alpha/-cut methodology. Indeed, for a given /spl alpha/-cut of the fuzzy system parameters representing an uncertainty level, the control objective can be viewed as maintaining the system output within a tolerance envelope, around the exact trajectory, specified by the degree of preference /spl alpha/ on the fuzzy trajectory. The stability is ensured in the way that the controller restricts the system output divergence within the tolerance envelope. The validity of the proposed method is illustrated by simulation examples.


Human fibroblasts, transfected with a recombinant DNA containing the neo gene and BK virus (BKV) early region, which expresses BPV large T antigen (TAg), show cytogenetic alterations characterized by dicentric chromosomes and other structural aberrations such as deletions, duplications, translocations, and ring chromosomes. Such alterations were absent or significantly less frequent in human fibroblasts transfected with a plasmid expressing only the neo gene. The chromosome damage in BKV-transfected cells was evident before the appearance of the morphologically transformed phenotype and therefore seems to be a primary effect of TAg expression in human cells. The specific pattern of chromosome aberrations suggests the prevalence of an indirect clastogenic effect, determined by the inhibition of p53 regulatory functions on genome stability by BKV TAg. Due to the widespread distribution of BKV in the human population and to the latent state of BKV DNA in many human organs, the clastogenic activity of BKV TAg may potentially participate in an oncogenic process involving BKV latently infected cells.


Located in the lobby of the Department of Commerce building in Washington is a large display showing the estimated size of population of the United States. Every few seconds, another addition is recorded; in the spring of I960, the estimate reached i8o,ooo,ooo, a number that, if borne out by the census, means that more than 30,000,000 people have been added in the past decade. On a planetary scale, the rise is even more spectacular: "In the last 20 years, the human race has increased by some 700 million. In the next 20 years, well over one billion people will be added if today's growth rates continue."1 The implications of this surge in numbers of human beings for the American political economy and public law constitute the burden of this article. Its central thesis is the relatively simple, albeit heretofore strangely neglected, proposition that population growth will create the need for more organization, which, in turn, will result in the further enhancement of group (including societal), rather than individual, values. If continued, the tendency could result in such a diminution of personal freedoms as to approximate the conditions of totalitarianism. In setting out this thesis, the writer does not mean to imply that population growth is the sole cause of the trend toward greater control; rather, it is to be considered as one of the chief factors. While it might be possible to suggest an hypothesis running something like this: the balance between population and availability of resources determines the types of institutions that are erected to fulfill the demands of people,2 such a proposition would be faulty simply because it is unilinear. Population growth is one of the several current visible trends that coalesce to produce the transformation of a society in which individual values are paramount to one in which


RATIONALE
Relative to other regions in the USA, Mississippi has a high prevalence of tobacco use and tobacco-related disease. This study assessed the tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes and intervention behaviours of family doctors, dentists and nurse practitioners in the state of Mississippi.

METHODS
The Provider Attitude Survey, an 85-item measure of tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes and intervention behaviours was mailed to all members of Mississippi's Family Medicine, Dentistry and Nurse Practitioner professional organizations (N=2043).

RESULTS
Over one-third (n=802, 39.2%) of eligible providers responded. Just 24.3% had received training in tobacco cessation and 33.7% were aware of the Public Health Service clinical practice guideline. Over 90% indicated that it was their role to prevent tobacco use; felt rewarded when they helped patients quit; and were bothered and upset by the health effects of tobacco. Doctors assisted more patients than nurses or dentists. Doctors and nurses reported more self-efficacy, motivation and preparedness for treating tobacco use than dentists. Providers with training performed more interventions and reported more self-efficacy, preparedness and fewer barriers than those without training. Training was associated with greater increases in self-efficacy, preparedness and intervention behaviours for dentists than for the other groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Despite a high prevalence of tobacco use and tobacco-related disease in Mississippi, primary care providers in Mississippi provide tobacco cessation interventions at an unacceptably low frequency relative to other regions. Training is likely to increase the frequency of intervention behaviours.


Azithromycin (AZM) was studied for its concentrations in plasma and urine, efficacy and safety. 1. Plasma and urine samples were collected from one patient diagnosed as having Mycoplasma pneumonia for drug level determination. The drug was given once daily at 9.7 mg/kg body weight for three days. The drug concentrations in plasma was 0.149 microgram/ml in 12 hours after the start of the treatment, and 0.095 microgram/ml at the point of 24 hours after the end of the treatment. Urinary recovery rate up to 72 hours post-dosing was 6.39%. 2. The effectiveness of AZM was assessed in 19 patients with following diagnoses: pharyngitis in two patients, bronchitis in four, pneumonia in seven and Mycoplasma pneumonia in six. The drug was rated "excellent" in 11, "good" in seven, "poor" in one, resulting in an efficacy rate of 94.7%. 3. AZM eradicated two strains of Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus pneumoniae identified in patients. 4. The AZM MIC's were 0.39 microgram/ml against Staphylococcus aureus, 0.20 microgram/ml against S. pneumoniae, < or = 0.0008 microgram/ml against Mycoplasma pneumoniae. 5. One patient complained of mild diarrhea, while another showed a slight increase in eosinophils, suggesting an abnormal laboratory change. In conclusion, AZM was found useful in treatment of pediatric infections.


By exploiting a networked virtual environment architecture, we produced the gaming part of an interactive television drama series, TypoToons. For decades TV show makers have been inventing tools and tricks to enhance the stories they tell. Equivalents of, and additions to these conventional tricks in interactive media can only mature an interactive television if multidisciplinary teams can obtain hands on experience of these newly emerging worlds. The production team for TypoToons and the interactively participating audience provided an excellent opportunity to develop such a team.


Bidirectional laser Doppler velocimetry and monochromatic fundus photography were used to investigate retinal circulation in 26 normal subjects and in 51 insulin-treated diabetic patients with no retinopathy, background retinopathy (BDR), proliferative retinopathy (PDR), and patients with PDR who had been treated by panretinal photocoagulation (PDR-PRP). Measurements were obtained from main temporal retinal vessels in each eye. Venous diameter at the site of laser Doppler velocimetry measurements was significantly greater than normal in patients with BDR and PDR. The maximum velocity of red blood cells was significantly lower than normal in eyes with diabetic retinopathy. Calculated volumetric blood flow rate, however, was not significantly different from normal in eyes with no retinopathy, BDR, and PDR, and was significantly decreased from normal in patients with PDR who had been treated by panretinal photocoagulation. A comparison between this technique and the fluorescein dye dilution technique is provided.


ps: running processes top: running processes fallocate: allocate a file of certain size kill: kills by id killall: kills by name fg: puts bg process in the foreground bg: backgrounds a process jobs: lists background processes attached to terminal that are running. & : backgrounds the process Control + z , pauses fg process (attatched to term) Control + c , kills fg process(attatched to term) free : shows ram stats


In the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, fuel rods and reactor internals were overheated due to the radioactive decay heat and the oxidization of fuel cladding, and relocated to the lower region of the pedestal. To retrieve the fuel debris, location, distribution and characteristics of the fuel debris are quite important. However, this information still has not been clarified. To estimate the distribution of fuel debris, since experiments cannot provide sufficient information, numerical simulation will be a useful tool. There are some numerical codes for calculating conditions inside a reactor at severe accidents, however, those codes include assumptions and/or related to melt relocation, and cannot simulate relocation process directly.
 In order to simulate the relocation and corium spreading behavior in PCVs without assumptions and scenario, a numerical simulation code that can phenomenologically evaluate the melting phenomena is required. Then, a phenomenologically-based numerical simulation code for predicting the melting core behavior, including solidification and relocation based on the computational fluid dynamics, JUPITER, has been developed in JAEA.
 In this paper, by using JUPITER, we simulated the corium spreading process inside a pedestal. As a result, we confirmed that JUPITER has potential to estimate the debris distribution inside the pedestal region.


Intrathecal drug delivery systems (IDDS) are
used to treat patients with chronic refractory
pain syndromes and spasticity. IDDS offer an
effective therapy to control pain while offering
the advantage of a decrease in the incidence
of side effects from high-dose systemic opioid
therapy. Serious outcomes including death
or permanent brain damage may occur from
medication administration errors, primarily during
maintenance of IDDS. The pump refill and reprogramming
procedures, although elemental in
theory, are not bereft of serious and fatal side effects
.The importance of understanding the IDDS
and competency in performing pump refills and
programming is of critical importance. To reduce
the risk of drug-related errors, particular attention
should be paid to the proper functioning of pump
hardware, drug reservoir volume discrepancies
and overdose symptoms reported by patients.
Furthermore, the clinician should be prepared for
drug errors and follow the risk mitigation flowchart
mentioned in the clinician refill reference card
provided by the IDDS manufacturer. We present
a case report of a 62-year old male with a history
of post-laminectomy syndrome, associated with
chronic back pain for the last 4 years. The patient
developed inadvertent total spinal shock during a
refill procedure of the IDDS reservoir. The educational
objective of this case report is to highlight
troubleshooting options, plus some of the risks
and complications that can occur when managing
an intrathecal pump delivery system. Clinicians
involved in the ongoing care of patients with IDDS
should undergo periodic competency validations.
Imaging modalities are useful adjuncts for intrathecal
pump refills when a patient has a more difficult
entry or previous complications at the time of refill.
A rapid recognition of evolving complications and
implementation of appropriate treatment are the
cornerstones of successfully managing complications
associated with refilling of IDDS.
Key words: Intrathecal drug delivery system,
drug refill, total spinal shock, seroma, catheter
port study, rotor study