AIM
To investigate an association of auditory lifestyle and risk behaviours with hearing loss and to identify the leading hearing problems among college students in Serbia exposed to loud music.

METHODS
The participants of the study comprised 780 college students of the High Medical School of Professional Studies of Belgrade (653 females and 127 males), the majority of whom were between 19 to 24 years of age. A cross sectional study was conducted in order to investigate the association between exposure to noise in one's leisure time and subsequent hearing problems using a self-reporting questionnaire.

RESULTS
A total of 640 (82.1%) of students had a habit of listening to loud music, 421 (65.8%) experienced tinnitus and 79 (10.1%) had a subjective feeling of hearing loss. The most significant association between self-reported hearing loss was living in noisy environments (p=0.000), and the appearance of difficulties (vertigo, anxiety) (p=0.000), as well as usage of personal music devices (p=0.087).

CONCLUSION
While students who were exposed to loud sound levels may still not have shown serious hearing problems or hearing loss, a great number did experience tinnitus or some other difficulties after listening to music at loud volumes.


Objective: This observational study was undertaken to explore the influence of medication on the occurrence of complications following endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Methods: Clinical data concerning 70 consecutive patients undergoing elective EVAR in two vascular surgical centres over a 3 year period were analysed retrospectively. Complications were graded according to the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Reporting Standards. A distinction was made between device-related and non-related complications. An adjusted regression analysis was used to assess the association between 12 different medication groups and EVAR outcome. Results: During 70 person years of follow-up 14 mild (20%), 23 moderate (33%) and 7 severe (10%) complications were recorded. Thirty patients (43%) who used coumarin derivates showed significantly less non-device-related complications (OR 0.21; 95%CI 0.05-0.90) compared to non-users. Twenty patients (29%) on anti-emetic drugs during hospital stay showed a fourfold more non-device-related complications (OR 4.37; 95%CI 1.10-17.3) and in-hospital use of analgesics in 25 patients was associated with more device-related complications (OR 3.81; 95%CI 1.32-11.0). Conclusion: Medication seems to be associated with the occurrence of complications following endovascular therapy of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Patients who used coumarinderivatives experienced fewer non-device-related complications. Patients who used anti-emetic drugs during hospital-stay showed a fourfold number of non-device-related complications. Patients using analgesics during hospital stay were associated with significantly more device-related complications


A chelating agent is a chemical compound capable of forming a very stable complex with a multivalent positive ion, such as calcium. In this process of chelation a specific type of coordinate bonding occurs in some of the atoms forming the ring, and the calcium becomes such an integral part of the complex that it loses its ionic properties. It cannot be precipitated by generally used precipitating agents. 1 Edathamil (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid [EDTA]) and its salts have been the most investigated and commonly used chelating agents. Figure 1A shows the acid to be tetrabasic with four replaceable hydrogen atoms, so that it is theoretically possible to form four different sodium salts, all of which are chelating agents. Figure 1B shows the disodium salt of edathamil and 1C shows the calcium-disodium salt, which is the end-product of the chelation of the calcium ion. In this study, the disodium salt of edathamil


This pictorial article describes several innovative concrete construction projects in Vancouver, British Columbia, including an extension to an existing light rail transit system, an airport runway expansion and a pier extension. The light rail project involved the fast-track design and construction of a 16 km elevated twin-track guideway. Seven long-span structures were erected by balanced cantilever method. In the $100 million runway expansion project, a new 3030 meter-long runway and 12 connecting taxiways were designed with special consideration to aircraft speed, climate, drainage, grade and pavement structure. In the pier extension project, a cruise ship terminal was expanded to add a third berth. The substructure was constructed on 360 piles using precast panels and topped with cast-in-place concrete. Most of the precast panels and cast-in-place concrete supplied for the deck was specified at a minimum of 35 Mpa and a water-cement ratio of 0.40 or less.


Abstract Background Internal quality control (IQC) has a long and well-established role in clinical biochemistry laboratories. However, despite the duration of use, and the publication of several articles detailing best practice, the implementation and use of IQC vary significantly between institutions. Consequently, the North Thames Audit and Quality Assurance Group undertook a region-wide audit of current IQC practice in 2006. Methods On aspects of IQC testing, interpretation and laboratory processes, 54 laboratories in the region were audited. Results Audit data showed significant variability in all aspects of practice, including IQC frequency, use of appropriate material, statistical processing and grades of staff involved. Conclusions Some of the variation in practice may affect the effectiveness of laboratory IQC, and thus the adequacy of a laboratory to monitor system performance. Consequently, a set of proposed regional standards have been developed and disseminated, prior to re-audit at a future date.


Purpose: This study aimed to measure the test-retest reliability of the Korean Matrix sentence-in-noise test in a sound-field testing condition.Methods: Fifty-five listeners with normal hearing participated. The sound-field speech-in-noise test was administered with a front loudspeaker by presenting noise at a fixed level (65 dB SPL) while adaptively adjusting the sentence level based on the listener's response. The speech reception thresholds (SRTs) corresponding to 50% sentence-in-noise intelligibility were obtained using speech-shaped noise (SSN), International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology (ICRA) noise, and International Speech Test Signal (ISTS) noise. For the test-retest reliability, each subject was tested twice in a 2-week interval. The test-retest reliabilities were judged by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), the minimal detectable change (MDC) values, and Bland-Altman plots.Results: The test-retest reliabilities of the Korean Matrix sentence test were good (ICC, 0.84~0.86) across SSN, ICRA, ISTS noises. The MDC was 0.92 dB SNR for SSN and 2.83 and 2.98 dB SNR for ICRA and ISTS, indicating the random measurement error varied across the types of noise.Conclusion: The Korean Matrix sentence-in-noise test can be used as a reliable tool to assess speech-in-noise intelligibility in sound-field testing condition. Further study across various sessions would strengthen the present finding.


Flexible aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are considered as promising energy storage devices for wearable electronics due to their cost-effectiveness, environmental friendliness, and high theoretical energy density. Herein, a flexible fiber-shaped aqueous ZIB is demonstrated by using a self-assembled Co3O4 nanosheet array on a carbon nanotube fiber as the cathode and Zn nanosheets deposited on a carbon nanotube fiber as the anode. The cycle life span of the fiber-shaped battery is largely enhanced by a simple electrolyte dynamics engineering strategy of preadding a trace amount of Co2+ cations in the mild aqueous electrolyte. The assembled fiber-shaped ZIB shows a high specific capacity (158.70 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1), superior rate capacity, and excellent cycling life span (97.27% capacity retention after 10,000 cycles). Additionally, the fiber-shaped ZIB also shows superior flexibility, which can charge a smart watch under deformed states. This work provides new opportunities for the development of flexible, safe, and high-performance energy storage devices for wearable electronics.


Abstract The primary aim of this research study was to examine factors influencing consumers' adoption of mobile banking services in Tshwane, South Africa. Based on convenience and simple random sampling approaches, a structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the sample of one hundred and twenty (n = 120) participants who are retail banking customers. Frequencies, descriptive statistics, factor analysis and stepwise linear regression statistical techniques were applied to analyse the survey data using the SPSS 24 software. The overall Cronbach's alpha (α = 0.762) and Keiser-Meyer Olkin (KMO = 0.811) values indicate that the instrument's items were internally consistent and statistically valid for factor analysis. The adjusted R-squared estimated from stepwise linear regression model reveals that approximately 97% of variation in mobile banking services adoption by retail banking customers in Tshwane is influenced by perceived self-efficacy, perceived risk, relative advantage and perceived compatibility. Based on the t-statistics, perceived compatibility had the highest statistically significant and positive influence on mobile banking services adoption, followed by perceived self-efficacy and relative advantage. Conversely, perceived risk had a significant and negative influence on mobile banking adoption among retail banking consumers in Tshwane. Keywords: mobile banking, adoption, perceived, self-efficacy, risk, compatibility, relative advantage


Background: One of the ideal properties of a root canal sealer is to have a good sealing ability, especially at the apical third of the root. Objective: To evaluate the comparison of the apical leakage between obturation using bioceramic sealer (BS) and polydimethylsiloxane sealer (PS). Materials and Methods: Thirty-six mandibular premolars were equally divided into two groups and were obturated with single cone technique. The sealers used for Group I and Group II were BS and PS respectively. After obturation, the samples were incubated (37°C, 24 h), sealed with two coats of nail polish except for 2 mm from the apex, submerged in the Indian ink for 7 days, decalcified, dehydrated, and made transparent according to Robertson technique. Dye penetration was evaluated under stereomicroscope. Samples without dye penetration were given score 0, dye penetration ≤ 0.5 mm were given score 1, 0.51 - 1 mm were given score 2, and >1 mm were given score 3. Result: The largest proportion distribution in BS group was at the score 1 (55.6%), whereas in PS group was at the score 2 (44.4%). Conclusion: Bioceramic sealer showed similar apical leakage to polydimethylsiloxane sealer. Clinical Relevance: Based on this study, bioceramic sealer can be recommended to be used as sealer with low level of apical leakage as well as polydimethylsiloxane sealer.


Nanostructured materials are materials consisting of nanoparticulate building blocks on the scale of nanometers (i.e. 10 m). Composition, crystallinity and morphology can enhance or even induce new properties of the materials, which are desirable for todays and future technological applications. In this work, we have shown new strategies to synthesise metal oxide and metal nitride nanomaterials. The first part of the work deals with the study of nonaqueous synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles. We succeeded in the synthesis of In2O3 nanopartcles where we could clearly influence the morphology by varying the type of the precursors and the solvents; of ZnO mesocrystals by using acetonitrile as a solvent; of transition metal oxides (Nb2O5, Ta2O5 and HfO2) that are particularly hard to obtain on the nanoscale and other technologically important materials. Solvothermal synthesis however is not restricted to formation of oxide materials only. In the second part we show examples of nonaqueous, solvothermal reactions of metal nitrides, but the main focus lies on the investigation of the influence of different morphologies of metal oxide precursors on the formation of the metal nitride nanoparticles. In spite of various reports, the number and variety of nanocrystalline metal nitrides is marginally small by comparison to metal oxides; hence preformed metal oxides as precursors for the preparation of metal nitrides are a logical choice. By reacting oxide nanoparticles with cyanamide, urea or melamine, at temperatures of 800 to 900 °C under nitrogen flow metal nitrides could be obtained. We studied in detail the influence of the starting material and realized that size, crystallinity, type of nitrogen source and temperature play the most important role. We have managed to propose and verify a dissolution-recrystallisation model as the formation mechanism. Furthermore we could show that the initial morphology of the oxides could be retained when ammonia flow was used instead.


【In vivo activity of recombinant human erythropoietin (rh-EPO) has been examined using polycythemic model in mice and acute hemorrhage model in rats. The number of reticulocytes in blood stream was increased after a single injection of rh-EPO depending on the dosage of rh-EPO in polycythemy model. It seemed that optimal dose of rh-EPO for polycythemic mice was around 1-10 U/kg. Rh-EPO also showed the effectiveness for increase of reticulocyte numbers both in male and female rats after bleeding. The number of reticulocytes and the change of hemoglobin concentration in the blood stream of normal rats has been examined after injection of rh-EPO. The maximum value of reticulocyte was observed on the 6th day of the injection in these normal rats. In addition, the increase of reticulocyte and the concentration of hemoglobin were dependent on the dosage of rh-EPO. The increase of hemoglobin concentration was continued to the 9th day after injection. In this study, the efficacy of rh-EPO was confirmed in both mice and rats.】


In the last 30 years Kenya's national coffee production decreased by about 70%. In some areas like Muranga County, the decline was up to fivefold and coffee is now replaced by food crops in lower altitudes due to erratic rainfall and increased temperature. Projected mean temperature increase between 3oC and 4oC may result in yield losses of 8 - 22 percent by 2050 unless climate smart adaptation practices are undertaken. Adaptation depends on farmers noticing climate change has indeed affected them and perceiving the need for, and benefits from new production strategies. However, there is marked difference in the way scientists and farmers perceive climate change and how it affects agriculture. Therefore, this study aims to: 1) explore how cropping systems are changing; 2) analyse how scientists and farmers respectively perceive climate change; 3) present farm-level adaptation strategies and how climate smart strategies strengthen adaptive capacity of farmers. The study is based on interview of 120 farmers and collection of meteorological data. The data were analyzed in four directions: (1) farmers' perceptions about climate change, (2) trends for temperature and rainfall over 30 years, (3) relations between farmers' perception and climate data, (4) identification of adaptation strategies and adaptive capacity based on livelihood adaptation frameworks. The results revealed 1) 91 percent of the farmers perceived climate has changed, observing extended warmer seasons, changes in onset and cessation of rainfall which is indeed supported by meteorological data. 2) Only 54 percent of farmers are responding to the perceived changes, introducing climate smart practices such as varietal change, intercropping, irrigation and crop-livestock mixed farming. 3) Access to finance, human capacity building and information on weather are vital to strengthen farmers' adaptive capacity. We recommend further researches on future suitable places for coffee, with business as usual and climate smart practices to predict future winners and losers. (Texte integral)


We present a Bayesian hierarchical framework to analyze photometric galaxy survey data with stellar population synthesis (SPS) models. Our method couples robust modeling of spectral energy distributions with a population model and a noise model to characterize the statistical properties of the galaxy populations and real observations, respectively. By self-consistently inferring all model parameters, from high-level hyperparameters to SPS parameters of individual galaxies, one can separate sources of bias and uncertainty in the data. We demonstrate the strengths and flexibility of this approach by deriving accurate photometric redshifts for a sample of spectroscopically confirmed galaxies in the COSMOS field, all with 26-band photometry and spectroscopic redshifts. We achieve a performance competitive with publicly released photometric redshift catalogs based on the same data. Prior to this work, this approach was computationally intractable in practice due to the heavy computational load of SPS model calls; we overcome this challenge by the addition of neural emulators. We find that the largest photometric residuals are associated with poor calibration for emission-line luminosities and thus build a framework to mitigate these effects. This combination of physics-based modeling accelerated with machine learning paves the path toward meeting the stringent requirements on the accuracy of photometric redshift estimation imposed by upcoming cosmological surveys. The approach also has the potential to create new links between cosmology and galaxy evolution through the analysis of photometric data sets.


The past three years have been devoted to investigating simulated countercurrent chomatographic moving bed separators (SCMCS) and simulated countercurrent moving bed reactors (SCMCR). These are novel separators and reactors used for separation, or for carrying out a chemical reaction and separation continuously and simultaneously in fixed bed. In the SCMCR and the SCMCS the process aspects of a countercurrent moving bed, in which a stream of solids flows countercurrent to an inert fluid and past stationary reactant inlet, is simulated by successively switching feed and product take-off streams through a series of inlets located at fixed intervals along a fixed bed or between a series of packed columns. The flow of solids past a fixed feed point, characteristic of countercurrent moving beds, is replaced by motion of the feed past a fixed packed bed. Feed enters a particular column for a fixed length of time, and then is switched to the next column. Product streams are also advanced simultaneously. When the feed point has progressed to the end it is returned to the starting position and the process repeated. The shifting of the feed and the product positions in the direction of fluid flow thus simulates the movement of solidsmore » in the opposite direction. The requisite motion between the feed and the bed, which is continuous for true countercurrency, is replaced by periodic, discrete steps in simulated countercurrency. The continuous, steady state operation characteristic of true countercurrency is replaced by periodic transients at each switch of the feed.« less


Anemia may increase the risk of tissue hypoxia in preterm infants. This could lead to respiratory center depression and an increased risk for apnea. Heart rate and breathing pattern were recorded in 30 preterm infants (gestational age 30.0 +/- 2.3 weeks, postnatal age 46.6 +/- 20.8 days, and weight 1,438 +/- 266 g) before and after a transfusion of 10 mL/kg of packed RBCs. All infants were stable clinically, breathing room air, and free of prolonged apneic episodes. After transfusion, hematocrit levels increased from 27.0% +/- 2.5% to 35.8% +/- 4.7%. Heart rate decreased from 157.2 +/- 13.6 beats per minute to 148.4 +/- 13.9 beats per minute. There was no change in respiratory rate or BP. The duration of periodic breathing decreased significantly, as did the duration of the longest periodic breathing episode (P less than .01). The number of respiratory pauses lasting 5 to 10 seconds and the number of pauses lasting 11 to 20 seconds also decreased significantly (P less than .05). The total duration of respiratory pauses, excluding pauses during periodic breathing, were significantly lower after transfusion (P less than .05), as was the number of episodes of bradycardia. These results indicate that preterm infants have a more irregular breathing pattern while anemic than after correction of the anemia. The irregular breathing pattern is probably caused by mild hypoxic respiratory center depression.


Modern patterns of genetic variation in northern estuarine species are likely shaped by both historical and contemporary processes. Many studies have demonstrated the predominant roles of Pleistocene glaciations, life-history traits, or a combination of both in shaping patterns of population differentiation across a broad range of animal species, yet comparatively few have investigated such questions in benthic invertebrates. We examined fine-scale patterns of genetic differentiation among populations in the ampharetid polychaete Hobsonia florida in Long Island Sound (LIS) relative to its life-history traits and the geologic history of the region. Mitochondrial DNA sequencing of cytochrome oxidase I (COI) revealed 15 unique haplotypes among four populations in LIS and two outgroups. Populations in LIS exhibited the greatest haplotypic diversity compared to outgroup populations. Analysis of molecular variance revealed a highly significant level of genetic heterogeneity (P < 0.001) in LIS, with almost 40% of the variance attributed to differences among populations. Population differentiation was further revealed by highly significant fixation indices for all pairwise comparisons. Analysis using a mtDNA COI molecular clock estimated that haplotype divergence ranged from about 73,000 to 366,000 years before present. Our results suggest that the observed population genetic structure of H. florida in LIS has been strongly influenced by a series of glacially mediated vicariance events, leading to periodic population isolation and mixing, further mediated by low dispersal and specialized habitat requirements.


In the past 8 years, since Pedlosky's book was first published, it has found a well established place in the literature of dynamical meteorology and physical oceanography. Geophysicists less familiar with these fields may need to be reminded that the subject of geophysical fluid dynamics, in the narrow definition used in the title of the book, refers to the theory of the large-scale motions of the atmosphere and the oceans. Topics such as thermal convection in the atmosphere or in Earth's mantle and core are not treated in this book, and the reader will search in vain for a discussion of atmospheric or oceanic tides. The theory of quasi-geostrophic flow is described comprehensively, however, and its major applications to problems of atmospheric and oceanic circulations are considered in detail.


Purpose Contact lenses, osmotic stressors, and chemical burns may trigger severe discomfort and vision loss by damaging the cornea, but the signaling mechanisms used by corneal epithelial cells (CECs) to sense extrinsic stressors are not well understood. We therefore investigated the mechanisms of swelling, temperature, strain, and chemical transduction in mouse CECs. Methods Intracellular calcium imaging in conjunction with electrophysiology, pharmacology, transcript analysis, immunohistochemistry, and bioluminescence assays of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) release were used to track mechanotransduction in dissociated CECs and epithelial sheets isolated from the mouse cornea. Results The transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) transcriptome in the mouse corneal epithelium is dominated by Trpv4, followed by Trpv2, Trpv3, and low levels of Trpv1 mRNAs. TRPV4 protein was localized to basal and intermediate epithelial strata, keratocytes, and the endothelium in contrast to the cognate TRPV1, which was confined to intraepithelial afferents and a sparse subset of CECs. The TRPV4 agonist GSK1016790A induced cation influx and calcium elevations, which were abolished by the selective blocker HC067047. Hypotonic solutions, membrane strain, and moderate heat elevated [Ca2+]CEC with swelling- and temperature-, but not strain-evoked signals, sensitive to HC067047. GSK1016790A and swelling evoked calcium-dependent ATP release, which was suppressed by HC067027 and the hemichannel blocker probenecid. Conclusions These results demonstrate that cation influx via TRPV4 transduces osmotic and thermal but not strain inputs to CECs and promotes hemichannel-dependent ATP release. The TRPV4-hemichannel-ATP signaling axis might modulate corneal pain induced by excessive mechanical, osmotic, and chemical stimulation.


Scintigraphic scanning with [123I]insulin provides a direct and quantitative assessment of insulin uptake and disappearance at specific organ sites. Using this technique, the biodistribution and metabolism of insulin were studied in type 1 diabetic patients and normal subjects. The major organ of [123I]insulin uptake in both diabetic and normal subjects was the liver. After iv injection in normal subjects, the uptake of [123I]insulin by the liver was rapid, with peak activity at 7 min. Activity declined rapidly thereafter, consistent with rapid insulin degradation and clearance. Rapid uptake of [123I]insulin also occurred in the kidneys, although the uptake of insulin by the kidneys was about 80% of that by liver. In type 1 diabetic patients, uptake of [123I]insulin in these organ sites was lower than that in normal subjects; peak insulin uptakes in liver and kidneys were 21% and 40% lower than those in normal subjects, respectively. The kinetics of insulin clearance from the liver was comparable in diabetic and normal subjects, whereas clearance from the kidneys was decreased in diabetics. The plasma clearance of [123I]insulin was decreased in diabetic patients, as was insulin degradation, assessed by trichloroacetic acid precipitability. Thirty minutes after injection, 70.9 +/- 3.8% (+/- SEM) of [123I]insulin in the plasma of diabetics was trichloroacetic acid precipitable vs. only 53.9 +/- 4.0% in normal subjects. A positive correlation was present between the organ uptake of [123I]insulin in the liver or kidneys and insulin degradation (r = 0.74; P less than 0.001). Both decreased insulin uptake in the liver and kidneys and decreased insulin degradation were inversely correlated to the binding capacity of antiinsulin antibodies in plasma of diabetics (r = -0.87 to -0.92; P less than 0.001). In summary, type 1 diabetic patients have altered patterns of insulin biodistribution and metabolism, with decreased organ uptake and slow degradation of [123I]insulin, which correlated with the insulin antibody-binding capacity of their serum. Thus, antiinsulin antibodies, even at subclinical concentrations, may modulate the metabolic effects of insulin in the diabetic by prolonging the biological half-life of the hormone as well as by altering its distribution and uptake at specific organ sites.


Information technology has advanced rapidly and has long been used in various fields and industries. The accumulated data are valuable in practical applications related to topics, such as scientific research, commercial development, and policy-making references. Recent global climate anomalies are due to the ongoing reclamation and extensive use of natural resources in the ongoing process of human evolution and development. Demand for industrial development and economic competition among countries have caused high CO2 emissions, which is becoming a severe problem. Through analyzing relevant big data, people can explore the causes of high CO2 emissions and propose effective solutions. Factors contributing to high CO2 emissions not only include the strong dependence on energy and its use in economic, industrial, and commercial development, but families and individuals also contribute to air pollution. To solve this problem, this study investigated topics on public policy issues involving big data, community education effectiveness, and low-interest loans. In addition, this study adopted the Delphi method, analytical hierarchy process, and fuzzy logic theory to establish a multicriteria decision-making model based on big data to evaluate the processes of reducing air pollution in urban areas. Because community education contributes to resolving public policy problems, the proposed MCDM model enables researchers to determine improvements in urban air quality and aids in discerning the effects of community education on the promotion of environmental protection policies. In addition, this study proposed methods involving grants and low-interest financing to enhance improvements.


Packaging materials play an important role in the quality preservation during postharvest storage and shelf life of fruits and vegetables. The properties of film can affect the gas composition and indirectly the physiology of the products. Nowadays, several additives can be used for improving the film permeability or reducing certain gases such as ethylene. The Group Research Labs of SAES Getters S.p.A. have developed, in collaboration with its affiliate company SAES Coated Films S.p.A. a highly selective packaging system for ethylene, including an integrated absorber in the form of a coating (1-2 µm), with good transparency and an additional anti-fog function, which can be deposited on various plastic films. The objective of the work was the evaluation of this new active packaging on 'cherry' type tomato berries (Solanum lycopersicum L.) during storage. The control consisted of a macro-perforated polypropylene film used for flow-pack packaging. Two experimental tests were conducted, the first during cold storage (10 ± 2 ° C) and the second at room temperature (22 ± 2 ° C). The analyses carried out included visual appearance, weight loss, gas exchanges, relative humidity, volatile organic compounds (VOC), colour, titratable acidity, refractometric index (° Brix) and the concentration of lycopene and β-carotene.
The use of the innovative packaging did not alter the main quality indicators of the tomato (° Brix, acidity, colour). In general, the parameter that had the greatest impact on the product metabolism was the storage temperature. The VOC concentration was influenced by packaging film, with a greater accumulation in the samples packed with active packaging compared to the control. Moreover, the same material determined a reduction in weight loss, a greater accumulation of CO2 and a significant reduction in O2, especially at 22 °C. At the end of the storage, the berries stored in the active packaging showed higher levels of lycopene, compared to controls, and a reduction in β-carotene, indicating an active role of the packaging in modulating the content of bioactive compounds in the fruits. It can be concluded that the use of this innovative material can represent an effective tool for improving the postharvest management of tomato berries.


Recently, some of us presented data concerning HIV frequency in female sex workers (FSW) from the port city of Imbituba, Santa Catarina (SC), Southern Brazil. Out of 90 FSW, six (6.7%) were found to be HIV-positive, and significant association were found between HIV infection and the number of clients attended per day (p = 0.008), and sexual relations without frequent use of condoms (p = 0.015). Now, in order to add some information concerning to other human retroviruses (human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 HTLV-1, and human T-lymphotropic virus type 2 HTLV-2) which share the same routes of virus transmission/acquisitions (i.e., mother-to-child transmission, sexual contact, blood transfusion, contaminated needles sharing among injecting drug users IDU), we conducted the present study. Using enzyme immunoassays (EIA) screening tests ((VironostikaTM HTLV-I/II, BioMeriéux, Bostel, The Netherlands, and MurexTM HTLV-I+II, Abbott, Dartford Kent England, UK), and Western Blotting (WB) confirmatory test (HTLV BLOT 2.4TM, Abbott Murex, Singapore System, Abbott, Delkenhein, Germany), we were able to detect one case of HTLV-1 infection. The socio-demographic as well the comportamental characteristics of the HTLV-1-infected FSW are as follow: female of 25 years of age, white color, birth place in Imbituba, four-year old son who was breastfed, incomplete elementary school, no steady partner, one month in prostitution, one client per day, vaginal and oral sexual practices, no sex during menses, no use of condoms, use of alcohol, sex with IDU, and no blood transfusion. All these data were obtained after she signed the informed consent, and based on the interview and the answers of a questionnaire. Subsequently, when she returned to receive the HIV and HTLV serological results, another blood sample was collected and confirmed HTLV-1 infection. At this time, she was attended by physicians and no HTLV-1-associated disease was detected. On the other hand, she was pregnant, and she was advised not to breastfeed her offspring. Since then, she has been visited by the non-governmental organization called Industry of Solidarity (ISO) working group, and medical care has been conducted in an outpatient site in Tubarão, SC, Brazil. As previously described, HTLV-1 is associated with several diseases such as adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL), HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM) also known as tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP), infective dermatitis in children, and uveitis. Differently to those occurring in elderly patients from Japan where HTLV-1 has been endemic, in Bahia, Brazil HTLV-1 has been detected in younger people, including some cases diagnosed in adolescents who presented severe eczema during childhood. In Brazil, the great number of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 seropositive individuals besides the severity of HTLV-1-associated diseases, prompted the government and physicians to elaborate in 2004, a guideline for counseling persons infected with HTLV-1 and HTLV-2. Of note, Santa Catarina presents the lowest prevalence rate of HTLV-1/2 in Brazil, estimated in 0.4/1,000 inhabitants. We do not know the means of HTLV-1 acquisition by this FSW from Imbituba, SC, but since she denied the use of intravenous illicit drugs and previous blood transfusion, and because she does not belong to HTLV-1 endemic populations from Brazil or elsewhere, we could speculate that the sexual practices (vaginal and oral sex without use of condom) was the major via of virus acquisition. In accordance to this, during the interview she mentioned the presence of ulcers in vagina, which could propitiate the virus entrance during a sexual contact with an HTLV-1infected man. Several reports pointed unprotected sexual contact mostly with IDU, and histories of sexually transmitted diseases as risk factors for acquiring such retroviruses; these seem to be the causes of infection in the index case. Interestingly, this FSW resulted HIV-1-noninfected; in spite of this, she was counseled regarding HIV-1, HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 infections, especially concerning sexual and vertical transmission.


In order to estimate the value of haemodynamic parameters in assessing impaired left ventricular function the reproducibility of haemodynamic measurements were investigated at rest and during supine exercise on a bicycle ergometer in fifty-one patients suspected of arteriosclerotic heart disease by means of a Swan-Ganz pulmonary artery thermodilution catheter and a radial artery catheter. Furthermore the minimal significant (P less than 0.05) change from rest to exercise was determined. In conclusion we found that haemodynamic measurements during exercise testing estimate left ventricular function in a safe and reproducible manner. A rise in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) of only 0.9 kPa during exercise was significant, whereas changes in stroke volume index (SVI) were considered significant only when exceeding 9 ml/m2.


How does Richard Shusterman's Thinking Through the Bodyapply to the issues of everyday aesthetics? As it turns out, many chapters contribute significantly to everyday aesthetics, in particular the work on architecture, self-styling, the body as background, lovemaking, and the process of making a photographic portrait. Shusterman's concentration on the art of living has special importance to everyday aesthetics. Current debates within the field of everyday aesthetics also raise problems for somaesthetics. I also question the limits of somaesthetics and Shusterman's rejection of defamiliarization in making the ordinary extraordinary.


Abstract A number of syntactical properties of identities, such as regularity, normality, k-normality, externality and P-compatibility of identities have been extensively studied. We develop here a technique for producing from a basis for a variety V with certain idempotent terms a basis for the variety P(V), the smallest P-compatible variety to contain V. When V is finitely based, so is P(V).


Pseudoexfoliation (PXF) syndrome is a genetically determined, age-dependent generalized disorder of the elastic fiber system, characterized by excessive production and accumulation of an elastotic material within a multitude of intra- and extraocular tissues. Accumulation of this abnormal material in the aqueous humor outflow pathways predisposes to ocular hypertension and development of a severe type of open-angle glaucoma, known as PXF glaucoma, which represents the most common identifiable cause of open-angle glaucoma. Systemic manifestations of this abnormal matrix process appear to be associated with increased cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity.1 PXF syndrome is generally considered as a complex, multifactorial, late-onset disease involving a combination of genetic and non-genetic factors in its etiopathogenesis.2 Genetic studies in multiple populations have provided conclusive evidence that single nucleotide polymorphisms in the LOXL1 (lysyl oxidase-like 1) gene, encoding a cross-linking matrix enzyme, represent the principal genetic risk factor for both PXF syndrome and PXF glaucoma. Moreover, a number of non-genetic factors, including ultraviolet light exposure, dietary factors, infectious agents, and trauma as well as several stress conditions, such as oxidative stress, hypoxia, and inflammation, have also been suggested to act as co-modulating external factors.

The fibrotic PXF process may affect up to 25% of the general population over 60 years of age worldwide.3 In all populations, the frequency rises with age, with its incidence doubling every decade after the age of 50, however the diagnosis is rarely made below the age of 50. There are exceptional populations in which PXF develops at an earlier age including Icelanders, Australian Aborigines and South African Bantu, which may be attributed to genetic or environmental causes.4 In typical late-onset populations, however, only few cases have been reported with onset below 50 years of age. To date, only 6 cases of PXF manifestation in patients younger than 40 years have been described in the literature.5-9 In each of these cases, intraocular surgery, including iris surgery, had been performed prior to development of PXF after a latent phase of several years. The youngest reported patient with signs of PXF deposits, who underwent cataract surgery in infancy, was 13 years of age.9 However, confirmation by electron microscopy of typical PXF fibrils in conjunctival biopsies has been performed in only one of these patients, a 17-year-old girl.8

In this issue of the Journal of Ophthalmic & Vision Research, Amini et al10 report on another 4 patients with congenital or juvenile glaucoma who presented with clinical signs of PXF syndrome at young age (18-43 years) following multiple surgical procedures. Signs of PXF were consistently observed in the eye subjected to repeated surgeries, and the time interval between the last surgery and diagnosis of PXF varied from 6 months to 4 years. Thus, this report represents the largest series of exceptionally young patients developing PXF syndrome subsequent to intraocular surgery or trauma to the anterior segment. In accordance with the existing literature, the authors suppose that such traumatic events, particularly to the iris, may serve as a trigger for premature development of PXF syndrome in genetically predisposed individuals.8,9 Although the causal relationship between PXF manifestation and iris surgery remains to be clarified, it can be hypothesized that injury to anterior segment structures, particularly to the iris, causes damage to iris blood vessels with concomitant breakdown of the blood-aqueous barrier and inflammatory reactions leading to an influx of pro-inflammatory cytokines and fibrogenic growth factors into the anterior chamber. In fact, iris tissue alterations are an early and consistent feature in all PXF eyes and include a pronounced vasculopathy associated with chronic defects in the blood-aqueous barrier and degeneration of blood vessels.1 Ultrastructural alterations of iris vessels have been shown to represent the earliest histopathological signs of PXF syndrome, which can be detected in clinically unaffected contralateral eyes in cases with unilateral disease. Moreover, previous studies have provided evidence for a crucial role of growth factors, such as transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, and pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), in the initial phase of the fibrotic PXF process.11 Increased levels of IL-6 in the aqueous humor of eyes with early PXF have been shown to result from increased production by iris vasculature, to adversely affect blood-aqueous barrier integrity, and to stimulate the expression of elastic matrix components in vitro. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that a chronically activated stress response by trauma to the iris in combination with a specific genetic background may result in an exceptionally early onset of PXF-associated fibrosis.

One limitation of the present study is lack of histopathological confirmation of the clinical diagnosis, because the characteristic fibrillar morphology of PXF deposits, e.g. in conjunctival tissue biopsies, remains the gold standard for a definite diagnosis. It is also regrettable that the authors were not able to determine the LOXL1 genotype of their patients in order to assess the genetic risk of developing PXF, which quite unusually appeared in eyes initially diagnosed as having congenital glaucoma or juvenile primary open-angle glaucoma.

Considering the frequency of PXF in aged populations, such early onset cases, as presented by Amini et al10, are certainly rare. However, they can provide further clues to the pathophysiologic mechanisms involving stress-related triggering factors in addition to genetic predisposition. They further underline the need for a careful ophthalmological examination in young patients with a history of intraocular surgery.

PXF patients can present with unilateral or bilateral involvement with unilaterality rather being the rule than the exception. In these cases, the involved eye often has poorer visual acuity, more advanced lens opacity, a smaller pupil, higher intraocular pressure (IOP), more trabecular meshwork pigmentation and more pronounced glaucomatous damage than the unaffected fellow eye.3 Histopathologically, however, both eyes are involved supporting the concept that PXF syndrome is a generalized, basically bilateral disorder with often markedly asymmetric clinical presentation. This is also reflected by highly asymmetric manifestation of concomitant iris abnormalities, particularly loss of pigment from the iris sphincter region and its dispersion and deposition on anterior chamber structures. The reason for this asymmetric appearance is not known, but may involve subtle differences in ocular blood flow, aqueous humor dynamics, blood-aqueous barrier function, or anterior segment anatomy. In fact, significant differences in anterior segment morphology, including chamber angle width and iridolenticular contact, have been reported between PXF eyes and unaffected fellow eyes in an optical coherence tomography (OCT) analysis.12

In another cross-sectional study of this issue of the Journal of Ophthalmic and Vision Research, Rao compared clinical findings and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measured by OCT in affected eyes of clinically unilateral (n=32) and bilateral cases (n=59) of PXF syndrome without manifest glaucoma.13 He found that bilateral cases were significantly older, had smaller discs, larger cup disc ratios (CDR), thinner RNFL, and higher frequency of pupillary ruff atrophy (PRA) than unilateral cases. The differences may reflect early glaucomatous damage in bilateral PXF cases, especially since a CDR greater than 0.7 is highly suspicious of glaucoma. These findings are consistent with the existing literature, in which patients with bilateral PXF tend to be slightly older and to have a higher prevalence of glaucoma than those with unilateral disease. Thus, unilateral involvement is often considered a precursor to bilateral disease.

More interestingly, Rao also evaluated the predictive value of PRA,13 one of the most striking, though not specific, features of PXF eyes, for early glaucomatous damage as indicated by RNFL thinning. He found that the presence of PRA predicted RNFL thinning with high sensitivity (80-89%) but only low specificity (46%) in both unilateral and bilateral PXF cases. Yet, the author concluded that the clinical sign of PRA may indicate early glaucomatous damage in PXF eyes. This notion has in fact been confirmed in a recent prospective study on 103 glaucoma patients without PXF syndrome examining the correlation between PRA and glaucoma-related parameters.14 The authors found that asymmetric PRA changes were significantly correlated with both IOP and CDR asymmetry between eyes. They also provided a plausible explanation for such a relationship since pigment liberation from the peripupillary iris pigment epithelium and its accumulation in the chamber angle is a well recognized risk factor for increased IOP and glaucoma development.

Taken together, the findings of both studies seem to suggest a relationship between the presence of PRA and glaucoma-related clinical parameters in glaucomatous eyes with and without PXF syndrome. Although the clinical significance of this observation has to be evaluated in further studies, PRA may be a useful, readily apparent clinical indicator for glaucoma risk or early glaucomatous damage in eyes with PXF syndrome and may thus contribute to an increased awareness and timely management of a challenging and severe type of glaucoma.


The financial arrangements for devolution in the UK have been subject to conflicting criticisms regarding the purpose and impact of the Barnett formula, which is said to have been designed to promote convergence of public expenditure per capita in the devolved nations towards the UK average, yet has failed to deliver this in practice. This paper shows that the impact of Barnett on the devolved nations is mixed, resulting in convergence in the case of Northern Ireland; stability in the case of Scotland; and divergence in the case of Wales. This reflects the impact of differential population trends, and ad hoc budgetary allocation made outwit the formula. The paper concludes that Barnett should not be replaced on the basis of theoretical argument, but only when a robust and convincing alternative is available.


ABSTRACT In Reply.— Mr Miller's letter appropriately emphasizes the imperfections of tracheostomy for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. Patient and physician dissatisfaction with this intervention has prompted investigation of a number of alternative therapies for this disorder, including nocturnal CPAP.While the therapeutic regimen outlined by Mr Miller, which includes a sleep laboratory CPAP polysomnogram followed by home administration of CPAP and follow-up evaluations at three-month intervals, is appropriate for patients with mild obstructive apnea, it is difficult to apply to the subset of patients described in my article with hypercapnia, respiratory acidosis, hypoxemia, pulmonary hypertension, and corpulmonale often requiring intensive care unit management with intubation and mechanical ventilation. During the period of time necessary to stabilize such severely affected patients, often requiring days to several weeks, it is difficult to manage them safely with CPAP by nasal device or mask. In this group, the severity of cardiopulmonary dysfunction warrants


Nanomaterials can serve as an alternative to matrix-assisted
laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) matrix for the analysis of
numerous analytes. This lecture will give a brief overview of
nanoparticles used in the process called surface-assisted laser
desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI MS). Selected
applications of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in SALDI MS will be
presented to demostrate the potential and limitations of SALDI
MS. AuNPs were used as s matrix for quantitative analysis of
melamine in infant formula and grain powder and glutathione in
grape leaves. Although quantitative analyses using SALDI MS
without any internal standard is possible, use of internal of
the internal standard for quantitative analysis is strongly
advised. In the last example, SALDI-MS serves as a useful tool
to examine the reaction process. In this case, AuNPs served as
an efficient SALDI substrate to monitor redox reactions during
nanoparticle formation process.


BACKGROUND
This study investigates influence of the sinus floor configuration on dimensional stability of grafted bone height after the osteotome sinus grafting procedure.

METHODS
Forty single-tooth dental implants inserted after placement of bioglass and/or allograft into the sinus area using an osteotome technique in 37 patients were evaluated in this retrospective study. Periapical radiographs were taken using the long-cone technique before and after implant placement. Specifically, radiographic measurements of grafted bone height at the mesial and distal side of each implant were taken, and the sinus floor configuration was classified into concave, angle, and flat according to the sinus floor profile at the implant site. Furthermore, the intruding angle, defined as the angle between the implant axis and sinus floor, was measured.

RESULTS
All implants were clinically stable during a mean follow-up period of 39.2 months. Mean initial gain of sinus grafted bone height was 7.0 ± 1.9 mm, and later it was reduced to 4.6 ± 1.9 mm at follow-up (P <0.001). A greater reduction in grafted bone height was revealed in the flat sinus group compared with the concave group (P <0.001). Results from the linear regression showed larger intruding angles were statistically significantly associated with a greater reduction in grafted bone height (r2 = 0.55, P <0.001).

CONCLUSION
All bioglass and/or allograft placed in the maxillary sinus after the osteotome technique underwent remodeling and shrinkage; however, the outcome of the procedure was more predictable in sinuses with a concave floor and small implant-intruding angles.


Background: Adalimumab is a recombinant human IgG1 monoclonal antibody. It is a tumour necrosis factorinhibiting, anti-inflammatory, biologic medication. It binds to tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF), which normally binds to TNF receptor, leading to the inflammatory response of autoimmune disease. By binding to TNF, adalimumab reduces this inflammatory response.Objective: The study was done to monitor the effects and side effects of adalimumab in our Libyan patients with rheumatic diseases.Methods: The inclusion criteria for the study were all patients with rheumatic diseases who were treated with adalimumab in the period from April 2013 to April 2016 in the Rheumatology Department, Tripoli Medical Center, Tripoli, Libya. There were 31 patients, 10 of them had RA, 16 patients had Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), 4 patients had Psoriatic Arthropathy (PsA) and 1 patient had Adult Onset Still's Disease (AOSD). Adalimumab 40mg subcutaneous was given every 2 weeks. Demographic details such as age and sex were recorded. Clinical characteristics as rheumatoid factor in RA patients, disease duration, duration of taking adalimumab and drugs used before starting adalimumab were noted. Assessment of disease activity was measured by DAS28 for RA patients, by BASDAI for AS patients and by DAPsA for PsA patients. For all patients, complete blood count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, liver function test, hepatitis screen, urine routine examination and tuberculin test before adalimumab were requested to monitor its side effects during follow up.Results: All patients with rheumatic diseases who took adalimumab in the period between April 2013 and April 2016 were included in the study. Ten patients had rheumatoid arthritis, their mean age was 39.1 years, 10% were male and 90% were female. Rheumatoid factor was positive in 60%, negative in 30% and unknown in 10%. Sixteen patients were ankylosing spondylitis; their mean age was 39 years, 81.25% were male and 18.75% were female. Four patients had psoriatic arthritis, mean age was 40 years, two were females and two were males. One patient had AOSD; she was a female aged 58 years. All RA patients were on prednisolone and/or one or two DMARD before starting adalimumab and failed to show a response. Fourteen AS patients were on one or two NSAIDs and/or salazopyrine and failed to show a response before starting adalimumab and two patients were on infliximab which was not responding to it. Two psoriatic arthritis patients were on methotrexate (MTX) alone, two patients were on leflunomide alone. The AOSD patient was on MTX and prednisolone. The mean of DAS28 before starting adalimumab for RA patients was 4.06 and the mean of DAS28 at the last dose was 2.7 (P-value =0.0135). The mean of BASDAI before using adalimumab was 5.13 and the mean of BASDAI at the last dose was 1.656 (P-value <0.0001). PsA patients had moderate disease activity (mean of DAPsA=20+SD1.6) and became (mean of DAPsA=6+SD1.2) which means low disease activity (P-value <0.02). The AOSD patient showed significant improvement clinically and ESR dropped from 53 at the start to 12 at the last dose.Conclusion: During three years of follow up of our rheumatic diseased patients on adalimumab, we noticed a significant improvement in disease activity scores with minimal side effects.


The boundary current system in the Labrador Sea plays an integral role in modulating convection in the interior basin. Four years of mooring data from the eastern Labrador Sea reveal persistent mesoscale variability in the West Greenland boundary current. Between 2014 and 2018, 197 mid-depth intensified cyclones were identified that passed the array near the 2000 m isobath. In this study, we quantify these features and show that they are the downstream manifestation of Denmark Strait Overflow Water (DSOW) cyclones. A composite cyclone is constructed revealing an average radius of 9 km, maximum azimuthal speed of 24 cm/s, and a core propagation velocity of 27 cm/s. The core propagation velocity is significantly smaller than upstream near Denmark Strait, allowing them to trap more water. The cyclones transport a 200-m thick lens of dense water at the bottom of the water column, and increase the transport of DSOW in the West Greenland boundary current by 17% relative to the background flow. Only a portion of the features generated at Denmark Strait make it to the Labrador Sea, implying that the remainder are shed into the interior Irminger Sea, are retroflected at Cape Farewell, or dissipate. A synoptic shipboard survey east of Cape Farewell, conducted in summer 2020, captured two of these features which shed further light on their structure and timing. This is the first time DSOW cyclones have been observed in the Labrador Sea—a discovery that could have important implications for interior stratification.


The existence of universal models to describe the syntax of languages has been debated for decades. The availability of resources such as the Universal Dependencies treebanks and the World Atlas of Language Structures make it possible to study the plausibility of universal grammar from the perspective of dependency parsing. Our work investigates the use of high-level language descriptions in the form of typological features for multilingual dependency parsing. Our experiments on multilingual parsing for 40 languages show that typological information can indeed guide parsers to share information between similar languages beyond simple language identification.


KEY WORDS: Surveying, Application, Automation, Measurement, Algorithms, Infrastructure, Systems ABSTRACT: Geodetic investments support in the scope of modernization the existing sections of railways and building new ones is associated with the work of high accuracy. For this reason, surveying teams use the latest technological solutions, both in terms of hardware and software. Among the rail surveying systems dedicated for railway areas, there are trolleys equipped with GNSS satellite receivers. Unfortunately, the GNSS system is not sufficiently accurate in determining the height of the railway track. Therefore, the surveying work is often broken down into two stages. In the situational surveys total stations or GNSS receivers are used, and in the surveys of height, geometric levelling is applied. The article describes the possibility of using an electronic level in order to eliminate cumbersome levelling surveys. A clinometer used in the surveys firstly had been subjected to author's laboratory tests verifying its accuracy and allowing its calibration. During the field tests, the selected section of the track was measured using a level, and additional standard surveys were carried out using geometric precision levelling. A computational method was also suggested, allowing for the determination of the heights of points, based on the measured slopes. The method is based on integrating a continuous model of slopes, interpolated by a set of polygonal chains. The study conducted accuracy tests both of the computational method itself as well as combined, survey and computational method for determining the height.


Groups of robots can be tasked with identifying a location in an environment where a feature cue is past a threshold, then disseminating this information throughout the group – such as identifying a high-enough elevation location to place a communications tower. This is a continuous-cue target search, where multi-robot search algorithms like particle swarm optimization (PSO) can improve search time through parallelization. However, many robots lack global communication in large spaces, and PSO-based algorithms often fail to consider how robots disseminate target knowledge after a single robot locates it. We present a two-stage hybrid algorithm to solve this task: (1) locating a target with a variation of PSO, and (2) moving to maximize target knowledge across the group. We conducted parameter sweep simulations of up to 32 robots in a grid-based grayscale environment. Pre-decision, we find that PSO with a variable velocity update interval improves target localization. In the post-decision phase, we show that dispersion is the fastest strategy to communicate with all other robots. Our algorithm is also competitive with a coverage sweep benchmark, while requiring significantly less inter-individual coordination.


: Introduction: Appendix is a small pouch attached to the beginning of large intestine. Appendicitis, an inflammation of the appendix, is the most common acute surgical condition of the abdomen. Objectives: The main objective of the study is to analyse the effectiveness of fast tract surgery protocol in appendectomy. This is basically the comparison of laparoscopic appendectomy vs. open appendectomy. Material and methods: This study was conducted at Health department Punjab during June 2019 to January 2020. This study include 134 patients diagnosed as appendicitis and operated. Their mean age was 33.32 ± 20.80 years (range, 2 to 92 years). OA was performed through right lower quadrant transverse muscle-splitting incision. Results: Of these 134 patients, 85 (63.4%) had acute appendicitis and 20 (20.1%) appendices were perforated. There were 80 patients in the LA group and 54 in the OA group; however, 9 patients had a conversion to an open procedure. The overall SSI rate was not different between the two groups (2.8% for the OA group vs. 4.6% for the LA group, respectively, P=0.204), but the superficial SSI rate was significantly lower in the LA group (3.2% vs. 0.6%, P = 0.016). Conclusion: It is concluded that advantages of diagnostic laparoscopy in patients with abdominal pain, combined with the benefits of laparoscopic appendectomy,


Third-order nonlinear susceptibility χ3 for the two-photon resonant sum-frequency mixing in Cd vapor is calculated in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) spectral region from 110 nm to 138 nm, where the four levels, 6 1S0, 5 1D2, 7 1S0, 6 1D2, are used for the two-photon resonance. The results show that χ3 for each resonance has a specific wavelength dependence, and the 5 1D2 resonance is especially advantageous for the generation of broadly- and continuously-tunable VUV radiation in the spectral region concerned. The calculated results are compared with the wavelength dependences of the experimentally observed VUV power.


Deep learning technologies such as convolutional neural networks (CNN) provide powerful methods for image recognition and have recently been employed in the field of automated carcinoma detection in confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) images. CLE is a (sub-)surface microscopic imaging technique that reaches magnifications of up to 1000x and is thus suitable for in vivo structural tissue analysis. In this work, we aim to evaluate the prospects of a priorly developed deep learning-based algorithm targeted at the identification of oral squamous cell carcinoma with regard to its generalization to further anatomic locations of squamous cell carcinomas in the area of head and neck. We applied the algorithm on images acquired from the vocal fold area of five patients with histologically verified squamous cell carcinoma and presumably healthy control images of the clinically normal contra-lateral vocal cord. We find that the network trained on the oral cavity data reaches an accuracy of 89.45% and an area-under-the-curve (AUC) value of 0.955, when applied on the vocal cords data. Compared to the state of the art, we achieve very similar results, yet with an algorithm that was trained on a completely disjunct data set. Concatenating both data sets yielded further improvements in cross-validation with an accuracy of 90.81% and AUC of 0.970. In this study, for the first time to our knowledge, a deep learning mechanism for the identification of oral carcinomas using CLE Images could be applied to other disciplines in the area of head and neck. This study shows the prospect of the algorithmic approach to generalize well on other malignant entities of the head and neck, regardless of the anatomical location and furthermore in an examiner-independent manner.


A study was conducted in the 2007 and 2008 cropping seasons to determine the effects of nitrogen and plant population on quality and net income of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) in northern Ethiopia. The design was a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data collected and analyzed included crop quality attributes and partial budget analysis. Application of N fertilizer significantly increased Total Soluble solid (TSS), fruit dry matter percentage (DM %) and fruit diameter. Higher fruit TSS and DM % were obtained at 230 kg N/ha compared to the other treatments. Intermediate N rate application (138 kg/ha) gave the highest values of fruit yield parameters and net return profits compared to the control. Similarly, Plant population had significant influence on fruit d DM % and fruit diameter.


This work examines the impact of feed, cutting speed, depth of cut and tool-chip contact length on machining process stability of mild steel and aluminium alloys. Forty experiments were carried out on aluminium and mild steel alloys based on cutting parameters (feed rate, cutting speed and depth of cut). Tests conducted entails measuring the lengths of chips that slide on the tool face (tool-chip contact length) at various combinations of cutting parameters. Results showed that as the cutting force increased from 347N to 1346N at constant depth of cut (0.10mm) and cutting speed (47m/min), the contact length increased from 0.05mm to 0.26mm for Aluminium alloys. At higher cutting speed of 71m/min and 0.20mm depth of cut, lower cutting force of 261N to 612N was recorded giving rise to increased contact length of 0.57mm to 0.81mm. Higher values of contact length (0.08mm to 0.74mm) were obtained for mild steel as the cutting force increased from 505N to 1187N at the same cutting conditions for aluminium. At higher cutting speed of 71m/min and 0.20mm depth of cut, lower cutting force of 484N to 1105N were obtained for mild steel with contact length increasing from 0.73mm to 0.90mm. Therefore, tool-chip contact length decreases as feed rate increases and mild steel gives higher instability of machining process than aluminium alloys under the same cutting conditions.


Abstract. The study presents the population indices of life quality of inhabitants of Dibgali, Guladty and Karbuchimakhi rural settlements in Dakhadaev district, Republic of Dagestan. The study was conducted using a questionnaire SF-36. The regularities of the age and gender changes of parameters of quality of life were identified. The highest rate in the analyzed settlements was marked on a scale of social functioning, the lowest on the scale of overall health. Aim. The goal of this work was a pilot study of population indices of the life quality of inhabitants of Dibgali, Guladty and Karbuchimakhi rural settlements in Dakhadaev district, Republic of Dagestan. Methods. The study was conducted using a questionnaire SF-36 in accordance with the requirements of the International project of evaluation of life quality (IPELQ). Data was collected by questionnaire on the basis of direct survey respondents. Statistical processing of the data obtained from surveys of the quality of life based on the general principles of statistics and conducted using the package of applied programs STATISTICA and Excel. Results .Population quality of life of the residents in some rural settlements in Dakhadaev district of Republic of Dagestan were received. Average indicators of the quality of life of residents for 8 scales of the questionnaire SF-36 range from 53,4 (scale of the overall health) to 76.3 (scale of social functioning). The study of gender differences in population indices of quality of life showed that the parameters of the quality of life of the male population in all scales of the questionnaire significantly higher than that in women. A similar trend was observed in all age groups, that is, in general, indicators of physical, mental and social functioning of the female population of the studied territories were lower than of men. Indicators of the quality of life in the analyzed settlements are decreasing in both men and women. Main conclusions. The results of population studies of quality of life in general indicate that the environmental component, understood in the framework of 3-defining model of sustainable development (economy, social sphere, ecology), makes a great contribution to the integral profiles quality of life of the rural population. Although the countryside is traditionally considered to be ecologically safe, in our study the numeric parameters of the quality of life have the same dynamics as in studies of population in large, industrialized cities, reflecting the specific problems of the environment.


The McMurdo Dry Valleys are one of the most arid environments on Earth. Over the soil landscape for the majority of the year, biological and ecosystem processes in the dry valleys are constrained by the low temperatures and limited availability of water. The prevalence of these physical limitations in controlling biological and ecosystem processes makes the dry valleys a climate-sensitive system, poised to experience substantial changes following projected future warming. Short-duration increases in summer temperatures are associated with pulses of water from melting ice reserves, including glaciers, snow and permafrost. Such pulses alter soil geochemistry by mobilizing and redistributing soil salts (via enhanced weathering, solubility and mobility), which can alter habitat suitability for soil organisms. Resulting changes in soil community composition or distribution may alter the biogeochemical processes in which they take part. Here, we review the potential impacts of meltwater pulses and present new field data documenting instances of meltwater pulse events that result from different water sources and hydrological patterns, and discuss their potential influence on soil biology and biogeochemistry. We use these examples to discuss the potential impacts of future climate change on the McMurdo Dry Valley soil ecosystem.


We theoretically and experimentally investigate the long-range interaction between nematicons. It is demonstrated that the interaction becomes strongest when the pretilt angle of liquid crystal molecules is nearly π/4 for a given single-beam input power P0, and that the interaction becomes stronger when the incident power P0 increases at a given pretilt angle. In this way, the interaction is still observed when the initial separation is 43 times of the soliton width, much larger than that implemented in lead glasses [Nature Phys. 2 (2006) 769].


Experimental and theoretical studies have stressed the importance of flexibility for protein function. However, more local studies of protein dynamics, using temperature factors from crystallographic data or elastic models of protein mechanics, suggest that active sites are among the most rigid parts of proteins. We have used quasielastic neutron scattering to study the native reaction center protein from the purple bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides, over a temperature range of 4-260 K, in parallel with two nonfunctional mutants both carrying the mutations L212Glu/L213Asp --> Ala/Ala (one mutant carrying, in addition, the M249Ala --> Tyr mutation). The so-called dynamical transition temperature, Td, remains the same for the three proteins around 230 K. Below Td the mean square displacement, u2, and the dynamical structure factor, S(Q,omega), as measured respectively by backscattering and time-of-flight techniques are identical. However, we report that above Td, where anharmonicity and diffusive motions take place, the native protein is more rigid than the two nonfunctional mutants. The higher flexibility of both mutant proteins is demonstrated by either their higher u2 values or the notable quasielastic broadening of S(Q,omega) that reveals the diffusive nature of the motions involved. Remarkably, we demonstrate here that in proteins, point genetic mutations may notably affect the overall protein dynamics, and this effect can be quantified by neutron scattering. Our results suggest a new direction of investigation for further understanding of the relationship between fast dynamics and activity in proteins. Brownian dynamics simulations we have carried out are consistent with the neutron experiments, suggesting that a rigid core within the native protein is specifically softened by distant point mutations. L212Glu, which is systematically conserved in all photosynthetic bacteria, seems to be one of the key residues that exerts a distant control over the rigidity of the core of the protein.


Background HSV-2 seropositivity has direct links with one's increased risk for HIV acquisition. Given that increases in HIV incidence are highest among women of colour in the USA, they may benefit from HSV-2 control efforts. We evaluated the acceptability of a community-based HSV-2 screening program for women in the justice system and assessed factors related to HSV-2 positivity and willingness to accept a prescription for suppressive therapy. Methods As part of a larger randomised controlled trial, recently arrested women were recruited from a community court handling lower-level misdemeanour cases, including prostitution, in a large Midwestern city. Individuals completed an interviewer administered survey assessing factors related to HSV-2 screening intentions and were offered no-cost of point-of-care HSV-2 testing. Individuals screening positive were offered low-cost ($4) suppressive therapy. Results Participants included 136 women, 18−62 years old (median=31) with reported ethnicities of White (51%), Black (43%) and other (6%). Most (51%) had less than a high school education, were unemployed (68%) and 28% were currently facing prostitution charges. The majority (64%) of participants accepted testing and 60% tested HSV-2 seropositive. Factors associated with an infection included age (OR=1.09; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.16), Black race (OR=50.06; 95% CI1.1.70 to 1472.14), lower educational attainment (OR=5.86; 95% CI 1.13 to 30.37), current genital symptoms (OR=6.5; 95% CI 1.25 to 34.17), and lifetime number of sexual partners (OR=102.33; 95% CI 6.62 to 1581.73). Being recently arrested for prostitution was not associated with an HSV-2 diagnosis. The majority of women testing positive (84.6%) accepted a prescription for suppressive therapy. Conclusion We detected very high rates of HSV-2 among recently incarcerated women, especially among Black women. Nearly all women who tested positive accepted a prescription for Acyclovir, indicating they were interested in suppressive therapy which could provide some benefit in preventing HIV acquisition. These results highlight how non-traditional public health partnerships, like academic-judicial system collaborations, provide an opportunity for STD control programs to intervene with high-risk individuals.


Metal complexes of Schiff base (L) ligand, prepared via condensation of 4- chlorobenzaldimine 4- aminoantipyrine, and 2- aminophenol are prepared. The ligand is characterized based on elemental analysis, Mass, IR, and NMR spectra. Metal complexes are reported and characterized based on elemental analyses, IR, electronic spectra, magnetic moment, molar conductance and cyclic voltammetry (cv). From the elemental analyses, 1:1[M]:[Ligand] complexes are prepared with the general formulae [M(L CL) (M=Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II)). The IR results demonstrate that coordination sites are the two azomethine nitrogen and hydroxyl oxygen atoms. The electronic spectral and magnetic measurement data indicate that the complexes exhibit tetra geometry and Cu(II) exhibits distorted square planar around the metal centre. The in vitro biological screening effects of the synthesized compounds were tested against various microbial species and the results show that the metal complexes are more biological active than the ligand. The DNA cleavage activity of the ligand and its complexes were assayed on pUC18 DNA using gel electrophoresis. The result shows that the Co(II) and Cu(II) complexes have completely cleaved the DNA.


Across his adult life, Martin Luther King Jr. underlined the national character of racism and challenged northern liberals to press for change at home, not just the South. Yet this aspect of his thinking has been sidelined in most treatments of the civil rights leader, which frame King turning to the North only after the 1965 Watts rebellion. A closer examination reveals that, from the beginnings of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King highlighted school and housing segregation, job discrimination, and police brutality in the North, stood with northern struggles, and called out the hypocrisies of northern liberalism for ignoring local injustice. King underlined the necessity for disruptive tactics, criticized liberal allies who decried them, and repeatedly faced reproach for it. Underscoring the crucial role law enforcement played in maintaining northern injustice, he stood with anti-police brutality movements, demanded civilian complaint review boards to provide essential oversight, challenged the tendency to cast Black behavior as the problem, and pointed to the criminality of the state. And over and over, he insisted that the story did not begin with the uprisings of the mid-1960s but with the long history of injustice and frustrated Black struggle in the North that preceded them.


In statistical practice, whether a Bayesian or frequentist approach is used in inference depends not only on the availability of prior information but also on the attitude taken toward partial prior information, with frequentists tending to be more cautious than Bayesians. The proposed framework defines that attitude in terms of a specified amount of caution, thereby enabling data analysis at the level of caution desired and on the basis of any prior information. The caution parameter represents the attitude toward partial prior information in much the same way as a loss function represents the attitude toward risk. When there is very little prior information and nonzero caution, the resulting inferences correspond to those of the candidate confidence intervals and p-values that are most similar to the credible intervals and hypothesis probabilities of the specified Bayesian posterior. On the other hand, in the presence of a known physical distribution of the parameter, inferences are based only on the corresponding physical posterior. In those extremes of either negligible prior information or complete prior information, inferences do not depend on the degree of caution. Partial prior information between those two extremes leads to intermediate inferences that are more frequentistic to the extent that the caution is high and more Bayesian to the extent that the caution is low.


Background A positive impact on the increased risk for ischemic coronary events in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) could be expected by control of inflammation. Anti-rheumatic drugs might also directly improve risks for ischemic events. In a previous study based on the Swedish Rheumatology Register we reported a relative risk of 0.80 (95% CI 0.52-1.24) for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) comparing early RA patients starting TNF inhibitor therapy (TNFi) to patients with early RA treated otherwise. Objectives To evaluate the role of TNFi on the risk of ACS in a larger population-based cohort including both incident and prevalent RA cases. Methods In the Swedish Biologics Register, a national cohort of patients with RA who started their first TNFi between 2001 and 2009 (n=9,869) was identified. For each TNFi exposed patient, three matched referents were randomly selected from the underlying national cohort of all individuals with two or more outpatients visits listing RA (one of which at a dept. of rheumatology/internal medicine) as identified in the National Patient Register. Furthermore, for each TNFi-exposed patient, five matched referents from the general population were identified in the Population Register. Individuals with previous ischemic or congestive heart disease were excluded. Following matching and exclusions, 7,185 patients starting TNFi treatment, 17,702 matched biologics naïve RA referents, and 32,161 matched general population referents remained. Information on any previous diagnoses of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, chronic pulmonary diseases, infections and joint surgery was extracted from the Patient Register. Data on level of education and work disability was extracted from Statistics Sweden. The outcome, first ever ACS, was defined as a discharge diagnosis of myocardial infarction (ICD10: I21) or unstable angina (ICD10: I20.0) during follow-up. Results We observed 85 ACS (crude incidence 4.8 per 1000 person-yrs) among the TNFi exposed patients, 280 ACS (5.1 per 1000) among the matched RA comparators, and 284 ACS (2.2 per 1000) among the matched general population subjects. Kaplan-Meier curves displayed no differences in event-free survival between RA patients starting TNFi and their matched comparators, but a lower event-free survival in both these cohorts compared with the general population comparator. The age- and sex- adjusted hazard ratios (HR; 95% CI) for TNFi compared with matched, biologics-naïve RA patients was 0.98 (0.78-1.23), and for TNFi vs. general population 2.13 (1.69-2.68). When further adjusted for level of education, work disability, disease duration, cardiovascular risk factors, joint surgery, chronic pulmonary disease and previous infections the RR for TNFi vs. matched biologics-naive RA remained close to 1 (HR 1.12, 95% CI 0.84-1.48). Conclusions In this nation-wide, population-based, matched cohort study, no association between treatment with TNFi and the risk of ACS in RA was seen. Compared with the general population a doubled risk for ACS was noted among the patients with RA. The lack of risk reduction vs. the general population through TNFi could be due to lack of a true protective effect, residual confounding or channelling, or an insufficient level of RA disease control whether obtained through TNFi or alternative therapies. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying anxiety-like state development in cycling female rats with different plasma estradiol levels have been studied in a stress-restress paradigm, an animal model of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The effect of stress-restress on the hypothalamic expression of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and vasopressin was analyzed by quantitative immunocytochemistry. Stress-restress was found to increase CRH expression in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) on the 10th post-restress day, but the level of CRH expression in the PVN restored to the basal values on the 30th post-restress day in all experimental groups. It was shown an increase in vasopressin immunoreactivity in the PVN from the 10th to the 30th post-restress days in female rats exposed to stress during the estrus phase (low plasma estradiol level). In summary, female rats with low plasma estradiol level exhibited the most significant changes in the hypothalamic neuroendocrine system following stress-restress exposure. It might be hypothesized that hyperactivity of the hypothalamic circuit of the central vasopressinergic system is one of the possible mechanisms underlying PTSD-like state development in female rats in a stress-restress paradigm.


This research note reports on the quantity of business records available in Australia as indicated by a recent survey of the top one hundred firms operating during the twentieth century. The archival work was undertaken as part of a large study investigating aspects of corporate leadership in Australia, conducted Jointly at the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne. We found that the surviving records of Australian businesses cover a wide selection of firm types, and that the comprehensiveness of many archives places business history on a sound foundation for the future.


The NLM's MMTx natural language processing (NLP) engine was used to extract concepts from chief complaints entered into an ambulatory electronic medical record (EMR). Of the over 600,000 strings submitted to the process, approximately 25% were assigned at least one concept, with a rate of 2% for incorrect assignments.


The study examined the impact of maternal employment and family life cycle stage on the psychological well-being o£ middle socioeconomic status women. One hundred twenty eight mothers of children at the stages of birth to 6 years, 7 to 12 years and 13 to 17 years, completed a self-report questionnaire. To test the hypothesis of the study, a 3 X 3 (employment X family life cycle stage) analysis of covariance was conducted with age, income, time employed and psychological resources as covariates. Results indicated that middle socioeconomic status mothers employed full-time experienced significantly higher levels of role overload, occupational strain, spouse support and job commitment. A post hoc exploratory analysis using conflict level between commitment to work and parenting, yielded data which indicated that individuals with a large discrepancy between commitment to one role versus the other, experienced the greatest degree of difficulty. Results were evaluated in the light of selective characteristics of the sample. Recommendations for future research included the use of projective assessment to reduce the effect of defensive response styles. A life span approach using the concept of perceived conflict between roles was advanced, instead of the age specific developmental construct of family life cycle stage.


This paper discusses the effect of corporate culture precedents (i.e., job satisfaction, training, organizational justice, and ethical leadership) on marketing norms acceptance or violation (i.e., unethical practices of 4Ps) in an organization. In the analysis of behavior precedents, this paper analyzes the subsequent stage that predicts ethical behavior: corporate culture precedents. Moreover, the proposed model encompasses the moderating effects of contextual (i.e., ethical optimism, organizational factors, and industry factors) and individual (i.e., moral philosophies, demography, and personality traits) factors on the relationship between cultural precedents and marketing norms acceptance. Based on the discussions, the paper offers a set of propositions regarding the impacts of cultural precedents on marketing norms and the moderating roles of individual and contextual factors. Investigating the predictors of engaging in unethical acts in 4Ps leaves room for research since the attention to the topic has not been balanced and except for promotion and advertisement, other marketing mix variables (i.e., product, price, and distribution management) have attracted limited research focus. According to the proposed model, managers should focus on job satisfaction, training, ethical leadership and organizational/distributive justice to increase the chance of acceptance of marketing norms in the organization. Managers should also be aware of the role of moderating factors such as demography and personal traits of the people who they work with. By considering these roles, managers can better implement marketing norms in the organization.
Keywords: Ethical Culture, Cultural Precedents, Marketing-Related Norms, Individual Factors, Contextual Factors.


HPAI in Light oil reservoirs have gained a success nowadays in the field. Air injection in light oil is decided on the basis of in which phase of the life reservoir stands. The main aim of this EOR method is to strip out the Lighter Hydrocarbons from the residual Heavy Fractions and also to act as a pressurizing agent as from conventional heavy oil reservoirs to reduce the viscosity and removing the residual oil saturation.The factors affecting the HPAI are Geology and the Geological structure and the reaction kinetics parameters like reaction frequency, enthalpy, activation energy and the mode of reaction i.e. Low Temperature Oxidation (LTO) and High Temperature Oxidation (HTO). In this paper, the laboratory procedures, for the Air injections have been calculated i.e. the velocity of the combustion front, temperature profiles and the ignition time of the initiation of reaction. Simulation of combustion tube experiment has been carried out and expanded to the block model in CMG STARS. The tuning of the reaction parameters is to generate the temperature profile of the twelve zones of the combustion tube experiment. History matching with the data generated in simulation and the outcomes of the laboratory experiment is performed. The block model with five spot inverted pattern predicts the variation of oil saturation, temperature, oil cut, water cut, cumulative fluid rates with time. The conclusion from this simulation is the feasibility of High Pressure Air injection processes in Light Oil Reservoir and predicting the future performance in the reservoir.The results from this simulation were that the clay particles affect the reaction kinetics in the Light Oil and the increment in the recovery is about 20 % because of HPAI.


The characterization of intermediates formed through the reaction of transition-metal complexes with dioxygen (O2 ) is important for understanding oxidation in biological and synthetic processes. Here, the reaction of the diketiminate-supported cobalt(I) complex LtBu Co with O2 gives a rare example of a side-on dioxygen complex of cobalt. Structural, spectroscopic, and computational data are most consistent with its assignment as a cobalt(III)-peroxo complex. Treatment of LtBu Co(O2 ) with low-valent Fe and Co diketiminate complexes affords isolable oxo species with M2 O2 "diamond" cores, including the first example of a crystallographically characterized heterobimetallic bis(μ-oxo) complex of two transition metals. The bimetallic species are capable of cleaving C-H bonds in the supporting ligands, and kinetic studies show that the Fe/Co heterobimetallic species activates C-H bonds much more rapidly than the Co/Co homobimetallic analogue. Thus heterobimetallic oxo intermediates provide a promising route for enhancing the rates of oxidation reactions.


Outlines the most common causes of movements in masonry buildings, how they should be avoided by design measures and, if cracking has occurred, how the cause may be identified. Discusses moisture movements in materials, temperature changes, strains resulting from applied loads, foundation movements and chemical reactions in materials. Examines methods of accommodating movement and the assessment of damage. Suggests the structure of an examination undertaken by a surveyor on discovering masonry cracks.


The public expression of opinions (and related communicative activities) hinges upon the perception of opinion consensus. Current explanations for opinion consensus perceptions typically focus on egocentric and other biases, rather than functional cognitions. Using self-categorization theory we showed that opinion consensus perceptions flow from cognitions regarding the fit between issues and group prototypes. Strong normative fit enhanced perceptions of ingroup opinion consensus (Experiments 1 and 2), and consensus perceptions varied as a function of comparison outgroups (Experiment 3), ingroup prototype salience (Experiment 4), and levels of identity threat (Experiment 5). Self-categorization theory has the potential to integrate a variety of cognitive and motivational processes to provide a comprehensive explanation for opinion consensus perceptions.


As part of the evaluation of a class teaching breast self examination (BSE), a sample of women were interviewed shortly before they were invited to attend the class and again one year later. A comparable sample in a different "control" district were interviewed twice in the same way. The interviewers inquired about the practice of breast self examination (BSE) and about beliefs about breast cancer. The findings enable changes in behaviour and beliefs among those who attended and did not attend the class and among women in the control district during the same year to be compared. Women who attended the class showed a more pronounced improvement in BSE practice compared with non-attenders and with the control group. The improvement was in BSE technique rather than the frequency with which it was carried out.


In this paper the characteristic parameters such as threshold voltage, drain currents (ION and IOFF), sub threshold slope of 3-Dimensional SOI Double Gate FINFET, Tri- gate FINFET and Independent Gate FINFET are evaluated with the help of TCAD. Drain currents are optimized by using high-K dielectric and analyzed over different gate lengths. The threshold voltage of these three devices are analyzed using various gate materials of different work functions consequently minimize the short channel effects. It also highlights the electrostatic control on channel by increasing the number of gates.


The HGC1 gene encodes a cyclin that is required for virulence of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans. It is required to produce the elongated hyphal filaments of free-living planktonic cells that are associated with virulence. ABSTRACT Biofilm and hypha formation are central to virulence of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans. The G1 cyclin gene HGC1 is required for hypha formation under diverse in vitro and in vivo growth conditions. Hgc1 is required for disseminated infection and is a linchpin in the argument that hyphal morphogenesis itself is required for pathogenicity. We report here that HGC1 is dispensable for hypha formation during biofilm formation both in vitro, under strong inducing conditions, and in vivo, in a mouse oropharyngeal candidiasis model. These findings are validated with two or more C. albicans isolates. Systematic screening of overexpressed cyclin genes indicates that CCN1 and CLN3 can compensate partially for Hgc1 function during biofilm growth. This conclusion is also supported by the severity of the hgc1Δ/Δ ccn1Δ/Δ double mutant biofilm defect. Our results suggest that hypha formation in biofilm is accomplished by combined action of multiple cyclins, not solely by Hgc1. IMPORTANCE The HGC1 gene encodes a cyclin that is required for virulence of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans. It is required to produce the elongated hyphal filaments of free-living planktonic cells that are associated with virulence. Here, we show that HGC1 is not required to produce hyphae in the alternative growth form of a biofilm community. We observe Hgc1-independent hyphae in two infection-relevant situations, biofilm growth in vitro and biofilm-like oropharyngeal infection. Our analysis suggests that hypha formation in the biofilm state reflects combined action of multiple cyclins.


Although the final, individual decision making in patients always has to be in the hand of the doctor, it has hitherto been much less a matter of scientific analysis than formal decision making on the basis of clinical trials. To change this, several types of individual decision making were characterized, four in the field of intuition (very fast logical decisions, consciously and unconsciously heuristic decisions using special instruments, the deep remainder of intuition which can and should not be the subject of scientific analysis) and discursive (purely logical) decision making as a fifth type. The prospective think-aloud technique including an hierarchical heuristic decision tree was presented as a method for scientific analysis of individual decision making which is open to repetition and criticism. The place of various types of formal trials in this process was defined. Via a posit and the heuristic instrument of representativeness, the problem of the transfer of results from clinical trials to the individual patient was solved.


The 3-dimensional implant position is critical in achieving a successful surgical and prosthetic outcome for an implant-supported restoration. In an edentulous mandibular arch, the lack of neighboring reference points and the nature of the resorptive process make ideal surgical implant placement difficult to achieve. As the edentulous mandibular ridge resorbs lingually and apically, the ideal prosthetic tooth positions often may be located facial to the ridge crest. Achieving proper implant position requires use of a guide that takes into consideration the location of the existing ridge in addition to ideal tooth position. This article describes the use of an adaptable, metal, linked implant position guide that utilizes interimplant spacing of 5 mm, 7 mm, or 9 mm between adjacent tooth positions throughout the arch to aid in keeping adjacent implants parallel and symmetrical to the contralateral side while also respecting the ideal natural tooth dimensions and occlusion. The use of the guide is demonstrated in three cases of mandibular edentulism.


www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines. 2014. 5. Chou ST, Jackson T, Vege S, Smith-Whitley K, Friedman DF, Westhoff CM. High prevalence of red blood cell alloimmunization in sickle cell disease despite transfusion from Rh-matched minority donors. Blood 2013;122:1062-71. 6. Vichinsky EP, Luban NL, Wright E, Olivieri N, Driscoll C, Pegelow CH, Adams RJ. Prospective RBC phenotype matching in a stroke-prevention trial in sickle cell anemia: a multicenter transfusion trial. Transfusion 2001;41:1086-92. 7. Shirey RS, Ness P. New concepts of delayed hemolytic transfusion reaction. In: Nance S, ed. Clinical and Basic Science of Immunohematology. Arlington, VA: AABB, 1991:179-97. 8. Taddie SJ, Barrasso C, Ness PM. A delayed transfusion reaction caused by anti-K6. Transfusion 1982;22:68-9. 9. Kacker S, Ness PM, Savage WJ, Frick KD, Shirey RS, King KE, Tobian AA. Economic evaluation of a hypothetical screening assay for alloimmunization risk among transfused patients with sickle cell disease. Transfusion 2014.


The integration of Time-Sensitive Networks (TSN) with 5G cellular networks requires a defined architecture for network configuration and management. Although 3GPP specifications provide necessary means for the TSN-5G integration, the operation of such converged TSN-5G network remains an open challenge for the research community. To address this challenge, this paper presents the ongoing work in developing a centralized architectural model to configure the TSN-5G network, and forward traffic from TSN to 5G and vice-versa. The proposed architectural model uses knowledge of the traffic characteristics to carry out a more accurate mapping of quality of service attributes between TSN and 5G.