Background: Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is a disorder of the optic nerve head causing acute painless visual loss in the elderly. Several ocular and systemic risk factors predispose to optic nerve head ischemia. Patients usually have a moderate visual loss which tends to stabilize in a few months, but complete recovery may not occur. Aim: This study aimed to study the clinical profile of NAION and to find the predictors of visual outcome in the study group. Materials and Methods: This prospective case series study included 25 patients with unilateral acute visual loss and clinical features suggestive of NAION. Detailed history and investigations were done to detect the risk factors implicated for the disease Patients were followed up for 6 months. Initial and final vision were analysed to assess the visual outcome. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS. Results: Mean age was 58.08 ± 8.118 years. There was no gender predilection. The most common type of disc edema was diffuse hyperemic, and the most common field defect was inferior altitudinal. Systemic comorbid conditions such as dyslipidemia, smoking, hypotension, diabetes, and hypertension had higher odds of developing NAION even though not statistically significant. Correlation between initial vision and visual acuity at 6 months was statistically significant and spontaneous improvement in vision was seen in 16% of patients. Conclusion: Pallid disc edema and poor initial visual acuity were predictors of poor visual outcome. Female gender, hyperemic disc edema, and superior field defect had a favorable outcome. Associated comorbidities increased the risk of visual loss.


The aim of the article is to organize the justification for the thesis: the model ofdisciplinary proceedings against students, mostly provided by The Higher Education and Science Act of 2018, consists of the rule: "disciplinary proceedingsagainst students are not instituted, or, if previously instituted, are discontinuedin case where the defendant was struck from students' register." The argumentation is bipartite. First, there are the reasons that shake the aforementioned thesis.The second part of the article boils down to demonstration of the fact that thereasons are incorrect and their correction triggers the approval for the main thesis


Heterojunction solar cells of the type Si-CdS have been fabricated which have efficiencies of 7% under AM1 conditions. The cells have been fabricated by depositing epitaxial CdS films on thermally cleaned silicon substrates under UHV. The efficiency of these cells has been studied over a wide range of Si resistivities and it has been found that the highest efficiency is obtained with near-intrinsic silicon. The series resistance associated with these cells results in a fill factor of 0.6.


The paper presents evidence on the exchange rate pass-through for a set of emerging and developed economies before and after the adoption of Inflation Targeting. We use an ARDL model for a sample of developed and emerging market economies to estimate the short-run and the long-run effects of depreciations on prices. The results support the view of the previous literature that the pass-through is higher for emerging than for developed economies, and that it has decreased after the adoption of Inflation Targeting. This reduction, however, does not mean that the pass-through is no longer existent for developed and emerging market economies, especially when it comes to the long-run. This finding highlights the importance of using dynamic models when dealing with the inflation-depreciation relationship. The results also show the important role of foreign producer costs for the imports pricing behaviour in developed economies, and of inflation stability in emerging markets.


The Environmental assessment sub-programme of UNEP has existed in some form or another since the creation of UNEP after the Stockholm Conference in l972. Over the years various components under Environmental Assessment have been created within the Secretariat to deal with the original as well as emerging assessment needs. The evaluation of Environmental Assessment, carried out for the period 1992-93, consists of separate chapters for the four components/ entities. In addition some general comments were made at the end about the future developments of the Subprogramme keeping in mind the reconstruction of the UNEP Secretariat that has taken place in the latter half of 1993.


Moroctocog alfa (AF-CC) is a B-domain deleted recombinant factor VIII product for the treatment of patients with hemophilia A. It has previously been studied in pediatric aged hemophilia patients, however direct comparisons between treatment regimens have not been evaluated. Importantly, as prophylaxis has been shown to be superior to on-demand treatment, comparisons between different prophylaxis regimens are needed. Reducing the frequency of infusions without sacrificing efficacy may reduce the burden of hemophilia management. This study was an open label, multicenter, randomized crossover study of two routine prophylaxis (RP) regimens of moroctocog alfa (AF-CC) compared to on-demand (OD) therapy in 2 cohorts of children with hemophilia A. The primary objective was to demonstrate that prophylaxis reduces ABR relative to OD therapy. A secondary objective was to compare the efficacy of two different RP regimens. Additional objectives focused on FVIII recovery and safety.
 Study Design: The study was open to previously treated patients (≥20 exposure days (ED) to any FVIII replacement product) with moderately severe to severe hemophilia A (<2% FVIII) aged 6 months to <16 years. The study enrolled 2 cohorts of subjects who were treated in two segments. The first cohort started with OD treatment for 6 months (segment 1) followed by 1 year of RP of 25 international units (IU)/kg every other day (segment 2). Subjects in the second cohort were randomized to one of 2 RP regimens for 1 year (segment 1) and then crossed over to a second RP regimen for an additional year (segment 2). The RP regimens were high frequency (HF) (25 IU/kg every other day) and low frequency (LF) (45 IU/kg twice weekly). Recovery assessment after administration of 50 IU/kg of moroctocog alfa (AF-CC) was optional.
 Results: A total of 51 subjects were enrolled in the study: 9 subjects (age 2.4-5.9 yr; median 4.9 yr) in the OD group, 18 subjects (age 1.1-12.7 yr; median 4.7 yr) received LF followed by HF, and 24 subjects (age 1.2 to 9.6 yr; median 4.6 yr) received HF followed by LF. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) ABR for the first cohort (n=9) during the OD segment was 47.0(32.2) and during the RP segment (HF) was 1.5(2.2). In those subjects from cohort 2 that completed both segments (n=38), the mean (standard deviation) ABR for HF was 2.2(4.1) and for LF was 3.3(5.3). Based on a prospectively defined equivalence limit of (-3, 3) bleeds per year, equivalence between these two regimens was demonstrated as the 90% CI for the difference, (0.03, 2.22) fell within this range. The mean (SD) recovery in 6 children aged 3.7 to 5.8 yrs was 1.44(0.61) IU/dL/IU/kg. Three subjects tested positive for FVIII inhibitors, however 2 were considered to be false positives for an overall rate of 2%. There were no new safety signals that emerged during this study.
 Conclusion: This study met its primary objective of demonstrating that RP reduces the ABR compared to OD. Notably, LF prophylaxis with moroctocog alfa (AF-CC) is as efficacious as a HF prophylaxis regimen. This has important implications as less frequent infusions can improve adherence and the quality of life for patients with hemophilia. Additionally, recovery was as expected in this pediatric population and no new safety signals emerged. Moroctocog alfa (AF-CC) is safe and efficacious for routine prophylaxis in pediatric patients with hemophilia A and a low frequency (twice weekly) prophylaxis regimen is as efficacious as every other day prophylaxis.

 Rupon: Pfizer: Employment. Korth-Bradley:Pfizer Inc.: Employment. Smith:Pfizer: Employment. Rendo:Pfizer: Employment.


Localization of the Best Measuring Point for Gearwheel Behaviour Testing Using Group of Adaptive Models Evolution This paper deals with signal processing for vibration analysis of the gear transmission. The main goal was localization of the best measuring point on the gearbox housing, which could provide the highest sensitivity to gearwheels vibration. Vibration measured at some selected points on the gearbox housing was analysed using methods of spectral analysis. The important frequencies in the vibration spectra and a value of their importance were estimated using Group of Adaptive Models Evolution. This work was done within the framework of experimental research concerned with testing and lifetime estimation of new designs of gearwheels. The lifetime of an examined gearwheel, which is mainly related to rise of pitting faults, was assessed by monitoring of a gearwheel vibration level.


Environmental degradation can inflict serious damage on poor people because their livelihoods often depend on natural resource use and their living conditions may offer little protection from air, water, and soil pollution. At the same time, poverty-constrained options may induce the poor to deplete resources and degrade the environment at rates that are incompatible with long-term sustainability. In such cases, degraded resources may precipitate a downward spiral, by further reducing the income and livelihoods of the poor. This"poverty/environment nexus"has become a major issue in the recent literature on sustainable development. In regions where the nexus is significant, jointly addressing problems of poverty and environmental degradation may be more cost-effective than addressing them separately. Empirical evidence on the prevalence and importance of the poverty/environment nexus is sparse because the requisite data are often difficult to obtain in developing countries. The authors use newly available spatial and survey data to investigate the spatial dimension of the nexus in Cambodia, and Lao People's Democratic Republic. The data enable the authors to quantify several environmental problems at the district and provincial level. In a parallel exercise, they map the provincial distribution of poor households. Merging the geographic information on poverty and the environment, the authors search for the nexus using geo-referenced indicator maps and statistical analysis. The results suggest that the nexus is country-specific: geographical, historical, and institutional factors may all play important roles in determining the relative importance of poverty and environment links in different contexts. Joint implementation of poverty and environment strategies may be cost-effective for some environmental problems, but independent implementation may be preferable in many cases as well. Since the search has not revealed a common nexus, the authors conclude on a cautionary note. The evidence suggests that the nexus concept can provide a useful catalyst for country-specific work, but not a general formula for program design.


This paper presents a project that focuses on the conceptual framework of a system which combines a knowledge management system (KMS) and mentoring process to develop the professional skills of new university staff to advance in their career. Data collection involved interviewing academic staff in both a newly created university (Rajabhat Suan Dusit) and a well-established university (Chiang Mai University). Results from this project demonstrate an integrated approach to staff development, which combines a Knowledge Management System and mentoring program. The KMS contains users, content, and activities and within the system, staff are matched with mentors who are accepted as experts and have attained a wide range of knowledge, and information, as well as being experienced in activities relying on multiple techniques such as mentoring, training, coaching, and counseling for professional development. Furthermore, the initial model is justifiably a beneficial tool for developing staff in educational organizations, mainly as it develops new staff in a shorter timeframe when compared with existing training processes and has potential to help solve the problem of replacing retired staff. However, in the drive toward achieving success, this paper notes that the system should be appropriately designed to include users' needs including ease of access and should utilize coordinators to facilitate the system, and encourage effective working relationships among all staff.


This book is a comprehensive guide to understanding generations of people and provides expert advice on limiting gadget consumption. This book covers various generations, from Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z to Generation Alpha. Each chapter in this book reveals an in-depth understanding of the characteristics, history, and values that have influenced each generation. From cultural developments to the role of technology, to transitions to retirement, each chapter provides rich insight into the dynamics of each generation. Dedicated chapters cover Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Z, and Generation Alpha, with a focus on their distinctive characteristics. Emphasis is placed on the role of technology, social connectedness, multitasking, and environmental awareness in the lives of different generations. In addition, the chapter also explores the use of gadgets in children and their impact on motivation and internet use. The final chapter features leading technology experts, such as Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai, Steve Jobs and many more. They provide their insights and views on limiting gadget consumption. This book also includes gadget-related wise words from well-known figures, such as Desmond Llewelyn, JB Priestley, and Michel Gondry. Combining the knowledge of generations of humans and the views of experts, this book provides rich perspectives and practical advice for parents, educators, and anyone looking to understand and manage smart gadget use.


In the next generation cellular systems, such as LTE-A (Release 10 and beyond), relay node (RN) deployment has been adopted due to its potentials in enlarging coverage and increasing system throughput, even with primitive relaying functionalities. For example, in LTE-A Release 10 only Type-I (non-transparent) RNs are considered wherein no cooperative transmission to the Donor evolved-NodeBs (DeNBs) is allowed. In this paper, we would like to add more functionalities to the RNs and see the advantages of using cooperative relaying, i.e., Type-II RNs. In particular, we study an interference relay channel (IRC) consisting of two single-antenna transmitter-receiver pairs and a shared multiple-antenna RN, which is exploited in a way that interferer's signal components at each receiver node are eliminated. Specifically, at the RN a transmit filtering is performed such that the compound received signal at each user equipment (UE) has a structure similar to the receiver structure for Alamouti's space-time coding [1]. We also show that it is not always required to have more complex receiver structure at the RN in order to achieve better spectral efficiencies.


Topology optimization methods have been shown to have extensive application in the design of microsystems. However, their utility in practical situations is restricted to predominantly planar configurations due to the limitations of most microfabrication techniques in realizing structures with arbitrary topologies in the direction perpendicular to the substrate. This study addresses the problem of synthesizing optimal topologies in the out-of-plane direction while obeying the constraints imposed by surface micromachining. A new formulation that achieves this by defining a design space that implicitly obeys the manufacturing constraints with a continuous design parameterization is presented in this paper. This is in contrast to including manufacturing cost in the objective function or constraints. The resulting solutions of the new formulation obtained with gradient-based optimization directly provide the photolithographic mask layouts. Two examples that illustrate the approach for the case of stiff structures are included.


Lipid metabolism has been associated with brain aging and is regulated by diet, however, the underlying mechanisms are elusive. Using deuterium water (D2O) probed stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) imaging, we demonstrated brain lipid metabolism in Drosophila manipulated by diet in an age-and sex-dependent manner, and important roles of glial insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS) pathway in brain lipid metabolism. High sugar diets enhanced lipogenesis while dietary restriction promotes both lipogenesis and lipolysis, and these effects were impaired in both chico1/+ and dfoxo Drosophila loss-of-function mutants. Lipid synthesis and mobilization in brain lipid droplets were reduced with aging, but old chico1/+ �ies maintained high lipid metabolic activities whereas aged dfoxo mutants showed increased lipogenesis in females but decreased lipogenesis in males. Diet-regulated brain lipid metabolism did not show sexual difference in both mutants as that in control. Our study supports the crucial role of glial IIS in regulating brain lipid metabolism.


A joint analysis of the concepts of "emotional intelligence" and "burnout" allows finding new ways to protect against the adverse effects of chronic stress. It is known that emotional competencies are determined by gender and gender, but this aspect needs to be clarified. A longitudinal study was conducted in a female sample (575 students and 96 teachers from different regions of Ukraine) to determine the dynamics of burnout in calm and stressful periods and trace the correlation of symptoms with emotional abilities. The structural components of emotional intelligence (reflection, self-regulation, empathy, expressiveness, and acceptance of one's own emotions) and manifestations of burnout were measured; three diagnostic sections were made at the beginning of the academic year, after the winter and spring examination sessions. Significant growth of all burnout indicators during the annual training cycle (MANOVA) was recorded. The effect of the accumulation of fatigue (exhaustion) was robust in teachers and graduate students. At the same time, after the session, students grew a sense of self-efficacy, compensating for the resources spent. Comparison of means in six subsamples of students in grades 1-5 and teachers (ANOVA) showed that structural changes in emotional competencies describe the adaptive potential of a certain age period. The developed empathy and self-regulation are the main signs of women's emotional maturity after graduation. The structure of correlations between burnout parameters and emotional competencies differed in different groups. The most significant contribution to preventing burnout in students is made by reflection and self-regulation, in teachers — by self-regulation, empathy, and acceptance of one's feelings. The negative correlation between emotional abilities and symptoms of burnout is exacerbated during times of stress. It is concluded that there are two mechanisms of the protective influence of emotional intelligence: direct, which prevents exhaustion by controlling and regulating negative emotions, and indirect, through a sense of self-efficacy resulting from the successful overcoming of professional challenges.


The purpose of this study is to investigate and describe the variation in perceptions of demands and expectations of study performance among a group of students at an upper secondary school. The study is inspired by a phenomenographic approach in which variations in perceptions of a phenomenon are of importance. Twelve students at a science program participated and were interviewed in groups of four. The results show that among the students there are several different perceptions of the demands and expectations to perform they felt present in their lives. The most important result is that it is the students' own demands and expectations on their performance and study results that are seen as the most demanding.


The bootstrap current and flow velocity of a low-collisionality stellarator plasma are calculated. As far as possible, the analysis is carried out in a uniform way across all low-collisionality regimes in general stellarator geometry, assuming only that the confinement is good enough that the plasma is approximately in local thermodynamic equilibrium. It is found that conventional expressions for the ion flow speed and bootstrap current in the low-collisionality limit are accurate only in the 1/nu -collisionality regime and need to be modified in the root-nu-regime. The correction due to finite collisionality is also discussed and is found to scale as nu^2/5


In the domain of planetary science, novelty detection is gaining attention because of the operational opportunities it offers, including annotated data products and downlink prioritization. Using a variational autoencoder (VAE), this work improves upon state-of-the-art novelty detection performance in the context of Martian exploration by > 7 % (measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC AUC)). Autoencoders, especially VAEs, perform well across all classes of novelties defined for Martian exploration. VAEs are shown to have high recall in the Martian context, making them particularly useful for on-ground processing. Convolutional autoencoders (CAEs), on the other hand, demonstrate high precision making them good candidates for onboard downlink prioritization. In our implementation adversarial autoencoders (AAEs) are also shown to perform on par with state-of-the-art. Dimensionality reduction is a key feature of autoencoders for novelty detection. In this study the impact of dimensionality reduction on detection quality is explored, showing that both VAEs and AAEs achieve comparable ROC AUCs to CAEs despite observably poorer (blurred) image reconstructions; this is observed both in Martian data and in lunar analogue data.


Multivalent PyBox asterisk ligand 1 and monovalent ligand 2 are reported. The innovative feature in 1 is a sulfur-rich persulfurated benzene core as a template joining six PyBox units in close proximity. An efficient persulfuration of C 6Cl 6 with p-methoxybenzenethiol (95 %, >99 % per C-S bond) and deprotection led to hexaphenol 4. Six O-arylations of 4 with Cl-PyBox 3 (94 %, >99 % per C-O bond) provided 1. The electronic delocalization of 1 and 2 was analyzed by UV/Vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. PyBox ligands 1 and 2 were successfully used for Rh-catalyzed hydrosilylation of acetophenone, in spite of competitive bindings from six proximal sulfur atoms. The concept of multivalency and the presence of donating and oxidizable sulfur atoms in asymmetric metal catalysis were tested. The reactivities and the enantiocatalytic behavior of 1 and 2 with varying rhodium content were determined. Lability of the Rh complexes under certain conditions, was demonstrated by some crossover experiments with other PyBox ligands. Conformational and competitive metal binding studies of 1 with the aid of molecular modeling (GenMol™) helped to explain the results. This work suggests new directions for simple multivalent ligands in metal-mediated catalysis. © 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.


Currently, the world has undergone structural, geographic and morphological changes that are generated by physical, chemical and biological agents. Thus, this research evaluated the degree of vulnerability and risk in the cliffs of the Costa Verde in Lima - Peru, determining and identifying risk levels and scenarios. For the evaluation, field data was collected using the observation technique at 35 points in the study area comprising the districts of San Miguel (zone 1, Z1), Magdalena del Mar (zone 2, Z2), San Isidro (zone 3, Z3), Miraflores (zone 4, Z4), Barranco (zone 5, Z5) and Chorrillos (zone 6, Z6), and its analysis was carried out according to the manual of the National Institute of Civil Defense (INDECI). The field evaluation identified 6 hazard scenarios such as rock falls, earthquakes, construction, environmental contamination, lack of vegetation and soil quality, which were analyzed according to their causes and consequences. From this, it was obtained that Z1, Z2, Z4 and Z6 present a high level of danger with values of 54.31, 54.17, 51.53 and 59.17%, respectively. Meanwhile, Z3 and Z5 present a medium level of danger with values of 40.28 and 48.61%, respectively. On the other hand, the vulnerability analysis showed values of 61.69% (high vulnerability), 53.08% (high vulnerability), 33.89% (medium vulnerability), 42.04% (medium vulnerability), 64.57% (high vulnerability) and 68.26% (high vulnerability) for Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, Z5 and Z6, respectively. Therefore, in the absence of an assessment of all the districts that are close to the cliffs of the Costa Verde, the study provided plans and strategies to minimize and prevent the impacts that could be generated by natural and/or anthropogenic disasters.


Many computer related injuries occur from mouse use. The mouse is the primary input device by virtue of its universal availability, yet it is not the best for all-round work. Alternative devices such as the track ball, touch pad, and graphics tablet can be used more effectively for precise cursor control, while reducing stress and the potential for injury. Though these devices may seem exotic or a luxury, they are in fact affordable and well-suited to daily use by everyone. This article describes the mouse and its inherent weaknesses, and offers more practical alternatives. These alternatives may help reduce injury-producing activities, and may also improve productivity and creativity by allowing more precision cursor controls.


Cores of rocks ranging in age from Pleistocene to latest Jurassic from 17 sites in the northwest Pacific Ocean have yielded new information on the biostratigraphic relations of foraminifers, radiolarians, and nannoplankton. Areas sampled by the Glomar Challenger on leg 6 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project were the Horizon Ridge (Guyot), the Shatsky Plateau and surrounding abyssal floor, the Philippine Sea, and the Caroline Ridge. Calcareous nannofossils are present in most of the recovered cores, including cores of abyssal brown clay, and are the most commonly preserved of the 3 groups. Diverse foraminiferal assemblages are associated with calcareous rocks of all ages whereas radiolarians are commonly poorly preserved or absent in highly calcareous strata. Radiolarians are more markedly affected by biogeographic variability than are the calcareous microfossils; biostratigraphy developed in equatorial regions cannot be applied in the Shatsky Plateau region (north of 30°). However, volcanic ash-rich areas of the Philippine Sea produce unusual Miocene nannoplankton similar to those in ash-rich sediments from the Caribbean, and foraminifers are sparse or absent and commonly small in size. Biostratigraphic boundaries determined by the 3 microfossil groups are generally in accord. Stage and epoch boundaries based on nannoplankton may occur higher in cores than determinations based on Foraminifera and Radiolaria. The various effects of ecology, preservation, and drilling techniques on the development of zonal scheme based on the 3 major groups of microfossils require careful evaluation. End_of_Article - Last_Page 838------------


Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a condition commonly managed in the primary care setting. Patients with GERD may develop reflux esophagitis as the esophagus repeatedly is exposed to acidic gastric contents. Over time, untreated reflux esophagitis may lead to chronic complications such as esophageal stricture or the development of Barrett's esophagus (BE). BE may progress to oesophageal adenocarcinoma. There is currently a rising incidence of BE. The pathogenesis of BE is not well-understood although genetic and environmental factors play significant roles. BE is characterized by the replacement of distal esophageal stratified squamous epithelium by columnar epithelium. It is rare in children and the risk factors may include mental retardation, cerebral palsy, esophageal atresia, etc. As patients with BE can be entirely asymptomatic, it is difficult to screen this population group. BE is present in 10%–20% of patients with GERD and has also been detected in patients who deny classic GERD symptoms and are undergoing endoscopy for other indications.


Summary The objectives of this study were to determine the optimum limb position for the creation of safe arthroscopy portals for coxofemoral arthroscopy, to determine anatomical landmarks for arthroscopy portals, and to determine distances of portals to periarticular neurovascular structures. Eight hemipelves were harvested from adult dogs that died for reasons unrelated to this project and were free of joint pathology as determined by gross examination at the conclusion of the study. The results suggest that the ideal limb position for canine coxofemoral arthroscopy was slight limb adduction, thirty degrees of hip flexion, with the stifle in a neutral position. With the limb in the ideal position, the arthroscope portal was 5 mm cranial (range 0 mm 10 mm) and 15 mm proximal (range 12 mm 18 mm) to the greater trochanter. The instrument portal was 10.2 mm cranial (range 5 mm 18 mm) and 14 mm proximal (range 7 mm 20 mm) to the greater trochanter. The sciatic nerve and the caudal gluteal artery were 9 mm caudal (range 6 mm 15 mm) to the arthroscope portal. This is the first study to evaluate the location of both arthroscopy portals and periarticular neurovascular structures in relation to surrounding surgical landmarks.


The power supply system of a contact network using a longitudinal line with points of communication without transformer is considered. The approach allowing to facilitate power filters and the way of switching of in-series connected semiconductor switches with fixing a voltage on them are offered.


Data classification is a major machine learning paradigm, which has been widely applied to solve a large number of real-world problems. Traditional data classification techniques consider only physical features (e.g., distance, similarity, or distribution) of the input data. For this reason, those are called low-level classification. On the other hand, the human (animal) brain performs both low and high orders of learning, and it has a facility in identifying pat-terns according to the semantic meaning of the input data. Data classification that considers not only physical attributes but also the pattern formation is referred to as high-level classification. Several high-level classification techniques have been developed, which make use of complex networks to characterize data patterns and have obtained promising results. In this paper, we propose a pure network-based high-level classification technique that uses the betweenness centrality measure. We test this model in nine different real datasets and compare it with other nine traditional and well-known classification models. The results show us a competent classification performance.


Turing's Legacy Today : between Inheritance Appropriation and Resource for the Future. The article describes the particular style of Turing's articles, distinct from all others by two features : he maintains an imaginary dialogue with his reader and at same time identifies himself with the object he describes in the various domains he deals with, mathematics, logic, philosophy or biology. This particular style is complemented by the description of Turing's three-phase intellectual development which is described chronologically : being a machine ; being a woman/man/machine ; being a biological form. One becomes aware that the notion of the mechanical or of computation should not at all be considered as the ultimate ontological universal model to be applied to reality in an undifferentiated way : this would be inheritance appropriation. On the contrary, because computation is a consequence of the inner limitations of formal systems, it is by definition an interface that grasps only what pertains to the formal and discrete order in phenomena. It is therefore the relationship between determinism and unpredictability which becomes central. Consequences of this relationship are drawn from the point of view of today's natural as well as social sciences, in particular in the use of "big data".


By studying the minority carrier lifetime in recently manufactured commercially available n‐ and p‐type float‐zone (FZ) silicon from five leading suppliers, we observe a very large reduction in the bulk lifetime when FZ silicon is heat‐treated in the range 450–700 °C. Photoluminescence imaging of these samples at the wafer scale revealed concentric circular patterns, with higher recombination occurring in the centre, and far less around the periphery. Deep level transient spectroscopy measurements indicate the presence of recombination active defects, including a dominant center with an energy level at ∼Ev + 0.5 eV. Upon annealing FZ silicon at temperatures >1000 °C in oxygen, the lifetime is completely recovered, whereby the defects vanish and do not reappear upon subsequent annealing at 500 °C. We conclude that the heat‐treatments at >1000 °C result in total annihilation of the recombination active defects. Without such high temperature treatments, the minority carrier lifetime in FZ silicon is unstable and will affect the development of high efficiency (>24%) solar cells and surface passivation studies.


We examined whether streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats have an impairment in diaphragm contractility, and if so, whether N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a nonspecific antioxidant, prevents this impairment. First, diaphragm contractility, assessed by tension-frequency relationships and twitch kinetics in in vitro diaphragm strip preparations of Wistar rats, was obtained on Days 3 and 7 after administration of STZ of 30 or 60 mg/kg body weight, and compared with that of the control group. Second, NAC at 500 mg/kg body weight or vehicle solution was administered orally every day in rats treated with STZ at 60 mg/kg body weight, and diaphragm function on Day 7 after starting NAC treatment was compared between vehicle control and STZ-treated groups. We found that diaphragm function in STZ-treated rats, which had hyperglycemia, decreased in a dose- and time-dependent manner. NAC inhibited the decrease in diaphragm contractility in STZ-treated rats without reducing blood glucose. These findings suggest that the loss of diaphragm function in STZ-induced diabetic rats is not directly related to hyperglycemia. The data are consistent with secondary alterations of normal cytokine signaling or changes in the redox state of the cell, both of which could be affected by NAC treatment.


Purpose Laplace's Law, with its compactness and simplicity, has long been employed in ophthalmology for describing the mechanics of the corneoscleral shell. We questioned the appropriateness of Laplace's Law for computing wall stress in the eye considering the advances in knowledge of ocular biomechanics. Methods In this manuscript we recapitulate the formulation of Laplace's Law, as well as common interpretations and uses in ophthalmology. Using numerical modeling, we study how Laplace's Law cannot account for important characteristics of the eye, such as variations in globe shape and size or tissue thickness, anisotropy, viscoelasticity, or that the eye is a living, dynamic organ. Results We show that accounting for various geometrical and material factors, excluded from Laplace's Law, can alter estimates of corneoscleral wall stress as much as 456% and, therefore, that Laplace's Law is unreliable. Conclusions We conclude by illustrating how computational techniques, such as finite element modeling, can account for the factors mentioned above, and are thus more suitable tools to provide quantitative characterization of corneoscleral biomechanics.


Mobile commerce M-Commerce is transaction using mobile devices. Now a day's users are dependable on mobile phone because of its anytime, anywhere features. User purchase and pay more with their mobile device than desktop. Therefore, the security of M-commerce transaction should be strong enough to enhance its performance. Mobile phones use WAP, i-mode and J2ME technologies for programming for making transaction. The data during transaction is sent as XML file. The XML processor takes more time to encrypt which leads to breakdown the security during transaction. This paper has defined the code to parse XML file which reduces it size so that data during transaction would be sent with ease and fast. The code is written in XML and J2ME as these technologies can easily run on multiple platform.


At independence most African countries, including those in Southern Africa, inherited deep-rooted problems of underdevelopment and retrogression. These manifested themselves in gross inequalities among the population, mass poverty, developmental imbalances between the urban and rural areas, food shortages, an inadequate production base and unsophisticated technology, unemployment, an indigenous population lacking in skills, deficiencies in basic and social infrastructure, an inadequate human resource base and inappropriate physical capital. In addition, foreigners and multinational corporations owned or controlled most of the economy. Nationalization came to be regarded as the logical solution to these economic and social problems, and as a means of realizing the essence of political independence. This paper will highlight the major nationalization programmes in Southern Africa, and Zambia in particular, the justifications put forward by these states for greater government involvement in the economy, and the lessons to be learned from their experience.


The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of outpatient care, overall hospital bed provision and the prevalence of diabetes on the hospital use by adult diabetic patients. Population based data were collected in Finland from a 3‐year period. Hospital admissions, inpatient days, and mean length of stay due to diabetes were derived from the Hospital Discharge Register. Estimates of diabetes prevalence were derived from the Central Drug Register. Primary outpatient site, annual number of physician visits, and age at onset among diabetic patients were assessed by questionnaire. The unit of analysis was hospital district (n = 21) and all analyses refer to the 15–64 years age group. Linear regression models were used to explain discharge rates and inpatient days in the district. Large variations between hospital districts were observed in diabetes prevalence, discharge rates due to diabetes, and mean length of stay among diabetic patients. Prevalence of diabetes and overall supply of hospital beds in the district were not related to hospital use. Univariate analyses showed that the larger the proportion of diabetic patients primarily using a private practitioner, the lower the hospital use. In districts where early onset of diabetes was more common, the average number of inpatient days was significantly lower than in other districts. In stepwise regression analyses, early onset of diabetes was the only variable that entered the models. In the full model, 24.6 % of the variance in inpatient days and 16.1 % of the variance in discharge rates were explained. In conclusion, factors related to health care structure, provision of hospital beds or morbidity explain little of the regional variation in hospital use. The observed variations in hospital use probably depend mainly on local treatment policies and differences in clinical decision‐making.


This thesis will examine how the relationship between the United States and the United Nations began to change in the 1970s. At that time, the new members of the United Nations began to attack the United States and attempted to restructure the international order in their favor. In 1975 Daniel Patrick Moynihan became US Ambassador to the United Nations and attempted to deal with the changed circumstances there based on his experience in American domestic politics. He attempted to make the United Nations, especially the General Assembly, an important part of US foreign policy by applying the ideology of Woodrow Wilson and democratic liberalism that he felt was in retreat after the Vietnam War. Moynihan was succeeded by Andrew Young and Jeane Kirkpatrick, who continued Moynihan's overall strategy while veering away from his centrist course.


Epistolary prose is the cultural capital of a nation in which all the elements of a civilization are preserved. In the more or less 250 years of history of Urdu Epistolary prose, Urdu Letters has gone through many levels of styles, themes and linguistics. Up to the time of Sir Syed, Urdu prose had freed itself from styles like abstract techniques, Persian style and colorful writing. Sir Syed's epistolary prose also a fine example of his contemporary style, not only can the popular style of Urdu prose of this period be evaluated from them, but their letters are the most authentic sources for the interpretation and dissemination of Sir Syed's political, religious, social and academic ideas. In the article under review, an attempt has been made to understand Sir Syed's ideas and personality in the mirror of his correspondence.


We present high-resolution spectroscopic observations of the two Bootis type spectroscopic binary systems HD 84948 and HD 171948. Both systems consist of two true Bootis stars, as has already been proven by a detailed abundance analysis taking into account the binary nature. Nevertheless, we have obtained non- LTE abundances for carbon and oxygen in order to investigate those important elements. The abundances t excellently into the typical pattern for this group, leaving no doubt that all four components are true Bootis stars. With the help of the derived orbital elements it is possible to establish the ages of the two systems. For the rst time we can estimate the evolutionary status of Galactic eld Bootis stars. The origin of those nonmagnetic, metal-weak, Population I, late B- to early F-type stars is still controversial. The two widely discussed theories explaining the Bootis phenomenon (diusion together with either accretion of circumstellar matter or mass- loss) predict signicantly dierent evolutionary stages for this group of objects (close to either the Zero-Age Main Sequence or Terminal-Age Main Sequence). It is already known that very young members of the group exist in the Orion OBI association and probably in NGC 2264. Hipparcos data established six further Galactic eld Bootis stars which are close to the Zero-Age Main Sequence, whereas the evolutionary status for the other objects remained undetermined. The Hipparcos data reveal that the Galactic space motions of both the systems that we discuss here are typical of those of Population I objects. The photometric data from the Hipparcos mission conrm the pulsation previously discovered for HD 84948 with a period of about 110 min and a V -amplitude of about 14 mmag. For HD 84948, we estimate from the mass ratio an age of about 1 Gyr, ruling out a possible Pre-Main-Sequence status. HD 171948 has an age of about 0.01 to 0.1 Gyr which is close to the Zero-Age Main Sequence. We therefore conclude that the Bootis phenomenon can be found continuously from very early stages to the Terminal-Age Main Sequence, suggesting that dierent mechanisms might work at dierent stages of stellar evolution producing the same abundance pattern.


Deep learning, artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies are constantly being integrated into people's daily lives. Even small vending machines that can be seen everywhere in life have begun to use facial payment methods. The detection and recognition of face images is no longer unattainable, but the analysis and recognition of face information and characteristics (gender, age, race, etc.) is still not fully mature, in order to improve the accuracy of face information recognition In this paper, a face information recognition model is designed. The feature extraction part uses an eight-layer convolutional neural network, and then uses two fully connected modules as the classifiers for gender recognition and age recognition. The experimental results show that the model uses the advantages of the convolutional neural network so that the model can predict the gender and age of the face more accurately.


In this paper, it is accomplished to design a control method for such an actuation system of simplified ON/OFF mechanism with actuation command limit. First of all, based on experimental data, the modeling works for nonlinear/linear actuation dynamics are performed, which are govern by PWM command as a control input. Using the linearized model, a classical PI control method is designed to satisfy the aimed control performance requirements, and a control algorithm is proposed to realize the required control performance in the effective control region through resolving the issue for the PWM command limit which reduces the control performance. Finally, through control simulations, the design method is verified and the corresponding control performance improvement is evaluated.


King's School, Canterbury, UK I'm compiling a physics joke book. So far I have one entry. How do you tell the difference between a physicist and an applied mathematician? You do an experimental test. You get them to make a cup of tea. You provide water, a kettle, a teabag, a teapot and a cup. The physicist goes into the room, fills the kettle with water and boils the water. She then places the teabag in the teapot and pours on the boiling water - thus a cup of tea is made. You then restore the initial conditions and send in the applied mathematician. He proceeds to do the same thing. Now, you make the test slightly harder. You fill the kettle with water prior to the subjects arriving. The physicist notes this, boils the water in the kettle and makes tea as before. The applied mathematician sees that the kettle is full of water, empties the kettle so reducing the situation to the previous problem, which he has already solved. When I first heard this I thought that it was rather funny. Since then, observation seems to suggest that I may well be the only person on the planet who thinks that it is at all funny, so I do not anticipate great sales for my joke book - if I ever find another joke to put in it. I am having rather better luck with the book of physics cartoons. I have been collecting physics-related cartoons for about 15 years now and have a substantial stock. Surprisingly I used to find Punch a rich vein of such material. These days I tend to rely on Larson's Far Side for providing new samples. Students are still bemused by the fact that at least one of his cartoons can reduce me to helpless laughter. I have it pinned to the wall in my lab - two scientists are in animated conflict over a pile of burning machinery in the middle of a desert. A caveman is observing from a distance. The caption reads `tempers flair when Professors Carson and Lazell, working independently, ironically set their time machines to identical coordinates'. Rather more telling is the (modified) Punch cartoon. Marcie and Linus are discussing life: Marcie `Thank you for the Chocolate Sundae, Linus 'Linus `You're welcome... Maybe we can do it again sometime?' Marcie `I don't think so... I don't find you very interesting.' Linus, wistfully and leaning against a tree - `Physics....' This cartoon the students find funny. The fact that the study of physics should be a block to a meaningful relationship seems to strike a chord with them. It takes them by surprise that physicists have a real life. Now I realize that any teacher having a real life often takes students by surprise. I remember visiting my mother's infants school when I was a sixth-former and the kids there found it unbelievable that Mrs Allday should have a son. Teachers, you see, cease to exist the minute the students walk out of the classroom. However, physics and its practitioners seem to be especially branded in this way. From time to time I show videos to my students. Well chosen ones (so I think) that reflect modern developments and show physicists enjoying what they are doing. One such tape shows the reaction to the first pictures coming down from the newly repaired Hubble Space Telescope. The control room is filled with whoops, delighted cheering and general bouncing up and down with enthusiasm. This always raises a laugh. However, one can tell that they are being laughed at, not with. Another tape is about the comet strike on Jupiter. The narrator spends some time talking with Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker (two of the discoverers of the comet) - a married team of astronomers. You can see that their married life in part revolves round their joint love of astronomy and physics. I have overheard comments like `can you imagine the breakfast conversations?' Why do students find it so difficult to imagine that physicists in real life have fun doing physics? Pondering this I have come to the conclusion that they do not see enough teachers having fun teaching the subject. Perhaps with all the time we have spent trying to modernize our syllabuses, introducing new interesting physics, making physics fun for the students, we have forgotten to think about ourselves. I have had a theory for some years which is that students are never naturally interested in a subject - they are interested in a teacher first, and then the subject follows. Goodness knows, these days with investigations, modular examinations and the general paperwork that flows in the job, it is hard enough to find enough time to breathe let alone have fun. However, I am becoming increasingly convinced that it is vital. I propose that we use the declining numbers doing physics to our advantage. With smaller set sizes we can spend more time doing things that we enjoy. In my department we regularly ask sixth-formers why they chose Chemistry and Biology as A-levels rather than Physics. The common answer is that Physics is harder. Yes, it is. That is the nature of the science. There is nothing we can do about it. Physics is difficult, otherwise we would not need people of the stature of Newton and Einstein to do it! However, it's a lot more fun. There is a nice story about Feynman. He was being shown round CERN and was brought into one of the underground experimental chambers. Faced with a giant detector he turned to his guide and asked what it was for. After some explanation the guide finally broke down and apologised - he had forgotten that the experiment was designed to test one of the theories that Feynman had had a significant hand in. `Really' said Feynman, `and how much did this cost?'. `Thirty million dollars' came the reply. Feynman turned to his guide, looked at him in all seriousness and said `don't you trust me?' Now there was a man that had fun doing physics - and he let everyone know it.


A cognitive radio (CR) is a radio that can change its transmission parameters based on the perceived availability of the spectrum bands in its operating environment. CRs support dynamic spectrum access and can facilitate a secondary unlicensed user to efficiently utilize the available underutilized spectrum allocated to the primary licensed users. A cognitive radio network (CRN) is composed of both the secondary users with CR-enabled radios and the primary users whose radios need not be CR-enabled. Most of the active research conducted in the area of CRNs has been so far focused on spectrum sensing, allocation and sharing. There is no comprehensive review paper available on the strategies for medium access control (MAC), routing and transport layer protocols, and the appropriate representative solutions for CRNs. In this paper, we provide an exhaustive analysis of the various techniques/mechanisms that have been proposed in the literature for communication protocols (at the MAC, routing and transport layers), in the context of a CRN, as well as discuss in detail several security attacks that could be launched on CRNs and the countermeasure solutions that have been proposed to avoid or mitigate them. This paper would serve as a good comprehensive review and analysis of the strategies for MAC, routing and transport protocols and security issues for CRNs as well as would lay a strong foundation for someone to further delve onto any particular aspect in greater depth.


The aim of the present study was to compare transgenic cells, containing human insulin gene kept under the control of mammary gland-specific buffalo beta-lactoglobulin promoter, and their counterparts, that is, nontransgenic cells, for examining their potential for the production of embryos following somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The gene construct was delivered into buffalo fetal fibroblasts (BFF) by nucleofection following which, the transfected cells were selected by culture in the presence of G418 for 3 weeks. Transgene integration into BFF genome was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse transcriptase PCR. At passage 8-10, the growth rate, cell proliferation rate, and quantitative expression of certain genes were compared between transgenic and nontransgenic cells. The growth rate and cell proliferation rate was significantly lower (p < 0.05) for transgenic than for nontransgenic cells. Using quantitative real-time PCR it was found that the expression level of CASPASE 3, CASPASE 9, BAX, and P53 was significantly higher (p < 0.05) and that of HDAC1 and IGF-1R was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in transgenic compared with nontransgenic cells. The differences in the relative expression level of BCL-XL, MCL-1, DNMT1, DNMT3a, GDF9, FGF2, and G6PD between the two groups were not significant. Furthermore, when the two cell types were used as donor cells for production of embryos by handmade cloning, the blastocyst rate was significantly lower (p < 0.05) with transgenic (35.69% ± 1.78%) than with nontransgenic cells (48.75% ± 2.38%). In conclusion, these results indicate that differences were present between transgenic and nontransgenic cells, which may affect the efficiency of SCNT when used as donor cells.


As part of the BioNLP Open Shared Tasks 2019, the CRAFT Shared Tasks 2019 provides a platform to gauge the state of the art for three fundamental language processing tasks — dependency parse construction, coreference resolution, and ontology concept identification — over full-text biomedical articles. The structural annotation task requires the automatic generation of dependency parses for each sentence of an article given only the article text. The coreference resolution task focuses on linking coreferring base noun phrase mentions into chains using the symmetrical and transitive identity relation. The ontology concept annotation task involves the identification of concept mentions within text using the classes of ten distinct ontologies in the biomedical domain, both unmodified and augmented with extension classes. This paper provides an overview of each task, including descriptions of the data provided to participants and the evaluation metrics used, and discusses participant results relative to baseline performances for each of the three tasks.


Purpose

To evaluate the effectiveness of the self-management after radiotherapy (SMaRT) intervention to improve urinary symptoms in men with prostate cancer.
Methods

The randomised controlled trial (RCT) recruited men from one radiotherapy centre in the UK after curative radiotherapy or brachytherapy and moderate urinary symptoms defined as the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) ≥ 8. 63 men were randomised either to SMaRT, a 10-week self-management intervention including group support, education, pelvic floor muscle exercises, or care-as-usual. The primary outcome was the IPSS at 6 months. Secondary outcomes were IPSS at 3 months, and International Continence Society Male Short Form (ICS), European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life prostate scale (EORTC QLQ-PR25), EORTC QLQ-30 and Self-Efficacy for Symptom Control Inventory (SESCI) at 3 and 6 months. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analyse the effect of the intervention.
Results

SMaRT did not improve urinary symptoms as measured by IPSS at 6 months. The adjusted difference was − 2.5 [95%CI -5.0 to 0.0], p = 0.054. Significant differences were detected at 3 months in ICS voiding symptoms (-1.1 [-2.0 to -0.2], p = 0.017), ICS urinary incontinence (-1.0 [-1.8 to -0.1], p = 0.029) and SESCI managing symptoms domain (13.5 [2.5 to 24.4], p = 0.017). No differences were observed at 6 months.
Conclusions

SMaRT provided short-term benefit in urinary voiding and continence, and helped men manage symptoms but was not effective long-term. Face-to-face and supervised approaches may provide more benefit.


Redox-switchable polymerization has drawn increasing attention, in particular for the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of biomass-derived monomers. However, an understanding of how the switch determines the observed changes is still limited. In this study, DFT calculations were employed to understand the redox-switchable ROP mechanism of e-caprolactone catalyzed by group 4 metal complexes bearing [OSSO]-type ferrocene ligands. Our results suggest that two oxidized forms show higher reactivity because of the higher Lewis acidity of their catalytic metal centers in comparison with that of the corresponding reduced states. In one case, however, a lower activity of the oxidized species was observed that is likely due to the increased stability of the substrate-catalyst intermediate leading to a high activation barrier. In addition, other analogous metal complexes were computationally modelled by changing the metal center or modifying the ancillary ligand with different bridging-heteroatoms, and the results provide useful information on the development of new redox-switchable polymerization catalysts.


Both exogenous and endogenous two-photon absorption were shown to significantly enhance femtosecond laser micromachining in corneal tissue. Comparison with previous results without two-photon enhancement demonstrated a much larger refractive index change up to 0.037.


This paper presents the design and implementation of a simulator that allows user to study producer-consumer synchronization problem in three different contexts: simple producer-consumer problem, producer-consumer problem in a single processor system and producer-consumer problem in multi-processing system. The main contribution of our work is the facility to run the simulation in a multi-processors environment. This has been deemed appropriate since most of the current applications are distributed in nature and run in multi-processing environment. Additionally, the features offered by the simulator enables user to analyze and evaluate various synchronization problems in a repeatable and controllable environment. The experimental results are presented to show the viability of our proposed simulator. General Terms Simulation, Synchronization


Abstract Objectives: This narrative review article provides an overview on the involvement of microglia and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in the pathophysiology of depression, as well investigates the mutual relationship between these two entities: how microglial activation can contribute to the dysregulation of the HPA axis, and vice versa. Methods: Relevant studies and reviews already published in the Pubmed electronic database involving the themes microglia, HPA axis and depression were used to meet the objectives. Results: Exposition to stressful events is considered a common factor in the mechanisms proposed to explain the depressive disorder. Stress can activate microglial cells, important immune components of the central nervous system (CNS). Moreover, another system involved in the physiological response to stressors is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the main stress response system responsible for the production of the glucocorticoid hormone (GC). Also, mediators released after microglial activation can stimulate the HPA axis, inducing production of GC. Likewise, high levels of GCs are also capable of activating microglia, generating a vicious cycle. Conclusion: Immune and neuroendocrine systems seems to work in a coordinated manner and that their dysregulation may be involved in the pathophysiology of depression since neuroinflammation and hypercortisolism are often observed in this disorder.


The role of the insulin-receptor compartment in the pharmacokinetics of intravenously injected insulin in rats was studied. Since streptozotocin-diabetes in rats results in increased insulin binding to tissues in vitro, insulin pharmacokinetics in streptozotocin-diabetic rats were compared to controls, using semisynthetic [(3)H]insulin as the tracer. The initial distribution volume for [(3)H]insulin was elevated by 60% in diabetic rats. By contrast, no difference in initial distribution volume for [(14)C]inulin was observed, and the absolute values were lower than those found for [(3)H]insulin. The metabolic clearance rate of [(3)H]insulin was elevated by 44% in diabetic rats. That these differences were the result of increased binding of insulin to a specific receptor compartment in diabetic rats was shown by three additional experiments. The first involved receptor saturation by injection of 10 U native insulin 2 min before the tracer injection, resulting in identical [(3)H]insulin disappearance rates in the two groups of rats. The second consisted of displacing [(3)H]insulin from receptors by injecting 10 U unlabeled insulin 6 min after the tracer injection. Displacement of intact [(3)H]insulin from receptors and subsequent reappearance in the circulation occurred in both control and diabetic animals; however, such displacement was 25% greater in the diabetic rats. Finally, treatment of diabetic rats with insulin for 8 d normalized [(3)H]insulin clearance even though the tracer was injected at a time when the animals were again hyperglycemic and hypoinsulinemic. This suggests that down-regulation of insulin receptors had occurred during insulin therapy. These results confirm that a specific compartment for insulin exists (the insulin-receptor compartment) and that this compartment plays an important role in insulin clearance.


OBJECTIVE
To test the efficiency of human mdr1 gene expression under the control of an internal ribosome entry site (IRES).

METHODS
The expression retroviral vector Halmdr1 was constructed from pSXLC/pHa system which contains an IRES from encephalomyocarditis virus. The vector was introduced into ecotropic packaging cells GP + E86 by liposome-mediated transfection. The retrovirus producing cells were obtained by 50 micrograms/L vincristine selection. The success of transfer and expression of mdr1 gene were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and flow cytometry (FCM).

RESULTS
Virus in the supernatant of the producer cells, in which the integration of mdr1 gene was confirmed by PCR, was titrated to 2.0 x 10(5) cfu/ml. The selected producer cells exhibited a 24-52-fold increase of resistance to vincristine, daunorubicin and taxol in comparison with control cells GP + E86. The expression of mdr1 gene was confirmed by both reverse transcription PCR at RNA level and FCM at protein level, although the HaImdr1 transfectants showed somewhat less expression of P-gp when compared to that with cap-dependent translation of Ha mdr1.

CONCLUSION
mdr1 gene can be effectively translated and expressed under the control of IRES in cap-independent manner, it may be used as a dominant selectable marker in bicistronic vectors for gene therapy.


Cyst nematodes induce root syncytia with specific features such as hypertrophy, increased metabolic activity and fusion with adjacent cells. Cell walls of the syncytia undergo massive changes such as thickening, local dissolution and formation of ingrowths. Cell wall degrading and modifying proteins are apparently involved in syncytium formation but detailed knowledge of this is still limited. Therefore, we studied the regulation and function of the entire Arabidopsis endo-1,4-beta-glucanase gene family in syncytia induced by Heterodera schachtii. Endo-1,4-beta-glucanases hydrolyze the 1,4-beta-glucosidic linkages between glucose residues. Using semi-quantitative and quantitative approaches we identified seven genes that are upregulated in syncytia. Two of these genes, coding for secreted AtCel2 and membrane-bound KOR3, are shoot-specific but show high expression in syncytia at different developmental stages. In silico analysis of the promoter regions of both genes compared with other genes with modified regulation in nematode feeding sites did not reveal specific cis-acting elements that could be related to specific transcription in syncytia. However, motifs responsive to sugar and different plant hormones were identified. Accordingly, treatments with sucrose, gibberellic acid and NAA induced upregulation of AtCel2, whereas ABA triggered downregulation of both AtCel2 and KOR3 in roots. As AtCel2 is related to degradation of the cell wall matrix, we analysed the hemicellulose content in syncytia. The measured values resembled the expression pattern of AtCel2. A distinctly reduced number of females developed in cel2 and kor3 T-DNA mutants, and we therefore conclude that endo-1,4-beta-glucanases play an important role in the formation and function of syncytia.


In this article, we discuss the implementation of Andrews's (1988a, Journal of Econometrics 37: 135–156; 1988b, Econometrica 56: 1419–1453) chi-squared goodness-of-fit test as a postestimation command. The new command chi2gof reports the test statistic, its degrees of freedom, and its p-value. chi2gof can be used after the poisson, nbreg, zip, and zinb commands.


Continuing education programs in socialist countries, developing countries, and under French Law 575, with respect to engineering, are discussed. The design of programs depends on cultural, economic, and political pressures. Post-secondary education in socialist countries was influenced by the need to meet demands for trained personnel, by the assumption that it is cheaper to educate the employed, and by continuing education's ability to mix practice with theory. Continuing education in the socialist countries is available through full-time study, part-time study, and independent study with or without supervision. Under French Law 575 continuing education is funded through the State and the employer, with the employer contributing 1 percent of total wages, creating a 5700 million franc fund in 1975. Developing countries have a different emphasis, centering on rural technologies, technician rather than engineer education, and teacher education. The role of the individual, universities, governments, and firms in financing and sponsoring continuing education is placed in worldwide perspective. Lectures in their various formats, correspondence courses, satellite communications, and audiovisual media instructional utility are reviewed. The success or failure of continuing education programs in one country cannot be easily translated into what will happen in another country. All in all, continuing education is more highly regarded worldwide at this point in time than ever before.


One general issue in the domain of visual word recognition is to delineate the nature of readers' knowledge of the print-sound mapping. A more specific question is to determine whether multiple grapheme-phoneme associations are available and activated during the phonological transcoding of a letter string. Evidence for the activation of irregular associations during print-to-sound transcoding, independently from lexical influences, was assessed in a letter detection task by examining performance on target-absent pseudowords. We contrasted two types of pseudowords that could be considered homophone with a real word by application of either grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules or of multiple phonemic activation. Performance on both types of homophones was compared to nonhomophone control pseudowords, strictly equivalent in terms of orthographic similarity to the base words. The finding of a homophony disadvantage for the homophones by multiple activation was interpreted as evidence for multiple phonemic activation in the print-to-sound conversion system.


The fission yeast schizosaccharomyces pombe has a number of special characteristics that make it a convenient and illuminating model for studying telomere biology. First isolated from the cultures used to make beer in East Africa ( pombe is a Swahili word for beer), S. pombe is a unicellular fungus that divides by medial fission. S. pombe is nearly as distant evolutionarily from budding yeast as it is from humans, having diverged from the budding yeast lineage more than 300 million years ago. The approximately 13.8-Mbp S. pombe genome contains about 4900 genes spread over only three chromosomes (Wood et al. 2002), housed in a nucleus that measures about 2 μm in diameter, centered in a 12-μm-long cell (Fig. 1). Facile transformation and integrative recombination provide an ease of genetic manipulation reminiscent of budding yeast. At the same time, fission yeast chromosome organization and dynamics are remarkably similar to those of humans. For example, fission yeast centromeres are large, complex, and heterochromatic, and fission yeast have a RNA interference (RNAi) pathway; both of these features, absent from Saccharomyces cerevisiae , are present in humans. Telomere protein organization is also highly reminiscent of that found in humans. This property, coupled with the small chromosome number that makes cytological studies and analysis of telomere fusions remarkably straightforward, has distinguished fission yeast as a paradigm for telomere research. TELOMERE COMPONENTS AND ARCHITECTURE Telomeric and Subtelomeric Sequences Each telomere contains approximately 300 bp of a degenerate repeat sequence in which the most frequently occurring motif is TTACAGG,...


The results of a field experiment comparing water-quality constitutents, specific conductance, geophysical measurements, and well-bore hydraulics in two long-screen wells and adjacent vertical clusters of short-screen wells show bias in ground-water data caused by well-bore flow in long-screen wells. The well screen acts as a conduit for vertical flow because it connects zones of different head and transmissivity, even in a relatively homogeneous, unconfined, sand and gravel aquifer where such zones are almost indistinguishable. Flow in the well bore redistributes water and solutes in the aquifer adjacent to the well, increasing the risk of bias in water-quality samples, failure of plume detection, and cross-contamination of the aquifer. At one site, downward flow from a contaminated zone redistributes solutes over the entire length of the long-screen well. At another site, downward flow from a contaminated zone redistributes solutes over the entire length of the long-screen well. At another site, upward flow from an uncontaminated zone masks the presence of a road salt plume. Borehole induction logs, conducted in a fully penetrating short-screen well, can provide a profile of solutes in the aquifer that is not attainable in long-screen wells. In this study, the induction-log profiles show close correlation with data frommore » analyses of water-quality samples from the short-screen wells; however, both of these data sets differ markedly from the biased water-quality samples from the long-screen wells. Therefore, use of induction logs in fully cased wells for plume detection and accurate placement of short-screen wells is a viable alternative to use of long screen wells for water-quality sampling.« less


The paper characterises contemporary fighting anarchism from the ideological, tactical, and organisational perspectives. An analysis is carried out that examines the activities of the groups revoking insurrectionism, which today entails three ideological trends, namely social, individualistic (illegalism), and ecological. In the author's intention, the characteristics should serve practical goals, i.e., forming a prognosis regarding the phenomenon's future and drawing possible ways to counteract its proliferation in a further perspective. Contemporary anarchism, due to its intellectual allure (liberationist individualism), broadening the scope of its goals (with the liberation of non-human beings), adopting loose organisational forms, as well as employing the leaderless resistance strategy and swarming, is a phenomenon that has significant development potential. The development of anarchism, due to ongoing socio-political processes (the collapse of the existing mechanisms of social control and political representation, globalisation, informatisation) and the widely spreading ideology of individualism will lead to, as it seems, progressive radicalism, both in ideology and used methods.


Echocardiography of a dog with a cardiac murmur revealed an ostium primum septal defect, a ventricular septal defect, and mitral valve malformation with regurgitation. The mitral valve and tricuspid valve were separated and displaced at the same level as the ventricular septum. The mitral valve had a cleft in the septal cusp. Cardiac catheterization and angiocardiography showed a left-to-right shunt and a "goose-neck sign," which indicated an elongated left ventricular outflow tract. The diagnosis of a partial atrioventricular septal defect with ventricular septal defect was made. Surgical correction was successfully performed under extracorpo-real circulation using a cardiopulmonary bypass system.


Thailand needs to avoid the high-carbon growth path of many developed countries and, instead, take a low-carbon growth path. A green low-carbon growth path is in Thailand's own interest as it can simultaneously tackle local environmental degradation, global climate change, and energy security challenges. It can also position Thailand as a regional leader in green, sustainable growth. Green low-carbon growth in Thailand could focus on the following four pillars: 1) maintaining rapid economic growth while adjusting the country's economic structure toward a less energy, and carbon-intensive economy; 2) achieving greater urbanization while shifting toward green livable low-carbon cities; 3) meeting the huge thirst for energy while transforming the energy sector toward one of high energy efficiency and widespread diffusion of low-carbon technologies; and 4) improving quality of life while shifting toward a resource-efficient and sustainable lifestyle.


In this work, N,N-di(2-ethylhexyl)-2,2,3,3,4,4,4-heptafluorobutanamide (DEHFBA) was synthesized for the extraction of UO2 2+ from nitric acid media. IR spectroscopy, 1H-NMR and 19F-NMR were applied to characterize the synthesized DEHFBA. The effects of diluents, extractants, metal ions and nitric acid acidity on the extraction distribution ratios of uranium extraction and extraction rate have been investigated. Under optimum conditions, compared with N,N-di(2-ethylhexyl)butanamide (DEHBA) and tributyl phosphate (TBP), DEHFBA shows much better irradiation stability and extraction performance for UO2 2+ from nitric acid media at low acidity.


The revision of Brachythecium from Russia that use both traditional morphological appoach in combination with nuclear ITS study reveals three undescribed species in Asian part of the country. They are described here as B. baicalense, B. boreale, and B. extremiorientale. The species status of B. udum, B. acutum, B. brandegei, B. rotaeanum is discussed. Brachythecium digastrum is synonymized with B. laetum. New combinations: Eurhynchiastrum pulchellum var. barnesii and Sciuro-hypnum delicatulum are suggested. Brachythecium buchananii is revealed in Europe. ITS data allow to reduce the ambiguity of taxonomic decisions in the group, although sometimes good species has no difference in ITS between species, e.g. in group of B. salebrosum+B. erythrorrhizon +B.brandegei+B.glareosum.


This study was carried out to investigate the effect of trans fatty acids on haematological indices. This was done by supplementing the diets fed to the albino Wistar rats with different concentrations of thermally oxidized palm oil and margarine as sources of trans fatty acids. Fifty albino Wistar rats were used for this study and were randomly selected into five groups of ten rats. Group 1 rats serving as the control received only the stock diet. Group 2 received 85% rat pellet supplemented with 15% margarine. Group 3 was fed with 75% rat pellet and 25% margarine. The fourth group was fed with 85% rat pellet supplemented with 15% thermally oxidized palm oil. Group 4 was fed with 75% rat pellet supplemented with 25% thermally oxidized palm oil. The feeding experiment lasted for six weeks at the end of which rats were sacrificed for determination of haematological indices. Results showed significant (p<0.05) decrease in Red Blood Cell (RBC) count, White Blood Cell (WBC) and platelet counts, Haemoglobin (Hb) concentration and Packed Cell Volume (PCV) in all test groups. This probably suggests that trans fatty acids may adversely affect the health of an individual and should be reduced in diet.


This study explores how low-income, African American college students obtain social capital resources from university contacts to set and achieve career goals. Students knew little about career options available to future college graduates beyond jobs that were related to their current jobs. Few students utilized the information, influence, and opportunity resources of their university contacts that could increase their career ambitions because they were unaware that informal interactions with these individuals could be helpful. Thus, students had more constrained career plans than they could have had. Strategies to enhance the career expectations of this student population are proposed.


Three new polypropionate metabolites, 6Z,8E-Δ(8)-siphonarienfuranone (1), 6E,8E-Δ(8)-siphonarienfuranone (2), and 6E,8E-3-hydroxy-4,6,8,10,12-pentamethylpentadeca-6,8-dien-5-one (3), and the known polypropionate siphonarienfuranone (4) were isolated from the intertidal South African marine mollusk Siphonaria oculus. Evidence is presented to suggest that 1, 2, and 4 may cyclize from an acylic precursor on chromatographic workup of the acetone extract of this mollusk.


Abstract This thesis addresses the timely concern of protecting privacy in the age of big data. We identify the two following problems as the fundamental problems in computational privacy: (i) consistently quantifying privacy in different systems and (ii) optimally protecting privacy using obfuscation mechanisms. We cast the problem of quantifying privacy as computing the estimation error in a statistical (Bayesian) inference problem, where an adversary combines his observation, background knowledge and side channel information to estimate the user's sensitive information. This enables us to evaluate privacy of users in different systems, and consistently compare the effectiveness of different privacy protection mechanisms. We also formulate the problem of optimizing user privacy while respecting data utility as an interactive optimization problem (Bayesian Stackelberg game), where both user and adversary want to maximize their own objectives which are in conflict with each other. We apply our methodologies to quantifying and protecting location privacy in location-based services. We also provide an open-source tool, named Location-Privacy and Mobility Meter (LPM), that enables researchers to learn and analyze human mobility models as well as evaluating and comparing different location-privacy preserving mechanisms.


This report was designed to investigate a rare case that brachialis tear and hematoma caused by acute elbow posterior dislocation. We studied a 20-year-old male patient with right elbow joint pain after outstretched injury. Physical examination showed instability of hright elbow joint and simple radiography indicated a posterolateral dislocation of right elbow joint. Computed tomography taken after closed reduction using Parvin technique revealed a few small bone fragment located on posterior humerus capitulum. Magnetic resonance imaging showed complete tear of brachialis and anterior articular capsule with hematoma. The patient was managed with long arm splint and hinge brace for an elbow dislocation with brachialis rupture and hematoma. The elbow joint range of motion was recovered to be in a normal range, and pain was diminished. There are few reported cases of acute elbow posterior dislocation combined with brachialis rupture and hematoma. The patient showed good clinical outcome after conservative treatment.


Rationale: Articular cartilage injury is extremely common in congenital joint dysplasia patients. Genetic studies have identified Growth differentiation factor 5 (GDF5) as a shared gene in joint dysplasia and OA progression across different populations. However, few studies have employed GDF5 in biological regeneration for articular cartilage repair. Methods & Results: In the present study, we report identified genetic association between GDF5 loci and hip joint dysplasia with genome-wide association study (GWAS). GWAS and replication studies in separate populations achieved significant signals for GDF5 loci. GDF5 expression was dysregulated with allelic differences in hip cartilage of DDH and upregulated in the repaired cartilage in a rabbit cartilage defect model. GDF5 in vitro enhanced chondrogenesis and migration of bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs), GDF5 was tested in ectopic cartilage generation with BMSCs by GDF5 in nude mice in vivo. Genetically inspired, we further generated functional knee articular cartilage construct for cartilage repair by 3d-bioprinting a GDF5-conjugated BMSC-laden scaffold. GDF5-conjugated scaffold showed better cartilage repairing effects compared to control. Meanwhile, transplantation of the 3D-bioprinted GDF5-conjugated BMSC-laden scaffold in rabbit knees conferred long-term chondroprotection. Conclusions: In conclusion, we report identified genetic association between GDF5 and DDH with combined GWAS and replications, which further inspired us to generate a ready-to-implant GDF5-conjugated BMSC-laden scaffold with one-step 3d-bioprinting for cartilage repair.


The larval epidermis of Calpodes ethlius (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae) is a syncytium of doublets where sibling cells are twins that remain connected by residual midbodies between mitoses. Twins resemble one another more than their other neighbours in such structural features as the shape and number of nucleolar particles and the number of actin bundles. We have now found that they also resemble one another in the position of the condensed chromosomes that occur in female cells. Female lepidopteran cells contain one or more particles of condensed chromatin, depending on their ploidy. In the epidermis, nuclei with two condensed chromosomes are found in pairs and are separated by the same distances. However, clones of cells with multiple condensed chromosomes are not all alike, suggesting that chromosomes are repositioned at mitosis. Separation distances between chromosomes remain the same between but not through cell divisions, suggesting that determinants for nuclear structure are conserved through interphase and relaxed at mitosis. Although the condensed chromosomes of sibling nuclei resemble one another in their separation, they differ in their orientation, as would be expected if whole nuclei rotate in the plane of the epithelium.


Objectives As part of the creation of the Baie Verte, Newfoundland Asbestos Miners' Registry, the results from asbestos air samples collected at the Baie Verte open pit asbestos mine and mill between the years 1976 and 1994 are described. Patterns of variance are explored within- and between-sampling units (persons, shifts, jobs within departments). Methods Over 6000 personal and area sampling data were extracted from monthly lists of routine air sampling results taken at the asbestos mine and mill between the years of 1976 and 1994. Between 1991 and 1994 individual sampling results, including raw fibre counts, were available for over 250 of these personal samples. In addition, data for almost 1000 personal samples were extracted from an intensive study carried out in 1981. The data were evaluated for log-normal distribution fit and descriptive statistics. For the 1991–1994 data a mixed model analysis was performed to determine the between- and within-worker proportion of the total variance. The data from the intensive 1981 sampling campaign was used to ascertain the within- and between-shift variance. Results The distribution for most job categories could adequately be described as fitting a log-normal distribution. For almost 100 different job codes, mean exposures ranged from 0.1 to 5 f/ml (average 0.5 f/ml). Variability within jobs often exceeded a geometric SD of 2.5. The between worker portion of the total variance was usually negligible. Within-shift variation accounted for more than 75% of the total variation in fibre-counts. Generally, a downward trend over time was found with a slight increase in the last few years before shut down.


Palpable thyroid nodules occur in 4 to 7 percent of the population, but nodules found incidentally on ultrasonography suggest a prevalence of 19 to 67 percent. The majority of thyroid nodules are asymptomatic. Because about 5 percent of all palpable nodules are found to be malignant, the main objective of evaluating thyroid nodules is to exclude malignancy. Laboratory evaluation, including a thyroid-stimulating hormone test, can help differentiate a thyrotoxic nodule from an euthyroid nodule. In euthyroid patients with a nodule, fine-needle aspiration should be performed, and radionuclide scanning should be reserved for patients with indeterminate cytology or thyrotoxicosis. Insufficient specimens from fine-needle aspiration decrease when ultrasound guidance is used. Surgery is the primary treatment for malignant lesions, and the extent of surgery depends on the extent and type of disease. Ablation by postoperative radioactive iodine is done for high-risk patients--identified as those with metastatic or residual disease. While suppressive therapy with thyroxine is frequently used postoperatively for malignant lesions, its use for management of benign solitary thyroid nodules remains controversial.


This article explores these two keywords through the approach of placing "school" on a continuum between the two extremes of a transactional, instrumental organisation and a transformational community. The variety of stakeholder groups are redefined to include personification of abstract concepts and the model of community is considered including these stakeholders. School is looked at here as a verb rather than a noun and the extent to which school must by definition be, or have the form of, an organisation, is seen as a manifestation of the will of the community, with the levers of transaction pulled by the Head on behalf of the community. The 1994 UNESCO international conference on education provides a framework for discussion about culture and the purpose of education, which is reconciled with the evolving model described and envisioned in this short paper.


The essays in this volume, all of which have been specially commissioned, examine the philosophical foundations of social choice theory. This field, a modern and sophisticated outgrowth of welfare economics, is best known for a series of impossibility theorems, of which the first and most crucial was proved by Kenneth Arrow in 1950. That has often been taken to show the impossibility of democracy as a procedure for making collective decisions. However, this interpretation is challenged by several of the contributors here. Other central issues discussed in the volume include the possibility of making interpersonal comparisons of utility, the question of whether all preferences are equally to be valued, and the normative individualism underlying the theoretical tradition. Criticisms of social choice theory are advanced and suggestions for alternative approaches are developed.


Abstract. Next location prediction is helpful for service recommendation, public safety, intelligent transportation, and other location-based applications. Existing location prediction methods usually use sparse check-in trajectories and require massive historical data to capture complex spatial-temporal correlations. High spatial-temporal resolution trajectories have rich information. However, obtaining personal trajectories with long time series and high spatio-temporal resolution usually proves challenging. Herein, this paper proposes a two-stage Context-Aware Spatial-Temporal Location Embedding (CASTLE) model, a multi-modal pre-training model for sequence-to- sequence prediction tasks. The method is built in two steps. First, large-scale location datasets, which are sparse but easier to be acquired (i.e., check-in and anomalous navigation data), are used for pre-training location embedding to capture the multi-functional properties under different contexts. After that, the learned contextual embedding is used for downstream location prediction in small-scale but higher spatio-temporal resolution trajectory datasets. Specifically, the CASTLE model combines Bidirectional and Auto-Regressive Transformers to generate contextual embedding vectors rather than a fixed vector for each location. Furthermore, we introduce a location and time-aware encoder to reflect the spatial distances between locations and visit times. Experiments are conducted on two real trajectory datasets. The results show that the CASTLE model can pre-train beneficial location embedding and outperforms the model without pre-training by 4.6–7.1%. The proposed method is expected to improve the next location prediction accuracy without massive historical data, which will greatly drive the use of trajectory data.


Abstract With the increasing availability of behavioral data from diverse digital sources, such as social media sites and cell phones, it is now possible to obtain detailed information about the structure, strength, and directionality of social interactions in varied settings. While most metrics of network structure have traditionally been defined for unweighted and undirected networks only, the richness of current network data calls for extending these metrics to weighted and directed networks. One fundamental metric in social networks is edge overlap, the proportion of friends shared by two connected individuals. Here, we extend definitions of edge overlap to weighted and directed networks and present closed-form expressions for the mean and variance of each version for the Erdős–Rényi random graph and its weighted and directed counterparts. We apply these results to social network data collected in rural villages in southern Karnataka, India. We use our analytical results to quantify the extent to which the average overlap of the empirical social network deviates from that of corresponding random graphs and compare the values of overlap across networks. Our novel definitions allow the calculation of edge overlap for more complex networks, and our derivations provide a statistically rigorous way for comparing edge overlap across networks.


Albania is relatively rich with low up to the middle enthalpy, with waters coming out as natural springs (12 springs) and wells (10 wells). The water temperature blowing out of the wells varies from 34°C up to 65.5°C to Kozani -8, the most important among the Albanian geothermal wells. It had been drilled in 1989. Finding of the hot brine was considered and "accident" at that time, as the well had been designed and drilled to search oil &gas. The well is located on the hills, 26km SE of Tirana. It encounters limestone strata at 1819m, penetrating over 10m into this section. The yield of the well is 10.3 l/s, and is presented stable from more than 23 years. The geographical position of the well, placed in the middle of a village, very close to the corridor 8, are some of the most important parameters on choosing these waters for our designs and the related calculations. The recreational center provides the cascade and integral use of the Kozani-8 geothermal water, but not only. It also provide the electricity generations, through a hybrid system. The center will be also equipped with SPA, open and closed pools, fitness, massages, greenhouse & also aquaculture pools. The economic analyses, based on the NPV calculations, shows that this resource is completely competitive, and is unjustified it's further "waste". Despite the fact that the investment is too high (over 5.5 million Euro), it is completely feasible, and this is proven also by the risk analyses. It will also help on improving the living standards for the local community.


We report on the realization of a stable mixture of ultracold lithium and ytterbium atoms confined in a far-off-resonance optical dipole trap. We observe sympathetic cooling of 6Li by 174Yb and extract the s-wave scattering length magnitude |a(6Li-174Yb)|=(13±3)a0 from the rate of interspecies thermalization. Using forced evaporative cooling of 174Yb, we achieve reduction of the 6Li temperature to below the Fermi temperature, purely through interspecies sympathetic cooling.


This paper is concerned with the adjoint consistency of discontinuous Galerkin (DG) discretizations. Adjoint consistency—in addition to consistency—is the key requirement for DG discretizations to be of optimal order in $L^2$ as well as measured in terms of target functionals. We provide a general framework for analyzing the adjoint consistency of DG discretizations which is also useful for the derivation of adjoint consistent methods. This analysis will be performed for the DG discretizations of the linear advection equation, the interior penalty DG method for elliptic problems, and the DG discretization of the compressible Euler equations. This framework is then used to derive an adjoint consistent DG discretization of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. Numerical experiments demonstrate the link of adjoint consistency to the accuracy of numerical flow solutions and the smoothness of discrete adjoint solutions.


Background & objectives: Bartonella henselae causes infections which closely resemble febrile illness and chronic diseases such as tuberculosis and haematological malignancies. There are not many studies on Bartonella infections from India. The present study was undertaken to diagnose B. henselae infection in diverse clinical conditions in a tertiary care hospital in north India. Methods: A total of 145 patients including those with fever and lymphadenopathy, infective endocarditis and neuroretinitis were enrolled in the study. Whole blood, serum and lymph node aspirate and valvular vegetations if available, were obtained. Samples were plated on chocolate agar and brain-heart infusion agar containing five per cent fresh rabbit blood and were incubated at 35°C for at least four weeks in five per cent CO2with high humidity. Immunofluorescent antibody assay (IFA) was done for the detection of IgM antibodies in the serum using a commercial kit. Whole blood was used to perform polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the citrate synthase gene (gltA). Results: IFA was positive in 11 of 140 (7.85%) patients and PCR was positive in 3 of 140 (2.14%) patients. Culture was negative in all the cases. A higher incidence of Bartonella infection was seen in patients with fever and lymphadenopathy (n=30), seven of whom were children. In ophthalmological conditions, four cases were IFA positive. Interpretation & conclusions: The present study shows that the threat of Bartonella infection is a reality in India. It is also an important treatable cause of fever and lymphadenopathy in children. Serology and PCR are useful tests for its diagnosis. Clinicians should consider Bartonella infection in the differential diagnosis of febrile illnesses and chronic diseases.


Ehrlichia equi, a rickettsia described from horses in California 30 yr ago, causes equine granulocytic ehrlichiosis throughout the Americas and possibly Europe. Here, we report experimental transmission of E. equi from infected to susceptible horses through bites of western blacklegged ticks, Ixodes pacificus (Cooley & Kohls). In preliminary field studies, only I. pacificus consistently infested horses and vegetation at 3 locations with contemporary cases of equine ehrlichosis, and in particular, I. pacificus was the only species found attached to all of the infected horses. Exposure to bites of ticks in the genus Ixodes poses previously unrecognized and serious health risks to humans and animals.


The amount of data stored by banks is rapidly increasing and provides the opportunity for banks to conduct predictive analytics and enhance its businesses. However, data scientists are facing large challenges, handling the massive amount of data efficiently and generating insights with real business value. In this paper, the Intelligent Customer Analytics for Recognition and Exploration (iCARE) framework is presented to analyze banking customer behaviors from banking big data, through analytical modeling methodologies and techniques designed for a key business scenario. Combining IBM software platforms and big data processing power with customized data analytical models, the iCARE solution provides deeper customer insights to satisfy a bank's specific business need and data environment. The advantages of the iCARE framework have been confirmed in a real case study of a bank in southeast China. In this case, iCARE helps generate insights for active customers based on their transaction behavior, using close to 20 terabytes of data.