Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among males in the United States. The prevalence of this disease and the benefits associated with early detection and treatment call for closer investigation into potential biomarkers and therapeutics targets. The high expression of the integral membrane protein called prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA, EC 126.96.36.199) is implicated in PCa invasiveness as well as neovasculature metastasis of nonprostatic solid tumors. Little is known about the exact role of PSMA in PCa progression albeit it is one of the most validated biomarker for the diagnosis and detection of PCa. We have demonstrated that the isolated PSMA transmembrane domain (TMD) is capable of oligomerization under reducing gel electrophoresis conditions, interacting independently of extracellular domain dimerization. Following this discovery, we proceeded to determine the factor(s) responsible for its oligomerization. Since it is known that certain motifs are critical for TMD oligomerization of many transmembrane proteins, we hypothesized that the Small-XXX-Small motif in PSMA TMD may play a role in the oligomerization and subsequent activation of PSMA. Thus, to gain insight into the assembly of PSMA and the factors responsible for this assembly, we investigated if mutations at this TM motif will disrupt TM oligomerization. Our initial studies revealed that PSMA TMD has two repeat units of the Small-XXX-Small motif. This motif is known to be crucial in inducing a strong peptide self-assembly, analogous to the bitopic protein Glycophorin A. We synthesized the PSMA TMD mutant peptides using Biotage Alstra microwave peptide synthesizer, purified by high performance liquid chromatography, and characterized by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to establish homogeneity. SDS-PAGE gel shift assays revealed a direct correlation of oligomerization propensity and the presence of the motif, while motif knockdown led to observed loss of this property. ToxR reporter assay that qualitatively assesses relative TMD interactions revealed that oligomerization of PSMA TMD is ∼150% stronger than Glycophorin A. These findings will serve as a road map in the design of tight-binding exogenous anti-TMD peptides that target this oligomerization hot spot for possible diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Citation Format: Brianna S. Berg, Brandan M. Cook, Jack R. Hyder, James I. Godfroy, Hubert Yin, Jonel P. Saludes. The transmembrane domain of prostate specific membrane antigen: Deciphering the role of the Small-XXX-Small motif in oligomerization. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2456. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2456


In order to define the range of serum copper concentrations in preterm infants and to determine the effect of growth upon these values, serial serum copper concentrations were measured in 26 preterm infants over their first six weeks of life. Fourteen healthy, growing preterm infants (Group I) had mean serum copper concentrations below 32 t~g/dl throughout the study. Clinical and hematologic signs of copper deficiency which responded promptly to the oral administration of copper sulfate were noted in five of these 14 infants. Twelve ill preterm infants (Group H-A), who received parenteral nutrition without supplemental copper and had slow rates of growth, had mean 'serum copper concentrations above 50 i~g/ dl after the first week of life. Seven surviving infants from Group 11-A (Group 11-B) had a decrease in mean serum copper concentrations to values similar to those in Group I after two weeks of oral feedings and resumption of normal growth. Our findings suggest that preterm infants who have normal growth while receiving oral feedings are at significant risk for developing copper deficiency.


The paper is dedicated to the intertextual and polemic threads in jidai-geki films of Hideo Gosha – especially The Sword of the Beast ( Kedamono no ken , 1965), The Secret of the Urn ( Tange Sazen: Hien iaigiri , 1966) and Official Gold ( Goyokin , 1969). Those works are treated here as emblematic of the transformations which occurred in the Japanese genre cinema of 1960s, when the samurai film (similarly to its American counterpart, the western) entered the phase of revision and reinterpretation of its fundamental ideological, aesthetic and philosophical values. This tendency, which had been anticipated by pre-war dissidents of the samurai films, such as Buntaro Futagawa or Sadao Yamanaka, and elevated by Masaki Kobayashi in 1960s, became a point of departure for further explorations for directors like Kihachi Okamoto, Eiichi Kudo or, last but not least, Hideo Gosha. Gosha's works are characterised by a certain type of double-coding: his well-crafted, attractive adventure stories have all the features that distinguish the so-called "audience-friendly" films – and yet, on the higher level of interpretation, they appear as high quality genre pastiches, which deconstruct the national stereotypes imprinted in genre typing.


nation required among nations to tackle the negative externalities wreaked by capitalism. Although clearly offered primarily as analysis, inevitably Callinicos' book begs a practical question.This is where the argument wanes somewhat. Conclusions are vague and Callinicos' honest admission that the left is still theoretically grappling with its 'tall order' (p. 134) looks starkly incommensurate with the urgency articulated by his powerful critique, a serious engagement with a crucial contemporary debate which should appeal to both militants and neutrals alike.


The EBONE (European Biodiversity Observation Network project) asked the Israel Nature and Parks Authority to test methodology correlating patterns of species distribution with habitat in arid regions. A test of this methodology was conducted at the Avdat LTER site in the Negev Desert. Four square kilometers were mapped using the EBONE system of structural habitat mapping. Samples of vegetation, reptile and arthropod communities were taken using stratified random sampling of the mapped habitat polygons. Habitat type correlated poorly with species richness, but correlated well with community composition across all the taxonomic groups. We also found that the correlation of species composition to habitat type coincided with a gradient of substrate texture, from fine silt, sand, gravel and stones to large boulders and bedrock outcrops.


Background: Dengue fever is a serious public health threat and becomes an economic burden throughout the tropics. The indicator of success in eradicating dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is related to the presence of mosquito larvae, namely the density of larvae. Climate change from the rainy season to the dry season has led to the proliferation of disease vectors such as the Aedes mosquito. Environmental factors play a very big role in addition to behavior, health services, and heredity. Other factors that are also at risk of infection and the growing development of dengue fever are population growth that does not have a specific pattern, unplanned urbanization factors.
Materials and Methods: The sample in this study was a housewife selected in twelve endemic villages in Banjarbaru city. This study examined the larva density model with a partial least square approach, so that by knowing the influential factors in the decrease in the density of flicks is expected to be used as a reference for prevention and control of DHF events cases.
Results: The results showed that the prediction model of flick density in the rainy season and dry season with Partial Least Square (PLS) approach is a fit and highly accurate model based on criteria R2 and Q2. The density model of flicks in the rainy season can be explained by behavioral health services, environmental conditions, and Breeding Place by 87.7%, while in the dry season it is 80.8%. The decrease in larva density in the rainy season is heavily influenced by environmental conditions, behavior and health services, while in the dry season is influenced by breeding place / site. The rainy season prefers fogging (0.714) and counseling (0.795) indicators on the health service factor, while in the dry season the dominant indicators are larvasidation (0.847) and Periodic Larva Check (PLC) (0.729). Furthermore, behavioral factors in the rainy season prioritize knowledge indicators (0.716), while during the dry season the dominant indicators are attitude (0.899) and action (0.890). Environmental conditions in the rainy season pay more attention to water pH (0.588), while in the dry season the indicators considered are water temperature (0.991) and water type (0.774). In the rainy season, the breeding place factor pays more attention to the type of container (0.950), while in the dry season the dominant indicators are container material (0.970), container color (0.959), and container cover (0.924).
Conclusion: The breateau index and house index indicators are dominant in forming larva density. The breeding place is a dominant factor in directly affecting the density of larvae in the dry season. Container material affects the growth of microorganisms that feed larvae, especially in containers that are rarely drained. The magnitude of the influence of breeding places in the dry season is more due to the infrequent draining of water for supply, so that larvae reproduction is more frequent.


Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (COVID 19) has plagued the world with about 7,8 million confirmed cases and over 430,000 deaths as of June 13th, 2020. The knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) people hold towards this new disease could play a major role in the way they accept measures put in place to curb its spread and their willingness to seek and adhere to care. We sought to understand if: a) demographic variables of Cameroonian residents could influence KAP and symptomatology, and b) KAP could influence the risk of having COVID19.A cross-sectional KAP/symptomatology online survey was conducted between April 20 to May 20. All analyses were performed using SPSS version 23. Of all respondents (1006), 53.1% were female, 26.6% were students, 26.9% interacted face to face and 62.8% were residents in Yaoundé with a median age of 33. The overall high score was 84.19% for knowledge, 69% for attitude, and 60.8% for practice towards COVID 19. Age > 20 years was associated with a high knowledge of COVID 19. Women had lower practice scores compared to men (OR = 0.72; 95%CI 0.56–0.92). 41 respondents had ≥3 symptoms and only 9 (22.95%) of them had called 1510 (emergency number). There was no significant difference between KAP and symptomatology. The presence of ≥ 3 symptoms in 4% of respondents (with 56% of them having co-morbidities) supports the current trend in the number of confirmed cases (8681) in Cameroon. The continuous increase in the number of cases and the overall good KAP warrants further investigation to assess the effectiveness of the measures put in place to curb the spread of the disease. Sensitization is paramount to preclude negative health-seeking behaviors and encourage positive preventive and therapeutic practices, for fear of an increase in mortality.


AIM
To study the relative efficacy of cisapride, metoclopramide, domperidone, erythromycin and mosapride on gastric emptying (GE) and small intestinal transit (SIT) in morphine treated mice.

METHODS
Phenol red marker meal was employed to estimate GE and SIT in Swiss albino mice of either sex. The groups included were control, morphine 1 mg/kg (s.c. 15 min before test meal) alone or with (45 min before test meal p.o.) cisapride 10 mg/kg, metoclopramide 20 mg/kg, domperidone 20 mg/kg, erythromycin 6 mg/kg and mosapride 20 mg/kg.

RESULTS
Cisapride, metoclopramide and mosapride were effective in enhancing gastric emptying significantly (P<0.001) whereas other prokinetic agents failed to do so in normal mice. Metoclopramide completely reversed morphine induced delay in gastric emptying followed by mosapride. Metoclopramide alone was effective when given to normal mice in increasing the SIT. Cisapride, though it did not show any significant effect on SIT in normal mice, was able to reverse morphine induced delay in SIT significantly (P<0.001) followed by metoclopramide and mosapride.

CONCLUSION
Metoclopramide and cisapride are most effective in reversing morphine-induced delay in gastric emptying and small intestinal transit in mice respectively.


In order to cater increasing need of lightweight and strong structures to be used in various industries like ship manufacturing, railways transportation, vehicle body cell etc., efforts have been made to develop and assess various welding or joining techniques. Dissimilar metal welding offers promising solution in this direction due to modification of properties by combining two dissimilar metals in terms of mechanical properties and better corrosion or electrical properties with lesser specific weight. Stainless steel of grade AISI 304 is widely used for manufacturing application in different industries and aluminum alloy 6061 T-6 has gaining importance in welding due to its high corrosive resistance and high weldability properties. In the present work, welding of dissimilar metals i.e. Aluminium 6061 T-6 and Stainless Steel – AISI 304 was carried out with new welding technique i.e. Friction Crush Welding (FCW). Dissimilar welds prepared at different levels of tool rotation and feed rate were characterized in terms of bond strength. Taguchi L9 Design of Experiments (DOE) was used to find optimal process parameters for dissimilar FCW. The theoretical optimum bond strength calculated using Taguchi L9 was 5134.53 N at tool rotation of 740 rpm and feed rate of 45 mm/mim. The theoretical optimum value was in line with the experimental results.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expression changes of aquaporins 1 (AQP1) in contused lung tissue of rats and its relationship with pulmonary edema.

METHODS
SD rats were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The pulmonary contusion models were then prepared. The expression and distribution of AQP1 in lung tissue of the rats were detected by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS
The lung tissue showed edema, hemorrhage, inflammatory cell infiltration 1 h, 3 h after pulmonary contusion, and the inflammatory response aggravated after 5 h. AQP1 expression at 1 h, 3 h and 5 h in the contusion group were significantly higher than that of the control group (P < 0.01). The expression of AQP1 continued to increase with time and aggravation of edema compared to the control group. AQP1 was mainly distributed in the capillary endothelial cells and interstitial cells of the bronchial and alveolar walls. Although there were no observed changes in AQP1 expression location in contused lung tissue, the intergrated optical density(IOD) showed significant statistical difference (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION
There might exist an dysregulation of AQPs gene expression in contused lung tissue, leading to a large number of abnormal transmembrane water transportation and abnormal water accumulation, which may be one of the reasons for pulmonary edema in contused lung tissue.


Social opportunistic networks are a subclass of opportunistic networks which rely upon the predictability and established patterns of human social behaviour to facilitate the sharing of information by performing message routing. While the forwarding step purely depends upon the movement paradigm of nodes in the network, the said movement makes the network unreliable due to frequent disconnections and delay, and spasmodically connected environment. Various protocols have been developed so far for routing in such networks, whose primary aim is to ensure efficient and reliable message delivery. This study proposes a heuristic-based scheme for routing messages from the source to the destination using the Ant Algorithm. Problems related to frequent disconnections and inefficient routing are overcome in the proposed protocol through features such as pheromones. This protocol is thoroughly examined via simulation and analysis to assess the performance with other routing protocols in social opportunistic networks under various parameters. The performance criterion for the comparisons includes overhead ratio, average residual energy, average latency, number of dead nodes and average buffer time. The examinations have shown that the authors algorithm is superior to protocols such as Prophet, Epidemic and ProWait on the basis of average latency and buffer time.


Objective: The objective of present work was to develop and validate a simple, fast, precise, selective, and accurate reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography method for the simultaneous determination of Clindamycine, Metronidazole and Clotrimazole in a pharmaceutical dosage form. Methods: The separation of these three drugs was achieved on ODS 250×4.6 mm, 5 mm C18 column. Mobile phase containing 0.1% ortho phosphoric acid buffer and acetonitrile in the ratio of 55:45 v/v was pumped through column at a flow rate of 1 ml/minute. Temperature was maintained at 30°C and ultraviolet detection at 238 nm. Results: The retention times were observed to be 2.591, 3.584, and 4.221 minutes for Clindamycine, Metronidazole, and Clotrimazole, respectively. Linearity was found to be 25-150 μg/ml Clindamycine, Metronidazole, and Clotrimazole, respectively. The method was statistically validated for linearity, recovery, the limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), accuracy, and precision. The stress testing of the drugs individually and their mixture are carried out under acidic, alkaline, oxidation, photostability, and thermal degradation conditions and its degradation products are well resolved from the analyte peaks. Conclusion: This method was successfully validated for accuracy, precision, and linearity, LOD, and LOQ. Keywords: Clindamycine, Metronidazole, Clotrimazole, Reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography, Simultaneous determination, Degradation studies.


Thirty-three patients with 38 digital tip injuries were followed up for an average of eight months. All injuries had no bone exposed at the time of initial consultation and were treated by an open technique allowing secondary wound healing. Stationary two-point discrimination averaged 3.5 mm at follow-up examination. The final appearance of digits treated by this method was considered satisfactory by surgeons and patients alike. Comparison with other methods reconfirms that the open treatment of digital tip injuries in adults, where no bone is exposed, is a reasonable therapeutic alternative. ( JAMA 244:697-698, 1980)


A multipurpose spectrometer (MSPEC) with elliptical crystals is in routine use to obtain x-ray spectra from laser produced plasmas in the energy range 1.0-9.0 keV. Knowledge of the energy-dependent response of the spectrometer is required for an accurate comparison of the intensities of x-ray lines of different energy. The energy-dependent response of the MSPEC has now been derived from the spectrometer geometry and calibration information on the response of its components, including two different types of detectors. Measurements of the spectrometer response with a laboratory x-ray source are used to test the calculated response and provide information on crystal reflectivity and uniformity.


Spectrometric measurements of radioisotope activity in the thyroid The results of measurements of iodine 131I and technetium 99mTc uptake in human thyroid, performed with scintillation or semiconductor detectors can exhibit a considerable uncertainty due to the differences in the thyroid position in the patient's neck. Basic physical laws of radiation attenuation and scattering show that the final shape of the registered spectrum should depends on the thyroid position in the neck and on the thickness of the tissue between the thyroid and the detector. The use of the spectrometric measuring method is proposed in this work for determination of the iodine gathering effective depth. The performed studies showed that the measurements results can be used for improving the accuracy of the iodine 131I activity in thyroid measurements and for selection of the group of patients for whom the anatomical position of the thyroid or the spatial distribution of the iodine gathering is much different than the standard one, assumed during the calibration of the counters. The results of the measurements were in agreement with Monte-Carlo calculations of the detector response. The method was used in routine monitoring of occupationally exposed persons, using the thyroid counter. A group of six persons with measurable internal contamination was selected and the measurements were performed on consecutive days, so the results could be registered at decreasing iodine activities in the thyroid. Larger series of measurements were performed at Brodno Regional Hospital in Warsaw, for a group of 95 patients after diagnostic administration of iodine 131I.


The authors study the convergence properties of the damped Gauss-Newton algorithm which was originally proposed by Subramamian for the complementarity problem. In this paper, a new stepsize is presented and a new global convergence result is given. This result here have improved and generalized those in the literature.


The personalization of certain teaching processes produces improved learn-ing results. In the assessment of learning, there is a need to personalize the test items according to the learning styles of the students. This paper pro-poses the design of an adaptive application that generates personalized tests according to the students' learning styles. To facilitate the design of the proposed application, an ontology for creating personalized tests was de-signed based on the use of learning styles by means of applying the Methontology methodology. This ontology has a hierarchy of 3 levels, 9 first-level classes, 12 second-level subclasses, and 10 third-level sub-classes. The application was developed using the Primefaces framework and the Jena library to manage the ontology. At the end of the development stage, the usability of the application created was measured using the heu-ristic evaluation method based on the ten principles of Jackob Nielsen. The results obtained indicate that the application complies with the aforemen-tioned principles, earning a 94% usability rating. Consequently, it can be deemed a useful application for end-users


This paper presents a method for face identification under adverse conditions by combining regular, frontal face images with facial strain maps using score-level fusion. Strain maps are generated by calculating the central difference method of the optical flow field obtained from each subject's face during the open mouth expression. Subjects were recorded with and without camouflage under three lighting conditions: normal lighting, low lighting, and strong shadow. Experimental results demonstrate that strain maps are a useful supplemental biométrie in all three adverse conditions, especially in the camouflage condition, where a 30% increase in rank 1 recognition is observed over a baseline PCA-based algorithm.


Soft X-ray Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy is applied to study in-plane band dispersions of nickel as a function of probing depth. Photon energies between hν = 190 and 780 eV were used to effectively probe up to ∼ 3–7 layers ( ∼ 5–12 Å). The results show layer-dependent band dispersion of the Δ2↓ minority spin band which crosses the Fermi level in 3 or more layers, in contrast to the known top 1-2 layers dispersion obtained using ultra-violet rays. The layer dependence corresponds to an increased value of exchange splitting and suggests reduced-correlation effects in the bulk compared to the surface.


Solving partial differential equations (PDEs) by parametrizing its solution by neural networks (NNs) has been popular in the past a few years. However, different types of loss functions can be proposed for the same PDE. For the Poisson equation, the loss function can be based on the weak formulation of energy variation or the least squares method, which leads to the deep Ritz model and deep Galerkin model, respectively. But loss landscapes from these different models give arise to different practical performance of training the NN parameters. To investigate and understand such practical differences, we propose to compare the loss landscapes of these models, which are both high dimensional and highly non-convex. In such settings, the roughness is more important than the traditional eigenvalue analysis to describe the non-convexity. We contribute to the landscape comparisons by proposing a roughness index to scientifically and quantitatively describe the heuristic concept of "roughness" of landscape around minimizers. This index is based on random projections and the variance of (normalized) total variation for one dimensional projected functions, and it is efficient to compute. A large roughness index hints an oscillatory landscape profile as a severe challenge for the first order optimization method. We apply this index to the two models for the Poisson equation and our empirical results reveal a consistent general observation that the landscapes from the deep Galerkin method around its local minimizers are less rough than the deep Ritz method, which supports the observed gain in accuracy of the deep Galerkin method.


Extended Abstract Polymer nanofiber composites for the treatment of hazardous compounds are of considerable scientific and technological interest. In this study, polyamide nanofiber for organic pollutant removal and chemical warfare protection is discussed. The effect of position of functional materials in nanofiber matrix on the photocatalytic activity was studied by comparing the Ag-TiO2-decorated nylon nanofiber composite (AT-sur-NF) and Ag-TiO2-embedded nylon nanofiber composite (AT-in-NF) [1]. We find that AT-sur-NF shows better photocatalytic activity compared to the photocatalytic activity of AT-in-NF. Based on these results, nylon and meta-aramid nanofibers decorated by various functional nanomaterials were fabricated. The electrospun meta-aramid nanofiber composites exhibit poor chemical stability because of the salt molecules remaining between meta-aramid chains [2]. The chemical stability of meta-aramid nanofiber composites were improved by removing salt molecules during washing and additional thermal treatment. The polyamide nanofiber composites were stacked to enhance mechanical properties and resistivity to chemical warfare agents (CWAs). By controlling the stacking of polyamide nanofiber composites, thickness, weight density, and cool/warm feeling are optimized. In addition, the assemblies exhibit enough resistivity to CWAs while still maintain water vapor transmission to allow evaporation of sweat on the skin. Further study on the thermal properties and microstructure of nylon nanofibers reveals that the chains rigidity and thermal stability increase with decreasing diameter of nylon nanofibers.


Background Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) medicines have revolutionized DME and DR treatment. Despite the worldwide use of anti-VEGFs, their use remains limited in Sudan. This study aimed to assess the impact of anti-VEGF (ranibizumab and bevacizumab) injections in patients with diabetic macular oedema in Khartoum, Sudan. Methods An analytical comparative cross-sectional study was implemented in Alfaisal referral eye centre. A Standard questionnaire was used to collect the variables related to the research objectives. Thirty-four patients were recruited; 16 patients under ranibizumab (Lucentis) and 18 under bevacizumab (Avastin). Data were analyzed through SPSS 23, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central retinal thickness (CRT) measurements were considered as main outcomes to evaluate the treatment effectiveness. Results Among the 34 participants, 64.7% were males and 35.3% were females, with an average age of 62 years and 13 years of long standing diabetes. A total of 54 eyes received an average of 2.3 injections in an average of 7 months' period. The mean BCVA before and after treatment for both drugs respectively 0.19 min and 0.21 min was statistically correlated (p = 0.000). For patients under Lucentis, the mean BCVA before and after medication was 0.20 min–0.24 min and 0.19–0.19 min for those who used Avastin. The mean central retinal thickness (CRT), before and after treatment for both drugs, was 492.22µm–422.89µm, respectively, with a significant correlation (p = 0.003). For patients under Lucentis, the mean CRT decreased from 536.30 µm to 425.19 µm; it dropped from 453.16µm to 421.18µm for patients under Avastin. About 79.4% (27/34) of the participants reported that injections were not affordable and 14.7% (5/34) complained from shortage of one dose, regardless of which type of treatment. Glycaemia control, duration of treatment, type and frequency of injections used were found to be the most contributing factors to the effectiveness of anti-VEGF medications. Conclusion Both anti-VEGF medications are effective in treating DME, Lucentis showed better improvements in BCVA and macular thickness than Avastin. Policymakers in Sudan require urgent alternative strategies to increase access to these medications.


A systematic description of the semantics of connectives is a challenge that linguists have yet to answer. In order to define semantic classes such as "causal", "concessive", "temporal" according to objectivizable criteria, to classify them, and to describe their relationship to one another, it is important to consider the polysemy phenomena of connectives. The interaction with syntactic, information-structural and intonational structure must also be examined. It was the goal of a colloquium at the Institut fur Deutsche Sprache [German Language Institute] in December 2002 to present itself with this challenge. Their results are presented collectively in this volume. The contributions all have in common the reference to the Handbuch der deutschen Konnektoren [Handbook of German Connectives], which, with its extensive description of the syntax of connectives, offers an up-to-date starting point for a survey of semantics. The contributions, which interactively refer to one another, are divided into four chapters. In Chapter A, interfaces are described from a grammar-theoretical, syntactic and logical viewpoint and substantiated by way of examples. Chapter B is dedicated to the temporal connectives with a focus on ambiguities (i.e. of the German connectives wahrend, bevor, nachdem) and the establishment of the paradigms that structure the temporal field. In Chapter C, "Contrast Connectives", adversative and concessive connectives and their differentiation from one another and from additive connectives are discussed. This chapter also presents suggestions for a minimalistic, semantic description of ways of reading German aber. Chapter D is dedicated to the causal connectives. In addition to a revision of the causality concept, this chapter mainly includes suggestions for the restructuring of the causal field, for instance, through the introduction of a class mainly based on the indication of inferences.


We studied the comparative in vitro activities of 10 oral antimicrobial agents against 147 aerobic and 61 anaerobic bacteria making up species in 13 genera (Staphylococcus aureus, streptococci, Eikenella corrodens, Pasteurella multocida, Haemophilus-Actinobacillus spp., M-5, EF-4, Moraxella spp., Flavobacterium IIb, Bacteroides melaninogenicus, Bacteroides spp., Fusobacterium spp., and Peptostreptococcus spp.) that were isolated from bite wounds. Cefuroxime was generally greater than fourfold more active than cephalexin and cefadroxil against all aerobic isolates, including Pasteurella multocida. The fluoroquinolones were highly active against most aerobic isolates but were less active against anaerobic isolates. Ciprofloxacin was generally more active than either enoxacin or ofloxacin. Discrepancies of greater than 30% in the interpretation of susceptibilities between break points suggested by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards and those related to oral dose peak levels (one-half to one-quarter of maximum achievable concentrations) were noted in 14% (18 of 130) of the instances.


Abstract
The aim of this study was the identify cyanobacterial flora of rice–fields in Dargaz, to interaction between cyanobacteria by culturing in solid medium BG-110 in laboratory was investigated. Nostoc piscinale and Nostoc spongiaeforme were identified as strongest and weakness species, respectively, regarding secondary metabolits producing (allelochemicals).The algal pairs were classified in two groups based on their interactions. Possibility of using blue-green algae allelochemicals to combat harmful algae blooms (HABs) and agriculture science was discussed.

Keywords: Blue-green algae, Secondary metabolites, Allelochemicals, Allelopathy


Today's multi-polar world is increasingly tilting towards the burgeoning Chinese economy. As the US economy falters on fiscal sustainability, Europe remains in the throes of debt concerns and Japan struggles to regain its footing after being hit by the Fukushima earthquake, the world fears an impending re-descent into recession. After breaking into the global scene with economic reforms and entry into the WTO in the last decade, the growing international role of China spans trade, investment, foreign reserve accumulation and Sovereign Wealth Funds. Despite the growing economic & financial international role of China, its currency, the Renminbi (RMB) remains largely a domestic currency. There are increasing calls for the RMB to become an international payment, investment and reserve currency. However, the move towards internationalization necessitates the development of an onshore capital market complemented by domestic policy reforms leading to a changed financial structure, with lower dependence on bank financing. China's 12th Five Year Plan objectives provide for gradual capital account convertibility and removal of internal distortions – which could lead to interest rate liberalization and development of money market instruments and debt capital markets, the "Redback Market". To achieve these goals, it is necessary for China to move towards capital account liberalization and RMB convertibility, complemented by a gradual reduction of remaining interest rate controls, development of the non-financial corporate debt market, along with greater exchange rate flexibility. However, the speed of adjustment and the sequencing of financial sector reforms are also important. External account liberalization should be preceded by domestic financial sector reforms and the removal of internal financial distortions. Internationalization of the RMB forms an integral part of the process of capital market development and financial sector reform. To date, there have been three main channels of RMB internationalization: the introduction of the RMB as the settlement currency for cross-border trade transactions, the provision of RMB swap lines between the People's Bank of China (PBoC) and other central banks and the creation of a RMB offshore market. The RMB will emerge as the third global currency by 2015 and we anticipate: (a) a rise of the cross border settlement volume of the RMB to account for between 30-50% of the total export-import volume that is rising to USD 2 trillion; (b) growth in debt markets to about 30% of GDP would imply a quadrupling to about RMB 20 trillion (USD3.1 trillion); (c) increased use in foreign exchange markets and central bank reserves: the RMB could represent about 18% to 24% of global central bank reserves by 2015 or about USD 1.5 to 2 trillion! The GCC has been rising in stature as a major trading partner for China with Saudi Arabia and the UAE among its top 20 major trading partners. It is in the GCC's strategic interest to move towards greater economic & financial integration with China through accelerating the GCC-China free trade agreement, establishing links between financial markets, finance bilateral trade using the RMB and establishing RMB swap lines with GCC Central Banks. The growing trade and investment links between MENA/ GCC and China, create an opportunity for the DIFC to become a payments clearing centre for the RMB in the MENA region. The DIFC has the infrastructure, laws and experienced international banks and financial institutions with extended networks of correspondents for the DIFC to become the MENA region's clearing centre for the RMB and the RMB market. The Redback cometh and we need to prepare for this momentous coming.


Immune evasion is a hallmark feature of tumors as they employ various strategies to suppress the immune system9s ability to recognize and destroy cancer cells. T cell checkpoint inhibitors such as anti-PD1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies spearhead the immune response against a variety of tumors. Numerous studies suggest that the complex immunosuppressive milieux require the development of additional therapeutic agents to potentiate active drugs and thereby broaden the utility and increase the therapeutic indices of revolutionary immune-oncology treatment modalities. The presence of immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (Tregs) in tumors, keeping tumoricidal Teffector cells in check, signals poor prognosis. Thus, depletion of Tregs or impairment of Treg function is an attractive therapeutic approach for cancer. USP7, a deubiquitylase enzyme implicated as a critical node in several cancer signaling pathways, has recently emerged as an essential factor in maintaining Treg functions. Progenra identified small molecule USP7 inhibitors and employed them to show that Treg specific inhibition of USP7 results in impairment of Treg function leading to immune activation, commensurate with the ablation of Foxp3, a transcription factor that is a target of USP7 and is essential to Treg activation. This USP7 inhibitor class was subsequently lead optimized, and selected USP7 inhibitors were evaluated in ADME/PK studies and shown to impair Treg functions and to exhibit powerful anti-tumor activity against syngeneic lung tumor models in immunocompetent mice. In addition, Progenra9s USP7 inhibitors significantly augmented the antitumor activity of anti-PD1 antibody, CAR T cell therapy, and cancer vaccines. These studies provide a strong rationale for the use of USP7 inhibitors in combination therapy protocols to improve the efficacy of currently approved cancer immunotherapy agents. Citation Format: Suresh Kumar, Jian Wu, Liquing Wang, Feng Wang, Matthew P. Kodrasov, Saket Agarwal, Ivan Sokirniy, Thomas Yeckley, Joseph Weinstock, Michael R. Mattern, Wayne W. Hancock. Small molecule T-reg inhibitors for cancer immunotherapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 559.


With Greece's economy tanking again, the country's government is convinced that it is the victim of the wrong treatment in the form of excessive austerity and is calling for a renegotiation of the bailout deal it made with its international creditors. In Daniel Gros' view, however, this narrative overlooks the fact that the approach worked in other peripheral countries: Portugal, Ireland, Spain and even Cyprus, are all visibly recovering. As he points out in this CEPS Commentary, it was their strong export performance which allowed these countries to escape the austerity trap and he accordingly urges Greece's policy-makers to focus their attention on stimulating exports rather than only discussing the budget.


A 22 year old woman with central alveolar hypoventilation (CAH) underwent repeated nocturnal polysomnographic recordings to assess the efficacy of negative pressure ventilation (NPV) administered by pneumowrap. The NPV successfully prevented hypoxia during most of the recording time; however, a sudden severe hypoxic episode not related to an apnoea occurred during a recording night with NPV. This made home use advisable together with an ear oximeter fitted with an alarm.


Islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) and insulin are co-stored and generally secreted in parallel; however, studies have demonstrated that the IAPP/insulin molar secretory ratio may be altered in response to certain stimuli. Because we previously demonstrated that intraislet somatostatin is an inhibitory regulator of basal insulin secretion in the isolated perfused human pancreas, this study was designed to determine the relative influence on the regulation of IAPP versus insulin secretion. Single-pass perfusion was performed in pancreata obtained from cadaveric organ donors with continuous perfusion of a modified Krebs media with the glucose level maintained at constant 3.9 mM. Intraislet somatostatin was immunoneutralized by the infusion of either a highly sensitive monoclonal somatostatin antibody (SAb) or its FAb fragment (SFAb). Sequential test periods separated by basal periods were performed by infusion of either of the following: glucose, SAb, SFAb, or appropriate controls. IAPP/insulin molar secretory ratio decreased by 33% in response to infusion of either SAb or the SFAb, respectively (p < 0.01), and decreased by 67% in response to glucose infusion (p < 0.01). An alteration of the IAPP/insulin secretory ratio is seen in response to infusion of exogenous glucose or in response to the neutralization of intraislet somatostatin.


This article proposes a new approach to managing drinking water at a regional scale, incorporating best practices related to regional development, new regionalism, regional resilience, water management, and sustainable infrastructure. The feasibility of the proposed approach was explored in two rural case study regions in Canada, where key informant interviews and focus groups were conducted with municipal, regional, and provincial officials. From a theoretical perspective, the proposed approach to managing drinking water has the potential to leverage the benefits of regionalism to address many existing challenges in rural drinking water systems by improving efficiencies, fostering collaboration, and helping to build regional resilience through an enhanced infrastructure foundation. We outline a variety of potential strategies to enhance rural drinking water systems using the proposed regional water management model. However, the appropriateness and feasibility of the approach in rural settings remains to be seen. The research reveals gaps among stakeholders in their understanding of drinking water systems generally, and further knowledge gaps associated with the potentials for the application of a regionalist approach more specifically, which hindered a more robust assessment of the approach in the case regions. The research adds to the discourse on rural regional development and provides in-depth case study findings on the potential application of regional development approaches in addressing infrastructure challenges in rural areas.


Some attitudes typically take whole persons as their objects. Shame, contempt, disgust and admiration have this feature, as do many tokens of love and hate. Objectors complain that these 'globalist attitudes' can never fit their targets and thus can never be all-things-considered appropriate. Those who dismiss all globalist attitudes in this way are misguided. The fittingness objection depends on an inaccurate view of the person-assessments at the heart of the globalist attitudes. Once we understand the nature of globalist attitudes and we recognize that we may legitimately treat some traits as more important than others in our overall evaluation of persons, we ought to conclude that our globalist attitudes can, in some cases, fit their targets and should not be summarily dismissed as unfitting. Our relationships contour the fittingness-conditions of globalist attitudes. This relational element poses a problem for fitting-attitude theories of value.


An important interplay exists between specific viral respiratory pathogens, most commonly rhinovirus (RV), and altered airway responsiveness in the development and exacerbations of asthma. Given that RV infection reportedly induces the release of various cytokines in different cell types and that the reported effects of RV on airway smooth muscle (ASM) responsiveness are highly comparable to those obtained in ASM exposed to the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1β, this study examined whether RV (serotype 16)-mediated pertubations in ASM responsiveness are mechanistically coupled to altered induced expression and action of IL-1β in RV-exposed isolated rabbit and human ASM tissue and cultured cells. Relative to control tissues, ASM inoculated with RV exhibited significantly increased maximal isometric contractility to ACh ( P < 0.01) and attenuated relaxation to isoproterenol ( P < 0.005). In extended studies, we found that 1) the RV-induced changes in ASM responsiveness were ablated by pretreating the tissues with the IL-1 recombinant human receptor antagonist; 2) in contrast to their respective controls, RV-inoculated ASM tissue and cultured cells exhibited progressively induced expression of IL-1β mRNA and elaboration of IL-1β protein at 6 and 24 h after viral exposure; and 3) the latter effect of RV was inhibited in the presence of a monoclonal antibody to intercellular adhesion molecule-1, the endogenous receptor for most RV. Collectively, these observations provide new evidence demonstrating that "pro-asthmatic-like" pertubations in agonist responsiveness elicited in RV-exposed ASM are largely attributed to the induced autologous expression and autocrine action of IL-1β in the virus-infected ASM.


Behavioral stimulants have widespread potential application in the treatment of affective disorders, disorders of vigilance, and disorders of sleep. Most behavioral stimulants, however, must be used with extreme caution because of undesirable side effects that include stereotypy, anxiolytic effects, and addiction. Adrafinil, developed in France by Louis Lafon Laboratories, is a novel pharmaceutical that has behavioral-activating effects but lacks the undesirable side effects of other stimulants. Peripheral sympathomimetic effects are also absent in subjects treated with adrafinil. Jouvet (36) introduced the term "eugrégorique" (eugregoric in English) to characterize this unique type of arousal-producing agent, but the term is not widely used in the scientific literature.1 There have not been many published studies on adrafinil, and the large majority of studies have been published in French. Human studies indicate that adrafinil has clinical efficacy as a vigilance-promoting and mood-enhancing agent in the elderly. As an area for therapeutic intervention, vigilance enhancement has received much more attention in Europe than in North America. Somewhat surprisingly, perhaps, adrafinil is known to a larger nonscientific audience, where it is considered to be a nootropic agent. The literature on modafinil, the primary metabolite of adrafinil is much more extensive. This work has largely focused on the potential application of modafinil in the treatment of sleep disorders, and modafinil has recently received regulatory approval for the treatment of narcolepsy in the United States. Since the types of clinical trials that have been conducted differ (vigilance enhancement for adrafinil vs. narcolepsy for modafinil), it is not clear whether modafinil effectively replaces adrafinil or whether the two compounds are uniquely valuable for different applications. Most investigators assume that


NATIVEPLANTS | 16 | 1 | SPRING 2015 72 Weeds of North America is possibly the most comprehensive guide available for quick identification of weedy species found in the US, Canada, and Mexico. It exceeds in scope the 350 species described in the Western Society of Weed Science publication, Weeds of the West, which has been a staple for identification of major weed species for many years. In comparison, in Weeds of North America, Dickinson and Royer list 500 species that range from those with minimal potential for acting as weeds to those that are highly invasive. Critical information on each weed species is given in the newer guide, including both a complete description of taxonomic characteristics and a short list of features that can be used for prompt identification. The inclusion of high-quality color photos of various life stages of each plant should be particularly beneficial to people who are not botanically oriented and who are not used to taxonomic keys. Perhaps the greatest innovation of Weeds of North America is its alternative system for keying out specific weed species. For identification purposes, the guide relies on a relatively simplistic system that identifies species according to major characteristics such as plant type, leaf arrangement, and flower color. There is a potential for misunderstanding the taxonomic key, however, as happened to this non-intuitive reviewer. Color tabs used in the key to categorize flower color are independent of the colors used on the face plates and banners associated with individual plant families (although some colors are used for both the key and certain plant families). The disconnect in color usage between the taxonomic key and the plant families is not immediately discernible, leading one to thumb through the plant families based on tab colors found in the key. A fuller description in the guide's introductory chapter of how the classification system is supposed to work relative to the plant family section would be beneficial in future editions.


Summary Glass-ceramics based on the mineral cordierite have good mechanical and thermal properties. They can be easily prepared from glasses whose compositions lie in the primary phase field of cordierite on the 5 % CaO plane of the CaO-MgO-SiO2-Al2O3 system. For uniform crystallization in the bulk, addition of a suitable nucleating agent is essential. The addition of 10–12 wt % of TiO2 is considered to be suitable for both ternary and quaternary glasses. During controlled heat treatment of these glasses extensive phase separation occurs. The nucleation and crystallization processes that follow have been studied by differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, and light and electron microscopy. Some of the physical and mechanical properties of these glass-ceramics have been measured.


We write before Soviet Premier Khrushchev's arrival in the United States and without any intention to try to guess what kind of reception he is likely to receive or to assess the probable impact on public opinion in this country or abroad. We are rather concerned to put the whole affair and the situation out of which it arose in historical perspective. Only in this way, it seems to us, can one avoid being continuously confused and deceived by the ebb and flow of political moods and popular fancies. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


This article on Systematic Literature Review (SLR) provides the issues and challenges faced by organizations when adopting EA.  Firstly, a review of literature that discusses the problems and challenges was undertaken.  Methods and theories adopted were reviewed to identify the existing approach and perspective on resulting factors that influenced EA adoption.  Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria defined in the review process, 16 articles were selected.  A total of 19 challenges and problems were identified such as EA misconceptions, overlapping organizational rules, unclear leadership as well as lack of business and IT alignment.  A sum of 15 factors from multidimensional contexts that influenced the EA adoption in the organization were also discussed, such as top management support, governance, communication as well as EA knowledge and skill.  This SLR also reflected that there were relatively little empirical studies conducted on EA adoption studies. The existing studies tend to apply single and multiple theories from the organization and management domains in one study.  By understanding such issues and challenges, risks can be reduced and avoided when introducing EA to organizations, and subsequently ease the deployment process. Thus, this article may shed light on understanding  the organizational-related factors and the underlying relationships of EA adoption. As a result, an effective adoption of EA can be facilitated in the organizations.


BACKGROUND
In recent years, concern has been raised over honey bee colony losses, and also among wild bees there is evidence for extinctions and range contractions in Europe and North America. Pesticides have been proposed as a potential cause of this decline. Bees are exposed simultaneously to a variety of agrochemicals, which may cause synergistically detrimental impacts, which are incompletely understood. We investigated the toxicity of the fungicide imazalil in mixture with four common insecticides: fipronil (phenylpyrazoid), cypermethrin (pyrethroid), thiamethoxam, and imidacloprid (neonicotinoids). Ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitor (EBI) fungicides like imazalil can inhibit P450 detoxification systems in insects and therefore fungicide - insecticide co-occurrence might produce synergistic toxicity in bees. We assessed the impact of dietary fungicide - insecticide mixtures on the mortality and feeding rates of laboratory bumble bees (Bombus terrestris L.).

RESULTS
Regarding mortality, imazalil synergised the toxicity of fipronil, cypermethrin and thiamethoxam, but not imidacloprid. We found no synergistic effects on feeding rates.

CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that P450-based detoxification processes are differentially important in mitigating the toxicity of certain insecticides, even those of the same chemical class. Our evidence that cocktail effects can arise in bumble bees should extend concern about the potential impacts of agrochemical mixtures to include wild bee species in farmland. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.


The purpose of this study was to determine if improvement in middle school students' oral reading fluency through the Repeated Reading technique would transfer to their reading of new material. Six dysfluent middle school students worked individually with the researcher twice a week. Each 20 minute session involved an initial recorded reading and subsequent recorded readings of a 150300 word passage, until read at a rate of 100 wordsper-minute or better. Passages were of narrative material at the subject's instructional reading level. Reading rate and word recognition accuracy were recorded graphically to enable the subject to monitor his/her progress. This process continued through six passages. A single reading of a seventh passage was then recorded. Reading rate and word recognition accuracy were compared to previous readings. Examination of the data indicated that there was no. educationally significant transference of oral reading fluency to the reading of new material for these subjects over the treatment period.


Orthogonal experimental design and flow field simulation are applied to the mechanical design reasonably in this paper. Based on the flow uniformity, design of processing chamber is completed. The results show that, SpalartAllmaras one-equation turbulence model is effective for the shear flow simulation of wall in processing chamber with a low Reynolds number; design of showerhead is critical, which directly affects the distribution of flow field inside, as well as the etching effect; the location of exhaust port under the chamber scarcely affect the distribution of wind speed nearby the substrate, so gas exhaust unit is designed in the view of mechanical, in order to make the whole processing chamber achieve the dual effect of beauty and utility.


: In addition to state-guaranteed components, NGOs and volunteers are part of a system that can be used to mitigate the eff ects of the Covid-19 epidemic and other emergencies. Non-governmental non-profi t organisations are one of the forms of interest groups and can be described as a process of uniting the interests of citizens, which, for various reasons, are not secured by the state. The aim of the paper is (a) to examine the cooperation of crisis management staff of municipalities with extended powers with non-governmental non-profi t organisations and volunteers in preparing for and solving emergencies, and (b) to fi nd out the experience and forms of cooperation of crisis management staff of municipalities with extended powers with non-governmental non-profi t organisations and volunteers in dealing with the Covid-19 epidemic in the conditions of the South Bohemian Region. The main research method was a survey in the form of questionnaires. The results of the study show that the cooperation of crisis management staff of individual municipalities with extended powers and non-governmental non-profi t organisations/volunteers in the South Bohemian Region should focus on weaknesses and threats. The strategy is characterised by trying to eliminate weaknesses and avoid threats through logical constraints or reorganisations of the system.


Network programmers can currently deploy an arbitrary set of protocols in forwarding devices through data plane programming languages such as P4. However, as any other type of software, P4 programs are subject to bugs and misconfigurations. Network verification tools have been proposed as a means of ensuring that the network behaves as expected, but these tools frequently face severe scalability issues. In this paper, we argue for a novel approach to this problem. Rather than statically inspecting a network configuration looking for bugs, we propose to enforce networking properties at runtime. To this end, we developed P4box, a system for deploying runtime monitors in programmable data planes. P4box allows programmers to easily express a broad range of properties (both program-specific and network-wide). Moreover, we provide an automated framework based on assertions and symbolic execution for ensuring monitor correctness. Our experiments on a SmartNIC show that P4box monitors represent a small overhead to network devices in terms of latency, throughput and power consumption.


A new route to phosphines was developed by a method that features a "pre-join and transform" process that proceeds via acylphosphine intermediates that may be readily prepared from carboxylic acids and disubstituted phosphines. The efficient decarbonylations of these acylphosphines using a nickel catalyst delivered the corresponding phosphines. This method shows that the carboxyl group can play a role similar to halides or triflates for introducing a substituted phosphorus atom on an aromatic ring.


A β-catenin expression signature is associated with primary resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) (McWeeney et al. 2010), but its role in TKI resistance is not completely understood. To assess the role of β-catenin in TKI resistance, we used shRNA targeting β-catenin (shβcat) in in vitro models of BCR-ABL1 kinase-independent resistance. To model resistance in the absence of bone marrow (BM)-derived factors, we used TKI-resistant K562R cells that are adapted for growth in the presence of imatinib, as well as primary CD34+ progenitors from CML patients who had failed treatment with two or more TKIs. These cells are cultured in regular medium (RM), proliferate in 1.0-2.5 μM imatinib, and exhibit β-catenin expression that is independent of BCR-ABL1 kinase activity. To model resistance mediated by the BM microenvironment, we cultured TKI-sensitive parental K562 cells and CD34+ progenitors from newly diagnosed CML patients in direct contact (DC) with HS-5 BM stromal cells. HS-5 co-culture increases β-catenin protein levels and clonogenic potential by >3-fold despite continued suppression of BCR-ABL1 kinase activity. All cells lack BCR-ABL1 kinase domain mutations and undergo TKI-mediated kinase inhibition as detected by immunoblot analyses.

CML cell lines and primary cells with BCR-ABL1-independent resistance were lentivirally transduced with shβcat or a scrambled control (shSCR), and knockdown was confirmed by immunoblot and/or qRT-PCR. In RM, shβcat reduced the clonogenicity of TKI-sensitive K562 cells and CD34+ cells from newly diagnosed CML patients by 49% and 39%, respectively, compared to shSCR controls. In TKI-resistant K562R cells and CD34+ cells from TKI-resistant CML patients, shβcat reduced clonogenicity by 60% and 50%, respectively, in the presence or absence of imatinib (0-10 μM), suggesting a role for β-catenin in the development or maintenance of TKI resistance. In contrast to cells grown in RM, clonogenicity of cell lines and patient samples cultured in HS-5 DC was unaffected by shβcat compared to imatinib alone. Immunoblot analyses revealed that β-catenin protein levels were fully restored in HS-5 DC, despite the continued presence of shβcat. qRT-PCR revealed that while cells in HS-5 DC have high amounts of β-catenin protein, the mRNA levels remained similar to shβcat-expressing cells cultured in RM, consistent with post-translational stabilization of β-catenin. Importantly, increased β-catenin was not observed when cells were cultured in HS-5 conditioned medium, indicating that stabilization requires DC with the bone marrow stroma. These data are consistent with a role for β-catenin in TKI resistance mediated by DC with the BM microenvironment, similar to a recent report (Zhang et al., 2013).

To understand nuclear versus cytoplasmic distribution following HS-5 DC, CD34+ cells from newly diagnosed CML patients were cultured in RM or HS-5 DC for 36 hours and analyzed for β-catenin localization by immunfluorescence. As expected, cells cultured in RM had low levels of β-catenin in the nucleus and cytoplasm that decreased upon treatment with imatinib (2.5 μM). In contrast, cells cultured in HS-5 DC had a marked increase of β-catenin that was unaffected by treatment with imatinib. While detectable in the nucleus, the majority of β-catenin protein was localized in the cytoplasm and at the cell membrane, consistent with its role in cell-cell junctions. Accordingly, in CD34+ cells from newly diagnosed CML patients, an N-cadherin blocking antibody impaired the clonogenic potential of cells cultured in HS-5 DC, with no significant effect on cells grown in RM. Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0 ST arrays revealed high levels of genes encoding the CDH2 and CDH13 cadherins, which may be involved in N-cadherin-mediated β-catenin stabilization, even in the presence of shβcat. Preliminary data also suggests that HS-5 DC reduces luciferase reporter activity from a construct harboring sequential β-catenin binding elements (pGF1-Lef/Tcf-eFGP-luc), further supporting a role for cytoplasmic β-catenin in TKI resistance. These data demonstrate a critical role for β-catenin in BCR-ABL1 kinase-independent TKI resistance, and suggest new strategies for targeting TKI resistance in the absence of BCR-ABL1 kinase domain mutations.

Disclosures: Deininger: Bristol-Myers Squibb: Advisory Boards Other, Consultancy, Research Funding; Ariad Pharmaceuticals: Advisory Boards, Advisory Boards Other, Consultancy; Novartis: Advisory Boards, Advisory Boards Other, Consultancy, Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; Gilead Sciences: Research Funding.


Introduction: Female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is often treated surgically. Urethral bulking agents are a minimally invasive alternative, especially in patients suffering from intrinsic sphincter deficiency, but often with limited long-term efficacy. Urolastic® is a non-deformable, non-resorbable silicone elastomer that is used as an injectable. Its properties might result in a more durable response after injection. If this durability factor can be combined with a low complication rate, this can become a useful treatment option. We therefore assessed the subjective improvement and safety after treatment with Urolastic®. Materials and Methods: In 2 Dutch hospitals, 65 patients were treated with Urolastic®. The subjective improvement was assessed and the medical charts were reviewed for complications that appeared during the follow-up period. The complications were classified using the Clavien-Dindo classification. Results: We found that 76-88% of the patients showed subjective improvement at 12-25 months follow-up. The rate of improvement experienced was 50-70%. The rate of complications classified as Clavien-Dindo >II was 24-33%. The 12 patients with 75-100% subjective improvement after 2 months, showed 85% improvement after a median of 25 months. Conclusions: With careful patient selection, Urolastic® seems to be a safe, durable and effective treatment option for female SUI.


Numerical studies are carried out to investigate the liquid‐lubricated herringbone‐grooved journal bearings (HGJBs) performance (such as the pressure and cavitation distribution, load capacity and attitude angle, stability, etc.). Symmetrical and non‐symmetrical HGJBs are studied, respectively, and the herringbone grooves' influence on the stability of HGJBs is analyzed carefully. It was found that the maximum pressure and load capacity increase with the increase of eccentricity ratio while the attitude angle decreases with the increase of eccentricity ratio. The cavitation may occur in the fluid film of journal bearings while the eccentricity ratio increases to some critical value. The area of cavitated region increases with the increase of the eccentricity ratio. For non‐symmetrical HGJBs, the pressure and cavitation distribution is asymmetrical oo.


Genome-wide physical and genetic mapping efforts have not yet fully addressed the problem of closure at the telomeric ends of human chromosomes. Targeted efforts at cloning human and mouse telomeres have succeeded in identifying unique sequences at most telomeres, but gap sizes between these telomere clones and the distal markers on integrated genetic/physical maps remain largely unknown. As telomeric regions are known to be the most gene-rich regions of the human genome, filling these gaps should have a high priority in completion of the Human Genome Project. We reported previously a first generation set of unique sequence probes for human telomeric regions. Of 41 human telomere regions, 33 were represented by unique clones with a known distance (</= 300 kb) from the end of the chromosome; clones for the remaining eight telomeric regions had not yet been identified and were represented by the most distal markers on the integrated genetic/physical map. We have identified unique telomere clones for four of the remaining telomeres, 9p, 12p, 15q, and 16p. To determine the telomeric gap size for these chromosomes and five other human telomeres, interphase FISH analysis was performed to measure the distance between each telomere clone and the corresponding most distal marker. These studies provide distance estimates ranging from <100 kb to >1 Mb, thus defining the physical mapping task for filling telomeric gaps.


Despite the enormous success of graph neural networks (GNNs), most existing GNNs can only be applicable to undirected graphs where relationships among connected nodes are two-way symmetric (i.e., information can be passed back and forth). However, there is a vast amount of applications where the information flow is asymmetric, leading to directed graphs where information can only be passed in one direction. For example, a directed edge indicates that the information can only be conveyed forwardly from the start node to the end node, but not backwardly. To accommodate such an asymmetric structure of directed graphs within the framework of GNNs, we propose a simple yet remarkably effective framework for directed graph analysis to incorporate such one-way information passing. We define an incoming embedding and an outgoing embedding for each node to model its sending and receiving features respectively. We further develop two steps in our directed GNN model with the first one to aggregate/update the incoming features of nodes and the second one to aggregate/update the outgoing features. By imposing the two roles for each node, the likelihood of a directed edge can be calculated based on the outgoing embedding of the start node and the incoming embedding of the end node. The log-likelihood of all edges plays a natural role of regularization for the proposed model, which can alleviate the over-smoothing problem of the deep GNNs. Extensive experiments on multiple real-world directed graphs demonstrate outstanding performances of the proposed model in both node-level and graph-level tasks.


Introduction: Clavicle fracture is a common traumatic injury around shoulder girdle due to its subcutaneous position. It is caused by either lowenergy or highenergy impact. Fracture of the clavicle accounts for approximately 5 to 10% of all fractures and up to 44% of injuries to the shoulder girdle. About 80% of these fractures are in the middle third of the bone and less often in the lateral third (15%) and medial third (8%). Aims and Objectives: To study the role of open reduction and internal fixation in clavicular fractures by single Lag Screw Fixation as surgical procedures over middle 1/3 fracture clavicle, clinically evaluate the results, discuss merits and demerits of surgical procedures, and finally draw conclusions of overall study. Methodology: The present study was carried out from July2012 to April 2014 at Department of Orthopedics, Career Institute of Medical Sciences &Hospital, Lucknow. During these period 28 patients of clavicular fractures at middle third region, Type2 B1and B2 was treated surgically by using Cannulated Lag Screw. Adult male and female patients above 18 years who require surgical intervention for displaced and comminution fracture. Those with Lateral third and medial third fracture were excluded from present procedure. Results and Observations: we had 28 cases of middle third clavicle fracture which were fixed by single cannulated Cancellous Lag screw. Postoperatively patients were given only arm sling and from next day they were encouraged swing exercises. The functional outcome is assessed by Constant and Murley score. In this study most patients had excellent functional range in less than 8 weeks. For 8 patients with comminuted fracture, immobilization in Arm sling was preferred more than 8 weeks with gentle mobilization exercises. Clavicle fracture fixed with cannulated screw Lag fixation had fairly excellent functional outcome in term of recovery time and cost effective with fairly least complication. Conclusion: Clavicle fractures are usually treated conservatively but there are specific indications for which operative treatment is needed like comminuted, displaced middle third clavicle fractures and displaced lateral third clavicle fracture. In this study primary open reduction and internal fixation with Cannulated screws of fresh middle third clavicle fractures provides a more rigid fixation and does not require immobilization for longer periods. In this study, Dynamic compression was achieved by Lag effect provided by single cannulated Cancellous screw is strong and it does not gives excessive prominence through the skin as usually it is prominent when Plate is used. For displaced, comminuted middle third clavicle fracture Cannulated screws fixation and early mobilization gave excellent results. This method of fixation is easier to perform, cost effective, least chance of complications with good functional recovery.


A novel approach towards the optimisation of a network of fixed multistatic sonar sensors is described. The scenario of interest is the deployment of a fixed network of multistatic sonar sensors at sea, to detect a transiting submarine threat. The study considers that any optimisation of sensor positions must account for an assumed level of threat intelligence. A worst-case threat with complete knowledge of the network is modelled using the A* path planning algorithm. This provides a measure of the performance of a given network configuration against a worst-case, most intelligent, threat. However, the implied assumption of complete knowledge of sensor positions is unrealistic. An important advantage of a multistatic network is the inability of the threat to counter-detect, and thereby determine the position of, the receiving nodes. In order to address this problem, and to account for a more realistic threat with incomplete knowledge of sensor positions, a game theoretic approach is described.


Shoreline protection is, along with general habitat protection, the only directly applicable conservation act for shorelines in Sweden. The purpose of shoreline protection is to safeguard the public's recreational access to shoreline areas and protect flora and fauna. Sweden has had general shoreline protection since 1975, and in many municipalities the shoreline protection is extended. Svedala municipality has extended shoreline protection around seven lakes. In 2009 the Swedish shoreline protection law was renewed, placing responsibility for granting exemption from shoreline protection with the municipalities, and existing decisions regarding extended shoreline protection had to be revisited. This study uses orthophotos to examine how land is used today, and how the use of land surrounding the eleven of the largest lakes in Svedala municipality has changed since the 1940s. Additionally, the study explores how Svedala has handled decisions of exemption from shoreline protection and the need for extended shoreline protection in Svedala based on the need to protect flora and fauna. Results show that today's land use is mostly agriculture and residential buildings. Exploitation is relatively small within the shoreline-protected areas, and exploitation of land has mostly occurred within already existing lots and property zones. In total, only five new residential buildings have been added to the shoreline-protected areas since the 1940s. The most common types of exploitations are new docks and complement buildings. Since 2009, Svedala has processed few applications for exemption from shoreline protection, all in all seven applications. Thus, are the number of exemptions too few to provide any material for identifying trends. A great diversity of habitats important to preservation of biodiversity is found in the shoreline areas of the studied lakes. These environmental values weighted with the results of this study shows that extended shoreline protection is motivated around the lakes in Svedala. (Less)


The molecular clock hypothesis, stating that protein sequences diverge in evolution by accumulating amino acid substitutions at an almost constant rate, played a major role in the development of molecular evolution and boosted quantitative theories of evolutionary change. These studies were extended to protein structures by the seminal paper by Chothia and Lesk, which established the approximate proportionality between structure and sequence divergence. Here we analyse how function influences the relationship between sequence and structure divergence, studying four large superfamilies of evolutionarily related proteins: globins, aldolases, P‐loop and NADP‐binding. We introduce the contact divergence, which is more consistent with sequence divergence than previously used structure divergence measures. Our main findings are: (1) Small structure and sequence divergences are proportional, consistent with the molecular clock. Approximate validity of the clock is also supported by the analysis of the clustering coefficient of structure similarity networks. (2) Functional constraints strongly limit the structure divergence of proteins performing the same function and may allow to identify incomplete or wrong functional annotations. (3) The rate of structure versus sequence divergence is larger for proteins performing different functions than for proteins performing the same function. We conjecture that this acceleration is due to positive selection for new functions. Accelerations in structure divergence are also suggested by the analysis of the clustering coefficient. (4) For low sequence identity, structural diversity explodes. We conjecture that this explosion is related to functional diversification. (5) Large indels are almost always associated with function changes. Proteins 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Clarifying what Karl Marx thought of the role of cooperatives is useful, not to receive the "correct" answer to what that role will be, but to help think through what alternatives answers might be and how they might color today's expectations of the cooperative movement. If one sees a non-capitalist or socialist organization of society as ultimately desirable, then how should we answer the following questions in the present day: (1) Are co-ops in production, worker-owned enterprises, desirable experimental improvements to the organization of production over standard capitalist practices, in the direction of immediate social welfare? (2) Are such co-ops in production also little islands of a different future, models of socialism within a capitalist society? (3) Are they beachheads of socialism, politically practical steps along the road to bringing forth such a possible alternative society? (4) Will they ultimately also be the foundations of such a society, if it develops? (5) All in all, what is their importance, their role, in daily struggles?This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


Abstract Performance information and performance management are usually seen as tools to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of different public-policy programs. Performance management is a hot topic in the post-NPM discourse, however most of the debate is centered on the Western European and Anglo-Saxon models of measurement and evaluation of public services. This paper examines how a Central European country with a strong Rechtsstaat tradition can adapt to the use of performance management, and what patterns we can identify in the actual manifestations of measurement and use of data. The authors argue that even though performance management is not known in Hungary as per defined in the academic literature, there are signs on the ground that PM ideology and actual use are gaining traction in every field of public services, both in central and local governments.


This Masters Research offers uses new data analysis techniques to address intra-firm data segmented by business and geography for an industry specific set of firms. It tests whether oil and gas firms are global in their operations and hence sales to/revenues from consumers. Rugman and Verbeke (2004) suggest firms demonstrate a preference for local over global strategies when investing abroad and Rugman (2005) augments this theoretical position with industry level analysis and firm level case studies. They make a quantitative analysis of geographic revenue dispersion for 500 firms and find results supporting regional theories.

The analysis takes nine years of data as a longitudinal panel data set that offers, for the first time, trend data analysis into the debate around global versus local strategies. Corporate finance theory informs selection of performance proxies that recover 'missing' observations but high regional focus in revenues is again found in the numerical majority of firms. 67% of
weighted total firm revenue for FY2008 is intra-regional, as suggested by Rugman (2005).

This extended data now shows new global and bi-regional cases, a variation in comparative global focus across the value chain for the largest oil and gas firms and movement away from home country and region. Modelling using this new data shows no support for the existence of multiple-order regression equations linking regionalism to firm performance. No correlation is found between oil price, performance and multi-nationality for these firms but there is an inverse correlation between multi-nationality and revenue. This suggests that extant theories of decreased performance against increased scale are not evidenced in this specific industry and hence suggests that both size and history do matter.


There are approximately sixty thousand bridges throughout the US identified with unknown foundations, which results in serious problems for evaluating the bridges' current state of risk, particularly due to scour. This paper presents results of a soft-computing model to determine the depth of unknown bridge foundations based on the use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) trained on data collected from foundation design and inspection records. This approach allows for correlating between the depth of foundation and a series of parameters associated with the bearing capacity and foundation design of bridges. A case study is presented based on a pilot project considering existing bridges from the TX-DOT Bryan District. Some of the conditioning parameters considered for the ANN training includes structure, material type of bridges, soil properties, type and amount of loading, among others. A supervised learning algorithm is applied to train multilayer neural network models using information from bridges where full records were available.


The objective of this study was to explore the possibilities for using computerized adaptive testing in situations in which examinees are to be classified into one of three categories. Testing algorithms with two different statistical computation procedures are described and evaluated. The first computation procedure is based on statistical testing and the other on statistical estimation. Item selection methods based on maximum information (MI) considering content and exposure control are considered. The measurement quality of the proposed testing algorithms is reported. The results of the study are that a reduction of at least 22% in the mean number of items can be expected in a computerized adaptive test (CAT) compared to an existing paper-and-pencil placement test. Furthermore, statistical testing is a promising alternative to statistical estimation. Finally, it is concluded that imposing constraints on the MI selection strategy does not negatively affect the quality of the testing algorithms.


Agropyron is one of the most resistant plants to bi otic and abiotic stresses. It has important role to produce forage yield in rangelands. Genetic vari ability based on different markers is the important step in crop improvement. In order to eva luate the genetic variation of different Agropyron species based on morphological, chemical ans karyotipic traits this experiment were carried out in the Agriculture and Natural Resource s Research Centre of Kermanshah. The tiller numbers, spike length, spikelet numbers, length of flag leaf, width of flag leaf, plant height, peduncle length, ash percentage, organic matter, fi ber, dry matter, fat and crud protein, TF%, Mean Chromosome length, Chromatin length and C.V. w ere registered. Statistical analysis of data was done by SPSS software. The diploid, tetrap loid, hexaploid and octaploid level were observed. According to cluster analysis the tetrapl oid genotypes were classified into 5 clusters. Based on principal components analysis the length o f flag leaf, spike length and plant height, hence among the chemical traits the ash percentage, organic matter and crude protein had highest portion of variance. The genetic parameters such as PCV, GCV, ECV, Hb and Ga for different traits were estimated .


This paper is concerned with the development of a novel color image thresholding technique using fuzzy thresholding and Dempster-Shaferpsilas theory based fusion. The color bands of a given image are fuzzified by means of a fuzzy thresholding technique which uses an S-shape membership function and a linear index of fuzziness based fuzzy measure. The resulting fuzzy maps are used to determine the mass functions of the hypotheses representing the classes for each pixel. These hypotheses are then combined using the orthogonal sum rule of the Dempster-Shafer theory to compute the final threshold map. The results show that the proposed algorithm yields a superior performance to its counterpart methods which are based on crisp and fuzzy techniques.


The effects of the strength of the tube end restraint material on the deflagration to detonation transition (DDT) of an explosive, were assessed, using coaxial ionization probes. An 8701 charge was employed as a model explosive, together with #45 steel, aluminum and nylon tube end caps. The appearance of a DDT was determined based on the indentation of a steel witness plate as well as the recovery of tube fragments and the extent of perforation of a wooden target. The experimental results show that the detonation wave velocity determined by the ionization probe method remained constant when varying the end restraint materials, and that the inducing detonation distances associated with using steel, aluminum and nylon as end caps were 4.2, 5.2 and 6.2 times the charge diameter. Thus stronger end restraints, increased the degree of reaction of the explosive as well as the tendency to undergo a DDT.


This article comments on the recent Kravica judgment of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which relates to the mass execution of over 1,000 Bosniaks after the fall of Srebrenica. The judgment relies extensively on the case law of the ad hoc tribunals, at times contributing towards its development. The Court dismissed JCE liability, holding that the accused were mere tools implementing the common plan. It convicted six foot soldiers for co-perpetrating genocide, developing an original test to infer their genocidal intent. Furthermore, it convicted their commander for genocide on the basis of command responsibility, taking a questionable stance regarding his mens rea. The Court declined to state wether the law requires a commander to be simply aware of his subordinate's specific intent, or to share that intent. This approach was justified on the assertion that the higher test was in any event met in this case. In an effort to prove it was so, the Court engaged in an unconvincing reasoning purporting to infer genocidal intent from the commander's omissive conduct.


Background and purpose: Advanced CT perfusion (CTP) imaging can estimate the size of the ischemic core, which can be used for selection of patients for endovascular therapy. The relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) and cerebral blood flow (rCBF) thresholds chosen to identify ischemic core influence the accuracy of prediction. The purpose of this study was to analyze the accuracy of various rCBV and rCBF thresholds for predicting 27 hour infarct volume using RAPID automated analysis software. Methods: Patients from the SWIFT PRIME study with baseline and 27 hour follow-up CT perfusion scans were included if they had complete reperfusion based on Tmax>6s perfusion maps obtained at 27 hours. Patients from both the tPA and endovascular groups were included. Infarct volume was determined on MRI (FLAIR images) or CT scans obtained 27 hours after symptom onset. The predicted ischemic core volume on rCBV and rCBF maps using thresholds ranging between 0.2 and 0.8 was compared with the actual infarct volume to determine the most accurate thresholds. Results: Among the 47 subjects, the following baseline CTP thresholds most accurately predicted the actual 27 hour infarct volume: rCBV=0.34 (Median absolute error (MAE)=11.5 ml); rCBV=0.36, MAE=9.9 ml; rCBV=0.4, MAE=12.5 ml; rCBF=0.3, MAE=8.8 ml; rCBF=0.32, MAE=7.3; and rCBF=0.34, MAE=7.8. Conclusions: Brain regions with rCBF ≤ .32 or rCBV ≤ .36 provided the most accurate prediction of infarct volume in patients who achieved complete reperfusion with median absolute errors less than 10 ml. Our data support the value of automated image analysis software as a tool for accurate prediction of ischemic core lesion volume.


A 3-D temperature model for diversion tunnel was developed by combining k-e model and energy transport equation. The actual geometry data of the tunnel was used to construct a three-dimensional computational domain including the concrete lining. As the interaction between temperature and velocity fields can be taken into account, the model can be employed to accurately simulate the temperature and velocity field. The model was validated with the field data observed in the diversion tunnel of the Nanya River. The water temperature of the diversion tunnel of the Second Jinping Cascade Hydropower Station to be built was predicted. It is shown that the temperature increase is not observable due to the large diameter of the tunnel, the big flow rate and the short contact time. The result can provide scientific foundation or reference for the design of hydropower station, and protection strategy of aquatic organisms and aquatic ecosystem.


This paper mainly concerns with the modeling and stability problem of wireless networked control system (WNCS) with multi-delay over multipath channel. In order to construct a more practical wireless transmission model, multi-delay in different channels are considered respectively. Then, a simple stability criterion with a state feedback controller of WNCS is given with Lyapunov method. At last, the simulation result is given to shown its validity.


This article presents some evidence of the non-linear and inverse relationship between the share prices on the Bogotá stock market and the interest rate as measured by the interbank loan interest rate, which is to some extent affected by monetary policy. The model captures the stylized fact on this market of high dependence of returns in short periods of time. These findings do not support any efficiency on the main stock market in Colombia. Evidence of a non-constant equity premium is also found. The article uses daily data from January 1994 up to February 2000.


The aim is to explore aesthetic experiences in sport and how people – in this case a marathon runner – are 'bodying' the world aesthetically as part of their participation in sport. Aesthetic experiences in sport are mostly lived through the senses of the body, and even if there is a need to focus on people making sense of bodily movements, there is still the problem of transforming bodily movements and aesthetic experiences into words. In order to try to bridge this gap we suggest that a professional author could have tools for fruitfully articulation of non-linguistic aspects of corporeal existence in words. We therefore use a memoir What I talk about when I talk about running, written by the author and marathon runner Haruki Murakami, as empirical data in order to explore aesthetic experiences in sport through narratives of what we term aesthetic events. Using a practical epistemology analysis, a tool developed for analysing meaning-making, the study shows that aesthetic experiences during the act of running involve different ways of 'bodying' the world in transaction. The major theme is moving and the importance of keeping moving and the two minor themes are moving across a race and moving along the continuum of physical capacity. The study shows how aesthetic experiences play a part of meaning-making and in fulfilling the purposes of running. The study accordingly contributes to a discussion about meaning-making in sport in a non-dualistic manner where emotional aspects of experiences can be taken into account.


Objective: This study on attachment in children with recurrent asthmatic bronchitis and their mothers addresses three issues. The first aim was to test whether children affected by recurrent asthmatic bronchitis more often display an insecure pattern of attachment in comparison with healthy children. The second aim was to verify whether the distribution of adult attachment representations in the mothers of children affected by recurrent asthmatic bronchitis is different from the one shown by the mothers of the healthy comparison group. The third aim was to investigate intergenerational transmission of attachment. Methods: Sixty Italian children, aged between 2 and 5 years, and their mothers participated in the study. The Adult Attachment Interview and the Attachment Q‐Sort were used to assess, respectively, the security of mothers' attachment representations and of mother‐child attachment. Results. Children affected by recurrent asthmatic bronchitis appeared to be less secure in comparison with healthy children. Their mothers showed a higher percentage of insecure attachment representations. Finally, the intergenerational transmission of attachment was not influenced by the preclinical condition of the children. Conclusions: We propose a model of genetic and social transmission of insecure attachments in families struggling with asthma.


It first occurred to me some thirty years ago that Shenzhou 神州, translated "continent of the gods," was a perfect way of talking about "China in the Daoist mirror." It made it possible to think of China as a series of concentric spaces, going from the self to the cosmos, all structured in the same away around nodal points occupied by gods. Because it revealed a dense organization at every level, this space-based approach led me as well to call into question the classic distinction between "diffused" and "organized" religion. Subsequent work, both historical and in the field, gradually enabled me to see this as a long evolutionary history which begins with elite attacks on spirit-medium religion in the Warring States and culminates with the emergence of popular religion in the Song. This religion includes popular versions of the Three Teachings, but it is built around the local, anthropomorphic gods whose primary task was the protection of bounded territory and whose natural servants were the ever-maligned spirit-mediums.


For part II see ibid., vol.9, p.1833 (1994). Total growth rate and composition data of Si1-(x+y)GexBy thin films grown from silane, germane, diborane and hydrogen gas mixtures at 550 degrees C and 30 Pa (Murota J, Yoshida T, Goto K, Maeda T, Aitawa K and Sawada Y 1993 J. Physique IV Coll. C3 suppl. J. Physique II 3 427) are subject of a re-examination. Data are interpreted on the background of the previously developed 'three partial rates' model. As a result low-level boron doping (NB<5*1020 cm-3) during Si/Ge chemical vapour deposition is shown to be dominated by the increase of total layer growth rate due to the increase of the germane content of the gas phase up to about 60 at.% of germanium in the film. In consequence the boron content decreases down to about ten times less than that obtained in pure silicon films deposited without germane in the reaction gas mixture. In the range above 60 at.% of germanium in the film the boron content is nearly constant because the boron incorporation flux increases and the increase of total layer growth rate due to the increase of germane partial pressure is less steep. Total layer growth rate can be described in a first approach by neglecting the presence of diborane in the gas phase as well as that of boron in the film.


Purpose The purpose of this paper is to document the need for implementing a fall prevention strategy in an emergency department (ED). The paper also spells out the research process that led to approving an assessment tool for use in hospital outpatient services. Design/methodology/approach The fall risk assessment tool was based on the Morse Fall Scale. Gender mix and age above 65 and 80 years were assessed on six risk assessment variables using χ2 analyses. A logistic regression analysis and model were used to test predictor strength and relationships among variables. Findings In total, 5,371 (56.5 percent) geriatric outpatients were deemed to be at fall risk during the study. Women have a higher falls incidence in young and old age categories. Being on medications for patients above 80 years exposed both genders to equal fall risks. Regression analysis explained 73-98 percent of the variance in the six-variable tool. Originality/value Canadian quality and safe healthcare accreditation standards require that hospital staff develop and adhere to fall prevention policies. Anticipated physiological falls can be prevented by healthcare interventions, particularly with older people known to bear higher risk factors. An aging population is increasing healthcare volumes and medical challenges. Precautionary measures for patients with a vulnerable cognitive and physical status are essential for quality care.


Background: Estrogen deficiency following menopause creates an imbalance in plasma micronutrient resulting in several degenerative pathological conditions, including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, etc. Objectives: The present study was designed to compare zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), and selenium (Se) concentrations between premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Methods: In this descriptive study a total of 200 participants were classified into two groups of postmenopausal (age range: 46-75 years, served as experimental) and premenopausal (age range: 30-45 years, served as control). Each group consisted of 100 subjects. After obtaining informed consent from all participants, blood samples were collected from the antecubital fossa vein of each participant by venipuncture. The concentrations of Fe, Zn, and Se in each blood sample were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Results: No significant difference (P>0.05) was observed in serum Fe (114.24 ± 26.79 µg/dL), Zn (83.11 ± 20.45 µg/dL), and Se (41.99 ± 9.78 µg/dL) levels between the control and experimental groups. However, serum Fe and Zn showed progressive significant (P=0.04, 0.03, respectively) increase with increasing postmenopausal age. Conversely, serum Se concentration decreased significantly (P=0.03) with increasing menopausal age. Conclusion: Although no significant difference was observed in serum levels of Fe, Zn, and Se between pre- and post-menopausal women, the progressive significant increase in the serum Fe and Zn levels as well as significant decrease in serum Se level with advancing post-menopausal age portend a great risk.