Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during recognition tasks for line drawings (items) or for both drawings and their spatial locations (sources). Recognized drawings elicited more positive ERPs than new drawings. Independent of accuracy in the spatial judgment, the old/new effect in the source recognition task was larger over the prefrontal scalp, and of longer temporal duration than in the item recognition task, suggesting that the source memory task engaged a qualitatively distinct memory process. More posterior scalp sites were sensitive to the accuracy of the source judgment, but this effect was delayed relative to the difference between studied and unstudied drawings, suggesting that source memory processes are completed after item recognition. Similarities and differences between spatial source memory and memory for conjunctions of other stimulus attributes are discussed, together with the role of prefrontal cortex in memory.


We present a 5 MSample/s current steering digital-to-analog converter which has a programmable resolution between 8 bit, 10 bit and 12 bit. A selectable 2-D unary matrix architecture and a resolution programmable decoder are proposed for the resolution programmability. The proposed current steering digital-to-analog converter is implemented in a 22 nm FD-SOI (Fully Depleted Silicon-on-Insulator) CMOS technology. The simulation verifications of the CS-DAC at three resolution modes are made. The maximum DNL of 0.06 LSB is obtained at 8 bit resolution modes, and the maximum INL (Integral Non-Linearity) of 0.53 LSB is obtained at 12 bit resolution modes. The minimum SFDR (Spurious-Free Dynamic Range) of 47.93 dBc is obtained at 8 bit resolution mode.


Abstract : On February 19, 1980, and March 10, 1980, Mr. Robert B. Pirie, Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower, Reserve Affairs, and Logistics) presented the Department of Defense (DoD) Manpower Overview Statement to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, respectively. In it, Mr. Pirie informed the Committees that he had learned that there are problems with the norms of the DoD enlistment eligibility test, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). Norms are simply conversion tables that tie a test's raw scores to some known reference population. Raw scores on a test are by themselves meaningless. They must be 'normed' against the scores of a standardization sample. In the case of the ASVAB, the norms allow DoD to track the 'mental ability' of its enlistments across time in order to determine the relative quality of new recruits. If the norms are inaccurately translating raw scores to standard scores, then DoD would not be able to evaluate the quality of its new recruits against the quality of those who had served in the past. For that reason, it is imperative that the test norms be accurate. Since Mr. Pirie's testimony, there has been widespread interest in the ASVAB and its norms. This report presents the history of the test including discussions of its development, norming, and implementation.


ABSTRACT Here we first identified a novel pyridazinone derivative, compound 3711, as a nonnucleosidic hepatitis B virus (HBV) inhibitor in a cell model system. 3711 decreased extracellular HBV DNA levels by 50% (50% inhibitory concentration [IC50]) at 1.5 ± 0.2 μM and intracellular DNA levels at 1.9 ± 0.1 μM, which demonstrated antiviral activity at levels far below those associated with toxicity. Both the 3TC/ETV dually resistant L180M/M204I mutant and the adefovir (ADV)-resistant A181T/N236T mutant were as susceptible to 3711 as wild-type HBV. 3711 treatment induced the formation of genome-free capsids, a portion of which migrated faster on 1.8% native agarose gel. The induced genome-free capsids sedimented more slowly in isopycnic CsCl gradient centrifugation without significant morphological changes. 3711 treatment decreased levels of HBV DNA contained in both secreted enveloped virion and naked virus particles in supernatant. 3711 could interfere with capsid formation of the core protein (Cp) assembly domain. A Cp V124W mutant, which strengthens capsid interdimer interactions, recapitulated the effect of 3711 on capsid assembly. Pyridazinone derivative 3711, a novel chemical entity and HBV inhibitor, may provide a new opportunity to combat chronic HBV infection.


Mobile loops located at the active site entrance in enzymes often participate in conformational changes required to shield the reaction from bulk solvent, to control the access of the substrate to the active site, and to position residues for substrate binding and catalysis. In d-arginine dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PaDADH), previous crystallographic data suggested that residues 45-47 in the FAD-binding domain and residues 50-56 in the substrate-binding domain in loop L1 could adopt two distinct conformations. In this study, we have used molecular dynamics, kinetics, and fluorescence spectroscopy on the S45A and A46G enzyme variants of PaDADH to investigate the impact of mutations in loop L1 on the catalytic function of the enzyme. Molecular dynamics showed that the mutant enzymes have probabilities of being in open conformations that are higher than that of wild-type PaDADH of loop L1, yielding an increased level of solvent exposure of the active site. In agreement, the flavin fluorescence intensity was ∼2-fold higher in the S45A and A46G enzymes than in wild-type PaDADH, with a 9 nm bathochromic shift of the emission band. In the variant enzymes, the kcat/Km values with d-arginine were ∼13-fold lower than in wild-type PaDADH. Moreover, the pH profiles for the kcat value with d-arginine showed a hollow, consistent with restricted proton movements in catalysis, and no saturation was achieved with the alternate substrate d-leucine in the reductive half-reaction of the variant enzymes. Taken together, the computational and experimental data are consistent with the dynamics of loop L1 being important for substrate capture and catalysis in PaDADH.


Abstract Economic agents are aware of incurring a loss in basing their decisions on their own extrapolations instead of on sound statistical data, but this loss may be smaller than the one related to waiting for the dissemination of the final data. Broad guidelines on deciding when statistical offices should release preliminary and final estimates of the key statistics may come from comparing the loss attached to users' predictions with the loss associated to possible preliminary estimates from incomplete samples. Furthermore, the cost of delaying decisions may support the dissemination of very early estimates of economic indicators, even if their accuracy is not fully satisfactory from a strict statistical viewpoint. Analysing the vintages of releases of quarterly Euro area GDP supports the view that even very inefficient predictions may beat some official preliminary releases of GDP, suggesting that the current calendar of data dissemination requires some adjustment. In particular, actual "flash" estimates could be anticipated, while some later intermediate releases are likely less informative for the users.


Our paper presents an improved numerical scheme to simulate Single Well Chemical Tracer Test (SWCTT) method. SWCTT is mainly applied to determine the residual oil saturation of reservoirs. It consists in injecting an aqueous slug of a primary tracer into the reservoir formation and displacing it at a certain distance from the well. This tracer is partly miscible with oil on the one hand, and generates in situ a secondary tracer on the other hand. As a consequence, a shift is observed between the primary and the secondary tracers arrival times when production is resumed. This time shift is used to evaluate the residual oil saturation. In our paper, we propose a numerical scheme based on a fractional time stepping technique to decouple the resolution of the phases mass conservation equations and the chemical tracers mole conservation equations. For the phases resolution, we use an implicit scheme to ensure stability and robustness. For the chemical tracers, we propose an explicit second-order scheme in time and in space via MUSCL technique to improve the tracers time-shift calculation. The proposed numerical method is implemented on a realistic simulation model consisting of a vertical well crossing a reservoir consisting of a stack of homogeneous layers. By reducing the numerical dispersion, the proposed scheme improves the accuracy of predicted concentration profiles, without significantly increasing the computation time. Finally, the advantages of using a second-order scheme for residual oil saturation assessment are discussed on the basis of a radial 1D mesh convergence study.


Presently Earth observation (EO) satellites acquire huge volumes of high resolution images very much over-passing the capacity of the users to access the information content of the acquired data. Thus, in addition to the existing methods for EO data and information extraction, new methods and tools are needed to explore and help to discover the information hidden in large EO image repositories. This article presents a categorisation based Relevance Feedback (RF) search engine for EO images repositories The developed method is presented as well results obtained for a SPOT5 satellite image database.


The aim of this laboratory and clinical study is to determine the reliability of the flowable nanocomposite Filtek Supreme XTE (FL) for the adhesion of orthodontic retainers, compared to highly filled orthodontic resin Transbond XT (XT). Portions of a round section multistranded wire (Ortosmail Krugg) were bonded to 40 bovine incisors with Scotchbond Universal in total-etch modality. For group one (XT, 20 samples), the orthodontic resin was used, whereas in group two (FL, 20 samples), the flowable one. Specimens were placed into a universal testing machine which applied a shear force on retainers with a crosshead speed of one/minute. Shear bond strength (SBS) and adhesive remnant index (ARI) scores were calculated. In the clinical trial, 100 patients requiring a canine-to-canine palatal and lingual retainer were randomly divided into two groups, according to the resin used for bonding procedure: the orthodontic in group one (XT, 50 participants) and the flowable in group two (FL, 50 participants). Monthly visits were carried out over a 24-month follow up to assess any detachment occurring on teeth of both arches. All data were submitted to statistical analysis. In vitro, FL reported a significant lower mean SBS, whereas no significant differences in ARI were reported between the two groups which both showed a major frequency of scores "1" and "2". At the end of the 24-month follow up, FL reported significantly higher failure rates in both arches besides a significantly lower survival rate starting from the sixth month after retainers bonding. According to the results assessed in vitro and clinically, XT would be preferable to FL when performing retainers bonding procedure.


Affective design is the inclusion or representation of human emotions and subjective impressions in product design processes. In affective design, a number of different scales are commonly used to reveal and measure subjective emotions related to the design features of products. Osgood's Semantic Differential Scale (SDS) is one of the scales that has often been used for this purpose. However, there are some drawbacks in the SDS due to the ordinal nature of the scale that leads to losses or distortions of a significant amount of information and this makes it difficult to justify parametric statistical analysis. In this study, two scales, namely a Labeled Affective Magnitude (LAM) scale and a Fuzzy Linguistic scale, are developed. The LAM scale is an alternative scale based on magnitude estimation and has ratio properties. The Fuzzy Linguistic scale is an interval scale for which responses are linguistic descriptors that are identified with fuzzy numbers or intervals. The scales were developed for tactile feelings because they are an important factor in product evaluation. Statistical analysis was conducted to compare the scales. There was no significant difference between the newly constructed fuzzy scale and 11 point SDS, whereas there was a significant difference between the newly constructed LAM scale and 11 point SDS.


A 48-year-old woman came to our hospital with complaint of macroscopic hematuria and left lower abdominal pain, on January, 27, 1982. She complained of lower abdominal oppressive pain, but no abdominal tumor was palpated on physical examination. Vaginal examination revealed a stony hard and nodular tumor which was not movable, and as large as a man's fist, on the left side of uterine cervix. IVP revealed left nonfunctioning kidney. Cystoscopy revealed no abnormal finding but left ureteral catheterization could not be done. CTscan revealed intrapelvic homogenous mass which could not be identified from uterus. Pelvic angiography revealed an encasement of the left uterine artery, and moderate hypervascular tumor which deviated the obturatorius artery. Under the diagnosis of retroperitoneal tumor, operation was done on March, 8, 1982. The tumor existed in the retroperitoneal space, and was as large as a man's fist. It was not a movable mass, venous dilatation was found on its surface, and severe adhesion was found between the lateral side of the tumor and the left external iliac artery. So only biopsy was done. Histopathological diagnosis of the specimen was hemangiopericytoma. She received postoperative radiation therapy with total dose 5,000rad in 5 weeks. Now about 2 years have passed, vaginal examination revealed no tumor, and CTscan revealed diminishment of the tumor. Generally radiotherapy is not considered to be effective for hemangiopericytoma, but sometimes it is. Thus preoperative vascular embolization with surgical resection and postoperative radiotherapy or chemotherapy are considered to be necessary for successful treatment of hemangiopericytoma.


Globally, an increased desire to restore, rehabilitate or revegetate with native plants represents a shift toward more ecologically focused restoration goals. In the Australian rangelands, an increasing need to address revegetation is not being matched by an availability of seed material. This contrasts with the United States where a well-structured native seed industry, capable of large-scale revegetation is developing. Most native revegetation programs in the United States are undertaken on Federal or State lands, or on private lands where use of native material is federally mandated, leading to a 'top-down' approach to the development and use of seed material. In Australia, most revegetation is being undertaken on privately owned land, primarily through community Landcare groups, resulting in broad community adoption of a conservation ethic. The Australian 'bottom-up' approach has encouraged landholders to establish their own seed orchard areas or community seed banks and contributes to a developing 'cottage' native seed industry. However, most revegetation programs are of small scale and of short duration, thus prohibiting the further development of a commercial native seed industry. This paper traces the evolution of the Australian and American native grass seed industries, and evaluates their relative merits and shortcomings. We compare the different roles of the two governments in shaping and facilitating development of these industries.


Power system subharmonics are considered with reference to some of their most significant effects. In particular, four kinds of sensitive electrical components are considered: lightning systems, transformers, induction motors and turbogenerators. Light flicker, hysteresis loop asymmetrization and core saturation, thermal aging and perturbing subsynchronous torques, respectively, are the corresponding subharmonic voltage effects. With reference to the available specialistic literature, some modeling aspects are recalled together with experimental or numerical results aimed to give an idea of the component susceptibility thresholds.


The response of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-sensitive murine L929 cells to TNF was enhanced approximately 1000-fold after step-down heating (SDH) for 30 min at a sensitizing temperature (ST) of 43 degrees C and a subsequent 24 h incubation at a test temperature (TT) of 40.5 degrees C, compared to continuous treatment at 37 degrees C. The TNF-resistant phenotype of murine EMT-6 mammary adenocarcinoma cells could be overcome by 24 h heating at a TT of 40.5 degrees C, and their sensitivity to TNF could be further increased by preheating at the ST for up to 60 min. The response of TNF-sensitive HCT-15 human colon adenocarcinoma cells was somewhat similar to that of L929 cells except that there was u approximately 2.5 log increase in TNF-sensitivity due solely to heating at 40.5 degrees C. The response of TNF-resistant DLD-1 human colon adenocarcinoma cells was similar to that of EMT-6 cells. In contrast, three normal cell lines demonstrated greater resistance to any TNF/SDH treatment examined. Our results suggest that SDH may overcome the resistance or enhance the response of tumour cells to TNF while minimizing cytotoxic effects on normal cells.


Although several researchers have posited relationships between rater prior experiences and rater backgrounds and their performance in operational scoring projects, very little empirical research exists to address this topic. This report summarizes how the background characteristics (demographics and professional experiences) of two samples of raters (one who scored a writing prompt and one who scored a science prompt) relate to measures of rater performance during the scoring project. Results suggest that small differences may exist between rater groups, but (a) these differences are not consistent across rater samples and (b) missing data precludes concluding whether important trends exist in these results.


Plate rolling simulations were carried out on an X70 Nb and a low C steel by means of torsion testing. A seven-pass rolling schedule was employed where the last pass was always applied above the respective Ae3 temperature of the steel. Interpass intervals of 10 and 30 s were employed, which corresponded to cooling rates of 1.5 and 0.5 C/s. The mean flow stresses (MFS`s) applicable to each schedule increased less rapidly than expected from the decreases in temperature due to the dynamic transformation (DT) that took place during straining. The amounts of ferrite that retransformed into austenite during holding were determined by optical metallography. These increased with length of the interpass intervals and were reduced in the X70 steel due to the presence of Nb. The holding times after rolling required to increase the amount of austenite available for microstructure control on subsequent cooling were also determined for the two steels.


The role of interior design in a residence today is very important. An order that can fulfill our basic need for a means of shelter and shelter, determines the pace and at the same time regulates the form of our activities, nurtures aspirations and expresses the ideas that accompany our actions, affects our appearance, feelings and personality. The purpose of interior design is intended to improve function, enrich the aesthetic value, and improve the psychological aspects of a space. In addition, interior design can increase comfort for residential owners. To find out the role of interior design in supporting user comfort in a dwelling, researchers conducted a study to find out whether there was an effect of spatial planning, lighting, and air temperature together on the comfort of a dwelling. By using quantitative and descriptive research methods. Based on the results of the analysis studied, it can be seen that the role of interior design has a positive and significant effect on the comfort of its users. Good interior design has a surprising impact on the health of one's body. This happens because a person's physiological and psychological health can be affected by the atmosphere and feel of a room.


Vaginal hysterectomy fulfills the evidence-based requirements as the preferred route of hysterectomy for benign gynecologic disease. Despite proven safety and effectiveness, the vaginal approach for hysterectomy has been and remains underused in surgical practice. Factors associated with underuse of vaginal hysterectomy include challenges during residency training, decreasing case numbers among practicing gynecologists, and lack of awareness of evidence supporting vaginal hysterectomy. Strategies to improve resident training and promote collaboration and referral among practicing physicians and increasing awareness of evidence supporting vaginal hysterectomy can improve the primary use of this hysterectomy approach.


Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is an aggressive breast cancer subtype with features similar to the basal cells surrounding the mammary ducts. Treatment of patients with BLBC has been challenging due to the lack of well-defined molecular targets. Due to the clinical and pathological similarities of BLBC with BRCA-deficient breast cancers, the effectiveness of Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) has been tested in early phase clinical trials for patients with advanced BLBC, with limited clinical responses. Recently, it was reported that HORMAD1 overexpression sensitizes BLBC to HR-targeting agents by suppressing homologous recombination. Our independent analysis suggests that HORMAD1 is aberrantly overexpressed in about 80% of BLBC, and its expression in normal tissues is restricted to testis. Our experimental data suggests that HORMAD1 overexpression correlates with focal hypomethylation in BLBC. On the other hand, investigation of the Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer dataset revealed significantly reduced sensitivity of HORMAD1-overexpressing BLBC cell lines to Rucaparib, a commonly used PARPi. To further assess the role of HORMAD1 in PARPi sensitivity, we generated three HORMAD1-overexpressing xenograft models using the HORMAD1-low BLBC cell lines HCC1954, HCC1806, and BT20; we then subjected these xenograft models to Rucaparib treatment. Ectopic expression of HORMAD1 enhances tumor formations in two of these models, and significantly reduces sensitivity to Rucaparib in the HCC1954 model. Taken together, our data suggest that epigenetic activation of HORMAD1 by hypomethylation in BLBC may endow reduced sensitivity to Rucaparib treatment in some tumor models.


The amount of transfused blood is related to blood loss calculated for the specific type of surgical procedure, transfusion hematocrit trigger and patient's red blood cell mass on the day before surgery. To optimise the benefit/cost and benefit/risk ratios of blood transfusion, a correct prescription must be done in accordance with the patient's red blood cell mass and surgical blood loss. Indeed, there is a clear need to define the appropriate uses of blood management methods and to seek new methods of improving perioperative blood management. The number of moderately anaemic patients undergoing surgery is currently thought to be 20%. Where transfusion requirements are estimated at two to three blood units, as for instance in the most common types of orthopaedic surgery, preoperative haemoglobin is the key factor governing transfusion needs. In this case, the simplest approach is to prescribe Epoetin Alfa subcutaneous at a dose of 600 IU/kg/week starting three weeks before the surgery. In addition, it is important in all cases to give concomitant iron supplements. Concomitant use of other methods to decrease allogeneic blood requirements is of no value. Obviously, the higher the haematocrit the day prior to surgery, the higher the patient's RBC mass and the greater the patient's permitted blood loss, decreasing the transfusion trigger. In this way, allogeneic blood loss is reduced, but without the need for the patient to attend the blood transfusion center and to undergo laboratory screening and testing of donated blood, and without the risk of inducing preoperative anaemia compared with sequential autologous blood donation. But, to optimise the benefit/cost ratio, we try to define precisely the patient populations likely to benefit from preoperative erythropoietin. Using different examples, management is proposed with algorithms.


When writing small programs, one can use many unwise practices which have little effect on whether a program meets its design objectives as long as the program works. But, when writing large programs, poor program writing techniques can increase development time and cost and can cause maintenance difficulties after development. The problem of low programmer productivity associated with membership in large programming efforts is examined. To place the problem of writing large programs into proper perspective, factors one must live with are described. Techniques for improving productivity are then presented with emphasis placed on improving communications. Areas covered are programmer education, environment, task assignment and supervision along with program organization and documentation.


In this study, Schreyer et al have, in a prospective manner, compared the performance of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) colonography (MRC) with conventional endoscopy, using bowel wall thickness and enhancement as MR features of inflammation. There are similar published studies evaluating the use of MRC in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In this era of virtual computed tomography (CT) colonography, the authors chose to use MRI, citing the lack of radiation dose in younger patients as the reason. The study, performed at a university hospital setting, prospectively evaluated 22 consecutive adult patients with known or suspected IBD. After adequate colon preparation, an MRI was performed with positive luminal contrast. This was followed by an endoscopic assessment on the same day. The colon, including the terminal ileum, was divided into 7 segments for purposes of MRI assessment and correlation with endoscopy. Segments of bowel not well distended or marred by motion artifacts were deemed ''nondiagnostic.'' The results from the article showed that, of the evaluated 154 total bowel segments, MRC showed sensitivity and specificity of 58.8% and 91.4% in ulcerative colitis and 31.6% and 100% in patients with Crohn's disease, respectively. As a consequence, the authors concluded that MRC with positive rectal contrast couldn't replace conventional endoscopy in the evaluation of IBD, with the exception of patients with severe Crohn's disease. Comment: Cross-sectional imaging including CT and MR colonography is increasingly being used for primary diagnosis of bowel abnormalities. The goal, when imaging the bowel, is to assess the mucosal surface, assess for bowel wall thickening, and detect extraluminal abnormalities. Traditionally, cross-sectional imaging has provided good evaluation of the bowel wall and extraluminal abnormalities; however, endoscopy is better for evaluating the mucosal surface. Even with evolving technology, the question of whether MR or CT can provide good enough assessment of the mucosal surface to replace endoscopy in the diagnosis of IBD remains unanswered. The authors of this manuscript have tried to answer this question. A similar article appearing in the same issue of Gut described an exactly opposite result, claiming MRC to be a promising alternative to endoscopic biopsy in monitoring IBD activity and in assessing therapeutic effectiveness. However, the latter study suffered from selection bias in including only patients with severe active colitis. In analyzing the reasons for the restricted performance of MRC by Schreyer et al, several factors may have contributed to the limited results—MR technology for one. For detecting subtle mucosal abnormalities, the highest possible spatial resolution is needed. The described MR hardware and pulse sequences used by the authors were not the latest available. For instance, 3-dimensional T1-weighted sequences available on current scanners allow for near isotropic voxel imaging. This translates into higher spatial resolution, which would allow for detection of subtle changes in enhancement. This could conceivably allow subtle mucosal changes to be picked up. The other reason is that the authors did not use any quantitative measure to gleam out subtle enhancement that may be difficult to detect only on qualitative assessment. Measuring the contrast enhancement has been successfully used in other areas to detect subtle abnormalities. As with any imaging test, quantitation narrows the subjective differences among readers, thereby increasing overall accuracy. In conclusion, the technique of MRC should be considered an evolving technology that has yet to reveal its full potential in IBD. It has proven to be excellent at detecting extraluminal abnormalities, but the challenge is to achieve a high level of accuracy for detecting subtle mucosal abnormalities. As the technology continues to evolve, MRC may become comparable to endoscopy and may offer a noninvasive alternative for not only diagnosing IBD but also for following patients for assessing therapeutic response.


This study was performed to evaluate the protective effect and safety of Oryeongsan water extract (OSWE) on ethanol-induced acute gastric mucosal injury and an acute toxicity study in rats. Acute gastric lesions were induced via intragastric oral administration of absolute ethanol at a dose of 5 mL/kg. OSWE (100 and 200 mg/kg) was administered to rats 2 h prior to the oral administration of absolute ethanol. The stomach of animal models was opened and gastric mucosal lesions were examined. Gastric mucosal injuries were evaluated by measuring the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), and the activity of antioxidant enzymes. In the acute toxicity study, no adverse effects of OSWE were observed at doses up to 2000 mg/kg/day. Administration of OSWE reduced the damage by conditioning the gastric mucosa against ethanol-induced acute gastric injury, which included hemorrhage, hyperemia, and loss of epithelial cells. The level of MDA was reduced in OSWE-treated groups compared with the ethanol-induced group. Moreover, the level of GSH and the activity of antioxidant enzymes were significantly increased in the OSWE-treated groups. Our findings suggest that OSWE has a protective effect on the gastric mucosa against ethanol-induced acute gastric injury via the upregulation of antioxidant enzymes.


This paper describes an investigation into the seismic performance of a six-storey ductile moment-resisting frame structure located in Vancouver and designed and detailed in accordance with the seismic provisions of the National Building Code of Canada (1995). Both pushover and dynamic analyses are conducted using an inelastic model of the structure as designed and detailed. The structural performance of a number of design variations is evaluated using interstorey drift and member curvature ductility response as performance measures. All frames studied are expected to perform at an operational level when subjected to design level seismic excitations and to meet life safe performance criteria at excitations of twice the design level.Key words: seismic, building, frames, ductile, design, performance, reinforced concrete, code.


Glycemic variability (GV) is a major consideration when evaluating quality of glycemic control. GV increases progressively from prediabetes through advanced T2D and is still higher in T1D. GV is correlated with risk of hypoglycemia. The most popular metrics for GV are the %Coefficient of Variation (%CV) and standard deviation (SD). The %CV is correlated with risk of hypoglycemia. Graphical display of glucose by date, time of day, and day of the week, and display of simplified glucose distributions showing % of time in several ranges, provide clinically useful indicators of GV. SD is highly correlated with most other measures of GV, including interquartile range, mean amplitude of glycemic excursion, mean of daily differences, and average daily risk range. Some metrics are sensitive to the frequency, periodicity, and complexity of glycemic fluctuations, including Fourier analysis, periodograms, frequency spectrum, multiscale entropy (MSE), and Glucose Variability Percentage (GVP). Fourier analysis indicates progressive changes from normal subjects to children and adults with T1D, and from prediabetes to T2D. The GVP identifies novel characteristics for children, adolescents, and adults with type 1 diabetes and for adults with type 2. GVP also demonstrated small rapid glycemic fluctuations in people with T1D when using a dual-hormone closed-loop control. MSE demonstrated systematic changes from normal subjects to people with T2D at various stages of duration, intensity of therapy, and quality of glycemic control. We describe new metrics to characterize postprandial excursions, day-to-day stability of glucose patterns, and systematic changes of patterns by day of the week. Metrics for GV should be interpreted in terms of percentiles and z-scores relative to identified reference populations. There is a need for large accessible databases for reference populations to provide a basis for automated interpretation of GV and other features of continuous glucose monitoring records.


In a mean-variance portfolio choice model, each of 3,578 households from the 1983 Survey of Consumer Finances has calculated preferences over housing, other consumption, and risk. Each household is constrained such that any owner-occupied housing in portfolio must match housing services consumed. Corporate taxes are modeled in some detail, and regression coefficients are used to estimate the adjusted gross income, itemizable deductions, and statutory marginal tax rate of each household. General equilibrium simulation results indicate that inflation does not necessarily increase total owner housing. Top-bracket households increase their owner housing, while others switch into bonds. The greater number of households in low-brackets implies that the homeownership rate can fall even if the amount of owner housing rises.


Pattern and dynamics during phase separation in a symmetrical binary (A+B) Lennard-Jones fluid are studied via molecular dynamics simulations after quenching homogeneously mixed critical (50:50) systems to temperatures below the critical one. The morphology of the domains, rich in A or B particles, is observed to be bicontinuous. The early-time growth of the average domain size is found to be consistent with the Lifshitz-Slyozov law for diffusive domain coarsening. After a characteristic time, dependent on the temperature, we find a clear crossover to an extended viscous hydrodynamic regime where the domains grow linearly with time. Pattern formation in the present system is compared with that in solid binary mixtures, as a function of temperature. Important results for the finite-size and temperature effects on the small-wave-vector behavior of the scattering function are also presented.


BACKGROUND
It is difficult to diagnose tuberculosis (TB) in dialysis patients because of the high rate of extrapulmonary TB in these patients compared with the general population. Recently, a new diagnostic test called QuantiFERON (QFT) has been developed and shown promise as a diagnostic tool for active TB diseases and latent TB infection.

METHODS
We examined 162 dialysis patients admitted to a single institute, including 8 patients with active TB, and evaluated the utility of this test in dialysis patients.

RESULTS
Among 162 dialysis patients, positive QFT results occurred in 28 (17.3%), negative QFT results occurred in 95 (58.6%) and indeterminate QFT results occurred in 39 (24.1%). All eight active TB patients had positive QFT results, and none of the 95 patients with negative results had active TB. Among 23 patients with a history of active TB, 10 (43.5%) had positive results. Although the indeterminate rate was relatively high, no patient with an indeterminate result had active TB. Factors such as shorter duration of dialysis, lower lymphocyte count and higher white blood cell count were associated with indeterminate results. Among 105 cases after excluding the patients with previous TB or indeterminate results, the sensitivity of the QFT is 100% (8 of 8) and the specificity is 89.7% (87 of 97 cases).

CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that the QFT test is a useful supplementary tool for the diagnosis of active TB even in dialysis patients. Negative and indeterminate results on this test may be used to exclude the presence of active TB.


Authors Dr Ashok Vidyarthi, Dr Devendra Nayak NSCB Medical College Abstract This is a study of 244 cases of pelvic fracture presented in the selected centers of Jabalpur zone of Madhya Pradesh in the duration of two years from 2011 to 2013. Demographical characteristics of pelvic fractures like Age, Sex, Locality, Occupation, Socioeconomic Status, Associated Injury and Comorbid Condition in pelvic fracture patients were studied in particular population. All cases were classified according to Young and Burgess Classification, Tile's Classification and Letournel & Judet Classification system and studied the distribution of cases according to these classification system.


Most of the current land surface parameterization schemes lack any representation of regional groundwater aquifers. Such a simplified representation of subsurface hydrological processes would result in significant errors in the predicted land surface states and fluxes especially for the shallow water table areas in humid regions. This study attempts to address this deficiency. To incorporate the water table dynamics into a land surface scheme, a lumped unconfined aquifer model is developed to represent the regional unconfined aquifer as a nonlinear reservoir, in which the aquifer simultaneously receives the recharge from the overlying soils and discharges runoff into streams. The aquifer model is linked to the soil model in the land surface scheme [Land Surface Transfer Scheme (LSX)] through the soil drainage flux. The total thickness of the unsaturated zone varies in response to the water table fluctuations, thereby interactively coupling the aquifer model with the soil model. The coupled model (called LSXGW) has been tested in Illinois for an 11-yr period from 1984 to 1994. The results show reasonable agreements with the observations. However, there are still secondary biases in the LSXGW simulation partially resulting from not accounting for the spatial variability of water table depth. The issue of subgrid variability of water table depth will be addressed in a companion paper.


A new beam-based alignment (BBA) measurement system with AC k-modulation module was developed recently at Hefei Light Source (HLS), which equipped the quadrupole magnets on the storage ring with a current shunt system which was able to vary the magnet current of a given quadrupole at a given frequency. The corresponding closed orbit oscillation amplitude measured for different beam positions in the quadrupole reached a minimum when the beam was centered in the quadrupole. Amplitude estimation algorithms of software lock-in amplifier and interpolated FFT were discussed. A V-shaped curve was used to determine the offset; a method using a parabola fit to determine the offset was also discussed. This BPM-to-quadrupole offset was determined at HLS with an accuracy of ~50 mum. The reproducibility of the beam based alignment using this technique is about 20 mum (RMS)


A case of cerebral venous thrombosis with familial antithrombin III (AT III) deficiency was reported and we discussed the anticoagulant therapy of cerebral venous thrombosis from the viewpoint of AT III. The patient, a 17-year-old boy, was admitted to our clinic with severe bifrontal headache, generalized convulsions and progressive disturbance of consciousness. He developed deep vein thrombosis in his right leg and pulmonary emboli two years earlier when he was placed on heparin and so forth, followed by warfarin sodium. Warfarin was terminated 9 months prior to his recent illness. On neurological examination on admission, he was semicomatous with blurred disc margins, roving eye movements with right abducens nerve palsy, nuchal stiffness and right flaccid hemiplegia. Left carotid angiogram and CT scan revealed extensive superior sagittal sinus thrombosis, complicated with hemorrhagic infarcts in bilateral frontal lobes. When examined for coagulation studies, the patient and his father had decrease in AT III activity and antigen levels. He was treated successfully with antiedematous agents and anticonvulsants during acute phase of illness. He was thereafter placed on warfarin 5-6 mg/day with no further clinical thromboembolic event for 2 years 9 months. There was no neurological abnormality when he was last examined, although he was treated with valproic acid 1,200 mg/day and phenytoin 250 mg/day to control occasional adversive seizures. A coagulation study following infusion of 5,000 units of AT III was carried out. Warfarin was discontinued the day before the study. 0.64 U/kg of AT III administration resulted in a 1% increase in AT III level after the infusion. The biological half life of AT III was 14.4 hours.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Statement of the Problem: Composite restoration failures may occur because of different factors. In these situations, the repair of a composite restoration has many advantages over replacement such as saving time, lower cost, and lower risk of excessive removal of sound tooth structure and subsequent pulp exposure. Purpose: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effects of two surface treatments on shear bond strength (SBS) of new composite to old composite. Materials and Method: In this in vitro study, 60 composite discs were fabricated using a plexiglass mold measuring 4 mm in thickness and 7 mm in diameter, and were randomly divided into three groups (n=20). In group 1, the bonding procedure was done with no modification. After roughening of one surface in all remaining samples, chloroform (CHCl3) was applied on the surface of samples in group 2 and phosphoric acid 35% was applied on the surface of the samples in group 3. PermaSeal was then applied in all samples and new composites were bonded to the surface. The samples were stored in distilled water for one week and were then subjected to 500 thermal cycles and shear bond strength between two layers of composite and mode of failures were evaluated. Results: The lowest and the highest SBS values of repair composite to old composite were noted in groups 3 and 1, respectively and this difference was statistically significant (p< 0.05).The difference between groups 1 and 2 was not significantly different (p= 0.197). The mode of failure was mixed in all samples of groups 2 and 3 and cohesive in group 1. Conclusion: After grinding, the surface treatment with phosphoric acid did not increase the SBS of new composite to old composite, while chloroform increased the SBS almost to the level of the baseline in control group.


beta-Adrenoceptor antagonists such as propranolol and atenolol ameliorate the symptoms of human hyperthyroidism. We wished to define whether the cardiac changes of hyperthyroidism are attenuated by treatment with the beta-adrenoceptor antagonist atenolol. Rats were treated with triiodothyronine (T3) [1 mg/kg/day subcutaneously (s.c.) for 14 days] together with oral atenolol (100 mg/day on days 8-14); physiological parameters, inotropic and chronotropic responses in isolated cardiac tissues to compounds that increase intracellular cyclic AMP, and ventricular beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptors were measured. Administration of T3 produced marked hyperthyroidism, leading to increased metabolism, cardiac hypertrophy, tachycardia, hypertension, marked decrease in or loss of positive inotropic responses to calcium chloride, norepinephrine (NE), forskolin, and theophylline and increased ventricular beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptor density. Atenolol treatment of hyperthyroid rats attenuated the increases in heart rate (HR), rectal temperature, and O2 consumption but did not alter cardiac hypertrophy, hypertension, decreased positive inotropic responses or increased beta-adrenoceptor density. We conclude that beta-adrenoceptor antagonists produce only limited changes in hyperthyroidism-induced cardiovascular responses; furthermore, beta-adrenoceptor antagonists are unlikely to attenuate the cardiovascular risk factors of hyperthyroidism.


Context: Fetal overexposure to glucocorticoids in utero is associated with fetal growth restriction and is postulated to be a key mechanism linking suboptimal fetal growth with cardiovascular disease in later life. Objective: To develop a model to predict maternal-fetal glucocorticoid transfer. We hypothesized placental 11-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-type 2 (11β-HSD2) would be the major rate-limiting step in maternal cortisol transfer to the fetus. Design: We used a deuterated cortisol tracer in the ex vivo placental perfusion model, in combination with computational modeling, to investigate the role of interconversion of cortisol and its inactive metabolite cortisone on transfer of cortisol from mother to fetus. Participants: Term placentas were collected from five women with uncomplicated pregnancies, at elective caesarean delivery. Intervention: Maternal artery of the isolated perfused placenta was perfused with D4-cortisol. Main Outcome Measures: D4-cortisol, D3-cortisone, and D3-cortisol were measured in maternal and fetal venous outflows. Results: D4-cortisol, D3-cortisone, and D3-cortisol were detected and increased in maternal and fetal veins as the concentration of D4-cortisol perfusion increased. D3-cortisone synthesis was inhibited when 11-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) activity was inhibited. At the highest inlet concentration, only 3.0% of the maternal cortisol was transferred to the fetal circulation, whereas 26.5% was metabolized and 70.5% exited via the maternal vein. Inhibiting 11β-HSD activity increased the transfer to the fetus to 7.3% of the maternal input, whereas 92.7% exited via the maternal vein. Conclusions: Our findings challenge the concept that maternal cortisol diffuses freely across the placenta and confirm that 11β-HSD2 acts as a major "barrier" to cortisol transfer to the fetus.


Abstract:Over-hunting in Arctic seas drove bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) nearly to extinction by the end of the nineteenth century. Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Captain of the 'Pole-Star'" (1883), inspired by his youthful 1880 voyage on the Scottish whaling ship Hope to the Greenland Sea, shows a nascent awareness of the implications of this ecological tragedy. The ghostly figure heard and seen in the story is on one level the spirit of the captain's lost love, and on another a spectral trace of the lost bowheads. Conan Doyle's Arctic ghost binds the personal grief and longing of the captain to the wider grief and longing of a late-Victorian culture becoming aware of its own environmental responsibilities and reaching belatedly toward wildlife protection.


Dehydration behavior gives a hint about thermal properties of materials. It is important for the usage areas and transportation of minerals. Magnesium borates can be used as additive materials in areas such as in the production of superconducting materials, in the composition of detergents, due to the content of boron in the friction-reducing additives in oils and insulating coating compositions due to their good mechanic and thermal properties. In this study, thermal dehydration behavior of admontite (MgO(B2O3)3.7(H2O)), which is a kind of magnesium borate mineral, is experimented by microwave energy at 360W. Structure of admontite is suitable for the investigation of dehydration behavior by microwave because of its seven moles of crystal water. It is seen that admontite lost its 28.7% of weight at the end of the 120 minutes heating in microwave furnace. Keywords—Admontite, dehydration, magnesium borate, microwave.


THE theory of a reduction division in the spore mother cells of higher plants has gained considerable ground in the past two or three years; so that at present probably the majority of observers, who have devoted themselves almost constantly to the problems of the chromosomes, seem firmly convinced that one of the two mitoses in the formation of the tetrad is a "reducing" division. There is still, on the other hand, some diversity of opinion, and several years may elapse before cytologists will be strictly in accord upon this the most difficult of cell problems. One of the most important facts brought out by recent investigations is the shifting of the point in the tetrad formation, at which the qualitative separation of the chromosomes is held to occur, from the second, or homotypic mitosis, to the first or heterotypic division. Since it has been shown by FLEMMING and MEVES for the animal cell, and by GUIGNARD, STRASBURGER, and the writer, for the higher plants, that the daughter chromosomes of the heterotypic mitosis are split lengthwise as they separate in the metaphase, a more critical study has been devoted to the prophase of this division, and much light has been thrown upon certain obscure steps that have not as yet been satisfactorily explained. This double nature of the retreating chromosomes was regarded as a second longitudinal fission, since it could be seen that the spirem was double in a very early prophase.. This apparent second longitudinal division seemed to have proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that the second mitosis is not a reducing division, as has been so insistently maintained by many zoologists. Now that it has been shown that the homotypic mitosis in the spore mother cells of plants is not a reduction division, the question to be answered is whether in the heterotypic division the chromosomes are bivalent, or whether the segments of each pair separatealong the line of longitudinal fission.


Burkitt lymphoma is a fast-growing high grade B-cell neoplasm that rarely affects adults. Three clinical variants are described in the World Health Organization classification: endemic, sporadic, and immunodeficiency-associated. The non-endemic form typically presents as an abdominal mass in children. Symptoms usually occur due to mass effect or direct intestinal involvement. We describe a very unusual presentation of a sporadic Burkitt lymphoma case in a 61-year-old male with diffuse peritoneal and omental involvement, without lymphadenopathies, mimicking peritoneal carcinomatosis.


The paper describes the design and implementation of an unusual self-adaptive temperature control system for a nonlinear heated bar system. The design is based on a proportional-integral-plus (PIP) control scheme, combined with a special recursive algorithm which continually updates the estimates of the rapidly variable parameters which characterise a piecewise-linear model of the heated bar system. Amongst the novel features of this true digital control (TDC) system design are: the nonminimum states-space (NMSS) formulation of the control problem, which allows for state-variable feedback pole assignment using only sampled input and output signals in the control law; the incorporation of a priori information on the physical nature of the system into the recursive estimation algorithm in order to enhance its parameter tracking capabilities; the exploitation of multirate sampling; and the implementation of the linear PIP control law in a bang-bang mode using pulsewidth modulation.


The aim of the study was the retrospective analysis of the results of the drug sensitivity studies of bacterial species cultured from 681 urinary specimens collected from 79 children (12 boys and 67 girls) aged 0-18 years with recurrent urinary tract infection in a period from 1997 to 2001. Factors predisposing to recurrent urinary tract infections and the incidences of particular uropathogens were also analyzed. Escherichia coli (57.3%), Proteus spp. (15.6%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (9.1%) were the most frequent isolated pathogens. Reinfections and relapses of urinary tract infections were observed in 74.7% and 25.3% of the children, respectively. In some children etiologic variability of particular infection episodes were observed. In the majority of the children infection episodes were caused by one or two bacterial species and new infections differed from previous ones only in drug sensitivity. In 30 children vesicoureteral reflux was detected. Other anatomical abnormalities of urinary tract were revealed in 17 children. In 18 children, neurogenic bladder dysfunction was diagnosed. Urodynamics disclosed functional abnormalities in 48/55 children.


OBJECTIVES
Little is known about the validity and reliability of expert assessments of the quality of antimicrobial prescribing, despite their importance in antimicrobial stewardship. We investigated how infectious disease doctors' assessments compared with a reference standard (modal expert opinion) and with the assessments of their colleagues.

METHODS
Twenty-four doctors specialized in infectious diseases or clinical microbiology (16 specialists and 8 residents) from five hospitals were asked to assess the appropriateness of antimicrobial agents prescribed for a broad spectrum of indications in 56 paper cases. They were instructed how to handle guideline applicability and deviations. We created a reference standard of antimicrobial appropriateness using the modal assessment of 16 specialists. We calculated criterion validity and interrater and intrarater overall and specific agreement with an index expert (senior infectious disease physician) and analysed the influence of doctor characteristics on validity.

RESULTS
Specialists agreed with the reference standard in 80% of cases (range 75%-86%), with a sensitivity and specificity of 75% and 84%, respectively. This did not differ by clinical specialty, hospital or years of experience, and residents had similar results. Specialists agreed with the index expert in 76% of cases and the index expert agreed with his previous assessments in 71% of cases.

CONCLUSIONS
Doctors specialized in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology assess the appropriateness of antimicrobials prescribed for a broad spectrum of indications with acceptable agreement and validity, regardless of their experience or hospital of employment. However, there is room for improvement, which merits attention in multidisciplinary discussions and education.


Large deflection problem of a spring loaded hinged nonuniform cantilever beam subjected to a rotational distributed loading is formulated by means of a second-order non-linear integro-differential equation. The problem is examined by considering the beam of rectangular cross-section with linear depth taper subjected to a uniform rotational distributed load. The elastic curves of a beam for this special case are presented.


Background. Immune regulatory CD4+CD25+ T (regulatory T; Treg) cells play a vital role in the induction and maintenance of self-tolerance. They are essential for the homeostasis of T cells, the prevention of autoimmunity, and the induction of tolerance to allogeneic donor grafts. However, the underlying mechanism of their functions remains mostly elusive. Therefore, we investigated here a crucial role of Treg cells in their response to alloantigen via the programmed death (PD)-1/PD-1 ligand (PD-L1) pathway. Methods. In vitro mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) assay, graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and a skin transplantation model were used to evaluate the mechanisms of PD-1/PD-L1 pathway. Results. Blockade of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway using anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) is found to inhibit Treg cell's ability to suppress and restore CD4+CD25-T-cell proliferation in vitro. GvHD was lethal after adoptive transfer of allogeneic C57BL/6 (H-2Kb) spleen cells to NOD/SCID (H-2Kd) mice unless CD25+ T cells were also included. Strikingly, the suppression of GvHD by CD25+ cells was abrogated by anti-PD-L1 mAb administration. The abrogation of Treg-cell-mediated suppression could also be demonstrated in a Balb/c (H-2Kd) to B6/Rag-2KO (H-2Kb) skin-allograft model. Conclusions. The blockade of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway abrogates Treg-mediated immunoregulation, thus suggesting that the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway is required for Treg suppression of the alloreactive responses of CD4+CD25-T cells. This finding has important implications for clarifying the mechanisms of allograft rejection and GvHD.


The synthesis of sulfide solid electrolytes in ball mills by mechanochemical routes not only is efficient but also can enable the upscaling of material synthesis as required for the commercialization of solid-state battery materials. On a laboratory scale, the Emax high energy ball mill accounts for high stresses and power densities, as well as for temperature control, to prevent damage to the material and equipment even for long process times. To overcome the merely phenomenological treatment, we characterized the milling process in an Emax by DEM simulations, using the sulfide solid electrolyte LPS as a model material for the calibration of input parameters to the DEM, and compared it to a planetary ball mill for a selected parameter set. We derived mechanistic model equations for the stressing conditions depending on the operation parameters of rotational speed, media size and filling ratio. The stressing conditions are of importance as they determine the outcome of the mechanochemical milling process, thus forming the basis for evaluating and interpreting experiments and for establishing scaling rules for the process transfer to larger mills.


This paper aims at investigating the effects of weld nugget size and expulsion on the mechanical properties of low carbon steel resistance spot welds using tensile-shear test. Mechanical performance of spot welds are described in terms of failure mode, peak load and failure energy obtained from the tensile-shear test. The effects of voids and porosity as well as electrode indentation associated with expulsion on the peak load and failure energy of spot weld are discussed. Results showed that although expulsion does not reduce load carrying capacity of spot welds, it decreases their energy absorption capability. This can be attributed to the change in the failure location of the base metal in expulsion free welds to fusion zone/heat affected zone boundary in expulsion-experienced welds.


Reinforced concrete constitutes over 90 % of the infrastructures in developing countries and over 75 % of constructed facilities in industrialized nations. Steel is the main material used as reinforcements in the structural members. Steel is expensive and the need to find alternative locally available, suitable material to steel is a quest to researchers. The use of Fanpalm, as a locally available material as reinforcement in place of steel in portal frames is the main focus of this study. The theoretical and experimental investigation of the flexural strengths, deflection characteristics and cracking behaviors of fanpalm/steel reinforced two bay concrete portal frames were examined. The result showed linear load-deflection curves up to the first crack, thereafter, a non linear relationship between the load and deflection occurred irrespective of the reinforcement used. The fanpalm reinforced portal frames exhibited larger deflections, increased crack numbers and crack widths compared with equivalent steel reinforced ones. The numbers of cracks formed and the load carrying capacities (flexural strength) of the frames up to failure point increased with increase in percentage of reinforcements.


The work explores the problem of automobile longitudinal motion parameter identification by analytical methods with use of free braking tests results under wheel rolling resistance force and aerodynamic force action (the run-down mode).


The present paper considers the problems of measurement of the costs of psychiatric services. Classification of costs' studies includes cost of illness, cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness and cost-utility studies. Costs should be comprehensively measured. Randomised clinical trial is recommended. Information of costs should be integrated with information on patient outcomes. The paper discusses the research which tries to estimate the costs and benefits of community care, using naturalistic or random patient sample methods.


Background There are limited data on the outcomes of rechallenge with anti-tuberculosis therapy (ATT) following anti-tuberculosis drug-induced liver injury (AT-DILI) in a high HIV prevalence setting. Objectives To describe the outcomes of rechallenge with first-line ATT. Method Hospitalised participants with AT-DILI who were enrolled into a randomised controlled trial of N-acetylcysteine in Cape Town, South Africa, were followed up until completion of ATT rechallenge. We described rechallenge outcomes, and identified associations with recurrence of liver injury on rechallenge (positive rechallenge). Results Seventy-nine participants were rechallenged of whom 41 (52%) were female. Mean age was 37 years (standard deviation [s.d.] ±10). Sixty-eight (86%) were HIV-positive, of whom 34 (50%) were on antiretroviral therapy (ART) at time of AT-DILI presentation. Five participants had serious adverse reactions to an aminoglycoside included in the alternate ATT regimen given after first-line ATT interruption: acute kidney injury in three and hearing loss in two. The median time from first-line ATT interruption to start of first-line ATT rechallenge was 13 days (interquartile range [IQR]: 8–18 days). Antiretroviral therapy was interrupted for a median of 32 days (IQR: 17–58) among HIV-positive participants on ART before AT-DILI. Fourteen participants had positive rechallenge (18%). Positive rechallenge was associated with pyrazinamide rechallenge (P = 0.005), female sex (P = 0.039) and first episode of tuberculosis (TB) (P = 0.032). Conclusion Rechallenge was successful in most of our cohort. Pyrazinamide rechallenge should be carefully considered.


To the Editor. —The article by Dr Grossman and colleagues 1 raises a critical issue that all physicians must face in sciencebased practice: are we basing our clinical and therapeutic decisions on our best sound logic and proven fact? The issue becomes especially critical when the risks of our actions might become life-threatening. However, I pause at the conclusion that we must abandon outright the practice of using nifedipine for the treatment of hypertensive emergencies. The authors cite the lack of data proving the benefit of this intervention, but lack of data is not equivalent to negative data. Is not the decision to abandon a practice based on the absence of data proving its benefit equivalent to endorsing a practice without supporting data? Significant morbidity is often an acceptable cost if we know that the therapeutic risk is outweighed by the benefit of therapy. Of note, both deaths reported secondary


Summary In this paper we describe experimental and numerical studies on high bit rate, single span transmission system over a length of 160 km without amplifiers in the link (unrepeatered). From these studies we revealed that the tolerance of the residual dispersion is very restrictive. Proper dispersion management and PMD compensation techniques are important topics in these and future systems.


Sengers syndrome (OMIM #212350) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder due to mutations in acylglycerol kinase (AGK) gene. We report two cases that were diagnosed clinically and confirmed genetically. Both infants had typical clinical features characterized by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, bilateral cataracts, myopathy, and lactic acidosis, and heart failure was the most severe manifestation. Genetic testing of a boy revealed a homozygous pathogenic variant for Sengers syndrome in AGK (c.1131+2T>C) which was classified as likely pathogenic according to the ACMG guideline; besides, his skeletal muscle biopsy and transmission electron microscope presented obvious abnormity. One girl had compound heterozygous (c.409C>T and c.390G>A) variants of AGK gene that was identified in the proband and further Sanger sequencing indicated that the parents carried a single heterozygous mutation each. After the administration of "cocktail" therapy including coenzyme Q10, carnitine, and vitamin B complex, as well as ACEI, heart failure and myopathy of the boy were significantly improved and the condition was stable after 1-year follow-up, while the cardiomyopathy of the girl is not progressive but the plasma lactate acid increased significantly. We present the first report of two infants with Sengers syndrome diagnosed via exome sequencing in China.


NoSQL adopted by number of leading organizations. RDBMS doesn't fit with today's Big Data scenario. Rapid growths of data not only ask for storage but ask for its security too. This paper provides the specific method to secure data on cloud with the help of Homophormic Elgamal Encryption (HEE). To implement our work, column oriented database (HBase), an awesome storage explanation for NoSQL database is chosen. Data encrypted using proposed HEE scheme, using Microsoft Azure toolkit and basic .NET package with SQL server. Thus, only authentic user can access the NoSQL database by following this proposed method. Cause of the proposed functionality, HEE algorithm allows users to send encrypted data, which would compute the cipher text without decrypting it and send back same encrypted effect to a server or user.


This paper proposes a design method for the adaptive reliable and robust H∞ control problems of a class of nonlinear systems with parametric uncertainties and external disturbances in the case of existing actuator failures. By the use of the parametric projection method in adaptive control, the adaptive control laws are derived. Based on Hamilton-Jacobi inequalities, the adaptive controllers are designed to guarantee the system robust H∞ performance with actuator failures


In Arabidopsis three basic region leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor genes, bZIP17, bZIP28, and bZIP60, play crucial roles in the unfolded protein response (UPR). Previously we found that bZIP60 is one of the spermine-induced genes. Consequently we further investigated the response of all the three bZIP genes to spermine. Expression of bZIP17, bZIP28, and bZIP60, and also their target genes was activated by spermine application as well as in plants with elevated endogenous spermine levels. Furthermore, spermine activated the splicing of the bZIP60 transcript mediated by the ribonuclease activity of inositol-requiring enzyme 1 and also recruited bZIP17 and bZIP60 proteins from endoplasmic reticulum to nucleus. We therefore propose that spermine is a novel UPR inducer. Moreover, induction of UPR by spermine required calcium-influx to the cytoplasm and the genes for mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 9 (MKK9), mitogen-activated protein kinase 3 (MPK3) and MPK6. The result indicates that spermine-induced UPR is mediated by the MKK9-MPK3/MPK6 cascade in Arabidopsis.


This paper proposes a novel method for automatically cropping a photo using a quality classifier that assesses whether the cropped region is agreeable to users. We statistically build this quality classifier using large photo collections available on websites where people manually insert quality scores to photos. We first trim the original image and then decide on the candidates for cropping. We find the cropped region with the highest quality score by applying the quality classifier to the candidates. Current automatic photo cropping techniques search for attention grabbing regions that consist of salient pixels from the original photo. They are not always pleasant to users because they do not take into account the quality of the cropped region. Our method with the quality classifier outperforms a state-of-the-art method that takes into consideration only the user's attention for automatic photo cropping.


Rationale: Agenesis of the dorsal pancreas is a very rare condition with an unknown pathology and etiology, although it may be associated with autosomal dominant or X-linked dominant inheritance or retinoic acid and hedgehog signaling pathway alterations. This condition usually manifests with abdominal pain or pancreatitis, although some cases are asymptomatic. Approximately 50% of affected patients with this disorder present with hyperglycemia or various other anomalies. Patient concerns: We report the case of a 23-year-old Chinese woman who visited the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism with insulin-dependent diabetes but no specific symptoms, signs, or other deformities. Severe diabetic retinopathy indicated a long period of hyperglycemia. Diagnosis: Agenesis of the dorsal pancreas was observed incidentally during the common diagnosis of diabetes, and the diagnosis was established using magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging, and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography. Interventions: Following the diagnosis of diabetes, insulin replacement therapy was initiated at a dosage of up to 45 U per day. The patient's blood glucose level was monitored, and the insulin dosage was adjusted accordingly. Outcomes: The patient's blood glucose levels gradually normalized after insulin treatment and were subsequently maintained with intensive insulin therapy. Treatment for diabetic retinopathy was provided by the Ophthalmology Department. Lessons: Agenesis of the dorsal pancreas should be considered in a young patient diagnosed with diabetes who presents with obvious diabetes-related complications (e.g., renal, retinal, or neurological) inconsistent with the course of the disease or a history of other congenital anomalies. We recommend the routine use of computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging when examining young patients with diabetes.


Deladenus nitobei n. sp., a parasite of a woodwasp species, Sirex nitobei , is described based on its typological characters and molecular profiles of part of the small subunit D2-D3 expansion segments of the large subunit and internal transcribed spacer region of the ribosomal RNA gene, as well as part of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) gene. Adult host woodwasps emerging from dead Japanese red pine logs, Pinus densiflora , collected at Aomori, Japan, were dissected and examined for nematode association. The new species was isolated from the body cavity and reproductive system of S. nitobei as large parasitic females and small parasitic juveniles. The nematodes were cultured successfully on 1.0% malt extract agar medium, inoculated with Sirex -associated fungus, Amylostereum areolatum . The mycophagous adult nematodes were characterised by the relative position of the excretory pore, located at 25 (19-28) and 25 (18-30) μ m anterior to the hemizonid in the male and female, respectively, and a broad female tail with a rounded distal end. Typologically, the new species forms a cryptic species complex with D. siricidicola and D. canii . In addition, the new species and D. siricidicola share the same host wasp, tree and fungal species in Japan. However, the cryptic species can be separated from each other based on the described morphological and molecular sequence differences in the mtCOI gene.


A single-subject, multiple baseline across behaviors design was used to assess the effects of an intervention conducted within a sport context on prosocial behaviors (encouraging, helping, and conflict resolving) and antisocial behaviors (physical and verbal aggression) of five adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders. Results of the effects of the intervention were mixed. Level changes were observed immediately following initiation of the intervention for the behaviors of encouraging and helping, and higher mean values were maintained during intervention and follow-up for encouraging and conflict resolving. However, replication of effects was not observed across behaviors, prosocial behaviors decelerated during the intervention, and there was a lack of maintenance of the behaviors. In addition, the intervention did not appear to influence antisocial behaviors. Limitations and recommendations for research and practice are discussed.


Carbon dioxide at concentrations close to 390ppm in atmosphere has to be measured for greenhouse effect and the indoor air quality monitoring. This paper reports for the first time CO2 measurement ranging from 0 to 3000ppm using a Surface Acoustic Wave sensor (SAW) based on Aluminum Nitride (AlN) technology. The detection is based on gravimetric approach using a 100 nm thick sensitive polymer bearing amino groups: poly(Allylamine) deposited over the SAW. A calculated CO2 sensitivity of about 15.3 Hz/ppm performed using Finite Element Method is in good agreement with experiment.


Spermatozoa vary in quantity, quality and design across species and individuals. Here, we reported the first detailed analysis of sperm traits in two primitively eusocial paper wasps, Polistes dominula and Polistes gallicus, which differ in their nuptial strategies and body size as follows: lek-territoriality of the large P. dominula males, defending exclusive territories at landmarks; scramble competition of the small P. gallicus, where serial mating may occur because males interfere with rivals and replace them during copulation. We compared the number, viability, and length of sperm, and its coefficient of variation, between these sympatric paper wasps patrolling and marking the same landmarks during the same summer: a good opportunity to analyse sperm across species while controlling for environmental variables. Spermatozoa were more numerous and longer in P. dominula than in P. gallicus males. Viability was similar in both species and positively covaried with male body size. Intra-male variation in sperm length was significantly reduced in P. gallicus, as predicted in the case of selection for an optimal sperm design. We hypothesized that precopulatory sexual selection (lek-territoriality vs. scramble competition) may affect sperm traits.


The study examined non-typhoid Salmonella infection incidence in a
suburban region of Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR), an area
that has undergone rapid economic development in recent years. The research
was conducted in two rural villages located in the suburb of Vientiane during
the period 2005 - 2013. Two new methods of non-typhoid Salmonella detection,
namely, MY Phenomenon/MIDO Ring and enhanced visibility of color change in
media, were used to monitor the changes in non-typhoid Salmonella-positivity
rate over the 9-year period. Both methods were effective in detecting non-typhoid
Salmonella. Non-typhoid Salmonella infection rate in one village decreased during
the study period. However, further research regarding non-typhoid Salmonella in
Lao PDR is necessary from an economical point of view.


This report bas presented resuits from an international research project in which surveys were conducted with representative samples of national populations of people aged 16 years or more about their experiences of crime. The surveys took place in the early part of 1989. fourteen countries, in and out of Europe, conducted surveys which were fully standardized as regards sampling metliod, method of interview, and questions asked. The suwey provides unique comparative information about people's experience of crime. It gives a measure of the extent of criminal victimization which is independent of that based on statistics of offences recorded by the police. These statistics enumerate only crimes reported to, and recorded by the police, and have been found difficult to use for comparative purposes. The survey also collected from respondents in each country comparative information about their responses to crime.


The main focus of this contribution is the description of mechanisms for an intuitive input of user-data with a direct response to gain fast parameter selection. To build polymorph i input methods for different parameters classes, a database containing knowledge about each operator is needed. This information about the syntactical and semantical structure is used to create adequate dialog elements, like sliders, list boxes, text fields, etc., each one responsible for a distinct parameter class. In addition higher-level semantics are used to aggregate data types, e.g., the user can draw a rectangle interactively, instead of only inputting the coordinates of its corners. Depending on the context, the user can also change certain subsets of the knowledge about the operator to fit special needs. Incremental computation of the results of an operator by successively expanding regions of interest is used to gain direct feedback for every change of parameter values. So by dragging a slider for the size of a smoothing mask, e.g., the user can see the effect directly and thus select the desired value rapidly. This approach is extended to sequences of operators. In this case, more than one parameters form will be open at the same time, one for each relevant operator, to have full control of all important values.


We demonstrate for the first time improvement of radio-frequency (RF) gain of SiC MESFETs by using source-connected field plates (FPs). MESFETs fabricated with this approach show a new record maximum stable gain exceeding 15.7 dB at 3.1 GHz. This is 2.7 dB higher than the baseline devices without FP. RF power output greater than 4 W/mm was also achieved showing the potential of these devices for high-power operation.


This paper considers the impact of differences in endogenous technological change between two countries on global pollution emissions under international strategic interaction in environmental policies. A country that initially has a dirty technology (an environmentally lagging country) reduces more pollution emissions by imposing a higher rate of pollution reduction per unit of the emission, although it may generate larger total emissions. The more a country reduces pollutants, the more it learns how to produce in an environmentally friendly manner at low cost. The main finding is that an environmentally lagging country's technology may continue to advance through a learning-by-doing effect until it exceeds the environmental friendliness of a leading country that initially had the cleanest technology. Whether a country eventually becomes an environmentally leading country depends on the country size and its awareness of environmental quality.


An automatic irrigation system was designed for use on greenhouse tomatoes growing in peat-based substrates. This system uses electronic tensiometers to monitor continuously substrate matric potential (SMP) in peat-bags. The system also uses the Penman equation to evaluate potential evapotranspiration (PET) through the acquisition of many greenhouse environmental parameters. Through a series of linear equations, estimates of PET are used in a computer-controller system to vary the electrical conductivity (EC) of irrigated nutrient solutions, as well as SMP setpoints at which irrigations are started. Such modifications to current irrigation management systems may improve fruit quality and reduce the risk of water stress during periods of high PET by irrigating more frequently with less-concentrated nutrient solutions. Conversely, during periods of low PET, irrigation is less frequent with more-concentrated nutrient solutions. Although no differences were found in fruit number or overall yield using variable nutrient solution EC, plant fresh weight was higher in those treatments. It is concluded that an integrated tensiometer– PET system may give increased precision to irrigation management and the control of crop growth in the greenhouse.


Two patients with cerebral reticulum cell sarcoma (CRCS) are reported in whom neurologic abnormalities and radiologic (computerized tomographic [CT] scan) evidence of tumor remitted. In one patient, remission followed craniectomy and corticosteroid therapy and lasted for eight months. In the other patient, at least four remissions occurred over a span of seven years, each in conjunction with the administration of corticosteroids. Corticosteroids may favorably alter the biologic activity of tumor tissue in some cases of CRCS, predisposing to clinical remission and disappearance of tumor on CT scan.


It is well known that post‐fire duff layers that are thin or of lower porosity greatly enhance juvenile survivorship of sexually recruiting boreal plant species. Nonetheless, there has been no study on duff compaction by snow following charring. We examined post‐fire duff depth for the first 3 years (two winters) after a 2006 wildfire in the boreal forest of north‐western Quebec. We found that (1) significant compression was common, with (2) a positive relationship between the initial thickness of the burned organic layer depth and the subsequent amount of compression. The proportional compression rate was, however, roughly constant: ∼14% after 2 years regardless of initial post‐fire duff depth. We conclude that this amount of compression is too little to significantly impact post‐fire seedling recruitment.


In this paper, discontinuous interconnect lines are modeled as a cascaded line composed of many uniform interconnect lines. The system functions of respective uniform interconnect lines are determined, followed by its time domain response. Since the time domain response expression is a transcendental form, the waveform expression is reconfigured as an approximated linear expression. The proposed model has less than 2% error in the delay estimation.


Over a period of two years, a total of 847 patients with multiple sclerosis (283 male and 564 female aged 18 to 79 years) were interviewed relative to the psychological care provided. Two patients currently participated in regular client-centered group therapy, 11 patients had regularly attended individual or group psychotherapy in previous years, and one patient had undergone family therapy several years ago. Another 26 patients reported occasional supportive counselling by their neurologist or family doctor in the framework of outpatient care. Ten patients used relaxation techniques such as autogenic training, and 42 patients reported emotional benefit from contacts within an MS self-help group. The findings of our study show that professional psychological care of persons with MS is extremely sparse, substantiating the call for better psychological services in coping with MS.


Abstract This article emphasises the necessity for agricultural economists to be knowledgeable about consumer behaviour in general, about the processes of consumer wants satisfaction and about the mechanisms by which factors affect these processes. The relationship between the concepts of quality and consumer wants and preferences is postulated. It is pointed out that in order to obtain vital information for consumer orientated agricultural marketing, one will have to venture outside the traditional domain of the economist. A survey of the other disciplines of the behavioural sciences indicates that psychology, sociology and cultural anthropology fumish this essential basic insight into consumer behaviour.


Pyoderma gangrenosum is a rare neutrophilic dermatosis, which usually presents as ulcers with erythematous-violaceous undermined edges and a rough base with purulent or sanguinous exudate. It can be primary or associated with an underlying disease. However, rare cases of its association with autoimmune hepatitis have been described in the literature. Diagnosis is based on a characteristic clinical picture and ruling out other causes of ulcers. This paper aims to discuss the management of corticosteroid therapy and the importance of local treatment. We report a case with torpid evolution, presented with multiple and deep ulcers in a young patient with autoimmune hepatitis, causing pain and significant disability. We observed complete healing of lesions after two months of successful treatment.


The present study aimed to evaluate the health risk of heavy metals (iron, zinc, cadmium, arsenic, nickel, lead, and mercury), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the workplace in a secondary oil re-refining factory. In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, samples were collected and analyzed using the NIOSH 1501 method at eight sampling points with determined concentrations of BTEX, 16Ʃ PAHs, and heavy metals. The concentration of each pollutant was evaluated based on the type of workers (packaging/filtration). The risk assessment of the contaminants was carried out using the RAIS software, and the risk of non-carcinogenic compounds was estimated based on the reference respiratory concentration (mg/m3). The results showed that the lifetime cancer risk index (LCR) cumulative risk of the heavy metals was within the definitive risk range at all the sampling points. The highest carcinogenic risk of LCR belonged to arsenic at sampling point H (filtration chamber), and the highest cumulative carcinogenic risk of the total contaminants in the environmental sampling points belonged to sampling point H. At all the sampling points, the LCR carcinogenic risk accumulation for the hydrocarbon compounds was within the definitive range. The maximum cumulative lifetime cancer risk for the hydrocarbon compounds was evaluated in filtration (point B), and the most hazardous carcinogens were arsenic, benzo(a)pyrene, and naphthalene. The proposed risk assessment method was observed to be comprehensive, and its results could be used for corrective and controlling measures and the prioritization of risk reduction resources.


The Authors examined the value of endoscopic ultrasounds in the tmanagement of colo-rectal lesions, particularly neoplastic ones, on the basis of their surgical experience, concluding that to date such technique cannot substitute traditional endoscopy, but surely can be a valid complementary tool for imaging diagnostics, expecially to study wall tumoral infiltration or extra-parietal relapses.


Human leukocyte interferon (HuLeIF) preparations contain distinct molecular forms of interferon exhibiting significant heterogeneties in sizes when analyzed by electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate (NaDodSO(4))/polyacrylamide gels, migrating in two broad bands of activity with peaks at about 21,000 and 15,000 daltons. HuLeIFs exhibit extensive charge heterogeneities when analyzed by isoelectric focusing, resolving into several major peaks of approximately equal activity distributed from pH 5.7 to 7.0. When HuLeIF preparations are treated with 0.01 M sodium periodate buffer, pH 4.5, at 4 degrees , both the size and charge heterogeneities rapidly disappear: periodate-treated HuLeIF migrates as a single, narrow band at 15,000 daltons in NaDodSO(4)/polyacrylamide gels and focuses as a single, narrow band at pH 5.7. Quantitative considerations suggest that either the larger, heterogeneously charged HuLeIFs are converted to the smaller, size- and charge-homogeneous interferon by extensive chemical deglycosylation, or, alternatively, the smaller, 15,000 dalton, pH 5.7 interferon is much more stable to periodate treatment than are the other interferon forms. However, the activity of each of the variously charged forms of HuLeIF isolated from focusing gels exhibited the same stability as the pH 5.7 component; similarly, the activity of each of the size-forms of HuLeIF isolated from NaDodSO(4)/polyacrylamide gels exhibited the same stability as the 15,000-dalton interferon.


ABSTRACT In this article, we examine herding in three developed stock markets testing for the impact of investors' 'fear' on herding estimations. To this end, we employ daily data of all listed stocks from USA, UK and Germany from January 2004 to July 2014. We examine herd behaviour applying the cross-sectional dispersion approach. Moreover, we investigate the asymmetric herding behaviour under different market states and sub-periods. The stock markets under examination provide comparable implied volatility indices which are used as a proxy for fear. As a result, apart from the standard herding estimations within and across markets, we also augment the benchmark model with the fear indicator. Our empirical results document the statistically significant impact of fear on herding estimations. Moreover, there is evidence of cross market herding as well as evidence of herding in the UK during specific sub-periods.


Severe equine asthma (SEA) is characterized by reversible airway obstruction and hypoxemia. Pulmonary hypoxic vasoconstriction occurs during SEA exacerbation, inducing pulmonary hypertension (PH). However, PH is only partially reversed by oxygen administration, and other etiological factors are uninvestigated (Dixon 1978). In rodent asthma models, airway inflammation is associated with pulmonary artery (PA) remodeling (Rydell-Tormanen, Uller et al. 2009), that could contribute to PH, as known in human chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Barbera, Peinado et al. 2003). We investigated the presence of PA remodeling in SEA, the involvement of vascular smooth muscle (VSM) alterations and their reversibility following long-term antigen avoidance or inhaled corticosteroids. Using histomorphometry, the PA wall was measured on sections stained with hematoxylin-eosin saffron, collected post-mortem from different lung regions of 12 asthmatic horses and 6 controls. Pulmonary vascular smooth muscle (VSM) mass was measured on sections stained for α-smooth muscle actin collected with in vivo thoracoscopy or post-mortem peripheral lung biopsy from 5 controls, 6 asthmatic horses in remission, and 11 asthmatic horses while exacerbation and after 1 year of antigen avoidance alone (5 horses) or treatment with fluticasone (6 horses). Data were compared using unpaired t test with Welch correction or paired t test (p<0.05). PA wall surface percentage was increased in apical (p=0.003) and caudo-dorsal (p=0.03) lung regions (respectively 50,66±13,16% and 50,56±15,02) of asthmatic horses, when compared to controls (respectively 35,38±7,06% and 38,13±10,18). Similarly, VSM mass percentage was increased (p=0.03) in asthmatic horses (47,77±3,17%), compared to controls (41,07±6,22%). A tendency for normalization of the VSM mass was observed after treatment with antigen avoidance (p=0.05; 39,64±4,02%), but not with fluticasone (p=0.27; 45,35±14,98%). Remodeling of the PA occurs in SEA and the increase in VSM could lead to lumen narrowing and enhance hypoxic vasoconstriction, contributing to PH during exacerbation. VSM mass normalization is more effectively obtained by antigen avoidance than by corticosteroids.


Hard work is the key to success. It may sound like a cliche, but the preparation and the release of this first edition of the new Journal of the Foot & Ankle (JFA) were based on this very concept, and we took it very seriously! For years many of us have dedicated time and efforts to bring this Journal to life. After countless meetings, discussions, phone calls, WhatsApp messages, and an infinite amount of writing, our collaborative hard work and friendship finally brought us here! Now we need to stay focused and ahead of the game, looking forward to the future and the innovations. We should aim to publish high-quality, unbiased research, with emphasis on strong clinical evidence.
Our vision is to support researchers and research that can enable the Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Surgery Community to understand better the complexity of the pathologies, guide treatment, and, most importantly, improve the treatment results and quality of life of our patients. Our thoughts are that keeping all these goals in mind will allow us to achieve the expected acceptance and respect of the research community, as well as the desired indexation. It is not an easy task! But we are confident we can get there with your help!
We're great believers in working as a team towards a common goal, and we are sure that with the help of our dedicated Foot and Ankle colleagues and researchers, we will soon make our vision become a reality! Let's do it together!


Background: Bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE), used in manufacturing coatings and resins, leach from packaging materials into food. Numerous studies suggested that BPA and BADGE may have adverse effects on human health, including the possibility that exposure to such chemicals can be superimposed on traditional risk factors to initiate or exacerbate the development of obesity. BPA is a suspected obesogen, whereas BADGE, described as a peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) antagonist, could reduce weight gain. Objectives: We sought to test the adipogenic effects of BADGE in a biologically relevant cell culture model. Methods: We used multipotent mesenchymal stromal stem cells (MSCs) to study the adipogenic capacity of BADGE and BPA and evaluated their effects on adipogenesis, osteogenesis, gene expression, and nuclear receptor activation. Discussion: BADGE induced adipogenesis in human and mouse MSCs, as well as in mouse 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. In contrast, BPA failed to promote adipogenesis in MSCs, but induced adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells. BADGE exposure elicited an adipogenic gene expression profile, and its ability to induce adipogenesis and the expression of adipogenic genes was not blocked by known PPARγ antagonists. Neither BADGE nor BPA activated or antagonized retinoid "X" receptor (RXR) or PPARγ in transient transfection assays. Conclusions: BADGE can induce adipogenic differentiation in both MSCs and in preadipocytes at low nanomolar concentrations comparable to those that have been observed in limited human biomonitoring. BADGE probably acts through a mechanism that is downstream of, or parallel to, PPARγ.


Fifth generation (5G) networks are the base communication technology for connecting objects in the Internet of Things (IoT) environment. 5G is being developed to provide extremely large capacity, robust integrity, high bandwidth, and low latency. With the development and innovating new techniques for 5G-IoT, it surely will drive to new enormous security and privacy challenges. Consequently, secure techniques for data transmissions will be needed as the basis for 5G-IoT technology to address these arising challenges. Therefore, various traditional security mechanisms are provided for 5G-IoT technologies and most of them are built on mathematical foundations. With the growth of quantum technologies, traditional cryptographic techniques may be compromised due to their mathematical computation based construction. Quantum walks (QWs) is a universal quantum computational model, which possesses inherent cryptographic features that can be utilized to build efficient cryptographic mechanisms. In this paper, we use the features of quantum walk to construct a new S-box method which plays a significant role in block cipher techniques for 5G-IoT technologies. As an application of the presented S-box mechanism and controlled alternate quantum walks (CAQWs) for 5G-IoT technologies a new robust video encryption mechanism is proposed. As well as to fulfill needs of encryption for varied files in 5G-IoT, we utilize the features of quantum walk to propose a novel encryption strategy for secure transmission of sensitive files in 5G-IoT paradigm. The analyses and results of the proposed cryptosystems show that it has better security properties and efficacy in terms of cryptographic performance.


Intensive mining activities generate toxic acid mine drainage (AMD) effluents containing a high concentration of metals, including iron. The chemical synthesis of iron nanoparticles from this waste could lead to further environmental concerns. Therefore, the green synthesis of nanoparticles using plants has gained significant interest because of several benefits, including being eco-friendly. The current study reports a novel approach involving the synthesis of stabilized iron nanoparticles from AMD using rooibos tea extract. An aqueous solution of rooibos tea was prepared and titrated with AMD to reduce Fe2+/Fe3+. The samples synthesized under optimum conditions were characterized by TEM, XRD, FTIR, UV–Vis, and EDS. The results revealed that the nanoparticles had an average particle size of 36 nm with a spherical shape. These particles showed promising application as a Fenton-like catalyst for the degradation of textile dye (orange II sodium salt) with a removal efficiency of 94% within 30 min. Thus, the stabilized iron nanoparticles synthesized here performed in higher ranges than the currently reported Fenton-like catalysts regarding dye removal efficiency and reaction time.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The mortality risk associated with attempting to raise hemoglobin (Hb) levels by increasing Epoetin alfa (EPO) doses in hemodialysis patients with persistently low Hb remains poorly understood. Design, setting, participants, & measurements. We included hemodialysis patients from a large dialysis provider between July 2000 and June 2001 who had EPO dose and Hb data for 6 consecutive months, and a mean Hb <11 g/dl in months 4 to 6 (sub-11 period). We identify predictors of EPO dose changes during the sub-11 period; evaluate the proportion of patients achieving a Hb >or=11 g/dl after the sub-11 period by dose-change categories; and evaluate the association between EPO dose changes and mortality risk.

RESULTS
Patients were more likely to receive greater EPO dose increases if they had lower EPO doses, higher Hb levels, or were recently hospitalized. Greater EPO dose increases elevated the likelihood of achieving an Hb >or=11 g/dl in the subsequent 3 mo. Larger EPO dose changes over the sub-11 period were not associated with an elevated mortality risk, but having an Hb <9 g/dl at the end of that period independent of dose change was associated with mortality risk. We found that patients receiving larger dose changes and whose resulting Hb level remained <9.5 g/dl at the end of the 3 mo were at elevated mortality risk.

CONCLUSIONS
In patients with persistently low Hb levels, mortality risk was strongly associated with the patient's ability to achieve a hematopoietic response rather than the magnitude of EPO dose titrations.