A new approach is presented to obtain fluorescent sensors for pH windows that work in water and under biomimetic conditions. A single molecule that features all-covalently linked components is used, thus making it capable of working as a fluorescent sensor with an OFF/ON/OFF response to pH value. The components are a tertiary amine, a pyridine, and a fluorophore (pyrene). The forms with both protonated bases or both neutral bases quench the pyrene fluorescence, whereas the form with the neutral pyridine and protonated amine groups is fluorescent. The molecular sensor is also equipped with a long alkyl chain to make it highly hydrophobic in all its protonated and unprotonated forms, that is, either when neutral or charged. Accordingly, it can be confined at any pH value either in traditional (i.e., low-molecular-weight) nonionic surfactant micelles or inside polymeric, biocompatible micellar containers. Relevant for future applications in vivo, thanks to its strong hydrophobicity, no leakage of the molecular sensor is observed from the polymeric biocompatible micelles. Due to the proximity of the pyridine and amine functions in the molecular structure and the poor hydration inside the micelles, the observed pK(a) values are low so that the ON window is positioned at very low pH values. However, the window can be shifted to biologically relevant values by comicellization of anionic species. In particular, in the micelles of the nonionic surfactant TritonX-100, a shift of the ON window to pH 4-6 is obtained by addition of the anionic sodium dodecyl sulphate surfactant, whose negative charge promotes the stability of the protonated forms of the pyridine and amine fragments. In the case of the polymeric micelles, we introduce the use of the amphiphilic polystyrene sulfonate anionic polyelectrolyte, the comicellization of which induces a shift and sharpening of the ON window that is centered at pH 4.


This article investigates an important issue in carbonation systems for beverages, i.e., monitoring and optimizing the amount of carbon dioxide concentration in carbonated beverages. The study is grounded on two series of experimental tests performed using a laboratory apparatus that reproduces an industrial carbonation unit equipped with a Venturi nozzle, properly manufactured for this application. The experimental tests aimed to optimize the carbonation process as a function of both two parameters of the Venturi nozzle, namely the injection distance and the length of the cylindrical part, and a plant parameter, namely the pressure of the fluid at the end of the Venturi device. Analysis of variance was used to assess whether the parameters mentioned earlier have a significant effect on the carbonation level reached by the fluid (i.e., water), and on the amount of carbon dioxide sucked by the Venturi device.

This study contributes to the literature in that it examines and optimizes an industrial carbonation process. The outcomes obtained could be useful for the optimization of the equipment.

Practical Applications
This study can be useful to practitioners because it examines and optimizes a real industrial carbonation process. The outcomes obtained provide indications as regards the optimal size of the Venturi device, and could be useful for the optimization of the equipment used in the beverage industry, as well as for the optimization of the carbonation process.


The diagnostic performance of the bispectral index (BIS) to early predict neurological outcomes in patients achieving return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after cardiac arrest (CA) remained unclear. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and CENTRAL for relevant studies through October 2019. Methodologic quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2) tool. Meta-analysis was performed using a linear mixed-effects model to the log-transformed data with a logistic distribution assumption. Bivariate meta-regression was performed to explore heterogeneity. In total, 13 studies with 999 CA adult patients were included. At the optimal threshold of 32, BIS obtained within 72 h of ROSC elicits a pooled sensitivity of 84.9% (95% confidence interval (CI), 71.1% to 92.7%), a pooled specificity of 85.9% (95% CI, 71.2% to 93.8%) and an area under the curve of 0.92. Moreover, a BIS cutoff < 12 yielded a pooled specificity of 95.0% (95% CI, 77.8% to 99.0%). In bivariate meta-regression, the timing of neurological outcome assessment, the adoption of targeted temperature management, and the administration of sedative agents or neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBA) were not identified as the potential source of heterogeneity. BIS retains good diagnostic performance during targeted temperature management (TTM) and in the presence of administrated sedative agents and NMBA. In conclusion, BIS can predict poor neurological outcomes early in patients with ROSC after CA with good diagnostic performance and should be incorporated into the neuroprognostication strategy algorithm.


Oceania is characterized by thousands of islands and archipelagoes amidst the vast expanse of the Pacific. Although it is one of the few truly oceanic habitats occupied permanently by humankind, surprisingly little research has been done on the maritime dimension of Pacific history. "The People of the Sea" attempts to fill this gap by combining neglected historical and scientific material to provide the first synthetic study of ocean-people interaction in the region from 1770 to 1870. It emphasizes Pacific Islanders' varied and evolving relationships with the sea during a crucial transitional era following sustained European contact. Countering the dominant paradigms of recent Pacific Islands' historiography, which tend to limit understanding of the sea's importance, this volume emphasizes the flux in the maritime environment and how it instilled an expectation and openness toward outside influences and the rapidity with which cultural change could occur in relations between various Islander groups. The author constructs an extended and detailed conceptual framework to examine the ways in which the sea has framed and shaped Islander societies. He looks closely at Islanders' diverse responses to their ocean environment, including the sea in daily life; sea travel and its infrastructure; maritime boundaries; protecting and contesting marine tenure; attitudes to unheralded sea borne arrivals; and conceptions of the world beyond the horizon and the willingness to voyage. He concludes by using this framework to reconsider the influence of the sea on historical processes in Oceania from 1770 to the present and discusses the implications of his findings for Pacific studies.


The relation between the hyperfine structure and leptonic decay rates of heavy quarkonia is considered with the account of relativistic and radiative corrections. The calculated decay rates agree well with the available experimental data, while the predicted ηc(2S) mass is significantly smaller than the value measured recently by the Belle and BaBar Collaborations. Recent observation of the charmonium 2S0 state ηc(2S) by the Belle and BaBar Collaborations yielded the following values for its mass:


In the area of globalization manufacturers are facing the challenges of higher Quality and productivity are two important . Productivity can be interpreted in terms of material removal rate in the machining operation and quality represents satisfactory yield in terms of product characteristics as desired by the customers. but conflicting criteria in any machining operations. In order to ensure high productivity, extent of quality is to be compromised. It is, therefore, essential to optimize quality and productivity simultaneously. Dimensional accuracy, form stability, surface smoothness, fulfillment of functional requirements in prescribed area of application etc. are important quality attributes of the product. Increase in productivity results in reduction in machining time which may result in quality loss. On the contrary, an improvement in quality results in increasing machining time thereby, reducing productivity. Therefore, there is a need to optimize quality as well as productivity. Optimizing a single response may yield positively in some aspects but it may affect adversely in other aspects. The problem can be overcome if multiple objectives are optimized simultaneously. It is, therefore, required to maximize material removal rate (MRR), and to improve product quality simultaneously by selecting an appropriate (optimal) process environment. To this end, the present work deals with multi-objective optimization philosophy based on Taguchi-Grey relational analysis method applied in CNC end milling operation.


A study was conducted in Lakhipur India a tribal village of Santhals and Paharias to discover their knowledge of and attitude toward the national family planning program. Only 60% of the respondents had heard of the program; only 2 or 3 people had any usable knowledge of family planning. There was widespread opposition based on tradition and religion. Children in this area are still viewed as a economic asset. Much personal attention will be necessary to change attitudes in Lakhipur. Village leaders must become family planning acceptors. Propaganda should be frequent and varied. Door to door workers should be employed. Family planning personnel must be easily accessible.


Selective relaying periodically selects one single relay with the best channel quality to participate the communication between source and destination. When OFDM is used as the physical layer technique in the network, a new problem is how to select the best relay since independent subcarriers may have different channel conditions. Several schemes have been presented, while their capacities are still unknown. This paper investigates the capacity of OFDM based two-hop regenerative wireless networks with optimal selective relaying in theory. Simulation results validate theoretical analysis. Furthermore, capacities in more practical and suboptimal cases are also simulated and analyzed.


Climate change might impact crop yields considerably and anticipated transformations of agricultural systems are needed in the coming decades to sustain affordable food provision. However, decision-making on transformational shifts in agricultural systems is plagued by uncertainties concerning the nature and geography of climate change, its impacts, and adequate responses. Locking agricultural systems into inadequate transformations costly to adjust is a significant risk and this acts as an incentive to delay action. It is crucial to gain insight into how much transformation is required from agricultural systems, how robust such strategies are, and how we can defuse the associated challenge for decision-making. While implementing a definition related to large changes in resource use into a global impact assessment modelling framework, we find transformational adaptations to be required of agricultural systems in most regions by 2050s in order to cope with climate change. However, these transformations widely differ across climate change scenarios: uncertainties in large-scale development of irrigation span in all continents from 2030s on, and affect two-thirds of regions by 2050s. Meanwhile, significant but uncertain reduction of major agricultural areas affects the Northern Hemisphere's temperate latitudes, while increases to non-agricultural zones could be large but uncertain in one-third of regions. To help reducing the associated challenge for decision-making, we propose a methodology exploring which, when, where and why transformations could be required and uncertain, by means of scenario analysis.


Characterizing the privacy degradation over compositions, i.e., privacy accounting, is a fundamental topic in differential privacy (DP) with many applications to differentially private machine learning and federated learning. We propose a unification of recent advances (Renyi DP, privacy profiles, $f$-DP and the PLD formalism) via the \emph{characteristic function} ($\phi$-function) of a certain \emph{dominating} privacy loss random variable. We show that our approach allows \emph{natural} adaptive composition like Renyi DP, provides \emph{exactly tight} privacy accounting like PLD, and can be (often \emph{losslessly}) converted to privacy profile and $f$-DP, thus providing $(\epsilon,\delta)$-DP guarantees and interpretable tradeoff functions. Algorithmically, we propose an \emph{analytical Fourier accountant} that represents the \emph{complex} logarithm of $\phi$-functions symbolically and uses Gaussian quadrature for numerical computation. On several popular DP mechanisms and their subsampled counterparts, we demonstrate the flexibility and tightness of our approach in theory and experiments.


In 2007 pot and field trials were fulfilled with the silty loam Luvisol at the Department of Soil Management and Experimental Station of Lithuanian University of Agriculture. The aim of investigations was to determine the effect of sugar beet sowing depth on sugar beet seed germination, seedling establishment, yield and quality of roots. In the pot trial sugar beet seeds were incorporated at the depth of 0-6 cm (D0-D6). The depth of 3 cm was control treatment. In the field trial seeds were sown at 2.1-3.0 (shallow, SH) (control treatment), 3.1-4.0 (moderate, MO) and 4.1-5.0 (deep, DE) cm depths. According to the results of the pot experiment, there were not observed significant differences of 0-5 cm sown seed final germination and height of seedlings compared with control treatment (D3). However, deeper sown seeds emerged later. The germination of deeply (6 cm) sown seeds was 44.2% and was significantly less than sown in 0-5 cm depths. The increase of the sowing depth up to 4-6 cm had negative significant influence on mass of seedlings. In the field experiment the increase of sowing depth from 2.1 to 5.0 cm had significant negative influence on seed germination, crop density and fanging of root-crop. However, when the weather in spring was dry the highest yield of root-crop was of deeper-sown (4.1-5.0 cm) sugar beets. The results of root-crop quality showed the influence of sowing depth increase on significantly higher amount of potassium and less amount of alpha amino nitrogen.


Hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid, HA), a glycosaminoglycan found in tissue throughout the body, overaccumulates in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of many non-hematologic malignancies, including breast cancer. HA overaccumulation in breast cancer patients correlates with tumor progression and decreased survival (Tammi 2008). Pegylated recombinant human hyaluronidase PH20 (PEGPH20), an investigational therapeutic agent entering Phase 3 clinical development in pancreatic cancer, enzymatically removes HA from the TME. In preclinical animal models, PEGPH20-mediated HA degradation is associated with remodeling of the tumor stroma, reduction of tumor pressure, expansion of tumor blood vessels and facilitated delivery of chemotherapy (Thompson 2010, Provenzano 2012, Jacobetz 2013). Accordingly, preclinical studies investigated the combination of PEGPH20 with eribulin mesylate (ERI, HALAVEN®), a microtubule dynamics inhibitor with a novel mechanism of action (Towle 2001, Jordan 2005), currently approved for treatment of certain patients with advanced breast cancer. NCr nu/nu mice were inoculated subcutaneously with human triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) HCC1806 or HCC1806/HAS3 cells; the latter subline was engineered to accumulate high HA levels, confirmed by immunohistochemistry, via overexpression of hyaluronan synthase 3 (HAS3). When tumors reached ∼350 mm3, animals were randomly assigned to four treatments groups: vehicle, ERI (0.7 mg/kg, IV, QW), PEGPH20 (37.5 µg/kg, IV, BIW), or ERI plus PEGPH20. In the parental HCC1806 model, addition of PEGPH20 did not significantly change the antitumor effects of ERI. In contrast, combining PEGPH20 with ERI in the HCC1806/HAS3 model increased the antitumor effects of ERI by 27% (94.5% vs. 119.7% TGI, ERI alone vs. ERI+PEGPH20, respectively; p=0.05) and resulted in 6 of 7 complete tumor regressions. In a complementary study in HCC1806/HAS3 tumors evaluating ERI pharmacokinetics with and without PEGPH20, mice were assigned to three treatments groups: ERI (0.5 mg/kg, IV), simultaneous ERI plus PEGPH20 (37.5 µg/kg, IV); or ERI plus PEGPH20 predosed 24 h prior to ERI. Animals were sacrificed at 0.5, 1, 4, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h post ERI dose, and ERI levels in tumor, muscle, plasma and liver were subsequently analyzed by liquid/liquid extraction and LC-MS/MS chromatography. Simultaneous administration of ERI and PEGPH20 increased ERI maximum tumor concentration (Cmax) slightly and approximately doubled ERI tumor exposure (AUC); whereas the 24 h pretreatment with PEGPH20 approximately doubled ERI Cmax and increased ERI AUC more than two-fold. No significant differences in plasma ERI levels were observed between groups, and no significant differences in ERI levels in liver or muscle tissue were observed between groups. Taken together, these data suggest that PEGPH20-mediated HA removal significantly increases both ERI tumor concentrations and antitumor effectiveness in an HA-high TNBC model. A clinical phase 1b/2 clinical trial is planned to evaluate PEGPH20 plus ERI in first-line HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Citation Format: Bahn JD, DesJardins C, Condon KB, Fathallah A, Zimmerman S, Maneval DC, Littlefield BA, Thompson CB. Pegylated recombinant human hyaluronidase PH20 (PEGPH20) enhances efficacy of eribulin mesylate (HALAVEN®) in triple negative breast cancer xenografts. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-03-09.


Abstract Malva parviflora L. (Malvaceae) is rapidly becoming a serious weed of Australian farming systems. An understanding of the variability of its seed behaviour is required to enable the development of integrated weed management strategies. Mature M. parviflora seeds were collected from four diverse locations in the Mediterranean-type climatic agricultural region of Western Australia. All of the seeds exhibited physical dormancy at collection; manual scarification or a period of fluctuating summer temperatures (50/20°C or natural) were required to release dormancy. When scarified and germinated soon (1 month) after collection, the majority of seeds were able to germinate over a wide range of temperatures (5–37°C) and had no light requirement. Germination was slower for seeds stored for 2 months than seeds stored for 2 years, suggesting the presence of shallow physiological dormancy. Seed populations from regions with similar annual rainfall exhibited similar dormancy release patterns; seeds from areas of low rainfall (337–344 mm) were more responsive to fluctuating temperatures, releasing physical dormancy earlier than those from areas of high rainfall (436–444 mm). After 36 months, maximum seedling emergence from soil in the field was 60%, with buried seeds producing 13–34% greater emergence than seeds on the surface. Scanning electron microscopy of the seed coat revealed structural differences in the chalazal region of permeable and impermeable seeds, suggesting the importance of this region in physical dormancy breakdown of M. parviflora seeds. The influence of rainfall during plant growth in determining dormancy release, and hence, germination and emergence timing, must be considered when developing management strategies for M. parviflora.


Genomic alterations and protein expression levels have been established as prognostic factors for survival in patients with diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL). In particular, double‐hit DLBCL (DHL), which exhibits translocations in MYC and BCL2 and/or BCL6, is known to be associated with a poor prognosis. However, the clinical significance of gene alterations and protein expression levels for MYC, B‐cell lymphoma (BCL)2, and BCL6 are unclear. In this study, we analyzed 61 adult patients diagnosed with DLBCL without DHL, who were treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone, or similar regimens. There were no differences in the distribution of MYC expression rates among the different MYC gene statuses. In log–rank tests, MYC translocation was a prognostic factor for overall survival (OS; P = 0.011), whereas BCL2 and BCL6 translocation were not prognostic indicators (P = 0.999 and P = 0.925, respectively). Although the expression levels of MYC and BCL6 were not significantly associated with OS, the expression of BCL2 was a prognostic factor for OS (P = 0.027). Furthermore, copy number gains in the MYC, BCL2, and BCL6 genes did not affect OS. MYC translocation (hazard ratio, 4.769; range, 1.518–14.98; P = 0.007) and BCL2 protein expression (hazard ratio, 3.072; range, 1.002–9.413; P = 0.049) were independent prognostic factors for survival in multivariate analyses. In conclusion, MYC translocation and BCL2 expression may need to be investigated at the initial diagnosis to predict prognosis in patients with DLBCL.


Background/Aim: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is highly prevalent in kidney transplant patients (KT). It is characterized by the presence of an inflammatory infiltrate. In this study, we examined the presence of similar infiltrates in intact skin, which could be regarded as a precancerous step. Patients and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed skin biopsies of 19 non-transplanted patients with a diagnosis of SCC or basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and 17 KT with either SCC or BCC. Results: KT showed increased inflammatory infiltrate in the subepithelial region, compared to non-transplanted patients. The density of basal cell nuclei was also different among the four groups with an interaction effect between tumor type and transplantation. The extent of inflammatory infiltrates did not correlate with the eGFR and proteinuria. Conclusion: KT with a non-melanoma skin cancer show increased intact skin inflammatory infiltrate and alterations in the density of the basal cell layer compared to non-transplanted patients.


BARD1 is the constitutive nuclear partner to the breast and ovarian cancer-specific tumor suppressor BRCA1. Together, they form a heterodimeric complex responsible for maintaining genomic stability through nuclear functions involving DNA damage signaling and repair, transcriptional regulation, and cell cycle control. We report the 2.0Å structure of the BARD1 ankyrin repeat domain. The structure includes four ankyrin repeats with a non-canonical C-terminal capping ankyrin repeat and a well ordered extended loop preceding the first repeat. Conserved surface features show an acidic patch and an acidic pocket along the surface typically used by ankyrin repeat domains for binding cognate proteins. We also demonstrate that two reported mutations, N470S and V507M, in the ankyrin repeat domain do not result in observable structural defects. These results provide a structural basis for exploring the biological function of the ankyrin repeat domain and for modeling BARD1 isoforms.


OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to translate and cross-culturally adapt the Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BESTest) to Arabic (Mini-BESTest-Ar) and evaluate its psychometric properties in patients with neurological balance disorders.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The translation and adaptation followed the established guidelines. Validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, standard error of measurement (SEM), minimal detectable change (MDC95), and limits of agreement (LOA) were examined in 56 patients. The sensitivity was investigated using the receiver operating characteristic curve.

RESULTS
The Mini-BESTest-Ar significantly correlated with the Berg balance scale (BBS) (r = 0.80; p < 0.001) and dynamic gait index (DGI) (rho = 0.75; p < 0.001). All domains showed moderate to very good correlations with BBS (r = 0.62-0.81; p < 0.001) and fair to very good correlations with DGI (rho = 0.4 -0.79; p < 0.05). The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the total score and all domains were excellent (Cronbach's α = 0.96-0.81, ICC = 0.95-0.81, and r = 0.92-0.68). The SEM, MDC95, and MDC% for total score and domains were 1.19-0.31, 3.29-0.86 points, and 16.5%-66.8% respectively. The LOA revealed no systematic error. A cut-off point of 21.5/28 (Area under the curve = 0.85, sensitivity = 75%, specificity = 75%) was specified.

CONCLUSIONS
The Mini-BESTest-Ar has appropriate psychometric properties supporting its usefulness for research and clinical purposes.


Aerobic and resistance exercise have been prescript to prevention and non pharmacological treatment of hypertension. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the effects of concurrent training in hypertensive women. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of concurrent training program on rest blood pressure, biochemical variables (blood glucose and total cholesterol) , anthropometric (body mass index and waist circumference) and functional fitness in hypertensive women. Eighteen hypertensive postmenopausal and untrained women (59±12 years old) started in the intervention, but only ten subjects finished. The voluntaries were enrolled in concurrent training, 60 min/day, 3 times a week, during 6 months. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose, total cholesterol, body mass index, waist circumference and functional fitness (AAPHERD) were measured pre and post experimental period. Data were analyzed using the Student's t test with significance level set at 5% (P?0.05) and Cohen's Effect Size (ES). The results showed significant improvement in systolic and diastolic blood pressure at rest. The other variables did not show significantly changes, but the ES was medium and large for several variables (body mass index, blood glucose, total cholesterol, agility, coordination, aerobic fitness, strength endurance and general functional fitness index). In conclusion, this study confirms that 6 month of concurrent training program improved systolic and diastolic blood pressure in hypertensive women. In addition, the protocol suggests an improvement in anthropometric, biochemical and functional variables related to health.


This paper brings together findings from three separate investigations to provide a deeper understanding of the changing roles of the government, for-profit and nonprofit sectors in ensuring civil society. The first study, based on a survey of 645 nonprofit organizations from across Canada, revealed a nonprofit sector changing to meet the challenges of the times, despite a general pessimism among leaders of nonprofit organizations as to their future (Meinhard & Foster, 2003a & b). The second, based on interviews with 20 Government of Ontario officials with links to the nonprofit sector, demonstrated how civil servants struggled to help nonprofit organizations adjust to the new policies and also encouraged them to form partnerships with the for-profit sector (Meinhard & Foster, 2003c). The research reported in this paper, based on interviews with 17 senior officers of Ontario-based corporations active in philanthropy, focuses on the corporations and probes more deeply in to the myriad of ways they are getting involved in their communities as socially responsible corporate citizens. The findings from the corporate interviews are compared and melded with those from previous interviews with government officials and nonprofit organizations to provide a three-dimensional perspective of the direction in which Canadian civil society may be moving. Keywords: CVSS, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Working Paper Series,TRSM, Ted Rogers School of Management


The study attempts to investigate in-vitro screening of anti-Parkinson's activity of the entire plant of Malaxis acuminata by using the SH-SY5Y cell line. The powdered plant of Malaxis acuminata was extracted by the Soxhlet method using nonpolar to polar solvents. Rotenone (10μM) was used to induce toxicity on SH-SY5Y cell lines. The cell lines were then treated with 100μg, 50μg, 25μg, 12.5μg, 6.25μg of ethanolic extract of Malaxis acuminata and in a humidified 5 % CO2 incubator, the cells were inoculated at 37°C. When the doses were steadily increased over 24 hr, the percentage viability of the cells fell. 6.25g/ml was shown to be the most effective concentration for inhibiting cell proliferation. The number of viable cells tends to decrease as that the concentration of the extract increases. Malaxis acuminata ethanolic extracts exhibited antiparkinsonian activity on SH-SY5Y cell lines.


Background: Microscale in vitro assays are fast, simple, and inexpensive, with reduced reagent quantities, waste, and experimental animal use. However, they have low reproducibility and low correlation with the results of in vivo models, possibly due to differences in precision and accuracy in methodologies between laboratories. Objective: The objective was the optimization and validation of an in vitro assay, carried out on microscale, to assess the inhibition of α-glucosidase activity, which is indicative of antihyperglycemic activity. Methods: The optimization was carried out using a fractional factorial design taking into account the best inhibition percentage and the absorbance of the controls. With the optimized experimental conditions in hand, we carried out method validation. Results: The optimized conditions were as follows: enzyme concentration, 0.55 U/mL; substrate concentration, 111.5 μM; and 17.5 min incubation at 37°C. A linear range between 100 and 310.2 μg/mL of acarbose (r2 0.994) was established. The RSD was <2% and the % error was <3%. The Z factor was >0.96. This method was applied to four plant extracts, one of which was found to be very active. Conclusion: The method was found to be accurate, precise, selective, linear, and reliable in evaluating the antihyperglycemic activity of natural extracts in vitro.


Dental care is considered to be an example of complex manual interventions in the medical sector. The vision presented describes the organization of dental care based on the application of modern telecommunication technologies. In developed countries, general dental practitioners have a positive attitude toward incorporating teledentistry into their practice. In PubMed there is a tendency to increase the states by telehealth key words and tags, including teledentistry. Those health care tendencies show a steady trend toward the broadening of teledentistry services.


In this study, the baseline design for the ITER electron cyclotron emission (ECE) diagnostic has entered the detailed preliminary design phase. Two plasma views are planned, a radial view and an oblique view that is sensitive to distortions in the electron momentum distribution near the average thermal momentum. Both views provide high spatial resolution electron temperature profiles when the momentum distribution remains Maxwellian. The ECE diagnostic system consists of the front-end optics, including two 1000 K calibration sources, in equatorial port plug EP9, the 70-1000 GHz transmission system from the front-end to the diagnostics hall, and the ECE instrumentation in the diagnostics hall. The baseline ECE instrumentation will include two Michelson interferometers that can simultaneously measure ordinary and extraordinary mode ECE from 70 to 1000 GHz, and two heterodyne radiometer systems, covering 122-230 GHz and 244-355 GHz. Significant design challenges include 1) developing highly-reliable 1000 K calibration sources and the associated shutters/mirrors, 2) providing compliant couplings between the front-end optics and the polarization splitter box that accommodate displacements of the vacuum vessel during plasma operations and bake out, 3) protecting components from damage due to stray ECH radiation and other intense millimeter wave emission and 4) providing the low-loss broadbandmore » transmission system.« less


The role of GAs in promoting seed germination is well known and experiments with seeds from different species have suggested the requirement of de novo synthesis of GAs upon imbibition for germination. There are also strong indications that the enhancement of GA synthesis is part of the mechanism through which environmental signals (i.e. light) induce germination. Since along the GA biosynthetic pathway, oxidation at C-20 carried out by GA 20-oxidases is thought to be a site of regulation, a cDNA clone encoding a GA 20-oxidase was isolated from embryos of sorghum (SbGA 20ox). Expression analysis of this gene in embryos within imbibed caryopses with low dormancy showed detectable amounts of the specific mRNA early upon incubation, increasing thereafter. In contrast, it remained barely detectable in embryos from dormant caryopses. Changes in endogenous GA4 levels were in agreement with those of SbGA 20ox mRNA, suggesting that GA production might be regulated differentially at the level of transcription of this gene. The expression of SbGA 20ox was enhanced in incubated embryos isolated from either type of caryopses, illustrating a physiological control exerted by the surrounding seed tissues on gene expression. The results also show that ABA leads to a suppression of transcription of this gene.


A critical review of the literature regarding individuals' knowledge and their attitudes toward elderly sexuality is presented. A generally positive relationship was discovered between various age cohorts' depth of knowledge and their permissiveness of attitudes. However, some health care providers demonstrated a negative relationship between their knowledge and attitudes. In future studies, the use of a moderator methodology, rather than seeking a uniform relationship, appears essential in order to understand discrepant findings.


The biology of free‐living and parasitic Platyhelminthes is diverse. Taking into account the widespread prevalence of parasitic flatworms, Digenea is the least studied group regarding the fine structure of nervous system especially of the cercarial life stage. Here, we present a description of the fine structure of central nervous system (CNS) and two types of uniciliate sensory papillae of xiphidiocercaria Cercaria parvicaudata (Microphalloidea, Renicolidae). The present study documents that C. parvicaudata has a complex nervous system that includes a well‐developed ganglion with a cortex of perikarya and glia‐like sheaths, myelin‐like structures within one of the dorsal nerve cords and four types of polarized synapses between neurites. Different types of neurons in the CNS could not be distinguished on ultrastructural level due to high similarity in their fine structure. Shared polarized synapses with high electron density of presynaptic components are numerous in the neuropile and nerve cords of this larva. Within the larval body, we detected specialized "support" processes that relate to different tissues. Some "support" processes are also closely related to the nervous system of C. parvicaudata, where they are considered as glia‐like structures. In this case, the fine structure of glia‐like "support" cells of C. parvicaudata differs from those described as glia‐like cells in adult flatworms. We suggest a wide prevalence of glia‐like cells among cercariae, as well as the fact that glia‐like structures in digenean nervous systems can develop from various nonneuronal tissues.


Functional and biochemical techniques were used to further characterize heterogeneity between rat Kupffer cells and peritoneal macrophages. Both macrophage cell types were found to phagocytize antibody coated sheep red blood cells in a time‐dependent manner. However, Kupffer cells were two to three times more phagocytic than were peritoneal macrophages. In contrast, the peritoneal cells released significantly more superoxide anion in response to the complement cleavage product, C5a and the phorbol ester tumor promoter, 12‐0‐tetradecanoyl‐phorbol‐13‐acetate, and produced more hydrogen peroxide than did the liver macrophages. Both cell types responded chemotactically to C5a. These results suggest that macrophages may develop specialized functions depending on the needs of their local environment. Using one and two dimensional SDS‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, we also compared the production of newly synthesized proteins by Kupffer cells and peritoneal macrophages. In general, the macrophages were found to produce similar types and numbers of proteins with some exceptions. These included proteins that were unique to peritoneal macrophages and other proteins observed only in Kupffer cells. The production of these proteins in liver macrophages did not appear to correlate with levels of functional activation, but may be more related to the tissue origin of the cells.


This article will discuss basic concepts and simple but commonly used methods of statistical analysis which are relevant to the evaluation of the results of randomized controlled clinical trials in multiple sclerosis. The focus throughout will be on an expository discussion to facilitate understanding of the logic, objectives and implementation of these methods. The context for most of the discussion is that of a two-armed clinical trial, involving a placebo and an active treatment arm. Clinical trials are carried out to allow conclusions concerning the efficacy and effectiveness of therapies, so the discussion will focus on aspects of inferential statistics. Simple methods for continuous and count responses, as well some specifically developed for use with categorical and time-to-event data are discussed. A very brief discussion of some of the more sophisticated methods that are often essential for a comprehensive analysis of the data collected in a clinical trial is also provided.


In this thesis we aim to examine whether music listening data combined with raw sensor data
 from a mobile device, can identify a mobile context and facilitate social interaction. Aiming
 to model not only the people, places and time that make up our mobile context, but also the
 constantly changing frame of mind reflected in the music we listen to, music has been utilized as
 yet another embedded sensor. A field study has been conducted with a handful of participants,
 constituting a small scale social network, carrying a smart phone for two weeks. All phone activities
 and data from embedded sensors was recorded, along the music being played on the device.
 In order to be capable of extracting contextual knowledge from the music being played, social
 tags retrieved from Last.fm has been utilized. Using a model that is capable of extracting the
 underlying topics behind the most frequently co-occurring words from the tag clouds, allows us
 to model the emerging concept of Soundscapes that captures the underlying semantic aspects
 of songs within a playlist. With visualization and similarity capabilities, the Soundscapes has
 not only been used to support the various scenarios related to music consumption, it has also
 provided the basis for identifying which conditions that determine music preferences in a given
 context. We report initial indications that listening patterns in terms of music genre preferences
 are influenced by whether the user is in a static environment or on the move. Applying a simple
 decision tree algorithm, in order to identify what contexts determine the preferences, indicates
 that our listening patterns change over time. This suggest that music applications utilizing
 context information must be designed to adapt to our shifting preferences as they continuously
 evolve.
 Furthermore, a conceptual model assembles the concepts in order to support music navigation,
 recommendation and exploration for the individual as well as in a social context. Thus, patterns
 emerge that indicate how it might be possible to share music by traversing the social graph and
 finding other users (friends) being in a similar context or listening to similar playlists. This leads
 us to a proof-of-concept application, SocialContextPlaylist, aiming to demonstrate how context-awareness,
 music similarity and social relations can be exploited in order to enhance the social
 experience of future mobile music applications by facilitating social interaction. The application
 is meant to serve as a foundation for further analysis and development of new creative innovative
 solutions in the emerging domain of future mobile entertainment applications and services.


SYNOPSIS. Vibration through the substrate has likely been important to animals as a channel of communication for millions of years, but our awareness of vibration as biologically relevant information has a history of only the last 30 yr. Morphologists know that the jaw mechanism of early amphibians allowed them to perceive vibration through the substrate as their large heads lay on the ground. Although the exact mechanism of vibration production and the precise nature of the wave produced are not always understood, recent technical advances have given answers to increasingly sophisticated questions about how animals send and receive signals through the substrate. Some of us have been forced to explore the use of vibration when all other attempts to manipulate animals in the field have failed, while others began to think about vibration to explain some of the puzzling behaviors of species they were studying in other contexts. It has thus become clear that the use of vibration in animal communication is much more widespread than previously thought. We now know that vibration provides information used in predator-prey interactions, recruitment to food, mate choice, intrasexual competition and maternal/brood social interactions in a range of animals from insects to elephants.


Methane (CH4) and carbon monoxide (CO) total column amounts (TCA) measured at the Research Institute of Physics of St. Petersburg State University (Russia) were used for: 1. study of temporal variability of CH4 and CO; 2. identification of source regions of CO and CH4 using trajectory analysis. CH4 and CO showed distinct annual cycle with the amplitude of about 3% and 25% correspondingly. Period of 1999-2002 has a significant decline of CH4 TCA for the St. Petersburg region. The suggested reason is hot and dry summers of 1998-2002. October 1998 - March 1999 is characterized by the strong irregular disturbances of CO TCA. Growth rates of CO TCA have changed at this period from (3.5±2.3)%/yr (for 1995-1998) up to (-2.1±1.5)%/yr (for 1999-2002). Enhanced CO and CH4 TCA levels are observed for air masses originated from the sectors of the North Russia, continental Russia and the Eurasia. Europe can be classified as moderately polluted territory. Clean air comes from the Baltic Sea, Arctic Ocean and Scandinavia. Distribution of CO pollution levels over sectors repeats qualitatively situation for CH4.


Abstract Background: New oral anticoagulants have been developed to overcome the perceived disadvantages of more traditional anticoagulants such as heparin and warfarin, and their use amongst ENT patients have been increasing. Objectives: This review article aims to discuss the mechanism of action of new oral anticoagulants, when they should be used and a protocol for their use, in both the bleeding patient and in the peri-operative setting. Conclusion: It is important that ENT surgeons are aware of the use of new oral anticoagulants, and have a departmental- and trust-based policy on their use and reversal in bleeding and surgical patients.


Long-term density and distribution changes of benthic polychaetes in the Leschenault Inlet were monitored over a period of five years from February 1982 to May1987. A number of samples were also collected in 1997 for taxonomic purposes. A total of 15 polychaete species were recorded, one of which was a new species ( Ampharetidae sp. ). Spatial distributions of the dominant species could be linked to environmental factors, particularly to salinity regime, water depth and substrate. Specific habitat preferences were described and used to discern three polychaete assemblages. Salinity tolerance appeared to be the most important determinant of distribution patterns within the estuary. Long-term density changes of the three most common species Ceratonereis aequisetis , Nephtys gravieri and Capitella cf. capitata followed rather complex patterns. Average circannual periodicity of population density was typically unimodal, with peaks in late summer to autumn. Obvious circannual periodicity could not be found for the overall population of a given species, because both large year-to-year variability at single sites and phase differences between sites masked the average pattern. Coincident long-term trends observed for C . aequisetis at neighboring sites revealed a persistent synchronicity after disturbance and a lack of coupling to seasonal variation in abiotic factors.


Background: The repair of zone 1 flexor tendon injury often relies on re-inserting the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) tendon to the distal phalanx. The aim of this retrospective study is to compare outcomes at 12 weeks following traditional button-over-nail (BON) versus bone anchor (BA) repair of zone I FDP injury. Methods: Patients undergoing zone 1 FDP repair between April 2007 and September 2018 using a BON or a BA were included in the study. Patient demographics, complications, arc of flexion of distal (distal interphalangeal joint [DIPJ]) and proximal interphalangeal joint (PIPJ) and patient-rated outcomes were analysed. Results: Forty-three patients were included in the study: 21 in the BA group and 22 in the BON group. Good function was achieved by 20 patients in BA versus nine in BON. Complications occurred in five BA patients versus 10 BON patients. Patients achieved a mean active DIPJ flexion of 49° and 31° and PIPJ flexion of 92° and 57° in the BA and BON groups, respectively. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates better arc of motion, patient-rated outcomes and lower complications at 12 weeks after surgery in patients undergoing zone 1 FDP repair using a BA. Level of Evidence: Level III (Therapeutic).


The aim of this study was to develop muffins with whey protein concentrate (WPC) substituted for fat at the content of 10%, 20%, 40% or 80%. The quality characteristics were compared with those of a full-fat counterpart. With increasing WPC content, moisture, protein, and ash contents increased, fat content decreased, volume and specific volume of muffin decreased, but weight was unaffected. Crust lightness and yellowness of muffins increased, but redness decreased with increasing amount of WPC. Hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess and brittleness were the highest in muffin substituted with 80% WPC. Results of sensory evaluation indicated that muffin with up to 40% of the butter substituted by WPC was considered to be as acceptable as the control muffin prepared without WPC.


Under Fe deficiency, Strategy I (non-graminaceous) plants up-regulate the expression of many Fe acquisition genes and develop morphological changes in their roots. The regulation of these responses is not completely known, but since the 1980's different results suggest a role for auxin, ethylene and, more recently, nitric oxide. The up-regulation of the Fe acquisition genes does not depend solely on these hormones, that would act as activators, but also on some other signals, probably phloem Fe, that would act as an inhibitor. It is not known which of the hormones considered is the last activator of the Fe acquisition genes, but some results suggest that auxin acts upstream of ethylene and NO and that, perhaps, ethylene is the last activator.


These days, Health care has become an enormous issue due to the shortage of health services. This paper is deals with the SmartCare application for smart health services. The patient or client requesting the service first they need to be registers himself within the app. Ambulance takes the patient from his current location. Then ambulance driver sends the request to the nearby hospital showing on their map screen with patient data to check for availability of beds according to patient condition (like ICU beds Oxygen beds etc). The hospital gets the request from the ambulance and sends an acknowledgment. This app provides faster and reliable service to the patient by reducing the processing time


The aim of the study by Pan et al. was to compare the efficacy of Lasix with that of Urex in patients with heart failure. Although no significant differences were demonstrated symptomatically or biochemically, it seems unlikely that, even with a cross-over design, this study would have had the statistical power to reveal any significant differences between the two treatments as only five subjects were involved. From the general viewpoint of bioavailability studies, the differentiation between "equal efficacy", as measured by physiological or biochemical parameters, and bioequivalence (or equivalent bioavailability) of two formulations of the same drug should be made. Bioavailability is the rate and extent to which the active principle in a drug product is absorbed. It isdetermined by plotting the plasma concentration of the drug against the time elapsed after its administration, and is expressed as the area under the curve (AUC). The Australian Department of Health requires that the bioequivalence of any generic formulation of an established drug be demonstrated by appropriately designed studies when there are clinical and/or pharmaceutical concerns about its bioavailability. Such concerns arise when the drug has a narrow therapeutic index, that is, when the therapeutic dosage is only slightly lower than the dosage which leads to toxic effects; when animal studies indicate poor or ITherapeutics I 223


Objectives: Cox-2 is the limiting enzyme in the synthesis of PGs, and closely related to the development of many malignancies. Here, we analyzed the expression of cox-2, VEGF in OSCC and premalignant lesions of oral mucosa, so as to elucidate the relationship between cox-2 and angiogenesis. Methods: The animal model of malignant transformation was established in hamster buccal mucosa. Then we investigated the expression of cox-2 and VEGF with immunohistochemical staining. Results: cox-2 was highly expressed in premalignant and malignant tissues, and the result had significant difference with that in normal tissues. Cox-2 was espressed in both malignant cells and nearby endotheliocytes. The VEGF espression increased with the malignant transformation of oral mucosa. Conclusions: cox-2 play an important role in the malignant transformation of oral mucosa, and its expression is significantly related to that of VEGF.


Speeding has been acknowledged as a critical determinant in increasing the risk of crashes and their resulting injury severities. This paper demonstrates that severe speeding-related crashes within the state of Pennsylvania have a spatial clustering trend, where four crash datasets are extracted from four hotspot districts. Two log-likelihood ratio (LR) tests were conducted to determine whether speeding-related crashes classified by hotspot districts should be modeled separately. The results suggest that separate modeling is necessary. To capture the unobserved heterogeneity, four correlated random parameter order models with heterogeneity in means are employed to explore the factors contributing to crash severity involving at least one vehicle speeding. Overall, the findings exhibit that some indicators are observed to be spatial instability, including hit pedestrian crashes, head-on crashes, speed limits, work zones, light conditions (dark), rural areas, older drivers, running stop signs, and running red lights. Moreover, drunk driving, exceeding the speed limit, and being unbelted present relative spatial stability in four district models. This paper provides insights into preventing speeding-related crashes and potentially facilitating the development of corresponding crash injury mitigation policies.


In humans, the pathogenesis of diabetes is characterised by two major pancreatic β cell defects: a reduction in β cell mass and the failure of β cells to produce enough insulin. Over the past two decades, multiple studies involving cell cultures, animal models and human subjects have established the importance of the protein kinase RNA‐like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK) in the adaptive functional capacity of pancreatic β cells during embryonic development and into adulthood. In this review, we will highlight major findings identifying PERK as a crucial player in β cell physiology and in diabetes.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects more than 35 million people worldwide, and the prevalence of AD increases with age and doubles every 5 years after the age of 65 (Evans et al., 1989). AD is characterized by intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and extracellular amyloid fibrils composed of amyloid beta peptides (A). Accordingly, both tau and amyloid have been the targets for development of treatment for AD. Tau-mediated neurodegeneration may result from the combination of toxic gains-offunction acquired by the aggregates or their precursors and the detrimental effects that arise from the loss of the normal function(s) of tau in the disease state (Ballatore et al., 2007). The toxic gains-of-function includes sequestration of normal tau function by NFTs made of hyperphosphorylated tau. NFTs also become physical obstacles to the transport of vesicles and other cargos (Ballatore et al., 2007). The loss of the normal function of tau includes detachment of tau from microtubules that causes loss of microtubule-stabilizing function (Stoothoff & Johnson, 2005). Although dynamic tau phosphorylation occurs during embryonic development (Mawal-Dewan et al., 1994), aberrant tau phosphorylation in mature neurons is harmful to the neuron (Matsuo et al., 1994). Tau hyperphosphorylation is a key regulatory mechanism that leads to both such toxic gains-of-function and the loss of the normal function(s) of tau (Ballatore et al., 2007). Upregulation of aberrant activation of tau kinases and downregulation of phosphatases are major mechanisms possibly involved in tau hyperphosphorylation (Ballatore et al., 2007). Consistently, tau phosphorylation on Ser/Thr-Pro by Pro-directed kinases (Illenberger et al., 1998; Pelech, 1995) or phosphatases such as phosphatase2A (PP2A) (Goedert et al., 2000; Sontag et al., 1996) play pivotal roles in tauopathy. Indeed, overexpression of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) or cyclin-dependent protein kinases (CDK5) and its activator p25 or inhibition of PP2A enhances or induces tau-related phenotypes in mice (Ahlijanian et al., 2000; Augustinack et al., 2002; Cruz et al., 2003; Kins et al., 2001; Noble et al., 2003). In addition, tau phosphorylation has been shown to promote tau degradation via chaperone-interacting protein/Hsp70 (Dickey et al., 2007; Kosik & Shimura, 2005; Petrucelli et al., 2004). These results indicate that kinases and phosphatases that increase and decrease phosphorylated tau, respectively, are crucial targets for treatment of AD. Design of inhibitors for these kinases is undertaken as potential drug targets (reviewed in (Mazanetz and Fischer, 2007).


Symmetry energy coefficients of asymmetric nuclear matter generalized are investigated as the inverse of nuclear matter polarizabilities with two different approaches. Firstly a general calculation shows they may depend on the neutron-proton asymmetry itself. The choice of particular prescriptions for the density fluctuations lead to certain isospin (n-p asymmetry) dependences of the polarizabilities. Secondly, with Skyrme type interactions, the static limit of the dynamical polarizability is investigated corresponding to the inverse symmetry energy coefficient which assumes different values at different asymmetries (and densities and temperatures). The symmetry energy coefficient (in the isovector channel) is found to increase as n-p asymmetries increase. The spin symmetry energy coefficient is also briefly investigated.


ABSTRACT In couple's therapy, secrets between the couple often arise, and couple's therapists must navigate a balance between their ethical and therapeutic responsibilities. This paper provides a scoping review of the literature on how couple's therapists handle secrets in the context of couple's therapy and discusses the ethical and clinical considerations in the context of the ethical standards of the AAMFT. Online databases were used to systematically identify peer-reviewed academic, English-language articles that focused on recommendations for therapists in handling secrets between couples in therapy. Seven articles met the search criteria. The empirical evidence supports a model of professional judgment, whereby the therapist can use their discretion about whether or not to disclose a secret on behalf of a client. To operate within the confines of ethical practice, we recommend therapists pair professional judgment with a clearly informed and signed written client policy.


Several noise criteria methods commonly used in architectural acoustics have been quantitatively related to noise perception and task performance under a variety of ventilation systems-induced background noise conditions. Noise criteria, balanced noise criteria, room criteria, room criteria mark II, and A-weighted equivalent sound pressure level were examined. The first phase of the project included noise conditions controlled to be non-time-varying and nontonal, with neutral, rumbly, roaring, or hissy characteristics. An intermediate study examined exposure time length and types of performance tasks used. The final phase included noise conditions containing various levels of discrete tones from 120 to 595 Hz. Under each noise, subjects completed performance tasks and perception questionnaires. Results indicate task performance was significantly affected by perception of noise, but this relationship was not fully demonstrated by the criteria systems analyzed. The five criteria were generally well suited i...


The article gives a statistical analysis of the size, condition and quality of agricultural land for the years 1990 -2014, evaluated the impact on them of economic activities and results of the federal program.


A 2010 Health Needs Assessment for 15 counties of the Coastal Bend in the state of Texas indicates limited access to health care services and health insurance coverage is a main potential barrier to health care for some segments of the Coastal Bend population. The purpose of this paper is to obtain geographical sight of the health insurance coverage. The hypothesis is that the health insurance coverage by racial and ethnic groups would vary spatially. Data came from the local hospital systems and included 145,669 patient visits from 1 September 2007 through 31 August 2009. A series of maps were produced showing financial class categories for both Hispanics and Whites adults by combining the cross-tabulations of patient data and estimated population both at the zip code level. The maps show that the health insurance coverage disparities vary spatially within zip codes in the Coastal Bend. Moreover, Hispanic and White adult patients do not follow the same pattern of spatial distribution.


Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are still the main cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and include a group of disorders varying from vasculature, myocardium, arrhythmias and cardiac development. MicroRNAs (miRs) are endogenous non-coding RNAs with 18–23 nucleotides that regulate gene expression. The miR-34 family, including miR-34a/b/c, plays a vital role in the regulation of myocardial physiology and pathophysiological processes. Recently, miR-34a has been implicated in cardiovascular fibrosis, dysfunction and related cardiovascular disorders as an essential regulator. Interestingly, there is a pivotal link among miR-34a, cardiovascular fibrosis, and Smad4/TGF-β1 signaling. Notably, both loss-of-function and gain-of-function approaches identified the critical roles of miR-34a in cardiovascular apoptosis, autophagy, inflammation, senescence and remodeling by modulating multifunctional signaling pathways. In this article, we focus on the current understanding of miR-34a in biogenesis, its biological effects and its implications for cardiac pathologies including myocardial infarction, heart failure, ischaemia reperfusion injury, cardiomyopathy, atherosclerosis, hypertension and atrial fibrillation. Thus, further understanding of the effects of miR-34a on cardiovascular diseases will aid the development of effective interventions. Targeting for miR-34a has emerged as a potential therapeutic target for cardiovascular dysfunction and related diseases.


The
 structure of dimeric cations of benzene and toluene formed in X-irradiated halocarbon matrices containing
 relatively high concentration of the solutes was investigated. EPR and ENDOR (electron nuclear double
 resonance) spectra of these dimer cations were observed and accurate values of the hf coupling constants
 were obtained. The ENDOR spectrum of the dimeric radical cation of benzene, (C6H6)2+, exhibited hf couplings
 due to twelve equivalent protons and the isotropic coupling (aiso) was almost one-half of that
 in the monomer cation. ENDOR transitions with a rhombic symmetry were observed in a CFCl3 matrix, whereas
 clear axially symmetric transitions with ∣A‖∣<∣A⊥∣ were obtained in CF3CCl3 even at 50 K. The rhombic
 dipolar coupling tensor was used as a parameter to evaluate the distance between the two partner rings. As
 regards the toluene dimer cation, (CH3C6H5)2+, ENDOR transitions of the CH3 and H(4,4′) protons were observed.
 The isotropic hf coupling of the CH3 protons deviated even more strongly from the half value, being rather close
 to one-third of the value of the monomer. The hf coupling of the H(4,4′) protons was almost half the coupling
 of the monomer. It was suggested that the anomalous hf couplings of the CH3 protons were due to the interaction
 between the two rings through the σ-bond. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were employed
 to obtain the optimized geometries and hf coupling tensors and suggested sandwich structures in both dimers. Furthermore, the distances between the two rings and the
 anomalous CH3 protons
 hf coupling in the
 (CH3C6H5)2+ were successfully evaluated.


In many developed countries with a long history of urbanization, there is an increasing need for automated computer vision (CV)-based inspection to replace conventional labor-intensive visual inspection. This paper proposes a technique for the automated detection of multiple concrete damage based on a state-of-the-art deep learning framework, Mask R-CNN, developed for instance segmentation. The structure of Mask R-CNN, which consists of three stages (region proposal, classification, and segmentation) is optimized for multiple concrete damage detection. The optimized Mask R-CNN is trained with 765 concrete images including cracks, efflorescence, rebar exposure, and spalling. The performance of the trained Mask R-CNN is evaluated with 25 actual test images containing damage as well as environmental objects. Two types of metrics are proposed to measure localization and segmentation performance. On average, 90.41% precision and 90.81% recall are achieved for localization and 87.24% precision and 87.58% recall for segmentation, which indicates the excellent field applicability of the trained Mask R-CNN. This paper also qualitatively discusses the test results by explaining that the architecture of Mask R-CNN that is optimized for general object detection purposes, can be modified to detect long and slender shapes of cracks, rebar exposure, and efflorescence in further research.


: Built-up sections has been extensively used in cold-formed thin-walled steel structures. The structural behaviour and moment capacity of built-up box beams, which is consisted of nested C and U-sections, are the major concerns in this paper. A finite element model for built-up box beams was firstly developed and validated by existing test results. The effects of screw configuration and the global buckling behaviour of built-up box beams were investigated by parametric analysis. Then, the simple superposition method and equivalent cross-section method were introduced and adopted to estimate the moment capacity of built-up box beams bending about major or minor axis. Finally, a comparison was made between the predicted capacity and the numerical analysis results and the reasonability of these methods was assessed.


The presence of emerging contaminants, including caffeine, in groundwater can represent an anthropogenic contamination that can impact human health. The present research aims to use caffeine as a wastewater pollution marker of shallow groundwaters in the peri-urban area of Campinas/SP. For a better evaluation of caffeine as an anthropogenic marker, more conventional markers were also analyzed, such as Cl-, NO3-, K+, B, NH4+, NO2- and DOC, and physicochemical parameters such as pH, Eh and EC. Two samplings campaign were done, the first in April (wet season) and the second in August 2019 (dry season), where 18 domestic wells, one sample from the river and one sample from an abandoned meander were selected points to collect water for physicochemical analysis. Nine wells and an abandoned meander waters were selected for the analysis of caffeine. Results show correlations between NO3- and Cl- indicating apport of domestic septic tanks sewage in groundwater. Caffeine, however, was detected in three samples and quantified in one during the wet season and was detected in two samples and quantified in one during the dry season. In the area, caffeine and nitrate have opposite behavior due to reducing conditions of the environment. The study area is rich in dissolved organic carbon, so the conditions for caffeine conservation are not ideal, because it degrades rapidly in groundwaters rich in bacteria and organic matter. Even in this scenario, caffeine was detected in groundwater in the study area, providing unambiguous evidence of anthropogenic pollution of the phreatic aquifer.


C280 The p53 tumor suppressor is a powerful growth suppressive and pro-apoptotic molecule frequently inactivated in human cancer. MDM2, a negative p53 regulator, inhibits the transcriptional activity of p53 and facilitates its ubiquitin-dependent degradation. MDM2 is overproduced in many human tumors and effectively disables p53 function. Recently developed small-molecule MDM2 antagonists, the nutlins, can restore p53 function in cancer cells leading to induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. By activating p53, nutlins also elevate the cellular level of its transcriptional target MDM2. They selectively block the physical interaction between p53 and MDM2 but may not interfere with other p53-independent functions of MDM2. Here, we present evidence that nutlin-induced MDM2 contribute to the overall anti-tumor activity of MDM2 antagonists by facilitating the degradation of p53 inhibitor MDMX. MDM2 and MDMX levels were analyzed in a panel of 12 randomly selected solid tumor lines. In the presence of nutlins-3a, MDM2 increased in all and MDMX decreased in 9/10 cell lines with normal MDM2 expression, except MCF7. MDMX protein levels were virtually undetectable in the MDM2 overexpressing osteosarcoma cell lines, SJSA1 and MHM. Kinetically, cellular MDMX decreased with the increase of MDM2 and was partially restored by treatment with the proteasome inhibitor MG132 or MDM2 knockdown. In vitro experiments indicated that nutlin-3a does not affect MDM2 self-ubiquitination. Taken together these data suggest that MDM2 contributes to antitumor activity of nutlins at least in part by facilitating MDMX degradation. Although there was overall reverse correlation between MDMX level and nutlin-induced apoptosis, MDMX appear to be a major determinant of the apoptotic response only in one of 12 cancer cell lines, MCF7. Knockdown of MDMX expression by siRNA in the presence of nutlins-3a increased the apoptotic fraction in cancer cells with high MDMX level (e.g. MCF7) but did not affect the response of cells with low MDMX.


Tyrosine hydroxylase [TyrOHase; L-tyrosine, tetrahydropteridine:oxygen oxidoreductase (3-hydroxylating), EC 188.8.131.52], an essential enzyme in the synthesis of catecholamines, is expressed normally by neurons in the brainstem but not by those in mature neocortex. When embryonic neocortex is transplanted into adult neocortex, TyrOHase-immunoreactive cells develop and continue to be present in the transplants for the life of the host animal. The percentage of transplant neurons that express TyrOHase is highly correlated with the age of the embryonic donor tissue at the time of transplantation. Many TyrOHase-immunoreactive cells are present in transplants from embryonic day 12 (E12) embryos. The labeled cells are frequently arrayed in striking clusters of cell bodies and their processes, which ramify densely within the transplants. Moderate numbers of cells are found scattered throughout transplants from E14 donors, while E17 donors consistently develop small numbers of TyrOHase-containing cells. Tissue removed for transplantation on the day before birth (E19) never contains cells that express TyrOHase. The TyrOHase-positive cells are mostly bipolar and stellate in shape and show neither immunoreactivity for other catecholamine-synthesizing enzymes nor catecholamine fluorescence. These results provide a demonstration of continued TyrOHase synthesis in central nervous system cells that normally do not express this enzyme. Because of these and similar results with other neurotransmitter enzymes, the transplantation paradigm is particularly useful as a technique for studying the factors that regulate enzyme induction and activity during development of the nervous system.


Emerging mixed signal modules will contain microwave, digital, and photonic circuits requiring efficient interconnect technology due to space limitation. Polymers are envisioned to perform optical interconnections via waveguides, and distribution networks via optical couplers. A novel polymer optical coupler, using center-fed mode mixing for multimode waveguide, is demonstrated experimentally for use in a mixed-signal mode environment. This coupler has lower loss and space requirement than the traditional Y-junction coupler. A limitation of this type of coupler is the small separation of the output beams. To circumvent this a microprism is introduced for wide-angle applications.<<ETX>>


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Prostate cancer (PCa) bone metastases have been shown to be more resistant to docetaxel than soft tissue metastases. The proinflammatory chemokine receptor CXCR4 has been shown to confer resistance to docetaxel (DOC) in PCa cells. Balixafortide (BLX) is an epitope mimetic inhibitor of CXCR4. Accordingly, we hypothesized and evaluated if BLX would enhance docetaxel-mediated antitumor activity in PCa bone metastases. METHODS: PC-3 luciferase-labeled cells were injected into the tibia of mice to model bone metastases. Four treatment groups were created: vehicle (1% DMSO in DPBS), DOC (5mg/kg), BLX (20mg/ kg), and Combo (receiving both DOC and BLX). Mice were injected twice daily subcutaneously with either vehicle or BAL starting on day 1 and weekly intraperitoneally with DOC starting on day one. Tumor burden was measured weekly via bioluminescent imaging. At end of study (29 days), radiographs were taken of the tibiae and blood was collected. Serum levels of TRAcP, IL2, and IFNg levels were measured using ELISA. Harvested tibiae were decalcified and stained for Ki67, cleaved caspase-3, and CD34 positive cells or microvessels were quantified. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA or Student's t-test. RESULTS: Tumor burden was lower in the Combo group compared to the individual treatment groups. The Combo group had fewer mice with large bone lesions and the lowest TRAcP levels compared to the other groups. No significant difference in Ki67 staining was found among the groups; whereas, cleaved caspase-3 staining was lowest in the Combo group and highest in the BLX. The DOC and Combo groups had more CD34þ microvessels than the control and BLX groups. There was no difference between the treatment groups for IL-2, but the Combo group had increased levels of IFNg compared to other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate that that a combination of BLX and DOC has greater anti-tumor activity in a model of PCa bone metastases than either drug alone. The anti-tumor activity was also associated with decreased tumor-induced bone lesions. The mechanism for the anti-tumor activity is not completely elucidated at this time but does not appear to be through impacting proliferation. The observation that IFNg was increased in the Combo group compared to other groups suggests that immune cell activation contributes to the anti-tumor effect. These data support further evaluation of this combination in metastatic PCa.


Purpose: To describe the use of a double suture and conjunctival cuts in the lateral tarsal strip (LTS) and to evaluate postsurgical outcome in patients with severe involutional ectropion. Methods: A prospective randomized study was conducted on 16 eyelids of 8 patients with symptomatic severe involutional ectropion. The 8 patients were between 62 and 79 years. They were distributed into 2 groups consisting of 4 patients each. The control group was treated with a conventional lateral tarsal strip (C-LTS), the second group underwent a modified lateral tarsal strip (M-LTS). The mean follow-up was 18 months. Success was defined as relief in lid laxity. The recurrence rate was also evaluated. Results: Patients treated with M-LTS showed lower horizontal laxity (3.5 ± 0.2) than patients treated with C-LTS (5.7 ± 0.2). During the 18-month follow-up, a statistically significant difference was found between the 2 groups with P value <0.05. Conclusions: The use of a double suture and conjunctival cuts in the lateral tarsal strip proposed by Meduri showed a reduction of postsurgical ectropion's grade and postsurgical recurrences. This technique could be used for the treatment of patients with a severe ectropion.


Electron solid phases of matter are revealed by characteristic vibrational resonances. Sufficiently large magnetic fields can overcome the effects of disorder, leading to a weakly pinned collective mode called the magnetophonon. Consequently, in this regime it is possible to develop a tightly constrained hydrodynamic theory of pinned magnetophonons. The behavior of the magnetophonon resonance across thermal and quantum melting transitions has been experimentally characterized in two-dimensional electron systems. Applying our theory to these transitions we explain several key features of the data: (i) violation of the Fukuyama-Lee sum rule as the transition is approached is directly tied to the non-Lorentzian form taken by the resonance and (ii) the non-Lorentzian shape is caused by characteristic dissipative channels that become especially important close to melting: proliferating dislocations and uncondensed charge carriers.


The effects of gate and drain voltage waveforms on the hot-carrier-induced MOSFET degradation are studied. Drain votage transients have little effect on the degradation rate. Only the falling edge of the gate pulse in the presence of a high drain voltage enhances the degradation rate. For devices in typical inverter circuits, dc stress results together with the substrate current waveform can predict the degradation rate under ac stress for a wide range of rise and delay times.


The modulation transfer function of radiologic imaging systems is commonly obtained by determining the line spread function (LSF) of the system and computing its Fourier transform. Ideally, LSF should be obtained with infinitesimally narrow slits. The use of finite slits for obtaining the LSF is analyzed theoretically. An expression for the MTF of a finite rectangular slit is derived. Slit width correction of observed MTF is discussed as well as the correction for any generalized slit configuration.


Microwave Receivers form integral part of Electronic Warfare and Radar Systems. The ever increasing use of Electronic Warfare, besides, current scenario of dense and complex signal environment necessitates development of more sophisticated Microwave Receivers and RF front ends. The current trend is towards development of unique class of Microwave Receivers that leverages on both sophisticated analog and digital technologies. The present paper gives outline of generic microwave receivers with their limitation in the present day scenario. Further, a few of the technology drivers have been covered which shall give fillip to the development of ultimate state-of-the-art, compact and power efficient microwave receivers. Lastly, some of the advanced technologies and receivers developed in the Laboratory have been briefly covered.


This paper documents the trends in infrastructure in major Latin American economies over the last quarter century. Drawing from an expanded and updated data set, the paper sheds light on the region's infrastructure performance along four major dimensions. First, the paper documents the trends in the quantity of Latin America's infrastructure assets, using a comparative cross-regional perspective. Second, the paper presents a battery of indicators of the quality of infrastructure services, taking the same comparative perspective. Third, the paper reviews Latin America's performance in terms of the universality of access to infrastructure services. Lastly, the paper offers a detailed account of the trends in infrastructure investment in Latin America's six major economies since 1980, disaggregated by both sector of origin (public and private) and destination (power, transport and telecommunications).


Here we consider the problem of path planning for a hybrid fuel Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), equipped with both a battery and gasoline generator as two sources of energy. Routing the vehicle while considering this setup adds fuel constraints in addition to requiring the power source state to be specified along each edge along the path. We further add noise restrictions to the problem where certain edges (corresponding to certain portions of the path) have the restriction that the gasoline generator cannot be run. A solution to this path planning problem entails both a sequence of nodes, being the plain path the vehicle travels, and a sequence of values specifying the power source along each edge in the path. There is no work in the current literature regarding such a problem, with little at all concerning general planning or routing for hybrid fuel UAVs. Here, hybrid fuel UAV routing problem with noise restrictions is presented. The problem is first formulated as an Mixed Integer Linear Program. Then a dynamic programming algorithm is presented to solve the problem exactly. This algorithm is then compared to a branch-and-cut based method in terms of computational times for a variety of problem sizes. A case study is presented, using a graph which location data from an area surrounding an airport to produce goal nodes and noise restrictions to display the problem itself as well as the performance of the dynamic programming algorithm in a realistic scenario for this problem.


We describe the characterization of a gene for mild nonsyndromic autosomal recessive intellectual disability (ID) in two unrelated families, one from Austria, the other from Pakistan. Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism microarray analysis enabled us to define a region of homozygosity by descent on chromosome 17q25. Whole-exome sequencing and analysis of this region in an affected individual from the Austrian family identified a 5 bp frameshifting deletion in the METTL23 gene. By means of Sanger sequencing of METTL23, a nonsense mutation was detected in a consanguineous ID family from Pakistan for which homozygosity-by-descent mapping had identified a region on 17q25. Both changes lead to truncation of the putative METTL23 protein, which disrupts the predicted catalytic domain and alters the cellular localization. 3D-modelling of the protein indicates that METTL23 is strongly predicted to function as an S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferase. Expression analysis of METTL23 indicated a strong association with heat shock proteins, which suggests that these may act as a putative substrate for methylation by METTL23. A number of methyltransferases have been described recently in association with ID. Disruption of METTL23 presented here supports the importance of methylation processes for intact neuronal function and brain development.


A total of 12 severely hypertensive patients were treated with a once daily dose ofNadolol. There was a drop in diastolic pressure to a mean of 105 mm Hg standing within two weeks and this was well maintained up to 12 months of therapy, the lowest diastolic pressure being 94 mm Hg standing at six months of therapy. Nadolol produced no significant side effects and bradycardia was not a problem during treatment. Of the eleven patients who were resistant to previous therapy because of various reasons all except two responded excellently. One of the non responders has real resistance to therapy and the other is non compliant.


Background With metabolic syndrome (MS) being a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and central obesity being a major predisposing factor for MS, intensive research is currently being performed on cutoff values according to race and sex. Menopause is an especially significant factor in designating cutoff values for female central obesity, as menopause brings sudden bodily changes that induce central obesity and increased prevalence of MS. Therefore this study aimed to investigate the cutoff values for the obesity index and its validity in predicting the criteria for MS in Korean women according to menstrual status. Methods The study focused on 3,103 women 20 years of age or older participating in the 2007 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Definitions of non-adipose components of MS were defined by the International Diabetes Federation, and menstrual status was judged on the basis of survey results. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the central obesity index (body mass index [BMI], waist circumference [WC], waist-to-height ratio [WHtR]) according to menstrual status for two or more non-adipose components of MS were calculated based on the Youden index. Results Area under the curve (AUC) values predicting the presence of two or more metabolic risk factors were higher in pre-menopausal women, with AUC values for BMI, WC, and WHtR being, in pre- and post-menopausal women, 23.1 kg/m2 vs. 23.9 kg/m2, 76.1 cm vs. 82.5 cm, and 0.49 vs. 0.53, respectively. The WC cut off (76 cm) for pre-menopausal women was found to be more sensitive and more effective at screening for MS risks than the cutoff value given by the Korea Society for the Study of Obesity. Conclusion The central obesity index showed better predictability for MS risk in pre-menopausal women. Because the central obesity index cutoff values are lower in pre-menopausal women, the possibility of metabolic risk can be considered for pre-menopausal women with WC lower than 85 cm. Assessment and control of other risks are needed accordingly for preventing the development of MS.


Objective To investigate the immunomodulatory effects of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) dasatinib on T-cell subtypes in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Methods T helper (Th) 1, Th2, regulatory T (Treg), and CD8+T cell levels were detected in patients with CML (n = 9) before and after dasatinib treatment. The corresponding response level at the time of a blood test was evaluated. Results After dasatinib treatment, six patients achieved a better response level, while three did not show improved response levels. Among the total nine patients, there were no significant differences in Th1, Th2, and Treg cell levels, whereas CD8+T cell levels were significantly increased after dasatinib treatment compared with before treatment. When we analyzed the six patients who obtained a better response level, Th1 and CD8+T cell levels were significantly increased after dasatinib treatment, but Th2 and Treg cell levels did not change. The other three patients who did not have improved response levels showed decreased Th1 cell levels and increased Treg cell levels after treatment. Conclusions Dasatinib may increase Th1 and CD8+T cell levels, and decrease Treg cell levels in patients with CML. This finding might be associated with a good therapeutic response to this drug.


In Switzerland there are single bodies for both trade union organisations (SEV, VHTL, SSP, USS) and professional organisations (Economie Suisse being the peak association combining all the employer organisations: the Public Transport Union, CFF, BLS, Sped Log Suisse. ASPAG, SSC). In addition, various associations take part in the public debate on transport policies (the Touring Club Swiss, the Association for Transport and Environment, the Alps Initiative). Where public institutions are concerned, a Conference of canton directors of public transport has a consultative role. Each of the two federal chambers (the Council of States and the National Council) has a transport commission. Finally, transport is part of a ministerial portfolio -the Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC)- within the Federal Council. The strong tradition of bipartite negotiation leads to conventions. The linking of national and European Community levels is affected by the fact that the country does not belong to the European Union. In the example of the railway reform, the federal institutions organised the debate, which included both bipartite negotiations between employers and employees and tripartite negotiations that associated the public authorities as well, with decisions both in the form of conventions and in the form of laws.


INTRODUCTION
Decision aids are central to shared decision making and are recommended for value-sensitive pregnancy decisions, such as birth after cesarean. However, effective strategies for widespread decision aid implementation, with interactive web-based platforms, are lacking. This study tested the feasibility and acceptability of implementing a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-secure, web-based decision aid to support shared decision making about birth choices after cesarean, within urban, ethnically diverse outpatient settings.

METHODS
A before-and-after design was used to assess feasibility and acceptability for decision aid implementation. Measures included women's knowledge, decisional conflict, birth preferences, birth outcomes, decision aid use, decision aid acceptability ratings (content, features, and functions), and views on how the decision aid supported shared decision making.

RESULTS
Of the 68 women who participated, most were black (46.2%) or Hispanic (35.4%). Their knowledge scores increased by 2.58 points out of 15 (P < .001; d = 0.87), and decisional conflict score reduced by 0.45 points out of 5 points (P < .001; d = 0.69). Forty-four women (65.9%) attempted a vaginal birth after cesarean, of whom 29 (65.7%) succeeded. Women rated decision aid content, features, and functions as good or excellent. Most indicated they would recommend it to others. Health care providers recommended additional strategies to simplify decision aid access and integration into routine care.

DISCUSSION
Implementing web-based decision aids within ethnically diverse practice settings is potentially feasible and worthwhile. However, strategies are needed to improve women's access and to encourage timely decision aid usage to prepare them for decision discussions with health care providers. Sustained implementation will require seamless integration into clinic workflow, which could include health care provider tools (counselling guides) embedded within the electronic health record, along with continuing education to support and engage health care providers in their use.


The growth of a 100 µm thick GaAs layer with antiphase domains (APDs) by hydride vapour phase epitaxy on a diffusion bonded stack as the template substrate is reported. The domains are preserved during the growth with straight and vertical boundaries. Second harmonic generation from a CO2 laser was generated and used to assess the nonlinear efficiency of the template.


Dynamic simulation is often used to predict the behaviour of multibody systems but, it should be sometimes completed to optimize the choice of the design parameters by taking into account the expected performances of the mechanism. The aim of this paper is to propose an optimal design method adapted to mechanisms containing close loops and submitted to dynamic criteria. A formulation based on relative coordinates and Newton-Euler laws has been chosen, the constraint equations being expressed by the closing of the loops. A single value decomposition method is used to divide the set of differential and algebraic equations into two sub-spaces associated to the dependent and independent parameters. The equations of motion are integrated by the Newmark algorithm in its residual formulation. The optimization step is performed by the steepest descent method with constraint compensation. A special design sensitivity analysis has been developed by considering time dependent constraints, including first and second derivatives of the configuration parameters. The primary problem is reformulated so that integrals replace the time dependent functions. The classical adjoint variables are introduced to eliminate the state variables in the sensitivity formulation. The method has been applied to optimize the suspensions of an urban railway vehicle.


The National singspiel was established in Vienna in 1778 by the Emperor Joseph II of Austria but foundered only a few years later. This thesis sets out to examine the reasons for its failure. First, it places the Viennese Singspiel in context, for, like its North German counterpart which it resembled in form and content if not in character, its development was influenced by the Italian opera buffa, French opera comique and English ballad opera. Second, the genre is considered in relation to the social and political climate of the time. During his reign Joseph instigated many reforms, which had two main objectives: to improve the standard of living of the lower classes and to create a strong, unified German nation. The National singspiel contributed to these ends for Joseph wanted all classes of society to visit his theatre and also to encourage his subjects' appreciation of the German language. The whole enterprise of the National singspiel is discussed from 1778 to 1783 when it was first disbanded, and reference is also made to the period from 1785 to 1788 when an attempt was made to revive it. Consideration is given to the Emperor's part in the venture and the administration of the theatre, and each theatre season is examined in detail, taking into account the works presented and the standard of performance. The music to these operas forms the basis of this thesis. Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serai1, which Mozart composed especially


Electrical activity of propagating spike bursts recurring at minute intervals was recorded from the small intestine by chronically implanted electrodes in the rabbit, cat, dog, sheep, and pig. This "minute rhythm" has been recorded previously from the intact human small intestine. It occurs in the jejunum with a period duration of 0.5-2.0 min in all species examined. The minute rhythm was accompanied by pressure waves propagating over a short distance, and the activity was most prominent before the onset of phase III of the myoelectric complex. The minute rhythm was activated by the infusion of saline in the jejunum, and it may possibly reflect a normal mechanism for the transport of fluid content.


During ischaemia and hypoxia adenosine is released from cardiac cells. Adenosine is the end product of 5'-nucleotidase activity. We were interested in how this enzyme activity in plasma of patients with unstable angina pectoris, causes short-term ischaemia. 5'-Nucleotidase activity in plasma was determined using a standard diagnostic kit from Sigma. Furthermore, we studied the activity of adenosine deaminase in plasma, granulocytes, lymphocytes and erythrocytes by the methods of Hopkinson [1]. It was found that 5'-nucleotidase activity was increased by about 43% in plasma. The activity of adenosine deaminase (ADA) in plasma increased by 6%, but in granulocytes, lymphocytes and erythrocytes decreased by about 24, 19 and 10.6%, respectively. We concluded that a large increase in 5'-nucleotidase activity may be caused by activation of 5'-ectonucleotidase in blood cells by ischaemia. However, the decrease in ADA activity in blood cells may be associate with the adenosine metabolism.


Purple sulfur bacteria (PSB) are known to couple the carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling in euxinic environments. This is the first study with multiple strains and species of okenone‐producing PSB to examine the carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S) metabolisms and isotopic signatures in controlled laboratory conditions, investigating what isotopic fractionations might be recorded in modern environments and the geologic record. PSB play an integral role in the ecology of euxinic environments and produce the unique molecular fossil okenane, derived from the diagenetic alteration of the carotenoid pigment okenone. Cultures of Marichromatium purpuratum 1591 (Mpurp1591) were observed to have carbon isotope fractionations (13εbiomass – CO2), via RuBisCO, ranging from −16.1 to −23.2‰ during exponential and stationary phases of growth. Cultures of Thiocapsa marina 5653 (Tmar5653) and Mpurp1591 had a nitrogen isotope fractionation (15εbiomass – NH4) of −15‰, via glutamate dehydrogenase, measured and recorded for the first time in PSB. The δ34SVCDT values and amount of stored elemental sulfur for Mpurp1591 cells grown autotrophically and photoheterotrophically were dependent upon their carbon metabolic pathways. We show that PSB may contribute to the isotopic enrichments observed in modern and ancient anoxic basins. In a photoheterotrophic culture of Mpurp1591 that switched to autotrophy once the organic substrate was consumed, there were bulk biomass δ13C values that span a broader range than recorded across the Late Devonian, Permian–Triassic, Triassic–Jurassic, and OAE2 mass extinction boundaries. This finding stresses the complexities in interpreting and assigning δ13C values to bulk organic matter preserved in the geologic record.


Effective resistance is an important metric that measures the similarity of two vertices in a graph. It has found applications in graph clustering, recommendation systems and network reliability, among others. In spite of the importance of the effective resistances, we still lack efficient algorithms to exactly compute or approximate them on massive graphs. In this work, we design several local algorithms for estimating effective resistances, which are algorithms that only read a small portion of the input while still having provable performance guarantees. To illustrate, our main algorithm approximates the effective resistance between any vertex pair s,t with an arbitrarily small additive error ε in time O(poly (log n/ε)), whenever the underlying graph has bounded mixing time. We perform an extensive empirical study on several benchmark datasets, validating the performance of our algorithms.


Abstract Background: We previously reported that serum IgE levels were negatively correlated with the amount of IFN-γ produced by phytohemagglutinin-stimulated or IL-12-stimulated PBMCs and that one of the mechanisms of the pathogenesis of atopy was the reduced IFN-γ production, which led to upregulated IgE production. Objective: IL-18 is also known to be a strong inducer of IFN-γ production. However, it has not yet been determined whether IL-18 is associated with atopic disease. Methods: We investigated the response to IL-18 or IL-12 stimulation and the sequence of IL-18 receptor (IL-18R) α chain cDNA in 41 nonatopic controls and 39 atopic patients. Results: Serum IgE level was negatively correlated with IFN-γ production by PBMCs stimulated with IL-18. The IL-18R α chain cDNA of atopic patients was sequenced. We identified a 3-base deletion of the IL-18R α chain cDNA ( 950delCAG ), which was generated by alternative splicing, as determined on the basis of genomic sequence data for the IL-18R α chain gene. PBMCs with the predominant expression of 950delCAG significantly showed the reduced IFN-γ production after IL-18 stimulation. There was a significant difference in the expression pattern of the IL-18R α chain transcript between the atopic patients and the nonatopic controls. Conclusion: According to these results, the dominant expression of the 950delCAG transcript of IL-18R α chain cDNA, which was associated with reduced IFN-γ production by IL-18 stimulation and high serum IgE levels, is predisposition to some atopic diseases. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2002;109:669-75.)


For dental implants, it is vital that an initial soft tissue seal is achieved as this helps to stabilize and preserve the peri-implant tissues during the restorative stages following placement. The study of the implant–soft tissue interface is usually undertaken in animal models. We have developed an in vitro three-dimensional tissue-engineered oral mucosal model (3D OMM), which lends itself to the study of the implant–soft tissue interface as it has been shown that cells from the three-dimensional OMM attach onto titanium (Ti) surfaces forming a biological seal (BS). This study compares the quality of the BS achieved using the three-dimensional OMM for four types of Ti surfaces: polished, machined, sandblasted and anodized (TiUnite). The BS was evaluated quantitatively by permeability and cell attachment tests. Tritiated water (HTO) was used as the tracing agent for the permeability test. At the end of the permeability test, the Ti discs were removed from the three-dimensional OMM and an Alamar Blue assay was used for the measurement of residual cells attached to the Ti discs. The penetration of the HTO through the BS for the four types of Ti surfaces was not significantly different, and there was no significant difference in the viability of residual cells that attached to the Ti surfaces. The BS of the tissue-engineered oral mucosa around the four types of Ti surface topographies was not significantly different.