The goal of any surgery is the patient's complete recovery with maximum relief and minimal adverse effects. This goal is less complicated when epilepsy is predicated on tumor location revealed through standard imaging studies, in which case noninvasive post surgical studies can relate the 3D source with the area of the tumor that was removed. Success is more difficult, however, in non-lesional cases, where the characteristics of the epilepsy event are more difficult to define. This challenge reinforces the need for accurate 3D source localization to guarantee success of the first surgical intervention. Through this major undertaking which integrates recording modalities in time and space, clinicians and surgeons become more confident at prescribing a resection, especially when markers for the epileptogenic area and related brain functional assessments are consistent with the area thought to be the cause of the diagnosed neurological problem. This study evaluates the utility of 3D localization of interictal spike activity on the electroencephalographs (EEG) superimposed on magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) in a pediatric population. The results show a 99% concordance between EEG source localization and the suggested epileptogenic zone


On June 3, 2016, Gov. Kasich of Ohio signed into law a bill to allow bystanders to break into hot cars with unattended children or pets. Some states already have on the books one or more of three types of laws addressing this issue. Twenty states have laws to specifically address the issue of unattended children in cars, outside of any child neglect and abuse laws that would address endangering a child's welfare. Sixteen states have "good samaritan" laws that protect individuals from civil liability if they provide assistance in emergency situations. Finally, states have started to pass laws (23 states) that establish criminal offenses for endangering a domestic or companion animal by leaving them unattended in a vehicle. Some of these state laws also offer civil liability protection.


Introduction Fascination with the idea that some diet is ''best'' is, literally, perennial. Popular interest in a parade of food and ingredients as contenders for silver bullet or scapegoat is seemingly as persistent. These 2 fixations of popular culture pose a singular challenge to nutritional epidemiology. For there to be a rebuttal, predicated on evidence, to marketing hype and misdirected hope, the relevant evidence must be generated. The charge has been levied, repeatedly and at volume that nutritional epidemiology is flawed in its methods for pursuing reliable evidence and fundamental truths. The result of such assaults, aided and abetted by the hospitality peer-reviewed journals routinely accord them, is a state of persistent pseudo-confusion about diet that obviates the conversion of what we have long known into what we do to good public health effect. The charge of deficiencies in nutritional epidemiology is true at least in part: there is much yet to learn. That, of course, is true in every field of human inquiry. The proposed remedies, however-notably, the contended exclusive need for ever more randomized controlled trials, and the unfailing advantage in ever larger cohorts—are not merely flawed, but actually corrosive to understanding. Randomized controlled trials do not pertain to every important question in nutritional epidemiology, including the most fundamental of all: what way of eating produces the greatest combination of vitality and longevity? To generate this answer directly, a RCT would need to span the lifetime of its participants. Of even more concern, RCTs can all too readily be designed to deliver the ''winner'' favored at the start, and then sanctify that conclusion under the halo of ''robust methods.'' While critics rightly note inconsistent findings about the isolated health effects of given foods or nutrients, this is often because the dietary context, or population, have varied as well. What a food does or doesn't do owes much to the company it keeps, and that is all too easily manipulated. To feed the popular fascination in competing diets, the ''what'' of dietary patterns is at times conflated with the ''how.'' Various means of moderating daily energy (calorie) intake, or fostering satiety, are fully compatible with diverse diets of far-ranging composition. These ''how to'' elements of eating well and/or salutary energy balance are often pitted against ''what to'' dietary patterns, in pursuit of a winner. The answer in all such cases is a non sequitur, because the question is altogether vapid. The French expression ''je ne sais quoi'' has been adopted into the English vernacular to mean: ''a certain something.'' The literal translation, however, of this slightly grammatically handicapped French expression is: ''I don't know what.'' When the effects of food or ingredient A on health outcomes are being tested, but the addition of that food causes reductions in the intake of food B-there is more than one variable in motion. Attribution of outcomes to just one of them becomes impossible because we, literally, ''don't know what'' the causal factor is-even if our methods wear the imprimatur of a RCT. Similarly, when Diet A and Diet B are


We present MEMS tunable Gires-Tournois interferometers (GTIs) based on deeply etched Bragg reflectors. The broad reflection bandwidth (~100 nm) of the Bragg reflectors allows operation over almost the whole C and L bands with a single cavity, while the in-plane configuration allows the design of a wide range of cavity length (i.e. free spectral range). Applications such as fast tunable dispersion compensation in optical fiber networks are expected.


In this paper, extremely low frequency band gaps of beam-like inertial amplification metamaterials are investigated based on local resonance theory. Inertial amplification mechanism is proposed to obtain extremely low frequency band gaps by altering geometry parameters of the beam-like structures rather than modulating material properties, which allow first lower band gap (BG) to be attained easily compared to traditional local resonance structures. Band structures, frequency response functions (FRFs) plots and vibration modes of the beam-like structures are calculated and analyzed by employing finite element method. Numerical results show that first BG of the structure ranges from 23 Hz to 21 Hz. FRFs are in accordance with the dispersion relationship. It is found that interaction between inertial amplification and traveling wave modes in the proposed structure are responsible for formation of the first BG. This type of beam-like inertial amplification metamaterials has many potential applications in the field of low frequency vibration and noise reduction.


This paper considers what valuable leadership lessons can be learnt from Gandhi that may prove useful not only at the national and global levels but at the corporate and other organisational levels as well. A broad review of management research on leadership shows that we do not have at our disposal a unified theory of leadership with which we can make full sense of his contribution. It is argued that precisely the absence of such a theory should encourage us to draw lessons from varied backgrounds. Gandhi's role gives credence to some of the most innovative management ideas on leadership. These ideas can only become richer if the full range of Gandhi's achievements can be adequately comprehended. We need to pay attention in this respect to Gandhi's vision inspired strategy.


Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process that occurs in yeast, plants, and animals. Despite many years of research, some aspects of autophagy are still not fully explained. This mostly concerns the final stages of autophagy, which have not received as much interest from the scientific community as the initial stages of this process. The final stages of autophagy that we take into consideration in this review include the formation and degradation of the autophagic bodies as well as the efflux of metabolites from the vacuole to the cytoplasm. The autophagic bodies are formed through the fusion of an autophagosome and vacuole during macroautophagy and by vacuolar membrane invagination or protrusion during microautophagy. Then they are rapidly degraded by vacuolar lytic enzymes, and products of the degradation are reused. In this paper, we summarize the available information on the trafficking of the autophagosome towards the vacuole, the fusion of the autophagosome with the vacuole, the formation and decomposition of autophagic bodies inside the vacuole, and the efflux of metabolites to the cytoplasm. Special attention is given to the formation and degradation of autophagic bodies and metabolite salvage in plant cells.


International student mobility (ISM) is largely interpreted as a global middle‐class capital accumulation strategy. Cosmopolitanism, which is the named outcome and effect of these mobile forms of social and cultural capital, is therefore disproportionately available to already privileged students. This study moves beyond this prevailing interpretation by examining how students from working‐ or lower‐middle‐class families with limited resources in Global South countries combine bottom‐up cosmopolitanism with educational mobility to get selected into highly competitive spaces, such as the Fulbright Foreign Student Program, the most prestigious educational and cultural program in the United States. Based on 20 in‐depth interviews with successful Fulbright applicants and participant observation, my findings suggest that working‐ and lower‐middle‐class applicants are largely successful because of their cosmopolitan dispositions which they cultivate in creative and agentive ways. This article adds texture and complexity to existing discussions on middle‐class hegemony in ISM and cosmopolitan subject‐making.


A well-recognized complication of acute neurologic injury from intracranial bleeding is cardiotoxicity with electrocardiographic changes and transient left ventricular dysfunction. The phenomenon, called neurocardiogenic stunning (NCS), occurs in 20% to 30% cases of patients with acute subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). In this article, we describe a patient with acute SAH complicated by NCS and use this case to highlight the pathogenesis, diagnostic challenges, and management dilemmas that arise in such patients. We also review conventional surgical and medical treatment and present new therapeutic options for this problem.


This paper reports negative photoconductivity mechanism in flexible black phosphorus (BP) transistors built on freestanding polyimide film. Near-infrared laser (λ = 830 nm) excitation leads to significantly suppressed device on-state current with a very high responsivity of up to 53 A/W. The underlying mechanism of the negative photoconductivity is attributed to the strong photothermal effect induced by the low thermal conductivity of the polyimide substrate used. The heat generated by the infrared light illumination results in enhanced phonon scattering, reduced carrier mobility, and consequently negative photocurrent. Such a phenomenon was not observed in similar BP devices built on SiO2/Si substrates whose thermal conductivity is much higher. The above photothermal mechanism is also supported by temperature-dependent electrical characterization and device simulation. Such a flexible BP infrared photodetector with ultrahigh responsivity may find potential applications in future wearable and biointegrated imaging systems.


A numerical analysis is presented of the solidification of compositions close to Ni3Al. A two-sublattice thermodynamic model for the γ and γ' phases is combined with disorder trapping theory and dendrite growth modelling based on the marginal stability hypothesis. It is thereby possible to predict the composition and degree of order in the growing solid as a function of liquid composition and undercooling. Preliminary results are presented on solidification of the liquid of composition Ni-2at%Al.


Background The pyruvate kinase enzyme PKM2 catalyzes the final step in glycolysis and converts phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) to pyruvate. PKM2 is often overexpressed in cancer and plays a role in the Warburg effect. The expression of PKM2 can be regulated at different levels. While it has been proven that PKM2 can be regulated by ubiquitination, little is known about its de-ubiquitination regulation. Methods Immunoprecipitation was applied to identify the PKM2 interaction protein and to determine the interaction region between PKM2 and USP4. Immunofluorescence was performed to determine the cellular localization of USP4 and PKM2. The regulation of PKM2 by USP4 was examined by western blot and ubiquitination assay. MTT assays, glucose uptake, and lactate production were performed to analyze the biological effects of USP4 in gastric cancer cells. Results USP4 interacts with PKM2 and catalyzes the de-ubiquitination of PKM2. Overexpression of USP4 promotes cell proliferation, glucose uptake, and lactate production in gastric cancer cells. Knockdown of USP4 reduces PKM2 levels and results in a reduction in cell proliferation and the glycolysis rate. Conclusions USP4 plays a tumor-promoting role in gastric cancer cells by regulating PKM2.


We have examined the effect of activated c-Ha-ras oncogene on the invasive phenotype of normal and tumorigenic glial cells of Syrian hamster cerebral cortex derivation. T24 ras oncogene derived from a human bladder carcinoma was transfected into normal glial cells and minimally invasive tumorigenic glial cells produced by SV40 transformation. The normal cells acquired the capacity to grow in soft agar and become tumorigenic. With ras transfection, both the normal and minimally invasive SV40 tumor cells became diffusely invasive for adjacent normal brain. (N.B.: One cell line exhibited less extensive invasion than the others.) All of the transfected cell lines exhibited high levels of ras expression. These results indicate that ras can impart tumorigenic potential to normal glial cells and progress these or minimally invasive glial cells to full invasiveness.


The goal of this PhD research project is to devise a robust interatomic potential for largescale molecular dynamics simulations of carbon materials under extreme conditions. This screened-environment dependent reactive empirical bond order potential (SED-REBO) is specifically designed to describe carbon materials under extreme compressive or tensile stresses. Based on the original REBO potential by Brenner and co-workers, SED-REBO includes reparametrized pairwise interaction terms and a new screening term, which serves the role of a variable cutoff. The SED-REBO potential overcomes the deficiencies found with the most commonly used interatomic potentials for carbon: the appearance of artificial forces due to short cutoff that are known to create erroneous phenomena including ductile fracture of graphene and carbon nanotubes, which contradicts the experimentally observed brittle character of these materials. SED-REBO was applied in large scale molecular dynamics simulations of nanoindentation of graphene membranes and shock-induced compression of diamond. It was shown in the first computational experiment that graphene membranes exhibit a non-linear response to large magnitude of indentation, followed by a brittle fracture in agreement with experiments. The strength of graphene was determined using the kinetic theory of fracture, and the crack propagation mechanisms in the material were identified. It was found in large-scale shock simulations that SED-REBO improves the predictive power of MD simulations of carbon materials at extreme conditions.


In this study, possible interference into the primary users of the 5 GHz band caused by the unlicensed wireless access systems (WAS), which are proposed to co-exist with radars, was addressed. Simulation studies were performed under various scenarios to establish radar detection thresholds and threshold levels obtained for various radar types were presented.


This paper proposes a reconfigurable multi-core architecture, called hyperscalar that enables many scalar cores to be united dynamically as a larger superscalar processor to accelerate a thread. To accomplish this, we propose the virtual shared register files (VSRF) that allow the instructions of a thread executed in the united cores to logically face a uniform set of register files. We also propose the instruction analyzer (IA) with the capability of detecting and tagging the dependence information to the newly fetched instructions. According to the tags, instructions in the united cores can issue requests to obtain their remote operands via the VSRF. The reconfigurable feature of hyperscalar can cover a spectrum of workloads well, providing high single-thread performance when TLP is low and high throughput when TLP is high. Simulation results show that the a 8-core hyperscalar chip multiprocessor's 2, 4, and 8-core-united configurations archive 94%, 90%, and 83% of the performance of the monolithic 2, 4, and 8-issue out-of-order superscalar processors with lower area costs and better support for software diversity.


3-D-IC is an emerging technology that overcomes the drawbacks of 2-D-IC and a vital structure called through-silicon via (TSV) is used to connect the adjacent layers vertically. In this paper, based on graph theories, we formulate the TSV assignment as an integer multicommodity min-cost (IMCMC) problem, and using multilevel algorithm, we get optimal solution. During the assignment, the capacity of the grid could be insufficient to contain the flows so that conditional grid extension effectively relieves the capacity limits and accelerate running speed. Thermal resistive model is introduced to simulate the heat dissipation of chip and estimate temperature distribution each layer. By inserting the thermal TSV, the temperature of superheated region is reduced. Moreover, considering about a more complicated situation, we propose a method to assign multipins in a net. The experimental results demonstrate our model in the IMCMC network using multilevel algorithm achieve optimized congestion, less wirelength, higher running speed, and reduced temperature.


We introduce sub-sentence encoder, a contrastively-learned contextual embedding model for fine-grained semantic representation of text. In contrast to the standard practice with sentence embeddings, where the meaning of an entire sequence of text is encoded into a fixed-length vector, the sub-sentence encoder learns to produce distinct contextual embeddings corresponding to different atomic propositions, i.e. atomic units of meaning expressed within a text sequence. The sub-sentence embeddings are contrastively learned to recognize (inferred) semantic equivalence between propositions across different text sequences. Our experiments show the effectiveness of sub-sentence encoders in applications, such as retrieving supporting facts for fine-grained text attribution or recognizing the conditional semantic similarity between texts. In practice, we demonstrate that sub-sentence encoders keep the same level of inference cost and space complexity compared to sentence encoders.


Effect of the seal force on nonlinear dynamics and stability of the rotor-bearing-seal system are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. An experimental rotor-bearing-seal device is designed and corresponding tests are carried out. The experimental rotor system is simplified as the Jeffcott rotor. The nonlinear oil-film forces from the journal bearing are got under the short bearing theory. The nonlinear seal forces from the labyrinth seal are got under the Muszynska's seal force model. Through numerical calculation, the rotor rotating speed, the input-output air pressure difference and the seal clearance are used as control parameters to investigate the effect of the seal force with the help of bifurcation diagrams, waterfall plots, Poincare maps, spectrum plots and rotor orbits. Various nonlinear phenomena and stability of the system are found and discussed. Theoretical results from numerical analysis are in good agreement with results from experiments. Conclusions are drawn and prove that ...


This study aimed to analyze the relationship between pediatric AIDS cases and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics in Fortaleza, Ceará State, Brazil. This was an ecological and descriptive study with socioeconomic data from the 2010 Population Census and AIDS data in children for 2001-2011 from the Information System on Notifiable Diseases. Pearson's correlation was performed and the Moran index was used to verify spatial autocorrelation. A multinomial model was used to identify clusters. Of the total sample, 57.8% were male. In 18.8% of the children, the diagnosis was made after two years of age. There was a positive spatial correlation between AIDS cases in children and income (I = 0.6; p = 0.001) and the proportion of poor (I = 0.5; p = 0.001). Neighborhoods with these characteristics are mainly located in the Northwest and Southwest areas of the city. Spatial correlation between pediatric AIDS cases and socioeconomic indicators highlights the need for interventions aimed at improving health and living conditions.


As the electronic industry rapidly develops, the heat flux from state-of-the-art electronics increases up to . For this reason, the development of a new cooling technology for high heat flux applications is strongly required. Recently, some cooling technologies using boiling and condensation of working fluid are being adopted to overcome such a technical barrier. In the present study, a smooth boiling surface () was immersed in FC-72 and its vapor was condensed by four different types of condensation surfaces ( base). The condensing surfaces were composed of a smooth surface and pin-finned surfaces of 2 mm height with 0.3, 0.5 and 1 mm array spacing. Boiling and condensing characteristics were investigated in detail on their combinations of boiling and condensing surfaces. For a smooth boiling surface the results obtained showed that the pin-finned condensing surface with 1 mm array spacing yielded the best performance and the smooth condensation surface did the worst. Furthermore hysteresis phenomena could be reduced by using enhanced condensing surfaces.


Abstract In latent variable models, interpretational confounding occurs when the inclusion of a covariate or outcome when fitting the model alters the results for the measurement model. Commonly used estimation procedures do not preclude this possibility. Multi-stage estimation approaches preclude interpretational confounding, but most are limited in that they do not properly propagate uncertainty from earlier stages to later stages. This work introduces a measurement and uncertainty preserving approach to factor analytic models with covariates or outcomes, which additionally supports procedures for conducting diagnostic model-data fit analyses. These are examined in simulation studies, where they perform favorably relative to existing strategies, and illustrated with analyses of real data. Functions for conducting the analyses in freely available software are provided.


Using new techniques and new materials, Bernhard Huber creates abstract paintings in glass in large formats that shift on multiple planes between transparency, reflection and opacity. His colours are vibrant and clear. Rarely does he indulge in an opulent riot of colour but instead mainly produces stringent creations notable for their cool colour tones. The effects achieved are precisely calculated yet never overwhelmingly so.In this respect, Huber's affinities with Concrete art, with which he also shares some of the formal qualities of his works, are revealed. Glass is for Huber, a pivotal working material yet is not his sole medium. He has made the light-forming properties of glass the core of his artistic agenda, which goes beyond glass as a medium to encompass working in the fields of painting, sculpture and architecture. Colour and light have become his media of choice, with which he forms surfaces and spaces. He reacts sensitively to available architectural situations; his works are 'site-specific' to the utmost yet also stunningly configure the space surrounding them. He never simply makes stained-glass windows - he always forms several visual planes so that the 'window principle' is always extended into the interior space. Thus the glass surface becomes light sculpture and this in turn forms light space.


By forwarding the server stream client by client, a chaining-based scheme is a good way to reduce the server streams for streaming applications in well-connected networks. In this paper, we prove that the minimum number of required server streams in such schemes is n-k+1, where n is the number of client requests and k is a value determined by client buffer sizes and the distribution of requests. In addition, we present an optimal chaining algorithm using a dynamic buffer allocation strategy. Compared to existing chaining schemes, our scheme not only utilizes the backward (basic chaining) and/or forward (adaptive chaining) buffer, but also exploits the buffers of other clients in order to extend the chain as much as possible. In this way, more clients can be chained together and served by the same server stream. Our simulation results show that the requirements of the server streams in the presented scheme are much lower those of existing chaining schemes. We also introduce mechanisms for handling VCR functions and fault exceptions in practical applications.


Abstract A scientific understanding of interaction of product, film coat, film coating process, and equipment is important to enable design and operation of industrial scale pharmaceutical film coating processes that are robust and provide the level of control required to consistently deliver quality film coated product. Thermodynamic film coating conditions provided in the tablet film coating process impact film coat formation and subsequent product quality. A thermodynamic film coating model was used to evaluate film coating process performance over a wide range of film coating equipment from pilot to industrial scale (2.5–400 kg). An approximate process-imposed transition boundary, from operating in a dry to a wet environment, was derived, for relative humidity and exhaust temperature, and used to understand the impact of the film coating process on product formulation and process control requirements. This approximate transition boundary may aid in an enhanced understanding of risk to product quality, application of modern Quality by Design (QbD) based product development, technology transfer and scale-up, and support the science-based justification of critical process parameters (CPPs).


We present the first calculation of the basic properties of the f-mode instability in rapidly rotating relativistic neutron stars, adopting the Cowling approximation. By accounting for dissipation in neutron star matter, i.e., shear or bulk viscosity and superfluid mutual friction, we calculate the associated instability window. For our specific stellar model, a relativistic polytrope, we obtain a minimum gravitational growth time scale (for the dominant ℓ=m=4 mode) of the order of 10(3)-10(4)  s near the Kepler frequency Ω(K) while the instability is active above ∼0.92  Ω(K) and for temperatures ∼(10(9)-2×10(10))  K, characteristic of newborn neutron stars.


The total maximum daily load program aims to monitor more than 40,000 standard violations in around 20,000 impaired water bodies across the United States. Given resource limitations, future monitoring efforts have to be hedged against the uncertainties in the monitored system, while taking into account existing knowledge. In that respect, we have developed a hierarchical spatiotemporal Bayesian model that can be used to optimize an existing monitoring network by retaining stations that provide the maximum amount of information, while identifying locations that would benefit from the addition of new stations. The model assumes the water quality parameters are adequately described by a joint matrix normal distribution. The adopted approach allows for a reduction in redundancies, while emphasizing information richness rather than data richness. The developed approach incorporates the concept of entropy to account for the associated uncertainties. Three different entropy‐based criteria are adopted: total system entropy, chlorophyll‐a standard violation entropy, and dissolved oxygen standard violation entropy. A multiple attribute decision making framework is adopted to integrate the competing design criteria and to generate a single optimal design. The approach is implemented on the water quality monitoring system of the Neuse River Estuary in North Carolina, USA. The model results indicate that the high priority monitoring areas identified by the total system entropy and the dissolved oxygen violation entropy criteria are largely coincident. The monitoring design based on the chlorophyll‐a standard violation entropy proved to be less informative, given the low probabilities of violating the water quality standard in the estuary.


The purpose of the study is to develop guidelines for improving the teaching process of students from the People's Republic of China in Russian technical universities, taking into account the specific aspects of higher education in China and methodology of teaching special disciplines to foreign students in Russia. The urgency of the research is caused by the global trends in the development of higher education: globalization, liberalization and internationalization, the growth of cooperation between the two countries in the field of science and technology, in particular space exploration, which as a result leads to the development of joint programs in the provision of education services. Most scientific articles on teaching foreign students are devoted to general issues of pedagogy and psychology, as well as to the problems of teaching Russian as a foreign language, while the aspects of teaching special technical disciplines to citizens of another country pose certain challenges. Materials and methods of research. The research materials include printed works for which the appropriate methods of analysis of scientific texts are used: ● excerpts from the development programs of space industry and joint educational programs of Russia and China – aspect and diachronic method of analysis of priority areas of development of the higher school of China and promising areas of cooperation; ● the curricula of professional education in various areas and specialties of Bauman Moscow State Technical University – aspect analysis of the general provisions of engineering training programs; ● manuals on the "Basics of Rocket and Space Technology" (BRST) of Russia (USSR) and China – critical, comparative and conceptual analysis of the content features, methods and style of presentation of the material; ● BRST – aspect and phenomenological analysis of the structure and content of a special technical discipline; ● scientific works on pedagogy and psychology – aspect and system analysis of features of the education system, educational behavior and bilingual opportunities of students from China. The paper applied the problem analysis method to tackle the task in the context of publications' shortage on teaching special technical disciplines to foreigners. Also, the method of deconstruction, axiomatic and descriptive analysis of text textbooks and manuals on pedagogy and psychology is directly utilized to develop guidelines, proposed in the article. Results. Upon the analysis, guidelines to improve the efficiency of the educational process for Chinese students were developed, using teaching based on the printed text in Russian and Chinese, transformation of educational material to another type, and inclusion of nationally oriented content in educational materials. Finally, we proposed original methods of express surveys to establish feedback with students and put forward a conceptual suggestion, that foreign students pursuing technical education should be given the opportunity and conditions for the implementation and development of cognitive abilities using their native language. Conclusion. The developed pedagogical methods allow to adapt the educational material of special technical disciplines taking into account both mental and socio-cultural characteristics of the students from the People's Republic of China studying in the universities of the Russian Federation.


The phenylurea herbicide linuron is globally used and has caused considerable concern due to its environmental pollution. In this study, a highly efficient linuron-transforming strain Sphingobium sp. SMB was isolated, and a gene (lahB) responsible for the hydrolysis of linuron to 3,4-dichloroaniline and N,O-dimethylhydroxylamine was cloned from the genome of strain SMB. The lahB gene encodes an amidohydrolase, which shares 20%-53% identity with other biochemically characterized amidohydrolases, except the newly reported linuron hydrolase Phh (75%). The optimal conditions for the hydrolysis of linuron by LahB were determined to be pH 7.0 and 30 °C, and the Km value of LahB for linuron was 37.3 ± 1.2 µM. Although LahB and Phh shared relatively high identity, LahB exhibited a narrow substrate spectrum (specific for linuron) compared to Phh (active for linuron, diuron, chlortoluron, etc.). Sequence analysis and site-directed mutagenesis revealed that Ala261 of Phh was the key amino acid residue affecting the substrate specificity. Our study provides a new amidohydrolase for the specific hydrolysis of linuron.


The kinetic stability of equilibria derived from distribution functions of the form F+or-(H,Ptheta ), is analysed. The considered class of perturbations are constant along the theta -direction. A variational principle for internal modes is derived. In particular, the orbit integrals are eliminated in this formalism. Under weak assumptions, it is possible to show that the kinetic stability criterion is fulfilled for MHD stable configurations. The study is relevant to 'low- beta ' systems like Tokamaks and theta -pinches. However, the results have most interest for devices with magnetic nulls, such as Extrap and Multipoles. The results can also be applied to purely radial displacements in RFPs.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Hepatic failure associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the main indications for living donor liver transplantation (LDLT).

METHODOLOGY
Twenty-nine LDLTs, including liver cirrhosis due to HBV (LC-B) (n = 17) and fulminant hepatitis B (FH-B) (n = 12) were reviewed. Prophylaxis for reinfection was performed with a combination of lamivudine, or hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) or adefovir, depending on the viral status. The changes in serological markers, recurrence and survival rate were examined.

RESULTS
There were 3 patients with re-emergencies of HBV surface antigen (HBsAg): suspension of HBIG for giving vaccination for HBV (n = 1), HBsAg positive donor (n = 1) and non-compliance for HBIG (n = 1). All patients with YMDD mutants (n = 9), except the case with HBsAg positive donor (n = 1), were successfully protected by the triple therapy of lamivudine, adefovir and HBIG. No graft loss was due to the recurrence of HBV.

CONCLUSION
The basic strategy using a combination of HBIG and antiviral agents gave acceptable long-term outcomes for LDLT for HBV associated liver diseases. The close monitoring of HBV viral status after transplantation is still crucial in managing these patients.


Recent observational studies have confirmed the existence of a robust statistical relationship between lightning flash rates and the amount of large precipitating ice hydrometeors aloft in storms. This relationship is exploited, in conjunction with the capabilities of cloud-resolving forecast models such as WRF, to forecast explicitly the threat of lightning from convective storms using selected output fields from the model forecasts. The simulated vertical flux of graupel at -15C and the shape of the simulated reflectivity profile are tested in this study as proxies for charge separation processes and their associated lightning risk. Our lightning forecast method differs from others in that it is entirely based on high-resolution simulation output, without reliance on any climatological data. short [6-8 h) simulations are conducted for a number of case studies for which three-dmmensional lightning validation data from the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array are available. Experiments indicate that initialization of the WRF model on a 2 km grid using Eta boundary conditions, Doppler radar radial velocity fields, and METAR and ACARS data y&eld satisfactory simulations. __nalyses of the lightning threat fields suggests that both the graupel flux and reflectivity profile approaches, when properly calibrated, can yield reasonable lightning threat forecasts, although an ensemble approach is probably desirable in order to reduce the tendency for misplacement of modeled storms to hurt the accuracy of the forecasts. Our lightning threat forecasts are also compared to other more traditional means of forecasting thunderstorms, such as those based on inspection of the convective available potential energy field.


Adopt wavelet decomposition and reconstruction technology to implement return time series denoising process and establish stock index futures margin forecasting model. Filter the original time series and extract hidden periodicity and nonlinearity of the volatility of stock index futures return time series by wavelet decomposition, then adopt GARCH model and Genetic Neural Network model for modeling and predicting the scale sequence and wavelet sequences respectively, afterwards employ wavelet reconstruction to synthesize the predicted result of different scales. Substitute the processed data for the original return time series in the four common margin setting model and then select prudent index and opportunity cost index to make comparision. The result shows that there are vary degrees improvement of the margin prudent level by employing the wavelet denoising data for the four models which proves the availability of the constructed model.


The development of active tuberculosis after infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis is almost invariably caused by a persistent or transient state of relative immunodeficiency. Leptin, the product of the obese (ob) gene, is a pleiotropic protein produced mainly by adipocytes and is down-regulated during malnutrition and starvation, conditions closely connected with active tuberculosis. To investigate the role of leptin in tuberculosis, we intranasally infected wild-type (Wt) and leptin-deficient ob/ob mice with live virulent M. tuberculosis. Ob/ob mice displayed higher mycobacterial loads in the lungs after 5 and 10 weeks of infection, although the difference with Wt mice remained 1 log of M. tuberculosis colony forming unit. Nevertheless, ob/ob mice were less able to form well-shaped granuloma and lung lymphocyte numbers were reduced compared with Wt mice early during infection. In addition, ob/ob mice had a reduced capacity to produce the protective cytokine IFNgamma at the site of the infection early during infection and upon antigen-specific recall stimulation, and showed reduced delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction to intra-dermal tuberculin purified protein derivative. Leptin replacement restored the reduced IFNgamma response observed in ob/ob mice. Mortality did not differ between ob/ob and Wt mice. These data suggest that leptin plays a role in the early immune response to pulmonary tuberculosis.


The current treatment of airway obstruction using beta-agonists and theophylline is designed to increase intracellular level of cAMP. Experimental data show that cGMP and cAMP induce functionally additive relaxation of airways. Nitrates relax smooth muscle through the activation of guanylate cyclase. We wondered whether an additive effect of nitroglycerin (NTG) on beta2-agonist-induced bronchodilatation was present in asthmatic patients. To this aim we evaluated the acute bronchodilating effect of inhaled salbutamol (200 mu g MDI) in 10 asthmatics, pre-treated with inhaled NTG or placebo, in a double-blind cross-over design. FEV1 after NTG was higher than that obtained after placebo (2197 +/- 175 vs. 1981 +/- 155 ml, P <0.001). Mean FEV1 obtained 5 min after salbutamol was higher when patients were pre-treated with NTG than placebo (2694 +/- 217 vs 2440 +/- 228 ml respectively, P <0.001). The bronchodilatation due to salbutamol was identical whether NTG or placebo was inhaled first, respectively at 458 +/- 68 and 497 +/- 44 ml after 5 min. After 15 min FEV1 was higher than baseline, but no significant difference was still present between the value observed after pre-treatment with NTG or placebo (2554 +/- 235 and 2551 +/- 205 ml respectively). In conclusion, in asthmatics nebulized NTG produces a moderate and short-lasting bronchodilatation, which is additive with that produced by salbutamol.


Uronic acid‐rich plant materials such as pectin are potential renewable feedstocks for the chemical industry. Uronic acid oxidase activity was first reported in extracts of citrus leaves, and was subsequently found to be widely distributed in plants, with the highest activity detected in extracts of the pectin‐rich citrus peel. Herein we report the identification of the primary sequence of uronic acid oxidase from extracts of the peel of Citrus sinensis, by partial purification and protein mass spectrometry. Activity of the enzyme, a member of the berberine bridge family, was confirmed by recombinant expression in Pichia pastoris. Biochemical characterization of the recombinant enzyme is reported. Our findings facilitate further investigation of the biological function of uronic acid oxidation in the economically important orange fruit, and also provide a basis for the development of a catalyst for bioconversion of uronic acids.


Coherent x-ray generation from a thin solid layer or any other periodic atomic structure with limited dimensions exposed to a short, superintense laser pulse, is investigated. Regimes when either stimulated bremsstrahlung of quasi-free electrons or tunneling-recollisions of bound electrons of highly charged ions are responsible for coherent radiation are considered.


In the past two centuries, many American urban areas have experienced significant expansion in both populating and depopulating cities. The pursuit of bigger, faster, and more growth-oriented planning parallels a situation where municipal decline has also been recognized as a global epidemic. In recent decades many older industrial cities have experienced significant depopulation, job loss, economic decline, and massive increases in vacant and abandoned properties due primarily to losses in industry and relocating populations. Despite continuous economic decline and depopulation, many of these so-called 'shrinking cities' still chase growth-oriented planning policies, due partially to inabilities to accurately predict future urban growth/decline patterns. This capability is critical to understanding land use alternation patterns and predicting future possible scenarios for the development of more proactive land use policies dealing with urban decline and regeneration. In this research, the city of Chicago, Illinois, USA is used as a case site to test an urban land use change model that predicts urban decline in a shrinking city, using vacant land as a proxy. Our approach employs the Land Transformation Model (LTM), which combines Geographic Information Systems and artificial neural networks to forecast land use change. Results indicate that the LTM is a good resource to simulate urban vacant land changes. Mobility and housing market conditions seem to be the primary variables contributing to decline.


There is an urgent need to improve the reliability of screening cargo containers for illicit nuclear material that may be hidden there for terrorist purposes. A screening system is described for the detection of fissionable material hidden in maritime cargo containers. The system makes use of a low-intensity neutron beam for producing fission and the detection of the abundant high-energy /spl gamma/ rays emitted in the /spl beta/-decay of short-lived fission products and /spl beta/-delayed neutrons. The abundance of the delayed /spl gamma/ rays is almost an order of magnitude larger than that of the delayed neutrons normally used to detect fission, and they are emitted on about the same time scale as the delayed neutrons, i.e., /spl sim/1 min. The energy and temporal distributions of the delayed /spl gamma/ rays provide a unique signature of fission. Because of their high energy, these delayed /spl gamma/ rays penetrate low-Z cargoes much more readily than the delayed neutrons. Coupled with their higher abundance, the signal from the delayed /spl gamma/ rays escaping from the container is predicted to be as much as six decades more intense than the delayed neutron signal, depending upon the type and thickness of the intervening cargo. The /spl gamma/ rays are detected in a large array of scintillators located along the sides of the container as it is moved through them. Measurements have confirmed the signal strength in somewhat idealized experiments and have also identified one interference when 14.5-MeV neutrons from the D, T reaction are used for the interrogation. The interference can be removed easily by the appropriate choice of the neutron source.


Tau protein plays a crucial role in diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases. However, performing an assay to detect tau protein on a nanoscale is a great challenge for early diagnosis of diseases. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), western-blotting, and molecular-based methods, e.g., PCR and real-time PCR, are the most widely used methods for detecting tau protein. These methods are subject to certain limitations: the need for advanced equipment, low sensitivity, and specificity, to name a few. With the above said, it is necessary to discover advanced and novel methods for monitoring tau protein. Counted among remarkable approaches adopted by researchers, biosensors can largely eliminate the difficulties and limitations associated with conventional methods. The main objective of the present study is to review the latest biosensors developed to detect the tau protein. Furthermore, the problems and limitations of conventional diagnosis methods were discussed in detail.


Perhaps no recent approach to constructing political theory has proved more intriguing than that based on game theory. As an introduction to the possibilities and pitfalls of game theory applications to politics, as well as a valuable original contribution, Coalition Theories and Cabinet Formations by Abram De Swaan is a welcome addition to the scholarly literature. De Swaan first examines the assumptions and logical structure of coalition theories previously offered by Riker, Gamson, Leiserson, and Axelrod. These theories all predict that governing coalitions will be in some sense "minimal." Riker and Gamson, for example, argue that rational players (parties) will form a winning (governing) coalition of minimal voting "weight." Leiserson and Axelrod differ in that they incorporate players' perceived policy positions into their theories. These theories are similar to those of Riker and Gamson, however, in that the predicted coalitions are those of minimal range along a hypothesized unidimensional policy continuum. Given considerable evidence that, in reality, "non-minimal" coalitions frequently occur, De Swaan proposes a new variation of coalition theory policy distance theory. "The basic notion of policy distance theory is that an actor strives to be included in a winning coalition that he expects to adopt a policy which is as close as possible to his own most preferred policy" • (p. 83). With the help of four additional assumptions, De Swaan is capable of predicting which coalitions are most likely to form under the basic assumption of policy preference maximization.


Unanticipated events on building sites are inevitable. The frequency of unanticipated events is usually high due to the inherent complexity and dynamics of construction projects. A proper mobile interactive personal network can make use of the rich knowledge and experience of site staff, to handle and effectively resolve on-site problems caused by unanticipated events. Immediate on-site problem solving significantly impacts subsequent project characteristics and leads to a more productive organizational processes as a whole.
This paper focuses on the importance of interactive personal communication as a basis for immediate on-site problem solving. For communications support, a human-oriented pragmatic solution in the form of a mobile, interactive, context-sensitive personal network is presented.


BACKGROUND
Facial nerve stimulation is a known complication of cochlear implantation. Until recently, the assessment of facial nerve stimulation was primarily based on self reports which can be problematic in a pediatric setting. For children with facial nerve stimulation, the long-term implications implant use are unclear.

OBJECTIVES
To illustrate the clinical utility of facial electromyography (EMG) in avoiding nonauditory stimulation evoked by cochlear implant use and to assess the potential for change in these responses over time with chronic electrical stimulation.

METHODS
Midline evoked auditory brainstem responses and surface EMG of the facial musculature were performed in three children suspected clinically of having electrically evoked facial nerve stimulation. Each child had a different clinical presentation; the first complained of pain, the second experienced involuntary facial movements, and the third experienced nonspecific discomfort after sequential bilateral cochlear implantation.

RESULTS
All three children had EMG evidence of facial nerve stimulation. However, based on thresholds and patterns of responses in specific facial nerve branches, stimulation was responsible for the subjective and behavioural responses in only two of the three children.

CONCLUSIONS
Pediatric cochlear implant users are unreliable in their reports of facial nerve stimulation. Evoked surface EMG is an objective and useful clinical tool in patients with known or suspected facial nerve stimulation and can lead to improved implant use.


Of this article we are going to show, to the detour, the history of the creation; of the state, Ivory Coast, the ethnic - cultural identity management that participated a certain manner in to sit, of the authority of a man and its ethnic group (Akan) and from it ties, woven to return the management of the country to it's perspective. If in term of representation, the approach made emulators, it won't linger to show its limits to the test of the decrease of the course of exportation of its cultures and the desire of democratisation of African regime. Certainly, the Ivory Coast growth is the girl of the speech preferential nationalities, that is the ivoirite. Because, it didn't wait for the crisis of the decade 1990's to have pawn on the street, but sat on to interstices of the gouvernementalite, to foucauldienne sense of the term, houphouetistes and its continuations (ethnic, regional and North/South). However, if the political system democratization and the inheritance of the father of the independence constitute the setting of analysis of it, the first part is about the diversity and the complexity of the ethnic geopolitics and the political cleverness of Houphouet Boigny through practices of actors and stakes that draw himself. There, we kept the west africanisation of the country, which explains him by the border tracings and the economic system instructed by the colonist. In the second left, it was question of the speech trajectory on the ivoirite, speech that sediment and reinforces the disparagement of the others (that is the Ivory Coast of the North) and by ricochet all populations malinkophoneses of the adjacent countries of the North. In sum, it remains a question in this text, of the dynamic interactivity between different modes of intervention, operating on the contradictory registers in the shape and in the bottom with regards to the political power. The present situation contributes to an understanding of logics that plays him of it. In the management of taking part interests in processes of reform and advent of the Ivory Coast, and constitutes the best grid of reading of it in term of modernity.


This paper describes a formalism for extracting spatially varying transport coefficients from simulations of a molecular fluid in a nanochannel. This approach is applied to self-diffusion of a Lennard-Jones fluid confined between two parallel surfaces. A numerical grid is laid over the domain confining the fluid, and fluid properties are projected onto the grid cells. The time correlation functions between properties in different grid cells are calculated and can be used as the basis for a fitting procedure for extracting spatially varying diffusion coefficients from the simulation. Results for the Lennard-Jones system show that transport behavior varies sharply near the liquid-solid boundary and that the changes depend on the details of the liquid-solid interaction. A quantitative difference between the reduced and detailed models is discussed. It is found that the difference could be associated with assumptions about the form of the transport equations at molecular scales in lieu of problems with the method itself. The study suggests that this approach to fitting molecular simulations to continuum equations may guide the development of appropriate coarse-grained equations to model transport phenomena at nanometer scales.


A parallel screening method has been developed to rapidly evaluate discrete library substrates of biomaterials using cell-based assays. The biomaterials used in these studies were surface-erodible polyanhydrides based on sebacic acid (SA), 1,6-bis(p-carboxyphenoxy)hexane (CPH), and 1,8-bis(p-carboxyphenoxy)-3,6-dioxaoctane (CPTEG) that have been previously studied as carriers for drugs, proteins, and vaccines. Linearly varying compositional libraries of 25 different polyanhydride random copolymers (based on CPH:SA and CPTEG:CPH) were designed, fabricated, and synthesized using discrete (organic solvent-resistant) multi-sample substrates created using a novel rapid prototyping method. The combinatorial libraries were characterized at high throughput using infrared microscopy and validated using 1H NMR and size exclusion chromatography. The discrete libraries were rapidly screened for biocompatibility using standard SP2/0 myeloma, CHO and L929 fibroblasts, and J774 macrophage cell lines. At a concentration of 2.8 mg/mL, there was no appreciable cytotoxic effect on any of the four cell lines evaluated by any of the CPH:SA or CPTEG:CPH compositions. Furthermore, the activation of J774 macrophages was evaluated by incubating the cells with the polyanhydride libraries and quantifying the secreted cytokines (IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, and TNFalpha). The results indicated that copolymer compositions containing at least 50% CPH induced elevated amounts of TNFalpha. In summary, the results indicated that the methodologies described herein are amenable to the high throughput analysis of synthesized biomaterials and will facilitate the rapid and rational design of materials for use in biomedical applications.


The avalanche protection scheme for the Saint Colomban des Villards district, which is to ensure the safety of several villages, is unique in France by the complete, efficient protection it is designed to provide. Owing to its high cost and long-term implementation schedule, the project was taken over by the French Government, which ensured that the Forestry Authorities would have the time and facilities they required for preparing a rational work schedule and putting it into effect over a period of 20 years. As the first and most urgent requirement, several "passive" protection works were installed (diversion dykes at the outlets from the main avalanche corridors). An access road was then built to areas it was considered could be stabilized at reasonable cost. Next, various conventional types of snow barrier were installed, ranging from simple banks to racks capable of withstanding the heaviest snow loads. Finally, trees were planted between, in and around the protection works. Despite some failures caused by a series of exceptionally snowy winters, retimbering seems to have been successful on the whole ; the new trees at various sites should be capable of taking over from the anti-avalanche works within the next 10 to 25 years. Even taking a very conservative view of the results so far, it seems reasonable to claim that the anti-avalanche works in the Saint Colomban des Villards district have been effective during several very snowy winters, in which unprotected areas suffered disastrous avalanches. The project, which also includes the smaller Cellier district, is the first of its kind to have been put into effect in the French Alps ; in addition, it has provided the Forestry Authorities with excellent scope for experimentation. The anti-avalanche works attract a good many visitors to the area.


Route planning and re-planning is an important part of modern aircraft mission planning. The existing route planning algorithm for this problem is complicated. We present a new and simple Particle Swarm Optimization Route Planner-PSORP algorithm for route planning and re-planning of air vehicles. In this algorithm, specific particle swarm coding representation and suitable fitness function was used. It can process each kind of the mission constraints and finally obtain an approximate optimal flight path. The simulation results demonstrated the feasibility of the algorithm.


Objective: To examine 3-year rates of conversion to dementia, and risk factors for such conversion, in a population-based sample with diverse types of cognitive impairment. Methods: All elderly (aged 65 or older) residents of Cache County, UT, were invited to undergo two waves of dementia screening and assessment. Three-year follow-up data were available for 120 participants who had some form of mild cognitive impairment at baseline. Of these, 51 had been classified at baseline with prodromal Alzheimer disease (proAD), and 69 with other cognitive syndromes (CS). Results: Three-year rates of conversion to dementia were 46% among those with cognitive impairment at baseline. By comparison, 3.3% without impairment converted to dementia in the interval. Among converters, AD was the most common type of dementia. In individuals with at least one APOE ε4 allele, those with proAD or CS exhibited a 22- to 25-fold higher risk of dementia than cognitively unimpaired individuals (vs 5- to 10-fold higher risk in those without ε4). Conclusions: Individuals with all types of mild cognitive impairment have an elevated risk of dementia over 3 years, more so in those with an APOE ε4 allele. These results suggest value in dementia surveillance for broad groups of cognitively impaired individuals beyond any specific category, and utility of APOE genotyping as a prognostic method.


Introduction: The effects of space weathering as manifested in changes in ultraviolet (UV) reflectance have been observed in laboratory spectra of Apollo samples and samples subjected to simulated space weathering, as well as in comparisons of laboratory spectra of meteorites and telescopic spectra of asteroids [1]. In contrast to visible and near-infrared wavelengths, where increased space weathering causes an increase in spectral slope ("reddening"), at wavelengths shorter than ~400 nm the spectral slope decreases with increased space weathering. This phenomenon can be explained by the nanophase iron coatings deposited on grains due to exposure to the space weathering environment, where the addition of relatively spectrally neutral metallic iron diminishes the strong dropoff toward UV wavelengths that occurs in silicates. The decrease in UV slope with increased maturity has been hypothesized to occur at lower levels of exposure to the space weathering environment [1] than at longer wavelengths. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Wide Angle Camera (WAC) [2] observations at 321, 360, 415, 566, 604, 643 and 689 nm enable resolved studies of the changes in ultraviolet reflectance that occur due to maturation of the lunar surface. Image data: This study utilizes a preliminary seven-band, 400-m/pixel global WAC mosaic that was photometrically normalized using a simplified Hapke function [3]. Photometric parameters were derived independently for each 5° by 5° surface bin using three months of WAC coverage [4]. Clementine-based maps of optical maturity (OMAT) as determined from 750 and 950 nm reflectance [5] were used for comparison. UV and maturity: To explore the effects of maturity in the UV, we examined ratios of 321/415 nm reflectance. In this index, variations due to maturity are relatively subdued, and many large ray systems are not easily distinguished from background mature terrain (Fig. 1). Closer to crater rims however, many fresh craters have a region (~1 crater diameter) of low 321/415 ratio. To examine the changes of UV slope with


This paper describes problems related to contemporary document analyses. Contemporary documents contain multiple digital objects of different type. These digital objects have to be extracted from document containers, represented as data structures, and described by features suitable for comparing digital objects. In many archival and machine learning applications, documents are compared by using multiple metrics, checked for integrity and authenticity, and grouped based on similarity. The objective of our work is to design methodologies for contemporary document processing, visual exploration, grouping and integrity verification.


The aim of the land registration is to ensure the legal certainty for land tenure within Indonesia territory. Besides that, land registration is conducted to prevent the land tenure dispute. The land registration process results the land certificate proving the land tenure for specified person or party. In practice, the legal certainty matter would deal with several obstacles, among others, the double land certificates problem. This study examines the double land certificates problem in Kedung Waringin Village, Bojonggede District, Bogor City. This study shows several factors causing the double land certificates problem, among others, the internal weakness inside National Land Agency Bogor Branch Office, and to overcome such problem, it has conducted alternative dispute resolution effort, namely negotiation, mediation, and facilitation.


A recently developed atomistic force field for poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) is used to calculate the permeability properties of the polymer to light gases and to n-alkanes. The torsional potential barrier is re-estimated compared to the original force field. Chain dynamics and chain sizes are affected by this change while thermodynamic properties of the melt and of PDMS mixtures remain unaffected. The diffusion coefficients of penetrants to PDMS are calculated at different temperatures based on long molecular dynamics simulations. Subsequently, the permeability coefficients are estimated and ideal mixture selectivities are evaluated for binary hydrocarbon mixtures. In all cases, agreement with literature experimental data ranges from good to excellent. Calculations for mixed penetrant permeation reveal that, in the presence of a second penetrant species, solubility and diffusion coefficients increase, in agreement with recent experimental evidence.


Background: Endothelial cell activation may be connected with the pathogenesis of delayed cerebral ischaemia (DCI) after subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Aim: To assess the relationship between serial concentrations of circulating markers of endothelial cell activation (soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1, soluble platelet selectin (sP-selectin), soluble endothelial selectin, ED1-fibronectin, Von Willebrand Factor (VWF) and VWF propeptide) and development of DCI. Methods: 687 blood samples were collected from 106 consecutive patients admitted within 72 h after onset of SAH. Changes in levels were analysed in the last sample before and in the first sample after the onset of DCI (n = 30), and in subgroups with DCI occurring within 24 h after treatment of the aneurysm (n = 12) or unrelated to treatment of the aneurysm (n = 18). Patients without DCI (n = 56) served as controls. Results: Concentrations of sP-selectin, but not of the other markers, were found to increase considerably after DCI unrelated to treatment of the aneurysm (increase 25 ng/ml, 95% CI 8 to 43), whereas they tended to decrease in the control patients without DCI (decrease 13 ng/ml, 95% CI −28 to 2.4). Surgery was found to profoundly influence the levels of the markers irrespective of the occurrence of DCI. Conclusion: The rise in sP-selectin level during DCI is suggested to be the result of platelet activation, as levels of the other markers of endothelial cell activation were not increased after DCI unrelated to treatment. Whether a causal role of platelet activation is implicated in the development of DCI should be determined in further studies in which the relationship between concentrations of markers and treatment is taken into account.


Environmental/Ecological flow refers to the minimum flow of water to be maintained in a water body (river, lake, etc.) to sustain ecosystem services. Understanding environmental flow is important to ensure the local ecological and social (people, agriculture and horticulture, etc.) needs in a sustained and balanced way, while designing large scale projects (such as hydro-electric, river diversion, etc.). Western Ghats are the mountain ranges extending from southern tip of India (Tamil Nadu-Kanyakumari) to Gujarat. These mountain ranges are rich in biodiversity with diverse and endemic flora and fauna, and is birth place to numerous perennial rivers namely Netravathi, Sita, Sharavathi, Aghanashini, Krishna, Cauvery, etc. Western Ghats is often referred as water tower of peninsular India, due to the water and food security provided by the ecosystem through array of services. The region is also one among 35 global biodiversity hotspots. However, deforestation due to large scale land cover changes has affected the water sustenance in the region evident from the quantity and duration of water availability during post monsoon period. Forests in the Western Ghats along with the soil characteristics and precipitation plays a major role in storing water in sub-surface (vadoze and groundwater) zones during monsoon, and releases to the streams during post monsoon periods catering to the needs of the dependent biota including humans. Some of these undisturbed/ unaltered natural flow conditions in rivers and streams have proved their worth with the presence of rich and diverse species and array of ecosystem services, which also has helped in sustaining the livelihood of dependent populations. The undisturbed flow conditions guarantees the natural flow as well as minimum flow in streams to sustain the ecosystem services, which helps in meeting the social and ecological needs. Growing demand to cater the demands of burgeoning human population coupled with accelerated pace of deforestation due to unplanned and senseless developmental projects in the ecologically fragile regions have led the water scarcity even in regions receiving high amount of rainfall. In the current communication an attempt is made to understand the linkages between the hydrological dynamics across varied landscape with the anthropogenic and ecological water needs. If the available water resource meets the societal and environmental demands across seasons, the catchment is said to achieve the minimum flow requirements. The federal government has plans to divert the water from rivers in Western Ghats region to the dry arid regions in Karnataka. In this regard, environmental flow assessment of Yettinahole river in Central Western Ghats is carried out to understand the feasibility of river diversion through the assessment of hydrologic regime with the analysis of land use dynamics (using remote sensing data), meteorological data (rainfall, temperature, etc. from IMD, Pune), hydrological data (from gauged streams) apart from field investigations in the catchment. The catchments receive annual rainfall of 3000-5000 mm (Department of Statistics, Government of Karnataka). Land use analyses reveal that Major portion of the catchment is covered with evergreen forest (45.08%) followed by agriculture plantations (29.05%) and grass lands (24.06%). Water yield in the catchment computed for each of sub-catchments based on the current land use and other related hydrological parameters using empirical method. The total runoff yield from the catchments is estimated to be 9.55 TMC. About 5.84 TMC is required for domestic purposes including agriculture, horticulture and livestock rearing. The quantum of water required to sustain fish life in the streams is about 2 TMC, computed based on hydrological discharge monitoring and fish diversity in streams during 18 months (covering all seasons) in select streams in Western Ghats. Considering the available water is sufficient only to meet the anthropogenic and ecological needs in the region, the sustainable option to meet the water requirements in dry arid regions would be through (i) decentralized water harvesting (through tanks, ponds, lakes, etc.), (ii) rejuvenation or restoration of existing lakes/ponds, (iii) reuse of waste water, (iv) recharging groundwater resources, (v) planting native species of grasses and tree species in the catchment (to enhance percolation of water in the catchment), (vi) implementation of soil and water conservation through micro-watershed approaches. Implementation of these location specific approaches in arid regions would cost much less compared to the river diversion projects, which if implemented would help the section of the society involved in decision making, construction and implementation of the project.


This study needs to be studied to understand environmental communication in the concept of Islamic communication. The basic concept needs to be understood that Aceh is faced with various kinds of environmental problems that threaten the sustainability of eco-systems, biodiversity, and deterioration of environmental quality. This will also have an impact on increasing the intensity of disasters and decreasing the health quality of the community. Therefore, collective awareness is needed to save a balanced and sustainable environment. The aspect of environmental communication management is a strategic approach to building the collaboration of the parties in making people, industries, companies, governments and anyone aware of having a common awareness and strategy in the context of saving a quality, harmonious and sustainable environment. In the Islamic perspective, communication is an integral part of human life. One of the purposes of communication in Islam is to spread moral values derived from the Qur'an. In the Qur'an, it has been regulated about the procedures for how humans relate to humans and to the environment.


Microsoft's Pelican storage rack uses a new class of hard disk drive (HDD), known by vendors as archival class HDD. These HDDs are explicitly designed to store cooler and archival data, differing from existing HDDs by trading performance for cost. Our early Pelican experiences have helped some vendors define the particular characteristics of this class of drive. During the last twelve or so months we have gained considerable data on how these drives perform in Pelicans and in this paper we present data gathered from a test and a production environment. A key design choice for Pelican was to have only a small fraction of the HDDs concurrently spun up making Pelican a harsh environment to operate a HDD. We present data showing how the drives have been used, their power profile, their AFR, and conclude by discussing some issues for the future of these archive HDDs. As flash capacities increase eventually all HDDs will be archive class, so understanding their characteristics is of wide interest.


Summary Since 1997, the design of fastenings for anchoring in concrete has been regulated at European level by Annex C of the European Technical Approval Guideline and the subsequently published, supporting and referenced "Technical Report" TR029 and TR045 or by the pre-standard series CEN/TS 1992-4. The new EN 1992-4 standard, which is published in 2017 and has been formally accepted by the CEN members in the voting process. It summarizes the existing design rules while taking into account state of the art and applies to all main fasteners used in construction engineering. It is far more comprehensive in terms of the fastening systems it covers, and the load conditions it takes into consideration. Consequently, it represents an important and necessary step in harmonizing the design of fasteners for use in concrete. The following paper briefly presents the contents of the new European Standard EN 1992-4 "Design of fasteners for use in concrete" and the major changes that have been introduced compared to CEN/TS 1992-4 and ETAG 001, Annex C. There is an added chapter regarding "post-installed rebar anchorage length", which is covered by FprEN 1992-1-1:2023 [15]. This application is used for design of rigid connections between concrete members.


In this paper, an interactive genetic algorithm (IGA) approach is developed to optimize design variables for a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) low noise amplifier. A layered encoding structure is employed to the problem representation in genetic algorithm to allow human intervention in the circuit design variable tuning process. The MMIC amplifier design is synthesized using the Agilent Advance Design System (ADS), and the IGA is proposed to tune the design variables in order to meet multiple constraints and objectives such as noise figure, current and simulated power gain. The developed IGA is compared with other optimization techniques from ADS. The results showed that the IGA performs better in achieving most of the involved objectives.


ABSTRACT This paper seeks to examine understandings and applications of rural community resilience. Scottish policy has shifted toward neoliberalism and community empowerment, with communities encouraged to play a proactive role in enhancing their own resilience. We argue that it is important to understand the perspectives of multiple stakeholders to identify what practical factors they believe enhance community resilience and to provide a greater understanding of the mechanisms through which community resilience can be delivered. Drawing on qualitative data collection, we question what resilience means and what factors can facilitate it in practice. We find that dual discourses of resilience emerge: the emergency which reflects the policy focus on short-term damage reduction, and the everyday which reflects the desire for more long-term adaptive capacities developing in response to gradual change in rural communities. We conclude that the discourse which stakeholders align with will affect how they understand, adopt, and practice the concept.


Since the induction of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been suggested to be partially dependent of the synthesis of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha), we have investigated in vitro the production of NO in retinal cells from mice deficient in Lymphotoxin alpha (LT alpha)/TNF alpha. Treatment of retinal Müller glial (RMG) and retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells from both wild-type and knockout mice with LPS and interferon gamma (IFN gamma) induced NO synthesis as determined by nitrite release into the media and was correlated to an increase in NOS-2 mRNA levels, evaluated by RT-PCR. However, the level of nitrite and the accumulation of mRNA was always less in cells from LT alpha/TNF alpha knockout mice than in wild type mice. Simultaneous addition of TNF alpha restored the level of NO synthesis by RMG and RPE cells from LT alpha/TNF alpha knockout mice stimulated with LPS and IFN gamma to wild type levels. Transforming growth factor beta (TGF beta) blocked LPS/IFN gamma-induced NO production is RMG and RPE cells from wild-type and LT alpha/TNF alpha knockout mice. Our results demonstrate that induction of NO synthesis in RMG and RPE cells by LPS and IFN gamma is dependent in part on endogenous TNF alpha while inhibition of NO production by TGF beta does not require a modulation of TNF alpha synthesis.


Chromosomal instability is a well-defined hallmark of tumor aggressiveness and metastatic progression in colorectal cancer. The magnitude of genetic heterogeneity among distinct liver metastases from the same patient at the copy number level, as well as its relationship with chemotherapy exposure and patient outcome, remains unknown. We performed high-resolution DNA copy number analyses of 134 liver metastatic deposits from 45 colorectal cancer patients to assess: (i) intra-patient inter-metastatic genetic heterogeneity using a heterogeneity score based on pair-wise genetic distances among tumor deposits; and (ii) genomic complexity, defined as the proportion of the genome harboring aberrant DNA copy numbers. Results were analyzed in relation to the patients' clinical course; previous chemotherapy exposure and outcome after surgical resection of liver metastases. We observed substantial variation in the level of intra-patient inter-metastatic heterogeneity. Heterogeneity was not associated with the number of metastatic lesions or their genomic complexity. In metachronous disease, heterogeneity was higher in patients previously exposed to chemotherapy. Importantly, intra-patient inter-metastatic heterogeneity was a strong prognostic determinant, stronger than known clinicopathological prognostic parameters. Patients with a low level of heterogeneity (below the median level) had a three-year progression-free and overall survival rate of 23% and 66% respectively, versus 5% and 18% for patients with a high level (hazard ratio0.4, 95% confidence interval 0.2–0.8, P = 0.01; and hazard ratio0.3,95% confidence interval 0.1–0.7, P = 0.007). A low patient-wise level of genomic complexity (below 25%) was also a favorable prognostic factor; however, the prognostic association of intra-patient heterogeneity was independent of genomic complexity in multivariable analyses. In conclusion, intra-patient inter-metastatic genetic heterogeneity is a pronounced feature of metastatic colorectal cancer, and the strong prognostic association reinforces its clinical relevance and places it as a key feature to be explored in future patient cohorts.


Tris(2-benzimidazolylmethyl)aminepicolinatocobalt (II), [Co(ntb)(pic)] + , complex were studied theoretically. [Co(ntb)(pic)] + complex ion were synthesized and geometric parameters, vibration frequencies and UV-VIS spectrum were obtained by Nie et al. in 2010 [1]. In this study, optimized geometric parameters, vibrational spectrum, Molecular Orbital (MO) character analysis, Transition Character (TC) analysis and UV-VIS spectrum were calculated. The correlations between theoretical and experimental results were investigated.


: Aging brings along a series of musculoskeletal problems due to physiological changes. Many elderly people experience functional loss due to musculoskeletal problems. The demand for complementary, clinically effective, safe, patient-acceptable and, cost-effective therapeutic methods to reduce or partially prevent these losses is increasing day by day. Pilates is an exercise method that has beneficial effects on some health factors that are lost with aging. It is stated that it can strengthen the body against the difficulties it may encounter by strengthening the core stabilizing muscles around the pelvis and spine and improving the breathing pattern. It has been reported that Pilates has positive effects on posture, balance and fall risk, flexibility, strength, body composition and functional autonomy indicators for the advanced age group. In this review, the evidence of these most frequently studied effects of Pilates training in the elderly group is summarized in the light of the current literature.


To obtain a high robust of speech recognition for noisy conditions, a new pre-processing stage based on wavelet thresholding algorithm is proposed in this paper. The purpose of using the DWT is to benefit from its localization property in the time and frequency domains. Compromise function is proposed compared with hard and soft thresholding function. A new thresholding value, Neyman-Pearson criterion is proposed compared with the commonly used Sqtwolog, Rigrsure, minimaxi criterion. MSE and SNR are given to evaluate the improvement of noisy speech recognition performance. The result shows that the Neyman-Pearson criterion can get a better performance especially at adverse conditions.


This study investigated the association between the perceptions of aggression, violence, coercion and consent in rape and individual personality characteristics, such as psychopathic and aggressive traits, and acceptance of rape myths and sexual aggression using a mixed-methods approach. Fifty-three participants with previous exposure to sexually violent material through profession, personal or study interests, rated three rape scenarios with male perpetrator and female victim in different situations, as well as one control scenario portraying a consensual sexual situation for perception of aggression, violence, coercion and consent. Psychopathic and aggressive traits, as well as acceptance of modern myths and sexual aggression were assessed using LSRP, BGA and AMMSA scales, respectively, grouping participants in high and low after performing a median-split. Standard multiple regression results indicated that psychopathy was the main predictor for low perception of aggression, violence and coercion, and high perception of consent. Acceptance of sexual aggression predicted coercion in one occasion, while aggressive behaviour was not a predictor. Repeated-measures MANOVA findings showed that females rated coercion significantly higher than males in one rape situation, while no significant differences were found between high and low scoring participants. Thematic Analysis allowed insights to patterned responses showing influences on perceptions of rape, showing that particularly participants in high groups used rape myths, victim-blame and gender stereotypes. Mostly, findings clearly indicated differences in perception of factors contributing to rape, however, in one situation identification of factors was similar between groups, hinting that the intensity of perception of rapes varied. Findings are intended to further contribute to rape prevention programmes.


A symposium on "Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Carcinogenesis" was presented at the third International Congress of Pathophysiology held in Lathi, Finland, 28 June-3 July 1998. The congress was also sponsored by the International Union of Biological Sciences and the International Society of Free Radical Research. Institutional support for the symposium included the Electric Power Research Institute, National Center for Toxicological Research, and EPA/National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory and the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. The symposium focused on the sources, carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, and risk assessment of individual and mixtures of PAHs that are found in solid wastes, Superfund sites, and other hazardous waste sites. Based on the occurrence of PAHs at numerous Superfund sites and the significant data gaps on the toxic potential of certain PAHs, the information developed during this symposium would be of value in assessing health risks of these chemicals at Superfund and other hazardous waste sites.


In 2011, the National Household Survey replaced the traditional Long Form Census in Canada. The questions in the National Household Survey were similar to the Long Form Census, but responding to this survey was no longer mandatory. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the information loss arising from the change to a voluntary response policy. Comparisons of the differences between the non-mandatory 2011 National Household Survey and the 1996, 2001, and 2006 mandatory Long Form Census are used to identify changes related to the response policy. Using two-sample Kolgomov-Smirnov tests, differences in income distributions are tested to find that high income earners are underrepresented in the voluntary survey. This finding is corroborated by comparisons of various inequality measures across these time periods. Differences in discrete variables are tested using differences in proportions and Pearsons chi-squared tests. Systematic misrepresentation of certain groups is found in the voluntary survey. The switch to a voluntary response policy in 2011 likely led to an over representation of women and married individuals.


Given a program and an attack pattern (specified as a regular expression), we automatically generate string-based vulnerability signatures, i.e., a characterization that includes all malicious inputs that can be used to generate attacks. We use an automata-based string analysis framework. Using forward reachability analysis we compute an over-approximation of all possible values that string variables can take at each program point. Intersecting these with the attack pattern yields the potential attack strings if the program is vulnerable. Using backward analysis we compute an over-approximation of all possible inputs that can generate those attack strings. In addition to identifying existing vulnerabilities and their causes, these vulnerability signatures can be used to filter out malicious inputs. Our approach extends the prior work on automata-based string analysis by providing a backward symbolic analysis that includes a symbolic pre-image computation for deterministic finite automata on common string manipulating functions such as concatenation and replacement.


We evaluate the capacity of an IEEE 802.16d and IEEE 802.11g testbed to simultaneously carry emulated H.264/AVC video and Speex VoIP and present results from an extensive measurement study. First, we employ two fixed WiMAX subscriber stations and one base station and report results for packet loss and one-way delay under both line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight conditions. In addition, we put these results in perspective by repeating the experiments using an off-the-self IEEE 802.11g router. In particular, we use the IEEE 802.11g access point as an extension to the WiMAX network, a case often considered in simulation studies. Finally, we consider the IEEE 802.11g access network in isolation, and measure its capacity to carry video streams and emulated bidirectional VoIP calls simultaneously and compare it with the WiMAX access network.


A rapid lateral flow immunoassay screening method has been developed for the determination of sulfamonomethoxine (SMM) residues in swine urine. For this purpose, a specific monoclonal antibody (mAb), SMM4B9 for SMM, was generated and characterized. The mAb showed low cross-reactivity (not larger than 0.3%) to other sulfonamides and other potentially occurring analytes. Based on the competitive immunoassay principle, the strip was developed with the mAb SMM4B9 and applied to the screening of SMM residues. The test strip is made up of a sample pad, a gold-conjugate SMM4B9 reagent pad, a blotted test membrane containing a test line, a control line (a nitrocellulose membrane spotted with SMM-BSA and goat anti-mouse antibody, respectively), and an absorbent pad. The test could be accomplished within 8–10 min. It was shown that the sensitivity of the test strip was as low as 5 ng ml−1 of SMM and the half of maximal inhibition concentration (IC50) was calculated to be 10.78 ± 0.22 ng ml−1 by relative optical density. In unaided visual assessment the detection limit of the strip was 15 ng ml−1. For samples spiked at 20 and 30 ng ml−1 the coefficient of variation (CV (%)) was between 2.3 and 7.1%. When the test strip was compared with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis for naturally contaminated swine urine samples, the difference in results was less than 6.1%. The data suggest that the method has advantages of high sensitivity, specificity, simplicity and speed of performance, as well as the characteristics of repeatability, reproducibility or accuracy and assurance. Therefore, the test strip is suitable to determine SMM residues in swine urine rapidly and reliably by quantitative, semi-quantitative or qualitative detection.


The computation of grain burning surface regression plays a very important role in the internal ballistic performance evaluation of solid rocket motor, however, the traditional methods such as geometry-based one could not handle the self-intersection and characteristic geometric element disappearing problems. This paper presents an effective and efficient framework to simulate 3D grain burning surface regression with level set method which is combined with Fast Marching technique to constrain the calculation area only around the burning surface. At last, a typical grain example is given by our framework to verify our method's effectiveness and efficiency.


VOLTAGE PROFILE ESTIMATION AND REACTIVE POWER CONTROL OF DISTRIBUTION FEEDERS David Timothy Chessmore, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2008 Supervising Professor: Wei-Jen Lee Distribution systems are important transportation links for the delivery of electric power. Understanding the system conditions of distribution feeders is vital for controlling power systems and maintaining electricity flow on power grids. With better knowledge of the system conditions on distribution feeders, a deliberate and systematic approach can be taken to achieve more efficient and reliable power delivery. Furthermore, better understanding of system conditions can be useful in reducing operation and maintenance costs in various power system applications such as voltage control and capacitor bank switching. This dissertation presents a novel method for estimating the voltage profile of a radial distribution feeder using forecasted load demands and a three-phase power flow program. Additionally, using the forecasted system load and voltage estimations, an iv v efficient proactive capacitor bank switching algorithm has been developed to control the capacitor banks on distribution feeders. The results of a comprehensive study of the effects of the short-term load forecasting software, the voltage profile estimation algorithm, and the capacitor switching algorithm are displayed in this dissertation. The topics presented in this dissertation include artificial neural networks for short-term feeder load forecasting, voltage profile estimation using three-phase power flows, capacitor bank switching for voltage improvement, and capacitor bank switching for switching reduction. A software package based on the dissertation's research has been developed for electric delivery companies as a planning and operating tool for use in a distribution management system. The software package offers the electric delivery company the ability to estimate system load and voltage conditions on distribution feeders as well as control the feeder's capacitor banks in a more intelligent and coordinated manner. Future integration will allow the software to function as an autonomous component in the distribution management system.


Background: Intracerebral Haemorrhage (ICH) is a medical emergency of the highest degree with frequent early neurological
deterioration or death. External ventricular drainage (EVD) is the procedure of choice for the treatment of spontaneous
intracerebral haemorrhage with ventricular extension or blood within the ventricles, acute hydrocephalus and increased
intracranial pressure in patients of intracerebral haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) with hydrocephalus and
its sequelae.
Objective: The aim and objective of this study was to predict the outcome of pre operative GCS following external ventricular
drainage in spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage with ventricular extension.
Method: In this was prospective observational studies, a total number of 60 cases were taken purposively for a period of July,
2015- March, 2017 diagnosed by CT scan of brain at Department of Neurosurgery, Dhaka Medical College Hospital. All the
patients, fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria, were enrolled for the study. For assessing outcome of EVD in post operative
patients and evaluating the efficacy of EVD surgery in follow ups. Glasgow Coma Scale and Glasgow Outcome Scale scoring
method for patient assessment were used for outcome of EVD surgery.
Result: A total of 60 patients were included in this study, age range was 45 to 86 years. Majority patients, 24 (40.0%) were from
61-70 years of age. The mean age was found 62.0±20. It was observed that 24 (40.00%) patients had GCS 5. GCS 6 was observed
in 14(23.33%) patients. GCS 5 and 6 were not found post operatively in any cases. GCS 7 was observed in 14 (23.33%) cases.
Whereas, GCS 8, 9, 10 were found in 11 (18.33%), 13 (21.66%), 10(16.66%) cases respectively and 4 cases were died on first
post operative day. In most cases GCS level rose to 2 points. GOS at 7th POD died total 12 (20.00%) cases. It was observed
that 48 (80.00%) patients were alive Moderate disability existed in 12(25.00%) cases. Again, severe disability and persistent
vegetative cases observed in 14(29.16%), 9(18.75%) cases. Glasgow Outcome Scale at 3 months follow up of my study patients,
it was observed that total died patients 16 (26.66%).
Conclusion: According to my study, majority of the study patients survived following EVD in spontaneous ICH with ventricular
extension but most cases was unfavorable outcome which was statistically


Abstract: Morphology and morphometry is used as tools for parasite identification since times immemorial, however this trend has been no longer used since the last decades and the identification became dependent on molecular characterization. However, this is possible in developed Countries while as the developing and underdeveloped Countries, like India, still largely depend on the traditional techniques. In this investigation an attempt was made to study the morphology and morphometry of adult Trichuris ovis recovered from caecum of the ruminants in Ladakh in order to access the effect of the study area, host, intensity, age, sex of the host and methodology on morphology of the parasite. It has been found that all these factors pose a little effect on the parasite identification were of minor importance because they were found within the range of similarity and were not good enough to label it as a new species as was expected. However, some descriptive features might be helpful in the parasite identification.


Including the middle hepatic vein (MHV) in the right lobe liver graft for adult‐to‐adult live donor liver transplantation provides more functional liver by securing adequate venous drainage. Donor outcome of this procedure in relation to different venous drainage patterns of segment 4 is unknown. Modification of graft harvesting technique by preserving segment 4b hepatic vein (V4b) in theory compensates for unfavorable venous drainage patterns. Consecutive 120 right lobe live donors were included. Computed tomography was studied in detail to assign each donor to one of the three types of the Nakamura classification of venous drainage pattern of segment 4. Type I drainage was mainly via the left hepatic vein (LHV), type II drainage was equally into the MHV and LHV, and type III drainage was predominantly into the MHV. Any distinct umbilical vein was also noted. In the early part of the series, the V4b draining into the MHV was divided to provide a long MHV stump in the graft. In the later part of the series, prominent V4b draining into the MHV was preserved in the donor as far as possible. Donor outcomes were measured by peak values of prothrombin time (PT), serum bilirubin and transaminases levels. There was no donor mortality. Type I donors (n=69) had the best outcome with peak PT of 17.9 sec (range 12.3–23.3 sec). Type II donors (n=44) had peak PT of 18.5 sec (range 15.4–24.4 sec). When V4b was preserved in type II donors (n=19), the peak PT (18.0 sec, range 15.4–20.7 sec) became significantly lower than that of type II donors who had V4b sacrificed (20.3 sec, range 16.2–24.4 sec) (P=0.001). A distinct umbilical vein (n=91, 75.8%) was insignificant for donor outcome measured by peak PT. Multivariate analysis identified that type II donors with V4b sacrificed (n=25), type III donors (n=7), and the first 50 cases had less favorable outcomes. In conclusion, unfavorable venous drainage patterns were one of the independent factors compromising postoperative donor liver function, but was circumvented by preservation of V4b. (Liver Transpl 2004;10:755–762.)


The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C23H22N2O2, contains two independent molecules, A and B. The cyclohexane ring of molecule B is disordered, with occupancies for the major and minor conformers of 0.570 (9) and 0.430 (9), respectively. The cyclohexane ring adopts a boat conformation in molecule A and in the major conformer of molecule B, and a chair conformation in the minor conformer of molecule B. In both independent molecules, one of the dihydropyran rings adopts a boat conformation while the other is in a half-chair conformation. The dihedral angle between the pyrazole and phenyl rings is 16.0 (1)° in molecule A and 12.9 (1)° in molecule B. The crystal packing is stabilized by C—H⋯O and C—H⋯N intermolecular hydrogen bonds.