Second-harmonic generation (SHG) and two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) are relatively new and promising tools for the detailed imaging of biological samples and processes at the microscopic level. By exploiting these nonlinear phenomena phototoxicity and photobleaching effects on the specimens are reduced dramatically. The main target of this work was the development of a compact inexpensive and reliable experimental apparatus for nonlinear microscopy measurements. Femtosecond laser pulses were utilized for excitation. We achieved high-resolution imaging and mapping of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) neurons and muscular structures of the pharynx, at the microscopic level by performing SHG and TPEF measurements. By detecting nonlinear phenomena such as SHG and TPEF it is feasible to extract valuable information concerning the structure and the function of nematode neurons.


Introduction Acute coronary syndrome is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. Timely intervention in ST elevation myocardial infarction is one of the major success stories of interventional cardiology. Delays in reperfusion negatively influence 1 year mortality, and prompt recognition of symptoms and activation of the emergency response is critical. Traditional treatment targets include a 'door to balloon time' of 90 min or less, with updated guidelines of a 90 min target from ECG to vessel opening cited in the most recent ESC guidelines. This is only one component of ischaemic time however, and delay from symptom onset to call for help as well as delays in recognizing the symptoms of acute coronary syndrome and subsequent ECG can add significantly to the ischemic time and potentially impact on adverse outcomes. Potential delays pre hospital can lead to larger infarct size and subsequent complications leading to poorer outcomes. Methods Prospective data was collected on 99 patients who presented to our service with acute STEMI between October and March 2017 in order to analyse the performance of the service and highlight potential areas for improvement. The patient demographics were analysed and total ischaemic time calculated based on the time from symptom onset to wire crossing of the lesion. Pre hospital metrics were also recorded and potential sources of delay highlighted. Data was then pooled and analysed with SPSS to give examine baseline characteristics of the patient group (table 1).Abstract 42 Table 1 Baseline characteristics Results and conclusions A total of 99 patients were included in the study. The mean total ischaemic time was 425 min (51–3009). Mean symptoms to first call for help was 211 min (0–2550) and mean first call for help to first medical contact 18 min (0–270). The mean first medical contact to ECG time 56 min (1–1440) and the mean ECG to wire cross time was 108 min (19–624) and the mean PCI centre to wire cross time was 64 min (5–756).The results are sumarised in table 2. The data demonstrates that there is still a considerable total ischaemic time for patients with acute STEMI, and whilst door to revascularization metrics are readily emphasized in healthcare centres, better education of the public regarding symptoms of STEMI and emphasizing the importance of rapid appropriate ECGs by paramedics are important factors to consider.Abstract 42 Table 2 Results Implications The traditional metric of door to revascularisation time remains an essential element of primary PCI. However the importance of patient education in recognizing potential acute coronary syndromes is an important consideration to reduce overall ischaemic time in STEMI. Whilst our ECG to wire cross time of 108 min was just slightly above target, there was a large delay in symptom onset to first call to help. This is likely a combination of varying severity of symptoms and a broad patient cohort with different thresholds for seeking medical assistance. Our study emphasizes the importance of improving total ischaemic time not just within hospital but in educating the public regarding prompt activation of the emergency response team if they have symptoms of acute coronary syndrome.


The standard tight-binding dispersion relation for graphene and carbon nanotubes has an electron-hole symmetry. This symmetry has not been observed experimentally until recently. We discuss here the effect of the overlap between π-orbitals at neighbouring sites, belonging to different sublattices, on the dispersion relation. The e-h asymmetry increases with the degree of overlap, although this effect is visible only for energy bands far from the Fermi level. We estimate the observable effects of this asymmetry on the DOS which could be observed in conductivity measurements and explain the symmetry found in the experiment. The degree of the overlap determines also the magnitude of the magnetic moment induced in the nanotube by the Aharonov-Bohm magnetic flux.


Background and Aims

Deficit irrigation techniques have been used to improve water use efficiency and control vigour in grapevines, but the consequences of using saline water with these techniques have been little investigated. Here, we investigate the effect of deficit irrigation with moderately saline water on within-vine ion allocation.

Methods and Results

Drip-irrigated own-rooted Shiraz and Grenache vines grown in pots were subjected to control, reduced control and partial root-zone drying (both approximately 50% less than control) irrigation treatments utilising moderately saline irrigation (mean of 2.46 dS/m) over two seasons. Plant water status and stomatal conductance were measured during the growing seasons, and at the end of the second season, the vines were destructively sampled to determine plant growth and concentration of ions of various vine structures. When compared against the control, partial root-zone drying had a higher total concentration of Cl−, Na+, K+ and Ca++ present on a whole vine basis. Although Cl− concentration was elevated in leaves for the partial root-zone drying treatment, it was partitioned away from leaves on a total content basis relative to both control and reduced control treatments. The partial root-zone drying treatment also resulted in significantly lower midday leaf water potential.

Conclusion

Ion partitioning within grapevines depends on the type of deficit applied.

Significance of the Study

Utilising deficit irrigation techniques in combination with saline irrigation water will alter the allocation of ions within a grapevine highlighting the importance of monitoring during the growing season for both fruit composition and long-term vine health.


With X-ray and neutron reflectivity, the structure and composition of polyelectrolyte multilayers from poly(allyl amine) (PAH) and poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) are studied as function of preparation conditions (salt concentration and solution temperature, T). The onset of a temperature effect occurs at 0.05 M NaCl (Debye length approximately 1 nm). At 1 M salt, the film thickness increases by a factor of 3 on heating the deposition solution from 5 to 60 degrees C. The PAH/PSS bilayer thickness is independent of the kind of salt (NaCl or KCl), yet its composition is different (more bound water for NaCl). At low T, the internal roughness is 33% of the bilayer thickness; it increases to 60% at high T. The roughening is accompanied by a total loss of bound water. At which temperature the roughening starts is a function of the kind of salt (50 degrees C for NaCl and 35 degrees C for KCl). The strong temperature dependence and the eventual loss of bound water molecules may be attributed to the hydrophobic force; however, there is an isotope effect, since the loss of bound water is less pronounced in the deuterated layers.


An extended Lagrangian formalism that allows for a smooth transition between two different descriptions of interactions during a molecular dynamics simulation is presented. This time-adaptive method is particularly useful in the context of multiscale simulation as it provides a sound recipe to switch on demand between different hierarchical levels of theory, for instance between ab initio ("QM") and force field ("MM") descriptions of a given (sub)system in the course of a molecular dynamics simulation. The equations of motion can be integrated straightforwardly using the usual propagators, such as the Verlet algorithm. First test cases include a bath of harmonic oscillators, of which a subset is switched to a different force constant and/or equilibrium position, as well as an all-MM to QM/MM transition in a hydrogen-bonded water dimer. The method is then applied to a smectic 8AB8 liquid crystal and is shown to be able to switch dynamically a preselected 8AB8 molecule from an all-MM to a QM/MM description which involves partition boundaries through covalent bonds. These examples show that the extended Lagrangian approach is not only easy to implement into existing code but that it is also efficient and robust. The technique moreover provides easy access to a conserved energy quantity, also in cases when Nosé-Hoover chain thermostatting is used throughout dynamical switching. A simple quadratic driving potential proves to be sufficient to guarantee a smooth transition whose time scale can be easily tuned by varying the fictitious mass parameter associated with the auxiliary variable used to extend the Lagrangian. The method is general and can be applied to time-adaptive switching on demand between two different levels of theory within the framework of hybrid scale-bridging simulations.


In this paper, I specifically address the issue of the linguistic realisations of criticism in French, Spanish and English medical discourse written in the 19th and 20th centuries, the reasons why 19th-century criticism was linguistically conveyed in a strikingly similar fashion in the three languages, and how and why in the closing years of the 20th century the discourse pattern of Spanish criticism started adopting the 'politically correct' tone of its Anglo-American counterpart. By placing the evolution of English, French and Spanish criticism in their broader educational, historical, political and socio-economic context, I argue that the behavioural changes observed in the framing of medical criticism reflect the evolution of increasingly competitive, collegial and pragmatic end-of-20th-century scientific research.


MOTIVATION
Pairwise local sequence alignment is commonly used to search data bases for sequences related to some query sequence. Alignments are obtained using a scoring matrix that takes into account the different frequencies of occurrence of the various types of amino acid substitutions. Software like BLAST provides the user with a set of scoring matrices available to choose from, and in the literature it is sometimes recommended to try several scoring matrices on the sequences of interest. The significance of an alignment is usually assessed by looking at E-values and p-values. While sequence lengths and data base sizes enter the standard calculations of significance, it is much less common to take the use of several scoring matrices on the same sequences into account. Altschul proposed corrections of the p-value that account for the simultaneous use of an infinite number of PAM matrices. Here we consider the more realistic situation where the user may choose from a finite set of popular PAM and BLOSUM matrices, in particular the ones available in BLAST. It turns out that the significance of a result can be considerably overestimated, if a set of substitution matrices is used in an alignment problem and the most significant alignment is then quoted.

RESULTS
Based on extensive simulations, we study the multiple testing problem that occurs when several scoring matrices for local sequence alignment are used. We consider a simple Bonferroni correction of the p-values and investigate its accuracy. Finally, we propose a more accurate correction based on extreme value distributions fitted to the maximum of the normalized scores obtained from different scoring matrices. For various sets of matrices we provide correction factors which can be easily applied to adjust p- and E-values reported by software packages.


The grounds for global solidarity have been theorized and conceptualized in recent years, and many have argued that we need a global concept of solidarity. But the question remains: what can motivate efforts of the international community and nation-states? Our focus is the grounding of solidarity with respect to global inequities in health. We explore what considerations could motivate acts of global solidarity in the specific context of health migration, and sketch briefly what form this kind of solidarity could take. First, we argue that the only plausible conceptualization of persons highlights their interdependence. We draw upon a conception of persons as 'ecological subjects' and from there illustrate what such a conception implies with the example of nurses migrating from low and middle-income countries to more affluent ones. Next, we address potential critics who might counter any such understanding of current international politics with a reference to real-politik and the insights of realist international political theory. We argue that national governments--while not always or even often motivated by moral reasons alone--may nevertheless be motivated to acts of global solidarity by prudential arguments. Solidarity then need not be, as many argue, a function of charitable inclination, or emergent from an acknowledgment of injustice suffered, but may in fact serve national and transnational interests. We conclude on a positive note: global solidarity may be conceptualized to helpfully address global health inequity, to the extent that personal and transnational interdependence are enough to motivate national governments into action.


The multifactorial nature of depression resembles that of other complex disorders such as diabetes mellitus or coronary artery disease. However, while for the latter disorders predisposing and risk factors have been identified, such knowledge is still scarce in depression. In this review we propose to use diabetes mellitus, for which characteristic milestones have been condensed to obesity-hyperinsulinaemia-insulin resistance-diabetes mellitus, as a conceptual analogical model. Based on this model we hypothesize that depression develops according to a similar pattern: prolonged psychological stress-hyperserotonism-serotonin resistance-major depression. We review extensive supporting evidence from human studies and animal models of depression, including stress involvement in the aetiology of depression, evidence for increased synaptic serotonin and decreased 5-HT1A receptor activity. Conceptualizing the pathogenesis of depression as a multi-step process may inspire new concepts, which will eventually lead to delineation of additional preventive and therapeutic interventions similar to those currently practised in diabetes.


The authors describe eight patients with Lichen Striatus: history, clinical description and pathologic findings are discussed. Particularly, the histologic picture of Lichen Striatus is not uniform and changes, as it seems, with the "oldness" of the lesion.


Introduction: Aging is associated with structural changes in muscle tissue, which leads to the loss of functional independence. The preservation of the muscle strength through strength training, and recently, low-level laser therapy (LLLT), has high clinical significance. Objective: to investigate the effects of photobiomodulation (PBM — 808 nm, 100 mW, 35.7 W/cm2 and 7 J) associated with a strength training program on quadriceps muscle strength, balance and functional capacity in elderly women. Methods: Thirty-five healthy women between 60 to 70 years old were divided into two groups: Placebo Group (n = 13) and Active Group (n = 14). The exercise protocol consisted of knee flexion-extension exercise followed by application of PBM placebo or active, twice a week for 8 consecutive weeks. Results: showed a significant increase in 6MWT (p = 0.001), SPPB (p = 0.006) and 1-MR (p = 0.001) in both groups. The strength training program associated with PBM active improved a significant increase, relative to baseline, to the right medial/lateral stability index (p = 0.007) and decrease in the Fall Risk Test (p = 0.005). Conclusion: the strength training produced a significant increase of muscle strength and functionality and when combined with the PMB it was significant in the improvement of postural stability and decrease of fall risk.


BACKGROUND
This article reviews and summarizes the research on alcohol problems and issues related to alcohol services for rural women.

METHODS
We discuss the prevalence of alcohol problems, help-seeking behavior and barriers to help-seeking for rural women and suggest directions for future research for rural women with alcohol problems. We also address key methodological issues in measuring rurality that must be considered when designing research on rural women.

RESULTS
Little is known about these topics, specifically for rural women, and much has to be currently inferred either from studies of psychiatric disorders in rural populations, from studies of urban or suburban women, or from general research about rural life.

CONCLUSIONS
Increased knowledge regarding specific issues for women with alcohol problems in rural areas, particularly about gender-specific barriers to obtaining services and gender-specific needs for particular services, will be beneficial for developing programs designed to meet the unique needs of this group of women.


The aim of the present study in the upper elementary school is to investigate the components of education quality that which one-teacher and multi-teacher methods are more effective from the Iranian teachers' point of view. This research is applied method in terms of purpose that was done through survey method. The results indicate that the quality of one-teacher teaching in upper elementary course is moderate to low because the average obtained is 2.96, less than the hypothetical average of number 3. Also, the quality of multiteacher teaching in upper elementary course is moderate to high because the average obtained is 4.09, more than the hypothetical average. Therefore, considering the findings and analysis of the information that obtained in most components related to the quality of teaching, there are obvious differences between the one-teacher and multi-teacher in quality of courses, and the multi-teacher method is better than the one-teacher method in the upper elementary school.


Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) and absorption spectroscopies have been used to probe the electronic structure of [PPh4][MoO(p-SC6H4X)4] (X = H, Cl, OMe) and [PPh4][MoO(edt)2] complexes (edt = ethane-1,2-dithiolate). The results of density functional calculations (DFT) on [MoO(SMe)4]- and [MoO(edt)2]- model complexes were used to provide a framework for the interpretation of the spectra. Our analysis shows that the lowest energy transitions in [MoVOS4] chromophores (S4 = sulfur donor ligand) result from S-->Mo charge transfer transitions from S valence orbitals that lie close to the ligand field manifold. The energies of these transitions are strongly dependent on the orientation of the S lone-pair orbitals with respect to the Mo atom that is determined by the geometry of the ligand backbone. Thus, the lowest energy transition in the MCD spectrum of [PPh4][MoO(p-SC6H4X)4] (X = H) occurs at 14,800 cm-1, while that in [PPh4][MoO(edt)2] occurs at 11,900 cm-1. The identification of three bands in the absorption spectrum of [PPh4][MoO(edt)2] arising from LMCT from S pseudo-sigma combinations to the singly occupied Mo 4d orbital in the xy plane suggests that there is considerable covalency in the ground-state electronic structures of [MoOS4] complexes. DFT calculations on [MoO(SMe)4]- reveal that the singly occupied HOMO is 53% Mo 4dxy and 35% S p for the equilibrium C4 geometry. For [MoO(edt)2]- the steric constraints imposed by the edt ligands result in the S pi orbitals being of similar energy to the Mo 4d manifold. Significant S pseudo-sigma and pi donation may also weaken the Mo identical to O bond in [MoOS4] centers, a requirement for facile active site regeneration in the catalytic cycle of the DMSO reductases. The strong dependence of the energies of the bands in the absorption and MCD spectra of [PPh4][MoO(p-SC6H4X)4] (X = H, Cl, OMe) and [PPh4][MoO(edt)2] on the ligand geometry suggests that the structural features of the active sites of the DMSO reductases may result in an electronic structure that is optimized for facile oxygen atom transfer.


The time-related changes in the plasma levels of growth hormone, insulin, somatomedin C and thyroxine following immunization against somatostatin, have been examined in sheep. In both the treated and control lambs there was a significant increase (P less than 0.01) in growth hormone levels with time from the start of the study (at three weeks of age) through until 13 weeks of age. This increase was mirrored by increasing somatomedin C (IGF-1) levels (P less than 0.001). Thyroxine levels did not change during the period of the study. Immunization against somatostatin did not produce any significant difference between treatment groups or between sexes in the levels of growth hormone or thyroxine. However, IGF-1 level were significantly increased (P less than 0.01) by the treatment in both sexes. The changes in the levels of insulin were complicated by a marked difference between the control groups; the control females being significantly different (P less than 0.001) from all the other animals.


Quantitative models to predict the effects of soil compaction on wheat yields are being developed for the northern sandplains of Western Australia. An understanding of the relationships between soil water content (W), bulk density (p), compactibility and soil penetration resistance (P) is required. Thirteen subsoils from W.A. sandplain soils were tested for compactibility. As the amounts of very coarse sand or clay in the soil increased, the maximum density (nmax.) achieved with a standard compactive effort also increased, while the critical soil water content (Wcrit,.) for maximum compactibility declined. The effects of p and W on P were investigated for five of the soils. The value of P was only slightly affected as W was reduced to less than 70% of the field capacity water content. As the soils were dried further, P increased exponentially. At all water contents, an increase in p was found to markedly increase P. Particle size distribution could be used to predict nmax. and Wcrit., but could not be related to the effects of changes in p and W on P. The implications for the measurement and effects of soil compaction in the field are discussed.


Abstract Objectives The aim of this article is to present the outcome of vertebral stabilization using pins and polymethylmethacrylate in isolation or with concurrent spinal cord decompression for thoracolumbar myelopathies in Pug dogs with associated caudal articular process dysplasia. Materials and Methods Retrospective case review of 14 Pug dogs with thoracolumbar myelopathy and concurrent caudal articular process dysplasia identified with magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography. Pug dogs were graded based on the Texas Spinal Cord Injury Scale and clinical follow-up was performed immediately after surgery, at the discharge and at during the postoperative period (median 5 months). Postoperative computed tomography was performed immediately post-surgical intervention in all cases and a variable postoperative time (6 weeks or 6 months). Follow-up with telephone interview with owners was performed at a median time of 12 months postoperatively. Results Median age of presentation was 8.5 years. In 10/14 cases, neurological improvement was observed, while urinary/faecal incontinence resolved in only two of seven affected cases. Other congenital vertebral malformations were identified in 9/14 cases. Clinical Significance In our population of Pug dogs with thoracolumbar myelopathy and concurrent caudal articular process dysplasia, vertebral stabilization in isolation or with concurrent spinal cord decompression appeared to result in a favourable clinical outcome in the majority of patients. This technique may be favourable for myelopathies with a reportedly poor surgical outcome in this breed.


We consider the problem of part-of-speech tagging for informal, online conversational text. We systematically evaluate the use of large-scale unsupervised word clustering and new lexical features to improve tagging accuracy. With these features, our system achieves state-of-the-art tagging results on both Twitter and IRC POS tagging tasks; Twitter tagging is improved from 90% to 93% accuracy (more than 3% absolute). Qualitative analysis of these word clusters yields insights about NLP and linguistic phenomena in this genre. Additionally, we contribute the first POS annotation guidelines for such text and release a new dataset of English language tweets annotated using these guidelines. Tagging software, annotation guidelines, and large-scale word clusters are available at: http://www.ark.cs.cmu.edu/TweetNLP This paper describes release 0.3 of the "CMU Twitter Part-of-Speech Tagger" and annotated data. [This paper is forthcoming in Proceedings of NAACL 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA.]


FinTech has been transforming the financial landscape in the People's Republic of China. Its leading FinTech businesses such as mobile payment services and big data-based online lending are at the frontier of global development. At the same time, it also creates new problems, illustrated by the rise and fall of the peer-to-peer lending industry. The soon-to-be implemented central bank digital currency/electronic payment (DC/EP) may also bring about fundamental changes to the financial system. Overall, the FinTech development not only makes financial inclusion an achievable goal but also has important implications for financial and macroeconomic stability.


Colonic diverticulosis is prevalent, affecting approximately 70% of the western population by 80 years of age. Incidence is rapidly increasing in younger age groups. Between 10% and 25% of those with diverticular disease (DD) will experience acute diverticulitis. A further 15% will develop complications including abscess, bleeding and perforation. Such complications are associated with significant morbidity and mortality and constitute a worldwide health burden. Furthermore, chronic symptoms associated with DD are difficult to manage and present a further significant healthcare burden. The pathophysiology of DD is complex due to multifactorial contributing factors. These include diet, colonic wall structure, intestinal motility and genetic predispositions. Thus, targeted preventative measures have proved difficult to establish. Recently, commonly held conceptions on DD have been challenged. This review explores the latest understanding on pathophysiology, risk factors, classification and treatment options.


Chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus, increase the risk of developing insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and/or type 2 diabetes. While inflammation is thought to be a major mechanism underlying metabolic dysregulation in rheumatic diseases, antirheumatic drugs that exert direct metabolic effects in addition to suppressing inflammation, might be particularly useful to prevent metabolic complications. Here we review antirheumatic drugs, such as methotrexate, that inhibit ATIC, the final enzyme in the de novo purine biosynthesis, responsible for conversion of ZMP to IMP. Inhibition of ATIC results in accumulation of ZMP, thus promoting activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a major regulator of cellular energy metabolism and one of the most promising targets for the treatment of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. We focus especially on ATIC inhibition and AMPK activation in skeletal muscle as this is the largest and one of the most metabolically active tissues with a major role in glucose homeostasis. As an important site of insulin resistance, skeletal muscle is also one of the main target tissues for pharmacological therapy of type 2 diabetes. Finally, we review the metabolic effects of ATIC-inhibiting antirheumatic drugs and discuss whether these drugs might improve systemic glucose homeostasis by inhibiting ATIC and activating AMPK in skeletal muscle.


Biosurfactants such as sophorolipids are natural and eco-friendly surfactants that are used in cosmetics and health care products. In addition to surfactant properties, sophorolipids also possess antimicrobial and skin healing properties. In the present work, castor oil (10%) was used as a non-conventional carbon source in combination with glucose (10%) or with glycerol (15%) for fermentative production of novel sophorolipids by using Starmerella bombicola (ATCC 22214). The yields of sophorolipids are 6.1 g/L on castor oil with glucose as a carbon source and 2.7 g/L on castor oil with glycerol as a carbon source analyzed by anthrone method and HPLC. The structures of sophorolipids synthesized on castor oil were elucidated by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and 1H NMR of the purified compounds. The results indicated the incorporation of ricinoleic acid into sophorolipids without omega-1 oxygenation step that is required for incorporation of oleic acid into sophorolipids. It resulted in the production of novel sophorolipids that can find various applications as cosmetic ingredients and antimicrobial agents.

Practical applications: Castor oil, widely produced in India, contains palmitic acid (1–2%), strearic acid (1–2%), oleic acid (6–8%), linoleic acid (0.5–1%), and mainly ricinoleic acid (80–90%). The presence of hydroxyl fatty acid as ricinoleic acid makes castor oil different from other vegetable oils. Therefore, castor oil is being used as a valuable raw material in various chemicals industries. The present work proved that castor oil can be used as a new substrate for the production of sophorolipids with a novel structure having hydroxyl group on the moiety. The end product can be used for enhancement of surfactant properties in combination with a chemically synthesized surfactant.


A new model for the diffusion in ultrametric spaces with random transition rates is suggested. The ultrametric structure is generated by a branching process with a random number of branches, whereas the randomness of the transition rates is described in terms of an exponential distribution of activation energies. The interaction between these two random processes is analyzed. We show that the contribution of the ultrametric structure outweighs the contribution of the random energy barriers. The randomness of the energy barriers generates a logarithmic correction for large time. The distribution function ψ(t) of the waiting time in a given state has the following asymptotic behavior: ψ(t) ~ t-1 (ln vt)- (H + 1) Λ(ln ln vt) as t → ∞ where 1 ≥ H > 0 is an exponent related to the ultrametric structure, v is the maximum jump frequency and Λ(ln ln vt) is a periodic function of ln ln vt.


Liberal international relations theory posits that the behaviour of states is affected both by domestic interests and other states with which they are linked in significant patterns of interdependence. This article examines the relevance of this proposition to states' behaviour in the most powerful institution in the furthest reaching example of regional integration in the world today: the Council of the European Union. Compared to previous research, more detailed evidence is analysed in this article on the substance of the political debates that preceded Council votes. It is found that states' disagreement with both discretionary and nondiscretionary decision outcomes affects the likelihood that they dissent at the voting stage. Moreover, in line with the theory posited here, the behaviour of states' significant trading partners has a particularly marked effect on the likelihood that they will dissent.


One of the pharmacodynamic measures of biologic compounds is an assessment of target receptor/ligand occupancy (RO). If the primary mechanism for drug clearance is through target binding, drug exposure may increase once RO is saturated. SL-172154 (SIRPα-Fc-CD40L) and SL-279252 (PD1-Fc-OX40L) are two bi-functional fusion proteins in phase I clinical trials (NCT04406623 and NCT03894618). The binding interaction between a biologic compound and its targets (CD47 or PD-L1) typically does not stimulate migration from the blood, allowing direct measurement of drug and target. Evaluation of RO for immune agonists (CD40 and OX40) is challenging because agonists can stimulate lymphocytes to rapidly extravasate from the peripheral blood following infusion, thus precluding direct RO measurement as target cells are no longer present in the blood (figure 1a).To assess full receptor engagement of CD40 or OX40, the formula shown in figure 1b was derived. The formula captures cells that rapidly migrated from the blood, combined with those that remained in the blood within 2 hours post infusion using multiparameter FACS analysis. SAS JMP was used to calculate and visualize all parameters.Within 2 hours of SL-172154 infusion at 1 mg/kg (n=3), CD40+ B cell counts decreased from a pre-dose average by 87%. Of the CD40+ B cells remaining in the blood, ~95% were bound with SL-172154. CD40+ B cell counts recovered in the blood by the next dose, and as counts increased so did the proportion of cells that were bound with SL-172154. Similarly, within 2 hours of SL-279252 infusion at 1 mg/kg (n=10), CD4+OX40+ T cell counts decreased from a pre-dose average by 41.5% (range 0 – 70%). Of the CD4+OX40+ cells remaining in the blood, ~32% were bound with SL-279252. CD4+OX40+ cells returned to pre-treatment numbers over a 7-day interval and nearly all cells remained bound with SL-279252. Taken together, these data demonstrate that a large proportion of CD40+ (SL-172154) or OX40+ (SL-279252) cells bind drug immediately post infusion, migrate from the blood, and slowly return to the blood with drug still bound to the cell surface.Abstract 3 Figure 1CD4+ OX40+ T cells and SL-279252Administration of SL-172154 (CD40) and SL-279252 (OX40) stimulated rapid egress of target cells from the blood. An integrated assessment, termed 'receptor engagement', was developed to derive RO both on circulating cells and those that rapidly marginated. When CD40+ or OX40+ cells returned to the blood, they remained drug-bound, indicating that the compounds may piggy-back on target cells into tissues.Thanks are extended to study participants; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Boston, MA, United States; Cathrine Leonowens, PhD, Nuventra Pharma Sciences, Durham, NC, United States and Cadence Communications and Research, Thousand Oaks, CA, United States. This study is funded by Shattuck Labs, Inc. Austin, TX and Durham, NC, USAThis study is being conducted in full conformity with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by all IRBs/ethics committees from each clinical site participating in the study. Specific approval numbers can be provided upon request.


Introduction. Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis is the most common condition requiring abdominal surgical intervention during first weeks of life. The etiology is unknown and the diagnosis is based on a clinical picture characterized by the patient being the first-born male child presenting with projectile vomiting. The pathognomonic finding is a palpable "olive" mass in the upper abdomen. Material and method. During a 24-months period a 147 children were treated for hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. There were 120 (87.1%) boys and 27 girls. For several symptoms a Pearson correlation was applied and T student for pre and postoperative platelet count. Results. The age range at diagnosis was 16 to 120 days (median 82.0 days). The time between onset and hospital admission was 2 to 84 days (median 24 days). According gestation, 78 (53.1%) patients was born in first place and 49 in second; 135 (91.9%) infants had blood group 0. More than 75% of patients had preoperative thrombocytosis and postoperative platelet count normalization had a p<0.0001. Conclusion. Frequently appears in the first-born male child with blood group 0. Increased platelet count is a good "marker" of infantile pyloric stenosis and postoperative normalization was considered as evidence of therapeutic effectiveness.


OBJECTIVE
We aimed to deepen the clinical utility of humiliation assessment in the study of depression.

METHOD
We performed a correlational analysis of the relationship between humiliation, depression, resilience, and negative primary familial environment in 80 clinically depressed subjects (41 men and 39 women; mean age = 40.71, standard deviation SD = 9.94) and a strictly matched sample of 80 non-clinical subjects (41 men and 39 women; mean age = 40.64, SD = 10.24). We also implemented a hierarchical multiple regression analysis for each sample, to test the prediction of these variables on depression.

RESULTS
Humiliation showed positive correlations with depressive factors, while negative correlations emerged with resilience in both samples. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed humiliation to be the most predictive factor of depression in the clinical sample only.

CONCLUSION
This study improves the understanding of the relationship of humiliation and depression in both clinical and non-clinical populations.


Abstract. Beginning with a seminal paper of Rényi, expansions in noninteger real bases have been widely studied in the last forty years. They turned out to be relevant in various domains of mathematics, such as the theory of finite automata, number theory, fractals or dynamical systems. Several results were extended by Daróczy and Kátai for expansions in complex bases. We introduce an adaptation of the so-called greedy algorithm to the complex case, and we generalize one of their main theorems.


Abstract: The agency problem at the core of corporate law stems from a chronic potential conflict of interest between directors' self-interest and that of shareholders. Corporate law views directors' self-interest in terms of diverting welfare to directors at the expense of shareholders. Another component of directors' self-interest – being perceived as maximizing shareholders' welfare – is seen not as part of the agency problem, but as part of the solution (aligning directors' incentives with shareholders'). This is true only if taking actions that maximize shareholders' welfare is also the optimal manner for a director to be perceived as maximizing welfare. However, directors have more appealing ways to be positively perceived. In conducting bias arbitrage, directors identify risks that shareholders over-estimate, take action to address the risk, and then take credit for the 'lowered' risk (i.e., shareholders' corrected assessment of the risk). Bias arbitrage is more attractive as shareholders' misperception of a risk increases. The opportunity to bias arbitrage thus leads directors to address highly misperceived risks instead of highly remediable risks.


As more and more oncologic patients are being cured from cancer, problems with long-term cytostatic cardiologic complications have triggered and intensive investigation. Cardiotoxicity becomes a specific problem for those who survived cancer therapy with anthracycline. Heart failure or ventricular arrhythmias may develop from subclinical myocardial alterations induced by anthracycline therapy. Long-lasting monitoring of cardiac status may help to identify those patients, whose abnormalities have progressive character and who are at risk of fatal complications.


Abstract Purpose: To determine the ocular and systemic toxicity of a novel, topically applied ophthalmic gel preparation of povidone-iodine (PVP-I) and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) in Dutch-Belted rabbits. Materials and Methods: Rabbits were administered doses of the test material or control by ocular instillation four times/eye/day, 7 d/week, for a minimum of 14 consecutive days. Dosing consisted of instillation of 50 µl of the appropriate test material solution or control material (saline) into each eye of the rabbit. On the last dose of the day, 250 µl of the appropriate test material solution or control material was applied to the eyelids of each eye. Results: Treatment-related clinical signs observed during the study were limited to mild non-inflammatory changes to the eyelids and eyelashes. There was no associated pathology upon histological examination of ocular or systemic tissues. Body weights and body weight gains were unaffected by treatment. Evaluation of clinical pathology profiles (haematology, coagulation, and clinical chemistry) did not reveal any test article-related toxicity and there were no macroscopic or microscopic findings at the terminal sacrifice. Conclusions: The compositions studied in the present investigation were developed to enable repeat-dosed application to the ocular surface and periocular skin surfaces without ocular, skin or systemic toxicity. The PVP-I/DMSO compositions tested did not cause any toxicity to the ocular surface or the periocular skin. Systemic toxicity from the preparations under study was not observed in any histological or gross pathological examination.


A silicone composition and the uses thereof, particularly as a coating on an airbag for protecting the occupant of a vehicle in the event of a collision, are disclosed. The aim is to provide a silicone composition suitable for coating onto the inner surface of the airbag while significantly reducing the weight of the resulting coating layer to form a protective coating having enhanced high-temperature, mechanical and substrate-adhesion properties. Said aim is achieved in that the composition is free of reinforcing mineral fillers and consists of a mixture of (1) at least one polyorganosiloxane with alkenyl groups bound to the silicon; (2) at least one polyorganosiloxane with hydrogen atoms bound to the silicon; (3) a cross-linking catalyst; (4) an adhesion promoter comprising (4.1) at least one alkoxylated organosilane, (4.2) at least one epoxy-functional organosilicon compound, and (4.3) at least one metal chelate and/or metal alkoxide wherein the metal is selected from the group which consists of Ti, Zr, Ge, Li, Mn, Fe, Al and Mg; (5) at least one polyorganosiloxane resin; and (6) optionally at least one cross-linking inhibitor.


Resource allocation is today an integral part of cloud infrastructures management to efficiently exploit resources. Cloud infrastructures centers generally use custom built heuristics to define the resource allocations. It is an immediate requirement for the management tools of these centers to have a fast yet reasonably accurate simulation and evaluation platform to define the resource allocation for cloud applications. This work proposes a framework allowing users to easily specify mappings for cloud applications described in the AMALTHEA format used in the context of the DreamCloud European project and to assess the quality for these mappings. The two quality metrics provided by the framework are execution time and energy consumption.


Background The impact of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) on the healing of soft tissues around dental implants was studied in a beagle model. Material/Methods Beagle dogs were randomized to receive implants, followed by postoperative HBO therapy or not (n=10 per group). On postoperative days 3, 7, and 14, tissue specimens were paraffin-embedded and analyzed by hematoxylin-eosin and Masson staining, as well as immunohistochemistry against CD31. Results Scores for inflammation pathology based on hematoxylin-eosin staining and mean optical density of collagen fibers were significantly different between the HBO and control groups on postoperative days 3 and 7 (P<0.05), but not on day 14. Mean optical density due to anti-CD31 staining was significantly higher in the HBO group on postoperative days 3, 7, and 14 (P<0.05). Conclusions These results suggest that HBO may promote early osteogenesis and soft tissue healing after implantation.


Background and Aims: Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays important roles in development and cellular processes. The hallmark of canonical Wnt signaling activation is the stabilization of β-catenin protein in cytoplasm and/or nucleus. The stability of β-catenin is the key to its biological functions and is controlled by the phosphorylation of its amino-terminal degradation domain. Aberrant activation of β-catenin signaling has been implicated in the development of human cancers. It has been recently suggested that GSK3βmay play an essential role in regulating global protein turnover. Here, we investigate if the GSK3β phosphorylation site-containing degradation domain of β-catenin is sufficient to destabilize heterologous proteins. Methods and Results: We engineer chimeric proteins by fusing β-catenin degradation domain at the N- and/or C-termini of the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP). In both transient and stable expression experiments, the chimeric GFP proteins exhibit a significantly decreased stability, which can be effectively antagonized by lithium and Wnt1. An activating mutation in the destruction domain significantly stabilizes the fusion protein. Furthermore, GSK3 inhibitor SB-216763 effectively increases the GFP signal of the fusion protein. Conversely, the inhibition of Wnt signaling with tankyrase inhibitor XAV939 results in a decrease in GFP signal of the fusion proteins, while these small molecules have no significant effects on the mutant destruction domain-GFP fusion protein. Conclusion: Our findings strongly suggest that the β-catenin degradation domain may be sufficient to destabilize heterologous proteins in Wnt signaling-dependent manner. It is conceivable that the chimeric GFP proteins may be used as a functional reporter to measure the dynamic status of β-catenin signaling, and to identify potential anticancer drugs that target β-catenin signaling.


In a negative pin-to-plate discharge in ambient air, three different modes can be observed: corona, glow and spark. The experimental results of this paper reveal the effect of the anode geometry on the extent of the glow regime. A quasi-two-dimensional model is applied to reconstruct the experimental current–voltage characteristics of negative corona discharges with curved anode surfaces. For a sufficiently large discharge current, the model yields a discharge structure that is similar to that of a low-pressure glow discharge.


Conservative regions varying in length from 30 to 70 nucleotides (nt) are revealed as a result of interspecies comparison of homologous nucleotide sequences of the loci, genes controlling early development in Drosophila species. These regions are observed at the intermediate level between transcription factor binding sites (usually about 7-10 nt) and the nucleosome repeat unit (165-210 nt). Segments found are located mainly in the area of known functional elements of the locus (cis-regulatory modules: enhancers, a proximal promoter, a coding segment). Conservative domains occupy less than a half of the full enhancer length and contain practically all annotated transcription factor binding sites. A quasi periodical pattern of conservative region disposition is in accord with the experimental nucleosome localization pattern. The distance between neighboring domains is about 84 nt, i.e. a pitch of nucleosome DNA super helix. A repeatable accuracy of the distance permits of treating the delineated conservative regions as co-phased blocks and stating that these domains are close in the space being located at neighboring coils of the nucleosome DNA super helix.


Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications based on peer-to-peer (P2P) communications have been experiencing considerable growth in terms of number of users. To overcome filtering policies or protect the privacy of their users, most of these applications implement mechanisms such as protocol obfuscation or payload encryption that avoid the inspection of their traffic, making it difficult to identify its nature. The incapacity to determine the application that is responsible for a certain flow raises challenges for the effective management of the network. In this paper, a new method for the identification of VoIP sessions is presented. The proposed mechanism classifies the flows, in real-time, based on the speech codec used in the session. To make the classification lightweight, the behavioral signatures for each analyzed codec were created using only the lengths of the packets. Unlike most previous approaches, the classifier does not use the lengths of the packets individually. Instead, it explores their level of heterogeneity in real time, using entropy to emphasize such feature. The results of the performance evaluation show that the proposed method is able to identify VoIP sessions accurately and simultaneously recognize the used speech codec.


Using a sample of 84 Fortune 500 food and oil companies, observed over the period 1967 to 1981, this paper tests a number of hypotheses relating top management group composition to firm performance. Specifically, it was expected that homogeneous top management groups would interact more efficiently and therefore be preferable when competition is intense, but that heterogeneous groups would facilitate adaptation and therefore be preferable under conditions of environmental change. Partial support for these hypotheses was found; however, the pattern of results also highlights the numerous difficulties in untangling and identifying the determinants of firm performance.


This paper gives an overview of the history of Belgrade from the reign of
 Justinian I (527-565), i.e. the time of Slavic settlement, to the Ottoman
 conquest in 1521. The millennium can be divided into three thematic and
 chronological units: the Byzantine era (up to 1204), the Serbian era and,
 finally, the Ottoman era (fifteenth-sixteenth centuries). Within the
 Byzantine cultural orbit, and especially during the twelfth century, the city
 played a major role in the relations between the Byzantine Empire and
 Hungary. Byzantine emperors sojourned in Belgrade on multiple occasions. The
 city reached its peak during the reign of Despot Stefan in the early
 fifteenth century. After his death in 1427, the Ottoman threat cast its
 shadow over the city. Its inhabitants, the Serbs, defended Belgrade for
 almost a century (1427-1521), thus defending the whole of Central Europe.
 Belgrade's fall into the Ottoman hands was followed by the demise of the
 Kingdom of Hungary in 1526. Even Vienna was threatened by the Ottomans, in
 1529.


Abstract. The microphysical properties of rainfall at the island of Reunion are analysed and quantified according to one year of wind profiler observations collected at Saint-Denis international airport. The statistical analysis clearly shows important differences in rain vertical profiles as a function of the seasons. During the dry season, the vertical structure of precipitation is driven by trade wind and boundary-layer inversions, both of which limit the vertical extension of the clouds. The rain rate is lower than 2.5 mm h−1 throughout the lower part of the troposphere (about 2 km) and decreases in the higher altitudes. During the moist season, the average rain rate is around 5 mm h−1 and nearly uniform from the ground up to 4 km. The dynamical and microphysical properties (including drop size distributions) of four distinct rainfall events are also investigated through the analysis of four case studies representative of the variety of rain events occurring on Reunion: summer deep convection, northerly-to-northeasterly flow atmospheric pattern, cold front and winter depression embedded in trade winds. Radar-derived rain parameters are in good agreement with those obtained from collocated rain gauge observations in all cases, which demonstrates that accurate qualitative and quantitative analysis can be inferred from wind profiler data. Fluxes of kinetic energy are also estimated from wind profiler observations in order to evaluate the impact of rainfall on soil erosion. Results show that horizontal kinetic energy fluxes are systematically one order of magnitude higher than vertical kinetic energy fluxes. A simple relationship between the reflectivity factor and vertical kinetic energy fluxes is proposed based on the results of the four case studies.


We studied the diagnostic value of CSF Aβ42/tau versus low Aβ1–42% and high Aβ1–40ox% levels for differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), respectively. CSF of 45 patients with AD, 15 with DLB, 21 with Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), and 40 nondemented disease controls (NDC) was analyzed by Aβ-SDS-PAGE/immunoblot and ELISAs (Aβ42 and tau). Aβ42/tau lacked specificity in discriminating AD from DLB and PDD. Best discriminating biomarkers were Aβ1–42% and Aβ1–40ox% for AD and DLB, respectively. AD and DLB could be differentiated by both Aβ1–42% and Aβ1–40ox% with an accuracy of 80% at minimum. Thus, we consider Aβ1–42% and Aβ1–40ox% to be useful biomarkers for AD and DLB, respectively. We propose further studies on the integration of Aβ1–42% and Aβ1–40ox% into conventional assay formats. Moreover, future studies should investigate the combination of Aβ1–40ox% and CSF alpha-synuclein for the diagnosis of DLB.


Injecting water in the mixing layer of rocket motor jets is a means to reduce jet noise. The calculation of the sound pressure signals at the prescribed receivers was performed by FW-H acoustics model under the condition of water injection and without water injection. The calculation results show that the jet noise is with obvious directivity. The total sound pressure levels are obviously much higher in 10°to 30°direction than that in other direction. The sound pressure levels at the condition of water injected are lower than that of without water injection at the all receiver points, which indicates that water injection can reduce jet noise effectively.


AbstractEdmund Husserl maintains that phenomenological thinking does not begin with the theoretical roof but with the foundations of immediate and concrete experience. Martin Heidegger claims that to begin with immediate experience is to think in moments of disruption or disturbance of the everyday. Using these positions as a starting point, this paper argues for a phenomenological approach to project management that explores the immediate and concrete experience of project managers. In doing so it attempts to address an over-emphasis on the universalised and abstracted modes of theorising that currently dominate project management practice. Eugene Gendlin's psycho-therapeutic technique of "focusing" provides a practical example of the phenomenological approach in action through a critical dialogue between researcher and practitioner, the co-authors of this paper. This paper argues that the insight derived from such an approach can do far more for a project manager in terms of their relationship to their work, the meaning they derive from it, and their effectiveness in the role, than a dedicated adherence to the strictures of traditional project management practice.


This article presents three cases of Descemet's membrane detachment (DMD) occurring during 'ab externo' phacocanaloplasty procedures in three patients with uncontrolled primary open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and discusses the management of this condition by reviewing the available literature. Following a successful 360° cannulation of Schlemm's canal (SC), the microcatheter was withdrawn while an ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD) was injected into the canal. During passage through the inferonasal quadrant, a spontaneous separation of the posterior layer of the cornea was observed. Each case was managed differently after diagnosis, with the third case being drained intraoperatively based on experience gained from the previous cases. On the first postoperative day, slit-lamp biomicroscopy (BMC) revealed multiple DMDs in case one and a hyphema in the lower third of a deep anterior chamber. In the other two cases, a single DMD was observed. The second case developed hemorrhagic Descemet membrane detachment (HDMD), while the other two were non-hemorrhagic. In all three cases, anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) revealed the presence of retrocorneal hyperreflective membranes indicative of DMDs. These membranes were located in the periphery of the cornea and did not impact the visual axis. After evaluation, a small incision was made in the inferotemporal DMD of the first case. However, for the two remaining cases, a strategy of watchful waiting was deemed appropriate due to the location and size of the DMDs, as they did not affect the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA). Over time, the patients demonstrated progressive improvement with a gradual reduction in the size of the DMDs.


Background: Diabetes is a clinical condition predisposing individuals to a higher risk of infection. Vaccination can reduce susceptibility to infections. Unfortunately, robust data on the vaccination status of our population with diabetes is lacking though we stand as a country with the third highest cases of diabetes worldwide. Therefore, we intend to identify the vaccination status of our diabetic population and assess people's awareness and attitude toward vaccination against influenza and Pneumonia.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey in which patients with diabetes were asked for relevant information as per a pre-defined questionnaire. The statistical analysis was done using SPSS 22.0 version.
Results: We enrolled 526 patients; the mean age was 58 years (SD±10.9). The majority of participants were females 68 % (362/526), and 52% (274/526) were aware of being increasingly susceptible to influenza and pneumonia. Only 12 % (64/526) were vaccinated against influenza over the last 5 years and 7% (36/526) against pneumococcus. More males were vaccinated against influenza than females and this result was statistically significant (p-value < 0.001). Influenza and pneumococcal vaccination were more common among the more affluent and more educated individuals this comparison was statistically significant (p-value < 0.001). A significant proportion of unvaccinated (374/460, 81%) showed a willingness to get vaccinated.
Conclusion: The uptake of annual influenza every autumn, and one-off pneumococcal vaccines among diabetics in our region is very low. The importance of vaccination needs to be generated through effective awareness campaigns as people with diabetes showed keen interest in receiving relevant vaccination.


The circuits presented in this paper are designed for students' use in the Radio Navigation and Traffic Control Systems (RNTCS) Laboratory. These circuits simulate the airborne part of the Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) to determine the aircraft position in the space. The digital part was implemented using a development system based on a FPGA circuit from Xilinx Company. This system was also designed in the RNTCS laboratory.


Two types of nanostructures, nanowires and nanoribbons were prepared with polypyrrole (PPy) by controlling the concentration of acrylic acid (AA) in systems containing cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) at about 12 degrees C. The effect of reaction conditions involving the concentration of AA, CTAB, pyrrole as well as the reaction temperature was systematically studied on the final structures of prepared PPy. The results revealed that the polymerization of AA, resulting in PAA, played a key role in the evolution of PPy nanostructures. A possible mechanism was briefly discussed on the formation of these two nanostructures, nanowires and nanoribbons.


Background Streptokinase is a potent activator of plasminogen to plasmin, the enzyme that can solubilize the fibrin network in blood clots. Streptokinase is currently used in clinical medicine as a thrombolytic agent. It is naturally secreted by β-hemolytic streptococci. Methods To reach an efficient method of purification, an immunoaffinity chromatography method was developed that could purify the streptokinase in a single step with high yield. At the first stage, a CNBr-Activated sepharose 4B-Lysine column was made to purify the human blood plasminogen. The purified plasminogen was utilized to construct a column that could purify the streptokinase. The rabbit was immunized with the purified streptokinase and the anti-streptokinase (IgG) purified on another streptokinase substituted sepharose-4B column. The immunoaffinity column was developed by coupling the purified anti-Streptokinase (IgG) to sepharose 6MB–Protein A. The Escherichia coli (E.coli) BL21 (DE3) pLysS strain was transformed by the recombinant construct (cloned streptokinase gene in pGEX-4T-2 vector) and gene expression was induced by IPTG. The expressed protein was purified by immunoaffinity chromatography in a single step. Results The immunoaffinity column could purify the recombinant fusion GST-SK to homogeneity. The purity of streptokinase was confirmed by SDS-PAGE as a single band of about 71 kD and its biological activity determined in a specific streptokinase assay. The yield of the purification was about 94%. Conclusion This method of streptokinase purification is superior to the previous conventional methods.


This study explores the use of emotional intelligence (El) as an explanatory factor in the relationship between attachment and mother-infant bonding and communication. With the long-term aim of synthesising these constructs into a useful tool to identify risk for mother-infant bonding and communication problems, the study utilised previously validated questionnaires. The inter-relationships between El and adult attachment anxiety/avoidance were investigated alongside their associations with mothers' self-assessments of bonding problems and with observer-based assessments of maternal communicative behaviour. The study suggests that the El capacity for managing and controlling emotions in challenging situations mediates the link between anxious attachment style and bonding problems. Women with lower El also showed more disrupted behaviours during play with their infants. The results support further development of the use of the constructs of El and attachment in identifying risk for bonding and communication difficulties.


ABSTRACT Murray MacLehose, the 25th Governor of Hong Kong, was the longest-serving Governor in the history of Hong Kong. MacLehose proposed and implemented a series of policies that brought significant reforms to Hong Kong. These reforms included housing, transportation, anti-corruption, welfare, and education. The reforms did not only improve people's living standards, but also created for Hong Kong people a sense of belonging to the colony. While the mainstream of Hong Kong society claimed MacLehose was a respected governor, was MacLehose's ten-year-governorship in actual fact praiseworthy? This article will revisit MacLehose's governorship and show that MacLehose was not as perfect as the locals think – he was even reluctant to implement some reforms, particularly political reforms, anti-corruption and social security. However, this was because he was trying to balance local and British interests within the colony. He indeed worked hard to perform his duty and defended well Hong Kong's interests during his governorship.


Faults in the hinterland of Junggar basin may be divided into deep fault system and shallow fault system. Deep fault system deve loped mainly from late Hercynian movement, incising Triassic system and below strata, formed the reversed fault and thrust structure; Shallow fault system developed mainly from early Yanshan movement, forming normal fault and graben and horst. On the planes faults have all kinds of style, N E and N W faults controlled main structural framework. On the cross section faults formed the overlaid composite structures which are dominated by the positive inverted structure. Faults in the hinterland are well campatable with the migration and accumulation of oil and gas. The pre exited deep faults link to act as the oil source faults, and the regional unconformity of Triassic system, acting as transition, connected the deep faults with the shallow faults, making the deep faults, and unconformity as the pathways through which oil and gas migrated to and accumulated in the structural traps controlled by the shallow fault system.


INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Wnt signaling pathway plays a critical role in stem cell self-renewal and proliferation of leukemic stem cells and its association with the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has also been described. Beta-Catenin, a key regulator of Wnt signaling is highly expressed in cancers. Its role has been recently documented in AML however its prognostic significance in AML is not clear. The present study was carried to determine the potential prognostic implications of B-catenin expression and mutations in de novo AML patients. METHODS: We performed the gene expression of B-Catenin and its mutations analysis in exon 3. We investigated the expression of B-Catenin gene in bone marrow and/or blood samples by quantitative PCR using SYBR-Green chemistry and analysis was done by ΔΔCT Method. 18S RNA and B2M genes were used as reference genes. B-Catenin mutations analysis was by done direct DNA Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: Total 117 de novo non M3 AML patients and 40 healthy controls were included for the gene expression and analyzed for their clinicopathologic and prognostic significance. Median age for entire cohort (n = 117) was 17.0 years (Range 1-60 years) with male:female ratio of (1.8:1). FLT3-ITD mutation was positive in 11 (9.5%) patients. Only 4% of AML patients showed genetic alterations in exon 3 of B-catenin and no significant correlation with base line characteristics. B-catenin showed a significantly increased mRNA expression with a 5 fold rise as compared to healthy controls (p CONCLUSION: These results provide the evidence for WNT signaling activation existence in AML patients and suggest that B-Catenin could be the key component in the pathogenesis and can be prognostically important marker in AML. However B-catenin expression in larger cohort of samples and with longer follow-up is required to confirm our findings. Citation Format: Mohsin Maqbool, Sobuhi Iqbal, Atul Sharma, Sameer Bakhshi, Sreenivas Vishnubhatla, Ashish Datt Upadhyay, Lalit Kumar. B-Catenin gene expression and its mutations: promising and key component in the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3120.


A well-known topic within the philosophy of physics is the problem of fine-tuning: the fact that the universal constants seem to take non-arbitrary values in order for live to thrive in our Universe. In this paper we will talk about this problem in general, giving some examples from physics. We will review some solutions like the design argument, logical probability, cosmological natural selection, etc. Moreover, we will also discuss why it's dangerous to uphold the Principle of Naturalness as a scientific principle. After going through this paper, the reader should have a general idea what this problem exactly entails whenever it is mentioned in other sources and we recommend the reader to think critically about these concepts.


The increased need for professionals working with children and their families to understand, identify, and in some cases treat and follow up situations of child abuse and neglect has led to the offering of a structured graduate interdisciplinary course to students in various types of professional training. This initial effort represents an attempt not only to aid students in gaining insight into the dynamics of child abuse but also to encourage interdisciplinary communication among students from law, medicine, social work, education, and other fields which will hopefully continue into their professional life. Based on the experience accumulated from two offerings, a description is presented of the objectives, content, methodology, problems, and short-term evaluation of this course.


Information-theoretic secrecy is the strongest known security notion. Despite perfect secrecy being theoretically well-understood, one faces substantial practical difficulties when attempting to build communication systems providing this highest level of security. We consider two major approaches to perfectly secure communication: multipath transmission and quantum key distribution. The latter has seen a promising evolution over the last decades, culminating in the recent presentations of the world's first real-life quantum networks. This book advocates a combination of the two techniques in order to complement each other and to overcome existing limitations in both worlds. Getting started with a graph-theoretic groundwork for multipath transmission networks, we continue by deriving results about multipath channel coding and interactive error correction. Based on game-theory, we introduce a general quantitative security valuation enjoying broad applicability. For a given network, the security measure indicates the quality of protection as well as it permits security infrastructure optimization. Both topics receive attention in dedicated chapters.


The aim of this work was to use bimodal microstructures to improve ductility and fatigue resistance of nanocrystalline (NC) and ultrafine‐grained (UFG) materials while keeping the materials' high strength. Nickel plates produced by pulsed electrodeposition were used as NC base material while as UFG base material high‐purity nickel was processed by equal channel angular pressing. After different heat treatments, bimodal microstructures could be realized in the size ranges of NC/UFG and UFG/coarse grained (CG). While the UFG/CG nickel revealed an improved ductility but little influence on the fatigue resistance, the NC/UFG nickel shows an extraordinary fatigue resistance.


In this survey, we review some applications and extensions of the author's results with Richard Melrose on propagation of singularities for solutions to the wave equation on manifolds with conical singularities. These results mainly concern: the local decay of energy on noncompact manifolds with diffractive trapped orbits (joint work with Dean Baskin); singularities of the wave trace created by diffractive closed geodesics (joint work with G. Austin Ford); and the distribution of scattering resonances associated to such closed geodesics (joint work with Luc Hillairet).


Dorothy Heathcote is the most public drama teaching figure in the world. She has taught classes of children in five continents. The numbers must run into millions. In addition, innumerable teachers have watched her teach in person or on video and television. How did someone who left secondary school at 14 become a world authority? Bolton describes Dorothy Heathcote's upbringing, her work as a mill girl, her theatre training, her unprecedented appointment to Durham and Newcastle Universities and her extraordinary rise to fame. He examines the basis for her genius and shows how being a wife and mother contributed to her work.


where the deployment of Lethal Autonomous Weapons has become practically, if not legally, possible within a few years. As the international community struggles to arrive at a definition of 'autonomous weapons', the need to regulate their use has become paramount. Apart from the legal and ethical considerations in the use of autonomous weapons, there are also concerns about a new arms race that might emerge as a result of the military-technological divide between developed and developing nations. For countries like India which enjoy conventional military superiority in the region, it is important to not allow autonomous weapons to offset such superiority. This can be achieved by proactively investing in the research and development of these weapons instead of attempting to maintain the status quo. Technological advancement in artificial intelligence has created a situation


Summary Uniform subcutaneous fibrosarcomas can be induced by single injections of 3,4,9,10-dibenzpyrene into C57BL/6 mice at the rate of 200–300 tumors per week from a colony of approximately 3,000 animals (8) and are practical for chemotherapy screening as shown by their response to five different chemotherapeutic agents previously tested in transplanted tumors. The animals are safe, since no carcinogen is excreted. Histology showed more marked responses (reduced mitoses, fibrosis) in induced than in transplanted tumors. Chemotherapy with thioTEPA administered during the induction period or latent phase caused significant delays in the appearance of tumors, which is analogous to the tumor-inhibiting effect claimed clinically for thioTEPA when administered after radical surgery for breast cancer.


Results There was evidence that the proportion of normal anagen hair ranged from 2% to 12%, of dysplastic anagen from 12% to 84%, of dystrophic anagen from 12% to 98%, and of telogen from 12% to 54%. This examination showed a decreased proportion of normal anagen hair (n = at least 80%), an increased one of dysplastic (n = 2-3%), and dystrophic hair (n = 5). In three cases the proportion of telogen hair was increased (n = 20%). Microscopic examination of two cases revealed a similar picture. The dermis showed the basophilic degeneration of collagen and areas of solar elastosis. There was evidence of perivascular infiltrates of lymphocytes and histiocytes with endothelial proliferation. Some hairs were broken off at the foliicular outlet or within follicle. Some follicles were atrophic, small, or rudimentary. Sparse hairs were also seen. In some follicles the remnants ofhair roots were observed. Rudimentary sebaceous glands were around the atropied follicles.


Local DNA photodamaging by light is well‐studied and leads to a number of structurally identified direct damage, in particular cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers, and indirect oxidatively generated damage, such as 8‐oxo‐7,8‐hydroxyguanine. Similar damages have now been found at remote sites, at least more than 105 Å (30 base pairs) away from the site of photoexcitation. In contrast to the established mechanisms of local DNA photodamaging, the processes of remote photodamage are only partially understood. Known pathways include those to remote oxidatively generated DNA photodamages, which were elucidated by studying electron hole transport through the DNA about 20 years ago. Recent studies with DNA photosensitizers and mechanistic proposals on photoinduced DNA‐mediated energy transport are summarized in this minireview. These new mechanisms to a new type of remote DNA photodamaging provide an important extension to our general understanding to light‐induced DNA damage and their mutations.


After finding the really self-consistent electromagnetic equations for a plasma, we proceed in a similar fashion to find how the magnetohydrodynamical equations have to be modified accordingly. Substantially this is done by replacing the 'Lorentz' force equation by the correct (in our case) force equation. Formally we have to use the vector potential instead of the magnetic field intensity. The appearance of the formulae presented is the one of classical vector analysis. We thus find a set of eight equations in eight unknowns, as previously known concerning the traditional MHD equations.


Objective Bilateral anterior transsternal thoracotomy incision (clamshell technique) is the standard approach used for bilateral sequential lung transplantation (LTX). The morbidity and wound complications of this large incision can be considerable and costly. Muscle sparing anterior thoracotomies without division of the sternum may lead to decreasing the sequelae of wound complications. The objective of this study was to determine the rate of wound complications in the nonsternal incising lung transplant patients. Methods We used the single-institution-based transplant data bank, phone questionnaire, and ambulatory care unit follow-up data to investigate retrospectively the incidence of wound healing complications following muscle and sternum sparing and mammary artery protecting limited access small submammary anterior thoracotomy incisions (AT) for LTX surgery. In the need for cardiopulmonary bypass, the femoral artery and vein were cannulated. Results After exclusion of seven clamshell operations for LTX combined with cardiac surgery, 91 recipients (65% male), aged 19 to 68 years (mean, 54 ± 8 years), underwent 84 AT and 48 lateral thoracotomies (LT) for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) (48%), obstructive disease (40%), cystic fibrosis (CF) (5%), and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) (7%). AT ranged from 5.5 to 26 cm (mean, 20.3 ± 4.8 cm) and LT from 12 to 25 cm (mean, 19.8 ± 2.4 cm) and was not significantly different (P = 0.37). Warm ischemic times ranged from 30 to 92 minutes (mean, 56 ± 11 minutes). Four patients required rethoracotomy for bleeding/hematoma formation. Cardiopulmonary bypass/intraop extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was used in 64%. Superficial wound infection and subsequent drainage/care was needed in four LTX incisions. Reoperation for lung herniation using patch repair technique for thoracic wall stabilization was required in two AT and three LT. Conclusions Sternum sparing and mammary artery protecting limited access submammary anterior and lateral thoracotomy incisions for LTX surgery are safe and effective. This approach avoids complications related to sternal transaction and may minimize the development of severe wound complications following LTX surgery.


Robinow syndrome is skeletal dysplasia with both autosomal dominant and recessive inheritance patterns. It is characterized by short-limbed dwarfism, abnormalities in the head and face, as well as vertebral segmentation. A 2-year-7-month old boy with Robinow syndrome had visited Seoul National University Dental Hospital, for the evaluation of tooth palatal eruption on maxilla. He had micrognathia, delayed tooth eruption, cleft lip with bifid uvula. He also had an erupted mesiodens on the palatal side of maxillary primary incisors, which was tuberculated and 8mm in major diameter. The patient was scheduled for mesiodens extraction under general anesthesia. He was a young child with delayed development, so general anesthesia was inevitable. General anesthesia was induced and maintained with inhalation agent, Sevoflurane. There were no postoperative complications related to anesthesia and dental treatment. Robinow syndrome patients have craniofacial dysmorphism and eruption disorders. Therefore, he requires regular check-ups as well as dental managements. [J Korean Dis Oral Health Vol.12, No.1: 1-5, June 2016]


Difficulties due to well and water depths, deviations, and rig heave while spacing out production tubing and landing the tubing hanger on subsea completions can significantly challenge space-out operations. Another challenge occurs when attempting to enter the casing at the subsea tree in deep water. During actual completions, subsea currents can produce a bending motion on the riser, causing the bottom of the completion to enter the casing at an angle. If the angle is too great, setdown weight or compression must be added to push the completion through, making shearable-activated travel joints risky. Premature stroking of a standard travel joint from friction in deviated wells is also possible. These problems and the fact that deepwater rig rates are significant, make it imperative that the production tubing string be landed efficiently. Therefore, a successful completion design must manage friction while having sufficient rigidity to land seals into production packers at high angles with limited slack-off weight. This paper discusses a recent deepwater project in Malaysia where these potential problems and others due to the high deviations were possible during the completions. To address these issues, a service/engineering company had developed a long space-out travel joint (LSOTJ) designed to telescope downward in response to a timed application of a compressive load instead of a shearing event as in standard designs. The LSOTJ then slowly scopes downward during lowering of the production tubing until the hanger is landed. The Malaysian operator decided to use the LSOTJ in their development because of its success in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven of the non-continuous sealing (NCS-LSOTJ) version and three of the continuous sealing version (CS-LSOTJ) were used. This was the first usage of the NCS-LSOTJ in Malaysia, and the first usage world-wide of the CS-LSOTJ. The case history will discuss the completion success.


Smart electromechanical systems consist mainly of sensors, actuators, and data processing units. Actuators are the responding units of many smart systems including those for active vibration control and noise control. Increased demand for actuators with high-displacement, high generative force, and quick-response time has led to a search for new actuator materials and new designs. The performance of traditional piezoelectric transducers with newly designed flextensional transducers is compared.


The Westcor project is intended to exploit the environmentally friendly, renewable, hydroelectric energy of the Inga rapids site in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). First pass studies show that HVAC is inadequate and that conventional HVDC at 500 kV is acceptable for low loads over the long distance. For higher loads, it will be required to increase the operating voltage. First pass studies show that 3 GW could be transmitted over the 4000 km long distance at an operating voltage of 800 kV. For the present day, the engineering focus is on conducting the pre feasibility studies, the feasibility studies and preparing the project for financial closure. The customers for the energy off take are the participating utilities and the tariff would largely be determined by the overall capital costs


The concept of functional beauty is characterized by including an aesthetic appreciation of objects that evaluates their efficiency in terms of satisfaction of attributions. As opposed to the concept of free beauty, which includes an appreciation of perceptual qualities for their own sake, the knowledge of functions is a necessary condition for the aesthetic experience itself. The aim of this paper is to reintegrate the medieval tension between these two conceptions, which has been surprisingly neglected in contemporary aesthetic reflection. We start from the hypothesis that the modern opposition between functional beauty and free beauty is rooted in the medieval controversies concerning the role assigned to sensitive beauty. If this is true, it would open a path of interlocution for contemporary aesthetic and theological thought that, based on Patristics, runs through the whole of the Middle Ages. We focus on three tensions which constitute three turning points: (1) the categorical distinction between beauty and appropriateness through St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) and St. Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636), who raise the question in the tradition of Latin Patristics; (2) the opposition between aesthetic judgment based on function satisfaction or one based on the free and mere appearance of the object, as can be seen in the foundational thought of St. Basil the Great (330–379), whose influence is not only extraordinary in Greek Patristics, but also in the Latin world; finally, the controversy about practical value of aesthetic attitude, through texts by Hugh of St. Victor (1096–1141), St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) and Suger of St. Denis (1081–1151). The conclusions reveal the irreducible aesthetic value of functional beauty in medieval period and the extraordinary difficulties in accommodating a free and autonomous notion of beauty, as well as the practical benefits of its everyday treatment. In fact, the consideration of a free beauty as a good in itself persists in medieval thought, which is important not only for History of Philosophy, but also for the contemporary concern shared by Philosophy of Religion and Aesthetics about the role of sensitive beauty in the life of human being.


In daytime traffic the driver experiences a tremendous input of visual information: His problem is to extract the relevant stimuli in order to have an adequate reaction. Traffic at dusk or nighttime, however, is characterized by the fact that even a driver with full visual function approaches his physiological limit. By assessing real traffic situations under various circumstances of weather and illumination (daytime, dusk, nighttime, city traffic, country road) limits of adaptation luminance, object size, object contrast and color are demonstrated. In addition, typical distributions of luminance in the visual field of the driver and the distributions of size and location of relevant objects are quantified. For glare situations typical values of glare angle and corneal illuminance of the glare light and the induced reduction of contrast are determined. Our data demonstrate the type of visual information required by the driver in order to drive safely in road traffic. These data allow conclusions to be made with respect to minimum requirements of visual function for car drivers.


The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that started in China in 2019 has led to millions of infection cases worldwide As the number of people with COVID-19 has increased, the number of patients with health problems that require surgery during the pandemic also increased, and at the same time, anesthesia is needed for these patients In patients infected with acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, some features related to the clinical course of the disease should be known and considerations for the protection of healthcare workers and other patients due to increased contagiousness must be adopted This review of the literature presents approaches in cases of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and issues to be considered during anesthesia management


Myrica cerifera (southern bayberry or waxmyrtle) is one of the most common shrubs in the longleaf pine/bluestem forest type in the West Gulf Coastal Plain. During controlled burns, individual plants can burn intensely because the wax coated foliage and fruits are very flammable. However, Myrica cerifera can survive fires on frequently burned sites by resprouting vigorously from the root collar. To determine how burning influences the development of Myrica cerifera, this study compared several burning dates (1 March, 1 May and 1 July) and fire frequencies (one, two and three year intervals) on a site in central Louisiana. Myrica cerifera plants generally survived all burning treatments, with only two plants dying over eight growing seasons (1.3% mortality). Burning kept average shrub height at or below the initial preburn heights and significantly below the height of the non-burned plants. Final average heights and diameters of Myrica cerifera decreased significantly as the burning frequency increased and the date of burning was delayed into the growing season.


: This paper presents the survey results on reef fish fingerling in water of Son Tra Peninsula, Da Nang. The results focused on fingerling of three families: Grouper (Serranidae), Rabbitfish (Siganidae) and Snapper (Lutjanidae). They concentrate in the main season from April to September and are exploited by diving and seine net. There are 14 fish species of commercial resources, consisting of Grouper (Serranidae) - 8 species, Rabbitfish (Siganidae) - 3 species, Snapper (Lutjanidae) - 3 species. Many species with high economic value is being brought into cultivation in Vietnam as Yellow Grouper (Epinephelus awoara), Orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides), Malabar grouper (Epinephelus malabaricus), Golden Rabbitfish (Siganus guttatus) and some species have been cultured in some countries such as John's snapper (Lutjanus johnii). The collected fingerling fish have different sizes depending on the species, ranging from 44 148 mm. The fingerlings have an average density of 31.5 individuals per 400 m 2 ; including Rabbitfish (Siganus spp) with the highest density of 25.4 individuals per 400 m 2 , Grouper (Serranidae): five individuals per 400 m 2 , Golden Rabbitfish (Siganus guttatus): one individual per 400 m 2 , and Snapper (Lutjanidae) only 0.1 individuals per 400 m 2 .


We examined the direct impact of an ongoing, intensive, and structured professional development (PD) within an English-as-second-language (ESL) instructional intervention on (a) teachers' time allocation in cognitive–academic language proficiency (CALP) and (b) Spanish-speaking English language learners' (ELLs) CALP development from the second to third grade within a multilevel cross-classified framework. Second, we explored the mediation effect of teachers' time allocation. We observed that treatment teachers spent more time in CALP than control teachers as a result of the instructional intervention with PD. In addition, the treatment effect was evident in ELLs' outcomes, including expressive vocabulary, oral reading fluency, and retell fluency. Finally, the treatment effect was completely mediated through teachers' time allocation in CALP in the second grade on retell fluency.


Objective: In the esthetic area, immediate implant placement are a great opportunity in modern dentistry. Nevertheless, the outcome was impacted by numerous surgical and prosthetic components. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate immediate implant failure and changes between the regenerative procedure and control groups.
Methods: MEDLINE, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, ISI, and Google scholar have been utilized as the electronic databases for performing a systematic literature review between 2010 to March 2021. The quality of the involved studies has been evaluated using the Cochrane tool and assessed by two reviewers. The current systematic review has been carried out with regard to the key consideration of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA). The mean difference was used for changes in the crestal bone between baseline and follow-up. Risk ratio with the 95% confidence interval (CI) used for implant failure between test and control groups.
Results: 126 potentially relevant titles and abstracts were found during the electronic search. Finally, four publications fulfilled the inclusion criteria required for this systematic review. The Mean difference of changes in the crestal bone between test and control groups of immediate implant placement was 0.62mm (95% CI: 0.31mm, 0.94mm; P=0.00) and heterogeneity found (I2 = 80.43%; P =0.00).
Conclusions: The immediately placed implants with regenerative procedure versus the control group showed the better performance to the changes in the crestal bone.


In this article, manufacturer-retailer supply chain coordination (SCC) has been developed under periodic review inventory system. In the studied model, the retailer as downstream member uses periodic review inventory policy and decides about review period (T) and order-up-to-level (R). Also, the manufacturer as upstream member faces EPQ system and determines the number of shipments from manufacturer to retailer per production run (n) as a decision variable. Firstly, the problem is investigated in decentralized and centralized models and accordingly, in order to coordinate the mentioned supply chain, a coordination scheme based on quantity discount is proposed. Maximum and minimum discounts, which are acceptable for both members, are determined. Numerical examples and sensitivity analysis indicate that the proposed coordination scheme improves the profitability and performance of both members and entire SC toward decentralized model. Moreover, the developed coordination model can share extra profit between SC members according to their bargaining power fairly.


Differential privacy offers clear and strong quantitative guarantees for privacy mechanisms, but it assumes an attacker that knows all but one records of the dataset. This assumption leads in many applications to an overapproximation of an attacker's actual strength. This can lead to over-cautiously chosen noise parameters, which can in turn lead to unnecessarily poor utility.
Recent work has made significant steps towards privacy in the presence of limited background knowledge. Definitions like noiseless privacy are modeling a weaker attacker who has uncertainty about the data. In this technical report, we show that existing definitions implicitly assume an active attacker, who can not only see, but control some of the data. We argue that in some cases, it makes sense to consider a passive attacker, who has some knowledge about the data, but cannot influence it. We propose an alternative definition to capture this attacker model, we study the link between these two alternatives, and we show some consequences of this distinction on the security of thresholding schemes.


Local segmental relaxation properties of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) of varying molecular weight are measured by dielectric spectroscopy and analyzed in combination with the equation of state obtained from PVT measurements. Significant variations of glass transition temperature and fragility with molecular weight are observed. In accord with the general properties of glass-forming materials, single molecular weight dependent scaling exponent gamma is sufficient to define the mean segmental relaxation time taualpha and its distribution. This exponent can be connected to the Gruneisen parameter and related thermodynamic quantities, thus demonstrating the interrelationship between dynamics and thermodynamics in PMMA. Changes in the relaxation properties ("dynamic crossover") are observed as a function of both temperature and pressure, with taualpha serving as the control parameter for the crossover. At longer taualpha another change in the dynamics is apparent, associated with a decoupling of the local segmental process from ionic conductivity.


Objective In this study, we investigate the role of adiponectin in the interaction between leukocytes and endothelium in the secondary inflammatory reaction of cerebral ischemia. Methods Adiponectin knock-out mice group (APN-KO) (n = 8) and wild-type mice group (WT) (n = 8) were prepared. Each group was sub-divided into 2 groups by reperfusion time. One-hour middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion were induced using the intraluminal filament technique. At 6 and 12 hours after the occlusion, the mice were placed on a stereotactic frame to perform craniotomy in the left parietal area. After craniotomy, a straight pial venule was selected as a target vessel. With the fluorescence intravital microscope, the number of rolling leukocytes and leukocytes that adhered to endothelium were counted and documented at 6 and 12 hours after the reperfusion. Results At 6 and 12 hours after the reperfusion, more rolling leukocyte and leukocyte adhesion were observed in the APN-KO mice than in the WT mice. The difference in leukocyte numbers between the APN-KO and WT mice was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.029) by Mann-Whitney U-test. Conclusion We found that adiponectin inhibits the interaction between the endothelium and leukocytes in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion. Therefore adiponectin might prevent the secondary insult caused by the inflammation reaction.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the safety and medication cycles of intermittent androgen deprivation (IAD) in the treatment of aggressive prostate cancer.

METHODS
Based on prostate cancer clinical staging, we divided 178 patients with aggressive prostate cancer into groups A (T3-4N0M0), B (TXN1M0) and C (TXNXM1) to receive maximum androgen blockage for at least 6 months till the PSA level remained at < or = 0.2 microg/L for 3 months, followed by an off-period (without medication). The on-period was initiated when the PSA level was > 4 microg/L, and then stopped again when it was < or = 0.2 microg/L. We recorded and compared the patients' age, baseline PSA levels, Gleason scores, duration of on- and off-period, and time to tumor progression.

RESULTS
The baseline PSA levels of the 3 groups were (27.5 +/- 14.6), (43.4 +/- 21.8) and (62.8 +/- 44.6) microg/L, P < 0.01; the follow-ups averaged (38.4 +/- 9.6), (33.1 +/-14.0) and (28.3 +/- 14.3) months; and the times from medication initiation to tumor progression were (37.4 +/- 6.6), (27.4 +/- 10.2) and (16.6 +/- 4.4) months, respectively. Group A showed a longer off-period and more medication cycles than B and C (P < 0.01). Nineteen patients completed 5 cycles and 2 died of cardiovascular events in group A. PSA elevation and cancer progression occurred after 3 cycles at most in group C. Six died in group B, 1 of metastatic prostate cancer, and 36 died in group C, 21 of metastasis.

CONCLUSION
For local aggressive prostate cancer, IAD can effectively slow down tumor progression, reduce adverse events and improve patients' quality of life.


ABSTRACT Technology is playing an increasingly significant role in people's lives. They use it for work, education, business and social activities; however, their use of different kinds of information communication technologies (ICTs) puts their personal information at risk. It is essential for everyone using ICTs to be aware of the potential information safety risks and how to identify and prevent them. The latter is a growing problem among ICT users in South Africa – especially school learners – because many of them do not have the necessary knowledge and background to use ICTs properly and safely. The dangers associated with the lack of a cyber-safety culture when using ICTs at school level render it vital for school learners and all relevant role-players to be thoroughly alerted to and educated about cyber safety. This article proposes a cyber-culture approach (CCA) that can guide and mobilise the different role-players (e.g. government, teachers and parents) to address the cyber-safety situation urgently. The CCA proposes a time-based approach that can be implemented to cultivate a growing and sustainable cyber-safety culture among school learners in particular. The CCA, as proposed in the research, can be used to ensure that a culture of cyber-safety awareness is created in South Africa – one that is aimed not only at protecting all role-players, but also at providing critical information about possible ICT risks, threats and attacks.