Abstract Correlations between the June-September Indian monsoon rainfall and Santiago minus Darwin pressure, Tahiti minus Darwin pressure, and Wright's Southern Oscillation index, as well as the individual station pressure deviations themselves, show that the monsoon rainfall anticipates the Southern Oscillation Indices and the individual pressure deviations with the exception of the pressure at Santiago. Monsoon rainfall is also negatively correlated with sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific one to two seasons later. The correlations suggest that above average monsoon rainfall is associated with below average Southern Hemisphere temperatures two to three seasons later, whereas above average Northern Hemisphere winter temperatures—particularly continental temperatures—anticipate above average rainfall. The correlations with hemispheric temperatures are significant only since about 1947, however. A strong negative correlation (−0.64) between the seasonal change in Darwin's pressure de...


The human multidrug resistance P-glycoprotein is an ATP-dependent drug pump that extrudes a broad range of cytotoxic agents from the cell. Its physiological role may be to protect the body from endogenous and exogenous cytotoxic agents. The protein has clinical importance because it contributes to the phenomenon of multidrug resistance during chemotherapy. In this review, we discuss some of the results obtained by using molecular biology and protein chemistry techniques for studying this important and intriguing protein.


Collision detection is necessary in order to resolve interaction between teeth in dental arrangement. Dental arrangement is a part of the invisible correction system which is a computer aided system helping dentist to find a way to correct teeth in disorder. This paper discusses the importance of collision detection; a method has been developed for it, based on a physically-based modeling of triangle material. Teeth are modeled as a set of triangles; define the optimal plane to the neighboring teeth based on genetic algorithm. Through the best training result find the suitable number of individuals to perform our experiment in dental arrangement.


The review gives detailed information on the state-of-the-art of hypoglycemia (HG) and the results of its Russian and international trials. It is noted that HG should be now regarded as an extremely undesirable glucose-lowering therapy complication that is closely related to the risk of cardiovascular events and higher mortality rates, worse glycemic control, and poorer quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The priority effective therapy tactics for T2DM is to manage the latter without any risk of HG, which can be implemented by the wide clinical application of incretins, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors in particular, which have the glucose-lowering activity comparable with that shown by metformin and sulfonylurea drugs, are practically safe when used as monotherapy and significantly enhance the efficiency of therapy without substantially increasing the risk of severe HG when co-administered with other medications.


Lan Dong explores in her paper, "Tracing Chinese Gay Cinema 1993-2002" the recent landscape of Chinese gay cinema through discussing the following three feature films: Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine (1993), Zhang Yuan's East Palace, West Palace (1996), and Stanley Kwan's Lan Yu (2001). The grouping derives from the concern that they all set their stories in Beijing. Using the capital city as a cultural background, the films display how queer is perceived in China from the 1920s to the end of the 1990s. All three storylines portray the characters' struggle to recognize their particular identity as gay men. In Farewell My Concubine, Cheng Dieyi never comes out throughout the decades when China experienced a series of political events and ends up with a testimonial suicide for his queer identity. Policeman Xiao Shi's confusion about his sexual orientation leads East Palace, West Palace to an open ending. With the social circumstances fading into a supplemental backdrop, Lan Yu focuses specifically on two men's love. By way of tracing gay theme as it is reflected in these films, Dong maps a development process of representing gay relationship in Chinese cinema. Lan Dong, "Tracing Chinese Gay Cinema 1993-2002" page 2 of 8 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 7.2 (2005):


Allergic diseases are becoming a major healthcare issue in many developed nations, where living environment and lifestyle are most predominantly distinct. Such differences include urbanized, industrialized living environments, overused hygiene products, antibiotics, stationary lifestyle, and fast-food-based diets, which tend to reduce microbial diversity and lead to impaired immune protection, which further increase the development of allergic diseases. At the same time, studies have also shown that modulating a microbiocidal community can ameliorate allergic symptoms. Therefore, in this paper, we aimed to review recent findings on the potential role of human microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract, surface of skin, and respiratory tract in the development of allergic diseases. Furthermore, we addressed a potential therapeutic or even preventive strategy for such allergic diseases by modulating human microbial composition.


We consider an optimizing process (or parametric optimization problem), i.e., an optimization problem that depends on some parameters. We present a method for imputing or estimating the objective function, based on observations of optimal or nearly optimal choices of the variable for several values of the parameter, and prior knowledge (or assumptions) about the objective. Applications include estimation of consumer utility functions from purchasing choices, estimation of value functions in control problems, given observations of an optimal (or just good) controller, and estimation of cost functions in a flow network.


Abstracts: Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research 2008

B3

Epidemiological data suggest that induced negative energy balance through calorie restriction (CR) or increased exercise (EX) decreases postmenopausal breast cancer risk associated with obesity. Although the mechanism responsible for the beneficial effects of these anti-obesity strategies is not known, hormone alteration seems to play a critical role. Increased adiposity is associated with alterations in circulating adipokines, such as increased leptin and decreased adiponectin levels. In fact, reports show a positive correlation between leptin levels and breast cancer risk, and a negative association between adiponectin levels and breast-cancer patients. The aim of this study was to compare changes in adipokines and downstream signaling pathways proven to be altered in human breast cancers following either CR or EX in a mouse model of post-menopausal obesity. Ovariectomized female C57BL/6 mice (n=45) were administered a high-fat diet for 8 weeks to induce obesity. At week 9, these diet induced obesity (DIO) mice were randomized into 3 groups (n=15/group): control (AIN-76A diet ad libitum ); CR (30% reduction in calories relative to control); EX (control diet + increased physical activity). The EX group was run on a variable speed treadmill for 45 minutes a day, five days a week at a maximum speed of 20 m/min At week 16, mice were euthanized and tissue was collected. At the end of the study, CR mice weighed significantly ( p <.01) less than control mice (19.9 ± 0.5 vs. 28.8 ± 0.6 g, respectively) and the EX mice (26.0 ± 0.9). Although the CR mice weighed significantly less than the exercised mice, there was no difference in percent body fat between the groups (38.9 ± 1.7 vs. 33.7 ± 1.4 %, respectively), and both groups had significantly less percent body fat than the sedentary, ad libitum-fed controls (48.1 ± 1.9 %). CR, but not EX, demonstrated improved insulin sensitivity based on a glucose tolerance test compared to controls. Serum leptin levels were significantly reduced in CR and EX mice compared to controls and CR displayed increased serum adiponectin levels compared to exercise. Some of the cell signaling pathways regulated by these hormones, including AMPK, Akt and ERK, converge at mTOR; a molecule involved in coupling energy balance signals to protein translation and cell growth. Interestingly, mammary fat pads of CR, but not EX, displayed significantly higher AMPK phosphorylation and lower Akt phosphorylation relative to controls. Alternatively, mammary fat pads from both CR and EX displayed much lower levels of ERK phosphorylation compared to control. In addition, the key downstream effectors of mTOR activation such as S6 kinase and S6 ribosomal protein displayed decreased activation in both CR and EX compared to control. These data suggest that although EX can act on similar pathways as CR, CR possess a more global effect on cell signaling and therefore may produce a more potent anti-cancer effect.

Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2008;1(7 Suppl):B3.


This work aimed to assess whether mitochondrial damage in the liver induced by subacute soman exposure is caused by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α) and whether PGC-1α regulates mitochondrial respiratory chain damage. Toxicity mechanism research may provide theoretical support for developing anti-toxic drugs in the future. First, a soman animal model was established in male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats by subcutaneous soman injection. Then, liver damage was biochemically evaluated, and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was also determined. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was performed to examine liver mitochondrial damage, and high-resolution respirometry was carried out for assessing mitochondrial respiration function. In addition, complex I-IV levels were quantitatively evaluated in isolated liver mitochondria by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). PGC-1α levels were detected with a Jess capillary-based immunoassay device. Finally, oxidative stress was analyzed by quantifying superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), oxidized glutathione (GSSG), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. Repeated low-level soman exposure did not alter AChE activity, while increasing morphological damage of liver mitochondria and liver enzyme levels in rat homogenates. Complex I, II and I + II activities were 2.33, 4.95, and 5.22 times lower after treatment compared with the control group, respectively. Among complexes I-IV, I-III decreased significantly (p < 0.05), and PGC-1α levels were 1.82 times lower after soman exposure than in the control group. Subacute soman exposure significantly increased mitochondrial ROS production, which may cause oxidate stress. These findings indicated dysregulated mitochondrial energy metabolism involves PGC-1α protein expression imbalance, revealing non-cholinergic mechanisms for soman toxicity.


Indirect hemagglutinating and immunofluorescent antibody responses to Herpesvirus hominis types 1 and 2 were compared to neutralizing antibody responses in infected humans from whom H. hominis type 1 or 2 was isolated. The indirect immunofluorescent antibody test was shown to be the most sensitive and specific for primary human infections. The sensitivity and specificity of the indirect hemagglutination and the immunofluorescent antibody tests were shown to be equal to that of the microneutralization test among patients who had primary or recurrent H. hominis type 2 infections. It is suggested that the indirect hemagglutination test is preferable for assaying large populations for previous infection with H. hominis type 2 because it is rapid, easier to perform, and more economical. The intermediate range of titer differences (deltat) between H. hominis types 1 and 2 previously reported to be due to infections with both viruses was shown to occur in all three tests among patients with primary infections with either virus.


"Picturing Poverty" addresses the striking absence of discussion of poverty in US cultural criticism by turning to the archive to examine historically significant and influential, but previously neglected, early photographs of the poor alongside more familiar literary texts. The essay demonstrates that the period's photographic apprehension of the poor haunts literary depictions. Tracing rich, productive exchanges between nineteenth-century visual and literary texts, it argues that the photographic project of bearing witness to urban poverty helped authorize the emergence of realism as a nineteenth-century literary mode. "Picturing Poverty" illustrates this argument by analyzing the work of Horatio Alger, who plainly incorporates ideals of photographic legibility into his fictional narratives and vision of reform.


STUDY OBJECTIVE--The aim was to examine whether or not the children with a past history of asthma but free from asthmatic attacks for several years show a different growth pattern in pulmonary function from control children. DESIGN--A community based cohort was surveyed three times during a four year follow up period. SETTING--Kashima district in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan. PARTICIPANTS--In 1980, 441 primary school children between 113 and 124 months of age were enrolled as an initial cohort; 325 of these provided reliable results in each of the three surveys. MAIN RESULTS--A level and a slope of FVC, FEV1, Vmax50, and Vmax25 were calculated for each child, based on a general linear model analysis. Past histories of each child were determined from a standardised questionnaire. The children with a history of doctor diagnosed asthma showed a lower Vmax50 level (p < 0.005) and a lower level and slope of Vmax25 (p < 0.005, p < 0.01) than control children, even when only those who did not suffer from wheezing attacks during the follow up period were considered. CONCLUSIONS--Indices of peripheral airways function in children with an asthmatic history were reduced even if they had been in remission for several years. The difference in pulmonary function in comparison to control children might become greater at the time of the adolescent growth spurt.


A procedure of haemodilution modified for the particular requirements of vascular surgery has been used on 90 hospital patients. 61% of the operations have been performed without using homologous blood. The method applied being clinically well tolerable, it the object of this study to find to what extent a measurable reduction of the loss of blood during the operation with consequently a reduction of the amount of homologous blood administered can be attained. If the tolerable loss of blood is estimated to be 600 ml, in 22% of the cases operated on the administration of homologous blood has been avoided. The improvement in rheology by the infusion of low molecular weight dextran is considered an additional advantage in the special field of vascular surgery.


Editor—Owen's perception that intravenous β blockers are less commonly given after acute myocardial infarction in the United Kingdom than elsewhere1 is confirmed by data from the European secondary prevention study.2 Clinical management was examined in a representative sample of over 4000 patients admitted to hospital with confirmed acute myocardial infarction in 11 European regions. Intravenous β blockade was given to 13% of patients overall, but this proportion varied from 0.5% (United Kingdom) to 54% (Sweden) in the regional samples. This 100-fold range, larger than the range for any other treatment or procedure studied, is particularly striking for an aspect of management that has been subjected to at least 28 randomised trials in over 27 000 patients.

Variation in practice on this scale has important messages for proponents of evidence based medicine and cannot be explained by lack of awareness on the part of clinicians. The key issue is the generalisability of the evidence from trials in highly selected low risk patients. In the largest trial, the first international study of infarct survival, fewer than a third of patients admitted to coronary care units were considered to have been eligible for randomisation.3 The primary end point of vascular mortality in the first week was low in both the atenolol and control groups (3.9% v 4.6%; P<0.04). The pooled estimate of treatment effect on one week mortality in all available trials remains of borderline significance, and definition of the relevant patient group is even more difficult when meta-analysis is used.

No evidence from clinical trials exists to indicate whether intravenous β blockade would be more or less beneficial in haemodynamically compromised patients or those with hypotension induced by thrombolytics. All observational data are invalidated by the confounding of treatment selection and haemodynamic status. The highly significant increase in the use of inotropic support seen after treatment with atenolol in the first international study of infarct survival gives grounds for caution.

The observed variation in practice probably reflects the widely differing judgment of clinicians on the external validity of the published trials of intravenous β blockade. For long term oral β blockade the evidence is stronger and patient selection less problematic. Correspondingly, use of this treatment was more common in the European study (46% at six months after discharge) and rather more consistent between regional samples (range 27-72%).


Background: Modified Bösch osteotomy (distal linear metatarsal osteotomy [DLMO]) is one of the minimally invasive correctional surgeries for hallux valgus. The 3-dimensional correctional angles and distances of the first metatarsal bone in DLMO have not been clarified. The purpose of this study was to analyze the 3-dimensional postoperative morphological changes of the first metatarsal bone in DLMO. Methods: Twenty patients (30 feet) who underwent DLMO were enrolled. Preoperative plain radiographs and computed tomography (CT) scans of the feet were examined. Postoperative radiographs and CT scans were also obtained after bone union. The surface data of the pre- and postoperative first metatarsals were reconstructed from the CT data. The positions of the distal ends of the first metatarsals described with respect to the proximal ends were calculated using CT surface-matching technique. Results: The distal end of the first metatarsal after DLMO was significantly supinated (10.2 ± 6.0 degrees, P < .001), adducted (6.0 ± 11.8 degrees, P = .004), dorsiflexed (11.1 ± 10.9, P < .001), shortened (7.4 ± 2.5 mm, P < .001), elevated (2.3 ± 3.1 mm, P = .001), and laterally shifted (8.2 ± 3.0 mm, P < .001) compared to the preoperative metatarsal distal end. Supination correction demonstrated a significant correlation with adduction correction (r = 0.659, P < .001) on correlation analyses between these parameters. Conclusion: The 3-dimensional corrections of the first metatarsal bone after DLMO were evaluated. Pronation and abduction were successfully corrected. Furthermore, adduction correction might be an important factor affecting correction of pronation. Level of Evidence: Level IV, retrospective case series.


Facts in the development of Phoronis-- 1. The blastopore gives rise to both mouth and anus. 2. The mesoderm arises in an anterior pair of endoblastic modified diverticula, and in a posterior pair of ectoblastic diverticula connected by a few mesodermic cells derived from the middle of a primitive streak. 3. The nephridial openings to the exterior are parts of the blastopore. Preliminary interpretation suggested by these facts of the development of Phoronis-- 1. A gastraea with slit-like mouth and a pair of lateral diverticula giving rise to mesoderm was the ancestor of Phoronis. 2. The rapid growth of ectoderm in the median ventral line nearly succeeded in destroying the continuity of the primitive streak. 3. The necessity of an early attainment of a terminal position by the anus caused the ectoderm to grow more rapidly than, the emdoblast, and resulted in a division of the mesoderm into anterior and posterior parts. 4. The nephridia, which might have remained either wholly or in part with the anterior, have attached themselves entirely to the posterior mesoderm. Extension of this interpretation to the other Tripleblastiea-- 1. Phoronis is the first step towards a complete division of the blastopore. The inducing cause of such division is the elongation of the body, while the endoblast is still in an embryonic condition. 2. The division of blastopore caused the division of mesoderm. 3. The division of mesoderm results in-- i. The masking of the original mode of mesoderm formation. ii. Metameric segmentation.


Since its inception in 2004, Canadian regulation of natural health products (NHPs) has been evolving. Implementation of the novel Natural Health Products law by Health Canada, the national regulatory agency, has been responsive to both consumer desires for novel products for health care, but also potential concerns over product safety. The agency has developed numerous webpages explaining its approach to this new regulatory category, which has included regulations and guidance documents and refinement of both. Due to its many layers, the information is not very transparent. In addition, the information has been changing and is constantly under revision. For this reason, a review of the legislation, regulation and policies was embarked upon which led to the preparation of an overview of up to date information that we hope will be useful to those who plan to pursue the Canadian NHP system.


Objective: Ketamine and related compounds are emerging as rapidly acting therapies for treatment-resistant depression. Ketamine differs from standard antidepressants in its speed of action, specific acute and cumulative side effects, risk of dependence and regulatory requirements. However, there is currently little guidance offering translation from research studies into clinical practice. We therefore detail a comprehensive model of care for ketamine treatment of depression. Method: We formulated a set of policies and procedures for a 'compassionate use' ketamine programme that developed out of our clinical research in ketamine. These policies and procedures were formulated into a detailed model of care. Results: The current Australian and New Zealand regulatory frameworks and professional bodies' recommendations regarding ketamine are detailed along with clinical governance and infrastructure considerations. We next describe a four-step model comprising initial assessment, pre-treatment, treatment and post-treatment phases. The model comprises thorough psychiatric and medical assessments examining patient suitability, a rigorous consenting process and structured safety monitoring across an acute treatment course or maintenance therapy. Our ketamine dose-titration method is detailed allowing flexible dosing of patients across a treatment course enabling individualised treatment. Conclusion: The model of care aims to bridge the gap between efficacy studies and clinical care outside of research settings as ketamine and related compounds become increasingly important therapies for treatment-resistant depression.


Rare genetic diseases account for a considerable amount of fatalities and even their 'mild' or 'non-lethal' forms can produce drastic and undesirable discomfort to affected individuals. Various gene therapeutic approaches were tested for developing novel therapeutic concepts to treat these genetic diseases. Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposase represents one of these gene therapeutic systems which can be utilized for stable phenotypic correction. It is a transposable element which was resurrected and optimized for transposing genetic elements resulting in somatic integration of the transgene. Because of its versatile activity in many different organs, SB transposase has been explored for ex-vivo gene delivery and in vivo gene delivery including recently launched clinical trials based on engineered T-cells for tumor therapy and approaches to treat retinal degenerations. Here we will provide a state-of-the-art overview of preclinical studies for treatment of rare genetic diseases based on the SB transposase system for stable correction of the genetic defect. In this review, diseases affecting the blood system, the connective tissue, the immune system, the metabolism, and the nervous system and their treatment utilizing the SB transposase system will be discussed. Moreover, advantages and disadvantages of SB transposase-based gene therapeutic approaches will be mentioned. Although improvements of the SB transposase systems regarding genotoxicity and efficient delivery especially for applications in large mammals are desirable, the SB transposase system remains to hold great promise for curing rare genetic disease.


In order to explore the effects of the exogenous addition of plant hormones on the antioxidant system and Cd absorption and accumulation of rice seedlings under Cd stress, the transportation and accumulation of Cd was reduced in plants to alleviate the stress of Cd on the rice. With the rice seedlings of Zhongjiazao 17 as the research object, a hydroponic experiment was carried out with three Cd concentration treatments (0, 5, and 25 μmol·L-1), and four exogenous plant hormone treatments:no plant hormones, 100 μmol·L-1 melatonin (MT), 0.2 μmol·L-1 2,4-epibrassinolide (EBL), and 0.2 μmol·L-1 jasmonic acid (JA), for a total of 12 treatments, each treatment repeated three times. The contents of Cd in the rice seedlings were analyzed, as well as the content of MDA, POD, CAT, and reduced GSH in the shoots and roots of the rice seedlings. The results indicated that under the stress of 5 μmol·L-1 and 25 μmol·L-1 Cd, the addition of MT, EBL, and JA significantly reduced the MDA content of the shoots by 11%-24%, and the roots and shoots were healthy. On the contrary, the addition of the three exogenous substances all caused an increase in the MDA content in the root system, but the effects of MT and EBL were obvious. Under the 5 μmol·L-1 Cd stress, compared with CK, the MDA contents increased by 45.5% and 20.0% respectively; under 25 μmol·L-1 Cd stress, they increased by 46.2% and 19.8%. The exogenous addition of plant hormones can significantly increase the activity of POD and CAT in the shoots and underground parts of the rice seedlings and reduce the contents of GSH and Cd. Under the 5 μmol·L-1 Cd stress, the Cd content in the shoots of rice plants decreased by 39.4%, 40.1%, and 51.6%, the roots were reduced by 38.9%, 40.2%, and 7.0%. Under the 25 μmol·L-1 Cd stress, the aboveground Cd content was reduced by 18.9%, 14.5%, and 35.6%, and the roots were reduced by 85.3%, 81.1%, and 56.5%. By exogenously adding low-concentration plant hormones MT, EBL, and JA, the stress of Cd on the rice can be alleviated, and the toxic effect of Cd on rice can be reduced.


MOSCOW--
 For much of the past year, government officials have been trying to confiscate 60 tons of ultrapure gallium that forms the heart of a neutrino detector beneath the mountains of the northern Caucasus. Late last month, armed thieves almost beat them to it. They managed to get past an elaborate security system and nearly succeeded in stealing the detector9s valuable metal core. Russia9s Ministry of the Interior is now conducting an investigation of the break-in.


Assessing the status or population size of species is a key task for wildlife conservation and the sustainable management of harvested species. In particular, assessing historical changes in population size provides an evolutionary perspective on current population dynamics and can help distinguish between anthropogenic and natural causes for population decline. Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) is an endangered yet commercially important catadromous fish species. Here we assess the demographic history of Japanese eel using the pairwise and multiple sequentially Markovian coalescent methods. The analyses indicate a reduction in effective population size (Ne) from 38 000 to 10 000 individuals between 4 and 1 Ma, followed by an increase to 80 000 individuals, between 1 Ma and 22−30 kya. Approximately 22−30 kya there is evidence for a reduction in Ne to approximately 60 000 individuals. These events are likely due to changes in environmental conditions, such as sea level and oceanic currents, especially around the last glacial maximum (19−33 kya). The results of this study suggest that Japanese eel has experienced at least two population bottlenecks, interspersed by a period of population growth. This pattern of demographic history may make Japanese eel sensitive to current and future population declines. Conservation management of Japanese eel should focus on practical ways to prevent further population decline and the loss of genetic diversity that is essential for the species to adapt to changing environmental conditions such as climate change.


Abstract Cretaceous bryozoans from western North America are very poorly known. This paper describes twelve species of cheilostomes from the Upper Cretaceous of southern California and Baja California. The only previously described bryozoan, Ceriocava eastoni Woollacott, 1966, from the Holz Member (?Turonian–Campanian), Ladd Formation of the Santa Ana Mountains, is transferred from Cyclostomata to Cheilostomata, made the type species of the new genus Zimmerella and placed in the family Chiplonarinidae. The following new Campanian– Maastrichtian species are described from the Rosario, Point Loma, and Cabrillo formations of San Diego County, California and Le Misión, Baja California: Wilbertopora sannerae sp. nov., Onychocella schopforum sp. nov., Trichinopolia californica sp. nov., and T. lata sp. nov.


AIM
To investigate the endoscopic ampullectomy practices of expert biliary endoscopists.

METHODS
An anonymous survey was mailed to 79 expert biliary endoscopists to assess ampullectomy practices.

RESULTS
Forty six (58%) biliary endoscopists returned the questionnaire. Of these, 63% were in academia and in practice for an average of 16.4 years (+/- 8.6). Endoscopists performed an average of 1.1 (+/- 0.8) ampullectomies per month. Prior to ampullectomy, endoscopic ultrasound was "always" utilized by 67% of respondents vs "sometimes" in 31% of respondents. Empiric biliary sphincterotomy was not utilized uniformly, only 26% "always" and 37% "sometimes" performed it prior to resection. Fifty three percent reported "never" performing empiric pancreatic sphincterotomy prior to ampullectomy. Practitioners with high endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography volumes were the most likely to perform a pancreatic sphincterotomy (OR = 10.9; P = 0.09). Participants overwhelmingly favored "always" placing a prophylactic pancreatic stent, with 86% placing it after ampullectomy rather than prior to resection (23%). Argon plasma coagulation was the favored adjunct modality (83%) for removal of residual adenomatous tissue. Practitioners uniformly (100%) preferred follow-up examination to be within 6 mo post-ampullectomy.

CONCLUSION
Among biliary experts, there is less variation in ampullectomy practices than is reflected in the literature.


This paper is a review of some interesting results that has been obtained in various sectors of noncommutative cosmology, string theory and loop quantum gravity. In the Section 1, we have described some results concerning the noncommutative model of the closed Universe with the scalar field. In the Section 2, we have described some results concerning the low-energy string effective quantum cosmology. In the Section 3, we have showed some results regarding the noncommutative Kantowsky-Sachs quantum model. In Section 4, we have showed some results regarding the spectral action principle associated with a noncommutative space and applied to the Einstein-Yang-Mills system. Section 5 is a review of some results regarding some aspects of loop quantum gravity. In Section 6, we've described some results concerning the dynamics of vector mode perturbations including quantum corrections based on loop quantum gravity. In Section 7, we've described some equations concerning matrix models as a non-local hidden variables theories. In Section 8, we have showed some results concerning the quantum supergravity and the role of a "free" vacuum in loop quantum gravity. In Section 9, we've described various results concerning the unifying role of equivariant cohomology in the Topological Field Theories. In conclusion, in Section 10 we have showed the possible mathematical connections between the arguments above mentioned and some relationship with some equations concerning some sectors of Number Theory. 1. On some equations concerning the Noncommutative model of the closed Universe with the scalar field. [1] We remember that for any nD minisuperspace model the ordering parameter ξ in the conformally invariant Wheeler-De Witt (WDW) equation (Planck's constant 1 = h ): ( ) ( ) ( ) 0 2 1 = Ψ     + + ∆ − = Ψ A A q q U R q H ξ , (1.1)


Ethiopia, like most developing countries, has opted to deliver services such as basic education, primary health care, agricultural extension advice, water, and rural roads through a highly decentralized system (Manor 1999; Treisman 2007). That choice is based on several decades of theoretical analysis examining how a decentralized government might respond better to diverse local needs and provide public goods more efficiently than a highly centralized government. Ethiopia primarily manages the delivery of basic services at the woreda (district) level. Those services are financed predominantly through intergovernmental fiscal transfers (IGFTs) from the federal to the regional and then the woreda administrations, although some woredas raise a small amount of revenue to support local services. Since 2006, development partners and the government have cofinanced block grants for decentralized services through the Promoting Basic Services (PBS) Program. Aside from funding the delivery of services, the program supports measures to improve the quality of services and local governments' capacity to deliver them by strengthening accountability and citizen voice.


The nucleotide sequence of the region of human polyoma virus JC DNA between 0.5 and 0.7 map units from a unique EcoRI cleavage site was determined and compared with those of the corresponding regions of another human polyoma virus, BK, and simian virus 40 DNAs. Within this region consisting of 945 base pairs, we located the origin of DNA replication near 0.7 map units, the entire coding region for small T antigen, and the splice junctions for large-T-antigen mRNA. The deduced amino acid sequences for small T antigen and the part of large T antigen markedly resembled those of polyoma virus BK and simian virus 40. The results strongly suggest that polyoma virus JC has the same organization of early genome as polyoma virus BK and simian virus 40 on the physical map, with the EcoRI site as a reference point.


It is well known that acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells can invade the central nervous system (CNS), but the underlying mechanism of such invasion is still unclear. We discovered the direct routes taken by ALL cells when migrating into CNS in ALL model mice. We observed that ALL cells migrate along the external surface of vessels that pass directly between the vertebral or calvarial bone marrow and the subarachnoid space. The basement membrane of these bridging vessels is enriched in laminin. The laminin is recognized by integrin α6, which is expressed by ALL cells. The interaction between integrin α6 and laminin mediated the invasion of ALL cells. Furthermore, the expression of integrin α6 depends on PI3Kδ activity. Mice with ALL xenografts were treated with a PI3Kδ inhibitor, which decreased integrin α6 expression on ALL cells. This resulted in significant reductions in blast counts in the cerebrospinal fluid and in CNS disease symptoms. Our data suggest that the PI3Kδ inhibitor has potential to prevent CNS involvement in ALL.


It is a matter of fact that the pragmatic reading of a construction is closely related to what is understood as the syntactic or morphological head of the structure. However, given a certain thematic relation between two nouns, human languages manage to convey a second optional reading related to another constituent. Exploring some of the thematic relations between nouns, Castillo (2001) has used the term "possessive" to embrace all of them. He examines syntactic issues such as the expression of number and the subcategorization features of the nouns acting as head of the construction and he mainly shows that there is a marked differentiation between what is considered lexical-conceptual and what is considered intentional. This paper explores Basque measure phrases, i.e. the Basque syntactical expressions of measures of mass, which is one of the possessive relations considered in Castillo's dissertation. In general, we deal with (non-)specific and mass/count readings, but we focus on the type of thematic and structural relation between the mass noun and the other noun. These relations determine the grammar and distribution of several measure constructions in English, Basque and Spanish. But first a word about the data of the three languages. Castillo claims that a basic syntactic structure underlies several constructions bearing thematic relations such as container/content, part/whole, and inalienable possession. In fact he claims that they all bear a possessive relation in which the possessed and the possessor act as a subject and a predicate. He points out that the lexical-conceptual level in which a head such as bottle is usually explored does not account for the fact that bottle can fulfil the subcategorization requirements of two verbs such as drink (1a) and break (1b).


Dr. STANLEY HALL: Individual instruction sounds the keynote of education for the next decade. SUPERINTENDENT A. B. BLODGETT, 5)"0&/IS', New Yo,k: So many thousands of children see their fathers so rarely, and so many fathers, in this busy life, so infrequently lookupon their children except when they are asleep that I am led to believe that somewhere in the school system there should be a period of time when boys and girls shall feel the influence that comes from the oversight, the instruction, and the close association with a right-minded, manly, strong man as a sehool principal. SUPERINTENDENT H. M. WALRAVT, Ndd/lam, Mass.: Class instruction enables tbe teacher to reach man): minds simultaneously, allows the pupils to compare their own attainments with the attainments of others, and provides for a stimulating and broadening interchange of views. Individual instruction bridges many of the difficulties of the .duller minds, makes possible more frequent promotion for children of exceptional ability, and when intelligently employed does much to develop the highest productive capacity of every pupil. SUPERINTENDENT R. O. S~IALL, Grafton, Mass. : A community which has in its midst a properly conducted high school has secured for itself an institution exerting a most powerful influence for good and righteousness. A high school whieh allows a low standard of scholarship, lax discipline, idleness and wastefulness, is a menace to the community fostering it, and is in defiance of the ideals which our public school system aims at. The first type of school is worth 1110re than it ever costs; the second type is not worth anything.


We use novel integral representations developed by the second author to prove certain rigorous results concerning elliptic boundary value problems in convex polygons. Central to this approach is the so-called global relation, which is a non-local equation in the Fourier space that relates the known boundary data to the unknown boundary values. Assuming that the global relation is satisfied in the weakest possible sense, i.e. in a distributional sense, we prove there exist solutions to Dirichlet, Neumann and Robin boundary value problems with distributional boundary data. We show that the analysis of the global relation characterises in a straightforward manner the possible existence of both integrable and non-integrable corner singularities.


Headache is a common feature in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and represents a significant source of patient discomfort. The exact prevalence of headache in SLE is unknown. The results of different studies widely vary, most likely due to the use of different classification for headache and the lack of controls in most studies. The relationshipbetween headache and SLE is also unclear since it is difficult to determine which degree and type of headaches can be explained on the basis of chronic illness, or as part of the disease spectrum of SLE. No pathogenic mechanism has so far been described that can fully explain headache induced by SLE. The role of circulating cytokines, vascular injury, neuronal damage or antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) in the development of headache in SLE patients is also a matter of debate. Other concomitant causes such as infection or hypertension should be excluded before assuming that headache is a feature of SLE activity. Therapeutic approach of headache SLE-related remains empirical and based on clinical experience.


Relational frame theory (RFT) conceptualizes analogy as the establishment of a relation of coordination among common types of relations. This study provided an initial RFT analysis of analogy aptness. Twenty participants initially learned to respond to the structure of analogical tests after which they were trained on two separate relational networks, each consisting of three equivalence classes (Network: 1 F1-G1-H1, F2-G2-H2, F3-G3-H3; Network 2: M1-N1-O1, M2-N2-O2, M3-N3-O3). The node stimuli always appeared with color spots on their backgrounds (F1 and M1: yellow; F2 and M2: red; F3 and M3: blue). In the critical test, participants had to select the more correct response from two options: relating combinatorial relations of coordination with the same color in the node stimuli (e.g., relating G1H1 to N1O1) versus relating combinatorial relations with different colors in the node stimuli (e.g., relating G1H1 to N2O2). The colors of the node stimuli did not appear on the critical test. Ninety percent of participants selected the analogies with common color properties as the more correct ones. Practical implications of these findings are discussed.


Background: Hyperbaric exposure (HE) is proven to be a stressor to several mechanisms in living cells. Even if after homeostasis restoration, harmful effects are expected, in particular a presence of free radicals. These latter are the stimulus to negative phenomenon as inflammation or cancer. In Italy, with 7500 km of sea shores, a large quantity of workers is exposed to HE during occupational Aquilano, Baccolo, Bersani et al. Senses Sci (Educ Sci Tech) 2021; 1: 1212-1229 activities. A deep knowledge of HE and bodily effects is not well defined; hence a multidisciplinary assessment of risk is needed. To detect one or more indicators of HE a research group is organised, under the INAIL sponsorship. The research project focused on the oxidative stress (OxS) and this paper details on the possible protocol to estimate, with a large amount of techniques on several human liquids, the relationship between OxS and HE. Specific attention will be paid to identify confounding factors and their influence. Methods: Blood and urine will be sampled. Several lab techniques will be performed on samples, both targeted, to measure the level of well-known biomarkers, and untargeted. Regard the formers: products of oxidation of DNA and RNA in urine; inflammation and temperature cytokines and protein carbonyles in blood. Untargeted evaluation will be performed for a metabolomics analysis in urine. Confounding factors: temperature, body fat, fitness, allergies and dietary habits. These factors will be assessed, directly or indirectly, prior and after HE. The final scope of the project is to determine one or more indicators that relates to HE in hits twofold nature: depth and duration. Conclusion: The relationship between OxS and HE is not deeply investigated and literature proposes diverging results. The project aims to define the time dependence of biomarkers related to OxS, to rise knowledge in risk assessment in workers exposed to HE.


Intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition occurs between nitrones derived from indole-7-carbaldehydes and adjacent allylic substituents on the indole nitrogen atoms. The resulting pyrroloquinoline derivatives (4a-i) have been characterized fully. A range of other potential precursors to cycloaddition reactions have been synthesized, but cyclization sequences have not been completed.


We describe the Kiwi parallel programming library and its associated synthesis system which is used to transform C# parallel programs into circuits for realization on FPGAs. The Kiwi system is targeted at making reconfigurable computing technology accessible to software engineers that are willing to express their computations as parallel programs. Although there has been much work on compiling sequential C-like programs to hardware by automatically `discovering¿ parallelism, we work by exploiting the parallel architecture communicated by the designer through the choice of parallel and concurrent programming language constructs. Specifically, we describe a system that takes .NET assembly language with suitable custom attributes as input and produces Verilog output which is mapped to FPGAs. We can then choose to apply analysis and verification techniques to either the highlevel representation in C# or other .NET languages or to the generated RTL netlists. A distinctive aspect of our approach is the exploitation of existing language constructs for concurrent programming and synchronization which contrasts with other schemes which introduce specialized concurrency control constructs to extend a sequential language.


Abstract The study was performed on six male chinchillas. The animals were anaesthetised with ether and the anaesthesia was deepened with nembuthal injected intraperitoneally. The chinchillas were then transcardially perfused with 0.4 L of 4% buffered paraformaldehyde, and testes, epididymides, and vasa deferentia were collected. The tunica albuginea from one testis from each chinchilla was stained as whole-mount preparation. The tissues were cut into 12 μm-thick cryostat sections, and processed for double-immunofluorescence method. In all organs studied, the most abundant nerve fibres were dopamine β hydroxylase positive (DβH+). Some of them contained neuropeptide Y (NPY). Sporadically NPY-positive-only nerve fibres were found. Single DβH+ nerve terminals contained also galanine. Small numbers of the nerve fibres supplying studied organs were stained for substance P (SP) and calitonin gene related peptide (CGRP). Almost all SP+ fibres were also CGRP+, whereas single CGRP+ nerves were SPimmunonegative. Some nerve terminals were immunoreactive to vesicular acetylcholine transporter and vasoactive intestinal peptide. The organs studied were innervated unevenly. The highest density of the nerves was found in the areas of the tunica albuginea adjacent to the mesorchial border of the testis and their number gradually decreased towards the free border of the gonad. None of the vascular tissue of the testicular parenchyma was free of the nerve fibres, except sporadically encountered DβH+ nerves which supply seminiferous tubules. Within the head of the epididymis a moderate number of nerve terminals were found, but in the body and tail of the organ the number of nerves gradually increased. The vas deferens was supplied with very numerous nerve fibres. There were no differences in the density of the innervation between the funicular and abdominal part of the vas deferens.


After the systematization and re-dimension of the vectorial control in all the Country by 1975, it was considered necessary to have an up-to-date information on the distribution of vectors in Brazil, and differentiate precisely the role of each of the different species on the intra-domiciliary transmission of Chagas disease. For this purpose, sampling regional surveys for regions with non reliable information were performed, as well as, a house by house search for vectors on those areas considered at risk. For this last, 1,942 municipalities from 19 states were searched, as by the political division of the country by 1980, that was taken as a reference in this paper. These activities, that were implemented as part of the routine for intervention, were completed by 1983. Immediately after, this work was also extended for other areas considered targets for infected bugs. Results obtained, allowed to map the endemic area and the area under risk of vectorial transmission all over the country. Even more, with the results obtained it was possible to recognize those five species proved as vectors of the infection, among thirty already identified. These species, in order of importance, were: Triatoma infestans, Panstrongylus megistus, T. brasiliensis, T pseudomaculata and T. sordida. It was possible also to verify the increase in the dispersion of T. infestans, an aloctonous vector captured now in states of the North-east region, where it was not recognized previously. In relation with native species, a clear division of territories among them was found. Furthermore, P. megistus was found with a diffuse distribution, but T. brasiliensis and T. pseudomaculata were restricted to the semi-arid North-east. The most often captured bug was T. sordida, (mostly around houses) limited to the cerrado area, which is its origin.


This study aims at investigating the effect of organizational, trust, social, information technology, external factors and knower's attitude on knowledge sharing in a South African financial institution. The results shows that organizational, information technology, social, trust factors, and knower's attitude have a significance impact in knowledge sharing in an organization. The study implies that management should do more awareness regarding the value of knowledge sharing and they must also promote a knowledge creation and sharing culture, where employees trust each other to enable them to share their knowledge and build teams with common business goals. Management should also consider making it mandatory for knowledge sharing as part of the employees balance scorecards where knowledge sharing is linked to performance appraisals.


Travel-related diarrhea is common among tourists to developing countries. We report two cases of diarrhea due to Cryptosporidium hominis and Isospora belli, respectively, in a child and an adult returning from Africa, without other associated microorganisms. We emphasize the need to detect underdiagnosed coccidiosis in diarrheic travelers with specific methods.


In vitro plant regeneration of Thuja occidentalis was obtained in apical shoot cultures from field grown plants. Hormone free MS medium 100% explants produced shoots. The average number of shoots per explant was 6.57 ± 0.45 and the average shoot length of 4.5 ± 0.27 cm were recorded in this medium. Shoots rooted well when they were transferred into half strength MS with 1.0 mg/l IBA. The average number of root per shoot was 3.92 ± 0.28 and the average root length of 3.64 ± 0.38 cm were observed in this medium. No morphological variants were observed during the passage of in vitro culture. Key words: In vitro , Propagation, Thuja occidentalis , Apical shoot DOI = 10.3329/ptcb.v16i1.1099 Plant Tissue Cult. & Biotech. 16(1): 5-9, 2006 (June)


Abstract-In this paper, concept of visual cryptography is extended to digital watermarking scheme based on least significant bit (LSB) algorithm. An image which has to be transmitted (watermark) is split into two sheetimages using visual secret sharing algorithm. Then, one sheet -image are embedded into the host images before transmission and second sheet –image is held by the owner At the receiving end, user extracts the sheet images from the watermarked image and stacks the two sheetimages directly without any leakage of information about the original image. Experimental results show that by using visual cryptography, a significant improvement in peak signal to noise ratio and normalized cross correlation values can be obtained.


The purpose of this study was to examine the potential utility of HOFSTEDE's measure of cultural values (1980) for group segmentation in an ethnically diverse population in a forest recreation context, and to validate the values segmentation, if any, via socio-demographic and service quality related variables. In 2002, the visitors to the Angeles National Forest (ANF) near metropolitan Los Angeles were surveyed. Using a systematic convenience sampling at sites known to be heavily used by visitors with diverse ethnic backgrounds, we obtained a sample of 444 Anglos, 312 Hispanics, and 319 Asians (overall N = 1174). We first attempted to confirm Hofstede's four cultural dimensions of values in the context of forest recreation. Given the poor fit of the data to the original four-dimensional cultural values model, we used exploratory factor analysis to find interpretable dimensions of cultural values in the data. We found three dimensions which we labeled Hierarchical Beliefs, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Femininity. We then used K-means cluster analysis to identify homogeneous groups of respondents based on similar responses to the cultural values dimensions and their age. The results showed that respondents can be segmented into three homogeneous groups, which we labelled Modernist, Mixed, and Postmodernist, based on Inglehart's Modernization and Postmodernization values. Socio-demographics, service quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions variables were used to validate and test for variations across segments. The findings provided evidence in support of the cross-cultural values scale's ability to identify distinct market segments. The findings and management impli cations are discussed.


We consider a chain of coupled micromechanical resonators as a delay line for radio-frequency signals. Wave propagation in the chain is generated and detected using capacitive transducers. Analytical results, numerical simulations and first measurements for the response of a prototype device are presented. The delay line is shown to have a bandpass response and a very low signal group velocity of the order of only few meters per second. Weaknesses of the first prototypes are identified through simulations and a more optimal design is suggested.


Few formal verification techniques are currently available for asynchronous designs. In this paper, we describe a new approach for the formal verification of asynchronous architectures described in the high-level language CHP, by using model checking techniques provided by the CADP toolbox. Our proposal is based on an automatic translation from CHP into LOTOS, the process algebra used in CADP. A translator has been implemented, which handles full CHP including the specific probe operator. The CADP toolbox capabilities allow the designer to verify properties such as deadlock-freedom or protocol correctness on substantial systems. Our approach has been successfully applied to formally verify two complex designs. In this paper, we illustrate our technique on an asynchronous network-on-chip architecture. Its formal verification highlights the need to carefully design systems exhibiting non-deterministic behavior.


A storage system is provided that includes a memory controller for controlling a throughput rate for utilizing digital content by an accessing system, wherein the throughput rate is associated with information related to the digital content stored as a file. Also, a system for utilizing digital content is provided. The system includes an accessing system for utilizing the digital content, wherein the digital content is released to the accessing system at a controlled throughput rate and the throughput rate is associated with information related to the digital content stored as a file.


It is unclear whether the shift in leaf traits between species of high- and low-rainfall sites is caused by low rainfall or by species replacement, because leaf traits vary substantially among species and sites. Our objective was to test if the within-species relationship between specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf N concentration (N(mass) ) shifts across a rainfall gradient in the semi-arid sandy lands of northern China. Data for SLA and N(mass) of dominant species and related canopy and soil variables were collected from 33 plots along a rainfall transect (270-390 mm) having similar temperatures in the Mu Us, Inner Mongolia. We further investigated the generality of Mu Us data using 12 additional plots in the southeastern Qaidam Basin, Qinghai. Artemisia ordosica is a widespread species in both regions. Across and within species, the positive SLA-N(mass) relationship shifted between two plant groups in the lowest rainfall plots (270 mm) and other higher rainfall plots (320-390 mm), which was confirmed by additional data from Qinghai. For A. ordosica populations, leaf area index (LAI) decreased and N(mass) increased with decreasing rainfall, while the foliage N pool and SLA varied little. Rainfall was the limiting factor that determined variations in N(mass) and LAI. Accordingly, N(mass) /SLA ratios continually increased with decreasing LAI along the rainfall gradient (r = -0.76, P < 0.001). Results indicate a low rainfall-induced shift in the SLA-N(mass) relationship associated with changes in LAI and foliage N pool, suggesting a link between leaf characteristics and ecosystem function.


Connections between surface physics and biology are discussed. Special attention is paid to protein adsorption on solid surfaces, with relevance to biocompatibility and surface oriented diagnostic methods. Simple models for denaturation of proteins and interaction between antigens and antibodies on surfaces are developed. Some surface oriented biological phemona are described. It is suggested that electrostatic interaction may be a general cause of changes in the physical properties of excitable membranes. The paper is phenomenological and leaves out a thorough discussion of the use of surface analytical tools on biological phenomena.


We studied whether a cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and a core-cooling technique could resuscitate an arrested heart, and whether this procedure benefited canine cadaveric heart transplantation. Donor dogs were subjected to brain death by an intracranial balloon technique, and then, to cardiac arrest conducted by cutting off ventilatory support. In the control group (Group 1; n = 8), arrested hearts were flushed with cardioplegic solution and harvested thereafter without any resuscitation technique. In the experimental group (Group 2; n = 8), arrested hearts were once resuscitated using CPB, and then harvested using a core-cooling technique and cardioplegia. These hearts were transplanted orthotopically. Seven of eight recipients in Group 1 were weaned from CPB, and five of them finally became independent of dopamine administration. All recipients in Group 2 were successfully weaned from CPB, and also became dopamine free eventually. In Group 2, all post-transplantation hemodynamic values such as cardiac output during the period of dopamine administration were equivalent to those of post-brain death period. Chemical analysis of the serum and myocardial muscle demonstrated no difference between groups. We conclude that CPB combined with a core-cooling technique makes it possible to utilize an arrested heart as a donor organ for transplantation.


SUMMARY Literature on environmental science and management endorses crossing boundaries between disciplines, types of organizations and countries for environmental conservation. A literature review on interdisciplinarity, interorganizational networks and international cooperation highlights their justifying rationales and strategic practices. Crossing boundaries implies substantial challenges to managing collaboration itself, notably politics and uncertainty. Challenges to collaboration become compounded when crossing multiple boundaries simultaneously, here illustrated using the case of three projects in the south-western Amazon. Strategic practices such as net brokering and organizational courtships are highly important when crossing multiple boundaries. There are important commonalities in strategic practices for crossing different boundaries, such as recognizing grievances to manage politics, constituting functional redundancies in networks to manage uncertainty and non-aligned collaboration to manage both difficulties.


: The enzyme reaction speed dependence on pH was calculated. It was shown that two speed maxima and higher pH sensitivity should be in reaction with inhibitor.


Estrogen modulates the function of cholinergic basal forebrain neurons in aged female rats. The present study tested the hypothesis that estrogen enhances the phenotype of cholinergic basal forebrain neurons and their cortical cholinergic innervation in young adult and aged ovariectomized rhesus monkeys. Sixteen monkeys (9 young and 7 aged) received two injections of estradiol cypionate or vehicle separated by 3 weeks. All monkeys were killed 1 day after the last injection. Quantitative immunofluorescence in the vertical limb of the diagonal band (VLDB) revealed enhanced optical density for choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in both young and aged monkeys treated with estrogen. In contrast, optical density for low‐affinity p75 neurotrophin receptor immunoreactivity in the VLDB did not change after estrogen treatment in either aged or young animals. Quantitative immunofluorescence for either ChAT or the low‐affinity p75 neurotrophin receptor in the nucleus basalis Meynert failed to reveal differences between vehicle and estrogen treatment in either age group. Quantitative estimates of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) fiber density revealed that estrogen‐treated aged monkeys but not their younger counterparts had decreased numbers of AChE‐positive fibers in layer II of frontal, insular, and cingulate cortices. These data indicate that estrogen administered in a manner simulating natural hormonal cyclicity produces modest age‐specific chemical phenotypic and regional changes in select neuronal subfields of the cholinergic basal forebrain and their cortical projection sites in nonhuman primates. J. Comp. Neurol. 472:193–207, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Address Event Representation (AER) is an emergent technology for assembling modular multiblock bio-inspired sensory and processing systems. Visual sensors (retinae) are among the first AER modules to be reported since the introduction of the technology. Spatial-contrast AER retinae are of special interest since they provide highly compressed data flow without reducing the relevant information required for performing recognition. The reported AER contrast retinae perform a contrast computation based on the ratio between a pixel's local light intensity and a spatially weighted average of its neighborhood. This resulted in compact circuits but with the penalty of all pixels generating output signals even if they sensed no contrast. In this paper, we present a spatial-contrast retina with a signed output: Contrast is computed as the relative difference (not the ratio) between a pixel's local light and its surrounding spatial average and normalized with respect to ambient light. As a result, contrast is ambient light independent, includes a sign, and the output will be zero if there is no contrast. Furthermore, an adjustable thresholding mechanism has been included, such that pixels remain silent until they sense an absolute contrast above the adjustable threshold. The pixel contrast-computation circuit is based on Boahen's biharmonic operator contrast circuit, which has been improved to include mismatch calibration and adaptive-current-based biasing. As a result, the contrast-computation circuit shows much less mismatch, is almost insensitive to ambient light illumination, and biasing is much less critical than in the original voltage biasing scheme. The retina includes an optional global reset mechanism for operation in ambient-light-independent Time-to-First-Spike contrast-computation mode. A 32 32 pixel test prototype has been fabricated in 0.35-m CMOS. Experimental results are provided.


This calculates relative labour productivity in the distributive trades in 1992 comparing Britain with Germany and the US. Estimates were derived for 25 sub-sectors comprising 9 sectors in wholesaling, 11 sectors in retailing and 5 sectors in hotels & catering. The US productivity lead over the UK in total distribution was of the order of 35% whereas Germany had only a slight lead over the UK of less than 10%. The US had the highest productivity levels in hotels & catering followed by retailing. Germany had a significant productivity advantage over the UK only in retailing-productivity levels in wholesaling and hotels & catering were similar in these two countries. At the individual sector level the UK enjoyed a productivity advantage over the US in only 3 of the 25 sectors whereas the UK led Germany in 10 sectors. The paper also shows evidence of convergence of UK productivity levels to those in the US and Germany since 1973 in 16 subsectors for which it was possible to derive consistent time series. That is, on average, productivity growth rates were highest in the UK relative to either the US or Germany over the period 1973 to 1992 in those sectors where Britain's productivity deficit was greatest in 1973.


The soil physico-chemical properties have been disturbed due to long continued intensive agricultural practices. Under this situation we are approaching rapidly to a very strong future challenge in sustaining the quality of our soil. This study was conducted to evaluate the physico-chemical properties of the selected soil series. The area covered Mymensingh and Jamalpur districts of Bangladesh. Soil samples were collected randomly from different profiles of Lokdeo, Tarakanda, Silmondi and Melandah soil series during March-May, 2014 and analysed. All soils were acidic and textural classes were sandy loam, silt loam, loam, and clay loam. Organic matter and total N contents low to very low. Available S content in the upper layers of most soils were medium to optimum and in the deeper layer low to medium. The exchangeable K, Ca and Na contents were also low. The upper layers of all the locations contained higher amounts of available Zn. The available Cu and Fe contents of most soils were very high. The soils of all locations contained very high amount of available Mn except the deeper layers (45-75 cm) of Melandah which contained optimum amount of available Mn. Soil pH showed negative correlation with total N and available S. Total N showed positive correlation with soil OM, available Cu and available S. There was positive correlation between available S and available Mn.


This paper presents a hierarchical control structure for Multi terminal HVDC grids. The hierarchical control structure is inspired by the three-layer control structure of large-scale AC power systems and it is divided into primary, secondary and tertiary control. This structure permits to create an easy interaction between power dispatch and the lower controllers. Moreover, a generalized voltage droop (GVD) characteristic is also proposed which facilitates control issues inside the Multi terminal HVDC grids. In the proposed control structure, the coefficients of the GVD characteristics are set based on the solution of a DC power flow algorithm, executed in the secondary control level.


Abstract In socialist Poland, in the reality of centrally planned economy, average citizens experienced chronic deficits of basic commodities. Although the intensity of the problem varied, at no time could one say that the official market fully satisfied the demand for basic or luxurious goods sought by citizens. On the one hand, the market was steered manually, prices were set and kept on the same level for many years, and the volume of production and its cost was centrally planned, but on the other hand, salaries in national companies were raised, which resulted in unsatisfied demand for the goods that the official market lacked. How, then, did average citizens deal with these problems? How, by committing more or less serious financial crimes, did they become players in the black market game, the stake of which was satisfying their own needs? This article attempts at describing the situation in this specific market in various periods of socialist Poland. It also tries to demonstrate which products were the most desirable and most often sold in the black market. Most citizens of socialist Poland, knowing that their behavior is against the law, limited their participation in the black market to purchasing or selling the most urgently needed products.


Summary form only given. Verification test for the practical application of robot car is about to begin now in many countries. Nevada in the United States amended the laws/regulations on public roads March 2012, and approved testing of autonomous vehicles. The Nevada department of motor vehicles, delivered a statement that "These regulations establish requirements companies must meet to test their vehicles on Nevada's public roadways as well as requirements for residents to legally operate them in the future.". Can we expect increase of the road safety with self-driving cars? Who will take responsibility for what happened if a road accident occurs? The answers to such questions must be provided before the popularization of autonomous vehicles. The problems around self-driving cars, such as "co-operation of machine control to driver's operation", "safety on roads" and "reliability of automation technologies in self-driving cars", should be solved. Therefore, the relationship between human driver, or responsible person of driving, and automatic operation is the key point. In this tutorial, the current situation and challenges on driving ability of human, assistive technology for human-driving, and automatic operation technology in self-driving will be explained.


Background and objective To compare general anaesthesia and local anaesthesia with dexmedetomidine on the basis of postoperative pain and surgical bleeding after septoplasties. Method Sixty patients with ASA 1 or 2 were divided into the local anaesthesia with dexmedetomidine (LAD) group (n = 30) and the general anaesthesia group (n = 30). Heart rate (HR), SBP and DBP were monitored. The amount of surgical bleeding, duration of surgery and recovery, postoperative pain evaluations [by visual analogue scale (VAS)] and nausea–vomiting were also recorded. Patients' satisfaction with anaesthesia and quality of breathing was questioned 1 week after discharge. Results HR values were significantly higher in the general anaesthesia group than in the LAD group at the 15th min and at the end of surgery. The SBP value at the 30th min was significantly higher in the LAD group than in the general anaesthesia group. No difference was observed between the groups with respect to the DBP value. Surgical bleeding and the duration of recovery were significantly less in the LAD group. The postoperative VAS scores were significantly higher in the general anaesthesia group than in the LAD group. Postoperative nausea–vomiting was also significantly greater in the general anaesthesia group. Although more patients in the LAD group preferred this anaesthetic procedure to general anaesthesia, the quality of breathing was better in both groups after surgery. Conclusion Septoplasty performed under local anaesthesia with dexmedetomidine sedation resulted in less surgical bleeding, less postoperative pain, a more stable haemodynamic state, less nausea–vomiting, a shorter recovery period and a higher level of anaesthesia satisfaction.


A variant of Sindbis virus has been isolated by growing a stock of virus, previously passaged on chicken embryo cells, in mouse plasmacytoma (MOPC 315) cells in suspension culture. An indirect immunofluorescence test and infective center assay showed that only a small fraction of cells could be infected by the stock wild-type virus, but that the population of virus accumulating after a few passages on the mouse cells had host-range properties distinct from the stock virus. The mouse-passaged virus retained its virulence for the original host and back-passaging of this virus on chicken cells did not change its newly acquired properties. Thus, this variant appears to be a genetically distinct form of Sindbis that adsorbs to and grows much better than the stock virus on several types of mouse cells including cultures of mouse macrophages.


INTRODUCTION
The phenomenon recently described as "hidden hearing loss" was the subject of a meeting co-hosted by the Department of Defense Hearing Center of Excellence and MIT Lincoln Laboratory to consider the potential relevance of noise-related synaptopathic injury to military settings and performance, service-related injury scenarios, and military medical priorities. Participants included approximately 50 researchers and subject matter experts from academic, federal, and military laboratories. Here we present a synthesis of discussion topics and concerns, as well as specific research objectives identified to develop militarily relevant knowledge.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We consider findings from studies to date that have demonstrated cochlear synaptopathy and neurodegenerative processes apparently linked to noise exposure in animal models. We explore the potential relevance of these findings to the prediction and prevention of military hearing injuries, and to comorbid injuries in the neurological domain.

RESULTS
Noise-induced cochlear synaptopathic injury is not detected by conventional audiometric assessment of threshold sensitivity. Animal studies suggest there may be a generous window of opportunity for intervention to mitigate or prevent cochlear neurodegenerative processes, e.g., by administration of neurotrophins or antioxidants. However, it is not yet known if the mechanisms that underlie "hidden hearing loss" also occur in human beings or, if so, how to identify them early, and how and when to intervene.

CONCLUSION
Neurological injuries resulting from noise exposures via the auditory system have potentially significant implications for military Service Member performance, long-term Veteran health, and noise exposure standards. Mediated via auditory pathways, such injuries have possible relationship to clinical impairments including speech perception, and may be a largely overlooked contributor to cognitive symptoms associated with other military service-related injuries such as blast exposure and brain trauma. The potential health and performance consequences of noise-induced cochlear synaptopathic injury are easily overlooked, especially if it is assumed that hearing threshold sensitivity loss is the major concern. There should be a renewed impetus to further characterize and model synaptopathic mechanisms of auditory injury; study its potential impact on human auditory function, cognition, and performance metrics of military relevance; and develop solutions for auditory protection (including noise dosimetry) and treatment if appropriate following noise or blast exposure in military scenarios. We identify specific problems, solution objectives, and research objectives. Recommended research calls for a multidisciplinary approach to address cochlear nerve synaptopathy, central (brain) dysfunction, noise exposure measurement and metrics, and clinical assessment.


For 59 chemical compounds, we have found homogeneous data on transformation in vitro, mutagenicity in the Ames test, and carcinogenicity. We have compared the potency in inducing transformation in vitro in hamster fibroblast cells with the carcinogenic potency and found a modest correlation coefficient between the two parameters (r = 0.37). For these same 59 compounds it was also possible to compare mutagenic potency in the Ames test with carcinogenic potency. The correlation level was very similar (r = 0.34). The predictivity of transformation in vitro increased significantly when only compounds for which some kind of dose-response relationship was available were utilized (r = 0.65). This result stresses the importance of the quantitative aspect of the response in predictivity studies. The present study is compared with previous studies on the quantitative predictivity of different short-term tests. Our work is not definitive, but gives an idea of the possible type of approach to the problem of comparing quantitative predictivities.


Objective. A prospective study was performed to evaluate the effects of genital prolapse surgery on sexuality. Additionally we investigated which variables are risk factors for persistence or development of sexual problems after surgery. Methods. All 82 patients participating in a randomized trial comparing vaginal and abdominal surgical correction of descensus uteri, were asked to complete the Questionnaire for screening Sexual Dysfunctions (QSD) before and at six months and one year after surgery. Results. Sixty-two patients completed the questionnaire. General satisfaction about sexuality was significantly improved after surgery. Of 41 patients who were sexually active both before surgery and at one year after surgery, 28 (68.3%) patients reported sexual problems before surgery. In 13 (46.4%) of these patients, all sexual problems disappeared. Of the 13 patients without sexual problems before surgery, two patients reported de novo sexual problems. The relative risk on disappearance of sexual problems in patients with large cystocele was 1.5 (95% confidence interval 1.1–2.1) times higher than the risk in patients without large cystocele. Conclusion. Satisfaction about sexuality increases and the prevalence of sexual problems decreases in patients undergoing surgical correction of descensus uteri.


Activity thresholds were measured in nine anholocyclic clones of the peach‐potato aphid Myzus persicae collected along a latitudinal cline of its European distribution from Sweden to Spain. The effects of collection origin and intra‐ and intergenerational acclimation on these thresholds were investigated. Low‐temperature (10°C) acclimation for one generation depressed the movement threshold and chill coma temperatures, with the largest reduction in movement threshold recorded for clone UK 1 (8.8–2.5°C) and in chill coma for UK 2 (4.8–2.0°C). High‐temperature (25°C) acclimation for one generation increased the heat movement threshold and heat coma temperature with the largest increase in the movement threshold (40.1–41.1°C) and heat coma (41.4–42.3°C) recorded for clone Swed 1. There was no further intergenerational acclimation over three generations. High‐temperature activity thresholds were less plastic than low‐temperature thresholds, and, consequently, thermal activity ranges were expanded following low‐temperature acclimation. No constant affect of acclimation was observed on chill coma recovery, although clonal differences were observed with Swed 1 and 3 requiring some of the longest complete recovery times. There was no relationship between latitude and activity thresholds with the exception of heat coma data where Scandinavian clones Swed 2 and 3 consistently displayed some of the lowest heat coma temperatures (e.g. 41.3°C for both clones at 20°C) and Mediterranean clones Span 1, 2 and 3 displayed some of the highest (e.g. 42.1, 41.9 and 42.5°C, respectively, at 20°C). These data suggest that clonal mixing could occur over a large scale across Europe, limiting local adaptation to areas where conditions enable long‐term persistence of populations, e.g. adaptation to higher temperatures in the Mediterranean region. It is suggested that aphid thermal tolerance could be governed more by clonal type than the latitudinal origin.


Few-shot learning aims to generalize to novel classes with only a few samples with class labels. Research in few-shot learning has borrowed techniques from transfer learning, metric learning, meta-learning, and Bayesian methods. These methods also aim to train models from limited training samples, and while encouraging performance has been achieved, they often fail to generalize to novel domains. Many of the existing meta-learning methods rely on training data for which the base classes are sampled from the same domain as the novel classes used for meta-testing. However, in many applications in the industry, such as document classification, collecting large samples of data for meta-learning is infeasible or impossible. While research in the field of the cross-domain few-shot learning exists, it is mostly limited to computer vision. To our knowledge, no work yet exists that examines the use of few-shot learning for classification of semi-structured documents (scans of paper documents) generated as part of a business workflow (forms, letters, bills, etc.). Here the domain shift is significant, going from natural images to the semi-structured documents of interest. In this work, we address the problem of few-shot document image classification under domain shift. We evaluate our work by extensive comparisons with existing methods. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method shows consistent improvements on the few-shot classification performance under domain shift.


Product LDPC codes take advantage of LDPC decoding algorithms and the high minimum distance of product codes. We propose to add suitable interleavers to improve the waterfall performance of LDPC decoding. Interleaving also reduces the number of low weight codewords, that gives a further advantage in the error floor region.


Breast cancer is a worldwide health disquiet and is the second leading cause of cancer death among women. In Oman, it is the most well-known malignancy in women, with an incidence rate of 15.6 per 100,000 of the Omani females. Several anticancer remedies have been found from natural products in the past and the search is continuing to add more examples. Cytotoxic from natural compounds may have a considerable aspect in cancer therapy either in potentiating the impact of chemotherapy or curtailment its harmful effects. As of late, a couple studies have reported the benefit of utilizing crude camel milk as a part of treating a few types of cancer. In any case, no sufficient data are at present accessible on the potential of lyophilised camel's milk for the triggering of apoptosis and oxidative stress linked with human breast cancer. The present study intended to address the potential role of the lyophilised camel's milk in inducing proliferation suppression of T47D and HEp-2 cells in contrast with the non-cancer HCC1937 BL cell line. Lyophilized camel's milk principally suppressed T47D cells growth and proliferation through the induction of either the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways demonstrated by both caspase-3 mRNA and its activity level, and the impelling of death receptors in T47D but not the HEp-2 cell line. In addition to that lyophilised camel milk found to promotes the expression of oxidative stress markers as well as the production of both the heme- oxygenase-1 and reactive oxygen in T47D cells. The increase in the mRNA levels of caspase-3 found to be totally blocked by actinomycin D, a transcriptional inhibitor. This proposes that lyophilized camel milk increased newly synthesized RNA. Interestingly, the lyophilized camel`s milk significantly (p<0.005) repressed the growth of HEp-2 cells and T47D cells after treatment for 72 hours while 24 hours treatment suppressed T47D cells alone. This finding suggests that the lyophilised camel milk might influence apoptosis through initiation of an alternative apoptotic pathway (s).


Introduction: The CAGE questionnaire is the scale most commonly used to identify abusive use of alcohol; however, many of its psychometric properties in the Colombian adult population are unknown. Objective: To determine the in-ternal consistency of the CAGE questionnaire among adult smokers and non-smokers who reported alcohol drinking within the last month, as well as its psychometric properties when compared with a structured clinical interview in a group of smokers from the general population of Bucaramanga, Colombia. Method: A validation study was designed for three groups within the general population. Internal consistency was calculated with Kuder-Richardson coeffcient, and the psychometric properties (sensitivity, specifcity, predictive values, likelihood ratios, Cohen's kappa and area under receiver operating characteristic curve) were computed when CAGE was compared with a structured clinical interview among a sub-group of smokers. Results: The internal consistency was between 0.753 and 0.834. Among smokers, for the best cutoff point (2/4), the sensitivity was 66.7% (95%CI: 38.8-87.0); specifcity, 86.0% (95%CI: 73.7-93.3); positive predictive value, 55.6% (95%CI: 31.3-77.6); negative predictive value, 90.7% (95%CI: 78.9-96.5); positive likelihood ratio, 4.8; negative likelihood ratio, 0.39; Cohen's kappa, 0.490 (95%CI: 0.253-0.727); and area under receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.805 (95%CI: 0.680-0.929). Conclusions: The CAGE questionnaire presents acceptable internal consistency, although among smokers it shows modest properties when compared with a clinical interview.


This paper describes lessons learned in the design, construction and programming of a team of three reactive trash-collecting robots. The robots placed first in the Office Cleanup Event at the 1994 AAAI Mobile Robot Competition. The discussion includes details of multiagent cooperation, color vision for the detection of perceptual object classes, temporal sequencing of behaviors for task completion, and a language for specifying motor schema-based robot behaviors. We also address questions regarding architectual design choices in the robots' construction.


Recent concerns about an influenza pandemic have highlighted the need to plan for offsite Alternate Care Centers (ACCs). The likelihood of a successful response to patient surges will depend on the local health systems' ability to prepare well in advance of an influenza pandemic. Our health system has worked closely with our state's medical biodefense network to plan the establishment of an ACC for an influenza pandemic. As hospitalists have expanded their roles in their local health systems, they are poised to play a major role in planning for the next influenza pandemic. Hospitalists should work with their health system's administration in developing an ACC plan.


Abstract: Malaria remains a major infectious disease that affects millions of people. Once infected with Plasmodium parasites, a host can develop a broad range of clinical presentations, which result from complex interactions between factors derived from the host, the parasite and the environment. Malaria has historically been a very serious health problem and currently poses the most significant threat to the health of Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology students, data shows that more than 70% percent of pediatric cases are due to malaria.
Methodology: Hence, the study aimed to fit malaria incidences dataset for the period 1st January, 2013 to 31st December, 2015. Data on monthly malaria incidence was obtained from the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology health service. Gamma, Weibull and Lognormal Distributions were employed to fit the malaria incidence dataset using R-software.
Results: High malaria incidences were observed in the months of August, September and November. AIC values results showed that lognormal distribution had the lowest AIC value of 185.9875 followed by the Gamma distribution with a value of 187.8815 and then the Weibull distribution with a value of 188.7271. This confirmed the lognormal distribution to be the best fitting distribution for the malaria incidence dataset
Conclusion: The Poisson regression model did not accurately fit the data on malaria incidences due to over dispersion in the data but lognormal distribution was a better fit compared to gamma and Weibull distribution.


Virtual machine, which typically consists of a guest operating system (OS) and its serial applications, can be checkpointed, migrated to another cluster node, and restarted later to its previous saved state. However, to date, it is nontrivial to provide checkpoint-restart mechanisms with the same level of transparency for distributed applications running on a cluster of virtual machines. To address this particular issue, we have created the Virtual Cluster CheckPointing (VCCP) system, a novel system for transparent coordinated checkpoint-restart of virtual machines and its distributed application on commodity clusters. In this paper, we detail the design and implementation of the VCCP system. Our VCCP prototype extends the open source QEMU system with kqemu module by implementing hypervisor-based Coordinated Checkpoint-Restart protocols. To verify and validate our prototype, we measured its performance using the NAS parallel benchmark. Our experimental results indicate that VCCP generates less than 1% of additional execution overhead for non-communication intensive parallel applications. Furthermore, our correctness analysis shows that VCCP does not cause message loss or reordering, which is a necessary property to ensure correctness of checkpoint-restart mechanism. Finally, we believe that VCCP is a promising checkpoint-restart alternative for legacy applications that have implemented traditional process-level checkpoint-restart.


To reduce noise components from original microseismic waves, a comprehensive fine signal processing approach using the integrated decomposition analysis of the wave duration, frequency spectrum, and wavelet coefficient domain was developed and implemented. Distribution regularities of the wave component and redundant noise on the frequency spectrum and the wavelet coefficient domain were first expounded. The frequency threshold and wavelet coefficient threshold were determined for the identification and extraction of the effective wave component. The frequency components between the reconstructed microseismic wave and the original measuring signal were compared. The noise elimination effect via the scale-changed domain decomposition was evaluated. Interaction between the frequency threshold and the wavelet coefficient threshold in the time domain was discussed. The findings reveal that tri-domain decomposition analysis achieves the precise identification and extraction of the effective microseismic wave component and improves the reliability of waves by eliminating the redundant noise. The frequency threshold and the wavelet coefficient threshold on a specific time window are two critical parameters that determine the degree of precision for the identification of the extracted wave component. This research involves development of the proposed integrated domain decomposition method and provides a diverse view on the fine processing of the microseismic signal.


BACKGROUND
Growing competition among maternity hospitals and declining birth rates make pregnant women a target group that is much in demand. This article examines how satisfied women are with the maternity care they received in their hospital and which are the most important factors for women's satisfaction and their willingness to recommend the hospital to family and friends.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS
A postal survey was undertaken. After discharge 3 073 women from 38 hospitals were sent a questionnaire.

RESULTS
Women were least satisfied with the discharge management (problem score 53%). Room amenities, food and room atmosphere were criticised by 29%, 27% and 24%, respectively. More than a fifth report problems in the interaction with nursing and medical staff (22% each). Fifteen percent were not satisfied with the midwife/midwives caring for them during labour. The relationship with nurses, doctors and midwives are the main factors that influence women's willingness to recommend the hospital to family and friends.

DISCUSSION
Overall satisfaction with maternity care in hospital is high (problem score 10%); however, the findings indicate that women see plenty of room for improvement in various areas.

CONCLUSION
Clinical expertise, emotional support and successful communication are the key indicators for quality in maternity care as viewed by postnatal women. These skills need further development if women's satisfaction as well as their willingness to recommend the maternity hospital is to be improved.


Background A growing understanding of the molecular biology of cancer and the identification of specific aberrations driving cancer evolution have led to the development of various targeted agents. Tumors can exhibit significant heterogeneity and this may change over time, also as the result of selective pressure. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), shed from multiple tumor sites, have demonstrated to represent of the overall tumor burden. We report the results of an ongoing comparative study on mutation and copy number profiles of primary and metastatic tissue, CTCs, and synchronously isolated DTCs from metastatic effusions of patients with clinically progressive MBC. Materials & Methods CTCs and DTCs were enriched from 7.5 ml blood or effusion using the CellSearch system and were further purified and sorted with the DEPArray system. For this study we isolated both 70 single and 70 pools of 10-200 CTCs or DTCs, in order have enough power to detect 5% subclones and analyse heterogeneity. Single and pooled WBCs were isolated as technical controls. DNA was isolated and amplified using the Ampli1-kit and subjected to Illumina WGS and Ion Torrent AmpliSeq panel sequencing. Fresh frozen tissue from solid metastases and the primary tumor, and bulk CTC (CellSearch Profile) were sequenced as comparators for mutation and copy number profiles. DNA of buffy coat was sequenced to enable germline variant detection. For mutational analysis, only somatic variants with good quality metrics, >20x coverage, variant allele frequencies >10%, and being non-synonymous or splice site variants, were taken into account. Results AmpliSeq panel sequencing was performed on 153 unique samples of three patients with a mean coverage depth of 1000x. In patient 1, a PIK3CA hotspot mutation was found clonally in all tumor samples at heterozygous level. Furthermore, various private mutations were found in both CTCs and DTCs, however not in WBC, including several TP53 hotspot mutations. In patient 2, another PIK3CA hotspot was present in all CTCs at heterozygous frequencies. In patient 3, an enormous heterogeneity was observed between all CTC and DTC samples. For patient 3, disease evolution was detected during multiple events of progressive disease over 2 years. At the moment, low pass WGS for CN detection for all samples is being performed and results will be present prior to the SABCS. Conclusion Based on the mutational status we conclude that both clonal mutations as well as various private variants are present in single and pools of CTCs and DTCs. In addition to the detection of targetable aberrations, the evaluation of heterogeneity is of clinical importance, as the effect of targeting subclones is currently being explored in clinical trials. Citation Format: Brouwer A, van Dam P-J, Rutten A, Prove A, Peeters M, Van Laere S, Dirix L. Evaluation of subclonality in the CTC and DTC compartment of patients with metastatic breast cancer using low pass whole genome and AmpliSeq panel sequencing [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-06-01.


The 2005 North Atlantic hurricane season (1 June to 30 November) was the most active on record by several measures, surpassing the very active season of 2004 and causing an unprecedented level of damage. Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the tropical North Atlantic (TNA) region critical for hurricanes (10° to 20°N) were at record high levels in the extended summer (June to October) of 2005 at 0.9°C above the 1901–70 normal and were a major reason for the record hurricane season. Changes in TNA SSTs are associated with a pattern of natural variation known as the Atlantic Multi‐decadal Oscillation (AMO). However, previous AMO indices are conflated with linear trends and a revised AMO index accounts for between 0 and 0.1°C of the 2005 SST anomaly. About 0.45°C of the SST anomaly is common to global SST and is thus linked to global warming and, based on regression, about 0.2°C stemmed from after‐effects of the 2004–05 El Niño.


A technique for solving the full global diffusion equation for the F2 layer, including electrodynamic 'E x B' drift, is presented. This involves considering the form of the diffusion equation in axes moving with the electrodynamic 'E x B' drift. In addition, it is shown how the region of integration, which involves complicated dipole geometry, may be mapped on to a semi-infinite rectangle. The method is illustrated by calculating world curves of electron density for a simple model atmosphere in which the electrodynamic 'E x B' drift and the electron production are time dependent and the electron loss coefficient is time independent. The calculations are compared with previous experimental results and confirm electrodynamic lifting as one of the major factors controlling the dip equatorial F2 layer and the associated trough of ionization as suggested by D. F. Martyn.


Senescence and autophagy play important roles in homeostasis. Cellular senescence and autophagy commonly cause several degenerative processes, including oxidative stress, DNA damage, telomere shortening, and oncogenic stress; hence, both events are known to be interrelated. Autophagy is well known for its disruptive effect on human diseases, and it is currently proposed to have a direct effect on triggering senescence and quiescence. However, it is yet to be proven whether autophagy has a positive or negative impact on senescence. It is known that elevated levels of autophagy induce cell death, whereas inadequate autophagy can trigger cellular senescence. Both have important roles in human diseases such as aging, renal degeneration, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. Therefore, this review aims to highlight the relevance of senescence and autophagy in selected human ailments through a summary of recent findings on the connection and effects of autophagy and senescence in these diseases.