OBJECTIVES: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common but largely underdiagnosed condition. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the oxygen desaturation index (ODI) obtained using a wireless high-resolution oximeter with a built-in accelerometer linked to a smartphone with automated cloud analysis, Overnight Digital Monitoring (ODM), is a reliable method for the diagnosis of OSA. METHODS: Consecutive patients referred to the sleep laboratory with suspected OSA underwent in-laboratory polysomnography (PSG) and simultaneous ODM. The PSG apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was analyzed using the criteria recommended and accepted by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) for the definition of hypopnea: arousal or ≥3% O2 desaturation (PSG-AHI3%) and ≥4% O2 desaturation (PSG-AHI4%), respectively. The results of PSG and ODM were compared by drawing parallels between the PSG-AHI3% and PSG-AHI4% with ODM-ODI3% and ODM-ODI4%, respectively. Bland-Altman plots, intraclass correlation, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and area under the curve (AUC) analyses were conducted for statistical evaluation. ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT03526133. RESULTS: This study included 304 participants (men: 55%; age: 55±14 years; body mass index: 30.9±5.7 kg/m2; PSG-AHI3%: 35.3±30.1/h, ODM-ODI3%: 30.3±25.9/h). The variability in the AASM scoring bias (PSG-AHI3% vs PSG-AHI4%) was significantly higher than that for PSG-AHI3% vs ODM-ODI3% (3%) and PSG-AHI4% vs ODM-ODI4% (4%) (9.7, 5.0, and 2.9/h, respectively; p<0.001). The limits of agreement (2±SD, derived from the Bland-Altman plot) of AASM scoring variability were also within the same range for (PSG vs ODM) 3% and 4% variability: 18.9, 21.6, and 16.5/h, respectively. The intraclass correlation/AUC for AASM scoring variability and PSG vs ODM 3% or 4% variability were also within the same range (0.944/0.977 and 0.953/0.955 or 0.971/0.964, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our results showed that ODM is a simple and accurate method for the diagnosis of OSA.


A fundamental prediction of inflation is a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of gravitational wave. The features of such a signal provide extremely important information about the physics of the early universe. In this paper, we focus on several topics about warm inflation. First, we discuss the stability property about warm inflation based on nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, which gives more fundamental physical illustrations to thermal property of such model. Then, we calculate the power spectrum of gravitational waves generated during warm inflation, in which there are three components contributing to such spectrum: thermal term, quantum term and cross term combining the both. We also discuss some interesting properties about these terms and illustrate them in different panels. As a model different from cold inflation, warm inflation model has its individual properties in observational practice, so we finally give a discussion about the observational effect to distinguish it from cold inflation.


The paper presents a new approach for feature representation using semantic line groupings in an image. The algorithm uses the hypothesis in line with Gestalt laws of proximity that as a baseline in an image, semantic structures are formed by line segments placed in close proximity to each other. The algorithm uses line segments in an image to form semantic groups based on a minimum distance threshold. The semantic line groupings are differentiated from each other by the number of group members and their geometrical properties represented as histograms. The results are analyzed using different similarity measures to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the grouping approach and those of the similarity measures.


The article reconstructs the framework of S.S. Averintsev's culturology and outlines the contexts that make this theoretical model especially relevant today. The theory of the three stages of the word state, where, in addition to the poles in the traditional 'sacred/reflexive (scientific, pluralistic)' dichotomy is proclaimed an intermediate state, sacral-reflexive, and is interesting not only out of historical curiosity, it has significant heuristic potential. The current relevance of Averintsev's culturology is ensured by the fact that his model is consistently and fundamentally realistic. A distinctive feature of this variant of culturology is the reliance on literary studies, on the typology of the word of M.M. Bakhtin. But this is culturology, the historical typology of culture, which leads to large-scale generalizations and universal models. In the late 1980s, Averintsev's typology acquired the status of a historical model of types of rationality. This typology of culture turned out to be a 'strong' theory with many not only ontological implications, but also consequences important for epistemology and philosophy of science. Philosophers, art historians, historians and literary critics had reason thirty years ago to consider the challenges of such culturology provocative and nihilistic. It makes revolutionary demands on all humanities disciplines. But at the same time: the whole revolutionary nature of Averintsev's theory remained precisely in the implications. The theory, which was 'loud' by the scale of universal claims, was pronounced in the published texts more than 'quietly', almost 'in a whisper'. Perhaps, this antinomy is fundamental.


Cox, Harvey Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality EATWOT Spirituality of the Third World (EATWOT 3rd Assembly) Gibellini, Rosino, ed. Paths of African Theology Mortenson, Vernon God Made It Grow: Historical Sketches of TEAM's Church Planting Work Murdoch, Norman H. Origins of the Salvation Army Nicholls, Bruce Led. The Unique Christ in Our Pluralist World Newbigin, Lesslie A Word in Season: Perspectives on Christian World Missions Roozen, David A., Church and Denominational and C. Kirk Hadaway, Growth: What Does (and Docs eds. Not) Cause Growth or Decline'? Wuthnow, Robert, ed. "I Come Away Stronger": How Small Groups Are Shaping American Religion


Abstract Metamasius hemipterus sericeus (Olivier) is a widely distributed weevil in Central and South America, as well as the West Indies. It was introduced into Florida, Miami-Dade County, in 1984. This insect generally is regarded as a secondary pest of sugarcane, bananas, palms and several other tropical plants grown as ornamentals. Larvae bore into stems and petioles, thus weakening the plant and providing a pathway for penetration by fungi or other pests. In addition to investigating the biology, this study was conducted to gather basic information to help optimize culturing efforts for large numbers of M. h. sericeus to be used for mass rearing of potential biological control organisms. After pairing males and females, it took an average of 27.0 days for females to begin oviposition. The oviposition period lasted 56.8 days. Females lived 142.3 days and laid an average of 51.6 eggs. Mean generation time was 63 days. Mean egg production during the oviposition period was 1.1 eggs/day. Egg eclosion averaged 81.3% during the oviposition period.


Introduction Agrochemicals, short from agricultural chemicals, is a term used for various chemical products which are commonly used in agriculture. The most famous representative example of agrochemicals are pesticides, but it may also include fertilizers, hormones or similar chemical growth agents, as well as raw animal manure. Even as an active substance is authorized in European Union, and products containing this active substance are authorized and marketed, there is still a need for risk assessment to communicate and to manage risk with regard to the different risk groups, workers and the general population as a whole. Overall Goal The goal of this effort is the creation of Exposure and Risk Profiles, as a reliable, scientifically based way to forecast pesticide exposure and workers' risk in typical scenarios from a minimum set of available information, aimed at performing a preliminary risk assessment even without the need of "in field" measurements. Methodology To reach our goal we have conducted a wide published literature search to define the process of pesticide application and the most common exposure determinants. Then we conducted two real-life field studies on exposure to pesticide in different use scenarios in the vineyards of the Region of Lombardy (one study in the framework of the ACROPOLIS project of the European Union, and another financed by INAIL). We collected field information in the form of a structured questionnaire, with a goal to record the variables previously identified as important modifiers of pesticide exposure. Also we collected exposure measurements, using two methodologies: skin pads and whole-body method, following in principle the OECD guidelines. Finally, we used the results from the field to develop a method that allows for a re-use of field data in risk assessment, by creating a Risk Assessment Scheme which can be used to assess risk in the field, without doing any measurements. Results We report the main phases of pesticide work and variables, together with their influence, as a result of our wide literature search. Also we report the results of two field studies, first on 7 workers applying Tebuconazole on 12 work-days, and second on 28 workers applying Mancozeb on 38 work-days. Finally, we show a proposed approach to using field measurements from our study in the Region of Lombardy to perform future riskassessment in one defined scenario of closed and filtered tractors. Discussion and Conclusions Our work has tackled the problem of risk assessment for pesticide exposure in agriculture, which has been unfairly neglected in the past years. Through the use of literature data, field studies and computational modelling, we have managed to analyze and summarize the characteristics of pesticide application in agriculture, explore the real-life field conditions during pesticide application in vineyards in Italy, collect the field measurements necessary to do exposure and risk assessment, and to develop a method to use the data collected to produce a Risk Assessment Scheme. The study results and the above mentioned tool represent a step forward towards rapid, simple and scientifically based risk assessment in real-life conditions of pesticide application in agriculture. Novel Approaches to Pesticide Risk Assessment by Stefan Mandić-Rajčević


Abstract This article aims to provide rigorous and convenient statistical models for dealing with high-variability phenomena. The presence of discrepance in variance represents a substantial issue when it is not possible to reduce variability before analysing the data, leading to the possibility to estimate an inadequate model. In this paper, the application of Generalized Additive Model for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) and the use of finite mixture model for GAMLSS will be proposed as a solution to the problem of overdispersion. An application to Liver fibrosis data is illustrated in order to identify potential risk factors for patients, which could determine the presence of the disease but also its levels of severity.


We assess the assembly of supramolecular complexes by hydrogen bonding between azocompounds and a diacylaminopyridine monomer by temperature-dependent Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The electronic delocalisation in the supramolecular rings formed by multiple hydrogen bonds stabilises the complexes, which coexist with dimeric species in temperature-dependent equilibria. We show how the application of readily available molecular modelling and spectroscopic techniques can predict the stability of new supramolecular entities coexisting in equilibria, ultimately assessing the success of molecular recognition.


An attempt was made in this study to appraise the investment proposition in dairying, incorporating the cash support incentive initiated by the government in recent years. Financial analysis was performed using primary data collected from different locations of Tangail district. The results indicated that dairy farming with both local and cross-bred cows was highly profitable. The profitability with cross-bred cows was more than that with local cows. Both the categories of farms had high benefit-cost ratios at 14 percent discount rate. The internal rate of return of more than 24 percent indicated that return from investment in dairying would be far more than the opportunity cost of capital in the formal capital market.


Abstract: Field experiments were conducted to determine the influence of nozzle type, spray volume, and adjuvants on herbicide efficacy. Carfentrazone and imazamox, representing contact and translocated herbicides, respectively, were equally or more effective when applied with drift-reducing TurboDrop or Drift Guard nozzles than the conventional flat-fan nozzle in 95% of the comparisons. Imazamox was equally effective when applied in 47, 94, or 190 L/ha spray volume, regardless of nozzle type or adjuvant. Carfentrazone applied in 47 L/ha spray volume controlled flax and sunflower as well as in 94 or 190 L/ha, provided urea ammonium nitrate fertilizer and either nonionic surfactant or methylated vegetable oil were included in the spray mixture. Conversely, carfentrazone with only urea ammonium nitrate was less effective when applied in 47 than in 94 or 190 L/ha spray volume. Carfentrazone and imazamox applied in low spray volumes (47 L/ha) gave consistent control when an effective adjuvant was included in the spray mixture. Nomenclature: Carfentrazone; imazamox; flax, Linum usitatissimum L.; sunflower, Helianthus annuus L. Additional index words: Application methods, droplet size, nitrogen fertilizer, spray coverage, spray drift. Abbreviations: DAT, days after treatment; MVO, methylated vegetable oil, NIS, nonionic surfactant; UAN, urea ammonium nitrate fertilizer; VMD, volume median diameter.


A physical map is presented for the 1200 kb genome of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Y, locating 32 cleavage sites for 8 restriction endonucleases. The large restriction fragments involved were separated and sized by pulsed-field agarose gel electrophoresis. Their locations on the map were determined by probing Southern blots of digests with individual fragments isolated from other digests and by correlating the products of double and triple digestions. Loci for 2 ribosomal RNA operons and 2 tRNA operons have been determined by probing with cloned genes and the broad regions of the replication origin and terminus have also been outlined by in vivo labelling studies.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
In colorectal cancer patients' mortality is largely influenced by spreading of tumour cells from the primary tumour site and subsequent metastasis formation. CD44 is an adhesion molecule and represents a highly variable family of isoforms. The isoform CD44v6 has been associated with metastatic spread and poor prognosis in animal models and several human cancers. Results of immunohistological studies in primary colorectal cancer are mostly retrospective and contradictory. The aim of our prospective study was to assess the controversial role of CD44v6 as a prognostic factor in colorectal cancer.

METHODS
In 93 patients we analysed tumour CD44v6 expression in prospectively sampled stage I-IV colorectal adenocarcinomas using RT-PCR and Southern blotting. The prognostic value of the CD44v6 expression was assessed using univariate and multivariate analysis.

RESULTS
CD44v6 expression was found in 47 % of the cases. CD44v6 expression failed to show any association with the clinical or histological variables examined. CD44v6 expression did not correlate with survival in long-term follow-up. The most important prognostic factor in this cohort was tumour stage.

CONCLUSIONS
Changes in CD446 expression level do not predict tumour spread or patient survival in colorectal cancer.


Background. We know that the spirometry is recommended for the diagnosis and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The specialists of respiratory medicine such as the American Thoracic and European Respiratory Societies (ATS/ERS) have published guidelines on standards of spirometry. Materials and Methods We analyzed data of lung function test of adult patients with and without COPD. Spirometry was performed with a mass flow sensor (BTL 08- Spiro; UK) according to the guidelines of the European Respiratory Society. For the diagnosis of airway obstruction, we used the NHANES III reference equations to calculate the LLN for FEV1, FEV6, FVC, FEV1/FEV6, and FEV1/FVC. We calculated sensitivity and specificity for FEV1/FEV6 below its LLN as a predictor for obstruction. We calculated the positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV). Results. We analysed data of 250 spirometric test results in patients with COPD, 200 healthy who do not smoke and 245, who had an experience of smoking more than 33 packyears. Parameters of FEV6 and FEV1/FEV6 ratio in patients with COPD were similar to FVC and FEV1/FVC. The FEV1/FEV6 sensitivity was 92.0% and specificity was 90.1%. The PPV of FEV1/FEV6 was 88.6%, and the NPV was 92.0%. The prevalence of obstruction was 368 of 645 subjects (57.1%). Conclusion. The FEV1/FEV6 ratio can be used as a valid alternative for FEV1/FVC in the diagnosis of airway obstruction in adults when the realization of the broncodilatation test is limited in screening study in primary care.


Gaussian process (GP) models are widely used to emulate propagation uncertainty in computer experiments. GP emulation sits comfortably within an analytically tractable Bayesian framework. Apart from propagating uncertainty of the input variables, a GP emulator trained on finitely many runs of the experiment also offers error bars for response surface estimates at unseen input values. This helps select future input values where the experiment should be run to minimize the uncertainty in the response surface estimation. However, traditional GP emulators use stationary covariance functions, which perform poorly and lead to suboptimal selection of future input points when the response surface has sharp local features, such as a jump discontinuity or an isolated tall peak. We propose an easily implemented nonstationary GP emulator, based on two stationary GPs, one nested into the other, and demonstrate its superior ability in handling local features and selecting future input points from the boundaries of such...


Lithographically defined microwell templates are used to study DNA-guided colloidal crystal assembly parameters, including superlattice position, habit orientation, and size, in an effort to increase our understanding of the crystallization process. In addition to enabling the synthesis of arrays of individual superlattices in arbitrary predefined patterns, the technique allows one to study the growth pathways of the crystals via ex situ scanning electron microscopy. Importantly, a Volmer-Weber (VM) (island formation)-like growth mode is identified, which has been reproduced via simulations. Notably, both experiment and simulation reveal that the crystallites merge and reorient within the microwells that defined the crystal growth to form single-crystalline structures, an observation not common for VM pathways. The control afforded by this platform will facilitate efforts in constructing metamaterials from colloidal crystals as well as their integration into optical devices and applications.


OBJECTIVE
To perform a qualitative evaluation of the Thyroid Network, with a quantitative analysis of second opinion referrals for patients in the southwestern part of the Netherlands who have thyroid nodules and cancer.

METHODS
This prospective observational study registered all patients with thyroid nodules and cancer who were referred to the academic hospital from 2 years before and 4 years after the foundation of the Thyroid Network. We implemented biweekly regional multidisciplinary tumor boards using video conference and a regional patient care pathway for patients with thyroid nodules and cancer. For qualitative evaluation, interviews were conducted with a broad selection of stakeholders via maximum variation sampling. The primary outcome was the change in second opinions after the foundation of the Thyroid Network.

RESULTS
Second opinions from Thyroid Network hospitals to the academic hospital decreased from 10 (30%) to 2 (7%) two years after the start of the Thyroid Network (P = .001), while patient referrals remained stable (n = 108 to 106). Qualitative evaluation indicated that the uniform care pathway and the regional multidisciplinary tumor board were valued high.

DISCUSSION
Establishing a regional network, including multidisciplinary tumor boards and a care pathway for patients with thyroid nodules and cancer, resulted in a decrease in second opinions of in-network hospitals and high satisfaction of participating specialists.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
The concept of the Thyroid Network could spread to other regions as well as to other specialties in health care. Future steps would be to assess the effect of regional collaboration on quality of care and patient satisfaction.


OBJECTIVES
This study aims to test the efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation by a group who were blinded to the arthroscopic diagnosis in patients with known bucket handle meniscal tears.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
In this study, MRI scans of 28 patients who were operated due to bucket handle meniscal tear with sufficient documentation were evaluated. Radiographic evaluation was performed by two different groups, including an orthopedist and radiologist. In the first group, evaluation of MRI scans was performed by the specialists who were aware of the arthroscopic diagnosis and marked the defined MRI signs of bucket handle meniscal tear. In the second group, evaluation was done, remaining blinded to the diagnosis, with only initial complaints at admission. The second group also evaluated the MRI scans and marked the pathologic signs. The sensitivity of radiological signs marked by both groups was compared. Invariables were found using blinded evaluation.

RESULTS
Double posterior cruciate ligament and free fragment in the intercondylar notch were invariable sensitivities found in the MRI scans by blinded evaluation. The sensitivity of coronal truncation, anterior flip and any free fragment signs were significantly decreased in the setting of blinded evaluation.

CONCLUSION
Preoperative differentiation of reparable bucket-handle tears from irreparable is of utmost importance. As meniscal repair improves knee stability and functional results, surgical repair of meniscal injuries particularly in younger individuals who are scheduled for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction have a positive effect on clinical outcomes.


Archaeological malachites, represented by the malachites found on the ancient Chinese and Vietnamese copper/bronze coins, may also incorporate those on other archaeological objects. The Raman spectra with Ar laser of these malachites differ slightly from those of the natural malachites found in mines. In this study, 120 measurements of the malachites on 40 coins identified 26 bands, while only around 18 of them are frequently observed. The wavenumbers (cm−1), shifts (±)and relative intensities (in parentheses) of the 18 common bands read, respectively: 153±4 (0-vs), 179±7 (m-vs), 217±8 (m-vs), 274±7 (0-vs), 355±5 (0-m), 431±4 (0-vs), 514±3 (0-m), 533±5 (0-s), 566±3 (0-m), 599±2 (0-m), 718±6 (0-m), 754±2 (0-m), 1061±7 (0-m), 1093±10 (0-m), 1365±9 (0-m), 1491±7 (0-vs), 3321±11 (0-vs) and 3380±7 (0-vs). In comparison with those of the 105 measurements on the natural malachites in five mines, the Raman spectra of the archaeological malachites tend to show less bands, higher backgrounds and greater shifts in the wavenumber position. The weakening or loss of bands is in the order of the OH stretch (3300 cm−1) (most severe), CO3 (600–1500 cm−1) and CuO (<600 cm−1) (less severe) groups, indicating successive stages of corrosion. The malachites on the coins from three climate zones show their own characteristics. Several coins may have experienced two or more climatic or geologic episodes and show complex Raman spectra different from those of the natural malachites. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract Study of a database of 350 giant oilfields show these to be dynamic short lived phenomena, with a median age of 35 Ma. One third show evidence for post-entrapment destructive processes, particularly erosion, fault leakage and gas flushing. Biodegradation is a destructive process most active during oil entrapment. Re-entrapment of oil released from spilling or breached traps is common. These processes are illustrated with case examples from SE Asia and throughout the world. The main controls on oilfield preservation are post-entrapment tectonism and seal type, with temperature and hydrodynamic regimes being secondary factors. Destructive processes are concentrated in shallow and deep zones and in seepage-prone traps such as compressional anticlines. Such factors strongly influence the distribution of preserved light oilfields, with preservation potential maximised in tectonically quiescent basins with evaporite or thick mudstone seals e.g. the Middle East and the Permian Basin, or in basin centres distant from inverted or uplifted zones e.g. Central Sumatra. More attention is required in prospect and regional evaluations to models involving post-entrapment leakage and re-migration.


The degenerate Ginzburg-Landau equation gives a description of patterns which arise in the case of weakly unstable PDEs with a unbounded spatial direction when the Landau constant (characterizing the influence of the nonlinearity) is small. This equation possesses a family of periodic solutions, moreover there exists a band of stable periodic solutions among them. We give the full description of the possible behaviour of the system just outside this stable band. This is done through derivation of the so-called modulated modulation equations. We also study some solutions of these equations among which stationary periodic and heteroclinic solutions, moving solitons, cnoidal waves and front-like solutions are found.


e discusses the area of Soviet philosophy that roughly corresponds to theoretical philosophy and philosophy of science based on the example of Estonia and proceeding from the University of Tartu. e period from approximately 1960 to 1990, when the author himself was engaged in the eld, is under focus. e aim of the paper is not to provide an overview of individual philosophers during the time, or of their works, but to give a more general description of the philosophy of the Soviet era. Soviet and East European philosophy of the time has received rather little critical treatment in English-language literature. However, a few general overviews trying to prove that this legacy is worth studying have been published. e paper is focused on the question of which kinds of philosophical research it was possible to conduct under the abnormal conditions of the time and whether some starting points and problems of this research might still be viable today. Estonian experience conrms the general conclusion of those authors who, analyzing the legacy of Marxism, have found that although Marxism is generally not considered a serious philosophy nowadays, but rather an ideological basis of a failed political doctrine, it has nevertheless something to ošer when treated in amore depoliticizedmanner, in the general context of philosophical inquiry.


Using the thawed Gaussian wave packets [E. J. Heller, J. Chem. Phys. 62, 1544 (1975)] and the adaptive reinitialization technique employing the frame operator [L. M. Andersson et al., J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 35, 7787 (2002)], a trajectory-based Gaussian wave packet method is introduced that can be applied to scattering and time-dependent problems. This method does not require either the numerical multidimensional integrals for potential operators or the inversion of nearly-singular matrices representing the overlap of overcomplete Gaussian basis functions. We demonstrate a possibility that the method can be a promising candidate for the time-dependent Schrödinger equation solver by applying to tunneling, high-order harmonic generation, and above-threshold ionization problems in one-dimensional model systems. Although the efficiency of the method is confirmed in one-dimensional systems, it can be easily extended to higher dimensional systems.


Skeletal muscle obtained from mice that lack the type 1 ryanodine receptor (RyR-1), termed dyspedic mice, exhibit a 2-fold reduction in the number of dihydropyridine binding sites (DHPRs) compared with skeletal muscle obtained from wild-type mice (Buck, E. D., Nguyen, H. T., Pessah, I. N., and Allen, P. D. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 7360–7367 and Fleig, A., Takeshima, H., and Penner, R. (1996) J. Physiol. (Lond.) 496, 339–345). To probe the role of RyR-1 in influencing L-type Ca2+ channel (L-channel) expression, we have monitored functional L-channel expression in the sarcolemma using the whole-cell patch clamp technique in normal, dyspedic, and RyR-1-expressing dyspedic myotubes. Our results indicate that dyspedic myotubes exhibit a 45% reduction in maximum immobilization-resistant charge movement (Qmax) and a 90% reduction in peak Ca2+ current density. Calcium current density was significantly increased in dyspedic myotubes 3 days after injection of cDNA encoding either wild-type RyR-1 or E4032A, a mutant RyR-1 that is unable to restore robust voltage-activated release of Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) following expression in dyspedic myotubes (O'Brien, J. J., Allen, P. D., Beam, K., and Chen, S. R. W. (1999) Biophys. J. 76, A302 (abstr.)). The increase in L-current density 3 days after expression of either RyR-1 or E4032A occurred in the absence of a change in Qmax. However, Qmax was increased 85% 6 days after injection of dyspedic myotubes with cDNA encoding the wild-type RyR-1 but not E4032A. Because normal and dyspedic myotubes exhibited a similar density of T-type Ca2+ current (T-current), the presence of RyR-1 does not appear to cause a general overall increase in protein synthesis. Thus, long-term expression of L-channels in skeletal myotubes is promoted by Ca2+ released through RyRs occurring either spontaneously or during excitation-contraction coupling.


Neutrophils are innate immune phagocytes that play a key role in immune defense against invading pathogens. The main offensive mechanisms of neutrophils are the phagocytosis of pathogens, release of granules, and production of cytokines. The formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) has been described as a novel defense mechanism in the literature. NETs are a network of fibers assembled from chromatin deoxyribonucleic acid, histones, and neutrophil granule proteins that have the ability to kill pathogens, while they can also cause toxic effects in hosts. Activated neutrophils with NET formation stimulate autoimmune responses related to a wide range of inflammatory autoimmune diseases by exposing autoantigens in susceptible individuals. The association between increased NET formation and autoimmunity was first reported in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-related vasculitis, and the role of NETs in various diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis, has since been elucidated in research. Herein, we discuss the mechanistic role of neutrophils, including NETs, in the pathogenesis of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA) and adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD), and provide their clinical values as biomarkers for monitoring and prognosis.


The characteristics of mobile adhoc network (MANET), has made the design of efficient routing protocols a critical research challenge. Use of location information in routing is often proposed as a means to achieve scalability. The major issue in location based routing is effective implementation of location management functions so as to reduce the costs associated with them. In this paper, we propose circular layer location management (CLLM) scheme which employs circular layer architecture and multigrained location information organization. Here we show that following our scheme, we can achieve a good asymptotic bound for both location updation and query costs


The research paper attempts to probe the resistance of subaltern against the institutionalized oppression of the capitalist society shown in the novel of 'Our Lady of Alice Bhatti' by Mohammad Hanif.  The researcher applies the theory of Gramsci to explore the abject condition, suppression and subsequent resistance of subaltern class. This novel gives voice to the oppressed, suppressed and wretched minority of Pakistani society.  Alice Bhatti, the protagonist is in many ways a subaltern. She is a Christian in Muslim majority society; she lives in the French colony in the slums of Karachi, she is a woman in the patriarchal society.  This novel shows the struggle and resilience of the protagonist. She fought against triple marginalization: She resists against poverty, she resists against patriarchy, she resists against religious fundamentalism, she resists against the bourgeoisie class. Mohammad Hanif produces a subaltern who speaks, who struggles, and who fights against the system.  In the end, she is crushed by the ruthless hands of the system. Her death by acid is a cry of a subaltern against inhuman suppression.


Introduction Double Balloon enteroscopy (DBE) is an increasingly important procedure particularly in the context of obscure GI bleeding (OGB) with a high reported diagnostic yield. There is however paucity of data on its use in the elderly. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of DBE in the elderly and risk of complications compared to a younger cohort. Methods A prospective review of consecutive patients who underwent DBE over the last six years for the indication of OGB was conducted. The majority of patients underwent a capsule endoscopy prior to DBE, either locally or at our centre. Data was collected on demographics, procedure duration, dose of sedation/analgesia, diagnostic yield and subsequent change in management and complications encountered. Patients were divided into group 1: age≥ 70 years, group 2: age < 70 years. Results One hundred and forty eight DBE procedures were carried out for the indications of OGB. The majority were for the indication of iron deficiency anaemia (IDA, n = 109.74%), 53% were males and the oral route was carried out in 69% of patients. Group 1 (age≥ 70 years) consisted of 27% (n = 40) of the cohort with a mean age of 77 years (range 70–83 years). There were 38% of patients with the presence of significant co-morbidity and four patients were on warfarin. The diagnostic yield in Group 1 was 53%. There was no significant difference in the yield between those with IDA and overt bleeding (p = 0.7). The commonest diagnosis in the elderly was angioectasia (45%, n = 18). The other findings included a small bowel tumour and mantle cell lymphoma (n = 2) and a Meckels diverticulum (n = 1). Therapeutics was performed in 45%. There was one respiratory arrest in a patient with known chronic airways disease (COPD). This patient was subsequently discharged home after a short stay on intensive care. The mean age in group 2 (n = 108) was 54 years, 44% females and the diagnostic yield was 35%. Comparison of the two groups demonstrated a trend towards a higher diagnostic yield in the elderly (p = 0.06). On logistic regression, previous transfusion requirement was associated with a higher yield with DBE in all patients (p = 0.04).Subsequent management was altered in a significant greater proportion of the elderly (28% versus 50%, p = 0.01, OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.2–5.5). There was no difference in the duration of the procedure between the two groups (p = 0.4), whilst the median dose of midazolam and fentanyl was significantly greater in group 2 (4.5 mg versus 6 mg, p < 0.001, 50mcg versus 75mcg, p < 0.001 respectively).There were no complications in group 2. Conclusion DBE has a high diagnostic yield with a positive impact on patient management in the elderly. Albeit low rate of complications, careful selection of patients would help reduce risks in this age group. Disclosure of Interest None Declared.


. We have collected evidence that the nominal species, Polydora cornuta Bosc 1802, contains at least three separate species in North America. Specimens of P. cornuta were collected in California, Florida, and Maine, raised in the laboratory, and assessed for reproductive compatibility, genetic similarity, gamete characteristics, and developmental rates. Reproductive crosses between each combination of sex and population revealed variable levels of hybridization at the level of fertilization. Percent fertilization was very low for all combinations (0–7%) except for California females crossed with Florida males (42%). In all interpopulation crosses, fertilized eggs arrested in cleavage and no viable larvae were produced. All pairwise comparisons of the studied populations showed significant differences in multiple reproductive traits. Mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I DNA sequences revealed large differences between Florida and California worms with a maximum likelihood genetic distance of d=0.860, while Florida and Maine worms were d=0.806, and California and Maine d=0.156. California and New Zealand worms were very similar genetically (d=0.010). These data strongly suggest that populations of P. cornuta in North America comprise a cryptic species complex composed of at least three distinct lineages.


Immunohistochemical analysis of 9 choroid plexus papillomas (CPPs) and 3 choroid plexus carcinomas (CPCs) using a panel of antibodies against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), cytokeratin (CK), epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), S-100 protein, vimentin (vim), and neuron specific enolase (NSE) is presented. Focal positivity was observed for GFAP in 11, vimentin in 7, cytokeratin in 2 and EMA in 3 cases. Diffuse and intense immunoreactivity for S-100 protein was seen in all papillomas, however, unreactive areas were noted in carcinomas. All cases exhibited focal to diffuse NSE positivity. Location and type of the tumour and age of the patient did not influence the staining pattern except for predominant S-100 positivity in papillomas. The significance of these findings is discussed in relation to the differential diagnosis or immunoreactivity patterns of these tumours.


Context. We present SOFIA/FIFI-LS observations of five prototypical, low-mass Class I outflows (HH111, SVS13, HH26, HH34, HH30) in the far-infrared [O I]63μm and [O I]145μm transitions.
Aims. Spectroscopic [O I]63μm,145μm maps enable us to study the spatial extent of warm, low-excitation atomic gas within outflows driven by Class I protostars. These [O I] maps may potentially allow us to measure the mass-loss rates (Ṁjet) of this warm component of the atomic jet.
Methods. A fundamental tracer of warm (i.e. T ~ 500–1500 K), low-excitation atomic gas is the [O I]63μm emission line, which is predicted to be the main coolant of dense dissociative J-type shocks caused by decelerated wind or jet shocks associated with protostellar outflows. Under these conditions, the [O I]63μm line can be directly connected to the instantaneous mass ejection rate. Thus, by utilising spectroscopic [O I]63μm maps, we wish to determine the atomic mass flux rate Ṁjet ejected from our target outflows.
Results. Strong [O I]63μm emission is detected at the driving sources HH111IRS, HH34IRS, SVS13, as well as at the bow shock region, HH7. The detection of the [O I]63μm line at HH26A and HH8/HH10 can be attributed to jet deflection regions. The far-infrared counterpart of the optical jet is detected in [O I]63μm only for HH111, but not for HH34. We interpret the [O I]63μm emission at HH111IRS, HH34IRS, and SVS13 to be coming primarily from a decelerated wind shock, whereas multiple internal shocks within the HH111 jet may cause most of the [O I]63μm emission seen there. At HH30, no [O I]63μm,145μm was detected. The [O I]145μm line detection is at noise level almost everywhere in our obtained maps. The observed outflow rates of our Class I sample are to the order of Ṁjet ~ 10−6M⊙ yr−1, if proper shock conditions prevail. Independent calculations connecting the [O I]63μm line luminosity and observable jet parameters with the mass -loss rate are consistent with the applied shock model and lead to similar mass-loss rates. We discuss applicability and caveats of both methods.
Conclusions. High-quality spectroscopic [O I]63μm maps of protostellar outflows at the jet driving source potentially allow a clear determination of the mass ejection rate.


Our objective was to determine the temporal effects of increasing supply of propionate on propionate metabolism in liver tissue of dairy cows in the postpartum (PP) period. A total of 6 dairy cows [primiparous: n = 3, 9.00 ± 1.00 d PP (mean ± SD) and multiparous: n = 3; 4.67 ± 1.15 d PP] were biopsied for liver explants in a block-design experiment. Explants were treated with 3 concentrations of [13C3]sodium propionate of 1, 2, or 4 mM. Explants were incubated in 2 mL of Medium 199 supplemented with 1% BSA, 0.6 mM oleic acid, 2 mM sodium l-lactate, 0.2 mM sodium pyruvate, and 0.5 mMl-glutamine at 38°C and sampled at 0.5, 15, and 60 min. Increasing the concentration of [13C3]propionate increased total 13C% enrichment of propionyl coenzyme A (CoA), succinate, fumarate, malate, and citrate with time. Concentration of propionate did not affect total 13C% enrichment of hepatic glucose or acetyl CoA, but total 13C% enrichment increased with time for hepatic glucose. The 13C labeling from propionate was incorporated into acetyl CoA, but increased concentrations of propionate did not result in greater labeling of acetyl CoA. However, increases in 13C% enrichment of [M+4]citrate and [M+5]citrate concentrations of [13C3]propionate indicate propionate conversion to acetyl CoA and subsequent entry of acetyl CoA into the tricarboxylic acid cycle in dairy cows in the PP period. This research presents evidence that despite an increase in hepatic acetyl CoA concentration and general consensus on the upregulation of gluconeogenesis of dairy cows during the PP period, carbon derived from propionate contributes to the pool of acetyl CoA, which increases as concentration of propionate increases, in addition to stimulating oxidation of acetyl CoA from other sources. Because of the hypophagic effects of propionate, but importance of propionate as a glucose precursor, a balance of propionate supply to dairy cows could lead to improvements in dry matter intake, and subsequently, health and production in dairy cows.


Question answering (QA) systems need to provide exact answers for the questions that are posed to the system. However, this can only be achieved through a precise processing of the question. During this procedure, one important step is the detection of the expected type of answer that the system should provide by extracting the headword of the questions and identifying its semantic type. We have annotated the headword and assigned UMLS semantic types to 643 factoid/list questions from the BioASQ training data. We present statistics on the corpus and a preliminary evaluation in baseline experiments. We also discuss the challenges on both the manual annotation and the automatic detection of the headwords and the semantic types. We believe that this is a valuable resource for both training and evaluation of biomedical QA systems. The corpus is available at: https://github.com/mariananeves/BioMedLAT.


In dialogue systems, automatically evaluating machine-generated responses is critical and challenging. Despite the tremendous progress in dialogue generation research, its evaluation heavily depends on human judgments. The standard word-overlapping based evaluation metrics are ineffective for dialogues. As a result, most of the recently proposed metrics are model-based and reference-free, which learn to score different aspects of a conversation. However, understanding each aspect requires a separate model, which makes them computationally expensive. To this end, we propose Dial-M, a Masking-based reference-free framework for Dialogue evaluation. The main idea is to mask the keywords of the current utterance and predict them, given the dialogue history and various conditions (like knowledge, persona, etc.), thereby making the evaluation framework simple and easily extensible for multiple datasets. Regardless of its simplicity, Dial-M achieves comparable performance to state-of-the-art metrics on several dialogue evaluation datasets. We also discuss the interpretability of our proposed metric along with error analysis.


Modern sun-protection products reduce the risk for erythema and DNA damage, but even those products with a very high sun protection factor (SPF) and full-spectrum UVB and UVA protection may not prevent UV radiation (UVR)-induced immunomodulation. Formulating sunscreens with a high SPF, as well as a high immune protection factor, is necessary for preventing skin cancer and maintaining effective immune responses to infectious disease after sun exposure. Supplementing current sun-protection products with immunoprotective compounds may help fill the gap between erythema protection and immunoprotection. Animal and now human studies have shown that a class of agents known as oligosaccharins--complex carbohydrates found in plants--protect the cutaneous immune system from UVB-induced and UVA-induced immunomodulation. This immunoprotective effect occurs independently from erythema and DNA damage protection, and these agents, particularly tamarind xyloglucan, may become important adjunctive ingredients to sunscreens.


In order to reveal the transformation of heavy metals in rice-crab ecosystems and to maintain the sustainable development of crab industry, it is important for evaluating the environmental quality of rice-crab production base of the Liao River Delta. Therefore, the contents of heavy metals in water, soil and aquatic plants of the rice-crab production base in the Liao River Delta were monitored from 2008 to 2010. The results showed that the contents of total Pb, Cd, Hg and As in the water and soil of the rice-crab production base were very low and qualified to the requirements for the green food crab. However, the contents of total Pb in some aquatic plants, such as Monochoria trifolia, Ceratophyllum demersum, Elodea Canadensis and Potamogeton distinct us, exceeded the limits of Pollution-free Food Standard for Freshwater Crab (NY 5072-2002). In conclusion, as the feed of crabs, these aquatic plants could affect the quality safety for raising rice-crab in the Liao River Delta, Northeast China.


ABSTRACT Neurodegenerative diseases are more common in older individuals and are progressively debilitating. Due to the aging of the American population, the burden of neurodegenerative diseases on the health care infrastructure will likely significantly increase in the near future. Genetic science has advanced our understanding of the pathology driving these diseases thereby informing new, individualized care paradigms. Although translation into clinical practice is slow, there are a few examples of instances where precision medicine is making a difference in the care of patients with neurodegenerative diseases that may be driven by genetic background. This article provides a brief overview of the current knowledge of genetic influences on two common neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer Disease and Parkinson Disease, as well as ways this knowledge is being tested for a precision medicine approach to care.


Citizen science observations are potentially useful to complement existing monitoring networks. This is also the case in hydrology, where we often lack spatially distributed observations. Engaging the public might help to overcome the lack of data in hydrology. So far, most hydrological citizen science projects have been based on the use of different instruments or installations. For stream level observations, a staff gauge is installed in the river but it is difficult to scale this type of citizen science approach to a large number of sites because these gauges cannot be installed everywhere (or by everyone). Here, we present an evaluation of the CrowdWater smartphone app that allows the collection of hydrological data without any physical installation or specialized instruments. With the help of a free app, citizens can report the stream level, soil moisture conditions, the presence of water in temporary streams, plastic pollution in streams and on streambanks, as well as general information on streams. The approach is similar to geocaching, with the difference that instead of finding treasures, hydrological measurement sites are set up. These sites can be found by the initiator or other citizen scientists to take additional measurements at a later time. For the water level measurements, a virtual staff gauge approach is used instead of a physical staff gauge. A picture of a staff gauge is digitally inserted into a photo of a stream bank or a bridge pillar and serves as a reference of the water level. During a subsequent field visit, the stream level is compared to the virtual staff gauge on the first picture. In this presentation, we discuss how well the water level class observations agreed with measured stream levels, and in which months and during which flow conditions citizens submitted their stream level observations. We also highlight methods to ensure data quality, and illustrate how these water level data can be used in hydrological model calibration. We also give an update on new activities in the CrowdWater project.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Prostate cancer is a leading form of cancer in men with 324,000 cases diagnosed/year in the European Union. Plexin B1 is a cell-membrane receptor for semaphorins; its ligand is semaphorin 4D. Plexin receptors are involved in axon guidance, angiogenesis, immunity as well as cancer biology. We have identified a high frequency of somatic missense mutations in the plexin B1 gene and overexpression of the protein in prostate cancer. The mutations found in prostate cancer are functionally significant, altering signalling pathways downstream of plexinB1 and affecting cell phenotype. These results suggest that plexin B1 has an important role in prostate cancer progression. Previous studies have documented the unexpected localization of cell membrane receptors such as EGFR and ErbB2, in the nucleus and their role as transcription factors. Preliminary immunohistochemistry results in the laboratory indicated the presence of plexin B1 protein in the nucleus in tumour cells, suggesting that plexins may have a role in the nucleus. The aim of this study was to determine if plexin B1 is translocated to the nucleus in prostate cancer cells and what is the nuclear localization signal recognized for the trafficking of the protein.

The different techniques were used; Immunofluorescence was performed on cell lines with antibodies specific to the intracellular domain of plexin B1. Colocalization studies were carried out using the Volocity Software®. A cell fractionation assay was performed and cell lysates analysed by immunoblotting. A construct of the cytoplasmic domain of plexin B1 fused with GFP was generated and its subcellular localization in transfected cells analysed by confocal microscopy. The plexin B1/GFP construct is currently mutated on the putative NLS signal using site-directed mutagenesis. The subcellular localization of the plexin B1 mutants will be observed by confocal microscopy.

Immunofluorescence of prostate cancer cell lines showed the presence of the intracellular domain of plexin B1 receptor in the nucleus, suggesting a translocation of the protein to the nucleus. Plexin B1 was found to co-localize with DAPI staining. Further immunofluorescence studies showed that the presence of plexin B1 in the nucleus is dependent on semaphorin 4D binding in a time-dependent manner. The translocation occurs 15min after ligand binding and decreases after 40min of ligand binding. A cell fractionation assay followed by immunoblotting confirmed the preliminary immunofluorescence data. To assess the nuclear trafficking with a functional assay, a GFP tag was attached to the intracellular domain of plexin B1 and its translocation to the nucleus was observed in transfected cells.

In conclusion, the translocation of plexin B1 to the nucleus suggests an interesting novel role for this receptor in the nucleus. Plexin B1 could act as a transcription co-factor and may have an impact on carcinogenesis.

Citation Format: Anne Legendre, John R W Masters, Magali Williamson. Plexin B1 trafficking in prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4077. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4077


CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common genetic disorder among people of African descent, affecting approximately 3,500 newborns each year in Brazil. Hydroxyurea (HU) is the only effective drug to treating patients with SCD, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality. The objective was to analyze the effects of HU on SCD patients at our institution. DESIGN AND SETTING Retrospective study conducted at a sickle cell centre in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS We analyzed clinical and laboratory data on 37 patients. The hematological parameters and clinical events that occurred during the year before and the first year of treatment with HU were analyzed. The mean dose of HU was 24.5 ± 5.5 mg/kg/day. RESULTS There were rises in three parameters: hemoglobin (8.3 g/dl to 9.0 g/dl, P = 0.0003), fetal hemoglobin (HbF) (2.6% to 19.8%, P < 0.0001) and mean cell volume MCV (89 to 105 fl, P = 0.001); and reductions in the numbers of leukocytes (10,050/µl to 5,700/µl, P < 0.0001), neutrophils (6,200/µl to 3,400/µl, P = 0.001), platelets (459,000/µl to 373,000/µl, P = 0.0002), painful crises (1.86 to 0.81, P = 0.0014), acute chest syndromes (0.35 to 0.08, P = 0.0045), infections (1.03 to 0.5, P = 0.047), hospitalizations (1.63 to 0.53, P = 0.0013) and transfusions (1.23 to 0.1, P = 0.0051). CONCLUSION The patients presented clinical and hematological improvements, with an increase in HbF and a reduction in the infection rate, which had not been addressed in most previous studies.


Needle punching geotextile composites are composed of polypropylene woven fabrics and nonwovens, which has lower strength than that of the original woven fabrics because of the damaging effects by needles during the bonding process. In order to compensate for this shortage, a new geotextile composite was developed using adhesive as bonding media, temperature for controlling adhesive bonding effects. So temperature is the most important factor influencing the composites. With the purpose of researching temperature effects on the performance of polypropylene woven fabrics (single layer of the geotextile composite), a series of tests were carried out and then analyzed. The results show that with the increment of temperature, the shrinkage rate of polypropylene woven fabrics increased continuously. On the other hand, the strength firstly rise with the temperature and then decreased when temperature is over 130°C. Conclusions got in the paper are good references for the development of a new kind of water-insoluble adhesive and adhesive bonded nonwoven geotextile composite.


Summary A metallographic investigation of macro- and micro-structures, supported by microprobe examination, has been made on similarly sized (< ca. 200 g) individual Cañon Diablo meteorites of rim or plains type. Plains type specimens show heat alteration zones of the ablation type. They are extensively cracked in a brittle manner and in some instances the cracks are penetrated by ablation melt product. In all cases the cracks are now penetrated by terrestrial corrosion. Cohenite and schreibersite are cracked in a brittle manner. By contrast the rim type specimens are remarkably free of internal cracking or corrosion penetration. Instead the cohenite, schreibersite, taenite, and kamacite are transected by slip faults or shear displacements along the line of which all phases appear to have slipped in a non-brittle manner. These specimens have all been subject to shock loading and particular attention is paid to the effects of shock on sphalerite, on cloudy taenite, and on martensitic plessite. Plains specimens have broken from the original projectile in a brittle manner well above the earth's surface. Rim specimens have been scabbed from the rear of the projectile as it penetrated the earth's surface. Some of the rim specimens show signs of being heated by the blast of the crater-forming explosion.


Vern L. Bullough, who is a member of the faculty at California State University, Northridge, and of the University of Southern California, comes to sexology via the social sciences. In this book he covers the history of sex research from the mid—19th century to the present. Although the book is organized chronologically, it can be viewed from several perspectives: pre— and post— World War II, pre- and post-Kinsey, and according to the medical dominance of sex research or the multidisciplinary approach that evolved later. Research prior to World War II was centered in Europe until it was abruptly halted by the Nazis. After World War II sex research was dominated by Americans. Alfred Kinsey brought the realities of sexual behavior in the United States, as opposed to cultural ideals, into the realm of public consciousness. His work also heralded the advent of multidisciplinary research and the end of the hegemony


In this paper, we present a method for automatic, online detection of a user's interaction with objects. This represents an essential building block for improving the performance of distributed activity recognition systems. Our method is based on correlating features extracted from motion sensors worn by the user and attached to objects. We present a complete implementation of the idea, using miniaturized wireless sensor nodes equipped with motion sensors. We achieve a recognition accuracy of 97% for a target response time of 2 seconds. The implementation is lightweight, with low communication bandwidth and processing needs. We illustrate the potential of the concept by means of an interactive multi-user game.


Muallim Naci is a personality whose contributions to literary World are inarguable with his educator and writer qualifications. He strengthened these contributions in the field of criticism with his writings. But these haven't prevented him to be the subject of remarkable debates in his period. The opinions which he defended haven't been understood, polemics overshadowed his literary personality most of the time. Dispute between Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem and Muallim Naci caused him to be described as a conservative "old" supporter, this prejudice has hold on until today. In fact considering his works, it is seen that he is a character of moderation. Naci, although he is not against to innovation, he is the supporter of the idea that all kinds of innovation have to be synthesized with our national identity as much as possible. In this study, information about Naci's Yazmış Bulundum, Mektublarım, Demdeme and Intikad works will be given, contents of these works will be scrutinized; attempts will be made to do some evaluations on the author's literary figure on the basis of the discussed topics in these works.


Case 1.-Para 5, admitted to hospital after two days in labour, complaining of severe abdominal pains and pain in the shoulders: general condition poor, radial pulse impalpable, heart rate 140/ min., temperature 1000 F. (37.70 C.). Abdominal palpation revealed an easily felt foetus, freely movable. There were no uterine contractions, and no foetal heart sounds. In spite of the very poor condition and the lack of either blood or plasma, laparotomy was decided on, as it seemed her only chance. This was done under local field block. The foetus was lying free in the abdominal cavity and a rent was present down the left side of the upper segment of the uterus, starting just posterior to the tube. Repair was impracticable and hysterectomy was performed. A point of anaesthetic interest was that the patient, having stood laparotomy well under local analgesia, became restless during manipulation of the uterus, but perfect operating conditions were obtained after giving as little as 3 ml. 10% hexobarbitone. She left the theatre in rather better condition that she entered it and made an uneventful recovery. Case 2.-Para 6, admitted to hospital after three days in labour, complaining of severe abdominal pain: general condition fairly good, pulse 120/min., moderate volume. Abdominal palpation revealed an easily felt foetus with head not engaged. There were no uterine contractions. Laparotomy was again performed under local analgesia and again a minute dose of hexobarbitone produced satisfactory conditions later in the operation. The foetus was lying free in the abdomen and the tear was centrally placed in the lower segment, running vertically downwards into the cervix. Hysterectomy was more difficult in this case as the tear ran past the line of severance of the hysterectomy, and one had to get very low down to suture it and stop the bleeding. Convalescence was stormy and a pelvic infection developed, presumably due to an ascending infection from the torn cervix. However, at the time of writing she is almost ready for discharge.


Objectives The objective of this study was to examine the overall and recurrence-free survival in patients with advanced ovarian cancer based on hemoglobin and blood transfusions. Methods A retrospective chart review was performed between 2003 and 2007 on patients with pathologically confirmed stage 3–4 ovarian, fallopian, or peritoneal cancers. Data were collected on date of diagnosis, recurrence and death, stage, grade, age, surgery, estimated blood loss, hemoglobin (nadir and average levels), and number of blood transfusions. Results Two hundred sixteen patients were included in the final analysis. In the perichemotherapy, perioperative, and total time frames, 88%, 81%, and 95% of patients were anemic, and 9%, 22%, and 26% of the patients had severe anemia. After adjusting for age, stage, and optimal debulking status, the perichemotherapy hemoglobin level as a continuous variable was weakly associated with recurrence-free survival (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR], 0.98; P = 0.03), and as a categorical variable with both recurrence-free survival (AHR, 2.49; P = 0.003) and overall survival (AHR, 1.91; P = 0.02). The total number of transfusions was also weakly associated with poor recurrence-free survival (AHR, 1.06; P = 0.03). Conclusions Our study is a retrospective analysis of the effects of anemia and transfusion on ovarian cancer. The rates of anemia in chemotherapy patients are higher than previously reported. Although maintaining average hemoglobin greater than 80 g/L during chemotherapy portends an improved overall survival, blood transfusion does not have any effect. The role of transfusion should therefore be limited to symptomatic patients while giving 1 unit at a time. Further prospective studies will be needed to confirm these results.


The community services and health industries have experienced a period of growth in recent times. This report focuses on the sub-section, alcohol and other drugs, which has had difficulty recruiting staff. Through a survey of managers of alcohol and other drugs service agencies, the authors examine the potential for vocational education and training (VET) to play a role in developing this workforce. The report uncovers concerns managers have around the training content, delivery and assessment of VET qualifications and finds an overall preference for higher education qualifications. Vocational education and training is found to be a pathway to employment in this sector for entry-level students as well as those with higher education qualifications.


The present invention is an alkali metal promoter deposited on the carrier, and the alkali metal promoter is an alkali metal selected from the group consisting of potassium, and lithium, sodium and mixtures thereof of at least 5mmol / g content, based on the weight of the catalyst composition work rate and selectivity of the carbon source in the presence of a catalyst composition containing an enhanced content of self provides a method for producing the olefin oxide by reacting an olefin and oxygen at least three individuals. The present invention also relates to a method for producing a 1,2-diol or 1,2-diol ether, using the olefin oxide produced in this way. Furthermore, the invention relates to a catalyst composition that is the promoter deposited on the carrier.


Internally reformed carbonate fuel cell-based power plants have the capability of rapid load cycling provided that operational constraints are met during load perturbations. These constraints include acceptable deviations in stack temperature and stack pressure, both of which exhibit slow dynamics due to a large stack thermal time constant. Fuel cell stack dynamics exhibit multi-time scale behavior, however, when considering fast electrochemical reactions that occur. Therefore, in grid transient studies involving fuel cells, the slower dynamics can be neglected. This results in a simpler, reduced-order dynamic model. In this paper we present a complete model for direct reforming carbonate fuel cell stack and then simplify the equation set under the condition of constant temperature. A comparison is made between the full order model and reduced-order model by examining gas composition and system DC voltage under a severe transient.


We investigate the excellent correlation between ionospheric upgoing electron beams and broadband electrostatic emissions (0–6 kHz) observed by Cluster, at ∼5 to 9 Earth's radii above the polar cap. In the absence of detailed, high time resolution waveform data in that region, we precisely analyzed several electron beams to obtain information concerning wave‐particle interactions. Our results indicate that these beams are extremely variable and occasionally show multiple components. The processes involved might then occur on very short time scales, of the order of or shorter than sampling rates, typically 100 ms. We suggest that non linearities are at the origin of the spread of the frequency range of the waves simultaneously observed, as well as of the beam variability. We conclude that these electron beams are likely to destabilize Langmuir waves and, by the non‐linear evolution of the electron bump‐on‐tail instability, could be responsible for the appearance of electrostatic solitary waves above the polar cap.


The dynamical equation of diluted Hopfield neural networks with self-couplings is calculated by analytical approach. The presented results show that the self-coupling strongly influences the dynamical behavior of the network, making the critical loading value αc smaller remarkably and the size of basin of attraction decrease.


Why did you choose to work in the NHS? As a teenager, I was unclear about my ambitions, and took a job as a theatre orderly after I deferred my degree. I found the environment fascinating, and the prospect of training to work in theatres felt extremely exciting. To care for a patient, who in many cases entrusts his or her life to a team, appeared to be the most rewarding career.


Well-calibrated IR and visible image data sets, from satellite sensors designed to provide urgently needed information for the debate on climate change and global warming, are now available from the European Space Agency (ESA). These data sets also have application to a wide range of land use and other Earth studies.

The data have been collected by Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) instruments on ERS 1 and 2 since the early 1990s. ESA will launch a further ATSR, the Advanced ATSR (AATSR),on its Envisat mission next year. It is expected that the data can also be applied in other fields and, through its synergistic use with information from other sensors, can improve calibration and reduce uncertainties in interpretation of that information.


Vector network analyzers (VNAs) are widely used in RF and microwave labs and factories. Almost all modern network analysers suffer from high dynamic range mesurement to some degree. Some have channel crosstalk problems, such as incident source channel crosstalk or receiver channel crosstalk. Others have receiver LO leakage problems, Known as "mixer bounce". In this paper, a novel vector network analyzer protype is developed, and used for high dynamic range band pass filters measurement. The stopband of the filter appears not as good as it really is. In order to inspect the reasons of this not so good measurement result, we designed and performed a series experiments. With these experiments we prove that the VNA has the "mixer bounce" problem, but not the crosstalk problem. Finally, with proper hardware design improvement by inserting additional amplify and attenuation chain in receiver channel of the VNA, increasing the receivers' reverse isolation and preventing the VNA's LO leakage signal to go out to the VNA's test ports. At the end of the paper, we give the new test results using the VNA being improved, which indicates that the design improvement is successful and the VNA is now fully qualified for high dynamic range measurement applications.


This paper develops and compares two theories of strategic behavior of professional forecasters. The first theory posits that forecasters compete in a forecasting contest with pre-specified rules. In equilibrium of a winner-take-all contest, forecasts are excessively differentiated. According to the alternative reputational cheap talk theory, forecasters aim at convincing the market that they are well informed. The market evaluates their forecasting talent on the basis of the forecasts and the realized state. If the market has naive views on forecasters' behavior, forecasts are biased toward the prior mean. Otherwise, equilibrium forecasts are unbiased but imprecise.


We present a straightforward and sample method of visualizing the execution of a distributed system as it is recorded in a collection of per-process traces. The technique is based directly on Lamport's space-time diagrams and the notion of causal precedence as embodied in vector time. Timestamping trace events with vector time provides the leverage required for the rapid display of the space-time diagram. It also allows us to define and display concurrent regions of the trace and to implement a fast algorithm for the evaluation of global state predicates over those regions. We describe an implementation of DTVS for distributed systems in which synchronous communication is used.<<ETX>>


Abstract Organizational‐reputation literature has advanced our understanding about the U.S. regulatory state and its agencies. However, we lack contributions on what a reputational account can add to our knowledge about the European regulatory state, the strategic behavior of supranational agencies, and their endeavors to legitimize themselves in a multilevel political system. We know little of how reputation‐management strategies vary across EU agencies and why. The study offers the very first mapping of organizational‐reputation‐management patterns across all EU agencies, as well as the first empirical assessment on how reputational considerations guide supranational agencies' legitimation strategies. The results indicate that EU agencies facing higher reputational threats revert to their avowed raison d'être (i.e., technical conduct). We find that regulatory agencies utilize a more diverse set of reputational strategies by emphasizing the technical, procedural, and moral reputations more than nonregulatory agencies, whereas social‐policy agencies foster their technical reputation more than economic‐policy agencies.


This article discusses some examples of problems derived from the mix of technical jargon and anatomical veterinary words and makes recommendations regarding their use according to specific situations.


Increase in design complication for current and future era of microelectronics technologies and mechanisms used for data transmission leads to an increased sensitivity to bit-flip errors. As we know, multiple cores are built in a single system on chip (SoC) and to test that SoC, test vectors are transferred from automatic test equipment (ATE) via serial communication link. Now if there is a defect in this communication link, data may flip and creates an error. Such error can lead to an unexpected behavior of the system, loss in data uniformity and results in unreliable system. This paper proposes the new solutions to resolve such bit flip effect. Here Hamming code based technique is used on different compressed vlsi test data to resolve bit flip effect and the results are evaluated and analyzed based on their fault coverage. The obtained simulation results show the productiveness of the proposed solutions.


Abstract Objective. Serum chromogranin A (CgA) levels have been reported to be normal, reduced or elevated in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients. The aim of the present study was to establish a possible abnormality in CgA plasma level and in intestinal CgA cell density in IBS patients and to evaluate the outcome for the diagnosis of IBS. Material and methods. Forty-one patients with irritable bowel syndrome according to Rome Criteria III (39 females and 2 males; average age 35 years) and 59 healthy controls (37 females and 22 males; average age 45.5 years) were included in the study. Duodenal and colonic biopsies were obtained from all IBS patients. Forty-two of these healthy subjects underwent gastroscopy with duodenal biopsies. The remaining 17 subjects underwent colonoscopy with biopsies. The biopsies were immunostained with avidin–biotin-complex method for CgA cells. The cell densities were quantified by computerized image analysis. CgA plasma level was determined with ELISA technique. Results. The density of CgA cells in both the duodenum and colon was reduced in patients with IBS. CgA cell density in the left colon was, however, unaffected in patients with IBS-constipation. There was no difference in the plasma level of CgA between patients with IBS and controls. Conclusion. The reduced density of intestinal CgA cells should be considered as a reduction in the total amount of intestinal endocrine cells. Which endocrine cell type is affected remains to investigate. This reduction may offer a histopathological test for the diagnosis of IBS. It is doubtful that the blood level of CgA has any clinical impact in IBS.


This paper introduces a design of multi-dimensional complex emotional model for various complex emotional expression. It is a novel approach to design an emotional model by comparison with conventional emotional model which used a three-dimensional emotional space with some problems; the discontinuity of emotions, the simple emotional expression, and the necessity of re-designing the emotional model for each robot. To solve these problems, we have designed an emotional model. It uses a multi-dimensional emotional space for the continuity of emotion. A linear model design is used for reusability of the emotional model. It has the personality for various emotional results although it gets same inputs. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our model, we have tested with a human friendly robot.


The national physician pool is aging but marginally larger than it was 5 years ago. Canadians are also increasingly more likely to be treated by a female physician, while it's more likely a graduate of a Canadian medical school will remain within Canada or eventually return home to hang up a shingle after a stint abroad.

Those are among trends evident in the Canadian Institute for Health Information's latest annual report on the supply, migration and distribution of physicians in Canada (2005).

The CIHI report indicates the number of physicians in Canada grew by 5.3% between 2001 and 2005, (see Table 1), although their average age increased to 48.9 years from 47.6. Female physicians constituted 32.5% of the workforce, as compared to 30.2%.

Table 1

The national average of physicians per 100 000 population is 190, with Nova Scotia having the most at 218, followed by Quebec 215, Yukon 205, British Columbia 199, Newfoundland & Labrador 193, Alberta 188, Manitoba 179, Ontario 176, New Brunswick 172, Saskatchewan 156, P.E.I. 144 and N.W.T. 103. Nunavut brings up the rear with a scant 46.

The statistics also indicate Ontario is the only jurisdiction in the country with more specialists per capita than family practitioners. In fact, Ontario is only saved by a pair of territories from being the most difficult place in the country to find a family doctor. On average, there are 98 family physicians per 100 000 Canadians, led by Yukon 183, Nova Scotia 118, British Columbia 111, Quebec 109, Alberta 102, New Brunswick 102, Newfoundland & Labrador 99, Manitoba 94, Saskatchewan 89, PEI 89, Ontario 85, N.W.T. 71 and Nunavut 43.

There are 92 specialists per 100 000 Canadians, led by Quebec 106, Nova Scotia 100, Newfoundland & Labrador 94, Ontario 92, British Columbia 88, Alberta 86, Manitoba 86, New Brunswick 70, Saskatchewan 67, P.E.I. 55, NW.T. 33, Yukon 22, and Nunavut 3. — Wayne Kondro, CMAJ


Author(s): Shipman, Seth | Advisor(s): Nicoll, Roger A | Abstract: Possession of a nervous system endows an organism with a substantial range of behavioral abilities owing to a diverse class of excitatory cells in the brain termed neurons and, more importantly, the connections between them. Primary sensory information flows through neural circuits, being shaped and processed as it does, resulting in perception, thought, decision, and action. The processing power of any individual neuron, while considerable, cannot account for such complex behavior. Rather, it is an emergent property of an interconnected system of neurons, the primary unit of connection being the chemical synapse. These synapses permit fast, moment-to-moment transmission of information between cells without compromising the electrical integrity of an individual cell, allowing integration of information can take place at both a cellular and circuit level. Healthy connections allow for split-second decisions, breathtaking insights, and incredible feats of coordination, whereas disrupted transmission can lead to devastating diseases such as schizophrenia and autism. These synaptic sites of connection between neurons are anatomical as well as functional - requiring an initial physical interaction between cells in the process of establishing a meaningful connection. This thesis begins with an inquiry into these anatomical aspects of a synapse. Specifically, I present evidence for the requirement of synaptic adhesion molecules in the formation and plasticity of synapses. I take one family of postsynaptic adhesion molecule, neuroligin, as a model for the class to test its specific function with regard to synaptogenesis and plasticity. I identify and describe three major functions of the protein, each dependent on a specific structural component: one, differentiation of the presynaptic terminal, dependent on dimerization, achieved via the trans-synaptic clustering of the presynaptic adhesion molecule neurexin; two, recruitment of postsynaptic components during synaptic assembly, dependent on a previously uncharacterized region of the postsynaptic intracellular domain, achieved via the scaffolding of the postsynaptic site; and three, specification of synaptic subtype, dependent on alternative splicing of the extracellular domain, achieved via a trans-synaptic protein binding code. Finally, I examine the distribution of synapses along a dendritic arbor and the determination of relative synaptic weight as it relates to the electrical integrative properties of a cell.


Mathematical Morphology provides systematic approach to analyze geometric Characteristic of signal or images, has been applied to many application such as Edge Detection, Object segmentation, noise suppression. Image segmentation is one of the most important categories of image processing. The watersheds transformation for image segmentation using mathematical morphology is widely used. When we use watershed transform is image, there is a serious cause of over segmentation. In this paper the proposed system has been applied to overcome the over segmentation problem by using improved segmentation and efficient technique for image segmentation using mathematical morphology.


We show how to transform the B-spline curve and surface fitting problems into suffix computations of continued fractions. Then a parallel substitution scheme is introduced to compute the suffix values on a newly proposed mesh-of-unshuffle network. The derived parallel algorithm allows the curve interpolation through <italic>n</italic> points to be solved in &Ogr;(log <italic>n</italic>) time using &THgr;<italic>n</italic>/log <italic>n</italic>) processors and allows the surface interpolation through <italic>m</italic> x <italic>n</italic> points to be solved in &Ogr;(log <italic>m</italic> log <italic>n</italic>) time using &THgr; (<italic>mn</italic>/(log <italic>m</italic> log <italic>n</italic>)) processors. Both interpolation algorithms are cost-optimal for their respective problems. Besides, the surface fitting problem can be even faster solved in &Ogr;(log <italic>m</italic> + log <italic>n</italic>) time if &THgr;(<italic>mn</italic>) processors are used in the network.


Pulse electric field (PEF) is a method of creating transient pores in the cell
membrane by exposing it to a high voltage electric field of short duration. Beside
having the effect of opening pores in the membrane, PEF can change the cytoskeletal
restructuring of the cell, which has an impact on the cell morphological properties
and signalling pathways. There was evidence that extracellular matrix (ECM) protein
and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) can influence cellular behaviours.
Similarly, PEF was also found to modulate the cellular behaviours. However, a
combined influence of PEF and ECM on cellular behaviour which could further
enhances the cellular processes for wound healing and tissue engineering application
has not yet been investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the effect
of PEF in combination with ECM or TGF-βs on cellular behaviour such as
attachment proliferation, adhesion, migration and alignment of HT29 cell line
monolayer in vitro. Cell-surface adhesion was studied via trypsinization assay in
which the time taken for cells to detach from the monolayer would give the means of
assessing the strength of adhesion. Cell migration was studied by creating a wound
model on a confluence monolayer of the cell in vitro. Cell alignment was
investigated via micro contact printing techniques. The PEF was found to increase
the attachment, proliferation and migration rate of the HT29 cell by 67.6, 27.1 and
108% respectively and decrease the adhesion strength of the cells by 29.2%. The
results also show that 600V/cm and 5ms electric parameter could potentially reduce
the unpleasant sensation associated with the standard electric field parameter
currently in used in electrochemotherapy. The results of the cell alignment to the
ECM proteins pattern have shown that PEF has improved the HT29 cell alignment
by more than 40%. Similarly, the PEF was found to increase the proliferation and
decrease the adhesion rate of cells in a TGF-β3 supplement by 50.2 and 24.1%
respectively. Thus, the outcomes of this research revealed that the use of PEF in the
presence of ECM protein have potential implication in wound healing application (by
increasing the rate of cell migration and decreasing cell adhesion).


ABSTRACT:A growing literature acknowledges the necessity of studying minority politics as a dynamic process taking place within a complex web of relations that cut across state boundaries. In an effort to contribute to this approach, I examine the possibilities and limits of minority agency through the case of Iraqi Turkmen, accentuating the relational character of minority movements. Thinking with Rogers Brubaker (1996), I historicize the Turkmen's relationship to Iraq, the state in which they reside as a marginalized "national minority," and to Turkey, which Turkmen usually view as their mother country. I thereby problematize the putative kinship ties between the Iraqi Turkmen and ethnic Turks in Turkey in the context of "kin-state" politics, as the latter implies a political stance that represents a state as a protector and sponsor of "ethnic co-nationals" abroad. I focus on the complicated and increasingly conflictual relations of Turkey and the Turkmen, who are caught up in a double bind between engaging in Iraqi politics independently of the Turkish government and enjoying its support at the risk of losing their voices. Combining historical methods with ethnographic research, I ask how ethnic elites make practical sense of their minority status. In doing so, I discuss the political dynamics and consequences of self-essentialism in the Turkmen case, where minority activism has been conditioned by Turkish interventionism and Turkish nationalism, as much as by the exclusionary politics of Iraqi governments. While "national minority" could be empowering as an officially imposed and internationally sanctioned category with certain civic and political rights attached to it, for the Turkmen elites it has mainly implied disempowerment. This has at times swayed the Turkmen toward Turkish irredentism. However, as demonstrated in the article, the desire for Turkish tutelage is giving way to a more pragmatic understanding of kin-state politics.


We extend classical finite-dimensional Fenichel theory in two directions to infinite dimensions. Under comparably weak assumptions we show that the solution of an infinite-dimensional fast-slow system is approximated well by the corresponding slow flow. After that we construct a two-parameter family of slow manifolds Sε,ζ under more restrictive assumptions on the linear part of the slow equation. The second parameter ζ does not appear in the finite-dimensional setting and describes a certain splitting of the slow variable space in a fast decaying part and its complement. The finite-dimensional setting is contained as a special case in which Sε,ζ does not depend on ζ. Finally, we apply our new techniques to three examples of fast-slow systems of partial differential equations.


INTRODUCTION
Depression is one of the most frequent psychiatric comorbidities in patients with fibromyalgia (FM), and chronic stress might be one of the triggering events of the characteristic FM symptoms.

OBJECTIVES
To compare depressive symptoms and stress perception between women with and without FM, in addition to investigate the relationship between those characteristics and the functionality and the impact on the quality of life of those patients.

METHODS
The study included 20 women with FM (FM group) and 20 healthy women (control group). The following instruments were used: Beck Depression Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale-10, Health Assessment Questionnaire, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, and Visual Analogue Scale for pain (0-10 cm).

RESULTS
The FM group showed higher severity of the depressive symptoms (24.10 ± 11.68) and greater perception of stress (25.10 ± 4.82) as compared with those of the control group (10.20 ± 12.78, P < 0.01;and 15.45 ± 7.29, P < 0.01;respectively). A higher incidence of depressive symptoms was observed in the FM group (75%) than in the control group (25%) (χ² = 10.00, P < 0.01). In the FM group, a positive correlation was observed between the depressive symptoms and perceived stress (r = 0.54, P < 0.05), pain (r = 0.58, P < 0.01), impaired functionality (r = 0.56, P < 0.01), and impact on the quality of life (r = 0.46, P < 0.05). In this group there was also correlation between perceived stress and impaired functionality (r = 0.50;P < 0.05). Pain showed no relationship with perceived stress.

CONCLUSION
The relationship between stress, depression and functionality seems to be part of a complex mechanism, which might affect the quality of life of patients with FM.


OBJECTIVES
We aim to quantify longitudinal acute kidney injury (AKI) trajectories and to describe transitions through progressing and recovery states and outcomes among hospitalized patients using multistate models.

METHODS
In this large, longitudinal cohort study, 138,449 adult patients admitted to a quaternary care hospital between 2012 and 2019 were staged based on Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes serum creatinine criteria for the first 14 days of their hospital stay. We fit multistate models to estimate probability of being in a certain clinical state at a given time after entering each one of the AKI stages. We investigated the effects of selected variables on transition rates via Cox proportional hazards regression models.

RESULTS
Twenty percent of hospitalized encounters (49,325/246,964) had AKI; among patients with AKI, 66% had Stage 1 AKI, 18% had Stage 2 AKI, and 17% had AKI Stage 3 with or without RRT. At seven days following Stage 1 AKI, 69% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 68.8%-70.5%) were either resolved to No AKI or discharged, while smaller proportions of recovery (26.8%, 95% CI: 26.1%-27.5%) and discharge (17.4%, 95% CI: 16.8%-18.0%) were observed following AKI Stage 2. At 14 days following Stage 1 AKI, patients with more frail conditions (Charlson comorbidity index greater than or equal to 3 and had prolonged ICU stay) had lower proportion of transitioning to No AKI or discharge states.

DISCUSSION
Multistate analyses showed that the majority of Stage 2 and higher severity AKI patients could not resolve within seven days; therefore, strategies preventing the persistence or progression of AKI would contribute to the patients' life quality.

CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrate multistate modeling framework's utility as a mechanism for a better understanding of the clinical course of AKI with the potential to facilitate treatment and resource planning.


Magnetic activity strongly impacts stellar RVs and the search for small planets. We showed previously that in the solar case it induces RV variations with an amplitude over the cycle on the order of 8 m/s, with signals on short and long timescales. The major component is the inhibition of the convective blueshift due to plages. We explore a new approach to correct for this major component of stellar radial velocities in the case of solar-type stars. The convective blueshift depends on line depths; we use this property to develop a method that will characterize the amplitude of this effect and to correct for this RV component. We build realistic RV time series corresponding to RVs computed using different sets of lines, including lines in different depth ranges. We characterize the performance of the method used to reconstruct the signal without the convective component and the detection limits derived from the residuals. We identified a set of lines which, combined with a global set of lines, allows us to reconstruct the convective component with a good precision and to correct for it. For the full temporal sampling, the power in the range 100-500~d significantly decreased, by a factor of 100 for a RV noise below 30 cm/s. We also studied the impact of noise contributions other than the photon noise, which lead to uncertainties on the RV computation, as well as the impact of the temporal sampling. We found that these other sources of noise do not greatly alter the quality of the correction, although they need a better noise level to reach a similar performance level. A very good correction of the convective component can be achieved providing very good RV noise levels combined with a very good instrumental stability and realistic granulation noise. Under the conditions considered in this paper, detection limits at 480~d lower than 1 MEarth could be achieved for RV noise below 15 cm/s.


Skyalert.org is a web application to collect and disseminate observations about time-critical astronomical transients, and to add annotations and intelligent machine-learning to those observations. The information is "pushed" to subscribers, who may be either humans (email, text message etc) or they may be machines that control telescopes. Subscribers can prepare precise "trigger rules" to decide which events should reach them and their robots, rules that may be based on sky position, or on the specific vocabulary of parameters that define a particular type of observation. Our twin thrusts are automation of process, and discrimination of interesting events.


The aim of this study is to investigate the regulatory mechanism of Ob-R in pancreatic cancer cells. we found that HIF-1α expression was correlated with Ob-R in both pancreatic cancer cell lines and tissues. Overexpression of HIF-1α and hypoxia upregulated the expression of Ob-R in pancreatic cancer cells. When hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α gene was silenced in vitro, the expression of Ob-R was significantly decreased. Furthermore, HIF-1α directly bound to the hypoxia-responsive element (HRE) located in Ob-R gene promoter (-828/-832) and activated the transcription. Finally, we demonstrated that silence of HIF-1α gene reversed the inhibitory effect of leptin/ObR in pancreatic cancer cells. Taken together, our results indicated that HIF-1α directly regulated Ob-R expression in pancreatic cancer, which might be a valuable therapeutic target to pancreatic cancer. Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference. Citation Format: He Ren, Lingling Jia, Jihui Hao. Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α directly activates the leptin receptor (Ob-R) in pancreatic cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Innovations in Research and Treatment; May 18-21, 2014; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(13 Suppl):Abstract nr B122.


Objective: To assess the relation between demographic factors and film smoking stereotypes in adolescents and the potential influence of smoker stereotypes on smoking susceptibility. Design: A cross sectional questionnaire survey of school students (n  =  3041) aged 12–13 and 16–17 years who were asked to describe the personal characteristics of female and male smokers in films. Setting: 15 primary or intermediate schools and 10 secondary schools in Auckland, New Zealand. Results: Appraisals of smokers in film were strongly influenced by age and sex with younger adolescents and males more likely to see female smokers as sexy, intelligent and healthy whereas older students and females more often appraised female smokers as stressed bored and depressed. Overall, image stereotypes (sexy, stylish) were more likely to be significantly associated with smoking susceptibility than emotional sensitivity stereotypes (stressed, depressed etc). Conclusions: Adolescents differ significantly in their appraisal of smokers in films; however, image based stereotypes, rather than emotional sensitivity stereotypes, are significantly associated with smoking susceptibility.


Previous research shows that Turkish voiced stops and affricates undergo devoicing in word-final position. There are some grammars claiming that rhotic [ɾ] is also affected by this phenomenon (Göksel & Kerslake, 2005 and Taylan, 2015) as well as liquid sonorants ([l] and [ʎ]) which can optionally undergo word-final devoicing, at least in the Istanbul dialect of Turkish (Kornfilt, 1990). This study tests the continuant consonants in Turkish for their devoicing properties in different environments. These environments include preceding phonemes of different voicing qualities, word-final position, sentence-final position, and isolation. Our experiment examines all the voiced continuant sounds of Turkish that can naturally occur in word-final positions ([ɾ], [l], [ɫ], [ʎ], [j], [v], [β], [z], and [ʒ]). The experiment involves 10 Turkish-speaking participants from different regional backgrounds in Turkey. Sets of words and sentences focusing on the target phones and environments were presented to the participants to read out loud while recording. The findings suggest that word-final devoicing does extend to the [+cont] consonants of Turkish in the word-final position, though it shows variance among the participants. This phonological process seems to be optional unlike stop devoicing in Turkish which is a systematic process. Another finding, also observed by Nichols (2016) for the rhotic only, was that the majority of the instances where "word-final" devoicing occurred, was in fact exclusively in utterance-final position. Environments that can be considered word-final but not utterance final, yielded mostly fully voiced consonants, showing evidence for [+cont] consonants having their own separate set of phonological rules and environments for devoicing than stop consonants. Overall, this analysis suggests an environment of devoicing for [+cont] consonants (voiced fricatives and non-nasal sonorants) in Turkish and reanalyzes the rhotic [ɾ] devoicing which was previously described as word-final only, similar to the stop consonants.


In discrete sequence based Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), it is important to both land the samples in the initial distribution and drive the generation towards desirable properties. However, in the case of longer molecules, the existing models seem to under-perform in producing new molecules. In this work, we propose the use of Self Attention mechanism for Generative Adversarial Networks to allow long range dependencies. Self-Attention mechanism has produced improved rewards in novelty and promising results in gener-


Genomic testing is closing in on 10 years of existence in the dairy cattle genetics industry. In 2008 this technology was introduced, 2009 brought genomic evaluations to the marketplace, and 2010 saw the first commercial genomic testing in the dairy industry. Fast forward to 2018 and we will see well over one-half million dairy animals tested this year. To put into perspective, we have progressed from less than 1 out of every 200 dairy heifers being tested 7 years ago to more than 1 out of every 10 being tested today.