Background: Dysfunctional breathing (DB) is increasingly recognized in long COVID. Associated symptoms, functional impact and quality of life (QoL) have not been systematically studied. Objective(s): We aimed to measure symptoms, functional impact and QoL in long COVID patients with new onset DB. Method(s): We included 55 patients (47.9 yr (14.4), female sex 72.7%) from our long COVID clinic with DB diagnosis based on compatible symptoms and abnormal breathing pattern during CPET. Questionnaires including mMRC scale, Nijmegen, short form 36 (SF-36), hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), post COVID functional scale (PFCS) and specific long COVID symptoms were administered. Result(s): Most patients had mild acute COVID-19 (admission rate 16.4%). Median time from SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis to CPET was 213 days (IQR 127), mean V'O2 was 90.4% (SD 20.2) pred. Hyperventilation, periodic sigh breathing and mixed types of DB were diagnosed in respectively 21.8%, 47.3%, 30.9% of patients. Mean (SD) Nijmegen score, PCFS and global HADS were 27.9 (11.9), 2.1 (0.8) and 16.6 (7.8) respectively. In addition to dyspnoea, most frequent symptoms on Nijmegen scale (cut-off >=3) were: faster or deeper breath (75.6%), unable to breath deeply (48.9%), sighs (53.5%), yawning (46.5%) and tight feeling in the chest (40.0%). SF36 scores were lower than population reference value. Conclusion(s): Long COVID patients living with DB have a high burden of symptom, functional impact and a low QoL despite normal exercise capacity.


Sucrose (Suc) synthase (Sus) is the major enzyme of Suc breakdown for cellulose biosynthesis in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) fiber, an important source of fiber for the textile industry. This study examines the tissue-specific expression, relative abundance, and temporal expression of various Sus transcripts and proteins present in cotton. A novel isoform of Sus (SusC) is identified that is expressed at high levels during secondary cell wall synthesis in fiber and is present in the cell wall fraction. The phylogenetic relationships of the deduced amino acid sequences indicate two ancestral groups of Sus proteins predating the divergence of monocots and dicots and that SusC sequences form a distinct branch in the phylogeny within the dicot-specific clade. The subcellular location of the Sus isoforms is determined, and it is proposed that cell wall-localized SusC may provide UDP-glucose for cellulose and callose synthesis from extracellular sugars.


Analyzing model performance in various unseen environments is a critical research problem in the machine learning community. To study this problem, it is important to construct a testbed with out-of-distribution test sets that have broad coverage of environmental discrepancies. However, existing testbeds typically either have a small number of domains or are synthesized by image corruptions, hindering algorithm design that demonstrates real-world effectiveness. In this paper, we introduce CIFAR-10-Warehouse, consisting of 180 datasets collected by prompting image search engines and diffusion models in various ways. Generally sized between 300 and 8,000 images, the datasets contain natural images, cartoons, certain colors, or objects that do not naturally appear. With CIFAR-10-W, we aim to enhance the evaluation and deepen the understanding of two generalization tasks: domain generalization and model accuracy prediction in various out-of-distribution environments. We conduct extensive benchmarking and comparison experiments and show that CIFAR-10-W offers new and interesting insights inherent to these tasks. We also discuss other fields that would benefit from CIFAR-10-W.


Let , , be a real function such that for . Consider the differential expression of arbitrary order , which depends on the positive integer and is degenerate for . Let be the real symmetric operator in corresponding to and let be its deficiency index in the upper (or lower) half-plane. The proof of the formula , , is presented. It complements the formulae for and for obtained by the same author before.


A tremendous upsurge has been seen in the recent decade for the proximal and remote functionalization of activated and unactivated substrates via palladium redox pathways. This feature article discusses some of the recent reports on direct as well as indirect C(sp3)-H functionalization via cross-coupling reactions under palladium catalysis. Activated substrates (possessing acidic C(sp3)-H) including enones, ketones, aldehydes, silylenol ethers, esters, silyl ketene acetals, amides, cyano, α-amino esters, and O-carbamates, capable of undergoing cross-coupling reactions at the α-, β-, γ-, δ- and ε-positions, will be discussed. To overcome the challenging task of achieving regioselectivity, a variety of innovative modifications have been reported. The reports of C-H activations based on directing group, and as native functionality have been illustrated at the β-, γ- and δ-positions. Substrates such as α-amino esters, carbonyls, carboxylic acids and their derivatives, afford site-selective C(sp3)-H functionalization via varied-sized reactive metallacycles and are a unique class of substrates whose C(sp3)-H functionalizations were earlier considered as very difficult.


BACKGROUND: Nonphysician advanced life support (ALS) providers often perform tracheal intubation (TI) for cardiac arrest or other life-threatening indications in the prehospital setting, where airway assessment and airway management tools are limited. However, the frequency of difficult TI in obese patients in this setting is unclear. In this study we determined factors associated with TI success, and determined TI difficulty as a function of body mass index (BMI) in a system of ALS providers experienced in TI, to guide future prehospital education efforts. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed of all patients ≥15 years of age who underwent prehospital TI by paramedics in the Seattle Medic One system over a 4-year period, and were transported to the regional level 1 trauma center (Harborview Medical Center). Data were abstracted from a prospectively collected prehospital airway management database and from the hospital medical records, including demographic information, number of TI attempts, TI success or failure, and body weight/height (BMI). Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression were calculated, with the primary end point being difficult TI (defined as ≥4 TI attempts or the need to use an alternative airway management technique). RESULTS: Of 80,501 patient contacts in whom 4114 TIs were attempted during the 4-year study period, 823 met study entry criteria (including a calculable BMI). The overall TI success rate in the study population was 98.5% (811 out of 823), with 6.8% (56 out of 823) meeting the predetermined definition for difficult TI. There was no significant association between difficult TI and patient age, gender, use of succinylcholine, or medical diagnosis (trauma vs. nontrauma). In comparison with the lean patient subgroup (BMI <30 kg/m2), patients with class III obesity (BMI >40 kg/m2) had a significant association with difficult TI (odds ratio 3.68; confidence interval [CI] 1.27–10.59), whereas those with class I/II obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2 and <40 kg/m2) did not (odds ratio 0.98; CI 0.46 –2.07). CONCLUSIONS: Among prehospital ALS providers with previously documented and published successful TI performance, increased difficulty with TI was observed in patients with extreme obesity, but not in patients with lesser degrees of obesity. Because extreme obesity is an easily identifiable patient characteristic, didactic and clinical (e.g., operating room) airway management education for such providers should emphasize airway management challenges and strategies associated with obesity, including specific equipment, patient positioning, and practice recommendations that may facilitate both TI and alternative airway management techniques in this population.


The acquisition of assembly skills by robots is greatly supported by the efective use of contact force sensing and object recognition vision systems. In this paper, we describe the ability to invariantly recognize assembly parts at different scale, rotation and orientation within the work space. The paper shows a methodology for online recognition and classification of pieces in robotic assembly tasks and its application into an intelligent manufacturing cell. The performance of industrial robots working in unstructured environments can be improved using visual perception and learning techniques. In this sense, the described technique for object recognition is accomplished using an artificial neural network (ANN) architecture which receives a descriptive vector called CFD&POSE as the input. This vector represents an innovative methodology for classification and identification of pieces in robotic tasks. The vector compresses 3D object data from assembly parts and it is invariant to scale, rotation and orientation, and it also supports a wide range of illumination levels. The approach in combination with the fast learning capability of ART networks indicates the suitability for industrial robot applications as it is demonstrated through experimental results


Recent years witness the rapid development in hardware/software codesign that integrates machine learning (ML) models with hardware systems [l]-[4]. Despite the booming trend in building neuromorphic computing systems [2], decision trees still attract much attention in ML communities, from both software [5], [6] and hardware [1], [7], [8] approaches. A single tree model may not be as accurate as desired. One effective way to remedy this is to apply ensemble methods [5]--[7], [9]--[11], such as the Random Forest (RF) [5]. Larger tree ensembles typically improve accuracy, but demand more computation resources, especially for hardware implementation. Many methods have been proposed to address this issue. The motivation arouses from the fact that tree models usually demands much less computation resource comparing to neural networks, making them extremely potential for wearable devices and embedded systems at the edge nodes of the IoT [7], [11], [12]. Moreover, due to their inherent structures, tree ensembles are ideal for exploiting the computational parallelism on FPGA [1], [4], [7]--[9], [11], [13].


Over the last decades, the use of multibody dynamics in biomechanics research has grown considerably and holds significant promises for the health and biomedical industries. Nowadays, it allows estimating internal data of the body that would be impractical or impossible to obtain experimentally, e.g. individual muscle forces. Also, multibody dynamics simulation allows one to constrain virtually any apparatus to the musculoskeletal system, helping to understand and improve the patient's dynamic interactions with the device. The modeling and validation of human multibody models remain a tedious task to achieve for the research community and can vary significantly depending on the applications. Despite the advantages offered by the multibody modeling of the human body, its introduction in the biomedical engineering curriculum is not widespread. The present paper aims to evaluate the feasibility and the interest of introducing multibody modeling into multidisciplinary, real-world projects using 3D printed prototypes to add an experimental understanding of the difficulties and validation of the human body modeling. The proposed methodology is based on a literature review of the multibody dynamics teaching methods used in mechanical engineering, followed by a first pilot project and feedback from students and professors of the community through interviews. Finally, a project is proposed, using physical prototyping to support the learning.


Objectives Vascular α2B-adrenergic receptors (α2B-ARs) mediate vasoconstriction and contribute to peripheral regulation of vascular tone. In vitro, a common 301–303 deletion in the α2B-AR gene, ADRA2B, results in loss of α2B-AR desensitization. We examined the hypothesis that ADRA2B del301–303 or other common ADRA2B variants alter vascular desensitization in vivo. Methods We measured sensitivity to a highly selective α2-AR agonist, dexmedetomidine, (0.01–1000 ng/min) in the dorsal hand vein in 41 healthy individuals. To induce desensitization a dose of dexmedetomidine that resulted in submaximal constriction was infused for 180 min and dorsal hand vein responses measured. Desensitization was defined as the ratio between the area-under-the-effect curve for each individual's response and the hypothetical area-under-the-effect curve assuming that the initial response had been maintained for 180 min (ratio below 1 reflecting desensitization). The relationship between six ADRA2B variants (one promoter, three coding, and two in the 3' untranslated region ) with an allele frequency of more than 5% and desensitization was determined. Results Forty-one individuals (22 men, 21 whites, age 18–45 years) were studied. The ADRA2B 301–303 deletion allele (ins/del and del/del, n = 18) was associated with resistance to desensitization [1.01 (interquartile range 0.90–1.06)] as compared with ins/ins homozygous individuals (n = 23) [0.91 (interquartile range 0.73–0.99)], P = 0.026. In addition, the −98 GG, 1182 CC, and 1776 CC genotypes were associated with significantly less desensitization than GC or CC, and CA or AA genotypes, respectively. Conclusion Common ADRA2B variants contribute to the interindividual variability in vascular desensitization to an α2-AR agonist in vivo.


INTRODUCTION
It has been shown that activity engagement is associated with cognitive ability in older age, but mechanisms behind the associations have rarely been examined. Following a recent study which showed short-term effects of activity engagement on working memory performance appearing 6 hours later, this study examined the mediating role of affective states in this process.

METHODS
For seven times per day over 2 weeks, 150 Swiss older adults (aged 65 to 91 years) reported their present (sociocognitive / passive leisure) activities and affective states (high-arousal positive, low-arousal positive, high-arousal negative, and low-arousal negative) and completed an ambulatory working memory task on a smartphone.

RESULTS
Multilevel vector autoregression models showed that passive leisure activities were associated with worse working memory performance 6 hours later. Passive leisure activities were negatively associated with concurrent high-arousal positive affect (and high-arousal negative affect); High-arousal positive affect was negatively associated with working memory performance 6 hours later. A Sobel test showed a significant mediation effect of high-arousal positive affect linking the time-lagged relationship between passive leisure activities and working memory. Additionally, sociocognitive activities were associated with better working memory performance 6 hours later. Sociocognitive activities were associated with concurrent higher high- and low-arousal positive affect, which, however, were not associated with working memory performance 6 hours later. Thus, a mediation related to sociocognitive activities was not found.

DISCUSSION
Passive leisure activities could influence working memory performance through high-arousal positive affect within a timeframe of several hours. Results are discussed in relation to a neuroendocrine pathway explaining the time-lagged effects of affective states on working memory performance.


GREAT strides have been made in the treatment of early syphilis with penicillin, and reports seem to bear out the belief that penicillin will be an important factor in the management of syphilis. Because of the dominant position assumed by penicillin in the treatment of syphilis, it is important to consider the reactions that may be encountered in the course of therapy. It has been found convenient to classify these reactions in two groups. The first group of reactions is caused directly by penicillin, and the second group of reactions is due indirectly to penicillin and consists in reactions to the products of destruction of the spirochetes. On review of the literature in the consideration of the first group of reactions, that is, those due directly to penicillin, it is noted that although penicillin has been accepted as the most effective and least toxic chemotherapeutic agent widespread use of this


Having started with the general formulation of the quantum theory of the real scalar field (QFT) in the general Riemannian space--time $ V_{1,3} $, the general--covariant quasinonrelativistic quantum mechanics of a point-like spinless particle in $ V_{1,3} $ is constructed. To this end, for any normal geodesic 1+3--foliation of $ V_{1,3} $, a space $\Phi^-$ of asymptotic in $c^{-1}$ solutions of the field equation is specified, which can be mapped to a space $\Psi$ of solutions of a Schr\"odinger equation with an (asymptotically) Hermitean hamiltonian and the Born probabilistic interpretation of the vectors of $\Psi$. The basic operators of the momentum and the spatial position of the particle acting in $\Psi$ generated by the corresponding observables of QFT include relativistic corrections, and therefore differ generally from those which follow for the geodesic motion in $ V_{1,3} $ from the canonical postulates of quantization. In particular, the operators of coordinates do not commute as well as the operators of the conjugate momenta, except the cases of Cartesian coordinates in the Minkowski space--time or of the exact nonrelativistic limit $(c^{-1} = 0)$. This approach provides QFT in the general $ V_{1,3} $ in the Fock representation with a particle interpretation based on the Born interpretation of wave functions.


Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) was a disease predominantly affecting young females about 40 years ago; however, it has been increasingly diagnosed in elderly individuals. Few studies have investigated the features of elderly patients with PAH. This review provides an overview of the characteristics of elderly patients with PAH compared to young patients. The examination of the changing demographics of the population with PAH revealed that the mean age has increased over the years. In addition, investigation into the diagnostic challenges in elderly patients with PAH revealed the difficulty in differentiating PAH from pulmonary hypertension secondary to diastolic heart failure. Moreover, it was noted that elderly patients underwent combination drug regimens less frequently and exhibited poorer treatment response than young patients. Finally, it was found that elderly PAH patients experienced poorer survival than young patients. The differences among five survival prediction models and their applicability in predicting the prognosis of PAH patients are discussed.


Abstract GOES high-resolution visible imagery is used to define the spatial resolution and scan geometry required for an advanced infrared sounder to fly on future polar-orbiting satellites. The definition is based on optimizing the probability of achieving one or more cloud-free infrared sounder fields of view within the footprint of an Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) assumed to have a linear resolution of 64 km. It is found that an instrument with about 8 km linear (10 km circular), or better, resolution that samples nine, or more, spatially independent fields of view within each AMSU footprint is needed to provide a high probability of achieving uncontaminated, by cloud, infrared sounding radiance observations.


A hardware scheduler for many-core architectures enables fast scheduling and allocation of fine granularity tasks to all cores. We present performance evaluation of a hardware scheduler for HyperCore, a many-core architecture. The evaluation is based on an architectural simulator, using multiple benchmarks representing a wide variety of inherent parallelism. Several architectural improvements are proposed, and various configurations of the scheduler are simulated. The results are analyzed, and are used to highlight the potential and the possible pitfalls of the architecture. It is shown that a scheduler with a capacity to schedule and terminate 10 instances per cycle, along with a task queue of as little as two slots near each core, is sufficient to utilize 256 cores. Other scheduling configurations are also analyzed.


The study presents the results of the analysis of domiciliary deaths of the population of a municipal polyclinic in Ufa in the dynamics between 2001 and 2010. The differences in the structure of mortality to the cause of death and sex between working-age population and pensioners were revealed. In ten years increased mortality from digestive system diseases (2,1 times) and malignant tumors (11,5%) was registered. For 2010 the mean age of the dead by months, days and time of death was detected. The obtained results were used as a basis for administrative decision making.


This document interprets physical or chemical hazards seen on pesticide labels and discusses criteria used in determining the appropriate hazards for the pesticide. Examples of typical statements found on pesticide labels which convey information to the handler of the product are provided. This document is PI-97, one of a series of the Agronomy Department, UF/IFAS Extension. Original publication date February 2006.
PI-97/PI134: Pesticide Labeling: Physical or Chemical Hazards (ufl.edu)


Pheochromocytoma is an uncommon tumour, young patients are involved. Diagnosis during pregnancy is scarcely made. Pheochromocytoma in pregnancy is a dramatic life threatening association for mother and foetus. High maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality can be reduced by a prompt diagnosis and treatment. We report two cases of pheochromocytoma associated with pregnancy, the prognosis of the first case was poor with stillbirth, the outcome was favourable in the second case for both mother and foetus. The authors emphasize the need of rapid diagnosis and treatment to improve outcome and the importance of perioperative management of these patients.


Background and aims Breast cancer patients have a very high incidence of chronic pain after mastectomy. a risk factor for chronification of pain is severe postoperative pain. the novel erector spinae plane block (ESPB) is considered to be a safer technique than the paravertebral block (PVB) for postoperative thoracic pain. Methods 20 patients were prospectively included: 10 patients received a PVB and 10 patients received a ESPB. Induction and maintenance of anesthesia, PONV prophylaxis and a complementary multimodal postoperative pain regimen was standardized for all patients. When the numeric rating scale of pain was >3, rescue medication was administered. Study parameters were opioid use in the first 24h; piritramide in the recovery room and oxycodone on the ward. Furthermore, discomfort experienced during placement of the block and overall postoperative patient satisfaction were scored using a numeric rating scale from 0 to 10. Results Patients received on average 8 mg (PVB) and 4,5 mg (ESPB) piritramide in the recovery room. In the first 24 hours postoperatively, patients received an additional 5,65 mg (PVB) and 1 mg (ESPB) oxycodone. Discomfort was rated as 3 in the PVB group and 1,7 in the ESPB group, satisfaction as 6,75 versus 8,6 respectively. Conclusions This prospective study was performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the ESPB. Although the study is underpowered for statistical comparisons, the results consistently suggest a better profile in favor of the ESPB. Randomized and adequately powered studies are necessary to confirm this hypothesis.


The diurnal temperature range (DTR) of surface air over land varies geographically and seasonally. The authors have investigated these variations using generalized additive models (GAMs), a nonlinear regression methodology. With DTR as the response variable, meteorological and land surface parameters were treated as explanatory variables. Regression curves related the deviation of DTR from its mean value to values of the meteorological and land surface variables. Cloud cover, soil moisture, distance inland, solar radiation, and elevation were combined as explanatory variables in an ensemble of 84 GAM models that used data grouped into seven vegetation types and 12 months. The ensemble explained 80% of the geographical and seasonal variation in DTR. Vegetation type and cloud cover exhibited the strongest relationships with DTR. Shortwave radiation, distance inland, and elevation were positively correlated with DTR, whereas cloud cover and soil moisture were negatively correlated. A separate analysis of the surface energy budget showed that changes in net longwave radiation represented the effects of solar and hydrological variation on DTR. It is found that vegetation and its associated climate is important for DTR variation in addition to the climatic influence of cloud cover, soil moisture, and solar radiation. It is also found that surface net longwave radiation is a powerful diagnostic of DTR variation, explaining over 95% of the seasonal variation of DTR in tropical regions.


An analysis of the foraging behavior of the bee Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) cearensis Ducke among shrubs of Cuphea brachiata Koehne (Lythraceae), a key component in the Abaete coastal sand dunes, Salvador, BA, Brazil, suggests that this bee is very important for the maintenance of the plant population, performing the pollination. This dispersal, however, is spatially restricted, so the populations in the area are likely to be highly structured genetically.


OBJECTIVE
to study the association between soluble tumour necrosis factor receptor 1 (sTNFR1) levels and mortality in the population-based Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS).

METHODS
NOMAS is a multi-ethnic, community-based cohort study with mean 8.4 years of follow-up. sTNFR1 was measured using ELISA. Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (HR, 95% CI) for the association of sTNFR1 with risk of all-cause mortality after adjusting for relevant confounders.

RESULTS
sTNFR1 measurements were available in 1,862 participants (mean age 69.2 ± 10.2 years) with 512 all-cause deaths. Median sTNFR1 was 2.28 ng/ml. Those with sTNFR1 levels in the highest quartile (Q4), compared with those with sTNFR1 in the lowest quartile (Q1), were at an increased risk of all-cause mortality (adjusted HR: 1.8, 95% CI: 1.4-2.4) and non-vascular mortality (adjusted HR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.5-3.6), but not vascular mortality (adjusted HR: 1.3, 95% CI: 0.9-1.9). There were interactions between sTNFR1 quartiles and medical insurance-status [likelihood ratio test (LRT) with 3 degrees of freedom, Pinteraction = 0.02] and alcohol consumption (LRT with 3 degrees of freedom, Pinteraction < 0.01) for all-cause mortality. In participants with no insurance or Medicaid, those with sTNFR1 in the top quartile had nearly a threefold increased risk of total mortality than the lowest quartile (adjusted HR: 2.9, 95% CI: 1.9-4.4).

CONCLUSION
in this multi-ethnic cohort, sTNFR1 was associated with all-cause and non-vascular mortality, particularly among those of a lower socioeconomic status.


Comprehensive characterization of genetic profiles in clinically actionable genes in each tumor promises to facilitate personalized approaches to cancer treatment. However, development of systematic genetic profiling of cancers in the clinical setting is facing unique technical challenges. More than 90% of tumor samples available for clinical sequencing are formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE). These samples are not only limited by quantities, the DNA quality in these samples is often compromised due to different degree of degradation, cross-links and chemical modifications. Targeted sequencing, in which genomic regions of interests are selectively enriched before sequencing to achieve high coverage and sensitivity, can potentially provide a cost-effective and efficient solution for clinical sequencing. However, very few studies have been reported on the development of methodology that is applicable and robust in analyzing "real-world" clinical FFPE samples. Here we report the development of a novel methodology that integrates microfluidic multiplex PCR-based target enrichment with massively parallel sequencing for high-throughput, high-content targeted sequencing of clinically actionable cancer genes in FFPE tumor tissues. This method enables amplifying 963 regions from 88 common cancer genes in 48 samples and simultaneously sequencing 48 pooled barcoded samples in a single sequencing reaction. Using this method, we sequenced 40 cancer cell lines and a well-defined Latin square study with dilution series of 8 known somatic mutations, to comprehensively assess the sensitivity, specificity, reproducibility in both target enrichment and variant detection. Furthermore, using paired fresh frozen/FFPE tissues obtained from 16 cancer patients, we developed and optimized a FFPE protocol that yields high-quality genetic profiles highly concordant to those derived from parallel fresh frozen samples. To demonstrate the clinical utility of this method, we sequenced a cohort of 73 FFPE tumor samples from endometrial cancer patients. Many clinically actionable mutations were identified in these patients' samples and confirmed using orthogonal validations. Our results demonstrated the feasibility and clinical utility of our method in clinical sequencing, setting the stage for ultimately translating this method in clinical setting to inform and guide cancer treatment. Citation Format: Yulei Wang, Richard Bourgon, Shan Lu, Yibing Yan, Yinghui Guan, Lisa Ryner, Rajesh Partel, Mark Lackner, Lukas Amler. Comprehensive profiling of actionab. [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 3231. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-3231


The central focus of this report is the evolution of transmembrane potentials following initiation of a point-source field stimulus, particularly when the stimulus is short and the stimulating electrode is close to the fiber. The transmembrane voltage threshold in response to a point-source field stimulus was determined in a numerical model of a single unmyelinated fiber. Both nerve (Hodgkin-Huxley [1952]) and cardiac (Ebihara-Johnson [1980]) models of the fiber membrane were evaluated. A central question is whether it is possible to know in advance whether a stimulus of specific magnitude, duration, and location will result in a subsequent action potential. Such determination can be based on the membrane's "voltage threshold". In contrast to the commonly held view, the voltage threshold was found to vary markedly depending on the duration and location of the field stimulus. Voltage thresholds ranged from about 8 mV above baseline to more than 100 mV above baseline, the higher thresholds occurring with shorter stimuli and electrode locations closer to the membrane. A related question is whether the passive membrane response can be used as a tool in determining whether a subsequent action potential is elicited. If the answer is affirmative, this finding can be very useful, since passive properties are linear and thereby much simpler to evaluate than active ones. The results show that the passive response tracks active responses long enough to be a good estimator of subsequent action potential development. Examples show that the evaluation of V/sub m/ at 0.2-0.5 msec after stimulus initiation, times chosen on the basis of membrane characteristics, was a better predictor of subsequent excitation than was either initial transmembrane current or V/sub m/ at the time when the stimulus ends. Most of the circumstances analyzed here with electric field stimulation also appear likely to be valid with magnetic field stimulation.


Abstract Purpose: The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of an original intervention programme of unstable surface dual-task functional exercises on postural stability in adolescents with intellectual disability (ID). Methods: A total of 34 adolescents with ID, aged 14–16 years, were engaged in our study. A 17-person experimental group (E) took part in a 12-week intervention programme which consisted of unstable surface functional exercises, designed after activities of daily living (ADLs). Another group of 17 youngsters constituted a control group (C). Within a span of 12 weeks, the postural stability assessment was conducted twice in both groups, employing a stabilometric platform ALFA AC International East. Results: After taking part in the intervention programme, the experimental group (E) improved all their scores (p < 0.05). The path length of the COG and the time in which the dynamic test was performed were shorter in the experimental group (E), while the control group (C) scored worse in comparison with their initial results. Conclusions: A distinctly positive effect of unstable-surface dual-task functional exercises on postural stability in individuals with ID was also revealed in our tests. Implications for Rehabilitation Rehabilitation of intellectually disabled persons should be carried out individually and contain ADL-based exercises. The use of unstable surfaces, making the above training more difficult, naturally stimulates the trainee to focus more closely on the task being performed. Implementation of dual-task exercises, consisting in compiling functional tasks with balance training, in the intervention programme for adolescents with ID is likely to improve efficiency of their everyday living and the quality of their lives.


Objective: To evaluate the spectrum of malignant tumors of head and neck region. Design: A department-based retrospective study. Place and Duration of Study: It was carried out at the Department of Pathology, Allama lqbal Medical College, Lahore, over a period of two years (1 997-1 999). Subject and Methods: The data of total 375 neoplastic lesions of both the sexes between 8-70 years of age was collected and compared with the findings reported from centers in other parts of the country. Results: Among the total 375 cases of neoplastic lesions, 148 were benign whereas 227 proved to be malignant histologically in 155 malGnd 72 female patients. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was the most frequently encountered histological category (45.8%) followed by lymphoma (1 4.5%), basal cell carcinoma (1 0.5%), carcinoma thyroid (1 0.5%) and salivary gland tumors (8.80%). These were followed by infrequently encountered tumors including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (n=5), small blue round cell tumors (n=3), undifferentiated carcinoma (n=3), retinoblastoma (n=2) and transitional carcinoma nose (n=l). The anatomical regions involved with this tumor were larynx (53.5% of all SCC ) followed by pharynx (18.7%), tongue (10.71%), oral cavity (4.4%) metastasis (5.3%) and skin (2.60%). Conclusion: The frequency of the various malignancies was found comparable to the findings reported from other centres in Punjab and SCC was found to be the most common cause of malignancy.


the paternal and maternal lineages of cabo Verde archipelago were characterized using 22 Y-single nucleotide Polymorphisms (snPs) and Y-minimal haplotype (stRs) for paternal lineage and the two hypervariable segments (HVI and HVII) of the mtDnA control region for maternal lineage. A high variability of haplotype and haplogroup composition was found in the studied population. A total of 13 haplogroups was found with Y-snPs and 24 haplogroups with HVI and HVII mtDnA. using Y-stR minimal haplotype information, genetic distances were obtained between cabo Verde and european/African populations. While almost all mitochondrial lineages were of sub-saharan origin (95%), the Y-chromosome lineages reveal a high diverse composition, with more than 57% of Y lineages of european ancestry.


This paper studies the order acceptance and scheduling problem on unrelated parallel machines with machine eligibility constraints. Two objectives are considered to maximize total net profit and minimize the makespan, and the mathematical model of this problem is formulated as multiobjective mixed integer linear programming. Some properties with respect to the objectives are analysed, and then a classic list scheduling (LS) rule named the first available machine rule is extended, and three new LS rules are presented, which focus on the maximization of the net profit, the minimization of the makespan, and the trade-off between the two objectives, respectively. Furthermore, a list-scheduling-based multiobjective parthenogenetic algorithm (LS-MPGA) is presented with parthenogenetic operators and Pareto-ranking and selection method. Computational experiments on randomly generated instances are carried out to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the four LS rules under the framework of LS-MPGA and discuss their application environments. Results demonstrate that the performance of the LS-MPGA developed for trade-off is superior to the other three algorithms.


The doubly-labeled water (D2O18) method for measuring CO2 output has been tested in eight rats by comparing the value obtained by this procedure with the total CO2 actually collected. The average absolute discrepancy between the two values was 3 (±3)%, and the average discrepancy when account was taken of algebraic sign was +2 (±4)%. (The values in parentheses are standard deviations of the distributions.)


The 8--432 keV spectrum of the Perseus cluster of galaxies was observed during 1972 and 1973 by the UCSD scintillation telescope on OSO7. In addition to the thermal bremsstrahlung spectrum observed at lower energies, a hard component extends to beyond 200 keV. Using kT = 6.6 keV for the thermal component as determined by lower-energy observations, the overall spectrum is well fitted by addition of a power law with number spectral index G = 1.25 +- 0.33. Comparison of our results with 1974 balloon upper limits and 1978 HEAO 1 observations shows that the nonthermal source is variable on time scales of years. It most likely originates in the compact nucleus previously observed NGC 1275, the radio Seyfert galaxy that dominates the cluster. Since the observed compact synchrotron radio source must necessarily produce secondary hard X-rays by the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) process, we have used contemporaneous radio spectral Very Long Base-line Interferometry (VLBI) data to compute the X-ray flux. We find agreement between predicted and observed spectral indices, but predict a flux 4 times too high, presumably because of the simplified analysis required by the available radio data. In any case, much of the hard X-ray flux must originate bymore » the SSC process. Variations in the radio size and spectral characteristics of the source from 1972 to 1978 are accurately reflected in the observed X-ray variations, adding further confidence to the SSC model.« less


The article aims to analyse how the publications of several Lisbon sports clubs responded to an order by several decrees to align the formerly independent sports structures with the regulatory and ideological framework of the portuguese dictatorship in the early 1940s. While abiding to state requirements demanding that sports clubs cooperate in the education of the Portuguese population, the newspapers implemented a strategy which turned these originally restricting demands to their favour. Arguing that the clubs could better contribute to society with less taxation, and integrating such arguments in a nationalistic narrative sucessfully helped the clubs gain more political leeway in the late 1940s and in the 1950s.


Background: Since the introduction of heparin as part of the management of acute coronary syndrome, the occurrence of pulmonary embolism (PE) as a complication of myocardial infarction (MI) have somewhat been unheard of. Given this rarity, its recognition is now a formidable challenge. Case Description: We present a case of a previously well 56-year-old male who presented with typical chest pain radiating to the left arm and dizziness. Initial vital signs revealed a blood pressure of 95/65 mmHg and his heart rate was 42 bpm. Physical exam revealed a middle-aged male in no acute distress with cool extremities, normal heart sounds, no murmurs and flat neck veins. His chest was clear to auscultation, abdomen benign and clinically, he was euvolemic. His first electrocardiogram (EKG) was significant for bradycardia with heart block and junctional escape rhythm and ST depressions in the anteroseptal leads. Subsequent right sided EKG showed sinus bradycardia with ST segment elevations in leads II, III and aVF. Troponin I was 0.95 ng/L [normal <0.04 ng/L] and initial transthoracic echo (TTE) was unremarkable with an ejection fraction (EF) of 55–60%. He was given loading doses of aspirin and clopidogrel, heparin drip initiated, and he proceeded to cardiac catheterization which revealed a 60 % stenotic lesion of the mid LAD and a large filling defect with 100% stenosis of the mid RCA consistent with thrombus. Post procedure TTE revealed an EF of 40%, septal and posterior hypokinesis, right ventricular regional wall motion abnormality of the basal and mid free wall with apical hypercontractility (McConnell's sign) suggestive of PE. CT pulmonary angiography revealed bilateral pulmonary emboli and anticoagulation therapy was initiated. Conclusion: This case illustrates that pulmonary embolism is a potential complication of RV infarction and its early identification is critical for implementation of anticoagulation therapy for this potentially fatal condition if left undiagnosed and untreated.


Sleep and circadian rhythm changes during adolescence contribute to increased risk across emotional, behavioral, cognitive, social, and physical health domains. This study examines if sleep and dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) are related to greater risk in these 5 health domains. Participants were 163 (93 female, age = 14.7 years) adolescents with an evening circadian preference from a study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Sleep and circadian measures included weekday total sleep time (TST), bedtime, and shut-eye time assessed via sleep diary, the Children's Morningness–Eveningness Preferences scale, and DLMO. Health domains included self-reported emotional, cognitive, behavioral, social, and physical health. Later DLMO was significantly associated with shorter weekday TST, later weekday bedtime, and later weekday shut-eye time, as well as lower risk in the behavioral domain. At the trend level, later DLMO was related to fewer physical health problems. Earlier DLMO combined with a later bedtime, later shut-eye time, or shorter TST predicted greater risk in the cognitive domain. Later DLMO and shorter TST or a later bedtime predicted worse physical health. DLMO timing was not related to the emotional or social domain. There is evidence that a discrepancy between sleep behaviors and the endogenous circadian rhythm may be related to risk in the cognitive domain for adolescents with an evening circadian preference. Preliminary evidence also indicated that a delayed DLMO and shorter TST or a later bedtime may be related to vulnerability to physical health risk.


The increasing prevalence of political bias in news media calls for greater public awareness of it, as well as robust methods for its detection. While prior work in NLP has primarily focused on the lexical bias captured by linguistic attributes such as word choice and syntax, other types of bias stem from the actual content selected for inclusion in the text. In this work, we investigate the effects of informational bias: factual content that can nevertheless be deployed to sway reader opinion. We first produce a new dataset, BASIL, of 300 news articles annotated with 1,727 bias spans and find evidence that informational bias appears in news articles more frequently than lexical bias. We further study our annotations to observe how informational bias surfaces in news articles by different media outlets. Lastly, a baseline model for informational bias prediction is presented by fine-tuning BERT on our labeled data, indicating the challenges of the task and future directions.


Spinach diseases caused by Alternaria spp. are one of the most significant devastating pathogens to spinach in Kenya and worldwide. Alternaria alternata has been associated with great losses in spinach both in total biomass yield and leaf quality. The pathogen has been traditionally controlled using synthetic fungicides which are expensive and harmful to both humans and environment. This study aimed at investigating the efficacy of the extracts of two plants; Curcuma longa (Tumeric) and Zingiber officinale (Ginger) against Alternaria alternata both in in vitro and in vivo conditions. Absolute ethanol, water, ethyl acetate and methanol were the solvents used in extraction of Curcuma longa and Zingiber officinale rhizome extracts. Decoctions were screened for antimycotic potential using the poisoned food technique. Results from this study revealed that Curcuma longa and Zingiber officinale extracts had varying degree of antifungal activity against the Alternaria alternata depending on the solvent used for the extraction and the concentration. Methanolic extracts of Curcuma longa and Zingiber officinale demonstrated the highest antifungal activity which was significant (p≤0.05) against the Alternaria alternata compared to ethanolic, ethyl acetate and aqueous extracts with percentage inhibition of 64% and 57%, respectively at the concentration of 50 mg/ml. At the concentration of 25 mg/ml and 50 mg/ml the percent inhibition on the fungal growth was not significant (p≤0.05) from the 8th day for all the solvents in both turmeric and ginger. Foliar spray with the extracts was found to be effective in lowering disease severity. Curcuma longa displayed the highest percent decrease index in comparison to Zingiber officinale with percent disease decrease index of 57.70% and 53.84%, respectively. The findings indicated methanol as the most suitable solvent for descending in the use of Curcuma longa and Zingiber officinale extracts in controlling Alternaria alternata associated with leaf spot of spinach in Kenya.


sfaizah. S021502022. 2017. Path Analysis of Determinants of Controlling Blood Glucose Levels in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Thesis. Principal Supervisor Prof. Bhisma Murti., dr., MPH., MSc., PhD. Co-Supervisor Dono Indarto, dr. M.Biotech., St., Ph.D.AIFM. Master Program In Public Health, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta. ABSTRACT Background: Diabetes mellitus has become a global health problem since its prevalence increases. The patient number of diabetes mellitus in Indonesia is in 7th top positions around the world with 10 million cases. 90% of diabetes patients is Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Therapy of T2DM not only uses anti diabetic drugs but also modification of life style and diet. This study aimed to analyze the determinants of controlling blood glucose level in patients with T2DM. Subjects and Methods: This was an analytic observational study with case control design. Research subjects were outward T2DM patients in the Endocrine Policlinic, Hospital Dr. Moewardi Surakarta and determined with fixed disease sampling. 106 patients had HbA1c ≥ 6.5% and 29 patients had HbA1c< 6.5%. Data collections used questionnaires, interview and medical records. Data analysis used the path analysis of STATA 13 with significant value p< 0.05. Results: Psychological stress (b= 1.24,CI 95%= -0.31 to 2.51, p= 0.056), smoking habits (b= 4.08, CI 95%= 1.91 to 6.24, p< 0.001), physical activity (b= -2.19, CI 95%= -.3.42 to -0.95, p= 0.001), energy intake (b= 1.12, CI 95%= -0.30 to 4.45, p= 0.086) and BMI (b= 2.07, CI 95%= -0.15 to 2.40, p= 0.083) directly correlated with HbA1c levels. Educational level (b= -2.25, CI 95%= -3.43 to -1.08, p= 0.001), family income (b= 1.27, CI 95%= 0.22 to 2.31, p= 0.017), carbohydrate intake (b= -0.53, CI 95%= -3.16 to 2.09, p= 0.690), protein intake (b= 1.06, CI 95%= 0.06 to 2.07, p= 0.038), fat intake (b= 0.74, CI 95%= -0.91 to 2.39, p= 0.381) indirectly correlated with HbA1c levels. Conclusions: Moderate psychological stress, smoking continuations, higher energy intake and BMI increase HbA1c levels in patients with T2DM. Vigorous physical activity decreases HbA1c levels in patients with T2DM. Higher protein intake increases energy intake in patients with T2DM. Higher education decreases energy intake in patients with T2DM. Kata Kunci: Psychological stress, smoking habits, physical activity, energy intake, BMI, HbA1c levels.


Veredas are a well-defined plant species composition and structure that occur within the Cerrado. Based on radargrams obtained with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), this work aims to present the structure beneath a vereda located in Buritizeiros, north of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The association between soil data and the four radargrams allowed to describe its sub-superficial structure.. The data shows the conditions for head wards development of the vereda occur: humidity retention near the surface, the condition for the occurrence of the buritis and, consequently, for the vereda. The data also reveals the rapid deposition of colluvium that becomes thicker as one goes down the vereda "channel", causing the deepening of the once almost superficial water table. Key words: vereda, radargrams, subsurface structures


Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL or Apo2L) is a proapoptotic cytokine implicated in cancer cell surveillance. TRAIL induces apoptosis of target cells by the extrinsic, receptor-mediated, apoptotic pathway. A potential of TRAIL as cancer-specific therapeutic agent has been proposed, either as a single agent or in combination with chemotherapy agents. Development of TRAIL-resistant clones in the originally TRAIL-sensitive tumor cell population may be a critical complication of TRAIL based cancer therapy. Prolonged exposure of TRAIL-sensitive leukemia cell line, "wild-type" (WT) HL60 cells, to recombinant soluble TRAIL resulted in the establishment of resistant subclones. To get deeper insight into the molecular mechanism of acquired TRAIL resistance we compared expression profiles of TRAIL-sensitive HL-60 cells and TRAIL-resistant HL-60 subclones using microarray mRNA gene expression chips and 2D-PAGE followed by MS and MS/MS analysis. Using cluster analysis of microarray mRNA gene expression profiles of 6 individual HL60 resistant subclones we identified two molecular signatures of TRAIL resistance. When compared to WT HL60 TRAIL-sensitive mRNA expression the group of HL60 subclones designed as phenotype 1 (P1, n=3) had 1122 significantly upregulated and 985 significantly downregulated mRNAs and subclones designed as phenotype 2 (P2, n=3) had 1583 significantly upregulated and 1798 significantly downregulated mRNAs (p<0.05). The subclones of P1 and P2 phenotype shared 533 upregulated and 422 downregulated genes compared to HL60 WT cells. To identify differentially expressed proteins we performed 2D-PAGE of two representative subclones of P1 and P2 phenotypes (in five replicates) and compared them with HL60 WT cells. We detected and identified differentially expressed proteins involved in various aspects of cellular metabolism. Except for downregulation of chromobox protein homolog 5, a protein involved in the regulation of gene expression, and downregulation of Annexin A6 and protein disulfide-isomerase A3 precursor the TRAIL-resistant P1 and P2 subclones showed different protein expression profile. In P1 TRAIL-resistant cells we identified downregulation of proteins involved in energy metabolism, including pyruvate kinase, enolase, cytochrome c-reductase, NADH dehydrogenase and downregulation of proteins involved in proteasome activity, such as proteasome activator complex subunits 1 and 2. In P2 TRAIL-resistant cells we detected downregulation of important regulatory proteins, such as DNA replication licensing factor MCM7, proliferation-associated protein 2G4, replication protein A 32 kDa subunit. In both, P1 and P2, subclones we identified significant changes in cytoskeletal rearrangement proteins. In addition, several chaperones were differentially expressed, namely protein-disulfide isomerase, GrpE, HSC71 and HSP27, 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein precursor. Our data show two HL60 cell line-derived TRAIL resistant subclones, P1 and P2, have specific molecular signatures suggesting distinct mechanisms of TRAIL resistance. These distinct pathways for development of resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis are relevant for design of more effective strategies for leukemia therapy.


Initial experiments on heating and current drive using second harmonic electron cyclotron heating (ECH) are being performed on the DIII-D tokamak using the new 110 GHz ECH system. Modulation of the ECH power in the frequency range 50 to 300 Hz and detection of the temperature perturbation by ECE diagnostics is used to validate the location of the heating. This technique also determines an upper bound on the width of the deposition profile. Analysis of electron cyclotron current drive indicates that up to 0.17 MA of central current is driven, resulting in a negative loop voltage near the axis.


Background The synovial tissue in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) represents a hypoxic environment with up-regulated pro-inflammatory cytokines and cellular infiltrates including neutrophils. Although inhibition of the interleukin (IL) 6 receptor pathway by tocilizumab is a potent treatment for RA, it may also cause unwanted effects such as an occasionally high grade neutropenia. Objectives Here, we analysed the impact of tocilizumab on survival, mediator secretion, oxidative burst, phagocytosis and energy availability of neutrophils under normoxic versus hypoxic conditions. Methods Human neutrophils were purified, pre-treated with varying doses of tocilizumab and, for comparison, dexamethasone or vehicle/human IgG and stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) alone, LPS plus IL6, or left unstimulated. Cells were then incubated under normoxic (18%O2) or hypoxic (1%O2) conditions and subsequently analysed. Results Both neutrophil survival and energy availability were significantly decreased by tocilizumab in a dose-dependent manner in LPS-stimulated cells, but to a greater extent under normoxia as compared to hypoxia. We also found LPS-stimulated oxidative burst and phagocytosis of neutrophils to be higher under hypoxic versus normoxic conditions, but this difference was reduced by tocilizumab. Finally, we observed that tocilizumab affected neutrophil mediator secretion as a function of oxygen availability. Conclusions Tocilizumab is known for both beneficial effects and a higher incidence of neutropenia when treating RA patients. Our results suggest that both effects can at least in part be explained by a reduction in neutrophil survival, a dose-dependent inhibition of a hypoxia-induced oxidative burst and phagocytosis of infiltrating hypoxic neutrophils and alteration of mediator secretion. Acknowledgements This study has been supported by an unrestricted educational grant by Roche/Chugai now Chugai Pharma. We thank Manuela Jakstadt for technical assistance. This work was supported by the Berlin-Brandenburg Center of Regenerative Therapies (BCRT) to TG and by the Berlin-Brandenburg School of Regenerative Therapies (BSRT) to MH. Disclosure of Interest T. Gaber: None declared, M. Hahne: None declared, C. Strehl: None declared, P. Hoff: None declared, Y. Dörffel: None declared, E. Feist Grant/research support from: Roche/Chugai, Consultant for: Roche/Chugai, Paid instructor for: Roche/Chugai, G.-R. Burmester Consultant for: Roche, Paid instructor for: Roche, F. Buttgereit: None declared


BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of husbandry system and season on the grass intake and egg quality in laying hens considering that characteristics of organic eggs obtained in a system with no grass in the external area are similar conventional ones.

RESULTS
Three hundred and sixty Ancona hens were randomly assigned to three groups: a control group (C), with the hens kept in cages under standard housing conditions; the organic group (O), with the hens kept under an organic production system (4 m² per hen) and the organic-plus group (OP), with the hens maintained under organic conditions but with a larger grass paddock availability (10 m² per hen). The estimated intake of forage, carotenoids and flavonoids of the OP hens was very high as the amounts deposited in eggs, mainly in the spring season. The fatty acid composition of the yolk was significantly affected by pasture. The OP eggs showed lower concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) n-6 and a higher percentage of PUFA n-3.

CONCLUSIONS
The results showed that the grass intake was largely affected by the husbandry system and highlighted the seasonal effect of grass availability on the nutritional quality of eggs produced in organic systems.


This paper examines the development of contracting within the NHS on the basis of the data collected as part of a national survey of English District Health Authorities carried out in late 1994. The paper starts with a discussion of the background to contracting and its evolution during the first 4 years of the NHS internal market. The second section describes the methodology employed in the national survey. The third section presents the results of the survey alongside a discussion of their relevance in terms of the economics of contracting. This section shows the prevalence of different types of contracts and discusses the emergence of the most common type-sophisticated block contracts. Details are provided of how contracts deal with issues such as the measurement of activity, the pricing of projected activity and of activity variances (mainly at marginal cost), as well as the involvement of clinicians in contracting. Other topics explored include the management of extra contractual referrals, contracting for specialized services, arbitration arrangements, the purchaser efficiency index and contracts with the independent sector. The final section offers some concluding thoughts on the current state and future of contracting in the NHS.


Platelets from patients with the Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (albinism, accumulation of ceroid-like pigment in bone marrow macrophages and mild hemorrhagic symptoms) and aspirin-treated normal platelets fail to develop irreversible secondary waves of aggregation when exposed to aggregating agents on the platelet aggregometer. The present study demonstrates that equal volumes of Hermansky-Pudlak and aspirin-treated platelets, when mixed together, respond in a biphasic manner comparable to normal cells. Correction of the release defect of aspirin platelets by storage pool deficient Hermansky-Pudlak cells indicates that different mechanisms are involved in the failure of the release reaction in the two cell types. The simple test may serve to distinguish other patients with storage pool deficient platelets from individuals who have taken aspirin or other drugs with an aspirin-like effect on platelet function.


Liver dysfunction can appear at any point of pregnancy and causes great anxiety to the patient, her family and sometimes her medical attendants. This review concentrates on conditions specific to pregnancy (hyperemesis gravidarum, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, toxemia of pregnancy, HELLP syndrome) and provides a guide in diagnosis and management of hepatobiliary conditions that are probably related to pregnancy (e.g., gallstones, Budd-Chiari syndrome) or that are not specific to pregnancy (e.g., acute viral hepatitis), and also the situations in which pregnancy occurs during pre-existing liver disease (e.g., chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis, Dubin-Johnson syndrome, Wilson's disease).


This study is to investigate the influence of the over-added chemical agents, such as water reducing agent(WRA) and AE water reducing agent(AEWRA), on the physical properties of concrete to estimate the degree of damage due to over-added chemical agents. For the fresh concrete, slump and slump flow increased with the increase of WRA and AEWRA as expected. Material segregation phenomenon was observed with the over dosage of lignin based AEWRA about 4 times larger than recommended dosage. The over dosage of AE water reducing agent about 4 times larger than recommended dosage resulted in an increase of air contents remarkably. The set retardation occurred greatly with the increase of AEWRA and WRA, For the properties of the hardened concrete corresponding to the over dosage of AEWRA, it is found that compressive strength of over added AEWRA and WRA concrete are much smaller than those of base and recommended dosage concrete proportionally due to associated increasing air content.


Abnormal hemoglobins are the most common hemoglobinopathies after beta-thalassemia in the world. More than 40 abnormal hemoglobin variants have been reported in the Turkish population. Therefore, it is one of the target areas for carrier screening. In our study, we aimed to screen the abnormal hemoglobins that cause clinical thalassemia in the Antalya population. Materials and methods: The present study identified the abnormal hemoglobins associated with the beta-globin gene using different molecular genetic techniques following high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) results. We studied 972 postnatal and 361 prenatal cases (total: 1333 cases, 2666 chromosomes) with the disorder from 1998 up to July 2008. DNA extraction from peripheral blood, chorionic villi samples (CVS), amniotic cells, and cord blood samples was carried out using standard procedures. Following polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and amplification of the beta-globin gene, allele refractory mutation system (ARMS), reverse dot blot hybridization (RDBH), Nanochip, and DNA sequencing were performed to identify the mutations. Variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) analysis was used for elimination of maternal contamination in prenatal diagnosis. We identified and characterized abnormal hemoglobin variants with novel and rare beta-thalassemic mutations. Results: Seven different abnormal hemoglobins were found in Antalya province, Turkey, namely Hb Antalya, Hb Tyne, HbS, Hb G-Coushatta, HbE, Hb Knossos, and Hb D-Los Angeles. Conclusion: Some of the abnormal hemoglobin variants found are unstable and some of them cannot be detected by simple electrophoretic examinations. Our findings suggest that abnormal hemoglobins are more frequent than expected among the other abnormal hemoglobins found in Turkey, and it is important both to perform prenatal diagnosis and to give genetic counseling for abnormal hemoglobins to families at risk for thalassemia.


High-frequency magnetic field has been developed pervasively. The induction of heat from the magnetic field can help to treat tumor tissue to a certain extent. Normally, treatment by the low-frequency magnetic field needed to be combined with magnetic substances. To assist in the induction of magnetic fields and reduce flux leakage. However, there are studies that have found that high frequencies can cause heat to tumor tissue. In this paper present, a new magnetic application will focus on the analysis of the high-frequency magnetic nickel core with multi-coil. In order to focus the heat energy using a high-frequency magnetic field into the tumor tissue. The magnetic coil was excited by 915 MHz signal and the combination of tissues used are muscle, bone, and tumor. The magnetic power on the heating predicted by the analytical model, the power loss density (2.98e-6 w/m3) was analyzed using the CST microwave studio.


Purpose Although both frontal and parietal cortices, particularly in the right hemisphere, are thought to be associated with visuospatial processing, the specific neuroanatomical sites essential for this ability are not well established. The purpose of this study was to more precisely identify the specific cortical regions that control visuospatial ability. Methods The study included 67 normal control subjects, 33 stroke subjects with left hemisphere damage (LHD) and 24 stroke subjects with right hemisphere damage (RHD). Performance on the Block Design (BD) subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R) was our measure of spatial ability. MRIs or CT scans were obtained on all stroke subjects and the specific brain area(s) damaged were traced into a computer program. Subjects were separated into six groups depending on whether the LHD or RHD was anterior (ant), posterior (post), or both anterior and posterior (ant-post) to the central sulcus. The areas of damage were overlapped separately depending on whether BD performance was normal or impaired (1 SD below the mean score of control subjects) and the lesion overlaps were compared to identify the specific brain regions most important for BD performance. Results Subjects with ant, post, ant-post RHD or post LHD performed significantly worse than the control group; those with ant-post RHD scored lower than all other subjects in the study. Subjects with BD impairment were more likely to have damage of the left or right dorsolateral prefrontal and left parietal cortices than were subjects with normal BD performance. In contrast, subjects with BD impairment were not more likely to have damage to the right parietal cortex. Conclusions Consistent with previous research highlighting the overall importance of the right hemisphere in spatial processing, we found that subjects with RHD performed worse on BD than those with LHD. Involvement of bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices in BD performance agrees with the known importance of this area for spatial working memory and planning while involvement of the left parietal cortex supports previous work that emphasizes a role for this area in processing spatial details. However, lack of localization of visuospatial skill to the right inferior parietal cortex is inconsistent with the previous literature. This was the first study to couple MRI lesion localization with BD performance, but if replicated, these findings suggest that complex spatial processing is more diffusely controlled within the right hemisphere than the left hemisphere. Further investigation using more advanced imaging techniques, such as voxel-based lesion-symptoms mapping (VSLM), will allow for more precise cortical localization of visuospatial processing.


cDNA clones encoding chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) growth hormone (sGH) have been isolated from a cDNA library prepared from chum salmon pituitary gland poly(A)(+) RNA. Synthetic oligodeoxynucleotide mixtures based on amino acid residues 23-28 of sGH were used as hybridization probes to select recombinant plasmids carrying the sGH coding sequence. The complete nucleotide sequence of sGH cDNA has been determined. The cDNA sequence codes for a polypeptide of 210 amino acids, including a putative signal sequence of 22 amino acids. The 5' and 3' untranslated regions of the message were 64 and 426 bases long, respectively. Mature sGH was efficiently expressed in Escherichia coli carrying a plasmid in which the sGH cDNA was under control of the E. coli trp promoter; sGH comprised about 15% of the total cellular protein in such bacteria. The partially purified sGH from E. coli stimulated the growth of rainbow trout and the activity was indistinguishable from that of natural sGH.


We developed a prototype all ceramic thermistor (ACT) composed of a silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic thermistor and SiC ceramic fibre-lead wires in order to accurately measure tissue temperature during microwave heating treatment. High density SiC ceramics reflects electromagnetic waves and manifests microwave resistant properties. The resistance of the SiC ceramic thermistor is approximately 15 M Ohm at 20 degrees C and has a sensitivity of approximately 200 K Ohm/ degrees C. SiC ceramic fibre resistance is approximately 40 K Ohm/cm, whereas its sensitivity is approximately 10 Ohm/ degrees C-cm, significantly lower than that of the SiC ceramic thermistor. The resistance of the SiC ceramic fibre is stable. This enables the ACT to be designed with the two-probe method instead of the four-probe method which was adopted in the Bowman type thermistor, resulting in a greatly simplified model. The measurement error caused by the temperature dependence of SiC ceramic fibre is < 0.02 degrees C. The ACT was inserted into muscle-equivalent agar phantom and into gluteal muscles of rabbits, and microwave irradiation was carried out. We recorded the phantom and tissue temperature without disturbance by the electromagnetic field for heating. This prototype ACT appears promising for its possible clinical applications in such settings as hyperthermic cancer therapy in man.


Mobile applications (apps) are becoming more commonplace as mobile phones and tablets begin to replace traditional desktop devices. Software developers are usually located in areas where good connectivity is the norm, but large numbers of users are located in other areas where 3 G connectivity is at best poor or non-existent. This results in app development which is unsuitable for many areas of the world and, as well as being a problem in rural areas of the UK, has ramifications for mobile app use in third world countries where fixed broadband services are largely absent. Drawing on experiences of users on the margins of connectivity, this paper discusses difficulties of mobile internet access in Wales and recommends changes to app development methodology to maximise bandwidth in areas of limited network coverage.


This article explores the common law duty of courts to provide publicly available reasons for their decisions. The pre-modern position was that a failure to provide reasons did not constitute an error of law. However, the position in Australia has evolved such that the duty to provide reasons is now considered an 'incident of the judicial process' and has been recognised more recently as flowing from the principle of open justice. Against the backdrop of the emerging case law in Australia linking the duty to provide reasons with the open justice principle, this article considers when and how such a duty is to be exercised, what it might require in terms of public access to, and publication of, reasons, and the circumstances in which the publication of reasons can be withheld or subject to suppression by the courts.


Among the millions of entrepreneurs in developing economies, few are able to earn a decent livelihood. To help these entrepreneurs succeed, governmental and nongovernmental organizations invest billions of dollars every year providing training programs. Many of these programs involve providing entrepreneurs with mentors. Unfortunately, the effects of these programs are often muted, or even null, for women-owned firms. Against this backdrop, we tested whether gender-matching, where female entrepreneurs are randomly paired with a female mentor, could help address the gender gap. Findings from a randomized controlled field experiment with 930 Ugandan entrepreneurs show that although mentor gender has little impact on male entrepreneurs, it has a powerful impact on female entrepreneurs. Firm sales and profits of female entrepreneurs guided by a female mentor increased by, on average, 34% and 29% compared to the control group, and these estimates are even larger for female entrepreneurs with high aspirations. In contrast, female entrepreneurs guided by a male mentor did not significantly improve performance compared to the control group. We provide suggestive mechanism evidence that female mentor-mentee arrangements are characterized by more relational exchanges.


On August 9, 2001, President George W. Bush announced his policy on research involving human embryonic stem cells and proclaimed that federal funding would be allocated only to research involving human embryonic stem cell lines produced prior to his announcement (the Directive). Immediately thereafter, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it would act in accordance and full compliance with the Directive and took action to implement it. Since then, the Directive has dictated the nature and extent of scientific research involving human embryonic stem cells. Yet, astonishingly, despite being the subject of a boisterous debate, the Directive's legality as well as the legality of the NIH's actions have never been questioned nor ascertained. This Article seeks to fill this gap. After analyzing the Directive and the NIH's ensuing actions in light of the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 and the Administrative Procedure Act, this Article argues that the Directive and the NIH's actions taken to implement it were illegal. Based on this conclusion, the Article discusses the possible legal challenges that may be raised with respect to the Directive and the NIH's actions.


We relate two measures of complexity of regular languages. The first is syntactic complexity, that is, the cardinality of the syntactic semigroup of the language. That semigroup is isomorphic to the semigroup of transformations of states induced by non-empty words in the minimal deterministic finite automaton accepting the language. If the language has n left quotients (its minimal automaton has n states), then its syntactic complexity is at most n^n and this bound is tight. The second measure consists of the quotient (state) complexities of the atoms of the language, where atoms are non-empty intersections of complemented and uncomplemented quotients. A regular language has at most 2^n atoms and this bound is tight. The maximal quotient complexity of any atom with r complemented quotients is 2^n-1, if r=0 or r=n, and 1+\sum_{k=1}^{r} \sum_{h=k+1}^{k+n-r} \binom{h}{n} \binom{k}{h}, otherwise. We prove that if a language has maximal syntactic complexity, then it has 2^n atoms and each atom has maximal quotient complexity, but the converse is false.


The flavin mononucleotide (FMN) quinones in flavodoxin have two characteristic redox potentials, namely, Em(FMNH·/FMNH–) for the one-electron reduction of the protonated FMN (E1) and Em(FMN/FMNH·) for the proton-coupled one-electron reduction (E2). These redox potentials in native and mutant flavodoxins obtained from Clostridium beijerinckii were calculated by considering the protonation states of all titratable sites as well as the energy contributed at the pKa value of FMN during protonation at the N5 nitrogen (pKa(N5)). E1 is sensitive to the subtle differences in the protein environments in the proximity of FMN. The protein dielectric volume that prevents the solvation of charged FMN quinones is responsible for the downshift of 130–160 mV of the E1 values with respect to that in an aqueous solution. The influence of the negatively charged 5′-phosphate group of FMN quinone on E1 could result in a maximum shift of 90 mV. A dramatic difference of 130 mV in the calculated E2 values of FMN quinone of the native and G57T mutant flavodoxins is due to the difference in the pKa(N5) values. This is due to the difference in the influence exerted by the carbonyl group of the protein backbone at residue 57.


ABSTRACT Species Identification of Scarlet gourd (Coccinia grandis (L.) Voigt) in Three Population in Yogyakarta. Papasan is a dioecious plant belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae. This plant is commonly used as vegetable, anti diabetic, anti bacterial, and anti diarrhea. In Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, there were two varians of Papasan (Papasan I and II), found in three population (Ngebel, Berbah and Gajah Wong Riverbank). They differ in phenotype, especially in shape and taste of fruit. Genotype observation using squash method on the root tips with modification in the duration of maceration were used in this research indicated that cells devided of Papasan I at about 8-11.30 a.m, while Papasan II at about 08.30-09.30 a.m, 11 a.m-00.30 p.m and 2-2.30 p.m. The chromosome number of both Papasan is 2n=24, contains of 22 autosomes and 2 sex chromosomes. The karyotype formulas of Papasan I and II were 2n=24=20m+2sm+XX(m). Based on the statistic test, significant difference on chromosomes character between Papasan I and II was only in short arm of autosome pair number 5. The difference R value between Papasan I and II was smaller than 0.25. It revealed that the both of Papasan is closely related and belongs to the same species of Coccinia grandis L. Character differences between both of Papasan only revealed physiology adaptation. Keywords: Coccinia grandis L., Papasan, Chromosome, Karyotype. Kata kunci: Coccinia grandis L., Papasan., Cromosom, Kariotype.


Concrete is a prerequisite material for infrastructural development, which is required to be sufficiently strong and durable. It consists of fine, coarse, and aggregate particles bonded with a fluid cement that hardens over time. However, micro cracks development in concrete is a significant threat to its durability. To overcome this issue, several treatments and maintenance methods are adopted after construction, to ensure the durability of the structure. These include the use of bio-engineered concrete, which involved the biochemical reaction of non-reacted limestone and a calcium-based nutrient with the help of bacteria. These bio-cultures (bacteria) act as spores, which have the ability to survive up to 200 years, as they are also found to start the mineralization process and the filling of cracks or pores when in contact with moisture. Previous research proved that bio-engineered concrete is a self-healing technology, which developed the mechanical strength properties of the composite materials. The mechanism and healing process of the concrete is also natural and eco-friendly. Therefore, this study aims to critically analyze bio-engineered concrete and its future potentials in the Structural Engineering field, through the use of literature review. The data analysis was conducted in order to provide gradual and informative ideas on the historical background, present situation, and main mechanism process of the materials. According to the literature review, bio-engineered concrete has a promising outcome in the case of strength increment and crack healing. However, the only disadvantage was its less application in the practical fields. The results concluded that bio-engineered concrete is a new method for ensuring sustainable infrastructural development. And also, it indicated that more practical outcome-based analysis with extensive application in various aspects should be conducted, in order to assess the overall durability.


During inflation, vacuum quantum fluctuations are amplified and stretched to astrophysical distances. They give rise to fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarisation, and to large-scale structures in our universe. They can also trigger the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs). Such objects could provide the progenitors of the recently detected black-hole mergers, and constitute part or all of the dark matter. Their observation would give invaluable access to parts of the inflationary sector that are unconstrained by the CMB. Since PBHs require large inhomogeneities to form, they are produced in scenarios where quantum fluctuations substantially modify the dynamics of the universe. In this habilitation thesis, this "backreaction" effect is investigated using the stochastic inflation formalism, an effective theory for the long-wavelengths of quantum fields during inflation, which can be described in a classical but stochastic way once the small wavelengths have been integrated out. It describes an inflating background that gets randomly corrected by the vacuum quantum fluctuations as they get stretched to large distances. After a brief review of the stochastic inflation formalism, we explain how it can be combined with standard techniques of cosmological perturbation theory (the $\delta N$ formalism) to provide the full probability density function of curvature perturbations in the presence of non-perturbative quantum diffusion. These results are then applied to PBHs, where we show that quantum diffusion can change the expected abundance by several orders of magnitude. Finally, since inflationary models giving rise to cosmologically relevant PBHs often feature violations of slow roll, the stochastic-$\delta N$ formalism is generalised to non slow-roll dynamics. We conclude by highlighting several research directions that remain to be explored.


Rough inclusion functions (RIFs) are known by many other names in formal approaches to vagueness, belief, and uncertainty. Their use is often poorly grounded in factual knowledge or involve wild statistical assumptions. The concept of contamination introduced and studied by the present author across a number of her papers, concerns mixing up of information across semantic domains (or domains of discourse). RIFs play a key role in contaminating algorithms and some solutions that seek to replace or avoid them have been proposed and investigated by the present author in some of her earlier papers. The proposals break many algorithms of rough sets in a serious way. In this research, algorithm-friendly granular generalizations of such functions that reduce contamination are proposed and investigated from a mathematically sound perspective. Interesting representation results are proved and a core algebraic strategy for generalizing Skowron-Polkowski style of rough mereology is formulated.


UNLABELLED
Prolongation of life expectancy requires inevitable care for the quality of life of the elderly. Regular physical activity has a very important role in preserving the quality of life and independence, and not only reducing illness and mortality. A better understanding of this issue should enable us to set guidelines for regular physical activity for the elderly. The reaction to regular physical activity of older adults without cardiovascular diseases is similar to the reaction of young people to regular physical activity. In men, the mechanism of cardiovascular adaptation is mainly central, while in old women it is mainly peripheral. Elderly with cardiovascular diseases suffer from oxygen consumption and cardiac output reduction, compared to healthy old people. They also enjoy the cardiovascular benefits of aerobic physical activity and gain the risk factors profile improvement. Therefore, it is recommended to include aerobic physical activity as an integrative part of the daily lifestyle. Resistance strength training in elderly of both sexes leads to similar or even higher values for muscle mass and strength compared to young people, reduces the body fat mass, body weight and helps to preserve the active tissue mass. More beneficial effects of physical activity are: an improvement of posture and physical stability, improved flexibility and mobility capacity, a better cognitive function and a lower level of depression. The beneficial effects of physical activity in the very aged and frail elderly include physiological, metabolic, psychological and functional adaptations, which can substantially contribute to the quality of life and cannot be achieved by other treatments.

SUMMARY
Participation in a regular physical activity program is an effective and secure means to avoid and reduce the functional decline associated with aging and to improve the quality of life. The recommended exercise program is multifactorial and includes aerobic and resistance training, and exercises of balance and flexibility.


The paper presents a method of calculating deformation forces when pulling holes of the parts by working elements of broaches with regular microrelief with the actual area of contact of the interacting surfaces.


Purpose Diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) in children is more challenging than in adults. This study aimed to describe demographical, clinical and laboratory findings of children diagnosed with tuberculosis in Turkey, including the issues of contact tracing, culture positivity and forms of the disease. Materials and Methods Clinical and laboratory data of 51 children with a mean age of 8.0±4.6 years who were diagnosed with TB were retrospectively reviewed. Main diagnostic tools included tuberculin skin test, chest X-ray, sputum/gastric aspirate culture with sensitivity testing, and direct microscopy for acid-fast bacilli on available samples. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of the patients were examined. Results Thirty-six (70.6%) children were diagnosed with intra-thoracic and 15 (29.4%) with extra-thoracic tuberculosis. Twenty-eight of the patients had a positive Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine scar (28/51, 54.9%) and 23/51 (45.1%) had a positive tuberculin skin test. An adult TB contact was identified in 27 (52.9%) of the cases. On direct microscopy, acid-fast bacilli were found in nine (17.6%) patients and positive culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis was found in 19 (37.3%). Drug resistance to isoniazid was detected in four (7.8%). One patient with nephrotic syndrome and miliary tuberculosis died during follow-up. All other patients responded well to the treatment. Conclusion Focusing on active contact tracing among all household contacts of tuberculous cases may be helpful in early identification and controlling childhood disease, even in regions with low disease prevalence. Adopting a suspicious and proactive approach in this particular age group is warranted.


In order to study the performance of scheduling algorithms, simulators of parallel and distributed applications need accurate models of the application's behavior during execution. For this purpose, traces of low-level events collected during the actual execution of real applications are needed. Collecting such traces is a difficult task due to the timing, to the interference of instrumentation code, and to the storage and transfer of the collected data. To address this problem we propose a comprehensive software architecture, which instruments the application's executables, gather hierarchically the traces, and post-process them in order to feed simulation models. We designed it to be scalable, modular and extensible.


Three months before his untimely death in Paris in July 1912, Henri Poincare formulated the conjecture that Planck's action element could (should) be regarded as constituting a "veritable atome", i.e. an "atom of motion", whose integrity arises from the fact that the "points" it contains are equivalent to one another from the standpoint of probability. In this paper we investigate the possibility that this conjecture provides a clue to the origin and nature of dark matter.


In this article, the issue of structural individualisation, which is one of the results of social modernisation, is adopted as the subject-matter. In the processes of individualisation, it is, first and foremost, the importance of an individual human being and matters relevant to their life, including the obligation to make constant choices in all the aspects of life, that is placed emphasis upon. In the aspect of values, the process of individualisation means transfer from values seen as responsibilities (related to duties) to values connected with self-fulfilment (self-development). The consequence of individualisation is the significant changes in the realm of morality: departing from traditional moral values and standards, permissivism and moral relativism, the destruction of normativity, and the secularisation of morality. On the other hand, it creates the opportunity to determine one's own moral choices and shapean autonomous moral personality.


This edition of the author's critical prose and letters should be useful reading for anyone wishing better understanding of his poetry. He published 3 small volumes of poems in his lifetime, but a rather more substantial body of prose. This book contains almost every known review, essay, memoir, vignette, polemic and sketch Mandelstam wrote, together with nearly 100 letters and the non-fiction prose works, "Journey to Armenia", "Fourth Prose", and "Conversation about Dante".


high qual ity and can be con sid ered as "core" sites for ac cess ing health care in for ma tion. The sites may be grouped by sub ject con tent or by source of in for ma tion. The se lec tion of a Web site as a HCI Ed i tor's Se lect Site is very much a per sonal choice of the Col umn Ed i tor. It is based on ex pe ri ence and us age of the Internet for find ing health care in f or ma tion. How ever, in the se lec tion of each site, cri te ria for eval u a tion in clude rep u ta tion of the pro ducer/pub lisher of the site, sta bil ity of the site, ease of use, qual ity/ac cu racy of in for ma tion, avail abil i ty of links (qual ity of link se lec tion, do they work), and fre quency of up dates. While us ers must al ways check for changes in URLs–a con stant prob lem on the Internet–the sites se lected have ex hib ited sta bil ity in pro vid ing long-term ac cess to qual ity in for ma tion. In for ma tion about each site will in clude a de scrip tion of the con tent of the Web page, along with an eval u a tion of searchability of the site and a rat ing (5-star, high est through 1-star, low est) . Please note that only su pe rior sites will be in cluded as a Se lect Site and that the "star" sys tem of rat ing di f fer en ti ates among these top sites; a "1-star" rated site is still ex cel lent. Rea sons for a lower rat ing wil l al ways be noted. The main page of each site will be re pro duced and URLs to book mark will be noted. HCI Ed i tor's Se lect Sites will be printed on two fac ing pages so that they may be pho to cop ied onto one page for use as "cheat sheets" be side the com puter ter mi nal (sin gle cop ies only, please; for mul ti pl e cop ies, con tact The Haworth Press, Inc.) . Sug ges tions for Web sites to in clude as HCI Ed i tor's Se lect Sites are wel come.


In 2001, NO was approved as a therapeutic agent in Europe for the treatment of persistent pulmonary hypertension in late preterm infants >34 weeks of gestational age and term newborns. Recent observational studies suggest, that preterm infants <34 weeks of gestation with acute hypoxic lung failure could benefit from inhaled NO (iNO) by improved oxygenation. To date, 21 randomised-controlled trials have enrolled 3 336 preterm infants <34 weeks of gestation for iNO treatment. Overall, iNO treatment does not reduce the rate of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) or death compared to controls. In addition, iNO treatment of preterm infants with hypoxic respiratory failure or increased risk of BPD does not affect the combined incidence of death and BPD. However, early prophylactic use of iNO in preterm infants with respiratory distress seems to improve survival without BPD or severe cerebral damage. Current data of long term neurological outcome of iNO-treated preterm infants do not seem to justify iNO administration. Outside of well designed clinical trials iNO-treatment of preterm infants can currently not be recommended.


Botulinum toxin A (BTX-A), a purified protein derived from the bacteria Clostridium botulinum, has been widely used in aesthetic dermatology. Though BTX-A was initially used by neurologists extensively for neurological conditions such as blepharospasm, strabismus headaches, dystonia and spasticity, it has become popular among dermatologists and plastic surgeons for its cosmetic indications. Its use in pregnancy has been controversial and this article deals with the issues of use of BTX-A in pregnancy.


With the recent increase in biomass pellet consumption, the mechanical degradation of pellets during transport and handling has become more important. ISO standard 17831-1 is an accepted global standard that is commonly used amongst researchers and industries to determine the mechanical durability of pellets. However, the measured mechanical durability sometimes fails to match the certificate accompanying the shipment. In such cases, pellet length specifications are suspected to play a role. This paper studies the effect of pellet length on mechanical durability for various types of commercially produced biomass pellets. In addition, the effect of test conditions and torrefaction on the mechanical durability of biomass pellets has been investigated. To study the effect of pellet length, pellets were classified into three groups: shorter than 15 mm, 15 to 30 mm, and longer than 30 mm, and their length distributions were measured using an in-house image processing tool. Then, the mechanical durability of pellets was measured using ISO standard 17831-1. The mechanical durability results were compared to random-sized pellet samples. To study the effect of test conditions, the mechanical durability test was operated at different time intervals to elucidate the effect of tumbling at different conditions. The results show that the mechanical durability depends highly on the length distribution of the pellets, with a difference between categories of up to 13%. It was also observed that the mechanical durability remains relatively constant after a specific time interval. Based on the results, we highly recommend modifying the current ISO standard to account for the pellet length distribution (PLD).


A research on engineering by the Royal Academy of
engineering (RAE) in the year 2012 revealed that engineering
has the capacity for economic and social development in various
countries of the world. With the numerous opportunities and
strength in engineering education comes its weaknesses and
threats which necessitates a look at SWOT analysis. SWOT
analysis is a tool for strategic planning and strategic
management in organizations. This study analyzed
implementation of SWOT analysis in engineering education in
Africa and SWOT analysis as a concept was examined. Findings
from the study revealed that SWOT analysis evolved in the 1960s.
Though with improvement in knowledge and time, it has been
superseded by other tools such as resource-based planning and
competency-based planning. It is a tool for strategic planning
and strategic management. There is no general convention or
method for implementing SWOT analysis generally.
Understanding the context and prevailing conditions is key in
determining the appropriate dimension to exploring SWOT
analysis in engineering education in Africa. The study therefore
recommends that more effort be intensified on advancing the
strengths and opportunities engineering education has while also
overcoming its threats and weaknesses.


Using the hand collected data of the top five clients of manufacturing enterprises in China, this paper examines the effect of customer geographic proximity on the inventory management level of manufacturing enterprises. The results show that there is a positive relation between the geographic proximity and inventory management level: the greater the geography proximity of customers, the lower the proportion of inventory, the higher the inventory turnover rate. This paper not only contributes to the literature on the factors affecting the level of inventory management and the supply chain management, but also provides reference on how the manufacturing enterprises can maintain the relationship with customers better, and improve inventory management efficiency.


Surveys were conducted to evaluate and compare assemblage
structure and trophodynamics of ichthyoplankton, and their variability, in an estuarine transition zone.
Environmental gradients in the saltfront region of the Patuxent River subestuary, Chesapeake Bay, were hypothesized to define spatiotemporal distributions and assemblages of ichthyoplankton. Larval fishes, zooplankton,
and hydrographic data were collected during spring through early summer 2000 and 2001. Larvae of 28 fish species were collected and species richness was similar each year. Total
larval abundance was highest in the oligohaline region down-estuary of the salt front in 2000, but highest at the salt front in 2001. Larvae of anadromous fishes were most abundant at or up-estuary of the salt front in both years. Two ichthyoplankton assemblages were distinguished: 1) riverine—characterized predominantly by anadromous species (Moronidae and Alosinae); and 2) estuarine—characterized
predominantly by naked goby (Gobiosoma bosc) (Gobiidae). Temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity-associated
variables (e.g., salt-front location), and concentrations of larval prey, specifically the calanoid copepod
Eurytemora affinis and the cladoceran Bosmina longirostris, were important indicators of larval fish abundance. In
the tidal freshwater region up-estuary of the salt front, there was substantial diet overlap between congeneric
striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and white perch (M. americana) larvae, and also larvae of alewife (Alosa
pseudoharengus) (overlap= 0.71–0.93). Larval abundance, taxonomic diversity, and dietary overlap were highest
within and up-estuary of the salt front, which serves to both structure the ichthyoplankton community and control trophic relationships in the estuarine transition zone.


During the last three decades, a substantial body of knowledge has accumulated on the moderating role of self-monitoring with respect to consumer behavior (Gangestad and Snyder 2000). One area in which our knowledge about the moderating effect of self-monitoring is limited is consumer attitudes toward commercial gender role portrayals. The topic is of considerable importance since gender identity can be a key aspect of brand positioning. The effectiveness of persuasive messages can therefore be considerably enhanced by knowing which consumer characteristics moderate the responsiveness to gender role portrayals; and self-monitoring could be one of these potential moderators.