The work points out the problems of adaptation of the subject to the activity and the possibility of their solution through the formation of the style of activity. The urgency of the use of non-subject resources for the formation of the style of activity in modern conditions is substantiated. The role of the engineer in creating the environment and means of labor, which can be used as extra- subject resources, is pointed out. The principles on which the professional training of engineers should be based, found on the need to solve the problems of "completing" the subject (the subject of labor, the subject of life activity) are indicated. The principles, on which the higher education is oriented, are analyzed, and the problems of the educational process in modern conditions are indicated. The importance of interdisciplinary courses in the training of engineers of the future is substantiated; the possibilities of their implementation in the educational process and the advantages and disadvantages are analyzed. The central part of the work is essentially a reflection of the process of design, development and in the depths of the interdisciplinary course "Introduction to Specialty", built on the basis of the disciplines chosen by the student "Psychology of Business Communication" and "Fundamentals of Business Communication and Presentation" in the educational process at a technical university, including analysis of feedback from students who took part in it. The results of the implementation of the course and its scaling for other levels and for other areas of training are presented. The article analyzes the assessments of the effectiveness of training, exhibited by students when filling out the feedback questionnaire, which indicates a high level of subjective assessment of the effectiveness of the course as a whole in the presence of certain differences in assessing the achievement of individual results by students of different areas of training. The main directions of further work are outlined. A description of the structure and options for constructing a number of interdisciplinary courses is given.


Fast and simple algorithm of a parity checker for a large residue numbers is presented. A new set of RNS moduli with 2/sup r/- (2/sup l//spl plusmn/ 1) form for fast modular multiplication is proposed. The proposed RNS moduli has a large dynamic range for a large RNS number. The parity of a residue number can be checked by the Chinese remainder theorem (CRT). A CRT-based parity checker is simply organized by the Montgomery reduction method (MRM), implemented by using multipliers and the carry-save adder array. We present a fast parity checker with minimal hardware processed in three clock cycles for 32-bit RNS modulus set.


In general, a conventional electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure efficiently suppresses simultaneous switching noise (SSN) over a wide frequency range. However, it is difficult to apply the geometry to the design of a real printed circuit boards (PCBs) for high-speed digital circuits due to the degradation in the signal integrity performance. In this paper, a ground reinforced trace (GRT) is added to the EBG power plane to guarantee power integrity (PI) as well as signal integrity (SI) simultaneously. In addition, the definition of a noise suppression bandwidth in an EBG structure is derived for the purpose of analyzing the correlation between the GRT and the noise suppression bandwidth. This correlation is utilized to decide the location of the GRT to mitigate the degradation of the low-pass cutoff frequency. As a result, an excellent signal performance is achieved without any degradation of the noise suppression bandwidth in a conventional EBG structure.


The in vivo and in vitro effects of partially purified human lymphoblastoid alpha-interferon (alpha-IFN) on natural killing (NK) and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) of peripheral blood were tested in 17 cancer patients. The study tested single doses of alpha-IFN (part A), and repeated, incremental doses (15 over 5 weeks; part B). The initial response to alpha-IFN was a decline of NK and ADCC activity, reaching a nadir at 12 h. The decline was found to be partly related to nonadherent suppressor cells. The NK activity generally returned to or exceeded baseline within 24-48 h and stayed elevated for a week or more after a single injection. Interestingly, the decline in NK activity was not unique to the first injection, but was found even in chronic treatment 12 h after alpha-IFN injection. Dose-response studies showed that maximum stimulation was achieved by the end of the first week, when it was greater for patients receiving higher doses of alpha-IFN. However, patients who received repeated injections at lower doses were able to sustain this stimulation, whereas those who received higher doses were not. Very low doses (0.5 mU/m2) appeared to be maximally efficient. IFN administration to the same group of cancer patients seemed to have similar effects on ADCC against tumor cells. Furthermore, our study has shown that cells responsive in vitro to alpha-IFN (drawn prior to treatment) showed an increase in NK activity similar to that after in vivo administration of alpha-IFN, indicating a simple predictor of patients' responsiveness to IFN treatment. Taken together, these findings indicate that in vivo administration of alpha-IFN results in a dose-dependent augmentation of NK and ADCC activity in cancer patients.


This paper investigates cycle and distance properties of structured Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes based on circulant permutation matrices. A very simple algorithm to detect and construct codes with good cycle properties is proposed. A geometrical approach to design codes with good girth properties is then presented and illustrated, through the definition of rules for the design of parity check matrices without short length cycles. An upper bound on the minimal distance of the proposed structured code is also derived. The information provided by this bound can help the construction of the parity check matrices, in order to achieve a target minimum distance.


Various specialized hardware designs, such as Cell, GPGPUs, and MIC, have gained traction as alternative hardware designs capable of delivering higher flop rates than conventional designs. However, a drawback of these accelerators is that they simultaneously increase programmer burden in terms of code complexity and decrease portability by requiring hardware specific code to be interleaved throughout application code. The structure of the application code itself typically requires modification when targeting accelerators. Further, balancing the application workload across the cores becomes problematic, especially if a given computation must be split across a mixture of core types with variable performance characteristics. Our research aims to address the complications that arise in heterogeneous systems by understanding how the application build process and underlying runtime system can assist the programmer in developing parallel programs that target such platforms. We are developing a unified programming model that can be used for all cores, host and accelerator alike. We discuss the modifications we have made to the runtime system, along with discussing future modifications. We have demonstrated a simple molecular dynamics (MD) program executing on a mixture of x86 and Cell processors without requiring hardware specific code within the application code.


A total of 41 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) defined as abnormal liver injury test results for 6 months or more and HCV RNA positivity in plasma were studied to determine if the liver might not be the only focus of HCV infection in individuals treated with interferon alfa (IFN‐α). All patients were examined for the presence of confounding liver disease and tested negatively for such findings. All tested positively for HCV RNA and had an abnormal hepatic histology. All were treated with IFN for 6 months at a dosage of 5 million units daily. After 6 months of therapy, 29 (71%) had normal alanine transaminase (ALT) values, and 25 (61%) tested negatively for HCV RNA. After 6 months of follow‐up, without IFN therapy, 17 (41%) still had normal ALT values, and 16 (39%) still tested negatively for HCV RNA in serum. Patients who continued to test negatively for HCV RNA in serum after 6 months of follow‐up also tested negatively for HCV RNA in the liver at the end of IFN therapy. Only 2 subjects who tested negatively for HCV RNA in the liver at the end of treatment relapsed after discontinuing IFN therapy. In contrast, patients who tested positively for HCV RNA in the liver after 6 months of therapy relapsed and tested positively for HCV RNA in serum during the 6 months of follow‐up. These results suggest that (1) a nonhepatic site of HCV infection may exist; (2) this putative extrahepatic site appears to be less responsive to IFN therapy than in the liver; and (3) this unknown extrahepatic site of infection may be the source of HCV reactivation in cases that relapse during IFN follow‐up periods. (HEPATOLOGY 1995; 22:1109–1112.).


Clinacanthus nutans is widely used as a traditional medicine in Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia. Although its effectiveness is well documented, its therapeutic use is limited to the treatment of only a few diseases; mostly it is used as an anti-viral agent against varicella-zoster and herpes simplex virus infections. Herein, we demonstrate the therapeutic activity of C. nutans extracts in lowering inflammation in a model of bovine mastitis caused by bacterial infection. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a gram-negative bacterial component, caused inflammation activation in bovine endothelial cells (CPAE) through the upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines (IL6 and IL1β) and chemokines (CXCL3 and CXCL8) gene expression, partially leading to cell death. Treatment with C. nutans crude extract significantly diminished these responses in a dose-dependent manner. The solvent fractionation of C. nutans extract revealed that the ethyl acetate (C4H8O2) fractions had a high potential to protect against cell death and diminished IL1β, IL6, CXCL3, and CXCL8 levels to less than 0.45 folds relative to the LPS-treated control. Glyceryl 1,3-distearate (C39H76O5) was identified as a bioactive compound responsible for the anti-inflammation activity but not the anti-cell death activity of C. nutans extract. This study highlighted the efficiency of C. nutans extracts as an alternative therapeutic option for the natural-product sustainable development of bovine mastitis treatment.


A simple procedure for the preparation of [(S)Ru(η-C5H5){(S)dpompyr-PP′}H][dpompyr =N-diphenylphosphino-2-(diphenylphosphinoxymethyl)pyrrolidine] from [Ru3(CO)12] is described. The hydride reacts stereospecifically with chloroform or carbon tetrachloride to give [(S)Ru(η-C5H5){(S)dpompyr-PP′}Cl] whose structure is reported. The crystals are monoclinic, space group P21 with a= 11.076(2), b= 10.908(2), c= 12.825(3)A, β= 92.26(2), and Z= 2. The structure was solved by the heavy-atom method and refined to R= 0.0322 using 2 306 diffractometer data with I > 3σ(I). Synthesis of this chloro-complex from [Ru(η-C5H5)(PPh3)2Cl] and (S)dpompyr proceeds with only modest diastereoselectivity whereas reduction of [(S)Ru(η-C5H5){(S)dpompyr-PP′}Cl] using LiAlH4 regenerates 88%[(S)Ru(η-C5H5){(S)dpompyr-PP′}H]. Mechanisms are proposed to explain the observed diastereoselectivities. Circular dichroism and 1H, 13C, and 31P n.m.r. spectra of all new compounds are also reported.


BIDYUK Abstract. The paper contains a literature review for automatic abstractive text summarization. The classification of abstractive text summarization methods was con-sidered. Since the emergence of text summarization in the 1950s, techniques for summaries generation were constantly improving, but because the abstractive summarization require extensive language processing, the greatest progress was achieved only recently. Due to the current fast pace of development of both Natural Language Processing in general and Text Summarization in particular, it is essential to analyze the progress in these areas. The paper aims to give a general perspective on both the state-of-the-art and older approaches, while explaining the methods and approaches. Additionally, evaluation results of the research papers are


The methods of literature metrology and data mining were used to study the research topics and social network analysis of traditional Chinese medicine for constipation. The major Chinese databases were searched to include the research studies of traditional Chinese medicine for constipation. BICOMS analysis software was used to extract and collect the main information and produce co-occurrence Matrix; gCLUTO software was used for cluster analysis. Data analysis was conducted by using SPSS 19.0 software. The results showed that the number of studies on traditional Chinese medicine for constipation was constantly increased, with two literature volume peaks respectively in 2003 and 2006. Related studies have been published in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have published, but the studies in developed areas were more than those in developing areas. There was little cooperation between research institutions and the authors, especially the cooperation between different areas. At present, the research field of Chinese medicine for constipation is divided into five research topics. In terms of specific traditional Chinese medicine, angelica sinensis is in the core position. The results showed regional imbalance in the number of studies on Chinese medicine treatment for constipation, as well as little cooperation between researchers and research institutions. The research topics mainly focused on the evaluation of clinical efficacy, but the research on optimizing the prescriptions was still not enough, so the future researchers shall pay more attention to the studies of constipation prescriptions with Angelica sinensis as the core herb.


The goods and services provided by coastal systems and the natural capital stocks that produce them are critical to the functioning of the earth's life support systems. They also contribute significantly to human welfare, both directly and indirectly, and therefore represent a significant portion of the total economic value of the global environment. Coastal systems including estuaries, coastal wetlands, river deltas and coastal shelves are particularly rich in ecosystem goods and services. They provide a wide range of highly valued resources including fisheries, open spaces, wildlife habitat, nutrient cycling, and recreational opportunities. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for the assessment and valuation of goods and services provided by coastal systems. First, we elucidate a formal system based on functional diversity for classifying and valuing coastal ecosystem services, emphasizing that no single ecological or economic methodology can capture the total value of these complex systems. Second, we demonstrate the process of ecosystem service valuation using a series of economic case studies and examples drawn from peer-reviewed literature. We conclude with observations on the future of coastal ecosystem service valuation and its potential role in the science and management of coastal zone resources. In: James G. Wilson (ed.) The Intertidal Ecosystem: The Value of Ireland's Shores, 1–24. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. 2 The Intertidal Ecosystem


The frequent observation of bacterial infections in patients with acute exacerbation of asthma has led to the hypothesis that such infections play a crucial role in the induction and exacerbation of asthma (bronchial asthma of infectious origin). Consequently, the attempt to modify the course of the disease by immunologic intervention in bacterial infections seems logical. In the 1940s and '50s, the success (partly inspired by the lack of effective antiasthma pharmacologic treatment) of immunotherapy (desensitization; hyposensitization) with inhalant allergens suggested that the clinical outcome of asthma treatment could be improved by injecting bacterial antigens (1, 2). Several ± mostly open studies ± have evaluated the bene®cial effect of bacterial immunotherapy in patients with bronchial asthma (3). The clinical effect has recently been questioned, and international recommendations clearly state that bacterial vaccines have no role in modern asthma treatment (4±6). This review focuses on the importance of bacterial infections in asthma and the clinical documentation of the ef®cacy of bacterial vaccines. On the basis of current immunologic knowledge of the pathophysiologic mechanisms of the allergic response, a possible role for bacterial antigens in the treatment strategy is proposed.


Facially amphiphilic (FA) phenylene ethynylene (PE) polymers that self-assemble in aqueous solution were studied by small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXD) and found to self-assemble into bilayers with a fully extended backbone. The resulting bilayers have long-range liquid-crystalline order. This self-assembly is programmed into the molecule by placing polar and nonpolar groups at precise locations so that they segregate onto opposite sides of the molecular structure. The absence of FA patterning generated an amorphous sample confirming the importance of this programmed amphiphilicity in the self-assembly process. Facially amphiphilic patterning represents a new design criterion for supramolecular chemistry, illustrated here in the observation of molecular ordering into bilayers reminiscent of self-assembled structures commonly found in biology, including amphiphilic beta-sheet polypeptides and phospholipid bilayers.


The article discusses the design model, general construction and implement scheme of network teaching platform based on Web techniques, probes the application of education informationization in the teaching process. Combined modern teaching theory and multi-medium techniques, the article demonstrates and implements the main function and demand of network teaching platform from m teaching and learning point of view.


Multi-spectrum and high spatial resolution is the vital problem for optical design of aerial photogrammetric camera all the time. It is difficult to obtain an outstanding optical system with high modulation transfer function (MTF) as a result of wide band. At the same time, for acquiring high qualified image, chromatic distortion in optical system must be expected to be controlled below 0.5 pixels; it is a trouble thing because of wide field and multi-spectrum. In this paper, MTF and band of the system are analyzed. A Russar type photogrammetric objective is chosen as the basic optical structure. A novel optical system is presented to solve the problem. The new optical photogrammetric system, which consists of panchromatic optical system and chromatic optical system, is designed. The panchromatic optical system, which can obtain panchromatic image, makes up of a 9k×9k large format CCD and high-accuracy photographic objective len, its focal length is 69.83mm, field angle is 60°×60°, the size of CCD pixels is 8.75um×8.75um, spectral scope is from 0.43um to 0.74um, modulation transfer function is all above 0.4 in whole field when spatial frequency is at 60lp/mm, distortion is less than 0.007%. In a chromatic optical system, three 2k×2k array CCDs combine individually three same photographic objectives, the high resolution chromatic image is acquired by the synthesis of red, green, blue image data information delivered by three CCD sensors. For the chromatic system, their focal length is 24.83mm and they have the same spectral range of 0.39um to 0.74um. A difference is that they are coated in different film on their protect glass. The pixel number is 2048 × 2048; its MTF exceeds 0.4 in full field when spatial frequency is 30lp/mm. The advantages of digital aerial photogrammetric camera comparison with traditional film camera are described. It is considered that the two development trends on digital aerial photogrammetric camera are high-spectral resolution and high-spatial resolution. Merits of the aerial photogrammetric camera are multi-spectral, high resolution, low distortion and light-weight and wide field. It can apply in aerial photography and remote sense in place of traditional film camera. After put on trial and analyzing from the design results, the system can meet large scale aerial survey.


The reported results show a prevalence of HIV-1 antibodies in drug addicts by ELISA and Western Blot. In this case report the presence of persons (drug addicts) whose sera have antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2 by ELISA and Western Blot advise that further epidemiological studies are necessary to assess the real HIV-2 circulation in Italy.


We report a case of fetal trisomy 18 with SCN5A R1193Q variant that presented with sinus bradycardia, 2 : 1 atrioventricular block (AVB), and QT interval prolongation. These complex arrhythmias were diagnosed by fetal magnetocardiography combined with ultrasound findings. Advanced AVB and ventricular arrhythmias were confirmed after birth. Genetic testing of the baby revealed a SCN5A R1193Q variant, which we considered could account for the various arrhythmias in this case.


We describe for the first time a case of macrophage activation syndrome in a child with hyperimmunoglobulinemia D with periodic fever syndrome who required intensive care support. Up-regulated monokine production, high serum levels of triglycerides and ferritin, clotting abnormalities with hypofibrinogenemia, and rapidly evolving pancytopenia should alert the clinician to the possible diagnosis of macrophage activation syndrome, even in autoinflammatory diseases characterized basically by the periodic recurrence of unprovoked inflammatory attacks. Bone marrow aspiration showing well-differentiated macrophages phagocytosing hematopoietic elements remains the main tool for a final diagnosis, and cyclosporine is the best strategy for treatment.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The sensitivity and validity of serum neuron-specific enolase as a marker of brain injury were tested after global cerebral ischemia.

METHODS
Sixty-nine Mongolian gerbils were perfusion fixed after variable reperfusion after 5-minute (group 1) or 15-minute (group 2) bilateral carotid occlusion. Neuron-specific enolase was analyzed by an enzyme immunoassay in serum of control, sham-operated, and ischemic animals before euthanasia and in nonischemic gerbil brains. Brains were processed for histology, immunohistochemistry, and morphometric evaluation of ischemic neuronal damage.

RESULTS
After cerebral ischemia, loss of neuronal immunoreactivity was closely associated with increased neuron-specific enolase serum levels, which were significantly elevated by 24 hours (group 1) or by 4 hours (group 2) of reperfusion (P < .001). Response of serum levels depended on the duration of preceding ischemia, and maximum concentrations were approximately 3-fold (group 1) or 20-fold (group 2) those of nonischemic control. Morphological damage became apparent 48 hours (group 1) or 12 hours (group 2) after ischemia, as indicated by histological and morphometric data.

CONCLUSIONS
Significantly elevated neuron-specific enolase serum levels could be demonstrated as a consequence of ischemia-induced cytoplasmic loss of neuron-specific enolase in central nervous system neurons, corresponded quantitatively to the severity of cerebral ischemia, and were detectable before irreversible neuronal injury. Therefore, analysis of serum neuron-specific enolase is suggested to be both a valuable diagnostic tool in clinical management of the initial stages of global cerebral ischemia and a prognostic parameter during the postischemic course.


One of the prime objectives of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is to reduce the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in India. Different strategies adopted for child health under NRHM are directed to reduce IMR. Using review of available data sources and published literature, the paper aims to examine the impact of NRHM initiatives like health infrastructure and manpower in reducing IMR. The mission had set specific targets; these include a reduction in the infant mortality rate to 30 per 1000 live births. At the national level, there was a decline in the infant mortality rate from 58 per thousand live births in 2005 to 44 in 2011 (all India) after implementation of NRHM. The IMR in focus states like Bihar fell from 61 to 44, in Madhya Pradesh from 76 to 59, in Rajasthan from 68 to 52 and in Assam from 68 to 55. However, 14 states/UTs have already achieved MDG 4 of IMR. These figures are, however, still dismal even when compared to the target IMR rate of 30 under NRHM. Thus the NRHM has had an impact but a rather limited one.


Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a complication of diabetes that cause retinal damage; therefore, it is a leading cause of blindness. However, early detection of this disease can dramatically reduce the risk of vision loss. The main problem of early DR detection is that the manual diagnosis by ophthalmology is time-consuming, expensive, and prone to misdiagnosis. Deep learning (DL) models have aided in the early diagnosis of DR, and DL is now frequently utilized in DR detection and classification. The main issues with classical DL models is that they are incapable to quantify the uncertainty in the models, thus they are prone to make wrong decisions in complex cases. However, Bayesian deep learning (BDL) models have recently evolved as unified probabilistic framework to integrate DL and Bayesian models to provides an accurate framework to identify all sources of uncertainty in the model. This paper introduces BDL and most recent research that used BDL approaches to treat diabetic retinopathy are reviewed and discussed. A thorough comparison of the existing Bayesian approaches in this topic is also presented. In addition, available datasets for the fundus retina, which is often employed in DR, are provided and reviewed.


A NiFe-based compound is considered one of the most promising candidates for the highest oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalytic activities among all nonprecious metal-based electrocatalysts. In this report, a unique catalyst of free-standing sandwiched NiFe nanoparticles encapsulated by graphene sheets is first devised and fabricated. In this method, we use low-cost, sustainable, and environmentally friendly glucose as a carbon source, ultrathin Fe-doped Ni(OH)2 nanosheets as a precursor, and a sacrificial template. This special nanoarchitecture with a conductive network around active catalysts can accelerate electron transfer and prevent NiFe nanoparticles from aggregation and peeling off during long-time electrochemical reactions, thereby exhibiting an excellent OER activity and stability in basic solutions. In this work, our sandwiched catalyst presents well activities of a low onset of ∼1.44 V (vs RHE) and Tafel slope of ∼30 mV/decade in 1 M KOH at a scan rate of 5 mV/s.


Colorectal carcinoma is the third-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Up to 60% of patients with colon cancer will eventually develop liver metastases. Progression of such hepatic metastases is the major cause of death in these patients. It is recognized that tumor metastasis and progression are angiogenesisdependent.1 An avascular tumor rarely grows larger than 2 to 3mm3, but, once vascularized, tumor progression is rapid.2 The angiogenic process includes cell migration, proliferation, extracellular matrix degradation, and structural reorganization.3 These steps are regulated by the balance of proangiogenic and antiangiogenic molecules and their receptors.3 One potent proangiogenic factor is vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) that can be synthesized and secreted by both tumor and host cells. VEGF is a homodimeric 34to 42-kDa heparin-binding glycoprotein with mitogenic and vascular permeability-enhancing activities for endothelial cells.4 Its activity is mediated by two highaffinity tyrosine-kinase receptors, fms-like tyrosine kinase (flt-1) and fetal liver kinase-1 (flk-1): flk-1 is a major regulator of angiogenesis, both in vitro and in vivo.4,5 The p53 tumor suppressor gene is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancer. It is correlated to poor prognosis in colon cancer.6,7 bcl-2 is a tumor protooncogene that contributes to the development and progression of colon cancer.8 Both the p53 gene and the bcl-2 gene are involved in the regulation of apoptosis (programmed cell death)6 and VEGF expression.1,8,9 Ki67 nuclear antigen is evident in all active phases of the cell cycle, and its expression is utilized as an indicator of Abstract Background/Purpose. This study investigated vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and flk-1 expression in hepatic metastases from colon carcinoma, and their associations with tumor angiogenesis, proliferation, and apoptosis. Methods. Immunohistochemical studies were performed for VEGF/flk-1, Ki-67, p53, and bcl-2 expression, and microvessel density (MVD) in surgical specimens from 35 patients who underwent hepatectomy for colon cancer liver metastases between 1986 and 2001. Results. VEGF and flk-1 were expressed mainly in the cytoplasm of tumor cells. High VEGF expression was associated with high flk-1 expression (P 0.043). MVDs of less than 15 and 15 or more were found in 5 (14.3%) and 30 (85.7%) of 35 hepatic metastases, respectively. A Ki-67 index (KI) of 50% or more was detected in 33/35 (94.3%) of tumors, and 23 of these (65.7%) showed a KI of 85% or more. A KI of less than 50% was present in 2/35 (5.7%) of tumors. The expression of VEGF/flk-1 was related to elevated MVD (P 0.026). VEGF was also associated with an increased KI (P 0.025). Mutant p53 and bcl-2 expressions were detected in 26/35 (74.3%) and 17/35 (48.6%) of liver metastases, respectively. Mutant p53 was not related to VEGF/flk-1 expression, but bcl-2 was highly associated with flk-1 (P 0.007). The incidences of high flk-1 expression and a KI of 85% or more were significantly higher in tumors which were both p53and bcl-2-positive (93.3% and 73.3%) than in tumors which were negative for both (42.9% and 14.3%; P 0.021). Conclusions. The VEGF-flk-1 system takes part in tumor angiogenesis, proliferation, and apoptosis in colon liver metastases. The bcl-2 pathway may upregulate VEGF activity via the flk-1 receptor. These findings are preliminary, requiring a larger sampling in order to elucidate the role of VEGF/flk-1 in metastatic colon cancer.


The ability to discriminate quantity is descriptive of general cognitive ability. In this study, the authors presented 2 orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) with a quantity judgment task. Each trial consisted of 2 choices, ranging from 1 to 6 food items in each. The orangutan chose 1 of the quantities, which was removed, and the remaining array was given as a reward. In contrast to chimpanzees previously tested on the same task (S. T. Boysen & G. G. Berntson, 1995; S. T. Boysen, G. G. Berntson, M. B. Hannan, & J. T. Cacioppo, 1996; S. T. Boysen, K. L. Mukobi, & G. G. Berntson, 1999), the orangutans optimized their performance. Orangutans, therefore, attend to differences in magnitude and can spontaneously use ordinality. Results also suggest a cognitive difference between chimpanzees and orangutans.


Purpose : The purpose was to investigate the clinical considerations of patients affected by meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS) and the effect of suctioning through endotracheal intubation immediately after delivery on the prognosis of MAS. Methods : A total of 44 inpatients diagnosed as MAS in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Cheil Hospital were selected from January 2004 to June 2006. They were divided into two groups. In the early aspiration group (12 patients), suctioning through endotracheal intubation was performed according to the neonatal resuscitation program of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association because infants born through meconium-stained amniotic fluid (MSAF) were not vigorous after birth. In the early non-aspiration group (32 patients), endotracheal intubation was not performed because the infants born through MSAF were vigorous after birth. These two groups were analyzed retrospectively by medical records in the fields of clinical features, obstetric risk factors, complications, treatment, and duration of hospitalization. Results : There was no significant difference in mean gestational age, mean birth weight, sex, and delivery mode between the early aspiration group and the early non-aspiration group. Mean Apgar score of the early aspiration group both in 1 and 5 minute score was significantly lower than in the early non-aspiration group. Lengths of hospitalization and duration of mechanical ventilator care were longer in the early non-aspiration group, but there was no significant difference. Total duration of oxygen therapy was significantly longer in the early non-aspiration group than in the early aspiration group. Conclusion : In this study, the early non-aspiration group used surfactant more and had a longer duration of mechanical ventilator and hospitalization, but there was no significant difference. Total duration of oxygen therapy was significantly longer in the early non-aspiration group. Therefore, more detailed guidelines for vigorous infants born through MSAF are needed and we should study and follow up the long term prognosis of neurological complications of MAS.


A flow vessel with an elastic wall can deform significantly due to viscous fluid flow within it, even at vanishing Reynolds number (no fluid inertia). Deformation leads to an enhancement of throughput due to the change in cross‐sectional area. The latter gives rise to a non‐constant pressure gradient in the flow‐wise direction and, hence, to a nonlinear flow rate–pressure drop relation (unlike the Hagen–Poiseuille law for a rigid tube). Many biofluids are non‐Newtonian, and are well approximated by generalized Newtonian (say, power‐law) rheological models. Consequently, we analyze the problem of steady low Reynolds number flow of a generalized Newtonian fluid through a slender elastic tube by coupling fluid lubrication theory to a structural problem posed in terms of Donnell shell theory. A perturbative approach (in the slenderness parameter) yields analytical solutions for both the flow and the deformation. Using matched asymptotics, we obtain a uniformly valid solution for the tube's radial displacement, which features both a boundary layer and a corner layer caused by localized bending near the clamped ends. In doing so, we obtain a "generalized Hagen–Poiseuille law" for soft microtubes. We benchmark the mathematical predictions against three‐dimensional two‐way coupled direct numerical simulations (DNS) of flow and deformation performed using the commercial computational engineering platform by ANSYS. The simulations show good agreement and establish the range of validity of the theory. Finally, we discuss the implications of the theory on the problem of the flow‐induced deformation of a blood vessel, which is featured in some textbooks.


Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common afflictions worldwide, with most occurring as uncomplicated UTI in the lower urinary tract (ie, cystitis) in otherwise healthy women. In fact, a woman has 50% risk of a experiencing an episode of cystitis over her lifetime. Most concerning is that a third to half these women have a UTI recurrence within a year. Antibiotics have been the main approach for treating UTIs and are also used as a prophylaxis in women prone to UTI recurrence. However, the rapid rise of multidrug resistant uropathogens has become an issue, and nonantibiotic approaches to prevention of UTI are of clinical interest. In addition, the recent discovery of a urinary tract microbiome has furthered the interest in these nonantibiotic approaches to UTI, and both cranberry and probiotics have putative mechanisms for decreasing uropathogens in the microbiome. Cranberries have historically been associated with urinary tract health, but the literature has been mixed. Although data are limited for cranberry as a treatment for UTI, the evidence for cranberry products (eg, fruit powder capsules, cranberry juices) in preventing recurrence of uncomplicated UTI in women is positive. Therefore, cranberrymaybeapromisingnonantibiotic option for decreasing the risk of recurrent UTI in otherwise healthy women. Although less extensively studied, certain beneficial live microorganisms, also known as probiotics, have been suggested as alternatives to antibiotics in the prevention of uncomplicated UTIs; however, data on oral intake of probiotics, particularly via food, are limited. Nutr Today. 2018;53(5):207Y212


Arterial viscoelasticity can be described with a complex modulus (E*) in the frequency domain. In arteries, E* presents a power-law response with a plateau for higher frequencies. Constitutive models based on a combination of purely elastic and viscous elements can be represented with integer order differential equations but show several limitations. Recently, fractional derivative models with fewer parameters have proven to be efficient in describing rheological tissues. A new element, called "spring-pot", that interpolates between springs and dashpots is incorporated. Starting with a Voigt model, we proposed two fractional alternative models with one and two spring-pots. The three models were tested in an anesthetized sheep in a control state and during smooth muscle activation. A least squares method was used to fit E*. Local activation induced a vascular constriction with no pressure changes. The E* results confirmed the steep increase from static to dynamic values and a plateau in the range 2-30 Hz, coherent with fractional model predictions. Activation increased E*, affecting its real and imaginary parts separately. Only the model with two spring-pots correctly followed this behavior with the best performance in terms of least squares errors. In a context where activation separately modifies E*, this alternative model should be considered in describing arterial viscoelasticity in vivo.


Mistrust between conflict parties after civil war is a major hurdle to sustainable peace. However, existing research focuses on elite interactions and has not examined the trust relationship between government and rank-and-file members of armed groups, despite their importance for postconflict stability. We use the unexpected decision of the Colombian government to extradite top-level former paramilitary leaders to the United States in 2008 to identify how a peace deal reversal influences ex-combatants' trust in government. In theory, they may lose trust for instrumental reasons, if they suffer personal costs, or for normative reasons, if they think the government is failing its commitments. Using quasi-experimental survey evidence, we find that extradition decreases trust substantially among ex-paramilitaries, but not in a comparison group of ex-guerrillas not part of the same peace deal. Even though paramilitaries are seen as particularly opportunistic, our evidence suggests that normative rather than instrumentalist considerations led to trust erosion.


SUMMARY Electrocardiographic (EGG) values were measured in nine red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans), anaesthetised with either ketamine, ketamine/xylazine ketamine/midazolam, for the purpose of cardioeentesis. Lead II traces were then recorded through three cutaneous electrodes. The EGG complexes consisted of small upright P waves, larger R waves and no Q or S wave deflections, very long QT intervals, small upright T waves, and a short TP interval. No SV waves were recorded. This pattern was similar to the ECGs reported in other reptilian species, and differs from mammalian EGGs in having lower amplitude waveforms, a much longer repolarisation phase (longer ST and QT intervals), and a considerably shorter TP interval. A significant correlation was found between the heart rate and the QT and ST intervals, a lower heart rate being associated with a longer period of repolarisation without significantly prolonging the depolarisation (P, PR and QRS) intervals.


We recently reported that the hydroxyiminoethanone derivative, (E)-OXM, behaves as a highly selective COX-1 inhibitor (COX-1 SI = 833), and also an interesting scaffold with unique characteristics. In the current study, a comprehensive crystallographic and computational study was performed to elucidate its conformational stability and pharmacological activity. Its conformational energy was studied at the B3LYP/6-311G** level of theory and compared to the single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. In addition, computational studies of three structurally different stilbenoid derivatives used as selective COX-1 or COX-2 inhibitors were undertaken to predict their COX selectivity potentials. Flexible docking was performed for all compounds at the active site of both COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes by considering some of the key residues as flexible during the docking operation. In the next step, molecular dynamic simulation and binding free energy calculations were performed by MM-PBSA. Final results were found to be highly dependent on the atomic charges of the inhibitors and the choice of force field used to calculate the atomic charges. The binding conformation of the hydroxyiminoethanone derivative is highly correlated with the type of COX isoform inhibited. Our predictive approach can truly predict the cyclooxygenase inhibition selectivity of stilbenoid inhibitors.


Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a nucleic acid amplification technique that rapidly amplifies specific DNA molecules at high yield. In this study, a microfluidic droplet array chip was designed to execute the digital LAMP process. The novel device was capable of 1) creating emulsion droplets, 2) sorting them into a 30 × 8 droplet array, and 3) executing LAMP across the 240 trapped and separated droplets (with a volume of 0.22 nL) after only 40 min of reaction at 56 °C. Nucleic acids were accurately quantified across a dynamic range of 50 to 2.5 × 103 DNA copies per μL, and the limit of detection was a single DNA molecule. This is the first time that an arrayed emulsion droplet microfluidic device has been used for digital LAMP analysis. When compared to microwell digital nucleic acid amplification assays, this droplet array-based digital LAMP assay eliminates the constraint on the size of the digitized target, which was determined by the dimension of the microwells for its counterparts. Moreover, the capacity for hydrodynamic droplet trapping allows the chip to operate in a one-droplet-to-one-trap manner. This microfluidic chip may therefore become a promising device for digital LAMP-based diagnostics in the near future.

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://rsc.li/journals-terms-of-use


The preimplantation-embryo-development (Ped) gene influences the rate of cleavage division of preimplantation mouse embryos. The location of the Ped gene in the mouse major histocompatibility complex (MHC), the H-2 complex, has been inferred from the analysis of cleavage rates of embryos from mouse strains congenic at the H-2 complex. In this paper, formal genetic linkage studies were undertaken to evaluate linkage of the Ped gene to the H-2 complex. Co-segregation of Ped gene phenotype and H-2 haplotype was found in back-cross embryos. These data support the hypothesis that the Ped gene is linked to the H-2 complex.


Child narrators and protagonists have been a recurring feature of much of the literature produced in and of Zimbabwe since independence 1980. Their experiences of growing up have often been seen as mirroring that of the nation itself, such as in Nervous Conditions (1988) and We Need New Names (2013), depicting childhood as inherently political and directly involved in social and historical transition. This article asks what happens when the child is not an explicit embodiment of the nation's growth and development through painful historical phases, and examines the child narrator in The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam (2008) by Lauren Liebenberg and Peace and Conflict (2014) by Irene Sabatini. Instead of being placed centre stage in the midst of turbulence, war and social change, the child narrator in Sabatini's novel remains at the periphery of repressive politics, acting as a spectator, commentator and investigator. Liebenberg's narrator is more politically informed than Sabatini's, and family tragedy converges with the end of white rule in Rhodesia. Both narrators depict the disconnect between past, present and future through their innocence and naivety. This position enables an instructive approach in the novels to the nation's past and present. Through their separate trajectories, the novels channel a nation left behind, stagnant in its repressive measures and unable to move forward. Instead of representing the nation and its development, the child narrators in the two novels suggest that the colonial past and violent present of Zimbabwe cannot be reconciled.


Chronic renal disease is a disorder of renal function or structure that lasts for more than three months, accompanied by a decrease in glomerular filtration rate. Decreasing of renal function monitoring is performed by measuring glomerular filtration rate, determining blood urea, creatinine, creatinine clearance, electrolytes, uric acid, blood gas analysis and tubular function. The Recent method for measuring glomerular filtration rate using inulin clearance, however, is not efficient. Further measurements of creatinine glomerular filtration rate were developed. Measurements of urea, creatinine and uric acid are currently using enzymatic methods of spectrophotometry, while electrolyte examination by selective ion electrode method. Blood gas analysis determined pH, PCO 2 , PO 2 , HCO 3 - , CO 2 total, base excess and SO 2 . Examination of urine protein and urine sediments helps establish a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease


The use of children's literature in language teaching is very common. However, in view of heterogeneous English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms with learners of different interests, abilities, preferences, competences, identities, beliefs, etc., approaches to dealing with literature need to be supplemented by carefully selected scaffolds to cater to individual learner needs. Yet, it is not just the teaching methods that need to be (re)considered with regards to teaching a heterogeneous learner group, but also the topics that are covered in class should be carefully selected. Children's books offer a wide range of topics that are commonly dealt with in the EFL classroom with younger learners. Some books, classic as well as recent ones, also depict different aspects of diversity. Such pieces of literature offer the potential to discuss diversity with learners in the EFL classroom and can serve as a basis for negotiations of diversity at the content-level. Therefore, this article deals with a two-fold question on aspects of diversity: (1) How do selected English children's books represent or mirror diversity? (2) Can such books be used successfully in the heterogeneous EFL classroom?


In the mechanism of wireless power transfer in on-line electric vehicle (OLEV), the design of magnetic field is the key technology to determine its electrical performance of power transfer capacity, transfer efficiency, and electromagnetic field (EMF) level. To satisfy all the requirements, systematic approach for optimization of design parameters is required. Even though shielding for reduction of EMF can be applied independently, the shielding effectiveness of the applicable shielding method should be considered in optimization of design parameters. In this paper, we introduce the wireless power transfer mechanism and the EMF reduction techniques, and perform design parameter optimization to maximize transfer power efficiency while satisfying power transfer efficiency and EMF regulation.


The transcription factor NF-kappaB is a pivotal regulator of inflammatory responses. While the activation of NF-kappaB in the arthritic joint has been associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), its significance is poorly understood. Here, we examine the role of NF-kappaB in animal models of RA. We demonstrate that in vitro, NF-kappaB controlled expression of numerous inflammatory molecules in synoviocytes and protected cells against tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) and Fas ligand (FasL) cytotoxicity. Similar to that observed in human RA, NF-kappaB was found to be activated in the synovium of rats with streptococcal cell wall (SCW)-induced arthritis. In vivo suppression of NF-kappaB by either proteasomal inhibitors or intraarticular adenoviral gene transfer of super-repressor IkappaBalpha profoundly enhanced apoptosis in the synovium of rats with SCW- and pristane-induced arthritis. This indicated that the activation of NF-kappaB protected the cells in the synovium against apoptosis and thus provided the potential link between inflammation and hyperplasia. Intraarticular administration of NF-kB decoys prevented the recurrence of SCW arthritis in treated joints. Unexpectedly, the severity of arthritis also was inhibited significantly in the contralateral, untreated joints, indicating beneficial systemic effects of local suppression of NF-kappaB. These results establish a mechanism regulating apoptosis in the arthritic joint and indicate the feasibility of therapeutic approaches to RA based on the specific suppression of NF-kappaB.


This study investigated the needs of adult ESL learners intending to pursue higher education in Canada. Its chief purpose was to enable educators and administrators to design ESL programs that would prepare students to function at optimal levels in academic and social settings during their university studies. The study adopted a mixed research method that was predominantly qualitative in its orientation and narrative in its implementation. It focused on an Intensive English Language Program (IELP) offered at an Ontario university. Using a holistic approach, the study sought to represent the various perspectives of all the participants in the program: the students, the instructors, and the administrators. Analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data gathered from 17 students, 6 instructors, and 1 administrator in the IELP showed that to a large extent the academic needs ofESL learners in the IELP were generally not being met. Most notably, the study found that learners were not receiving sufficient training in speaking and listening skills, a factor that contributed to their sense of insecurity and lack of confidence in their ability to communicate successfully in academic and social settings. The study also revealed that the solutions to many of the problems it identified lay not in the classroom but in the way the ESL program was structured administratively. One major recommendation to come out of the study is that programs like the IELP should be restructured so as to give them greater flexibility in meeting individual needs. While the study labored under certain limitations and did not achieve all of its goals, it did succeed in creating awareness ofthe problems and in establishing a methodological approach that can serve as a framework within which future research may be conducted in this somewhat neglected area.


Sheema Kermani (1951-) is a performer and activist based in Karachi, Pakistan. Through her organisation, Tehrik-e-Niswan she has worked towards raising awareness of violence against women and women's empowerment. Tehrik-e-Niswan is a cultural organisation invested in social justice through the arts. As a dancer and theatre actor, Sheema Kermani uses her training, choreography, and pedagogy to foreground the activist potential of performing arts. Scholarship on dance and political activism within the larger global context (for example in South Africa and New Zealand) have focussed on dance's potential 'to further social justice and compassionate communities' (Shapiro, 2013: 15) and its power 'to envision, move and create change.' (Shapiro, 2016: 3) Within the contexts of the UK and USA, scholarship on dance and protest have encompassed historical enquiries (Mills, 2021), politics of representation, place, and identity (Prickett, 2013) and embodied choreographies of protest (Foster, 2003). In the South Asian context, dance as counter-hegemonic to communal politics have informed the works of artist-activist, Mallika Sarabhai in India (Grau, 2007). This interview with Sheema Kermani follows the existing strands of research on global dance and activism by focussing specifically on Pakistan. Sheema Kermani talks about her own dance pedagogy in dance and art history, her formative years in the UK and the influences of feminist and Marxist movements, and her continuing work for social justice in Pakistan in the wake of rising religious fundamentalism, gender atrocities, forced migrations and climate crisis.


As the United States and other nations push for the signing of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, representatives are meeting in Geneva this year to develop an International Seismic Monitoring System to verify compliance with the treaty's restrictions. In addition to the official monitoring system, regional networks developed for earthquake studies and basic research can provide a strong deterrent against clandestine testing. The recent release of information by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) on previously unannounced nuclear tests provides an opportunity to assess the ability of multi-use seismic networks to help monitor nuclear testing across the globe.

Here we look at the extent to which the formerly unannounced tests were recorded and identified on the basis of publicly available seismographic data recorded by five seismic networks. The data were recorded by networks in southern Nevada and northern California at stations less than 1500 km from the Nevada Test Site (NTS), and two networks in the former Soviet Union at stations farther than 1500 km from the NTS.


The complete absorption of blood in patients with eight-ball hyphema and medically uncontrollable intraocular pressure occurred after iridectomy. No intra-operative complications were noted. Six of the seven patients maintained normal IOPs without medical therapy for at least six months postoperatively. Pupillary block by the clotted blood and the tamponade effect exerted by the total hyphema on the outflow pathway are possible mechanisms of the secondary glaucoma.


Fate modeling for characterization of ecotoxic substances in life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is traditionally performed with steady-state multi-compartment models. Instantaneous mixing within compartments is an implicit assumption of the multi-compartment model. Others have shown that steady-state models can account for pulse-exposure if the ecotoxic effect is calculated with a constant effect factor. The potentially affected fraction of species (PAF) has previously been used to derive ecotoxic effect factors. Time and space variant dispersion models (transient models) are used in marine ecological risk assessments for aquatic exposure from intermittent marine discharges. Transient models can implement continuous effect functions in pulse-exposure assessment. In this paper the significance of assuming constant effect factors is quantified by calculation of characterization factors for marine aquatic ecotoxicity with a transient dispersion model. Multi-substance PAF (msPAF) is used as definition of ecotoxic effect. Results show that for characterization factors with msPAF assuming concentration addition only, the deviation between a constant effect factor and a continuous effect function is small. This implies that pulse-effects are well handled with the traditional approach of approximating effect with constant effect factors. For msPAF defined with a combination of response and concentration addition, the deviation can be several orders of magnitude.


A 56-year-old female patient was transferred due to the presence of a left supraclavicular pulsatile mass. Further work-up was performed to confirm diagnosis. Angiography and computed tomography were also performed. The anatomy of the thoracic aorta suggested an unknown and untreated aortic coarctation. A second aortic narrowing was identified at the aortic arch, a result of elongation of the aorta. Endovascular approach was not possible, due to complexity of the aortic anatomy, and tortuosity. Open surgical repair was successfully performed. A primary coarctation-related isthmus aneurysm is an exceptional finding in adults, and is a life-threatening condition when diagnosis is delayed. Management and treatment are controversial and challenging.


Introduction Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is increasingly used for symptomatic relief and for prognostic benefit. However, it is not known if differences in outcomes exist between South Asians and White Europeans offered PCI. Methods We followed a cohort of 293 South Asians and 865 White Europeans admitted for elective or urgent PCI. Baseline cardiovascular risk factors and angiographic data were obtained. Patients had long-term follow-up (54 (IQR 47–65) months) for all-cause mortality and target lesion revascularisation (TLR). Results South Asians were younger (62±12 years vs 66±11 years; p<0.0001), with a higher prevalence of diabetes, greater social deprivation (Carstairs Score: 10.2 (IQR 6.5–12.1) vs 3.3 (IQR 0.9–6.5); p<0.0001) and presented more acutely (urgent PCI procedure). During follow-up 119 deaths and 111 TLR (94 repeat PCI and 17 CABG) occurred. Long-term all-cause mortality was similar between South Asians and White Europeans (31(10.6%) vs 107(12.4%); p=0.47). However, South Asian ethnicity was an independent predictor of long-term TLR (54(18.4%) vs 57(6.6%); OR:3.14 (2.01–4.91); p<0.0001) (Abstract 131 Figure 1). Abstract 131 Figure 1 Long-term target lession revascularisation (TLR) between ethnic groups. Conclusions South Asian patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease undergoing PCI have a long-term mortality similar to White Europeans. However, South Asians more frequently require readmission for repeat revascularisation due to restenosis.


This paper describes the beam flux monitoring system that has been developed at the Superconducting Cyclotron at INFN-LNS (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Catania, Italy) in order to monitor the beam parameters such as energy, flux, beam profile, for SEE (Single Event Effects) cross-sections determination and DD (Displacement Damage) studies. In order to have an accurate and continuous monitoring of beam parameters we have developed fully automatic dosimetry setup to be used during SEE (with heavy ions) and DD (with protons up to 60 MeV) tests of electronic devices and systems. The final goal of our activity is to demonstrate that the operation of such a system in air is not detrimental to the accuracy on controlling the beam profile, energy and fluence delivered onto the DUT (Device Under Test) surface, even with non relativistic heavy ions. We have tested our beam monitoring system with the "Reference SEU monitor" developed by ESA/ESTEC, the results are discussed here.


The St. Peter—Platteville transition consists of three formations representing an upward change in deposition from quartz arenites to shallow-water carbonate rocks. The St. Peter Sandstone is the lower unit and is composed of conglomerate and shale overlain by quartz arenites; it is divided into the Kress, Tonti, and Starved Rock Members. The Glenwood Formation is the middle unit and consists of argillaceous sandstone, arenaceous mudstone, fissile shale, and arenaceous dolosiltite. The Pecatonica Formation is the upper unit and consists of laminated and unlaminated carbonate rocks, sandstone with carbonate cement, and brecciated calcisiltite. The Kress and Tonti Members were deposited as basal units during transgression over an erosional surface, and the Tonti Member accumulated as a sheet sand in progressively shallower water northward. The transgression was followed by recession due to localized aggradation. The Starved Rock Member was deposited as a barrier-island complex, while the Glenwood Formation accumulated in a lagoon north of the barrier island. Transgression resumed, and the Pecatonica Formation was deposited in a shallow subtidal environment over most of the area. Deeper water carbonate rocks, however, formed where the former lagoon was deepest, and tidal flat carbonate rocks formed over the submerged barrier island.


A review is given of the present status of the theory of damping of nuclear vibrations. The main focus is on the microscopic description of the damping phenomena. 'One-body dissipation' arising from the nuclear mean field is discussed and confronted with data. It turns out that, especially in heavy nuclei, this process is insufficient to describe observed resonance broadenings. 'Collisional' damping or 'two-body dissipation' is needed to account for the widths. The necessary extensions of mean-field theory and several approximation schemes in the small-amplitude limit are reviewed. Theoretical results in both light and heavy nuclei are discussed.


BACKGROUND
A new approach in the treatment of cystic fibrosis involves improving the function of mutant cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). VX-770, a CFTR potentiator, has been shown to increase the activity of wild-type and defective cell-surface CFTR in vitro.

METHODS
We randomly assigned 39 adults with cystic fibrosis and at least one G551D-CFTR allele to receive oral VX-770 every 12 hours at a dose of 25, 75, or 150 mg or placebo for 14 days (in part 1 of the study) or VX-770 every 12 hours at a dose of 150 or 250 mg or placebo for 28 days (in part 2 of the study).

RESULTS
At day 28, in the group of subjects who received 150 mg of VX-770, the median change in the nasal potential difference (in response to the administration of a chloride-free isoproterenol solution) from baseline was -3.5 mV (range, -8.3 to 0.5; P=0.02 for the within-subject comparison, P=0.13 vs. placebo), and the median change in the level of sweat chloride was -59.5 mmol per liter (range, -66.0 to -19.0; P=0.008 within-subject, P=0.02 vs. placebo). The median change from baseline in the percent of predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second was 8.7% (range, 2.3 to 31.3; P=0.008 for the within-subject comparison, P=0.56 vs. placebo). None of the subjects withdrew from the study. Six severe adverse events occurred in two subjects (diffuse macular rash in one subject and five incidents of elevated blood and urine glucose levels in one subject with diabetes). All severe adverse events resolved without the discontinuation of VX-770.

CONCLUSIONS
This study to evaluate the safety and adverse-event profile of VX-770 showed that VX-770 was associated with within-subject improvements in CFTR and lung function. These findings provide support for further studies of pharmacologic potentiation of CFTR as a means to treat cystic fibrosis. (Funded by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00457821.).


The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends that appropriate workpractices be implemented to reduce the risk of worker exposure to arsine (AsH3) gas. There is a high potential for the generation of arsine gas when inorganic arsenic is exposed to nascent (freshly formed) hydrogen. This recommendation is based on several reports of worker exposure to arsine resulting in severe toxic effects or death. Most of the reported cases occurred when arsine was accidently generated during an industrial process. NIOSH would like to inform the occupational health community of some of the circumstances in which workers have been poisoned by arsine, with particular emphasis on the underlying mechanisms of generating the gas. We request that producers and distributors of arsenic and materials containing arsenic transmit information to their customers and employees, and that professional associations and unions inform their members. Stibine (SbH3), another toxic gas, if formed when antimony is exposed to nascent hydrogen. In most situations where arsine can be formed if antimony is present. Therefore, similar work practices should be implemented to reduce the risk of worker exposure to stibine.


The use of avidin or streptavidin in the purification of biotinylated proteins has been highly restricted due to the harsh and denaturing elution conditions. Here, we use biotinylated bovine serum albumin as a working model to demonstrate a simple and rapid method for biotin-tagged protein purification under non-denaturing conditions. The biotinylated bovine serum albumin is specifically bound to the anti-biotin antibody agarose beads and competitively eluted with free biotin under near-neutral conditions. The optimized elution conditions include using 4 mg/ml biotin (pH 8.5) as the elution buffer and allowing the buffer to incubate with agarose beads for 30 min prior to elution. The elution recovery rate is over 85% without apparent protein denaturation. The method is applicable for both immunoprecipitation and column chromatography.


Roost requirements of most North American forest bats are well-documented, but questions remain regarding the ultimate mechanisms underlying roost selection. Hypotheses regarding roost selection include provision of a stable microclimate, space for large colonies, protection from predators, and proximity to foraging habitat, among others. Although several hypotheses have been proposed, specific mechanisms likely vary by species and geographic region. Rafinesque's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) commonly roosts in trees with large basal hollows in the Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States. Our objective was to weigh evidence for hypotheses regarding selection of diurnal summer roosts by Rafinesque's big-eared bat at 8 study sites across the Coastal Plain of Georgia, USA. We used transect searches and radiotelemetry to locate roosts and measured 22 characteristics of trees, tree cavities, and surrounding vegetation at all occupied roosts and for randomly selected unoccupied trees. We evaluated 10 hypotheses using single-season occupancy models and used Akaike's information criterion to select the most parsimonious models. We located 170 tree roosts containing approximately 870 bats for our analysis. The best supported model predicted bat presence from cavity size, interior wall texture, and number of entrances. Because large cavities allow bats to fly and smooth walls impede attacks by terrestrial predators, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that bats select roosts that allow them to evade predators. However, data on predation rates are needed for a conclusive determination. Because trees suitable as roosts for Rafinesque's big-eared bat are rare in the landscape, protection of suitable forested wetland habitat is essential to provide current and long-term roost tree availability. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.


The identification of transcriptional regulatory elements is of pivotal importance in understanding the molecular mechanisms that govern specific expression patterns. Despite the fast development of next generation sequencing (NGS) technology for profiling genome-wide transcription factors (TFs) binding, DNA methylation and other epigenetic features, the identification of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) with active functional relevance remains a challenging task in system biology. Therefore, computational prediction still plays an important role. However, the sequence-based prediction can not represent the dynamics of transcription regulation in cell-specific or condition-specific manner. In addition, the overwhelming potential TFBSs obtained through experimental or computation procedures with an unknown false positive (FP) rate also prohibit the reliable biological findings. The integration of other types of functional genomics data are crucial for the elucidation of regulatory mechanism.

In this thesis, we explore the potential of machine learning methods in distinguishing the most causal TFBSs from enormous predicted candidates. We first focus on the reconstruction of transcriptional regulatory network(TRN) using TFBSs predicted in the promoter regions of co-expressed genes, under the commonly-accepted assumption that a set of genes showing similar expression profiles are likely to be commonly regulated by a collection of TFs. We propose a penalized multinomial logistic regression model to prioritize the most representative TFBSs for each set of co-expressed genes, among multiple sets simultaneously. Joint effects of the TF interaction are also considered. The results through cross-validation show that the minimum classification error rate can be reached at 0.302 and the prioritized TFBSs are not obtained by chance. On this basis, we further model gene expression time course using the predicted TFBSs from a set of co-expressed genes to reconstruct TRN. The expression of one gene at one time point is modeled as the linear combination of expression of all non-TF coding genes and the expression of all TF coding genes weight by transformed TFBSs binding scores at the previous time point. The evaluation shows high performance in simulation study (AUC=0.85). Our model also successfully identify the TF coding genes causal for cell apoptosis in MCF-7:5C cell line which is sensitive to E2-induced apoptosis.

Lastly, we integrate DNA methylation and gene expression data to identify the TFBSs located in remote regulatory regions. Previous studies have indicated that Low-methylated regions (LMRs) are potential active distal regulatory regions (enhancers) in mammalian genomes. We propose several lasso-penalized logistic regression models to predict the directional change of differentially expressed (DE) genes using predicted TFBSs in pairwise cell-type-specific LMRs (dLMRs). The models are evaluated on pairs from four cell types. The AUCs from 10-fold cross-validation procedure show that the model using TFBSs in dLMRs in intergenic or genebody region has more predictive power (AUC 0.71 and 0.66 respectively), comparing with the one using TFBSs from promoter regions alone (AUC 0.62). When using the TFBSs in dLMRs from both intergenic and genebody regions together, the best prediction was obtained (AUC=0.78). Our models are capable to identify subsets of LMRs in which the binding sites of the insulator protein CTCF, p300 co-activator and other TFs verified before by ChIP-seq are significantly enriched. In summary, our models provide tools that detect distal and proximal TFBSs which may causally regulate gene expression.


Background: Curcuma spp. (Zingiberaceae) are used as a spice and coloring agent. Their rhizomes and essential oils are known for medicinal properties, besides their use in the flavoring and cosmetic industry. Most of these biological activities were attributed to volatile and nonvolatile secondary metabolites present in the rhizomes of Curcuma spp. The metabolite variations among the species and even cultivars need to be established for optimized use of Curcuma spp. Objectives: We compared the phytochemical profiles of rhizomes and their essential oils to establish the variability among seven cultivars: five of Curcuma longa L. (Alleppey Supreme, Duggirala Red, Prathibha, Salem, Suguna) and two of C. aromatica Salisb. (Kasturi Araku, Kasturi Avidi). The GC-MS and LC-MS-based analyses were employed to profile secondary metabolites of these selected cultivars. Methods: Rhizomes of Curcuma spp. were subjected to hydro-distillation to collect essential oil and analyzed by GC-MS. The methanol extracts of fresh rhizomes were subjected to LC-MS analyses. The compounds were identified by using the relevant MS library databases as many compounds as possible. Results: The essential oil content of the cultivars was in the range of 0.74–1.62%. Several compounds were detected from the essential oils and rhizome extracts by GC-MS and LC-MS, respectively. Of these, 28 compounds (13 from GCMS and 15 from LCMS) were common in all seven cultivars, e.g., α-thujene, and diarylheptanoids like curcumin. Furthermore, a total of 39 new compounds were identified from C. longa L. and/or C. aromatica Salisb., most of them being cultivar-specific. Of these compounds, 35 were detected by GC-MS analyses of essential oils, 1,2-cyclohexanediol, 1-methyl-4-(1-methylethyl)-, and santolina alcohol, to name a few. The other four compounds were detected by LC-MS of the methanolic extracts of the rhizomes, e.g., kaempferol-3,7-O-dimethyl ether and 5,7,8-trihydroxy-2′,5′-dimethoxy-3′,4′-methylene dioxyisoflavanone. Conclusions: We identified and recorded the variability in the metabolite profiles of essential oils and whole rhizome extracts from the seven cultivars of Curcuma longa L. and C. aromatica Salisb. As many as 39 new metabolites were detected in these seven Indian cultivars of Curcuma spp. Many of these compounds have health benefits.


Cloud computing provides multiple services to users through the internet and these services include cloud storage, applications, servers, security and large network access. Virtual Machine allows the user to emulate multiple operating systems on a single computer; with the help of virtual machine migration users can transfer operating system instances from one computer to multiple computer machines. In this paper we will be discussing VM migration in cloud and also I will explain the whole procedure of VM migration. The two methods through which we can perform VM migration are Live VM migration and NON-live VM migration.VM migration also helps in managing the loads of the multiple machines and with VM we can save power consumption. People have written about cloud computing and virtual machines in previous studies, but in this research, we'll speak about virtual machine migration in cloud computing, as well as the techniques that are used in the VM migration process. I have used table to show the differences between VM migration techniques.


Aneurysms of the extracranial carotid arteries are uncommon vascular lesions. We report a case of giant extracranial internal carotid artery aneurysm and its repair with an autogenic double layer jugular venous patch. A 46-yearold female patient had a growing mass in her neck for two years. On physical examination, a pulsatile mass was palpated under the sternocleidomastoid muscle between the mandibular angle and the mastoid process. Angiographic examination showed a saccular aneurysm of the internal carotid artery, measuring 6x8 cm, starting 1 cm after the carotid artery bifurcation and ending at the cranial base. The sac was not completely excised to avoid damage to the vagus and ansa cervicalis nerves which were attached to the aneurysmal sac. Then, a double layer jugular venous patch was sutured to the defect on the vessel wall. On control examinations in the first postoperative month, the patient had no complaints and normal blood flow pattern was observed in Doppler ultrasonography and control angiography. Partial aneurysmectomy with double layer venous patch repair is an appropriate alternative in extracranial internal carotid artery aneurysms with cranial nerve attachment to the aneurysmatic sac.


With a point matching distance measure which is invariant under translation, rotation and permutation, we learn 2-D point-set objects, by clustering noisy point-set images. Unlike traditional clustering methods which use distance measures that operate on feature vectors - a representation common to most problem domains - this object-based clustering technique employs a distance measure specific to a type of object within a problem domain. Formulating the clustering problem as two nested objective functions, we derive optimization dynamics similar to the Expectation-Maximization algorithm used in mixture models.


Lignin is a natural polymer aromatic-based that exhibit interesting application both as a final product and as a source of energy and aromatic compounds. For decades lignin has been a discarded sub product of the pulp industry (black liquor) used basically as energy source for the pulp mill, creating a number of environmental problems. Currently a number of production processes are available, i.e. alkaline extraction, Kraft, organosolv, hydrotrope extraction, hydrolysis in sub and supercritical water, for instance. The Higher Heating Value (HHV) is a required parameter for the characterization of the biomass fractions. There are techniques to estimate HHV using the elemental composition and other parameters, but this is an indirect method and requires the availability of the analytical techniques. In this work we determine the HHV of three types of lignin, alkaline (19.82 kJ/g), hydrotropic (26.54 kJ/g) and from subcritical water hydrolysis (26.19 kJ/g), also cellulose (16.31 kJ/g), anhydrous glucose (15.64 kJ/g), grape seeds (18.84 kJ/g) and extracted grape seeds (23.78 kJ/g) by using an adiabatic combustion calorimeter and a combustion bomb. We propose the use of cellulose as agglomeration agent for the biomass and lignin, simplifying the pellet preparation process. Calibrations repeatability for a standard of Benzoic Acid was 1.9% and for a standard of Anhydrous Glucose was 3.4%. Finally, the average from calibrations was 2.6%.


As a basic research problem for building effective recommender systems, post-click conversion rate (CVR) estimation has long been plagued by sample selection bias and data sparsity issues. To address the data sparsity issue, prevalent methods based on entire space multi-task model leverage the sequential pattern of user actions, i.e. exposure $\rightarrow$ click $\rightarrow$ conversion to construct auxiliary learning tasks. However, they still fall short of guaranteeing the unbiasedness of CVR estimates. This paper theoretically demonstrates two defects of these entire space multi-task models: (1) inherent estimation bias (IEB) for CVR estimation, where the CVR estimate is inherently higher than the ground truth; (2) potential independence priority (PIP) for CTCVR estimation, where the causality from click to conversion might be overlooked. This paper further proposes a principled method named entire space counterfactual multi-task model (ESCM$^2$), which employs a counterfactual risk minimizer to handle both IEB and PIP issues at once. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, this paper explores its parameter tuning in practice, derives its analytic properties, and showcases its effectiveness in industrial CVR estimation, where ESCM$^2$ can effectively alleviate the intrinsic IEB and PIP issues and outperform baseline models.


Tuberculin skin test (TST) and QuantiFERON-TB Gold in Tube test (QFT-GIT) are diagnostic tools for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. These tests can be used to study the rate of infection in contacts of multidrug-resistance tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients. We performed TST and QFT-GIT to close contacts of MDR-TB patient in eastern Taiwan to evaluate the transmission and the efficiency of such tests. A total of 592 close contacts of 112 confirmed MDR-TB patients were included in the study. TST-positive subjects were 310 (52.4%) and QFT-GIT-positive contacts were 326 (55.1%). Both tests are positive in 217 patients (37%), TST-positive and QFT-GIT-negative in 93 (16%), TST-negative and QFT-GIT-positive in 109 (18%), and both negative in 173 (29%). People older than 50 and aborigines showed higher rates of QFT-GIT-positive than people younger than 30 (69.9% vs.39.2%) and non-aborigines (60.5% vs. 30.6%). Both TST and QFT-GIT can be used to detect latent tuberculosis infection, and both tests should be used in conjunction with risk assessment, radiography and other diagnostic tools. High incidence of latent tuberculosis infection among close contacts of MDR-TB patients in eastern Taiwan were detected and close follow up and monitoring are mandatory for early detection of possible active MDR-TB cases.


Swedish import price determination is investigated using disaggregated monthly data from 1980:1 to 1995:05 for eight different industries. The cointegration analysis indicates two cointegrating relations, in all industries, between import prices, the exchange rate, world market prices and domestic prices. Two- equations systems involve an unclear definition of long-run exchange rate pass-through. Pass-through is defined as the total effect a nominal exchange-rate change has on the import price. The estimate thus includes the direct effect on import prices as well as the effect working through home market prices. Total pass-through estimates indicate a limited pass-through and thus pricing to market behaviour in the majority of industries. The estimates range from 27% to 160%. Tests of linear restrictions on the cointegrating vectors indicate a complete long-run pass-through in most industries. Short-run pass-through is limited to about 25%.


Editors of monthly livestock publications were surveyed to determine their perceptions of the amount, type, and sources of scientific information used in their respective publications. The most important scientific topics to editors were animal health, management, and breeding and genetics. Editors' identification of the most important topics agreed with previously reported audience perceptions of information needs and previous studies of information provided by agricultural journals, although lower rankings of policy and worker/employee safety information contradicted the importance of magazines identified by audiences in previous studies. The importance of certain gatekeeping criteria to editors reflected the general standards of accuracy and newsworthiness found in journalism, as well as editors' perceptions of their livestock audiences' information needs. A majority of editors recommended two to four sources be used in a scientific story, with university faculty or staff, Cooperative Extension, veterinarians and the USDA identified as the top sources. The number and sources of information preferred coincided with source characteristics as criteria for using scientific information. The specific sources most preferred by editors also demonstrated the orientation of editors with other gatekeepers and the audience in selecting appropriate information for publication. Scientific information published was similar to editors' rankings of topic importance and source preferences. Scientific information was written for the average producer, and a majority of editors reported publishing scientific stories in at least one-half of issues. The depths and overall use of scientific information also supported the importance of delivering understandable scientific information to their agricultural audiences. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. This research is available in Journal of Applied Communications: http://newprairiepress.org/jac/vol93/iss1/5 Reearch Re se ar ch Editor Preferences for the Use of Scientific Information in Livestock Publications Traci L. Naile and D. Dwayne Cartmell II


Fall-grown tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea, Schreb.) provides a relatively inexpensive forage for winter grazing. Quality and yield of actively growing tall fescue increases when accumulated from August and harvested through time in the early fall. The effect of regrowth age on fall accumulated tall fescue quality has not been evaluated under similar harvest climates and animal performance on summer grown tall fescue is often low. Therefore a series of experiments were conducted to evaluate the in vivo quality of tall fescue in summer, alone and in combination with a legume, and to evaluate the in vivo quality of tall fescue of different regrowth ages harvested in December. Summer grown tall fescue, alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and red clover (Trifolium patense L.) were fed alone and compared with 50:50 mixes of each legume with tall fescue. Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) was also fed alone and with red clover during 1 year. Low in vivo digestible dry matter (DDM) of 35.8% for tall fescue 60 days old in 1975 was associated with droughtimposed dormancy. Nondormant, 40-day-old alfalfa regrowth was highly digestible (59.4% DDM). In 1976, the digestibilities of tall fescue and red clover were similar (54.8 and 53.9% DDM) and lower than that of orchardgrass (57.0% DDM). Consistent, nonsignificant trends in increased digestibility occurred with the inclusion of a legume which were sufficiently large to have potential economic consequences on animal production. In another experiment, tall fescue was accumulated from mid-June, July, August, and September, with 112 kg N/ha applied in mid-August, to evaluate the influence of age on in vivo quality when fed to sheep in early December. Quality decreased with increasing age. In 1975, June accumulated forage was significantly lower in quality than forage with shorter accumulation periods. In 1976, quality decreased with increased ages of the accumulated growth, ranging from 51.0 to 60.5% DDM for June and August accumulated forage, respectively. Quality of September accumulated forage was low (52.8% DDM), apparently due to high lignin and insoluble ash contents. Improved quality with shorter accumulation periods was offset by lower dry matter yields (5.2 vs. 2.2 metric tons/ha) and DDM yields were also reduced (1.7 vs. 1.2 metric tons/ha) from June to September, respectively. Accumulating tall fescue from as early as mid July did not decrease digestibility or intake sufficiently to make this practice impractical for winter grazing. Summer utilized tall fescue was lower in quality than that utilized in winter. There were significant correlations between DDM and TNC contents.


Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is characterized by excessive alcohol use and persistent alcohol seeking despite knowledge of its negative consequences. Importantly, AUD typically develops after chronic excessive alcohol use in a subgroup of individuals who drink alcohol, suggesting that AUD results from an interaction between individual vulnerability and prolonged alcohol exposure. The present study assessed the contribution of prolonged exposure to alcohol and individual levels of alcohol intake to the development of loss of control over alcohol seeking in a conditioned suppression model. To investigate the impact of prolonged alcohol exposure, conditioned suppression of alcohol seeking was assessed after 2 and 4 months of intermittent alcohol access (IAA) in a subgroup of rats drinking moderate amounts of alcohol. We observed that suppression of alcohol seeking was reduced after 4 months compared with 2 months of IAA. The influence of individual levels of alcohol intake on loss of control over alcohol seeking was subsequently determined by assessing conditioned suppression in subgroups of low and high alcohol drinking rats. Unlike the low alcohol drinking rats, the high alcohol drinking rats showed aversion-resistant alcohol seeking after 2 months of IAA, although both groups showed comparable levels of conditioned freezing. These findings show that the development of loss of control over alcohol seeking, a key characteristic of AUD in humans, is dependent on both the extent of alcohol exposure and the individual's propensity to consume alcohol.


Liver resections by metastatic colorectal cancer are considered to be seldom applicable on the reason of bilobar lesions and insufficient volume of the left liver lobe. The two-stage operations have been suggested for such situations. Of 276 patients, treated in our centre, 52 cases, unsuitable for the single-stage liver resection according to the preoperative data, had been retrospectively chosen. All these patients had the procedure of the right branch of vena porta occlusion, which aimed the compensatory hypertrophy of the left liver lobe. The efficacy of the occlusion was up to 73%. The median left lobe enlargement was 11%. The increase of the summary diameter of metastases was 60,4% (from 53 mm to 85 mm; p < 0,0001). The follow-up time was from 3 to 96 months. The three-year survival time was significantly higher in patients with the completed two-stage surgical treatment in comparison with those, who were refused the liver resection--77 and 43%, respectively. The multifactorial analysis revealed the only independent factor of the survival time--the extrahepatic intraabdominal lesion (p = 0,014).


Most people have to connect to the computer system for accommodating their daily routines. For this reason, a supporting system must be available so that a natural communication between users and the computer system can run smoothly and naturally.  Speech is a means of communication in which a visual speech information must be integrated in order to improve and to sharpen up the quality of its naturalness. The most ideal way to enhance the quality of human and computer interaction is by applying the audio visual speech mode. Text To Audio Visual Speech (TTAVS) is a computer system able to transform text input into speech message and to enrich synthesized visual speech for being delivered as a unit of message to the user simultaneously. This paper is addressed to the development of TTAVS in Indonesian language. Mean Opinon Score (MOS) test is used to evaluate the performance of the system. Indonesian natives, among them some lectures of Indonesian, have been selected to participate in this test.  The average outcome based on the used MOS test indicates a promising result.


In MT evaluation, pairwise comparisons are conducted to identify the better system. In conducting the comparison, the experimenter must allocate a budget to collect Direct Assessment (DA) judgments. We provide a cost effective way to spend the budget, but show that typical budget sizes often do not allow for solid comparison. Taking the perspective that the basis of solid comparison is in achieving statistical significance, we study the power (rate of achieving significance) on a large collection of pairwise DA comparisons. Due to the nature of statistical estimation, power is low for differentiating less than 1-2 DA points, and to achieve a notable increase in power requires at least 2-3x more samples. Applying variance reduction alone will not yield these gains, so we must face the reality of undetectable differences and spending increases. In this context, we propose interim testing, an "early stopping" collection procedure that yields more power per judgment collected, which adaptively focuses the budget on pairs that are borderline significant. Interim testing can achieve up to a 27% efficiency gain when spending 3x the current budget, or 18% savings at the current evaluation power.


A taxonomic review of all species of the pondskater genus Gerris Fabricius known from China (including Taiwan and Hong Kong) is presented with descriptions of two new species, Gerris (Gerriselloides) lundbladi sp. n. from Sichuan, China, and G. (Gerris) lobatus sp. n. from Sichuan and Tibet, China. A lectotype is selected for Gerris lepcha Distant and its synonymy of G. gracilicornis (Horvath) is verified. The status of G. (Gerriselloides) tigrinus Brown and G. (Gerris) sahlbergi Distant as separate species are confirmed. Keys for the identification of the genera of Gerrinae and all species of Gerris occurring in China are presented.


Korean Abstract: 본 연구는 중국 서비스무역 현황과 육성 및 개방 정책을 살펴보고, 주요 업종(의료, 문화콘텐츠, 물류)과 주요 지역(광둥, 베이징, 상하이, 산둥)의 서비스무역 발전 현황과 시장 경쟁, 무역장벽 및 대외협력 사례에 대해 분석하였다. 이를 통해 주요 업종별ㆍ지역별 대중국 서비스무역 확대방안을 제안하였고, 한ㆍ중 FTA 서비스ㆍ투자 관련 후속협상에 대비한 정책적 시사점을 제시하였다.

English Abstract: The Chinese economy has moved away from its past high speed growth rate of 10% per year, and begun to grow at a more moderate rate between 6 and 7%. This slowdown in the growth rate is due to changes in the domestic and international economic environment, which have led to weaker contribution from manufacturing industries, exports and investment, elements that drove China's economic growth in the past. However, China is actively pushing for a shift in the growth paradigm by responding swiftly to the new economic environment, and continues to show growth in the middle range. In particular, due to the policies for fostering the service sector, the service sector is rapidly replacing the status of the manufacturing sector, and thus the growth speed, economic structure, growth engine, employment and overall economy are being driven by the service sector.

The Chinese government is pushing for the opening of the service sector and fostering the producer service industry through its 13th Five-Year Plan. Aiming to realize these goals, this China emphasizes a high level of open market and external cooperation, and focuses on the development of the service industry and the expansion of the service trade as it did in the past by opening policies.

China's service trade volume was estimated to reach $657.1 billion in 2016 and exceed $1 trillion in 2020. Among Korean exports to the mass market, the share of service exports is growing from 9.7% (2011) to 14.5% (2016), and China has emerged as Korea's largest service market and largest service trade surplus country since 2013. The fact that China's service trade and Korea's exports of services to China are both expanding rapidly should serve as an opportunity to increase the role of Korea's services trade with China in the future.

This study seeks to explore new export engines that can boost trade in the services sector. To this end, the study examines ways to boost services trade with China based on an analysis of industries and regions with good prospects.


ABSTRACT: A total of 67 women with fibromyalgia were recruited to an exercise study and were randomized to moderate-to-high-intensity Nordic walking (age 48 ± 7.8 years) or to a control group engaging in supervised low-intensity walking (age 50 ± 7.6 years). A total of 58 patients completed. Significantly greater improvement in the 6-minute walk test was found in the Nordic walking group (P = 0.009), compared with the low-intensity walking group. A significantly larger decrease in exercise heart rate (P = 0.020) and significantly improved scores on the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Physical function (P = 0.027) were found in the Nordic walking group as compared with the low-intensity walking group. No between-group difference was found for the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire total or pain scores. The authors conclude that moderate-to-high intensity aerobic exercise by means of Nordic walking twice a week for 15 weeks was found to be a feasible mode of exercise, resulting in improved functional capacity and a decreased level of activity limitations. A total of 67 women with fibromyalgia were recruited to an exercise study and were randomized to moderate-to-high-intensity Nordic walking (age 48 ± 7.8 years) or to a control group engaging in supervised low-intensity walking (age 50 ± 7.6 years). A total of 58 patients completed. Significantly greater improvement in the 6-minute walk test was found in the Nordic walking group (P = 0.009), compared with the low-intensity walking group. A significantly larger decrease in exercise heart rate (P = 0.020) and significantly improved scores on the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Physical function (P = 0.027) were found in the Nordic walking group as compared with the low-intensity walking group. No between-group difference was found for the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire total or pain scores. The authors conclude that moderate-to-high intensity aerobic exercise by means of Nordic walking twice a week for 15 weeks was found to be a feasible mode of exercise, resulting in improved functional capacity and a decreased level of activity limitations.