Indonesia is one of countries that has high quantity of people but low in quality. It is shown from the low rating in human development index. Thus, the quality improvement i.e. educational improvement should be implemented effectively. Reading is one of the most crucial element in the field of education. The low rating of reading interest among Indonesian people becomes a tremendous issue which needs to be solved. To tackle, government implements the reading movement as contained in Act of the Republic of Indonesia number 20 of 2003 and ruled by Ministry of Culture and Education (Permendikbud) number 23 of 2015 about 15 minutes of literacy activities prior to the beginning of the study session. The study aims to identify the university students' reading interest in University of Bangka Belitung as well as to examine the determinant and the obstacle of the university students' reading interest. Structured questionnaire and online data collection methods were employed to obtain the primary data from 182 university students in University of Bangka Belitung, Indonesia. The study showed that the reading interest of university students in University of Bangka Belitung were at low score. About one-third of the respondents visited library once a week, one-fourth visited library twice a week and only 8.3 % of the respondents visited library 4 – 5 times a week. Almost one-fourth of respondents had 1 – 4 reading materials. Around half of respondents read less than an hour a day. As the determinant of book reading and library attendance, 61.3 % of the respondents were due to do assignment while only 16 % of respondents were due to habit and need to read. Whereas, as the obstacle to reading, almost half of respondents preferred using gadget, around one-fourth of respondents spent their times with friends and 39.2 % of respondents were too busy with their extracurricular activities on campus


Developed economic − ecological model of modern large city on the example of Almaty, based onthe main provisions of statistical theory, theories of logistics and the similarity of the General plan of development ofKazakhstan megapolis, the Strategy of transport development of Kazakhstan, programs to reduce the traffic load on thehighways regulations of international and national importance, as well as on the basis of predictive decisions arisingfrom the comprehensive consideration of the issues city transport road ecology (CTRE). It includes for the first timescientifically grounded ecological and economic indicators and daily ecological model of Almaty which were initialdata for further researches and calculations.However, this complex problem practically in all textbooks and manuals on ecology is considered factually, i.e.separately without interrelation, and questions of interrelation or mutual influence of emissions of motor transport inaggregate with infrastructure SRN (traffic lights, intersections, sidewalks, avenues, etc.) on environment aren't stillconsidered in the world literature. Besides there are no data on distribution of exhaust gases (EG) of motor vehicle inthe residential area near highways in any source. Therefore, even it is difficult to expert to define the main sources ofpollution of urban air environment.


This paper describes field experiments with an X8 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operating as a wireless communication relay while loitering over a REMUS 100 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) being at the ocean surface. The paper describes the design of the communication relay payload, network configuration, optimal flight conditions and UAV antenna mounting, and experimental results. Experiments were conducted under less than ideal conditions with rain and turbulent winds leading to unfavorable roll and pitch motions of the UAV, and small waves surrounding the AUV. The results with data download from the AUV through the UAV communication relay to a ground station shows that at the tested (typical) flight conditions the distance and attitude between the AUV and UAV are not the bottlenecks in the communication network. The main bottleneck was identified as the capacity of the proprietary wireless system on the REMUS 100 AUV which was not specified as a high capacity data link, and seems to be set up by the AUV system manufacturer to provide a relatively low capacity, but very robust, wireless data link regardless of signal strength and quality.


The piece briefly traces the history of the use of social science in the courtroom, and proceeds to critically measure this form of proof (particularly syndrome evidence) against both the reliability standards imposed by Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the traditional requirements for admission of expert testimony. Drawing upon empirical research concerning juries and decision-making as well as transcripts of the use of behavioral evidence at trial, I conclude that much of this testimony should be rejected. Rather than providing meaningful assistance to the jury, social science experts can distort the accuracy of the fact-finding process and imperil the fairness of the proceeding.


An optical associative memory with bipolar edge-enhanced feature learning that uses a ferroelectric liquid-crystal spatial light modulator and a barium titanate crystal is presented. During the learning procedure the bipolar edge-enhanced versions of the patterns are employed, which enable the associative memory to have a high discrimination capability. Experimental results and computer simulations are given.


Gradient centrifugal partition chromatography (GCPC) method was developed and applied to isolate 3,5-dimethoxyphenanthrene-2,7-diol (DMP) and batatasin-I (BA-I) from the dichloromethane soluble extract of Dioscorea opposita. In this method, the lower phase of n-hexane-methanol-water system (HMW, 10:9:1, v/v) was used as a mobile phase A (MpA) and water was used as a mobile phase B (MpB). This gradient CPC method is comparable to that of reversed-phase HPLC method in that the stationary upper-phase of HMW (10:9:1 v/v) works as if it were reversed-phase silica gel due to its hydrophobic property, while the lower phase (MpA) and water (MpB) functioned as hydrophilic mobile phases. The initial condition of the mobile phase was 20% MpA/80% MpB and maintained for 150 min to obtain DMP (1.2 mg), and then MpA was increased up to 50% to elute BA-I (1.7 mg). The purities of DMP and BA-I were 94.1% and 98.3% with the recovery yields of 83% and 86%, respectively. Similar results were obtained by linear-gradient CPC. The CPC peak fractions were identified by comparing their retention time to those of authentic samples of DMP and BA-I and their spectroscopic data (1H NMR and 13C NMR) to those of literature values.


Governments are running out of time to avoid the "severe, pervasive, and irreversible" effects of climate change, leading scientists have said in a United Nations report.

The report said that global carbon emissions must fall by at least 40% by 2050 and to zero by 2100 to maintain warming below 2°C relative to pre-industrial temperatures. It said that dangerous global warming could be avoided but that delaying action would be costly and would increase risks to countries' economies, global health, and food security.

The report was published in Copenhagen on 2 November by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world body for assessing the science related to climate change.1 2 It brings together findings from three major studies by panel working groups and was presented as the "most comprehensive assessment of climate change …


. These days' environmental friendly activities in various sectors are increasing. In tourism researches there are various studies regarding the environmental concern of tourist and visitors. Trekking is also one of popular tourist activity and which is directly engaged with nature and environment. Environmental pollutions, degradation, climate change, global warming are some of those issues which are most discuses in this modern world. The natural resources in this earth are extensively utilizing by humans. Dunlap and Van Liere (1978) defined the relation between human activity and natural system as New Ecological Paradigm (NEP). The purpose of the study is to investigate trekkers' environmental friendly behaviour. To sum up this study uses NEP for the determination of environmental friendly trekking. The survey was analysed 223 responses which were taken from online sources among trekkers of Republic of Korea. Results are concluded on the basis of statistical analysis using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 22.0. This research also discusses the empirical implications and limitations of this specific work. Also this study revealed that people have become more concerned about what actions they can take to protect the environment. From this point of view, this study tries to establish environmental attitudes of trekkers using NEP theory.


We further extend our approach to the linguistic summarization of time series (cf. Kacprzyk, Wilbik and Zadro˙zny [9, 10, 11, 12]) in which an approach based on a calculus of linguistically quantified propositions is employed, and the essence of the problem is equated with a linguistic quantifier driven aggregation of partial scores (trends). In addition to the basic criterion of a degree of truth (validity), we also use as a degree of appropriateness as an additional quality criterion. However, for simplicity and tractability, we use in the first shot the degrees of truth (validity) and focus, which usually reduce the space of possible linguistic summaries to a considerable extent, and then – for a usually much smaller set of linguistic summaries obtained – we use the degree of appropriateness to make a final choice as it gives us an additional quality of being able to detect how surprising, i.e. valuable, a linguistic summary obtained is. We also mention relations to natural language generation (NLG) as pointed out recently by Kacprzyk and Zadro˙zny [19]. We show an application to the absolute performance type analysis of daily quotations of an investment fund, and the numerical results are promising. The linguistic summaries obtained using this additional quality criterion of a degree of appropriateness seem to better reflect human intents and interest.


Many recently developed models in areas like viscoelasticity, electrochemistry, diffusion processes, etc. are formulated in terms of derivatives (and integrals) of fractional (non-integer) order. In this paper we present a collection of numerical algorithms for the solution of the various problems arising in this context. We believe that this will give the engineer the necessary tools required to work with fractional models in an efficient way.


A universe consisting of two interacting perfect fluids with the same 4-velocity is considered. A heuristic mean free time argument is used to show that the system as a whole cannot be perfect as well but neccessarily implies a nonvanishing bulk viscosity. A new formula for the latter is derived and compared with corresponding results of radiative hydrodynamics.


: Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) has potential in reducing fossil fuels and relaxing environmental problems. In this work performance analysis of ORC is conducted based on the second law of thermodynamics for recovery of low temperature heat source from 100°C to 140°C using R134a as the working fluid. Effects of system parameters such as turbine inlet pressure or source temperature are theoretically investigated on the exergy destructions (anergies) at various components of the system as well as net work production or exergy efficiency. Results show that the net work or exergy efficiency has a peak with respect to the turbine inlet pressure when the source temperature is low, however, increases monotonically with increasing turbine inlet pressure when the source temperature is high.


The aim of this article is to analyse and describe the perceptions of poverty and subjective well-being as described by the "poor" in Namibia, using Amartya Sen's multidimensional theoretical framework of Poverty (Capability approach). The paper utilises qualitative data and information obtained from the 13 Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs) reports of the Namibian National Planning Commission (NPC). The PPAs followed a broad qualitative participatory methodology and were conducted in all 13 regions of Namibia. It offers a unique source of qualitative information on how well-being and poverty are perceived and experienced by the people themselves. The analysis focuses on matters such as the role of institutional quality, social trust in the community, religion, beliefs and people's perceptions of poverty and well-being. Poverty is complex and multidimensional and not an economic issue only. Money and livelihoods were considered as a means to an end and not an end in itself. Wellbeing was rather seen as being able to foster and enlarge human capabilities, life choices and opportunities.


The motionless-head parallel-readout optical-disk system is designed to read out two-dimensional bit planes that are stored as one-dimensional Fourier-transform computer-generated holograms distributed radially on the disk active surface. Such a system, when built at full scale, could offer several potential advantages: high data-transfer rates of 1 Gbyte/s and higher, low access times of less than 15 ms, low retrieval times (the time required to read the entire memory) of less than 25 ms, and simple optical implementation. The experimental results of a scaled-down implementation of the system are presented.


Several simple ordinary differential equation (ODE) models of tumor growth taking into account the development of its vascular network are discussed. Different biological aspects are considered from the simplest model of Hahnfeldt et al. proposed in 1999 to a model which includes drug resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy. Some of these models can be used in clinical oncology to optimize antiangiogenic and cytostatic drugs delivery so as to ensure maximum efficacy. Simple models of continuous and periodic protocols of combined therapy are implemented. Discussion on the dynamics of the models and their complexity is presented.


We study the low energy states of the Kondo alloy model (KAM) as function of the magnetic impurity concentration per site, x, and the conduction electron average site occupation, nc. In previous works, two different Fermi liquid regimes had been identified at strong Kondo coupling , that may be separated by a transition at x  =  nc. Here, we analyze the KAM for finite on a Bethe lattice structure. First, using the mean-field coherent potential approximation (DMFT-CPA) which is exact at lattice coordination , we show that the real part of the local potential scattering may be located outside the conduction electron band, revealing a possible breakdown of Luttinger theorem for intermediate values of impurity concentration x. Unusual physical signatures are expected, e.g. in ARPES experiments. In order to take into account fluctuations associated with finite dimensionality, i.e. finite Z, we extend this analysis by studying the KAM with an adaptation of the statistical-DMFT method that was developped elsewhere. We review the distributions of local potential scattering and their evolution with model parameters: concentration, strength of Kondo coupling, coordination number, local site neighborhood, connection with percolation issue. Relevence for Kondo alloys material with f -electrons is also discussed.


This paper presents conditions under which a type of Petri net model with resources, called System of Transition Processes with Resources (STPR), can produce a given event stream. In particular, a necessary condition is given for the event stream to be produced based on checking upper and lower bounds of the marking on the Petri net. Algorithms for checking the condition are presented; the computational complexity of checking the condition is polynomial in the number of places and transitions the first time it is checked for a particular model, and linear in the number of transitions when the model is checked for subsequent event streams. An example is presented showing how this condition can be used, together with a model generation approach, for anomaly detection in manufacturing systems.


CD4 cells have been shown to acquire cytolytic activity (ThCTL) and demonstrate MHC class II-restricted killing of infected and transformed cells. We have identified a striking ThCTL subset in the lungs of influenza-infected mice that expresses high levels of Granzyme B, CD103 integrin, and CD107a and CD107b, markers of degranulation. This subset is not found in the spleen or lymph node. The ThCTL utilize a perforin-mediated mechanism to kill antigen-specific class II targets, and may play a role in killing influenza-infected airway epithelium which express high levels of MHC class II expression during influenza infection. ThCTL in the lung developed in mice deficient in Th1 polarizing cytokines IFN-γ and IL-12, further supporting their claim to being a unique subset of CD4 T cells. We are currently investigating the role of ThCTL in protection against influenza and the ability of ThCTL to develop into memory.


A zero-energy building (ZEB) requires an innovative integration of technologies, in which windows play a paramount role in energy reduction, storage, and generation. This study contributes to four innovative designs of sliding smart windows. It integrates air-gap (AG), phase change material (PCM), photovoltaic (PV), and vacuum glazing (VG) technologies. These smart sliding windows are proposed to generate electricity along with achieving efficient thermal insulations and heat storage simultaneously. A two-dimensional multiphysics thermal model that couples the PCM melting and solidification model, PV model, natural convection in the cavity, and the surface-to-surface radiation model in the vacuum gap are developed for the first time. The model is validated with data in the literature. The transient simulations were carried out to investigate the thermo-electrical performance of a window with an area of 1 m by 1 m for the meteorological conditions of Kuwait city on the 10th of June 2018, where the window was oriented to south direction. The results showed that the total solar heat energy gain per unit window area is 2.6 kWh, 0.02 kWh, 0.22 kWh, 1.48 kWh, and 0.2 kWh for the double AG, AG + PV + PCM + VG, PV + PCM + VG, AG + PV + PCM, and the ventilated AG + PV + PCM + VG, respectively. The results elucidate the advantages of the integration of VG in this integrated sliding smart window. The daily generated PV electrical energy in these systems is around 1.3 kWh, 1.43 kWh, and 1.38 kWh for the base case with double AG, PV + PCM + VG, and the ventilated AG + PV + PCM + VG respectively per unit window area.


The advent of Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transform (ChatGPT) technology has ushered in a new era of humanmachine interaction, transforming the way we communicate, learn, and create. This article explores the journey of ChatGPT from its current applications to its potential future impact on society. Presently, ChatGPT has found its place in customer service, education, and content generation, revolutionizing these domains through its natural language processing capabilities. However, ethical concerns related to bias and misinformation have emerged, underscoring the need for responsible development and usage. Looking ahead, the future potential of ChatGPT is vast and transformative. Its integration into healthcare could offer personalized medical insights and emotional support. In education, it could reshape learning experiences through tailored tutoring and content creation. Moreover, it holds the promise of transcending language barriers, fostering global communication and collaboration. The realms of creativity, entertainment, and companionship also stand to benefit from Chat GPT's evolving capabilities. While embracing these opportunities, it is crucial to address ethical considerations, such as bias mitigation and content verification. The responsible implementation of ChatGPT, guided by comprehensive ethical frameworks, will determine its true societal impact. This article underscores the importance of striking a balance between innovation and ethics, ensuring that Chat GPT's journey continues to enrich our lives while upholding our shared values.


Knowing little about how porosity and permeability are distributed at depth, we commonly develop models of groundwater by treating the subsurface as a homogeneous black box even though porosity and permeability vary with depth. One reason for this depth variation is that infiltrating meteoric water reacts with minerals to affect porosity in localized zones called reaction fronts. We are beginning to learn to map and model these fronts beneath headwater catchments and show how they are distributed. The subsurface landscapes defined by these fronts lie subparallel to the soil‐air interface but with lower relief. They can be situated above, below, or at the water table. These subsurface landscapes of reaction are important because porosity developed from weathering can control subsurface water storage. In addition, porosity often changes at the weathering fronts, and when this affects permeability significantly, the front can act like a valve that re‐orients water flowing through the subsurface. We explore controls on the positions of reaction fronts under headwater landscapes by accounting for the timescales of erosion, chemical equilibration, and solute transport. One strong control on the landscape of subsurface reaction is the land surface geometry, which is in turn a function of the erosion rate. In addition, the reaction fronts, like the water table, are strongly affected by the lithology and water infiltration rate. We hypothesize that relationships among the land surface, reaction fronts, and the water table are controlled by feedbacks that can push landscapes towards an 'ideal hill'. In this steady state, reaction‐front valves partition water volumes into shallow and deep flowpaths. These flows dissolve low‐ and high‐solubility minerals, respectively, allowing their reaction fronts to advance at the erosion rate. This conceptualization could inform better models of subsurface porosity and permeability, replacing the black box.


This thesis reports investigations into the colloid and solid state properties of clay/polymer complexes. The interactions between water soluble polymers and clay were investigated because of their importance to the oil industry which make use of clay/polymer interactions to control certain properties of drilling muds. [133]Cs and to a lesser extent [23]Na NMR have been evaluated as novel in situ probes to study the adsorption of polycations, and other cationic species, onto 25 gL[-1] suspensions of Westone-L. Westone-L is a low iron containing montmorillonite which was completely exchanged with either Cs[+] or Na[+] cations. The polycations FL15, FL16 and FL17, of general formula [(Me[2]NCH[2]CHOHCH[2)[n]][n+], and Magnafloc 1697, [(CH[2]CHCH[2]N(Me)[2]CH[2]CHCH[2])[n]][n+] have been shown to displace the exchangeable cation from the clay surface more effectively than other cationic species investigated such as Na[+], K[+], MeN[4+] and paraquat[2+]. This was shown through a decrease in linewidth and an increase in the [133]Cs or [23]Na NMR peak integral as cationic species were added to the clay. This information has been correlated with that obtained from particle size and zeta potential measurements in aqueous solution which suggest that the highly charged polycations investigated adsorb onto the surface of the clay via an 'electrostatic patch' mechanism. To complement these aqueous in situ techniques, several dry powder studies have been completed, including adsorption isotherms through Kjeldahl N analysis, variable temperature x-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric studies. These dry powder studies show conclusively that the exchangeable cation associated with the clay surface has a large bearing upon the amount and location of polymer adsorbed.The neutral polyglycol DCP101 is presently finding widespread use as a shale inhibitor in drilling muds. The mechanism by which this polymer interacts with clay has been investigated by recording the [133]Cs and [1]H NMR spectra of 25 gL[-1] suspensions of Cs[+] and Mn[2+] exchanged Westone-L treated with DCP101. These novel in situ investigations have shown that DCP101 does not displace the exchangeable cation associated with the clay. They have also shown that the water molecules in the hydration sphere of the Mn2+ cation associated with the clay surface are predominantly undisturbed by added DCP101. To complement these aqueous in situ investigations, several dry powder studies were carried out including adsorption isotherms through CHN analysis, variable temperature x-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric studies. These dry powder studies show that the exchangeable cation has a large bearing upon the quantity of polymer adsorbed.One further in situ NMR method has been evaluated with a view to investigating clay/polymer interactions. This method involved the addition of 10% D[2]O to a 40 gL[-1] suspension of clay which had been exchanged to the cation of interest. The resulting [2]H NMR spectrum showed a residual quadrupolar splitting, the magnitude of which depended upon several factors including clay concentration, state of aggregation of the clay platelets and the exchangeable cation associated with the clay. It was hoped that by monitoring the clay/D[2]O interactions via the [2]H residual quadrupolar splitting that information about clay/polymer systems in aqueous suspension would be forthcoming. The observed [2]H residual quadrupolar splitting was however found to be too sensitive to addition of polymer or ions to the clay suspension, resulting in its collapse to a singlet.


ME Conferences cordially welcomes you to attend the
"International Conference on Hepatitis" which is
scheduled October 19-20, 2020 at Helsinki, Finland in
collaboration with generous support and co-operation
from enthusiastic academicians and Organizing
Committee Members. The Conference will highlight the
"Recent Advancements in Hepatology and Liver
Diseases". Hepatitis Meet 2020 is a two days conference
organized by Organizing Committee Members where it
starts with a keynote session followed by oral
presentation and poster presentations and final ends
with the certificate distribution. International Conference
on Hepatology and liver diseases Unites Researchers,
Specialists, Analysts, teachers and College students with
an intend to give a smart periods and general stage to
trade and share their works and ideas in growing
discipline of Liver, Gallbladder, stomach, Pancreas,
Pharnyx, Endoscopic, Esophagus and Intestinal Diseases
etc.


The distribution of GTP-cyclohydrolase I, pyruvoyl tetrahydropterin (dysopropterin) synthase, and pyruvoyl tetrahydropterin reductase in goldfish erythrophores, melanophores, and erythrophoroma cells in vitro has been revealed by specific biochemical assays. The activity of pyruvoyl tetrahydropterin synthase in the erythrophores is nearly the same as that in rat kidney and pineal gland. Results of the simultaneous quantification of unconjugated pteridines (biopterin, sepiapterin, neopterin, and pterin) by HPLC indicate that the total amounts of these derivatives present in these cells and in the respective culture media are closely correlated with the activities of these enzymes. These findings imply that these cells are capable of the autonomous synthesis of pteridines, which most likely proceeds from GTP to 6-lactoyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydropterin (reduced sepiapterin), via dihydroneopterin triphosphate and pyruvoyl tetrahydropterin, through reactions catalyzed by these enzymes. A comparison of pteridine metabolism between clones of the stem cell type and the yellow-pigmented clones induced from erythrophoroma cells suggests that brightly colored pigmentation involves two separate phases: the biosynthesis of pteridines and their deposition in the pigment organelles. The presence of the highly active pteridine-synthesizing enzymes in melanophores and melanogenic erythrophoroma cells strongly suggests a loose commitment to the expression of pigment phenotypes in this species.


A high glucose state readily causes peripheral axon atrophy, demyelination, loss of nerve fiber function, and delayed regeneration. However, few studies have examined whether nitration is also critical for diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of high glucose on proliferation, apoptosis, and 3-nitrotyrosine levels of Schwann cells treated with butylphthalide. In addition, we explored potential protective mechanisms of butylphthalide on peripheral nerves. Schwann cells were cultured in vitro with high glucose then stimulated with the peroxynitrite anion inhibitors uric acid and 3-n-butylphthalide for 48 hours. Cell Counting Kit-8 and flow cytometry were used to investigate the effects of uric acid and 3-n-butylphthalide on proliferation and apoptosis of Schwann cells exposed to a high glucose environment. Effects of uric acid and 3-n-butylphthalide on levels of 3-nitrotyrosine in Schwann cells were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results indicated that Schwann cells cultured in high glucose showed decreased proliferation, but increased apoptosis and intracellular 3-nitrotyrosine levels. However, intervention with uric acid or 3-n-butylphthalide could increase proliferation of Schwann cells cultured in high glucose, and inhibited apoptosis and intracellular 3-nitrotyrosine levels. According to our data, 3-n-butylphthalide may inhibit cell nitrification and apoptosis, and promote cell proliferation, thereby reducing damage to Schwann cells caused by high glucose.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the development of the study on Angiostrongylus cantonensis.

METHODS
A total of 930 papers were searched from the PubMed and Chinese Bio-medical Disc(CBM) database under the search terms of Angiostrongylus cantonensis and analyzed through publication time, journal and contents.

RESULTS
The number of papers published was found to increase annually, and two peaks of publication in national magazines occurred since 1996. Most papers were published in tropical medicine or professional journal of parasitology. The reports mostly documented cases and epidemiological investigations, and only a few investigated pathogenic mechanisms, drug treatment and other basic theory.

CONCLUSION
It is in the initial stage of the study on Angiostrongylus cantonensis and Angiostrongyliasis, and there are a vast space in diagnosis, pathogenic mechanism, therapy and prevalence of Angiostrongyliasis cantonensis.


Nonlinear optical properties were characterized for a series of multinuclear iridium compounds of the form TCQ[IrIII(ppz)2]n, where n=1, 2, or 3, TCQ is tricycloquinazoline, and ppz is 1-phenylpyrazole. Transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy indicated that the triplet metal-to-ligand charge transfer excited state was formed on a subpicosecond time scale and decayed back to the ground state on a microsecond time scale, consistent with precedents in the literature. TA bands were observed for all three compounds from 475 to 900 nm, implying the potential for reverse-saturable absorption (RSA) at those wavelengths. Z-scan measurements using picosecond and nanosecond pulses were obtained at 532 nm and confirmed the presence of RSA behavior for all three compounds. The triplet excited state cross sections and the RSA figure of merit were found to decrease with increasing n:1>2∼3.


NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Governor of the State of South Carolina and pursuant to the Constitution and Laws of this State and the powers conferred upon me therein, I hereby authorize leave with pay for affected state employees who were absent from work as directed on December 8, 2017, as a result of the foregoing hazardous weather conditions. This Order is effective immediately.


This paper reports the sensitivity of the thermal and the displacement histories predicted by a finite element analysis to material properties and boundary conditions of a directed-energy deposition of a M4 high speed steel thin-wall part additively manufactured on a 42CrMo4 steel substrate. The model accuracy was assessed by comparing the simulation results with the experimental measurements such as evolving local temperatures and distortion of the substrate. The numerical results of thermal history were successfully correlated with the solidified microstructures measured by scanning electron microscope technique, explaining the non-uniform, cellular-type grains depending on the deposit layers. Laser power, thermal conductivity, and thermal capacity of deposit and substrate were considered in the sensitivity analysis in order to quantify the effect of their variations on the local thermal history, while Young's modulus and yield stress variation effects were evaluated on the distortion response of the sample. The laser power showed the highest impact on the thermal history, then came the thermal capacity, then the conductivity. Considering distortion, variations of the Young's modulus had a higher impact than the yield stress.


Summary Neospora caninum is a recently identified coccidian parasite which was, until 1988, misdiagnosed as Toxoplasma gondii. It causes paralysis and death in dogs and neonatal mortality and abortion in cattle, sheep, goats and horses. The life-cycle of Neospora has not yet been elucidated. The only two stages identified so far are tissue cysts and intracellularly dividing tachyzoites. Very little is known about the biology of this species. We have set up a fluorescence-based adhesion/invasion assay in order to investigate the interaction of N. caninum tachyzoites with bovine aorta endothelial (BAE) cells in vitro. Treatment of both host cells and parasites with metabolic inhibitors determined the metabolic requirements for adhesion and invasion. Chemical and enzymatic modifications of parasite and endothelial cell surfaces were used in order to obtain information on the nature of cell surface components responsible for the interaction between parasite and host. Electron microscopical investigations defined the ultrastructural characteristics of the adhesion and invasion process, and provided information on the intracellular development of the parasites.


The multichannel switch and multichannel transmission technique is one of the methods of efficiently utilizing resources. This paper proposes a multichannel ATM switching network. It is composed of two main modules: the channel allocation network and the routing network. It can preserve the cell sequence and the routing network permits more cells than the channel numbers of the channel group to be switched. The channel allocation network need not send request packets to assign channels and simplifies the procedure of the channel allocation.


The article provides brief information about the life and working activities of the first head of the Department of Radiation Hygiene of the Central Institute for Advanced Medical Training, academician, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Major General of the medical service F. G. Krotkov in the field of military hygiene during its formation in the Soviet health care, in the pre-war years and during the great Patriotic War. The direction of the scientific work of F. G. Krotkov at the Department of hygiene of the Military Medical Academy and contribution to the basis of the Aviation Scientific Research Institute of Sanitary in the WorkerPeasant Red Army and the Special Food Research Institute of the Red Army and its role in improving the combat capability of the Army and Navy as the head of the sanitary Department of the Main military-sanitary Directorate of the Red Army. It also reflects the activities of Professor F. G. Krotkov on the development of radiation hygiene as the head of the country's first specialized Department in the Central Institute for Advanced Medical Training. The paper provides information on perpetuate the name of Professor Krotkov on his small Home in S. Mosolovo, the Ryazan oblast and in Moscow city, where he worked for many years.


ABSTRACT The core insight of the new EU framework for bank resolution is to allocate losses to bank's insiders (bail-inable creditors). This affects both financial stability and the corporate governance of banks. The current academic debate on bank resolution overlooks the relevance of identifying the investors in bail-inable securities (ie who is going to bear losses) and the role of counterparty risk. This article identifies the investors that are better suited to hold those instruments and highlights the trade-offs between the corporate governance role and the threat to financial stability posed by different investors. The article demonstrates that the composition of bail-inable debtholders matters and shows – empirically and theoretically – a transition towards a desirable composition of holders; although a considerable room for improvement remains. This exercise deepens the understanding of the impact of the resolution framework and the importance of counterparties for its credibility and future applications.


Using Doise spatial task, this study examined the following three hypotheses about preschoolers' attainment of spatial skills: (1) A different viewpoint promotes faster advancement through developmental levels of spatial skills than the same viewpoint. (2) An interaction partner with a different skill level, rather than the same level, promotes faster advancement. And (3) a socio-cognitive conflict with the partner promotes faster advancement. To test these hypotheses, the method of Doise and Mugny (1984) was used in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, the method was modified in several ways. Most notably by pointing out and changing the shape of the marker, and by decreasing the number of objects to be arranged. Results of the experiments supported Hypothesis 3, but not 1 or 2. It was concluded that socio-cognitive conflicts in preschooler peer interaction contributed to children's development of spatial skills.


INTRODUCTION
Primary transradial percutaneous coronary intervention (TRI) is shown to be efficacious in stable patients with acute coronary syndrome. We aimed to evaluate the application of primary TRI for acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), including among high-risk patients from our registry.

METHODS
This was a single-centre case series comprising 138 patients who underwent primary TRI for STEMI between May 2007 and June 2008. TRI was attempted with a 6-Fr guiding catheter in all patients regardless of Killip class status. Outcome measures were success rates of primary TRI, door-to-balloon time, procedure duration and volume of contrast used. All patients were followed up for major adverse cardiac events in-hospital, at 30 days and six months.

RESULTS
A total of 138 patients had primary TRI attempted for STEMI. Four patients failed primary TRI and required a femoral approach. The remaining 134 patients underwent primary TRI. The mean patient age was 56.4 years. Most patients with acute STEMI presented in Killip class I and II (91.8 percent). Only 8.2 percent were in Killip class III or IV on admission. 50 percent of patients presented with anterior STEMI. The median door-to-balloon time for this group was 92 (interquartile range [IQR] 77-121) minutes, with a median procedure time of 39 (IQR 29-51) minutes. The success rate of primary TRI was 97.1 percent.

CONCLUSION
Success rate, procedural and radiation time for TRI are comparable to those achieved via the femoral approach. Primary TRI is therefore a feasible and effective approach for acute STEMI, even in high-risk patients.


We report the synthesis and optical properties of noncentrosymmetric (NCS) γ-Cs2I4O11 that was obtained through IO4 polyhedral rearrangements from centrosymmetric (CS) β-Cs2I4O11. Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) acts as a structure-directing agent and plays a key role in the synthesis. It is suggested that the function of TFA is to promote rearrangement reactions found in the organic synthesis of stereoisomers. γ-Cs2I4O11 crystallizes in the NCS monoclinic space group P21 (No. 4) and exhibits a strong second-harmonic-generation (SHG) response of 5.0 × KDP (KH2PO4) under 1064 nm laser radiation. Additional SHG experiments indicate that the material is type I phase matchable. First-principles calculations show that SHG intensity mainly comes from its d34, d21, and d23 SHG tensor components. The synthetic strategy of discovering γ-Cs2I4O11 provides a new way for designing novel NCS SHG materials.


It has been recently reported that the idea of cross-talks between hormone receptors including estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) in breast cancer to have significant impacts on breast cancer. The interactions of Epstein - Barr virus (EBV) and lymphoma have been previously demonstrated by many studies including ours. In this study, we aimed to examine the hypothesis that "EBV crosstalk with sex hormones plays a role in directing the type of lymphoma, Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL) or non –Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL)". We studied the expression of sex hormones, ER, and PR in addition to EBV in lymphoma cases representing HL and NHL. Immunoperoxidase staining was used to assess the expression of these biomarkers in lymphoma cases. The findings of our study showed that EBV cross talks with ER significantly associated with HL (p<0.05), while its talk with PR was significantly associated with NHL (p<0.05).
Conclusions: The results of the present study showed that EBV may work as the maestro of an orchestra and leads the events of lymphoma through different crosstalk with sex hormones. This may open the door for new therapeutic options for lymphoma.


South Africa's (SA) ports do not have a clearly defined port doctrine. They have certain elements resembling the Anglo-Saxon port doctrine, others the Continental doctrine and still others the Asian port doctrine. Thus, SA encounters conflicting port objectives: it runs a complementary ports system where costs are not reflective of prices charged, and the revenues and costs allocated to various commodity types remain unjustified. This is against the backdrop of intra-port, inter-port and multimodal cross-subsidisation, which found justification in SA's developmental objectives but has been viewed as unjustifiable under current economic conditions, giving rise to dissatisfaction among various port stakeholders regarding Transnet as a state-owned enterprise and Transnet National Ports Authority's (TNPA) governance and pricing practices that have not been adequately addressed. Using content analysis, 18 stakeholders' submissions on the 2013-2014 TNPA tariff application, 15 stakeholders' submissions regarding the multi-year tariff application, and 16 submissions regarding the 2014-2015 tariff application were assessed. The focus was on finding links between challenges faced by stakeholders and whether solutions would be found through SA adopting a different port doctrine. The findings show that while the Asian doctrine is more aligned with SA's developmental objectives, adoption of it may prove premature in view of the current and foreseeable economic conditions. The study shows that the local port system may not find a perfect fit into any of the known port models and established port doctrines, but, instead, that SA needs to articulate its own port doctrine.


Cyanobacteria (blue-green microalgae) are ubiquitous, Gram-negative photoautotrophic prokaryotes. They are considered as one of the most efficient sources of bioactive secondary metabolites. More than 50% of cyanobacteria are cultivated on commercial platforms to extract bioactive compounds, which have bene shown to possess anticancer activity. The chemically diverse natural compounds or their analogues induce cytotoxicity and potentially kill a variety of cancer cells via the induction of apoptosis, or altering the activation of cell signaling, involving especially the protein kinase-C family members, cell cycle arrest, mitochondrial dysfunctions and oxidative damage. These therapeutic properties enable their use in the pharma and healthcare sectors for the betterment of future generations. This review provides a baseline overview of the anti-cancerous cyanobacterial bioactive compounds, along with recently introduced nanomaterials that could be used for the development of new anticancer drugs to build a healthy future for mankind.


We present a novel method for the simplification of three-dimensional objects in order to optimise display. This is an incremental method with a specific feature: the processed scenes are simultaneously shown with two degrees of detail - precise and coarse. This allows for the creation of different types of simplification and adapts the geometrical and photometrical representation of the objects and scenes to precision and speed requirements. Voxels and textures are used in this method and it works with all kinds of object modelling. This method is based on the idea that in order to effectively reduce the volume of information to be processed while providing accurate rendering and fast display, we have to concentrate on the less visible pans of objects.


Loneliness is an indicator of social well-being and pertains to the feeling of missing an intimate relationship (emotional loneliness) or missing a wider social network (social loneliness). The 11-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale has proved to be a valid and reliable measurement instrument for overall, emotional, and social loneliness, although its length has sometimes rendered it difficult to use in large surveys. In this study, the authors empirically tested a shortened version of the scale on data from two surveys (N = 9,448). Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the specification of two latent factors. Congruent validity and the relationship with determinants (partner status, health) proved to be optimal. The 6-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale is a reliable and valid measurement instrument for overall, emotional, and social loneliness that is suitable for large surveys.


Background: Little is known about diaphragmatic function during obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. On the other hand ultrasonography has been used to image the diaphragm diagnostically but not in obstructive sleep apnea. The aim of this study was to use ultrasound technique to evaluate and quantify diaphragm function in a rat model during sleep apnea under condition of normoxia. Methods: Experiments were conducted in ten male adult Wistar rats weighing 350 gr, which were anaesthetized with Ketamine-Xylazine intraperitoneally. Animals were breathing after being tracheostomized and connected in a circuit with an electromagnetic valve which was closing periodically every minute for 10 sec for two hours, mimicking obstructive apnoeas. Supplemental oxygen was added to keep normal arterial saturation (SaO2:97%). Diaphragm Inspiratory Amplitude (DIA) (cm), Diaphragm Inspiratory Time (Ti) (sec), breathing period (Ttot) (sec), Diaphragm Motion Time (DMT) (sec) and Diaphragm Resting Time (DRT) (sec) were measured from the M- mode sonographic images. Data analyzed and compared between quite breathing (time 0) and breathing after two hours of airway obstructions (time 0+2). Results: All diaphragmatic measurements (DIA,Ti,Ttot, DMT and DRT) from time 0 to time 0+2 were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and showed a statistically significant reduction (p Conclusions: These findings suggest that diaphragmatic function is affected acutely during obstructive sleep apnea. It is also indicated that diaphragmatic fatigue as expressed via DIA,DMT,DRT,Ti and Ttot is present independently of hypoxeamia after two hours of airway obstructions during sleep.


A technique is proposed for using impedance- matched materials to expand the operating frequency of existing antenna radiators. The results of numerical electromagnetic modeling and experimental investigation of a waveguide slit radiator, whose operating frequency was expanding.


The diffusivity of tagged particles is demonstrated to be heterogeneous on time scales comparable to or less than the structural relaxation time in a highly supercooled liquid via 3D molecular dynamics simulation. The particle motions in the relatively active regions dominantly contribute to the mean square displacement, giving rise to a diffusion constant systematically larger than the Stokes-Einstein value. The van Hove self-correlation function Gs(r,t) is shown to have a large r tail which can be scaled in terms of r/t1/2 for t≲3τα, where τα≅ the stress relaxation time. Its presence indicates heterogeneous diffusion in the active regions. However, the diffusion process eventually becomes homogeneous on time scales longer than the life time of the heterogeneity structure (∼3τα).


BACKGROUND
It is a common view that psychodynamic treatment does not help much to ameliorate the symptoms of panic and agoraphobia. The effects of an insight-oriented treatment on central anxiety symptoms are the subject of the present controlled study.

METHODS
Forty patients with severe panic and agoraphobia were admitted to an inpatient anxiety treatment program. Most of the patients had been treated by pharmacological means unsuccessfully. The patients were randomly assigned to pure client-centered therapy or to additional behavioral exposure treatment. Client-centered and behavioral agoraphobia manuals were used. The patients were examined on admission, at discharge and at 3, 6, and 12 months follow-up for panic (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM III-R--SCID), anxiety (Hamilton Anxiety Scale), agoraphobia (SCID, Fear Survey Schedule), and depressive (Hamilton Depression Scale) symptoms.

RESULTS
Both client-centered treatment and a combination with exposure treatment reduced panic, avoidance and depressive symptoms significantly. For a short period the combined treatment was superior in patients' coping actively with anxiety and improving agoraphobic symptoms. However, at 1-year follow-up there was no further difference in the reduction of anxiety and depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS
The results are discussed with regard to the combination of these forms of therapy and to widespread skepticism about the efficacy of insight-oriented treatment.


Objective:To summarize the clinical and diagnostic characteristics of Behet's disease with sore throat as the first symptom, so as to improve clinicians' understanding of the disease. Methods:The clinical data of 28 patients with Behet's disease who were first treated in Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2015 to January 2022 were analyzed retrospectively. All patients were examined by electronic laryngoscopy at the first visit and treated with local symptomatic therapy. Twenty-one patients were examined for C-reactive protein and blood sedimentation, and some patients were examined for immunological parameters. After the diagnosis of leukoaraiosis was confirmed, treatment was based on immunosuppression and could be supplemented with oral hormone therapy depending on the extent of the lesion and other organ involvement. Results:Sore throat was the first symptom of all patients, which could be accompanied by dysphagia or dyspnea. Endoscopy revealed oropharyngeal ulcer in 25 cases(89.3%), laryngeal ulcer in 15 cases(53.6%), hypopharyngeal ulcer in 14 cases(50.0%), and adhesion of nasopharynx or throat in 8 cases(28.6%). All patients had oral ulcer at the same time, including 21 cases(75.0%) with genital ulcer, 18 cases(64.3%) with skin damage, and 11 cases(39.3%) with eye disease. In the course of disease, there were 4 cases(14.3%) with joints involvement, 3 cases(10.7%) with nervous system disease, and 1 case(3.6%) with digestive system disease. The treatment is mainly immunosuppressive, and oral hormone therapy can be supplemented according to the extent of the disease and the involvement of other organs. Conclusion:The clinical manifestations of Behet's disease, with sore throat as the first symptom, are diverse. The ulcer may involve multiple parts of the throat, and a few patients may involve multiple systems of the whole body. Clinical attention should be paid to the early diagnosis and timely treatment to prevent or delay the involvement of the lesion in important organs or systems.


While the role of clonal evolution during leukemia development and therapy has been a focus for a number of avenues of research, our abilities to deduce the clonal composition of individual samples have been limited by the use of bulk samples. Leukemia populations of unknown heterogeneity are typically described by extracting nucleic acids from the entire sample, including cells of unrelated lineages, any residual normal cells, and those cells constituting the leukemic population. Then bioinformatic approaches are employed to reconstruct the identities of the clones involved using feature frequencies in sequence data from the large scale sequencing done (e.g., whole exome or methylation). By definition, this type of approach, while realistic to perform on a large number of clinical samples, must rely on a basic set of assumptions regarding the limits of the type of genomic features that can exist in a sample. For whole exome sequencing data, assumptions include that mutations occur in cells heterozygously and that mutations which cluster together based on observed allele frequencies in the entire DNA sample occur concurrently in the same cells. To describe sub-clones within a population, a typical assumption is that mutations that occur at lower frequencies are sub-clones of the more abundant clone rather than a unique population. It is entirely possible that these assumptions are biologically appropriate for certain loci. However, for those loci for which the evolutionary patterns do not match this model (mutations occur sequentially and are retained throughout the subsequent lineage), we will inevitably come to an incorrect conclusion if this type of model is applied. In order to best begin testing bioinformatic methods to describe clonal structure and identify the presence of evolution, we have begun experiments mixing AML cell lines with distinct immunologic and mutational characteristics. Initial flow cytometric validation of perspective cell lines along with the molecular characterization of each cell type and verification of comparable growth rates in a normalized medium in vitro has been performed. Subsequent mixing of these cell lines and application of drugs specifically targeting one line or another provides a valuable opportunity to create controlled in vitro clonal evolution scenarios in which we can validate bulk, sorted fractions, and single cell methods and the required computational frameworks for each. As an example clonal framework, the cell lines were mixed in equal concentrations and allowed to compete in culture for 2 days with or without the presence of crenolanib, to which only one cell line is sensitive. The results of analyzing bulk and sorted fractions showed that we can effectively remove one "clone" in this in vitro poly-clonal leukemia model with crenolanib and that the observed flow cytometric frequency data reflect that seen in the genotyping data knowing the mutational distribution in the sample. However, if the allele frequency data is analyzed via the typical bulk sequencing assumptions, the reconstructed clonal structure is actually incorrect. If this were a clinical sample, we would conclude that initially the leukemia had one predominant clone with one mutation, and a subclone which had acquired 3 additional mutations. The true clonal structure was two clones with two known mutations each, (one mutation can be carried as a homozygous mutant), and one clone with no known mutations. With the addition of therapy, one would conclude that the subclone was reduced in frequency when in reality one clone was nearly completely removed, but two remained untouched. We have created a simple system to which we can apply different conditions to the in vitro culture, generate different types of molecular data, and test methods of analyzing those data to better understand how to approach bulk sample analyses for clonal evolution. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Objective To know the outcome of pterygium surgery done by limbalconjunctival autograft versus amniotic membrane graft using fibrin glue as a bio adhesive. This study was prospective and comparative study done at Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, IGIMS, Patna from July 2014 to June 2017. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 96 patients with primary pterygium. Patients were divided into two groups. Group A and Group B on odd & even number basis respectively. Group A contains odd numbers of patient, in which limbal-conjunctival autograft was done and Group B pts with even numbers were subjected to amniotic membrane graft with fibrin glue. Patients were followed up on day 1, day 7, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months post–operatively. On each visit recurrence of pterygium, graft retraction, graft displacements, inflammatory reaction and comfort of pat was noted from both the group. Data was collected and analyzed with Microsoft Excel. Results: Recurrence of pterygium was seen in 3 patients (6.1%) out of 48 pts. in limbal-conjunctival autograft group A whereas in Group B, it was seen in 4 patients (8.10%) out of 48 patients in amniotic membrane graft with fibrin glue group.


Although, diet restriction (DR) has been shown to substantially increase longevity while reducing or delaying the onset of age-related diseases, little is known about the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of DR on acute toxic outcomes. An earlier study (S. K. Ramaiah et al., 1998, Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 150, 12-21) revealed that a 35% DR compared to ad libitum (AL) feeding leads to a substantial increase in liver injury of thioacetamide (TA) at a low dose (50 mg/kg, i.p.). Higher liver injury was accompanied by enhanced survival. A prompt and enhanced tissue repair response in DR rats at the low dose (sixfold higher liver injury) occurred, whereas at equitoxic doses (50 mg/kg in DR and 600 mg/kg in AL rats) tissue repair in AL rats was substantially diminished and delayed. The extent of liver injury did not appear to be closely related to the extent of stimulated tissue repair response. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the time course (0-120 h) of liver injury and liver tissue repair at the high dose (600 mg TA/kg, i.p., lethal in AL rats) in AL and DR rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (225-275 g) were 35% diet restricted compared to their AL cohorts for 21 days and on day 22 they received a single dose of TA (600 mg/kg, i.p.). Liver injury was assessed by plasma ALT and by histopathological examination of liver sections. Tissue repair was assessed by [3H]thymidine incorporation into hepatonuclear DNA and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) immunohistochemistry during 0-120 h after TA injection. In AL-fed rats hepatic necrosis was evident at 12 h, peaked at 60 h, and persisted thereafter until mortality (3 to 6 days). Peak liver injury was approximately twofold higher in DR rats compared to that seen in AL rats. Hepatic necrosis was evident at 36 h, peaked at 48 h, persisted until 96 h, and returned to normal by 120 h. Light microscopy of liver sections revealed progression of hepatic injury in AL rats whereas injury regressed completely leading to recovery of DR rats by 120 h. Progression of injury led to 90% mortality in AL rats vs 30% mortality in DR group. In the surviving AL rats, S-phase DNA synthesis was evident at 60 h, peaked at 72 h, and declined to base level by 120 h, whereas in DR rats S-phase DNA synthesis was evident at 36 h and was consistently higher until 96 h reaching control levels by 120 h. PCNA studies showed a corresponding increase in cells in S and M phase in the AL and DR groups. DR resulted in abolition of the delay in tissue repair associated with the lethal dose of TA in ad libitum rats. Temporal changes and higher tissue repair response in DR rats (earlier and prolonged) are the conduits that allow a significant number of diet restricted rats to escape lethal consequence.


Building on the detection of the J = 7 6 SiO maser emission in both the v = 1 and v = 2 vibrational states towards the symbiotic Mira, R Aquarii, we have used the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope to study the changes in the SiO maser features from R Aqr over a stellar pulsational period. The observations, complemented by contemporaneous data taken at 86GHz, represent a test of the popular thermal-instability clump models of SiO masers. The 'clump' model of SiO maser emission considers the SiO masers to be discrete emitting regions which differ from their surroundings in the values of one or more physical variables (SiO abundance for example). We find that our observational data are consistent with a clump model in which the appearance of maser emission in the J = 7 6 transitions coincides with an outward-moving shock impinging on the inner edge of the maser zone.


This study explored the experience of professional fulfillment in palliative care nursing. A descriptive phenomenological design was used. A purposive sample of eight palliative care nurses participated. Potential participants were asked the following: "Do you love your work as a nurse?" A purposive sample of those who answered yes participated in semistructured conversations. During the conversations, the participants were asked to recall their most professionally fulfilling experiences. Conversations were audiotaped and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed for reoccurring themes using three points of reference. These points are recurrence of ideas, repetition of ideas, and forcefulness with which ideas are expressed. Secondary analysis took the form of poetic interpretation. Four themes emerged: upholding the vulnerable, continuing the legacy, meeting needs in an unexpected way, and attending to the essential ordinary. The discussion highlights possible relationships between professional fulfillment, recognition, connection, staff retention, and quality of care.


Electroencephalography provides measurements of electrical potential in the form of a time signal for each electrode. Although they only partially reflect the brain's underlying electrophysiological phenomena, these measurements contain a significant amount of information, which is used in clinical diagnosis and cognitive sciences, as well brain computer interfaces. Statistical analysis is also necessary to assess the stability of the information extracted with respect to different parameters. The sampling frequency determines the temporal resolution of observable phenomena, as well as the extent of the analyzable frequency spectrum. Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) is more common for marking to be performed automatically during acquisition. A low-pass filter removes high frequencies, eliminating some sources of noise, such as electrical activity coming from muscles. Statistical representations are useful for analyzing sets of signals measured simultaneously or through several trials. It is certainly also interesting to apply them retrospectively to interpret brain activity modifications occurring before, during and after BCI use.


This paper makes a comparison between the drug violence in Peru and Colombia. These two countries are the greater cocaine producers in the world, but present different levels of violence. In the case of Peru there are low levels of violence, whilst in the case of Colombia, the levels are high. The paper argues that the cocain cultivation and production in itself is not a source of high levels of violence. The intensity of the violence depends on the presence of other variables that will be proposed and analized here.


Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common tachyarrhythmia. Shortening of atrial action potential duration (APD) and effective refractory period (ERP) is one of the crucial factors in the occurrence and maintenance of AF. ERP is usually shorter than APD, but ERP can be prolonged beyond action potential repolarization in some situations. It is termed as post-repolarization refractoriness (PRR) that is thought to be one of main anti-arrhythmic mechanisms of class I sodium channel blockers (SCBs). Most of anti-arrhythmic agents, including SCBs, have multi-channel blocking effects. It is unknown whether atrial PRR with SCBs is associated with the reduction of sodium channel availability. We therefore explored the relationship between the reduction of sodium channel availability with a pure SCB (pilsicainide or tetrodotoxin) and atrial PRR using the left atrial appendage from male guinea pigs (each group, n = 3~10). Employing a standard microelectrode technique, we evaluated APD measured at 90% repolarization (APD(90)) and the sodium channel availability, judged from the maximal rate of rise of action potential (Vmax). At a 500-msec basic cycle length (BCL), pilsicainide prolonged atrial ERP assessed by a single extra-stimulus in response to the decrement of the Vmax in a dose-dependent manner without affecting APD(90). Furthermore, pilsicainide increased the ERP and decreased the Vmax in a rate-dependent manner without APD(90) prolongation at a shorter BCL (200 msec). Importantly, tetrodotoxin reproduced the effects of pilsicainide on atrial ERP, APD(90), and Vmax. These results indicate that SCBs produce atrial PRR through the reduction of sodium channel availability.


Selecting requirements for a release of software is a difficult undertaking as people have trouble comparing requirements of different types and have natural biases towards short-terms gains over longer-term sustainability. Portfolio theory is proposed as a solution to this problem, as it provides a method for balancing investment options to maximize the likelihood of a given return. This approach is explored generally and through an example. The results suggest portfolio theory can be applied for this purpose. Applying portfolio theory to determine the amount of development time that should be spent on different types of requirements shows the most potential, especially when data on expected risks and returns is limited.


When modeling structured outputs such as image segmentations, prediction can be improved by accurately modeling structure present in the labels. A key challenge is developing tractable models that are able to capture complex high level structure like shape. In this work, we study the learning of a general class of pattern-like high order potential, which we call Compositional High Order Pattern Potentials (CHOPPs). We show that CHOPPs include the linear deviation pattern potentials of Rother et al. [26] and also Restricted Boltzmann Machines (RBMs), we also establish the near equivalence of these two models. Experimentally, we show that performance is affected significantly by the degree of variability present in the datasets, and we define a quantitative variability measure to aid in studying this. We then improve CHOPPs performance in high variability datasets with two primary contributions: (a) developing a loss-sensitive joint learning procedure, so that internal pattern parameters can be learned in conjunction with other model potentials to minimize expected loss, and (b) learning an image-dependent mapping that encourages or inhibits patterns depending on image features. We also explore varying how multiple patterns are composed, and learning convolutional patterns. Quantitative results on challenging highly variable datasets show that the joint learning and image-dependent high order potentials can improve performance.


One hundred seventy‐five consecutive patients with soft tissue sarcoma of the limb and limb girdle were studied using univariate and multivariate analysis. The most important factor determining risk of local recurrence was the quality of treatment of the primary tumor, with wide or radical surgery plus radical radiotherapy obtaining the best local control. Tumor size, site, and histologic grade were not predictive of local recurrence. The important tumor variables predicting survival were tumor size at first presentation and histologic grade. Tumors with > 10 cm greatest diameter and high‐grade tumors carried a poor prognosis. Local recurrence was significantly associated with reduced survival, but only when (correctly) considered as a time‐dependent variable in multivariate analysis. Irradiation was also significantly associated with poor survival. Review of the literature indicates that local recurrence is believed to have little influence on survival. Since the relevant randomized controlled trials have been small, the evidence is inconclusive.


Transhydrogenases catalyse interconversion of the redox cofactors NADH and NADPH, thereby conveying metabolic flexibility to balance catabolic NADPH formation with anabolic or stress-based consumption of NADPH. Escherichia coli is one of the very few microbes that possesses two isoforms: the membrane-bound, proton-translocating transhydrogenase PntAB and the cytosolic, energy-independent transhydrogenase UdhA. Despite their physiological relevance, we have only fragmented information on their regulation and the signals coordinating their counteracting activities. Here we investigated PntAB and UdhA regulation by studying transcriptional responses to environmental and genetic perturbations. By testing pntAB and udhA GFP reporter constructs in the background of WT E. coli and 62 transcription factor mutants during growth on different carbon sources, we show distinct transcriptional regulation of the two transhydrogenase promoters. Surprisingly, transhydrogenase regulation was independent of the actual catabolic overproduction or underproduction of NADPH but responded to nutrient levels and growth rate in a fashion that matches the cellular need for the redox cofactors NADPH and/or NADH. Specifically, the identified transcription factors Lrp, ArgP and Crp link transhydrogenase expression to particular amino acids and intracellular concentrations of cAMP. The overall identified set of regulators establishes a primarily biosynthetic role for PntAB and link UdhA to respiration.


STUDY QUESTION
Can the Poor Responder Outcome Prediction (PROsPeR) score identify live birth outcomes in subpopulations of patients with poor ovarian response (POR) defined according to the ESHRE Bologna criteria (female age, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), number of oocytes retrieved during the previous cycle (PNO) after treatment with originator recombinant human follitropin alfa?

SUMMARY ANSWER
The PROsPeR score discriminated the probability of live birth in patients with POR using observational data with fair discrimination (AUC ≅ 70%) and calibration, and the AUC losing less than 5% precision compared with a model developed using the observational data.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
Although scoring systems for the likelihood of live birth after ART have been developed, their accuracy may be insufficient, as they have generally been developed in the general population with infertility and were not validated for patients with POR. The PROsPeR score was developed using data from the follitropin alfa (GONAL-f; Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) arm of the Efficacy and Safety of Pergoveris in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ESPART) randomized controlled trial (RCT) and classifies women with POR as mild, moderate or severe, based upon three variables: female age, serum AMH level and number of oocytes retrieved during the previous cycle (PNO).

STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
The external validation of the PROsPeR score was completed using data derived from eight different centres in France. In addition, the follitropin alfa data from the ESPART RCT, originally used to develop the PROsPeR score, were used as reference cohort. The external validation of the PROsPeR score l was assessed using AUC. A predetermined non-inferiority limit of 0.10 compared with a reference sample and calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow test) were the two conditions required for evaluation.

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
The observational cohort included data from 8085 ART treatment cycles performed with follitropin alfa in patients with POR defined according to the ESHRE Bologna criteria (17.6% of the initial data set). The ESPART cohort included 477 ART treatment cycles with ovarian stimulation performed with follitropin alfa in patients with POR.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
The external validation of the PROsPeR score to identify subpopulations of women with POR with different live birth outcomes was shown in the observational cohort (AUC = 0.688; 95% CI: 0.662, 0.714) compared with the ESPART cohort (AUC = 0.695; 95% CI: 0.623, 0.767). The AUC difference was -0.0074 (95% CI: -0.083, 0.0689). This provided evidence, with 97.5% one-sided confidence, that there was a maximum estimated loss of 8.4% in discrimination between the observational cohort and the ESPART cohort, which was below the predetermined margin of 10%. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test did not reject the calibration when comparing observed and predicted data (Hosmer-Lemeshow test = 1.266688; P = 0.260).

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
The study was based on secondary use of data that had not been collected specifically for the analysis reported here and the number of characteristics used to classify women with POR was limited to the available data. The data were from a limited number of ART centres in a single country, which may present a bias risk; however, baseline patient data were similar to other POR studies.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
This evaluation of the PROsPeR score using observational data supports the notion that the likelihood of live birth may be calculated with reasonable precision using three readily available pieces of data (female age, serum AMH and PNO). The PROsPeR score has potential to be used to discriminate expected probability of live birth according to the degree of POR (mild, moderate, severe) after treatment with follitropin alfa, enabling comparison of performance at one centre over time and the comparison between centres.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
This analysis was funded by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. P.L. received grants from Merck KGaA, outside of the submitted work. N.M. reports grants, personal fees and non-financial support from Merck KGaA outside the submitted work. T.D.H. is Vice President and Head of Global Medical Affairs Fertility, Research and Development at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. P.A. has received personal fees from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, outside the submitted work. C.R. has received grants and personal fees from Gedeon Richter and Merck Serono S.A.S., France, an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, outside the submitted work. P.S. reports congress support from Merck Serono S.A.S., France (an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), Gedeon Richter, TEVA and MDS outside the submitted work. C.A., J.P., G.P. and R.W. declare no conflict of interest.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
N/A.


Iterative minimum mean square error (MMSE) demodulation of coded direct sequence code division multiple access (CDMA) uplink channels suppresses multiuser interference over a wide range of user signal powers, by iteratively exchanging soft information between an MMSE multiuser detector and a bank of single-user decoders. The iterative feedback of soft information from the decoders allows the demodulator to suppress (via the MMSE paradigm) and subtract (as in parallel subtractive cancellation) interference from other users in the same cell. It also displays remarkable near-far resistance by functioning like a successive interference subtractor across iterations. Using multiple sensors at the demodulator improves its baseline performance and provides increased user capacities now via both array processing and refinements across iterations. Most remarkably, iterative and array processing allow increasing the ratio of the bandwidth expansion incurred by coding to that incurred by spreading. This is a very useful property in practical systems where user populations typically vary with time. Lower rate codes (with correspondingly lower spreading factors, to satisfy restrictions on the allowable total bandwidth expansion) are obviously helpful in lightly loaded systems. With the proposed (nonlinear) demodulation technique they also aid in improved in-cell user separation via soft-decoded feedback to the detector in the second and subsequent iterations, along with the additional initial spatial separation provided by multisensor arrays. They also serve to mitigate the effects of residual in-cell and out-of-cell interference in the final decoded estimates.


Recently published measurements of the two nucleon short range correlation ($NN$-SRC) scaling factors, $a_2(A/d)$, strengthen the previously observed correlation between the magnitude of the EMC effect measured in electron deep inelastic scattering at $0.35\le x_B\le 0.7$ and the SRC scaling factor measured at $x_B \ge 1$. The new results have improved precision and include previously unmeasured nuclei. The measurements of $a_2(A/d)$ for $^9$Be and $^{197}$Au agree with published predictions based on the EMC-SRC correlation. This paper examines the effects of the new data and of different corrections to the data on the slope and quality of the EMC-SRC correlation, the size of the extracted deuteron IMC effect, and the free neutron structure function. The results show that the linear EMC-SRC correlation is robust and that the slope of the correlation is insensitive to most combinations of corrections examined in this work. This strengthens the interpretation that both $NN$-SRC and the EMC effect are related to high momentum nucleons in the nucleus.


Background: Upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UUT-UC) is a rare and severe urinary malignancy. Urine cytology is a common clinical method for the early diagnosis of urologic neoplasms. Several studies have explored the relationship between preoperative urine cytology and intravesical recurrence in patients with UUT-UC. However, the results of these studies are controversial or even contradictory, and investigations with UUT-UC patients in Northeast China are rare. Methods: In this retrospective case-control study, we first estimated the prognostic significance of preoperative urine cytology in the outcomes of intravesical recurrence in 142 patients with UUT-UC after radical nephroureterectomy (RNU). A nomogram model was established and we evaluated its effectiveness. Subsequently, after searching several databases, including PubMed, Embase, and Ovid, we quantitatively combined our results with the published data in a meta-analysis. Results: Our case-control study demonstrated that patients with muscle-invasive tumors (T2-T4) were more prone to preoperative positive urine cytology than those with non-muscle-invasive tumors (Tis-T1), suggesting that preoperative positive urine cytology may be associated with the aggressive form of UUT-UC. Kaplan-Meier curves demonstrated that the patients with positive urine cytology had significantly poorer intravesical recurrence-free survival (IV-RFS). Additionally, preoperative urine cytology (hazard ratio, HR=3.24) and lymph node status (HR=2.67) were validated as significant independent predictors of intravesical recurrence by multivariate analysis. Nomogram, calibration plots, AUC values and the C-index demonstrated that the predictive accuracy was significantly improved when preoperative urine cytology was combined. Subsequently, adding to our study, 11 eligible articles from 2010 to 2016 containing 2942 patients were sifted out for our meta-analysis. Overall analysis showed that preoperative positive urine cytology was associated with a 56% increased risk of intravesical recurrence (HR=1.56). In the subgroup analysis by region, study type, and sample size, the pooled HR was statistically significant for the Japan subgroup (HR=1.45), China subgroup (HR=1.66), cohort study subgroup (HR=1.44), and case-control study subgroup (HR=1.77), the subgroup with sample size greater than or equal to 100 (HR=1.42), and the subgroup with sample size less than 100 (HR=2.95). Conclusions: Preoperative urine cytology significantly correlated with intravesical recurrence in patients with UUT-UC after RNU, although these results need to be interpreted with caution. Large, prospective trials are required to further confirm its prognostic significance.


LCLS is now successfully operating at its design beam repetition rate of 120 Hz, but in order to ensure stable beam operation at this high rate we have developed a new timing pattern aware EPICS controller for beam line actuators. Actuators that are capable of responding at 120 Hz are controlled by the new Pattern Aware Unit (PAU) as part of the beam-based feedback system [1]. The beam at the LCLS is synchronized to the 60 Hz AC power line phase and is subject to electrical noise which differs according to which of the six possible AC phases is chosen from the 3-phase site power line. Beam operation at 120 Hz interleaves two of these 60 Hz phases and the feedback must be able to apply independent corrections to the beam pulse according to which of the 60 Hz timing patterns the pulse is synchronized to. The PAU works together with the LCLS Event Timing system which broadcasts a timing pattern that uniquely identifies each pulse when it is measured and allows the feedback correction to be applied to subsequent pulses belonging to the same timing pattern, or time slot, as it is referred to at SLAC. At 120 Hz operation this effectively provides us with two independent, but interleaved feedback loops. Other beam programs at the SLAC facility such as LCLSII and FACET will be pulsed on other time slots and the PAUs in those systems will respond to their appropriate timing patterns. This paper describes the details of the PAU development: real-time requirements and achievement, scalability, and consistency. The operational results will also be described.


A Langevin equation for a charged spherical Brownian particle, diffusing in an ionic solution, is derived as a contraction of a description based on the fluctuating diffusion equation for the local concentrations of the electrolyte ions of the supporting solution. A fluctuation-dissipation relation is demonstrated between the electrostatic friction and its corresponding fluctuating force. Expressions are derived for the electrolyte contribution to the friction coefficient in terms of the equilibrium interionic correlation functions. The results previously found by Schurr are shown to follow in the Debye-H\"uckel limit.


Objective. To investigate computationally the interaction of combined electrical and ultrasonic modulation of isolated neurons and of the parkinsonian cortex-basal ganglia-thalamus loop. Approach. Continuous-wave or pulsed electrical and ultrasonic neuromodulation is applied to isolated Otsuka plateau-potential generating subthalamic nucleus (STN) and Pospischil regular, fast and low-threshold spiking cortical cells in a temporally alternating or simultaneous manner. Similar combinations of electrical/ultrasonic waveforms are applied to a parkinsonian biophysical cortex-basal ganglia-thalamus neuronal network. Ultrasound-neuron interaction is modelled respectively for isolated neurons and the neuronal network with the NICE and SONIC implementations of the bilayer sonophore underlying mechanism. Reduction in α−β spectral energy is used as a proxy to express improvement in Parkinson's disease by insonication and electrostimulation. Main results. Simultaneous electro-acoustic stimulation achieves a given level of neuronal activity at lower intensities compared to the separate stimulation modalities. Conversely, temporally alternating stimulation with 50 Hz electrical and ultrasound pulses is capable of eliciting 100 Hz STN firing rates. Furthermore, combination of ultrasound with hyperpolarizing currents can alter cortical cell relative spiking regimes. In the parkinsonian neuronal network, continuous-wave and pulsed ultrasound reduce pathological oscillations by different mechanisms. High-frequency pulsed separated electrical and ultrasonic deep brain stimulation (DBS) reduce pathological α−β power by entraining STN-neurons. In contrast, continuous-wave ultrasound reduces pathological oscillations by silencing the STN. Compared to the separated stimulation modalities, temporally simultaneous or alternating electro-acoustic stimulation can achieve higher reductions in α−β power for the same safety contraints on electrical/ultrasonic intensity. Significance. Focused ultrasound has the potential of becoming a non-invasive alternative of conventional DBS for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Here, we elaborate on proposed benefits of combined electro-acoustic stimulation in terms of improved dynamic range, efficiency, spatial resolution, and neuronal selectivity.


Can activation programs be considered a 'magic wand' that triggers a change of incentives, with little or no costs, and produces real gains in terms of improved job-finding rates? The paper reviews the literature on the experience of OECD countries with such programs in five areas: strengthening job-search requirements, compulsory participation in active labor market programs, stricter monitoring, and imposing sanctions. Programs are judged in terms of duration of unemployment, probability of finding a job, and post-unemployment outcomes such as the level of wages and quality of jobs. Our review finds strong evidence that activation programs can increase the job-finding rates of individuals receiving unemployment or social assistance benefits. At the same time, it cautions that programs may have adverse side effects, ranging from increased exits into inactivity to lower quality of post-unemployment jobs, as well as negative indirect effects on the job prospects of non-participants.


Background
Stroke affects the quality of life through its devastating effects on physical, psychological, social, and economic domains. Patient-reported outcome measures help to capture the patient's perspective to changes in the quality of life. The available stroke-specific outcome measures of stroke do not comprehensively measure all the domains.

Objective
We describe the development and validation of the Stroke Impact Assessment Questionnaire (SIAQ) an interviewer-administered new instrument developed using patient-centered approaches to assess the long-term problems of stroke survivors.

Materials and Methodology
We used a sequential exploratory mixed methods approach (QUAL → QUAN) to develop the SIAQ. The design involves an initial qualitative phase aimed at generating the item pool and a subsequent second phase aimed at testing of items using quantitative techniques (Psychometric evaluation).

Result
SIAQ, a thirty-item tool, under the eight domains (sensory, motor, social, economic, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and communication) emerged from Principal Component Analysis. The factor loadings ranged from 0.421 to 0.880. The intraclass coefficient in test-retest reliability r is 0.958 (95% CI 0.9249-0.9799) and in interobserver reliability is 0.9473 (95% CI 0.9125 - 0.9733). The internal consistency Cronbach's alpha for the final 30 item tool was 0.88.

Conclusion
SIAQ is a culturally appropriate psychometrically robust questionnaire assessing the long-term outcome of stroke. However, SIAQ is applicable only in stroke survivors for up to 65 years.


The formation of nanowire structures from poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) in solution is of great interest in fields such as vapour sensing and organic solar cells. Being able to control formation, deposition and characterise these nanowires is therefore of great interest to maximise the potential of these devices. To this end this research investigates the growth of these nanowires in solution via small angle neutron scattering, and ultra-violet visible spectroscopy.
The ability to align these nanowires on a solid substrate is also of interest, as well as obtaining large quantities of aligned and densely packed nanowires. Therefore this thesis has investigated optimal processing conditions, deposition methods and post processing methods to get the optimal P3HT nanowires and nanowire alignment. Various methods of characterising the nanowires, such as ultra-violet visible spectroscopy, small angle neutron scattering, atomic force microscopy etc. have been used to characterise the nanowires that were created.
These nanowires were also tested for use in applications such as vapour sensing, by use in water-gated transistors and the effects of using nanowires, rather than a thin film of P3HT was also investigated.
In summary, various techniques for the production and optimisation of P3HT nanowire thin films were investigated, the growth of which was also carefully studied. Finally the nanowire films were characterised using various methods and applications tested to determine how to use nanowires to optimise these applications, namely for the purpose of vapour sensing.


We study the energy deposition in a one-dimensional interacting quantum system with a pointlike potential modulated in amplitude. The pointlike potential at position x = 0 has a constant part and a small oscillation in time with a frequency ω. We use bosonization, renormalization group, and linear response theory to calculate the corresponding energy deposition. It exhibits a power law behavior as a function of the frequency that reflects the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) nature of the system. Depending on the interactions in the system, characterized by the TLL parameter K of the system, a crossover between weak and strong coupling for the backscattering due to the potential is possible. We compute the frequency scale ω∗, at which such crossover exists. We find that the energy deposition due to the backscattering shows different exponents for K > 1 and K < 1. We discuss possible experimental consequences, in the context of cold atomic gases, of our theoretical results.


The value of Turkish textile and apparel trade has shown steady growth since the 1980s, making this one of the indispensable sectors for the Turkish economy. However, especially after 2000, the dramatic effects of globalisation and liberalisation began to be felt in world textile and apparel trade, subsequently changing the dynamics. Companies working in the textile business were compelled to make strategic adjustments in order to determine their future opportunities. Scenario planning enables managers to better analyse the future environment than when using other techniques. In this study, Godet's scenario planning methodology was applied to the Turkish apparel industry in order to determine future perspectives the industry would face.


INTRODUCTION: Adolescents are less frequently studied population as far as tuberculosis is concerned. And their response to the disease as well as clinical manifestations is different from children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was done on patients up to the age of 19 years and classified them in to child and adolescent. Up to 12 years was taken as child and beyond that as adolescent. Data collection was done from the RNTCP registers and medical records. The incidence of pulmonary, extra-pulmonary was found separately. Among pulmonary as well as the total intra-thoracic tuberculosis, sputum positivity was found. The incidence of lymph node tuberculosis, pleural effusion and others were also recorded. The records were checked to find out the completion/cure of disease and any record of relapse. RESULTS: Total 67 patients were included in the study, 35 males and 32 females. 40.3% were adolescents and the rest were children. 48.14% were having pulmonary tuberculosis among adolescents while 85% in childhood had this presentation. (p-0.001). Intra-thoracic tuberculosis (pulmonary, intra-thoracic nodes and pleural effusion) occurred to 62.96% adolescents and 87.5% children. 53.84% of adolescents with pulmonary TB were sputum positive whereas in children it was only 18.7%. The increased chance of sputum positivity among adolescents was statistically significant (p-0.026). Among the total tuberculosis patients in each category, 29.6% adolescents had extra-thoracic lymph node tuberculosis while only 7.5% children had this (p-0.04). There were no statistically significant differences in other forms of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. All patients were compliant and had completed treatment. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Our adolescents had greater incidence of extra-thoracic Tb (37%) while Cruz et al found 18.6% of this type. Smear positivity of adolescents with intrathoracic TB was also higher in our study (41.17%) compared to the other study (25%). Arora VK et al reported 54% smear positivity among adolescents with pulmonary TB, similar to us. Extrapulmonary tuberculosis predominates in the adolescents compared to adults as per the studies done by de Pontual L et al and others. We could find that extra-pulmonary Tb was more common in adolescents compared to children. Compliance was not a problem unlike studies from other countries.


Fifth AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, Nov 12-15, 2006

A203

Renal cell cancer (RCC) incidence has increased in the US over the past three decades. Although the majority of RCC studies support a relation with excess weight, most have too few numbers of cases for detailed evaluation of dose-response relationship. Our study population was the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study cohort, including 312,334 U.S. men and 212,304 women, ages 50 to 71 years at baseline. The study was initiated in 1995-1996, with follow-up of cancer registry records through December 2000. Cases were participants with incident invasive renal cell carcinomas, having histology compatible with this diagnosis. Participants reported height, weight, and level of physical activity, along with other health and dietary information. BMI (kg/m2) was categorized as referent group (18.5-<23), within normal range (23-<25), overweight (25-<27.5, 27.5-<30), and obese (30-<35, 35-<40, 40+ kg/m2). Relative risks were estimated by Cox regression with adjustment for age, smoking, protein intake, and physical activity. Over an average of 4.3 year follow-up, RCC was diagnosed in 609 men and 204 women. Risk increased consistently with higher BMI, with moderate excesses even at levels not considered as obese. In men, relative risks were 1.23, 1.52, 1.62, 1.84, 2.43, and 2.49 (p-trend <0.0005), respectively, for BMI 23-<25, 25-<27.5, 27.5-<30, 30-<35, 35-<40, and 40+, relative to the referent group. In women, the corresponding relative risks were 1.01, 1.53, 1.78, 1.93, 1.94, 2.15 (p-trend <0.0005). In both men and women, renal cell cancer risk was clearly elevated in the overweight range, and risks were higher yet amongst the obese. The elevated RCC risks were not explained by known potential confounding factors, although hypertension was not available for adjustment. A previous study reported independent effects of hypertension and excess weight, suggesting that adjustment for hypertension is unlikely to explain the strong dose-response effect of excess weight on renal cell cancer.


Circular dichroic spectra of the cytochrome b--c1 complex exhibit bilobe formation typical of exciton splitting in the presence of uncoupler. Bilobe formation occurs if both cytochrome c1 and cytochrome b are fully reduced. The fully oxidized and ascorbate-reduced complexes are not altered dichroically by uncouplers. The exciton splitting induced by uncoupler is consistent with heme--heme interaction: specifically, interaction between the two cytochromes b in the complex.


In telling his story, Asensio, a short seller and founder of Asensio and Company, provides valuable insight into the proactive approaches of those who buy long and those who sell short.


Background: This study examined the relationships between child maternal household and gender inequality characteristics and child stunting in Kenya and Cambodia. Globally an estimated 171 million children are stunted including 167 million in low- and middle-income countries with especially high prevalence levels in Africa and Asia. Child stunting reflects chronic undernutrition which often begins before birth and is almost irreversible after the second year of life. Methods: The study analyzed data from the 2014 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS surveys) in Kenya and Cambodia for children under age 2. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were performed to find associations between the variables and child stunting. Results: The prevalence of stunting among children under age 2 in Kenya was 22% and in Cambodia 25%. Child's age perceived birth size family wealth status and region of residence were significantly associated with stunting. In both countries children from the richest households had 0.4 times lower odds of being stunted compared with those from the poorest households. In Kenya alone female children had 0.6 times lower odds of being stunted compared with male children. In Cambodia alone children from rural areas had 0.6 times lower odds of being stunted compared with those from urban areas while children whose mothers were underweight had 1.7 times higher odds of being stunted than children whose mothers were not underweight. In both countries there was general lack of a strong and significant relationship between gender inequality and child stunting. Conclusions: Children's characteristics were more important in predicting stunting than factors related to mothers households or gender. More extensive analysis of the DHS data should be done to include other aspects of gender inequality such as decisions on choice and preparation of food and purchase of household goods.


The value of research to the practice of nursing has been well documented. The difficult question today is how to establish a formal research component into the nursing division when funding sources are scarce or nonexistent. The process that one large tertiary-care hospital used to accomplish this goal is analyzed. The authors discuss design, resources, implementation, financing, and program maintenance.