Abstract Introduction: Various anomalies in the development of the great thoracic veins of the embryo can be incidentally discovered in the normal adult. Duplication of superior vena cava (SVC) is a rare abnormality, but the most common thoracic venous congenital anomaly. Case reports-methods: We present two cases in the intensive care unit of our hospital, of asymptomatic patients who underwent an uneventful central line placement in the left subclavian vein. The track of the catheter, as shown in the X-ray, was misplaced to the left of the aorta and further investigation with computed tomography angiography confirmed a persistent left SVC. In both cases the vein drained into the coronary sinus and then to the right atrium. In the second case the echocardiography revealed a dilated coronary sinus. Conclusions: Double SVC can be fortuitously discovered during catheter insertion, thoracic or cardiac imaging and surgery. In most cases it drains into the right atrium, through the coronary sinus. This entity is significant to the physician because of its importance in differential diagnosis as a cause of a widened mediastinum, as well as any difficulty that can occur in the placement of a central venous catheter or a pace maker.


Several different mutations in human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been associated with disease, but their origins and the basis of the wide phenotypic variability remain to be elucidated. We initially investigated three patients with heteroplasmic disease associated mutations of mtDNA for the presence of cis mutations in the major non-coding region that might influence their origins or pathology. A T --> C transition at nt 16 189 previously identified in one patient with the 3243 G:C mutation was associated with heteroplasmic length variation. Identical length variation was found in patient-derived cybrid lines containing 0-97.5% 3243 G:C. Similarly, heteroplasmic length variation was demonstrated in 2/6 other probands with both the 3243 mutation and the 16,189 polymorphism. The distribution of length variants in probands and in asymptomatic family members was identical in all cases. Thus length variation appears to be independent of the level of 3243 mutant mtDNA and hence probably arose within both 3243 G:C and 3243 A:T mtDNAs. We suggest that the 16,189 polymorphism reflects a predisposition to the formation or fixation of several different mutations in mitochondrial tRNA-LeuUUR.


Two key ingredients to carry out inference on the copula of multivariate observations are the empirical copula process and an appropriate resampling scheme for the latter. Among the existing techniques used for i.i.d. observations, the multiplier bootstrap of Remillard and Scaillet (2009) frequently appears to lead to inference procedures with the best finite-sample properties. Bucher and Ruppert (2013) recently proposed an extension of this technique to strictly stationary strongly mixing observations by adapting the dependent multiplier bootstrap of Buhlmann (1993, Section 3.3) to the empirical copula process. The main contribution of this work is a generalization of the multiplier resampling scheme proposed by Bucher and Ruppert (2013) along two directions. First, the resampling scheme is now genuinely sequential, thereby allowing to transpose to the strongly mixing setting all of the existing multiplier tests on the unknown copula, including nonparametric tests for change-point detection. Second, the resampling scheme is now fully automatic as a data-adaptive procedure is proposed which can be used to estimate the bandwidth (block length) parameter. A simulation study is used to investigate the nitesample performance of the resampling scheme and provides suggestions on how to choose several additional parameters. As by-products of this work, the weak convergence of the sequential empirical copula process is obtained under many serial dependence conditions, and the validity of a sequential version of the dependent multiplier bootstrap for empirical processes of Buhlmann is obtained under weaker conditions on the strong mixing coecients and the multipliers.


Due to its turn to the subjective constitution of reality, Kant's transcendental philosophy is nowadays often viewed as a paradigm case of the subject/object correlation, a position which is, as such, exposed to the objection of being unable to conceive of a non-constituted world without human beings and, as a result, of turning thought against any realism whatsoever. In departing from such a reading of Kant's transcendental philosophy, the present essay sets out from the assumption according to which it is precisely Kant's philosophy which – on the condition that we understand and present it in its orientation to systematicity, such as it is manifested in the notion of the aesthetic reflexive power of judgment in the third Critique – allows us to affirm in philosophy and elaborate further realism.


This paper presents an efficient method for the hand off mechanism in cellular networks using optimization algorithms. The proposed approach integrates a fuzzy logic approach with simulated annealing algorithm to automate the tuning process. The fuzzy controller carries out inference operation at high- speed, whereas the tuning procedure works at a much lower rate. For the implementation described in this paper, a two-input-one-output fuzzy controller is considered. Both the inputs and the output have 8- bit resolution, and up to seven membership functions for each input or output can be defined over the universe of discourse. The fuzzy controller has two levels of pipeline which allows overlapping of the arithmetic as well as inference operations. The SA tuning mechanism adjusts the triangular or singleton membership functions to minimize a cost function. The complete self-tuned fuzzy inference engine is implemented in a Xilinx SPARTAN3 XC3S200 series FPGA device. This paper describes various aspects of the implementation of the self-tuned hand off system.


Regional prograde pumpellyite actinolite facies metamorphism (Ml) has affected the Gramscatho Group sediments and volcanics structurally underlying the Lizard Complex. Metamorphism took place synchronously with the main penetrative deformation (Dl). There is no evidence of any increase in the regional gradient towards the Lizard Complex or of any local thermal overprinting. It is concluded that the Lizard Complex was emplaced in a cooled thrust sheet during Dl deformation during a regional heat flow which produced very low grade metamorphism. Temperatures of 250–350°C and a pressure of several kilobars are estimated.


ABSTRACT More-than-human approaches open up theoretical and methodological space for considering if and how all animals, human and nonhuman, play important roles in shaping relationships, actions and encounters in leisure. This paper introduces an ecological-phenomenological framework for understanding relationships between animate actors and their environment in and through leisure. The example of human riders and horses in the context of a pleasure ride leisure event is used to illustrate the application of the framework for understanding the importance of individual differences and constraints, and their interaction with the environment, in appreciating the variety of affordances and possible outcomes in leisure practices. The ecological-phenomenological framework has theoretical and methodological implications for researchers of multispecies leisure, and may have practical application for event managers and designers of multispecies leisure activities. This article is important because it transforms current appreciation of multispecies leisure and opens doors to new ways of thinking and investigating the value and meaning of leisure in a multispecies context.


A new two-dimensional model for subthreshold current in fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (SOI MOSFET) is developed. The model is based on analytical approximation of two-dimensional Poissons's equation solution, drift-diffusion current equation and accounts for the drain-induced barrier lowering and channel-length modulation in weak inversion. The model provides a convenient tool for the design of submicron SOI MOSFETs.


Publicly traded franchisors considering a merger, an acquisition, or being acquired confront significant dis? closure obligations imposed by franchise disclosure laws and securities laws at both the federal and state levels. These laws establish a panoply of requirements and prohi? bitions that must be applied on a case-by-case basis to determine: (1) what the merging/acquiring/acquired fran? chisor may disclose, must disclose, and can refrain from disclosing; (2) when such disclosures must be updated; and (3) at what stage of the negotiations such disclosure may or must be made.


This paper is a presentation made in support of the statistics profession. This field can say it has had a major impact in most major fields of study presently undertaken by man, yet it is not perceived as an important, or critical field of study. It is not a growth field either, witness the almost level number of faculty and new PhD`s produced over the past twenty years. The author argues the profession must do a better job of selling itself to the students it educates. Awaken them to the impact of statistics in their lives and their business worlds, so that they see beyond the formulae to the application of these principles.


BACKGROUND
Although the circulatory effects of cigarette smoking have been studied extensively, its impact on ventricular repolarization has not been adequately evaluated.

METHODS
The goal of our study was to determine whether cigarette smoking influences the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of ventricular repolarization in a population of young, healthy, male subjects. A digital 12-lead surface electrocardiogram was obtained from 1394 men recruited from the Hellenic Air Force and classified as smokers and nonsmokers. The maximum, minimum, and median QT intervals, QT dispersion (QT maximum - QT minimum), the rate-corrected maximum and median QT intervals, the slopes of the QT maximum/RR and QT median/RR regression equations, and the vectorcardiographic markers spatial T amplitude and spatial QRS-T angle were evaluated in the 2 groups.

RESULTS
Heart rate was significantly higher (P <.001) in smokers (n =691) compared with nonsmokers (n = 703). QT maximum, QT minimum, and QT median were significantly lower (P <.001), whereas the rate-corrected QT maximum (P =.04) and QT median (P =.06) were marginally higher in smokers than in nonsmokers. The spatial T amplitude was lower (P =.002), whereas the spatial QRS-T angle was higher (P =.01) in smokers compared with nonsmokers. Neither QT dispersion nor the slopes of the QT/RR and the spatial descriptors/RR regression equations differed between smokers and nonsmokers.

CONCLUSIONS
Ventricular repolarization is altered in young male cigarette smokers. The differences in the heterogeneity of ventricular repolarization between smokers and nonsmokers are mainly due to heart rate differences between the 2 study groups.


A new model for the critical dynamics of 4He near Tλ including heat and sound modes is introduced. The attenuation and dispersion of the first-sound mode are calculated by means of renormalized field theory. The results provide predictions without adjustable parameters in the entire experimentally accessible frequency and temperature regime and for all pressures along the λ-line. The theory agrees very well with attenuation experiments and explains the discrepancy of an earlier analysis in the high-frequency regime.


Uncertain fractional differential equation (UFDE) is a kind of differential equation about uncertain process. As an significant mathematical tool to describe the evolution process of dynamic system, UFDE is better than the ordinary differential equation with integer derivatives because of its hereditability and memorability characteristics. However, in most instances, the precise analytical solutions of UFDE is difficult to obtain due to the complex form of the UFDE itself. Up to now, there is not plenty of researches about the numerical method of UFDE, as for the existing numerical algorithms, their accuracy is also not high. In this research, derive from the interval weighting method, a class of fractional adams method is innovatively proposed to solve UFDE. Meanwhile, such fractional adams method extends the traditional predictor-corrector method to higher order cases. The stability and truncation error limit of the improved algorithm are analyzed and deduced. As the application, several numerical simulations (including $\alpha$-path, extreme value and the first hitting time of the UFDE) are provided to manifest the higher accuracy and efficiency of the proposed numerical method.


This article explores possible histories of plant exchanges and plant naming tied to the slave trade between East Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands. The subsequent 'marronnage' of slaves on these islands - their escape from captivity, sometimes to live in mountain hideouts - continues to inspire cultural references. Inspired by the use of the adjective 'marron/marronne' for a number of plants on Reunion Island, we compile evidence of plant exchanges and plant naming from ecological records, historical accounts and the use of descriptive, emotive or symbolic vernacular names as clues for deepening our knowledge of historical societies and environments. The evidence from the Mascarenes opens a window into the role of the African diaspora in plant introduction, diffusion, domestication and cultivation. We document that maroons relied on a variety of wild, escaped and cultivated plants for their subsistence. We also highlight the role of marronnage in the popular and literary imaginary, with the result that many plants are named 'marron/marrone' in a metaphorical sense. Finally, we identify a few plants that may have been transported, cultivated, or encouraged in one way or another by maroons. Along the way, we reflect on the pitfalls and opportunities of such interdisciplinary work. (Resume d'auteur)


In supramolecular assemblies, absorption of water can assist the channel formation, similarly to biological systems and Nafion-like commercial ion-selective membranes. In this work, we investigate humidity-induced formation of water channels in wedge-shaped amphiphilic molecules, namely sodium 4'-[3'',4'',5''-tris(alkyloxy)benzoyloxy]azobenzene-4-sulfonates. The studied molecules contain a polar sulfonate group at the tip and a hydrophobic periphery composed of alkyl chains of two different lengths. Upon increasing the relative humidity (RH) the amount of absorbed water significantly increases for the mesogen with dodecyl chains as compared to the one with octyl groups. In the former case, water sorption is accompanied by a considerable enhancement of ionic conductivity and a phase transition. In particular, an increase of RH induces a transition from a lamellar to a columnar phase resulting in the formation of 1D water channels running along the axis of the supramolecular columns. For the compound with shorter alkyl chains the lamellar phase exists in the entire RH-range exhibiting pronounced swelling at high RH-values and thereby forming a 2D water channel structure. NMR diffusometry was used to address the different molecular motions in the lyotropic mesophases of the studied amphiphiles.


In this paper we present a framework for the segmentation of multiple objects from a 3D point cloud. We extend traditional image segmentation techniques into a full 3D representation. The proposed technique relies on a state-of-the-art min-cut framework to perform a fully 3D global multi-class labeling in a principled manner. Thereby, we extend our previous work in which a single object was actively segmented from the background. We also examine several seeding methods to bootstrap the graphical model-based energy minimization and these methods are compared over challenging scenes. All results are generated on real-world data gathered with an active vision robotic head. We present quantitive results over aggregate sets as well as visual results on specific examples.


This article is focused on the development of new formulations of inks for printed electron transport layers based on titanium oxide. The electron transport layers were prepared from a suspension consisting of titania nanoparticles and a novel organo-silica binder. The layers are post-processed by low temperature UV curing instead of thermal annealing. The UV-cured TiO2 layers were applied in inverted-structure organic bulk heterojunction solar cells with the active layer from a PCDTBT:PC60BM blend. These devices achieved a power conversion efficiency comparable to devices with TiO2 layers prepared by the common sol–gel process relying on high-temperature calcination. Thus the novel UV curable TiO2 formulation is promising as printable electron transport layers for flexible devices, which are not compatible with thermal processing.


Purpose Given the higher precision accompanied by optimized sparing of normal tissue, charged particle therapy was thought of as a promising treatment for pancreatic cancer. However, systematic preclinical studies were scarce. We aimed to investigate the radiobiological effects of charged particle irradiation on pancreatic cancer cell lines. Methods A systematic literature search was performed in EMBASE (OVID), Medline (OVID), and Web of Science databases. Included studies were in vitro English publications that reported the radiobiological effects of charged particle irradiation on pancreatic cancer cells. Results Thirteen carbon ion irradiation and seven proton irradiation in vitro studies were included finally. Relative biological effectiveness (RBE) values of carbon ion irradiation and proton irradiation in different human pancreatic cancer cell lines ranged from 1.29 to 4.5, and 0.6 to 2.1, respectively. The mean of the surviving fraction of 2 Gy (SF2) of carbon ion, proton, and photon irradiation was 0.18 ± 0.11, 0.48 ± 0.11, and 0.57 ± 0.13, respectively. Carbon ion irradiation induced more G2/M arrest and a longer-lasting expression of γH2AX than photon irradiation. Combination therapies enhanced the therapeutic effects of pancreatic cell lines with a mean standard enhancement ratio (SER) of 1.66 ± 0.63 for carbon ion irradiation, 1.55 ± 0.27 for proton irradiation, and 1.52 ± 0.30 for photon irradiation. Carbon ion irradiation was more effective in suppressing the migration and invasion than photon irradiation, except for the PANC-1 cells. Conclusions Current in vitro evidence demonstrates that, compared with photon irradiation, carbon ion irradiation offers superior radiobiological effects in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Mechanistically, high-LET irradiation may induce complex DNA damage and ultimately promote genomic instability and cell death. Both carbon ion irradiation and proton irradiation confer similar sensitization effects in comparison with photon irradiation when combined with chemotherapy or targeted therapy.


The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of various types of coagulant on dewaterability and settleability of sewage sludge for the application of dewatering process. Cationic organic coagulants and inorganic coagulants of the aluminium base were used; PAC (Poly Aluminium chloride, Al2O3 17%) and C-210P (0.2%). After Jar test, PAC 26 mg/L and 0.2% C-210P 55 mg/L was decided as the optimum concentration of the coagulant according to zeta potential measurement. pH, alkalinity and viscosity were measured in all experiments and the data on sedimentation characteristics is analyzed by SDI, SVI sedimentation rate and solid flux. The SRF(Specific Resistance of Filtration) experiment was conducted with the result of single and dual injection system as the dewaterability experiment. As a result, the organic coagulant making large floc has good characteristics of sedimentation and agglutination. Also, it is observed that the organic coagulants injection has a better dewaterability efficiency of coagulants under the condition of the lowest SRF value, followed by dual and inorganic coagulants injection.


w11-0

As technology advances, the standards and rules for reporting data also change. In 2005, a set of guidelines for reporting proteomic data based on the mass spectrometric identification of peptides and proteins was established and subsequently adopted wholly or in part by several journals.While this set of requirements had the desired effect of focusing attention on the problems associated with most proteomic experiments, it was viewed by most people, as "a work in progress". Importantly, the initial group, who were involved in the drafting of the "Paris" guidelines, accepted several compromises so as not to overburden authors in the reporting of their results. In the spring of the past year, it was deemed time to re-examine these guidelines, and the underlying bases for selecting them, and a group of some two dozen "stakeholders", i.e. individuals with a range of expertise in this area, was convened with the view of updating them and to consider ways to make them more effective in advancing the field of proteomics. Among other changes, it was concluded that public data repositories for both processed and raw data had improved and could now serve some of the functions previously provided by journals. As this submitted information gives important support to maintain the integrity of the reported identifications and can also be further interrogated and analyzed to extend its inherent value, it is proposed to make increasing use of these data storage systems. The depositing of raw data is very much in keeping with the views of the genomics community and the reporting of next-gen sequencing results. These and other proposed changes will be discussed in this forum.


The Kraepelin concept of "mixed states" has experienced a renaissance over the last two decades. This has been caused by clinical as well as theoretically relevant factors. Of particular clinical relevance is the fact that more than 40% of all patients with bipolar disorders show at least one mixed affective episode during the course of their illness. However, the correct assessment and the precise classification of the symptoms are very important. A diagnosis according to the tight criteria of ICD-10 or DSM-IV, or perhaps based on the moderate Pisa or Cincinnati criteria, is recommended, whereas the use of broader definitions cannot be advised. Mixed schizoaffective episodes are under-diagnosed in comparison to pure affective mixed episodes, although both are defined by ICD-10 as well as by DSM-IV, and the frequency of occurrence is almost the same. Mixed schizoaffective episodes appear to be one of the most severe forms of bipolar disorders. Their clinical relevance is mainly caused by their unfavourable prognosis and difficulty in treatment. Atypical neuroleptics combined with anticonvulsives have proved to be more effective than any other psychopharmacological substances. The occurrence of mixed depressive and manic symptoms during one and the same episode is theoretically important, especially in the sense of their nosological and etiological differentiation.


A perturbative approach for large (in comparison with electron overlap and onsite disorder) long-range Coulomb interaction is developed for a 1D ring model. The explicit expression for low-lying energy levels has been obtained. It is shown that in the case of strong repulsive long-range interaction persistent current does not depend exclusively on the filling factor nu =p/q but is extremely sensitive to its denominator q. It also depends on the common factor M of electrons and sites number. In the absence of a common factor (M=1) there exists only one quasiparticle that experiences no strong Coulomb interaction, thus moving freely with bare electron overlap, which provides an unexpectedly large persistent current. For the case of an arbitrary M and a large enough q a system of M weakly interacting quasiparticles has been introduced, which undergoes a metal-insulator transition at unusually small overlap even for a filling factor close to one half. Suppression of the persistent current by disorder is taken into account. Comparison of analytically obtained expressions with the results of numerical calculations shows a reasonable agreement.


With the global expansion of the hotel industry and greater mobility of international travelers, awareness of international differences in guests' attitudes about their travel experiences is important. As a consequence, most multinational hotel chains currently invest significant resources in implementing large-scale measurement programs to track, compare, and benchmark guest satisfaction across their various international markets. They do so for two related reasons. First, most hoteliers understand that highly satisfied guests are much more likely to return to that property and spend more during future stays than guests who are indifferent or displeased.1 More important, successful hoteliers understand that simply tracking performance is not enough. What is required is using the results of tracking programs to guide day-to-day management decisions and, ultimately, long-term operational strategies.


BACKGROUND
Deaf children vary in the use of and proficiency in signed language. The majority of studies on writing skills of children who are deaf did not assess deaf children's proficiency in signed language and/or grouped together deaf children with varying sign language skills.

AIMS
Adopting a bimodal bilingual perspective, we examined evaluative expression, an important narrative tool in both oral/written languages and signed languages, in narratives written in Dutch by deaf children who are proficient in Sign Language of the Netherlands (SLN) and deaf children who are low-proficient in SLN, and hearing monolingual and bilingual children. We hypothesized that deaf children who are proficient in signed language use their knowledge of evaluative expression in signed language to enrich their narratives in written Dutch, and more so than deaf children who are low-proficient in signed language and hearing monolingual and bilingual children.

METHODS & PROCEDURES
We examined the use of eight different evaluative devices in narratives written by deaf proficiently and low-proficiently signing children, and hearing monolingual and bilingual children. Narratives were also examined for morpho-syntactic errors and use of complex sentences.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS
The results show that proficiently signing deaf children's narratives contain more evaluative devices that enrich the referential structure of the narrative than narratives of low-proficiently signing deaf children, and hearing bilingual and monolingual children.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS
We propose that proficiently signing deaf children use their knowledge of SLN to convey evaluation in their written narratives, and thus have an advantage in enriching their narratives. This study also shows that in order to gain insight into deaf people's writing, it is important to take variations in sign language proficiency into account.


Efficient COVID-19 vaccines have been developed in record time. Here, we present findings from a comprehensive and integrated analysis of multiple compartments of the memory immune response in 312 individuals vaccinated with the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine. Two vaccine doses induced high antibody and T cell responses in most individuals. However, antibody recognition of the Spike protein of delta variant was less efficient than that of the Wuhan strain. Age stratified analyses identified a group of low antibody responders where individuals ≥ 60 years were overrepresented. Waning of the antibody and cellular responses was observed in 30% of the vaccinees after six months. However, age did not influence the waning of these responses. Taken together, while individuals ≥ 60 years old took longer to acquire vaccine-induced immunity, they develop more sustained acquired immunity at six months post-vaccination. However, the higher proportion of older individuals in the group of antibody low responders and the lower antibody reactivity the Delta variant call for a booster immunization to increase immune responses and protection.


While most analyses of economic impacts of population growth have been equivocal, this article describes a new perspective from which the effects are strongly negative. The economies and diseconomies of population size are largely circumstantial and empirically inconsistent, but those of growth rate are intrinsic and consistent. These impacts are not apparent on income and per capita GDP, but on costs. The article estimates these costs using the logic of calculus rather than marginal accounting. Specifically, the cost of maintaining per capita capacity of durable assets, including infrastructure, equipment and skilled personnel, is increased by population growth by a factor proportional to the working lifespan of the asset class.


This article explores whether payment issues or presence of dowry demand in marriage reflecting patriarchal attitude of marital family underlies the positive relationship between dowry and wife abuse using a sample of reproductive-age women (N = 2,702) from a population-based survey conducted in urban and rural Bangladesh in 2001. Regression results show that absence of dowry demand in marriage lowered the likelihood of physical wife abuse in the rural site and its frequency and severity in both sites compared with marriages where dowry was demanded and fully paid. The results suggest that in general, dowry demand predicts the extent, frequency, and severity of physical wife abuse regardless of the status of dowry payment. No payment of dowry increased the likelihood of abuse, its frequency, and severity in households demanding dowry. The direction of association between partial payment of dowry and violence, however, was different in different sites, calling for further research.


Aim and Objectives: The present study was to assess the anxiolytic effect of nerolidol in mice. Materials and Methods: The anxiolytic activity was examined using the elevated plus maze (EPM) and open field test (OFT), and motor coordination by rotarod test. Thirty Swiss albino mice were divided into five groups of six mice each. Group 1 received vehicle control (normal saline); Group 2 received diazepam (1 mg/kg); Groups 3, 4, and 5 received nerolidol 12.5, 25, and 50 mg/kg, respectively. Results: Nerolidol (12.5, 25, and 50 mg/kg) significantly (P < 0.05) increased the time spent and a number of entries in open arm as compared to vehicle control in EPM test. In OFT, the nerolidol showed a significant (P < 0.05) increase in number of rearings and time spent in center and periphery, suggesting exploratory behavior of animals. Furthermore, nerolidol did not alter the fall down latency in rotarod test. Conclusion: Our findings indicated that nerolidol exerts an anxiolytic effect without altering the motor coordination.


Lecythis pisonis Cambess is commonly known as "sapucaia" nut. Previous studies show that it is rich in unsaturated fatty acids and in antioxidant minerals. The aim of the present study was to assess the antioxidant and anti-inflamatory effects of this nut after its introduction into a control (AIN-93G) or high-fat diet in Wistar rats. The animals were divided into four groups: a control diet, the same control diet supplemented with sapucaia nuts, a high-fat diet or the high-fat diet supplemented with sapucaia nuts and were fed with these diets for 14 or 28 days. The gene expression of the markers tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α NFκB (p65) zinc superoxide dismutase (ZnSOD) and heat shock protein 72 (HSP72) was determined by the chain reaction to the quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR). The antioxidant activity was also measured as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) through the activity of the SOD enzyme. The groups treated with "sapucaia" nuts presented reduced lipid peroxidation values and increased ZnSOD and HSP72 gene expression, as well as decreased TNF-α and NFκB (p65) gene expression levels. The significant results showed that "sapucaia" could serve as a potential source of antioxidants and as a protector agent for the examined animals.

 Key words: Sapucaia nuts, inflammation, oxidative stress, gene expression.


Quorum sensing refers to the change in the cooperative behavior of a collection of elements in response to the change in their population size or density. This behavior can be observed in chemical and biological systems. These elements or cells are coupled via chemicals in the surrounding environment. Here we focus on the change of dynamical behavior, in particular from quiescent to oscillatory, as the cell population changes. For instance, the silent behavior of the elements can become oscillatory as the system concentration or population increases. In this work, two simple models are constructed that can produce the essential representative properties in quorum sensing. The first is an excitable or oscillatory phase model, which is probably the simplest model one can construct to describe quorum sensing. Using the mean-field approximation, the parameter regime for quorum sensing behavior can be identified, and analytical results for the detailed dynamical properties, including the phase diagrams, are obtained and verified numerically. The second model consists of FitzHugh-Nagumo elements coupled to the signaling chemicals in the environment. Nonlinear dynamical analysis of this mean-field model exhibits rich dynamical behaviors, such as infinite period bifurcation, supercritical Hopf, fold bifurcation, and subcritical Hopf bifurcations as the population parameter changes for different coupling strengths. Analytical result is obtained for the Hopf bifurcation phase boundary. Furthermore, two elements coupled via the environment and their synchronization behavior for these two models are also investigated. For both models, it is found that the onset of oscillations is accompanied by the synchronized dynamics of the two elements. Possible applications and extension of these models are also discussed.


Trichoderma species are the fungi that are present in nearly all soils and other diverse habitats. Trichoderma are common and are relatively easy to isolate and culture. In addition, isolates grow quickly on many substrates, produce metabolites with demonstrable antibiotic activity, and may be mycoparasitic against a wide range of pathogens (Grondona et al., 1997). Among Trichoderma genera Trichoderma harzianum is both plant growth promoter as well as antagonist against many pathogenic fungi. An effort was made to isolate ten isolates of Trichoderma harzianum from soil samples collected from different agroclimatic zones of Karnataka. A total of ten Trichoderma isolates representing each agroclimatic zone was isolated using Potato dextrose agar medium and purified. The fungal isolates were subjected to morphological tests and characterized as listed in The Manual of Soil Fungi (Gilman, 1961). Colony morphology and microscopic observation confirmed that all isolates belonging to the Trichoderma harzianum. Molecular diversity of ten isolates of Trichoderma harzianum was characterized by using SDSPAGE and RAPD markers. The data on the protein banding patterns of Trichoderma harzianum isolates were presented based on relative mobility value (Rm), squared euclidean distances and intensity of the bands. In RAPD a total of 125 bands were scored out of which 100 bands were found to be polymorphic (80%). Statistical analysis of both SDS-PAGE and RAPD data enabled the classification of 10 T.harzianum isolates in to two major groups. Thus SDS-PAGE and RAPD banding pattern of these isolates could easily distinguish the isolates of different zones.


The photodiode intrinsic conductance is a versatile parameter for designing photoreceivers used in lightwave-microwave systems. A short review is given on how the transimpedance and equivalent input noise current of an optical receiver can be calculated. The design of monolithically integrated narrow-band photoreceivers for microwave-via-fiber applications at 10 GHz is demonstrated. The photoreceivers were fabricated using GaAs-based pseudomorphic high electron-mobility transistor monolithically integrated with metamorphic InGaAs photodiodes. For such a photoreceiver, a very low equivalent input noise current of 5.7 pA per square-root hertz and a high optoelectronic conversion gain of 64.1 dBV/W were measured in good agreement with simulations.


ABSTRACT Several types of seeds have been initially used in the food industry due to the great potential that vegetable proteins have. Baru is a fruit commonly found in the Cerrado biome, having a high nutritional value. This paper aimed to determine and analyze the drying kinetics of whole and defatted baru almond flours at different temperatures. The flour resulting from almond milling was defatted using petroleum ether. The drying processes were performed at temperatures of 40, 50 and 60 ºC. The mathematical models of Page, Henderson and Pabis, Midilli & Kucuk, Thompson and Approximation of Diffusion were fitted to the experimental data. The results showed a noticeable effect of air temperature on the drying kinetics of whole and defatted baru almond flours. According to the statistical parameters of analysis, the models Midilli & Kucuk and Page were the ones with the best fits to the experimental data. The effective diffusivity values found ranged from 8.02 × 10–10 to 19.90 × 10–10 m2 s-1 and for the activation energy were 22.39 and 39.37 KJ mol-1 for whole and defatted almonds, respectively.


CHALLENGES Abstract The widespread adoption of digital communication has led to the evolution of human society into a digital and multimodal era. As genres are constructed to address the problems existing in reality, they tend to absorb the digital and multimodal elements and are developing into new forms and functions. In consideration of these developments, genre scholars have devised theoretical and methodological toolkits that might respond to reality. However, these newly formulated insights are dispersed among various studies which warrant a comprehensive review for the future scholars to refer to. In this context, the present article surveys a wide range of studies available in the literature and identifies three major developments in the genre analysis, namely, digital genre analysis, multimodal genre analysis, and genre innovation. In addition to these developments, it has been observed that in the digital era, the genre analysts are confronted with epistemological, methodological, and ethical issues. In consideration of these issues, the present report discusses the possible solutions that the analysts may consider while researching digital-multimodal genres. The developments and challenges identified in the present review reveal the social dimension of genre, and imply the necessity of viewing genre as a socially-oriented, dynamic, communicative phenomenon that corresponds to the continually evolving social Public comment sentiment on educational videos: Understanding the effects of presenter gender, video format, threading, and moderation on YouTube TED talk comments.


________________________________________________________________________________________ GREGURIĆ GRAČNER, G., N. ŠEMIGA, M. OSTOVIĆ, A. EKERT KABALIN, K. MATKOVIĆ, Ž. PAVIČIĆ: The effect of environmental enrichment objects on weight gain in weaned pigs. Vet. arhiv 83, 333-339, 2013. ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to assess the effect of environmental enrichment objects on weight gain in weaned pigs. The study was carried out at two identical pig breeding farm weaner units during 60-day weaning period and included a total of 208 Topigs hybrid weaned pigs. The weaners were assigned to one of 5 treatments, i.e. control (n = 52) and 4 experimental treatments enriched with a car tyre on the fl oor, a hanging ball, a ball on the fl oor and a hanging chain, respectively (n = 39 each). The weaner body mass was determined on days 0, 30 and 60 post-weaning. Study results showed the weight gain to be signifi cantly greater (P<0.05) in the experimental group with their environment enriched with a tyre as compared with either group with ball enrichment in the fi rst half of the weaning period. During the same period, a signifi cantly higher weight gain (P<0.05) was also recorded in the experimental group with their environment enriched with a hanging chain, as compared with the group enriched with a ball on the fl oor. Weight gain in the second half of the weaning period and total weight gain recorded from day 0 to day 60 was signifi cantly lower (P<0.05) in the control group as well as in the groups enriched with a tyre or chain, as compared with both groups enriched with a ball. Accordingly, the effect of environmental enrichment with particular objects on weight gain in weaners depends on weaner age and type of objects, whereby ball as an enrichment object may prove effective in weight gain improvement.


The research is focused on the funeral solemnities of the Radvila (Radziwill) family, including those to which no proper attention has been paid so far in historiography. Attempts are made to reconstruct and evaluate the visuality of the Radvila's funeral and compare it to the tradition of other nobility solemnities in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
 The scenery of the Radvila solemnities changed according to the course and spatial context of the rituals. The most of attention was paid to arrangement of a solemn view in Nesvizh and its approaches. Emblems and other images were applied mostly in church interiors and catafalques. Heraldic motives, insignia were extensively applied, metaphoric and metonymic motives were integrated. Catafalque compositions resounded the virtues of the deceased, expressed their eminent background and status.
 After studying the cases of funeral solemnities of the Radvila family, it can be stated that elements of military visualization were more important than it had been witnessed by earlier research. Such often applied military requisites expressed a connection to the nobility ethos of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a cultural image of a nobleman-warrior. The importance of the family memory motives in the funeral decor was also noticed. Although images related to a deceased person were used in the decor of solemnity, the general scope of the motives and their application principles reiterated and were in line with the visual rhetoric tradition of funerals in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
 Although a lot of attention was paid to listing of the decor motives in funeral descriptions, not only their recognisability was considered important. The funeral rhetoric foresaw some visual experience for the viewer, which changed continuously while conducting funeral rituals. The authors of solemnity descriptions noticed and sometimes commented on effects of illumination, shapes and their spatial relations. Dynamic observation, change of a viewer's position, focused viewing of separate details and the so-called saccadic viewing were foreseen for solemn events. In summary, it can be stated that the research of the Radvila family solemnities revealed the suggestibility of the Baroque culture that was based on a viewer's visual experience.


The EU Geocapacity Project aims to obtain an estimation of the potential capacity of CO2 storage in deep saline aquifers, depleted hydrocarbon fields and coal beds in Europe. Prior to this project, the availability of data to calculate the storage capacity differed very much in each country. Some of them have already provided estimations for CO2 storage capacities in the framework of previous projects (e.g. GESTCO (FP5) and CASTOR (FP6)), while other countries have not been evaluated at all. Therefore, an important part of the work performed in the frame of the GeoCapacity project has been to homogenise estimation methodologies and reliability of data. Emphasis has been placed on the study of saline aquifers, as this type of geological formation, was until now, the less studied and most poorly understood compared to the depleted oil and gas fields. The work activities were organized in geographical groups to make them easier to manage. The Group South is composed of four Mediterranean countries: Spain, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia plus Bosnia Herzegovina. Specific methodologies were adopted in order to achieve different goals: • Creation of maps of regional storage potential • Collection of geological information of storage sites • Estimation of storage capacities • Elaboration of databases to be inserted into GIS • Detailed analysis of case studies and scenarios for economic evaluation • Integration of the storage capacity data with emission sources and pipeline infrastructure Each of the countries belonging to Group South worked and continue to work in order to achieve such goals, despite of their different geological settings. The initial phase of such analyses included mapping of regional aquifers and locations of possible storages and seals described using data from hydrocarbon or water exploration, represented by borehole data and seismic surveys. Later on, structures contained in these aquifers were studied and Energy Procedia 1 (2009) 2733–2740 www.elsevier.com/l cate/procedia doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2009.02.043 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2008) 000–000 CO2 storage capacity estimated with a higher precision. The two most promising or best defined structures in every country have been selected for a more detailed study. As a result of this project, it can be observed that CCS can play an important role in Mediterranean countries, as part of their strategy to mitigate GHG emission. Storage efficiency factor determination is the key issue, and also further exploration for new data.


Is the traditional logic by which violent conflict fosters long-run political development universal? To help address this question, this article compares Europe with China. While historical warfare was very common across both units, representative government flourished only in Europe. We suggest that the relationship between violent conflict and political development depends on the underlying political geography context. In Europe, political fragmentation was rampant. Thus, conflict tended to be external (i.e., interstate), and attack threats were multidirectional. Furthermore, exit ability was high in this context. Elites were therefore in a strong bargaining position to demand political representation in return for new tax revenue. China, by contrast, was politically centralized. Here, conflict tended to be internal, attack threats were unidirectional, and exit ability was low. The emperor was thus powerful enough to extract tax funds without surrendering political control. In this context, violent conf...


Due to decreasing supplies of fossil fuels and increasing environmental pollution, the introduction of a more fuel efficient electrical power system in aircraft applications is necessary. One possibility to improve the efficiency is to run the auxiliary power unit (APU), which provides electric energy on airplanes, with an efficient proton exchange membrane fuel cell system (PEMFC). The hydrogen for this concept can be provided by partial catalytic dehydrogenation (PCD) of Jet fuel stored onboard. The difference of this alternative thermochemical catalytic process to the more common reforming process is that no water is needed as a reaction partner. Therefore, no CO is generated, which would poison the catalyst in PEMFC. Other than gaseous hydrocarbons, no gaseous side products are expected. Beyond that, a high hydrogen purity of 98 vol.-% can be achieved. The partial conversion of jet fuel of about 10 to 15 % allows further use of the converted fuel in combustion processes on board. Since the composition of kerosene is very diverse, suitable reaction conditions for a process concept of the PCD of kerosene Jet A-1 have to be defined and the efficiency of the process has to be evaluated.
In this thesis, two different process concepts for PCD of jet fuel are developed and their efficiency is evaluated by process simulation. One process concept is designed to run with regular kerosene Jet A-1, which involves a desulfurization step of the jet fuel before the PCD to reduce catalyst deactivation by sulfur poisoning. Since the sulfur containing components in Jet A-1 are found in the higher boiling range of kerosene, the desulfurization is accomplished by thermal distillation of desulfurized Jet A-1 fractions by rectification. The second concept is designed to run with desulfurized kerosene which differs in its chemical composition from regular Jet A-1.
The first part of this thesis deals with the experimental characterization of the fuels. As the hydrogen yield, conversion of the fuel and product compositions highly depend on the composition of the hydrocarbon groups in kerosene, the detailed chemical composition of kerosene Jet A-1 was investigated and model components have been defined. These model components represent the hydrocarbon groups in the Jet fuel and they can be used for the design of model mixtures to experimentally investigate hydrogen yield, product composition, conversion rates, stability of the catalytic reaction and the reaction conditions. The catalyst used for the experimental investigation is platinum with tin on an aluminum oxide carrier.
The experimental results using the model components show, that the hydrocarbon group of cycloalkanes leads to high hydrogen yield and stable reaction conditions. On the other hand, n-alkanes lead to catalyst deactivation by carbon formation on the catalyst surface and side reactions, thus causing a decline of hydrogen purity of the product gas by evolution of gaseous hydrocarbons. In a next step, the previously defined reaction conditions from the model mixture tests are applied to real kerosene. Due to the content of long chain hydrocarbons of up to 22 carbon atoms causing catalyst deactivation by carbon formation, the stability of this reaction is strongly reduced in comparison to the model mixtures. So far, a more suitable catalyst for more stable process conditions does not yet exist.
In the second part of the thesis, the experimental results of the model components and model mixture are used for modelling the two process concepts for PCD in the process simulation. To achieve the highest possible system efficiency, a heat and material integration of the two process concepts is accomplished within the process simulation. For the definition of the system efficiency, the hydrogen yield is a key figure since it is the output of the process. The electric efficiency of both process concepts includes system losses of the fuel cell and product gas conditioning. With the experimentally investigated hydrogen yields of the model mixtures, a system efficiency for the process concept, including the desulfurization of the Jet fuel, of 17% is achieved. The process concept working with desulfurized Jet fuel has no additional energy demand for the desulfurization and achieves for system efficiency a value of 20.7%.
To compete with a regular gas turbine APU, with average efficiency of 15 to 18%, the fuel cell APU system provided with hydrogen from PCD of kerosene has to be advanced to higher hydrogen yield. This could be accomplished by the development of design fuels for aircraft applications which suit PCD conditions and catalyst development. The results in this work can provide the boundary conditions for these investigations.


This two-study report investigates the equivalence of the Dutch Therapist Adherence Measure Revised (TAM-R) to the US original. The TAM-R is a questionnaire measuring therapist adherence to the treatment model of Multisystemic Therapy (MST). Monitoring of therapist adherence is essential for evidence-based interventions to ensure the quality of the delivered treatment. International implementation of the TAM-R assumes cross-national equivalence, even though this assumption has never been investigated. In study 1 Rasch analysis was applied to 1,875 Dutch TAM-R reports and the response category frequency distributions of the items of 1,875 US TAM-R reports. Response frequencies were more heavily skewed in the US compared to the Netherlands and several items showed Differential Item Functioning (DIF). Study 2 investigated whether adaptations to the translation of the items and response categories could improve equivalence. For this purpose, 237 families were randomly allocated to 1 of 3 versions (original TAM-R, adapted items only, adapted items and response categories) and the analyses from study 1 were replicated. Results indicated that equivalence was not improved by the adapted translations. The article concludes with a discussion of several potential other sources of bias, such as differences in sample characteristics, implementation of MST, and response styles.


The corrosion inhibition of mild steel by ethanol extract of Piper guinensis (EEPG) has been studied using gravimetric, gasometric and thermometric methods. The results of the study reveals that the different concentrations of ethanol extract of Piper guinensis (EEPG) inhibit mild steel corrosion. Inhibition efficiency of the extract is found to vary with concentration, temperature and period of immersion. Values of activation energy of the inhibited corrosion reaction of mild steel are greater than the value obtained for the blank. Thermodynamic consideration reveals that adsorption of P. guinensis extract (EEPG) on mild steel surface is spontaneous and occurs according to Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Physical adsorption mechanism has been proposed for the adsorption of the inhibitor from the trend of the inhibition efficiency with temperature and the values of some kinetic and thermodynamic parameters obtained.


The propagation of a 1.8‐MV 80‐kA power pulse in a 10‐m‐long 41.6‐Ω impedance coaxial vacuum transmission line has been investigated experimentally. The onset of magnetic insulation has been correlated to attainment of the critical current. Measurements of boundary (cathode) current suggest that 50–60% of the current flows in space charge in the axial direction between the conductors. The pulse sharpens as it propagates and attains a stationary shape. Pulse rise times of 4 ns were observed. Propagation velocities equal to 0.7c have been measured. Power and energy transports as high as 90 and 70% have been observed. The peak power density in the transmission line was 2×109 W cm−2.


This note seeks to sharpen our understanding of co-ordination and its significance in healthcare management by offering a picture of an activity where information incentives and the mixing of various (professional and other) cultures are key. The research design was policy driven and concentrated on incentives decision-making and information gathering/ dissemination activities particularly between individuals working across different types of organizations. Data are drawn from 40 primary interviews with mostly senior staff from organizations in two countries USA and Thailand internal and external corporate documents over 1000 items from a Reuters database of news items newspaper articles and press releases as well as secondary academic articles. The interviews which lasted from between 20 min to more than 3 h over two visits constitute the main source of evidence for the issues discussed below. (excerpt)


This paper introduces and assesses novel strategies to schedule firm semi-periodic real-time tasks. Jobs are released periodically and have the same relative deadline. Job execution times obey an arbitrary probability distribution and can take either bounded or unbounded values. We investigate several optimization criteria, the most prominent being the Deadline Miss Ratio (DMR). All previous work uses some admission policies but never interrupt the execution of an admitted job before its deadline. On the contrary, we introduce three new control parameters to dynamically decide whether to interrupt a job at any given time. We derive a Markov model and use its stationary distribution to determine the best value of each control parameter. Finally we conduct an extensive simulation campaign with 16 different probability distributions. The results nicely demonstrate how the new strategies help improve system performance compared with traditional approaches. In particular, we show that (i) compared to pre-execution admission rules, the control parameters make significantly better decisions; (ii) specifically, the key control parameter is to upper bound the waiting time of each job; (iii) the best scheduling strategy decreases the DMR by up to 0.35 over traditional competitors.


INTRODUCTION
Acute intestinal obstruction due to congenital defects in the mesentery of the small bowel are quite uncommon. The most frequent location of the defect is the mesentery of the terminal ileum.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Five cases of small bowel obstruction caused by congenital transmesenteric hernia was reviewed.

RESULTS
Four were male and all patients had an intestinal obstructive disease, small bowel gangrene and peritonitis. Two patients died.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Diagnosis is difficult and most cases recorded until today are incidental findings on laparotomy and surgical treatment is mandatory.


The aim of this paper is to describe a new automatic method for compensation of metal-implant-induced segmentation errors in MR-based attenuation maps (MRMaps) and to evaluate the quantitative influence of those artifacts on the reconstructed PET activity concentration. The developed method uses a PET-based delineation of the patient contour to compensate metal-implant-caused signal voids in the MR scan that is segmented for PET attenuation correction. PET emission data of 13 patients with metal implants examined in a Philips Ingenuity PET/MR were reconstructed with the vendor-provided method for attenuation correction (MRMaporig, PETorig) and additionally with a method for attenuation correction (MRMapcor, PETcor) developed by our group. MRMaps produced by both methods were visually inspected for segmentation errors. The segmentation errors in MRMaporig were classified into four classes (L1 and L2 artifacts inside the lung and B1 and B2 artifacts inside the remaining body depending on the assigned attenuation coefficients). The average relative SUV differences (ϵ rel av ?>) between PETorig and PETcor of all regions showing wrong attenuation coefficients in MRMaporig were calculated. Additionally, relative SUVmean differences (εrel) of tracer accumulations in hot focal structures inside or in the vicinity of these regions were evaluated. MRMaporig showed erroneous attenuation coefficients inside the regions affected by metal artifacts and inside the patients' lung in all 13 cases. In MRMapcor, all regions with metal artifacts, except for the sternum, were filled with the soft-tissue attenuation coefficient and the lung was correctly segmented in all patients. MRMapcor only showed small residual segmentation errors in eight patients. ϵ rel av ?> (mean ± standard deviation) were: ( − 56 ± 3)% for B1, ( − 43 ± 4)% for B2, (21 ± 18)% for L1, (120 ± 47)% for L2 regions. εrel (mean ± standard deviation) of hot focal structures were: ( − 52 ± 12)% in B1, ( − 45 ± 13)% in B2, (19 ± 19)% in L1, (51 ± 31)% in L2 regions. Consequently, metal-implant-induced artifacts severely disturb MR-based attenuation correction and SUV quantification in PET/MR. The developed algorithm is able to compensate for these artifacts and improves SUV quantification accuracy distinctly.


Many robots utilize commercial force/torque sensors to identify physical properties of a priori unknown objects. However, such sensors can be difficult to apply to smallersized robots due to their weight, size, and high-cost. In this paper, we propose a framework for smaller-sized humanoid robots to estimate the inertial properties of unknown objects without using force/torque sensors. In our framework, a neural network is designed and trained to predict joint torque outputs. The neural network's inputs are robot's joint angle, steadystate joint error, and motor current. All of these can be easily obtained from many existing smaller-sized robots. As the joint rotation direction is taken into account, the neural network can be trained with a smaller sample size, but still maintains accurate torque estimation capability. Eventually, the inertial properties of the objects are identified using a nonlinear optimization method. Our proposed framework has been demonstrated on a NAO humanoid robot.


Gary McGraw interviews Richard A. Clarke. Clarke is an internationally recognized expert on national security, counter terrorism, and cybersecurity. He's an on-air consultant for ABC news and teaches at the Kennedy School of Government. Clarke served for 11 consecutive years in the White House for three different presidents, including a stint as special advisor to the president for cybersecurity. Before his work in the White House, he worked in the Pentagon, the intelligence community, and the State Department. He's the author of a number of books, including Against All Enemies and his new book Cyber War (which is orange). Hear the full podcast or watch the videocast of the interview at www.computer.org/security/podcasts/ or www.cigital.com/silverbullet/. The Web extra is a full transcript of the interview.


CROMT production of Stefano Gervasoni's Pas si, Paris November 12 2008, and Sussex University February 27 2009.

CROMT's production of Pas si was shown at the 4th symposium of the Dramaturgie Musicale Contemporaine en Europe project, held in Paris in November 2008. Stefano Gervasoni's short music-theatre work (1998/revised 2008), is based on a non-theatrical text by Samuel Beckett from his collection entitled Mirlitonnades of 1978, and is described by the composer as "Teatrino ambulante" for accordionist and two singers.

The piece will be directed by Nick Till, and will be presented in association with Electric Voice Theatre (Frances M. Lynch and Margaret Cameron), with accordionist Ksenija Siderova, projections by Lorna Heavey and costumes by Tina Waugh.

The production will be shown at the "Beckett and Music" symposum at the University of Sussex, February 26th and 27th 2009.


The Ocean atmospheric interaction such as El Nino and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and LaNina and Southern Oscillation (LNSO) plays an important role in monsoon performance and in turn it affects the agro climatic potentialities. The present investigation addresses the impact of the ENSO and LNSO in the periods 1951-1980, 1981-1990 and 1992-1998 on the agro climatic potentialities such as precipitation, potential and actual evapotranspiration, surplus, indices such as moisture, humid and aridity, moisture adequacy, soil wetness of India and selected stations from the climate spectrum of India in different seasons in dry and wet years along with ENSO and LNSO situations on a mean weekly basis. The climate status of All India enriched to fourth humid (B4) and third humid (B3) status during the monsoon seasons of the study periods 1981-1990 and 1992-1998 respectively. During the retrieval of the monsoon All India climate status depleted to moist sub humid (C2) in the years 1992-1998. In the cold weather season of 1992-1998 the climate status depleted to dry sub humid (C1) and experienced aridity in the years 1981-1991. All India climate status enriched to semi aridity (D) during the hot weather season of 1992-1998 compared to the normal status of the same season.


Previous studies of the nerve terminal protein NT75 in the developing spinal cord have suggested an association between the appearance of NT75 immunoreactivity and the process of synaptogenesis. To examine the time course of NT75 expression further, the current study. Compared the localization of NT75 and the synaptic vesicle protein synaptophysin in the adult and developing rat cerebellum and in cerebellar tissue cultures. In the adult cerebellum, dense NT75 staining is confined to the molecular layer, where it is associated with parallel fiber endings of cerebellar granule cells. During development, NT75 immunoreactivity is first detectable in the cerebellar cortex as a dense band of staining in the deepest portion of the molecular layer at postnatal day 10. The stained zone expands to occupy a progressively greater portion of the molecular layer until about postnatal day 20. Synaptophysin staining occurs in granule cell processes earlier than NT75 and is found throughout the molecular layer by postnatal day 7. Quantitatively, rapid increases in both NT75 and synaptophysin occur in the first three postnatal weeks, with NT75 activity reaching levels exceeding the adult value by 50% over postnatal days 20 through 30, whereas synaptophysin plateaus at near adult levels by postnatal day 20. In cerebellar cultures, NT75 staining in neurites develops over several days, increasing coincidentally with development of synaptic contacts, whereas synaptophysin staining is already present in most neurites after only 1 day in vitro. The results indicate that NT75 expression in developing cerebellar granule cell nerve terminals is closely associated with the appearance of mature nerve terminals, suggesting that the protein may have a role in the formation/stabilization of the synaptic ending or in the mechanisms of synaptic transmission.


Veronese's Cycle of Love in the National Gallery, London primarily depicts the progress of courtship through vicissitudes common in the Petrarchan tradition (illustrated in the first three paintings) to a successful outcome in marriage (celebrated in the fourth). Veronese's subject matter and narrative imagery are analogous to topoi and coventions of love and courtship in Renaissance amatory poetry, music, and epithalamia. He portrays such poetic topoi as 1) Love guiding an awe-struck suitor to view his sleeping mistress, 2) love's possessiveness, 3) the disdainful Petrarchan mistress who directs Cupid to inflict torture upon her passionate admirer, and 4) Fortuna Conjugalis bestowing a crown of bounty and glory on the married couple.


Proficiency testing programs (PTPs) play an important role in maintaining the quality of data produced in a laboratory. PTPs are a useful statistical quality assurance (SQA) tools to monitor the strengths and weaknesses of a laboratory's performance. Many laboratory accreditation agencies require laboratory participation in such programs. Two significant PTPs sponsored by American Society for Testing and Materials Committee D02 on Petroleum Products and Lubricants have been the programs on biodiesel and fuel-ethanol that were launched in the past few years. The data obtained from these SQA programs will be presented and analyzed for the lessons learned and the changes that are necessary in these PTP programs and biofuels specifications.


Abstract I investigated the perch characteristics for "type I" singing (the song type used for mate attraction) by ten territorial male Golden-winged Warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) in a mountain wetland in North Carolina. Males selected >75% of perches in the upper quarter of canopy trees. Song perches were located in trees larger and closer to forested edges and water than expected by chance. However, not all birds displayed an affinity for water, likely reflecting the uneven distribution of water across the study site. This study suggests that Golden-winged Warblers choose perches that enhance their ability to display vocally and visually to attract a mate. It also indicates that in this mountain wetland, water is an important attribute of Golden-winged Warbler territories.


A suitable animal model is essential in understanding a condition caused by microorganisms. In this study in order to study the changes in haemorrahgic septicaemia caused by Pasteurella multocida serotype B, Sprague-Dawley (SK/WDY) rats were immuosuppressed with dexamethasone and challenged with P.multocida serotype B:2. The animals were monitored/inspected twice daily. Any changes in behaviour, movement, eating and development of any signs and symptoms were recorded. Immune-suppressed rats showed signs of haemorrahge and lesion in the lungs.


Invasive and non-invasive strains of Chlamydia psittaci isolated from faeces of clinically healthy ewes and from vaginal swabs of ewes which had aborted were injected intravenously or intradermally into pregnant ewes. The results were studied by recording the ewes' thermal and serological responses, lambing performance and the excretion of chlamydia from the vagina. The differences between the effects of different invasive strains were greater after intradermal inoculation than after intravenous inoculation. After intradermal inoculation non-invasive strains did not disturb pregnancy (11 of 13 ewes lambed normally) whereas invasive strains induced abortion in 23 of 25 ewes, 24 of which excreted chlamydia in vaginal secretions.


There are numerous possibilities for specific antiinflammatory therapy of psoriasis. One option is the use of calcineurin inhibitors. To date, only systemic administration of cyclosporine A is approved for this indication. Nonetheless cyclosporine A, tacrolimus and pimecrolimus can all be classed as effective anti-inflammatory agents for the therapy of psoriasis. Unfortunately, the vehicles currently available do not insure adequate topical delivery of these substances. Clinical efficacy of the preparations can be proven only when additional penetration-promoting measures are used or penetration-facilitating conditions exist. The entire group can be expected to play a greater role in the topical therapy of psoriasis if advances in vehicles and delivery systems are made.


Copy-move forgery is a manipulation of copying and pasting specific patches from and to an image, with potentially illegal or unethical uses. Recent advances in the forensic methods for copy-move forgery have shown increasing success in detection accuracy and robustness. However, for images with high self-similarity or strong signal corruption, the existing algorithms often exhibit inefficient processes and unreliable results. This is mainly due to the inherent semantic gap between low-level visual representation and high-level semantic concept. In this paper, we present a very first study of trying to mitigate the semantic gap problem in copy-move forgery detection, with spatial pooling of local moment invariants for midlevel image representation. Our detection method expands the traditional works on two aspects: 1) we introduce the bag-of-visual-words model into this field for the first time, may meaning a new perspective of forensic study; 2) we propose a word-to-phrase feature description and matching pipeline, covering the spatial structure and visual saliency information of digital images. Extensive experimental results show the superior performance of our framework over state-of-the-art algorithms in overcoming the related problems caused by the semantic gap.


In this paper, a simulation-based optimization methodology for nanoscale complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) device fabrication is advanced. Fluctuation of electrical characteristics is simultaneously considered and minimized in the optimization procedure. Integration of device and process simulation is implemented to evaluate device performances, where the hybrid intelligent approach enables us to extract optimal recipes which are subject to targeted device specification. Production of CMOS devices now enters the technology node of 65 nm; therefore, random-dopant-induced characteristic fluctuation should be minimized when a set of fabrication parameters is suggested. Verification of the optimization methodology is tested and performed for the 65-nm CMOS device. Compared with realistic fabricated and measured data, this approach can achieve the device characteristics; e.g., for the explored 65-nm n-type MOS field effect transistor, the on-state current > 0.35 mA/mum, the off-state current < 1.5e - 11 A/mum, and the threshold voltage = 0.43 V. Meanwhile, it reduces the threshold voltage fluctuation (sigmavth ~ 0.017 V). This approach provides an alternative to accelerate the tuning of process parameters and benefits manufacturing of nanoscale CMOS devices.


PurposeState funding is being reduced for higher education institutes (HEIs) is linked to several checks such as performance-based incentives (Hagood, 2019). This forces HEIs to look for other options for funding. Endowment funds are now becoming the main source of revenue for HEIs (Sörlin, 2007), largely provided by alumni. Thus, this study aims to examine the factors that lead to donor behavior in terms of university endowment funds.Design/methodology/approachBased on a sample of 627 participants in the survey from public universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and 625 from public/private universities of the United States of America (USA), the authors conducted a cross-sectional survey-based analysis. Hypotheses were tested with regression analysis.FindingsThe results revealed that in the USA, donors with substantial prestige within the institution are more likely to contribute to the endowment fund; however, in the KSA, this relationship was insignificant. Additionally, this study found that participation, brand interpretation and satisfaction positively impact identification with an organization, leading to donor behavior.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has successfully identified psychological factors for endowment funding; however, mediating or moderating variables affecting donor behavior should also be considered. Further, this study considers only two countries, the KSA and the USA; therefore, a larger cross-cultural context warrants more investigation.Practical implicationsOverall results revealed several means through which the administrators and practitioners may efficiently manage and increase university endowment funds flow. This study's novelty is to conduct a cross-national investigation and identify the psychological factors of donation behavior toward university endowment funds, providing an opportunity for HEIs to understand the psychological factors in detail and motivate their alumni to be one of the important sources of funding even in developing countries.Originality/valueMany psychological factors underlie alumni's engagement in volunteerism and donation activities, especially in cross-national settings. Following social identity theory, this study explored identity-based donor behavior in terms of supporting universities through endowment funding.


The topic relevance is increasing due to the children number rise of homeless, dysfunctional, incomplete, low-income, left without parental care, from families using destructive methods, bringing to congenital disorders of the physical and psychological development, who could falling into unfavorable environment take the path of asocial behavior, disharmonious development and, as a result, getting into the «risk groups».  The article objective is to determine the library involvement in preventing the children at risk neglect through multiformat forms of the work popularizing books and reading for the educational and cultural development of children.  N. V. Stetsenko describes children at risk groups as exposed to biological, psychological, social influences, their tendency to offenses, violence and other types of antisocial behavior. Сhildren at risk include the following categories: gifted children; poorly educated; children with disabilities; children from problem and dysfunctional, asocial families; pedagogically neglected children; children from families in need of socio-economic and socio-psychological assistance and support.  Currently, the work of a librarian with children at risk is an urgent problem related to growth of families and minors of the «special attention group», where the library task is to reach the maximum number of children attracted to the library. Difficult children is a complicated category; therefore, library and information workers need to know the characteristics of such children, effective methods and methods of educational and preventive work. Сhildren at risk need to adapt to the world around them, broaden their horizons, communicate with their peers, organize leisure activities, express themselves creatively, receive information and services, and satisfy their intellectual needs. The library has the staff, resources and means capable to form a harmoniously developed child personality , including children at risk.  The library is designed to create for readers not only comfortable (it's important), but productive conditions with the point of intellectual growth, for example, the reader's participation in organizing library activities (storytelling, makerspace, creative workshops, etc.). The modern library helps to reduce the number of «disadvantaged children», heals the social environment, makes it more friendly and safe for a child.


We provide a theoretical framework, with empirical evidence, where monetary policy effects become stronger during periods of heightened uncertainty in productivity. Higher aggregate and idiosyncratic productivity volatility induce firms, which are constrained by information capacity, to allocate more attention to productivities and less to the monetary policy shock. This makes firms under-react to monetary policy actions, which increases real effects of monetary policy shocks. A threshold vector autoregression, which incorporates instrumental variables to identify the monetary policy shock, finds that monetary policy shocks have stronger impacts on output when uncertainty, as measured by VIX, is high.


The purpose of this article is to identify loopholes in the mortgage law of Ukraine, in particular if the creditor has not properly exercised his or her right to a final court decision to satisfy his / her claims at the expense of the mortgage subject, resulting in violations of subjective rights of the mortgagee. It is noted that in practice, when applying the Law of Ukraine "On Mortgage" of 05.06.2003 № 898-IV outside the sphere of legal regulation of this law there is a question of legal consequences in case the creditor did not use within a certain time his right on the basis of a court decision on satisfaction his claims on the subject of the mortgage, including termination of the mortgage on these grounds. It is noted that the issue is unsettled: whether the debtor has the right to demand termination of the mortgage agreement, if the lender has chosen a way to satisfy his claims precisely by applying the foreclosure for the mortgage through his public auction, which was decided by the court, does not take any action on enforcement of this judgment. It is emphasized that the issue of the possibility of termination of a mortgage obligation as a result of abuse by the creditor of the right to enforce the obligation is important, in particular when the value of the property transferred to the mortgage exceeds considerably the amount of credit debt of the debtor and the mortgagee (the owner of the property) with encumbered property, unable to dispose of it, waiting for a long time to properly execute the court decision. The authors believe that, because of the improper execution of the court decision and the terms of the mortgage agreement, the mortgagee should also bear the burden of liability and certain losses in this case as well. Therefore, to protect the subjective rights of both the mortgagee and the mortgagee, the authors propose to overcome the gap in the Law of Ukraine "On Mortgage" by amending Art. 17. after the second part of the new part reads as follows: "if the mortgagee has not taken any measures to realize the subject of the mortgage for the execution of the judgment". That is, through the introduction of appropriate amendments to the legislation provides legal certainty in the mortgage relationship.


In this study, the change in softening and its related genes expression under influence of 500 nl L-1 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) was assessed in the two Chinese pear fruit, 'Jingbaili' (Pyrus ussuriensis Maxim) and 'Yali' (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd), which exhibit different softening characteristics. 'Jingbaili' pear fruit softened rapidly after harvest, and was strongly inhibited by 1-MCP. In contrast, there was no obvious change of firmness compared to the control after 1-MCP treatment in 'Yali' pear fruit. The respiration and ethylene production rates were reduced by 1-MCP at early storage in both two cultivars. 'Jingbaili' pear fruit exhibited dramatically increased expression levels of the softening-related genes, i.e., polygalacturonase1 (PG1), polygalacturonase2 (PG2), β-Galactosidase4 (GAL4), α-arabinofuranosidase1 (ARF1) and α-arabinofuranosidase2 (ARF2), and these genes' expression levels were significantly decreased by 1-MCP treatment. In contrast, 'Yali' pear fruit showed lower expression levels of the above-mentioned genes, as well as a relatively smaller inhibition effect by 1-MCP treatment before day 27. These results suggest that 'Jingbaili' pear fruit are more sensitive to 1-MCP/ethylene than 'Yali' pear fruit during ripening.


[The wearing of religious clothing and symbols has become a source of potent legal and political controversy. This article analyses the way in which the European Court of Human Rights has dealt with claims by two women (one a teacher and one a student) who were denied the right to wear headscarves in their educational institutions. The article analyses the way in which the Court considered but failed to fully engage with three issues raised in those cases: proselytism; gender equality; and intolerance and secularism. It criticises the Court "s reliance on stereotypes and generalisations about Muslim women, and Islam more generally, and explores the way in which two contradictory images of Muslim women inform the Court's decisions.] CONTENTS I Introduction II The Relevant Convention Provision III Factual Background A Dahlab v Switzerland B Sahin v Turkey IV Key Elements of Reasoning A Proselytising B Gender Equality C Intolerance and Secularism V Islam and the Muslim Woman in the Court's Judgments I INTRODUCTION Veils, it seems, are very revealing. As soon as a Muslim woman covers her head there are large numbers of people--from journalists to politicians, academics to talkback radio callers--who know exactly who she is and what she stands for. (1) Despite the fact that women, both Muslim and non-Muslim, have been wearing head coverings of various kinds for many centuries, suddenly headscarves are engaging attention throughout the world. (2) While the media has focused on the changes to the rules for schoolgirls in France, (3) there have been controversies in many countries--from Danish women who were sacked from their jobs as check-out operators, (4) to British schoolgirls who did not find the school's Muslim uniform sufficiently strict, (5) to a Muslim witness in New Zealand whose wearing of a veil over her face when giving evidence in a car theft trial was challenged by the defence, (6) to an Australian soccer player who was told by a referee that she could not take part in a match unless she removed her headscarf. (7) The political and legal controversies surrounding the wearing of religious clothing, particularly in public institutions such as schools, universities and public service offices, found their way to the European Court of Human Rights ('the Court') in two important decisions. The first, Dahlab v Switzerland, (8) involved a school teacher who was banned from teaching in a primary school because she dressed in traditional, modest clothing including a headscarf. The second case, Sahin v Turkey, (9) involved a university student who was prohibited from study because she wished to wear a headscarf in her lectures and examinations. (10) Sahin is particularly important because it is the first Grand Chamber decision on the issue of religious clothing, but Dahlab is also a highly relevant case, despite being dismissed as inadmissible, because this perfunctory treatment is common for religious freedom cases brought by religious minorities in Europe. Thus Sahin is of more importance in a legal sense, but Dahlab is likely to be more representative and typical of the fate that awaits other applicants in religious freedom cases of this nature. This article examines both cases and the reasoning that the Court employs in each to determine that the states in question had not breached the applicants' freedom of religion. The decisions of the Court in both cases relied on two contradictory stereotypes of Muslim women as the essential basis for the decisions. While the formal tests adopted by the Court set a very high bar for states that seek to limit the rights of those within their jurisdictions, in practice, the rights of minority religions in many European states have been routinely limited and the Court has not condemned such limitations. The two cases discussed in this article are examples of the way in which the members of the Court find it difficult to move outside the religious paradigms that are most common in Europe (that is, either broadly Christian or secular) and to deal with non-Christian religions in a manner that is respectful and culturally sensitive. …


Taking as its point of departure debates on the value of criminal statistics and victimization surveys, this article explores the methodological challenge of an alternative approach to Central American violence(s). How can we collect qualitative data that help address the social construction of (in)security? The research project "Public Spaces and Violence in Central America" used multiple data sources, including guided interviews and pupils' essays. Drawing on research experience in Nicaragua, this paper asks, How can we collect data that reveal lifeworld experiences as well as hegemonic and counter-discourses on violence? Why is it crucial to keep a research diary? What is a "failed" or a "good" interview? This article argues for a research design based on theoretical considerations, impulsiveness and, most notably, constant self-reflection.


Despite the phenotypic similarities between primitive neuroectodermal tumors of the central nervous system, childhood neuroblastoma, and peripheral neuroepithelioma, a histogenetic relationship among these neoplasms has not been shown. High levels of N-myc expression occur selectively in developing brain and in some embryonic tumors of neural origin. N-myc amplification and high levels of N-myc expression in childhood neuroblastoma have been correlated with disease stage and prognosis. To determine whether the copy number of the N-myc gene in primitive neuroectodermal tumors of the central nervous system is altered, we examined 20 primitive neuroectodermal tumors by Southern and/or slot blot hybridization to a 1-kilobase N-myc genomic DNA sequence and a 492-base pair N-myc-specific subclone as well as to a 1.1-kilobase albumin complementary DNA sequence as a control for gene copy number. Amplification of the N-myc gene was detected in two cerebellar tumors both of which exhibited neuronal differentiation by light microscopy. These tumors had not been treated previously. Of the remaining 18 tumors, eight were undifferentiated, three showed early neuroblastic, and seven focal glial differentiation. These findings suggest a possible relationship between N-myc amplification and neuronal differentiation.


Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the most important cause of end-stage renal disease with a poorer prognosis and high economic burdens of medical treatments. It is of great research value and clinical significance to explore potential gene targets of renal tubulointerstitial lesions in DN. To properly identify key genes associated with tubulointerstitial injury of DN, we initially performed a weighted gene coexpression network analysis of the dataset to screen out two nonconserved gene modules (dark orange and dark red). The regulation of oxidative stress-induced intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, p38MAPK cascade, and Th1 and Th2 cell differentiation were primarily included in Gene Ontology (GO) annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways of these two modules. Next, 199 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified via the limma package. Then, the GO annotation and KEGG pathways of the DEGs were primarily enriched in extracellular matrix (ECM) organization, epithelial cell migration, cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), NF-kappa B signaling pathway, and ECM-receptor interaction. Gene set enrichment analysis showed that in the DN group, the interaction of ECM-receptor, CAMs, the interaction of cytokine-cytokine receptor, and complement and coagulation cascade pathways were significantly activated. Eleven key genes, including ALB, ANXA1, ANXA2, C3, CCL2, CLU, EGF, FOS, PLG, TIMP1, and VCAM1, were selected by constructing a protein-protein interaction network, and expression validation, ECM-related pathways, and glomerular filtration rate correlation analysis were performed in the validated dataset. The upregulated expression of hub genes ANXA2 and FOS was verified by real-time quantitative PCR in HK-2 cells treated with high glucose. This study revealed potential regulatory mechanisms of renal tubulointerstitial damage and highlighted the crucial role of extracellular matrix in DN, which may promote the identification of new biomarkers and therapeutic targets.


 Abstract— Both policymakers and researchers recognize that participating in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is useful for all children, especially for those who are exposed to the high risk of social exclusion. Social exclusion of children is understood as a multidimensional construct including economic, social, cultural, health, and other aspects of disadvantage and deprivation, which individually or combined can have an unfavorable effect on the current life and development of a child, as well as on the child's development and on disadvantaged life chances in adult life. ECEC institutions should be able to promote educational approaches that portray developmental, cultural, language, and other diversity amongst children. However, little is known about the ways in which Croatian ECEC institutions recognize and respect the diversity of children and their families and how they respond to their educational needs. That is why this paper is dedicated to the analysis of the capacities of ECEC professionals to respond to the demands of educational needs of this very diverse group of children and their families. The results obtained in the frame of the project "Models of response to educational needs of children at risk of social exclusion in ECEC institutions," funded by the Croatian Science Foundation, will be presented. The research methodology arises from explanations of educational processes and risks of social exclusion as a complex and heterogeneous phenomenon. The preliminary results of the qualitative data analysis of educational practices regarding capacities to identify and appropriately respond to the requirements of children at risk of social exclusion will be presented. The data have been collected by interviewing educational staff in 10 Croatian ECEC institutions (n = 10). The questions in the interviews were related to various aspects of inclusive institutional policy, culture, and practices. According to the analysis, it is possible to conclude that Croatian ECEC professionals are still faced with great challenges in the process of implementation of inclusive policies, culture, and practices. There are several baselines of this conclusion. The interviewed educational professionals are not familiar enough with the whole complexity and diversity of needs of children at risk of social exclusion, and the ECEC institutions do not have enough resources to provide all interventions that these children and their families exclusion, ECEC professionals, inclusive policies, culture and practices, interpretative phenomenological


The synthesis and structural characterization of the tetramesityltetraphosphanide anion, (P4HMes4)- (1), is described. It is shown that 1 partially decomposes in solution and displays an unsymmetrical structure in which, depending on conditions, the proton may or may not fluctuate between the terminal P atoms of the P4 chain.


Saliva samples from 59 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and from 20 normal individuals were studied to determine the nature and origin of the EBV‐specific IgA in NPC saliva. About 50% of NPC saliva samples contained secretory IgA specific for EBV. The corresponding tumor IgA(α) was found in plasma cells surrounding the epithelial tumor cells and the secretory piece at the surface of epithelial cells. A slightly higher proportion of NPC saliva samples containing IgA was found in patients from Tunis than in samples from Hong Kong. Attention is drawn to the clinical value of the salivary IgA in diagnosis and monitoring of treatment of NPC.


The past year has established the link between the COVID‐19 pandemic and the global spread of severe fungal infections; thus, underscoring the critical need for rapid and realizable fungal disease diagnostics. While in recent years, health authorities, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have reported the alarming emergence and spread of drug‐resistant pathogenic fungi and warned against the devastating consequences, progress in the diagnosis and treatment of fungal infections is limited. Early diagnosis and patient‐tailored therapy are established to be key in reducing morbidity and mortality associated with fungal (and cofungal) infections. As such, antifungal susceptibility testing (AFST) is crucial in revealing susceptibility or resistance of these pathogens and initiating correct antifungal therapy. Today, gold standard AFST methods require several days for completion, and thus this much delayed time for answer limits their clinical application. This review focuses on the advancements made in developing novel AFST techniques and discusses their implications in the context of the practiced clinical workflow. The aim of this work is to highlight the advantages and drawbacks of currently available methods and identify the main gaps hindering their progress toward clinical application.


Matrix metalloproteinase‐2 (MMP‐2) and ‐9 (MMP‐9) play an important role in cancer initiation, invasion, and metastasis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether common genetic variants in these two key MMPs are associated with the development and progression of colorectal cancer in a Chinese population. We detected the MMP‐2‐790T/G, ‐955A/C, ‐1575G/A, and MMP‐9‐1562 C/T polymorphisms in 126 colorectal cancer patients and matched normal controls by PCR‐denaturing high‐performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) or PCR‐restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), respectively. We found that the G/G genotype in the MMP‐2‐1575G/A polymorphism was significantly increased in colorectal cancer patients than in the controls (odds ratio (OR), 1.96; 95% CI, 1.06–3.64). Colorectal cancers with G/G genotype were more common with serosa/adventitia layer involvement than those with G/A + A/A genotypes (P < 0.05). However, no significant differences were observed in distribution of the MMP‐2‐790T/G, ‐955A/C, and MMP‐9‐1562 C/T polymorphisms or haplotype of MMP‐2 SNPs between patients and controls. Our results suggest that the presence of ‐1575G allele in the MMP‐2 promoter region may be of significance in the assessment of colorectal cancer risk and invasive potential. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Primary breast sarcomas (PBSs) that arise from mammary stroma are very rare,             highly aggressive and therapy- resistant tumors with a heterogeneous phenotype.             In this study, we sought to identify tumor-initiating cells (TICs) in PBSs and             to describe their features. We isolated long-term self-renewing sarcospheres (designated             NDY-1) from primary breast carcinosarcoma tissue (sarcoma component >95%) using             the anchorage-independent culture method. NDY-1 spheres expressed various mesenchymal             cell markers, and their tumorigenic potential was markedly reduced in adherent             culture conditions, compared to spheres. Screening for integrins revealed a marked             decrease in CD49d expression in adherent culture conditions of NDY-1. The CD49d+/high             subpopulation sorted from NDY-1 spheres displayed higher cell viability and sphere-forming             ability than CD49d-/low population in vitro. Moreover, the CD49d+/high population             displayed high tumor initiating ability in limiting dilution transplantation to             NOD/SCID mice, and the xenotransplanted CD49d+/high population recapitulated the             complexity of the original primary tumors. Greater doxorubicin resistance was             exhibited by the CD49d+/high population, compared with the CD49d-/low population.             Thus, our results collectively demonstrate that CD49d+/high cells from sarcospheres             display enhanced sphere-forming, drug resistance and tumor-initiating abilities.             To our knowledge, this is the first study to identify TICs from breast sarcoma.