Background and objectives Analysis of gouty tophi initiated by injection of MSU (monosodium urate) crystals intraperitoneally in mice and patients suffering from gout. Materials and methods Human PMN (polymorphonuclear cells) were incubated with MSU crystals and analysed by fluorescence microscopy (DAPI). Moreover, mice were treated intraperitoneally with MSU crystals resulting in generation of gouty tophi. Paraffin sections of the tophi were analysed by nuclear staining and immunhistology. Furthermore, synovial fluids and tophi of patients with acute gouty attacks were analysed. Results In the in vitro assays we found the formation of extracellular DNA induced by MSU crystals. Next we analysed the gouty tophi generated intraperitoneally in mice and again detected extranuclear DNA and histones. Last we investigated material of gouty patients and observed the formation of extranuclear DNA in the synovial fluid and in tophous material. Conclusions We conclude that the extranuclear DNA has been ejected by the neutrophils in order to trap the inflammation inducing crystals. A similar mechanism is employed by neutrophils in the defense against massive bacterial or fungal infection, where the extranuclear DNA helps for immobilisation and inactivation of pathogeneic microoragnisms. Further investigations are required to elucidate whether the extranuclear DNA is ameliorating or precipitating inflammation and pathology in gout.


The study was conducted to determine the intake and weight gain in goats fed varying levels of Faidherbia albida pods. Twenty goats weighing an average of 12.75 kg were used for the study. The animals were weighed and randomly allotted to four different treatments with varying level of Faidherbia albida pods as T 1 (10%), T 2 ( 20%), T 3 (30%) and T 4 (0%) in a completely randomized design (CRD) with five animals per treatment. The goats were supplemented with the experimental diet daily after the grazing hours which lasted for eight weeks. T 2 has the highest daily and weekly feed intake of 0.22 and 1.55±0.05 kg respectively which is significantly different (P<0.05) from the other treatments. Also T 2 recorded the highest daily and weekly weight gain of 0.09±0.01 and 0.65±0.12 kg respectively which is significantly different (P<0.05) from other treatments. There was no significant difference (P<0.05) between T 1 and T 3 as T 4 recorded the lowest in both feed intake and weight gain. The results of this study indicate that supplementing goats with 20% inclusion level of Faidherbia albida pods has significant effect on intake and weight gain of the animals.


The purpose of this study was to determine if patients with hemispheric brain lesions and subsequent paresis demonstrated a correlation between the perception of joint position sense and the ability to combine component parts of the limb synergies. Twenty-one adult patients with 6-week to 87-month histories of unilateral, hemispheric, paralytic brain lesions were evaluated by each of two tests. The first test evaluated the subject's ability to combine components of the limb synergies. A pilot investigation was performed which established the reliability of the testing instruments. The correlation between the perception of joint position sense and synergy test results, .83, was significant at p less than .01. Implications for therapeutic management of the patient with hemiplegia are discussed.


Glycogen phosphorylase b from rabbit muscle was rapidly inactivated by incubation with 1-cyclohexyl-3-(2-morpholinyl-(4)-ethyl)carbodiimide metho-p-toluenesulfonate (CMC) at pH 5.1. The inactivation was pH-dependent and was not restored by treatment with hydroxylamine. The addition of glycine ethyl ester or N-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)-ethylenediamine (DNP-EDA) markedly increased the rate of inactivation. Of the various amino analogs of glucose tested, only glucosyl amine accelerated the inactivation, although they are all bound to the glucose 1-phosphate site of the enzyme. In the absence of amines, incorporation of about 3 mol of [metho-14C]CMC per protein monomer was observed on complete inactivation. In the presence of DNP-EDA, however, only 2 mol of [metho-14C]CMC and 1 mol of DNP-EDA were incorporated before the activity was completely lost. The treatment of phosphorylase b with CMC did not change the Km values of the enzyme for glucose 1-phosphate and AMP, in spite of the 56% inactivation. It is suggested that, in the phosphorylase-catalyzed reaction, an essential carboxyl group of the enzyme plays a role in the protonation of the glucosidic oxygen of glucose 1-phosphate.


The objective of the present study was to map dominant plant communities of an alpine area in the northeastern Alps (Austria), based on computer modelling. We employed gradient analysis by means of Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) as a prediction tool and image segmentation as a filter for reducing the number of incorrect predictions. Topographical variables reflecting relief properties at different scales were used as surrogates for environmental conditions in combination with spectral band values from infrared orthophotographs. Coupling topographic correlation using CCA and image analysis proved practicable to map the distribution of alpine plant communities. Although plant communities often showed similar spectral response, they were mapped according to their specific topographical niches. Generally, topographic variables, indicative of environmental gradients controlling plant distribution, provided this information in most cases. The importance of spectral vs topographic variables varied among plant communities. Whereas the correlation between topography and plant species distribution was particularly significant for mapping alpine grasslands, spectral texture measures proved to be of major importance in discriminating between pioneer communities. Post-processing by image segmentation improved overall accuracy by 12%. A total of 17 plant communities and their mosaics were mapped, with an overall accuracy of 69.4% and a k value of 0.64. Inaccuracy resulted from insufficient resolution of the available digital elevation model and confounding effects of additional controls like land use history, which could not be accounted for by topographic descriptors.


In 1998, NV Organon successfully completed two Mutual Recognition Procedures (MRPs) for two progestagen-only contraceptive products: Cerazette® (tablet) and Implanon (subdermal implant). Two different reference member states (RMS) were involved. For Cerazette® the Swedish Medicines Product Agency acted as the RMS, whereas the Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board acted as the RMS for Implanon'. This article compares the two MRPs. It discusses the progress and contents of the two procedures in terms of the approval times needed for the products in each RMS, the validation process, the start of the actual procedure, the number and types of questions raised by the concerned member states, and the results of the break-out session. Further-more, the effect of each MRP on the outcome of the contents of the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) and the time required for issuing the national marketing authorizations will be discussed. Based on the experience of NV Organon, it is concluded that the MRP is a mature European registration procedure, providing that good cooperation between the RMS and the pharmaceutical company is established.


Cancer chemotherapy is almost always applied to patients with one or more diagnosed metastases and is expected to impact these lesions, thus providing significant benefits to the patient. The outcome of metastasis is determined by the interplay between the specific subpopulation of metastatic cells and host homeostatic factors in specific microenvironments. In clinical practice, metal-based drugs are represented by platinum compounds, which are constituents of a wide variety of chemotherapeutic regimens, and are only rarely active against tumour metastases unless they are combined with drugs that target specific pathways characterizing the malignancy of the tested tumour. On experimental grounds, a number of complexes based on ruthenium and other metals have been frequently studied in vitro using models and experimental conditions mimicking one or more steps of the metastatic process, such as invasion and migration. The ruthenium-based drug, NAMI-A, is the only one to have been subject to clinical testing for the treatment of metastatic tumours. The capacity of NAMI-A to modulate the relationship established between metastatic cells and their microenvironment suggests that metal-based drugs shall be viewed as an opportunity for the treatment of tumour metastases.


Yellowjacket wasps, Vespula and Dolichovespula, form a monophyletic group in the family Vespidae (Carpenter, 1991). All species are eusocial or are social parasites of other yellowjackets (Greene, 1991). The colony life cycle is typically annual, with nest founding by lone queens in springtime. Reproductives are produced sometime from summer to early winter, depending on the species and location, and the colony then dies out (Spradbery, 1973; Akre et al., 1980; Greene, 1991). An interesting modification of this typical cycle is the occasional overwintering of a colony, giving rise to biennial or perennial colonies which usually contain multiple reproductive queens (Edwards, 1980; Ross and Matthews, 1982; Ross and Visscher, 1983; Greene, 1991; Spradbery, 1991). These polygyne colonies only occur in species that produce reproductives late in the year ("long-cycle" species), as in the V. vulgaris and V squamosa groups (Ross and Matthews, 1982). Short cycle species, Dolichovespula and V rufa group, are not reported to give rise to polygyne colonies (Ross and Matthews, 1982). Polygyne colonies are only found in areas with mild winters, such as North Africa, Florida, California, Australia, and New Zealand (Edwards, 1980), probably because insect prey is continuously available only in such areas. Gambino (1986) documented successful winter insect-prey capture by a V vulgaris colony in California. This study describes the nest contents of two overwintering nests of V vulgaris from California, where it is a native species. This is the first detailed information on this colony type in V vulguris. Previous studies of overwintered nests are Gambino (1986), who studied prey collection, and Duncan (1939), who provided a


A sensor network is deployed to detect the presence of a moving object (a target) in a surveyed region. Sensors make decisions about the presence of the target. Let us assume the target is aware of the detections it has caused, but has no idea which sensor has made which call. Can the target infer the positions of the detecting sensors? Since this is an inverse problem (of prey locating its predators), we shall refer to it as tomography. Maximum likelihood (ML) offers a solution, but it is combinatorial and therefore not of great practical interest. Here we propose several alternatives and investigate their performances. One class of estimators looks for a nexus of detection activity: the peak, Fourier, and ESPRIT estimators fall into this class. But the best tradeoff between complexity and performance seems to be trellis-based and of philosophy similar to the multi hypothesis tracker (MHT) idea for disambiguation of measurement-origin uncertainty (MOU) in target tracking.


A field experiment was conducted to investigate the comparative effects of organic and inorganic soil amendments on growth and performance of plantain (Musa paradisiaca). The experiment was established in March 2011 and repeated in February 2012. The treatments consisted of nine soil amendments (NPK sole, Jatropha sole, palm kernel cake (PKC) residue sole, Sunshine organo-mineral sole, NPK + Jatropha husk 50:50, Sunshine organo-mineral + Jatropha husk 50:50, PKC residue + NPK 50:50, PKC residue + Sunshine organo-mineral 50:50, and Control) experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design, and replicated thrice. No significant (P < 0.05) difference obtained in the two trials, nevertheless, NPK 15:15:15 produced the highest response to leaf area, leaf numbers and stem girth. Sunshine organo-mineral also showed higher response in stem girth, while the combination of decayed Jatropha husk and NPK fertilizer applied at the ratio of 50:50 had the highest plant height. To facilitate the scaling up of these fertility options, future research and development needs to address recommended application rates, impacts and the method by which crops can be intensively farmed to provide a natural progression out of poverty. Sustaining the findings of this research will enhance good soil management quality, increase farmers productivity as well as improves farmer's standard of living.

 Key words:  Fertilizers, growth parameters, organo-mineral, plantain and soil amendments.


In this paper we describe a method for automatically animating interactive characters based on an existing corpus of key-framed hand-animation. The method learns separate low-dimensional embeddings for subsets of the hand-animation corresponding to different semantic labels. These embeddings use the Gaussian Process Latent Variable Model to map high-dimensional rig control parameters to a three-dimensional latent space. By using a particle model to move within one of these latent spaces, the method can generate novel animations corresponding to the space's semantic label. Bridges link each pose in one latent space that is similar to a pose in another space. Animations corresponding to a transitions between semantic labels are generated by creating animation paths that move though one latent space and traverse a bridge into another. We demonstrate this method by using it to interactively animate a character as it plays a simple game with the user. The character is from a previously produced animated film and the data we use for training is the data that was used to animate the character in the film. The animated motion from the film represents an enormous investment of skillful work. Our method allows this work to be repurposed and reused for interactively animating the familiar character from the film.


Hot-carrier-induced degradation behavior of reoxidized-nitrided-oxide (RNO) n-MOSFETs under combined AC/DC stressing was extensively studied and compared with conventional-oxide (OX) MOSFETs. A degradation mechanism is proposed in which trapped holes in stressed gate oxide are neutralized by an ensuing hot-electron injection, leaving lots of neutral electron traps in the gate oxide, with no significant generation of interface states. The degradation behavior of threshold voltage, subthreshold gate-voltage swing, and charge-pumping current during a series of AC/DC stressing supports this proposed mechanism. RNO device degradation during AC stressing arises mainly from the charge trapping in gate oxide rather than the generation of interface states due to the hardening of the Si-SiO/sub 2/ interface by nitridation/reoxidation steps. >


Pediatric phase I trials are usually carried out after the adult trial testing the same agent has started, but not completed yet. As the pediatric trial progresses, in light of the accrued interim data from the concurrent adult trial, the pediatric protocol often is amended to modify the original pediatric dose escalation design. In practice, this is done frequently in an ad hoc way, interrupting patient accrual and slowing down the trial. We developed a pediatric‐continuous reassessment method (PA‐CRM) to streamline this process, providing a more efficient and rigorous method to find the maximum tolerated dose for pediatric phase I oncology trials. We use a discounted joint likelihood of the adult and pediatric data, with a discount parameter controlling information borrowing between pediatric and adult trials. According to the interim adult and pediatric data, the discount parameter is adaptively updated using the Bayesian model averaging method. Numerical study shows that the PA‐CRM improves the efficiency and accuracy of the pediatric trial and is robust to various model assumptions.


Several novel antimicrobials with different concentrations of olive, pomegranate, and orange fruit pulp extracts were produced from agricultural byproducts and, after lyophilization, their antimicrobial activity and potential synergistic effects were evaluated in vitro and in food samples against foodborne pathogenic and spoilage bacteria and fungi. The Minimum Inhibitory of the tested bacteria was 7.5% or 10%, while fungi were inhibited at a concentration of 10% or above. The optical density of bacterial and yeast cultures was reduced to a different extent with all tested antimicrobial powders, compared to a control without antimicrobials, and mycelium growth of fungi was also restricted with extracts containing at least 90% olive extract. In food samples with inoculated pathogens and spoilage bacteria and fungi, the 100% olive extract was most inhibitory against E. coli, S. typhimurium, and L. monocytogenes in fresh burger and cheese spread samples (by 0.6 to 1.8 log cfu/g), except that S. typhimurium was better inhibited by a 90% olive and 10% pomegranate extract in burgers. The latter extract was also the most effective in controlling the growth of inoculated fungi (Aspergillus niger, Penicillium italicum, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa) in both yogurt and tomato juice samples, where it reduced fungal growth by 1–2.2 log cfu/g at the end of storage period. The results demonstrate that these novel encapsulated extracts could serve as natural antimicrobials of wide spectrum, in order to replace synthetic preservatives in foods and cosmetics.


Peer-to-peer systems represent a widely accepted approach to sharing massive data and services among large, diverse and varying sets of nodes in the network. In this paper, we introduce an overlay network which constructs the logical network topologies using a global ontology and peer ontological characteristics. Network construction and query model are defined to allow the efficient answer of complex queries based on concepts and relations. Simulation results are used to verify the predicted network properties.


Using a model of wage determination developed by Stevens (2003) we offer an explanation of why tenure has a negative effect when entered in job satisfaction equations. If job satisfaction measures match quality, then the explanation follows from a model of the labour market in which workers accumulate specific human capital at the firm they work and the way in which this accumulation affects the way workers react to outside job opportunities.


Calcified lesions of the temporomandibular joint discs obtained from 135 human cadavers were studied. Calcifications were observed in 92 of 250 discs by soft x-ray radiography. Studies by light and electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction revealed that there were two different types of calcification in the discs: apatite crystal deposition with or without ossification, and calcium pyrophosphate dehydrate (CPPD) crystal deposition. Calcifications were recognized more frequently posteriorly than anteriorly, and were related to disc perforation. The results of this investigation suggest that disc degeneration, which may occur as a result of aging or mechanical stress, causes calcifications.


Background/Aim: Sublobar resection is widely performed for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer in the clinical setting. This study evaluated the optimal surgical procedures of clinical stage 0 or IA adenocarcinoma from the perspective of recurrence. Patients and Methods: A total of 508 lung adenocarcinoma patients diagnosed as c-stage 0 or IA were retrospectively investigated. Results: The types of surgical procedures were lobectomy (n=328), segmentectomy (n=73), and wedge resection (n=107). Clinical T descriptors were cTis in 74, cT1mi in 68, cT1a in 94, cT1b in 181 and cT1c in 91 patients. Recurrence was observed in 46 cases (9%), including 3 (3.1%) with cT1a, 23 (12.7%) with cT1b and 20 (22.0%) with cT1c. The patients who received sublobar resection developed recurrence more often than the patients who received lobectomy among cT1b cases (10.1% vs. 21.4%) and cT1c cases (18.0% vs. 46.2%) (p=0.053 and p=0.023). Conclusion: The cT1b and cT1c cases should be considered for lobectomy to prevent recurrence.


Sharon Street's evolutionary debunking argument—her Darwinian Dilemma—is meant to challenge value realists to reconcile the evaluative attitudes we tend to hold, shaped as they are by evolution, with the attitude-independent evaluative facts that realists posit. Ramon Das argues that Street's argument relies on illicit metaphysical assumptions about evaluative facts, and that these assumptions beg the question against a particular form of value realism called naturalist realism. I argue that Street makes no such metaphysical assumptions, and that her argument requires no particular metaphysical construal of evaluative facts to work. I further argue that any objection of the kind Das raises—those that turn on the metaphysical underpinnings of evaluative facts—is unlikely to succeed against Street's Darwinian Dilemma. INDEX WORDS: Value realism, Value antirealism, Evolutionary debunking argument, Sharon Street, Darwinian Dilemma NEED EVOLUTIONARY DEBUNKING ARGUMENTS RELY ON A PARTICULAR METAPHYSICAL CONSTRUAL OF EVALUATIVE FACTS?


A patient with Sezary syndrome underwent cytapheresis on the IBM 2997 cell separator. Four procedures were performed over a 12‐day period. A total of 8.3 × 1010 Sezary cells were removed. The patient's skin lesions and lymphadenopathy regressed. Transient thrombocytopenia occurred, requiring platelet transfusion. Although a significant number of platelets were removed by pheresis, this was not sufficient to explain the thrombocytopenia. The patient subsequently died of causes unrelated to the cytapheresis.


This paper is an exploratory essay into ways in which a mythology has developed from the experiences of those who fought on the Western Front in 1914–1918. Two principal myths are distinguished from the many folk tales and legends which also emerged from that time and place. Asserting that literature played, and continues to play, an important role in establishing, disseminating and perpetuating the myths, the paper defines three "waves" of literature inspired by the experience of the Western Front. Two processes are then identified through which myth can arise from experience. These derive from the work of the anthropologist Victor Turner and the historian and literary scholar Rene Girard. The paper then gives some examples of the way in which these processes of myth generation are represented in the three waves of literature.


If pilot and fighter plane capability to sustain accelerations in the 10 to 15 G range for many seconds or minutes provides an important tactical advantage, as some fighter pilots believe, currently used anti-G procedures, including the Combat Edge Technology (29), will provide only partial, questionably safe protection. Therefore, relative to preservation of maximal pilot effectiveness, current and future advanced fighters, if flown in seated positions, are physiologically outdated in respect to blackout and G-LOC prevention. Consequently, future victories in the air may come to the adversary first to discard conventional upright or partially supinated seats in favor of a biomedically advanced fighter, developed for flight in the fully horizontal, preferably prone, position.


Process tomography is the general name given to a range of techniques in which data are recorded using remote sensors and then manipulated to provide measurements of concentration distribution and flow phenomena within process equipment such as pipes and reactors. In principle, this technology can be used to identify, for example, the distribution of mixing zones in stirred reactors, and the position of interfaces within systems such as multiphase flows and complex mixtures during separation processes. Potential applications of process tomography fall into three broad categories. First, on-line, real-time sensing offers exciting developments in on-line process control. Second, visualization of concentration distributions as a function of time and flow phenomena within process vessels provides new insights into the operation of process equipment. Third, these visualizations yield data against which to validate the output of, for example, computational fluid dynamics simulations. This book is written in four sections: Principles of Process Tomography (Part I), Sensing Techniques (Part II), Data Processing Techniques (Part III) and Process Applications (Part IV). The articles are written assuming the reader has no particular specialization in the basic discipline of process tomography; the principles of the techniques are therefore discussed and other more detailed publications in each area are referenced. Part I introduces the fundamental principles of process tomography in the context of the three broad sensor types which are based on transmission, diffraction and electrical measurements. Examples of typical process applications and the sensing methods that can be used to probe these systems are briefly described. The computational techniques that are used in process tomography are also introduced. Part II provides a more detailed description of sensing methods; the section is introduced with an overview of the relevant strengths of different tomographic methods in various process applications, with a particular focus on dual-modality and multi-modality tomographic imaging systems. Subsequent chapters address each of the major tomographic methods including impedance sensors for application to dielectric and conducting systems, mutual inductance tomography, electrodynamic sensors, ultrasonic sensors, microwave sensors, optical tomography and emission tomography. Part III addresses data processing techniques in process tomography and includes chapters both on hardware and software requirements necessary for fast data capture and real-time image reconstruction and display. The principles upon which the image reconstruction algorithms required for each tomographic method are based are also described. The use of computer modelling in the design and optimization of process tomography sensors and systems, and in the interpretation of the sensor output data is discussed. The important topic of error analysis in the processing of tomography data is also addressed. The book concludes with chapters on specific process applications. The examples included are the measurement of bed porosity distribution in particulate flows using photon transmission tomography; powder mixing studied by positron-emission tomography; pneumatic conveying and control using capacitance imaging; capacitance imaging of fluidized beds; mixing processes in fluids studied by light absorption and interferometric techniques; resistivity imaging of mixing, transport and separation processes and, finally, optical tomography as applied to the visualization of temperature distributions in flames. Clearly, this book covers all the major aspects of development and application of process tomography. If there was a weakness it would be that the limitations of the various techniques and the theoretical limit to their application are not always obvious. For example, how does resolution vary throughout an image during typical process applications? How soon will we see the tomographic techniques described yielding real-time flow measurements? Undoubtedly, the answers to these questions are contained within this book but an overview of limitations and the expected short-term developments in process tomography in general would have been useful. However, this is a minor criticism and the text is essential reading for any researcher or industrial process engineer wishing to learn about the state-of-art in the field of process tomography. To those already working in the field it provides a useful collection of papers representing current practice in hardware, data analysis and process applications.


A new method for 3D modeling is proposed, which generates a content-based 3D mosaic (CB3M) representation for long video sequences of 3D, dynamic urban scenes captured by a camera on a mobile platform. In the first phase, a set of parallel-perspective (pushbroom) mosaics with varying viewing directions is generated to capture both the 3D and dynamic aspects of the scene under the camera coverage. In the second phase, a unified patch-based stereo matching algorithm is applied to extract parametric representations of the color, structure and motion of the dynamic and/or 3D objects in urban scenes, where a lot of planar surfaces exist. Multiple pairs of stereo mosaics are used for facilitating reliable stereo matching, occlusion handling, accurate 3D reconstruction and robust moving target detection. The outcome of this phase is a CB3M representation, which is a highly compressed visual representation for a dynamic 3D scene, and has object contents of both 3D and motion information. In the third phase, a multi-layer based scene understanding algorithm is proposed, resulting in a planar surface model for higher-level object representations. Experimental results are given for both simulated and several different real video sequences of large-scale 3D scenes to show the accuracy and effectiveness of the representation. We also show the patch-based stereo matching algorithm and the CB3M representation can be generalized to 3D modeling with perspective views using either a single camera or a stereovision head on a ground mobile platform or a pedestrian. Applications of the proposed method include airborne or ground video surveillance, 3D urban scene modeling, traffic survey, transportation planning and the visual aid for perception and navigation of blind people.


A study on problems and prospects of shrimp production and marketing from Bangladesh on the basis of secondary information was carried out from July to October 08. Shrimp farming has emerged one of the important economic activities in Bangladesh and become the second largest export industry after garments. Shrimp aquaculture in coastal areas plays a major role providing employment, income and food security to remote coastal people where alternative livelihood options are limited. Shrimp culture system is extensive to improved extensive type with total production of 55000 mt of brackish water shrimp and 12000 mt of freshwater shrimp. In coastal Bangladesh, shrimp culture has led to many social and environmental problems. In export markets, shrimps are great but many challenges remain ahead because of increasing requirements of quality, food hygiene and development of technological and trade barriers in large shrimp markets in USA and EU countries. However, challenges lies with good aquaculture practice and competitive export, which are the effective tools for poverty alleviation and national development program for Bangladesh. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/pa.v20i1-2.16868 Progress. Agric. 20(1 & 2): 163 – 171, 2009


Background:
 Ibrutinib, a small molecule inhibitor of Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase (BTK) is approved for use in a variety of lymphomas. Priced at $130,000/year, Ibrutinib imposes a significant financial burden on patients and society[1]. The study serving as the basis for the currently approved dose [2] demonstrated >95% BTK receptor occupancy at a dose of 2.5 mg/kg. Data suggests that lower doses of Ibrutinib are equally effective[3] and dose reductions[4, 5] do not compromise outcome.
 Objective:
 To evaluate patient outcomes and cost savings with clinically indicated low dose (LD) of Ibrutinib in a community practice in hematological malignancies.
 Method:
 All patients treated with standard and LD Ibrutinib between January 2014 and July 2020 were identified. Reason for dose modification and best responses were abstracted. Patients with inadequate follow up or less than a week of treatment were excluded from the analysis. Responses were defined based on the iwCLL response criteria for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), Lugano criteria for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and International Working Group on Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia (WM), as applicable.
 To calculate drug cost at lower doses of Ibrutinib, cumulative number of patient-months on different dose levels of ibrutinib was calculated by adding the number of months each patient had remained at the dose level at the time of data cut-off. Drug cost at LD was calculated by multiplying monthly wholesale acquisition price for different dose levels of ibrutinib by the cumulative number of patient-months at that dose level. Cost differential between actual drug cost and projected drug cost at full dose was calculated.
 Results:
 98 patients were identified. 10 were excluded from the analysis based on drug not started (3), inadequate follow-up (3), other (4). Median length of follow up for all patients was 20 months (4-70 months) and on LD Ibrutinib 12.5 months (1-60 months). 10 and 12 patients received 140 mg and 280 mg of Ibrutinib respectively due to side effects. 61 patients had CLL, 9 WM, 15 mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), and 2 marginal zone lymphoma (MZL). Response rates were similar across diagnoses and dose levels (TABLE 1 and FIGURE 1). Progressive disease (PD) at low dose was seen in 2 CLL patients with complex cytogenetics, deletion 17p and extensive prior therapy. The one WM patient with PD had been extensively pretreated.
 Cumulative patient-months at the 140 mg and 280 mg dose levels of Ibrutinib was 177 and 123 months respectively. Drug cost for the 140 mg and 280 mg Ibrutinib cohorts were $712,276 and $989,943 respectively, for a total cost of $1,702,219. Potential drug cost for the 420 or 560 mg dose of Ibrutinib for the same duration of therapy was $3,621,828. Cumulative cost avoidance on LD Ibrutinib was $1,919, 608.
 Conclusions:
 Clinically indicated low dose Ibrutinib was equally effective and produced significant cost savings.
 References:
 1. Qiushi Chen, N.J., Turgay Ayer, William G. Wierda, Christopher R. Flowers, Susan M. O'Brien, Michael J. Keating, Hagop M. Kantarjian, and Jagpreet Chhatwal, Economic Burden of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in the Era of Oral Targeted Therapies in the United States. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2017: p. 166-174.
 2. Ranjana H. Advani, J.J.B., Jeff P. Sharman , Sonali M. Smith , Thomas E. Boyd , Barbara GrantKathryn S. Kolibaba , Richard R. Furman , Sara Rodriguez , Betty Y. Chang , Juthamas Sukbuntherng , Raquel Izumi , Ahmed Hamdy , Eric Hedrick , Nathan, Bruton Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Ibrutinib (PCI-32765) Has Significant Activity in Patients With Relapsed/Refractory B-Cell Malignancies. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2013: p. 88-94.
 3. Lisa S. Chen, P.B., Nichole D. Cruz , Yongying Jiang , Qi Wu , Philip A. Thompson , Shuju Feng , Michael H. Kroll , Wei Qiao , Xuelin Huang , Nitin Jain , William G. Wierda , Michael J. Keating , Varsha Gandhi, A pilot study of lower doses of ibrutinib in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Blood, 2018: p. 2249-2259.
 4. Lad DP, Malhotra P, Khadwal A, Prakash G, Jain A, Varma S. Reduced Dose Ibrutinib Due to Financial Toxicity in CLL. Indian Journal of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, 2018. 35(2): p. 260-264.
 5. Othman S. Akhtar, K.A., Ian Lund, Ryan Hare, Francisco J. Hernandez-Ilizaliturri & Pallawi Torka, Dose reductions in ibrutinib therapy are not associated with inferior outcomes in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Leukemia & Lymphoma, 2019. 60(7): p. 1650-1655.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

 Ibrutinib is approved at a dose of 420 mg orally daily or 560 mg orally daily in different lymphoproliferative disorders.


Objectives: To optimize an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for measuring the HspX protein (α-crystallin) levels and then evaluate its correlation with the accumulation of lipid bodies in Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) during hypoxia and exposure to nitric oxide. Methods: This study was conducted at Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between 2016 and 2017. We first optimized ELISA conditions for the detection of HspX. The optimization protocol focused on minimizing concentrations of the capture antibody, detection antibody, and conjugated secondary antibody, and determining the minimum detection limit of the antigen, HspX. Bacteria were grown either in shaking culture or in stationary flasks mimicking hypoxic environments. A standard Bradford assay was used to determine the total protein and HspX was detected using the optimized ELISA protocol. The effect of hypoxic environment and nitric oxide on the levels of HspX and lipid bodies, detected by staining with Nile red, was also evaluated. Results: An optimized ELISA protocol was established for the detection of HspX from M. bovis. Exposure to nitric oxide and hypoxic conditions led to an increase in the levels of HspX protein. The increase in HspX associated with nitric oxide treatment and hypoxic conditions correlated with higher levels of lipid bodies mainly found in pathogenic mycobacteria. Conclusions: The optimized ELISA protocol in this study can detect HspX protein levels in M. bovis growing in normal and hypoxic environments. Importantly, hypoxia led to enhanced expression of HspX protein, which correlated with the enhanced production of lipid bodies. Lipid body production is a survival strategy of pathogenic mycobacteria.


The evaporitic Hessian Zechstein Basin is a sub‐basin of the Southern Zechstein Basin, situated at its southern margin. Twelve facies groups were identified in the Zechstein Limestone and Lower Werra Anhydrite in order to better understand the sequence‐stratigraphic evolution of this sub‐basin, which contains economically important potassium salts. Four different paleogeographic depositional areas were recognized based on the regional distribution of facies. Siliciclastic‐carbonate, carbonate, carbonate‐evaporite and evaporite shallowing‐upward successions are developed. These allow the establishment of parasequences and sequences, as well as correlation throughout the Hessian Basin and into the Southern Zechstein Basin. Two depositional sequences are distinguished, Zechstein sequence 1 and Zechstein sequence 2. The former comprises the succession from the Variscan basement up to the lowermost part of the Werra Anhydrite, including the Kupferschiefer as part of the transgressive systems tract. The highstand systems tract is defined by the Zechstein Limestone, in which two parasequences are developed. In large parts of the Hessian Basin, Zechstein sequence 1 is capped by a karstic, subaerial exposure surface, interpreted as recording a type‐1 sequence boundary that formed during a distinct brine level fall. Low‐lying central areas (Central Hessian Sub‐basin, Werra Sub‐basin), however, were not exposed and show a correlative conformity. Topography was minimal at the end of sequence 1. Widely developed perilittoral, sabkha and salina shallowing‐upward successions indicate a renewed rise of brine level (interpreted as a transgressive systems tract), because of inflow of preconcentrated brines from the Southern Zechstein Basin to the north. This marks the initiation of Zechstein sequence 2, which comprises most of the Lower Werra Anhydrite. In the Central Hessian Sub‐basin, situated proximal to the brine inflow and on the ridges within the Hessian Basin, physico‐chemical conditions were well suited for sulphate precipitation to form a thick cyclic succession. It consists of four parasequences that completely filled the increased accommodation space. In contrast, only minor sulphate accumulation occurred in the Werra Sub‐basin, situated further southwards and distal to the inflow. As a result of substantially different sulphate precipitation rates during increased accommodation, water depth in the region became more variable. The Werra Sub‐basin, characterized by very low sedimentation rates, became increasingly deeper through time, trapping dense halite brines and precipitating rock salt deposits (Werra Halite). This 'self‐organization' model for an evaporitic basin, in which depositional relief evolves with sedimentation and relief is filled by evaporite thereafter, contradicts earlier interpretations, that call upon the existence of a tectonic depression in the Werra area, which controlled sedimentation from the beginning of the Zechstein.


Objective The oncological outcome regarding disease-free survival and overall survival after radical vaginal trachelectomy (RVT) is the same as the rates after radical hysterectomy. We aim to analyze predictive and risk factors and death in patients with cervical cancer undergoing fertility preservation by laparoscopic lymphadenectomy and RVT. Methods Three hundred twenty patients with cervical cancer underwent RVT between March 1995 and February 2013. In our study, we examined recurrence rates analyzed by risk factors. We classified the presence of lymphovascular space invasion, depth of tumor infiltration, tumor size, and tumor grading as risk factors. The mean follow-up time was 48 months. Results Ten of the 320 patients had cancer recurrence. Recurrence appeared at a mean time of 26.1 months (3–108 months) after RVT. Five patients died within 8.8 months (4–15 months) after recurrence was diagnosed. Two of these 5 patients had distant metastasis at the time of recurrence. Five patients were treated successfully by surgery, and 4 patients were treated successfully by chemotherapy. The mean follow-up after the recurrence of these 5 patients is 76 months (6–120 months). None of the 10 patients with recurrences in our series showed significant high-risk factors. Conclusion There seems to be no pattern in the recurrence of cancer after RVT. It is strictly mandatory to follow up the patients closely every 3 months after RVT to diagnose recurrence at an early stage so therapeutic options such as chemoradiation are still available. Once distant metastasis occurs, prognosis is not good.


The estrogenic activities of 32 pesticides in agricultural products were evaluated using the E-CALUX assay system developed by Xenobiotic Detection Systems Inc (North Carolina, USA). This system utilizes human ovarian carcinoma cells (BG1) stably transfected with an estrogen-responsive luciferase reporter gene plasmid. It was found that tolclofos-methyl, prothiofos, diazinon, Thiabenclazole (TBZ) and pyriproxyfen had estrogenic activity. Several pesticides are often present in agricultural products. Therefore the estrogenicity of the mixtures of two kinds of pesticides was evaluated. The activity of diazinon/tolclofos-methyl, pyriproxyfen/prothiofos and TBZ/o-phenylphenol (OPP) was increased up to 1.2 – 5.3 fold. On the other hand, chlorfluazuron, imazalil and chlorfenapyr had anti-estrogenic activity. Further, to evaluate the change in the estrogenic activity of pesticide metabolites, an experimental system was established using a rat S9 mixture. Metabolites of permethrin and OPP had no estrogenic activity, but they had weak activity after the metabolism. On the other hand, the metabolites of TBZ exhibited less estrogenic activity than the original compounds.


The influence of protein-peptide compounds, extracted with deuterium water as solubilizer agent from mixture of Sus scofa thymus, spleen and lymph nodes extracts, was carried out on Wistar rats with cytostatic-induced immunodeficiency model. Intragastric administration of extract fraction with molecular weight more than 30 kDa, did not lead to significant changes. Thus, polypeptide compounds with molecular weight less than 30 kD, extracted from Sus scofa immune organs, significantly increased T-lymphocytes amount, affected macrophages system by T-helper (CD4) stimulation and activated cycle of complementary cascade. Differences between the experimental results in T-helper synthesis activation (CD4) in animals treated with the medium and low molecular weight fractions can be explained by the ability of biomolecules having a molecular weight less than 30 kDa (in particular, isolated from the spleen, which, in its cellular structure contains key regulatory factors) to change the speed of cell differentiation.


With the website, the Raja Murah Bookstores provide information on-line and will enable customers quickly, accurately and efficiently to get the information. In this site visitors can view the company profile, products offered and available are also facilities for the admin to update the data in the website. The analytical method used is the method of directional data flow from the analysis, the required input and output systems. Among other product data, categories, polls and news articles insert. In making this website, use PHP scripts and MySQL database. conducted inter-system design are: create DFD (Data Flow Diagram), database settings, and user interface. Analysis of performance tested on the login process and data entry on the form


NOBODY LIKES A MORALIST. It is right that Christians have moved beyond moralism if by this we mean the habit of reducing faith to sheer obedience. Moralism is always a diluting of religion, a simplification. It is the faith of Pelagius and Kant, not of Augustine and Bossuet. To fall into the habit of moralizing is to separate what belongs together, in this case, love for the good from love for the beautiful. It is an ancient truism that the virtuous person not only does the good, but delights in doing it ("Catechism of the Catholic Church," 1770) (hereafter CCC). Christians rightly point out that love is at the center of ethics and to love someone is to do them good. How do we know what is good? When philosophers and preachers in the mid-twentieth century proclaimed that we had moved beyond moralism, it was not always clear where they hoped we would land. Remember that when the rich young man asked Jesus how he might obtain eternal life, Christ pointed him to the Ten Commandments. The Gospels certainly deepen our understanding of law, but they do not abrogate it. There is no Christian morality apart from law (CCC, 2055). As in the recent revelations of clerical abuse of minors, the consequences of liberating ourselves from law can be terrifying. In 2010, in the face of gross misconduct, the Irish government initiated two separate judicial reviews to determine the extent and causes of corruption among the Catholic hierarchy. The Murphy Commission, in particular, investigated the bishops' handling of allegations of sexual misconduct among priests in the Diocese of Dublin from 1975-2004, which has led to the resignation of several auxiliary bishops of Dublin. Any breach of trust by clergy is occasion for scandal, sorrow, and restitution. But what has caused outrage in the case of Ireland and several other jurisdictions is the way that bishops failed to discipline clergy even when allegations were substantiated. Often offending priests were simply shuffled from one parish to another. In the case of the Diocese of Dublin, Justice Murphy has pointed to how disregard for canon law among bishops and clergy sheltered repeat offenders and exposed the vulnerable. The report notes how in Dublin "the Church authorities failed to implement most of their own canon law rules on dealing with clerical child-sexual abuse." Not that Church law was inadequate. "The Commission is satisfied that Church law demanded severe penalties for clerics who abused children. In Dublin, from the 1970s onwards, this was ignored." It is not the case, in other words, of the law being under or over specified; laws were simply not heeded. Observing what has now become shamefully plain, the report links the neglect of justice to the disrespect of law within the Church more generally: "Canon law, as an instrument of Church governance, declined hugely during Vatican II and in the decades after it." (1) In countering what may have been an excessive legalism within pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic piety, pastors and theologians from the 1960s on swung wildly in the opposite direction. Some among our leaders did not serve well when they replaced moralism with vague appeals to love and therapeutic approaches to inner healing that disregard the fact of sin and the requirements of justice. Fruit grows only amidst the shade of leaves; so also love requires the protective wrapping of justice if it is to blossom. St. Augustine famously said, "Love ... and then do what you will" (Commentary on the Epistle of John 10.7.1). If God is love, why not just leave it at that and let each to his own way? After all, the primacy of charity is what distinguishes Christ's teaching from that of the Pharisees. Augustine was right to say what he did. But if we wish to mouth his words, then we must also think his thoughts. We must relearn also what he knew about the moral life and the relation between law and love. In short, the problem with appeal to love as an isolated command is that it is easily drained of content and filled with unwholesome substitutes. …


OBJECTIVE
To determine factors influencing early diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer in Tanzania women.

DESIGN
A cross-sectional study.

SETTING
Forty primary health care facilities, twenty district/regional and four referral (tertiary) hospitals in mainland Tanzania.

RESULTS
The most basic equipment for cytology-based cervical cancer were available at all health care facilities. However, screening against cervical cancer was appallingly inadequate at all levels of health care delivery system. Apart from medical doctors at tertiary level, other medical personnel including nurses were poorly or hardly utilised for cervical cancer screening. Treatment facilities for pre-cancerous lesions in most district, regional and even tertiary hospitals were inadequate or non-existent despite being very simple, cheap and yet very effective. There was total lack of organised institutional or national policy guidelines on cervical cancer screening in Tanzania.

CONCLUSION
There is an urgent need to introduce systematic screening against cervical cancer and treatment of precursor lesions at all levels of health care delivery system in Tanzania. A national policy guideline should be urgently drawn addressing specifically frequency of screening and at what age to start screening.


This article presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the glamorization of the courtesan image as proposed by Baz Luhrmann's film Moulin Rouge . The film sparked the appearance of high-street fashion inspired by the image of the 19th-century Parisian courtesan, which prompted the authors to examine how and why such images might appeal to female consumers. The critical analysis reaches beyond the images themselves to identify and discuss the modes of circulation of such images, and their function in achieving both the material ends of capitalism (ever-increasing consumption and production) and the promotion of one of the system's core values (patriarchy). Moreover, the article hopes to illustrate the possibilities offered by integrating cultural and structural analyses of current social phenomena.


Methods of human-biometeorology can be applied for the assessment of atmospheric impacts on human beings. The thermal effective complex is the most important factor for tourism among the human-biometeorological effective complexes. A procedure for the physiologically significant assessment of the thermal environment is presented. It is based on thermal indices, which are derived from the human energy balance. It is important to know the mean climatic conditions of the area of vacations and recreation for tourism climatology. As an exemplary result a bioclimate map of Greece for the summer month of August is presented which shows the pronounced spatial distribution of mean monthly values of the thermal index Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). Additionally, extreme conditions i.e. heat waves and its possible implications to human health were analyzed.


Lumbar plexus block via inguinal paravascular access that was included as part of an anesthetic support at venectomy in the great saphenous vein, was studied for its impact on the development of postoperative pain syndrome and stress responses. The authors revealed a significant postoperative pain relief at rest and in motion, and reductions in the need for analgesics and in the magnitude of a stress response to a surgical injury.


Shengma-Gegen-Tang has long been used against measles virus in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) as well as in Vero cells. One hundred micrograms/ml Shengma-Gegen-Tang in PBMC displays significant anti-measles activity, whereas the same concentration in Vero cells does not. After eight days of infection, the release of virus is significantly suppressed by Shengma-Gegen-Tang in the case of PBMC. In addition, Shengma-Gegen-Tang has a selective stimulation to the secretion of cytokine TNF-alpha in PBMC. Time kinetic analysis indicated that the stimulation of secretion was rapid and could be detected only 2 hrs following the treatment of the PBMC. It rose to an optimal level in 8-12 hrs. These findings suggest that the magnification of anti-measles virus activity of this agent is lymphocyte dependent and may well be mediated by TNF-alpha.


In Scandinavia, traumatic dental injuries can usually be treated professionally within a few hours. A fourteen-year-old boy suffered an avulsed tooth while playing basketball. Despite an extraoral period of more than twelve hours, a functional PDL survived.


Sustainable food waste management practices at the source are directly dependent on household behavior. A valid and reliable instrument is needed to evaluate the sustainable food waste management (SFWM) research framework. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to propose a new SFWM framework on a pilot scale before starting the main research. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the survey questionnaire's usability and reliability. Respondents from 150 urban households in Klang Valley was surveyed using an online survey method. A detailed validation of the study constructs was done through the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), producing a usable final factor structure. The results confirmed the constructs have good reliability based on the Cronbach's alpha values that ranges from 0.860 to 0.979. The results provide useful information on factors that could affect the behavioral intention of practicing SFWM in people's daily life and may be adopted by future research on a larger scale. The article contributes to the body of research in this research context by describing the pilot test method and process. A proposed framework that integrates additional variables into a TPB-based theory was used for examining SFWM behavior outcome in a more comprehensive model. Other studies in the field were mostly conducted on food waste reduction behavior, but this study intends to close the gap of households' intention to manage them sustainably. Besides providing a new framework for SFWM, the need for a pilot study is highlighted to achieve an improved research design, adding to the lack of literature on pilot studies in the sustainable food waste management context.


A series of experiments was carried out using a dual sensor conductance probe to measure the local axial oil velocity distribution and the local oil volume fraction
distribution in vertical, oil in water bubbly flows in an 80mm diameter vertical pipe.
Values of the water superficial velocity were in the range 0.276 ms-1 to 0.417ms-1,values of the oil superficial velocity were in the range 0.025ms-1 to 0.083ms-1 and
values of the mean oil volume fraction were in the range 0.047 to 0.205. For all of the flow conditions investigated it was found that the axial velocity profile of the oil droplets had a 'power law' shape which was very similar to the shape of the air velocity distributions previously observed for air-water bubbly flows at similar flow conditions. It was also found that the shape of the local oil volume fraction distribution was highly
dependent upon the value of the mean oil volume fraction. Mathematical modelling showed that the shapes of the observed local oil fraction distributions were a result of
diffusion and of hydrodynamic forces acting upon the oil droplets. For bref < 0.08 the net hydrodynamic force on the droplets was towards the pipe centre whilst for
bref > 0.15 the net hydrodynamic force on the droplets was biased towards the pipe wall. The nature, and relative strength, of each of the hydrodynamic forces acting on the oil droplets is discussed.


Summary form only given. In a magneto-optical trap (MOT) two main mechanisms contribute to the total trap loss rate. Radiative escape (RE), where the spontaneous emission within the collision duration transforms internal energy into kinetic motion. Fine-structure changing collision (FSC) is an exoergic process where a pair of excited ground state atoms undergoes a change to the lower state of the fine-structure doublet, followed by a release of /spl Delta/E/sub FSC//2 in kinetic energy normally enough to eject the atoms from the trap. In earlier experiments only the total trap loss rate, which is the sum of contributions from RE and FSC, was determined. Distinguishing between these two mechanisms is important because it allows a more precise comparison with the theory, leading to a better understanding of exoergic cold collisions. In this experiment the FSC contribution to the total loss in /sup 85/Rb is measured by direct photoionization of the P/sub 1/2/ fragments.


Surface patterning is an attractive approach to modify the surface of biomaterials for modulating cell activities and enhancing the performance of medical implants without involving typical chemical changes to the implants such as adding growth factors, antibiotics, and drugs. In this study, nano-to-micron patterns were engineered on thermoplastic and thermoset polymer coatings on bioresorbable magnesium (Mg) substrates to control the cellular responses and material degradation for vascular applications. Capillary force lithography (CFL) was modified and integrated with spray coating to fabricate well-aligned nano-to-micron patterns on the thermoplastic poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and thermoset poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) coatings on Mg substrates. Specifically, a new process of molding-curing CFL was revised from the conventional CFL to successfully create nano-to-submicron patterns on thermoset PGS for the first time. The nano-to-micron-patterned polymer coatings of PLGA and PGS on Mg were carefully characterized, and their effects on cell adhesion and morphology were investigated through direct culture with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro. The results showed that the 3000 nm parallel grooves could effectively elongate the HUVECs, while the 740 nm parallel grooves tended to reduce the spreading of HUVECs. The PLGA coatings reduced the degradation of Mg substrates more than that of the PGS coatings in the direct culture with HUVECs in vitro. CFL-based methods coupled with spray coating should be further studied as a nonchemical approach for creating nano-to-micron-patterned polymer coatings on Mg-based substrates of various sizes and shapes, which may present a new direction for improving the performance of Mg-based bioresorbable vascular devices toward potential clinical translation.


It has been utilized a research on the fractal dimension analysis of electrocardiographic (ECG) signals. ECG signal is one example of a fractal nature, so that this signal can be calculated using fractal dimension. The purpose of this study calculates the ECG signal by using fractal dimension. Calculation of fractal dimension is processed using matlab 7.8 software with a sampling of the ECG signal on the website www.physionet.org. Fractal dimension method used is the Box-Counting. Classification of signal samples are taken, there are two types: normal and arrhythmia. The results of the dimension values obtained MIT-BIH database Normal Sinus Rhythm is 1.37; MIT-BIH database arrhythmias is 1.49; MIT-BIH database Supraventri arrhythmias is 1.44; and Cu ventricular tachyarrhythmia is 1.21. From these data it can be concluded that the classification dimension values in the range between 1-2 is in a state of cardiac arrhythmias and classification dimension values in a normal state has a value equal to one dimension.


The thymidine analog, 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdUrd), induces prolactin (Prl) synthesis and Prl gene amplification in a subclone of GH cells (rat pituitary tumor cells in culture). Withdrawal of drug treatment reverses both processes. Our previous results show that Prl gene amplification is associated with an event involving extrachromosomal DNA. The results presented in this report show that a 20-kb length of DNA, including all the coding sequences of the Prl gene, is amplified following BrdUrd treatment of this strain of GH cells. Amplification of DNA sequences extends about 3 kb upstream from the 5' end and about 7 kb downstream from the 3' end of the Prl gene. The DNA sequences immediately adjacent to these 5'-and 3'-flanking regions of the Prl gene are not affected by BrdUrd treatment. These results suggest that BrdUrd-induced amplification of Prl gene coding and neighboring sequences is restricted to within 3 kb of the 5' end and within 7 kb of the 3' end of the structural gene Analysis of low-molecular-weight extrachromosomal DNA isolated by Hirt's procedure from drug-treated cells reveals a similar pattern of amplification of the Prl gene and its flanking sequences.


Optical absorption measurements carried out on hexagonal and rhombohedral crystals of MoS2 show that the exciton bands occur at a lower energy in the latter. This shift is attributed to the different crystal structure of the two modifications.


= Abstract = Hepatomegaly and liver dysfunction might develop in patients with diabetes mellitus due to glycogen deposition or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. We experienced a case of hepatic glycogenosis in a patient with type 1 diabetes mellitus who presented with recurrent hypoglycemia, suggesting impairment of glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis. A 10-year-old girl with a 4-year history of type 1 diabetes mellitus was admitted because of recurrent hypoglycemia and abdominal pain in the right upper quadrant. She had Cushingoid features and hepatomegaly that extended 6 cm below the right costal margin. Laboratory data and radiologic examination revealed elevated liver enzyme levels due to fatty liver. Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining revealed intense glycogen deposition in the cytoplasm of the hepatocytes and PAS reactivity was lost with diastase treatment. At 2 months after administration of glucagon injection and uncooked cornstarch between meals and at bedtime, the hypoglycemic episodes and liver dysfunction improved. It is important to distinguish hepatic glycogenosis from steatohepatitis, because it is possible to prevent excessive hepatic glycogen storage in hepatic glyco- genosis cases by strictly controlling blood glucose level and by glucagon administration. To prevent severe hypoglycemic symptoms accompanied by hepatic glycogenosis, we suggest that uncooked cornstarch, which is effective in maintaining blood glucose level, can also be administered. (Korean J Pediatr 2009;52:1279-1282)


The legislation, scientific articles and specific practical situations are analyzed in the article. Generalizing the information and data collected, the most frequent issues are revealed and the proposals to amend specific provisions of the legislation are therefore presented. The research performed showed that even 70 percent of all applications regarding construction works close to the boundary of a land lotare not upheld.


Distal femur fractures are common but complex fractures and often are associated with complications. The cases of failure may be secondary to mechanical failure or biological failure. The current review offers overview of these complications and tips and tricks on how to manage these complications. Keywords: Distal Femur Fractures, Complications, Surgical management


Tidal power is one of new and renewable energy sources. Tidal power is generated by using the gap in the water level between the water outside and inside the embankment. All tidal power plant in Korea were being operated by import of turn-key from abroad. The know-how and technology which are the most important to build predictive control system has become increasingly difficult to obtain from advanced countries because most of them avoid to transfer, which the domestic development of the control system is needed. In this paper, a study on start·stop system at water turbine-generator for tidal power plant at the beginning of development was presented. For improvement the efficiency and develope of core technology of the start·stop system, the technique and characteristics of tidal power, modeling, maximum generation calculation method, and optimal control of joint control system in Sihwa tidal power plant were studied.


Introduction Liver-related mortality continues to increase in the UK with alcohol remaining the leading cause. A recent NCEPOD report highlighted deficiencies in the acute care received by patients with decompensated ALD, including early management and access to specialist review and ITU care. In our instituition, a large DGH, we have a dedicated HDU/ITU and 2 hepatologists. We sought to assess outcomes and predictors of survival of patients admitted to ITU with decompensated CLD and utility of mechanical ventilation (MV) and renal replacement therapy (RRT.) Method We interrogated a prospective ITU-admissions database and identified 64 patients with decompensated CLD of any aetiology admitted bewteen 2008 and 2013. We conducted a case note analysis collecting data on demographics, aetiology of CLD, cause for decompensation, Child–s and MELD scores, interventions received and 30-day and 1-year mortality. We compared outcome to previous study between 2003–07. Results Of 64 patients, 42 (66%) were male. 55 (86%) had ALD. Mean age was 47.7 for ALD and 50.8 for non-ALD. The most common precipitant was UGI bleed (27%), sepsis (20%) and alcoholic hepatitis (17%). AKI was present in 32 (50%; 55% ALD vs 22% non-ALD; p < 0.05.) The Child–s score was A in 4 (6%), B in 9 (14%) and C in 42 (80%). The mean MELD score was higher in ALD (27) vs non-ALD patients (22.) The mean creatinine and bili were both higher in ALD vs non-ALD (51 vs 109 and 184 vs 84 respectively.) 29/55 (53%) patients with ALD had prior contact with hepatology services vs 7/9 (79%) for non-ALD. 28 patients (44%) were ventilated and 10 (16%) received RRT (all ALD patients.) The 30-day mortality was 58% for ALD and 66% for non-ALD with 1-year mortalities of 71% and 77%. Overall, survival to hosptial discharge was 20/64 (31%). The best predictor of survival was escalation to ITU within 48 h 17/24 (71%) vs 7/40 (17.5%) (p-value <0.05.) ALD patients >60 did not survive. Prognosis was better if previously under hepatology service. Receiving either MV or RRT were not predictive of a worse prognosis. As expected, higher MELD score also predicted poorer outcome. Overall survival of ALD patients of 40% over this study period is favourable compared the previous study period (29%). There was an increase in the number of admissions from 35 to 55 patients over the same period. Conclusion Outcomes for patients with decompensated CLD including ALD are improving and ITU escalation should be offered early to all appropriate patients. Ventilation or RRT should be considered as not always predictive of poor outcome. The best chance for survival was in patients escalated within 48 h and those who had been been under the care of hepatology prior to presentation. Disclosure of interest None Declared.


Proposed multi-impact model explains the origin of the Moon, the Charon and binary asteroids without space catastrophes. Basic statements of the new model: 1. Initial low-mass prograde protosatellite disk existed around the proto-Earth. 2. Most of Moon' material was ejected from the Earth's mantle under the influence of large asteroids. This explains deficit of iron on the Moon. 3. Collisions of Earth' eject with particles of prograde protosatellite disk stabilize debris on satellite orbits. We showed high efficiency of multi-impact mechanism: Earth's eject on prograde orbits easy joins prograde protosatellite disk, but retrograde eject returns to the Earth.


We consider inference in the linear regression model with one endogenous variable and potentially weak instruments. We construct confidence sets for the coefficient on the endogenous variable by inverting the Anderson–Rubin, Lagrange multiplier, and conditional likelihood-ratio tests. Our confidence sets have correct coverage probabilities even when the instruments are weak. We propose a numerically simple algorithm for finding these confidence sets, and we present a Stata command that supersedes the one presented in Moreira and Poi (Stata Journal 3: 57–70).


ABSTRACT There has been a great deal of increase in the production and consumption of organic foods. As a result, many researchers have attempted to explain the motivations and marketing issues dealing with the topic. Many of the previous studies provide conflicting results. With this in mind, we attempt to perform a comprehensive study of organic food consumption by examining the roles of a variety of factors on intention to purchase organic foods through a survey of consumers in a large metropolitan area in Europe by utilizing the scales developed in earlier studies. The results indicate that socially responsible consumption, health orientation, utilitarian, and hedonic consumption patterns are significant predictors of intention to purchase organic foods and consumption while controlling for demographical variables. In addition, environmental responsibility acts as a moderating factor in the relationship between socially responsible consumption behavior and intention to purchase. [JEL classifications: M30, M31, M48, Q56, Q57]


In November 2015, the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MOH) declared the Zika virus outbreak a public health emergency after an increase in microcephaly cases was reported in the northeast region of the country (1). During 2015-2016, 15 states in Brazil with laboratory-confirmed Zika virus transmission reported an increase in birth prevalence of microcephaly (2.8 cases per 10,000 live births), significantly exceeding prevalence in four states without confirmed transmission (0.6 per 10,000) (2). Although children with microcephaly and laboratory evidence of Zika virus infection have been described in early infancy (3), their subsequent health and development have not been well characterized, constraining planning for the care and support of these children and their families. The Brazilian MOH, the State Health Secretariat of Paraíba, and CDC collaborated on a follow-up investigation of the health and development of children in northeastern Brazil who were reported to national surveillance with microcephaly at birth. Nineteen children with microcephaly at birth and laboratory evidence of Zika virus infection were assessed through clinical evaluations, caregiver interviews, and review of medical records. At follow-up (ages 19-24 months), most of these children had severe motor impairment, seizure disorders, hearing and vision abnormalities, and sleep difficulties. Children with microcephaly and laboratory evidence of Zika virus infection have severe functional limitations and will require specialized care from clinicians and caregivers as they age.


Apart from many legitimate concerns about ecology, the most important contemporary concern should be of anthropological nature and must address the human as a person (Benedikt XVI). What is man? Are human beings free? What should human beings do? These Kantian questions also describe the main starting points of Karol Wojtyla's philosophy in "The Acting Person". With regard to the importance of the question (ecology of man) our challenge is divided into three parts. Firstly, man is a person; secondly, his call is to liberty and lastly, responsible love is an emanation of personal dignity. In this manner the three important points in Wojtyla's philosophy (person, liberty, love) are well characterized. The essence of man is his personal dignity as a source for the possibility of free (responsible) decisions – "the act". The experience of morality is included in the experience of being a person. Wojtyla poses the question "how do I understand who I am throughout my acts?" Like Kant, the author emphasizes the importance of free will, conscientiousness as an obligation, which speaks to the conscious person. I determine myself through my own decision (person´s actions). For Wojtyla, participation in love is the basis of all human personal experiences. "Only persons participate in love". Participation in the character of the other becomes – in the language of Wojtyla – "the choice of the other person in myself".


Introduction Emergency ambulance clinicians attend a wide range of prehospital emergencies, including out-of-hospital births (OOHBs). Intrapartum care comprises approximately 0.05% of emergency medical services' caseload, with only ~10% of intrapartum cases progressing to birth in emergency ambulance clinician care. However, this low exposure rate potentially allows obstetric clinical skills and knowledge to decay, which may impact on patient care. Additionally, unplanned OOHBs are known to have a higher incidence of complications and adverse outcomes than their counterparts born in hospital, such as postpartum haemorrhage or hypothermia. This scoping review will explore OOHBs and associated complications in emergency ambulance clinician care, investigate birth parent, significant partner and clinician experiences regarding OOHBs, and consider barriers and challenges to optimal patient care, to identify future research opportunities and associated knowledge gaps for this patient cohort. Methods and analysis This scoping review will follow the nine-step methodological framework suggested by the Joanna Briggs Institute and use the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews. Five electronic databases (MEDLINE via EBSCO, CINAHL, Embase, Web of Science and Wiley Online) will be searched to identify articles for inclusion. The 'participant, concept, context' criteria will be used to identify suitable search words regarding OOHBs in emergency ambulance clinician care. The review will include peer-reviewed and preprint literature. Two reviewers will independently assess articles based on title and abstract for inclusion in the review. Data will be charted using a data extraction tool for consistency and provide a succinct descriptive summary of the results. Ethics and dissemination This study does not require ethical review as all the information obtained will come from publicly available resources. Results will be disseminated via a peer-reviewed publication. This scoping review is preregistered with the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/ta35q).


Digital PCR (dPCR) has gained popularity in recent years for cancer research such as rare mutation detection, minimal residual disease, treatment selection, and recurrence monitoring. However, currently available technologies suffer from several limitations such as tedious workflow, long time-to-result, poor multiplexity, and inconsistent reagent digitization that severely hindered its broad adoption. We have designed and manufactured a dPCR platform that is capable of consistent sample digitization, thermal cycling and simultaneous interrogation of 20,000 partitions with walk-away workflow. The instrument integrates a loading and digitization manifold, a thermal cycler and an imaging engine with 5 optical channels into a single benchtop box. The Microfluidic Array Partitioning (MAP) consumable is a micro-injection molded, automation-ready plate that contains 16 individual units that can be loaded simultaneously. Each unit partitions an individual sample into 20,000 fluidically isolated partitions while utilizing >90% of inputted sample. We utilized an oncology standard assay, confocal microscopy, and real-time imaging to validate the dynamic range, sample utilization, and digitization consistency of the platform, respectively. Using the European Breast Cancer Standards ERM-AD623 we quantified replicates that were serially diluted from 1 × 105cp/μL down to 10cp/μL. We demonstrated that the dPCR platform can consistently quantify targets over 5-orders-of-magnitude of concentration with high consistency in both quantification and partition numbers. With confocal microscopy, the reagent inside the partitions are visualized to characterize sample utilization. Using conventional qPCR calibration dye ROX and real-time imaging, we show that over 99% of the partitions can be consistently analyzed for high quantification confidence. With the combination of ease-of-use, fast time-to-result and consistent performance, we believe this novel dPCR platform provides unparalleled usability and capability and will allow dPCR to fulfill its promise to impact cancer patient care. Citation Format: Robert Lin, Andrew Zayac, Steve Gallagher, Lingxia Jiang, Felicia Linn, Paul Hung. Fully integrated single instrument imaging-based digital PCR platform [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 43.


Reactivity of (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane with cellulose. The paper presents the results of tests for the reactivity of (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTMOS) with cellulose. The cellulose was treated with aqueous ethanolic solution of silane in two concentration: 5% and 20%. The reactivity of APTMOS with cellulose was analysed using instrumental methods: attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectrometry and elemental analysis. In the FTIR spectra of silane-treated cellulose, the bands of Si-O, Si-C and N-H bonds were detected. The analysis of silicon and nitrogen concentration in treated cellulose confirmed the presence of silane in cellulose structure. The presented results indicate that APTMOS forms chemical bonds with cellulose.


We propose a new concept for adapting CNN-based acoustic models using spatial diffuseness features as auxiliary information about the acoustic environment: the spatial diffuseness features are simultaneously employed as acoustic-model input features and to estimate environmental cues for context adaptation, where one convolutional layer is factorized into several sub-layers to represent different acoustic conditions. This context-adaptive CNN-based acoustic model facilitates an online environmental adaptation and is experimentally verified for the real-world recordings provided by the CHiME-3 task. The best performing setup reduces the average word error rate scores achieved by the baseline system (without using spatial diffuseness features) from 19.4% to 15.9% and 12.2% to 10.7% considering two experimental setups with and without front-end signal enhancement, respectively.


The hepatic portal veins of cockerels were catheterised to study the effects of 3-h infusions of nutrient solutions on voluntary food intake. An amino acid mixture, infused at rates up to 800 mg N/3 h, depressed intake of a standard diet in a significant linear manner (intakes with the highest dose and control: 1.6 g and 22.6 g/3 h respectively). Infusion of the highest dose into the jugular vein had a smaller and nonsignificant effect (17.2 and 25.3 g/3 h). The effects of combined infusion of amino acids and glucose into the portal vein on food intake were approximately additive.


A distinctive, hitherto undescribed lesion was found in histologic sections of aspirated bone marrow particles in five patients. The lesion occurred in close relation to lymphoid follicles, vessels, and sinusoids. It consisted of collections of cells with regular, spindle-shaped nuclei and poorly defined cytoplasmic borders. Among these cells, which were interpreted as histiocytic and/or fibroblastic elements, there were abundant eosinophils, often in aggregates (eosinophilic abscesses), plasma cells, and a few mast cells. Four of the patients were anemic, and all took numerous drugs including ampicillin, procainamide, and allopurinol. In four patients, the anemia remitted after the suspected drug was discontinued. Repeated bone marrow aspirates in three showed only an increased number of eosinophils around lymphoid follicles and blood vessels in two patients and complete disappearance of the lesion in one. Hodgkin's disease, eosinophilic granuloma, Kaposi's sarcoma, and lipid granuloma were considered in the differential diagnosis and were ruled out by histologic and clinical considerations.


Nanocomposites of graphene materials and conducting polymers have been extensively studied as promising materials for electrodes of supercapacitors. Here, we present a graphene/polyaniline heterostructure consisting of a CVD-graphene and polyaniline monolayer and its electrochemical operation in a supercapacitor. The synthesis employs functionalization of graphene by p-phenylene sulfonic groups and oxidative polymerization of anilinium by ammonium persulfate under reaction conditions, providing no bulk polyaniline. Scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy showed the selective formation of polyaniline on the graphene. In situ Raman spectroelectrochemistry and cyclic voltammetry (both in a microdroplet setup) confirm the reversibility of polyaniline redox transitions and graphene electrochemical doping. After an increase within the initial 200 cycles due to the formation of benzoquinone-hydroquinone defects in polyaniline, the specific areal capacitance remained for 2400 cycles with ±1% retention at 21.2 μF cm-2, one order of magnitude higher than the capacitance of pristine graphene.


To study motions and oscillations in the solar chromosphere and at the transition region level we analyze some extreme Doppler shifts observed off-limb with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). Raster scans and slit-jaw imaging observations performed in the near-ultraviolet channels were used. Large transverse oscillations are revealed by the far wings profiles after accurately removing the bulk average line profiles of each sequence. Different regions around the Sun are considered. Accordingly, the cool material of spicules is observed in Mg ii lines rather dispersed up to coronal heights. In the quiet Sun and especially in a polar coronal hole, we study dynamical properties of the dispersed spicules-material off-limb using high spectral, temporal, and spatial resolutions IRIS observations. We suggest that numerous small-scale jet-like spicules show rapid twisting and swaying motions evidenced by the large distortion and dispersion of the line profiles, including impressive periodic Doppler shifts. Most of these events repeatedly appear in red and blueshifts above the limb throughout the whole interval of the observation data sets, with an average swaying speed of order ±35 km s−1 reaching a maximum value of 50 km s−1 in the polar coronal hole region, well above the 2.2 Mm heights. We identified for the first time waves with a short period of order of 100 s, and less and transverse amplitudes of order of ±20–30 km s−1 with the definite signature of Alfvén waves. No correlation exists between brightness and Doppler shift variations; the phase speed of the wave is very large and cannot definitely be determined from the spectral features seen along the quasi-radial features. Even shorter periods waves are evidenced, although their contrast is greatly attenuated by the overlapping effects along the line of sight.


This study of single-carriageway and dual-carriageway trunk roads of modern design aims to provide information which will help reduce road accidents. The results of the study are applicable to new schemes and to improvements to the alignment and features of existing roads. The study aimed to quantify the relationships between the numbers of injury accidents that occur, and the traffic and road layout variables that determine them, using the technique of generalised linear modelling to develop predictive relationships. The study also examined trends in accident numbers and rates over time, both on the modern rural trunk road schemes used in the models, and also on the network of all non-built-up trunk and principal roads, to determine how these trends could be explained by changes in design standards, on-going minor improvements, improvements due to vehicle design and driver behaviour, and increasing traffic flows. (A)


Cell counts from samples taken at weekly intervals, from 14 May to 22 October 1969, in a T. canadensis stand in Massachusetts, U.S.A., showed that the width of the annual ring was correlated with the rate of cell production and that only the least vigorous trees (c. 20 tracheids year") had a shorter growing season. The time required for completion of a cell-division cycle in the cambial zone decreased during the course of the season, from 35 to 20 days for the less vigorous trees (25-45 tracheids year") and from 28 to 10 days for the more vigorous trees (45-100 tracheids year"). The time required for the completion of radial growth of the tracheids decreased from 18 to 9 days, with no evidence of any changes with tree vigour. The actual radial growth-rate of the tracheids was constant within the range 1 -5—3 / m day". The time required for deposition of the secondary cell wall increased from 10 to 50 days, with little evidence of any changes with tree vigour. The actual rate of deposition of cell wall material was about 0-15 p yr day" and seemed to show little change during the course of the season. The time period required for lysis of the cytoplasm was about 4 days, with no evidence of any changes with tree vigour and little evidence of any changes during the course of the season. I N T R O D U C T I O N Earlier work has shown the relatively long period of time taken for the completion of radial growth in developing tracheids and for the deposition of their secondary cell walls in Abies pectinata D.C. (Wodzicki and Peda, 1963) and, more recently, in Pinus sylvestris L. (Wodzicki, 1971; Wodzicki and Zajaczkowski, 1970). Skene (1969) has shown that in P. radiata D. Don a cycle of cell division in the cambial zone also takes a relatively long period of time, as do the phases of radial growth and wall deposition. The time taken to complete radial growth decreases during the course of the season, whilst the time taken for deposition of the secondary cell wall increases considerably. The aim of the present work is to extend this type of observation to Tsuga canadensis Carr. and, more particularly, to try to find out how these time periods vary with tree vigour, vigour being defined as the width of the annual ring. MATERIAL AND METHODS Material was taken from a well stocked old growth stand of Tsuga canadensis Carr. on a moist site at Petersham, Massachusetts. The trees ranged from 0*3-3 m m (over bark, at breast height) and were estimated to be 50-150 years old. 1 Present address: East Mailing Research Station, Maidstone, Kent. at H avard U nirsity on A uust 5, 2011 aob.oxjournals.org D ow nladed fom 180 Skene—Tracheid Development in Tsuga canadensis Forty-five trees, representing a wide range of vigour, were divided into three groups, trees being assigned to each group at random on the basis of an initial estimate of their vigour. Thus each group contained trees scattered throughout the whole plot and representing the whole range of vigour. At each collection one sample was taken from each tree of a group, so that during the course of the season a total of eight samples, spaced out equidistantly around the circumference, were taken from each tree at breast height. Collections were started on 14 May 1969 with the trees from group 1 and were continued at weekly intervals using trees from each group in turn (i, 2, 3, 1, 2, etc.). After the last collection (22 October 1969) there was a total of 24 collections, each with 15 samples. The samples were removed with bark intact; they were about 5 cm long, 2 cm wide, and deep enough to include both the current and the previous season's annual ring. Portions suitable for embedding were fixed in acrolein for 24 h at o °C, embedded in glycol methacrylate, sectioned transversely, and stained with toluidine blue according to the methods described by Feder and O'Brien (1968). Counts were made of the number of cells in a radial file, using an average from two radial files for each sample. Counts were made of the total number of tracheids (O) across the previous season's annual ring and the number of cells in each of five different phases of development across the current season's ring. The dividing phase (D), radial growth phase (G), and secondary wall deposition phase (W) were distinguished from one another as in Skene (1969), while the lysis phase (L) was distinguished from the secondary wall phase by the presence of the S3 layer of the secondary cell wall and the mature phase (M) was distinguished from the lysis phase by the complete disappearance of the cytoplasm. Thus the combined lysis and the mature phases of this work correspond to the mature phase in Skene (1969). For each sample the counts were added as follows: Sm = M = total number of mature tracheids in a radial file Si = M-\-L = number which have completed deposition of their


Abstract: The response of long-term vegetation changes and climate change has been a hot topic in recent research. Previously, a Landsat-based fusion model was developed and used to produce a dataset of normalized vegetation index (NDVI) for the Three-River Headwater region on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with a spatial resolution of 30 m and the time spanning the nearly 30 years from 1990 to 2018. In this study, the NDVI was applied to an analysis of the spatial and temporal changes in the alpine grassland and the impacts from climate change using the Theil-Sen Median method and linear regression. The results showed that: (1) The regional mean NDVI was 0.39 and showed a spatial pattern of decreasing from the southeast to the northwest in the recent three decades. Among the three parks, the Lancang River Park had the highest NDVI (0.43), followed by the Yellow River Park (0.38) and Yangtze River Park (0.23). (2) An upward trending was found in the NDVI time series at a rate of 0.0031 yr–1 (R2 =0.62, P < 0.01) over the whole period of 1990–2018. The increasing rate (0.00649 yr–1, R2 =0.71, P < 0.01) in the latter period of 2005–2018 was nearly 2.3 times of that (0.00284 yr–1, R2 =0.31, P < 0.01) in the previous period of 1990–2005. In the latest periods, the three parks experienced rates that were 2.3 to 63 times the corresponding values in the early period. (3) The NDVI is correlated more positively with temperature than precipitation. The impacts of climate change decreased along with the coverage fraction from the higher, median and then lower levels. The climate change can explain 34% of the variability in the NDVI time series of the areas with a higher fraction of grassland coverage, while it was 31% for the median fraction and 20% for the lower fraction. This study is the first to use the 30 m NDVI dataset spanning nearly 30 years to analyze the spatial and temporal variability and climate impacts in the alpine grasslands of the Three-River Headwater region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The results provide a basis for assessments on the ecological management effects and ecological quality based on long-term baseline data with a higher spatial resolution.


In this paper, structural design and analysis of a composite boat hull was performed. A resin transfer molding manufacturing method was adopted for manufacturing the composite boat hull. The RTM process is an advanced composite manufacturing method that allows a much higher quality product than the hand lay-up process, and less manufacturing cost compared to the autoclave method. Therefore, the RTM manufacturing method was adopted. The mechanical properties of the various aramid fibers and polyester resin were investigated. Based on this, structural design of boat hull was performed using aramid fiber or polyester. After structural design, the optimized resin infusion analysis for RTM manufacturing method was performed. Through the resin infusion analysis, it is confirmed that the designed location of resin injection and outlet is acceptable for manufacturing.


PURPOSE
To assess image quality and image-guidance capabilities of a cone-beam CT based small-animal image-guided irradiation unit (micro-IGRT).

METHODS
A micro-IGRT system has been developed in collaboration with the authors' laboratory as a means to study the radiobiological effects of conformal radiation dose distributions in small animals. The system, the X-Rad 225Cx, consists of a 225 kVp x-ray tube and a flat-panel amorphous silicon detector mounted on a rotational C-arm gantry and is capable of both fluoroscopic x-ray and cone-beam CT imaging, as well as image-guided placement of the radiation beams. Image quality (voxel noise, modulation transfer, CT number accuracy, and geometric accuracy characteristics) was assessed using water cylinder and micro-CT test phantoms. Image guidance was tested by analyzing the dose delivered to radiochromic films fixed to BB's through the end-to-end process of imaging, targeting the center of the BB, and irradiation of the film/BB in order to compare the offset between the center of the field and the center of the BB. Image quality and geometric studies were repeated over a 5-7 month period to assess stability.

RESULTS
CT numbers reported were found to be linear (R2 0.998) and the noise for images of homogeneous water phantom was 30 HU at imaging doses of approximately 1 cGy (to water). The presampled MTF at 50% and 10% reached 0.64 and 1.35 mm(-1), respectively. Targeting accuracy by means of film irradiations was shown to have a mean displacement error of [deltax, deltay, deltaz] = [-0.12, -0.05, -0.02] mm, with standard deviations of [0.02, 0.20, 0.17] mm. The system has proven to be stable over time, with both the image quality and image-guidance performance being reproducible for the duration of the studies.

CONCLUSIONS
The micro-IGRT unit provides soft-tissue imaging of small-animal anatomy at acceptable imaging doses (< or =1 cGy). The geometric accuracy and targeting systems permit dose placement with submillimeter accuracy and precision. The system has proven itself to be stable over 2 yr of routine laboratory use (>1800 irradiations) and provides a platform for the exploration of targeted radiation effects in small-animal models.


Received Jul 12, 2021 Revised Aug 17, 2021 Accepted Aug 30, 2021 This study aims to determine the implementation of head clinical supervision school starts from planning, implementation and follow-up as well the success of the principal's academic supervision in improving competence professional teacher. This research uses a qualitative approach descriptive. Data collection techniques through observation and interviews. The results of the study based on the data obtained indicate that the implementation process of clinical supervision at SMPN 4 Banyuasin III has been going well and has received support from the principal and staff as well as the teachers concerned. In this clinical supervision, each stage carried out is able to provide meaning that can increase the ability of teachers to manage learning. The stages referred to are between the initial meeting, the learning observation stage to the post-feedback stage. Clinical supervision is a solution that is quite effective in improving teacher skills. This, it can be seen from the final results of the study that the teacher is able to master learning with various methods in accordance with the learning objectives. Keyword:


The slow pyrolysis of oil palm pressed fruit fibres (PFF) was investigated in a laboratory-scale pyrolyser at terminal temperatures of 450°C to 800°C and a heating rate of 10°C min -1 . The PFF was first pyrolysed in a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) to investigate their thermal characteristics and to determine their kinetic parameters. Results from the laboratory-scale pyrolysis showed that as the terminal temperature increased, the yields of solid char and total condensates decreased, but the non-condensable gases increased. The quality of the char produced, which was found to be dependent on the terminal pyrolysis temperature, was of medium grade, as its average ash content of 16.60% was high. The best PFF char with 69.91% fixed carbon and an energy content of 27.07 MJ kg -1 was obtainable at a terminal pyrolysis temperature of 600°C. The chemical characterization of the liquid products, which separate into two fractions, showed that they may be a potential


The AIDS epidemic has transformed not only the mortality at some younger ages, but also the perception of the needs in health that we may have, since the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, coupled with a prognosis fatal disease until the mid-1990s. The eyes of demography, here allows to highlight the characteristics of AIDS mortality in Switzerland, and changes the pattern of mortality that Switzerland experienced by AIDS. The author also suggests, drawing on traditional demographic tools, a method to attempt to measure the impact of AIDS mortality on life expectancy at birth in Switzerland. A parallel with the analysis of mortality from tumors reinforces the importance of the impact of AIDS mortality.


We report reversible switching of oxazine, cyanine, and rhodamine dyes by a nanoporous antimony-doped tin oxide electrode that enables single-molecule (SM) imaging of electrochemical activity. Since the emissive state of each fluorophore is modulated by electrochemical potential, the number of emitting single molecules follows a sigmoid function during a potential scan, and we thus optically determine the formal redox potential of each dye. We find that the presence of redox mediators (phenazine methosulfate and riboflavin) functions as an electrochemical switch on each dye's emissive state and observe significantly altered electrochemical potential and kinetics. We are therefore able to measure optically how redox mediators and the solid-state electrode modulate the redox state of fluorescent molecules, which follows an electrocatalytic (EC') mechanism, with SM sensitivity over a 900 µm 2 field of view. Our observations indicate that redox mediator-assisted SM electrochemical imaging (SMEC) could be potentially used to sense any electroactive species. Combined with SM blinking and localization microscopy, SMEC imaging promises to resolve the nanoscale spatial distributions of