An organically pyridyl-grafted Anderson-type POM complex (TBA–Py–MnMo6) bearing counterions of tetrabutylammonium (TBA) was found to form supramolecular gels instantaneously through mixing with appropriate dicarboxylic acid additives in acetonitrile. In the gelation process, TBA–Py–MnMo6 was confirmed to self-assemble into supramolecular polymer chains through unidirectional hydrogen bonding between the pyridyl groups of POMs and the carboxylic groups of dicarboxylic acids, which drove the complexes into one-dimensional fibers. The fibers were demonstrated to further intertwine together through the lateral hydrogen bonding between polymer chains under the support of excess acid, forming three-dimensional networks. The distance between TBA–Py–MnMo6 units secluded by dicarboxylic acid was proved to be a criterion for the formation of gels, which is related to the TBA density along the supramolecular polymer chains and the solvent–fiber interfacial energy. The gelation behaviour of the hybrid POM complex can be simply controlled through adjusting the length of dicarboxylic acids. More interestingly, the POM hybrid gels exhibited a quick response to organic bases and diacids reversibly.


The tide ligand (H2L) and its complex [CdL(py)2]py (L= C12H9N3OS dianionic) have been synthesized and characterized. The complex structure determination indicates that Cd( Ⅱ ) atom has a distorted octahedral coordination geometry. As an unusual tetradentate ligand, one L2- chelates one Cd( Ⅱ ) atom using the 0, S atoms and one N atom of the hydrazino group while its another N atom links to the neighbouring Cd atom. The bridging hydrazono groups extend the compound into a catena chain. The naphthoxy rings of each neighbouring unit are alternatively arranged at opposite sides of the chain, and the ring planes on the same side are parallel.


Although culturally diverse students have potential to create enriched learning resources, it is difficult to harness students' agency and to aggregate individual contributions into a meaningful learning resource. This is one of the challenges facing higher education institutions in South Africa where institutions are increasingly cosmopolitan and culturally diverse, but production of knowledge has largely remained skewed in favour of those students with unlimited access to learning resources, the Internet and peer networks, anywhere, anytime. Although the appropriation of emerging technologies such as mobile phones has enabled a digital sharing culture, this social practice has not been harnessed for co-creation of learning resources. This article reports on a study that sought to uncover the extent to which the use of WhatsApp-enabled phones facilitated the co-creation of learning resources in a human resource management programme at a university of technology in South Africa. The article employed Amartya Sen's capabilities framework to analyse WhatsApp interactions of 72 participants from underprivileged backgrounds. The article concludes that leveraging students' capabilities, including rich culturally diverse knowledge, is not a mere outcome of access to a tool such as WhatsApp, but requires pedagogical designs that exploit the affordances of the tool.


Todays' market is ruled by several mobile devices applications for all types of proposes. Still, for many destinations, it lacks applications that work in an integrated way, combining cooperative mechanisms that allow the effective support the wide range of tourists need when they visit a destination. Many applications, currently available, to the tourism industry are limited in content and cultural offerings, and commercial applications only communicate with their partners and have no cultural content. This paper presents a framework of a mobile application implementation to support the tourist information needs when tourists are visiting the Portuguese city of Mirandela in which interest points are combined with commercial content. The presented model allows the tourist to have only one application that integrates the contents that he wishes/subscribes, both cultural and commercial, creating a parametrizable universal profile that can be accessed by any of the entities in the system. This approach will benefit both tourists and entities involved. This will also allow increasing the dissemination of regional products and/or services and thereby increase their market potential and consequently their sales.


The specificity of the sugar transport system of the hamster small intestine was tested with 20 sugars and sugar derivatives not previously tested in this system. The absorption of sugars across the intestinal wall against a concentration gradient was tested with the everted sac technique in vitro . 3-Deoxyglucose, 4-0-methylgalactose, 6-deoxy-6-fluoroglucose and α-methylglucoside were transported while a variety of other sugars were not. From the data derived from the study of a total of 49 sugars tested in this system, certain generalizations are made as to the structural limitations of the sugar-absorbing capacity of the hamster intestine.


A series of novel thermosensitive macroporous poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG)-co-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm)-co-poly (e-caprolactone) (PCL) hydrogels were synthesized via in situ free radical polymerization. Poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate) (PEGDAc) and poly(e-caprolactone diacrylate) (PCLDAc) were prepared as macrocrosslinkers. All compounds were investigated by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) results showed the lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs) of the gels were at around 31°C. The macroporous gels not only had considerable swelling ratios, but also exhibited rapid swelling kinetics and response sensitivity. Above mentioned hydrogels showed a remarkable oscillatory swelling–deswelling transition, making them have potential application in long-term drug delivery. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:223–230, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers


The identification of the link between breast cancer and estrogens has led to the development of antiestrogens, in particular tamoxifen, to inhibit the activities of estrogen receptors (ERs) in breast cancer cells. The clinical use of tamoxifen has played a major part in decreasing breast cancer mortality over the past 30 years. Though antiestrogenic in the breast, some antiestrogens have estrogen-like actions in other tissues, acting to promote bone density and protect against cardiovascular disease, thus raising the possibility of their use in counteracting the effects of estrogen loss following menopause. Moreover, antiestrogens show efficacy as chemopreventive agents in women at high risk of developing breast cancer. Thus, antiestrogens define an important and well-understood class of cancer drug, which continue to be a mainstay in breast cancer treatment.


This paper was presented as the Eighth Annual Lecture of the Association of University Administrators on 12 October 2005 at the CBI Conference Centre, London


This paper presents a methodological approach for the semiautomatic refinement and assessment of subgroup patterns using summarization and clustering techniques in the context of intelligent data mining systems. The method provides the suppression of irrelevant (and redundant) patterns and facilitates the intelligent refinement of groups of similar patterns. Furthermore, the presented approach features intuitive visual representations of the relations between the patterns, and appropriate techniques for their inspection and evaluation.


Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have received increasing attention for representation learning in various machine learning tasks. However, most existing GNNs applying neighborhood aggregation usually perform poorly on the graph with heterophily where adjacent nodes belong to different classes. In this paper, we show that in typical heterphilous graphs, the edges may be directed, and whether to treat the edges as is or simply make them undirected greatly affects the performance of the GNN models. Furthermore, due to the limitation of heterophily, it is highly beneficial for the nodes to aggregate messages from similar nodes beyond local neighborhood.These motivate us to develop a model that adaptively learns the directionality of the graph, and exploits the underlying long-distance correlations between nodes. We first generalize the graph Laplacian to digraph based on the proposed Feature-Aware PageRank algorithm, which simultaneously considers the graph directionality and long-distance feature similarity between nodes. Then digraph Laplacian defines a graph propagation matrix that leads to a model called {\em DiglacianGCN}. Based on this, we further leverage the node proximity measured by commute times between nodes, in order to preserve the nodes' long-distance correlation on the topology level. Extensive experiments on ten datasets with different levels of homophily demonstrate the effectiveness of our method over existing solutions in the task of node classification.


This paper describes our deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage and Fenton activity studies on Cr(IV) that were undertaken to examine a role of Cr(IV) in the biochemical mechanism of genotoxicity of Cr(VI) compounds. A Cr(IV)-containing compound, a Cr(IV)-ester, was synthesized and used as the first model compound for Cr(IV) studies. Electron spin resonance measurements demonstrated that in the presence of H2O2, this Cr(IV) compound acts as a potent Fenton-like reagent, i.e., it generates OH radical and a Cr(V) species (g = 1.9787) via: Cr(IV) + H2O2-->Cr(V) + OH + OH-. Measurements of OH yield as a function of H2O2 concentration showed that Cr(IV) is more potent than Cr(V) in generating OH. DNA damage assays demonstrate that Cr(IV) and the Cr(IV)/H2O2-generated OH radical can cause DNA strand breaks. The DNA damage caused by OH radical can be effectively blocked by OH radical scavengers. These results thus constitute the first direct evidence for DNA damage by Cr(IV) and Cr(IV)-mediated Fenton-like reaction and support the conjecture that Cr(IV) plays a significant role in the biochemical mechanism of the genotoxic reactions of Cr(VI) compounds and that this effect can be modulated by suitable antiradical agents.


Introduction: Hip joint fracture-dislocations are rare injuries and usually result from high energy trauma. Femoral head fractures account for only 7–16% of all hip fracture-dislocations. There is always a controversy regarding optimal surgical treatment modality and approach for the treatment of Pipkin type IV fractures. In a 60 years old individual, various reports favor primary hip arthroplasty as compared to open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF). The posterior approach is preferred because it provides adequate exposure of the acetabular fracture and an opportunity for simultaneous repair of the femoral head and acetabular fractures. Another benefit is that anterior vascular supply to the femoral head and abductor function can be preserved. Case Report: In this case report, we present a neglected 15 days old rare injury (Pipkin type IV femoral head fracture) in a 60 years old male patient that was given a trial of hip preservation surgery by ORIF through posterior (Kocher-Langenbeck) approach. Conclusion: A neglected case of Pipkin type IV injury with chances of avascular necrosis and arthritis can be given a trial of hip preservation surgery because in an Indian scenario sitting cross legged and squatting are indispensable activities of daily lifestyle and appropriate surgical technique, adequate exposure, anatomic reduction, and stable internal fixation of the fractures are critical to achieve satisfactory clinical results.


Iran is one of the origins of some Salicornia species. Nevertheless, so far, comprehensive research has not been conducted on genetic potential, distribution, selection of populations, and the economic utilization of Salicornia in Iran. In the current study, Salicornia was collected based on the previous research locations available on 26 different geographical locations of provinces in Iran. Subsequently, an accurate model was provided for identifying of Salicornia species biodiversity by performing spatial analysis and modeling of distributed areas. The results provided valuable information on the diversity of specific geographical regions, conservation status of existing species, prioritization of conservation areas, and selection of areas for Agro-Ecological, leading to the development of industrial agriculture. Further, we validated genes in the field of DNA barcoding in Salicornia plants using matK, rbcL, trnH-psbA, ycf and ITS2 identifying species groups. Together, integrating our results will provide useful information for the management and utilization of Salicornia genetic resources in Iran.


This article deals with issues relating to the literary corpus of George of Laodicea. A brief description of the known contents of George's corpus is provided at the outset in order to correct incomplete or inaccurate lists that appear elsewhere. Two topics are then discussed in more detail. First, reports about George's lost anti-Manichaean treatise are examined in order to further our understanding of him and his place in the fourth-century Church. It is suggested that he is one of the founders of the Christian anti-Manichean tradition. Second, in response to recent denials of his authorship of the Homoiousian letter written in the summer of 359 on the part of Jeffrey Steenson, Winrich Lohr, and Xavier Morales, it is argued that George played the primary role in its composition.


Ammonia commonly is present at detectable concentrations in overlying and interstitial water in solid-phase sediment toxicity tests. There are scenarios in which it is desirable to discern ammonia toxicity from that caused by other contaminants. The objective of this study was to verify the technical basis for defining the bioavailability of ammonia in solid-phase sediment toxicity tests based on interstitial-(pore-) water concentrations of the compound. We compared the toxicity of ammonia in spiked-sediment versus water-only exposures with the oligochaete Lumbriculus variegatus, the midge Chironomus tentans, and the amphipod Hyalella azteca. Sediment exposures were conducted in a test system that enabled the maintenance of target concentrations of ammonia in pore water, while keeping overlying water concentrations of the compound below potential effect levels. To enable direct comparison of the water-only and sediment exposures, the same test conditions (including pH) were used for each. There was good correspondence between the LC50 values of water-only tests and spiked-sediment toxicity tests for both L. variegatus and C. tentans. Hyalella azteca apparently avoided the spiked sediments and was frequently observed in the less contaminated overlying water, thus limiting the evaluation of a pore-water exposure model for the amphipod. Overall, at least for some benthic species, ammonia bioavailability and toxicity can be accurately predicted from pore-water concentrations of the compound; however, the model maybe less robust for more epibenthic organisms, such as H. azteca.


This paper, and the two which will follow it (1, 2), deal with the intestinal mode of acute radiation death. Some new observations will be presented. However, this paper is mainly concerned with the relations between observed facts. It is an attempt to give a coherent account of one mode of radiation death, studied at various levels of organization from the cell to the whole organism. We shall try to identify the critical event on the cellular level; to trace its effects through the biology of the tissue involved, the intestinal epithelium; to relate the tissue changes to responses of the whole intestine; and to see in what manner the organ changes are responsible for the death of the whole animal. The picture is rough and unfinished in spots, but it leads to an interpretation which, though tentative, is unified. Some years ago, ''acute radiation death'' was, to most investigators, simply that mode of death which occurs after whole-body irradiation with X-rays or c-rays, with doses in the neighborhood of the LD50. This has changed. Since investigations have been extended to wider dosage domains, more species, a wider range of conditions, and, in particular, since it has become possible to prevent marrow death by specific treatments, other modes of radiation death have grown in importance. This has created a need for more precise concepts. A particular mode of acute radiation death occurs if a particular component of the acute radiation syndrome is severe enough to cause death. The isolation of a particular process can be difficult. Any mode can be expressed only if not masked by another lethal process. A faster process masks a slower one; a more sensitive process, a less sensitive one. For instance, death due to late changes of the central nervous system cannot be observed after wholebody irradiation; it is masked by marrow death. Therapeutic measures, or modifications of the radiation conditions, may unmask modes of radiation death which are not expressed under standard conditions. For instance, oral radiation death can be unmasked by treatment with spleen, or by regional irradiation. Use of fast neutrons brings out a mode of death which is recessive after treatment with X-rays and c-rays (3–6). Under the conditions most commonly used, marrow death masks all other modes (7).


The branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are required for protein synthesis and neurotransmitter synthesis. The branched-chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase complex (BCKDC) is the most important regulatory enzyme in the catabolic pathways of the BCAAs. Activity of the complex is controlled by covalent modification with phosphorylation of its branched-chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase subunits by a specific kinase [branched-chain kinase (BDK)] causing inactivation and dephosphorylation by a specific phosphatase [branched-chain phosphatase (BDP)] causing activation. Tight control of BCKDC activity is important for conserving as well as disposing of BCAAs. Phosphorylation of the complex occurs when there is a need to conserve BCAAs for protein synthesis; dephosphorylation occurs when BCAAs are present in excess. The relative activities of BDK and BDP set the activity state of BCKDC. BDK activity is regulated by alpha-ketoisocaproate inhibition and altered level of expression. Less is known about BDP but a novel mitochondrial phosphatase was identified recently that may contribute to the regulation of BCKDC. Reduced capacity to oxidize BCAAs, as in maple syrup urine disease, results in excess BCAAs in the blood and profound neurological dysfunction and brain damage. In contrast, loss of control of BCAA oxidation results in growth impairment and epileptic-like seizures. These findings emphasize the importance of control of BCAA catabolism for normal neurological function. It is proposed that the safe upper limit of dietary BCAA intake could be established with a BCAA tolerance test and clamp protocol.


We investigated alcohol-induced hangovers among college men at high and low risk for alcoholism. Thirteen sons of alcoholics reported significantly (p less than 0.001) greater hangover symptoms in the past year than 25 sons of nonalcoholics. The two groups reported comparable quantity-frequency of recent drinking. To the extent that hangover represents an acute withdrawal syndrome to alcohol, this raises the question of whether sons of alcoholics are "dependence-prone."


The deployment of wireless sensor networks in many application areas requires self organization of the network nodes into clusters. The clustering Algorithm is a kind of key technique used to reduce energy consumption. Efficient way to enhance the lifetime of the system is to partition the network into distinct clusters with a high energy node as cluster head. The different methods of node clustering techniques have appeared in the literature. In this article we propose a new protocol called Balanced and Centralized Distributed Energy Efficient Clustering scheme for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (BCDEEC), which the Base Station ensure that the high energy nodes becoming a gateways and cluster heads to improve network lifetime and average energy savings. Once the cluster heads and associated clusters are created, cluster-head-to-gateway routing is used to transfer the data to the base station to reduce the energy consumption of cluster head and decrease probability of failure nodes. Finally, the simulation results show that BCDEEC is more energy efficient and is more effective in prolonging the network life time and prolong the time interval before the death of the first node than current important clustering protocols in heterogeneous environments.


We examine the relationship between job characteristics and employee attitudes in the context of temporary employees who are assigned to work at the client organizations but are formally employed by a temporary agency. Based on the rationale provided by social exchange and social identity theories, we hypothesized that job characteristics would be related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention in regard to both the client organization and the temporary agency. Results based on data collected from a large temporary agency supported all hypothesized relationships in regard to the client organization, and most hypothesized relationships in regard to the temporary agency. We discuss implications of these findings for research and the practice of managing temporary employee attitudes.


We report our experience of the treatment of a 60-year-old man with upper tracheal fistula which developed on the 11th day after radical surgery for esophageal cancer. Primary treatment to close the fistula was unsuccessful, resulting in the involvement of empyema due to infection. Controlled ventilation with T-tube and drainage through a chest tube for 2 months lead to depuration of the thoracic cavity. As a strategy for secondary closure of the fistula, fenestration was performed on the 87th day postoperatively. The patient's overall condition improved thereafter and closure was being considered. However, the patient died on the 116th day postoperatively due to supervenient aspiration pneumonia. Thus, long-term controlled ventilation with a T-tube was beneficial for the treatment of central airway injury.


Development of efficacious therapeutic strategies to prevent and inhibit the occurrences of restenosis after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty is critical for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. In this study, the feasibility and efficiency of stents coated with dodecylated chitosan–plasmid DNA nanoparticles (DCDNPs) were evaluated as scaffolds for localized and prolonged delivery of reporter genes into the diseased blood vessel wall. Dodecylated chitosan–plasmid DNA complexes formed stable positive charged nanospheres with mean diameter of approximately 90–180 nm and zeta potential of +28 ± 3 mV. As prepared DCDNPs were spray-coated on stents, a thin layer of dense DCDNPs was successfully distributed onto the metal struts of the endovascular stents as demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy. The DCDNP stents were characterized for the release kinetics of plasmid DNA, and further evaluated for gene delivery and expression both in vitro and in vivo. In cell culture, DCDNP stents containing plasmid EGFP-C1 exhibited high level of GFP expression in cells grown on the stent surface and along the adjacent area. In animal studies, reporter gene activity was observed in the region of the artery in contact with the DCDNP stents, but not in adjacent arterial segments or distal organs. The DCDNP stent provides a very promising strategy for cardiovascular gene therapy.


This study analyzed the changes in the concentrations of the pollutants of constructed treatment wetlands which come from the discharge water of a sewage treatment plant. According to the results of budgets in constructed wetlands, the net production of the organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus were 368 kgC/month, 306 kgN/month and –49 kgP/month, respectively. The high particle form of pollutants are mostly removed due to settlement and absorption when passing through wetlands, but because a low processing efficiency for pollutants was shown when sewage treatment plant wastewater flows in, there is a need for a water management system that can reduce the organic matter load through monitoring. The low removal efficiency of constructed wetlands were caused by both structural and operational problems. Therefore, to enable to play a role as a reduction facility of pollutants, an appropriate design and operation manuals for constructed wetlands is urgently needed.


In this contribution we have used green metrics analysis to compare the material efficiency, environmental impact, and safety-hazard impact in order to compare flow and batch procedures for azidation of α,β-unsaturated carbonyls. It has been proved that flow protocols possess a greener profile over the corresponding batch procedures based on identical chemistries. In this work the new flow procedure described is very efficient; however, the significant uncertainties in the environmental and safety-hazard impact scores are due to the lack of toxicity, hazard, and occupational exposure data available on trimethylsilyl azide and the resin catalysts used here. The results for the new flow procedure show significant and definite improvements over previously published work with respect to waste minimization/material efficiency and are consistent with satisfying green chemistry principles. The results obtained in this work prove the usefulness of our flow-approach for realizing highly efficient processes featuring minimal waste production.


Greig cephalopolysyndactyly syndrome (GCPS) is typically characterized by preaxial or mixed preaxial and postaxial polydactyly with or without syndactyly and craniofacial features including hypertelorism and macrocephaly. Although GLI3 shows considerable pleiotropy, it is the only gene known to cause this particular phenotype. We report on a patient with GCPS caused by a novel GLI3 mutation. In addition, the patient had asymmetry of the calf muscles, most likely secondary to chronic hypertrophic radiculopathy. The GLI3 mutation identified by targeted Sanger sequencing analysis in our patient is predicted to lead to premature termination of translation. This is the first report of a Cypriot patient with a GCPS because of a novel GLI3 mutation. The report provides additional evidence in support of the rich variability in phenotypic expression, the mutational heterogeneity and ethnic diversity associated with this rare condition.


We report the case of a 50-year-old man who exhibited transient left hemiparesis (Todd's paralysis) after electroconvulsive therapy, which completely resolved within 10 minutes. Subsequent neurological evaluation was unremarkable for discrete etiologies for this event, other than Todd's paralysis. We review the literature of this phenomenon in association with electroconvulsive therapy.


The color of thalli of the red alga Chondrus crispus is determined by the photosynthetic pigments chlorophyll and phycoerythrin. When the phycoerythrin-to-chlorophyll ratio is high, the thalli are red. Exposure to high-intensity sunlight reduces the phycoerythrin content so that the thalli become green The seasonal dependence of these color changes was investigated in several natural habitats as were the role of depth and the presence or absence of overstory vegetation.


The author starts by treating the general epistemological problems inherent to research and emphasizes that all investigation takes place between two poles: a creative pole and one that is defensive in relation to the unknown and formlessness. In the psychosomatic field, an additional difficulty resides in the western dualistic vision of the relationship between psyche and soma which influences our way of thinking about the body as well as about otherness. The author continues by exploring Pierre Marty's psychosomatic model. Its psychosomatic monism is revolutionary but incomplete and creates a distance with the other, the somatizing patient, resulting in a medically oriented nosology symptomatic of the impossibility to think about some of the most important aspects of counter-transference. With the help of clinical material, the author considers these unthought aspects and some of their theoretical implications, particularly the way of understanding the negative often so prevalent with these patients. Based on these reflections as well as Freud's on beyond the pleasure principle and Winnicott's theorization on the fear of breakdown, the author suggests some directions for research. Somatic illness might occur when the attempts at filling the cracks created by a breakdown are unsuccessful.


Mechanical trauma to the spinal cord causes extensive neuronal death, contributing to the loss of sensory-motor and autonomic functions below the injury location. Apoptosis affects neurons after spinal cord injury (SCI) and is associated with increased caspase activity. Cleavage of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) after SCI may contribute to this rise in caspase activity. Accordingly, we have shown that the elevation of XIAP resulted in increased neuronal survival after SCI and improved functional recovery. Therefore, we hypothesise that neuronal overexpression of XIAP can be neuroprotective after SCI with improved functional recovery. In line with this, studies of a transgenic mice with overexpression of XIAP in neurons revealed that higher levels of XIAP after spinal cord trauma favours neuronal survival, tissue preservation, and motor recovery after the spinal cord trauma. Using human SH-SY5Y cells overexpressing XIAP, we further showed that XIAP reduced caspase activity and apoptotic cell death after pro-apoptotic stimuli. In conclusion, this study shows that the levels of XIAP expression are an important factor for the outcome of spinal cord trauma and identifies XIAP as an important therapeutic target for alleviating the deleterious effects of SCI.


Abstract This paper explores the formative role of substances of intoxication in the social and scientific establishment of the biological subject in late nineteenth-century Germany. Sourcing the emergence of substances of intoxication as "vital substances" from Brunonianism, this narrative traces their initial significance for Romantic physiology, followed by their rejection from neo-mechanical scientific physiology. Emphasis is placed on late nineteenth-century psychological research on the effects of intoxicants on the mind as the site of a dynamic encounter between theories of the mind and the body, particularly through Kraepelin's concept of intoxication as model psychosis, and his related research. The biological subject, here, is anti-vitalistic, and, yet, conceptually distinct from neo-mechanism.


Recently, end-to-end (E2E) models become a competitive alternative to the conventional hybrid automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. However, they still suffer from speaker mismatch in training and testing condition. In this paper, we use Speech-Transformer (ST) as the study platform to investigate speaker aware training of E2E models. We propose a model called Speaker-Aware Speech-Transformer (SAST), which is a standard ST equipped with a speaker attention module (SAM). The SAM has a static speaker knowledge block (SKB) that is made of i-vectors. At each time step, the encoder output attends to the i-vectors in the block, and generates a weighted combined speaker embedding vector, which helps the model to normalize the speaker variations. The SAST model trained in this way becomes independent of specific training speakers and thus generalizes better to unseen testing speakers. We investigate different factors of SAM. Experimental results on the AISHELL-1 task show that SAST achieves a relative 6.5% CER reduction (CERR) over the speaker-independent (SI) baseline. Moreover, we demonstrate that SAST still works quite well even if the i-vectors in SKB all come from a different data source other than the acoustic training set.


Background: Osteoporosis is common among women which may be mostly due to the low intake of calcium. This article reports the development, cultural adaptation and psychometric properties of a Calcium Intake Questionnaire based on the social cognitive theory (CIQ-SCT)among Iranian women. Methods: In 2016, this cross-sectional study was carried out among 400 younger than 50 years old women in Isfahan, Iran. After literature review, a preliminary 35-item questionnaire was developed. Then, forward-backward translation and cultural adaptation of the tool was conducted. Content Validity Index confirmed by an expert panel and Face Validity was evaluated in a pilot study. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA &CFA) were conducted on the calibration and validation sample, respectively. Reliability was also assessed using internal consistency test. Results: After determining content and face validity, 20 items with 5 factors (self-efficacy,outcome expectations, social support and self-regulation) were obtained. Cronbach alpha for the instrument was found to be 0.901. In EFA, we identified a 4-factor model with a total variance of 72.3%. The results related to CFA (CMIN/DF=1.850, CFI =0.946, TLI=0.938, RMSEA=0.069[90% CI: 0.057-0.081]) indicated that the model was fit to the social cognitive theory. Self regulation was detected as the best predictor for calcium intake. Conclusion: The CIQ-SCT showed acceptable levels of reliability and validity in explaining the calcium intake based on the constructs of social cognitive theory. Further psychometric testing is recommended in different population to approve the external validity of the instrument.


This paper estimates the cost of inadequate potable water, sanitation and hygiene, outdoor air pollution, and cropland degradation in 16 countries of the Arab League. Estimated annual cost was equivalent to 3.4 percent of the countries' GDP in 2008, averaging 3.1 percent of GDP in the 10 countries with the highest GDP per capita and 8.7 percent of GDP in the 6 countries with the lowest GDP per capita. Cost as a percent of GDP declines by 0.6 percent per one percent increase in GDP per capita across the 16 countries. This association is primarily driven by the cost of inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene, to a much lesser extent by the cost of land degradation, and to no statistically significant extent by the cost of outdoor air pollution. Costs of other forms of environmental degradation are also likely to be substantial in at least some of the countries as evidenced by the METAP/World Bank cost of environmental degradation studies from 2002-2004 and reports from recent household surveys of high prevalence of household use of solid fuels, and thus household air pollution, in five of the six countries with the lowest GDP per capita.


Knowledge about the thermal biology of heterothermic marsupials in their native habitats is scarce. We aimed to examine torpor patterns in the free-ranging western pygmy-possum (Cercartetus concinnus), a small marsupial found in cool temperate and semi-arid habitat in southern Australia and known to express aseasonal hibernation in captivity. Temperature telemetry revealed that during two consecutive winters four out of seven animals in a habitat with Mediterranean climate used both short ( 24 h) torpor bouts (duration 6.4 ± 5.4 h and 89.7 ± 45.9 h, respectively). Torpor patterns were highly flexible among individuals, but low ambient temperatures facilitated torpor. Maximum torpor bout duration was 186.0 h and the minimum body temperature measured was 4.1°C. Individuals using short bouts entered torpor before sunrise at the end of the active phase, whereas those using prolonged torpor entered in the early evening after sunset. Rewarming from torpor usually occurred shortly after midday, when daily ambient temperature increased. We present the first quantitative data on a marsupial species expressing opportunistic hibernation during winter in the wild, and show that torpor use in C. concinnus is strongly influenced by small-scale microclimatic conditions.


For $1<p<\infty$, we prove the $L^p$-boundedness of the Riesz transform operators on metric measure spaces with Riemannian Ricci curvature bounded from below, without any restriction on their dimension. This large class of spaces include e.g. that of Hilbert spaces endowed with a log-concave probability measure. As a consequence, we extend the range of the validity of the Lusin-type approximation of Sobolev by Lipschitz functions, previously obtained by L. Ambrosio, E. Bru\`e and the third author in the quadratic case, i.e. $p=2$. The proofs are analytic and rely on computations on an explicit Bellman function.


A question-answering system for data-base interfaces is presented which uses psychological similarity between data. The similarity relationships between data are derived from a data base that is based on a set-theoretic model of psychological similarity. These relationships are represented in the computer as a network. The generalization function enables propagation of information obtained from user similarity responses over the network. Using the generalization function, the computer determines the generic kind of question it should next pose to the user. Through this question-answering process, the knowledge-based system aids the user in specifying requests for relevant data, as well as in retrieving data from the data base. Finally, the system presented here is applied to a chemical data base, and the results of the question-answering process with the implemented system are discussed.


Experimental visible-light curing resins were prepared by the combination of dl-camphorquinone and a thiobarbituric acid derivative, such as 5-methyl-2-thiobarbituric acid (5 MS), 5-n-butyl-2-thiobarbituric acid (5 BS), and 1,3,5-trimethyl-2-thiobarbituric acid (135 MS). The ability of their initiator systems to polymerize resins was investigated and was also compared with that of initiator systems containing 5-n-butyl-barbituric acid (5 B) or N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) as the most popular reducing agent. The amount of insufficiently polymerized layer was small in 135 MS at a low concentration, and in DMAEMA at a high concentration, respectively. 135 MS was superior to DMAEMA in curing time, maximum exothermic rate and depth of cure at a concentration of 1.0 mole%. 135 MS, therefore, seemed comparable or superior to DMAEMA. The order of increasing activity as a reducing agent was 5 BS less than 5 MS less than DMAEMA less than or equal to 135 MS. When analogous 5 B and 5 BS were compared, the sulfur-containing 5 BS was more effective as a reducing agent.


In this paper, we extend a cellular-automata model recently proposed by Baek et al. to simulate traffic dynamics of the bi-direction pedestrians. And we present two improved strategies for the moving rules of the pedestrians. Numerical studies of average velocity-density diagram, spatial density distribution and position distribution of the pedestrians are given. We find that the two improved strategies can not only increase the average velocity of pedestrian flow, but also improve the utilization of the road, especially for the central region, reduce the degree of congestion, and avoid the occurrence of serious congestion. The two improved strategies have more comprehensive considerations of psychological and behavioral characteristics of pedestrians, which are also proper to simulate bi-directional pedestrian dynamics under a high traffic density.


Recent technological advancements in small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have led to the development of companion UAVs. Similar to conventional companion robots, companion UAVs have the potential to assist us in our daily lives and to help alleviating social loneliness issue. In contrast to ground companion robots, companion UAVs have the capability to fly and possess unique interaction characteristics. Our goals in this work are to have a bird's-eye view of the companion UAV works and to identify lessons learned and guidelines for the design of companion UAVs. We tackle two major challenges towards these goals, where we first use a coordinated way to gather top-quality human-drone interaction (HDI) papers from three sources, and then propose to use a perceptual map of UAVs to summarize current research efforts in HDI. While being simple, the proposed perceptual map can cover the efforts have been made to realize companion UAVs in a comprehensive manner and lead our discussion coherently. We also discuss patterns we noticed in the literature and some lessons learned throughout the review. In addition, we recommend several areas that are worth exploring and suggest a few guidelines to enhance HDI researches with companion UAVs.


Most of the institutions included education institutions heavily rely on networks to distribute information and to get job done. Polytechnic Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin (PTSS) is one of the educational institution that used network for educational and for effectiveness of institution operational. However, the effectiveness of PTSS operational was disturbed due to the network performance become slowly. To maintain the effectiveness, it is important to monitor how the network system working and used by users. The early observation found that, one of the possible problems impacts the network performance is users bad behavior. To overcome the problems, Cymphonix network monitoring tool used in this study to monitor the network. This study only focuses on network VLAN 20. Monitoring was done during five working days in semester study within office working hours. The main data capture from monitoring tool used in this study are total Internet traffic, application bandwidth and types of application that appear in the network VLAN 20. The data captured were analyzed to identify the Internet application types and relate it to the behavior of the network users. Result from the study indicates that Internet application traffic in network VLAN 20 is fluctuating for every day. Most of the traffic is from HTTP application. Main activities of users in network VLAN 20 is only web browsing and download files. Moreover, the traffic of application that can causes of network performance become slow such as P2P and streaming media are not much consume the range of bandwidth. This is shows that behavior of the users in network VLAN 20 is not main factors that cause network performance in PTSS slow. However, there are some further studies required to identify main causes that contribute to the network problems in PTSS such as used other type of tool that enable to capture all the uncategorized traffic and study on other VLAN network in PTSS to evaluate whether users in that VLAN network causes negative impact to the performance of network in PTSS.


Background In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), tendon pathology is a well-recognized, but underestimated aspect of the disease, which may lead to irreversible functional impairment and consequent disability. Clinical joint examination is less time-consuming than ultrasound (US) but it may misdiagnosis tenosynovitis (TS). Objectives The aim of this study was to compare clinical assessment of tenosynovitis detection with US examination. Methods A cross sectional study was performed including patients followed-up for active recent RA (RA <2 years, DAS28 >2,6). Clinical examination was performed by a rheumatologist seeking signs suggestive of flexor of extensor TS. US was performed by an experienced radiologist blinded to clinical data. All tendons of the hands were scanned in the transverse view from the more proximal to the more distal portion at the tracts surrounded by synovial sheath. Totally 140 hands were assessed. Results of clinical examination were compared to US findings. The difference is considered significant if the P>0,05. Results Seventy patients were recruited, (56 females, 14 males). The mean age was 53 years-old [24-74 years-old]. The mean duration of the disease was 10 months [3-24 months]. The RA was active with a median DAS28 5,46 ranging from 2,91 to 7,81. Physical examination highlighted TS in 53 (38%) hands, it was bilateral in 50%. Flexor tendons were the most affected (52 hands). Both flexor and extensor tendons were detected affected in 4 hands. US showed TS in 89 (65%) patients. Flexor tendons showed US activity in 80 hands and extensor tendons in 78 hands. US revealed a significant high frequency of TS over clinical examination (p=0,02). The sensitivity of US to detect TS was 80.3% and the specificity was 50,4%. Conclusions The rationale of using US relies on the fact that physical examination provides only limited information on the presence of tenosynovitis. Since TS can be source of functional disagreement, US should be focused, in addition to analyze synovitis, on tendons in RA. References Emilio Filippucci, Alessandra Gabba and al. Hand Tendon Involvement in Rheumatoid Arthritis: An Ultrasound Study. Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism 2012;41:752-60. Backhaus M, Kamradt T and al. Arthritis of the finger joints: a comprehensive approach comparing conventional radiography, scintigraphy, ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. Arthritis Rhem. 1999;42:1232-45. Szkularek M, Court-Payen M and al. Interobserver agreement in ultrasonography of the finger and toe joints in rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum.2003;48:955-62. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Previous studies have shown that there is considerable population structure in cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), with the strongest structure corresponding to differences in row number and growth habit. U.S. barley breeding programs include six-row and two-row types and winter and spring types in all combinations. To facilitate mapping of complex traits in breeding germplasm, 1816 barley lines from 10 U.S. breeding programs were scored with 1536 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping assays. The number of SNPs segregating within breeding programs varied from 854 to 1398. Model-based analysis of population structure showed the expected clustering by row type and growth habit; however, there was additional structure, some of which corresponded to the breeding programs. The model that fi t the data best had seven populations: three two-row spring, two six-row spring, and two six-row winter. Average linkage disequilibrium (LD) within populations decayed over a distance of 20 to 30 cM, but some populations showed long-range LD suggestive of admixture. Genetic distance (allele-sharing) between populations varied from 0.11 (six-row spring vs. six-row spring) to 0.45 (two-row spring vs. six-row spring). Analyses of pairwise LD revealed that the phase of allelic associations was not well correlated between populations, particularly when their allele-sharing distance was >0.2. These results suggest that pooling divergent barley populations for purposes of association mapping may be inadvisable.


Although physician alcohol use that leads to impairment has been extensively discussed, few statements address the issue of alcohol use of physicians who are on call. In this paper the authors review recent information on physicians' perceptions of alcohol use by themselves and their colleagues while on call. It is argued that conflicts in physicians' perceptions are due to the fact that the larger society has not addressed the question of whether drinking on call is public or private behaviour. The authors argue that when medicine is understood as a practice defined partly in terms of standards of excellence, the present approach of the American Medical Association to prohibit practicing medicine under the influence of alcohol requires a prohibition of drinking alcohol while on call, unless studies determine a clear threshold for drinking alcohol without placing patients at risk.


This paper presents a computational model to study ion and electron transportation and current-voltage characteristics inside a methane-oxygen flame. A commercial software is used to develop the model by splitting the simulation into the combustion and electrochemical transportation parts. A laboratory experiment is used to compare the results from the model. The initial and boundary conditions represented in the model are similar to the experimental conditions in the laboratory experiment.
 In the combustion part, the general GRI3.0 mechanism plus three additional ionization reactions are applied and results are then used as input into the electrochemical transportation part. A particular inspection line is created to analyze the results of the electrochemical transportation part. Ion, electron number density, and current density are studied along the interval from −40V to 40V electric potential. The ions are heavier and more difficult to move than electrons. The results show that at both torch and work surfaces charged sheaths are formed and cause three different regions of current-voltage relations.


CD4+Foxp3+ regulatory T (T reg) cells play an essential role in maintaining immunological tolerance via their suppressive function on conventional CD4+ T (Tconv) cells. Repertoire studies suggest that distinct T cell receptor signaling pathways lead to T reg differentiation, but the signals that regulate T reg specification are largely unknown. We identify AKT as a strong repressor of entry into the T reg phenotype in vitro and in vivo. A constitutively active allele of AKT substantially diminished TGF-β–induced Foxp3 expression in a kinase-dependent manner and via a rapamycin-sensitive pathway, implicating the AKT–mammalian target of rapamycin axis. The observed impairment in Foxp3 induction was part of a broad dampening of the typical T reg transcriptional signature. Expression of active AKT at a stage before Foxp3 turn on during normal T reg differentiation in the thymus selectively impaired differentiation of CD4+Foxp3+ cells without any alteration in the positive selection of Tconv. Activated AKT, in contrast, did not affect established Foxp3 expression in T reg cells. These results place AKT at a nexus of signaling pathways whose proper activation has a strong and broad impact on the onset of T reg specification.


This study was aimed to find out an alternative to synthetic fungicides used in the control of fungi development in crops including coffee. The antifungal was extracted from green berries of Solanum indicum L. and its effect on the behavior of three Aspergillus species Ochratoxin A (OTA) producers (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus ochraceus) was evaluated on a coffee-agar medium. The results show a reduction of growth with the increase of the antifungal content in the medium. Indeed, on the medium without antifungal, the growth rate has reached 90 mm within only 3 days of incubation for the three strains tested, while no growth was observed for A. niger and A.carbonarius from 8% of antifungal in the medium and for A. ochraceus, at 10% of antifungal in the medium even after 7 days of incubation. However, the total inhibition of OTA was observed from 8% of antifungal in the medium for these three strains of Aspergillus. Indeed, the amounts of OTA produced on the coffee-agar medium without antifungal were 0.005, 1.63 and 0.108 µg/mL respectively for A. niger, A. carbonarius and A. ochraceus, while from 8% of antifungal fraction in the medium, no detectable OTA amount was observed for the three strains tested after 7 days of incubation. The phytochemical screening of this antifungal fraction revealed compounds including flavonoids, carotenoids and saponins. These results suggest the use of this antifungal fraction as an alternative to synthetic fungicides for the control of fungi development and OTA production in coffee beans.


Abstract. During 1997 and 1998, we have tested the edge-effect for carabids along oak-hornbeam forest-grass transects using pitfall traps in Hungary. Our hypothesis was that the diversity of carabids will be higher in the forest edge than in the forest interior. We also focused on the characteristic species of the habitats along the transects and the relationships between their distribution and the biotic and abiotic factors. Our results proved that there was a significant edge effect on the studied carabid communities: the Shannon diversity increased significantly along the transects from the forest towards the grass. The diversity of the carabids were significantly higher in the forest edge and in the grass than in the forest interior. The carabids of the forest, the forest edge and the grass are separated from each other by principal coordinates analysis and by indicator species analysis (IndVal), suggesting that each of the three habitats has a distinct species assemblages. There were 5 distinctive groups of carabids: 1) habitat generalists, 2) forest generalists, 3) species of the open area, 4) forest edge species, and 5) forest specialists. It was demonstrated by multiple regression analyses, that the relative air moisture, temperature of the ground, the cover of leaf litter, herbs, shrubs and canopy cover, abundance of the carabids' preys are the most important factors determining the diversity and spatial pattern of carabids along the studied transects.


There has been considerable progress in developing macroeconomic models of banking crises. However, most of this literature focuses on the retail sector where banks obtain deposits from households. In fact, the recent financial crisis that triggered the Great Recession featured a disruption of wholesale funding markets, where banks lend to one another. Accordingly, to understand the financial crisis as well as to draw policy implications, it is essential to capture the role of wholesale banking. The objective of this paper is to characterize a model that can be seen as a natural extension of the existing literature that provides a step toward accomplishing this objective. The model accounts for both the buildup and collapse of wholesale banking, and also sketches out the transmission of the crises to the real sector. We also draw out the implications of possible instaibility in the wholesale banking sector for lender-of-last resort policy as well as for macroprudential policy.


Current influential models of communicative language ability (Bachman & Palmer, 1996; Purpura, 2004) represent language knowledge as a set of separate yet related components, including grammatical and pragmatic dimensions, which interact with background knowledge, metacognitive strategies, and contextual features (Chapelle, 1998) in language use. Although some researchers have attempted to measure aspects of pragmatic knowledge, the vast majority have not incorporated a clearly articulated pragmatic component into the test construct. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the extent to which scores from a test designed for the current study can be interpreted as indicators of test-takers' grammatical and pragmatic ability. This study attempts to address some of the limitations of prior pragmatics assessment research, namely, the issues of construct underrepresentation, the lack of highly contextually constrained reciprocal tasks, and the use of less sophisticated statistical tools to support claims of validity. This paper examines the construct validity of a test based on Purpura's (2004) theoretical model, which specifies the grammatical and pragmatic (sociolinguistic, sociocultural, and psychological) components of language knowledge. This model accounts for the way in which grammatical resources are used to convey a range of pragmatic meanings in language use. The analysis explored a broader range of features of pragmatic knowledge than had previously been investigated.


Measuring the semantic similarity between Gene Ontology (GO) terms is a fundamental step in numerous functional bioinformatics applications. To fully exploit the metadata of GO terms, word embedding-based methods have been proposed recently to map GO terms to low-dimensional feature vectors. However, these representation methods commonly overlook the key information hidden in the whole GO structure and the relationship between GO terms. In this paper, we propose a novel representation model for GO terms, named GT2Vec, which jointly considers the GO graph structure obtained by graph contrastive learning and the semantic description of GO terms based on BERT encoders. Our method is evaluated on a protein similarity task on a collection of benchmark datasets. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of using a joint encoding graph structure and textual node descriptors to learn vector representations for GO terms.


We report results of first-principles calculations based on the projector augmented wave (PAW) method to explore the structural, thermodynamic, and electronic properties of cubic (3C) and hexagonal (6H, 4H, and 2H) polytypes of II-VI compounds: ZnS, ZnSe, and ZnTe. We find that the different bond stacking in II-VI polytypes remarkably influences the resulting physical properties. Furthermore, the degree of hexagonality is found to be useful to understand both the ground-state properties and the electronic structure of these compounds. The resulting lattice parameters, energetic stability, and characteristic band energies are in good agreement with available experimental data. Trends with hexagonality of the polytype are investigated.


. This research was carried out on 'Tombul' hazelnut cultivar grown in Giresun province of Turkey in 2015. In the study, it was researched that the variations of vitamin E content and fatty acid compositions according to different irrigation levels. The treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design with three replications. Irrigations were made by mini sprinkler method. Three treatments were applied to ocaks (multi-stem bush form system): an un-irrigated control and two water levels, corresponding to the restution of 50% and 100%. The results showed that the vitamin E content and some fatty acids were affected by irrigation levels. The highest vitamin E content (488.77 mg kg -1 ) was obtained at irrigation level of 50%. Oleic acid was changed from 82.62% (un-irrigated) to 85.24% (100% irrigation level), and linoleic acid from 6.28% (50% irrigation level) to 8.76% (un-irrigated).


For a small and ideally imperfect crystal, a method for calculating n-beam X-ray diffraction intensities has been developed on the basis of macroscopic intensity exchanges among the beams. This kinematical formulation results in a set of simultaneous equations that can be solved by numerical calculation. To validate the macroscopic formulae, the Darwin intensity transfer equations, which describe microscopic interactions by both diffraction and absorption, are integrated on a spherical crystal. With the hypotheses that one beam contributes to other beams as proportional to its observed intensity, the macroscopic and microscopic formulations are proved to be equivalent; quantitative evaluation of the n-beam effect thereby becomes available for practical experiments using a specimen with finite cross section of X-ray absorption. Examples of the psi-scan simulation on Si 111 and 222 are presented to characterize the present method, demonstrating the reasonable behaviour of the observed diffraction intensity while the linear absorption coefficient and the specimen size are varied.


As Turkish Higher Education has been facing rapid and significant growth in recent decades, the creation of Foundation Universities (private but not-for-profit) has both supported this growth and presented new challenges. One of these challenges has been the visible absence of effective governance models and practices, specifically the involvement of internal and external stakeholders in decision-making processes. The aim of this research is to identify the factors affecting the emergence of established shared governance practices in Turkish private (Foundation) universities, in order to contribute to effective policy making and application by administrators and managers in higher education. Primarily based on qualitative data gathering methods through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with leading educators in Turkey, the thesis also utilizes publicly available data from official reports. The thesis identified several factors, such as Turkish Higher Education Culture, Politics, Regulations and Higher Education Law, Founding Principles and Trust, Loyalty and Ownership as being significantly influential in shaping an institution's participatory governance practices; the level of institutionalization, or kurumsallasma, however, has been found to be a mediating filter that determines the impact of these factors on the school. Claiming that Culture remains the dominating factor in preventing the establishment of shared governance mechanisms, this thesis concludes by making a variety of policy and practice recommendations ranging from regulatory changes to the entire system, to obtaining specific external audits and to establishing certain committee structures to increase internal stakeholder participation, as well as creating a culture that balances collegiality and corporate practices by placing individuals with skills in both modes of thinking to key nodes of governance. (261 Words)


BACKGROUND:Obturator nerve block is performed on patients who undergo transurethral resection of inferolateral bladder tumors to prevent thigh adductor muscle contraction. However, other than the tumor site, we have no criteria to judge whether this block is necessary in all patients. Moreover, it is difficult to predict the efficacy of obturator nerve block before resection. To solve these problems, we have devised a trans-resectoscope stimulation technique that involves delivering several single-twitch electrical stimuli to the inside wall of the bladder via a resectoscope to elicit contraction of the thigh adductor muscle. METHODS:Trans-resectoscope stimulation was performed in 51 cases on 45 patients for which urologists had requested obturator nerve block. If no thigh adductor muscle contraction was observed with trans-resectoscope stimulation (i.e., negative result), tumor resection was performed without further investigation. If the result was positive, we performed obturator nerve block or administered a muscle relaxant until the result turned negative. Positive or negative responses to the initial trans-resectoscope stimulation and thigh adductor muscle contraction during subsequent resection were recorded. RESULTS:The initial trans-resectoscope stimulation result was negative in 29 of the 51 cases (57%). In these cases, tumor resection was allowed to proceed, and no thigh adductor muscle contraction occurred (rate of incidence [95% confidence interval]: 0% [0%–5.7%]). In cases with a positive initial trans-resectoscope stimulation result (22/51 or 43%), we performed an obturator nerve block or administered a muscle relaxant after which we once again stimulated to verify the lack of adductor response before proceeding with the resection, and no thigh adductor muscle contraction was observed during resection. CONCLUSIONS:Trans-resectoscope stimulation is beneficial not only to predict the need to block the contraction of the thigh adductor during tumor resection but also to avoid unnecessary obturator nerve block.


Perhaps no alcohol safety measure has attracted more research and public attention or shown more consistent evidence for its effectiveness than the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) 21 law in the United States. Enacted in 1984, it was the first law for which the U.S. Congress, under the Highway Safety Act, imposed a sanction on states that did not enact a MLDA-21 law by withholding federal highway construction funds. In 1995, Congress imposed a similar sanction on states failing to enact zero tolerance (ZT) laws that made it an offense for drivers aged 20 and younger to operate a vehicle with any amount of alcohol in their system. Between 1982 and 1998, the population-adjusted involvement rate of drinking drivers aged 20 and younger in fatal crashes decreased 59%. MLDA-21 laws have been shown to be associated with this decline. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has estimated that MLDA laws save more than 900 lives a year in traffic fatalities alone, and there is substantial evidence that ZT laws are saving additional lives. Recently, some states have adopted graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws that restrict nighttime driving for young drivers, thus potentially further reducing alcohol-related crashes among persons aged 20 and younger. Language: en


Nutrient sensing and metabolic homeostasis play an important role in the proper growth and development of an organism, and also in the energy intensive process of reproduction. Signals in response to nutritional and metabolic status is received and integrated by the brain to ensure homeostasis. In Drosophila, the fat body is one of the key organs involved in energy and nutrient sensing, storage and utilization. It also relays the nutritional status of the animal to the brain, activating specific circuits which modulate the synthesis and release of insulin-like peptides to regulate metabolism. Here, we review the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in nutrient sensing with an emphasis on the neural pathways that modulate this process and discuss some of the open questions that need to be addressed.


1. Past studies on phenotypic plasticity usually focus on ultimate (evolutionary) issues. More recently, proximate (developmental) factors explaining how plasticity is achieved are starting to be addressed. 2. Here, we examine the importance of resource level and temperature on growth rate and burst swimming speed in tadpoles of Spea hammondii (Western Spadefoot Toad). 3. Food and temperature manipulations alter growth rate via different developmental processes (cell growth and cell recruitment, respectively) and these processes appear to have consequences for swimming performance in tadpoles. 4. Tadpoles reared at warm temperatures were slower swimmers than those reared at cooler temperatures while food level had no effect on size-specific burst speed. Tadpoles reared at warm temperatures also had more fibres in the tail muscle, probably due to an earlier onset of recruitment. Tadpoles reared at higher food levels had larger muscle fibres, but little differences in fibre number compared to those reared at low food levels. 5. These results indicate that growth by adding cells comes at a performance cost not seen when growth is due to increasing cell size. This developmental difference also has implications for how body size manipulations are carried out in behavioural and ecological studies.


The discovery of Liangdao man ca. 8,000 BP is academically significant. It may provide some clue for the Austronesian origin relating Taiwan and the southeast coast of China. We need interdisciplinary knowledge of archaeology, genetics and linguistics to make any meaningful study of such a case. The most recent genetic study indicates that the Liangdao man seems to be more closely related to modern Formosan natives than to the other peoples in South China and Southeast Asia. Ancient South China was almost exclusively populated by non-Chinese. There is linguistic evidence that the Austroasiatics inhabited the Yangtze delta and parts of the southeast coast during the first half of the first millennium B.C. Some of the Austroasiatic loanwords currently in Chinese in general and in Min are part of the basic vocabulary. This indicates the Chinese and Austroasiatics must have been in close contact for a long period of time before the first millennium B.C. The linguistic evidence for the genetic relationship between Austronesian and Austroasiatics is not very strong, but nevertheless exists. We can postulate that pre-Austronesian split apart from Austroasiatics in the southeast coast of China about 6,000 BP and dispersed to Taiwan to become proto-Austronesians.


Background and Purpose Although the benefits of early mobilization in the intensive care unit (ICU) have been well documented in recent years, the decision-making process and customization of treatment strategies for patients with ICU-acquired weakness have not been well defined in the literature. This case report will describe a patient with ICU-acquired weakness in the long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) setting and mobilization strategies that include novel devices for therapeutic exercise and gait training. Case Description A 73-year-old, active woman underwent a routine cardioversion for atrial fibrillation but developed multiple complications, including sepsis and respiratory failure. The patient spent 3 weeks of limited activity in the ICU and was transferred to our LTACH for continued medical intervention and rehabilitation. A 4-phase graded mobilization program was initiated in the LTACH ICU. Within that program, the physical therapy interventions included partial weight-bearing antigravity strength training with a mobile leg press and gait training with a hydraulic-assist platform walker. Outcome Before interventions, the patient had severe weakness (Medical Research Council [MRC] sum score of 18/60) and displayed complete dependence for all functioning. She progressed to being able to ambulate 150 ft (1 ft=0.3048 m) using a rolling walker with accompanying strength increases to an MRC sum score of 52/60. Discussion This case report describes novel mobility strategies for managing a patient with ICU-acquired weakness. The application of a graded mobilization program using a mobile leg press and a hydraulic-assist platform walker was safe and feasible, and appeared to expedite the patient's recovery process while decreasing the amount of manual lifting for the therapists.


This paper studies how low interest rates weaken the short-run transmission of monetary policy and contract the long-run supply of bank credit. As U.S. bond rates have fallen, the pass-through of monetary shocks to loan and deposit rates has weakened while the spread on U.S. bank loans has risen. I build a model in which banks earn deposit and loan spreads, deposits compete with money, and banks' lending capacity depends on their equity. The short-run transmission of monetary policy is dampened at low rates, because deposit spreads act as a better hedge for bank equity against unexpected monetary shocks. In the long run, persistent low rates decrease banks' "seigniorage" revenue from deposit spreads, hence bank equity and loan supply contract, and loan spreads increase. JEL Classification: E4, E5, G21


Our focus is on constructing a multiscale nonparametric prior for densities. The Bayes density estimation literature is dominated by single scale methods, with the exception of Polya trees, which favor overly-spiky densities even when the truth is smooth. We propose a multiscale Bernstein polynomial family of priors, which produce smooth realizations that do not rely on hard partitioning of the support. At each level in an infinitely-deep binary tree, we place a beta dictionary density; within a scale the densities are equivalent to Bernstein polynomials. Using a stick-breaking characterization, stochastically decreasing weights are allocated to the finer scale dictionary elements. A slice sampler is used for posterior computation, and properties are described. The method characterizes densities with locally-varying smoothness, and can produce a sequence of coarse to fine density estimates. An extension for Bayesian testing of group differences is introduced and applied to DNA methylation array data.


We establish the equivalence between the loss of coherence due to mixing in a quantum system and the loss of information after performing a projective measurement. Subsequently, it is demonstrated that the quantum discord, a measure of correlation for the bipartite system $\rho_{Alice\leftarrow Bob}$, is identical to the minimum difference (over all projectors {|i><i|}) between local coherence (LQICC monotone) on Bob side and coherence of the reduced density matrix $\rho^B$.


SETTING
Cambodia has the highest human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence (1.9%) and tuberculosis (TB) incidence (508/100000) in Asia. Banteay Meanchey, a province with high HIV prevalence of 1.9%, established a pilot project in 2003 to enhance TB-HIV activities. We evaluated this project to improve performance.

METHODS
In March 2005, we analyzed 17 months of data on all persons diagnosed with HIV or TB at 11 participating clinics. We determined barriers to HIV testing and TB screening, modified the program to reduce these barriers and assessed whether our interventions improved testing and screening rates.

RESULTS
Among 952 patients newly diagnosed with TB disease, 138 (14%) had known HIV infection at the time of TB diagnosis. Of the 814 TB patients with unknown HIV status, 432 (53%) were HIV tested. Of 1228 persons newly diagnosed with HIV infection, 450 (37%) were screened for TB disease. We found and addressed barriers to HIV testing and TB screening. In the 9 months after the interventions, 240/322 (71%) TB patients were HIV tested, an increase of 34% (P < 0.01); 426/751 (57%) HIV-infected patients were screened for TB, an increase of 54% (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION
Evaluations of TB-HIV collaborative activities can lead to increased TB screening and HIV testing rates.


Nigh-quality spin-valve trilayers [Ni80Fe20Mo/CO] have been grown on MO buffer layer on MgO (110) and MgO (100) substrates by MBE. Structure and orientation relationships were determined by XRD and RHEED. The LMOKE studies show that both CO and Ni80Fe20 layers exhibit uniaxial magnetic anisotropy for a trilayer grown on MgO (110). On the other hand, nearly isotropic behaviors for the CO and Ni80Fe20 layers have been observed for a sample grown on MgO (100). The difference of magnetic anisotropies in the two systems mainly results from the magnetocrystalline effect.


The study aims to determine the diversity of vegetation in the Green Open Space of the Gasing Industrial Area. The study was conducted from April to July 2017. The method of analysis used quadratic method with 2 plots at different location with three repetitions, quantitative data analysis was done on density value, dominance, frequency, important value and diversity index of each plant species. The results showed that vegetation consists of 16 tribes and 19 species, dominated by Pteridophyta and Spermatophyta. Value of vegetation diversity (2,24) and uniformity value 0,30. The higher number of the species, the higher diversity index of the species. Such characteristics are caused by environmental influences such as organic matter content and low pH and factors derived from human intervention.
Keywords: Vegetation, Diversity, industrial area


SUMMARY The exhaust plume of the Space Shuttle during its ascent triggers acoustic waves which propagate through the atmosphere and induce electron density changes at ionospheric heights which changes can be measured using ground-based Global Positioning System (GPS) phase data. Here, we use a network of GPS stations to study the acoustic wave generated by the STS125 Space Shuttle launch on May 11, 2009. We detect the resulting changes in ionospheric electron density, with characteristics that are typical of acoustic waves triggered by explosions atorneartheEarth'ssurfaceorintheatmosphere.Wesuccessfullyreproducetheamplitudeand timing of the observed signal using a ray-tracing model with a moving source whose amplitude is directly scaled by a physical model of the shuttle exhaust energy, acoustic propagation in a dispersive atmosphere and a simplified two-fluid model of collisions between neutral gas and free electrons in the ionosphere. The close match between observed and model waveforms validates the modelling approach. This raises the possibility of using ground-based GPS networks to estimate the acoustic energy release of explosive sources near the Earth's surface or in atmosphere, and to constrain some atmospheric acoustic parameters.


Abstract Objective: According to the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP), self-management education is an integral component of effective asthma care and should be offered to every patient with asthma. To estimate the proportion of persons with work-related asthma (WRA) who received asthma self-management education. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of 2012–2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Asthma Call-back Survey data was conducted among ever-employed adults (≥18 years) with current asthma from 31 states and the District of Columbia. Results: Adults with WRA were significantly more likely than those with non-WRA to have ever taken a course to manage their asthma (15.7% versus 6.5%; PR = 2.1), been given an asthma action plan (43.5% versus 26.1%; PR = 1.7), shown how to use an inhaler (97.2% versus 95.8%; PR = 1.0), taught how to recognize early symptoms of an asthma episode (79.4% versus 64.1%; PR = 1.2), taught what to do during an asthma episode (86.4% versus 76.3%; PR = 1.1), taught how to use a peak flow meter to adjust daily medications (57.9% versus 41.7%; PR = 1.3), and advised to change things in home, school, or work (56.9% versus 30.4%; PR = 2.0). Moreover, targets for corresponding Healthy People 2020 respiratory disease objectives were met only among adults with WRA. Conclusions: Although adults with WRA were more likely to have received asthma self-management education, results suggest missed opportunities to provide asthma self-management education. Every healthcare visit should be used as an opportunity to discuss asthma self-management.


This study was conducted to determine the usefulness of bamboo leaf powder as a functional ingredient for buckwheat cold noodles. The anti oxidative and fibrinolytic activities of bamboo leaf powder were very high, and were further maintained or improved after strong heat treatment. We prepared buckwheat cold noodles using 0%, 3% or 5% of bamboo leaf powder. Only the cohesiveness of the noodle having 5% bamboo leaf powder was lower than that of the noodles contained 0% and 3% bamboo leaf powder. The L-, a- and b-values were significantly different between noodles which contained bamboo leaf powder and those which did not. Nevertheless, the amount of bamboo leaf powder didn't affect the color parameters of buckwheat cold noodles. According to sensory evaluation, the addition of bamboo leaf powder improved the score of color and texture of buckwheat cold noodles, but overall acceptance was not significantly affected. Cooked volume, cooking loss and turbidity of buckwheat cold noodle containing 5% bamboo leaf powder were lower than the others, indicating that adding 5% bamboo leaf powder prevented the softening of the noodles with moist heat. We concluded that the application of bamboo leaf for the production of buckwheat cold noodle will be a good way to intake the biologically active ingredients for good health.


The EI Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an interannual phenomenon involved in the tropical Pacific sea–air interactions. In this paper, an asymptotic method of solving nonlinear equations for the ENSO model is proposed. And based on a class of oscillator of the ENSO model and by employing the method of homotopic mapping, the approximate solution of equations for the corresponding ENSO model is studied. It is proved from the results that homotopic method can be used for analysing the sea surface temperature anomaly in the equatorial Pacific of the sea–air oscillator for the ENSO model.


Cells inherit two centrioles, the older of which is uniquely capable of generating a cilium. Using proteomics and super-resolved imaging, we identified a module which we term DISCO (DIStal centriole COmplex). DISCO components CEP90, MNR and OFD1 underlie human ciliopathies. This complex localized to both distal centrioles and centriolar satellites, proteinaceous granules surrounding centrioles. Cells and mice lacking CEP90 or MNR did not generate cilia, failed to assemble distal appendages, and did not transduce Hedgehog signals. Disrupting the satellite pools did not affect distal appendage assembly, indicating that it is the centriolar populations of MNR and CEP90 that are critical for ciliogenesis. CEP90 recruited the most proximal known distal appendage component, CEP83, to root distal appendages formation, an early step in ciliogenesis. In addition, MNR, but not CEP90, restricted centriolar length by recruiting OFD1. We conclude that DISCO acts at the distal centriole to support ciliogenesis by restraining centriole length and assembling distal appendages, defects in which cause human ciliopathies. eTOC summary Kumar et al. identifies a multi-protein complex called DISCO (DIStal centriole COmplex) required to nucleate distal appendages and restrain centriole elongation, essential for the initiation of cilium assembly. Without DISCO, cells fail to ciliate and transduce Hedgehog signals, critical for mammalian development.


[Milman Parry established first that Homeric poetry was traditional, based on his studies of its formulae and language, and then that it was oral, based on his experience of recording south Slavic epic; he likened the unusually long epics of Avdo Međedović to those of Homer. Albert Lord put the two concepts together, holding that both south Slavic epic and Homeric poetry were oral-traditional and that all oral epic poetry, including that of Međedović, is traditional. However, the author's investigations into the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature and his personal experience of collecting epics in Montenegro in 1989 prove that this is incorrect. The poems of Avdo Međedović do not conform to traditional uses of language, theme and story-patterns, but offer something new, of which other traditional singers disapproved, as their recorded conversations demonstrate. Similarly, by analogy, the epics of Homer differed from the traditional poems of the Epic Cycle, exactly as Aristotle indicates in the Poetics. Hence neither Međedović nor, by analogy, Homer were fully traditional poets, although they were oral poets; instead, they deliberately adapted the tradition so that the old stories were mixed and matched into much lengthier and more complex epics, which should be called post-traditional.]


The urban population of the world is more than 50% according to the year 2018 and it is increased near about 34% since 1960. In an India total 31.16% population is located in urban areas according to the census year 2011. The occupation structure is also different in rural and urban region. Tertiary activities are the main feature of urban occupation structure. Present paper reveals the occupation structure of urban centers in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra state in the year 2001 and 2011.


This new series, co-sponsored with The Center for Black Music Research of Columbia College, seeks to increase our understanding of black music genres and their importance to the cultures of the Atlantic world, including their influence on African musical styles. Books in the series will examine the wide-ranging music of the African diaspora--including the folk-derived musical styles of the Americas as well as European-influenced concert hall music of the entire black Atlantic world--by analyzing issues critical to our interpretation of the music itself and exploring the relationships between music and the other black expressive arts. Focusing on blues, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, and soul music, California Soul is one of the first books to explore the rich musical heritage of African Americans in California. The contributors describe in detail the individual artists, locales, groups, musical styles, and regional qualities, and the result is an important book that lays the groundwork for a whole new field of study. The essays draw from oral histories, music recordings, newspaper articles and advertisements, as well as population statistics to provide insightful discussions of topics like the California urban milieu's influence on gospel music, the development of the West Coast blues style, and the significance of Los Angeles's Central Avenue in the early days of jazz. Other essays offer perspectives on how individual musicians have been shaped by their African American heritage, and on the role of the record industry and radio in the making of music. In addition to the diverse range of essays, the book includes the most comprehensive bibliography now available on African American music and culture in California.


Obesity has emerged as an epidemic worldwide. The present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity amongst children in the age group of 5-18 years belonging to low, middle and high income group in National Capital Territory NCT of Delhi. A total of 16,595 children (LIG 5087, MIG 5134 and HIG 6368) were covered in the present study. Overweight and obesity were assessed using Body Mass Index (BMI) and Triceps Skin Fold Thickness (TSFT) utilizing age and sex specific cut off points. Considering the BMI cut off points, the prevalence of obesity and overweight in Low Income Group (LIG) school children was 0.1 and 2.7 percent respectively, amongst Middle Income Group (MIG) school children it was 0.6 and 6.5 percent and in High Income Group (HIG) school children was 6.8 and 15.3 percent respectively (p<0001). With regard to the TSFT criteria, the prevalence of obesity and overweight in LIG school children was 1.2 and 2.4 percent, amongst MIG school children it was 2.5 and 4.9 percent and in children belonging to HIG schools was 9.3 and 13.1 percent respectively (p<0.001). The present study documented that the prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in the HIG children as compared to the MIG and the LIG for all age groups, highlighting the possible role of change in the dietary pattern and physical activities with increase in income levels.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies and ranks third among cancer-related deaths worldwide. Using matrine as a lead compound, 12 matrine derivatives were designed and synthesised, and their antiproliferative activities were evaluated in four cancer cell lines. Eight of the twelve compounds showed strong antiproliferative activity, with an IC50 of <10 μM. The compound ZS17 exhibited strong antiproliferative activity in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines with IC50 values in the range of 3.014–3.388 μM, which was much lower than that of matrine. Furthermore, we explored the role of ZS17 in inducing apoptosis in HCC cells in vitro and in vivo, as well as possible mechanisms involved. ZS17 inhibited the proliferation of BEL-7402 and HepG2 cells in time- and dose-dependent manners. In addition, we found that ZS17 significantly induced apoptosis and ROS (reactive oxygen species) production, promoted JNK phosphorylation, activated p53, and activated the caspase signalling pathway. Furthermore, the antioxidant NAC, JNK inhibitor SP600125, and Si-JNK increased cell viability, re-established cell metastasis, and inhibited ZS17-induced apoptosis. An in vivo antitumour assay demonstrated that ZS17 significantly reduced the number of migrating HepG2 cells in zebrafish embryos and suppressed the growth of HepG2 xenografts in nude mice without any obvious side effects. Our study demonstrated that the ROS-JNK-P53 pathway plays an important role in the destruction of liver tumour cells by ZS17. Thus, ZS17 may represent a promising chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of HCC patients.


ABSTRACT Executive function (EF) encompasses several neurocognitive processes that are important in self-regulation of behavior and the attainment of social and cognitive competencies. While much progress has been made in developing valid measures for adult and adolescent EF, there is a dearth of valid measures for preschool children. Given the steep trajectory of neuropsychological development among this age group and the importance of EF, a valid measure for clinical assessment and research is needed that can capture EF in the everyday context of early childhood. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function Preschool Version (BRIEF-P) measures parent and teacher observations of children's everyday self-regulatory behaviors. The BRIEF-P has been validated in a range of normative and non-normative samples, but further validation is needed across cultures. This study aimed to evaluate the cross-cultural validity and reliability of the BRIEF-P when used by New Zealand Māori (n = 131) and European (n = 193) parents of children born with risk factors of neonatal hypoglycemia. Parents of children who participated in the prospective, longitudinal Children with Hypoglycemia and their Later Development (CHYLD) study completed the BRIEF-P when the child was 2 years ±4 weeks and 4.5 years ±8 weeks old. Results showed that the BRIEF-P is a highly reliable and valid instrument. Comparisons between Māori and New Zealand European samples revealed biases, which could be a source of further work to improve the construct validity of this measure, such as the development of norms and item validation for non-European and non-Western samples.


Among the plethora of case review publications, Clinical Neuroradiology: A Case-Based Approach stands out in concept, content, and educational value. Too often "case reviews" are superficial, supply just the minimum of information, and leave the reader with little in-depth knowledge. In contradistinction, Dr. Gasser M. Hathout has drawn together, in a 272-page hardcover book, an excellent series of cases, which is organized as follows: There are 8 chapters ("Cerebellum," "Medulla," "Pons," "Midbrain," "Basal Ganglia," "Diencephalon," "Cerebral Cortex," and "Stroke-Imaging and Therapy"). Each chapter begins with an anatomic and functional description of the major structure under consideration, including anatomic and functional pathway descriptions and illustrations. This then is followed by case material (CT and MR images) that is linked to a clinical history. The diagnosis is given, and an in-depth discussion follows, often with strong anatomic/physiologic correlates. What is most appealing about this book and how it differs from other books with case presentations is that one starts reading about a given brain area first and then the reader sees abnormalities affecting that area. As one example, take the chapter on the basal ganglia. Here we start with basic concepts of motor dysfunction and move seamlessly to diagrams/discussions on nomenclature, anatomic connectivity of structures, and functional anatomy. Remember, this is done before any cases are presented so that the importance of identifying a lesion in a certain structure is clear. So the reader now knows, before looking at images, the exact structures that make up the basal ganglia and reviews the anatomy of the nucleus accumbens, the ventral striatum, the substantia nigra and the interconnections between the caudate and putamen, the medullary lamina, and parts of the substantia nigra. The interplay and modulation effects are simply and clearly described and diagrammed. The author takes the reader gently through increasingly complex functional anatomy, bringing nicely into play excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters and reviewing structures such as the ansa lenticularis and lenticular fasciculus and pathways for neural transmission. This pattern of learning is repeated in the 8 chapters. The selection of cases is excellent, and the discussions that precede and follow each case are informative and described in adequate detail. Within each discussion, pertinent questions are posed to the reader—this increases the interest and readability of the material. There are, however, a few questionable areas in the book. For instance, a case of what the authors call "diffuse cerebellar (extra pontine) myelinolysis" abnormal hyperintensities is not at all convincing—a better image would have been required to prove their point. To this reviewer, it is a bit disturbing to have no spine imaging or clinical material that includes spinal cord dysfunction in a book broadly termed Clinical Neuroradiology. Since when is the spinal cord not part of the purview of neuroradiology? The chapter on stroke (imaging and therapy) deserves an extra comment because it is not constructed like the other chapters. Specifically, this chapter takes the reader from the basics of stroke imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) (with the physics of this sequence explained), DWI (with timeto-peak, cerebral blood volume, cerebral blood flow, and mean transit time explained and shown), intravenous thrombolysis, and intra-arterial thrombolysis. It is informative, upto-date, and well written. Overall, this is an excellent case study book, and it importantly provides an enjoyable and painless way of learning (and retaining) detailed neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. It can be confidentially recommended as an individual purchase or for a departmental/sectional library.


As part of an investigation devoted to the development of new antiviral agents a compound of established antiviral activity has been subjected to systematic structural modification. The structure-activity data so obtained have been used in the design of new compounds, some of which are described. The compound chosen was isatin beta-thiosemicarbazone, which has high activity against neurovaccinia infection in mice, and a 4-point parallel-line assay of in vivo chemotherapeutic activity has been developed, which has enabled the activity of the derivatives to be determined against isatin beta-thiosemicarbazone as a standard. The overall dimensions of the isatin beta-thiosemicarbazone molecule appear to be nearly maximal for the retention of high activity, as all substituents in the aromatic ring decrease the activity irrespective of their nature or position. The projection of the -CS.NH(2) group in relation to the ring nitrogen was found to be critical, as the alpha-thiosemicarbazone was inactive. A number of modifications of the side-chain were investigated:all led to reduction or loss of antiviral activity. The antiviral activity showed a positive correlation with chloroform solubility over a considerable range. The most active compound encountered was 1-ethylisatin beta-thiosemicarbazone, with an activity of 286 (isatin beta-thiosemicarbazone identical with100). Isatin beta-thiosemicarbazone showed no activity against 15 other viruses, and 20 related compounds showed on activity against ectromelia.


Background and Aim: learning disorders is one of the most common disorders in school children. These children usually have problems in various areas such as attention and motor skills, cognition. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of weighted vest on continuous attention (by using continuous performance test) and motor skills (by using Bruininks osetotsky motor Proficiency Test) in children with Learning Disabilities (LD). Materials and Method : A quasi experimental method was designed for the study. A sample of 16 children with L.D were selected and observed during 3stages.During stage 1 and 3 the participants received 12 school-based occupational therapy (OT) sessions. During phase 2, participants received occupational therapy sessions and wore a weighted vest (OT/WV) during sessions. Finally, the data were compared with each other. Results : this study demonstrated: -Significant differences between attention scores during stage 2were indicated) p= 0,001 t=6, 443( -Significant differences between motor skills scores during stage 2were indicated (t=- 11,212, p=0,001). No significant differences between attention and motor skills scores during phases 1 and 3 results were indicated. Conclusion : This study provides evidence that use of weighted vests for students with LD may increase continuous attention and improve motor skills. All children benefited from the weighted vests; the effects were strong and consistent. Weighted vest may be a component of intervention for children with LD, and the results do not support the use of weighted vests in isolation to improve continuous attention or motor skills. Key words : learning disability, weighted vest; attention; motor skills, occupational therapy


OBJECTIVE
Open partial cystectomy has been used as a curative option for select group of patients with bladder cancer. In recent years, the da Vinci Surgical Robotic System is being increasingly used to perform complex urologic cancer surgeries. We report first on a consecutive cohort of patients undergoing robotic partial cystectomy (RPC) for bladder cancer.

METHODS
Three consecutive patients underwent RPC, two with diagnosis of papillary neoplasm of bladder and one with urachal adenocarcinoma at our institution from July 2008 to January 2009. Perioperative parameters were prospectively collected and analyzed after Institutional Review Board approval.

RESULTS
All three patients in the study were men with a median age of 50 years (range, 24-70 years). The RPC was completed transperitoneally in all three patients without the need for open conversion. The operative time, estimated blood loss, and time to hospital discharge for the three patients undergoing RPC were 185, 135, and 165 minutes; 25, 20, and 20 mL; and 5, 2, and 2 days, respectively. The percentage change in hematocrit after surgery was within 5% in all patients. There were no postoperative complications before discharge; however, one patient was readmitted and underwent small bowel resection secondary to bowel obstruction. Final pathology demonstrated high-grade carcinoma pT2bNxMx and pTaNxMx papillary urothelial carcinoma in two patients and invasive adenocarcinoma of the bladder pT3aNxMx in the remaining patient. The median follow-up was 6 months (range, 3-10 months). All three patients were alive with no signs of recurrent or metastatic disease on cystoscopic, cytological, or radiological follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS
RPC is technically feasible using the da Vinci Surgical Robotic System in select patients with bladder cancer without disease recurrence in the short term. A larger cohort with long-term follow-up is necessary to validate our results.