Simple Summary Captivity is a common conservation method for endangered animals. However, a growing number of recent studies have shown that some animals in captivity might be in sub-health condition. The gut microbiota has been described as a complex, interactive internal system that has effects on diseases of the host with many interactions, and the occurrence of certain diseases is accompanied by changes and disorder of gut microbiota. We used16S rRNA sequencing technology and a mathematical model to find differences in gut microbiota composition and assembly processes. The results show that captivity might be unfavorable for white-lipped deer by shifting the gut microbiota composition and assembly process. Abstract White-lipped deer (Cervus albirostris) is a nationally protected wild animal species in China, as well as a unique and endangered species, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Captivity may alleviate the pressure from poaching and contribute to the repopulation and conservation of the population in the wild. The gut microbiota is described as a complex, interactive internal system that has effects on diseases of the host, with many interactions. However, the influence of captivity on the composition and assembly process of gut microbiota in white-lipped deer is unclear. This study applied high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing technology to determine differences in the gut microbiota between captive (CW) and wild (WW) white-lipped deer. We used the null model, neutral community model, and niche width to identify whether captivity affects the composition and assembly process of gut microbiota. The results show that WW has a higher number of Firmicutes and a lower number of Bacteroidetes compared with CW at the phylum level, and it has more opportunistic pathogens and specific decomposition bacteria at the genus level. Principal coordinate analysis also indicated significant differences in the composition and function of gut microbiota in CW and WW. Moreover, the results reveal that captivity shifts the ecological assembly process of gut microbiota by raising the contribution of deterministic processes. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that captivity might potentially have an unfavorable effect on white-lipped deer by continually exerting selective pressure.


An unprecedented asymmetric catalytic (4 + 2) annulation reaction of aryl-substituted γ-methylidene-δ-valerolactones (GMDVs) with isatin-derived para-quinone methides (p-QMs) has been developed under the catalysis of palladium(0) and (S,S,S)-(-)-Xyl-SKP, offering a new approach for the diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of chiral cyclohexadienone-fused cyclohexyl spirooxindoles. Significantly, three highly congested contiguous tetrasubstituted carbon atoms embedded in bispirocyclic skeleton, of which two are vicinal quaternary stereogenic centers, are forged in an effective and selective manner (up to 99% yield, up to 95% ee, >20/1 dr). The current reaction represents the first exploration of enantioselective catalytic (4 + 2) annulation forming the six-membered carbocycles in the chemistry of both GMDVs and p-QMs.


Introduction/Background To report the obstetric outcomes of young patients undergoing abdominal radical trachelectomy (ART) for the treatment of early-stage cervical cancers in China. Methodology We retrospectively reviewed 341 patients with stage IA-IB1 cervical cancer who underwent ART between April 2004 and September 2017 in China. Results Of the 341 patients underwent ART, 325 had their fertilities preserved. 200 women (61.5%) did not plan to get pregnant after ART, and 85.0% of them were due to childbearing before surgery (55.0%) or unmarried (30.0%). Among 125 women attempted to conceive, 23 women achieved a total of 26 pregnancies. Seventy-four patients had infertility problems, 35 conceived with assisted reproductive technologies, and 13 of them succeeded. Cervical stenosis (22, 25.9%) and fallopian tube obstruction (18, 21.2%) were the most frequently cause of fertility treatment after surgery. Among patients who conceived, 3 patients had first trimester miscarriage and 5 patient had second trimester miscarriage. Two woman elected to have pregnancy termination and 1 were currently pregnant. A total of 15 pregnancies reached the third trimester, and 80% of them ended more than 36 weeks of gestation. Among 13 cases of miscarriages and preterm birth, 7 occurred in patients without cerclage placed. In 10 cases of full-time birth, 8 patients had cerclage placed. Conclusion The majority of patients did not attempt to conceive or experienced infertility after ART in China. Assisted reproductive technology should be encouraged to improve the fertility rate. Cerclage is effective in the prevention of miscarriage and pre-term labor. Disclosure Nothing to disclose.


The United Nations classifies Kenya as a water-scarce country since it has less than 1000 m3 per capita of renewable freshwater supplies. Numerous factors including global warming, contamination of drinking water, and a lack of investment in water resources have aggravated the water crisis in Kenya. Estimates indicate that only about 56% of its population has access to safe water supply. Like many developing countries, Kenya recognizes the crucial role of water in realizing its development goals. Its economic performance and poverty reduction are critically dependent on clean water availability for agriculture, industrialization, energy production and tourism among others. Similar to most developing countries, Kenya suffers from lack of human, monetary and institutional capabilities to efficiently provide clean and sufficient water to its citizens. The water shortage in the major cities is acute and chronic and has continued to worsen with increasing urbanization, water pollution and encroachment of water catchment areas by humans and invasive plant species. Despite the water challenges facing the urban populations, Kenya possesses sufficient water resources to meet demand if the available resources are properly managed. Several initiatives are being put in place in Kenya to mitigate the water challenges and protect water resources in Kenya. These include enacting of water policies to protect water catchment areas, reduce pollution and enhance access to clean water.


Background The oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) might play an important role in the development of atherosclerosis. Objective To establish whether greater than normal production of nitric oxide (NO) in vivo protects LDL from oxidation. Patients and methods We studied nine subjects affected by Bartter's and Gitelman's syndrome (both characterized by greater than normal production of NO), and 10 subjects matched for age, sex and lipid levels as controls. LDL particles were isolated from plasma by density gradient ultracentrifugation. Susceptibility of LDL to oxidation was evaluated after incubation with copper sulfate solution, by measuring the formation of conjugated dienes, the thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, and the volatile peroxidation products of n-3 (propanal) and n-6 (pentanal and hexanal) polyunsaturated fatty acids. Phospholipid fatty acid composition of LDL was determined by gas chromatography. LDL α-tocopherol concentrations were measured. Results Patients with Bartter's and Gitelman's syndrome had LDL particles smaller and/or denser than those of controls [Rf = 0.38 ± 0.03 versus 0.42 ± 0.02 (mean ± SD), P < 0.01], which hence were assumed to be more oxidizable. The phospholipid fatty acid composition of LDL and the α-tocopherol concentrations did not significantly differ between patients and controls. The duration of the lag phase, which is the time preceding formation of conjugated dienes, did not differ between groups, but the lag phase times were related to urinary excretion of nitrite/nitrate from patients (r = 0.66, P < 0.05). Moreover, patient LDL had produced less thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances after 5 h (P < 0.04), and less pentanal and hexanal after 5 and 6h (P < 0.04 and P < 0.02, respectively) than had that of controls. Conclusions Greater than normal production of NO in vivo is associated with lower than normal susceptibility of LDL to oxidation in vitro, suggesting that NO plays a protective role in the development of atherosclerosis.


Abstract This text represents an abridgement of an extensive research paper, recently completed, and titled The Song-Symbol, History and Content. About the National Anthems. It has not been long since I wrote about a sensitive subject: that of prejudices in considering and reconsidering history, those which could manipulate (in fact do manipulate!) consciences positively or negatively, and sometimes generate extremist ideas and attitudes (Chelaru, 2017). Following the course of history, a dilemma arose regarding the national anthem, particularly regarding its origins, the circumstances under which a particular anthem was chosen, and above all, comparisons of one anthem to another. From a general point of view, the first observation is that the anthem, especially as it is perceived nowadays in Europe, involves historical meaning, symbols of human communities and nations. As a result, I want to suggest certain improvements towards the current configuration of this musical genre. First I will summarize the history of the Romanian national anthems, beginning with the very first one, adopted during the reign of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, continuing with the monarchic period, then the anthems of communist Romania, and finally the present one, Deșteaptă-te, române! – which is in fact the oldest of all. The main reason I chose this issue does not concern purely academic curiosity; it pursues my entirely subjective interest in the circumstances that prompted Romanians to adopt, over the last century and a half, just these hymns and not others.


U terine compression sutures for postpartum hemorrhage are more likely to fail when there is a delay of 2-6 hours between delivery and placement of the sutures, according to a large prospective population-based study. Of 1.2 million women who delivered in the United Kingdom between September 2007 and March 2009, 210 who were treated with a uterine compression suture to control postpartum hemorrhage had adequate information for analysis. Of those, 25% continued to bleed and underwent hysterectomy, Dr. Gilles Kayem of the University of Oxford (England) and his colleagues reported. Suture failure occurred in 42% of those with a 2to 6-hour delay in suture placement, compared with only 16% of those with earlier suture placement. After adjustment for numerous socioeconomic, maternal, and medical factors, a 2to 6hour delay in suture placement was found to be independently associated with a fourfold increase in the odds of hysterectomy, the investigators found (Obstet. Gynecol. 2011;117:14-20). "One possible explanation may be that unrecognized bleeding that prolongs the delay between the delivery and the treatment increases the risk of hysterectomy," they wrote, explaining that "a higher blood loss and disseminated intravascular coagulation would lead to clinical conditions that render hysterectomy almost inevitable." Failure in this study was also more likely in women older than age 35 years, compared with younger women (adjusted odds ratio, 2.77); those who were multiparous, compared with nulliparous women (AOR, 2.83); those who were unemployed or employed in routine or manual occupations, compared with those in managerial positions (AOR, 3.54); and those who had a vaginal delivery, compared with those who had a cesarean delivery (AOR, 6.08), the researchers found. It is interesting, they noted, that vaginal delivery was the factor associated with the highest odds of hysterectomy in this study. "It is possible that the obstetrician is more reluctant to perform a laparotomy to insert a compression suture after excessive bleeding after a vaginal delivery than after a cesarean delivery and that, therefore, only the women with the most severe hemorrhage were selected by the obstetrician to have a uterine compression suture after a vaginal delivery," they speculated. Another possible explanation is that other methods – such as intrauterine balloon or uterine packing – were used successfully in some cases of hemorrhage after vaginal delivery, and thus were not identified in this study, suggesting that cases involving uterine compression sutures after a vaginal delivery may be the most serious, and no other treatment modalities were available to treat the affected patients, they noted. No differences in failure rates were seen among suture types (B-Lynch, modified BLynch, and 32 other techniques such as figure-of-eight, multiple compression, or square sutures). However, because this was not a randomized study, comparisons among the suture methods were limited, as the baseline populations treated may have differed. In all, 129 women (61%) had a hemorrhage resulting from atony. Hysterectomy rates according to the different types of uterine compression suture also were not significantly different. The hysterectomy rate was 26% in cases with atony and 23% in cases with other causes, such as placenta accreta, placenta previa, and uterine tear. After adjustment for a number of variables, the risk of hysterectomy was no different in women with atony compared with other causes of hemorrhage. Patients included in the study were women identified via the U.K. Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS). Case patients were those giving birth who were treated with a uterine compression suture to treat postpartum hemorrhage. Strengths of the study include the collection of comprehensive populationbased national information about women who were treated with compression sutures for postpartum hemorrhage, they said. The findings emphasize the need for careful evaluation of blood loss following delivery so that delays in recognizing and managing hemorrhage can be avoided, they concluded. ■ Major Finding: A 2to 6-hour delay in suture placement was found to be independently associated with a fourfold increase in the odds of hysterectomy. Data Source: A prospective population-based study of 1.2 million women, 210 of whom were treated with a uterine compression suture to control postpartum hemorrhage. Disclosures: This study was funded by the charity Wellbeing of Women. Dr. Kayem disclosed that he is the beneficiary of a postdoctoral grant from the AXA Research Fund. Another study author, Marian Knight, is funded by a personal fellowship from the National Coordinating Centre for Research Capacity Development of the National Institute for Health Research. This was an independent study from UKOSS, which is partially funded by the Policy Research Programme in the Department of Health. V IT A L S


Background: Few epidemiologic studies have investigated the role of inflammation in lung cancer etiology. We have carried out 2 independent studies nested within the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial to assess associations between circulating inflammation markers and lung cancer risk, after carefully controlling for smoking. In the discovery study, we showed associations between 11 circulating inflammation markers (CRP, SAA, sTNFRII, IL-1RA, IL-7, TGF-A, ENA 78/CXCL5, MIG/CXCL9, BCA-1/CXCL13, TARC/CCL17 and MDC/CCL22) and prospective lung cancer risk (Shiels, JNCI 2013). To assess the reproducibility of these associations, we have carried out a large, independent replication study. Methods: We designed a replication case-control study nested within the PLCO in 526 lung cancer cases and 625 controls, matched by gender, age, smoking (status, pack-years and time since quit), study visit and years of blood draw and exit. Serum levels of 51 inflammation markers were measured using Luminex bead-based assays. We combined the data from the discovery and replication studies (1052 cases and 1217 controls) and created study-specific marker categories. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) overall and stratified by latency and histology in the pooled dataset. Results: In our prior study, 11 inflammation markers were associated with lung cancer risk with ORs ranging from 1.41 to 2.27. Of these 11 markers, C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (sTNFRII) and monokine induced by gamma interferon (MIG/CXCL9) were associated with prospective lung cancer risk in the replication study with ORs ranging from 1.70 to 2.09 (p-trend across quartiles3 years) (all p-interactions>0.2). Further, each marker was associated with both lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (all p-trends Conclusions: With results from two independent case-control studies, we have confirmed that pre-diagnostic circulating levels of two acute phase proteins (CRP and SAA), a receptor for a pro-inflammatory cytokine (sTNFRII), and a chemokine (MIG/CXCL9) are each associated with prospective lung cancer risk, after carefully controlling for cigarette smoking. These results provide evidence implicating inflammation in the development of lung cancer. Citation Format: Meredith S. Shiels, Hormuzd A. Katki, Allan Hildesheim, Ruth M. Pfeiffer, Eric A. Engels, Marcus C. Williams, Troy J. Kemp, Neil E. Caporaso, Ligia A. Pinto, Anil K. Chaturvedi. Circulating inflammation markers and subsequent lung cancer risk: A discovery and replication study. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2920. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2920


INTRODUCTION: A growing body of evidence suggests that increased expression of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) co-receptor Neuropilin-2 (NRP2) is associated with aggressive breast cancers and that VEGF/NRP2 signaling contributes to clinical resistance to chemotherapy and tumor recurrence, making NRP2 a promising therapeutic target. A major limitation that has hampered the development of such a therapy, however, has been the lack of availability of high-quality anti-human NRP2 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that specifically block VEGF/NRP2 signaling. aTyr has generated a panel of high-quality, anti-human NRP2 mAbs that have the potential to be developed for the clinical management of diseases that involve NRP2 signaling. Among them, ATYR2810 has been characterized to bind to the b1 domain of NRP2 that encompasses the VEGF binding sites. It completely blocks the binding of VEGF to NRP2, and VEGF-induced NRP2/VEGFR dimerization. Importantly, ATYR2810 had no effect on Semaphorin 3F (Sema3F) induced NRP2/PlexinA1 dimerization, demonstrating its specificity for blocking the VEGF/NRP2 pathway. We have shown that ATYR2810, but not a Sema3F-blocking mAb has tumor-inhibitory effects on triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines or patient-derived organoids. RESULTS: We further evaluated the efficacy of ATYR2810 in combination with standard-of-care therapeutics including Cisplatin and Bevacizumab (anti-VEGF-A blocking antibody). In in vitro 3D methylcellulose colony formation assays, ATYR2810 sensitized TNBC cells to Cisplatin or Bevacizumab and considerably reduced colony formation in combination with these treatments. In an in vivo TNBC xenograft cancer model (MDA-MB-231), ATYR2810 augmented the anti-tumor effects of Cisplatin or Bevacizumab. To explore the underlying molecular mechanism, we performed gene expression profiling with samples treated by ATYR2810 alone and the combo therapy with Cisplatin or Bevacizumab. A number of gene markers of cancer stem cells (CSC) and/or epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were found to be down-regulated by ATYR2810 treatment in TNBC patient-derived organoids, including a key EMT transcription factor ZEB1. We also confirmed the reduction of ZEB1 protein expression by ATYR2810 treatment in TNBC cells. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate the efficacy of ATYR2810 in combination with standard-of-care therapeutics in in vitro and in vivo TNBC models, and suggest its activity is mediated through inhibiting both EMT and cellular dedifferentiation that renders tumors more sensitive to the treatment regimes. The targeting of VEGF/NRP2 signaling by ATYR2810 may provide a new therapeutic option, and lead to the identification of new treatment biomarkers, which could offer improved efficacy and reduced toxicity in aggressive breast cancers. Citation Format: Zhiwen Xu, Christoph Burkart, Hira L. Goel, Justin Rahman, Clara Polizzi, Matt Seikkula, Luke Burman, Arthur M. Mercurio, Leslie A. Nangle. A domain-specific antibody to NRP2 down-regulated epithelial-mesenchymal transition genes and enhanced efficacy of standard-of-care therapeutics for aggressive breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr LB095.


Mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) rely on network cooperation schemes to work properly. Nevertheless, if nodes have a selfish behaviour and are unwilling to cooperate, the overall network performance could be seriously affected. The use of watchdogs is a well-known mechanism to detect selfish nodes. In this paper we propose a collaborative watchdog approach, which is based on the fast diffusion of selfish nodes awareness. Then, we introduce an analytical model to evaluate the time of detection and the overhead (number of messages) of our collaborative watchdog approach. The results show that a collaborative watchdog is a very efficient approach since the detection time of selfish nodes is reduced, and the overall overhead is very low.


Problems related to fault detection of networked control systems have been studied in this paper. The influence of unknown and random network-induced delay on conventional fault detection systems based on parity relation and H2 optimization is first analyzed. Then a new procedure for designing fault detection systems for networked control systems with random network-induced delay and unknown inputs based on stationary wavelet transform and parity relation is proposed. The residual generator designed with the new approach is robust to both the random network-induced delay and the unknown input


The availability of both the mouse and human genome sequences allows for the systematic discovery of human gene function through the use of the mouse as a model system. To accelerate the genetic determination of gene function, we have developed a sequence-tagged gene-trap library of >270,000 mouse embryonic stem cell clones representing mutations in ≈60% of mammalian genes. Through the generation and phenotypic analysis of knockout mice from this resource, we are undertaking a functional screen to identify genes regulating physiological parameters such as blood pressure. As part of this screen, mice deficient for the Wnk1 kinase gene were generated and analyzed. Genetic studies in humans have shown that large intronic deletions in WNK1 lead to its overexpression and are responsible for pseudohypoaldosteronism type II, an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by hypertension, increased renal salt reabsorption, and impaired K+ and H+ excretion. Consistent with the human genetic studies, Wnk1 heterozygous mice displayed a significant decrease in blood pressure. Mice homozygous for the Wnk1 mutation died during embryonic development before day 13 of gestation. These results demonstrate that Wnk1 is a regulator of blood pressure critical for development and illustrate the utility of a functional screen driven by a sequence-based mutagenesis approach.


Background Metformin is the first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Observational studies show lower rates of use than would be expected from clinical guidelines. Objective We undertook a qualitative study of barriers to metformin use from the patient and provider perspective. Design Patient focus group, patient individual interviews, provider interviews, and chart review. Purposive sampling of patients and providers in New York State. Participants Seven one-on-one patient interviews, one focus group with 13 patients, 10 provider interviews, and manual review of 1259 charts. Approach Grounded theory. Results Both providers and patients cited potential health benefits as strong reasons to take metformin and describe it as the first-line drug for diabetes. Patients and providers both cited gastrointestinal side effects as the primary barrier to metformin use. Patients described adapting to these side effects and taking metformin at a time that minimizes them. In contrast, providers emphasized dose titration and the use of extended-release formulation as tools for minimizing side effects but were uncertain about the effectiveness of these strategies. Conclusion Metformin is positively viewed by patients and providers, but gastrointestinal side effects are a barrier to its use. There is some consensus on basic measures to improve its tolerability, but these measures are not consistently applied and lack evidence establishing their effectiveness. Pragmatic clinical trial research on optimal dose, formulation, and counseling for new metformin users should be considered.


OBJECTIVE
To compare 3 different techniques of preventive analgesia before circumcision operations in male children between 6-12 years of age. Our objective was to investigate the duration and quality of postoperative analgesia in patients, who were subject to caudal block technique, dorsal penile nerve block or who were administered subcutaneous morphine.

METHODS
The prospective, randomised, single-blind study was conducted at Ordu University Training and Research Hospital, Ordu, Turkey, from January 1 to June 30, 2015, and comprised boys aged 6-12 years, who were scheduled to undergo circumcision operation. All patients were under general anaesthesia by means of laryngeal masks. The patients were randomised into 3 equal groups. The patients in Group C received caudal block with bupivacaine 0.25% in a total volume of 0.50 ml/kg in lateral position. Those in Group M received injections of 100 mcg/kg of subcutaneous morphine into the deltoid muscle. Patients in Group DP were subjected to dorsal penile nerve block with 1 mg/kg of bupivacaine 0.25%. Intraoperative haemodynamic data, pain and sedation scores, according to Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontorio Pain Scale and Ramsay Sedation Scale, were recorded at postoperative 1st, 6th and 24th hours in all cases.

RESULTS
The 60 subjects in the study were divided into 3 groups of 20(33.3%) each. The overall mean age was 7.75±8.12 years. At 1 hour after surgery; 8(40%) cases in Group M, 5(25%) cases in Group DP, and all the 20(100%) cases in Group C had a pain score <6 (p<0.05). When the scores were analysed 12 hours post-operatively, 5(25%) cases in Group M and 10(50%) cases in Group DP had a pain score >6, while the pain scores of all the 20(100%) cases in Group C were <6 (p<0.01). Among the groups, there was no statistically significant difference regarding the sedation scores (p>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Using the three methods, analgesia lasted until 12 hours postoperatively, being more evident in the caudal block group, minimising postoperative stress in children and parents.


Explaining why some lineages diversify while others do not and how are key objectives in evolutionary biology. Young radiations of closely related species derived from the same source population provide an excellent opportunity to disentangle the relative contributions of possible drivers of diversification. In these settings, lineage‐specific effects are shared and can be ruled out. Moreover, the relevant demographic and ecological parameters can be estimated accurately. Midas cichlid fish in Nicaragua have repeatedly colonized several crater lakes, diverged from the same source populations, and, interestingly, diversified in some of them but not others. Here, using the most comprehensive molecular and geometric morphometric data set on Midas cichlids to date (∼20,000 SNPs, 12 landmarks, ∼700 individuals), we aim to understand why and how crater lake populations diverge and why some of them are more prone to diversify in sympatry than others. Taking ancestor‐descendant relationships into account, we find that Midas cichlids diverged in parallel from their source population mostly—but not exclusively—by evolving more slender body shapes in all six investigated crater lakes. Admixture among crater lakes has possibly facilitated this process in one case, but overall, admixture and secondary waves of colonization cannot predict morphological divergence and intralacustrine diversification. Instead, morphological divergence is larger the more dissimilar a crater lake is compared to the source lake and happens rapidly after colonization followed by a slow‐down with time. Our data also provide some evidence that founder effects may positively contribute to divergence. The depth of a crater lake is positively associated with variation in body shapes (and number of species), presumably by providing more ecological opportunities. In conclusion, we find that parallel morphological divergence in allopatry and the propensity for diversification in sympatry across the entire Midas cichlid fish radiation is partly predictable and mostly driven by ecology.


We have developed a bacterial "two-hybrid" system that readily allows selection from libraries larger than 10(8) in size. Our bacterial system may be used to study either protein-DNA or protein-protein interactions, and it offers a number of potentially significant advantages over existing yeast-based one-hybrid and two-hybrid methods. We tested our system by selecting zinc finger variants (from a large randomized library) that bind tightly and specifically to desired DNA target sites. Our method allows sequence-specific zinc fingers to be isolated in a single selection step, and thus it should be more rapid than phage display strategies that typically require multiple enrichment/amplification cycles. Given the large library sizes our bacterial-based selection system can handle, this method should provide a powerful tool for identifying and optimizing protein-DNA and protein-protein interactions.


Background Infection is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The spectrum of infectious agents in SLE patients varies significantly among different ethnic groups. The national surveillance study from the China showed that Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) was the most the common bacterial infection in China, while Gram-positive bacteria (GPB) was predominant in European countries. Objectives To identify the spectrum and drug resistant pattern of infection caused by GNB in patients hospitalized with SLE. Methods The clinical and microbiological data from hospitalized SLE patients with bacterial infection between June 2005 and June 2015 was collected and then analyzed retrospectively. Results Two hundred and sixty-eight episodes of bacteria had been identified from 3815 hospitalized patients. In terms of isolated microorganisms, gram-negative bacteria (GNB) were predominant over gram-positive bacteria (GPB) (178 isolates vs. 90 isolates). In the GNB, Escherichia coli (66/178, 37.1%) was the most common isolate, followed by Acinetobacter baumannii (36/178, 20.2%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (24/178, 13.5%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (20/178, 11.2%), Haemophilus influenzae (10/178,5.6%), Salmonella sp. (7/178, 3.9%), Enterobacter aerogenes (5/178, 2.8%), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (5/178, 2.8%), Citrobacter freundii (3/178,1.7%), Proteus mirabilis (2/178,1.1%). Resistant isolates (53/178, 30.0%) were more common documented in GNB, mostly extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli (30/66, 45.5%) and Klebsiella pneumonia (6/24, 25%), and multi-drug resistant acinetobacter baumannii (36.1%). Susceptibility tests showed that the ESBL-producing strains were highly sensitive to carbapenems, β-lactamase inhibitor compound families, and certain cefalosporin (Cefepime and Ceftazidime) in vitro. (the resistance rate <20%), whereas it was highly resistant to ampicillin and Gentamicin. Besides carbapenems and Cefoperazone/sulbactam, Acinetobacter baumannii was resistant to most antibiotics. Conclusions GNB was predominant in Chinese hospitalized patients with SLE. The drug resistance of GNB has increased significantly. It was necessary to rational use of antibiotics in patients with SLE. Disclosure of Interest None declared


A huge number of multi-participant dialogues happen online every day, which leads to difficulty in understanding the nature of dialogue dynamics for both humans and machines. Dialogue disentanglement aims at separating an entangled dialogue into detached sessions, thus increasing the readability of long disordered dialogue. Previous studies mainly focus on message-pair classification and clustering in two-step methods, which cannot guarantee the whole clustering performance in a dialogue. To address this challenge, we propose a simple yet effective model named CluCDD, which aggregates utterances by contrastive learning. More specifically, our model pulls utterances in the same session together and pushes away utterances in different ones. Then a clustering method is adopted to generate predicted clustering labels. Comprehensive experiments conducted on the Movie Dialogue dataset and IRC dataset demonstrate that our model achieves a new state-of-the-art result 1.1Code is available at https://github.com/gaojingsheng/CluCDD


The status of the marine Arctic as 'the last wilderness' may be challenged in future by increased activities provided by the melting of the sea ice. The fragile ecosystems and habitats may come under threat. In this article the international law on conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity is explored where the ecosystem approach has been developed, and these legal and semi-legal norms are related to the marine Arctic. Particularly challenging is to implement the ecosystem approach within the maritime jurisdiction. Although still a wilderness, state practice indicates that implementation will not be any easier in the Arctic, and that it will not become a laboratory for new legal regimes. Most likely sectoral regulatory regimes will be extended or developed as different threats materialize. One of the main challenges will be to ensure proper coordination between these to apply the ecosystem approach.Keywords: Arctic, international environmental law, biodiversity, law of the seaCitation: Arctic Review on Law and Politics, vol. 1, 2/2010 p. 249-278. ISSN 1891-6252


Some of the drugs, which are used in therapy of gout were tested with respect to their influence on semi-conservative DNA-synthesis and DNA-repair in vitro, using different cell systems. The agents (Benzbromarone, Allopurinol, Thiopurinol) were investigated in concentrations similar to blood-levels in normal therapy. The cells were irradiated with ultraviolet or ionizing radiation in order to damage their DNA and DNA-repair (unscheduled DNA-synthesis) was estimated by measuring the incorporation of radioactively labeled thymidine into acid insoluble material under appropriate conditions. The substances showed different effects on DNA-synthesis as well as on DNA-repair, even then, when their supposed influence on enzymes of nucleotide metabolism, was similar.


Abstract The mesoscale organization and structure of precipitation in a cyclonic storm have been studied using satellite, radar, airborne and ground measurements. The large mesoscale regions, which were mainly in the form of rainbands, contained within them smaller mesoscale regions (preciptation cores) which were characterized by higher rainfall rates. It is shown that the precipitation cores in warm frontal bands originated in generating cells aloft which provided "seed" ice crystals which grew by collection as they fell through lower cloud layers. The generating cells were probably produced by the lifting of shallow layers of potentially unstable air which were situated above warm fronts. There is also some evidence that the precipitation cores within cold frontal bands originated within layers of potentially unstable air.


The study aimed to analyze the Observational Collective Efficacy Scale for Sport (OCESS). 242 Turkish athletes and 85 Turkish coaches participated in the study. After performing the first step for the language validity of the scale by using the translation-back translation method, it was sent to the athletes as an online form. Athletes responded to the items voluntarily. KMO and Bartlett's test of sphericity values were calculated to determine whether the data was proper for factor analysis. The initial factor structure of the scale was tested with CFA. While the Pearson correlation test was used for criterion-related validity, the internal consistency coefficient was calculated with Cronbach's alpha. While KMO was found to be 0.84, Bartlett's test of sphericity was statistically significant. The item factor loadings ranged between 0.64 and 0.88. In sum, the Turkish version of the OCESS presents acceptable psychometric properties and may be used to assess athletes' collective efficacy beliefs in team sports repeatedly.


From the very beginning of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in the United States it was apparent that two major populations were affected: gay and bisexual men and injecting drug users (IDUs). Educational efforts aimed at behavioral change to reduce acquisition and transmission of the virus were considered the first line of defense. Such efforts had considerable impact in the gay and bisexual community, resulting in reductions in risk behaviors.1However, many clinicians held the belief that behavioral change would be difficult, if not impossible, in the population of IDUs.2,3 There have been several indications that positive lifestyle changes and improved medical outcomes in IDUs can occur. It has been demonstrated that IDUs enrolled in a methadone program can receive primary care with high levels of attendance and compliance with medical regimens,4and similar compliance rates with IDUs have been achieved in general medical settings.5,6


A timing and control strategy that can be used to realize synchronous systems with a level of performance that approaches that of asynchronous circuits or systems was developed in this work. This approach is based upon a single-phase synchronous circuitlsystem architecture with a variable period clock. The handshaking signals required for asynchronous self-timed circuits are not needed. Dynamic power supply current monitoring is used to generate the timing information, that is comparable to the completion signal found in self-timed circuits; this timing information is used to modify the circuit clock period.


Brass has an attractive combination of strength, ductility, and good corrosion resistance, which are required in many components, such as cartridge cases, valves, and fittings. In all of these components, brasses are usually fabricated through casting, rolling, deep drawing, and other mechanical deformation processes. Alloying elements were added in order to improve strength without sacrificing the ductility of brass. In this research, aluminium was added to Cu-28Zn brass of 1.9, 5.7, and 6.2 wt. % addition. Alloys were fabricated by gravity casting followed by homogenization at 800 °C for 2 h. Material characterizations were done through microstructural analysis using optical microscope and Scanning Electron Microscope – Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX), Rockwell B and Micro Vickers hardness testing methods, and tensile testing. The results showed that Al addition improved the mechanical properties of Cu-28Zn alloy. Hardness, tensile strength, and yield strength increased, but the elongation decreased.


Google SketchUp simplifies 3-D modelling, is free on the web, and helps you create 3-D models of everything from your garden to a large building. Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual shows you how to make the most of the program's tools and how to apply them to presentations and online sharing. The book introduces you to 3-D modelling, creating and animating a complicated model building, adding realistic material shading, and placing your model in Google Earth. Using the Push/Pull Tool If youve ever seen those camping tents that spring from flat to fully-formed, you have an idea how SketchUps Push/Pull tool works. You start with a flat 2D drawing and you stretch it to whatever length you want. Push/Pull works its magic on any shape that forms a face. In these steps, you use the Push/Pull tool to alter a simple box. 1.Use the Rectangle tool to draw a box, and then click the Iso button or choose Camera--Standard Views--Iso. You may even want to use the Orbit tool, to get a good view of three faces of the box, as shown below. Each edge on the box has two endpoints and a midpoint. To find the midpoint, move the cursor slowly along the edge. The cursor will snap to the midpoint when it gets close and you see a tool tip that says Midpoint. 2.Select the Rectangle tool and move the cursor over the different faces and points of the box. When the cursor is over a face, a tool tip says On Face. When the cursor is over an end point or midpoint, the marker at the tip of the pencil changes color and you see appropriate tool tip messages. In the next step, you use an end point and a midpoint to draw a rectangle on the top surface of the box. 3.With the Rectangle tool, click on the front, right corner and then move to the midpoint on the back of the box, as shown below. After you create the rectangle, your box has an edge down the middle that divides it in half. The top of the box now has two separate faces. Start drawing from the front corner and then stretch the rectangle out to the midpoint on the backside. 4.With the Push/Pull tool (P), click the face on the left and move the mouse forward and backward. As you move the mouse, the model changes shape. When you pull up with the Push/Pull tool, youre adding geometry or adding volume to your simple box. When you push it down, youre subtracting geometry. 5.Pull the face up and then click the mouse button. This leaves the face pulled up, and creates a new vertical face in the model. 6.With Push/Pull, push the vertical face back. As you push the face as shown below, you subtract volume from the model, making it smaller. 7.Continue to push the face until you reach the back edge of the box and then click. The face snaps to the back edge and then when you click, the face disappears. Your box looks as it did when you started this exercise. Pushing a face back shrinks an object, sometimes referred to as removing geometry or reducing its volume. Pushing this face all the way back until it reaches the opposite face removes it entirely.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis and its relation to renal failure and the administration of gadolinium-based contrast material at an academic medical center.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A dermatopathology database was searched to identify patients in whom nephrogenic systemic fibrosis was diagnosed. The medical records of these patients were reviewed. Renal function concurrent with any administration of gadolinium-based contrast material was assessed, as was patient outcome. A database of patients undergoing long-term dialysis was reviewed separately to determine how many had received gadolinium and the frequency of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis among these patients.

RESULTS
Twenty-nine patients were found to have had nephrogenic systemic fibrosis between November 15, 1999, and December 31, 2006. It was known that gadolinium-based contrast material had been administered to 25 of these patients before diagnosis. All 29 patients had compromised renal function (27 had chronic renal failure, and two had acute renal failure). Determination of the temporal relation between gadolinium-based contrast administration and symptom onset often was difficult. Only eight patients had severe morbidity. Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis developed in 12 (2.9%) of 414 patients undergoing long-term dialysis who received gadolinium-based contrast material.

CONCLUSION
We confirm the strong association between nephrogenic systemic fibrosis and gadolinium-based contrast administration. Although the use of high doses of gadolinium and the occurrence of chronic renal failure have been implicated in other reports, several of our patients received standard doses of gadolinium, and two had transient acute renal failure before diagnosis. Most patients had mild or moderate symptoms. Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis developed in 2.9% of patients undergoing long-term dialysis who received gadolinium-based contrast material but in none of the long-term dialysis patients who did not receive gadolinium-based contrast material.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

Introduction :

Thymidylate synthase (TS) is an important rate-limiting enzyme in the pathway of de novo DNA synthesis. Several reports demonstrated that TS expression was up-regulated in various cancers. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is an anti-cancer agent used clinically against a variety of cancers including prostate cancer. TS is a target enzyme for 5-FU. 5-FU inhibits DNA synthesis by binding TS and folic acid. We then investigated the expression of TS in prostate cancer and investigated its prognostic significance.

Materials and Methods :

Total 100 prostate cancer tissue specimens were obtained from patients who underwent radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer. Fifty-two patients did not received neoadjuvant hormonal therapy, and the rest 48 patients received neoadjuvant hormonal therapy. We examined prostate cancer tissues and normal prostate tissues for TS expression by immunohistochemistry. TS expression was regarded as positive, when more than 25% cells showed positive staining. If less than 25% were positive staining, TS expression was regarded as negative.

Results :

TS in prostate cancer tissues expressed at higher levels in patients without neoadjuvant hormonal therapy, compared with normal prostate tissues. TS expression was positive in approximately 70% prostate cancer tissues. In contrast, TS expression was observed in about 10% normal prostate tissues. The positive rate of TS expression in Stage T3 prostate cancer was higher than that in Stage T2 prostate cancer. In addition, the rate of positive TS expression in Gleason score 7 or greater prostate cancer was higher than that in Gleason score less than 7 prostate cancer. Patients with prostate cancer with negative TS expression without neoadjuvant hormonal therapy had a longer postoperative recurrence-free rate than those with positive expression in the 5 year follow-up. The rate of positive TS expression in prostate cancer tissues was significantly down-regulated in patients who received neoadjuvant hormonal therapy, compared with no neoadjuvant hormonal therapy. Especially, the rate of positive TS expression in stage T2 prostate cancer tissues was decreased by neoadjuvant hormonal therapy.

Conclusions :

The present study has demonstrated for the first time that TS expression may be a prognostic parameter for prostate cancer patients undergoing radical prostatectomy, and that TS may be a molecular therapeutic target for prostate cancer.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1738.


Ships navigating in ice-covered waters experience local and global ice loads due to ice-hull interaction. The design of a ship with good ice performance requires adequate assessment of these forces. Recently, an increased activity in developing numerical models of ice-hull interaction in level ice has been observed, owed to the increased computational capabilities. However, certain semi-empirical icebreaking patterns inevitably influencing the interaction process have been implemented in the majority of interaction models used for the assessment of ice performance of ships. Therefore, an attempt using a quasi-static numerical approach to model the initiation of icebreaking pattern in level ice has been made and is presented in this paper. The term initiation herein denotes the creation of circumferential cracks, disregarding thus the succeeding radial cracks.The concept used in the model features a set of radially oriented ice beams at the interaction zone. The model accounts for the bow geometry and the properties of the encountered ice. The icebreaking pattern for a case study ship is simulated using the developed model. Lastly, this paper discusses the sensitivity of the model with respect to the bow shape.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


ABSTRACT Iron (Fe) deficiency is a serious agricultural problem, especially in calcareous soils, which are distributed worldwide. Poplar trees are an important biomass plant, and overcoming Fe deficiency in poplars will increase biomass productivity worldwide. The poplar Fe-deficiency response and the genes involved in poplar Fe homeostasis remain largely unknown. To identify these genes and processes, we cultivated poplar plants under Fe-deficient conditions, both in calcareous soil and hydroponically, and analyzed their growth rates, leaf Soil and Plant Analyzer Development (SPAD) values, and metal concentrations. The data clearly showed that poplars have notable growth defects in both calcareous soil and a Fe-deficient hydroponic culture. They exhibited serious chlorosis of young leaves after 3 weeks of Fe-deficient hydroponic culture. The Fe concentrations in old leaves with high SPAD values were markedly lower in Fe-deficient poplars, suggesting that poplars may have good translocation capability from old to new leaves. The Zn concentration in new leaves increased in Fe-deficient poplars. The pH of the hydroponic solution decreased in the Fe-deficient culture compared to the Fe-sufficient culture. This finding shows that poplars may be able to adjust the pH of a culture solution to better take up Fe. We also analyzed the expression of Fe homeostasis-related genes in the roots and leaves of Fe-sufficient and Fe-deficient poplars. Our results demonstrate that PtIRT1, PtNAS2, PtFRO2, PtFRO5, and PtFIT were induced in Fe-deficient roots. PtYSL2 and PtNAS4 were induced in Fe-deficient leaves. PtYSL3 was induced in both Fe-deficient leaves and roots. These genes may be involved in the Fe uptake and/or translocation mechanisms in poplars under Fe-deficient conditions. Our results will increase a better understanding of the Fe-deficiency response of poplars and hence improve the breeding of Fe-deficiency-tolerant poplars for improved biomass production, the greening of high pH soils, and combatting global warming.


Human serum paraoxonase contributes to the anti-atherogenic effect of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and has been shown to protect both low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and HDL-C against lipid peroxidation. We investigated the effects of rosiglitazone on paraoxonase activity and metabolic parameters in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus [50 patients (30 males, 20 females); mean±SD age: 58.7±9.2 years, body mass index: 28.2±4.1'kg/m2], in whom glucose control could not be achieved despite treatment with metformin, sulphonylurea, and/or insulin. The patients were given 4'mg/day rosiglitazone for 3 months in addition to their usual treatment. Serum paraoxonase activity, malondialdehyde, homocysteine, and lipid profile were measured at the time of initiation and at the end of therapy with rosiglitazone. After rosiglitazone therapy, serum levels of HDL-C, apolipoprotein A-1, and paraoxonase activity increased significantly (P<0.05) and malondialdehyde, homocysteine, lipoprotein(a), and glucose levels decreased significantly (P<0.05), but no significant changes in levels of total cholesterol and apolipoprotein B were observed. Triglyceride levels also increased significantly (P<0.05). Rosiglitazone treatment led to an improvement in glycemic control and to an increase in paraoxonase activity and HDL-C levels. Although rosiglitazone showed favorable effects on oxidant/antioxidant balance and lipid profile, further studies are needed to determine the effect of rosiglitazone on cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.


INTRODUCTION :
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection is spreading
worldwide in pandemic proportions. It manifests from an asymptomatic state to AIDS. Involvement of multiple organs is well documented. Renal involvement occurs due to infection per se or due to associated problems like opportunistic/co-infections, septicaemia, drug toxicity. Renal disease was first reported in HIV-1–seropositive individuals in 1984, and initial reports identified focal segmental glomerulo-sclerosis (FSGS) and other renal disease. Renal involvement is seen in all stages of infection presenting as fluid and electrolyte imbalance, HIV associated nephropathy (HIVAN) progressing to End Stage renal Disease (ESRD).
Survival of patients with HIV after HAART therapy has been
introduced, has increased and so are the number of HIV cases with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). Cohort studies suggest that approximately 30% of HIV-positive individuals have proteinuria (≥ 1+). Microalbuminuria is an independent and earliest marker of renal involvement and loss of endothelial integrity. Overall microalbuminuria is seen in ~ 20% (varying from 9% to 30% in various studies) of untreated HIV infected patients. Microalbuminuria levels showed correlation with CD4 T cell count suggesting an association between the progression of disease and microalbuminuria. Present study was undertaken to confirm or refute the earlier reports.
AIM & OBJECTIVES :
1. To estimate the prevalence of microlalbuminuria in HIV patients.
2. To correlate prevalence of microalbuminuria with CD4 cell count. MATERIALS AND METHODS :
Setting: This study was carried out at Government Kilpauk Medical College & Hospital, Chennai . Collaborating department: ART Centre & Department of Internal Medicine.
Study design : Cross Sectional Study.
Period of study : January 2008 - September 2008.
Sample size : 80 cases.
Ethical Committee Approval : Obtained.
Informed Consent : Obtained.
Conflict of Interest : There was no conflict of interest.
Financial Support : Nil.
Selection and details of study subjects :
The study was conducted in HIV positive patients who were
attending the ART clinic, Government Kilpauk Medical College & Hospital, Chennai.
Inclusion criteria :
Adult male & non pregnant female HIV infected patients before ART therapy.
Exclusion criteria :
Children, Overt renal disease, Diabetes mellitus, Systemic hypertension, Collagen vascular disease, Urinary tract infection, Hepatitis, Patients on nephrotoxic agents,
Patient not willing for study.
The total number of HIV positive patients screened were 270, of which 90 patients had Tuberculosis infection (pulmonary & extra pulmonary) and they were on Anti Tuberculosis Treatment, so they were excluded from study. 35 patients who had Diabetes Mellitus were excluded from the study.
27 cases were associated with Systemic Hypertension and hence where excluded from the study. The patients with NSAID abuse were found to be 16 in numbers and they were excluded from study. 10 patients were found to be having Overt Renal Disease and they were excluded from the study. 12 patients had Urinary Tract Infection evidenced by urinary examination and they were excluded from the study.
After exclusion of these patients, the number of patients selected for our study was 80. They were divided into 2 groups according toCD4 count. 40 patients with CD4 count of ≤ 350 cells/ μL were grouped as Group A. Similarly 40 patients with CD4 count of > 350 cells/μL were grouped as Group B.
RESULTS :
A total of 80 HIV seropositive patients were studied. They were divided into two groups.
• Group A included 40 HIV seropositive patients with CD4 cell count ≤ 350/ μL (n=40).
• Group B included 40 HIV seropositive patients with CD4 cell count > 350/ μL (n=40).
• Mean CD4 count of study group was 387.7 ± 193.78 cells/μL (Group A – 236.75 ± 79.77 cells/μL. Group B – 538.65 ± 151.53 cells/μL.).
• Out of 80 patients 41 (51.25%) were males ( Group A – 21, Group – B 20) and 39 (48.75%) were females (Group A -19, Group B – 20).
• Mean age group of study population was 33.85 ± 8.26 years (Group A – 35.65 ± 9.80 years. Group B – 32.05 ± 6.46years).
• House wives and others constituted the majority of study group occupation about 35% and 40% respectively.
• Heterosexual route was the most common mode of transmission of HIV infection about 91.25%.
• Mean BMI of study group was 21.66 ± 3.33 kg/m2 (Group A – 19.92 ± 2.65 kg/m2. Group B 22.4 ± 4.02 kg/m2).
• None of the patients in study group had symptoms pertaining to renal pathology.
• Nine patients (11.25%) (Group A - 9; Group B - 0) had
Microalbuminuria.
• Six patients (7.5%) (Group A - 6; Group B - 0) had Overt proteinuria.
• Eight patients (10%) (Group A - 7; Group B - 1) had elevated levels of Serum Creatinine.
• Significant correlation was found between microalbuminuria and CD4 count.
• No significant correlation was found between microalbuminuria and Age, Sex, Body Mass Index & WHO staging.
CONCLUSION :
Microalbuminuria was significantly elevated in the study group, seen in 11.25% of cases. The mean urine microalbumin value was 37.95 mg/day.
The prevalence of elevated urine albumin creatinine ratio amounting to microalbuminuria was 11.25% in the study group. The mean urine albumin creatinine ratio was 36.78 mg/gm.
The microalbuminuria specifically correlated with CD4 counts, 9 out of 9 in the study group were found to have CD4 count ≤ 350/μL. Serum Creatinine levels were elevated in 8 patients, out of whom 7 were found to have CD4 count ≤ 350/μL.
Overt proteinuria was present in 7.5% in the study group.
Electrolyte abnormalities were not found in our study.


Recent numerical relativity simulations have shown that the emission of gravitational waves during the merger of two supermassive black holes (SMBHs) delivers a kick to the final hole, with a magnitude as large as 4000 km s−1. We study the motion of SMBHs ejected from galaxy cores by such kicks and the effects on the stellar distribution using high-accuracy direct N-body simulations. Following the kick, the motion of the SMBH exhibits three distinct phases. (1) The SMBH oscillates with decreasing amplitude, losing energy via dynamical friction at each core passage. Chandrasekhar's theory accurately reproduces the motion of the SMBH if 2≲ ln Λ ≲ 3 and if the changing core density is taken into account. (2) When the amplitude of the motion has fallen to roughly the core radius, the SMBH and core begin to exhibit oscillations about their common center of mass. These oscillations decay with a time constant that is at least 10 times longer than predicted by Chandrasekhar's formula. (3) Eventually, the SMBH reaches thermal equilibrium with the stars. The time for the SMBH's oscillations to damp to the Brownian level is as long as ~1 Gyr in the brightest galaxies. The longevity of the oscillations makes this mechanism competitive with others proposed to explain double or offset nuclei. Ejection of SMBHs also results in a lowered density of stars near the galaxy center; mass deficits as large as five times the SMBH mass can be produced. We compare the N-body density profiles with luminosity profiles of early-type galaxies in Virgo and show that even the largest observed cores can be reproduced by the kicks. Implications for displaced AGNs and helical radio structures are discussed.


Chapter 7 in The Future of Work in Asia and Beyond: A Technological Revolution or Evolution (2020), available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429423567/chapters/10.4324/9780429423567-9


Proper assessment and early identification of depressive symptoms are essential to initiate treatment and minimize the risk for poor outcomes in youth with epilepsy (YWE). The current study examined the predictive utility of the Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory‐Epilepsy for Youth (NDDI‐E‐Y) and the Neuro‐QOL Depression Short Form (Neuro‐QOL SF) in explaining variance in overall depressive symptoms and specific symptom clusters on the gold standard Children's Depression Inventory‐2 (CDI‐2).


This paper proposes a new, low‐communication algorithm for solving PDEs on massively parallel computers. The range decomposition (RD) algorithm exposes coarse‐grain parallelism by applying nested iteration and adaptive mesh refinement locally before performing a global communication step. Just a few such steps are observed to be sufficient to obtain accuracy within a small multiple of discretization error. The target applications are petascale and exascale machines, where hierarchical parallelism is required and traditional parallel numerical PDE communication patterns are costly because of message latency. The RD algorithm uses a partition of unity to equally distribute the error, and thus, the work. The computational advantages of this approach are that the decomposed problems can be solved in parallel without any communication until the partitioned solutions are summed. This offers potential advantages in the paradigm of expensive communication but very cheap computation. This paper introduces the method and explains the details of the communication step. Two performance models are developed, showing that the latency cost associated with a traditional parallel implementation of nested iteration is proportional to log(P)2, whereas the RD method reduces the communication latency to log(P), while maintaining similar bandwidth costs. Numerical results for two problems, Laplace and advection diffusion, demonstrate the enhanced performance, and a heuristic argument explains why the method converges quickly. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Considering a classical source of light (macroscopic), we propose an experiment, based on the principles of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm correlation, for which one expects to obtain the same polarization correlation coefficient as the one predicted by the quantum theory, when photons are counted in coincidence. The results of a numerical simulation give good ground to believe that the conjectured experiment is reasonable. So, one may argue that the property of light called polarization, that is manifest at any level — microscopic and macroscopic — and which has a precise description in both, the quantum and the classical theories, leads to coincident results under correspondingly similar experimental procedures. Therefore the EPRB correlation is a consequence of that property of light, independently whether it is viewed as constituted by photons or by electromagnetic waves.


Application of hydrogels can be an effective technique in transferring the adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) to injured tissue and their protection from further complications. Besides, acellular dermal matrix (ADM) has successfully been used in treatment of wounds. In this study, a combination of hylauronic acid (HA) and ASCs (HA/ASCs) was applied on burn wounds and the injured area was then covered by an ADM dressing in a rat model (ADM-HA/ASCs). Wound healing was evaluated by histopathological, histomorphometrical, molecular, biochemical, and scanning electron microscopy assessments on days 7, 14, and 28 post-wounding. ADM-HA/ASCs stimulated healing significantly more than the ADM-HA and ADM treated wounds, as it led to reduced inflammation, and improved angiogenesis and enhanced granulation tissue formation. Expression of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) was lower in the ADM-HA/ASCs treated wounds than the ADM-HA and ADM groups, at the seventh post-wounding day. ADM-HA/ASCs also enhanced the expression level of TGF-β1 mRNA at 14 day post-wounding that was parallel to the experimental data from histological and biochemical assessments and confirmed the positive role of ASCs in repair of burn wounds. Additionally, increase in basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) expression and decreased TGF-β1 level on the 28th post-wounding day indicated the anti-scarring activity of ASCs. HA loaded by adipose stem cells can represent a promising strategy in accelerating burn wound healing.


In 1999, the French Government announced the dissolution of the Ministry of Cooperation into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999, thereby calling into question the status of African cinemas in French policy. This article examines changes and continuities in French policy with respect to African cinema, highlighting France's strategic interest in terms of its global film policy and politics in the post-1990 period. It explores French interest in African cinema and how this interest can be situated within the Franco-American audio-visual disputes, and it discusses the role of new technologies in African film-making within this context. The article concludes that despite notable new initiatives, continuity is on the whole more evident than change in French audio-visual policy towards Africa.


Theoretically informed and empirically grounded, Rethinking Obesity invites readers to reconsider the medical and public health framing of population weight (gain) as a massive global problem, epidemic or crisis. Attentive to social values, scientific uncertainty and possible harms, the book furthers critique of the weight-centred health paradigm and world war on obesity. Building upon existing international literature from critical weight studies, fat studies and critical obesity research, the book advances scholarship with reference to body politics and health policy, epidemiology and obesity science, media reporting and weight-related stigma. The authors resist the common moralised narrative that 'the overweight majority' are lazy, gluttonous, and personally responsible for their actual or potential ills and the solution ultimately necessitates individual lifestyle change. Critique is also extended to seemingly compassionate public health interventions that putatively avoid victim-blaming through an appeal to 'the obesogenic environment', a consequence of modern living. Empirical case studies are grounded in women's repeated and often frustrating experiences of dieting and schoolgirls' encounters with fat pedagogy, which challenges dominant obesity discourse. Recognising that declared public health crises may become layered and cascade through society, this book also includes timely research on the COVID-19 pandemic response amidst concerns about lockdown weight-gain, heightened risk of infection and death among people deemed overweight and obese. Rethinking Obesity interrogates how social injustice is reproduced not only through cruelty but also through seemingly benevolent representations, pedagogies and policies. Alternative approaches and action, ranging from weight-inclusive health paradigms to broader social change, are also considered when seeking to foster collective hope in crisis times. This is valuable reading for students and researchers in medical sociology, social and population health sciences, physical education, critical weight and fat studies, and the social dimensions of the body. © 2022 Lee F. Monaghan, Emma Rich and Andrea E. Bombak.


With increasing resources being devoted to the field of inspection and maintenance of buildings and structures, the use of robots to carry out this type of work is a natural development. In order to carry out survey/inspection maintenance and repair, it is currently necessary to gain access to the faces of buildings and structures by scaffolding, abseilling, mechanical access platforms or other similar means. This is invariably, time consuming and may limit the tasks that can be carried out. In some cases access to parts of a structure may be extremely difficult and dangerous by conventional means. When placed in conditions that are far from ideal, the quality of work undertaken by engineers and construction workers may deteriorate owing to fatigue or distraction. In addition, the process of manual recording of data during surveys or installation of repair materials is often subject to human error and the level of skill of the operator. Human beings also have a limited ability to repeat tasks with precision over an extended interval or on similar structures. They are also limited in the number of operations they can undertake at any one time. Many of these problems are potentially solvable by developing and deploying robots in place of human beings. As part of the British Department of Trade and Industry's Advanced Robotics Initiative, Civil Engineering and Construction Project, the required performance and capabilities of such a robot are being examined. Vehicle configuration, methods of mobility, sensors, instruments and tool requirements are being assessed, together with power supply, on board and off board computing capability and communication systems. Consideration is being given to building and structure surface characteristics, survey, maintenance and repair objectives, currently available robotic systems and hardware, and probable future developments in relevant technologies in general. This work is being led by Taylor Woodrow Construction Limited in a co-ordinated programme with participants from a wide cross section of the industry. Although the study is at an early stage, the paper describes the work and approach adopted in the project, particularly addressing the enabling technologies.


Voltage imaging with cellular specificity has been made possible by the tremendous advances in genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs). However, the kilohertz rates required for voltage imaging lead to weak signals. Moreover, out-of-focus fluorescence and tissue scattering produce background that both undermines signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and induces crosstalk between cells, making reliable in vivo imaging in densely labeled tissue highly challenging. We describe a microscope that combines the distinct advantages of targeted illumination and confocal gating, while also maximizing signal detection efficiency. The resulting benefits in SNR and crosstalk reduction are quantified experimentally and theoretically. Our microscope provides a versatile solution for enabling high-fidelity in vivo voltage imaging at large scales and penetration depths, which we demonstrate across a wide range of imaging conditions and different GEVI classes.


The GRavitational lEnsing Accuracy Testing 3 (GREAT3) challenge is an image analysis competition that aims to test algorithms to measure weak gravitational lensing from astronomical images. The challenge started in October 2013 and ends 30 April 2014. The challenge focuses on testing the impact on weak lensing measurements of realistically complex galaxy morphologies, realistic point spread function, and combination of multiple different exposures. It includes simulated groundand space-based data. The details of the challenge are described in [15], and the challenge website and its leader board can be found at http://great3challenge.info and http://great3.projects.phys.ucl.ac.uk/leaderboard/, respectively.


An aerodynamic shroud was designed to reduce the effects of the wind turbine tower wake on the blades of a downwind rotor. For a given tower diameter and wind speed the shroud was designed to have the minimum drag and minimum chord length downstream of tower centerline, while being able to self-align and resist flow separation when subjected to a non-zero angle of attack. The initial analysis was run using XFOIL and showed that a three-to-one chord-to-thickness ratio resulted in the minimum drag. Based on this result, the NACA0033 airfoil was selected as the baseline. Further analysis showed that a shroud of this shape will not self-align due to the tower center being located behind the aerodynamic center. A new series of airfoils was created to have a 33% thickness ratio starting from a NACA0028, NACA0030, and NACA0031. The resulting airfoils all had significant adverse pressure gradients near their maximum thickness locations that could lead to flow separation. A new group of airfoils were created by adjusting the existing airfoil geometry using PROFOIL. Of the 13 airfoil designs that were analyzed, the C30u design had the best overall performance and met all of the objectives. At a Reynolds number based on tower diameter of 8.3x10, the C30u design had a drag coefficient based on inscribed tower diameter of 0.0193, which represents a 97.5% reduction in the drag of the cylinder. At a 5 degree angle of attack, the C30u design had a pitching moment coefficient of -0.0128.


The deterioration of track geometry depends on several factors of which the speed of the train is one. Imposing a speed restriction can slow down the track deterioration and allows a longer survival time before a serious condition is achieved. Preventive maintenance delays can be authorized during the survival time. However, speed restrictions also reduce the system throughput. On the other hand, a longer interval between preventive maintenance activities has a lower maintenance action cost and it also enables grouping the maintenance activities to save set-up costs as well as system down time. If the repair delay is too long, it may cause unacceptable conditions on the track and lead to higher maintenance costs and accidents. Therefore, it is interesting to assess the effect of a speed restriction on the delayed maintenance strategies for a railway track section. We want to solve a maintenance optimization problem to find the optimal tuning of the maintenance delay time and imposition of a speed restriction. To this aim, a delayed maintenance model is developed, in which track deterioration depends on the train speed and the number of passing trains. The model is used to determine an optimal speed restriction strategy and a preventive repair delay for the optimization of the system benefit and unavailability. Coloured Petri Nets (CPN) are adopted to model the maintenance and operation of the railway track section. The CPN model describes the gradual track deterioration as a stochastic process. Different speed restriction policies and maintenance delay strategies are modelled and activated by the observed component states. Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to estimate the maintenance cost, the system benefit and the system downtime under different policies. Numerical results show the maintenance decision variable trade-off.


This paper presents a current control scheme with instantaneous reactive power minimization for an indirect matrix converter. The strategy uses the commutation state of the converter in the subsequent sampling time according to an optimization algorithm given by a simple cost function and the discrete system model. Using this strategy, harmonics in the input current generated by the resonance of the input filter are strongly reduced. Simulation and experimental results with a laboratory prototype are provided in order to validate the control scheme, and the effects of a distorted source voltage and filter resonance are analyzed.


The mechanisms for photochemical isomerization reactions are studied theoretically using the model systems, cyclotetrasilene and cyclobutene, both of which feature one four-membered-ring and one double bond, using the CAS(6,6)/6-311G(d) and CAS-MP2-(6,6)/6-311++G(3df,3pd) methods. The mechanisms, which are governed by the conical intersection concept, play a crucial role in these photorearrangement reactions, and explain the reaction pathways. The model computations demonstrate that the preferred reaction path for the photoisomerization reactions for both cyclotetrasilene and cyclobutene is as follows: four-membered-ring reactant → Franck–Condon region → conical intersection → butterfly-like photoproduct. These results allow a number of predictions to be made.


Pt-diffused bond coat with a mixture of γ/γ' phase has just been developed in the recent decades as a cheaper alternative to the Pt-enriched β-phase Aluminide bond coat that contains a higher content of Al. However, concerns are raised on the inevitable depletion of Pt near the coating interface that may endanger the component after long-term service. In this study, modified Pt-diffused bond coats with a single phase (γ or γ') were made by applying selective etching on CMSX-4 single crystal superalloys prior to the electroplating of Pt. The single-phase bond coats show distinctive diffusion behaviour in comparison with the conventional γ/γ' bond coat. Surprisingly, Pt remains more stable in the γ'-phase bond coat with significantly less depletion after diffusion, which implies a potential in saving a considerable amount of Pt. On the other hand, however, the depletion of Pt is more severe in the γ-phase bond coat. The mechanism that governs the diffusion behavior of Pt in the γ and γ'-phase was also discussed that mainly concerns with thermodynamic and kinetic factors.


In addition to the trauma for victims of an educator's sexual misconduct, such conduct can have lasting consequences for the educator, their employer, and the community the educator serves. The educator who crosses professional boundaries and engages in sexual misconduct with students faces the possibility of both professional and personal consequences. In addition to discussing these consequences, this chapter will identify and examine the liability risks for school employers when an educator engages in sexual misconduct. This chapter will also provide insight into how a school employer can to adopt and implement measures to prevent and manage risks posed by sexual misconduct through background checks, training, supervision, reporting procedures, and conducting investigations when appropriate.


Tiring of the horrors of West Africa, an area which he has spent much of his professional life studying, anthropologist Nigel Barley taught himself Indonesian and spent a number of months at the end of 1985 on the island of Sulawesi. Here he hoped to find unsullied cultures to study, unspoilt natives to investigate. Barley found plenty to wonder at and plenty to admire among the Toraja, a vastly interesting people whose culture include headhunting, transvestite priests, and massacre of buffalo.


A precise and efficient quantized multiple sinusoids signal estimation algorithm is presented. For different initial conditions obtained using classical spectral estimation algorithms the final solution of our algorithm is not unique. We start to minimize a nonlinear cost function. The accuracy of the initial values of iterations has a large influence on the speed of convergence. An iterative process is performed to reduce the cost function. Algorithm stops when quantization conditions are satisfied. Our algorithm is computationally efficient.


Single-source explanations of problem difficulty are common throughout the insight literature (cf. Dominowski & Dallob, 1995; Isaak & Just, 1995; Weisberg & Alba, 1981). However, many insight problems contain multiple difficulties. We propose that the nine-dot problem (Maier, 1930) is difficult because of the interaction between perceptual, knowledge, and process factors. Two experiments show how different types of training can have a statistically significant effect on the overall solution rate, yet produce a small effect size. A third experiment shows how the multiple difficulties of the nine-dot problem can be simultaneously addressed. Sources of Difficulty in Insight A main focus of the problem solving literature is determining what features of a problem lead to difficulty in achieving the solution. Insight problems, such as the nine-dot problem (Maier, 1930) and Duncker's (1945) candle problem, are defined by the constraints the problem solver attaches to the problem. As the solver encodes the insight problem, prior knowledge is activated that does not necessarily help the solver (Ohlsson, 1992; Wiley, 1998). This prior knowledge constrains the solver's representation of the problem, therefore leading to an impasse that may not be resolved. If the solver is able to relax these constraints, he or she exits the impasse and solves the problem (Knoblich, Ohlsson, Haider, & Rhenius, 1999). In studying insight, researchers are often interested in how solvers are able to overcome an impasse. Knoblich et al. (1999) propose that constraint relaxation, and therefore impasse resolution, occurs as a result of spreading activation. However, other researchers believe that a conscious restructuring of the problem is needed to achieve solution. Sometimes researchers give hints to help solvers break out of an impasse, or, alternatively, train the solvers on helpful elements of the problem to prevent impasse (cf. Kershaw & Ohlsson, 2001). Within this general explanatory scheme, the difficulty of each insight problem is explained by identifying the particular difficulty that is operating in each. The analysis of the difficulty of a problem is often based on the results of providing solvers with hints or training. Or, on the basis of limited evidence, a particular explanation is sometimes passed down from author to author. A striking feature of the majority of explanations offered for the difficulty of insight problems is that they attribute the difficulty to a single source. The difficulty of the six matches problem (use 6 matches to form four equilateral triangles with each side being the length of a match) has often been explained by solvers' belief that the solution is twodimensional (Scheerer, 1963; Weisberg & Alba, 1981). More recently, Ormerod, MacGregor, and Chronicle (2002) attributed this same failure to the eight-coin problem. Failure to solve in both Maier's (1931) twostring problem and Duncker's (1945) candle problem has been attributed to functional fixedness (Dominowski & Dallob, 1995). Kaplan and Simon (1990) allocate the difficulty of the Mutilated Checkerboard problem to the incompleteness of the initial problem representation. Isaak and Just (1995) list 20 insight problems and give only a singular explanation of the difficulty for each. The nine-dot problem (Maier, 1930) provides a multi-decade example of single-source explanation. Single-Source Difficulties in the


Exposure to light and darkness can rapidly induce phase shifts of the human circadian pacemaker. A type 0 phase response curve (PRC) to light that has been reported for humans was based on circadian phase data collected from constant routines performed before and after a three-cycle light stimulus, but resetting data observed throughout the entire resetting protocol have not been previously reported. Pineal melatonin secretion is governed by the hypothalamic circadian pacemaker via a well-defined neural pathway and is reportedly less subject to the masking effects of sleep and activity than body temperature. The authors reasoned that observation of the melatonin rhythm throughout the three-cycle light resetting trials could provide daily phase-resetting information, allowing a dynamic view of the resetting response of the circadian pacemaker to light. Subjects (n = 12) living in otherwise dim light (~10-15 lux) were exposed to a noncritical stimulus of three cycles of bright light (~9500 lux for 5 h per day) timed to phase advance or phase delay the human circadian pacemaker; control subjects (n = 11) were scheduled to the same protocols but exposed to three 5-h darkness cycles instead of light. Subjects underwent initial and final constant routine phase assessments; hourly melatonin samples and body temperature data were collected throughout the protocol. Average daily phase shifts of 1 to 3 h were observed in 11 of 12 subjects receiving the bright light, supporting predictions obtained using Kronauer's phase-amplitude model of the resetting response of the human circadian pacemaker. The melatonin rhythm in the 12th subject progressively attenuated in amplitude throughout the resetting trial, becoming undetectable for > 32 hours preceding an abrupt reappearance of the rhythm at a shifted phase with a recovered amplitude. The data from control subjects who remained in dim lighting and darkness delayed on average – 0.2 h per day, consistent with the daily delay expected due to the longer than 24-h intrinsic period of the human circadian pacemaker. Both temperature and melatonin rhythms shifted by equivalent amounts in both bright light-treated and control subjects (R = 0.968; p < 0.0001; n = 23). Observation of the melatonin rhythm throughout a three-cycle resetting trial has provided a dynamic view of the daily phase-resetting response of the human circadian pacemaker. Taken together with the observation of strong type 0 resetting in humans in response to the same three-cycle stimulus applied at a critical phase, these data confirm the importance of considering both phase and amplitude when describing the resetting of the human circadian pacemaker by light.


In 1925 a study was published by one of us (Dr. Gold 1 ) on the tolerance of the cat to ouabain in the presence of coronary occlusion. It was found that within periods up to twenty-four hours after extensive ligation of coronary vessels animals required on the average as much ouabain to cause death as did normal animals. These results were confirmed in a recent study (1934) by Bellet, Johnston and Schecter, 2 in which the drug was digitalis, the interval between the ligation and the testing was thirty minutes and the animal used was the dog. These authors extended their study to include chronic experiments, and from them they found that four days after the ligation the tolerance to digitalis had diminished by about 23 per cent of normal but that in from six weeks to six months some recovery of tolerance had taken place (tolerance being reduced about


Introduction: The multicenter phase 3 randomized clinical trial TCD With Transfusions Changing to Hydroxyurea (TWiTCH, NCT01425307) investigated whether hydroxyurea could maintain TCD velocities and prevent stroke in children with sickle cell anemia and abnormal TCD velocities. The trial was stopped early after reaching the primary endpoint, when the average TCD velocity in the alternative (hydroxyurea) arm was found to be non-inferior and even slightly better (138 versus 143 cm/sec) than the standard (transfusion) arm. A planned secondary analysis was to determine the variation in serial TCD velocity measurements for individual study participants, to document the normal TCD velocity fluctuations that occur and to inform the need for frequent TCD evaluations in this clinical setting. Methods: All TCD examinations collected in TWiTCH were analyzed for the maximum time-averaged mean velocity (TAMV) measured in the main intracranial arteries. TCD studies were performed by certified examiners using identical non-imaging instruments, no more than one week before a scheduled transfusion or phlebotomy procedure. Measurements on the index side, defined as the cerebral hemisphere with the higher mean arterial velocity at baseline assessment, were used for these statistical analyses. TCD values were analyzed according to four phases of the trial: (1) screening with three monthly TCD examinations performed at Weeks -8, -4, and 0 before randomization; (2) initial treatment period (hydroxyurea dose escalation with overlap transfusions or transfusions only) with three quarterly TCD measurements at Weeks 12, 24, and 36; (3) steady-state treatment period (hydroxyurea only or transfusions only) with four quarterly TCD measurements at Weeks 48, 60, 72, and 84; and (4) study exit with three monthly TCD examinations performed at Weeks 96, 100, and 104 or during the accelerated close-out period. The within-patient variance and standard deviation of the TAMV values were found using a linear mixed model, which was calculated using SAS Version 9.3. Results: TAMV measurements on the index side from 1458 TCD examinations on 121 randomized patients formed the overall dataset. TAMV values ≥170 cm/sec were identified in 140 measurements on 40 children (9.6% of TCD values) and exceeded 200 cm/sec in 1.8% of examinations (26 values, 8 children) during the study treatment phase. The within-patient TCD variation, representing fluctuation of repeated TCD measurements in the same study participant, was 12.0 cm/sec for the entire cohort during the initial screening phase (363 TCD measurements). In the initial treatment phase, TCD variation in the hydroxyurea arm (180 values, 60 children) was 10.5 cm/sec, similar to 10.2 cm/sec on the transfusion arm (183 values, 61 children). In the steady-state treatment phase, the TCD variation in the hydroxyurea arm was 10.2 cm/sec (207 values, 57 children), compared to 12.3 cm/sec on the transfusion arm (212 values, 58 children). In the final exit phase, TCD variation in the hydroxyurea arm was 9.8 cm/sec (155 values, 58 children), similar to 10.2 cm/sec on the standard arm (155 values, 57 children). TCD variation was greater with higher baseline TCD velocity and shorter transfusion duration, but was not affected by age or gender. For example, participants with baseline TCD velocity of Conclusions: The TWiTCH trial provides prospective data regarding the biological variation in serial TCD values that occurs in children with previous abnormal TCD examinations but no severe vasculopathy. The observed within-patient variation in TCD velocities was consistently 10-14 cm/sec, with higher variation observed in children with higher baseline TCD velocities. This fluctuation can be expected with serial TCD examinations and should be considered before making treatment decisions based on a single TCD measurement. Since comparison of entry and exit TCD values in the TWiTCH trial documented that hydroxyurea at maximum tolerated dose was non-inferior to transfusions, frequent TCD examinations may not be warranted. Disclosures Ware:Bayer Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; Addmedica: Research Funding; Global Blood Therapeutics: Consultancy; Bristol Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Biomedomics: Research Funding; Nova Laboratories: Consultancy. Heeney:Eli Lilly and Company: Research Funding; Pfizer: Research Funding; Sancilio and Company: Consultancy, Research Funding. Thompson:Baxalta (now part of Shire): Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Mast: Research Funding; Eli Lily: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding; ApoPharma: Consultancy, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees; bluebird bio: Consultancy, Research Funding.


The integration of Einstein's equations is considered for the most general spacetime with a non-rotating, non-static, shear-free fluid source with bulk viscosity and heat conduction. The constraints of the field equations are shown to reduce to a linear algebraic system on the derivatives of the metric functions. An examination of this system leads to the derivation of the following three large classes of exact solutions characterized by a generating function J: (1) time-dependent and non-zero J yields new Petrov type D solutions admitting no Killing vectors in general, although plane and spherically symmetric subcases are readily identified; (2) time-independent and non-zero J leads to another class of Petrov type D new solutions, all of which are either spherically or plane symmetric; (3) the case J=0 corresponds to conformally flat, Petrov type O solutions reducing to the 'Stephani Universe' as heat conduction vanishes. All Petrov type D solutions (regardless of the form of J not=0) lack a non-static perfect fluid limit. In the three classes of solutions one finds particular cases admitting a conformal Killing vector parallel to the 4-velocity or a one-parameter self-similar motion. Since all previously known solutions with a heat conducting, shear-free fluid source are either conformally flat and/or spherically symmetric, all of them are shown to be particular cases of the solutions derived here.


It is shown that model independent local isoscalar and isovector exchange current operators associated with the spin-orbit component of the nucleon-nucleon interaction may be constructed from such nucleon-nucleon interactions that have been derived from relativistic models (e.g. boson exchange) for the scattering amplitude. The resulting magnetic moment operators contain terms that cannot be obtained by direct gauging of the conventional spin-orbit interaction. It is shown that the model independent isoscalar exchange current associated with the spin-orbit interaction causes a quenching of the order 10% of the effective isoscalar magnetic moment operator in heavy nuclei. The corresponding isovector exchange current operator causes a somewhat smaller enhancement of the effective isovector magnetic moment operator, which counteracts the much larger quenching effect caused by isobar-hole screening of the nucleons. The isoscalar exchange current operator leads to a small modification of the calculated magnetic formfactor of deuterium, which counteracts the contribution from typical model dependent exchange current contributions.


While multiple studies mention the difficulty of R&D target-setting, few studies exist which bring together reasons for these difficulties; nor do they delve deeply into addressing this issue in detail. Additionally, there are many studies conducted on single or subsets of commercial airplane technology, market, and economic parameters; but few have been conducted from a combined critical technological performance parameter perspective. This paper provides what appears to be one of the first studies outlining reasons for R&D target-setting difficulties through a literature review; then also provides the first set of analyses tied to a larger study applying a quantitative method addressing these difficulties. An emerging operations research method, Technology Forecasting Using Data Envelopment Analysis (TFDEA) was used for this set of initial results; including determining the state-of-art in commercial airplane technology. This is the first time TFDEA has been used as a focus for addressing R&D.


In this paper we present a novel approach for generating viewpoint invariant features from single images and demonstrate their application for robust matching over widely separated views. The key idea consists of retrieving building structure from single images and then utlising the recovered 3D geometry to improve the performances of feature extraction and matching. Urban environments usually contain many structured regularities, so that the images of those environments contain straight parallel lines and vanishing points, which can be efficiently exploited for 3D reconstruction. We present an effective scheme to recover 3D planar surfaces using the extracted line segments and their associated vanishing points. The viewpoint invariant features are then computed on the normalized front-parallel views of the obtained 3D planes. The advantages of the proposed approach include: (1) the new feature is very robust against perspective distortions and viewpoint changes due to its consideration of 3D geometry; (2) the features are completely computed from single images and do not need information from additional devices (e.g. stereo cameras, or active ranging devices). Experiments are carried out to demonstrate the proposed scheme ability to effectively handle very difficult wide baseline matching tasks in the presence of repetitive building structures and significant viewpoint changes.


Background/aim Previous studies have revealed various subnormal visual functions in prematurely born children. The present study aimed to determine the retinal macular thickness in prematurely born children and compare with children born at term. Methods The eyes of 65 prematurely born children aged 5–16 years were examined with Stratus optical coherence tomography (OCT) 3, and the results were compared with those of 55 children born at term. The retinal macular thickness in the nine EDTRS macular areas (A1–A9), the foveal minimum and the total macular volume were determined. Results The central macular thickness (A1 and foveal minimum) was significantly thicker in the prematurely born children than in those born at term. There was no correlation between macular thickness and visual acuity or refraction. Children with previous retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) had significantly thicker central maculae than those without it. Prematurely born children without previous ROP had significantly thicker central maculae than the control group. Multiple regression analyses showed that gestational age at birth was the only risk factor for a thick central macula. Conclusion Prematurely born children had thicker central maculae than those born at term. Regardless of ROP, the degree of prematurity was the most important risk factor for abnormal foveal development.


In this paper we prove that the symmetric pair (GLn+k(F ), GLn(F )×GLk(F )) is a Gelfand pair for any local field F of characteristic 0. For non-archimedean F it has been proven in [JR]. We use techniques developed in [AG2] to generalize their proof to general local fields.


All 50 states, the federal government and the District of Columbia have open government laws in place to ensure that citizens have a right of access to government records and meetings. While every jurisdiction allows citizens to sue in court if they feel their right of access has been improperly denied, about two-thirds also have alternative dispute resolution programs built into their transparency laws. For jurisdictions that do not have these kinds of systems, and even in ones that do, other more informal systems have emerged to fill the void between when a dispute arises and the potential onset of litigation. In this study, depth interviews of ten experts on open government laws were conducted to examine the role of these informal systems and how they interact with the more formal systems in place in open government laws. Respondents reported the existence of few actual informal systems, but they emphasized the importance of having more formal alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in sunshine laws. However, they noted that these formal systems may have unintended consequences. Further, they explained that the underlying conflict inherent in the relationship between citizens, particularly journalists, and the government plays a significant role in shaping how disputes over access are processed.