ConspectusDuring the last few decades, the design of catalytic systems for CO2 reduction has been extensively researched and generally involves (1) traditional approaches using molecular organic/organometallic materials and heterogeneous inorganic semiconductors and (2) combinatory approaches wherein these materials are combined as needed. Recently, we have devised a number of new TiO2-mediated multicomponent hybrid systems that synergistically integrate the intrinsic merits of various materials, namely, molecular photosensitizers/catalysts and n-type TiO2 semiconductors, and lower the energetic and kinetic barriers between components. We have termed such multicomponent hybrid systems assembled from the hybridization of various organic/inorganic/organometallic units in a single platform inorganometallic photocatalysts. The multicomponent inorganometallic (MIOM) hybrid system onto which the photosensitizer and catalyst are coadsorbed efficiently eliminates the need for bulk-phase diffusion of the components and avoids the accumulation of radical intermediates that invokes a degradation pathway, in contrast to the homogeneous system, in which the free reactive species are concentrated in a confined reaction space. In particular, in energetic terms, we discovered that in nonaqueous media, the conduction band (CB) levels of reduced TiO2 (TiO2(e-)) are positioned at a higher level (in the range -1.5 to -1.9 V vs SCE). This energetic benefit of reduced TiO2 allows smooth electron transfer (ET) from injected electrons (TiO2(e-)) to the coadsorbed CO2 reduction catalyst, which requires relatively high reducing power (at least more than -1.1 V vs SCE). On the other hand, the existence of various shallow surface trapping sites and surface bands, which are 0.3-1.0 eV below the CB of TiO2, efficiently facilitates electron injection from any photosensitizer (including dyes having low excited energy levels) to TiO2 without energetic limitation. This is contrasted with most photocatalytic systems, wherein successive absorption of single high-energy photons is required to produce excited states with enough energy to fulfill photocatalytic reaction, which may allow unwanted side reactions during photocatalysis. In this Account, we present our recent research efforts toward advancing these MIOM hybrid systems for photochemical CO2 reduction and discuss their working mechanisms in detail. Basic ET processes within the MIOM system, including intervalence ET in organic/organometallic redox systems, metal-to-ligand charge transfer of organometallic complexes, and interfacial/outer-sphere charge transfer between components, were investigated by conducting serial photophysical and electrochemical analyses. Because such ET events occur primarily at the interface between the components, the efficiency of interfacial ET between the molecular components (organic/organometallic photosensitizers and molecular reduction catalysts) and the bulk inorganic solid (mainly n-type TiO2 semiconductors) has a significant influence on the overall photochemical reaction kinetics and mechanism. In some TiO2-mediated MIOM hybrids, the chemical attachment of organic or organometallic photosensitizing units onto TiO2 semiconductors efficiently eliminates the step of diffusion/collision-controlled ET between components and prevents the accumulation of reactive species (oxidatively quenched cations or reductively quenched anions) in the reaction solution, ensuring steady photosensitization over an extended reaction period. The site isolation of a single-site organometallic catalyst employing TiO2 immobilization promotes the monomeric catalytic pathway during the CO2 reduction process, resulting in enhanced product selectivity and catalytic performance, including lifetime extension. In addition, as an alternative inorganic solid scaffold, the introduction of a host porphyrin matrix (interlinked in a metal-organic framework (MOF) material) led to efficient and durable photocatalytic CO2 conversion by the new MOF-Re(I) hybrid as a result of efficient light harvesting/exciton migration in the porphyrinic MOF and rapid quenching of the photogenerated electrons by the doped Re(I) catalytic sites. Overall, the case studies presented herein provide valuable insights for the rational design of advanced multicomponent hybrid systems for artificial photosynthesis involving CO2 reduction.


The European Union's enlargement towards the Western Balkans may be facing its most difficult challenge since its launch in Zagreb in 2000. The prospect of Balkan enlargement has been hard-hit by the deterioration of the European economy, and particularly the Greek sovereign debt crisis, as the countries of the region have been deeply affected by the shock waves emanating from Greece. The negative repercussions include a deterioration of their economies, their prospects for growth, their capacity for reform, their social, political and institutional structures, and their ability to fulfil the accession criteria. Crucially, the EU's hitherto undisputable symbolic role as an 'anchor' of stability, as a one-way path to prosperity and as a goal to be aspired to, may be losing its credibility and appeal for some of these countries.


Within the population of ̳older adults' there is more diversity than in any other user group. Yet, generalised assumptions still exist about their capabilities, needs, and technology use. This paper briefly outlines existing research into designing technology for (older) users and suggests that the built environment can, and should, serve as the canvas for new technologies that support the sociophysical interactions of ageing bodies. Innovations coming from the fields of tangible interaction and interactive architecture have the opportunity to consider the whole environment in which such bodies reside. Rather than devising specific technologies for older users, this paper suggests focusing on the incorporation of flexible, mainstream technologies, into adaptable, intelligent homes, which support the autonomy of older adults. The challenges of such an endeavour are discussed as the grounding for future research into sociophysical technology that supports older users.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Objective Biliary strictures are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in primary hepatic disease and after liver transplantation (LT). We aimed to characterize inflammatory cytokines in biliary fluids in biliary strictures to investigate their immunological origin. Methods We conducted a retrospective study on 72 patients with strictures after LT, eight patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and 15 patients with secondary sclerosing cholangitis (SSC). We measured cytokines interleukin (IL)-2, -4, -6, -10, -17, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2 and interferon (IFN)-γ as well as biochemical components such as protein and phospholipids in biliary fluid obtained from endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC). Cell viability assays were performed on human cholangiocytes (H69) after being treated with IL-6, IL-4 and IFN-γ. Results Bile of patients with diffuse strictures after LT or due to SSC showed low values of all measured cytokines except for IL-6 levels, which were largely elevated in patients with diffuse strictures after LT. Patients high in biliary IL-6 showed an increase in profibrotic markers FGF-2 and MCP-1. In contrast, PSC bile was dominated by a Th1/Th17 profile with elevated IL-2, IL-17 and IFN-γ. In LT patients with biliary strictures, biliary IL-6 negatively predicted retransplantation-free survival after ERC. Conclusion PSC patients showed a biliary Th1/Th17 cytokine profile, while SSC and diffuse strictures showed low values of cytokines except IL-6. In diffuse intrahepatic strictures after LT, biliary IL-6 is strongly associated with retransplantation-free survival after ERC.


In March of 1994, four women met to compile the Hagg&h, the liturgical prayerbook which recounts the story of the Jewish exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt, for recitation at a women's sedcr being held at Montreal's Hillel Centre for Students. Coming from different religious backgrounds, we had little in common except that we were all students interested in creating the liturgical foundation for a Jewish women's ritual that has been evolving for the past 20 years. The trailblazing efforts of the Seder Sisters in New York and the Women's Institute for continuing Jewish Education in San Diego gave us the confidence and published precedents to create our own ritual. This is not to say, however, that the path to oursederwas a smooth one. Some men, well-meaning and not, approached us to ask why they were being excluded. Why was this so important to us? In her book, Standing Again a t Sinai, a work which has set the standard for all future writings on Jewish feminism, Judith Plaskow describes the primacy of liturgy and ritual to us.


Successful establishment of left-right asymmetry is crucial to healthy vertebrate development. In many species this process is initiated in a ciliated, enclosed cavity, for example Kupffer's vesicle (KV) in zebrafish. The microarchitecture of KV is more complex than that present in the left-right organizer of many other species. While swirling flow in KV is recognized as essential for left-right patterning, its generation, nature and conversion to asymmetric gene expression are only beginning to be fully understood. We recently [Sampaio, P et al. Dev Cell 29:716–728] combined imaging, genetics and fluid dynamics simulation to characterize normal and perturbed ciliary activity, and their correlation to asymmetric charon expression and embryonic organ fate. Randomness in cilia number and length have major implications for robust flow generation; even a modest change in mean cilia length has a major effect on flow speed to due to nonlinear scaling arising from fluid mechanics. Wildtype, and mutant embryos with normal liver laterality, exhibit stronger flow on the left prior to asymmetric inhibition of charon. Our discovery of immotile cilia, taken with data on morphant embryos with very few cilia, further support the role of mechanosensing in initiating and/or enhancing flow conversion into gene expression.


A new approach to face recognition, where elastic bunch graph matching technique optimised with particle swarm optimisation is proposed in this paper. It is a fully automatic algorithm and can be used for databases where only one image per person is available. A face is represented by a face graph. A face bunch graph is created as a generalised representation of faces of various individuals. The face graph similarity between the face bunch graph and the deformable graph that has to be fitted to the face in the image is maximised by particle swarm optimisation, to locate the landmarks and thereby to find the optimal graph to represent a face. Improved results were obtained by this method as apposed to elastic bunch graph matching without optimisation. Results were further improved by hybridising it with principal component analysis.


AIM
The aim of the present study was to assess the knowledge and practice of, and attitudes toward, pulp therapy in deciduous dentition among pediatric dentists.

METHODS
A cross-sectional, observational survey was conducted using a closed-ended, multiple-choice questionnaire evaluating the knowledge and practice of, and attitudes toward, pulp therapy in deciduous dentition, which was formulated and sent to 360 pediatric dentists across India. Descriptive statistics were done, followed by χ2 -test to test the association between years of experience and the questionnaire items.

RESULTS
A total of 3.5% of pediatric dentists performed their treatment using a rubber dam in all cases; 30% preferred to use local anesthesia prior to indirect pulp therapy (IPT). Traditional indirect pulp capping was preferred to IPT, and only 48% of them believed in not removing it completely. Pulpotomy was preferred over IPT (70%) when there was a probability of pulp exposure following complete caries excavation. Calcium hydroxide, along with iodoform, was the material of choice for the obturation of primary teeth (73.5%). A stainless steel crown was placed after pulp therapy in the primary tooth (86.3%). Most dentists believed requested immediate and 3-month follow up.

CONCLUSION
The survey helps in assessing whether our views or approaches are in line with recent trends.


Trifunctionalization is a versatile procedure to enable complex and diverse chemical compounds by constructing three functional groups concurrently in one step from simple and readily available feedstock reagents. The development of new trifunctionalization methods is a growing realm, with a significant impact on synthetic organic chemistry in recent times. Several trifunctionalization methodologies have been disclosed for different organic systems in the last two decades. This review presents the development of trifunctionalization methods for alkenes and alkynes, including arynes and allenes, published so far.


In this paper, we present a novel concept for an active connector for electrical and mechanical connection of components of a robotic or electromechanical system called active connector for robotic systems (ACOR). ACOR consists of a plug and a receptacle that contain a plurality of flexible lamellae that serve as the connection/disconnection mechanism. A shape-memory-alloy actuator is used to move the lamellae endpoint and control in this way the connector engagement and disengagement. ACOR can transmit axial and shear forces and torque. The connector can be controlled from both the plug and/or the receptacle side. So, in the case of a module failure, it can be disassembled by sending signals to its neighbors. ACOR allows fully automatic operation, manual operation, and manual and automatic emergency access from the outside. There are two novel characteristics of ACOR, compared to other active connectors found in literature. First, it allows disconnection from either side of the connection, plug or receptacle, regardless of the power situation on the other side. Second, it has a very simple design since it is composed of a very small number of parts and components. In this paper, we present, in detail, the mechanical design, the analytical models for calculation of the transmitted forces/torques, and the SMA actuator force requirements, and the experimental prototype that was built to demonstrate the concept of the connector.


The formation of new carbon–nitrogen bonds is indisputably one of the most important tasks in synthetic organic chemistry. Here, nitroso compounds offer a highly interesting reactivity that complements traditional amination strategies, allowing for the introduction of nitrogen functionalities via ene-type reactions or Diels–Alder cycloadditions. In this study, we highlight the potential of horseradish peroxidase as biological mediator for the generation of reactive nitroso species under environmentally benign conditions. Exploiting a non-natural peroxidase reactivity, in combination with glucose oxidase as oxygen-activating biocatalyst, aerobic activation of a broad range of N-hydroxycarbamates and hydroxamic acids is achieved. Thus both intra- and intermolecular nitroso-ene as well as nitroso-Diels–Alder reactions are performed with high efficiency. Relying on a commercial and robust enzyme system, the aqueous catalyst solution can be recycled over numerous reaction cycles without significant loss of activity. Overall, this green and scalable C–N bond-forming strategy enables the production of allylic amides and various N-heterocyclic building blocks utilizing only air and glucose as sacrificial reagents.


The way in which tax disputes are managed and resolved can have a significant impact on the overall experience that taxpayers may have in interacting with revenue authorities. This in turn can impact on taxpayer voluntary compliance. A number of revenue authorities around the world have introduced various initiatives aimed at preventing or resolving disputes earlier in the disputes process. One of which is the introduction of in‑house facilitation, a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that generally utilises a revenue authority member of staff trained in mediation techniques to help facilitate an agreement between parties. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the United Kingdom (UK) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in Australia formally adopted forms of in‑house facilitation programs in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Set against this background, this article uses dispute systems design (DSD) principles to evaluate the tax dispute resolution system in the UK and consequently makes recommendations for improvements to the system, drawing from DSD features of the Australian tax dispute resolution system and the ATO's current "Reinventing the ATO" transformation project. The recommendations put forward in this article include a greater integration of the dispute resolution system and ADR within the overall tax administration system and improvements in the support of the system by HMRC members at all levels.


Abstract The design and implementation of adaptive chemical reaction networks, capable of adjusting their behavior over time in response to experience, is a key goal for the fields of molecular computing and DNA nanotechnology. Mainstream machine learning research offers powerful tools for implementing learning behavior that could one day be realized in a wet chemistry system. Here we develop an abstract chemical reaction network model that implements the backpropagation learning algorithm for a feedforward neural network whose nodes employ the nonlinear "leaky rectified linear unit" transfer function. Our network directly implements the mathematics behind this well-studied learning algorithm, and we demonstrate its capabilities by training the system to learn a linearly inseparable decision surface, specifically, the XOR logic function. We show that this simulation quantitatively follows the definition of the underlying algorithm. To implement this system, we also report ProBioSim, a simulator that enables arbitrary training protocols for simulated chemical reaction networks to be straightforwardly defined using constructs from the host programming language. This work thus provides new insight into the capabilities of learning chemical reaction networks and also develops new computational tools to simulate their behavior, which could be applied in the design and implementations of adaptive artificial life.


Recent climage changes have resulted in increases in rainfall intensity and flood frequency as well as the risk of flood damage due to typhoons during the summer season. Water-friendly facilities such as ecological parks and sports facilities have been established on floodplains of rivers since the river improvement project was implemented and increases in the flood levels of rivers due to typhoons can lead to direct flood damage to such facilities. To analyze the hydraulic influence of these water-friendly facilities on floodplains or to evaluate their stability, numerical analysis should be performed in advance. In addition, it is crucial to address the drying and wetting processes generated by water level fluctuations. This study uses a Nays2D model, which analyzes drying and wetting, to examine its applicability to simple terrain in which such fluctuations occur and to natural rivers in which drying occurs. The results of applying this model to sites of actual typhoon events are compared with values measured at water level observatories. Through this comparison, it is determined that values of coefficient of determination (R 2 ), mean absolute error (MAE), and root-mean-square error (RMSE) are 0.988, 0.208, and 0.239, respectively, thus showing a statistically high correlation. In addition, the results are used to calculate flood risk indices for evaluation of such risk for water-friendly facilities constructed on floodplains.


In this study, we determined the amount of carnosine and anserine in water buffalo meat without hanging treatment and the free amino acid profile by using amino acid analyser with post-column ninhydrin derivatization procedure. The main free amino acids present in samples were glutamic acid (>60 mg/100 g), followed by alanine, glycine, and arginine. Other protein amino acids were detected in minor amounts (less than 2 mg/100 g). Among the non-protein amine-containing compounds, taurine and urea were the most abundant. The analysis showed that 50% of the total free amino acids was represented by dipeptides carnosine (average ~130.3 mg/100 g) and anserine (average ~17.9 mg/100 g). Thus, this study for the first time reports the free amino acids profile of water buffalo meat and the content of carnosine and anserine, potentially involved in the darkening meat process and their ratio, that could be used to estimate the water buffalo meat portion in mixed meat products.


Risk behaviors associated with life style may deliver in students´ health risk. Therefore, our objective is to describe health risk behaviors perceived by health area university students. For this a 14 item survey about risk behaviors related to physical activity practice, food consumption, drug use, stress level and sleep habits was applied in the health area students. 995 students were interviewed. Most were women (69%) with 20.1 + 1.8 years old. Of these women surveyed, twenty nine percent report no physical activity. Fifty one percent eat 5 fruit and vegetables 4 times/week or more. Only 30% drinks 2 L of water/day. Eighty two percent don't smoke, 55% don't drink alcohol and 90% don't use drugs. Twelve percent reports to be on stress always and 72% sleep more than 7 hours/day only 3 times/week or less. This work concluded that university students of the Health Area don´t have the healthy life style that's expected.


This article explores one aspect of the controversies that have surrounded asylum seekers and refugees in Australia: the conflict between the executive government and the courts over who should have the final say in status determinations and protection issues generally. This author argues that a combination of history, culture and geography has resulted in an extraordinary intimacy of political involvement in the business of immigration control - setting the groundwork for remarkable clashes with the judiciary. The article sketches the development of Australia's jurisprudence on refugees, exploring the impact that public controversy and direct political pressure might have had on the formation of the law. The author notes that Australia's refugee jurisprudence is recent; it is generally conservative, textual and domestic in its focus. At the same time, the author argues that the jurisprudence represents a good example of 'globalisation' in public international law as Australian courts have both come to consider the refugee jurisprudence of other countries and have themselves contributed to international jurisprudence on refugees.


Experiments were performed on rats involving small intestinal resection or bypass and subsequent measurement of villus height and of the rate of migration of labelled cells along the villus. The height of jejunal villi was increased 10% following distal small bowel resection as compared with 39% following distal bypass. Thus, there was no evidence to support the hypothesis that compensatory hypertrophy is a consequence of the loss of tissue mass. Instead, the observation that growth may be induced by bypass alone suggests that the concept of compensatory growth should be broadened to include adaptive changes resulting from functional derangements. It also suggests a possible explanation for the failure of some patients to sustain initial rates of weight loss after bypass procedures for morbid obesity.


I read with great interest the article by Malgrange et al. (3) about the usefulness of difference in time-to-positivity of peripheral blood cultures and cultures of blood taken through the catheter for the diagnosis of bloodstream infection related to long-term intravenous devices. However, in performing sensitivity and specificity analyses for validation of a new diagnostic test, the choice of a well-validated "gold standard" is essential (2). In this regard some important remarks can be made.

For port-related infections, catheter-tip culture does not seem to be sufficiently sensitive for the diagnosis of infection, as the internal lumen of the port is the source of infection in almost half of the patients (1, 5). Culturing the lumen of the port therefore seems necessary. Because all of the patients in the above-mentioned study were cancer patients with long-term intravenous devices, for a correct interpretation of the study results, it is essential to know how many of them had a venous access port.

The definition of probable catheter-related infection used is problematic, as all patients with blood culture positive for staphylococci or yeasts and without clinically apparent catheter infection (as indicated by, e.g., pus and inflammation) were classified as having probable catheter-related infection and were therefore included in the sensitivity and specificity analyses. Bacteremia caused by an organism commonly found on skin but without an apparent focus as a definition for catheter-related bacteremia can be a clinically very useful definition (in cases where identifying catheter-related bacteremia is essential), but it cannot be used as a gold standard on which further specificity analysis is subsequently built. Positive predictive values will in consequence be falsely high, as an uncertain number of the patients identified will not have suffered from catheter-related bloodstream infection.

Finally, it is important to note that endoluminal infection of the catheter is probably more important for long-term intravenous devices than it is for short-term catheters, such as those used in intensive care units (4). Therefore, the study results should not be generalized to patients with short-term intravenous catheters before confirmation by further studies of other patient populations.


The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the level of accounts receivable turnover on profitability as measured by Return On Assets. Object of study, namely PT. Unilever Indonesia Tbk year period from 2005 to 2012. This study uses quantitative descriptive and explanatory nature replica consisting of two variables are receivable turnover as the independent variable and ROA as the dependent variable. The type of data used is quantitative data and data sources used are secondary data. Data collection techniques are technical documentation. Method of data analysis used in this study is a simple regression analysis and tested by t-test. The test results showed that the level of accounts receivable turnover has a significant effect on profitability. These results can be seen in the R Square of 0.795, which means the relationship between the profitability of the accounts receivable turnover has a very strong relationship. Results of this study confirmed the hypothesis testing results through the t-test showed a significance 0.018 receivable turnover is below 0.05, which means the accounts receivable turnover rate have a significant effect on profitability (ROA). Keywords: Accounts Receivable, Accounts Receivable Turnover Rate, Profitability (Return On Assets).


Abstract The German Constitution, commented with history. History in a legal commentary? The very respected commentary on the German constitution of 1949 – presented by a new generation assembled by Horst Dreier – has been appearing since 1996, now already in a second (from 2000) and third edition (from 2013). In a special way, it contains historical sections on each of the 146 articles. A closer look on these historiographical parts shows interesting facets.


Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are becoming more popular in smart grids. The batteries of these electric vehicles may be charged at home from a standard outlet. These extra electrical loads may have several adverse impacts on the distribution system. This paper proposes a comprehensive approach for evaluating the adverse impact of different levels of PHEV penetration on the loss of distribution transformers' life. The proposed method is applied to a sample distribution transformer supplying residential customers. Obtained results show that nighttime charging of PHEVs has the least adverse impact on the loss of transformers' life. This is while charging during evening peak hours can even cause a 900% increase in the transformer loss-of-life rate for a scenario with only 30% penetration of PHEVs.


A 23-year-old female was involved in a motor vehicle collision with multiple injuries, including a right acetabular fracture, but no pelvic fracture. Urology consultation was obtained due to difficulty placing a urethral catheter. Examination revealed a longitudinal urethral tear with vaginal laceration extending 2 cm from the urethral meatus proximally toward the bladder neck. The longitudinal urethral tear was repaired primarily. Traumatic female urethral injury in the absence of a pelvic fracture is an exceedingly rare occurrence.


Germans are breathing a sigh of relief now that the deadliest outbreak of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli ever recorded appears to be winding down. More than 3900 people have been infected so far and at least 46 have died, but the number of severe cases reported daily has dwindled from more than 60 to a handful. For researchers, however, the work is just beginning. They are starting new studies and sifting through data gathered so far to figure out how to prevent a repeat and increase the odds of survival for future patients. Indeed, some scientists say the outbreak may have given them study material for years.


Disposal of contaminated wastewater causes many serious problems especially when it gets mixed with the ground and seawater. It is, therefore, important to apply any remedial action to eradicate dangerous pollutants from the aqueous effluents and to avoid exposure of this wastewater to aquatic life. The research results discussed herein deal with the removal of Rhodamine B (RhB) and Congo Red (CR) dye from wastewater by using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as an adsorbent. Different factors like solid dosage, initial pH and concentration, time, and temperature were studied to understand the behavior and mechanism of adsorption. The maximum adsorption capacity in case of a single component system was found to be 302 mg/g and 300 mg/g for Congo Red and Rhodamine B, respectively. Moreover, the mechanism of adsorption was best described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Thermodynamic parameters showed that adsorption of CR and RhB was exothermic when these were removed from a single dye system. However, the overall process became endothermic for concurrent removal of both dyes from the solution. The research results showed that the MWCNTs could successfully be utilized to remove the dye from the industrial wastewater.


Purpose α-pinene was a chemical compound which was extracted from pine needles oil, and it exerted effects on various diseases. However, the effect of α-pinene on cervical cancer had not been reported. The goal of this study was to explore the anti-tumor role of α-pinene. Methods Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) method was used to detect cytotoxicity of α-pinene. Flow cytometry was used to quantify the cell cycle and apoptosis. TUNEL staining was also performed for the revalidation of apoptosis. QRT-PCR and western blot was implemented to detect the expression levels of apoptosis genes and miR-34a-5p. Tumor-bearing nude mouse models was adopted to assess the anti-tumor action of α-pinene in vivo. Results The results displayed α-pinene restrained proliferation of Hela cells in G1 phase and induced Hela cell apoptosis, which was related to up-regulating expressions of Bax, Bid, Caspase-9, Caspase-3, miR-34a-5p and down-regulating the expression of Bcl-2. Afterwards, α-Pinene could regulate miR-34a-5p/Bcl-2 pathway. Furthermore, α-pinene treatment also induced apoptosis in xenografts tumor models. The fluorescence intensity of Bax, Bid, Caspase-9, Caspase-3 increased and fluorescence intensity of Bcl-2 decreased. Conclusions Our research demonstrated α-pinene could restrain the development of cervical cancer growth, and it might be an effective chemical compound for therapy of cervical cancer.


Many companies use surveys to establish customer satisfaction metrics. This OEM has been using surveys to analyze customer satisfaction with their products, services, and distribution channel for several decades. Satisfaction metrics are established for the brand, product, and channel partners. The product metric is derived from a question on the survey asking customers how satisfied they are with the product. There are subsequent questions thereafter inquiring about satisfaction with specific functional areas of the product. It is common practice to use Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression analysis to evaluate what impacts the functional area questions have on the overall satisfaction question. The model results are used to understand what areas of the machine should be focused on to improve customers' experiences with the machine. These results are compared to other data sources such as warranty, field reports, customer focus groups, etc. The results from these models are sometimes questioned based on what common intuition would suggest. Typically the top three drivers to the product metric are understandable, but there are often one or two key areas that do not make logical sense. The objective of this thesis was to understand whether PLS modeling is appropriate given the nature of customer survey data. Models were estimated using existing survey data on a specific model in the tractor product line. PLS models assume data are linear with no bounds. This in itself likely makes this type of model inappropriate for analyzing customer survey data. Responses are bounded on an 11 point scale from 0-10, however, the PLS model being non-bounded assumes there can be a score under 0 or over 10. The model also assumes a linear slope that would indicate each covariate answer 0-10 has the same level of effect on the response variable. This research has found that each covariate answer is in fact non-linear. For example, a customer answering a 2 to quality of manufacturing workmanship has a different impact on the overall satisfaction score than a customer who answers 8. Finally, this research discovered that the PLS models produce negative coefficients of significant value that are not reported to the enterprise. Binary and ordered logistic (logit) models were estimated as an alternative to PLS. Logistic models are non-linear and are commonly used to evaluate bounded data. Response data were separated into two groups based on Net Promoter Score (NPS) Methodology (Reicheld 2006). Using the NPS methodology, 0-6 scores are considered detractors, 7-8 scores are considered passives, and 9-10 scores are considered promoters. The logistic models demonstrate that the top two drivers to customer satisfaction scores are still quality of manufacturing workmanship and reliability/operational availability (similar to results of the PLS model). The unresolved problems question on the survey was included in the models and demonstrated that the predicted probability of a customer being a promoter is much higher in both binary and ordered logit models if no unresolved problems exist. Finally, the model found engine oil consumption remained negative and is statistically significant suggesting that even with the alternative modeling approach there still may be data issues related to the survey. It is recommended that the OEM implement logistic modeling for analyzing customer survey data. It is also recommended that a new survey design be constructed to eliminate issues with correlated data that can lead to spurious and unexplainable results.


Epithelial proliferation of the ventral prostate in rodents peaks between 2 and 4 weeks of age, and by week 8, proliferating cells are rare. We have used ERbeta(-/-) and CYP7B1(-/-) mice to investigate the role of ERbeta and one of its ligands, 5alpha-androstane-3beta,17beta-diol (3betaAdiol), in growth of the ventral prostate. Before puberty, ERbeta was found in quiescent but not in proliferating cells, and proliferating cells occurred more frequently in ventral prostates of ERbeta(-/-) mice than in wild-type littermates. Treatment with 3betaAdiol decreased proliferation in wild-type but not in ERbeta(-/-) mice. In rats, treatment with 3betaAdiol from postnatal day 2 to 28 resulted in reduction in growth of ventral prostates. The prostates of CYP7B1(-/-) mice were hypoproliferative before puberty and smaller than those of their wild-type littermates after puberty. Because CYP7B1 represents the major pathway for inactivating 3betaAdiol in the prostate, we suggest that ERbeta, 3betaAdiol, and CYP7B1 are the components of a pathway that regulates growth of the rodent ventral prostate. In this pathway, ERbeta is an antiproliferative receptor, 3betaAdiol is an ERbeta ligand, and CYP7B1 is the enzyme that regulates ERbeta function by regulating the level of 3betaAdiol.


Robert the Monk's history of the First Crusade (1095-99), which was probably completed c. 1110, was in the nature of a medieval "bestseller", proving by far the most popular narrative of the crusade's events; the number of surviving manuscript copies far exceeds those of the many other accounts of the crusades written in the early decades of the twelfth century, when literary retellings of the crusaders' exploits were much in vogue. This volume presents the first critical edition to be published since the 1860s, grounded in a close study of the more than 80 manuscripts of the text that survive in libraries and archives across Europe. In their detailed introduction the editors explore the vexed problem of the author's identity, as well as the date of the text, its manuscript transmission, and the reasons for its success, for example among monasteries belonging to the Cistercian order in southern Germany. Damien Kempf is Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Liverpool; Marcus Bull is Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Professor of Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.


Shear-wave anisotropy results in a time delay between two different shear-wave polarizations S1 and S2. If there are associated differences in attenuation of the amplitudes, then simple time shifting is insufficient to match the S1 and S2 images. This ―differential‖ attenuation leads to both an additional time delay and a frequency dependent amplitude effect. Using a dataset acquired over a heavy oil reservoir, we demonstrate that an improvement to the agreement between P-S1 and P-S2 images can be achieved through the use of a match filter approach. For realistic cases, this filter must be adapted to handle spatial and temporal variations of the splitting signature. The resulting attributes suggest that further insights into the reservoir properties can be found.


With the proliferation of removable media devices, such as iPods and USB drives, large amounts of an organization's sensitive data can easily be removed. The author explores the complexities of protecting networks against removable media, including guidelines for purchasing encryption software. This article examines how to develop portable and removable media security policies, as well as how encryption can assist in authenticating, authorizing, and auditing removable media devices.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe the policy and trends in rural education in China over the past 40 years; and also discuss a number of challenges that are faced by China's rural school system. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use secondary data on policies and trends over the past 40 years for preschool, primary/junior high school, and high school. Findings - The trends over the past 40 years in all areas of rural schooling have been continually upward and strong. While only a low share of rural children attended preschool in the 1980s, by 2014 more than 90 percent of rural children were attending. The biggest achievement in compulsory education is that the rise in the number of primary students that finish grade 6 and matriculate to junior high school. There also was a steep rise of those going to and completing high school. While the successes in upscaling rural education are absolutely unprecedented, there are still challenges. Research limitations/implications - This is descriptive analysis and there is not causal link established between policies and rural schooling outcomes. Practical implications - The authors illustrate one of the most rapid rises of rural education in history and match the achievements up with the policy efforts of the government. The authors also explore policy priorities that will be needed in the coming years to raise the quality of schooling. Originality/value - This is the first paper that documents both the policies and the empirical trends of the success that China has created in building rural education from preschool to high school during the first 40 years of reform (1978-2018). The paper also documents – drawing on the literature and the own research – the achievements and challenges that China still face in the coming years, including issues of gender, urbanization, early childhood education and health and nutrition of students.


This paper finds that the neutral interest rate has been on a downward trajectory in Morocco since the global financial crisis and may have fallen in the wake of the pandemic. In that context, monetary policy transmission to output and prices appears relatively muted given limited exchange rate flexibility until recently. Also, monetary policy transmission to some market rates has somewhat weakened in the wake of the pandemic. A lower natural rate and low policy rates raise the question of whether further rate reductions would impair the banking system. We find that the sensitivity of cash demand to deposit rates is low, implying limited risks that banks would lose funding with further reductions. A reliance on checking and savings accounts for funding may impair monetary pass-through, however. If monetary policy reaches its effective lower bound, limited and credible recourse to an asset purchase program could usefully complement conventional measures and strengthen monetary policy transmission under an inflation-targeting regime with a flexible exchange rate. JEL Classification Numbers: E4, E5


Previous studies have demonstrated that mechanical ventilation is an important factor in the development of lung injury. The purpose of this study was to determine if bacterial pneumonia and mechanical ventilation synergistically lead to the development of acute lung injury (ALI) in order to elucidate immunopathogenic mechanisms in a clinically relevant model. (Table) Table Results: Inflammation in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid Methods C57/Bl6 mice were administered Staphylococcus aureus using an oropharyngeal aspiration model and subsequently mechanically ventilated (tidal volume=10 mg/kg, rate=150/min, end-expiratory pressure=0, FIO2=0.21) for 6 hours. Bacterial Clearance and Dissemination - No differences in bacterial clearance were seen between the ventilated and non-ventilated mice. Cultures of spleen homogenates were negative in both groups at 6 hours. Conclusions Mechanical ventilation augments lung inflammation, without affecting bacterial clearance or extra-pulmonary bacterial dissemination, in a murine model of ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (VAP). This model will be useful for elucidation of immunologic mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of VAP.


Small-scale self-focusing is the main cause of power limitation in nanosecond Nd:glass lasers. We report pioneer observation in experiment of laser beam noise amplification for B -integral (nonlinear phase) order of unity, i.e., without destruction of nonlinear medium. Analytical dependences of noise amplification coefficient on the B-integral have been obtained for one nonlinear medium as well as for two nonlinear media separated by an air gap with image relay. A simple analytical dependence has been found for an optimal distance between two nonlinear media for which the maximum allowable value of B -integral increases from 2.7 to 4.3. The maximum attainable energy in neodymium-phosphate glass lasers with rod amplifiers 10 cm in diameter is 400 J with a pulse duration of 1 ns.


The Y‐organ has been histologically identified in all six larval stages of the crab, Cancer anthonyi. The paired glands are located anterior to the branchial chamber and ventral to the base of the antennules. In the first zoeal stage the gland consists of a cord of 6 to 10 epidermal cells with dark staining nuclei, sparse cytoplasm, and indistinct cell boundaries. As development progresses the glands become more complex through extensive folding and intertwining of the cellular cords. The glands in all larval stages show cyclical activity which corresponds to the molt cycle. Immediately following a molt the gland is dense and compact with little cytoplasm. At approximately day four in the molt cycle, the glands become greatly hyperthropied due to an increase in the number and size of the cytoplasmic vacuoles. These histological changes suggests a cyclical production and presumably the release of some product most likely ecdysone.


AIM
To establish the whole-cell recording techniques of the neuronal alpha4beta2, alpha4beta4, and alpha7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptors heterologously expressed in SH-EP1 cell line and discuss the electrophysiological characteristics of their open states.

METHODS
The cells were cultured with DEME medium(high glucose) and suitable for electrophysiological experiments three days after passage. The receptors were induced from resting states into open states by rapid application of nicotine (alpha4beta2, alpha4beta4) or choline (alpha7).

RESULTS
The SH-EP1 cells cultured by this method were in good conditions and expressed plenty of receptors. Alpha4beta2, alph4beta4 and alpha7 inward currents could be induced by rapid application of agonists but had different dynamic processes against time. All the three types of currents were dose and voltage-dependent and had inward rectification property.

CONCLUSION
The open states of neuronal alpha4beta2, alpha4beta4, and alpha7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and their transitions have distinct characteristics and the inward currents of all this three types of receptors are dose and voltage-dependent and have inward rectification property.


Discovery of the Ackman field, Red Willow County, Nebraska, in late 1959 encouraged exploration in that area to the extent that numerous other fields were found. Most of the production from these fields is derived from the Lansing-Kansas City Group, but basal Pennsylvanian sands have also contributed important reserves, particularly in the Sleepy Hollow field approximately 4 miles northeast of Ackman. The Ackman field was discovered as a result of seismic and subsurface work. Structurally, the field is related to the Cambridge arch, the axis of which is about 10 miles northeast. The Cambridge arch has undergone several important periods of diastrophic movement during its geological history, the most significant of which occurred at the end of Mississippian time. Ackman field structure is low-relief with some evidence of basement adjustment on the east side. Sediments within the field area range from Tertiary to Pennsylvanian; Triassic rocks are absent either by truncation or non-deposition. Production at Ackman is confined to beds of Pennsylvanian age. Six limestone zones within the Lansing-Kansas City Group and one limestone zone in the Shawnee Group are productive. There is no basal Pennsylvanian sand developed at Ackman. The thinly interbedded limestones and shales of the Lansing-Kansas City Group in southwestern Nebraska were apparently laid down by rapidly fluctuating shallow seas. Organic micro-build-ups over localized micro-structural-topographic features along with post-depositional modifications have resulted in the formation of competent reservoirs. The age of the productive basal sand in the Sleepy Hollow field is controversia because of its stratigraphic position. Indirect evidence favors Pennsylvanian age. A bar-complex origin is indicated for the sand body. Cumulative production of the Ackman field on November 30, 1961, was 961,230 barrels of oil with a variable water-cut and a negligible gas content. The field apparently does not have a water drive. An area of 2,040 acres has been proved productive on a 40-acre spacing program. Fifty-two wells have been drilled in the field; fifty are currently producing.


Two unrelated OPA1 mutation carriers have been previously reported with a multiple sclerosis (MS) like illness, an association felt unlikely to be coincidental. We present the first family with two affected members with optic atrophy and an MS-like illness with an underlying OPA1 mutation. A 46-year-old lady (the proband) and her 50-year-old sister had both been previously diagnosed with MS following presentation with visual impairment and lower limb neurological symptoms. 3-Telsa magnetic resonance brain imaging showed white matter hyperintense areas in both patients. Cerebro-spinal fluid analysis showed unmatched oligoclonal bands in the proband. The women's father and paternal grandmother had severe visual impairment. OPA1 mutational analysis was initiated in light of the finding of bilateral optic atrophy and severe visual impairment in the proband and the family history of severe visual impairment. A pathogenic mutation was identified in the proband and her sister. We confirm previous suggestions that OPA1 mutations can be associated with an MS-like illness. OPA1 is a nuclear gene encoding a protein important in mitochondrial function. This association bears similarity to the link between Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy due to mDNA mutations and an MS-like illness. OPA1 mutational analysis should be considered in patients with features of MS, with bilateral optic neuritis not responding to steroids, or with a dominant family history of severe visual impairment.


ZD1839 (Iressa; AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Wilmington, DE) is an orally active, selective inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) that blocks signaling pathways responsible for driving proliferation, invasion, and survival of cancer cells. In preclinical studies of cell lines and human tumor xenografts, ZD1839 as single-agent therapy produced growth inhibition in a wide variety of common solid tumor types including lung, prostate, breast, colon, and ovarian cancers. In these models, ZD1839 inhibited growth of tumor xenografts with high, moderate, and low expression of EGFR. The A431 vulvar carcinoma model, which expresses abnormally high levels of EGFR, was particularly sensitive to ZD1839 treatment, leading to tumor regression. When ZD1839 was coadministered with cytotoxic chemotherapy agents or radiotherapy, additive or even synergistic antitumor activity was achieved. The inhibition observed with ZD1839 treatment was not restricted to advanced metastatic tumors, but also extended to early lesions such as breast xenografts of human ductal carcinoma in situ. Inhibition of EGFR-TK has also been shown to delay the onset of tumor development in a transgenic animal model. The diverse and profound antitumor activities attained with ZD1839 treatment in tumor cells and in xenograft tumor models provided the rationale for clinical development of ZD1839. Ongoing preclinical studies continue to support the importance of EGFR-TK activity in the biology of solid tumors.


This research was conducted to facilitate the translation of maf'ul ma'ah into English because basically the translation of maf'ul ma'ah is difficult because the wawu used does not only have one meaning while there is no standard term in English to make it easier.Furthermore, the purpose of this research is firstly to explain the similarities and differences between maf'ul ma'ah in Arabic and the accompaniment complement in English, secondly to describe the forms of translation of maf'ûl ma'ah into English, thirdly to find out the implications of the analysismaf'ûl ma'ah contrastive to English translation.Researchers have classified examples of translating maf'ul ma'ah into English and have also been described in this study so that it can be seen that the translation of wawu ma'iyah into English does not only use one word but there are 7 clear meanings along with how the meaning contained therein. So from the results of the analysis that has been done, in general it can be concluded that wawu ma'iyah is translated based on the context of the sentence.
Kata Kunci: Contrastive Analysis, Maf'ulMaah, Translation and Interpretation


Thraustochytrids are cosmopolitan osmotrophic or heterotrophic microorganisms that are considered as important decomposers in coastal ecosystems. However, because of a lack of estimation method for each genus or systematic group of them, relatively little is known about their ecology in situ. Previously, we reported two distinct types of virus infecting thraustochytrids (AuRNAV: reported as SssRNAV, and SmDNAV) suggesting they have wide distributions in the host-virus systems of coastal environments. Here we conducted a field survey from 2004 through 2005 to show the fluctuation pattern of thraustochytrids and their viruses in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. During the field survey, we monitored the dynamics of the two types of thraustochytrid-infecting virus: small viruses causing lysis of Aurantiochytrium sp. NIBH N1-27 (identified as AuRNAV) and the large viruses of Sicyoidochytrium minutum NBRC 102975 (similar to SmDNAV in physiology and morphology). Fluctuation patterns of the two distinct types of virus were different from each other. This may reflect the difference in the preference of organic substrates; i.e., it may be likely the host of AuRNAV (Aurantiochytrium sp.) increases utilizing algal dead bodies or feeble cells as the virus shows a large increase in abundance following raphidophyte blooms; whereas, the trophic nutrient supply for S. minutum may primarily depend on other constantly-supplied organic compounds because it did not show any significant change in abundance throughout the survey. Further study concerning the population composition of thraustochytrids and their viruses may demonstrate the microbial ecology (especially concerning the detrital food web) of marine environments.


Summary

Because of secreting large amounts of enzymes, Aspergillus oryzae was widely used in the fermentation of soy sauce in many Asian countries. Here, N+ ion implantation mutagenesis was applied to improve the ability of A. oryzae to secrete acid protease. Several mutants were screened using three kinds of plates (Casein medium, Czapek's medium and carboxymethyl cellulose medium agar plates). Compared with the other mutants, the mutant A100-8 could secrete the most protease. Acid protease activity of A100-8 was enhanced about 44.1% at 36 h by koji fermentation test. In addition, A100-8 was stable by periodically subculturing and maintaining on the agar slant. The mRNA expression levels of two kinds of acid protease (serine carboxypeptidase and aspartyl protease) were measured by RT-PCR at different periods. Serine carboxypeptidase and some kinds of aspartyl protease of A100-8 were significantly (P < 0.01) expressed higher than the control at all times.


Purpose: Resistance to trastuzumab is a frequent clinical problem, in part due to the overriding activation state of the MAPK/PI3K signaling pathways. Sprouty-family proteins are negative regulators of MAPK/PI3K signaling, but their role in HER2 signaling and resistance to therapy is unknown. Experimental design: The association of Sprouty 2 gene expression with grade, HER2-status, and survival was investigated in a meta-analysis of 1107 breast tumors from six published microarray studies. Sprouty regulation in response to HER2/HER3 signaling was studied using qRT-PCR. Changes in expression of Spry2 and feedback inhibition on trastuzumab-resistance were studied using full-length/dominant-negative transfection or chemical inhibition in SKBr3 and BT474 cell lines in cell viability assays. Finally, expression of Spry2 was measured in a cohort of 122 patients treated with trastuzumab by quantitative fluorescence microscopy (AQUA). Results: Low Spry2 gene expression was associated with high HER2 protein expression. Spry2 was regulated through HER2/HER3 signaling as a delayed early gene, an effect reversed by treatment with the dimerization inhibitor pertuzumab. Overexpression of Spry2 in the SKBr3 trastuzumab-resistant cell line resulted in synergistic inhibition of cell viability with trastuzumab. Restitution of feedback inhibition with the PI3K-inhibitor LY294002 had a similar effect. Low Spry2 expression was associated with increased risk of death (HR = 2.28, 95% CI 1.22 - 4.26; p=0.008) in trastuzumab-treated patients, including in multivariate analysis (Cox regression analysis, p=0.002). Conclusions: These results suggest that combinations of negative regulators of growth factor signaling may be an effective therapeutic strategy in breast cancers with deficient feedback inhibition. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-05-06.


The development of the anti-TNF therapies is a milestone in the therapy of rheumatic diseases. As in all new treatment opportunities it is of concern whether all potential undesired side effects have been evaluated within the clinical trials which have lead to approval of the drugs. Postmarketing experience and pharmacovigilance programs are necessary to determine the overall safety profile of the new agents. From the clinical trials and the practical experience of the first years we know that side effects have occurred in patients treated with anti-TNF agents. Sufficient knowledge about these partly specific side effects is critical for rheumatologists who treat their patients with these very effective biologic drugs.


The disappearance curves of 1-(2-tetrahydrofuryl)-5-fluorouracil (FT-207) from the circulating blood were divided into three different phases, K1, K2 and K3 after its intravenous administration to rats. The relationship between the activity of liver microsomal drug-metabolizing enzymes and K3 values, which were obtained by measuring FT-207 levels between 5 and 24 h after the injection, was observed with phenobarbital, indomethacin, diclofenac sodium and carbon tetrachloride-pretreated rats. Therefore, the blood disappearance rate of K3 was suggested to be an effective parameter for estimating FT-207 metabolism in the liver.


This study analyzes factors that condition the formation of the building material of retailer cooperation networks and the results obtained with this actuation. This study was carried out of multiple descriptive and comparative cases, with transversal perspective of time. A non-disguised questionnaire was used, answered online by fifteen associated retailers and the manager of each one of the four formally incorporated networks acting on the field in the State of Parana, Brazil. On the basis of the answers provided by these two groups of managers, it was raised similarities and differences about the formation and gains obtained after entering these organizations. The study reveals that the main factors for the formation of the networks are: a) development of collective actions; b) pursuit of stability in the market; c) reduction of costs; and d) adaptation to the market conditions. The cooperated actions of big interest among the networks managers are those turned to the projection of a brand in the market. The main results obtained are: a) higher negotiation power with the suppliers; and b) exchange of experiences, importance of the business management. The study highlights the different dimensions for the constitution of the cooperation networks and that there are different perceptions regarding the obtained results for the cooperated actuation.

 Key-words: Retail, building material, cooperation network, formation, results.


A message is the smallest basic cell of 1553B bus protocol. This paper discusses 10 types of messages to be transmitted over the bus, which are classified as normal command/response communications, mode commands, Broadcast commands. After this, the mechanism of message frame processing is expatiated detailedly.


A group of 80 black, urban ghetto mothers, 40 which a behaviorally disturbed child and 40 with no identified disturbed child, was evaluated by the MMPI. The literature reports a relationship between maternal pathology and child disturbance for middle- and working-class families. The present study, however, showed no such relationship between these two variables in ghetto families.


The inotropic effects of the 8-Br-derivatives of cyclic GMP and cyclic AMP were investigated in guinea pig or rat auricles and papillary muscles from cats. In guinea pig auricles, 8-Br-cyclic GMP had a concentration-dependent negative inotropic effect, whereas 8-Br-cyclic AMP had a concentration-dependent positive inotropic effect. A negative inotropic effect of 8-Br-cyclic GMP in rat auricles was obtained with 30 times lower doses than in guinea pig auricles; the pacemaker activity of spontaneously beating rat right auricles did not change in response to 8-Br-cyclic GMP. In cat papillary muscles, 8-Br-cyclic GMP (3 X 10(-4) M) also produced a negative inotropic effect. In contrast, 8-Br-cyclic AMP (3 X 10(-4) M) did not affect force of contraction; however, after pretreatment with the strong phosphodiesterase inhibitor papaverine (2 X 10(-5) M) 8-Br-cyclic AMP (3 X 10(-4) M) had a strong positive inotropic effect also in cat papillary muscles. The results suggest opposite influences of cyclic GMP and cyclic AMP on force of contraction in mammalian myocardium.


We investigated the usefulness of nonpenetrating titanium vascular closure staple (VCS) clips developed for anastomosis of peripheral blood vessels. VCS clip applier systems (Autosuture; United States Surgical Corporation, Norwalk, CT) were used for 10 patients on hemodialysis who needed peripheral vascular anastomoses for blood access. Two arteriovenous (AV) fistulas, one closure of a fistula with reconstruction of the radial artery, six vascular graft implantations, and one vascular graft closure were performed. Medium clips were used for AV fistulas and large clips for vascular graft implantation. It took 12 min, on average, for vascular access graft anastomoses and 8.5 min, on average, for the AV fistulas. In two patients, bleeding from the anastomosed site occurred after declamping and additional sutures were required; however, neither hematoma nor wound infection occurred at 9 to 12 months after surgery. In one patient, stenosis of the graft-venous junction was found and was successfully treated by percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. The VCS clip applier is easy to manipulate, is as safe as hand-suture methods, and has time saving potential. We conclude that these VCS clips are useful for vascular anastomoses of blood access.


The integration of different wireless networks to provide seamless and continuous network access services is a major issue in beyond-third-generation (B3G) networks. To avoid modifying the existing protocols in the network nodes, the application-level approach is proposed for heterogeneous network integration. In the application-level integration, a mobility gateway (MG) is introduced to serve as an agent through which users can use different kinds of mobile devices through different kinds of networks to access Internet applications. There are two major tasks in an MG, including content format translation and data tunneling for handoff users. When the service area of an MG is larger, the MG must handle the content format translation for more users, and the computation overhead of an MG increases significantly. On the other hand, when the service area of an MG shrinks, a served user more likely hands off between different MGs, and more network resources are consumed to tunnel the data for handoff users. In this paper, an analytical model is proposed, and simulation experiments are conducted to study how to properly plan the service area of an MG so that better system performance can be achieved.


The aim of the study is to investigate the psychological needs of prospective classroom teachers and determine the comparative correlations between these needs and gender, parental attitude, academic achievement and grade variables. The model of the study is correlation type relational mining model. The participants of study were 229 teacher candidates who attended classroom teacher program at Ahi Evran University in 2012. According to findings there were significant differences between psychological needs for achievement, dominance, autonomy and communication of teacher candidates. In addition, the need for achievement is more common for teacher candidates than the other needs. On the other hand, the least common need of the teacher candidates is communication. Additionally, as a result of multivariate analysis of variance, the psychological needs of teacher candidates (achievement, affiliation, autonomy and dominance) indicated no significant differences in terms of variables such as; gender and grade, gender and academic achievement, gender and perceived mother attitude, gender and perceived father attitude


This article estimates the pumping performance of a turbobooster vacuum pump (TBP), with spiral-grooved rotor and inner housing, by the computational fluid dynamics method. The computational domain comprises the flow channels in the rotor and inner housing. Thus, the simulated gas can flow continuously from the inlet of the rotor through the outlet, into the inner housing, and then out the exit port of the pump. The calculations show that the pumping performance of the TBP can be enhanced when the spiral-grooved inner housing is integrated. The spiral angle of the rotor, the groove number, and the spiral angle of the inner housing have to be designed carefully to increase the effective pumping length of the flow channel of the TBP to gain further energy from the rotational energy, overcome the subsequent increased friction force, and increase the pumping performance. The calculations also show that the compression ratio and the pumping speed in this case, which comprises the rotor with five grooves and 15° spiral angle and the inner housing with five grooves and 27° spiral angle, are the largest among all cases studied in this article.


Abstract Contemporary learning theories acknowledge that learning has to occur in context where students engage actively in negotiating meaning around new experiences. Learning theorists argue that the most important source from which we gain understanding is first-hand experience in a social context. However, traditional schooling is dominated by models of teaching, which assume learning occurs through transmission of information. Students are forced to learn from secondary experience, in which information is selected, modified, packaged and presented to them by "expert" teachers. Second-hand transmissive models dominate schooling. The outcome for the sciences is a decline in interest and participation by students especially the most talented. Reform processes need to achieve a better balance between first-hand and second-hand experience, because without opportunities to learn directly students are less likely to develop autonomy and think and feel for themselves. The research we report in this paper draws upon a number of our studies in which students are engaged in original inquiry problems. We report here on two studies that exemplify the application and outcomes for learning science in the middle years of schooling. Study 1 is a structured inquiry in which the teacher leads students through a series of learning experiences supporting their learning of content and developing capability to undertake inquiry. In Study 2, an open-ended inquiry is examined. Emerging from this analysis are seven principles that provide broad conditions for successful implementation of inquiry approaches.


- Cu-Zn-Al is one of the prospective shape memory alloys due to its promisingly good shape memory effect ( SME ), obtainable at a lower price through an easier fabrication process. Several hindrances that lower the SME of the Cu-Zn-Al can be improved by applying modified quenching methods and media. This study comprehensively studied the effects of quenching methods and media on Cu-28Zn- 2.5Al wt.% alloy. The alloy was fabricated by gravity casting and homogenized at 850 °C for 2 h. It was then betatized at 850 °C for 30 minutes and subsequently quenched using two different methods: direct quenching (DQ) and up quenching (UQ) with two different cooling media: water + dry ice (WD) and saltwater + dry ice (SD). Several characterizations to determine the material properties, such as morphology, structure, and hardness, were held, and additional semi-empirical bending tests were also conducted to determine the SME performance. The results showed that all quenched samples consisted of β ʹ martensite [M18R] and retained α [A1] after quenching, regardless of the quenching method and cooling media. Upon analysis, the quenching with UQ method in SD media was found to be the most effective quenching process, as the method yields in an alloy with the highest SME performance. The pathway for achieving a high SME performance of Cu-Zn-Al alloy was thoroughly discussed in the article.


Since the publication of our previous Perspective dealing with polyamine drug discovery,1 the field has undergone numerous changes. Most prominent among these changes, from a medicinal chemistry point of view, is that polyamine drug discovery efforts have partially shifted away from an emphasis on inhibitors of polyamine biosynthetic and catabolic enzymes. This shift is in part due to the fact that multiple compensatory mechanisms are available that are able to maintain homeostasis in cellular polyamine pools,2 and thus the utility of specific enzyme inhibitors as drugs is limited. Specific inhibitors are available for every enzyme in the polyamine biosynthetic pathway,1, 3-6 and for the polyamine transport system.7-9 Although these inhibitors have significant effects on their respective target enzymes, only one inhibitor, α-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) has reached the market. DFMO was originally designed as an antitumor agent, but the drug was not effective enough to warrant continued Phase II trials. However, it has been shown to be an effective cure for infection caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (West African Sleeping Sickness),10, 11 and has recently shown considerable potential as a cancer chemopreventive agent (see below).12-14 Although no other polyamine biosynthesis inhibitor has been advanced to the market, the ubiquitous nature of the natural polyamines would lead one to conclude that these molecules have numerous cellular effector sites that are frequently dysregulated in cancer, and as such should provide a target rich environment for therapeutic intervention. Recent medicinal chemistry efforts in the polyamine field have focused on the discovery of compounds that produce cellular effects that are either independent of, or in addition to the polyamine metabolic enzymes. In addition, polyamine chains have been used to make hybrid drug molecules in order to improve cellular import, increase affinity for chromatin or to serve as carriers. This Perspective will focus on developments in polyamine drug discovery since our previous article.1


Purpose:The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of combined exercise for 12 weeks on the adiponectin and obesity related variables in overweight and obese children. Methods:Eighteen children in 5th grade in a certain elementary school in Busan were recruited. They were all overweight or obese children(more than 85 percentile in body mass index). Nine children in the experimental group were given exercises consisting of walking and band resistant training for 12 weeks. Auxological data(including height, weight and body fat mass) and laboratory data (fasting blood sugar, insulin, adiponectin) were checked at baseline and at the 1 week, and at the 4 weeks and 12 weeks stages of their exercise program. Insulin resistance and sensitivity were evaluated indirectly using HOMA index and QUICKI index. Results:Adiponectin gradually decreased until the 4 weeks point and gradually increased thereafter to the starting level at the 12 weeks stage. Body weight, body mass index(BMI) and HOMA index significantly decreased more at the 1 week, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks stages in the experimental group than in the control group. Body fat mass significantly decreased at 12 weeks. The change of insulin was significantly correlated with changes of body weight and BMI. But there was no correlation between changes of adiponectin and changes of insulin. Conclusion:Exercise seems to effect the adiponectin concentration. And it might be assumed that exercise increases the adiponectin concentration if it is continued for long time(may be more than 12 weeks). More studies may be necessary to draw that conclusion


The metabolic effects of human growth hormone have received much attention, but little is known regarding the metabolism of the hormone itself in man. Studies of growth hormone metabolism carried out in experimental animals suggest that both bovine growth hormone and human growth hormone have rapid turnovers. Van Dyke, Simpson, Li and Evans (1) and Gemzell, Heijkenskjdld and Str6m (2) injected rats with large doses of bovine growth hormone and determined plasma levels of growth hormone by the tibial cartilage width assay. The half-lives of disappearance were 26 and 40 minutes, respectively, in the two studies, and the volume of distribution of the hormone was roughly equivalent to the extracellular fluid space. Isotopic methods have also been applied to the study of growth hormone metabolism. Sonenberg and co-workers (3) injected rats with radioiodinated bovine growth hormone and, although their work was principally concerned with tissue localization, they published a graph depicting the disappearance of radioactivity from plasma after a single intravenous injection. The half-life of disappearance was approximately 25 minutes. In the experiments of Salmon, Utiger, Parker and Reichlin (4), radioiodinated human growth hormone had a half-life of disappearance from plasma of 17 minutes when injected into rabbits. Only preliminary reports of the disappearance


During the past several decades, a global discussion has grown about sustainability and how it can provide solutions to the world's mounting environmental problems. One way to make sustainable implementation more successful is to examine the specific motivators for the environmental decisions of individuals and how they vary from place to place. In this thesis, I explore how environmental incentives that originate at different scales affect individuals, and how the individual's specific cultural experience mediates those incentives. Iceland provides an interesting case study for examining sustainability motivators for individuals because its extensive development of renewable energy resources seems like the embodiment of global sustainability goals. Further, due to its small population and geographic remoteness, it is easy to assume that Iceland is culturally homogenous and therefore that widespread sustainable actions and beliefs exist. However, the incentives for sustainability in Iceland that stem from different scales are negotiated through the unique conditions of Icelandic culture. The specificity of Icelanders' sustainability motivations demonstrates that we need to examine the individual experience of " sustainability " in order to determine how sustainable policies, practices, and ethics can be implemented and strengthened in places where people's livelihoods are not immediately affected by environmental change.


This paper investigates the political determinants of corporatist and pluralist employers' associations and reflects on the origins of the varieties of capitalism in the early decades of the 20th century. We hypothesize that proportional, multiparty systems tend to enable employers' associations to develop into social corporatist organizations, whereas nonproportional, two-party systems are conducive to the formation of pluralist associations. Moreover, we suggest that federalism tends to reinforce incentives for pluralist organization. We assess our hypotheses through quantitative analysis of data from 1900 to the 1930s from 16 nations and case studies of the origins of peak employers' associations in Denmark and the United States. Our statistical analysis suggests that proportional, multiparty systems foster, and federalism works against, social corporatist business organization; employers' organization is also greater where the mobilization of labor, traditions of coordination, and economic development are higher. These factors also largely explain pre-World War II patterns of national coordination of capitalism. Case histories of the origins of employers' associations in Denmark and the United States further confirm the causal importance of political factors. Although Danish and American employers had similar interests in creating cooperative national industrial policies, trajectories of associational development were constrained by the structure of party competition, as well as by preindustrial traditions for coordination.


Due to the decreasing production of nickel and cobalt from sulfide sources, the Ni and Co extraction from the oxide ores (laterites) have become more prevalent. In this research work, the effects of calcination prior to leaching, acid concentration, percent solid, pH, and stirring speed on the nickel and cobalt recoveries from an iron-rich laterite ore sample were investigated using different organic acids. Then the response surface methodology was implemented in order to optimize the various parameters. By the design of experiments, the compound optimal concentrations of the three different organic acids (gluconic acid: lactic acid: citric acid with a ratio of 1:2:3) were 3.18 M, and S/L = 0.1, pH = 0.5, and the stirring speed = 386 rpm. With the aid of kinetic studies, a temperature of 75 °C, and a test time of 120 minutes, the highest nickel and cobalt recoveries were 25.5% and 37.6%, respectively. In the optimal conditions, the contribution of the percent solids to the nickel recovery was the most and negative, after which the contribution of pH was negative, and finally, the acid concentration had a positive effect. In the optimal conditions, the acid concentration, pH, and solid content were, respectively, important in the cobalt recovery. The SEM results showed that the surface of feed and residue particles in the optimal conditions was not significantly different, and the laboratory data was fitted to a shrinking core model. The results obtained indicated that the reaction rate was controlled by the diffusion reaction at the particle surface, and the activation energies of 11.09 kJ/mol for nickel and 28.04 kJ/mol for cobalt were consistent with this conclusion


This chapter examines the record of two state agencies within the California Department of Industrial Relations, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) and the California Occupational Safety and Health Program (Cal/OSHA), over the 1970-2000 period. Although the data available on the performance of these agencies are severely limited - in most cases consisting only of enforcement activity measures, without any valid measures of enforcement outcomes, it is possible to draw some conclusions. The analysis shows that the agencies' budget and staffing allocations have generally not kept pace with the growth in the size of the state's workforce, nor with the agencies' increased responsibilities. Despite recent improvements, the agencies are still funded and staffed at 1989 levels. Moreover, several key activity measures, such as the number of investigations, citations, and penalties assessed, have failed to increase in proportion to the expansion of funding and staffing that has occurred. The chapter highlights the urgent need for these agencies to collect data on outcomes, so that any future progress in their work can be measured and evaluated in a rigorous manner.


Having numerous potential applications and great impact, end-to-end speech translation (ST) has long been treated as an independent task, failing to fully draw strength from the rapid advances of its sibling - text machine translation (MT). With text and audio inputs represented differently, the modality gap has rendered MT data and its end-to-end models incompatible with their ST counterparts. In observation of this obstacle, we propose to bridge this representation gap with Chimera. By projecting audio and text features to a common semantic representation, Chimera unifies MT and ST tasks and boosts the performance on ST benchmarks, MuST-C and Augmented Librispeech, to a new state-of-the-art. Specifically, Chimera obtains 27.1 BLEU on MuST-C EN-DE, improving the SOTA by a +1.9 BLEU margin. Further experimental analyses demonstrate that the shared semantic space indeed conveys common knowledge between these two tasks and thus paves a new way for augmenting training resources across modalities. Code, data, and resources are available at https://github.com/Glaciohound/Chimera-ST.


Objective To investigate the correlation between the serum resistin level and carotid artery atherosclerosis in elderly Chinese males. Methods The study enrolled 235 elderly Chinese males [median age 76 (range 60–97) years] scheduled for ultrasound examination of carotid artery plaque and determination of carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT). They were divided into carotid atherosclerotic plaque (CAP) and carotid atherosclerotic plaque-free (CAP-free) groups according to the ultrasound results. Their clinical profiles were collected, and the serum resistin and other blood biochemistry levels were determined. Results The CAP group was older and had a thicker mean CIMT than the CAP-free group. However, there was no difference in the serum resistin level between the groups. CIMT was positively correlated with age (r = 0.299, P < 0.001). The serum resistin level was not correlated with CIMT, even after controlling for age. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that age (β = 0.001, P < 0.001) and body mass index (β = 0.002, P = 0.015) were significantly and positively correlated with the mean CIMT. Only age [odds ratio (OR): 1.159; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.078–1.183, P < 0.001] was associated with the presence of carotid artery atherosclerotic plaque. The serum resistin level was not correlated with the mean CIMT or associated with the presence of carotid artery atherosclerotic plaque. Conclusion The results suggest that resistin might not be a risk factor for atherosclerosis in elderly Chinese males.


Islamic banking is refers to a banking service or activity that is conducted based on the Syariah principles. The two primary sources of Syariah are Al Quran and Al- Sunnah (Hadith), while secondary sources of Islamic law include 'ijma' (collectively agreed among Shariah scholars) and 'qiyas' (analogy). As one of the most important players in service industry today, Islamic banking isno longer regarded as a business entity striving only to fulfill the religious obligationsof the Muslim community, but more significantly, as a business that is ineluctably in need for winning over customers whilst retaining the old ones (Wilson, 1995).The Islamic banking and finance today has emerged as an important component ofthe overall Malaysian financial system that contributes to the growth and developmentof the Malaysian economy. Since 2000, the domestic Islamic banking industry has beengrowing at an average rate of 18 percent per annum in terms of assets (Aziz, 2006). Therefore, this study will analyzed the level of acceptance towards Islamic banking products amongst Scope International (M) Sdn. Bhd. Staffs based on for independent variables, knowledge, perception, awareness and religion. At the end of this study, readers could b® determining the relationship between these four (4) factors above that drives staff with their acceptance. This study has carried out some analysis on information collected from 40 staff at Scope International (M) Sdn. Bhd. at Technology Park Malaysia Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur. The selection of samples was based on convenience and the staffs were randomly picked. The data were collected through self-administered questionnaires distributed by researcher.


This paper reviews the latest literatures on how to control NOx pollution let by the diesel engines in small vehicles.It presents various technical measures in point which are in the act of being applied or being studied and analyzes the functions and the problems caused by these measures.


Context. The large-scale mass distribution around dark matter haloes hosting galaxy clusters provides sensitive cosmological information. Aims. In this work we make use of a large photometric galaxy cluster sample, constructed from the public Third Data Release of the Kilo-Degree Survey, and the corresponding shear signal, to assess cluster masses and test the concordance Λ -cold dark matter ( Λ CDM) model. In particular, we study the weak gravitational lensing e ff ects on scales beyond the cluster virial radius, where the signal is dominated by correlated and uncorrelated matter density distributions along the line of sight. The analysed catalogue consists of 6962 galaxy clusters, in the redshift range 0 . 1 ≤ z ≤ 0 . 6 and with signal-to-noise ratios higher than 3.5. Methods. We perform a full Bayesian analysis to model the stacked shear profiles of these clusters. The adopted likelihood function considers both the small-scale one-halo term, used primarily to constrain the cluster structural properties, and the two-halo term, that can be used to constrain cosmological parameters. Results. We find that the adopted modelling is successful in assessing both the cluster masses and the total matter density parameter, Ω M , when fitting shear profiles up to the largest available scales of 35Mpc h − 1 . Moreover, our results provide a strong observational evidence of the two-halo signal in the stacked gravitational lensing of galaxy clusters, further demonstrating the reliability of this probe for cosmological studies. The main result of this work is a robust constraint on Ω M , assuming a flat Λ CDM cosmology. We get Ω M = 0 . 29 ± 0 . 02, estimated from the full posterior probability distribution, consistent with the estimates from cosmic microwave background experiments.


Objectives: Chemotherapy-related peripheral neuropathy is know n to increase the risk of falls in the elderly. This study aims to assess the developmental state o f p ripheral neuropathy and the risk of falls in 65 years and older recipients of chemotherapy. Methods: The study population comprised patients over 65 ye ars who were first treated with chemotherapy for solid and haematological cancer between February 1, 20 6, and October 31, 2017, in a day treatment uni t of a hospital in Eskisehir, Turkey. We collected data ev ery month for 6 months using the Individual Identif ication Form, the National Cancer Institute Common Sense of Toxicity Criteria Sensory and Motor Neuropathy Sca le and the Hendrich-II Falling Risks Scale. The quanti t tive data were expressed as medians. Furthermore, we evaluated the comparison of measurements at differe nt time points with a normal distribution, analysis of variance at repeated measures and normal non-disper sive score variables by the Friedman test. Results: The number of neuropathic patients increased in th e sixth month than the first month in the 6-month follow-up period. In addition, it was determined th at the Hendrich-II Falling Risks Scale score increa sed in the fifth and sixth months than the first and second mo nths. Conclusion: This study revealed that the degree of neuropathy nd the risk of falling increased in the sixth month than the first month for individuals over 65 years who received chemotherapy. Hence, no statisti c lly significant correlation existed between age and neu ropathy grade and age and risk of falls in this stu dy.


A nitrogen-dilution technique for measurement of airway closing volumes (CV) and functional residual capacity (FRC) not requiring subject cooperation was tested in five healthy, awake, spontaneously breathing subjects and subsequently used in 20 patients during anesthesia with mechanical ventilation. Incomplete exhalation before inhalation of oxygen did not significantly alter CV. Inspiration of a volume of oxygen equal to 75 per cent of vital capacity (VC) did not affect CV, whereas inspiration to 50 percent VC resulted in a 20 per cent decrease in CV. Expiratory resistance tended to reduce CV. By means of this technique, the validity of which had been thus demonstrated, airway closure could be shown to occur at lung volumes larger than FRC (and thus within a normal tidal volume) in six patients prior to anesthesia, and in a further II (total 17 of 20) during anesthesia with mechanical ventilation. FRC decreased by an average of 0.5 liters during anesthesia with mechanical ventilation and was only 0,2 liters above residual volume. Significant hypoxemia was observed in association with airway closure.


A low metastatic clone, G6, was isolated from the B16 melanoma cell line by cloning procedure. When the cells were cultured in vitro with fibroblasts from newborn mice, the lung-colonizing potential of G6 cells was substantially increased. The effect of coculture depended on the number of the fibroblasts. The elevated colonizing potential of G6 cells was reversed to the original low potential by subculturing them for 20 days without the fibroblasts. The culture medium conditioned by G6-fibroblast coculture demonstrated an activity to enhance the lung-colonizing potential of G6 cells, whereas the medium from the culture of fibroblasts alone showed only a little activity. The growth rate and plating efficiency of G6 cells cultured with the fibroblasts or in the conditioned medium did not differ from those of uncocultured G6 cells. The potentiating activity in the conditioned medium was nondialyzable and stable to heating at 80 degrees C for 10 min, but was lost after heating for 10 min at 120 degrees C, or by the treatment with trypsin. These results indicate that the enhancement of lung-colonizing potential of G6 cells could be mediated by a soluble factor(s) released from cocultured fibroblasts.


Objective Nonsyndromic cleft lip/palate (NSCLP) has the characteristics of a complex genetic trait. Linkage and association studies have suggested that one or more clefting loci may be located on chromosome 4q. The goal of this study was to evaluate the possible linkage and association due to linkage disequilibrium between five microsatellite markers located on 4q28 to 4q33 and NSCLP, using the case-parent trio design. Subjects and Methods A total of 56 Chilean families (32 simplex and 24 multiplex) were recruited. Microsatellite markers were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction with fluorescent-labeled forward primers, followed by electrophoresis on a laser-fluorescent sequencer. Case-parents trios were ascertained to assess linkage and linkage disequilibrium through a multistage procedure. Transmission disequilibrium tests for multiple alleles were carried out to assess the statistical significance of 4q28 to 4q33 microsatellite markers. Results Only weak evidence for linkage was obtained for the FGA marker (asymptotic uncorrected p value = .08 and empirical p value = .05). Only the FGA and UCP1 markers were selected for association analysis in trios, with unrelated cases achieving a nearly significant result for the UCP1 marker (asymptotic uncorrected p value = .07 and empirical p value = .19). Conclusion Though the FGA and UCP1 markers showed nearly significant p values for linkage and association, respectively, the results of the present study provided insufficient evidence of the existence of a major susceptibility locus in the 4q region that was analyzed in the present study.


SIR,-We are not surprised that Dr Nigel Klein and colleagues found dubious contraindications to be an important cause of failure of children to get vaccinated.' In a prospective study we found that the commonest reason given for omitting the whooping cough vaccine was advice from the general practitioner or community paediatric doctor based on dubious contraindications.2 The reason for this is probably complex. Parents whose children were not vaccinated were more anxious about the side effects of the whooping cough vaccine and less convinced about its efficacy than parents whose children were vaccinated against whooping cough. However, we found no evidence that the doctors' concerns about the vaccine played a part in children failing to get vaccinated against whooping cough. Our results suggested that doctors often react to parents who are worried about whooping cough vaccination by excluding the child from vaccination on the basis of dubious contraindications. Many of these dubious contraindications are no more than a literal interpretation of previous advice from the Department of Health and the manufacturer. Not so long ago if a doctor took note of the department's4 and manufacturer's4 instructions together he would have excluded children with a history of fits, abnormal cerebral signs in the newborn period, neurological abnormalities, developmental delay, and allergy together with all those with a family history of epilepsy (not specifying first degree relatives) or neurological disorder. Even now, the manufacturer includes as absolute contraindication cerebral irritation in the newborn period, developmental neurological delay or other disorder of the central nervous system, and a history of epilepsy in first degree relatives.' No sound scientific evidence has been produced to support these contraindications. The department's contraindications have now been modified and are considerably clearer and narrower, but ambiguities and confusions remain. Doctors are advised to consult experts such as paediatricians before excluding children with problems such as a history of cerebral damage in the newborn period or epilepsy in first degree relatives. While these problems continue to be quoted as possible contraindications many experts will probably advise against vaccination on the grounds that if the child develops neurological problems or epilepsy the whooping cough vaccine will be held responsible and there will be criticism that the relative contraindications were not heeded. We suggest that the Department of Health and the manufacturer should advise omission of the whooping cough vaccine only when there has been a severe previous reaction to the vaccine. They should advise considering delaying (but not omitting) the vaccine when the child has poorly controlled epilepsy (until control is achieved), degenerative disease of the central nervous system (until the diagnosis is clarified), or a fever (until the child becomes afebrile). We suggest that children who present to paediatricians or general practitioners and who have missed vaccinations should be opportunistically vaccinated with the triple vaccine even if they have an infection provided they have become afebrile. These simple instructions should be accompanied by a statement of positive reassurance that it is safe to vaccinate children with conditions previously thought to be contraindications. DAVID STEVENS Paediatric Department, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Gloucester GL1 3NN


In chromatin remodeling, the post-translational modification of histone proteins is mediated by multimeric protein complexes. VERNALIZATION INSENSITIVE3 (VIN3) forms a complex with Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2), which mediates the trimethylation of H3K27 to repress target gene expression. In rice, four genes (OsVIL1-OsVIL4) encoding the VIN3-like proteins are expressed ubiquitously in various tissues. Null mutants of osvil2 display pleiotropic phenotypes such as altered flowering time, floral organ defects, and reduced tiller size. In contrast, osvil1 mutants did not show significant phenotypes except in fertilization compared with the wild type. However, transgenic plants overexpressing OsVIL1 showed phenotypes of increased biomass and grain yield. Cross-sections of the basal region of elongating stems revealed that the increased biomass was mediated by inducing cell proliferation in the meristem. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay indicated that OsVIL1 repressed expression of cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase gene (OsCKX2) by binding to the promoter and genic regions of OsCKX2. We also observed that OsVIL1 modified the levels of H3K27me3 in the OsCKX2 chromatin. Because OsCKX2 encodes an enzyme that degrades active cytokinin, we conclude that OsVIL1 functions in the regulation of endogenous active cytokinin levels, thereby increasing plant height and productivity.