This article tries to analyze the dynamic of negotiation processes between Government of Republic of Philippines (GRP) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) since 2001 until 2008. It will concern in the negotiation process toward the ancestral domain aspect as the last three major aspects of the Tripoli Agreement on Peace 2001 using literature studies. According to the ripeness theory (Zartman and Faure, 2005), GRP and MILF has been conducting negotiation for 2008 because both conflicting parties have realized the two situations of the Mutually Hurting Stalemate and Mutually Enticing Opportunity. Both conflicting parties has shared the bad experience toward military fighting of Mindanao conflict and realize that by conducting a negotiation they can has expectation on the certain goals for the future. They try to avoid catastrophe situation and gain several benefit from local and international support in the term of politics, social and economic sphere.


To investigate the most early events occurring during the adaptation of the pituitary-thyroid axis to iodine depletion, two rat populations were submitted to 4 week low iodine regimens of different severity. The variations of the following parameters were studied: pituitary thyrotropin (TSH) concentration, serum thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3) and TSH, thyroid weight and thyroid iodine concentration. In the first population, mildly iodine depleted, serum and pituitary TSH remained unchanged. The weight of the thyroid increased by the 12th day. Serum T4 dropped by the 26th day. Serum T3 tended to increase during the whole observation period. In the second population, more severely iodine depleted, the increase in thyroid weight appeared by the 4th day. Serum T3 increased from day 13 to day 20, then returned to normal. Serum TSH increased and serum T4 decreased by the 20th day. These results suggest that, in the adaptation to iodine deficiency in the rat, autonomous thyroid regulatory mechanisms play a major role at the onset of goiter growth. On the other hand, most likely a combined effect of serum T3 and T4 triggers variations in pituitary TSH secretion.


The microteaching method offers opportunities to pre-service teachers for both planning and applying teaching methods-techniques. This method generally focuses on teacher behaviors. In teacher training programs, pre-service teachers learn the theoretical underpinnings of pedagogical strategies, and then they practice these strategies, ensuring them have internalized these skills. Education Faculty needs to be able to review research demonstrating the efficacy of microteaching to feel confident about utilizing this practice in their programs. The aim of this research is to identify pre-service teachers' views related to microteaching practice. This research is a descriptive survey study. The participants include pre-service teachers who study in Computer and Instructional Technology Department in Education Faculty. The Interview Form, the Peer Review Form and Self Evaluation Form were used to collect data in the study. Content analysis method was used for analysis of the data. Within the scope of the research, most of the pre-service teachers reported positive views about micro-teaching. In addition, pre-service teachers' views on peer and self-evaluation were also identified.


The article presents an analytical review of the current state of the iron ore base of the ferrous metallurgy of Russia and the world, identifies the largest iron ore provinces and iron ore producers. The promising directions of development and improvement of the quality of the iron ore base of Russia and the features of the development of new deposits of rich iron ores are identified. Effective technologies for the development of rich iron ores deposits that ensure an increase in production volumes are proposed. The geomechanical justification of rational technological parameters that are easily adapted to changes in mining and geological conditions has been performed.
Based on the results of field studies, the use of an elastic-plastic model with the Coulomb – Mohr strength criterion for modeling changes in the stress-strain state of an ore rock mass during mining operations is justified and recommendations for ensuring the stability of mine workings are developed.
Effective engineering and technical solutions for the complex development and deep processing of rich iron ores with the production of fractionated sinter ore, which increases the efficiency of metallurgical processes, the production of high-grade iron oxide pigments and iron ore briquettes, which increase the competitiveness of iron ore companies and the full use of the resource potential of deposits, are presented.


Deterministic logic BIST (DLBIST) is an attractive test strategy, since it combines advantages of deterministic external testing and pseudo-random LBIST. Unfortunately, previously published DLBIST methods are unsuited for large ICs, since computing time and memory consumption of the DLBIST synthesis algorithms increase exponentially, or at least cubically, with the circuit size. In this paper, we propose a novel DLBIST synthesis procedure that has nearly linear complexity in terms of both computing time and memory consumption. The new algorithms are based on binary decision diagrams (BDDs). We demonstrate the efficiency of the new algorithms for industrial designs up to 2M gates.


4748 Introduction and Objective In patients with metastatic bladder cancer, cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy has proven benefit in palliating symptoms and prolonging survival. However, the median survival is only one year and toxicity remains a problem. Currently, the gemcitabine and cisplatin (GC) regimen is favoured by many centres. To improve results, a potential strategy is to look for synergistic cooperation between cytotoxic agents and novel targeted therapies. The ErbB family of receptors is frequently dysregulated in bladder cancer, and presents an attractive target for small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). In this in vitro study, we investigated the effect on cell viability of combining lapatinib (GW572016) [a dual ErbB1/ErbB2 TKI] with GC in varying sequences of application. Methods We chose two bladder cancer cell lines, one (RT112) with high expression of ErbB1 and ErbB2, the other (J82) with low expression of these receptors. These cells were first treated with IC 50 doses of lapatinib and GC. Varying doses of GC were then combined with the IC 50 dose of lapatinib. Cell viability was assessed using the MTT assay performed in triplicate. Results The IC 50 values for RT112 (1.1 μM) and J82 (1.2 μM) following lapatinib were similar. In both cell lines, application of lapatinib before and during or concomitant with GC inhibited cell growth more than GC alone (P 50 of GC gave the same level of cell viability as the full-dose IC 50 of GC alone. Interaction plots of lapatinib before and during GC versus GC alone demonstrated synergy between lapatinib and GC in RT112 and J82 cells. Conclusions In two bladder cancer cell lines, we have shown schedule-dependent synergy between lapatinib and GC. Lapatinib may enable reduced-dose chemotherapy, a potential toxicity-sparing strategy. Lapatinib is a product of GlaxoSmithKline. With thanks to the British Urology Foundation for their generous funding.


Aluminium is an important metalloelement and has many medicinal uses like use of aluminum as an antacid. Thus it is interesting to study the effect of Aluminium on the glutathione (GSH) in vivo conditions. The concentration and time dependent effect of Aluminium on glutathione level in plasma was studied by using Ellman's method. A drastic effect on decreasing the concentration of glutathione level in plasma was found by increasing the concentration of Aluminium sulphate over the time. The reason could probably be due to oxidation of GSH to corresponding disulphide (GSSG). In this paper the effect of Aluminium metal on thiol/GSH level was discussed in vitro, which in principal may present a model of in vivo reaction


The twins' myth, whose origins go back to times immemorial, has always been a popular motif for fiction. It generally reflects the idea of "duality", alienation and the search for Self and for the Other, which always end in an impasse. Self and for the Other, which always end in an impasse. With his novel Les Meteores, portraying the twins Paul and Jean, Michel Tournier breaks away from this idea of "duality" and substitutes it with the idea of a "couple" through a mythic, metaphysical and symbolic approach whose outcome is sublimation. Initiation in a work of fiction by means of myths and symbols leads to something whose ethical dimension is realized by joining together difference and fraternity and by holding to the difference. It endeavours to carry out the transmutation of metaphysics in the work of fiction and the change from profane to sacred, from myth to the imaginary and to poetry.


Mean Shift today, is widely used for mode detection and clustering. The technique though, is challenged in practice due to assumptions of isotropicity and homoscedasticity. We present an adaptive Mean Shift methodology that allows for full anisotropic clustering, through unsupervised local bandwidth selection. The bandwidth matrices evolve naturally, adapting locally through agglomeration, and in turn guiding further agglomeration. The online methodology is practical and effecive for low-dimensional feature spaces, preserving better detail and clustering salience. Additionally, conventional Mean Shift either critically depends on a per instance choice of bandwidth, or relies on offline methods which are inflexible and/or again data instance specific. The presented approach, due to its adaptive design, also alleviates this issue - with a default form performing generally well. The methodology though, allows for effective tuning of results.


We are currently witnessing a dramatic change in the pharmaceutical industry as many companies are downscaling their efforts to discover new drug candidates and are instead turning toward collaboration with academic partners. This trend has been dubbed open innovation. The reason for this change of policy stems from the realization that, in spite of massive investments in their drug development programs in the past 30 years, the number of new drugs reaching the market has remained stable over the same period. We review past and present drug discovery strategies and present a novel more holistic approach that we term Systems Drug Discovery. This approach aims at quantifying the physiological state of organ slice cultures using high content imaging and metabolomics. The characterization in a quantitative manner of healthy, diseased, and drug-treated tissues will allow defining a multiparametric space, within which tissues are healthy. This in turn will allow an objective assessment of the impact of candidate drugs on cells. This quantitative approach should help guide the development of new drugs reducing failure rates in clinical phase.


This study aimed to evaluate social and economic predictors, as well social behavior and its influence on the quality of life of elders who use the primary health care network of Uberaba, Minas Gerais. Methods: Descriptive, exploratory, cross-sectional and quantitative study, conducted with 248 60 year old or older subjects, from November 2016 to May 2017. A structured questionnaire was applied to evaluate sociodemographic data, health conditions and life habits as well the WHOQOL-Bref and the WHOQOL-Old. The analysis were conducted through relative frequencies and t-test as well multiple linear regression were used to associate variables. The study was approved by the Committee of Ethics in Researches with Human Beings of the Federal University of the Triângulo Mineiro (CEP/UFTM). Results: Most elders were women, catholic, with 4 years or more of formal education, had partners, a sexually inactive life, and were retired. The linear regression analysis, found a positive and light or moderate association between sexual life and the physical, social, and environmental domains, and the past, present and future activities facet. The educational level variable had a positive and light association with the psychological domain, whereas the variable occupation had a negative and light association with the death and dying facet. Conclusions: The results found show an important social impact regarding the studied population, making it clear that public policies should be created and executed as to offer subsidies for actions which are specifically targeted at the QoL of elders.


Coagulation Factor X (FX), often termed Stuart-Prower Factor, is a plasma glycoprotein composed of the γ-carboxyglutamic acid (Gla) domain, two epidermal growth factor domains (EGF-1, EGF-2) and the serine protease (SP) domain. FX plays a pivotal role in the coagulation cascade, activating thrombin to promote platelet plug formation and prevent excess blood loss. Genetic variants in FX disrupt coagulation and lead to FX or Stuart-Prower Factor deficiency. To better understand the relationship between FX deficiency and disease severity, an interactive FX variant database has been set up at https://www.factorx-db.org, based on earlier websites for the Factor XI and IX coagulation proteins. To date (April 2021), we report 427 case reports on FX deficiency corresponding to 180 distinct F10 genetic variants. Of these, 149 are point variants (of which 128 are missense), 22 are deletions, three are insertions and six are polymorphisms. FX variants are phenotypically classified as being Type I or Type II. Type I variants involve the simultaneous reduction of FX coagulant activity (FX:C) and FX antigen levels (FX:Ag), whereas Type II variants involve a reduction in FX:C with normal FX:Ag plasma levels. Both types of variants were distributed throughout the FXa protein structure. Analyses based on residue surface accessibilities showed the most damaging variants to occur at residues with low accessibilities. The interactive FX web database provides a novel easy-to-use resource for clinicians and scientists to improve the understanding of FX deficiency. Guidelines are provided for clinicians who wish to use the database for diagnostic purposes.


On-road vehicle emissions are one of the major sources of transport emissions. As a key design factor, road grades (or road slopes) have significant effects on on-road vehicle emissions, particularly on Heavy-Duty Vehicles (HDVs). However, the research into the relationship between road grades and on-road vehicle emissions is very rare in China. Taking a road network in Taiyuan, China, as a study area, this paper explored the influences of road grades on carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions of HDVs. Combining emissions data collected by Portable Emission Measurement System (PEMS) with Vehicle Specific Power (VSP), we developed an emission rate model of HDVs. Then, we integrated it with the traffic simulation model VISSIM to attain the emissions of HDVs on nine scenarios differentiated by road grades. The results showed that the three emissions are found to be highly correlated to road grades, among which the CO emissions are most sensitive to the change of road grades and the HC emissions least. Compared to the emissions at 0% grade, the emissions at 4% grade will be boosted from 39.0% to 60.6%. The CO and NOx emissions increase with the road grades in all nine scenarios, while the variations of HC emissions in different scenarios were complicated. The findings of this research will provide insights for policy-makers, scholars, and practitioners into strategies for improving road design to reduce traffic emissions and develop sustainable transportation in China.


Stochastic hybrid systems involve the coupling between discrete and continuous stochastic processes. They are finding increasing applications in cell biology, ranging from modeling promoter noise in gene networks to analyzing the effects of stochastically-gated ion channels on voltage fluctuations in single neurons and neural networks. We have previously derived a path integral representation of solutions to the associated differential Chapman-Kolmogorov equation, based on integral representations of the Dirac delta function, and used this to determine ``least action'' paths in the noise-induced escape from a metastable state. In this paper we present an alternative derivation of the path integral, based on the use of bra-kets and ``quantum-mechanical'' operators. We show how the operator method provides a more efficient and flexible framework for constructing hybrid path integrals, which eliminates certain ad hoc steps from the previous derivation and provides more context with regards the general theory of stochastic path integrals. We also highlight the important role of principal eigenvalues, spectral gaps and the Perron-Frobenius theorem. We then use perturbation methods to develop various approximation schemes for hybrid path integrals and the associated moment generating functionals. First, we consider Gaussian approximations and loop expansions in the weak noise limit, analogous to the semi-classical limit for quantum path integrals. Second, we identify the analog of a weak-coupling limit by treating the stochastic hybrid system as the nonlinear perturbation of an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. This leads to an expansion of the moments in terms of products of free propagators.


Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), the most common fuel additive used to oxygenate gasoline, is being detected more frequently in drinking water supplies. This research investigates the capacities of 10 different types of highly characterized peats to extract MTBE from contaminated water. Peat samples were slurried for 24 hours under controlled conditions in aqueous solutions of MTBE. Liquid portions of the samples were analyzed for MTBE concentrations using a Solid-phase Microextraction GC/MS (SPME-GC/MS) method and were compared to samples of the MTBE solution (without peat addition) to determine the peats' MTBE sorption capacities. The SPME-GC/MS results indicate that all peats tested worked well at extracting MTBE from an aqueous solution. Although this was so, some peats tended to work better than others. The Loxahatchee Nymphaea and the Maine Sphagnum peats worked best, producing 92 and 88% MTBE reductions, respectively, while the Okefenokee Taxodium and the New York peats achieved the poorest results, producing only 50 and 47% MTBE reductions, respectively. In addition, the peats derived from herbaceous vegetation worked better than those derived from woody plants (except for the woody North Carolina peat). Overall, the peats that were the most effective at extracting MTBE from water tended to have higher hydraulic conductivities, microporosities, macroporosities, total porosities, and water holding capacities, but lower bulk densities, total ash contents, Ti contents, P contents, Si contents, K contents, Al contents, fulvic acid contents, total guaiacyl lignin contents, and total other ketones contents. Peats with higher MTBE extraction capacities also had humic acids contents that ranged between 4.6–7.1%. These results suggest that peats could be used as filtration, or sorption, media to remediate surface water or groundwater that is contaminated with MTBE. SPME-GC/MS analysis was found to be a reasonably inexpensive and efficient way to evaluate MTBE sorption capacities of peat samples.


Background: Within the European Union (EU), substantial efforts are being made to achieve economic and social cohesion, and the reduction of health inequalities between EU regions is integral to this process. This paper is the first to examine how self‐reported conditions and non‐communicable diseases (NCDs) vary spatially between and within countries. Methods: Using 2014 European Social Survey (ESS) data from 20 countries, this paper examines how regional inequalities in self‐reported conditions and NCDs vary for men and women in 174 regions (levels 1 and 2 Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units, 'NUTS'). We document absolute and relative inequalities across Europe in the prevalence of eight conditions: general health, overweight/obesity, mental health, heart or circulation problems, high blood pressure, back, neck, muscular or joint pain, diabetes and cancer. Results: There is considerable inequality in self‐reported conditions and NCDs between the regions of Europe, with rates highest in the regions of continental Europe, some Scandinavian regions and parts of the UK and lowest around regions bordering the Alps, in Ireland and France. However, for mental health and cancer, rates are highest in regions of Eastern European and lowest in some Nordic regions, Ireland and isolated regions in continental Europe. There are also widespread and consistent absolute and relative regional inequalities in all conditions within countries. These are largest in France, Germany and the UK, and smallest in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. There were higher inequalities amongst women. Conclusion: Using newly available harmonized morbidity data from across Europe, this paper shows that there are considerable regional inequalities within and between European countries in the distribution of self‐reported conditions and NCDs.


I doubt anybody who wanted to be taken seriously would claim that our orthography is simple, but few realize the true depth of its notorious incoherence. Fewer still have any more than the vaguest understanding of how it became the creature it is today. As many already know, English vocabulary is an untidy mix of primarily Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, Norman French, Latin, and classical Greek roots. Where its spelling has mainly failed is in regularly integrating the written forms of all those borrowings so that they conformed to a cohesive Anglo-Saxon whole. Many balk at the notion of spelling reform, arguing against the "dumbing-down" of a long-hallowed orthodoxy that is somehow beyond reproach, but it may now be time to seriously question that characterization and explore just what English orthography could be if it were ever streamlined and renovated. I hope to plant the seeds for such exploration by presenting a detailed overview of an experimental orthography for modern English, one of several complete overhauls that have been proposed in recent years.


Tracing the emergence of the Russian Far East as a new region of the Russian Empire, revolutionary Russia, and the Soviet Union through regionalist and imperialist discourses and policies, this article briefly discusses Russian expansion in the Pacific littoral, outlines the history of regionalism in North Asia during the revolutionary and early Soviet periods, and focuses on the activities of the Far Eastern Council of People's Commissars (Dal΄sovnarkom), the Far Eastern Republic (FER), and the Far Eastern Revolutionary Committee (Dal΄'revkom). Inspired by Siberian regionalism and other takes on post-imperial decentralization, the Bolshevik Aleksandr Mikhailovich Krasnoshchekov and other regional politicians became the makers of the new region from within. Meanwhile, the legacies of the empire's expansionism, the Bolshevik "new imperialism" in Asia, and the Japanese military presence in the region during the Russian Civil War accompanied the consolidation of the Russian Far East.


Uterine anatomy and uterine fibroids (UFs) characteristics have been classically considered as almost a unique issue in gynecology and reproductive medicine. Nowadays, the management of UF pathology is undergoing an important evolution, with the patient's quality of life being the most important aspect to consider. Accordingly, surgical techniques and aggressive treatments are reserved for only those cases with heavy symptomatology, while the clinical diagnostic based on size and number of UFs remains in a second plane in these situations. Moreover, the development of several noninvasive surgical techniques, especially the appearance of ulipristal acetate as a medical etiological treatment, has substantially changed the clinical indications. As a consequence, after almost 2 decades without relevant updates, it has been necessary to update the protocols for the management of UFs in the Spanish Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics twice. Accordingly, we believe that it is necessary to translate our experience to protocolize the medical care for patients with UFs, incorporating these new therapeutic options, and selecting the best treatment for them. We highlight the importance of achieving the patient's goals and decisions by improving the clinical diagnosis for these type of pathologies, allowing enhanced personalized treatments, as well as the reduction of potential risks and unnecessary surgeries.


Due to the enormous spreading of applied wireless networks, security is actually one of the most important issues for telecommunications. One of the main issue in the field of securing wireless information exchanging is the initial common knowledge between source and destination. A shared secret is normally mandatory in order to decide the encryption (algorithm or code or key) of the information stream. It is usual to exchange this common a priori knowledge by using a "secure" channel. A new modulation technique, able to encrypt the radio signal without any a priori common secret between the two nodes, was previously proposed by the authors [1]-[3]. The information is modulated, at physical layer, by the thermal noise experienced by the link between two terminals. A loop scheme is designed for unique recovering of mutual information. This contribution improves the previous works by exploring the real robustness of the proposed technique against the presence of DOS warriors and impairment of the radio channel, considering also implementation details, such as the bit integration time. Both the case of passive and active attacks have also been implemented and simulated by using the Matlab Simulink.


The overarching aim of this Science Team (ST-WV) is to contribute to study of the multiscale
interaction between ambient flow and deep convection that governed the heavy precipitation
events (HPEs) observed during the first HyMeX Special Observing Period (SOP) through
Cross-validation studies and synergistic use of SOP observations and models in order to
provide the best description of the water vapour flows.
Three main objectives are pursued: (i) Produce error and bias estimates for the water vapour
profiles and integrated products issued from the different water vapour measuring
instruments, (ii) Provide a reference for validation of water vapor fields from model forecasts
& reanalyses, and (iii) Contribute to HPE related processes studies.
The instrumental cross-validation and model validation efforts, as well as recent progress on
the understanding of the role of water vapor on the life cycle of HPEs will be presented.


Background: Receptor-like kinases (RLKs) gene family contains huge number of members in plants. They are membrane proteins with an extracellular receptor domain, and participate into abiotic and biotic stress responses. Results: In this study, we identi�ed RLKs in 15 representative plants genomes including wheat, and classi�ed them into 64 subfamilies by using four kinds of phylogenetic trees and HMM models. Conserved exon-intron structures with conserved exon phase in the kinase domain were found in many RLK subfamilies from Physcomitrella patens to Triticum aestivum. Domain distributions of RLKs were also diagrammed. Collinearity events and tandem gene clusters suggested that polyploidizations and tandem duplication events contributed to the member expansions of T. aestivum RLKs. Global expression pattern analysis of T. aestivum, Aegilops tauschii and Brachypodium distachyon RLKs under abiotic and biotic stresses were performed by using public transcriptome data. We also selected 9 RLKs to validate the prediction of transcriptome by using qRT-PCR under drought treatment and with infection of Fusarium graminearum. Conclusion: In this study, we performed the identi�cation, classi�cation, evolution, and expression patterns of RLKs in wheat and relative plants. Thus, our results will help researchers study evolutionary history and molecular mechanisms of wheat RLKs.


The time quantity one-cycle control method is proposed in this paper for unity power factor AC-DC converters. Converters controlled by this method operate at constant switching frequency, require no current sensing, have a simple control circuit, and exhibit purely resistive input impedance at the AC side. A feedback loop design method is provided to minimize the current distortion when the output voltage ripple is not negligible. Experimental results confirmed the theoretical prediction.


We consider the spinless fermion model with hard-core repulsive potential between particles extended on a few lattice sites δ. The Luttinger-liquid behavior is studied for different values of a hard-core radius. We derive a critical exponent Θ of the one-particle correlation function ⟨ci†cj⟩ for an arbitrary electron density and coupling constant. Our results show that at high density the behavior of fermions can be described as a strongly interacting Luttinger liquid with Θ > 1. As a result, the residual Fermi surface disappears.


The work was focused in the chase for alternative configurations that could resist to the high FPSO motions in the Brasil's Pre-Salt harsh wave environment, and that could also be less compliant laterally when compared to the SLWR solution.A case study was taken where an infield 8 inch SLWR configuration has been taken for comparisons.After adjusting the SSWR (Steel Steep Wave Riser) main characteristics such as top angle, buoyant section length, buoyancy modules geometry and spacing, feasible configurations have been obtained. For a configuration to be considered as feasible, a set of verifications have been carried out including extreme events, wave fatigue, vortex induced vibration and installation. The verification was performed considering several riser top connection positions and azimuths along the FPSO riser support balcony.The interference with neighboring risers has been also taken as an important issue, but was taken solely for comparison with the SLWR configurations.The installation phase has been focused including the stages of bottom connection, normal pipe lay and the connection at the FPSO. The main problems associated to the installation phase of the steep wave configuration were identified and addressed in the discussion presented.As the SSWR configuration has a fixed point at the sea bottom, two different solutions for this connection have been studied, and the final choice is described. The main differences between SSWRs and SLWRs, and the possible advantages of the SSWR configuration are discussed and a direct comparison is presented.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


OBJECTIVE
This study used meta-analysis to assess disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) screening and treatment in people with mental disorders, a group that has elevated CVD incidence and mortality.

METHODS
The authors searched PubMed and PsycInfo through July 31, 2020, and conducted a random-effect meta-analysis of observational studies comparing CVD screening and treatment in people with and without mental disorders. The primary outcome was odds ratios for CVD screening and treatment. Sensitivity analyses on screening and treatment separately and on specific procedures, subgroup analyses by country, and by controlling for confounding by indication, as well as meta-regressions, were also run, and publication bias and quality were assessed.

RESULTS
Forty-seven studies (N=24,400,452 patients, of whom 1,283,602 had mental disorders) from North America (k=26), Europe (k=16), Asia (k=4), and Australia (k=1) were meta-analyzed. Lower rates of screening or treatment in patients with mental disorders emerged for any CVD (k=47, odds ratio=0.773, 95% CI=0.742, 0.804), coronary artery disease (k=34, odds ratio=0.734, 95% CI=0.690, 0.781), cerebrovascular disease (k=8, odds ratio=0.810, 95% CI=0.779, 0.842), and other mixed CVDs (k=11, odds ratio=0.839, 95% CI=0.761, 0.924). Significant disparities emerged for any screening, any intervention, catheterization or revascularization in coronary artery disease, intravenous thrombolysis for stroke, and treatment with any and with specific medications for CVD across all mental disorders (except for CVD medications in mood disorders). Disparities were largest for schizophrenia, and they differed across countries. Median study quality was high (Newcastle-Ottawa Scale score, 8); higher-quality studies found larger disparities, and publication bias did not affect results.

CONCLUSIONS
People with mental disorders, and those with schizophrenia in particular, receive less screening and lower-quality treatment for CVD. It is of paramount importance to address underprescribing of CVD medications and underutilization of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures across all mental disorders.


A kinetic study is reported for SNAr reactions of 1-(Y-substituted-phenoxy)-2,4-dinitrobenzenes (1a-1h) with amines in MeCN. The plots of pseudo-first-order rate constant versus amine concentration curve upward, indicating that the reactions are catalyzed by a second amine molecule. The Brønsted-type plots for the reaction of 1-(4-nitrophenyl)-2,4-dinitrobenzene (1a) with secondary amines are linear with βnuc = 1.10 and 0.85 for the uncatalyzed and catalyzed reactions, respectively, while the Yukawa-Tsuno plots for the reactions of 1a-1h with piperidine result in excellent linear correlations with ρY = 1.85 and r = 0.27 for the uncatalyzed reaction and ρY = 0.73 and r = 0.23 for the catalyzed reaction. The catalytic effect decreases with increasing amine basicity or electron-withdrawing ability of the substituent Y in the leaving group. Activation parameters calculated from the rate constants measured at five different temperatures for the catalyzed reaction of 1a with piperidine are ΔH(‡) = 0.38 kcal/mol and ΔS(‡) = -55.4 cal/(mol K). The catalyzed reaction from a Meisenheimer complex (MC(±)) is proposed to proceed through a concerted mechanism with a cyclic transition-state rather than via a stepwise pathway with an anionic intermediate, MC(-). Deuterium kinetic isotope effects provide further insight into the nature of the concerted transition state.


Current microarray technologies are able to assay thousands of samples over million of SNPs simultaneously. Computational approaches have been developed to analyse a huge amount of data from microarray chips to understand sophisticated human genomes. The data from microarray chips might contain errors due to bad samples or bad SNPs. In this paper, we propose a method to detect bad SNPs from the probe intensities data of Illumina Beadchips. This approach measures the difference among results determined by three software Illuminus, GenoSNP and Gencall to detect the unstable SNPs. Experiment with SNP data in chromosome 20 of Kenyan people demonstrates the usefulness of our method. This approach reduces the number of SNPs that are needed to check manually. Furthermore, it has the ability in detecting bad SNPs that have not been recognized by other criteria.


The objective of this study was to evaluate failure of oestrus synchronization and mass insemination in the conception of dairy cattle in Silte zone. To evaluate the mechanism of the failure of OSMI conception rate we have collected (HF, jersey, and HF×Boran breed semen) from the three districts and evaluated their quality in NAGII laboratory thereafter bought 1000 qualified HF semen straw and distributed in the 3 districts. 150 cows were brought by farmers for services, and from those cows 130 cows were fulfil the precondition for this program and injected them with 2 ml of PGF2 alpha hormone. Among the 130 injected cows, 72 (55.38%) of them were responded from day 2 up to day 3 after hormone treated and then inseminated them. The lower percentages of conception rate which was observed in this study were associated with low number of AIT and mass number of cows provided during OSMI program, lack of awareness about heat detection, lack of inseminator equipment and cows did not properly managed after hormone and semen administered as we evaluated. As a result, the quality of semen in Dalocha and Sankura districts was facing with quality problem. We have checked the AITs efficiency through placing six cow per AIT thereafter they inseminated them. As a result, there was no AIT efficiency difference on conception rate based on their working experience in this study. Generally, there is a great need of skilled and experienced technician and capacity building of farmers in heat detection, husbandry practices, and good handling practice of semen in the office and improvement strategy. Therefore, improvement in facilities and management should be necessary before implementing an effective estrous synchronization and mass artificial insemination programs.


This narrative review describes the methodological challenges in the study of dental occlusion. The reigning confusion about the scope of this topic is discussed, and a conceptual framework for understanding dental occlusion research is suggested. The characteristics of clinical studies used in the study of dental occlusion are presented within this proposed framework consisting of a triad comprising the relative positions of the teeth-mandible-maxilla, the oral functions and oral appearance. Challenges in the preparation for a clinical study of dental occlusion are reviewed, which include a discourse on the objectives of a clinical study and appropriateness of different study designs. Guidelines are provided for the conduct of studies with a central focus on dental occlusion and diagnostic tests, prognosis, therapy and aetiology, respectively. Summarising chapters present methodological challenges in designing a clinical study of dental occlusion and threats to the proper conduct of a clinical study.


Although much attention has been shown to the penthouse mostly in respect to its high price or its huge size, little scholarly work has been conducted on the topic of the penthouse. The main objective of this study is to analyze the conditions of the residential environment of penthouse apartments on super-highrise residential buildings in the city of Seoul. Along with the illumination of the definitions of super-highrise building and the term of penthouse, the early part of the paper attempts to identify criteria for the analysis of the quality of residential environment by collecting and categorizing the terms used to describe penthouse apartments. Based on the keyword extracted from the case studies, analysis criterions were grouped into three categories; Value(economic, social, and image), Living Environment(location, view, daylight, size, interior space, exterior space, and formal typology), Behavioral Pattern(privacy and life style). The research of 183 cases of penthouse apartments carried out through analysis criterions under these three categories features penthouse apartment's exceptional quality of residential environment distinguished from normal repetitive apartment units. The result also shows the differences between two groups of the cases based on the completion date; one completed before 2006 and the other to be completed after 2006.


This site provides detailed instructions about using Library resources within the D2L Brightspace platform, as well as troubleshoots the most common access issues.


The salivary gland most frequently involved with secondary cancer is the parotid gland. Metastases are responsible for 21-42% of malignant parotid tumors. Malignant melanoma and squamous cell cancer are the two most common tumors to metastasize to the parotid gland. Metastatic adenocarcinoma to this site has rarely been reported. Secondary renal cell carcinoma has been reported in many structures, including the brain, sinonasal tract, lungs, abdomen, genitourinary tract, bone, soft tissue, and lymphatics. Histologically proven parotid metastasis has been previously reported in only one patient. Two patients have recently been diagnosed and treated at our institution for this rare disease. The clinical presentation of each patient was quite different. One patient presented with parotid and pulmonary metastases seven years after resection of a renal tumor. Another patient had resection of a parotid mass revealing an occult metastasis from a renal cell carcinoma. Further evaluation revealed a locally extensive asymptomatic hypernephroma. The survival from the time of discovery of the parotid metastasis was 46 months for the former patient, while the latter patient is alive after 20 months. Differentiation of these tumors from vascular disorders (aneurysm or arteriovenous fistula) required selective angiography and computed tomography. Surgical excision via superficial parotidectomy with facial nerve preservation is necessary for palliation, particularly to avoid massive hemorrhage which may occur upon tumor extension into the oropharynx.


As cyberspace has become an important factor in modern-day life, the impact of the Internet on residents has also attracted more attention. Based on the data of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study empirically examines the impact of Internet use on Chinese residents' subjective well-being (SWB) from a multi-dimensional perspective. The research found that Internet use had a significant impact on residents' SWB, which was mainly reflected in job satisfaction, happiness, social ties, and future confidence. The impacts of the Internet's different application fields are not consistent. Applying its use more in studying, working, socialize and commercial activities has a stronger effect, but has no significant impact on entertainment. Further heterogeneity tests also found that the marginal effect of Internet use increases with age, male and low-income groups can obtain greater benefit from the Internet, and there is almost no difference between urban and rural areas. This research provides micro evidence of the social effects of Internet use and provides enlightenment for how to further promote the quality of Internet use to better benefit people.


The article entitled ''Effect of head rotation on intraocular pressure in prone position: randomized study'' recently published in the Brazilian Journal of Anesthesiology calls the reader's attention to the importance of the good practice of anesthesia in order to prevent serious complication to patients undergoing surgery in prone position, which is the loss of vision. The important items that demonstrate quality in randomized clinical trials are randomization, blindness, losses, and exclusions. These items and the statistical analysis performed in the article deserve some comments. Randomization allows the equal distribution of both known and unknown characteristics between study groups. The randomization method was not mentioned by the authors who cited only the creation of a list, so that patient assignment to groups may have been a selection bias. Inadequate reporting hinders the validity of results. Blindness is a technique used to prevent the interference of the investigators' subjectivities during the research. The blind nature of the study was not mentioned by the authors. It was just reported that the ophthalmologist who


The Feshbach formalism is applied to the calculation of polyatomic C2H2- in its 2 Pi g( pi 4u pi g) resonance state. The discrete component of the resonance state as well as the width are calculated with a slightly modified configuration-interaction method; the resonance is thereby stabilised by increased nuclear charges. Integral cross sections for the elastic and vibrationally excited channels are calculated within the boomerang approximation. The results are consistent with corresponding experimental data. The cross sections exhibit a broad and structureless hump in contrast to the well known oscillatory cross sections of the isoelectronic e-N2 scattering system ( Pi g symmetry). The comparison of the present results with previous calculations on the 2 Pi g resonance of N2- explains the differing features in the cross sections. The influence of technical variations on the location and width of the resonance as well as on the cross sections will also be discussed.


In order to study the possible correlation between carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cellular proliferation, we assayed the concentrations of this substance in the fluid of 77 bening macrocysts of the breast classified according to their Na+/K+ ratio and compared them with those of transforming growth factor beta 2. CEA levels correlated positively and significantly with the cationic ratio, the concentrations of albumin, glucose, Cl- and pH and were higher (range: 2.5-81.5, median 12.8 vs range: 0.4-41.5, median 3.2 ng/ml (p: 0.00000) in type 2 (Na+/K+ > 3) than in type 1 (Na+/K+ < 3) cysts. There was no correlation between CEA and TGFb2, nor between the former and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate levels. These results led us to suggest that the high CEA concentrations in type 2 cysts seem to be the consequence of loos of cellular differentiation and disruption of the cyst wall lining as well as the acquisition of embryonary properties by the latter as a consequence of a reduced hormonal microenvironment.


Embryonic Budding in Hymenoptera. -Mr. Paul Marchal has recently published in the Coni5tes Rendus of the French Academy a preliminary account of a peculiar method of a sexual reproduction. The chalcid parasite Encyrtus lays a single egg in each egg of the moth Hyponomeuta. Like other chalcid eggs, this is at first surrounded by a cellular envelope; the cells of this multiply rapidly and develop into a long epithelial tube within the parasitized egg. The egg proper divides, and the divided portions separate, each one giving rise to an embryo, so that from one egg from fifty to one hundred embryos arise, lying like a chain in the epithelial tube, each of which gives rise to an Encyrtus like the parent. The author is at a loss to suggest a parallel to this method of reproduction among the Metazoa. The case of Lumbricus, as first described by Kleinenberg, at once suggests itself and then there is that interesting case described by Agassiz in his "Methods of Study in Natural History," according to which the egg of our common sea snail Natica undergoes its third segmentation, and then from each of the resulting eight cells an embryo develops. Has any one yet confirmed this observation, or, if it be erroneous, has any one explained how the mistake arose ?


Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by impaired communication, social impairments, and restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests. Recently, altered motivation and reward processes have been suggested to participate in the physiopathology of ASDs, and μ-opioid receptors (MORs) have been investigated in relation to social reward due to their involvement in the neural circuitry of reward. Mice lacking a functional MOR gene (Oprm1−/− mice) display abnormal social behavior and major autistic-like core symptoms, making them an animal model of autism. The oxytocin (OXT) system is a key regulator of social behavior and co-operates with the opioidergic system in the modulation of social behavior. To better understand the opioid-OXT interplay in the central nervous system, we first determined the expression of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) in the brain of WT C57BL6/J mice by quantitative autoradiography; we then evaluated OXTR regional alterations in Oprm1−/− mice. Moreover, we tested these mice in a paradigm of social behavior, the male–female social interaction test, and analyzed the effects of acute intranasal OXT treatment on their performance. In autoradiography, Oprm1−/− mice selectively displayed increased OXTR expression in the Medial Anterior Olfactory Nucleus, the Central and Medial Amygdaloid nuclei, and the Nucleus Accumbens. Our behavioral results confirmed that Oprm1−/− male mice displayed social impairments, as indicated by reduced ultrasonic calls, and that these were rescued by a single intranasal administration of OXT. Taken together, our results provide evidence of an interaction between OXT and opioids in socially relevant brain areas and in the modulation of social behavior. Moreover, they suggest that the oxytocinergic system may act as a compensative mechanism to bypass and/or restore alterations in circuits linked to impaired social behavior.


In this study, four cyclic vasopressin (CYFQNCPRG-NH(2), AVP) analogues substituted at positions 2 and 3 with four combinations of enantiomers of N-methylphenylalanine have been investigated. Three-dimensional structures of analogues have been formerly determined using NMR spectroscopy in dimethyl sulfoxide. Three-dimensional models of the vasopressin and oxytocin receptors were constructed by combining the multiple sequence alignment and the RD crystal structure as a template. The analogues have been docked into the receptor using the AutoDock program. The relaxation of the receptor-ligand complexes using energy minimization, followed by the constrained simulated annealing protocols (CSA), has been performed. The receptor-bound conformations of the investigated analogues have been proposed. We concluded that the N-methylated residues at positions 2 and 3 act as a structural restraint, determining the conformation of analogues, their location inside the receptor cavity, and mutual arrangement of the aromatic side chains. The conserved polar residues constitute the handles keeping the biologically active analogues inside the binding cavity. The Arg(8)-D(2.65) salt bridge might be responsible for analogue-selective binding in OTR and V1aR versus V2R, where the positively charged K(2.65) 100 is present at the equivalent position.


Article history: Received June 22, 2013 Received in revised format 28 August 2013 Accepted 27 September 2013 Available online September 3


The durability of high strength concrete (HSC) was experimentally investigated in terms of compressive, tensile and bond strengths. The effect of curing media, (air and tap water) and the effect of emersion in sea- water were taken into consideration. The silica fume (SF) concrete specimens were exposed directly to two types of environmental attack (sodium sulphate and sodium chloride). The specimens were submerged in two different solutions of sodium sulphate having concentrations of 5% and 7% and sodium chloride of 2% and 4% concentrations. The specimens were tested after 28, 360, 540 and 720 days. The SF addition was 10% by weight of cement. Test results showed that the compressive, tensile and bond strengths generally increase, with higher early age strength and higher early rate of strength gain, with time up to about two years. High strength concrete, incorporating silica fume, when exposed to sulphate and chloride solutions, exhibits highest values, higher rates of increase and the lowest rates of decrease of compressive strength up to 24 months. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the hardened specimens were plotted for all cured conditions, which explain the chemical compounds formed aRer hardening.


OBJECTIVE
In this study, the extent of racial diversity in images of breast-related plastic surgery published literature was investigated to better understand disparities that exist in breast surgery.

BACKGROUND
The lack of racial diversity in images of skin color in surgery literature can perpetuate implicit bias and stereotypes. Implicit bias can affect the way patients are evaluated, diagnosed, and treated. The visual aspects of plastic surgery make a lack of diversity in imagery especially impactful on patient care and outcomes.

METHODS
Published medical images and graphics depicting human skin were analyzed across four major plastic surgery journals. Up to four years were chosen a priori to evaluate from each journal and represented the initial year of color image publication, the year of study initiation (2016), and representative years for a given decade (2000 and 2010). Images and graphics were tabulated, rated by Fitzpatrick scale and categorized into "white" or "non-white". Data were evaluated with pair-wise and linear regression statistics.

RESULTS
Of the 2774 images and 353 graphics that met inclusion criteria, only 184 (8.18%) images and 9 graphics (6.34%) depicted non-white skin. Temporal analysis showed that there is an increased diversity of images published since 2010 with 0% of images being non-white prior to and 7.3%-10.3% after 2010. International and multi-national authors tended to publish more non-white images.

CONCLUSIONS
There is insufficient racial diversity visually represented in the breast-related plastic surgery literature with a small degree of progress made towards more equitable imagery over time. Increasing awareness of image content, and the need for equitable visual representation may allow for improved racial diversity in surgical literature.


Understanding the molecular-scale complexities and interplay of chemical and biological processes of contaminants at solid, liquid, and gas interfaces is a fundamental and crucial element to enhance our understanding of anthropogenic environmental impacts. The ability to describe the complexity of environmental biogeochemical reaction mechanisms relies on our analytical ability through the application and developmemnt of advanced spectroscopic techniques. Accompanying this introductory article are nine papers that either review advanced in situ spectroscopic methods or present original research utilizing these techniques. This collection of articles summarizes the challenges facing environmental biogeochemistry, highlights the recent advances and scientific gaps, and provides an outlook into future research that may benefit from the use of in situ spectroscopic approaches. The use of synchrotron-based techniques and other methods are discussed in detail, as is the importance to integrate multiple analytical approaches to confirm results of complementary procedures or to fill data gaps. We also argue that future direction in research will be driven, in addition to recent analytical developments, by emerging factors such as the need for risk assessment of new materials (i.e., nanotechnologies) and the realization that biogeochemical processes need to be investigated in situ under environmentally relevant conditions.


Isoprenaline, but not prenalterol, produced positive inotropy in guinea-pig papillary muscle. Prenalterol was a competitive antagonist of responses to isoprenaline in this tissue with a pKB of 7.24, as estimated by a Schild regression. Guinea-pig papillary muscles pretreated with the phosphodiesterase inhibitor, isobutylmethylxanthine (IMX), were 10 times more sensitive than controls to isoprenaline. In these tissues, prenalterol was a partial agonist producing 68% of the maximal response to isoprenaline. Schild regressions with atenolol indicated no change in beta-adrenoreceptors with IMX treatment and also that isoprenaline and prenalterol activated the same receptor in this tissue. The relative efficacy of isoprenaline and prenalterol was measured by using the KB estimated by Schild analysis for prenalterol and a Kd for isoprenaline from published binding studies. The relative efficacy of these drugs (epsilon ISO/epsilon PREN) was 242 +/- 29. The general method of potentiation of responses to weak agonists to estimate relative efficacy is discussed.


Objective: Endoplasmic reticulum-metallopeptidase 1 (ERMP1) is involved in cellular response to oxidative stress. However, its functional role in proliferation and progression of cancer cells remains unknown. The focus of this study was to investigate the molecular-mechanisms in which ERMP1 modulates the proliferation and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells under normal and environment stress conditions. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, ERMP1 expression was evaluated using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in CRC cells. ERMP1 was knocked down using lentiviral transduction of ERMP1-specific shRNA into HCT116 cells. ERMP1 was also upregulated using lipofectamine transfection of ERMP1-overexpressing vector into SW48 cells. To evaluate the role of ERMP1 in the cellular and environmental stress conditions, ERMP1-downregulated cells were exposed to stressful conditions including starvation, serum free medium, and treatment with redox or chemotherapy agents for 72 hours. The expression of AKT, p-AKT, phospho-mammalian target of rapamycin (p-mTOR), β-catenin, p-β-catenin, E-cadherin, and Glucose-regulating protein 78 (GRP78) proteins was evaluated by western blotting. The expression of ERMP1, CYCLIN D, and c-MYC was evaluated by RT-qPCR. The cell surface localization of GRP78, cell cycle distribution, and apoptosis were determined by Flow cytometry. Results: ERMP1 knock-down reduced the cellular proliferation, inactivated the PI3K/AKT pathway, prompted the G1 arrest, and attenuated the free β-catenin and CYCLIN D expression. Opposite results were obtained in ERMP1- overexpressed cells. Knock-down of ERMP1 also reduced the GRP78 localization at the cell surface. Various environmental stress conditions differently affected the ERMP1-downregulated cells. Conclusion: ERMP1 functioned as an oncogene in CRC cells by promoting malignant characteristics. The phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3K)/AKT/β-catenin pathway and localization of GRP78 were closely related to the effects of ERMP1. Consequently, ERMP1 might be regarded as a promising target in therapeutic strategies related to CRC.


A consumer experiences consumer surplus when she pays less than her reservation price for a product. Similarly, an investor experiences investor surplus when he would be willing to pay more than the charge to invest in a particular instrument or portfolio. Typically, a portfolio manager generates investor surplus by delivering alpha. Jacobsen formally shows in this article that a portfolio manager can also generate investor surplus by having asymmetric betas, that is, when the beta in up markets is different than the beta in down markets. Because no one forces investors to buy active management, they must perceive benefits that exceed the cost. Some of these benefits (custody, diversification, accounting, partial share ownership) are also available from passive strategies; others (expected differences in up and down market betas, alphas, optionality, cocktail party conversation) are only available from active management.


NO inhibits mitochondrial respiration by reacting with either the reduced or the oxidized binuclear site of cytochrome c oxidase, leading respectively to accumulation of cytochrome a(2+)(3)-NO or cytochrome a(3+)(3)-NO(-)(2) species. Exploiting the unique light sensitivity of the cytochrome a(2+)(3)-NO, we show that under turnover conditions, depending on the cytochrome c(2+) concentration, either the cytochrome a(2+)(3)-NO or the nitrite-bound enzyme is formed. The predominance of one of the two inhibitory pathways depends on the occupancy of the turnover intermediates. In the dark, the respiration recovers at the rate of NO dissociation (k' = 0.01 s(-1) at 37 degrees C). Illumination of the sample speeds up recovery rate only at higher reductant concentrations, indicating that the inhibited species is cytochrome a(2+)(3)-NO. When the reaction occurs with the oxidized binuclear site, light has no effect and NO is oxidized to harmless nitrite eventually released in the bulk, accounting for catalytic NO degradation.


Many plants and sessile animals may not show actuarial senescence, the increase in mortality with age predicted to be ubiquitous by classic evolutionary theories of aging. Age-structured demographic information is, however, limited for most organisms. We assessed the age distributions of nine dwarf shrub species from 863 taproot samples collected in coastal east Greenland. Penalized composite link models (pclm) were used to fill gaps in the observed age ranges, caused by low species-specific sample sizes in relation to life span. Resulting distributions indicate that mortality patterns are independent of age. Actuarial senescence is thus negligible in these dwarf shrub populations. We suggest that smoothing techniques such as pclm enable consideration of noisy age data for determining age distributions. These distributions may, in turn, reveal age effects on demographic rates. Moreover, age determination from the root collars of small plants constitutes a powerful technique to further investigate age dependency of the demography of many plant species, including eudicot herbs. Using these methods for long-lived plants where long-term monitoring is unrealistic, we show that age is unlikely to be an important variable for making population projections and determining extinction risks.


The purpose of this chapter is to provide a background to the properties of natural clay materials used in the construction industry and other applications (see Table 4.1). There is a frequent need to evaluate clay materials for civil engineering projects, which has led to a bias in this chapter towards a consideration of their geotechnical properties. The intention is to present this information, and also some data applicable to other applications, in a manner suitable for scientists and engineers with an interest in clay materials. Both fundamental material behaviour and derived parameters are described. This chapter considers the engineering behaviour of rock and soil materials that consist largely of clay mineral grains, together with minor amounts of other minerals. As discussed in Chapter 1, the term clay may mean a material made of clay-sized grains (smaller than 2 µm or 0.002 mm) or of grains consisting of clay minerals (see Chapter 2). Grains smaller than 2 µm may be clay minerals or other materials such as finely ground quartz or rock flour. Clay mineral grains may be larger than 2 µm and they are often bound into silt-sized (0.002-0.06 mm) aggregates. The Chapter concentrates on the properties of the material relevant to the exploitation and uses of excavated or extracted clays and mudrocks, rather than those of soil and rock masses in the ground, which are outside the scope of this report. The behaviour of clays depends on their particle size distribution, mineralogy and moisture content. In


The e.p.r. spectrum of a new hydrogen atom centre called the U3 centre has been observed after X-irradiation of KC1 :H crystals at low temperatures and has been assigned to hydrogen atoms in chlorine sites. The centre bleaches thermally at 145 °K with an activation energy of 043 ± 0.03 eV. Optical bleaching experiments indicate that the centre has a weak absorption band peaking at 2-9 eV. The centre cannot be produced by ultraviolet irradiation. A production mechanism involving Vk centres is proposed and is discussed in detail. The U3 centre has also been observed in NaCl:H.


Background: The pleth variability index (PVI), which is calculated from respiratory variations in the perfusion index (PI), has been shown to predict fluid responsiveness in mechanically ventilated patients; however, vasomotor tone changes induced by hypercapnia can affect PI and hence may slim down the accuracy of PVI. This study was designed to find out the impact of mild hypercapnia on PVI. Methods: A total of 30 patients were randomized after induction of general anesthesia with target controlled infusion propofol and remifentanil to either hypercapnia, (etCO2 =45 mmHg), (group 1, 15 patients) or normocapnia (etCO2 =35 mmHg) (group 2, 15 patients). After a stabilization period of 10 min, patients were crossed over to the other intentional level of etCO2. Heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), PI, PVI were collected at the end of each stabilization period. Results: Patient characteristics and baseline values of HR, MAP, PI and PVI were comparable between the groups. Carryover effect was statistically excluded. Hypercapnia significantly increased PI and decreased PVI with significant negative correlation. Conclusion: Hypercapnia retracts back PVI values compared with normocapnia. Precise judgment of fluid responsiveness as indicated by PVI necessitates its comparison against similar etCO2 levels.


The effects of adding a small amount of nano silica in hydroxyapatite (HA) on the sinterability and mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite were studied. The starting HA powder was synthesized using a novel wet chemical precipitation method. Different amount of silica powder was mechanically mixed with the synthesized HA. The green samples were subsequently cold isostatically pressed at 200 MPa. Sintering in air was accomplished by firing the green samples at temperatures ranging from 1050°C to 1250°C. Sintered samples were analyzed to determine phase composition and mechanical properties. The XRD analysis revealed that with increasing the amount of silica in the HA powder, decomposition of HA to TCP occurred at sintering temperature higher than 1050°C. The bulk density of all silica-doped samples decreased through the temperature range studied. In agreement with the bulk density trend, the increasing silica additives in HA depleted the Young's modulus and Vickers hardness of the HA body. The study revealed that the addition of silica have an adverse effect on the sintered properties of hydroxyapatite bioceramics.


Scheduling and human resources management have an important role in the productivity and competitiveness of a company. Timetabling is an essential task in such filed to compete in many sectors. The conventional method which is traditionally done manually for solving timetabling problem is often inaccurate. This paper move toward automated software to solve the timetabling problem for the SORETRAS Company, which is a public transport company in Sfax city, TUNISIA, to affect all their travel services into groups, called also classes. Each group represents the daily work for a driver. A graph coloring approach is presented. Then, a heuristic based this approach is applied to solve the problem. This approach replaces the intuitive procedure currently used by the SORETRAS decision makers. This procedure consists in solving manually this relevant problem. Hence, with the proposed procedure, the obtained groups were greatly improved in quality of service compared to the current practice.


The objective of this study was evaluate breeding and productive performance of Lohmann- LSL roosters. A total of 112 breeding roosters from 16 to 32 weeks of age were allotted to a randomized block design in a 3 x 2 + 1 factorial arrangement, with three sources of oil (soybean, canola and sunflower in 3%of inclusion ) and two levels of antioxidant (200 and 400 mg of vitamin E/kg of diet) and the control diet (without oil and 0 mg of supplementation of vitamin E). The experimental diets were made based on corn and soybean meal. At 28 and 29 weeks, semen collection was performed for evaluation of sperm motility, semen volume, concentration and number of total cells. At 29 weeks of age, semen collection was performed to evaluate sperm morphology, rate of osmotic resistance and heat-resistance of spermatozoa. Four roosters per treatment were slaughtered at 30 weeks of age for removal of the testes which were weighted and a sample was obtained for evaluation of the thickness of the seminiferous epithelium, diameter and the population of seminiferous tubule cells. Blood samplings were collected for evaluation of triglycerides and cholesterol. During the experimental period from 16 to 30 weeks , feed intake and total weight gain were evaluated. The true fertility test was performed at 32 weeks of age. The data were evaluated by analysis of variance using the SAEG program. Significant interaction (P<0.05) was found between sources of oil and the levels of vitamin E as well as among the sources of oils for total weight gain, seminiferous epithelium thickness and body weight at 30 weeks of age. Significant difference (P<0.05) was verified among the levels of vitamin E for the levels of triglycerides, cholesterol and body weight at 30 weeks of age. It should be concluded that any ource of oil used in this study may be added to the breeding rooster diet without the need to increase the levels of vitamin E.


Lipoproteins are natural nanostructures responsible for the transport of cholesterol and other lipids in the blood. They are characterized by having a lipophilic core surrounded by an amphiphilic shell composed of phospholipids, cholesterol and one or more apolipoproteins. Being endogenous carriers makes them suitable for drug delivery purposes. Here, we investigate the effect of lipoproteins' intricate composition on the entrapment efficiency of a model drug "Cyclosporine A" into the different types of lipoproteins, namely, HDL, LDL and VLDL. It was observed that the protein content of the lipoproteins had the highest effect on the entrapment of the drug with a correlation coefficient of 0.80, 0.81 and 0.96 for HDL, LDL and VLDL respectively. This was even confirmed by the effect of plasma on the association rate of lipoproteins and the drug. The second effective factor is the cholesterol concentration, while triglycerides and phospholipids had a negligible effect.


Twisted sectors –solutions to the equations of motion with non-trivial monodromies– of three dimensional Euclidean gravity are studied. We argue that upon quantization this new sector of the theory provides the necessary (and no more) degrees of freedom to account for the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of three-dimensional black holes. PACS: 04.70.Dy; 04.60.Kz


With the aim of improving the performance of Mobile IPv4, there have been developed different proposals based on the concept of micromobility. This paper introduces a novel micromobility system based on multicast transmission. We propose different handover schemas for this system and, for each of them, we have developed a simple analytical model which allows to evaluate the performance in terms of packet-loss.


: A new method for surgical treatment of girls with vaginal (total) hypospadia is described. Two girls were operated on; the results were good.


Summary The aim of this study was to evaluate the dose–response effect of insulin, plus follicle-simulating hormone (FSH) at a fixed concentration, in a serum-free defined culture medium (DCM) on the in vitro maturation of bovine cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs). For oocyte nuclear maturation, the expression levels of GDF9, GLUT1, PRDX1 and HSP70.1 transcripts related to oocyte and embryo developmental competence were analysed. For in vitro maturation (IVM), cumulus–oocyte complexes from slaughterhouse ovaries were distributed into four groups based on insulin concentration added to serum-free DCM, which was composed of alpha minimum essential medium (α-MEM), as basal medium: (1) DCM control: 0 ng/ml; (2) DCM1: 1 ng/ml; (3) DCM10: 10 ng/ml; and (4) DCM100: 100 ng/ml. After IVM, the nuclear status of a sample of oocytes was analysed and the other oocytes were submitted for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in vitro culture (IVC). Different concentrations of insulin did not affect significantly the nuclear maturation and cleavage rate (72 h post-insemination) across all groups. Blastocyst rate (192 h post-insemination) did not differ in DCM control (24.3%), DCM1 (27.0%) and DCM10 (26.3%) groups, but the DCM100 (36.1%) group showed a greater blastocyst rate (P < 0.05) than the DCM control. Insulin concentrations of 1, 10, or 100 ng/ml decreased the relative levels of GDF9 and HSP70-1 transcripts in oocytes at the end of IVM (P < 0.05). The transcripts levels of PRDX1 decreased (P < 0.05) only when 10 or 100 ng/ml insulin was added to the DCM medium. No difference in levels of GLUT1 transcripts (P > 0.05) was observed at the different insulin concentrations. The results indicated that insulin added to DCM influenced levels of transcripts related to cellular stress (HSP70-1 and PRDX1) and oocyte competence (GDF9) in bovine oocytes and at higher concentrations enhanced blastocyst production.


In this study, modification of two methods of RNA sequencing resulted in more definitive sequencing bands. In one method of sequencing, the bands of lane A and lane G sometimes were not clear. Modifications of this method by changing the concentrations of ddATP and ddGTP resulted in the bands of lane A and lane G becoming more readable. Although a second sequencing method was found to have clearer bands than the first method, and the bases immediately downstream from the primer binding site could be read by using r-32P-labeled primer, the bands on the top of lane A still were not clear. Modifications of this second method by changing the ddATP/dATP ratio resulted in the bands of lane A becoming much clearer.


Abstract The Lorentz factor (Γ) is an important parameter related to the relativistic jet physics. We study the evolution patterns of Γ within gamma-ray burst (GRB) and active galactic nuclear jets for individual GRB 090168, GRB 140508A, and 3C 454.3. By estimating the Γ values for well-separated pulses in GRBs 090618 and 140508A with an empirical relation derived from typical GRBs, we find that the Γ evolution pattern in the two GRBs are different. The increasing-to-coasting evolution pattern of Γ in GRB 090618 likely indicates that the GRB fireball is still being accelerated in the prompt phase. The clear decrease evolution pattern of Γ in GRB 140508A suggests the deceleration of the fireball components. By deriving the Γ value through fitting their spectral energy distribution in different flares of 3C 454.3, a pattern of Γ-tracking-γ-ray flux is clearly found, likely indicating that the observed gamma-ray flares are being due to the Doppler boosting effect to the jet emission.


Cancers of the esophagus and stomach remain important causes of mortality worldwide, in large part because they are most often diagnosed at advanced stages. Thus, it is imperative that we identify and treat these cancers in earlier stages. Due to significant heterogeneity in incidence and risk factors for these cancers, it has been challenging to develop standardized screening recommendations. This review summarizes the current recommendations for screening populations at high risk of developing esophagogastric cancers.


It is recently conjectured in quantum information processing that phase-shift errors occur with high probability than qubit-flip errors, hence the former is more disturbing to quantum information than the later one. This leads us to construct asymmetric quantum error controlling codes to protect quantum information over asymmetric channels, $\Pr Z \geq \Pr X$. In this paper we present two generic methods to derive asymmetric quantum cyclic codes using the generator polynomials and defining sets of classical cyclic codes. Consequently, the methods allow us to construct several families of asymmetric quantum BCH, RS, and RM codes. Finally, the methods are used to construct families of asymmetric subsystem codes.


This study addresses the potential usage of various herbaceous plants extract including betel leave extract (BLE), green tea (GTE), turmeric (TE), belalai gajah (BGE), garlic extracts (GE), and manjakani extracts (ME) as future biocides of SRB that are natural and nontoxic. Study revealed that retardation of growth was obtained after addition of 5mL of natural biocides to 100 mL of the culture. Reduced biomass growth was observed with most of the tested biocides, dictated by lower biomass contents accepts for ginger and garlic. The planktonic growth was successively suppressed with addition of GTE, TE, and BGE, where the biomass production was decreased by more than 80.0% compared to the control experiments. GRE increased the growth of planktonic bacteria while the GE induced the formation of biofilms, showed by increase in biomass productions with over 23.4% and 77.46% enhancements, respectively. These results suggest that turmeric, green tea, and belalai gajah plants extracts are highly potential biocidal agents for mitigating SRB, thus controlling the effect of MIC on metal surfaces. However, the chemical stability, potential toxicity, and consistent performance of the extracts need further investigation for optimization of its use on a real field scale.


Abstract. Image-based 3D modelling are rather mature nowadays with well-acquired images through standard photogrammetric processing pipeline, while fusing 3D dataset generated from images with different views for surface reconstruction remains to be a challenge. Meshing algorithms for image-based 3D dataset requires visibility information for surfaces and such information can be difficult to obtain for 3D point clouds generated from images with different views, sources, resolutions and uncertainties. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-source mesh reconstruction and texture mapping pipeline optimized to address such a challenge. Our key contributions are 1) we extended state-of-the-art image-based surface reconstruction method by incorporating geometric information produced by satellite images to create wide-area surface model. 2) We extended a texture mapping method to accommodate images acquired from different sensors, i.e. side-view perspective images and satellite images. Experiments show that our method creates conforming surface model from these two sources, as well as consistent and well-balanced textures from images with drastically different radiometry (satellite images vs. street-view level images). We compared our proposed pipeline with a typical fusion pipeline - Poisson reconstruction and the results show that our pipeline shows distinctive advantages.


This paper contributes to the literature comparing the relative performance of financial intermediaries and markets by studying an environment in which a trade-off between risk sharing and growth arises endogenously. Financial intermediaries provide insurance to households against a liquidity shock. Households can also invest directly on a financial market if they pay a cost. In equilibrium, the ability of intermediaries to share risk is constrained by the market. Moreover, intermediaries invest less in the productive technology when they provide more risk-sharing. This creates a trade-off between risk-sharing and growth. We show the mix of intermediaries and market that maximizes welfare depend on parameter values


Exact closed-form coherent structures (pulses/fronts/domain walls) having the form of complicated traveling waves are constructed for the long-wave (Benjamin-Bona-Mahoney/Modified-Benjamin-Bona-Mahoney/Symmetric-Regularized-Long-Wave) equations by the use of invariant Painlevé analysis. These analytical solutions, which are derived directly from the underlying PDE's, are investigated in the light of restrictions imposed by the ODE that any traveling wave reduction of the corresponding ODE must satisfy. In particular, it is shown that the coherent structures (a) asymptotically satisfy the ODE governing traveling wave reductions, and (b) are accessible to the PDE from compact support initial conditions. The coherent structures are compared with each other, and with other known solutions of these equations


Integration of child psychiatry training into general psychiatric residency programs is often unsuccessful. The authors describe an innovative model of training in child psychiatry that involves the children of adult inpatients. This model offers several advantages: splitting of child-adult psychiatric training is avoided, child diagnostic and evaluative skills tend to be learned rapidly, preventive orientations develop, and family process is both learned and used. Preliminary experience with this model on two inpatient services suggests that it is both didactically effective and economical in child psychiatry staff hours.


This article aims to retrace the extent of single women's engagement in the credit market. To this end, it relies on a series of more than 1,900 probate inventories drawn up between 1790 and 1910 in the two Swedish cities of Gävle and Uppsala. These two cities represent an ideal case study, because the process of industrialisation and economic development resulted in two differently structured credit markets. The research centres initially on the problem of studying women's agency from probate inventories. It analyses the main characteristics of spinsters and widows as they emerge from the sources and compares them with married women. Subsequently, the article analyses how marital status shaped women's economic lives, affecting how they participated in the credit market. For this purpose, it focuses specifically on banking and peer-to-peer exchanges (in particular, promissory notes). Spinsters favoured more conservative strategies relying more often on the services provided by banks, while widows seemed to have played an additional, and more significant, role as lenders in peer-to-peer networks. The study also confirms that unmarried women were only rarely active as borrowers.


Abstract. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from croplands are one of the most important greenhouse gas sources, and it is difficult to simulate on a large scale. In order to simulate N2O emissions from global croplands, a new version of the process-based TRIPLEX-GHG model was developed by coupling the major agricultural activities. The coefficient of the NO3− consumption rate for denitrification (COEdNO3) was found to be the most sensitive parameter based on sensitivity analysis, and it was calibrated using field data from 39 observation sites across major croplands globally. The model performed well when simulating the magnitude of the daily N2O emissions and was able to capture the temporal patterns of the N2O emissions. The COEdNO3 ranged from 0.01 to 0.05, and the continental mean of the parameter was used for the model validation. The validation results indicate that the means of the measured daily N2O fluxes during the experiment periods are highly correlated with the modeled results (R2 = 0.87). Consequently, our model simulation results demonstrate that the new version of the TRIPLEX-GHG model can reliably simulate N2O emissions from various croplands at the global scale.


The EpiData Center (EDC) has provided routine blood lead level (BLL) surveillance for Department of Defense (DoD) pediatric beneficiaries since 2011. Data for this study were collected and compiled from raw laboratory test records obtained from the Composite Health Care System Health Level 7 (HL7)-formatted chemistry data, allowing an overview of the number of tests performed and the number of elevated results. Between 2010 and 2017, there were 177,061 tests performed among 162,238 pediatric beneficiaries tested. Using only the highest test result per year for each individual, 169,917 tests were retained for analysis, of which 1,334 (0.79%) test results were considered elevated. The percentage of children with elevated BLLs generally decreased over the time period for children of every service affiliation. All tests throughout this time frame were evaluated using current standards and the protocol followed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of the Navy (DON). The adoption of a standardized BLL surveillance methodology across the DoD supports a cohesive approach to an evolving public health surveillance topic.


Debussy composed eight sets of three songs between 1891 and 1913. Containing almost all the melodies of these years, the series tracks his development from post-Wagnerian maturity to 'late' style.While we have several fine readings of individual songs, the distinctive 'triptych' form of the Debussyan 'song cycle' has received little focused analytical attention. One reason might be glimpsed in Susan Youens's assertion that these little cycles are not as 'musically unified as [those] of Schubert, Schumann or Mahler'. Indeed the few existing studies of these tripartite sets generally emphasize textual links over musical ones, often in service of a narrowly 'narrative' sense of unity.In this paper, I take a fresh look at the various kinds of textual and musical unity on view in this distinctly Debussyan genre. I begin with a contextual glance into visual culture of the time, which saw a striking revival of interest in painted or printed triptychs. Then, in testing how such 'painterly' orientation can qualify our sense of multi-part literary and musical form,I outline an allegorical reading of Debussy's successive triptychs as an evolving response to the pressures of modernist music historiography.


Arterial blood gases (pH, pO2, p CO2) were studied in 100 patients with documented pulmonary embolism (Group A), confirmed by pulmonary angiography (n = 51) or scintigraphy ( n = 49). The pO2 ranged from 32 to 97 mm Hg (average 60,5 +/- 13 mm Hg). Hypoxaemia was found in 97 cases and would therefore seem to be a reliable sign of pulmonary embolism. In the three cases in which it was absent, the embolism was small. Hypoxaemia was associated with hypocapnia and alkalosis in 91 cases. However, hypoxaemia was not a specific finding; it was also present in 49 patients with suspected pulmonary embolism (Group B) in whom the diagnosis was excluded by pulmonary angiography or scintigraphy. A previous history of cardiovascular disease was found in 37 patients (76%) in this group: of the 12 remaining patients, 6 were heavy smokers and 4 were significantly obese. No correlation was found between the degree of hypoxaemia and the extent of amputation of the vascular bed on pulmonary angiography or scintigraphy. Nevertheless, a pO2 of under 50 mm Hg was always associated with a severe embolism with amputation of over 40% of the pulmonary vascular bed. A significant correlation was found between the severity of hypoxaemia and the degree of cyanosis (p less than 0,05) and ECG changes (p less than 0,01). The average pO2 was 59 +/- 12 mm Hg in patients with cardiovascular disease ( n = 21) and 55 +/- 11 mm Hg with known pulmonary disease ( n = 6). A higher average pO2 was found when these conditions were absent (61,5 +/- 13 mmHg). The difference was not statistically significant unless previous cardiac and pulmonary disease were associated (pO2 = 51 +/- 14 mm Hg, p less than 0,05).


Electron microscopy was used to analyze sporulating cells and spores of Bacillus subtilis mutants (Rifr) which are resistant to rifampin, an inhibitor of ribonucleic acid polymerase. The spores of Rif-18 are pleomorphic and frequently exhibit terminal knobs. These knobs first occur during late stage IV and early stage V of sporulation and are extensions of the inner and outer spore coats. Since the rifampin resistance and altered spore morphology of Rif-18 are 100% cotransformable, these data suggest that the altered spore morphology is the result of an alteration in ribonucleic acid polymerase genes. The morphology and physical dimensions are also reported for spores from Rif-11, Rif-15, and Rif-21. Significant differences in size from the wild type were observed for these mutants.


We investigate the effect of Pr substitution on the superconductivity and interlayer coupling of the Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2Oy system. Magnetic and transport measurements were performed for the purposes of characterization. The superconducting transition temperature Tc first increases and then decreases until it becomes zero at x = 0.6. The effective superconducting volume also decreases due to Pr substitution. From the fluctuation conductivity analysis, it is found that the interlayer coupling constant J decreases monotonically with the increase of the Pr content. This result shows that the Pr doping weakens the CuO2 interlayer coupling of the Bi2212 system due to the loss of local superconductivity in the CuO2 layers.


To examine the influence of glucose intolerance in familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) on coronary heart disease (CHD), we measured serum and lipoprotein lipid levels in heterozygous FH patients with and without glucose intolerance. The patients with FH were classified as having normal (N), borderline (B) and diabetic (D) glucose tolerance by 50 g OGTT according to the criteria of the Japan Diabetic Society. Fasting blood glucose levels (mean) were 78 mg/100 ml (N, n = 8), 97 (B, n = 10) and 199 (D, n = 9) in females and 85 (N, n = 12), 93 (B, n = 21) and 185 (D, n = 15) in males, respectively. Prevalence of CHD was 50% (N), 56 (B) and 89 (D) in females and 58 (N), 67 (B) and 50 (D) in males, respectively. Serum cholesterol (Chol) and triglyceride (TG) levels (mean) were 351 mg/100 ml and 112 mg/100 ml (N), 323 and 102 (B), and 342 and 187 (D) in females and 356 and 93 (N), 338 and 121 (B), and 305 and 161 (D) in males, respectively. Serum Chol in D was significantly lower than in N in males (p less than 0.02). Serum TG in D was significantly higher than in N (p less than 0.05) in both males and females. Chol and TG of VLDL in D (n = 15) were significantly higher than in B (n = 19) (p less than 0.02 and p less than 0.05) and in N (n = 15) (p less than 0.05 and p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


In second language education, the flipped classroom has been widely researched and increasingly applied as a teaching approach to improve the academic performance and engagement of English as a foreign language learners. However, learner engagement is a multidimensional construct, and not much empirical evidence exists about whether the flipped classroom can lead to a significant improvement in learners' behavioural, emotional, cognitive, and social engagement in the EFL class. To fill this gap, this study adopted a mixed-methods research approach to evaluate the impact of the flipped College English Listening and Speaking class on four-dimension learner engagement in a mainland China context. After an eight-week intervention we compared the experimental group (the flipped class, N = 34) and the control group (the non-flipped class, N = 35). Findings demonstrate that after eight weeks of flipped instruction, students in the flipped class achieved higher mean scores on the post-test engagement questionnaires in behavioural, emotional, cognitive, and social engagement. However, the difference in emotional engagement between the flipped and non-flipped classes was not statistically significant. Semi-structured interviews revealed several factors responsible for learner engagement in the flipped EFL classroom. Positive influencing factors were learning environment, instructor presence, learning content, and learner presence, whereas negative aspects included the excessive workload on learners, lack of learning preparedness, lengthy videos, and technical challenges. Based on the findings, we would argue that the instructor and other educational stakeholders should provide more support to cater to learners' emotional engagement and help learners cope with the challenges encountered throughout the flipped learning process. The study may assist teaching professionals and researchers obtain a clearer understanding of flipped instruction in the EFL context and design and implement the flipped class by considering the positive and negative elements affecting learner engagement.


At present more than 70 human papillomaviruses (HPV) genotypes have been described and each shows a predilection for a cutaneous or mucosal surface. There is a strong association between infection with specific genital viruses (i.e., types 16 and 18) and the development of cervical cancer. Thus, intervention with the natural history of HPV infection in the genital tract may form the basis for an effective anticancer strategy. We have shown that treatment of cell lines derived from human cervical carcinomas [i.e., SiHa and CaSki (HPV-16-positive)] and HeLa (HPV-18-positive)] with HPMPC (cidofovir) results in a concentration- and time-dependent inhibition of cell proliferation. We report here the effects of HPMPC on the growth of cervical carcinoma (SiHa) xenografts in athymic nude mice. Athymic mice between the age of 6 and 8 weeks were injected SC with 5 to 10x10(6) cells. Once tumors were established, the mice were injected with PBS (placebo), HPMPC, or cytarabine (AraC) at the tumor site. Animals that were injected intratumorally with HPMPC at a dose of 5 mg/ml (0.25 mg/injection) or 10 mg/ml (0.5 mg/injection) three or five times per week, once daily, during 4 weeks showed a statistically significant reduction in tumor size compared to the placebo group or AraC group. However, when HMPC was administered topically (as a cream) or systemically (intraperitoneally), no reduction of tumor growth was observed at nontoxic concentrations, suggesting that a high local concentration of HPMPC is required to achieve a significant decrease of tumor growth.


The classification of the North American darters (Percidae: Etheostomatinae) has been a subject of historical interest and rigorous debate. Conflicting morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses have made relationships among species unclear and have hampered attempts at classification. Recently we showed that amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) data provide support for relatively ancient relationships (>30 mya) among darters that are consistent with numerous morphological hypotheses. We predicted that increasing the number of extant species sampled would result in a more accurate estimate of evolutionary relationships and increase the statistical resolution, particularly at deeper nodes, as it would increase the probability that two taxa share homologous alleles (fragments) and link deeper relationships, thus overcoming noise created by homoplasious fragments. To test this prediction, we added 32 species to our original analysis of 69 species and reconstructed evolutionary histories using Bayesian methods for AFLPs to infer phylogenetic relationships. Overall resolution of the tree substantially improved. Bayesian Posterior Probabilities were strong (greater than 0.95) at most of the deeper nodes, and most notably increased to 0.97 and 0.99 BPP at the two most ancient and previously weakly supported nodes in Etheostoma (estimated divergence approximately 26.1–33.5 mya). Our results indicated that dense taxon sampling may be necessary to increase accuracy and resolution when reconstructing ancient evolutionary relationships using AFLPs. Results of the present study were compared with earlier classifications and with recent studies on phylogenetic relationships to identify best-supported genera and subgenera.


The Activity Card Sort (ACS) is a comprehensive instrument for assessing participation in occupational performance of instrumental, social-cultural, and leisure activities. The purpose of the study was to determine the reliability and validity of the ACS within different adult and older adult groups. The study included 263 participants comprising 5 groups of 61 healthy adults, 61 healthy older adults, 40 spouses or caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's, 45 individuals with multiple sclerosis, and 56 individuals 1 year after having a stroke. The ACS was adapted to the Israeli culture in a previous study with the author's permission. The final version that was used in this analysis included 88 picture cards of adults performing instrumental, social-cultural, and low and high physical leisure activities that the clients sort into five categories. The ACS provides a "retained activity level" score that is the percentage of activities in which a person is currently engaged divided by those with whom he or she was involved in the past. In addition, comparisons between all groups of current activity levels were analyzed. The ACS had high internal consistency (Cronbach alpha in each area) for instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and social-cultural activities (.82, .80), and lower for low and high physical leisure activities (.66, .61). A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) that compared groups of participants on total retained activity level and individual activity areas showed a significant group effect on all comparisons (p<.000) that support construct validity. Post hoc Scheffe tests revealed significant differences between most groups. The same results were found for current activity level. The results support the reliability and validity of the ACS and provide a basis for its clinical use.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequent and deadly forms of cancer. About half of patients are affected by metastasis, with the cancer spreading to e.g., liver, lungs or the peritoneum. The majority of these patients cannot be cured despite steady advances in treatment options. Immunotherapies are currently not widely applicable for this disease, yet show potential in preclinical models and clinical translation. The tumour microenvironment (TME) has emerged as a key factor in CRC metastasis, including by means of immune evasion—forming a major barrier to effective immuno-oncology. Several approaches are in development that aim to overcome the immunosuppressive environment and boost anti-tumour immunity. Among them are vaccination strategies, cellular transplantation therapies, and targeted treatments. Given the complexity of the system, we argue for rational design of combinatorial therapies and consider the implications of precision medicine in this context.


We sketch the design of a simple lower body scanner with two scan heads, positioned in front of and behind the body. The scan heads are very simple, and we believe that the scanner could be built for less than $10 K. We then describe a simple model for the lower body consisting of two stacks of ellipses, and an algorithm for fitting this model to the points and silhouettes produced by the scanner. We outline a way of extracting body dimensions from this model and discuss in detail our method to determine a subject's crotch level, a rather difficult problem. Finally, we present simulation results on the expected accuracy of the body dimensions, obtained by means of a scanner simulator.