Although pulmonary rehabilitation is recommended for patients undergoing lung volume reduction surgery, the optimal method of pulmonary rehabilitation is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility and safety of perioperative short-term pulmonary rehabilitation. We enrolled candidates for lung volume reduction surgery from 1999 to 2006 and retrospectively evaluated the feasibility and safety of perioperative short-term pulmonary rehabilitation for these patients. The program included the progressive exercise training on a treadmill for approximately 3 weeks. Two primary endpoints, feasibility and safety, were determined by the adherence rates of the program session and the adverse events. Pulmonary function and exercise capacity were evaluated at baseline and the termination of pre- and postoperative short-term pulmonary rehabilitation. Twenty-two patients were enrolled in this study. All patients completed our program without any serious adverse events. The mean values of adherence rates of the preoperative, postoperative, and overall period were, 89.1%, 95.1%, and 92.1%, respectively. All values of pulmonary function tests, except for forced vital capacity, significantly improved at the termination of postoperative short-term pulmonary rehabilitation in comparison to those at the termination of preoperative short-term pulmonary rehabilitation. The values of the 6-minute walk distance, total exercise time, and maximal workload on incremental exercise test were significantly improved by preoperative short-term pulmonary rehabilitation, and their values were maintained until the termination of postoperative short-term pulmonary rehabilitation. The results indicated that it is both feasible and safe to perform perioperative short-term pulmonary rehabilitation.


The aim of this work was to describe the methodological procedures of a longitudinal study on adolescent health, as well as to characterize the sample profile. This research enrolled a sample of 302 adolescents from Londrina - Parana. Two data collections were carried out with an interval of three years. Anthropometric indicators, blood pressure, heart rate, back pain, academic achievement, physical activity, sedentary behavior, eating habits, alcohol consumption, smoking, socioeconomic status, and motor tests were collected. There was a frequency of high blood pressure of 10.4%; body mass index in conditions associated with health risk of 22.4%; and spinal pain with moderate intensity of 22.1%. Sport and/or physical exercise practice (moderate-to-vigorous; ≥150 minutes/week) was 33.1%. High consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages ranged from 21.2% (coffee or tea) to 58.0% (fried foods). A high proportion (87.1%) reported never having smoked. The grades frequency ≥ seven varied between 21.4% (Biology) and 71.1% (Physical Education). Only 33.2% presented high academic achievement. The highest compliance with criteria was in the curl-up (76.4%) and the lowest in the 90o push-up (37.2%). This work will make it possible to verify the tracking of different behavioral and biological indicators related to health, as well as academic achievement. It will also allow the identification of the association between health outcomes and exposure factors prospectively, considering the influence of potential confounding variables. This information could contribute to the planning of public health interventions and policies.


All human relationships are constructed and defined by the relative power of the interacting persons. Women, most often than not have been defined in all spheres of life in terms of their relationships with men. Most literary texts written by men over the years have tended to give women subordinate roles. A new trend however seems to have emerged with the appearance of women writers on the scene. These writers have sought to reconstruct these negative stereotypes by redefining the role of the woman in the light of current global and contemporary trends. This article sought to examine how Doris Lessing in her Golden Notebook has given voice to feminist concerns through her major protagonist:Anna Wulf. The article specifically looks at how Anna challenges patriarchal conventions and choose to express herself through writing initially considered to be the sole preserve of men. The article used the feminist literary theory as the main instrument for analysis.


In this paper we study the existence of solutions for a Robin problem, with a nonlinear term with subcritical growth respect to a variable.


Objectives
Mastery of oral feeding independent of supplementary feeding tubes is crucial for safe discharge of very preterm infants (≤ 32 weeks of gestation). Qualitative assessments of suck-swallow-breathe coordination can be subjective and result in prolonged hospitalizations and delay discharges. Quantitative assessment of sucking activity during feeding (i.e., nutritive sucking) could improve determination of readiness for progression to independent oral feeding and facilitate discharge planning. To quantitively assess nutritive sucking patterns using an instrumented feeding bottle.

Methods
Preterm infants ≤ 32 weeks of gestation who attained independent oral feeding were prospectively evaluated after written informed consent was obtained. Infants with congenital anomalies and infants with major comorbidities were excluded. Nutritive sucking was assessed for a minimum of one feeding session in each participant by instrumenting a commercially available feeding bottle with a detachable pressure sensor configured to detect changes in the bottle enclosure. Speech pathologists administered the feeding using a standardized technique with infants under continuous cardiorespiratory monitoring. Type of feed, volume, and schedule was maintained consistently in accordance with each participant's defined regimen during his/her hospitalization.

Results
We analyzed 63 feeding sessions from 33 preterm infants. Mean birthweight of study participants was 1160 g (SD: 455) and median gestational age was 28 weeks (IQR: 27 - 31). Nutritive sucking patterns were assessed at term equivalent age (median corrected gestational age: 37 weeks; IQR: 35 - 39). During each feeding session, the median suck count was 784 (IQR: 550 - 1053), the median sucking rate was 0.6/s (IQR: 0.5 -0.9), the median number of brief feeding interruptions was 10 (IQR: 6-15), and the median value of sucking bursts was 52 (41-65) [Image]. Maximum suck strength strongly correlated with suck count (r = 0.68). A positive association between suck count and sucking bursts was found in unadjusted regression models (R2 = 0.35; P < 0.0001) and models adjusted for gestational age at birth, birthweight, feeding volume, transient events during feeding, and postnatal age (R2 = 0.50; P < 0.0001).

Conclusions
In stable very preterm infants, nutritive sucking patterns can be quantified by instrumentation of commercially available feeding bottles. Further analyses of sucking burst patterns may improve determination of readiness for progression to independent oral feeding in preterm infants.

Funding Sources
None.

Supporting Tables Images and/or Graphs


Traditional operant self-administration and conditioned place preference methods have yielded inconsistent results in studies of nicotine reinforcement thereby hindering efforts to identify the neurobiological systems underlying the drug's motivation and reinforcement. This study was designed to assess the motivation of subjects to seek nicotine using a runway self-administration procedure. Male Sprague–Dawley rats (N=67) were trained to run a straight alley for a single daily intravenous injection of nicotine (0.01–0.09 mg/kg/injection) on each of 21 consecutive trials. Run Speed (1/Run Time) served as the dependent measure for the animals' motivation to traverse the alley and enter a goal-box associated with intravenous nicotine administration. Nicotine induced an inverted U-shaped dose–response curve with the 0.03 mg/kg dose producing optimal runway performance over trials. Subjects running for doses larger or smaller than the optimal dose exhibited slower running and took longer to enter the goal-box. Thus, the runway procedure proved to be an effective methodology for reliably assessing the motivation of trained but nondrugged animals to seek intravenous nicotine.


The contractile force generated by hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) contributes to the liver's injury response. It has been postulated that HSC contractility increases with time of injury. Our aim was to test this hypothesis by directly quantitating contractile force generation by HSCs in primary culture, a well-characterized liver injury model. Method HSCs were grown in primary culture for 1, 4, 8, and 12 days prior to experimentation to simulate the injury response. One million HSCs were placed within a 3-dimensional collagen gel for 3 days, attached to a force transducer, and mounted in an organ bath containing serum-free media for 1 hour. Gels containing HSCs were stimulated with 2 nM endothelin 1 (ET). Force development was recorded digitally. Select gels were then fixed, and microscopic cross-sections were cut and stained with toluidine blue. Micrographs were taken and the number of cells within each cross-section was determined. Results 2 nM ET-stimulated HSC contractile force development in a dose-dependent manner (Table). The number of HSCs in each cross-section was time dependent (Table). Conclusion We have for the first time directly measured the force generated by HSCs after a range of days in culture. Both the force of contraction and the number of cells within a cross-section of a gel increased with the number of days in culture. This suggests that the time-dependent increase in force generation may be due to an increase in HSC number rather than an increase in force generated by each cell.


Tuberculosis (TB) is the second leading cause of preventable illness worldwide and arguably the most important neglected topic in bioethics. This paper 1) explains the ethical importance of TB, 2) documents its neglect in bioethics discourse, 3) maps the terrain of ethical issues associated with TB, and 4) calls for ethicists, activists and socially concerned health professionals to raise and debate the full range of ethical issues associated with TB.


We have investigated the role of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) phosphorylation and the association of HSP27 with contractile proteins actin, myosin, and tropomyosin. Smooth muscle cells were labeled with [(32)P]orthophosphate. C2-ceramide (0.1 microM), an activator of protein kinase C (PKC), induced a sustained increase in HSP27 phosphorylation that was inhibited by calphostin C. C2-ceramide-induced (0.1 microM) sustained colonic smooth muscle cell contraction was accompanied by significant increases in the association of HSP27 with tropomyosin and in the association of HSP27 with actin. The significant increases occurred at 30 s after stimulation and were sustained at 4 min. Contraction was also associated with strong colocalization of HSP27 with tropomyosin and with actin as observed after immunofluorescent labeling of tropomyosin, actin, and HSP27 followed by confocal microscopy. Transfection of smooth muscle cells with HSP27 phosphorylation mutants indicated that phosphorylation of HSP27 could affect myosin association with actin. In conclusion 1) HSP27 phosphorylation appears to be necessary for reorganization of HSP27 inside the cell and seems to be directly correlated with the PKC signal transduction pathway, and 2) agonist-induced phosphorylation of HSP27 modulates actin-myosin interaction through thin-filament regulation of tropomyosin.


To assess the efficacy and safety of wound instillation of ropivacaine, when administered via a patient-controlled elastometric pump, 50 term parturients undergoing cesarean delivery were enrolled into this prospective, placebo-controlled, double-blinded study. In all cases, a standard spinal anesthetic was administered. After the surgery, a multihole 20-gauge epidural catheter (B. Braun, Melsungen, Germany) was placed above the fascia such that the tip was sited at the point that demarcated 50% of the length of the surgical wound. Thereafter, the catheter was connected to the elastometric pump. According to a computer-generated randomization schedule, the pump was filled with either ropivacaine 0.2% (Ropivacaine Group) or an equal volume of sterile water (Control Group). Postoperatively, patient-controlled analgesia was administered via the elastometric pump. During the first 6 postoperative hours, a coinvestigator administered "rescue" morphine (2 mg, IV). Thereafter, "rescue" dipyrone (1 g) was administered on patient request. In a subset of 10 patients, blood ropivacaine levels were assessed. Compared with the Control Group, significantly fewer patients in the Ropivacaine Group received "rescue" morphine (92% vs 48%, respectively) (P < 0.01). The total "rescue" morphine administered during the first 6 postoperative hours was 2 ± 3 mg vs 10 ± 5 mg (P < 0.01) for the Ropivacaine and Control Groups, respectively. Patient-generated resting pain scores were similar between the groups. However, pain scores generated after coughing and leg raise were significantly (P < 0.04) less in the Ropivacaine Group. More patients in the Ropivacaine Group than in the Control Group described their analgesia as good or excellent. In the subset of patients (n = 10) studied, unbound ropivacaine blood levels were below the toxic threshold (600 ng/mL). However, blood ropivacaine accumulation was noted. All patients stated that the elastometric pump was easy to use. Ropivacaine wound instillation via an elastometric pump is a simple technique that provides safe and effective analgesia after cesarean delivery. Implications Ropivacaine wound instillation via an elastometric pump is a simple technique that provides safe and effective analgesia after cesarean delivery.


Introduction Several barriers challenge the use of occupation-based interventions in hand therapy. An outpatient clinical setting can be prepared in such a way as to address the most common occupational performance problems which might promote an occupation-based intervention. To this end, more knowledge is needed about which problems patients with hand-related disorders consider most important. Methods Interviews using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM)were conducted with 507 patients. Data were entered into Microsoft Excel in the COPM categories: Self-care, productivity and leisure and analysed using descriptive statistics. Data concerning main problem areas were categorized according to the Taxonomic Code of Occupational Performance (TCOP). The analysis included the number of prioritized occupational performance problems (NPOPP) in each COPM category/subcategory; the NPOPP in each category is relative to gender and age and the most frequent problems. Results The total NPOPP was 2384. Problems within productivity and self-care constituted the largest proportion, respectively, 46% and 40%. Gender or age affected the NPOPP in each category to a limited extend. Problems were expressed at all levels in the TCOP, except the lowest level. The most frequently expressed problem was use of utensils when eating. Conclusion The problems mostly concern productivity and self-care, regardless of gender or age. Patients consider problems at the levels of occupation, activities, tasks and actions to be important and meaningful to address in their intervention. This study provides useful knowledge that can be applied when preparing a setting to address the most common problems, which could lead to the promotion of occupation-based interventions.


It is shown that the capitalization-weighted portfolio is mathematically required to coincide with the minimum-variance portfolio, provided both portfolios are defined with respect to the same (arbitrary) collection of equities having linearly independent returns. This result is a logical consequence of the law of iterated expectations and has important implications for equity return covariance structure.


Meningococcal surface lipoprotein, Factor H binding protein (FHbp), is the sole antigen of the Trumenba vaccine (Pfizer) and one of four antigens of the Bexsero vaccine (GSK) targeting Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B isolates. Lipidation of FHbp is assumed to occur for all isolates and its surface localisation is conducted by surface lipoprotein assembly modulator, Slam. We show in 91% of a collection of UK isolates (1742/1895) non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the signal peptide of FHbp. A single SNP, common to all, alters a polar amino acid that abolishes processing, including lipidation and signal peptide cleavage. Rather than the toxic accumulation of the precursor in the periplasm as expected from disrupting the canonical processing pathway, remarkably the FHbp precursor is translocated to the outer membrane and surface-localised by Slam. Thus we show Slam is not lipoprotein-specific. In a panel of isolates expressing precursor FHbp at the surface, we investigated their binding to human factor H and their susceptibility to antibody-mediated killing. Our findings have implications for Trumenba and Bexsero and provide key insights for lipoprotein-based vaccines in development.


800x600 This study sought to examine the performance of District Assemblies' consultants on Common Fund projects in Ghana. The study employed cross-sectional design and quantitative research approach using a structured questionnaire based on a list of roles of building consultants developed by the Hong Kong Housing Authority to collect the primary data for analysis. The questionnaire was administered by postal survey to 80 District Assemblies (DAs) in Ghana. A system of weights and rating were used to assess the importance of each role and how well the consultants had performed in the same roles. The results showed that under project-related roles, the DA consultants performed very well in quality of recommendations, presentation of reports, design solutions and quality of tender documents, and under general roles they performed very well in effectiveness in surmounting problems, relationship with clients and responsiveness. Major roles requiring improvement include final drawings, presentation of drawings and collection of information during the design phase. T he overall performance of the consultants in project-related and general roles was each 62% of maximum score. This indicates that more room exists for continual improvement in performance on project-related and general roles. The findings point to the need for regular performance evaluation of consultants of DAs in order to ensure delivery of quality service and value for money. It is also important to regularly train and educate District Assembly officials involved in recruitment of consultants on why evaluation of consultants is so vital in drawing up contracts. The findings are of value to local government entities seeking to obtain greater satisfaction from their consultants, and also to consultants wishing to improve quality of their service and deliver on their roles . District Assemblies, Consultants, Performance, Common Fund Projects . Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE


Half of all human tumors harbor mutations in TP53 gene. Such mutations not only lead to the expression of a protein unable to impart its normal tumor suppressor ability, but also endow the mutant p53 protein with newly acquired gain-of-function (GOF) properties that drive invasion and metastasis. Although it is widely established that mutant p53-expressing tumors have a high capacity to metastasize and are associated with poor outcomes, the key molecular mechanism utilized by mutant p53 are largely unknown. Since, p53 mutations are predominantly found in pre-invasive stages of lung adenocarcinomas, the identification of critical pathways that mediate mutant p53 gain of function (GOF) properties may uncover new targets for cancer therapy. In this study, we investigated the global impact of mutant p53 induced secretome on cancer cell proteome. A1AT is a secreted protein encoded by SERPINA1 , a secreted serine protease inhibitor that neutralizes the effect of proteases, and A1AT involvement in mutant p53 driven tumorigenesis is unclear. Methodology: We have developed a panel of H1299 lung adenocarcinoma derivatives that can inducibly re-express various mutant p53 proteins into a p53 null background. Expression levels were assessed by western blot analyses and real time PCR. Using iTRAQ (isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantification) and Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analyses, the proteome of conditioned media from H1299 cells expressing either induced p53 mutants (R175H and R248) or their isogenic un-induced counterparts were identified and quantified. Mutant p53 and p63 bindings sites were analyzed by chromatin immune-precipitation (ChIP) assays. In vitro migration/invasion and in vivo Chicken Chorio-allantoic membrane (CAM) invasion were performed in A1AT knockdown lung adenocarcinoma cells harboring p53 mutation. Public microarray, Kaplan-Meir datasets of human non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLCs) and A1AT immunohistochemistry (IHC) of stage I-III lung adenocarcinoma patients tissue microarray (TMA) samples (n=107) with matching normal were analyzed to correlate A1AT with prognosis and clinical significance. Results: Induction of mutant p53 in H1299 cells drove an invasive phenotype through the release of a pro-invasive secretome, providing a novel avenue through which mutant p53 may be driving invasion and metastasis. Through proteomic characterization of induced conditioned medium from H1299 versus un-induced counterparts, we identified A1AT as a novel secreted mediator and a putative metastasis marker of mutant p53 tumors. To determine the role for A1AT as a downstream mediator of mutant p53 oncogenic pathways, we developed a double inducible H1299 system whereby we can simultaneously (i) induce expression of EI-H1299 R248Q mutant p53 and (ii) induce knockdown of the expression of its target A1AT. Remarkably, silencing the expression of A1AT significantly attenuated mutant p53 dependent migration and invasion both in vitro and in vivo . Importantly, knockdown of A1AT did not alter the basal level of motility in the absence of induced mutant p53, suggesting that the role of A1AT is specific to the mutant p53 pathway. Knockdown of A1AT significantly altered epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers expression and reduced the ability of p53 mutant cells to grow in an anchorage independent environment. Treatment of cells with conditioned medium containing secreted A1AT enhanced the cell invasion while A1AT knockdown elicited the opposite effect. A1AT-blocking antibody attenuated the mutant p53 driven migration and invasion, strongly suggesting that mutant p53 is using secretory gene targets to potentiate its gain-of-function. In addition, A1AT intracellular levels were directly regulated by mutant p53 through the involvement with p63, indicating that A1AT is a direct target of mutant p53 transcriptomic regulation. In public microarray dataset, A1AT mRNA expression was higher in lung adenocarcinoma (AC) and associated with shorter overall survival. Consistent with these findings, immunohistochemistry of 107 lung adenocarcinoma TMA showed upregulation of A1AT expression compared with matching normal tissues. The A1AT signal was cytoplasmic in tumor but not in the core of the tumor. A1AT overexpression in tumor cells correlated with increased tumor size (P Conclusion: We conclude A1AT is an essential mediator of mutant p53 driven gain-of-function properties and our results highlight crucial roles of A1AT in driving oncogenic transformations. We suggest that A1AT is a potential therapeutic target in lung adenocarcinoma patient tumors expressing mutant p53. Citation Format: Reshma Shakya, Andrew G. Turner, Wendy Cooper, Noor A. Lokman, Carmela Ricciardelli, Gerard Tarulli, Paul M. Neilsen, David F. Callen. Alpha-1-Antitrypsin is a secreted protein driven by mutant p53 and associated with EMT, migration and invasion in-vivo. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Developmental Biology and Cancer; Nov 30-Dec 3, 2015; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2016;14(4_Suppl):Abstract nr A04.


One Mapping the Study of Scientific Cognition.- The Units of Analysis in Science Studies.- Contributions of Psychology to an Integrative Science Studies: The Shape of Things to Come.- Two Models for Studying Scientific Cognition.- Error and Scientific Reasoning: An Experimental Inquiry.- Scientific Cognition: Hot or Cold?.- Tacit Knowledge and the Project of Computer Modelling Cognitive Processes in Science.- Three The Modularity of Scientific Cognition.- Granny, the Naked Emperor and the Second Cognitive Revolution.- Cognitive Process and Social Practice: The Case of Experimental Macroscopic Physics.- Four Language as an Indicator of Scientific Cognition.- Models of Language Learning and their Implications for Social Constructionist Analyses of Scientific Belief.- Professor Campbell on Models of Language-Learning and the Sociology of Science: A Reply.- Reductionist Rhetoric: Expository Strategies and the Development of the Molecular Neurobiology of Behavior.- Five The Prospects for an Integration of Approaches.- Representation, Cognition and Self: What Hope for an Integration of Psychology and Sociology?.- Integrating the Science Studies Disciplines.- Participants at the Yearbook Conference.


Introduction Australia has had a long-standing challenge in meeting rural and remote healthcare needs. Recently, new expanded paramedic roles have proven successful in addressing healthcare gaps, however, further research is needed to establish cost-effectiveness, sustainability and training. Equally, many established rural paramedics highlight primary healthcare as fundamental to their role. This study explores combining paramedics' existing assessment scope and unique access to patients in their living environments with the introduction of a tool to measure sense of coherence, general resistance resources and social determinants of health to build patient resiliency to improve outcomes of current and future health events. Through utilising a salutogenic approach which addresses patient wellness and capacity for utilising health resources and knowledge, paramedics can provide a more holistic and patient-centred approach to care and care planning augmenting their existing clinical scope. Methods As this study aimed to establish the feasibility of paramedics undertaking a salutogenic approach to healthcare delivery, seven questions were developed focussing on areas identified as necessary components of feasibility within the paramedic paradigm. A systematic overview of literature was conducted to identify the connection between the salutogenic theory and the provision of pre-hospital care. Results Fifty-four articles outlined the factors associated with rural living and the aspects that impact on the potential for paramedics in rural communities to undertake a salutogenic approach to healthcare delivery. Additionally, two pieces of grey literature were identified as pertinent to the research. Conclusion It is reasonable to assume that it is a feasible option for rural paramedics to utilise their current skills and unique access to patients in rural and remote settings in a salutogenic approach to healthcare delivery by undertaking assessments of patients' sense of coherence, general resistance resources and social determinants of health.


Word embedding is a modern distributed word representations approach and widely used in many natural language processing tasks. Converting the vocabulary in a legal document into a word embedding model facilitates subjecting legal documents to machine learning, deep learning, and other algorithms and subsequently performing the downstream tasks of natural language processing vis-à-vis, for instance, document classification, contract review, and machine translation. The most common and practical approach of accuracy evaluation with the word embedding model uses a benchmark set with linguistic rules or the relationship between words to perform analogy reasoning via algebraic calculation. This paper proposes establishing an 1,134 Legal Analogical Reasoning Questions Set (LARQS) from the 2,388 Chinese Codex corpus using five kinds of legal relations, which are then used to evaluate the accuracy of the Chinese word embedding model. Moreover, we discovered that legal relations might be ubiquitous in the word embedding model.


Metal matrix composites (MMCs) are promising alternatives to metallic alloys. Their high strength-to-weight ratios; high temperature stabilities; and unique thermal, electrical, and chemical properties make them suitable for automotive, aerospace, defense, electrical, electronic, energy, biomedical, and other applications. The wide range of potential combinations of materials allows the properties of MMCs to be tailored by manipulating the morphology, size, orientation, and fraction of reinforcement, offering further opportunities for a variety of applications in daily life. This Special Issue, "Metal Matrix Composites", addresses advances in the material science, processing, material modeling and characterization, performance, and testing of metal matrix composites.


The beta model is the most important distribution for fitting data with the unit interval. However, the beta distribution is not suitable to model bimodal unit interval data. In this paper, we propose a bimodal beta distribution constructed by using an approach based on the alpha-skew-normal model. We discuss several properties of this distribution such as bimodality, real moments, entropy measures and identifiability. Furthermore, we propose a new regression model based on the proposed model and discuss residuals. Estimation is performed by maximum likelihood. A Monte Carlo experiment is conducted to evaluate the performances of these estimators in finite samples with a discussion of the results. An application is provided to show the modelling competence of the proposed distribution when the data sets show bimodality.


This paper deals with the history of psychoanalysis (Freud) and analytical psychology (Jung) in the light of recent developments and considers the release of new creativity in the field after its deconstruction. Cross-cultural contributions in the form of teaching stories are estimated to be of relevance, while the emphasis will be on what we, as analysts, can learn from these teachings, rather than interpreting them in the more traditional way in which such stories can be shown to fit analytical theory.

The most crucial debate in psychoanalysis of the recent era centres around stories and the deconstruction thereof. It is the debate between Lacan and Derrida on the interpretation of a crucial story (Poe's story, The Purloined Letter). The core of their views will be discussed in this paper in the light of the major differences between Freud and Jung. Whereas Freud's theoretical core-complex is closely related to Lacan's phallocentric Truth, it is Derrida who speaks of germination and dissemination as the way in which Truth manifests itself. Derrida's thought on text and words is very close to Jung's conceptions of the image and symbol, in which there is no monotheistic paradigm ruling theory


A new method for plasma boundary reconstruction, based on the toroidal multipolar expansion (TME) scheme, is applied successfully in EAST. TME applies a limited number of toroidal multipolar moments based on toroidal coordinates to treat a two-dimensional problem of axisymmetric plasma equilibrium. The plasma boundary reconstructed by TME is consistent with the results by using EFIT. The method is sufficiently reliable and fast for real time shape control.


In the spatial-temporal modeling for vertical change detection by a mathematical difference, Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are used to monitor changes in height values. The main aim of this paper is to improve the accuracy of the change detection technique by applying a merge between DEMs of the same characteristics and therefore achieve better quality results. The research was developed using data gathered between 2006 and 2011 in two test areas. Two robust DEMs were generated from these dates, which were subtracted to detect altered areas. The DEMs have been automatically generated using the semi global matching method (SGM) from high spatial resolution stereo images which were provided by the Ikonos and GeoEye-1 satellites. All these images were previously subjected to a block adjustment in order to correct the geometric differences. The proposed technique in comparison with the basic technique, has improved the correctness in 3D change detection by reducing the number of pixels detected as false positives in 2,03% in Test Area 1 and 3.24% in


Background and Objectives: Emergency departments often encounter several risk and health issues which significantly impact on overall healthcare performance. Resilience engineering (RE) enables emergency departments to confront sudden changes and handling health risk issues. Patient trust (PT) is also one of the most effective factors which improve quality of care along with patient satisfaction. Methods: This study integrates resilience engineering and trust to enhance the overall performance of emergency departments (EDs). A unique algorithm is introduced to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed integrated approach. It is composed of Z-number data envelopment analysis (DEA), fuzzy DEA, and statistical analysis. The required data are collected using standard questionnaires from a real-life emergency department. The obtained results are verified and validated by FDEA. Findings: The results indicate that considering RE and trust increases ED efficiency significantly. Also, flexibility, fault-tolerance, reporting culture, and specialty level are the most effective factors. Moreover, trust and resiliency have similar statistical impacts on overall system efficiency. Conclusions: One of the concerns of medical service providers nowadays is to build an efficient ED capable of providing services to a large number of patients. Therefore, to evaluate the performance of the ED, both concepts of PT and RE which are applicable to enhance the preventive safety and promote the performance, are simultaneously considered for the first time in this study.


Predrill pore pressure prediction of the NOVA well suggested that the drilling program was in agreement with available seismic surveys. However, a kick was encountered while during the well. The study was carried out to ascertain the cause of the kick horizon in the NOVA Well, using seismic attributes and well log. Eight stratigraphic horizons were characterized to describe the amplitude variations. The top and base of the kick horizon were picked and sculptured to create sub-volume maps.The results revealed that the kick horizon was a shaly unit. The kick horizon was far off bright amplitudes that could have delivered high pressure which could trigger a kick. Faulting, shallow water and gas flows have been suggested as possible causes of the kick. A kill weight mud should be factored into the drilling operations to produce hydrostatic pressure where the kick is entering the NOVA well in order to prevent a blow out.


Phenotypic heterogeneity within a population of bacteria, through genetic or transcriptional variation, enables survival and persistence in challenging and changing environments. We report here that a recent clinical isolate of S. equi, strain 1691 (Se1691), yielded a mixture of reduced capsule and mucoid colonies on primary isolation when grown on colistin-oxolinic acid blood agar (COBA) streptococcal selective plates. Passaging colonies of Se1691, with a reduced capsule phenotype maintained this mixed phenotype. In contrast, passaging mucoid colonies fixed the mucoid phenotype, suggesting adaptive genetic or transcriptional changes in response to growth on artificial media. However, despite obvious phenotypic and transcriptional differences, there were no apparent differences in the genome sequences of Se1691 recovered from colonies with a mucoid or reduced capsule phenotype. We identified 105 differentially transcribed genes in the transcriptomes of reduced capsule and mucoid colonies. The reduced capsule phenotype was associated with a significant reduction in transcription of the has locus (SEQ_0269 Q = 0.0015, SEQ_0270 Q = 0.0015, SEQ_0271 Q = 0.0285) and the amount of hyaluronic acid on the surface of S. equi recovered from non-mucoid colonies (P = 0.017). Significant differences in the transcription of 21 surface and secreted proteins were also observed. Our data show that changes in the bacterial transcriptome are linked to the mixed colony phenotype of Se1691.


Over the past decade illness outbreaks have posed a serious threat to human life and well-being. The 2009 outbreak H1N1/A influenza virus also was expected to disproportionately affect healthy young persons under the age of 25 years. A small amount of the preservative thimerosal is routinely added to many vaccine preparations, including H1N1 vaccine. Thimerosal is an organic mercurial containing an ethylmercury moiety attached to the sulfur atom of thiosalicylate. Since the 1930s, thimerosal has been used as an antiseptic and a preservative in a wide variety of products, to investigate the monoamines alternation and oxidative stress induced after H1N1 vaccine injection, adult male Swiss mice were injected with thiomerosal, adjuvant, H1N1 antigen and H1N1 vaccine. Results obtain on the present study showed that thiomerosal, H1N1 antigen and H1N1 vaccine were caused significant decrease in norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine (DA) contents of hypothalamus, striatum and cerebral cortex. The alternation in NE and DA was associated with significant increase in oxidative markers namely lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide, oxidation induction was extent to cause significant decrease in glutathione level. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that H1N1 vaccine as a whole and/or its ingredient caused oxidative stress and monoamines alternations in brain of mice. The present observation could be due to the presence of thiomerosal.


Among many antioxidants that are used for the repairing of oxidative stress induced skin damages, we identified the enriched astaxanthin extract (EAE) from Haematococcus pluvialis as a viable ingredient. EAE was extracted from the red microalgae through supercritical fluid carbon dioxide extraction. To compare the effectiveness, EAE wastreated on human dermal fibroblasts with other components, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), and doxycycline. With sirius red staining and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), we found that PMA decreased the collagen concentration and production while overall the addition of doxycycline and EAE increased the collagen concentration in a trial experiments. EAE increased collagen contents through inhibited MMP1 and MMP3 mRNA expression and induced TIMP1, the antagonists of MMPs protein, gene expression. As for when tested for various proteins through western blotting, it was seen that the addition of EAE increased the expression of certain proteins that promote cell proliferation. Testing those previous solutions using growth factor assay, it was noticeable that EAE had a positive impact on cell proliferation and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) than doxycycline, indicating that it was a better alternative treatment for collagen production. To sum up, the data confirmed the possible applications as medical cosmetology agentsand food supplements.


Looking at inference as a way of transforming information so as to make it more easily usable (or interpretable) allows to consider accepted and rejected propositions as equally relevant and naturally gives a bipolar view of reasoning. The four possibilities of transforming information from accepted or rejected propositions into accepted or rejected ones are analyzed and examples illustrating them are given. This analysis is not only interesting per se but can also be useful in increasing capabilities of existing theorem provers. A unified framework based on former work by the authors is extended by incorporating the idea of theory‐anti‐subsumption related to Plotkin's generalization. Working on some technical details of this framework should allow automated reasoning tools to deal with different ways of connecting accepted and rejected propositions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Mode mixing, boundary effects, necessary extrema lacking and so on are the main problems involved in bi-dimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD). The study presents an improved BEMD based on 2D-assisted signals: 2D Gaussian noises. Firstly, the given 2D Gaussian noise and its negative counterpart are added to the original image, respectively, to construct the two images to be decomposed. Secondly, the decomposed intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) from the two images are added together to obtain the IMFs, in which the added noises are cancelled out with less mode mixing and boundary effects. The other contribution of the method lies in its overcoming of the problem of necessary extrema lacking that the previous BEMD fails. Some instructive conclusions are obtained in the improved BEMD. Lastly, the efficiency and performance of the method are given through theoretical analysis and its application in image enhancement, which outperforms some previous approaches.


A new iterative method for solving the discretized nonlinear Poisson equation of semiconductor device theory is presented. This method has two main advantages. First, it converges for any initial guess (global convergence). Secondly, the values of electric potential are updated at each mesh point by means of explicit formulas (that is, without the solution of simultaneous equations). The first property makes this method quite robust, while the second allows for the implementation of the method on computers with small RAMs. Some numerical results obtained by this method are reported.


Two species of the genus Trichophyton are described T. mentagrophytes and T. verrucosum, etiological agents of ringworm in rabbits. They are distinguished by their macroscopic and microscopic features, their ability to produce enzymes and their ability to utilize and ferment carbohydrates.


This research was carried out to develop the correction method of VDI4630 method improving accuracy, and investigated the effects of carbonate ion (CO 3 2- ) and reactant water (H 2 O) on anaerobic organic biodegradability in VDI4630 method. Pig blood, pig intestine residue, pig digestive tract content, and cattle rumen content were experimented as waste biomasses. Chemical formulas of pig blood, pig intestine residue, pig digestive tract content, and cattle rumen content were C 3.78 H 8.39 O 1.46 N 1 S 0.01 , C 9.69 H 15.42 O 2.85 N 1 S 0.03 , C 25.17 H 43.32 O 15.04 N 1 , C 27.23 H 42.38 O 15.93 N 1 S 0.11 , respectively. And amount of reactant moisture for the anaerobic degradation of organic materials were 0.336, 0.485, 0.227, 0.266 mol, respectively. In pig blood, pig intestine residue, pig digestive tract content, and cattle rumen content, anaerobic organic biodegradability presented as Bu/Bth were 82.3, 81.5, 70.8, and 66.1%, and anaerobic organic biodegradability (AB) by VDI4630 method were 72.2, 87.8, 74.2, 62.0%, and that were significantly different with anaerobic organic biodegradability presented as B u /B th . The effects of carbonate ion and reactant water on anaerobic organic biodegradability were not significant, but Accuracy of anaerobic organic degradability was expected to able to be improved by the correction method of VDI4630 considering the carbonate ion at digestate and the reactant water quantified.


Abstract In the French concept of deep nuclear waste repositories, the galleries should be backfilled with excavated argillite after the site has been filled. Some additives like lime could be used to improve the mechanical characteristics of the argillite. After thousands of years, the degradation of the concrete lining of the galleries will generate an alkaline solution (pH value > 12) that will diffuse through the backfill. This study presents the effect of a saturated Ca(OH) 2 solution circulation through lime-treated sample at 60 °C for 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively. The effect of such circulation on the lime-treated Manois argillite (MA) was assessed by petrographical examination coupled to image analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyser of soil pieces. The objective of this study is to make the link among the mineralogical transformations, the textural and mechanical changes produced in the compacted clayey soil as a consequence of the alkaline solution circulation.


BACKGROUND
Central pancreatectomy has been accepted as an alternative procedure for treating benign or low-grade malignant tumors in the pancreatic neck or proximal body of the pancreas, which preserves pancreatic parenchyma and function. In this study, we present our experience of laparoscopic central pancreatectomy with pancreaticojejunostomy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
From April 2011 to February 2013, 8 patients underwent laparoscopic central pancreatectomy with a Roux-en-Y modified "dunking" or duct-to-mucosa pancreaticojejunostomy for benign or low-grade malignant tumors in the pancreatic neck or proximal body of the pancreas at the Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hangzhou, China. Surgical procedure, postoperative course, and follow-up data were collected.

RESULTS
Laparoscopic central pancreatectomy was performed successfully in all the patients. The pancreaticojejunostomy was executed with a modified "dunking" pancreaticojejunostomy (n=7) or duct-to-mucosa pancreaticojejunostomy (n=1). The mean operative time was 286±27 minutes (range, 250-330 minutes), with a mean blood loss of 57±21 mL (range, 30-100 mL). Mortality was 0%, and perioperative morbidity was 37.5% (pancreatic fistula [grade A], bleeding of a splenic vein branch, and retroperitoneal infection). The median postoperative hospital stay was 10 days (range, 6-38 days). At a median follow-up of 7.5 months (range, 2-24 months), all patients were alive without any exocrine or endocrine insufficiency or recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS
Laparoscopic central pancreatectomy is feasible and safe. The modified "dunking" pancreaticojejunostomy can be performed safely in this approach.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Microtubules are involved in the formation of the mitotic spindle, and correct separation of the sister chromatids at mitosis is essential for maintaining genomic stability. Microtubule-targeting drugs arrest rapidly-dividing cells and are important chemotherapeutic agents, but the development of multidrug-resistance (MDR) is a serious clinical problem. Along with its role in DNA double-strand break repair, DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) has also been shown to play an important role in stabilising spindle formation and preventing mitotic catastrophe (Shang et al, Cancer Res. 2010). In light of this novel finding, we hypothesised that inhibition of DNA-PK would sensitise cells to microtubule-targeting agents. Pilot studies showed that inhibition of DNA-PK by the selective inhibitor, NU7441, caused greater sensitisation to vincristine in multidrug-resistant cells compared to parental cells. Here, we further investigate the role of DNA-PK in response to microtubule-targeting drugs using a novel series of NU7441 analogues, and investigate whether these inhibitors interact with the efflux transporter, P-glycoprotein.

In growth inhibition studies, CCRF-CEM leukaemia cells were sensitised 1.4-fold to vincristine by NU7441 (1μM) whereas their vincristine-resistant derivative CCRF-CEM VCR/R cells were sensitised 8-fold to vincristine. DNA-PK-deficient M059J glioblastoma cells were 2-fold more sensitive to docetaxel than DNA-PK-proficient cells, and NU7441 sensitised only DNA-PK-proficient M059J-Fus1 cells to docetaxel. CCRF-CEM VCR/R cells have a higher basal level of autophosphorylation of DNA-PKcs (Western blotting) than the CCRF-CEM cells and autophosphorylation in response to vincristine was abrogated by NU7441.

To investigate the effects of NU7441 on drug transport, a doxorubicin fluorescence assay showed that in P-glycoprotein-overexpressing canine kidney MDCKII-MDR1 cells, 1μM NU7441 increased doxorubicin cellular fluorescence 16-fold by blocking drug efflux via P-glycoprotein. NU7441 and 3 structurally-related compounds (NU7742 (inactive NU7441 analogue), DRN1 (DNA-PK-inhibitory atropisomeric NU7441 derivative) or DRN2 (DNA-PK non-inhibitory atropisomeric NU7441 derivative)) all increased intracellular vincristine accumulation in the CCRF-CEM VCR/R cells to a level similar to verapamil, as measured by LC-MS. However, the non-inhibitory compound NU7742 was 5-fold less effective at sensitising CCRF-CEM VCR/R cells to vincristine than NU7441 (p=0.008).

The novel finding that DNA-PK inhibition sensitises cells to microtubule-targeting agents suggests that along with its function in DNA repair, this enzyme plays a role in the mitotic spindle checkpoint. Additionally, in multidrug-resistant cells, NU7441 is able to block drug efflux via interaction with P-glycoprotein.

Citation Format: Emily Mould, Philip Berry, David Jamieson, Christopher Hill, Niu Tan, Sarah Elliott, Barbara Durkacz, David Newell, Elaine Willmore. The DNA-PK inhibitor, NU7441, sensitises cancer cells to microtubule-targeting agents and modulates vincristine efflux in multidrug resistant cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3329. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-3329


: A device was designed that effectively restrained unanesthetized ferrets for serial blood sampling from the caudal artery. Materials used for construction were inexpensive and easily obtained. Fabrication was simple and rapid.


Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) integration has become increasingly important in educational systems of developing countries. However, there is a misconception about children's direct access to technological devices has a positive effect on their productivity and the quality of their learning. Several ICT integration projects have being implemented since 1984 by Ministry of Education in Turkey. In this context, there is a need to determine the necessity of ICT integration in education, mistakes and solutions while planning and implementing the ICT integration. This study presented the international assessment results of Singapore and Turkey in case of education and compared the histories of ICT integration in education process of these two countries. Comparative historical analysis method was used to compare the ICT integration history of two countries. Singapore holds the 1 rank in Network Readiness Index while Turkey holds the 48 rank in Global IT Report 2015. Various indexes were also examined such as quality of education, science and maths education and internet access in schools. Hence, some similarities and differences arose at the end of the comparison. Singapore and Turkey started to implement ICT integration studies in similar time periods. Findings indicated that ICT integration is essential, but it can be effective and beneficial when it will be implemented appropriate for the needs of the age as a supportive material for instruction and learning process. Moreover, it is important to focus on using it in all subject areas of the learning and instruction process instead of focusing on the ability of using the technological devices while planning the ICT integration process. Several recommendations according to the findings and comparisons were discussed in conclusion.


Background: The spasm and/or contracture of the pectoralis major contribute to the post-breast surgery pain. The purpose of our study was to evaluate changes in the post-breast surgical pain syndrome after the infiltration of botulinum-toxin type-A (BTX-A), according to the type of surgery and the reconstitution of the botulinum-toxin. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at the Rehabilitation Department with two cohorts: BTX-A reconstituted with saline solution (SS group) or with levobupivacaine (LV group). Data about pectoralis major contracture and pain (global, at night, at rest and during activity) before the infiltration and six weeks after that were collected from the medical records and compared between SS and LV groups, and between conservative breast surgery and mastectomy cases. Results: in the study, 48 women aged 53.3 (±11.10) years were included, with 26 (54.2%) in SS group and 22 (45.8%) in LV group. There were no differences between both groups except transitory paresis (3.8% vs 22.7%; P=0.022). In all patients, baseline circumstances vs after 6 weeks were compared, and we found significant differences in contracture (1,77 (±0.57) vs 0.97 (±0.79)), VAS global (5.45 (±1.92) vs 3.46 (±2.48)), VAS night (3.17 (±3.13) vs 1.61 (±2.29)), VAS rest (2.14 (±2.56) vs 1.21 (±1.98)) and VAS activity (4.31 (±2.55) vs 2.78 (±2.58)). We found higher improvements in the breast conservative surgery. Conclusion: A significant lower pain and contracture after BTX-A injection in the pectoralis major was observed, but its reconstitution in levobupivacaine may not be an effective method to increase the analgesic effect. There were higher improvements in the breast conservative surgery than in the mastectomy.


Oestradiol-17 beta was measured by radioimmunoassay in cardiac blood from 143 pregnant and post-partum tammar wallabies shot in the wild during reactivation of the diapausing blastocyst, embryonic development, birth and post-partum oestrus. A transient rise in circulating oestradiol on 3 January coincided with or shortly preceded corpus luteum growth and blastocyst expansion; before 5 January mean corpus luteum weight was 14.3 +/- 0.44 mg (n = 65), while thereafter it exceeded 20 mg in two-thirds of the animals. Expanded blastocysts were first noted on 5 January. A second rise in the concentration of oestradiol in plasma, which occurred in late January, preceded parturition and coincided with follicular maturation; the mean (+/- S.E.M.) oestradiol concentration before 17 January was 27.9 +/- 1.10 pmol/1 (n = 110), whereas on or after this date it was 57.3 +/- 4.15 pmol/1 (n = 33). Thus oestradiol levels in peripheral plasma increased at parturition and postpartum oestrus, and showed a rise early in gestation which may be related to the termination of diapause.


Ontology Learning (OL) is the computational task of generating a knowledge base in the form of an ontology given an unstructured corpus whose content is in natural language (NL). Several works can be found in this area most of which are limited to statistical and lexico-syntact ic pattern matching based techniques (Light-Weight OL). These techniques do not lead to very accurate learning mostly because of several linguistic nuances in NL. Formal OL is an alternative (less explored) methodology were deep linguistics analysis is made using theory and tools found in computational linguistics to generate formal axioms and definitions instead simply inducing a taxonomy. In this paper we propose "Description Logic (DL)" based formal OL framework for learning factual IS-A type sentences in English. We claim that semantic construction of IS-A sentences is non trivial. Hence, we also claim that such sentences requires special studies in the context of OL before any truly formal OL can be proposed. We introduce a learner tool, called DLOLIS−A, that generated such ontologies in the owl format. We have adopted "Gold Standard" based OL evaluation on IS-A rich WCL v.1.1 dataset and our own Community representative IS-A dataset. We observed significant improvement of DLOLIS−A when compared to the light-weight OL tool Text2Onto and formal OL tool FRED.


Private care homes will become directly subject to the Human Rights Act, under new provisions in the Health and Social Care Bill. What difference will this make in practice?


This paper discusses the problem of understanding and measuring quality in complex systems which include hardware and software. Using general systems concepts, a schematic model of quality is proposed and its use illustrated. The paper concludes by discussion of the problems involved with the use of the schematic model in developing the specific quality models required in the software and systems industry.


Expansion of state-regulation of education and care for under-fives in England has seen increasing numbers of under-fives attending primary school early years provision in the 21st century's opening decades. However, this is not entirely novel as under-fives attending elementary school feature in numerous 19th and 20th century reports. This article examines how under-fives have been discursively constructed in three reports between 1861 and 1933. Changing conceptualizations of under-fives are reflected in these documents. Shifting discourses of schooling, child development and curriculum are deployed, adapted or silenced to frame and judge the personal, social and moral conduct of the young child and parent. This normalizing discursive gaze positions the spaces and practices of schooling as necessary interventions inculcating specific governmentally designated desirable aspects of the child. Under-fives are enmeshed in an advancing process of educational colonization that removes them from the home, coming to dominate their time and experiences as young children. Current trends towards earlier school starting ages, longer daily hours, and the forensic use of data to chart progress towards expected goals is extension of this pattern. Attending to the genealogy of the discursive rationalization of this process helps us to critique how similar contemporary policy arguments are made.


Little research is available on psychological interventions that counter susceptibility to polarizing online content. We conducted 3 studies ( n 1 = 472, n 2 = 193, n 3 = 772) to evaluate whether psychological resistance against polarizing social media content can be conferred, using the Bad News game, a "technique-based inoculation" intervention that simulates a social media feed. We investigate (1) whether technique-based inoculation can reduce susceptibility to content designed to fuel intergroup polarization; (2) whether technique-based inoculation can offer cross-protection against misinformation techniques that people were not inoculated against; and (3) whether political ideology plays a role in how people engage with anti-misinformation interventions. In Studies 1 and 3 (but not Study 2), we found that technique-based inoculation significantly reduces the perceived reliability of polarizing content and offers partial cross-protection against untreated misinformation techniques. We found no effect for attitudinal certainty and news-sharing intentions. Finally, we report preliminary evidence that people may choose to engage with politically congruent news topics within the intervention.


High-yield uniform silver nanorices were synthesized by a facile polyol process without the introduction of shape-selected seeds. Nanorices exhibit two plasmon resonance peaks in the visible and near-infrared regions respectively due to their anisotropy. XRD patterns demonstrated the HCP phase coexists with the FCC phase in nanorices. The novel structure of nanorices was characterized by TEM study which shows that the intergrowth of FCC and a small amount of HCP phase, nanoscale FCC (111) twinning structure, and multimodulated structures formed by a complicated stacking sequence along the long axis direction. The correlation between morphology and microstructure is discussed.


Eye health‐care in Australia encompasses patients with chronic disorders being referred to ophthalmologists for detailed assessment and subsequent management. An increasing case load and relative decrease in ophthalmologists predicted over the next few years portend of an upcoming bottleneck in care delivery. To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of patient care within a rapidly changing health system, we propose that minor adjustments to existing services could improve the proficiency of resources. Such changes will require service providers to rethink their positions and roles and actively collaborate with each other for improved patient outcomes.


Introduction:
 Flow Disruption with WEB is an innovative endovascular approach for wide-neck bifurcation aneurysms. Initial series have shown a low complication rate with good efficacy.

 Hypothesis:
 To confirm the safety and efficacy of the WEB aneurysm treatment in the cumulated population of WEBCAST (WEB Clinical Assessment of Intrasaccular Aneurysm), French Observatory, and WEBCAST 2 series.

 Methods:
 WEBCAST, WEBCAST 2, and French Observatory are single-arm, prospective, multicenter, GCP (Good Clinical Practice) studies dedicated to the evaluation of WEB treatment, conducted in Europe and France. Inclusion criteria were ruptured and unruptured aneurysms in both studies, located in basilar artery, middle cerebral artery, anterior communicating artery, and internal carotid artery terminus. Clinical data were independently evaluated. Post-operative, 6-months (in WEBCAST and WEBCAST 2), and 1-year aneurysm occlusion was independently evaluated using the 3-grade scale: complete occlusion, neck remnant, and aneurysm remnant. Evolution of aneurysm occlusion was evaluated using a simple 3-grade scale: stable, improved, worsened.

 Results:
 The cumulated population was 168 patients (112 females, 66.7%) with 169 aneurysms. WEB implant success was 96.4%. Mortality at discharge was 0.6% and morbidity 1.8%. At one-year (mean 12.6 months), complete aneurysm occlusion was observed in 56.0%, neck remnant in 26.0%, and aneurysm remnant in 18.0% (WEBCAST and French Observatory).

 Conclusions:
 The analysis in this large cumulated population of studies (WEBCAST, French Observatory, WEBCAST 2) confirms great safety and efficacy of WEB treatment.


Using the hybridoma technique, monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) have been produced against three different types of human salivary proteins: high molecular weight mucin, a 20 kD glycoprotein and a 14 kD protein, identified as a member of the cystatin family. The Mabs appeared to be highly specific to their antigen in Elisa and immunoblotting tests. The Mabs were of the IgG-1 (against 20 kD glycoprotein) and IgM (against 14 kD protein and mucin) type. For the 14 kD protein and the 20 kD glycoprotein it was demonstrated that they are present mainly in submandibular-sublingual saliva. None of the antigens studied could be localized distinctly in the human parotid gland. In the submandibular gland, the three proteins have a different pattern of localization. The mucins have been detected particularly in the apical part of the mucous acinar cells, the 20 kD glycoprotein mainly in the serous acinar cells and the 14 kD protein in both serous acinar cells and striated duct cells.


This book tells the story of Tampico, and how it became Mexico's major port city between 1876 and 1924. This was achieved by local businessmen through the intelligent maneuvering of politics at the local, regional and national levels. However, these men were strongly supported by all the social groups in the city who held capitalism in high esteem since the foundation of the port in 1823. It describes the city's development under Porfirio Diaz and the Revolution, and how it became the world's first international oil port and the fifth largest city of Mexico.


With the unprecedented growth of user-generated content produced on microblogging platforms, finding interesting content for a given user has become a major issue. However due to the intrinsic properties of microblogging systems, such as the vol-umetry, the short lifetime of posts and the sparsity of interactions between users and content, recommender systems cannot rely on traditional methods, such as collaborative filtering matrix factorization. After a thorough study of a large Twitter dataset, we present a propagation model which relies on homophily to propose post recommendations. Our approach relies on the construction of a similarity graph based on retweet behaviors on top of the Twitter graph. Finally we conduct experiments on our real dataset to demonstrate the quality and scalability of our method.


In this paper we develop an invariance principle for dynamical systems possessing left-continuous flows. As a special case of this result we state and prove new invariant set stability theorems for a class of nonlinear impulsive dynamical systems; namely, state-dependent impulsive dynamical systems. These results provide less conservative stability conditions for impulsive systems as compared to classical results in literature and allow us to address the stability of limit cycles and periodic orbits of impulsive systems.


In a federated Cloud environment, services may be composed of other services from different Clouds with different Cloud provider Quality-of-Service (QoS) guarantees. Providers running services on the multiple Clouds will be contractually obligated to meet or exceed the QoS which they have agreed to provide to their consumers. A key challenge for the service providers will be to demonstrate compliance to the agreed upon QoS. We present a basic mechanism to continuously measure QoS in a federated Cloud environment so that resources can be provisioned or de provisioned dynamically to meet Service Level Agreements. We have validated our mechanism by constructing prototypes and the results demonstrate that it is possible to continuously measure QoS at the minute granularity and for various service configurations prevalent in the industry


PAE and CERT values of cefaclor, loracarbef and cefuroxime (0.1-100 x MIC) were established for 8 E. coli, 3 K. pneumoniae and 2 P. mirabilis isolates. Cell enumeration was by impedance (IMP) monitoring in combination with either bioluminescence (BIOL) or viable counting (VC). Morphology was determined by interference contrast microscopy. After 2 h exposure to cefaclor, loracarbef and cefuroxime; concentration-dependent differences in counts were seen by BIOL and VC, varying from a mean value of 0.07 x log10 after exposing the P. mirabilis isolates to 0.1 x MIC cefaclor to a mean value of 2.24 x log10 after exposing the E. coli strains to 100 x MIC cefuroxime. Higher concentrations gave rise to fragile morphological forms including spheroplasts and lower concentrations to less fragile forms such as long bacilli. The longest PAE and CERT values were obtained after exposing the E. coli strains to 100 x MIC cefaclor with mean values of 4.07 and 4.87 h, respectively. Corresponding values were PAE and CERT values of 2.17 and 2.60 h for 100 x cefuroxime and 3.45 and 2.91 h for 100 x MIC loracarbef. By the Student's t-test, PAE values determined by IMP/BIOL and IMP/VC were found to be significantly different, whereas CERT values were found not to be significantly different. PAE and CERT are concentration dependent and vary with specific antibiotic/organism combinations.


The use of small insulating glass units (IGUs) in residential construction is growing in popularity. Architects and window manufacturers use small units to recreate colonial and other historic window designs, while maintaining the energy efficiency associated with insulating glass. Small insulating glass units have unique characteristics resulting from the large interpane air-space as compared to glass thickness and the relative stiffness of the glass sheets and their inability to deform to relieve pressure differences between the ambient air and the air within the sealed interpane air-space. This research explores the relationship between glass size, glass thickness, air-space thickness, sealing conditions, exposure conditions and the resulting stresses in the glass, and performance of the units. We explore the significance of glass surface damage, spacer breather tubes, and glazing conditions as they relate to small IGUs. Small insulating glass units without pressure relieving breather tubes are subjected to prolonged pressure differences between the interpane air-space and the ambient air. The high stiffness of the glass does not permit the glass to deflect in response to these pressure differences as do lites of glass in larger units. Stress in the glass can be significantly increased if the glass is held in place by a rigid glazing method, as is often the case with wood frames. These sustained stresses may be of sufficient magnitude to cause moderate to high rates of fracture in glass of good surface quality and extremely high rates of breakage in glass of poor surface quality. Residential glass often has moderate to poor surface and edge quality owing to residential glazing and maintenance methods, has rigid edge restraint, and is assembled into small insulating units. The combination of these factors results in the high breakage rates of some residential IGUs.


It has been hypothesized that two successive rounds of whole-genome duplication (WGD) in the stem lineage of vertebrates provided genetic raw materials for the evolutionary innovation of many vertebrate-specific features. However, it has seldom been possible to trace such innovations to specific functional differences between paralogous gene products that derive from a WGD event. Here, we report genomic evidence for a direct link between WGD and key physiological innovations in the vertebrate oxygen transport system. Specifically, we demonstrate that key globin proteins that evolved specialized functions in different aspects of oxidative metabolism (hemoglobin, myoglobin, and cytoglobin) represent paralogous products of two WGD events in the vertebrate common ancestor. Analysis of conserved macrosynteny between the genomes of vertebrates and amphioxus (subphylum Cephalochordata) revealed that homologous chromosomal segments defined by myoglobin + globin-E, cytoglobin, and the α-globin gene cluster each descend from the same linkage group in the reconstructed proto-karyotype of the chordate common ancestor. The physiological division of labor between the oxygen transport function of hemoglobin and the oxygen storage function of myoglobin played a pivotal role in the evolution of aerobic energy metabolism, supporting the hypothesis that WGDs helped fuel key innovations in vertebrate evolution.


Cognitive dysfunction is a core symptom of schizophrenia, which is poorly treated by current antipsychotic medication. Deficits in the GABAergic system, as demonstrated by convergent genetic and [125I]-iomazenil imaging evidence from patients, are thought to underlie these cognitive deficits. The sub-chronic PCP rodent model was used as it shows cognitive and behavioural parallels to schizophrenia and therefore provides a translational model for some aspects of the disease. However the neurobiological mechanisms responsible for the behavioural alterations in this model have not been fully elucidated. The main aim of the studies presented in this thesis was to investigate the construct validity of the sub-chronic PCP model in relation to the GABAergic and sigma-1 (?1) receptor systems. Transcriptional changes in gene markers were studied using qRT-PCR and proteomic alterations were investigated using radioligand binding, autoradiography and Western blotting. Finally, the cognitive enhancing potential of ?1 receptor modulators was tested using the novel object recognition (NOR) task.Data presented in chapter 3 shows that sub-chronic PCP treatment in rats produces an increase in GABAA receptor ?5-subunit mRNA and a decrease in ?3 and ? subunit mRNA levels. No differences were observed in the mRNA levels of the other studied GABAA receptor subunits (?1, ?2, ?4 or ?2). No alterations in benzodiazepine site- or ?5-subunit-containing GABAA receptors were seen following a 7-day washout period, although increased frontal cortical levels of ?5-subunit protein were observed prior to the washout period. This suggests that sub-chronic PCP treatment affects extrasynaptic cortical GABAA receptor expression, as shown by the alterations in ?5- and ?-subunits, which may contribute to the cognitive deficits observed in this model.Studies in chapter 4 showed that sub-chronic PCP administration causes frontal cortical reductions in parvalbumin, GAD67, GABA transporter-1 and calretinin mRNA levels. No alterations were observed for somatostatin, GAD65, or GABA transporter-3 mRNA, although changes in the mRNA levels for the astrocytic marker glial fibrillary acidic protein were observed in the cerebellum, frontal cortex and hippocampus of sub-chronic PCP-treated animals. No differences in the frontal cortical protein levels of GAD67, GAT-1 and calretinin were observed, suggesting that any proteomic differences in these markers which are present in the sub-chronic PCP model, they are limited in a layer- or cell-type-specific manner. The NOR task is a translational cognitive test that measures recognition memory, which is known to be impaired in schizophrenia. Data in chapter 5 of this thesis showed that sub-chronic PCP-induced and delay-induced recognition memory deficits were ameliorated by acute administration of the ?1receptor agonist (PRE-084) at 1 and 3mg/kg and by the ?1receptor antagonist (NE-100) at 1mg/kg. NE-100 at 3mg/kg proved effective at ameliorating delay-, but not PCP-induced memory deficits. No procognitive effect was observed at lower concentrations of either compound or by co-administration of both compounds. These observations suggest that the improvement of recognition memory deficits is mediated, in part, by ?1 receptors in female rats. The overall results of these studies suggest that sub-chronic PCP administration causes frontal cortical transcriptional alterations in GABAergic neuronal markers which correlate to clinical findings in schizophrenia patients, although these alterations were not observed at the proteomic level following the washout period. These findings also suggest that the ?1 receptor is a potential therapeutic target for recognition memory deficits in schizophrenia, as well as other disorders.


This study shows clinical and manometric data of fecal continence following third degree tears in correlation to anamnestic findings. The results are discussed with reference to the literature.


The article focuses on history of creation and meetings at the highest levels of leaders of industrially developed democratic countries of the world, since 1975 till 2010. The mechanism of summits' functioning, the activity of the Russian and American parties in summits for the further development of bilateral and multilateral interstate relations have been researched.


The maximum temperature inside a cement kiln is a critical operating parameter, but is often difficult or impossible to measure. We present here the first data that show a correlation between cement kiln temperature measured using a microwave radiometer and product chemistry over an eight-hour period. The microwave radiometer senses radiation in the 12–13 GHz range and has been described previously [Stephan and Pearce (2002), JMPEE 37:112–124].


The phenomenon of agricultural land conversion in Namlea subdistrict becomes a problem when the number of productive land is increasingly reduced and affects land availability for agricultural production. Research was conducted to describe the conversion of agricultural land and its utilization in Namlea subdistrict. The research site focuses on Namlea District Buru Regency with consideration of the availability of the number of agricultural land that is less than other districts in Buru Regency. The number of informant interviewed as many as 40 people consisting of land owners, farmers, business owners and village apparatus. Analytical techniques used to follow the concept of Miles and Huberman where activities in the analysis of qualitative data are conducted interactively and continuously to find saturation in data processing. The results showed that the reduction of farmland in Namlea district was due to the conversion of land for various activities including housing and development of the Trade Center. In addition, the use of converted land is caused by the system of personal ownership that is secured by the Government through the right to building or proprietary rights but has not fully set the long-term oriented land utilization pattern.


Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) occurs in Europe and the Mediterranean countries (classic KS) and Africa (endemic KS), immunosuppressed patients (iatrogenic or post-transplant KS) and those with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), especially among those who acquired human immunodeficiency virus sexually (AIDS-KS). KS-associated herpesvirus (KSHV or HHV-8) is unusual among herpesviruses in having a restricted geographical distribution. Like KS, which it induces in immunosuppressed or elderly people, the virus is prevalent in Africa, in Mediterranean countries, among Jews and Arabs and certain Amerindians. Distinct KSHV genotypes occur in different parts of the world, but have not been identified as having a differential pathogenesis. KSHV is aetiologically linked to three distinct neoplasms: (i) KS, (ii) primary effusion lymphoma, and (iii) plasmablastic multicentric Castleman's disease. The histogenesis, clonality and pathology of the tumours are described, together with the epidemiology and possible modes of transmission of the virus.


We propose a new scheme for built-in test (BIT) that uses multiple-polynomial linear feedback shift registers (MP-LFSR's). The same MP-LFSR that generates random patterns to cover easy to test faults is loaded with seeds to generate deterministic vectors for difficult to test faults. The seeds are obtained by solving systems of linear equations involving the seed variables for the positions where the test cubes have specified values. We demonstrate that MP-LFSR's produce sequences with significantly reduced probability of linear dependence compared to single polynomial LFSR's. We present a general method to determine the probability of encoding as a function of the number of specified bits in the test cube, the length of the LFSR and the number of polynomials. Theoretical analysis and experiments show that the probability of encoding a test cube with s specified bits in an s-stage LFSR with 16 polynomials is 1-10/sup -6/. We then present the new BIT scheme that allows for an efficient encoding of the entire test set. Here the seeds are grouped according to the polynomial they use and an implicit polynomial identification reduces the number of extra bits per seed to one bit. The paper also shows methods of processing the entire test set consisting of test cubes with varied number of specified bits. Experimental results show the tradeoffs between test data storage and test application time while maintaining complete fault coverage. >


Primary left pulmonary vein stenosis is a very rare
condition. It is associated with variable form of Pulmonary artery
hypertension. Catheter based intervention is used to treat the disease like balloon dilation and
stenting but this has high recurrence rate. Here is a case in which we did a
sutureless repair of left pulmonary vein thus decreasing the possibility of
recurrence. Sutureless surgical management is technically superior and less
challenging than direct left atrial wall anastomosis and it provides better
results than catheter based intervention in terms of recurrence of stenosis.


Anelastic loss mechanisms associated with phase transitions in SrZr1 − xTixO3 perovskites (x = 0.375, 0.450, 0.550, 0.775) have been investigated by dynamic mechanical analysis between 128 and 723 K at frequencies of 0.1–50 Hz. Distinctive patterns of changes in the elastic moduli due to octahedral tilting transitions correlate closely with data for the shear modulus obtained previously by resonant ultrasound spectroscopy at high frequencies (∼0.5 MHz). The transition is first order and has a characteristic minimum in the shear modulus and Young's modulus. For x = 0.450 and 0.550, a dissipation peak occurs at the transition temperature, the maximum of which varies with frequency according to a power law relationship of the form tanδ = Afn, with n≈ − 0.3. Debye-like dissipation peaks in the stability field of the Imma structure at x = 0.375 have a frequency and temperature dependence consistent with twin wall pinning by defects with an activation energy ∼ 184 kJ mol − 1. These results indicate that there is diversity of pinning and relaxation processes for transformation twin walls and interfaces in different perovskites with I4/mcm, Imma and Pnma structures.


In this paper, dynamic facility location and supply chain planning are studied through minimizing the costs of facility location, path selection and transportation of coal under demand uncertainty. The proposed model dynamically incorporates possible changes in transportation network, facility investment costs, operating cost and changes in facility location. In addition, the time variation and the demand uncertainty for coal in each period of the planning horizon is taken into account to determine the optimal facility location and the optimal production volumes. Computational process and results are presented for the model in a java language. Also, an empirical case study in Shanxi province is conducted in order to investigate the dynamic effects of traffic congestion and demand uncertainty on facility location design and total system costs.


We have recently shown that brain tissue can synthesize cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase metabolites of arachidonic acid (AA), including 5,6-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (5,6-EET), and 14,15-EET. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the vasoactivity of EETs and AA on the cerebral microcirculation. Pial arteriolar diameter was measured in rabbits and cats using in vivo microscopy and the closed cranial window technique. Prostaglandin (PG) E2 and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha formed by the brain cortex during application of these fatty acids was measured in cerebrospinal fluid by use of radioimmunoassay. A transient dose-dependent dilation was produced by 5,6-EET (1-15 micrograms/ml), with the maximum being 23% of control in both species. Other EETs had little or no activity, and AA-induced dilation was greater in rabbits than in cats. Indomethacin or superoxide dismutase plus catalase prevented dilation by 5,6-EET and AA, indicating that both produce dilation via cyclooxygenase-dependent oxygen radicals. PGE2 and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha levels were increased by AA but not by EETs, implying that EETs do not directly activate AA metabolism. Since 5,6-EET, but not other EETs, is known to be a substrate for cyclooxygenase, our data are consistent with brain cyclooxygenase metabolism of 5,6-EET with concomitant generation of dilator oxygen radicals. An implication of these results is that many previous studies of the cerebral circulation which based conclusions on results with cyclooxygenase inhibitors may need to be additionally interpreted.


Herbal medicines are getting more importance in the treatment of various diseases like diabetes, cancer and hepatic disorder etc. In ayurvedic system of medicine in India the extract of the herbal plants is used as a medicine to reduce the hazardous adverse effects of the drugs. Abroma augusta Linn f. is one of such ayurvedic remedy that has been mentioned in many Indian medicinal literatures. This article discusses about the medicinal values of Abroma augusta Linn f. In this communication, we reviewed the pharmacological and phytochemistry of Abroma augusta Linn f. and its application in the treatment of various ailments like the root parts of plants are used as a uterine tonic and an emmenogogue, dysmenorrhoea, amenorrhoea, sterility and other menstrual disorder powdered roots act as an abortification, and antifertility agent. Leaves are useful in treating uterine disorder diabetes, rheumatic pains of joints and headache with sinusitis. Leaves and stem are demulcent and an infusion of fresh leaves and stems in cold water is very efficacious in gonorrhea. The major constituents of the plants are alkaloids, abromine, sterol, friedelin, abromasterol, taraxeryl acetate, taraxerol β-sitosterol. This review discusses the investigation made by various workers related to chemical constituents, pharmacological action and toxicological studies of this plant since years till date.


Symphysis pubis dysfunction is a relatively common and debilitating condition affecting pregnant women. It is painful and can have a significant impact on quality of life, which can lead to potentially serious complications such as depression. Effective management remains difficult to determine because of a variation in reported occurrence rates and symptomatology. There is little published assessment of treatments and no standardised management protocols are available. This article describes recent developments and discusses the controversies surrounding its treatment. With an improved knowledge of the condition and incorporation of the recommendations in this article it is hoped that healthcare professionals will be able to reduce the severity of the symptoms in those women affected.


The brain possesses a reward system which produces positive emotion. To reveal the mechanisms of the brain reward system, investigation of mechanisms underlying actions of substances of abuse can be one of the promising research approaches. Various behavioral tests using animals and methods in genomic science are also useful for these studies. I introduce our findings obtained by these ideas and techniques as follows: (i) Inhibition of methamphetamine preference by G-protein activated inwardly rectifying potassium (GIRK) channel inhibitors. (ii) Essential role of NMDA receptor channel GluN2D subunit in phencyclidine effects on animal behavior. (iii) Association of polymorphisms in the mu-opioid receptor and GIRK genes with opioid sensitivity.


"The present article attempts to take a deeper look at the most relevant aspects of the problems presented by the data on adult mortality and causes of death in Latin America.... Statistical coverage of registered deaths by age and sex is analysed, finding important differences among the countries and higher coverage in the registration of adult deaths than of younger ones.... Data quality on causes of death...showed some improvement during the period studied.... Reference is made to topics related to the analysis of causes of death [that] generally complicate the work, such as the heterogeneity of coverage and data quality at subnational levels, the compatibility among different revisions of the ICD, the use of ill-defined causes and, finally, access and management of basic information." (SUMMARY IN ENG)


Abstract Background: There is increased clinical and political attention towards integrating general and psychiatric emergency departments (ED). However, research into psychiatric service users' experiences regarding general EDs is limited. Aim: To identify and summarize current, qualitative evidence regarding service users' experiences attending EDs. A secondary aim is to apply and test the newly developed CERQual approach to summarizing qualitative review findings. Methods: A systematic literature review of five databases based on PRISMA guidelines yielded 3334 unique entries. Screening by title/abstract identified 57 studies and, after full text assessment, nine studies were included. The included studies were critically appraised using CASP. Thematic synthesis was applied for data extraction and identification of findings. The CERQual approach was utilized to assess the confidence of the findings. Results: The results of the review showed moderate confidence in the findings that service users experience meeting caring and judgmental ED staff, and that waiting times and a stressful environment are integral to their ED experiences. In contrast, low-to-very low confidence was seen in the findings that service users experience having their symptoms ignored and that EDs are used due to a lack of alternatives. A companion may improve service users experience and outcome of ED visits. Conclusion: Service users experience stress and discomfort in the ED. Service users highly appreciate knowing staff who can ease the discomfort. Overall, the results of this review speak in favour of integrated EDs where service users' needs are more likely to be recognized and accommodated.


Abstract. Weather radar measurements are used to study the climatology of convective storms and their characteristics in the transboundary Prut river basin. The Storm Cell Identification and Tracking (SCIT) algorithm was used to processes the volumetric reflectivity measurements, in order to identify, characterize, and track the convective storm cells. The storm attributes table output of the algorithm was used to separate the convective from the stratiform storm cells, by applying a simple selection criterion based on the average Vertically Integrated Liquid (VIL) values. The radar-derived characteristics of convective storms were used to document the spatial and temporal distributions, and storm properties in terms of duration, traveled distance, movement direction, and intensity. The results show that 94.3 % of all convective storm cells were detected during May–August, with the peak in July. The peak time for convective storm cells occurrence was in the afternoon and evening hours between 10:00 and 18:00 UTC. The average duration of a convective storm was 48.7 min, the average traveled distance was 28 km, and the average movement speed was 8.5 m s−1. The average movement of storms varied with months, but overall most convective storms move from southwest and south-southeast. Also, the analysis shows that the longer-lasting convective storms were the most intense. The spatial distribution of the convective cells reveals yearly variation patterns and hotspots, but also highlights the limitations of radar measurement at longer distances. At the basin scale, the total monthly number of storm cells positively correlates with the precipitation amounts at confidence levels statistically significant.


The metal catalyzed azide/alkyne 'click' reaction (a variation of the Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction between terminal acetylenes and azides) has vastly increased in broadness and application in the field of polymer science. Thus, this reaction represents one of the few universal, highly efficient functionalization reactions, which combines both high efficiency with an enormously high tolerance of functional groups and solvents under highly moderate reaction temperatures (25–70 °C). The present review assembles an update of this reaction in the field of polymer science (linear polymers, surfaces) with a focus on the synthesis of functionalized polymeric architectures and surfaces.


The alarming state of West Asia and North Africa (WANA) today reverses conventional wisdom regarding constitutionalism. For long the Holy Grail of constitutional reform was on finding the best way to limit government authority. Yet the sheer chaos and instability of Middle East regimes now leads many to wonder if indeed the real problem is not the lack of functioning statehood to start with. How could one "limit" state authority when the personal dictatorships across the land hardly qualify as functioning states at all? That the states disintegrated into chaos after the fall of the rulers—evident especially in the case of Libya—provokes the question whether the so-called state institutions were not merely extended shadows of one man, whose downfall naturally brought with it the end of the entire political infrastructure.


Enlightened by the work of Yeo and Chua [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 (2006) 060502] for teleportation and dense coding with genuine multipartite entanglement, we present an explicit protocol for faithful remote state preparation in a real coefficient case by using the same four-particle entangled state which is not reducible to pair of Bell states. It is shown that any complex coefficient case can be changed to a real coefficient case. With this protocol, the state can play an analogous role to Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen pairs in the theory of multipartite entanglement.


The doctrinal areas on which this essay focuses are two longstanding but narrow exemptions from patent infringement: one that permits scientific research, and one that permits the owner of a patented device to repair it. Though distinct at first glance, both of these doctrines act to permit activity that would otherwise be considered patent infringement. They are exceptions to the exclusivity that the law grants to patent holders – particularly the right to "make" a patented article and, to a lesser degree, to "use" it, and for this reason they are particularly salient when patents may impact critical lifesaving technologies. This essay recommends broadening the scope of the research exemption to cover a larger range of research activities conducted prior to the release of a commercial product; and recognizing the right of an owner of a patented product to make, or have made, replacement parts for that product, even if those parts may be covered by the claims of a patent or cross the line of "reconstruction" under current law. The implementation of these adjustments, conceived in light of the current coronavirus pandemic, could facilitate increased research, development and use of patented technologies and better prepare the U.S. to deal with the next great public health crisis.


This poster illustrates how metadata standardization in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) leads to an improvement in the quality of statistical information and a better understanding of data and metadata by users. It enables a more efficient and faster exchange of information at lower costs, which is made possible as a result of collaboration with member countries and other international organizations. Metadata standardization leads to greater efficiencies and lower costs in global exchange and internal production of data. Use of metadata standards enhances the accountability of countries for providing quality information about their economy and improves the understanding of data by users. The IMF experience, as outlined in this abstract, demonstrates how metadata standards have resulted in faster, cheaper and more consistent production and dissemination of data.


Background: Breast cancer incidence increases with age and exhibits a Black-to-White incidence crossover around age 45. Breast cancer survivors are at a significantly elevated risk of developing a second primary breast compared with the general population. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a similar crossover occurs in second primary breast cancer incidence in Black and White women. Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results' Registry 9 was used to follow 415,664 White and 39,887 Black female breast cancer survivors, diagnosed at age 19 or older, for a second primary breast cancer between 1973 and 2007. Cumulative incidence curves, which account for the competing risk of death and the occurrence of second primary non-breast cancers, were generated; Pepe and Mori9s test was used to test for significance. Results: A total of 22,290 (40.7%) second primary breast cancers were observed among 450,936 women who had survived 2 months or more after an in situ or invasive breast cancer. The majority, 18,227 (81.7%) cases, occurred in women diagnosed with a first primary breast cancer at age 45 or older. Second primary breast cancer followed the incidence pattern of the first primary breast cancer in Black and White women diagnosed before age 45. It was opposite of the pattern of first primary breast cancer in Black and White women diagnosed at age 45 or later. Despite the Black-to-White crossover of first primary breast cancer around age 45, the incidence of second primary breast cancer was higher in Blacks than in Whites. Citation Information: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2011;20(10 Suppl):A60.