INTRODUCTION
Previous research has demonstrated the presence of Paragonimus spp. in crabs of three municipalities located in the Medellín river basin. To design a plan for the control and prevention of paragonimosis, parasite presence must be demonstrated in the upper area of the river, and an awareness campaign of its risks must involve the participation of the educational community in focusing attention on the local aquatic resources.

OBJECTIVE
The presence of Paragonimus spp. metarcercariae was established in freshwater crabs from La Miel and La Clara streams, and an awareness campaign created public awareness to management of the aquatic ecosystems for risk reduction.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Nine crabs were collected from streams of La Miel and La Clara villages in 2007 and 2008. The crabs were indentified, sacrificed in the laboratory and examined for presence of Paragonimus spp. metacercariae. Five workshops were conducted with students of educational institutions of the two villages to improve the student perception of paragonimosis risks associated with the local streams.

RESULTS
The crabs were identified as Hypolobocera bouvieri. One crab was found with Paragonimus spp. in La Miel. A mollusk, Aroapyrgus colombiensis, another host of the parasite was found in La Clara. That aquatic ecosystems are a great attraction for the local was well established.

CONCLUSIONS
Foci of Paragonimus spp. flatworms are present in the upper area of Medellín river which includes Caldas. However, local school children were uninformed about the risk of paragonimosis associated with the local aquatic ecosystem. Therefore this province must be included in programs for prevention and control of paragonimosis. The prevalence of this disease recommends educational programs that promote awareness of local aquatic ecosystems and their parasitic inhabitants.


The present invention, * At least one oxidation dye precursor; * The following structure (A) (In this formula, a and a 'is in the range of from 2 to 0.99, b is in a range from 1 to 100) polycondensates of at least one of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide having; and * Concerning dye composition comprising a C The present invention also relates to a dyeing process using this composition after mixing with the oxidizing agent containing composition (containing no oxidizing agent). Another subject of the present invention, the first compartment comprises a composition according to the invention containing no oxidizing agent, the second compartment contains a composition comprising at least one oxidizing agent, are two-compartment device .


1-Deoxymannojirimycin (8c) was synthesised from 2-amino-6-bromo-2,6-dideoxy-D-mannono-1,4-lactone (7) by intramolecular direct displacement of the C-6 bromine employing non-aqueous base treatment followed by reduction of the intermediate methyl ester. Likewise, using aqueous base at pH 12, ring closure took place by 5-exo attack on the 5,6-epoxide leading to 2,5-dideoxy-2,5-imino-L-gulonic acid (9b), which was reduced to 2,5-dideoxy-2,5-imino-D-glucitol (9b). The method was further applied to 2-amino-6-bromo-2,6-dideoxy-D-galacto- as well as D-talo-1,4-lactones (14 and 15). However, only the corresponding six-membered ring 1,5-iminuronic acid mimetics, namely (2R,3R,4S,5R)-3,4,5-trihydroxypipecolic acid (2,6-dideoxy-2,6-imino-D-galactonic acid, 16) and (2S,3R,4S,5R)-3,4,5-trihydroxypipecolic acid (2,6-dideoxy-2,6-imino-D-talonic acid, 17), were obtained. The corresponding enantiomers, L-galacto- as well as L-talo-2-amino-6-bromo-2,6-dideoxy-1,4-lactones ent-14 and ent-15, reacted accordingly to give the D-galacto- and L-altro-1,5-iminuronic acid mimetics, (2S,3S,4R,5S)-3,4,5-trihydroxypipecolic acid (2,6-dideoxy-2,6-imino-L-galactonic acid, ent-16) and (2R,3S,4R,5S)-3,4,5-trihydroxypipecolic acids (2,6-dideoxy-2,6-imino-L-talonic acid, ent-17), respectively.


The adhesive interactions involved in monocyte recruitment to the alveolar space in vivo are only poorly defined. To study these interactions, we used a recently developed mouse model that allowed the separation and quantification of freshly recruited monocytes, resident alveolar macrophages (rAM), neutrophils, and lymphocytes in the bronchoalveolar compartment by fluorescence activated cell sorting technology. In these mice, the combined intratracheal administration of the monocyte chemoattractant JE/monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 and low dose Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces a self-limiting pulmonary inflammatory response, characterized by well-controlled sequelae of both neutrophil and monocyte emigration into the alveolar space. In contrast, challenge with JE/MCP-1 provokes the emigration only of monocytes in the absence of lung inflammation. Using an array of function-blocking monoclonal antibodies (mAb) (anti-CD11a, -CD11b, -CD18, -CD49d, -CD54, and -CD106), we characterized the adhesive interactions underlying the transendothelial and transepithelial leukocyte traffic in intact animals. Alveolar monocyte recruitment elicited by JE/MCP-1 alone was strictly dependent on CD11b/CD18, CD54, and CD49d, and partly dependent on CD11a, but not dependent on CD106. In response to JE/MCP-1 plus E. coli LPS, we observed additional engagement of CD11a and CD106 for enhanced alveolar monocyte transmigration. Comigrating neutrophils were found to primarily utilize CD11b, CD18, and CD54, but not CD49d, CD106, or, surprisingly, CD11a. This contrasted with the effect of CD11a on alveolar challenge with macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1alpha instead of JE/MCP-1. In conclusion, we found that in an intact mouse model allowing detailed phenotyping of leukocyte traffic into the alveolar space, the molecular pathways involved in JE/MCP-1-driven monocyte efflux differed under noninflammatory and inflammatory (presence of LPS) conditions. Moreover, the profile of adhesive interactions underlying the monocyte efflux differed from that characterizing neutrophil trafficking.


In an inland multi-bridge waterway, vessel behaviors are influenced and restricted by various factors such as people, ships, environment and management etc.; the behaviors are always different with the temporal and spatial change; it is also difficult to use accurate mathematical model to describe the behaviors; and moreover water traffic is not suitable for experiments using real vessels. Hence people naturally think that the simulation is a good method to mimic behaviors of the vessels. This paper puts forward simulation models for simulating vessel traffic in the inland multi-bridge waterway. Main contents of this paper are as follows: probability distribution models of vessel traffic flow are obtained through the analysis of historical data of vessel traffic flow in the bridge area waterway; vessel generation model and route model is setup using the Monte Carlo method; the navigation behavior simulation model is present using the Multi-Agent method and the vessel agents are with the perception, interaction and reasoning ability, obey the traffic rules in different legs, and can finish the overtaking, following and obstacle avoidance behavior during the voyage. This research can quantitatively or visually analyzes behavior characteristics of the vessel, and offer means and methods for the evaluation of channel transit capacity, navigation risk, and organization and management ability.


Steady-state and transient fluorescence properties of turkey lysozyme, human lysozyme, and bovine alpha-lactalbumin are compared to those of hen lysozyme and hen lysozyme derivatives. Tryptophan fluorescence appears to be sufficiently sensitive to environment so that a small divergence in sequence can alter the fluorescence properties of one or more of the sequentially equivalent tryptophans in these proteins. Thus, an understanding of the fluorescence of one protein cannot necessarily be extended to a homologous protein in a simple manner, and the use of fluorescence to document structural similarity in homologous proteins is likely to be difficult. In addition, the results with alpha-lactalbumin and human lysozyme suggest that multiple conformations of these proteins exist in solution, and that interconversion of these conformations is slow compared to the fluorescence lifetime.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Laparoscopy is a minimally invasive procedure used as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool for abdominal and pelvic pathologies. Laparoscopy offers many benefits compared to open surgeries, but it leads to increase in stress hormones, increased peripheral vascular resistance and decreased cardiac output causing hemodynamic fluctuation. In addition, ventilatory changes and increases in partial pressure of carbon dioxide also occur during laparoscopic surgeries due to pneumoperitoneum. To overcome these hemodynamic effects of insufflation various methods have been used like combined epidural with general anesthesia, propofol infusion, high dose of opioids, beta blockers, nicardipine, oral clonidine etc. In this study, we used intravenous clonidine as premedication to suppress these changes. METHODS: After obtaining ethical committee clearance and informed consent from patient, we enrolled 60 adult patients, aged between 20-60 years, of ASA grade 1 and 2 posted for laparoscopic intra-abdominal surgeries. The patients were divided into 2 groups of 30 each randomly, viz: Group C Study group: Injection clonidine, 2mcg/kg, as premedication was given intravenously, 15 min prior to induction of anesthesia. Group N Control group: received injection normal saline, 5cc, intravenously. For both the groups same type of anesthesia and analgesia was given. Heart rate, blood pressure, mean arterial pressure were recorded in both groups. Sedation, incidence of post-operative nausea vomiting after extubation were also observed. Statistical analysis was done using student T test and P value obtained. RESULTS: In the present study, decreases in heart rate, systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressures were noticed in the clonidine group. Inspite of maintaining normocapnia and keeping intra-abdominal pressure below 14mmm of Hg significant rises in heart rate, systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressures were noticed in the control group. CONCLUSION: From this study, we conclude that intravenous clonidine 2mcg/kg, given 15 min prior to induction provides stable hemodynamics and protection against stress response to intubation and carbon dioxide insufflation in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgeries. Clonidine provides the added advantages of reduction in postoperative complications of nausea, vomiting and shivering.


BACKGROUND
Pooled 1996 to 2003 birth certificate data for four central states in Appalachia indicated higher rates of infants with birth defects born to residents of counties with mountain-top mining (MTM) than born to residents of non-mining-counties (Ahern 2011). However, those analyses did not consider sources of uncertainty such as unbalanced distributions or quality of data. Quality issues have been a continuing problem with birth certificate analyses. We used 1990 to 2009 live birth certificate data for West Virginia to reassess this hypothesis.

METHODS
Forty-four hospitals contributed 98% of the MTM-county births and 95% of the non-mining-county births, of which six had more than 1000 births from both MTM and nonmining counties. Adjusted and stratified prevalence rate ratios (PRRs) were computed both by using Poisson regression and Mantel-Haenszel analysis.

RESULTS
Unbalanced distribution of hospital births was observed by mining groups. The prevalence rate of infants with reported birth defects, higher in MTM-counties (0.021) than in non-mining-counties (0.015), yielded a significant crude PRR (cPRR = 1.43; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.36-1.52) but a nonsignificant hospital-adjusted PRR (adjPRR = 1.08; 95% CI = 0.97-1.20; p = 0.16) for the 44 hospitals. So did the six hospital data analysis ([cPRR = 2.39; 95% CI = 2.15-2.65] and [adjPRR = 1.01; 95% CI, 0.89-1.14; p = 0.87]).

CONCLUSION
No increased risk of birth defects was observed for births from MTM-counties after adjustment for, or stratification by, hospital of birth. These results have consistently demonstrated that the reported association between birth defect rates and MTM coal mining was a consequence of data heterogeneity. The data do not demonstrate evidence of a "Mountain-top Mining" effect on the prevalence of infants with reported birth defects in WV.


Exercises done by body builders have a great benefit for the general health, muscle size and performance. Anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) hormones are commonly used by body builders to increase muscle mass and strength depending on its mode of action to increase the level of nitrogen retention in muscle  insulin like growth factor(IGF-1) increase in muscle tissue and in the liver. Eighty male volunteers, their age groups are ranging from 21- 35 years. They were divided into  three groups; the first group 27 age matched volunteers apparently healthy (healthy control group), Second group 27 Body builder players  attending to a sport club in Baghdad with androgen anabolic steroid hormone (AAS) use (steroid group), and the third group 26 bodybuilders players  attending  the sport club without AAS use (fitness group). The serum was used for estimation of testosterone level  by applying enzyme immuno-florescent technology and estimation Anti-sperm Ab  test by heamo-agglutination method. Sperm count was done for each seminal fluid sample,  IL-10 cytokine was estimated by a sandwich ELISA method in seminal plasma. A bodybuilders with AAS use shows a significant reduction in sperm count (P=0. 00),while fitness group sperm count shows slight non-significant decrease compared to the healthy control group (P=0. 7). Serum testosterone level in AAS use group shows a significant    decline compared with fitness and healthy control groups (P= 0.00), IL-10 as an anti-inflammatory cytokine shows a high level in the AAS user group compared to the healthy group (0.04) In  general the final impact of AAS use on body builders immunity  are;  declining in phagocytosis and an increase in IL-10 which act as  a suppressor to the  immune response, these results suggest that AAS abuse players are more liable to infection and decrease in sperm count which may cause temporarily or permanently infertility Key ward : Seminal Plasma IL-10, Serum Testosterone and Sperms count .


Dichotomius (Dichotomius) quadrilobatus new species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Dichotomiini), from western Amazonia (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) is described and its putative systematic position within the Dichotomius boreus species group is discussed. An updated identification key to the species of the Dichotomius boreus species group is provided. Additionally, Dichotomius (Selenocopris) fortepunctatus Luederwaldt, 1923 is recorded for the first time in Colombia.


One of the consequences of violation of CP invanance of the physical world is the existence of an electric dipole moment of elementary particles. The renormalization gauge theory of the electroweak and strong interactions developed during the past decade has revealed several possible sources of violation of CP invanance: direct violation of CP invariance in the Lagrangian of the electroweak interactions, spontaneous violation of CP invariance, and violation of CP invariance in the strong interactions described by quantum chromodynamics. The present review is devoted to a discussion of the predictions for the electric dipole moment of the neutron which follow from the various sources of violation of CP invariance in the theory. It includes the theoretical results obtained in the framework of gauge theory during the past decade up to the beginning of 1982. A comparison of the prediction of various gauge models with the experimental measurements of the electric dipole moment will make it possible to gain a better understanding of the nature of violation of CP invariance.


Abstract We performed analyses of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) in order to characterize the evolutionary history of Orinus according to its population genetic structure, as well as to investigate putative hybrid origins of O. intermedius and to provide additional insights into relationships among species. The genus Orinus comprises three clonal grasses that are dominant species within xeric alpine grasslands of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP). Here, we used eight selectively obtained primer pairs of EcoRI/MseI to perform amplifications in 231 individuals of Orinus representing 48 populations and all three species. We compared our resulting data to genetic models of hybridization using a Bayesian algorithm within NewHybrids software. We determined that genetic variation in Orinus was 56.65% within populations while the among‐species component was 30.04% using standard population genetics statistics. Nevertheless, we detected that species of Orinus were clustered into three highly distinct genetic groups corresponding to classic species identities. Our results suggest that there is some introgression among species. Thus, we tested explicit models of hybridization using a Bayesian approach within NewHybrids software. However, O. intermedius likely derives from a common ancestor with O. kokonoricus and is probably not the result of hybrid speciation between O. kokonoricus and O. thoroldii. We suspect that recent isolation of species of Orinus in allopatry via vicariance may explain the patterns in diversity that we observed, and this is corroborated by a Mantel test that showed significant positive correlation between geographic and genetic distance (r = 0.05, p < 0.05). Recent isolation may explain why Orinus differs from many other clonal species by exhibiting the highest diversity within populations rather than among them.


This study analysed tomato production in some selected Local Government Areas of Kano State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of tomato farmers; assess tomato value addition by farmers and marketing channels; determine the profitability of tomato production; and identify the constraints associated with tomato production in the study area. The study adopted multistage sampling technique to collect primary data from 101 respondents using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and gross margin analysis. The findings of the study reveal that tomato production is a male-dominated activity, who are mostly married (85.5%), having an average household size of 9 persons. Similarly, the study revealed that all the respondents were small-scale farmers cultivating below 5 ha of land with a mean farming experience of about 15 years. Findings of the study revealed that the majority of produce are sold at the farmgate and local markets, mostly in fresh forms. The gross margin of the venture was ₦302832, while the Net farm income and return on investment were ₦245916 and 114.5% respectively. This implies that tomato production is a profitable venture in the study area. Based on the result, pest and diseases, lack of modern production and processing facilities, inadequate capital, inadequate information on production and marketing, price fluctuation, and lack of government support were ranked topmost among the respondents' challenges. The study recommends among others the need for farmers to be encouraged to form strong cooperative societies through which they can access resources necessary for their activities.


Philippines is very rich in cultures and traditions which most aim to entertain our ancestors and the Filipino people. The story helped to identify themselves with the story of Pilandok, the colonizers and the colonized by using the theory of Homi Bhabha, "Hybridity" or the "Third Space". Through this lens, the researcher was able to examine the very purpose of the story beyond mere entertainment. The character of Pilandok was mirrored on the culture and customs of the Filipinos. On the other hand, the sultan, the crocodiles and the sumusong-sa-alongan reflected the wickedness of the colonizers. The researcher chose three stories of Pilandok which are: "Pilandok and the Sumusong sa-Alongan", "Pilandok and the Crocodiles", and "Pilandok in the Kingdom of Maranaw Sea". Each story emphasized that he always won against the oppressors or colonizers. He used his wittiness to trick them by his cunning and dodgy words. It was beyond the imagination of the colonizers that Pilandok could defeat them because they looked at him, mere a commoner, stupid. The clash between the colonizers and the colonized was a manifestation of an intercultural battle. When Pilandok triumphed over every obstacle, this cleverness and sagacity created another culture that Bhabha termed "third space." Keywords: Literature, pilandok, tricksters tale, post-colonial reading, Philippines


The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic understanding, through simulation-based assessment, of how contemporary urban planning affects the bioclimatic features of existing historic architecture. An emblematic early 20th century Brazilian building, the Casa das Rosas in Sao Paulo, has been chosen as a case study to see how the deep transformation of its surroundings has altered its indoor conditions. Taking into account both the original and the current urban and environmental conditions, a two-step assessment is conducted by moving between two levels of simulation: the urban- and building-scales. The urban-scale simulations characterize the microclimate parameters (temperature, humidity, and wind speed) that will represent the boundary conditions for the building-scale simulation. EnergyPlus and DIVA-for-Rhino were used to assess the bioclimatic features in terms of indoor thermal and visual comfort levels respectively. Despite the revival of passive design solutions derived from historic architecture, studies of the influence of contemporary urban settlements on their comfort behavior are still quite limited. Outcomes from our simulations show that urban planning can have a significant impact on the indoor light levels of historic buildings, but that the average temperature conditions are not significantly affected. We expect that the results would show a bigger difference if anthropogenic heat sources were taken into account, especially for outdoor comfort conditions.


For more than a decade, investigations have been conducted to better understand the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in silicon-based microchannel heat sinks designed for applications in electronic cooling. These non-circular channels and silicon based microchannel heat sinks combine the attributes of high material compatibility, high surface area per unit volume ratios and large potential heat transfer performance with highly sophisticated and economic fabrication process. These advantages make these silicon based microchannel heat sinks extremely attractive for a wide variety of commercial applications. The present work addresses electronic chips cooling with forced convection of water in silicon based single microchannel heat sinks by the help of a commercial CFD software FLUENT. The computational domain is discretized with non-uniform grids on the flow face but uniform grid along the flow. For single microchannel, the grid is generated by implementing Gambit software, which is incorporated with Cooper method for 3-dimensional grid generation. The pressure, velocity and temperature contours at inlet and outlet are presented along with the variation of these fields in flow direction for visual comparisons. The output of the single microchannel is in good agreement with the available results for silicon substrate. The Nusselt number variation along the flow direction is presented and compared for three different flow rates. The convection heat transfer co-efficient is also presented for above three cases. During simulation of the aforementioned cases, Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equations (SIMPLE) with second order upwind scheme is implemented for laminar fully-developed flow. The continuity, momentum and energy equations are solved in a segregated manner because of its accuracy. As the fluid flows in a icrochannel, the laminar flow is considered during simulation along with the energy equation. The single microchannel solution is converged quickly with minimum number of iterations. The post processing of the output results are carried
out by Excel.


157nm lithography is expected to be the lithography choice for the 100nm-technology node, which is scheduled to be in full-production in 2003. However, due to 157nm photons being strongly absorbed by commonly used polymeric organic materials, a completely new class of material (containing F and Si-O) will be needed for 157nm Single Layer Resist (SLR) system. It is expected that the 157nm SLR system development will take greater than 3 years, which the industry will barely have, until the projected 2003 production schedule. In an attempt to fill the gap and to provide working resist system, using thin (<100nm) films of existing resist materials along with inorganic thin hardmask/BARC films is an attractive approach. In this paper, we report the optical constants (n & k at 157nm as well as 193nm and 248nm) of various thin film hardmask/BARC candidate materials (Si x N y H z , Si x O y N z , Si x C y CVD and Ti x N y PVD films) measured by VUV-VASE. The films' atomic compositions, determined by RBS/HFS, were varied by controlling feed gas flow rates in order to vary the optical behavior. However, we limited our study within the low process temperature PE-CVD and PVD films due to our intention of using these films along with LowK (2.7∼2.0) dielectric materials. In addition, we will also report the optical constants of two types of LowK materials (PE-CVD OSG film and Spin-On/Cure low-density organosilicate dielectrics by JSR). The data is, then, used to optimize the physical properties (n & k) and utilized to determine suitable hardmask/BARC material for 157nm exposure using Prolith II simulation. The results containing property of these hardmask/BARC candidate films and our optimization analysis along with the first successful pattern transfer feasibility demonstration into realistic substrate material (poly-Si) using ultra thin resist (currently existing) at 157nm optical lithography are reported.


Hrs-2, via interactions with SNAP-25, plays a regulatory role on the exocytic machinery. We now show that Hrs-2 physically interacts with Eps15, a protein required for receptor-mediated endocytosis. The Hrs-2/Eps15 interaction is calcium dependent, inhibited by SNAP-25 and α-adaptin, and results in the inhibition of receptor-mediated endocytosis. Immunoelectron microscopy reveals Hrs-2 localization on the limiting membrane of multivesicular bodies, organelles in the endosomal pathway. These data show that Hrs-2 regulates endocytosis, delineate a biochemical pathway (Hrs-2-Eps15-AP2) in which Hrs-2 functions, and suggest that Hrs-2 acts to provide communication between endo- and exocytic processes.


Infections are usually detected in diabetes mellitus. They may be divided into: common infections such as fungal infections, pulmonary tuberculosis, pneumonia, bacteraemia, urinary tract infections, and diabetic foot infections and specific infections. The latter occur almost exclusively in diabetes and include rhinocerebral mucormycosis, malignant external otitis, emphysematous pyelonephritis, perirenal abscess, emphysematous cystitis and emphysematous cholecystitis. Radionuclide tests are decisive in the diagnosis and localisation of foot osteomyelitis, as well as the distinction of osteomyelitis from other conditions, notably Charcot osteoarthropathy. Technetium-99m methylene disphosphonate and labelled leukocyte bone scans are the main imaging techniques employed, while emerging techniques include single-photon emission tomography/computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography/CT. Nuclear medicine is also useful in the diagnosis and follow-up of specific infections in diabetes like, malignant external otitis, rhinocerebral mucormycosis, acute pyelonephritis, renal papillary necrosis and cholecystitis. The main indications of nuclear medicine tests are diabetic foot osteomyelitis, malignant external otitis, rhinocerebral mucormycosis and renal infections.


ABSTRACT: Rosacea is a surprisingly little-known disorder that affects almost 15 million people in the United States. Classified into 4 subtypes, rosacea is often misdiagnosed as sunburn, acne, or conjunctivitis, and it is often accompanied by acne and/or seborrheic dermatitis, which may complicate treatment. Although no cure is available, proper care can lead to relief of symptoms and delay of exacerbations. Effective rosacea management includes patient education, skin care, and therapy. Medication choice should take into account the need to preserve barrier function and to avoid exacerbation of concomitant skin disorders. Patients' involvement in designing their own course of treatment is likely to lead to better outcomes. They must not only consistently apply medications but also avoid triggers and follow cleansing and moisturizing regimens. Dermatologic nurses can play an important role in fostering treatment success through education and support.


The tunneling of waves, electrons, photons, and phonons incident on a periodic medium is limited to a certain distance, the Bragg length LB, due to the reflection arising from Bragg interference. While this perfect reflection by a crystal has enabled their application in solar cells [1] and optical memories [2], the limited tunnelling depth does not allow any functionalizing of periodic medium beyond a Bragg length.


Natural mineral Dioptase (Cu6Si6O18 ⋅ 6H2O) is an S = 1/2 antiferromagnet with a unique spin network which consists of helical chains along the c axis connected by inter chain exchange interactions. In order to study the ground state of dioptase, we have performed the magnetization measurement for B//c (easy axis) at 1.5 K and have found the spin-flop transition at 13 T. Moreover, the pressure effect of the magnetic susceptibility is investigated up to 1.78 GPa using the SQUID magnetometer where TN increased while the broad maximum reflecting the low dimensionality of the system decreased by pressure. The results will be discussed in connection with our previous antiferromagnetic resonance (AFMR) measurement results and the phase diagram obtained by Gros et al.


In the neoclassical economics the tatonnement process is utilized to explain the price change. However, the tatonnement process assumes that there is no trading before the prices reach the equilibrium prices, which is extremely unrealistic since in the markets of the real world the exchange processes usually occur at disequilibrium prices. In this sense, the tatonnement process fails to describe and explain the price fluctuation and the disequilibrium exchange process in the real world. In this paper we introduce an exchange function to describe the exchange process under fixed prices. Based on the exchange function a discrete-time dynamic exchange model is developed. In the model a disequilibrium exchange process occurs in each period, and the prices vary on the basis of the prices and the exchange outcome in the preceding period.


We developed a COVID-19 transmission model to compare the effects of nonpharmaceutical public health interventions (NPIs) on health and economic outcomes. An interdisciplinary approach informed the selection and use of multiple NPIs, combining quantitative modeling of the health and economic impacts of interventions with qualitative assessments of other important considerations (e.g., cost, ease of implementation, equity). We used our model to analyzed strategies that periodically switch between a base NPI and a high NPI level. We find that this systematic strategy could have produced similar health outcomes as static strategies but better social welfare and economic outcomes. Our findings suggest that there are opportunities to shape the tradeoffs between economic and health outcomes by carefully evaluating a more comprehensive range of reopening policies.


This document, a revision of NIST SP 903: 1996 edition, Directory of U.S. Private Sector Product Certification Programs, presents information on 122 private sector groups in the United States that engage in product certification activities. Entries describe the type and purpose of each organization, the nature of the activity, a pictorial representation of the organization=s mark (if available), products certified, standards used, certification requirements, any accreditation or recognition by a U.S. or foreign private sector or government agency, availability of services, methods of cost determination, and other relevant details. This directory is part of an ongoing NIST effort to establish and maintain comprehensive information on standards, regulations, certification programs and related topics. This material has been compiled to meet the needs of government, industry, and the public for information on private sector product certification programs in accordance with the requirements of the U.S. Trade Agreements Act of 1979 and other relevant legislation.


Background The diagnostic efficacy of mono- and bi-exponential diffusion models are controversial in prostate cancer (PCa) aggressiveness evaluation. Whole-tumor histogram analysis may have the potential to improve their efficacy. Purpose To compare the efficacy of mono- and bi-exponential diffusion models for evaluating PCa aggressiveness using whole-tumor histogram analysis. Material and Methods In this retrospective study, 72 patients with PCa confirmed by radical prostatectomy were included. All patients underwent multi-b-value diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). The mono-exponential model parameter (apparent diffusion coefficient [ADC]) and bi-exponential model parameters (D, D*, and f ) were calculated and whole-tumor histogram analysis was performed. Tumor lesions were classified into low-grade (LG) and high-grade (HG) Gleason grade groups. Spearman analysis was used to evaluate the correlations between the histogram metrics and Gleason score (GS). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to assess the discriminatory capacity of each parameter in distinguishing LG from HG PCa. Results Most histogram metrics of ADC and D showed significant correlations with the GS. None of the histogram metrics of D* and only the maximum value and skewness of f showed significant correlations with GS. The 90th percentile ADC and 90th and 75th percentile D showed relatively higher efficacies than other histogram metrics. However, their AUCs were not significantly higher than that of mean ADC. Conclusion The bi-exponential model was not superior to the mono-exponential diffusion model for evaluating PCa aggressiveness. The histogram metrics did not outperform the conventional mean value.


The Austrian Tirol, one of the nine provinces of the Austrian Federal Republic, has an area of 12,647 sq. km. and a population of 500,000 people. Its capital, Innsbruck, was founded on the old Roman road through the Alps which still serves as the main route between Italy and Germany. Topography is typically Alpine with snow capped mountains alternating with fertile green valleys or tals. Its forests, which account for 37% of the land surface are located mainly on the mountain slopes and ridges.


Background: In recent times, tranexamic acid (TA) is claimed to have whitening effects especially for ultraviolet-induced hyperpigmentation including melasma. The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of topical solution of TA and compare it with combined solution of hydroquinone and dexamethasone as the gold standard treatment of melasma in Iranian women. Materials and Methods: This was a double-blind split-face trial of 12 weeks which was conducted in Isfahan, Iran. Fifty Iranian melasma patients applied topical solution of 3% TA on one side of the face, and topical solution of 3% hydroquinone + 0.01% dexamethasone on the other side two times a day. The Melasma Area and Severity Index (MASI) and the side effects were evaluated at baseline and every 4 weeks before and after photographs to be compared by a dermatologist were taken. The patient satisfaction was documented at week 12. Results: A repeated measurement analysis was used to evaluate the changes in the MASI score before and after treatments. A significant decreasing trend was observed in the MASI score of both groups with no significant difference between them during the study (P < 0.05). No differences were seen in patients' and investigator's satisfaction of melasma improvement between two groups (P < 0.05). However, the side effects of hydroquinone + dexamethasone were significantly prominent compared with TA (P = 0.01). Conclusion: This study's results introduce the topical TA as an effective and safe medication for the treatment of melasma.


Nest boxes are often promoted as substitute structures for hollow-dependent fauna, but are they generally effective? In a long-term bat-box monitoring project in south-eastern Australia, box occupancy was dominated by one common and widespread urban-adapted species, Gould's wattled bat Chalinolobus gouldii. In contrast, the 13 other bat species in the area made little or no use of the boxes. Policymakers, land managers and conservation professionals working in the field of biodiversity offsets should be aware that bat boxes are unlikely to compensate adequately for the broad-scale loss of tree hollows caused by various forms of human disturbance.


We demonstrate that the 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methyl‐glutaryl‐coenzyme A (HMG‐CoA) reductase inhibitors atorvastatin and simvastatin enhance functional outcome and induce brain plasticity when administered after stroke to rats. With atorvastatin treatment initiated 1 day after stroke, animals exhibited significant increases in vascular endothelial growth factor, cyclic guanosine monophosphate, angiogenesis, endogenous cell proliferation and neurogenesis, and an increase in the synaptic protein, synaptophysin. Atorvastatin‐induced angiogenesis in a tube formation assay was reduced by an antibody against the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (FIK‐1) and by the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, N‐mono‐methyl‐L‐arginine (L‐NAME). Atorvastatin also induced phosphorylation of Akt and Erk in cultured primary cortical neurons. These data indicate that atorvastatin induced brain plasticity and has neurorestorative activity after experimental stroke. Ann Neurol 2003


Cervical cancer is the second most common malignancy in Indonesia, and most of cases were already in advanced stage where radiotherapy is a tratement to given. Apoptosis is one of the markers for survival assessment of therapeutic response. In animal experiments MDM2 expression in various cell types to act as a survival factor by inhibiting the apoptotic function of p53 that is played by apoptosis can lead to malignant transformation and result in resistance to radiotherapy. Therefore, MDM2 is overexpressed due to alleged damage to p53 can also be used to assess the success of radiotherapy. This study aimed to assess the expression of MDM2 and p53 immunohistochemistry in cervical cancer and its relation to radiotherapy response. This study is a retrospective cross-sectional descriptive. The sample consisted of 23 cases of advanced cervical cancer were biopsied, 17 cases with complete response to radiation and 6 cases of partial radiation response. This study showed complete radiotherapy group MDM2 expression was found in 70.59% (12 cases) and p53 expression was found in 94.11% (16 cases), while the expression of MDM2, a partial response was found in 100% (6 cases), while the expression p53 66.67% (4 cases). MDM2 and p53 expression with SPSS 16 chi square test showed no association with response to radiotherapy in cervical cancer.


Info 2020 The interference issue is most vibrant on low-powered networks like wireless sensor network (WSN). In some cases, the heavy interference on WSN from different technologies and devices result in life threatening situations. In this paper, a machine learning (ML) based lightweight interference mitigation scheme for WSN is proposed. The scheme detects and identifies heterogeneous interference like Wifi, bluetooth and microwave oven using a lightweight feature extraction method and ML lightweight decision tree. It also provides WSN an adaptive interference mitigation solution by helping to choose packet scheduling, Acknowledgement (ACK)-retransmission or channel switching as the best countermeasure. The scheme is simulated with test data to evaluate the accuracy performance and the memory consumption. Evaluation of the proposed scheme's memory profile shows a 14% memory saving compared to a fast fourier transform (FFT) based periodicity estimation technique and 3% less memory compared to logistic regression-based ML model, hence proving the scheme is lightweight. The validation test shows the scheme has a high accuracy at 95.24%. It shows a precision of 100% in detecting WiFi and microwave oven interference while a 90% precision in detecting bluetooth


This study was to investigate the effect of macelignan on Porphyromonas gingivalis supernatant-induced uPA expression via regulating mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and activating protein-1 (AP-1) signaling pathways in human oral epithelial KB cells using casein zymography, Western blotting, reverse transcription-PCR and reporter gene assays. Zymographic analysis of secreted enzymes identified the main caseinolytic band at 54 kDa. Macelignan inhibited the expression of uPA protein and mRNA, as well uPA secretion, in KB cells exposed to P. gingivalis supernatant. Consistent with these findings, macelignan suppressed phosphorylation of p38 and c-Jun N terminal kinase (JNK) in P. gingivalis supernatant-induced KB cells. The levels of c-Fos and phosphorylated c-Jun, which together form AP-1, the transcription factor that is involved in uPA gene expression, were partially reduced by macelignan. Macelignan also blocked P. gingivalis supernatant-induced AP-1 activity in these cells. These results suggest that macelignan decreased P. gingivalis supernatant-induced uPA expression by blocking AP-1 activity, which may be mediated by inhibition of phosphorylation of p38 and JNK in KB cells. Macelignan may potently use for the modulation of periodontal inflammation.


In contact sports, head-to-head collisions can lead to concussions, which pose serious health risks to players. This research aims to understand the force transfer from the helmet to the brain that causes concussions in collisions using a rheological model. Experimental data was gathered from players in the National Football League and testing of one type of helmet and padding. The rheological model was verified with published data and good correlation was achieved. Further sensitivity analysis of concussion risk was performed with respect to force, body weight, mass, and impact duration fit to normal and Weibull distributions using Monte Carlo simulations of impacts. A 50% threshold for moderate concussion was found based on these physiological variables. Average weight and velocity values for an NFL player in a collision gave a 50% concussion risk to a helmet to helmet impact that has a deceleration over 6.365 ms or less. Analysis of children ranging from 10 to 15 years of age was also conducted with the assumption of identical equipment to NFL players due a dearth of other research into the properties of equipment used by children. As the equipment is assumed to decrease in quality over time, this established an upper bound to the tolerance values for children. For a 50th percentile weight 10 year old male or female child, this gives thresholds of 2.483 or 2.573 ms respectively.


P-glycoprotein (P-gp) plays a fundamental role in multidrug resistance. The quantity of P-gp relates to the degree of drug resistance. A comparison was made between P-gps in mouse and hamster cell lines in both Laemmli and modified Fairbanks gel systems. Both proteins are derived from precursors of similar size that undergo differential N-linked glycosylation. The electrophoretic mobility and the amount of P-gp are remarkably dependent on the conditions of analysis. Notably, boiling P-gp before Laemmli gel electrophoresis decreases its mobility by an amount that is equivalent to approximately equal to 15 kDa and results in an apparent diminution in the amount of protein. The latter effect can give a false impression concerning the quantity of P-gp in cells.


Natural user interface, or NUI, is the common parlance used by designers and developers of computer interfaces to refer to a user interface that is effectively invisible, or becomes invisible with successive learned interactions, to its users. The word natural is used because most computer interfaces use artificial control devices whose operation has to be learned. A NUI relies on a user being able to carry out relatively natural motions, movements or gestures that they quickly discover control the computer application or manipulate the onscreen content. The most descriptive identifier of a NUI is the lack of a physical keyboard and/or mouse.


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

Objective: The role of micrometastases detected immunologically and molecularly in lymph nodes of colorectal cancer patients remains elusive. We investigated the prognostic significance of CEA, PRL3 and EZH2 expressed in lymph nodes of 42 pathologically node-negative (pN0) colorectal patients and 13 stage III/IV patients as controls. Seventeen pN0 patients (40%) received adjuvant therapy after curative surgery.

Experimental design: CEA, PRL3 and EZH2 transcripts were amplified by reverse transcription PCR in nearly 600 paraffin embedded lymph nodes. On average 9.7 ± 5.7 nodes were harvested per case. After 55 months median follow-up, gene expression was correlated with recurrence-free (RFS), overall (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), using Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test for comparison.

Results: The proportion of cases demonstrating CEA+, PRL3+ and EZH2+lymph node expression increased from stage I to III/IV and reached 71%, 76% and 26% respectively in the pN0 group. EZH2 had no significant prognostic value among pN0 patients. Disease progressed more rapidly (50% DFS at 30 versus 53 months) in EZH2+ than EZH2- node-positive patients. CEA+ was associated with ∼18% lower RFS/OS, and 8% lower DFS than CEA- among therapeutically-untreated patients, those with colon and with stage II tumors. pN0 patients with PRL3+ nodes had better outcomes than PRL3- cases (DFS, P= 0.059), namely in the colorectal (OS, P= 0.056; DFS, P= 0.12), colon (DFS, P= 0.056) and stage II tumor in the non-adjuvant settings (DFS, P= 0.0047).

Conclusions: Lymph node expression of the PRL3 phosphatase gene predicted more favorable outcomes for pN0 colorectal cancer patients. The role of CEA as an adverse predictor of survival was confirmed albeit less significant than previously reported. Neither CEA nor PRL3 nodal expression was predictive of rectal cancer recurrence.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2240.


Early embryonic mortality and chromosome abnormalities were studied in three goose lines: Grey Landes (line 7), White Polish (line 4) and their synthetic line (line 9). Eggs laid at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the laying season were set. At candling at 5th day after egg set, all eggs (2847) were examined and those showing no normal embryonic development were opened 2847. Dead embryos were classified phenotypically and karyotyped. The mean ratio of embryonic mortality (EM) among fertile eggs was 9.4%, 5.2%, 7.3% in the lines 4, 7 and 9, respectively. The mean ratio of embryos with chromosomal abnormalities (CA) among the dead embryos was 8.0%, 14.8% and 13.1% in the lines 4, 7 and 9, respectively. Gander effect and layer within gander effect on embryo mortality were significant, indicating genetic factors. Father and mother of the layer effects were also significant, showing family effects. Animals producing dead embryos and embryos with chromosome abnormalities in high proportion were selected. In the selected groups the mean EM was 17.7–22.9%, and the mean CA was 11.7–34.7% among the three lines. The repetition of CA was not observed in the reproductive season of following year, while animals repeated the high EM (repeatability coefficient of 0.54). This shows that some part of EM may be resulted from other genetic factors. Ganders and layers progeny of these selected animals showed also high EM. It was concluded that culling pairs giving high EM value in their embryos could increase the average level of embryo viability and that the study of genetic determinism of that trait should be continued in geese.


AIM To assess cerebral hemodynamics during sleep in patients with syndrome of obstructive sleep apnea. METHODS Long term monitoring of rheoencephalogram. Data processing consisted in construction of trends (curves of changes of rheographical parameters during any selected time interval). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION Cyclical periods of apnea are associated with negative changes of cerebral hemodynamics. At the end of period of apnea despite compensatory vasodilatation cerebral blood flow decreases. This occurs during pronounced hypoxemia and can predispose to ischemic disturbances. In ventilation phase rapid rise of heart rate and blood pressure at the background of continuing cerebral vasodilatation can increase risk of hemorrhagic complications.


Antiretroviral drugs have been the mainstay of treatment for HIV infection. New categories of antiretrovirals and recommendations for treatment have emerged as a result of basic science research, new understandings of the infectious process, and data from clinical studies. This article summarizes the currently available drugs for nurses who act as educators and advocates in helping HIV-infected persons explore their treatment options.


A theory is derived for the class of long two-dimensional waves, comprising solitary and periodic cnoidal waves, that can propagate with unchanging form in heterogeneous fluids. The treatment is generalized to the extent that the waves are supposed to arise on a horizontal stream of incompressible fluid whose density and velocity are arbitrary functions of height, and the upper surface of the fluid is allowed either to be free or to be fixed in a horizontal plane. Explicit formulae for the wave properties and a general interpretation of the physical conditions for the occurrence of the waves are achieved without need to specify particular physical models; but in a later part of the paper, §4, the results are applied to three examples that have been worked out by other means and so provide checks on the present theory. These general results are also shown to accord nicely with the principle of 'conjugate-flow pairs' which was explained by Benjamin (1962b) with reference to swirling flows along cylindrical ducts, but which is known to apply equally well to flow systems of the kind in question here. The theory reveals certain physical peculiarities of a type of flow model often used in theoretical studies of internal-wave phenomena, being specified so as to make the equation for the stream-function linear. In an appendix, some observations are also made regarding the 'Boussinesq approximation', which too is often used as a simplifying assumption in this field. It is shown, adding to a recent discussion by Long (1965), that finite internal waves may depend crucially on small effects neglected in this approximation.


The Los Alamos National Laboratory is charged with measuring the occupational exposure to radiological workers and contractors throughout the Laboratory, which includes many different sites with multiple and varied radiation fields. Of concern here are the high energy neutrons such as those generated during accelerator operations at Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). In 1993, the Los Alamos National Laboratory purchased an Autoscan 60 automated reader for use with chemically etched CR39 detectors. The dosimeter design employed at LANL uses a plastic, hemispherical case, encompassing a polystyrene pyramidal detector holder. The pyramidal holder supports three detectors at a 35{degree} angle. Averaging the results of the three detectors minimizes the angular dependence normally associated with a planar dosimeter. The Autoscan 60 is an automated reading system for use with CR39 chemical etch detectors. The detectors are immersed in an etch solution to enhance the visibility of the damage sites caused by recoil proton impact with the hydrogen atoms in the detector. The authors decided to increase the etch time from six hours to 15 hours, while retaining the 70 C temperature. The reason for the change in the etch is to enhance the sensitivity and precision of the CR39 detector as indicated by this study.


Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in men. Although many diagnostic and treatment regimens have been followed in the treatment for lung cancer, increasing mortality rate due to lung cancer is depressing and hence requires alternative plant based therapeutics with with less side-effects. Myrtenol exhibits anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Hence we intended to study the effect of Myrtenol on B(a)P-induced lung cancer. Our study showed that B(a)P lowered hematological count, decreased phagocyte and avidity indices, nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction, levels of immunoglubulins, antioxidant levels, whereas Myrtenol treatment restored them back to normal levels. On the other hand, xenobiotic and liver dysfunction marker enzymes and pro-inflammatory cytokines were elevated on B(a)P exposure, which retuned back to normal by Myrtenol. This study thus describes the immunomodulatory and antioxidant effects of Myrtenol on B[a]P-induced immune destruction.


Stigma is an important barrier to seeking psychological services worldwide. Two types of stigma exist: public stigma and self-stigma. Scholars have argued that public stigma leads to self-stigma, and then self-stigma is the primary predictor of attitudes toward seeking psychological services. However, this assertion is largely limited to U.S. samples. The goal of this research was to provide a first step in understanding the relationship between public stigma, self-stigma, and attitudes toward seeking psychological services in international contexts (N = 3,276; Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Portugal, Romania, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United States). Using structural equation modeling, we found that self-stigma mediated the relationship between public stigma and attitudes toward seeking services among college students in each country and region. However, differences in path strengths emphasize the need to pay attention to the role of public and self-stigma on attitudes toward seeking psychological services throughout the world.


BACKGROUND
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cancer worldwide. Extrahepatic spread is not unusual during HCC disease, but bone metastases at initial presentation are rare.

CASE DESCRIPTION
We describe a case of HCC presenting with a clavicular head mass and spinal metastases with normal α-fetoprotein (AFP) level and hepatitis C virus infection without cirrhosis. After undergoing bone and liver biopsies, the patient started a 12-week course of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir and bevacizumab/atezolizumab for lifelong therapy with palliative intent. Since 2021, the patient has been receiving a combination of bevacizumab and atezolizumab every 21 days. On this regimen as of March 2023, his osseous metastases were stable and his liver lesions had not enlarged.

CONCLUSIONS
This case demonstrates a very unusual HCC presentation, the importance of a thorough workup of bone metastasis, and the limited value of AFP for HCC screening, even in disseminated disease.


The fluoride contents of infusions prepared from 44 different brands and types of teas were measured. Fluoride concentrations ranged from 0.34 to 3.71 ppm (mean = 1.50 ppm) in caffeinated tea infusions, 0.02-0.14 ppm (mean = 0.05 ppm) in herbal tea infusions, and 1.01-5.20 ppm (mean = 3.19) in decaffeinated tea infusions. This is the first report of the fluoride content of decaffeinated teas. The mean fluoride content of decaffeinated tea infusions is significantly (p < 0.01) higher than the corresponding caffeinated tea. The use of mineral water containing a naturally high fluoride level during the process of decaffeination is the most likely explanation of the above observation.


Research concerning Sport Education's educational impact has shown unequivocal results according to students' personal and social development. Nevertheless, research is still sparse with respect to the model's impact on student learning outcomes. The goal of the present review is to therefore scrutinize what is currently known regarding students' learning during their participation in Sport Education. This research spans a variety of studies, cross various countries, school grades, the sports studied, as well as the methods applied and dimensions of student learning analyzed. While research on the impact of Sport Education on students' learning, as well as teachers' and students' perceptions about student learning has shown students' improvements during the participation in Sport Education seasons, there is still considerable variance in these results. For example, some studies report superior learning opportunities to boys and higher skill-level students while other studies have identified superior learning opportunities for girls and lower skill-level students. These inconsistent results can be explained by factors not considered in the Sport Education research, such as the effect of time on students' learning and the control of the teaching-learning process within Sport Education units. In this review directions for future research and practice are also described. Future research should define, implement, and evaluate protocols for student-coaches' preparation in order to understand the influence of this issue on students' learning as well as consider the implementation of hybrid approaches. Moreover, future studies should consider the interaction of gender and skill level and a retention test in the analysis of students' learning improvements in order to obtain a more realist and complete portrait of the impact of Sport Education. Finally, in order to reach an entirely understanding of the teaching-learning process, it is necessary to use research designs that attend to the complexity of this process. Key PointsDespite research regarding has showed students' improvements during the participation in Sport Education seasons, it remains somewhat equivocal.The studies included in this review show students' improvements on skill, knowledge and tactical development, as we as game play, during the participation in Sport Education units.Some studies report superior learning opportunities to boys and higher skill-level students while other studies exposed superior learning opportunities to girls and lower skill-level students.The effect of time on students' learning and the control of the teaching-learning process within Sport Education units can explain these equivocal results.Future research is encouraged to consider the implementation of protocols for student-coaches' preparation, hybrid models, a retention test, the interaction of gender and skill level, and use research designs that attend to the complexity of the teaching-learning process.


This article describes a time-domain near-field planar measurement system constructed in an anechoic chamber. Distinct from conventional radar cross section (RCS) frequency domain system, the time domain measurement system consists of time domain facilities can obtain RCS results in a wideband by a measurement. Meanwhile, a weighted window function method brought in the process of near-field to far-field extrapolation for error correction. Finally, the measurement results of experimental validation of the system are demonstrated.


Durability of silica fume cement based materials is of great importance for radioactive waste
storage. This study investigates the durability in the aspect of tritiated water (HTO) diffusion in
relation with the porosity and the microstructure within silica fume cement pastes. A silica fume
(SF) replacement varying from 0 to 20% by weight of cement was used to prepare cement pastes
at water-to-binder ratios (w/b) ranging from 0.3 to 0.5. The manufactured pastes were tested by
through-out diffusion and their microstructure characterized by water and mercury porosimetry
(MIP), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and by scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
associated to (EDS) analysis.
It was observed that the addition of silica fume as a slurry –a liquid mixture of undensified
powder and water- offers a better dispersion and improves diffusion properties of SF pastes
compared to the use of a densified powder, often studied in literature.
Test results also showed that despite an increase in total porosity, the addition of silica fume has
a positive impact on pore refinement and on reducing the effective diffusion coefficients.
Finally, HTO diffusion coefficients seem to increase linearly with w/b ratio especially for
Portland cement pastes where the increase is more important compared to SF pastes.


The paper describes a universal program MRIA for the full profile analysis of powder neutron-diffraction time-of-flight direct and Fourier spectra. The minimum configuration of MRIA, analysing up to four spectra, four phases, 500 Miller indices for every phase and 100 independent atoms, can run on an IBM PC-AT or any compatible. The extended variant of the program, analysing data of larger size, runs on a MicroVAX computer. Part of MRIA, providing necessary service functions for a PC user, is written in TurboPascal 6.0. The basic programs of MRIA are written in standard Fortran77 and can be compiled by RMFORT or MSFORT77 and by an NDP compiler on a 32 bit PC.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
We investigated the efficacy of electroacupuncture in reducing the duration of postoperative ileus and hospital stay after laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer.

METHODS
We performed a prospective study of 165 patients undergoing elective laparoscopic surgery for colonic and upper rectal cancer, enrolled from October 2008 to October 2010. Patients were assigned randomly to groups that received electroacupuncture (n = 55) or sham acupuncture (n = 55), once daily from postoperative days 1-4, or no acupuncture (n = 55). The acupoints Zusanli, Sanyinjiao, Hegu, and Zhigou were used. The primary outcome was time to defecation. Secondary outcomes included postoperative analgesic requirement, time to ambulation, and length of hospital stay.

RESULTS
Patients who received electroacupuncture had a shorter time to defecation than patients who received no acupuncture (85.9 ± 36.1 vs 122.1 ± 53.5 h; P < .001) and length of hospital stay (6.5 ± 2.2 vs 8.5 ± 4.8 days; P = .007). Patients who received electroacupuncture also had a shorter time to defecation than patients who received sham acupuncture (85.9 ± 36.1 vs 107.5 ± 46.2 h; P = .007). Electroacupuncture was more effective than no or sham acupuncture in reducing postoperative analgesic requirement and time to ambulation. In multiple linear regression analysis, an absence of complications and electroacupuncture were associated with a shorter duration of postoperative ileus and hospital stay after the surgery.

CONCLUSIONS
In a clinical trial, electroacupuncture reduced the duration of postoperative ileus, time to ambulation, and postoperative analgesic requirement, compared with no or sham acupuncture, after laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer. ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00464425.


We propose deep convolutional neural network (CNN) based super-resolution for 360 (equirectangular) panorama images used by virtual reality (VR) display devices (e.g. VR glasses). Proposed super-resolution adopts the recent CNN architecture proposed in (Dong et al., 2016) and adapts it for equirectangular panorama images which have specific characteristics as compared to standard cameras (e.g. projection distortions). We demonstrate how adaptation can be performed by optimizing the trained network input size and fine-tuning the network parameters. In our experiments with 360 panorama images of rich natural content CNN based super-resolution achieves average PSNR improvement of 1.36 dB over the baseline (bicubic interpolation) and 1.56 dB by our equirectangular specific adaptation.


A group of 38 preschool children, first evaluated when 2 to 4 years old, functioning within the borderline or mildly retarded ranges of intelligence, were reevaluated at the ages of 6 or 7 years. It was found that cognitive and linguistic limitations remained fairly stable over time. The most global of the early measures best predicted subsequent attainment, both for children with language skills significantly below performance and for those with more even function. Preschool language deficiencies reflected in a significant discrepancy between verbal and performance abilities in early intelligence testing were not subsequently associated with greater academic difficulties. At the time of reevaluation, receptive understanding of language exceeded expressive competence, and semantic skills were stronger than syntactic abilities. J Dev Behav Pediatr 8:12–17, 1987. Index terms: preschool follow-up, preschool language, mildly handicapped preschoolers, borderline intelligence, mild mental retardation.


Microscopic pore structure characteristics of oil and gas reservoirs (e.g., sandstones, carbonates, and mudrocks) – pore shape, pore-size distribution, and pore connectivity – control fluid flow and hydrocarbon movement. Focusing on effective porosity, the portion of connected pore space as conductive pathways to participate in flow and movement (∅e / ∅, , as an indicator of macroscopic connectivity), this presentation discusses various approaches to quantifying effective porosity for a range of oil and gas reservoirs. The approaches include pycnometry (liquid and gas), pore and bulk volume measurement after vacuum saturation, porosimetry (mercury injection capillary pressure, low-pressure gas physisorption isotherm, water vapor adsorption/desorption isotherm, nuclear magnetic resonance cyroporometry), imaging (X-ray computed tomography, Wood's metal impregnation, field emission-scanning electron microscopy), scattering (ultraand small-angle neutron, small-angle X-ray), and the utility of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic fluids as well as fluid invasion tests (imbibition, diffusion, vacuum saturation) followed by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry imaging of different nm-sized tracers. Our results indicate disparate characteristics and range of effective porosity, with a single-zone behavior and a value of connectivity at approximately 70% for sandstones, as compared to dual-connectivity zones at 70% and 0.01% for mudrocks.


Rice is planting in different ways in Egypt; including direct seeding and transplanting seedling, so most of farmers facing problems in select any method and variety which may be led to highly income. Experiments ware conducted carried out during summer season at years 2016 and 2017, in privet Farm in east Delta Egypt, to investigate production of three varieties of Rice (Sakha 102, Giza 178 and Giza 182), affected by two sowing methods (direct seeding and seedling transplanting) under treatment of NPK concentration (0.0, 2% and 4%) as form 20:20:20 NPK, were arranged in split split-plot design with three replications. The results showed the superiority of the method of planting on the method of planting in both seasons. Increase in NPK concentration with Giza 178 under direct seeding recorded highly data for vegetative and physiology parameter; yield and yield component, and contents from some chemical contents in leaves and grains, while all parameter in this study recorded lowest data with Giza 182 under control NPK and transplanting.


Background: Oxidative stress and neuroinflammation mediated by microglial activation play a significant role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, negative regulators of microglial activation have been identified as potential therapeutic candidates for the treatment of such diseases. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Thunbergia laurifolia Lindl. or Rang Chuet (RC) extracts on reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated BV2 microglia cells. Materials and Methods: BV2 cells were treated with LPS in the presence or absence of RC extract, and the levels of ROS and NO were measured using CM-H2DCFDA and Griess reagent assay, respectively. The nuclear levels of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) p65 and the activation of Akt and the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) were detected using immunofluorescence and western blotting assay, respectively. Results: The treatment of BV2 cells with RC concentration-dependently suppressed the LPS-induced ROS production compared to the control group. RC treatment also significantly decreased LPS-induced NO production in a concentration-dependent manner. In addition, RC treatment also suppressed NF-kB p65 translocation and the activation of Akt and the ERK1/2 pathway in LPS-stimulated BV2 cells. Conclusion: Taken together, these results demonstrate that RC exerts anti-oxidative activity by suppressing ROS production and that it exerts antioxidative activity by suppressing NO in LPS-stimulated BV2 cells. The mechanisms by which RC suppresses NO and ROS production may occur through inhibition of Akt and the ERK1/2-mediated NF-κB pathway. The results suggest that RC may be useful in treating neurodegenerative diseases mediated by microglial cells.


The E7 protein is one of the principle transforming proteins encoded by human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16), a virus strongly associated with the development of cervical carcinoma. In the present study we show that cotransfection of wild-type human or murine p53 sequences with E7 and ras markedly reduces transformation in baby rat kidney cells, although no effect of p53 is seen on the ability of E7 to transform an established mouse line to anchorage independence. In contrast, expression of mutant p53 strongly potentiates the transforming function of E7 and confers marked growth factor independence to cells cotransformed by E7 and ras. These data suggest that E7 and p53 function in separate yet complementary biochemical pathways.


This study sets out to document and analyse sexual dimorphism in the teeth and bones of five primate groups, including man. Specimens were only included in the analysis if their sexual attribution was reliable and was based on non-osteological criteria. Ninety raw measurements, both cranial and post-cranial, were used and 11 indices were computed from them.

The parameters of each sample were computed in order to compare these results with previous estimates of dimorphism which have not always been based on reliably sexed samples. Correlation matrices were computed.

The overall sex differences were subdivided into "shape" and "size" components using Penrose's size and shape distances and by computing the principal components of each data set. The visually apparent shape differences were confirmed metrically and then examined to see whether they could be explained by allometric effects or whether there was evidence for sexual differences in growth patterns.

Using femur length as the independent variable, because of its correlation with overall size, allometric coefficients were computed for the logarithmically transformed data. The coefficients were in some cases very different between sexes but the majority did not achieve statistical significance. Of those that were significantly different only in Homo did such differences narrowly exceed the number that would be expected by chance alone.

As the vast majority of allometric coefficients for the pooled male and female data differed from unity, the hypothesis that most of the considerable shape differences that exist between some male and female primates are due to underlying growth differences must be rejected. It is suggested that such differences are simply the result of disproportionate change in size.


The Bora-Baricha-Tullu Moye (BBTM) volcanic complex is located at a transitional zone in the Main Ethiopian Rift where tectonic and volcanic features show complex interplays. We mapped and characterised volcanic and tectonic features using high-resolution digital elevation models and performed morphometric and vent spatial distribution analyses. Structural analysis reveals NNE–SSW, NE–SW, and NW–SE trending faults in the region. The dominant post-caldera volcanic landforms are lava domes, pumice cones, scoria cones, maars, obsidian coulees and lava flows, which have distinct morphological characteristics. Vent elongation and alignment highlight close association between these landforms and the caldera(s) as well as with tectonic structures, suggesting these structures acted as the main magma pathways during the BBTM recent eruptions. We estimate that during the entire BBTM post-caldera phase a total bulk volume of 10.9 km3 of material was erupted. This would represent a time-averaged magma flux of 0.05 km3 ky-1 in the BBTM.


The more psychological sense of community a group of teachers achieves, the better surrounding for personal learning of students and effective cooperation amongst colleagues. Yet a lot of teachers still manifest low Psychological sense of community with attendant consequences of devolving relationships, conflict with significant others in the school, poor delivery of teaching to the student, and low sense of belonging to the school. This study examined the effects of emotional intelligence (EI) and Interpersonal skills (IS) training on teachers' Psychological sense of community. The study adopted a pretest, posttest, control group quasi-experimental design with a 3x3x2 factorial matrix. One hundred and twenty-six secondary school teachers were randomly selected and randomly assigned to two treatment groups and a control group. Collective Teacher Efficacy instrument was used to put participants into groups while the Sense of Community Index-2 was used to collect pretest and posttest data. Findings revealed that the two treatment interventions have significant main effect on teachers' Psychological sense of community. It also revealed a no three-way interaction effects of treatment, collective efficacy and gender. It was concluded that secondary school teachers who demonstrate low Psychological sense of community could be assisted to develop better attitudes to school activities and improved sense of belongings to the school through emotional intelligence and Interpersonal skills training programmes.
Keywords: Psychological sense of Community; emotional intelligence training; Interpersonal skills training; Collective Efficacy.


Recent blood oxygenation level dependent functional MRI (BOLD fMRI) studies of the human brain have shown that in the absence of external stimuli, activity persists in the form of distinct patterns of temporally correlated signal fluctuations. In this work, we investigated the spontaneous BOLD signal fluctuations during states of reduced consciousness such as drowsiness and sleep. For this purpose, we performed BOLD fMRI on normal subjects during varying levels of consciousness, from resting wakefulness to light (non‐slow wave) sleep. Depth of sleep was determined based on concurrently acquired EEG data. During light sleep, significant increases in the fluctuation level of the BOLD signal were observed in several cortical areas, among which visual cortex was the most significant. Correlations among brain regions involved with the default‐mode network persisted during light sleep. These results suggest that activity in areas such as the default‐mode network and primary sensory cortex, as measured from BOLD fMRI fluctuations, does not require a level of consciousness typical of wakefulness. Hum Brain Mapp, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Background: Significant dysbiosis occurs in the gut microbiome of stroke patients. Condensing these broad, complex changes into one index would greatly facilitate the clinical usage of gut microbiome data. Here, we formulated a gut microbiota index in patients with acute ischemic stroke based on their gut microbiota dysbiosis patterns and tested whether the index was correlated with brain injury and early outcome. Methods: A total of 104 patients with acute ischemic stroke and 90 healthy individuals were recruited, and their gut microbiotas were compared and to model a Stroke Dysbiosis Index (SDI), which representing stroke-associated dysbiosis patterns overall. Another 83 patients and 70 controls were recruited for validation. The association of SDI with stroke severity (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] score) and outcome (modified Rankin scale [mRS] score: favorable, 0–2; unfavorable, >2) at discharge was also assessed. A middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model was used in human flora-associated (HFA) animals to explore the causal relationship between gut dysbiosis and stroke outcome. Results: Eighteen genera were significantly different between stroke patients and healthy individuals. The SDI formula was devised based on these microbiome differences; SDI was significantly higher in stroke patients than in healthy controls. SDI alone discriminated stroke patients from controls with AUCs of 74.9% in the training cohort and 84.3% in the validation cohort. SDI was significantly and positively correlated with NIHSS score on admission and mRS score at discharge. Logistic regression analysis showed that SDI was an independent predictor of severe stroke (NIHSS ≥8) and early unfavorable outcome (mRS >2). Mice receiving fecal transplants from high-SDI patients developed severe brain injury with elevated IL-17+ γδ T cells in gut compared to mice receiving transplants from low-SDI patients (all P < 0.05). Conclusions: We developed an index to measure gut microbiota dysbiosis in stroke patients; this index was significantly correlated with patients' outcome and was causally related to outcome in a mouse model of stroke. Our model facilitates the potential clinical application of gut microbiota data in stroke and adds quantitative evidence linking the gut microbiota to stroke.


Cooperative learning method is a learning method studied both in Turkey and in the world for long years as an active learning method. Although cooperative learning method takes place in training programs, it cannot be implemented completely in the direction of its principles. The results of the researches point out that teachers have problems with the implementation of cooperative learning method, which is an active and democratic learning method. In spite of the fact that the reason of most of these problems is depended on the factors out of teachers, it is obvious that a scale is required in order to measure their competency levels in relative with the cooperative learning method, and to determine the qualification of the training they have obtained in university before serving, and to become a resource maybe for the in-service training studies in the future. In this research it is aimed to develop an assessment tool in order to measure the competency of teachers about the method by depending on the cognitive infrastructures, knowledge levels and implementation process of teachers, serving actively, for the cooperative learning method. Scale development studies were started on the theoretical basis of the cooperative learning method. The item preparation was carried out according to the significant features of the method such as positive interdependence, face-to-face interaction, individual accountability, interpersonal and small group skills, group processing and group award. The study group of the research consists of 236 teachers serving actively in 7 regions in Turkey. Data obtained from the scale was analyzed by using Cronbach's Alpha reliability co-efficient, item distinctiveness, item total point correlations and by determining t test results performed between average points of each item of upper-lower 27% groups. In order to determine the structure validity of the scale, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (DFA) were constituted by making benefit of fit indexes. All the sub-sections of the scale indicate an acceptable reliability. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) performed to confirm this structure was made on the same data set of 236 conditions. The correlation between latent variable and observed variable as a result of CFA varies between .30 and .77. It has been found out that the structure of 21 items and 3 factors have acceptable fit indexes (x/df =2.40; RMSEA = .08; SRMR = .08; GFI = .86; AGFI = .82; CFI = .91; NNFI = .89). Item analysis of the scale consists of 21 items after EFA and CFA, and the maximum point to be available is 105 and minimum point is 21. Of 21, 13 items are positive and 8 items are negative. The results of EFA and CFA points outs that the scale has three factor patterns named as "Preliminary and Planning", "Implementation Process" and "Evaluation". It can be expressed that the developed scale is the one presenting valid and reliable results, and that it can be utilized to determine the competency of teachers about cooperative learning method.


A young lady with a history of infertility presented to the hospital with dyspnea and chest pain a few days after ovulation induction. Her manifestations were consistent with ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). Further investigations revealed right atrial thrombus and pulmonary thromboembolism. We successfully managed the condition with conservative therapy.


The construction and working principles of a microchannel and the characteristics of channel plates are briefly described. X-ray image intensifiers can be built by use of this electronic multiplier with an X-photon-electron converter, and a conventional phosphor screen for the output. Three main types are considered: the scintillation image intensifier, the metallic converter image intensifier, and the direct-detection image intensifier. The description and the main characteristics are given for each type of intensifier. Also considered are the main limitations of microchannel image X-ray intensifiers; namely the limitations in diameter and uniformity and, for the whole system, due to the limited number of photons available which limit spatial resolution, the lifetime and the noise factor, which can also be serious drawbacks for particular intensifiers. So, even taking into account that some interesting characteristics of microchannel plates (variable gain, no distortion, fast response) have not been fully exploited, the developments of such intensifiers, in the near future, will be probably limited to some special uses both in medical and industrial fields. Technological improvements and reductions of price can modify, of course, the present situation in a few years.


Psychotherapy is preferred over pharmacotherapy in many instances of depression, either because of side-effects or overdose concerns, or because of the patient's choice. Psychologists are most likely to provide a course of cognitive therapy for depressed individuals. This paper offers a brief description of treatment results, rationale for therapy, and the elements of therapy.


An incumbent firm needs to determine how to best manage the risk of the arrival of a disruptive technology. The numerous actions available to the incumbent firm indicates a complex real-options model of investment is required. This thesis investigates the behaviour of an incumbent firm, with assets-in-place, when they have access to an investment opportunity. The incumbent must not only choose when to invest in the opportunity, but also the optimal structure with which to compete against a new entrant who also has this investment opportunity.  In order to delay competition in the market the incumbent can elect to permanently abandon the innovative option rather than seek to compete with the new entrant. The assets-in-place contributes significant value to the incumbent and by delaying the competition effect, the incumbent can reduce the cannibalization of assets-in-place. This is despite the fact that the incumbent can attempt to profitably invest in the innovation before the entrant. Clearly the assets-in-place provide a benefit to firm value for the incumbent, but act as a burden for the growth option's development. Should consumer preferences begin to favour the innovation, then the decision to abandon the growth option loses its value. The incumbent in this instance does not care that they may accelerate the entrant's investment as they can still profitably preempt the entrant.  In a competitive market, when the incumbent efficiently produces the innovation at no extra cost compared to an independent firm, the incumbent will elect to internalise, rather than spin off, the growth option. When the incumbent produces the innovation at a higher cost, than other market participants, they will spin off the growth option instead of internalising. When consumers favour the innovation, the incumbent becomes indifferent between spinning off and internalising the growth option as the objective functions in both cases converge to maximising the value of the growth option.


The authors examined the incremental validity of the reaction time (RT) measure beyond that of skin conductance response (SCR) in the detection of concealed information. Participants performed a Stroop-like task in which they named the color of critical and neutral words. Results show that the SCR highly differentiated between the relevant and neutral words. However, the RT demonstrated a significant differentiation only when the critical words denoted personally significant items (e.g., one's own name) and not when they denoted crime-relevant items related to a simulated crime. In both cases, combining the 2 measures yielded no advantage over the use of SCR alone. Thus, although behavioral measures may differentiate between relevant and neutral information in some cases, their practical use is questionable.


ZnO-SnO2 composite nanofibers are synthesized via an electrospinning method and characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Micro sensors are fabricated by spinning the nanofibers on Si substrates with Pt signal and heater electrodes. The sensors with small areas (600 μm × 200 μm) can detect CO down to 1ppm at 360 °C. The corresponding sensitivity, response time, and recovery time are 3.2, 6s, and 11s, respectively. Importantly, the sensors can operate at high humidity conditions. The sensitivity only decreases to 2.3 when the sensors are exposed to 1 ppm CO at 95% relative humidity. These excellent sensing properties are due to combining the benefits of one-dimensional nanomaterials and the ZnO-SnO2 grain boundary in the nanofibers.


AbstractFungal keratitis (FK) typically requires intensive therapy with topical antifungal agents. To date, evidence from clinical trials has been conflicting with respect to the most effective topical antifungal drug in the treatment of FK. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTS) using the Cochrane methodology was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of topical antifungals in management of FK. Outcomes included time to cure, treatment failure, complications of infection, visual acuity and adverse effects. A comprehensive search for studies was undertaken resulting in inclusion of 8 RCTs, predominantly from India, involving a total of 793 participants, the majority of whom were infected with filamentous fungi. Topical voriconazole was more likely to result in therapeutic keratoplasty compared with natamycin [relative risk (RR) 1.89 95% CI: 1.14, 3.12] with a number needed to treat of 13 (95% CI: 7, 50). Final visual acuity was significantly better with natamycin compared with voriconazole [weighted mean difference (WMD) 0.13, 95% CI 0.00, 0.27]. There was no difference in risk of treatment failure across all topical antifungal treatments studied (chlorhexidine gluconate, econazole, miconazole, natamycin, silver sulphadiazine and voriconazole). This study suggests treatment failure was comparable among antifungal treatments reviewed. However, natamycin resulted in better visual acuity following acute infection, compared with voriconazole. Voriconazole had a significantly greater risk of therapeutic keratoplasty compared with natamycin in the populations studied.


Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment includes a rolling, ongoing Special Section concerned with methodological issues in personality disorder research. This third edition of this series includes two articles. The first is by Brian Hicks, Angus Clark, and Emily Durbin: "Person-Centered Approaches in the Study of Personality Disorders." The second article is by Steve Balsis: "Item Response Theory Applications in Personality Disorder Research." Both articles should be excellent resources for future research and certainly manuscripts submitted to this journal that use these analytic tools. (PsycINFO Database Record


Neuropathic pain caused by nerve damage is a common and severe class of chronic pain. Disease-modifying clinical therapies are needed as current treatments typically provide only symptomatic relief; show varying clinical efficacy; and most have significant adverse effects. One approach is targeting either neurotrophic factors or their receptors that normalize sensory neuron function and stimulate regeneration after nerve damage. Two candidate targets are glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and artemin (ARTN), as these GDNF family ligands (GFLs) show efficacy in animal models of neuropathic pain (Boucher et al., 2000; Gardell et al., 2003; Wang et al., 2008, 2014). As these protein ligands have poor drug-like properties and are expensive to produce for clinical use, we screened 18,400 drug-like compounds to develop small molecules that act similarly to GFLs (GDNF mimetics). This screening identified BT13 as a compound that selectively targeted GFL receptor RET to activate downstream signaling cascades. BT13 was similar to NGF and ARTN in selectively promoting neurite outgrowth from the peptidergic class of adult sensory neurons in culture, but was opposite to ARTN in causing neurite elongation without affecting initiation. When administered after spinal nerve ligation in a rat model of neuropathic pain, 20 and 25 mg/kg of BT13 decreased mechanical hypersensitivity and normalized expression of sensory neuron markers in dorsal root ganglia. In control rats, BT13 had no effect on baseline mechanical or thermal sensitivity, motor coordination, or weight gain. Thus, small molecule BT13 selectively activates RET and offers opportunities for developing novel disease-modifying medications to treat neuropathic pain.


Sensor nodes are usually vulnerable to be compromised due to their unattended deployment. The low cost requirement of the sensor node precludes using an expensive tamper resistant hardware for sensor physical protection. Thus, the adversary can reprogram the compromised sensors and deviates sensor network functionality. In this paper, we propose two simple software-based remote code attestation schemes for different WSN criterion. Our schemes use different independent memory noise filling techniques called pre-deployment and post-deployment noise filling, and also different communication protocols for attestation purpose. The protocols are well-suited for wireless sensor networks, where external factors, such as channel collision, result in network delay. Hence, the success of our schemes of attestation does not depend on the accurate measurement of the execution time, which is the main drawback of previously proposed wireless sensor network attestation schemes.


The effects of surface chemistry on the morphology and phase stability of titanium dioxide nanoparticles have been investigated using a thermodynamic model based on surface free energies and surface tensions obtained from first principles calculations. It has been found that surfaces representing acidic and alkaline conditions have a significant influence on both the shape of the nanocrystals and the anatase-to-rutile transition size. The latter introduces the possibility of inducing phase transitions by changing the surface chemistry.


UNLABELLED
SHORTHEADER: biomechanical parameters of the eye on antihypertensive therapy.

PURPOSE
to establish correlation of main biomechanical parameters of cornea depends on conducted antihyperthensive therapy and morphofunctional condition of cornea.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
58 patients (62 eyes) with POAG were included in the dynamic study in the period from 36 to 42 months. Patients were divided into two groups depending on the values of corneal hysteresis (CH) in the first part of the study. The value of CH in the first group (37 eyes) was in normal ranges 8,3-12,4 mm of mercury, in the second group (25 eyes) CH value has been reduced to 5.6-8.2 mm of mercury. In the second part of the study brimonidine/ timolol fixed combination (Combigan, Allergan) was prescribed as adjunctive therapy for the patients from the group 2 with low CH level. The following scheme of instillations was recommended--1 drop 2 times a day with interval of 12 hours. We evaluated the subjective and objective measures of structural and functional condition of the eye after 1, 3, 6, 12 and 18 months.

RESULTS
In the first part of the study of the dynamics of morphological and functional parameters of the optic nerve at different values of the CH, it was found that if CH < 8.2 mm of mercury structural and functional changes of optic nerve are more pronounced and significantly increases the risk of progression of glaucomatous process that requires correction of antihypertensive treatment. In the second part of the study in a group of dynamic observation with low CH level considering the negative structural and functional dynamics of antihypertensive therapy was corrected by Combigan® administration. Add-on therapy (Combigan) had a statistically significant effect on IOP, lowering it at average on 4.6 mm of mercury, and on the CH level, increasing it at average on 2.3 mm of mercury. Analysis of changes in perimeter sLV index showed a reduction of numbers of relative defects of various depths (from 8.9 dB to 6.9 dB). Analysis of optical coherent retinotomography data with brimonidine/timolol instillation on the background showed a tendency to increase the average thickness of retinal nerve fibers (from 0.11 to 0.18 mm). Dynamic observation for 18 months showed the stability of structural and functional parameters of the optic nerve disc, i.e. the target pressure for these patients has been achieved.

CONCLUSION
Administration of fixed combination brimonidine/timolol (Combigan) in combined therapy for the patients with POAG and low level of CH leads to normalization of biomechanical parameters of the eye and stabilization of glaucomatous process.


ASHTON, Graymore, and Pedler (1957) tentatively suggested that external pressure may be a causative factor in vaso-obliteration, as observed in the kitten retina following the intravitreal injection of sodium iodoacetate or sodium fluoride. They commented upon the possibility that treatment by such established metabolic inhibitors, by denying the cells the energy they normally derive from carbohydrate catabolism, might lead to a breakdown in the mechanism responsible for regulating cell size. Opie (1949) was the first to observe that certain tissues, after isolation from the rat, imbibed fluid unless they were bathed in solutions which were distinctly hypertonic. This apparent hypertonicity of such cells to their natural environment, could be effectively abolished by certain toxic agents (Opie, 1950). Other workers have since confirmed this phenomenon in tissues such as liver, kidney, spleen, and brain, and have concluded that there is some definite relationship between cell size and the efficiency of the energy metabolism of the cell. Isolated tissues, even in a balanced saline medium, have been observed to swell under a variety of conditions leading to a reduced efficiency in energy production or capture (Stern, Eggleston, Hems, and Krebs, 1949; Aebi, 1950; Robinson, 1950a, b). This work led to the concept that living cells were not in osmotic equilibrium with their environment, and that their osmotic pressure was maintained at a higher level, as a steady state, by a process drawing on metabolic energy to pump water outwards through the cell membrane. This hypothesis and the experimental evidence which led to its formulation have been adequately reviewed (Robinson and McCance, 1952; Robinson, 1954). In the light of the suggestion of Ashton and others (1957) that retinal swelling induced by iodoacetate and fluoride may conceivably be a causative factor in vaso-obliteration, it was thought that it would be worth while investigating the in vitro effect of these inhibitors on the imbibition of water by the rat.retina, to determine whether this phenomenon does, in fact, occur in retinal tissue.