PT Gunung Madu Plantation (GMP) is a pioneer in sugar industry outside Java Island (Lampung). This industry produced liquid huge waste. The liquid waste was processed in waste installation unit. The biomonitoring done to the waste installation unit is by planting nila fish ( Oreochromis niloticus Linn) in some of the waste processing pool units used as bioindicator.  Therefore this research aims to: (1) know the histological structure change on nila fish lever; (2) know the effect of factory liquid waste towards physiological indexes, i.e. Condition Factor (CF), Liver Somatic Index (LSI) and Gonad Somatic Index (GSI); and (3) know the effectivity of using biomarker as a quality indicator of waste installation unit pools at PT GMP, Lampung.  The results showed that there was histological structure on nila fish ( O.niloticus ) in the form of congestion or hyperemia and steatosis/fatty changes at waste installation unit pools of first and second aeration, stabilization, and, monitoring. The water of factory processing affected the physiological indexes of nila fish ( O. niloticus). The condition factor (CF) of the pools were: at first aeration was 1.666; second aeration was 1.634; monitoring 1.521) ; stabilization was 1.719; and control was 1.729; The LSI first aeration was 1.222; second aeration was 1.142 ; monitoring was 1.032; stabilization was 0.998; and control was 2.118, the GSI, first aeration was 1.598; second aeration was 1.421; stabilization was 0.816; and control was 1.411. The biomarker analysis by knowing the physiological index and histological structure change may be used as effective biomonitoring to know the effectivity degree of processing waste liquid. Keywords : biomarker, physiological index, congestion,  fatty change


We propose a novel slice-GRAPPA reconstruction algorithm, termed multi-kernel slice-GRAPPA (mks-GRAPPA), to tackle the challenge of reconstructing high spatial resolution segmented multi-shot EPI data for fMRI. This is particularly relevant for the recently proposed Variable-Flip-Angle "FLEET" pulse sequence. For a segmentation factor, S, by training 2×S slice-GRAPPA kernels, rather than one, we demonstrate significant improvements in image quality metrics under a wide range of protocols. The multitude of kernels account for static signal discontinuities within and across segments in multi-shot EPI. In the SNR starved regime of high-res fMRI, mks-GRAPPA allows us to recover a significant portion of lost tSNR.


The current study uses machine learning with a theoretically derived approach to investigate the relationship between emotion and bodily activity. Previous literature focuses on the accuracy of machine learning models when predicting emotional states. The studies lack theoretical grounding in emotion literature justifying the appropriateness of the chosen machine learning model architectures in predicting emotional states. The current studies' machine learning models use data from dyadic interactions in positively and negatively valenced conversations. The series of machine learning models apply the same architecture to predict a person's emotional state using bodily activity. To achieve this the models are trained on multiple measures of a person's emotional state and bodily activity across differently valenced conversations. For example, a model is trained/tested on emotion measure #1, bodily activity measure #1 and positive conversations. In contrast, another model is trained and tested on emotion measure #1, bodily activity measure #2, and negative conversations. The Test Error resulting from the machine learning models was then statistically tested to answer various questions. The machine learning models trained/tested on emotion measures including the arousal and valence of an emotional state performed the better than those including an emotion measure of how arousal changes over time. The models found that a person's physiological activity most accurately predicts their emotional state, compared to predicting with the person's movements. The models trained/tested on negatively valenced conversations predicted people's emotional states better than those on positively valenced conversations. The results show that not all emotion measures are equal, and the valence and arousal of an emotional state most accurately represent the emotional state. The results replicated the close relationship between emotion and physiological activity. Finally, the context valence alters the accuracy of predicting a person's emotional state – knowing someone's situation provides information about their emotional state.


There is limited information describing the competition demands of American football. A greater understanding of competition demands will allow strength and conditioning practitioners to create appropriate training programs to enhance athlete readiness and performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the competition demands of collegiate American football players using global positioning systems (GPS), specifically comparing the in-play GPS versus out-of-play GPS outcomes. Twenty-two American football athletes (Age: 20.8 ± 0.9 yr, Height: 190.2 ± 4.7 cm, Body mass: 113.4 ± 22.3 kg) were monitored during 12 regular season competitions over 13 weeks. Athletes were divided into specific offensive and defensive position groups. The study utilized relative velocity zones to determine the distance traveled by athletes in different velocity zones. In-play GPS variables were stratified from out-of-play GPS variables using velocity tracings from Openfield software and competition video. Paired samples T-tests were used to identify differences between in-play and out-of-play variables. The findings indicate that total duration, total distance, standing distance, walking distance, and jogging distance were significantly lesser for in-play versus out-of-play (p<0.001), and extensive tempo distance, intensive tempo distance, sprint distance, and intensity were significantly greater for in-play versus out-of-play (p<0.001). The results of the present study provides novel insights regarding the in-play competition demands of collegiate American football and provides a different method of analyzing American football.


Ultrasonic dispersion of soil aggregates in water-based solutions is commonly used in soil science, because it is possible to quantify the amount of energy applied to the solutions. However, currently available instrumentation does not provide precisely controlled low ultrasonic energy; thus, the study of weakly aggregated soils is still a challenge. The aim of this study was to apply amplitude controlled, low energy ultrasonic dispersion to study macroaggregate breakdown in soil orders with wide range of stabilities and formed on diverse parent materials: alluvial calcareous sediments (Entisol), volcanic ash and basalt (Andisol), serpentinite (Alfisol), schist (Ultisol), and granite (Inceptisol). Aggregates were exposed to increasing ultrasonic energy levels in six steps from 0 to 40 J mL⁻¹, and the resulting macro- and microaggregate masses were measured. Subsequently, the aggregate distribution was correlated with various physicochemical properties of the 250- to 1000-µm macroaggregates. The study showed that aggregate breakdown at low energy levels was greatest in the Andisol and the Entisol, followed by the Alfisol, Ultisol, and Inceptisol. Stability of macroaggregates was influenced by particle-size distribution, the amounts of exchangeable Mn (influenced mean weight diameter [MWD] positively) and exchangeable Mg (influenced MWD negatively). In contrast, stable microaggregates in the range of 63- to 250-µm were positively correlated with oxalate extractable Fe and Al as well as with soil organic matter (SOM) content. The results demonstrate that aggregate breakdown is strongly depending on the amount of energy applied, as well as of soil properties, which influence defined aggregate-size classes differently.


The effect of directional selection on the fixation process of a single mutation that spreads in a multigene family by gene conversion is investigated. A simple two-locus model with two alleles, A and a, is first considered in a random-mating diploid population with size N. There are four haplotypes, AA, Aa, aA, and aa, and selection works on the number of alleles A in a diplod (i = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4). Because gene conversion is allowed between the two loci, when the mutation rate is very low, either AA or aa will fix in the population eventually. We consider a situation where a single mutant, A, arises in one locus when a is fixed in both loci. Then, we derive the fixation probability analytically, and the fixation time is investigated by simulations. It is found that gene conversion has an effect to increase the "effective" population size, so that weak selection works more efficiently in a multigene family. With these results, we discuss the effect of gene conversion on the rate of molecular evolution in a multigene family undergoing concerted evolution. We also argue about the applicability of the theoretical results to models of multigene families with more than two loci.


The authors studied 44 outpatients with unipolar depression to determine the association among social support systems, life events, social adjustment, and depressive symptoms. Social support had a reasonably high correlation with outcome measures. Patients with high social support had significantly better scores than those with low social support on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Social Adjustment Rating Scale Self-Report. These data corroborate the hypothesis that social support systems play a critical role in the ongoing functioning of a defined group of depressed patients.


Objective There is a need to better understand the specific settings in which health information technology (HIT) is used and implemented. Factors that will determine the successful implementation of HIT are context-specific and often reside not at the technical level but rather at the process and people level. This paper provides the results of a needs assessment for HIT to support hospice palliative care (HPC) delivery in rural settings. Methods Roundtable discussions using the nominal group technique were done to identify priority issues regarding HIT usage to support rural HPC delivery. Qualitative content analysis was then used to identify sociotechnical themes from the roundtable data. Results Twenty priority issues were identified at the roundtable session. Content analysis grouped the priority issues into one central theme and five supporting themes to form a sociotechnical framework for patient-centered care in rural settings. Conclusion There are several sociotechnical themes and associated issues that need to be considered prior to implementing HIT in rural HPC settings. Proactive evaluation of these issues can enhance HIT implementation and also help to make ethical aspects of HIT design more explicit.


A study was conducted to isolate and identify of endophytic fungi from Altheae rosea (medicinal plant). Nine hundred and thirteenth isolates were recovered from leaves and roots (old and young) of Altheae rosea plants, which belonging to 48 species of 25 genera, and deal with the effect of different organ extracts (fruits, leaves, roots and stems) of Altheae rosea which extracted by (n-hexane) on Bacillus subtillus and Staphylococcus aureus. In general the most sensitive bacteria was Bacillus subtillus and the most active organs were fruit followed by stems, roots and leaves.


We present theoretical models of the time-dependent thermal and chemical structure of molecular gas suddenly exposed to far-ultraviolet (FUV) (6 eV < hv < 13.6 eV) radiation fields and the consequent time- dependent infrared emission of the gas. We focus on the response of molecular hydrogen for cloud densities ranging from n = l03 to 106 cm -3 and FUV fluxes G o = 10a-106 times the local FUV interstellar flux. For Go/n > 10 -2 cm 3, the emergent H 2 vibrational line intensities are initially larger than the final equilibrium values. The H E lines are excited by FUV fluorescence and by collisional excitation in warm gas. Most of the H 2 intensity is generated at a characteristic hydrogen column density of N _ 1021 cm -2, which corresponds to an FUV optical depth of unity caused by dust opacity. The time dependence of the H_ intensities arises because the initial abundances of H 2 at these depths is much higher than the equilibrium values, so that H E initially competes more effectively with dust in absorbing FUV photons. Considerable column densities of warm (T _ 1000) K H 2 gas can be produced by the FUV pumping of H E vibrational levels followed by col- lisional de-excitation, which transfers the energy to heat. In dense (n >_ 105 cm -3) gas exposed to high (G o 104) fluxes, this warm gas produces a 2-1 S(1)/l-0 S(1) H E line ratio of n0.1, which mimics the ratio found in shocked gas. In lower density regions, the FUV pumping produces a pure-fluorescent ratio of _0.5. We also present calculations of the time dependence of the atomic hydrogen column densities and of the intensities of O I 6300 A, S n 6730 A, Fe 1, 1.64 gin, and rotational OH and H20 emission. Potential applications include star-forming regions, clouds near active galactic nuclei, and planetary nebulae. We apply our models to five planetary nebulae and conclude that only BD + 30°3639 shows evidence of enhanced H 2 emission due to (high) nonequilibrium H 2 abundances.


Sequential binary hypothesis testing from temporally heterogeneously generated random samples with an active decision maker under budget constraints is considered. The problem is motivated from applications in crowdsourced classification and sequential detection from sensory data in IoT networks. In such applications, at each time slot, the source of data may vary from time to time, and the decision on the two possible hypotheses is to be made in a reliable, fast, and cost effective manner. In particular, the active decision maker either takes the current source and collects a sample, or skips the current source and waits for the next time slot. At the end of each time slot, the decision maker either decides to claim the decision on the two hypotheses, or continues to observe the data source for the next time slot. The goal is to design action taking and decision making policies so that the probability of error is minimized under two constraints: one on the total number of samples collected by the decision maker, and the other is on the total number of time slots. In this work, the available data source changes among $n$ possible ones i.i.d. over time, and the two constraints are in expectation. We establish the optimal error exponents of the two types of error probabilities as the two constraints tend to infinity with a fixed proportion. For achievability, a scheme that combines a sequential probability ratio test and an adaptive randomized policy that dynamically switches between two sets of accepting probabilities of the current source, according to the observed samples collected so far, is proposed. Matching upper bounds on the error exponents are developed using data processing inequality and Doob's Optional Stopping Theorem.


. Ultrastructural study of a case of benign chronic bullous dermatosis of childhood revealed the presence of melanocytes in the base of the blister. The melanocyte anchorage mechanism is described. The absence of labell ing by bullous pemphigoid antibodies on the base of the blister. where melanocytes persist. indicates that the antigens recognized by these autoantibodies do not exist in the melanocyte basal membrane-contact zones. This suggests that the chemical nature of the melanocyte der mal junction anchorage system is different from that of the hemidesmosomes.


Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) infection not only affects the respiratory system but also induces coagulation abnormalities and thrombosis. We report a middle-aged woman who presented during the Covid-19 pandemic with sudden-onset acute left upper limb ischaemia of short duration, with no history of dry cough, breathlessness or fever, and tested positive on TrueNAT for SARS-CoV-2. Later, she developed deep venous thrombosis of the right lower limb during isolation in the hospital.


From the 1st to 6th days of pregnancy in the rat, while the blastocyst is still in the fallopian tube, there is high peroxidase activity in the corpus luteum, the blastocyst, and there is high peroxidase activity in the endometrium. On day 8 of pregnancy, peroxidase activity in the corpus luteum begins to fall rapidly, and there is a sharp rise in the peroxidase activity of the uterine endometrium. In all these tissues an inverse relationship exists between peroxidase and ascorbate content. We suggest the involvement of the peroxidase-ascorbate system in the mechanism of the extended function of the corpus luteum during pregnancy and a role for free radicals in the process of implantation of the blastocyst in the uterus.


The influence of a warming climate on the occurrence of severe thunderstorms over Australia is, as yet, poorly understood. Based on methods used in the development of a climatology of observed severe thunderstorm environments over the continent, two climate models [Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Mark, version 3.6 (CSIRO Mk3.6) and the Cubic-Conformal Atmospheric Model (CCAM)] have been used to produce simulated climatologies of ingredients and environments favorable to severe thunderstorms for the late twentieth century (1980‐2000). A novel evaluation of these model climatologies against data from both the ECMWF Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) and reports of severe thunderstorms from observers is used to analyze the capability of the models to represent convective environments in the current climate. This evaluation examines the representation of thunderstorm-favorable environments in terms of their frequency, seasonal cycle, and spatial distribution, while presenting a framework for future evaluations of climate model convective parameters. Both models showed the capability to explain at least 75% of the spatial variance in both vertical wind shear and convective available potential energy (CAPE). CSIRO Mk3.6 struggled to either represent the diurnal cycle over a large portion of the continent or resolve the annual cycle, while in contrast CCAM showed a tendency to underestimate CAPE and 0‐6-km bulk magnitude vertical wind shear (S06). While spatial resolution likely contributes to rendering of features such as coastal moisture and significant topography, the distribution of severe thunderstorm environments is found to have greater sensitivity to model biases. This highlights the need for a consistent approachto evaluating convective parameters andseverethunderstorm environments in present-day climate: an example of which is presented here.


The glucose syrup is a product obtained from starch slurry through hydrolysis processes. The hazard analysis and crit ical control points is a management system which aims to assure the safety of the food products by the identif ication, controlling and prevention of microbiological, chemical and physical hazards. Even if the production process of the glucose syrup is aggressive and unfavourable to the multiplication of microorganisms, the food safety hazards still exist. This paper aims to review the international literature and the general guidelines of food safety assurance in order to optimize the HACCP system already implemented in a glucose syrup factory. Several control and critical control points were identified and for each one the specific monitoring procedure was elaborated. Also, several preliminary programs were identified and centralized in order to prevent the occurrence of hazards.


The epididymis of the male reproductive system is known to be involved in sperm maturation via the production of polypeptides, glycoproteins, surface proteins, enzymes and other factors. During the annual reproductive cycle, the epididymis of the lizard Eutropis carinata undergoes dramatic changes, both morphologically and biochemically, that occur in a well-organized sequence. The present study reveals the sequential changes that occur in the production and concentration of proteins in the epididymal luminal fluid throughout the annual reproductive cycle. A one-dimensional electrophoretic profile of the epididymal luminal proteins revealed a total of 18 bands in the regenerative phase, 22 bands during breeding and 17 bands in the post-breeding as well as regressed phases of the reproductive cycle. By two-dimensional electrophoresis, the protein complexes that are unique to the breeding phase were further resolved based on their pI and the molecular weight of each protein of the protein complex was determined. This is the first study to observe that proteins that are present during the reproductively inactive phase disappear during the reproductively active phase. The Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) test for protein profiles revealed the presence of proteins with a carbohydrate moiety. Certain enzymes, such as acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, and α -glucosidase, are highly sensitive to seasonal changes and their activity parallels the production of the epididymal proteins. This study provides evidence for androgen-dependent cyclical changes in the pattern of protein profiles and enzyme activity of the epididymal lumen in the lizard E. carinata .


[For the English abstract and full text of the article please see the attached PDF-File (English version follows Russian version)].ABSTRACT The article considers the problems of construction of high-speed combined motor roads and railways in Russia. The design of these objects requires special attention, since the object itself is a complex transport system, each element of which requires increased operational reliability. Therefore when designing combined roads a full accounting of natural and man-made impacts on engineering structures is requi red. On the basis of the studies, recommendations are given on the methodology of design works and geological surveys, the question is raised about the need to update the accompanying legal framework. Keywords: high-speed combined roads, engineering and geological surveys, design, construction, highway, railway, transport system.


The poor outcome of the Iraq War has highlighted the usefulness of 'reality-based' foreign policy. Yet the personal and professional consequences of dissent remain high in the US (and every other) diplomatic service. The Dissent Channel, currently underutilized, was designed to protect both the US State Department and its employees from bureaucratic retaliation for unwelcome real-world expertise. It should be reinvigorated. However, the unimpressive policy impact of dissent, whether through institutional channels or public resignations, makes it clear that effective dissent requires mobilizing the domestic political process as a force multiplier. Good dissent raises the political price of foreign policy blunders, and only through turning a bureaucratic system painfully against itself can blunders actually be prevented.


We study the gravitational collapse in modified gravitational theories. In particular, we analyze a general f(R) model with uniformly collapsing cloud of self-gravitating dust particles. This analysis shares analogies with the formation of large-scale structures in the early Universe and with the formation of stars in a molecular cloud experiencing gravitational collapse. In the same way, this investigation can be used as a first approximation to the modification that stellar objects can suffer in these modified theories of gravity. We study concrete examples, and find that the analysis of gravitational collapse is an important tool to constrain models that present late-time cosmological acceleration.


We aimed to unravel the events which favor the seed-rhizobacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain ALB629 (hereafter ALB629) interaction and which may interfere with the rhizobacterium colonization and growth on the spermosphere of common bean. Seed exudates from common bean were tested in vitro for ALB629 biofilm formation and bacterial growth. Furthermore, the performance of ALB629 on plant-related variables under drought stress was checked. Seed exudates (1 and 5% v/v) increased ALB629 biofilm formation. Additionally, the colony forming units for ALB629 increased both in culture and on the bean seed surface. The bean seed exudates up-regulated biofilm operons in ALB629 TasA and EpsD by ca. two and sixfold, respectively. The high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-coupled with MS showed that malic acid is present as a major organic acid component in the seed exudates. Seeds treated with ALB629 and amended with malic acid resulted in seedlings with a higher bacterial concentration, induced plant drought tolerance, and promoted plant growth. We showed that seed exudates promote growth of ALB629 and malic acid was identified as a major organic acid component in the bean seed exudates. Our results also show that supplementation of ALB629 induced drought tolerance and growth in plants. The research pertaining to the biological significance of seed exudates in plant–microbe interaction is unexplored field and our work shows the importance of seed exudates in priming both growth and tolerance against abiotic stress.


This chapter reports the development of a new quantitative surface characterisation system based on laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). This development involves: systemically studying and understanding the resolutions of a LSCM and its capacity; investigating appropriate hardware settings for acquiring suitable two-dimensional (2D) images; assess image processing techniques for eliminating noise and artefacts while constructing three-dimensional (3D) images for quantitative analysis; and developing quantitative image analysis techniques to characterise the required features of surfaces. This chapter will show examples of using a LSCM for image acquisition and the developed techniques for the surface characterisation of engineering surfaces and wear particles in engineering and bioengineering applications.


Transitional justice mechanisms have largely focused upon individual violations of a narrow set of civil and political rights and the provision of legal and quasi-legal remedies, typically truth commissions, amnesties and prosecutions. In contrast, this thesis highlights the significance of structural violence in producing and reproducing violations of socio-economic rights. The thesis argues that there is a need to utilise a different toolkit, and a different understanding of human rights, to that typically employed in transitional justice in order to remedy structural violations of human rights such as these. A critique of the scope of existing models of transitional justice is put forward and the thesis sets out a definition of transformative justice as expanding upon and providing an alternative to the transitional justice mechanisms typically employed in post-conflict and post-authoritarian contexts.
 Focusing on a case study of a network of social movements, nongovernmental organisations and trade unions working on land and housing rights in South Africa, the thesis asks whether networks of this kind can advance transformative justice. In answering this question the thesis draws upon the idea of political responsibility as a means of analysing and assessing network action. The existing literature on political responsibilities and transnational advocacy networks is interrogated and adapted to the largely domestic case study network.
 Based on empirical research on the case study network and an analysis of its political responsibilities the thesis finds that networks of this kind can contribute to transformative justice. They do this by providing space in which affected communities articulate their concerns over socio-economic rights issues. Providing a means by which existing structures and practices may be contested contributes to processes of transformative justice. However, based on the case study it is not certain that network action of this kind will necessarily lead to transformative outcomes.


The study focus on testing the determinants of competitive advantage of dates marketing from Saudi Arabia through multi- regression model based on Porter's diamond, which is determined the factor that affecting on competitiveness of nations in international marketing, such as factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, and company strategy; structure; and rivalry. Our study selected the most competitive countries for Saudi Arabia in marketing dates in its markets (like Egypt, Iraq, and Tunisia). The results of study showed that the four determinants are significant and R square is high more than 95% in all equations this is agree with our assumptions, but the signs parameters of these determinants are different from our expectations specially with the quantity of production in Saudi Arabia which appear negative with the value of export of dates from KSA, that is because the consumption of dates in domestic market is high and it absorbs the high quality kind of dates, which is needed for external market. We tested also the same determinants for the competitive countries (Egypt, Iraq, and Tunisia); we found the same results, except Egypt, which have huge domestic demand that is effect on demand conditions in this country. Our study suggested more studies are needed for related and supporting industries of dates with this crop, to save data base in this field, and give more attention for quality of dates, packaging and prices for Saudi exporting of dates.


Ion-optical properties, including magnification, dispersion, aberrations and resolution, of homogeneous magnetic sector fields have been re-examined for the case of a beam incident normally on the field boundary. The calculations have been presented in graphical form with a view to being readily useful to the designer.


Radio frequency interference (RFI) is an serious issue in radio astronomy. This paper proposes a U-Net network model with atrous convolution to detect RFI. Using the ability of convolutional neural networks to extract image features of RFI, and learning RFI distribution patterns, the detection model of the RFI is established. We use observational data containing real RFIs obtained by the Tianlai telescope to train the model so that the model can detect RFI. Calculate the probability of a data point being RFI pixel by pixel, and set a threshold. At the same time Dropout layer was added to avoid overfitting problems. If the predicted probability of a data point exceeds the threshold, it is considered that there is RFI, and if the predicted probability of a data point does not exceed the threshold, then it is considered that there is no RFI, so that the part of the image with RFI is flagged. Experimental results show that this approach can achieve satisfactory accuracy in the detection of radio observation images with a small amount of RFI.


The available literature suggests that a sizable proportion of patients placed on neuroleptics develop acute and subacute extrapyramidal side effects, including neuroleptic-induced parkinsonism (NIP). The presence of mild, spontaneous extrapyramidal signs in the elderly makes it difficult to accurately estimate the incidence of NIP in this subgroup of patients. We examined the incidence of NIP in 56 older, newly medicated, psychiatric patients. Fifteen age-comparable, unmedicated psychiatric patients underwent 2 assessments to estimate natural fluctuation in extrapyramidal signs, and 49 normal, healthy, elderly individuals were also studied to establish age-comparable norms for the assessment of parkinsonism. Potential pretreatment predictor variables included instrumental measures of motor function, age, cognitive status, and psychiatric diagnosis. After controlling for spontaneous parkinsonism, 32% of patients met strict criteria for NIP after receiving an average of 43 mg/day chlorpromazine equivalents of a typical neuroleptic. Factors contributing to the development of NIP included older age, instrumentally derived tremor, baseline extrapyramidal signs, type of neuroleptic, and severity of dementia. The use of risperidone in a small subsample was not associated with NIP. These findings indicate that even after controlling for spontaneous extrapyramidal signs at baseline and their natural fluctuations, there is a substantial risk of NIP in older patients who are treated with very low doses of typical neuroleptics.


Road traffic accidents are a major public health concern. In developing countries road traffic accidents are among the leading cause of death and injury. Ethiopia experiences the highest rate of such accidents in SubSaharan Africa. Out of all the accidents registered in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa accounts for 60% on average especially in Wolaita zone more 25% on average. The objective of this study is to identify factors that contribute to the occurrence of road traffic accidents leading to human injuries and death. For study purpose we employed ordinal logistic regression models to identify factors influencing traffic fatalities and injuries. Stratified sampling with proportional allocation and simple random sampling technique are used to select samples from recorded frame. The result of ordinal logistic regression analyses shows that drivers aged 18-30 years caused the largest number of accidents. Low educational background of drivers, absence and poor lighting along roads, wet surface and asphalt surface, morning and evening hours, places like offices, residential and commercial neighborhoods, automobiles and small taxis/Bajaj's were found to be associated with fatalities and serious injuries. We conclude that for effective and safe traffic management, the concerned transportation authorities can consider the above mentioned predictors as potential causes of accidents in their order of importance in order to take preventive measures.


Context: Knowledge about spatial patterns of human dimensions data within landscape ecology is nascent despite its importance in natural resources management decision-making. We explored this topic within the context of utility roadside forest vegetation management, a complex situation involving ecological, cultural, and aesthetic aspects of forests and reliable power.Objectives We applied spatial interpolation to investigate patterns of human attitudes toward exurban roadside vegetation management data across an exurban landscape.Methods Mail surveys (n = 1962) were used to collect social science data from residents in four areas of Connecticut, USA. For each area, three attitudes variables were evaluated for spatial autocorrelation using Moran's I statistic. Based on identified autocorrelation distance or scale, attitudes were interpolated using inverse distance weighting. Model validation of interpolated surfaces was completed using root mean square error.Results: Statistically significant spatial autocorrelation was present for five of 12 study area-attitude pairings at variable distances. Accuracy of interpolations also varied among study areas, suggesting that the choice of spatial scale of analysis influenced model results. Conclusions: Social processes within the exurban landscape were spatially heterogeneous and multi-scalar for the same variables in different locations, exemplifying the complexity of social processes within exurban land use. Interpolation assumptions often applied toward ecological studies did not work well for social processes studied in this analysis. Results demonstrated the importance of understanding spatial dimensions at which social processes operate and, therefore, may influence ecological outcomes of the roadside forest within the context of state-level natural resources management and policy.


Translational regulation is based on modulation of translational function, most often involving the initiation phase. Not surprisingly, regulation of protein synthesis differs markedly between bacteria and eukarya, reflecting the many differences between their respective mechanisms of initiation. Although the structures of all ribosomes share commonly conserved cores, which are responsible for the main processes of translational elongation, many of the molecular components involved in translational initiation are specific to the different phylogenetic domains. These include the initiation factors, the Shine-Dalgarno sequence, formylation of the methionyl initiator tRNA, the ability to reinitiate on polycistronic mRNAs, and so on. Thus, it is not at all clear how far our knowledge of 70S (prokaryotic) ribosome structure will go toward providing insight into the mechanisms of eukaryotic translational regulation. Nevertheless, this information will help to understand prokaryotic initiation, and at least provide a starting point for interpreting the emerging structures of eukaryotic ribosomes. Most of the steps of protein synthesis appear to be based on RNA, including the many interactions between mRNA, tRNA, and rRNA that occur during the elongation phase. The roles of the proteins, such as the elongation factors and ribosomal proteins, may be to refine underlying RNA-based mechanisms, optimizing the speed and accuracy of translation. Translational initiation, at least in part, is therefore likely to involve modulation of RNA-based processes by proteins such as the initiation factors. We are beginning to understand how some of these processes work, from several decades of biochemical and genetic studies combined with the more recent...


Summary form only given. Atmospheric pressure air dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) was used for remote treatment of bacteria. The DBD system consists of two water-cooled Al electrodes (75 mm in diameter), attached to dielectric (Al2O3) plates 115 mm times 115 mm times 1 mm with a thermal conducting paste. Operating frequency was fixed to 3.4 kHz, and the interelectrode gap was set to 3.6 mm. The biological sample was located in a separate compartment 5 cm away from the plasma region, and the air activated by the discharge was passing through that chamber at different flow rates. At this long distance from the discharge and at high pressure no charge particles could reach the bacterial sample. The temperature of the sample was kept below 320 K. At these operating conditions, the major reason for the fast bacterial deactivation is the generation of chemically active long-lived species (O3, NOx, etc.). We found that the killing rate of bacteria in this experimental setup is strongly dependent on the air flow rate: at low gas flow rate (1 l/min) the killing was not pronounced, while at higher flow rate (10 l/min) reduction of at least 5 orders of magnitude was observed after 180 sec. of remote plasma treatment. Furthermore, changes in the metabolic behavior of bacteria due to exposure to radicals generated by plasma were studied, using Biolog's GN2 plate, a 96-well microtiter plate containing 95 different carbon substrates, the composition of which is dominated by amino acids, carbohydrates, and carboxylic acids. Comparison between the sole-carbon-source-utilization profiles of the original bacteria (controls) and profiles of bacteria that survived and grew following exposure to the radicals will be presented


M-Healthcare system is used to get the better healthcare quality and to monitor the people who have chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. The wireless body sensor network is equipped in human body which in turn transmits the details to the smart phone via Bluetooth; it is then communicated to the healthcare server via mobile network. Here the opportunistic computing is used to provide a platform for distributed execution. It can be applied in healthcare emergency to maintain the data that are gathered from the body sensor network through the smart phone. The Personal Health Information data are processed in opportunistic computing whereas the data can be distributed among the servers based on the threatening condition of the medical user. The proposed integrated secure privacy preserving opportunistic computing (ISPOC) can improve the reliability and privacy of the PHI process of the medical user. This also helps to avoid the internal attackers.


This chapter argues that emotions are biocultural and historically contingent phenomena. Our emotional experience is inextricably linked to the words we use to describe our emotions, to the values we attach to them, and to the embodied cultural codes of comportment and expression. The chapter challenges the idea that we can meaningfully speak of "emotional development" in historical contexts in which "emotions" were not yet invented, and introduces the concept of "formation" as a historically sensitive alternative. This concept helps us grasp the historicity of growth and change in collectives, as well as in individuals' affective lives. Emotional formation is the process through which codes of emotions are learned and imparted, often unwittingly, through discourse and practice. In order to demonstrate the methodological utility of the concept, the chapter then exemplifies processes of emotional formation in children and youth in two different historical and geographical contexts.


Recently, new insecticides containing 3-chloropyridylmethyl group as a versatile building block have been developed, among which imidachloprid is a promising one. The synthesis of imidachloprid can use 6-Hydroxynicotinic acid, the first intermediate of the bacterial degradation of nicotinic acid, as a starting material. It is difficult to hydroxylate nicotinic acid at C6 position in a chemical synthesis. However, biotransformation can produce 6-hydroxynicotinic acid with industrial application possibility. Therefore, methods for large scale screening of 6-hydroxynicotinic acid-producing microorganisms are urgent. A high through-put screening method for 6-hydroxynicotinic acid transforming strains was established by determining 6-hydroxynicotinic acid based on 96-well Microplate-Multiskan Spectrum. The determination wavelength and the reference wavelength of 6-hydroxynicotinic acid were 251nm and 231nm respectively. Beer's law is obeyed in the range of 0.5-11 microg/mL (R2 = 0.9999) for measuring 6-hydroxynicotinic acid. The average recovery rate was 99.11%-100.81%. The results showed that there was no apparent difference between our microplate method and previous HPLC method in the detecting 6-hydroxynicotinic acid formation. The microplate method is simple, convenient and accurate. It has the potential for large scale (about 2000 - 5000 reactions/d) screening of 6-hydroxynicotinic acid-producing microorganisms.


Recently, several nonlinear spatial discretization methods have been developed for the linear Boltzmann transport equation. One of these is the highly accurate nonlinear corner-balance (NLCB) method, which yields a strictly positive solution. Because the discrete NLCB scheme is algebraically nonlinear, special iterative methods are needed to solve it efficiently. In this paper, we describe a fast new iterative algorithm, based on the nonlinear averaged flux method, for solving the discrete NLCB equations. We present numerical results that illustrate the efficiency of the new algorithm.


ABSTRACT When planning response activities for an oil spill, decision makers must react to a wide range of circumstances. Decisions will vary depending on the type of petroleum product spilled and the nature of the impacted habitat. Response decisions will be based on tradeoffs dealing with the environmental consequences of the spilled oil and the response method selected, as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of the method. A new manual, Marine Oil Spill Response Options for Minimizing Environmental Impacts, is being jointly produced by industry and government to facilitate decision making for both prespill planning and incident response. Guidance will be provided through matrix tables indicating the relative environmental consequences of the different response options used for various categories of oil in open water and shoreline habitats. This paper describes the contents of the new manual.


This paper describes a method to improve the cutoff capability of an ultra wideband (UWB) planar antenna at the out-of-band frequencies using a meandered slot. In the presented UWB design, aimed for operation between 3.1 and 10.6 GHz, the antenna is formed by a planar monopole and a ground plane both of half circle shape, with a meandered-shape slot made in the monopole. In order to assess the antenna's cutoff capability for the out-of-band frequency range (below 3.1 GHz and above 10.6 GHz), two antennas, without and with a slot, are designed and developed. The simulated and measured results show that the meandered slot improves the cutoff capability of the antenna by decreasing the return loss in the 23 GHz band from 610 to 1 dB, and in the 10.611 GHz from 11 to 5.5 dB. At the same time the antenna's performance in the passband is unaffected both in terms of the return loss and radiation pattern. It is also shown that the antenna is useful for the pulsed UWB applications as the measured impulse response of the antenna indicates a distortionless pulse transmission.


This article is an approach to the different acceptances of the concept social risk as well as the terms neglect and maladjustment, based on the reflections made by different authors and both statal and autonomous legal framework. It intends to clarify which are the criteria of values used in academic and professional ambits in order to understand the categories found in the fields of childhood and adolescence in difficult and precarious conditions. The strong relation between risk factors, neglect and margination has been analysed from this point of view. In the same way the interpretations that hold the minor himself responsible for his maladjustment are rejected and the author defends the necessity of a socio-educational intervention, which reduces the risk factors in the child's environment, and the need of paying close attention to the child's main role in this process.


A systematic investigation of the switching behavior and writeability characteristics of perpendicular magnetic oxide media was performed by varying the number of oxide layers as well as the anisotropy Ku gradient in multilayered oxides. The media switching behavior highly depends on the magnetic volume of laterally exchange-coupled cap layer as well as the vertical exchange coupling between oxide and cap layers. The media switching field is significantly reduced with incoherent switching mode. The media writeability is further enhanced by employing the multilayered oxides whose anisotropy values vary. Higher Ku graded oxide media exhibits improved resolution, sharper transition, and higher signal-to-noise ratio. An analytical 9-spin model is used to study the impact of anisotropy grading, intergranular and interlayer exchange coupling on writeability and noise performance. The 9-spin model is found to qualitatively agree with the experimental results. Both model and experiment indicate that optimal tuning of the media anisotropy and exchange to the head design is critical in attaining good recording performance.


The nearly full sequence description of many eukaryotic genomes, including the human genome has shown that more complex eukaryotic model organisms (mammals) have a much bigger genome than less complex eukaryotes (e.g. flies), although the increased 'biocomplexity' is not reflected by an equivalent increase in the number of protein coding genes (e.g. > or = 30,000 in humans vs. approximately 15,000 in flies). These results strongly suggest that biocomplexity is only in part regulated by overall gene number, but largely depends on combinatorial control triggering a vast number of gene expression patterns. In addition, mechanisms other than DNA sequence information have been used during evolution to better index and regulate the complex developmental programmes and key regulatory processes, such as gene expression, chromosome segregation and cell division of eukaryotic genomes. "We are more than the sum of our genes", and have just entered a 'post-genomic' era that promises to define more clearly the molecular basis of our identity. DNA methylation and modified histones provide fundamental mechanisms for the function of most, if not all, chromatin-templated processes and link alterations in chromatin structure to gene expression patterns, dosage compensation, x inactivation, imprinting, developmental programming of cell lineages, the plasticity of stem cells and to genome stability. The implications of epigenetic research for human biology and disease, including cancer are far-reaching. While the field of epigenetic is exploding, the study of the mechanisms by which it plays fundamental roles within the cell are only beginning to emerge. Overall, deciphering these mechanisms represents the goal of our work.


In this article, we propose a method to recognize the strong/weak property of the promoters based on the nucleotide sequence. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time to predict the strong/weak property of the promoters. First, position weight matrix (PWM) is used to evaluate the contributions of the nucleotides to the promoter strength. Then, the set-valued model is used to describe the relation between the nucleotide sequence and the strength. Considering the small-sample and imbalance features of the promoter data, we propose an ensemble approach to predict the strong/weak property of the promoters. The proposed method is used to recognize 60 [Formula: see text] promoters of Escherichia coli. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed method. This article provides a simple way for a biologist to evaluate the strong/weak feature of promoters from the nucleotide sequence.


Background: Eryngium caucasicum Trautv has antioxidant properties due to the presence of flavonoids and phenolic compounds. So, the present study was done to investigate the protective effects of Eryngium caucasicum Trautv extract on tricyclazole induced hepatotoxicity in mice. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 42 mice were divided into 6 groups including control, sham, tricyclazole (TCZ) and three experimental groups. The mice in the tricyclazole group, received 50 mg/kg TCZ via intraperitoneal injection and experimental groups 2, 3 and 4 received respectively 100,200and 400 mg/kg of extract via gavage for 4 weeks and 2 days per week. The sham group received only sterile water. At the end, serum levels of ALT, AST and ALP, serum concentration of albumin and total bilirubin were measured. Also, total phenolic compounds and flavonoids in the extract were measured. Data were analyzed by using ANOVA. Results: Tricyclazole increased serum levels of aminotransferase, phosphatase alkaline and total bilirubin and decreased serum concentration of albumin. But, treatment with extract decreased liver enzymes and bilirubin and increased levels of albumin (p<0.05). Amount of total phenolic compounds and the flavonoids were measured 91.16 mg/gr galicacid in extract and 84.48 mg/gr quercetin in extract, respectively. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that Eryngium caucasicum Trautv extract due to the presence of high phenolic compounds has protective effects on tricyclazole induced hepatotoxicity.


Groups of CFY rats were exposed to toluene inhalation as follows: both males and females to 1000 mg/m3 6 h daily five times a week for 6 months; only males to 3500 mg/h3 8 h daily every day for 6 months; and only males to 1500, 3000 and 6000 mg/m3 8 h daily for 4 weeks. Control groups were exposed to air inhalation under identical conditions. Toluene was found to inhibit growth but to cause no abnormal light-microscopical changes. Hepatic changes were: (i) Signs of compensation such as increased relative liver weight, SER proliferation; increased succinate dehydrogenase activity; a decrease in glycogen content; increased cytochrome P-450 and b5 concentration; increased hepatic aniline hydroxylase and aminopyrine N-demethylase activity. (ii) Non-specific subcellular effect was observed in a small number of hepatocytes, namely RER dilatation, separation of ribosomes, mitochondria of variable shapes, an increased number of autophagous bodies. As regards indicators of the hepatic function, BSP retention decreased, GOT and GPT activity did not change. The changes were observed in both sexes, were dose-dependent and reversible, and showed no--or only a slight--dependence on exposure time. Chronic toluene exposure has no specific hepatotoxic effect leading to chronic liver disease.


Purpose To compare different metrics and acquisition modes of fixation stability as a new visual function biomarker in a large cohort of patients with ABCA4-related Stargardt disease from the multicenter prospective ProgStar study. Methods Fixation was tested during a separate fixation exam and also dynamically during a sensitivity exam, using fundus-tracking microperimetry (Nidek MP-1). Fixation data were analyzed using the bivariate contour ellipse area (BCEA), the 2/4 degree method, and the Fujii classification. Results In a total of 235 patients, the mean BCEA was larger when measured during the sensitivity exam (418 eyes; 12.5 vs. 4.6 deg2 during the fixation task in 427 eyes). Correlations between the two tests were generally weak. Fixation stability during the sensitivity test was significantly correlated with visual acuity. Comparing the BCEA values and the corresponding Fujii categories for these eyes revealed ranges of overlap where an eye with one defined BCEA value can fall into each of the three Fujii categories. Conclusions Patients may have limited ability to fixate over defined time periods, which leads to significant differences between shorter and longer measurements of fixation stability. The most appropriate way to use this functional biomarker appears to be using continuous metrics for fixation stability, such as the BCEA, during a macular sensitivity test.


The development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) has significantly been advanced in the past decade given the improvement of payloads, linkers and conjugation methods. In particular, linker design plays a critical role in modulating ADC stability in the systemic circulation and payload release efficiency in the tumors, which thus affects ADC pharmacokinetic (PK), efficacy and toxicity profiles. Previously, we have investigated key linker parameters such as conjugation chemistry (e.g., maleimide vs. disulfide), linker length and linker steric hindrance and their impacts on PK and efficacy profiles. Herein, we discuss our perspectives on development of integrated strategies for linker design to achieve a balance between ADC stability and payload release efficiency for desired efficacy in antigen-expressing xenograft models. The strategies have been successfully applied to the design of site-specific THIOMABTM antibody-drug conjugates (TDCs) with different payloads. We also propose to conduct dose fractionation studies to gain guidance for optimal dosing regimens of ADCs in pre-clinical models.


Hypotheses on trophic dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems fall into two major categories: those in which plants are assumed to be invulnerable to their consumers and those in which the build‐up of plant biomass is assumed to require top‐down control of folivores. The hypothesis of exploitation ecosystems (EEH) belongs to the latter category and focuses particularly on the consequences of the high energetic costs of maintenance of endotherms. Carnivorous endotherms require relatively high prey densities in order to break even. Moreover, they are dependent on folivorous prey during the limiting season, at least at high latitudes. The endotherm branch of the grazing web is thus predicted to collapse from three‐link trophic dynamics (carnivores → folivores → plants → inorganic resources) to two‐link dynamics (folivores → plants → inorganic resources) along gradients of decreasing primary productivity. Consequently, the vegetation of cold and unproductive areas is predicted to be under intense winter grazing pressure, which prevents the accumulation of aboveground plant biomass and excludes erect woody plants. In the most extreme habitats (e.g., polar deserts and their high alpine counterparts), even folivorous endotherms are predicted to be absent, and the scanty vegetation is predicted to be structured by preemptive competition. Within temperature‐determined productivity gradients, EEH is corroborated by biomass patterns, by patterns in the structure and dynamics of carnivore, folivore, and plant communities, and by experimental results. The general idea of top‐down trophic dynamics is supported for other autotroph‐based systems, too, but the relevance and sufficiency of the energy constraint in explaining patterns in trophic dynamics appears to be variable. Moreover, critical empirical evidence for or against the capacity of folivorous insects to regulate plant biomass has not yet been obtained. Another open question is the ability of boreal and temperate browsers, evolved in productive environments with intense predation pressure and abundance of forage, to prevent the regeneration of the least palatable tree species. There are, thus, many open questions waiting to be answered and many exciting experiments waiting to be conducted.


We report a tomographic absorption spectroscopy (TAS) study of water vapor transport in a laminar jet issuing into the ambient. The jet was generated using compressed dry air that was straightened by a honeycomb and a smooth contraction nozzle. A TAS scheme using the water vapor in the ambient as absorbing species and the absorption line near 1368.598 nm was proposed to study the H2O transport in the laminar jet with an inverse concentration gradient. One-dimensional tomography was conducted at various heights above the nozzle, and the results were validated by the predictions from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Particularly, the variations in the concentration gradient in the shear layer at different heights were captured. The 2D distribution of water concentration in the dry laminar jet was obtained experimentally. The present study shows that TAS has great potential in the research of mass transfer and scalar field of gaseous flows.


Epidural analgesia is the gold standard for the provision of pain relief during labor. Conventional epidural analgesia is often associated with a profound motor block, the need for continuous fetal heart rate monitoring, intravenous infusions, the need for bladder catheterization and in general with a parturient unable to mobilize. This can occasionally lead to unfavorable obstetric outcomes, such as a prolonged duration of the first and second stage of labor, an increased incidence of instrumental delivery and an increased need for augmentation of labor with oxytocin infusions. The option for the parturient of being mobile during labor is increasingly being offered in many obstetric units with the advent of new epidural adjuvant drugs and novel epidural delivery systems. This way, very low concentration local anaesthetic solutions can be used, which reduces the total dose of local anaesthetic solution administered. This allows the preservation of lower limb motor function in the parturient, facilitating maternal ambulation during labor. the earliest version of a 'walking epidural' was first described in the 1990s and consisted of a combined spinal epidural (CSE) technique with an initial intrathecal administration of opioid only (with or without a small amount of local anaesthetic), followed by a continuous epidural infusion. However, nowadays, 'mobile' epidural techniques can be achieved without an intrathecal opioid injection (with the associated drawbacks, such as the complexity of the CSE technique, the risks of postdural puncture headache, infection, fetal bradycardia and maternal pruritus), with an epidural-only technique. Ambulatory epidural techniques allow parturients to safely stand and walk during labor. This creates a high degree of maternal satisfaction and increases the parturient's sense of autonomy. It is thought that the ability to ambulate, even if ambulation is not eventually accomplished, improves the labor and birth experience. Moreover, parturients usually dislike the dense sensory and motor block associated with conventional epidural analgesia. Additionally, even though it was considered initially that the possibility of postural hypotension with a standing parturient would complicate attempts at ambulation, it has in fact been shown that maternal blood pressure is more stable in the ambulant parturient due to a reduced incidence of aortocaval compression in the standing parturient as compared to the parturient confined in bed. The lower incidence of aortocaval compression can also result in a reduction of untoward fetal heart rate changes, improved APGAR scores and an improved umbilical cord gas profile in the neonate. Additional advantages of ambulatory techniques include a reduction in the possibility of deep venous thrombosis with ambulation and a reduction in the need for urinary catheterization as compared to conventional epidural techniques, since the retention of normal bladder function and sensation of voiding with low concentration solutions make urinary instrumentation unnecessary. Regarding the effect of maternal ambulation on the course of labor, it is believed that an upright position during the course of labor might potentially decrease the incidence of dystocia by improving fetal descent through the effect of gravity and can also lead to an enhancement of pelvic diameter and increased coordination of uterine contraction frequency and intensity. Studies have shown that there may be a significant reduction in instrumental or caesarean delivery rate with low dose CSE followed by low concentration epidural infusion or by low concentration epidural infusion only, possibly as a result of ambulation. the possibility though that this can also be due to the lower concentration of solutions used cannot be completely ruled out. In conclusion, ambulatory techniques in the labor ward are a reasonable option with a variety of distinct benefits and can be used without jeopardising the safety of the mother and the fetus. References Preston R. Walking epidurals for labor analgesia: Do they benefit anyone?Can J Anaesth 2010;57:103–106. Stewart S, Fernando R. Maternal ambulation during labor. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol 2011;24:268–273. Wilson MJ, MacArthur C, Cooper GM, et al. Ambulation in labour and delivery mode: a randomised controlled trial of high-dose vs mobile epidural analgesia. Anaesthesia 2009;64:266–272. Wilson MJ, Macarthur C, Shennan A; COMET Study Group (UK). Urinary catheterization in labour with high-dose vs mobile epidural analgesia: a randomized controlled trial. Br J Anaesth 2009;102:97–103. de la Chapelle A, Carles M, Gleize V, et al. Impact of walking epidural analgesia on obstetric outcome of nulliparous women in spontaneous labour. Int J Obstet Anesth 2006;15:104–108.


Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is, through its ability to directly visualize inflammatory changes in bone and soft tissues, the most sensitive imaging modality for recognizing early spine and sacroiliac joint changes in inflammatory back pain (IBP) and axial spondyloarthritis. MRI findings indicating active disease in the sacroiliac joints (sacroiliitis) include juxta-articular bone marrow oedema, and enhancement of the bone marrow and the joint space after contrast medium administration, while visible chronic changes include bone erosions, sclerosis, periarticular fatty tissue accumulation, bone spurs and ankylosis. Typical lesions of the spine, which indicate active disease, are spondylitis, spondylodiscitis, and arthritis of the facet, costovertebral and costotransverse joints. Structural changes include bone erosions, focal fat infiltration, bone spurs and/or ankylosis frequently occur. Enthesitis is also common, and may affect the interspinal and supraspinal ligaments and the interosseous ligaments in the retro-articular space of the sacroiliac joints. Some patients also have disease manifestations in peripheral joints and entheses, and these can be visualized by MRI as in other diseases [1,2]. MRI has resulted in a major improvement in the evaluation and management of patients with IBP and suspected SpA. Firstly, it permits earlier diagnosis of SpA [3-5]. Diagnosis was previously dependent on presence of bilateral moderate or unilateral severe radiographic sacroiliitis, as part of the modified New York criteria for AS [6]. This frequently delayed the diagnosis by 7-10 years [7]. The current Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society (ASAS) criteria only takes MRI into consideration in their definition [4]. However, recent data indicate that inclusion of structural changes (bone erosion) in the definition of a "positive MRI" would increase the sensitivity without decreasing the specificity [8-9]. Thus, it would be relevant for ASAS to revisit the definition of a "positive MRI". ASAS has also recently developed a proposal for a positive MRI of the spine in SpA [10]. MRI is also useful for management of patients with SpA, as MRI can provide objective evidence of currently active inflammation in patients with SpA [1,2]. Until the introduction of MRI, disease activity assessment was restricted to patient-reported outcomes, such as the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis disease activity index (BASDAI) and functional index (BASFI) [11], because disease activity could not be assessed in a sensitive manner by biochemical (mainly C- reactive protein (CRP)) or physical evaluation [12,13]. Finally, recent data have documented that vertebral corner inflammation has predictive value with subsequent development of radiographic syndesmophytes [14-16]. Hermann et al. Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol 2004; 18: 881-907. Maksymowych et al. Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol 2006; 20: 507-19. Rudwaleit et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2009; 68: 777-83. Rudwaleit et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2009; 68: 1520-7. Sieper et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2009; 68 Suppl 2: ii1-44. van der Linden et al Arthritis Rheum 1984; 27: 361-8. Feldtkeller et al. Rheumatol Int 2003; 23: 61-6. Weber U et alArthritis Rheum 2010; 62(10):3048-58. Weber U et al. Arthritis Care Res 2010; 62: 1763-71. Hermann KG et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2012; 71(8):1278-88. Garrett S et al. J Rheumatol 1994; 21: 2286-91. Spoorenberg A et al. J Rheumatol 1999; 26: 980-4. Wanders AJ et al. Arthritis Rheum 2004; 51: 1-8. Baraliakos et al. Arthritis Res Ther 2008; 10: R104. Maksymowych et al. Arthritis Rheum 2009; 60: 93-102. Pedersen et al. J Rheumatol 2011; 38:1349-54 Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Intralaminar and translaminar fracture behaviour of unidirectional carbon fibre reinforced composite laminate is investigated numerically and experimentally in the present work. Experimental determination of fracture properties associated with failure mode along the fibre direction is very important for material characterization and numerical study. The experimental fracture toughness testing is performed on compact tension (CT) specimens of unidirectional CFRP laminate manufactured by laying up 26 layers of prepreg (Hexply 914/34%/UD 160/AS4-12K). The Mode I intralaminar and translaminar fracture tests have been performed using a universal testing machine (UTM) with a loading rate of 0.1 mm/min. Fractured surfaces have been examined using scanning electrode microscope (SEM). A NURBS-based Extended Isogeometric Analysis (XIGA) code has been developed for fracture analysis of orthotropic laminate. The XIGA code is capable of an efficient analysis of crack problems using non-uniform rational B-spline basis functions for both the solution field and geometric description of the model. The level set approach is used to track the crack geometry. Crack faces are enriched by Heaviside enrichment function and crack tip singularity is captured by asymptotic crack tip enrichment functions. The domain-based interaction integral method is used to extract the stress intensity factor values. The numerical results for compact tension (CT) specimen shows a good agreement with experimental results. In case of experiment as well as numerical modelling, the initiation of crack propagation is estimated with accuracy.


It has been suggested that representations for action, elicited by an object's visual affordance, serve to potentiate motor components (such as a specific hand) to respond to the most afforded action. In three experiments, participants performed speeded left-right button press responses to an imperative target superimposed onto a prime image of an object suggesting a visual affordance oriented to left or right visual space. The time course of response activation was measured by varying the onset time between the prime and target. Long-lasting and gradually developing correspondence effects were found between the suggested affordance of the prime and the side of response, with little effect of response modality (hands uncrossed, hands crossed, or foot response). We conclude that visual affordances can evoke an abstract spatial response code, potentiating a wide variety of lateralized responses corresponding with the affordance.


Stabilities of ITO-containing and ITO-free organic solar cells were investigated under simulated AM 1.5G illumination and under concentrated natural sunlight. In both cases ITO-free devices exhibit high stability, while devices containing ITO show degradation of their photovoltaic performance. The accelerated degradation under concentrated sunlight (of up to 20 suns) in ITO-containing devices was found to be reversible. Dark exposure of degraded samples can partly restore performance. A possible underlying mechanism for such a phenomenon is discussed.


Large-scale interventions are still the dominant approach in dealing with historic cities in Iran; however, during the last decade there has been a shift towards integrated and decentralised policies and a series of locally based projects were initiated across the country. Political and ideological forces, population growth as well as cultural and heritage consensus are influencing approaches towards urban conservation and heritage management constantly. This paper opens up the urban intervention approaches in the historic core of Shiraz and provides a deeper insight and better understanding of heritage management and regeneration plans in Shiraz as a representative of historic Iranian cities.,The study explains and analyses major urban transformations in Shiraz. The main approaches towards historical city core are identified and the mechanism that shaped these approaches in national and local scale is discussed. This investigation primarily uses qualitative data sources. The study relies on multiple sources of evidence which result in the reliability and validity of the investigation. Therefore, primary sources include original documents, maps and photographs published in documentation for the projects, published and unpublished materials and archives about case study city and secondary sources such as interviews with consultants and authorities as well as residents have been used.,This paper provides a more detailed explanation about several interrelated factors that affected the process of decision and policy making, planning and implementation of city centre interventions during the last two decades.,This paper anticipates consequent trends in heritage management in Shiraz and recommends further research areas. The paper can be used to develop a more practical set of recommendations for urban heritage management in Iran.


United States, by Frederic L. Huidekoper, announced as forthcoming by the Macjmillan Company will present the results of years of study by one of the foremost military experts in the United States. Economic Aspects of the War by Prof. Edwin J. Clapp (Yale University Press) contains a strong protest against Great Britains' infringements of our rights as a neutral power on the high seas. The World's Highway, by Norman Angell (G. H. Doran Company), discusses the part the United States must play in effecting the neutralization of the sea. The United States and the Next War, by George Lauferti (Athenaeum Press) follows the lines of Usher's Pan-Americanism in predicting that whichever side wins America may have to fight the victor.


In discriminative training methods, the objective function is designed to improve the performance of automatic speech recognition with reference to correct labels using a single system. On the other hand, system combination methods, which output refined hypotheses by a majority voting scheme, need to build multiple systems that generate complementary hypotheses. This paper aims to unify the both requirements within a discriminative training framework based on the mutual information criterion. That is, we construct complementary models by optimizing the proposed objective function, which yields to minimize the mutual information with base systems' hypotheses, while maximize that with correct labels, at the same time. We also analyze that this scheme corresponds to weight the training data of a complementary system by considering correct and error tendencies in the base systems, which has close relationship with boosting methods. In addition, the proposed method can practically construct complementary systems by simply extending a lattice-based parameter update algorithm in discriminative training, and can adjust the degree of how much the complementary system outputs are different from base system ones. The experiments on highly noisy speech recognition ('The 2 nd CHiME challenge') show the effectiveness of the proposed method, compared with a conventional system combina


Abstract. Flooding represents one of the most severe natural disasters threatening the
development of human society. A model that is capable of predicting the
hydrological responses in watershed with management practices during flood
period would be a crucial tool for pre-assessment of flood reduction
measures. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a semi-distributed
hydrological model that is well capable of runoff and water quality modeling
under changed scenarios. The original SWAT model is a long-term yield model.
However, a daily simulation time step and a continuous time marching limit
the application of the SWAT model for detailed, event-based flood simulation.
In addition, SWAT uses a basin level parameter that is fixed for the whole
catchment to parameterize the unit hydrograph (UH), thereby ignoring the
spatial heterogeneity among the sub-basins when adjusting the shape of the
UHs. This paper developed a method to perform event-based flood simulation on
a sub-daily timescale based on SWAT2005 and simultaneously improved the UH
method used in the original SWAT model. First, model programs for surface
runoff and water routing were modified to a sub-daily timescale.
Subsequently, the entire loop structure was broken into discrete flood events
in order to obtain a SWAT-EVENT model in which antecedent soil moisture and
antecedent reach storage could be obtained from daily simulations of the
original SWAT model. Finally, the original lumped UH parameter was refined
into a set of distributed ones to reflect the spatial variability of the
studied area. The modified SWAT-EVENT model was used in the Wangjiaba
catchment located in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River in China. Daily
calibration and validation procedures were first performed for the SWAT model
with long-term flow data from 1990 to 2010, after which sub-daily
(Δt=2 h) calibration and validation in the SWAT-EVENT model
were conducted with 24 flood events originating primarily during the flood
seasons within the same time span. Daily simulation results demonstrated that
the SWAT model could yield very good performances in reproducing streamflow
for both whole year and flood period. Event-based flood simulation results
simulated by the sub-daily SWAT-EVENT model indicated reliable performances,
with ENS values varying from 0.67 to 0.95. The SWAT-EVENT
model, compared to the SWAT model, particularly improved the simulation
accuracies of the flood peaks. Furthermore, the SWAT-EVENT model results of
the two UH parameterization methods indicated that the use of the distributed
parameters resulted in a more reasonable UH characterization and better model
fit compared to the lumped UH parameter.


We report, for the first time, a prediction of the line shapes that would be observed in the (129)Xe nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum of xenon in the cages of clathrate hydrates. We use the dimer tensor model to represent pairwise contributions to the intermolecular magnetic shielding tensor for Xe at a specific location in a clathrate cage. The individual tensor components from quantum mechanical calculations in clathrate hydrate structure I are represented by contributions from parallel and perpendicular tensor components of Xe-O and Xe-H dimers. Subsequently these dimer tensor components are used to reconstruct the full magnetic shielding tensor for Xe at an arbitrary location in a clathrate cage. The reconstructed tensors are employed in canonical Monte Carlo simulations to find the Xe shielding tensor component along a particular magnetic field direction. The shielding tensor component weighted according to the probability of finding a crystal fragment oriented along this direction in a polycrystalline sample leads to a predicted line shape. Using the same set of Xe-O and Xe-H shielding functions and the same Xe-O and Xe-H potential functions we calculate the Xe NMR spectra of Xe atom in 12 distinct cage types in clathrate hydrates structures I, II, H, and bromine hydrate. Agreement with experimental spectra in terms of the number of unique tensor components and their relative magnitudes is excellent. Agreement with absolute magnitudes of chemical shifts relative to free Xe atom is very good. We predict the Xe line shapes in two cages in which Xe has not yet been observed.


evaluation design; 'Research Findings' - determinants of continuation in school, achievement determinants, policy costs and benefits, and EDURURAL's effects; 'Significance' - results, direct policy implications and lessons for schooling Major with


Discrete event simulation (DES) has been used in academia to solve complex construction management problems for decades. However, it has not gained widespread adoption within the industry. A considerable effort to increase the acceptance of DES in construction has been carried out. However, it has been heavily focused on implementing DES models, neglecting both a detailed conceptualization of the real system and an understanding of stakeholders' requirements. Conceptual modeling (CM) is a fundamental step in DES which helps build stakeholders' trust in the resulting model. We argue, then, that it is vital to develop a CM framework for the construction domain to improve the acceptance of DES in the industry. We propose a domain-specific CM framework for construction application. This framework will be formulated to suit the complex environment of construction projects.


The authors have introduced a class of K-algebras in [1] and have further extended its scope of study in literature [2, 3, 4, 5]. In this paper, we introduce the notion of K-homomorphism of K-algebras, and investigate some of their properties and structure. Mathematics Subject Classification: 06F35


The work presented in this thesis is concerned with the growth and development of malignancy. Such development can be thought of in terms of cell proliferation and associated morphological developments as well as in terms of active migration of malignant cells. Consequently this thesis can broadly be divided into two parts, one concerning growth dynamics in tumours, and the other active invasion of tissue by the malignancy. The first part of this thesis is concerned with the development of growth induced stresses within a multi-cell tumour spheroid (MCS), and associated structural changes. In particular, the growth and development of necrotic regions within a MCS is studied. Traditionally necrotic regions are considered to arise from the accumulation of necrotic cell debris, and assuch form under chemically adverse conditions e.g. in hypoxic or nutrient deficient regions. However, it has been observed that the connection between such conditions and necrosis formation is not so simple. In particular, necrosis formation can precede or follow hypoxia. Therefore, in this thesis we examine a novel mechanism for necrosis formation, by allowing necrotic regions to arise under conditions of adverse mechanical stress. We consequently develop a model for spheroid growth in which necrosis forms in areas of mechanical tension but does not assume this formation a priori, and show that under the right conditions such a spheroid will support necrosis formation pre-hypoxia. Models in which the MCS is composed of a viscous, an elastic, and a viscoelastic material are all considered, and it is concluded that both biologically and mathematically a tumour spheroid is best modelled as a viscoelastic medium. The second part of this thesis is concerned with active migration of cells across a substratevia haptotaxis, and the application of this motility mechanism to glioma invasion of the central nervous system. A novel model for receptor mediated haptotaxis is developed which allows adhesion, proteolysis of extra-cellular matrix (ECM) components and subsequent migration of a cell to be modelled in a biochemically accurate manner. This single cell framework is then used to derive an average cell continuum velocity and flux, and these in turn are used to examine cell population migration via receptor mediated haptotaxis. Under appropriate limits the model presented is shown to reduce to a well known class of models, and as such provides a sound biochemical basis for these previous modelling attempts. Invasion of glioma cells into the central nervous system is studied with particular attention being paid to the effects of glioma-host interactions in modulation of migration velocityand interface shape. It is concluded that, under certain circumstances, an up-regulation ofpro-migratory ECM components by the brain can inhibit glioma migration by slowing cell migration speed, and by sharpening the glioma-host interface. The phenomena of interfacesharpening is seen as important, since gliomas often show diffuse boarders which present problems for their surgical resection within reasonable limits. The model outlined therefore suggests potential avenues for pre-surgical treatment which may prove very fruitful.


Abstract This article explores the significance of the nose in daily human life. It presents examples of how a person's nose may dominate his/her life, how it is used as a nickname, considered an expression of his/her character, and may be a symbol of pride and wisdom. Also, examples from the literature and the arts are discussed. Cutting off the nose is the most severe humiliation as it deprives a person from his/her identity. In some cases in history the nose has been a means of identification.


In the Standard Model (SM) mesons are considered hadrons like baryons and they have therefore a quark structure. Moreover they are considered bosons because of the exclusive property in the world of massive elementary particles to have integer and equal to zero spin. In this paper we propose both a critical reading of these properties and a new classification for mesons based on the Non-Standard Model (NSM) in which they have a leptonic and electrodynamic nature. The introduction then of the Principle of Decay in the new NSM involves a different classification of elementary particles and at the same time different fundamental physical properties like the spin. In this treatise the complex structure of mesons isn' t considered because their hadron nature comes down and because of their instability we introduce the energy new particle called meson neutrino. Moreover we identify a different physical behaviour between charged mesons and neutral mesons and let us propose for neutral mesons a physical structure compatible with the positronium.


SARS-CoV-2 that causes Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first known in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of common hepatic, renal, and cardiac diagnostic markers in hospitals in patients with severe COVID 19. In this study, 259 patients with symptoms of severe COVID-19 and a positive RT-PCR assay of nasopharyngeal samples were enrolled. Inclusion criteria are positive for COVID-19 patients at the diagnosis of an infectious disease physician. Diagnostic markers of liver, kidney, and heart were evaluated by age and gender. In this study, 48.3% of patients severe with COVID-19 were male, and 51.7% were female. The mean of markers such as LDH, Direct Bilirubin, SGOT, SGPT, D-dimer was higher than normal, which was observed in men more than women. The mean of CK-MB also was higher than normal, which was observed in women more than men. The highest mean of markers was seen in the older ages. The mean of BUN was observed in the age range of 55-64 years and above 65 years above normal. But the mean of CPK, creatinine, potassium and alkaline phosphatase were normal. The results of the present study showed an increase in the level of some of the most important diagnostic markers of hepatic, renal, and cardiac in patients with COVID 19. This increase was greater in some markers, including SGOT, SGPT, Direct bilirubin, LDH, D-dimer, in men than in women, and more in older patients.


The estimation of the lecture is conducted as an unimitation method of activation of educational-cognitive activity of students of medical higher educational establishments. The psychological and pedagogical requirements are distinguished to realization of lectures. The results of questionnaire of teachers and students are analyzed on efficiency of introduction of presenting of new forms of the lecture material.


We report magnetic resonance (MR) findings of two unusual cases of peripheral T-cell lymphoma, one initially presenting as a soft-tissue mass in the neck and the other in the foot. MR imaging provides better tissue contrast and lesion delineation than CT. However, MR signal characteristics cannot differentiate this lymphoma from other soft-tissue tumours. Although it is rare, peripheral T-cell lymphoma should be included in the differential diagnosis of a soft-tissue mass.


DRAM memory systems require periodic recharging to avoid loss of data from leaky capacitors. These refresh operations consume energy and reduce the duration of time for which the DRAM banks are available to service memory requests. Higher DRAM density and 3D-stacking aggravate the refresh overheads, incurring even higher energy and performance costs. 3D-stacked DRAM and other emerging on-chip High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) technologies which are widely considered to be changing the landscape of memory hierarchy in future heterogeneous and many-core architectures could suffer significantly from refresh overheads. Such large on-chip memory, when used as a very large last-level cache, however, provides opportunities for addressing the refresh overheads. In this work, we propose MicroRefresh, a scheme for almost eliminating the refresh overhead in DRAM caches. MicroRefresh eliminates unwanted refresh of recently accessed DRAM pages; it takes advantage of the relative latency difference between on-chip and off-chip DRAM and achieves a fine balance of usage of system resources by aggressively opportunistically eliminating refresh of older DRAM pages. It tolerates any resulting increase in cache misses by leveraging the under-utilized main memory bandwidth. The resulting organization eliminates the energy and performance overhead of refresh operations in the DRAM cache to achieve overall performance and energy improvement. Across both 4-core and 8-core workloads, MicroRefresh eliminates 92% the refresh energy consumed in the baseline periodic refresh mechanism. Further this is accompanied by performance improvements of upto 10%, with average improvements of 3.9% and 3.4% in 4-core and 8-core respectively.


The building sector, the largest consumer of the United States primary energy, has been seeking to take necessary actions to reduce energy use of buildings while keeping them functional and comfortable. As a result, building designers are increasingly expected to improve the energy performance and reduce the carbon footprint of their building models in the design process. Higher energy savings opportunities are available during early stages of design; however, energy performance assessments are typically done during the later phases due to the lack of the easy-to-use and efficient tools that could help architects explore design alternatives. In this paper, we introduce a new Formbased Energy Performance Regression Model (FEPRM) that is capable of real time quantification of the building energy performance based on the form variation in a building information modeling (BIM) tool. FEPRM generates a set of models and simulations based on the project specifiations and provides a seamless energy performance feedback to the designer for decision making during the conceptual design process using a regression-based model. In this paper, we investigated the use of FEPRM on 3 different cases with different AHSRAE climate zones to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed method. The comparison between actual simulation and predicted energy performance is provided to study the accuracy of the FEPRM; moreover, a set of extended test cases are also described.


We put forth an experimental simulation of a stroboscopic two-stroke thermal engine in the IBMQ processor. The system consists of a quantum spin chain connected to two baths at their boundaries, prepared at different temperatures using the variational quantum thermalizer algorithm. The dynamics alternates between heat and work strokes, which can be separately designed using independent quantum circuits. The results show good agreement with theoretical predictions, showcasing IBMQ as a powerful tool to study thermodynamics in the quantum regime, as well as the implementation of variational quantum algorithms in real-world quantum computers. It also opens the possibility of simulating quantum heat transport across a broad range of chains geometries and interactions.


This working paper explores the role of the future as a space of scientific exchange and dialogue in the Cold War period. We argue that in East and West the governance of the future were understood as both intellectual and technical problem that, importantly, challenged existing notions of the nature of liberal democratic and communist political regimes. Casting the future as a governable sphere led to the development of new forms of scientific governance which sought explicitly to depoliticize the future and turn it into a new transnational domain of technocratic politics. The paper focuses on the parallels and exchanges among American and Soviet futurologists. East-West collaboration was essential to the invention of the future as a governable technoscientific space, situated beyond political dispute.


Background:  Dementia is a growing public health concern; there are currently 750 000 people living with the disease in the UK. By 2025 this number is expected to rise to over a million with costs estimated at over £20 billion per annum (Alzheimer's society, 2010). Diet is considered to play an important role in the development of cognitive impairment with recent research now identifying a role for B vitamins (Kado et al., 2005). The aim of this observational study was to investigate the association between B-vitamin status (in particular, vitamin B12 and folate) and cognitive function in older people.

Methods:  This study was conducted as part of a larger ongoing observational study of older Irish adults; Trinity Ulster Department of Agriculture (TUDA) study. Patients who were not born in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland and those with severe dementia were excluded. A non-fasting blood sample (50 mL) was collected; routine clinical markers of health were measured as well as B vitamin status [serum folate, red cell folate (RCF), serum B12 and holotranscobalamin (holoTC)]. Cognitive function was measured using various cognitive performance tests including Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) and Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Depression and anxiety were measured using the Centre of Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale respectively to adjust for these possible confounders of cognitive performance. Data were analysed statistically using independent t tests, chi-squared tests and Pearsons correlations. Ethical approval was granted for the recruitment of patients over the age of 60 years from outpatient clinics and GP practices within two health trusts in Northern Ireland.

Results:  The cohort (n = 100) was split for analysis purposes into those aged 60–69 years (n = 70) and those aged ≥70 years (n = 30). There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of cognitive scores or B vitamin status (some of the results are shown in Table 1). No significant associations were found between B vitamin status and cognitive scores in the group as a whole or in the younger age group. However, in those aged 70 years or older, folate status (RCF concentrations) was found to be significantly associated with MMSE scores (r = 0.370, P = 0.048) while the association between RCF and RBANS was approaching significance (r = 0.358, P = 0.057) in those aged 70 or older. No associations were found between vitamin B12 and cognitive scores in either of the age sub-groups.

Table 1.   Differences between those aged 60–69 years and those aged ≥70 years in terms of cognitive scores & B vitamin status   Aged 60–69 years Aged ≥70 years P value
 Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
RBANS 86.4 (12.8) 82.5 (14.1) 0.169
MMSE 27.5 (2.7) 27.5 (3.2) 0.822
RCF (nM) 1092.2 (96.9) 1099.0 (96.0) 0.737

Discussion:  The results are in line with the current literature (Tettamanti et al., 2006). Some observational data have also found associations between vitamin B12 and cognitive impairment; however, this was not the case with the present study. These findings may suggest a possible role for folate (but not B12) in certain types of dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease, as status was not associated with FAB which is used mainly in the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia.

Conclusion:  Future research is warranted to confirm these associations in larger cohort trials involving two time points which will pave the way for randomised controlled trials to examine cause-and-effect relationships between B-vitamin status and cognitive performance.

References:  Alzeihmer's Society UK (2010) Statistics. Available at http://www.alzheimers.org.uk

Kado, D.M., Karlamangla, A.S., Huang, M.H., Troen, A., Rowe, J.W., Selhub, J. & Seeman, T.E. (2005) Homocysteine versus the vitamins folate, B6, and B12 as predictors of cognitive function and decline in older high-functioning adults: MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging. Am. J. Med.118, 161–7.

Tettamanti, M., Garri, M.T., Nobili, A., Riva, E. & Lucca, U. (2006) Low folate and the risk of cognitive and functional deficits in the very old: the Monzino 80-plus study. J. Am. Coll. Nutr.25, 502–508.