Amy Finkelstein is the 2012 recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal from the American Economic Association. The core concerns of Amy's research program have been insurance markets and health care. She has addressed whether asymmetric information leads to inefficiencies in insurance markets, how large social insurance programs affect healthcare markets, and the determinants of innovation incentives in health care. We describe a number of Amy's key research contributions, with particular emphasis on those identified by the Honors and Awards Committee of the American Economic Association in her Clark Medal citation, as well as her broader contributions to the field of economics.


The study on the efficiency of biomass fuel (rice husk) was carried out in the sterilization of oyster mushrooms by using drums as sterilization media and convection pipes as accelerators for heat transfer throughout the sterilization chamber. Variations in diameter and number of convection pipes were used as a comparison in this study. The measurement of thermal temperature was carried out using a thermo laser. In addition, the interpretation of the thermal distribution of the room was analyzed using Surfer software that was performed as a comparison between the number and diameter of convection pipes and determining the distribution of temperature using numeric interpolation. The use of oyster mushroom production using convection pipes 1 rod with a diameter of 8 cm showed the best results, temperature distribution, the efficiency of fuel use in this study. In addition, the comparison of the number of pipes also proved that convection pipes have a temperature distribution that is more equivalent to the number of convection pipes 3 rods. However, the efficiency in the use of fuel using convection pipes 1 rod with a diameter of 6 cm showed a better value than the other.


Hearing aids are the only available treatment for mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss, but often fail to improve perception in difficult listening conditions. To identify the reasons for this failure, we studied the underlying neural code using large-scale single-neuron recordings in gerbils, a common animal model of human hearing. We found that a hearing aid restored the sensitivity of neural responses, but failed to restore their selectivity. The low selectivity of aided responses was not a direct effect of hearing loss per se, but rather a consequence of the strategies used by hearing aids to restore sensitivity: compression, which decreases the spectral and temporal contrast of incoming sounds, and amplification, which produces high intensities that distort the neural code even with normal hearing. To improve future hearing aids, new processing strategies that avoid this tradeoff between neural sensitivity and selectivity must be developed.


With the increased emphasis on sustainability, several logistics companies have purchased alternative fuel vehicles, like Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trucks, to support their delivery operations. However, CNG trucks face several challenges on their way to replacing traditional diesel trucks such as limited mile range and small load capacity. Without effective deployment strategies for fueling stations it is not clear that these initiatives will result in net savings in emissions. Many of the local freight delivery operations are performed by independent truckers who are too small to manage their own fueling station, while the public fueling stations are limited. This research develops efficient deployment strategies for these carriers.View the NCST Project Webpage


The aim of the work is to examine the relationship of philosophical, sociological and psychological approaches to the problem of ТВ in the situation of the disease. Materials and Methods. Philosophical reflection on the phenomenon of tuberculosis as a disease was based on the existential and structuralist approaches. Sociological analysis included the use of quantitative and qualitative methodologies to explore the social factors or determinants of tuberculosis. Psychological instruments were used to identify internal potential of the disease, the level of viability, its impact on the treatment process, situation analysis of the disease as a stressful mental state. Results. It was noted that the level of vitality is almost equal to the reference values which were average results of a survey of patients with an active ТВ of men of the third department. Conclusions. It was concluded that the Vitality Test revealed the correlation between criteria of viability and patient's compliance, which could help in predicting the treatment effectiveness and management of patients.


It has been previously observed that the thermic effect of a glucose load is potentiated by prior exercise. To determine whether this phenomenon is observed when different carbohydrates are used and to ascertain the role of insulin, the thermic effects of fructose and glucose were compared during control (rest) and postexercise trials. Six male subjects ingested 100 g fructose or glucose at rest or after recovery from 45 min of treadmill exercise at 70% of maximal O2 consumption. Measurements of O2 consumption, respiratory exchange ratio, and plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin, glycerol, and lactate were measured for 3 h postingestion. Although glucose and fructose increased net energy expenditure by 44 and 51 kcal, respectively, over baseline during control trials, exercise increased the thermic effect of both carbohydrate challenges an additional 20-25 kcal (P less than 0.05). Glucose ingestion was associated with large (P less than 0.05) increases in plasma insulin concentration during control and exercise trials, in contrast to fructose ingestion. Because fructose, which is primarily metabolized by liver, and glucose elicited a similar postexercise potentiation of thermogenesis, the results indicate that the thermogenic phenomenon is not limited to skeletal muscle. These results also demonstrate that carbohydrate-induced postexercise thermogenesis is not related to an incremental increase in plasma insulin concentration.


The hypothesis to test is internal gravity waves following a Garrett-Munk spectrum are sufficient to explain temporal coherence of sound at 3683 km in the Pacific Ocean for a signal at 75 Hz and a pulse resolution of 0.03 s. Signals from a 20 min transmission are collected on a towed array. After correcting the data for what likely appears to be acceleration of the receiver, the probability distribution for multipath coherence time is very similar to that obtained from Monte Carlo simulations of the impulse response. The most likely coherence time is 20 min, the longest that can be measured with a 20 min transmission. Predictions of multipath temporal coherence and amplitude fluctuations appear accurate enough to make useful predictions of channel capacity.


The article focuses on the experiences of community care workers in the encounter with older persons suffering from mental health problems, such as mental illness and disability. The purpose is to describe and discuss opportunities for and challenges to reciprocal encounters with these older people in community care, based on statements from professionals interviewed. Structured conversations with five focus groups were organised, consisting of 26 participants, including nurses' assistants, assistant nurses, nurses, social workers and occupational therapists. The participants in the focus groups highlight the essence of being involved and create space for a reflective attitude. Clinical implications will be presented as well.


The elementary set, or alphabet, of neural firing modes is derived from the widely accepted conductance-based rectified firing-rate model. The firing dynamics of interacting neurons are shown to be governed by a multidimensional bilinear threshold discrete iteration map. The parameter-dependent global attractors of the map morph into 12 attractor types. Consistent with the dynamic modes observed in biological neuronal firing, the global attractor alphabet is highly visual and intuitive in the scalar, single-neuron case. As synapse permeability varies from high depression to high potentiation, the global attractor type varies from chaotic to multiplexed, oscillatory, fixed, and saturated. As membrane permeability decreases, the global attractor transforms from active to passive state. Under the same activation, learning and retrieval end at the same global attractor. The bilinear threshold structure of the multidimensional map associated with interacting neurons generalizes the global attractor alphabet of neuronal firing modes to multineuron systems. Selective positive or negative activation and neural interaction yield combinatorial revelation and concealment of stored neuronal global attractors.


Abstract Position Statement: Emergency Incident Rehabilitation The National Association of EMS Physicians® believes that: Emergency operations and training conducted while wearing protective clothing and respirators is physiologically and cognitively demanding. The heat stress and fatigue created by working in protective clothing and respirators creates additional risk of illness/injury for the public safety provider. Emergency incident rehabilitation provides a structured rest period for rehydration and correction of abnormal body core temperature following work in protective clothing and respirators. Emergency incident rehab should be conducted at incidents (e.g. fireground, hazardous materials, and heavy rescue emergencies) and trainings involving activities that may lead to exceeding safe levels of physical and mental exertion. Emergency incident rehabilitation is incident care, not fitness for duty, and meant to reduce physiologic strain and prepare the responder to return to duty at the current incident and for the remainder of the shift. EMS should play a role in emergency incident rehabilitation with providers trained to understand the physiologic response of healthy individuals to environmental, exertional, and cognitive stress and implement appropriate mitigation strategies. An appropriately qualified physician should have oversight over the creation and implementation of emergency incident rehabilitation protocols and may be separate from the roles and responsibilities of the occupational medicine physician. There are no peer-reviewed data related to cold weather rehabilitation. Future studies should address this limitation to the literature.


Abstract. Every autumn, leaves of deciduous trees change from green to other colors and eventually drop to the ground. The rate of color change is influenced by a several factors including the amount of sunlight and temperature. As part of an inquiry-based learning activity, University of Wyoming students have been recording leaf color change (% change) and its drop date (%) in Aspen trees (Populus tremuloides) growing in Laramie (WY) using NEON's (National Ecology Observation Network) Phenology data form. In this study, the data recorded from 2015 through 2018 were analyzed to identify trends in the rate of color change in dry and normal years. Trees that were in an area with a high amount of shade were observed to change leaf color and drop their leaves faster than those in areas that received more sun. This pattern was consistent even in years that experienced winter-like conditions in September. Findings from this multi-year study indicate that future environmental modeling projects must factor in the amount of sunlight received by aspen trees in the growing season into account.


Neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA) comprises a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of progressive brain disorders with several distinguishable subtypes. Recently, WDR45 mutations were reported in patients with β‐propeller protein‐associated neurodegeneration (BPAN), characterized by early intellectual disability followed by delayed progressive motor and cognitive deterioration with onset in the second to third decade. BPAN has a distinct brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pattern showing iron deposition in the globus pallidus and substantia nigra. To date, many of the BPAN patients have been diagnosed in adulthood. Here, we report on 6‐year‐old girl with BPAN diagnosed by whole exome sequencing. She showed Rett syndrome‐like manifestations, a peculiar facial appearance and mildly elevated serum enzymes. Brain iron accumulation was detected by T2*‐weighted MRI and T2‐star weighted angiography (SWAN). This unique combination of clinical and neuroimaging features may be helpful for early diagnosis of BPAN. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


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This research deals with the purpose of evaluating the Social Sciences Lesson's curriculum of the teacher's opinions and the evaluation of these comments. For this reason, teacher' sight questionnaire that exists from three parts thirteen questions and twenty seven parts according to the likert type has been carried out and was applied to two hundred teachers working in Mugla and in the towns of it. As a conclusion, it's been found that teachers haven't taken enough courses as a result they use a mixture of traditional and alternative measurements and evaluation tools. Most of the teachers have problems with the application of alternative measurement tools and still face some problems with the evaluation part.
Key Words: social sciences lesson's teaching program, assessment and evaluation, traditional assessment and evaluation, alternative assessment and evaluation.


The aim of the Southwest American Indian Collaborative Network (SAICN) is to reduce cancer disparities by closing the gap between community needs and the promise of cancer prevention and cure through participatory education, training and research programs. In an effort to provide evidence-based recommendations and promote the use of relevant data in tribal communities, the SAICN Data and Evaluation Core developed two comparison matrices that present scientifically sound practices for use by community health decision makers in prioritizing activities likely to reduce their respective community's burden of cancer. In their current configurations, Matrix A considers those cancers for which prevention and early detection interventions exist (cervical, breast, colorectal, tobacco-linked) and Matrix B addresses cancers for which interventions are unknown or not well developed. The matrices were converted into worksheet formats to facilitate their use at the community level. Further, to facilitate the application of this approach in a tribal community setting, guidelines for a five-part implementation plan were developed. In this paper, we describe the matrices and the guidelines and our process for moving forward.


This paper describes a three-dimensional self-reconfiguring system that is capable of reconfiguration and the associated planning in polynomial time. The approach is to reduce a system composed of molecule robots to metamorphic robots. Having done so, we are able to apply polynomial-time planning algorithms that have previously been used only in two-dimensional systems.


Alkyl aromatics are an important chemical class in gasoline, jet and diesel fuels. In the present work, an n -propylbenzene and n -heptane mixture is studied as a possible surrogate for large alkyl benzenes contained in diesel fuels. To evaluate it as a surrogate, ignition delay times have been measured in a heated high pressure shock tube (HPST) for a mixture of 57% n -propylbenzene / 43% n -heptane in air ( ≈ 21% O 2 , ≈ 79% N 2 ) at equivalence ratios of 0.29, 0.49, 0.98 and 1.95 and compressed pressures of 1, 10 and 30 atm over a temperature range of 1000– 1600 K. The effects of reflected-shock pressure and equivalence ratio on ignition delay time were determined and common trends highlighted. A combined n propylbenzene and n -heptane reaction mechanism was assembled and simulations of the shock tube experiments were carried out. The simulation results showed very good agreement with the experimental data for ignition delay times. Sensitivity and reaction pathway analyses have been performed to reveal the important reactions responsible for fuel oxidation under the shock tube conditions studied. It was found that at 1000 K, the main consumption pathways for n -propylbenzene are abstraction reactions on the alkyl chain, with particular selectivity to the allylic site. In comparison at 1500 K, the unimolecular decomposition of the the fuel is the main consumption pathway.


Four beta-tubulin mRNAs in the embryo of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus are transcribed from at least 3 of the 9-12 beta-tubulin genes. A beta 1 tubulin mRNA of 1.8 kb, transcribed from a unique beta 1 gene, is expressed with high specificity in the pluteus ectoderm. Another 1.8-kb mRNA, beta 2, and a 2.5-kb beta 3 mRNA are moderately ectoderm specific. In contrast, a 3.0-kb beta 4 mRNA is highly specific for the endomesoderm tissue fraction. Certain similarities in developmental and tissue-specific expression suggest that these beta-tubulin genes may be related in their mode of regulation to counterparts among the genes for actin, another cytoskeletal protein. Measurements of absolute amounts revealed a distinct developmental profile for each beta-tubulin mRNA. An increase in the total amount of beta-tubulin mRNA in the early blastula was correlated with an increase in transcription rate per nucleus; whereas, later in the mesenchyme blastula stage, the beta-tubulin mRNA level decreased sharply as the rate of beta-tubulin gene transcription on a per embryo basis remained constant. Thus, during development through the blastula stages, there was a switch to a predominantly posttranscriptional regulation of beta-tubulin mRNA expression, probably through a decrease in mRNA stability.


We prove an explicit formula for the total Chern character of the Verlinde bundle of conformal blocks over Mg;n in terms of tautological classes. The Chern characters of the Verlinde bundles define a semisimple CohFT (the ranks, given by the Verlinde formula, determine a semisimple fusion algebra). According to Teleman's classification of semisimple CohFTs, there exists an element of Givental's group transforming the fusion algebra into the CohFT. We determine the element using the first Chern class of the Verlinde bundle on the interior Mg;n and the projective flatness of the Hitchin connection.


Disaggregated data, vital statistics, and a comprehensive literature review were used to assess the relationship between Hawaiian maternal predictors and infant health outcomes. Despite near universal health care coverage, Hawaiians continue to use less prenatal care, have average rates of low birth weight and the highest infant mortality rates compared to other ethnic groups in Hawaii. Specific investigations and interventions are necessary to reduce the disparity of Hawaiian infant health outcomes.


An autonomous vehicle should be able to operate amidst numerous other human-driven vehicles, each driving on its own trajectory. To safely navigate in such a dynamic environment, the autonomous vehicle should be able to predict trajectories of the vehicles operating in its vicinity and use these to plan its own path. Most related work uses a vehicle's past trajectory to model its behavior, based on which the future trajectory is predicted. However, they do not focus on the influence of contextual features such as road structure from the scene that may affect the vehicle's future trajectory. This work proposes an approach to predict a long-term vehicle trajectory using not only the past trajectory of a vehicle but also contextual features from the driving scene. We model the road structure to help prediction on curved road sections. A Recurrent Neural Network is used to learn vehicle behavior from past vehicle trajectories and predict future trajectories while incorporating road structure. Using a trajectory dataset collected from a test vehicle, we compare our model's performance with the conventional prediction approach based on only past vehicle trajectory. Master of Science Thesis G. Raipuria


Micro-coil pulsed magnet system has been constructed with a single turn coils fabricated by photolithograph method on a printed circuit board. For the current switches, several different types of fast turn-on switches such as MOSFET switches, air-gap switches and optically triggered air-gap switches were tested and compared their properties. With 2100 V of charging voltage, about 10T of magnetic field was successfully generated at more than 1 Hz of repetition frequency. For the application of the micro-coil system to solid state physics, possible are discussed.


We describe a case study of the design and verification of a parallel and pipe-lined image processing unit based on an extended Petri net, which is called a Logical Colored Petri net (LCPN). This is suitable for Flexible-Manufacturing System (FMS) modeling and discussion of structural properties. LCPN is another family of colored p/t-net(CPN) with the addition of the following features: integer value assignment of marks, representation of firing conditions as marks' value based formulae, and coupling of output procedures with transition firing. Therefore, to study the behavior of a system modeled with this net, we provide a means of searching the reachability tree for markings.


A simple, efficient and one pot microwave assisted synthesis of (5-amino-3-aryl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl) (6-chloropyrazin-2-yl) methanones is described. The molecules were synthesized by the cyclocondensation reaction of 6-chloropyrazine-2-carboxylic acid hydrazide and substituted benzoylacetonitriles by irradiation under microwave energy, to provide in high yields with clean and scalable reactions. The synthesized compounds were characterized by IR, 1H-NMR and mass spectral data. The plausible mechanism of the reaction is proposed.


Maximizing spectrum usage and numerous applications of the wireless communication networks have forced to a high interest of vacant spectrum. Cognitive Radio influences its receiver and transmitter features accurately so that they can utilize the vacant approved spectrum without impacting the functionality of the principal licensed subscribers. The use of various channels assists to address interferences thereby improves the whole network efficiency. The MAC protocol in cognitive radio network explains the spectrum consumption by interacting the multiple channels among the subscribers. In this particular paper we studied traditional TDMA dependent MAC method with dynamically assigned slots. The majority of the MAC protocols suggested in the research operate Common-Control-Channel (CCC) to handle the services between Cognitive Radio end users. Traditional MAC protocol design and operations are implemented by using Multi-Channel-Collection method, a high rate multi-channel time schedule protocol for unbiased real-time data collection and their limitations are studied in Wireless mesh Networks. In this paper, an extensive study of Multi-Channel-Collection with sophisticated techniques for multiple band or frequency range channel allotment and continually synchronized TDMA scheduling are shown in summarized way.


Abstract The objective of this study is to conduct a quantitative risk assessment of multiple factors influencing HIV/AIDS transmission through unprotected sexual practices among HIV-seropositive men. A knowledgebase was developed by reviewing different published sources. The data were collected from different sources including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, selected journals, and reports. The risk pathway scenario tree was developed based on a comprehensive review of published literature. The variables are organized into nine major parameter categories. Monte Carlo simulations for the quantitative risk assessment of HIV/AIDS transmission was executed with the software @Risk 4.0 (Palisade Corporation). Results show that the value for the likelihood of unprotected sex due to having less knowledge about HIV/AIDS and negative attitude toward condom use and safer sex ranged from 1.24×10−5 to 8.47×10−4 with the mean and standard deviation of 1.83×10−4 and 8.63×10−5, respectively. The likelihood of unprotected sex due to having greater anger-hostility, anxiety, less satisfied with aspects of life, and greater depressive symptoms ranged from 2.76×10−9 to 5.34×10−7 with the mean and standard deviation of 5.23×10−8 and 3.58×10−8, respectively. The findings suggest that HIV/AIDS research and intervention programs must be focused on behavior, and the broader setting within which individual risky behaviors occur.


The eastern wolf (Canis lycaon) is important to the Algonquin Provincial Park ecosystem through its top-down influences on the food web. While previous research in Yellowstone National Park has shown that the common raven (Corvus corax) is dependent upon wolves to survive winter, this relationship has never been fully explored in Ontario. This study examines the patterns of abundance between wolves and ravens in the Algonquin Park area between 1988 and 1998 using data from an 11-year wolf population study and raven counts from the Christmas Bird Count database. Due to their common winter feeding strategy, I predicted that raven numbers would rise and fall during similar years as wolf populations. While raven numbers were affected by wolf population size, abundances were negatively correlated. I propose that this relationship is explained by wolf pack size; as pack size increases wolves can more adequately defend against raven scavengers and consume the carcass more effectively therefore neutralizing the raven's strategy of group foraging. Future study should aim to address these trends at a longer and more recent time scale. This investigation highlights the advantages and limitations of using citizen science to compliment scientific research.


The levels of leucine-forming enzymes in Escherichia coli K-12 varied over a several thousand-fold range, depending upon conditions of growth. The highest levels were achieved by growing auxotrophs in a chemostat under conditions of leucine limitation. Under such conditions, enzyme levels were increased 45- to 90-fold relative to cells grown in minimal medium containing leucine (the latter values arbitrarily called 1). Leucine operon-specific messenger ribonucleic acid levels were elevated to about the same extent as enzyme levels in cells grown in a chemostat. Growth in media of greater complexity resulted in progressively lower levels of leucine-forming enzymes, reaching a value of less than 0.02 for growth in a medium containing tryptone broth and yeast extract. The levels of leucine operon-specified enzymes and messenger ribonucleic acid were also measured in strains containing about 25 copies of plasmid pCV1(ColE1-leu) per chromosome. For such strains grown in minimal medium, enzyme levels were proportional to the number of plasmids per cell. Furthermore, they followed the same trends as those described above upon derepression in a chemostat or upon repression following growth in rich media. Leucine messenger ribonucleic acid, measured both by pulse-labeling and hybridization-competition experiments, was roughly proportional to enzyme levels over this entire range. For a plasmid-containing strain grown in a chemostat under conditions of leucine limitation (about 100 plasmids per chromosome), about 27% of pulse-labeled ribonucleic acid was coded for by genes in or adjacent to the leucine operon, and 10% of the total protein was β-isopropylmalate dehydrogenase.


Following two-failed school bond issues in 1995 and 1998, one mid-sized rural school district organized an effort that led to two successful school bond elections in 2001 and 2003. The school district's strategic plan mirrored many of the recommendations for successful bond referendums published in School Bond Success: A Strategy for Building America's Schools. Findings from this case study, utilizing a Rapid Assessment Process, illustrate many of the reasons why the school district passed two consecutive bond issues with unprecedented community support. Although the findings from this school district may not match the concerns of all communities, it provides readers with a perspective of voters' beliefs in one rural school district.


Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) remains an important health problem worldwide. Perturbation of micronutrients has been broadly reported to be a common characteristic in patients with ALD, given the fact that micronutrients often act as composition or coenzymes of many biochemical enzymes responsible for the inflammatory response, oxidative stress, and cell proliferation. Mapping the metabolic pattern and the function of these micronutrients is a prerequisite before targeted intervention can be delivered in clinical practice. Recent years have registered a significant improvement in our understanding of the role of micronutrients on the pathogenesis and progression of ALD. However, how and to what extent these micronutrients are involved in the pathophysiology of ALD remains largely unknown. In the current study, we provide a review of recent studies that investigated the imbalance of micronutrients in patients with ALD with a focus on zinc, iron, copper, magnesium, selenium, vitamin D and vitamin E, and determine how disturbances in micronutrients relates to the pathophysiology of ALD. Overall, zinc, selenium, vitamin D, and vitamin E uniformly exhibited a deficiency, and iron demonstrated an elevated trend. While for copper, both an elevation and deficiency were observed from existing literature. More importantly, we also highlight several challenges in terms of low sample size, study design discrepancies, sample heterogeneity across studies, and the use of machine learning approaches.


"Apocalyptic claims do not have a good track record. And arguments that statistics support such claims—particularly arguments that simple, easily understood numbers are proof that the future holds complex, civilization-threatening changes—deserve the most careful inspection."—Best (2004)

Earthquake hazard maps that predict that portions of the central and eastern United States are more hazardous than California result from a number of crucial assumptions. One of these is that the recurrence of large earthquakes is time-independent, such that a future earthquake is equally probable immediately after the past one and much later. An alternative is to use time-dependent models in which the probability is small shortly after the past one and then increases with time. Applying such models to the New Madrid seismic zone and Charleston, South Carolina, areas predicts significantly lower hazards because these are "early" in their cycles. The reduction is greater than if we were to lower the assumed maximum magnitude within the range under discussion. The differences between the time-independent and time-dependent hazard maps bear out the point that estimating seismic hazard here or in other intraplate areas is a very uncertain enterprise.

These seismic hazard maps predict the maximum earthquake ground motion expected at a specified probability level during a certain time interval, such that the larger the predicted motions, the higher the predicted seismic hazard. The maps are used, typically without consideration of their large uncertainties, to develop building codes that specify the levels of earthquake-resistant construction required in an area. The additional construction costs, which can be billions of dollars over hundreds of years, are incurred in hope of reducing property damage and loss of life from possible future earthquakes. Because these expenditures come at the expense of other possible uses, it is interesting to assess the range of possible hazard estimates for an …


In the present study was evaluated the effect of 98% glycerin on the collagen fibers, tissue architecture and size of medial meniscuses of New Zealand rabbits. The animals were separated into three groups: (1) Group MF of fresh meniscus, (2) Group MG of meniscus preserved in glycerin for 30 days, and (3) Group MR of meniscus preserved in glycerin for 30 days and rehydrated in NaCl 0.9% for 12 hours. Histological sections were stained with sirius red for identification of collagen types, which were examined with a polarized light microscope. The total collagen concentration and the fiber arrangement were evaluated. Group MF presented higher Type I collagen concentration and lower Type III collagen concentration when compared with Group MG and MR. This fact is due to the water loss and consequent reduction in size and subsequent retraction of the collagen fibers of the meniscus from these groups, caused by dehydration. This may have occurred because those Type I fibers, thicker and in larger quantities, become more evident than Type III collagen fibers, which are more slender and fragile (fibrils). In the three groups studied, the collagen fibers presented themselves in a circumference form, interposed by radially oriented fibers. All of the meniscuses from Group MF presented fibers arranged obliquely, while in the treated groups, a slight disorganization of collagen fibers could be observed in some areas, what corresponds to 42.8% and 14.3% of the meniscuses, respectively. The MG group presented a significant decrease (p<0.05) in size if compared with the MF group. In the MR group, 85.7% of the meniscuses went back to the original size after rehydratation. The 98% glycerin is effective in preserving the meniscus, following rehydratation, maintaining size, structural architecture, integrity and percentage of collagen of the meniscus preserved similar to the fresh one.


Cardiac hypertrophy is a compensatory response to stress or stimuli, which results in arrhythmia and heart failure. Although multiple molecular mechanisms have been identified, cardiac hypertrophy is still difficult to treat. Pyroptosis is a caspase-1-dependent pro-inflammatory programmed cell death. Caspase-1 is involved in various types of diseases, including hepatic injury, cancers, and diabetes-related complications. However, the exact role of caspase-1 in cardiac hypertrophy is yet to be discovered. The present study aimed to explore the possible role of caspase-1 in pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy. We established cardiac hypertrophy models both in vivo and in vitro to detect the expression of caspase-1 and interleukin-1β (IL-1β). The results showed that caspase-1 and IL-1β expression levels were significantly up-regulated during cardiac hypertrophy. Subsequently, caspase-1 inhibitor was co-administered with angiotensin II (Ang II) in cardiomyocytes to observe whether it could attenuate cardiac hypertrophy. Results showed that caspase-1 attenuated the pro-hypertrophic effect of Ang II, which was related to the down-regulation of caspase-1 and IL-1β. In conclusion, our results provide a novel evidence that caspase-1 mediated pyroptosis is involved in cardiac hypertrophy, and the inhibition of caspase-1 will offer a therapeutic potential against cardiac hypertrophy.


Village development is a fundamental part of national development. Developing villages requires information on society necessities. This research aims at clustering villages in Kabupaten Madiun which has similar characteristics among each other and identify characteristics of the built clusters. Therefore, specific problems in the clusters of villages may become the foundation to implement development. The method that used for grouping objects with combined variables is two-step cluster. This analysis was used 14 variables consist of six categorical variables and eight numerical variables. The clustering analysis produces four clusters. The clusters that need more attention to be developed was Cluster 2 which had minimum facilities and resources. The average Silhouette coefficient for the clusters built was 0.3 which can be considered as fair category.


Aim :  Horseback riding can relieve chronic hypokinesia by utilizing unused muscles and joints to promote functional recovery through nerve stimulation. However, there has been no investigation on the effects of equine exercise on spinal alignment. Therefore, this study analyzed the spinal alignment in subjects between the ages of 25-30 (new standard age group) through a three-dimensional body measuring device, and to investigate the myofunctional changes in the hips and lumbar joints after a single bout of equestrian exercise. Materials and methods :  Fifty-eight participants were divided into one of two groups: male group (n=38) and female group (n=20). They were asked to complete a self-assessed questionnaire and were given a body composition test, a three-dimensional imaging scan, and isokinetic torque tests before and after 20 minutes of horseback riding. Results :  First, the hip flexor of the dominant and non-dominant sides in both groups improved significantly after a single 20-minute bout of equestrian exercise. Second, the female group showed a significant change in the hip abductor and adductor. Third, the equestrian exercise significantly increased peak torque (PT) in all the variables and work per repetition (WR) in the trunk flexor and extensor in the male group, whereas it significantly increased the PT of trunk extensor in the female group. Lastly, the kyphotic angle was significantly ( P  = 0.005) increased in the female group, whereas the lordotic angle was significantly ( P  = 0.007) increased in the male group. Conclusion :  A single 20-minute equestrian exercise session provides a positive change for men and women. Particularly, it is more helpful for women with lower myofunction in the lower limb compared with men. Horseback riding can increase the hip flexors and abductors of the non-dominant lower limb and improve the trunk flexor and extensor for better spinal alignment.


With water in Mexico becoming very scarce spatially and over time, it is now a factor that limits economic activity and social well-being in several regions. The identification of priorities and trade-offs in relation to water allocation requires careful and timely attention to address an ever-growing range of complications arising from the impact of various interlinked considerations, such as sustainability of water resources, fairness, pollution, environment, basic services, development, competition, and globalization. National policies, both within the water sector and for the overall economy, need to accommodate these issues. The study reported in this note is part of a broader analysis of the sector. Its intent is to promote a stakeholders consultation process, development of a specific set of background papers to address the most pressing issues in water policy in the country. Finally, the study included the development of analytical models to assess the linkages and impacts of various policy instruments on the water sector and the economy with a focus on one river basin case study - Rio Bravo.


Australia's competition laws include a general access regime for monopoly infrastructure (Part IIIA of the Competition and Consumer Act). Recently, there have been calls to extend this law - through a new 'Part IIIB'. This paper considers the proposed amendments and finds that there is no economic case for change. Proponents of reform argue that the existing law has a gap. Our analysis shows that this is wrong and the current law can deal with both vertically integrated and separated facilities. We show that the current 'declaration criteria' identify both the relevant infrastructure services and the circumstances when regulatory action is warranted. We also consider if there are either competition problems or economic distortions due to investment 'hold up' that could be fixed by Part IIIB? For competition, we conclude that any relevant concerns are already addressed by Part IIIA. For investment 'hold up' we note that this is a broad issue that arises in many industries. At best, Part IIIB would crowd out preferred business-to-business solutions to the hold-up problem. At worst, Part IIIB would create, rather than reduce, economic distortions. Overall, we find that the case for further access regulation through a Part IIIB has not been established. Given Part IIIA, there is no regulatory gap for monopoly infrastructure industries in Australia that could be fixed by the proposed Part IIIB. Put simply, Part IIIB is a solution in search of a problem.


The 21st Century is characterized by complex multidisciplinary problems accompanied by massive datasets. 'We are drowning in data, but starving for knowledge', as the volumes of many commercial, industrial and scientific datasets have exceeded the terabyte range and are approaching petabytes and beyond. Statistical methodology has long been employed to find useful and usable information in data. More recently, data mining has harnessed the power of computer technology to find useful and usable patterns in such massive datasets. Although several data mining journals have joined the established statistical journals, no single journal provides an integrated treatment of statistical analysis methodology and data mining technology, particularly when applied to the solution of practical problems. This absence and the needs expressed above motivated the inauguration of John Wiley's new Journal on Statistical Analysis and Data Mining. The goals of this interdisciplinary journal are to encourage collaborations across disciplines, communication of data mining and statistical techniques to both novices and experts involved in the analysis of data from practical problems, and a principled and productive evaluation of analyses and solutions. The journal specifically encourages submission of works that have statistical rigor in the analysis of data, incorporate the most appropriate algorithms from data more » mining, and address the needs of applications. Applying data mining algorithms to practical problems is not sufficient, because we need to ensure that the results have a sound statistical basis, lest any decision based on these results lead to a catastrophe. Even data mining algorithms founded on sound statistical analysis are not sufficient, if they cannot solve a practical problem. Finally, employing a statistical analysis on a practical problem is not sufficient, unless it scales up to massive datasets. Statistical analysis and data mining are actually two sides of the sword that is sorely needed to conquer data overload in practical problems. « less


Three quinone-type podocarpanes, 3beta-hydroxy-13-methoxy-8,12-podocarpadiene-11,14-dione (1), 18-hydroxy-13-methoxy-8,12-podocarpadiene-11,14-dione (2), and 13-methoxy-8,12-podocarpadiene-2,11,14-trione (3) were isolated from the bark of Taiwania cryptomerioides. Their structures were elucidated using spectral methods.


Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effects of environmental risk perception on the evaluation of socioeconomic development and subjective well-being in China.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire survey was conducted, and data were collected from 408 participants of four major universities and government organizations in Changsha, China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the collected data and to test the hypotheses with regard to the relationship among latent variables. Bayesian method was used as the statistical inference procedure.

Findings

Results show that environmental risk perception has a direct negative influence on perceived socioeconomic development and on subjective total well-being (i.e. both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being). The perceived socioeconomic development has a direct positive effect on the subjective total well-being; thus, it plays a partial mediation role between environmental risk perception and subjective total well-being.

Research limitations/implications

Findings suggest that the environment protection act of the government and their contribution to socioeconomic development will significantly affect the total well-being of people. The empirical analysis is based on survey data; thus, this study may suffer the common problems of questionnaire survey.

Social implications

Promoting pro-environment and health behaviors is important in developing a happy society.

Originality/value

This study demonstrates a significant negative effect of environmental risk perception on the total well-being of people according to SEM approach. This study determines two independent paths for government and policy makers to increase the total well-being of people in China, namely, increasing socioeconomic value to people and controlling and reducing environmental threats.


An approximate collision-radiative method is developed to calculate energy level populations of atoms and applied to simulate radiative transfer in a shock layer. Considering nonequilibrium plasmas with the electronic temperature below 20000 K, we introduce correction factors to the Saha—Boltzmann equation and simplify the master equation of the full collision-radiative model. Based on the method, the error of heat flux is smaller than 5% in a two-cell problem and smaller than 7% in the Stardust re-entry flow field compared with the correlated-k method. Furthermore, almost a factor of 2 is obtained in the improvement of computational efficiency compared with the nonequilibrium air radiation (NEQAIR) code. The results show that the present method is reliable and efficient.


Ischemic heart disease is a leader in the structure of causes of both global and cardiovascular and sudden cardiac deaths. In recent years, there has been a steady increase in this figure around the world.
The article presents statistics on mortality due to coronary heart disease in different countries, including Ukraine, and its place in the structure of mortality for all reasons. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the course and consequences of coronary heart disease is analyzed, as well as the recommendations of the European Society of Cardiology on the strategy of such patients.


The Volpe Center has investigated law enforcement methods that have successfully prevented trespassing along the railroad right of way. The types of law enforcement strategies currently being used and procedures followed in the field are documented, along with any findings on the effectiveness of these approaches. The end result of this effort is to produce a compilation of available procedures, best practices, data sources and findings to inform effective law enforcement rail trespass prevention programs.


Erythropoietin (EPO) is the primary regulator of erythropoiesis, stimulating growth, preventing apoptosis, and promoting differentiation of red blood cell progenitors. The EPO receptor belongs to the cytokine receptor superfamily. Although the primary role of EPO is the regulation of red blood cell production, EPO and its receptor have been localized to several nonhematopoietic tissues and cells, including the central nervous system (CNS), endothelial cells, solid tumors, the liver, and the uterus. The presence of EPO receptors and the possibility of EPO signaling in these tissues and cells have led to numerous studies of the effects of EPO at these sites. In particular, expression of EPO and the EPO receptor in cancer cells has generated much interest because of concern that administration of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) to patients with breast and other cancer cells expressing the EPO receptor may promote tumor growth via the induction of cell proliferation or angiogenesis. However, evidence supporting a growth-promoting effect has been inconclusive. Moreover, several preclinical studies have shown a beneficial effect of EPO on delaying tumor growth. Further, it is conceivable that increased expression of EPO could reduce tumor hypoxia and ameliorate the deleterious effects of hypoxia on tumor growth, metastasis, and treatment resistance. On the other hand, EPO has also been shown to produce an angiogenic effect in vascular endothelial cells in vitro. However, there is no evidence that these effects occur in vivo to promote tumor growth. EPO and EPO receptors are expressed in neural tissue, and they are upregulated there by hypoxia. Animal studies have shown that administration of epoetin alfa (an rHuEPO) reduces tissue injury due to ischemic stroke, blunt trauma, and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. These findings suggest that epoetin alfa may provide a therapeutic benefit in patients with stroke, trauma, epilepsy, and other CNS-related disorders. Clearly, further study of EPO and the EPO receptor in nonhematopoietic tissue is warranted to determine the potential therapeutic usefulness of rHuEPO as well as to determine the signaling pathway responsible for its effect in vivo.


The three-dimensional structures of proteins reveal that the distribution of amino acids within the major classes of secondary structure is not random but that each amino acid has its own preferred secondary structural arrangements. Propensity scales for residues in alpha-helices have been generated through the use of various host-guest systems. Here we measure the thermodynamic beta-sheet propensities of each of the twenty commonly occurring amino acids. A previously studied zinc-finger peptide was used as the host system in which amino acids were substituted into a guest site, a solvent-exposed position in an antiparallel beta-sheet. As these peptides are unfolded in the absence of bound metal but are folded in their presence, it is assumed that the thermodynamics of metal binding fully reflect peptide-folding energy. A competitive cobalt(II)-binding assay was used to determine these energies with high precision. The relative free energies correlate well with previously derived potential values based on statistical analysis of protein structures. We are therefore able to present a thermodynamic beta-sheet propensity scale for all the commonly occurring amino acids in aqueous solution.


Considering the importance of Discourse Markers (DMs) in EFL writing, this study aims to find out how the teachers teaching adult EFL learners in Saudi Arabia perceive the use of DMs in developing writing skills of their students. The quantitative research tool used in this study is an adapted form of the survey originally developed by Fung (2011). The responses to the survey have been analyzed by comparing the native-nonnative teachers' perceptions and male-female teachers' perceptions. The major research finding is that all the EFL teachers attach great value to the use and teaching of DMs, yet they feel forced to teach only those few DMs which are part of the textbooks and in which the students would be tested. Major recommendation is that all important DMs should be incorporated in the syllabus and made part of the assessment to make EFL adult Saudi learners proficient in writing skills.


In the Original Investigation titled "Evaluation of Machine-Learning Algorithms for Predicting Opioid Overdose Risk Among Medicare Beneficiaries With Opioid Prescriptions,"1 published March 22, 2019, there were errors in the Methods, Results, Table 1, and Figure 2 as well as the eAppendix and eTable 7 in the Supplement. The gradient boosting machine (GBM) model should have used the top fifth percentile to calculate medium and high risk for consistency with the deep neural network (DNN) model. In the Machine-Learning Approaches and Prediction Performance Evaluation subsection of Methods, the first sentence of the third paragraph should have read, "On the basis of the distribution of individuals' estimated probability of an overdose event, we classified beneficiaries in the validation sample into low risk (predicted score below the optimized threshold), medium risk (score between the optimized threshold and top fifth percentile), or high risk (the top fifth percentile of scores, chosen according to clinical utility)." In the first paragraph of the Risk Stratification Using Predicted Probability subsection of Results, the first 2 sentences should have read, "Using the GBM algorithm, 144 860 (77.6%) of the sample were categorized into low risk, 32 415 (17.4%) into medium risk, and 9411 (5.0%) into high risk for overdose (Table 1). Among all 91 beneficiaries with an overdose episode in the sample, 54 (59.3%) were captured in the high-risk group," and the sixth sentence should have read, "Across both the GBM and DNN models, those in the high-risk group had 7 to 8 times the risk of overdose compared with those in the lower-risk groups (observed overdose rate of GBM: 0.57% [high risk], 0.08% [medium risk], and 0.01% [low risk]; observed overdose rate of DNN: 0.57% [high risk], 0.07% [medium risk], and 0.01% [low risk])." In Table 1, the columns under GBM showing medium and high risk have been replaced to show data using the top fifth percentile for calculation, and footnote "a" should have read, "Risk subgroups were classified into low risk (score below the optimized threshold), medium risk (predicted score between the optimized threshold and the top fifth percentile score), and high risk (predicted score in the top fifth percentile). The optimized thresholds were 39 (or probability of 0.39) for GBM and 46.5 (or probability of 0.465) for DNN." In Figure 2A, the observed overdose rate should have been shown as 0.08 for medium risk and 0.57 for high risk. The caption for Figure 2 should have read, "Risk subgroups were classified into 3 groups using the optimized threshold in the validation sample (n = 186 686): low risk (score below the optimized threshold), medium risk (predicted score between the optimized threshold, identified by the Youden index, and the top fifth percentile score), and high risk (predicted score in the top fifth percentile). The dashed line indicates the overall observed overdose rate without risk stratifications." In the eAppendix in the Supplement, the fourth paragraph of the Introduction should have shown the high-risk and medium-risk scores as using the top fifth percentile, and the final sentence of the eAppendix should have listed the probability threshold as >0.465. Finally, eTable 7 had shown data calculated using the top 10th percentile for the GBM model but using the top fifth percentile for the DNN model; data are now shown using both the top fifth and top 10th percentiles for the GBM and DNN models. This article has been corrected.1


Fifty-seven hips undergoing a primary cemented total hip arthroplasty with use of a triangular distal centralizer inserted into the stem tip were investigated, with a special focus on distal cement mantle thickness. The subjects were 43 women and 3 men. When evaluated on conventional anteroposterior and lateral radiographs, the relative incidence of thin cement mantles in zones 3 or 5 owing to the distal centralizer was 15.8% (9 hips). Unsatisfactory findings were that the distal centralizer and distal part of the stem shifted to the cortex in 7 hips and bent or failed at the inserted site in 2 hips. There is risk of generating a thin cement mantle with use of the triangular centralizer and its insertion into the stem tip.


Antibodies against asexual blood stage antigens were measured by irnmunofluorescence assay (IFA) in sera collected in February 199Q and May 1990 from Weheragala village in the Mahaweli irrigation project located in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. The results were compared with IFA on sera collected in October 1990 at Nikawehera village in the intermediate rainfall zone of Sri Lanka. The IFA titres in Weheragala sera were also compared with antibody concentrations against specific epitopes of P. fakiparum and P. uivax surface antigens previously measured by an immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) on the same serum samples. At both Nikawehera and Weheragala, IFA titres were greater in adults than in 7-15y old children, IFAtitres againstp. fdciparum and P. viva were significantly correlated at both locations. IFA titres arealso a lees sensitive index of malaria transmission than specific antibody concentrations measured by IRMA.


4,4'-(4,4'-Isopropylidenediphenoxy)bis(N-hydroxyphthalimide), which is a new lipophilic analogue of N-hydroxyphthalimide, can act as an effective catalyst in the aerobic oxidation of alkylaromatics under reduced amounts of polar cosolvent. The catalyst was selected on the basis of an in-depth study of the influence that substituents on the aromatic ring of N-hydroxyphthalimide exert on determining the NO-H bond dissociation energy (BDE). BDE values for a range of model molecules are calculated by DFT and measured by EPR spectroscopy. The new catalyst can be successfully employed in the aerobic oxidation of cumene, ethylbenzene, and cyclohexylbenzene, affording, in all cases, good conversions and high selectivity for the corresponding hydroperoxide. The effect of solvent, catalyst, and temperature has also been investigated.


Sm: This concerns the diagnostic problem posed In your April 18, 1964, issue (page 624) by Dr. C. M. McCarthy of Sydney, relative to a 41-year-old woman who developed alopecia within a month's time. Of interest was Dr. McCarthy's statement that the patient had been on "Anovlar" before and since the onset of the alopecia. Apparently halr loss has been reported, though rarely, in patients taking 19-nortesterone-related progestational compounds.' "Anovlar" contaIns such compounds.


Author(s): Bird, Deborah Jean | Advisor(s): Van Valkenburgh, Blaire | Abstract: Deep inside the snout of nearly every mammal is a small, perforated bone that separates the nasal cavity from the brain case. It is called the cribriform plate (CP). Its holes, or foramina, usher olfactory nerve bundles on their path from nasal epithelium to the olfactory bulb of the brain. The imprint left in the CP bone by these nerves is the subject of this study. The size of the imprint describes the relative olfactory innervation in a given animal's nose and varies under ecological and evolutionary pressures across all mammal species. As a well-preserved, quantifiable feature of skull morphology, the CP is a potentially informative tool for comparing olfactory capacity in extant as well as extinct species. However, in general, the CP is overlooked and understudied. This study developed novel digital methods to conduct a comprehensive comparative analysis of CP morphology across species from all mammalian superorders. I further analyzed relative CP size in the context of skull morphology, olfactory genomics, habitat, and behavior, to test the hypothesis that the CP is a valid proxy of olfactory function. I found a tight covariance between the surface area of the CP and the olfactory-related ethmoid and nasal turbinal bones. Results further revealed a strong positive relationship between relative CP size and the number of olfactory receptor genes in a species' genome. I confirmed the near or total loss of the CP in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and reported an unsurpassed expansion in the relative CP size of the African elephant (Loxodonta africana), paralleling its highly expanded OR gene repertoire. Finally, this study discovered that within Carnivora, aquatic species, which are known to forage underwater without odor cues, have significantly smaller relative CPs than their terrestrial relatives. Within the aquatic carnivoran pinnipeds and sea otter, I found that relative CP size is inversely correlated with both diving depth and duration, suggesting that secondary adaptation to life underwater, especially at depth, favored the loss of olfactory function and morphology. In summary, the morphological, molecular and ecological coherence found in this study reinforces the CP as a stand-alone proxy of olfactory capacity that can be applied to living and extinct species, allowing us to document the evolution of olfactory function within mammals over geologic time.


Hierarchical matrices can be used to construct efficient preconditioners for partial differential and integral equations by taking advantage of lowrank structures in triangular factorizations and inverses of the corresponding stiffness matrices. The setup phase of these preconditioners relies heavily on low-rank updates that are responsible for a large part of the algorithm's total run-time, particularly for matrices resulting from three-dimensional problems. This article presents a new algorithm that significantly reduces the number of low-rank updates and can shorten the setup time by 50 percent or more.


This paper examines globalization's effects on the change in Turkish foreign policy towards Syria in a comparative perspective. Through the 1990s Turkish foreign policy towards Syria was shaped by realist parameters as Turkey relied on an alliance with Israel, and hard power seeking deterrence and coercion. However after Syria submitted to Turkey's demands and signed a counter-terrorism accord in 1998, the two states engaged in a certain rapprochement process. Most notably, following the Iraq war that promoted common threat perceptions, Turkey put a new face into practice in its foreign policy. In the 2000s, besides its growing military capabilities, Ankara also drew on soft power in its new approach to Syria and introduced many new opportunities for its neighbor through the bilateral cooperation. That carried Turkey's relationship with Syria to unprecedented levels of collaboration in the political, economic and social realms. As elaborated in the study, the changes in Turkey's new approach towards Syria resonate with some significant theoretical perspectives in the literature on globalization and foreign policy change. In this respect, Turkey's new foreign policy approach is suggested as a late response to globalization's challenge to traditional foreign policy formation as the regional security dynamics in the 1990s impeded a rapprochement. Along with the changes in Turkish foreign policy towards Syria in the first decade of the 2000s, the regional implications of Ankara's new approach are also discussed. Lastly, the limits of Turkey's new foreign policy approach are examined touching upon the developments in Syria since the "Arab Spring."


Listeriosis in mice with the severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mutation is an established model in vivo and in vitro of interferon gamma (IFN-gamma)-dependent macrophage activation by natural killer (NK) cells during the development of natural immunity. We demonstrate that IFN-gamma production from SCID splenocytes is stimulated by interleukin (IL) 12, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and IL-2 but is inhibited by IL-10, IL-10, IL-12, and TNF are induced by heat-killed Listeria monocytogenes (hk-LM) from SCID splenocytes and peritoneal macrophages. IL-12 production is necessary for hk-LM to stimulate IFN-gamma production by SCID splenocytes since neutralization of IL-12 totally blocks IFN-gamma production in this system. TNF-alpha and IL-2 act synergistically with IL-12 to augment IFN-gamma production. Also, exogenous IL-2 increases the response of NK cells to hk-LM or to IL-12 and TNF-alpha. In contrast, IL-10 inhibits hk-LM-induced IFN-gamma production at two levels: (i) by inhibiting TNF and IL-12 production from these cultures (presumably from the macrophage) and (ii) by inhibiting the stimulatory effects of IL-12 and TNF-alpha on NK-cell IFN-gamma production. Thus, these data indicate that macrophage production of TNF-alpha and IL-12 stimulates the release of IFN-gamma by NK cells and that IL-10 produced in response to hk-LM inhibits this response at the level of the macrophage and the NK cell.


We describe an automated system called Heartache that can take as input diagnostic information such as the location of chest pain, duration of pain, origin and radiation of the pain, and other relevant information to differentiate between possible diagnoses such as non-heart related, anxiety, pericarditis, new myocardial infarction, neuromuscular/skeletal pain, unstable angina, pulmonary embolism, pneumonitis, pneumothorax, stable angina, esophagitis, and tamponade. We also describe how the belief function calculus (a generalization of traditional probabilistic methods) is used to infer the likely pathology from diagnostic inputs that are imprecise, incomplete, and inaccurate to varying degrees. We present the results from using the system on two-hundred diverse medical cases. The system correctly diagnosed all two-hundred cases and was able to explain how the diagnoses was derived, and the factors contributing to the system's conclusions. A successful Heartache system will reduce the need for human medical expertise during distant space travel.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the factors related to fatigue accumulation by irregular shift workers after the late-night shift.

METHOD
We studied employees of a company in the transportation industry in Fukushima prefecture. The company transports passengers, and many employees, including the crew, engage in irregular shift work. We performed the investigation by using a self-administered questionnaire which was sent to 89 employees in October, 2011. Of the 89 who were given the survey, 84 replied, and 52 of those employees had worked the late-night shift (straddling midnight) at least once during September. In answer to the question "How long does it take you to recover after working the late-night-shift?" choices were "I don't feel tired ", "I recover the next day", "I recover in two or three days", and "It takes more than three days". We classified the choices into two groups of: 1) "I don't feel tired" and "I recover the next day", and 2) "I recover in two or three days" and "It takes more than three days". Other questions were asked about age, BMI, weekday average duration of sleep, whether or not a nap was taken before the late-night shift, risk of lifestyle-related diseases (hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes), awareness of life stress accumulation, and exercise habits.

RESULTS
Thirty-two employees answered that they recovered from the late-night shift by the next day, whereas 20 employees answered that it took more than 2 days to recover after the late-night-shift. The group who answered that recovery time after the late-night shift took more than 2 days significantly (p=0.035) felt that their stress management was insufficient. Age, BMI, weekday average duration of sleep, whether or not a nap was taken before the late-night shifts, risk of lifestyle-related diseases, and exercise habits showed no significant association with fatigue accumulation. The group who answered that their stress management was insufficient significantly chose liquor (p=0.045) and cigarettes (p=0.030) for stress reduction.

DISCUSSION
In this study, a relationship was recognized between degree of awareness of daily stress relief and fatigue recovery period. In addition, various means of stress relief had different effects, suggesting the need for individualized mental health care.


The stereotyped motor behaviour of the Drosophila larva provides a useful model for the development and function of neural circuitry. However, the cellular and molecular basis of this behaviour is poorly understood. Reported in this thesis is an analysis of slowmo (slmo), a gene previously shown to be expressed in the developing embryonic central nervous system of Drosophila. Null mutants of slmo are able to hatch, but the resulting larvae exhibit a progressive phenotype of defective locomotor activity. An enhancer trap, P(GAL4)c682, which is inserted in the slmo locus, reports expression in a subset of neurons within the embryonic, larval and adult central nervous systems. Inactivation of marked neurons with tetanus toxin light chain leads to severely impaired motor function, but not total paralysis. Affected embryos are capable of some sporadic movements, but are unable to hatch and normal peristaltic contraction waves are largely absent. The slmo gene is shown to encode a member of a novel family of conserved proteins of unknown function. GFP fusions of Slmo are shown to localise to the mitochondria in a cultured cell line. Two novel slmo related genes, termed pre/i/ (pre!) and real-time (retm), are identified in Drosophila. The prel gene is expressed ubiquitously during embryonic development, and disruption of the gene by a P-insertion results in lethality during larval development. retm encodes a member of a novel subclass of larger Slmo related proteins which contain the conserved CRAL- TRIO domain thought to be involved in the transport of small hydrophobic ligands. GFP fusions of both Prel and Retm are also associated with the mitochondria in cell culture, suggesting this might be true all proteins of this family. Using a yeast-2-hybrid approach, the identification of candidate Slmo interacting proteins is described, providing a basis for future work on the function of Slmo.


In this paper a system allowing execution of automatic measurements of the optical parameters of scattering materials in a efficient and accurate manner is proposed and described. The system is designed especially for measurements of biological tissues including phantoms, which closely imitate optical characteristics of a real tissue. The system has modular construction and is based on ISEL system, luminance and color meter and a computer with worked out dedicated software and user interface. Performed measurements of scattering distribution characteristics for selected materials revealed good accuracy, confirmed by comparative measurements using well-known reference characteristics. Full Text: PDF ReferencesWróbel, M. S., Popov, A. P., Bykov, A. V., Kinnunen, M., Jedrzejewska-Szczerska, M., & Tuchin, V. V. (2015). Measurements of fundamental properties of homogeneous tissue phantoms. Journal of Biomedical Optics CrossRef Wróbel, M. S., Jedrzejewska-Szczerska, M., Galla, S., Piechowski, L., Sawczak, M., Popov, A. P., Cenian, A. (2015). Use of optical skin phantoms for preclinical evaluation of laser efficiency for skin lesion therapy. Journal of Biomedical Optics. CrossRef Jędrzejewska-Szczerska, M., Wróbel, M. S., Galla, S., Popov, A. P., Bykov, A. V., Tuchin, V. V., & Cenian, A. (2015). Investigation of photothermolysis therapy of human skin diseases using optical phantoms. In Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. CrossRef Brown A. M., et al.: Optical material characterization through BSDF measurement and analysis, Proc. of SPIE, Vol. 7792, 2010 CrossRef 4-Axis Controller: iMC-S8. Operating Instruction. ISEL Germany AG, 2012. DirectLink Konica Minolta, Inc. (2005-2013). Chroma meter CS-200. Datasheet. DirectLink Malacara D.: Color Vision and Colorimetry; Theory and Applications, SPIE Press, 2002. DirectLink A. Mazikowski, M. Trojanowski: Measurements of Spectral Spatial Distribution of Scattering Materials for Rear Projection Screens used in Virtual Reality Systems, Metrology and Measurement Systems, 20 (3), pp. 443 - 452, 2013 CrossRef


PET-CT (positron emission tomography and computed tomography) is a gold-standard cancer imaging tool for diagnosis and management, as well as prognostic information based on treatment. Positron-emitting radionuclide 18F (Fluorine) is generated by accelerating particles to energies high enough to cause a certain nuclear reaction 18O(p,n)18F within the particle accelerator, the cyclotron. Mannose triflate is converted to 2-[18F] Fluoro-2-deox-D-yglucose ([18F]FDG) via nucleophilic reaction. Under the ownership of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission installed a medium energy (18/9 MeV, IBA) Cyclotron at National Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (NINMAS). The facility was established in the oncology Building (Block F) of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU). Cyclotron vault and the Control room are located in the underground i.e. basement floor. Each wall of the cyclotron vault and ceiling is made of concrete with a density of 2.35 g/cm3 and a thickness sufficient to shield gamma and neutron radiation. On the ground floor, there are Synthesis room, Quality control laboratory, and the Decontamination room. PET-CT rooms are located on the first floor. Identification, Radionuclide purity (Gamma spectrum detection and half-life measurement), Radiochemical Purity, Chemical purity, Residual solvent measurement, pH measurement, Sterility, and bacterial endotoxins (LAL test) are performed to maintain the quality of the product. The current uses of the Cyclotron are mostly for the synthesis of 18F-FDG.
Bangladesh J. Nuclear Med. 24(1&2): 48-50, 2021


During the last decade, the understanding of the biological functions of cholesterol biosynthesis intermediates has changed significantly. Particularly, the enzyme sterol dehydrocholesterol reductase 24 (DHCR24) has taken center stage as a potential drug target. Inhibition of DHCR24 leads to accumulation of the endogenous, biologically active metabolite cholesta-5,24-dien-3β-ol (desmosterol). Desmosterol is an endogenous agonist of the liver X receptor (LXR). LXR is a master regulator of lipid metabolism and, as such, is involved in numerous pathophysiological processes such as inflammation, atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes mellitus (DM), multiple sclerosis (MS), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and the progression of viral infections. Up to now, selective pharmacological targeting of LXR without activating the sterol-response element binding proteins (SREBP) and thereby boosting endogenous lipid biosynthesis has not been achieved. In turn, no selective LXR receptor agonists leveraging its beneficial activation have yet reached the clinic. Therefore, using potent and selective inhibitors of DHCR24 leading to an accumulation of endogenous desmosterol is a promising alternative strategy for the selective activation of LXR. Here we summarize the present landscape of novel lead structures for targeting DHCR24, covering steroidal enzyme inhibitors (e.g., 20,25-diazacholesterol, SH42) as well as non-steroidal scaffolds (e.g., amiodarone, triparanol). Further, we explain the molecular mechanisms of DHCR24 inhibition/LXR activation, discuss possible therapeutic applications, and underpin why DHCR24 is an upcoming promising drug target.


We present an 8000‐year history spanning 650 km of ice margin retreat for the largest marine‐terminating ice stream draining the former British–Irish Ice Sheet. Bayesian modelling of the geochronological data shows the ISIS expanded 34.0–25.3 ka, accelerating into the Celtic Sea to reach maximum limits 25.3–24.5 ka before a collapse with rapid marginal retreat to the northern Irish Sea Basin (ISB). This retreat was rapid and driven by climatic warming, sea‐level rise, mega‐tidal amplitudes and reactivation of meridional circulation in the North Atlantic. The retreat, though rapid, is uneven, with the stepped retreat pattern possibly a function of the passage of the ice stream between normal and adverse ice bed gradients and changing ice stream geometry. Initially, wide calving margins and adverse slopes encouraged rapid retreat (∼550 m a−1) that slowed (∼100 m a−1) at the topographic constriction and bathymetric high between southern Ireland and Wales before rates increased (∼200 m a−1) across adverse bed slopes and wider and deeper basin configuration in the northern ISB. These data point to the importance of the ice bed slope and lateral extent in predicting the longer‐term (>1000 a) patterns and rates of ice‐marginal retreat during phases of rapid collapse, which has implications for the modelling of projected rapid retreat of present‐day ice streams. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In fault systems at plate boundaries, maximum seismogenic depth is likely defined by the transition with depth from unstable frictional slip to localized, high strain rate (γ≈10 11 /s) quasi-plastic shearing in trans-crustal, tabular fault zones; the transition being significantly affected by variations in regional heat flow. However, such deep driven rheological models are probably inappropriate for areas of intraplate seismicity such as the eastern United States where, despite the low cratonic heat flow, the larger earthquakes ( m b ≈5) seem to nucleate in the 5–10 km depth range. Similar shallow nucleation depths have also been noted for large intraplate events in the cratonic crust of Australia. A more appropriate model for such intraplate activity is to view the upper levels of cratonic crust as a remotely-loaded, flawed stress-guide, where time-dependent failure may occur through processes such as stress corrosion. A rheological criterion accounting for the depths of these cratonic events is that seismogenic failure can only occur when the loading strain rate is greater than the potential rate of flow relaxation within the focal volume, suggesting an important size effect. Loading strain rates estimated from likely earthquake recurrence intervals in such areas are extremely low ( −16 /s ). At such low strain rates, the upper crust is effectively decoupled, even though no geologically obvious strain signature will develop in the middle or lower crust over lengthy time periods. Available strain energy, and perhaps maximum earthquake size, may then be quite sensitively linked to maximum seismogenic depth. A range of intermediate mixed behavior must exist between these end-member models.


We describe an approach to the automated construction of visual maps of an unknown environment. These maps take the form of image-based "walk-throughs" rather than 2D or 3D models. Our approach is based on the selection of informative viewpoints within the environment. These viewpoints are locations in the environment associated with views containing maximal visual interest. This approach to environment representation is analogous to image compression. Our goal is to obtain a set of representative views resembling those that would be selected by a human observer given the same task. Our computational procedure is inspired by models of human visual attention appearing in the literature on human psychophysics. We make use of the underlying edge structure of a scene, as it is largely unaffected by variations in illumination. Our implementation uses a mobile robot to traverse the environment, and then builds an image-based virtual representation of the environment, only keeping the views whose responses were highest. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our attention operator on both single images, and in viewpoint selection within an unknown environment.


Gastric epithelioid leiomyomatous (leiomyoblastomas) tumours primarily affect middle-aged men and usually present with upper gastro-intestinal bleeding, manifesting as haematemesia and/or melaena. This report documents a case of gastric epitheliod leiomyoma presenting with spontaneous haemoperitoneum. Its possible relationship with haemangiopericytoma and glomus tumour is discussed.


Non-invasive dynamic tracking of lysosomes and their interactions with other organelles is important for the study of lysosomal function and related diseases. However, many fluorescent dyes developed so far to target lysosomes cannot be used to monitor these processes due to the high concentrations required for imaging, long cell penetration times, and non-ideal photostability. In this regard, we synthesized three lysosomal targeting probes with large Stokes shifts, good stability, and high brightness. The Q-P-ARh , developed by us for the first time, can stain lysosomes at ultra-low concentrations (1.0 nM) without affecting the physiological functions of the lysosomes. More importantly, its excellent anti-interference ability and ultrafast lysosomal staining ability (within 1.0 min) clearly monitored the entire dynamic process of lipophagy. Ultimately, this method can greatly contribute to the study of autophagy pathways. This novel fluorescence platform shows great promise for the development of biological probes for application in pathological environments.


The current Australian Curriculum mandates that technology be utilised to support students to "investigate, create and communicate mathematical ideas and concepts" (ACARA, 2018). However, research reports suggest that use of digital technologies in Australian primary mathematics often focusses on the lower-order drilling of algorithms and basic facts. In this study, an online environment provided the medium for Year 5 students to engage in collaborative mathematical problem solving. The students' online dialogue, along with uploaded diagrams and spreadsheets, provide evidence of their development of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics' proficiencies of Problem Solving and Reasoning.


OECD delivered on October 5th 2015 the BEPS final package consisting of 15 actions intending to address the issues of base erosion and profit shifting. The aim of Action 6 is to prevent treaty abuse, in particular treaty shopping. To achieve this goal, a specific anti- abuse rule, a Limitation- on- Benefit (LOB) rule, will be included in the OECD Model. The LOB rule contains objective tests that the taxpayer in question must satisfy in order to be granted benefits under a tax treaty. Hence, it does not, in general, refer to the intention of the taxpayer. The granting of such benefits has been based on residency of the party claiming the benefits, which, as a consequence, has created opportunities for tax treaty abuse. Hence, the LOB rule limits the application of Article 1 of the OECD Model Convention, according to which the Convention applies to a person resident of a contracting state.

The BEPS project will be implemented in the tax treaties concluded between different states. However, as it constitutes soft law, EU law still prevails. Consequently, issues may arise as EU law and the BEPS proposal constitute different sources of law and may not always be compatible as they serve somewhat different purposes. As BEPS may have restrictive effects on the freedom to move in order to prevent treaty abuse, the EU aims at ensuring an internal market with free movement.

The Most- Favoured- Nation (MFN) treatment constitutes a cornerstone in the WTO law, which aims to provide undistorted import and export between different markets. It has for a long time been disputed whether EU law also contains a principle of MFN treatment through the application of Article 18 of the TFEU in combination with the fundamental freedoms. The MFN treatment derives from the concept of horizontal discrimination, which refers to the situation in which two non resident taxpayers, resident in different Member States, are objectively comparable and subject to unequal treatment. This question has been disputable since in particular vertical discrimination has been prohibited under Article 18 of the TFEU. The issue whether horizontal discrimination should be prohibited within the EU has been dealt with by the case law of the CJEU. The core question has been whether two non- residents are in an objectively comparable situation.

Hence, in this thesis, case law of the CJEU dealing with the existence of an MFN treatment within the EU is being analysed. The conclusion is that a prohibition against horizontal discrimination within the EU does exist. The following question to be dealt with concerns the correlation between the MFN treatment and the LOB rule proposed in the Action 6. To this end, the MFN treatment should not be applied as a remedy of an LOB rule that creates discriminatory effects, although acceptance of the MFN treatment and the refusal of the LOB clause in a specific situation lead to the same result.


Polymer materials - mainly epoxy resins - are widely used in microelectronics packaging. They are established in printed circuit board manufacturing, for adhesives as die attach glues or for encapsulants as molding compounds, glob tops or underfill materials. Low cost and mass production capabilities are the main advantages of these materials. But like all polymers they can not provide a hermetical sealing due to their permeability properties. The susceptibility to water diffusion through the polymer and along the interfaces is a drawback for polymer materials in general. Water inside a microelectronic package might lead to softening of the material and to a decreasing adhesive strength and resulting delaminations close to solder bumps or wire bonds reducing package reliability by decreasing the package structural integrity. During package reflow, the incorporated humidity might lead to popcorning, i.e. abrupt evaporation of humidity during reflow soldering, is one major problem during plastic package assembly. The introduction of high temperature lead- free soldering processes has even increased this issue. Therefore, plastic packaging materials with enhanced humidity resistance would increase package reliability during assembly and lifetime without cost increase and with no changes in processing. The incorporation of nano-particles into plastic packaging materials is discussed as one potential solution for improved humidity resistance as it is a rather low effort approach to material modification opposed to chemical modification of the matrix. To evaluate the potential of such additives concerning moisture resistance the effect of nano-particles mixed with a microelectronic grade epoxy resin is studied. From the large variety of fillers available this work mainly focuses on three different types: nano-sized silica, modified bentonite and zeolites. Working principles of these particles range from large surface impact of nano-particles, barrier functionality due to stacked layer formation and molecular catcher function. Formulations with different particle concentrations and surface modifications are characterized regarding their influence on humidity diffusion, absorption and desorption behavior as well as their influence on other material properties as reaction kinetics, viscosity and thermo- mechanical properties. Additionally the combination of nano- and standard micro-particles needed for thermo-mechanical adjustment of the polymer properties is studied. Experimental work is accompanied by simulations, in order to provide further qualitative understanding on effects of particle form, size and surface properties. In summary this paper describes the potential of different nano-particles as additives for plastic packaging materials for enhanced humidity resistance/barrier enhancement within microelectronic packages. This topic is gaining increased importance when considering the trend towards system in package, where a multitude of components is encapsulated to form one SiP that incorporates a large number of different material interfaces and interconnects. All these interfaces and interconnects need to be protected from degradation caused by moisture ingress, without allowing much increased package volume or package cost. Polymers with improved moisture resistance can be one building block of future moisture resistant packages - the results of this study show their large potential for this field of application.


The relationship between low-temperature anomalies of physical and chemical properties and the formation of self-organized structures in non-crystalline solids of the As(Ge)-S(Se) systems is discussed. Obtained temperature dependences for the specific heat capacity and coefficient of linear expansion in the temperature domain T < 100 K, detailing the linear and nonlinear contributions. The influence of the obtaining conditions of non-crystalline solids on the low-temperature behavior of physico-chemical properties and the change in the ratios of various contributions and temperature intervals is considered. The correlation and common features of the formation of self-organized structures of non-crystalline materials in the region of low temperatures and softening temperatures, manifested in the presence of nanolevels of structuring, are analyzed.


Finding molecules with a desirable balance of multiple properties is a main challenge in drug discovery. Here, we focus on the task of molecular optimization, where a starting molecule with promising properties needs to be further optimized towards the desirable properties. Typically, chemists would apply chemical transformations to the starting molecule based on their intuition. A widely used strategy is the concept of matched molecular pairs where two molecules differ by a single transformation. In particular, a chemist would be interested in keeping one part of the starting molecule (core) constant, while substituting the other part (R-group), to optimize the starting molecule towards desirable properties. Motivated by this, we train a Transformer model, Transformer-R, to generate R-groups given the starting molecule (with its core and R-group specified) and the specified desirable properties. The generated R-groups will be attached to the core to form the final molecules, which are guaranteed to keep the core of interest and are expected to satisfy the desirable properties in the input. Our model could accelerate the process of optimizing antiviral drug candidates in terms of various properties of interest, e.g. pharmacokinetics.


Many eukaryotic proteins are anchored by glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) to the cell surface membrane. The GPI anchor is linked to proteins by an amide bond formed between the carboxyl terminus and phosphoethanolamine attached to the third mannose. Here, we report the roles of two mammalian genes involved in transfer of phosphoethanolamine to the third mannose in GPI. We cloned a mouse gene termed Pig-o that encodes a 1101-amino acid PIG-O protein bearing regions conserved in various phosphodiesterases.Pig-o knockout F9 embryonal carcinoma cells expressed very little GPI-anchored proteins and accumulated the same major GPI intermediate as the mouse class F mutant cell, which is defective in transferring phosphoethanolamine to the third mannose due to mutantPig-f gene. PIG-O and PIG-F proteins associate with each other, and the stability of PIG-O was dependent upon PIG-F. However, the class F cell is completely deficient in the surface expression of GPI-anchored proteins. A minor GPI intermediate seen inPig-o knockout but not class F cells had more than three mannoses with phosphoethanolamines on the first and third mannoses, suggesting that this GPI may account for the low expression of GPI-anchored proteins. Therefore, mammalian cells have redundant activities in transferring phosphoethanolamine to the third mannose, both of which require PIG-F.


Long short-term memory (LSTM) acoustic models have recently achieved state-of-the-art results on speech recognition tasks. As a type of recurrent neural network, LSTMs potentially have the ability to model long-span phenomena relating the spectral input to linguistic units. However, it has not been clear whether their observed performance is actually due to this capability, or instead if it is due to a better modeling of short term dynamics through the recurrence. In this paper. we answer this question by applying a windowed (truncated) LSTM to conversational speech transcription, and find that a limited context is adequate, and that it is not necessaary to scan the entire utterance. The sliding window approach allows not only incremental (online) recognition with a bidirectional model, but also frame-wise randomization (as opposed to utterance randomization), which results in faster convergence. On the SWBD/Fisher corpus, applying bidirectional LSTM RNNs to spectral windows of about 0.5s improves WER on the Hub5'00 benchmark set by 16% relative compared to our best sequence-trained DNN. On an extended 3850h training set that that also includes lectures, the relative gain becomes 28% (Hub5'00 WER 9.2%). In-house conversational data improves by 12 to 17% relative.


We address practical issues to develop reactive motion planning method capable of replanning the path online when the environment changes during the execution. By introducing planning and execution threads running in parallel, the robot can keep moving even during the replanning process as long as the motion is safe. The proposed method can be applied to discontinuous input of environmental changes that may occur due to incomplete perception. We then address a roadmap reuse method for efficient replanning to make use of the increasing knowledge about the environment, by introducing working and learning roadmaps. A general interface with robot motion controller is also defined so that the method can be applied to various types of robots. The proposed method is validated through planning simulations with moving obstacles.


The number of people with hearing loss and tumours increase, as the population is getting older and the world is getting louder. This poses increasing demands on healthcare, both in numbers and capabilities. For a number of specific applications new medical robots possibly can increase quality as well as reduce costs of healthcare. A new precision surgical robot design is presented which enables precise, safe, fast and less invasive bone removal, with a focus on procedures in the skull (base) and ear. The compact robot can operate autonomously using CT image data, but can also be driven manually by the surgeon. After determination of the robots' requirements, a deterministic process was used to select the best concept from multiple generated robotic concepts. A compact serial robotic arm with seven axes, built from modular units, gives the possibility to have a high rigidity, dexterity, large range of motion and low-cost design, while being able to achieve sufficient accuracy of an estimated 50 μm. Moreover, it is designed to withstand milling and drilling forces up to 50 N and usable in the medical operating room with minimal intervention. The weight of the seven- Axis robot with its base is estimated to be 9 kg. In future medical operating rooms, this precision robot may reduce the amount of bone removed up to a factor 30, could improve safety and could enable new surgical procedures. It might reduce bone-milling time from hours into minutes, being able to help more patients and reduce costs. Exact numbers will be generated after realisation and testing of one module and the full robot, which will be steps in future research.


Objective: The diagnosis of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is sometimes delayed until adolescence. This study tries to identify the symptoms in clients that initiated a referral to an autism team of an early intervention service providing psychiatric care for young people between the ages of 15 and 25 and who subsequently receive a new diagnosis of autism. Methods: Thirty-one ASD assessments were carried out during a period of 3 years in an early intervention service in Australia. An attempt to identify the common presenting symptoms and trends in the referrals for ASD assessment within the service was made. Results: Most common presentation of adolescents getting referred for ASD assessment was with depressive symptoms followed by mixed anxiety and depression and primary psychotic symptoms. There was a significant gender difference, with a higher number of males getting referred for ASD assessment. Conclusion: ASDs can go undetected during childhood and these clients can sometimes present during adolescence to mental health services for a psychiatric comorbidity. Regular training opportunities for clinicians dealing with them could improve the chances of ASDs being picked up during their episode of care at an early intervention service, thus optimizing their management.


Roger Higgs writes: Wells et al . (2005 a , b ) produced an innovative and thought-provoking numerical model of tides in the Late Carboniferous seaway of NW Europe, predicting very low tidal ranges (<1 m), consistent with the scarcity of sedimentary evidence for (weak) tides reported in the corresponding rocks. Based on the model, Wells et al . (2005 a ) argued intuitively that tidal range was minimum during (glacioeustatic) highstands, and maximum during lowstands (and transgressions). I would argue the converse.

During highstands, not only was the water volume (mass) greater, leading potentially to larger tides, but also any tide in the adjacent ocean would necessarily be passed into the seaway, adding to the locally generated tide. This is a weakness of the model: the oceanic tidal influence was 'not incorporated for simplicity' (Wells et al . 2005 a , p. 418).

In contrast, during lowstands, the seaway became a freshwater lake (or chain of lakes), perched at the level of the outflow sill, and bordered by incised highstand prograded deltas and alluvial plains ('Lake Bude' of Higgs 1991, 2004). Disconnected from the global ocean, the lake would have had an extremely low tidal range (<5 cm), as in all lakes, because of the relatively small water volume (Talbot & Allen 1996). Indeed, no evidence for tides has been reported in Lake Bude deposits (Ross, Crackington and Bude Formations of Ireland and England; Higgs 1991, 2004, and references therein). However, given the (scarce) evidence reported elsewhere in the seaway, sedimentary structures indicative of weak tidal currents (e.g. ripples with foreset slack-water mud drapes; rhythmic lamination; opposed ripples) may eventually be discovered in the Lake Bude formations, probably associated with the volumetrically minor shale bands with brackish and marine fossils (Higgs 1991, 2004), representing transgressions and highstands, when …


In 2013, nearly 15 million units of banked blood were transfused in the United States of America alone. Blood shortages are expected to increase globally. Donated blood is not equal due to differences in quality and deterioration rate. There are no methods to detect time-dependent biochemical and biophysical changes of red blood cells (RBCs) or the deterioration rate of donated RBCs. Nine randomly selected RBC units collected by the San Diego Blood Bank were examined for interdonor variability over six weeks of storage. In vitro RBC quality was assessed weekly by conventional biochemical tests including free Hb, K+, ATP, P50, 2,3 DPG, lactate, and pH. Deformability was measured via cell filtration. Briefly, the RBC suspension (10% Hct), was forced through a 5.0-μm pore membrane (106 mm2) at various flow rates. No interdonor variability in biochemical or mechanical parameters was observed at baseline. Interdonor variability in biochemical properties (free Hb, K+, ATP, P50, 2,3 DPG, lactate, and pH) was observed after 14 days of storage. However, significant differences from baseline in RBC mechanical properties (i.e., filterability) were observed as early as 7 days into storage at the lowest flow rates and after 28 days of storage at all flow rates. There was a net decrease in filterability over time for all donors, but the rate at which filterability decreased (i.e., deterioration rates) was different when comparing individual donors. Changes in all biochemical parameters were significant different between donors. These data suggest that filterability is more sensitive to changes in blood quality than conventional biochemical parameters.