During the past few years many batches of meat infusion peptone broth prepared in our laboratory have failed to grow pneumococci and other kinds of bacteria that usually flourish in good batches of this medium. Because of this experience, media prepared from commercial dried yeast have been tested. Throughout a year's use they have proved to be uniformly reliable and efficient substitutes in all routine bacteriological procedures for which meat infusion peptone media are commonly used. The purpose of this paper is to report the method of preparation and the advantages and limitations of these yeast media.


Background:Coronary artery lesions (CALs) are known to be the main complication in children with Kawasaki disease (KD). Instead of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), corticosteroid therapy has been accepted to be used for children with KD who are unresponsive to IVIG. This study aimed to evaluate risk factors for CALs in children with KD. Methods:We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 2331 children with KD from January 2005 to December 2014. To identify the independent risk factors for CALs, multivariable logistic regression models were constructed using significant variables identified from univariate logistic regression analysis. Results:The incidence of CALs was 36.0% (840 of 2331), including 625 (26.8%) coronary artery dilations and 215 (9.2%) coronary artery aneurysms (CAAs). Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified that male, incomplete KD, longer fever duration, and C-reactive protein (CRP) >100 mg/L were independent risk factors for coronary artery dilatations. On the other hand, male, incomplete KD, longer fever duration, prolonged days of illness at the initial treatment, corticosteroid therapy, sodium ⩽133 mmol/L, and albumin <35 g/L were the independent risk factors for CAAs. In addition, corticosteroid therapy, prolonged days of illness at the initial treatment, and albumin <35 g/L were the independent risk factors for giant CAAs. Conclusions:CALs might be associated with male sex, incomplete KD, longer fever duration, prolonged days of illness at the initial treatment, albumin <35 g/L, sodium ⩽133 mmol/L, CRP >100 mg/L, and corticosteroid therapy. Corticosteroid therapy was an independent risk factor for CAAs and giant CAAs. Thus, corticosteroids should be used with caution in the treatment of KD with the risk for CALs.


A radiometric calibration facility for optical sensors was developed using wavelength-tunable lasers as the light sources and a silicon photodiode as the standard detector of radiometric responsivities. This facility enabled us to calibrate the responsivities that were previously impossible to measure, such as the relative spectral responsivity of an optical sensor with a large aperture, and the linearity continuously over four orders of dynamic range. This paper describes an overview of this facility and its characteristics.


A food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was designed to assess the average consumption frequency of food items and to characterize the food pattern among workers. A list of consumed food and usual serving sizes was compiled from previous local survey, using single 24 hours dietary recalls and frequency questionnaires. The list was composed of 127 items and the nutrient composition was calculated by the computer program DietPro version 3.0. The FFQ was administered to each subject twice in a period of six months. To characterize food pattern consumption, the most frequently mentioned foods were identified. One hundred and four (104) workers were studied, randomly selected. Items consumed at least once a day by 50% of the workers were: white bread, margarine, black coffee, white sugar, red beans and white rice. Variety of daily consumed foods was small. The top 30 foods on a daily basis ranged from less than 1.5 to 92%. This FFQ is easy to administer when studying the dietary intake of low-income populations


Incremental processing allows interactive systems to respond based on partial inputs, which is a desirable property e.g. in dialogue agents. The currently popular Transformer architecture inherently processes sequences as a whole, abstracting away the notion of time. Recent work attempts to apply Transformers incrementally via restart-incrementality by repeatedly feeding, to an unchanged model, increasingly longer input prefixes to produce partial outputs. However, this approach is computationally costly and does not scale efficiently for long sequences. In parallel, we witness efforts to make Transformers more efficient, e.g. the Linear Transformer (LT) with a recurrence mechanism. In this work, we examine the feasibility of LT for incremental NLU in English. Our results show that the recurrent LT model has better incremental performance and faster inference speed compared to the standard Transformer and LT with restart-incrementality, at the cost of part of the non-incremental (full sequence) quality. We show that the performance drop can be mitigated by training the model to wait for right context before committing to an output and that training with input prefixes is beneficial for delivering correct partial outputs.


On the middle metatarsals of 49 patients with symptomatic intractable plantar keratosis, 69 distal oblique osteotomies were performed. With an average follow-up time of 16 months, 83% of the results were rated good. This procedure is contraindicated for an intractable plantar keratosis with an associated fixed metatarsphalangeal joint deformity, however.


This article describes the characteristics and aims of problem-based learning (PBL), a successful strategy for higher education. PBL has been implemented as an overall strategy for several programmes at Maastricht University, for example medicine. The suitability of PBL as an innovation in engineering education is analysed, given the characteristics of this particular domain. Project work and guided small group work also present themselves as alternatives for conventional engineering education. PBL has been implemented as a partial strategy for Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. The differences between the medical and the engineering implementation are analysed. PBL offers good prospects in the first few years of a programme, especially if group work tutorials and some directive teaching are added. In later phases project work offers a strong alternative. The conclusion is that PBL has certain limitations, which make it less suitable as an overall strategy for engineering education.


In this book we study different aspects regarding
security and privacy issues related to sensor
networks, mobile ad hoc networks, vehicular ad hoc
networks and social networks. Sensor networks have a
wide variety of applications related to event
surveillance like emergency response or habitat
monitoring. Ad hoc networks are suited for use in
situations where deploying an infrastructure is not
cost effective or is not possible for any other
reason. When the nodes of an ad hoc network are small
mobile devices (cell phones or PDAs), such a network
is called mobile ad hoc network. If mobile nodes are
embedded in cars, then that network is called
vehicular ad hoc network. Social networks differ from
the special-purpose networks commented above in that
they are not physical networks. Social networks are
applications that work through classic networks. They
can be defined as a community of web users where each
user can publish and share information and services.
Open problems and different solutions providing
secure and private information transmission in each
scenario are presented.


The development of new types of artificial muscles is of utmost importance as traditional actuators based on mechanical drive systems no longer meet the stringent requirements of flexibility, high efficiency, and multistimuli responses in advanced functional fields, such as soft and biomimetic robots, sensors, artificial intelligent control, and artificial intelligence. Carbonene materials refer to carbon materials composed of all carbon atoms with sp2 hybridization, mainly including carbon nanotubes and graphene. Owing to their exceptional properties such as light weight, excellent mechanical performance, high conductivity, flexibility, and large specific surface area, carbonene materials demonstrate significant application potential in artificial muscles, thereby promoting the rapid development of corresponding fields. Herein, the recent progress of the application of carbonene materials in artificial muscles is summarized to provide a comprehensive understanding of the preparation, properties, and applications of artificial muscles composed of carbonene materials. First, carbonene artificial muscles integrating response, actuation, and structure are introduced. As carbonene materials are unique building blocks that can be readily assembled into macroscopic materials with various structures, fibrous and membranous artificial muscles based on carbonene materials are discussed in detail. Carbonene fiber actuators demonstrate diverse actuation performances when fabricated with different structures. Bending actuation typically occurs when carbonene artificial muscles with asymmetric structures are subjected to external stimulation. The untwisting of carbonene artificial muscle fibers with twisted structures causes torsional and tensile actuation, which can be attributed to the volume expansion induced by external stimuli. Furthermore, coiled structures achieved by twisting a fiber until it is fully coiled can enhance the actuation stroke. Thus, the actuation of artificial muscle fibers made of carbonene materials can be classified into bending, rotation, and contraction actuations. Second, carbonene materials have long been considered as a functional component in composite materials for specific applications owing to their excellent physical and chemical properties. Therefore, the application of carbonene materials as an additional component to other artificial muscle materials (such as smart hydrogels, dielectric elastomers, and conducting polymers) is reviewed. By employing carbonene materials, artificial muscle materials exhibit improved electrical and mechanical properties, thereby leading to superior actuation performances. In addition, integrating carbonene materials into artificial muscles can endow the muscles with programmable actuation and sensing functions. Finally, the challenges faced in the application of artificial muscles based on carbonene materials and the future application of carbonene artificial muscles with multi-functional actuation performance are briefly discussed.


This study was carried out to understand the relationships between yield and irrigation water applied at different growth periods and to determine the most critical period(s) for sunflower. A rainfed (non-irrigated) treatment as the control and 13 different irrigation treatments (H, F, M, HF, HM, FM, HFM, H60FM, H40FM, HF60M, HF40M, HFM60, HFM40) with full (about 360 mm) or limited (40 and 60%) irrigation water, were applied to the hybrid Sanbro (Novartis Seed Company) planted on clay soil, at three critical development periods: heading (H), flowering (F), and milking (M). Evapotranspiration (ET) increased as an increasing amount of irrigation water was applied. The highest seasonal ET (an average of 674 mm) was measured in the HFM treatment. Limited irrigation applied at different growing periods had different effects on the yield-related characters examined. The highest seed yield (4056 kg ha ) and oil yield (1841 kg ha ) were obtained from the HFM treatment; 85.4 and 88% increases, respectively, compared with the control. The seed yield and oil yield increases for the limited-irrigation treatments were: 78.7 and 77.4% for H60FM; 77.4 and 78.9% for H40FM; 72.2 and 75% for HF60M; 76.4 and 79.2% for HF40M; 72.7 and 73.6% for HFM60; 77.6 and 79.1% for HFM40. Therefore, we confirm that HFM irrigation is the best choice for maximum yield under the local conditions, but these irrigation schemes must be re-considered in areas where water resources are more limited. In case of more restricted irrigation, the limitation of irrigation water at the flowering period should be avoided. # 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Study Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Objective: To systematically review the available articles on topical vancomycin powder (TVP) use in pediatric spine surgeries exploring the usefulness and safety of such practice. Methods: We conducted an independent and duplicate electronic database search in PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library till March 2020 to identify all relevant literature on the use of TVP for pediatric spine surgeries. Surgical site infection (SSI) rate, specific reported complications, reoperation rate, microbial flora pattern in reported SSIs, and safety profile were the outcomes analyzed. Analysis was performed with the R platform using OpenMeta[Analyst] software. Results: No prospective studies were available to evaluate the use of TVP in pediatric spine surgeries for the prevention of SSIs. Neither standardized protocol, nor drug dosage, nor safety profile was established for pediatric use. Three retrospective cohort studies including 824 patients (TVP/control: 400/424) were included in the meta-analysis. There was low-quality evidence suggesting no significant difference between the 2 groups in SSI rate (RR = 0.474; 95% CI = [0.106,2.112]; P = .327) with significant heterogeneity (I2 = 70.14; P = .035). The TVP group showed a significant benefit on cost analysis in one of the included studies. However, TVP did not prevent gram-negative coinfection on SSI in the TVP group. Conclusion: From the literature available at present, TVP does not qualify to be recommended as a safe and useful option to prevent SSI following pediatric spine surgeries. High-quality prospective interventional studies are needed to arrive at a consensus on its use along with appropriate dosage and method of application.


Purpose – This paper considers methods for decomposing indexes that incorporate economic disadvantage into a measure of segregation. According to such indexes, segregation in high-economic-status occupations is worse than similar segregation in low-economic-status occupations. The paper presents three decompositions of these indexes.

Methodology/Approach – The paper first characterizes a class of segregation indexes that include economic disadvantage in the index. It then develops mathematical methods for decomposing a change in such an index. The change is decomposed into two or more components: components that indicate either the effect of changes in economic disadvantage or the effect of changes in a standard measure of segregation – a measure that essentially ignores economic disadvantage. The paper then implements the decompositions using data on U.S. occupational segregation by gender between 1970 and 2000.

Findings – The primary finding is that a segregation index that incorporate economic disadvantage can be decomposed in interesting ways. A secondary finding is that such indexes indicate reduced segregation between 1970 and 2000. The dominant forces associated with the reduction were (a) the convergence of occupational gender ratios and (b) the movement of women out of less advantaged occupations and into the comparatively well-compensated professional and managerial occupations.

Research limitations/Implications – The 1970–2000 results are mainly illustrative. They are based on three broad occupational categories for which there were compatible earnings data, and the analysis could quite feasibly be done with more detailed occupational categories.


The genetic variability of banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) isolates from the Great Lakes region of Africa (GLRA) spanning Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda was assessed to better understand BBTV diversity and its epidemiology for improved disease management. DNA-R and DNA-S fragments of the virus genome were amplified and sequenced in this study. These two BBTV fragments were previously used to classify isolates into the South Pacific and the Asian groups. Phylogenetic analyses based on nucleotide sequences involving GLRA isolates and those obtained from the GenBank database were carried out. Sequence similarity for both DNA-R and DNA-S fragments ranged between 99.1 to 100.0% among the GLRA isolates, 96.2 to 100.0% and 89.7 to 94.3% between the GLRA isolates and those previously clustering in the South Pacific and the Asian groups, respectively. These results showed that GLRA isolates belong to the South Pacific group and are phylogenetically close to the reference Indian isolate. The similar banana cultivars and BBTV isolates across the GLRA implied that the disease may have mainly spread through exchange of planting material (suckers) between farmers. Thus, farmers' awareness and quarantine measures should be implemented to reduce BBTV spread in the GLRA.

 Key words: Banana bunchy top disease (BBTD), Musa spp., Pentalonia nigronervosa, virus genome.


Several studies have suggested that there may be an increased prevalence of affective disorders in people with motor neuron disease (MND). However, the literature is inconsistent, possibly because of small sample sizes in the existing studies. The Canadian province of Alberta has a universal health care system in which physician contacts are recorded along with ICD-9-CM diagnostic codes. In this analysis, diagnostic codes indicative of MND and affective disorders were used. Stratified analysis and logistic regression were used in the analysis. There were 336 cases of MND leading to a prevalence of 14.5 per 100,000 in provincial residents ≧20 years old. Affective disorders were identified in 8.6% of the total population during the same year. The crude odds ratio for affective disorders in MND was 2.3 (95% CI = 1.7–3.0). However, the prevalence of affective disorders declined with increasing illness duration.


Abstract Objectives: To assess the reproducibility and validity a 127-item, habitual intake, food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ), developed for low-income and low-literacy Brazilian workers, by comparison with a 24-hour dietary recall (24-HDR). Design: The FFQ and 24-HDR were interviewer-administered at the local workplace to each subject twice, with a period of 6 months between estimates; and four 24-HDRs were conducted during the 4-month period between the two FFQs (FFQ1 and FFQ2). Reproducibility was tested by comparing mean nutrient intakes from the two FFQs. Validity was determined by comparing the mean nutrient intakes from the FFQs with the corresponding averages of the six 24-HDRs (reference method). Setting: Goiânia City, in Central West Brazil. Subjects: The study was based on 104 (62 women and 42 men) subjects, aged 18 to 60 years, who were randomly selected. Results: Dietary intake from the FFQ was higher than from the 24-HDR. Reproducibility was assessed by Pearson correlation coefficients for nutrients from FFQ1 and FFQ2, and ranged from 0.23 for retinol to 0.69 for total energy (mean 0.52). Intra-class coefficients for nutrients averaged by the 24-HDRs ranged from 0.29 for vitamin C to 0.76 for total energy; retinol was not significant. In the validation study, correlation between the FFQ and the 24-HDR ranged between 0.21 for vitamin C and 0.70 for total energy (mean 0.50). Adjusting for total energy lowered the coefficients, except for calcium, retinol and vitamin C. Coefficients increased with attenuation, ranging from 0.35 for carbohydrate to 0.65 for calcium. Conclusions: Results indicate that this questionnaire had satisfactory reproducibility and reasonable validity.


This research examines the relationship between unconditional accounting conservatism and real earnings management in China's corporations. Using the regression models, the real earnings management proxies are found by the abnormal cash flow of operations, the abnormal operation costs and the abnormal discretionary expenses and the aggregated measures. The research sheds light on the negative relationship between unconditional accounting conservatism and real earnings management after controlling internal control quality and audit risk. The results of these inferences remain the same after dealing with the robustness analysis and the endogeneity concerns.


OBJECTIVE To report a case of atazanavir-associated choledocholithiasis in an HIV-infected individual. CASE SUMMARY A 47-year-old treatment-naïve HIV-positive African female presented to the emergency department with a 3-day history of right epigastric pain. Six weeks prior to this episode, she began antiretroviral therapy with a regimen consisting of atazanavir 400 mg and abacavir/lamivudine 600/300 mg once daily. Alanine aminotransferase (766 U/L), aspartate aminotransferase (876 U/L), γ-glutamyltransferase (588 U/L), alkaline phosphatase (348 U/L), and total bilirubin (3.9 mg/dL) levels were elevated. Abdominal ultrasound revealed obstructive choledocholithiasis as well as intra- and extrahepatic biliary dilatation. She underwent a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which revealed approximately 50 small calculi present in the gallbladder. Since previous ultrasounds had also shown gallstones, an analysis of the extracted calculi was performed to determine the possible association with atazanavir use; low amounts of atazanavir were detected. DISCUSSION Atazanavir is an inhibitor of the bilirubin-conjugating enzyme UGT1A1 and has been frequently linked to the occurrence of hyperbilirubinemia without complications. This individual experienced hyperbilirubinemia that peaked at hospital presentation after she developed choledocholithiasis and secondary acute hepatitis. Analysis of the extracted gallstones revealed that smaller stones contained a higher content of atazanavir than larger stones, which suggests that atazanavir precipitation may play a role in cholelithiasis, although the mechanism remains unknown. The low yield of atazanavir may be explained by the short, 6-week duration of drug exposure as well as the lack of assay for metabolites. The Naranjo probability scale implicated choledocholithiasis as a possible atazanavir-associated adverse event. This report provides the first published evidence that even short-term use of atazanavir may lead to hyperbilirubinemia with choledocholithiasis and secondary acute hepatitis in HIV-infected adults. CONCLUSIONS Atazanavir should be considered a possible contributor in the development of cholelithiasis or choledocholithiasis, and people with HIV should receive adequate counseling in the recognition of symptoms associated with gallstones. The exact incidence and mechanism still need to be elucidated.


In this note, we study how neural networks with a single hidden layer and ReLU activation interpolate data drawn from a radially symmetric distribution with target labels 1 at the origin and 0 outside the unit ball, if no labels are known inside the unit ball. With weight decay regularization and in the infinite neuron, infinite data limit, we prove that a unique radially symmetric minimizer exists, whose weight decay regularizer and Lipschitz constant grow as $d$ and $\sqrt{d}$ respectively. We furthermore show that the weight decay regularizer grows exponentially in $d$ if the label $1$ is imposed on a ball of radius $\varepsilon$ rather than just at the origin. By comparison, a neural networks with two hidden layers can approximate the target function without encountering the curse of dimensionality.


The following structure of the O-specific polysaccharide chain (O-antigen) of the Proteus vulgaris 032 lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was established by 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectroscopy, including two-dimensional NOESY and H-detected 1H,13C heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence (HMQC) experiments: -->2)-alpha-L-RhapI-(1-->2)-alpha-L-RhapII-(1-->4)-beta-D-++ +GalpA(I)-(1-->3)-beta-D-GlcpNAc-(1-->4)-alpha-D-GalpA(II)-(1-- >. In addition, an O-acetyl group was detected, which, most probably, is located at position 3 of a part of RhapI residues. Serological studies, using rabbit polyclonal anti-(P. vulgaris 032) serum, homologous and heterologous Proteus O-antigens and related artificial antigens, revealed the importance of an a-D-GalA-associated epitope in manifesting the immunospecificity of P. vulgaris 032 and substantiated serological relationships between the O-antigen studied and those of some other Proteus strains.


The Polish medical market reports a growing demand for innovative solutions in the field of health protection — the use of information and communication technologies in the provision of medical services contributes to an increase in their efficiency and effectiveness. Telemedicine is data transfer and the provision of medical services to patients remotely, using new technology solutions. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the current situation of the telemedicine market in Poland, especially new technology startups devoted to telemedicine solutions, and to identify investment trends. Technology development should be a process of targeted changes aimed at improving a certain process, bearing in mind the auxiliary and, above all, the increasingly crucial nature of new technologies in the process of patient treatment by specialists in the field of medicine. This study has been conducted in order to ascertain the attitudes of investors with capital of more than 50,000 euro, to the changing technological environment, which is intended to improve the provision of medical services and contribute to an increase in the quality of healthcare, and their willingness to invest in startups in the telemedicine industry.


Applying the mathematical model of vitality in human aging we have estimated the total life duration of human species and the follow up of its involution. The increase of cranial capacity during genus homo evolution and the rise of life span in different periods from ancestral times have been used as parameters. We postulated that increasing longevity negatively influences the species maintenance. The data used for calculations are supported by publications of wellknown palaeontologists. The vitality of human species progressively increased during its evolution up to a maximum at about 3.45 million years of species age (1.3 million years ago). From that time vitality slowly declined. The species life span has been calculated between 10.1 and 11.9 million years. The results point out that the slow growth during the evolutionary process positively influences the species life duration throughout delaying the age of maximum vitality. On this basis we try to explain the extremely great longevity of the Homo floresiensis; from around 4 million years ago up to 18,000 years from now.


Adsorption characteristics of high-silica zeolites (HSZSM-5) for two selected sulfonamide antibiotics (SAs) (sulfamethoxazole and sulfadiazine) were investigated. The SAs were almost completely (>90%) removed from the water by HSZSM-5. Adsorption followed second-order kinetics with liquid-film diffusion as the dominant mechanism. SA adsorption capacity on high-silica zeolites was examined in terms of pH, temperature, and the presence of natural organic matter (NOM). HSZSM-5 had better adsorption performance in acidic conditions, and the apparent distribution coefficient indicated that SA0 species were the major contribution to the overall adsorption at pH of 2-10. Adsorption of SAs on HSZSM-5 was a spontaneous and exothermic physisorption process. SA removal by HSZSM-5 was a mixed mechanism through ion-exchange and hydrophobic interaction. HSZSM-5 has potential application prospects in removing SAs from wastewater.


Abdominal pain, a common condition, has been reported in up to 37|X% of-patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (1). There are many possible causes including peritonitis, pancreatitis, mesenteric vasculitis, thrombosis of the mesenteric vessels, intra-abdominal infections, or side effects of the medications used in the treatment of the disease, especially non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (1-3). However, ruptured mycotic aneurysm of the abdominal aorta has rarely been mentioned as a cause of abdominal pain in SLE (1-3). We recently saw a patient with SLE who had an acute surgical abdomen, which proved to have been caused by a rupture of a mycotic abdominal aortic aneurysm.


Diabetes is known to be associated with a slightly lower risk of prostate cancer. Only a limited number of studies have examined the impact of diabetes on prostate cancer outcomes, with mixed results. This study builds on our prior work showing that on the whole, diabetes is not a risk factor for progression to metastases after surgery. However, intriguingly we found a significant interaction with obesity for modifying the relationship between diabetes and progression. If confirmed in future studies, this suggests the mechanisms by which diabetes alters prostate cancer aggressiveness may differ in obese and non‐obese men.


Background: Chronic pelvic pain is common in women in the reproductive and older age groups and causes disability and distress. Often investigation by laparoscopy reveals no obvious cause for the pain. As the pathophysiology of chronic pelvic pain is not well understood its treatment is often unsatisfactory and limited to symptom relief. Currently the main approaches to treatment include counselling or psychotherapy, attempts to provide reassurance by using laparoscopy to exclude serious pathology, progestogen therapy such as medroxyprogesterone acetate, and surgery to interrupt nerve pathways. Objectives: We aimed to identify and review treatments for chronic pelvic pain in women. The review included studies of patients with a diagnosis of pelvic congestion syndrome or adhesions but excluded those with pain known to be caused by i) endometriosis, ii) primary dysmenorrhoea (period pain), iii) pain due to active chronic pelvic inflammatory disease, or iv) irritable bowel syndrome. Search strategy: We searched the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group Specialised Register of trials (searched 20th January 2005), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library Issue 1, 2005), and reference lists of articles. Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with women who had chronic pelvic pain. The review authors were prepared to consider studies of any intervention including lifestyle, physical, medical, surgical and psychological treatments. Outcome measures were pain rating scales, quality of life measures, economic analyses and adverse events. Data collection and analysis: For each included trial, information was collected including the method of randomisation, allocation concealment and blinding. Data were extracted independently by the two review authors using forms designed according to the Cochrane guidelines. Main results: Nineteen studies were identified of which fourteen were of satisfactory methodological quality. Five studies were excluded. Progestogen (medroxyprogesterone acetate) was associated with a reduction of pain during treatment while goserelin gave a longer duration of benefit. Counseling supported by ultrasound scanning was associated with reduced pain and improvement in mood. A multidisciplinary approach was beneficial for some outcome measures. Benefit was not demonstrated for adhesiolysis (apart from where adhesions were severe), uterine nerve ablation, sertraline or photographic reinforcement after laparoscopy. Writing therapy and static magnetic field therapy showed some evidence of short-term benefit. Authors' conclusions: The range of proven effective interventions for chronic pelvic pain remains limited and recommendations are based largely on single studies. Given the prevalence and healthcare costs associated with chronic pelvic pain in women, randomised controlled trials of other medical, surgical and psychological interventions are urgently required. Chronic pelvic pain is common in women in the reproductive and older age groups and it causes disability and distress that result in significant costs to health services. The pathogenesis of chronic pelvic pain is poorly understood. Often investigation by laparoscopy reveals no obvious cause for the pain. There are several possible explanations for chronic pelvic pain including undetected irritable bowel syndrome, and central sensitisation of the nervous system. A vascular hypothesis proposes that pain arises from dilated pelvic veins in which blood flow is markedly reduced. As the pathophysiology of chronic pelvic pain is not well understood, its treatment is often unsatisfactory and limited to symptom relief. Currently the main approaches to treatment include counseling or psychotherapy, attempts to provide reassurance using laparoscopy to exclude serious pathology, progestogen therapy such as with medroxyprogesterone acetate and surgery to interrupt nerve pathways.


School of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia Background: Male partner involvement is an important and crucial determinant of prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. It creates an opportunity to reverse the transmission of HIV during pregnancy, labor, and breastfeeding. Thus, involving male partners during HIV screening of pregnant mothers at ANC is the key to fight against MTCT of HIV. Objective: This study was designed to assess the magnitude and factors associated with male partner's involvement on PMTCT service utilization among pregnant women who attended focused antenatal care (FANC) in Southern Ethiopia. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 420 randomly selected pregnant women who enrolled in PMTCT service at ANC clinics. Pretested and structured self-administered questionnaires were used to collect the data. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the presence of statistically significant associations between the outcome variable and the independent variables with a p-value less than 0.05. Results: A total of 409 pregnant women who had ANC follow-up have participated in this study. The majority 160 (39.1%) of the participants were in the age group of 25–29 years. The magnitude of male involvement in PMTCT service was 129 (29.8%). Number of ANC visits (3rd visit (AOR=2.36, CI=1.09, 5.10), 4th visit (AOR=3.49, CI=1.65, 7.38), birthplace interest (AOR=3.01, CI=1.16, 7.84), awareness about partner monthly income (AOR=2.17, CI=1.15, 4.11), source of family saving scheme (partner (AOR=2.99, CI=1.39, 6.43), self (AOR=8.59, CI=3.92, 18.82), both (AOR=5.13, CI=2.21, 11.92), maternal perception about the importance of consulting partner before HIV testing (AOR=9.30, CI=2.65, 32.64), and kinds of partner support (psychological (AOR=0.08, CI=0.02, 0.29), financial (AOR=0.33, CI=0.17, 0.68) were found to be significantly associated with male involvement in PMTCT. Conclusion: This study found out that male partner involvement in PMTCT is low. Therefore, improving male partner involvement in PMTCT is recommended for improving maternal FANC service utilization and adherence with notification of their partner and provision of psychological and financial support.


Internal erosion is of great concern to owners and operators of earthfill dams worldwide. The migration of fine-grained soil particles from the dam core in the direction of seepage leads to the development of preferential zones of increased fluid flow, which can compromise the structural stability of the embankment. Standard dam safety monitoring techniques provide sparse sampling of subsurface hydraulic conditions and may not be sufficient to effectively detect the onset of internal erosion. Consequently, there is a clear need for a comprehensive monitoring tool that is sensitive to changing seepage conditions. The self-potential (SP) method is a non-invasive geophysical technique that responds directly to seepage through the phenomenon of streaming potential: the voltage gradient induced by the flow of water through a porous medium. However, current standard methods of SP data interpretation do not provide information about soil properties and seepage flow rates required by geotechnical engineers to assess dam performance. A three-dimensional numerical modelling tool is presented for predicting the SP response to fluid flow based on a comprehensive seepage analysis. Both the hydraulic regime and the resultant electrical potential distribution are calculated based on the distribution of hydraulic and electrical properties within the subsurface. Effective characterization of these parameters is fundamental in achieving an accurate numerical solution. An examination of the influence of internal erosion on hydraulic conductivity, cross-coupling conductivity and electrical conductivity is achieved through theoretical analyses based on published parametric data. The numerical procedure is validated against a theoretical closed-form solution, and is further verified through a comparison with measured values in a controlled physical model of an embankment dam. The capacity for threedimensional analysis and interpretation of the SP response to seepage is illustrated through preliminary models of a zoned embankment dam located in British Columbia.


Two new designs of the L-shaped Planar Inverted–F Antenna (PIFA) antennas with single and dual polarization operating at the frequency band for IEEE 802.11b/g standard with satisfactory radiation characteristics are presented. We further propose a genetic algorithm (GA) embedded in CST Microwave Studio for optimizing these antenna parameters. The agreement of simulation and measurement results shows the performance of our joint model. Also, they show that our dual-polarization antenna is suitable for indoor Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) wireless environment applications.


This paper proposes an immersive audio rendering scheme for networked 3D multimedia systems. The spatial audio rendering method based on wave field synthesis is particularly useful for applications where multiple listeners experience a true spatial soundscape while being free to move without losing spatial sound properties. The proposed approach can be considered as a general solution to the static listening restriction imposed by conventional methods, which rely on an accurate sound reproduction within a sweet spot only. The paper reports on the results of numerical analysis and experimental validation using various sound sources. It is demonstrated and confirmed that while covering the majority of the listening area, the developed approach can create a variety of virtual audio objects at target positions with very high accuracy. Subjective evaluation results show that an accurate spatial impression can be achieved with multiple simultaneous audible depth cues improving localization accuracy over single object rendering.


A 13-year-old female neutered domestic longhaired cat was presented with a five-month history of progressive weight loss and bilaterally symmetrical alopecia of the ventrum, limbs and perineum. The alopecic skin had a shiny appearance and hair in the non-alopecic areas was easily epilated. Fine needle aspirate cytology of a palpable cranial abdominal mass revealed it to be of epithelial or glandular origin. A pancreatic mass was excised by left pancreatectomy during exploratory laparotomy, and histopathology and skin biopsies confirmed a diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma with concurrent paraneoplastic alopecia. No evidence of metastases was found on liver and lymph node biopsies. At re-examination 10 weeks after surgery, the hair had fully regrown. Skin signs recurred after 18 weeks and metastatic spread of the tumour was confirmed on postmortem examination. This case confirms that paraneoplastic alopecia associated with internal malignancies is a potentially reversible process if the internal neoplasm is excised.


This paper considers the problem of lossless source coding with side information at the decoder, when the correlation model between the source and the side information is uncertain. Four parametrized models representing the correlation between the source and the side information are introduced. The uncertainty on the correlation appears through the lack of knowledge on the value of the parameters. For each model, we propose a practical coding scheme based on non-binary Low Density Parity Check Codes and able to deal with the parameter uncertainty. At the encoder, the choice of the coding rate results from an information theoretical analysis. Then we propose decoding algorithms that jointly estimate the source vector and the parameters. As the proposed decoder is based on the Expectation-Maximization algorithm, which is very sensitive to initialization, we also propose a method to produce first a coarse estimate of the parameters.


In this study, we aim to clarify the differences in the factors influencing subway traffic behaviour of senior and non-senior passengers during the COVID-19 pandemic based on big data in Seoul, South Korea. A one-way analysis of variance is performed to analyse the influencing factors of subway use of senior and non-senior passengers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, a multiple linear regression is conducted to identify the factors affecting senior and non-senior passengers. Finally, the traffic patterns of senior and non-senior passengers were analysed with respect to districts via geographically weighted regression. The spatial scope of this study includes Seoul, which consists of 25 districts (gu). The temporal range is from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2020, and the number of people using subway in Seoul is used as the main dataset. The results suggest that senior passengers are more affected by subway than non-senior passengers, and the most influential factors are cultural gathering facilities and the number of subway stations. The regression model showed high explanatory power for southern Seoul, which has a high concentration of facilities related to the influencing factors.


Pantograph arcing is a common phenomenon in electrified railway systems. This is also a source of broadband-conducted and radiated electromagnetic interference (EMI) for vehicle as well as traction power and signaling systems. In this paper and the companion paper, experimental analyses of pantograph arcing phenomena are presented for dc and ac feeding systems, respectively. Influences of different parameters on dc traction system, such as supply-voltage polarity, relative motion between pantograph and overhead contact wire, namely, forward motion along the track (longitudinal), and lateral sliding motion of the pantograph (zigzag) are presented here. From the voltage and current waveforms of the test runs, it is shown that pantograph arcing is a polarity-dependent phenomenon. For the positive-fed overhead traction system, where pantograph is cathode, the supply interruptions due to zigzag motion are comparatively less compared to negatively fed traction systems. As a result, the transients, due to pantograph arcing, are more frequent in negatively fed traction systems. It is found that the arc root movement along the electrode surfaces (pantograph-contact wire) is governed by the relative motion and polarity of the electrodes. The analyses presented in this paper also form a foundation to understand the pantograph arcing process and the corresponding influential parameters with the ac supply presented in the companion paper. The findings presented in this paper could be beneficial for coming up with appropriate mitigation techniques from the EMI due to pantograph arcing in dc-fed traction systems.


Heat shock proteins HSPA4L and HSPA4 are closely related members of the HSP110 family and act as cochaperones. We generated Hspa4l(-/-)Hspa4(-/-) mice to investigate a functional complementarity between HSPA4L and HSPA4 during embryonic development. Hspa4l(-/-)Hspa4(-/-) embryos exhibited marked pulmonary hypoplasia and neonatal death. Compared with lungs of wild-type, Hspa4l(-/-), and Hspa4(-/-) embryos, Hspa4l(-/-)Hspa4(-/-) lungs were characterized by diminished saccular spaces and increased mesenchymal septa. Mesenchymal hypercellularity was determined to be due to an increased cell proliferation index and decreased cell death. A significant increase in expression levels of prosurvival protein B cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 may be the cause for inhibition of apoptotic process in lungs of Hspa4(-/-)Hspa4l(-/-) embryos. Accumulation of glycogen and diminished expression of surfactant protein B, prosurfactant protein C, and aquaporin 5 in saccular epithelium suggested impaired maturation of type II and type I pneumocytes in the Hspa4l(-/-)Hspa4(-/-) lungs. Further experiments showed a significant accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins in the lungs of Hspa4l(-/-)Hspa4(-/-) embryos, indicating an impaired chaperone activity. Our study demonstrates that HSPA4L and HSPA4 collaborate in embryonic lung maturation, which is necessary for adaptation to air breathing at birth.


Conductivity of 54 basalt samples from ODP Sites 768 and 770 was measured as a function of temperature and fluid salinity. Porosity was also measured for all samples, and cation exchange capacity was measured for 46 of the samples. Porosity measurements indicated that porosity is underestimated for basalts like these, unless one uses extensive drying at high vacuum. At salinities greater than 29 ppt, and throughout the range of salinity and temperatures likely in situ, sample conductivity (Co) is controlled by porosity ( ) according to the Archie relation Co = 0.22-C^Φ13 (orFF = 4.5//1.3), where Cw is conductivity of the pore fluids and FF = CJCO is the formation factor. At lower salinity, clay-surface conduction or microcrack conduction may dominate. We are unable to distinguish reliably between the two mechanisms, but we do detect their effects subtly at high salinity and strongly at low salinity.


Abstract We study the determinants of the incidence of relationship lending. For our study, we combine established insights from the study of Elsas with empirical banking relationship lending literature. We relate loan contract and borrower characteristics to self-assessments of Tunisian banks with respect to the existence of close relationship. Using detailed loan contract information from Tunisian banks and a questionnaire addressed to loan officers, we report the first comprehensive evidence on the development of relationship lending. We find that access to information, the ability to influence the manager, and the solvency of the company are relevant factors. While the exclusivity and the duration of the relationship, classic measures of the existence of close ties with the bank, are not determining factors. So these proxy measures should be used with caution in future empirical works.


Although it has been known for a while that climate-related factors account for the performance development of infrastructure, it remains difficult for infrastructure manager to estimate the effect of the anticipated climate change. The impact of climate factors differs very much between geographical locations and therefore a climate change assessment requires a more detailed analysis of the particular network. In this paper data about actual infrastructure performance of two railway tracks in the mostly populated area of the Netherlands are correlated with regional climate data in order to model future performance and apply appropriate interventions to cope with climate change effects. After establishing the correlation between weather conditions and failure modes, threshold values for probabilities of occurrence of certain failures are determined. This is enabling then the development of risk matrix based on the likelihood and risk impact, which would support an effective maintenance plan and adaptation strategies in the long term sense to mitigate or reduce likelihood of failures caused by climate change.


A new self-rated scale to measure severity and change in persons with borderline personality disorder (BPD) is described. The Borderline Evaluation of Severity Over Time (BEST) was developed to rate the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors typical of BPD. Data were collected in the course of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS) for subjects with BPD. The instrument showed moderate test-retest reliability, high internal consistency, and high discriminant validity. Its 15 separate items showed a moderate or better correlation with the total score. The BEST was also sensitive to clinical change as early as week 4 of the RCT and correlated highly with other measures of illness severity. We conclude that the new scale is both reliable and valid in measuring severity and change in persons with BPD.


The observed images of the asteroid and the asteroid reference images are used to obtain the probe-to-asteroid direction and the location of the limb features of the asteroid in the inertial coordinate. These information in combination with the shape model of the asteroid and, attitude information of the probe are utilized to obtain the position of the probe. The position information is then input to the UKF which determines the real-time orbit of the probe. Finally, the autonomous orbit determination algorithm is validated using digital simulation. The determination of orbit Using UKF is compared with that using extended Kalman filter (EKF), and the result shows that UKF is superior to EKF.


In the design of target tracking algorithms, the aspect of sensor resolution is rarely considered. Instead, it is usually assumed that all targets are always resolved, and that the only uncertainties in the data association are which targets that are detected, and which measurement each detected target gave rise to. However, in situations where the targets are closely spaced in relation to the sensor resolution, this assumption is not valid, and may lead to degraded tracking performance due to an incorrect description of the data. We present a framework for handling sensor resolution effects for an arbitrary, but known, number of targets. We propose a complete multitarget sensor resolution model that can be incorporated into traditional Bayesian tracking filters. Further, the exact form of the posterior probability density function (pdf) is derived, and two alternative ways of approximating that exact posterior density with a joint probabilistic data association (JPDA) filter are proposed. Evaluations of the resulting filters on simulated radar data show significantly increased tracking performance compared with the JPDA filter without a resolution model.


Ischemia reperfusion injury is a common cause of acute kidney injury and is characterized by tubular damage. Mitochondrial DNA is released upon severe tissue injury and can act as a damage-associated molecular pattern via the innate immune receptor TLR9. Here, we investigated the role of TLR9 in the context of moderate or severe renal ischemia reperfusion injury using wild-type C57BL/6 mice or TLR9KO mice. Moderate renal ischemia induced renal dysfunction but did not decrease animal well-being and was not regulated by TLR9. In contrast, severe renal ischemia decreased animal well-being and survival in wild-type mice after respectively one or five days of reperfusion. TLR9 deficiency improved animal well-being and survival. TLR9 deficiency did not reduce renal inflammation or tubular necrosis. Rather, severe renal ischemia induced hepatic injury as seen by increased plasma ALAT and ASAT levels and focal hepatic necrosis which was prevented by TLR9 deficiency and correlated with reduced circulating mitochondrial DNA levels and plasma LDH. We conclude that TLR9 does not mediate renal dysfunction following either moderate or severe renal ischemia. In contrast, our data indicates that TLR9 is an important mediator of hepatic injury secondary to ischemic acute kidney injury.


To develop an approach for on-line quantification of left ventricular size and function during pharmacological stress testing we employed echocardiographic automatic edge detection via integrated backscatter imaging during dobutamine infusion in 27 patients. Ventricular cavity areas, fractional area change and rate of cavity area change were obtained on-line with instantaneous graphic display of the data. When compared to baseline image data, patients with a normal response exhibited modest (15%) reduction in end-diastolic cavity areas at peak dobutamine level, but marked (33%) reduction in systolic areas yielding a 52% increase in fractional area change (n = 13; P < 0.001). The second group of patients (n = 14) had an abnormal response characterized by limited changes in measured parameters of ventricular function and reduced fractional area change (P < 0.05). On-line quantification during pharmacological stress echocardiography is a promising addition to the test for surveillance and objective instantaneous evaluation of global cardiac responses.


Large language models have recently shown human level performance on a variety of reasoning tasks. However, the ability of these models to perform complex visual reasoning has not been studied in detail yet. A key challenge in many visual reasoning tasks is that the visual information needs to be tightly integrated in the reasoning process. We propose to address this challenge by drawing inspiration from human visual problem solving which depends on a variety of low-level visual capabilities. It can often be cast as the three step-process of ``Look, Remember, Reason'': visual information is incrementally extracted using low-level visual routines in a step-by-step fashion until a final answer is reached. We follow the same paradigm to enable existing large language models, with minimal changes to the architecture, to solve visual reasoning problems. To this end, we introduce rationales over the visual input that allow us to integrate low-level visual capabilities, such as object recognition and tracking, as surrogate tasks. We show competitive performance on diverse visual reasoning tasks from the CLEVR, CATER, and ACRE datasets over state-of-the-art models designed specifically for these tasks.


PURPOSE
In this study, the authors used cued shadowing to examine children's phonological word-form representations by studying the effects of onset and rhyme primes on lexical access.

METHOD
Twenty-five preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI; hereafter known as the SLI group), 24 age- and gender-matched children (AM group), and 20 vocabulary- and gender-matched children (VM group) participated. Children listened to pairs of words and repeated the second word as quickly as they could. Primes included words with overlapping onsets, words with overlapping rimes, and identical or unrelated words.

RESULTS
As expected, unrelated words inhibited production in the AM and VM groups. Overlapping rimes primed production in the AM group. No inhibitory or priming effects were found for the SLI group.

CONCLUSION
Phonological priming may be used to study the phonological representations of preschool-age children. Results suggest that none of the groups accessed words incrementally. Priming for overlapping rimes by the AM but not the VM or SLI groups may indicate that the AM group benefited from lexical organization favoring nucleus + rime organization that has not yet developed for the VM or SLI groups. The lack of inhibition in the SLI group suggests that their phonological representations were not detailed enough to prime words in their lexicon or that they did not process the prime or target words.


The scientifically grounded sound regimen is required for schoolchildren, younger ones in particular, who most experience unfavourable environmental factors. Particular emphasis should be laid on the regulation of educational burden at primary school since the irrational distribution of classes leads to the development of fatigue mainly in young schoolchildren and hence to lower working capacities and poor comprehensibility. The investigations have supported the earlier data that the children show the strained body's functional status which is deteriorated by the influence of educational burden. The findings suggest that there is a need to elaborate scientifically grounded preventive measures to minimize the unfavourable influence of environmental factors in the North and to develop and implement the means that enhance adaptive capabilities of the children there.


In centralized algorithm for mutual exclusion, one process is elected as a coordinator. Whenever a process wants to go to critical section, it sends a request message to the coordinator and asks for permission. The election of coordinator is an important problem in distributed systems. After a failure occurs in the system, it is necessary to reelect a new leader as a coordinator. The bully election algorithm is one of the classic methods which is used to determine the process with highest priority number as the coordinator. But this algorithm often needs a lot of message passing to find out which process should be a new coordinator. In this paper we are going to propose an optimized method for the bully algorithm called modified bully algorithm. Our analytical simulation shows that, our algorithm has fewer message passing and is more efficient.


In this study, the principle that any single-viewpoint catadioptric projection is equivalent to a spherical projection followed by a point projection is explained. Applicability of Gaussian smoothing, line detection and interest point detection using this principle and stereographic projection is investigated. Particularly, Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) is emphasized.


In real systems, because of the inevitable noise, a chaotic synchronized attractor A will turn into a metastable attractor A′ with an average lifetime . We analyze a two-dimensional coupled map with additive noises and find analytica lly that the riddled basin of A′ will disappear when >2T, where T is the duration of an experiment. Acc ording to the characters of the riddled basin without noises, it is found that t he riddled basin will turn into not only a temporal riddled basin but also a reg ular fractal basin. This result is universal in two-dimensional coupled chaotic synchronized maps, and the further numerical calculations can also confirm this point.


Decades of intensive study have led to the discovery of the main pathways involved in central metabolism but only some of the pathways and regulatory networks in which they are embedded. In this review, we discuss techniques used to assemble these pathways into a systems biology framework that can enable accurate modeling of the response of central metabolism to changes, including ways to perturb metabolic systems and assemble the resulting data into a meaningful network. Critically, these networks are of such size and complexity that it is possible to derive them only if data from different groups can be comprehensively and meaningfully combined. We conclude that it is essential to establish common standards for the description of experimental conditions and data collection and to store this information in databases to which the whole community can contribute.


Cerenkov radiation from radiopharmaceuticals (18F-FDG) serves as an internal light source to excite UV-responsive silicon nanocrystals for near-infrared luminescence imaging that offers deeper tissue penetration and high signal-to-noise ratio.


Domain adaptation is a major challenge when applying machine translation to practical tasks. In this paper, we present domain adaptation methods for machine translation that assume multiple domains. The proposed methods combine two model types: a corpus-concatenated model covering multiple domains and single-domain models that are accurate but sparse in specific domains. We combine the advantages of both models using feature augmentation for domain adaptation in machine learning. Our experimental results show that the BLEU scores of the proposed method clearly surpass those of single-domain models for low-resource domains. For high-resource domains, the scores of the proposed method were superior to those of both single-domain and corpusconcatenated models. Even in domains having a million bilingual sentences, the translation quality was at least preserved and even improved in some domains. These results demonstrate that state-of-the-art domain adaptation can be realized with appropriate settings, even when using standard log-linear models.


The crypt isolation technique was used to analyse loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and microsatellite instability (MSI) in gastric carcinomas (36 intestinal type, 17 solid type, and 23 diffuse type) using a polymerase chain reaction assay. Increased LOH frequencies and fractional allelic losses (FAL) were observed in samples prepared using the crypt isolation technique compared with those isolated by the conventional method. A significant increase in LOH was found at several chromosomal loci, and significant differences in FAL were found in patients with intestinal‐ and solid‐type tumours. There was no difference in the frequency of MSI using either technique. In samples prepared by the crypt isolation technique, significant allelic losses (≥50%) were observed at most loci tested in intestinal‐ and solid‐type tumours, but not in diffuse‐type tumours. Significant losses of some of these loci are novel findings for gastric cancer. FAL values were significantly higher in intestinal‐ and solid‐type tumours than in diffuse‐type tumours. MSI‐high was observed in intestinal‐ (17%) and solid‐type (12%) tumours. The results suggest that the crypt isolation technique is useful for accurate allelic loss analysis in gastric carcinoma and that LOH and MSI are more common in intestinal‐ and solid‐type tumours than in diffuse‐type tumors. Copyright © 2004 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This study investigated the influence of discrimination and social identity on adolescent's substance use in selected secondary schools in Ibadan – an investigation predicated on the argument that angry, maladaptive and externalizing behaviours such as substance use could emerge from sustained social hostility and one's identity confusion. Three hundred and forty-six (346) adolescents were randomly selected from four schools to take part in the study. Results of univariate analysis show that social stress associated with perceived and actual discrimination led highly discriminated adolescents to report high levels of substance use compared to adolescents who  experienced low levels of discrimination (F=8.84, df=1, 338, p<.001). Also, adolescents'  social  identity did not show significant influence on substance use but a tendency to use drugs among adolescents with low social identity compared to those with high social identity reported. This situation suggests the experience of identity confusion by adolescents who experience group hostility and discrimination. Also, a comparison of gender on drug use reveals males using more drugs than females (F=14.10, df=1, 338, p<.001). Based on these outcomes it was  recommended that several social and governmental organizations starting from families should work together in the enlightenment of adolescents and the general populace on the need to respect the rights of every individual and live harmoniously. With this, adolescents will share more social acceptance and reduce the frequency of involvement in emotion-regulated substance use and other maladaptive and externalizing behaviours. Key Words : Discrimination, Social Identity, Adolescents, Substance Use


Water resource management and the investigation of the quality and quantity of groundwater and surface water is important in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The growing population, as well as agricultural and industrial projects, consume huge amounts of water, especially groundwater. A total of 572 ground and surface water samples were collected for physicochemical analysis to determine the availability and quality of the water in the Kurdistan region. The physicochemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, and total dissolved solids were analyzed to evaluate the suitability of the water for different purposes like livestock, irrigation, and agriculture. GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was used to determine the suitability map of water for irrigation purposes. Most of the groundwater samples were suitable for irrigation except for some samples from Erbil City, especially those taken in the Makhmur district, and samples from some small areas in the cities of Sulaymania and Duhok. All groundwater samples were acceptable for all types of agricultural crops, except for 15 well samples that were determined not to be usable for fruit crops. However, this water was acceptable for livestock and poultry. Most of the water wells provided freshwater except for 36 deep wells, which supplied slightly brackish to brackish water. Water samples were found to have low to medium salinity levels except for 26 well samples and one spring sample that had high salinity levels, and 2 well samples with very high salinity levels. Most of the samples had an excellent to good water classification except for 85 samples classified as permissible, 8 classified as doubtful, and 4 classified as unsuitable for irrigation according to the Todd classification. According to the Rhoades classification, all water samples were non-saline to slightly saline except for 11 samples that were moderately saline.


This special issue of Anthropology Matters frames the canonical question for development anthropologists in reverse. Instead of asking how anthropological theory might be put into practice in development, it asks how engagements with development policy and practice might transform anthropology. What kinds of theoretical insights have emerged from the anthropology of development? What does the overlapping language of anthropology and development mean for ethnographic methodology? How do relationships between anthropologists and development professionals affect the research process? What can anthropologists learn from development work?


Objective The objective of this study was to determine what aspects of prehospital pediatric airway management may contribute to patient safety events. Methods We conducted a 3-phase Delphi survey in prehospital professionals across the United States to identify potential contributors to patient safety events. Respondents ranked how likely factors were to contribute on a 9-point Likert-type scale and were allowed to elaborate through open-ended questions. Analysis was conducted using a mixed-methods approach, including Likert-type responses and open-ended questions which were analyzed for specific themes. Results All 3 phases of the survey were completed by 492 participants; 50.8% of respondents were paramedics, 22% were emergency medical technician-basics/first responders, and 11.4% were physicians. Seventy-five percent identified lack of experience with advanced airway management, and 44% identified medical decision making regarding airway interventions as highly likely to lead to safety events. Within the domain of technical skills, advanced airway management was ranked in the top 3 contributors to safety events by 71% of participants, and bag-mask ventilation by 18%. Qualitative analysis of questions within the domains of equipment and technical skills identified endotracheal intubation as the top contributor to safety events, with bag-mask ventilation second. In the domains of assessment and decision making, respiratory assessment and knowing when to perform an advanced airway were ranked most highly. Conclusions This national Delphi survey identified lack of experience with pediatric airway management and challenges in decision making in advanced airway management as high risk for safety events, with endotracheal intubation as the most likely of these.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) remains the 00gold standard00 for the treatment of post prostatectomy stress urinary incontinence (PPSUI). However, in recent years, minimally invasive, less expensive sling device (AdVance) are offered as potential alternative treatments. We sought to investigate the long-term cost-utility of the AUS compared with Transobturator Retroluminal Repositioning Sling (AdVance) in the treatment of severe PPSUI. METHODS: A Markov model with Monte-Carlo simulation was developed to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of AUS vs. AdVance sling from a provincial payer perspective over a 10-year period. Probability estimates, success rates, healthcare resources and utilities were obtained from published literature when available or by expert opinion. Cost data included in this model were obtained from provincial health care insurance system and hospital data in 2016-Canadian Dollars. RESULTS: AUS Implantation had a 10-year mean total cost of $12299 (SD 3509) for 8.53 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). On the other hand, AdVance sling had a mean total cost of $20675 (SD 12435) for 7.98 QALYs. The cost-utility analysis over a 10-year period showed that AUS becomes cost-effective when compared to AdVance sling starting the 4th year in the treatment period. The incremental cost savings of AUS over 10-year period was $8376 with an added effectiveness of 0.55 QALYs. Consequently, the AUS implementation is the dominant strategy over the AdVance sling over a 5and 10-year time-horizon. CONCLUSIONS: Although the initial cost of sling is attractive, superior long-term outcomes are demonstrated with durable high success rate of AUS in men with severe PPSUI. Hence, the AUS implementation strategy over a 10-year period time is estimated to be more economical to our health care system. More studies are needed to define utility values for health states experienced by males with PPSUI. This will enhance our ability to develop more accurate cost-utility models.


We tested whether implementing the "5 A's" (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) at six mental health centers reduces smoking among persons with serious mental illness. One hundred and fifty six patients were evaluated just before initiating the 5 A's and after six and 12 months. A delayed control condition evaluated 148 patients six months before 5 A's implementation, just before and then after six months. Six months of the 5 A's produced no effect. Modest cessation and reduction benefits were noted after 12 months. Implementing the 5 A's at community mental health centers may have modest benefit after twelve months.


Speech restoration aims to remove distortions in speech signals. Prior methods mainly focus on a single type of distortion, such as speech denoising or dereverberation. However, speech signals can be degraded by several different distortions simultaneously in the real world. It is thus important to extend speech restoration models to deal with multiple distortions. In this paper, we introduce VoiceFixer, a unified framework for high-fidelity speech restoration. VoiceFixer restores speech from multiple distortions (e.g., noise, reverberation, and clipping) and can expand degraded speech (e.g., noisy speech) with a low bandwidth to 44.1 kHz full-bandwidth high-fidelity speech. We design VoiceFixer based on (1) an analysis stage that predicts intermediate-level features from the degraded speech, and (2) a synthesis stage that generates waveform using a neural vocoder. Both objective and subjective evaluations show that VoiceFixer is effective on severely degraded speech, such as real-world historical speech recordings. Samples of VoiceFixer are available at https://haoheliu.github.io/voicefixer.


The radioactive radiation of the inhabitants of the town of Kamensk-Uralsky, Sverdlovsk Region, was studied for its impact on the health of their descendants. The radiation of parents was found to be a risk factor for increasing the high incidence of frequent respiratory diseases of their children. The dietary deficiency of vitamins in children and other factors are also causes of frequent respiratory diseases.


China has become a major trading and investment partner of Sub-Saharan African economies since the early-2000s, with the economic impact of China's relationship with Sub-Saharan Africa having become the subject of an increasing literature. The paper shows the complexity of these trade and investment relationships and their impact on Sub-Saharan economies. It argues that beyond their ambivalent effects, these relationships may foster the structural transformation of African economies, i.e. a break with the pre-existing structure of the economy, industrialisation and productivity growth - the 'emerging Africa'. Sub-Saharan African economies have indeed exhibited spectacular growth rates since the early-2000s, which have mainly been driven by China, via several direct and indirect transmission channels, notably China's demand for goods produced in Sub-Saharan Africa and its contribution to high international commodity prices (e.g., for metals, oil), Sub-Saharan export structures being characterised by a high proportion of primary commodities. Different views could suggest that there are uncertainties, in particular that Sub-Saharan growth rates stem from distorted export structures, i.e., based on primary commodities with low value-added, and that these growth rates may not imply any change of commodity-based export structures. These growth rates may even strengthen commodity-dependence, as high growth rates and high prices are incentives to continue the status quo and may lock African economies into the exporting of primary commodities, with its negative effects (vulnerability to volatile prices and external shocks, 'Dutch disease'). These processes may threaten Sub-Saharan African economies' prospects for industrialisation and they may be compounded by the weakening of African industrial sectors by cheaper manufactured products from China and its undervalued currency. China's export credits may also expose African economies to future debt problems. Similarly, African governments' economic policies, which have been destabilised by decades of the programmes of international financial institutions, may not be able to harness the new opportunities offered by China. Against these views, however, the paper argues that Sub-Saharan African countries' growth rates may stay at high levels, as China's growth (and that of other emerging countries') is expected to remain sustained in the medium term, and as the price of some commodities may stay at high levels during the next decade. A long period of high growth rates, together with an improved fiscal room for manoeuvre, may therefore constitute a genuine opportunity for structural transformation for African economies. Equally, commodities may create linkages towards industrialisation. In addition, China's relationships with Sub-Saharan Africa are also driven by important and increasing investment, not only in African countries' infrastructure, but also in industrial sectors, both being key determinants of diversification and structural transformation.


The role of the agricultural sector as a provider of food and non-food sources is directly related to the 2030 SDGs target of eradicating poverty and hunger. In Kubu Raya, one of the developing areas in the agricultural sector is Rasau Jaya District, with main crops being food crops and vegetables for food security. Agricultural land in Rasau Jaya District is dominated by peatlands with 14,371,392 hectares area. This study aims to determine the form of peatland use into potential land, the role of agriculture as a provider of food and non-food sources, and the form of its use. The method used is remote sensing method and survey method. The results showed that land use in the Rasau Jaya District included rice fields, gardens, fields, moor, yards, settlements, forests, shrubs, water bodies, and vacant land. Food crop agricultural products are used to meet food needs as well as non-food needs such as education and health. Most people use the harvest for personal consumption and for sale. There are still not many people in Rasau Jaya District who process agricultural products into a product. Farmers sell their crops in several ways, among others: directly sold to consumers, sold directly to the market by opening their own kiosks, deposited with middlemen and agents, and taken by investors who invest in farmers. Keywords: peatlands, food security, food crops


Phosphoryl groups are derivatives of phosphoric acid, a strong acid that is commonly used in the laboratory. The fully deprotonated conjugate base of phosphoric acid is called a phosphate ion, or inorganic phosphate (often abbreviated 'Pi'). When two phosphate groups are linked to each other, the linkage is referred to as a 'phosphate anhydride', and the ion is called 'inorganic pyrophosphate' (abbreviation PPi).


Heightened concern over potential acts of sabotage against water distribution systems is imparting greater importance to the conceptualization of contaminant migration and the value of simulating contaminant dispersion scenarios which are as realistic as possible and improve the safety of water distribution networks. A typical urban water distribution network presents various scenarios of pipe aging, leakage, etc., that heighten the uncertainty surrounding potential impacts of network contamination, sometimes biasing efforts undertaken by water companies to guarantee a standard quality of potable water. Modelling potential contamination of water distribution systems offers three main advantages: (1) assessment of how dramatically the situation can evolve after a nefarious action or accident, (2) guidance on how to strategically implement a warning system for revealing any dangerous contamination and (3) planning support for the maintenance of those pipes which bear an influence on diffusion and compromise network safety. In this paper, a pressure-driven algorithm with an embedded leakage model is joined with the contaminant decay model of EPANET 2 and is applied to a case study of a real water distribution network. In particular, the tested network represents a typical urban-scale scenario, where different types of users, such as domestic, industrial, commercial and public coexist.


Development of a practicable artificial photosynthesis process has been considered today as one of the top-most research priorities to address the problems related to the global warming and the associated social cost of carbon, and to develop the renewable fuels employable in place of fossil fuels. For this purpose, a simple and inexpensive route has been devised to synthesize a high-purity bmim[BF4] to employ as a helper catalyst to promote the electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECR) to CO formation over Sn and MoSi2 cathodes. The rates of CO2 reduction over Sn and MoSi2 cathodes have been determined to be >110 mA/cm2 during cyclic voltammetry. The CO formation at a current density of >100 mA/cm2 in the ECR reaction is very essential to consider this reaction for industrial practice when the required electricity derived from sunlight is available at an affordable price. The bmim[BF4] mediated ECR reaction over Sn and MoSi2 cathodes has been identified to be a revere reaction of CO oxidation in air. The experiments with isotopic 13CO2 confirmed that CO2 is the only source of CO formation in the ECR reaction. The underlying reaction mechanism in bmim[BF4] mediated ECR reaction over Sn has been presented and discussed in this article.


Aim: To evaluate a new algorithm to detect the optic disc in retinal fundus images on a number of publicly available datasets.  Optic Disc detection is an important first step in many automated algorithms, either to be masked out of future processing or for the use in optic disc related disease such as glaucoma and papilledema. Methods: We propose a new method for optic disc detection that converts the retinal image into a graph and exploits vessel enhancement methods to calculate edge weights in finding the shortest path between pairs of points on the periphery of the image.  The line segment with the maximum number of shortest paths is considered the optic disc location, with refinement from a combination template matching approach in the found region. The method was tested on three publicly available datasets: DRIVE, DIARETDB1, and Messidor consisting of 40, 89, and 1200 images.  All images were acquired at a 45°-50° field of view. Results: The method achieves an accuracy of 100, 98.88, and 99.42% on the DRIVE, DIARETDB1, and Messidor databases respectively. Conclusions: The method performs as well or better than state-of-the-art methods on these datasets.  Processing takes an average of 32 seconds (+-1.2) to detect the optic disc, with 26 of those seconds used for the vessel enhancement process.   The accuracy over a wide variety of images shows that the method is robust and would be optimal for retinal analysis systems that perform vessel enhancement as part of their processing.


The effect of sex ratio on male reproductive success in painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) Elinor Hughes Advisors: University of Guelph, 2011 Dr. Ronald J. Brooks Dr. Jinzhong Fu Sex ratio theory suggests that the strength of intersexual selection will increase as a population more male-biased; reflecting increased selectivity in mate choice. Populations of pond turtle have varying adult sex ratios, in painted turtles (Chrysemys picta), reported sex ratios range from female biased (1:3) to male biased (3:1). I investigated the effect of sex ratio on male reproductive success (quantified as "fertilization success") in painted turtles. I examined the mating system of painted turtles in a female-biased population using microsatellite paternity analysis, relating variation in male fertilization success to male phenotype and offspring survival, employed ex situ behavioural observation to clarify the mechanism behind the variation in male fertilization success and used agentbased modeling to simulate the effects of changing sex ratio, population density and proportions of male phenotype on male fertilization success. Small males contributed sperm to a greater number of clutches than did larger males, but were not more likely to reproduce in a season than larger males. There was no offspring fitness advantage related to male body size and no relationship between male claw length and fertilization success. Large male painted turtles courted at a higher frequency than small males. I found no relationship between male courtship behavior and claw length. Females showed no preference for males of any phenotype. Agent-based simulations were based on the distribution of best fit from the observed data; an amalgam of two Poisson distributions, each with its own probability of success and proportional representation in the final distribution. Increased female sex ratio bias, increased population density and increased proportions of "more successful" males all increased the mean and variance of male fertilization success, based on increased encounter rate among turtles. Small and large male painted turtles enjoy different fertilization success. It is uncertain whether this difference is based on active female choice, cryptic female choice, sperm competition or a combination of factors. Sex ratio simulations predict the opposite result as that predicted by sex ratio theory. These contrary results should be compared to simulations manipulating choosiness and field data from painted turtle populations to clarify mechanisms influencing male reproductive success.


A high-speed multi-phase oscillator based on self-timed ring is proposed. Self-Timed Rings (STR) are promising approach for designing high-speed serial links and clock generators. The architecture of STR allows us to achieve a maximum frequency with a multiphase outputs since the oscillation frequency is not only depending on the number of stages but on the number of "tokens" and "bubbles" circulating in the ring. In this paper, we propose a method to design STR able to generate high-speed multi-phase outputs. All the electrical simulations and results have been performed using a CMOS 65nm technology from STMicroelectronics.


A trial was carried out to determine a method to detect the aerial dispersal of Fusarium moni/iforme var. subg/utinans spores. Petri dishes, containing a Furar/um spp. selective rnedium developed by Nash & Snyder, were randomly placed in different positions, directions and periods of sun exposure. This method showed to be efficient, but there was no significant difference between the number of propagula coloriles captured and the various positions and directions of the dishes. As to the period of sun exposure, no spores were captured after the eight hour period. It was observed, through the pathogenicity test, that the colonies identified as F. mono//forme ver. subg/ut/nans were 100% pathogenic to the pineapple plants.


The gap between the world's rich and poor countries largely comes down to the financial and physical assets that create wealth. Developed economies possess more of this capital than developing ones, and what they have usually incorporates more advanced technologies. The implication is clear: A key aspect of economic advancement lies in poorer nations' capacity to acquire more capital and scale the technological ladder. Emerging economies undertake some capital formation on their own, but in this era of globalization, they increasingly rely on foreign capital. Indeed, total capital flows to developing economies have skyrocketed from $104 billion in 1980 to $472 billion in 2005. The foreign capital has the potential to deliver enormous benefits to developing nations. Besides helping bridge the gap between savings and investment in capital-scarce economies, capital often


In intersectional litigation European courts face conflicts between rival claims of legal authority that, in the absence of a unified European constitutional framework, may receive only context-dependent solutions. This poses critical challenges for judicial bodies: not only are they expected to make up for the absence of an overarching constitutional structure and ensure legal coherence, but they are also put at the forefront of articulating and accommodating the conflict between the largely regulatory framework of the EU and states' republican constitutionalism. The actual interpretive strategies employed in intersectional disputes, nevertheless, do not appear entirely up to that task. Most of the time, litigation gives rise to a series of judgments on the same or similar issues that, although procedurally connected, are conceived of more as segmented and isolated episodes than coordinated judicial efforts. To cope with these shortcomings, the essay calls for the structuring of a European interpretive community and proposes 'contextual deference' as an interpretive strategy promoting external coherence between judicial rulings crafted in distinct legal orders. Accordingly, courts are required to frame cases through their native legal languages and defer to the interpretive and normative claims of related legal systems. Although 'contextual deference' establishes a presumption in favor of outside claims and standards of adjudication, it also admits its rebuttal if courts were to decide that the normative claims of their native legal order should prevail.


Entrapment neuropathy is a condition characterized by motor, sensory and autonomic deficits that occur as a result of compression of the peripheral nerve at certain points along its anatomical course for different reasons. Although each peripheral nerve has anatomical or compression-appropriate areas, this can occur at any point along the course of the nerve. Entrapment neuropathies usually occur in areas where the nerve passes through a channel consisting of bone and fibrous tissue. External and internal factors play a role in the etiology of entrapment neuropathies. Among the factors that cause neuropathy, anatomical variations, trauma, metabolic diseases, tumors, synovitis and vitamin B6 deficiency are the most common ones.


BACKGROUND
Spinetoram, a new type of spinosyn with novel modes of action, has been used in effective thrips control programs, but resistance remains a threat. In the present study, a laboratory Thrips hawaiiensis population was subjected to spinetoram for resistance selection to investigate resistance development, stability, cross-resistance potential, biological fitness and underlying biochemical mechanisms.

RESULTS
Resistance to spinetoram in T. hawaiiensis rapidly increased 103.56-fold (for 20 generations of selection with spinetoram) compared with a laboratory susceptible population, and the average realized heritability (h2 ) of resistance was calculated as 0.1317. Maintaining the resistant population for five generations without any further selection pressure resulted in a decline in the resistance ratio from 19.42- to 9.50-fold, suggesting that spinetoram resistance in T. hawaiiensis is unstable. Moreover, the spinetoram-resistant population exhibited a lack of cross-resistance to other classes of insecticides, and showed biological fitness costs. The results of synergism experiments using enzyme inhibitors and biochemical analyses revealed that metabolic mechanisms might not be responsible for the development of spinetoram resistance in T. hawaiiensis.

CONCLUSION
The current study expands understanding of spinosyn resistance in thrips species, providing a basis for proposing better integrated pest management strageties for thrips control programs and defining the most appropriate tools for such resistance management. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Gene silencing associated with aberrant methylation of promoter region CpG islands is an acquired epigenetic alteration. It serves as an alternative to genetic defects in the inactivation of tumor suppressor and other genes in human cancers. Several genes have been shown to be epigenetically inactivated in a wide range of tumors and most neoplasms show hypermethylation of one or more genes. Concurrent methylation status of the CpG islands of 24 genes were determined in 40 PTC cases and in a panel of PTC cell lines, using methylation specific PCR. Seven genes demonstrated a relatively high frequency of aberrant methylation: RASF1 (95%), HIC1 (55%), GSTP1 (26%), P14 (25%), TMS1 (24%), DCR1 (17%) and SERF (15%). Five genes (BRACA1, P15INK4B, MGMT, BLU and APC) showed a low frequency (2-6%) of methylation, and no methylation was detected for the remaining twelve genes (P16INK4A, APAF1, FANCF, FAS, MINT25, P73, MLH1, DAPK, RARB, CASP8, E-Cadherin and SOC1.

Statistical analysis demonstrated that frequency of methylated and unmethylated HIC1 was significant (p <0.05). Further clinical analysis demonstrated significant association of only HIC1 methylation with: age of patients, stage of disease and expression of HIC1 IHC data (p = <0.0001, <0.0173 and < 0.0448; respectively). HIC1 has been shown to be hypermethylated in different cancers and confers bad prognosis. HIC1 is a tumor suppressor gene which encodes a transcriptional repressor with five Kruppel-like Cys2-His2 zinc fingers in the C terminus and a protein-protein interaction domain called the BTB/POZ domain at the N terminus.

Analysis of BCPAP-1 and TPC1 (papillary thyroid cell lines) revealed that they are completely methylated for HIC1 gene. Treatment of methylated thyroid cell line with the methyltransferase inhibitor, 5-aza-2'deoxy-cytidine, resulted in partial demethylation and re-expression of HIC1 gene, suggesting the role of methylation in silencing of the gene. We further evaluated the role of HIC1 gene after demethylation for apoptosis. After demethylation of HIC1 gene with 5-aza-2'deoxy-cytidine we treated our PTC cell lines with increasing doses of TRAIL and evaluated its response by Annexin/PI dual staining. We found that after demethylation of HIC1 there was increase in percentage apoptosis following increasing doses of TRAIL suggesting that HIC1 gene plays a major role in inducing apoptosis in PTC.

In conclusion, HIC1 methylation may be a promising molecular marker to predict patient outcome in PTC, and may be used as therapeutic demethylating target.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2017. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-2017


Educational institutions in higher education both in Europe and in the United States are increasingly integrating lifelong learning in a context of sustained augmentation of age diversity among their students. Therefore, multiage and multigenerational classrooms are becoming more frequent teaching and learning settings. This article argues that multigenerational classrooms in formal higher education may constitute windows of opportunity to rethink the practice of teaching as far as they epitomize venues for triggering processes of intergenerational learning. This type of learning stems from an awareness of differences accrued through individual and group affiliation to diverse generational positions. Furthermore, the article provides conceptual delineation and insight regarding the practice of teaching and learning in multigenerational classrooms. Primarily concerned with how higher education instructors may see and understand multigenerational classrooms as distinctive settings for their teaching to lifelong learners, the authors explore how age differences among students and instructors can be framed in ways that contribute to content- and interaction-rich intergenerational teaching-learning processes. A multigenerational classroom is deemed to be one in which some of its members from various generations have a certain degree of generational awareness of belonging to different/same generations. Against attaching a specific set of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to people according to their generational affiliation, this article suggests that it is the dynamic relation between inter- and intragenerational differences and commonalities that needs to be taken into account when considering multigenerational classrooms.


Thymomas are the most common adult tumors in the anterior mediastinal compartment, and a significant amount of thymomas are complicated by myasthenia gravis (MG). Extended thymectomy (ET) is the primary treatment method for thymomas and is used to completely resect possible ectopic thymus to avoid recurrence. Studies on the effect of MG in thymoma patients following ET are limited. The aim of the present study was to determine whether the presence of MG affects the prognosis of patients with thymoma. The present study consisted of 104 patients with thymoma that underwent ET; 61 men (58.7%) and 43 women (41.3%) (mean age, 54.6 years). In total, 38 patients had MG (36.5%). MG was most frequently observed in World Health Organization (WHO) classification type B2 thymoma compared with other types of thymoma. During the 5-year follow-up period, 11 patients succumbed to a recurrence of thymoma or respiratory failure due to MG. The overall 5-year survival rate in patients without MG or with MG was 89.1 and 76.0%, respectively. The overall survival (OS) rate in patients with Masaoka stages I + II and III + IV was 90.0 and 68.0%, respectively. The OS rate in patients with WHO type A + AB + B1 and type B2 + B3 was 96.9 and 76.8%, respectively. The patients with MG (P=0.026), Masaoka stages III + IV (P=0.008) and WHO type B2 + B3 (P=0.032) had a poorer prognosis compared with patients without these characteristics. Furthermore, multivariate analysis by Cox regression revealed that age [P=0.032; relative risk (RR)=1.097; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.097-1.192] and MG (P=0.042; RR=0.167; 95% CI=0.037-0.940) significantly affected OS rate. In summary, ET is a reliable method for the treatment of thymoma. Long-term survival is expected for patients at early Masaoka stages, and for patients without MG. The prognosis of patients with thymomas with MG is poorer compared with patients without MG. The present findings provide useful information for the future management of patients with thymomas.


ABSTRACT This article argues that EU constitutionalization has taken place in the absence of political constitutionalism. This concept is defined as the ability of citizens and member states to act as ongoing constitutional agents in determining the evolution of individual rights and national prerogatives. A historical comparison with Swiss and American constitutional development is used to show the development of two forms of political constitutionalism: respectively, direct democracy and presidentialization. These mechanisms allowed territorial units and citizens to influence major constitutional debate outside parliamentary channels. However, attempts to replicate these forms of political constitutionalism in the EU are impractical and undesirable because they fail to respect the political equality of member states and citizens. A more promising avenue is the development of 'politicization' by providing an opportunity to oppose EU policies via national parliaments and civil society. Indeed, engendering constitutional agency can create a novel democratic bond across demoi.


Graph transformation has recently become more and more popular as a general visual modeling language to formally state the dynamic semantics of the designed models. Especially, it is a very natural formalism for languages which basically are graph (e.g. UML). Using this technique, we present a highly understandable yet precise approach to formally model and analyze the behavioral semantics of UML 2.0 Activity diagrams. In our proposal, AGG is used to design Activities, then using our previous approach to model checking graph transformation systems, designers can verify and analyze designed Activity diagrams by checking the interesting properties as combination of graph rules and LTL (Linear Temporal Logic) formulas on the Activities. Keywords—UML 2.0 Activity, Verification, Model Checking, Graph Transformation, Dynamic Semantics.