: Aim : Co-infection with Hepatitis B (HBV) virus and HIV is common due to similarity of their transmission methods. However, the prevalence of concurrent infection in different societies, shows the crucial role of various risk factors in different populations. Therefore, the present study was performed to examine risk factors of transmission of HBV in patients with HIV. Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 60 HIV positive patients (in two 30-member experiment and control groups), who visited the Medicine departments of Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi for one-year duration from March 2019 to March 2020. Registered patients were informed of the purpose and procedure of this study and were given written leave and excluded those who could not allow participation. All procedures in this study have been approved by the Ethical committee. They were adjusted in terms of age group (18-30, 30-40, 40-50, and 50-60), gender (male and female), and marital status (married, single, divorced, and widowed) and visited by an infectious disease's specialist according to routine examinations. Data was recorded in a questionnaire for each subject. The mean age for the experimental group was 35±6.1, and for control group was 36.6± 5.7 years. Results and Conclusion: Both univariate and multivariate analyses of development of HBV infection and variables including Illegitimate sexual intercourse, use of intravenous injection drugs, positive history of imprisonment, and tattooing (p value < 0.05) showed existence of significant relationships. Injection of illegal intravenous drugs, history of imprisonment, illegitimate sexual intercourse, and tattooing are four important risk factors for transmission of HBV infection to HIV patients. In addition, the master risk reduction program may include provision of clean disposable tools for intravenous injection of drugs and tattooing.


Since the late 1960s the Hartbeespoort Dam (HBPD) has become increasingly eutrophic. In the mid-1970s the dam reached a hypertrophic state due to severe algae growth in summer months. These blue-green algae blooms pose a high risk to human health, and have a detrimental impact on recreational activities and the socioeconomic potential in the area. Secondary to the algae blooms has been the prolonged growth of hyacinths in the dam and upper catchment over the last 30 years. Rapid urbanisation, associated with increased runoff, erosion, sedimentation and solid waste entering the dam annually is a growing threat. If this problem is not addressed appropriately, it will result in a further decline in the local tourism industry, as well as negatively impact economic growth and development in the North West Province with regard to agriculture, mining, industry, recreation and entire aquatic ecosystems.


Two of the few postcranial fragments from the late Early Stone Age and/or the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa are the proximal radii from the Cave of Hearths and Klasies River Mouth. The Cave of Hearths fossil is metrically indistinguishable from both archaic (e.g., Neandertals) and recent humans, and presents a mosaic of primitive and modern features. The primitive include a relatively slender neck and thick cortical bone (the latter of which distinguishes recent humans from archaic, Early Modern, and Upper Paleolithic hominids); the modern includes an anteromedially (rather than medially) facing radial tuberosity. Its extreme collo-diaphyseal angle is unusual, although it can be matched by modern homologues. The neck-shaft angle of some Neandetral and Early Modern radii also appears to match that of the Cave of Hearths specimen. The Klasies River Mouth radius also has thick cortical bone of the neck. It is morphologically indistinguishable from Early Modern and Neandertal homologues. These, and other fossils, suggest a mosaic pattern of evolution in the postcranial skeleton of the late Early Stone Age and/or Middle Stone Age inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa.


This paper examines how successfully economic forecasts as covered in public media foreshadow major real estate and financial crises. Building from existing research on the accuracy of economic forecasts, we focus on real estate crises and the portrayal of forecasts in the press. We utilize textual analysis to identify articles on specific topics and to track coverage over time, both in the print media, as well as the larger internet-based news world; we also use the Google tool, "Insights for Search," to gauge public "forecasting" and popular beliefs. We find that the use of real-time data limits the accuracy of forecasts, that there appears to be a reluctance in the press to forecast bad news, and that when bad news is forecast, the report is often cushioned with counterbalancing observations. Preliminary results based on review of specific sets of articles show that articles reporting on academic forecasts have tended to be more accurate in hindsight than those relying on other sources. Reviews of two periods of real estate crises, the mid-1980s and the 2007-2009 crisis show that many of the serious problems were described in the press as early as two years in advance, but that interest and concern tended to taper off before the crisis occurred, leading to a sense of surprise. Our results suggest while the recent past is not always a good predictor of future trends, it can be very useful to be familiar with long term history that spans several cycles.


PTW riders are considered to be vulnerable road users as they exhibit high accident and severity rates. There is a slight reduction trend of PTW accidents in Europe over the last years; however this reduction is considerably lower than the corresponding one for car users. At the same time, PTW ownership and use is rising for several reasons including low purchase and use costs, greater movement and parking flexibility in the congested networks, increased popularity of PTW riding as a leisure activity and increasing number of returning riders. Hence, the design of suitable countermeasures that can mitigate PTW accidents is of crucial importance. The aim of this paper is to determine and test a methodological framework to assess road safety measures for PTWs as well as the assessment of existing road safety measures with the use of the proposed methodology. In addition, specific domains which ask for the design and implementation of countermeasures taking into account several effectiveness attributes including the need for such measures, their anticipated impact, acceptance and sustainability as well as the rider perspective are also identified. Research priorities and methodological recommendations are then discussed.


The Company has recently completed the first stage of a large-scale program for production of hard-to-recover (HTR) oil reserves from standard terrigenous reservoirs. This program is being worked on within the framework of the Optimal Completion Technologies and Operation Parameters of Oil Wells in Low-Productivity Reservoirs technology project implemented within the Company's perimeter. A high-rate hybrid multistage hydraulic fracturing was successfully performed on a number of horizontal wells at the Achimov Formation reservoirs thus confirming the ambitious well productivity plans.
 The primary goal of the project was to verify the hypothesis that the sweep area can be increased by means of a high-rate hybrid hydraulic fracturing; the next goal is to check the hypothesis that a developed network of fractures, or stimulate reservoir volume (SRV), can be formed at a hydraulic fracturing injection rate exceeding the standard values by 3-4 times. Keeping in mind the tasks of increasing the drainage area and connecting separate zones of highly compartmentalized reservoirs with each other, the basic hydraulic fracturing technology for the design purposes was a high-rate hybrid hydraulic fracturing with an injection rate of up to 12 m3/min and a combined schedule.
 At the preparatory data processing and interpretation stage, issues in each discipline involved – petrophysics, geology, geomechanics, and hydrodynamics – were worked out in detail and modeled. The design project of a high-rate hybrid hydraulic fracturing treatment has undergone many optimization iterations in the Planar 3D module, with further testing of the anticipated effects on a hydrodynamic simulator using unstructured three-dimensional PEBI grids. As a result of multi-variant modeling performed by a cross-functional team, a universal hydraulic fracturing design was created which predicted high efficiency of the treatment to create both the SRV and the planar fractures. To make the results of the performed pilot work more reliable, a wide range of studies was performed including production logging tests in horizontal wells with various completion systems. While assessing whether formation of the SRV is possible, downhole micro-seismic monitoring was performed, and downhole pressure was measured at neighboring wells.
 In the real conditions of the tested target reservoir, formation of the SRV was not confirmed at the actual injection parameters. The Planar 3D module, coupled with the hydrodynamic simulator, is an efficient tool to optimize design of the hybrid hydraulic fracturing treatment. The giant half-lengths of planar fractures predicted in the hydraulic fracturing modeling software have been proved by micro-seismic monitoring and pressure response at submersible pumps of the neighboring wells. At one of the stages, a high-rate hydraulic fracturing with 125 tons of proppant was performed entirely with a hydraulic fracturing fluid based 100% on a synthetic gelatinizing agent which showed the greatest fracture length. The Company pays great attention to this technology solution too – several tests have been initiated with respect to 'pure' hydraulic fracturing fluids, and work is underway to develop guideline and methodology documentation on quality control.
 Results of the project have changed the vision of optimal methods for stimulation of the Achimov low-permeability reservoirs. In the absence of the SRV, formation of long planar fractures by means of a system of horizontal wells with low-density spacing can increase economic viability of currently uneconomical fields or separate reservoirs (zones).
 The novelty of this work consists in the achieved level of integration of model values from various disciplines with the actual data. The initial and current parameters of stimulated wells demonstrate a broad perspective for optimizing the HTR reserves development system for a standard terrigenous reservoir. Successful reservoir stimulation by high-rate hybrid multistage hydraulic fracturing (MSF) opens the way to even bigger projects that envisage drilling horizontal holes up to 2,000 m long and building wells of the TAML-3 level of complexity.


The systematic history of the southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann, is reviewed. Morphological, biological, karyological, and molecular data clearly define and diagnose the species limits of D. frontalis. More complete phylogenetic analysis and characterization of population genetic variation will further clarify the evolutionary history of the D. frontalis. A Review of Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann Systematics


This paper aims to improve the widely used deep speaker embedding x-vector model. We propose the following improvements: (1) a hybrid neural network structure using both time delay neural network (TDNN) and long short-term memory neural networks (LSTM) to generate complementary speaker information at different levels; (2) a multi-level pooling strategy to collect speaker information from both TDNN and LSTM layers; (3) a regularization scheme on the speaker embedding extraction layer to make the extracted embeddings suitable for the following fusion step. The synergy of these improvements are shown on the NIST SRE 2016 eval test (with a 19% EER reduction) and SRE 2018 dev test (with a 9% EER reduction), as well as more than 10% DCF scores reduction on these two test sets over the x-vector baseline.


During the postpartum period, physiological changes occur in the body, one of which is the reproductive system, namely the process of uterine involution. The process of this change can sometimes cause complications, which will cause bleeding and death of the mother. One of the efforts to prevent post partum bleeding is by stimulating the process of uterine involution, one of which is endorphin massage. Endhorpine massage is a light touch on the neck, arms and hands that can stimulate the secretion of endorphins to provide a relaxing and comfortable effect on the body through the skin surface and stimulate the release of the hormone oxytocin which can stimulate uterine contractions, thereby accelerating the process of uterine involution. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Endhorpine Massage on the Process of Uterine Involution in Postpartum Mothers.  The sampling technique of this research is purposive sampling. The independent variable in this study was endhorpine massage and the dependent variable was the process of uterine involution. Data were collected using an observation sheet for the height of the uterine fundus, and SOP for endhorpin massage for endhorpin massage and data analysis was carried out in stages including univariate and bivariate (Wilcoxon). BMidwifes can provide counseling and training on endorphins massage to speed up the process of uterine involution.


Abdominal epicutaneous electrical activity has been studied in a group of 58 gastroenterically normal subjects or suffering form colon motor pathology. An evident similarity of behaviour was observed in the various groups: 17 out of 18 subjects with irritable colon and 6 out of 7 with subocclusion of the colon presented waves with characteristic amplitude and frequency. This type of electrical activity was present in only 1 normal subject out of 20; 11 patients with paralysis of the colon did not present waves of note; three patients with ulcerative colitis showed behaviour similar to the majority of the normal subjects. The technique illustrated would appear adequate for the study of colon pathology with motility alterations.


Fifth AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, Nov 12-15, 2006

B71

Clonal evolution drives the process of neoplastic progression, yet little is known about the dynamics of that evolution. Recent evidence suggests that genetic diversity accumulates over time in a neoplasm, yet there is also evidence of clonal expansions which should reduce diversity. Only rarely are we able to track clonal evolution over long timespans in a single neoplasm from a single patient, since, once detected, benign tumors are usually removed. Thus, Barrett's Esophagus (BE) is an excellent model system to study neoplastic clonal evolution because endoscopic surveillance is the standard of care. We used Illumina's 317k SNP chip platform to detect loss of heterozygocity (LOH) and deletion events in longitudinal BE samples. We analyzed twelve biopsies from a single patient's neoplasm that were collected at four time points: 1989, 1993, 2001 and 2006 (16 years timespan). From each time point, three samples from different biopsy levels (distance from the incisors) were genotyped. An additional lymphocyte sample, collected in 2006, was used as control in paired comparisons against each of the 12 BE samples to detect LOH and deletion events. Illumina BeadStudio software was used to identify statistically significant regions of LOH and deletions. We estimated a phylogenetic tree that relates the samples based on the presence or absence of the events using parsimony. The DOLLOP program from the PHYLIP phylogenetics package was used to estimate the most parsimonious tree relating a set of 388 distinct events across the 12 BE samples. The data suggest a selective sweep between 1989 and 1993 mediated by loss of p16 (CDKN2A). In the 12 years following 1993, no other clone expanded to fixation in the neoplasm, although multiple clones persisted. Clones were characterized by LOH and/or deletions on chromosomes 1 (at ~49Mb, ~206Mb, ~226Mb), 2 (at ~116Mb, ~205Mb, ~219Mb), 3 (at ~60Mb, ~84Mb) , 4 (at ~92Mb), 6 (at ~148Mb), 7 (at ~110Mb, ~117Mb, ~156Mb), 9 (at ~22Mb, whole 9p arm), 11 (at ~102Mb), 14 (at ~35Mb), 16 (at ~77Mb), 21 (at ~36Mb) and X (at ~314Mb). Losses at fragile sites FRA3B, FRA7G and FRA16D evolved early in progression. This is the first study to track clonal evolution on a genome-wide scale in a neoplasm over 16 years. Evidence of an early clonal expansion followed by genetic divergence suggests a potential solution to the conflicting observations of increasing genetic diversity and homogenizing clonal expansions. The power of such a study can be seen through the identification of early and late alterations as well as those that drive clonal expansion. However, there is a need to devise better evolutionary models for clonal biomarkers (such as LOH) to estimate clonal phylogenies from longitudinal cancer data.


TREATMENT STRATEGIES AND PROGNOSTIC FACTORS OF PRIMARY GASTRIC DIFFUSE LARGE B CELL LYMPHOMA: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF 303 CASES FROM CHINA LYMPHOMA PATIENT REGISTRY Y. Song* | X. Cen | H. Yang | M. Wu | Y. Shen | T. Lei | X. Leng | L. Ping | Y. Xie | J. Zhu Department of Lymphoma, Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing, China; Department of Hematology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China; Department of Lymphoma, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, China


As a result of the interplay between the intrinsic off-diagonal terms of the dipolar interaction and an applied transverse field ${H}_{t}$, the diluted ${\mathrm{LiHo}}_{x}{\mathrm{Y}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{F}}_{4}$ system at $xg0.5$ is equivalent to a ferromagnet in a longitudinal random field (RF). At low ${H}_{t}$ the quantum fluctuations between the Ising-like doublet states are negligible, while the effective induced RF is appreciable. This results in a practically exact equivalence to the classical RF Ising model. By tuning ${H}_{t}$, the applied longitudinal field, and the dilution, the Ising model can be realized in the presence of an effective RF, transverse field, and constant longitudinal field, all independently controlled. The experimental consequences for $D=1,2,3$ dimensions are discussed.


Abstract. The science guiding the EUREC4A campaign and its measurements are presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly five weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and south-eastward of Barbados. Through its ability to characterize processes operating across a wide range of scales, EUREC4A marked a turning point in our ability to observationally study factors influencing clouds in the trades, how they will respond to warming, and their link to other components of the earth system, such as upper-ocean processes or, or the life-cycle of particulate matter. This characterization was made possible by thousands (2500) of sondes distributed to measure circulations on meso (200 km) and larger (500 km) scales, roughly four hundred hours of flight time by four heavily instrumented research aircraft, four global-ocean class research vessels, an advanced ground-based cloud observatory, a flotilla of autonomous or tethered measurement devices operating in the upper ocean (nearly 10000 profiles), lower atmosphere (continuous profiling), and along the air-sea interface, a network of water stable isotopologue measurements, complemented by special programmes of satellite remote sensing and modeling with a new generation of weather/climate models. In addition to providing an outline of the novel measurements and their composition into a unified and coordinated campaign, the six distinct scientific facets that EUREC4A explored – from Brazil Ring Current Eddies to turbulence induced clustering of cloud droplets and its influence on warm-rain formation – are presented along with an overview EUREC4A's outreach activities, environmental impact, and guidelines for scientific practice.


Abstract The Eider Oilfield is located some 160 knortheast of the Shetland Islands mainly in Block 211/16a, part of Production Licence P296, with the southern tip extending into Block 211/2la. The discovery well was drilled in 1976 in a water depth of about 530 ft. Hydrocarbons are trapped at a depth of 8750 ft TVSS in an easterly dipping fault block that is part of the Tern-Eider horst in the East Shetlands Basin. The reservoir is the Middle Jurassic Brent Group, deposited in a wave-dominated delta system. It has an average gross thickness of 259 ft and an average net thickness of 210 ft. Porosities average 23% and permeabilities 375 md. The expected STOIIP and Ultimate Recovery are estimated at 204 MMBBL and 85 MMBBL respectively, representing a recovery factor of 42%. The field is planned to be developed by five producers drilled along the crest of the structure. Pressure maintenance and sweep (secondary recovery) will be provided by four down-flank water injectors. The Eider production facility is a satellite platform of the neighbouring North Cormorant and Tern platforms and is designed for future unmanned operation. Production started in November 1988 and averaged some 54 000 BOPD. Water injection began in June 1989, using water, piped at injection pressure, from the Tern platform. First stage processing of the crude oil is carried out on the Eider platforms and then it is piped to the North Cormorant platform for further processing. From there it is evacuated via the Cormorant Alpha platform into the Brent System pipeline for export to the Sullom Voe terminal.


It seems that the future of child psychiatry is uncertain, since its present body of knowledge and its identity both within its own discipline and relative to others are unclear. Nevertheless, the vast problems of childhood and adolescence delineated by the recent plethora of reports indicate the unmet needs, and it is obviously necessary that child psychiatrists should join other groups in attempting to radically alleviate these problems. But although it has been fashionable to describe the radical child psychiatrist as liberal, flexible, non-committed and open, true radicalism in chid psychiatry would be signalled by a return to structure, by careful and circumscribed clinical activity and by a proper measure of humility.


Two codeword families and the corresponding encoder/decoder schemes are present for spatial/frequency optical code-division multiple-access communications. These 2-D codewords have multiple weights per row and can be encoded/decoded via compact hardware. With the proposed decoding mechanism, the intended user will reject interfering users and multiple-access interference is fully eliminated. In addition, the power of the same wavelength contributed by all interfering codewords is split and detected by distinct photodiodes in the decoder. Thus the performance degradation due to the beat noise arising in the photodetecting process is improved, as compared with the traditional 1-D coding scheme, and a larger number of active users is supported under a given bit-error rate.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to predict which factors can determine consumer's intentions to complain when they meet service failure in restaurant industry. Design/methodology/approach –quantitative data was collected through the instrument of a survey questionnaire. Data were collected from 250 consumers to assess the Influence of attitude, subjective norm, and Self-efficacy on the intention to complain. Findings - The results show that the attitudes toward complaining and self-efficacy have significant effects on the consumer complaint intention. Also, self-efficacy of complaining is analyzed as the antecedents. Practical implications – the results shows that in order to intensify the consumers attitude toward complaining in hospitality industry, service provider should encourage complaints to locate the failure and make policies to make the consumer satisfied/loyal. Here in the restaurant industry, when consumers (having high degree of self-efficacy) face faulty services, they focus on better solution in reaction to service failure by better using their expertise, skills and resources. Originality/value - In this study it has be proven that perceived attitudes toward complaint and self-efficacy are very important determinants which directly affects Consumer's intention to make complains. This study also explores the effect of self-efficacy on consumer complaints behavior and provides a more holistic view of the determinants which affect customer`s complaint behavior.


Kaempferol, a strong antioxidant, was extracted from Cuscuta reflexa (a medicinal plant) using supercritical CO2 and separated using thin-layer chromatography, column chromatography and HPLC analysis. A rotatable central composite design was used to determine the influence of process variables and arrive at optimal processing conditions in the supercritical CO2 extraction process of kaempferol. The kaempferol yield was effectively modelled as a function of the independent variables (temperature, time and pressure). The kaempferol yield increased with the increasing of temperature and time and decreasing of pressure of the supercritical CO2 extraction process. The predicted kaempferol yield at the optimum point was 52.92 µg/g and the optimum conditions were 50.7°C for 132.6 min and 15.9 MPa.


The aim of this article is to discuss the farming industry's development and use of welfare assessment schemes. A welfare assessment scheme developed by the Danish Cattle Federation (DCF) is used as a case study. The declared aim of the DCF scheme is to improve animal welfare, farm profitability and dialogue with the public. It is the purpose of this article to attempt to understand the dilemmas arising from this broad aim. We ask how DCF measures of welfare compare with alternative measures in which economic factors receive less emphasis. We bring in farmers' views on whether the DCF's parameters of welfare track welfare effectively and are economically feasible. We also discuss how the views of the Scandinavian public on animal welfare influences the likelihood that the DCF scheme will improve dialogue with the public. The DCF definition of welfare is broad, but the measures it deploys are more limited and indeed very narrow compared with those in other welfare assessment schemes. This may not be a problem if the goal is to improve farm profitability. However, if the goal is to improve welfare, limited measures are problematic, and this may undermine attempts to improve dialogue with the public.


The self-sustained sequence replication (3SR) reaction is an extremely efficient method for amplifying target DNA and RNA sequences that may be present in minute quantities. A serious problem often encountered in its practice is carryover contamination from products of previous 3SR reactions. A postamplification treatment of 3SR reaction products with the photoactive agent 4'-aminomethyl-4,5-dimethylisopsoralen (IP-10) was investigated as an approach for preventing carryover contamination by 3SR amplicons. Initially, inhibition of the amplification reaction by high concentrations of the reagent was observed. This problem was circumvented by developing a gel-based delivery of IP-10, and the method was found to provide highly efficient sterilization (approximately 10(6)-fold) of 3SR amplicons. Evaluation of this strategy on a number of 3SR targets has indicated that the degree of sterilization is dependent on the length of the amplified region and on the concentration of IP-10. It appears that the sterilization effect is caused by covalent modification of the pyrimidine bases of RNA and DNA, which renders them unusable as templates for the 3SR reaction. Modification of a purified RNA transcript with IP-10 was shown to prevent effectively reverse transcription by avian myeloblastosis virus reverse transcriptase (AMV RT). Similarly, treatment of a T7 RNA polymerase promoter-containing DNA template with IP-10 eliminated full-length transcription by T7 RNA polymerase. This isopsoralen method may be used to sterilize multiple 3SR reactions in a clinical assay with a convenient UV irradiation step.


Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal malignancy of the female reproductive tract. Due to vague symptomatology, the majority of EOC patients are diagnosed in advanced clinical stages with poor survival rates, despite improvements in surgical techniques and the advent of targeted therapeutics. Hence, there is an urgent need to identify novel biomarkers of early diagnosis, prognosis and treatment response. A major challenge to such efforts is the morphological and molecular heterogeneity of EOC, which should be taken into consideration in biomarker studies. The aim of this thesis was to identify novel and validate some previously investigated biomarker candidates in EOC. All studies are based on immunohistochemical (IHC) or mutation analyses of tumour samples from a pooled prospective cohort with 154 incident EOC cases from the Malmo Diet and Cancer Study and Malmo Preventive Project. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) were constructed with primary ovarian tumour samples from all cases, omental deposits from 33 cases and benign-appearing fallopian tubes from 38 cases. In addition, an independent gene expression data set with 285 EOC cases was analyzed, and relevant cell line models used for validation of investigative antibodies. In paper I, expression of the androgen receptor (AR) was demonstrated to be high in fallopian tube epithelium, and lower in invasive EOC and omental deposits. Moreover, high AR expression was an independent biomarker of favourable prognosis in the subgroup of serous carcinoma. In paper II, we used gene set enrichment analysis to compare gene expression profiles of tumours with high and low mRNA levels of a putative prognostic and treatment predictive biomarker, RNA-binding motif 3 (RBM3). Thus, several previously unknown associations of RBM3 with processes related to DNA integrity and repair were unravelled, further supporting an important role for RBM3 as a positive predictor of response to platinum-based chemotherapy. In addition, three novel biomarkers of poor prognosis in EOC were identified, i.e. Chek1, Chek2 and minichromosome maintenance complex component 3 (MCM3). Paper III provides a first description of expression of the Dachshund 2 (DACH2) protein in any form of human cancer, after its identification in the Human Protein Atlas portal. DACH2 expression was particularly high in fallopian tubes, in EOC of the serous subtype and in cisplatin-resistant cells. Moreover, DACH2 was an independent biomarker of poor prognosis in serous EOC. In paper IV, expression of the global gene regulator Special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 1 (SATB1) was found to be an independent factor of poor prognosis in high-grade EOC. In the last paper, mutation analysis of the KRAS (v-Ki-ras2 Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog) gene was performed in tumours from the MDCS/MPP cohort, revealing an association between KRAS mutation and good prognosis, in particular in endometroid carcinomas. (Less)


Tbe electrochemical oxidation of ferrocene, quinhydrone and thioanisole on platinum, j,tla<;sy carhon and graphite electrodes were compared using cyclic voltammetry in RSN.3HF medium in the ahsence and presence of solvent CH3CN. All the three organic compounds show qualitatively similar responses on all the three electrodes as lon~ as their stahility is not affected by the medium. In general electron tnmsfer rate appears to be higher in neat E~N.3HF when compared to Et::\N.3HF/CII3CN system. Carbon electrodes aL<;o exhihit slight surface roughening in neat Et3N.3IIF medium.


Vaccines rank as one of mankind's greatest success stories in reducing mortality and suffering — vaccination has saved millions of lives from what were once common scourges such as smallpox, polio, and measles. Indeed our success during the twentieth century in controlling microbial infection by vaccination, antibiotics, and antivirals made us perhaps a little arrogant: we began to think that no microbe need ever be a long-term threat to our health, safety, and existence. How wrong we were. We now not only face increasing antibiotic resistance in bacteria and inefficacy in many of our antiviral therapies as a result of viral mutation, but have also learned the hard way that making a vaccine against HIV infection is one of the most important yet difficult challenges of the twenty-first century. Recent events have seen the creation of a global HIV vaccine enterprise, in which researchers collaborate with each other, with NGOs, and with industry to develop HIV vaccines in the most coordinated and efficient manner.

AIDS vaccine development: challenges and opportunities, edited by Koff, Kahn, and Gust, reflects this spirit of increased global awareness, cooperation, and funding. Efforts are generally no longer limited by lack of resources but by our still inadequate understanding of how to make a vaccine against a pathogen that, unlike other microbes against which successful vaccines have been developed, cannot be defeated by the immune system during natural infection. A concise but hard-hitting foreword by Seth Berkeley of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is followed by an overview of the scope of the book. Opuni et al. set the scene with a snapshot of the pandemic and some horrifying predictions of its potential for spread in the absence of a vaccine. In Part II, the requirements of a theoretical prophylactic vaccine are put into the context of how the virus is transmitted and establishes an infection in a new host and how the host responds with antiviral immunity. Wong and Siliciano nicely describe our rapidly evolving understanding of early events in infection, including recent models for transmission and rapid viral dissemination in mucosal tissues. Part III contains a series of excellent articles that elucidate the problems we face in designing an AIDS vaccine and the approaches being taken to do so. Many of these articles are from world leaders in their respective fields and represent the state of the art in vaccine design. Of particular interest is the chapter by Rosenthal, who highlights key concepts of targeting vaccination to mucosae and the fundamental importance of appropriate adjuvant design and application, an exploding field in vaccinology. The massive variability of HIV is generally considered to be its most effective immune evasion weapon and thus the greatest challenge to vaccine design. This issue, although beautifully presented and discussed by Korber et al., remains essentially unresolved. Part IV relates to a less glamorous but necessary step in vaccine development — that of testing candidate immunogens in human populations. Anyone who has not been involved in the setting up of clinical trials for vaccine testing will be fascinated and alarmed by the complexity of the process outlined here. The first phase III HIV vaccine trials showed no efficacy, but they have at least taught us lessons about how to proceed in subsequent trials. This is just as well, since the "vaccine pipeline" described by Esparza and Russell is full and we will need very good filters and vast resources to take even a few of these candidates into efficacy trials. Part V concerns the regulatory, manufacturing, and deployment hurdles that will need to be jumped before a vaccine candidate can be rolled out for global use. The final chapter, by Anderson and Plotkin, concerns an issue we will most likely have to face, that of dealing with the consequences of a partially effective vaccine. In this respect it rejoins modeling by Goudsmit et al. in Chapter 4, and the predictions are guardedly optimistic. Even a relatively ineffective vaccine may have benefits in terms of reducing AIDS mortality and HIV transmission.

The book's principal strength is its coherence in bringing together a range of disciplines that address the questions and problems raised in HIV vaccine research. The only overt weaknesses that I identified were the inevitable overlap between themes, which led to occasional repetition, and the lack of a section on fundamental vaccine immunology, which would have laid out current and future concepts that will form the basis of tomorrow's vaccine research and development. The literature is full of recent reviews on HIV vaccine research and development, but all focus on specialized areas of knowledge. Here, these are brought together in one comprehensive volume that is essential reading for a wide variety of audiences interested not only in HIV and AIDS but also in vaccine research, development, and deployment in general. Even if it takes a decade or more to develop a vaccine against HIV, the benefits of the knowledge gained, as represented in this book, will be immense for vaccines against other infectious diseases, and possibly also cancer.


PURPOSE
It is thought that Randall's plaques, calcium deposits in the renal papillae of patients with nephrolithiasis, may serve as a nidus for stone formation. We examined the density of renal papillae in patients with stones and control patients using attenuation measurements (HU) on Computed Tomography (CT) to determine whether nephrolithiasis is associated with radiographic changes in renal papillae.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Hounsfield density measurements of a 0.2 cm2 area of the renal papillae of 17 patients with a single renal calyceal calculus and 15 age-matched control patients were performed. Measurements were done for renal papillae upper, middle, and lower pole calyces for all patients. Statistical comparisons were made using the student's t-test.

RESULTS
Patients with nephrolithiasis and control patients were similar with respect to mean age (41.2 years versus 42.2 years, p=0.82) and baseline serum creatinine (0.86 mg/dl versus 0.93 mg/dl, p=0.21). Mean Hounsfield density of renal papillae of stone patients in calyces with stones was significantly greater than that of location-matched papillae from control patients (54.4 versus 36.6, p<0.0001). Mean Hounsfield density of all papillae of the affected kidney (i.e., kidney with stone) in stone patients was significantly greater than that of control patients (50.9 versus 36.4, p<0.0001). Mean Hounsfield density of all papillae in the stone-free kidney of stone patients was significantly greater than that of control patients (50.0 versus 36.1, p<0.0001). In stone patients, when comparing the affected kidney with the stone-free kidney, there was no difference in mean papilla Hounsfield density (50.3 versus 50.9, p=0.59).

CONCLUSIONS
Hounsfield density of the renal papilla is significantly increased in patients with nephrolithiasis when compared with age-matched controls. This is true of calyces with stones, calyces without stones in kidneys with stones, and calyces of the contralateral stone-free kidney. There is no difference in renal papilla Hounsfield density between kidneys with and without stones in patients with nephrolithiasis. In the future, this information may be useful in predicting which patients may develop nephrolithiasis.


A storm of criticism has arisen after the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association decided to recommend statins for children as young as 8 years old with high lipid concentrations and for those as young as 2 years old with major cardiovascular risk factors.

The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a new clinical report, replacing one from 1998. It said that doctors should measure cholesterol concentrations in children aged 2 years and over and should treat children with high concentrations with statins, probably for life ( Pediatrics 2008;122:198-208). The report echoed last year's report by the American Heart Association ( Circulation 2007;115:1948-67).

Timothy Gardner, president of the American Heart Association, said that atherosclerosis begins in childhood. "The earlier we …


The imaging quality of THz-SAR is sensitive to the imaging parameters. The small estimated parameter deviation of the vehicle velocity, the radar squint angle and the target distance deteriorate the imaging result. In this paper, the imaging method is the range Doppler algorithm (RDA). The vehicle velocity and the radar squint angle are searched based on the Entropy Minimization Criterion (EMC) at first. Then the improved azimuth match-filter function is constructed by the azimuth Doppler rate, which is obtained from the time-frequency distribution of the target echo. Finally, a more focused image is obtained after match filtering on the azimuth with the improved azimuth match-filter function. The imaging results of the vehicle-borne THz-SAR experiment demonstrate the efficiency of the improved method.


Prior studies have shown that older adults perceive sadness differently relative to younger adults. However, the stimuli used to test older adults' perceptions of sadness have been limited by the fact that they have not included emotional tears-a salient emotional cue that has previously been shown to enhance perceptions of sadness in younger adults. This study reports three experiments that test whether the presence of tears differentially affects older and younger adults' perceptions of sadness. Experiment 1 was a laboratory-based experiment and also assessed facial mimicry responses using electromyography (EMG). Experiments 2 and 3 were conducted online. Across all three experiments, participants rated faces as showing greater sadness when tears were present compared to absent, and most critically, participant age did not moderate this effect-young and older adults responded equivalently to the presence of tears. Another finding to emerge across all experiments was that older faces were consistently rated as showing more sadness than younger faces, suggesting that there may be a bias toward attributing more sadness to people in older age. The facial EMG data showed that both age groups exhibited greater frowning (relative to smiling) responses when viewing the sad faces, but this effect was not moderated by the presence of tears. Taken together, the data from these three experiments show stability in terms of how younger and older adults respond to the presence of tears; in both age groups, behavioral responses to sadness are equivalently enhanced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).


As is increasingly recognised in academic literature and by international organisations, corruption acts as a major deterrent to growth and development. The aim of this survey is to organise and summarise existing theoretical and empirical work on corruption with a view to identifying opportunities for further research. The paper begins with a brief overview of key definitions of corruption, and then turns to a review of the factors that favour or deter the growth of corruption together with a brief look at related models. This is followed by an examination of the consequences of corruption for society, and the consideration of measures that might help to reduce corruption. The paper ends with suggestions for future research and includes summaries of data sources and key variables for use in this research. Copyright 2001 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd


This article reviews the recent literature on mass media campaigns and communication approaches promoting drug abuse prevention aimed at four target audiences: youth, parents, women, and the elderly. Media effectiveness, including advantages and disadvantages of each medium according to target audience, is discussed. Of the four target groups, the youth audience is the one most heavily studied by researchers and communicators. Parents, a relatively new advocacy group, can be viewed as targets and as intermediaries, although little research on either role has been documented. Women have been the targets of awareness campaigns, generally on the effects of tranquilizing drugs, while the elderly have been addressed on the topic of appropriate licit drug use. The importance of audience analysis, of segmenting audiences into subgroups, and of designing customized presentations has been cited as critical across all target populations.


The removal of residual composite resin after debonding orthodontic brackets often creates surface scratches, enamel loss, and enamel tearouts. If the Nd:YAG laser could selectively degrade the resin without damaging the underlying tooth structure, these problems might be eliminated. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Nd:YAG laser in degrading composite resin within a time frame that will not cause pulpal damage. Minimal lasing times and optimum frequencies were determined by testing the compressive strengths of resin cylinders exposed to laser radiation for 2, 3, 5, 10, or 15 seconds at frequencies of 60, 80, or 100 Hz. The optimum condition was determined to be a 3 second lasing time at a frequency of 100 Hz. Cylinders of composite resin were divided into four groups consisting of: (1) resin, (2) resin with a laser enhancing dye, (3) resin lased for 3 seconds at 100 Hz, and (4) resin with the dye which was lased for 3 seconds at 100 Hz. The compressive strengths of the four groups were statistically compared. The resin groups that were lased for 3 seconds at 100 Hz showed a 75% reduction in compressive strength. The results of this study demonstrate that dual wavelength pulsed Nd:YAG laser energy, when used within the parameters described here, will degrade the mechanical properties of composite resin, thereby offering the potential for a quick and efficient method of removing residual composite resin.


Background: Anxiety disorders are common and test stress affects many students. Guided reflection is a new and effective method for reducing stress. Objectives: To assess the effect of guided reflection on test anxiety in second and third-year nursing students of Fatima Nursing and Midwifery College, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Materials and Method: This study was designed to assess the effect of guided reflection on test anxiety among nursing students of second and third year of education in Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Data was collected using demographic data questionnaires and the Sarason and Abolghasemi test anxiety scale. Based on the latter questionnaire, of the 147 participants, 100 had test anxiety with scores ranging from 13-63 (mild-severe anxiety), of which 80 students were randomly selected and divided into case and control groups. We used Johns's 9-stage guided reflection model through Q and A, lecture, and discussion. The case group participated in a 2-day guided reflection workshop for six hours each day. The control group received no intervention. Sarason and Abolghasemi's test anxiety questionnaire was completed by the students at the beginning of the first session, immediately after and three months after intervention. Results: The test anxiety mean scores were 35.34 ± 9.50 and 35.47 ± 10.66 before the intervention in the control and intervention groups respectively. No significant difference was found between the two groups with respect to socio-demographic characteristics. The Mean ± SD of test anxiety scores increased to 36.48 ± 9.34 three months after the intervention in the control group (P = 0.1). However, in the intervention group, the Mean ± SD test anxiety scores reduced immediately after (16.31 ± 8.61) and three months after (27.72 ± 10.09) the intervention, compared to before the intervention (35.47 ± 10.66) (P < 0.001, paired T-test). Conclusions: Guided reflection is effective in reducing test anxiety in nursing students. This method can be used for reducing test anxiety and increasing learning and academic progress among students.


A new numerical scheme in Finite Element Method (FEM) along with Mesh Free Method (MFM) and suitable convergence criterion is used to simulate the progressive nature of failure in soil-root matrix continuum. With the consideration of homogenizing approach, the complex behavior of soil-root interaction can reliably be captured of any natural slopes. Root-reinforcement effect has significant role in modifying stress anisotropy and displacement behavior of the slope. Result shows that stability factor first increases with RAR, after attaining certain stability factor further increment of RAR within certain limit does not impart on stability factor of slopes. After certain RAR say more than 0.5%, there is no any change on stability factor. Results show that vegetation has significant influences on safety factor in certain effective RAR-range, which further illustrates the necessities of vegetation cover in slopes; however, it requires more realistic model parameters and boundary conditions to perform more relevant simulations.


In the vast majority of the world's countries, information on the literacy proficiency of the adult population is collected through census collections, labour force surveys or through omnibus household surveys. These commonly use simple measures: respondents' reports of their own or other household members' capacity to read and write or the capacity of the respondent to accurately read aloud a short sentence.
While there is a justified interest in the use of assessments to collect information regarding literacy proficiency, household surveys using simple measures will continue to be a primary source of data on literacy in many countries for some time. Improvement of the quality of simple measures should, therefore, be a priority. Three main avenues for improvement are identified: greater clarity regarding the concepts being measured, the development of improved simple direct assessments of literacy proficiency and encouragement for the use of a common set of instruments and questions.


In many bacterial electrotransformation protocols, pulse time is related to the time constant for a capacitor discharging across a sample of fixed resistance. Using an electroporator which controls pulse time independently of the capacitor time constant, we found that the resistance of bacterial suspensions fluctuates widely during capacitor discharge. With three gram-negative species of bacteria, electrotransformation frequency and survival could be more simply related to the electrical energy delivered in each pulse than to component parameters, such as initial field strength, capacitance, and pulse time. In each case, the number of transformants per survivor increased exponentially and leveled off when more than 0.5 to 1.0 J of electrical energy was delivered. An inverse log-linear relationship between survival and energy delivered was also observed for all three species.


In a formerly widespread approach to medical decision making, physicians made a diagnosis, considered the management alternatives, and informed patients what would be done to help them. Decision making rested exclusively in the physicians' domain.

This parental model of patient care challenged clinicians to interpret what was best for their patients. How much benefit must a treatment offer before it was worth subjecting a patient to its short term side effects, long term risks, inconveniences, and costs? With the clinician at the centre of decision making, the question was whether a treatment effect was "clinically relevant." Even in the discipline of health related quality of life measurement, investigators sought the "minimal clinically important difference."

The parental model has its strengths, and in the past it is very likely that many patients preferred leaving the decisions to their doctors, particularly when the knowledge gap between physicians and the lay public was greater. Consider, for instance, the results of a survey of 2472 patients with chronic disease (hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, myocardial infarction, or depression) completed between 1986 and 1990. In response to the statement: "I prefer to leave decisions about my medical care up to my doctor," 17.1% strongly agreed, 45.5% agreed, 11.1% were uncertain, 22.5% disagreed, and only 4.8% strongly disagreed.1 Cultural changes since the 1950s suggest that in the more distant past, the percentage preferring to leave decisions up to the doctor was even greater. For example, in the survey that generated these data, older patients were less inclined to prefer an active decision making role than younger respondents.

Parental approaches to decision making have limitations related to physicians' evaluation of how patients value benefits and risks. One issue is physicians' tendency to assume that physiological outcomes will lead to improvements in mortality …


In 2003 Oulu was already a technology city and had set a target of becoming a pioneer in the development of technological well-being products and services. One of the most successful services is the Oulu Self-Care, which was planned, implemented and piloted in the Kasio Project (2007-2009). The aims of the project were to develop self-care services along with an environment for new product and service testing with the participation of citizens and professionals. The Self-Care platform was opened to all citizens in 2010 as an internet-based portal. It focuses on life style and disease prevention. It also includes self-care services for chronically ill patients, which implement the Chronic Care Model developed in another project called PISARA with the cooperation of other municipalities in Finland.


We have developed a practical stereoretentive iodine/lithium-exchange process that allows the stereodefined preparation of cis- and trans-cycloalkyllithium compounds from their corresponding stereodefined iodides. Quenching with electrophiles offers stereospecific access to both cis- (up to 96% cis) and trans-cycloalkyl derivatives (up to 99% trans). A detailed study of the thermodynamic stabilities, stereochemical behavior, and reactivities of axially and equatorially substituted cyclohexyllithium reagents is reported. Ab initio calculations demonstrate that the formation of oligomeric cyclohexyllithium structures is pivotal for explaining the observed stereochemical preference.


Marriage has a great significance in human life and the cultural patterns to control and establish a strong foundation in the household. There is a duality of the legal status of marriage to nationals of Indonesia, especially Islam, which is a valid marriage and recorded in the sub-district religious affairs office with a valid marriage according to the norms of Islam but is not listed on the state agencies. Legitimacy of marriage has legal implications of the status of children who are born, as well as inheritance rights affected, and the recording of the key events in the system of administration. This study uses the methodology of normative juridical deduction, the judicial approach. At the end of the discussion will be found the answer from the legal issues that the law of the State Administraon that marriage registration is administrative actions based on the legislation in force undertaken by the competent instasi. With prescriptions for a legal solution.


BACKGROUND
Measures of tobacco dependence are mainly used in the clinical setting, but limited information is available on tobacco dependence on a population level.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
To obtain estimates of tobacco dependence on a population level, a six-item Fagerstrom questionnaire was used in two surveys, conducted in 2002-2003 on a sample of 6773 individuals aged 15 years or over, representative of the Italian adult population.

RESULTS
Overall, 27.1% of Italian adults described themselves as current cigarette smokers (32.2% of men, 22.4% of women). Of all smokers, 42.8% were classified as very low dependent, 28.6% as low dependent, 11.0% as intermediate, 13.8% as high and only 3.8% as very high dependent. The proportions of very low/low dependent were 67.4% in men and 76.8% in women. Those of high/very high dependent smokers were 21.4% in men and 12.5% in women, but only 2.8% at age 15-17 years and 8.4% at age 18-24 years. Only 23% of smokers, moreover, found it difficult to avoid smoking in places where smoking was forbidden.

CONCLUSIONS
The observation that over two-thirds of smokers on a population level in Italy report low or very low dependence has useful implication for intervention on stopping smoking, particularly in the young, who appear to be low dependent. However, in this age group cessation rates were comparatively low.


Objectives: To determine the discriminative ability of PRISM III scoring system in predicting mortality in children admitted to PICU. Methods: Prospective observational study in all children 1 month to 12 years of age admitted to PICU during July2017 to June2018. Result: Out of 250 patients admitted in the PICU, 133 were male & 117 were female. In the age group of 1 month to 12 months, 30(22.22%) expired while in 12 months to 12 years,18(11.65%) expired. Due to respiratory system involvement, mortality was 24(16.43%), due to central nervous system 8(17.39%) and septicemia 12(46.15%) . At 12 hours of admission, 214 patients had PRISM score 0 to 4, out of which 14 expired. 17 patients had score of 5 to 9, out of which 15 expired.19 patients had score >10 having 100% mortality. PRISM 24 score was taken 12 hours after the 1st score. 216 patients had PRISM score between 0 to 4, out of which 14 expired. 8 patients had score of 5 to 9 & 26 patients had score >10, out of which all expired. Conclusion: Since mortality rises with increase in PRISM 3 score at the time of admission, PRISM III score can be taken as an indicator of the initial severity of illness. PRISM III can help in selecting sick children for PICU admission and optimum utilization of limited PICU resources.


The use of a Semantic Grid architecture can ease the deployment of complex applications, in which several organizations are involved and where resources of diverse nature (data and computing elements) are shared. This is the situation in the Space domain, with a strong demand of computational resources inscribed in an extensive and heterogeneous network of facilities and institutions. This paper presents the S-OGSA architecture, defined in the Ontogrid project, as applied into a scenario for the overall monitoring and data analysis in a Satellite Mission currently in nominal operations. Flexibility, scalability, interoperability and use of a common framework for data sharing are the main advantages of a Semantic Grid implementation in Complex and dataintensive systems.


The principal goals of our projects were to develop methods for the second phase of the Ocean Margins Program: investigations in the field. Our project is focused on: (1) Impact of grazing by phagotrophic protists on phytoplankton, particularly on phototrophic cells < 5 [mu]m in size which are not effectively grazed by metazooplankton; the impact of grazing by phagotrophic protists on bacterioplankton; and the taxon-specific growth rates of phytoplankton in situ, as they are affected by phagotrophy rates.


The 5-Hour Energy Shot® continues to be one of the more popular energy drinks on the market. The maker claims that it improves work and/or exercise performance. PURPOSE: To determine if ingesting one 5-Hour Energy Shot® compared to a placebo causes measurable improvement in performance related to physiological variables during a simulated driving task (SDT). METHODS: Nineteen (11 males, 8 females), college-aged (21.8 + 1.55 yrs; 1.7 + 0.11 m in ht; 72.9 + 13.83 kg in wt), volunteers participated in a double-blind, cross-over, placebo-based study. The participants were tested prior to and then at 5 consecutive 1-hour intervals after ingesting either a randomly assigned non-caffeinated placebo (PL) (59 ml; 5 kcals) or the 5-Hour Energy Shot® (5HES) (59 ml; 4 kcals). The SDT was a solo-timed road race (Forza Horizon game) on an Xbox 360 gaming system. During each of the 6 data collection trials, heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), ear temperature (ETemp), skin temperature (STemp), drive time (DT), and number of crashes (#C) were recorded. Subjects were also evaluated for alertness and drink effectiveness at each of same time points. A 2-way repeated measures ANOVA was utilized to determine differences between the PL and the 5-HES treatments across the six test periods of the driving task. Significance was established at p < 0.05. Summary Of RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference between PL and 5-HES across the six time periods relative to HR, SBP, DBP, ETemp, or #C driving tasks. However, the 5-HES group had a significantly lower STemp than the PL group at each time interval; with a 5-hour post-ingestion STemp of 89.55 + 2.30F in the 5-HES group compared to 90.27 + 1.96F in the PL group. The 5-HES group had a faster DT compared to the PL group at each of the time intervals; with a 5-hour post-ingestion DT of 197.47 + 50.39 sec in the 5-HES group compared to 201.09 + 52.38 sec in the PL group. CONCLUSIONS: When compared to a placebo, 5Hour Energy Shot® did significantly improve driving time, along with a concomitant reduced skin temperature in college-aged participants during a simulated driving task.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the expression and function of c-kit receptor on bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNC) of the patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.

METHODS
c-kit protein (CD(117)) was detected by direct immunofluorescence assay, c-kit mRNA by reverse transcriptive polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and the function of c-kit receptor by cell culture.

RESULTS
c-kit protein expression in MDS was significantly higher than that in control [(8.58 +/- 5.28)% vs (3.04 +/- 1.49)%, P < 0.05]. c-kit protein expression in RA patients was significantly lower than that in RAEB/RAEB-t patients [(5.12 +/- 2.13)% vs (10.01 +/- 5.07)%, P < 0.05]. The rate of c-kit protein expression was (32.43 +/- 18.16)% in AML cases transformed from MDS (t-AML). c-kit mRNA expression in MDS was correlated with c-kit protein expression. Addition of interleukin-3 (IL-3), erythropoietin (Epo) and stem cell factor (SCF) to the semi-solid culture of BMMNC showed significant stimulating effects on CFU-GM and BFU-E formation in normal controls, but did not in MDS patients.

CONCLUSION
The protein and mRNA expressions of c-kit receptor on BMMNC in MDS are higher than those in normal control, and the function of this receptor in MDS is abnormal.


Corynebacterium striatum is frequently encountered in the routine clinical microbiology laboratory. It is widely disseminated in the environment and constitutes part of the normal micro-biota of the skin and mucous membrane. Identification of this species by biochemical methods remains difficult and several misidentifications have been reported previously. A polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method for the identification of this microorganism was designed based on the hypervariable region of the polymorphic RNA polymerase β-subunit gene (rpoB). All available Corynebacterium rpoB sequences were analyzed by computerassisted restriction analysis. The rpoB PCR-RFLP pattern predicted by using endonucleases MseI and NlaIV clearly differentiated C. striatum from all other Corynebacterium species. This method was successfully applied for the reliable identification of 67 C. striatum clinical isolates and can be used for the timely detection of infected patients or for epidemiological studies.


Abstract Exposure to an uncontrollable stressor elicits a constellation of physiological and behavioral sequel in laboratory rats that often reflect aspects of anxiety and other emotional disruptions. We review evidence suggesting that plasticity within the serotonergic dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is critical to the expression of uncontrollable stressor-induced anxiety. Specifically, after uncontrollable stressor exposure subsequent anxiogenic stimuli evoke greater 5-HT release in DRN terminal regions including the amygdala and striatum; and pharmacological blockade of postsynaptic 5-HT2C receptors in these regions prevents expression of stressor-induced anxiety. Importantly, the controllability of stress, the presence of safety signals, and a history of exercise mitigate the expression of stressor-induced anxiety. These stress-protective factors appear to involve distinct neural substrates; with stressor controllability requiring the medial prefrontal cortex, safety signals the insular cortex and exercise affecting the 5-HT system directly. Knowledge of the distinct yet converging mechanisms underlying these stress-protective factors could provide insight into novel strategies for the treatment and prevention of stress-related psychiatric disorders.


Largely overlooked in the booming scholarship on world literature, literary globalization, and transnational modernism, a world literature of socialist internationalism was imagined, written, theorized, and practiced in the aftermath of World War I, representing the first attempt to actualize the idea of world literature under the auspices of a social and political mass movement. This article develops and illustrates five theses about this internationalist world literature. It thereby sketches aspects of the history of internationalist world literature in Germany between 1918 and 1933 and formulates historical, historiographical, poetological, and literary and cultural theoretical interventions into the field of world literature studies. In particular, the article develops the notions of the transnational literary counterpublic and of realist modernism while tracing ideas about transnational class literatures and nonnormative imaginaries of the proletariat.


Single metal alloys have been explored as the cation source in the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of iron garnets. Growth of good quality single crystal garnet films containing as many as five different cations has been achieved over a wide range of deposition conditions. The relationship of film composition to alloy compositions and deposition conditions has been determined for several materials. By proper choice of the alloy composition and the deposition conditions, uncrazed deposits were grown on


At present, severe osteoporosis is considered bone mineral density below a t-score of -2,5 existing together with a prevalent fragility fracture. This is a rough categorization of a wide range of clinical conditions. In osteoporotic patients, two different severities may be considered: prognostic severity, i.e., the risk of the occurrence of other fragility fractures and clinical severity, i.e. the degree of pain and disability experienced by the patient. While the former is currently under investigation in several studies, the latter has not been clearly defined in the current literature. Nevertheless, assessment of disease severity is useful for at least 3 purposes: identification of high-risk patients who deserve immediate attention and intervention; motivation of patients to follow prescribed therapies; and modulation of care intensity. The introduction of pharmacological treatments with varying degrees of efficacy and costs, reimbursement of which by the national health system is managed by regulatory agencies, calls for a consensus of the scientific community for a comprehensive classification of osteoporotic severity.


A new general circulation model (GCM) which contains the region from the ground surface to the exobase has been developed and used to investigate behavior of the migrating diurnal tide for equinox during solar cycle minimum and geomagnetically quiet conditions. In particular, we study day‐to‐day variations of migrating diurnal tides in the mesosphere and thermosphere and their relation with migrating diurnal tides generated in the lower atmosphere. The results show that day‐to‐day variations of the migrating diurnal tide are evident from the upper troposphere to the thermosphere. Fluctuations of the migrating diurnal amplitude with periods of 12 and 25 days are found in the height range from 20 to 300 km, indicating dynamical coupling between the mesosphere and thermosphere and the lower atmosphere.


The main target of this paper is to propose an algorithm to implement data hiding in DNA sequences to increase the confidentiality and complexity by using software point of view in cloud computing environments. By utilizing some interesting features of DNA sequences, the implementation of a data hiding is applied in cloud. The algorithm which has been proposed here is based on binary coding and complementary pair rules. Therefore, DNA reference sequence is chosen and a secret data M is hidden into it as well. As result of applying some steps, M ́ ́ ́ is come out to upload to cloud environments. The process of identifying and extracting the original data M, hidden in DNA reference sequence begins once clients decide to use data. Furthermore, security issues are demonstrated to inspect the complexity of the algorithm. In addition, providing better privacy as well as ensure data availability, can be achieved by dividing the user's data block into data pieces and distributing them among the available SPs in such a way that no less than a threshold number of SPs can take part in successful retrieval of the whole data block. In this paper, we propose a secured cost-effective multicloud storage (SCMCS) model in cloud computing which holds an economical distribution of data among the available SPs in the market, to provide customers with data availability as well as secure storage.


Background Febuxostat is a novel nonpurine selective inhibitor of xanthine oxidase. Its predominant hepatic metabolism is an advantage for patients with gout and chronic kidney disease (CKD), so no dose adjustment is needed. However, in clinical trials patients with severe CKD were excluded [1], so caution is advised in patients with a reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR<30mL/min/1.73m2) [2]. Objectives To review our experience with febuxostat in patients with gout, and to assess outcomes in the subgroup with eGFR<30mL/min/1.73m2. Methods Retrospective review. Clinical records of patients with crystal-proven gout treated with febuxostat (prescribed by a rheumatologist of the unit) were selected. Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data were collected. Study variables were: a) the change in serum uric acid (SUA) levels after treatment with febuxostat; and b) the percentage of patients who attained SUA<6mg/dL; SUA<5mg/dL; and SUA<4mg/dL. Two time-points were determined: 1) first lab tests after starting febuxostat, and 2) 6 months after continuous treatment with febuxostat at its maximal dose used. Comparisons according to the eGFR value (above or below 30mL/min/1.73m2) at the start of febuxostat were performed using chi-square and Mann-Whitney's U tests. Results Records from 55 patients with gout treated with febuxostat were reviewed, mean (p25-75) aged 73 years (63-84), being 70.9% men. Gout was tophaceous in 15 patients (27.3%). The maximal dose used of febuxostat was 80 mg/d in 68,5% of patients. Other urate lowering agent had been used in 38 patients (69.1%), being skin reactions the main reason for discontinuation (11 patients, 20%). In 14 patients (25.5%) febuxostat was started at a eGFR<30mL/min/1.73m2, but in no case it was below 15mL/min. The table shows the outcomes comparison regarding the eGFR values. SUA at baseline was found similar. No differences were found in the magnitude of SUA reduction after long-term febuxostat nor in the achievement of the different SUA endpoints. Variation in eGFR values was similar in both groups. Regarding safety concerns, in 11 patients febuxostat was discontinued (3 cases due to skin reactions, in one case also previously with allopurinol), but it did not differ regarding eGFR subgroups (p=0.33). eGFR ≥30mL/min/1.73m2 eGFR <30mL/min/1.73m2 p (n=41) (n=14) Baseline SUA, mg/dL 8.6 (6.0, 9.8) 9.4 (6.7, 11.1) 0.47 Baseline eGFR, mL/min/1.73m2 59.1 (37.9, 81.4) 23.2 (21.2, 28.6) <0.001 Change in SUA, mg/dL −3.4 (−5.6, −1.3) −5.5 (−6.9, −3.5) 0.08 SUA<6mg/dL, n (%) 31 (77.5) 11 (91.7) 0.42 SUA<5mg/dL, n (%) 28 (70.0) 10 (83.3) 0.48 SUA<4mg/dL, n (%) 19 (47.5) 8 (66.7) 0.24 Change in eGFR, mL/min/1.73m2 +0.6 (−8.3, +5.7) +3.9 (−2.4, 15.0) 0.21 Data shown as median (p25–75) unless otherwise specified. Conclusions Febuxostat appears effective and safe in patients with severe renal impairment (eGFR<30mL/min/1.73m2) and merit considering its use until these results are confirmed by prospective controlled studies. References Arthritis Rheum. 59:1540. Adenuric® label, EMA. Disclosure of Interest N. Quilis: None declared, S. Gil: None declared, M. Andrés: None declared, P. Vela: None declared, E. Pascual Consultant for: Menarini


Linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure is an important aspect of the study of population genetics and disease-gene association. Especially, analysing extended long haplotypes carrying a derived allele and examining LD block patterns can provide evidence for positive selection. We investigated the LD block structure of East Asian, European, and African populations for previously reported sites of positive selection by comparing LD block construction results based on 1000 Genomes Project data. We confirmed that differences in LD block size in EDAR, LCT, PCDH15, and LARGE region among different populations is consistent with previous results regarding positive selection. We found that LD block comparisons can provide additional information for positive selection in regions of SLC30A19, PDE11A, and BCAS3 for East Asian and European populations.


Thirty primary gastrointestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treated between 1983-1990 were reviewed to reveal the efficacy of various treatment strategies. The average age at the diagnosis 53.6 (18-76) years. The histologic material were evaluated according to the Kiel classification: 22 patients had high grade malignant lymphoma (centroblastoma 8, immunoblastoma 6, lymphoblastoma 2, non classifiable 5, T-cell lymphoma 1) 8 patients low grade malignant lymphoma (lymphocytic 2, immunocytic 2, MALT lymphoma 1, centrocytoma 1, non-classifiable 1, pleomorph small cell lymphoma 1). 21 were primary gastric lymphoma, 5 involved the small intestine, 2 the ileocecal region, and 2 the large intestine. According to the Ann Arbor staging system 7 patients were stage I/E, 16 patients stage II/E, 5 patients stage III/E and 2 patients stage IV/E. Every patients underwent surgical resection. After surgical treatment high grade malignancies were treated with ProMACE-COPP (9) and CHOP-Bleo (10) polychemotherapy; low grade malignancies received VEP (5) and CVP (3) chemotherapy. 23 of 30 patients achived complete remission. The patients with low grade malignancy are in remission. All but one patients with high grade malignant gastric lymphoma achieved complete remission with a median of 37 (3-81) months relapse-free survival. Out of 5 cases in the small intestine only in 1 case was remission achieved. Histological type (Kiel) and surgical resection were the most important prognostic factors.


For continuous wave radars, self-interference signals coupled from the local transmitter are significantly stronger than the desired echoes, such that the receiver will become saturated. To cancel the self-interference, this paper proposes a novel scheme based on a simple quadrature down-conversion operation, for which two frequency-swept carriers with a 90-degree phase-difference are adopted in both transmitter and receiver to realize a high- sensitive reception of echoes as well as high isolation between the transmitter and the receiver. A search algorithm is proposed to minimize the power of the residual self-interference. Since both the desired echoes and the self-interference are replicas of the transmitted signal, the desired echoes may be mistaken for self-interference signals and attenuated significantly. Thus, this paper analyzes the impact of the proposed scheme on the desired echoes and develops a method to avoid the potential attenuation of the desired echoes. In addition, this paper derives a closed-form expression for the self-interference cancellation performance. Extensive simulations are performed to verify the proposed method.


In English law a company may be responsible for wrongful acts or omissions in two ways. First, a corporation may be vicariously liable for the behaviour of its employees. The company, as a legal construct, is liable if employers who are natural persons would have been so liable. The acts (or omissions) and state of mind of these high‐level employees are imputed to the company. The company is not vicariously liable (ie for what others did) but personally or directly (ie for what it did). The acts of the senior officers were done as the company, which being artificial cannot perform actions or mental calculations. The second mode of liability is sometimes known as the identification or alter ego doctrine. One distinction between the two modes of criminal responsibility is immediately apparent. Under the first the company is liable for the conduct of its employees, however low in the corporate hierarchy. With regard to the second there is a distinction drawn between those who are the directing mind and will of the company and other individuals (cf. Tesco Supermarkets Ltd v Nattrass and Tesco Stores Ltd v Brent LBC. The distinction is often stated anthropomorphically as one between 'hands' and 'brain' and there is a growing jurisprudence concerned with which jobs in which companies fall within these categories.


This paper will discuss main Central Balkan communication routes as well as the distribution of weapons and defensive equipment of the 7th–5th centuries BC. It will also provide a general picture of the main cultural groups and Paleo-Balkan tribes, as based on the historical sources, and compare their geographical spread with specific archaeological material. Frequently used communications routes based on some additional observations will be pointed out, too. In the earlier periods, the main Balkan communication routes had certainly led through the Morava – Vardar axis and the Morava – Nišava – Isker – Marica road, but during the 7th–5th centuries BC, these routes gradually faded out use and Drim, Ibar, Western Morava and Drina River valleys become the main corridors of north-south communications.


The automated analysis of medical diagnostic videos, such as ultrasound and endoscopy, provides significant benefits in clinical practice by improving the efficiency and accuracy of diagnosis. Deep learning techniques show remarkable success in analyzing these videos by automating tasks such as classification, detection, and segmentation. In this paper, we review the application of deep learning techniques for analyzing medical diagnostic videos, with a focus on ultrasound and endoscopy. The methodology for selecting the papers consists of two major steps. First, we selected around 350 papers based on the relevance of their titles to our topic. Second, we chose the research articles that focus on deep learning and medical diagnostic videos based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria. We found that convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and long short-term memory (LSTM) are the two most commonly used models that achieve good results in analyzing different types of medical videos. We also found various limitations and open challenges. We highlight the limitations and open challenges in this field, such as labeling and preprocessing of medical videos, class imbalance, and time complexity, as well as incorporating expert knowledge, k-shot learning, live feedback from experts, and medical history with video data. Our review can encourage collaborative research with domain experts and patients to improve the diagnosis of diseases from medical videos.


Loreclezole (5 mg/kg) exerted a significant protective action in amygdala-kindled rats, reducing both seizure and afterdischarge durations. The combinations of loreclezole (2.5 mg/kg) with valproate, clonazepam, or carbamazepine (applied at their subprotective doses) also exhibited antiseizure effect in this test. However, only two first combinations occurred to be of pharmacodynamic nature. Among several chemoconvulsants, bicuculline, N-methyl-D-aspartic acid and BAY k-8644 (the opener of L-type calcium channels) reversed the protective activity of loreclezole alone and its combination with valproate. On the other hand, bicuculline, aminophylline and BAY k-8644 inhibited the anticonvulsive action of loreclezole combined with clonazepam. The results support the hypothesis that the protective activity of loreclezole and its combinations with other antiepileptics may involve potentiation of GABAergic neurotransmission and blockade of L-type of calcium channels.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The rating of life quality may belong to the method of surgical treatment: after the axillary lymph node dissection patients may suffer from arm symptoms; after sentinel lymph node biopsy women may highlight the anxiety about the success of radical treatment. The aim was to assess the influence of sentinel lymph node biopsy on the quality of life of the patients with early stage breast cancer compared with total axillary lymph node dissection.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
In a prospective case-control study, 48 patients with early invasive breast cancer and no evidence of lymph nodes involvement underwent breast conserving surgery with sentinel lymph node biopsy. They were grouped as matched pairs with the patients who underwert axillary lymph node dissection, according to the age, TNM stage, localization, hormonal receptor status, and surgical characteristics. Quality of life was evaluated using the QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BR-23 questionnaires before surgery and after 1, 3, 6, 12, and 36 months.

RESULTS
The patients who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy scored better on the emotional functioning, pain, sexual functioning, and future perspective scales in comparison with those who underwent axillary lymph node dissection. The score on the arm symptom scale remained significantly better in the sentinel lymph node biopsy group than the axillary lymph node dissection group within the overall follow-up period.

CONCLUSIONS
The women who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy experienced better quality of life than the patients who underwent axillary lymph node dissection.


During the past 15 years, various approaches have been adopted for medical personnel training in the Division of Laboratory Medicine, Chiba University Hospital. Medical personnel have been encouraged to enter the Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University. At present, 14 of them have successfully completed the Ph.D. program and 16 have been awarded a master's degree. In our unit, clinical proteomics is a principal research subject, and we have identified a number of biomarker candidates in collaboration with clinical units. In Chiba University Hospital, all clinical laboratory physicians are certified as medical geneticists and are in charge of the Division of Clinical Genetics as well. We have treated a total of 1,009 patients, including those with hereditary neuromuscular diseases, familial cancers, and prenatal diagnoses. We have also encouraged medical technologists to become certified as genetic counselors, which may be a promising subspecialty for medical technologists. Mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful analytical tool used in an increasing number of clinical laboratories around the world. Liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) has been used for newborn screening, toxicology, therapeutic drug monitoring endocrinology, and, more recently, for the measurement of targeted proteins and peptides. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) has proven to be a rapid and reliable tool for identifying microorganisms. The Japanese Society for Medical Mass Spectrometry has started to certify medical mass spectrometrists, which could be another promising subspecialty for medical technologists.


In 2017, the polarized target systems from Mainz/Dubna and Bonn were combined for data taking in Bonn. After testing the combined system, the experiment with a polarized frozen-spin target and the upgraded Crystal Barrel detector started in winter 2017. First data with a transversal proton target were already taken. In the meantime, the polarized target group at Bonn is building a continuous 4π polarized target. To get a high target polarization and long relaxation times, low temperatures are indispensable. This system will be able to reach temperatures below 30 mK and allows the use of an internal polarization magnet. As an optimizing tool for the construction of
dilution refrigerators and to gain detailed information about the different incoming and outgoing fluid streams, several CFD-simulations were done. Thus, it was possible to calculate the perfor-
mance of the precooling stages. First tests showed, that these simulations can be used to calculate the performance of the different heat exchangers. Nevertheless, some improvements of the model are ongoing.


As collaborative approaches to resolving public disputes become more prevalent, agency officials are finding themselves in unfamiliar terrain. This article offers one conceptualization of agency roles in collaborative processes, drawing from the experiences of natural resource managers and enviromental regulators at the federal level. Based on an examination of 65 cases, the authorsidentify three distinct "hat" that effective agency officals wear in collaborative processes - leader, partner, and stakeholder. The objective and function of each role is assessed, along with the implications of agency facilitation. The most successful agency representatives were able to blend the three primary roles, and did not act as facilitators of the collaborative process.


The purpose of this study was to examine the comparative differences of eggshell structure between geese and chickens during embryonic development by SEM. Goose eggs and chicken eggs were used for the study. Eggs of each species were divided into three groups: The eggs within first group were used subsequent to collection, those of second group were collected during the mid-point of incubation and those of third group were collected at the end of the incubation. The eggshells samples with dimensions of 0.5 cm2 were taken from the equatorial region of eggshells. After these samples were passed through routine process, they were examined via SEM for structural changes of eggshells and rate of elements. In the examination, there were not changes of eggshell structure between two species for days of the incubation. Eggshells thickness of each species and the rate of calcium, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon of eggshells were not statistically different among groups. It was concluded that structural changes of eggshell did not have significant effect on low yield for hatching of goose.


Transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TES) was introduced as a modality for dysphagia rehabilitation more than a decade ago. The underlying premise of this modality is improving the structural movements and enhancing neural activation based on stimulation-induced muscle contractions. However, divisive evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of this treatment modality. This manuscript reviews current evidence regarding the effects of transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TES) on clinical and physiological aspects of swallowing function. Furthermore, this narrative review delineates the knowledge gap in this area and recommends future research roadmap. This review gives a comprehensive picture regarding current knowledge of TES to practicing speech and language pathologists and interested researchers. It highlights the need for more robust studies in this area. It also encourages researchers to focus more on the physiologic studies to understand the physiologic underpinning behind this treatment modality.


In this study, effect of steel fibers on toughness and some mechanical properties of concrete were investigated. Hooked-end steel fibers were used in concrete samples with three volume fractions () of 0.5%, 0.75% and 1% and for two aspect ratios (l/d) of 45 and 65. Compressive and flexural tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of concrete were determined for cylindrical, cubic and prismatic samples at the age of 7 and 28 days. The stress-strain curves of standard cylindrical specimens were studied to determine the effect of steel fibers on toughness of steel-fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC). In addition, the relationship between compressive strength and the flexural tensile strength of SFRC were reported. Finally, a simple model was proposed to generate the stress-strain curves for SFRC based on strains corresponding to the peak compressive strength and 60% of peak compressive stress. The proposed model was shown to provide results in good correlation with the experimental results.


The preparation of GaAs films using an electro-co-deposition technique' is described. An aqueous solution containing Ga and As ions in proper ratios was electrolysed at low currents. The deposited material was identified and characterised by EDAX and electron microscopic studies. Optical absorption study shows that the band gap of the deposited material is approximately 1./5 eV. The resistivity and trap density of electro-deposited film are approximately 103 Omega cm and approximately 1014 cm-3 respectively as determined by I-V characteristics.


Mechanism tobacco favours arteriosclerosis aren't clear. Hyperglycemia in smokers would be help factor. On value relationship between tobacco, fasting plasma glucose and hemoglobin A1c in a coal-miner working population, made up of 1,379 males, 38 years old average. We find meaning difference in hemoglobin A1c and fasting plasma glucose values between smokers and non-smokers. Hemoglobin A1c are more elevated in smokers while glycemia are more elevated in non-smokers. We rapport some reason over these divergent results. Hemoglobin A1c elevated in smokers suggest that the tobacco has negative influence on glucose metabolism.


Climate change represents the major challenge to Sudan agricultural production, economics and food security. Changes in temperature, rainfalls, water availability, increased outbreak of pest and diseases, land degradation, soil erosion, shrinking of grazing and cultivate areas, ongoing desertification and the other aspects of climate change have direct significant impact on agricultural production, productivity and cultivated crops of the country. Field survey was used to collect data from 100 rainfed farmers in Um Alqora Locality, Gezira State, Sudan by using the simple random sampling technique. The collected data were statistically analyzed and interpreted using percentage, frequency distribution and chi-square test. The results showed low percentage of agricultural extension contribution to awareness and adaptation to climate change among rainfed farmers in Um Alqora Locality, Gezira State, Sudan .It can be concluded that the contribution of agricultural extension was very weak in providing farmers with information, knowledge and skills on climate change and adaptation technologies in the Gezira State, Sudan which contributed to this incorrect situation. Thus, agricultural extension officers should be trained in all aspects of climate change and adaptation technologies, agricultural extension should build good linkages with rainfed farmers in the State, and considerable attention should be paid to the agricultural extension programmes for rainfed farmers in the State.


The Environmental Protection Area (EPA) of Banhado Grande, located in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, comprises three areas of marshes, the Banhado Chico Lomã, the Banhado Grande and Banhado dos Pachecos. In periods of large flood pulses extensive flooded areas are formed between these wetlands and the river Gravataí floodplain, establishing a connectivity between the Wetlands of EPABG. This connectivity indicates that there is an interaction between these wetlands, such as exchange of nutrients, sediments and living organisms. Thus, this study aims to map extensive floodable areas associated with large flood pulses and to analyze the connectivity areas in EPABG. For this, the work is structured in three steps: i) choice of satellite images between the years 2000 to 2015 to identify largest flood pulses; ii) mapping of floodable areas in large flood pulses using images Normalized Difference Index Water (NDWI); and iii) analysis of the connectivity among wetlands. As the results, in large flood pulses, with precipitation greater than 247 mm, in the 30 days prior to the date of the image, establishing a large area of connectivity between the wetlands, forming on the polygon defined by elevation of 11 metres, two types of connectivity: wetlands-wetlands connectivity, allowing interactions among environments with turf and lagoon deposits; and wetlands-stream connectivity, linking the alluvial and floodplain of the Gravataí River deposits with the background lagoon and paludals deposits. Already, in flood pulses of flooding with rainfall less than or equal to 200 mm, in the last 30 days, the flooded area appears fragmented inside the polygon associated at an elevation of 11 metres, mainly in the corridor between the marshes Grande and the Pachecos, that does not connect by flood, forming just wetlands-stream connectivity. Thus, the characterization of the flood pulses and connectivity become fundamental to the understanding of the dynamic of wetlands, because, make aware of for the need to preserve these areas of importance for flood control, microclimate regulation and maintenance of biodiversity.


Buddhist steles represent an important subset of early Chinese Buddhist art that flourished during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period (386-581). More than two hundred Chinese Buddhist steles are known to have survived. Their brilliant imagery has long captivated scholars, yet until now the Buddhist stele as a unique art form has received little scholarly attention. Dorothy Wong rectifies that insufficiency by providing in this well-illustrated volume the first comprehensive investigation of this group of Buddhist monuments. She traces the ancient roots of the Chinese stele tradition and investigates the process by which Chinese steles were adapted for Buddhist use. She arranges the known corpus of Buddhist steles into broad chronological and regional groupings and analyzes not only their form and content but also the nexus of complex issues surrounding this art form - from cultural symbolism to the interrelations between religious doctrine and artistic expression, economic production, patronage, and the synthesis of native and foreign art styles. In her analysis of Buddhism's dialogue with native traditions, Wong demonstrates how the Chinese artistic idiom planted the seeds for major achievements in figural and landscape arts in the ensuing Sui and Tang periods.


We propose a spinning-assisted layer-by-layer method for simple fabrication of a multilayered polymer hydrogel membrane that contains living cells. Hydrogel formation occurred based on the spontaneous cross-linking reaction between two polymers in aqueous solution. A water-soluble 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine polymer bearing phenylboronic acid groups (PMBV) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were used as polymers for hydrogel membrane formation. Changing the number of hydrogel membrane layers, polymer concentration, spinning rate, and processing time for diffusion-dependent gelation of PMBV and PVA facilitated the regulation of the multilayered polymer hydrogel membrane thickness and morphology. We concluded that a multilayered polymer hydrogel membrane prepared using 5.0 wt% PMBV and 5.0 wt% PVA at a spinning rate of 2000 rpm was suitable for precise spatial control of cells in single layers. This multilayered polymer hydrogel membrane was used to prepare a single cell-laden layer to minimize barriers to the diffusion of bioactive compounds while preserving the three-dimensional (3-D) context. The pharmaceutical effects of one of the anticancer agents, paclitaxel, on a human cervical cancer line, HeLa cells, were evaluated in vitro, and the usability of this culture model was demonstrated.


The usage of years related to the reign of French kings to date documents, died out from the year 1180 in Catalunya. In most institutions and areas the use of dates according to the anno ab Incarnatione Domini, the year of the Incarnation, was adopted and this became generalised throughout the country. Nevertheless, in Catalunya during the XII century, many powers were able to choose the dating system used for documents produced under their authority or jurisdiction, and this gave rise to some cases of dissent with regard to the majority. This is the case of the episcopal document- producing offices of Vic which instead of adopting the computation of the dates by the year of the Incarnation, adopted the annum a Nativitate Domini, the year of the Nativity. In 1350, the remaining institutions abandoned dating according to the date of the Incananation, and ended up coinciding with the ecclesiastical scribes of Vic in the use of the style of the Nativity.


Training models in machine learning often requires big computational capacities, even more when it involves Big Data. The Patient Rule Induction Method (PRIM), introduced as a bump hunting algorithm and a subgroup discovery method, already consumes a lot of computing resources when searching for the rules. In this computational research area, several methods have been developed to handle the problem of computing a big dataset: parallel learning, distributed learning and federated learning. In this paper, we investigate the literature review of these three methods to define each one and the differences between them, and then we determine which of these methods is best suited for the implementation of PRIM in big dataset for out futur works in Big Data.