OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the protective effect of enteral nutrition on organ function in critically ill patients.

METHODS
Forty-two critically ill patients were randomly divided into enteral nutrition group (n=14), total parenteral nutrition group (n=14), and control group (n=14). The partial pressure of oxygen in artery (PaO(2)), partial pressure of carbon dioxide in artery (PaCO(2)), white blood cell count (WBC) and the plasma contents of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and the percentage of gastrointestinal haemorrhage were determined one week after the nutritional support was initiated.

RESULTS
The WBC, the plasma contents of ALT, and the incidence of gastrointestinal haemorrhage were significantly higher in control group patients [(11.70+/-2.85)x10(9)/L, (59.69+/-20.32) U/L, 42.9%] than those in enteral nutrition group patients [(9.62+/-3.30)x10(9)/L, (40.68+/-22.11) U/L, 21.4%, P<0.05] and total parenteral nutrition group[(9.82+/-3.50)x10(9)/L, (40.98+/-21.87) U/L, P<0.05, 42.9%], However, PaO(2) in control group patients (62.78+/-4.95) mm Hg was markedly lower than those in enteral nutrition group and parenteral nutrition group patients [(80.85+/-14.03) mm Hg, (79.88+/-13.73) mm Hg, both P<0.05]. There was no significant difference in PaCO(2) and the plasma contents of BUN among the three groups 1 week after treatment were given (all P>0.05).

CONCLUSION
Early stage enteral nutrition could well surpass total parenteral nutrition. It is conducive to protecting gastrointestinal function, preventing bacterial translocation, alleviating systemic inflammatory response and subsequent multiple organ failure among critically ill patients.


According to what is stated in the IVOA Recommendation "An IVOA standard for Unified Content Descriptors", a procedural document should be created in order to maintain (add, change, suppress words) the standard list of UCD1+ words "The UCD1+ Controlled Vocabulary". This document describes the procedure to maintain the standard list of UCD1+ words.


In the description of Strombina lessepsiana (Brown and Pilsbry, 1911, p. 352, pl. 25, figs. 11, 12) the authors compared their new species from the Gatun Formahon with two as-yet undescribed species in the Gabb Collection from Santo Domingo. In order to demonstrate the relationship between these three species, in an extended footnote (Brown and Pilsbry, 1911, pp. 352353) they published descriptions of these two new species extracted from "Johnson and Pilsbry's [i.e., Pilsbry and Johnson, 1917] report on Gabb's Santo Domingo fossils (not yet published)."


This report draws primarily on a survey offering a tentative but empirical benchmark of the impact of strict-liability product liability law reforms in the Asia-Pacific Region. There has been a two-fold Europeanisation of product liability in this region. First, the reforms implemented in many jurisdictions during the last 15 years have usually been based on the 1985 EC Product Liability Directive. Secondly, moving beyond the "law in books," the survey confirms other indications of considerable convergence in the "law in action." This largely mirrors trends from Lovells' baseline survey of European jurisdictions completed in 2002 for the European Commission. Similar effects associated with similar reforms include small but significant increases in claims, settlements, and reactions from companies. However, these tendencies are also affected by broader (arguably inter-related) factors such as shifts in consumer consciousness and media attention. Rather than the reforms directly, increased awareness of consumer rights and the media have been identified as being more influential to the increase in claims. These factors are also very important in generating more settlements. Conventional causes of action also continue to be invoked, and there is not much call for further reform. Thus, high levels of product liability litigation remain unique to the United States. However, growing case law in certain Asia-Pacific and European jurisdictions might be synthesised into "Strict Liability Product Liability Principles." It also seems likely that the Asia-Pacific region will continue to follow more the EU in related areas such as consumer access to justice and product safety regulation, and such harmonization may accompany the proliferating Free Trade Agreements in the region.


Blacks and Hispanics/Latinos are disproportionately burdened by HIV compared to non-Hispanic Whites, as evidenced by higher HIV incidence, prevalence, and deaths attributable to AIDS. Increasing the use of novel prevention techniques such as Truvada for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) could greatly help in reducing these disparities by lowering HIV incidence among these higher risk groups. Trust in providers, which may differ by race and ethnicity, may influence willingness to take PrEP. This study explores the moderating effect of race/ethnicity on trust in one's primary care provider (PCP) on PrEP willingness. This study found a significant association between PCP trust and PrEP willingness, with those with greater trust having 3.24 times the adjusted odds of being willing to try PrEP. Results regarding the effects of race and ethnicity on these outcomes, however, were inconclusive. Results indicate the importance of fostering trust between PrEP-prescribing PCPs and their patients.


In an atmosphere of comedy, satire and play, we go through the most significant celestial event in the Western religious view on the myth of creation of the Universe, and the celestial battle between Luzbel who, out of pride, rebelled against God, desiring to be like him, and was expelled from heaven by the Archangel Michael as a punishment, along with the army of rebellious angels who were dragged by him (a group of innocent cherubim), being known from that time as the Fallen Angel: Bearer of Light; this is, the logos (who delivers the wisdom and the fire to men); but also becomes the supreme archetype of the Rebel, the first universal separatist and autonomist, for the sake of freedom and anarchy. And is in this polarisation of the medieval mind that appears what we know as evil: an invention of human culture. Here the classic characters of the Middle Ages are reinterpreted: God, the Death, demons, angels and cherubim, are mixed with classic Celtic spirits, fairies, witches, and Merlin, coinciding with the naturalistic and ecological spirit of the ";;new age" in a fun recreation of this ultimate contradiction.


Teachers play an important role in the educational system. Teacher self-efficacy, job satisfaction, school climate, and workplace well-being and stress are four individual characteristics shown to be associated with tendency to turnover. In this article, data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018 teacher questionnaire are analyzed, with the goal to understand the interplay amongst these four individual characteristics. The main purposes of this study are to (1) measure extreme response style for each scale using unidimensional nominal response models, and (2) investigate the kernel causal paths among teacher self-efficacy, job satisfaction, school climate, and workplace well-being and stress in the TALIS-PISA linked countries/economies. Our findings support the existence of extreme response style, the rational non-normal distribution assumption of latent traits, and the feasibility of kernel causal inference in the educational sector. Results of the present study inform the development of future correlational research and policy making in education.


Behaviour is a reflection of a reasoning process that must deal with constraints imposed by an external environment, internal knowledge and physical structure. This paper proposes a framework for behavioural animation that is based on the next generation of object-oriented, constraint-based expert systems technology, and applies a control structure of knowledge agents and knowledge units to determine the behaviour of objects to be animated. Knowledge agents are responsible for planning, plan implementation and information extraction from the environment. The activity of an agent is dependent on the knowledge units ascribed to them by the animator. The interaction between agents and knowledge units is resolved by the reasoning engine, and thus, influences the eventual motion displayed. An example given is NSAIL, a pilot implementation using the model-based ECHIDNA constraint logic programming shell. With this approach , the motion for a sailing scenario and other behavioural domains can be specified at a very high level through the characterization of the knowledge agents.


The essays in this collection explore both how the employment of nation-state dominated discourses have caused a re-imagination of the past, and how the past has been re-constructed to accord with nationalist agendas. Although other works have considered in general terms how nations are imagined, this collection takes a different stance and specifically focuses on how 'the past' is used in such imaginations. This collection was conceived in an interdisciplinary spirit, drawing insights from art history, intellectual history, literature, archaeology, heritage studies, political science, and film studies. The authors combine a sophisticated theoretical approach with illuminative case studies from all across the globe, including the Balkans, South Africa, Rwanda, the Yemen, Italy, Turkey, Greece, and Uzbekistan. (Publisher's abstract)


The advancement of test system for electronic equipment must keep pace with the complexity of modern electronic equipment. VXI bus technology has been becoming the mainstream of computer test and control, and also is the core of standardization for automatic test equipment. A kind of automatic test equipment for general electronic system based on VXI technology is presented in this paper. The hardware design and software system are discussed and the system performance is also analyzed. The software design requirement of fault diagnosis based on expert system is also introduced.


The premature newborn's response to increasing degrees of Lt→Rt PDA shunt is unknown. In 14 fetal lambs at 128d gestation (term 147d), we infiltrated the ductus with formalin and placed a mechanical occluder about it so that its patency could be regulated. 3d later the lamb was delivered, given sheep surfactant, paralyzed and mechanically ventilated. Microsphere measurements of left ventricular output (LVO) and its distribution were made prior to and 1.25 h after a change in ductus patency. Twenty four changes from open→closed or closed→open were assigned randomly from 3 to 7 h after delivery. Lambs with ductus shunts < 50% LVO (38%) had a significant increase in LVO (167 vs. 268 ml/kg/min:closed vs. open) with no change in effective systemic blood flow or BP. There was a significant increase in coronary flow but no change in flow to the kidneys, GI tract, brain, or carcass (ml/100 gm/min). Although lambs with shunts > 50% LVO (65%) had a significant increase in LVO (164 vs. 300 ml/kg/min), there was a significant decrease in effective systemic blood flow and BP. There were significant decreases in flow to the kidneys, GI tract, brain and carcass. Coronary flow was unchanged but there was a decrease in subendocardial flow. There was no change in HR or pulmonary compliance at either degree of shunt. Preterm lambs are capable of compensating for moderate degrees of PDA shunt by increasing preload and increasing stroke volume; highe degrees of shunt significantly decrease organ blood flow.


Muin, M. and Yusuf, I.Y.A., 2019. Application 3D Non-Orthogonal hydrodynamics model to assess the impact of reclamation in Benoa Bay Indonesia. In: Lee, J.L.; Yoon, J.-S.; Cho, W.C.; Muin, M., and Lee, J. (eds.), The 3rd International Water Safety Symposium. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 91, pp. 181-185. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.MuHydro3D, non-orthogonal boundary fitted three dimensional ocean hydrodynamics model in spherical coordinate, was applied to assess the impact of reclamation to water current and salinity in Benoa Bay. The comparison between results of simulation and observations before reclamation are excellent. The simulation results indicate that the water current in the mouth of the bay will decrease significantly. It will cause the longshore sediment will be deposited in the mouth of the bay. The simulation results show significant change of salinity in the bay, which will impact the mangrove ecosystem of the bay.


By complementing basic call services, supplementary services totalling nowadays more than twenty different functions, have a long history crossing the main areas of telecommunications from ISDN via ETSI GSM, ETSI TISPAN to finally end at 3GPP and GSMA. They are commonly used in professional settings while their usage is somewhat less developed in mass market situations. They suffer in fact from serious drawbacks preventing them to be massively adopted. We believe however that the attention toward supplementary services may significantly increase due to the exceptional concomitance of two main trends. The first one concerns the current interest boasted by the introduction of next generation networks, such as 4G/IMS through the MMTEL specification efforts. The second trend is determined by the unprecedented levels reached by the mass market penetration of smart phones putting within reach of majority, the enhanced capabilities of these powerful terminals, able to completely renew the end user experience. We claim that context awareness could be the right catalyst allowing a fruitful combination of these two long-term directions of the telecommunication domain. To work towards this goal, we introduce in this paper a methodology allowing the systematic and comprehensive introduction of context-awareness in conversational services. Our methodology involves four main building blocks, we illustrate through various examples drawn from supplementary services. A taxonomy of conversational services is defined and applied to supplementary services. Pending issues complete the analysis of the methodology.


Background Bacteria can influence a variety of gut functions. Some studies showed that stool consistency and constipation were associated with gut microbiome (GM) composition, and enterotype, dysbiosis. Growing evidence indicates the significant role of GM in the homeostatic function of the host body. The GM may regulate multiple neurochemical and neurometabolic pathways. Chronicity of the pain is actively modulated at the molecular to the network level by means of several neurotransmitters. The GM to some extent can affect pain perception. Objectives The current study aimed at investigating the relationship between constipation state or usual stool form and pain severity of patients with chronic pain. Methods The current study was conducted on 365 patients with chronic pain. The participants were evaluated on their stool form (the Bristol stool form scale; BSFS), constipation state (the Cleveland clinic constipation score; CCCS), body mass index (BMI), and usual pain severity (numerical rating scale; NRS). In addition, the participants were assigned into five groups according to the pain region (i e, low back and/or lower limb, whole body, neck and/or upper back and/or upper limb, head and/or face, chest and/or abdominal). Results The CCS showed a significant and positive association with the pain severity of the total patients and patients with low back and/or lower limb pain. Simultaneous multiple linear regression analyses revealed that a predictor of the pain severity was the CCS for the total patients and patients with low back and/or lower limb, whole body pain. Conclusions Constipation displayed a significant and positive association with the pain severity of the total patients and patients with low back and/or lower limb pain, whole body.


Abstract Tightly curved mountain belts are prominent features of global topography. Typically, these 'oroclines' occur in areas of regional compression but enclose basins where extension has been contemporaneous with outward directed thrusting in the orogens. Examples of such basin–orogen pairs include the Alboran Sea–Gibraltar Arc, Tyrrhenian Sea–Aeolian Arc, Aegean Sea–Hellenic Arc and Pannonian Basin–Carpathian Arc, all in the western Tethys but matched in the eastern Tethys by the Banda Sea and Outer Banda Arc. The development of the basins has been variously explained by gravitational collapse of rapidly elevated mountain blocks and by extrusion prompted by asthenopheric flows, but it is not even universally agreed that similar processes have operated in all cases. Critics have cited gross differences in volcanic activity (absent from the Gibraltar Arc, modest in the Carpathians but intense in other examples) and in the presence or absence of recognizable Wadati–Benioff Zones. The superficial similarities between the Caribbean Sea–Antilles Arcs and typical oroclinal basin–orocline pairs have recently been invoked in support of an in situ Caribbean evolutionary model, even though the disputed origins of oroclines limit their reliability as analogues. The Caribbean's considerably greater area further emphasizes the need for caution, while the most obvious objection to identifying it as a member of the oroclinal group is its very long history. Oroclinal basins typically pass from initiation to effective stabilization in a few tens of millions of years, whereas the original Caribbean oceanic crust, which is now bounded to the east and west by active subduction zones, was probably formed in the Jurassic. Rather than invoking an overall common origin for the Caribbean and the Tethyan basins, it is more useful to look for shared causes of specific individual similarities. The impact of a rigid block might be as effective in imposing curvature on a mountain belt as rapid expansion in an adjacent area. However, it does seem that the case for the crust of the Caribbean being typical of oceanic large igneous provinces (LIPs) may have been overstated and, in the light of oroclinal analogues, that some features of the still poorly understood Beata Ridge and Lower Nicaragua Rise may be most easily explained by east–west extension promoted by the convergence between North and South America.


Two different systems, static electric guide and miniature RFQ ( Radiofrequency Quadrupole), for ion extraction from a RFQ cool er and buncher have been discussed. By fluid dynamics calculation, the mass flow rate and possibly available vacuum of the being designed static electric extraction system have also been evaluated. We have made conclusions that the miniature RFQ should be used for a low helium buffer gas pressure to obtain a good beam quality, but for a higher gas pressure the static electric guide must be used. In addition, because the being designed RFQ cooler and buncher will always work in a relatively high gas pressure, the recycling and reusing of the high purity helium gas must be considered.


Inflationary cosmology has been in vogue for over a decade. However, it does not appear to provide satisfactory answers to all of the cosmological questions which provided the motivation for the theory. It is argued that quiescent cosmology and the related ideas of Penrose (1989) regarding gravitational entropy may well provide a viable alternative when formulated within the framework of isotropic singularities.


The issues of Scottish devolution and independence have been discussed in the UK for decades. Coming to power in 2007, the Scottish National Party intensified the debate on the constitutional future of Scotland promoting Scottish independence. It is argued that further devolution and independence attracted most attention within political parties as well as within the Scottish public, while the status quo or federalism did not. Independence itself then is analysed on the basis of secession theories with particular attention paid to economy, territory, negotiations between the British and Scottish governments, and referendum issues, and their embodiment into the discussion. The National Conversation debate is examined through the lenses of reports produced by the Scottish Government as well as Liberal Democrats and by the independent Commission on Scottish Devolution established by Scottish Labour, Scottish Conservatives, and Liberal Democrats. The emphasis is also put on the involvement of the public into the debate as well as on opinion polls. Keywords: devolution, secession, independence, Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government, Scottish National Party, Calman Commission, Steel Commission, National Conversation


The interaction between nanofluids and porous structured heat sinks is not well documented. In addition, the micro-miniaturization of electronic components has led to an increase in the heat dissipation rate of electronic chips. The purpose of this study was to investigate experimentally the heat transfer characteristics and thermal performance of an ERG aluminum foam heat sink for the Intel core i7 processor. The aluminum foam heat sink was subjected to a steady flow of γ-Al2O3-water nanofluid covering the entire non-Darcy flow regime (210 to 631 Reynolds numbers). The bottom side of the heat sink was heated with a heat flux between 8.5 and 13.8W/cm2. The γ-Al2O3 nanoparticle concentrations (volume percent) ranged from 0.1vol% to 0.6vol%. The effect of inserting the foam and employing nanofluids with different concentration were investigated. It was found that the presence of the aluminum foam enhanced the average Nusselt number by 20%. In addition, it was observed that Al2O3-water nanofluid at nanoparticle loading of 0.2vol% achieved an optimum enhancement in the average Nusselt number by 37% and 28% at Reynolds numbers of 601.3 and 210, respectively, compared with the pure water.


This study examines musical and social processes in American popular music through the creative life of Pittsburgh born jazz guitarist Jimmy Ponder. I contextualize Ponder's technical and conceptual approaches with a historical analysis of developments in jazz during the mid-20th century. In examining intersections between jazz and other popular forms of music during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, I aim to identify Ponder's "musical identity," which encapsulates the totality of his musical existence. In this study, I focus on relating musical sounds to social contexts and the processes that give these sound meaning. Musical identity, as a tool for examining the creative life of the jazz musician, is comprised of the individual's approach to their instrument(s), recording, band leading, performance, song interpretation, and improvisation. From these approaches develops a "voice" with which the musician creates meaningful musical experiences (authentic performances) as well as engages certain social realities in public contexts (affective collective listening). Though I choose here to label Ponder as a "jazz" guitarist, a central goal of this paper is to demonstrate how his musical identity hinges on the discourse between jazz and other commercialized music born from the African-American social experience. I address such genres within the African-American musical tradition as blues, R&B, soul-jazz, and fusion and explore how Ponder negotiated contemporary musical contexts, drawing forth various stylistic elements from which he formed his "voice."


In opportunistic routing, each node maintains a group of candidate relays to reach a particular destination, and transmits packets to any node in this group. If a single candidate relay receives the packet, it becomes the effective relay to forward the packet further. If no candidate receives the packet, then the current sender re-transmits. If multiple candidates receive the packet, then the link layer chooses a single receiver to be the relay. This choice could be made at random, or it could be driven by information coming from the routing layer, for example to use the best receiver as the relay. This paper addresses the least-cost opportunistic routing (LCOR) problem: how to assign and prioritize the set of candidate relays at each node for a given destination such that the expected cost of forwarding a packet to the destination is minimized. We solve this problem with a distributed algorithm that provably computes the optimal assignment of candidate relays that each node should allow to reach a particular destination. Prior proposals based on single-path routing metrics or geographic coordinates do not explicitly consider this tradeoff, and as a result make choices which are not always optimal.


Proposals that Stonehenge was con- structed as an astronomical observatory [1, 2, 3] with the purpose of predicting eclipses [4, 5] imply that the builders of Stonehenge, even Stonehenge I, were possessed of a degree of intellectual sophistication that seems inconsistent with the usual picture of the population of S. England in the and millennium B.C. Either the people were not just primitive farmers or these proposals must be substantially in error. It is not the purpose of this paper to attempt a decision between these alternatives but to explain the nature of the astronomical arguments in more detail than has been done heretofore. My hope is that with a moderate effort it will be possible for the reader to rework the calculations on which the astronomical suggestions have been based; for only when archaeologists and astronomers have understood each other's arguments can we expect to resolve this intriguing dilemma. At several places in the discussion I shall quote the solution of mathematical problems, thereby permitting the whole discussion to be confined to simple trigonometry. These few places will be marked by an asterisk. The reader wishing to cover these gaps will need to consult a text on spherical astronomy, e.g. [6].


The alg a Spirulina, in particular Spirulina platensis, an ubiquitous component of sea and ocean with high nutritional content, is considered a potential alimentary source for third world countries af fected by heavy famine problems. On other side, Spirulina-based products are nowadays commonly commercialized and recommended by suppliers as health food, diet pills, vit- amins supplement etc.. However, a careful nutritional and toxicolo gical evaluation of these products is necessar y, since algae sho w bioaccumulation properties towards heavy metals. In this frame , samples of commercial and natural Spirulina platensis of Cuban origin, have been characterized for their macromineral and trace elements content. Measurements ha ve been carried out by INAA and ICP-AES employing standard reference materials. The use of two techniques allowed the determination of a wider spectrum of elements and in some cases, the cross-checking of the data obtained . The toxic heavy metals levels found in both products ar e such that they do not constitute , on the basis of the recommended daily doses a health hazard for consumers.


Background and Issues:
 Dysphagia is the leading neurological cause of aspiration pneumonia in stroke patients. Swallowing abnormalities are associated with a 3-fold higher mortality rate. Accreditation agencies and the American Stroke Association recommend institutions establish a dysphagia screening tool for stroke patients. Early identification decreases adverse health consequences and increases patient family satisfaction.

 Purpose:
 A multidisciplinary team of nurses and speech and language pathologists developed criteria to improve the identification of patients at risk for aspiration and created standardized tool.

 Methods:
 A review of the literature provided the frame work to formalize a screening tool. The tool assists the nurse in identifying patients at risk. The screening tool is divided into four sections; cognition, cough assessment, control of oral secretions and oral motor strength. It is required for the patient to pass all four levels. Failure to pass any one of the sections results in a formal dysphagia assessment. Patients that pass the four sections graduate to a water challenge. A cup containing 90cc of water is placed in front of the patient, and the patient is instructed to pick up the cup and take a drink. Nurses observe the patient's ability to successfully coordinate the task. Observation of choking, coughing, nasal aspiration or requiring frequent verbal cues to swallow results in failure of the water challenge. The failing patient is kept NPO and a formal dysphagia assessment is ordered. Patients' not exhibiting any signs of aspiration passes the screen.

 Results:
 The nursing staff recognized the importance of specific anatomical and mechanical components of dysphagia, which led to appropriate referrals to speech and language. Expedited referrals and reduced NPO time resulted in improved patient family satisfaction.

 Conclusion:
 Through a collaborative multidisciplinary team approach it is possible to develop and implement an evidenced based, reliable aspiration screening tool. This tool should not only be used for stroke patients but any person at risk for aspiration.


up under my direction, which has so far published seven criminological studiesl-7. A research project begun in y65 attempts to assess the relevant factors in the process of re-education by studying five groups of boys in two training schools, which differ significantly in their history, organization and approach. Each of these group-studies is based on the observation of about fourteen boys during the average length of their stay of just over two years. This research endeavors to pinpoint the different pedagogic approaches, to assess the factors that determine their impact as well as to analyze and evaluate the inmates.


The heterogeneity of error variance often causes a huge interpretive problem in linear regression analysis. Before taking any remedial measures we first need to detect this problem. A large number of diagnostic plots are now available in the literature for detecting heteroscedasticity of error variances. Among them the 'residuals' and 'fits' (R-F) plot is very popular and commonly used. In the R-F plot residuals are plotted against the fitted responses, where both these components are obtained using the ordinary least squares (OLS) method. It is now evident that the OLS fits and residuals suffer a huge setback in the presence of unusual observations and hence the R-F plot may not exhibit the real scenario. The deletion residuals based on a data set free from all unusual cases should estimate the true errors in a better way than the OLS residuals. In this paper we propose 'deletion residuals' and the 'deletion fits' (DR-DF) plot for the detection of the heterogeneity of error variances in a linear regression model to get a more convincing and reliable graphical display. Examples show that this plot locates unusual observations more clearly than the R-F plot. The advantage of using deletion residuals in the detection of heteroscedasticity of error variance is investigated through Monte Carlo simulations under a variety of situations.


Keamogetsi Molapong's poetry reflects the concerns of a socially engaged writer, artist, and activist who has devoted his life to promoting the arts in Namibia despite the financially precarious nature of such a life. His background is in theater for development, and his literary activities stem partly from involvement in development projects at the grassroots level, including, for example, sanitation programs in northern Namibia, industrial theater work, and voter education campaigns. Many of the projects that he has undertaken have been sponsored by nongovernmental organizations and donor and government agencies. My purpose in this paper is, first, to discuss Molapong's perception of the role of poetry in society and in terms of the benefits he has derived from writing and performing. Second, I analyze his major thematic concerns, particularly the interface between politics and poetry. Third, I shall critique the thought-provoking love poems he has written. The argument of this paper is that the subtle manner in which he plays with words and sounds, in many poems, brings to mind the oral roots of his poetry and makes the point that he retains the popular base of the Namibian struggle for independence that has been all but abandoned by the new political elite that were its leaders.


Iconicity has become a popular notion in contemporary linguistic research. This book is the first to present a synthesis of the vast amount of scholarship on linguistic iconicity which has been produced in the previous decades, ranging from iconicity in phonology and morpho-syntax to the role of iconicity in language change. An extensive analysis is provided of some basic but nonetheless fundamental questions relating to iconicity in language, including: what is a linguistic sign and how are linguistic signs different from signs in general? What is an iconic sign and how may iconicity be involved in language? How does iconicity pertain to the relation between language and cognition? This book offers a new and comprehensive theoretical framework for iconicity in language. It is argued that the linguistic sign is fundamentally arbitrary, but that iconicity may be involved on a secondary level, adding extra meaning to an utterance.


The nose is the anatomical site usually recommended for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening. Other sites are also recommended, but are more controversial. We showed that the sensitivities of MRSA detection from nasal swabs alone were 48% and 62% by culture or by rapid PCR test, respectively. These percentages increased to 79% and 92% with the addition of groin swabs, and to 96% and 99% with the addition of groin and throat swabs. In conclusion, neither by culture nor by rapid PCR test is nose sampling alone sufficient for MRSA detection. Additional anatomical sites should include at least the groin and throat.


The development times to hatching (D) of eggs of eleven species of copepods are closely described as functions of temperature (T) by Bělehrádek's temperature function, D = a (T - α)b using the assumption that the same value of b applies to all species. The value of a is related to egg diameter among three species of Calanus, and is unaffected by the greater opacity (presumably yolkiness) of eggs of C. hyperboreas. The value of a remains as the "real" indicator of temperature adaptation, and is closely and linearly related to estimates of environmental temperature based on mean annual temperatures within the range of each species between the pole and South America, along the east coast of the Americas.


The 19-kDa carboxyl-terminal fragment of the merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP1) is a leading malaria vaccine candidate but is unable to induce immunity in all monkeys or all strains of mice. The mechanism of immunity is unclear, although data show that cell-mediated immunity plays a critical role following immunization with the larger mature MSP1 protein. We optimized a vaccine protocol using the MSP1(19) fragment of Plasmodium yoelii expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, such that following exposure of mice to parasites, they remained undetectable in peripheral blood, whereas control animals all died at very high parasitemia within 10 days. We then depleted the vaccinated mice of >99% of CD4+ T cells by anti-CD4 mAb treatment and could show that infections in most animals remained subpatent following challenge. Furthermore, mice in which the gene for the mu-chain of Ig had been disrupted could not be immunized with MSP1(19). Immunity in normal mice did not depend on the presence of an intact spleen nor production of nitric oxide, persisting unabated when >70% of splenic macrophages were depleted. Thus, while effector CD4+ T cells may contribute to immunity, neither they nor factors associated with a Th1-type cell mediated immune response appeared to play the major role in MSP1(19)-induced protection in normal mice. Furthermore, T cells were not sufficient for immunity in mice lacking B cells. In normal mice, protection correlated with a very high titer of MSP1(19)-specific Abs (>6,400,000), predominantly G1 and G2b, which may function by merozoite neutralization.


Nodes in contention-based (beaconless) georouting forward packets towards a known destination position without the knowledge of the neighborhood. The only existing methods that guarantee delivery in unit disk graphs (UDG) require runtime planarization of the communication graph with either unbounded message overhead per hop while preserving the Gabriel graph property of the subgraph, or a constant overhead per hop with up to 13 control messages. In this paper we show that the next hop can be selected directly by a contention mechanism and without prior planarization. Existing greedy routing methods select the next hop with 3 messages using a RTS-CTS-DATA scheme in a timer-based contention where only the next hop neighbor responds. We extend this to provide also recovery from local minima with 3 messages per hop by the Rotational Sweep algorithm. We prove that our algorithm guarantees delivery in UDGs, and also yields routes that are shorter than or equal to the combined greedy and face routing with Gabriel graph planarization. Simulation results show that especially the duration of the contention process can be significantly reduced. Our algorithm can be also used for conventional beacon-based routing with guaranteed delivery without prior planarization, replacing the complicated implementation from by a very simple method which evaluates angular distances to select the proper forwarding neighbor. It also provides a simple network boundary detection algorithm, with or without beacons.


Language policy (LP) in Ukraine has a political and historical context of unique complexity. This article is an attempt to offer an overview of LP in Ukraine between 1989-2019. Within the past 30 years we can identify different directions in state LP reflecting the complex linguistic situation and its fragile balance in the country. Such a complex linguistic situation served as a starting point of any LP activities maintained by the two great - almost equally supported - Ukrainophile and Russophile political camps. But during the nation state building process (after Ukraine gained independence in 1991), the LP and legislation aimed to regulate language use became more and more a target associated with the Russophile political regime, and consequently their days were numbered. After the Euromaidan revolution, Ukraine adopted several policies and laws in support of the Ukrainian language. The most important of them is the recent law "On ensuring the functioning of Ukrainian as the state language", which greatly expands protection for Ukrainian throughout the territory. This law has been defined by its detractors as a "draconian law" which introduces the "total forced ukrainization". But beyond legal disputes, the purpose of the law, even if not the only one, is to reverse centuries of Russification, which led to what some term the "linguicide" of the Ukrainian language. In addition to this, in the circumstances of conflict still ongoing between Russia and Ukraine, the support for the Ukrainian language is viewed by many as a national security issue. The article is enriched by sociological surveys conducted in the country over time showing how Ukrainians have supported recent changes in LP and language legislation.


Abstract Rumination has been shown to play a part in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but its relation to the intrusions characteristic of PTSD has mainly been investigated experimentally. This proof-of-concept case study explored the occurrence, personal experiences, and possible relation between rumination and intrusions in two PTSD patients in their daily living using a mixed method approach. A novel wearable self-tracking instrument was employed which provided fine-grained temporal resolution of observation data and could eliminate recall bias. Furthermore, quantitative and qualitative data were collected on participants' symptoms, rumination and experiences of using the self-tracking instrument. First, without distinguishing between the two phenomena, the participants tracked both for a week. After receiving psychoeducational training for distinguishing between rumination and intrusions, the differentiated phenomena were tracked for a week. Both participants reported being subjectively able to distinguish between rumination and intrusions and made observations with high adherence during the project. Data hinted at a possible temporal relation between the phenomena in line with theories posing rumination as a maladaptive coping strategy as well as an exacerbator of PTSD symptoms. However, relations to mood were inconclusive. Furthermore, by using the self-tracking instrument, participants gained a heightened awareness of the characteristics of rumination and intrusions and contextual cues for occurrence, as well as a greater sense of momentary agency. Results reveal promising prospects in using the wearable self-tracking instrument for further investigation of the relation between rumination and intrusions in the lived lives of PTSD patients, as well as potential for incorporating this method in clinical treatment. Key learning aims (1) Self-tracking with the One Button Tracker is a novel symptom registration method, particularly suited for use in psychotherapeutic treatment and research. (2) Rumination and intrusions appear to the participants as distinct cognitive phenomena and treatment targets in PTSD. (3) Registering rumination and intrusions in real-time could reveal important temporal relations between them and the contexts in which they occur. (4) The data obtained with this self-tracking method can potentially be used as a tool in, and for the further development of psychotherapy for PTSD.


For over three decades, the Permanent Committee of the International Congresses of Human Genetics has served the purpose of selecting a host and site for the quadrennial Congress, which is due next in 2001. The Committee has statutes and consists of one voting representative from 38 nations and other ex officio members, much like the General Assembly of the United Nations. It meets twice during each International Congress, otherwise conducting its business by mail and telecommunication. Its structure could be the beginnings of a truly global democratic body of human geneticists to address other issues and to serve other purposes, as human genetics becomes increasingly international, as inevitably it must.


The use of conical transducers with weighted velocity distribution has been proposed by the authors as a simple and practical approach for generating Bessel-type quasi-nondiffracting beams. In this paper we present the fabrication of a weighted conical transducer employing a dielectric layer of varying thickness. The dielectric layer is used for applying a radially diminishing voltage to the piezoelectric material, which will create the desired weighting on the vibration amplitude. It is shown from the experiments that the weighted conical transducer has the capability of generating a narrow-beam ultrasound over a long range along the central axis.


AIM
To evaluate the in vitro cytotoxicity of oxoglaucine (OG) complexes: [Sm(OG)2(NO3)3]•H2O (1), [Eu(OG)2(NO3)3]•1.5CH3OH (2) and [Er(OG)2(NO3)3]•H2O (3) through comparison to oxoglaucine and lanthanide salts.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The reactions of OG with corresponding lanthanide salts gave rise to complexes 1-3. The crystal structures of complexes 1-3 were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The in vitro cytotoxicity of oxoglaucine and complexes 1-3 against five human cancer cell lines were evaluated by the 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium Bromide (MTT) method.

RESULTS
Complexes 1-3 have similar mononuclear structures. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of complex 1 against SGC7901 cells was 32.1 μM; that of complex 2 against MCF-7 cells was 3.2 μM; those of complex 3 on HeLa and MCF-7 cells were 8.3 and 1.4 μM, respectively.

CONCLUSION
The three OG-lanthanide complexes exhibited significantly enhanced cytotoxicity vs. OG and corresponding lanthanide salts.


After tryptic digestion of intact Staphylococcus aureus the residual portion of protein A that was still bound to the cell wall was cleaved off with lysostaphin. From the two digests Fc-binding fragments were isolated and the following characteristics observed. (a) There are four Fc-binding, highly homologous regions, each consisting of 58--62 amino acid residues. (b) These regions are consecutively arranged from the N-terminal part of the protein. (c) The residual C-terminal part, approximately 150-residues long, differs to a great extent with respect to primary and secondary structures from the four active regions. Furthermore, it is suggested that the protein is bound to the bacterial cell wall structure through this C-terminal part.


: Cyber-physical system (CPS) is one core concept of Industry 4.0. A cyber space has mirror information of physical space and activities in the physical space are synchronized with activities in cyber space. SURUGA Gateway is a CPS, running in a Japanese robot component producer. Innovation process (design) and operation (manufacturing) process is integrated together on the SURUGA Gateway, enabling high quality, short leadtime, low cost, and high (cid:13)exibility. Various decisions were made in the cyber space, then executed in physical space automatically. Materials input to manufacturing process according to production plan which created by modi(cid:12)ed ERP (enterprise resource planning) system, fabricated according to optimized routing and scheduling. All NC (numerical control) machines and MC (machining center) were connected and integrated on a centralized platform using Ethercat protocol and interface, and serial electronic signal control for old machines. The KAMISHIBAI (VPS: virtual production system) is embedded in the SURUGA Gateway, providing online training to assembly operators. Innovation process drives operation process, while know-how to improve efficiency and quality in operation process is feedback to the innovation process. The integration of innovation process and operation process, speci(cid:12)cally the integration of design, material (cid:13)ow, machine (cid:13)ow and human resource is most successful point of the SURUGA Gateway. SURUGA Gateway successfully reduced leadtime by 80% and recognized as best practice in Hannover Messe and G20 business conference.


The objective is to report long-term high quality survival in 2 patients with advanced cancer treated by single agent mifepristone. Case 1: An 80 year old woman was admitted to the ICU for respiratory failure. Chest x-ray revealed many lung lesions most consistent with lung cancer with multiple lung metastases. She was subsequently admitted several more times with very low arterial pO2 levels and her serum sodium progressively decreased to 118 mmol/L. The radiologic and clinical diagnosis was probable advanced lung cancer with the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH) from ectopic tumor production of arginine vasopressin. She refused surgery or chemotherapy. She agreed to experimental use of 200mg daily oral mifepristone. Her pO2 returned to 99-100 mmHg with 1 month and her sodium returned to normal. Six weeks later all her lung lesions were gone by CT scan. Three and a half years after initial treatment, her PO2 remains 96-98 mmHg, she is feeling fine, and her CT-scan continues to show no tumors. Her treatment had been approved by the FDA on a compassionate basis. Case 2 - A 60 year old male with was found to have bilateral renal cell carcinoma with metastases to local lymph nodes. He refused bilateral nephrectomy but agreed to only laparoscopic right hemi nephrectomy to remove the largest lesion, leaving the left kidney intact. He received FDA approval to use 200mg daily mifepristone because at that time there was no chemotherapy that was known to be effective. The left kidney lesions did not recede but stayed stable for 10 years. Furthermore, no new lesions appeared on bi-annual CT scan. After 10 years of therapy, he developed renal failure secondary to diabetes. At this time he underwent bilateral nephrectomy, followed by kidney transplant. 11 years from diagnosis he is doing well. Neither patient has reported any side effects to 200mg mifepristone daily despite a combined 14 years of treatment. The mechanism of action responsible for these phenomena has not been proven thus far. The proposed mechanism is that progesterone inhibits an intracytoplasmic immunomodulatory protein known as the progesterone induced blocking factor (PIBF). By inhibiting PIBF, the cellular immune cells (specifically natural killer (NK) cells) are able to attack the rapidly growing tumor cells. The FDA has approved an investigator initiated study for the use of single agent mifepristone for stage IV human non-small cell lung cancer which has progressed despite either 2 rounds of chemotherapy or 1 round of chemotherapy plus one round of biologic therapy. Mifepristone, a progesterone receptor modulator, has been demonstrated to inhibit the production of a 34-36 kDa intracytoplasmic splice variant of the 90 kDa centrosomally associated parent compound. However, this potent abortifacient failed to suppress serum PIBF levels. Citation Format: Jerome H. Check, Diane Check, Jasmine Aly, Carrie Wilson. Long-term high quality survival with single agent mifepristone treatment despite advanced lung cancer and advanced renal cell carcinoma - 2 case reports. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4876.


This paper presents an approach to the automatic redesign of flight control systems for aircraft that have suffered one or more control element failures. The procedure is based on Linear Quadratic design techniques, and produces a control system that maximizes a measure of feedback system performance subject to a bandwidth constraint.


Background: Chemoresistance is still the main reason for the failure of breast cancer treatment and is the main cause of death of breast cancer patients. Although many studies have shown the association between genetic polymorphisms of PTEN and chemotherapy resistance, the molecular mechanism of breast cancer chemotherapy has not been further studied. This study aims to investigate the potential association between PTEN gene polymorphism and breast chemotherapy resistance in the Chinese population, and explore whether alternative splicing of the PTEN gene is affected by the gene polymorphism. Methods: The study included 234 patients with breast cancer chemotherapy, 157 chemotherapy sensitive cases and 77 chemotherapy resistant cases. rs786204926 of PTEN gene was analyzed by Sanger sequence and Sequenom MassArray typing technology. Furthermore, we used silicon analysis to predict whether polymorphism affects the process of alternative splicing and to analyze how it affects. Results: In genotyping and allelic analysis, there was a significant association between rs786204926 polymorphism and breast cancer chemotherapy resistance. Carrying the G allele or AG genotype will reduce the risk of breast cancer-based resistance to chemotherapy with anthracyclines. Silicon analysis showed that the mutation of rs786204926 produced a new receptor site, which might affect alternative splicing of PTEN gene. Conclusions: We speculate that the mechanism of breast cancer chemotherapy resistance might be caused by a change in the alternative splicing caused by the rs786204926 of the PTEN gene. Thus, our study might provide theoretical guidance for the individualized treatment of clinical breast cancer patients.


Due to the growing interest using model predictive control (MPC), there are more and more researches about the applications of MPC on autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), and these researches are mainly focused on simulation and simple application of MPC on AUV. This paper focuses on the improvement of MPC based on the state space model of an AUV. Unlike the previous approaches using a fixed weighting matrix, in this paper, a coefficient, varied with the error, is introduced to adjust the control increment vector weighting matrix to reduce the settling time. Then, an analysis on the effect of the adjustment to the stability is given. In addition, there is always a lag between the AUV real trajectory and the desired trajectory when the AUV tracks a continuous trajectory. To solve this problem, a simple re-planning of the desired trajectory is developed. Specifically, the point certain steps ahead from current time on the desired trajectory is treated as the current desired point and input to the controller. Finally, experimental results for depth control are given to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the improved MPC. Experimental results show that the method of real-time adjusting control increment weighting matrix can reduce settling time by about 2 s when tracking step trajectory of 1 m, and the simple re-planning of the desired trajectory method can reduce the average of absolute error by about 15% and standard deviation of error by about 17%.


The hypothesis tested was that the feeding of medium chain triacylglycerols (MCT) to horses would raise the level of plasma triacylglycerols by increasing the availability of glucose as lipogenic substrate, implying that the MCT effect would be greater with glucose in the diet instead of cellulose. A Latin square experiment was carried out with 4 horses and 4 dietary treatments. The experimental periods lasted 21 d. Blood samples were taken 16 h after feeding. The diets consisted of hay and experimental concentrates, differing in fat source (MCT or soybean oil) and carbohydrate source (corn starch plus glucose or cellulose). The dietary variables, MCT or soybean oil, provided on average 27% of total dietary net energy, while glucose plus cornstarch or cellulose provided 33%. The feeding of MCT versus soybean oil raised the level of plasma triacylglycerols significantly from 196.7 ± 30.2 to 427.3 ± 85.7 mmol/1 and that of VLDL cholesterol from 0.028 ± 0.01 to 0.069 ± 0.01 mmol/ml. As based on analysis of variance, for the four experimental diets there was no significant effect of carbohydrate source and no fat‐carbohydrate interaction. Thus, the hypothesis was rejected. When the diets contained soybean oil, cellulose versus starch plus glucose produced significantly greater increase plasma triacylglycerols. This carbohydrate effect was not seen when horses were fed the MCT diets. The experimental concentrates did not differently influence the concentrations of plasma glucose, total serum cholesterol, phospholipids, insulin, free fatty acids and the activity of post‐heparin lipoprotein lipase. We suggest that the MCT‐induced increase in plasma triacylglycerols is related to an increase in hepatic VLDL secretion, with the extra substrate for increased synthesis of triacylglycerols being the acetyl‐CoA derived from the hepatic oxidation of medium chain fatty acids.


The field - field correlation function and the conditional covariance for the ionic microfield in a plasma are calculated within a virial cluster expansion of the two-time generating function. Results for the Debye potential are given. The short-time, high-field behaviour is discussed within a regularization procedure. The evaluated conditional covariance provides direct access to the probability density of a field strength jump which appears in the well known model microfield method. The resulting stochastic process would describe the time evolution of the ionic microfield on the basis of the real motion of the plasma particles instead of assuming Markovian behaviour.


Purpose To explore whether alterations in intraocular pressure (IOP) affect vein pulsation properties using ophthalmodynamometric measures of vein pulsation pressure. Patients and Methods Glaucoma patients had two retinal vein pulsation pressure (VPP) measurements from upper and lower hemiveins performed by ophthalmodynamometry at least 3 months apart. All subjects had VPP and IOP recorded at two visits, with standard automated perimetry, central corneal thickness (CCT) recorded at the initial visit. Where venous pulsation was spontaneous ophthalmodynamometry could not be performed and VPP was considered equal to IOP. Change in VPP was calculated and binarized with reduction in pressure scored 1 and no change or increase scored as 0. Data analysis used a mixed logistic regression model with change in VPP as response variable and change in IOP, visual field loss (mean deviation), CCT and time interval as explanatory variables. Results 31 subjects (20 females) with mean age 60 years (sd 11) were examined with change in VPP being significantly associated with change in IOP (odds ratio 1.6/mmHg, 95% CI 1.2 to 2.1 in the glaucoma patients but not suspect patients (p = 0.0005). Conclusion Change in VPP is strongly associated with change in IOP such that a reduced intraocular pressure is associated with a subsequent reduction in VPP. This indicates that reduced IOP alters some retinal vein properties however the nature and time course of these changes is not known.


In 2017, the world celebrated 100 years since the birth of Algirdas Julien Greimas (1917–1992). The anniversary inspired many commemorative works, events, conferences, research projects, etc. That is also the case with this paper.Here, instruments of semiotic analysis are applied to a rather unusual object – a bridge located in the town of Prienai, Lithuania. In 2010, the bridge was given the name of Greimai by the Government of Lithuania as a way of paying tribute to Julius Greimas (1882–1942), schoolteacher and burgomaster of Prienai (1934–40), and his son Algirdas Julien Greimas, literary scientist and semiotician who as a child liked to wander the woods of Prienai.The paper discusses the semantics and narrativity of the Greimai bridge. The main focus is on its function, the characteristics of the bridge and its shores, the semantic universe it embodies. Also considered is the transformation from a simple and concrete structure with a clearly defined function to a symbolic monument.The findings of this small research suggest that the bridge's characteristics make the Greimai name a good fit and that it creates additional meanings: one recognizes plurality and duality, the echo of the father-son relationship, cyclicality and rituality, etc. In addition, the bridge appears to act as a mediator between nature and culture, life and death.


Chitin nanowhiskers were obtained with the purpose to be used as astaxanthin protectors against the photo and thermal degradation. These nanostructures were generated by a freezing/thawing procedure using two stirring methods: mechanical and sonication, which were named as FTM and FTS respectively. Morphological and spectroscopic studies were carried out on chitin nanowhiskers by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Through a SEM analysis, chitin fibers were found uniformly spaced and oriented with the width ranged from of 20-40 nm. Furthermore, the nanowhiskers obtained by FTM showed long and flattened structures and bundles of homogeneous sizes, which have the capacity of being sites of stress concentration. In contrast, by FTS, the nanowhiskers showed coarse fibers exhibiting numerous peaks. By comparing the two methods is appreciated that FTS method provides more surface area, giving more sites for functionalization. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) allowed the determination of free movement of functional groups on the surface of samples obtained by FTM and FTS methods. Significant differences of signals in the spectra indicate that there were more unassociated amides in the nanowhiskers obtained by FTS than by FTM.


Ayurveda is an Indian ancient bio-science which deals with all the aspects of healthy living. Ayurveda involves use of drugs obtained from plant, animal, metal and mineral origin. Some of these drugs may be available in toxic or non-toxic form. There are many Samskaras (pharmaceutical processes) mentioned in Ayurveda to convert the toxic substances to non-toxic forms. Shodhana (Purification therapy) is one among them. A vast amount of literary resources illustrated the knowledge of Ayurveda; Arogya Raksha kalpadrumah is one of the Kerala traditional Ayurvedic paediatric care text book, which has given separate illustration about purification of toxic substances. As utility of Ayurvedic drugs are increasing day by day, before using of drugs for therapeutic purposes there is a need of proper Shodhana (purification) to reduce the toxic effect and attain desired results. To illustrate the purification of drugs and methods explained in Arogya Raksa Kalpadrumah.


This document provides the methodology proposed for specification of interfaces corresponding to WebServices offered by the Intelligent Core Adaptor. The goal of such a specification is to provide a formal description of offered services and to enumerate the services required from other ICAs. Common methodology will provide sound bases of co-operation between the different WP teams. The methodology enforces a step-wise iterative approach to co-operative design. At each step, a new version of the specification will be added until the expected services match the provided ones. Moreover, thanks to use of commonly understood process, it would be possible to generate automatically the WSDL description documents corresponding to the specified and agreed services.


Knowledge-rich Information Extraction (IE) methods aspire towards combining classical IE with background knowledge obtained from third-party resources. Linked Open Data repositories that encode billions of machine readable facts from sources such as Wikipedia play a pivotal role in this development. The recent growth of Linked Data adoption for Information Extraction tasks has shed light on many data quality issues in these data sources that seriously challenge their usefulness such as completeness, timeliness and semantic correctness. Information Extraction methods are, therefore, faced with problems such as name variance and type confusability. If multiple linked data sources are used in parallel, additional concerns regarding link stability and entity mappings emerge. This paper develops methods for integrating Linked Data into Named Entity Linking methods and addresses challenges in regard to mining knowledge from Linked Data, mitigating data quality issues, and adapting algorithms to leverage this knowledge. Finally, we apply these methods to Recognyze, a graph-based Named Entity Linking (NEL) system, and provide a comprehensive evaluation which compares its performance to other well-known NEL systems, demonstrating the impact of the suggested methods on its own entity linking performance.


COVID-19 pandemic is an emergency that spread across the planet. It threatens lives and health of the population, with many dead and injured. Also, during pandemic there was (and continues to be) a violation of normal living conditions, significant material damage to economies of different countries. Quarantine restrictions affected social, educational, cultural and spiritual spheres of society. There is an urgent threat to operation of critical infrastructure as the pandemic led to large numbers of hospitalized or self-isolated people and being treated at home. At present, the operation of critical infrastructure, and in particular nuclear power plants, is strategically important for the proper functioning of any country. Also, the research describes causes of emergencies at nuclear power plants and identifies another factor - the mass disease of NPP personnel or their relatives on COVID-19. It is determined that timely detection and appropriate work to restore mental health during the pandemic is no less important area of work along with providing medical care to population. Stress associated with uncertainty, threat to health, can have negative consequences for well-being and mental health of workers. Depression, emotional exhaustion, anxiety, irritability, suicidal thoughts, etc. can also be consequences. Socio-psychological support especially for critical infrastructure workers is important to promote mental health during COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations for socio-psychological support of NPP personnel were developed. Specialized mobile applications are described as convenient and economical way for primary psychological care.


In this essay, I review General Antonio Luna's science career as the first Filipino doctoral student in science sent by the colonial government on a scholarship. I review the significance of Luna's work on malaria in the context of an emerging international research program. I discuss this public health research program within the context of the changing economic policy of Spanish Philippines after the 1762 British Invasion which resulted in the entry of technological innovations which prompted social change. These changes gave rise to a Filipino national identity which culminated in the Philippine Revolution of 1896. I also discuss the continuity of this colonial science research policy especially in health through the period of American sovereignty and the science and research policy of the Philippines in the 21st century.

Keywords: Antonio Luna; history of science; science policy; malaria, Filipino nationalism


Background: Audit of Surgical mortality seeks to focus on improvement in the process of surgical care and not on individual surgical ability. Audit of surgical mortality was conducted to establish the factors associated with the surgical deaths in Virika Hospital to propose ways of improvement. Methods: The study was conducted in Virika Mission Hospital in Western Uganda, a 155 bed capacity hospital with a surgical bed capacity of 32 located in rural Uganda.Individual case file review of the fourty three surgical deaths from 1 st July 2008 to 31 st June 2009 was conducted. Additional data was retrieved from hospital admission register, operation registers, and death certificate books. Results: The operation death rate was 1.3%, all were emergencies, and 82.6% were done under general anaesthesia and17.4% died on table. The laparotomy death rate was 12.5%, Herniorrhaphy 0.9%, drainage of pus 1.4% and wound suture 0.4%. Surgery was delayed due to lack of blood in only one case but there was no record of lack of any resource for delaying surgery. Surgical conditions were: Injuries 39.5%, Intestinal perforations 30.2%, Intestinal obstruction 20.9% and others 9.3%. The hospital had no high dependency unit and no intensive care unit. No postmortem was conducted in all cases. Conclusion: Overall the Audit identified client, provider, administrative and community-related factors that need to be addressed collectively to reduce surgical mortality in Virika hospital.Audit of surgical mortality should be part of the health workers' general approach to making more information available in a meaningful way for continuous improvement of surgical services.


Objectives : Gastroprotective effects of herbal medicine were shown in numerous studies. Falcaria vulgaris (Ghazzayaghi) has traditionally been used for the treatment of stomach disorders in the Northwest of Iran. The present study was carried out to evaluate the microscopic healing effect of F. vulgaris extract on aspirin-induced gastric damage in rats. Materials and Methods : Thirty five young male rats were divided into five groups (7 rats/group). Control (group I) treated with 1 ml/kg distilled water. Four groups of animals had been exposed to starvation for 48 h and then received aspirin (200 mg/kg) in 1 ml carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) 1% solvent for 3 days. Then, groups II-IV of rats were treated with 150 mg/kg extract (experimental group), 20 mg/kg omeprazole (reference group) and CMC solution (ulcer control group) by gavages for 14 days, respectively. The fifth group only received aspirin for 3 days. Three hours after last treatment rats were sacrificed and the stomachs were fixed in formalin (10%) and sections of 6 μ in diameter were prepared. Ulcer index, curative ratio, and morphological characteristics of the stomach were assessed using hematoxylin and eosin and Van Gieson staining. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and post hoc Tukey test. Results : The results indicated that F. vulgaris extract significantly decreased the ulcer index (P < 0.01), increased curative ratio, and enhanced the formation of collagen fibers compare to aspirin and omeprazole groups. Conclusions : Hydroalcoholic extract of F. vulgaris showed significant microscopic healing effect on the aspirin-induced gastric ulcer.


Drink driving is a major issue in Vietnam, yet, the magnitude of the problem is not adequately reported by the Government. Official statistics in 2008 revealed 6–7% of road traffic accidents occurred due to drink driving. This study was conducted in five major trauma hospitals across Vietnam, namely: Yen Bai, Viet Duc, Da Nang, Binh Duong and HoChiMinh Orthopedics hospitals with an aim to understand better the magnitude of the problem. Ethics clearance was sought from Ministry of Health. Study subjects were road traffic patients admitted to hospital with age from 18 and upwards. Consent was obtained from each patient before conducting tests. Results From August to October 2009, a total of 3774 road traffic patients were given BAC tests in five hospitals. On average, 67.5% were positive with alcohol, ranging from 41% in Viet Duc to over 95% in Binh Duong. Among those positive, 58.5% of patients were over the limit of 50mg/dl. Over 95% are reported male drinkers. Majority of male drinkers rode home after consuming beer or alcohol, ranging from 64% in Da Nang to 96% in Ho Chi Minh city. Conclusions and Policy Implications Drink driving is a major problem for road safety in Vietnam and is still largely under reported. It's recommended that sustained nation wide campaigns on risks of drink driving should be conducted, especially for motorcyclists. Strict enforcement is also crucial.


This article reflects upon new observations and old concepts related to the acquisition of syntax by examining the strengths and weaknesses of research in acquisitional syntax. Two of the strengths are the interdisciplinary nature of child acquisitional studies and the potential dialogue between research in theoretical syntax and acquisitional syntax. A weakness, possibly the result of excessive specialization, is the lack of real dialogue in general debates related to central foundational concepts in syntax, such as the poverty of stimulus argument or the conception of Universal Grammar. This article reviews two recent publications that touch upon these topics and discusses the results in light of research in early syntax within the generative paradigm


The present study was conducted to assess the quality teaching in Indian higher education. The present paper based on Curriculum design and improvement; course and methodology development; promotion of social values; professional skills; knowledge and use of advance technology. To access quality teaching in Indian higher education, the data was collected for the study from the graduate and post-graduate students of various colleges and institution of Agra. The questionnaire includes general and specific questions related to quality teaching in higher education. The total number of students who responded the questionnaire was 243, out of which 137 from graduation and 106 from post-graduation. The concepts of quality might be different from institution to institution, while sharing the experience, new views, and idea come out which they can include in their norms and strategy to achieve the target of superior quality in education.


Ramadhaniaty M, Setyobudiandi I, Madduppa HH. 2018. Morphogenetic and population structure of two species marine bivalve (Ostreidae: Saccostrea cucullata and Crassostrea iredalei) in Aceh, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 19: 978-988. Oysters (Family Ostreidae) are mollusks, with high levels of phenotypic plasticity and wide geographic distribution. Oysters are a challenging group for morphological identification and genetic populations study. Saccostrea cucullata and Crassostrea iredalei are oysters from bivalve class that lives in the intertidal area and mangrove ecosystem. To clarify the morphology, genetic diversity and population structure of the two forms of S. cucullata and C. iredalei, we collected and studied oysters from three locations along the coastal region of Aceh by using morphometric method and 16 S mtDNA sequences analysis. We also added more oysters sequences from China, Japan, and Thailand to determine the connectivity between all populations. Morphometric characteristics of the oyster showed a negative allometric growth pattern, which means the rate of length gain is faster than that of the weight gain. The genetic distance from S. cucullata was 0.003-0.004 (Fst = 0.708) and C. iredalei was 0.000 (Fst = 0.971). The long genetic distance and high fixation index (Fst) in the oysters population are caused by the close geographical distance of the species in the three populations. The haplotype diversity value from S. cucullata and C. iredalei were 20 and 3, respectively. The haplotype showed the connectivity among the oyster populations which indicated by the gene flow pattern. The gene flow was affected by geographical distance and environmental complexity.


This thesis presents a study of potential calibrators observed by the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT-7). The KAT-7 is an engineering prototype for the coming sensitive array, the MeerKAT, one of the pathfinders for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). This thesis plays a supporting role in the ongoing commissioning activities of the KAT-7, whose construction started in early 2008, and which has been undergoing engineering and science verifications since late 2010. This thesis has achieved the first steps towards identifying possible flux-density standards for short baseline interferometers such as the KAT-7. The systematic error for flux-density calibration at KAT-7 was estimated relative to 3C123, and it was found to be ∼ 5% of the measured flux density. 18 (∼ 47%) of the 38 sources were identified as good flux density calibrator candidates, for their Modulation Index (MI) and Variability Index (VI) values were less than 0.05 and all the sources in the field had less than 10% of the peak flux density of the calibrator candidate. One source (PKS J0837-1951), which showed low variability and hence appeared to be a good flux-density calibrator candidate (class A), was deemed to be not a good flux-density calibrator candidate because a strong confusing source was found within its primary beam. Eight sources had MI or VI values between 0.05 and 0.09 and may deserve further study as potential flux calibrator candidates. Five sources had MI or VI values greater than 0.09 suggesting significant variability while 17 sources had only one or two observations so their suitability as potential flux calibrator candidates could not be evaluated. In addition we used another measure of variability, the de-biased modulation index, for our sources comparing the observed modulation indices against Monte Carlo simulations. The result showed that the values of Md are largely as expected and the uncertainties therefore not substantially underestimated.


Background Recent advances in cancer treatment have resulted in an increased number of cancer survivors. Fertility might be impaired by cancer itself or through gonadal damage as a consequence of radio-chemotherapy. Damages to reproductive organs are seen in minimally upto 30% of cancer patients. The aim of the present study was evaluate the attitude of Iranian oncologists toward fertility preservation. Methods Thirty oncologists filled an author-designed questionnaire which included five multiple choice questions at Mahak hospital, Tehran in 2009. The data were collected and analyzed by SPSS 11.5 software. Results More than half of the oncologists believed that radio-chemotherapy has destructive effects on reproductive organs. This study showed that as high as 67% of the respondants believed fertility preservation should be offered to all patients at risk, but 40% of them insisted that the patients should bring up the topic themselves. Only 46% of the oncologist knew about fertility preservation techniques. The greatest barriers for accepting fertility preservation by the parents of children undergoing cancer treatment were: lack of information (41%), hopelessness from treatment prognosis (33%), fear of delay in starting the treatment (15%) and the priority of child survival (11%). Conclusion The specific challenges of counseling are time pressure between diagnosis and start of treatment, little knowledge about fertility preservation both by treating oncologists and parents; therefore a team consisting of oncologists, infertility specialists and social workers is recommended in these settings.


This Community Service (PkM) aims to increase the attractiveness of the Batuah Tourism Village, Kutai Kertanegara Regency through designing of the welcome gate. Batuah Tourism Village is a leading village in Kutai Kartanegara Regency, East Kalimantan Province which has Elai fruit as a tourism commodity. To improve the tourist attraction, the gate design is made with the shape of an elai fruit as the main icon. The gate of the Batuah tourist village is located on the Balikpapan - Samarinda axis road, so the design is expected to be attractive and informative. This community service was carried out through discussion with the Head of Batuah Village in order to get an overview of the form and vision to be conveyed. Besides, the community service team made a gate design and presented it to the community of Batuah Village. The official designs that have been approved submitted to the Kutai Kartanegara Regency Government.


In the Smart Grid environment, the advent of intelligent measuring devices facilitates monitoring appliance electricity consumption. This data can be used in applying Demand Response (DR) in residential houses through data analytics, and developing data mining techniques. In this research, we introduce a smart system foundation that is applied to user's disaggregated power consumption data. This system encourages the users to apply DR by changing their behaviour of using heavier operation modes to lighter modes, and by encouraging users to shift their usages to off-peak hours. First, we apply Cross Correlation (XCORR) to detect times of the occurrences when an appliance is being used. We then use The Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) [14] algorithm to recognize the operation mode used.


The polycrystalline Ba3Sr2GdTi3V7O30 material of tungsten bronze structural family was prepared by a high-temperature solid-state reaction technique. Preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis exhibits the formation of single-phase compound with orthorhombic crystal system. Surface micrograph recorded by scanning electron microscopic (SEM) technique has well defined but non-uniformly distributed grains throughout the surface of the pellet sample. Detailed studies of dielectric properties as a function of temperature (306-773 K) and frequencies (10 2 -10 6 Hz) suggest that the compound has frequency independent diffused dielectric anomaly at a temperature ~620 K which may be related to ferroelectric phase transition which is confirmed from polarization study. The frequency and temperature dependence of impedance property of the material were analyzed using a complex impedance spectroscopy. The Nyquist plots confirmed the presence of grain and grain boundary effect in the material. Copyright © 2012 VBRI press.


A common way of positing scalar variance in the SET information-processing model of timing (Gibbon & Church, 1982/1992; Meck, 1983) is in the form of a multiplicative transform (K*). This transform operates when the contents of the accumulator/working memory are transferred to reference memory, scalar variance being produced upon multiple presentations of the standard. A brief review of this concept and research findings that sheds new light on its validity and the general nature of temporal reference memory is presented. There were two main strands to the empirical studies presented: the first examined the effect of manipulating the number of presentations of the standard tone in a modified temporal generalization task. Some conceptualisations of the K* transform predict an increase in temporal acuity with increased number of presentations. In fact,results suggested that the effect of multiple presentations of a temporal generalization standard was small or non-existent, over and above the effect of presenting a single example of the standard. The second strand of research examined the encoding of temporal reference memory. Does the formation of a reference memory require just encoding or is utilisation of that memory also necessary? The capacity of temporal reference memory was also examined by manipulating the number of standards to been coded. This was achieved by the use of a modified version of the temporal generalization procedure called double temporal generalization.


Background: For over 50 years, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has played a critical role in the systemic chemotherapy of various gastrointestinal cancers including gastric, colorectal and pancreatic cancer which are the leading causes of cancer death globally. Although systemic cytotoxics such as 5-FU can modestly prolong overall survival in the adjuvant and advanced settings, but at the cost of unpleasant toxicities. Therefore better drug formulations are desirable. Methods: To this end, we developed a new conceptual fluoropyrimidine, DFP-11207 that is engineered to reduce toxicity without loss of antitumor activity as well in addition to providing sustained concentrations of the active anticancer moiety. DFP-11207 contains three components in one formulation: 1-ethoxymethyl-5-fluorouracil (EM-FU) as a prodrug of 5-FU, 5-chloro-2,4-dihyroxypyridine (CDHP) as a potent inhibitor of 5-FU degradation and cytrazinic acid (CTA) as a gastrointestinal regulator of 5-FU phosphorylation. Results: In in vitro metabolism studies using cell-free extracts from plasma, liver and tumors or intact tumor cells, DFP-11207 was rapidly hydrolyzed to 3 components and subsequently EM-FU was specifically converted to 5-FU by liver microsomes, and CDHP and CTA strongly inhibited 5-FU degradation and phosphorylation, respectively. Following consecutive oral administration to human tumor-bearing nude rats, DFP-11207 attained favorable antitumor efficacy and long-sustained PK profiles with lack of GI- and myelo-toxicities. Next, in investigational clinical study in patients with solid tumors, 12 patients were treated at 8 unique dose levels of DFP-11207, ranging from 40 to 440mg/m2/day by each 1 pt. MTD and RD of daily and 28-day consecutive DFP-11207 was found to be 440 (n=2) and 330 mg/m2 (n=6), respectively. The main AEs were nausea,, anemia, neutropenia, febrile neutropenia but these events were very mild, and no thrombocytopenia was observed as expected. Furthermore, review of the preliminary PK data, DFP-11207 at 330 mg/m2 resulted in a desirable low but efficacious (~15- 30 ng/ml) steady-state plasma concentration of 5-FU. Interestingly, some of patients heavily treated with therapeutic drugs had a stable-disease for long periods. Conclusion: Our preclinical and early clinical data with DFP-11207 suggest that it's a promising compound for the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers and can overcome the shortcomings of all other oral fluoropyrimidines. Citation Format: Masakazu Fukushima, Kenzo Iizuka, Kokoro Eshima, Chung Zhang, Cheng Jin, Kiyoshi Eshima, Jaffer Ajani. Development of novel antimetabolite, DFP-11207, with self-toxicity protection and its promising preclinical and clinical profiles [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5099. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-5099


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Objective:

Using TCGA database, we had demonstrated that aberrantly activated Forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) correlates to worse overall survival in a subgroup of platinum resistant patients. Application of thiostrepton, a natural thiazole antibiotics that inhibits FOXM1 transcription activity, improves the cytotoxic effect of paclitaxel and cisplatinum in ascites cells from platinum-resistant patients. However, the use of thiazole antibiotics in the clinic is hampered by difficulties in synthesis, degradation potential, and solubility issues. In this study, we aim to identify novel FOXM1 small molecule inhibitors which can be a new class of therapeutic agents to address the challenges in treating chemotherapy resistant EOC.

Methods:

The FOXM1 protein structure was obtained from the Protein Databank (pdb ID: 3GXU) and prepared for docking studies by Autodock Vina 1.0.2. Structural representations of the NCI Diversity Set II in were obtained from the NCI website and converted to a pdb format for screening. Individual pdb files were prepared for docking using the prepare_ligand.py scripts form MGLTools 1.5.4 using the largest non-bonded fragment present. The binding affinity was scored as the free energies of binding in kcal/mol.

Three selected compounds (one as negative control) were applied to SKOV3, OVCAR3 and ES2 cells for 72 hrs and sulfarodamine B assay was used to measure the cell viability and FOXM1 expression level was confirmed by RT-PCR and western blot.

Results:

The FOXM1 structure obtained from 3GXU represented the DNA binding region of FOXM1 and possessed the winged helix fold representative of the Forkhead family of enzymes with two wings in direct contact with DNA. For ease of representation, we described both wings as a dimer and a single wing as a monomer. From this structure, we hypothesized two main models of how thiostrepton binding to FOXM1 could possibly curtail its transcriptional activity. In the first model thiostrepton could bind either of the wings or both wings and prevent association to DNA. In the second model thiostrepton bind the FOXM1: DNA complex and weaken association of FOXM1 to DNA. Subsequently, small molecular inhibitors could also use either of the models to inhibit transcription. To account for both models, the NCI Diversity set was screened against the FOXM1 dimer:DNA complex (39 hits), dimer (11 hits) and monomer (14 hits). Those hits were further classified by chemical structure, biological function and chemical similarities to known molecules that target FOXM1. In cellular cytotoxicity assays, ZINC00990239 showed cytotoxicity with IC50 around 10uM, and downregulation of FOXM1 and transcription of its downstream molecules such as CCNB1.

Conclusion:

By illustrating the characteristics of an effective small molecule inhibitor of FOXM1 should contain, we have taken the first step towards identification of potential compounds with efficacy similar to thiostrepton.

Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting.

Citation Format: Yi Chen, Eliza A. Ruben, Marcia M. Bieber, Jayakumar Rajadas, Nelson N.h Teng. In silico investigation of FOXM1 binding and novel inhibitors in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 5373. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-5373


This paper reports the first experimental demonstration of an optically pumped electron spin filter. Unpolarized electrons produced in a cold-cathode discharge drift through a mixture of spin-polarized Rb and a nitrogen or helium buffer gas. Through spin-exchange collisions with the Rb, the drifting electrons become polarized along the optical pumping axis. We study the role of the buffer gas in both the optical pumping and the spin transfer to the free electrons. This spin filter produces electron beams with currents and polarizations comparable to first-generation GaAs polarized electron sources. [S0031-9007(99)09031-6]


Genetic defects occurring in the sedlin gene, a conserved component of TRAPP complex, cause Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia Tarda (SEDT), a rare progressive condition characterised by impaired chondrogenesis resulting in short stature, flattening of the vertebrae, and premature osteoarthritis. The role of sedlin in the pathogenesis of SEDT disease so far is still unknown. Prompted by the consideration that sedlin is ubiquitously expressed but that sedlin mutations cause cartilaginous-restricted dysfunctions, I hypothesized that sedlin might exert a role in membrane trafficking generally but in particular in the transport of chondrocyte- specific cargoes, such as type II procollagen (PCII). This hypothesis was reinforced by the fact that mutations in PCII give rise to autosomal dominant forms of spondyloepiphiseal dysplasia. I tested this hypothesis by analyzing the involvement of sedlin in the transport of different classes of secretory cargoes and found that sedlin is selectively required for PCII to exit the ER, while it is not essential for ER exit of small soluble and membrane-associated cargoes. I have also identified the molecular mechanism underlying this role of sedlin in its ability to bind the GTPase Sarl and to control the membrane-cytosol cycle of Sarl itself and of the COPIl coat complex at the level of the ER exit sites. Sedlin depletion and/or mutation in SEDT patients slows down the Sar1 cycle and prolongs the membrane association of Sar1-GTP at the ER exit sites, thus inducing constriction and premature fission of nascent carriers which fail to incorporate the large PC protofibrils but are still competent for smaller secretory cargoes. All together these findings provide new insights not only into understanding the role of sedlin but also shed new light on the molecular mechanisms underlying the onset of the SEDT disease.


Transit oriented development (TOD) has gained popularity as a means to address urbanizations problems such as traffic congestion, air pollution and affordable housing strategies. It simply refers to integration of urban development and public transportation facilities, together with some other characteristics such as "intensified land uses near TOD stations", "landownership and car-ownership variety", mixed use, "lower car dependency", compact form, mass transit stations, open spaces, walkability, etc. The major contention of this paper is to discuss the general concept of TOD, its benefits and challenges in Iranian urban context. It is discussed here that TOD has several positive outcomes considering the existing urbanization trends in Iran. It may be used as a practical instrument to deal with rapidly urbanizing country in which motorization rate is increasing and air pollution is the serious cause of life loss. However there are several challenges which should be faced. The need for an Iranian version of TOD, which re-narrated the theory according to local situation, is the first challenge. A paradigm shift in the government, shifting the priority from housing schemes to mass transit systems is the second challenge needed to be taken into consideration. The third challenge is the overlapping and parallel institutions dealing with mass transit systems in urban and regional transportation planning and insufficient planning instruments. The integrated transportation and urban planning system is necessary here, and there is an urgent need to develop a national TOD guideline with the potential to develop local versions for each city.


Experts and lay people alike can sometimes find it difficult to demarcate the absurd. Here I propose a set of criteria that may be helpful in achieving this in the realm of healthcare: falsifiability, plausibility and some hallmarks of pseudoscience. Applying this method is unlikely to be fool-proof but it might be a valuable aid in discriminating credible from incredible health claims.


Abstract Alzheimer's disease is an extremely serious condition that is challenging to diagnose. We have used experimental data to compare the rate of decay of entorhinal cortex (EC) neurons in various stages of Alzheimer's. We observed that the rate of EC neuron decay in the patients without Alzheimer's is close to zero, linear in mild cases, and quadratic in severe cases. We believe that described estimates may help to diagnose the disease as well as its stage.


ABSTRACT Whilst the topic of soil salinity has received a substantive research effort over the years, the accurate measurement and interpretation of salinity tolerance data remain problematic. The tolerance of four perennial grass species (non-halophytes) to sodium chloride (NaCl) dominated salinity was determined in a free-flowing sand culture system. Although the salinity tolerance of non-halophytes is often represented by the threshold salinity model (bent-stick model), none of the species in the current study displayed any observable salinity threshold. Further, the observed yield decrease was not linear as suggested by the model. On re-examination of earlier datasets, we conclude that the threshold salinity model does not adequately describe the physiological processes limiting growth of non-halophytes in saline soils. Therefore, the use of the threshold salinity model is not recommended for non-halophytes, but rather, a model which more accurately reflects the physiological response observed in these saline soils, such as an exponential regression curve.


Aims: Spinal anesthesia is the choice of anesthesia in parturient for cesarean section. This procedure is frequently associated with hypotension and the incidence varies from 70% to 80%. Maternal hypotension causes very unpleasant sign and symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, dyspnoea and sense of impending doom. Prolonged episodes of hypotension lead to organ ischemia, loss of consciousness, cardiovascular collapse and uteroplacental hypoperfusion. The aim of this study is to find out the proper data of the incidence of hypotension in parturient undergoing cesarean section in our hospital as only the estimated data is present.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the intraoperative anesthesia record form of all the patients who underwent cesarean section under spinal anesthesia from the hospital record section from 13th April 2016 to 12th April 2017. The detailed parameters of patient's demographic data were collected and recorded.
Results: A total of 3814 parturients were included in this study. The mean age was 25.76 ± 4.74 years and mean gestational age was 39.23 ± 1.54 weeks. Post spinal hypotension was seen in 947 patients out of 3814. Thus the incidence of hypotension was 24.8%.
 Conclusions: The incidence of maternal hypotension is very high if prophylactic measures are not taken. The fluid preloading or coloading, left lateral uterine displacement and prophylactic vasopressors have shown to be effective in preventing postspinal hypotension.


In 2009, Gradwohl, Naor, Pinkas, and Rothblum proposed physical zero-knowledge proof protocols for Sudoku. That is, for a puzzle instance of Sudoku, their excellent protocols allow a prover to convince a verifier that there is a solution to the Sudoku puzzle and that he/she knows it, without revealing any information about the solution. The possible drawback is that the existing protocols have a soundness error with a non-zero probability or need special cards (such as scratch-off cards). Thus, in this study, we propose new protocols to perform zero-knowledge proof for Sudoku that use a normal deck of playing cards and have no soundness error. Our protocols can be easily implemented by humans with a reasonable number of playing cards.


ABSTRACT The oncogenic potential of latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) can be regulated by epigenetic factors controlling LMP1 and EBNA2 gene transcription. The EBV latency control region (LCR) constitutes ∼12 kb of viral sequence spanning the divergent promoters of LMP1 and EBNA2 and encompasses the EBV latent replication origin OriP and RNA polymerase III-transcribed EBV-encoded RNA genes. We have used the chromatin immunoprecipitation assay to examine the chromatin architecture of the LCR in different types of EBV latency programs. We have found that histone H3 K4 methylation (H3mK4) was enriched throughout a large domain that extended from internal repeat 1 (IR1) to the terminal repeat in type III latency where EBNA2 and LMP1 genes are expressed. In type I latency where EBNA2 and LMP1 genes are transcriptionally silent, the H3mK4 domain contracts and does not enter the EBNA2 or LMP1 promoters. In contrast, histone H3 K9 methylation (H3mK9), associated with silent heterochromatin, was enriched in the EBNA2 and LMP1 upstream control regions in type I but not type III cells. MTA [5′-deoxy-5′(methylthio)adenosine], a pharmacological inhibitor of protein methylation, globally reduced histone H3mK4 and inhibited EBNA2 transcription in type III cells. 5′-Azacytidine, an inhibitor of DNA methylation that derepresses EBNA2 transcription in type I latency, caused H3mK4 expansion and a corresponding loss of H3mK9 at IR1. The chromatin boundary protein and transcription repressor CCCTC-binding factor was enriched at the EBNA2 transcription control region in type I but not type III cells. We also present evidence that OriP binding factors EBNA1 and ORC2 can interact with sequences outside of OriP including a region within IR1 that may influence EBNA2 transcription status. These results indicate that types I and III latency programs have distinct histone methylation patterns in the LCR and suggest that chromatin architecture coordinates gene expression of LMP1 and EBNA2.