OBJECTIVE
We sought to determine whether the pressor response to an infusion of angiotensin II during pregnancy would be reduced by the oral administration of highly purified eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl ester (EPA-E).

METHODS
We administered EPA-E orally to nine pregnant rabbits (200 mg/kg/day) from day 5 of gestation to day 5 postpartum. Pressor responses to graded doses of intravenously infused angiotensin II and norepinephrine were examined serially during pregnancy and the postpartum period.

RESULTS
The EPA-E-treated, as well as the control pregnant rabbits (n = 6), were significantly less responsive to the vasoconstrictor effects of angiotensin II throughout pregnancy than the nonpregnant rabbits (n = 8). The vascular reactivity to infused angiotensin II in EPA-E-treated pregnant rabbits, as compared with that of control pregnant rabbits was unchanged, but reactivity to angiotensin II was lower only on the fifth postpartum day. The pressor responses to infused norepinephrine were unchanged during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, and EPA-E did not alter the response. The litters of four of the nine rabbits were partially or completely macerated.

CONCLUSION
EPA-E did not reduce the already blunted pressor responsiveness to angiotensin II during pregnancy in rabbits. The effect of EPA-E in a state of increased pressor responsiveness during pregnancy due to a deficiency of vasodilatory prostaglandins needs to be determined.


CZT, show some prerogatives as materials for X and gamma ray detection because of its properties, as high stopping power, good transport properties, and low leakage current even at room temperature. Nevertheless, despite the improvement in the grown techniques, its transport properties are limited, if compared with those of traditional materials for radiation detection. This fact leads to a reduction of spectroscopic properties especially when increases the penetration length of gamma-rays at high energies. Several methods have been proposed to link the interaction depth and the charge losses achieving good improvements in the spectroscopy but, in most cases, they produce only heuristic corrections without any clearly visible relation with some physical models. Bargholtz et al. have improved the spectroscopy digitizing the signals and fitting them with a model, but this method is very expensive in term of computing power because of the high number of fitting paramiters. In this work, we propose an hybrid approach to the problem. Once known the read-out electronic transfer function, the detector signal could be corrected using the photon impact depth (extracted from the discontinuity in the current signal) and the material transport parameters, obtained from two simple fitting procedure with only four free parameters for each fit. This method, based on the Zanio model, is not only useful to correct the charge losses but also to achieve the characteristic properties of CZT, because takes into account also the detrapping contribution. In the last year we have presented the results obtained with a simplified model, now we show those obtained with the complete model, with a more accurate fit that lead to a more precise measure of detrapping time. The transfer function used in the calculations is the one measured in our system; nevertheless the procedure employed and the calculation of the integral terms are immediately extendable to many other transfer function.


Background: Lung, kidney and small intestine are involved in fetal volume regulation and amniotic fluid secretion and play a pivotal role in the transition from intrauterine to extrauterine life. Objective: This study was performed to determine the ontogeny of mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) and glucocorticoid receptors (GR), and of MR- and GR-regulated genes and proteins, serum and glucocorticoid-induced kinase (Sgk-1), epithelial sodium channel (ENaCα), and Na,K-ATPase α1. Methods: Lung, renal cortex and medulla, and small intestine were collected from fetuses at 80, 100, 120, 130 and 145 days' gestation and from day 1 and 7 neonatal lambs. Real-time PCR was performed to determine mRNA concentration for MR, GR, the 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (11β-HSD1 and 2), Sgk-1, ENaCα, and Na,K-ATPase α1. Protein expression of ENaCα and Na,K-ATPase α1 in whole cell and membrane fractions was determined by immunoblotting. Results: Expression of corticosteroid-induced genes in renal cortex increases at term; in small intestine the induction occurs postnatally. In contrast, in lung expression of MR and GR mRNAs were greater at 100 days to term than postnatally and 11β-HSD1 peaked at 145 days; the corticosteroid-induced genes also increased prenatally: Sgk-1 and ENaCα increased by 120 days, peaking at 145 days, and Na,K-ATPase α1 was greatest at 130 days. Conclusions: The expression of high levels of MR and 11β-HSD1 in preterm fetal lung suggest low endogenous fetal cortisol may exert actions at the high affinity MR in vivo, leading to increases in expression of sodium channels important in the regulation of lung liquid secretion and reabsorption.


An alarming increase in the human population necessitates doubling the world food production in the next few decades. Although a number of possible biotechnological measures are under consideration, central to these efforts is the development of transgenic crops to produce more food, and the traits with which plants could better adapt to adverse environmental conditions in a changing climate. The emergence of new tools for the introduction of foreign genes into plants has increased both our knowledge and the capacity to develop transgenic plants. In addition, a better understanding of genetic modifications has allowed us to study the impact that genetically modified crop plants may have on the environment. This article discusses different techniques routinely used to carry out genetic modifications in plants whilst highlighting challenges with them, which future research must address to increase acceptance of GM crops for meeting food security challenges effectively.


The objective of this research was to assess the effectiveness of the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT) as an indicator of automation state changes in adaptive automation (AA) of a complex, dynamic control task. An air traffic control (ATC)-related simulation was developed to present automation of four different information processing (IP) functions, including information acquisition, information analysis, decision making, and action implementation, as well as to simulate a completely manual control condition. Eight participants operated the ATC simulation under the five conditions. SAGAT data revealed only a general effect of automated versus manual control, but no significant effects of the modes of AA on SA. These results suggested that SAGAT was not a sensitive measure in the ATC-related task. Consequently, a modified SAGAT measure is proposed with relevance weighting of environmental stimuli to promote sensitivity and reliability of measurement of SA in the target domain.


BACKGROUND
Anemia is commonly encountering surgical critically ill patients. The incidence of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion and transfusion trigger in this population has not been previously reported in a large tertiary care center in Thailand

OBJECTIVE
To describe the incidence of RBC transfusion and transfusion trigger and to determine the factors and outcomes associated with RBC transfusion.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
Data of 288 adult surgical patients requiring mechanical ventilation for > 24 hours was retrospectively reviewed Patient characteristic, outcomes, and transfusion data were collected.

RESULTS
The incidence ofRBC transfusion was 83.0% (95% confidence interval (CI) 78.0-87.0%). The mean hemoglobin level before RBC transfusion was 8.7 +/- 1.2 g/dL. Patients who received RBC transfusion had significantly higher morbidity and mortality when compared with those who did not. Independent factors associated with RBC transfusion were low body weight, high Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, and low hemoglobin level on admission (adjusted odds ratio 0.97, 1.19, and 0.60. respectively).

CONCLUSION
In critically ill adult surgical patients, the incidence of RBC transfusion and transfusion trigger remained within high threshold Large randomized controlled studies are warranted to confirm potential benefit of RBC transfusion in surgical critically ill patients.


Cretaceous paleomagnetic poles for South America form three distinct groups, one each for the Andes north and south of Arica (northernmost Chile) and one for the craton. Relative to the cratonal group, the northern Andean group is displaced in a counterclockwise sense and the southern Andean group in a clockwise sense. These data have been used to support a model of orodinal bending of the Andes, but distributed shear caused by oblique subduction is a more likely mechanism.


Six British Antarctic Survey stations were operational during the year. A new station, at Rothera Point, Adelaide Island, is being built to replace Adelaide station. Its development is providing a unique opportunity to study changes in the microbial, invertebrate, plant and birdpopulations as a result of human activities, including the inevitable atmospheric pollution and the localized influence of tracked vehicles. Several small sites have been set up to study these changes. Among the senior Survey staff to visit the bases this season were Dr R. M. Laws (Director), and Mr W. R. Piggott (Head of Atmospheric Sciences). Other visitors included Dr B.B. Roberts, Dr L. Ferraz, a Brazilian observer, and Mr D. Smith, a British artist.


The move to highly populated printed wire assemblies and smaller sized end user products has lead to the more common use of flex rigid substrates or the use of flexible substrates. The material most commonly used for the manufacture of flex-rigid and a flexible substrate is a polyimide-based resin. This paper details the issues in the mass manufacture of a Chip on Chip (COC) and Chip on Board (COB) hybrid on a flex rigid and flexible substrate, using polyimide as the base material. The paper lists design, process and manufacturing considerations which effects the long term reliability and the yield of the product during the course of the manufacturing process, as well as its useful life.


Although staffs in medical colleges have traditionally been characterized as a stressed group of people, there are no specific studies assessing burnout and the relationship to quality of life (QOL). The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate job-related burnout and the relationship to QOL among medical college staff in mainland China. Some 360 medical college staffs from 15 schools and departments were enrolled in the study. The Chinese Teachers' Burnout Inventory (TBI) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life—brief Chinese version were used. Data on sociodemographic, work-related, and health-related factors were also collected. Multiple stepwise regression analysis was used to identify significant factors related to the 3 domain scores of the TBI. Structural equation modeling was performed to test the correlation between job-related burnout and QOL. The most significant and common predictors of burnout prevention were a love of the teaching profession and work acknowledgment from a direct supervisor. Job-related burnout had a direct negative effect on QOL. Corresponding health policies and suggestions could be developed to prevent job-related burnout and improve QOL.


Green technologies are undergoing strong development. These are created by global formal and legal regulations enforcing the reduction of the share of non-renewable energy sources in the energy systems of economies and the minimisation of harmful emissions through the development of technologies based on renewable energy sources. In addition, the development of green technologies is driven by the need to reduce the rising cost of electricity, particularly affecting households in countries heavily reliant on coal-fired power generation, where green technologies are only just gaining popularity (e.g., Poland). With this in mind, it was considered important to present the formal and legal background of the development of the Polish energy system towards sustainability and to discuss the green technology market in Poland, including innovative solutions in this field, which are or could be, applied to small individual consumers (households). The main objective of the study was to analyse the interest of households in innovative green technology solutions, determined by the surface area and cubic capacity of buildings, in order to strengthen the source material that can be used by decision-makers when designing a strategy for the development of the green energy market in Poland, with a special focus on individual consumers. The study was carried out based on a critical analysis of the available literature, regulations, and industry reports, as well as survey material enabling practical evaluation of solutions by users of innovative technologies. The practical research dimension was reinforced by statistical instrumentation, using the statistical instrument PQstat version 188.8.131.52. The main findings of this study show a significant level of openness of households in Poland to innovative green technologies and a clear relationship between the area and volume of a building and the range of choices made. The most popular solutions in this respect include photovoltaics, followed by heat pumps. Furthermore, it was noted that the area and cubic volume of a building determines the potential and scale of future strengthening of the RES dimension by small individual consumers.


This paper deals with the investigation on spread of COVID-19 and its stability analysis (both local and global stability) in Odisha, India. Being the second most populous country in the world, It is urgent need to investigate the spread and control of disease in India .However, due to diversity of vast population, uncertainty of infection, varying rate of recovery, state wise different COVID-19 induced death rate and non uniform quarantine policy of the states, it is strenuous to predict the spread and control of disease accurately in the country. So, it is crucial to study the aspects of disease in each state for the better prediction. We have considered the state Odisha (India) having population nearly equal to the population of Spain because the entry of huge migrants to the state suddenly enhanced the number of COVID-19 patients from below two hundred to more than eight hundred within one week even after forty days of lockdown period. We have developed SIAQR epidemic model fabricated with influx of out-migrants diagnosed at compartment (A) , then sent to the compartment (I) for treatment those have confirmed the disease and the remaining healthy individuals are sent to quarantine compartment (Q) for a period of twenty one days under surveillance and observation. The set of ordinary (nonlinear) differential equations are formulated and they are solved using Runge -Kutta fourth order method. The simulation of numerical data is performed using computer software MATLAB. As there is no specific treatment, vaccine or medicine available for the disease till the date, so the only intervention procedure called quarantine process is devised in this model to check the stability behaviour of the disease. The numerical and analytical results of the study show that the disease free equilibrium is locally stable when basic reproduction number is less than unity and unstable when it is more than unity. Further the study shows that it persists to endemic equilibrium for global stability when basic reproduction number greater than unity. As per the current trends ,this study shows that the prevalence of COVID -19 would remain nearly 250 to 300 days in Odisha as for as the infected migrants would have been entering to the state. This mathematical modelling embedded with important risk factor like migration could be adopted for each state that will be helpful for better prediction of the entire country and world.


The castor bean has indeterminate growth habit and non-uniformity of grain maturation at harvest. However, pre-harvest desiccant application can increase the efficiency of mechanized harvesting. The objective of this work was to evaluate effects of the herbicides glyphosate alone or mixed with 2,4-D, and paraquat alone, in pre-harvest desiccation of castor bean. The field experiments were arranged in a completely randomized design, with four replications, in Rancharia, Sao Paulo State, from March to September 2005. The experiment one evaluated the application of two doses of 2,4-D associated with four doses of glyphosate at 10, 20 and 30 days after application (DAA). The experiment two evaluated four doses of paraquat at 30 DAA. The pre-harvest desiccation of castor bean with 2,4-D + glyphosate showed effect only from 20 DAA. The 2,4-D applied alone provided significant dehydration of the plant, however, the effect was lower than the mixture 2,4-D + glyphosate. The best pre-harvest desiccation in castor bean was obtained with 1.34 kg 2,4-D ha-1 plus 1.42 kg glyphosate ha-1. The dose 1.2 kg paraquat ha-1 significantly reduced moisture in castor bean, however, it was less efficiently than the mixture 2,4-D + glyphosate.


The treatment of heart failure has seen considerable advances in the past decades. In particular, a therapeutic focus on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system has provided significant improvements in outcomes. Multiple inhibition points in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, including direct renin inhibitors, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists, have the common feature of either blocking aldosterone production (direct renin inhibitor, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, angiotensin receptor blocker) or the mineralocorticoid receptor. As a consequence of this inhibition, sodium and water reabsorption is blocked, and potassium (K(+)) excretion is reduced. Hyperkalemia may result from the use of multiple renin-angiotensin-aldosterone inhibitors or blockers, particularly in patients with heart failure and concomitant chronic kidney disease. Interventions to reliably control serum K(+) during renin-angiotensin-aldosterone inhibition have not been available to date, and would be of particular value with the use of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists that have been shown to reduce mortality in patients with heart failure and a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. In this review, we examine the PEARL-HF study, which has tested the combined use of RLY5016, a novel nonabsorbed K(+) binding polymer, with spironolactone in heart failure patients receiving standard care but with previous documented hyperkalemia or chronic kidney disease. RLY5016 significantly lowered serum K(+) levels from baseline relative to placebo, lowered the incidence of hyperkalemia and allowed a higher proportion of heart failure patients to receive spironolactone at a dose of 50 mg/day.


Purpose: To investigate the effect of unilateral medial rectus resection in recurrent exotropia under 25 Prism Diopter after unilateral or bilateral lateral rectus recession. Methods: A retrospective chart analysis was conducted for 21 patients who underwent unilateral medial rectus resection for recurrent exotropia under 25PD and uni- or bilateral lateral rectus recession for prior surgery of exotropia. The medial rectus was resected from 5.0 to 7.0 mm by 0.5 mm according to angle deviation at a distance. The postoperative deviated angle was checked at one week, three months and six months postoperatively to investigate the amount of corrected deviation per resected muscle. Results: The average preoperative deviation was 20.573.37PD. We resected mean 6.10.62 mm of the medial rectus. At one week after the surgery, the postoperative deviated angle was 2.004.32PD, After six months it was 6.577.40PD, and there appeared to be an increase of deviation. Ten patients (48%) fused before surgery and 12 (57%) after surgery. The corrected deviation per resected muscle was 2.881.08PD. Conclusions: Unilateral medial rectus resection is an effective surgical method for the treatment of recurrent exotropia under 25 PD after lateral rectus recession.


Background

Colocolic intussusceptions is a rare subtype of intussusception mostly caused by juvenile polyps. The treatment of colocolic intussusception caused by other pathologic lead points remains poorly understood.
Methods

A systematic literature review between January 2000 and June 2021 was performed to characterize the comprehensive treatment of colocolic intussusception in children. This report also included 10 patients admitted to our center between 2010 and 2020 not previously reported in the literature.
Results

We identified 27 patients in 20 studies in addition to 10 patients from our center for a total of 37 patients (median age, 4.0 years; 54.1% male). The lead point was identified in 33 patients (33/37, 89.2%). The most common lead point was juvenile polyps (16/33, 48.5%). A therapeutic enema was performed in 12 patients with colocolic intussusception caused by juvenile polyps and was successful in 8 patients (8/12, 66.7%). Colonoscopic polypectomy was subsequently performed in 7 patients and was successful in 6 patients (6/7, 85.7%). The other patient had undergone laparoscopic exploration, and no abnormality was found. Subsequently, the patient underwent open surgery. The patients with colocolic intussusception caused by other pathologic lead points almost underwent surgical treatment (14/17, 82.4%), including 12 open surgeries and 2 laparoscopic surgeries.
Conclusion

A therapeutic enema followed by colonoscopic polypectomy is feasible to treat colocolic intussusception caused by juvenile polyps unless the patient has bowel perforation; however, open surgery is sometimes needed. For patients with colocolic intussusception caused by other pathologic lead points, open surgery may be preferable to laparoscopic surgery.


Study Design This study is a prospective cross-sectional analytic study. Objectives The authors determined the prevalence and clinical features of patients with pain stemming from the lumbar zygapophysial joints. Summary of Background Data Previous studies have demonstrated a wide range of prevalence for zygapophysial joint pain and conflicting results with regard to clinical signs. Methods One hundred and seventy-six consecutive patients with chronic low back pain were investigated with a series of screening zygapophysial joint blocks using lignocaine and confirmatory blocks using bupivacaine. Results Forty-seven percent of patients had a definite or greater response to the screening injection at one or more levels but only 15% had a 50% or greater response to a confirmatory block. Response to zygapophysial joint injection was not associated with any single clinical feature or set of clinical features. Conclusions The zygapophysial joint is an important source of pain but the existence of a "facet syndrome" must be questioned.


Purpose

– This paper aims to make the case for the development of an adaptive reuse rating tool targeted to new building design that maximises the embedded adaptive reuse potential of these buildings later in their life, thereby adding to built environment sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach

– This exploratory study retrospectively analyses successful adaptive reuse projects to establish and test a multi-criteria decision-making model for new design projects. This paper contains a report on the final stages of the research methodology (quantitative approach) used in the development of the adaptSTAR model that critically assesses the list of design criteria identified in the first stage of the study. Improvements to the case studies that would have further enhanced their reuse potential later in life are proposed. The results are compared to an established decision tool (adaptive reuse potential [ARP] model) to determine their level of consistency.

Findings

– The findings of this research show that design criteria can be identified and weighted according to seven categories to calculate a building's adaptive reuse star rating. Both the adaptSTAR and ARP models exhibit a strong relationship and are positively correlated.

Originality/value

– The research demonstrates that by applying adaptSTAR to new designs, it will contribute to greater sustainability for the built environment in the long term via reducing the rate of building obsolescence.


The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays a significant role in associative learning and memory formation during the opiate addiction process. Various lines of evidence demonstrate that glutamatergic (GLUT) transmission through the N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor can modulate neuronal network activity within the mPFC and influence dopaminergic signaling within the mesocorticolimbic pathway. However, little is known about how modulation of NMDA receptor signaling within the mPFC may regulate associative opiate reward learning and memory formation. Using a conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure, we examined the effects of selective NMDA receptor blockade directly within the prelimbic cortex (PLC) during the acquisition of associative opiate reward learning. NMDA receptor blockade specifically within the PLC caused a strong potentiation in the rewarding effects of either systemic or intra-ventral tegmental area (intra-VTA) morphine administration. This reward potentiation was dose dependently blocked by coadministration of dopamine D1 or D2 receptor antagonists and by blockade of presynaptic GLUT release. In addition, pharmacological inactivation of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) also prevented intra-PLC NMDA receptor blockade-induced potentiation of opiate reward signals, demonstrating a functional interaction between inputs from the VTA and BLA within the PLC, during the encoding and modulation of associative opiate reward information.


The surface of a microbearing in a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or microfluidic device is described by a random roughness model characterised by fractal geometry. A modified Reynolds equation with velocity slip on the rough wall is used to describe the ultra-thin lubrication of the microbearing at a wide range of Knudsen number covering the slip and transition regimes. The effects of Knudsen number, bearing geometry parameters and roughness parameters on the flow behaviours, including pressure distribution, load carrying capacity, streamwise location of the load carrying capacity and shear stress, are all investigated and discussed. The results show that surface roughness influences not only pressure distribution and load carrying capacity but also shear stress distribution of the rarefied gas flow in microbearings. The flow over surfaces with higher relative roughness induces pressure fluctuation. It indicates that the effect of random surface roughness is of great significance in the analysis and design of gas-lubricated microbearings and should be comprehensively taken into account for MEMS and microfluidic devices.


Mediation is a process of managing or resolving a conflict through the intervention of a third party, based on the consent of the combatants. It is one of the primary diplomatic tools available to third parties seeking to decrease violence, find joint agreements on conflictual issues, and transform bellicose relationships. There are different types of mediators. While mediators are always individuals, the mediating agency providing the basis for mediation in interstate conflicts and civil wars can be a single country, formal or informal groups of countries, regional or global intergovernmental organizations, civil society organizations inside or outside the country in conflict, or even, occasionally, individuals acting on their own. These different types of mediators all take actions bringing the parties together toward an agreement on the substance of the conflict or on the procedure for managing it, without relying on the use of direct force or a law-based authority. However, they differ in their motivations, styles, access to—as well as leverage over—the parties, degree of biasness and neutrality, and their ability for internal coordination. On the path from war to peace, mediation plays an important role. Mediators contribute with marginal but important tasks in the process, including the diagnosis of the problem, getting the parties to the table, finding a formula for a settlement, and helping to work out implementation guarantees as well as many other duties. In order to perform these tasks, mediators need to build trust, mount pressure, and sometimes do both. However, mediation is not the only factor and often not the primary one behind the peaceful settlement of armed conflicts. Whereas there are many structural similarities when mediating between governments (interstate conflicts) versus between governments and nonstate armed actors (civil wars), the primary difference is that civil war contexts are permeated more intensively by issues relating to international recognition, power asymmetry, fragmentation, and complexity.


Mining is a vital part of the Global economy, but the extraction of metals, metalloids, and other mineral products generates vast quantities of liquid and solid waste. Currently the volume is estimated at several thousand million tons per annum, but is increasing exponentially as demand and exploitation of lower-grade deposits increases. The high concentrations of potentially toxic elements in these wastes can pose risks to ecosystems and humans, but these risks can be mitigated by implementing appropriate management or remediation schemes. Although there are a large number of such schemes available, there is still a need to research the processes, products, and effectiveness of implementation, as well as the nature of the mine wastes themselves. This Special Issue is aimed at bringing together studies in the areas of mine waste characterization, management, and remediation, to review the current state of knowledge and to develop improvements in current schemes. Fourteen manuscripts are published for this Special Issue, and these are summarized below.[...]


Forests sequester carbon from the atmosphere, and in so doing can mitigate the effects of climate change. Fire is a natural disturbance process in many forest systems that releases carbon back to the atmosphere. In dry temperate forests, fires historically burned with greater frequency and lower severity than they do today. Frequent fires consumed fuels on the forest floor and maintained open stand structures. Fire suppression has resulted in increased understory fuel loads and tree density; a change in structure that has caused a shift from low- to high-severity fires. More severe fires, resulting in greater tree mortality, have caused a decrease in forest carbon stability. Fire management actions can mitigate the risk of high-severity fires, but these actions often require a trade-off between maximizing carbon stocks and carbon stability. We discuss the effects of fire on forest carbon stocks and recommend that managing forests on the basis of their specific ecologies should be the foremost goal, with carbon sequestration being an ancillary benefit.


Three high-yielding wheat genotypes (T. aestivum L., c.v. Siete Cerros, Seri and Bacanora, released in 1966, 1982 and 1988, respectively) were grown under irrigation in two high radiation, low relative humidity environments (Tlaltizapan and Ciudad Obregon CIMMYT experimental stations, Mexico). Gas exchange and fluorescence parameters were assessed on the flag leaf during the day. Carbon isotope discrimination (delta) was analysed in flag leaf at anthesis and in grain at maturity. In both environments, gas exchange and fluorescence parameters varied markedly with irradiance and temperature. Analysis of their respective variation indicated the occurrence of photo-respiration and photo-inhibition, particularly in Tlaltizapan, the warmest environment, and in Siete Cerros. In Ciudad Obregon (high-yielding environment) lower Ci (internal CO2 concentration) and delta La (carbon isotope discrimination of the leaf) suggested a higher intrinsic photosynthetic capacity in the variety Bacanora. Higher yield of this genotype was also associated with higher Fv'/Fo' (ratio of photochemical and non photochemical rate constants in the light) and Fm'/Fm (ratio of the non photochemical rate constants in the dark and light adapted state).


The OMG Essence standard has recently been published as the kernel for software engineering methods [1]. We show that the Essence view of software engineering is reminiscent of a nondeterministic, multidimensional finite state machine, and that the Essence lends support to a semi-Markov decision process model of software engineering which, in practice, facilitates a goal-driven adaptive software engineering. We develop an activity-state mapping algorithm and a goal-activity cover algorithm based on the Essence, which can help automate the health monitoring of project states and the adaptive planning of project activities in a software engineering project.


NK cell maturation is a continuous process, which initiates in the bone marrow and proceeds in peripheral tissues, where NK cells follow distinct differentiation routes. Drastic phenotypic changes are observed during progression from precursors to mature NK cells, including changes of expression and functionalities of several chemoattractant receptors. Upon differentiation, mature NK cells migrate outside the bone marrow; as well, peculiar subsets of NK cells can also home back to or localize in this anatomic compartment to play specific functions. In humans, NK cells with a tissue resident phenotype have been identified in bone marrow, sharing similarities with tissue resident memory CD8+ T cells; while in mouse, long-lived NK cells undergo homeostatic proliferation in this site during viral infections. The mechanisms underlying NK cell subset localization in the bone marrow have only recently started to be investigated, especially in pathological settings such as tumors or infections. In this review, we discuss the phenotype and function of NK cells as well as their requirements for bone marrow maintenance and/or homing.


The monitoring of mammography screening is a major area of practical utilization of cancer registration. However, the methodological and operational implications of the active intervention of the registry in a population-based screening programme have seldom been addressed. In 1996, mammography screening was implemented in the districts of Forlì and Ravenna (72,000 women aged 50-69) of the Romagna Region of Italy. At the same time, the methods for breast cancer (BC) registration through the Romagna Cancer Registry have been modified. A set of special items of information regarding the detection mode, TNM classification, and pattern of treatment has been associated to the routine registration variables. The data are actively collected and rapidly processed. The purposes of the present paper are to point out the rationale and methods of the protocol, and to document (a) the completeness of the individual records of the 304 BC cases notified to the registry between January and September, 1996, as evaluated on March 31, 1997, and (b) the completeness of this case series as estimated on the basis of the temporal increase in the cumulative proportion of BC cases notified to the registry for the year 1992. The data indicate that the rapid collection of items of information which are essential for a registry concerned with screening monitoring is feasible.


OBJECTIVES
Develop and implement a machine learning algorithm to predict severe sepsis and septic shock and evaluate the impact on clinical practice and patient outcomes.

DESIGN
Retrospective cohort for algorithm derivation and validation, pre-post impact evaluation.

SETTING
Tertiary teaching hospital system in Philadelphia, PA.

PATIENTS
All non-ICU admissions; algorithm derivation July 2011 to June 2014 (n = 162,212); algorithm validation October to December 2015 (n = 10,448); silent versus alert comparison January 2016 to February 2017 (silent n = 22,280; alert n = 32,184).

INTERVENTIONS
A random-forest classifier, derived and validated using electronic health record data, was deployed both silently and later with an alert to notify clinical teams of sepsis prediction.

MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULT
Patients identified for training the algorithm were required to have International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition codes for severe sepsis or septic shock and a positive blood culture during their hospital encounter with either a lactate greater than 2.2 mmol/L or a systolic blood pressure less than 90 mm Hg. The algorithm demonstrated a sensitivity of 26% and specificity of 98%, with a positive predictive value of 29% and positive likelihood ratio of 13. The alert resulted in a small statistically significant increase in lactate testing and IV fluid administration. There was no significant difference in mortality, discharge disposition, or transfer to ICU, although there was a reduction in time-to-ICU transfer.

CONCLUSIONS
Our machine learning algorithm can predict, with low sensitivity but high specificity, the impending occurrence of severe sepsis and septic shock. Algorithm-generated predictive alerts modestly impacted clinical measures. Next steps include describing clinical perception of this tool and optimizing algorithm design and delivery.


This article defines convenience in foreign language teaching as a necessity to adapt teaching process to students' needs and expectations. On the basis of their teaching experience with Chinese learners, Ms Charmet and Ms Martin present a thorough error analysis and thus propose a method which is conform to Chinese way of thinking as well as to Chinese learning habits: amusing activities which lead students from repetition drills to a reflective and creative language use, with special attention to phonological difficulties.


Michel Houellebecq has repeatedly presented his literary work as something of a return to Schopenhauer. Yet this interpretation risks understating the complexity of Houellebecq's negotiations with Nietzsche — the self-proclaimed enemy of Schopenhauer — and the Nietzscheanism of la génération 68. In particular, it overlooks both his repetition of the Nietzschean themes of eternal return and Zarathustran laughter and the constitutive parody of this repetition, the effect of which is simultaneously to offer, withdraw, and suspend the withdrawal of the criticisms he articulates. The ambiguity plays out across Les Particules élémentaires (1998) and La Possibilité d'une île (2005), both of which can be read as staging a tension between two extreme, commodified versions of eternal return, namely the exhausted pseudo-transgression of popularized Zarathustra and a literal eternal return achieved through the science of cloning. These parodies of science and laughter contribute to Houellebecq's depiction of lifelessness rather than the joys of existence, but manage to preserve the prospect of affirming life in spite of nihilism. Filtered through an imminent critique of the post-68 reduction of philosophy to laughter, parody becomes a condition of Houellebecq's earnest reworking of the French Nietzschean legacy.


The Ionising Radiations Metrology Forum (IRMF) organised an intercomparison of calibrations of neutron area survey instruments in which five establishments in the UK participated. The exercise involved the circulation of two neutron dose-rate monitors for calibration in the fields produced using 252 Cf and 241 Am-Be. The instruments used were a Harwell model 0949 and a Studsvik model 2202D. All results were submitted to the author for analysis. Responses relative to neutron fluence, as stated by the individual participants, were calculated. The results are compared and demonstrate good agreement between establishments.


BACKGROUND
Mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP) is an uncommon bullous disease typically involving the oral cavity. The most commonly used laboratory test for the diagnosis of MMP is direct immunofluorescence (DIF) on fresh perilesional tissue, however, the sensitivity of this test may be hampered by technical difficulties. Immune-serological investigations can also be employed to render a diagnosis. The purpose of this paper is to present an evaluation of diagnostic testing for MMP within an Oral Medicine Unit in UK.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis of the medical records was undertaken for patients who had undergone biopsy and DIF testing from January 2016 to December 2018. Parameters analysed included clinical presentation, histopathological features, DIF, salt-split skin indirect immunofluorescence, ELISA anti-BP180 and BP 230 and HLA-DQB1*03:01 findings.

RESULTS
Thirty patients (23 females and 7 males, mean age 66.8 years-old) were diagnosed with MMP through a combination of histopathology and serological testing. Sixteen patients (53%) were DIF positive whereas in 14 (47%) MMP diagnosis was achieved using immune-serologic tests. HLA DQB1*03:01 status was undertaken in 15 DIF positive and 12 DIF negative patients and HLA DQB1*03:01 was found in 73% and 58% of the cases, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
This service evaluation has shown that when DIF is informative, it remains the gold standard technique for diagnosis of MMP. However, we have also highlighted the value of serological testing for increasing diagnostic yield for patients with suspected MMP and the potential for HLA DQB1*03:01 as an adjunctive test for the evaluation of MMP.


Objectives: To explore the psychological challenges faced by Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurses during COVID-19 pandemic and to determine the coping strategies which were used by ICU nurses to combat psychological and emotional stress during the health crisis. Study Design: Qualitative phenomenological approach was used to explore the insights of ICU nurses. Study Subjects: Data were collected from 12 ICU nurses till data saturation. Place and Duration: This study was completed in between August 02, 2021 to January 01, 2022 and was conducted at University of Health Sciences Lahore in collaboration with four tertiary care hospitals of Lahore. Results: Results of this study revealed that the situation was very chaotic. ICU nurses were prone to stress, fear and anxiety because they were more exposed to coronavirus than any other health care professional. The responses of the COVID-19 ICU nurses were categorized into three main themes. Psychological impact of the pandemic in the early stages, social effects of the pandemic and coping strategies. Conclusion: This study concluded that COVID-19 pandemic had a great impact on the psychological well-being of ICU nurses. Despite of adverse conditions, nurses had adopted certain strategies such as family support, religious support and infection prevention protocols which helped them to reduce their stress and fear during the COVID-19 outbreak. Key words: Coronavirus, pandemic, COVID-19 outbreak, psychological experiences, coping strategies, ICU Nurses


We have recently demonstrated that the pituitary hypothalamic complex (PHC) is a good model for studying interactions between the hypothalamus and pituitary in vitro. The amount of prolactin secreted by the PHC is an index of prolactin secreted by the pituitary in the presence of hypothalamic control, while the amount released by the whole pituitary alone is an index of prolactin secreted in the absence of hypothalamic control. The amount of prolactin secreted by the PHC has been regarded as an index of hypothalamic prolactin-releasing activity (HPRA), while the difference in the amounts of prolactin secreted by the whole pituitary and the PHC is the hypothalamic prolactin-inhibiting activity (HPIA). Attempts were made to correlate HPRA and HPIA to the development of serum concentrations of prolactin from days 7 to 77 in male rats. The HPRA increased steadily from days 7 to 56, decreased significantly on day 63 and thereafter remained unchanged until day 77. The HPIA was low on days 7 and 14 and increased steadily up to day 49, with no further significant variations. The developmental patterns of HPRA and HPIA were comparable up to day 49. Serum concentrations of prolactin increased significantly until day 28 and remained fairly constant until day 49. The weight of the pituitary gland increased from 1.0 +/- 0.03 mg (mean +/- S.E.M.) on day 7 to 7.76 +/- 0.32 mg on day 63 and remained unchanged thereafter. The weight of the hypothalamic islet was 31.5 +/- 2.88 mg on day 7, 34.83 +/- 1.45 mg on day 14 and 50.4 +/- 4.01 mg on day 21. After day 21 the weights of the hypothalamic islets were not significantly altered, except on day 49. It was concluded that serum concentrations of prolactin are regulated by interaction or competition between HPRA and HPIA at the level of the pituitary.


Recently, we reported that amine-induced folding of a more fluorescent, more linear structure into less fluorescent, more curved or helically folded states enables patterned recognitions of amines and ammoniums. In this article, we have carried out extensive ab initio calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G level that not only map out the detailed amine-induced folding/quenching pathways and plausible folding/quenching species but also surprisingly reveal the binding of amines to anionic hosts to be unusually cooperative in a way that the progressively more charged anionic hosts act as increasingly better "amine trappers". Accordingly amine-dependent folding occurs via a synergistic action of amines' basicity and the progressively more curved backbone of the host. Although a hexamer carrying four deprotonable hydroxyl sites can reach a tetra-anionic state, mono-, di-, tri-, and tetra-anionic complexes likely dominate as the major quenching species in the presence of, respectively, 2, 4, 8, and 72 equiv of primary amines.


The relationship between the exchange rate and the real GDP of Hong Kong in the long period from 1955 to 2015 is investigated using a structural VAR model. The mutual effect of the two variables is studied in three periods: The results indicate that there is no obvious relationship between the exchange rate and real GDP before Hong Kong's economy booming. However, a significant positive correlation is found in the sample of 1975–1998, which is associated with the output increases. The direction between the exchange rate and real GDP becomes negative after 1998. In addition, based on Granger causality test, we found the exchange rate could Granger causes GDP after 1975, but there is no Granger causality connection between the two variables before 1975.


In the present paper, we derive several inclusion relationships and argument properties for certain classes of multivalent analytic functions associated with a family of linear operators involving the Srivastava-Khairnar-More operator. Furthermore, some invariant properties under convolution with convex functions for these classes are investigated. Relevant connections of the results presented here with those obtained in earlier works are also pointed out.


An alternative synthetic route toward a key intermediate in the total synthesis of isoschizogamine is described. The Claisen-Johnson rearrangement stereoselectively constructed a quaternary carbon. Trifluoroperacetic acid mediated the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation to form a bicyclic lactone. The Mukaiyama-Matsuo protocol converted the lactone into an α,β-unsaturated lactone, that was used as the substrate for the rhodium-mediated 1,4-addition of an arylboronic acid.


NAD+ is an essential molecule for life, present in each living cell. It can function as an electron carrier or cofactor in redox biochemistry and energetics, and serves as substrate to generate the secondary messenger cyclic ADP ribose and nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate. Although de novo NAD+ biosynthesis is essential, different metabolic pathways exist in different eukaryotic clades. The kynurenine pathway starting with tryptophan was most likely present in the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes, and is active in fungi and animals. The aspartate pathway, detected in most photosynthetic eukaryotes, was probably acquired from the cyanobacterial endosymbiont that gave rise to chloroplasts. An evolutionary analysis of enzymes catalyzing de novo NAD+ biosynthesis resulted in evolutionary trees incongruent with established organismal phylogeny, indicating numerous gene transfers. Endosymbiotic gene transfers probably introduced the aspartate pathway into eukaryotes and may have distributed it among different photosynthetic clades. In addition, several horizontal gene transfers substituted eukaryotic genes with bacterial orthologs. Although horizontal gene transfer is accepted as a key mechanism in prokaryotic evolution, it is supposed to be rare in eukaryotic evolution. The essential metabolic pathway of de novo NAD+ biosynthesis in eukaryotes was shaped by numerous gene transfers.


Abstract Bouhezza is an Algerian traditional cheese made using different types of milk (goat, sheep and cow), ripened in a goat-skin or sheep-skin bag called Chekoua or Djeld of Bouhezza. The objective of the study was the characterization of Bouhezza cheese through ten cheese preparation trials using goat raw milk. The chemical and microbiological composition and proteolysis were monitored on ripened samples. The physicochemical characteristics showed that Bouhezza is acidic with a pH value of 3.95 and 2.36% for titratable acidity as lactic acid, 13.20% for protein and 12.74% for fat. At the end of ripening, Bouhezza was classified to be a ripened, soft and mid-fat cheese. Sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS–PAGE) of Bouhezza samples showed low proteolysis after 30 days of ripening. Microbiological results showed a high content of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), 8 to 9 log cfu/ g, an absence of pathogenic bacteria, and a low level of contamination flora. This makes the cheese a healthy product and of an acceptable hygienic quality. Four proteolytic lactic acid bacteria were identified by 16S ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) sequencing: two strains of Enterococcus faecalis, one E. faecium, and one Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei. Reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP–HPLC) of the soluble fraction at pH 4.4 showed changes occurred during ripening. This work highlights, characterizes, and improves the knowledge of cheese Bouhezza made with raw goat's milk. This product is rich in nutrients, such as proteins and minerals, that are useful to the consumer.


The continuous growth of the world population results in ever growing demands on food production, however the amount of area available to expand farming activities gets smaller every day. This is the chief motivator for techniques to help farmers improve the efficiency of their crops. This paper proposes the utilization of aerial images of plantations, captured by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), in order to monitor the plant's health, the vitality of the vegetation is calculated using well-known methods such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). However, alone this data is not enough because the farmer cannot decide which actions and where he should take, for that reason the management zones are needed. The vigor zones are calculated utilizing a classification algorithm to divide the crop in a prefixed number of regions, grouping those with similar aspects, which allows the producer to decide how he will act in each zone.


Abamectin and copper bactericides applied alone or in combination with other products for control of citrus leafminer (Phyllocnistis citrella; CLM ) and citrus canker (Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri) in lemons were evaluated for three seasons in a commercial lemon orchard in Tucuman, Argentina. Citrus canker control treatments were applied on six dates from petal fall to February each year at 28-day intervals with a high volume, air blast sprayer. CLM control treatments with abamectin were applied every 15 days during the period of high CLM pressure. Incidence of citrus canker on fruits was reduced significantly by all spray treatments compared with the non-sprayed control. Control of citrus canker by different sources of copper oxychloride and copper hydroxide was not significantly different. Higher application rates of copper hydroxide (0.20%) were more effective in controlling the disease than lower rates (0.15%). The combination of copper oxychloride with spray oil as an adherent or with disinfectants (quaternary ammonium, peracetic acid) did not improve disease control on fruit. Citrus canker on fruit was reduced 19% by abamectin treatment for CLM control. Addition of abamectin to six copper sprays did not provide greater control than the copper sprays alone.


1. FRIDAY, May 30, 9:30 11:00AM. Frederick Loewe Theatre Keynote Presentation: THE CHANGING FACE OF ORCHESTRATION FOR THE MOVING IMAGE PATRICK RUSS Today's film music orchestrator faces ever-tightening recording deadlines, the use of MIDI files as the final sketch by composers, a team of orchestrators on a project or even a single cue, and other developments changing the face of the craft. This once almost exclusive North American enterprise is now a global industry. Orchestrators encounter new challenges with music for video games, where multiple layers must work individually as well as together. Yet new opportunities abound with arrangements of film music for the concert hall, often with projection of live film, and publications of symphonic suites derived from film scores. 2. FRIDAY, May 30, 11:30 1:00PM, Loewe Theatre HOW BERNARD HERRMANN STOPPED THE WORLD IN THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL Stephen Husarik, University of Arkansas Fort Smith Bernard Herrmann's soundtrack for The Day the Earth Stood Still (1950) is widely celebrated among film historians yet remains almost unnoticed among histories of electronic music. This paper asserts that, aside from its use of Theremins and other electronic instruments, the orchestrations alone in The Day the Earth Stood Still make it the first comprehensive electronic composition in music history. Furthermore, composer Herrmann illustrated the power of music to describe the suspension of mechanical and electrical motion through musical means--a truly awkward assignment because music itself is an art of motion. A film director can use freeze frames or one-camera shots to show frozen action, but how does a composer freeze music? Three musical examples from the film are offered to explain the perceived suspension of motion in The Day the Earth Stood Still: 1) nullification of harmonic progress with polytonality 2) nullification of rhythmic pulse with polyrhythms and 3) nullification of instrumental acoustics by means of electronic instruments and tape manipulations. The author devotes a small introductory portion of this presentation to historical aspects of the cold war era to give the film a narrative context. ISOMORPHISM AND THE FEMALE DOUBLE: REPRESENTATIONS OF THE PSYCHE IN BERNARD HERRMANN'S SCORE FOR SISTERS (1973) Ariane Lebot, New York University Bernard Herrmann declared "that film music expresses what the actor can't show or tell"*. An analysis of his score for Brian De Palma's Sisters (1973) demonstrates how the composer did not consider his work to merely accompany the images, but that it is inseparable from both the narrative and its intricacies, serving an integral function towards the meaning of the film. Alongside Herrmann's customary practice of producing all aspects of the score, his involvement with Sisters after a prolonged separation from Hollywood gave him an extensive opportunity to manifest full control—his salary notably proved to be the greatest expenditure of the film's budget. Through the analysis of seemingly un-climactic cues, I will contend that Herrmann structurally transposes the psychological states of his characters in the writing of his music, and that he divulges the narrative's twists through the distribution of musical elements in his orchestration and especially through isomorphism—the visual representation of concepts. This paper will argue that the music transcends its initial function of creating and sustaining the anticipation and suspense fostered by the murder plot, rather manifesting a holistic vision of the film through emphasis on female twinning. Indeed, a comparative analysis of the film, of Herrmann's manuscript score and of his recording of the music, will reveal the Sisters score as a testimony of the composer's personal vision of both the film and film music composition. PICNIC: A READING IN THE MELODRAMA OF ANTI-SUBLIMATION Jordan Stokes, CUNY Graduate Center Music speaks where words leave off, or so the theory goes. Many influential accounts of film music hold that scores expose tensions that otherwise must remain unspoken, stifled by either repression (in Freud's sense) or ideology (in Marx's). In the film theory literature, the same claim has been made -not only of music, but of any non-signifying aesthetic flourish -by scholars of melodrama such as Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. This model is elegant and intellectually satisfying, not least because it is easily testable. We can use it to predict how music ought to behave in a given melodrama; if it does, this supports prevailing theories of both music and genre. Some of this work has already been carried out by scholars such as Heather Laing, who synthesizes the literature referenced above to show us how 1930s and 40s melodramas use elaborate nondiegetic music as the "voice" of female characters that are otherwise closed off from discourse. But although the model often succeeds, there are films for which it fails. This paper focuses on the lurid 1955 melodrama Picnic, where, rather than hinting at unspoken tensions, music marks the scenes in which those tensions are dragged violently to light. (It is the difference, perhaps, between using music as a censor's pen and using it as a highlighter.) Thus, in addition to exploring a George Duning score that really ought to be more widely known, this paper confronts an important meta-theoretical problem: how should genre theory deal with recalcitrant texts? 3. FRIDAY, May 30, 11:30 1:00PM , 6th floor SCORING TO 'SCARE THE PANTS OFF THE AMERICANS': ORCHESTRATION, PROPAGANDA, AND THE EVOLUTION OF VAUGHAN WILLIAMS' MUSIC FOR 49TH PARALLEL (1941) Annabel Fleming-Brown, University of Glasgow In his autobiography, British director Michael Powell states that his 1941 film, 49 Parallel, commissioned by the UK Ministry of Information, was explicitly intended to "scare the pants off the Americans, and bring them into the war sooner." Although much existing scholarship on the film focuses on its overt propagandist agenda, specific studies of Vaughan Williams's score have treated this contextual information as relatively unimportant marginalia. Scholars of the music have focussed, instead, either on the use and manipulation of the German Lutheran hymn, Ein feste burg, or on the ways in which the film score inspired and influenced later works by the composer. We have yet to receive a detailed analysis of the score itself or a study of the particular creative processes that lay behind it. This paper proposes an analysis of the music for 49 Parallel that considers its orchestration a key mediator of the film's political project. With specific reference to the autograph sketches and scores in the Vaughan Willliams archive alongside production material in the Muir Mathieson archive (both housed at the British Library) I trace the successive stages of the score's orchestral realisation in order to show the relationship between this particular aspect of the compositional process and the pro-interventionist aims of the entire production. Ultimately, I demonstrate precise ways in which the composer's selection and refinement of certain instrumental combinations contributed surprising depth and complexity to the propagandistic impact sought by the Ministry at this pivotal moment in the War. A VAMPIRE FILM FOR THE MTV GENERATION: TERROR, BANALITY, & MARKETING IN THE MUSIC OF THE LOST BOYS Sara Gulgas University of Pittsburgh This paper explores the aural technologies of eliciting terror and sympathy at once in American vampire films of the 1980s. I take as my case study The Lost Boys (1987), which incorporated teenaged vampires, American popular music, and cross promotion between the film and music industry in order to engage with the expectations of the targeted audience. As I show, the film's audio-visual processes work to establish collective codes and create preferred readings but only so that they could be altered in order to terrify. The film allows the audience to sympathize with the on-screen characters while simultaneously altering the audience's perception of reality through shifts between the familiar and the strange. Music is crucial in leading the perceivers to identify with the main protagonist, Michael, as he attempts to find himself within these vacillations. Subtle shifts between a composed score and a compiled score serve to link a range of previously isolated associations: those between religious and terrifying aspects of organ music as well as those between the perceivers' previously formed identifications and the newly accrued connotations of famous rock songs. I analyze "Cry Little Sister," "People Are Strange," and "Walk This Way" within the context of three scenes in the film to show the ways in which the "MTV aesthetic" of rapid three-second shots aids in altering preconceived notions of a targeted group ostensibly marketing normalcy, but in the end only seeking terror in the familiar. BETWEEN GRACE AND NATURE: THE TREE OF LIFE'S MUSICAL DIALOGIC PROCESS AND FORMAL STRUCTURE Katherine Reed, University of Florida With its recurring images of fire and water, The Tree of Life is ruled by contrasts through which director Terrence Malick highlights a central binary between the ways of nature and grace. This opposition, first introduced in the opening voice-over, rules the lives of the film's central characters and is clearly reflected the relationship between the O'Brien family's father and mother. Narrative realization of the conflict between God and nature is extended to the very images and sound of the film, most notably in the reuse of compositions drawn from the art music canon and their incorporation with the film's score by Alexandre Desplat. This interplay of contrasts provides an extra-narrative formal structure for The Tree of Life. In this paper, I track the musical dialogic process embodied in the film's contrasting use of music by Mahler, Brahms, and Bach, among others. Calling upon historical narratives attached to th


A highly sensitive label-free electrochemical aptasensor has been constructed for the electrochemical detection of thrombin (TB) and adenosine (AD), where nickel hexacyanoferrate (NiHCF) redox probes were immobilized on the electrode surface by electrodeposition. Through the strong interaction between CN - (NiHCF) and gold nanoparticles (GNPs), GNPs were assembled on the NiHCF modified electrode for the immobilization of thiolated thrombin aptamer (APT-1). GNPs ef-fectively provided many binding sites for the assembly of thiol derivated aptamer and favorable microenvironment for the aptasensor, which greatly improves the performance of the aptasensor. Then, APT-1 was hybridized with adenosine aptamer (APT-2). For the detection of thrombin, the modified electrode was immersed in the thrombin solution with different concen-trations. The APT-1 on the modified electrode could bind the TB onto the electrode surface, which resulted in a barrier for electron-transfer, leading to decrease of the current of redox probe NiHCF. For adenosine detection, the procedure was analogous to thrombin detection. Cyclic voltammetry and SEM were used to characterize the electrochemical behaviors and the morphology of NiHCF film. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to monitor the self-assembly process of the aptamer biosensor. The electrochemical behavior of the aptamer biosensor was studied by the cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry for the detection of TB and AD. The biosensor shows a good linear range of 1.0 fg•mL - 1 ~ 1.0 μ g•mL - 1 for thrombin, R = 0.997, with a detection limit of 0.27 fg•mL - 1 ; the biosensor shows a good linear range of 1.0 fg•mL - 1 ~ 1.0 ng•mL - 1 for AD, R = 0.997, with a detection limit of 0.36 fg•mL - 1 . A comparison of the analytical performance such as the sensitivity, the linear range, the detection limit, redox probe and electrochemical technique between the de-veloped aptasensor and other previously reported methods in the literatures has been performed. The biosensor has simple preparation procedure, high sensitivity, low detection and strong anti-interference ability.


Abstract Objectives This study aimed to investigate automatic and voluntary motor control performances, which have an important function in maintaining balance, in children and adolescents with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS). Methods The records of 70 patients were retrospectively analyzed. The results of Computerized Dynamic Posturography (CDP) performed according to the age and development of the individuals were examined. The results of 10 children and adolescents with MPS (mean age: 9.43 ranging from 6 to 14; four males and six females) who completed the sensory analysis, Weight-Bearing Squat Test, and Adaptation Test were retrieved from the database of the CDP. Nine healthy children and adolescents with typical development (mean age: 9.63 ranging from 6 to 14; four males and five females) were included as the control group. Results In the sensory analysis test, there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the visual ratio parameter. In the adaptation test, there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the toes up and toes down trials. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in the Weight-Bearing Squat test at 0° knee extension and various knee flexions. Conclusions Children and adolescents with MPS should be directed to the appropriate exercise and therapy programs to develop postural and balance control, which have a significant effect on their quality of life and the ability to independently perform daily activities of living. In addition to routine hearing assessments for patients with MPS, other objective tests used in the differential diagnosis of balance and vestibular system should also be implemented.


Turbulence measurements were undertaken using a two-component laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) in a serpentine contact tank (CT) commonly used for water chlorination. A detailed examination of turbulent parameters was carried out and showed the significant effects of the baffle lee and the inlet and outlet of the tank on the CT's hydraulic efficiency. Turbulence levels were quantified along the tank and were found to be considerably high in the tank inlet, first and second compartments and to be decaying rapidly in the latter compartments. The decay rate of turbulence along the tank is similar to that of the grid generated turbulence. The turbulence generation mechanisms in the first compartment were identified using comparative studies of the turbulence characteristics in the backward-facing step flow obtained by Eaton and Johnston (1981) and in the plane wall jet flow obtained by Rajaratnam (1976). The main contribution of the high turbulence level in the compartment was found to be due to shear generated turbulence in the upper layer. Tracer measurements were also carried out and an optimum dispersion coefficient at the outlet of the tank was found to be 16.2 cm2/s. From the Marske and Boyle's equation (1973) in this tank, for b = 37, the dispersion coefficient is 2.9 cm2/s, which is one order smaller than that obtained from this study.


Implementation of the 2013WHO diagnostic criteria for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM), with lower threshold values required for the diagnosis of GDM, may be associated with further rise in the number of missed cases, especially among "low risk women". This prospective study determined the proportions of women with GDM who were low risk. A hundred and seventeen pregnant women of gestational age 24-32weeks were screened with 50-g glucose challenge Test (GCT) and their GDM risk factor status noted. GCT positive women had 75-gOGTT, using 2013WHO GDM diagnostic criteria. The prevalence of GDM was 7.7% and about 55% of women with GDM had "low risk" status. There was no significant difference in the plasma glucose values of low risk and high risk women. With more than 50% of women with GDM being low risk, risk factorbased screening approach may be very unreliable in screening for GDM.


Abstract Patients who have had blood transfusions whilst in hospital must have this information communicated to their General Practitioner at discharge. Audit demonstrated that just 50% of patients (n=15) under medical specialties who had undergone a blood transfusion had this information included in their discharge letter. To improve this, a section was specifically designated on the e-discharge pro-forma for the documentation of blood transfusion events, and focused teaching was delivered to all new FY1 doctors at their induction. Post intervention, 80% of blood transfusions occurring in medical patients were documented on the e-discharge, with an improvement in how detailed this documentation was (n=40). This simple intervention is an easily reproducible, cost neutral method of ensuring that more blood transfusion events are communicated to patients' GPs; improving care and reducing risk.


Urban trees could represent important short- and long-term landscape sinks for elemental carbon (EC). Therefore, we quantified foliar EC accumulation by two widespread oak tree species--Quercus stellata (post oak) and Quercus virginiana (live oak)--as well as leaf litterfall EC flux to soil from April 2017 to March 2018 in the City of Denton, Texas, within the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Post oak trees accumulated 1.9-fold more EC (299 ± 45 mg EC m-2 canopy yr-1) compared to live oak trees (160 ± 31 mg EC m-2 canopy yr-1). However, in the fall, these oak species converged in their EC accumulation rates, with ~70% of annual accumulation occurring during fall and on leaf surfaces. The flux of EC to the ground via leaf litterfall mirrored leaf-fall patterns, with post oaks and live oaks delivering ~60% of annual leaf litterfall EC in fall and early spring, respectively. We estimate that post oak and live oak trees in this urban ecosystem potentially accumulate 3.5 t EC yr-1, equivalent to ~32% of annual vehicular EC emissions from the city. Thus, city trees are significant sinks for EC and represent potential avenues for climate and air quality mitigation in urban areas.


To test the hypothesis that macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) plays a role in macrophage invasion during virus‐induced encephalitis, we analyzed the expression and cellular localization of MIF in the Borna disease virus (BDV)‐infected rat brain, monitored monocyte/macrophage infiltration, and evaluated the influence of anti‐inflammatory treatment with dexamethasone. MIF mRNA expression was restricted to neurons and remained unchanged after BDV infection or after dexamethasone treatment of either BDV‐infected or uninfected control rats. In contrast, MIF protein immunoreactivity (ir) was not only seen in neurons but also in glia. After BDV‐induced encephalitis and treatment of uninfected rats with dexamethasone, MIF ir was only slightly altered in neurons but moderately enhanced in tanycytes, ependyma, and choroid plexus epithelium and markedly increased or induced in astrocyte end‐feet at the blood‐brain barrier (BBB). The increase in MIF ir in astrocytes after BDV infection was blocked by dexamethasone. The induction or enhancement of MIF ir at the BBB significantly correlated with reduced numbers of infiltrating ED1‐positive monocytes/macrophages after BDV infection. Increased macrophage invasion was observed in regions where no astrocytic MIF was detected. The BDV‐ or dexamethasone‐induced accumulation of MIF protein in astrocytes in vivo in absence of detectable astrocytic MIF mRNA expression is most likely due to MIF translocation from neurons rather than to a constitutive or induced MIF mRNA expression in astrocytes. In conclusion, we provide evidence that translocation of MIF from neurons or other extracellular sources into astrocytes is likely to modulate the inflammatory process during the course of virus‐induced encephalitis by limiting monocyte/macrophage migration through the BBB. GLIA 37:291–306, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


OBJECTIVES
Although many techniques have been proposed for the repair of tympanic membrane perforations, few address the unique challenges presented by anterior marginal perforations. In these circumstances, traditional underlay and overlay techniques are often complicated by issues including blunting of the anterior tympanomeatal angle, graft lateralization, delayed healing, and reduced graft take rates. The "window shade" tympanoplasty technique described in this paper incorporates several aspects of the underlay and overlay techniques to address these issues.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING
A retrospective chart review was conducted at an academic medical center, of all patients who underwent window shade tympanoplasty from 1994 to 2016 by a single surgeon.

PATIENTS
A total of 412 patients aged 6 to 76 years old were included in the study. Patients who had undergone concomitant ossicular chain reconstruction were excluded from the hearing outcome portion of the analysis.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Any patients observed to have residual postoperative perforations within the first 6 months after surgery were considered to have graft failure. Complications such as otorrhea, serous otitis media, epithelial pearls, and post-auricular infection were tabulated. Air-bone gap closure was also assessed.

RESULTS
Postoperative outcomes of 412 patients were assessed including graft take rate, complication rates, and air-bone gap closure. The graft take success rate was 94.2%. Overall complication rate was 4.6%. 82.6% of patients achieved air-bone gap closure within 10 dB.

CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study further reinforce the success of the window shade technique in repairing anterior marginal tympanic membrane perforations.


Tetramerista glabra has a remarkable combination of life history traits. It is a dense‐wooded, large, common canopy tree in primary peat swamp rain forest. Its seedlings, although shade tolerant, can grow rapidly in high light conditions, but frequently lack structural stability. Most juvenile stems (94% in the understory and 38% in canopy gaps) collapse under their own weight or from branchfalls. Fallen stems then ramify into vegetative sprouts, which in turn may collapse, perpetuating a vegetative juvenile cycle. Most recruitment is from sprouts rather than from seed. Structural analysis of stem dimensions shows that stems 2–8 cm DBH (diameter at breast height) are close to the theoretical buckling limit, especially for those dependent on neighboring vegetation to maintain vertical form. Trees > 4 cm DBH persisting as upright stems develop stilt root support and become structurally independent at ca 8 cm DBH. Eventually, as stems thicken, stilt roots anastamose and trees adopt the cylindrical growth form of mature canopy trees (up to 150 cm DBH). Thus, the vegetative life history strategy of the species is to: (i) regenerate a large "ramet bank" from the majority of juveniles that fail structurally while suppressed in the understoty, and (ii) to maximize height growth at the expense of diameter growth in high light conditions. The growth pattern and plastic form of T. glabra shows how a shade tolerant species may adapt to utilize the ephemeral light resource in canopy gaps. The growth strategy of this species allows it to circumvent the normal trade‐off between shade tolerance and rapid growth in canopy gaps.


Several aspects of genomic prediction require use of allele frequencies that ideally reflect the base generation of the available pedigree. This includes computation of model-based reliabilities of direct genomic values (DGV) in the context of multi-step genomic evaluations, computation of genomic relationships to be used in single-step GBLUP, and computation of relationships among metafounders. In many cases, the allele frequencies computed from the currently genotyped population are used instead, motivated by the observation that computation of base generation allele frequencies is time consuming. Our aim was to compare the efficiency and accuracy of different methods to compute base generation allele frequencies. The first method employed the gene content method, by running a BLUP on the SNP genotypes and considering a heritability of 0.99. Either a univariate BLUP run for each SNP, or a multiple-trait BLUP run for several SNPs was performed, considering zero genetic correlations among the SNPs. The second method employed a general least squares estimator that is equivalent to the first method, albeit that it does not consider a residual variance. First analyses on simulated data without selection, missing genotypes or genotype errors in the data showed that the second method is superior in both accuracy and efficiency, but only if the inverse of the A matrix was computed using imputation on the fly. The implementation of the second method required less than two minutes to compute base generation allele frequencies for 1 670 SNPs based on 100 078 genotyped animals, and a total pedigree of 325 266 animals. Subsequent analyses with datasets simulating selection, missing genotypes and genotyping errors, that are closer to data used in practice, supported the results that the second method is more efficient and accurate.


The in vivo localization of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) mRNA expression was studied in the cartilage and bone cells of the femur of young adult rats to compare its distribution with that of the GR protein, which had previously been shown histochemically in the same areas. To achieve this, we used a synthetic oligodeoxynucleotide as a probe, in line with the published human GR (hGR) cDNA sequence. The probe was coupled to fluorescein (FL), applying a rapid Fast-Tag TM FL nucleic acid labeling method. Negative controls were achieved by using sense sequences of the hGR oligoprobe, similarly coupled by using the Fast-Tag TM FL labeling kit. Dewaxed sections were treated for in situ hybridization (ISH) histochemistry with the antisense and sense oligoprobes. The ISH reaction product was more intense in the cytoplasm of proliferative and maturative chondrocytes of the growth plate cartilage than in that shown in the hypertrophic ones. In the metaphyseal secondary ossification zone, osteoblasts (OBs) and osteocytes (OCs) were variably labeled, whereas osteoclasts (OCLs) were always intensely stained. The labeling was also visible in some bone marrow cells, in articular chondrocytes, in the cells of tendon-bone junctions, and in the perichondrium and periosteal cells. Our results confirm a cellular co-location of GR protein and mRNA. In agreement with GR immunolocalization, the variability of labeling appeared to be related to the cell cycle, the stage of differentiation and cell-type differences.


The present state of research in the field of the natural polysaccharide chitin and chitosan is described. The bibliography includes 225 references.


Attempts were made to cross Cajanus cajan with Atylosia species, and to investigate causes of, and develop techniques to overcome, intergeneric incompatibility. Pods formed following some interspecific hybridizations contained shriveled seeds, and hybrid embryos were cultured. Seeds were obtained from some interspecific crosses with chickpea. Hormone treatment at pollination was used to produce hybrid embryos from crosses between A. hypogaea and distantly related tetraploid wild species. Ovule and embryo culture was used to produce hybrid callus and shoots, but effective roots were not induced. Hybrid shoots were grafted onto groundnut seedlings. Compatible diploid wild species were used as sources of resistance, and a number of high-yielding, disease-resistant lines were produced following ploidy and genome manipulations.


The study of painting materials is a primary goal for the historical and artistic characterization of works of artbecause it provides useful information about the original materials and their degradation products, the paintingstechnique and any conservation treatments. However, the archaeometric investigations are very complex because theneed to safeguard the Cultural Heritage makes necessary the use of non or micro invasive techniques. Among thepossible analytical approaches, Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, supported by X-ray Fluorescencespectroscopy for a faster elements identification, allows stratigraphic analysis with high spatial resolution enough todiscriminate different layers. Moreover, an integrated approach based on XRF and LIBS investigation is particularlyuseful for the complementarities of the outcomes in terms, both of investigated thicknesses and detectable elementalcontent.This paper aims to validate, in the archaeometry field, the use of LIBS for stratigraphic investigation of paintedsurfaces/objects by means of analytical results obtained from original fragments of mural paintings originating fromdifferent sites and artistic eras. Indeed the focus of this work is to determine the optimum parameters for bothtechniques in order to acquire the maximum information with the least damage to the works of art.The results have demonstrated the usefulness of the LIBS investigation, through that it has been possible toreveal chemical elements undetectable by XRF and to analyse the stratigraphic sequence of paint layers from thesurface up to the support layer. Furthermore they have provided good insight into the different painting layers byconfirming the potential of the LIBS to carried out stratigraphic analyses in a micro destructive way.


The Postpartum period is characterized by overwhelming emoti ona l, biological, physical, and social changes. It needs significant personal and interpersonal adaptation, especially in primigravida. Pregnant women and their families are colored by the joyful arrival of a new baby in the postpartum period. But also, the mother in the postpartum period can be vulnerable to a range of postpartum psychosis. Postpartum psychosis is one of serious mental disorder that can result in adverse consequ e nc es such as suicide. Suicide is rare during the acute episode, but the rate is high later in the mother's life and first-degree relatives. Psychos is postpartum is frequently under‐diagnosed, it needs early screening and diagnosis to determine the appropriate treatment as a mandatory part of postpartum care.


When the current Dutch coalition government was formed, it was decided that 350m euro/year should be raised by imposing a tax on air tickets, but is was not yet decided how exactly this should be implemented. Several options were considered: to put a tax on all passengers (transfer and departing/arriving passengers), on freight or on each aircraft movement. The effects of each of the implementations under consideration were studied with the help of a strategic air travel model: Aeolus. Aeolus (originally named ACCM: Airport Catchment area and Competition Model) was developed over the last few years in order to forecast passenger numbers at Schiphol airport under different scenario assumptions. This model includes competition effects from airports in the neighbourhood, including in other countries. Many different implementations were considered. These implementations differed in the segments that should pay tax (transfer passengers and/or departing/arriving passengers and/or freight) and whether the tax was flat, or was differentiated by destination (Europe or intercontinental). The study showed that if a tax was put on the transfer passengers and/or freight, the impacts were very strong (decrease of number of passengers and/or amount of freight of up to 30%). Putting a tax on only departing/arriving passengers has a slightly more moderate impact on passenger numbers. If the tax is differentiated by destinations the impact on regional airports is mitigated compared to a flat tax. Finally, the government decided to put a tax on departing passengers only: 11.25 Euro per departure for European destinations and 45 Euro for intercontinental destinations. It is expected that this will result in a two or three year stagnation of passenger growth at Schiphol, before the normal growth recommences. In total, the number of passengers is expected to decrease by about 9% compared to a situation without a ticket tax. For the covering abstract see ITRD E145999


NOT ALL the maneuvers directed toward benefiting patients necessarily result in net benefit—a situation we readily accept in conscientiously attempting to avoid the toxic effects, complications, and side effects of medical and surgical treatments. Yet, like treatments, invasive diagnostic procedures present complications and side effects that may be less comprehensively appreciated. In this issue ofThe Journal, Carlson and colleagues 1 report pulmonary artery hemorrhage, a rare complication of flow-directed pulmonary artery catheterization, in three patients, one of whom was adroitly treated with therapeutic embolism. While the authors list risk factors for this complication (to which could be added recent cardiopulmonary bypass), their report should be considered in a broader context—that of indications for catheterization and the panoply of recognized complications, summarized in the Table, as well as the poorly understood physiological burden imposed by the presence of intravascular instrumentation itself. 2 Recognized Complications The precise incidence of recognizable complications


During the Middle Ordovician cephalopods became an important part of the macrofauna of the Baltoscandian carbonate platform. The earliest cephalopod abundance peak was reached during the early Darriwilian, within the Kunda Stage Yangtzeplacognathus crassus and Lenodus pseudoplanus conodont zones. In sediments of this time interval large orthoconic cephalopods often occur in masses with more than one specimen per square-meter on bedding surfaces. The assemblages are characterized by the strong dominance of often large endocerids. In proximal depositional settings coiled tarphycerids and other cephalopod groups are an important additional component. In the most distal settings orthocerids are the most important secondary component. Correspondence Analysis of assemblages throughout Baltoscandia revealed three distinct biofacies, which here are termed Orthocerid, Proterovaginoceras and Anthoceras Biofacies, respectively. The biofacies reflect differences in depth and proximity to the shoreline and are consistent with the Baltoscandian Confacies Belts. Spatial changes in absolute abundance and taxonomic composition indicate increased original cephalopod population densities and habitat expansion within the Y. crassus and L. pseudoplanus conodont zones. A nearly coeval abundance peak in a similar facies in South China indicates supraregional causes of the mass occurrence, probably reflecting a globally increased nutrient availability in the water column during the Darriwilian.


Recently, it has been discovered that ostracon IFAO No. 1864 recto also bears an inscription. It says that B3j was killed as "great enemy" in the 5th year of Pharoa Siptah. This means that a connection between B3j and Moses (E. A. Knauf ) or even an identification of B3j with Moses (J. C. de Moor) is inappropriate. Whatever personage Egyptologists declare to be a "parallel" of Moses, B3j cannot be taken as one.


Introduction: Exposure of skin to UVB irradiation leads to adverse effects on health including skin aging, cancer, etc. Sulforaphane is an antioxidant compound derived naturally from cruciferous vegetables and also known for its chemo-preventive properties. This research project aims to investigate the effect of sulforaphane supplementation in human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells exposed to UVB irradiation. Methods and Results: Briefly, exposure to UVB has a negative impact in HaCaT cell viability in a manner where the higher the intensity of the exposure the greater the reduction in cell viability. In addition, it was observed that the greatest degree of sulforaphane-induced protection was when the cells were pre-treated (for 24 hrs) and 48 hrs after exposure to the highest dose of UVB irradiation (200mJ/cm2). In fact, at this time point (48 hrs), sulforaphane was found to cause an increased rate of cell proliferation observed at every concentration tested: 0.5μM (122.0%), 1.0μM (130.0%), 2.5μM (136.0%), 5.0μM (141.0%) and 10.0μM (111.0%). Conclusion: Our data suggest that sulforaphane significantly protected HaCaT cells from exposure to UVB. In addition, we have also demonstrated that when added post-exposure, sulforaphane was less effective in providing protection against UVB irradiation, in HaCaT cells, and was even cytotoxic at concentrations of 10.0μM and higher.


Primary adenocarcinoma of the appendix is a rare malignancythat constitutes < 0.5% of all gastrointestinalneoplasms. Moreover, primary signet ring cell carcinomaof the appendix is an exceedingly rare entity. In the present report, we describe a rare case of primary signet ring cell carcinoma of the appendix with ovarian metastasesand unresectable peritoneal dissemination occurring in a 45-year-old female patient. She was clinically misdiagnosed as torsion of ovarian cyst. She underwent appendicectomy and unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy.Histopathology revealed signet ring cell carcinoma and a right hemicolectomy was done. She then received palliative systemic chemotherapy with 12 cycles of oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil, and leucovorin (FOLFOX-4). The patient is doing well till today on follow up without progression of disease 10 mo after beginning chemotherapy.


Males of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans are longer-lived, more stress resistant and more likely to enter an alternative dispersal stage (dauer) than hermaphrodites. Why might this be? Since these traits are suppressed by insulin-/IGF-l-like signalling (IIS), it seemed possible that IIS levels could be lower in males. Increased male lifespan and stress resistance were dependent upon daf-16, which encodes the transcription factor negatively regulated by IIS, suggesting that IIS is down-regulated in males. Moreover, the male bias to dauer formation was lost in IIS mutants. However, DAF-16::GFP was more localised to the nucleus (where it is active) in hermaphrodites, hence sex differences in DAF-16 activity may occur downstream of IIS. Lifespan is extended by certain uncoordinated (unc) mutations, which disrupt motility by affecting neurons or musculature. Only neuronal unc mutations extended lifespan, suggesting that disruption of neurotransmission and/or neuroendocrine function may be responsible. The 76-dependence of the lifespan increase due to several unc mutations suggests that IIS may be the component affected. Since unc mutations increase lifespan more in males than hermaphrodites, sex differences in IIS/ DAF-16 activity may underlie this effect, at least in part. Hermaphrodite lifespan is regulated by gonadal signalling. Lifespan responses of males to ablation of gonad precursors were reduced relative to hermaphrodites, suggesting reduced lifespan regulation by the male gonad. Moreover, in contrast to hermaphrodites, male lifespan was largely unaffected by mutation of daf-12, which encodes a nuclear hormone receptor that interacts with IIS and is involved with transduction of gonadal signals. Overall, therefore, evidence suggests fundamental sex differences in lifespan regulation. Why might this evolve? Studies of several dioecious and other androdioecious species suggested that increased male lifespan is a general trait among nematodes. Potentially, differential degrees of male rarity and exposure to non-senescent modes of death shape evolution of sex differences in lifespan.


The policy of inflation targeting is a monetary regime that is inflation. His practice was marked by a large, observed at the beginning of the 90s and 2000, stability a debate emerges on efficiency and economic performance of the scheme. Many studies have focused on this question has no authority to reach a final consensus. The objective of this paper is to contribute to this debate by clarifying the origin of this monetary regime and offering, thereafter our own gate quantitative analysis. We use the analysis of two macroeconomic aggregates: inflation and economic growth under different samples. This paper analyzes the relevance of the inflation targeting (IT) policy in achieving its primary goal of medium term price stability in emerging countries. It finds that this monetary policy regime has been associated with a general reduction in inflation and spur growth .This study seeks to improve upon these results by identifying the impact of timing on the policy decision as well as its impact as related to specific regions of the world.


Stroke is one of the most common causes of death worldwide. Genetic risk factors have been found to play important roles in the pathology of ischemic stroke. In a previous genome-wide association study, a functional variant (rs9943582, –154G/A) in the 5' flanking region of the apelin receptor gene (APLNR) was shown to be significantly associated with stroke in the Japanese population. However, the association required validation in other ethnicities. To validate the genetic relationship between APLNR and ischemic stroke in the Chinese Han population, we genotyped rs9943582 in a case–control population containing 1,158 ischemic stroke patients and 1,265 common controls enrolled from the GeneID database, and performed a genetic association study. We detected no allelic or genotypic associations between rs9943582 and ischemic stroke in the Chinese Han GeneID population, although the study population provided sufficient statistical power. This finding indicates that the association between the APLNR variant and ischemic stroke or atherosclerosis may need further validation.


From Nitrosomonas europaea which had been cultivated in a medium deficient in copper, cytochrome c oxidase (aa3-type) which did not have CuA was purified. The oxidase did not show the 830-nm peak and its ESR spectrum differed greatly from that of the normal enzyme, which has two copper atoms, CuA and CuB, per molecule. However, the oxidase which did not have CuA showed almost the same cytochrome c oxidizing activity as the normal oxidase.


Neural networks with Auto-regressive structures, such as Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), have become the most appealing structures for acoustic modeling of parametric text to speech synthesis (TTS) in ecent studies. Despite the prominent capacity to capture long-term dependency, these models consist of massive sequential computations that cannot be fully parallel. In this paper, we propose a U-shaped Fully-parallel Acoustic Neural Structure (UFANS), which is a deconvolutional alternative of RNNs for Statistical Parametric Speech Synthesis (SPSS). The experiments verify that our proposed model is over 20 times faster than RNN based acoustic model, both training and inference on GPU with comparable speech quality. Furthermore, We also investigate that how long information dependence really matters to synthesized speech quality.


Poly[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] (PDMAEMA) was grafted onto the bromine-functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) by applying an atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The PDMAEMA-functionalized MWNT was characterized by Fourier transform infrared, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, and four-probe resistivity meter. The wt % of PDMAEMA present in the PDMAEMA-functionalized MWNT was estimated by applying the thermogram results for thermal gravimetric analysis. Variations of PDMAEMA content in the PDMAEMA-functionalized MWNT were tried by changing the ATRP process conditions such as the type of ligand and copper complex, the amount of DMAEMA based on the weight of bromine-functionalized MWNT, and the polymerization temperature. The phase behavior of PDMAEMA-functionalized MWNT in water depending on temperature and pH value was analyzed, and the PDMAEMA-functionalized MWNT showed the amphipathic nature. The PDMAEMA-functionalized MWNT clearly showed an antibacterial effect against E. coli as well as S. aureus. The highest viability loss of E. coli achieved in this study was ∼ 42% with the PDMAEMA-functionalized MWNT containing 53.9 wt % of PDMAEMA. The PDMAEMA-functionalized MWNT showed sheet resistance less than ∼ 9.68 × 103 Ω/sq. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci., 2013


Abstract Purpose This study investigated a novel SPECT agent for the noninvasive imaging of EGFR-overexpressing tumors. Methods The EGFR-targeting peptide GE11 was synthesized with the introduction of four amino acids (GGGC) to its C-terminal to act as a strong chelator and radiolabeled using 99mTc. The radiochemical yield of the 99mTc-peptide-GE11 were evaluated using RP-HPLC. Cellular assays of the probe were performed on two NSCLC cell lines: A549 (high expression) and H23 (low expression). Biodistribution and SPECT imaging were performed in BALB/c nude mice bearing A549 and H23 NSCLC xenografts. Results The 99mTc-peptide-GE11 was prepared at high efficiency with radiochemical yield of 98.40 ± 1.00 % and it showed favorable stability. The cellular uptake was significantly higher in A549 than in H23 at all time points (especially at 1 h, which was 10.34 ± 0.72 and 2.04 ± 0.18, respectively). A nearly 56% reduction in probe uptake was observed after pretreatment with excess unlabeled peptides. The performance of SPECT imaging and biodistribution demonstrated higher uptake of the 99mTc-peptide-GE11 in A549 xenograft than in H23 xenografts. Conclusion The new SPECT tracer 99mTc-peptide-GE11 showed EGFR specificity, favorable pharmacokinetics and great potential for EGFR-targeted imaging.