Purpose : This study was conducted to compare the radiomorphometric indices of the mandible on panoramic radiographs among three groups of normal, osteopenia and osteoporosis and to determine whether panoramic indices have validity in predicting osteoporotic risk. Materials and Methods: Ninty-four postmenupausal women aged 42-72 years (mean 62±7.5) were examined using dual energy X-ray absorptionmetry (DEXA) of the lumbar and classified into three groups by WHO classification. Panoramic mandibular index (PMI), mandibular cortical thickness (Mental index (MI), Antegonial index (AI), Gonial index (G!)) and the mandibular cortical index (MCI) were measured bilaterally on panoramic radiographs and analyzed. Results: There were signigicant differences among normal, osteopenic and osteoporoti groups in PMI (I), PMI (S), MI, AI, GI and MCI. The sensitivities of the MCI (93%) and the combination index of MCI and MI (90%) in diagnosing osteopenic/osteoporotic cases were high. Conclusion: The widths and shapes of the mandibular cortical bone on panoramic radiography may highly reflect the systemic osteopenic/osteoporotic conditions of the patients.


Nuclear receptors (NRs) are ligand-dependent transcription factors that regulate the transcription of target genes. Bile acids (BAs) can be used as effector molecules to regulate physiological processes in the gut, and NRs are important receptors for bile acid signaling. Relevant studies have shown that NRs are closely related to the occurrence of Crohn's disease (CD). Although the mechanism of NRs in CD has not been clarified completely, growing evidence shows that NRs play an important role in regulating intestinal immunity, mucosal barrier, and intestinal flora. NRs can participate in the progress of CD by mediating inflammation, immunity, and autophagy. As the important parts of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapy, acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of CD curative mechanism can get a lot of research support. At the same time, acupuncture and moxibustion can regulate the changes of related NRs. Therefore, to explore whether acupuncture can regulate BA circulation and NRs expression and then participate in the disease progression of CD, a new theoretical basis for acupuncture treatment of CD is provided.


Gluten protein crosslinking is a predetermined process where specific intra- and intermolecular disulfide bonds differ depending on the protein and cysteine motif. In this article, all-atom Monte Carlo simulations were used to understand the formation of disulfide bonds in gliadins and low molecular weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS). The two intrinsically disordered proteins appeared to contain mostly turns and loops and showed "self-avoiding walk" behavior in water. Cysteine residues involved in intramolecular disulfide bonds were located next to hydrophobic peptide sections in the primary sequence. Hydrophobicity of neighboring peptide sections, synthesis chronology, and amino acid chain flexibility were identified as important factors in securing the specificity of intramolecular disulfide bonds formed directly after synthesis. The two LMW-GS cysteine residues that form intermolecular disulfide bonds were positioned next to peptide sections of lower hydrophobicity, and these cysteine residues are more exposed to the cytosolic conditions, which influence the crosslinking behavior. In addition, coarse-grained Monte Carlo simulations revealed that the protein folding is independent of ionic strength. The potential molecular behavior associated with disulfide bonds, as reported here, increases the biological understanding of seed storage protein function and provides opportunities to tailor their functional properties for different applications.


The research was conducted in order to know population of Rhizobium bacteria in the soil at several plant from Buton island, Muna regency, Southeast Sulawesi. The purpose of the study was to get the population data and pure cultures of Rhizobium bacteria.Rhizobium bacteria were isolated from 13 sample from rhizosphere of fruit plant, 14 sample soil from rhizosphere of yield plant, 5 sample soil from rhizosphere of horticulture plant, and 8 sample soil from forest plant. Isolation was done in standard medium Yeast Extract Mannitol Agar (YEMA), the inculation at (27-280C), and the population with plate count methods. The growth characteristic of strain was observed by using YEMA medium mixed respectively with Brom Thymol Blue and Congo Red as indicators.The population of Rhizobium bacteria was in the range of 7-115 X 105 CFU/g soil, and the highest population was found from the sample soil from rhizosphere with Ipomea batatas plant. Fourty nine gave of pure culture, thirty five isolates can be grouped as fast growing, while fourteen can be grouped as slow growing.


Summary: A broad overview of the history, publication, author, introduction, rediscovery, distribution, habitats, typification, and relationships of Agave ellemeetiana K.Koch is given. The species was first published by K.Koch in 1865 from cultivated plants of unknown origin and was rediscovered in habitat only in the last couple of years in Central Veracruz (Sierra de Zongolica), northern Oaxaca (Sierra Mazateca and near San Bartolomé Ayautla), and in western Oaxaca (Putla/Tlaxiaco region). Plants from western Oaxaca differ consistently in their finely denticulate leaf margins and are distinguished as Agave ellemeetiana subsp. subdentata (Trelease) Thiede comb. nov. from the plants in Veracruz and northern Oaxaca with entire, smooth leaf margins (= Agave ellemeetiana subsp. ellemeetiana).


Places hosting religious sacred events provide opportunities for visitors to find spiritual growth and also afford glimpses into the local culture, community, and hosting religious group. This study looks at tourists' intended behavioral loyalty to a religious sacred event place as determined through motivations, shared beliefs, and emotional solidarity with other visitors, and memorable religious experiences. Data were collected from 985 visitors (556 domestic and 429 international) during the 2019 Kumbh Mela, held in Prayagraj, India. Contrary to previous studies, results indicated that emotional solidarity did not significantly influence attendees' intended behavioral loyalty (among domestic visitors). Furthermore, in employing an invariance structural test for paths mentioned in the model, results revealed that the effects of shared beliefs, motivations, emotional solidarity, and memorable religious experiences differed among domestic and international visitors. Study implications and limitations are provided at the close of the paper, giving way to future research opportunities.


In this paper, we consider the controllability problem of discrete-time multi-input inhomogeneous bilinear systems without drift. We first make some discussions on controllability of the systems. We then focus on a special class of the systems, which can be regarded as the most close to multi- input linear time-invariant systems, and obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for controllability. Finally, we provide an example to demonstrate the results of this paper.


Abstract Business ethics is widely viewed as essential to business education. However, considerable discretion exists regarding its actual instruction. This study explored the impact of instructor and institutional factors on faculty engagement with business ethics. A positive correlation emerged between belief in the importance of and comfort with teaching ethics and faculty engagement. Also, faculty in institutions without codes of ethics were more likely to address ethical behavior in the classroom. Finally, there was marginal support for a relationship between faculty perception of the importance of ethical behavior for career advancement and addressing ethical conduct in courses. Findings and their implications are addressed.


Philtrum reconstruction in patients with unilateral cleft lip is a major concern in cheiloplasty. Moreover, a quantitative evaluation of the philtrum contour has not been possible. Advances in 3-dimensional (3D) imaging technology have enabled highly accurate assessments of facial surfaces. This study aimed to justify using 3D anthropometric measurements to quantify traditional photographic grading systems. Sixty-six children with unilateral cleft lip, aged 4 to 6 years (mean age: 69.1±5.7 mo), who visited the outpatient clinic from January to December 2020 were included. A plastic surgeon panel graded the philtrum contour using digital photographs, and 3D anthropometry was performed using a 3D imaging system. The philtrum height, philtrum height difference, and dimple depth were measured at the middle of the philtrum. The philtrum height did not show significant changes across the photographic scores (P=0.06), whereas noticeable differences were observed in the dimple depths based on photographic scores (P<0.001). The correlation analysis revealed the highest correlation between the photographic score and dimple depth (rho=0.897, P<0.001). The philtrum height on the cleft side (rho=0.478, P<0.001) also correlated with the photographic score, but the correlation was weaker than that of the dimple depth. The dimple depth and philtrum height can help define the philtrum contour. Furthermore, the dimple depth reflects the philtrum contour better and is more suitable as a single parameter. However, relying on a single philtrum height measurement may be insufficient for reliable evaluations, as the relative height from the surrounding tissues is more important than the absolute height measured using 3D anthropometry.


Construction risks are the major consideration for planning and execution of construction projects. The risks management is crucial for project success. Every construction project is unique thus the risks exist are different from one another. Construction industry plays important role in economic growth of the country and the failure of which in dealing with the risks will slow down the growth of the economy. The industry is fragmented with numerous small scale projects thus it is imperative to identify the significant risks in small scale projects. This is to ensure effective management of the risks which is crucial for better economic growth. This study identifies the significant risks in small scale construction projects based on contractors' perspectives. The literature review reveals that there are various risks exist in the industry such as the risks due to human factor (clients, design team, contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers), physical aspects, economic factor, law and political issues as well as environmental concerns. Questionnaires were sent to thirty one (31) contractors and sub-contractors of small scale projects to collect views on the topic. The research findings discovered that the most significant risks are human factors. Such risks include delay in progress payments by the clients (Likert Scale Mean Score 4.9), insufficient information from designers (Likert Scale Mean Score 4.71), incompetent contractors (Likert Scale Mean Score 4.48), unsafe work practice by subcontractors (Likert Scale Mean Score 3.9) and poor building materials supplied by suppliers (Likert Scale Mean Score 3.77). The next significant risk is the physical aspect mainly shortage of building materials in the industry (Likert Scale Mean Score 3.74). It is followed by the risks of economy such as increase in taxation and import duty (Likert Scale Mean Score 3.68) followed by the risk due to law and political issue (Likert Scale Mean Score 3.68). The least significant risk stems from environmental issue such as ecological damage (Likert Scale Mean Score 1.77).


Sedimentary structures and textures of the Ordovician Crystal Mountain and Blakely Formations, Arkansas, suggest that the widely accepted deep-water origin of these formations may be sedimentologically untenable. Sandstone beds of these formations are herein interpreted to be sublittoral sheet sandstones, deposited in a shallow-marine shelf association. Interbedded conglomerates resulted from debris flows activated by rifting along fault scarps. The Ordovician Ouachita trough is reinterpreted as a shallow basin underlain by granitic crust. The Crystal Mountain and Blakely Formations were deposited close to the shoreline of a continental area (Llanoria) that lay to the south or southwest of the present Ouachita Mountains.


The performance of parallel transaction processing systems can be degraded significantly due to data skew, a phenomenon of unbalanced data distribution over the nodes of a system. Rebalancing the data load of a system with data skew by redistributing its data is known to be an effective approach to cope with data skew. Unfortunately, for most of the existing approaches, the data being redistributed is unavailable (off-line). Numerous applications, such as those for reservations, finance, process control, hospitals, police and the armed forces, however, cannot afford off-line data for any significant amount of time. These applications call for the ability of balancing data load online. In this paper, a new online data redistribution approach is proposed. A prototype of the approach has been implemented, and experiments have been conducted. Experimental results confirm the substantial performance gains of the approach.


This paper discusses the ambiguity of sex identity within Aboriginal mythology. Male/female relations are the main point of the well-known Wawilag Sisters myth from Arnhem Land, based on a series of equivalent mythical unions: the penis in the vagina (male in female) ≡ the serpent in the hut (male in female) ≡ Wawilag sisters pregnancy (male in female) ≡ Wawilag sisters devoured by the serpent (female in male) ≡ subincised penis (female in male). The effect of such equivalencies may be compared to a "matryoshka" doll: the male (child) is in the female (sisters) which is in the male (serpent), which in a way also renders the male symbols female (this is why the serpent is called "pregnant"). The basis of such a construction may be understood as the creation of a series of transformations male>female>male>female etc., which eventually leads to realisation of the exchange of female with male blood; their equipoise is necessary for initiation ceremonies.


Solute transport across the sediment‐water interface has major implications for water quality and biogeochemical cycling in aquatic ecosystems. Existing measurement techniques, however, are not capable of resolving sediment‐water fluxes of most constituents under in situ flow conditions. We investigated whether relaxed eddy accumulation (REA), a micrometeorological technique with conditional sampling of turbulent updrafts and downdrafts, can be adapted to the aquatic environment. We simulated REA fluxes by reanalyzing eddy covariance measurements from a riverine lake. We found that the empirical coefficient that relates mass fluxes to the concentration difference between both REA samples is invariant with scalar and flow and responds as predicted by a joint Gaussian distribution of linearly correlated variables. Simulated REA fluxes differed on average by around 30% from eddy covariance fluxes (mean absolute error). Assessment of the lower quantification limit suggests that REA can potentially be applied for measuring benthic fluxes of a new range of constituents that cannot be assessed by standard eddy covariance methods.


The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between image attributes and consumer satisfaction in supermarkets. Specifically, we sought to: a) identify the variables which make up the image attributes of supermarkets and group them into factors, and b) assess the impact of image attributes on consumer satisfaction. We conducted a quantitative study, which met quotas by region and city income class, among 400 individuals from Campo Grande, MS, southwest Brazil, who were responsible for purchasing supermarket products for their families. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modeling were used for the data analysis. The results revealed that the attributes are grouped into five factors. The constructs "environment" and "promotions" were not considered significant in determining satisfaction, while the attributes "employees", "product" and "price" had a positive effect on satisfaction, with the latter having the greatest impact. DOI: 10.5585/remark.v12i4.2561


Introduction: Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) levels are dynamic indicators of prognosis and response to therapy in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients (pts). CTCs levels have been reported to be higher in pts with bone than visceral metastases, respectively. However, little is known about CTCs levels in pts with BM involvement. We analysed CTC patterns in patients with either visceral, bone or BM to test the hypothesis that BM involvement would facilitate tumor cells to enter the systemic circulation as CTCs. Patients and methods: Sites and extension of metastatic disease were identified with conventional imaging. Bone metastases were diagnosed with either bone scintigraphy or CT-PET and the BM involvement was documented histologically by BM biopsy and metabolically by CT-PET. A training set of 10 pts was evaluated by both BM biopsy and CT-PET to verify the diagnostic performance of CT-PET in identifying BM metastases (M+). We found a 100% concordance between BM biopsy and CT-PET and we therefore used CT-PET for further analyses. The CellSearch System (Veridex LLC, Raritan, NJ, USA) was used for the isolation and enumeration of CTCs in peripheral blood. The Student9s t-test and the two-way ANOVA test were used to compare means of CTCs among patients with different metastatic patterns. Results: The CTCs mean and median scores of 129 MBC pts were analysed. Final analysis focused on 101 pts with bone M+. Thirty-three pts had bone M+ alone and 68 pts had bone and visceral M+ (including lymphnodes, brain, liver and lung/pleura). Number of metastatic sites was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in 30%, 37%, 25%, 6% and 2% of pts, respectively. BM involvement was documented in 27 (27%) of pts in the whole series and in 12 (33%) of pts with bone M+ alone. Mean CTCs score in the whole series was 392 (0-9993) and the median number of CTCs was 20. In the whole series, BM involvement was associated with higher mean CTCs scores (1350 vs 42, p .014). In pts with bone M+ alone, mean CTCs score was 696 (0-7000) and pts with BM involvement had higher mean CTCs scores (1846 vs 39, p 0.37). Among the different metastatic patterns, the association of bone with BM involvement and liver M+ was correlated with the highest CTCs numbers. We could not perform comparisons in the 68 pts with both bone and visceral localizations because of the variety of metastatic patterns. However, the two-way ANOVA showed a significant influence of BM involvement on mean CTCs scores in pts with different metastatic patterns (p >.001). Conclusions: This work confirms that pts with bone metastases have higher numbers of CTCs than pts with visceral metastases. Extensive bone disease with BM involvement is characterized by an increase in CTCs numbers compared to bone disease without BM involvement. Bone marrow metastases are metabolically more active by CT-PET and can be accurately detected by metabolic imaging without need of BM biopsy. Further studies are ongoing. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-07-19.


Long Term Evolution (LTE) is the new generation of infrastructure-based wireless technologies that can be used for vehicular communications, and already a standard considered as the preliminary version of 4G mobile communications. It provides a cellular networks-based solution, generally called vehicle to infrastructure (V2I), for vehicular safety applications. In this work, we evaluate the performance of different downlink scheduling strategies under various urban and rural scenarios, in which voice, video and safety data traffic coexist. The traffic safety application scenarios we consider are variations of collision avoidance using LTE-based broadcast communication. Our main evaluation criteria are delay and packet loss rate. We present our findings for each scenario and compare the results.


Various approaches now exist for obtaining spectral imagery over a broad range of infrared wavelengths. One involves use of a single grating element in two grating orders with dualband focal plane array (FPA) technology -- an approach offering high efficiency over both the MWIR & LWIR, and obviating the need for separate focal plane arrays, dispersing elements, and optical beamsplitters. Another approach achieves similar results by exploiting an FPA having broad wavelength response with an innovative grating having useable efficiency extending beyond the single octave limits of traditional gratings. Significant advantages result in either case for space-based hyperspectral imagers, for which a reduction in cryo-cooled mass translates into prodigious savings in overall payload mass, cryo-cooling requirements, and waste heat removal. By contrast, longer term approaches might realize infrared "hyperspectral pixels" in 2-D imaging focal plane arrays. In this case, each pixel would detect different wavelengths of radiation at different depths, and the resulting "spectral photocurrents" would be transported to read-out circuitry through a vertical grid of electrical contacts. Although not yet realized in practice, the conceptual basis for accomplishing this with the widely-available HgCdTe detector material has been described. With regard to employment, space-based thermal hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is characterized by coarser ground resolution as a result of aperture diameter limitations and diffraction considerations at the longer infrared wavelengths. The resulting sub-pixel detections based on spectral signature are often complementary with higher resolution, shorter wavelength, panchromatic imagery. Overlapping fields-of-view between the two sensor types on the dayside of the earth enable simultaneous correlation of infrared spectral signatures with spatially-resolved scene features; data collects on the night-side are limited to the thermal hyperspectral images and would await correlations with high resolution visible imagery at the next daytime opportunity.


Dokdo began to be clearly known to the West in 1855 when it was discovered by the British Hornet and the French Constantine. What has been known is only the fact that it was discovered by these Western fleets in 1855, and any detail of the discovery was not reviewed. The purpose of this study was to shed new lights on the course of Dokdo discovery by the Hornet and the Constantine as well as on the background of the Anglo-French combined fleets' advance into the East Sea from the perspective of the world history in the historical context of their dispatch to chase Russian fleets during the Crimean War, determine the geopolitical importance of Dokdo at that time, and investigate the course of Dokdo's being reflected in modern Western cartography. This study obtained the following results: First, the Anglo-French combined fleets used operations to chase Russian fleets, with Hakodate in Hokkaido, Japan as their base, during the Crimean War. Second, Dokdo had a strategic importance in terms of location and was valuable as a milestone on the route while the Anglo-French combined fleets implemented their operations. Third, the British and French Naval Departments attached importance to the location and characteristics of Dokdo around 1855 and such countries as the United Kingdom, France, Russian, and the United States shared information about Dokdo, making its existence formal around the globe.


Substituted 3-anilinopropanamides were converted to N-benzyl derivatives via uncatalyzed amine exchange reaction with benzylamine in up to 41% yield. Unprotected aniline nitrogen had been observed to inhibit facile cyclization. An attempt was therefore made to protect the N by acetylation prior to cyclization. During this process, facile ring closure occurred in the methoxy series to give 4-hydroxy-4-N-benzylamino-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines in up to 69% yield.


In a retrospective study at a large children's hospital, we identified 92 children who had received barbiturates that were simultaneously discontinued at the time they were being evaluated for brain death in the presence of electrocerebral silence and clinical brain death by physical exam. Of these 92 children, 67 had barbiturate levels that were monitored from initial therapeutic or subtherapeutic levels. Repeat EEGs were obtained in 76 patients, and in all electrocerebral silence and clinical brain death (by exam) persisted despite the lower barbiturate levels. The study suggests that therapeutic and subtherapeutic barbiturate levels have no effect on the outcome of children who fulfill the criteria for brain death.


The aim of this study was to reproduce severe pneumonic lesions, similar to those during naturally-occurring porcine respiratory disease complex, in pigs dually inoculated with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae at 6 weeks of age, followed by inoculation with porcine circovirus type 2 at two weeks after. Time and sequence of infection with three pathogens mirror Asian field conditions. Microscopically, interstitial pneumonia and peribronchiolar lymphoid hyperplasia are considered the most characteristic lung lesions in infected pigs. The results of the present study demonstrate that inoculation of pigs with these three pathogens can lead to severe interstitial pneumonia with peribronchial or peribronchiolar lymphoid hyperplasia and fibrosis.


The presence of the Islamic Financial Institution Qanun No 11 in 2018 is a special right for Aceh and has brought a breath of fresh air to the development of the Islamic banking industry in Aceh, a number of conventional banks in Aceh are required to convert to Islamic banks, The purpose of this study is to explain the procedure for accelerating the conversion of unconventional banks to Islamic banks in Aceh and to explain the challenges of banking institutions with the obligation to convert financial institutions in Aceh. The obligation to convert a conventional bank into a sharia bank is clearly as stipulated in article 6 points e and d, although the process of converting a conventional bank to a sharia bank is not found directly in the qanun, but every bank that does the conversion must refer to BI regulations namely PBI No. 11 / 15 / PBI-2009, this is as explained in article 12 "before carrying out business activities, LKS must have a business license in accordance with the provisions of the legislation".


Fertilin, a heterodimeric sperm surface protein, first identified in guinea pig, has been shown to play an important role in sperm-egg interactions. We report here the complementary DNA and deduced amino acid sequence of human fertilin beta. The human fertilin beta shares significant sequence homology with mouse, guinea pig and monkey fertilin beta and also exhibits similar structural organization. Of particular interest, the mature guinea pig fertilin beta contains an amino-terminal 90 amino acid disintegrin domain. It has been suggested that the integrin recognition sequence (TDE) of the guinea pig fertilin beta disintegrin domain mediates sperm-egg binding. The amino acid sequence at this position in human fertilin beta differs from the mouse, guinea pig and monkey sequence (mouse-QDE; human-FEE; monkey-FDE).


The present study numerically simulates the flow and heat transfer characteristics of rib-induced secondary flow in a square cooling channel with staggered V-shaped ribs, extruded on both walls. The rib pitch-to-height ratio (p/h) varies from 2.8 to 10 with the rib-height-to-hydraulic diameter ration (h/)of 0.07 and the Reynolds number of 50,000. Shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model is used as a turbulence model. Computational results show that complex secondary flow patterns are generated in the channel due to the snaking flow in the streamwise direction for all tested cases. In the range of p/h=5 to 10 the staggered V-shaped rib gives about 3 times higher heat transfer augmentation than the reference smooth pipe with high heat transfer on both front side and the area around the leading edge of the ribs, while the former cases give about 18 times higher streamwise pressure drop than the latter ones. However, for the thermal performances, based on the equal pumping power condition, the case of p/h=2.8 gives the best result among three cases, mainly due to relatively low streamwise pressure drop, although it gives relatively low heat transfer augmentation.


In the last decade, the concept of social capital has been widely accepted by academics, advisors and government officials, who have attributed to it virtuous effects on economic and social development. However, theoretical and applied literature gives many different meanings to the concept of social capital, leading to methodological difficulties. Thus, the concept of social capital is merely the entrance to a theoretical structure under construction, whose components and 'materials' come from different approaches. From a mainstream economics approach, the New Institutionalism offers important elements for the construction of this theory.


The measurement of unsaturated soil hydraulic properties is expensive and time consuming. These properties are hence frequently predicted with so‐called pedo‐transfer functions (PTFs) using basic soil properties (e.g. particle‐size distribution, organic matter content and bulk density). In this study PTFs are developed by regression between hydraulic data and basic soil properties. Parameters are quantified for: (i) the retention model of van Genuchten using 80 soil profiles with a total of 230 retention curves, and (ii) the conductivity model of Gardner using 20 soil profiles and 129 hydraulic conductivity curves. The profiles represent the main soil families in Portugal, ranging from coarse sands to heavy clays. The PTFs derived from data for all soils provide a fairly poor description of the hydraulic parameters because of the heterogeneity of the profiles. The description of several parameters is improved by using PTFs that are developed for more homogeneous soils grouped according to their particle‐size distribution. A further improvement is achieved by including the water contents at 2·5 cm, 100 cm, and 15 000 cm water suctions in the retention PTFs, or the saturated hydraulic conductivities in the conductivity PTFs.


Background: Capacity building and community-level participation are important to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of health promotion programmes, as well as to promote empowerment and decision-making power. However, stakeholders' participation in the design and implementation of health promotion projects often involves the provision of information and consultation rather than partnership or citizen control, especially in school settings. Co-creation could be a means to support higher levels of participation, yet its definition remains unclear. A further challenge relates to the methods needed to promote participation. Examining what co-creation represents for health promoters could help in both of these respects. Objectives and goals: This study explored how school health promotion professionals perceived and defined co-creation to gain insight into how to encourage co-creation processes in school-based health promotion. Methods: Qualitative data including documents and illustrations were collected during creative thinking activities undertaken with school health promotion professionals. All data collected were transcribed and analysed using a three-stage screening process. Results: Co-creation is a multi-dimensional construct. Based on our findings, it is a voluntary-based process of bottom-up collaboration informed by values of diversity, mutual trust, openness, autonomy, freedom, respect and shared expertise, responsibility and decision-making. Co-creation can result in out-of-the-box, new or improved tailored health-promoting practices and projects, which address a co-defined need, for the benefit of all members of the group. Conclusion: Co-creation is timely and key in school health promotion practices. Further research is needed into the specific competences needed to promote co-creation, as well as the methods used to evaluate achievements and added value of co-creation at different levels of implementation.


RNA-editing is an important post-transcriptional RNA sequence modification performed by two catalytic enzymes, "ADAR"(A>I) and "APOBEC"(C>U). Although APOBEC-mediated C>U editing has been associated with a number of human cancers, the extent of C>U editing in human disease remains unclear. Here, we performed an association study and found that at least 1293 human disease variants occur at sites predicted by sequence motif analysis (RNASee protocol) to undergo APOBEC3A/G C>U editing. These variants were associated with a wide array of human disease conditions ranging from cancer, metabolic disorders, retinopathies, cardiomyopathies, neurodegenerative disorders and immunodeficiencies. These results indicate that APOBEC mediated C>U RNA editing may have widespread and previously unreported contributions to human disease conditions..


Numerous position papers have outlined informed consent recommendations for the collection, storage, and future use of biological samples; however, there currently is no consensus regarding what kinds of information should be included in consent forms. This study aimed to determine whether institutional review boards (IRBs) vary in their informed consent requirements for research on stored biological samples, and whether any variation observed could be correlated to factors such as volume of work, IRB members' familiarity with ethical issues in genetic research, and IRBs' use of either of two policy guidelines as resources. A brief survey was mailed to all IRB chairpersons on a mailing list obtained from the Office for Human Research Protections. Survey questions included whether consent forms for the collection of biological samples for future use address each of six provisions recommended in current guidelines and position statements, and whether IRBs used the Office for Protection from Research Risks' 1993 Protecting Human Research Subjects: Institutional Review Board Guidebook, chapter 5 (hereinafter IRB Guidebook) or the National Bioethics Advisory Commission's 1999 Research Involving Human Biological Materials: Ethical Issues and Policy Guidance, Volume 1 (hereinafter Report) in their deliberations. Despite a low response rate (22%, 427 respondents), results indicate that IRB practices vary substantially. The degree to which the provisions were included in consent forms was found to correlate positively with IRBs that review a greater volume of protocols annually, those that use the National Biothics Advisory Commission Report in their deliberations, and those that draw on both the Report and the IRB Guidebook.


A special case of the Majumdar–Papapetrou solution of the Einstein–Maxwell equations is the static placement of two extreme Reissner–Nordström black-holes at a finite distance apart. The axisymmetric perturbations of this special solution are analysed in prolate spheroidal coordinates. In this paper, the analysis is restricted to axial perturbations. The problem is reduced to a pair of coupled partial differential equations. The equations allow the definition of an energy-flux whose divergence vanishes. The asymptotic behaviours of the solutions at infinity and at the two singularities (where the horizons of the two black-holes are located) are determined. It is shown that in the vicinity of the singularities, the gravitational and the electromagnetic radiation prevails as coupled photon-graviton waves expressed in terms of a common amplitude and phase, for each specified angular momentum. The scattering of radiation by the two black-holes is a four-channel problem (in the terminology of nuclear physics). The four channels correspond to the incidence of the two sorts of radiation (gravitational and electromagnetic) from infinity and the incidence of the coupled photon-graviton waves on the horizons of the two black-holes. The flux integral, evaluated at infinity and at the two horizons, enables the formulation of the scattering problem in terms of a scattering matrix; and provides four identities among the scattering amplitudes as expressions of the conservation of energy in the scattering process. In an Appendix, the equations of geodesic motion in the space-time of the two black-holes are derived; and three families of null geodesics in the meridian plane are displayed.


Background Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is a transcription factor that regulates the transcription of genes involved in a variety of biological processes, including innate and adaptive immunity, stress responses and cell proliferation. Constitutive or excessive NF-κB activity has been associated with inflammatory disorders and higher risk of cancer. In contrast to the mechanisms controlling inducible activation, the regulation of basal NF-κB activation is not well understood. Here we test whether clathrin heavy chain (CHC) contributes to the regulation of basal NF-κB activity in epithelial cells. Methodology Using RNA interference to reduce endogenous CHC expression, we found that CHC is required to prevent constitutive activation of NF-κB and gene expression. Immunofluorescence staining showed constitutive nuclear localization of the NF-κB subunit p65 in absence of stimulation after CHC knockdown. Elevated basal p65 nuclear localization is caused by constitutive phosphorylation and degradation of inhibitor of NF-κB alpha (IκBα) through an IκB kinase α (IKKα)-dependent mechanism. The role of CHC in NF-κB signaling is functionally relevant as constitutive expression of the proinflammatory chemokine interleukin-8 (IL-8), whose expression is regulated by NF-κB, was found after CHC knockdown. Disruption of clathrin-mediated endocytosis by chemical inhibition or depletion of the μ2-subunit of the endocytosis adaptor protein AP-2, and knockdown of clathrin light chain a (CHLa), failed to induce constitutive NF-κB activation and IL-8 expression, showing that CHC acts on NF-κB independently of endocytosis and CLCa. Conclusions We conclude that CHC functions as a built-in molecular brake that ensures a tight control of basal NF-κB activation and gene expression in unstimulated cells. Furthermore, our data suggest a potential link between a defect in CHC expression and chronic inflammation disorder and cancer.


This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and three varieties of glomerulonephritis. Renal biopsy specimens from patients with Henoch Schonlein Purpura nephritis (HSPN; n = 10), membranous nephropathy (MN; n = 9) and lupus nephritis (LN; n = 27) were studied using immuno-histochemical labeling to clarify the etiological significance of H. pylori antigen in this disease. Immuno-histochemical labeling was performed using a mixture of anti-H. pylori-antibody-positive serum from nine volunteers; a mixture of anti-H. pylori-antibody-negative serum from nine volunteers was used as control. Staphylococci protein-A labeled by horseradish peroxidase was used as the second antibody in this study. A total of 34 of the 48 specimens revealed positive reaction with the anti-H. pylori-positive serum and five of the 48 specimens revealed positive reaction with the anti-H. pylori-negative serum. Positive reaction against anti-H. pylori-positive serum was seen in 10/10 patients with HSPN, six of nine patients with MN and 18/27 patients with LN. Statistical analysis showed that the difference of the positive reaction between anti-H. pylori-positive and negative sera was significant (χ 2 = 36.318, P = 0.000). Our study indicates that H. pylori infection may be associated with the development and/or progression of HSPN, MN and LN.


State structures have experienced significant transformation with the spread of globalization. This paper examines how to measure one major change that has occurred in recent decades: the worldwide proliferation of public agencies with regulatory tasks. It remains unclear how their configurations vary across countries and sectors, and what can be learned from these variations. To better identify these agencies worldwide, we introduce a new dataset on the institutional features of 799 agencies in 115 countries and 17 policy sectors. The dataset contains variables from their institutional profiles, covering a broad range of formal characteristics. To examine the diverse faces the regulatory state has adopted along its globalization path in depth, our variables are grouped into four blocs: regulatory responsibilities, managerial autonomy, political independence, and public accountability. As such, we depart from the view that a single dimension does capture the actual diversity of institutional forms regulatory agencies may exhibit. We also use factor and cluster analyses to assess their various forms, and suggest a typology of agency institutional models to facilitate more precise studies on the regulatory state. Results confirm that the regulatory state shows greater variety than usually expected.


In recent years, heparanase has attracted considerable attention as a promising target for innovative pharmacological applications. Heparanase is a multifaceted protein endowed with enzymatic activity, as an endo-β-D-glucuronidase, and nonenzymatic functions. It is responsible for the cleavage of heparan sulfate side chains of proteoglycans, resulting in structural alterations of the extracellular matrix. Heparanase appears to be involved in major human diseases, from the most studied tumors to chronic inflammation, diabetic nephropathy, bone osteolysis, thrombosis and atherosclerosis, in addition to more recent investigation in various rare diseases. The present review provides an overview on heparanase, its biological role, inhibitors and possible clinical applications, covering the latest findings in these areas.


On the example of the insurrectionary movement of the Cossacks and peasants of the Don and Kuban in the early 1920s, one of the most difficult issues in the history of the transition from the policy of war communism to the new economic policy is considered. The reasons and manifestations of the insurrection in the South of Russia in 1920—1924, its influence on the content of reforms in the region are revealed. The features of the "white-green" movement in the southern Russian stanitsas, conditioned by the historically established order of land use, the forms of stanitsa self-government, the estate and class composition of the population, are established. It is noted that the relevance of the study increases in the context of rethinking the reforms of Russian society, the need to strengthen the social base of reforms and conflict resolution. The novelty of the study is seen in the fact that for the first time we consider the insurrectionary movement not as a class confrontation, but as a confrontation between the authorities and the South Russian community, represented by various estate, class groups and socio-political movements. The factors for regulating the conflict during the transition to NEP have been established. The author comes to the conclusion that the "pacification" of the Cossack regions of the South of Russia took place not only through the active use of the regular units of the Red Army and security forces, but also through compromise decisions that became the basis for the start of economic reforms.


Domestic supply of corn in Indonesia has not been able to meet demand satisfactorily due to demand rising faster than supply. Therefore, Indonesia has been continuously importing corn about of 10% of the total demand. To address this problem, the Indonesian government started to implement the Farmer Field School of Integrated Crop Management (ICM-FFS) program on corn production since 2009. This study aimed to assess the impact of ICM-FFS on corn productivity, comparative and competitive advantages to produce corn as well as farmer's income. The study found that ICM-FFS program could increase corn productivity by 30.95% of non ICM-FFS farms, of which 27.94% contributed by the difference in input use, while only 3.01% contributed by technological change. ICM-FFS farms were able to increase farmer's income by 71.03% and social welfare by 94.69% compared to non ICM-FFS farms. Through this program, Indonesia had higher comparative advantage in producing corn as an import substitute. The provision of competitive input and output markets, enhanced technical assistance to improve corn productivity and quality, and increasing attention on corn ICM-FFS development could be considered as policy directions to improve the next implementation strategies of corn production in Indonesia.


Hepatitis A (HA) is an acute human infectious disease caused by a positive single-stranded RNA virus (HAV). It is mainly acquired through the fecal–oral route and is primarily spread by contact between people and exposure to contaminated water and food. Recently, large outbreaks of HA have been reported by low and moderate endemicity countries, emphasizing its importance in public health and the need for rapid and large-scale diagnostic tests to support public health decisions on HA. This work proposes a new tool for HAV diagnosis based on the association of surface plasmonic resonance with major capsid protein VP1 (SPR-HAVP1 assay), detecting IgM antibodies for HAV in human serum samples. Structural analyses of VP1 B-lymphocyte epitopes showed continuous and discontinuous epitopes. The discontinuous epitopes were identified in the N-terminal region of the VP1 protein. Both epitope types in the VP1 protein were shown by the reactivity of VP1 in native and denaturing conditions to IgM anti-HAV, which was favorable to tests of VP1 in the SPR assays. SPR-HAVP1 assays showed good performance in the detection of IgM polyclonal antibody anti-HAV. These assays were performed using a COOH5 sensor chip functionalized with VP1 protein. The sensorgram record showed a significant difference between positive and negative serum samples, which was confirmed by analysis of variation of initial and final dissociation values through time (ΔRUd/t). The data gathered here are unequivocal evidence that the SPR-HAVP1 strategy can be applied to detect IgM antibodies in human serum positive to the HAV. This is a new tool to be explored to diagnose human HAV infections.


The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, in partnership with the American College of Surgeons and the Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, has developed the Safety Program for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery (ISCR), which is a national effort to disseminate best practices in perioperative care to more than 750 hospitals across multiple procedures in the next 5 years. The program will integrate evidence-based processes central to enhanced recovery and prevention of surgical site infection, venous thromboembolic events, catheter-associated urinary tract infections with socioadaptive interventions to improve surgical outcomes, patient experience, and perioperative safety culture. The objectives of this review are to evaluate the evidence supporting anesthesiology components of colorectal (CR) pathways and to develop an evidence-based CR protocol for implementation. Anesthesiology protocol components were identified through review of existing CR enhanced recovery pathways from several professional associations/societies and expert feedback. These guidelines/recommendations were supplemented by evidence made further literature searches. Anesthesiology protocol components were identified spanning the immediate preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases of care. Components included carbohydrate loading, reduced fasting, multimodal preanesthesia medication, antibiotic prophylaxis, blood transfusion, intraoperative fluid management/goal-directed fluid therapy, normothermia, a standardized intraoperative anesthesia pathway, and standard postoperative multimodal analgesic regimens.


Background: Survivors of childhood with haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and total body irradiation (HSCT/TBI) have an increased cardiometabolic risk without overt obesity. Aim: To describe cardiometabolic risk in HSCT/TBI survivors and identify anthropometric measurements of adiposity representative of cardiometabolic risks in HSCT/TBI survivors. Method: Childhood leukaemia survivors treated with HSCT/TBI (n = 21, 11 males) were compared with chemotherapy-only (n = 31) and obese non-leukaemic controls (n = 30). All subjects (16–26 years) had blood pressure and auxological measurements (body mass index, waist and hip circumferences) and blood tests (triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein [HDL], and oral glucose tolerance tests). Central adiposity was defined as either increased waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) (>0.5), or waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) (males >0.9, females >0.85). Results: HSCT/TBI survivors showed higher prevalence of hypertriglyceridaemia than both comparison groups and higher prevalence of reduced HDL compared to the chemotherapy-only group. The WHR reported a higher prevalence of increased adiposity in HSCT/TBI survivors compared with WC and WHtR, but such differences were not observed in the other groups. In the HSCT survivors, WHR had the highest number of significant associations with metabolic risk factors, and metabolic risks worsen with time elapsed since primary treatment. Conclusions: HSCT/TBI survivors have high cardiometabolic risk that is not sufficiently reflected by WC alone. WHR is a useful surrogate marker for increased cardiometabolic risk in HSCT/TBI survivors.


Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-based nanocomposites containing three differently modified clays were prepared by melt compounding. The influence of type of clay on disperseability, thermal, and dyeing properties of the resultant nanocomposite was investigated by various analytic techniques, namely, X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy (OPM), differential scanning calorime- try, thermal gravimetric analysis, dynamical mechanical thermal analysis, contact angle measurement (CAM), reflectance spectroscopy, and light fastness. OPM images illustrated formation of large-sized spherulites in pure PET, while only small-sized crystals appeared in PET/clay nanocomposites. Decreased glass transition temperatures for all PET/clay nanocomposites indicate that the amor- phous regions of such composites become mobile at lower temperatures than those in pure PET. CAMs on the result- ant PET composites demonstrated that the wettability of such composites depends on hydrophilicity of the nano- clay particles. V C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 125: 4109-4120, 2012


Futility designs have been used in Phase II human studies in cancer research for over thirty years. More recently the same designs have been applied in Phase II human studies in neurology. There has been little, if any application of these designs to laboratory studies. For initial laboratory experiments the sample size is often chosen as an n of 5, increasing the n a few more depending on observed results. Futility studies provide a more rigorous approach to determining the initial sample size for an experiment. To apply a futility design, investigators must have some knowledge of historical control rates in similar experiments in their laboratory, and must be able to specify the magnitude of an effect that would make an experiment worthwhile to pursue further. Using a futility approach to plan an initial laboratory study could reduce the chance of missing important effects that should be carried forward into more comprehensive experiments, and could reduce the chance of carrying forward experiments that have little likelihood of success. This session will present the concept of futility studies, provide laboratory-based examples, and discuss sample size calculation. At the end of the session participants should understand the concept of futility, be able to use standard software for sample size calculation, and be able to plan their own studies using a futility approach.


Background The added value of intravenous (IV) alteplase in large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke over and beyond endovascular treatment (EVT) is controversial. We compared the long-term costs and cost-effectiveness of a direct-to-EVT paradigm in LVO stroke patients presenting directly to the mothership hospital to concurrent EVT and IV alteplase. Methods We used a decision model consisting of a short-run model to analyze costs and functional outcomes within 90 days after the index stroke and a long-run Markov state transition model (cycle length of 12 months) to estimate expected lifetime costs and outcomes. Outcome data were from the DIRECT-MT trial (NCT03469206). Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios and net monetary benefits were calculated and probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed. Analysis was performed from a healthcare perspective and a societal perspective using both a minimal assumed alteplase cost of US$1 and true alteplase cost. Results When assuming a minimal cost of alteplase of $1, EVT with concurrent IV alteplase resulted in incremental lifetime cost of $5664 (healthcare perspective)/$4804 (societal perspective) and a decrement of 0.25 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) compared with EVT only, indicating dominance of the EVT only approach. Net monetary benefits were consistently higher for EVT only compared with EVT with concurrent alteplase. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed increased costs without an increase in QALYs for EVT and concurrent IV alteplase compared with EVT only. Results were even more in favor of EVT when the true cost of alteplase was used for analysis. Conclusion EVT without concurrent alteplase is the preferred strategy from a health economic standpoint.


For a variety of reasons, online education is an increasingly viable option for many students seeking to further their education. Because of this, the demand for online instructors continues to increase. Instructors transitioning to the online environment from the traditional classroom may find teaching online overwhelming. While some practices from the traditional classroom may apply in the new environment, there are many strategies that are unique to online learning. Additionally, the field of online instruction is changing so rapidly that the techniques for teaching online must be revisited regularly as well. This paper explores research regarding some current strategies for teaching online for both new and current online instructors. The practices examined include training, organizing the course, remaining proactive, providing regular and timely communication, maintaining a presence in the classroom, facilitating effective discussion boards, scaffolding, and desiring to improve one's online instruction. By utilizing these techniques in one's courses, online instructors are several steps closer to successful and satisfied students excited to continue learning in the online environment.


IZA DP No. 14065 JANUARY 2021 The Inefficiency of Employment and the Case for Workplace Democracy While most working people are in employment, there is little realisation that this relationship is inefficient and inequitable due to mis-aligned incentives – employers, as residual claimants, have an incentive to elicit greater than socially optimal effort from workers, thus generating conflict and exploitation, while workers have no 'voice' and 'exit' is costly. Workplace democracy combines efficiency and equity, aligning incentives and giving workers their natural right of self-determination, but is relatively rare due to the historically constructed power of concentrated capital owners. We show how workplace democracy can be established without expropriating capital owners, yielding efficiency and welfare gains. JEL Classification: J


The aim of our study was to identify the most important anatomical landmarks in the cephalometric evaluation of Class III patients and to clarify the morphological characteristics of these cases. A group of 10 Class III orthodontic patients was evaluated in this study. The control group consisted of 10 patients with average occlusion and skeletal characteristics. Digital lateral cephalometric X-rays were performed and different measurements were analyzed. Cephalometric data were evaluated with the CephX specialized software for orthodontic diagnosis and the results were statistically analyzed. The Class III group presented specific characteristics such as prognathic mandible, large gonial angle, short maxillary length, higher lower facial height. These findings can be useful for the diagnosis and treatment planning of orthodontic cases with dental÷keletal anomalies, especially in cases when surgical approach is considered. The surgical decision must be taken after an accurate investigation of the lateral cephalometric parameters.


Abstract  1 Field and laboratory experiments on the conservation biocontrol of lepidopteran leafroller pests were carried out in apples at Lincoln, New Zealand. 2 Apple understoreys were planted with replicated treatments of alyssum (Lobularia maritima), phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) and buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum). 3 Rates of parasitism of experimentally released larvae of the light‐brown apple moth, Epiphyas postvittana (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), by Dolichogenidea tasmanica (Cameron) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) were significantly lower in phacelia and control treatments, and leafroller pupae were significantly more abundant in controls than in buckwheat and alyssum treatments. 4 Naturally occurring leafroller damage was up to 29% lower above all the floral understorey treatments compared with controls and there were more than twice as many D. tasmanica cocoons in the alyssum and buckwheat treatments than in controls. 5 Suction sampling of the understoreys gave D. tasmanica adult densities that were significantly more abundant in alyssum compared with other treatments. Numbers of Anacharis zealandica (Hymenoptera: Figitidae) (a parasitoid of larvae of the predatory brown lacewing) did not differ between treatments. 6 In the laboratory, flowering buckwheat and alyssum enhanced D. tasmanica longevity by up to 78% compared with the control, and buckwheat also enhanced potential fecundity by 62%. 7 In choice experiments, leafroller larvae in the laboratory consumed more than three‐fold more apple leaf material than they did of the three understorey species, although alyssum increased leafroller fecundity and longevity. 8 The use of floral understoreys for conservation biocontrol of apple pests is discussed, along with the potential negative effects of some flowering species on pest populations and orchard agronomic practices.


Most organizations have reported dismal returns on their investments in knowledge portals—Intranet Web sites aimed at enabling the storage and exchange of explicit knowledge artifacts. In our research, we were surprised to find that knowledge workers have for the most part abandoned the use of knowledge portals. Moreover, in cases where they do turn to knowledge portals they use it as a last resort. In this brief communication, we call attention both to research and practice to help transform current knowledge portals to ones that are more sensitive to the issues faced by practitioners. To this end, we will elaborate on the need to pay attention to maintenance of knowledge management portals. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The selectivity of tungstate-based catalyst in the epoxidation reaction of rubber seed oil and modified rubber seed oil was studied in two ways. The titration method was performed according to the ASTM standard and the H-NMR method was based on the peaks of the three different standard groups. The catalyst selectivity of the epoxidation reaction of modified rubber seed oil was much higher than that of non-modified rubber seed oil for both methods. The average catalyst selectivity obtained by using H-NMR method of the modified rubber seed oil epoxidation reaction was equal, while of the rubber seed oil epoxidation reaction was 11% lower than that of the titrimetric method. For both types of oils, the difference between the catalytic selectivity obtained by using titration method and by using protons in group α-CH2-(C=O)-O- as the standard peak was the smallest and was the biggest when the protons in group -CH3 was used as the standard peak.


Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) are potential markers of oral and maxillofacial squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Objectives: To explore the association between expression of VEGF, MMP-9 and TIMP-2 in oral and maxillofacial SCC and clinicopathological factors. Patients and Methods: Immunohistochemical Envision method was used to analyze the expression of VEGF, MMP-9 and TIMP-2 in 54 cases of oral and maxillofacial SCC and the association with clinicopathological factors such as clinical staging and lymphatic metastasis. Results: Brownish-yellow staining is correlated with positive expression of VEGF, MMP-9 and TIMP-2. Positive expression of VEGF and MMP-9 was correlated with lymphatic metastasis, and their positive expression rates were significantly higher in patients with lymphatic metastasis than those without it (VEGF: χ2 = 30.00; P = 0.001; MMP-9: χ2 = 18.27, P = 0.001). The positive expression rate of MMP-9 decreased at earlier clinical stages (P < 0.05). Positive expression of TIMP-2 was correlated with lymphatic metastasis, clinical staging and T classification. The positive rate of TIMP-2 expression in patients with lymphatic metastasis was significantly lower than those without it (χ2 = 26.74, P = 0.002), which significantly reduced with increasing clinical stage and T classification (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Lymphatic metastasis in patients with oral and maxillofacial SCC is closely related to the positive expression of VEGF, MMP-9 and TIMP-2. MMP-9 and TIMP-2 can affect the progression of cancer, which is valuable for studies on oral and maxillofacial SCC genes.


Sporadic vascular malformations (VMs) are a large group of disorders of the blood and lymphatic vessels caused by somatic mutations in several genes—mainly regulating the RAS/MAPK/ERK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathways. We performed a cross-sectional study of 43 patients affected with sporadic VMs, who had received molecular diagnosis by high-depth targeted next-generation sequencing in our center. Clinical and imaging features were correlated with the sequence variants identified in lesional tissues. Six of nine patients with capillary malformation and overgrowth (CMO) carried the recurrent GNAQ somatic mutation p.Arg183Gln, while two had PIK3CA mutations. Unexpectedly, 8 of 11 cases of diffuse CM with overgrowth (DCMO) carried known PIK3CA mutations, and the remaining 3 had pathogenic GNA11 variants. Recurrent PIK3CA mutations were identified in the patients with megalencephaly–CM–polymicrogyria (MCAP), CLOVES, and Klippel–Trenaunay syndrome. Interestingly, PIK3CA somatic mutations were associated with hand/foot anomalies not only in MCAP and CLOVES, but also in CMO and DCMO. Two patients with blue rubber bleb nevus syndrome carried double somatic TEK mutations, two of which were previously undescribed. In addition, a novel sporadic case of Parkes Weber syndrome (PWS) due to an RASA1 mosaic pathogenic variant was described. Finally, a girl with a mild PWS and another diagnosed with CMO carried pathogenic KRAS somatic variants, showing the variability of phenotypic features associated with KRAS mutations. Overall, our findings expand the clinical and molecular spectrum of sporadic VMs, and show the relevance of genetic testing for accurate diagnosis and emerging targeted therapies.


Purpose: To report five cases of classic choroidal neovascularization (CNV) associated with choroidal nevus treated with photodynamic therapy (PDT) with verteporfin. Methods: The patients underwent an ophthalmologic evaluation, including fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green angiography. Clinical and angiographic data were retrospectively analyzed to evaluate visual acuity outcomes and both clinical evolution and angiographic evolution. Results: Two patients presented with subfoveal CNV, and three had juxtafoveal CNV. The mean follow-up was 25.8 months. Visual outcomes were extremely variable. Indeed, best-corrected visual acuity decreased in three eyes, stabilized in one case, and improved in the other case. The number of PDT sessions necessary to obtain CNV stabilization with cessation of fluorescein leakage varied from one to six. Conclusion: Bearing in mind that both the natural history and the post-PDT outcome may be extremely variable, further studies are needed to assess the real benefit of PDT for classic CNV secondary to choroidal nevus.


Purpose This study aims to investigate generalizability of deep learning (DL) models trained on commonly used public fundus images to an instance of real-world data (RWD) for glaucoma diagnosis. Methods We used Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary fundus data set as an instance of RWD in addition to six publicly available fundus data sets. We compared the performance of DL-trained models on public data and RWD for glaucoma classification and optic disc (OD) segmentation tasks. For each task, we created models trained on each data set, respectively, and each model was tested on both data sets. We further examined each model's decision-making process and learned embeddings for the glaucoma classification task. Results Using public data for the test set, public-trained models outperformed RWD-trained models in OD segmentation and glaucoma classification with a mean intersection over union of 96.3% and mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 95.0%, respectively. Using the RWD test set, the performance of public models decreased by 8.0% and 18.4% to 85.6% and 76.6% for OD segmentation and glaucoma classification tasks, respectively. RWD models outperformed public models on RWD test sets by 2.0% and 9.5%, respectively, in OD segmentation and glaucoma classification tasks. Conclusions DL models trained on commonly used public data have limited ability to generalize to RWD for classifying glaucoma. They perform similarly to RWD models for OD segmentation. Translational Relevance RWD is a potential solution for improving generalizability of DL models and enabling clinical translations in the care of prevalent blinding ophthalmic conditions, such as glaucoma.


Given vigorous mean diurnal variation (MDV) of cumulus convection and surface wind over coastal waters of the Indonesian Maritime Continent, surface sensible and latent heat fluxes (SHF and LHF) are expected to also exhibit significant MDV. However, it is difficult to grasp characteristics of MDV of these fluxes due to lack of surface observation data. Recently, two intensive observation campaigns were conducted off the west coast of Sumatra Island in austral summer, which offer us a unique opportunity to examine the characteristics of convection and the fluxes. This study analyzes these observations to reveal that the MDV of both SHF and LHF has considerable amplitude compared with the average. The MDV of SHF is primarily caused by that in surface air temperature, which is due to the MDV of convection. As for LHF, the MDV is primarily caused by that of surface wind speed, in which both the MDV of convection and sea/land breezes play roles. Furthermore, there are qualitative differences in the MDV of the fluxes between the two campaign periods, which can be explained from the viewpoint of differences in phase and intensity of MDV of convection and the sea/land breezes. (Citation: Yokoi, S., 2020: Diurnal variation of surface heat fluxes off the west coast of Sumatra Island as revealed by in situ observation. SOLA, 16A, 1−5, doi:10.2151/sola.16A-001.)


We employ a simple method based on logistic weighted least squares to diagnose which past data are less or more useful for predicting the future course of a variable. A simulation experiment shows its merits. An illustration for monthly industrial production series for 17 countries suggests that earlier data are useful for the prediction in a crisis period (2006–2011) and for the period after the crisis (2011–2016). Hence, this time, apparently it was not that different after all.


Nefazodone is an antidepressant with some novel characteristics in regard to its putative mechanism of action. Although the clinical significance of these properties is not clear, nefazodone is unique in that it is associated with minimal effects on sleep architecture and sexual functioning. Use of nefazodone to treat anxiety disorders appears to have promise, although placebo-controlled studies are still needed. Nefazodone is a potent inhibitor of CYP3A4, and thus numerous potential drug interactions must be carefully considered in order to avoid potential therapeutic misadventures. Recent reports indicate that nefazodone can cause severe hepatic toxicity. Evaluation of hepatic function before, and periodically after, therapy with nefazodone is initiated would be prudent. Nefazodone may be an appropriate antidepressant when potential anxiolytic activity would be beneficial and there is a need to avoid adverse effects on sexual functioning or sleep architecture.


The electronic band structures, density of states and magnetic parameters for layer structural Zn0.5Mn0.5Se in ferromagnetic (F) phase have been calculated, using self-consistent linearized muffin-tin orbital method in atomic sphere approximation (LMTO-ASA). The p-d repulsion model is used to explain the band structure and distribution of density of states (DOS). The antiferromagnetic band structure is qualitatively analysed for this material in terms of p-d repulsion mechanism.


Ecological compatibility of sympatric gibbons is achieved by a difference in diet resulting from the effect of differing body sizes on the efficiency of harvesting different foods. In addition, differences in feeding apparatus and body size between the large and small species maximise the rate at which each can eat its most eaten food type. Parallels exist between the species array of gibbons and that of the African apes in the relationship between body size and ecology.


The standardization of the flexible dense wavelength division multiplexed grid and the ability to explore higher-order modulation formats have been key to simultaneously improve spectral efficiency and reduce the cost per bit transmitted in optical transport networks. These developments will be complemented by the availability of next-generation line interfaces capable of operating at higher symbol rates, which will further augment the capacity per line interface. However, maximizing the benefit of deploying next-generation line interfaces in existing optical transport networks requires taking into account the consequent coexistence of optical channels at different symbol rates in the network design process. Accomplishing this demands efficient spectrum management combined with an optimized provisioning of hardware throughout the entire network life cycle. This paper investigates the resulting network optimization problem. In detail, it proposes a multi-period design framework based on integer linear programming models to optimize the different types of line interfaces deployed with the aim of minimizing the capital expenditures and usage of spectral resources. Simulation results highlight that the proposed framework is able to recover from the initial overprovisioning of a spectrum inherent to using a virtual grid and achieving spectral savings in the medium term of the network life cycle. Moreover, it also shows that this is attained while simultaneously carrying more traffic and without increasing the number of line interfaces.


The research described in this paper focuses on global tempo transformations of monophonic audio recordings of saxophone jazz performances. More concretely, we have investigated the problem of how a performance played at a particular tempo can be automatically rendered at another tempo while preserving its expressivity. To do so we have developed a case-based reasoning system called TempoExpress. The results we have obtained have been extensively compared against a standard technique called uniform time stretching (UTS), and show that our approach is superior to UTS.


This paper studies the internal controllability and stabilizability of a family of Boussinesq systems recently proposed by J. L. Bona, M. Chen and J.-C. Saut to describe the two-way propagation of small amplitude gravity waves on the surface of water in a canal. The space of the controllable data for the associated linear system is determined for all values of the four parameters. As an application of this newly established exact controllability, some simple feedback controls are constructed such that the resulting closed-loop systems are exponentially stable. When the parameters are all different from zero, the local exact controllability and stabilizability of the nonlinear system are also established.


The present article examines Anglo–Soviet architectural relations during the Second World War, the peculiarities of the perception of foreign experience, and the mutual professional interests. This paper aims to find evidence of multilateral and immensely diverse contacts and examine the reasons for and routes of such collaborations and the actors and institutions involved in the processes. This research attempts to construct new criteria for evaluating professional architectural relationships in the context of ideological and non-ideological obstacles. For this reason, this paper draws data from a wide range of sources, including the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) and the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI), the Schusev State Museum of Architecture (GNIMA), and research from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Berthold Lubetkin and Erno Goldfinger archives.


Document-level relation extraction (DocRE) aims to determine the relation between two entities from a document of multiple sentences. Recent studies typically represent the entire document by sequence- or graph-based models to predict the relations of all entity pairs. However, we find that such a model is not robust and exhibits bizarre behaviors: it predicts correctly when an entire test document is fed as input, but errs when non-evidence sentences are removed. To this end, we propose a Sentence Importance Estimation and Focusing (SIEF) framework for DocRE, where we design a sentence importance score and a sentence focusing loss, encouraging DocRE models to focus on evidence sentences. Experimental results on two domains show that our SIEF not only improves overall performance, but also makes DocRE models more robust. Moreover, SIEF is a general framework, shown to be effective when combined with a variety of base DocRE models.


The biomass of forests in South Korea has significantly increased during the last 30 years because of a national reforestation project and forest management. Despite the high potential of this biomass for sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide, little effort has been devoted to identifying the factors affecting the rate of carbon uptake by forests in Korea. Recently, we reported that Korean forests have a higher carbon uptake rate (1.5 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1)) than those of North America, Europe, and China. In this study, as a follow-up to that work, we examine the distributions of total forest carbon, carbon density, and carbon uptake rate at the province and subprovince levels in Korea and elucidate the relationships between forest and climatic variables within these distributions. The provinces can be classified into three distinct groups according to their carbon uptake rate and forest age class: group A (Gyeonggi, Chungbuk, Chungnam), group B (Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam), and group C (Gangwon, Jeju). When all forest and climatic variables are considered, the provinces Gangwon and Jeju in group C are found to belong to distinct groups. The rate of carbon uptake in each province is not significantly correlated to most forest and climatic variables but is highly correlated to forest age class. A multivariate statistical analysis also supports our conclusion that forest age class is the major factor affecting the current distribution of the rate of carbon uptake in Korea. We conclude that for several decades Korean forests will have a high capacity for sequestering carbon dioxide.


Common carp ( Cyprinus carpio ) is an aquatic organism of commercial value able to survive in polluted environments; carps contain proteolytic enzymes of physiological importance and potential industrial application. The objective of this work was partially purify and study the proteolytic activity at different pH of carp proteases living in a polluted environment. Three carps were captured in different zones of Zumpango polluted lagoon (Mexico) at 1 m of maximum deep. Protease crude extracts were obtained from dorsal muscle by aqueous extraction and fractionated by 20 %, 50 %, 80 %-saturated (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 . Fractions extracted with 50 % and 80 %-saturated (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 were selected for their high proteolytic activity and concentrated by ultrafiltration through 100 kDa molecular weight cutoff membranes and analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The crude proteolytic extract had significantly higher activity (19.7 - 20.3 U / mg) at pH 2, 5, and 7 (P < 0.001). Fractions obtained with 20 %, 50 % and 80 % - saturated (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 showed peak activity at pH 5 (2.8 U / mg) and pH 6 (2.2 U / mg); pH 6 (4.3 U / mg) and pH 3 - 4 (3.6 - 3.7 U / mg); pH 3 (10.8 U / mg) and pH 10 (10.6 U / mg); respectively. Subfractions of < 100 kDa, obtained with 50 % and 80 %-saturated (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4, had peak proteolytic activity at alkaline pH. A < 100 kDa fraction, obtained with 80 %-saturated (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , had the highest proteolytic activity (37.3 - 43.7 U / mg) at pH 8 - 10, purification factor of 3 and 19.1 % recovery. Thirteen proteins between 9.8 to 104.8 kDa were identified in the crude extract. Peak protein concentration was observed for 31 - 33 and 39 - 41 kDa, suggesting the possibility predominance of serine- and aspartyl- proteases, respectively. We suggest this protease with maximum activity at alkaline pH is related to the adaptation of C. carpio to polluted waters with high pH. Although unsuitable for human consumption, these organisms can be a source of protease production aimed to several uses as in the industry and waste water treatment among others.


Customers can directly express their preferences on many options when ordering products today. Mass customization manufacturing thus has emerged as a new trend for its aiming to satisfy the needs of individual customers. This process of offering a wide product variety often induces an exponential growth in the volume of information and redundancy for data storage. Thus, a technique for managing product configuration is necessary, on the one hand, to provide customers faster configured and lower priced products, and on the other hand, to translate customers' needs into the product information needed for tendering and manufacturing. This paper presents a decision-making scheme through constructing a product family model (PFM) first, in which the relationship between product, modules, and components are defined. The PFM is then transformed into a product configuration network. A product configuration problem assuming that customers would like to have a minimum-cost and customized product can be easily solved by finding the shortest path in the corresponding product configuration network. Genetic algorithms (GAs), mathematical programming, and tree-searching methods such as uniform-cost search and iterative deepening A* are applied to obtain solutions to this problem. An empirical case is studied in this work as an example. Computational results show that the solution quality of GAs retains 93.89% for a complicated configuration problem. However, the running time of GAs outperforms the running time of other methods with a minimum speed factor of 25. This feature is very useful for a real-time system.


Internet has brought a major drift in user community. Apart from its well-known usage, it also promotes social networking. Research on such social networking has advanced significantly in recent years which have been highly influenced by the online social websites. People perceive the web as a social medium that allows larger interaction among people, sharing of knowledge, or experiences. Internet or social web forums act as an agent to reproduce some general information that would benefit the users. A product review by the user is a more accurate representation of its real-world performance and web-forums are generally used to post such reviews. Though commercial review websites allow users to express their opinions in whatever way they feel, the number of reviews that a product receives could be very high. Hence, opinion mining techniques can be used to analyze the user-reviews, classify the content as positive or negative, and thereby find out how the product fares. This paper focuses its attention on providing a recommendation to the products available on the web by analyzing the context to score the sentences for each review by identifying the opinion and feature words using a novel algorithm.


Electric eels generate electricity with a discharge voltage of up to 860 V under ionic gradients, providing a fascinating example to inspire viable and flexible power sources. However, hitherto reported eel-related devices are strictly restricted by complicated fabrication and environmental energy input. Herein, an electric-eel-type bi-ionic gradient battery (BGB) is performed by cationic and anionic polyelectrolyte hydrogels featuring simplified units and self-energy supply. Benefiting from ionic bonds with opposite charges in the polymer chain, bianion gradients as well as ion selective migration pathways are synchronously constructed and integrated units are enabled. As a result, an open-circuit voltage of 0.54 V and a short-circuit current density of 13 μA cm-2 are generated by a BGB unit. Moreover, a voltage output up to 60 V is derived from integrated BGB devices, demonstrating the potential to drive wearable and implantable electronics. In this case, these artificial electric systems could overcome the great challenges of environmentally friendly, biocompatible, low-cost, and soft power sources, providing in-depth insights into the development of clean and sustainable power generation technologies.


An adequate strategy in generational analysis must concern itself with at least three general matters: obtaining adequate descriptive data, explaining such data, and relating explanation to a general theory of generational differences and social change. At the descriptive level, generational differences at a given point in time may be associated with age, cohort, and/or interactional effects. The explanation of age, cohort, and interactional effects necessitates introducing additional variables and considerations into the basic descriptive model. Finally, in order for research on generational differences and social change to be most useful, empirical studies should be couched within a theoretical perspective.


In this note, we give a method for finding the inverse of a three by three magic square matrix without using the usual methods for finding the inverse of a matrix. Also we give a method for finding the inverse of a three by three magic square matrix whose entries are also matrices. By using these ideas, we can construct large matrices whose inverses can be calculated easily.


Abstract An effective adsorbent (Fe-La-AC) was synthesized by impregnating mixed solution ferric nitrate and lanthanum nitrate with activated carbon and heated by microwave to remove methylene blue (MB) from dye wastewater. The Fe-La-AC was characterized by N2 adsorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, the existence of Fe3O4 leads to Fe-La-AC having magnetic properties, which makes it easily separated and recycled from dye wastewater in an external magnetic field. After modification, the following phenomena occurred: Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area, average pore diameter, and total pore volume decreased; graphitization degree decreased. In addition, the equilibrium isotherms and kinetics of MB adsorption on raw activated carbon and Fe-La-AC were examined. The equilibrium adsorption data indicated that the adsorption behavior followed the Langmuir isotherm, and the pseudo-second-order model matched well the kinetic data. The maximum adsorption capacity of Fe-La-AC is 261.10 mg/g, which increases by 26.38% as compared with raw activated carbon. According to these results, Fe-La-AC is a promising adsorbent for the removal of MB from dye wastewater.


Fe-doped ZnO nanoneedles (NDs) were fabricated by an Ar ion sputtering technique operated at room temperature. The as-grown samples show both ferromagnetic and lasing properties. The saturated magnetization moment was measured from 0.307 to 0.659 emu cm at the field of 10 kOe with various Fe concentrations. Intense ultraviolet random lasing emission was observed from Zn1 xFexO NDs at room temperature. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy result reveals that the doped Fe atoms occupy the Zn sites and lead to a decrease in oxygen deficiency.


In gadolinium the pressure dependence of the local field has been studied. Applied field up to 0.6 GPa have a very strong influence on the local muon fields. Above the spin turning temperature the size of the negative contact field increases with pressure, while at lower temperatures the dominating effect is the change of the angle of magnetization with pressure. Also the relaxation in a wide temperature range above TC in single crystal gadolinium has been studied and compared with mode coupling theory developed for this system, and shows that the behavior is far from being described by simple power laws.Erbium has been studied in the ferromagnetic cone regime below TC where the dominant observation is the presence of two frequencies which is increasing with temperature.The local magnetic field as function of temperature and applied hydrostatic pressure has been studied in dysprosium and holmium. Both metals show very similar behavior with an unexpected increase in local field with temperature below TC. The wide variation of the dynamic magnetic behavior in the REGa6 series with RE = Ce, Nd, Gd and Tb has been studied by µSR.The effect of Zn doping in the antiferromagnetic La2CuO4 has been studied. La2CuO4 was the base material for the first high temperature superconductors andexperiments has shown that also the superconducting properties is strongly suppressedby Zn doping. A RKKY like model is used for explaining the strong effect of the Zndoping on the ordering temperature.


As it is believed that soil salinity can alter the organic matter turnover process, the present study discussed the influence of soil salinity on the decomposition of organic matter and nitrogen mineralization in animal manure amended soils. A factorial combination of two soil types (saline and non-saline soils) with three types of animal manure (i.e. poultry manure, goat manure and cow dung) was used to assess the C and N mineralization. The amount of CO 2 -C released from both soils was not significant (P ≤ 0.05) until day 2 of incubation. However, as incubation progressed, the amount of CO 2 -C released from manure amended soils was found to be significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher than that of the control. However in the case of cow dung amended soils, release of CO 2 -C was not much influenced by the salinity stress. The NH 4 + -N content of both soils was found to be reached to the peak at day 14, followed by gradual reductions in all treatments. However, saline soil showed significantly (P ≤ 0.05) low NH 4 + -N content compared to the non-saline soil. Though, the nutritional composition of applied manures was different, no significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences were found among the treatments in terms of N mineralization. Furthermore, no distinct pattern of treatment behavior could be observed for NO 2 - -N contents also. However, the content of NO 3 - -N was found to be dominated in non-saline soil throughout the incubation. Results could be concluded that the response pattern of C and N mineralization to salinity stress depended on the type of animal manure incorporate to the soil and duration of incubation. Key words : salinity stress; animal manure; decomposition of organic matter; nitrogen mineralization DOI: 10.4038/jas.v5i1.2319 Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol.5(1) 2010 pp.9-18


This paper presents a regularization scheme for the nearly singular integrals used for 3D elastostatic boundary element analysis. For the regularization process, the local projection coordinates of the source point are first located via an iteration procedure. For planar elements, the boundary integrals are analytically integrated by parts to smooth the drastic fluctuations of their integrands so that the regularized forms can be numerically integrated by any conventional schemes in an usual manner. The validity of the formulations is numerically tested using the Gauss Quadrature scheme. The test shows the accuracy is satisfactory for the distance ratio (distance: Element characteristic length) falling below micro-scale. To further demonstrate our successful implementation, a numerical example is studied with verifications compared with ANSYS analysis.


The paper considers the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) operation algorithm, which enables the implementation of hybrid braking, i.e. the braking process combining friction brake mechanisms and e-machine (electric machine), which operates in the energy recovery mode. The provided materials focus only on the rectilinear motion of the vehicle. That the ABS task consists in the maintenance of the target wheel slip ratio, which depends on the tyre-road adhesion coefficient. The tyre-road adhesion coefficient was defined based on the vehicle deceleration. In the course of calculated studies, the following operation algorithm of hybrid braking was determined. At adhesion coefficient ≤0.1, driving axle braking occurs only due to the e-machine operating in the energy recovery mode. In other cases, depending on adhesion coefficient, the e-machine provides the brake torque, which changes from 35 to 100% of the maximum available brake torque. Virtual tests showed that values of the wheel slip ratio are close to the required ones. Thus, this algorithm makes it possible to implement hybrid braking by means of the two sources creating the brake torque.


BACKGROUND
This study was conducted to investigate factors associated with stroke in pa-tients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) beyond CHADS2 score in terms of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function or left atrial (LA) function.

METHODS
One hundred and sixty-one patients with PAF and age less than 75 (mean age 61 ± 10; 69 male) who underwent transthoracic echocardiography were investigated. Patients were divided into two groups according to the stroke status (group 1 - no stroke vs. group 2 - presence of stroke). Baseline echocardiographic parameters and LA segmental (4 segments: basal septal, lateral, inferior, and anterior) strain rate (SR) during normal sinus rhythm were analyzed.

RESULTS
CHAD score (except S2) was similar between the two groups (0.6 ± 0.7 vs. 0.9 ± 0.7, p = 0.125). Patients with stroke had slightly lower body mass index (24.5 ± 2.7 vs. 23.4 ± ± 2.4, p = 0.052). Echocardiographic parameters did not show any differences in both systolic and diastolic functions between the two groups, however elevated E/E' ratio was noted (9.5 ± ± 3.8 vs. 11.6 ± 3.9, p = 0.010) due to higher E velocity (63.5 ± 15.9 vs. 70.9 ± 16.0 cm/s, p = 0.046). In the analysis of LA SR, there are no differences of SR among the 4 segments. However, standard deviations (SD) of time to peak SR (SD of tA-SR) of the 4 segments were higher in patients with stroke (10.9 ± 9.9 vs. 22.1 ± 18.1 ms, p = 0.009) which indicates dyssynchronous contraction of LA. In multivariate analysis, SD of tA-SR (OR 1.074, CI 1.024-1.128, p = 0.004) and elevated E/E' (OR 1.189, CI 1.006-1.406, p = 0.048) were independently associated with stroke in patients with PAF.

CONCLUSIONS
Elevated E velocity, E/E' and SD of tA-SR were associated with occurrence of stroke in patients with PAF even with similar CHAD scores. Increased SD of tA-SR and E/E' were independently associated with stroke in patients with PAF. (.


Data-driven automatic approaches have demonstrated their great potential in resolving various clinical diagnostic dilemmas in neuro-oncology, especially with the help of standard anatomic and advanced molecular MR images. However, data quantity and quality remain a key determinant of, and a significant limit on, the potential of such applications. In our previous work, we explored synthesis of anatomic and molecular MR image network (SAMR) in patients with post-treatment malignant glioms. Now, we extend it and propose Confidence Guided SAMR (CG-SAMR) that synthesizes data from lesion information to multi-modal anatomic sequences, including T1-weighted (T1w), gadolinium enhanced T1w (Gd-T1w), T2-weighted (T2w), and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), and the molecular amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) sequence. We introduce a module which guides the synthesis based on confidence measure about the intermediate results. Furthermore, we extend the proposed architecture for unsupervised synthesis so that unpaired data can be used for training the network. Extensive experiments on real clinical data demonstrate that the proposed model can perform better than the state-of-theart synthesis methods.


Interleukins (IL) are a group of cytokines with complex immunomodulatory functions, whereas atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia. This review article highlights the role of major IL in the pathogenesis of AF. IL-1 had elevated levels in permanent and persistent AF patients as compared to paroxysmal AF. A study had shown a straightforward connection between the development of postoperative atrial fibrillation and IL-2 sera levels shortly after cardiopulmonary bypass graft for the first time. IL-4 has been involved in anti-inflammatory response and played no role in the contribution of AF. The elevated level of IL-6 rapidly induces atrial electrical remodeling by downregulating cardiac connexins. This change could be significantly increased the risk of AF and related complications during active inflammatory processes. Moreover, a study has shown higher IL-8 levels in permanent AF patients as compared with paroxysmal AF patients. An association was found between IL-10 gene -592A/C polymorphism and AF in Han Chinese. Recombinant human IL-11 therapy shortened atrial refractoriness and also created favorable conditions for AF by an indirect mechanism involving volume expression, stretching of atrial myocardial tissue and sodium retention. An elevated IL-12 expression was observed in the left atrial tissues of AF patients. IL-17 signaling pathway has played a significant role, and some genes could be used as potential therapeutic targets for AF. An association between the risk of AF with single nucleotide polymorphism of IL-18 and also resulted in the increased left atrial diameter and decreased left ventricular ejection fraction in AF subjects as compared to control. IL-27 genetic variants had increased the occurrence of AF. AF patients had elevated levels of IL-37 that were closely linked with AF subgroups.


As system-on-chip (SoC) becomes prevalent in the intelligent system applications, the reliability issue of SoC is getting more attention in the design industry. But due to the circuit complexity, the high pin counts and ever increasing operating frequencies, System-on -Chip (SoC) devices drive the most challenging requirements for failure localization and mechanism analysis. PEM (Photon Emission Microscopy) analysis is important for failure analysis as they can help to locate the failed device directly or point out the analysis direction. FIB (Focused Ion Beam) is also a useful tool in failure analysis which could provide cross section on visible defect. This paper presents a typical failure analysis case of the SoC for information processing and control using a 0.13μm process technology. And PEM and FIB are used to help us locate the failure site and analyze the failure mechanism.


As one of the measures for decreasing road traffic noise in a city, the control of the traffic flow and the physical distribution is considered. To conduct the measure effectively, the model for predicting the traffic flow in the citywide road network is necessary. In this study, the existing model named AVENUE was used as a traffic flow prediction model. The traffic flow model was integrated with the road vehicles' sound power model and the sound propagation model, and the new road traffic noise prediction model was established. As a case study, the prediction model was applied to the road network of Tsukuba city in Japan and the noise map of the city was made. To examine the calculation accuracy of the noise map, the calculated values of the noise at the main roads were compared with the measured values. As a result, it was found that there was a possibility that the high accuracy noise map of the city could be made by using the noise prediction model developed in this study.


All rings are assumed to be associative with a non-zero identity. We denote by E(M) the injective hull of a module Μ. A module Μ is said to be 7r-injective if it satisfies the following equivalent [1] conditions: (1) for any submodules N\, N2 of Μ such that Νι (Ί Ν2 = 0 there exists a direct decomposition Μ = Μι © M2 such that JVj C Mi; (2) f(M) C Μ for any idempotent endomorphism / of E(M). A module Μ is said to be continuous if every submodule of it is an essential submodule of a direct summand of M, and every submodule of Μ isomorphic to a direct summand of Μ is a direct summand of M. All injective modules are continuous. Continuous modules are π-injective [I], The ring of integers is a hereditary π-injective but not continuous ring. The following was proved in [2],