The study aims at providing comprehensive insights into the influence of the climatic stress on building heating demand. The examined case studies are two residential buildings, representative of the Italian existing and newly-built stocks, respectively. Building energy performance is simulated by comparing a standard normative approach with a tailored accurate one using EnergyPlus. The comparison is performed for several locations (i.e., 63) to consider all typical Italian climates. A global sensitivity analysis is performed to identify the most influential climatic parameters and to investigate the correlation between heating demand and HDD (heating degree days). The findings show that a base temperature of 18 °C in HDD assessment provides higher determination coefficient compared to 20 °C, and that HDD should consider also solar radiation and/or latitude to achieve a better correlation. Finally, climatic stress curves are provided to assess thermal energy demand and running cost for heating operation as a function of HDD for both the existing and the newly-built building.


This article examines the discourses surrounding non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in gaming and identifies companies involved in NFTs in the Quebec gaming scene. NFTs boomed in the gaming industry in 2021 and continued to grow in 2022, even as the value of gaming coins plummeted. If successful, some believe they could bring new opportunities to the gaming landscape. We conducted an online ethnography in early 2022 through an innovative web-scanning approach and curation process powered by a professional market intelligence platform. Data was collected from various sources and analyzed via statistical analysis software to understand the discourses of companies, gamers, researchers, and insiders. Findings show that the technical and economic discourse is at least ambivalent if not negative, while the gamer discourse is mostly negative. The burgeoning Quebec scene is currently very limited and divided into two groups: large gaming companies and startups. Despite the crypto-enthusiast craze, our analysis shows that early projects were often criticized by traditional gamers and that professionals in the sector remain skeptical.


Much progress has been made on integrating parallel programming into the core Computer Science curriculum of top-tier universities in the United States. For example, "COMP 322: Introduction to Parallel Programming" at Rice University is a required course for all undergraduate students pursuing a bachelors degree. It teaches a wide range of parallel programming paradigms, from task-parallel to SPMD to actor-based programming. However, courses like COMP 322 do little to support members of the Computer Science community that need to develop these skills but who are not currently enrolled in a four-year program with parallel programming in the curriculum. This group includes (1) working professionals, (2) students at USA universities without parallel programming courses, or (3) students in countries other than the USA without access to a parallel programming course. To serve these groups, Rice University launched the "Parallel, Concurrent, and Distributed Programming in Java" Coursera specialization on July 31, 2017. In 2017, the authors of that specialization also wrote an experiences paper about launching the specialization. In this paper, the sequel to our previous publication, we look back at the first year of the Coursera specialization. In particular, we ask the following questions: (1) how did our assumptions about the student body for this course hold up?, (2) how has the course changed since launch?, and (3) what can we learn about how students are progressing through the specialization from Coursera's built-in analytics?


A long-standing concern in political economy is whether outcomes are efficient in political equilibrium. Recent contributions have examined the efficiency/inefficiency of policy choices from a theoretical point of view. The aim of this paper is to examine such issue empirically. Building on existing "economic" diagnoses that highlight the deficient incentives present in ArgentinaÂ's Federal Tax-Sharing Agreement the paper will attempt to understand the politics behind its adoption and persistence. We suggest an explanation based on the transaction costs of ArgentinaÂ's political market. Although potentially Pareto-improving policies could have been adopted, they were not introduced because of the uncertainty over the future status of todayÂ's bargains, and given the lack of institutions to enforce bargains among the political actors. The paper concludes offering some preliminary ideas for institutional engineering: what governance structures could help reduce these transaction costs? The purpose is to create an institutional framework in which political actors could negotiate among themselves, ensuring the enforceability of agreements, in order to achieve more efficient outcomes.


This idea is that The Bug grows on plant surfaces and can be swept into the atmosphere in microscopic dandruff-like magic carpets where special bacterial proteins nucleate free water in the clouds forming ice crystals. The ice crystals once formed from the bacterial nucleation event, then bounce around and multiply, and can eventually fall to earth as snow or rain. The idea that plants and their bacteria might have a role in clouds and then in rainfall formation was presented some 25 years ago from observations in and above Montana wheat fields. It is only recently that the bioprecipitation cycle hypothesis has had some validity from data generated at the tops of our four ski resorts in the Big Sky and Bozeman areas. They are working with scientists on several continents interested in this hypothesis because by choosing the right crops to sustain the bacteria, they might be able to cause additional rain in drought stricken areas of the world.


With the development of communication technologies and smartphone, requirements of positioning accuracy for LBS (Location Based Service) are becoming increasingly important. LBS is a service which offers the information or entertainment based on a location to users. Therefore, positioning is very important for LBS. Among many positioning methods, IEEE 802.11 WLAN positioning measures the distance using the RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) attenuation log model. Thus in order to enhance positioning, we modify the IEEE 802.11 RSSI attenuation log model by adaptive weighting method. In this paper, we propose improved IEEE 802.11 RSSI attenuation log model for enhanced indoor positioning.


This work, framed within the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, is
focused on Sardinian southern continental margins marine habitat mapping. Aim of
this thesis is to produce predictive marine habitat mapping, starting from a detailed
geomorphologic study integrated with biological and oceanographic data coming
both from original direct surveys than from bibliographic data. Underwater remotely
operated vehicles (ROV), coupled with multibeam echo-sounder (MBES), enabled to
perform interpretative hypothesis validation, controlled sampling and detailed
observation of specific mesophotic habitats with noninvasive protocols, which are
particularly relevant for habitats of conservation interest. Marine habitat mapping
represents the best estimation of the distribution of habitats in a place and at a
particular time, this goal have been focused on target biocoenosis A4.26 –
"Mediterranean coralligenous communities moderately exposed to hydrodynamic
action" and A4.713 – "Caves and overhangs with Corallium rubrum", as defined by
EUNIS classification (European Nature Information System), subsequently reunite
under the name of Coralligenous Biocoenosis for the mapping of which has been
reached a high level of confidence. Principal drivers for seabed habitat distributions
include the type of seabed substrate, depth, light availability and the energy of water
movements. For the very first time on Sardinian southern margin a multidisciplinary
approach has been used to study the relationship between biotic and abiotic
components of marine habitats and how seabed morphologic features influences
different benthic biocoenosis development styles, geomorphologic characteristics of
settlement for substrates could be important factors structuring benthic biodiversity,
by affecting sediment accumulation rates, bottom currents and, ultimately, the rates
of food supply. These biocoenosis hosts relevant commercially relevant species, as
the blue and the giant red shrimp which represent the most important demersal
resources for trawling fleet of Sardinia.


Using the Continuous Parameter Estimation Method (CPEM), a large genotyped sample of the population of Wisconsin, USA (the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, N=8,509) is examined for evidence of the Scarr-Rowe effect, an adverse gene x environment (GxE) interaction that reduces the heritability of IQ among those with low socioeconomic status. This method allows the differential expressivity of polygenic scores predictive of both educational attainment and IQ (EA3) on the phenotype of IQ to be operationalized throughout the full range of these variables. Utilizing a parental SES factor-weighted composite as a measure of childhood SES, evidence for the Scarr-Rowe effect was found, i.e. the genetic expressivity of EA3 on IQ increased with increasing parental SES (β=.064, p=3.82×10−9, df=8508). The effect was found for both the male and female samples separately (β(males)=.051, p=.002, df=4062; β(females)=.076, p=1.76×10−7, df=4445) — there were no significant sex differences in the effect magnitudes, however. The effects were furthermore robust to removing outlying values of parental SES.


This review discusses the multifaceted role of hyaluronic acid, focusing on the proliferative phase of wound healing. It considers the importance of achieving the right levels of this molecule, and the potential for future therapies.


The synthesis and characterisation of a range of ligands capable of binding four or five transition metals has been explored in an attempt to synthesise a model for the oxygen evolving centre of photosystem II. Difficulty was encountered in isolating the pure, deprotected ligands. A ligand based on 1,4,7-triazacyclononane containing three alcohol donors was isolated, investigated and compared against similar ligands. A series of copper N-oxide Bis(N,N'-Disalicylalethylenediamine) derivatives were synthesised and fully characterised. The electron paramagnetic resonance spectra (EPR) of these complexes were measured and compared in order to determine the relative Lewis acidity of the central metal. Electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectra were recorded of the complexes they revealed the catalytic activity of these complexes towards cyclopropanation was tested with a variety of styrene derivatives. A zinc N-oxide Bis(N,N'-Disalicylalethylenediamine) derivative was extensively studied for enantiomeric discrimination of a small amine, methylbenzyl amine (MBA). This was monitored via lH NMR titrations in three different solvents, CDCI3, CD3CN and CD3OD. The ability of MBA to displace a solvent molecule from the coordination sites was investigated and the data inserted into a kinetic model. Chloroform was found to have the weakest interaction while methanol had the strongest. The difference in affinity of ii-complex for i-MBA over S-MBA was also investigated and a preference for the heterochiral mixture was revealed.


Genetic studies have uncovered many genes that are involved in the first steps of neuronal development in Drosophila. Less is known about the intermediate steps during which individual precursor cells follow either the neuronal pathway or the glial pathway. We report the identification of a novel bHLH gene, biparous, expressed in neuronal and glial precursors in Drosophila. Unlike most bHLH genes, biparous expression continues to the final stages of neurogenesis in the embryo. Expression of biparous is not observed in end stage postmitotic neurons and precedes the expression of repo, a gene activated in later stages of glial differentiation. The bHLH domain is sufficiently different from previously described bHLH domains to imply a novel function.


Abstract Our research aims to reflect on rural communities' awareness and perceptions of various energy sources, particularly focusing on renewable energies. We argue that there is an urgent need to expand the knowledge base on the perspectives of rural communities directly and indirectly affected by renewable energy installations. From an empirical point of view, our study focuses on the Lipno county in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (Poland), where a relatively unique constellation of renewable energy and local community is emerging. Our findings indicate a wide awareness about renewable energies in the community, but a rather shallow, imbalanced, and outdated knowledge on potentials, advantages and disadvantages of individual locally available renewable energy sources was detected. To break deeply rooted carbon dependency and lock-in and to trigger mechanisms of change leading to more sustainable futures, practical, contextual, and place-based knowledge is essentially needed to shape responsive attitudes. We claim that personal experience of the effects of renewable energy installation (especially small-scale ones) can be a proxy for the change and scaling up. This is a key because it proves the leading role of an inclusive approach to developing renewable energy in rural areas. Locals undertake new energy investments, which is the basis of spatial (territorial) distribution justice – they not only bear the costs of operating new energy installations but also derive tangible benefits from renewables.


UniSim is a graphic tool that can be used to develop and validate portable automation software, which fully complies with the IEC 61131-3 standard. UniSim is based on a graphical editor and on a simulation engine which allows to perform off-line validation of the automation software. Its simulation engine can also be interfaced with off-the-shelf I/O boards, in order to fast prototype automation systems by using a personal computer. Hardware-in-the-loop validation can be performed interfacing the prototype with the real plant or with an emulator. Furthermore, UniSim adopts the new XML Formats for IEC 61131-3, which provides an open interface for data exchange among different systems. Thanks to this choice the code developed with UniSim can be easily ported among different commercial platforms, increasing software reusability. Although the current release of UniSim is a work in progress version, it is already available and it can be effectively used to develop small and medium automation size projects.


Follicular helper T (TFH) cells are recently highlighted as their crucial role for humoral immunity to infection as well as their abnormal control to induce autoimmune disease. During an infection, naïve T cells are differentiating into TFH cells which mediate memory B cells and long-lived plasma cells in germinal center (GC). TFH cells are characterized by their expression of master regulator, Bcl-6, and chemokine receptor, CXCR5, which are essential for the migration of T cells into the B cell follicle. Within the follicle, crosstalk occurs between B cells and TFH cells, leading to class switch recombination and affinity maturation. Various signaling molecules, including cytokines, surface molecules, and transcription factors are involved in TFH cell differentiation. IL-6 and IL-21 cytokine-mediated STAT signaling pathways, including STAT1 and STAT3, are crucial for inducing Bcl-6 expression and TFH cell differentiation. TFH cells express important surface molecules such as ICOS, PD-1, IL-21, BTLA, SAP and CD40L for mediating the interaction between T and B cells. Recently, two types of microRNA (miRNA) were found to be involved in the regulation of TFH cells. The miR-17-92 cluster induces Bcl-6 and TFH cell differentiation, whereas miR-10a negatively regulates Bcl-6 expression in T cells. In addition, follicular regulatory T (TFR) cells are studied as thymus-derived CXCR5+PD-1+Foxp3+ Treg cells that play a significant role in limiting the GC response. Regulation of TFH cell differentiation and the GC reaction via miRNA and TFR cells could be important regulatory mechanisms for maintaining immune tolerance and preventing autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here, we review recent studies on the various factors that affect TFH cell differentiation, and the role of TFH cells in autoimmune diseases.


Ethylene has been implicated as a sex-determining hormone in cucumber: Its exogenous application increases femaleness and gynoecious genotypes were reported to produce more ethylene. 1- aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) oxidase (ACO) is the key enzyme in ethylene biosynthesis. In this study, a 1,188 base pair (bp) fragment was amplified from cucumber (Jinyan-4) genome with degenerated primers derived from the ACO amino acid consensus sequence among different plant species. The putative new gene was analyzed by bioinformatic tools. Phylogenic analysis result of the new gene ( CsACO4 , GenBank accession number AY450356) was in accordance with the evolution relationship of genetics among various plant species. The result of BLAST showed the sequence presented a very high match with the ACO genes from other plants; the homologue was from 80 to 99%. Using the sequence, a RNA interference (RNAi) transformation vector was constructed through the way of BP cloning. Eleven transgenic plants were obtained. The transgene integrated into cucumber genome was proved with PCR and southern blotting. The morphological exploration showed that the inserted RNAi target fragments could inhibit the endogenous CsACO4 gene expression and that it could regulate male differentiation in the lower nodes in cucumber. Keywords: Cucumber, ACC oxidase gene, RNAi, male differentiation


The aim of this study was to present our experience of 18 cases of abdominal radical trachelectomy (ART), including 5 performed during pregnancy, analyzing patient selection, surgical complications, and oncological and obstetrical outcomes. This reproductive study included all early stage cervical cancer patients referred for ART at the 1st Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic of the Emergency Clinical County Hospital Targu Mures, between 2010 and 2020. A total of 19 women were considered for ART, and only 1 case required conversion to radical hysterectomy. The patient mean age was 31 years (range 24-38 years), and 66.67% of the patients were nulliparous. Six women (33.33%) had stage IA2, 4 (22.22%) had stage IB1, 5 (27.78%) had stage IB2, and 4 (22.22%) had stage IB3 disease. One intraoperative complication occurred in this series, which consisted in both right ureteral and bladder injuries. Early postoperative complications were represented by urinary bladder dysfunction (33.33%), symptomatic pelvic lymphocele (11.1%), peritonitis (5.5%), and wound infection (5.5%). Late postoperative complications included cervical stenosis (5.5%), amenorrhea (11.1%), and pelvic abscess (5.5%). Four out of the 18 patients were operated on during pregnancy between 14 and 20 weeks; 2 of them gave birth at term, 2 of them aborted shortly after the surgery. Two vaginal recurrences were recorded; both were managed by hysterectomy, partial colpectomy and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. At this moment, all patients are alive with no evidence of disease and 3 of them managed to conceive. In conclusion, ART should be recommended as a fertility-preserving procedure for women in their reproductive age. In selected cases, ART can be performed during pregnancy with encouraging results.


Subject of my studies is activities of editing and publishing newspapers and magazines, carried out by Chinese students in Japan during the late Qing period. Through examine the contents and process of transmission of these newspapers and magazine, I will explore how these kind of new mass media had accelerated the structural changes of China's politics, society and culture. My argument is divided into 4 parts stated as bellows: First part deal with reasons contribute to the massive trends of Chinese students studying in Japan during late Qing, and their political and cultural activities during their stay. After The Russo-Japanese War, numbers of Chinese students studied abroad increase rapidly due to encouragement by the Qing authority and cooperative efforts from Japan. In aspect of politics, students influenced by nationalism had mobilized massive boycott to attend classes and even returned to China collectively. In aspect of culture, they formed associations of fellow provincials , reading clubs, did massive translation from Japanese into Chinese on Western works which had been translated into Japanese. They also introduced western thought through publishing newspapers and magazines. Second part of my dissertation explain how these papers and magazine published by Chinese students in Japan transmitted and circulated among the people in China inwardly and downwardly, to constitute the public sphere in late Qing. After 1895, the reformers utilized new mass media fully as means of enlightenment. However after the WuXu coup, Qing authority had ordered to shut down all press, thus the later shifted their operation to concession and overseas. Japan was amongst such important fortified point, it gathered all essential elements such as space, manpower, resources of thoughts and cultural constitution, to form a public sphere whereby reasoning critiques can be carried out in public, outside the control of official authority. From Japan via Shanghai to the ports, and eventually to various villages and towns all over the country, the Chinese public sphere was transmitted to lower class and the mass. Through shared reading on common works, papers and magazine created a spectacle context , which supplied the mass with a public sphere, although in reality, the exact spaces were separated due to differences of social classes and living environment . Third part would analyze the mutual relationship between publications by Chinese students in Japan and the political power of China. I would divide the main theme into three categories according to its development. First of all is to analyze and induce from the text, the newly formed field of power due to the highly political nature of the papers and magazine run by Chinese students study abroad. Secondly, to study responses of Qing authority on these newly formed field, which has shown an oppressive nature initially and end up with docile. My dissertation would tract this changes in policy, to examine the constitution and transformation of this field of power. Finally, to examine how the intellectuals had manipulated the operation of this field of power, to sustain their superiority in culture and to propagate their political stand. Part four emphasize the potential impacts on languages and culture during the transmission of new thought through papers and magazine. This dissertation will clarify it from 3 perspectives, which are vocabulary, genre and resources of idea respectively. Chinese students in Japan during late Qing had done massive translation and introduction of western thought through the Field which was constructed by papers and magazine. As a results, plenty of new vocabulary has been introduced and merged into the vocabulary system of Hanyu( the Chinese language), created intensive impact and supplement to the system of thought which was previously exist . Since the process of translation and introduction of western theories had been carried out too hastily, syntactic construction which imitate Japanese genre had created a kind of Genre of Japanese Direct Translation , producing New Genre which is a transition between GuWen( classical Chinese) and Bai Hua ( modern Chinese). This New Genre has changed Chinese literary language as well. In the aspect of resource of idea, through translation of Japanese publication , Chinese students digested and applied western theories carried in it, and reproduced it in books, papers and magazine which they published. In such a way, Japan had become a medium through which new thoughts from western was imported into China during late Qing. In other words, China was depending on Japan in its process of acquiring western culture. Finally, this dissertation conclude the importance of papers and magazine in late Qing, this new field constructed by new form of mass media had finally accelerated the transformation of politics, society and culture during that period.


In a short span of time, less than 10 years, E-Commerce industry has observed a magnificent growth in some of the developed countries. However E-Commerce industry in developing countries like India is still lagging behind to satisfy the challenging and dynamic needs of consumers. E-Commerce websites are considered as face or representatives of their respective companies. A well designed website is considered as successful website. It is designed in such a way so that it can satisfy user needs. Hence to have an optimized, updated and structured website is the ultimate goal for all E-Commerce organizations now days. In this regard we are going to discuss improved mining strategies which are required to maintain optimized website structure which in turn is helpful for businesses to increase their revenues, to keep check on competitor's websites, comparison of various brands, attracting new customers and to retain the old customers.


Gear system has been widely used in industrial applications and unexpected failures of gears are not only extremely damaging but also leading to economic losses. So, early detection of fault is important for diagnosis machine condition. And acoustic emission is an efficient non-destructive testing technique fur the diagnosis of machine health and is useful technique far early detection of fault because it can find low-amplitude and high-frequency signal on account of high sensibility. Therefore, in this paper, the AE signal was measured and preprocessed using envelope analysis for gearbox with misalignment between pinion and gear. And then the gear misalignment's vibration characteristic were analyzed.


From a study of the nutrient and gelation substances in Korean persimmon such as Jangdongsi, Pasi, Teabongsi, Kurigam, Nabjackgam, Gamsi and Hucks: The results obtained are summerized as follows: 1. According as persimmon changes into mellowed persimmon in the same kind the ammounts of sugar was increased, while the ammounts of fiber was decreased, but there was little difference in the other nutrient contents. 2. The ratio of 'Ca' and 'P' in persimmons in generally balanced at 1 : 2.5 3. Compared to the standard combination ratio of gelation substance, pectin in the persimmons was over but acid and sugars were very low.


Background: To address the disproportionate burden of poor mental health among women, we present a community based participatory research (CBPR) model used to develop a women's mental health promotion program for Iranian women. Methods: This is a multi-phase interventional study using a CBPR approach among married women age 18–65 living in Tehran. First, participants described the process of women's mental health. Subsequent steps involved participatory needs assessment, priority setting, intervention design, and evaluation. Finally, a conceptual model of women's mental health promotion was developed. Results: "Seeking comfort" emerged as the core process in women's mental health. To promote mental health, women prioritized training on coping mechanisms to deal with stress. Women receiving this training used more problem-based coping methods and reported a higher quality of life than the comparison group. Conclusions: The resulting conceptual model illustrates the utility of using a CBPR approach to develop women's mental health promotion programs.


Background and objectives The risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is increased in RA. The chronic inflammation appears to potentiate the traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in this context. In 2009, the Swedish Society of Rheumatology (SRF) approved a set of recommendations for screening and primary prevention of CVD in RA (www.svenskreumatologi.se/riktlinjer). Low aerobic capacity is a strong CV risk factor in the general population. In a pilot study, intensive spinning exercise could improve CV risk factors, including aerobic capacity, in RA. The aim of this study was to evaluate the SRF guidelines in a clinical setting and to highlight the relation between physical exercise and CV risk in RA. Materials and methods 47 patients with recent onset RA during 2012 at the department of Rheumatology, University Hospital of Umeå, were recruited. Three months after initial diagnosis of RA, patients were examined physically and blood samples were collected for traditional CV risk factors according to the SRF guidelines and CV risk (Heart-SCORE) was calculated. Furthermore, aerobic capacity was tested in a submaximal ergometer test (Åstrand). Additionally, patients received counselling regarding diet, tobacco use and exercise from a nurse and a physiotherapist. The counselling session, based upon national guidelines from The National Food Agency and The Public Health Agency respectively, was performed once per patient for approximately 45 min. A follow-up was performed nine months after the first examination. Results were adjusted for disease activity and disability. Aerobic capacity at baseline was related to SCORE. Results Among the 47 included patients, 45 could be evaluated in the follow-up. Mean diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly from 80 mmHg to 77 mmHg (P < 0.05), Scholesterol decreased from 5.5 mmol/l to 5.2 mmol/l (P < 0.05) and mean ApoA1/ApoB from 0.73 to 0.65 (P < 0.05). In all remaining variables (waist circumference, BMI, systolic blood pressure, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, fP-glucose) numerical improvements were observed (P > 0.05). CV risk, as measured by SCORE, was normal. Aerobic capacity was, however, 28 ml O2/kg/min at baseline, a level regarded as high risk for CVD in the general population. Aerobic capacity remained unchanged during follow up (P > 0.05). Conclusion Several traditional risk factors of CVD were improved at the nine-month followup. This suggests that this model of screening according to the SRF guidelines and simple counselling according to national guidelines might be useful in primary prevention of CVD in patients with RA. More research is needed regarding aerobic capacity and the value of physical training for CV risk in RA.


This paper addresses the Hybrid Flow Shop (HFS) scheduling problems to minimize the total work in process inventory. Job scheduling problems are one of the oldest and real world combinational optimization problems. It is multi objective and complex in nature. There exist some criteria that must be taken into consideration when evaluating the quality of the proposed schedule. Consideration of job and machine reliability is very important during assignment of jobs in each stage to get realistic hybrid flow shop schedule. In this paper, flow shop problem concerns the sequencing of a given number of jobs through a series of machines in the exact same order on all machines with the aim to satisfy a set of constraint as much as possible and optimize a set of objectives. Fuzzy sets and logic can be used to tackle uncertainties inherent in actual flow shop scheduling problems. Fuzzy due dates, cost over time and profit rate result the job priority and to determine the machine priority processing time of each machine is considered. MATLAB fuzzy tool box is used to calculate the priorities of jobs and machines at different stages. Finally, jobs are assigned into machines based on a grouping and sequencing algorithm that minimizes the total work in process inventory.


Purpose: miR-409-3p/-5p is a miRNA expressed by embryonic stem cells, and its role in cancer biology and metastasis is unknown. Our pilot studies demonstrated elevated miR-409-3p/-5p expression in human prostate cancer bone metastatic cell lines; therefore, we defined the biologic impact of manipulation of miR-409-3p/-5p on prostate cancer progression and correlated the levels of its expression with clinical human prostate cancer bone metastatic specimens. Experimental Design: miRNA profiling of a prostate cancer bone metastatic epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) cell line model was performed. A Gleason score human tissue array was probed for validation of specific miRNAs. In addition, genetic manipulation of miR-409-3p/-5p was performed to determine its role in tumor growth, EMT, and bone metastasis in mouse models. Results: Elevated expression of miR-409-3p/-5p was observed in bone metastatic prostate cancer cell lines and human prostate cancer tissues with higher Gleason scores. Elevated miR-409-3p expression levels correlated with progression-free survival of patients with prostate cancer. Orthotopic delivery of miR-409-3p/-5p in the murine prostate gland induced tumors where the tumors expressed EMT and stemness markers. Intracardiac inoculation (to mimic systemic dissemination) of miR-409-5p inhibitor–treated bone metastatic ARCaPM prostate cancer cells in mice led to decreased bone metastasis and increased survival compared with control vehicle–treated cells. Conclusion: miR-409-3p/-5p plays an important role in prostate cancer biology by facilitating tumor growth, EMT, and bone metastasis. This finding bears particular translational importance as miR-409-3p/-5p appears to be an attractive biomarker and/or possibly a therapeutic target to treat bone metastatic prostate cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 20(17); 4636–46. ©2014 AACR.


This study collected soil moisture (SM) observations from 100 in situ observations and compared them with widely used SM estimations, derived from the Essential Climate Variables, European Reanalysis (ERA)‐Interim, the Modern‐Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, and Noah at spatial resolutions of 0.25° × 0.25°, 0.5° × 0.5°, and 1° × 1° during unfreezing and freezing periods. Results indicate that all estimations except ERA can depict the SM changes on the Himalayan‐Tibetan Plateau (HTP) well to some extent and Noah performs the best as a whole. In the Ngari region, however, SM estimations substantially overestimate SM observations. In the Naqu region, except ERA, SM estimations overestimate the SM amount during freezing periods but underestimate the SM amount during unfreezing periods. In Maqu, except ERA, SM estimations can characterize SM variations with substantial underestimation of SM during unfreezing periods, however, slight underestimation of SM during freezing periods. In space, the Modern‐Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications and Noah can evaluate the spatial distribution of SM better. The SM changes across most parts of the HTP are heavily influenced by precipitation changes. In addition, these changes in the western flank of the HTP are the combined result of snow and glacial melting and precipitation. Except in the western and northern regions, SM during unfreezing periods is usually higher than during freezing periods. Besides, evaluations can better describe SM changes at medium and large spatial scales than at small spatial scales. This study provides important basis for the selection of proper remote sensing and reanalysis SM data sets for the analysis of SM on the HTP.


An 85-year-old male underwent open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) for a displaced acromion stress fracture that occurred two years prior. The complete fracture occurred two months after an ipsilateral reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA). Four weeks after his RTSA, the pain was felt at the posterior-superior shoulder with activities of his daily living as a rancher, reflecting non-compliant use. A stress fracture was suspected but not detected radiographically. Four weeks later, higher pain occurred after he lifted a hay bale, and a displaced basilar acromion fracture was detected. Non-operative management spanned 20 months, which he ultimately deemed unacceptable because of pain with minor activities. ORIF was then done. Approximately 10 months after the ORIF surgery, both plates sustained fatigue breakage; however, the fracture consolidated, and his pain remained low. He is the oldest patient described to ultimately have a successful acromion fracture ORIF and only the third reported acromion fracture ORIF in octogenarians following RTSA. We report the ORIF technique, its good outcome, and a literature review of elderly patients who had ORIF for this problem.


OBJECTIVE
To review the indications, procedure, and complications associated with total colectomy with ileorectal anastamosis in women undergoing primary debulking of ovarian cancer.

METHODS
Charts were reviewed to determine all patients undergoing total colectomy with ileorectal anastamosis during primary debulking of ovarian, peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer. Charts were also reviewed for perioperative morbidity and mortality, as well as rates of fecal incontinence.

RESULTS
Nine patients underwent the above procedures during primary debulking of ovarian cancer. The mean age was 61 years with a mean BMI of 31 kg/m2. The average postoperative hospital stay was 11 days with an average estimated blood loss of 700 ml. There was no perioperative mortality. Although all patients had greatly increased frequency of stools, no patients had incontinence of stool after eight weeks.

CONCLUSIONS
Radical surgery, including total colectomy, can be performed in select patients with primary ovarian cancer. Acceptable morbidity, mortality, and rectal continence can be obtained.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the status of rehabilitation demands and services of persons with disability in Beijing and to provide evidence for rehabilitation establishment programmed by government and civil society.

METHODS
Using both qualitative and descriptive methodologies to analyze the data of 4852 disabled persons who had been confirmed of requiring rehabilitation services in Beijing. Data was from the Second China National Sample Survey on Disability in conferring the demands for rehabilitation services.

RESULTS
The consciousness and demand for rehabilitation was higher among urban disabled residents than those living in the rural areas. Demand on rehabilitation training from children was accounted for 75.23%. Rates of demand on assistant device and medical service among the elderly were 57.05%, 66.86% respectively. Primary rehabilitation format of grade I and II appeared to be community-based and family service while grade III and IV were institutional rehabilitation programs. Rates on needs regarding vision and limb accounted for 85.23% and 59.91% respectively. 76.95% of the disability persons among intelligentsia needed community and family service. The rates on demand of medical treatment of mental, vision, limbs services were 92.80%, 86.77% and 68.24% respectively while the demand for assistant device of hearing disability was 83.09%. Rates of demand on rehabilitative training from mental, dication and mind disabled were 84.36%, 77.42%, 62.82%. Other kinds of demand and services seemed relatively low other than medical treatment.

CONCLUSION
The gap between demand and salvation on rehabilitation was relatively great, suggesting the enhancement of disabled rehabilitation programs be strengthened to promote the build-up of a correct concept on rehabilitation among the disabled. Demands from the disabled persons should be extensively met.


There has been recent interest in the standards of monitoring and care provided during the secondary transfer of patients in the United Kingdom [I-31. This has coincided with the appearance of medical helicopter transfer systems [4, 51. Although helicopters possess the advantage of speed, the most important aspect for most critically ill patients remains the quali ty of the transfer. This relates to the experience, grade and specialty of the transferring doctor, the available equipment and drugs, and the mode of transport. Vyvyan et al. (Anaesthesia 1991; 46: 728-31) comment that, during the secondary transfer of head-injured patients in the south of England, '. . . the quality of medical escort was poor, and the standard of monitoring equipment available was unacceptable . . .' In particular they report that only 22.6% of hospitals possessed equipment which could measure intra-arterial blood pressure during transfer; they also confirm that noninvasive methods of monitoring blood pressure may be unreliable in transit [6]. Furthermore, they believe that the standards for monitoring head-injured, and, presumably, other critically i l l patients, during transfer '. . . should be more intense . . .' than those recently recommended for the anaesthetised patient by the Association of Anaesthetists [7]. These include a pulse oximeter, electrocardiograph, capnograph, and facilities for invasive and noninvasive pressure monitoring. Finally, they state that medical staff who escort headinjured patients (and, again, presumably other critically ill patients) must have appropriate skills. Therefore, it may surprise some that the recently published minimum standards for helicopter transfer of patients [8], produced by a panel of which one of Vyvyan's co-authors is chairman, d o not insist on the use of a capnograph, nor d o they stipulate that invasive pressure monitoring is essential (merely insisting on 'blood pressure measurement'). Consequently, as with 96.8% of the hospitals in the study by Vyvyan e t al., helicopters equipped to these minimum standards possess insufficient monitoring. Earlier this year, after the publication of the standards for medical helicopter systems, our Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU) needed to transfer urgently a patient to a national transplant centre. The patient, a young woman with a presumptive diagnosis of peripartum cardiomyopathy, was receiving intermittent positive pressure ventilation, and infusions of dobutamine, dopamine and noradrenaline. She was being monitored via an ECG, pulse oximeter, central venous line, pulmonary artery catheter and a femoral artery line; her pulse rate was in excess of 220.min-', her arterial blood pressure was 100/70 mmHg, and she had severe pulmonary hypertension. One of us discussed, in detail, the patient's condition and the required level of monitoring with the duty flight registrar of a helicopter transfer system. When the helicopter team arrived at our ITU, it was apparent that invasive monitoring could not be undertaken because of the lack of appropriate equipment. Arterial blood pressure recordings could only be obtained via a noninvasive system, and venous and pulmonary artery pressures could not be measured. Furthermore, the same duty flight registrar who had accepted the call was quite prepared to transfer the patient without the appropriate invasive monitoring. Having been delayed by several hours, the transfer was eventually undertaken by a consultant in Intensive Care via standard road ambulance with a police escort, using a modification of the equipment described by Park et a1 [9]. It is in fact recommended that the medical director of a helicopter transfer system should supervise audit of the scheme [8]. We are not opposed to the use of helicopter transfer systems, if appropriate. Neither d o we suggest that there should be complacency over the current standards for the secondary transfer of critically ill patients. However, whichever mode of transport is chosen, it is important that proper standards of care and monitoring are maintained and we would urge all hospitals to consider the upgrade of their transfer equipment. If consideration is given to the transfer of a patient via helicopter, we recommend that it is done in the knowledge that the craft carries appropriate staff and equipment, rather than because it may be fashionable and/or exciting.


This paper presents partial results of a ground operations study for a series of Shuttle Derived Vehicles (SDV's). The paper covers hardware and operational impacts for Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) resulting from processing any one of three different SDV configurations while maintaining Space Transportation System (STS) operations. The SDV configurations were assembled from Shuttle-type hardware (e.g., Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB's), External Tanks (ET's), Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME's) and Orbiter subsystems). One configuration incorporates a side mounted payload carrier/ propulsion module similar to the Orbiter on STS. A second configuration incorporates an inline payload carrier and propulsion module. The third configuration is the STS vehicle with an additional payload shroud structure located aft of the ET with approximately the same volume as the Orbiter Payload Bay. For each launch vehicle (LV) configuration and associated payloads, the paper presents the launch site impacts including new and modified facilities. Operational impacts were defined that included assessments of schedules, mixed (STS/SDV) fleet analysis, test procedures, and software.


Clements' approach to process capability analysis for skewed distributions, based on fitting the Pearson distribution system to data, is widely used in industry. In this paper we compare the accuracy of the Pearson system and the RMM (response modeling methodology) distribution, as distributional models for process capability analysis of non‐normal data. The accuracy of the estimates of Cp and CPU is measured by the relative mean square errors. Three factors that may affect the accuracy of RMM and Pearson are examined: the data‐generating distribution (Weibull, log‐normal, gamma), the skewness (0.5, 1.25, 2) and the sample size (50, 300, 2000). The results show that RMM consistently outperforms Pearson, even for samples from gamma, which is a special case of Pearson. This implies that when observations are visibly skewed yet their underlying distribution is unknown, RMM estimators for Cp and CPU take account of the information stored in the data more precisely than the Pearson model, and may therefore constitute a preferred distributional model to pursue in process capability analysis. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


SUMMARY: Periorbital lipogranuloma is a rare complication after ESS and presently lacks specific imaging reports. The purpose of this study was to describe the CT and MR imaging features of periorbital lipogranuloma. We retrospectively reviewed 9 patients with histology-confirmed periorbital lipogranuloma. All 9 patients underwent CT and MR imaging. Five lipogranulomas were located in the right eyelid and 4 in the left eyelid, which extended into the extraconal space to some degree. The lesions displayed an irregular shape and had an ill-defined margin. Multiple, specked, or nodular foci containing fat were scattered within these lesions. The lesions demonstrated moderate heterogeneous contrast enhancement on contrast-enhanced MR imaging. The TICs showed a persistent pattern (type I) in 6 patients undergoing DCE MR imaging. Thus, an ill-defined, irregular-shaped periorbital mass with multiple foci containing fat, combined with an ESS history, can help to accurately diagnose this entity.


Abstract We studied the breeding ecology of the Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis) at the Shezaf Nature Reserve, Arava Valley, Israel, an extremely arid desert with mean annual rainfall of 30 mm. We color-banded 128 shrikes during 2007–2009. The breeding season lasted from late February until late June. We found 34 nests and a correlation between years with amount of precipitation and number of breeding pairs. Second broods after successful broods were found only in 2007 and were all unsuccessful. Most nests were in Acacia trees; pairs that nested in dry trees, lacking foliage, were more likely to fail. The average clutch size was 3.44; average number of nestlings was 1.95; and average number of nestlings that fledged was 1.24. These results are lower than other studies of the species, probably a result of the scarcity of food in the arid environment. Nest survival rate was higher during incubation than during rearing of nestlings (0.71vs. 0.62), and total nest survival was 44.5%. The arid Arava Valley influences breeding success of Southern Grey Shrikes, and the present severe drought could negatively influence persistence of the shrike population in the Arava Valley.


The compliant airways of the premature neonate undergo episodic distention and collapse in response to changes in transmural pressure such as occur during spontaneous breathing, mechanical ventilation, and various therapeutic maneuvers. To identify and quantitate the effects of distending and collapsing transmural pressures on the structure of immature airways, tracheal segments from fetal rabbits, fixed at 0, +30, and -30 cm H2O transmural pressure, were examined using histologic and morphometric techniques. In comparison to control sections fixed at 0 cm H2O transmural pressure, application of distending pressures led to evagination of the posterior tracheal wall and significantly increased (P less than 0.05) cross-sectional area, antero-posterior diameter, circumference and muscle length, and decreased muscle thickness. Collapsed tracheal segments (-30 cm H2O) demonstrated invagination of the posterior wall and significantly (P less than 0.05) lower cross-sectional area, and antero-posterior diameter compared to the control segments; all the other parameters remained relatively unchanged. These data demonstrate extreme changes in tracheal geometry in response to the acute application of transmural pressure. From a methodological perspective, these observations suggest that fixation pressures may present significant artifact in histological analyses. Functionally, the noted deformation may lead to alterations in anatomic dead space and airway resistance, and mechanical function of the airways; all of which may compromise respiratory status in ventilated premature infant.


Organic thermoelectrics offer the potential to deliver flexible, low-cost devices that can directly convert heat to electricity. Previous studies have reported high conductivity and thermoelectric power factor in the conjugated polymer poly[2,5-bis(3-tetradecylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene] (PBTTT). Here, we investigate the thermoelectric properties of PBTTT films in which the polymer chains were aligned uniaxially by mechanical rubbing, and the films were doped by a recently developed ion exchange technique that provides a choice over the counterions incorporated into the film, allowing for more optimized morphology and better stability than conventional charge transfer doping. To optimize the polymer alignment process, we took advantage of two Design of Experiment (DOE) techniques: regular two-level factorial design and central composite design. Rubbing temperature Trub and post-alignment annealing temperature Tanneal were the two factors that were most strongly correlated with conductivity. We were able to achieve high polymer alignment with a dichroic ratio >15 and high electrical conductivities of up to 4345 S/cm for transport parallel to the polymer chains, demonstrating that the ion exchange method can achieve conductivities comparable/higher than conventional charge transfer doping. While the conductivity of aligned films increased by a factor of 4 compared to unaligned films, the Seebeck coefficient (S) remained nearly unchanged. The combination of DOE methodology, high-temperature rubbing, and ion exchange doping provides a systematic, controllable strategy to tune structure–thermoelectric property relationships in semiconducting polymers.


Concept normalization of clinical texts to standard medical classifications and ontologies is a task with high importance for healthcare and medical research. We attempt to solve this problem through automatic SNOMED CT encoding, where SNOMED CT is one of the most widely used and comprehensive clinical term ontologies. Applying basic Deep Learning models, however, leads to undesirable results due to the unbalanced nature of the data and the extreme number of classes. We propose a classification procedure that features a multiple-step workflow consisting of label clustering, multi-cluster classification, and clusters-to-labels mapping. For multi-cluster classification, BioBERT is fine-tuned over our custom dataset. The clusters-to-labels mapping is carried out by a one-vs-all classifier (SVC) applied to every single cluster. We also present the steps for automatic dataset generation of textual descriptions annotated with SNOMED CT codes based on public data and linked open data. In order to cope with the problem that our dataset is highly unbalanced, some data augmentation methods are applied. The results from the conducted experiments show high accuracy and reliability of our approach for prediction of SNOMED CT codes relevant to a clinical text.


Veterinary medical research traditionally focuses on animal health and wellness; however, research activities at veterinary colleges extend beyond these traditional areas. In this study, we analyzed eleven years of Web of Knowledge-indexed peer-reviewed articles from researchers at the twenty-eight United States American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) accredited veterinary colleges. We had three goals in assessing the published literature of veterinary college researchers. First, we identified a list of journals and research areas outside veterinary medicine in which veterinary researchers publish. This list of journals can be customized to identify those most essential at each institution. Second, we identified collaborative work by veterinary researchers across disciplines and institutions. Using textual analysis tools and visualizations helped us illustrate and clarify these data. Last, we developed a methodology for defining an interdisciplinary serials list outside a subject core that can be customized for specific institutions and subject areas.


OBJECTIVE
The objective was to perform a systematic review of prospective randomized trials evaluating the efficacy of oral tocolytics in the prevention of recurrent preterm labor and its associated complications.

METHODS
A MEDLINE search of English language articles published since 1966 was performed to identify studies of maintenance oral tocolytic therapy. Studies were included in the review which: 1) randomized patients to an oral tocolytic after stabilization with parenteral therapy; 2) reported results for either a placebo or a control group; and 3) included patients with intact membranes only. These studies were analyzed for nine outcomes, including incidence of preterm delivery, incidence of recurrent preterm labor, latency from treatment to delivery, gestational age, birthweight, admission to an intensive care nursery (ICN), incidence of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), and perinatal mortality.

RESULTS
Seven studies met the inclusion criteria, four of which used oral terbutaline for the treatment arm (two had a control group, and two had a placebo group), and one used oral ritodrine (with a placebo group). Of the remaining two, one used oral ritodrine and oral magnesium chloride (with a control group), and the other used oral terbutaline and oral magnesium chloride (with a placebo group). The results of the individual studies suggest that there was no beneficial effect of oral tocolytic therapy on the incidence of preterm delivery (odds ratio (OR) range: 0.7-2.0), incidence of preterm labor recurrence (OR range: 0.6-3.2), ICN admission (OR range: 1.3-2.0), incidence of RDS (OR range 0.1-4.3), incidence of IVH (OR range 0.3-2.0), perinatal mortality (OR range: 1.6-4.3), or gestational age at delivery.

CONCLUSIONS
We concluded that a meta-analysis based on the available studies is not possible due to the fact that there is little that these seven studies have in common with respect to treatment comparisons. In addition, inconsistent definitions of outcome variables makes pooling this data inappropriate and invalid. Therefore, well-designed, large, randomized trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy of oral tocolytics in improving perinatal outcome.


PURPOSE
This study aims to determine the compassionate communication levels of nursing students and the predictive roles of empathic skills and nursing communication courses.

DESIGN AND METHODS
This descriptive study was conducted with 430 nursing students and data were analyzed using a descriptive information form, Compassionate Communication Scale (CCS), and Empathic Skill Scale (ESS).

FINDINGS
A positive relationship was found between the students' ESS and CCS scores (r = .23 p = 0.001). Empathic skills (β = 0.43, p = 0.001), predicted compassionate communication (β = 0.23, p = 0.001), compassionate conversation (β = 0.43, p = 0.001), and compassionate touch (β = 0.18, p = 0.001).

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
Skills of compassion and empathy positively affect each other; therefore, it is important to adopt strategies that strengthen the empathic skills of nursing students during academic education and to include empathy and compassion in the curriculum.


Time-course studies in ten allograft recipients showed a significant reduction in the percentage of T cells in the immediate post-transplantation period. This was accompanied by an increase in the percentage of both B and 'null' cells. T, B and 'null' cell percentages reverted to normal by the 6th month after transplantation at a time when patients had achieved stable renal function and were receiving only maintenance immunosuppressive therapy. Similar trends were observed with regard to absolute number of T, B and null cells. Both pre- and post-transplant plasma samples failed to inhibit T-rosette formation. Transient B rosette inhibitory activity was, however, observed in the plasma samples of two patients but did not appear to correlate with the mixed leucocyte culture blocking factor activity (MLC-BFA) of these plasma samples. In the group of patients studied there was no apparent association between percent or absoulte T, B and 'null' cell determinations and the onset of rejection crises.


A surgical team has reported encouraging results of the United Kingdom's first hand transplant operation, which used a new technique to amputate the recipient's non-functioning hand during the procedure, enabling the surgeons to accurately rebuild nerve structures to the transplanted hand.

The team at Leeds General Infirmary carried out the complex eight hour operation on 27 December 2012, after a donor limb became available. Its tissue matched one of the two patients listed to receive a hand transplant, 51 year old Mark Cahill, who was unable to use his right hand because of severe gout.

"This operation is the culmination of a great deal of planning and preparation over the last two years by …


From what has been said above, and from a study of the sections in Plate XXII., we may gather the following facts amongst others:— 1. That the base-bed (a) is the only constant part of the Thanet Beds. 2. That the higher and fossil-bearing parts of that series (d, e) occur only in the east, which partly explains why it is often very hard to separate the Thanet Beds from the overlying series in the eastern part of Kent, whilst the division is well-marked westward; and that the unfossiliferous sand (c) thins out on the east, so that the Thanet Beds near Canterbury may be a different thing from the Thanet Beds between London and Rochester. 3. That the bottom-bed (1) is also constant, except in the far east. 4. That above this last there is always a sand (2), a pebble-bed (2 a), or a mottled clay (2 b), which replace one another. 5. That one very thin bed (3) in the middle of the Woolwich Series seems to occur right through Kent, at all events through the eastern division. 6. That the higher and estuarine members (4, 5) of the same series occur only in the western and central parts of the county. 7. That the pebbles (β) at the bottom of the Oldhaven Beds (except at Upnor, where there is a little sand (α) below) are constant, being, however, locally replaced by brown iron-ore in some places near Canterbury. 8. That in West Kent this series lies irregular on that below, whilst in the


Saltwater intrusion widely occurs in coastal areas. Therefore, dissolved salts are the most common contaminants in freshwater in coastal aquifers and this contamination arises from saltwater invasion, caused primarily by human activities due to heavy urbanization. For investigation of the methods of increasing storage of fresh ground water and prevention of seawater encroachment, predicting the location and movement of the saltwater interface is crucial. Saltwater intrusion problems are so complex and generally cannot be analytically solved. Hence, numerical methods are ideal tools for the simulation and prediction of results. In this paper, a two-dimensional finite volume unstructured mesh method (FVUM) based on a triangular mesh is developed for analyzing the evolution of the saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifer systems. The model formulation consists of a ground-water flow equation and a salt transport equation. Simulation results are compared with previously published solutions where good agreement is observed.


The loss of the mother leads to many changes in the family. The loss might have negative effects on the ones that are left behind. However, some family members do not show pathological symptoms; rather, they have healthy functioning despite their sad loss. Guided by the resilience perspective, this study illuminates the case of a Turkish family after the mother dies due to stomach cancer. The whole picture of a family after this loss was examined through using various data sources. Transcribed interviews with family members and teachers of two children in the family were investigated through thematic analysis, and five major themes were identified. Extended family relations and rituals, such as funeral services, meals after the funeral, or visiting the grave of the lost one, were found to be helpful toward positive grief experiences and resilience of the family members in the aftermath of the loss. This study was important in the sense that it gave an in-depth perspective of a Muslim family who lost the maternal parent, which is considered a person's most important attachment figure.


The article presents a new institutionalist approach to the analysis of the diffusion of shareholder value in France over the 1995-2000 period. Two studies are performed for the same sample of companies. In the first study, the evolution of the financial communication of companies in their annual reports is analysed. A second study consists in a questionnaire survey on in-company uses of shareholder value information. A decoupling typical of institutionalisation processes is evidenced. Shareholder value diffusion is then related to the institutional change in the French corporate environment. The relative contribution of institutionalist and economic interpretations of this diffusion process is then discussed.


A diaphragm-type film specimen was used to study in vitro degradation of poly(etherurethane urea) (PEUU) under conditions of dynamic loading. This geometry allowed both uniaxial and biaxial loading in a single experiment. During testing, the film was exposed to a H(2)O(2)/CoCl(2) solution that simulated in vivo oxidation of PEUU. The combination of dynamic loading and biaxial tensile strain accelerated oxidative degradation. The effects of biaxial strain magnitude and strain rate were examined separately by increasing the frequency of fatigue loading from 0 to 1 Hz with constant maximum biaxial strain and by changing the maximum biaxial strain while maintaining constant strain rate. In the ranges of biaxial strain energy (0.17 to 0.55 MPa) and strain rate (0 to 46% s(-1)) tested, the rate of degradation increased with increasing strain rate whereas strain magnitude had essentially no effect on degradation rate. Although loading conditions affected the rate of oxidative degradation, ATR-FTIR analysis suggested that in all cases the mechanism of degradation did not change. Chemical degradation produced a brittle crosslinked surface layer marked by dimpling and pitting, as observed with scanning electron microscopy. Pits served as stress concentrators and initiated environmental stress cracks under dynamic loading but not under static (creep) loading. Small pits were sufficient to initiate cracks at higher strain rates whereas only large pits initiated cracks at lower strain rates. Consequently, a higher strain rate produced more profuse cracking.


During the past decades, a vast amount of audio data has be- come available in most languages and regions of the world. The efficient organization and manipulation of this data are important for tasks such as data classification, searching for information, diarization among many others, but also can be relevant for building corpora for training models for automatic speech recognition or building speech synthesis systems. Several of those tasks require extensive testing and data for specific languages and accents, especially when the development of communication systems with machines is a goal. In this work, we explore the application of several classifiers for the task of discriminating speech and music in Costa Rican radio broadcast. This discrimination is a first task in the exploration of a large corpus, to determine whether or not the available information is useful for particular research areas. The main contribution of this exploratory work is the general procedure and selection of algorithms for the Costa Rican radio corpus, which can lead to the extensive use of this source of data in many own applications and systems.


Background: Hyoscine N-butyl bromide/scopolamine (H/S) is a type of anticholinergic agent that is commonly used as an antispasmodic drug. We have evaluated the effects of crushed H/S smoking in prisoners who illicitly abused this drug. Methods: All imprisoned cases with at least a 3-month history of HS were evaluated from April 2012 to September 2012. Demographic information, history, and clinical findings were studied. Results: In total, 36 male cases with a mean (SD, min–max) age of 33.3 (3.6, 27–42) years were included. All subjects were cigarette smokers with a history of substance abuse and were under Methadone Maintenance Therapy (MMT). The majority (75%) of participants smoked H/S tablet with pin, and others used aluminum foil. Hallucinations were the most common neurological features. Amnesia (88%), insomnia (83%), palpitation (86%), flushing (86%), irritability (94%), and inability to concentrate (91%) were the most common findings. Among them, auditory (61%), visual (72%), and tactile (72%) hallucinations were reported. Conclusions: This is the first case study of hyoscine smoking abuse. We found that H/S acts similar to other hallucinogens. Concurrent abuse of H/S in cases under MMT could be a future trend of abuse. Clinicians should be aware of abuse potential of H/S in treatment of some patients for drug overdose.


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

Nilotinib (Tasigna®) is a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that has been used to treat chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients who develop resistance due to the emergence of point mutations within the BCR-ABL kinase domain. It is known to be transported by the ATP binding-cassette (ABC) drug efflux transporters P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and ABCG2, which not only alters the efficacy of nilotinib but might also result in lower bioavailability. Identification of a nilotinib binding conformation in the drug-binding pocket of these transporters is important to understand its interactions and can be used to design the next generation of TKIs that do not interact with ABC drug transporters. A structure-activity relationship (SAR)-based approach for nilotinib was used in this study to identify an initial pharmacophore interacting with P-gp. [125I]-Iodoarylazidoprazosin (IAAP) photolabeling and FACS-based transport of fluorescent substrates were carried out with 26 structural derivatives of nilotinib to evaluate their potency for inhibiting the binding of substrate and the transport function of P-gp. IC50 values from these assays were used for 3D pharmacophore modeling and quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) to propose the spatial arrangement of chemical features that are essential for inhibitory activity of nilotinib towards P-gp. Molecular docking of nilotinib in a homology model of human P-gp was performed to identify interactions with the drug-binding pocket. This docked model was evaluated by mutational mapping studies replacing the Y307, M949 and A985 residues with Cysteine in the primary-binding site, which resulted in the loss of nilotinib's activity to inhibit substrate binding to P-gp. The orientation of nilotinib in this binding pocket was further substantiated by assessing the interaction of nilotinib's structural derivatives with P-gp using photoaffinity labeling, ATP hydrolysis and transport assays. These results demonstrate that the pyridine and pyrimidine rings in nilotinib play a key role in its interaction with the drug-binding pocket, while orientation of the imidazole ring determines the affinity of nilotinib for P-gp. These results for the first time identify the primary binding site of nilotinib in the drug-binding pocket of P-gp and can be exploited to design novel tyrosine kinase inhibitors that would not be recognized by ABC drug transporters.

Citation Format: Suneet Shukla, Eduardo E. Chufan, Satyakam Singh, Amanda P. Skoumbourdis, Khyati Kapoor, Matthew B. Boxer, Damien Y. Duveau, Craig J. Thomas, Tanaji T. Talele, Suresh V. Ambudkar. Identification of a binding site for the tyrosine kinase inhibitor Nilotinib on the human ABC drug transporter, P-glycoprotein as determined by 3D-QSAR, molecular docking and mutational mapping. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-224. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-LB-224


Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify the risk factors for adverse events during single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic (SPVATS) anatomical resections. We retrospectively reviewed patients who had undergone SPVATS anatomic resections between January 2014 and February 2017 in Coruña University Hospital's Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery Unit (CHUAC, Spain) and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH, Taiwan). Four hundred forty-two patients (male: 306, female: 136) were enrolled in this study. Logistic regression analysis was performed on variables for postoperative complications. Postoperative complications with a 30-day mortality occurred in 94 patients (21.3%) and with a 90-day mortality in 3 patients (0.7%) while the major complication rate was 3.9%. Prolonged air leak (PAL > 5 days) was the most common complication and came by postoperative arrhythmia. Logistic regression indicated that pleural symphysis (odds ratio (OR), 1.91; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.14–3.18; P = .014), computed tomography (CT) pulmonary emphysema (OR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.41–4.76; P = .002), well-developed pulmonary CT fissure line (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.29–0.84; P = .009), and tumor size (≥3 cm) (OR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.30–3.57; P = .003) were predictors of postoperative complications. Our preliminary results revealed that SPVATS anatomic resection achieves acceptable 30- and 90-day surgery related mortality (0.7%) and major complications rate (3.9%). Prolonged Air leak (PAL > 5 days) was the most common postoperative complication. Pleural symphysis, pulmonary emphysema, well-developed pulmonary CT fissure line and tumor size (≥3 cm) were predictors of adverse events during SPVATS anatomic resection.


To protect transformers, transmission lines and busbar systems, low impedance current differential protection schemes based on percentage restraint characteristics are widely used in power systems. The main application issue of these schemes is mis-operation due to current transformer (CT) saturation during close-in external faults. A comprehensive fault discrimination algorithm is highly required for current differential protection schemes to overcome the CT saturation issue. The purpose of this study is to introduce a methodology based on partial operating current (POC) characteristics which discriminate internal and external faults of differential protection zones. The study includes the mathematical model of POC characteristics, a fault discriminating algorithm using POC features, and bus differential protection zone results. The results documented encompasses various possible short-circuit (fault) scenarios and indicate the capability of the proposed algorithm in discriminating internal and external faults under CT saturation conditions.


A study was conducted to assess the nutrient composition, in vitro gas production (GP) characteristics and methane (CH 4 ) production potential of some common Ethiopian grass and legume forages. Crude protein (CP) concentration was lower in grasses than in legumes, while the reverse was observed for neutral detergent fiber (aNDFom) and acid detergent fiber (ADFom) concentrations. Within the 9 grasses tested, Cynodon dactylon had the highest CP concentration (187 g/kg DM), while Panicum coloratum and Cenchrus ciliaris had the lowest (70 and 82 g/kg DM, respectively) values. Chloris gayana contained the highest aNDFom (651 g/kg DM) concentration, while Avena sativa had the lowest (484 g/kg DM). Among the 3 legumes tested, Vicia sativa had the highest CP concentration (346 g/kg DM). The aNDFom and ADFom concentrations were highest in V. sativa and lowest in Medicago sativa . In grasses, Brachiaria mutica had the highest calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese concentrations, while in legumes the highest concentrations of phosphorus, potassium and zinc were observed in V. sativa . Methane production was generally higher (P<0.05) in grasses than in legumes. Panicum coloratum produced the lowest (P<0.05) CH 4 levels within the grasses followed by B. mutica, while Desmodium intortum produced the lowest (P<0.05) CH 4 levels within the legumes. Panicum coloratum and D. intortum appear to have potential as suitable forage species for ruminants, resulting in reduced CH 4 emissions. Studies with animals are needed to verify these in vitro findings.


A Tale of Madness, Medicine and The Murder of a President Biographical information showing why he was so admired by the people


Disease-oriented phase II trials of doxifluridine were performed in advanced colorectal, breast, renal, endometrial, stomach, and ovarian carcinomas. The dose schedule recommended by the phase I trial (12.5 g/m2 by continuous iv infusion over 6 hours once a week for 3 weeks followed by a 1-week rest) was chosen first: the initial dose was later decreased to 10 g/m2 due to the fact that several neurotoxic effects were reported. A total of 207 patients were entered: 137 patients who received at least two courses of treatment were evaluable for response. Therapeutic activity was demonstrated in breast cancer [two complete responses (CR) and 13 partial responses (PR) among 42 patients], colon cancer (seven PRs among 35 patients), and rectal cancer (six PRs among 23 patients). Some therapeutic activity was detected in ovarian cancer (one CR among nine patients), endometrial cancer (one PR among five patients), and stomach cancer (one PR among five patients). No significant activity was noticed in renal cancer (one PR among 18 patients). Nonhematological toxicity was evaluated according to World Health Organization criteria. Nausea and vomiting were recorded in 50% of the patients (Grade 3-4 in 5%), diarrhea was recorded in 20% (Grade 3-4 in 5%), and cutaneous and allergic reactions were recorded in 10% (Grade 3-4 in 2%). Myelotoxicity during the first treatment course was mild; median wbc and platelet count nadirs (x 10(9) cells/L) were 4.1 (range, 0.1-11) and 194 (range, 20-482), respectively. Nevertheless, some cases of acute leukopenia and thrombopenia were reported. Consciousness alterations and neurologic symptoms were the major side effects (72 of 173 evaluable patients), since treatment had to be interrupted in 34 patients and four lethal neurotoxic effects occurred. At the same total dose of doxifluridine, the risk of neurotoxicity significantly increases with age and with the weekly dose and to the contrary it decreases with increasing bilirubin level. Although activity was demonstrated, this treatment cannot be recommended because of major neurotoxicity. Further pharmacological studies seem warranted to define the optimal dosage schedule and to obtain a better therapeutic index.


The multiple scattering of a scalar wave by a discrete random medium is considered. The scatterers are assumed to be isotropic, incorrelated, and distributed uniformly. The Feynman-diagram technique is used to formulate the problem, and the Dyson equation is derived with the occupation-number formalism. Among the terms of the mass operator, a topological class of 'planar diagrams' is defined, excluding all the interactions involving the same particle three times or more. It is possible to achieve analytically the summation of such diagrams. The corresponding mean field is computed and compared with other approximations such as those of Born and Twersky. The result does not reduce to Twersky's even in the case of small concentrations of scatterers. >


Large investments have recently been made for the construction of new medium- and high-rise buildings in California. In many cases performance-based designs have been the preferred method for these buildings. A main consideration in performance-based seismic design is the estimation of the likely development of structural and nonstructural damage limit-states given a hazard level. For this type of buildings efficient modeling techniques are required able to compute the response at different performance states. A research work was conducted at University of California San Diego (UCSD) on the i) seismic design, ii) experimental response and iii) computational modeling of medium- and high-rise reinforced concrete wall buildings. In the first part of this work a displacement-based seismic design method for use within performance-based is developed. Capacity design is used to control the mechanism of inelastic deformation. Based on principles of plastic analysis and structural dynamics the new formulation allows the computation of the effects of system overstrength and of the higher modes of response. Equal emphasis is given to displacement, force and acceleration demand parameters. The ground motion destructiveness potential is also determined. Application of the method to reinforced concrete wall buildings is discussed. The method is validated with the experimental response of a full-scale 7 story building. In addition a dual plastic hinge design concept for improving the performance and optimizing the construction of high-rise buildings is presented. The second part presents the experimental research program, with extensive shake table tests, of a full-scale 7-story reinforced concrete wall building slice, that was conducted at UCSD. The base shear coefficient obtained by the proposed method, of the first part of the research work, described above was 50% of that required by the equivalent static method prescribed by the ASCE-7 code. In spite of the reduced amount of longitudinal reinforcing steel, all performance objectives were met. The response of the building was significantly influenced, as expected, by the interaction of the main lateral force resisting wall with other structural elements (kinematic overstrength) and by the higher modes of response. Finally the third part presents a dynamic nonlinear strut-and-tie modeling approach developed for the analysis and evaluation of damage limit-states in reinforced concrete walls. The modeling approach is verified with the response of the UCSD 7-story building test


Biliary obstruction and bacterial infection are the most common cause of cholangitis. By modern diagnostic techniques the biliary tract and the liver can be explored in great detail. Decompression of biliary obstruction may be achieved surgically, endoscopically and via the percutaneous transhepatic route, bacterial infections can be controlled by powerful antibiotics, thus preventing the progress of cholangitis to secondary biliary cirrhosis following decompression of biliary obstruction has been documented. In view of recent diagnostic and therapeutic progress it seems likely that the incidence of secondary biliary cirrhosis will further decline in the future.


This article shall give an overview on drug delivery systems for new therapeutic strategies in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. The various features of the different approaches allowing locally restricted drug delivery to the inflamed colon are discussed including the main physiological and pathophysiological limitations for the different systems. Conventional drug delivery systems are tightly adapted from developments for colonic delivery by oral administration triggered by release mechanisms owing to the physiological environment that these systems encounter in the colonic region. The newer developments in this context aim for an increased selectivity of drug delivery by targeting mechanisms which have a closer relation to pathophysiological particularities of the disease. Therefore, we were focused especially on new strategies for such treatment including liposomal formulations, cyclodextrins, micro- or nanoparticles, viral gene therapy approaches, and others. Effective and selective delivery even of an otherwise nonspecifically acting drug could provide new therapeutic pathways in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.


Summary. In the treatment of cartilage damage the use of carbon rods is getting more and more popular. The papers are promising. There are no reports about significant complications. The following cases show a post operative enormous increasing discomfort.


In the South African context, specifically within the corporate environment, it is essential that a uniform approach in terms of the management of risks that result from criminal, irregular and / or unethical conduct, be professionally implemented. This is in order for private sector security risk managers to be able to manage security (crime) risks more effectively and with as little expenditure as possible, i.e. cost effective. In essence, security risks confronting organizations must be managed in a security-discipline specific, integrated and systematic manner that is based on acceptable management, legal, financial, security, technological, engineering, safety and business principles. Gone are the days when a retired policeman or even a former military person could merely step into the position of a senior security manager, and successfully manage crime (security) risks. The modern corporate demands for effective security in the private sector no longer make it acceptable or allow for an ad hoc approach to security risk management. In order to facilitate an effective approach to the management of security a security risk management model has been developed by the Department for Security Risk Management at UNISA for their National Diploma and BTech degree, and has been applied by hundreds of security risk managers within the South African environment over the last few years (since the implementation of the degree in 1997). The model is the result of integrating various security activities. The model has thus been adapted, inter alia from the work of leading authors, researchers and security managers such as Broeder, Fennely, Pupura, Roelofse, Botes and Scheepers. While its primary aim is the management and analysis of risks facing corporations and businesses these risks are often largely of a criminal nature. This article examines this model with emphasis on the identifying, measurement (establishing probability) and analysis (vulnerabilities and security measure weaknesses that lead to exploitation of opportunities) of the crime risks.


Abstract We introduce a strategy based on Kustin–Miller unprojection that allows us to construct many hundreds of Gorenstein codimension 4 ideals with 9×16 resolutions (that is, nine equations and sixteen first syzygies). Our two basic games are called Tom and Jerry; the main application is the biregular construction of most of the anticanonically polarised Mori Fano 3-folds of Altınok's thesis. There are 115 cases whose numerical data (in effect, the Hilbert series) allow a Type I projection. In every case, at least one Tom and one Jerry construction works, providing at least two deformation families of quasismooth Fano 3-folds having the same numerics but different topology.


This review strives forward at least two goals. First, to take from the literature the arguments demonstrating that hindlimbs locomotion is controlled by a spinal network of neurons (the so-called Central Pattern Generator for locomotion--CPG) known to be able to generate locomotor activity independently of the control of supraspinal nervous structures, as it is after thoracic lesions of the spinal cord. The principles of work of the CPG and its intrinsic possibilities to adapt its working are reviewed. Special reference is made to the various ways used during experiments to activate the CPG in spinal animals or clinical practice in paraplegic men: training to walk, electrical stimulations, pharmacological stimulations. Second, to show, from our own results, obtained from the study of an animal model of paraplegia, the adult spinal rat, how it could be possible to take advantage of the autonomy of the CPG, with special reference to its sensibility to monoamines, to obtain locomotor recovery in hindlimbs after section of the thoracic spinal cord, by means of transplantation of noradrenergic and/or serotonergic embryonic neurons in the lumbo-sacral spinal cord. Section of the spinal cord at a thoracic level results in an important locomotor deficit in hindlimbs, likely linked to degeneration of monoaminergic terminals in the lumbar enlargement. In the adult spinal rat, sub-lesional injection of a suspension of embryonic nervous cells, taken from either locus coeruleus or raphe sites, leads to reinnervation of the lumbar enlargement with monoaminergic terminals. Despite the fact that connections with supraspinal structures are not reestablished, transplanted animals recover progressively a posture convenient for locomotion. The hindlimbs, which are in an extended position a few days after the lesion, become progressively flexed and able to support the body weight. This evolution does not appear in spinal but non transplanted animals. But, the main point is that transplanted animals develop, within the few weeks that follow transplantation, a good-quality locomotor activity in hindlimbs which had no equivalent in spinal but non transplanted animals. The reality of a lumbar CPG for locomotion and the efficacy of pharmacological treatments and training to walk, to elicit recovery of stepping, are discussed in man, in connection with the relevance to use transplantation of monoaminergic nervous cells in the spinal cord of paraplegics.


Social costs in education plays decisive role for education development and economic growth of a nation. In this context, this article tries to analyze the size, trend and growth rate of social cost in the education sector of Nepal by disaggregating it into total social cost, recurrent social cost, capital social cost, unit cost and marginal cost in community based school education of Nepal. The study is based on the secondary data obtained from official documents of Nepal's Government such as flash report, budget speech, red book and so on. The time series data from 2011 AD to 2015 AD were collected for the analysis by using convenience non-random sampling method. The overall finding of the study shows that the share of the annual average social cost in education is 15.84 percent of the total cost of the government of Nepal. In other words, the government has allocated annual average Rs 68930697.6 thousands as social cost in educational sector during the study years. The average annual growth rate of this cost is 5.15 percent. The study also indicates that annual average total social cost is Rs 68930697.6 thousands, recurrent social cost is Rs 5,71,63,418.79 thousands and capital social cost is Rs 1,17,67,278.81 thousands in Nepal. Similarly, annual average total social cost is estimated to be Rs 3,33,35,928.80 thousands. The total social unit cost per teacher and total social unit cost per student are Rs 196.39 thousands and 5.51 thousands respectively. The annual average marginal social cost per teacher and marginal social cost per student are Rs 1308.08 thousands and -202.96 thousands respectively. The negative sign indicates that student enrolment has decreased over the study period. The findings of the study conclude that there is no any predictable relationship among student enrolment, teaching and non-teaching staffs and social cost of education in case of Nepal. However, UNESCO (1999) had analyzed public investment on education of 16 countries and it found that their average investment on education was 19.2 percent of GDP. Therefore, Nepal government should increase in educational investment from its current status of 15.80 percent to at least more than it in the coming years to develop educational sector of Nepal.


BACKGROUND
According to several experimental studies, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) are involved in the pathogenesis of tissue injury in some systemic vasculitis and glomerulonephritis by stimulating oxygen radical release and secretion of lysosomal enzymes from neutrophilic granulocytes. In our work, we studied the effect of ANCA-positive sera on the ingestion and killing of C. albicans by granulocytes from healthy persons. METHODS AND RESULTS. Neutrophils isolated from the blood of healthy persons were incubated with live C. albicans in ratio 1:1 in the presence of pooled sera (controls) and 10 sera from 8 patients with ANCA-associated diseases: 6x Wegener's granulomatosis, 1x idiopathic rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis, 1x rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis concomitantly ANCA and anti-GBM (glomerula bas. membrane) positive. ANCA-positive sera did not influence the ingestion of C. albicans, but strongly inhibited killing of C. albicans (55-80% in comparison to controls). Sera from 2 patients in the time of ANCA-negativization showed lower inhibition (5 and 35%, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrated inhibitory effect of ANCA-positive sera on candidacidal activity of neutrophils from healthy persons. This fact could be one of the pathogenetic mechanisms of granuloma formation in Wegener's granulomatosis. Results of our experiment could be an additional rationale for the administration of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole as prevention of relapses of systemic vasculitis.


Ethyl cellulose graft copolymers with block and hetero side chains, ethyl cellulose graft [polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene glycol)] [EC-g-(PS-b-PEG)] and ethyl cellulose graft polystyrene and polyethylene glycol [EC-g-(PS-PEG )] were synthesized by atomic transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and alkyne-azide "click" reactions and "one-pot" ATRP and "click" reactions, respectively. For the synthesis of EC-g-(PS-b-PEG), the macroinitiator for ATRP was first synthesized via the esterification of hydroxyl groups of EC with 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide to result ethyl cellulose 2-bromoisobutyryl ester (EC-Br). The degree of substitution of bromide groups, which determined the graft density, can be tailored by varying the feeding ratios of the hydroxyl groups to 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide. Then ATRP was carried out for preparing EC-g-PS-Br with well-defined length of PS chains. The EC-g-PS-Br copolymers were then converted to EC-g-PS-N3 and then reacted with end alkyne-functionalized PEG via click to result in EC-g-(PS-b-PEG). The EC-g-(PS-PEG) copolymers were synthesized by converting bromide groups of EC-Br to azide groups (EC-Br-N3) and then by one-pot ATRP and "click" reactions. The resultant graft copolymers were characterized by FTIR and 1H NMR. The results indicate the success of the synthetic procedure of the cellulose graft copolymers with block and hetero side chains.


This work describes the feasibility of multiresolution feature selection and its application to classify ultrasonic liver images. The proposed approach uses genetic algorithm and defines a novel fitness function for medical applications since the diagnosis correctness is the most important consideration. Via the measurement of class seperability, we can uniquely select the feature vector. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is tested by using five different classifiers. From the experimental results, the proposed approach is trustworthy.


Active gel theory has recently been very successful in describing biologically active materials such as actin filaments or moving bacteria in temporally fixed and simple geometries such as cubes or spheres. Here we develop a computational algorithm to compute the dynamic evolution of an arbitrarily shaped, deformable thin membrane of active material embedded in a three-dimensional flowing liquid. For this, our algorithm combines active gel theory with the classical theory of thin elastic shells. To compute the actual forces resulting from active stresses, we apply a parabolic fitting procedure to the triangulated membrane surface. Active forces are then dynamically coupled via an immersed-boundary method to the surrounding fluid whose dynamics can be solved by any standard, e.g., Lattice-Boltzmann, flow solver. We validate our algorithm using the Green's functions of Berthoumieux et al. [New J. Phys. 16, 065005 (2014)10.1088/1367-2630/16/6/065005] for an active cylindrical membrane subjected (i) to a locally increased active stress and (ii) to a homogeneous active stress. For the latter scenario, we predict in addition a nonaxisymmetric instability. We highlight the versatility of our method by analyzing the flow field inside an actively deforming cell embedded in external shear flow. Further applications may be cytoplasmic streaming or active membranes in blood flows.


In this paper, we apply the Maximum Entropy Method to estimate the proton radius and determine the valence quark distributions in the proton at extremely low resolution scale Q$^{2}_{0}$. Using the simplest functional form of the valence quark distribution and standard deviations of quark distribution functions in the estimation of the proton radius, we obtain a quadratic polynomial for the relationship between the proton radius and the momentum fraction of other non-perturbative components in the proton. The proton radii are approximately equal to the muonic hydrogen experimental result $r_p$ = 0.841~fm and the CODATA analysis $r_p$ = 0.877 fm when the other non-perturbative components account for 17.5\% and 22.3\% respectively. We propose $"ghost~~matter"$ to explain the difference in other non-perturbative components (4.8\%) that the electron can detect.


Abstract Objective: Reports from cancer registries often lack clinically relevant information, which would be useful in estimating the prognosis of individual patients with urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder (UCB). This article presents estimates of crude probabilities of death due to UCB and the expected loss of lifetime stratified for patient characteristics. Materials and methods: In Norway, 10,332 patients were diagnosed with UCB between 2001 and 2010. The crude probabilities of death due to UCB were estimated, stratified by gender, age and T stage, using flexible parametric survival models. Based on these models, the loss in expectation of lifetime due to UCB was also estimated for the different strata. Results: There is large variation in the estimated crude probabilities of death due to UCB (from 0.03 to 0.76 within 10 years since diagnosis) depending on age, gender and T stage. Furthermore, the expected loss of life expectancy is more than a decade for younger patients with muscle-invasive UCB and between a few months and 5 years for nonmuscle-invasive UCB. Conclusions: The suggested framework leads to clinically relevant prognostic risk estimates for individual patients diagnosed with UCB and the consequence in terms of loss of lifetime expectation. The published probability tables can be used in clinical praxis for risk communication.


Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is extremely prevalent and diverse. It is the most commonly encountered heterogeneous endocrine disorder in premenopausal (reproductive age) women worldwide.[1] Studies shows that it affects 5-10% of this population.[2] It is a characteristic syndrome of ovarian dysfunction associated with hyperandrogenism, chronic anovulation, endometrial hyperplasia and significant morbidity. Many other crucial body systems are also affected causing hirsutism, infertility, alopecia, menstrual irregularities and obesity.[3] The aetiology of this syndrome is still debatable. Although it is found that PCOS is common among middle and high-income urban population rather than in the rural population.[5]The women with PCOS have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance at an early stage.[4]Insulin resistance is the key feature of PCOS and it is characterised by hyperinsulinemia. Obese women are at a higher risk of developing insulin resistance than normal-weight women and have higher hyperandrogenism.[6]
The growth factor receptor-bound protein-2 (GRB2) is an adapter protein and is essential for cellular functions. It can either promote or block the cellular transformation and proliferation depending upon its activation and inhibition respectively. It plays a critical role in linking cell surface growth receptors (EGFR) and the Ras signalling pathway.[7]
It is very crucial to curb the overexpression of the protein by using a potent ligand to activate essential cellular functions. It is used to comprehend the strength of association and the binding affinity between the appropriate ligands and the target binding site. This helps to develop more efficient drug candidates which would essentially help in the curing of the syndrome. The aim of the present investigation is to identify a potential GRB2 inhibitor towards the clinical treatment of Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) using various molecular docking[8-15] and virtual screening approaches[16-28].