Differential operators have been widely used for multiscale geometric descriptions of images. Efficient computation of these differential operators can be obtained by taking advantage of the spline techniques. We make use of a special class of these operators for image enhancement, with a particular application to chromosome image enhancement. These operators constitute a translation invariant wavelet transform well suited for the structural description of chromosome geometry. Based on the fact that the geometrical features like edges are correlated between different scales in the representation, a novel algorithm is designed to enhance the salient features of the image. Comparisons of this algorithm with other approaches are presented.


During the middle years of the twentieth century, British pioneers of Wicca, the neopagan witchcraft religion, adopted prehistoric megaliths as 'sacred sites' and appropriated the folklore that surrounded them for their own magico-religious purposes. In turn, Wiccan interpretations of such sites resulted in the creation of a new 'alternative archaeological' megalithic folklore.


In the past four decades, the UK welfare state has been continuously reduced while asset ownership has gained in importance. Rather than relying on publicly funded welfare when not working, individuals are expected to mitigate future risks such as ill health, unemployment or old-age poverty through accumulating assets. Previous research employing a Foucauldian governmentality framework has explored how these norms of asset accumulation come into being through institutional changes and discourses. Documenting the narratives and practices of 60 UK individuals and bringing in an understanding of resistance being immanent in power technologies, the author sets out two key contributions to the everyday financialisation literature. First, this paper is the first study to conceptualise differential financial discourses and practices as distinct subject positions within the realms of financialisation. Due to feeling 'trapped' in having to provide financial security themselves, governable subjects amend asset norms to their own needs. Five subject positions emerged from the complex interplay between norms of conduct and counter-conduct. Second, these variegated financial subjectivities and practices are, it is argued, not only deviating from a theorised investor subject but are also necessary for everyday financialisation to take place. Counter-conduct helps to smoothen ambiguities inherent in norms of conduct, enabling asset accumulation and reinforcing a welfare system based on individual responsibility.


In this paper, we designed the stack monitoring system with improved performance. To block the incoming pulse noise to the amplifier, shield and the power supply impedance are reduced and the power circuit is isolated. The control unit is developed with variable high voltage, adaptive gain, offset and threshold in order to match the scintillation detector characteristic to the apparatus. 300-1500V variable high voltage power circuit is configured applicable to various scintillation detector. Stack monitoring system with improved performance guarantee the efficiency and the reliability by considering the characteristic of various scintillation detector. Developed stack monitoring system is evaluated with certified testing equipment and shows excellent performance with respect to the uncertainty of the sensor test results.


The primary assumption of human-centered design is that humans should be the focus of design and decision making when creating technology and information products. However, when certain types of people are consistently centered, others are intentionally or unintentionally pushed to the margins or left out altogether. In this panel, the speakers discuss how centering overlooked, vulnerable, or marginalized audiences leads to different design considerations, methods, practices and resulting designs. Topics include issues of queering consent, humanitarian organizations and interventions, multilingual user experience, and women of color in design. The panel concludes with a discussion of the implications of centering marginalized audiences and a call for a reinvigorated conceptualization of ethics in UX.


Two optical fiber sensors are proposed and demonstrated for monitoring calcium concentration in a liquid solution. The first sensor utilizes a bundle plastic optical fiber (POF) as a probe. The system comprises fiber optic transmitter, fiber optic probe which consists of 1000 cores as a receiver, mirror reflection, photodiode detector, lock-in amplifier and computer.The measurementis based on the peak voltage of the output which increases with the calcium concentration of the solution varying from 0 to 2.5%. It is found that the peak voltage of the detector increases with the calcium concentration due to the scattering effects which allow more photons to be collected by the receiver. The sensitivity of the bundled POF based sensor is obtained at 4.321mW% with a resolution of 0.05%. The second sensor employs a silica microfiber as a probe. The system consists of an amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) light source, microfiber probe and optical spectrum analyzer (OSA). The transmitted light intensity is observed to decrease with the increase in calcium concentration due to the change in the refractive index of the solution. The sensitivity of the second sensor is obtained at 2.4dB/% with a resolution of 0.8%. Both sensors show a good stability and high sensitivity. They are simple in design and low in fabrication cost, which are appropriate for chemical, biomedical, pharmaceutical and process control applications.


The effect of extreme temperature on the quantum yield of fluorescence and membrane leakage of Pinus canariensis growing in 5 stands at different altitudes and orientation in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) was determined. Needles were collected from the field and transferred to the laboratory where they were kept in a closed chamber with water-saturated air overnight. Then they were exposed for 30 minutes in plastic bags in a water bath at temperature treatments with steps of 2K between 56 °C and -24 °C and the effect was determined immediately and 24 hours after the treatment by chlorophyll fluorescence and electrolyte leakage. Needles presented incipient damage at temperatures ranging from -5 to -10 °C depending on the altitude and orientation of the stand. The results were more evident when the measurements were done 24 hours after the cold treatment and values were consistent with the electrolyte leakage results. Different resistance to high temperature depending on the altitude and orientation was also found, varying the temperature for incipient damage from 42 to 44 °C detected with the fluorescence parameters but not with the leakage of electrolytes which was not found until 50 °C. The amplitude of thermal limits for photosynthetic efficiency alteration in needles of P. canariensis was relatively narrow and similar to that of evergreen Canarian laurel forest trees


Staphylococcus aureus causes a variety of human infections, ranging from superficial abscesses to life threatening bacteremias. Staphylococcus aureus Sortase A inhibitors are widely used for the treatment of bacterial infections. 3D-QSAR analysis has been applied to a structurally diverse set of 34 compounds as Staphylococcus aureus Sortase A inhibitors, which are of special interest because of their role in bacterial infections. The present study has been focused on pharmacophore mapping study that can explore 3D features and configurations responsible for biologically activity of structurally diverse compounds. A four point pharmacophore (ADRR) with one hydrogen bond acceptor (A), one hydrogen bond donor (D) and two aromatic rings (R) as pharmacophore features was developed. The generated best pharmacophore hypothesis yielded a statistically significant 3D-QSAR model, with a correlation coefficient of R2 = 0.929 for training set molecules. The model generated showed excellent prediction power, with Q2 = 0.887 for an external set of 10 test set molecules. The geometry and features of pharmacophore are expected to be useful for the design of selective Staphylococcus aureus Sortase A inhibitors.


Parenchymal lung disease is an important complication of autoimmune rheumatic disease. There are a variety of patterns recognised; non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) and organising pneumonia (OP) being most prevalent but other processes include usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP), diffuse alveolar damage (DAD), reactive pulmonary lymphoid hyperplasia, desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP) and respiratory bronchiolitis-associated interstitial lung disease (RBILD). Pulmonary involvement is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Systemic Sclerosis. A variety of immunosuppressive agents have been evaluated as potential disease-modifying therapies in systemic sclerosis related interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD). Two double-blind randomised controlled trials examined the efficacy of cyclophosphamide in SSc-ILD; the Scleroderma lung study (SLS) and the Fibrosing Alveolitis in Scleroderma Trial (FAST). Although each trial compared cyclophosphamide to placebo, there were important differences in the route of administration and the types of concurrent treatment in the active therapy arm. There are emerging data supporting mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) in SSc-ILD, which is both safe and well tolerated. A number of case reports have highlighted a potential role for rituximab in SSc-ILD. Cases will be presented that reflect the diversity of interstitial lung disease seen in the rheumatology clinic and current approaches to therapy reviewed including treatments of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), potential of antioxidant therapies and the place for second line immunosuppression. Finally consideration of future approaches such as autologous stem cell transplantation and targeted anti-fibrotic agents such as pirfenidone or selective signalling inhibitors such as nintedanib will be discussed. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


An overview is provided in this paper of the routing procedures used in a number of operating networks, as well as in two commercial network architectures. The networks include TYMNET, ARPANET, and TRANSPAC. The network architectures discussed are the IBM SNA and the DEC DNA. The routing algorithms all tend to fall in the shortest path class. In the introductory sections, routing procedures in general are discussed, with specialization to shortest path algorithms. Two shortest path algorithms, one appropriate for centralized computation, the other for distributed computation, are described. These algorithms, in somewhat modified form, provide the basis for the algorithms actually used in the networks discussed.


In the paper, the functional of selective averaging of discrete decision variables is proposed. The positive selectivity coefficient is entered into a positive decreasing kernel of functional and with growth of selectivity coefficient the mean gives optimum values (in a limit) of decision discrete variables in a problem of global optimization. Based on the estimate of the selective averaging functional, a basic global optimization algorithm is synthesized on a set of discrete variables with ordered possible values under inequality constraints. The basis is a computational scheme for optimizing continuous variables and its transformation for optimization with respect to discrete variables. On a test example the high convergence rate and a noise stability of base algorithm are shown. Simulations have shown that the estimate of the probability of making a true decision reaches unit.


Abstract
Pythium aphanidermatum is one of the most important agent of root and foot rot of cucumber, particularly in the warm humid climate. Induction of host resistance by microorganisms or by the synthetic compounds is recently considered as one of the biological control method of disease. Trichoderma harzianum Bi is a good candidate for induction of resistance in plant against diseases. The maximum level of resistance of seedlings to P. aphanidermatum after inoculation with T. harzianum Bi was determined using completely randomized design in greenhouse condition. The results based on the fresh root weight and root rot index of seedlings showed that the maximum level of resistance against P. aphanidermatum is induced 7 days after treatment of cucumber seedlings by T. harzianum. The variation of peroxidase activity, its isozymes, and the total soluble proteins in root extract induced by T. harzianum Bi in cucumber seedlings was determined by colorimetric and native Electrophoresis methods before and after inoculation the seedlings by P.aphanidermatum. The results showed that the maximum level of resistance induction in seedlings treated by T. harzianum Bi coincide with maximum activity of peroxidase. The peroxidase activity was evaluated by Guaiacol oxidation rate in the presence of H2O2 and changing of solution color to orange reddish, measured by the variation of light absorption per min/ mg soluble protein of root extract. The same experiment realized on T. harzianum Bi, P. aphanidermatum and the combination of two fungi demonstrated that both fungi can influence individually the peroxidase activity, but it is more pronounced and more stable and persistent in the case of seedling inoculation by combination of two fungi in comparison to the control.

Keywords: Pythium aphanidermatum, Trichoderma harzianum Bi, Root and crown rot, Biological control, Induced resistance, Peroxidase


Abstract A method is proposed for developing air quality models of a limited wind fetch. The basic model equation is a transient solution to a diffusion equation. This basic model equation is compared to those of the existing models, straightline airflow and puff advection. The method can be applied to a slowly curving plume trajectory.


Urie Bronfenbrenner and Ernest Boyer argued for leaving the laboratory to conduct rigorous developmental research in the real world where children are found-in the places they go. Contributions to this special issue meet Bronfenbrenner and Boyer's call while at the same time recognizing the continued importance of laboratory research. These articles range from a review of research on the arts to a language intervention in Senegal to large-scale dissemination and intervention projects designed to communicate the best developmental science to families, public agencies, and schools. Together these articles illustrate how we can study development in the world and enrich our work on the factors that promote development. Taking this path presents us with a set of additional hurdles to be addressed, such as how to communicate with the public and how to scale up our interventions in the face of diversity along many dimensions.


The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the limiting step in splitting water into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen. Hence, research on potential OER catalysts has become the focus of many studies. In this work, we investigate capable OER catalysts but focus on catalyst stability, which is, especially in this case, at least equally as important as catalyst activity. We propose a specialized setup for monitoring the corrosion profiles of metal oxide catalysts during a stability testing protocol, which is specifically designed to standardize the investigation of OER catalysts by means of differentiating between catalyst corrosion and deactivation, oxygen evolution efficiency, and catalyst activity. For this purpose, we combined an electrochemical flow cell (EFC) with an oxygen sensor and an inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) system for the simultaneous investigation of catalyst deactivation, activity, and faradaic efficiency of catalysts. We tested various catalysts, with ...


Severe sodium depletion occurred in association with treatment of burn injury by repeated submersion in water. There was associated azotemia and loss of potassium and extracellular volume. The abnormalities were promptly reversed with replacement therapy. A primary loss of electrolyte through the burned surface into the whirlpoolbath water is postulated.


This book is the preliminary part of a great work titled "THE BOOK OF THE EGYPTIAN: The beginning of the basic Egyptology or a key to the understanding of history, philosophy and world religion". Usually, the introduction is made in the form of a brief preface or foreword, but I got a whole book as the first step in a multi-volume publication of the study. The purpose of this specific introduction as the beginning of serious research – is right at the level of the opening to inspire a reader, showing him in a clear visual and comprehensible form, the whole true mechanism of the hieroglyphic writing. To achieve this, I will completely dispel the myth created by the modern science that hieroglyphs do not convey any meaning (of words, the whole idea), but only individual sounds (letters), or their combination (syllables). This scientific myth will be finally deprived of the status of scientific knowledge, and the translation of the Phaistos disc, on the contrary, will be clearly shown, what is called "broken apart", and will be read in the ancient hieroglyphic language united by the principle of construction – in the language of the ancient Egyptians. I can say that it will not be two simultaneously existing systems of hieroglyphs translation, as well as two Egyptologies, one will be false, and the other – true! To prove the validity of the system of translation I wanted to give you immediately not only a complete translation of the text of the Phaistos disc, where the number of occurrences of each hieroglyph is not big (1 to 19 times), but the translation of the whole ancient Egyptian writing, because the number of times it is used in there is thousands, if not even millions. And each such use of each hieroglyph is translating in the same way, so it creates the full reading of the hieroglyphic texts – writing, which will be easily read by everyone with the dictionary of hieroglyphs in the future. The main reason why I wanted to do it – is because, at first, I read the ancient Egyptian texts and only then, by chance, came across with the hieroglyphs of the Phaistos disc. But then, I decided to set a different aim – to teach the reader to think, and not just to read hieroglyphs. Since we have no ancient Egyptian temple, and you're not its novice, the method of achieving the aims will be different than in the antiquity. First of all, I would suggest not a translation of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but a complete translation of the Phaistos disc, and at the same time to give them a sort of test of common sense to modern science in the face of particular academies and universities of the world. Let them answer me the question, not knowing the translations of ancient Egyptian texts, – whether they think this translation of the Phaistos disc is correct? So when I completely publish "The Book of Egyptian", it will become clear who they are and where do they lead all of you. As they always test the students, it's a time to test them as well. Will they pass the test, I do not know, but any way, you, my reader, will get to know about it, (in the main manuscript) and will be able to draw your own conclusions about their intellectual level. Therefore, I recommend you to take this message of the book, at least with the attention, because not every day the science gets a ready revelation, designed in the form of scientific study. And here the attention and common sense will help the reader to re-look the original, pure, uncomplicated meaning of the Hieroglyphs, which through the veil of delusion will finally begin to appear in their true, original and vibrant colors – and finally, get from the nether world – into the realm of the living!


The global governance literature is increasingly concerned with questions regarding the purpose of global governance and the sources of power in world politics. One strand of this debate centers on nongovernmental organizations and to what extent their role in global politics and policy processes is legitimate. This article uses Greenpeace India as an instructive case study to analyze the legitimacy problems facing international nongovernmental organizations (INGO s) campaigning on a global policy platform in the context of domestic politics. The article argues that the undertheorization of INGO s' agency as global actors is likely to reproduce processes of structural delegitimation that maintain a discrepancy between two of their legitimacy constructs. This is exemplified in questions about their representativeness and restrictive regulatory frameworks that undermine their legality. This article proposes that developing a more nuanced empirical understanding of the endogenous and exogenous limits of INGO s' power can help bridge the theoretical gap between their global and local agencies.


Breast cancer stem cells are responsible for cancer initiation, progression, and drug resistance. However, effective targeting strategies against the cell subpopulation are still limited. Here, we unveil two splice variants of very-low-density lipoprotein receptor, VLDLR-I and -II, which are highly expressed in breast cancer stem cells. In breast cancer cells, VLDLR silencing suppresses sphere formation abilities in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. We find that VLDLR knockdown induces transition from self-renewal to quiescence. Surprisingly, ligand-binding activity is not involved in the cancer-promoting functions of VLDLR-I and -II. Proteomic analysis reveals that citrate cycle and ribosome biogenesis-related proteins are upregulated in VLDLR-I and -II overexpressed cells, suggesting that VLDLR dysregulation is associated with metabolic and anabolic regulation. Moreover, high expression of VLDLR in breast cancer tissues correlates with poor prognosis of patients. Collectively, these findings indicate that VLDLR may be an important therapeutic target for breast cancer treatment.


Nootropic acitivity of calyces of Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn. was studied in mice. Elevated plus maze and passive avoidance paradigm were employed to evaluate learning and memory parameters. Scopolamine (0.4 mg/kg, i.p.) was used to induce amnesia in mice. The aqueous extracts of calyces of Hibiscus sabdariffa (HS-100 and 200 mg/kg, p.o.) significantly attenuated amnestic deficits induced by scopolamine (0.4 mg/kg, i.p.) and natural aging. HS (100 and 200 mg/kg) decreased the transfer latencies and increased step down latencies significantly in the aged mice and scopolamine induced amnesic mice as compared with Piracetam (200 mg/kg, i.p.). To delineate the possible mechanism through which H. sabdariffa elicits the anti-amnesic effects, we studied its influence on central cholinergic activity by estimating the whole brain acetylcholinesterase activity. H. sabdariffa significantly decreased acetyl cholinesterase activity in mice. The results indicate that, the aqueous extract of calyces of H. sabdariffa might prove to be a useful memory restorative agent in the treatment of dementia seen in elderly. The underlying mechanism of action can be attributed to its anti acetylcholinesterase property.


Clinical History: In a flock of approximately 180 peafowl, several were showing signs of a possible upper respiratory infection and had mouth gaping per the owner. They were also reported to be lethargic, to have excessive phlegm or mucus in the mouths, had trouble swallowing, and were losing weight. They were being treated with Baytril and Metronidazole with no improvement. Approximately eight had died. Five peafowl were submitted for necropsy and diagnostic work-up, including three peahens and two peacocks. Gross Findings: In all five peafowl, the oral cavity contained excess mucus. The oral, crop, and esophageal mucosa had disseminated, smooth, raised, round nodules with a central pore. The proximal esophagus was the most severely affected site. The nodules measured on average ~2 mm in diameter. Upon squeezing some of these nodules, pale tan, caseous material could be expressed. In all five peafowl, the heart was diffusely coated by abundant white, chalky, urate material. Similar though lesser amounts of urates partially coated the surface of the liver and other coelomic membranes. In one peahen, the ureters were multifocally distended and contained consolidated accumulations of tan to pale yellow, caseous material. The kidneys in this bird were pale.


The authors report on the results obtained using vital staining in fiberoptic bronchoscopic investigations. Vital staining is performed during normal fiberoptic bronchoscopic investigations under local anesthesia. The method has proved very sensitive for cancerous and precancerous lesions of the bronchial mucosa.


Occupational noise specialists do not generally recommend hearing protection devices (HPDs) as a preferred solution to noise risk prevention. Nevertheless, these devices are widely used and are in fact often necessary. Selection of an HPD should take into account comfort and the capacity for perceiving external signals, when they are worn. Current European regulations require that HPD attenuation be considered, when comparing noise exposure to limit values. However, HPD attenuation is effectively unknown under real-world conditions. Some methods are designed to give approximate attenuation values and these provide results within a wide statistical range. Field measurement methods and current standards have been developed to deal with this situation. The specific characteristic of impulse noise requires establishment of dedicated criteria and tools for HPD selection and testing. This paper introduces a number of avenues for research, which could be of assistance in improving HPD selection, qualification and design.


Being able to see use case steps directly in code would make the intent expressed by the code more comprehensible and easier to maintain. In this paper, an approach to preserving use case flows (of events) in source code called InFlow is presented within a broader context of its application in the software development process along with the issues that remain as challenges. The approach preserves individual steps of use case flows in the form of their counterpart statements, as well as their ordering. This is achieved by mimicking each use case flow by a sequence of method implementations with each step of the use case flow corresponding to one statement in one of these methods, enabled by the annotation named InFlow. A study of implementing an audio streaming service using InFlow, DCI, and aspect-oriented software development with use cases has been performed and assessed using several metrics in order to determine the level of preserving use case flows in source code. Although InFlow introduces a lot of indirect references to code, the overall results speak in favor of InFlow. DCI adds more complexity to following a use case flow in code than other two approaches. Complexity of making a change to a use case flow ended up with closely matching results. But InFlow guarantees traceability of use case implementation from the domain model implementation.


Abstract Egg rejection in birds is a specific adaptation toward avian brood parasitism, whereas nest sanitation is a general behavior for cleaning the nest and avoiding predation. However, both behaviors refer to the action of ejecting objects out of the nest, and nest sanitation has been proposed as a pre-adaptation for egg rejection. Here, we tested the eliciting effect of nest sanitation on egg rejection in the red-whiskered bulbul Pycnonotus jocosus, a potential host species that are sympatric with parasitic cuckoos. We conducted meta-analyses of previous studies on both nest sanitation and egg rejection, in order to evaluate the consistency of our conclusions. Our results showed that nest sanitation did not elicit egg rejection in P. jocosus. The conclusions concerning such an eliciting effect from previous studies were mixed, whereas the methodologies were inconsistent, making the studies unsuitable for comparisons. However, the ejection frequency of nest sanitation was consistently higher than the frequency of egg rejection across different host species or populations. These results suggest that nest sanitation, which is an ancient behavior, is more fundamental than egg rejection, but the effect of the former on the latter is complex and needs further study. Standardized methodologies and the integration of behavior, physiology, and modeling may provide better opportunities to explore the relationship between nest sanitation and egg rejection.


Introduction: The discovery that 1:2:5:6-dibenzanthracene is capable of inducing cancerous growths (1–4) raises the problem as to whether stimulation of proliferation as well as interference with normal developmental processes is a property of this chemical compound. To determine this, the influence of the substance on hydranth development of the marine hydroid Obelia geniculata was studied. This animal was used because it allows differential analysis of the effect of any given agent on the several expressions of developmental growth, such as proliferation, differentiation, organization, regeneration, and the like, such an analysis being either impossible or impractical on higher animals. The principles and practices of experimental method, recording of growth changes, and treatment of the data, have been given elsewhere in detail and need no repetition here (5 and 6).


Health information technology (IT) adoption, it is argued, will dramatically improve patient care. We study the impact of hospital IT adoption on patient outcomes focusing on the roles of technological and organizational complements in affecting IT's value and explore underlying mechanisms through which IT facilitates the coordination of labor inputs. We link detailed hospital discharge data on all Medicare fee-for-service admissions from 2002-2007 to detailed hospital-level IT adoption information. We employ a difference-in-differences strategy to identify the parameters of interest. For all IT sensitive conditions we find that health IT adoption reduces mortality for the most complex patients but does not affect outcomes for the median patient. This implies that the benefits from IT adoption are skewed to large institutions with a severe case mix. We decompose the impact of health IT into care coordination, clinical information management, and other components. The benefits from health IT are primarily experienced by patients whose diagnoses require cross-specialty care coordination and extensive clinical information management.


Since 1997, the National Nuclear Energy Agency, BATAN has been involved in the IAEA's RAS projects for the application of nuclear analytical techniques to characterize airborne particulate samples. The measurement of the elemental composition of the particulate matters is a key factor in utilization of the data for the determination of possible sources, which the process of identification and apportionment of pollutants to their sources is an important step in air quality management. Nuclear analytical methods such as XRF and PIXE are suitable for characterizations and need to be applied to produce large data sets of elemental compositions of APM. To maintain the sustainability of research in supporting the national program of air quality improvement in Indonesia, in 2011, BATAN has proposed new equipment, Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF) Epsilon 5. During the last two years, based on MoU between BATAN and the Ministry of Environment, the assessment and monitoring of air quality has been expanded into 15 cities in Indonesia. In this review, we present the research activities related to the application of XRF in APM samples characterization.


One unexpected technique that emerged in recent years consists in training a Deep Network (DN) with a Self-Supervised Learning (SSL) method, and using this network on downstream tasks but with its last few layers entirely removed . This usually skimmed-over trick is actually critical for SSL methods to display competitive performances. For example, on ImageNet classification, more than 30 points of percentage can be gained that way. This is a little vexing, as one would hope that the network layer at which invariance is explicitly enforced by the SSL criterion during training (the last layer) should be the one to use for best generalization performance downstream. But it seems not to be, and this study sheds some light on why. This trick, which we name Guillotine Regularization (GR), is in fact a generically applicable form of regularization that has also been used to improve generalization performance in transfer learning scenarios. In this work, through theory and experiments, we formalize GR and identify the underlying reasons behind its success in SSL methods. Our study shows that the use of this trick is essential to SSL performance for two main reasons: (i) improper data-augmentations to define the positive pairs used during training, and/or (ii) suboptimal selection of the hyper-parameters of the SSL loss.


Cutaneous findings are common in Costello syndrome, but have not been extensively reviewed in the dermatology literature. We present the cutaneous and histopathologic findings from two cases of Costello syndrome and review previously described cutaneous features of this syndrome. Both patients had manifestations of Costello syndrome with thick, lax skin on the dorsal aspects of hands and feet, deep palmar and plantar creases, curly hair, hyperkeratoses, acanthosis nigricans, papillomas, and multiple pigmented lesions. One patient had multiple syringomas on the forearms, a finding not previously reported. Pigmented lesions have previously been reported as nevi in the literature though no biopsies have been reported. We conclude that thick, loose skin on the dorsal aspects of hands and feet and deep palmar and plantar creases are cardinal manifestations of Costello syndrome and benign tumors of ectodermal origin such as papillomas, calcified epitheliomas, dermoid cysts, mammary fibroadenosis, and syringomas are important features of this syndrome.


Background. Transport of critically ill patients is a complex issue. We present a case using prone positioning as a bridge to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), performed by a critical retrieval team from a university hospital. Case Report. A 28-year-old male developed fever, progressive respiratory failure, and shock. He was admitted to ICU from a public hospital, and mechanical ventilation was begun, but clinical response was not adequate. ECMO was deemed necessary due to severe respiratory failure and severe shock. A critical retrieval team of our center was assembled to attempt transfer. Prone positioning was employed to stabilize and transfer the patient, after risk-benefit assessment. Once in our hospital, ECMO was useful to resolve shock and pulmonary edema secondary to Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome. Finally, he was discharged with normal functioning. Conclusion. This case exemplifies the relevance of a retrieval team and bridge therapy. Prone positioning improves oxygenation and is safe to perform as transport if performed by a trained team as in this case. Preparation and organization is necessary to improve outcomes, using teams and organized networks. Catastrophic respiratory failure and shock should not be contraindications to transferring patients, but it must be done with an experienced team.


Comprehension and generation are the two complementary aspects of natural language processing (NLP). However, much of the research in NLP until recently has focussed on comprehension. Some of the reasons for this almost exclusive emphasis on comprehension are (1) the belief that comprehension is harder than generation, (2) problems in comprehension could be formulated in the AI paradigm developed for problems in perception, (3) the potential areas of applications seemed to call for comprehension more than generation, e.g., question-answer systems, where the answers can be presented in some fixed format or even in some nonlinguistic fashion (such as tables), etc. Now there is a flurry of activity in generation, and we are definitely going to see a significant part of future NLP research devoted to generation. A key motivation for this interest in generation is the realization that many applications of NLP require that the response produced by a system must be flexible (i.e., not produced by filling in a fixed set of templates) and must often consist of a sequence of sentences (i.e., a text) which must have a textual structure (and not just an arbitrary sequence of sentences containing the necessary information). As the research in generation is taking roots, a number of interesting theoretical issues have become very important, and these are likely to determine the paradigm of research in this "new" area.


Objective To study the effect of salt reduction on iodine status and to determine whether iodine consumption was still adequate after salt reduction in a population where universal salt iodisation is mandatory. Design A substudy of a cluster randomised controlled trial, with schools randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control group. Setting 28 primary schools in Changzhi, northern China. Participants 279 children in grade 5 of primary school (mean age: 10.1); 553 adults (age: 43.8). Intervention Children were educated about the harmful effects of salt and how to reduce salt intake using the schools' usual health education lessons. Children then delivered the message to their families. The duration was 1 school term (≈3.5 months). Main outcome measure Difference between the intervention and control groups in the change of iodine intake as measured by repeat 24 hour urinary iodine from baseline to the end of the trial. Results At baseline, the mean salt intake was 7.0±2.5 g/day in children and 11.7±4.4 g/day in adults and the median iodine intake was 165.1 μg/day (IQR: 122.6–216.7) and 280.7 μg/day (IQR: 205.1–380.9) in children and adults, respectively. At the end of the study, salt and iodine decreased in the intervention compared with control group. The mean effect on salt for intervention versus control was −1.9 g/day (95% CI −2.6 to −1.3) in children and −2.9 g/day (95% CI −3.7 to −2.2) in adults. The mean effect on iodine was −19.3% (95% CI −29.4% to −7.7%) in children and −11.4% (95% CI −20.3% to −1.5%) in adults. Conclusions With ≈25% reduction in salt intake, there was a significant reduction in iodine consumption in northern China where salt is iodised. Despite this, iodine intake was still adequate, and well above the estimated average requirement. Our findings indicate that reducing salt to the WHO's target—30% reduction by 2025—will not compromise iodine status. Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01821144.


Abstract : Mammographic breast density is one of the strongest known risk factors for breast cancer, and a marker of cancer risk for both breasts. Women with dense tissue in more than 75% of the breast have been shown to be at a 4-5 fold increased risk of breast cancer compared to women who have mostly fatty breasts. Greater breast density also affects mammographic sensitivity for breast cancer; mammographic sensitivity declines significantly with greater breast density. Information on the etiology of breast density is currently limited. Identifying factors that affect breast density and understanding the underlying mechanisms may help reduce breast cancer risk and improve early detection of breast cancer, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality. Increasing evidence suggests that inflammatory cytokines may influence breast cancer risk. To gain further insight into the role of inflammatory cytokines in the etiology of breast density, we investigated associations between circulating cytokine levels, common genetic variation in cytokine genes, and mammographic breast density using existing data and banked specimens from the Mammograms and Masses Study (MAMS). This final report summarizes the work conducted over the entire research period.


Background: Restoration of carious teeth is required to preserve anatomy, function and aesthetics of a tooth. Proper restoration of carious teeth is paramount for the prevention of progression of a dental caries so as to obviate the need for root canal treatment. Location, extent, type, duration and cost play the major roles for the selection of a dental filling material. Objective: This study was set to know the preference of dentists for the selection of filling materials for different tooth cavities. Methods: This was cross-sectional observational study carried out at Kantipur Dental College and KIST Medical College for a period of six months. Pre-structured questionnaires were distributed to the dentists who were in dental practice and collected questionnaires were analyzed for the results. Data were compiled, entered and analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2007 and Epi Info 2000. Yates corrected Chi square test was used wherever applicable and level of significance was set at <0.05. Results : Out of 65 questionnaires distributed to the dental practitioners, 57 (87.7%) questionnaires were returned. Composite was the material of choice as the restorative material for all kinds of tooth cavities except for class V for which glass ionomer cement was the main choice (52.6%). After composite, dental amalgam was second most preferred material for posterior tooth restorations. Order of preference for filling materials for posterior restorations were: composite (52.6%), dental amalgam (47.4%), miracle mix (68.3%; P<0.05) and glass ionomer cement (42.1%). Majority of practitioners (78.9%,P<0.05) opined that strength and durability of restorative material is the main guiding factor for the selection of the filling material for posterior tooth restorations. Additionally, dental amalgam had higher (68%, P< 0.05) patient satisfaction with respect to cost and longevity or durability and was associated with less tiring and time consuming procedure (84%; P<0.05) on dentists' view. Conclusion : Majority of dentists opined that composite is the more preferred filling material for both anterior and posterior tooth restorations. For posterior tooth cavities (mainly for class I, II and VI) after composite, the order preference for filling materials was amalgam, miracle mix and glass ionomer cement. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jkmc.v3i2.11230 Journal of Kathmandu Medical College Vol. 3, No. 2, Issue 8, Apr.-Jun., 2014 Page: 72-77


In this paper, we calculate the cross-section for the photoproduction of quark-antiquark pairs in the peripheral collision of ultra-relativistic nuclei, by treating the color field of the nuclei within the Color Glass Condensate model. We find that this cross-section is sensitive to the saturation scale Q 2 s that characterizes the model. In particular, the transverse momentum spectrum of the produced pairs could be used to measure the properties of the color glass condensate.


BACKGROUND
Polycystic ovaries display an increased number of pre-antral and antral follicles compared with normal ovaries, suggesting that early and late follicle development are disturbed. The pathophysiology of this process is poorly understood. Since the transforming growth factor beta family members, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), inhibit FSH sensitivity, their signalling may contribute to the aberrant follicle development in these women. Here, we investigated the role of ALK2, a type I receptor for AMH/BMP signalling, in PCOS using a genetic approach.

METHODS
Seven single nucleotide polymorphisms in the ACVR1 gene, encoding ALK2, were genotyped in 359 PCOS patients and 30 normo-ovulatory and 3543 population-based control women, and haplotypes were determined. Subsequently, the association of ACVR1 variants with ovarian parameters and hormone levels was investigated.

RESULTS
The polymorphisms rs1220134, rs10497189 and rs2033962 and their corresponding haplotypes did not show different frequencies from controls, but were associated with AMH levels in PCOS women (P = 0.001, P = 0.002 and P = 0.007, respectively). Adjustment for follicle number revealed that the association with AMH levels was, in part, independent from follicle number, suggesting that variants in ACVR1 also influence AMH production per follicle.

CONCLUSIONS
Genetic variation within ACVR1 is associated with AMH levels and follicle number in PCOS women, suggesting that ALK2 signalling contributes to the disturbed folliculogenesis in PCOS patients.


The plasma cell malignancy Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a rare but deadly form of cancer with 5 year survival rates of ∼30%. The disease exacts an especially heavy burden on African American (AA) patients. In fact, African Americans are twice a likely to be diagnosed with and die from MM as compared to Caucasian Americans. Although socio-economic factors likely influence this disparity, the role of biology has not been ruled out. We have profiled ∼250 MM tumors for somatic copy number alterations using array-based Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH) and Gene Expression Profiling as part of the Multiple Myeloma Genomics Initiative. To determine if somatic alterations may play a role in the disparity in incidence and/or severity of MM in AA, we compared the frequency of specific chromosomal aberrations in genes and genomic regions previously found to be involved in progression and poor outcome in MM among a cohort of one hundred ninety-six (196) patients including 16 African Americans and 180 Caucasians. The frequency of occurrence (expressed as a percentage) was determined for each of the following aberrations: 1p deletion, homozygous deletion of p18, chromosome 13 deletion, and chromosome 13 monosomy. No significant difference was detected in the frequency of chromosome 13 deletion and chromosome 13 monosomy between the two groups. However, significant differences were observed for chromosome 1p alterations. Homozygous deletion at the p18 locus at 1p occurred in 12.5% (2/16) of tumors from AA patients and 2.8% (5/180) of CA patient tumors (p = 0.045). We further stratified tumors by hyperdiploid or non-hyperdiploid status using a-CGH profiles to determine ploidy status. Most significantly, p18 homozygous deletion was found in 25% (2/8) of AA patients with non-hyperdiploid tumors and in only 1.2% (1/83) of CA patients with non-hyperdiploid tumors (p=3.2 × 10-4). A nominally significant difference among non-hyperdiploid patients was also present for overall 1p deletion, which was observed in 2/8 (25%) of AA non-hyperdiploid tumors and 33/83 (40%) of CA with non-hyperdiploid tumors (p=0.05). No differences were observed for 1p deletion or p18 homozygous deletion among hyperdiploid tumors between AA and CA patients. These results suggest that deletions at 1p are more common among African American MM patients. Furthermore, homozygous deletion encompassing the p18 locus is more significantly common among AA MM patients, especially AA patients with non-hyperdiploid tumors. As 1p deletion and p18 homozygous deletion have been linked to poor outcome, our results suggest that the increased frequency of these alterations in tumors from AA patients may in part explain the disparity in unfavorable outcomes seen among AA MM patients Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4822.


This paper describes a new and purely functional implementation technique of binary heaps. A binary heap is a tree-based data structure that implements priority queue operations (insert, remove, minimum/maximum) and guarantees at worst logarithmic running time for them. Approaches and ideas described in this paper present a simple and asymptotically optimal implementation of immutable binary heap.


Despite the great progress of unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) with the deep neural networks, current UDA models are opaque and cannot provide promising explanations, limiting their applications in the scenarios that require safe and controllable model decisions. At present, a surge of work focuses on designing deep interpretable methods with adequate data annotations and only a few methods consider the distributional shift problem. Most existing interpretable UDA methods are post-hoc ones, which cannot facilitate the model learning process for performance enhancement. In this paper, we propose an inherently interpretable method, named Transferable Conceptual Prototype Learning (TCPL), which could simultaneously interpret and improve the processes of knowledge transfer and decision-making in UDA. To achieve this goal, we design a hierarchically prototypical module that transfers categorical basic concepts from the source domain to the target domain and learns domain-shared prototypes for explaining the underlying reasoning process. With the learned transferable prototypes, a self-predictive consistent pseudo-label strategy that fuses confidence, predictions, and prototype information, is designed for selecting suitable target samples for pseudo annotations and gradually narrowing down the domain gap. Comprehensive experiments show that the proposed method can not only provide effective and intuitive explanations but also outperform previous state-of-the-arts.


Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been recognized as a common condition in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and could contribute to their overall morbidity. Anti-TNFα and anti-integrin agents have been the cornerstones of IBD therapy with proven clinical efficacy, but it΄s effect on liver steatosis is still unclear. Therefore this study aimed to evaluate the impact of anti-TNFα and anti-integrin agents on liver steatosis in IBD patients with proven NAFLD.

 A total of 32 IBD patients with NAFLD, naive to biologic agents, 21 with an established diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, and 11 with Crohn's disease were prospectively recruited for the study. NAFLD was defined by a baseline attenuation (ATT) coefficient measured by shear-wave (SW) elastometry of 0.63 dB/cm/MHz or higher and a baseline alanine aminotransferase (ALT) of more than 40 IU/L for males and 35 IU/L for females. The exclusion criteria were alcohol use (consuming > 40 g alcohol/day for men and > 20 g/day for women in the preceding 12 months), concomitant chronic viral hepatitis, the presence of hepatic carcinoma, biliary disease, drug use, and hypothyroidism. A total of 11 patients were treated with Adalimumab, 9 patients with Infliximab, and 12 patients with Vedolizumab. The SW elastometry and laboratory exams were performed at the moment of therapy induction and after the 6-month course of therapy.

 The anti-TNFα treatment significantly reduced liver steatosis according to the ATT coefficient dynamic (0.70±0.07 vs 0.66±0.03 dB/cm/MHz, p=0.021) and ALT level dynamic came on the verge of statistical significance (44±7 vs 40±6 IU/L, p=0.058). We did not observe a significant difference between the Infliximab- and Adalimumab-treated patients. The anti-integrin agent, Vedolizumab, had no impact on liver steatosis (0.66±0.03 vs 0.67±0.04 dB/cm/MHz) and ALT level dynamic (47±4 vs 45±5, p=0.29). Both groups of agents had no impact on patients' lipid profile dynamic. We found no correlation between liver steatosis level and CRP and fecal calprotectin dynamic.

 In the short term, we observed potential beneficial effects of anti-TNFα agents on liver steatosis of IBD patients with proven NAFLD.


The influence of adding Nano particles of silicon dioxide (SiO2) on cement pastes was studied for both water and vacuum curing methods. Specimens made up of different percentage of Nano Silica were tested at different ages ranging from 3-56 days. The effect of (5-20 nm) Nano-Silica on the strength development of Nano-cement was determined using Material Tests System (MTS). The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of Nano-Silica addition on the compressive strength and on the signature phase of calcium silicate hydrate during the hydration process of a cement paste. Percentage of 5 and 10% Nano-Silica by volume of cement were used in this study and compared with 0% Nano-Silica representing control paste. The ratio of water to cementations material (w/c) for all mixtures was kept constant at 0.40. The experimental results show that the compressive strengths of the hardened cement paste with 5% Nano-Silica particles were all higher than those of controlled paste for both water and vacuum cured specimens. This increase in strength may be attributed to the reaction between Nano-Silica and Calcium Hydroxide (CH) to develop more calcium silicate hydrate(C-S-H) resulting in higher strength. On the contrary, the addition of 10% Nano-Silica yields lower compressive strength than the reference paste. The result also show that the vacuum cured specimens yield higher strength than the water cured specimens for up to 28 days. Nevertheless, the final strength for water cured specimens was higher than for vacuum cured specimens.


The platinum-catalysed hydroxycarbonylation of olefins is reported for the first time. Using a combination of PtCl2/2,2′-bis(tert-butyl(pyridin-2-yl)phosphanyl)-1,1′-binaphthalene (Neolephos) in the presence of sulfuric acid [0.6 M] in acetic acid selective carbonylation of terminal aliphatic olefins proceeds to good yields and selectivities to the corresponding carboxylic acids. Comparing the reactivity of different butenes (iso- and n-butenes), the terminal olefin can be selectively carbonylated.


A new air traffic control tower research facility dedicated to countering potential air and runway traffic problems at commercial airports is advancing the state- of-the-art in aviation research at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center. FutureFlight Central (FFC), is a unique real-time simulator designed to safely study new technologies, airport design changes or redesigns, and procedural changes in a virtual reality setting. The facility consists of a full-scale control tower, which depicts a 360-degree view of the airport under various weather conditions and times of day. Actual air traffic controllers operate the tower and communicate with pilots, ramp controllers and vehicle operators. "Humans-in-the-loop" provide a key distinction between conventional fast time simulation and what NASA has created in FFC. Human factors such as situational awareness, reaction time, visual perception and oral communication validate new designs and tools at a significantly higher level of accuracy and confidence. Recent integration of the tower with full- mission flight simulation allows assessment of airport changes from both the controller and pilot perspectives. With this new capability, technology developers, airport planners, and airline representatives are able to make more informed decisions. This paper describes the capabilities of FutureFlight Central, provides examples of typical projects, and addresses future applications.


Designing energy-efficient clusters has recently become an important concern to make these systems economically attractive for many applications. Since the links and switch buffers consume the major portion of the power budget of the cluster, the focus of this paper is to optimize the energy consumption in these two components. To minimize power in the links, we propose a novel dynamic link shutdown (DLS) technique. The DLS technique makes use of an appropriate adaptive routing algorithm to shutdown the links intelligently. We also present an optimized buffer design for reducing leakage energy. Our analysis on different networks using a complete system simulator reveals that the proposed DLS technique can provide optimized performance-energy behavior (up to 40% energy savings with less than 5% performance degradation in the best case) for the cluster interconnects.


Hens with feed withheld for 24 hr had poorer shell quality for the next 3 days. Hens with feed withheld for the first 8 hr (0400 to 1200 hr) of the 16-hr light cycle showed no decline in shell quality, but those with feed withheld the last 8 hr (1200 to 2000 hr) had poorer shell quality on the following day. When the period from 1200 to 2000 hr was divided into 2 periods (1200 to 1600 hr and 1600 to 2000 hr), feed restriction during the 1600 to 2000-hr period caused a decline in shell quality on the next day, but removal during the 1200 to 1600-hr period had no effect on shell quality. Shell quality was related to the feed intake of the hens, because about 34% of their feed intake was during the period 1600 to 2000 hr. Hens fed a low Ca diet (.7%) from 1200 to 2000 hr had poorer shell quality but not as poor as those with feed withheld. Feeding a high Ca diet (7.6%) from 0400 to 1200 hr prior to feed restriction from 1200 to 2000 hr, or giving oyster shell during the period of feed removal, improved shell quality, but not to the level of the full-fed birds. Daily feed restriction from 1200 to 2000 hr caused a reduction in shell quality for the first 4 days after which shell quality returned, but a slight decline in egg production was noted. These hens were able to consume approximately 70% of the feed consumed by the full-fed birds.


Mechanism of action of GII (100 mg/kg body weight, po for 15 days) purified from fenugreek (T. foenum-graecum) seeds was studied in the sub-diabetic and moderately diabetic rabbits. In the sub-diabetic rabbits it did not change much the content of total lipids, glycogen and proteins in the liver, muscle and heart (glycogen was not studied in the heart). However, in the moderately diabetic rabbits same treatment decreased total lipids more in the liver (21%) than those in the heart and muscle. Total protein content increased (14%) in the liver but negligible change (5-7%) was observed in heart and muscle. Glycogen increased (17%) in the liver but not in the muscle of the moderately diabetic rabbits (glycogen was not estimated in the heart). Among the enzymes of glycolysis, activity of glucokinase was not affected in the liver of both the sub-diabetic and moderately diabetic rabbits. Phosphofructokinase and pyruvate kinase activity in both sub-diabetic and moderately diabetic rabbits increased (13-50%) indicating stimulation of glycolysis. The activity of gluconeogenic enzymes glucose-6-phosphatase and fructose-1,6-diphosphatase of the sub-diabetic rabbits decreased in the liver (15-20%) but not in the kidneys. In the moderately diabetic rabbits after treatment with GII, glucokinase in the liver was not affected much (-9%) but increased well in the muscle (40%). Phosphofructokinase and pyruvate kinase were moderately increased both in the liver and the muscle (18-23%). The gluconeogenic enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase decreased reasonably well in the liver and kidneys (22, 32%). Fructose-1,6-diphosphatase decreased only slightly (10, 9%) in the moderately diabetic rabbits. Thus GII seems to decrease lipid content of liver and stimulate the enzymes of glycolysis (except glucokinase) and inhibit enzymes of gluconeogenesis in the liver of the diabetic especially moderately diabetic rabbits.


A clearer perception of the major immunochemical forces participating in the reaction between tissue antigens and their complementary antibodies would help us control better the processes of formalin fixation and antigen retrieval. This report describes and discusses the results of additional experiments designed for this purpose. It is anticipated that they will make a useful contribution to the much-needed standardization of staining in immunohistochemistry.


Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration has led to concerns about global changes to the environment. One area of global change that has not been fully addressed is the effect of elevated atmospheric CO2 on agriculture production inputs. Groundnut is a very important edible oilseed crop raised mostly under rainfed situations worldwide. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of normal CO2 level and elevated concentration by the raised in open top chamber with different concentrations of CO2 levels (200ppm, 400ppm, 600ppm,) on Arachis hypozeae (L) to investigate the various physiological growth changes (growth of root, shoot leangth) and total leaf soluble protein content was measured at days of 5th, 10th, and 15th intervals. The results showed that in Arachis hypozeae (L) the CO2 elevation may enhance higher root, shoot and leaf soluble protein content was significantly increased with increase in concentration of the CO2.


Background: Gallstones are common in western countries. Usually in minimally invasive cholecystectomy, cystic artery and duct both are separately ligated using metallic clips and then divided. Harmonic scalpel is effectual, useful, and secure instrument regarding control of blood loss and dissection especially in laparoscopic procedure for cholecystectomy. Objective: To delineate outcome of totally clipless laparoscopic cholecystectomy with harmonic scalpels in gall stones disease. Methods: This research (a retrospective case study) was done at surgical department, Lahore General Hospital, Lahore for 12 months. Total 195 patients fulfilling the inclusion & exclusion criteria were enrolled. Then patients underwent surgery under general anaesthesia. During surgery, operative time, gall bladder perforation and blood loss were noted. Patients were evaluated if conversion to open surgery was required. After surgery, patients were followed-up in OPD for 7 days for assessment of infection. Results: Mean age of patients was 45.75±14.98 years. Among patients 93(47.7%) were male and 102(52.3%) were female. Mean duration of gall bladder stone was 5.02±0.80 months. Mean time for operation was 50.27±12 minutes. Mean loss of blood was 73.11±20.46 ml respectively. There were 24(12.3%) cases who had perforation. Total 35(17.9%) patients suffered from infection post operatively. Conclusion: Total laparoscopic clipless cholecystectomy by harmonic scalpels is fully safe and useful technique in surgery for gall bladder stones.


This is a study of weaving among the nomadic pastoralists of Rupshu, eastern Ladakh. The author traces the relationships between livestock, weaving, and social and symbolic structures to gain understanding of the multi-contextual framework within which wool-orientated activities are undertaken. The first study of the tradition of weaving among the nomadic pastoralists of Rupshu in Eastern Ladakh. Weaving touches all aspects of life here, where both women and men weave. Local narrative states that the craft of weaving was bestowed upon Rupshu by the gods, and


Context/Background: Advanced neuro-imaging like Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is a non-invasive technique with enormous potential in glioma grading.
Aims and Objectives: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of DTI metrics for differentiating low grade from high grade gliomas.
Materials and Methods: This is a diagnostic accuracy study of 38 patients with glioma. DTI was performed on Siemens 3T MRI machine. Post- processing of data was done by placing circular ROI of 30 mm2 on tumor (T), peritumoral edema (PT) and normal appearing white matter (WM) in the corresponding contra lateral hemisphere, avoiding cystic/necrotic/hemorrhagic regions. ROIs were then automatically transferred to corresponding ?1, ?2, ?3 and FA maps. FA, ADC, AD, RD, Cp, Cs and Cl were obtained. DTI parameters and histopathological tumor grades were analyzed statistically.
Results: An independent-samples t-test showed a significant difference between low grade and high grade tumours in eight out of 21 DTI parameters of which ADC (T), AD (T) and RD (T) showed a sensitivity of 100%. 72% and 12%; specificity of 76.9%, 100%, and 100%; PPV of 89.3%, 100% and 100%; NPV of 100%, 65% and 34.32% respectively. Diagnostic Accuracy was highest for ADC (T), ADC (PT), AD (T), RD (T), Cl (T), Cp (T).
Conclusion: DTI is recommended as part of glioma imaging for optimizing patient outcome as this study reveals high diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity for ADC, AD, RD, Cl and Cp of solid tumoral part and ADC, Cl of peritumoral region to differentiate High from Low Grade tumours.

Keywords: DTI, Glioma grading, ADC, FA, MRI, GBM.


UNLABELLED
To simultaneously increase the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrenesulfonate (

PEDOT
PSS) was a challenge for realizing efficient organic thermoelectrics. In this study, for the first time, we report both increased electrical conductivities and Seebeck coefficients, hence, enhanced thermoelectric properties of

PEDOT
PSS thin films by doped with binary secondary dopants, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). Without modifying film morphology, the molar ratios of PEDOT to PSS are tuned by PEO, resulting in increased proportions of PEDOT in the bipolaron states. Our study provides a facile route to optimizing thermoelectric properties of

PEDOT
PSS thin films.


Author(s): Seybold, Bryan Andrew | Advisor(s): Schreiner, Christoph E | Abstract: The auditory cortex is critical for the understanding of speech. This task is accomplished through the nonlinear network interactions between many neurons. Cortical neurons are grouped into distinct types depending on whether they release excitatory or inhibitory neurotransmitters and molecular, biophysical, and morphological properties. Because cortical network interactions are nonlinear, perturbing these networks can produce counterintuitive results. To understand how auditory cortex accomplishes complex tasks like speech comprehension, we need to understand how nonlinearities shape network processing. This dissertation provides examples in rodent auditory cortex of manipulations that produce straightforward effects in single cells or small portions of the parameter range, but, in some cases, opposite effects in cortical networks. In chapter 1, I chronically reduced the level of inhibition in the cortex using Dlx1 knockout mice, which should expand frequency tuning in auditory cortex, but observed reduced frequency tuning. Homeostatic changes over time nonlinearly changed expansion into reduction. In chapter 2, I acutely activated two populations of interneurons that express either somatostatin or parvalbumin, which produce different forms of linear suppression in vitro, but observed the same suppression in vivo. The nonlinear elements of the recurrent cortical network obscured the type of linear suppression. In chapter 3, I added background noise, which suppress tone-evoked firing rates quasi-linearly at low intensities, but observed that noise-related suppression increased nonlinearly with noise intensity. The nonlinear mechanisms that preserve stimulus information in the presence of noise are less robust at high noise intensities. In each chapter, nonlinear effects led to unexpected results, highlighting the need to interpret results in the context of nonlinear networks to understand cortical processing.


An intelligent helmet has been developed to assist the miners working in the mining industry. Harmful events tend to occur in the mining industry that can lead to severe injury or be fatal. LED miner's helmet is the most commonly used helmet because of light weight and low power consumption. However it does not improve the safety of miners apart from providing illumination. Zigbee wireless sensor networks are used to collect sensor data and transmit them. The zigbee based system is cost effective and details are shared with central control unit. This paper presents a study of the mining environment and its hazards and how a zigbee is used for transmission from miner to ground control system in case of hazardous events. KeywordsMiners, Safety, Sensors, Wireless Network, Air Quality


This letter studies cooperative secure beamforming for amplify-and-forward (AF) relay networks in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers. Under both total and individual relay power constraints, we propose two schemes, namely secrecy rate maximization (SRM) beamforming and null-space beamforming. In the first scheme, our design problem is based on SRM. Using a suboptimal, but convex, technique-semidefinite relaxation (SDR), we show that this problem can be handled by performing a one-dimensional search which involves solving a sequence of semidefinite programs (SDPs). To reduce the complexity, in the second scheme, we instead maximize the information rate at the destination while completely eliminating the information leakage to all eavesdroppers. We prove that this problem can be exactly solved by SDR with one SDP only. Simulation results demonstrate the performance gains of the two proposed designs.


The heartwood of eastern redcedar ( Juniperus virginiana ) frequently contains areas of light-colored wood. This "included sapwood" is considered to be a defect by some manufacturers. In this study, sapwood, included sapwood, and heartwood samples from five eastern redcedar trees were exposed to mold fungi or subterranean termites in a no-choice feeding test. Specific gravity, extractives content, and total volumetric shrinkage were also measured. The extractive content, specific gravity, and volumetric shrinkage values of sapwood and included sapwood were equivalent. Greater extractive content in heartwood blocks was associated with less volumetric shrinkage and greater specific gravity. Included sapwood showed the same resistance to mold growth as heartwood, which was more mold-resistant that the sapwood. Included sapwood, heartwood, and sapwood of redcedar all exhibited resistance to termite attack compared with pine wood controls.


Bacteria-based self-healing concrete is an innovative self-healing materials approach, whereby bacteria embedded in concrete can form a crack healing mineral precipitate. Structures made from self-healing concrete promise longer service lives, with associated economic benefits [1]. Despite concretes susceptibility to marine-based degradation phenomena [2], and much of the world's marine infrastructure being located in cool with freezing climatic zones (annual average temperature l 10°C and average summer temperature generally l 20 °C) [3], research on the development of bacteria-based self-healing concrete has been largely restricted to room temperature freshwater studies [4-14]. The objective of the current project was, therefore, to develop a cost-effective bacteria-based self-healing cementitious composite for application in low-temperature marine environments. The current thesis charts the development of this composite. In Chapter 2 the autogenous healing capacities of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and blast-furnace slag (BFS) cement mortar specimens submerged in fresh and seawater, are visually quantified and characterised. The BFS cement specimens healed all crack widths up to 104 µm, and OPC specimens healed all crack widths up to 592 µm, after 56 days in seawater. BFS cement specimens healed all crack widths up to 408 µm, and OPC specimens healed all crack widths up to 168 µm, after 56 days in freshwater. OPC specimens in seawater displaying the higher crack healing capacity also demonstrated considerable losses in compressive strength. Differences in performance are attributable to the amount of calcium hydroxide in these mortars and specific ions present in seawater. Chapter 3 reports on the crack healing capacity of seawater submerged mortar specimens with the aid of a crack permeability test. Cracks of defined widths were created in BFS cement specimens allowing reference crack permeability values to be generated for unhealed-specimens against which healed-specimens were quantified. Specimens with 0.2 mm wide cracks demonstrated no water flow after 28 days submersion. Specimens with 0.4 mm cracks demonstrated decreases in water flow of 66% after 28 days submersion and 50 to 53% after 56 days submersion. Chapter 4 presents a modified permeability test for generating crack permeability data for cementitious materials. To gauge for any improvement both the modified and unmodified tests were tested and compared. Cracks were generated in mortar specimens using both tests, the accuracy of these cracks was analysed through stereomicroscopy and computer tomography (CT), and the water flow through the cracks determined. Reduction factors and crack flow models were generated, and the accuracy and reliability of the predictions assessed. All of the models had high predictive accuracies (r2 = 0.97-0.98), while the reliability of these predictions was higher for the models generated with the crack width analysis through stereomicroscopy. The cracks generated by the modified test were more accurate (within 20 µm of the desired crack widths) than those of the unmodified test. The modified test was 30% quicker (10 hours for twenty-one specimens) than the unmodified test at generating the crack permeability data. Further, crack width analysis through stereomicroscopy is currently/generally quicker than analysis through CT. Chapter 5 presents a bacterial isolate and organic mineral precursor compound, as part of a cost-effective healing agent for low-temperature marine concrete applications. Organic compounds were screened based on their cost and concrete compatibility, and bacterial isolates based on their ability to metabolise concrete compatible organic compound and to function in a low-temperature marine concrete crack. Magnesium acetate was the cheapest organic compound screened, and when incorporated (1% of cement weight) in mortar specimens had one of the lowest impacts on compressive strength. Bacterial isolate designated psychrophile (PSY) 5 demonstrated very good growth under saline (3%), high pH (9.2), low-temperature (8oC) conditions, with sodium lactate as an organic carbon source; and good growth at room temperature using magnesium acetate as an organic carbon source. Further, PSY 5 also demonstrated good spore production when grown on monosodium glutamate at room temperature. Chapter 6 presents a bacteria-based bead for realising self-healing concrete in low-temperature marine environments. The bead, consisting of calcium alginate encapsulating bacterial spores and mineral precursor compounds, was assessed for: oxygen consumption, swelling, and its ability to form an organic-inorganic composite in a simulative marine concrete crack solution (SMCCS) at 8oC. After six days in the SMCCS, the bacteria-based beads formed a calcite crust on their surface and calcite inclusions in their network, resulting in a calcite-alginate organic-inorganic composite. The beads swell by 300% to a maximum diameter of 3 mm, while theoretical calculations estimate that 0.1 g of the beads are able to produce ~1 mm3 of calcite after 14 days submersion. Swelling and the formation of bacteria induced mineral precipitation providing the bead with considerable crack healing potential. It is estimated, based on the bacteria-based beads costing roughly 0.7 €.kg-1, that bacteria-based self-healing concrete made using these beads would cost 135 €.m-3. Chapter 7 presents a bacteria-based self-healing cementitious composite for application in low-temperature marine environments. The composite was tested for its crack healing capacity with the water permeability test presented in Chapter 4, and for its strength development through compression testing. The composite displayed an excellent crack healing capacity, reducing the permeability of cracks 0.4 mm wide by 95%, and cracks 0.6 mm wide by 93%, following 56 days submersion in artificial seawater at 8oC. Some conclusions were drawn based on the results obtained during the development of the bacteria-based self-healing cementitious composite: • Visual crack closure is not a measurement for the regain of functional properties such as strength. Visual crack closure, therefore, should only be conducted as a complementary method when measuring the regain of such a property. • The capacity of a cementitious material to heal a crack depends on the width of the crack, thermodynamic considerations, the presence of water and the amount of ions available in the crack. Autogenous crack healing for seawater submerged cementitious materials is principally attributable to the precipitation of aragonite and brucite in the cracks. • The crack healing capacity of a bacteria-based cementitious composite is directly related to the amount of organic carbon available to the bacteria, and so the cheaper the organic mineral precursor compound, the cheaper the bacteria-based self-healing technology in general. Further, the compound must not have an adverse effect on concrete properties when included and must be readily metabolised by the bacteria as part of the healing agent. Magnesium acetate, in the current study, best balanced these criteria making it a good candidate as the organic mineral precursor compound for the healing agent. • A large number of specimen replicates (≥ 7) are required to generate reliable crack permeability data, and hence to quantify the crack healing capacity of cementitious materials through their functional water tightness. • The bacteria-based self-healing cementitious composite displayed an excellent crack healing capacity, reducing the permeability of cracks 0.4 mm wide by 95% and cracks 0.6 mm wide by 93%, following 56 days submersion in artificial seawater at 8oC. This crack healing capacity was attributable to: mineral precipitation as a result of chemical interactions between the cement paste and seawater; bead swelling; magnesium-based precipitates as a result of chemical interactions between the magnesium of the beads and hydroxide ions of the cement paste; and bacteria-induced mineral precipitation. • The 28-day compressive strength of mortar specimens incorporated with beads was 55% of plain mortar specimens. Reducing the amount of bacteria-based beads will likely increase the compressive strength of the bacteria-based self-healing cementitious composite. Such a reduction, given the swellability of the beads, may have relatively little impact on the healing capacity of the composite. • The bacteria-based self-healing cementitious composite shows great potential for realising self-healing concrete in low-temperature marine environments, while the organic-inorganic healing material formed by the composite represents an exciting avenue for self-healing concrete research. I hope that the work presented herein provide a valuable reference for those interested in bacteria-based self-healing concrete, particularly for application in marine environments, and more generally for those interested in the wider field of self-healing materials research.


This work presents the study of the corrosion-electrochemical behavior of titanium alloy Grade 2 treated with combined coatings—presaturation with nitrogen diffusion layer by thermal-chemical treatment, oxygen diffusion layer by thermal-chemical treatment, and a titanium oxynitride (TiNxOy) coating deposited by magnetron sputtering—in physiological solution. Structural analysis has shown that TiNxOy can be represented as a face-centered cubic (fcc) structure in which nitrogen atoms are replaced by oxygen atoms, or oxygen atoms are replaced by nitrogen atoms. Presaturation of titanium Grade 2 with oxygen and nitrogen leads to the formation of TiNxOy with near equiatomic composition at subsequent oxynitriding by magnetron sputtering. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) measurements show the homogeneity of the coating composition. The surface of titanium Grade 2 with a nitrogen diffusion layer presents the highest lightness factor and reflectivity in the range of the visible spectrum. Diffusion presaturation of titanium Grade 2 with either oxygen or nitrogen provides better adhesion of TiNxOy film to substrate. The presence of an oxygen diffusion layer leads to a stronger bond. It was found that a TiNxOy coating increases the corrosion resistance (isotonic solution of 0.9 % sodium chloride (NaCl)) 1.2 times as compared to a nontreated alloy. When the titanium alloy was presaturated with oxygen or nitrogen, the combination of the Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) oxynitride coating and the diffusion layer, 50µm thick, assists in additional enhancement of corrosion properties 1.5 to 3 times.


RATIONALE
C-kit(+) cells, including bone marrow (BM)-derived progenitors and mast cells, may participate in vascular remodelling. Because recent studies suggest that c-kit may be a target for innovative therapies in experimental pulmonary hypertension, we investigated the contribution of c-kit(+) cells in human idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH).

OBJECTIVES
To investigate the contribution of c-kit(+) cells in human IPAH.

METHODS
Single c-kit, CXCL12/SDF-1α, CXCR4, CD34, and multiple c-kit, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and tryptase immunostainings were performed in IPAH lungs. C-kit mRNA expression was quantified by real-time polymerase chain reaction in microdissected pulmonary arteries from patients with IPAH and control subjects. Phenotype and function of circulating progenitors were analyzed by flow cytometry. Plasma levels of soluble c-kit and CXCL12/SDF-1α were measured by ELISA.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Infiltration of c-kit(+) cells in pulmonary arterial lesions was associated with an increase in c-kit mRNA expression (P < 0.01 compared with control subjects). Both c-kit(+)/tryptase(+) mast cells and c-kit(+)/tryptase(-) BM-derived cells were increased in pulmonary arteries of patients with IPAH compared with control subjects (106.6 ± 54.5 vs. 28 ± 16.8/mm(2) and 143.8 ± 101.1 vs. 23.3 ± 11.9/mm(2); all P<0.01). Plasma-soluble c-kit was increased in IPAH compared with control subjects (27.4 ± 12.4 vs. 19.5 ± 5.8 ng/ml; P<0.05). Two populations of circulating BM-derived cells (lin-CD34(high)CD133(high) [c-kit(high)CXCR4(low)] and lin-CD34(low)CD133(-) [c-kit(low)CXCR4(high)]) were increased in IPAH compared with control subjects (P=0.01). Pulmonary arterial lesions were associated with vasa vasorum expansion expressing CXL12/SDF-1α that may recruit c-kit(+) cells.

CONCLUSIONS
In IPAH, c-kit(+) cells infiltrate pulmonary arterial lesions and may participate to vascular remodeling. Therefore, c-kit may represent a potential target for innovative PAH therapy.


INTRODUCTION : COPD affects lungs and coexists with some comorbidities. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is one of them. It is important to have a simple and available test to determine COPD patients with increased pulmonary pressure. NT-proBNP may meet these criteria. However there is limited information on the role of NT-proBNP in assessment of PH in COPD patients.

AIM: The goal of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of detecting NT-proBNP as a marker of PH in patients with COPD.

METHODS: 40 patients with moderate to very severe stage of COPD were enrolled into the study (GOLD 2010). Patients with evident and significant left-sided heart pathologies, arrhythmias and renal failure were excluded. Every subject underwent echocardiography, pulmonary function tests, 6- minute walk test, arterial blood gases and ECG. NT-proBNP was measured.

RESULTS: The average age was 62.4 ± 8.3 years. There were no significant differences in NT-proBNP concentration between subgroups distinguished based on RVSP and PV-AccT in the whole study population. The higher concentration of NT-proBNP was found in the subgroup of patients with RVSP > 36 mmHg and GOLD (III+IV) stages (p= 0.045). There was a significant positive correlation between NT-proBNP and RVSP (p= 0.021) in GOLD (III+IV). There was not such a relation in the entire population. The cut-off value of NT-proBNP was determined (31.1 pg/ml), separating the ranges of probability of PH presence based on RVSP (≤ vs > 36 mmHg), for patients with GOLD (III+IV) stages.

CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that NT-proBNP can be a clinically useful screening tool for PH in patients with at least severe stage of COPD without any significant left heart pathologies, arrhythmias and renal failure.


BACKGROUND
Oral lichen planus is a chronic autoimmune disease of unknown aetiology that affects the inner surface of the mouth. The symptomatic forms are painful,tend to worsen with age and with remissions being rare. Current treatment is palliative and not curative, many topical and systemic agents have been tried with little hard evidence for efficacy.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effectiveness and safety of any form of palliative therapy against placebo for the treatment of symptomatic oral lichen planus.

SEARCH STRATEGY
Electronic databases, handsearching of conference proceedings and specific journals, researchers in the field, drug manufacturers.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Any placebo-controlled trial of palliative therapy for symptomatic oral lichen planus, using a randomised or quasi-randomised design that measured changes in symptoms and/or clinical signs.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Change in symptoms (pain, discomfort) and clinical signs (visual impression, lesion measurements) at the end of therapy. Odds ratio of improvement vs no improvement for each trial outcome and pooling where appropriate.

MAIN RESULTS
A total of nine RCTs were identified. The nine interventions were grouped into four separate classes (cyclosporines, retinoids, steroids and phototherapy) for comparison. No therapy was replicated exactly, the closest replication involved two trials using high and low dose cyclosporine mouthwash. Only trials recording the same outcomes in each therapeutic class were pooled. The largest number of pooled trials was three. Large odds ratios with very wide confidence intervals indicating a statistically significant treatment benefit were seen in all trials. However this has to be tempered by considerations of the small study sizes, the lack of replication, the difficulty in measuring outcome changes and the very high likelihood of publication bias. Only systemic agents were associated with treatment toxicities, all other side-effects were mild and mainly limited to local mucosal reactions.

REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS
The review provides only weak evidence for the superiority of the assessed interventions over placebo for palliation of symptomatic OLP. The results highlight the need for larger placebo-controlled RCTs with more carefully selected and standardised outcome measures before between-treatment comparisons can be properly interpreted.


Ciclopirox 8% nail lacquer is a recently introduced topical formulation of the hydroxypyridone antimycotic ciclopirox. In vitro data indicate that ciclopirox has activity against the important pathogenic dermatophytes responsible for onychomycosis. The lacquer delivery system provides a high concentration gradient for the transfer of the antifungal agent through the nail plate. Daily application to the toenail surface of healthy subjects resulted in good penetration and distribution within all nail layers. Systemic absorption of ciclopirox in five patients with onychomycosis was minimal.


Most hard disk drives use ramp load/unload (L/UL) technology because of its many advantages. However, L/UL does have some unresolved drawbacks, such as slider-disk contact during fast unloading. The main objective of our research is to examine the use of a bump on the outer edge of the disk to prevent contact with the disk by the rebounding slider and to improve ramp unloading performance. In particular, this paper focuses on experimental verification of the design of the disk bump that resulted from our previous research. We formed the disk bump on the disk surface using mechanical pressing with tungsten tips and tested the effect of the bump in unloading experiments. An investigation of the acoustic emission burst signal and its power spectrum confirmed that the optimal disk bump prevented slider-disk contact. This improves the ramp unloading performance.


We revisit two-step mass-balance models of biological processes as met to describe numerous biological systems including the anaerobic digestion or the nitrification process in view of its global stabilization. We show that when a bi-stability occurs, it can be possible to globally stabilize the dynamics toward an unique positive equilibrium by increasing the removal rate. We give sufficient conditions on the growth functions of the model for this situation to appear. This illustrates that for biological multi-step reactional systems, increasing the residence time (e.g. decreasing the input flow rate) may not be the only way to stabilize the dynamics.


Purpose
While there is a rich literature on the role of partnerships between statutory agencies and third sector organisations for public service delivery in health and social care, the evidence base on, partnerships between community-based groups and charities for older people in the UK is lacking. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data, the purpose of this paper is to examines partnerships within 46 live at home (LAH) schemes. These schemes were specifically designed to tackle isolation and promote independence and wellbeing by providing a wide range of activities, based on the needs of its members.

Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on an online survey of 46 LAH schemes and face-to-face interviews with seven scheme managers to capture data on the various partnership initiatives within the LAH schemes.

Findings
Third sector partnerships for older people varied by type – formal, semi-formal and informal. In addition, third sector partnership working fosters the achievement of clear outcomes for older people who LAH and could be a mechanism for building social capital in communities. The study also identified barriers to developing third sector partnerships within this context. Mapping existing partnerships in LAH schemes were considered to be useful in engaging with partners. LAH scheme managers were better able to identify partnerships that could be deepened and broadened, depending on the desired outcomes.

Originality/value
To the author's knowledge, there are few studies on third sector partnership working in LAH schemes for older people. According to Age UK, there are 1.2m chronically lonely older people in the UK. Over half of all people aged 75 and over live alone (ONS, 2015). Loneliness and social isolation in later life are considered to be two of the largest health concerns we face. Scaling up these third sector partnerships may offer a credible way to shore up support for older people who live alone or want to live at home.


This study examined the resemblance between export and import commodities price index in Nigeria. The source of data employed in this study is secondary data obtained from Central bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin 2010. The statistical tools employed were the Mantel test statistic and the Bar chart analysis. From the result of the analysis it was found that commodities price index for export and import in Nigeria has about 67% resemblance and a significant measure of 0.07 which falls on the acceptance region of the hypothesis; assuming a 95% confidence interval. Also, from the graphical expression, it was observed that across the years import commodities price index has been greater than export commodities price index. This result implies that export and import commodities price index in Nigeria has a positive resemblance which can be attributed to the recent adoption of the diversification psychology by the Nigerian government and at present has not yielded full benefits that can enable export commodities price index close on import commodities price index in Nigeria.


The effect of the anisotropy of the interaction potential on ion-diatom non-adiabatic collisions is analized by considering the influence of the anisotropy on orientation averaged total cross sections for charge transfer in H+H2(X Σg ) collisions. We discuss the possibility of employing simplified methods such as an isotropic approximation, where only the electronic energies and interactions of a single orientation are necessary. The use of several isotropic calculations to evaluate the orientation averaged cross section is analized.


Achieving repeatable and successful results without causing excessive collateral damage is of paramount importance for photothermal laser applications. Predetermined laser parameters cannot ensure patient safety and treatment success due to variance between optical and thermal characteristics among subjects. Controlling laser irradiation with tissue temperature feedback is the current gold standard for various photothermal treatments (PTT) which are rate processes described by the Arrhenius temperature integral. This study establishes the validity of our low-cost design that makes tissue surface temperature control during photothermal laser applications more accessible in resource limited clinical environments. We demonstrated the practical performance and potential of our system with ex-vivo bovine liver irradiation using an ytterbium fiber laser (λ=1071nm) with two independent variables: laser power (3.4, 6.8 and 10.2W) and target surface temperature (55, 65 and 75∘C). Our system efficiently maintained tissue surface temperatures at target values in all laser power groups. In contrast, fixed-dose application groups displayed a high final temperature range and variation in the control experiment. Temperature–time responses of samples varied significantly, in agreement with a wide range of optical and thermal coefficients. Long exposure duration groups (lower power, higher target temperature) displayed more radical differences suggesting a dominance of optical and thermal characteristics over the response. The low-cost surface-temperature-controlled medical laser system we have developed is capable of ensuring the success and reproducibility of PTT modalities and patient safety.


The cell viability after aminoglycoside administration was evaluated by the determination of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) level and trypan blue exclusion of cultured PtK1 tubular cells. The assay in tubular cells was performed using luciferin-luciferase determined by a chemiluminator. The data are expressed as relative light units per milligram tissue protein. The standard curve of ATP showed a linearity from 0.5 to 2.5 mg/ml ATP as determined by the chemiluminator. The incubation time was steady for ATP production during 90 min after addition of ligand. The optimal incubation time was 60 min. The ATP production in PtK1 cells showed linearity within 10(3) to 5 x 10(6) cells in 200 microliters buffer. Although the magnitude of ATP production in Ptk1 cells was correlated with the cell viability as defined by trypan blue exclusion, the reproducibility of the former was better than that of the latter. The cell viability after application of aminoglycoside showed a decrement in a dose-dependent fashion. Our ATP assay is an excellent tool for determining the cell viability of renal proximal tubules in cases with tubular damage after administration of aminoglycoside antibiotics.


Candidate of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor A. M. Tsiatsiuyeu has reviewed the three-volume textbook «Medico-legal examination of a corpse» penned by D. Dolinak, E. W. Matches, E. O. Lew (translated from English under the editorship of Prof. V. A. Klevno), published in 2019 by the «Practical medicine» publishing house. The textbook is recommended for use by forensic pathologists, interns and clinical residents in the specialty «Forensic Medicine», and as additional literature by students of medical schools studying forensic medicine. In addition, the book can be used by law enforcement officials, courts and advocates.


Pregnancy in the context of pulmonary hypertension is characterised by high mortality for the mother and the foetus and is therefore strongly discouraged ; contraception has to be prescribed to patients in reproductive age. Women who decide to continue their pregnancy should be followed by multidisciplinary teams in specialised centres. A specific treatment should be defined with no delay. In case of clinical deterioration, the early, intravenous administration of prostacyclin should be considered. The ideal time and method of delivery are still disputed.


Osteomyelitis commonly involves the long bones, with pelvic involvement uncommon. We report the case of a 50-year-old male who, following a bone marrow biopsy that diagnosed him with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, had persistent complaints of fever, swelling, and pain over the biopsy site. Pus cultures revealed growth of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), with computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of the pelvis revealing features of osteomyelitis of the right ilium. He was managed conservatively with antibiotics. On the last follow-up, he had just recovered from another flare of the infection. Bone marrow biopsy is a common tool in the hematologist's inventory. It is quite safe, with complications reported in less than 0.1% of all cases. Osteomyelitis of the pelvis following this is exceedingly rare; to our knowledge, only two prior such cases have been reported. Pelvic osteomyelitis is characterized by poorly defined hip pain, limited range of motion, and difficulty with ambulation. In case of intractable hip or buttock pain following a bone marrow biopsy, osteomyelitis of the pelvis must be considered in the differential diagnosis, and appropriate management must be begun. A multidisciplinary approach is required, with surgical debridement and appropriate antibiotics.