The effects of prostaglandin (PG) I2 and the agents which affect PG and thromboxane (TX) generating systems on cyclical reductions of blood flow in the partially constricted coronary artery of anesthetized dogs were examined. Cyclical reductions were eliminated by PG I2, but not by PG D2, and were augmented by 15-hydroperoxy arachidonic acid and tranylcypromine that inhibited synthesis of PG I2. The cyclical reductions were also eliminated by Cu-chlorophylline that inhibited synthesis of PG E2 and accelerated synthesis of TX A2, but were not by imidazole and 1-methyl imidazole that inhibited synthesis of TX A2. The results in this and in the previous studies indicate that not TX A2 but PG E2 participates as an inducer while PG I2 participates as an inhibitor in cyclical reductions of coronary blood flow.


Employees are the most valuable possessions of an organization. Based on their critical character, they can be termed the life-blood of an organization. Advancement in technology has caused most organizations to be more and more technology driven. However, this situation does not reduce the value of employees in an organization because technology requires human resources to operate. With issues such as globalization, competition is becoming keener and keener in most industries. Their consequence to organizations calls for not only the need to attract the best talents but also the obligation to preserve them for a long term. Booming healthcare organizations emphasize attracting human resource assets and belligerently seek to resolve and prevent high employee turnover. Understanding the key gears surrounding the importance of measuring employee turnover, learning how it affects patient care, and realizing what is needed to retain quality employees is central to the resolution. Measuring employee revenue in a healthcare department is fundamental to the success of the organization and the quality of care it delivers..


Invasive plants are often more vigorous in novel habitats than in their native ranges. Sapium sebiferum (Chinese tallow tree) is a major invader of habitats in the southern United States. Long-term common garden experiments in Texas and Hawaii (USA) with S. sebiferum genotypes from its native range (Asia) and from areas in North America where it is invasive suggest that post-introduction evolutionary changes may contribute to its invasiveness in Texas. In Texas, where there was uniformly low herbivory, fast-growing, poorly defended invasive North American genotypes outperformed slower growing, better defended native Asian genotypes in common garden plots. In Hawaii, in contrast, an Asian herbivore, Adoretus sinicus (Chinese rose beetle) is abundant, and S. sebiferum is not invasive. In Hawaiian common garden plots, A. sinicus caused greater damage to North American genotypes, and Asian genotypes were competitively superior. Our results suggest that exotic plants freed from herbivory can evolve greater competitive ability, allowing them to become much more abundant than in their native ranges. This did not seem to occur, though, if herbivores from the native range were abundant.


Experiments conducted with albino mice and male-rats of different age have brought evidence that heparin is capable of raising the resistance of the organism to hypoxic hypoxia, stimulating the activity of NAD-dependent and inhibiting that of flavine-dependent dehydrogenases in the liver and myocardium of rats. It also inhibits peroxidation of lipids and the activity of lyzosomal enzymes in the liver, particularly in old animals. The expediency of a course-wise application of heparin, especially in old age, is suggested.


Abstract:This article considers the proliferation of Korean native camp shows and the roles of Korean women entertainers at the military service clubs of the Eighth United States Army in Korea in the 1950s and the 1960s. The role of the "American sweethearts" in USO camp shows—to create a "home away from home" and boost the morale of the American troops during wartime—was carried out by female Korean entertainers in the occupied zone at a critical moment in US-ROK relations during the Cold War. The article argues that Korean entertainers at military clubs were meant to perform the entertainment of "home" and evoke nostalgia for American soldiers by imitating well-known American singers and songs. However, what they performed as America was not simply the reproduction of American entertainment but often a manifestation of their imagination; they were constructing their own version of the American home. Their hybrid styles of American performance were indicative of how the discourse of the American home itself was constructed around ambivalence, the very site where women entertainers were enabled to exceed the rigid boundaries of race and gender, transcend their roles as imitators, and exercise their agency by productively negotiating this ambivalence.


Primary malignant lymphoma of the female genital tract is an extremely rare clinical entity. We report a case of primary non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the uterine cervix. An 85-year-old woman presented with abnormal genital bleeding. A colposcopic examination revealed a mass in the uterine cervix. No other lesions were detected by the whole-body CT, gallium scintigraphy and bone marrow examination. The histological examination and immunohistochemical staining of the cervical biopsy material confirmed a diagnosis of diffuse large B cell lymphoma of the uterine cervix, clinical stage 1E (according to the Ann Arbor Staging Classification for Lymphomas). The patient was treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, hydroxydaunorubicin, vincristine (oncovin) and prednisone. Her family refused surgery and involved field irradiation. She was in good condition but after 5 months she expired due to myocardial infarction.


Abstract Background Strokes are a leading cause of disability in the United States. Approximately 25–40% of individuals who experience a stroke will have aphasia. Individuals with aphasia experience many life changes and some have found that writing activities, such as publishing text entries on a personal website, or weblog, to be therapeutic. Purpose This study aimed to gain a greater understanding of the therapeutic use of blogs for stroke survivors with aphasia. Design Inductive qualitative content analysis. Methods Potential, publicly available weblogs written by people with aphasia were identified using a pre-determined search method and five met inclusion criteria. Data were collected from websites and collated into 453 pages of narratives. An inductive qualitative content analysis process was used to extract codes that were reduced to sub-categories and generic categories. Results A main category of therapeutic healing and three generic categories of (1) living with aphasia, (2) accepting a new identity, and (3) creating a community were identified. Conclusion Weblog writing was therapeutic for stroke survivors with aphasia. Authors reported benefits across cognitive, psychological, emotional, and social domains. Health professionals should consider recommending weblog writing, journaling, or other methods of writing for stroke survivors with aphasia. Implications for rehabilitation Creating illness weblog posts can be therapeutically beneficial for stroke survivors with aphasia as a tool that addresses psychological, emotional, and social aspects in their recovery. Blogging appeared to offer a medium for stroke survivors with aphasia to practice writing, to express what living with aphasia is like, to explore changes in their post-stroke identities, and to create a community with others. Health professionals should consider recommending weblog writing, journaling, or other methods of writing for stroke survivors with aphasia.


Summary Cortisol markedly suppressed in vitro utilization of uridine-3H by corticoid-sensitive mouse lymphoma P1798 cells. Corticoid-resistant cells were not affected. Inhibition did not depend on reduced uptake of exogenous carbohydrate precursors since similar effects were obtained in glucose-free, pyruvate-free medium. Omission of glucose and pyruvate per se did not influence uridine-3H uptake and incorporation by tumor cells, but it substantially decreased nucleoside utilization by rat thymocytes. However, cortisol inhibited uridine-3H transport by thymocytes, whether or not glucose and/or pyruvate were present. Neither glucose alone nor glucose plus pyruvate could maintain maximal levels of uridine-3H uptake by P1798 lymphocytes. When tumor cells were incubated in a balanced salt solution supplemented with glucose alone or with glucose and pyruvate, cortisol inhibition of nucleoside utilization was approximately one-half of that observed in complete medium. Similar results were obtained in medium containing salts plus glutamine, even though uptake and incorporation of uridine were practically restored to control levels. Addition of the remaining amino acids to the glutamine-containing balanced salt solution reconstituted the full cortisol inhibition. Glucocorticoid treatment had no effect on tumor uridine kinase activity but decreased Vmax of uridine-3H uptake without affecting apparent Km. Our results suggest that reduced incorporation of uridine-3H into RNA after exposure of P1798 lymphocytes to glucocorticoids is a consequence of diminished precursor transport rather than of decreased phosphorylation and may not depend on prior inhibition of glucose uptake.


The statutory language of Japan's 1994 Products Liability Act envisions a strict liability regime that would replace the previous negligence-based regime. This Comment reviews the development of the previous products liability regime, then analyzes the 1994 Products Liability Act in relation to Civil Code articles 415, 570, and 709 as well as EC Directive 85/374, and the 1975 Draft Model Law on Products Liability. The Comment concludes that because the 1994 Products Liability Act incorporates the Civil Code articles and their judicial interpretations, without addressing any of several structural and procedural barriers to suit, the 1994 Products Liability Act cannot and will not impose strict liability on manufacturers.


The paper contains descriptions of four new species of the genus Barsine Walker, 1854: Barsine midzhan Volynkin, sp. n. (N Myanmar), Barsine garo Volynkin, sp. n. (NE India), Barsine wernerthomasi Volynkin, sp. n. (NE India and E Nepal) and Barsine cernyi Volynkin, sp. n. (N Myanmar). New synonymy is established: Barsine prominens (Moore, 1878) = Lyclene delicata Moore, 1878, syn. n. Two new combinations are proposed: Barsine peraffinis (Fang, 1991), comb. n. and Barsine collina (Černý, 2016), comb. n. The lectotype for Lyclene prominens Moore, 1878 is designated. Adults, male and female genitalia of the new and related species are illustrated.


Sufism is the subject of intensive discussion and debate. Yet, it is also true that the study of contemporary Sufism has been overlooked by the fields of Middle Eastern, Islamic and religious studies. The networks, political agendas, development of new rituals and the organisation of Sufism, especially in the West, have not been studied comprehensively enough, despite growing interest in Islamic mysticism. This book sets out to fill the gap.It is not only timely, in that it offers the first sustained treatment of Sufism in the context of modern Muslim communities; but it is also innovative, in that it broadens the purview of the study of Sufism to look at the subject right across international boundaries, from Canada to Brazil, and from Denmark to the UK and USA. Subjects discussed include: the politics of Sufism; the remaking of Turkish Sufism; tradition and cultural creativity among Syrian Sufi communities; the globalization of Sufi networks, and their transplantation in America; Iranian Sufism in London; and Naqshbandi Sufism in Sweden.The practice of Sufism has become especially important for young people - particularly young women - to find an adequate framework within which to explore Muslim spirituality in dialogue with modernity. And in its thorough examination of how Sufi rituals, traditions and theologies have been adapted by late-modern religiosity, this volume will make indispensable reading for all scholars and students of modern Islam.Sufism is fashionable, important and sellable. Contemporary Sufism has been neglected in the literature - until now. This title is unique in its international scope and comprehensive treatment of modern western Sufi communities.


Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is caused by the accumulation of a farnesylated form of prelamin A (progerin). Previously, we showed that blocking protein farnesylation with a farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI) ameliorates the disease phenotypes in mouse model of HGPS (LmnaHG/+). However, the interpretation of the FTI treatment studies is open to question in light of recent studies showing that mice expressing a nonfarnesylated version of progerin (LmnanHG/+) develop progeria-like disease phenotypes. The fact that LmnanHG/+ mice manifest disease raised the possibility that the beneficial effects of an FTI in LmnaHG/+ mice were not due to the effects of the drug on the farnesylation of progerin, but may have been due to unanticipated secondary effects of the drug on other farnesylated proteins. To address this issue, we compared the ability of an FTI to improve progeria-like disease phenotypes in both LmnaHG/+ and LmnanHG/+ mice. In LmnaHG/+ mice, the FTI reduced disease phenotypes in a highly significant manner, but the drug had no effect in LmnanHG/+ mice. The failure of the FTI to ameliorate disease in LmnanHG/+ mice supports the idea that the beneficial effects of an FTI in LmnaHG/+ mice are due to the effect of drug on the farnesylation of progerin.


Automatic Trash Capacity Detection System for Real Estate, there are two parts including: transmitter unit part and receiver unit part by alternating communication. The both of parts working by wireless using Radio Frequency wave. The transmitter unit part there are Infrared Sensors module, Microcontroller module, Modulator of Frequency Shift Keying module, and Transmitter of Frequency Modulation module. While on receiver unit there are Receiver of Frequency Modulation module, Demodulator of Frequency Shift Keying Module, Microcontroller module, Interfacing module, and Personal Computer for monitoring and database view.


In the department of general surgery, in Szolnok MAV General Hospital the authors performed 51 open tension-free herniorrhaphies by Lichtenstein method between 1st July 1995 and 31st December 1996. According to this method the rings are closed anteriorly with Dacron mesh. The method is simple and rapid, less painful than any other technique. Apart from two minor complications, our patients recovered without any problem. The method helps to reduce the period of hospital treatment as well as that of sick-leave.


Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), despite being energy-efficient when implemented on neuromorphic hardware and coupled with event-based Dynamic Vision Sensors (DVS), are vulnerable to security threats, such as adversarial attacks, i.e., small perturbations added to the input for inducing a misclassification. Toward this, we propose DVS-Attacks, a set of stealthy yet efficient adversarial attack methodologies targeted to perturb the event sequences that compose the input of the SNNs. First, we show that noise filters for DVS can be used as defense mechanisms against adversarial attacks. Afterwards, we implement several attacks and test them in the presence of two types of noise filters for DVS cameras. The experimental results show that the filters can only partially defend the SNNs against our proposed DVS-Attacks. Using the best settings for the noise filters, our proposed Mask Filter-Aware Dash Attack reduces the accuracy by more than 20% on the DVS-Gesture dataset and by more than 65% on the MNIST dataset, compared to the original clean frames. The source code of all the proposed DVS-Attacks and noise filters is released at https://github.com/albertomarchisio/DVS-Attacks.


We introduce JCoRe 2.0, the relaunch of a UIMA-based open software repository for full-scale natural language processing originating from the Jena University Language & Information Engineering (JULIE) Lab. In an attempt to put the new release of JCoRe on firm software engineering ground, we uploaded it to GitHub, a social coding platform, with an underlying source code versioning system and various means to support collaboration for software development and code modification management. In order to automate the builds of complex NLP pipelines and properly represent and track dependencies of the underlying Java code, we incorporated Maven as part of our software configuration management efforts. In the meantime, we have deployed our artifacts on Maven Central, as well. JCoRe 2.0 offers a broad range of text analytics functionality (mostly) for English-language scientific abstracts and full-text articles, especially from the life sciences domain.


We present a comparative study on the nature and strength of weak hydrogen bonding between the C(sp3)-H, C(sp2)-H, and C(sp)-H donor bonds and F-C(sp3) acceptors. The series of molecules CH3F.CH4 (2 a, 2 b), CH3F.C2H4 (3), CH3F.C2H2 (4), as well as model complexes of experimentally characterized 2-fluoro-2-phenylcyclopropane derivatives, C3H6.C3H5F (5 a, 5 b) and C3H5F.C3H5F (6) were investigated. Comparative studies were also performed for two conformers of the methane dimer (1 a, 1 b). The calculations were carried out in hierarchies of basis sets [SV(d,p), TZV(d,p), aug-TZV(d,p), TZV(2df,2pd), aug-TZV(2df,2pd), QZV(3d2fg,2pd), aug-QZV(3d2fg,2pdf)] by means of ab initio [HF, MP2, QCISD, QCISD(T)] methods and density functional theory (DFT/B3LYP, DFT/PBE). It is shown that well-balanced basis sets of at least TZV(2df,2pd) quality are needed for a proper description of the weakly bonded systems. In the case of 2, 3, 5, and 6, the dispersion interaction is the dominant term of the entire attraction, which is not accounted for at the B3LYP level. Significant electrostatic contributions are observed for 6 and 3. For 4, these forces have a dominating contribution to the hydrogen bonding. The C(sp)--H...F--C(sp(3)) interaction in 4, though weak, exhibits the same characteristics as conventional hydrogen bridges. Despite showing longer H.F/H contacts compared to 1 a, 2 a, and 5 a the bifurcated structures, 1 b, 2 b, 5 b, are characterized by larger dispersion interactions leading to stronger bonding. For the systems with only one H.F contact, the MP2/QZV(3d2fg,2pd) interaction energy increases in the order 2 a (-1.62 kJ mol(-1)), 3 (-2.79 kJ mol(-1)), 5 a (-5.97 kJ mol(-1)), 4 (-7.25 kJ mol(-1)), and 6 (-10.02 kJ mol(-1)). This contradicts the estimated proton donor ability of the C--H bonds (2 a<5 a<3<6<4).


Background: End-stage renal disease patients getting hemodialysis (HD) frequently report sleep problems. There are various sorts of sleep disorders, generally classified into different categories depending upon initiation of sleep, duration, and continuity of sleep, calmness during sleep, respiration pattern during sleep, and daytime alertness. Sleep abnormalities have a significant and well-documented effect on daily routine activities thereby reducing the quality of life. Objective: To determine the frequency of sleep pattern abnormalities in patients with chronic kidney disease on maintenance hemodialysis. Study Design: Cross-sectional study Place and Duration of Study: Department of Nephrology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore from 24th January 2019 to 24th July 2019. Methodology: Ninety one cases ages between 14-70 years of either gender, having ESRD, and are on maintenance HD for at least 3 months were included. All those patients who were having HD for acute kidney injury were excluded. Sleeping disorders were evaluated using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index by a single interviewer. Results: Fifty five (60.4%) were males and 36 (39.6%) were females. The mean age was 51.1±12.1 years, mean BMI was 25.1±5.2, and mean duration of dialysis was 5.1±2.8 years, 74(81.3%) patients had sleep disorders. Among patients having sleep disorders, 38(41.8%) had Insomnia, Narcolepsy in 41(51.6%), Sleep Apnoea Syndrome in 38(41.8%), restless leg syndrome in 35(38.5%) and parasomnia in 17(18.7%) patients. Conclusion: Sleep disorders are common in regular hemodialysis patients affecting 81.3% of individuals. Key words: Chronic kidney disease, Haemodialysis, Sleep disorders


Clitoria ternatea, commonly known as Butterfly pea flower or Bunga telang, is a tropical
flower and notable as one of the most vital sources of polyphenols with high antioxidant
capacity. C. ternatea abundantly produces anthocyanin compounds benefiting natural blue
colourants. To date, a blue colourant is the most difficult to obtain since the anthocyanins
responsible for this colour is the least stable and easily degraded after extraction. Their
stability commonly relies on several operational parameters, such as shifted pH value,
high temperature, and light exposure. Apart from colour attributes, anthocyanins have also
been identified as a source of functional molecules due to antioxidant activity and
beneficial health effects such as anti-cancer, anti-obesity, antimicrobial and more. This
study aimed to characterize the chemical constituents of the extractable polyphenols from
ethanolic extract of C. ternatea quantitatively. The numerical data were evaluated using
the Minitab version 18 statistical method. The chemical profiling, including total phenolic
content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), total monomeric anthocyanins (TMA) were
determined using standard methods. The antioxidant activity was evaluated using DPPH
and ABTS methods. The results showed that the ethanolic extract of C. ternatea had 35.7
mg QE/g of TFC, 102.4 mg GAE/g280nm and 28.8 mg GAE/g750nm of TPC and 2.7 CE/g
and 2.9 ME/g of TMA. The total phenolic content of C. ternatea showed a good
correlation with the antioxidant activity by the DPPH method when analysed using
Pearson correlation and showed an increasing trend of antioxidant power with regards to
TPC in both assays. In a nutshell, this study contributes to the knowledge of ethanolic
extract of C. ternatea. Future research could consider exploring other extraction methods
that could enhance the stability of polyphenols particularly the anthocyanins from
degradation such as using surfactants.


Medical and surgical management of knee pain in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is rapidly evolving. It is important for the orthopaedic surgeon to remain informed. In this review, we discuss the recent trends in surgical management of JIA in light of recent medical advances for the disease. The purpose of this article is to summarize current recommendations for TKA in patients with JIA.


This study aims to identify species richness and composition patterns of the ichthyofauna in different landscape matrices (forest, pasture and eucalypt crops) and to evaluate the variation of species composition in different matrices, identifying possible indicator species. We selected 21 streams; 7 were surrounded by native vegetation, 9 surrounded by pasture and 5 by eucalypt crops. We tested whether there was difference in the composition and species richness. In addition, we used the indicator value (IndVal) to verify if there were species faithful and specific to some land use and land cover. Streams located in forest presented the highest estimated species richness, followed by streams in pasturelands and eucalypt matrices. There was no difference between the composition of fishes in different matrices, but we observed a relationship between Phenacorhamdia somnians (Mees, 1974) and pasture matrix. The results indicated that the change in land use may benefit some generalist species such as Phenacorhamdia somnians.


Myeloid progenitors that yield neutrophils, monocytes and dendritic cells (DCs) can be identified in and isolated from the bone marrow of mice for hematological and immunological analyses. For example, studies of the cellular and molecular properties of myeloid progenitor populations can reveal mechanisms underlying leukemic transformation, or demonstrate how the immune system responds to pathogen exposure. Previously described flow cytometry strategies for myeloid progenitor identification have enabled significant advances in many fields, but the fractions they identify are very heterogeneous. The most commonly used gating strategies define bone marrow fractions that are enriched for the desired populations, but also contain large numbers of "contaminating" progenitors. Our recent studies have resolved much of this heterogeneity, and the protocol we present here permits the isolation of 6 subpopulations of oligopotent and lineage-committed myeloid progenitors from 2 previously described bone marrow fractions. The protocol describes 3 stages: 1) isolation of bone marrow cells, 2) enrichment for hematopoietic progenitors by magnetic-activated cell sorting (lineage depletion by MACS), and 3) identification of myeloid progenitor subsets by flow cytometry (including fluorescence-activated cell sorting, FACS, if desired). This approach permits progenitor quantification and isolation for a variety of in vitro and in vivo applications, and has already yielded novel insight into pathways and mechanisms of neutrophil, monocyte, and DC differentiation.


The objective of this study was to compare the outcomes of carpal tunnel surgery in patients with and without medical comorbidities typical in this age range, with particular attention to evaluation of their quality of life. The outcomes of carpal tunnel release at 6 months after operation in 128 patients, 70 (55%) with and 58 (45%) without comorbidities were compared. The measurements were performed preoperatively and at 6 months after the operation and included pain intensity, grip strength, sensation, hand dexterity with the Levine and quality of life with the RAND SF-36 questionnaires. Results. At baseline, the patients with comorbidities had significantly poorer hand function and reduced perception of light touch. Carpal tunnel release resulted in significant improvement for all patients, although outcomes at 6 months were less favorable for those with comorbidities in terms of quality of life and general health status. This however does not mean that the presence of the comorbidities is prejudicial to the outcome of CTS surgery.


The background of this research is based on many cases of negative self concept in adolescent. Mainly, andolescent from broken home family. Self Concept is related with their sorroundings, such as family and peer groups. This research aims to determine the correlation of the intensity of broken home family communication, peer group interaction, and adolescent 's self concept. The method which is used in this research is the quantitative with positivistic approach. This research used The Social Construction Self Theory and The Reference Group Theory. This Research is using non probability sampling technique. The population in this research is adolescent age 17-23 from broken home family in Semarang city. While the sample is 30 respondens. The data is analyzed with the aid of SPSS aplication with Pearson correlation test. The result of this research indicate there is correlation between the intensity of broken home family communication and adolescent 's self concept with significance value is 0,004 and Pearson correlation value is 0,511. It means the strength of the intensity of broken home family communication and adolescent 's self concept is medium with directional. So, if the intensity of broken home family communication is high, then adolescent's self concept is high. Otherwise, if the intensity of broken home family communication is low, then adolescent's self concept is low. And also there is correlation between the peer group interaction and adolescent's self concept with significance value is 0,041 and Pearson correkation value is 0,375. It means the correlation's strength is weak and directional. So, if the peer group interaction is high, then adolescent's self concept is high. Otherwise, if peer group interaction is low, then adolescent's self concept is low. The suggestion of the researcher is for the parents to improve the intensity of communication with their children, so the children will get knowledge and a good understanding about their self which forming a positive self concept in adolescent.


PURPOSE
To avoid complications in total body irradiation (TBI), it is important to achieve a homogeneous dose distribution throughout the body and to deliver a correct dose to the lung which is an organ at risk. The purpose of this work was to validate the TBI dose protocol and to check the accuracy of the 3D dose calculations of the treatment planning system.

METHODS
Dosimetry based on alanine/electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) was used to measure dose at numerous locations within an anthropomorphic phantom (Alderson) that was irradiated in a clinical TBI beam setup. The alanine EPR dosimetry system was calibrated against water calorimetry in a Co-60 beam and the absorbed dose was determined by the use of "dose-normalized amplitudes" A(D). The dose rate of the TBI beam was checked against a Farmer ionization chamber. The phantom measurements were compared to 3D dose calculations from a treatment planning system (Pinnacle) modeled for standard dose calculations.

RESULTS
Alanine dosimetry allowed accurate measurements which were in accordance with ionization chamber measurements. The combined relative standard measurement uncertainty in the Alderson phantom was U(r)(A(D))=0.6%. The humanoid phantom was irradiated to a reference dose of 10 Gy, limiting the lung dose to 7.5 Gy. The ratio of the average measured dose midplane in the craniocaudal direction to the reference dose was 1.001 with a spread of +/- 4.7% (1 sd). Dose to the lung was measured in 26 locations and found, in average, 1.8% lower than expected. Lung dose was homogeneous in the ventral-dorsal direction but a dose gradient of 0.10 Gy cm(-1) was observed in the craniocaudal direction midline within the lung lobe. 3D dose calculations (Pinnacle) were found, in average, 2% lower compared to dose measurements on the body axis and 3% lower for the lungs.

CONCLUSIONS
The alanine/EPR dosimetry system allowed accurate dose measurements which enabled the authors to validate their TBI dose protocol. Dose calculations based on a collapsed cone convolution dose algorithm modeled for regular treatments are accurate within 3% and can further be improved when the algorithm is modeled for TBI.


Abstract Kennedy, RA and Drake, D. Dissociated time course of recovery between strength and power after isoinertial resistance loading in rugby union players. J Strength Cond Res 32(3): 748–755, 2018—There is a substantial amount of research on the responses to isometric and eccentric loading. However, only a paucity of literature exists on the responses to isoinertial loading, especially in trained athletic populations using realistic loading protocols. The purpose of this study was to examine the acute neuromuscular response to a bout of isoinertial resistance loading in elite rugby players. Seventeen male (age: 19.5 ± 2.3 years) rugby union players performed a conventional maximal isoinertial resistance loading protocol. Countermovement jump (CMJ) and maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVC) squat performance were measured on 3 occasions: at baseline, immediately post, and 48 hour post. The results indicated that the decrease in MVC (9.7%) is greater than or comparable with the CMJ output variables (4.2–10.3%), immediately postexercise. Although isometric strength had demonstrated a full recovery at 48 hour post, many of the key CMJ output variables were still impaired (p ⩽ 0.05). Similar findings were observed in the normalized CMJ curves. Complete recovery of the ability to rapidly produced force may require more than 48 hours in many athletes. Individual responses should, therefore, be monitored to help plan acute and chronic training loads. It is recommended that future fatigue studies should incorporate temporal phase analyses to consider the power-, force-, velocity-, and displacement-time curves.


It has been highlighted by many studies that young people between the ages of 15 to 29 years have the greatest risk of HIV infection (1). There is a constant flow of students into and out of a University. New students bring with them new knowledge, attitudes and perception. There is therefore the need to research whether the campaigns encouraging students to undergo testing and resources available on different campuses of University of KwaZulu-Natal have brought about changes in the attitudes of students towards HIV counseling and testing. Also what needs to be looked at is the actual utilization of HIV counseling and testing resources available on campuses. Adequacy of these resources also needs to be investigated. This study hopes to provide new information about these issues.


Ethanol significantly increased the steady-state peak concentration of propranolol while propranolol significantly reduced the total body clearance of ethanol in healthy human volunteers. Ethanol per se caused tachycardia and rise in systolic blood pressure while propranolol administration resulted in bradycardia. In combinations, ethanol and propranolol caused significant fall in diastolic blood pressure without any significant changes in the heart rate and systolic blood pressure compared to the control readings of four healthy male volunteers. The kinetic and haemodynamic interactions observed between ethanol and propranolol in the preliminary study are of clinical relevance and need further exploration.


BACKGROUND
This study aimed to evaluate the effect of Dermalix® (Dx) on wound healing and anastomotic leakage in a rat model of end-to-end colon anastomosis.

METHODS
The study was carried out on 40 rats, as divided into three groups, including a negative control group (n=10, laparotomy only) control group (n=15, colon anastomosis), and the experimental group (n=15, colon anastomosis plus Dx applied to anastomo-sis site). The rats were sacrificed on the 3rd post-operative day, and resected colon segments were evaluated for bursting pressure (mmHg) using an infusion pump set-up and for pathological parameters of wound healing including neutrophil infiltration, epithelial regeneration, granulation tissue formation, local inflammatory response, neovascularization, and foreign body reaction.

RESULTS
Anastomotic leakage rate was significantly lower (1 rat vs. 6 rats, P=0.040). Moreover, mean bursting pressure was signifi-cantly (2.95 times) higher (mean 121 vs. 41 mmHg, respectively, P<0.05) in the Dx experimental group than in the control group. Dx was considered to significantly accelerate wound healing by increasing neovascularization (P<0.001). Control and experimental groups were similar in terms of other pathological parameters.

CONCLUSION
Based on significantly lower rate of anastomotic leakage and its positive effects especially on the bursting pressure and neovascularization, Dx seems to be considered as a promising technology in preventing anastomotic leakage.


In this issue of Pediatrics, we learn about the dangers of travel in the cargo beds of pick-up trucks,1 a problem that is both old and new. Although we may have only recently given this hazard the attention it deserves, the issues surrounding safe travel in pick-up trucks are common to most other injury control problems. This is but the latest example of the challenge encountered when safety measures appear to threaten individual freedom, personal convenience, or economic "reality."
 In the South, the Southwest, and much of rural America, the pick-up truck is, for many families, the only practical vehicle for both work and family transportation.


Extracting local resources from excavated lunar regolith will help support a sustainable presence on the Moon. For example, water ice beneath the lunar permanently shadowed region can be processed into liquid oxygen/hydrogen propellant. The availability of space acquired propellant could dramatically decrease the cost of Earth to space transportation. To address this need, this work proposes an autonomously controlled robot with trilateration-based localization for optimized excavation of lunar regolith. A proof-of-concept design for an autonomous lunar mining rover is presented. The autonomous rover is capable of traveling to known dig sites, excavating lunar regolith/water ice simulant, and transporting the lunar regolith/water ice simulant back to a collection sieve, without the need for user input. The work included phases for requirements and planning, conceptual design, detailed design, and testing for performance validation. Contributions of the proposed design include an autonomously controlled rover for excavation of lunar regolith, with design optimization to maximize the amount of successfully deposited material. The proposed design offers an optimal balance between opposing cost functions and design constraints for reducing the size and weight of the rover, while maximizing the operational performance of the rover for mining, transit, and depositing.


Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is precapillary pulmonary hypertension, in which chronic obstruction of large and middle branches of pulmonary arteries (PAs) and secondary changes in the lung microcirculatory bed result in a progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance and PA pressure with the development of severe right cardiac dysfunction and heart failure. CTEPH is a unique form of pulmonary hypertension since it is potentially curable by surgical treatment. The diagnostic criteria for CTEPH are a mean PA pressure of ≥25 mm Hg, as evidenced by right heart catheterization; a PA wedge pressure of ≤15 mm Hg; a pulmonary vascular resistance of >2 Wood units; the presence of chronic/organized thrombi/emboli in the elastic PAs (pulmonary trunk, lobular, segmental, subsegmental PAs); effective anticoagulant therapy at therapeutic dosages over at least 3 months. Up to now, our country has had no guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of this rare severe disease that, when appropriately untreated, has an extremely poor prognosis. The main task in the preparation of this document was to generalize and analyze the data of current registries, multicenter randomized clinical trials, national and international guidelines, and consensus documents recently published on this problem in order to optimize a diagnostic process and treatment in this category of patients. Part 1 gives a definition of CTEPH, its place in the clinical classification, epidemiology and prognosis, risk factors, pathogenesis and morphology, diagnostic approaches and determination of operability in patients, and specific features of differential diagnosis.


Background The incidence of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS) is highly variable over time and geographic regions. A decline in IHPS incidence was recently reported in Sweden, the US, Denmark, and Scotland and in Germany. Aim In further evaluation of our previous epidemiological data, we collected data on maternal age and history of migration in mothers from the regional administrations. We examined correlations between these factors and IHPS incidence. Methods Data were extracted from the public report of Health (Gesundheitsberichterstattung des Bundes) and population data from federal state governments. We collected the numbers of IHPS (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision [ICD-10], code 40.0), SIDS (ICD-10, R95), and live births (LB; male/female) in each federal state for 2000–2008. Further data were collected from federal state administrations on age of mothers at birth of first child and history of migration in % of all mothers at first birth. Results The IHPS Incidence declined in Germany from 2000 (3.2086/1000LB [range 1.67–5.33]) to 2008 (2.0175/1000LB [1.74–3.72]; p=0.005). The recorded incidence was highly variable in different federal states and over time. Negative correlation between percentage of mothers with history of migration and maternal age at first birth on the one side and IHPS incidence in the different regions and years was significant. Conclusion The IHPS incidence declined by about 38% nationwide. The wide variation in time and different regions is significantly correlated with maternal age and history of migration.


Emission dynamics of InGaAs-InGaAsP dot and wire DFB lasers were systematically investigated and compared with quantum-well lasers. Accordingly, the effective carrier capture times, which limit the maximum modulation bandwidth of low-dimensional semiconductor lasers, were determined and compared for these lasers. A quite large effective capture time of about 350 ps was found for the dot laser in contrast to about 56 ps for the quantum-well laser. This is attributed to a dramatically reduced volume of active region which induces a large scaled-up quantum capture time in the dot lasers. The systematic comparison of the quantum-well, -wire and -dot lasers reveal the dominant limitation of geometry effect on the high-speed modulation of quantum-wire and -dot lasers except when the packing density of the dots or wires is increased.


We establish a deterministic technique to investigate transport moments of an arbitrary order. The theory is applied to the analysis of different kinds of intermittent one-dimensional maps and the Lorentz gas with infinite horizon: the typical appearance of phase transitions in the spectrum of transport exponents is explained.


Culturally sensitive psychodynamic and psychoanalytic concepts and methods are an effective means to address the unique needs of voluntarily childless (VC) couples. The discussion will describe voluntary childlessness and outline the issues of marginalization faced by this growing demographic of individuals and couples, based on a comprehensive literature review. Additionally, the discussion will outline how the inclusion of psychodynamic/ psychoanalytic couple therapies, such as object relations couple therapy, will facilitate culturally sensitive therapeutic practices. Lastly, this article will describe and suggest measures that could increase professional competencies and cultural sensitivity in established and in-training counsellors and mental health professionals who intend to, or who may currently, work with VC individuals and couples.


Museums, like other institutions, are part of a larger social whole and as such reflect the organization and fabric of the societies within which they are embedded. The very fact that we have come together to consider and discuss advocacy roles of museums seems to me to be indicative of some fundamental changes in the constitution and governance of American and Western society over the past several decades. At the time when most of our museums were founded, and for some considerable length of time into this century, quibbles over aims, functions, and administration of museums were debated in a small circle of professional museum men and were usually settled by an even smaller elite of founding fathers and their biological and social descendants who supported and maintained most of these institutions. Over the past five decades o r so, museums have slowly had to confront some major changes.


Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO, EC 22.214.171.124) is a significant target for the discovery of novel bleaching herbicides. Starting from the active fragments of several known commercial herbicides, a series of PPO inhibitors with diphenyl ether scaffolds were designed and synthesized by substructure splicing and bioisosterism methods. The greenhouse herbicidal activity and the PPO inhibitory activity in vitro were measured. The results showed that the novel synthesized compounds have good PPO inhibitory activity, and the IC50 value against corn PPO ranges from 0.032 ± 0.008 mg/L to 3.245 ± 0.247 mg/L. Among all target compounds, compound P2 showed the best herbicidal activity, with a half inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 0.032 ± 0.008 mg/L. In addition, the molecular docking results showed that the benzene ring part of compound P2 can form a π-π stacking with PHE-392, and the trifluoromethyl group and ARG-98 form two hydrogen bonds. Crop safety experiments and cumulative concentration analysis experiments indicated that compound P2 can be used for weed control in rice, wheat, soybean and corn. Therefore, compound P2 can be selected to develop potential lead compounds for novel PPO inhibitors.


This paper focuses on the recent production of multimodal writing in an indigenous community in Brazil, resulting from the equally recent introduction of literacy. Seeing this form of writing as part of the process of intercultural semiosis and cultural translation, the paper discusses how concepts of local indigenous oral culture and received wisdom interact with the Western concept of writing as the 'record' or 'representation' of speech, bringing to writing the indigenous notion of cultural 'enactment' or 'performativity'. In an effort to overcome a view of alphabetic writing as semantically only propositional, mimetic and decontextualized, the Kashinawa´ community, by adding visual components to alphabetic texts, appear to transform writing into contextualized performative 'poiesis', which simul taneously inaugurates a complex process of semiosis inseparable and only comprehensible from their local cultural perspective.


Quantitative Methods in Educational and Social Research Using SPSS bridges the gap between introductory and advanced volumes on quantitative methods. Central to the text is an emphasis on the concept of modelling at the core of data analysis. The implications of the modelling approach are taken all the way back to the stages of research design and sampling, and use of simple descriptive statistics. Using this as a lens the book then moves on to explain carefully a full range of statistical techniques from basic procedures such as correlation and analysis of variance, to advanced methods such as multiple regression, path analysis and multilevel modelling. Key features of the book include: * Crucial points illustrated by getting readers to work through key theoretical and analytical tasks * A CD that offers step by step guidance on the use of SPSS and example analyses for each of the methods covered by the text * Clear explanation of the conceptual background to all the analytical techniques included in the book * A range of example datasets The aim throughout is to help you gain a fully-grounded conceptual grasp of different techniques, allowing you to apply these thoughtfully, as well as helping you progress towards a more advanced understanding through a step-by-step approach. This book is for you if you are a student or researcher in education or a related field and want an introductory resource that helps you get up to speed quickly.


Money laundering is the process by which large amount of illegally obtained money, from drug trafficking, terrorist activity or other serious crimes, is given the appearance of having originated from the Legitimate source. Money laundering has an adverse impact on economy and political stability of country and hence such an activity must be curbed with an iron hand. Therefore, nations of the world must join hands and adopt measures to dismantle syndicates engaged in money laundering by resorting to aggressive enforcement of law. An attempt has been made in this article to explain the Concept, Significance and its impact.


The purpose in this study was to determine whether there was a significance difference between conservative management and plating of scapular body fractures. Bilateral scapular body fractures were created in 10 dogs. The left scapula in each dog was treated by open reduction and plating of the scapular spine. The right scapula was not treated. Plating enhanced healing and early return of function, but there was no significant difference in the long-term results.


On Sunday morning Dec. 7, 1941, out of literally a clear sky, Honolulu and its environs suddenly suffered a severe bombing. The details of the damage done, the number of civilian and military casualties and the military aspects of the problem are not the purpose or province of this paper. The sudden violence of this catastrophe did awaken the world to the possibility that a similar event might happen almost anywhere else. Much will be written and much will be said regarding the care of casuals, emergency aid stations, police and fire protection and a number of other phases of community activity under similar circumstances: the specific problem of this paper is to consider obstetric management under crisis conditions. It is probable that this problem is just as real as the aforementioned problems; it is also probable that this problem as it existed in Honolulu would be paralleled in any other


The past happenings of societies are brought together in a celebratory manner in most African praise poems. The present article seeks to look at praise poetry in two Ghanaian societies – the Akan and the Dagbamba (also known as Dagombas). In their descriptive traditions, bards use ornamented language to describe their patrons. It is the objective of this article to look at the ornamentations that these practitioners use in the poetry, and how the poems encode narrated history and offer commentaries on political figures. An ethnographic approach is used to look into this aspect with the aim of establishing how the genre encodes past historical happenings. Two principal written texts, one each from the two cultures, are used as the skeleton around which the essay is fleshed out, and then further amplified with material from participatory ethnographic enquiry among praise-singing practitioners.


A number of studies have reported how neighbouring plants may influence herbivory on palatable or unpalatable plants. Such neighbourhood effects can have important evolutionary consequences as they may either promote the evolutionary stability of plant defences or, alternatively, select against the fixation of plant defences and instead promote a stable polymorphism of palatable and unpalatable plants. These consequences depend on whether the difference in herbivore damage between unpalatable and palatable plants is smaller or, alternatively, greater when the neighbours are unpalatable instead of palatable. Such relations can arise when the neighbourhood effects are non-parallel among palatable and unpalatable plants. We outline two basic situations of non-parallel neighbourhood effects and illustrate how they can come about. A detailed dissection of these interactions reveals that there are several qualitatively distinct mechanisms that promote either evolutionary stability of plant defences or alternatively polymorphism. Our classification of mechanisms can be used to clarify and explain observations obtained in the field of plant—herbivore interactions and predator—prey interactions, both at the population and the community level.


Somatic mutations resulting in constitutive activation of the CARMA1 scaffolding protein occur frequently in poor prognosis diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Such mutations directly promote assembly of the CARMA1, BCL10, MALT1 (CBM complex) thereby leading to activation of the IKK signalosome. These events lead to sustained NF-κB signaling, which is essential for lymphocyte survival. Thus, understanding the events that down-regulate CBM complex assembly is predicted to identify novel therapeutic targets in DLBCL. Notably, stimulation of antigen receptors simultaneously triggers both CARMA1-dependent BCL10 activation and CARMA-dependent-BCL10 degradation, which ultimately limits CARMA1 signaling. Using mutant B cell models, and genetic as well as biochemical approaches, we identify a kinase-independent requirement for the kinase, TAK1, and its adaptor, TAB1, in antigen receptor-induced BCL10 proteolysis. We show that TAK1 acts as an adaptor for E3 ubiquitin ligases that target BCL10 for degradation. Functionally, TAK1 over-expression restrains CARMA1-dependent NF-κB activation by reducing BCL10 levels. TAK1 also promotes counter-selection of NF-κB-addicted DLBCL lines by a dual mechanism involving kinase-independent degradation of BCL10 and kinase-dependent activation of JNK. Thus, by directly promoting BCL10 degradation, TAK1 counter-balances NF-κB and JNK signals essential for activation and survival of lymphocytes and CARMA1-addicted lymphoma types.


Field tests were conducted to determine representative total-intensity magnetic anomalies due to the presence of underground storage tanks and 55-gallon steel drums. Three different drums were suspended from a non-magnetic tripod and the underlying field surveyed with each drum in an upright and a flipped plus rotated orientation. At drum-to-sensor separations of 11 feet, the anomalies had peak values of around 50 gammas and half-widths about equal to the drum-to-sensor separation. Remanent and induced magnetizations were comparable; crushing one of the drums significantly reduced both. A profile over a single underground storage tank had a 1000-gamma anomaly, which was similar to the modeled anomaly due to an infinitely long cylinder horizontally magnetized perpendicular to its axis. A profile over two adjacent tanks had a smooth 350-gamma single-peak anomaly even though models of two tanks produced dual-peaked anomalies. Demagnetization could explain why crushing a drum reduced its induced magnetization and why two adjacent tanks produced a single-peak anomaly.

A 40-acre abandoned landfill was surveyed on a 50- by 100-foot rectangular grid and along several detailed profiles. The observed field had broad positive and negative anomalies that were similar to modeled anomalies due to thickness variations in a layer of uniformly magnetized material. It was not comparable to the anomalies due to induced magnetization in multiple, randomly located, randomly sized, independent spheres, suggesting that demagnetization may have limited the effective susceptibility of the landfill material. A different 6-acre site survey conducted on a 10- by 10-foot grid was analyzed to determine the maximum station spacing and line separation that could have been used. Essentially, all of the anomalies at this site would have been resolved by a survey conducted on a 20- by 20-foot grid and the larger anomalies would have been detected by a 50- by 50-foot grid.


The crossflow instability in a hypersonic, laminar boundary layer is investigated using point measurements inside the boundary layer for the first time. Experiments are performed on a 7° right, circular cone with an adiabatic wall condition at 5.6° angle of incidence in the low-disturbance Mach 6 Quiet Tunnel at Texas A&M University. Measurements are made with a constant-temperature hot-wire anemometer system with a frequency response up to 180 kHz. Stationary crossflow waves are observed to grow and saturate. A travelling wave coexists with the stationary wave and occurs in a frequency band centred around 35 kHz. A type-I secondary instability is also observed in a frequency band centred around 110 kHz. The behaviour of all three modes is largely consistent with their low-speed counterparts prior to saturation of the stationary wave. Afterward, the behaviour remains in partial agreement with the low-speed case. Neither type-II secondary instability nor transition to turbulence are observed in this study.


Arterial remodelling plays an important part in post-angioplasty restenosis but the physiopathology of this process is not fully understood. Abundant collagen synthesis and endothelial dysfunction have been demonstrated after angioplasty, but their role in restenosis and remodelling has not been studied. The aim of this study was therefore to assess endothelial function and collagen with respect to the severity of restenosis and the type of arterial remodelling. Atherosclerosis was induced by an association of endothelial abrasion and a high cholesterol diet in the femoral arteries of 22 white New Zealand rabbits. Four weeks later, angioplasty was performed. The acetylcholine endothelium-dependant vasomotricity (expressed as % inhibition of contraction to phenylephrine), collagen and morphology were assessed 28 days after angioplasty. The change in acetylcholine endothelium-dependant vasomotricity was greater in severe restenosis (r = 0.61, p = 0.02). Endothelium-dependant relaxation was not significantly altered when remodelling was expansive and very abnormal when it was constrictive (35.5 +/- 13.0 vs 3.7 +/- 7.9%; p = 0.04). Restenosis was associated with an increase in collagen (r = 0.69, p = 0.004). The density of collagen was significantly higher in constrictive remodelling than in expansive remodelling (34.5 +/- 4.5 vs 18.2 +/- 4.7%; p = 0.03). Endothelial dysfunction and collagen accumulation are correlated with the severity of restenosis and with constrictive remodelling after angioplasty in an experimental model.


: Control systems on board ships collect sensor measurements and data from various operational activities and display all the relevant information; they also facilitate relaying of control commands to local or remote equipment. Distributed control systems (DCS) are typically used within a single process or generating plant; supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems are used for larger-scale environments. The SCADA system communications infrastructure tends to be slower and less reliable, and so the remote terminal unit in a SCADA system has local control schemes to handle that eventuality. Security in general and cyber security specifically were not the major concerns of early standalone maritime SCADA systems. Security was primarily achieved by controlling physical access to system components, which were unique and used proprietary communication protocols. For years, security in SCADA systems was viewed as just an implication of safety. Over the last decade, however, the situation has changed, and numerous standards/directives dealing with the cyber security of SCADA systems have emerged. Characteristics of maritime SCADA cyber security are discussed; related training needs are identified next. The pedagogical approaches are also presented in order to train seafarers in risk assessment, prevention and mitigation strategies related with maritime SCADA cyber security risks.


The objective of this study was to systematically review the available literature, evaluating if periodontal disease is a risk factor for the development of aspiration pneumonia. The data sources were publications available between 01/01/1980 and 01/15/2011, on the following databases: MEDLINE, LILACS, Evidence Portal, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Google Academics. Inclusion criteria included randomized clinical trials, case-control and cohort studies, as well as cross sectional studies, in Portuguese and English. Teams of reviewers, independently and in duplicate, screened titles and abstracts of full text articles to determine eligibility. The selected articles were read in full and the variables evaluated independently and described in predetermined forms according to clinical outcomes. As a result, five studies out of 653 publications were included: three case-control studies and two cohort studies. Although these studies indicate a positive association between the presence of periodontal disease and the occurrence of aspiration pneumonia, the results must be interpreted with caution. They should not be taken as definitive conclusions due to variations in methodology and limitations, such as sample size, inadequate control of potential confounding variables, lack of calibration of periodontal measurements and inconsistent criteria for the establishment of aspiration pneumonia. There is little evidence to affirm that periodontal disease is a risk condition factor for aspiration pneumonia. Future studies are necessary to elucidate this association, as well as to establish the potential benefit of periodontal treatment with the goal of reducing the risk of developing aspiration pneumonia.


The University of Fortaleza and the Fortaleza Municipal Health Department joined the National Program for Reorientation of Professional Training in Health (Pro-Saude II), strengthening the partnership to reorient professional training through undergraduate courses at the university's Center for Health Sciences. The project prioritizes the development of interdisciplinary healthcare activities, thus reinforcing the Academic Local Health Systems in the coverage areas of the Family Health Centers, raising the awareness of policy-makers and health services staff concerning interdisciplinary action and deploying expanded health teams, seeking continuing education for faculty, students, and health services staff. This article reports on the actions and strategies developed in this context and reflects on the process by reporting the changes in the various course curricula and the activities conducted in the health units. The article further discusses issues that merit more in-depth investigation in the interface between teaching and health services.


ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to address the impact of the Baghdad Pact and the Anglo-American defense system and its collapse on the Turkish–Israeli relationship from 1954 to 1958, a discussion that is absent from scholarly studies. The article will highlight the different approaches and views of the two parties and their impact on the cold war alliances and the Arab–Israeli conflict. Examining this from the perspectives of both Ankara and Jerusalem will contribute to a comprehensive study of the bilateral relations during the 1950s. Some of the main questions to be addressed are: to what extent, if at all, did the Baghdad Pact change bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel? What were Israel's main concerns? Were its suspicions of Turkey's changing policy founded? How much was Turkey influenced by Iraq's membership of the Pact and its hostile attitude toward Israel? Was Turkey's attempt to maintain reasonable relations with both Israel and Iraq a realistic aim? All these will be assessed against regional upheavals and the cold war politics with current implications.


Crossbreeding and chromosomal evidence are presented for the existence of a fifth sibling species within the taxon of Anopheles dirus in Thailand. The new species is morphologically identifiable as Anopheles balabacensis "Fraser's Hill form." Structural differences in mitotic chromosomes and extensive asynapsis in hybrid polytene chromosomes indicate that significant genetic divergence exists between this species and its closest relatives, An. dirus species A, B, C and D and An. balabacensis.


Folium Ginkgo extract(EGb761) has been proved able to significantly prolong the survival time of mice suffering from cerebral ischemia induced by occluding bilateral common carotids, and reduce the inhibition of cerebral GSH-Px and Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activities during reperfusion processes of these mice. Pretreatment with EGb761 also helps alleviate the subcellular damages in hippocampus of cerebral ischemic mice.


We introduce translational science, a research discipline from medicine, and show how adapting it for visual analytics can improve the design and evaluation of visual analytics interfaces. Translational science "translates" knowledge from the lab to the real-world to "ground truth" by incorporating a 3 phase program of research. Phase 1 & 2 include protocols for research in the lab and field and Phase 3 focuses on dissemination and documentation. We discuss these phases and how they may be applied to visual analytics research.


A solution of a quantum-chromodynamic Schwinger-Dyson equation for the quark propagator approximated in a way that is consistent with asymptotic freedom shows that chiral symmetry breaks down spontaneously.


Computerized tasks allow a more fine-grained analysis of the strategy deployed in a task designed to map a specific ability than the usual assessment on the basis of only the level of performance. Manipulations expected to impair performance sometimes do not have that effect, probably because the level of performance alone can confound the assessment of the ability level if researchers ignore the strategy used. In a study with 1,872 participants, the authors applied the Spatial Orientation Dynamic Test-Revised (J. Santacreu, 1999) in single and dual task settings, identifying 3 different strategies. Strategy shifts were associated with the level of performance, as more apt individuals were more likely to shift to better strategies. Ignoring the strategies yields counterintuitive results that cannot be explained by simple, direct relations among the constructs involved.


This paper is about a dual band single notch filter to eliminate the effect of WLAN in UWB range. A novel square resonator with interdigital coupling at both sides plays a key role in this filter design. Design and EM Simulation of the dual band notch filter's characteristics are discussed in this paper. The proposed dual band notch filter produces excellent bandwidth from 2 GHz to 5 GHz and from 5.5 GHz to 8 GHz. The filter rejects the band of frequency from 5 GHz to 5.5 GHz which is very narrow band in which the filter eliminates the effect of WLAN (IEEE 802.11a). Also the out band performance of the proposed dual band filter meets the requirement of FCC's mask. The simulation analysis of the proposed filter is performed by electromagnetic solver. The return loss, insertion loss, group delay and phase of the filter are simulated and their performances are analyzed. The overall dimension of the filter is achieved to be 39mm x 3.2mm x 1.6mm on accounting the above features. The fractional bandwidth of the notch filter is calculated from the bandwidth and the center frequency and it is obtained about 115%. The S parameter results of the filter such as return loss (S11) in stop band is about -24 dB and insertion loss (S21) is about -28 dB is obtained.


The Catalytic Initiative to Save a Million Lives was an international multi-donor partnership designed to accelerate progress on the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As part of the Catalytic Initiative, from 2003 to 2013 the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) supported UNICEF's Integrated Health Systems Strengthening (IHSS) programme in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique and Niger.


The ability to flexibly compose confidence computation with the operations of relational algebra is an important feature of probabilistic database query languages. Computing confidences is computationally hard, however, and has to be approximated in practice. In a compositional query language, even very small errors caused by approximation can lead to an entirely incorrect result: A selection operation on an approximated probability can incorrectly keep or drop a tuple even if the probability value has been approximated to a very narrow confidence interval.
 In this paper, we study the query evaluation problem for compositional query languages for probabilistic databases with particular focus on providing overall result quality guarantees in the face of approximate intermediate results. We present a framework for evaluating compositional queries based on a new representation system that can capture uncertainty about probabilities. More specifically, we consider probability intervals instead of exact probabilities, interpreting tuples obtained by selection on approximate values as unreliable.
 We study the complexity of query evaluation over our new model. We present efficient confidence computation algorithms which compute bounds that are close to tight for important classes. For deciding a selection predicate, we show that no efficient randomized algorithm exists unless BPP⊃NP. Still we are able to efficiently guess robust predicates with a good error bound. Putting all these pieces together in our framework, we evaluate queries using a decomposition into a relational algebra plan and an approximation plan. The latter allows to successively improve accuracy and error bounds, while the relational algebra plan only has to be executed once.


Certified childbirth educators have the ideal preparation for prenatal education, but they likely need to enhance their approach for adolescent clients. First, young mothers in the United States are presenting with increasingly diverse backgrounds, requiring cultural awareness of childbirth educators and others who wish to effectively meet their prenatal health care and education needs. In addition, adolescents who become pregnant are an extremely vulnerable group and, therefore, require special concern. Pregnant adolescents are unique from other groups of pregnant women in all major aspects of assessment: their social environment; their personal, social, and psychological development; and their physical response. Therefore, prenatal care and childbirth education designed for the typical population are unlikely to best serve the pregnant adolescent.


OBJECTIVES. The objective of this study was to determine the (1) incidence of short bowel syndrome in very low birth weight (<1500 g) infants, (2) associated morbidity and mortality during initial hospitalization, and (3) impact on short-term growth and nutrition in extremely low birth weight (<1000 g) infants. METHODS. Infants who were born from January 1, 2002, through June 30, 2005, and enrolled in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network were studied. Risk factors for developing short bowel syndrome as a result of partial bowel resection (surgical short bowel syndrome) and outcomes were evaluated for all neonates until hospital discharge, death, or 120 days. Extremely low birth weight survivors were further evaluated at 18 to 22 months' corrected age for feeding methods and growth. RESULTS. The incidence of surgical short bowel syndrome in this cohort of 12316 very low birth weight infants was 0.7%. Necrotizing enterocolitis was the most common diagnosis associated with surgical short bowel syndrome. More very low birth weight infants with short bowel syndrome (20%) died during initial hospitalization than those without necrotizing enterocolitis or short bowel syndrome (12%) but fewer than the infants with surgical necrotizing enterocolitis without short bowel syndrome (53%). Among 5657 extremely low birth weight infants, the incidence of surgical short bowel syndrome was 1.1%. At 18 to 22 months, extremely low birth weight infants with short bowel syndrome were more likely to still require tube feeding (33%) and to have been rehospitalized (79%). Moreover, these infants had growth delay with shorter lengths and smaller head circumferences than infants without necrotizing enterocolitis or short bowel syndrome. CONCLUSIONS. Short bowel syndrome is rare in neonates but has a high mortality rate. At 18 to 22 months' corrected age, extremely low birth weight infants with short bowel syndrome were more likely to have growth failure than infants without short bowel syndrome.


The rat caecal crush model for the production of intraperitoneal adhesions was optimized with respect to an objective adhesion grading system based on the determination of the incidence of adhesions and the caecal adherent surface area. Intraperitoneal saline solution given before closure of the peritoneum significantly reduced the severity but not the incidence of adhesions. The addition of dexamethasone crystal suspension led to somewhat lower incidence of adhesions but the mean adherent surface area values were not different from the saline regimen. However, sustained release of dexamethasone by use of intraperitoneal biodegradable poly(lactide-co-glycolide) microparticles as a novel therapeutic system further reduced both the incidence and the severity of adhesions. Despite of the differences in therapeutic effects glucocorticoid-associated local and systemic adverse effects were similar in both regimens. As effective adhesion prophylaxis with glucocorticoids appears to be a balance between benefit and adverse reactions, optimal drug delivery is mandatory. The novel biodegradable therapeutic system is superior to the intraperitoneal crystal suspension regimen in the rat and should be tested further in clinical trials.


Aims.To assess the outcomes of atrial fibrillation (AF) treatment by radiofrequency ablation for patients with mitral valve replacement, the analysis of short-term results of 128 patients was performed.Methods.Mean age of the patients was 56,7±9,6 (29 - 79) years, males - 39, females - 89. Most of the patients had longstanding persistent AF - 81 (63,3%), 28 (21,9%) had persistent AF and 19 (14,8%) - paroxysmal AF. The indications for surgery were: rheumatic mitral valve disease in 105 patients (82%), degerative mitral valve disease - in 21 (16,4%) and with treated infectious endocarditis - in 2 (1,6%). Maze IV procedure was carried out in all cases.Results.Hospital mortality was 0,8% (1 patient). Ten patients (7,9%) required pacemaker implantation. The indications were sinus node dysfunction in 7 patients, bradycardia AF - in 2 patients, AV node dysfunction - in 1. At the discharge 88 patients (69,3%) had a sinus rhythm, 10 (7,9%) - atrial rhythm, pacemaker rhythm with sinus node dysfunction patients - in 4 (3,1%) and AF - in 25 (19,7%). Thus, the rate of freedom from atrial fibrillation was 80,3% (102 patients). The effectiveness of ablation for paroxysmal AF was 100%, persistent - 74,1%, longstanding persistent - 77,8% (p=0,006). To reveal other predictors of freedom from AF at the discharge each ECHO parameter was included in the simple logistic regression analysis. Statistically significant p-value was obtained for the preoperative right atrial size (p=0,005), and close to it for the left atrial size, especially for the index left atrial volume/body surface area (p=0,052).Conclusion.Thus, the radiofrequency ablation is an effective method for treatment of AF in patients undergoing mitral valve replacement. The rate of freedom from AF at the discharge is 80,3%. The predictors of freedom from AF at the discharge are preoperative form of AF and preoperative size of atria.


OBJECTIVE
To study the chemical constituents in the dried roots of Saposhnikovia divaricata.

METHOD
The chemical constituents were isolated by various column chromatographic methods and structurally elucidated by IR, UV, MS and NMR evidences.

RESULT
Eighteen compounds were obtained and identified as 3'-O-angeloylhamaudol (1), isobergapten (2), imperatorin (3), pentacosane acid (4), anomalin (5), decursin (6), 5-methoxy-7-(3,3-dimethylallyl- oxy)coumarin (7), decursinol angelate (8), xanthotoxin (9), bergapten (10), tectochrysin (11), scopoletin (12), hamaudol (13), ledebouriellol (14), cimifugin (15), sec-O-glucosylhamaudol (16), 4'-O-beta-D-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol (17), and prim-O-glucosylcimifugin (18).

CONCLUSION
Compounds 2, 6-8, and 11 were isolated from the roots of S. divaricata for the first time. Compounds 1 and 13-18 were chromones, 2, 3, 5-10 and 12 were coumarins, 4 was fatty acid, and 11 was flavonoid.


Adverse drug side effects of the antihypertensive substance dihydralazine have been increasingly observed in recent years. Damage is concentrated on the liver and is characterized by drug-induced hepatitis with confluent necrosis. Three cases (60 year old woman, 79 year old woman, 61 year old man) with lethal course after antihypertensive treatment, using dihydralazine are reported in this paper.


Progress in understanding the global brain dynamics has remained slow to date in large part because of the highly multiscale nature of brain activity. Indeed, normal brain dynamics is characterized by complex interactions between multiple levels: from the microscopic scale of single neurons to the mesoscopic level of local groups of neurons, and finally to the macroscopic level of the whole brain. Among the most difficult tasks are those of identifying which scales are significant for a given particular function and describing how the scales affect each other. It is important to realize that the scales of time and space are linked together, or even intertwined, and that causal inference is far more ambiguous between than within levels. We approach this problem from the perspective of our recent work on simultaneous recording from microand macroelectrodes in the human brain. We propose a physiological description of these multilevel interactions, based on phase–amplitude coupling of neuronal oscillations that operate at multiple frequencies and on different spatial scales. Specifically, the amplitude of the oscillations on a particular spatial scale is modulated by phasic variations in neuronal excitability induced by lower frequency oscillations that emerge on a larger spatial scale. Following this general principle, it is possible to scale up or scale down the multiscale brain dynamics. It is expected that large-scale network oscillations in the low-frequency range, mediating downward effects, may play an important role in attention and consciousness.


Crime, Prosecution and Social Relations offers a fascinating view of the social history of Georgian London through the hitherto neglected prism of the Summary courts. This study looks at how rich and poor Londoners used these courts to prosecute those that assaulted or stole from them; to negotiate better working conditions; and to punish prostitutes, vagrants and disorderly apprentices. It argues that while most previous work on crime has focused on the courts of assize and quarter session, and on offences that attracted sentences of hanging and transportation, it was at Summary level that most people experienced the law in this period. This is the first monograph to deal exclusively with the nature and role of summary proceedings in England in the long eighteenth century within the context of the social history of crime and the criminal justice system and therefore represents an important addition to our understanding of this area of history


We have investigated the impact of reducing the electrical driving voltage in a 10-Gb/s optical duobinary transmitter from 100% to 25% of the full swing 2 V/sub /spl pi// of the Mach-Zehnder modulator. Reduction in the driving voltage enhances the signal extinction ratio and reduces the complexity of the transmitter while maintaining the high tolerance of this modulation technique to chromatic dispersion. Transmission at 10 Gb/s with 25% of the full swing over a 182-km unrepeatered span of uncompensated standard single-mode fiber has been achieved with low sensitivity penalty.


Object-oriented programming has been bothered by an awkward feature for a long time: static members. Static members not only compromise the conceptual integrity of object-oriented programming, but also give rise to subtle initialization errors, such as reading non-initialized fields and deadlocks. The Scala programming language eliminated static members from the language, replacing them with global objects that present a unified object-oriented programming model. However, the problem of global object initialization remains open, and programmers still suffer from initialization errors. We propose partial ordering and initialization-time irrelevance as two fundamental principles for initializing global objects. Based on these principles, we put forward an effective static analysis to ensure safe initialization of global objects, which eliminates initialization errors at compile time. The analysis also enables static scheduling of global object initialization to avoid runtime overhead. The analysis is modular at the granularity of objects and it avoids whole-program analysis. To make the analysis explainable and tunable, we introduce the concept of regions to make context-sensitivity understandable and customizable by programmers.


Background: The Val158Met single nucleotide polymorphism of the COMT gene has been implicated in the aetiology of schizophrenia, although results from different populations have been conflicting. Aims: The aim of the present study was to investigate possible association between schizophrenia and Val158Met in a novel Arab population from Syria. Methods and Materials: 71 unrelated schizophrenic subjects (45 men) and 102 unrelated healthy controls (62 men) were recruited to take part in this case- control study. The Val158Met of the COMT gene was genotyped for patients and controls, using a new optimized PCR-RFLP method. Results: the results demonstrated that there is no statistically significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion: This study does not support that Val158Met has an influence on susceptibility for schizophrenia in this population.


35 kidney transplanted patients (15 without pathological findings and 20 with histologically proven chronic rejection) were investigated with a combination of dynamic MR and bolus application of Gd-DTPA. The occurrence of susceptibility artifacts and T2 effects at the junction between papilla and renal calix were analysed. There are two groups of patients. The first one shows only artifacts due to susceptibility. The second group indicates the so-called "dark ring pattern" (susceptibility artifacts and T2 effects). These effects are discussed in terms of their dependence on concentration and their dependence on the degree of transplant malfunction. The appearance of "dark-ring patterns" and of susceptibility artifacts indicate the functional status of the glomerular filters.


The Old Yellow Enzyme has been shown to catalyze efficiently the NADPH-linked reduction of nitro-olefins. The reduction of the nitro-olefin proceeds in a stepwise fashion, with formation of a nitronate intermediate that is freely dissociable from the enzyme. The first step involves hydride transfer from the enzyme-reduced flavin to carbon 2 of the nitro-olefin. The protonation of the nitronate at carbon 1 to form the final nitroalkane product also is catalyzed by the enzyme and involves Tyr-196 as an active site acid/base. This residue also is involved in aci-nitro tautomerization of nitroalkanes, the first example of a nonredox reaction catalyzed by the enzyme.


Gastrointestinal histoplasmosis remains an inconspicuous clinicopathologic entity. It is predominantly considered a protean manifestation of disseminated disease. We hereby delineate a unique case of biopsy-proven isolated colonic histoplasmosis in a patient undergoing methotrexate therapy. Furthermore, we present the first systematic review of the MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Embase, and Scopus databases regarding isolated colonic histoplasmosis in adult patients receiving immunomodulator therapy (IMT). A total of 13 case reports (level of clinical evidence: IV) were identified. The mean age was 55.6 ± 11.1 years, with 9 (69.2%) cases reported in women. Patients with subclinical disease (5, 38.5%) were often incidentally diagnosed by screening colonoscopy. Symptomatic individuals predominantly presented with diarrhea (4, 30.8%), weight loss (3, 23.1%), and/or abdominal pain (3, 23.1%). IMT was mainly administered for liver transplant (4, 30.8%), renal transplant (4, 30.8%), and ulcerative colitis (2, 15.4%). Common colonoscopy features included colonic ulcerations (7, 53.8%), polyps or pseudopolyps (3, 23.1%), and/or mass-like lesions (3, 23.1%). Diagnosis was made by histology of colonic biopsy in 11 (84.6%) and resected specimens in 2 (15.4%) patients. Treatment consisted of a combination of amphotericin B with oral itraconazole in 6 (46.2%), oral itraconazole alone in 5 (38.5%), and amphotericin B alone in 2 (15.4%) patients. Complete clinical recovery was achieved in all patients. This article illustrates that isolated colonic involvement can be the only clinical presentation of histoplasmosis. It may masquerade as other bowel disorders, presenting diagnostic and therapeutic conundrums. Gastroenterologists should rule out colonic histoplasmosis in IMT recipients who develop unexplained colitis symptoms.


Objective. To evaluate the hypolipidemic activity and antiatherosclerotic effect of polysaccharide of Polygonatum sibiricum (PPGS), which is a kind of Chinese herbal medicine using the rhizome part of the whole herb. Materials and Methods. Thirty rabbits were divided into normal control group, model control group, and PPGS subgroups of 0.8, 1.6, and 3.2 mL/kg/day under random selection. In atherosclerosis model, the effects of PPGS on diverse blood lipids, foam cells number, and aortic morphology were evaluated. In the primary culture of endothelial cells (ECs), the activities of PPGS on both ECs proliferation and ECs injury were studied as well. Results. In atherosclerosis model, the hypolipidemic activities of PPGS were mainly focused on TC, LDL-C, and Lp(a). All changes on these factors were statistically significant compared with model group (P < 0.01), except TG and HDL-C. The intimal foam cell number of PPGS subgroups (0.8, 1.6, and 3.2 mL/kg/day) was significantly reduced than model control (P < 0.01). In the primary culture of endothelial cells (ECs), PPGS showed no effect on cell proliferation but preferred to protect EC from injury and apoptosis induced by H2O2 and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Discussion and Conclusion. The antiatherosclerotic effect of PPGS may be supported by its hypolipidemic activities, improving aortic morphology, and reducing foam cells number and ECs injury.


American higher education has begun a shift from professors delivering information to students to faculty as facilitators and assessors of student learning. The process of opening up for students to learn by doing and discovering has not only begun to change how education is done but has also created tensions. In this process, Jesuit-Catholic education has added extra dimensions.


A moving vehicle comes across some permanent components like roads and some variable components like other vehicles etc. Keeping these components at forefront, an automated vehicle needs to take astute and speedy decisions about its next move. In this research paper, we have proposed a hybrid model based on two soft computing techniques that is Neural Networks and Fuzzy Systems to optimize the performance of Navigation Systems in terms of speed and accuracy. The proposed model is an extension of authors previous work [ 1] in which the Best Feature Selection model was created to extract the most paramount features of navigation images. In that, it was observed that extracted feature set had direct impact on speed and accuracy of the working model as no resources were required to be spent on impertinent features. Our hybrid model performs three steps afore taking final decision that is either to move or stop the automated vehicle. The first step involves passing the outputs of Best Feature Selection Model and PCA as inputs through Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) deep learning model and obtaining the response in form of move or stop. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique was performed on the extracted feature set to improve our knowledge about input feature set by procreating new features. In our previous work [2], it was justified that Principal Component Analysis (PCA) when used in conjunction with Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) yields better results as compared to standalone performance of PCA and CNN. It was withal analysed that PCA-CNN is going to give nearly same precision either we give ten percent training or we give high order training. The second step involves using one other variant of Neural Networks that is Re-current Neural Networks (RNN) for ascertaining out the bestest feature from all eleven features of Best Feature Selection Model. The factor with least Mean Square Error is used to calculate the decision in form of move or stop. The last step involves passing the outputs of CNN model and RNN model through Fuzzy Module. Here the Fuzzy rules are generated to take final decision for moving vehicle. The accuracy of this hybrid model came out be 89.28 percent which is far better than individual accuracies that is 72 percent and 60 percent of CNN model and RNN model respectively


The characteristics of spatial distribution of nitrogen and phosphorus in water were studied. The results showed that concentrations of total nitrogen/phosphorus in water from Meiliang Bay, Zhusan Bay, Gonghu Bay, West and Central Taihu Lake were obviously higher than those from any other region of Taihu Lake. The spatial distribution of dissolved nitrogen/phosphorus and detritus nitrogen/phosphorus was consistent with that of total nitrogen/phosphorus. The concentrations of dissolved nitrogen and detritus nitrogen significantly correlated with those of total nitrogen with rDN = 0.8192 and rDeN = 0.6969, respectively; the concentrations of dissolved and detritus phosphorus in water also significantly correlated with that of total phosphorus with rDP = 0.7477 and rDeP = 0.9260, respectively. The discrepancy in spatial distribution of chlorophyll a (Chla) in water was distinctly obvious, the highest level appeared in West Taihu Lake (179.2 microg x L(-1) +/- 25.9 microg x L(-1)), and the lowest in East Taihu Lake (11.3 microg x L(-1) +/- 2.7 microg x L(-1)). There were significantly linear relationships between total nitrogen, detritus nitrogen, total phosphorus, dissolved phosphorus, detritus phosphorus, permanganate index, pH value and suspended solids and the content of Chla with rTN = 0.6622, rDeN = 0.8739, rTP = 0.8130, rDP = 0.4077 and rDeP = 0.8781, rCOD = 0.8689, rpH = 0.5173 and rSS = 0.5334, respectively; while dissolved nitrogen, electric conductivity and alkalinity did not affect Chla in water from Taihu Lake.


The wetlands of Argun River basin are important habitat for birds migrating between East Asia and Australia. Investigating spatial and temporal characteristics and evolution trends of water resources of this region is of significant importance for sustainable water management and coping with climate change. Using in-field data and NCEP (National Centers for Environmental Prediction) reanalysis data, the Mann-Kendall method and wavelet analysis method are applied to obtain the temporal characteristics. Spatial distribution analysis includes use of gridded data and data along the river. The results illustrate that water resources of upstream regions show descending trends, and the temporal distribution of the flow presents an "M" shape. Precipitation of this region has 10-year and 24-year scale primary periods. The period analysis is verified by the large flood in 2013, and forecasts that the next high flow year could be around 2021.


Less degree-of-freedom robots are useful for special applications. Specifically, practical application of 4-DOF parallel mechanism has been rare, though synthesis on this type has been conducted quite a few. Recently, we proposed a revolute joint-based 3T1R 4-DOF parallel mechanism having Schonflies motions whose output rotational motion is a roll motion. This work proposes another type of a new 3T1R 4-DOF parallel mechanism having Schonflies motions whose rotational motion is a pitch motion. The position analysis and kinematic modeling for the mechanism are performed, and its workspace size and kinematic characteristic with respect to the kinematic isotropic characteristic are examined. To support high potential of the mechanism for real applications, three different versions are suggested and each motion capability is verified through its simulator. Finally, a prototype is developed to verity its actual motion capability.


&NA; This interview offers a team of executives who have recently forged a new kind of multi‐institutional system of hospitals and health care services. Health Frontiers, Inc., was formed in late 1982 to strengthen health care on the local level. The chief executive officers of five Kansas health care organizations—Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Asbury Hospital in Salina, Great Plains Health Alliance in Phillipsburg, Bethany Medical Center in Kansas City, and Hadley Regional Medical Center in Hays—created this system to strengthen their local operations while gaining significant system benefits through a large system. Some of the CEOs' aspirations and problems in achieving their goals are shared here. Included in the interview is the CEO of Health Frontiers and the president of SHARE. SHARE was acquired by Health Frontiers December 31, 1982. SHARE is a Topeka‐based hospital organization that serves over 100 hospitals throughout Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa with various services such as material management, microfilming, capital equipment financing, group purchasing, pharmacy purchasing and distribution. This interview was conducted by Montague Brown.


The purpose of this study was to review the clinical records of 103 patients with renal cell carcinoma and analyze the frequency of the most important signs and symptoms, as well as the tumor relationships with the morphologic characteristics. The differences in frequency were significant for signs and symptoms and tumor size (p<0.01) and signs and symptoms and disease stage (p<0.01) and were not significant (p<0.05) for signs and symptoms and histological pattern. The mode of clinical presentation of renal cell carcinoma, its implications in surgical strategy and the clinical prognostic factors are also considered.


OBJECTIVE
The study objective was to develop and evaluate the feasibility and validity of a self-administered Scored Sodium Questionnaire (SSQ) for use in the routine clinical care of Australian chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.

DESIGN AND METHODS
The study took place in community-based outreach clinics using a multidisciplinary model of care. Assessment of sources of dietary sodium intake in the target population used comprehensive diet history interviews (Phase 1) to inform development of a 10-item food frequency questionnaire that was scored and validated using 24-hour urinary sodium and 2 alternative dietary intake methods (Phase 2). Subjects were adults with CKD Stages 3 to 5 (Phase 1 n = 30; Phase 2 n = 47).

INTERVENTION
On a single day, participants (n = 47) completed the SSQ, feasibility survey, 24-hour urine collection, and 24-hour food record. A diet history interview was also conducted to confirm sodium intake on the day of data collection reflected habitual intake.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Validity of the SSQ score was confirmed by correlation with 24-hour urine sodium. Validity of a cutpoint on the SSQ score to correctly identify high- versus low-sodium consumers was confirmed by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis: area under the curve, sensitivity, and specificity.

RESULTS
Total SSQ score correlated significantly with 24-hour urine sodium (r = 0.371; P = .031). Correlation between 24-hour food record and diet history sodium confirmed consumption on the data collection day reflected habitual intake (r = 0.701; P ≤ .001). A cutpoint of 65 or greater on the SSQ score was confirmed as valid to identify high-sodium consumers: area under the curve 0.713, sensitivity 61%, and specificity 82%.

CONCLUSION
The SSQ is feasible and valid to assess habitual sodium intake in the Australian CKD population and to identify high-sodium consumers for referral to individualized counseling on a low-sodium diet.


An extension of the seawater secular-variation model that successfully predicted the observed timing of Phanerozoic MgSO 4 vs. KCl marine evaporites and aragonite seas vs. calcite seas has been applied to the prediction of the secular variations in the major ion chemistry of seawater and aragonite seas vs. calcite seas during the Precambrian. Testing of the predictions was based on those Precambrian seafloor carbonate precipitates that have been interpreted by others to have formed originally as aragonite. Of 16 examples of Precambrian seafloor aragonite, 14 fall within the 6 periods of aragonite seas predicted for the Late Archean–Proterozoic by the model, 1 falls on the transition between an aragonite sea and calcite sea, and 1 falls in a period of calcite seas. This strong correlation supports the following predictions of the model: (1) Precambrian seawater was a saline NaCl water with Ca > HCO 3 since at least the Late Archean. (2) The major ion compositions of Precambrian seawater chemistry and their secular variations are in the same ranges as those of Phanerozoic seawater. (3) The Mg/Ca mole ratio in seawater has controlled the types of CaCO 3 polymorphs that have precipitated from Earth9s oceans throughout the Phanerozoic and most, if not all, of the Precambrian.


The acceptance of this title presupposes that you will permit me to assume that certain cases of septic peritonitis of appendiceal, intestinal and tubal origin may become inoperable, i. e., that the interests of the patient may be better served at times through the adoption of non-surgical measures. This position must be conceded by the radical appendicitis operators in the "operate as soon as the diagnosis is made" class, when they are pinned down to particularly grave cases, for they all meet some cases in which they are unwilling to operate. Septic peritonitis usually has its origin in some local point of infection and the gravity of the symptoms depends upon the virulence of the infection and the area of peritoneum involved through the diffusion of the process; those measures that tend to limit the spread of the infection and favor its localization to a circumscribed area must favor the


We experimentally investigate the limits of 800-nm-to-terahertz (THz) energy conversion in lithium niobate at room temperature driven by amplified Ti:sapphire laser pulses with tilted pulse front. The influence of the pump central wavelength, pulse duration, and fluence on THz generation is studied. We achieved a high peak efficiency of 0.12% using transform limited 150 fs pulses and observed saturation of the optical-to-THz conversion efficiency at a fluence of 15 mJ/cm(2) for this pulse duration. We experimentally identify two main limitations for the scaling of optical-to-THz conversion efficiencies: (i) the large spectral broadening of the optical pump spectrum in combination with large angular dispersion of the tilted pulse front and (ii) free-carrier absorption of THz radiation due to multi-photon absorption of the 800 nm radiation.