Luminal GI Helicobacter pylori resistance to antibiotics in Europe Resistance to antibiotics is the main reason for failure of H pylori eradication therapies. In this issue of Gut, Megraud et al report a very important study that assessed prospectively the primary antibacterial resistance rates of H pylori in 18 European countries and examined the link between outpatient antibiotic use and resistance levels in different countries. They also examined data on yearly and cumulative use over several years of systemic antibacterial agents in ambulatory care for the period 2001–2008. H pylori resistance rates for adults were 17.5% for clarithromycin, 14.1% for levofloxacin and 34.9% for metronidazole, and were significantly higher for clarithromycin and levofloxacin in Western/ Central and Southern Europe (>20%) than in Northern European countries (<10%) (figure 1). There was an association between outpatient use of quinolone and long-acting macrolides and resistance to levofloxacin and clarithromycin, respectively. The high rate of clarithromycin resistance in some countries no longer allows its empirical use in standard anti-H pylori regimens. The data provided in this report are invaluable for all clinicians involved in treating H pylori infection and those involved in antibiotic prescribing generally.


Objectives
This study aimed to frame the aging in place (AIP) concept within an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model incorporating environmental domains. The proposed model depicts the direct and indirect effects of environmental domains on AIP intention. The environmental domains related to meanings of home embrace personal, built, and interpersonal environments. As partial mediators between the environmental domains and AIP intention, TPB components (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control toward AIP) were included to the model.

Methods
The study sample comprised older adults aged 60 and older living in their own homes in the United States. Participants (N = 650) were obtained through an online survey with a nationwide sample. Path analyses were used to test hypothesized relationships within the proposed model.

Results
The results confirmed the significant mediating role of the TPB components between the path from personal, built, and interpersonal environments to AIP intention. Except for one built environmental construct (housing satisfaction), personal and interpersonal environmental constructs were found to indirectly affect AIP intention. One of the interpersonal environmental constructs, social connectedness, was revealed as the strongest factor in this relationship.

Implications
One major implication was drawn from the role of social connectedness and neighborhood satisfaction toward AIP intention. These factors operate beyond an individual level and are closely interrelated. Because social connectedness can be promoted or discouraged by community-level physical or social interventions, the findings of this study confirm the critical role of community-level planning and programs to support healthy aging among older adults.


Efficiency analysis remains an important issue in economic studies, especially for projects which spent tax payers" money, grants and loans. Efficiency has implications on agricultural policy in terms of improving paddy production through improved input use efficiency at Madibira smallholder irrigation scheme. This study sought to determine factors influencing paddy production and technical input use efficiency among farmers at Madibira scheme. The total sample for study was 120 respondents. In addition, the study was also designed to examine specific and some selected characteristics affecting farmers" efficiency at Madibira smallholder famers" irrigation scheme. Descriptive and linear regression analyses were used as analysis tools. The input use efficiency of farmers at Madibira smallholder famers" irrigation scheme was computed using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) tool. The study found that land, cost of paddling, and transport cost of bags from the field to the residence were significantly affecting the farmers" efficiency. Other inputs were found to be positive but not significant. The overall technical efficiency of the farmers ranged from 0.423 to 1 with an average of 0.705. This means that farmers were technically efficient since 55% farmers got technical efficiency score of more than 71% which is above the mean score. In addition, the average yield of paddy at Madibira irrigation scheme for the year 2010/2011 was 2.852ton/ha. The average income was TZS 288 9617 in which the maximum and minimum yields were 3.85ton/ha and 1.82ton/ha respectively. To improve efficiency of smallholder farmers at Madibira irrigation scheme Madibira Agricultural and Marketing Cooperative Society (MAMMCOs) should introduce cheap and local technology for seed paddy preparation. Also, loan institutional and cooperative should be strengthened.


In this paper, a robust formulation for the structure-control design of mechatronic systems is developed. The proposed robust approach aims at minimization of the sensitivity of the nominal design objectives with respect to uncertain parameters. The robust integrated design problem is established as a nonlinear multiobjective dynamic optimization one, which in order to consider synergetic interactions uses mechanical and control nominal design objectives. A planar parallel robot and its controller are simultaneously designed with the proposed approach when the nominal design objectives are the tracking error and the manipulability measure. The payload at the end-effector is considered as the uncertain parameter. Experimental results show that a robustly designed parallel robot presents lower sensitivity of the nominal design objectives under the effects of changes at the payload than a nonrobustly designed one.


Continuous colour polymorphisms can serve as a tractable model for the genetic and developmental architecture of traits, but identification of the causative genetic loci is complex due to the number of individuals needed, and the challenges of scoring continuously varying traits. Here we investigated continuous colour variation in Colias eurytheme and C. philodice, two sister species of sulphur butterflies that hybridise in sympatry. Using Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) analysis of 483 individuals from interspecific crosses and an high-throughput method of colour quantification, we found that two interacting large effect loci explain around 70% of the heritable variation in orange-to-yellow chromaticity. Knockouts of red Malphighian tubules (red), a candidate gene at the primary QTL likely involved in endosomal maturation, resulted in depigmented wing scales showing disorganised pterin granules. The Z sex chromosome contains a large secondary colour QTL that includes the transcription factor bric-a-brac (bab), which we show can act as a modulator of orange pigmentation in addition to its previously-described role in specifying UV-iridescence. We also describe the QTL architecture of other continuously varying traits, and that wing size maps to the Z chromosome, supporting a Large-X effect model where the genetic control of species-defining traits is enriched on sex chromosomes. This study sheds light on the genetic architecture of a continuously varying trait, and illustrates the power of using automated measurement to score phenotypes that are not always conspicuous to the human eye. Foreword The colour phenotypes in this article involve nuanced gradations of yellow and orange that may be difficult to perceive for people who are colour vision deficient. Hue-shifted versions of all main figures are accessible online for dichromat readers (BioRxiv preprint: Supplementary Material).


Purpose of this study is to analyze whether in the current era social anxiety problems are still developing among college students and whether there are any differences in the level of social anxiety was based on the year of entry (new college students - old college students) and gender. This research is a quantitative-descriptive and comparative studies. Hypotheses are there is no difference in social anxiety level based on the year of entry nor gender. The subjects are undergraduate college students totaled 364 people. Instrument used for data collection is Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale-Self Report (LSAs-SR). Results showed that 76.9% of the subjects experienced social anxiety. There is no difference in the level of social anxiety among new college students and old college college students nor between male college students and college students.


As the price of renewable
electricity continues to plummet, hydrogen (H2) production via water
electrolysis is gaining momentum globally as a route to
decarbonize our energy systems. The requirement of
high purity water for electrolysis as well as the widespread availability of
seawater have led significant research efforts in developing direct seawater
electrolysis technology for H2 production. In
this Perspective, we critically assess the broad-brush arguments on the research and
development (R&D) needs for direct seawater electrolysis from energy, cost
and environmental aspects. We focus in particular on a process consisting of
sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) coupled to proton exchange membrane (PEM)
electrolysis. Our analysis reveals there are limited economic and environmental
incentives of pursuing R&D on today's nascent direct seawater electrolysis
technology. As commercial water electrolysis requires significant amount of
energy compared to SWRO, the capital and operating costs of SWRO are found to
be negligible. This leads to an insignificant increase in levelized cost of H2
(<0.1 $/kg H2) and CO2 emissions (<0.1%) from a
SWRO-PEM coupled process. Our analysis poses the questions: what is the future
promise of direct seawater electrolysis? With an urgent need to decarbonize our
energy systems, should we consider realigning our research investments? We
conclude with a forward-looking perspective on future R&D priorities in
desalination and electrolysis technologies.


Abstract Niche theory predicts that coexisting species should differ ecologically, morphologically, or behaviorally in ways that minimize competition. We used an ecomorphological approach to determine how coexisting species in the Old World fruit bat genus, Cynopterus, assort in morphological and ecological space. The study was conducted in peninsular Malaysia where 4 species of Cynopterus are broadly sympatric. Interspecific separation in resource use was estimated along 3 main axes: habitat, based on abundance across a habitat gradient at 2 sites; trophic niche, inferred from a suite of cranial and postcranial characters; and locomotory behavior and efficiency, inferred from wing morphology. Habitat associations, overall size, and the size and shape of the trophic apparatus were all important in separating 2 or more species, whereas interspecific differences in wing morphology were minor. In combination, the results of this study suggest that relatively minor separation among Cynopterus species pairs along single axes of resource use is sufficient to counteract overlap on other axes, and permit the coexistence of potential competitors.


An extract of nishyinda ( Vitex negundo ) leaves, black pepper ( Piper nigrum ) and cinnamon ( Cinnamomum verum ) (polyherbal extract) were used as growth promoter in broilers. A total of 20 day-old broiler chicks were purchased and after seven days of acclimatization randomly divided into two equal groups. No vaccination schedule was practised and no antibiotics were added in rations. Group A served as control while group B was supplemented with polyherbal extract 1 mL/litre in drinking water. Weekly body weight gain up to six weeks was measured and blood tests were performed at 21 and 42 days. Polyherbal extract significantly (P<0.05) improved weight gain. There was no change in haematological parameters. It can be concluded that the polyherbal extract was safe as a growth promoter in broiler production without adverse effects on chicken health. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bvet.v29i2.14345 Bangl. vet . 2012. Vol. 29, No. 2, 69-77


Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is one of the most common bariatric surgeries performed and has aided many people with their weight loss efforts. However, manipulating the gastrointestinal anatomy may have numerous consequences. Various complications of RYGB can occur during the early to late post-op periods, and abdominal pain is the most common symptom reported. The etiologies that present as abdominal pain are heterogeneous in anatomical origin, onset, severity, and management; therefore, differentiating diagnoses is crucial. The physical exam, inciting triggers, and alleviating factors can direct diagnostic measures accordingly. Prompt recognition and identification of these patients' underlying causes of abdominal pain are vital for accurate diagnosis and treatment. Methods can range from conservative management to surgical intervention, depending on the severity of the complication. In this report, we recount the cases of two patients who underwent elective RYGB and presented to the emergency department (ED) months later with abdominal pain. After the labs were taken and diagnostic tests were conducted, it was discovered that both patients had multiple underlying factors that could have contributed to their pain. This study aims to describe the diverse etiologies of abdominal pain encountered in these bariatric patients and explore the appropriate management strategies utilized for each case.


Abstract Energy homeostasis is essential for organisms to maintain fluctuation in energy accumulation, mobilization. Lipids as the main energy reserve in insects, their metabolism is under the control of many physiological program. This study aimed to determine whether the adipokinetic hormone receptor (AKHR) was involved in the lipid mobilization in the Spodoptera litura. A full-length cDNA encoding AKHR was isolated from S. litura. The SlAKHR protein has a conserved seven-transmembrane domain which is the character of a putative G protein receptor. Expression profile investigation revealed that SlAKHR mRNA was highly expressed in immatural stage and abundant in fat body in newly emerged female adults. Knockdown of SlAKHR expression was achieved through RNAi by injecting double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into the 6th instar larvae. The content of triacylgycerol (TAG) in the fat body increased significantly after the SlAKHR gene was knockdown. And decrease of TAG releasing to hemolymph with increase of free fatty acid (FFA) in hemolymph were observed when the SlAKHR gene was knowned-down. In addition, lipid droplets increased in fat body was also found. These results suggested that SlAKHR is critical for insects to regulate lipids metabolism.


After portrays the epic journey of a true skeptic who chose to follow the data rather than reject seemingly fantastical accounts from his patients. It is an account of transformation while maintaining a thoughtful balance accommodating both spiritual and material worldviews. Spurred on by serendipitous events, uniquely Greyson has spent more than four decades chasing the previously inexplicable, and gossamer-like, but tantalizing glimpses of what was reported to be the continuation of consciousness beyond physical existence. There have been a number of compelling books describing detailed accounts of those who pierced the veil and returned to report on it. In Proof of Heaven, Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon with more than two decades of experience, first related his extensive interactions in the nether realms while suffering from gram-negative meningitis; a condition from which he was not expected to survive. Dr. Mary Neal incredibly was revived after more than 30 minutes submerged in the raging waters in the Los Rios region in southern Chile. Writing To Heaven and Back, similarly, she reported events that can only be described as miracles and extracorporeal encounters with heavenly deities. While discarnate, she was provided accurate information of events that tragically would come to pass, thus substantiating the validity of that experience. Those books, and many others, provide insightful details into often dramatic experiences. What Greyson brings to the table is more than four decades of intensive research and examination of thousands of reported near-death experiences (NDE's), the breadth and depth of which are unparalleled.


Th e strong base acrylic anion exchangers, Amberlite IRA-458, was used as an adsorbent for the investigation of acid dyes (Acid Orange 7, Acid Orange 10 and Acid Red 88) adsorption kinetics and isotherms. Th e pseudo-fi rst order and pseudo-second order kinetic models were used to analyze the kinetic data and good agreement between the experimental and calculated amounts of dye adsorbed at equilibrium were obtained for the pseudo-second order kinetic models for the entire investigated concentrations domain in the case all three investigated dyes. Th e adsorption equilibrium data were analyzed by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models with the best fi tting being the fi rst one.


Many studies have reported that glaucoma patients experience mobility issues, such as walking slowly and bumping into obstacles frequently. However, little is known to date about how a person's gait is impacted due to glaucoma. This paper presents design and development of a gait analysis approach using a shoe-integrated sensing system and accompanying machine learning techniques to quantitatively examine gait patterns in glaucoma patients. The customized sensor platform is utilized in a clinical trial conducted with nine glaucoma patients and ten age-matched healthy participants. The signal processing and machine learning algorithms automatically detect effective gait cycles and extract both steady-state and spatio-temporal gait features from the signal segments. We perform machine learning algorithms to distinguish glaucoma patients from healthy controls, and identify several prominent features with high discriminability between the two groups. The results demonstrate that classification algorithms can be used to identify the gait patterns of glaucoma patients with an accuracy higher than 94% in a 10-m-walk test. It is also demonstrated that gait features such as evenness of the sway speed along medio-lateral direction between the two feet are significantly different (p-value <; 0.001) between older adults with and without glaucoma. These results suggest that emerging solutions, such as wearable sensing technologies, can be used for continuous and real-time assessment of gait and mobility problems in individuals with low vision, and may open new avenues for using changes in gait patterns for preventing life threatening situations such as falls.


Selective upper airway stimulation has been established as an additional treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Essential for the treatment is the precise placement of the cuff electrode for select branches of the hypoglossal nerve, which innervate the protrusors and stiffeners of the tongue. A direct approach to the distal hypoglossal nerve has been established to achieve this goal. For surgeons, detailed knowledge of this anatomy is vital. Another decisive step is the placement of the sensing lead between the intercostal muscles. Also, the complexity of follow‐up care postoperatively should be kept in mind. The aim of this article is to provide the latest knowledge on the neuroanatomy of the hypoglossal nerve and to give surgeons a step‐by‐step guide on the current operative technique. Laryngoscope, 126:S12–S16, 2016


Norton's book gives a centrality to style which other books do not, and breaks with traditional treatments in that style and content are not studied separately, but examined as they occur in everyday interaction. Norton's departure from prevailing approaches to the study of style will be highly provocative, inviting testing and further inquiry, for his ideas have utility and practical applications. '(The author's) study of Communicator Style @is an exciting and thought-provoking book...(This book) can be a useful resource for teaching style as a functional ingredient of the total communication process.' -- Journal of Communication, Winter 1985 '...provides us with research tactics that in studies of personal style are innovative and potentially fruitful.' -- Language Society, Vol 14


Various chromosomal rearrangements are associated with the distal 8p region. Among them are the inv dup(8p),1 del(8p22),2–5 and del(8)(pter).6 The cardinal phenotypic features of the inv dup(8p) are brain malformations, severe mental retardation with specific involvement of speech, and minor facial dysmorphisms.7 Deletions (8p22) are associated with congenital heart malformations, thought to be caused by haploinsufficiency of GATA4.2 Other features are microcephaly, intrauterine growth retardation, mental retardation, and a characteristic hyperactive impulsive behaviour. The patients with del(8p) present with variable severe malformations dependent on the size of the deletion. The largest terminal 8p deletion which has been detected in a liveborn is del(8)(pter→21.1).8

Molecular analysis of both 8p duplications and 8p interstitial deletions showed that all cases shared similar chromosomal break points. This finding led to the hypothesis that these rearrangements were caused by ectopic recombination at misaligned duplicons. Recently, Giglio et al 4 showed the presence of olfactory gene clusters ( OR clusters) at the sites where the interstitial 8p deletions occur. Whereas these interstitial deletions could thus be explained by misalignments of the OR clusters during meiosis, they also presented an elegant explanation for the origin of the 8p duplications. An inversion polymorphism between these OR clusters, present in 20% of the population, abrogates correct pairing between the OR clusters which causes susceptibility for an intrachromosomal crossover between the OR repeats. Ectopic recombination at these sites can lead to a dicentric intermediate which on breakage can lead to a duplicated chromosome 8p, the inv dup(8p). The complement of this breakage event was speculated to be a terminal deleted chromosome del(8p).

In this paper we describe a girl with a mosaic del(8p)/inv dup(8p) in blood lymphocytes. Mosaics with two cell lines carrying two different rearranged chromosomes are extremely rare. Two reports describe the …


A prototype fire suppression system was tested in one full-scale vehicle crash tests and three static vehicle fire tests. The prototype fire suppression system consisted of 2 Solid Propellant Gas Generators and two optical detectors. These components were installed on the hood of the test vehicle. A vehicle crash test and a series of static vehicle fire tests were performed to determine the effectiveness of this prototype fire suppression systems in extinguishing fires in the engine compartment of a crashed vehicle.


We study the low energy edge states of bilayer graphene in a strong perpendicular magnetic field. Several possible simple boundaries geometries related to zigzag edges are considered. Tight-binding calculations reveal three types of edge state behaviors: weakly, strongly, and non-dispersive edge states. These three behaviors may all be understood within a continuum model, and related by non-linear transformations to the spectra of quantum Hall edge--states in a conventional two-dimensional electron system. In all cases, the edge states closest to zero energy include a hole-like edge state of one valley and a particle-like state of the other on the same edge, which may or may not cross depending on the boundary condition. Edge states with the same spin generically have anticrossings that complicate the spectra, but which may be understood within degenerate perturbation theory. The results demonstrate that the number of edge states crossing the Fermi level in clean, undoped bilayer graphene depends BOTH on boundary conditions and the energies of the bulk states.


Introduction. Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that can attack various organs, especially the lung caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The use of the Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) strategy for tuberculosis treatment has not been successful, while cases of multidrug tuberculosis resistance have increased. Long-term treatment leads to decreased motivation and despair to recover. Motivational interviewing (MI) intervention is one way to overcome them. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of motivational interviewing on hopelessness, motivation, and adherence to taking medication for tuberculosis patients. Methods. Pre experiment with the form of pretest - posttest group design was used in this study. The research sample amounted to 18 respondents by means of random sampling technique. This intervention was carried out for four weeks with two meetings per week. The independent variable is motivational interviewing, while the dependent variable is hopelessness, motivation, and compliance with taking medication. The instrument in this study uses a questionnaire that has been tested for validity and reliability. Statistical tests using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results. The results of statistical tests showed that motivational interviewing had an effect on decreased despair (p = 0,000) and increased motivation and compliance with medication (p = 0,000). Conclusion. Motivational interviewing interventions help tuberculosis sufferers identify, evaluate and respond to something they think, so that motivational interviewing has an effect on decreasing hopelessness, increasing motivation and adhering to medication in tuberculosis patients.


ABSTRACT In this study, the safety and quality of commercial cooking oils were evaluated. The emphasis of this evaluation was on the presence of oxidation and polymerization products in fresh oils, although the analyses were often conducted on used frying fats and oils. This was because polymerized triacylglycerols (PTGs) and monomeric oxidized triacylglycerols (oxTAGs) have been proposed as potential indicators of the adulteration of palm olein. The oil quality was evaluated based on PTG content, the presence of epoxy, keto, and hydroxy acids, fatty acid composition, and smoke point. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to identify the relationships among the analytical parameters. The total polar compound content of all fresh oil samples was within the safety limit for human consumption (< 25% polar compounds). TAG oligomers or epoxy, keto, or hydroxy acids were not detected in any of the fresh oil samples. Most of the packet oils had lower smoke point (< 200 °C) and linoleic acid content than the bottled oils. The pure palm olein samples were found to be better in terms of overall oil quality, as indicated by the PCA biplots of all analytical parameters. Abbreviations: ANOVA: analysis of variance; BPO: blended palm olein; DAG: diacylglycerol; FAME: fatty acid methyl ester; FFA: free fatty acid; HPLC: high-performance liquid chromatography; HPSEC: high-performance size exclusion chromatography; PC: principal component; PO: packet pure palm olein; PPO: pure palm olein; PCA: principal component analysis; SPE: solid-phase extraction; TAG: triacylglycerol; TPC: total polar compound


This study aimed to assess the impact of genotype, location, and type of cultivation (organic) on the nutrient and anti-nutrient components of seven large-seeded bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) populations. All genotypes were cultivated during 2014 and 2015 in randomized complete block (RCB) experimental designs in three areas of the Prespa region (Pili, Patoulidio, Agios Germanos) in Greece. Particularly, total protein (18.79–23.93%), fiber (7.77–12%), starch (40.14–55.26%), and fat (1.84–2.58%) contents were analyzed and showed significant differences. In order to assess mineral content, firstly, the total ash percentage (4.31% to 5.20%) and secondly, trace elements and heavy metals were determined. The concentrations of identified inorganic metals showed large variations. The total phenolic content of the samples varied from 0.18 to 0.29 mg/g gallic acid equivalent (GAE). A major limitation of increasing the use of grain legumes as feed is the presence of diverse compounds in their grain, commonly referred to as antinutritional factors, and these are mainly trypsin inhibitors. Trypsin inhibitor levels were evaluated, with results varying from 21.8 to 138.5 TIU/g. Pili 2014 and 2015 were differently associated regarding the year of cultivation. Pili 2015 location was also very closely associated with the Patoulidio region, whereas Agios Germanos and Pili 2014 were the most different in terms of nutritional and antinutritional content.


We present a rare case of spinal enchondromatosis in a 15-year-old boy. The patient presented with spastic paraparesis. He also had multiple bony swellings over the long bones. On inquiry it was found that his father had enchondromatosis. Such a familial form of enchondromatosis has not been previously described in the literature.


To facilitate the study of the wireless sensor network for demanding acoustic monitoring of long distance sources, we recently have also started working on the development of a new generation of wireless acoustic sensor network platform using the Stargate nodes. The 400 MHz PXA-255 XScale processor and the 64 MB SDRAM provide the Stargate platform a decent processing capability. The VX Pocket 440 sound card with four external microphones are attached to each Stargate node through the PCMCIA slot for acoustic data acquisition. We use highly-sensitive external microphones with low self-noise. The VXPocket 440 sound card supports data sampling up to 48 KHz in 24 bits. Each Stargate node also has a flash interface to connect a 802.11 card for wireless communication. The Stargate-based platform is for the acoustic monitoring of woodpeckers in the James Reserve and the like.


We propose one possible mechanism, i.e., the vector meson (VV) rescattering effects, to interpret the near threshold narrow enhancement observed in J/Ψ → γpp̄. The estimate indicates that these effects can give sizeable contributions to this channel, and a destructive interference between different rescattering amplitudes is required to reproduce the line shape of the data.


Epidermal Growth Factor receptor (EGFR) is a tyrosine kinase receptor widely expressed on the surface of numerous cell types, which activates several downstream signalling pathways involved in cell proliferation, migration and survival. EGFR alterations, such as overexpression or mutations, have been frequently observed in several cancers, including glioblastoma (GBM), and are associated to uncontrolled cell proliferation. Here we show that the inhibition of mammalian target of Rapamycin (mTOR) mediates EGFR delivery to lysosomes for degradation in GBM cells, independently of autophagy activation. Coherently with EGFR internalisation and degradation, mTOR blockade negatively affects the mitogen activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MAPK)/ERK pathway. Furthermore, we provide evidence that Src kinase activation is required for EGFR internaliation upon mTOR inhibition. Our results further support the hypothesis that mTOR targeting may represent an effective therapeutic strategy in GBM management, as its inhibition results in EGFR degradation and in proliferative signal alteration.


Oscillating steady state imaging (OSSI) is a novel fMRI acquisition method which produces a high SNR T2*-weighted signal. Physiological and drift induced B0 changes cause undesired signal distortions which can significantly diminish functional contrast in OSSI fMRI. Here, we investigated a method of rapidly estimating quantitative B0 field changes from OSSI images using an artificial neural network (ANN) model. Our results demonstrated that this technique can be used to rapidly measure field changes, which has the potential to be used for prospective and retrospective B0 field correction in OSSI.


Dupilumab (Dupixent®) is the first biologic drug licensed for treatment of adults with atopic dermatitis (AD). Data regarding its long-term real-world effectiveness and tolerability are limited. We report comprehensive outcome data at one year for the first 100 adult patients initiated on dupilumab in a specialist eczema clinic (May 2017-November 2019). In this prospective, observational cohort study (HRA UK ref.268527) all patients received dupilumab at licenced dose. Wherever possible, patients on other systemic treatment(s) underwent 4-week washout prior to dupilumab. All patients were given preservative-free lubricating eye ointment prior to dupilumab in view of ophthalmic complications reported in trials1-3 . Disease activity and patient-reported outcome measures were assessed at baseline, week 12, week 24 and 1 year of treatment. Adverse events (AE) were recorded and classified4 .


We present a highly stable bow-tie power enhancement cavity for critical second harmonic generation (SHG) into the UV using a Brewster-cut β-BaB2O4 (BBO) nonlinear crystal. The cavity geometry is suitable for all UV wavelengths reachable with BBO and can be modified to accommodate anti-reflection coated crystals, extending its applicability to the entire wavelength range accessible with non-linear frequency conversion. The cavity is length-stabilized using a fast general purpose digital PI controller based on the open source STEMlab 125-14 (formerly Red Pitaya) system acting on a mirror mounted on a fast piezo actuator. We observe 130 h uninterrupted operation without decay in output power at 313 nm. The robustness of the system has been confirmed by exposing it to accelerations of up to 1 g with less than 10% in-lock output power variations. Furthermore, the cavity can withstand 30 min of acceleration exposure at a level of 3 grms without substantial change in the SHG output power, demonstrating that the design is suitable for transportable setups.


The transactive response DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is associated with several diseases such as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) due to pathogenic aggregations. In this work, we examined the dimer, tetramer and hexamer models built from the RRM domains of TDP-43 using molecular dynamics simulations in combination with the protein-protein docking. Our results show that the parallel β-sheet layers in the RRM1 domains in these oligomer models were formed energetically favorable, which provide the potential binding sites in the aggregation process. The closeness of the parallel β-sheet layers from small oligomer models gradually expanded to large ones through the communication of the interaction between α1/α2 helices of RRM domains, which enhanced the binding affinities and interactions in these aggregation models to further promote the aggregation. Using the repeatable-superimposing method based on the tetramer models, we propose a new aggregation mechanism of RRM domains in TDP-43 which mediates the formation of large aggregation structure with the repeated, helical and rope-like characteristics. These new insights help to understand the amyloid-like aggregation phenomena of TDP-43 protein in ALS and FTLD diseases.


Author(s): Leggett, Christina Joy | Advisor(s): Prussin, Stanley G.; Jensen, Mark P. | Abstract: The separation of americium from curium in spent nuclear fuel (SNF) has important implications for spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. Removal of curium from SNF reduces the heat load in newly refabricated fuel elements and minimizes the buildup of heavier actinides (Cf-252) caused by repeated recycle of curium in reactors. Unfortunately, this separation has historically been difficult to accomplish due to their similar chemistries without resorting to chromatographic or precipitation techniques. However, a size-based approach to separating these two elements has been proposed that could easily be incorporated into solvent extraction-based separations schemes like the TALSPEAK process. In this approach, the formation of aqueous-phase ternary complexes (i.e., complexes of a metal with a large primary and smaller secondary ligand) with Am(III) - but not with Cm(III) - would increase the thermodynamic stability of Am(III) relative to Cm(III), making Am(III) less extractable. As there are few reports of ternary complexes in the literature, the objective of this work was to investigate the factors that influence their formation. Factors such as ligand size, basicity, and steric constraints influence whether or not ternary complexes form and how strong such complexes will be. Spectroscopic, calorimetric, and thermometric techniques were used to investigate how these factors affect the formation of ternary complexes containing a large polyaminocarboxylate and a smaller dicarboxylate ligand bound to americium, neodymium, samarium, holmium, terbium, or erbium. Results from investigations with diethylenetriamine-N,N,N',N',N"-pentaacetic acid (DTPA), which is the octadentate ligand used in the TALSPEAK process, and lactate as the secondary ligand indicated that inner sphere complexes were not formed under the conditions used because the DTPA ligand is too large to accommodate lactate. Outer-sphere ternary complexes may form but they were estimated to be too weak to significantly affect the TALSPEAK extraction thermodynamics. Ternary complexes were readily formed with the septadentate DO3A (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7-triacetic acid) and hexadentate CDTA (trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexanetetraacetic acid) ligands, whose binary complexes (e.g., Ln(CDTA)-) have at least one residual water of hydration that can be displaced by a small secondary ligand. The results of thermodynamic investigations of Ln(CDTA)- complexes with the secondary ligands oxalate, malonate, and iminodiacetate revealed that the strength of the ternary complexes with CDTA generally increased with decreasing ionic radius when steric hindrance was minimal, indicating that the bonding with these ligands was primarily ionic. In addition, secondary ligands that formed five-membered ring complexes were more stable than those that formed six-membered rings, and more basic ligands formed stronger complexes. Similar ternary complexes with DO3A showed little increase in thermodynamic stability compared to analogous CDTA complexes, which is likely due to increased steric hindrance in the DO3A complexes.


Mikrocytids are a widespread but rather neglected group of parasites of aquatic invertebrates. One such parasite is Paramikrocytos canceri—discovered to infect the antennal gland of the juvenile edible crab, Cancer pagurus, taken from several intertidal sites across the United Kingdom. To determine if this parasite is also present in other species of decapod crustaceans, we surveyed crabs (n = 330) across two contrasting sites in Pembrokeshire (UK). Using a histopathological approach, P. canceri infection was confirmed in variable numbers of edible crabs from both survey sites, 7–44%. No measurable signs of infection were encountered in four other co-located species, including European shore crabs (Carcinus maenas), Montagu's crabs (Xantho hydrophilus), velvet swimming crabs (Necora puber) and broad-clawed porcelain crabs (Porcellana platycheles). These data imply that P. canceri has a more limited host range than suggested by molecular diagnosis alone.


Mytilus galloprovincialis foot protein type 5 (Mgfp-5) can be used as medical adhesive or in underwater environments due to its significant adhesive ability and biodegradable properties. To obtain sufficient Mgfp-5 for further study, genetic engineering has been abundantly used, while plant genetic engineering was rarely applied. This study reports an efficient protocol for the direct regeneration of chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), with a regeneration frequency of 79.18% in the case of inoculation on MS+1.5 mg/L 6-BA+0.2 mg/L NAA medium. The plant expression vector pRI101-Mgfp of the Mgfp-5 gene was transformed into chicory via Agrobacterium mediation. After plant selection and regeneration, regenerated plants with resistance were successfully obtained. The efficient transformation system of the Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation consists of leaf explants immersed in Agrobacterium at O.D.(600) of 0.6 for 10 min after being pre-cultured for 3 d, followed by co-culture for 3 d. Then, these explants were transferred to medium containing 50 mg/L kanamycin selection power. As proved via PCR, RT-PCR, and Western blot analysis, the Mgfp-5 gene was integrated into the chicory genome, accompanied by normal transcript and expression, as well as stable genetic transformation and inheritance. These results underpin future research toward providing a feasible method for the production of Mgfp-5 protein.


Background: Oxycodone, a semisynthetic thebaine derivative opioid, is widely used for the relief of moderate to severe pain. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and side effects of oxycodone and fentanyl in the management of postoperative pain by intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) in patients who underwent laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy (LSH). Methods: The 127 patients were randomized to postoperative pain treatment with either oxycodone (n = 64, group O) or fentanyl group (n = 63, group F). Patients received 7.5 mg oxycodone or 100 &mgr;g fentanyl with 30-mg ketorolac at the end of anesthesia followed by IV-PCA (potency ratio 75:1) for 48 hours postoperatively. A blinded observer assessed postoperative pain based on the numerical rating scale (NRS), infused PCA dose, patient satisfaction, sedation level, and side effects. Results: Accumulated IV-PCA consumption in group O was less (63.5 ± 23.9 mL) than in group F (85.3 ± 2.41 mL) during the first 48 hours postoperatively (P = 0.012). The NRS score of group O was significantly lower than that of group F at 4 and 8 hours postoperatively (P < .001); however, the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), dizziness, and drowsiness was significantly higher in group O than in group F. Patient satisfaction was lower in group O than in group F during the 48 hours after surgery (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Oxycodone IV-PCA (potency ratio 1:75) provided superior analgesia to fentanyl IV-PCA after LSH; however, the higher incidence of side effects, including PONV, dizziness, and drowsiness, suggests that the doses used in this study were not equipotent.


Adaptive resistance to MEK inhibitors (MEKi) typically occurs via induction of genes for different receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) and/or their ligands, even in tumors of the same histotype, making combination strategies challenging. SHP2 (PTPN11) is required for RAS/ERK pathway activation by most RTKs and might provide a common resistance node. We found that combining the SHP2 inhibitor SHP099 with a MEKi inhibited the proliferation of multiple cancer cell lines in vitro PTPN11 knockdown/MEKi treatment had similar effects, whereas expressing SHP099 binding-defective PTPN11 mutants conferred resistance, demonstrating that SHP099 is on-target. SHP099/trametinib was highly efficacious in xenograft and/or genetically engineered models of KRAS-mutant pancreas, lung, and ovarian cancers and in wild-type RAS-expressing triple-negative breast cancer. SHP099 inhibited activation of KRAS mutants with residual GTPase activity, impeded SOS/RAS/MEK/ERK1/2 reactivation in response to MEKi, and blocked ERK1/2-dependent transcriptional programs. We conclude that SHP099/MEKi combinations could have therapeutic utility in multiple malignancies.Significance: MEK inhibitors show limited efficacy as single agents, in part because of the rapid development of adaptive resistance. We find that SHP2/MEK inhibitor combinations prevent adaptive resistance in multiple cancer models expressing mutant and wild-type KRAS. Cancer Discov; 8(10); 1237-49. ©2018 AACR. See related commentary by Torres-Ayuso and Brognard, p. 1210 This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1195.


The crisis of criticism has been washed out by the crisis of the world. In his work "Blindness and Insight", Paul de Man -whose title we have borrowed for this text-asserts that "all true criticism occurs in the mode of crisis". He also tells us that the manipulation of the criticism as a discipline and within its structure has been so great that it is in fact in the midst of crisis. These words could be applied to architecture's discipline since the Modernism adopted after World War II. Today, four decades after the crisis of Modernism, it becomes evident that the brings forth the awareness that the edifice in threat of collapse is the planet itself. The task of architecture becomes the very dumb one of providing some order in the midst of disorder, and the task of criticism ends up being the even duller of offering support and encouragement for the constructions that hope to heat rather than to those that attempt to replicate the chaos of the world. Expressed in this manner, the task of criticism requires a humble simplicity in the analysis that it carries out. It Makes an effort to find the root of things, and demands a role of service from architects that has vanished. Architectural discipline blurred its ties with power during the first decades of the twentieth century, and established with social matters which has been disappearing in favor of spectacle, a quality dominant within contemporary society. Architectural discipline demands renovation: a rediscovering of humanity in the midst of adversity. The crisis of the world demands that criticism give voice to silence, and make visible both invisible cities and invisible architectures.


Introduction: In recent years, the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers has increased rapidly all over the world. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second most common malignant neoplasm in humans after basal cell carcinoma. Unfortunately, the cancer registry in Poland does not record SCC individually. Thus, the incidence of this neoplasm in a defined population is unknown. Methods and materials: We have reviewed the clinical records of patients from the Dermatology and Venereology Department, Medical University of Lodz who were diagnosed with SCC by histopathology during the sixteen-year period from 1999 to 2015. Results: The incidence of SCC was slightly increasing between 1999 and 2008, but levelled off in next years. The largest relative increase in cancers was observed for patients above 74 years. Anatomical site distribution differs according to age of patients. In older patients, most prevalent were face lesions, while clothed areas were more commonly involved in patients below 45 years. The study revealed characteristics of SCC regarding age, gender and localization. Conclusions: SCC is quite common in our society. In recent years, the incidence rate has been levelling off. Nevertheless, the effective treatment is still very expensive. Moreover, the consistent international registration of this cancer should be applied worldwide.


OBJECTIVE
Recent evidence indicates that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) is expressed at high levels in foam cells of atherosclerotic lesions, that PPARgamma agonists may directly modulate vessel wall function and that mutations in the PPARgamma-2 gene are associated with a reduced risk of coronary artery disease.

METHODS
We investigated whether known variants in the PPARgamma-2 gene are associated with the occurrence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in 365 patients with type 2 diabetes, prospectively characterised for the presence or absence of CHD. The Pro115Gln, Pro12Ala, Pro467Leu, Val290Met mutations and two polymorphisms C478T and C161T of the PPARgamma-2 gene were examined using PCR, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and direct sequencing.

RESULTS
The distribution of the Pro12Ala, Ala12Ala, C161T and T161T variants was not significantly different between patients with and without CHD, independent of the gender. The Pro12Ala (P=0.011) and the Ala12Ala (P=0.006) variant were associated with a higher body mass index (BMI) compared with the Pro12Pro genotype. A multiple logistic regression analysis introducing the typical risk factors for CHD (age, sex, hypertension, smoking, BMI >26 kg/m2, elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol and haemoglobin A1c >7%) identified age >60, male gender, hypertension and a higher BMI, but not the PPARgamma-2 variants, as significant risk factors for CHD in our study groups.

CONCLUSION
The PPARgamma-2 genotype was not associated with an increased or reduced risk of the occurrence of CHD and can therefore not be regarded as an independent risk factor for CHD in patients with diabetes mellitus.


We report a patient with amlodipine intoxication who presented to hospital 30 hours after suicidal intake of the drug. Admitted to the intensive care unit, the patient had profound hypotension and need for fluid replacement and infusion of dopamine and noradrenaline. The patient was also administered insulin and calcium gluconate. In addition to profound hypotension, massive non-cardiogenic pleural effusion also complicated the clinical picture. Bilateral pleurocans were placed and non-invasive ventilation was administered in continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mode. Hyperinsulinemic euglycemic therapy was also applied. Following the onset of insulin therapy mean blood pressure increased and need for vasopressors was reduced. Possible positive inotropic action of insulin therapy in this patient suffering calcium channel blocker intoxication is in accordance with previous reports. It has been suggested that hyperinsulinemic euglycemic therapy may be considered as a first-line therapy in amlodipine intoxication.


Reactive oxygen species (ROS), which excessively arise in diabetes and systemic inflammatory diseases, modify cellular lipids and cellular lipid composition leading to altered biophysical properties of cellular membranes. The impact of lipid peroxidation on transmembrane signaling routes is not yet well studied. The canonical transient receptor potential channel 6 (TRPC6) is implicated in the pathogenesis of several forms of glomerular diseases. TRPC6 is sensitive to membrane stretch and relies on a distinct lipid environment. This study investigates the effect of oxidative alterations to plasma membrane lipids on TRPC6 activity and the function of the glomerular filter. Knockout of the anti-oxidative, lipid modifying enzyme paraoxonase 2 (PON2) leads to altered biophysical properties of glomerular epithelial cells, which are called podocytes. Cortical stiffness, quantified by atomic force microscopy, was largely increased in PON2-deficient cultured podocytes. PON2 deficiency markedly enhanced TRPC6 channel currents and channel recovery. Treatment with the amphiphilic substance capsazepine in micromolar doses reduced cortical stiffness and abrogated TRPC6 conductance. In in vivo studies, capsazepine reduced the glomerular phenotype in the model of adriamycin-induced nephropathy in PON2 knockout mice and wildtype littermates. In diabetic AKITA mice, the progression of albuminuria and diabetic kidney disease was delayed. In summary, we provide evidence that the modification of membrane characteristics affects TRPC6 signaling. These results could spur future research to investigate modification of the direct lipid environment of TRPC6 as a future therapeutic strategy in glomerular disease.


CD44 is a cell surface receptor for the extracellular matrix macromolecule hyaluronan. In addition, CD44 mediates the endocytosis of hyaluronan leading to its subsequent degradation within lysosomes. Using model systems of COS-7 and Flp-293 cells, we demonstrate that the association of CD44 with lipid rafts is essential for the endocytosis of hyaluronan but not the extracellular binding. Further, we demonstrate that palmitoylation of CD44 on two highly conserved cysteine residues is essential for the association with lipid rafts as determined by density gradient ultracentrifugation. Mutations of either cysteine residues or pretreatment of cells with the palmitic acid analog 2-bromopalmitate, reduced the [3H]palmitic acid incorporation into CD44 and prevented CD44-lipid rafts association. Preventing CD44 palmitoylation had no effect on the binding of hyaluronan but inhibited hyaluronan internalization. The turnover of the CD44 receptor itself was also affected by blocking its association with lipid rafts. Using cycloheximide to prevent de novo protein synthesis, palmitoylation-deficient cysteine mutants underwent slower turnover from cell surface compared with the palmitoylation-intact wild type, as determined by immunofluorescence and Western blotting. These results indicate that palmitoylation of CD44 is a critical driving determinant to CD44 association with lipid rafts and, concomitantly, the rates of hyaluronan endocytosis and CD44 turnover from cell surface.


By Brian Maltbie, Psychology; Blair Eberhart, Psychology; Alaekhiya Haq, Psychology
 Advisor: Heidi Kloos
 Presentation ID: PM_C06
 Abstract: Past experiments have found that children tend to believe every object balances at its geometric center. The goal of this research is to test what causes such beliefs to develop. Our specific hypothesis was that adding uncertainty would change how the beliefs formed. To test this hypothesis we carried out an experiment with 3-5 year old children. Materials included balancing blocks that differed not only in their weight distributions, but also in their visual symmetry: Some blocks looked symmetrical, but balanced off the geometric center. These blocks are thought to create uncertainty. There are two conditions, the first condition is given blocks with low uncertainty to balance, the second condition is given blocks with high uncertainty to balance. The participants were first asked to balance the set of high or low uncertainty blocks twice. Then, both conditions balanced all nine blocks. We predict that children in the high uncertainty condition will be more persistent in their na�ve belief, giving insight into the nature of na�ve belief formation.


Oxaprotiline (C 49/802 BA), a further development and structural analogue of maprotiline, is characterized by a very potent and extremely specific inhibitory effect on the re-uptake of norepinephrine. In an open early phase II study oxaprotiline was investigated in 10 inpatients with endogenous depression with regard to its antidepressive efficacy and occurrence of adverse effects. Oxaprotiline was given in a dosage up to 225 mg over a period of 28 days. 9 out of 10 patients completed the study, and, of these, 5 were found to be either very much improved or much improved. Standardized rating scales (HAMD, Bf-S, EWL-K) indicated significant improvement after 4 weeks of treatment. Except dry mouth, generally mild, there were no remarkable side effects; there was no influence of oxaprotiline on heart, cardiovascular and routine laboratory parameters. The results of this study indicate that oxaprotiline is an effective antidepressant without significant adverse effects.


This research aims at implementing a methodology to quantify a characteristic of being integrated of a node in a network and arguing for the feasibility of the methodology as well. To achieve the first goal, the following research topics are dealt with; 1) an improvement of an index to quantify a characteristic of being integrated of a node in a network, 2) an establishment of calculation process for the index, 3) a deduction of the practical meaning of the index, 4) a development of an index to identify the characteristics of a nide such as 'Integrated / Integrating'. In addition, the proposed methodology is being verified by making a comparison among the proposed index, the 'Integration' in Space Syntax and the practical meaning of the real urban spatial structure.


MASSIVE free intra-abdominal hemorrhage secondary to periarteritis nodosa is rare and almost uniformly fatal. The purpose of this communication is to report the case of a patient who suffered rupture of an aneurysm of the middle mid-colic artery secondary to periarteritis nodosa. Early and prompt surgical intervention was successful in preventing sudden death. After review of the literature, we believe this to be the first successfully treated case of free intraperitoneal rupture of such an aneurysm. Report of a Case A 37-year-old white married woman (119 92 34) was admitted to the Johns Hopkins Hospital as an emergency on May 11, 1966. She was complaining of severe pain in the lower portion of the back. The patient had been asymptomatic until one week prior to admission when back pain developed over the lumbosacral area. The pain was dull in character, did not radiate, and was persistent. She had also noticed


We consider a bargaining problem where one of the players, the bureaucrat, has the power to dictate any outcome in a given set. The other players, the agents, negotiate with him which outcome to be dictated. In return, the agents transfer some part of their payoffs to the bureaucrat. We state five axioms and characterize the solutions which satisfy these axioms on a class of problems which includes as a subset all submodular bargaining problems. Every solution is characterized by a number a in the unit interval. Each agent in every bargaining problem obtains a weighted average of his individually rational level and his marginal contribution to the set of all players, where the weights are a and 1 - a , respectively. The bureaucrat obtains the remaing surplus. The solution when a = 1/2 is the nucleolus of a naturally related game in characteristic form.


INTRODUCTION
The aim of this study was to determine the current antimicrobial susceptibility of the principle anaerobic pathogens involved in dentoalveolar infection, to 13 oral antibiotics, and to assess the value of each antibiotic in the management of the infection.

METHODS
A total of 800 isolates from patients with dentoalveolar infection (Prevotella species, Fusobacterium species, Porphyromonas species and Peptostreptococcus micros) were tested for their susceptibility to amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate, cefaclor, cefuroxime, cefcapene, cefdinir, erythromycin, azithromycin, telithromycin, minocycline, levofloxacin, clindamycin, and metronidazole using an agar dilution method.

RESULTS
Although the majority of Fusobacterium strains were resistant to erythromycin, azithromycin, and telithromycin, the remaining antibiotics demonstrated a high level of antimicrobial activity. P. micros and Porphyromonas species exhibited high susceptibility to all antibiotics tested in this study. In the case of Prevotella species, resistance to amoxicillin occurred in 34% of isolates and all of these resistant strains were found to produce beta-lactamase. Susceptibility of Prevotella strains to cefaclor, cefuroxime, cefcapene, cefdinir, erythromycin, azithromycin, and minocycline was found to correlate with amoxicillin susceptibility. Amoxicillin/clavulanate, telithromycin, clindamycin, and metronidazole exhibited high antimicrobial activity even against amoxicillin-resistant strains of Prevotella species.

CONCLUSION
Amoxicillin would still be advocated therefore as being a suitable first-line agent, while reduced susceptibility of Prevotella strains remains a matter of concern with penicillins. Amoxicillin/clavulanate, clindamycin, and metronidazole are useful alternatives in combating the anaerobic bacteria involved in dentoalveolar infection.


Physiognomy, or study of facial characteristics, is practiced daily, either consciously or unconsciously in anticipation of knowing what behavior to expect from people with whom we associate in private and public life. Physiognomy was in use as far back as 16th century. It remained a subject of debate at the turn of 20th century. Your face is your walking resume. Unlike what some may say, we can actually judge a person by his/her looks–if we know how. The features of our face reveal the biggest indications behind our mental, success, hidden path and destiny. In this article the author attempts to review the applications of Physiognomy through history, including for the first time the correlation between the five personality traits employers hire most and the theory of the five officers in the face, and its use in nowadays businesses in peace and defensive times as well as a documented story. In conclusion, this is an ideal introduction to the art of Face Reading, physiognomy, that is considered to be the basic understanding on how people would behave-all by looking at the facial features and a fresh take on Mian Xiang-from a business perspective. Including a touch on the well known similar practice in the Arab world since many centuries Alferasah to a recommendation list for best hiring.


The spectra of the ν1, 2ν1–ν1, ν2, 2ν2, and 3ν2–ν2 bands of CF4 were obtained with a quasi-continuous wave stimulated Raman spectrometer. These five bands were studied at a temperature of 135 and 300 K (for the hot bands). The spectrum of ν1 was obtained at a sample pressure of 2 mbar. For the spectra of the other regions, which are much weaker, higher pressures were used. The analysis has been performed thanks to the xtds and spview softwares developed in Dijon for such highly symmetric molecules. Combining the present results with a previous infrared study, we could determine a very accurate value for the C–F equilibrium bond length, i.e. re = 1.31588(6) A. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


With rising energy costs, fuel-consumptive soil management practices, such as deep tillage, need to be reassessed to determine whether they need to be performed every year or not. Between 1978 and 1996, conservation (nondisked) and conventional (disked) tillage treatments had been annually deep-tilled with noninversion subsoiling to break up a subsurface layer that had high soil strength, associated with the E horizon of a coastal loam sand. After 1996, treatments were split with half being deep-tilled until 2001, after which no treatments were deep-tilled, although surface tillage continued. By 1999, soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) treatments in which deep tillage ceased in 1996 were significantly higher in cone index (as measured by a penetrometer) than were treatments that had been deep-tilled, suggesting that the effects of deep tillage lasted three years. By 2004, conventional treatments in which tillage ceased in 2001 had reconsolidated to the point that they were not different from conventional treatments where tillage had ceased in 1996. However, conservation tillage treatments were still significantly different, suggesting that conservation tillage can help buffer the effects of reconsolidation. Two competing trends could be observed. On the one hand, although reconsolidation might not be complete, soils with incomplete reconsolidation could be hard enough to reduce production. On the other hand, soils in which tillage ceased still showed the effects of deep tillage even after they reconsolidated to the point that they were statistically different from deep-tilled treatments.


'Making every day's life extraordinary' is not just a slogan for Dutch designer and floral artist Pim van den Akker. His floral creations connect the worlds of design and floral art at the same time prove how natural forms, structures and colours are determined. Pim van den Akker is one of the top designers when it comes to floral art. Worldwide, his master classes and demonstrations attract many people. His innovative style with the use of natural materials is to be shown and explained for the first time ever within the pages of 'The Floral Design Manual'. The author highlights the ingredients to be used as well as providing a clear explanantion on how the materials should be combined and processed in order to reach astonishing results. Over 200 of the chosen techniques are thematically categorised, which transforms this book into a complete and very practical reference work.


Network-on-Chip (NoC) is a developing and promising on-chip communication paradigm that improves scalability and performance of System-on-Chips. NoC design flow contains many problems from different areas, for example networking, embedded design and computer architecture. Application mapping is one of these problems, which is well studied in literature but generally considered as a communication energy minimization problem. The present study discusses the effect of application mapping on network parameters such as average queuing delay or packet loss rates of routers. On the other hand, self similarity is a phenomenon that is used to characterize Ethernet and/or wide area network traffic, as well as most of on-chip network traffic. The main concern of this study is to analyze the effect of application mapping on network related parameters by using an on-chip traffic characterization that contains self similarity. The results of our computational study show that mapping of cores may have a significant degenerative effect on network performance, and so adding network related terms to application mapping problem may improve the overall on-chip network performance considerably.


The article addresses the issue of official development aid in the EAEU, which is rarely tackled in the Russian academic literature despite geopolitical and economic importance of the union for Russia. Based on the OECD DAC data from 1992 to 2017 article analyses volumes of ODA in the EAEU and its breakdown by recipients, donors, instruments and channels, and compares EAEU structure with the global structure. Furthermore, this article discusses directions of aid and their correspondence with EAEU recipient countries' (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) priorities. It concludes that, first, in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan ODA corresponds with their strategic priorities and second, that in more developed EAEU recipient countries (Kazakhstan and Belarus) areas, where ODA might be of practical value for the solving of global problems, are infrastructure and climate change. The author also presents classification of donor countries on the base of donor motives and position of EAEU donor countries in it (Russia and Kazakhstan), as well as effectiveness of aid from the donor's point of view. Based on the conducted analysis author provides priority recommendations on improvement of ODA efficiency in EAEU, including streamlining of Russia's ODA and development of sectoral and geographic priorities.


This paper studies H∞ optimal control problems for a class of impulsive dynamical systems with norm-bounded time-varying uncertainty. By using a linear matrix inequality approach, some sufficient conditions are established to ensure both internally asymptotical stability and H∞ optimal performance of the impulsive closed-loop system. Moreover, based on the stability criteria, a linear time-invariant stabilizing control law is designed. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of our results.


The Artisan system retrieves abstract trademark images by shape similarity. It analyzes each image to characterize key shape components, grouping image regions into families that potentially mirror human image perception, and then derives characteristic indexing features from these families and from the image as a whole. We have evaluated the retrieval effectiveness of our prototype system on more than 10,000 images from the UK Trade Marks Registry.


Pollutants in ambient air in two traffic infested roads of ' Bangalore city, South India, due to automobile emission containing SPM, Pb, B(a)P, SO 2 and NO are assessed. Their correlation with x meteorological elements is established. Measures to ease out traffic congestion are suggested. Mitigation of the hazardous effects of pollutants are discussed and suitable recommendations are made.


BACKGROUND
The rates of obesity and the metabolic syndrome and the impact on traditional vascular risk factors in African American stroke survivors are unknown.

OBJECTIVE
To describe the relationships between body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) and hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus.

DESIGN
We classified 1711 subjects as underweight (BMI, <18.5), normal (BMI, 18.5-24.9), overweight (BMI, 25.0-29.9), or obesity class 1 (BMI, 30.0-34.9), 2 (BMI, 35.0-39.9), or 3 (BMI, >40.0). We compared the proportions with hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus and control of these factors by clinical history and results of physical examination and laboratory analysis across BMI groups.

SETTING
Multicentered clinical trial.

PATIENTS
African American subjects with previous ischemic stroke.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Rates of obesity and the metabolic syndrome, odds ratios (ORs) of associated vascular risk factors at baseline, and relationship to longitudinal risk factor control.

RESULTS
Overall, 76% were overweight or obese (70% of men and 81% of women). Hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus were all present in 43.3% of men and 29.1% of women with obesity class 3. The ORs for having the metabolic syndrome were 2.14 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.52-3.01) for class 1, 1.92 (95% CI, 1.26-2.91) for class 2, and 1.98 (95% CI, 1.27-3.09) for class 3 obesity. In addition, increasing BMI was negatively associated with systolic (P<.001) and diastolic (P<.001) blood pressure and glycemic control (P<.001).

CONCLUSION
Our analysis of the data from the African American Antiplatelet Stroke Prevention Study supports the association of increasing risk factor profiles with increasing weight in African American stroke survivors.


Focused Ion Beam instruments (FIB) are used for the preparation of electron microscopy specimens and for the fabrication of nano and micro components. Using polycrystalline Cu as an example, the influence of the crystallographic orientation, as obtained by EBSD, on the milling result is demonstrated. Different milling rates are due to the channeling effect. With some orientations a topography with characteristic features, like ripples, is generated, which were quantified using AFM images.


Augustus Jessopp, reporting in 1891 for the Historical Manuscripts Commission on the records of the bishop of Ely, found three stores of documents: Ely House, Dover Street; the consistory court in Great St Mary's church at Cambridge; and the palace at Ely. This division seems to have been customary since the sixteenth century and ended only when the bishop of Ely, Bishop Lord Alwyne Compton, had the contents of all three repositories moved, first into Bishop Alcock's tower in the palace at Ely where Alfred Gibbons saw and listed them, and then into the 'old prison,' now 4 Lynn Road, Ely, where they remained until their transfer, in June 1962, to the Cambridge University Library. The consistory court had been a store of current records as long as the registrars or their deputies had their office in Cambridge; but about 1790 the diocesan registry seems to have been transferred to Ely, at which time began the long connection with the diocese of the firm of Evans and Son, solicitors, members of which firm acted as registrars almost without interruption from then until 1959. In Messrs. Evans's office, and also since 1902 in the 'old prison,' the registrars had accumulated a considerable store of documents. These, too, have come to the University Library, where the Church Commissioners have also deposited the records of the Ely episcopal estates which they have held since the mid-nineteenth century.


Wireless reprogramming is a key functionality in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In fact, the requirements for the network may change in time, or new parameters might have to be loaded to change the behavior of a given protocol. In large scale WSNs it makes economical as well as practical sense to upload the code with the needed functionalities without human intervention, i.e., by means of efficient over the air reprogramming. This poses several challenges as wireless links are affected by errors, data dissemination has to be 100% reliable, and data transmission and recovery schemes are often called to work with a large number of receivers. State-of-the-art protocols, such as Deluge, implement error recovery through the adaptation of standard automatic repeat request (ARQ) techniques. These, however, do not scale well in the presence of channel errors and multiple receivers. In this paper, we present an original reprogramming system for WSNs called SYNAPSE, which we designed to improve the efficiency of the error recovery phase. SYNAPSE features a hybrid ARQ (HARQ) solution where data are encoded prior to transmission and incremental redundancy is used to recover from losses, thus considerably reducing the transmission overhead. For the coding, digital fountain codes were selected as they are rateless and allow for lightweight implementations. In this paper, we design special fountain codes and use them at the heart of SYNAPSE to provide high performance while meeting the requirements of WSNs. Moreover, we present our implementation of SYNAPSE for the Tmote Sky sensor platform and show experimental results, where we compare the performance of SYNAPSE with that of state of the art protocols.


Biocarbon implants consist of 99.9% pure carbon and are characterized by chemical inactivity and good tissue compatibility. Biocarbon was used for subfascial implantations, as well as coecostomies, ileostomies and cystostomie on mongrel dogs. The most important clinical results was the good healing over of the material without adverse reaction. The cystostomies showed only a very slight tendency to form incrustations. Drainage was watertight without signs of leakage. The satisfying results with two patients who were provided with a cystostoma are reported and further uses of the procedure, such as ureterocutaneostomy, iliac and colonic conduit, are discussed.


This short tutorial introduces the fundamental activities of RE (requirements engineering) and discusses how it has evolved as a part of the software engineering process. However, rather than focusing on the established RE techniques, the author discusses how the changing nature of software engineering has led to the new challenges in RE. The author then introduces a number of new techniques that helps us to meet these challenges by integrating RE more closely with other systems implementation activities.


The effect of a near-free surface disturbance imposed on an open channel flow in the presence of low and high background turbulence is studied using a two-component laser Doppler anemometer. A bluff body located near the entrance of the flume was used to generate the free surface disturbance and the velocity characteristics were measured at a downstream location where the flow is fully developed. Experiments were conducted in two sets of flow fields. In the first set, the basic condition was an undisturbed open channel flow on a smooth bed, which is then compared with a flow with free surface disturbance. In this set, the turbulence levels are relatively lower and comparable with typical laboratory flume conditions. In the second set, the basic condition is a flow over a train of fixed two-dimensional bed forms, which is then compared with a flow with both bed forms and free surface disturbance. In the presence of the bed forms, there is continuous generation and sustenance of turbulence resulting in significantly higher background turbulence levels. The turbulence levels in the second set are comparable to natural open channel flows. Within the first set, though the mean profiles in inner coordinates are nearly identical, differences can be noticed in the mean defect profiles, while the Coles' parameter and the normalized turbulence levels are reduced in the presence of the free surface disturbance. Furthermore, quadrant decomposition indicates that in the presence of the free surface disturbance, three of the four quadrants are significantly altered. In the second set, the increased background turbulence due to the existing shear layer dynamics has an overwhelming influence on the flow characteristics while the free surface disturbance has a secondary role.


Two forms (I and II) of Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (D-Glucose-6-phosphate: NADP+ oxidoreductase E.C. 22.214.171.124) were isolated from mycelium of Aspergillus oryzae grown on glucose as sole carbon source, through ammonium sulfate fractionation, followed by ion-exchange chromatograhy. The Km values for both G6P and NADP+ were very similar, but the Vmax was nearly twofold for form II. The two isoenzymes were inhibited by NADPH competitively with NADH+, and the Ki value was minimal for isoenzymatic form I. The ratio Ki/Km was 2.5 for isoenzyme I and 7.5 for isoenzyme II. The two isoenzymatic forms were inhibited by energetic metabolites (ATP, ADP and PEP), the greater effect was caused by ATP.


Two cores were recovered in the southeastern part of Lake Shkodra (Montenegro and Albania) and sampled for identification of tephra layers. The first core (SK13, 7.8 m long) was recovered from a water depth of 7 m, while the second core (SK19, 5.8 m long) was recovered close to the present‐day shoreline (water depth of 2 m). Magnetic susceptibility investigations show generally low values with some peaks that in some cases are related to tephra layers. Naked‐eye inspection of the cores allowed the identification of four tephra layers in core SK13 and five tephra layers in core SK19. Major element analyses on glass shards and mineral phases allowed correlation of the tephra layers between the two cores, and their attribution to six different Holocene explosive eruptions of southern Italy volcanoes. Two tephra layers have under‐saturated composition of glass shards (foiditic and phonolitic) and were correlated to the AD 472 and the Avellino (ca. 3.9 cal. ka BP) eruptions of Somma‐Vesuvius. One tephra layer has benmoreitic composition and was correlated to the FL eruption of Mount Etna (ca. 3.4 cal. ka BP). The other three tephra layers have trachytic composition and were correlated to Astroni (ca. 4.2 cal. ka BP), Agnano Monte Spina (ca. 4.5 cal. ka BP) and Agnano Pomici Principali (ca. 12.3 cal. ka BP) eruptions of Campi Flegrei. The ages of tephra layers are in broad agreement with eight 14C accelerator mass spectrometric measurements carried out on plant remains and charcoal from the lake sediments at different depths along the two cores. The recognition of distal tephra layers from Italian volcanoes allowed the physical link of the Holocene archive of Lake Shkodra to other archives located in the central Mediterranean area and the Balkans (i.e. Lake Ohrid). Five of the recognised tephra layers were recognised for the first time in the Balkans area, and this has relevance for volcanic hazard assessment and for ash dispersal forecasting in case of renewed explosive activity from some of the southern Italy volcanoes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The helix-peptide dipole effect on single-molecule conductance was analysed experimentally and theoretically with a single 8mer helical peptide. The helical peptide was immobilized on a gold surface in two opposite directions of the helix dipole. Single-molecule conductance of the helical peptide was determined to be 2.4 × 10(-5) G(0) by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) break-junction measurements under the condition of applied bias voltage parallel to the dipole, which was about 1.2-fold larger than that in the anti-parallel direction. Theoretical calculation also supports that the helix dipole influences the electron transport reaction depending on parallel or anti-parallel orientation of the dipole against the applied electric field.


Hybrid electric vehicles are emerging technologies that are considered as eco-friendly alternative solutions to internal combustion engine–driven vehicles. This paper proposes a modified hybrid electric vehicle powertrain system that addresses the shortcomings of a series hybrid electric vehicle powertrain. The proposed configuration replaces the conventional generator of a series hybrid electric vehicle with an integrated starter generator that supports the traction motor of the vehicle during acceleration and peak torque requirements and maintains the state of charge of the batteries to provide an extended electric range of the vehicle. The work done in this paper can be categorized into two stages. The first stage is the methodical development of the powertrain in terms of initial parameter matching and sizing of the vehicle components by considering the fundamentals of longitudinal vehicle dynamics. The second stage describes the optimization of the proposed configuration to meet the design objective of maximizing fuel economy subjected to a set of vehicle performance constraints. The performance of the proposed powertrain was evaluated and compared with a series hybrid electric vehicle powertrain for an on-road Indian driving cycle using AVL CRUISE, which is a commercially available software for the study and analysis of road vehicle powertrains. Result analysis during initial parameterization showed a reduction in gross vehicle weight of the proposed configuration by 244 kg (1.5%) and an improvement in the average operating efficiency of the traction motor by around 11%, when compared to a series hybrid electric vehicle. Furthermore, the optimization results for the proposed configuration established an improvement in the fuel economy by 21% while meeting vehicle performance requirements.


By conducting active meter monitoring and performance analysis for the buildings and the plants at the main campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology, it is possible for campus facilities managers to achieve significant efficiency improvements. A key challenge, however, is gathering and making sense of the large volumes of utilities data. In response, a comprehensive web-based building and plant energy-monitoring environment is presented that collects data from multiple energy grids. From the gathered data, particular attention is given to heating, cooling, and ventilation to assess building and ultimately campus energy performance through various analytics. First, techniques for data gathering, organization, and filtering are described, followed by several novel metrics and ways of visualizing them via a comparative method. Data filtering and classification strategies have also been implemented into a framework capable of evaluating a fleet of buildings with respect to a data-driven or model-driven baseline. The resulting monitoring system is shown to reduce the number of variables that campus managers of campus utilities and facilities need to track and make it more obvious where energy efficiency opportunities exist across a large fleet of buildings. Implications and future extensions of the monitoring platform are discussed.


In order to study the effect of dietary fiber on the action of environmental mutagens in vivo, a Drosophila DNA-repair test was used in which mutagens were detected in terms of the lethality to DNA repair-deficient male flies. Among the ten kinds of fiber tested, carrageenan and lignin showed an obvious reduction of the lethality induced by 3-amino-1-methyl-5 H-pyrido [4, 3-b] indole (Trp-P-2). The other fibers, such as pectin, arginic acid and the neutral detergent fiber from soybean, were not effective. The mortality of DNA-repair-deficient male larvae treated with Trp-P-2 and fiber in the culture medium was inversely correlated with the level of free Trp-P-2 in the culture medium when Trp-P-2 and fiber were mixed. It is suggested that the fibers adsorb Trp-P-2 and the reduced concentration of Trp-P-2 results in reduced mortality of Drosophila larvae. Carrageenan and lignin failed to decrease the lethality of aflatoxin B1, benzo (a) pyrene, and 2-amino-3-methyl-imidazo (4, 5-f) quinoline (IQ). Tested fibers except cellulose and polydextrose showed strong ability to adsorb Trp-P-2 in the absence of culture medium, but their adsorption ability was decreased or completely lost in the presence of culture medium.


Reduction and limitation of free spaces between the gallium phosphide nanocones was studied. A set of nanocone samples was grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) in the temperature range between 610 and 690°C. Our results showed that by an appropriate combination of a high density of gold seeds and an optimized growth temperature it was possible to obtain a nanostructured surface with very limited free spaces between the nanocones. A combination of lateral and vertical growth rates regulated by the selection of growth temperature played a very important role in the nanocone hexagonal base enlargement, which helped to minimize spaces between the cones. The limitation of free space between the nanocones increased a probability of edge creation that is very helpful for the successful growth of 2D materials.


We report a method for calculating the electronic factor in the superexchange rate equation of electron transfer theory; this method is a basis set independent, grid‐based numerical technique that utilizes fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) and a Lanczos recursion in a pseudospectral framework and is used to treat a three‐dimensional one‐electron model of the electronic factor. We compare eigenvalues calculated from the current method to eigenvalues from the literature for both one‐dimensional (1D) and three‐dimensional (3D) model problems and find that the current method provides excellent accuracy and efficiency. With respect to the superexchange electronic factor, we use model potentials to calculate the tunneling matrix elements with the present method to illustrate how the method can be used to address current issues in superexchange. In particular, we show how this method is useful in evaluating the effect of the bridge potential on the superexchange electronic factor when using repulsive‐core pseudopotentials to represent the bridge. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 21: 1262–1273, 2000


Percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) consists of injecting small quantities of orthopedic cement to consolidate pathologic vertebral bodies. The procedure is brief but painful during vertebral puncture and cement injection requiring either general anesthesia or monitored anesthesia care with opioids. The optimal dose of alfentanil in this setting is unknown. Therefore, we sought to determine its median effective dose (ED50, or analgesic efficacy in 50% of patients) during PVP in none intubated, spontaneously breathing patients. After approval and informed consent of the Institutional Review Board, 50 patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists II-III, age 50 to 80, weight: 53 to 82 kg) with osteoporotic vertebral fractures were enrolled. The patients were premedicated with oral hydroxyzine 100 mg and had skin infiltration with 50 mg lidocaine before vertebral puncture. The prone position was adopted and oxygen was provided via a facemask. Noninvasive cardiorespiratory variables were monitored. Pain was evaluated by a numerical pain scale (NPS) where 0 represents no pain and 10 the worst tolerable pain. Alfentanil infusion was started 30 minutes before vertebral puncture. The initial dose was 2.0 mg/h. Thereafter, a 0.05 mg/h decrease or increase was applied to the next patient if analgesia was effective (NPS: 3 or less) or not (NPS>3) according to the Dixon method. The bootstrap resampling technique was used to calculate the ED50 and its 95% confidence limits. The latter was 1.05 mg/h (95% confidence interval, 1.0-1.2). Transient apnea (n=2) and nausea/vomiting (n=3) were observed. Given the median body weight of the patients (65 kg), we conclude that 0.27 μg kg/min of alfentanil provides effective analgesia for PVP under monitored anesthesia care. Summary Statement: PVP consists of injecting small quantities of orthopedic cement to consolidate pathologic vertebral bodies. The median effective dose (ED50) for pain relief during vertebral puncture and cement injection is 1.05 (95% confidence interval, 1.0-1.2) mg/h when infusion is started 30 minutes before the procedure. Given the median body weight of our study population (65 kg), this dose corresponds to 0.27 μg kg/min.


Analyzing non-functional requirements (NFRs) and integrating their solutions into the design model is an important part of enforcing NFRs in the software development process. It is challenging to do this not only because the variety of basic non-functional requirement concepts and their corresponding solutions, but also the gap between the stage of requirement analysis and software design. In this paper, we propose a pattern-based approach to design NFRs, and integrate the design result into existing functional UML models. NFR-specific patterns which denote the general design of the NFR solutions are proposed to reuse the design knowledge, and aspect are automatically generated to integrate them into the existing functional model. Advantages of this approach include, filling the gap between NFRs analysis and implementation, reusing the experience of NFR design by patterns. Finally, we could obtain a more comprehensive design model considering both the functional requirements and non-functional requirements.


The increasing use of electronic systems in automobiles instead of mechanical and hydraulic parts brings about advantages by decreasing their weight and cost and providing more safety and comfort. There are many electronic systems in modern automobiles like antilock braking system (ABS) and electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), electronic stability program (ESP) and adaptive cruise control (ACC). Such systems assist the driver by providing better control, more comfort and safety. In addition, future x-by-wire applications aim to replace existing braking, steering and driving systems. The developments in automotive electronics reveal the need for dependable, efficient, high-speed and low cost in-vehicle communication. This report presents the summary of a literature survey on in-vehicle communication networks. Different in-vehicle system domains and their requirements are described and main invehicle communication networks that have been used in automobiles or are likely to be used in the near future are discussed and compared with key references.


Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) increases the survival of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. NIV tolerance factors vary according to different studies.

Aim: To assess the predictive factors which have an impact on NIV tolerance in ALS patients.

Material and methods: Prospective study which included ALS for whom NIV was indicated between January 2004 to January 2010. Demographic, neurological function, respiratory function and night-time monitoring data (before and after the adjustment of NIV with a volume ventilator) were collected. Tolerance of NIV was defined as use > 4 hours a day.

Results: 71 patients who accepted NIV were included, of whom: 34 (47.9%) men, 62.34±8.79 years old, MIC 26.08±3.81 kg/m2, 35.2% with bulbar onset, time from onset of disease to NIV 40.78±41.78 months, ALSFRS-R 30.25±7.15, Norris bulbar 28.08±9.70, FVC 1.60±0.96 L, FVC% 52.57±24.57%, PCF 3.75±1.98 L/s, MIC 2.11±1.05 L, PImax -48.04±24.33 cmH2O, PEmax 73.38±44.33 cmH2O, Tc90 34.27±30.92%, PaO2 74.88±12.94 mmHg, PaCO2 50.33±9.10 mmHg, 74.6% of patients with symptoms of hypoventilation, Tc90 with NIV 1.98±4.05%, PaO2 with NIV 83.54±10.19 mmHg, PaCO2 with NIV 42.16±4.65 mmHg, 18.3% with symptoms of hypoventilation with NIV, hours of use 9.28±4.89 h. In 7 patients (9.9%) NIV tolerance was poor (<4h). NIV tolerance factors were: Tc90 with NIV (OR 0.87, p 0.02, IC95% 0.73-0.97) and persistent symptoms of hypoventilation with NIV (OR 8.14, p 0.013, IC95% 1.55-42.62).

Conclusions: NIV tolerance in ALS patients is high. The persistence of SpO2 <90% episodes and hypoventilation despite NIV are determinant factors in poor NIV tolerance.


The coexistence relation of quantum effects is a fundamental structure, describing those pairs of experimental events that can be implemented in a single setup. Only in the simplest case of qubit effects is an analytic characterization of coexistent pairs known. We generalize the qubit coexistence characterization to all pairs of effects in arbitrary dimensions that belong to the von Neumann algebra generated by two projections. We demonstrate the presented mathematical machinery by several examples, and show that it covers physically relevant classes of effect pairs.


Inference In Chapter 7 the process model was introduced as a way to account for flow of information through processes that are discrete, finite, and memoryless, but which may be nondeterministic and lossy. Although motivated by the way many communication systems work, the model is more general. Formulas were given for input information I, loss L, mutual information M , noise N , and output information J. Each of these is measured in bits, although in a setting in which many symbols are chosen, one after another, they may be multiplied by the rate of symbol selection and then expressed in bits per second. The information flow is shown in Figure 8.1. All these quantities depend on the input probability distribution p(A i). If the input probabilities are known and a particular output outcome is observed, is it possible to infer which input event led to that outcome? Sometimes the input event can be identified with certainty, but more often the inferences must be based on calculated changes in the input probabilities. This is typically how communication systems work—the output is observed and the " most probable " input event is inferred. Inference in this context requires probability updating. This is the topic of Section 8.1. However, if the input probabilities are not known, this approach does not work. We need a way to get the initial probability distribution. Then we can apply the techniques of Section 8.1. A widely used technique for deriving initial probabilities is the Principle of Maximum Entropy, introduced in Section 8.2 and used later in these notes. This principle is based on the sensible notion that the initial probability distribution should be as unbiased as possible. It is often necessary to determine the input event when only the output event has been observed. This is the case for communication systems, in which the objective is to infer the symbol emitted by the source so that it can be reproduced at the output. It is also the case for memory systems, in which the objective is to recreate the original bit pattern without error. In general, this inference requires that changes in the input probability distribution caused by our knowledge of the output event be calculated This is straightforward if the input probability distribution p(A i) and the conditional output probabilities, conditioned on the input events, p(B j | A i) = c ji , are …


Random walks are studied on disordered cellular networks in 2-and 3dimensional spaces with arbitrary curvature. The coefficients of the evolution equation are calculated in term of the structural properties of the cellular system. The effects of disorder and space-curvature on the diffusion phenomena are investigated. In disordered systems the mean square displacement displays an enhancement at short time and a lowering at long ones, with respect to the ordered case. The asymptotic expression for the diffusion equation on hyperbolic cellular systems relates random walk on curved lattices to hyperbolic Brownian motion.


The purpose of this book is to make available ideas, procedures and evidence that will help people explore their own areas. It starts from the premise that 'nothing ever happened here' and looks at the kinds of features that can be found, what state they might be found in, in what locations they can be expected to lie and how to read the landscape in order to find them. This covers a range of likely finds such as identifying old trackways, farm and agricultural evidence, water power extraction such as old mills, different types of building trace and foundation, and linear and discrete earthworks. It also provides information on how to avoid misidentification and distinguish critical evidence, and how documentary and air photography evidence can be used to help explain features on the ground


The work shows the performance of an algorithm for adaptive lattice structures in line tracking. The algorithm introduces some modifications in the classical LMS procedure, which theoretical background can be viewed in (1). Basically, the algorithm uses an adaptive selection for the two basic parameters B and Y in an LMS algorithm for all-pole lattice structures. The so-called memory parameter B and weighting residual parameter y are updated at each sample of the input signal and also they exhibit its dependence with the section number along the lattice structure. This work will show up to what degree these parameters can improve the tracking behavior of the procedure.


Background Delayed hematopoietic reconstitution after cord blood transplantation (CBT) may lead to increased risk of complications and longer hospitalization. Bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been found to promote engraftment after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However, harvesting MSCs from bone marrow involves an invasive procedure. Then again, MSCs can be easily obtained from umbilical cords without harm to the donors. Methods Umbilical cord–derived MSCs (UCMSCs) were isolated from Wharton's jelly and then ex vivo cultured. After showing normal karyotype and negative for infectious contamination, culture-expanded UCMSCs were intravenously infused into the recipients on the day of CBT. The control patients were those receiving CBT alone. Adverse effects and efficacy of intravenous UCMSCs were evaluated. Results A total of five patients received cotransplantation of UCMSCs at the time of CBT. No serious adverse events were observed. The time to achieve neutrophil engraftment ranged from 7 to 13 days (median, 11 days) and platelet engraftment ranged from 22 to 41 days (median, 32 days). Compared with the nine patients receiving CBT alone, patients receiving cotransplantation of UCMSCs had significantly faster hematopoietic recovery of neutrophils and platelets (P=0.02 and 0.01, respectively). Conclusions This pilot study is the first report of cotransplantation of UCMSCs in CBT. Intravenous infusion of UCMSCs appeared to be a feasible and safe modality to enhance hematopoietic engraftment in patients receiving CBT. Further studies were warranted.