Overexpression of the p53 protein was analyzed in colorectal adenomas, early cancers, advanced cancers and their hepatic metastasis by immunostaining using monoclonal antibody (DO-7). Positive staining for p53 was detected in 8 (22.9%) of 35 adenomas, 19 (82.6%) of 22 early cancers, and 59 (63.2%) of 95 advanced cancers. In adenomas, p53 immunoreactivity for severe dysplasia was higher than that for mild or moderate dysplasia (3/9.33.3% vs 2/16.12.5% or 3/10.33.3%), we found almost the same p53 immunoreactivity both in early cancers in adenoma (7/8.87.5%) and "de novo" cancers without an adenoma component (12/14. 85.7%). In 95 of advanced cancers, we found p53 positive cells in 33 (76.7%) of 43 cases with hepatic metastasis, against 26 (50.0%) of 52 cases without hepatic metastasis and surviving more than 5 years from the colorectal cancer resection. The former group had a significantly higher incidence of p53 overexpression (p < 0.05). In the 33 above mentioned cases, both primary and liver metastatic lesions were p53 positive, and the others were negative in both of them. In this series, it was suggested that p53 had important roles in the colorectal adenoma-carcinoma sequence from adenoma to advanced cancer and its metastatic potential, as well as in "de nove" carcinoma.


Context. Some of the authors' recent papers were devoted to the Kolmogorov-Wiener filter for telecommunication traffic prediction in some stationary models, such as the fractional Gaussian noise model, the power-law structure function model, and the GFSD (Gaussian fractional sum-difference) model. Recently, the so-called generalized fractional Gaussian noise model was proposed for stationary telecommunication traffic description in some cases. So, in this paper the theoretical fundamentals of the continuous Kol-mogorov-Wiener filter used for the prediction of the generalized fractional Gaussian noise are investigated. Objective. The aim of the work is to obtain the filter weight function as an approximate solution of the corresponding Wiener– Hopf integral equation with the kernel equal to the generalized fractional Gaussian noise correlation function. Method. A truncated Walsh function expansion is proposed in order to obtain the corresponding solution. This expansion is a special case of the Galerkin method, in the framework of which the unknown function is sought as a truncated series in orthogonal functions. The integral brackets and the results for the mean absolute percentage errors, which are a measure of discrepancy between the left-hand side and the right-hand side of the Wiener-Hopf integral equation, are calculated numerically on the basis of the Wolf-ram Mathematica package. Results. The investigation is made for approximations up to sixty four Walsh functions. Different model parameters are investigated. It is shown that for different model parameters the proposed method is convergent and leads to small mean absolute percentage errors for approximations of rather large numbers of Walsh functions. Conclusions. The paper is devoted to a theoretical construction of the continuous Kolmogorov-Wiener filter weight function for the prediction of a stationary random process described by the generalized fractional Gaussian noise model. As is known, this model may give a good description of some actual telecommunication traffic data in systems with packet data transfer. The corresponding weight function is sought on the basis of the truncated Walsh function expansion method. The corresponding discrepancy errors are small and the method is convergent.


Objective: To describe the computed tomography (CT) findings of pulmonary extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in non-HIV-infected patients and to compare them with those of non-XDR multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Methods: Retrospective review of microbiological results and drug-susceptibility tests of 260 non-HIV-infected patients who had been diagnosed with pulmonary MDR-TB from 1994 to 2005 revealed that 47 patients had XDR-TB, whereas the other 213 patients had non-XDR MDR-TB. Twenty of the 47 XDR-TB patients and 85 of the 213 non-XDR MDR-TB patients with available CT examinations were included in this study. Two radiologists reviewed the CT studies in consensus for the presence and extent of micronodules, tree-in-bud appearance, lobular consolidation (<2 cm), consolidation, cavity, bronchiectasis, emphysema, pleural effusion, lymphadenopathy, bronchopleural fistula, and empyema. We then compared the CT features of XDR-TB with those of non-XDR MDR-TB. Results: Micronodules and tree-in-bud appearance were the most frequent CT abnormalities and were seen in all XDR-TB patients (100%). Consolidations, cavities, bronchiectasis, and lobular consolidations were found in 85%, 85%, 80%, and 70% of XDR-TB patients, respectively. The extents of micronodules, tree-in-bud appearance, lobular consolidation, consolidation, cavity, bronchiectasis, and emphysema were 3.60, 3.55, 1.35, 1.85, 1.65, 1.45, and 0.25 lobes, respectively. Compared with non-XDR MDR-TB, XDR-TB showed a significantly larger extent of tree-in-bud appearance and consolidation (P < 0.05). With respect to other CT features, there were no significant differences between XDR-TB and non-XDR MDR-TB. Conclusion: Computed tomography findings of pulmonary XDR-TB are similar to those of non-XDR MDR-TB; however, XDR-TB tends to have more extensive consolidation and tree-in-bud appearance.


We analyze the statistics of the shortest and fastest paths on the road network between randomly sampled end points. We find that, to a good approximation, the optimal paths can be described as directed polymers in a disordered medium, which belong to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class of interface roughening. Comparing the scaling behavior of our data with simulations of directed polymers and previous theoretical results, we are able to point out the few characteristics of the road network that are relevant to the large-scale statistics of optimal paths. Indeed, we show that the local structure is akin to a disordered environment with a power-law distribution which become less important at large scales where long-ranged correlations in the network control the scaling behavior of the optimal paths.


Agnathan or jawless vertebrates, such as lampreys, occupy a critical phylogenetic position between the gnathostome or jawed vertebrates and the cephalochordates, represented by amphioxus. In order to gain insight into the evolution of the vertebrate head, we have cloned and characterized a homolog of the head-specific gene Otx from the lamprey Petromyzon marinus. This lamprey Otx gene is a clear phylogenetic outgroup to both the gnathostome Otx1 and Otx2 genes. Like its gnathostome counterparts, lamprey Otx is expressed throughout the presumptive forebrain and midbrain. Together, these results indicate that the divergence of Otx1 and Otx2 took place after the gnathostome/agnathan divergence and does not correlate with the origin of the vertebrate brain. Intriguingly, Otx is also expressed in the cephalic neural crest cells as well as mesenchymal and endodermal components of the first pharyngeal arch in lampreys, providing molecular evidence of homology with the gnathostome mandibular arch and insights into the evolution of the gnathostome jaw.


We have read with interest the paper on triazolam premedication by Dr Thomas et a / . (Anaesthesia 1986; 41: 692). In particular, the conclusion that triazolam 0.25 mg produced effective preoperative anxiolysis is surprising in vicw of the results presented. Thcrc was no difference between the groups. but patients who received triazolam were judged to be less anxious than baseline while in the anaesthetic room. This appears to be the only evidence for the improvement in anxiety upon which the conclusion is based and, therefore, some further explanation is required. We are told that one of the authors assessed thc patients preand postoperatively, but it could be construed that thc anaesthetist was the assessor in the anaesthetic room. A different assessor used at this time would serve to lessen the precision of the test and cast doubt upon the validity of the observation. The use of the linear analogue score (LAS) for anxiety has been cstablished' but, as far as we know, this has been confined to use by the patient only in quantifying a subjective variable. Has the use of the LAS by an observer to measure subjective effects in the patient bccn cvaluated? It is regrettable that no account was taken of the patient's own assessment of anxiety. Forrest er questioned the reliability of conclusions based solely on observer assessments of anxiolysis, in view of the disagreement between observers and patients in this measurement. In the study of Thomas et al., no changes in perceived anxiety were noted by patients who received triazolam, and no reduction in anxiety was denionstrated using the multiple affect adjective check list (MAACL). This result accords with the patient assessments in the study by Pinnock et aL4 and, therefore, conflicts with the overall conclusion in respect of the usefulness of triazolam. Unfortunately, no data are given in Table 3 for the patient's assessment in the anaesthetic room, of sleepiness, but the observers rated all patients more sleepy than at baseline, with a mean increment in those who received triazolam of 350% as compared to 188% and 170%' increments in the lorazepam and placebo groups, respectively. This would seem to indicate a trend in favour of a sedative and hypnotic effect of triazolam at this time. Regarding recovery at 6 hours from undesirable side effects, no data are given for the linear analogue dizziness scores assessed by the patients 6 hours postoperatively, but we are told that all patients were less clear-headed (that is, more dizry) than at baseline. If the influence of the increase in dizziness at 2 hours (8SO% for triazolam and 300% for the other groups) is apparent at 6 hours, then it would seem that triazolam could not be recommended for use in patients who are to be discharged at that time. The authors state that: 'The need for pharmacological premedication is demonstrated by the anaesthetists who found a rcduction in pre-operative anxiety in premedicated patients'. Does this indeed mean that prernedication is given to satisfy the requirements of the anaesthetist in preference to those of the patient?!


Internet hate propaganda revives debate regarding competing visions of freedom of expression and democracy -- pitting the unregulated marketplace of ideas vaunted in US First Amendment jurisprudence on racist speech against approaches such as Canada's, which envision a role for the state in limiting de-liberating exercises of private power unchecked by the marketplace itself. Despite the relative ease with which Internet hate propagandists may shift the "location" of their message to First Amendment-protected servers in the US, national and international public regulation of hate propaganda have not outlived their usefulness. Existing private restriction of hate propaganda may assist in resisting First Amendment hegemony, but is not an adequate substitute for protecting fundamental national and international commitments to equality and diversity. The practical drawbacks of many private enforcement mechanisms are compounded by policy concerns underlain by a record of the private market's inadequacy in ameliorating the conditions of historically disadvantaged groups. Certain of these drawbacks might be alleviated through continuing expressions of policy pursuant to public regulation aimed at guiding private regulation and imbuing it with a degree of transparency and accountability. In the long term, creation and monitoring of an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") model code of conduct by a respected international body, such as the United Nations, might assist in more systematically harnessing private action in service of public human rights objectives.


This paper deals with selection of optimum amount heat to be recovered during Total Site integration and utility targets for external heating, cooling, refrigerating etc. The methodology provides the calculation of minimum capital investment during heat integration of industrial site. It uses heat transfer area targets, utility distribution with overall cost of retrofit. Heat transfer area is calculated for different regions with use of intermediate utility and direct heating and cooling. Minimal temperature difference between Total Site profiles is analysed. Minimum of total heat transfer area for Total Site recovery is calculated for array of minimal temperature differences. The utility consumption, numbers of units and material of equipment are analysed too and minimum total cost for retrofit project of site recovery system is calculated. The case study shows heat recovery improvement on 1.94 MW. Site heating demands is reduced on 37.3% and cooling capacity reduction is 39.6%. The implementation of retrofit 777, 474 Euro and payback time is 11.96 months.


A general approach to the investigation of generalized cumulative damage functions that are able to describe the endurance of insulating materials subjected to electrical stress and temperature is developed. In particular, probabilistic life models for insulating materials showing life lines for multiple thermal-electrical stresses which tend towards electrical thresholds are proposed and compared on the basis of materials and systems, i.e. flat specimens of epoxy resin and composite Nomex-Mylar-Nomex, XLPE cable models. The models are obtained starting from the two-parameter Weibull distribution of times to failure, and explaining scale and shape parameters so that time-to-failure percentiles fit life curves showing upward curvature and tendency to infinite life. Having verified the validity of these cumulative damage functions over a wide range of electrical and thermal stresses, and having derived the stress dependence of the model parameters, complete characterization of the multistress endurance as well as estimation of electrical threshold at selected temperatures, including service stresses, is obtained.


We explore the usage of reinforcement learning for theoretical computer science. Reinforcement learning has shown to find solutions in challenging domains such as Chess or Go. Theoretical problems, such as finding the worst possible input for an algorithm come with even more vast, combinatorial search spaces. In this paper, we look at the example of online graph exploration. Here we want to find graphs that yield a high competitive ratio for a greedy explorer. The search space consists of having every edge being either present or absent. Given there are quadratically many possible edges in a graph and each subset of edges is a possible solution, this yields unfeasibly large search spaces even for few nodes. We show experimentally how clever constraints can keep such search spaces manageable. As a result, we can learn graphs that resemble those known from literature and even improve them to yield higher competitive ratios.


Ensuring food security is an important for economic development and social stability. Pakistan's economy is primarily dominated by agriculture sector. This paper employed the ARDL approach to cointegration in order to investigate the short and long-run determinants of grain crops productivity in Pakistan over the period 1978 to 2016. The results of ARDL bound test showed that the value of computed F-statistic exceeded the upper bound value, which means the equations were statistically significant at 5%. Further, empirical results of long-run and short-run revealed that area under grain crops, improved seed, fertilizer, and availability of water have a positive and significant effect on grain crops production in Pakistan. The estimated equation remains stable over the period of 1978 to 2016 as shown by stability tests. Currently, in Pakistan, small-scale farmers are unable to purchase farm machineries such as a tractor, tube -well and other inputs due to high prices. Therefore our study recommended that government should give subsidy to farmers on main agricultural inputs for improvement of grain crops production.


This study examines the use of the recently developed hollow core kagome lattice fibers for delivery of high power laser pulses. Compared to other photonic crystal fibers (PCFs), the hollow core kagome fibers have larger core diameter (~50 µm), which allows for higher energy coupling in the fiber while also maintaining high beam quality at the output (M2 = 1.25). We have conducted a study of the maximum deliverable energy versus laser pulse duration using a Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm. Pulse energies as high as 30 mJ were transmitted for 30 ns pulse durations. This represents, to our knowledge; the highest laser pulse energy delivered using PCFs. Two fiber damage mechanisms were identified as damage at the fiber input and damage within the bulk of the fiber. Finally, we have demonstrated fiber delivered laser ignition on a single-cylinder gasoline direct injection engine.


Purpose: No previous study has assessed elderly pedestrian traffic accidents based on a nationwide database. This study aimed to help primary physicians who examine patients in emergency departments to determine and make prompt and accurate treatment decisions.
Methods: This study used data from the Emergency Department-based Injury Indepth Surveillance from 2013 to 2017, managed by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pedestrians aged ≥65 years were included, and using multivariate logistic regression multiple factors were analyzed to determine their relationship with injury severity.
Results: Of 227,695 subjects, 6,498 were included, of whom 2,065 (31.8%) were severely injured. There were more female than male patients in all severity groups. Most accidents occurred in the afternoon and on general roads. In the multivariate analysis, the odds ratio (OR) of injury severity for male pedestrians was 1.165 (95% confidence interval: 1.034-1.313, p=0.012). Older age of patients and the use of ambulances were associated with greater injury severity. The accident time affected the degree of injury severity; i.e., compared to dawn, injury severity increased in the morning (OR: 1.246, p=0.047) and decreased at night (OR: 0.678, p<0.001). A significant difference was noted in the correlation between the type of vehicle causing the accident and the accident severity; i.e., motorcycle accidents had lower severity than bicycle accidents (OR: 0.582, p=0.047).
Conclusions: Injury severity was correlated with sex, age, transportation to the ED, TA onset time, and type of vehicle. The study results suggest that injury severity may be positively reflected in initial assessments and overall integrated treatments by physicians and in the related policies.


ABSTRACT T lymphocytes and gamma interferon (IFN-γ) are known mediators of immune resistance to Toxoplasma gondii infection, but whether B cells also play an important role is not clear. We have investigated this issue using B-cell-deficient (μMT) mice. If vaccinated with attenuated T. gondii tachyzoites, μMT mice are susceptible to a challenge intraperitoneal infection with highly virulent tachyzoites that similarly vaccinated B-cell-sufficient mice resist. Susceptibility is evidenced by increased numbers of parasites at the challenge infection site and by extensive mortality. The susceptibility of B-cell-deficient mice does not appear to be caused by deficient T-cell functions or diminished capacity of vaccinated and challenged B-cell-deficient mice to produce IFN-γ. Administration of Toxoplasma-immune serum, but not nonimmune serum, to vaccinated B-cell-deficient mice significantly prolongs their survival after challenge with virulent tachyzoites. Vaccinated mice lacking Fc receptors or the fifth component of complement resist a challenge infection, suggesting that neither Fc-receptor-dependent phagocytosis of antibody-coated tachyzoites nor antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity nor antibody-and-complement-dependent lysis of tachyzoites is a crucial mechanism of resistance. However, Toxoplasma-immune serum effectively inhibits the infection of host cells by tachyzoites in vitro. Together, the results support the hypothesis that B cells are required for vaccination-induced resistance to virulent tachyzoites in order to produce antibodies and that antibodies may function protectively in vivo by blocking infection of host cells by tachyzoites.


Research into brewing yeast and other organisms associated with beer and brewing has experienced many important advances in the past decade, propelled by technological advances in tools fundamental to the investigation of microbes and their metabolism. This volume surveys the most recent discoveries in brewing microbiology, with an emphasis on omics techniques and other modern technologies. Discoveries in these areas have furthered our knowledge of brewing processes, with practical applications from barley growth and malting to yeast management, strain selection, fermentation control, and quality assurance. The chapters, written by experts in the field, aim not only to illuminate recent progress, but also to discuss its impact on brewing practices. Topics covered include the physiology, fermentation, taxonomy, diversity, typing, genetic manipulation, genomics and evolution of brewing yeasts. Further areas covered include the fungal contamination of barley and malt, spoilage by lactic acid bacteria and gram-negative bacteria, and beer-spoiling yeasts. This volume is highly recommended for anyone involved in the microbiology of brewing.


Nuclear Overhauser Effect (NOE) is an emerging technique to study mobile macromolecules such as lipids in the gray (GM) and white matter (WM) of the brain. In this work, we optimized the saturation pulse parameters of NOE Magnetization Transfer Ratio (MTR) MRI and investigated its reproducibility on a healthy human volunteer at 7 Telsa. We found that NOE-MTR of GM and WM regions of the brain was highly reproducible (COV<10%) over a three year time span. In addition, a saturation length of 3 to 4 sec provided optimal NOE-MTR contrast from both GM and WM regions of the brain.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the technical quality and the diagnostic performance of a protocol with use of low volumes of contrast medium (25 mL) at 64-detector spiral computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis and management of adult, nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was performed outside the United States and was approved by the institutional review board. Intracranial CT angiography was performed in 73 consecutive patients with nontraumatic SAH diagnosed at nonenhanced CT. Image quality was evaluated by two observers using two criteria: degree of arterial enhancement and venous contamination. The two independent readers evaluated diagnostic performance (lesion detection and correct therapeutic decision-making process) by using rotational angiographic findings as the standard of reference. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated for patients who underwent CT angiography and three-dimensional rotational angiography. The intraclass correlation coefficient was calculated to assess interobserver concordance concerning aneurysm measurements and therapeutic management.

RESULTS
All aneurysms were detected, either ruptured or unruptured. Arterial opacification was excellent in 62 cases (85%), and venous contamination was absent or minor in 61 cases (84%). In 95% of cases, CT angiographic findings allowed optimal therapeutic management. The intraclass correlation coefficient ranged between 0.93 and 0.95, indicating excellent interobserver agreement.

CONCLUSION
With only 25 mL of iodinated contrast medium focused on the arterial phase, 64-detector CT angiography allowed satisfactory diagnostic and therapeutic management of nontraumatic SAH.


Nature is socially constructed and many different environmental conditions can be considered natural. These assertions have profound implications for landscape design, planning, and management. In our case study of Whitetop Mountain, we found four discrete but closely related natures— ecotourism, romanticism, pastoralism, and ecologism—each of which provides a unique way of understanding and valuing the landscape. These discourses of nature describe a variety of different environmental conditions that are both possible and acceptable at Whitetop Mountain. Each discourse suggests a different definition of environmental quality and a different vision of the mountain's future. In conclusion, we discuss implications of these differing discourses of nature for the design, planning, and management of natural landscapes and propose a fifth discourse— bioculturalism.


National Aviation Heritage Area Act - Establishes within the State of Ohio (and other areas as appropriate) the National Aviation Heritage Area (the Area).Directs the Area's management entity, the Aviation Heritage Foundation, Incorporated (the AHFI, an Ohio nonprofit) to develop and submit to the Secretary of the Interior (the Secretary) a Management Plan (the Plan) for the Area and to assist government and nonprofits in developing the Area in specified ways.Requires the Plan to provide for the protection, enhancement, and interpretation of the natural, cultural, historic, scenic, and recreational resources of the Area, and to include recommendations for inclusion within the Area of suitable and feasible sites.Directs the Secretary to approve the Plan or to disapprove it, and to provide recommendations in the latter instance. Prohibits appropriated funds from being expended to implement any changes made by a substantial amendment to the Plan until the Secretary approves of such amendment.Authorizes the Secretary to provide financial or technical assistance to the Area to develop and implement the Plan upon request by the AHFI. Requires any Federal agency involved with activities affecting the Area to consult with the AHFI and the Secretary and, to the maximum extent practicable, act in ways the AHFI determines will not adversely affect the Area.Provides for the coordination of decisions with regard to the Area by the Secretary, the Secretary of Defense, and the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Specifies the sunset of grants and assistance from the Secretary for the Area after September 30, 2017.Requires an updated study and report concerning incorporating the Wright Company factory as a unit of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Park.


The reported work in 2003-2019 on the reverse saturable absorption (RSA) or two-photon absorption (TPA) and/or optical limiting (OPL) of platinum(II) terpyridine complexes was summarized in this minireview. Photophysical properties, including the ground-state absorption (GSA), excited-state absorption (ESA), excited-state lifetimes, and the quantum yields of triplet excited-state formation, RSA/OPL at 532 nm for ns laser pulses, TPA characteristics in the near-IR spectral regions, and the structure-property correlations were reviewed. This paper is composed of four sections. First, the current status of OPL materials and devices, the general requirements for reverse saturable absorbers and two-photon absorbing materials, and the different types and characteristics of square-planar platinum(II) complexes were briefly introduced. Then the photophysics and RSA/OPL of six series of Pt(Ⅱ) terpyridine-analogous complexes and the structure-property correlations were discussed. Following it the TPA of five series of Pt(Ⅱ) terpyridine complexes and the impacts of structural variations on the TPA cross sections (σ2) were reviewed. Finally, brief conclusions were drawn based on the reported studies. A general trend discovered was that the charge transfer absorption band(s) and the ESA can be readily tuned by substituents on the acetylide or the terpyridine ligand. Introducing electron-donating substituent to the acetylide or terpyridine ligand or improving the coplanarity between the aromatic substituent and the terpyridine ligand red-shifted the ground-state charge-transfer absorption band(s) at the price of decreasing/quenching the triplet ESA, which consequently reduced the RSA/OPL at 532 nm. Extending the π-conjugation of the terpyridine ligand dramatically improved the σ2 values of the Pt(Ⅱ) terpyridine complexes. Incorporation of electron-withdrawing π-conjugated aromatic substituent restrained the GSA to < 500 nm while keeping a long-lived triplet excited state with broadband ESA in the visible spectral regions and moderately strong TPA in the NIR regions. This approach could provide a solution for developing broadband OPL materials.


Purpose The purpose of our study was to investigate the relationship between serum sodium levels and 1-year and 3-year mortality in critically ill patients with comorbid chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using real-world data. Methods The data of this study were collected from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-IV (MIMIC-IV) database. First of all, we used the Kaplan–Meier curves and multivariable Cox regression analyses to measure the relationship between serum sodium levels and 1-year and 3-year mortality for critically ill patients with comorbid COPD. Next, a restricted cubic spline was used to analyze non-parametrically the relationship between mortality and serum sodium as a continuous variable. In addition, we also analyzed the mortality of different subgroups. Results A total of 5540 eligible subjects were extracted. Compared to normal serum sodium levels, adjusted multivariable Cox regression analysis confirmed that hyponatremia and hypernatremia were still significantly associated with 1-year mortality (HR = 1.551, 95% CI = 1.333~1.805, P<0.001; HR = 1.683, 95% CI = 1.317~2.151, P<0.001, respectively) and 3-year mortality (HR = 1.507, 95% CI = 1.302~1.744, P<0.001; HR = 1.612, 95% CI = 1.269~2.048, P<0.001, respectively). In patients with or without adjustment variables, there was an obvious U-shaped non-linear relationship between serum sodium levels and 1-year and 3-year mortality with a reference level of 139 mmol/L, which indicated that patients in both hyponatremia and hypernatremia had higher mortality than normal serum sodium levels. Conclusion This study showed that both hyponatremia and hypernatremia were related to increased 1-year and 3-year mortality in critically ill patients with comorbid COPD, which provides a new reference for the control strategy of correcting serum sodium levels.


ISO 11898 is a communication protocol based on the carrier sense multiple access with collision detection and arbitration on message priority (CSMA/CD+AMP) technique, which at present is largely used as a real-time network for industrial environments. Unfortunately, because of the peculiarities of the arbitration technique it adopts, it suffers from severe limitations on the maximum extension of the network, which cannot be overcome simply by means of improvements in the transceiver's technology as they depend on the limited propagation speed of the signals on the communication support. In this paper, a new kind of network is presented that features a behavior very similar to ISO 11898, but which achieves noticeably larger areas to be covered without having to reduce the bit rate. It relies on a tree topology and adopts a brand new multistage hierarchical distributed arbitration technique, which takes the increased propagation delays into account properly.


Introduction Purkinje system and false tendons (FTs) are related to ventricular arrhythmia, but the association between Purkinje fibers and FTs is not clear. This study investigated the associations of anatomical and electrophysiological characteristics between Purkinje fibers and FTs. Methods and Results We optimized the protocol of Lugol's iodine solution staining of Purkinje fibers to study the anatomical structure and originated a novel electrophysiological mapping method, named the direct visual mapping (DVM) method, to study the electrophysiological characteristics. By using the above-mentioned innovations in 12 dogs, we found the following. (1) There was no Purkinje fiber found 0.5 cm–1.0 cm below the valve annulus or on the leaflets or chordae tendineae of the mitral valve or adjacent to the top 1/3 of the papillary muscle. (2) Purkinje fibers existed in all FTs, including smaller and tiny FTs. (3) The Purkinje fibers contained in the FTs extended from the proximal to the distal end, and their electrophysiological characteristics were similar to the fibers on the endocardium, including anterograde, retrograde, and decremental conduction and automaticity. Conclusions Purkinje fibers are commonly found in FTs. The electrophysiological characteristics of the Purkinje fibers contained in FTs are similar to the fibers on the endocardium. FTs might have an anatomical and electrophysiological basis for ventricular arrhythmia.


Abstract The peak shear strength envelope of soils, rock fills, highly weathered rock and jointed rock can exhibit significant curvature over a range of stresses. In the past a power curve relation has been used to represent this non-linear envelope. An accurate and rigorous method is given which calculates the 'best fit' power curve relation to test data in the form of Mohr circles. The mathematical function for the power curve then represents the shear strength equation. In order to test and study the method, it is applied to shear strength results, from tests on six overconsolidated clays. The failure envelopes for the clays are significantly curved and a power curve relation provides a good estimate of the failure envelopes. Comparisons with linear failure envelopes clearly show that, over the same stress range, the power curve relation is the more realistic approximation of shear strength. A slope stability method of analysis is given which uses the power curve relation for the shear strength of materials. It can be used for slopes in, or constructed of, soils, rock fills or highly weathered rock where a non-linear failure envelope is representative of shear strength. The method is based on Janbu's Rigorous Method of Slices and is for use in analysing failures with a failure surface of arbitrary shape.


1. Lake Kus (Manyas Golu), an important bird conservation area, was sampled in the summer, autumn, winter and spring of 1997, and the seasonal and spatial distributions of ostracods were investigated. Many of the taxa collected are useful indicator species for monitoring conditions within lake basins.

2. The findings suggest that the L. Kus ecosystem is already substantially degraded. Pollution, coupled with extensive water abstraction for irrigation, have damaged the value of the lake, both commercially (as an inland waters fishery), and as an important site for wetland bird conservation.

3. This work shows that ostracod faunal analysis has value in the study of such sites, particularly where more formal physical, chemical and biological monitoring methods are inappropriate or unavailable. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The conventional mode of health delivery can be profiled as follows: a patient, if he does not feel good, will visit his physician and report his symptoms (e.g., headache, bellyache, and nausea, etc); the physician strives to make a few empirical hypotheses based on the patient's complaints and medical history; in general, the physician has to further examine the patient's vital signs (e.g., body temperature, blood pressure, and pulse, etc.) so as to confirm or reject his initial hypotheses; if the physician is confident enough on his hypotheses, the final diagnosis decision can be made and the according treatments are hereby delivered; if not, the physician will resort to various medical instruments (e.g., electrocardiography, ultrasonography, and computed tomography, etc) and laboratory tests (e.g., blood test, urinalysis, and immunological analysis, etc); during this procedure, the initial hypotheses may be updated at any time; to those complicated diseases, the physicians will propose a few tentative treatments and modify them in accordance with clinical observations. It is noteworthy that above procedure is triggered and driven by patients' symptoms. But most symptoms are subjective, and are late manifestations of a disease or a group of diseases. In other words, they often incur expensive and painful clinical treatments. Furthermore, once the patients perceive malign symptoms, they may have missed the best opportunity of medical treatments. Take cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) for an example. Nowadays it is possible to treat or relieve nearly all CVDs by medical interventions, such as controlling blood pressure and blood cholesterol. In the case of refractory or congenital CVDs, various sophisticated clinical instruments and operations, including pacemakers, prosthetic valves, coronary artery bypass and even whole heart transplantation, have been developed and practiced too. As a consequence, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports "... at least 80% of premature deaths from heart disease and stroke could be avoided


This article analyses data from the 2007 Indonesia Family Life Survey in order to decompose the gender gap in earnings into explained and unexplained gaps, not only at the mean but also across the entire distribution. Women earned about 30% less than men, in both paid work and self-employment. The explained gap accounts for only about a quarter of the gap in paid work but for about half of the gap in self-employment. When the decomposition is made across the earnings distribution, the total gap decreases with earnings in both paid work and self-employment, and both conditional and unconditional on characteristics. In both employment sectors, the explained gap remains similar across the distribution, and therefore the unexplained gap drives the decrease in the total gap. The unconditional decomposition across the distribution provides great insight into the dynamics that are obscured in results derived from decomposition at the mean.


Background Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis, experienced by 2.5% of UK adults and predominately managed in primary care. Gout patients frequently experience comorbidity, the presence of one or more additional disorder or disease with an index condition. Whilst the association with physical conditions has been widely investigated, research into the potential association between gout populations and specific psychological comorbidity remains limited, as does the role of different gout characteristics on such comorbid experience. Objectives To examine the prevalence of anxiety and depression comorbidity in gout and the characteristics of gout with which these are associated. Methods As part of a longitudinal cohort study, a baseline questionnaire was sent to 1,805 participants with gout aged ≥18 years from UK primary care. Participants had a gout diagnosis or prescriptions for allopurinol or colchicine in their medical records two years prior to the baseline questionnaire. Prevalence of anxiety was defined using the Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) questionnaire and depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between the presence of either of these psychological comorbidities and several gout characteristics, including; i) the frequency of gout attacks in the last 12 months, ii) use of allopurinol, iii) history of polyarticular gout and iv) the age at which the diagnosis of gout had been made. Crude associations were reported as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) initially, followed by associations adjusted for age, gender, deprivation status, body mass index, other comorbidities (hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes mellitus, angina, myocardial infarction, kidney stones, transient ischaemic attack, kidney failure or stroke) and alcohol consumption. Results 1,184 participants responded to the baseline questionnaire (65.6%). Prevalence of comorbid anxiety was found in 10.0% of participants, depression in 12.6%. Three or more gout attacks in 12 months was associated with the presence of anxiety (OR 1.78 (95% CI 1.0 to 3.1)) and depression (2.65 (95% CI 1.5 to 4.5)). History of polyarticular gout was associated with depression only (adjusted OR 2.28 (95% CI 1.5 to 3.5)). No association was found between the use of allopurinol or gout duration and the presence of anxiety or depression. Conclusions Of gout patients attending UK primary care, around 10% will also have comorbid anxiety or depression. In particular, those who have experienced frequent gout attacks or have gout in multiple joints are significantly more likely to experience these psychological comorbidities. The presence of anxiety and/or depression may influence adherence to medication and participation in routine reviews, hence impacting adversely on the outcome of gout management. Whilst further evidence is needed to support the routine screening of patients with gout for anxiety and depression, clinicians should be aware that these problems often coexist and may adversely impact on health outcomes for this frequently neglected group. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3383


Summary Aim: Reversible or irreversible myocardial damage due to ischemia correlates with altered membrane functions of the cells. To compare myocardial free fatty acid (FFA) metabolism and flow during exercise induced ischemia we studied ten patients with coronary artery disease but without previous myocardial infarction. Methods: A series of post-exercise single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) measurements was performed after injection of 123I labelled heptadecanoic acid (HDA). Myocardial perfusion was estimated from the separately performed exercise-redistribution thallium study. Fatty acid metabolic rate, thallium uptake and washout were calculated for anterior, lateral, posterior and septal segments. Results: The more reduced post-exercise FFA metabolic rate (–63 ±18%, mean ±1 SD) compared to flow (–36 ±16%) was related to the severity of myocardial ischemia and wall motion abnormalities. Conclusion: In this small group of patients, the reduced post-exercise FFA metabolic rate tentatively suggests a parsimonious workload of the exercising myocardium by reducing oxygen consumption in patients with coronary artery disease.


For the purpose of studying the aging changes of macromolecular synthesis in the pancreatic acinar cells of experimental animals, we studied 10 groups of aging mice during development and aging from fetal day 19 to postnatal month 24. They were injected with 3H-uridine, a precursor for RNA synthesis, sacrificed and the pancreatic tissues were taken out, fixed and processed for light and electron microscopic radioautography. On many radioautograms the localization of silver grains demonstrating RNA synthesis in pancreatic acinar cells in respective aging groups were analyzed qualitatively. The number of mitochondria per cell, the number of labeled mitochondria with silver grains and the number of silver grains in each cell in respective aging groups were analyzed quantitatively in relation to the aging of animals. The results revealed that the RNA synthetic activity as expressed by the incorporations of RNA precursor, i.e., the number of silver grains in cell nuclei, cell organelles, changed due to the aging of animals. The number of mitochondria, the number of labeled mitochondria and the mitochondrial labeling index labeled with silver grains were counted in each pancreatic acinar cell. It was demonstrated that the number of mitochondria, the number of labeled mitochondria and the labeling indices showing RNA synthesis at various ages increased from embryonic day 19 to postnatal newborn day 1, 3, 9, 14, adult month 1, 2 and 6, reaching the maxima, then decreased to senile stage at postnatal year 1 to 2, indicating the aging changes. Based upon our findings, available literature on macromolecular synthesis in mitochondria of various cells are reviewed.


Nanostructured WC-Co/Al powder was synthesized from WC-12Co powder and pure Al powder by mechanical alloying MA. The morphology and microstructural evolution of WC-Co/Al powder were investigated by a series of characterization methods. The results showed that the β-Co phase in the initial WC-12Co powder was replaced by the AlxCo phases such as Al9Co2 and Al13Co4. As the ball milling time increased, the average grain size of WC in the WC-Co/Al powder decreased firstly and then remained at a constant value of around 40 nm. The deposition behavior of powders sprayed by high velocity oxygen fuel HVOF spraying was investigated. During spraying, the WC-Co/Al powder had a better flattening than the WC-12Co powder without ball milling, which is beneficial to fabricate compact coatings with lower porosity.


Decision makers in dynamic environments (e.g., stock trading, inventory control, and firefighting) learn poorly in experiments where feedback about the outcomes of their actions is delayed. In searching for ways to mitigate these effects, this paper presents two computational models of learning with feedback delays and contrasts them against human decision-makers' performance. The no-memory model hypothesizes that decision makers always perceive feedback as immediate. The with-memory model hypothesizes that, over time, decision makers are able to develop internal representations of the task that help them to perform with delayed feedback. As borne out by human subjects, both models predict that a display of past history improves learning with delay and that increasing delay increasingly degrades performance. Even though the length of training in this task exceeds that used in many laboratory-based dynamic tasks, neither the two models nor the subjects are able to effectively learn without decision aids when faced with feedback delays. When given an amount of training that more closely approximates that provided in functioning dynamic environments, the with-memory model predicts that human decision makers may learn without decision aids over the long term if feedback delays are simple. These results raise several issues for continued theoretical investigation as well as potential suggestions for training and supporting decision makers in dynamic environments with feedback delays. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.


This paper investigates the utility of different parameters from polarimetric interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data for the identification of ground pixels in a woodland area to enable accurate digital terrain model (DTM) generation from the InSAR height of the selected ground hit pixels. The parameters assessed include radar backscatter, interferometric coherence, surface scattering proportion (based on Freeman-Durden decomposition), and standard deviation of the interferometric height. The method is applied to Monks Wood, a small seminatural deciduous woodland in Cambridgeshire, U.K., using airborne E-SAR data collected in June 2000. The 1428 variations of SAR-derived terrain models are validated with theodolite data and a light detection and ranging-derived DTM. The results show that increasing the amount of data used in the DTM creation does not necessarily increase the accuracy of the final DTM. The most accurate method, for the whole wood, was a fixed-window minimum-filtering algorithm, followed by a mean filter. However, for a spatial subset of the area using the upsi3 backscattering coefficient to identify ground pixels outperforms the minimum filtering method. The findings suggest that backscatter information may often be undervalued in estimating terrain height under forest canopies


Tea is a worldwide consumed herbal beverage and it was aimed in this study to reveal the major fractions of green and black tea in order to enlighten the in vitro inhibition potency on the well‐known drug metabolizing enzyme CYP2D6 activity. Methylxanthine fractions were extracted from green and black tea and a yield of 0.265 g (1.06%) for 25 g of dried black tea and 0.302 g (1.2%) for 25 g of green tea was calculated. High‐performance liquid chromatography analysis represented that the major components of the methylxanthine fractions were caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline. Methylxanthine content of black tea was 368.25 ± 4.6 μg/ml caffeine, 89.30 ± 2.3 μg/ml theobromine, and 3.40 ± 0.5 μg/ml theophylline, whereas that of green tea was 176.50 ± 3.7 μg/ml caffeine, 53.85 ± 1.4 μg/ml theobromine, and 2.06 ± 0.7 μg/ml theophylline. The results of concentration‐dependent inhibition studies were 76% green tea, 75% black tea, and 55% caffeine at concentration of 10 mg/ml. The inhibition rates of green and black tea on CYP2D6 activity were 76% and 75%, respectively, where that of quinidine, the well‐known inhibitor of CYP2D6, was 82%. Our results indicate that green and black tea is very likely to modify the CYP2D6 enzyme activity.


Purpose Neuroprotectin D1 (NPD1) attenuates laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV) when administered intraperitoneally. Due to its lipophilicity and low molecular weight, NPD1 is well suited for topical delivery; thus, we investigated the efficacy of topically applied NPD1 in attenuating CNV. We also examined the effect of NPD1 on the recruitment and activation of microglia surrounding CNV lesions. Methods Mice were given laser-induced CNV and treated with NPD1 eye drops. CNV was evaluated by fluorescein leakage using a novel image analysis method and by isolectin B4 immunofluorescence of neovasculature. Microglia; recruitment was assessed by quantification. Using form factor, solidity, convexity, and fractal dimension, microglial activation was quantitatively assessed by two-dimensional, and for the first time, three-dimensional morphology. An ImageJ plugin, 3D Shape, was developed to enable this analysis. Results NPD1 attenuated leakage and neovascularization. The proximity of microglia to CNV lesions was significantly closer with NPD1. Consistent with the cellular ramification, microglia in NPD1-treated eyes were larger and exhibited a lower form factor and higher fractal dimension. Conclusions Our data show that NPD1 signaling induces a ramified, non-injury-inducing microglial phenotype coincident with attenuation of CNV. Since microglia are crucial participants in neurodegenerative diseases, the discovery that microglia are potential targets of NPD1 signaling warrants further investigation.


【 ABSTRACT 】 Jerry Fodor and Ernest Lepore (1999/2002) frame the debate over meaning holism in terms of a distinction between meaning atomism and meaning anatomism. The former holds that the meaning of an expression E is determined by some relation between E and some extra-linguistic entity. The latter holds that the meaning of E is at least partly determined by some of E 's "inward" relations ( IRs ) with other expressions in the very language. They (1992) argue that meaning anatomism inevitably collapses into meaning holism, which is the view that the meaning of E is determined by E 's IRs with every other expression in the very language because there is no principled distinction for the anatomist to divide the meaning-determining IRs from the non-meaning-determining ones. In response, the non-holistic anatomist urges that Fodor and Lepore's no-principled-basis consideration is groundless because the lack of a generally accepted criterion for such a distinction does not undermine the viability of the distinction itself. While this point is well taken, I think that Fodor and Lepore are onto an important question here. That is, what does it make non-holistic anatomism distinctive


Objectives: The incidence of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) has been increasing among non-HIV-infected patients. Here, we investigated the clinical characteristics, treatment outcomes, and prognostic factors of PCP in non-HIV-infected patients. Patients and methods: Information on clinical characteristics, treatment outcomes, and prognostic factors of PCP patients who were treated at a medical center in northern Taiwan from October 2015 to October 2016 were retrieved from medical records and evaluated. Results: Among the patients with PCP included in the study, 84 were non-HIV-infected and 25 were HIV-infected. Non-HIV-infected patients with PCP had a longer duration between radiographic findings and treatment (P<0.001), and a higher rate of hospital-associated PCP (P<0.001), hypoxia (P=0.015), respiratory failure (P<0.001), and mortality (P=0.006) than HIV-infected patients with PCP. Among non-HIV-infected patients, non-survivors had a higher fungal burden (46.2% vs 22.2%, P=0.039), higher requirement for adjunctive steroid treatment (94.9% vs 71.1%, P=0.011), and higher rate of pneumothorax (17.9% vs 2.2%, P=0.038) than survivors. Multiple logistic regression revealed that lymphopenia (odds ratio [OR] =3.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] =1.07–9.79; P=0.037), adjunctive steroid use (OR =6.23, 95% CI =1.17–33.14; P=0.032), and pneumothorax (OR =10.68, 95% CI =1.00–113.93; P=0.050) were significantly associated with increased 60-day mortality among non-HIV-infected PCP patients. Conclusion: Lymphopenia, adjunctive steroid therapy, and pneumothorax were significantly associated with higher mortality in non-HIV-infected patients with PCP.


A 13-year-old girl was referred for evaluation of the deceleration in her rate of linear growth, an arrest in the progression of her pubertal maturation, and bifrontal headaches. Detailed endocrinological and radiological studies revealed the following abnormalities: partial growth hormone deficiency, prepubertal luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone responses to exogenous gonadotropin-releasing hormone, aqueductal stenosis with obstructive hydrocephalus, and marked focal dilation of her third ventricle. Ventriculoperitoneal shunting resulted in increased linear growth, resumption of pubertal development, and correction of her documented neuroendocrine abnormalities.


Phthalates comprise a group of synthetic chemicals present in the environment because of their wide use as plasticizers and as additives in products for personal care. Among others, diethyl phthalate (DEP) is largely used in products for infants, children, and adults, in which its exposure has been correlated with an increased risk of breast cancer. The adverse health outcomes deriving from phthalate exposure have been associated with their activity as endocrine disruptors (EDCs) of the steroid and thyroid hormone signaling by affecting developmental and reproductive health, and even carcinogenicity. However, the estrogen disruptor activities of DEP are still controversial, and the mechanism at the root of the estrogenic-disrupting action of DEP remains to be clarified. Here, we evaluated the DEP mechanism of action on the activation status of estrogen receptor α (ERα) by analyzing the receptor's phosphorylation as well as both nuclear and extra-nuclear pathways triggered by the receptor to modulate the proliferation of breast cancer cells. Although DEP does not bind to ERα, our results suggest that this phthalate ester exerts multiple parallel interactions with ERα signaling and emphasize the importance to determine an appropriate battery of in vitro methods that will include specific molecular mechanisms involved in the endocrine disruption.


An international consensus has emerged on the need for strong and early action on sustainable development, involving creative initiatives aimed at improving the quality and diversity of life in new ecologically and creatively informed developments. But there has been relatively little research completed on how the collaboration and internationalization of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) from emerging markets like China can power this process. In particular, SMEs are more vulnerable to the threats of globalization than larger companies despite their important role in the local economy. Hence this paper will take a bottom-up approach, focusing on the needs in this respect of Chinese "stigmatized" cities, which have benefited economically from industrial development over the past decade, but with severe consequences for the inhabitants, ranging from air pollution, transportation nightmares, ant-social housing, lack of diversity of indigenous services and facilities, and community destruction. The first part of this paper will describes the current problems/developments of the creative industries context in China and how this impacts on SMEs. Then it identifies deficits and problems on existing theories and practice regarding to SME cluster building in the face of globalization, taking a critical social psychological perspective. After addressing shortcomings of the traditional, mainly top-down, approaches and how they may be overcome by taking a bottom-up creative approach to building collaboration between SMEs, the paper confronts the question: how can GDACS (Group decision authoring and communication support) provide a suitable facilitating infrastructure for SMEs' cooperation in a creative industries cluster integrating both top-down and bottom-up perspectives and activities? It considers in particular the case of the building of a multinational SME cluster by the International Creative Industries Alliance (ICIA) of Beijing, following the ICIA's aim to "engage in real-world implementation cases, achieving results and producing outputs in ways that give new social, community, ecological and economic benefits".


Six generations of RPC systems can be distinguished including Federated Method Invocation (FMI) presented in this paper. Some of them—CORBA, Java RMI, and Web/Globus services—support distributed objects. However, creating object wrappers implementing remote interfaces doesn't have a great deal to do with object-oriented distributed programming. Distributed objects developed that way are usually ill-structured with missing core objectoriented traits: encapsulation, instantiation, inheritance, and network-centric messaging by ignoring the real nature of networking. A distributed system is not just a collection of distributed objects—it's the network of objects. In particular, the object wrapping approach does not help to cope with network-centric messaging, invocation latency, object discovery, dynamic object federation, fault detection, recovery, partial failure, etc. The JiniTM architecture does not hide the network; it allows the programmer to deal with the network reality: leases for network resources, distributed events, transactions, and discovery/join protocols to form federations. A service-oriented architecture presented in this paper implements FMI to support metaprogramming. The triple Command pattern implantation uses Jini service management and Rio dynamic provisioning for managing the network of FMI objects.


Dentine is a porous hydrated composite structure that forms the major bulk of the human tooth. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of free water on the in-plane, mechanical strain response in dentine structure. A digital moire interferometry was used for this purpose. It was observed from this experiment that structural dentine demonstrated distinct strain gradients in the axial (perpendicular to the dentinal tubules) and lateral (parallel to the dentinal tubules) directions. The hydrated dentine displayed significant increase in strain with stress in the direction perpendicular to the dentinal tubules, and this response was characteristic of a tough material. On the contrary, the dehydrated dentine, which was dehydrated at 24 degrees C, 55% relative humidity for 72 h showed a strain response characteristic of a brittle material. The strains formed in the direction parallel to the dentinal tubules for hydrated dentine were consistent and did not vary much with increase in applied loads. Upon dehydration, the outer dentine experienced higher strains, and the difference between the outer and inner dentine became more conspicuous with increase in loads. This experiment highlights hydration-induced, distinct in-plane strain gradients in the directions perpendicular and parallel to the dentinal tubules in the dentine structure.


The lysosomotropic detergent N-dodecylimidazole (C12-Im) has previously been found to kill mammalian cells by concentrating in lysosomes, followed by lysosomal disruption and release of cytotoxic enzymes into the cytoplasm. The action of C12-Im on Saccharomyces cerevisiae is described in this report. C12-Im prevented growth of colonies when present in 1% yeast extract-2% Bacto-Peptone-2% glucose plates at concentrations of 5 micrograms/ml or above, or when present in a soft agar overlay at 20 micrograms/ml. Treatment of cells suspended in glucose-containing buffer (pH 8.0, 37 degrees C) with C12-Im (6 micrograms/ml) caused greater than 95% cell death within 6 min. Dependence of killing on C12-Im concentration was sigmoidal, suggesting a cooperative mode of action. Killing was pH dependent, being much more effective at pH 8.0 than at pH 5.0. Ammonium sulfate and imidazole protected against killing if added before, but not after, the addition of C12-Im. Sensitivity to C12-Im was strongly growth dependent: the cells were most sensitive at early to mid-logarithmic phase of growth and became progressively less sensitive during progression through late logarithmic and stationary phase. Vacuolar disruption by C12-Im was demonstrated by using cells loaded with lucifer yellow CH or fluoresceinated dextran in their vacuoles; vacuoles of logarithmically growing cells were more sensitive than those of stationary-phase cells. These results suggest that vacuolar disruption by C12-Im may underlie its cytotoxic effects.


AbstractFindings on the role of plasma miR-21 expression in colorectal cancer are contradictory. Before reaching a peripheral vein (PV), microRNAs released by the tumor are dispersed throughout the body. We hypothesized that blood drawn from the mesenteric vein (MV) near the site of the primary tumor could provide more homogeneous information than blood drawn from the PV.We have analyzed miR-21 expression in matched samples of tumor tissue, normal tissue, MV plasma, and PV plasma in 57 surgically resected patients with colon cancer and correlated our findings with clinical characteristics and disease-free survival (DFS).miR-21 expression was higher in MV than PV plasma (P = 0.014) and in tumor than in normal tissue (P < 0.001). Patients with high levels of miR-21 in MV plasma had shorter DFS (P = 0.05) than those with low levels, and those with high levels in both MV and PV plasma had shorter DFS than all other patients (P = 0.01).Our findings suggest that the primary tumor in colon cancer releases high concentrations of miR-21 in the MV but that these concentrations are later diluted in the circulatory system. MV expression of miR-21 may be a stronger prognostic marker than PV expression.


Abstract Aim Limnological conditions, phytoplankton and zooplankton communities in a fishpond highly affected by management during the dry and rainy seasons are investigated. Methods Water samples were analyzed for physicochemical parameters; soil samples were analyzed for macro- and micro-nutrients, phytoplankton and zooplankton communities, at four sites, during eight months in the rainy and dry seasons. Distance-based linear model (DISTLM) was applied with Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), where the influence of environmental variables in the variation of phytoplankton and zooplankton composition could be assessed and the best model could be selected. Results The multiparameter test revealed that variables pH, TSS and TP better explain the composition of the biotic community (AICc = 45.6; R2 = 0.80). Chlorophyceae was the dominant group with 32 taxa, or rather, 75-85% of total phytoplankton, with high density at 2,365-4,180 ind.L-1 during the sampling period. Rotifera was the most abundant group in the zooplankton community during the two seasons, except at IW2 during the dry season, when Copepoda had a higher density, namely, 52% of total zooplankton community at this site. Conclusions The contribution of allochthonous material to the fishpond during the two seasons mainly consists of macro- and micro-nutrients and thermotolerant coliforms that influenced the plankton community and enhanced high Cyanobacteria density in the rainy season. Plankton community in the studied pond was characteristic of small water bodies. Management protocol in places with continuous water flow according to the region may be an important tool to optimize and to avoid risks in fish production.


In this paper, we proposed a fast virtual machine (VM) storage migration technique. Virtual machine storage migration can migrate entire VM states to other hosts, including VM disk images. It is widely used for cross-data-center load management. However, VM disk images generally have large file sizes (typically 1-30GB). Thus, storage migration was time-consuming. To address this problem, we introduce the deduplication technique into traditional VM storage migration. We focused on the fact that it is possible to return VMs from the new VM hosts. For example, a VM first migrates from host A to host B. Next, the VM returns from host B to host A. There will then be additional reusable disk pages in host A. Consequently, to expedite the operation, we only return to host A the disk pages that have been updated while in host B. We implement this idea to a QEMU/KVM (kernel virtual machine). To track the reusable disk pages, we developed a DBT (Dirty Block Tracking) mechanism and a new diff format to store the tracking result. In this paper, we discuss the design and implementation of our prototype. Our technique successfully reduced the transfer time for storage migration from 10 minutes to about 10 seconds in some practical workloads. KeywordsVirtual Machine Monitor; VMM; VM Live Migration; VM Storage Migration


ABSTRACT Moss cushion plays an important role in recruitment of vascular plants. In this study, we examined the effects of water soluble extracts (WSE) of Abietinella abietina on germination of Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) and the effects of moss substrates (A. abietina) on seedling emergence of P. crassifolia in two greenhouse experiments. We found that the WSE of moss affected germination of P. crassifolia in two ways: (1) the WSE reducing the risk of fungal infection to the seeds, improve the germination rate; and (2) the WSE affects germination by its concentration, that is, low concentrations of WSE (i.e., 0.5 mg ml-1 and 5 mg ml-1) stimulate, while high concentrations (i.e., 50 mg ml-1) inhibit it. In seedling emergence experiments, we detected that the moss substrates (both thick and thin mosses) facilitate the emergence of P. crassifolia in dry and intermediate moisture conditions, but inhibit it in moist conditions. In bare soil, the P. crassifolia emergence was also controlled by moisture conditions; the highest (60%) and the lowest (35%) emergence occurred in the moist conditions and dry conditions, respectively. We also found that P. crassifolia seedlings were thinner and taller, but their number higher in moss cushion than in bare soil. Thus we conclude that there is nurse effect of A. abietina cushion on recruitment of P. crassifolia in both dry and intermediate moisture conditions.


Abstract In this contribution, we present an overview of the contribution made by the shipping sector to global CO 2  emissions. We review the currently proposed technology options for mitigating these emissions, and propose a new option for the control of greenhouse gas emissions from shipping.


Recognizing and evaluating effective and principal factors that have been affected by academicians' feelings and satisfaction are imperative. This cross-sectional study aims to examine coworker's influence, pay, promotion, supervision, and work on academicians' job satisfaction at university. Job Descriptive Index (JDI) measured these factors, which comprised 72 items and proposed by Brodke et al. (2009) amongst 440 academicians who worked in public research universities in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Descriptive Statistics analyzed the achieved data.  This study has illustrated that most academicians revealed a high level of satisfaction toward their pay, coworker, promotion, supervision, and work; their universities support them regarding the main factors of work and organizational structure. Based on these consequences, the universities and any other academic institutes have to the consciousness of these five main factors to improve and enhance academicians job satisfaction, leading to high outcomes and performance at the workplace.


The differentiation of rat seminiferous tubules have been studied in 13 to 19 days old. Testicular weight and tubular cross-sectional area were more than doubled during this period. The percentage of tubules with more than 10 primary spermatocytes increased from 4% to 90%, and the lanthanum excluding ability of the inter-Sertoli cell junctions (the blood-testis barrier) showed a similar increase but two days later. ABP production in vitro increased more than twentyfold from day 13 to day 19 of age. It is concluded that the differentiation of Sertoli cell function and the appearance of primary spermatocytes are temporally correlated which supports the assumption that the function of the Sertoli cells is important for initiation and maintenance of spermatogenesis.


The State aid review of business tax measures under Article 108 TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) essentially concerns tax advantages which favour certain undertakings or productions, without there being a justification from the nature or scheme of the system. The presence of unjustified discriminations caused by national tax measures affecting the functioning of the Internal Market is also the condition for the Commission to promote infringement procedures, pursuant to Article 258 TFEU. The case law relating to the joined review of national tax measures both under the application of State aid and the elimination of discriminations contrary to other Treaty rules is scarce but significant. Typically, the review of State aids and discriminatory tax measures is disjoined because the incompatibility of the latter measures, unlike State aids, is directly enforceable by national courts. Moreover, not all forms of discriminatory taxation are also State aid and the Commission has exclusive competence to review the compatibility of State aids, including fiscal aids. However, the State aid review can sometimes lead to contextually determine, besides the selective nature of a tax advantage in favour of certain undertakings, the presence of additional market effects of a discriminatory tax system measure, without prejudice however to the separate examination of its justification for overriding reasons of public interest which can only take place in the framework of the more protective procedure pursuant to Article 258 TFEU. The assessment of the selective nature of a tax measure under State aid rules remains, however, separate from the one to ascertain possible tax restrictions or discriminations. A Joint review provides for a complex framework by which when an aid measure is also discriminatory in a sense prohibited by other Treaty rules, the existence of a link between the discrimination and aid under review obliges the Commission to take into account the ulterior effects of the measure in assessing its compatibility with the Internal Market.


The major threat faced by today's world is increasing number of accidents. Nowadays people are driving very fast; we lost our valuable life by making small mistake while driving (school zone, hills area, and highways). So in order to avoid such kind of accidents and to alert the drivers and to control their vehicle speed in such kind of places the highway department have placed the signboards. But sometimes it may be possible to view that kind of signboards and there is a chance for accident. In this paper we are controlling the speed of two wheelers. This paper is composed of two separate units: zone status transmitter unit and receiver (speed display and control) unit. Once the information is received from the zones, the vehicle's embedded unit automatically alerts the driver, to reduce the speed according to the zone, it waits for few seconds, and otherwise vehicle's speed control unit automatically reduces the speed.


Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is primarily grown as a staple tree crop for food security in Oceania. Significant wind damage has driven interest in developing its dwarfing rootstocks. Due to the predominantly vegetative propagation of the species, grafting onto interspecific seedlings is an approach to identifying dwarfing rootstocks. However, grafting of breadfruit onto unrelated Artocarpus species has not been investigated. Here we first report the success of breadfruit grafting onto interspecific rootstocks, marang (A. odoratissimus) and pedalai (A. sericicarpus). To address the low graft survival, we investigated the relationship of plasma membrane (PM) H+ -ATPase activity to graft success. We provide the first evidence for a positive correlation between PM H+ -ATPase activity and graft survival. The graft unions of successful grafts had higher PM H+ -ATPase activity compared to those of failed grafts. Rootstocks with low PM H+ -ATPase activity in leaf microsomes before grafting had lower graft survival than those with high enzyme activity, with graft success of 10% versus 60% and 0% versus 30% for marang and pedalai rootstocks, respectively. There was a positive correlation between graft success and the PM H+ -ATPase activity measured from the rootstock stem microsomes 2 months after grafting [marang, r(7) = 0.9203, P = 0.0004; pedalai (r(7) = 0. 8820, P = 0.0017]. Removal of scion's own roots decreased the leaf PM H+ -ATPase activity of grafted plants regardless of the final graft outcome. Recovery of the enzyme activity was only found in the successful grafts. The function of PM H+ -ATPase in graft union development and graft success improvement is discussed.


This paper studies the structure of the employment relationship in organizations. It investigates the trade-off firms face between making commitments to their workforce as a whole (multilateral relational contracts), and making more limited commitments to individuals or smaller groups of employees (bilateral relational contracts). Multilateral contracts bind the firm more strongly to implicit commitments, improving motivation, but are difficult to adjust in response to changes in the environment. Bilateral contracts make workforce changes easier to implement. The framework helps to explain the use of relative performance evaluation, why firms rely on temporary employees, and the adoption of two-tier workforces.


Abstract Vacuum field equations in a scalar-tensor theory of gravitation, proposed by Ross, are obtained with the aid of a static plane-symmetric metric. A closed form exact solution to the field equations in this theory is presented which can be considered as an analogue of Taub's empty space-time in Einstein's theory.


Augmented marked graphs possess a number of structural characteristics which are desirable for modelling manufacturing system components. This paper investigates the preservation of well-behaved system properties for compositional synthesis of augmented marked graphs via common resource places. By modelling the components of a manufacturing system as individual augmented marked graphs, based on the property-preservation of this compositional synthesis, essential properties of the integrated system can be readily derived.


In Divorce Lawyers At Work, Lynn Mather, Craig McEwen and Richard Maiman offer an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the effects of context on lawyers' practice. Their project offers what so many legal works do not-empirical investigation to test many hotly contested questions about the realities of contemporary lawyers' lives in the law in the United States. The authors' study is of 163 lawyers practicing divorce law in New Hampshire and Maine. Of these, five lawyers receive more extensive examination and description throughout the book. While the examination of these lawyers' practice lives is so rich with themes that it proved difficult to choose a narrowing focus for this Review, I have chosen three specific themes for closer examination that are of particular relevance to current debates about the legal profession. First, are lawyers zealous client advocates? Are they "client-centered," in the terms of that phrase as used in the clinical legal education movement? Second, does gender make a difference to law practice? Do women lawyers tend to have different practice styles? Are they more nurturing and compassionate? Are they motivated differently from men and do they perceive the rewards and frustrations of their practices differently? Third and finally, how much does context count? Are there systematic correlations in variables such as size of practice, nature of clientele, gender of clients, gender of lawyers, and differences in lawyers' practice approaches and styles? If so, what accounts for these observed variations and what are their consequences? Do such differences belie conceptions of the American bar as a unitary one, in which all practitioners should be subject to the same regulations? Mather, McEwen and Maiman's book looks at all of these questions, and many more, with a fresh, open perspective, sensitive to nuances and sympathetic to their subjects, but capable of synthesis, detached observation, and critique as well.


Constrained devices will play a crucial role in the Internet of Things. These devices use communication technologies which often support the formation of wireless multihop topologies. Therefore, end-to-end data transfer involves the collaboration of multiple protocol layers. However, the settings and mechanisms used in a specific layer affect performance of the others. In this paper, we assess a set of crucial network design criteria for potential MAC layer, network layer and transport layer protocols for networks of constrained devices. We evaluate the default and alternative settings and mechanisms for these protocols on a 60-node testbed. The experiments show how performance can be improved significantly by using different settings and mechanisms from the default ones.


AIM
To compare the bond strength of addition silicone with different commonly used custom tray materials by means of different retentive methods (mechanical, chemical, and a combination of chemical and mechanical methods).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Fabrications of 90 samples of different tray resin materials were done using an aluminum mold. They were divided into three main groups. Perforations, adhesive application, and a combination of both were done according to the grouping of samples. Polyvinyl siloxane material (medium body) was loaded over the samples. A universal testing machine with a crosshead speed of 5 mm/minute was used to determine the tensile bond strength of tray resin samples to medium body impression material. Based on these values, Student's-test, group statistics, and ANOVA test were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS
Visible light cure (VLC) resin showed the highest bond strength in chemicomechanical methods. This was followed by repair resin material. Tray resin material showed poor bond strength in all three retentive methods. The mechanical method was the least retentive in all three resin materials.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
VLC tray resin material can be used with chemical and mechanical retention in clinical situations to make predictably accurate elastomeric impressions.

CONCLUSION
It was concluded that VLC tray resin shows good bond strength with polyvinyl siloxane impression material when both mechanical perforations and adhesive applications were done.


Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF), which is associated with cryptogenic stroke, is the most common sustained arrhythmia in the general population. Because AF is asymptomatic and intermittent, its detection rate increases with the duration of monitoring. The objective of this study is to review the available evidence on the safety, efficacy, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of AF diagnosis by prolonged monitoring with an implantable Holter monitor in adult patients with idiopathic or cryptogenic stroke of suspected cardioembolic origin, compared to conventional monitoring. Methods: Two independent reviewers performed a systematic review of the literature, identifying relevant studies through a structured search of Medline (Ovid), EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane Library and the databases of national and international health technology assessment agencies. The quality of the included studies was assessed with AGREE-II, AMSTAR-2 and CHEC. GRADE criteria were used to summarise the evidence Results: Four of the 211 papers identified were included: 1 clinical practice guideline, 2 systematic reviews, and 1 economic evaluation. The quality of the evidence reviewed was low. An implantable Holter monitor might be more effective in detecting AF than conventional monitoring. Serious adverse events were similar in both groups. The economic evaluation suggests that the technology is cost-effective. Conclusions: The available evidence suggests the diagnostic superiority of the implantable Holter monitor over the traditional Holter monitor. Due to the low quality of the evidence, further and higher quality studies on these technologies are needed before solid conclusions can be drawn.


Candida albicans, an ascomycete, has an ability to switch to diverse morphological forms. While C. albicans is predominatly diploid, it can tolerate aneuploidy as a survival strategy under stress. Aurora kinase B homolog Ipl1 is a critical ploidy regulator that controls microtubule dynamics and chromosome segregation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this study, we show that Ipl1 in C. albicans has a longer activation loop than that of the well-studied ascomycete S. cerevisiae. Ipl1 localizes to the kinetochores during the G1/S phase and associates with the spindle during mitosis. Ipl1 regulates cell morphogenesis and is required for cell viability. Ipl1 monitors microtubule dynamics which is mediated by separation of spindle pole bodies. While Ipl1 is dispensable for maintaining structural integrity and clustering of kinetochores in C. albicans, it is required for the maintenance of kinetochore geometry to form bilobed structures along the mitotic spindle, a feature of Ipl1 that was not observed in other yeasts. Depletion of Ipl1 results in erroneous kinetochore-microtubule attachments leading to aneuploidy-associated resistance to fluconazole, the most common anti-fungal drug used to treat Candida infections. Taking together, we suggest that Ipl1 spatiotemporally ensures kinetochore geometry to facilitate bipolar spindle assembly crucial for ploidy maintenance in C. albicans.


Background Known that pregnancy in 66-91% of patients (pts) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) contributes to improve health and reduce disease activity during gestation. The remaining 9-34% activity dynamics not observed or RA escalates. They require special attention rheumatologist and an obstetrician-gynecologist. Objectives To clarify the influence of RA activity in the I-st trimester on the disease during pregnancy and postpartum. Methods 37 pregnancies in 34 pts with RA (ACR, 1987) (median age – 29[26;31] y.o., disease duration 8[4;16] years) prospectively examined at 10, 22 and 32 (±2) weeks of pregnancy and at 3 months postpartum. Anti-CCP positive (58.8%) and RF positive (64.7%) RA prevailed. 25 (67.6%) pts took 5-10 mg per day gluco-corticosteroids (GC) per os; observations made during correction therapy. Assessment of RA activity was carried out by DAS28CRP. Results Pts have been divided into 3 groups according to disease activity in the I-st trimester. The Group matched by age, duration and stage of RA. - Group "A" (n=7) – high disease activity (DAS28CRP>4,1) - Group "B" (n=14) – low and moderate disease activity (DAS28CRP=2,3-4,1) - Group "C" (n=16) – RA in remission (DAS28CRP<2.3) In "A" progressively decreased disease activity on a background of pregnancy (p(I-III)=0.003). In the III-th trimester remission was observed in 2 (27.6%) pts, in 1 (14.3%) RA activity decreased to moderate, in 4 (57.1%) remained in the range high. The initial dose of GC was higher than in the other groups, at III-th trimester GC obtained 100% of pts. In "B" RA activity dynamic during pregnancy was minimal with the tendency to decrease. In III-rd trimester remission was observed in 3 (21.4%) pts, and a high activity in 2 (14.3%). In "C" RA activity increased progressively, reaching low (n=2, 12.5%), moderate (n=3, 18.8%) and even higher (n=1, 6.3%) activity level to the III-th trimester. In 10 (62.5%) pts remained in remission. While 6 (37.5%) pts in the group did not receive anti-inflammatory therapy during pregnancy. Postpartum RA exacerbation was observed in all groups. In group "A" active RA therapy started earlier. After 3 months after birth DAS28CRP in group "A" was reduced to moderate values and was lower than the I-st trimester. In group "B" RA activity was increased in 9 (64.3%) cases (p=0.04) and was slightly higher than the I-st trimester. In the "C" was aggravation in 10 (62.5%) pts (p=0.03) and DAS28CRP was significantly higher than in I-st trimester (p=0.002). Conclusions Exacerbation of RA or no improvement during pregnancy was observed in 43.2%, improvement in 29.8%, maintaining remission in 27%; exacerbation or high RA activity after childbirth - in 59.5%. Pts with high RA activity in I-st trimester was observed its reduction during pregnancy and after birth (p<0.05). In patients with RA remission in I-st trimester recorded increased activity during pregnancy and after childbirth. This trend determined by ongoing therapy that corrected depending on disease activity. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.5637


The aftermath of a trauma may be commonly associated with negative outcomes;however, these experiences can also lead to positive personal changes, including posttraumatic growth (PTG). Little research has explored PTG in relation to chronic or vicarious trauma, nor with regard to the social context. The current study investigated the role of perceived social support in moderating psychological distress and PTG during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cross-sectional data were collected online using CloudResearch from 296 adults residing in the United States of America during August 2020. A strong positive relationship was found between impact of trauma and PTG (r = .54;p < .001). Moderated multiple regression indicated psychological distress, perceived social support, age, gender, ethnicity, and education accounted for 39% of the variance in PTG;however, a significant positive relationship was only found between social support and PTG. The interaction between social support and psychological distress was significant (p = .021), with slope indicating the relationship between distress and PTG is strengthened with increasing social support. Contrary to expectations, this study found a significant relationship existed between PTG and perceived support from friends (beta = .23;p = .001) and family (beta = .14, p = .044), but not significant others. Age also predicted PTG, suggesting younger people may experience higher growth, and significant mean differences were found between Caucasian and African American participants who reported higher levels of PTG. These findings have potential implications for improving mental health outcomes during this challenging and novel period of our history. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)


Surface-piercing propellers can be considered as an innovative for development of the high-speed marine vessels. They have attracted the attention of designers in recent years due to their high efficiency at sea-surface conditions and their resistance to destructive phenomena of cavitation. Designers of these propellers need to reconsider some special parameters such as high maneuverability, vessel stability, higher speeds of propeller, which are of interest to owners and users. Duo to their importance role in propulsion system of high speed vessels, numerous experimental and numerical works had been done on the design of these propellers. The main objective of this research is to review the recent researches on hydrodynamics of surface piercing propellers, either theoretically or numerically, or empirically.


We study the effect of decoherence on quantum Monty Hall problem under the influence of amplitude damping, depolarizing, and dephasing channels. It is shown that under the effect of decoherence, there is a Nash equilibrium of the game in case of depolarizing channel for Alice's quantum strategy. Whereas in case of dephasing noise, the game is not influenced by the quantum channel. For amplitude damping channel, Bob's payoffs are found symmetrical about a decoherence of 50% and the maximum occurs at this value of decoherence for his classical strategy. However, it is worth-mentioning that in case of depolarizing channel, Bob's classical strategy remains always dominant against any choice of Alice's strategy.


The project was about the production and marketing of tomato-coconut milk shop that would promote skin health awareness. With the uniqueness of the project, it would give protection against ultraviolet rays from the sun. Moreover, the project is similar to those studies that try to find means to prevent or lessen skin related problems. Bath soap is considered as a commodity, thus, this project would have a substantial demand which signifies to its profitability. The project's long range-objective was to increase the profitability of the proposed product, LyCo soap , in the selected market and make it available nationwide. The study evaluated the marketing, technical, organizational management, financial, socio-economic, and environmental feasibility of producing tomato-coconut milk soap in the selected places in Laguna to arrive with its feasibility criteria. In terms of its financial feasibility, the project cost for the first year of operation is Php 5,543,637.00. The amount would be equally divided and would be funded by its owners. The payback period for the project is 2.59 years and the internal rate of return is 42.69%. The accounting rate of return is 73.12%; this signals profitability for the project.


Topological chaos has emerged as a powerful tool to investigate fluid mixing. While this theory can guarantee a lower bound on the stretching rate of certain material lines, it does not indicate what fraction of the fluid actually participates in this minimally mandated mixing. Indeed, the area in which effective mixing takes place depends on physical parameters such as the Reynolds number. To help clarify this dependency, we numerically simulate the effects of a batch stirring device on a 2D incompressible Newtonian fluid in the laminar regime. In particular, we calculate the finite time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) field for three different stirring protocols, one topologically complex (pseudo-Anosov) and two simple (finite-order), over a range of viscosities. After extracting appropriate measures indicative of both the amount of mixing and the area of effective mixing from the FTLE field, we see a clearly defined Reynolds number range in which the relative efficacy of the pseudo-Anosov protocol over the finite-order protocols justifies the application of topological chaos. More unexpectedly, we see that while the measures of effective mixing area increase with increasing Reynolds number for the finite-order protocols, they actually exhibit non-monotonic behavior for the pseudo-Anosov protocol.


Geochemical investigations of a series of boreholes drilled perpendicular to the plunge of two mineralized pipes has revealed the presence of well-developed halos of tracer elements. This is important for underground exploration as efforts to date have failed to identify any obvious structural features which could assist with the localization of such mineralized pipes.It is suggested that the mineralized aqueous fluids that gave rise to the mineralization separated from the interstitial liquid very late in the crystallization history of a compositionally zoned granite pluton. The fluids percolated upward through the unconsolidated granite and caused metasomatic alteration of the Bobbejaankop and Lease Granites. As pores of the crystallizing rocks gradually diminished because of cooling, differential upward streaming of fluids set in which was dictated largely by lateral variations in the pore spaces and incipient fracturing of the rock. This developed into a system of well-defined, but irregularly shaped, conduits where the original components of the granite were extensively altered and replaced, and where crystallization of tourmaline, cassiterite, fluorite, and other typical pipe minerals took place.


Thin films of nickel sulphide were deposited from aqueous baths on indium tin oxide glass substrate. The chemical bath contained nickel sulphate, sodium thiosulfate and triethanolamine solutions. The aim of the present study was to analyze the different experimental conditions to prepare Ni4S3 thin films using chemical bath deposition technique. The structural, morphological and optical properties of nickel sulphide thin films were obtained by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and UV-Vis Spectrophotometer will be presented. The properties of the films varied with the variation in the deposition parameters. The films deposited at longer deposition time using lower concentration in more acidic medium showed improved crystallinity, good uniformity and better adhesion to the substrate. Films showed band gap of 0.35 eV and exhibited p-type semiconductor behaviour.


The transport of L-['4Cqglutamine in oat (Avena sativa L.) and spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) chloroplasts was studied by a conventional single-layer and a newly developed stable double-layer silicone oil filtering system. I"CiGlutamine was actively transported into oat chloroplasts against a concentration gradient. Metabolite uptake was greatly affected by the endogenous dicarboxylate pools, which could be easily changed by preloading the chloroplast with specific exogenous substrate. Gluta- mine uptake was decreased by 44 to 75% in oat chloroplasts preloaded with malate, 2-oxoglutarate (2-OG), and aspartate, but increased by 52% in chloroplasts preloaded with L-glutamate. On the other hand, the uptake of the other four dicarboxylates was decreased by 47 to 79% in chloro- plasts preloaded with glutamine. In glutamine-preloaded chloroplasts the uptake of glutamine was inhibited only by L-glutamate. The observed inhibition by L-glutamate was competitive with an apparent Ki value of 32.1 millimolar in oat and 6.7 millimolar in spinach chloroplasts. This study indicates that there are two components involved in glutamine transport in chloroplasts. The major component was mediated via a specific glutamine translocator. It was specific for glutamine and did not transport other dicarboxylates except L-glutamate. A Ko.5 value of 1.25 millimolar and V.,, of 45.5 micromoles per milligram of chlorophyll per hour were determined for the glutamine translocator in oat chloroplasts. The respective values were 1.0 millimolar and 16.7 micromoles per milligram of chlorophyll per hour in spinach chloroplasts. A three-translocator model, involving the glutamine, dicarboxylate, and 2-OG translocators, is proposed for the reassimilation of photorespiratory NH3 in chloroplasts of C3 species. In this three-translocator model the addi-tional transport of glutamine into the chloroplast is coupled to the export of glutamate via the glutamine translocator. This is an extension of the two-translocator model, involving the dicarboxylate and 2-OG translocators, proposed for spinach chloroplasts, (KC Woo, UI Flugge, HW Heldt 1987 Plant Physiol 84: 624-632). These results indicate the presence of a distinct site for gluta- mine transport in these chloroplasts. Furthermore glutamate, but not aspartate (or malate or 2-OG), could apparently also be transported via this glutamine translocator. Interestingly the