A new method is introduced that uses single conventional ultrasonic transducer and a sheep horn shaped metal piece to induce two-way Lamb waves, and furthermore collects leaky Lamb waves to form two force potential wells. The immersion acoustical measurements show that the two-way Lamb waves with adjustable amplitudes can be induced when a 1MHz transducer radiates ultrasonic waves on to the semicircle of a metal "sheep horn". Furthermore, the results obtained by hydrophone measurement and fluorescence microscope observation verify that the force potential well can be formed in the circle of metal "sheep horn" by the leaky Lamb wave of each way and possibly used to collect the submicro particles. This designed method is intended to provide assistance in limited space for microscope observing by collecting particles within low force potential well. All experiment results also indicate that radiation force and the gradient of force potential well produced by this leaky Lamb wave device is very small due to s...


Perinatal HIV infection and congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection may increase the risk for hearing loss. We examined 1,435 infants enrolled in the Surveillance Monitoring of ART Toxicities (SMARTT) study of the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS) network, a prospective study of the safety of in utero antiretroviral (ARV) exposures. We determined the proportion of perinatally HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) newborns who were referred for additional hearing testing, and evaluated the association between in utero ARV exposures and newborn hearing screening results. Using a nested case-control design, we also examined congenital CMV infection in infants with and without screening referral. Congenital CMV infection was determined based on CMV DNA detection using a nested PCR assay in peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained within 14 days of birth. Among the 1,435 infants (70% black, 31% Hispanic, 51% male), 45 (3.1%) did not pass the hearing screen and were referred for further hearing testing. Based on exact logistic regression models controlling for maternal use of tobacco and ototoxic medications, first trimester exposure to Tenofovir was associated with lower odds of a newborn hearing screening referral [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.41, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.14-1.00]. Exposure to Atazanavir was linked to higher odds of newborn screening referral, although not attaining significance [aOR = 1.84, 95% CI: 0.92-3.56]. Maternal ARV use may have varying effects on newborn hearing screenings. These results highlight the importance for audiologists to be knowledgeable of in utero ARV exposures in HEU children because of the possibility of higher referrals in these children.


The appearance of wireless communication is dramatically changing our life. Mobile telecommunications emerged as a technological marvel allowing for access to personal and other services, devices, computation and communication, in any place and at any time through effortless plug and play. Setting up wireless mobile networks often requires: Frequency Assignment, Communication Protocol selection, Routing schemes selection, and cells towers distributions. This research aims to optimize the cells towers distribution using spatial mining with Geographic Information System (GIS) as a tool. The proposed optimized towers distribution done by applying the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) on the image of the targeted area should be covered. DEM applied with two levels of hierarchy, first level for getting the cells and second for getting best location in each cell. The research will apply the spatial association rules technique on the second level to select the best square in the cell for placing the antenna. From that the proposal will try to minimize the number of installed towers, makes tower's location feasible, and provides full area coverage.


An Agribusiness boom is underway in India, and it needs big talent to drive its growth. Growth in agricultural productivity will build incomes and assets, and although somewhat cyclical, at the macro level, agriculture in India will inherently be recession proof over the long term. The greatest achievement for India will come from sustained self-sufficiency in food. Food consumption is leading the boom in agriculture. India is expected to overtake China as the world's largest nation. With the world's youngest population, food and Agri sector is set to triple by 2020 from US $328 to US $895 Billion in just six years from now. Huge opportunities in Agribusiness are attracting investments in primary production as well as on the output side in food processing and distribution. Organized retail is growing at 35% CAGR and so are many input industries, all of whom are demanding more capable people to manage growth. This is resulting in a shortage of trained agribusiness talent. Recognizing the opportunities that will continue to grow in the future, leading corporates are reinventing their induction, retention and leadership plans for expanding their Agribusiness talent pool in India. The article provides insights and opportunities that are attracting talent to agribusiness.


The possibility that interspecific contest tactics might be able to stabilize two species predator-prey populations is investigated using a matrix model of the population. It is found that if the interspecific tactics have no influence on intraspecific encounters, the non-trivial equilibrium population composition is necessarily unstable. The result provides some insight into a reported instability of a predator-prey population with 'stable' strategies.


by MICHAEL ENGLES (Under the Direction of Billy R. Hammond, Jr.) ABSTRACT The macular pigment (MP) is composed of diet-derived carotenoids that screen blue light and are concentrated in and around the fovea. Several functions for the MP have been proposed. The earliest hypothesis, termed the Acuity Hypothesis, predicts that increased MP optical density should improve spatial vision by reducing the deleterious effects of chromatic aberration, an optical phenomenon whereby short-wave light is blurred to a much greater extent than longwave light. In light of the fact that the atmosphere preferentially scatters short-wave light, termed blue haze, Wooten & Hammond (2002) proposed the Visibility Hypothesis. They assert that increased MP optical density should improve distance vision by selectively reducing the veiling effects of short-wave veiling light such as "blue haze." These two hypotheses have been tested using a specially designed optical device and a rigorous psychophysical procedure. The results do not support the Acuity Hypothesis, however our results do support the Visibility Hypothesis. Future testing should work toward establishing a causal relation between MP optical density and CS by supplementing subjects with lutein and zeaxanthin.


Uses a large sample survey of businesses to demonstrate that a critical mass threshold exists for their use of business support organization services. This critical mass threshold is very marked for the two organizations examined: British case studies of chambers of commerce and government‐supported business training and advice bodies. Beyond this threshold, managers of chambers of commerce can achieve nonlinear returns to scale, while returns to scale for government‐supported bodies are almost exactly linear. Infers that this results from the very different motives of commercially based chambers and their members, compared to government‐supported bodies, which allow the benefits of service bundling for chambers while managers of government bodies have to deal with multiple discrete programmes offering few synergies. Also examines the effects of external economies of agglomeration and shows that these increase market penetration and hence reduce the catchment sizes necessary to reach critical mass only in the case of the most agglomerated urban and industrial centres.


Aim:The most important way for children to communicate with their surroundings is to take every substance that they keep in hand to their mouths. For this reason, the ingestion of foreign bodies in children is one of the most important health problems.
Material and Methods: Between January 2014 and June 2017, 119 patients, admitted to Mustafa Kemal University [MKU] Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Surgery with foreign body ingestion diagnosis, were retrospectively studied. Patients were evaluated in terms of age, gender, complaints of arrival, ingested foreign body quality, location in the gastrointestinal tract and treatment approaches.
Results: Of the patients, 74 were males [62%] and 45 were females [38%]. The mean age of the patients was 4.3 years [6 months-15 years]. Foreign bodies most commonly seen in the esophagus first stenosis in 73 patients [61%].Most commonly complaint at presentation was parental recognition of the ingested object and hypersalivation. The most commonly ingested foreign bodies included coins.
Conclusion: In case of clinical suspicion, the possibility of foreign body ingestion must be kept in mind. Education of the parents and taking some precautions where the children play are the most important protective factors.


In the newly revised World Health Organization (WHO)-European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) consensus classification for cutaneous lymphomas, cutaneous gamma/delta T-cell lymphoma (CGD-TCL) has been included as a provisional entity. This type of lymphomas, when involving the subcutaneous fat, can mimic both clinically and histologically other more indolent conditions, such as subcutaneous panniculitic T-cell lymphomas (SPTCL) and lupus erythematosus profundus (LEP), and multiple biopsies may be needed to obtain a correct diagnosis. A good correlation of the clinical data with the histopathology and immunohistochemistry are required for diagnosis. Herein, we describe a patient whose initial histopathologic findings ressembled LEP but presented an aggressive clinical course. A new biopsy was performed during the follow-up, and a final diagnosis of CGD-TCL was made.


The purpose of this study was to determine the performance of reproduction in dairy cattle, the views of service per conception, days open, and calving interval. The material used in this study is the implementation of recording data or artificial insemination in 100 dairy cows females have at least twice to parturition known calving interval. Samples were selected randomly within the same district in Batu. The method used in this research is a case study. The data is taken primary and secondary data. Primary data retrieval is done by direct observation (observation), which includes several variables, where the variables include: the identity of the breeder, the number of cattle, cages and feeding and drinking. As for the secondary data obtained by recording the card Artificial Insemination (AI) owned by farmers. Sampling was done by purposive sampling and random with the following conditions: sampling was done by purposive sampling with the following conditions: minimal yearling heifer parturition twice and had a complete recording AI, including, the date AI and the date of parturition. Results from this study is the performance of reproduction in the dairy cooperatives Batu showed unfavorable results, average - the average total value of S/C of parity 1 s / d 6 is, 1.93 ± 1.18. As for the average - the average total value of DO and CI parity 1 s / d 5 is, 171.70 ± 132.20 days and 450.92 ± 132.83 days. In addition, the assessment of S / C, DO and CI at different parity using statistical tests showed that the S / C, DO and CI at various parity was not significantly different (P> 0.05).It concluded that reproduction display AI results in the KUD BATU less than the maximum and the difference between parity does not affect the value of the S / C, DO, and CI.


Background Zooplankton play an important role in our oceans, in biogeochemical cycling and providing a food source for commercially important fish larvae. However, difficulties in correctly identifying zooplankton hinder our understanding of their roles in marine ecosystem functioning, and can prevent detection of long term changes in their community structure. The advent of massively parallel next generation sequencing technology allows DNA sequence data to be recovered directly from whole community samples. Here we assess the ability of such sequencing to quantify richness and diversity of a mixed zooplankton assemblage from a productive time series site in the Western English Channel. Methodology/Principle Findings Plankton net hauls (200 µm) were taken at the Western Channel Observatory station L4 in September 2010 and January 2011. These samples were analysed by microscopy and metagenetic analysis of the 18S nuclear small subunit ribosomal RNA gene using the 454 pyrosequencing platform. Following quality control a total of 419,041 sequences were obtained for all samples. The sequences clustered into 205 operational taxonomic units using a 97% similarity cut-off. Allocation of taxonomy by comparison with the National Centre for Biotechnology Information database identified 135 OTUs to species level, 11 to genus level and 1 to order, <2.5% of sequences were classified as unknowns. By comparison a skilled microscopic analyst was able to routinely enumerate only 58 taxonomic groups. Conclusions Metagenetics reveals a previously hidden taxonomic richness, especially for Copepoda and hard-to-identify meroplankton such as Bivalvia, Gastropoda and Polychaeta. It also reveals rare species and parasites. We conclude that Next Generation Sequencing of 18S amplicons is a powerful tool for elucidating the true diversity and species richness of zooplankton communities. While this approach allows for broad diversity assessments of plankton it may become increasingly attractive in future if sequence reference libraries of accurately identified individuals are better populated.


Since 2002, WHO and ESMO's proven track record of making progress to bridge the world of clinical oncology with the WHO's cancer control policies has kept cancer high on the world's political agenda. In 2013, after 10 years of working in partnership, ESMO was granted 'official relations status' with the WHO, which officially establishes a working relationship of an NGO with WHO. Such a relationship requires regular approval of 3-year work plans by the WHO Executive Board. The work plans harness the very distinct but complementary roles and responsibilities of both partners. Whereas ESMO is one of the leading international professional organisations for specialised physicians who are treating patients with cancer, WHO's cancer control policies are the reference for governments in their efforts to develop national cancer plans and a care delivery system for patients with cancer. By focusing on developing functional and comprehensive cancer plans, and a well-functioning healthcare system, WHO and ESMO seek to implement the WHO cancer management policies, facilitate the work of oncologists, and improve the outcomes of patients with cancer.

It is stated in the WHO 'Basic Document'1 that "the objectives of WHO's collaboration with NGOs are to promote the policies, strategies and programmes derived from the decisions of the WHO governing bodies," which means, for example, decisions of the annual World Health Assembly. The WHO's cancer control policies and guidance are derived from a WHO Resolution on Cancer Control (The 58th World Health Assembly resolution on cancer prevention and control2) and are an integral part of the 2014 World Health Assembly Action Plan on Non-Communicable Disease (NCDs).3 It is important to note that WHO classifies cancer within the broader context of NCDs, that is, diseases which are generally considered non-infective and non-transmittable.

There are two strategies underpinning the collaboration between WHO and …


The master's thesis points out the important role of picture books and a positive attitude in the development of a child. At the same time it emphasises the key role of adults when children meet books for the first time and their significance in the development of the motivation for the young reader. The master's thesis presents picture books as a special form of literary work, which is not only a set of pictures and words, but in itself hides the interaction of both mentioned elements and forms a brand new entirety. At the beginning of the master's thesis are presented the reading periods and the perception development of the child. Thoroughly presented are also the degree levels of picture books that help in the selection of books for the young reader or indicate the individual's level of the child's development, which determine what picture books should be offered to the child. Then there are listed the types of picture books according to the creative processes and presented their advantages and disadvantages. In the composition of picture books are also important proportions between word and picture parts. They allow the formation of textless picture books, which require the active participation of the readers and allow them the role of the co-authors. Presented are the options of the interactions between words and pictures, which give rise to meaningful artistic whole for high quality picture books. The master's thesis also presents functional capabilities offered to readers by picture books. Important are different criteria, which divide picture books into those of a high-quality and those that are not. Related to them, visual elements of quality illustrations, which build high quality literary works, are presented, which enable the reader to understand the message in a multileveled way. Important literary prizes are presented, which are given to reward the best quality picture books that are published in the Slovene environment. The research part of the master's thesis includes an award-winning quality textless picture book Zgodba o sidru (The Story of the Anchor) by the illustrator Damijan Stepancic, together with the narrative responses of various old readers to it. It answers questions about how differently old »readers« respond to an illustrated story and what are the differences in narratives. At the forefront are the reflections, evaluations and perceptions of the readers, and they are also offered the possibilities of individual creativity. In this context, the importance of the individual and the possibilities of different interpretations are emphasized.


New evidence on the efficacy and safety of dual antiplatelet therapy for secondary stroke prevention has been realized in the recent years. An updated meta-analysis was done to determine the effect of the various dual antiplatelets (including ticagrelor and cilostazol) vs aspirin alone on recurrence rate of ischemic stroke, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and its safety profile as reported through major bleeding. Introduction: Ischemic stroke is a far the most common type of stroke accounting for an approximately 80–90% of all strokes. According to World Health Organization (WHO) the cerebrovascular accidents or stroke are the second leading cause of mortality and the third leading cause of morbidity. It is a condition in which a region of the brain is deprived of blood flow which results to hypoxia of brain cells leads to the cell death and thereby resulting to the focal neurologic deficits depending on the area of damage. Transient ischemic attack on the other hand presents a similarly with an ischemic strokes but do not leave the evidence of damaged tissue. Transient impairment of blood flow occurs which reverses spontaneously without intervention. Stroke is the only leading cause of long disability. In addition to the initial damage progression of focal deficits result to unfavorable outcomes. In past decades the intensive therapeutic and interventional strategies have been investigated to reduce the disability and recurrence of the stroke. According to Aoki, et al. the intravenous thrombolysis, endovascular therapy and aspirin have played key roles in reducing the stroke recurrence. Lifted from several prospective randomized controlled trials such as the 'chance' and point trials. The addition of clopidogrel to aspirin significantly decreased the neurologic deterioration in patients with acute non cardioembolic ischemic strokes. Other dual antiplatelet therapies have also been showed the positive impact. The management of ischemic strokes which have given rise to the several systematic reviews and also meta-analysis of these drugs. However, the subsequent pilot studies with a small population size involving antiplatelet drugs such as ticagrelor and cilostazol. When combined with aspirin did not confirm whether the clinical outcomes of patients with acute stroke would improve. Two recent randomized control trials were published on the use of Cilostazol with Aspirin and Ticagrelor with Aspirin vs. Aspirin alone which were not included in the meta-analysis by Yang Y, et al., on Dual vs. Mono Antiplatelet Therapy for Acute Non-Cardioembolic Ischemic Stroke. These two additional randomized controlled trials provided the data that was used to update the current management of secondary prevention of acute ischemic stroke. Hence, the aim of this study was to present an updated systematic review involving several antiplatelets that are combined with aspirin as a dual therapy vs. aspirin alone in its effect to a recurrence of stroke in patients who have suffered from acute stroke composite events such cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Safety as measured through major bleeding, among patients who have suffered from an acute non cardioembolic stroke. Objectives: The general objective of this study was to determine the effect of the various dual antiplatelets that including ticagrelor and cilostazol vs. aspirin alone on recurrence rate of ischemic stroke. Composite events like cardiovascular morbidity – acute coronary syndrome, and mortality, and its safety profile as reported through the major bleeding. In this study all randomized trials used had an acute stroke or transient ischemic attack time frame of less than 72 hours. Methods: PubMed, Cochrane and Science Direct data bases were utilized, RCTs evaluating dual antiplatelet vs mono antiplatelet therapy for acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack within < 72 hours from ictus were searched up to July 2019. Risk ratio at 95% confidence intervals was calculated to evaluate stroke recurrence, cardiac events and mortality, and major bleeding. Results: Sixteen studies in the previous meta-analysis were included. Those excluded were trials where in the monotherapy treatment was not aspirin for uniformity of the control drug. Based on the relevant studies from January 2016 to June 2019. The data base searching and citation tracking of references identified 53,082, by using Boolean function. 44 trials were excluded and 6 randomized control trials were reviewed by full text for details and 4 of which were excluded due to the missing data wherein all channels to retrieve it were exhausted. Therefore 2 eligible randomized controlled trial were identified. Both of which compared its efficacy and safety versus aspirin in patients with acute non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack. Conclusion: In acute non-cardioembolic ischemic strokes or those who have suffered a transient ischemic attack the dual antiplatelet therapy was associated with efficacy in stroke recurrence and composite cardiac events with a non-significant risk of major bleeding. Among patients with an acute non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack within 72 h of ictus. Dual Vol.8 No.8 Short Communication Journal of Neurological Disorders 2020 antiplatelet therapy was associated with an reduction in stroke recurrence and composite events such as Acute Coronary Syndrome and Cardiac related deaths when compared to the monotherapy. However, the dual antiplatelet therapy shows the decreased safety profile due to the possible. Although not statistically significant events of major bleeding as observed in this study. Factors that may have contributed to increased risk of major bleeding were the dosing and duration of treatment given. In conclusion the current data suggests that administration of short term dual antiplatelet therapy in the acute phase of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack was efficacious and relatively safe of which Cilostazol with Aspirin can be potential for standard treatment due to its evidence in reduction of stroke recurrence and being the most cost efficient combination although with not statistically significant bleeding risk.


Urbanization is directly linked to the process of impermeabilization of the soil in urban areas that contributes to the emergence of flood risks. The purpose of this study was to determine the hydrodynamic properties of the public squares in a flood-prone Brazilian city and determine to what extent they could contribute to the reduction of flooding. The Beerkan method was used to determine the hydrodynamic properties of the soil in nine squares located at critical flooding points in the city of Recife. This method uses simple ring infiltration and the collection of soil samples to obtain the soil granulometric distribution, thereby generating the soil water retention curve θ(h) and the hydraulic conductivity K(θ). The squares studied have similar hydrodynamic characteristics because of their similar soil texture classes, such as Loamy Sand and Sandy Loam. This made it possible for eight of the nine squares studied to be able to contribute positively to the reduction of flood risks by adapting them into micro infiltration basins that can receive the surface flows that overload the drainage network.


We have studied the effect of process parameters on the mode profile in lithium niobate channel waveguides produced by low-temperature proton exchange. A model has been proposed for the processes underlying waveguide formation, and has been used to numerically calculate the mode profile for various fabrication parameters. We have identified low-temperature proton exchange conditions which ensure high electro-optical performance of the waveguides and stability towards fabrication errors. The obtained results may be helpful in optimising integrated optical devices and matching them to various types of optical fibres.


Niemann‐Pick type A is a disease characterized by the absence of a functional SMPD1 (acidic sphingomyelinase) gene and the abnormal accumulation of sphingomyelin. Under these conditions, also sphingosylphosphocholine (SPC, a sphingomyelin metabolite) accumulates in various tissues, including the brain, where it might act as a toxic stimulus, contributing to the appearance of the neurological symptoms. We studied the effects of SPC on astrocytic and neuronal cultures from rat. In particular, we investigated the possibility that SPC acts on astrocytes and that this represents the first step leading to neurodegeneration. Our results show that acute administration of SPC to astrocytes in culture promotes Ca2+ responses and a release of glutamate that, in turn, leads to cytosolic [Ca2+] elevation in neurons. We also show that chronic stimulation by SPC leads astrocytes to proliferate, but can also change their phenotype towards an activated state that might contribute to the inflammatory responses. Interestingly, upon acute SPC stimulation, activated astrocytes release more glutamate. In conclusion, we show that both chronic and acute exposure to SPC can constitute harmful signals that may have a role in the sequence of events leading to neurodegeneration.


In this paper, we show uniqueness and stability for the piecewise-smooth solutions to the Burgers--Hilbert equation constructed in Bressan and Zhang [Commun. Math. Sci., 15(1):165--184, 2017]. The Burgers--Hilbert equation is $u_t+(\frac{u^2}{2})_x=\mathbf{H}[u]$ where $\mathbf{H}$ is the Hilbert transform, a nonlocal operator. We show stability and uniqueness for solutions amongst a larger class than the uniqueness result in Bressan and Zhang. The solutions we consider are measurable and bounded, satisfy at least one entropy condition, and verify a strong trace condition. We do not have smallness assumptions. We use the relative entropy method and theory of shifts (see Vasseur [Handbook of Differential Equations: Evolutionary Equations, 4:323 -- 376, 2008]).


Ascertaining the lifetime distribution of a nation's buildings is critical for estimating their stock flow, determining their environmental impacts, and exploring future predictions and effective measures. It is particularly necessary in climate-change-mitigating measures such as the estimation of wood carbon stock dynamics. This work uses the latest data on building stocks and inflows to identify the lifetime function and half-life of all wooden and non-wooden buildings existing in Japan from 1964–2020. The log-normal distribution of wooden buildings proved to be the most suitable lifetime function, with a half-life of 38 years in 1964, 56 years between 1965 and 1996, and 63 years between 1997 and 2020. On the other hand, the log-normal distribution resembled exponential distribution (first order decay) and was the most suitable for non-wooden buildings, with half-life of 22 years in 1964, 33 years between 1965 and 1990, and 52 years between 1991 and 2020. The lifetimes of both wooden and non-wooden buildings have increased over the course of the past half-century. It is important that future research uses these lifetime functions to explore future predictions of building stock based on new building demand, changes in lifetime, and effective climate change measures.


AIM
The comparison of quality of life after gastrectomy.

METHOD
Quality of life after gastrectomy is compared in open, prospective, randomised trial. The group with Roux-en-Y reconctruction and "J-pouch" reconstruction are compared. "J-pouch" is created using interponate jejunum loop with keeping duodenum in passage. The standardized questionnaire according to Eypasch is tool for comparison of quality life. The statistical evaluation was performed using Student t-test.

RESULTS
67 patients were analyzed altogether. The average quality of life in the group with Roux-en-Y reconstruction was 92.6 points and in the "J-pouch" group was 102.5 points. The statistical comparison of quality of life using Student t-test in the group with Roux-en-Y and "J-pouch" reconstructions confirmed significant difference (p = 0.0067).

CONCLUSION
Quality of life in patient after gastrectomy represents the most important factors after surgery. The standardised questionnaries help to quantify quality of life and provide the necessary data for evidence based medicine. The statistical comparison confirmed the higher quality of life in patients with "J-pouch" reconstruction. The possibility of reconstruction providing better nutrition and higher quality of life should be considered.


UNLABELLED
Parasuicide (suicidal attempt) is an intentional, self-aggressive behaviour intended to damage the body rather than cause death. About 75% of suicidal attempts are those committed for the first time. The majority of suicidal attempts are impulsive. About 66% of the parasuicide patients said that they had thought about the act for less than an hour beforehand. Only 30% of the patients had been psychiatrically diagnosed before they were admitted to the hospital. After prompt re-diagnosing, the percentage was considerably lower. The aim of the work is to analyse, using Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-DMS subscale) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the self-assessment of the psychical condition of patients hospitalised at the Acute Poisonings Clinic, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland, for attempted suicide. The study subjects included 222 patients (148 women and 74 men) treated in 2003. The control comprised 137 volunteers random-selected from among patients visiting Institute's Outpatient Clinic of Occupational Diseases. The psychiatric testing revealed mood and personality disorders, and acute stress disorders. Depression or other psychotic reactions were not diagnosed in any of the cases. Mean MMPI subscale scoring for the women was 10.7 (subjects) and 3.5 (control). The MMPI rating after 6 months since the attempted suicide was 6.03, i.e. by 4.3 scores lower. The corresponding values for the men were 10.1 (subjects) and 3.06 (control), and after 6 months the value was 4.64, by 5.46 scores lower. Mean BDI scale scoring for the women was 10.56 (subjects) and 7.9 (control). The BDI score after 6 months since the poisoning was 7.74, i.e. by 2.83 scores lower. The corresponding values for the men were 10.77 (subjects) and 5.27 (control), and after 6 months the value was by 2.86 scores lower. The results are statistically significant (p<0.001).

CONCLUSION
The results show that 6 months after the suicidal attempt, the self-assessment of patients' psychical condition improves, the mood normalises. The suicidal attempt is often an impulsive act intended to relieve the rapidly growing stress.


Blood transfusion is life-saving but sometimes also associated with morbidity and mortality. There is limited data on mortality in patients transfused with whole blood in sub-Saharan Africa. We described the 30-day all-cause mortality and its associated factors in patients transfused with whole blood to inform appropriate clinical intervention and research priorities to mitigate potential risks. A retrospective study was performed on purposively sampled patients transfused with whole blood at the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) and Mulago hospital in the year 2018. Two thousand twelve patients with a median (IQR) age of 39 (28–54) years were enrolled over a four month period. There were 1,107 (55%) females. Isolated HIV related anaemia (228, 11.3%), gynaecological cancers (208, 10.3%), unexplained anaemia (186, 9.2%), gastrointestinal cancers (148, 7.4%), and kidney disease (141, 7.0%) were the commonest diagnoses. Most patients were transfused with only one unit of blood (n = 1232, 61.2%). The 30 day all-cause mortality rate was 25.2%. Factors associated with mortality were isolated HIV related anaemia (HR 3.2, 95% CI, 2.3–4.4), liver disease (HR 3.0, 95% CI, 2.0–4.5), kidney disease (HR 2.2, 95% CI, 1.5–3.3; p<0.01), cardiovascular disease (HR 2.9, 95% CI, 1.6–5.4; p<0.01), respiratory disease (HR 3.0, 95% CI 1.8–4.9; p<0.01), diabetes mellitus (HR 4.1, 95% CI, 2.3–7.4; p<0.01) and sepsis (HR 6.2, 95% CI 3.7–10.4; p<0.01). Transfusion with additional blood was associated with survival (HR 0.8, 95% CI 0.7–0.9, p<0.01). In conclusion, the 30-day all-cause mortality was higher than in the general inpatients. Factors associated with mortality were isolated HIV related anaemia, kidney disease, liver disease, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and sepsis. Transfusion with additional blood was associated with survival. These findings require further prospective evaluation.


Electron hop funnels have been simulated using the new version of the particle trajectory simulation software, Lorentz-2E. Simulations were conducted to determine the validity of the version 9.2 results and the consistency of the results to a previous version of the software, version 8.0. In addition, a new method of injecting a uniform current with all rays of equal charge is discussed, and the results of the method are presented. Version 9.2 of the software was successfully implemented and a new emission model tested. The transition of the software version will allow for faster simulation times of the electron hop funnel simulations to increase the understanding of the device.


2015 Annual General Meeting Agenda: Tuesday, July 7, 2015 8:25 am to 5:00 pm approx. 8:25 am Welcome and AGM Overview Al Leon-Garcia, SAVI Scientific Director 8:30 am Big Data Analytics in SAVI Marin Litoiu, York University 9:00 am Challenges in Cloud Packet Capture Nykolai Bilaniuk, System Engineer, NIKSUN 9:30 am Hadoop Orchestration Raouf Boutaba, University of Waterloo 10:00 am Poster and Demo Session 1 11:00 am Keynote: NFV and Orchestration Walter Miron, Director of Technology Strategy, TELUS Communications Co. 11:45 am Technical Overview of SAVI SDI Testbed Hadi Bannazadeh, SAVI Chief Testbed Architect, University of Toronto 12:15 pm Lunch Poster and Demo Session 2 1:30 pm Keynote: Smart City Challenges Dragan Narandzic, CTO, Ericsson Canada 2:15 pm From SAVI SDI to Smart City Platforms Al Leon-Garcia, SAVI Scientific Director 2:45 pm Poster and Demo Session 3 3:30 pm SDN-Enabled Service Automation Robert Keys, CTO, BTI Systems Inc. 4:00 pm Wireless over Fiber Access Tho Le-Ngoc, McGill University 4:30 pm CENI SDN Optical Testbed Rod Wilson, Senior Director External Research, Ciena 5:00 pm Closing Remarks Al Leon-Garcia, SAVI Scientific Director


Titanium(IV)-mediated cyclopropanation induced by reaction of cycloalkylmagnesium bromides 1a-e in the presence of titanium tetraisopropoxide with ethyl beta-chloropropionate 2 yielded cis-fused 1-(2'-chloroethyl)cyclopropanols 3b-e with diastereoselectivity highly depending on the ring size. Unexpected rearrangement products 5d,e were isolated in some cases.


This article aims at investigating the interplay between environmental quality, health, and economic development in a unified OLG framework. Human capital accumulation depends on the environment through its impact on children's health and workers' productivity. In turn, environmental quality dynamics rely upon human capital that determines maintenance efforts. This two-way relationship generates a co-evolution of human capital and environmental quality in the long run. Along the transition path, the dynamic interactions between economic and environmental spheres allow for replicating two different trajectories: some economies experiment an Environmental Kuznets Curve while some others are caught into the environmental poverty trap. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)


Technical improvements in high-throughput gene expression experiments are making possible to obtain high quality time series whole-genome expression data sets. This valuable source of information may describe the unfolding biological processes during the development stages, the cell cycle or the immune response of an organism. In order to fully explore this type of data we developed an integrated time series gene expression analysis pipeline. The resulting method detects differentially expressed genes, cluster co-expressed genes, unveil hidden gene expression patterns, identify over represented biological function categories and infer gene regulatory networks. Some of the methods integrated in our pipeline are an empirical Bayes model, a noise robust fuzzy clustering and graphical Gaussian model. The use of this pipeline to analyze the human adenovirus infection process allowed us to discover new insights and hypothesis. No previous exhausted explorations including features as fuzzy clustering or regulatory network inference have been used on this biological phenomena data before.


The B-cell membrane protein CD20 is expressed by both benign and neoplastic lymphocytes. It has been a superb target for immunotherapies targeting B-cell derived diseases. There are several anti-CD20 antibodies which have been developed for B-cell lymphoma therapy. The most successful example of this targeted approach is rituximab, which is approved for front and second line therapy of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). However, rituximab has limited direct cell-kill effects, acting primarily through indirect immune responses induced by antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and/or complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). While CD20-targeted radiotherapeutics have shown promise, their administrative challenges have curtailed their clinical utility. Thus, a therapeutic approach with direct cell-kill activity against CD20-expressing cells would be clinically useful. We have developed an engineered toxin body (ETB) comprising a CD20 scFv and a modified Shiga-like Toxin A (MT-3724) capable of specifically recognizing and killing CD20 expressing cells. MT-3724 is selectively cytotoxic against B-cell NHL cell lines and against NHL cells obtained from patients. It demonstrated potent cytotoxicity against Burkitt9s lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, and mantle cell lymphoma with IC (50) values ranging from 1.4 nM to 12 nM. Through immunofluorescent tracking, MT-3724 internalizes within one hour after binding to CD20 (+) B cells. To our knowledge, this is the first example of efficient internalization of an immunotoxin via CD20. Consistent with the in vitro activity, MT-3724 demonstrated anti-tumor efficacy in mice-bearing NHL cell line xenografts. These results show that MT-3724 is a promising targeted therapeutic agent against CD20 positive B-cell lymphomas and is currently under further development. Citation Format: Sangeetha Rajagopalan, Rachel Wirth, Jennifer Erdman, Kari Grant, Brigitte Brieschke, Rodney Flores, William Null, Jen-Sing Liu, Erin K. Willert, Jack P. Higgins. CD20-specific Engineered Toxin Body demonstrates direct cell kill of multiple B-cell Non-Hodgkin9s lymphoma types. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 647. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-647


This thesis introduces two related technologies. The first is a disk-resident index for biological sequence data, and the second is a framework and toolkit for the management of operational parameters for applications of which this index is typical. The Top-Compressed Suffix Tree is a novel data structure that can be used to provide a scalable, disk-resident index for large sequences. This data structure is based on the suffix tree, but has been designed to overcome the problems associated with using such structures on secondary memory. Top-Compressed Suffix Trees can be constructed incrementally, allowing indexes to be created that are larger than the amount of available main memory. Correspondingly, querying such an index only requires part of the data structure to be resident in main memory, thus allowing support for on-demand faulting and eviction of index sections during search. Such an index may be of great benefit to scientists requiring efficient access to vast repositories of genomic data. The Generic Index Development and Operation Framework (GIDOF) is a framework and toolkit that supports various tasks relating to the management of operational parameters. The performance of an index's implementation is typically influenced by several operational parameters parameters that must be tuned carefully if optimum performance is to be obtained. Indexes implemented using GIDOF can be structured in such a way that values of selected operational parameters can be adjusted; resulting in an index implementation that can be tuned to suit a given workload or system environment. This thesis presents a detailed description of the design of both the Top-Compressed Suffix Tree and the algorithms that operate over it. Extensive performance measurements are then presented and discussed, covering such aspects of index performance as construction time, average query performance and the size of the completed index. An overview of the GIDOF parameter model and toolkit is then given together with examples of how this framework can be used to manage tunable indexes, such as the Top-Compressed Suffix Tree.


Recent literature on the effectiveness of donor programmes points to the importance of understanding the political context within which reforms are taking place. The characteristics of the power sector make reform intensely political in almost all countries and donor projects have sometimes failed because of an inability to navigate the local politics of reform. This article reviews what is known about how donors have taken politics into account in designing and implementing power sector reform programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. It illustrates the challenges which donors have faced with reference to a case study of donor attempts to support power sector reform in Tanzania. The article draws on documentary evidence from major donors as well as a set of qualitative interviews with experienced project supervisors to provide a set of lessons for donors about how to incorporate political context into the design and implementation of power sector projects.


Using a Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model, we study the effects of the US monetary policy and macroeconomic announcements on Argentine money, stock and foreign exchange markets over the period January 1998 to July 2007. We show, first, that both types of news have a significant impact on all markets. Second, there are noticeable differences in reaction for different subsamples: Argentine money markets were more dependent on US news under the currency board than after it was abandoned as the floating exchange rate partly absorbs spillover effects from the US. Finally, we find that the US-dollar-denominated assets react less to US news than peso-denominated assets, which suggests that the currency board was not completely credible during its final years.


To evaluate the feasibility of using scintigraphic images to assess the distribution of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II) (CDDP), we obtained serial scintigraphic images using radiolabeled CDDP (Pt-195m CDDP), which had high specific activity (7.4 x 10(6) Bq [200 microCi]/mg-CDDP) in the rabbit VX-2 tumor system. Radioactivity at the heart decreased in a biexponential manner, with an initial half-time of 15.3 min and secondary phase of 4.5 days. Time-activity curves revealed that the tumor/heart ratio was greater than 1.0 (1.0-1.1) between 30 min and 4 hr after intravenous injection. The scintigraphic study clearly depicted the tumor. Pt-195m CDDP uptake by the rabbit tumor at 2 hr was 7.8% of the total injected dose. These data suggest that scintigraphic imaging using Pt-195m CDDP is a promising method for imaging tumors and evaluating their CDDP uptake.


Aedes aegypti can transmit dengue fever, yellow fever, Chikungunya fever, Zika virus disease and vector density control is the most effective way to prevent these infectious diseases. However, the extensive use of chemical pesticides has caused a series of problems, such as environmental pollution, killing non-target organisms and so on. In this study, a parasitic nematode, Romanomermis wuchangensis was used in the larviciding evaluation of Ae. aegypti, while the activity of four chemical insecticides and biological control agents were tested. Besides, Mentha haplocalyx essential oil was isolated and its olfactory physiological function with OBP1 protein of Ae. aegypti antenna was measured by the prokaryotic expression and fluorescence competitive binding assay. Compared with the control group, R. wuchangensis indicated high efficiency and environmental friendliness in the control of Ae. aegypti. After the second instar larvae were parasitized, the mortality of two treatment groups exceeded 75%. Compared to control group, the quantitative real-time PCR analysis results demonstrated that SOD, POD and CAT genes had obvious high expression levels in the nematodes parasitic groups. The antioxidant enzyme test results also exhibited obvious difference of SOD, CAT and POD during the nematode parasitic period. Besides, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bti) and chemical insecticide experimental results also showed great insecticidal efficacy against mosquito larvae. Five chemical components including Menthol, Pinene, Limonene, Isopulegol and Pulegone were identified from M. haplocalyx and exhibited great binding ability with AaegOBP1 protein. Present results illustrated that the integrated application of these various mosquito vector control methods in the future has broad prospects.


Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is an autosomal dominant genetic disease caused by expansion of a CTG microsatellite in the 3' untranslated region of the DMPK gene. Despite characteristic muscular, cardiac, and neuropsychological symptoms, CTG trinucleotide repeats are unstable both in the somatic and germinal lines, making the age of onset, clinical presentation, and disease severity very variable. A molecular biomarker to stratify patients and to follow disease progression is, thus, an unmet medical need. Looking for a novel biomarker, and given that specific miRNAs have been found to be misregulated in DM1 heart and muscle tissues, we profiled the expression of 175 known serum miRNAs in DM1 samples. The differences detected between patients and controls were less than 2.6 fold for all of them and a selection of six candidate miRNAs, miR-103, miR-107, miR-21, miR-29a, miR-30c, and miR-652 all failed to show consistent differences in serum expression in subsequent validation experiments.


Fab automation is being widely applied in 200 mm fabs. With the advent of new carrier designs, and equipment standards being set for 300 mm tools, opportunities arise for new and more efficient methods to transport, store, and load 300 mm carriers. This can result in more expansive yet simplified uses of automation and in a large variety of options for factory layout and application of the automation systems. The challenge to building fabs in the 300 mm era will be to maximize the productivity of capital. There are a number of options available in doing so. Fabs can be designed to minimize footprint, equipment cost, cycle time, or to increase Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). A combination of these may also be used. The onset of 300 mm production presents an opportunity to take a more system wide approach at increasing productivity than has been used before. In this paper we will quantify the effects that material handling has on the cost of front-end wafer fab by analyzing the effects that layout and automation techniques have on footprint, fab costs and the Manufacturing Lead Time (MLT) of a chip. The article then identifies some of design options for 300 mm automated fabs (least footprint, least cost, and lowest MLT) and illustrates their suitability to different operating needs. Readers will see how combinations of Monorails, Stockers and Automated Vehicles can be used to achieve different goals.


Electrical and thermal transport through metal point contacts, a key issue in the design and operation of various engineering devices, is of great recent interest. The effective Lorenz number (L), which relates the thermal to electrical conductance of point contacts, could provide valuable information on the relative contribution of electrons and phonons to thermal transport. Through measuring electrical and thermal transport across point contacts between silver nanowires, we report that L significantly deviates from the Sommerfeld value by up to 5.2 times and exhibits nonmonotonic variation with temperature. Analyses show that these observations are due to the more important phonon contribution to the thermal conductance of the point contact as Sharvin resistance greatly hinders electron transport, which is further confirmed by the size dependence of L with a higher value for a smaller contact size. These results provide critical insights into engineering designs involving point contacts between metal nanostructures.


PURPOSE
Unlike cetuximab, there is a paucity of biomarkers for bevacizumab as predictors of outcome in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients. Obviously exploring the worth of some potential markers in this setting is warranted. The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive value of the presence of K-RAS and B-RAF mutations on the outcome of patients with mCRC treated with FOLFIRI and bevacizumab combination therapy.

METHODS
A total of 172 patients with mCRC were evaluated. K-RAS and B-RAF mutations were analyzed by quantitative PCR. Median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared utilizing chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests, respectively.

RESULTS
Forty-four percent (N=77) of the patients were found to harbor K-RAS mutations and 6 (7.5%) were positive for B-RAF mutations. In baseline no difference in PFS and OS was observed between the groups with or without K-RAS mutation. No relationship was established between K-RAS and B-RAF mutation status and baseline CEA and CA19-9 tumor markers levels.

CONCLUSION
K-RAS and B-RAF mutations do not seem to be predictive of treatment outcome as potential biomarkers for bevacizumab therapy in mCRC. However, not only the presence of K-RAS and B-RAF mutations but also the different biological behavior of the various subtypes of mutations should be considered as potential determinants in the final outcome of this disease.


As the integration of high precision optical system, the space laser communication system has many indexes reaching or close to the diffraction limit. Because the system is working in near space environment, which is quite different to the ground, the optical system quality needs to be evaluated in the severe environment. This paper, taking space laser communication optical system as an example, using software to simulate and analyze the temperature and the pressure of environmental adaptability, and draws a conclusion. That is, the near space environment has a effect on the space laser communication optical system, and the effect can be reduced by adjustment in design and assembly or mitigating temperature controller.


Abstract This paper presents results of research on poppers used as electrical connectors connecting fragments of textile signal lines. These lines can be used in intelligent clothing for connecting electronic modules implemented in it. Intelligent (smart) clothing can be used, among others, in the health monitoring of the elderly, newborn babies, or people working in hazardous conditions, for example, firefighters and soldiers. The aim of the present study was to examine the usefulness of poppers, widely used in clothing, as electrical connectors connecting parts of the textile signal lines designed for transmission of high-speed digital signals. The paper presents examples of measured parameters characterizing transmission properties of two fragments of the coplanar, textile transmission line connected to each other using conventional poppers. The presented measurement results contain the so-called s parameters, characteristic impedance of the poppers, and eye measurements characterizing distortions of digital signals passing through the tested line. In the article, the effect of temperature and humidity of air surrounding the tested poppers on their characteristic impedance was also presented. This property and its stability are important in signal lines designed for high-speed data transmission.


This thesis is a corporate case study of major Canadian broadcaster and distributor Alliance Atlantis, an examination of the company in the context of the Canadian film and television industry at the end of the twentieth century in order to shed light on what it is to be a mini-major studio and how a company such as Alliance Atlantis responds to changes in the industry in which it operates. In chapter one, I begin with a broad overview of the origins of the film and television production industry in Canada in order to provide context around the founding of Alliance and Atlantis. From there, I trace the growth of the two companies through several key events, up to just before they merged. Chapter two begins with a discussion of various media mergers that had taken place in North America in the 1990s and 2000s. The merger of Alliance and Atlantis and the response that that event garnered from the industry is then explored, as is the company's subsequent growth, particularly in the area of broadcasting. I begin chapter three with a discussion of the state of Canada's production industry in the early 2000s, and then move into Alliance Atlantis' announcement that it was exiting the business of production. The chapter ends with an assessment of how the decision to shut down the production side of its business has paid off for Alliance Atlantis. By the end of this thesis, it is clear that Alliance Atlantis has diverged dramatically from its production origins, and instead identifies itself first and foremost as a broadcaster.


A modified Hanson model is proposed for the estimation of spectral loss. The approach to developing the model is based on multiple regression analysis. The model predicts spectral loss by using a vector containing the attenuation at three specified wavelengths of 1.31, 1.37, and 1.38 μm. The estimated errors between the measured and predicted losses are less than 0.02 dB/Km in the 1.23–1.60 μm wavelength region. This model will enable system designers to optimise systems with respect to the wavelength region without the need to use difficult procedures.


With advanced imaging, sequencing, and profiling technologies, multiple omics data become increasingly available and hold promises for many healthcare applications such as cancer diagnosis and treatment. Multimodal learning for integrative multi-omics analysis can help researchers and practitioners gain deep insights into human diseases and improve clinical decisions. However, several challenges are hindering the development in this area, including the availability of easily accessible open-source tools. This survey aims to provide an up-to-date overview of the data challenges, fusion approaches, datasets, and software tools from several new perspectives. We identify and investigate various omics data challenges that can help us understand the field better. We categorize fusion approaches comprehensively to cover existing methods in this area. We collect existing open-source tools to facilitate their broader utilization and development. We explore a broad range of omics data modalities and a list of accessible datasets. Finally, we summarize future directions that can potentially address existing gaps and answer the pressing need to advance multimodal learning for multi-omics data analysis.


Learning about alternatives to violence is an essential part of change work with domestic violence perpetrators. This is complex work, seeking to tackle a sensitive issue by involving the development of deep, embodied learning for perpetrators who may lack perspective on their behaviour. Interactive storytelling has been providing users with the opportunity to explore speculative scenarios in a controlled environment. We discuss the design of Choice-Point: a web-based application that allows perpetrators adopt the role of different fictional characters in an abusive scenario for conveying the essential skill of perspective-taking. We evaluated Choice-Point through trials with three groups of perpetrators, a support group of victim-survivors and an expert critique from support workers. We discuss challenges in using such technologies - such as our system - for engagement; the value of perpetrator agency in supporting non-violent behaviours, and the potential to positively shape perpetrators' journeys to non-violence within social care settings.


Abstract:During recent decades, in many cities, important changes in home and neighborhood environments have significantly impacted the play and peer interactions of children. Many urban streets and public spaces have become inhospitable to children. However, parents continue to value outdoor play and access to nature as important to their children's health and development. Against the background of a re-emerging interest among families and city governments to create child-friendly urban environments, this paper examines social and physical characteristics of such environments, based on research conducted in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It concludes that planners and designers need to support the efforts of families to re-claim the street as an important area for urban livability for children.


We present an algorithm for identifying the location of sibilant phones in noisy speech. Our algorithm does not attempt to identify sibilant onsets and offsets directly but instead detects a sustained increase in power over the entire duration of a sibilant phone. The normalized estimate of the sibilant power in each of 14 frequency bands forms the input to two Gaussian mixture models that are trained on sibilant and non-sibilant frames respectively. The likelihood ratio of the two models is then used to classify each frame. We evaluate the performance of our algorithm on the TIMIT database and demonstrate that the classification accuracy is over 80% at 0 dB signal to noise ratio for additive white noise.


Administered to eggs of Reptilia (Lacerta viridis and Anguis fragilis), cytosine-arabinoside induced numerous embryonic malformations, among which microphthalmia and limb deformities. On the other hand this drug delayed the retrogression of the apical ridge of the limb buds in Anguis fragilis.


1. Furafylline inhibition of 1A2-related activity in human liver microsomal systems was characterized. This inhibition was time and NADPH dependent. The kinetic constants were measured in human liver microsomes; a Ki of inactivation of 3 microM with a maximum rate constant of 0.27 min-1 were determined. 2. This inactivation process was retarded by the presence of a 1A2 substrate and after complete inhibition was achieved, 1A2 activity could be restored by the addition of fresh microsomes to the incubation mixture. These results are consistent with furafylline being a suicide substrate for 1A2. 3. Preincubating microsomes for 10 min with 10 microM furafylline in the presence of NADPH, prior to the initiation of the reaction by the addition of substrate, caused marked inhibition of 1A2 activity. This protocol was tested for specificity against 10 human P450 activities. The activities associated with 1A1, 2A6, 2B6, 2C9(/8), 2C19, 2D6, 2E1, 3A4(/5) and A were not significantly inhibited. 4. Using these conditions furafylline can be diagnostic of 1A2 involvement in a P450-dependent oxidative reaction.


As longevity is increasing, the 65-year-old and older population is projected to increase in the next decades, as are the consequences of age-related muscle deterioration on the quality of life. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of the ACTN3 R577X polymorphism with quality of life and muscular strength in an older Spanish population. In total, 281 older adults participated in this study. Anthropometric measurements, chronic diseases, prescribed medications, quality of life, hand grip strength, and physical activity and nutritional status data were collected. ACTN3 R577X genotyping was determined using Taqman probes. Multivariate regression analysis revealed in adjusted model that, in men, the ACTN3 R577X genotype was significantly associated with hand grip strength (HGS), regression coefficient (β) = 1.23, p = 0.008, dimension 1 of the five-dimension questionnaire EuroQoL (EQ-5D, mobility), (β) = −1.44, p = 0.006, and clinical group risk (CGR) category (β) = −1.38, p = 0.006. In women, a marginal association between the ACTN3 R577X genotype and the CGR category was observed, with a regression coefficient of (β) = −0.97, (p = 0.024). Our findings suggest that the ACTN3 R577X genotype may influence the decline in muscle strength and quality of life in older Spanish adult males.


The article discusses the mechanisms of state support for the development of renewable energy sources (RES) in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The authors consider the prospects of using solar energy in the textile industry. The analysis revealed that the level of organization of work in companies in the field of energy conservation and energy efficiency of production depends on the following factors: timely observation of the current power supply and possible future energy potential; development and implementation of energy-effective measures; use of RES with purpose of saving energy resources. According to the authors, the dominance of electric and thermal forms of energy in the cost structure leads to a loss of competitiveness of the company's products in the textile industry. The article considers the transition to combined generation of electric and thermal energy in textile industry companies using renewable energy sources. The calculation of the energy saving coefficients of electric and thermal energy produced by the authors proved the possibility of reducing the cost of textile products by introducing renewable energy sources. The results of the assessment, based on the construction of a correlation and regression model, showed the economic efficiency of using renewable energy in the textile industry, while the authors recommend paying special attention to state regulation of tariffs and the auction price for renewable energy.


The present study provides an overview of the quotative utterances made with itta (past form of iu 'to say') and itte ita (the combination of iu and the past form of the -te iru construction) in naturally occurring conversations in Japanese. The examination of approximately 13 hours of conversations shows that itta is used in 91.1% of first-person quotations ('I said that…'). In second-person ('you said that…') and third-person ('he/she said that…') quotations, itte ita is used in 90.0%, and 77.3% of the cases, respectively. The present study argues that the high percentage of itte ita for second- and third-person quotative utterances is due to the fact that the - te iru construction, which is included in itte ita , is used as an evidential marker. The present study also analyzes the deviant cases from the dominant pattern (i.e. using itta for third-person utterances), and demonstrates how - te iru 's evidential function is utilized manipulatively in conversation.


We propose an improved iris recognition method for person identification using an iris segmentation approach based on chain code and zigzag collarette area with support vector machine (SVM). The zigzag collarette area is selected as a personal identification pattern which captures only the most important areas of iris complex pattern and better recognition accuracy is achieved. The idea to use the zigzag collarette area is that it is insensitive to the pupil dilation and usually not affected by eyelids or eyelashes. The deterministic feature sequence is extracted from iris images using Gabor wavelet technique and used to train SVM as iris classifiers. The traditional SVM is modified as asymmetrical SVM to treat False Accept and False Reject differently to satisfy several security requirements. The parameters of SVM are tuned to improve overall system performance. Our experimental results also indicate that the performance of SVM as a classifier is far better than the performance of backpropagation neural network (BPNN), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), Hamming and Mahalanobis distance. The proposed innovative technique is computationally effective as well as reliable in term of recognition rate of 99.56%.


Realizations from common stochastic processes are often used by simulation-methodology researchers in Monte Carlo performance evaluation of new and existing methods for output analysis, variance reduction, and optimization. Typically realizations can be obtained easily from either the definition or simple properties of the process. We discuss using the inverse of the distribution function for generating realizations from some of these processes. The inverse transformation always possesses the advantage of correlation induction, useful for variance reduction. We consider the discrete-time processes ARMA, EAR, M/M/1-QT (time in queue), and M/M/1-ST (time in system, the sojourn time), and Markov chains. The inverse-transformation algorithms are sometimes slower (e.g., ARMA, M/M/1-ST), sometimes faster (e.g., M/M/1-QT), and often about the same speed as the usual algorithm. Some Fortran implementations are provided.


A novel system of macroscopic diversity with voting rule in CDMA cellular systems is suggested in order to raise the coverage and quality of the service of CDMA mobile communication systems. The estimation of the impact of macrodiversity on the performance of CDMA cellular systems is analyzed and investigated.


Since the early days of integrated pest management a sound ecological foundation has been considered essential for the development of effective systems. From time to time, there have been attempts to evaluate the ways in which ecological theory is exploited in pest control, and to review the lessons that ecologists learn from pest management. In the last 20 years there have been many developments within the contribution of ecological theory to integrated pest management, and the objective of this book is to capture some of the new themes in both pest management and ecology that have emerged and to provide an updated assessment of the role that basic ecology plays in the development of rational and sustainable pest management practices. The major themes are examined, assessing the significance and potential impact of recent technological and conceptual developments for the future of integrated pest management.


In KME, the Court of Justice upheld for the first time compatibility of the standard of judicial review of decisions by the European Commission imposing fines for competition infringements with Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. However, the Court left it unclear whether the standard of judicial review previously applied by the Union courts was sufficient or a stricter standard was required. This article compares the case law before and after KME and argues that the post-KME standard of review is, or at least should, be different from the standard previously applied and is evolving into a full correctness standard both as regards the fining decision and as regards the finding of infringement. The only area where the case law still defers to the European Commission is that of complex technical and economic assessments but even this is no longer tenable under the EU principle of effective judicial protection. This brings into question the current institutional balance between the European Commission and the Union courts and the efficiency of the EU competition enforcement system, highlighting the desirability of structural reforms.


A cavity-resonator-integrated grating input/output coupler (CRIGIC) is designed to operate at about 850 nm wavelength for high-efficiency vertical coupling of a guided wave and a free-space wave with a small aperture. The CRIGIC consists of a grating coupler and a waveguide cavity resonator constructed by two distributed Bragg reflectors. A coupling efficiency of 96% with a 3 dB bandwidth of 1.2 nm is predicted by a theoretical calculation. An output coupling efficiency of about 60% is experimentally demonstrated on a 20 microm aperture device, fabricated in a thin-film SiO(2)-based waveguide on a substrate with an Au reflection layer, for what we believe to be the first time.


Nowadays the growth of web application development is great; every day a variety of new web applications are raised on the Internet for public use. Web applications have n-tier architecture, so the server side programs could change without client interference and this process could be done more times. Consequently the testing is the important issue in the web application development. This paper proposed an automated model based testing technique to test web application from its structural model. Firstly using reengineering approaches the structural model is constructed to demonstrate static aspects of the web application. Then using several ontologies and mapping tools, test cases for filling forms are automatically generated to model and evaluate dynamic features of the web application. The technique implemented as MBTester tool and applied to a few web applications. The results presented in this paper indicate the dynamic attained by MBTester is great.


The in-vitro release of ACTH by fetal rat pituitary glands on days 17, 19 and 21 of pregnancy was measured using radioimmunoassay. The spontaneous release of ACTH, expressed in pg ACTH/gland per h, increased with fetal age, in correlation with the sharp rise in pituitary ACTH content. However, since pituitary ACTH content was nearly sevenfold higher at term than on day 17, while basal release of ACTH was only threefold higher, one can speculate that the spontaneous release of ACTH was proportionally greater on day 17 than on day 21 of gestation. As corticosterone, at a physiological concentration (865 nmol/l), reduced ACTH release, it was concluded that the pituitary gland was one site of the negative feedback action of the corticosteroids during fetal life. Quantities of synthetic ovine corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) which gave concentrations of 0.3-30 nmol/l in the incubation medium induced a sharp rise in ACTH release which was log-dose dependent between 0.3 and 3 nmolCRF /1 on day 17 and between 0.3 and 30 nmolCRF /1 on days 19 and 21. The response to CRF increased with fetal age. Quantities of arginine vasopressin (AVP) which gave concentrations of 2-200 nmol/l stimulated ACTH release at all stages of gestation investigated. However, the response to AVP was much lower than that to CRF. Potentiation of CRF-induced ACTH release was not observed when whole pituitary glands from 21-day-old fetuses were incubated with AVP (20 nmol/1) + CRF ( 3nmol /1). Such results were correlated with the ontogenesis of immunoreactive vasopressin- and CRF-containing fibres in the median eminence of the rat fetus, as well as with the CRF-like immunoreactivity present in adult rat pituitary portal plasma and the AVP content of the fetal rat hypophysis.


We have previously shown that, in human and zebrafish, hypomorphic mutations of the gene encoding the retinoic acid (RA)-metabolizing enzyme Cyp26b1 result in coronal craniosynostosis, caused by an RA-induced premature transitioning of suture osteoblasts to preosteocytes, inducing ectopic mineralization of the suture's osteoid matrix. In addition, we showed that human CYP26B1 null patients have more severe and seemingly opposite skull defects, characterized by smaller and fragmented calvaria, but the cellular basis of these defects remained largely unclear. Here, by treating juvenile zebrafish with exogenous RA or a chemical Cyp26 inhibitor in the presence or absence of osteogenic cells or bone-resorbing osteoclasts, we demonstrate that both reduced calvarial size and calvarial fragmentation are also caused by RA-induced premature osteoblast-to-preosteocyte transitioning. During calvarial growth, the resulting osteoblast deprival leads to decreased osteoid production and thereby smaller and thinner calvaria, whereas calvarial fragmentation is caused by increased osteoclast stimulation through the gained preosteocytes. Together, our data demonstrate that RA-induced osteoblast-to-preosteocyte transitioning has multiple effects on developing bone in Cyp26b1 mutants, ranging from gain to loss of bone, depending on the allelic strength, the developmental stage and the cellular context. Summary: Increased RA levels in developing zebrafish have multiple effects on skull formation, ranging from gain to loss of bone, and depending on allelic strength, developmental stage and cellular context.


The use of biobased heterogeneous catalysts made from agricultural waste for producing biodiesel has gained attention for its potential to create a sustainable and low-cost process. The blending of two or more biomass residues to create more viable biobased catalysts is still in its early stages. In this study, a Biobased Composite Heterogeneous Catalyst (CHC) was made by blending the shells of periwinkle (PWS), melon seed-husk (MSH), and locust bean pod-husk (LBP) at a mixing ratio of 67:17:17 using Simplex Lattice Design Mixture, that was then calcined for 4 h at 800 °C. The chemical, structural, and morphological components of the CHC were characterized via XRF, XRD, SEM-EDX, BET, TGA/DSC, and FTIR to assess its catalytic potential. The CHC was employed to synthesize biodiesel from palm kernel oil, and the process optimization was conducted using the Taguchi approach. The XRF analysis showed that the catalyst had 69.049 of Calcium (Ca) and 9.472 of potassium (K) in their elemental and oxide states as 61.592% calcium oxide and 7.919% potassium oxide. This was also supported by the EDX result, that showed an appreciable value of 58.00% of Ca and 2.30% of magnesium, that perhaps provided the active site in the transesterification reaction to synthesize biodiesel. The morphological and physisorption isotherms via SEM and BET showed mesoporous structures in the CHC that were made up of nanoparticles. A high maximum biodiesel yield of 90.207 wt.% was attained under the optimized process conditions. The catalyst could be reused for up to four cycles, and the biodiesel produced met both ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards for biodiesel. This study demonstrates that blending PWS, MSH, and LBP waste materials can produce high-quality biodiesel without the need for additional catalysts.


Ovariectomized rats were given one-shot injections of 10 microgram estradiol-17 beta benzoate, and the longitudinal muscle of the uterus was used for experiment 4 days later. The membrane potential was 58.8 +/- 2.4 mV, and the membrane activity consisted of repetitive spike potentials carried on a plateau potential. Oxytocin (1 mU/ml) caused a depolarization of 7.6 +/- 3.7 mV in a Mg-free Locke solution, a prolongation of burst discharge and increase in the frequency of spontaneous activity. The effects were potentiated by 1-3 mM Mg. Burst discharge was abolished by the application of 0.5 mM Mn, and resumed when 0.1 mU/ml oxytocin was applied. Depolarization up to about - 30 mV and a contracture were caused by 1 mU oxytocin when applied with 1-2 mM Mn. The excitatory effect of oxytocin was depressed by 5 mM Mn. Marked depolarization and contracture were produced by 1 mU oxytocin when the application of Mn was discontinued (rebound phenomenon). The above observations indicate the superficial site of Mg and Mn at low concentration in cooperative action with oxytocin, and an additional site of Mn for the rebound potentiation of contraction and depolarization. It is proposed that oxytocin accelerated Mn influx, and that intracellular Mn participates in electrical and contractile responses due to the application of oxytocin. In this respect, acetylcholine caused a similar effect.


The damage induced in supercoiled plasmid DNA molecules by low energy (<500 eVu−1) carbon ions has been investigated as a function of ion dose. The production of short linear fragments through multiple double strand breakage is suggested and exponential dose responses for each of the topoisomers are presented.


The rate of phosphorylation of the Ca2+-dependent ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles by ITP and ATP was studied using a millisecond mixing and quenching device. The rate of phosphorylation was slower when the vesicles were preincubated in a Ca2+-free medium than when preincubated with Ca2+, regardless of the substrate used and of the pH of the medium. When the vesicles were preincubated with Ca2+ at pH 7.4 an overshoot of phosphorylation was observed in the presence of ITP. The overshoot was abolished when the pH of the medium was decreased to 6.0 or when the vesicles were preincubated in a Ca2+-free medium. Using vesicles preincubated with Ca2+ the apparent Km for ITP found was 2.5 mM at pH 6.0 and 1.0 mM at pH 7.4. The Vmax observed (77 mumol g-1 s-1) did not change with the pH of the medium. Both at pH 6.0 and 7.4 the apparent Km for ATP was 3 microM when preincubated in a Ca2+-free medium. At pH 6.0 the Vmax for ATP varied from 96 to 33 mumol g-1 s-1 depending on whether the vesicles were preincubated in the presence or absence of Ca2+. At pH 7.4 the Vmax for ATP was 90 mumol g-1 s-1 in both conditions. The rate of phosphorylation of the vesicles was dependent on the relative Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentrations of the reaction medium regardless of the substrate used.


A reliable wastewater characterization is a prerequisite for the selection of an acceptable treatment strategy for produced water which exhibits significant differences due to the varied kinds of wells, seasonal changes, and formation types. A complete characterization of produced water generated from oil, gas, and oil–gas fields in Turkey was performed based on seasonal and locational variations. The results showed that the produced water generated from oil field wells was highly polluted and wastewater volume was higher in comparison to gas and oil–gas field wells. Besides, the characterization of produced water was varying in a wide range based on seasonal and locational variations. Useful relationships were observed between chloride, sodium, bromide, and total dissolved solids concentrations. The results can be used in the design, operation, and optimization of wastewater treatment systems of petroleum and oil industries for future studies.


In this research, the effect of PEO procedure time on the distinct properties of coatings such as morphology, chemical composition, roughness and corrosion has been studied. A scanning electron microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive spectroscopy was used to study the microstructure of the coatings. In addition, x-ray diffraction (XRD) and roughness meter were used to evaluate the chemical composition and roughness of the coatings, respectively. The corrosion properties of coatings have been also studied by polarization and electrochemical impedance experiments in the Hank's physiological solution. The results of microstructural analysis showed that rising the time of the coating procedure resulted in an increase in the size of porosity, thickness and roughness. The results of the XRD pattern showed that all coatings were composed of two phases of zirconia and zirconium titanate and that the change in time of coating did not alter the chemical composition of the coating. In the case of corrosion resistance of coatings, the most corrosion potential (611 mV) with the least corrosion current density (18.50 nA/cm2) in the coating created at the end of the third step of coating (10 minutes) resulted in the most corrosion resistance (0.602 MΩ.cm2).


Conformational alterations induced in DNA by the binding of various bivalent and tetravalent platinum complexes were characterized by means of differential pulse polarography and circular dichroism spectroscopy. It was found that at low levels of binding the platination of DNA markedly influenced its polarographic behaviour. The results indicated that the binding of the active anti-tumour complexes resulted in minor conformational changes in DNA when the double-stranded structure remained conserved. On the other hand, the attack by inactive anti-tumour compounds induced more severe alterations which had the character of denaturation of longer regions of the DNA molecule. It was also demonstrated that active anti-tumour tetravalent platinum complexes could react with DNA, without their prior reduction to the bivalent state, and may induce in DNA conformational changes similar to those produced by bivalent cisplatin.


We model in a game theoretic context managerial intervention directed towards value enhancement in the presence of uncertainty and spillover effects. Two firms face real investment opportunities, and before making the irreversible investment decisions, they have options to enhance value by doing more R&D and/or acquiring more information. Due to spillovers, firms act strategically by optimizing their behavior, conditional on the actions of their counterpart. They face two decisions that are solved for interdependently in a two-stage game. The first-stage decision is: what is the optimal level of coordination between them? the second-stage decision is: what is the optimal effort for a given level of the spillover effects and the cost of information acquisition? For the solution we adopt an option pricing framework that allows analytic tractability.


Using a technique entailing localized photo-generation of excess carriers on the (100) face of a PDATS crystal, an asymmetry between the distances holes drift and those of the electrons is found. By modelling the electric fields between surface electrodes, an average distance for the hole drift is estimated, and is deduced to be about 60 mu m with lower and upper bounds of 40 and 80 mu m respectively. Further experiments suggest that the holes do not undergo any form of recombination but could remain in the crystal for long times. The effect of this in this and other photo-conduction experiments is considered.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major human pathogen and the leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer worldwide. HCV entry is clathrin- and pH-dependent, and requires CD81, Scavenger receptor BI (SR-BI), and the tight junction (TJ) proteins Claudin-1 and Occludin. Primary HCV strains cannot be efficiently cultured in vitro, making the evaluation of potential antiviral compounds in a biologically relevant context extremely difficult. Despite being suitable for high-throughput screening, most cell-based reporter assays rely on the secretion of serine alkaline phosphatase and thus do not allow the selection of HCV infected cells, or the screening of patient samples to identify cell culture infectious viral strains. We aimed to develop a cell-based reporter assay, which utilizes the viral NS3/4A protease to cleave and activate a fluorescent reporter protein constitutively expressed in Huh-7.5 hepatoma cells. HCV tropism is restricted to the liver, where hepatocytes are polarized and form TJ, which are indispensable for normal liver functionality. We demonstrate that in confluent cells, SR-BI and Claudin-1 expression is increased and that HCV entry is enhanced when cellular contact is established. Furthermore, cell junction formation and SR-BI overexpression, respectively, accelerated virus entry, suggesting a key role for SR-BI in HCV internalization. The mechanisms underlying HCV-associated hepatic injury are poorly understood, however, it is thought that HCV may disrupt TJ integrity, thus compromising hepatocyte polarity and function. We demonstrate that the HCV structural proteins modulate the expression and localization of TJ proteins, leading to their redistribution to cytoplasmic vesicles with possible consequences for TJ integrity in vivo.


This article examines the rise of the Nation of Islam (NOI) within America's penal system during the late 1950s and the 1960s. In doing so, it explores the reasons for the NOI's appeal among African American prisoners, its contribution to the politicization of those prisoners, the responses of penal, state and federal authorities to the proliferation of prison mosques, and the way in which imprisoned Black Muslims' campaign for freedom of religious expression established the legal groundwork for the prisoners' rights movement of the late 1960s and the 1970s. This research presents the prison as a locus of black protest and the African American prisoner as an important, but largely overlooked, actor within the black freedom struggle. It calls upon historians to recognize the importance of the prison as both a site and a symbol of black resistance during the post-World War II period.


The ability to manipulate the space-time structure of light waves diversifies light-matter interaction and light-driven applications. Conventionally, metasurfaces are employed to locally control the amplitude and phase of light fields by the material response and structure of small meta-atoms. However, the fixed spatial structures of metasurfaces offer limited opportunities. Here, using quantum control we introduce a new approach that enables the amplitude, sign, and even configuration of the generated light fields to be manipulated in an all-optical manner. Following this approach, we demonstrate the generation of flying doughnut terahertz (THz) pulses. We show that the single-cycle THz pulse radiated from the dynamic semiconductor ring current has an electric field structure that is azimuthally polarized and that the space- and time-resolved magnetic field has a strong, isolated longitudinal component. As a first application, we detect absorption features from ambient water vapor on the spatiotemporal structure of the measured electric fields and the calculated magnetic fields. Quantum control is a powerful and flexible route to generating any structured light pulse in the THz range, while pulse compression of cylindrical vector beams is available for very high-power magnetic-pulse generation from the mid-infrared to near UV spectral region. Pulses such as these will serve as unique probes for spectroscopy, imaging, telecommunications, and magnetic materials.


Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) based on code-modulated visual evoked potentials (c-VEPs) typically utilize a synchronous approach to identify targets (i.e., after preset time periods the system produces command outputs). Hence, users have only a limited amount of time to fixate a desired target. This hinders the usage of more complex interfaces, as these require the BCI to distinguish between intentional and unintentional fixations. In this article, we investigate a dynamic sliding window mechanism as well as the implementation of software-based stimulus synchronization to enable the threshold-based target identification for the c-VEP paradigm. To further improve the usability of the system, an ensemble-based classification strategy was investigated. In addition, a software-based approach for stimulus on-set determination is proposed, which allows for an easier setup of the system, as it reduces additional hardware dependencies. The methods were tested with an eight-target spelling application utilizing an n-gram word prediction model. The performance of eighteen participants without disabilities was tested; all participants completed word- and sentence spelling tasks using the c-VEP BCI with a mean information transfer rate (ITR) of 75.7 and 57.8 bpm, respectively.


Over 80 percent of the total revenue received by the NCAA each year comes from television media rights agreements, which take advantage of the names, images and likeness of those who play the game as student-athletes. Yet there are NCAA rules that prohibit scholarship athletes from receiving as much as a dime from their own name – ever. Despite several challenges by plaintiff players, the most recent federal case, O'Bannon v. NCAA rejected those claims, and affirms the NCAA rule that values student-athlete NIL as worthless under antitrust law. After dispelling the false narrative that NIL payments are pay-for-play transactions, this article provides a middle ground between disbursing nothing to student athletes and paying cash to those athletes for any purpose at any time. A careful analysis of O'Bannon reveals opportunities to craft this solution while conforming to the precise rule of law established in the case. The key evidentiary findings that were missing in that case can be remedied. A model rule is therefore proposed that cures what the court found fatal in O'Bannon. In essence, the model rule creates a tether – a link between NIL payments and amateurism through education-related expenses that was not part of the evidentiary record in O'Bannon. This author's model goes further to provide safeguards against NIL compensation abuse. The model includes a novel sports payment system borrowing from clawback and recapture provisions of securities law to return ill-gotten gains back to the universities. The model is designed to have practical application to the Power 5 Conferences in football and basketball.


Mutual funds rely on recommendations from proxy advisors when voting in corporate elections. Proxy advisors' influence has been a source of controversy, but it is difficult to study because information linking funds to their advisors is not publicly available. A key innovation of this paper is to show how fund-advisor links can be inferred from previously unnoticed features of a fund's SEC filings. Using this method to infer links, I establish several novel facts about the proxy advisory industry. During 2007-2017, the market share of the two largest proxy advisory firms has declined slightly from 96.5 percent to 91 percent, with Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) controlling 63 percent of the market and Glass Lewis 28 percent in the most recent year. A large fraction of ISS customers appear to have robo-voted – followed ISS's recommendations in over 99.9 percent of contentious proposals – rising from 5 percent in 2007 to 23 percent in 2017, while almost none of Glass Lewis' customers have robo-voted. Negative recommendations from ISS or Glass Lewis reduce their customers' votes by over 20 percent in director elections and say-on-pay proposals. Finally, proxy advisors cater to investors' preferences, adjusting their recommendations to align with fund preferences independent of whether those adjustments lead to recommendations that maximize firm value.


This paper gives a detailed description of Camptothlipsis arabica sp. nov., (Hym., Braconidae, Agathidinae) is described in Saudi Arabia. The diagnostic morphological characters of the new species are outlined and they are compared with those of the related species. This paper is the first report given of the genus Camptothlipsis Enderlein in Saudi Arabia.


The f+ form factors of the B → π, D → π and D → K transitions are calculated from QCD light-cone sum rules (LCSR) and used to predict the widths and differential distributions of the exclusive semileptonic decays B → πl̄νl, D → πl̄νl and D → Kl̄νl, where l = e, μ. The current theoretical uncertainties are estimated. The LCSR results are found to agree with the results of lattice QCD calculations and with experimental data on exclusive semileptonic D decays. Comparison of the LCSR prediction on B → πl̄νl with the CLEO measurement yields a value of |Vub| in agreement with other determinations. On leave from Yerevan Physics Institute, 375036 Yerevan, Armenia


Filamentous tau aggregates, the hallmark lesions of Alzheimer disease (AD), play key roles in neurodegeneration. Activation of protein degradation systems has been proposed to be a potential strategy for removing pathological tau, but it remains unclear how effectively tau aggregates can be degraded by these systems. By applying our previously established cellular model system of AD-like tau aggregate induction using preformed tau fibrils, we demonstrate that tau aggregates induced in cells with regulated expression of full-length mutant tau can be gradually cleared when soluble tau expression is suppressed. This clearance is at least partially mediated by the autophagy-lysosome pathway, although both the ubiquitin-proteasome system and the autophagy-lysosome pathway are deficient in handling large tau aggregates. Importantly, residual tau aggregates left after the clearance phase leads to a rapid reinstatement of robust tau pathology once soluble tau expression is turned on again. Moreover, we succeeded in generating monoclonal cells persistently carrying tau aggregates without obvious cytotoxicity. Live imaging of GFP-tagged tau aggregates showed that tau inclusions are dynamic structures constantly undergoing "fission" and "fusion," which facilitate stable propagation of tau pathology in dividing cells. These findings provide a greater understanding of cell-to-cell transmission of tau aggregates in dividing cells and possibly neurons.


Abstract The lizard Diploderma micangshanense, which belongs to the family Agamidae is endemic to China. Here, we determined the complete mitogenome of D. micangshanense using an Illumina Hiseq X Ten sequencer. This mitogenome's structure is a typical circular molecule of 16,467 bp in length, consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and a control region. The overall base composition of D. micangshanensis is 34.1% A, 23.64% T, 13.62% C, and 28.64% G with a slight AT bias of 57.74%. Most mitochondrial genes except ND6 and seven tRNAs were encoded on the heavy strand. Notably, the trnP gene was encoded on the heavy strand instead of its typical light strand position, providing an example of gene inversion in vertebrate mitogenomes. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that D. micangshanensis had a close relationship with D. zhaoermii.


This paper aims to help educational multimedia designers and multimedia developers to understand how information is processed in the human mind in order to achieve its learning objective. It intends to show some guiding principles to manage content that release working memory resources for the schema construction and automation.


Social media affords substantial visibility, engagement, and global outreach for radiology education. #ASHNRCOTW viewership and engagement increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Social media has made inroads in medical education. We report the creation and 3-year (2018–2021) longitudinal assessment of the American Society of Head and Neck Radiology Case of the Week (#ASHNRCOTW), assessing viewership, engagement, and impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on this Twitter-based education initiative. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Unknown cases were tweeted from the American Society of Head and Neck Radiology account weekly. Tweet impressions (number of times seen), engagements (number of interactions), and new followers were tabulated. A social media marketing platform identified worldwide distribution of Twitter followers. Summary and t test statistics were performed. RESULTS: #ASHNRCOTW was highly visible with 2,082,280 impressions and 203,137 engagements. There were significantly greater mean case impressions (9917 versus 6346), mean case engagements (1305 versus 474), case engagement rates (13.06% versus 7.76%), mean answer impressions (8760 versus 5556), mean answer engagements (908 versus 436), answer engagement rates (10.38% versus 7.87%), mean total (case + answer) impressions (18,677 versus 11,912), mean total engagements (2214 versus 910), and total engagement rates (11.79% versus 7.69%) for cases published after the pandemic started (all P values < .001). There was a significant increase in monthly new followers after starting #ASHNRCOTW (mean, 134 versus 6; P < .001) and significantly increased monthly new followers after the pandemic started compared with prepandemic (mean, 178 versus 101; P = .003). The American Society of Head and Neck Radiology has 7564 Twitter followers throughout 130 countries (66% outside the United States). CONCLUSIONS: Social media affords substantial visibility, engagement, and global outreach for radiology education. #ASHNRCOTW viewership and engagement increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.