CONTEXT
45,X/46,Xidic(Y) mosaicism demands careful and thorough study because of both its variable clinical features and its potential complications.

CASE REPORT
The present case relates to a three-year-old girl with the mosaic karyotype 46,X,idic(Y)(q11.2)[23]/45,X[6]. She had no signs of virilization or Turner's syndrome phenotype, but she was referred to our hospital because she presented reduced growth rate, abnormal facies and a melanotic nevus. After examination, she underwent prophylactic gonadectomy because of the risk of gonadoblastoma. Cytogenetic analysis on the streak gonads and blood showed significant differences in the 45,X cell line between these two tissues. The presence of the sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene did not determine male differentiation, which meant in the present case that the predominance of the X cell line in the gonadal tissue was probably due to the determining factor for female sexual differentiation.


Context. The first detection of an atmosphere around an extrasolar planet was presented by Charbonneau and collaborators in 2002. In the optical transmission spectrum of the transiting exoplanet HD 209458b, an absorption signal from sodium was measured at a level of 0.023 ± 0.006%, using the STIS spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. Despite several attempts, so far only upper limits to the Na D  absorption have been obtained using telescopes from the ground, and the HST result has yet to be confirmed. Aims. The aims of this paper are to re-analyse data taken with the High Dispersion Spectrograph on the Subaru telescope, to correct for systematic effects dominating the data quality, and to improve on previous results presented in the literature. Methods. The data reduction process was altered in several places, most importantly allowing for small shifts in the wavelength solution. The relative depth of all lines in the spectra, including the two sodium D lines, are found to correlate strongly with the continuum count level in the spectra. These variations are attributed to non-linearity effects in the CCDs. After removal of this empirical relation the uncertainties in the line depths are only a fraction above that expected from photon statistics. Results. The sodium absorption due to the planet's atmosphere is detected at > 5 σ , at a level of 0.056 ± 0.007% (2 $\times$ 3.0 A band), 0.070 ± 0.011% (2 $\times$ 1.5 A band), and 0.135 ± 0.017% (2 $\times$0.75 Aband). There is no evidence that the planetary absorption signal is shifted with respect to the stellar absorption, as recently claimed for HD 189733b. Conclusions. The STIS/HST measurements are confirmed. The measurements of the Na D absorption in the two most narrow bands indicate that some signal is being resolved. Due to variations in the instrumental resolution and intrinsic variations in the stellar lines due to the Rossiter-McLauglin effect, it will be challenging to probe the planetary absorption on spectral scales smaller than the stellar absorption using conventional transmission spectroscopy.


Background: The aim of this study was to compare the influence of 2% lidocaine with and without a vasoconstrictor agent (0.00125% norepinephrine) on the haemodynamic parameters of patients with ischaemic heart disease during basic dental surgery procedures.
Materials and Methods: In total, 120 adult patients were enrolled into two groups: (1) patients with detected and treated ischaemic heart disease and (2) healthy patients not taking any medications. Each group was additionally randomly assigned to an experimental group, which received 4.0 mL of 2% lidocaine containing 0.00125% norepinephrine prior to surgery, or a control group, which received 4.0 mL of 2% lidocaine without norepinephrine. Haemodynamic parameters (systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate and blood oxygen saturation) were measured three times: before surgical procedures and 5 and 20 minutes after administration of local anaesthesia. Before treatment, patients were asked to complete a general health survey.
Results: No statistically significant differences were noted in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate and blood oxygen saturation between experimental and control groups.
Conclusion: The addition of 0.00125% norepinephrine to 4.0 mL of 2% lidocaine for local anaesthesia during basic dental surgery procedures exerts no significant effect on the haemodynamic parameters of patients with coronary artery disease.


Ross6 begins with an extended introduction which provides an overview of the problem of the cry in the context of nineteenth century and early twentieth century biblical theology. Strong emphasis is then placed on the post-Bultmannian effort to recover a sense of the biblical text as having real historical import, rather than being nearly exclusively existential in orientation and impact. The brief first chapter takes the reader through the events of the crucifixion, interpreting them against the background of First Testament literature. For example, the darkness surrounding Jesus' death may be seen in connection with Amos' &dquo;Day of Yahweh&dquo; (Amos 8:9), or as a reference to Exod 10:22, i.e., the plague of darkness. After dealing with the text from this standard exegetical perspective, Ross6 turns his attention to the question of the historicity of the cry from the cross. He acknowledges that the materials we have at our disposal do not permit affirmation of the cry as historical. However, he agrees with those who hold,


Key Points Anakinra improved 28-day survival rate in patients with COVID-19–associated ARDS. Anakinra was well tolerated, with no increase in infection-related adverse events. Visual Abstract The IL-1 receptor antagonist, anakinra, may represent a therapeutic option for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, COVID-19 ARDS patients admitted to the Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale of Lecco, Italy, between March 5th to April 15th, 2020, and who had received anakinra off-label were retrospectively evaluated and compared with a cohort of matched controls who did not receive immunomodulatory treatment. The primary end point was survival at day 28. The population consisted of 112 patients (56 treated with anakinra and 56 controls). Survival at day 28 was obtained in 69 patients (61.6%) and was significantly higher in anakinra-treated patients than in the controls (75.0 versus 48.2%, p = 0.007). When stratified by continuous positive airway pressure support at baseline, anakinra-treated patients' survival was also significant compared with the controls (p = 0.008). Univariate analysis identified anakinra usage (odds ratio, 3.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.47–7.17) as a significant survival predictor. This was not supported by multivariate modeling. The rate of infectious-related adverse events was similar between groups. In conclusion, anakinra improved overall survival and invasive ventilation-free survival and was well tolerated in patients with ARDS associated with COVID-19.


This paper traces the benefits of international accounting information systems-their contribution to standardization and harmonization by purposing and tasking for business management. In this review, the goal is to describe and summarize how the accounting information system can help management decisions and influence the business environment in a global scale. The unified, standardized accounting information system will lead to new types of analysis and data, furthermore with the possible integration of new indicators from the business management practice of certain countries. The purpose of this study was the measuring the differences between the national rules and the international methods by countries, then the valuing and analyzing their effects on the business environments. The study showed that both businesses earnings and stock returns effect on the management turnover. The businesses with lower labour productivity compared to their industry peers have greater incentives to adopt international accounting system. However, the results on turnover are sensitive to this change in variable specification. So the increase in the sensitivity of turnover to accounting performance post-adoption is primarily driven by heightened turnover sensitivity to accounting losses. The empirical results could be the author's suggestions for business management.


Using the sensitive ELISA technique, 213 patients with sickle cell anemia (112 males and 101 females) aged 6 months to 18 years were screened for Hepatitis B infection using Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody to Hepatitis B core antigen. A biochemical evaluation of liver function was carried out on all patients using Alanine and Aspartate transaninases, alkaline phosphate and serum bilirubin.
The patients positive for HBV markers had their liver function tests compared with those of patients negative for the HBV markers. No statistically significant difference attributable to the presence of HBV was observed between the mean values of the serum enzymes amongst the groups. Isolated elevations in enzymes levels were, however, noted and randomly distributed in the various groups of patients with and without HBV markers. The abnormalities in liver function tests did not show any peculiar trend with the sex and age of patients has normal or slight elevation in liver enzymes with a moderate rise in serum bilirubin especially the direct reacting component.
 Keywords : Liver functions, Sickle cell disease, Hepatitis B Annals of Biomedical Science Vol. 3 (1&2) 2004: pp. 54-60


Various studies were performed to fabricate self-assembling nanoobjects out of noble metals, but a few efforts were made for engineering iron-based nanorods toward sell-assembling blocks. In this regard β-FeOOH nanorods were fabricated in various sizes to achieve iron-based rod nanoblocks with self-assembling potential. Hydrolysis of ferric ions in various concentrations was successfully developed as a novel approach to control the growth of β-FeOOH crystals and tuning the length of rods in the nano range, below 100 nm. It was found that the concentration of ferric ion has no effect on the widths of nanorods, but the length was affected. By increasing the concentration of ferric ions, an increase in the length of nanorods and an increase of aspect ratio occurred. All sizes of the resulting FeOOH nanorods exhibited mesoporous feature, but interestingly the hysteresis loops were different due to different pore patterns. In fact, pores on the larger particles were more uniform in size and shape. Nanorods of small length did not make suitable interactions toward ordered phase formation, but rods with the mean length of about 90 nm or longer, at a certain concentration, were able to form nematic phases. The large (∼+40 mV) zeta-potential of nanorods prevents formation of dense arrays, and just bundle-like structures were observed. These findings highlight the importance of size, surface charge, and concentration of nanoobjects in the formation of 3D structures. The developed technique in the fabrication of β-FeOOH nanorods provides pure structures that are free from any size-controlling agent. These pure structures are suitable for further functionalization or coating. Self-assembling nanoobjects is a developing field in nanotechnology, and therefore studies can help our understanding over the assembling process.


OBJECTIVE
To study the effects of 18beta-glycyrrhizic acid and 18alpha-glycyrrhizic acid on mRNA and protein expression of cytochrome P450 3A in cultured rat primary hepatocyte.

METHOD
Rat heaptocyte were isolated by two-step in situ collagenase perfusion method; the hepatocytes were seeded in dishes coated with type I rat tail collagen, culture medium was added and changed daily after gelation, the effect of 18beta-glycyrrhizic acid and 18alpha-glycyrrhizic acid on the expression of CYP3A was determined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot respectively.

RESULT
Treatment with 18beta-glycyrrhizic acid of primary rat hepatocytes resulted in marked up-regulation of CYP3A1 expression at both mRNA and protein levels in a concentration dependent manner, while exposure to 18alpha-glycyrrhizic acid of primary rat hepatocytes resulted in marked down-regulation of CYP3A1 expression at both mRNA and protein levels in a concentration dependent manmer.

CONCLUSION
18beta-glycyrrhizic acid and 18alpha-glycyrrhizic acid up-regulate and down-regulate CYP3A1 expression at the transcriptive levels.


Universal base oils that remain pourable over wide temperature ranges would have important advantages for lubrication applications. The model system used in this project was a poly(α-olefin) synthetic base oil modified with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to lower the pour-point temperature. Although the blend was miscible at room temperature, phase separation occurred at temperatures lower than 258 K. Partition coefficients of such nonideal oligomer mixtures can (1) help define operating temperature ranges and (2) provide a basis for designing molecular weight distributions of each lubricant that control or prevent phase separation. The poly(α-olefin) base oil family is branched oligomers with two to five n-mers at levels greater than 1 wt %, whereas PDMS additives are linear oligomers having between 10 and 50 sequential n-mers at levels greater than 0.5 wt %. In this study, Fourier transform infrared measurements of the poly(α-olefin) and PDMS compositions in each phase provided an overall material balance. Poly(α-olefin) oligomers were detected with size exclusion chromatography with a differential refractive-index detector, and PDMS oligomers were detected with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The best sets of measurements for the individual oligomers in each phase were selected by minimization of the overall material balance errors. For both oligomers, components with high molecular weights were preferentially excluded from the phase rich in the other polymer and were relatively independent of temperature. The partition coefficients of poly(α-olefin) components increased with increasing oligomer length, whereas the partition coefficients of the PDMS components decreased with increasing oligomer length. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011


Schistosomiasis has been a major public health problem especially in developing countries, where access to potable water is generally limited. Its control calls for a search for various interventions that would not only target the causative agent and human behavior, but also the snail intermediate host. This study explored the possibility of using bioactive factors from naturally occurring crude or semi-processed products including some plant parts and vegetables to control the Bulinus globosus  intermediate host. In all, five (25%) of the test materials in decreasing order (pawpaw > cabbage > short banana > sugarcane > sweet orange) acted as statistically significant arrestants for the adults, but four (20%) of them in decreasing order (cabbage > unripe pawpaw > sugarcane > ripe tomato) were arrestants for the juveniles at (p short banana > sugarcane > cabbage and cabbage > palm > sugarcane > unripe pawpaw). However, mango tree bark, neem tree bark, unripe mango, onion and cassava stem acted as significant repellents to both adult and juvenile snails. The identified attractants and arrestants for Bulinus globosus, pawpaw and cabbage, may be useful in its chemical manipulations especially as molluscicides in controlling the intermediate host snails. Keywords : Schistosomiasis, snail, Bulinus globosus, chemoresponses, natural products


I. Raeburn and J. Taylor have constructed continuous-trace C*-algebras with a prescribed Dixmier-Douady class, which also depend on the choice of an open cover of the spectrum. We study the asymptotic behavior of these algebras with respect to certain refinements of the cover and appropriate extension of cocycles. This leads to the analysis of a limit groupoid G and a cocycle \sigma, and the algebra C*(G, \sigma) may be regarded as a generalized direct limit of the Raeburn-Taylor algebras. As a special case, all UHF C*-algebras arise from this limit construction.


Venom derived peptides from marine cone snails, conotoxins, have demonstrated unique pharmacological targeting properties that have been pivotal in advancing medical research. The awareness of their true toxic origins and potent pharmacological nature is emphasized by their 'select agent' classification by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We briefly introduce the biochemical and pharmacological aspects of conotoxins, highlighting current advancements into their biological engineering, and provide details to the present regulations that govern their use in research.


Planners and policy makers are increasingly promoting biking and public transit as viable means of transportation. The integration of bicycling and transit has been acknowledged as a strategy to increase the mode share of bicycling and the efficiency of public transit by solving the first- and last-mile problem. However, the economic outcomes of jointly promoting neighbourhood bikeability and transit accessibility are still poorly understood. This study aims to assess the property value impact of neighbourhood bikeability, transit accessibility, and their synergistic effect by analysing the single-family and condominium property sale transactions during 2010–2012 in Austin, Texas, USA. Our Cliff-Ord spatial hedonic modelling approach, which is also known as the general spatial model (or SAC), controls for the spatial dependent effects in the sale price and the error terms simultaneously. In order to quantify neighbourhood bikeability and transit accessibility, we use Bike Score and Transit Score as publicly available indices. We have assessed how residents' willingness to pay (WTP) for bikeability and transit accessibility depend on various socio-demographic and built-environment factors, and whether the WTP is influenced by the bicycle-transit synergy. The results from this research show that jointly enhancing bikeability and transit accessibility can generate positive synergistic effects on property values. The effects would behoove policy makers to pursue the coordination of bicycle master plans with regional transit plans and to consider strategies of spatially-joint bicycle and transit investment.


The paper presents the results of a study of some aspects of cancer prevention and quality of life of cancer patients, including the issues of adherence and health literacy. The accessibility and quality of care for cancer patients were estimated. The factors influencing the late request for patient care, which includes family and economic status, were determined. The role of different channels for informing patients about preventive measures and healthy lifestyle were studied.


The early Iron Age in southwest Germany belongs to the west Hallstatt area and encompasses the period from about 800 to 450 BC. From around the middle of the 7th century BC, some changes within the mortuary practice are clearly visible: barrows with sometimes numerous secondary burials appear, sometimes with splendid inventories. In the course of the 6th century, graves with even more elaborate grave goods emerge. Since most of them are concentrated around the Heuneburg on the upper Danube and the Hohenasperg in northern Baden-Wurttemberg, they have been regarded as the graves of nobles (so-called Fursten) and the two hills as their residences. This image has dominated German archaeology, and by and large has remained unquestioned while new approaches have remained undiscussed. This paper intends to show that by setting out from a different point, an alternative social structure is equally likely. On the basis of inventory values and certain grave goods, the distribution of prosperity is discussed and different regions compared. It is suggested that the late Hallstatt society was based on a system where age and reputation determined status, and that prospering communities competed and displayed their significance in funerary rituals and lavishly outfitted graves.


In this study we identify the differences in goal realisation when applying two conflicting paradigms regarding rule perception and management. We gathered more than 30 scenarios where goal conflicts were apparent in a military operational unit. We found that operators repetitively utilized certain routines in executing their tasks in an effort to realize several conflicting goals. These routines were not originally intended nor designed into the rules and not explicitly included in documentation. They were not necessarily at odds with the literal wording and/or the intent of rules and regulations, although we did find examples of this. Our data showed that local ingenuity was created innovatively within the frame of existing rules or kept invisible to those outside the unit. The routines were introduced and passed on informally, and we found no evidence of testing for the introduction of new risks, no migration into the knowledge base of the organisation, and no dissemination as new best practices. An explanation for this phenomenon was found in the fact that the military organisation was applying a top-down, classical, rational approach to rules. In contrast, the routines were generated by adopting a constructivist view of rules as dynamic, local, situated constructions with operators as experts. The results of this study suggest that organisations are more effective in solving goal conflicts and creating transparency on local ingenuity if they adopt a constructivist paradigm instead of, or together with, a classical paradigm.


We show experimentally and theoretically that an electrically biased 200-μm multitransverse mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser can be passively mode-locked using optical feedback from a distant resonant saturable absorber mirror. This is achieved when one cavity is placed at the Fourier plane of the other. Such nonconventional optical feedback leads to the formation of two tilted plane waves traveling in the external cavity with opposite transverse components and alternating in time at every round-trip. Each of these plane waves gives birth to a train of mode-locked pulses separated by twice the external cavity round-trip, while the two trains are time shifted by a round-trip. A large portion of the transverse section of the device contributes to mode-locked emission leading to pulses of approximately 1-W peak power and 10-ps width. We discuss how inhomogeneities in the transverse section of the saturable absorber select the emitted tilted waves, thus leading to tunable emission over 4 nm.


This document summarizes the performance of the groundwater and surface water restoration systems installed by the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA) at the former CCC/USDA grain storage facility in Murdock, Nebraska, during the third full year of system operation, from January 1 through December 31, 2008. Performance in June 2005 through December 2007 was reported previously (Argonne 2007, 2008). In the Murdock project, several innovative technologies are being used to remove carbon tetrachloride contamination from a shallow aquifer underlying the town, as well as from water naturally discharged to the surface at the headwaters of a small creek (a tributary to Pawnee Creek) north of the town (Figure 1.1). The restoration activities at Murdock are being conducted by the CCC/USDA as a non-time-critical removal action under the regulatory authority and supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region VII. Argonne National Laboratory assisted the CCC/USDA by providing technical oversight for the restoration effort and facilities during this review period. Included in this report are the results of all sampling and monitoring activities performed in accord with the EPA-approved Monitoring Plan for this site (Argonne 2006), as well as additional investigative activities conducted during the review period. The annual performance reports for the Murdock project assemble information that will become part of the five-year review and evaluation of the remediation effort. This review will occur in 2010. This document presents overviews of the treatment facilities (Section 2) and site operations and activities (Section 3), then describes the groundwater, surface water, vegetation, and atmospheric monitoring results (Section 4) and modifications and costs during the review period (Section 5). Section 6 summarizes the current period of operation. A gallery of photographs of the Murdock project is in Appendix A.


Perhaps the 'book', as it has been called, of nature is regularly paged; if so, no doubt the introductory parts will explain those that follow, and the methods taught in the first chapters will be taken for granted and used as illustrations in the more advanced parts of the course; but if it is not a 'book' at all, but a magazine, nothing is more foolish to suppose [than] that one part can throw light on another. James Clerk Maxwell, 1856


Iris Cairns examined the different effects on the health of mothers and fathers when they have a child with a disability. Both have a higher incidence of psychiatric morbidity than parents in the general population, with the mothers' health more significantly affected than that of the fathers, her study revealed.


This article describes the Implementation of the Personnel Management Information System (SIMPEG) at the Regional Education and Training Personnel Board. This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach with data collection through observation, documentation, and interviews. This study uses data analysis developed interactive data. The results showed that the implementation of SIMPEG in BKPPD was not optimal. This is because the implementation of socialization was not effective, human resources were less competent, the level of commitment held by BKPPD employees was still low, and there was no SOP in implementing SIMPEG.Keywords: implementation, public policy, information systems, staffing


Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of coherent alignment of current theory from cognitive psychology with practice and policy in training and education institutions developing e-learning materials and present recommendations emphasising the human factor within processes.

Design/methodology/approach

– In this paper a recent empirical study which applies current theory from cognitive psychological and multimodal learning research provides the backdrop to discussion about alignment of strategic vision, through policy, to effective practice.

Findings

– Despite advances in cognitive psychology which can be applied to targeting effective and measurable training and education, many institutions fail to maintain updated e-learning strategy and policy resulting in a negative impact on practice and the learner experience.

Practical implications

– The model presented in this paper is intended to promote thoughtful discussion about the processes and framework necessary for improved collaboration and communication supported by ongoing evaluation of institutional e-learning policy such that policy becomes a dynamic process congruent with developments in the learning sciences.

Social implications

– The paper includes recommendations for a refined view of knowledge, skills, and attitudes and alignment of policy with practice and theory and will be of interest to training and education institutions seeking to review their policies for training needs analysis and e-learning.

Originality/value

– This paper offers an up-to-date view of training needs analysis and multimedia design for training discrete psychomotor skills. It will be of value to organisations and institutions providing training and education mediated by technology as well as those involved in the design of training interventions.


The aim of this study is to analyze the strategies used in a report of Esporte Espetacular program to relate Neymar to the image of the hero and the appropriation of that message by university students. There was use of the technique of focus groups and analytical-descriptive method for collecting and analyzing data. The sample consisted of 24 university students, aged between 18 and 24 years. According university students, the intent of the EE to say that Neymar "cares for the children" is to show the player as an example to be followed by its ethical and moral values.


In response to calls for curricular change in foreign language programs and institutional requirements to evaluate programmatic effectiveness, this article presents a backward design approach to the redesign of an introductory French curriculum grounded in the framing concept of cultural literacy. In addition, data from student evaluations, written exams, and instructor feedback illustrate how program evaluation efforts have contributed to curricular fine-tuning, enhanced assessment practices, and informed instructors' teaching and professional development experiences. The article concludes with a discussion of implications and future directions for curriculum design at all levels of undergraduate foreign language programs.


Recently, there are a number of researchers interested in conducting and developing an electronic white stick, which is the electronic version of the normal white stick for blind people. Concept of inventing this electronic stick is developed from studying mechanism to determine close range or distance between the stick and the obstacles – by means of some electronic sensing devices. Parameters that rate this sticks could be its size, and weight, i.e., its size and weight should be as same as that of the normal white sticks. However, its battery (utilization) time is also important. The battery of the stick should not be last before twelve hours when using it continuously. This paper studies techniques to reduce power consumption in electronic white stick. In addition, several batteries with different discharged rate were employed for determining utilization time. The results show that the proposed module of electronic stick consumed lower energy than the previous work and a NiMHC-size of 2,200 mAh battery is adequate for operating the stick more than twelve hour at any modes of alarming.


The theory of electric field fluctuations in a plasma is reviewed. The fluctuations of an electric field can be assumed to be due to the Cerenkov radiation, which is emitted by single particles that satisfy the Landau wave-particle resonance conditions. This view naturally agrees with the picture that a plasma can be considered to be an aggregate of non-interacting dressed particles. A simple classical derivation of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem is presented to show that the fluctuations of the Cerenkov electric field agree with the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. A quasilinear-like solution of the Liouville equation is shown to derive an electric field fluctuation with the same form as that obtained by using the dressed particle approach. We suggest that the fluctuation can be traced to the causality that gives rise to collisionless dissipation (imaginary part of the dielectric function). Therefore, the fluctuation in a plasma has a philosophical implication in that its existence is fundamentally due to the causal principle that the effect cannot be precedent to the cause, thus defining the direction of time.


This case presents a glimpse "behind the scenes" of academic life through a series of e-mails, which tell the story of a dispute over whether a student should retroactively receive graduate credit for completing an undergraduate course. The student's (and her department's) request for an exception to the rule can be analyzed in education or academic administration and faculty development seminars, as well as ethics and communication courses: (1) to illustrate how ethics and moral philosophies affect the decision-making process, (2) to gain an understanding of how communication barriers impede the decision-making process, (3) to assess the impact of perceptions of equity on the decision-making process, and (4) to examine the characteristics of managerial decisions.


To prepare silicon oxide (SiOx)-deposited poly(ethylene terephthalate) films with high oxygen gas barrier capability, SiOx deposition by plasma polymerization has been investigated from the viewpoint of chemical composition. Tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) is suitable as a starting material for the synthesis of the SiOx films. The SiOx deposition under self-bias, where the etching action occurs around an electrode surface, is effective in eliminating carbonaceous compounds from the deposited SiOx films. There is no difference in the chemical composition between the SiOx films deposited under self-bias and under no self-bias. The SiOx films are composed of a main component of SiOSi networks and a minor component of carbonized carbons. The SiOx films deposited under no self-bias from the TMOS/O2 mixture show good oxygen gas barrier capability, but the SiOx films deposited under the self-bias show poor capability. The minimum oxygen permeation rate for poly(ethylene terephthalate) films deposited SiOx film is 0.10 cm3 m−2 day−1 atm−1, which corresponds to an oxygen permeability coefficient of 1.4 × 10−17 cm3-cm cm−2 s−1 cm−1 Hg for the SiOx film itself. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 71: 2091–2100, 1999


Reports of an increased incidence of wound complications in surgical patients with diabetes mellitus may actually reflect the increased incidence of general surgical risks or metabolic abnormalities associated with diabetes mellitus. Factors such as age, obesity, malnutrition, and macrovascular and microvascular disease may contribute to wound infection and delayed wound healing especially in the type II diabetic patient. In addition, hyperglycemia caused by decreased insulin availability and increased resistance to insulin can affect the cellular response to tissue injury. Studies of the immune cells necessary for wound healing, such as PMN leukocytes and fibroblasts, as well as studies of injured tissue suggest that there is a delayed response to injury and impaired functioning of immune cells in diabetes mellitus. There is evidence that these impairments may be the result of both an inherent (genetic) defect as well as decreased insulin availability and increased blood glucose concentration. At the time of hospital admission, little can be done to affect most of the risk factors or inherent cellular defects. However, blood glucose levels can be controlled with the use of bedside blood glucose monitoring and frequent adjustment of insulin dosing. Nurses have traditionally played an important role in monitoring recovery from surgery and watching for signs of infection and wound complications. These nursing functions are especially important in the diabetic patient. In addition, frequent evaluation of the effectiveness of insulin therapy is an important nursing function throughout the perioperative period. Through improving management of blood glucose levels in surgical patients, nurses can have a major impact on the incidence of wound complications in diabetes mellitus.


This text serves as an accompanying document to the performance work Muck, first produced on May 10 , 2007. Muck is both a performance and an installation. Performed by four actors and a pianist, the work runs in a loop, and alternates between a series of gestures and songs. The first performance was set in a small black room within a larger white gallery space; the spectators entered and left the performance space as they desired. The purpose of this document is to examine the production of Muck as it relates to both performance art and theatre. It proceeds to define Muck (and my broader practice) not by the distinctions put upon performance art and theatre but rather by the proximity and relationship of the audience to the work. By destabilizing expected structures of viewer/performance interaction my work attempts to activate the threshold between the two.


This paper focuses on the influence of the cinematographer on the cinematographic expression of fiction film, specifically defining attributes of the cinematographer in the visual narrative. The text highlights the contributions of cinematography to the narrative of a fiction film during the period 1928–1946 while featuring the cinematographer Gregg Toland. This study presents a possible research approach to cinematography and the role of cinematographer in influencing the narrative discourse of a film. Critical examination of Toland's cinematographic work establishes his importance and influence in an historical context. Analysis of a scene from Wuthering Heights (1939) reveals the significance of the visual narrative construct through the use of cinematic space and viewpoint in a shot. Together, they demonstrate the impact of the visual narrative on the viewer's film experience and expose the cinematographer's role in the storytelling.


Bayesian and maximum-likelihood estimates of structural parameters in DSGE approximating models are invariant to shifts in policy only when the model is correctly specified. Since DSGE models are approximations, strict invariance is unattainable. Despite that, DSGE models might be useful for policy analysis provided that structural parameters are approximately invariant. We discuss this issue in the context of an example involving a pair of new Keynesian DSGE models in which the central bank's policy model includes a misspecified Phillips curve. In our example, the approximating model is a useful guide for policy despite the failure of strict invariance.


Much of the student diversity in U.S. schools reflects increasing numbers of English language learners (ELL). ELL represent a very heterogeneous group in terms of their native language proficiency, educational experiences, access to quality early childhood programs, and immigration experiences. An unfortunate commonality they often share is poor academic achievement, particularly in the area of reading. Higher rates of grade retention and school dropout are consistently linked to poor academic performance. This article discusses literacy development, reading difficulties related to special education identification, and reading interventions for ELL. Practical strategies for reading instruction are also provided.


"Nationalism is all too often the enemy of democracy." (2) THE re-emergence of ethno-nationalism and the increasing strife seen in many parts of the world arising from nationalistic tensions has quieted those who had predicted the end of history or the end of ideological conflict. (3) The ability of nationalistic and ethnic conceptions of identity to persist in the modern age has surprised those who believed nationalism to be a nineteenth-century ideology. Instead, the study of national identity continues to be an important means of understanding the political dynamic of change and continuity in many states. (4) With the decline of totalitarian ideologies, the resurgence of nationalism in the post-Cold War period is often presented as the greatest threat to the supremacy of liberalism as the ideology or philosophy of choice in the world. (5) While the confrontation of liberal values and ethnic identities is all too apparent in many regions, the Republic of Ireland provides an interesting and subtler example of the complex relationship that exists between nationalism and liberalism. Unlike the nationalism that emerged from a liberal tradition in many European states, Irish nationalism emerged first as an anticolonial movement. After independence Irish nationalism was quite conservative as the leaders of the postcolonial state sought to re-create a premodern and pre-liberal past. Thus Irish nationalism persisted as a parochial political identity far longer than others in the European context. While there has been a clear decline in nationalism in most member states of the European Union in recent decades, Mattei Dogan found Ireland still to be "the most traditionalist country in Europe" in terms of the intensity of the nationalism of its citizens. (6) Despite the persistence of nationalism in the Irish context, liberalism has begun to intersect with Ireland's traditional sense of national identity, revealing contradictions and tensions as Irish society transcends its postcolonial past and increasingly incorporates liberal postmodern values. The origins of the tension between liberalism and nationalism in Ireland begin in a sense with the arrival and mobilization of nationalist forces in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Until that time the values associated with liberalism and nationalism did not seem to be in conflict. (7) As nationalist movements became increasingly mass-based, however, they began mobilizing the entire society behind the nationalist cause. In doing so, modern states exhibited an assimilationist tendency, striving for social homogeneity. (8) The Irish struggle to achieve independence and fulfill national aspirations in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries followed this pattern. The nationalistic political culture that emerged in this early postcolonial state reflected the conservative agenda of restoring Ireland's Gaelic past, preserving its Catholic traditions, and isolating itself from the perceived threat of an alien culture in Britain and the outside world. Increasingly, this traditional political culture has been challenged by liberal democratic values in the past several decades. Liberalism means more than support for democratic political principles. It also emphasizes individual rights, tolerance of diversity, and material prosperity. In the Irish context historic conceptions of identity continue to play important symbolic and emotive roles in political life but are increasingly at odds with liberal values and beliefs that have become more dominant. After a period of inward-looking nationalist policies, the Irish, like other postcolonial peoples, have found that isolation and autarchy cannot provide the material prosperity that those societies seek. By opening their economy to the outside world and especially to their fellow Europeans and by liberalizing their economic policies, the Irish have incorporated many Western cultural values as well. …


Animal and human studies support an untoward effect of excess dietary NaCl (salt) intake on cardiovascular and renal function and life span. Recent work has promoted the concept that the endothelium, in particular, reacts to changes in dietary salt intake through a complex series of events that are independent of blood pressure and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone axis. The cellular signaling events culminate in the intravascular production of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) and nitric oxide in response to increased salt intake. Plasticity of the endothelium is integral in the vascular remodeling consequences associated with excess salt intake, because nitric oxide serves as a negative regulator of TGF-beta production. Impairment of nitric oxide production, such as occurs with endothelial dysfunction in a variety of disease states, results in unopposed excess vascular TGF-beta production, which promotes reduced vascular compliance and augmented peripheral arterial constriction and hypertension. Persistent alterations in vascular function promote the increase in cardiovascular events and reductions in renal function that reduce life span during increased salt intake.


Depending on the stoichiometry stanna-closo-dodecaborate [SnB11H11]2– reacts with the dimeric carbonyl complex [Rh(CO)2Cl]2 to give a dinuclear rhodium coordination compound with bridging tin ligands, [Et3MeN]6[Rh2(CO)4(SnB11H11)4] (1), or a pentagonal-bipyramidal complex, [Et4N]5[Rh(CO)2(SnB11H11)3] (2), with the carbonyl ligands in axial position. The analogous iridium and cobalt complexes [Et4N]5[Ir(CO)2(SnB11H11)3] (3) and [Me4N]5[Co(CO)2(SnB11H11)3] (4) exhibit a pentacoordinated structure with the tin ligands in axial positions. The dimeric ruthenium chlorocarbonyl complex [Ru(CO)3Cl2]2 reacts with four equivalents of the tin nucleophile to give the octahedrally coordinated ruthenium complex [Et3MeN]4[Ru-cis-(CO)2-cis-Cl2-trans-(SnB11H11)2] (5). The synthesized coordination compounds were characterized by X-ray crystal structure analysis, by 103Rh, 119Sn, and 11B NMR spectroscopy in solution, and in the case of the rhodium complexes 1 and 2 by 119Sn solid-state NMR and 119Sn Mossbauer spectroscopy.


It is difficult to ascertain the detail behavior of multichannel gap switches from experimental studies only. The behavior of multichannel gap switches is investigated by a numerical analysis. The waveforms of the output voltage are numerically obtained and the statistical characteristics of a pulsed power switch are evaluated. The numerical analysis is useful for designing the switches and to investigate the breakdown phenomena.


The authors report transport and far-infrared magneto-optical measurements in n-type HgZnTe-CdTe and HgTe-CdTe superlattices over a large temperature range (1.5-300 K). The data show unambiguously that the HgZnTe-CdTe superlattices are semimetallic at low temperature and are degenerate intrinsic semiconductors for T>100 K, in good agreement with the theory which predicts a semimetal-semiconductor transition induced by temperature. Influence of magnetoplasma effects is finally discussed.


This paper presents the results of a series of experiments to study the single processor performance of three supercomputers: Cray-2, Cray Y-MP, and ETA10-Q. The main object of this study is to determine the impact of certain architectural features on the performance of modern supercomputers. Features such as clock period, memory links, memory organization, multiple functional units, and chaining are considered here. A simple performance model is used to examine the impact of these features on the performance of a set of basic operations. The results of implementing this set on these machines for three vector lengths and three memory strides are presented and compared. For unit stride operations, the Cray Y-MP outperformed the Cray-2 by as much as three times and the ETA10-Q by as much as four times for these operations. Moreover, unlike the Cray-2 and ETA10-Q, even-numbered strides do not cause a major performance degradation on the Cray Y-MP. Two numerical algorithms are also used for comparison. For three problem sizes of both algorithms, the Cray Y-MP outperformed the Cray-2 by 43% to 68% and the ETA10-Q by four to eight times.


Hypodiploid Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), is a high-risk subtype of ALL characterized by multiple chromosomal losses with an event-free survival To identify potential therapeutic targets we undertook a biochemical characterization of primary patient samples and cell lines, assessing the activation status of over 25 proteins involved in signaling pathways commonly deregulated in leukemia. Our biochemical characterization identified 1) constitutive activation of the PI3K pathway and the Bcl-2 survival pathway, and 2) accumulation of p53 that ultimately revealed that nearly 90% of low hypodiploid B-ALL patients harbor mutations in TP53 (Holmfeldt, et al., Nat. Genetics, 2013). We then set out to explore the therapeutic potential of targeting each of the deregulated pathways. We used multiple inhibitors and a library containing 94 compounds currently in early phase trials. Our studies showed high sensitivity to Bcl-2 inhibition, using ABT 263, ABT 737 and ABT 199, and partial sensitivity to PI3K inhibition. Surprisingly, these leukemia were relatively insensitive to inhibition of the Ras/MAPK signal transduction pathway, despite a high frequency of Ras pathway genomic alterations. Proliferation and apoptosis assays, performed in hypodiploid and non-hypodiploid leukemia cell lines (including both lymphoid and myeloid cell lines) showed a dramatic efficacy of targeting the BCL-2 pathway in hypodiploid leukemias. These results were replicated in primary patient samples xenografted into immunodeficient mice that were subjected to these drugs in vitro. A detailed biochemical characterization of the 12 members of the Bcl-2 family, together with a BH3 profiling to assess priming to apoptosis, has allowed us to determine the mechanisms underlying this sensitivity and efficacy on this leukemia. Our overall work has provided critical insights into the essential deregulated pathways underlying the pathogenesis of hypodiploid ALL. We are now continuing our investigations to identify novel strategies to treat these patients by using in vivo xenograft models of hypodiploid leukemia. We expect that our pre-clinical studies will provide further support for the therapeutic benefit of treating these leukemias with Bcl-2 inhibitors to improve survival for these young patients who suffer unacceptably high relapse rates from current therapies. Citation Format: Ernesto Diaz-Flores, Julie Weng, Jon Akutagawa, Linda Holmfeldt, Triona Chonghaile, Anthony Letai, Charles Mullighan, Benjamin Braun, Mignon Loh. Targeting BCL-2 in hypodiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia. [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 332. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-332


A field trial of purified vero-cell tissue culture rabies vaccine (PVRV) was carried out, and 566 children under 15 years of age were studied. Of these 309 (54.6%) had been exposed to laboratory proven rabid animals. Rabies immune globulin (RIG) was given to 47 children with severe exposures. The vaccine was given by the conventional six-dose intramuscular route to 467 patients (82.5%). The remaining 99 victims (17.5%) were given vaccine by the multiple site intradermal route using a schedule of 0.1 ml at two sites on days 0, three and seven, and at one site on days 30 and 90. Adequate follow-up was achieved in 100% of the cases with proven exposure to rabid animals at three months, and in 94.1% at one year. The overall follow-up rate for the entire group was 91.1% at the end of one year, and all patients traced were alive and healthy. The incidence of minor adverse reactions to PVRV was equal to that of other tissue culture rabies vaccines. Regional lymphadenopathy and itching at the injection sites were significantly more common in the group receiving intradermal vaccine than in those who received vaccine by the intramuscular route.


The MORPHOLO C++ extended Library allows to convert a specific stereoscopic snapshot into a Native multi-view image through morphing algorithms taking into account display calibration data for specific slanted lenticular 3D monitors. MORPHOLO can also be implemented for glasses-free live applicatons of 3D video streaming, and for diverse innovative scientific, engineering and 3D video game applications -see http://www.morpholo.it


Measurement of magnetic fields on the few 100-km length scale is significant for many geophysical applications including mapping of crustal magnetism and ocean circulation measurements, yet available techniques for such measurements are very expensive or of limited accuracy. We propose a method for remote detection of magnetic fields using the naturally occurring atomic sodium-rich layer in the mesosphere and existing high-power lasers developed for laser guide star applications. The proposed method offers a dramatic reduction in cost and opens the way to large-scale, parallel magnetic mapping and monitoring for atmospheric science, navigation, and geophysics.


Abstract Continuous scaling of Cu interconnect structures can significantly impact reliability-limiting processes such as electromigration and stress-induced voiding. Prior to the 65 nm technology node, mass transport under electromigration is dominated by diffusion along the Cu/dielectric cap interface and the electromigration lifetime will degrade by about half for every generation, even with the same current density. Beyond the 65 nm node, small grains were found to mix with bamboo grains in the 90 nm Cu damascene lines and the contribution of the grain boundary transport degraded the electromigration lifetime. The scaling effects on microstructure and electromigration reliability are examined in this paper with the objective of identifying the key issues and exploring potential solutions for sub-100 nm Cu interconnects. We discuss first the scaling effect on electromigration lifetime and the effect due to the small grains on electromigration lifetime and statistics. This is followed by a discussion on grain growth studies focusing on the formation of small grains and a recent simulation study on small grain effect on electromigration reliability. This paper concludes with a discussion of some recent developments in analytical techniques to investigate grain structure and electromigration reliability in sub-100 nm Cu lines.


This article presents a new framework for understanding how people think personality changes across the life span. In two studies we examined the correspondence among how people thought their personalities would change, how people in general change, and changes found in a meta-analysis of changes in personality. We conceptualized and measured personality in terms of the Big Five model (FFM). In Study 1 participants rated either how they had changed from the past to the present or how they would change from the present to the future. We found that for openness to experience and social vitality participants thought these traits had increased from the past to the present, whereas participants did not think they would change from the present to the future. In contrast, participants thought that conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability would increase from the present to the future, although they did not report changes in most of these traits from the past to the present. The changes that occurred in Study 1 correspond to changes of personality found in previous research. In Study 2 participants rated themselves and other people on the FFM traits for each of nine intervals representing the lifespan. We found that people perceived changes in themselves to be similar to the changes found in meta-analyses, and perceptions of change in the self-corresponded to perception of changes for others. We believe these results can be explained by recognizing that people share normative based beliefs about how people change at certain age. Nevertheless, we also found that people perceived themselves as better than others, i.e., relatively greater increases in some positive traits and relatively smaller decreases in some negative traits, being first among equals. We discuss possible explanations for this phenomenon, which according to our knowledge, has not been discussed in this context previously.


The communication system of urban rail transit is gradually changing from train-to-ground (T2G) to train-to-train (T2T) communication. The subway can travel at speeds of up to 200 km/h in the tunnel environment, and communication between trains can be conducted via millimeter waves with minimum latency. A precise channel model is required to test the reliability of T2T communication over a non-line-of-sight (NLoS) Doppler channel in a tunnel scenario. In this paper, the description of the ray angle for a T2T communication terminal is established, and the mapping relationship of the multipath signals from the transmitter to the receiver is established. The channel parameters including the angle, amplitude, and mapping matrix from the transmitter to the receiver are obtained by the ray-tracing method. In addition, the channel model for the T2T communication system with multipath propagations is constructed. The Doppler spread simulation results in this paper are consistent with the RT simulation results. A channel physics modelling approach using an IQ vector phase shifter to achieve Doppler spread in the RF domain is proposed when paired with the Doppler spread model.


Any symmetry reduces a second-order differential equation to a first integral: variational symmetries of the action (exemplified by central field dynamics) lead to conservation laws, but symmetries of only the equations of motion (exemplified by scale-invariant hydrostatics) yield first-order {\em non-conservation laws} between invariants. We obtain these non-conservation laws by extending Noether's Theorem to non-variational symmetries and present an innovative variational formulation of spherical adiabatic hydrostatics. For the scale-invariant case, this novel synthesis of group theory, hydrostatics, and astrophysics allows us to recover all the known properties of polytropes and define a {\em core radius}, inside which polytropes of index $n$ share a common core mass density structure, and outside of which their envelopes differ. The Emden solutions (regular solutions of the Lane-Emden equation) are obtained, along with useful approximations. An appendix discusses the $n=3$ polytrope in order to emphasize how the same mechanical structure allows different thermal structures in relativistic degenerate white dwarfs and zero age main sequence stars.


Introduction: Public awareness and support for secondary health data use may vary by health care experience and participant demographics. England provides an example of a centralised opt-out for secondary use of anonymised health data. We explored the awareness, support for and concerns about anonymised healthcare data secondary use and the NHS data opt-out system amongst patients, carers, healthcare staff and the public within the West Midlands. Methods: A patient and public engagement program was completed, including patient and public workshops, questionnaires regarding anonymised health data use and feedback discussion groups. Results: Central concerns for health data use included unauthorised data re-use, the potential for discrimination and profit generation without patient benefit. Key priorities were projects leading to patient benefit, oversight by the NHS as a trusted organisation, increasing awareness of the NHS data opt-out, and ongoing public/patient involvement. Questionnaires showed 31.8% were aware of the NHS data opt-out. 93.8% were happy for their data to be used for NHS research, 84.8% for academic research and 68.4% by health companies. However, opinion varied with demographics (age, gender or public, patient, NHS staff and volunteers). Agreed action points for health data use were education regarding the National Data Opt-Out, public involvement in data requests, NHS oversight, and transparency. Conclusion: Use of anonymised healthcare data for secondary purposes is acceptable to most patients, carers and healthcare workers. However, awareness is limited, and initiatives to publicise potential benefits are needed amongst patients, healthcare staff and the public.


MFAP2 has been reported to play an oncogenic role in several types of human cancers. However, the expression profile of MFAP2 in various cancers and its impact on prognosis and immune infiltration remain unclear. In this study, the mRNA expression and protein expression of MFAP2 in normal tissues, tumor cell lines, and 33 malignant tumor tissues were analyzed comprehensively using Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE), and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Oncomine and UALCAN databases, and the expression of MFAP2 in different grades and stages of cancers was assessed using Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 (GEPIA2) and Tumor and Immune System Interaction Database (TISIDB). In general, MFAP2 showed distinct expression in most tumor and normal tissues, closely associated with higher tumor grade, higher tumor stage, and poor survival in multiple cancers. A search of the UALCAN database and the cBioPortal database revealed that this difference in mRNA level expression could be partly attributed to abnormal DNA methylation and mutations at the genomic level. In addition, MFAP2 expression was also associated with tumor mutation burden, microsatellite instability, and neoantigens in different cancer types. More importantly, the TIMER and TISIDB databases also showed that MFAP2 levels were significantly correlated with immune infiltration abundance and immune-related gene markers, as well as ESTIMATE scores. By qPCR, MFAP2 expression was validated in four kinds of tumor tissue samples. The present study combined several databases and performed a pan-cancer analysis of the expression profile, methylation, and mutation for MFAP2 and its implications for prognosis and immune infiltration, suggesting that MFAP2 could contribute to malignant properties of many tumors. MFAP2 may be an important biomarker with prognostic value and has the potential to be a target for tumor immunotherapy.


The mechanisms by which confined colonies of Golden Hamsters regulate the density of their population were investigated. Six experimental populations were established with two males and two females each and allowed to grow freely for 3-8 months. At no time did any population exceed eight individuals. This appeared to be the result of a high rate of infant mortality due to failure of pregnant and parturient females to isolate themselves from the others. Two other populations were then established allowing many more nesting areas and more room for dispersal, but animals continued to crowd together and infant survival did not improve. These results contrast sharply with the large ultimate populations and only slowly developing disturbances seen in rats and mice. This difference in population control appears to be the direct result of a species difference in the tolerance of adults for strange newborns. In two further short-term experiments, the effects of the number and sex of adults in the founding population were systematically examined. The critical density at which no pups survived past the first day was six or more animals; females appeared to contribute more than males to infant mortality.


Seroma is the most common wound complication due to dead space remaining after mastectomy and axillary dissection. Seroma formation, which causes pain and tension, together with the limitations of shoulder and arm movements, can cause wound healing problems that can progress to wound dehiscence and flap necrosis. The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of continuous drainage and negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in breast cancer patients with refractory postmastectomy seroma. This retrospectively designed study was conducted with 27 patients who were referred to our center between 2018 and 2021 due to refractory seroma after mastectomy. The inclusion criteria of the study were the cases who were planned minimally invasive debridement and NPWT due to having refractory seroma formation with at least 200 cc and having interventions more than 1 month after modified radical mastectomy (MRM), despite conventional treatment methods. All patients' demographics, disease stage, history of possible neoadjuvant therapy, comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), number of wound dressings with NPWT, and total amount of NPWT accumulation were enrolled and compared statistically. Twenty-seven patients included in the study underwent continuous drainage after debridement, and 5 (3–9) dressings were treated with NPWT. None of the patients experienced complications after debridement and NPWT administration. In refractory seroma cases seen after postmastectomy, NPWT especially for the management of debridement and dead space can be evaluated as an appropriate treatment method in patients with high flow rate seroma.


The regulatory transposon of the Mutator system of transposable elements in maize is MuDR. MuDR elements produce two transcripts, from genes mudrA and mudrB, encoding proteins MURA and MURB, respectively. Like many other transposons, MuDR elements often undergo deletions, usually of internal sequences. Analysis of a deletion that is restricted to the region encoding MURB demonstrates that this gene is not required to cause excisions of a reporter element, although it may be required for transposition or suppression of suppressible alleles. Conversely, a derivative that lacks the region encoding MURA but that produces MURB is nonfunctional for all aspects of Mutator activity. Northern analysis of these derivatives reveals that each of the two transcripts can be independently transcribed, and analysis using an antibody specific for MURB reveals that mudrB transcript can also be successfully translated and its product appropriately localized in the absence of mudrA. A third deletion derivative provides evidence for a source of previously reported antisense transcript.


Allen Oakley has been a consistent and innovative contributor to the history of political economy for thirty years. His contributions span a wide spectrum, from the classical economics of Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, through to the dynamics of capitalism associated with the work of Karl Marx and Joseph Schumpeter, and more latterly the Austrian school and beyond. His work on Marx links to the evolution and conceptual development of his political economy of capitalism, while for Schumpeter he took a critically sympathetic view of his theory of development and cycles. He also worked on issues of methodology, including Adolf Lowe's structural and instrumental analysis, and Karl Popper's situational perspective. More recently, he has scrutinised the contradictions of Austrian thought associated with subjectivism versus market order. He sought to resolve the question of agency-structure through reconstructing political economy along the lines of a critically realistic view of hermeneutic cross-causation between individuals and society.


Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of isometric muscle strength of the lower and upper extremities on independence in activities of daily living in older people living in nursing homes. Methods: The study involved 111 voluntary older persons living in 3 nursing homes, who met the inclusion criteria. The sociodemographic characteristics of the participants were recorded. Muscle strength of the shoulder flexors, extensors, abductors, external rotators, elbow flexors and extensors in the upper extremities, and hip flexors, extensors, abductors, knee flexors, and extensors in the lower extremities were evaluated with an isometric dynamometer. The level of independence in the daily living activities of the older persons was assessed with the Functional Independence Measure in this study. Results: A significant difference was determined in the muscle strength of the shoulder and elbow extensor in the right side for both males and females (P < .05). In both genders, a statistically significant relationship was found between functional independence and the muscle strength of the shoulder flexor, extensor, abductor, elbow flexor, hip extensor, and knee flexor in both sides of the extremities (P < .05). Conclusion: The muscle strength values of the upper extremities were more associated with the activity level of daily living than the muscle strength of the lower extremities in older persons. The level of daily living activities was seen to be more affected by the muscle strength values of the older females than the males.


A quantitative assay for cytomegalovirus involving counts of immunofluorescent foci of antigen-containing cells was developed. Counts were made 6 to 7 days after infection. The number of foci seen decreased with decreasing concentrations of virus and a linear relationship was obtained over the countable range. Comparable virus titers were obtained in parallel immunofluorescent focus and tube titrations, but the tube titration was slow and required about 30 days of observation.
 The focus method was used to study virus adsorption and replication in embryonic human lung fibroblasts. Adsorption proceded rapidly at 37°C; 90% of the virus adsorbed within 1 hr. Adsorption proceeded more slowly as the temperature was decreased. At 37°C production of virus antigen and maturation of virus required 4 days after inoculation of the cells, although cellular changes could be observed earlier if the cultures were fixed and stained. The infection subsequently spread to adjacent cells and increasing numbers of cells comprised the infected foci seen.


Purpose: This article investigates the immediate effects of a dry needling (DN) puncture on the viscoelastic properties (tone, stiffness, elasticity) of a trigger point (TP) in the infraspinatus muscle in non-traumatic chronic shoulder pain. Method: Forty-eight individuals with non-traumatic chronic shoulder pain were recruited. The presence of a TP in the infraspinatus muscle was confirmed by a standardized palpatory exam. The viscoelastic properties were measured with a MyotonPRO device at baseline (T1), immediately after DN (T2), and 30 minutes later (T3). A DN puncture was applied to the TP to obtain a local twitch response while performing the technique. Results: Analyses of variance showed significant decreases in tone (p < 0.001) and stiffness (p = 0.003) across time after the DN technique. Post hoc tests revealed a significant reduction in tone and stiffness from T1 to T2 (p ≤ 0.004) and no significant changes from T2 to T3 (p ≥ 0.10). At T3, only stiffness remained significantly lower compared to T1 (p = 0.013). Conclusions: This study brings new insights on the immediate mechanical effect of DN on tone and stiffness of TPs. Whether these effects are associated with symptom improvement and long-term effects still needs to be verified.


The seven-year updating of this 408-page, soft-covered volume by the editors and 20 coauthors was aimed at "providing the student and postgraduate with a basis in dermatology for the final MB or MRCP examinations and subsequent practice." On balance, their aim has hit the mark, though it may be more useful for the examinations than for practice. The multiple authorship provides a trap. Black and James advise only venesection in the treatment of porphyria cutanea tarda (page 154); Cairns and Pope agree, but they say "chloroquine can be helpful but must be used with great caution," and the type of caution is not specified (page 199). Frain-Bell, in an excellent, if perhaps overly sophisticated, new chapter on photodermatoses suggests either venesection or chloroquine therapy in a dosage of "around 77.5 mg twice weekly," which is the best advice of all but might be missed unless the reader searches the book's


................................................................................................................ iii PUBLIC ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ ix LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ x CHAPTER


The paper is a case study and shows the relationship amongst various SDGs and water in relation to women and girls and more particularly SDG 6 on water.


Svennerstam, H. 2008. Amino Acid Uptake in Arabidopsis -the Transporters Involved, Kinetics of Uptake and Growth on Amino Acids. Doctoral thesis, ISSN 1652-6880, ISBN 978-91-85913-83-1 Nitrogen (N) is essential for all living organisms and is considered to be the limiting factor for plant growth in many ecosystems. Although generally believed to rely on mineral N to fulfill their N needs, plants have also been found to access organic N such as amino acids. Despite extensive research, the importance of amino acids as N sources for plants still remains unclear. The work presented in this thesis has focused on identifying the transporters responsible for amino acid uptake in plants and to characterize mutants lacking these transporters. Two transporters important for Arabidopsis thaliana amino acid uptake were identified, the lysine histidine transporter 1 (LHT1) and amino acid permease 5 (AAP5). These two transporters were found to have complementary, non-overlapping affinity spectra, i.e. LHT1 displayed affinity for neutraland acidic amino acids and for L-Histidine, whereas AAP5 exhibited affinity for L-Arginine and L-Lysine only. Mutants lacking both LHT1 and AAP5 were found to have little residual uptake of the amino acids tested, suggesting these transporters to be the most important for Arabidopsis root amino acid uptake. Mutants lacking LHT1 or AAP5 displayed much reduced uptake rates in the low !M range suggesting these transporters mediate efficient uptake at field relevant concentrations. LHT1 mutants did not only have impaired uptake capacity, but also grew less than wild type when grown on for example L-Glutamine as the sole N source. In contrast, by over-expressing LHT1, plants grew larger on amino acids, suggesting a connection between uptake capacity and growth. Growth experiments using labeled amino acids in a mixture with nitrate revealed that a substantial amount of plant N was amino acid derived, suggesting that Arabidopsis has the ability to efficiently use amino acids as a source of N. The results presented in this thesis provide a mechanistic understanding to the process of root amino acid uptake in plants. This knowledge is important for future research within the field of plant organic N nutrition and Arabidopsis genotypes with altered amino acid uptake capacities can be used as tools to further elucidate the ecological benefit plants may have by taking up amino acids.


BACKGROUND
Deep learning methods driven by the low-rank regularization have achieved attractive performance in dynamic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The effectiveness of existing methods lies mainly in their ability to capture interframe relationships using network modules, which are lack interpretability.

PURPOSE
This study aims to design an interpretable methodology for modeling interframe relationships using convolutiona networks, namely Annihilation-Net and use it for accelerating dynamic MRI.

METHODS
Based on the equivalence between Hankel matrix product and convolution, we utilize convolutional networks to learn the null space transform for characterizing low-rankness. We employ low-rankness to represent interframe correlations in dynamic MR imaging, while combining with sparse constraints in the compressed sensing framework. The corresponding optimization problem is solved in an iterative form with the semi-quadratic splitting method (HQS). The iterative steps are unrolled into a network, dubbed Annihilation-Net. All the regularization parameters and null space transforms are set as learnable in the Annihilation-Net.

RESULTS
Experiments on the cardiac cine dataset show that the proposed model outperforms other competing methods both quantitatively and qualitatively. The training set and test set have 800 and 118 images, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The proposed Annihilation-Net improves the reconstruction quality of accelerated dynamic MRI with better interpretability.


Soil CO2 efflux is the dominant component of carbon loss in many temperate forests. Wintertime respiration accounts for a significant contribution of the annual carbon loss to the atmosphere from terrestrial ecosystems, but the magnitude of this flux and physical transport mechanisms through snow are unclear. This research examines wintertime CO2 flux in a lodgepole pine forest in the Upper Stringer Creek catchment at the Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest, Montana, USA. I hypothesized that: CO2 production and efflux during the winter contributes a significant amount (10-20%)of CO2 efflux to the atmosphere in the Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest; 2) Snow properties, i.e. depth and density, and thereby porosity and tortuosity vary during the winter via snow metamorphosis, thus changing the impediment to flux through the snow medium and CO2 production increases when the snowpack becomes isothermal during melt due to increased soil moisture and soil temperature. A micrometeorological stations was installed to measure soil water content, soil temperature, incoming and outgoing radiation, albedo, snow depth, snow/soil interface CO2 concentration, atmospheric CO2 concentration, threedimensional wind speed, and above snow/sub-canopy CO2 flux on a half-hourly basis. In addition, throughout the winters of 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 snow pit analyses was performed in triplicate approximately once monthly and snow depth, density, and temperature were measured in 10-centimeter increments. Three methodological approaches were used to analyze CO2 flux through the snow pack: Chamber on snow, two-point Fick's law based diffusivity modeling, and snow-surface/subcanopy eddy covariance. The results of the comparison show a significant difference in measured and estimated flux between methodologies during early and late winter, while demonstrating the Fick's based model is can accurately estimate up 75% of measured flux during mid-winter. Observations are consistent with advection, in addition to diffusion, as a mechanism of CO2 transport through snow such that observation strategies that do not account for advection may underestimate wintertime efflux. Furthermore, all three methodologies indicate that wintertime respiration is a major contributor to the annual carbon budget when mean flux rates are compared to growing season flux rates.


Purpose: Regarding the respiratory function of patients with an artificial airway, this study compared the effects between normal saline with chest vibration and normal saline with expectorant mixture, administered before endotracheal suction. Methods: The study was conducted in the ICUs of one university hospital located in Incheon. The experimental group Ⅰ received normal saline with chest vibration administered before endotracheal suction while the experimental group Ⅱ received normal saline with expectorant mixture administered before endotracheal suction. For respiratory function, PaO₂, PaCO₂, and O₂ saturation were measured by ABGA at 3 minutes after endotracheal suction for both pre-test and post-test. Results: The two groups were not different significantly regarding PaO₂ level and O₂ saturation after the treatments, while, the experimental group Ⅱ had lower PaCO₂ level than the experimental group Ⅰ after the treatments (t = 2.075, p = .042). For experimental group Ⅱ, post-test score of PaCO₂ level was significantly lower than that of the pre-test score (t = 1.842, p = .075). Conclusion: The administration of normal saline with expectorant mixture before endotracheal suction reduced PaCO₂ level and improved the respiratory function.


Powers of rank transformed statistic for testing main effects and interaction effects for 2 x 2 factorial design in randomized complete block design are very superior to powers of parametric statistic without regard to the block size, composition method of effects and the type of population distributions such as exponential, double exponential, normal and uniform. 2 x 2 factorial design in RCBD increases error effects and decreases powers of parametric statistic which results in conservativeness. However powers of rank transformed statistic maintain relative preference. In general powers of rank transformed statistic show relative preference over those of parametric statistic with small block size and big effect size.


Objective: Hair cortisol has been recently identified as a biological index of stress via long-term alterations in HPA activity, although population norms and relationships to perceived stress measures have not yet been established. In the present study, 135 adults (ages 18-66; M = 30.26, SD = 12.80; 87 females) from the diverse UMass Boston campus participated in a study assessing chronic stress (via hair cortisol), perceived stress (via self-reported indices), and health indictors (WHR and blood pressure). Since hair grows on average 1cm per month, we captured approximately 3 months of retrospective cortisol levels. Results: Hair cortisol was uncorrelated with subjective stress indices, unless collapsed into a composite across several domains. Differences in objective and subjective stress measures were found for sociodemographic factors including racial/ethnic identity, sex, and SES. Specifically, highest hair cortisol levels were found by gender (males were higher) and race (minorities were higher), whereas subjective stress was positively associated with race (minorities were higher), and negatively associated with SES and age. Subjective stress was not significantly different by gender. Examining interactions of predictors, results obtain that Race by SES predicted hair cortisol, perceived stress, well-being, and health indicators but in unexpected directions. Minorities in high SES had the greatest hair cortisol, subjective stress, systolic blood pressure, waist cm, and lower reported well-being, compared to the non-minority high SES group The unexpected findings of deleterious outcomes for high SES minorities suggest the necessity of further studies examining social identity, the prevalence of discrimination in high SES, and potential protective factors. Moreover, these findings give evidence that hair cortisol, as a biomarker of long-term HPA activity, may not always be correlated with perceptions of stress across specific domains, but rather may provide a broad non-specific assessment of chronic stress, where objective and subjective indices may be uncoupled.


Research has identified the value of learners using technology to construct their own representations of science concepts. In this study, we investigate how learners, such as preservice elementary teachers, design and make a narrated animation to represent their science knowledge. The type of animation exemplified is called a "Slowmation" (abbreviated from "Slow Animation"), which is a simplified way for preservice teachers to make an animation that integrates features from claymation, object animation, and digital storytelling. Drawing on semiotic theory, a case study of three preservice elementary teachers, who were audio and video recorded as they created a slowmation, illustrates how the construction process enabled them to engage with a science concept in multiple ways. Findings suggest that when preservice teachers create a slowmation, they design and make a sequence of five representations, each being a semiotic system with particular affordances that link as a semiotic progression: (i) research notes; (ii) storyboard; (iii) models; and (iv) digital photographs, which culminate in (v) a narrated animation. In this study, the authors present their theoretical framework, explain how the preservice teachers created a slowmation using a sequence of representations to show their science knowledge and discuss the implications of these findings for learners in universities and schools. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 985–1009, 2011


Provided is a railroad car bearing abnormality sensing system capable of accurately making an abnormality determination for a railroad car bearing. The railroad car bearing abnormality sensing system (100) senses abnormality in a plurality of roller bearings (17) assembled in an axle box (3) installed on a carriage (2). The bearing abnormality sensing system (100) includes: a vibration detection device (15) that detects vibrations of each roller bearing; an analysis device (6) that determines abnormality in the roller bearings (17) on the basis of detection data detected by the vibration detection device (15); and a reception responsive detection start means (13) that receives a detection start signal and causes the vibration detection device (15) to detect vibrations in the roller bearings. The system further includes a measurement start instruction transmission device (4) installed away from a railroad car and that transmits the detection start signal to the reception responsive detection start means (13).


Abstract Different teaching approaches have revealed that teaching is a complex process, a profession that must adapt to the specific needs of the learners, the nature of the subject taught and the general context of the training. However, the act of learning is a common activity. In the educational sciences there is no one-sided approach to the didactics of physical sciences. Therefore, teachers of the physical sciences are invited to choose the appropriate pedagogical approaches based on the performance and limitations of each approach. In this article, we will review the literature of the main pedagogical approaches used to facilitate the acquisition of physical phenomena. On the basis of this study, we will highlight the added value of the combination of a relatively recent approach, based on historical investigation and simulation of physical phenomena.


The manufacture of prototypes is costly in economic and temporal terms and in order to carry this out it is necessary to accept certain deviations with respect to the final finishes. This article proposes haptic hybrid prototyping, a haptic-visual product prototyping method created to help product design teams evaluate and select semantic information conveyed between product and user through texturing and ribs of a product in early stages of conceptualization. For the evaluation of this tool, an experiment was realized in which the haptic experience was compared during the interaction with final products and through the HHP. As a result, it was observed that the answers of the interviewees coincided in both situations in 81% of the cases. It was concluded that the HHP enables us to know the semantic information transmitted through haptic-visual means between product and user as well as being able to quantify the clarity with which this information is transmitted. Therefore, this new tool makes it possible to reduce the manufacturing lead time of prototypes as well as the conceptualization phase of the product, providing information on the future success of the product in the market and its economic return.


Introduction United Kingdom guidelines recommend all upper gastrointestinal bleed (UGIB) patients have endoscopy within 24 hours (h). The 2015 National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) audit reported a rate of 65%. In addition to a well-established out of hours rota, a dedicated weekday afternoon inpatient endoscopy list was introduced at Barnet Hospital, Royal Free London NHS Trust, in 2016. We sought to assess the early impact of the service on UGIB patients. Method A single centre retrospective study involving all inpatients with an UGIB at a large district general hospital (445 beds) serving a population >500,000, during a 5 month period (January-May 2016). The endoscopy procedure log was interrogated to identify UGIB patients, defined by haematemesis/coffee ground vomit, malaena and haemoglobin drop. Additional data were collected via electronic patient records and 'Unisoft GI Reporting Tool'. Patient demographics, sedation dose, procedural time, endoscopy diagnosis, endoscopic intervention, time from presentation to endoscopy and hospital discharge within 24 hour of endoscopy, were evaluated. Results In total, UGIB accounted for 152/439 (35%) of all inpatient endoscopies. Median age was 73 [interquartile range (IQR) 58–86], 53% were female. Median midazolam dose was 2 mg (IQR 1–3 mg) and fentanyl 50mcg (IQR 31.25-50mcg). Median procedure time was 15 min (IQR 10–20 min), 110/152 (73%) patients underwent endoscopy within 24 hour of presentation. Endoscopic findings included hiatus hernia 58/152 (38%), oesophagitis 41/152 (27%), gastritis 37/152 (24%), duodenitis 25/152 (16%), duodenal ulcer 17/152 (11%), portal hypertensive gastropathy 17/152 (11%), oesophageal varices 15/152 (10%), gastric ulcer 8/152 (5%), Mallory Weiss tear 2/152 (1%). Endoscopic therapeutic intervention was required in 21/152 (14%). Six (4%) patients had a normal endoscopy. 38/152 (25%) patients were discharged within 24 hour. Only 1/38 (2.6%) patient was re-admitted within 30 days. Overall 30 day mortality was 20/152 (13%). Conclusion A dedicated inpatient endoscopy list can improve UGIB patient flow with a majority scoped within 24 hour and a quarter being discharged within 24 hour. Our rate was greater than reported by the NCEPOD audit. The timing of the list requires further validation as does the prospect of extending the service to achieve national recommendations. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Deficiency of an early component of the classical complement pathway, C1q, C1r/C1s, C4, or C2, regularly produces autoimmunity in man, especially systemic lupus erythematosus. It has long been suggested that disruption of this pathway would lead to the inappropriate handling of immune complexes. An intriguing hypothesis that builds on this idea relates to a defect in clearance of one's own cellular debris, namely apoptotic cells. An attractive feature of this emerging concept is that blebs on apoptotic cells are decorated with antigens to which much of the autoantibody specificity is directed in systemic lupus erythematosus. A second hypothesis, generated primarily from complement deficiencies, relates to an impairment in the humoral immune response or in the regulation of autoreactive B cells. This review begins by summarizing the recognized autoimmune manifestations of complement deficiency and then describes new data derived from targeted gene deletions of complement proteins.


Consolidation behavior of soft clay is generally to be affected by its compressibility and deformation characteristics. Especially, soil permeability depends on soil characteristics including its type of anisotropy. Coefficient of permeability of soft clay is mostly estimated by using laboratory(Oedometer test) and in-stiu piezocone test. The permeability characteristics of soft clay is estimated by excess pore pressure dissipation test results. In this study, the tests were performed to find out the validity of the existing theoretical formula in clay by pore pressure dissipation test and laboratory test results. After grasping of variation the coefficient of permeability ratio() in different clay soils, it was found out adequate solution of in-stiu permeability ratio(). Piezocone tests and laboratory tests were performed at the site of pilot project of ground improvement at Yangsan-Mulgeum, Gyeongsangnam-do. Comparisons of the estimated values of using piezocone tests results and those from laboratory consolidation tests were carried out. Test results show that values of by piezocone test result(5.85) is similar of it's laboratory test(5.28).


OBJECTIVE
To analyse the clinical and therapeutic consequences of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) perfusion therapy for carcinoma in situ (CIS) of the upper urinary tract.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Eight pyelo-ureteric systems in five patients with cytologically confirmed CIS of the upper urinary tract were treated using perfusion of BCG through a percutaneous nephrostomy tube in five and a retrograde ureteric catheter in three. Follow-up cystoscopy, retrograde pyelography and selective urinary cytology were obtained 4 weeks after the last treatment and every 3 months thereafter.

RESULTS
In three patients (five pyelo-ureteric systems) the cytology remained negative for 10-46 months after the treatment was completed. The remaining two patients (three pyelo-ureteric systems) had persistently positive cytology. Of two patients who received BCG therapy through a ureteric catheter, one developed a ureteric stricture and the other developed renal tuberculosis.

CONCLUSIONS
Although long-term adaptation to a nephrostomy tube disturbs the quality of life of the patient, percutaneous perfusion therapy through a nephrostomy tube seems to be safer than retrograde perfusion through a ureteric catheter.


This study aimed to explore the potential mechanism of Berberis atrocarpa Schneid. anthocyanin against Alzheimer's disease(AD) based on network pharmacology, molecular docking technology, and in vitro experiments. Databases were used to screen out the potential targets of the active components of B. atrocarpa and the targets related to AD. STRING database and Cytoscape 3.9.0 were adopted to construct a protein-protein interaction(PPI) network and carry out topological analysis of the common targets. Gene Ontology(GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) enrichment analyses were performed on the target using the DAVID 6.8 database. Molecular docking was conducted to the active components and targets related to the nuclear factor kappa B(NF-κB)/Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4) pathway. Finally, lipopolysaccharide(LPS) was used to induce BV2 cells to establish the model of AD neuroinflammation for in vitro experimental validation. In this study, 426 potential targets of active components of B. atrocarpa and 329 drug-disease common targets were obtained, and 14 key targets were screened out by PPI network. A total of 623 items and 112 items were obtained by GO functional enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis, respectively. Molecular docking results showed that NF-κB, NF-κB inhibitor(IκB), TLR4, and myeloid differentiation primary response 88(MyD88) had good binding abilities to the active components, and malvidin-3-O-glucoside had the strongest binding ability. Compared with the model group, the concentration of nitric oxide(NO) decreased at different doses of malvidin-3-O-glucoside without affecting the cell survival rate. Meanwhile, malvidin-3-O-glucoside down-regulated the protein expressions of NF-κB, IκB, TLR4, and MyD88. This study uses network pharmacology and experimental verification to preliminarily reveal that B. atrocarpa anthocyanin can inhibit LPS-induced neuroinflammation by regulating the NF-κB/TLR4 signaling pathway, thereby achieving the effect against AD, which provides a theoretical basis for the study of its pharmacodynamic material basis and mechanism.


Introduction Whether bone quality is essentially modifiable or tracks predictably up to adulthood is unclear. We aimed to identify a biological timing when interventions may have optimal impact on future bone properties. Methods Participants were 709 girls from a cohort of adolescents born in 1990 and evaluated at 13 and 17 years-old. Evaluations consisted of structured questionnaires including gynaecologic age (GA) and physical evaluations comprising height, weight, body composition (bioelectric impedance) and bone mineral density (BMD) at the forearm (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry). Our outcome was BMD variation during follow-up. We used linear regression to estimate its associations with baseline BMD and anthropometry, in four GA classes at baseline: ≤−1, 0, 1 and ≥2 years relative to menarche. Results Mean (95% CI) annual BMD variation from 13 to 17 years-old was highest in the earliest GA group (0.030 (0.028; 0.032) g/cm2-year) and lowest in the oldest GA (0.018 (0.016; 0.019)). Pearson's correlation between baseline BMD and its increase varied from −0.12 in the youngest to −0.45 in the oldest GA. After adjustment (baseline BMD, weight, fat mass and height) and standardisation, BMD variation in the lowest GA was associated with baseline BMD (−2.70 (−5.29; −0.108) per SD), but essentially with baseline weight (11.4 (0.523; 22.2)) and fat mass (−10.0 (−19.2; −0.912)). In the highest GA, BMD variation was strongly determined by baseline BMD (−5.44 (−7.20; −3.69)) but not by anthropometric variables. Conclusion Bone quality tracking should be measured relative to GA. Bone accrual seems prone to modification, especially in earlier gynaecologic ages.


Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome is a cardiac conduction disorder that presents potentially life-threatening consequences, and it is important that anesthesiologists recognize this syndrome because the sudden development of tachyarrhythmias may result in deleterious hemodynamic changes. We report an episode of severe hemodynamic changes induced by the insertion of a guide wire during central venous cannulation and operation in a 62-yr-old female patient with WPW syndrome. Initially, unstable paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia was developed during central venous cannulation, which was disappeared immediately upon removing the guide wire. Subsequently, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia with severe hemodynamic changes developed 2 hours after operation, and this was successfully treated with an intravenous injection of adenosine, deep anesthesia with sevoflurane and fentanyl, and dopamine infusion. The patient recovered uneventfully after the operation.


Analysis of motivation, problems, and needs of Chinese junior teachers of Polish as a foreign language

With the dynamic development of Chinese Polish Studies since 2018, there has been a growing demand for teachers of Polish as a foreign language who are native Chinese speakers in the labour market of the People's Republic of China. Nowadays, almost every Polish language centre at a university has its own teaching staff. Many of them are not only quite modest in terms of staff numbers, but also very young in terms of the age and experience of the teachers. Today, both Polish and Chinese language literature still lacks in-depth research on this specific group of glottodidactics. Therefore, the present study aims at getting to know Chinese junior teachers of Polish as a foreign language working at universities, and to gain knowledge about their motivation for their profession, problems and needs at work. From the questionnaire survey of 23 purposively selected respondents, it can be concluded that the greatest motivation of the respondents was related to students and interests in research and/or teaching. The problems they encountered at work were related to insufficient skills, lack of materials and those caused by the work environment. They are most in need of improved teaching methods and techniques, more and better teaching materials and help from masters in this field.