The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that all health care personnel receive an annual influenza vaccination to reduce influenza-related morbidity and mortality among health care personnel and their patients and to reduce absenteeism among health care personnel (1-4). CDC conducted an opt-in Internet panel survey of 2,265 U.S. health care personnel to estimate influenza vaccination coverage among these persons during the 2017-18 influenza season. Overall, 78.4% of health care personnel reported receiving influenza vaccination during the 2017-18 season, similar to reported coverage in the previous four influenza seasons (5). As in previous seasons, coverage was highest among personnel who were required by their employer to be vaccinated (94.8%) and lowest among those working in settings where vaccination was not required, promoted, or offered on-site (47.6%). Health care personnel working in long-term care settings, the majority of whom work as assistants or aides, have lower influenza vaccination coverage than do health care personnel working in all other health care settings, which puts the elderly in long-term settings at increased risk for severe complications for influenza. Implementing workplace strategies shown to improve vaccination coverage among health care personnel, including vaccination requirements and active promotion of on-site vaccinations at no cost, can help ensure health care personnel and patients are protected against influenza (6). CDC's long-term care web-based toolkit* provides resources, strategies, and educational materials for increasing influenza vaccination among health care personnel in long-term care settings.


Summary. Nineteen participants in the Grassland's Productivity Program were surveyed in autumn 1997 to determine whether they had continued to adopt productive pasture practices during the final 18 months of the program. The objective was to determine whether changes in commodity prices in 1996, involving falls in wool and beef prices and increases in prime lamb prices, and unfavourable seasonal conditions, impacted on the continuing adoption of productive pastures by participants of the Grassland's Productivity Program. Despite the less favourable market and seasonal conditions, the Grassland's Productivity Program participants continued to increase their adoption of productive pastures, almost trebling the area of land under the productive pasture technology from mid 1995 to 1997. This was achieved by rationalising farm expenditure in ways to cope with the less favourable conditions. The first was to undertake more pasture manipulation instead of high-cost pasture renovation. The second was to maintain expenditure on phosphorus fertiliser but focusing the application on more productive pasture paddocks. As a result the stocking rate across the whole farm was only increased marginally (by 0.2 dse/ha) from 1995 to 1997. Nevertheless the participants predicted that they would increase their stocking rate by an average of 17% across their farms, from 10.9 to 12.7 dse/ha, by the year 2000. The continuing strong commitment to adopt productive pastures is highlighted by the future intention of over half of the Grassland's Productivity Program participants (53%) to implement the technology over their whole farm. The remaining participants intended to have at least half their farm under productive pastures. There was no discernible difference between wool growers and prime lamb producers in achieving adoption intentions apart from the area of the farm that is sown to productive species. This indicates that a short-term change in enterprise profitability is not necessarily a major determinant of adoption of more intensive grazing practices by participants in this type of group-facilitated program.


Theoretical electromagnetic (EM) responses of a conductive circular cylinder in a conductive half‐space are obtained for a frequency range between 10 Hz and 30 kHz. The results show that the spectral characteristics can be used to determine the subsurface configuration of a target body, particularly in terms of its depth. Laboratory experiments using a wide‐band sweep‐frequency source provide support for the theoretical prediction of the spectral behavior. The experiment employed a harmonic EM source continuously sweeping logarithmically from 4 kHz to 4 MHz over a graphite slab submerged in a conductive solution. The results suggest that a wide‐band EM spectral profile displayed in a frequency‐distance space may provide many intuitive interpretation schemes which may not be possible with a single or discrete frequency profile.


Objective: To analyze the implementation of a switching policy of adjuvant aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy sequentially after tamoxifen in consecutively treated stage I (T1N0M0) hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer (BC) patients. Methods: The records of 279 consecutive HR-positive BC patients diagnosed between 2002 and 2006 and followed at the Soroka Medical Center were reviewed. Results: Two-hundred-seventeen patients who initially received tamoxifen were suitable for switching and 28 received an AI as initial adjuvant treatment. The switch was accomplished in 82.5% of the 217 patients. Those who switched to an AI had a higher proportion of T1c stage than patients eligible who were not switched, but did not differ in age, histologic grade, or having received chemotherapy. Of the 179 patients who switched, 155 (86.6%) completed at least 4.5-5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen/AI therapy. Eighteen patients discontinued AI therapy prematurely because of toxicity. Conclusions: In this stage I BC population, despite the toxicities of AI therapy, >84% of eligible patients received an AI as adjuvant therapy. Measures to improve the management of AI toxicity, such as changing to a different AI, may reduce early stopping.


The effects of electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) hydrogen, nitrogen, and ammonia plasma have been studied by x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Experimental evidence shows that the ECR hydrogen plasma removes the native oxide on the GaAs surface and recovers the surface order. A mixed nitride‐oxide surface layer is formed after nitrogen and ammonia plasma treatments. The appearance of the nitride layer correlates with the passivation of the GaAs surface and the much improved I‐V characteristics of AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors.


Purpose
Attendance at alcoholics anonymous (AA) or narcotics anonymous (NA) meetings and affiliation with the fellowship has potential benefits for people with alcohol or drug use disorders. This effect is present whether or not the individual attends professional treatment services, but the two process can have a synergistic effect. Limited information exists about the extent to which people attending UK specialist treatment services also attend AA/NA and their views about such attendance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey of 200 consecutive attendees at the specialist treatment service in an English region was conducted between January and April 2018. A measure of past attendance and affiliation with AA/NA (AAAS) and a scale designed to quantify future readiness to attend (Survey of Readiness for Alcoholics Anonymous Participation) were administered and anonymously linked to data supplied to the National Drug Treatment Monitoring Service (NDTMS).

Findings
A minority of the sample had ever attended an AA meeting (31 per cent, n=59) or an NA meeting (41 per cent, n=79), and only 14 per cent (n=27) and 24 per cent (n=45) had attended an AA or NA meeting, respectively, in the past year. Only two variables significantly predicted level of readiness to attend AA or NA in a regression model: attended more AA/NA meetings in the past (ß=0.149, p=0.036) and previous level of participation (AAAS score) (ß=0.409, p < 0.001).

Practical implications
A significant proportion of attendees of a specialist drug and alcohol treatment service had never attended AA/NA, despite many positive views about their potential benefits. Given the established benefits of attending AA/NA meetings and participating in the AA or NA fellowship, these results suggest that professional treatment services should do more to explain the process and challenge preconceived ideas about how they operate.

Originality/value
The authors are not aware of any published research that captures the rates of attendance of and participation in both AA and NA groups in a UK-based community treatment sample. These results may therefore provide a baseline for evaluating the impact of interventions to increase attendance/participation, and also provide some insight into the potential barriers to attendance in this population.


Self-similar and semi-analytical solutions are found for the height-averaged equations governing the dynamical behavior of a polytropic, self-gravitating disk under the effects of winds around the nascent object. In order to describe the time evolution of the system, we adopt a radius-dependent mass loss rate, then highlight its importance on both the traditional α and innovative β models of viscosity prescription. In agreement with some other studies, our solutions represent that the Toomre parameter is less than one in most regions on the β-disk, which indicates that in such disks gravitational instabilities can occur at various distances from the central accretor. So, the β-disk model might provide a good explanation of how the planetary systems form. The purpose of the present work is twofold: examining the structure of a disk with wind in comparison to a no-wind solution and seeing whether the adopted viscosity prescription significantly affects the dynamical behavior of the disk–wind system. We also considered the temperature distribution in our disk by a polytropic condition. The solutions imply that, under our boundary conditions, the radial velocity is larger for α-disks and increases as wind becomes stronger in both viscosity models. Also, we noticed that the disk thickness increases by amplifying the wind or adopting larger values for the polytropic exponent γ. It also may globally decrease if one prescribes a β-model for the viscosity. Moreover, in both viscosity models, the surface density and mass accretion rate diminish as the wind gets stronger or γ increases.


This article provides a roadmap for possible European Union (eu) action in the protection of marine biodiversity in the changing Arctic. First the eu's competence in the Arctic is briefly introduced. Then the discussion turns to the eu's potential external and internal actions in shipping, fisheries and offshore oil and gas operations that could possibly enhance the international legal regime for the protection of marine biodiversity in the Arctic. The eu's role vis-a-vis the global biodiversity regime and cross-cutting measures under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea are discussed together in the final part.


Leaf physiology determines the carbon acquisition of the whole plant, but there can be considerable variation in physiology and carbon acquisition within individual leaves. Alocasia macrorrhiza (L.) Schott is an herbaceous species that can develop very large leaves of up to 1 m in length. However, little is known about the hydraulic and photosynthetic design of such giant leaves. Based on previous studies of smaller leaves, and on the greater surface area for trait variation in large leaves, we hypothesized that A. macrorrhiza leaves would exhibit significant heterogeneity in structure and function. We found evidence of reduced hydraulic supply and demand in the outer leaf regions; leaf mass per area, chlorophyll concentration, and guard cell length decreased, as did stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate and quantum efficiency of photosystem II. This heterogeneity in physiology was opposite to that expected from a thinner boundary layer at the leaf edge, which would have led to greater rates of gas exchange. Leaf temperature was 8.8°C higher in the outer than in the central region in the afternoon, consistent with reduced stomatal conductance and transpiration caused by a hydraulic limitation to the outer lamina. The reduced stomatal conductance in the outer regions would explain the observed homogeneous distribution of leaf water potential across the leaf surface. These findings indicate substantial heterogeneity in gas exchange across the leaf surface in large leaves, greater than that reported for smaller-leafed species, though the observed structural differences across the lamina were within the range reported for smaller-leafed species. Future work will determine whether the challenge of transporting water to the outer regions can limit leaf size for plants experiencing drought, and whether the heterogeneity of function across the leaf surface represents a particular disadvantage for large simple leaves that might explain their global rarity, even in resource-rich environments.


Purpose: The purpose of the project is to implement effective, convenient, and efficient weight loss counseling in today's fast-paced mobile society. The project will reinforce current physical activity guidelines in correlation with the clinic's standard dietary guidelines and pharmacological interventions. Patient adherence and motivation will be supported through lifestyle modification counseling via telephone. Background: The prevalence of obese adults in the United States (US) increased from 33.7 percent in 2007-2008 to 39.6 percent in 2015-2016. Abnormal or excess weight gain may further impair health, as it correlates with the development of multiple preventable comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and some cancers such as breast cancer or colon cancer. Overweight and obese patient's pose a significant health care burden. Total costs attributable to the obese and overweight population is predicted to double every decade costing about $860.7$956.9 billion by 2030, accounting for 16-18 percent of total US health care costs (Mobley & Baum, 2015). According to the CDC, (2018), the prevalence of obesity accounts for more than one-third (36.5 percent) of overweight and obese adults in the US, and further claims that in 2008 the estimated annual medical cost in the US attributed to obesity was $147 billion. Practice Change: Three mandatory telephonic reminders were added to each patient's weight loss plan on day three, day seven, and week six of the program. Outcomes: Implementation of telephone-based intensive lifestyle modification counseling as an evidence-based intervention is a valuable method to improve weight loss outcomes, enhance clinical efficiency, maintain safety, and increase patient satisfaction. TELEPHONE-BASED LIFESTYLE MODIFICATION COUNSELING 3 Conclusion: Early detection, diagnosis, and management of overweight or obese patients are vital to prevent morbidity, mortality, improve quality of life, and prolong life expectancy without suffering. Evidence-based interventions are key to help facilitate healthy weight loss goals and reduce both patient and health care system costs. TELEPHONE-BASED LIFESTYLE MODIFICATION COUNSELING 4 The Supplemental Impact of Telephone-Based Lifestyle Modification Counseling in an Outpatient Weight Loss Clinic


Bacterioplankton abundance, [3H]thymidine incorporation, 14CO2 uptake in the dark, and fractionated primary production were measured on several occasions between June and August 1982 in eutrophic Lake Norrviken, Sweden. Bacterioplankton abundance and carbon biomass ranged from 0.5 � 109 to 2.4 � 109 cells liter−1 and 7 to 47 μg of C liter−1, respectively. The average bacterial cell volume was 0.185 μm3. [3H]thymidine incorporation into cold-trichloroacetic acid-insoluble material ranged from 12 � 10−12 to 200 � 10−12 mol liter−1 h−1. Bacterial carbon production rates were estimated to be 0.2 to 7.1 μg of C liter−1 h−1. Bacterial production estimates from [3H]thymidine incorporation and 14CO2 uptake in the dark agreed when activity was high but diverged when activity was low and when blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) dominated the phytoplankton. Size fractionation indicated negligible uptake of [3H]thymidine in the >3-μm fraction during a chrysophycean bloom in early June. We found that >50% of the 3H activity was in the >3-μm fraction in late August; this phenomenon was most likely due to Microcystis spp., their associated bacteria, or both. Over 60% of the 14CO2 uptake in the dark was attributed to algae on each sampling occasion. Algal exudate was an important carbon source for planktonic bacteria. Bacterial production was roughly 50% of primary production.


In random studies, some faces will deviate toward Type II skeletal and some toward Type III. Some will deviate toward a skeletally short vertical while some toward long. In their study, Langlois and Roggman digitized individual faces through a computer. As more and more faces were entered, the composite of these faces became more and more attractive. From this, they concluded that attractive faces are only average. The "average" face may very well conform to the divine proportion. However, some faces are strikingly beautiful, and Alley and Cunningham in their study attempted to explain these attributes. Individuals who are blessed with attractive features are treated differently in our society. Ackerman states, "Attractive people do better: in school, where they receive more help, better grades and less punishment; at work, where they are rewarded with higher pay, more prestigious jobs and faster promotions; in finding mates, where they tend to be in control of the relationship and make most of the decisions; and among strangers, who assume them to be more interesting, honest, virtuous and successful." Many would find this special treatment objectionable and unfair. The irony is that beautiful individuals make up a very small percentage of the population; they have very little power to dictate how society should act and behave. Various disciplines have studied the nature of facial beauty. Individually, they provide partial answers; however, when viewed together, they begin to weave provocative insights as to its biologic significance. It is intricately related to divine proportion, and all living creatures have the genetic potential to develop toward it. The appreciation for this proportion is primitive and inborn; it is a biologic mechanism by which all living creatures are attracted to potential mates who conform to this strict proportion because they are biologically strong, healthy, and fertile. To date, there is no other profession other than ours that has the knowledge and the expertise to treat facial problems. We have a keen interest in facial and dental esthetics. We understand occlusion, TMJ anatomy, and facial-skeletal relationship to soft tissue profile. Unlike plastic surgery, where the soft tissues are artificially recontoured for better esthetics, we can make real and substantial skeletal changes. We are able to correct the architectural framework of the face to its physiologically correct position. In so doing, we cannot only improve our patients' appearance, but improve their health as well. There are those in our profession who are afraid of changes. They will not accept what has been presented with the usual excuse that they are "anecdotal" and not supported in the scientific world with rat and monkey studies. Although the concepts presented are complicated and controversial, I have attempted to present them clearly and simply with many references. There will be those, however, who will stubbornly continue to disbelieve the efficacy of functional appliance and TMD therapy even though in the real world there are many successes with human patients. With time, the truth will become self-evident. Finally, it is not my intent to say that everyone should look alike. Superficial variations and differences appropriate to certain climatic conditions and other environmental factors are often necessary for the survival of the species. Additionally, in rare instances, some Skeletal Type II individuals have shorter mandibles than normal. To reposition these mandibles forward closer to the anterior arc may create a "dual" bite situation. In other rare instances, Skeletal Type III individuals may have longer mandibles than normal. To reposition these mandibles posteriorly closer to the anterior arc may cause impingement of TMJ spaces and TMD. As more and more information is gathered, it is becoming clear that the physical, emotional, and psychological health of our patients are intimately related to the cranio-mandibular a


Three-dimensional (3D) surface reconstruction from the point cloud has been widely discussed since two decades ago. The existing methods are either incredibly complex in computation or the quality of the meshes is improved only after the surfaces are constructed. In this paper, we propose a considerable framework to trade off between quality and complexity for reconstructing the surfaces. We suggest revising the input point data before initiating the process of surface reconstruction for producing smooth surfaces. Our algorithm includes eliminating the alien points, which possibly produce crumple meshes. This piece of work is supported by several geometric measures which evidently tackle the objectives above. The prototype is hitherto under implementation phase. But we believe our proposed framework is worth a sharing among the researchers.


Actins constitute a highly structurally conserved family of proteins found in virtually all eukaryotic cells, in which they participate in processes such as production of contractile force, structural stabilization of the cell, cell motility, endocytosis, and exocytosis (1). The actin monomer, or G-actin, has a nucleotide-binding cleft separating two large domains. Each of these is separated into two subdomains, with the N terminus appearing as an arm which originates from subdomain 1 (Fig. 1). In the context of the actin filament (F-actin), a two-stranded helix, subdomain 1 is located on the filament exterior. This position allows the N-terminal region to be a site of interaction for myosin and a number of other actin-binding regulatory proteins (2, 3). Actins are characterized by an acidic N-terminal region consisting of two to four acidic amino acids in which the N-terminal amino acid is N-acetylated. However, in mature actins, the initiator methionine is missing. In the early 1980s, a series of papers reported the discovery of a unique processing pathway leading to the production of the pure actin (4⇓–6). For class I actins, in which the initiator methionine directly precedes the eventual N-terminal acid residue, the methionine is acetylated. Then the acetyl-methionine is removed proteolytically, exposing the N-terminal acidic amino acid, which is then acetylated to produce the mature form of the protein. Examples of these actins are the beta and gamma cytoplasmic actins found in mammalian cells. For class II actins, which include the striated and smooth muscle actins in mammalian cells, the N-terminal processing is more complex. These proteins are produced from genes which encode a Met-Cys-acidic residue N terminus. For these actins, following removal of the initiator acetyl-methionine, the new N-terminal cysteine is N-acetylated. The acetyl-cysteine is then removed proteolytically to expose the eventual N-terminal acidic residue, …

[↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: peter-rubenstein{at}uiowa.edu.

 [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1


The fixation of massive segmental prostheses is more problematic than standard joint replacements. The aims of this study are: 1) To evaluate the long-term survival of cemented and uncemented distal femoral bone tumour endoprostheses in adults and skeletally immature patients. 2) To investigate the relationship between the degree of osteointegration onto the hydroxyapatite (HA) coated collar located at the boneimplant junction and relate this to aseptic loosening (ASL) of these endoprostheses. The hypothesis is that a hydroxyapatite collar at the shoulder of bone and implant junction enhances osteointegration and extra-cortical bone formation, reducing aseptic loosening of the endoprostheses. Three separate studies to evaluate the long-term survival of distal femoral endoprosthetic replacements (DFR) implanted at our institute since 1992 were carried out. The first included 61 adult patients with cemented DFR, the second study involved 69 uncemented DFR in adults and the third comprised 24 cemented, non-invasive and expandable DFR in skeletally immature patients. For the first time, the degree of osteointegration at the bone-implant junction was evaluated and the amount of extracortical bone formation was evaluated. Finally the effect of osteointegration of the HA collar on the rate of aseptic loosening (ASL) and on implant survival was investigated. Uncemented, custom made distal femoral endoprostheses have a higher rate of aseptic loosening compared to cemented fixation but this was associated with early loosening and implants that survived for greater than two years, were well fixed for the duration of follow-up. Initial fixation of uncemented DFR is crucial as most cases of loosening occur early. The use of grooved HA coated collar located at the shoulder of distal femoral massive prostheses resulted in increased formation and attachment of the extra-cortical bone and showed a reduced rate of revision due to aseptic loosening. However in cases where osteointegration could not be identified on radiographs, the loosening was higher than in those cases which were well osteointegrated. Survivorship at 10 and 15 years was 98% for those patients with well osteoinetgrated implants but only 75% for those without osteointegration. In paediatric cases, the use of a HA collar reduces the progression of radiolucent lines and results indicate that implants with osteointegrated HA collars, inserted into adolescent patients remain more firmly attached to the skeleton than nonosteoinegrated HA collars. This suggests that HA collars can enhance the survival of the prosthesis inserted when these patients achieve skeletally maturity. These results suggest that HA collars are beneficial when they are osteointegrated as they allow load distribution onto the adjacent cortical bone in a more physiological manner resulting in a reduced load on the intramedullary stem leading to a reduction of aseptic loosening.


We present a theory for predicting fluid ejection for microfluidic systems that utilize the squeeze-film effect as the dominant pressure generation mechanism. We derive the equations of motion for such systems taking into account both viscous and inertial effects. The dominant viscous term is due to the squeeze-film effect, in which a thin layer of incompressible viscous fluid is 'squeezed' between a moving piston and an orifice plate. We apply Reynolds lubrication theory and derive an analytical expression for the squeeze-film pressure distribution, taking into account both flow through the orifice and restricted flow around the piston. The dominant inertial effects are due to the acceleration of fluid between the piston and the orifice plate, through the orifice, and around the piston. We derive an analytical expression for an effective fluid mass that accounts for these effects. We use these expressions in the equations of motion and obtain a theoretical model for predicting the behaviour of squeeze-film dominated microfluidic fluid ejectors. We demonstrate the theory via application to a practical device.


Asia's green revolution in rice was transformational and improved the lives of millions of poor households. Rice has become an increasingly important part of African diets and imports of rice have grown. Agronomists point out that large areas in Africa are well suited for rice and are encouraged by the field tests of new rice varieties. So is Africa poised for its own green revolution in rice? This study reviews the recent literature on rice technologies and their impact on productivity, incomes, and poverty, and compares current conditions in Africa with the conditions that prevailed in Asia as its rice revolution got under way. An important conclusion is that, to a degree, a rice revolution has already begun in Africa. Moreover, many of the same practices that have proved successful in Asia and in Africa can be applied where yields are currently low. At the same time, for many reasons, Africa's rice revolution has been, and will continue to be, characterized by a mosaic of successes, situated where the conditions are right for new technologies to take hold. This can have profound effects in some places. But because diets, markets, and geography are heterogeneous in Africa, the successful transformation of the Africa's rice sector must be matched by productivity gains in other crops to fully launch Africa's Green Revolution.


Spontaneous disruption of hemostasis in adults is a common clinical presentation. However, in a few patients, no cause is found. We were faced with such a situation when a 63 year old Caucasian male presented with a large spontaneous hematoma of his left thigh. There was no prior history of bleeding disorders in our patient or amongst his family members. Initial investigations did not show any conclusive coagulation factor abnormalities. Fibrinogen, D-dimer, liver function tests and platelet aggregation studies were normal. Subsequent tests showed that while his activatable plasminogen and euglobin clot lysis were normal, the function of his alpha-2 antiplasmin was at 35% of normal. Laurell immunoassay demonstrated a type 1 deficiency with antigen levels proportionately decreased at 30% of normal. Treatment with low dose epsilon amino caproic acid resulted in resolution of the hematoma and control of bleeding. We therefore sought to determine the cause of his isolated alpha-2 antiplasmin deficiency. Alpha-2 antiplasmin is a serpin which targets plasmin. It is synthesized in the liver and deficiency results in a bleeding disorder.Congenital deficiencies of alpha-2 antiplasmin are uncommon bleeding disorders. However, since heterozygotic mutations of alpha-2 antiplasmin can present with initial bleeds late in life, we sequenced his alpha-2 antiplasmin gene. This gene is located on chromosome 17, spanning 16 Kb. It has 10 exons which we amplified by PCR in 13 segments and sequenced by the di-deoxy method. All splice junctions and the 70 base pairs upstream of exon 1 were normal. Three heterozygous polymorphisms were found, ruling out major gene deletions. The polymorphisms are as follows: Exon 2, C to T causing substitution of Alanine by Valine in the signal peptide, Exon 3, C to T causing substitution of Arginine by Tryptophan, Exon 10, G to A causing substitution of Arginine by Lysine. Each of these 3 polymorphisms have been found in blood donors. This raises important issues about his deficiency. First, lack of production could be due to defective translational factors or epigenetic factors regulating gene transcription. It could also be due to the Alanine to Valine change in the signal peptide which we are currently investigating. Secondly, non-inhibitory antibodies to alpha-2 antiplasmin could explain his type 1 deficiency. Finally, age-related vascular and connective tissue defects may unmask a dormant inherited bleeding disorder. Unfortunately, his demise due to the development of nephrotic syndrome and sepsis may leave us without answers to these questions. There is no case linking nephrotic syndrome with the use of epsilon amino caproic acid. In conclusion, since response to anti- fibrinolytics can be dramatic, deficiencies of alpha-2 antiplasmin must be considered in patients presenting at any age with a spontaneous bleeding disorder.


In mechanics, both classical and quantum, one studies the profound interaction between two types of energy, namely, the kinetic energy and the potential energy. The former can be organized as the kinematic metric on the configuration space while the latter can be represented by a suitable potential function, such as the Newtonian potential in celestial mechanics and the Coulomb potential in quantum mechanics of atomic and molecular physics. In this paper, the author studies the kinematic geometry of n-body systems. The main results axe (i) the introduction of a canonical coordinate system which reveals the total amount of kinematic symmetry by an SO(З) × O(n - 1) action in such a canonieal coordinate representation; (ii) an in depth analysis of the above kinematic system both in the setting of classical invariant theory and by the technique of equivarjant Riemannian geometry; (iii) a remarkably simple formula for the potential function in such a canonical coordinate system which reveals the well-fitting between the kinematic symmetry and the potential energy.


This book studies the experiences of undergraduate popular music students. Working within the context of band rehearsing and performing, it focuses on how peer assessment can help develop students' personal attributes and their learning. An action research design was used in order to explore various peer assessment activities involving the student band rehearsals. Several interventions and refinements were made from cycle to cycle from which interview and peer assessment data were collected. The analysis of these data offers a fascinating insight into what the students thought important for their rehearsals, including: developing an awareness and knowledge about their personal attributes; confidence; feedback; honesty and trust. From this, a new model of peer assessment is proposed. It offers a sequence of graduated stages of personal attribute usage, which create experiences that support students' learning about themselves and about others.


Summary One complication in patients with β-thalassaemia who had prolonged survival is chronic hypercoagulable state, which results in thromboembolic events involving major organs including the brain. We determined the prevalence of microthrombosis in the brain in an asymptomatic subgroup of patients with β-thalassaemia intermedia (TI) who had undergone splenectomy. This retrospective review included 200 patients with TI diagnosed on the basis of blood count, haemoglobin (Hb) electrophoresis and clinical data. Their ages ranged from 18 to 34 years, 19 (63.3%) were women and 11 (36.7%) were men. We selected 30 patients at random who fulfilled the inclusion criteria: Hb concentration >7 g/dl), splenectomy and platelet count >500,000/ml. Their mean Hb concentration was 8.4 g/dl and their mean ferritin concentration was 519 ng/ml. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was done in every patient, and the findings were interpreted by an expert neuroradiologist. Imaging studies showed pathological findings in 28% of the patients. Six had changes in the white matter suggestive of ischaemia and two had evidence of small infarctions. Conclusion: 1) In this small subset of patients diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging to monitor early asymptomatic or subclinical vascular damage in the brain can be considered when they reach the age of 20 years, and repeated every 3–5 years. 2) Treatment with antiplatelet aggregants is suggested in patients with documented asymptomatic brain ischaemia. 3) These results require confirmation in a larger group of similar patients with other types of thalassaemia who are multitransfused or have an intact spleen.


Purpose: This study examines how the types of organizational culture at a public health center affect job satisfaction and organization commitment of nurses. Method: The study selected 139 nurses from six public health centers located in G city, J province as subjects. The data was collected from April 1 to May 31 in 2008. Result: In regard to type of organizational culture had significant correlation with both job satisfaction and organization commitment, job satisfaction and organization commitment also showed high correlation. Concerning type of organizational culture, two variables of affiliated culture and innovative culture explained 26.3% of job satisfaction and 29.3% of organization commitment. Conclusion: The job satisfaction and organization commitment of nurses varied according to types of organizational culture of a public health center, and showed high correlation. The more affiliated and innovative the organizational culture was, the higher job satisfaction and organization commitment turned out. Therefore, it is advisable to develop a strategy that systematically creates a affiliated and innovative organizational culture that pays attention to goal achievement of the nurse.


The wave equation has been solved to predict theoretically and confirm experimentally the periodic behavior of light intensity in the first diffraction maximum, depending upon the thickness of the nonlinear medium. The growth of the medium's nonlinearity was shown to give rise to an essential complication in the behavior of the spatial harmonics. Transition from a simple harmonic behavior of the system to dynamic chaos was demonstrated. Numerical solution of the wave equation permitted determination of applicability limits of approximate Raman–Nath solutions for the case of self-diffraction. Nonlinear diffraction of a beam as a whole was theoretically predicted and experimentally confirmed to be an essential factor in the spatial and temporal dynamics of the diffracted radiation.


ABSTRACT The aim of the study is to examine the symbolic play behaviours of the child and mother at home and to determine how the mother participated when playing with her child. The study included 19 mothers and their children with 24–36 months old children from Turkey. The symbolic play that the mother and child played together in their home environment was recorded in the video for 12 min. As a result of the research, it was determined that mothers involved in the play 'involved director' most, and no mothers were involved in the category of 'uninvolved'.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
We investigated the relationship between preoperative platelets count and the outcome of pancreatic cancer patients.

METHODOLOGY
We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 105 patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the pancreas who underwent radical resection at our institution over a 20-year period. The patients were divided into two groups based on their preoperative platelets counts: a group with thrombocytosis (> or = 40x10(4)/mL) and a group with non-elevated platelets counts (< 40x10(4)/mL). Histopathological findings, survival rates, recurrence patterns, and disease-free survival intervals were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS
The outcome of the group with thrombocytosis was significantly poorer than that of the group with non-elevated platelets counts (p=0.043). The mean disease-free interval of patients with thrombocytosis was 4.9 months as opposed to 46.5 months for those with non-elevated platelets counts (p=0.006). Patients were classified into four groups according to changes in platelets counts after surgery. Consistently, the outcome of the group with both pre- and postoperative non-elevated platelets counts was the best compared to groups with post- and/or postoperative thrombocytosis.

CONCLUSIONS
Our clinical data suggest that high platelets counts in the preoperative and postoperative period may be associated with a poor outcome and shortening of postoperative disease-free survival interval.


Abstract ZrO2-EMF measurements were carried out on natural biotite samples between about 400 and 1100 °C in a closed system in a pure argon atmosphere (99.9999%). The EMF patterns are complex and cannot be compared to classical equilibrium 1/T-log ƒO₂ data. Instead, the electrochemical method, when applied to hydrous phases, is a non-equilibrium, dynamic technique, comparable to differential thermal analyses. The data are interpreted from the perspective of atomic processes that control EMF readings and in light of mica-breakdown reactions known from the literature. These breakdown reactions occur at mainly three temperatures marking the onset of dehydroxylation, of oxidation, and of breakdown to oxides. The new application of ZrO2-EMF measurements proposed herein demonstrates the advantage of dynamic tracking of mica breakdown reactions; so that in a single experiment, all breakdown reactions may be studied sequentially for a specific mineral sample.


cult cases in psychiatric practice (those over 65, mentally retarded, brain-damaged and drug/alcohol dependent) are excluded. It is certainly reasonable to have a refined sample for research into aetiology, but assessment of care must surely include all the compli cated problems that so often provide the greatest management difficulties. Finally, I am uncertain as to the basis of his costing of the alternative care systems. Does he include the on-call availability of psychi atrists "¿ covering the rest of the catchment area service―, and the fixed costs of running a hospital anyway —¿ (regardless of patient usage)— since his patients certainly had to use this resource? It seems that the problem in this work is the "¿ degree of artificiality―created by a research pro ject. The "¿ assertiveness―, 24 hour availability, enthusiasm and job satisfaction of the staff involved are crucial factors, and a false dichotomy between hospital and community care is set up. Yet it is not the "¿ where― that matters, it is the "¿ what― nd "¿ who― that are essential. Hoult and his workers have clearly shown that the quality of care, at the personal level, is central to a good outcome in psychiatric ill ness. They have fallen into the non-scientific trap of obtaining findings that "¿ confirmed our aims―—¿ (where is the null hypothesis in this?)—and have not pursued the obvious control situation, namely put ting their motivated research team, and its methods, into the hospital. While it is gratifying to see their success —¿ and the value of having a psychiatrist on-call continually —¿ it may be more realistic to see the hospital as a community resource and not to create either/or contrasts.


The development of novel carbon material, high accessible surface area, interconnected porosity, and stable nanofiber nonwoven media for emulsified oil droplets separation from oily wastewater, in particular for oilfields produced water treatment, is discussed in this thesis.
Firstly, the quantity and quality of the generated produced water from five of the largest oilfields in the south of Iraq were studied based on the oil production profiles of these oilfields. This type of wastewater is heavily contaminated with different types of pollutants such as oil, suspended solids, heavy metals, and salts. This study shows that the properly treated produced water in the south of Iraq could be a substantial valuable water resource in a region with increasing water shortages.
An adsorption process using activated carbon is a potential method for oil removal from oily wastewater. In this work, the activated carbon nanofiber nonwoven (ACNFN), which is a form of activated carbon, is fabricated from polymeric solution using the electrospinning method and followed by subsequent thermal steps. The results show that optimizing the fabrication conditions are essential to produce ACNFN with enhanced mechanical strength and specific surface area.
According to the batch dynamic adsorption test, ACNFNs showed a very high removal efficiency of up to 95%, thereby outperforming (non-activated) carbon nonwoven (CNFN) and a commercial granular activated carbon (GAC), due to its high accessible surface area, porosity, and hydrophobicity. A dead-end normal flow system was used to investigate the operating conditions for the removal of emulsified oil from water using nonwoven media. The results showed that the oil droplets were removed by size exclusion and adsorption mechanisms. Characteristic breakthrough behavior was observed with subsequent clogging. The high porosity of ACNFN was shown to play a role in the small oil droplets removal. Removal efficiency increased with contact time and thickness. However, the pressure drop over the system was increased due to the excluded oil droplets on the top side of the first layer of the nonwoven. A novel testing method was used to allow the emulsion to pass through the cross sectional area of the thin sheet of ACNFN nonwoven. The results show an efficient ability of ACNFN nonwovens to remove emulsified oil from water by adsorption in a continuous process without an obvious increase in pressure drop over the system. Furthermore, the regenerability of ACNFN for oil adsorption was studied by washing the saturated ACNFN sheet with an organic solvent. The results showed no significant change in the oil adsorption characteristics for three adsorption/cleaning cycles.


Purpose

While marketing and management research suggests that managers' individual characteristics influence pricing decisions, the influence of personality traits in this context remains unclear. This study aims to explore the relationship between the five basic personality traits of the five-factor model (extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, agreeableness and neuroticism) and three basic pricing practices (value-, competition- and cost-informed).

Design/methodology/approach

On the basis of a non-experimental decision-making scenario, the analysis examines the pricing decisions of 57 managers in relation to a new business service.

Findings

The results suggest that managers' conscientiousness and openness to experience are positively related to preference for value-informed pricing. Similarly, managers' agreeableness is positively related to preference for competition-informed pricing and managers' openness to experience and agreeableness are positively related to preference for cost-informed pricing.

Research limitations/implications

The cross-sectional study design does not support causal inference, and the modest sample size may limit the external validity of the findings.

Practical implications

By increasing awareness of the influence of personality on pricing preferences, the findings are of relevance to managers who are directly involved in pricing decisions. Additionally, the findings are informative for managers who must assign responsibility for pricing authority within firms.

Originality/value

This empirical exploration of the relationship between certain personality traits and specific pricing practices contributes to the literature on psychological aspects of pricing theory by showing how managerial personality influences pricing preferences under uncertainty.


Abstract : We derive the closed form expression for the bit error probability of dense WDM systems employing an external OOK modulator. Our model is based upon a close approximation of the optical Fabry-Perot filter in the receiver as a single-pole RC filter for the signals that are bandlimited to a frequency band approximately equal to one sixtieth of the Fabry-Perot filter's free spectral range. Our model can handle bit rates up to 2.5 Gb/s for a free spectral range of 3800 GHz and up to 5 Gb/s when the power penalty is 1 db or less.


Parliamentary elections in July 2018 brought the right-wing Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf, headed by former cricketer Imran Khan, to power. The PTI finished short of the 137 seats needed to form a government. But it emerged as the single largest party in parliament. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison for owning assets disproportionate to his income.


Numerous lakes characterize the landscape of the northeast Siberian Lena Delta, which is situated in the zone of continuous permafrost. We provide a detailed lake inventory of this largest Arctic delta. The inventory is based on Landsat-7 ETM+ image data and spatial analysis in ArcGIS. Several morphometric lake attributes were determined from the resulting data set and statistically analysed regarding the lakes association with one of the three geomorphological main units of the Lena delta. Significant differences in the morphometric lake characteristics allowed the distinction of a mean lake type for each main unit. The lake types reflect the special lithological and cryolithological conditions and geomorphologic processes prevailing on each terrace. The first main unit, which represents the modern active delta, is characterized by small lakes of irregular shape, like meander scrolls and oxbow lakes. Large oriented lakes dominate on the second terrace that consists of Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene sands. On the third terrace, which is represented by relics of a Late Pleistocene accumulation plain with fine-grained and ice-rich deposits, typical thermokarst lakes with regular, circular shorelines prevail. Most studied lakes are thermokarst lakes by their nature, as they have been or still are expanding by thermoabrasion of shore banks and deepening of the lake basin. However, a distinction between primary and secondary thermokarst lakes can be made. Primary lakes are those initially formed by thaw subsidence, i.e. the third terrace lakes. Secondary thermokarst lakes are typically formed by other processes, e.g. the change of the fluvial channel network on the first terrace. The role of lakes on the second terrace is still debated. They appear to be typical thermokarst lakes by morphometry, but their primary initiation might have been related to inter-dune or old fluvial water bodies.


Parents of children with diabetes type 1 (DT1) usually mention high stress levels as they have to cope with multiple demands in everyday life. Simple stress management techniques can be administered in everyday life and thus may hold some benefit for parents with diabetic children. The purpose of this study was to assess to evaluate the effectiveness of a stress management program (relaxation breathing and progressive muscle relaxation/RB-PMR) in reducing symptoms of stress. Self-reported validated measures were used to evaluate perceived stress, health locus of control, daily routine, anxiety and depression. This is a pilot, randomized controlled trial. A total of 54 parents were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 28) and control group (n = 26). In parents in the intervention group perceived stress, symptoms of depression and anxiety were significantly decreased after 8 weeks of the relaxation program (0.017, 0.044 and 0.006). RB-PMR practice was associated with changes in physical and psychological symptoms of parents with children with DT1. Future studies should extend by incorporating more objective clinical and laboratory outcomes.


This paper presents an adaptive progressive image acquisition algorithm based on the concept of kernel construction. The algorithm takes the conventional route of blind progressive sampling to sample and reconstruct the ground truth image in an iterative manner. During each iteration, an equivalent kernel is built for each unsampled pixel to capture the spatial structure of its local neighborhood. The kernel is normalized by the estimated sample strength in the local area and used as the projection of the influence of this unsampled pixel to the consequent sampling procedure. The sampling priority of a candidate unsampled pixel is the sum of such projections from other unsampled pixels in the local area. Pixel locations with the highest priority are sampled in the next iteration. The algorithm does not require to pre-process or compress the ground truth image and therefore can be used in various situations where such procedure is not possible. The experiments show that the proposed algorithm is able to capture the local structure of images to achieve a better reconstruction quality than that of the existing methods.


A short survey concerning the development of the medical mycology is presented covering the last 150 years (1839-1989). According to the interpretation of most of the distinguished authors, the year of Schönlein's publication, i.e. 1839, is to be considered as the origin of the medical mycology. Therefore, mycoses were the first infectious diseases the etiology of which were scientifically explained. Monographs and articles in manuals written in the most important world languages represent milestones in the historical development. Over large periods connected to and promoted by dermatology, increasingly this special field has developed to an important and autonomous part of medical microbiology.


Thymic lymphoma is a malignant lymphoid neoplasm that affects several species, including cattle. This type of neoplasia can lead to death due to malignant cell infiltration in different organs. The classification of this neoplasm may predict prognosis and response to treatment. Immunophenotyping is one of the ways to perform this classification. There are reports about the performance of immunohistochemistry (IHC) to classify thymic lymphoma only in taurine cattle, therefore the aim of this report is to describe the immunophenotype of a thymic lymphoma in a Nelore cow. Immunostaining was performed with monoclonal antibodies (CD79, CD4 and CD8). The tumor cells showed positive staining only for CD8 T lymphocytes, coinciding with the disease progression, since the T lymphoma type is more aggressive.


The impact of strain on the threshold voltage of nanoscale strained-Si/SiGe MOSFETs is studied by developing a compact analytical model. Our model includes the effects of strain (Ge mole fraction in SiGe substrate), short-channel length, source/drain junction depths, substrate (body) doping, strained silicon thin-film thickness, gate work function, and other device parameters. The model correctly predicts a decrease in threshold voltage with increasing strain in the silicon thin film, i.e., with increasing Ge concentration in SiGe substrate. The accuracy of the results obtained using our analytical model is verified using two-dimensional device simulations.


The major use of alternative light sources (ALS) in the evaluation of bloodstains has been primarily focused on detection of whole blood, with relatively little attention to visualization of blood serum. Serum may become separated from blood pools during clotting, and because it is relatively invisible on certain backgrounds, go undetected by a perpetrator attempting to clean up a crime scene. Recently, Ultraviolet 365 (UV 365) was shown to be an effective tool in blood evaluation, useful for detection of even minute quantities of blood serum. Here the effects of environmental conditions on blood serum stain appearance were evaluated, including temperature, pH, protease sensitivity, solubility, and aging. Interestingly, it was found that the UV fluorescence of serum increases upon exposure to heat, which was accompanied by color changes under visible light and decreased solubility in multiple solvents. The efficiency of visualization of serum stains was somewhat variable, depending on the type of material on which it was dried. Finally, the current study documents the effect of heating on formation of fluorescent serum halo rings in dried bloodstains. Taken together, these data demonstrate that blood serum detection may be affected by certain conditions that influence its visualization under both visible and UV light.


The interactions between α-cyclodextrin and four ligands (salicylic acid, salicylate, phenol and benzoate) was studied by NMR diffusion measurements. The diffusion coefficients of the ligands in the solution, which reflects the affinity of association between α-cyclodextrin and them, were found to decrease as the concentration of α-cyclodextrin increased. Together with 2D-ROESY experiments, it was demonstrated that in forming inclusion complex, the hydrophobic interaction is predominant among various possible interactions between α-cyclodextrin and the ligands.


An endemic goitre area was discovered at Masebuko, KwaZulu. Sixty cases of palpable euthyroid enlargement are reported and compared with a control group of 60 persons in a non-endemic area.


Posture control is indispensable for both humans and humanoid robots, which becomes especially evident when performing sensorimotor tasks such as moving on compliant terrain or interacting with the environment. Posture control is therefore targeted in recent proposals of robot benchmarking in order to advance their development. This Methods article suggests corresponding robot tests of standing balance, drawing inspirations from the human sensorimotor system and presenting examples from robot experiments. To account for a considerable technical and algorithmic diversity among robots, we focus in our tests on basic posture control mechanisms, which provide humans with an impressive postural versatility and robustness. Specifically, we focus on the mechanically challenging balancing of the whole body above the feet in the sagittal plane around the ankle joints in concert with the upper body balancing around the hip joints. The suggested tests target three key issues of human balancing, which appear equally relevant for humanoid bipeds: (1) four basic physical disturbances (support surface (SS) tilt and translation, field and contact forces) may affect the balancing in any given degree of freedom (DoF). Targeting these disturbances allows us to abstract from the manifold of possible behavioral tasks. (2) Posture control interacts in a conflict-free way with the control of voluntary movements for undisturbed movement execution, both with "reactive" balancing of external disturbances and "proactive" balancing of self-produced disturbances from the voluntary movements. Our proposals therefore target both types of disturbances and their superposition. (3) Relevant for both versatility and robustness of the control, linkages between the posture control mechanisms across DoFs provide their functional cooperation and coordination at will and on functional demands. The suggested tests therefore include ankle-hip coordination. Suggested benchmarking criteria build on the evoked sway magnitude, normalized to robot weight and Center of mass (COM) height, in relation to reference ranges that remain to be established. The references may include human likeness features. The proposed benchmarking concept may in principle also be applied to wearable robots, where a human user may command movements, but may not be aware of the additionally required postural control, which then needs to be implemented into the robot.


Abstract

Ameloblastic Carcinoma is a rare malignant odontogenic neoplasm that exhibits features of ameloblastoma along with features of cytological atypia. Owing to its varied clinical presentations and its histologic resemblance with Ameloblastoma, it is often misdiagnosed. Since few cases have been reported due to its rare frequency, there is paucity in the literature and there is no distinct recommendations regarding the same. The current paper reported two cases of Ameloblastic Carcinoma with different clinical presentations, one reported in a nineteen year old male patient with features of benign ameloblastoma in the superficial lesion and deeper aspect revealed features of ameloblastic carcinoma with lymph node metastasis while the second case reported in a forty-five year old female patient with classic features of Ameloblastic Carcinoma.


Extending the present 4 month grazing season in the Aspen parklands of western Canada is of major economic interest to cow-calf producers. A long-term experiment was conducted on 375 ha to compare the present practice of continuous grazing with no fertilizer to a rotational grazing system of 4 paddocks fertilized in alternate years with 90 kg N, 45 kg P2O5, 10 kg S ha-1 and a 6 paddocks rotational grazing system including fertilizing and species replacement by cultivation and reseeding. Compared to the continuously-grazed control, the grazing period was extended by 14-days on the 4-paddock rotation system, and by a further 15-days on the 6-paddock rotation system, divided about equally between spring and fall. Forage yield, cow weight gains and calf growth were significantly improved, and year-to-year variation in forage yield and animal weight gain was reduced. In the 6-paddock rotation system, breaking 1 paddock at a time in summer after grazing, and reseeding the following spring caused no noticeable reduction in grazing capacity. Replacing the bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.) dominated vegetation in 1 of the 6 paddocks with an early-growing grass contributed to the grazing season extension. Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn.) performed well in this role; Russian wildrye (Psathyrostachys juncea (Fisch.) Nevski) died out within 6 years of seeding.


The maximal renal concentrating ability was studied in six healthy men while 150 ml water/kg body wt. was forced daily for 9 days. The maximally concentrated urine samples were obtained after intramuscular injection of 5 units of surgical Pituitrin on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th day of the forced hydration period. The renal concentrating ability was already reduced on the 3rd day of the forced hydration, and there was very little further reduction during the subsequent period. All urinary constituents lost concentration in parallel. The rates of excretion of various urinary constituents through maximally concentrated urine did not show any consistent change. Moreover, all impairments were reversible and were not accompanied by any alteration in the glomerular filtration rate. It is thus considered that the observed reduction in renal concentrating ability during the forced hydration period is due to the reduction of tubular function. It is postulated that the collecting duct undergoes a certain mechanical deformation during the forced hydration period and, hence, is not able to perform the concentrating operation as much as it would do otherwise.

Submitted on August 10, 1961


As data rates supported by the physical layer increase, PHY and especially MAC overheads increasingly dominate the throughput achievable by wireless networks. A promising approach for reducing these overheads is to aggregate a number of frames together into a single transmission. The 802.11n standard uses such an approach for unicast frames. We present the design of a system that can aggregate both unicast and broadcast frames. Further, the system can classify TCP ACK segments so that they can be aggregated with TCP data flowing in the opposite direction. A novel aspect of our work is that we implement and validate our design not through simulation, but rather using our wireless node prototype, Hydra, which supports a high performance PHY based on 802.11n. Design aspects of multi-hop wireless networks using frame aggregation are given in this paper.


Recently, a group of modern technologies for metal cutting have spread, such as plasma cutting, laser cutting, water jet cutting, which have significantly affected the design and production of metal products in general and the design and production of iron products in particular, As in the design of gates and fences, which have different design aesthetics than the previous ones, which were used in their design and production methods of forming iron rods.This is due to the difference in the type of the motifs used, some may see that these new motifs have positive aesthetic effects, while others see some negatives, Hence the research problem arises inthe need to monitor the advantages and disadvantages of the design aesthetics of the motifs of iron products that are produced using modern techniques of metal cutting, compared to the motifs of iron products that are produced by forming iron rods,Where the research aims to study the effect of using modern metal cutting techniques on the aesthetics of designing motifs of iron products, To achieve the goal of the research, the researcher followed the descriptive and analytical approach,In the research, two main axes were studied: the first is related to modern techniques of metal cutting, and the second is related to design aesthetics, with a focus on the design aesthetics of metal products formed from rods and the other formed using laser or plasma metal cutting techniques. Conclusion: the use of laser or plasma metal cutting techniques in the decoration of iron products has a set of advantages and disadvantages, the most prominent of these advantages from the aesthetic side is the possibility of implementing new types of decorations and shapes that could not be implemented before the existence of these techniques, Among the most prominent of these defects is that the motifs that have been cut by laser or plasma are flat so they look like the decorations printed on the cloth or woven on the fabric, but this defect can be overcome by: - The use of iron motifs that were cut by laser or plasma, with iron motifs that made from iron rods side by side in certain areas of the iron products that were predetermined according to the required design. The widespread use of metal cutting techniques using laser and plasma has not only affected the design of iron products, but extended to include many products such as the design of metal furniture as well as the design of architectural facades or facades of metal structures, which requires research to monitor and study that effect.


ABSTRACT In the urinary tract, the innate immune system detects conserved bacterial components and responds to infection by activating the proinflammatory transcription factor NF-κB, resulting in cytokine secretion and neutrophil recruitment. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), however, has been shown to evade the host innate immune response by suppressing NF-κB activation in urothelial cells, which results in decreased cytokine secretion and increased urothelial apoptosis. To understand the molecular basis of UPEC modulation of inflammation, we performed a genetic screen with UPEC strain NU14 to identify genes which are required for modulation of urothelial cytokine secretion. Disruption of ampG (peptidoglycan permease), waaL (lipopolysaccharide O antigen ligase), or alr (alanine racemase) resulted in increased urothelial interleukin-8 (IL-8) and IL-6 release from urothelial cell cultures. Targeted deletion of these genes also resulted in elevated urothelial cytokine production during UPEC infection. Conditioned media from bacterial cultures of NU14 ΔampG and NU14 ΔwaaL contained a heat-stable factor(s) which stimulated greater urothelial IL-8 secretion than that in NU14-conditioned medium. In a mouse model of urinary tract infection, NU14 ΔampG, NU14 ΔwaaL, and NU14 Δalr were attenuated compared to wild-type NU14 and showed reduced fitness in competition experiments. Instillation of NU14 ΔampG or NU14 ΔwaaL increased bladder neutrophil recruitment, indicating that enhanced urothelial cytokine secretion during urinary tract infection results in an altered host response. Thus, UPEC evasion of innate immune detection of bacterial components, such as lipopolysaccharide and peptidoglycan fragments, is likely an important factor in the ability of UPEC to colonize the urinary tract.


The aim of the present work was to study the feasibility of pasture cropping under the Mediterranean conditions prevailing in central Spain and its potential as a weed management tool. Three cropping systems were assessed: conventionally grown winter barley and winter barley in pasture cropping with two perennial summer species, Cynodon dactylon and Eragrostis curvula. The results showed that the growth of these two species in a pasture cropping system was limited by the severe drought conditions and high temperatures present during the summer in some of the study years. Although there were no differences in the establishment of winter barley in any of the treatments assessed, pasture cropping reduced winter barley yields up to 50%–60% in years with low rainfall in spring. Regarding weed control, pasture cropping showed a significant suppression of the total weed density and number of weed species. As a conclusion, pasture cropping can be considered as a valid weed management tool. However, the economic feasibility of this system under the climatic conditions of central Spain (characterized by a high risk of severe summer droughts) is still not clear. The availability of supplemental irrigation may reduce competition between pastures and winter crops and ensure a profitable production of summer pastures.


In a network, a router uses some secret information combined with a cryptographic process in determination of a subnet's routing prefix. Several methods are disclosed, including using an IP suffix for prefix generation and for decryption, maintaining a pool of pseudo prefixes at the router, using public key encryption and symmetric key encryption,


Roy Porter's untimely death seems as yet scarcely to have slowed the parade of volumes appearing with his name on them. Here is still another, co-edited with David Wright. Wright and Peter Bartlett's last edited collection, Outside the walls of the asylum (1999), argued (not entirely convincingly) that the asylum was not as central to the emergence of psychiatry as a previous historiography had maintained. Here, he and Porter have moved back to a consideration of the real psychiatric "Great Confinement", this time in a broad international perspective.

The book's title suggests that it might offer a comparative perspective on psychiatric institutionalization. By and large, however, this promise is not kept, at least in any direct and obvious sense. Most of the book's contributors stick closely to the particular national setting they purport to illuminate, and only a small handful of the essays try to draw contrasts or make comparisons with developments elsewhere. Catherine Colebourne's chapter on the treatment of the insane in Victoria is notable, among other things, for being one of the few that attempts to look at local developments in a larger context, drawing upon studies of Ireland, England, and South Africa as well as her Australian sources. And David Wright's own substantive chapter on Ontario asylums (written with James Moran and Sean Gouglas) develops instructive parallels with developments in England and in Europe. For the most part, however, it is left to the reader to disentangle the resemblances and differences, and to try to make sense of them. Porter contributed a characteristically facile and jaunty introduction to the collection, but neglected to use the opportunity to tackle these issues himself in any serious or sustained way.

Geographically, the range of the contributions is quite wide, spanning Asia, Australia, Latin America, Canada and the United States, Europe and Africa. Some of the chapters summarize research reported at more length elsewhere. Jonathan Sadowsky reprises his work on psychiatry in colonial Nigeria, and Peter McCandless his discussion of developments at the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum. Others traverse fresher territory, but the variation in the intellectual sophistication and quality of these chapters is at least as great as their geographical heterogeneity. Akihito Suzuki contributes a characteristically superb exploration of Japanese materials, which draws substantially on his detailed knowledge of European developments and provides a compelling portrait of the relationships between state, family, and the insane in the period between 1900 and 1945. Jacques Gasser and Genevieve Heller provide a detailed comparative analysis of admissions to two Swiss asylums in a similar period, from 1900 to 1970, giving us a better sense of the types of patients committed to these places, and emphasizing that the Swiss asylums' primary role seems to have been to defuse short term public or familial crises, rather than to serve as instruments of long-term confinement.

Other chapters, however, are far less successful. Andrea Dorries and Thomas Beddies' chapter on a Berlin asylum, though providing some insight into the impact of Weimar, Nazi, and post Second World War political regimes on hospital and patient, is marred throughout by a muddled and confused treatment of evidence (and includes the remarkable claim that electroconvulsive therapy was employed on the patients from the mid-1930s onwards, which could only be true if the hospital doctors invented the technique). Chapters on developments in Argentina and Mexico are insubstantial and poorly written, and Sanjeev Jain's chapter on India is a set of near random observations jumbled together in a barely coherent fashion. He does uncover, however, a "Mr. Porter, who has been suffering from a maniacal complaint" (p. 275)—perhaps we have at last discovered the secret of Roy's superhuman productivity!

There is, then, some useful information in this volume. Overall, though, it lacks much sense of coherence, and the great variability in the quality of the contributions makes it difficult to recommend with any enthusiasm.


Ego-network, which represents relationships between a specific individual, i.e., the ego, and people connected to it, i.e., alters, is a critical target to study in social network analysis. Evolutionary patterns of ego-networks along time provide huge insights to many domains such as sociology, anthropology, and psychology. However, the analysis of dynamic ego-networks remains challenging due to its complicated time-varying graph structures, for example: alters come and leave, ties grow stronger and fade away, and alter communities merge and split. Most of the existing dynamic graph visualization techniques mainly focus on topological changes of the entire network, which is not adequate for egocentric analytical tasks. In this paper, we present egoSlider, a visual analysis system for exploring and comparing dynamic ego-networks. egoSlider provides a holistic picture of the data through multiple interactively coordinated views, revealing ego-network evolutionary patterns at three different layers: a macroscopic level for summarizing the entire ego-network data, a mesoscopic level for overviewing specific individuals' ego-network evolutions, and a microscopic level for displaying detailed temporal information of egos and their alters. We demonstrate the effectiveness of egoSlider with a usage scenario with the DBLP publication records. Also, a controlled user study indicates that in general egoSlider outperforms a baseline visualization of dynamic networks for completing egocentric analytical tasks.


Because Candida albicans is a diploid organism, two consecutive steps of gene disruption are required to generate a gene knock-out. The same marker (URA3) is often used for disruption of both copies of the gene. This is possible because, after the first round of disruption, homologous recombination between direct repeats flanking the URA3 marker and the subsequent counterselection allow for the efficient recovery of Ura- revertants. Unfortunately, the URA-blaster disruption cassette cannot be used in a PCR-based disruption approach. The hisG repeats flanking the URA3 gene in the disruption cassette anneal to one another during PCR and thereby prevent amplification of the complete cassette. We explored the use of transformation based on split-marker recombination to circumvent this problem. To avoid any cloning steps and to retain the advantage of long flanking regions for disruption, we combined this with a PCR- and ligation-mediated approach for generating marker cassettes. We used this approach to disrupt the C. albicans FAL1 (ATP-dependent RNA helicase) gene. Long 5' and 3' FAL1-specific regions were amplified by PCR and individually ligated to a URA-blaster cassette. The resulting ligation reactions were used separately as templates to generate two FAL1 disruption cassettes with overlapping URA3 marker regions. Simultaneous transformation with both overlapping disruption cassettes yielded efficient disruption of one FAL1 allele.


Addition of Tristearin (C 18 TG) improved loaf volume in a manner similar to that of shortening. Triolein (C 18 'TG), when used to replace shortening in the breadmaking formula, improved volume only slightly, probably because less solid fat was present. Using the hydrated form of monoglycerides (MG) was more effective than blending the MG with the flour in a high-speed mixer or adding them as is. Light micrographs of starch isolated from bread showed that MG or sodium stearoyl lactylate (SSL) added to the formula reduced the swelling of starch, whereas shortening did not. If the effect of MG on crumb firmness relates to their effect on starch swelling, then the mechanism of softening for MG is different than that for shortening. The SSL had a somewhat different effect in this limited water system than it had in an excess water system. The effect appeared to be similar to that in the excess water system heated to a lower temperature. Studies with bread made from defatted flour showed that MG reduced crumb firmness, whereas shortening did not. This supports the idea that the mechanisms by which these two lipids reduce crumb firmness are different


This paper describes the construction, theory, and performance of various types of fixed field secondary emission multipliers. Detailed consideration is given of multiplier phototubes employing crossed electrostatic and magnetic fields and of electron multipliers using electrostatic focusing alone, to serve as coupling and amplifying units for cathode-ray tubes such as the "Iconoscope." It is shown that while the power required for the operation of the secondary emission multiplier is about the same as that for the conventional amplifier, it is superior to the latter from the standpoint of noise. In the case of the multiplier phototube the signal-to-noise ratio is essentially determined by the shot noise of the photoemission, and is therefore sixty to one hundred times greater than that for a thermionic amplifier and phototube under conditions of low light intensity. Multiplier phctotubes have been built with an amplification factor of several millions and serve to replace the conventional phototube and accompanying amplifier system. Their low "noise" level, together with their excellent frequency response and extreme simplicity, make these electron multipliers a very satisfactory form of amplifier.


Several human studies suggest that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption is associated with enhanced insulin sensitivity, but these studies are not free of conflicting results. To determine if ethanol-enhanced insulin sensitivity could be demonstrated in an animal model, male Wistar rats were fed a standard chow diet and received drinking water without (control) or with different ethanol concentrations (0.5, 1.5, 3, 4.5 and 7%, v/v) for 4 weeks ad libitum. Then, an intravenous insulin tolerance test (IVITT) was performed to determine insulin sensitivity. Among the ethanol groups, only the 3% ethanol group showed an increase in insulin sensitivity based on the increase of the plasma glucose disappearance rate in the IVITT (30%, P<0.05). In addition, an intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) was performed in control and 3% ethanol animals. Insulin sensitivity was confirmed in 3% ethanol rats based on the reduction of insulin secretion in the IVGTT (35%, P<0.05), despite the same glucose profile. Additionally, the 3% ethanol treatment did not impair body weight gain or plasma aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase activities. Thus, the present study established that 3% ethanol in the drinking water for 4 weeks in normal rats is a model of increased insulin sensitivity, which can be used for further investigations of the mechanisms involved.


Introduction Social reappraisal, during which one person deliberately tries to regulate another's emotions, is a powerful cognitive form of social emotion regulation, crucial for both daily life and psychotherapy. The neural underpinnings of social reappraisal include activity in the default mode network (DMN), but it is unclear how social processes influence the DMN and thereby social reappraisal functioning. We tested whether the mere presence of a supportive social regulator had an effect on the DMN during rest, and whether this effect in the DMN was linked with social reappraisal-related neural activations and effectiveness during negative emotions. Methods A two-part fMRI experiment was performed, with a psychotherapist as the social regulator, involving two resting state (social, non-social) and two task-related (social reappraisal, social no-reappraisal) conditions. Results The psychotherapist's presence enhanced intrinsic functional connectivity of the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) within the anterior medial DMN, with the effect positively related to participants' trust in psychotherapists. Secondly, the social presence-induced change in the dACC was related with (a) the social reappraisal-related activation in the bilateral dorsomedial/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right temporoparietal junction and (b) social reappraisal success, with the latter relationship moderated by trust in psychotherapists. Conclusion Results demonstrate that a psychotherapist's supportive presence can change anterior medial DMN's intrinsic connectivity even in the absence of stimuli and that this DMN change during rest is linked with social reappraisal functioning during negative emotions. Data suggest that trust-dependent social presence effects on DMN states are relevant for social reappraisal—an idea important for daily-life and psychotherapy-related emotion regulation.


Objective A standardised diagnostic definition of protein-losing enteropathy (PLE) in Fontan patients serves both patient care and research. The present study determined whether a diagnostic definition of PLE was routinely used in published clinical Fontan studies, and to identify potentially relevant diagnostic criteria for composing a uniform PLE definition. Methods A systematic review was conducted in adherence to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) recommendations. Published clinical Fontan studies that were written in English and included at least four patients with PLE were selected. PLE definitions were quantitatively analysed using a lateral thinking tool in which definitions were fractionated into constituent pieces of information (building blocks or diagnostic criteria). Results We identified 364 papers. In the final analysis, data from 62 published articles were extracted. A diagnostic definition of PLE was used in only 27/62 (43.5%) of selected studies, and definitions were very heterogeneous. We identified eight major diagnostic criteria. Hypoalbuminaemia (n=23 studies, 85.2%), clinical presentation (n=18, 66.7%), documentation of enteric protein loss (n=16, 59.3%) and exclusion of other causes of hypoproteinaemia (n=17, 63.0%), were the most frequently used diagnostic criteria. Most studies used three diagnostic variables (n=13/27, 48.1%). Cut-off values for laboratory parameters (serum albumin, protein or faecal α-1-antitrypsin) were frequently incorporated in the PLE definition (n=16, 59.3%). Conclusions Establishment of a universally accepted PLE definition for routine use in clinical research and daily practice is required. The diagnostic criteria may help constitute a diagnostic PLE definition.


This paper presents the implementation of the high speed lifting-based two dimensional discrete wavelet transform (2D-DWT) algorithm on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Pipelining structure in DWT reduces hardware complexity and memory accesses and speeds up the performance. The conversion of raw image into Hex format is done using MATLAB and the Hex image is loaded into the FPGA Kit. The result of the 2D-DWT provides four filtered images and is passed to display. The algorithm has been realized in Verilog HDL and implemented using Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA device. The lifting procedure to perform the DWT operation is folded architecture where in first stage each row of the raw image is processed to generate the approximate coefficients (L) and Detailed (H) and the output generated is stored back in the corresponding locations. In second stage each of the L and H is transposed and given to 1-D engine, which this time does the DWT operation row wise, but it results in column wise because of previous transpose operation. The DWT engine is run twice on L and H data to generate further subdivided images LL, LH, HL and HH. Keywords-Discrete wavelet transform (DWT); lifting scheme.


As environmental problems become increasingly serious, how to enhance corporate environmental management of human resources has become a key factor of good corporate environmental performance and sustainable development. The article analyzed and explained how to build and strengthen the human resources of corporate environmental management professionals, and how to enhance the environmental awareness of the staff.


t Third-year law student, UCLA. Special thanks are due to the following persons for their assistance: my research advisor, Professor Christine A. Littleton, whose unique sensitivity to and valuation of "difference" as embodied in her scholarship have enriched my life; Leona Mattoni, whose acceptance of and love for those who are different are worthy of emulation; and Professor Jean C. Love, who listened with understanding and gave encouragement.


Cancer develops through the accumulation of genetic and epigenetic abnormalities. The role of genetic alterations in cancer development has been demonstrated by reverse genetic approaches. However, evidence indicating the functional significance of epigenetic abnormalities remains limited due to the lack of means to actively modify coordinated epigenetic regulations in the genome. Application of the reprogramming technology may help researchers to overcome this limitation and shed new light on cancer research. Reprogramming is accompanied by dynamic changes of epigenetic modifications and is therefore considered to be a useful tool to induce global epigenetic changes in cancer genomes. We herein discuss the similarities between reprogramming processes and carcinogenesis and propose the potential use of reprogramming technology to help understanding of the significance of epigenetic regulations in cancer cells. We, also discuss the application of induced pluripotent stem cell technology to cancer modeling based on the similar characteristics between pluripotent stem cells and cancer cells.


The Intermediary Checking of the calibration the electrometers, to ensure that the calibration factor of a given instrument is valid for a longer time, has been developed at LNMRI-IRD since 2019. It works with three of the methods for generating electric current of small values (pA): capacitance, resistance (Ohm) and ionization current (radiation sources). In this article, we will evaluate the performance of electrometers using the ionization current method and we will make a comparison between the results obtained by this method with the results that uses the Ohm method. From this comparison, we could see that the method using radiation sources had a better performance of the electrometers, however, in terms of cost-benefit, the Ohm method better serves the intermediary checking of the calibration the electrometers.


Abstract Ng, J and Wingo, JE. Effect of ice slurry beverages on voluntary fluid intake and exercise performance. J Strength Cond Res 37(6): e376–e383, 2023—Voluntary intake of cold fluid is greater than warm fluid as a result of more favorable palatability, resulting in better maintenance of hydration status and improved exercise performance. It remains unclear whether voluntary ingestion of ice slurry beverages compared with cold fluid during exercise yields superior results. Eight recreationally active subjects (mean ± SD; age = 24 ± 4 years, height = 175.2 ± 7.8 cm, mass = 79.6 ± 11.2 kg, body fat = 13.0 ± 5.2%) completed a pretest in 22° C to determine maximal workload (Wmax). Then, in 2, separate, counterbalanced trials, they cycled for 60 minutes at 50%Wmax in 35° C and 40% relative humidity with either ad libitum ice slurry (−1.3 ± 0.3° C) or cold fluid (11.1 ± 2.4° C) ingestion. This was immediately followed by a 15-minute cycling time trial. Subjects avoided 2% body mass loss in both conditions but ingested twice as much cold fluid as ice slurry (fluid: 1,074.7 ± 442.1 g, ice slurry: 526.9 ± 214.1 g; p = 0.001). Nonetheless, neither 15-minute performances (cold fluid: 119.5 ± 34.8 kJ, ice slurry: 114.6 ± 20.9 kJ; p = 0.59) nor whole-body sweat rates (fluid: 1,370 ± 311 ml·h−1, ice slurry: 1,242 ± 191 ml·h−1; p = 0.20) were different between the conditions. Despite ingesting half as much ice slurry as cold fluid, subjects experienced similar physiological responses and thus had similar performances under heat stress while avoiding excessive hypohydration. Under the conditions of this study, ice slurry ingestion was an effective alternative form of exercise hydration.


Regarding the complexity of social systems and the presence of autonomousintervenes, designing and making the future requires a special strategy, which
can harmonize these elements with itself. This can be possible by future depicting, which makes an insight into the desired fUture, and presents a real perspective of it; and/or it promotes a planned perception of the desired status to impose an inspired perspective to the future. In international levels, depicting the fUture which is generally conducted by advanced countries causes other countries make reactions or opposite reaction which are international and unintentional in various ways such as harmonic, passive, chaotic, active and proactive reactions.However, the main achievement of this discussion is that societies must present an appropriate picture of their own future, which enjoys enough attraction to encourage the members of relevant societies ...


As we saw it first it was the wildest and most desolate of scenes. We were in an enormous amphitheatre, a vast circular plain, the floor of the giant crater. Its cliff-like walls closed us in on every side. From the westward the light of the unseen sun fell upon them, reaching to the very foot of the cliff, and showed a disordered escarpment of drab and greyish rock, lined here and there with banks and crevices of snow. This was perhaps a dozen miles away, but at first no intervening atmosphere diminished in the slightest the minutely detailed brilliancy with which these things glared at us. They stood out clear and dazzling against a background of starry blackness that seemed to our earthly eyes rather a gloriously spangled velvet curtain than the spaciousness of the sky.


Shallow lakes from the Pampa plain (Argentina) are subjected to the impact of different human activities, and as a consequence, most of them are in a turbid state. Three types of shallow lakes have been described in this region: clear-vegetated, phytoplanktonturbid and inorganic-turbid. We analysed the periphyton and phytoplankton structure in five selected shallow lakes with contrasting optical characteristics. In the case of periphyton, we studied the variation in depth. Pigment compositions of both algal communities were analysed by means of high-performance liquid chromatography. Additionally, we studied the taxonomic algal composition of both communities and the mass variables of periphyton. We observed a general decreasing pattern in the mean values of periphytic abundance with depth, and stratification in periphyton was generally consistent with the vertical profiles of pigments. Relationships between cell counts and pigments also suggested changes in the intracellular pigment concentration due to photoacclimation. In clear lakes, surface periphytic communities were co-dominated by chlorophytes and diatoms. In turbid lakes the surface assemblages were mainly represented by diatoms and the relative contribution of cyanobacteria increased with depth. The interaction between light and nutrients in different turbid scenarios may explain the patterns observed in the development of the periphytic community. We observed lower periphyton accrual in lakes that presented boundary values in the restrictions of either nutrients or light availability. In phytoplanktonturbid lakes, periphyton exhibited a considerable growth due to the rich nutrient conditions, but the community was dominated by the heterotrophic fraction and we also found algal groups well adapted to light limitation.


Introduction: Even though recent developments in high-throughput sequence capture methods and next-generation sequencing technologies have made exome sequencing technically feasible, the use of an integrated multilayer-omics approach including exome analysis to examine human renal cell carcinomas has never been reported. The aim of this study was to identify pathways that have a significant impact during renal carcinogenesis by multilayer-omics analysis. Methods: Thirty paired specimens of non-cancerous renal cortex tissue and tumorous tissue from patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the major histological subtype of renal cell carcinoma, were subjected to whole-exome, methylome and transcriptome analyses using Agilent SureSelect All Exon capture followed by sequencing on an Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform, Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation27 BeadArray and Agilent SurePrint Human Gene Expression microarray, respectively. Sanger sequencing and quantitative reverse transcription-PCR were performed for technical verification. MetaCore software was used for pathway analysis. The other 37 renal cell carcinomas were subjected to the validation study. Results: The exome analysis has revealed for the first time frequent genetic aberrations of GCN1L1, MACF1, ERC2, ABCA13, and MUC16 in clear cell renal cell carcinomas. Somatic non-synonymous mutations of GCN1L1, MED12 and CCNC, which are members of CDK8 mediator complex directly regulating β-catenin-driven transcription, were identified in 17% of the clear cell renal cell carcinomas. In addition, MACF1 functions in the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Reduced expression associated due to DNA hypermethylation of SFRP1, which downregulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling by competing with Frizzled for Wnt binding via their cysteine-rich domain, was frequent in clear cell renal cell carcinomas. A combination of methylome and transcriptome analyses further highlighted the significant role of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in renal carcinogenesis. Genetic aberrations and reduced expression of ERC2 and ABCA13 were frequent in renal cell carcinomas. MetaCore pathway analysis revealed that MTOR mutations were one of the major disrupters of cell signaling during renal carcinogenesis. MTOR mutation may be a marker for predicting the sensitivity of clear cell renal cell carcinomas to mTOR inhibitors, such as rapamycin and its derivatives. Conclusion: Our results confirm that multilayer-omics analysis can be a powerful tool for revealing pathways that play a significant role in carcinogenesis. Citation Format: Eri Arai, Hiromi Sakamoto, Hitoshi Ichikawa, Hirohiko Totsuka, Masahiro Gotoh, Taisuke Mori, Sumiko Ohnami, Tohru Nakagawa, Hiroyuki Fujimoto, Linghua Wang, Hiroyuki Aburatani, Teruhiko Yoshida, Yae Kanai. Multilayer-omics (whole-exome, methylome and transcriptome) analysis identifies the Wnt/β-catenin pathway as a key player in the development of renal cell carcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2022. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-2022


The controlled ring-opening polymerization of the β-thiolactone derived from N-Boc cysteine was achieved using N-Boc-L-cysteine methyl ester as the initiator in NMP at room temperature. The propagating end is the thiol group, which attacks the carbonyl to open the monomer ring by the C(═O)-S bond scission. A thiol-ene click reaction demonstrated the utility of the thiol group at the propagating terminal. The block copolymer was efficiently produced by the terminal coupling of the polythioester with the norbornene terminated PEG. As another interesting reaction, the polythioester underwent the main chain transformation to polycysteine through the intramolecular S-to-N acyl migration, triggered by the deprotection of the pendant Boc groups. The polythioester from L-cysteine showed Cotton effects between 200 and 300 nm in the circular dichroism (CD) spectrum. Although the CD pattern resembled that produced by the α-helix of polypeptide, it was ascribable not to the second structure but to the relative orientation of the thioester and carbamate carbonyls in the repeating unit.


This unit describes a method of performing fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) of XIST and Cot-1 RNA in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) to characterize the epigenetic status of X-chromosome inactivation (XCI). hPSC laboratories commonly practice karyotypic analysis to monitor genetic stability; however, epigenetic stability is often overlooked. Several laboratories have recently shown that markers of XCI can be used as one effective screen to monitor the epigenetic status of hPSCs. Human embryonic stem cells (HESC) fall into three classes of XCI states: upregulating XIST upon differentiation, always expressing XIST in the undifferentiated and differentiated states, and never expressing XIST in the undifferentiated and differentiated states. Failure to express XIST represents an especially concerning state in hESC, as this state does not occur in healthy female cells but is often seen in malignancies. Herein, methods of carrying out XIST RNA and Cot-1 RNA FISH are described. FISH analysis of XIST RNA, unlike general expression analysis such as RT-PCR, allows for the classification of XCI on a single-cell level, enabling a quantitative determination of the degree of epigenetic change across the population. The complementary Cot-1 analysis measures the extent of repeat element expression throughout the nucleus and therefore enables determination, at a cytological level, of the extent to which the X chromosome is silent. Because the different steps of XCI are some of the first epigenetic changes to take place in differentiating hESC, analysis of the XCI state provides a first indication of an hESC culture's overall health.


Which merges files better: the SAS  DATA Step or SAS SQL? Traditionally, the only way to merge files in SAS was via the SAS DATA Step. Now SAS provides a Structured Query Language (SQL) facility which also merges files. This tutorial compares and contrasts these two merge facilities. It examines the pros and cons of each merge technique. It looks at DATA Step code to perform specific merges and then looks at the corresponding SQL code to perform the same merges.