Soil resistance to penetration is an indicator of easy measurement which can be used to make scarification / subsoiling recommendations in areas that work with localized management. The objective of this study was to evaluate the spatial variability of soil resistance to penetration (RP) in the area of direct sowing system, and to carry out the recommendation of scarification / subsoiling in a localized way through precision agriculture. The research was conducted in commercial area, in a field of 49.12 ha. The RP collection was with an electronic penetrometer in a sample mesh of 47 points distributed regularly in the area, with georeferenced points. The data were analyzed every 0.10 m being collected up to 0.40 m depth, in addition to obtaining the mean and maximum RP values in the profile (0 0.40 m), and the depth value of the maximum RP in the profile. Soil samples were collected randomly in the area to characterize the water content at the time of RP collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and geostatistics. The resistance to penetration (RP) presents moderate to strong spatial dependence in the evaluated layers. The RP is in most of the area below the critical limits which demonstrates that there is no need to perform a scarification / subsoiling in the total area, only in a localized way.


We studied telocytes/CD34+ stromal cells in the normal and pathological peripheral nervous system (PNS), for which we reviewed the literature and contributed our observations under light and electron microscopy in this field. We consider the following aspects: (A) general characteristics of telocytes and the terminology used for these cells (e.g., endoneurial stromal cells) in PNS; (B) the presence, characteristics and arrangement of telocytes in the normal PNS, including (i) nerve epi-perineurium and endoneurium (e.g., telopodes extending into the endoneurial space); (ii) sensory nerve endings (e.g., Meissner and Pacinian corpuscles, and neuromuscular spindles); (iii) ganglia; and (iv) the intestinal autonomic nervous system; (C) the telocytes in the pathologic PNS, encompassing (i) hyperplastic neurogenic processes (neurogenic hyperplasia of the appendix and gallbladder), highly demonstrative of telocyte characteristics and relations, (ii) PNS tumours, such as neurofibroma, schwannoma, granular cell tumour and nerve sheath myxoma, and interstitial cell of Cajal-related gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST), (iii) tumour-invaded nerves and (iv) traumatic, metabolic, degenerative or genetic neuropathies, in which there are fewer studies on telocytes, e.g., neuroinflammation and nerves in undescended testicles (cryptorchidism), Klinefelter syndrome, crush injury, mucopolysaccharidosis II (Hunter's syndrome) and Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease.


OBJECTIVE
The efficacy and tolerability of mood stabilizers in older adults with bipolar disorder remains understudied. Authors retrospectively examined response to lamotrigine, lithium, and placebo in older (>or=age 55) adults with Bipolar I disorder (DSM-IV) who participated in two mixed-age, maintenance studies examining time to intervention for an emerging mood episode (manic/hypomanic/mixed or depressed) and drug tolerability.

METHODS
In all, 588 patients received double-blind lamotrigine (LTG, 100 mg-400 mg/day), lithium (Li, 0.8 mEq/L-1.1 mEq/L), or placebo (PBO); data from 98 older adults (LTG: 33, Li: 34, PBO: 31) were examined. Mean modal total daily doses were LTG 240 mg and Li 750 mg.

RESULTS
LTG significantly delayed time to intervention for any mood episode and for a depressive episode, compared with placebo. Li significantly delayed time to intervention for mania/hypomania/mixed compared with placebo. Back pain and headache were the most common adverse events during LTG treatment; rash: LTG, 3%; Li, 6%; and PBO, 0; no serious rash was reported. The most common adverse events (>10%) during lithium treatment were dyspraxia, tremor, xerostomia, headache, infection, amnesia, dizziness, diarrhea, nausea, and fatigue.

CONCLUSION
Lamotrigine and lithium may be effective and well-tolerated maintenance therapies for older adults with Bipolar I depression.


Classically known for its role in development and differentiation, an oncogenic role for Notch was first discovered for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia [1], and later extended to a variety of tumors [2]. Notch signaling has been mechanistically linked to regulate tumor growth, angiogenesis and metastatic progression. Consequently, in the last decade we have witnessed multiple therapeutic approaches to target Notch, including γ-secretase inhibitors (GSIs), which block cleavage and activation of Notch receptors, soluble Notch decoy receptors, and antibodies to either Notch receptors or ligands [3]. However due to widespread function and highly pleotropic nature, Notch inhibition raises the possibility of unanticipated adverse effects in host tissues including gastrointestinal toxicity after GSI treatment or formation of vascular tumors after DLL4 ligand blockade [4, 5].

Our current work published in the journal Cancer Research, has raised one such concern about Notch inhibition therapy [6]. Inhibition of Notch with the soluble receptor Notch1 decoy (N1D), markedly increased liver metastatic burden, of neuroblastoma and breast cancer cells lines after intrarenally or intracardiac injection (spontaneous vs. experimental metastasis models). Additionally, pharmacologic inhibition of Notch with the GSI PF-03084014, while having no effect on primary tumor growth, significantly increased liver metastases. Interestingly, we did not observe in any of the experimental models, an increase in metastasis to other organs including spleen, kidney and bone marrow, suggesting that Notch blockade specifically promotes metastases to the liver.

Our studies determined that the increased liver metastases are a result of a direct effect of Notch inhibition on host liver, with the loss of tumor cell-intrinsic Notch1 signaling inconsequential. Tumor cells expressing N1D showed no change in prometastatic characteristics such as migration and invasion. Loss of Notch signaling in tumor cells by knocking down Notch1 also failed to promote liver metastases. However, intracardiac injection of tumor cells into immunodeficient (Rag2−/−, Il2rg−/−) Notch1 +/− mice, where host Notch signaling was deficient due to heterozygous deletion of Notch, demonstrated a marked increase in hepatic metastases, indicating that Notch1 signaling acts as metastatic suppressor in the liver microenvironment.

The liver microenvironment is composed of a variety of cell types, including sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs), hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), and macrophage Kupffer cells, which express Notch receptors and ligands [7]. One striking characteristic of the liver metastases promoted by Notch blockade was their markedly increased vascularity. We observed a significant increase in the sprouting of hepatic SECs into early stage, micrometastases. Utilizing Notch decoy variants that are specific for the Notch ligands DLL and JAGGED, we determined that the increased sprouting was due to blockade of DLL on SECs. In the later stage, macrometastases, there was a marked increase in larger diameter vasculature that was α-smooth muscle actin (+), indicating activation and recruitment of HSCs into the vasculature. This was likely due to the loss of tumor derived JAG1, as indicated by blockade with a JAGGED specific decoy. Our data support a concept of Notch signaling maintaining the quiescence of SECs via DLL and HSCs via JAG1, with disruption of this quiescence promoting a prometastatic environment.

Figure 1

Notch inhibition activates sinusoidal endothelial cells and hepatic stellate cells to promote hepatic metastases.

Our study was primarily focused on Notch1, however, it would be interesting to investigate if other Notch receptors have similar roles since they are reported to regulate SEC and HSC function to maintain liver home-ostasis [7]. Given that metastasis progression is a multistep process it would also be interesting to investigate if Notch signaling regulates other steps including survival against host innate immunity. Nonetheless, our study shows that Notch inhibition results in pathological activation of liver stromal cells creating a host microenvironment favorable for metastases. Given that Notch components have emerged as potential therapeutic targets and Notch inhibitors are entering clinical trials these findings point out the potentially serious implication of Notch inhibition therapy.


Abstract Tax revenues constitute the main source of public expenditure financing. The main problem that the public finances in Albania are facing today is the lack of public revenue to the level that the execution of the public spending requires. This is the result of a still high level of informal economy, tax evasion and tax avoidance. The reforms undertaken by the Albanian governments in the past two decades in order to manage the main factors of the informal economy, tax evasion, and tax avoidance have not had the expected results. Poor performance of the fiscal administration agencies has allowed fiscal policies and strategies approved by governments not to be implemented, thus creating a lot of problems and difficulties with an impact on the reduction of the efficiency of the fiscal system. This paper deals with the perception of the Albanian taxpayer for the current tax system in Albania. It also deals with its impact on the informal economy, tax evasion and tax avoidance. It analyses the main factors affecting the informal economy, tax evasion and tax avoidance, and the perception that Albanian taxpayers have for the current fiscal system. A fiscal system must be effective and perceived as fair in order to encourage voluntary payment of taxes thus bringing increased revenue, reduction of informality, tax evasion and tax avoidance. In order to realize this paper we used questionnaires with focused taxpayers, explaining the techniques of collecting, interpreting and analyzing the data. The paper concludes with the main conclusions of how Albanian taxpayers perceive the current tax system. It also provides recommendations for improving the current fiscal system based on the perception of taxpayers.


Screening programs for lead poisoning in France rely usually on the preliminary identification of risk factors among children seen in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) clinics. To assess the potential relevance of screening strategies based on the quantification of exposure to lead in housing, we estimated first the prevalence of exposure to lead in a representative sample of older buildings, then the prevalence of lead poisoning among children living in those buildings where high levels of lead had been found. Exposure to lead was measured in dust and paint samples collected in hallways and other collective areas of the buildings. Venous blood samples were collected from the children aged 10 months to 6 years residing in buildings where lead exceeded 1.5 g/kg in paint samples or 1000 micrograms/m2 in dust samples. Paint and dust samples were collected in 137 buildings: 74% presented high dust and/or paint lead contents. Blood samples were collected from 145 out of a total of 189 children residing in these buildings: blood lead levels (PbB) were higher than or equal to 10 micrograms/dl for 65% of these children; 29% were higher than or equal to 15 micrograms/dl, 16% higher than or equal to 20 micrograms/dl. Out of 42 children with PbB > or = 15 micrograms/dl, 21 had not been previously identified through the screening program conducted in local MCH clinics. Clinic-based and environment-based screening appeared to be complementary. It seems thus justified to develop screening strategies based on the assessment of exposure to lead in the environment.


The Dutch mortgage (hypotheek) is a limited real right which gives the creditor a very high rank in the debtor's insolvency and which gives its holder a quick and very practical means of organising a forced sale of the burdened property. The mortgage is in principle accessory to, that is, linked to the secured claim. To give two examples, when the secured claim lapses as a result of payment the mortgage lapses also and when the secured claim is assigned, the mortgage automatically passes to the assignee. This is called the principle of accessoriness. This principle primarily aims at protecting the mortgagor. In order to enhance the mortgagor's protection the assignee of the secured claim cannot rely on the public land register for the existence or amount of the secured claim. If the secured claim had already been repaid before the assignment, but the claim and mortgage are still registered in the land register, the assignee receives neither a claim nor a mortgage. This Dutch system is contrasted with German law which takes a different approach for the Verkehrshypothek. Here German law favours the bona fide assignee over the debtor by enabling the assignee to rely on the public land register. In the past this applied equally to the more common German Grundschuld (land charge), which was always described as non-accessory. As the non-accessory character has recently given rise to misuse by assignees, the German legislator has changed the law (in the so-called Risikobegrenzungsgesetz) to enable the chargor to set up against the assignee any defences which he had against the assignor, for example the defence that the debt had already been redeemed (partly). This change in the rules on the Grundschuld entered into force on the 19th August 2008. The effect is that at the moment of enforcement the Grundschuld is accessory, like the Dutch mortgage. The changes did not affect the German Hypothek so that the Verkehrshypothek is now much less accessory than the German Grundschuld, notably at the time of enforcement. This is a very remarkable change because the German Grundschuld has always been the archetype of a non-accessory mortgage. It no longer is.


The 3D common-reflection-surface (CRS) stack operator depends on eight kinematic wavefield attributes that must be extracted from the prestack data. These attributes are obtained by an efficient optimization strategy based on the maximization of the coherence measure of the seismic reflection events included by the CRS stacking operator. The main application of these kinematic attributes is to simulate zero-offset stacked data; however, they can also be used for regularization of the prestack data, prestack migration, and velocity model determination. The initial implementations of the 3D CRS stack used grid-search techniques to determine the attributes in several steps with the drawback that accumulated errors can deteriorate the final result. In this work, the global optimization very fast simulated annealing algorithm is used to search for the kinematic attributes by applying three optimization strategies for implementing CRS stacking: (1) simultaneous global search of five kinematic attributes of the 3D common-diffraction-surface stacking operator, (2) two-step global optimization strategy to first search for three attributes and then five attributes of the CRS stacking operator, and (3) simultaneous global search of eight kinematic attributes of the CRS operator. The proposed CRS stacking algorithms are applied to land data of the Potiguar Basin, Brazil. It is demonstrated that the one-step optimization strategy of the eight parameters produces the best results, however, with a higher computational cost.


With a unique geometry covering the forward rapidity region, the LHCb detector provides unprecedented kinematic coverage at low Bjorken-x down to x ~ 10−5 or lower. The excellent momentum resolution, vertex reconstruction and particle identification allow precision measurements down to very low hadron transverse momentum. In this contribution we present the latest studies of the relatively unknown low-x region using the LHCb detector, including recent measurements of charged and neutral hadron production, as well as direct photon and hadron correlations in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions. Comparisons to various theoretical model calculations are also discussed.


Icaritin is a rare and high-value isopentane flavonoid compound with remarkable activities. Increasing yields while reducing cost has been a great challenge in icaritin production. Herein, we first reported a high titer icaritin biosynthesis strategy from epimedin C through co-immobilizing α-l-rhamnosidase (Rha1) and β-glucosidase (Glu4) using cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs). The created CLEAs exhibited excellent performances in terms of catalytic activity, thermal stability, pH stability, and reusability. Notably, Rha1-CLEAs (Ki: 1 M) and Glu4-CLEAs (Ki: 0.1 M) were more tolerant to sugars (glucose or rhamnose) than free enzymes (0.1 M for Rha1 and 0.007 M for Glu4) by immobilization, achieving the highest icaritin productivity under the highest substrate concentration ever reported. Finally, about 34.24 g/L icaritin could be obtained from 100 g/L epimedin C within 8 h, indicating the great potential for industrialization. This study also provides a promising strategy for the low-cost production of other high-value aglycone compounds by solving poor stability and sugar inhibition of glycosidase.


In this paper were investigated the change of parameters of structures of thin film during ion implantation. Thickness of thin films before and after ion implantation were investigated by X-ray reflectivity. Also, crystal structure, average crystallite size and lattice constant were investigated by X-ray diffraction. The possibility of using ion implantation technique as method of changing grains size in structures was demonstrated.


The intensity of galactic cosmic radiation in interplanetary space has been observed over the heliocentric radial range 0.99 < r < 5.26 a.u. with five Geiger--Mueller tubes on the Jupiter-bound spacecraft Pioneer 10 and over the range 1.00 < r < 3.59 a.u. with three similar tubes on Pioneer 11, also bound for Jupiter. The observations span the time period 1972 March 3 to 1974 April 29, near the epoch of minimum solar activity. The contributions of solar energetic particles are eliminated. (GRA)


The subject of quality of service (QoS) and admission control for wireless home networks is of great interest now for both research and industry communities. Many standard developing organizations consider admission control as the only means to prevent overload of the network and a basis of a well thought through QoS solution. In this paper, we present a post-admission control solution for wireless home networks. By analysing the traffic load of the network the admission control decisions are made with respect to the already running applications. With the help of a dynamic prioritization mechanism coupled with the policy-based user-centric QoS solution, the presented approach provides flexible regulation of traffic on the network and improves the overall user experience.


Multidrug resistance (MDR) of hepatocellular carcinoma is a serious problem. Although CD13 is a biomarker in human liver cancer stem cells, the relationship between CD13 and MDR remains uncertain. This study uses liver cancer cell model to understand the role of CD13 in enhancing the cytotoxic effect of chemotherapy agents. Cytotoxic agents can induce CD13 expression. CD13 inhibitor, bestatin, enhances the antitumor effect of cytotoxic agents. Meanwhile, CD13-targeting siRNA and neutralizing antibody can enhance the cytotoxic effect of 5-fluorouracil (5FU). CD13 overexpression increases cell survival upon cytotoxic agents treatment, while the knockdown of CD13 causes hypersensitivity of cells to cytotoxic agents treatment. Mechanistically, the inhibition of CD13 leads to the increase of cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). BC-02 is a novel mutual prodrug (hybrid drug) of bestatin and 5FU. Notably, BC-02 can inhibit cellular activity in both parental and drug-resistant cells, accompanied with significantly increased ROS level. Moreover, the survival time of Kunming mice bearing H22 cells under BC-02 treatment is comparable to the capecitabine treatment at maximum dosage. These data implicate a therapeutic method to reverse MDR by targeting CD13, and indicate that BC-02 is a potent antitumor compound.


This paper presents the determination of the ground plane method for navigation in rainforest terrain using stereo vision. Ground plane detection plays an important role for obstacle detection task as it act as the reference plane of the scene. V-disparity image is widely used to detect the ground plane for on-road and off-road navigation. However, it relies on distinct road features such as lines and edges which may not exist in rainforest terrain. In this work, we attempted to use colour clustering method to extract possible ground profile even without using distinct road features.


In this paper, a comprehensive definition of eccentricity fault in cage induction motor is introduced, and instantaneous power is considered as eccentricity-fault index. In addition to the line current, the stator line voltage influences the instantaneous power of the motor; therefore, harmonics of this power can be employed as a fault-diagnosis index when the motor is supplied by a closed-loop control method. It is theoretically shown that the frequencies of harmonics of the instantaneous power due to mixed eccentricity fault are the same for the mains-fed and open/closed-loop drive-connected motors, although the number of factors affecting the amplitudes of the harmonics is relatively large when closed-loop drive connected. A flexible test rig is described, which was established to carry out various measurements on the eccentric motor with different eccentricity degrees, under different supply and control methods, varying load, and variable speeds. The experimental results indicate that the amplitudes of the dominant instantaneous-power harmonics depend on the degrees of mixed-eccentricity static and dynamic components, although these amplitudes are influenced by the supply methods, load level, and speed of the motor.


Ryan Mullins argues that, assuming Hassidic Idealism, God is forced to create all possible worlds (either as a single all-inclusive multiverse, or as an exhaustive array of discrete possible worlds, no one of which is more inherently actual than the other). This process, because unfree, doesn't amount to creation so much as emanation. I argue that there are numerous ways to reconcile Hassidic Idealism with a robust doctrine of a free Divine creation ex nihilo. We must distinguish between a God who thinks a world into being, and One who, as in the book of Genesis, speaks it into being.


In this research, on the basis of the control of electrostatic charge, a laboratory-scale triboelectrostatic separation for separating polypropylene (PP) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) in seaweed-drying net frame plastic wastes has been carried out. High density polyethylene (HDPE) in a charger material selection tests using a vertical-reciprocation system was found to be the most effective materials for a tribo-charger in the separation of PP, and ABS. In lab-scale triboelectrostatic separation tests using the HDPE pipeline charger, the charge-tomass ratio (nC/g) of the mixed PP and ABS increased when the air velocity was adjusted to over 10 m/s. The optimum splitter position estimated by Newton's separation efficiency (� n) was a position +4 cm from the central. Furthermore, under the conditions of over 385 kV/m electric field and less than 30% relative humidity, a PP grade of 99.70% and a recovery of 92.30% could be obtained. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.MRA2008268]


An analysis of the forensic autopsies performed in Freiburg showed that 21% of the suicides by shooting involved a shot into the mouth. Persons in their 7th and 8th decade of life accounted for 11% of the suicides by shooting. In this age the percentage of denture-wearers is particularly high. Accordingly gunshot-related damages of complete or partial dentures are likely to be seen in forensic practice. These may involve both the denture base (mostly consisting of polymethyl methacrylate) and the teeth (made of synthetic or ceramic material). At autopsies the following findings could be seen; entry defect in the palatal part of the maxillary prosthesis larger than the calibre, funnel-shaped widening (bevelling) of the gunshot hole on the palatal side, fracture lines in the denture base radiating from the gunshot hole, injuries in the palatal soft tissues due to denture fragments, fractures of the front teeth region of the prosthesis due to the recoil impact of the foresight as well as soot soiling of the denture base and the lingual surfaces of the front teeth. The findings observed in autopsies could be experimentally reproduced by test shots on isolated complete maxillary prostheses.


Objective This study aims to analyze the prevalence of hypertension and 10-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among older adults living in a coastal region of southeast China. Methods A population-based cross-sectional survey of 2018 adults was conducted on 60–98-year-old residents in Quanzhou from September 2016 to March 2018 using multistage stratified cluster random sampling. The 10-year CVD risk was estimated by applying the Chinese model recommended by the Chinese guidelines for CVD prevention. Results The overall prevalence of hypertension, prehypertension, and normotension among older adults in Quanzhou was 29.0%, 18.7%, and 52.3%, respectively. The percentage of participants with low, moderate, and high 10-year CVD risk was 49.7%, 36.8%, and 13.5%, respectively. Older age, low salt awareness, and low levels of physical activity were significantly correlated with hypertension. The 10-year CVD risk was higher for men than women and increased with age. Higher blood pressure was associated with a greater 10-year CVD risk. Conclusion More than half of the older adults in Quanzhou surveyed by this study were normotensive, and approximately half the participants had a moderate or high 10-year CVD risk. We recommend the implementation of regionally targeted interventions, such as screening of blood pressure and other risk factors, to reduce blood pressure and CVD risk in Chinese populations.


In the process of cointegration analysis, electricity consumption is chosen as the explained variable, and GDP per capita, heavy industry share, and efficiency improvement are chosen as the explanatory variables; then a cointegration model is put forward, which shows that there is a cointegration relationship between the explained variable and explanatory variables. The explained and explanatory variables are input into a support vector machine (SVM), and a Gaussian radial basis function is taken as the kernel function. So an electricity demand forecasting model based on multivariate SVM is established. The example provides evidence for the validity of the forecasting model.


Metallic nanoparticles with localized surface plasmon resonance have suitable optical properties for various applications such as optical filters, efficient photocatalysts, and high-sensitivity sensors. Phase-separated plasmonic nanoparticles with heterogeneous metastructures exhibit unique resonance features with separate optical field enhancements in each phase and hot electron transfer across the interface. Hence, interface engineering is crucial, particularly for catalyst applications. In this study, we investigated the evolution of the interface at high temperatures during nanoparticle formation using the dewetting method. We selected a Ag-Cu binary alloy system as a representative case and observed the nanoparticles via in situ transmission electron microscopy using a dedicated specimen heating holder. In situ elemental mapping revealed that the initial as-deposited film, which was composed of core-shell structures with Ag cores and Cu shells, converted into phase-separated Janus nanoparticles through marbled structures. A major structural change was observed at approximately 200 °C, which was in agreement with optical measurements. These results confirmed that the optical properties and metastructures of the phase-separated nanoparticles could be tuned by selecting the appropriate temperature and duration of the heat treatment.


Peripheral blood (PB) from two children with so-called juvenile-type (Ph1 chromosome negative) "chronic granulocytic" leukemia (CGL) was found to contain cells capable of forming large numbers of exclusively monocytic colonies in vitro. These results are markedly different from those reported for classic adult-type (Ph1 chromosome positive) CGL where predominantly granulocytic colonies are produced in vitro from PB. Spontaneously dividing PB and bone marrow (BM) cells from one patient contained a translocation between chromosome 3 and a C-group chromosome; phytohemagglutinin-stimulated PB cells from this patient had normal chromosome morphology, however. Since the translocation was present in 141 of 142 karyotypes from the BM at a time when it contained many dividing erythroid and myeloid cells, the pathologic process is not exclusively confined to the monocyte line, but involves all hematopoietic cells. So-called juvenile CGL is neither a chronic nor a granulocytic leukemia; it is a panmyelopathy with monocyte predominance and should thus be classified as a variant of myelomonocytic leukemia.


Multivalent protein-protein and protein-RNA interactions are the drivers of biological phase separation. Bio-condensates typically contain a dense network of multiple proteins and RNAs, yet the role of overlapping molecular interactions in regulating the condensate composition and structure is not well understood. Employing a ternary system comprising of a prion-like polypeptide (PLD), arginine-rich polypeptide (RLD), and RNA, here we show that competition between the PLD and RNA for a single shared partner, the RLD, leads to PLD–RLD demixing and spontaneous formation of biphasic condensates. Combining experiments with simulations, we show that the topology of coexisting condensates is regulated via mixture composition and the nature of protein-protein and protein-RNA interactions, giving rise to a diverse set of multiphasic patterns including completely separated, partially and completely engulfed droplet morphologies, and Janus droplets. Our findings provide a minimal set of physical rules that govern the composition and spatial organization of multicomponent and multiphasic bio-condensates.


TRISO coated particle, developed for HTGR initially, has advantages of nuclear proliferation-resistance and fuel integrity against the release of fission products. In this paper, a 350MWt small sized PWR core design utilizing TRISO fuel concept is presented. TRISO particles are dispersed in graphite matrix to form the fuel compact, and then the fuel compact is clad by Zircaloy-4 cladding to form a fuel rod. The graphite matrix increases thermal conductivity of fuel compact, so that the fuel average temperature would be well below conventional PWRs'.In order to simplify reactor design, operation and maintenance, soluble boron free concept while operation is introduced. The emphasis of the study is put on the reactivity hold-down technique for the 350MWt PWR core. Excess reactivity is suppressed through a combination of Pu-240 adding with Gd2O3 loading. Pu-240 is added into UO2 fuel kernel of some assemblies, and Gd2O3 rods are loaded in other assemblies. The non-fissile plutonium isotope Pu-240 has a considerably high thermal neutron capture cross section compared to U-238, so that the Pu-240 added fuel can greatly suppress excess reactivity over burnup. Besides, reactor core life would be extended by adding proper amount of Pu-240 for its converting into Pu-241 which is a fissile isotope. Combining Pu-240 adding with Gd2O3 loading, the designed core reaches an average core burnup of approximately 58GWD/t, as well as a core life of nearly 6EFPY.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


After oral administration of 10(2) to 10(5) CFU of Escherichia coli B41 (0101:K 99+:ST+) to 24-48 h old suckling mice (Swiss OF1), a 80 to 100% mortality rate is observed within three days. We compared the effect of the oral treatment with a lyophilized preparation of heat-killed Lactobacillus acidophilus and with sterile water on the mortality rate of newborn mice. In six out of seven assays, the heat-killed L. acidophilus administration extended survival of infected suckling mice (P ranging from 0.019 to less than 0.001). In another test, result was contradictory. A global analysis indicated that the two treatments were statistically different (P less than 0.001). Lactic acid was unable to induce protection.


A simple indicator of research activity throughout the world in any particular specialty within physics is the number of journal references in Physics Abstracts that are classified under that specialty. I have compiled these numbers for most of the classification groups covering geophysics and astrophysics by using each issue of Physics Abstracts from the beginning of 1967 to the end of June 1975. There was a total of 75,245 abstracts. The compilation of the data is described at the end of this paper.

The yearly totals of all geophysics papers processed are given in Table 1. The rise in output is steep through 1971, but thereafter, the overall rate of research output has remained relatively steady at almost 4 times the 1967 rate.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

The BRCA2 tumor suppressor plays an important role in the repair of DNA damage by homologous recombination (HR). Human BRCA2 is huge protein and is composed of several domains including DNA/DSS1 binding domain (DBD). DSS1 has shown to be important for HR in various organisms but the precise function of DSS1 through the interaction between BRCA2 is still unclear in mammalian cells. To clarify the role of DSS1-BRCA2 interaction in the repair of DNA damage, we put several mutations into BRCA2 peptides which could restore HR in Brca2 mutant hamster cells. The mutant BRCA2 peptides with mutation which reduced DSS1 binding impaired the ability of these peptides to promote HR when compared to wild type peptides. It is of great interest that the excessive DSS1 expression partially restored HR activity of BRCA2 mutants which weakly bind DSS1. Furthermore, excessive DSS1 expression facilitate the nuclear localization of wild type BRCA2 peptide. On the other hand, excessive DSS1 expression had no effect for neither HR activity nor the subcellular localization of mutant BRCA2 peptide that could not bind to DSS1. Knockdown of DSS1 by siRNA also showed reduced HR and nuclear localization of BRCA2 protein. In conclusion, one of the essential functions of DSS1 in HR through the interaction between BRCA2 might be a regulation of BRCA2 subcellular localization.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3896. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3896


Rapid growing on the power level of renewable generation units leads to that using more adaptable and flexible control techniques in this units becomes more important for grid operators. In this paper, after introducing Renewable Static Synchronous Generation Units (RSSGU) as units with flexible dynamics capability, forming of renewable Virtual Power Plants based on this RSSGUs (VPP-SSG) is suggested as a solution for overcoming phase stability challenges on interconnected generation areas. Based on the dynamic modeling and small signal analysis, an algorithm is presented for the dynamic designing of VPP-SSGs aims to provide supporting damping for both local and interarea oscillatory modes. Modal analysis and time domain study on active powers inside of generation areas and tie lines on two area system using Simulink confirms that these type of VPP-SSGs can support phase stability on power grid with interconnected generation areas.


Insulin neuropathy is a rare adverse effect of insulin therapy in patients with long-term uncontrolled hyperglycemia. Neuropathic pain appears after the correction of blood glucose level. A 34 years old woman with severe neuropathic pain appeared immediately after the beginning of insulin therapy and could not be responded to neuropathic pain relief drugs is reported. Insulin treatment may cause severe neuropathic pain that cannot be result with neuropathic pain relief drugs. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.15(2) 2016 p.303-304


In this paper, we describe a fully-integrated digitally-controlled low-dropout regulator (LDO) with dual-loop architecture, providing core voltage to an ultra-low-power microcontroller (MCU). The fine-grained loop dynamically modulates the active-mode LDO drive-strength using the MCU power-modes information for a maximum load current of 6mA, thereby improving the active-mode current efficiency. The coarse-grained loop, enabled to regulate the output voltage only when the MCU enters the standby-mode, ensures ultra-low quiescent current consumption of 500nA, preventing standby drain. A thermometric binary-weighted power-switch matrix improves the transient response figure-of-merit (FOM) by switching between the different power modes. A charge-pump based voltage monitoring circuit is added to allow for wider input voltage range with reduced ripple. Fast digitally-controlled transient response of the LDO allowed the replacement of the (usually off-chip) large capacitor with a high-density on-chip ferroelectric capacitor, thus reducing the LDO sleep-to-active recovery time/energy and allowing full system-on-chip integration. The digitally-controlled LDO, with a wide input voltage range of 1.75-3.3V and nominal output of 1.2V is implemented in a 0.13μm CMOS technology with an active area of 0.034mm2, achieving a FOM of 4.44ps with standby-mode current efficiency of more than 90% for all practical purposes.


During the past ten years much attention has been paid to the question of chronicity in mental hospital patients. At the same time there has been a trend towards establishing units (often attached to general hospitals) for short-stay in-patient and possibly day-patient care. In these units, where the emphasis is on outpatient treatment, it is soon apparent to the psychiatrists staffing them that they, too, have to cope with a population of chronic patients. They tend, however, to be outpatients rather than in-patients, and are probably better described as "long-term". Heasman (1962) gave a graphic description of this problem in the non-psychiatric outpatient department and compared it to that of the "institutional neurosis" as described by Barton (1959). The purpose of this paper is to describe the situation in a Teaching Hospital Department of Psychiatry attached to a general hospital.


Introduction: Meckel's diverticulum, a true congenital
 diverticulum, is found in 2% of the population, is located about 2
 feet from the ileocecal valve, and often is no more than 2 inches
 in length. Fifty percent of these cases contain ectopic tissue
 most commonly gastric and pancreatic. Two percent of patients
 are symptomatic, most often presented by the age of 2 years.
 Actinomycosis is a localized inflammatory mass, usually of the jaw
 area. The most common site of involvement in the oral cavity and
 cervicofacial area 50%-60% followed by thoracic 15%-25% and
 abdominal involvement 20%. Abdominal infection most frequently
 involves cecal area (usually following appendectomy), Appendix
and left colon flexure.
Case Presentation: A 60 years old male patient came to the
 hospital with lower abdominal pain, fever, constipation, nausea,
 and vomiting for duration of 3 days. On clinical Examination a
 generalized tenderness with the maximum area on right iliac fossa
 with guarding and rebound. Laboratory workup showed WBCS:
 (18,000) with neutrophilia, CRP: (340), renal and liver function
 test were normal. CT abdomen showed pneumoperitoneum
 with suspected omental abscess and pelvic collection, underlying
 malignant process cannot be excluded. Exploratory laparotomy
 finding was Meckel diverticulitis with a perforation at the tip and
 surrounded phlegmons of momentum and segment of the terminal
 ileum. The result of histopathology revealed, Meckel diverticulitis
 with intestinal mucosal tissue containing actinomycosis with no
evidence of malignancy.
Conclusion: Although Meckel's diverticulitis is a rare entity
 especially in adult populations, it can appear as an acute abdomen.
 An early diagnosis and treatment to prevent subsequent
 complications are essential to ensure an optimal recovery. Clinical
 picture, complications, and surgical incision are the same in
appendicitis and Meckel's diverticulitis patients.


Background Decreased chest expansion is a time honoured sign in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). However, the clinical usefulness of this measurement and the frequency with which it is used remains largely unknown. Objectives We studied: 1) the frequency of its clinical use among rheumatologists and 2) its inter and intra-observer variation along with its sensitivity and specificity among a group of patients with AS and suitable controls. Methods A total of 300 rheumatologists in the United States and in Europe were contacted by e-mail. The frequency they measured chest expansion in their daily practices and the characteristics of their patients they performed the test on, were inquired. Thirty patients with AS, 36 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 31 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who were regularly followed in the Rheumatology Department of Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty and 76 healthy controls (HC) who consisted of healthy hospital staff were recruited. Chest expansion was measured at the 4th intercostal space by two independent observers in the morning (between 8–10 AM) in the afternoon (between 2–4 PM) and one week after the initial determinations. The relationship between the chest expansion and gender, age and vital capacity (VC), body mass index (BMI) were determined in all the patients and controls. Results Eighty-two (27%) of the 300 rheumatologists responded. Three of the responders (4%) stated that they measured chest expansion in every patient whereas 72 (87%) said that they performed the test only in patients suspected to have ankylosing spondylitis. Seven rheumatologists (9%) reported that they never measured chest expansion. There was a good intra and inter-observer agreement in chest expansion measurements as judged by a difference of less than 1 cm in 80% of the calculations. A chest expansion of less than 2.5 cm had a sensitivity of 23% in patients with AS whereas it had a specificity of 49% (2 patients with RA, 1 with SLE and 5 HC had values below 2.5 cm). There was a significant correlation between vital capacity and chest expansion only in male patients with AS (r = 0.51, p = 0.005). Chest expansion decreased with age in all groups (r2 = 0.083, F = 0.0001). There was no relationship between the chest expansion either with gender or with BMI, both among the patients and the controls. Conclusion Most of the rheumatologists measure chest expansion only in patients suspected to have AS. It is a test that has good intra and inter-observer reliability. However it has a limited sensitivity and specificity in AS and its value in differential diagnosis is limited.


MOTIVATION
The three dimensional tertiary structure of a protein at near atomic level resolution provides insight alluding to its function and evolution. As protein structure decides its functionality, similarity in structure usually implies similarity in function. As such, structure alignment techniques are often useful in the classifications of protein function. Given the rapidly growing rate of new, experimentally determined structures being made available from repositories such as the Protein Data Bank, fast and accurate computational structure comparison tools are required. This paper presents SPalignNS, a non-sequential protein structure alignment tool using a novel asymmetrical greedy search technique.

RESULTS
The performance of SPalignNS was evaluated against existing sequential and non-sequential structure alignment methods by performing trials with commonly used datasets. These benchmark datasets used to gauge alignment accuracy include (i) 9538 pairwise alignments implied by the HOMSTRAD database of homologous proteins; (ii) a subset of 64 difficult alignments from set (i) that have low structure similarity; (iii) 199 pairwise alignments of proteins with similar structure but different topology; and (iv) a subset of 20 pairwise alignments from the RIPC set. SPalignNS is shown to achieve greater alignment accuracy (lower or comparable root-mean squared distance with increased structure overlap coverage) for all datasets, and the highest agreement with reference alignments from the challenging dataset (iv) above, when compared with both sequentially constrained alignments and other non-sequential alignments.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION
SPalignNS was implemented in C++. The source code, binary executable, and a web server version is freely available at: http://sparks-lab.org

CONTACT
email@example.com.


In a recent JCI Commentary, Steven Kunkel reviewed the organization of the chemokine system and its important role in the development, differentiation, and deployment of mammalian leukocytes (1). The system is massive (about 50 ligands and 18 receptors are known), reflecting the complexity of its major client, the immune system. Now in this issue of the JCI, Liu and colleagues remind us that an antichemokine system has evolved in viruses, presumably as a strategy to evade the immune system, and they provide the first glimpse of how antichemokines might be exploited clinically as "ready-made" anti-inflammatory drugs (2).

Antichemokines comprise a major group of virus-encoded chemokine modulators (Table (Table1)1) and consist of three subgroups based on structure and mechanism of action: (a) chemokine homologues that act as chemokine receptor antagonists (e.g., MC148R of Molluscum contagiosum virus [MCV]; ref. 3); (b) plasma membrane–expressed chemokine receptor homologues, which function as chemokine scavengers (e.g., US28 of human cytomegalovirus; ref. 4); and (c) three subtypes of secreted chemokine-binding proteins, which have unique structures and unknown ancestry but function as extracellular chemokine scavengers (examples include M3 of γ-herpesvirus 68 [5, 6] and various poxivirus proteins, including M-T7 of myxoma, investigated by Liu et al. in this issue [2]). Three other groups of virus-encoded chemokine modulators have quite different functions. They include (a) chemokine receptor homologues, such as open reading frame 74 of Kaposi's sarcoma–associated herpesvirus (7), which serves as a growth factor and angiogenic factor; (b) chemokine homologues that function as chemokine receptor agonists, including vMCK-1 of murine cytomegalovirus, which promotes viral dissemination via monocytes (8); and (c) nonchemokine agonists and antagonists of chemokine receptors, encoded by the HIV genome.

Table 1

Viral chemokine modulators

Viral chemokine modulators, in turn, are part of a larger group of viral proteins with obvious homology to host proteins. These primarily include immunomodulatory, growth factor, and cell cycle control proteins (9). Interestingly, M-T7 is a hybrid. It has one domain homologous to the extracellular region of the IFN-γ receptor, as well as a COOH-terminal chemokine-binding domain. Chemokines bind M-T7 via their COOH-terminal glycosaminoglycan–binding (GAG-binding) domain (10). Fortuitously, M-T7 binds only to the rabbit form of IFN-γ, whereas for chemokines it crosses species barriers, thus permitting its use as a selective chemokine blocking agent in species other than rabbits.

Much of the rapid progress in this field can be attributed to major advances in viral genomics and to the advent of computer cloning. Examples continue to be found as additional viral genomes are sequenced and analyzed. However, in most cases it has been difficult to define relevant biological correlates, owing either to difficulty studying the virus (as in the case of MCV, which has not been grown in culture) or to the absence of animal models for the viral disease. Nevertheless, the general notion that chemokines act in antiviral host defense has solid support from studies with knockout mice lacking the chemokine macrophage inflammatory protein-1α (MIP-1α). These animals show decreased inflammatory responses to influenza A, Coxsackie B, and murine cytomegalovirus (11, 12). Thus it is tempting to speculate, for example, that the odd absence of inflammatory cells in pathologic lesions caused by MCV results from an antichemokine shield provided by secretion of its antichemokine MC148R (3). Myxoma virus, which causes a fatal systemic immunosuppressive disease known as myxomatosis in the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, is well suited to experimental analysis, and of all secreted myxoma gene products analyzed to date, deletion of M-T7 most profoundly attenuates virus virulence (ref. 13; G. McFadden, personal communication). However, whether this is due to blockade of IFN-γ, chemokines, both, or neither is still not clear.

Viral antichemokines typically have broad spectrum activity (e.g., M-T7 binds multiple CXC and CC chemokines, as well as the C chemokine lymphotactin), which suggests conversely that the host mounts a broad antiviral chemokine response. This is consistent with studies of chemokine expression in patients with immunologically mediated diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis. Yet, counterintuitively, knockout or neutralization of just one chemokine or receptor in vivo markedly attenuates pathology in numerous and diverse animal models of inflammation (reviewed in ref. 14). While detailed studies of the spatial and temporal aspects of chemokine expression during the course of inflammatory challenge are needed to more fully interpret these results, these successes may justify developing antichemokine therapies for the clinic.

Recently several potent small molecule antagonists of specific chemokine receptors have been discovered, and more are on the way (14). Some of these were obtained "off the rack" as HIV entry blockers, after the discovery that the chemokine receptors CCR5 and CXCR4 play a major role in this process (15). Others were found by drug discovery efforts targeting specific chemokine receptors. Additional blocking strategies underway include development of humanized neutralizing antibodies to chemokines and chemokine receptors. Preclinical studies and disease indications, eagerly awaited for all of these compounds, are now available for M-T7. As Liu et al. (2) report, a single intravenous injection of just 0.017 pg/g of M-T7 protein given to rats or rabbits immediately after balloon angioplasty attenuated atherosclerosis/restenosis injury, including reduction in both neointima formation and macrophage infiltration. Since M-T7 binds the chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), the results fit well with recent reports of reduced pathology in atherosclerosis-prone mice when either MCP-1 or its receptor CCR2 is genetically disrupted (16, 17). Moreover, since M-T7 does not bind rat IFN-γ, the effects in rats cannot be due to scavenging of that cytokine. Indirect arguments suggest that the effects are not mediated by IFN-γ in the rabbit model either (2).

Whether the histological effects of M-T7 in this model are really due to blockade of MCP-1 (or some other chemokine) is still unresolved. The authors show that M-T7 treatment is associated with reduced detection of MCP-1, MIP-1α, and RANTES antigen in the medial layer of the arterial wall after angioplasty injury in the rat model, but they are careful to point out that this effect could occur by several mechanisms, including antigen masking. Moreover, the maximal concentration that one might achieve in vivo from the 0.017 pg/g dose of M-T7, even assuming distribution to be restricted to the intravascular space, is much lower than the reported Kd for chemokine binding. Finally, M-T7 could potentially bind to other extracellular regulators that contain GAG-binding domains, such as basic FGF (A. Lucas, personal communication). Despite these caveats about mechanism, the efficacy of M-T7 is quite striking and no toxicity was noted. Thus, restenosis injury may now be regarded as a disease indication for further clinical development of this compound. It remains to be seen whether M-T7 will provide a useful anti-inflammatory therapy for established inflammation or systemic disease. Timing of administration, bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, and antigenicity will pose bigger problems in those clinical settings than in the present experimental study.

The M-T7 results are similar to this group's previous reported results for SERP-1, a secreted serine proteinase inhibitor made by myxoma, in the same rat and rabbit models as well as in a rat aortic allograft model of transplant vasculopathy, and in a rabbit model of antigen-induced arthritis (18–20). These results persuaded the authors to launch a new biotechnology company, Viron Therapeutics Inc., London, Ontario, Canada, to explore the therapeutic potential of natural viral immunomodulators (21, 22). Ironically, now more than two decades after the eradication of smallpox, products of related poxviruses hold substantial promise for the treatment of human disease.


Background :     River and underground waters are main sources of tap water in Guilan, Iran. Overland wastes move into rivers during periods of heavy or extended rain that is very common in the area. Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Legionella pneumophila , and Escherichia coli are main human pathogens with water source. This study is designed to determine the load of these bacteria in main water supplies of the area. Methods :  Samples were collected directly into sterile containers, concentrated by centrifuge, inoculated in enrichment medium and incubated for 3-4 days. DNA was extracted by using commercial kit. Several rounds of PCR was performed to search Pseudomonas aeroginosa , integron I, Metallo-β-lactamases gene, Legionella pneumoohila , mip gene, and Escherichia coli . Results : About 92.0% of the samples showed bacterial contamination as revealed by PCR with primers of 16S rRNAgene, 9.5% of the samples had L. pneumophila, and 11,1% had Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but Escherichia coli was not detected. We found the mip gene in 66.6% of the samples with L. pneumophila . Metallo-β-lactamasesgene was found in 11.1% of all samples. We also found Integrin 1 in 28.5% of the samples with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Conclusion :   This study indicates that in spite of chlorination, total bacterial contamination of pot waters in the area is high and contamination with L. pneumophila and Pseudomonas aeroginosa is considerable. It might be related to the biofilm formation and the growth of water microflora. It seems that free residual chlorine is ineffective. We suggest a more effective decontamination procedure based on modern technology.


Education not only empowers individuals to live a better quality life, it also makes an enormous contribution to the development of a society. It is, however, very challenging to provide quality education to communities afflicted by conflict, particularly refugees. The study examined the role of Non-Governmental Organizations in the provision of education in conflicted societies. Specifically, the study analysed the role played by Windle Trust-Kenya in the provision of education among the refugees' communities in Dadaab refugee Camps in Kenya. The study interrogated not only the strategies used by the Organization to promote education among the refugees, but also the challenges encountered in the provision of education in the specific refugee camps in Dadaab. The study employed a descriptive research design in order to probe into the efforts of the Organization towards supporting refugee education. Programme managers who have worked for Windle Trust Kenya, teachers employed by the Organization in Dadaab and academics who have served in Dadaab Refugee camp were interviewed using an interview schedule. Document analysis was also conducted from the different humanitarian organizations operating in Dadaab and from Kenyatta University Post Modern Library. These included journals, theses and text books. The research established that Windle Trust-Kenya has supported not only secondary and primary education in Dadaab but also tertiary education, through collaboration with different universities. Girls were found to be experiencing more challenges in pursuing education due to gender based violence and cultural beliefs among most of the refugees. Conclusively, the study established that education to refugees benefit both refugees and the host community as refugees who excel in education also give back to the host community.


When Venturi meters are used in wet gas the measured differential pressure is higher than it would be were the gas phases flowing alone. This phenomenon is called over reading, This paper proposed a new Venturi wet gas correlation based on homogenous and separated assumption, and its validity is verified through experiment. a new test program has been implemented in Tianjin University's Low Pressure Wet Gas Loop. Three 50mm Venturi meters, with β values of 0.4048, 0.55 and 0.70 have been tested at the working operation pressure of 0.15, 0.20 and 0.25 MPa, and the gas densiometric Froude number from 0.6 to 2.5, the modified Lockhart-Maretinelli parameter from 0.0022 to 0.3, and the ratio of the gas liquid mass flow rate from 0.5 to 0.99. Finally, the performance of the new proposed correlations is compared with the old eight correlations.


The correlations between Caco-2 permeability (logPapp) and molecular properties have been investigated. A training set of 77 structurally diverse organic molecules was used to construct significant QSAR models for Caco-2 cell permeation. Cellular permeation was found to depend primarily upon experimental distribution coefficient (logD) at pH = 7.4, high charged polar surface area (HCPSA), and radius of gyration (rgyr). Among these three descriptors, logD may have the largest impact on diffusion through Caco-2 cell because logD shows obvious linear correlation with logPapp (r=0.703) when logD is smaller than 2.0. High polar surface area will be unfavorable to achieve good Caco-2 permeability because higher polar surface area will introduce stronger H-bonding interactions between Caco-2 cells and drugs. The comparison among HCPSA, PSA (polar surface area), and TPSA (topological polar surface area) implies that high-charged atoms may be more important to the interactions between Caco-2 cell and drugs. Besides logD and HCPSA, rgyr is also closely connected with Caco-2 permeabilities. The molecules with larger rgyr are more difficult to cross Caco-2 monolayers than those with smaller rgyr. The descriptors included in the prediction models permit the interpretation in structural terms of the passive permeability process, evidencing the main role of lipholiphicity, H-bonding, and bulk properties. Besides these three molecular descriptors, the influence of other molecular descriptors was also investigated. From the calculated results, it can be found that introducing descriptors concerned with molecular flexibility can improve the linear correlation. The resulting model with four descriptors bears good statistical significance, n = 77, r = 0.82, q = 0.79, s = 0.45, F = 35.7. The actual predictive abilities of the QSAR model were validated through an external validation test set of 23 diverse compounds. The predictions for the tested compounds are as the same accuracy as the compounds of the training set and significantly better than those predicted by using the model reported. The good predictive ability suggests that the proposed model may be a good tool for fast screening of logPapp for compound libraries or large sets of new chemical entities via combinatorial chemistry synthesis.


In the twenty first century, rights of indigenous peoples emerge as a crucial issue. Challenges in substantiating and materializing these rights still remain a matter of critical analysis. Defining the rights, delimiting the extent of such rights and identifying agents to carry out the functions remain important subjects to analyze. Indigenous rights remain a multi disciplinary phenomenon that may include wide range of topics related to cultural, socio economical, geographical questions. Role of governments and international organizations in supporting and materializing the rights of indigenous peoples still remains crucial as in many places the indigenous communities are not equipped and organized enough to carry out such agenda. Community participation and self initiatives from indigenous groups appear as crucial in mainstreaming the indigenous rights in the concerned discourse. This book aims to discuss select issues on indigenous rights concerned to indigenous communities living in the regions of Scandinavia, Australia and North America.


The protozoon Trichomonas vaginalis is responsible for trichomoniasis, a common sexually transmitted infection associated with an increased risk of HIV infection and adverse pregnancy outcomes. The protozoon has the surprising ability to establish a symbiotic relationship with other microorganisms. In fact, most T.vaginalis isolates intracellularly host the vaginal bacterium Mycoplasma hominis and can harbor up to four dsRNA viruses. Moreover, a novel Mycoplasma species named Ca. Mycoplasma girerdii has been recently described as associated with trichomonad cells. Trichomonas vaginalis colonizes the human vagina and its presence causes profound alterations of the resident microbiota, leading to dysbiosis. In healthy women, vaginal microbiota is characterized by the presence of a complex population of aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms living in a physiologically dynamic system dominated by bacteria of the genera Lactobacillus. The most common microbial vaginal imbalance is bacterial vaginosis, a polymicrobial disease associated with several adverse reproductive outcomes and increased risk of HIV infection. Here, we review the current knowledge regarding the interactions between both T.vaginalis and M.hominis and the vaginal microbiota, and we discuss the possibility of a cooperation between T.vaginalis and its symbionts in the development of vaginal dysbiosis.


The popularization of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) has had a great impact on our society. The market for Internet-based electronic commerce (EC) has become firmly established and the building of enterprise information systems (EISs), using Internet technology, is becoming widespread. Hitachi has provided Hitachi Commerce Solution Products (HCSP), a software packagefor realizing secure commerce over the Internet. This package consists ofa Mall Server (to implement electronic stores), a Certificate Authority Server (to issue electronic certificates), a Payment Server and a Payment Gateway (to implement secure electronic payments based on authentication). HCSP was developed by combining the latest software technology such as the Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) protocol, which is specified by Visa International Service Assoc. and MasterCard International Inc. for secure commercial transactions, Java +1 for dynamically loading client applications from servers, and the CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) +2 for implementing application systems by distributed object-oriented software components across the network.


OBJECTIVE
This study investigated Taiwanese elementary school students' status in terms of body size, body satisfaction and disturbed eating tendencies.

METHODS
In a cross-sectional survey, 1,261 elementary school children from grades four to six participated in this study. We used an anonymous selfreported questionnaire, which included: demographics and body satisfaction; Children's Eating Attitude Test -26 (ChEAT-26); Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale; and Influence of Significant Others Scale and Media Impact Scale.

RESULTS
We found that 58.4% of the children were of normal weight, and 32.7% of the boys and 22.2% of the girls were over-weight or obese. Moreover, 39% of the children wanted to be thinner. The mean ChEAT-26 score was 8.71±8.35, and 10.5% of the children were at high risk for disturbed eating tendencies (ChEAT-26≥20), including 8.4% of the boys and 12.6% of the girls. Scores on the ChEAT-26, Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale, Influence of Significant Others Scale and Media Impact Scale were positively correlated. The level of external control and the influence of significant others and the media were significantly higher in children with disturbed eating attitudes than in those without them. Multivariable logistic regressions showed that disturbed eating attitudes were associated with body satisfaction, locus of control, and the level of influence of significant others and the media.

CONCLUSIONS
Disturbed eating behaviors exist among elementary school students in Taiwan. This survey highlights the need for education in acquiring healthy mental attitudes and eating behaviors by elementary school students.


Acute copper sulphate poisoning is associated with multi-organ failure and high mortality. Patients typically present with gastrointestinal symptoms, haemolysis, methaemoglobinaemia, acute liver injury, rhabdomyolysis and renal failure. Management is usually supportive, and the role of chelation therapy has not been established. Copper is not dialysable. Plasmapheresis has been shown to remove protein-bound copper, reducing plasma and intracellular concentrations. We present a case of severe copper sulphate poisoning, who did not improve with chelation therapy with D-penicillamine and supportive care, but with therapeutic plasma exchange (four cycles) showed rapid clinical recovery.


The interactive model of language intervention instructs parents to use techniques that promote reciprocal social interactions and facilitate the development of communication and language abilities. In this evaluation study, 32 mothers and their preschool-age children with developmental delays were randomly assigned to treatment and control (delayed treatment) groups. Consistent with the interactive model, mothers in the treatment group became more responsive, less directive, and provided clearer linguistic models. Furthermore, these changes were maintained for at least 4 months after intervention, and involvement in the parent-centered intervention program did not increase maternal stress. More important, these changes were accompanied by concomitant increases in children's use of vocal turns. Contrary to predictions, developmental improvements in children's communicative and linguistic abilities were comparable in both groups. Findings suggest that an interactive model may afford a useful adjunct to other intervention approaches by instructing parents on how to promote children's use of existing abilities, but an interactive model may have no effect on language acquisition of at least some children with developmental delays.


THE EPIDEMIOLOGY AND INCIDENCE OF VISUAL DEFICITS FOLLOWING OCULAR TRAUMA IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS. Viral V. Juthani and M. Bruce Shields. Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. Ocular trauma has long been a significant disabling American health problem and a leading cause of unilateral visual loss in children. These injuries have many diverse costs including human suffering, long-term disabilities, loss of productivity, and economic hardship. Although several studies have evaluated the epidemiology of specific types or mechanisms of ocular trauma, there are few that describe the epidemiology and visual outcomes of a comprehensive set of ocular trauma diagnoses. The purpose of this thesis is to describe the incidence of significant deficits in visual acuity following pediatric ocular trauma and to describe the overall epidemiology of pediatric ocular trauma presenting to the Yale Eye Center or Yale Ophthalmology consult service between 1999 and 2006. A retrospective analysis of 396 cases of pediatric ocular trauma that presented to the Yale Eye Center or Yale Ophthalmology Consult Service between 1999 and 2006 was performed in which the study population was defined as children between 0 and 18 years of age with the following ICD-9 codes: 802.4-802.9 (malar, maxillary, orbital floor, and facial bone fractures), 870.0-870.9 (open wounds of the ocular adnexa), 871.0-871.9 (open wounds of the eyeball), 918.0-918.9 (superficial injury of the eye and adnexa), 921.0-921.9 (contusion of the eye and adnexa), 950.0-950.9 (injury to optic nerve and pathways), and 951.0-951.4 (injury to the other ocular cranial nerves). All data were


Microemulsion phase behavior studies are essential for screening surfactants for improving oil production. The paper presents a modified Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Deviation – Net Average Curvature (HLD-NAC) model to explicitly express the solubilization ratio with respect to a newly defined inherent parameter representing surfactant properties. It also provides a workflow to extract the critical parameters from experimental results for numerical simulation of a chemical flooding process. The equations were derived to calculate the window of Winsor Type III microemulsion. The HLD-NAC model was improved to make the solubilization ratio explicitly expressed with the inherent parameter composed of head area (as), tail length (L) and molecular weight of the surfactants (Mw). An innovated workflow was developed to integrate the microemulsion phase behavior scanning results with the HLD-NAC model. The HLD-NAC model was validated with experimental data of various surfactant formulations.
 The inherent parameter was applied in the improved HLD-NAC model, making it efficient for modeling microemulsion phase behavior scanning. The data of solubilization ratio and phase volume fraction were well fit in the model without needing to know the details of surfactant properties. This simplified the input of HLD-NAC parameters and made the output more accurate. The HLD-NAC model was successfully validated by experiments with various formulations including surfactant with alcohol, surfactant mixtures, and sodium carbonate-surfactant mixtures. By automatically obtaining the inherent parameter, the improved HLD-NAC model provides a promising application of microemulsion phase behavior in numerical simulation of chemical flooding. The HLD-NAC model is modified by defining an inherent parameter from experimental results of microemulsion phase behavior scanning. This makes it applicable to generate the solubilization ratio parameter for numerical simulation of chemical flooding.


Objective To generate comparative efficacy evidence of belimumab versus anifrolumab in SLE that can inform treatment practices. Methods The SLE Responder Index (SRI)-4 response at 52 weeks of belimumab versus anifrolumab was evaluated with an indirect treatment comparison. The evidence base consisted of randomised trials that were compiled through a systemic literature review. A feasibility assessment was performed to comprehensively compare the eligible trials and to determine the most appropriate indirect treatment comparison analysis method. A multilevel network meta-regression (ML-NMR) was implemented that adjusted for differences across trials in four baseline characteristics: SLE Disease Activity Index-2K, anti–double-stranded DNA antibody positive, low complement (C)3 and low C4. Additional analyses were conducted to explore if the results were robust to different sets of baseline characteristics included for adjustment, alternative adjustment methods and changes to the trials included in the evidence base. Results The ML-NMR included eight trials: five belimumab trials (BLISS-52, BLISS-76, NEA, BLISS-SC, EMBRACE) and three anifrolumab trials (MUSE, TULIP-1, TULIP-2). Belimumab and anifrolumab were comparable in terms of SRI-4 response (OR (95% credible interval), 1.04 (0.74–1.45)), with the direction of the point estimate slightly favouring belimumab. Belimumab had a 0.58 probability of being the more effective treatment. The results were highly consistent across all analysis scenarios. Conclusions Our results suggest that the SRI-4 response of belimumab and anifrolumab are similar at 52 weeks in the general SLE population, but the level of uncertainty around the point estimate means we cannot rule out the possibility of a clinically meaningful benefit for either treatment. It remains to be seen if specific groups of patients could derive a greater benefit from anifrolumab or from belimumab, and there is certainly an unmet need to identify robust predictors towards more personalised selection of available biological agents in SLE.


Delirium is a frequent, yet often unrecognized, occurrence in elderly hospitalized patients. In patients with hip fracture, the incidence of delirium is reported to be as high as 62% and even greater if over 65 years of age. One approach to the prevention and management of postoperative delirium in elderly patients with hip fracture is the clinical audit. A clinical audit is a retrospective assessment of clinical care of patients and is guided by criteria that are evidence-based statements of best practice. The use of measurable, objective criterion, with an agreed standard of performance is the hallmark of an audit. The clinical audit criteria presented in this article for the prevention and management of delirium in hospitalized elderly with hip fracture were determined by a compilation of systematic reviews and existing evidence-based clinical guidelines. The following 5 audit criteria are discussed: (1) All elderly patients with a hip fracture are assessed for risk factors for developing delirium daily using a valid and reliable tool; (2) the environment of the patient with hip fracture is assessed daily for conduciveness to maintaining sensory orientation; (3) all patients with hip fracture receive essential nursing care; (4) appropriate clinical criteria are applied to confirm a diagnosis of delirium in patients with hip fracture; and (5) nonpharmacologic interventions are employed before pharmacologic interventions in patients with hip fracture with a diagnosis of delirium.


Background: Esthesioneuroblastoma (ENB) is a rare malignant disease and treatment protocols have not been standardized, varying widely by disease course and institutional practices. Management typically includes wide local excision through open or endoscopic resection, followed by radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and stereotactic radiosurgery. Tumor control can differ on a case-by-case basis. Herein, the complex management of a rare case of recurrent disease with multiple dural metastases is presented. Case Description: A 60-year-old patient was diagnosed with ENB after presenting with anosmia and epistaxis. The patient underwent combined endonasal and transfrontal sinus craniofacial resection, followed by proton beam radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Subsequently, he developed a total of 25 dural metastases that were controlled with repeated Gamma Knife Radiosurgery (GKRS). In spite of post-treatment course that was complicated by radiation necrosis and local vasculopathy, the patient made significant recovery to functional baseline. Conclusion: The management of ENB entails multimodality and multidisciplinary care, which can help patients obtain disease control and long-term survival. Recurrent ENB dural metastases can behave as oligometastatic disease manageable with aggressive focal GKRS. As prognosis continues to improve, chronic treatment effects of radiation in such cases should be taken into consideration.


Papillomaviruses are ubiquitous and are members of a family Papillomaviridae of DNA viruses that infect humans and animals. Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are small non-enveloped viruses that contain a double-stranded, closed circular DNA genome. Human papillomaviruses cause anogenital warts and are associated with anogenital malignancy including cervical, vaginal, vulvar, penile, and anal carcinoma.This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of HPV IgM among women of reproductive age and associated risk and demographic factors in Funtua zone, Katsina state. A cross-sectional serological survey enrolling 60 women of reproductive age attending ANC of General Hospital Funtua. Serum samples were obtained from randomly selected subjects. Samples were tested IgM HPV specific commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. The overall prevalence of was (36.6%) recorded.There was no statistical significant association between women of reproductive age with sociodemorgraphic and risk factors analysed in this studies (P <0.05). Women of reproductive age attending ANCshould be screened for HPV infection and further studies with larger sample size is recommended. Since infection with HPV is life-long and has no known cure, primary prevention remains the mainstay of its control.


This study based on the self-determination theory aims to examine the relationship among the aspirations that fathers have about their children's youth baseball practice, the children's basic psychological needs (satisfaction and frustration), and their intentions to either continue or drop out of baseball practice in a sample of children from Hermosillo, Mexico. A cross-sectional study was carried out involving 533 fathers (M = 44.30, SD = 5.18) and 533 children (M = 13.09, SD = 1.68). The results showed that the intrinsic aspirations of fathers were positively correlated to the satisfaction of the children's psychological needs, whereas the extrinsic aspirations of fathers were positively correlated with the frustration of the children's psychological needs. Satisfaction of basic psychological needs was positively correlated with the intention to continue and negatively correlated with dropout; on the contrary, frustration of basic psychological needs was negatively correlated with the intention to continue and positively with dropout. In conclusion, the fathers' pursuit of intrinsic aspirations for their children in the youth baseball context satisfies the children's basic psychological needs, and in turn, their intention to continue practicing increases. Conversely, when a father pursues extrinsic aspirations for his son in youth baseball, the child will feel his basic psychological needs frustrated, and he will have a greater intention to drop out. Overall, this study extends the existing sport-scientific literature by confirming the impact of parents' aspirations on their children's basic psychological needs and intention to continue being baseball players.


We compared nuclear accent production in English and Polish read speech. We investigated declaratives and three types of questions. We expected to find (a) cross-linguistic differences and (b) a cross-language generalisation which may be evidence for an intonational universal. The generalisation under investigation was a trade-off between syntactic or lexical question markers in the text and the production of high pitch. The expected cross-linguistic difference involved the production and distribution of nuclear accent types in different kinds of utterances.


Although almost everyone agrees that the environment shapes children's learning, surprisingly few studies assess in detail the specific environments that shape children's learning of specific content. The present article briefly reviews examples of how such environmental assessments have improved understanding of child development in diverse areas, and examines in depth the contributions of analyses of one type of environment to one type of learning: how biased distributions of problems in mathematics textbooks influence children's learning of fraction arithmetic. We find extensive parallels between types of problems that are rarely presented in US textbooks and problems where children in the US encounter greater difficulty than might be expected from the apparent difficulty of the procedures involved. We also consider how some children master fraction arithmetic despite also learning the textbook distributions. Finally, we present findings from a recent intervention that indicates how children's fraction learning can be improved.


SwissInfoDesk is the virtual reference desk (VRD) of the Swiss National Library launched in 2003. It is both a portal with a links directory on Switzerland (2500 links selected and classified in themes and subthemes such as history, politics and economics...)and a possibility given to users to directly contact a librarian and ask for requests. SwissInfoDesk is a multilingual VRD (in German, French, Italian and Spanish).


Abstract In the article, an approach to design a novel single-phase permanent magnet (PM) brushless DC (BLDC) motor, based on multi-step FEA numerical prototyping, is presented. The designing procedure is carried out by using a series of 2D finite element simulations, until the design for a best performing PM BLDC motor is obtained. The proposed novel motor topology is developed using a generic motor, and through several steps, asymmetrical stator poles are devised, where one pair is particularly shaped. Permanent magnets are also simultaneously shaped. The aim of this research study is to improve performance characteristics of the motor by more efficient utilisation of active materials during the manufacture of rotor poles and stator cores. The magnetic field distribution in the motor cross-section, along with several other relevant electromagnetic and electromechanical characteristics, are computed, presented in figures and charts and analysed. The cogging torque and static torque waveforms, as well as the distribution of flux density and the air-gap flux, flux linkage and the induced back-emf, are in the focus of the presented research study. The results show that the novel design topology reveals featured operating characteristics, providing a smooth overall performance of the PM BLDC motor.


Many groups contributed to a blind interpretation exercise for the deter- mination of shear-wave slowness beneath the Santa Clara Valley. The methods in- cluded invasive methods in deep boreholes as well as noninvasive methods using active and passive sources, at six sites within the valley (with most investigations being conducted at a pair of closely spaced sites near the center of the valley). Although significant variability exists between the models, the slownesses from the various methods are similar enough that linear site amplifications estimated in several ways are generally within 20% of one another. The methods were able to de- rive slownesses that increase systematically with distance from the valley edge, cor- responding to a tendency for the sites to be underlain by finer-grained materials away from the valley edge. This variation is in agreement with measurements made in the boreholes at the sites.


A formal theoretical explanation of the model-mismatch instability problem associated with certain adaptive control design schemes is proposed, and a solution is provided. To address the model-mismatch problem, a primary task of adaptive control is formulated as finding an asymptotically optimal, stabilizing controller, given the feasibility of adaptive control problem. A class of data-driven cost functions called cost-detectable is introduced that detect evidence of instability without reference to prior plant models or plant assumptions. The problem of designing adaptive systems that are robustly immune to mismatch instability problems is thus placed in a setting of a standard optimization problem. We call the result safe adaptive control because it robustly achieves adaptive stabilization goals whenever feasible, without prior assumptions on the plant model and, hence, without the risk of model-mismatch instability. The result improves the robustness of previous results in hysteresis switching control, both for discrete and for continuously-parameterized candidate controller sets. Examples are provided.


Airway Hyperresponsiveness (AHR) is one of the key features of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), where the airway sensitivity is increased. The research suggested that there is a relation between inflammatory state and severity of hyperresponsiveness of the airway, though the causative agents and consequences are different in asthma and COPD. However, before estimating hyperresponsiveness, there is a need to understand the consequences of airway inflammation, which are different in asthma and COPD. Over the past decades, there was an increased interest in unfold the multidimensional link between airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness. This raises the hope for the future in development of diagnosis and treatment options for AHR. This short note intends to summarize the clinical correlation between airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness and the significance of measurement of hyperresponsiveness.


This article brings together various spatial and political theorizations on the commons as a broader project to understand multiple dimensions of the inclusive nature of public housing. By picking up theorizations on the commons, the article feeds the debate on the loss of "publicness" of public housing and removes attention from what is seen as a state related business. Four core-dimensions are identified: ownership, participation, community activity and physical configuration. The article takes a sample of public housing estates in the Brussels capital region as case studies to test the capacity of this framework to detect the degree of "publicness" of various forms of public housing. The preliminary results—based on this limited sample of cases studied through interviews with privileged informers and a literature study—suggest that approaches where individual households are actively involved in the organization of the dwelling environment work best to compensate for the loss of "publicness" that has occurred since the decline of the welfare state. In that respect, these approaches tie in with some early predecessors of "public" housing, mainly cooperatively organized garden city developments. Further in-depth case study research should shed more light on the validity of this hypothesis, as well as on the precise mechanisms and features that determine this regained "publicness".


Three analogs of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) of the structure less than Glu-His-Trp-Ser-Tyr-Gly-Gly-Leu-Arg-Pro-Gly-NH2, involving substitutions inpositions 1, 3, and 8 with nonprotein amino acids, have been synthesized by the solid-phase method. They are [pyro-L-alpha-(1-aminoadipic)]-LH-RH, [3-(2-naphthyl)-L-Ala3]-LH-RH, and [delta-N-i-Pr-L-Orn8]-LH-RH. Their LH-RH activities in vivo were 12.5, 51.8, and 3.7% that of LH-RH, respectively, in the assay using ovariectomized, estrogen- and progesterone-treated rats. In a test based upon subcutaneous injection into immature male rats, [3-(2-naphthyl)-Ala3]-LH-RH released 1.2 times as much LH and 0.8 times as much FSH as synthetic LH-RH.


The American experiment with charter schools advanced on dual impulses of increasing opportunities for disadvantaged students and unleashing market competition. While critics see these independently managed schools as a form of privatisation, proponents contend that they are public schools because of funding and accountability arrangements and potential benefits, and believe that the economic logic around these schools will produce equitable educational opportunities. This analysis considers how charters are or are not instances of privatisation in education, showing that the marketised environment they are intended to nurture serves as a route for profit-seeking strategies. In reviewing the research on charter school organisational behaviour and outcomes in marketised environments, I find evidence of de facto privatisation in function if not in form. As charter schools often act like profit-seeking entities, but fail to achieve expected academic and equity outcomes, the concluding discussion considers how these schools are placed between conflicting goals, and serve as entry points for private organisations seeking to penetrate the publicly funded education sector. I conclude that perhaps their most important role is in serving as a vehicle for privatising public policy—diminishing the public while enhancing the position and influence of private interests and organisations in education policymaking.


alpha-Fetoprotein (AFP) is well known as a tumor marker of ovarian endodermal sinus tumor or embryonal carcinoma in gynecological malignancies. However, AFP production is extremely rare in ovarian epithelial cancers. Here we report a case of a 53-year-old woman with an AFP-producing ovarian endometrioid adenocarcinoma. The serum AFP level was elevated up to 2759 ng/ml preoperatively, with a subsequent decrease to the normal range after treatment. Histological examination of the tumor revealed a well-differentiated endometrioid adenocarcinoma with small foci of clear cell components. None of endodermal sinus tumor, hepatoid carcinoma, or embryonal carcinoma components were observed. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that AFP was expressed in the cytoplasm of the endometrioid glandular lesions, but not in the clear cell components. This is probably the first case of a pure type of ovarian endometrioid adenocarcinoma with significant levels of AFP expression.


The influence of melatonin-free pineal extract on luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) was studied. Administration of bovine pineal extract in intact rats was found to induce a statistically significant decrease of serum LH and FSH. The pineal extract also inhibited the 24-hour-post-castration rise of serum and pituitary LH and FSH in mature male rats. The stimulating effect of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) on pituitary LH and FSH was also inhibited in intact animals. The antigonadotropic activity of melatonin-free pineal extract, melatonin and arginine-vasotocin (AVT) is discussed.


Sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles were adsorbed on an octadecanethiol/phosphatidylcholine mixed bilayer anchored to a gold electrode, and the Ca-ATPase contained in the vesicles was activated by ATP concentration jumps both in the absence and in the presence of K(+) ions and at different pH values. Ca(2+) concentration jumps in the absence of ATP were also carried out. The resulting capacitive current transients were analyzed together with the charge under the transients. The relaxation time constants of the current transients were interpreted on the basis of an equivalent circuit. The current transient after ATP concentration jumps and the charge after Ca(2+) concentration jumps in the absence of ATP exhibit almost the same dependence upon the Ca(2+) concentration, with a half-saturating value of approximately 1.5 microM. The pH dependence of the charge after Ca(2+) translocation demonstrates the occurrence of one H(+) per one Ca(2+) countertransport at pH 7 by direct charge-transfer measurements. The presence of K(+) decreases the magnitude of the current transients without altering their shape; this decrease is explained by K(+) binding to the cytoplasmic side of the pump in the E(1) conformation and being released to the same side during the E(1)-E(2) transition.


Abstract The stationary Gross–Pitaevskii equation in one dimension is considered with a complex periodic potential satisfying the conditions of the 𝒫𝒯 (parity-time reversal) symmetry. Under rather general assumptions on the potentials, we prove bifurcations of 𝒫𝒯-symmetric nonlinear bound states from the end points of a real interval in the spectrum of the non-selfadjoint linear Schrödinger operator with a complex 𝒫𝒯-symmetric periodic potential. The nonlinear bound states are approximated by the effective amplitude equation, which bears the form of the cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation. In addition, we provide sufficient conditions for the appearance of complex spectral bands when the complex 𝒫𝒯-symmetric potential has an asymptotically small imaginary part.


Abstract Having now completed its first century, psychoanalytic supervision has been and continues to be regarded as the cornerstone of psychoanalytic education; it is the primary means by which (1) psychoanalytic ideology becomes translated into practical product, and (2) budding analytic practitioners develop and grow in their therapeutic skills and professional identity. The supreme significance of supervision in contributing to the "making" of the competent psychoanalytic practitioner now seems a widely accepted given, even axiomatic. But as its second century gets underway, what have we learned from psychoanalytic supervision's first 100 years? What are its most pressing needs and, in turn, impressing possibilities at this time? And what needs to most change if psychoanalytic supervision is to most profitably advance in the years and decades ahead? In this paper, I would like to consider those questions, giving focus to five needs that seem to most require attention now: (1) making the practice of psychoanalytic treatment an increasingly competency-based, concretized learning affair; (2) enhancing the efficacy of supervisors through competency-based practice and training in psychoanalytic supervision; (3) more effectively incorporating existing technology and emerging technological advances into supervision and using them to enhance the psychoanalytic learning process; (4) better attending to matters of difference and diversity, and striving to seamlessly integrate them into the conceptualization and conduct of the psychoanalytic supervision experience; and (5) vigorously researching the psychoanalytic supervision process and working to establish an evidence base for supervisory practice.


Abstract Electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of tetravalent terbium ions have been observed in host crystals of ZrSiO4 , HfSiO4 , ThSiO4 , ThGeO4 (zircon structure) and ZrGeO4 , HfGeO4 (scheelite structure) at X band and Q band and various temperatures. The spin Hamiltonian parameters have been determined from the rotational diagrams; the zero field splittings turned out to be extremely large, so that complex spectra far from the strong magnetic field limit had to be analyzed. In all the compounds Tb4+ substitutes for the tetragonal metal lattice sites. The incorporation of terbium, the origin of the large second-order parameters and comparisons with the spectra of trivalent gadolinium in similar systems are discussed.


Previously, we have demonstrated that co-expression of ChSy-1 (chondroitin synthase-1), with ChPF (chondroitin-polymerizing factor) resulted in a marked augmentation of glycosyltransferase activities and the expression of the chondroitin polymerase activity of ChSy-1. These results prompted us to evaluate the effects of co-expression of the recently cloned CSS3 (chondroitin sulfate synthase-3) with ChPF, because ChSy-1 and CSS3 have similar properties, i.e. they possess GalNAcT-II (N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase-II) and GlcAT-II (glucuronyltransferase-II) activities responsible for the elongation of CS (chondroitin sulfate) chains but cannot polymerize chondroitin chains by themselves. Co-expressed CSS3 and ChPF showed not only substantial GalNAcT-II and GlcAT-II activities but also chondroitin polymerase activity. Interestingly, co-expressed ChSy-1 and CSS3 also exhibited polymerase activity. The chain length of chondroitin formed by the co-expressed proteins in various combinations was different. In addition, interactions between any two of ChSy-1, CSS3 and ChPF were demonstrated by pull-down assays. Moreover, overexpression of CSS3 increased the amount of CS in HeLa cells, while the RNA interference of CSS3 resulted in a reduction in the amount of CS in the cells. Altogether these results suggest that chondroitin polymerization is achieved by multiple combinations of ChSy-1, CSS3 and ChPF. Based on these characteristics, we have renamed CSS3 ChSy-2 (chondroitin synthase-2).


Various components of foods have clearly established strong links with human health and it is learnt that their deficiencies provoke diseases. The epidemiological evidences and modern research in nutrition during the last few decades have elaborated the molecular level of such interactions of specific food constituents with that of the toxicants generated in the living cells to control and prevent many of the diseases. Edible products possessing such fantastic healing capacity due to the presence of more than 700 non nutrients functional food factor (FFFs) are effective and epochal for health promotion, disease prevention and cure. The natural products releasing such superb active components are known as nutraceutical foods. The bioactive constituents of many foods have been identified during the goal oriented scientific studies and are used frequently in community and clinical nutrition. The protective effects of tocotrienols in flax seed oil, the curcuminoids in turmeric, carotenoids in carrots, flavonoids in fruits/vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids in sea foods, allyl-sulfides in garlic and -glucans in mush-rooms/cereals are few common examples to be cited here. Excess saturated fat is attributed to pose adverse effects on many metabolic processes. However, certain components of fats are now postulated for their clinical manifestations, such as the sphingolipids as inhibitors of carcinogenesis, conjugated linolenic acid (CLA) as immunomodulator, and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) for control of lipid profile. The nuts, although rich in fat are influential in cholesterol lowering in view of their suitable polyunsaturated fatty acid: saturated fatty acid ratio and excess of the presence of MUFAs. Recent emphasis on fat-replacements to introduce low caloric foods, advances in nutritional immunology, stimulating actions of phytochemicals on neuronal diseases have indicated wide spectrum of applications of functional foods both in daily life and in the industry. Some examples of nutraceutical foods, their chemical diversity and mode of actions are part of presentation which is based on consulting several review articles published since 2005.