Backgrounds: Approximately half of the Japanese asthmatics experience exacerbation of asthma after alcohol consumption. We previously reported that this phenomenon is probably caused by histamine release from mast cells by acetaldehyde stimulation. However, no reports have described the effects of acetaldehyde on human airway mast cells. The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate acetaldehyde-induced histamine release from human airway mast cells with subsequent airway smooth muscle contraction and to investigate the ensuing mechanisms. Methods: Human tissue samples were prepared from the lungs resected from patients with lung cancer. The effect of acetaldehyde on airway muscle tone and the concentration of chemical mediators released in the organ bath were measured before and after acetaldehyde stimulation. Mast cells were prepared from lung parenchyma by the immunomagnetic method and then stimulated with acetaldehyde to determine the chemical mediators released. Results: Acetaldehyde (>3 × 10–4M) increased airway muscle tone, which was associated with a significant increase in the release of histamine, but not thromboxane B2 or cysteinyl-leukotrienes. A histamine (H1 receptor) antagonist completely inhibited acetaldehyde-induced bronchial smooth muscle contraction. Acetaldehyde also induced a significant histamine release from human lung mast cells and degranulation of mast cells. Conclusions: The present results strongly suggest that acetaldehyde stimulates human airway mast cells to release histamine, which may be involved in bronchial smooth muscle contraction following alcohol consumption.


OBJECTIVE
Spondyloarthropathy has clearly been documented as not limited in occurrence to humans. Transmammalian in nature, it is of interest to understand the antiquity, and perhaps the origins, of this disorder in animal groups sufficiently represented in the skeletal record.

METHODS
Fossil and recent skeletons of perissodactylae from North America were systematically examined to determine the occurrence and population frequency of spondyloarthropathy.

RESULTS
Spondyloarthropathy was the most common form of arthritis recognized in the extant and fossil records. Common in extinct families such as Brontotheriidae and Chalicotheriidae, a progressive increase in the frequency of spondyloarthropathy was observed through geologic time in Equidae and Rhinocerotidae.

CONCLUSION
Erosive arthritis of the spondyloarthropathy variety is now documented as not only persisting in Perissodactyla, but as actually increasing significantly in frequency (3-6 fold). Given the unusual evolutionary penetrance of this "disease," the possibility must be considered that its persistence provides evidence for some unknown benefit to the affected host.


The extensive development of nanotechnologies in the last two decades has brought about new understanding of plasma lipoproteins (LP) as natural drug nanocarriers that escape interaction with immune and reticuloendothelial systems. Drugs bound to LP (especially LDL) can more actively penetrate into cells of many cancer and inflammation tissues with enhanced expression or/and dysregulation of B,E receptors or possibly scavenger SR-BI receptors. Relevant studies are focused on the development of new dosage forms by conjugating lipophilic drugs either with isolated plasma LP or with their model formulations, such as nanoemulsions, mimetics, lipid nanospheres, etc. Some authors include in these particles serum or recombinant apoproteins, peptides, and modified polymer products. As shown recently, protein-free lipid nanoemulsions in plasma take up free apoA and apoE. Complexes with various LP also form after direct administration of lypophilic drugs into blood especially those enclosed in phospholipid formulations, e.g. liposomes. Results of evaluation of some lipophilic dugs (mainly cytostatics, amphotericin B, cyclosporine A, etc.) are discussed. Original data are presented on the influence of phospholipid formulations on the distribution of doxorubicin and indomethacin between LP classes after in vitro incubation in plasma. On the whole, the review illustrates the importance of research on LP and phospholi pid forms as drug nanocarriers to be used to enhance effect of therapy.


The reactions γd→π-pp and γd→npπ+π-have been studied in an energy range from 0.8 to 1.1 GeV at the tagged photon facility of Laboratory of Nuclear Science,Tohoku University. Charged pions and protons in the final state were measured by using the Neutral Kaon Spectrometer (NKS2). The analysis of the γd→π-pp was mainly used to check the acceptance of the NKS2 and to calibrate the tagged photon energy. The photoproduction of the Δ++Δ-was identified in the γd→npπ+π-reaction. Since the data analyses are still in progress,we issue an interim report and preliminary results.


The current progress in the study of the spatial organization of interphase chromosomes became possible owing to the development of the chromosome conformation capture (3C) protocol. The crucial step of this protocol is the proximity ligation—preferential ligation of DNA fragments assumed to be joined within nuclei by protein bridges and solubilized as a common complex after formaldehyde cross-linking and DNA cleavage. Here, we show that a substantial, and in some cases the major, part of DNA is not solubilized from cross-linked nuclei treated with restriction endonuclease(s) and sodium dodecyl sulphate and that this treatment neither causes lysis of the nucleus nor drastically affects its internal organization. Analysis of the ligation frequencies of the mouse β-globin gene domain DNA fragments demonstrated that the previously reported 3C signals were generated predominantly, if not exclusively, in the insoluble portion of the 3C material. The proximity ligation thus occurs within the cross-linked chromatin cage in non-lysed nuclei. The finding does not compromise the 3C protocol but allows the consideration of an active chromatin hub as a folded chromatin domain or a nuclear compartment rather than a rigid complex of regulatory elements.


Location Privacy Preservation (LPP) in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) during the era of the Internet of things and smart systems is a critical element in the success of WSNs. LPP in WSN can be stated as: given a WSN with an adversary aiming to unravel the location of critical nodes of a WSN, the goal of the WSN manager is to enshroud the location of the critical nodes via routing and/or encryption mechanisms. Typical research in the LPP of WSN routing involves developing and/or estimating the performance of a fixed routing protocol under a given attack mechanism. Motivated by advancements in network softwarization, in this work, we propose an approach where the WSN manager as well as the WSN adversary can deploy multiple routing and attack mechanisms, respectively. Initially, the proposed approach is formulated as a repeated two-player zero-sum game. The formulation is further extended to handle multiple objectives and incomplete information in the game matrix. In this work, the multiple objectives are handled via the epsilon constraint method. The presence of incomplete information in the formulation is modeled as interval based uncertainty. To sum, the proposed formulation ultimately boils down to linear programming problems, which can be efficiently solved. Numerical case studies to showcase the applicability of the proposed approach are illustrated in this work. Finally, discussion on obtaining the required data from any given WSN, discussion and interpretation of the formulation's results, and future research direction of the current work is presented.


As a general rule, spiders exhibit sexual dimorphism and their populations may differ in size according to season duration and resource availability. However, few studies have focused on dimorphism in tarantulas. Mexican redrump tarantulas, Brachypelma vagans , listed in CITES, have an exceptionally wide distribution. Surprisingly, there are no studies on the possible relationship between the abundance of tarantulas per population and the geographical areas where they are present, or on how the distribution pattern of this spider may affect individual morphological characteristics. Furthermore, there are no studies on sexual dimorphism within the genus Brachypelma . The aim of the study is to determine the existence of sexual and geographical dimorphism in populations of B. vagans . It was observed that the abundance of spiders per population may vary according to the geographical areas where they were recorded. In six localities in southern Mexico, we recorded morphological data on adult tarantulas. Sexual dimorphism was clearly observed at the site that presented numerous spiders characterized by much smaller females. Since the results of this study demonstrate differences in tarantula number of individuals per locality in southern Mexico, they make an important contribution to the conservation of this species.


The scope of disasters ranges from man-made emergency to natural calamity, from a kitchen grease fire to a hurricane or volcanic eruption. While each type of event requires a very different scale and type of immediate response, the project management challenges that face restoration and reconstruction professionals after the emergency phase is complete are remarkably similar. Using decades of real-world experience and academic research, the author explains pertinent requirements and methods for the contractors and other professionals who bring order from chaos. This is the first systematic presentation of the tools and skills needed for disaster recovery project management. It is designed primarily for contractors, although it will also be of value for those who might hire them, the communities they serve, and their organizational partners in the disaster recovery effort. The volume is focused on informing the management of projects that recover the built environment after emergency conditions are sufficiently stabilized, and supplements and complements books devoted to conventional construction or emergency relief management.


This paper proposes a new image representation scheme for database indexing. The application domain is "image-based" indexing as opposed to "content-based" indexing. In other words, given a database of images and associated data, we want to search the database for a known image so as to retrieve the data associated with the image. A concrete example is to search a database of aerial images so as to retrieve the GPS coordinates of a known scene. Our representation is based on a hierarchy of color histograms and offers a compromise between methods based on a global histogram and methods based on multiple histograms corresponding to segmented regions. Our method retains positional information better than the above schemes and naturally leads to a multi-level comparison strategy where mismatches are quickly discarded at higher levels. Our method offers a simple, easily implementable solution to the specific problem of image-based indexing.


Drug-drug interactions are one of the main concerns in drug discovery. Accurate prediction of drug-drug interactions plays a key role in increasing the efficiency of drug research and safety when multiple drugs are c o-prescribed. With various data sources that describe the relationships and properties between drugs, the comprehensive approach that integrates multiple data sources would be considerably effective in making high-accuracy prediction. In this paper, we propose a Deep Attention Neural Network based Drug-Drug Interaction prediction framework, abbreviated as DANN-DDI, to predict unobserved drug-drug interactions. First, we construct multiple drug feature networks and learn drug representations from these networks using the graph embedding method; then, we concatenate the learned drug embeddings and design an attention neural network to learn representations of drug-drug pairs; finally, we adopt a deep neural network to accurately predict drug-drug interactions. The experimental results demonstrate that our model DANN-DDI has improved prediction performance compared with state-of-the-art methods. Moreover, the proposed model can predict novel drug-drug interactions and drug-drug interaction-associated events.


This investigation was undertaken primarily to examine the possibility of hearing damage from industrial ultrasonic equipment. In the factory concerned, ultrasonic washers and drills were used at a number of different locations, and girls working 12 ft (3·6 m.) away from one bank of three small washers complained of unpleasant subjective effects which included fatigue, persistent headaches, nausea, and tinnitus. As personnel working in the vicinity of similar washers in other parts of the factory did not complain of these effects, it seemed possible that the noise had been transmitted along a column of air in a bank of dryboxes. Enclosure of these washers by a sliding screen of Perspex had completely abated the trouble. Sound pressure level measurements taken in the positions occupied by the operators indicated that, when the effects occur, they are probably caused by high sound levels at the upper audio-frequencies present with the ultrasonic noise, and this was supported by a limited laboratory investigation. Audiometric investigation showed that hearing damage due to noise from these industrial ultrasonic devices is unlikely. However, extrapolations of currently accepted hearing damage risk criteria may be valid in predicting the occurrence of these subjective effects.


Purpose of review To review the most used tests for diagnosis of pulmonary hypoplasia, and their pertinence in different pathological conditions. Recent findings The two-dimensional biometric parameters are not accurate enough to be applied in clinical practice, except for the lung-to-head ratio (LHR): the observed/expected LHR remains the best predictor of pulmonary hypoplasia in fetuses with congenital diaphragmatic hernia. The introduction of three-dimensional ultrasound tecniques has allowed to directly measure lung volume. Three-dimensional-derived nomograms seem reliable for the prediction of both normal and pathological pulmonary volumes. MRI is attracting increasing attention. The studies recently published on this method are highly heterogeneous; universally accepted standardized values for the prediction of pulmonary hypoplasia are, hence, not available. Finally, some authors proposed Doppler ultrasound velocimetry to detect changes in pulmonary vascularization that correlate to pulmonary hypoplasia. However, a well-defined test to predict pulmonary hypoplasia has not emerged so far. Summary The prediction of the lethal type of pulmonary hypoplasia is pivotal to improve counseling and neonatal assistance. There is not a single test that can, at least for now, predict postnatal lung function. For different underlying pathologies, different combinations of clinical, ultrasound, and MRI parameters seem to better assess the risk of pulmonary hypoplasia.


Objectives To estimate the number of acetaminophen (APAP) toxicity-related emergency department (ED) visits, and to assess their associated clinical and economic burden in the USA from 2006 to 2010. Design Cross-sectional, retrospective, large-scale database study. Setting Non-federal, non-rehabilitation, community EDs in the USA. Participants Inclusion criteria included any listed diagnosis identifying poisoning by aromatic analgesics paracetamol/APAP or associated supplementary code. Generalised linear models were used to investigate the association between outcomes of inpatient admission, mortality, requirement of invasive mechanical ventilation, charges and inpatient lengths of stay based on patient, hospital and clinical characteristics. Results Across the 625.2 million ED visits in the USA from 2006 to 2010, 411 811 APAP-related toxicity ED visits were observed, with 45.5% resulting in inpatient admission, 4.7% requiring invasive mechanical ventilation and 0.6% involving death. Overall, the incidence proportion was 27.10 per 100 000 US population, exceeding 70 per 100 000 at age 2 years and ages 16–18 years. The total national bill was $1.06 billion per year (US$ 2014), and predominantly involved females (65.5%) and intentional self-harm (58.4%), which were notably higher within the 12–20 years age category (female12–20 years=74.8%, intentional self-harm12–20 years=71.4%). Behavioural and mental health comorbidities were relatively common and associated with an increased relative risk of admission and likelihood of charges almost entirely across all age categories of ≥12 years within the multivariable analyses. The number of ED visits did not appreciably change over time, decreasing by <2% from 2006 to 2010 (n=1351). Multivariable results also suggested no consistent change in outcomes across the study's time horizon. Conclusions A substantial public health impact of APAP toxicity-related cases was observed in the US from 2006 to 2010, with incidence proportions peaking at age 2 years and ages 16–18 years. After controlling for numerous factors, no consistent change was observed over the 5-year time horizon concerning outcomes of admission, mortality, invasive mechanical ventilation, charges or length of stay.


To identify gene expression changes in melanocytic lesions, biopsies from 18 common nevi (CMN), 11 dysplastic nevi (DN), 8 radial and 15 vertical growth phase melanomas (RGPM, VGPM), and 5 melanoma metastases (MTS) were analyzed using whole genome microarrays. The comparison between CMN and RGPM showed an enrichment of Gene Ontology terms related to inter and intracellular junctions, whereas the transition from RGPM to VGPM underlined the alteration of apoptosis. Upregulation of genes involved in dsDNA break repair and downregulation of cellular adhesion genes were observed in MTS with respect to VGPM. DN exhibited rather heterogeneous molecular profiles, with some proliferation genes expressed at higher levels than in CMN, altered regulation of transcription compared to RGPM and a subset of processes, such as mismatch repair, equally expressed as in VGPM. Furthermore, the expression profile of genes involved into cellular detoxification and antigen presentation split them into two classes, with different proliferation potential. Finally, molecular profiling of individual lesions identified altered biological processes, such as regulation of apoptosis, regulation of transcription and T‐cell activation, not associated with specific histological classes but rather with subgroups of samples without apparent relationship. This holds true for dysplastic nevi in particular. Our data indicate that generally the intersection between stage specific and sample specific molecular alterations may lead to a more precise determination of the individual progression risk of melanocytic lesions.


Agile frameworks continue to provide positive evidence regarding the benefits of their use in the software products. Since these methods develop professional skills in those who practice them, their knowledge and use will acquire greater demand in areas other than software development. For this reason, it is essential to recognize the key skills for agile team building. The goal of this paper is to identify the agile professional skills that the Chilean industry considers key to conform high-performance agile teams. A survey was applied to agile community professionals in Chile to validate the results of previous work and to identify relevant information regarding learning processes, techniques, and tools for working with agile frameworks. The results allowed to establish three key skills for high-performance teams with their respective levels of achievement.


Since the beginning of crypto currency in 2008, blockchain
 technology rise as progressive technology. Despite the fact
 that blockchain began off as a core technology of Bitcoin, its
 utilization cases are growing to numerous fields such as,
 security of Internet of Things (IoT), banking sector,
 industries and medical etc. In recent years IoT has gained
 popularity due to its usage in smart homes and smart city
 projects around the world. Unfortunately, IoT devices
 possess limited computing power, low storage capability
 and network capacity therefore they are more prone to
 attacks than other endpoint devices such as cell phones,
 tablets, or PCs. This paper focus on significant security
 issues for IoT, security prerequisites for IoT alongside the
 current attacks and maps IoT security issues against existing
 solutions found in the literature. Blockchain technology can
 be a key empowering influence to take care of numerous
 IoT security issues. Finally describe the future work
 directions.


Background: Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarctions and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is the most common hereditary form of cerebral small vessel disease. It is clinically, radiologically, and genetically heterogeneous and is caused by NOTCH3 mutations. Methods: In this study, we analyzed NOTCH3 in 368 patients with suspected CADASIL using next-generation sequencing. The significant variants detected were reported along with the clinical and radiological features of the patients. Results: Heterozygous NOTCH3 changes, mostly missense mutations, were detected in 44 of the 368 patients (~12%). Conclusions: In this single-center study conducted on a large patient group, 30 different variants were detected, 17 of which were novel. CADASIL, which can result in mortality, has a heterogeneous phenotype among individuals in terms of clinical, demographic, and radiological findings regardless of the NOTCH3 variant.


We aimed to determined that characterization of antimicrobial compounds of Actinomycete isolates (A32, A33) which were determined have antimicrobial activities in a previous study of ours. Different fermentation media were used to determination effective antimicrobial compounds production of AA32 and AA33 by fermentation. Fermentation procedure were performed in three major steps: sporulation, inoculation, and fermentation. Effective antimicrobial molecules of AA32 and AA33 to determined as test microorganisms Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Esherichia coli ATCC 25922 were used during fermentation. Raw materials extraction of AA32 and AA33 were performed by solvent extraction and active compound determination were performed by using TLC, biootography, colon chromatography and UV spectrophotometer methods. Also to describe these two isolates, fatty acid profiles were determined using gas chromatography. As conclusion, The isolate AA32 was identified as Streptomyces-halstedii-olivaceus at a similarity index of 0.154 and the isolate AA33 was identified as Streptomyces californicus at a similarity index of 0.540 by the MIDI system. The antimicrobial compound isolated has O-H and/or N-H rich, having amine groups, has an Rf value as 0.527, its λmax is at 254 nm, and a polar compound. Its UV spectrum peak and, its λmax bring to mind the cephalosporin or cephalosporin like aromatic or polyene compounds.


Antibody–drug conjugates (ADC) are a targeted cancer therapy that utilize the specificity of antibodies to deliver potent drugs selectively to tumors. Here we define the complex interaction among factors that dictate ADC efficacy in neuroblastoma by testing both a comprehensive panel of ADC payloads in a diverse set of neuroblastoma cell lines and utilizing the glypican 2 (GPC2)-targeting D3-GPC2-PBD ADC to study the role of target antigen density and antibody internalization in ADC efficacy in neuroblastoma. We first find that DNA binding drugs are significantly more cytotoxic to neuroblastomas than payloads that bind tubulin or inhibit DNA topoisomerase 1. We additionally show that neuroblastomas with high expression of the ABCB1 drug transporter or that harbor a TP53 mutation are significantly more resistant to tubulin and DNA/DNA topoisomerase 1 binding payloads, respectively. Next, we utilized the GPC2-specific D3-GPC2-IgG1 antibody to show that neuroblastomas internalize this antibody/GPC2 complex at significantly different rates and that these antibody internalization kinetics correlate significantly with GPC2 cell surface density. However, sensitivity to pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) dimers primarily dictated sensitivity to the corresponding D3-GPC2-PBD ADC, overall having a larger influence on ADC efficacy than GPC2 cell surface density or antibody internalization. Finally, we utilized GPC2 isogenic Kelly neuroblastoma cells with different levels of cell surface GPC2 expression to define the threshold of target density required for ADC efficacy. Taken together, DNA binding ADC payloads should be prioritized for development for neuroblastoma given their superior efficacy and considering that ADC payload sensitivity is a major determinant of ADC efficacy.


Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impact of the learning management system (LMS), in promoting students' self-directed experiential learning using the flipped classroom approach. This study further evaluates the effectiveness of integrating video lectures, perceived as a social interface, for students to watch, prior to their class session conducted in class.

Design/methodology/approach
This is a case study that investigated a group of undergraduate students of English as a foreign language (EFL) to identify the impact of the LMS TES BlendSpace in fostering their self-directed learning capacity, using a flipped classroom approach. Data were gathered through a qualitative approach from student interviews and observations of student activities and video-recordings uploaded on TES BlendSpace.

Findings
Flipped classrooms have begun to redesign learning spaces and promote active learning through video-enabled instructional practices. This study provides an overview of flipped classrooms and the benefits students' gain from the wealth of online content posted on the LMS. The flipped classroom model has clearly shifted the learning paradigm, enabling students the autonomy of their self-directed learning pace and to become acquainted with the currency of video lectures that promote efficacious learning. This study concludes with implications for further research in this area.

Originality/value
This study has the potential to contribute towards the advancement of students' self-directed learning and proposes its continued application for future EFL classes in this institution, as well as across all courses, to enable self-direction for all students.


In order to further improve the efficiency and stability of luminescent electrochemical polymerization (EP) films and devices, electroactive self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) of carbazolyl alkanethiol are successfully designed and applied to modify Au electrode and covalently graft the deposited EP films. The analysis of the formation and coverage of the SAMs by atomic force microscopy (AFM), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and the theoretical calculation provide consistent results indicating the SAM molecules are densely packed and standing upright (liquid‐like) on the Au surface. In addition, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), CV, UV, AFM, and sonication treatment reveal that the close‐packed electroactive SAMs are effective at enhancing the work function of electrode, increasing the deposition rate of EP precursor as well as elevating the cross‐linking efficiency and the adhesive property of subsequent EP films. This is a simple and very efficient method for improving the performance of EP device, which has potential applications in display devices.


Using the falsification method, it is proved that "There are three main sources of heat in the deep earth: (1) heat from when the planet formed and accreted, which has not yet been lost; (2) frictional heating, caused by denser core material sinking to the center of the planet; and (3) heat from the decay of radioactive elements" is a false proposition, it is inferred that the source of heat in the deep earth must have an unknown exothermic factor, and this exothermic factor is the heat from intermolecular nuclear fusion. Then, using the quantum tunneling effect of proton and the observed continental plate drift facts, it is determined that there must be nuclear fusion inside the earth. Through the diagram of temperature of planet Earth, it can be determined that the endothermic nuclear fusion reaction occurs in the core of the earth, and because the water becomes solid and cannot ionize hydrogen ions, nuclear fusion cannot occur, so as to determine that the temperature at Earth's center is the freezing point of the saline solution at the center of the earth's core.


Recent education reform proposals eventually will lead to lengthier professional preparation programs for school health educators. Many of the proposals are based on unwarranted assumptions and myths about teacher education as well as an idealized view of undergraduate liberal studies. In addition to using research findings to challenge these assumptions, trends in accreditation by the National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education and alternative certification are analyzed. One possible extended program model is subsequently offered.


The WirelessHART protocol is one of the most promising standards for wireless communication in industrial automation plant systems. Control processes and the communication between them must be scheduled appropriately, such that the I/O data is correlated. In large networks, selecting a suitable schedule is a long and error prone exercise. This research report illustrates the design and realization of a WirelessHART system development tool, meant to support the design decisions in communication and processing scheduling. A simulator of such a system is built, to preview the resulting system performance. The purpose of designing the simulator is to support a more efficient usage of the timing specifications, and to offer collision free communication between network devices. The tool allows the development of the system starting from control loop levels, and provides information of possible errors in dataflow dependencies and network access conflicts.


Investigating the spatio‐temporal variability of streamflow generation is fundamental to interpret the hydrological and biochemical functioning of catchments. In humid temperate environments, streamflow generation is often linked to the occurrence of near stream surface saturated areas, which mediate hydrological connectivity between hillslopes and streams. In this second contribution of a series of two papers, we used salt dilution gauging to investigate the spatio‐temporal variability of streamflow in different subcatchments and for different reaches in the Weierbach catchment (0.42 km2) and explored the topographical controls on streamflow variability. Moreover, we mapped stream network expansion and contraction dynamics. Finally, we combined the information on the spatio‐temporal variability of streamflow with the characterization of riparian surface saturation dynamics of seven different areas within the catchment (mapped with thermal infrared imagery, as presented in our first manuscript). We found heterogeneities in the streamflow contribution from different portions of the catchment. Although the size of the contributing area could explain differences in subcatchments' and reaches' net discharge, no clear topographic controls could be found when considering the area‐normalized discharge. This suggests that some local conditions exert control on the variability of specific discharge (e.g., local bedrock characteristics and occurrence of perennial springs). Stream network dynamics were found not to be very responsive to changes in catchment's discharge (i.e., total active stream length vs. stream outlet discharge relationship could be described through a power law function with exponent = 0.0195). On the contrary, surface saturation dynamics were found to be in agreement with the level of streamflow contribution from the correspondent reach in some of the investigated riparian areas. This study represents an example of how the combination of different techniques can be used to characterize the internal heterogeneity of the catchment and thus improve our understanding of how hydrological connectivity is established and streamflow is generated.


The cerebellum receives two excitatory afferents, the climbing fiber (CF) and the mossy fiber-parallel fiber (PF) pathway, both converging onto Purkinje cells (PCs) that are the sole neurons sending outputs from the cerebellar cortex. Glutamate receptor δ2 (GluRδ2) is expressed selectively in cerebellar PCs and localized exclusively at the PF-PC synapses. We found that a significant number of PC spines lack synaptic contacts with PF terminals and some of residual PF-PC synapses show mismatching between pre- and postsynaptic specializations in conventional and conditional GluRδ2 knockout mice. Studies with mutant mice revealed that in addition to PF-PC synapse formation, GluRδ2 is essential for synaptic plasticity, motor learning, and the restriction of CF territory. GluRδ2 regulates synapse formation through the amino-terminal domain, while the control of synaptic plasticity, motor learning, and CF territory is mediated through the carboxyl-terminal domain. Thus, GluRδ2 is the molecule that bridges synapse formation and motor learning. We found that the trans-synaptic interaction of postsynaptic GluRδ2 and presynaptic neurexins (NRXNs) through cerebellin 1 (Cbln1) mediates PF-PC synapse formation. The synaptogenic triad is composed of one molecule of tetrameric GluRδ2, two molecules of hexameric Cbln1 and four molecules of monomeric NRXN. Thus, GluRδ2 triggers synapse formation by clustering four NRXNs. These findings provide a molecular insight into the mechanism of synapse formation in the brain.


We characterize microfluidic flows of jammed suspensions of soft microgels (Carbopol) behaving as yield-stress fluids. We quantify the wall slip friction, i.e., the slip velocity V versus the tangential stress at the wall σw . We demonstrate a transition in slip regimes, from a nonlinear behavior (V ∝ σ 2 w) to a linear one, as the stress at the wall is increased, as expected from scaling arguments. Using fluorescent imaging to characterize the microgel size, we rationalize the two friction regimes for various samples by estimating viscous and elastic forces at the scale of the microgel particle. Only local arguments are thus necessary to predict wall slip friction, in contrast to other complex flow features such as fluidity or shear banding where bulk and surface properties appear to be strongly related.


Objectives Thyroid disorders may cause many non-specific symptoms. In the evaluation of suspected thyroid disorder mostly only thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) measurement is necessary. As thyroid ultrasound is readily available in German ambulatory care it is frequently used early in the diagnostic process without indication. This might be a trigger for cascades of further overdiagnosis and finally overtreatment. Cascades being defined as chains of diagnostic events and treatment that are difficult to influence once they have been started. In this study we aimed to describe clinical pathways of different groups with suspected thyroid disorder. We wanted to learn about the triggers of cascades, the drivers of diagnostic control loops and the final outcomes. Method Routine data of patients with statutory health insurance held by the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians were used for retrospective analysis. Early use of sonography was defined as having an initial TSH test followed by a sonography within 28 days. Data of these patients were clustered in groups with regard to medical procedures. Clusters were then compared to identify factors related to medical overuse and overtreatment. Results The sample included 58,114 patients. Data analysis is not completed yet. The study design, the project status as well as the results, will be available until the conference and presented there. Conclusions The early use of sonography in the evaluation of suspected thyroid disorders might trigger cascades of overdiagnosis and finally unnecessary surgical interventions. By systematically analyzing clinical pathways, we hope to contribute to the identification and reduction of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. The project is embedded in the PRO PRICARE health services research network (Preventing Overdiagnosis in PRImary CARE). PRO PRICARE is funded by the German Ministry of Research and Education.


This report contains a chemical and biological characterization of sediments from the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER) in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). The STEER Management Plan (published in 2011) identified chemical contaminants and habitat loss as high or very high threats and called for a characterization of chemical contaminants as well as an assessment of their effects on natural resources. The baseline information contained in this report on chemical contaminants, toxicity and benthic infaunal community composition can be used to assess current conditions, as well as the efficacy of future restoration activities. In this phase of the project, 185 chemical contaminants, including a number of organic (e.g., hydrocarbons and pesticides) and inorganic (e.g., metals) compounds, were analyzed from 24 sites in the STEER. Sediments were also analyzed using a series of toxicity bioassays, including amphipod mortality, sea urchin fertilization impairment, and the cytochrome P450 Human Reporter Gene System (HRGS), along with a characterization of the benthic infaunal community. Higher levels of chemical contaminants were found in Mangrove Lagoon and Benner Bay in the western portion of the study area than in the eastern area. The concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), chlordane, zinc, copper, lead and mercury were above a NOAA sediment quality guideline at one or more sites, indicating impacts may be present in more sensitive species or life stages in the benthic environment. Copper at one site in Benner Bay, however, was above a NOAA guideline indicating that effects on benthic organisms were likely. The antifoulant boat hull ingredient tributyltin, or TBT, was found at the third highest concentration in the history of NOAA's National Status and Trends (NS&T) Program, which monitors the Nation's coastal and estuarine waters for chemical contaminants and bioeffects. Unfortunately, there do not appear to be any established sediment quality guidelines for TBT. Results of the bioassays indicated significant sediment toxicity in Mangrove Lagoon and Benner Bay using multiple tests. The benthic infaunal communities in Mangrove Lagoon and Benner Bay appeared severely diminished.


We explore two widely used empirical models for the galaxy-halo connection, subhalo abundance matching (SHAM) and the halo occupation distribution (HOD) and compare their predictions with the hydrodynamical simulation IllustrisTNG (TNG) for a range of statistics that quantify the galaxy distribution at $n_{\rm gal}\approx1.3\times10^{-3}\,[{\rm Mpc}/h]^{-3}$. We observe that in their most straightforward implementations, both models fail to reproduce the two-point clustering measured in TNG. We find that SHAM models constructed using the relaxation velocity, $V_{\rm relax}$, and the peak velocity, $V_{\rm peak}$, perform best, and match the clustering reasonably well, although neither model captures adequately the one-halo clustering. Splitting the total sample into sub-populations, we discover that SHAM overpredicts the clustering of high-mass, blue, star-forming, and late-forming galaxies and uderpredicts that of low-mass, red, quiescent, and early-forming galaxies. We also study various baryonic effects, finding that subhalos in the dark-mater-only simulation have consistently higher values of their SHAM-proxy properties than their full-physics counterparts. We then consider a two-dimensional implementation of the HOD model augmented with a secondary parameter (environment, velocity anisotropy, $\sigma^2R_{\rm halfmass}$, and total potential) and tuned so as to match the two-point clustering of the IllustrisTNG galaxies on large scales. We analyze these galaxy populations adopting alternative statistical tools such as galaxy-galaxy lensing, void-galaxy cross-correlations and cumulants of the smoothed density field, finding that the hydrodynamical galaxy distribution disfavors $\sigma^2 R_{\rm halfmass}$ and the total potential as secondary parameters, while the environment and velocity anisotropy samples are consistent with full-physics across all statistical probes examined.


Progress is reported on (1) interpretation of interface tests; (2) the effect of interface properties on flexural strength and its connection with uniaxial tensile strength, and (3) effect of interface properties on uniaxial tensile strength. Goal is to establish relations between manipulable material variables and mechanical response. The approach has been: (i) to hypothesize as to the key underlying physical mechanisms and to represent these hypotheses with model theoretical problems which can relate material parameters to observed mechanical behavior, (ii) to develop the necessary techniques to analyze the model problems; and (iii) to test the models by comparing the obtained results with experimental data. Phases 1 and 2 have been brought to satisfactory completion; work remains to be done on the third phase.


. This research work focuses attention on the Reservoir Characterization of a hydrocarbon bearing sand in "Olofield of the Niger Delta. The environment of deposition is examined and the type produced as a model of the sub-surface reservoir. To achieve this, an integrated analysis of cores from wells, as well as biostratigraphic data and wireline logs of the MM sand were used for the study. The MM sand of study comprises one major depositional sequence. From the petrophysical study carried out through use of composite logs, amalgamated sand is found to be more porous and more permeable than the tidal channel. Core analysis revealed the existence of ten lithofacies. These lithofacies are grouped into facies association in a vertical sequence with a genetic significance using primary


To address questions of stem cell diversity during skeletal myogenesis, a Brainbow-like genetic cell lineage tracing method, dubbed Musclebow, was derived by enhancer trapping in zebrafish. It is shown that at least 15 muscle precursor cells (mpcs) seed each somite, where they proliferate but contribute little to muscle growth prior to hatching. Thereafter, dermomyotome-derived mpc clones rapidly expand while some progeny undergo terminal differentiation, leading to stochastic clonal drift. No evidence of cell lineage-based clonal fate diversity was obtained. Neither fibre nor mpc death was observed in uninjured animals. Individual marked muscle fibres persist across much of the lifespan indicating low rates of nuclear turnover. In adulthood, early-marked mpc clones label stable blocks of tissue comprising a significant fraction of either epaxial or hypaxial somite. Fusion of cells from separate early-marked clones occurs in regions of clone overlap. Wounds are regenerated from many/most local mpcs; no evidence for specialised stem mpcs was obtained. In conclusion, our data indicate that most mpcs in muscle tissue contribute to local growth and repair and suggest that cellular turnover is low in the absence of trauma. Summary Statement Musclebow clonal cell lineage analysis is introduced to reveal the cellular dynamics of skeletal muscle formation, repair and maintenance throughout the life of zebrafish.


Normally easy task of plat in urban architecture is that using underground full of activities for increase building site efficiency. Especially for using underground space for the parking lot. Also utilize underground is more increase for fulfill requirement in modern society considered with environmental friendly architecture. The primary objective of this study is to apply analyzed formal foundation type for selecting the optimum type of parking lots considered with structural stability, economical efficiency, construction efficiency, construction duration. This study aim to on criteria decided through the questionaries for the selection considered with in the scale of second stories parking lots underground, parking volume is 80 and reinforced concrete structure. The bearing capacity is 6~8m and downward from surface, healthy ground bearing capacity is 40 t/m2. This study comparative analysis and discuss economical efficiency, construction efficiency, construction duration based constructivist stability which applied Single foundation, Mat foundation, Drop Mat foundation. The result of this study is as follows; First, the result of economical efficiency is that on the basis of single foundation, Drop Mat foundation is 1.88, Mat foundation 2.04 as a comparative analysis on the basis of total construction cost included material cost, labor coast and machinery cost. Second, the result of construction efficiency order is single foundation, Drop Mat foundation, Mat foundation as a comparative analysis on the based connected characteristics. Third, the result of construction duration is that on the basis of Mat foundation, Drop Mat foundation is 1.33, single foundation is 1.87 as a comparative analysis Critical Path. Forth, Each foundational type characteristics order through the matrix method is that overall each formal type of foundation contraries at economical efficiency and construction efficiency, construction duration. Also expect contradiction between engineers and owners due to engineer pursuit construction duration and ower to begin with economical efficiency. Fifth, The selection of suitable foundation formal type needs that based consider project characteristic and field condition as according to above result of a comparative analysis. As a result, a comparative analysis economical efficiency, construction efficiency, construction duration of Mat foundation, Drop Mat foundation, single foundation with 3Bay reinforced structure underground parking lots on the healthy ground.


On September 19, 2017, an earthquake shook central Mexico. Sixty buildings collapsed and about two hundred people died. A group of rescuers conformed of soundmen, soundwomen and audio engineers using their audio equipment, assisted in the search for survivors in the collapsed buildings possibly experiencing an epistemological break, and turning mediated listening into a resource for social action. While considering the usefulness of their gear in a chaotic context, they extended the boundaries of their profession, the use of technology and the manipulation of their body and listening mode for the common good, relearning the habit of listening. To present the case, the sociological theoretical framework of acoustic communication, the mediation and transformation of the body through the use of technology and some of the more propositive works of audio rescue technology have been reviewed. To frame this listening transformation, the testimony of the intervention of one of the members of the Red Sparrows Brigade is included and a review is made of some printed and audiovisual materials about and of the individuals and organizations that emerged as a result of these efforts.


Object-oriented development (OOD) has attracted great interest in MIS due to the belief that OOD makes it easier to develop and maintain software and achieve the benefits of software reuse. However, the transition from a structured development (SD) to an OOD methodology may be especially challenging and some argue that SD knowledge may interfere with the ability to learn OOD. We assessed a team of developers' understanding of SD and OOD concepts via a survey administered at the beginning of a development project and one year later. Developers increased their understanding of some OOD concepts, but these were associated with increases in understanding of SD concepts. This challenges the idea that developers must "unlearn" SD concepts to adopt OOD. We also found that developer's mental models were highly consistent with regard to SD and most OOD concepts at the beginning and end of the project.


I defend the normativity of meaning against recent objections by arguing for a new interpretation of the 'ought' relevant to meaning. Both critics and defenders of the normativity thesis have understood statements about how an expression ought to be used as either prescriptive (indicating that speakers have reason to use the expression in a certain way) or semantic (designating certain uses as correct in a sense explicable in terms of truth). I propose an alternative view of the 'ought' as conveying the primitively normative attitudes speakers must adopt towards their uses if they are to use the expression with understanding.


Objective  To explore the mechanism of chemically synthesized miRNA-33a inhibiting proliferation activity of colon cancer cells HCT-116. Methods  HCT-116 cells were transfected with miRNA-33a mimics, miRNA-33a inhibitor and miRNA-33a negative control (NC). The contents of miRNA-33a in the transfected cells and changes of Twist protein expression were detected by real-time PCR and Western blotting respectively 48 hours after transfection; the changes in cell proliferation activity were measured using CCK-8 method 72 hours after transfection. Bioinformatic software was used to predict the binding site of miRNA-33a with Twist, and a luciferase reporter method was used to verify whether there is the target site of miRNA-33a in Twist gene. Results  Transfection of HCT-116 cells with miRNA-33a mimics significantly increased miRNA-33a mRNA and decreased Twist protein expression (P<0.05), but the transfection with miRNA-33a inhibitor significantly decreased miRNA-33a mRNA and increased Twist protein expression (P<0.05); moreover, miRNA-33a mimics significantly inhibited proliferation activity of HCT116 cells and miRNA-33a inhibitor significantly enhanced cell proliferation activity 48 and 72h after transfection compared with the control group (P<0.05). The binding site of miRNA-33a in targeting gene Twist was successfully predicted and verified. Conclusion  miRNA-33a inhibits the proliferation activity in HCT-116 cells by silencing the expression of its target gene Twist.

 DOI: 10.11855/j.issn.0577-7402.2016.09.05


Abstract The aim of this investigation was to compare the diagnostic performance of radiographers and deep learning algorithms in pulmonary nodule/mass detection on chest radiograph. A test set of 100 chest radiographs containing 53 cases with no pathology (normal) and 47 abnormal cases (pulmonary nodules/masses) independently interpreted by 6 trained radiographers and deep learning algorithems in a random order. The diagnostic performances of both deep learning algorithms and trained radiographers for pulmonary nodules/masses detection were compared. QUIBIM Chest X-ray Classifier, a deep learning through mass algorithm that performs superiorly to practicing radiographers in the detection of pulmonary nodules/masses (AUCMass: 0.916 vs AUCTrained radiographer: 0.778, P < .001). In addition, heat-map algorithm could automatically detect and localize pulmonary nodules/masses in chest radiographs with high specificity. In conclusion, the deep-learning based computer-aided diagnosis system through 4 algorithms could potentially assist trained radiographers by increasing the confidence and access to chest radiograph interpretation in the age of digital age with the growing demand of medical imaging usage and radiologist burnout.


In the title compound, C13H8Br2N2O6, the 2-furyl ring is essentially planar, with a maximum deviation of 0.002 (2) Å. It is inclined at an angle of 33.94 (9)° to the benzene ring. Both nitro groups are slightly twisted away from their attached rings; the dihedral angles are 4.6 (2)° between the nitro group and the 2-furyl ring, and 13.72 (19)° between the nitro group and the benzene ring. In the crystal, molecules are linked into chains along [110] and [10] via two pairs of intermolecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, displaying R 2 2(10) ring motifs.


This paper addresses the problem of the management of resources metadata. A variety of responses are discussed, and we describe one possible way forward, which uses a semantic annotation management tool. The term 'semantic' describes the ability to create, retrieve, query and navigate knowledgeably about things identified by a Web URI. The support for this semantic tool is RDF, through the integration of Jena, an open-source RDF API provided by HP laboratory. Thanks to RDF capabilities, this tool offers new search features such as hierarchical browsing based on the structure of RDF vocabularies and faceted-browsing using properties lists defined by the end-user. The navigation inside annotations uses intuitive modes such as left/right and backward/forward movements. Presentation is controlled by the user using a subset of the Fresnel language to specify how RDF graphs are presented. This work is ongoing; certain open issues are raised.


ICT energy efficiency is a growing concern. Large effort has already been spent making hardware energy aware and improving hardware energy efficiency. Although effort is devoted to specific software areas like embedded/mobile systems, much remains to be done at software level, especially for applications deployed in the Cloud. In order to help Cloud application developers to learn to reason about how much energy is consumed by their application on the server-side, we propose a framework composed of (1) a Goal-Question-Metric analysis of energy goals, (2) a UML profile for relating energy requirements and associated KPI metrics to application design and deployment elements, and (3) an automated Cloud deployment of energy probes able to monitor those KPI and aggregate them back to questions and goals. The focus of this short paper is on the development of the UML profile. We detail the profile metamodel design and its implementation based on the Open Source Papyrus modeller. We also report about the application of our profile to a case study.


8-hydroxyquinoline complexes of La(III) Gd (III) and Tb (III) were synthesized and the photoacoustic (PA)spectra of these complexes were measured in the region of 300-800nm at room temperature. The PA spectra and excitation spectra are compared and interpreted. It is observed that the photoacoustic spectra and the excitation spectra behave complementarily. The different fluorescence properties of the complexes and the relaxation process models are studied by the photoacoustic amplitude and phase spectra. It is confirmed by the PA phase spectrum that the PA absorption of pi-pi* transition of Tb (Ox)3 complex is dominantly contributed by the slow radiationless relaxation which is due to inner-molecular energy transfer.


This paper discusses the design, development and manufacturing of the Ford mechanically assembled aluminum radiator. This new product is lighter in weight, lower in cost, and has superior reliability and durability compared to its copper and brass counterpart. Extensive research and development by Ford of coolants, corrosion inhibitors, and the use of an air side sealant at the tube to header interface has made the mechanically assembled aluminum radiator very attractive for vehicle applications where moderate cooling requirements exist.


In this paper we discuss some generalizations of Ulam's game with lies: some of them are simply probabilistic variants of it, some others differ from it by the presence of more than one number to guess. In the last part of the paper, we also discuss the relationship between such variants and many-valued logic. This paper is just a survey of known results, but in its last part it also contains some plans for future


Recent increases in the prevalence of childhood obesity have created an urgent need for preventive strategies, but such strategies in turn depend on an improved understanding of the etiology of pediatric obesity. There is a dearth of evidence of the cause of pediatric obesity at present, with much of the literature of limited quality, inconclusive, and contradictory. The present review highlights the paradox of energy imbalance—its apparent simplicity but actual complexity—and the difficulties in etiologic research that arise from this complexity. The review identifies a number of emerging problems for etiologic studies. The review also makes a number of proposals that might improve future etiologic studies and provides a framework for integrating the diverse body of evidence of etiology that will become available in future. Gathering improved evidence of etiology, and then integrating and interpreting it, will take many years. In the meantime, an emphasis on developing more effective preventive interventions is necessary.


According to data 2018-2021 on the status of the National Transportation Safety Committee, the largest percentage of ship accidents (29%) in Indonesia are caused by fire or exploded. The main purpose of this research is to design a website-based application that can be accessed by phone to support ship crews in preventing and handling fires on board using a decision support system method, where the website-based application itself is an application that can be run using web and browser technology bases of internet or intranet. In the preparation of the research, first, observations were made on the cargo of dangerous goods transported by the container ship (MV. Sinar Penida). A website-based application for fire prevention and handling system is designed after making a mock-up. Application design is done by making mock-ups, designing interfaces, creating databases, and coding the application system. The features have been equipped with an emergency muster list, fire handling based on the class of cause, and a cargo separation feature based on the ship's bay plan using the Decision Support System (DSS) method or decision support system that can increase the effectiveness in decision making.


Three new compounds of Hg(II) have been synthesized, [Hg(quinoxaline)2(NO2)2] (1), [Hg3(μ-quinoxaline)2(μ-SCN)6]n (2) and [Hg(μ-quinoxaline)(μ-CN)2]n (3) through the reaction between a quinoxaline ligand and mercury(II) salts which have then been analyzed using IR spectroscopy and thermal gravimetric (TGA) analysis. Furthermore, these compounds have also been characterized using single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The single-crystal X-ray data of compound 1 shows the complex to be a monomer of mercury(II). The structural studies of compounds 2 and 3 show that these structures are two- and three-dimensional coordination polymers of mercury(II). Under mild reaction conditions, the mentioned compounds exhibited high efficiency and reusability in desulfurization removal of model oil which was prepared by dissolving dibenzothiophene in n-hexane. Furthermore, the DBT removal in the solution obeys first order reaction kinetics and the activation energy of the adsorption process was found to be 16.57 kJ mol−1. Finally, solid state crystal to crystal transformation of these compounds was investigated.


In this paper, a time-domain augmented electric field integral equation (TD-AEFIE) is presented based on numerical convolution technique. To improve the late time stability, the numerical convolution method is implemented and further developed in AEFIE for solving low-frequency problems. In comparison with traditional methods, the presented method with the 1st-order temporal basis function achieves high precision and fast convergence. Numerical results for the transient scattering problems demonstrate the stability and accuracy of the proposed method.


Abstract Purpose: Despite the high radioresistance of melanoma, unresectable lesions can be subjected to radiation treatment with the use of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as a dose-enhancing agent preferentially loaded on these lesions. The modality of single high-dose treatment has been investigated to confirm its therapeutic efficiency for AuNP-treated melanoma cells. This study explores the feasibility of utilizing AuNPs in fractionated radiation therapy of melanoma for further therapeutic gain. Materials and methods: The responses of human skin melanoma cells to 150-kVp X-ray exposure at 2 and 4 Gy were assessed by quantify gamma-H2AX expression and clonogenic survival, with or without 320 μM of 50 nm AuNP treatment in a culture medium. The influence of AuNPs on cell cycle distribution was observed before irradiation and during 3 d period after irradiation. Results: The AuNP treatment of melanoma cells influenced the cellular response to kilovoltage X-rays to similar extents in terms of the percentage of gamma-H2AX-positive cells and the fractional loss of clonogenicity. Without radiation exposure, AuNPs reduced the portion of melanoma cells at the G2/M phase from 11 to 7%. After irradiation, the progression of the melanoma cells treated with AuNPs toward the G2/M phase was more rapid than that of the AuNP-free cells, and the release of the former from the G2/M phase was slower than that of the latter. At 24 h after irradiation with AuNPs, the cell cycle was rearranged in a pattern that increased the vulnerability of the cells to radiation damage. Conclusions: In addition to the benefit of AuNP treatment to the control of melanoma in single high-dose treatment, further therapeutic gain is expected through fractionated X-ray treatment that involves daily exposure. The AuNP-treated melanoma cells of an increased portion in the radiosensitive G2/M phase following a fractionated dose delivery would respond to the next treatment with an enhanced chance of clonogenic death.


Ostriches carry on their daily activities burying their heads, believing It's an instinctive behavior. However, one day a research by phylogeneticist Dr. Kays proves otherwise.


Abstract Edible insects, such as palm weevil larvae, have been promoted as an alternative source of nutrients in developing countries for their nutritional benefits, cost‐effective rearing, and yearly availability. Unfortunately, consumer acceptance remains a barrier to their utilization. A supplemental palm weevil larvae and tomato paste were developed as part of efforts to understand whether incorporating edible insects into staple foods could help overcome this barrier. Palm weevil larvae flour and tomato paste were mixed in three formulations that had 8, 15, and 30% of palm weevil larvae flour. Samples were subjected to proximate and mineral content analyses and sensory evaluation. Among the blends, tomato paste containing 30% palm weevil larvae had the highest protein, fat, and total solids content as compared to unfortified tomato paste. Iron and zinc levels also increased with increasing levels of palm weevil larvae flour. Carbohydrate and crude fiber concentrations of the samples, however, decreased with increasing fortification levels. The overall acceptance and willingness to purchase fortified tomato paste as determined by sensory evaluation was high for all samples and increased with increasing knowledge about palm weevil larvae's nutritional benefits. Overall acceptance and willingness to purchase fortified tomato paste were significantly dependent on the samples' color and consumers' overall liking of the products. Tomato paste fortified with palm weevil larvae can provide a complementary source of iron for Ghanaians.


ABSTRACT Despite a wealth of literature covering police abuse of power and excessive use of force in the developed West, a major challenge in socio-legal literature is the paucity of empirical research that accurately assess the same constructs in post-colonial African society. The few existing studies have shown that the police in developing countries are more likely to abuse their powers and are largely not accountable to the public. The current study presents an important attempt to empirically assess what is known and what needs to be learned to better understand and prevent police abuse and the use of excessive force; and how the use of force variables influence trust in the police. Since there is no single, universally agreed-upon definition of police use of force, in this current study a context-specific constructs that are peculiar to police-citizen relations in Nigeria were adopted for the data analysis. The result confirmed that police abuse and the use of excessive force have negative effect on trust in the police. The implications of these findings are discussed.


Mercury contents in head hair of 58 dentists, working at the hospital of Nihon University School of Dentistry were determined using neutron activation analysis. The values ranged from 2.47 ppm to 13.7 ppm. The frequency distribution of the mercury contents increased steeply at about 2 ppm to the maximum of 4 approximately 5 ppm, and decreased to about 11 ppm, its distribution pattern followed a log-normal one with a median of 5.46 ppm. The dentists were divided into two groups and the mercury contents in head hair of them were compared with each other. The arithmetic and geometric means of the values for dentists who handled amalgam in dental practice were 5.66 ppm (SD +/- 1.80) and 5.40 ppm (SD multiplied/divided by 1.36), while those for the dentists who did not handle amalgam in dental practice were 5.96 ppm (SD +/- 2.82) and 5.38 ppm (SD multiplied/divided by 1.59). The values of them agreed well with each other. The arithmetic mean for all dentists was 5.79 ppm (SD +/- 2.28) and the geometric mean of them was 5.40 ppm (SD multiplied/divided by 1.46). They were much lower than the values reported by Suzuki, Miyazawa or Sairenji, et al. in the past year, and they agreed well to those for normal Japanese men with the same age. Therefore it is concluded that proper mercury handling might be established in the dental office.


The identity of a biological specimen can be considered the most basic type of trait: the species (or higher taxon) the specimen belongs to, one of the three most fundamental data elements (along with location and time) that configure the primary biodiversity data record whose quantification may underpin biological monitoring programs. A general image containing specimens (for example, a photo from a surveillance camera), where individual organisms are to be identified, is akin to an image of a single organism where traits are to be recognized: the individual, often distinct organisms in the image, become the traits of the image.
 In many cases, automated segmentation and classification/identification and counting of individuals captured within general images containing multiple organisms is most desirable—provided precision and recall exceed a reasonable threshold: that which minimizes the false-positive error rate, as compared to human identification in images. When this occurs, quantitative monitoring data are amenable to good automation, saving much time and human effort.
 One particularly well-suited case is that of airborne pollen and spore monitoring, hitherto done manually in most of the world. However, systems are being developed that can recognize atmospheric pollen content from images. Two main approaches are possible: either fully automated systems, or recognition from captured field images. In both cases, some instance of artificial intelligence, most often a convolutional neural network, is tasked with the recognition of pollen and spore types, after proper training, from microscopic images. Several problems exist for the wider adoption of such approaches. Among them, the workflow order of segmentation and identification, the portability of the neural network training for different locations, the differences in performance for distinct particle types, and the generation and archival of images: field images vs. individual (segmented) detected specimens, which call for wholly different approaches to metadata.
 In this presentation we review the general outlook of automated airborne pollen and spore monitoring data, and compare performance data in some specific deep learning settings and workflows, based on actual monitoring work, training and tests with real images.


Fragmentary utterances refer to short answers smaller than grammatically complete sentence. Interestingly, the fragments convey the same propositional content that their full sentential counterparts do and have assertoric force. To capture this form-function mismatch, two types of analyses have been made so far: direct interpretation analyses and ellipsis analyses. The former assumes that fragments don't have hidden sentential structure and consist of non-sentential XPs. Hence, the expository burden from form-function mismatch is placed on syntax-semantics. The latter assumes that fragments have full sentential structure prior to ellipsis. Hence, compared with direct interpretation analyses, less simple syntactic structure is assumed. The ellipsis analyses have a crucial advantage such as preservation of usual syntax-semantic mapping: uniform factors in interpretation must stem from uniform syntactic source. This paper aims to show that the ellipsis analyses are more plausible in explaining grammatical properties of fragments. We claim that ellipsis approach is superior to alternatives in explaining both case-marked and non-case-marked fragments in Korean. Diverse evidence from case-matching, scope, P-stranding is presented to confirm our analysis.


A method has been proposed for exact calculation of the optical parameters n and k of a thin film on a transparent substrate by simultaneously solving the equations for two of the envelopes of the transmission and reflection spectra. The singularity of the solution and the convergency area are proved, and the influence of the inaccuracies in drawing the envelopes upon the errors made during the calculation of n and k is also investigated. The method is most accurate for the envelopes of the transmission minima and the reflection maxima in the region of strong and medium absorption. The accuracy of other methods which use data from the transmission or reflection envelopes has also been investigated. The present method describes correctly the change of n in the region of medium and strong absorption for an amorphous film with composition Ge28As12S60.


In this article the author's interpretation of the concept of transport space is offered, its brief characteristic is given. The basic features of the transport space and evidence of the existence of its variable hierarchy that allows observe the transport space at different levels of specificity, are specified. It is shown that freight forwarding can be considered as one of the subspaces of the transport space. It is proved that one of the main requirements for the development of this component should be the requirement to implement the maximum possible information conductivity of all its elements and links, and, therefore, the maximum interest of all its participants. An important role in the study of the transport process has been formulated. The described technique displays all the iterative components of the transport aspect.


PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW: The Department of Health Policy Project Team asked the Policy Research Unit in the Health
of Children, Young People and Families (CPRU) to conduct a piece of work as follows.
To identify and review the range of existing standardised instruments/tools that could be
used to measure children's developmental progress at age 2–2 1/2 years, to enable a
population level outcome measure that meets specific criteria to be selected. This should
pay specific attention to tools that could be used as part of the 2-2½ years Healthy Child
Programme (HCP) review and, include an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of
the different tools for the purpose of a population level outcome measure. The aspects of
children's development to consider are physical, social and emotional, cognitive and speech
and language.
METHODS: We conducted a review using systematic methods to search the literature for papers citing
measures of child development. Other sources were also used including a search of the
Internet, gathering review papers and consulting experts. 35 measures were identified for
further examination. Only those that covered all the domains of interest were examined in
more detail. Finally, the two measures which seemed most suitable for the stated purpose
were assessed against pre-determined requirements set out by the Department of Health.
FINDINGS: Thirty five measures met our inclusion criteria, 32 of these were identified through the
systematic search, with 13 of these covering all the domains of interest. These included
measures completed by parents (n=3), measures completed by health professionals based
on the direct observation of a child's skills (n=7), and those involving both parents' report
and professionals' observations (n=3). Two parent completed measures, Ages and Stages
(ASQ-3) and Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) meet most of the criteria
laid out by DH, and have significant advantages over using a measure that is completed by professionals. Although they are currently being used in many parts of England in the 2-2½
years HCP review, we could not locate formal peer reviewed evaluations of these measures,
and only limited evidence of parental acceptability of PEDS. Importantly neither measure
appears to have been validated or standardised for use in the UK.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: ASQ and PEDS best satisfy the requirements for a population measure of children's
development at 2-2½ years to be incorporated into the HCP review, but both measures
require proper evaluation in a representative UK population.
As PEDS is basically a pass/fail screening test it would not be as useful as ASQ in providing a
more detailed view of the population year on year. It is suggested that both PEDS and ASQ
are tested on different cohorts of children to assess their reliability and acceptability.
A subset of each should also be assessed using an appropriate gold standard test to
establish the validity in a representative UK population. Following this, one measure should
be chosen for national use as a population measure. By their nature, if the two measures
are in use, it will not be possible to aggregate the data from each into one outcome
measure to provide informative data on the development of 2 year old children.


Pain is an unpleasant experience for all patients including intensive care patients; if it is not treated properly, it has deleterious effects on patients' acute and chronic well-beings. In ICU patients, it causes sympathetic stimulation leading to adverse hemodynamic effects and after discharge, these patients are at the higher risk for developing chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorders. Apart from racial and regional factors, sleep deprivation, anxiety, and delirium increase the pain perceptions. Pain assessment is a prerequisite for adequate pain management. The ICU patients are sedated and ventilated, and assessment scales differ depending on whether the patient is able to communicate. There are different pain assessment scales for both groups of patients. The preferred mode of delivery of analgesic medication is intravenous route as intramuscular and subcutaneous route are not reliable for drug delivery in these patients. Patient and nurse controlled analgesia gives better sense of pain control. In the treatment of pain, opioids are the commonly used medications, but paracetamol, dexmedetomidine, and gabapentin are increasingly used. Newer trends are multimodal analgesia, where the combinations of analgesic medications with different mechanism of action are used. Another trend is increasing use of analgosedation; they not only control the pain but also relieve anxiety.


Summary. We quantitatively studied the orointestinal yeast colonization of 15 consecutive paediatric patients who underwent 16 bone marrow transplantations (BMT). Cultures were performed initially, longitudinally weekly during the period of aplasia (in‐patient treatment) and, if possible, also during out‐patient follow‐up. With one exception, all patients received fluconazole as antifungal prophylaxis. Patients remained free of yeasts during the complete observation period only in six out of 16 cases (38%). Non‐albicans species of Candida were isolated in six out of 16 cases (38%), mainly C. glabrata (five out of 16; 31%). All of these patients had undergone allogeneic BMT. In one case, there was indirect evidence of systemic invasion by C. glabrata. Even combined prophylaxis with fluconazole and amphotericin B suspension could not reliably prevent yeast colonization but this combination at present appears to be the optimal regime. Regular concomitant Candida serology (determination of specific antibodies by three methods) proved to be a valuable additional surveillance method.


Managing the contribution of prominent animals to the pedigree of livestock populations is a topic of increasing importance worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate methods of controlling the accumulation of inbreeding in the Irish HolsteinFriesian population through the methodology used to arrange contract matings. Two non-random mating systems were investigated, linear programming (LP) and sequential programming (SEQ); these were compared with random mating (RAN) and mating of the best sires to the best dams (TOP). All mating systems were compared across a range of objectives: to maximise genetic merit for the economic breeding index (EBI) used in Ireland, to minimise population coancestry with breeding females (R-value), and a dual objective of simultaneously maximising EBI and minimising coancestry with breeding females. Algorithms were developed to identify elite dams and sires from the national herd for use in the contract mating programme. One thousand contract matings were generated using each selection method, with the aim of producing 83 test sires (the number of bulls which it is feasible to test annually in Ireland) for use in a progeny testing scheme. The top 1,000 matings, as selected by the LP and SEQ methods, performed similarly when maximising the dual objective (average progeny EBI of €145 and an average coancestry of the progeny to the population of breeding females of 0.93%). The TOP and RAN methods both selected phantom progeny with higher coancestry with the breeding female population (1.21% and 1.34%, respectively) than the LP and SEQ methods. However the matings from the TOP method generated progeny of higher genetic merit (EBI = €199), whilst the progeny generated from the RAN method had lower genetic merit (EBI = €127) than those selected by the LP or SEQ methods.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Triglyceride glucose (TyG) index is considered a new surrogate marker of insulin resistance that associated with the development of vascular disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of TyG index in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

METHODS AND RESULTS
A total of 3181 patients with AMI were included in the analysis. Patients were stratified into 2 groups according to their TyG index levels: the TyG index <8.88 group and the TyG index ≥8.88 group. The incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) during a median of 33.3-month follow-up were recorded. Multivariable Cox regression models revealed that the TyG index was positively associated with all-cause death [HR (95% CI): 1.51 (1.10,2.06), p = 0.010], cardiac death [HR (95% CI): 1.68 (1.19,2.38), p = 0.004], revascularization [HR (95% CI): 1.50 (1.16,1.94), p = 0.002], cardiac rehospitalization [HR (95% CI): 1.25 (1.05,1.49), p = 0.012], and composite MACEs [HR (95% CI): 1.19 (1.01,1.41), p = 0.046] in patients with AMI. The independent predictive effect of TyG index on composite MACEs was mainly reflected in the subgroups of male gender and smoker. The area under the curve (AUC) of the TyG index predicting the occurrence of MACEs in AMI patients was 0.602 [95% CI 0.580,0.623; p < 0.001].

CONCLUSION
High TyG index levels appeared to be associated with an increased risk of MACEs in patients with AMI. The TyG index might be a valid predictor of cardiovascular outcomes of patients with AMI.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
Retrospectively registered.


This paper presents the results of a simulation-based performance comparison between assembly lines (AL) and assembly cells (AC) manufacturing systems with real-time distributed arrival time for just-in-time (JIT)-oriented production environment. This research adds to the sparse body of literature in this area. The previous performance comparisons were made in smaller scalability because of the combinational problem. In addition, the comparisons were addressed in centralised and hierarchical systems. In this paper, the distributed arrival time control (DATC) system is used to make performance comparison of two manufacturing systems scalable and practical in the heterarchical manufacturing system. It expands the range of the comparison between AL and AC into a real-time environment. In addition, this research includes four levels of the number of stations, four levels of assembly task time standard deviations, and two levels of system types. The results indicate that assembly cells have the ability to outperform assembly lines for the orientation of JIT production and to handle a wide range of variability with little change in mean squared deviation. It also shows that distributed arrival time control system can provide the stability of the scheduling of the manufacturing system.


In interwar and post-war societies, men were required to show endurance, courage, and emotional stability, but their traumas, caused by the experience of war and the economic, political, and social realities of the post-war period, are just started to be analysed. Algirdas Jeronimas Landsbergis (1924–2004), a playwright, prose writer, editor, literary and theatre critic of the Lithuanian diaspora, conveys these themes in his work. The images of masculinity revealed in the texts help clarify the general experience of the society hidden in the works and understand what kind of masculinity prevailed in society after the world wars changed the lives of women and men. Using K. G. Jung's theory of analytical psychology, the article analyses A. Landsbergis' short stories, which literature researchers less studied. Texts are explored as reflections and shapers of society, and in the case of masculinity, it is discussed what is meant by the archetypes of masculinity recorded in the literature. Based on the work of R. L. Moore and D. Gillette and J. C. Campbell, the archetypes of the divine child, the child prodigy, the Oedipus child and the hero and mature masculinity – the king, warrior, magician and lover are distinguished.


The blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that is growing in importance since inception. Besides cryptocurrencies, it has also crossed its boundary inspiring various organizations, enterprises, or business establishments to adopt this technology benefiting from the most innovative security features. The decentralized and immutable aspects have been the key points that endorse blockchain as one of the most secure technologies at the present time. However, in recent times such features seemed to be faded due to new attacking techniques. One of the biggest challenges remains within the consensus protocol itself, which is an essential component to bring all network participants to an agreed state. Cryptocurrencies adopt suitable consensus protocols based on their mining requirement, and Proof of Work (PoW) is the consensus protocol that is being predominated in major cryptocurrencies. Recent consensus protocol-based attacks, such as the 51% attack, Selfish Mining, Miner Bribe Attack, Zero Confirmation Attack, and One Confirmation Attack have been demonstrated feasible. To overcome these attacks, we propose Proof of Adjourn (PoAj), a novel consensus protocol that provides strong protection regardless of attackers hashing capability. After analyzing the 5 major attacks, and current protection techniques indicating the causes of their failure, we compared the PoAj against the most widely used PoW, showing that PoAj is not only able to mitigate the 5 attacks but also attacks relying on having a large amount of hashing power. In addition, the proposed PoAj showed to be an effective approach to mitigate the processing time issue of large-sized transactions. PoAj is not tailored to any particular attack; therefore, it is effective against malicious powerful players. The proposed approach provides a strong barrier not only to current and known attacks but also to future unknown attacks based on different strategies that rely on controlling the majority of the hashing power.


Aims. We aim to study the evolution of dust attenuation in galaxies selected in the infrared (IR) in the redshift range in which they are known to dominate the star formation activity in the universe. The comparison with other measurements of dust attenuation in samples selected using di erent criteria will give us a global picture of the attenuation at work in star-forming galaxies and its evolution with redshift. Methods. We selected galaxies in the mid-IR from the deep survey of the North Ecliptic Field performed by the AKARI satellite. Using multiple filters of IRC instrument, we selected more than 4000 galaxies from their rest-frame emission at 8 m, from z' 0:2 to 2. We built spectral energy distributions from the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) to the far-IR by adding ancillary data in the optical-near IR and fromGALEX and Herschel surveys. We fit spectral energy distributions with the physically-motivated code CIGALE. We test di erent templates for active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and recipes for dust attenuation and estimate stellar masses, star formation rates, amount of dust attenuation, and AGN contribution to the total IR luminosity. We discuss the uncertainties a ecting these estimates on a subsample of galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts. We also define a subsample of galaxies with an IR luminosity close to the characteristic IR luminosity at each redshift and study the evolution of dust attenuation of this selection representative of the bulk of the IR emission. Results. The AGN contribution to the total IR luminosity is found to be on average approximately 10%; with a slight increase with redshift. The determination of AGN contribution does not depend significantly on the assumed AGN templates except for galaxies detected in X-ray. The choice of attenuation law has a marginal impact on the determination of stellar masses and star formation rates. Dust attenuation in galaxies dominating the IR luminosity function is found to increase from z = 0 to z = 1 and to remain almost constant from z = 1 to z = 1:5. Conversely, when galaxies are selected at a fixed IR luminosity, their dust attenuation slightly decreases as redshift increases but with a large dispersion, confirming previous results obtained at lower redshift.The attenuation in our mid-IR selected sample is found 2 mag higher than that found globally in the universe or in UV and H line selections in the same redshift range. This di erence is well explained by an increase of dust attenuation with the stellar mass, in global agreement with other recent studies. Starbursting galaxies do not systematically exhibit a high attenuation. We conclude that the galaxies selected in IR and dominating the star formation exhibit a higher attenuation than those measured on average in the universe because they are massive systems. Conversely UV selected galaxies exhibit a large range of stellar masses leading in a lower average attenuation than that found in an IR selection.


This document provides an in-depth analysis of visualization and interaction tools employed in the context of Virtual Museum. This analysis is required to identify and design the tools and the different components that will be part of the Common Implementation Framework (CIF). The CIF will be the base of the web-based services and tools to support the development of Virtual Museums with particular attention to online Virtual Museum.The main goal is to provide to the stakeholders and developers an useful platform to support and help them in the development of their projects, despite the nature of the project itself.

The design of the Common Implementation Framework (CIF) is based on an analysis of the typical workflow ofthe V-MUST partners and their perceived limitations of current technologies. This document is based also on the results of the V-MUST technical questionnaire (presented in the Deliverable 4.1). Based on these two source of information, we have selected some important tools (mainly visualization tools) and services and we elaborate some first guidelines and ideas for the design and development of the CIF, that shall provide a technological foundation for the V-MUST Platform, together with the V-MUST repository/repositories and the additional services defined in the WP4.

Two state of the art reports, one about user interface design and another one about visualization technologies have been also provided in this document.


Revived interest for beta Ti alloys with increased oxygen content is motivated by the prospect of achieving material with low modulus and high strength simultaneously. Fine tuning of amount of oxygen and beta stabilizing elements is critical for achieving good mechanical properties. This study shows that powder metallurgy method of spark plasma sintering is capable of producing Ti-Nb-Zr-O alloys from elemental powders. This simple approach allows for quick sampling and production of several alloys with various chemical composition. Elemental powders were mixed with appropriate amount of titanium dioxide to achieve Ti-29Nb-7Zr-0.7O alloy. Sintering was performed at 1400 1500 °C for 15 – 30 minutes.


A versatile one-step method for the general synthesis of metal oxide hollow nanostructures is demonstrated. This method involves the controlled deposition of metal oxides on shaped α-Fe(2)O(3) crystals which are simultaneously dissolved. A variety of uniform SnO(2) hollow nanostructures, such as nanococoons, nanoboxes, hollow nanorings, and nanospheres, can be readily generated. The method is also applicable to the synthesis of shaped TiO(2) hollow nanostructures. As a demonstration of the potential applications of these hollow nanostructures, the lithium storage capability of SnO(2) hollow structures is investigated. The results show that such derived SnO(2) hollow structures exhibit stable capacity retention of 600-700 mA h  g(-1) for 50 cycles at a 0.2 C rate and good rate capability at 0.5-1 C, perhaps benefiting from the unique structural characteristics.


The entire body of research literature is currently estimated at 100-150 million publications with an annual increase of around 1.5 million. Systematically reading and analysing the full body of knowledge is now beyond the capacities of any human being. Consequently, it is important to better understand how we can leverage Natural Language Processing/Text Mining techniques to aid knowledge creation and improve the process by which research is being done. This workshop aims to bring together people from different backgrounds who: (a) have experience with analysing and mining databases of scientific publications, (b) develop systems that enable such analysis and mining of scientific databases (especially those who manage publication databases) or (c) who develop novel technologies that improve the way research is being done.


The problem of learning Bayesian networks from statistical data is described and reformulated as a discrete optimization problem. For a solution we employ the stochastic algorithm that is known as simulated annealing and that is based on the Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach. Numerical examples are included to illustrate the efficiency of the method. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 21: 335–348, 2006.


Research and industrial interest in radical C-H activation/radical cross-coupling chemistry has continuously grown over the past few decades. These reactions offer fascinating and unconventional approaches toward connecting molecular fragments with high atom- and step-economy that are often complementary to traditional methods. Success in this area of research was made possible through the development of photocatalysis and first-row transition metal catalysis along with the use of peroxides as radical initiators. This Review provides a brief and concise overview of the current status and latest methodologies using radicals or radical cations as key intermediates produced via radical C-H activation. This Review includes radical addition, radical cascade cyclization, radical/radical cross-coupling, coupling of radicals with M-R groups, and coupling of radical cations with nucleophiles (Nu).


This paper considers the relevance of the concept of "eugenics,"-a term associated with some of the most egregious crimes of the twentieth century-to the possibility of editing human genomes. The author identifies some uses of gene editing as eugenics but proposes that this identification does not suffice to condemn them. He proposes that we should distinguish between "morally wrong" practices, which should be condemned, and "morally problematic" practices that call for solutions, and he suggests that eugenic uses of gene editing fall into this latter category. Although when we choose the characteristics of future people we are engaging in morally dangerous acts, some interventions in human heredity should nevertheless be acknowledged as morally good. These morally good eugenic interventions include some uses of preimplantation genetic diagnosis. The author argues that we should think about eugenic interventions in the same way that we think about morally problematic interventions in public health. When we recognize some uses of gene editing as eugenics, we make the dangers of selecting or modifying human genetic material explicit.


A 65 years old woman with chronic high blood pressure and diabetes mellitus presented with a mutism akinetic of sudden onset and a right total hemiplegia with a Babinski sign secondary to a left anterior cerebral artery infarction. She had had six months earlier a transient gait disturbance. At that time, the CT scan showed lacunar infarcts of the head of both caudate nuclei. Neuropathological examination revealed that the left infarction of the anterior cerebral artery involved the superior frontal gyrus, the supplementary motor area, the cingulate gyrus and the corpus callosum. There were also multiple lacunes of the head of both caudate nuclei, anterior limb of the internal capsules, white matter, basal ganglia and thalami. The mutism akinetic was thought to be the result of a bilateral disruption of a functional loop including on each side, the supplementary motor area, the cingulate gyrus, the subcallosal tract and the head of the caudate nucleus. On the right side, the lesion of the caudate nucleus could have interrupted this loop normally involved in the induction of voluntary movements and in the communication with the external surroundings.


In June of 2000, the U.K. Medical Device Agency recommended the removal of Trilucent implants as a precautionary maneuver in response to reports of local inflammatory reactions. This decision allowed the authors to operate on 115 consecutive patients between June of 2000 and January of 2001. On the preoperative examination, the authors found a very high incidence of rippling (66 percent), whereas capsular contracture was seen in only three patients (2.6 percent). Rippling was significantly more common in patients with subglandular implants. Five implants were found ruptured during the operation. This figure, together with the relative ease of implant breakage at removal, shows a premature deterioration of the implant shell. The authors also comment on implant bleeding, which seems common in this type of breast implant. The authors think that this is a possible cause for the rippling phenomenon, resulting from a reduction of the implant content. On the basis of these findings, the authors conclude that Trilucent implants are associated with a poor cosmetic outcome and a high rate of complications.


Proper positioning of cells is important for many aspects of embryonic development, tissue homeostasis, and regeneration. A simple mechanism by which cell positions can be specified is via orienting the cell division axis. This axis is specified at the onset of cytokinesis, but can be reoriented as cytokinesis proceeds. Rotatory actomyosin flows have been implied in specifying and reorienting the cell division axis in certain cases, but how general such reorientation events are, and how they are controlled, remains unclear. In this study, we set out to address these questions by investigating early Caenorhabditis elegans development. In particular, we determined which of the early embryonic cell divisions exhibit chiral counter-rotating actomyosin flows, and which do not. We follow the first nine divisions of the early embryo, and discover that chiral counter-rotating flows arise systematically in the early AB lineage, but not in early P/EMS lineage cell divisions. Combining our experiments with thin film active chiral fluid theory we identify specific properties of the actomyosin cortex in the symmetric AB lineage divisions that favor chiral counter-rotating actomyosin flows of the two halves of the dividing cell. Finally, we show that these counter-rotations are the driving force of both the AB lineage spindle skew and cell reorientation events. In conclusion, we here have shed light on the physical basis of lineage-specific actomyosin-based processes that drive chiral morphogenesis during development.