Aptamers can specifically bind to proteins, small molecules and cell receptors, which are considered as chemical antibodies. In this study, we present an aptamer-based magnetic nanoparticle for the quantitative and qualitative detection of Mucin-1, which is one kind of tumor biomarkers and is overexpressed in breast cancer.

Compared with antibody, aptamers display an outstanding nature of high target specificity and affinity, biocompatibility and stability, as well as no immunogenicity and low production cost. The changes of sizes and zeta potentials are used to monitor the synthesis process during the fabrication of MBs and probes. The structure of the SERS nanoprobe is core-shell type. Raman reporter molecules are modified in the middle of the core-shell structure. This structure can prevent the aggregation of nanoparticles and maintain the stability of the nanoprobe, as well as significantly enhance SERS signals (see Figure 1). Compared with Au NPs, the color of Au@Ag probe is change from red to yellowish as determined from the inset in Figure 2. It is obvious that a blue-shift of the extinction peak was observed when introducing a silver shell onto the core nanoparticle (see Figure 2). The thickness of the silver shell of the nanoprobe is approximately 1nm-3nm as determined from the TEM images (see Figure 3).

In this strategy, core-shell nanoparticle is used as the reporting probe and MB is utilized as the capturing substrate. In the absence of Mucin-1, the SERS nanoprobes are assembled around the MB due to DNA hybridization. The SERS intensity is negatively correlated with the concentration of target Mucin 1. With high specificity and sensitivity, this method would have a promising application in early-stage cancer diagnosis.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of (99)Tc(m)-N-NOET myocardial perfusion tomographic imaging (MPI) for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD).

METHODS
Coronary angiography and (99)Tc(m)-N-NOET myocardial perfusion tomographic imaging were performed in the patients hospitalized in the Department of Cardiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, from June to December 2005 with known or suspected diagnosis of CAD. Adenosine was infused intravenously at a rate of 140 microg x kg(-1)min(-1) for 6 minutes. At the third minute of adenosine infusion, 740 MBq (20 mCi) (99)Tc(m)-N-NOET was injected intravenously. MPI was obtained 15 minutes after the (99)Tc(m)-N-NOET infusion. If the result was abnormal, rest myocardial perfusion imaging would be performed 2 hours later. Coronary angiography was performed in all patients within one week after the myocardial perfusion imaging.

RESULTS
Myocardial perfusion imaging was performed in 53 cases, 36 males and 17 females, aged 56 +/- 10, who underwent coronary angiography, among which 31 had > or = 50% stenosis of coronary artery and 23 had normal coronary artery. All of the patients with stenosis of coronary artery had positive (99)Tc(m)-N-NOET adenosine stress myocardial perfusion imaging. Nineteen out of the 29 cases without stenosis of coronary artery had negative adenosine myocardial perfusion imaging. The sensitivity and specificity of (99)Tc(m)-N-NOET adenosine myocardial perfusion imaging were 100% and 73% respectively in the detection of stenosis of coronary arteries. Seven cases got percutaneous coronary intervention and 2 got coronary artery bypass graft. Six of the 9 patients undergoing revascularization had stenosis of stents or grafts, 5 of which had positive myocardial perfusion imaging. 3 cases hadn't restenosis and their results of myocardial perfusion imaging were negative.

CONCLUSION
(99)Tc(m)-N-NOET myocardial perfusion imaging is a useful non-interventional method for detecting coronary artery stenosis.


The wine brandies, as other alcoholic beverages, must be kept for several months (minimum of six months according to the European legislation)
in wooden barrels, in order to achieve the minimum quality, before its consumption. However, the high costs related to ageing in wooden barrels
have lead to the search of alternative technologies, such as the use of wood fragments, in order to accelerate the ageing process. In this work, the
same wine brandy from Lourinha was used to fill wooden barrels and stainless steel tanks with wood tablets or wood staves. These three ageing
systems were studied with Limousin oak wood (Quercus robur L.) and Portuguese chestnut wood (Castanea sativa Mill.), with two replicates
of each modality. The brandies were evaluated by sensory descriptive analysis during a period of 30 months. Colour, olfactory and gustatory
attributes, previously generated by the tasting panel, were analysed. The results showed a significant effect of the ageing system on few sensory
attributes. However, the most discriminant factors were the wood botanical species and the ageing time, which affected significantly several
sensory attributes. Concerning the ageing system, the brandies aged in the presence of wood tablets presented lower intensity of the attribute
golden and higher intensities of the attributes topaz, greenish, toasted, flavour, complexity and persistence in comparison with brandies aged in
wooden barrels. The brandies aged in the presence of wood staves presented an intermediate sensory profile. Nevertheless, the overall quality
of the brandies is not affected by the ageing system. These results pointed out the interesting sensory attributes of the brandies obtained with the
alternative ageing systems; therefore further research is needed in order to validate the use of these technologies in the ageing of wine brandy.


The electric solar wind sail (E-sail) is a way to propel a spacecraft by using the natural solar wind as a thrust source. The problem of secular spinrate change was identified earlier which is due to the orbital Coriolis effect and tends to slowly increase or decrease the sail's spinrate while it orbits the Sun, depending on which way the sail is inclined with respect to the solar wind. Here we present an E-sail design and its associated control algorithm which enable spinrate control during propulsive flight by the E-sail effect itself. In the design, every other maintether ("T-tether") is galvanically connected through the remote unit with the two adjacent auxtethers, while the other maintethers ("I-tethers") are insulated from them. This enables one to effectively control the maintether and auxtether voltages separately, which in turn enables spinrate control. We use a detailed numerical simulation to show that the algorithm can fully control the E-sail's spin state in real solar wind. The simulation includes a realistic set of controller sensors, comprising an imager to detect remote unit angular positions as well as a vector accelerometer. The imager resolution requirement is modest and the accelerometer noise requirement is feasible to achieve. The TI tether rig enables building E-sails that are able to control their spin state fully and yet are actuated by pure tether voltage modulation from the main spacecraft. No functionality of the remote units is required after the deployment phase is over.


Significance Differences among children in educational achievement are highly heritable from the early school years until the end of compulsory education at age 16, when UK students are assessed nationwide with standard achievement tests [General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE)]. Genetic research has shown that intelligence makes a major contribution to the heritability of educational achievement. However, we show that other broad domains of behavior such as personality and psychopathology also account for genetic influence on GCSE scores beyond that predicted by intelligence. Together with intelligence, these domains account for 75% of the heritability of GCSE scores. These results underline the importance of genetics in educational achievement and its correlates. The results also support the trend in education toward personalized learning. Because educational achievement at the end of compulsory schooling represents a major tipping point in life, understanding its causes and correlates is important for individual children, their families, and society. Here we identify the general ingredients of educational achievement using a multivariate design that goes beyond intelligence to consider a wide range of predictors, such as self-efficacy, personality, and behavior problems, to assess their independent and joint contributions to educational achievement. We use a genetically sensitive design to address the question of why educational achievement is so highly heritable. We focus on the results of a United Kingdom-wide examination, the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), which is administered at the end of compulsory education at age 16. GCSE scores were obtained for 13,306 twins at age 16, whom we also assessed contemporaneously on 83 scales that were condensed to nine broad psychological domains, including intelligence, self-efficacy, personality, well-being, and behavior problems. The mean of GCSE core subjects (English, mathematics, science) is more heritable (62%) than the nine predictor domains (35–58%). Each of the domains correlates significantly with GCSE results, and these correlations are largely mediated genetically. The main finding is that, although intelligence accounts for more of the heritability of GCSE than any other single domain, the other domains collectively account for about as much GCSE heritability as intelligence. Together with intelligence, these domains account for 75% of the heritability of GCSE. We conclude that the high heritability of educational achievement reflects many genetically influenced traits, not just intelligence.


Author(s): Kuo, Alan; Salamov, Asaf; Pangilinan, Jasmyn; Lindquist, Erika; Shapiro, Harris; Baker, Scott; Corrochano, Luis; Grigoriev, Igor | Abstract: Light induces in P. blakesleeanus multiple developmental and biochemical responses (sporangiophore growth and development, beta-carotene synthesis). P. blakesleeanus is an intensively studied, experimentally tractable model organism, and whole-genome analysis is expected to further elucidate the signaling pathways underlying its photoregulation. To this end, the genome was sequenced to 7.49X depth and assembled into 475 scaffolds totaling 56Mbp, and 47847 ESTs were assembled from cDNAs of light and dark cultures. We combined into a single annotation pipeline a variety of gene modeling methods (homology-based, EST-based, and ab initio), and predicted 14792 protein-coding genes. Many of these gene predictions are supported by homology in nr (68percent), by Pfam domains (44percent), or by ESTs (35percent). We next assigned GO terms to 41percent of the proteins and EC numbers to 16percent. We then distributed these annotations to the Phycomyces consortium, along with tools to curate them manually. We expect that the annotation will provide a solid platform for expression analysis. In addition to its value as a model organism, P. blakesleeanus is the second zygomycete with a sequenced genome, after the related Rhizopus oryzae. We therefore will present preliminary results of comparative analysis between the two zygomycetes.


The current study aims to study biodegradation for plastic waste as one of the ways of treatment of plastic pollution by using isolated bacterial isolates from plastic waste collection and landfill areas in the city of Ramadi and surrounding areas during different periods. Diagnosis of bacterial isolates was performed based on phenotypic and physiological tests as well as testing on the VITEK 2 system, isolates were selected that go back to the type Pseudomonas sp. and Streptomyces sp. Bacterial isolates have been studied for its ability to breakdown plastic waste used in the manufacturing of drinking bottles and shopping bags by collecting samples of plastic waste and assured they are washed and sterilized perfectly. Another experiment was conducted through a second decomposition (A carbon deficient) medium as well as the second decomposition medium contains some chemicals that are thought to help accelerate the process of decomposition. Results showed that the highest polyethylene breakdown occurred due to isolate P1 ( Pseudomonas fluorescens ) by the degradation rate 8.83% on the first decomposition medium and 30.5% on the second decomposition medium, while the degradation rate to isolated P4 ( Streptomyces ) was 4.83% on the first medium and 19% on the second medium. The genetic study results showed existence of the enzyme PETase gene on Pseudomonas fluorescens chromosome in an expected size 119bp and it was absent on plasmid. .


Abstract Recently, group learning has been introduced in various countries as part of educational reform. While there are various approaches to group learning, the focus of this study is on collaborative learning, which is based on mutual help-seeking and consultation. This requires teachers' decision to integrate collaborative learning into their practices and all actors to participate therein. This demonstrates whether implementing and participating in collaborative learning is a game theoretic situation. However, in the majority of studies on group learning, the game theoretic aspect has not been sufficiently investigated. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a conceptual discussion on this situation in collaborative learning using a comparative institutional analysis (CIA) framework.


Objective: We investigated whether having a policy regarding the availability of sweetened beverages in school was associated with children's purchase and total weekly and daily consumption of sweetened beverages. Design: Data were obtained from 10719 children aged 9–13 years and 2065 elementary schools in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten cohort. Multilevel logistic regression was used to determine the magnitude and significance of relationships between the availability of different beverages and purchase of sweetened beverages at school and overall consumption of beverages. Results: The purchase of sweetened beverages by children in school was strongly associated with the administrative policy of sweetened beverage availability. Compared with children in schools without an administrative policy that allowed sweetened beverages, children in schools with the policy were three times more likely to be either occasional or frequent consumers of sweetened beverages. Conclusions: A policy of availability of sweetened beverages makes an independent contribution to children's purchase and consumption of sweetened beverages in the 5th grade year.


Objectives To estimate the incidence of severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) requiring treatment and describe current treatment patterns in the UK. Design Nationwide population-based case ascertainment study via the British Ophthalmic Surveillance Unit and a national collaborative ROP special interest group. Practitioners completed a standardised case report form (CRF). Setting All paediatric ophthalmologists providing screening and/or treatment for retinopathy in the UK were invited to take part. Participants Any baby with ROP treated or referred for treatment between 1 December 2013 and 30 November 2014, treated with laser, cryotherapy, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor or vitrectomy/scleral buckling, or a combination. Main outcome measure Incidence of ROP requiring treatment. Results We received 370 CRFs; 327 were included. Denominator from epidemiological data: 8112 infants with birth weight of <1500 g. The incidence of ROP requiring treatment was 4% (327/8112, 95% CI 3.6% to 4.5%). Median gestational age was 25 weeks (IQR 24.3–26.1), and median birth weight 706 g (IQR 620–821). Median age at first treatment was 80 days (IQR 71–96). 204 right eyes (62.39%) had type 1 ROP, and 27 (8.26%) had aggressive posterior ROP. Infants were also treated for milder disease: 9 (2.75%) right eyes were treated for type 2 ROP, and 74 (22.63%) for disease milder than type 1 with plus or preplus, which we defined here as 'type 2 plus' disease. First-line treatment was diode laser photoablation of the avascular retina in 90.5% and injection of VEGF inhibitor in 8%. Conclusions ROP treatment incidence in the UK is 2.5 times higher than previously estimated. 8% of treated infants receive intravitreal VEGF inhibitor, currently unlicensed. Research is needed urgently to establish safety and efficacy of this approach. Earlier treatment and increasing numbers of surviving premature infants require an increase in appropriate eye care facilities and staff. Trial registration number NCT02484989.


The question at which layer network functionality is presented or abstracted remains a research challenge. Traditionally, network functionality was either placed into the core network, middleboxes, or into the operating system - but recent developments have expanded the design space to directly introduce functionality into the application (and in particular into the browser) as a way to expose it to the user. Given the context of emerging path-aware networking technology, an interesting question arises: which layer should handle the new features? We argue that the browser is becoming a powerful platform for network innovation, where even user-driven properties can be implemented in an OS-agnostic fashion. We demonstrate the feasibility of geo-fenced browsing using a prototype browser extension, realized by the SCION path-aware networking architecture, without introducing any significant performance overheads.


Establishing and optimizing radial forging procedures by empirical means to meet stringent microstructural requirements can be time consuming and expensive. Therefore, a three dimensional finite element model has been developed to predict temperature and strain distributions during radial forging. The model applies a quasi-steady-state approach that reduces computation time and simplifies the presentation of results. Temperatures and strains are presented as contour plots of longitudinal and transverse cross sections and by three dimensional perspective views. Values predicted by this model show good agreement with experimental results based on temperature measurements and microstructure evaluation for Alloy 718. Superalloys 1992 Edited by S.D. Antolovich, R.W. Stusrud, R.A. MacKay, D.L. Anton, T. Khan, R.D. Kissinger, D.L. Klarstrom The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 1992


We present an approach to simulate the 3D isotropic elastic wave propagation using nonuniform finite difference discretization on staggered grids. Specifically, we consider simulation domains composed of layers of uniform grids with different grid spacings, separated by nonconforming interfaces. We demonstrate that this layer-wise finite difference discretization has the potential to significantly reduce the simulation cost, compared to its fully uniform counterpart, by more than an order of magnitude on geophysically representative 3D problems. Stability of such a discretization is achieved by using specially designed operators, which are variants of the standard finite difference operators with adaptations near boundaries or interfaces, and penalty terms, which are appended to the discretized wave system to weakly impose boundary or interface conditions. Combined with specially designed interpolation operators, the discretized wave system is shown to preserve the energy conserving property of the continuous elastic wave equation, and a fortiori ensure the stability of the simulation. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed simulation approach.


Objective: This study is aimed to encapsulation of permethrin in proniosomes and formulation and evaluation of dispersed permethrin in powder and micro emulsion-based hydrogel bases. Methods: Permethrin proniosomes were prepared by modified slurry method using Brij 97, cholesterol, aerosil 200 and drug in different weight ratios, and using two different solvents. The prepared proniosomes were characterized for particle size, shape, flow characteristics, entrapment efficiency. Results: The studies demonstrated successful preparation of permethrin proniosomes. The effect of using different weight ratios of Drug: Brij 97: Cholesterol and different solvents on entrapment efficiency were studied. The best proniosomes showed entrapment efficiency percent of 55.58%±1.451 for permethrin and zero residual solvents. Such formula was incorporated in a topical powder and micro emulsion-based hydrogel basis and evaluated through particle size, drug content, stability, and clinical trials for efficacy on sarcoptic mite infestation in sheep and rabbits. Conclusion: Permethrin 5 % micro emulsion-based hydrogel proved to be homogenous, stable, and clinically effective, compared with the topical powder that was unstable under accelerated stability conditions.


Nanoporous metal oxides are widely used for the development of various functional nanostructures. We report on the synthesis of sponge-like tin oxide films on copper foil by anodization of electrochemically deposited tin films. The thin films are functionalized using a surface-anchoring carbon precursor-polymer (poly(acrylonitrile-b-dopamine acrylamide)) followed by annealing at elevated temperature to convert the polymer coating into a carbonaceous coating. The as prepared and the carbon coated films are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. Subsequently, both SnOx films are employed as anode materials in lithium ion batteries. Carbon coating has a beneficial effect on the battery performance with respect to the rate capability, increasing the capacity by 200 mA h g−1 for all applied current densities. After 20 cycles, coated samples show a reversible specific charge capacity of 497 mA h g−1. Ex situ scanning electron microscopy reveals the retention of the sponge-like morphology even after cycling.


To evaluate treatment of Bell's palsy (acute idiopathic peripheral facial nerve paralysis) of children, the authors analyzed 38 cases (18 females, 20 males) of Bell's palsy in children aged below 16 years old. The mean age of all cases was 6.8 +/- 6.2 years old. All cases resulted in complete recovery within 6 months. Clinical score of facial motor functions were adapted to 17 patients who were more than 5 years old. They were divided into two groups: early recovery group (clinical symptoms recovered within 3 months; 10 cases) and later recover group (over 3 months; 7 cases). Clinical scores evaluated in the first week from the onset were not significantly different. Steroid therapy was used for 9 patients of early group and 6 patient of later group. All patients of this study were recovered, thus we could not evaluate effect of steroid therapy for Bell's palsy in children. Use of steroid therapy for Bell's palsy needs more concretely administration. We consider how the region locates near to the center is an important prognostic factor.


PURPOSE
To identify patients' needs and expectations in a cataract clinic connected with a university public hospital--Cataract Institute--Department of Ophthalmology--Paulista School of Medicine (UNIFESP).

METHOD
A descriptive transverse study was carried out with the patients enrolled in the clinic, distributed in two groups: those who were operated on and those who were not. Patients were approached in two stages: 1) conduct the study in four focus groups to identify the patients' most valued attributes (qualitative study); 2) a questionnaire was designed based on the main attributes and was submitted to a sample of patients (quantitative study).

RESULTS
The patients' main expectations are related to: 1) the treatment results; 2) more comfortable waiting facilities; 3) be treated with respect by all the caregivers; and 4) the technological devices used in their treatments. The highest rates of satisfaction were the information material, physician care, and medical devices; the lowest rates of satisfaction were telephone service, physical environment, queue arrangements, and making contact.

CONCLUSIONS
The evaluation of the services as well as the institution's public image is positive. The main reasons for choosing the clinic are related to economic and financial aspects and the majority of the patients would use the services again and would also recommend the clinic to other people.


The Tangent and Adjoint Models (TAM) are very effective tools for ocean data assimilation, sensitivity and stability analysis, and uncertainty propagations. However the development of such tools can be tedious and error prone and validation is therefore an important aspect. Fortunately there exist many ways to evaluate the validity of the TAM, from very basic to sophisticated. Some of these validation tools can also be used to diagnose the degree of non-linearity of the direct model. We will present a review of existing diagnostics for TAM and propose several new ones, and apply them to the recently released TAM for the European ocean community model NEMO.


The serial renal scan, a rapid series of images obtained with a scintillation camera, is explained; it visualizes the arrival to the kidneys and the passage through the parenchyma and the pelvocalyceal system of 99mTc-DTPA, a tracer cleared by glomerular filtration. Dynamic imaging of the kidneys provides more extensive information regarding anatomical structure and renal function that cannot be obtained by other noninvasive techniques. Computerized data analysis provides a lot of parameters, such as global and parenchymal transit times, useful in differentiating obstructive from non-obstructive uropathy, and total and separate glomerular filtration rate. 99mTc-DTPA computer-assisted scintigraphy is recommended as a routine method in nephro-urologic conditions where an accurate evaluation of separate renal function is required.


The uterus is a well-known target of endocrine, paracrine and autocrine acting molecules among which steroid hormones are of special importance. The objective of our work was to localize oestrogen receptors (ERα and ERβ) mRNA and protein in the pig uterus throughout pregnancy (10, 18, 32, 50, 71, 90 days post coitum) using RT-PCR, Western-blot and immunohistochemistry. The present study is the first one to demonstrate the presence of ERs protein in the porcine uterus not only at the beginning but also at mid- and late pregnancy. In the pregnant swine, ERα was immunolocalized in the luminal epithelium (LE) and glandular epithelium (GE) and the myometrium of the uterus with differences in the intensity of staining at different stages of pregnancy studied. The LE and GE of pregnant swine stained for ERβ regardless of the day of pregnancy examined, whereas only a few cells within the myometrium showed a weak immunoreactivity. Western blot analysis confirmed the presence of ERα and ERβ proteins on all investigated days of gestation. The expression of ERα and ERβ mRNA was detected by RT-PCR in all examined samples corresponding to each of the consecutive stages of pregnancy. The obtained results show that ERα is more abundant in comparison to ERβ within the porcine pregnant uterus. The presence of ERα and ERβ in all compartments of the pig uterus during pregnancy may indicate direct action of oestrogens on proliferation and differentiation of these cells.


Tunneling characteristics of a two-dimensional lateral tunnel junction are reported. A pseudogap on the order of Coulomb energy is detected in the tunneling density of states (TDOS) when two identical two-dimensional electron systems are laterally separated by a thin energy barrier. The Coulombic pseudogap remains robust well into the quantum Hall regime until it is overshadowed by the cyclotron gap in the TDOS. The pseudogap is modified by the in-plane magnetic field, demonstrating a nontrivial effect of the in-plane magnetic field on the electron-electron interaction.


ABSTRACT A sensitive and reliable method for the simultaneous determination of hydroxycoumarin-type (brodifacoum, bromadiolone, coumatetralyl, and warfarin) and indandione-type (chlorophacinone, diphacinone, and pindone) rodenticides in agricultural products by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) was developed. The procedure involved extraction of the rodenticides from samples with acetone, followed by liquid–liquid partitioning with hexane/ethyl acetate (1:1, v/v) and 10% sodium chloride aqueous solution, then cleanup using GPC, and finally, analysis using LC–MS/MS. High recoveries from the GPC column were obtained for all rodenticides tested using a mobile phase of acetone/cyclohexane/triethylamine (400:1600:1, v/v/v). An ODS column, which contains low levels of metal impurities, gave satisfactory peak shapes for both hydroxycoumarin- and indandione-type rodenticides in the LC–MS/MS separation. The average recoveries of rodenticides from eight agricultural foods (apple, eggplant, cabbage, orange, potato, tomato, brown rice, and soybean) fortified at 0.0005–0.001 mg/kg ranged from 76 to 116%, except for bromadiolone in orange (53%) and diphacinone in soybean (54%), and the relative standard deviations ranged from 1 to 16%. The proposed method effectively removed interfering components, such as pigments and lipids, and showed high selectivity. In addition, the matrix effects were negligible for most of the rodenticide/food combinations. The results suggest that the proposed method is reliable and suitable for determining hydroxycoumarin- and indandione-type rodenticides in agricultural products.


Tigecycline is a last-resort antimicrobial used to treat multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections. One of the common antimicrobial resistance mechanisms is the efflux pump system composed of membrane protein complexes to excrete xenobiotic substrates. Recently, a novel gene cluster, tmexCD1-toprJ1, encoding the resistance-nodulation-cell division (RND) efflux pump was identified on plasmids in Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in China. TMexCD1-TOprJ1 was found to be capable of excreting multiple antimicrobials, including tigecycline, which contributed to the strain's resistance. In this study, we identified K. pneumoniae isolates harbouring the tmexCD1-toprJ1 genes outside of China for the first time. Two tigecycline-resistant K. pneumoniae isolates belonging to ST273 by multilocus sequence typing were collected from different patients in a medical institution in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2015. Whole-genome sequence analysis revealed that these isolates harboured a 288.0 kb tmexCD1-toprJ1-carrying plasmid with IncFIB and IncHI1B replicons. The tmexCD1-toprJ1 gene cluster was surrounded by several mobile gene elements, including IS26, and the plasmids had high sequence identity with that of K. pneumoniae isolated in China. Our finding suggests that the horizontal spread of tigecycline resistance mediated by tmexCD1-toprJ1-carrying plasmids has occurred in Vietnam and other countries, and raises concern about the further global dissemination.


We describe a novel amplification mechanism underlying the increased early IL-4 production observed in Schistosoma mansoni-infected mice in response to a non-parasite Ag, sperm whale myoglobin (SwMb). Earlier studies have shown that splenic Fc epsilon R+ non-B, non-T (NBNT) cells from schistosome-infected mice secrete IL-4 after stimulation with parasite Ag. We now demonstrate that purified NBNT cells from SwMb-immunized S. mansoni-infected mice do not respond directly to SwMb, but produce IL-4 in response to IL-3. Accordingly, we show that the early SwMb-specific IL-4 response of spleen cells (SC) from immunized infected mice is dependent on IL-3 and on CD4+ T cells. Thus, most of the early SwMb-induced IL-4 from SC of infected mice appears to be produced by NBNT cells triggered by IL-3 synthesized by SwMb-specific CD4+ T cells. IL-3-induced IL-4 production was also observed in purified NBNT cells from immunized uninfected mice, but the frequency and/or IL-4-producing capacity of splenic IL-3-responsive cells was found to be 8 to 16 times higher in immunized infected animals. IL-4 production by purified CD4+ cells from immunized infected mice was also seen after SwMb stimulation, but this response showed slower kinetics than those of total SC, was IL-3-independent, and on average threefold greater than that by CD4+ cells from immunized uninfected controls. Thus, increased SwMb-induced IL-4 production in immunized S. mansoni-infected mice results from direct synthesis by CD4+ T cells, as well as their stimulation via IL-3 of an expanded population of NBNT cells. The latter pathway may serve as an amplification loop for Th2-cytokine responses.


Since 2015, Indonesia had been joined an international resolution called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in which gender equality is one of critical goals for the betterment of human lives. Accordingly, Indonesia government had started to take attention on women political representation from which the government stipulated policies and regulations regarding women political participation in every policy-making levels. Started from the state context, the issue of women representation has recently been expanded to village policy-making through the stipulation of the Village Act (Law No. 6/2014). Given the escalating trend of decentralization and democratization of villages, local governments have likewise taken initiative regarding women political participation, thus the topic of this article. This article explores the extent of local regulation corresponds the implementation of Village Act concerning women representative in the Village Representative Council. To explore which, the research takes place in Semarang regency whereby the local government has promulgated two policies on such regard. The research method used in this article is socio-legal approach whereby a statute or regulation is analyzed through empirical facts, either quantitative, qualitative, or both. In conclusion, we contend that the mechanism of women representation as stipulated by the Semarang regent government is more focused on quality rather than quantity, thus stressing the role of women representative and women constituent groups not only in the context of policy-making in the Village Representative Council, but also in the village politics at-large.


The purpose of this paper is to examine how wage decisions and fixed asset investments are determined under China's imperfect financial market. In addition, we also investigate what kind of interrelationship exists between wage determination and fixed asset investment. To test the hypothesis, we collect aggregate data on wages, the financial market, and fixed asset investment by province, sector, and ownership type from several statistical yearbooks. The main results are (1) while the rise in financial market maturity has led to rising wage levels for state-owned enterprises, this phenomenon is not observed in the private sector, (2) retained earnings are positively correlated with capital investment, indicating that China's financial market is incomplete. Furthermore, in the private sector, there is a strong reliance on internal reserves that is not observed in the state-owned sector, suggesting that the private sector is differentially treated in the financial market. (3) In the state-owned sector, wage growth has a positive correlation with fixed assets, while in the nonstate-owned sector this relationship is not observed. This implies that in the nonstate-owned sector the underpayment of wages may be used as a survival strategy to conduct business if under financial constraints. ♣ I gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Institute for Economics Research of Daito Bunka University. E-mail: email@example.com 2


For hard tunnel strictures and in cases of perineal fistula we should be bolder to adopt the principle of excision rather than that of mere external urethrotomy.A preliminary suprapubic cystotomy is advised, and also the avoidance, as far as possible, of the indwelling catheter. All fistulae should be excised completely, not merely opened, scraped and drained.The operator should not be in too great a hurry to pass sounds of too large a calibre after the operation, as in many cases there is little tendency to re-formation of the stricture.


In this work, a hydrophobically modified (HM) chitosan derivative was prepared by covalent linkage of C12 groups to the chitosan backbone. HM-chitosan microparticles were prepared according to an emulsification-solvent evaporation method and nal- trexone (NTX) was used as a model drug. For comparison, unmodified chitosan and poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) micropar- ticles were also tested as carriers for NTX. HM-chitosan formed viscous semi-dilute solutions, suggesting a high level of chain entanglements and hydrophobic associations. HM-chitosan microparticles generally showed higher production yield and encapsula- tion efficiency, as compared with chitosan and PLGA. The burst release shown by chitosan microparticles was significantly reduced when using the HM-chitosan derivative. An enhanced control of drug release was observed over at least 50 days. PLGA particles dem- onstrated inferior controlled release properties as compared to HM-chitosan subsequent to the initial release stage. These results revealed the potential of hydrophobic modification of chitosan as a means to improve the stability and sustained delivery properties of the polymer. V C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40055.


UNLABELLED
This medicine was authorized by the National Drug Agency (ANM, Bucureşti) in 2001.

PURPOSE
To evaluate the effectiveness and the tolerance to Cervugid-ovules, a preparation that combines the polyvalent local antiinflammatory action of chloramphenicol, metronidazole and nystatin with the effect of hydrocortisone acetate, an unspecific anti-inflammatory agent; they all are embedded in a Lipex-403, semisynthetic fat.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The evaluation of 500 patients ages between 15 and 85 years with genital infections, registered in the files of "Cl. II Obst. and Gynecology" of the Cuza-Vodă Hospital from Iaşi has been studied. We studied the subjective manifestations (local discomfort and pelvic pains, local burning and dryness,vulvovaginal itching and dyspareunia) and objective manifestations (vaginal and cervical secretion, the cytotest performed and colored though the Papanicolaou method and reported in the Bethesda system).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Healing of the subjective symptoms in 98%, healing of the leukorrhea--as a main objective symptom--in 95%; The Bethesda system cytotest was one of the inflammatory type in the most of the cases and there wew found in 85 cases: 6 ASCUS, 41 LSIL, and 37 HSIL. The use of Cervugid had a healing response in most of the cases when used in acute and chronic cervico-vaginal inflammatory processes. Cervugid may be considered as an important agent in the treatment of the precancerous affections af the cervix uteri on the following reasons: zhe cure of the infections caused by chlamydia, involved in the etiology of cervical neoplasms, the cure of the HPV infection under episome form, classified in the Bethesda system within the ASCUS, AGUS or LSIL classes. When the cytotest was in the HSIL class, a conization in the LLETZ method was performed.

CONCLUSIONS
Cervugid is conceived for those three main categories of pathogenic factors related to the etiology of cervico-vaginitis: microbia germs, protozoa and mycosis. In addition, it is active on chlamydia and mycoplasms, always sensitive to chloramphenicol therapy. That is why Cervugid with in local administration is indicated in the microbial, trichomoniasis and mycotic vaginitis caused by one category of pathogenic agents or by associated forms, in cervicitis, in the pelvic inflammatory processes (pelvic congestion, metritis, adnexitis, and inflammatory processes associated with benign or malignant tumors of the genital apparatus). The results obtained proved that Cervugid is highly effective medicine.


Assumptions about the political economy of African states predominantly centre on a dominant elite's ability to stabilize power. A key assertion is that elites maintain clientelistic networks of rents and redistribution and in turn extend their control over their respective territories by instrumentalizing disorder. We challenge the assumption that disorder plays such a functional role. Largely drawing on data and fieldwork from the Central African Republic, we demonstrate the profoundly unproductive consequences of disorder that tend to be overlooked through current approaches to the political economy of African countries. We investigate how disorder impacts three dimensions of effective politics of domination: a set of elite groups that structure power in society, a political economy that redistributes its benefits through formal and informal networks, and the existence of functional centre–periphery ties across a territory. The article shows with regard to the Central African Republic that disorder has produced a small political elite that is largely unable to stabilize its power basis. We argue that certain African states are subject to forms of disorder that political elites cannot turn into an advantage.


A super self-aligned process technology, SST-1B, which is an advanced version of the previously proposed SST-1A in high-speed Si bipolar LSIs is discussed. A selectively ion-implanted collector (SIC) process and bird's-beak-free isolation process are utilized. The SIC process is designed to improve shallow base-collector profiles in the intrinsic region. It reduces base width and intrinsic base resistance, and suppresses the base push-out effect (Kirk's effect) in high-current operations. The SIC profile is easily controlled by 150-200 keV phosphorous ion implantation at the base-collector junction. Using these processes, SST-1B has achieved a high cutoff frequency of 21.1 to 25.7 GHz and a fast switching delay of 20.5 ps/G for nonthreshold logic and 34.1 ps/G for emitter-coupled logic. SST-1B has potential applications to 50-ps/G logic LSIs and 10-GHz SSIs. Device simulation indicates that it is possible to achieve a cutoff frequency of 40-50 GHz in a future scaled-down Si bipolar transistor with a 40-nm base and graded collector. >


Abstract Background: The predictive value of heart rate variability (HRV) in peritoneal dialysis (PD) has never been tested. Methods: In this study, the associations between HRV measures and the mortality in 81 PD patients were analyzed. HRV was measured by using 5-min recordings of a stationary system by a standardized method. Both time domain and frequency domain parameters were analyzed. Results: During a follow-up period of 43.78 ± 14.77 months, 25 patients died, four patients were transferred to hemodialysis. Of the 81 patients, the time domain parameters, such as the standard deviation of differences between adjacent normal sinus to normal sinus (NN) intervals (SDSD) and the square root of the mean of the squared differences between adjacent normal NN intervals (RMSSD), were higher; the frequency domain parameters, such as the ratio of low-frequency power to high-frequency power (LF/HF) and the normalized LF, were lower, and the normalized HF was higher in the non-survived group as compared with the survived group. A Cox proportional hazards model analysis revealed that, of the HRV measures, decrease of the normalized LF, LF/HF and increase of rMSSD, SDSD, normalized HF had significant predictive value for mortality. After adjustment for other univariate predictors including age, urine volume, renal Kt/V, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), the predictive value of decreased LF/HF remained significant. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed mortality rate was much higher in patients with a low LF/HF (median value of 1.56). Conclusion: The decreases of LF/HF which reflects impaired sympathetic nerve regulation is an independent predictor of mortality in PD patients.


Target Costing is a modern cost management technique used in changeable market conditions. The target cost is set by subtracting the sum of production costs and profits from the market price. The purpose of this present study is to review Target Costing as a useful concept which integrates the project development process with cost management. "Minimum Waste, Maximum Value" could be achieved by setting up guidelines for optimal building design at the beginning of the project development phase. This effective budget management method will help rectify Korea's overspending problems in the area of government building construction projects.


This paper was presented in the symposium "Writing Programs Worldwide: What do 40 distinct initiatives on 6 continents have in common, and what can they tell us?", based on the book "Writing Programs Worldwide: Profiles of Academic Writing in Many Places" (2012): http://wac.colostate.edu/books/wpww/
In this symposium, the five editors consider the more than forty profiles as an empirical object of study and make it interact with several theoretical interests and categories. With each editor choosing a different lens and featuring a different group of chapters, they engage in inquiry that seeks similarities and differences -significant ideas they can abstract and that give distinct portraits of the international phenomenon of writing program development. My own presentation revised the book with a "writing to learn" lens and dealt with "Does teaching to write eclipse writing to learn?", as is sketched in the following abstract. Several chapters of the book "Writing Programs Worldwide" report difficulties for an institution to adopt or sustain a WAC/WID program aiming to promote writing as a learning tool in the different subjects. This presentation examines challenges, struggles, and processes for these initiatives. Without disregarding the situated nature of these efforts, special attention is put on their similarities. My analysis shows common features such as inadequate structural conditions and widespread assumptions about writing and learning to write against which these initiatives have had to fight. It also reveals the restricted functions attributed to writing. A hypothesis that emerged from the analysis is that programs depicted in the book respond more to the purpose of enhancing students´ written communication skills than to the purpose of increasing teaching and learning experiences across the curriculum in which writing is integrated as an epistemic tool, a process and not just a product. This analysis of programs contributes to WAC studies of "unsupported conceptions" (i.e., Carter, Miller & Penrose, 1998; Creme & Lea, 1998; Ivanic, 1984; Russell, 1990; Rose, 1985) that hinder an intertwined model of writing instruction (Carlino, Iglesia & Laxalt, 2010, 2013; Dysthe, 1996).


On 31 April 311 Emperor Galerius issued an edict ending the persecution of Christians and giving the Christian cult official and legal recognition. This edict of tolerance represents a decisive turn in history.
To mark the 1700th anniversary of this, the Faculty of Theology at Graz University held an international and interdisciplinary symposium. The academic conference examined the religious spectrum of late antiquity and took as a central theme the issues of tolerance and religious freedom. Particular emphasis was given to the ways in which Christian attitudes to the pagan and Jewish worlds were determined after 311, but there was also discussion of contemporary issues such as religious freedom in canon law and in international and Islamic law.


Little research has analyzed the motivations forcreating a nonprofit enterprise; thus, the focus here is on the factors thatmotivate entrepreneurs to create both nonprofit and charitable for-profitenterprises. To understand both the birth and death rate of new nonprofitenterprises, data from the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) areanalyzed, examining the entry and exit rates of new nonprofit firms between1992 and 1996. The limitations and advantages of the NCCS data are discussed.Theinflux of charitable for-profit firms and of for-profit social venturing isexamined in terms of the motivations of charitable for-profit entrepreneurs,the differences between charitable for-profit and nonprofit firms, and thelimitations of data for studying charitable for-profit firms.Themotivations of nonprofit entrepreneurs are inspected according to factors suchas utility maximization, charitable impulses, nondistribution constraint, theprovision of public goods, the provision of quality goods, and socialventuring. The impact of external factors, including the demand for nonprofit goods andthe changes in public policy, upon charitable nonprofit organizations isdiscussed.For instance, the impact of AFDC waivers upon nonprofitentrepreneurship is scrutinized.The funding sources of both nonprofitorganizations (grants, contributions, fees, charges) and charitable for-profitsare presented. (AKP)


In this study, effects of propolis on immunological parameters of rainbow trout were investigated. For this purpose, propolis was intraperitoneally injected to fish 4 times at doses of 2.5, 5 and 10 mg / kg fish weight. Blood samples on 3, 9, 15 and 21 days were collected from fish of the control and experimental groups and analysed to determine oxidative radical production [nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) activity], total plasma protein and total immunoglobulin levels. At the end of the experiment, there was a statistically significant increase in oxidative radical production, total protein and immunoglobulin levels of propolis treated groups when compared to the control group.


To correct SPOT images for changes in ra- diometry with topography classical approaches, requiring the use of bi-directional reflectance functions, revealed unsuited when applied to a forestry area located in south-western France. Actually variations of canopy roof structure with topography, a factor liable to explain a part of radiometric variations, is not taken into account by the models presented in literature. An empirical model, based on changes in roof structure, was then proposed. Expression of digital counts according to slope and aspect was estimated for three stand types and a general formulation could be set up. The images were then corrected according to a topographic position of reference. As expected, a reduction of radiometric heterogeneity was noticed.


This work is the second of two companion papers devoted to the kinetic modelling of low-pressure DC flowing discharges in mixtures. While the first paper was mainly concerned with bulk discharge processes, the present one investigates surface processes involving dissociated N and H atoms, which are essential to understand the discharge properties. The kinetic model for surface processes developed here takes into account: (a) physical adsorption and desorption of N and H atoms; (b) chemical adsorption and desorption of both types of atoms at vacant chemically active sites on the surface; (c) surface diffusion of physisorbed and atoms; (d) the reactions of chemisorbed and atoms with gas phase N and H atoms and with physisorbed and atoms, leading to the formation of gas phase , and chemisorbed (NH) molecules. The latter molecules can either be desorbed or react with H, , to produce gas phase NH, and molecules. The probability of wall losses for N, H, NH, and the rates for wall production of NH, , have been obtained for Pyrex glass as a function of the wall temperature and the relative concentrations of N, H, NH, , . A number of important parameters for surface processes have been estimated from detailed analysis of experimental data. Measurements of relative changes in N, H and concentrations in discharges as a function of the percentage have been interpreted in terms of the model.


This paper argues that understanding speech in terms of action requires dispensing with propositions. Austin's outline of speech act theory did not give any role to propositions, which were introduced into speech act theory later on, in order to cope with criticism leveled by Strawson and Searle at Austin's characterization of the locutionary act and his view of the truth/falsity assessment. The introduction of propositions had weakening effects on the claim that speech is action, foregrounding again the received picture of linguistic communication. I show that, in order to make sense of Austin's characterization of the locutionary act, propositions are not needed and give some suggestions as to how one could give an account of the truth/falsity assessment, compatible with the claim that speech is action, without resorting to propositions.


This paper is a minireview of the current status of monolingual lexicography in Brazil. Firstly, a brief contextualization of the origins of Brazilian Portuguese dictionary-making is provided. Then, an account of contemporary monolingual dictionaries is given and a more detailed overview on print, digital, spelling, and school dictionaries is presented. Next, research into dictionary use is reviewed. Finally, the perception among the Brazilians with regards to corpora and use of crowdsourcing in lexicography is discussed.


The emerging scientific field of Nanotechnology enabled humanity to manipulate the environment at molecular and atomic level and it promises to revolutionize all scientific fields due to its features. Medicine is one of the prominent fields that witnessed a nanotechnological revolution that ushered medical scientists toward wholly new authentic approaches which study pathologies and explore genuine therapeutic stratagems by utilization of nanotechnology to operate on more specific molecular targets and to reduce the adverse risks and side effects that conventional approaches impose on patients. To take a better view on the impact of nanotechnology on medicine. The ramification of this technology shall be explored in terms of medical outcomes. It will reduce societal and financial expenses related with human services, offer early location of pathologic conditions, decrease the seriousness of treatment, and result in enhanced clinical result for the patient. The most promising treatment for cancer is nanotechnology that can be used in treatment and detection. The current treatments for cancer is ineffective with high chances of tumors to grow again and resistant to the treatment which makes it worse in addition to the severe adverse effect of the current treatments. The early detection of cancer can elevate the chances of curing and prevent recurrence, however the technologies and methods used in detection is limited and ineffective which worsens the condition. Intracellular drug delivery and photothermal ablation are promising treatment for cancer. Prostate cancer affects over 2.5 million Americans, but there is an unmet need for targeted treatment with minimal systemic toxicity, especially for metastatic disease. Prostate cancer tumors are characterized by a mixed cell population which is hard to target one treatment for different kind of cells.


Nucleoside analogues like 4-thiouridine (4sU) are used to metabolically label newly synthesized RNA. Chemical conversion of 4sU before sequencing induces T-to-C mismatches in reads sequenced from labelled RNA, allowing to obtain total and labelled RNA expression profiles from a single sequencing library. Cytotoxicity due to extended periods of labelling or high 4sU concentrations has been described, but the effects of extensive 4sU labelling on expression estimates from nucleotide conversion RNA-seq have not been studied. Here, we performed nucleotide conversion RNA-seq with escalating doses of 4sU with short-term labelling (1h) and over a progressive time course (up to 2h) in different cell lines. With high concentrations or at later time points, expression estimates were biased in an RNA half-life dependent manner. We show that bias arose by a combination of reduced mappability of reads carrying multiple conversions, and a global, unspecific underrepresentation of labelled RNA due to impaired reverse transcription efficiency and potentially global reduction of RNA synthesis. We developed a computational tool to rescue unmappable reads, which performed favourably compared to previous read mappers, and a statistical method, which could fully remove remaining bias. All methods developed here are freely available as part of our GRAND-SLAM pipeline and grandR package.


A graph $G$ is called CIS if each maximal clique intersects each maximal stable set in $G$ and is called almost CIS if it has a unique disjoint pair $(C,S)$ consisting of a maximal clique $C$ and a maximal stable set $S$. While it is still unknown if there exists a good structural characterization of all CIS graphs, in this note we prove the following Andrade-Boros-Gurvich conjecture: A graph is almost CIS if and only if it is a split graph with a unique split partition.


The goal of this work was to test a methodology, based on multi-criteria analysis and geographic information systems, aimed at identifying areas potentially suitable to host landfills for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). Although the above-mentioned methodology was applied to three different areas (Western, South-western and Eastern) of Sicily, in this paper, we present the results of the western sector. The first step consisted of the division of the study area in excluded and potentially suitable sites, on the basis of the Italian current legislation. The suitable sites were subsequently re-evaluated based on additional criteria in order to choose the most suitable ones. This second step consisted of a multi-criteria analysis based on a scores and weights system. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to estimate the relative importance weights of the evaluation criteria. The suitability for landfill siting was finally evaluated with the aid of a simple additive weighting method. The resulting land suitability was reported on a scale of 0 to 10, respectively, from the least suitable to the most suitable sites. In order to reveal the most suitable sites, to provide a ranking and, consequently, a quick selection, a spatial clustering process was carried out. In relation to the data obtained, several suitable areas to host sites for MSW landfill in Western Sicily were identified. The application of multi-criteria analysis, together with the use of geographic information systems, provided a powerful tool for the identification of the most suitable site among those identified.


Background In the last years, glucocorticoids given in addition to disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) have been used as disease modifying therapy. The potential cardiovascular (CV) risk of exposure to GCs is a subject of controversy and debate. Bidirectional effect of GCs has been suggested as an unfavourable action through pro-atherogenic modulation of traditional CV risk factors may be counteracted by a positive CV impact through lowering RA-disease activity. Objectives To examine the association between exposure to low-dose prednisolone in early RA and CV outcomes in a two-year randomized prednisolone trial, with follow-up for ten years. Methods Retrieval of data from the BARFOT two-year randomized trial comparing prednisolone 7.5 mg/day in addition to DMARDs (P-group) with DMARD therapy alone (NoP-group) (1). In all 223 patients with RA and symptom duration ≤12 months who had no prior history of CV events were included. The end points were incident composite CV events, ischemic coronary artery and cerebrovascular events, which were tracked through the Swedish Hospital Discharge and Cause of Death Registries. Results At inclusion, the treatment groups differed in age [P-group 50.6 (14.1) vs NoP-group 56.9 (13.0) years, p=0.001] but not sex, disease characteristics or traditional CV risk factors (body mass index, smoking, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidaemia). The cumulative burden of disease within the first two years after inclusion was lower in the P-group. A good half of the patients in the P-group stopped prednisolone treatment at the two year-visit and a further fourth quarter after 4-5 years. Only 6% of subjects in the NoP-group initiated prednisolone therapy. From the two-year follow-up visit to the last assessment, the traditional CV risk factors were evenly distributed in the treatment groups, except for diabetes mellitus, 2% in the P-group vs 9% in the NoP-group, p=0.017. During 2041 person-years of observation, the total number of incident CV events was in the P-group 17/112 patients (15%), and in the NoP-group 15/111 patients (14%). The age-adjusted hazards for the incident composite CV event and ischemic coronary artery event did not differ significantly between the treatment groups, HRs (95% CI) of 1.8 (0.9-3.6), and 0.98 (0.4-2.6), respectively. The risk for incident cerebrovascular event showed a 3.7-fold hazard (95% CI, 1.2-11.4) among prednisolone treated patients as compared with those not treated with prednisolone. Addition of measures of disease activity to the Cox proportional hazard models did not change the results. Conclusions The two-year exposure to a fixed low-dose of prednisolone in patients with early RA may affect the risk of ischemic cerebrovascular events. The results must though be interpreted in its context, as the population of this study was relatively young and had a low frequency of traditional CV risk factors. References Svensson B, Boonen A, Albertsson K, van der Heijde D, Keller C, Hafström I. Arthritis Rheum 2005; 52:3360-70. Disclosure of Interest : None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.2536


Our main goal in this study was to explore whether the use of models in molecular genetics instruction in high school can contribute to students' understanding of concepts and processes in genetics. Three comparable groups of 11th and 12th graders participated: The control group (116 students) was taught in the traditional lecture format, while the others received instructions which integrated a bead model (71 students), or an illustration model (71 students). Similar instructions and the same guiding questions accompanied the two models. We used three instruments: a multiple-choice and an open-ended written questionnaire, as well as personal interviews. Five of the multiple-choice questions were also given to students before receiving their genetics instruction (pretest). We found that students who used one of the two types of models improved their knowledge in molecular genetics compared to the control group. However, the open-ended questions revealed that bead model activity was significantly more effective than illustration activity. On the basis of these findings we conclude that, though it is advisable to use a three-dimensional model, such as the bead model, engaging students in activities with illustrations can still improve their achievement in comparison to traditional instruction. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 500–529, 2006


To study the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) correlates of auditory processing, we performed rCBF measurements in young, normal right-handed volunteers engaged in listening tasks. Using the xenon Xe 133 inhalation technique, rCBF was measured in 11 regions in each hemisphere. Compared with a baseline condition, significant rCBF increases in the left posterior Sylvian regions were associated with both verbal phonologic processing and nonverbal acoustic processing. Verbal semantic processing was associated with unilateral increased rCBF in the posterior Sylvian region contralateral to the hand used for response signaling. Comparison of rCBF from homologous regions of the two hemispheres also confirmed a clear difference between the rhyme detection and meaning detection tasks, with the former strongly lateralized to the left hemisphere. Thus, changes in rCBF were related to the nature of the listening task.


A single feeding of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) (112 or 133 mg/kg) to female Sprague-Dawley rats, age 50 days, induced maturation arrest at the proerythroblast, promyeloblast, and promegakaryocytoblast level in bone marrow, depletion of thymic lymphocytes, and disorganization of the lymphoid follicles in the spleen. The peripheral blood reflected these changes. A decrease in lymphocytes was first observed on Day 2 after DMBA. At this time the total granulocyte count was increased. Lymphocytopenia and granulocytopenia were maximal on Days 5 and 6, but granulocytopenia was more profound. Thrombocytopenia and its attendant hemorrhagic phenomena were maximal between Days 9 and 15. Morphologic changes indicative of damage were first apparent in marrow on Day 3 and of recovery from damage on Day 9; regenerative changes occurred rapidly after Day 15 and were virtually complete by Day 25. There was no evidence for direct damage to the formed elements in peripheral blood by this hydrocarbon. These changes closely mimic those induced by radiation and are probably the consequence of damage to DNA of the proerythroblast, myeloblast, and megakaryoblast precursors.


This paper presents a non-trivial reconstruction of a previous joint topic-sentiment-preference review model TSPRA with stick-breaking representation under the framework of variational inference (VI) and stochastic variational inference (SVI). TSPRA is a Gibbs Sampling based model that solves topics, word sentiments and user preferences altogether and has been shown to achieve good performance, but for large dataset it can only learn from a relatively small sample. We develop the variational models vTSPRA and svTSPRA to improve the time use, and our new approach is capable of processing millions of reviews. We rebuild the generative process, improve the rating regression, solve and present the coordinate-ascent updates of variational parameters, and show the time complexity of each iteration is theoretically linear to the corpus size, and the experiments on Amazon datasets show it converges faster than TSPRA and attains better results given the same amount of time. In addition, we tune svTSPRA into an online algorithm ovTSPRA that can monitor oscillations of sentiment and preference overtime. Some interesting fluctuations are captured and possible explanations are provided. The results give strong visual evidence that user preference is better treated as an independent factor from sentiment.


Abstract. Application of the conventional chloride mass balance (CMB) method to point recharge dominant groundwater basins can substantially under-estimate long-term average annual recharge by not accounting for the effects of localized surface water inputs. This is because the conventional CMB method ignores the duality of infiltration and recharge found in karstic systems, where point recharge can be a contributing factor. When point recharge is present in groundwater basins, recharge estimation is unsuccessful using the conventional CMB method with, either unsaturated zone chloride or groundwater chloride. In this paper we describe a generalized CMB that can be applied to groundwater basins with point recharge. Results from this generalized CMB are shown to be comparable with long-term recharge estimates obtained using the watertable fluctuation method, groundwater flow modelling and Darcy flow calculations. The generalized CMB method provides an alternative, reliable long-term recharge estimation method for groundwater basins characterised by both point and diffuse recharge.


In human disease and rodent models, immune responses in the intestinal mucosa can be damaging. Damage is characterised by villus atrophy, crypt hyperplasia and reduced ability to digest and absorb nutrients. In normal individuals active responses to harmless environmental antigens associated with food and commensal bacteria are controlled by the development of immunological tolerance. Similar pathological changes occur in piglets weaned early from their mothers. Active immune responses to food antigens are observed in these piglets, and we and others have hypothesised that the changes occur as a result of transient allergic immune responses to novel food or bacteria antigens. The normal mechanism for producing tolerance to food antigens may operate at induction (Peyer's patches and mesenteric lymph nodes) or at the effector stage (intestinal lamina propria). In our piglet studies immunological tolerance occurs despite the initial active response. Together with evidence from rodents, this observation suggests that active responses are likely to be controlled at the effector stage, within the intestinal lamina propria. Support for this mechanism comes from the observation that human and pig intestinal T-cells are susceptible to apoptosis, and that this process is accelerated by antigen. We suggest that the role of the normal mature intestinal lamina propria is a balance between immunological effector and regulatory function. In neonatal animals this balance develops slowly and is dependant on contact with antigen. Immunological insults such as weaning may tip the balance of the developing mucosal immune system into excessive effector or regulatory function resulting in transient or chronic allergy or disease susceptibility.


This dataset contains *.rdata files that contain model objects returned from the glm{stats} function (v.3.3.0) in R. for 258 models derived for selected wells in the conterminous United States. The models are generalized linear models with a binomial response variable (glm family set to binomial) for forecasting the probability of groundwater levels declining or maintaining below specified low thresholds for any time of the year for forecast time horizons from 1 to 12 months.


Purpose: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an uncommon and aggressive neurodegenerative disorder that influences the lower and upper motor neurons. There are low eligible drugs for ALS treatment; in this regard, supplemental and replacement treatments are essential. There are relative studies in the field of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) therapy in ALS, but the different methods, differently used medium, and difference in follow-up periods affect the outcome treatment. Methods: The current survey is a single-center, phase I clinical trial to evaluating the efficacy and safety of autologous bone marrow (BM)-derived MSCs through intrathecal administration in ALS patients. MNCs were isolated from BM specimens and cultured. The clinical outcome was evaluated based Revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating (ALSFRS-R) Scale. Results: Each patient received 15±3×106 cells through subarachnoid space. No adverse events (AEs) were detected. Just one patient experienced a mild headache after injection. Following injection, no new intradural cerebrospinal pathology transplant-related was observed. None of the patients' pathologic disruptions following transplantation were detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The additional analyses have shown the average rate of ALSFRS-R score and forced vital capacity (FVC) reduction have decreased during 10 months following MSCs transplantation versus the pretreatment period, from -5.4±2.3 to -2±3.08 ALSFRS-R points/period (P=0.014) and -12.6±5.22% to -4.8±14.72%/period (P<0.001), respectively. Conclusion: These results have shown that autologous MSCs transplantation reduces the disease's progression and has favorable safety. Trial Registration: This study performed as a phase I clinical trial (code IRCT20200828048551N1).


The mountains formed of the oldest times an environment inhabited by the humans. (All over the European mountains, mountain people have ensured that feed in the first place by agriculture focused on the animal husbandry especially ruminants. Increasing cattle, sheep and goats has been widespread concern in Europe with accents and northern temperate climate zones. Pastures have a very important role in mountain agriculture and are characterized mainly by small structures and low input systems. After 1990 the management of grassland systems in Romania has undergone of many important changes. This situation is mainly caused by the decreasing number of animals and by the diminished interest of people responsible on its management. In this tendency we can include the natural landscape of Apuseni Mountains, on which we focused all our attention and which, in fact represents the object of our study. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of mountain grassland reported of grazing capacity (grassland belongs to Baisoara commune, Apuseni Mountains) under the influence of the management applied, the level of anthropogenic and tradition influence. For these purposes, studies aimed to determine the floristic structure, the evolution of  livestock and demographic tendency have been conducted. Vegetation study was made using Braun- BlanquA©t method. With the results obtained, vegetation coverage degree and grazing capacity were determinate and the direction in evolution of  vegetation cover was established. For these we used data regarding the number of animals, as well as data about agricultural surfaces and demographic evolution. These were taken from the Agricultural Registers of BAƒisoara commune (data related to the number of animal and agricultural surfaces) and from The National Institute of Statistics (data about demographic evolution). The obtained results showed a close relationship between grassland status and the number of animals, which led us to the conclusion that the level of intensification of the crop system determines the direction of  evolution.


Inkar al-Sunna is a teaching that arises in minority of Muslims who reject the legal basis of Islam 'sunnah sahihah' either partly or wholly without an acceptable reason by Muslim scholars or ulama. The initial symptoms of this thoughts was already there from an early age, but as a growing understanding that had happened since the end of the second century of Hijra or seventh century BC, i.e. at the time of al-Shafi'i (d. 204 H). Then, along with the colonization of Western countries to the Islamic world, it reappeared in modern times in many Islamic countries such as Egypt, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Because of the persistence and struggle of Muslim scholars or ulama, inkar sunnah movement successfully minimized so that Islam can be maintained from the defilement thoughts


Summary: This article identifies the two dimensions of sustainable banking, namely the financial and environmental aspects. Due to the extensive coverage of the former dimension in the context of the current global financial crisis, this article focuses on the latter aspect in the context of the Equator Principles. The discussion revisits the rationale for the emergence of these principles as a global private initiative to address the concerns of environmental degradation. It also touches on its commercial impacts and wider legal implications.


The action of lymphokines, soluble mediators of cell-mediated immunity was studied on isolated lungs of guinea-pigs. Antigen-specific antigens were shown to have bronchospastic activity as regards sensitized and nonsensitized lungs. The bronchospastic effect is not mediated by histamine or by other chemical bronchoconstrictors, and is not linked with activity of leukocyte migration inhibition factor.


Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) are associated with an increased incidence of thrombosis, but the mechanisms responsible for thrombosis are unclear. The present study investigated the effect of both beta2-glycoprotein I (beta2-GPI) and aPLs on the activity of extrinsic fibrinolysis. The remaining tissue-plasminogen activator (t-PA) of the sample consisting of beta2-GPI, two-chain recombinant t-PA, plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) -1 was measured by a chromogenic assay using synthetic substrate S-2251, Glu-plasminogen, and soluble fibrin monomer. Without PAI-1, beta2-GPI did not affect t-PA activity. When 14.3 ng/ml PAI-1 was added to 3.6 U/ml t-PA, the remaining t-PA activity was increased from 48.9% to 60.4% by the addition of beta2-GPI (190 microg/ml). The effect of beta2-GPI did not require phospholipids. The beta2-GPI seems to protect t-PA activity from the inhibition by PAI-1. When monoclonal anticardiolipin antibodies (aCLs), EY1C8, and EY2C9, which were established from a patient with antiphospholipid syndrome, were further added to the mixture with a diluted phospholipid (Platelin) to investigate the influence of aPL, the remaining t-PA activity decreased to 50.1 and 80.7%. Monoclonal aCLs appeared to inhibit the effect of beta2-GPI, that is, these monoclonals inhibited the fibrinolytic activity by an elevation in PAI-1 activity. These results suggest the possibility that the impairment of fibrinolytic activity by aCLs is one of reasons for the increased incidence in thrombosis in patients with aCLs.


The aim of the study is to evaluate extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) related alterations in renal pelvis and proximal ureter by using histopathological methods and analayting hydroxy-proline levels. Twelve New-Zealand rabbits were allocated into two groups (n=6). Right sites of control group (CG, n=6) were harvested without any intervention. In ESWL group (EG), right kidneys of subjects were exposed to 3000 shock waves (14 kV) by using electro-hydraulic type ESWL device three times. Rabbits in EG were sacrificed on day 7. Tissues were examined histopathologically for presence of edema, inflammation, congestion, hemorrhage, fibrosis, vascularization and biochemically for hydroxyproline concentrations. Histopathologically, tissue edema was increased in renal pelvises and inflammation was increased in ureters in the EG compared to that in the CG (p 0.05). Tissue collagen density did not show any significant difference (p>0.05). There was no difference in the tissue hydroxyl-proline levels of ureter samples (p>0.05). Tissue hydroxyproline levels were significantly higher in EG than CG in renal pelvis (p<0.05). In conclusion, although no major histopathological alteration due to ESWL was detected in renal pelvis and proximal ureter, increased hydroxyproline levels in the renal pelvis can be suggested as a finding of tissue injury in collecting system.


Family member (FM) involvement in treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has the potential to enhance veterans' sense of support and connection and reduce treatment dropout. Little is known, however, about women veterans' preferences, concerns, and goals regarding FM involvement in PTSD treatment. The study employed a mixed-methods approach consisting of surveys (n = 143) and interviews (n = 10) with women veterans seeking treatment for PTSD in a Veterans Affairs medical center. Married and partnered women veterans, and women veterans who identified as gay/lesbian, were more likely to be open to FM involvement. Results revealed a range of preferences and goals regarding FM involvement. Women veterans expressed a preference for joint sessions at the midpoint or near the end of treatment. Veterans' goals for FM involvement included enhancing the relationship with their FM and providing the FM with a basic understanding of PTSD. Conclusions, limitations, and future directions are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).


The acquisition function, a critical component in Bayesian optimization (BO), can often be written as the expectation of a utility function under a surrogate model. However, to ensure that acquisition functions are tractable to optimize, restrictions must be placed on the surrogate model and utility function. To extend BO to a broader class of models and utilities, we propose likelihood-free BO (LFBO), an approach based on likelihood-free inference. LFBO directly models the acquisition function without having to separately perform inference with a probabilistic surrogate model. We show that computing the acquisition function in LFBO can be reduced to optimizing a weighted classification problem, where the weights correspond to the utility being chosen. By choosing the utility function for expected improvement (EI), LFBO outperforms various state-of-the-art black-box optimization methods on several real-world optimization problems. LFBO can also effectively leverage composite structures of the objective function, which further improves its regret by several orders of magnitude.


This study investigates the influences of light‐dark cycles and NaNO3 dose on Chlorella kessleri microalgal‐specific growth rate (SGR), biomass productivity (P), and intracellular lipid productivity (LP) by using central composite design with desirability function. A single‐objective optimization showed that the maximum SGR, P, and LP can be achieved as 0.487 day−1, 58.718 g/L day−1, and 14.252 mg/L day−1, respectively. The corresponding optimized light‐dark cycle and NaNO3 loading were determined as 11.6/8.4 (h/h) and 15.54 g/L, 12/12 (h/h) and 16.23 g/L, and 12/12 (h/h) and 6.63 g/L, respectively. The multi‐response optimization showed that the highest SGR of 0.359 day−1, biomass productivity of 50.663 g/L day−1 and LP of 14.114 mg/L day−1 can be accomplished at culture environments of 12/12 (h/h) light‐dark cycles and 10.38 g/L NaNO3. These results suggest that the central composite design with desirability function‐based technique is useful for design and operation of photobioreactors to produce lipid from microalgae. Analysis of variance was employed to explore the significance of the factors affecting microalgal growth as well as biomass and lipid productivities. The predicted optimized culture conditions were experimentally confirmed (error < 6%) indicating the process is robust and reliable.


The symptoms and physical signs of congestive failure are well known in clinical practice, and the common forms of therapy are widely and effectively used. In the past several years, a great deal has been learned about the hemodynamic and chemical disturbances associated with congestive failure. Generally this has been made possible by the wide application of advanced techniques for the measurement of cardiovascular dynamics (cardiac catheterization, indicator-dilution methods), for the investigation of hormonal chemistry and physiology, especially that of the adrenal gland, and for the study of body water and electrolytes. The many observations have been so variously interpreted that no uniform agreement exists upon even the general outline of the pathogenesis of congestive failure, and, for lack of information, many important details are either controversial or obscure. Pathogenesis Although congestive failure may be the ultimate result of a single anatomic lesion such as syphilitic aortic insufficiency and may


Abstract Cyanosis in newborns can be caused by cyanotic heart defects, such as transposition of the great arteries, tetralogy of Fallot, pulmonary and tricuspid atresia, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, common arterial trunk, Ebstein's anomaly of the tricuspid valve, and total anomalous pulmonary venous return. The indicated cyanotic heart defects can be diagnosed or ruled out with three simple echocardiographic views: The parasternal long and short axis view and the apical or subcostal 4-chamber view. If these three views are normal, a cyanotic heart defect can be ruled out. In the case of a cyanotic heart defect, one or more views are pathological.


In executive information systems (EIS) design, where idiosyncratic users must often be considered, understanding users and their preferences is important. Since user interfaces are a highly visible EIS component, they are an important lever for their acceptance. To accommodate executives' growing range of user preferences, this article develops building blocks for the user-interface to make "up close and personalized" EIS possible. As this work represents a first step in a larger research project, we conduct a multidisciplinary literature review on how the EIS design process can accommodate user preferences, thus improving EIS acceptance with the "right" user interface. Based on three findings regarding their design, we propose building blocks for user-interface design covering three clusters of components: information presentation, dialog control, and predefined functions. Finally, we incorporate their components in an EIS prototype to start evaluating our proposal's utility.


Epididymo-orchitis, caused by direct trauma, is an uncommon condition, and the history and symptoms are quite different from those of the considerably more common so-called indirect epididymo-orchitis that is ascribed to trauma or strains, and which in symptomatology and clinical course is much like acute, nonspecific, pyogenic epididymitis. The author is convinced that the indirect trauma of muscular strain or minor injuries does not cause epididymitis; it is probable that slight trauma of that sort merely draws attention to an already existing inflammatory process that has made the scrotal area more sensitive than usual.


We study a simple model of economic growth where society's preferences are a function of consumption per capita and climate quality; and the specification of the climate dynamics is inspired by recent work in climate science. The model is estimated to establish a reference model and we develop a new method that determines the reasonable size of a set of surrounding models which are difficult to distinguish from the reference model. We show that robust agents who deny the effects of climate change on the economy, behave more like agents who believe climate changes are real. This happens because robust non-believers design policies that hedge against their worst case model which does include an anthropogenic effect of their emissions on climate and these changes in climate have negative effects on preferences and productivity.


The printer noise consists of the noise of the various components and parts such as motor, fan and solenoid. And the human's printing sound recognition shows various aspects when the printer starts to print papers because the components operate at the same time. Especially, printers are usually installed in the quiet office room. Therefore the printing noise is related to its competitiveness in the market. The importance of the printer sound qualities is increasing and it is necessary to develop the sound quality evaluation system, so it is a key point to identify the noise source of the printer and develop the sound quality index to each component. By using this evaluation system, it is possible to evaluate the sound quality of a prototype printer compared to the already existing one. In this paper, the printer sound quality evaluation system was developed by the following steps. Firstly, the signal processing method was applied to the recorded printing sound to identity and split the noise of components. Secondly, the MLR(multiple linear regression) method and the psychoacoustics were used to develop the sound quality index. Finally, the improvement of the printer sound quality is possible by using the result of the MLR and the path analysis. The output of this research will be applied to the development of a new printer.


We describe and analyze an algorithmic framework for online classification where each online trial consists of multiple prediction tasks that are tied together. We tackle the problem of updating the online predictor by defining a projection problem in which each prediction task corresponds to a single linear constraint. These constraints are tied together through a single slack parameter. We then introduce a general method for approximately solving the problem by projecting simultaneously and independently on each constraint which corresponds to a prediction sub-problem, and then averaging the individual solutions. We show that this approach constitutes a feasible, albeit not necessarily optimal, solution of the original projection problem. We derive concrete simultaneous projection schemes and analyze them in the mistake bound model. We demonstrate the power of the proposed algorithm in experiments with synthetic data and with multiclass text categorization tasks.


This article tests low cost interventions to increase influenza vaccination rates. By changing an email announcement sent out to employees in 2014 (n > 30,000), the following interventions are tested: incentives, attention to the negative impacts of not get vaccinated, and showing a map to the vaccination centers at the end of the email announcement. Only the map condition helped increase influenza vaccination rates. The use of low-cost interventions can improve influenza vaccination rates though not all interventions work as well as others in the field. In particular, while including maps helped increase vaccination rates, other factors such as negative impact reminders and incentives, which previous studies have found to be successful in the laboratory, did not.


There is an urgent need to develop new therapeutics against the microbe causing anthrax, which has the potential to be used in biological warfare. In their Perspective,
 Olsnes and Wesche
 discuss a new therapeutic approach designed by
 Sellman and colleagues. In this approach, a mutant subunit of the toxin prevents correct assembly of wild-type subunits into a pore in the host cell membrane. In this way, lethal bacterial enzymes are prevented from translocating into the host cell.


Developing new precious-metal-free catalysts for the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is important for energy conversion and storage applications. Here, we report the preparation of a series of conductive M-CAT metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) (M3(HHTP)2, HHTP = 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexahydroxytriphenylene) and their utilization as a "precatalyst" for the OER in an alkaline electrolyte. The mono- and bimetallic CoxNi1−x-CATs were synthesized by a solvothermal reaction and further converted to the corresponding bi- and trimetallic FeCoxNi1−x-CATs via cation-exchange. Compared to its mono- and bimetallic counterparts, trimetallic FeCo0.6Ni0.4-CAT displays superior OER electrocatalytic performance with a low overpotential of 277 mV (to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2), a small Tafel slope of 44.7 mV dec−1, a high TOF value of 0.2278 s−1, and excellent electrochemical durability. Our study indicates that metal oxyhydroxides were electrochemically formed under the alkaline aqueous OER conditions, which, instead of the pristine M-CATs, should contribute mainly to the enhanced OER activity.


Value is of great importance and as the word indicates it relates to the process of covering all aspects of business which enhances and influences the growth of a business. Any business which has more value enhances its market value. A study was conducted in the Indian automobile industry to analyze the interrelationships between financial performance and firm value. Regression analysis is one of the great tools for establishing and studying relationship between two or more variables. The sample consist of 15 companies representing the Indian automobile industry and the data is taken from Nifty auto index.  Data was collected from published annual reports of automobile companies listed under Nifty Auto for the period 2009 to 2018. The findings of this study illustrate that firms with better financial performance has much market values and firms should focus on enhancing their financial performance.


van der Waals (vdW) heterojunctions composed of diverse atomic-thin nanomaterials have great potential as building blocks for innovative nanodevices due to the unique electron coupling effect. However, previous research studies have mainly focused on the light–matter interactions and charge transfer processes, and the interactions between gas/vapor and vdW heterojunctions still remain to be verified. Herein, we first demonstrate the charge transfer based on the interaction between water (H2O) molecules and the all-carbon vdW junctions, which are formed by stacking non-carboxylated (6, 5) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) on the surface of chemical vapor deposition synthesized graphene. Based on the interaction mechanism and charge transfer process, a proof-of-concept all-carbon vdW junction humidity sensor has been fabricated. The device exhibits good reproducibility and high sensitivity of 24% per 1% RH change in a wide relative humidity range of 5–80% with a short response/recovery time of 198/110 ms. Furthermore, the effect of H2O molecule absorption on the charge transfer dynamics at the SWCNT/graphene vdW junctions has been demonstrated via Raman spectra, giving a novel humidity sensing mechanism. Our finding provides a new strategy to fabricate high performance humidity sensors using vdW heterojunctions as sensing layers.


Background Ezogabine (also known by the international nonproprietary name of retigabine) is an antiepileptic drug codeveloped and comarketed by Valeant Pharmaceuticals North America and GlaxoSmithKline, which reduces neuronal excitability by enhancing the activity of potassium channels and has the potential to have effects on the urinary system through a pharmacologic action on bladder smooth muscle. In a single post-herpetic neuralgia trial, but not in an extensive epilepsy development program, proteinuria was unexpectedly reported in patients receiving ezogabine. Consequently, investigations were conducted to determine whether the reported proteinuria represented a true or false-positive finding. Methods Patients receiving ezogabine 900–1200 mg/day in an open-label extension (Study 303) of a Phase III epilepsy trial voluntarily provided urine samples. Fresh samples were analyzed immediately at the study site, and stabilized aliquots were analyzed 1–3 days after collection at two central laboratories. In an open-label study in healthy volunteers receiving ezogabine 600–900 mg/day (Study RTG114137), urine samples were analyzed fresh (<2 hours after collection) and, using two different stabilizers and storage at room temperature, after 24 and 72 hours. Fluid intake was restricted prior to one sample point. Albumin:creatinine ratios were assessed in both studies. Results In Study 303, there was notable variation in clarity, color, and proteinuria between fresh and stored urine samples, and between samples analyzed at different laboratories. In RTG114137, reporting rates of proteinuria were elevated following storage using one stabilizer, and the frequency of color change from fresh to stored samples differed between the stabilizers and between 24 and 72 hours with one stabilizer. Following fluid restriction, proteinuria rates were elevated with both stabilizers. Poor tolerability of ezogabine 750–900 mg/day resulted in limited titration beyond 750 mg/day and early termination of RTG114137. Conclusion Hydration status, interval between urine collection and analysis, and the type of stabilizer used are all factors that may lead to false-positive proteinuria findings in patients receiving ezogabine and should be borne in mind if abnormalities are reported.


At present, high-speed EMU still use adhesive braking as the main braking method. Inevitably, there is a risk of sliding during the braking process. As the EMU speed increases, the adhesion coefficient between wheel sets and rails decreases, and the probability of wheel slide increases. Based on the analysis of slide incident of high-speed EMU under extreme weather conditions. This paper studies the cooperation mechanism of the WSP between the electro-dynamic(ED) brake and the electro-pneumatic(EP) brake under the low-adhesion condition. The judgments of slide and the WSP logic. Proposes solution to avoid slide incidence under low adhesion in extreme weather conditions.


The interest in the topic of pain in children is increasing within the paediatric community after a long period of misrecognition, often under-valuation, sometimes negligent or even denial. A lack of knowledge concerning pharmacology and toxicity of antalgic drugs and poorly adapted galenic presentations induced delay and complications in their use in children. The recent progress is supported by a better semiology, development of adequate pain scales, availability of adapted drugs, an effort at education of caregivers and public sensitization. In primary care the objective is to lead the practitioner to identify and consider pain in his/her preventive and curative strategies. In hospitals efforts are needed to improve the use of protocols and evaluations, the systematic practice of preventive analgesia and the quality of interprofessional cooperation within care teams. Managed care organizations are today an effective system to promote these practices.


Sri Lankans made over 100 million visits to public and private outpatient departments (OPD) during 2015, which is estimated to double in 2027. However, these visits have no records, either paper or electronic. Medical records are essential to provide continuity of care, and computer-based medical records were identified as essential technology in 1990 by the Institute of Medicine. The main initiative of the Ministry of Health addresses either OPD health information system or inward system, but it is limited to a few selected hospitals. There are no electronic health records (EHR) that can track patients as they crisscross between different primary care providers in public and private sectors, which is the normal behaviour of the majority of our patients. This paper gives a snapshot of the current healthcare system in Sri Lanka, notes the existing projects related to primary care health information systems, briefly reviews the current status of the global primary care EHR and describes our solution of a generic, cloud-based, open source EHR for use across public and private sectors focusing on a patient-centred electronic 'personal health record'. We opted to modify a time-tested software solution OpenEMR - https://www.open-emr.org/ OpenEMR is a free and open source, ONC certified, electronic health records and medical practice management application featuring fully integrated electronic health records, practice management, scheduling, electronic billing, internationalization, and multi-lingual support. Sri Lanka OpenEMR (SLOEMR) is now used at the University Family Medicine Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya at Ragama. Paper medical records of more than a decade were converted to the electronic format. We are in the planning process of piloting the SLOEMR in the Ragama Medical Officer of Health Area with a population of 70,000, with a single electronic record for each person across all private and public sector healthcare providers.