The Poland Knowledge Economy Assessment (KEA) aims to provide policy options for securing sustainable growth, and improving competitiveness, by creating an environment conducive to business development, and investment in general, as well as to knowledge generation and absorption via innovation, and learning, in particular, as well as by stimulating investment in innovation, and in learning systems. This KEA argues that efficient, and relevant lifelong learning systems, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), institutions and funding mechanisms to support innovative research and development (R&D), are essential components of the National Innovation System (NIS). The foremost theme of this report is securing sustainable growth and competitiveness in Poland, by stimulating investment in R&D, and in appropriate learning systems, which have a key role in developing a country's absorptive capacity-the ability to identify, assimilate, and exploit knowledge from both domestic, and external sources. Therefore, policies that support the development of inter-firm linkages, and the capacity to absorb new knowledge that can be gained through such linkages, are crucial elements. As regards R&D and innovation, efforts need to be made to build institutions and provide financial incentives aiming to increase Polish R&D. Nevertheless, it should be stressed that an improvement in the business environment in Poland is a necessary condition for raising the R&D within firms. Most importantly, efforts need to be made to increase the quality, and relevance of the formal education system, ensure the provision of life long learning systems to the entire population, and improve the linkages between academia, the scientific, and business communities that assist the transfer of technology in other countries. It is proposed that the regulatory framework be updated to the European Union (EU) 2002 level, and that the capacity, and market credibility of the Office of Telecommunications and Post Regulation (the regulatory authority), be strengthened in order to sustain competition. The implementation of e-government services for businesses, as well as citizens is key for improving the efficiency, and competitiveness of Polish business.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
Menstrual problems and daytime sleepiness are prevalent in adolescent girls. Little is known about the associations between age at menarche, menstrual problems, and daytime sleepiness. This study aimed to examine the associations of age at menarche and menstrual problems with daytime sleepiness among Chinese adolescent girls.

METHODS
Of 11,831 adolescents who participated in the baseline survey of Shandong Adolescent Behavior & Health Cohort (SABHC), 5,813 were girls and included for the analysis. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information about menstrual problems, sleep, mental health, and demographics. Daytime sleepiness was measured by the Chinese Adolescent Daytime Sleepiness Scale (CADSS).

RESULTS
The mean age of the girls was 15.02 (SD = 1.44) years. The prevalence rates of mild, moderate, and severe daytime sleepiness were 20.5%, 16.7%, and 5.5%, respectively. After adjusting for adolescent and family covariates (age, body mass index, physical health, physical exercise, sleep duration, sleep problems, anxious/depressive symptoms, and family social economic status), sometimes irregular (odds ratio [OR] = 1.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01 to 1.52), often irregular menstruation (OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.17 to 2.12), moderate (OR=1.39, 95% CI = 1.12 to 1.72), and severe (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.04 to 2.04) menstrual pain were significantly associated with increased risk of daytime sleepiness.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that menstrual irregularity and menstrual pain are associated with increased risk of daytime sleepiness. These findings emphasize the importance of evaluating and intervening menstrual problems for preventing daytime sleepiness in adolescent girls.


OBJECTIVES
To identify barriers to achieving optimal management of high blood pressure (HBP) among hypertensive Korean-American elderly (KAE).

METHODS
This study used data on a subsample of 146 hypertensive KAE from a total of 205 KAE in Maryland who participated in a cardiovascular health assessment study. The study group consisted of 56 males and 90 females with a mean age of 69.8 +/- 6.6 years. The PRECEDE-PROCEED model guided selection of study variables.

RESULTS
Many KAE with HBP had no regular HBP care (66%) and did not achieve HBP control (92.5% of KAE with HBP and 77.6% of KAE on HBP medications). Lack of health insurance emerged as a strong barrier to receiving adequate HBP care. Other barriers to HBP care included not having a Korean doctor and not having a regular medical checkup. While 22.4% of KAE on HBP medication had controlled blood pressure (BP), those with more visits to traditional Asian medicine doctors were less likely to have achieved HBP control.

CONCLUSIONS
The study unveils some of the multilevel barriers to care and control of HBP uniquely experienced by KAE and suggests the need for developing interventions to assist KAE in managing HBP.


Serotonin (50 and 100 mg/kg), given subcutaneously, inhibited induced ovulation in immature rats treated with pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin (PMSG). A single injection was effective if given 52-55 h after the PMSG, i.e. in the 3 h period after the critical period before ovulation. The injection of serotonin inhibited the release of luteinizing hormone (LH) from the pituitary since the pituitary levels were higher than in the control animals and there was complete inhibition of the plasma LH surge. The anti-ovulatory effect was reversed by administration of progesterone and endogenous plasma progesterone levels were reduced in the late evening after serontonin treatment. The site of action of serotonin appeared to be peripheral since it inhibited induced ovulation in hypophysectomized rats but was without effect in intact rats treated intraventricularly. It is suggested that progesterone is essential for the occurrence of induced ovulation and serotonin inhibits either its secretion at the ovarian level or its passage away from the ovary.


A synthesis of the FK317 derivative 25 is described using internal Michael addition. Tin-lithium exchange of the deuterated stannylaziridine 18 generated the key lithioaziridine intermediate, followed by cyclization and aromatization of the pyrrole ring to give 7. Ester reduction from 7 to 23 was effected via temporary aldehyde protection as the silylimidazole adduct 22, and conversion to the carbamate 25 was carried out using FmocNCO and FMOC cleavage. Structure 25 is the N-trityl-protected derivative of the proposed intermediate from bioactivation of FK317 that is responsible for DNA cross-linking. Attempted nitrogen deprotection of 25 using MsOH/i-Pr(3)SiH resulted in replacement of the C(10) carbamate by hydride. Deprotection of the more stable 21 gave the desired aziridine 26.


Phosphate diesters are, in general, exceedingly unreactive compounds, but their reactivity towards hydrolysis depends strongly on the basicity of the leaving group. As a result the difference in reactivity between diester and monoester monoanions decreases rapidly as the basicity of the leaving group decreases, and with very good leaving groups the reactivity of the two classes of compounds is comparable. The mechanism of hydrolysis of phosphate diester anions appears to involve bimolecular nucleophilic attack of solvent on phosphorus.


Background Various definitions of remission in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) have been proposed. The Disease Activity Index 28 joints (DAS28) is the routinely used score. Newer tools for evaluation of RA activity include the Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI) and Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) are available and have proved to be more stringent. Objectives The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of composite scores of remission in RA patients using the absence of inflammatory activity detected by ultrasound (US) as a gold standard. Methods Sixty seven patients followed-up for RA were recruited. B-mode and a Power Doppler (PD) US exam were assessed by a single rheumatologist who was experienced in US and blinded to the clinical and laboratory data. Twenty two joints were scanned (wrists, 10 metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP)). SDAI and CDAI were calculated for each patient. Sensitivity, specificity and Positive Predictive value (PPV) for each score was calculated with as reference absence of Doppler signal in US. Then ROC curve were analyzed. Results Among all patients, 30 were in remission according to the DAS28, 19 according to SDAI and 26 according to CDAI. For 19 patients there was no Doppler signal in US. The sensitivity and specificity of different remission scores considering as reference absence of joints with PD signal is showed in table 1. Table 1. Sensitivity, specificity for different remission criteria DAS28 SDAI CDAI Sensitivity 81,3% 56,3% 68,8% Specificity 63,1% 78,3% 67,4% The ROC curves showed that the best threshold of DAS28 was 3.2. It was 6.5 for SDAI and 8 for CDAI. Conclusions Ours results suggest that when considering remission as an absence of Doppler signal, the DAS28 was the most sensitive and the CDAI was the most specific. The ROC curves showed threshold exceeding definition of remission. References Balsa A, De Miguel E and col. Superiority of SDAI over DAS-28 in assessing remission in rheumatoid arthritis patients using power Doppler ultrasonography as a gold standard. Rheumatology 2010. Disclosure of Interest None declared


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of ghrelin on memory impairment in a rat model of vascular dementia induced by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion.

METHODS
Randomized controlled groups and the posttest design were used. We established the representative animal model of vascular dementia caused by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion and administered 80 μg/kg ghrelin intraperitoneally for 4 weeks. First, behavioral studies were performed to evaluate spatial memory. Second, we used molecular biology techniques to determine whether ghrelin ameliorates the damage to the structure and function of the white matter and hippocampus, which are crucial to learning and memory.

RESULTS
Ghrelin improved the spatial memory impairment in the Y-maze and Morris water maze test. In the white matter, demyelination and atrophy of the corpus callosum were significantly decreased in the ghrelin-treated group. In the hippocampus, ghrelin increased the length of hippocampal microvessels and reduced the microvessels pathology. Further, we confirmed angiogenesis enhancement through the fact that ghrelin treatment increased vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-related protein levels, which are the most powerful mediators of angiogenesis in the hippocampus.

CONCLUSION
We found that ghrelin affected the damaged myelin sheaths and microvessels by increasing angiogenesis, which then led to neuroprotection and improved memory function. We suggest that further studies continue to accumulate evidence of the effect of ghrelin. Further, we believe that the development of therapeutic interventions that increase ghrelin may contribute to memory improvement in patients with vascular dementia.


Abstract Occurrence of trimethoprim (TMP), recalcitrant antibiotic, and its adverse effect on ecosystem have been reported in several countries. The study aims to remove the TMP and its phytotoxicity via a UV/chlorine process, compared with chlorination and UV irradiation alone. Various treatment conditions including chlorine doses, pHs, and TMP concentrations was conducted with synthetic waters and effluent waters. The UV/chlorine process exhibited a synergistic effect on the TMP removal, compared with chlorination and UV irradiation alone. The UV/chlorine process was the most effective in removing TMP, followed by chlorination. The UV irradiation slightly affected the TMP removal (less than 5%). The UV/chlorine process completely removed TMP by 15 min contact time, while chlorination for 60 min could achieve 71% of TMP removal. The TMP removal fitted well with the pseudo first-order kinetics, and the rate constant (k′) increased with higher chlorine doses, lower TMP concentrations and low pH. HO• was the major oxidant affecting the TMP removal and its degradation rate, compared with other reactive chlorine species (e.g., Cl•, OCl•). The TMP exposure increased the phytotoxicity by decreasing a germination rate of Lactuca sativa and Vigna radiata seeds. The use of UV/chlorine process could effectively detoxify the TMP, resulting in the phytotoxicity level of treated waters equivalent or lower than those of TMP-free effluent water. The detoxification level depended on the TMP removal, and it was about 0.43–0.56 times of TMP removal. The findings indicated the potential use of UV/chlorine process in removing TMP residual and its phytotoxicity.


Producing more effective governance is the greatest challenge that faces most Latin American democracies today-a challenge that involves not only strengthening democratic institutions but also increasing governmental effectiveness. Focusing on the post-1990 period, this volume addresses why some policies and some countries have been more successful than others in meeting this dual challenge. Two features of the volume stand out. First, whereas some analysts tend to generalize for Latin America as a whole, this group of authors underscores the striking differences of achievement among countries in the region and illustrates the importance of understanding these differences. The second feature is the range of expertise within the volume. In addition to the volume editors, the contributors are Alan Angell, Daniel Brinks, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jose de Gregorio, Alejandro Foxley, Evelyne Huber, Jose Miguel Insulza, Juliana Martinez Franzoni, Patricio Navia, Francisco Rodriguez, Mitchell Seligson, John Stephens, Jorge Vargas Cullell, and Ignacio Walker.


One-bit transform method can be used for low computational complexity block based motion estimation with respect to hardware implementation in video coding systems. The principal of the one-bit transform method is based on kernel which has multi band pass filtering. In this work, the performance of the one-bit transform methods obtained with band pass filtering on the state of the art video coding standard has been evaluated. Also new kernels, which have different multi band pass filtering, have been proposed to compare the performance of the low bit representation based motion estimation in low and high resolution videos.


The Emergency Room (ER) receives patients in critical conditions. The operation of many emergency service chains is hampered because the required medical equipment is not always conveniently available and patient vital signs are manually monitored, but not automatically tracked on a real-time basis. This has resulted in medical errors, increased stress levels of medical teams, and poor utilisation of staff and equipment. Our research investigates factors that contribute to the adoption of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies by the medical team in ERs. We propose a theoretical framework to address this issue based upon the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) theory.


In order to achieve the complicated trajectory tracking of quadrotor, a geometric inner and outer loop control scheme is presented. The outer loop generates the desired rotation matrix for the inner loop. To improve the response speed and robustness, a geometric SMC controller is designed for the inner loop. The outer loop is also designed via sliding mode control (SMC). By Lyapunov theory and cascade theory, the closed-loop system stability is guaranteed. Next, the tracking performance is validated by tracking three representative trajectories. Then, the robustness of the proposed control method is illustrated by trajectory tracking in presence of model uncertainty and disturbances. Subsequently, experiments are carried out to verify the method. In the experiment, ultra wideband (UWB) is used for indoor positioning. Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is used for fusing inertial measurement unit (IMU) and UWB measurements. The experimental results show the feasibility of the designed controller in practice. The comparative experiments with PD and PD loop demonstrate the robustness of the proposed control method.


The suitability of the ST Microelectronics 65nm CMOS LP SOI process on HR substrate for a 100Gbit/s fiber-optic SCM transceiver LNA is examined in this paper. A broadband single stage and three stage LNA, using requirements derived from system simulations, were designed with bandwidths from 2GHz to 40GHz and 2GHz to 26GHz at gains of 5dB and 15dB respectively. A noise figure of ~5-7dB was obtained. Although the LNA noise figure is not as good, when compared to LNAs designed using other semiconductor technologies, it is still sufficient to be considered for the application, and has the advantage that it can be integrated with complex digital and analog baseband CMOS circuits.


Study intention is the student ́s educational aspirations and interests. It is the first step to make a possible career professional choice. This study identified the most intentional career choice and its distribution in University of the Mexican Valley geographical regions. The design was transactional and descriptive. Throw a survey applied to 3,336 High-school students into the university system. Results show four professional intentional career choices: Law, Psychology, Administration and Architecture. For each geographical region distribution was Law in Mexico City, Center and Mexico's State. North region prefers Administration. South prefers Architecture. This concentration into four careers choice means a problem in vocational guidance in High-school and a reason to change delivery process to give vocational guide to students.


We developed patient derived xenografts (PDX), performed whole exome sequencing (WES) and analyzed circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to complement clinical management of four melanoma patients. Synchronous treatment of patients and mice showed that PDX responses mirrored those of the patients' tumor to BRAF inhibitors. PDXs were used to test second-line treatments in relapsed patients and to validate WES-based therapies in tumors that did not have a BRAF mutation. Longitudinal analysis of ctDNA was predictive of responses to targeted and immunotherapies, and to determine mechanisms of resistance. Thus, we describe a powerful combination of techniques for personalized medicine in melanoma and discuss the challenges and limitations of implementing these novel technologies in patient management. Citation Format: Maria R. Girotti, Dominic Rothwell, Amaya Viros, Amit Kumar Mandal, Kok Haw J. Lim, Gabriela Gremel, Simon Furney, Malin Pedersen, Jane Rogan, Jacqueline Swan, Alberto Fusi, Ged Brady, Paul Lorigan, Caroline Dive, Richard Marais. A technology platform for personalized medicine in melanoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2432. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2432


This paper discusses the purpose, reach, and function of the Non-Profit and Civic Engagement (NPACE) Center in the Department of Communication. Additionally, it explores how the ground-up creation of NPACE resulted from a thorough examination of the strengths and needs of both department and community and how the center offers substantive solutions to meet real-life challenges of both. Along the way, the paper addresses how faculty members negotiated with faculty and administrators across campus to gain support to launch the center. Moreover, the paper discusses key achievements of a few select projects executed in the past 5 years of service to the university and community. It also addresses the value of NPACE to its students, including a recent trend that has potential for further examination regarding the effect of the learning model and the center on fostering the civic and community engagement of graduates. Finally, the paper discusses emerging challenges, lessons learned, and opportunities for NPACE.


Objective To evaluate the location of transferred embryos under various parameters during embryo transfer in in vitro fertilization (IVF) by applying an in vitro experimental model for embryo transfer (ET). Methods Mock ET simulations were conducted with a laboratory model of the uterine cavity. The transfer catheter was loaded with a sequence of air and liquid volumes, including development-arrested embryos donated by patients. The transfer procedure was recorded using a digital video camera. An orthogonal design, including three independent variables (uterine orientation, distance of the catheter tip to the fundus, and injection speed) and one dependent variable (final embryo position), was applied. Results The uterine cavity was divided into six regions. The distribution of the transferred matter within the uterine cavity varied according to the uterine orientation. Medium speed-injected embryos were mostly found in the static region while fast- and slow-speed injected embryos were mostly found in the fundal region and the cervical-left region, respectively. The possibility of embryo separation from the air bubble increased from 11.1% in slow injection cases to 29.6% and 48.1% in medium and fast injection cases, respectively. Conclusion The experimental model provides a new method for investigating ET procedures. Fast injection of embryos into a retroverted uterus may be more likely to result in embryo separation from the air bubble.


. This paper monitors and analyzes the surface water and sediments in the Dongxinkai (DXK) River basin. The analysis shows that the water bodies mainly suffer from aerobic pollution, with chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH 3 -N) being the primary causes of pollution. Considering the main causes of the pollution, the author put forward an integrated pollution control plan for the basin focusing on pollutant interception, source control, and ecological construction. After the treatment, the dissolved oxygen (DO) values at all sampling points were greater than 2 mg/L, the NH 3 -N values were all smaller than 8 mg/L and the water transparency values were all above 25 cm, indicating that the river is no longer black or odorous. The implementation of the entire plan costs RMB 26.2 × 10 8 yuan. The research findings shed important new lights on pollution control in other rivers across China.


Nanometer technology have not only resulted in increasingly complex chips but is also exposing new defects and failure mechanisms during manufacturing that are challenging process and test engineers while they struggle to maintain high yield and low DPM. Silicon manufacturers are increasingly using structural test vectors to improve the process and consequently, reduce the defect rates. Structural vectors help detect defective parts and debug issues in an automated manner, which subsequently allows ramping up the yield for a given process fairly quickly. In addition, it reduces the number of escaped parts thereby guaranteeing lower DPM and fewer field returns. However, relying more on structural tests implies that the test set should be of the highest quality and may include vectors for fault models (in addition to stuck-at faults) such as transition, path-delay, bridging, n-detect, in-line resistance, Iddq, etc., covering some of the new failure mechanisms.


Variants of oncogenic human papillomavirus type 5 (HPV5), specifically associated with epidermodysplasia verruciformis, were recognized on the basis of the genetic heterogeneity of the E6 open reading frame (ORF). To further evaluate the genetic heterogeneity of HPV5, we sequenced the long control region (LCR), the E7 ORF, and the terminal parts of the E2 ORF of five previously characterized HPV5 variants and compared the data with the published HPV5a1 and HPV5b sequences. Alignment of the variants showed 140 (7.6%) variable nucleotides of 1,854 sequenced. Nucleotide substitution rates varied from 3.6% in the E7 ORF to 11% in the E6 ORF. By sequencing the variable region encompassing the LCR 3' part and the E6 ORF of isolates from six additional epidermodysplasia verruciformis patients, we identified three new variants and three already known variants, indicating the stability of HPV5 variants. This stability was further demonstrated by the identity of isolates obtained years later from benign and malignant lesions of three patients. Phylogenetic analysis of the 10 HPV5 variants distributed them into three groups, tentatively defining subtypes a, b, and c. The phylogenetic grouping shows no geographical dependence, a fact that may be related to the host restriction that characterizes HPV5 infections. No differences in the enhancer potential of the LCR or in the transactivating properties of the E2 protein assayed in vitro were observed among HPV5 variants. Whether HPV5 variants possess distinct biological properties in vivo remains to be determined.


Recent studies indicate that the direction of postrotatory nystagmus and optokinetic afternystagmus reorients toward earth-horizontal in tilted subjects. To further examine this phenomenon in humans, we studied 8 adults (4M, 4F) with no history of neurologic or otologic disease. Vestibular stimulation consisted of yaw off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) trapezoids with eyes open in the dark at 60 degrees/s constant velocity with a tilt angle of 30 degrees and a deceleration at 100 degrees/s2 to a stop in either the right-ear-down or the left-ear-down position. The optokinetic stimulus consisted of 5 degrees wide black and white stripes projected against a cylindrical visual surround 1 m in diameter rotated at a constant velocity of 30 degrees/s. The projector, visual surround, and subject were all tilted by 30 degrees; subjects were placed either in the right-ear-down or left-ear-down position. Eye position was measured using the magnetic scleral search coil technique. Each trial was scrutinized for the presence of reorientation of nystagmus in the subject's roll plane by looking for vertical nystagmus in the appropriate direction. Results indicated that reorientation of postrotatory nystagmus following OVAR was variable but often present. Reorientation of optokinetic afternystagmus was neither as consistent nor as robust as that seen following OVAR. These findings confirm that humans exhibit a predilection for eye rotations in the earth-horizontal plane.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


In spite of the interest generated by Phoenician-Punic Archaeology, this area of study has always been underestimated by comparison with Classical Archaeology. One of the main reasons for this is the persistence of a colonial representation of the ancient Mediterranean which assumes Greek culture to be the supreme expression of civilization. Other groups may imitate it through an acculturation process: Hellenization. As we shall see, this representation pervades even the Phoenician-Punic history and archaeology university textbooks. Starting with the various reasons leading to this situation, I aim to focus on the interpretation given to the ancient excavations at Carthage and, specifically, to its architectural and urban record, since this was the area of study where the prejudices about the Phoenician-Punic culture found an (albeit misunderstood) archaeological proof. I shall argue that the misinterpretation of these excavations is the key to understanding later developments and the general underestimation of Phoenician-Punic Archaeology.


While most continual learning algorithms have focused on tackling the stability-plasticity dilemma, they have overlooked the effects of the knowledge transfer when the dataset is biased — namely, when some unintended spurious correlations, not the true causal structures, of the tasks are learned from the biased dataset. In that case, how would they affect learning future tasks or the knowledge already learned from the past tasks? In this work, we design systematic experiments with a synthetic biased dataset and try to answer the above question from our empirical findings. Namely, we first show that standard continual learning methods that are unaware of dataset bias can transfer biases from one task to another, both forward and backward. In addition, we find that naively using existing debiasing methods after each continual learning step can lead to significant forgetting of past tasks and reduced overall continual learning performance. These findings highlight the need for a causality-aware design of continual learning algorithms to prevent both bias transfers and catastrophic forgetting.


Home-grown fermented and distilled beverages are very popular traditional drinks in Ethiopia. Among these, Arekies, korefe, tej and tella are very common in northern part of Ethiopia. Specifically Yekoso-Arekie which is double distilled and possess unique extra ingredient which is called Yekoso-Kitel the most common beverage in Debre-Birhan town. However, there is no any report on the level of Zinc in this beverage. The purposes of this study were to determine the amounts of Zinc and to compare this parameter of selected Ethiopian traditional alcoholic beverage (Yekoso-Arekie) from Ethiopia in the specific area Debre-Birhanwith other similar beverages. A total of nine bulk samples were collected randomly from vending houses from nine different kebeles. For these purposes, two experimental parts has been implemented sequentially, the firstpart is digestion of the sample with H2O2 and conc. HNO3; the second part is absorbent measurement: the standard, blank and samples were placed in to auto sampler test tube then after placed at sampling area of FAAS in the order of analysis: first the standard solutions in increasing concentration, then the blank and the samples follow.The amount of zinc in yekossoarekie was determined. since this local drink has not standard reference in the nation, the researcher took the standard reference from WHO, Zinc, Zn (mg) Content in distilled Alcoholic beverage, all (gin, rum, vodka, whiskey) is between 0.0283 mg/l and 0.9824mg/l. The researcher concludes that Yekosso-Arekie has remarkable levels of Zinc; as a result the consumers of this beverage can get its vital for activating growth iand physical and neurological development in infants, children and teenagers since Zinc is an essential micronutrient for human health.


The purpose of this study is to analyze an information system that is necessary for logical decision-making, so it requires an understanding of the problem and knowledge of alternative solutions. This study report was carried out using a descriptive qualitative method by reviewing scientific articles taken from Google Scholar by taking notes. The results of the study, that more precise information results in better decisions. The quality of information depends on 3 (three) things, namely, the information must be accurate, timely, and relevant. The elements in decision-making that must be considered are the purpose of decision-making, identification of decision alternatives to solve problems, calculations of factors that cannot be known beforehand or are beyond human reach, and the means or tools used to evaluate or measure the result of a decision.


Recently, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is the result of ongoing work by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) toward Fourth Generation (4G) systems. LTE will be used for mobile, fixed and portable wireless broadband access, and will offer several benefits to operators, aimed at increasing capacity, reducing network complexity and thus lowering deployment and operational costs. It will enable operators to meet the growing demand for mobile data solutions, making it possible for richer services to be delivered to consumers more cost effectively. The targets for LTE indicate bandwidth increases as high as 100 Mbps on the downlink, and up to 50 Mbps on the uplink. However, this potential increase in bandwidth is just a small part of the overall improvement LTE aims to provide. This study illustrates the model and representation of LTE links and traffics using NS-2 network simulator and observation of TCP Reno performance investigated. The Evaluation of the network performance with TCP Reno is mainly based on congestion window behavior, throughput, average delay and lost packet.


Background Hirschsprung's disease (HD) is a congenital disorder affecting neonates that presents with distal intestinal obstruction. It is the most common type of anorectal malformation. Treatment of HD consists of surgical removal of the distal colon including the most distal aganglionic segment, the transitional zone, and a prudent length of proximal colon that is determined during the surgical procedure to be normally ganglionated by intraoperative demonstration of normal ganglion cells up to and including the surgical resection margin. Methods In a retrospective study of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded colon tissue from the proximal resection margin (PRM) of 209 HD patients, we made morphometric measures and detected immature ganglion cells defined as dysmorphic by immunohistochemical demonstration of cytoplasmic neurofilament (NF). Results The majority of NF-positive ganglion cells in HD patients appeared immature, with less cytoplasm. Occasional positive ganglion cells in the same patients appeared mature with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm, Nissl bodies, prominent nucleoli, and adjacent glial cells. Patients with NF-positive ganglion cells in the myenteric plexuses at the PRM may have poor postoperative recovery. Conclusion We propose that NF expression in dysmorphic ganglion cells at the PRM may predict poor outcome after pull-through surgery for HD.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the value of combination of thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TI-RADS) and enhanced flow (e-Flow) in the qualitative diagnosis of thyroid nodules; and to compare the diagnostic efficiency between e-Flow and color doppler flow imaging (CDFI.

METHOD
The study chose 133 patients with 179 nodules (127 benign, 52 malignant nodules) who had per-operative ultrasound examination of their thyroid using grey-scale ultrasound, CDFI, e-Flow, and their noudles were graded by TI-RADS. Then the ultrasound diagnostic value were compared with their surgical pathology results by TI-RADS; TI-RADS and CDFI; TI-RADS and e-Flow, and diagnostic efficiency between e-Flow and CDFI were compared.

RESULT
The results revealed that combination of TI-RADS and e-Flow had a higher sensitivity (94.23%, P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between TI-RADS and the combination of TI-RADS and CDFI. Likewise, there was no significant difference between the combination of TI-RADS and e-Flow and the combination of TI-RADS and CDFI. The e-Flow showed a higher sensitivity, specificity and accuracy compare to the CDFI.

CONCLUSION
Combining e-Flow and TI-RADS could improve the sensitivity in qualitative diagnosis of thyroid nodules. Also, e-Flow has a better diagnostic efficiency of thyroid nodules.


As an important aspect of bioinformatics, the main problem of genome sequencing is DNA Fragment Assembly. This paper proposed a new fragment assembly algorithm based on the long fragment filtration. Firstly, the fragment set was divided into two parts according to a threshold of the filtration length and the Bruijn graph was formed by the short fragments set. Subsequently system automatically selected long fragments which met the filtration condition by the Bruijn graph and the path searching method and constructed the filtrated fragments set. On the basis of not missing essential fragment information in the process of fragment assembly, our method effectively resolved the problem of high spatial cost and limited processing scale caused by traditional Eulerian Super path method. Finally, we certified the feasibility and the validity of our method through a series of experiments.


Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are diagnosed when individuals show impairments in three behavioural domains: communication, social interactions, and repetitive, restrictive behaviours and interests (RRBIs). Recent data suggest that these three sets of behaviours are genetically heterogeneous. Early language delay is strongly associated with ASD, but the basis for this association and the relationship with individual sub-domains of ASD has not been systematically investigated. In the present study, data came from a population-based twin sample with language development data at 2-4 years, measured by the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI), and data at 8 years using the Childhood Asperger Syndrome Test (CAST). For the total CAST and the three subscales at 8 years, approximately 300 same-sex twin pairs were selected as showing extreme autistic-like traits (ALTs), defined here as pairs in which at least one member of the twin pair scored in the highest 5% of the distribution. Phenotypic analyses indicated that children showing extreme social and communication ALTs (but not the RRBI subscale) at 8 years were below average in language development at 2-4 years. A regression model for selected twin data suggested that genetic influences account for this overlap, but that these effects are only in part mediated by genes that are shared between language and extreme autistic traits.


We developed two browsers to support large personal photo collections on PDAs. Our first browser is based on a traditional, folder-based layout that utilizes either the user's manually created organization structure, or a system-generated structure. Our second browser uses a novel interface that is based on a vertical, zoomable timeline. This timeline browser does not require users to organize their photos, but instead, relies solely on system-generated structure. Our system creates a hierarchical structure of the user's photos by applying time-based clustering to identify subsets of photos that are likely to be related. In a user experiment, we compared users' searching and browsing performance across these browsers, using each user's own photo collection. Photo collection sizes varied between 500 and 3000 photographs. Our results show that our timeline browser is at least as effective for searching and browsing tasks as a traditional browser that requires users to manually organize their photos.


This paper presents a history of the ASME Heat Transfer Division (HTD) over the past 75 years. The foundations, birth, growth, and maturation of the division are addressed. An overview of honors and awards is presented and selected developments and trends are discussed. Noteworthy events and workshops, including the 50th anniversary celebration, are considered in some detail. The growing trend toward internationalization is addressed through several conferences and initiatives. Publications, with a focus on the Journal of Heat Transfer, are addressed. The Heat Transfer Division story is told through the contributions and dedicated service of the men and women of the division. The paper concludes with some thoughts about the future.


The formation of new blood vessels, i.e., angiogenesis, is a critical step in the evolution of a brain tumor from the earliest avascular phase to the clinically overt, vascular stage. For cerebral astrocytomas, intense capillary proliferation is a poor prognostic sign, associated with rapidly growing tumors. The in vivo production of a vasoformative substance can be demonstrated by transplanting human and experimental gliomas to the rabbit cornea. Intense neovascularization is elicited by the tumor and not by control tissues. If the same tumor is transplanted to the vitreous, thereby interrupting the vasoformative signal, the tumor remains in a dormant state for a prolonged period of time, despite its malignant potential. Inhibition of angiogenesis would be an important adjunct to the surgical treatment of gliomas.


In this work, the isolation, morphological and molecular identification of new entomopathogenic fungal strains were performed. The fungal strains were isolated from12 soils samples collected at three agriculturalMexican regions: Saltillo and Torreon, Coahuila and Mexico City using Tenebrio molitor larvae as host. Only four of all isolates strains were identified as entomophatogenic according to the morphological characterization. In addition, 11 entomopathogenic fungal strains were isolated directly from dead insects, in addition as control were used 5 fungal strains belonging to theAppliedMicrobiology Center (CEMAP) GreenCorp Biorganiks de Mexico SA de CV. All fungal strains were identified through the 18S rRNA sequencing and comparing with those deposited in the NCBI database through BLAST tool. Three 3 strains fromagricultural soilswere identified as Metarhizium anisopliae and only one as Cordyceps brongniartii. From dead insects, 7 strains were identified as Beauveria bassiana, 2 as C. brongniartii and 2 more as M. anisopliae. The phylogenetic analyses confirmed the close relationship among the strains identified as B. bassiana and among those M. anisopliae strains and shows that some of these entomopathogenic fungi are novel strains which may have potential as biological insecticides for different insect pests.


The tropics are areas that get sunlight every year, besides that, the tropics also have high humidity. Buildings in the tropics require designing the skin or facade to suit the climate; protection from heat and rain, as well as high humidity which will affect the comfortable temperature in the room. One common design response in tropical countries is to use a secondary skin. There are 4 factors that influence the use and design of secondary skins which are aesthetics, materials, functions / needs, and technology. This study focuses on the use of secondary skin in residential houses in Indonesia with tropical countries outside Indonesia which aims to compare the factors that influence the design and use of the secondary skin. The results show that most of the use of secondary skin in residential houses is influenced by thermal aspects, but many other factors influence the design, such as privacy, security, and aesthetic value. As well as there is also a combination of the use of materials with philosophy and aesthetics.


In basketball, as in all team sports, collaboration systems offensive and defensive demand for an effective communication among the players, a fast and correct comprehension of game situations. The task of the coach will be to train the players thinking, using a method of teaching-learning useful for their proper growth technique, tactics and psychological, accustoming them through targeted exercises to observe the evolution of the game, to understand the various technical and tactical aspects, to know how to choose which skills and how to play each fundamental in various situations and know how to perform. The workout structured in such a way greatly increases the degree of adaptation from the players to the different forms of unpredictability that basketball reserve, as well as to stabilize the provision of a level of quality. This study should aim to describe the method teaching, to analyze some aspects of planning and specific strategies to train in a modern vision of basketball. Method is theoretical and argumentative with deductive approach. It is collected the main technical-tactical paradigm to apply at a new vision of the basketball. Results show situations is the aim for a correct analysis of the question and so the planning and each training session has to be structured according to algorithm in which there is the pathway to give a good response to the problem.


Intertextuality is a postmodern literary concept that has become something of a buzz word in recent biblical studies. However, it can be fruitfully combined with more traditional approaches to illuminate the use of the Old Testament in the New. In this study of the Isaiah material quoted in 1 Peter 3:13-17, we combine historical, grammatical and structural modes of interpretation, with certain aspects of intertextuality, in order to explore the textual dynamics of this intriguing text.


Background and importance Hazardous drugs (HD) are those that exhibit one or more of the following six characteristics in humans or animals: carcinogenicity, teratogenicity or other developmental toxicity, reproductive toxicity, organ toxicity at low doses, genotoxicity, and structure and toxicity profiles of new drugs that mimic existing drugs, determined hazardous by the above criteria. Exposure to HD in the workplace could lead to serious health risks, which increase with exposure frequency. Therefore, it is crucial to limit exposure with appropriate equipment. Aim and objectives To identify HD used in a nursing home and to analyse the use of appropriate self-protection measures by nursing staff. Material and methods A prospective, observational study was performed in a nursing home over a 1 month period. Direct observation was carried out about how nursing staff handled HD. These drugs were identified through the medication sent to the nursing home and were categorised according to reference documentation (NIOSH and INSST (group 1, 2 or 3). Data collected were, for the nursing staff, age, sex, staff at reproductive risk and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during HD handling. Use or not of hazardous drug waste containment was also collected. Results A total of 152 drugs were sent weekly to the nursing home, of which 11 were HD: acenocoumarol, bicalutamide, carbamazepine, clonazepam, spironolactone, lamivudine, paroxetine, risperidone, tacrolimus, topiramate and valproic acid (18% group 1, 36% group 2% and 46% group 3). Nursing staff comprised 24 workers, 14 women (58.3%) and 10 men (41.7%), with a median age 41 years. Personnel at reproductive risk were 10 (66.7%): 7 women and 3 men. All staff used PPE insufficiently: they did not wear double gloves when handling HD or goggles with side shields when splashing was a possibility. Waste disposal was inadequate in 100% because of containers used were incorrect. Conclusion and relevance Mishandling of HD was widespread: nursing staff did not use PPE as recommended by the administration guidelines for HD. There was no awareness of suitable waste disposal. Pharmaceutical interventions could decrease the potential risk of occupational exposure. References and/or acknowledgements No conflict of interest.


Under well-established culture conditions, Pseudomonas reptilivora produced several antibiotics that have been purified by solvent extraction, chromatography in Sephadex G-25, electrophoresis, and paper chromatography in different solvent systems. Activity has been monitored at the different steps of isolation and purification by measurement of the inhibition of the growth of Staphylococcus aureus by the cylinder-plate method, as well as by bioautography of chromatograms and electropherograms. Three antibiotics have been isolated and named A, B1, and B2. The B1 and B2 activities were studied in greater detail than A. The B1 substance was crystallized, and its chemical properties were found to coincide with those of YC 73 or fluopsin C described by Egawa et al. and Itoh et al., respectively.


Group velocity dispersion spectra have been determined for 7.8-m lengths of a single-mode optical fiber. The dispersion spectra are derived from measurement of the transit delay time of picosecond pulses (4-10 ps) from optically pumped ultrashort cavity semiconductor film lasers. The delay time spectra have been measured to 1 ps precision over the range from 1.11 to 1.53 μm for single-mode step-index and quadruple-clad fibers. This is the highest temporal resolution achieved for any pulse delay measurement in optical fibers. The resulting dispersion spectra are in good agreement with measurements made for the same fibers by other techniques.


Visual Question Answering (VQA) aims to answer the natural language question about a given image by understanding multimodal content. However, the answer quality of most existing visual-language pre-training (VLP) methods is still limited, mainly due to: (1) Incompatibility. Upstream pre-training tasks are generally incompatible with downstream question answering tasks, which makes the knowledge from the language model not well transferable to downstream tasks, and greatly limits their performance in few-shot scenarios; (2) Under-fitting. They generally do not integrate human priors to compensate for universal knowledge from language models, so as to fit the challenging VQA problem and generate reliable answers. To address these issues, we propose HybridPrompt, a cloze- and verify-style hybrid prompt framework with bridging language models and human priors in prompt tuning for VQA. Specifically, we first modify the input questions into the cloze-style prompts to narrow the gap between upstream pre-training tasks and downstream VQA task, which ensures that the universal knowledge in the language model can be better transferred to subsequent human prior-guided prompt tuning. Then, we imitate the cognitive process of human brain to introduce topic and sample related priors to construct a dynamic learnable prompt template for human prior-guided prompt learning. Finally, we add fixed-length learnable free-parameters to further enhance the generalizability and scalability of prompt learning in the VQA model. Experimental results verify the effectiveness of HybridPrompt, showing that it achieves competitive performance against previous methods on widely-used VQAv2 dataset and obtains new state-of-the-art results. Our code is released at: https://github.com/zhizhi111/hybrid.


In this paper we explore the differences between a warm dark matter (WDM) model and a cold dark matter (CDM) model where the power on a certain scale is reduced by introducing a narrow negative feature ('dip'). This dip is placed in a way so as to mimic the loss of power in the WDM model: both models have the same integrated power out to the scale where the power of the dip model rises to the level of the unperturbed CDM spectrum again.

Using N-body simulations we show that some of the large-scale clustering patterns of this new model follow more closely the usual CDM scenario while simultaneously suppressing small-scale structures (within galactic haloes) even more efficiently than WDM. The analysis in the paper shows that the new Dip model appears to be a viable alternative to WDM, but it is based on different physics. Where WDM requires the introduction of a new particle species, the Dip model is based on a non-standard inflationary period. If we are looking for an alternative to the currently challenged standard ΛCDM structure formation scenario, neither the ΛWDM nor the new Dip model can be ruled out based on the analysis presented in this paper. They both make very similar predictions and the degeneracy between them can only be broken with observations yet to come.


Although of major impact in terms of biological and environmental hazards, interactions of actinide cations with biological molecules are only partially understood. Human serum transferrin (Tf) is one of the major iron carriers in charge of iron regulation in the cell cycle and consequently contamination by actinide cations is a critical issue of nuclear toxicology. Combined X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and near infrared absorption spectrometry were used to characterize a new complex between Tf and Np (IV) with the synergistic nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) anion. Description of the neptunium polyhedron within the iron coordination site is given.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a constant and illimitable metabolic disorder that can happen even at a young age due to the virtual absence of naturally acting insulin, which uptakes and accumulates glucose; thereby reduce the use of glucose. In the present study, we evaluated the neuroprotective efficacy of andrographolide on streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic Sprague dawley rats. Diabetes was induced by intraperitonial injection of STZ (45 mg/kg B.W) in Sprague dawley rats. Andrographolide (2.5 mg/kg B.W) was administered orally to diabetic rats and Glibenclamide (25mg/kg B.W) as control for 30 days to assess its effects on blood glucose, insulin, insulin resistance and antioxidant profiles such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, reduced glutathione and lipid peroxidation in various regions of brain namely hypothalamus, cerebellum, hippocampus and brain cerebral cortex. Oral supplementation of andrographolide extensively diminished the blood glucose levels than diabetic control. There was noteworthy reduction in the CAT, SOD and GPx activities in the hippocampus, hypothalamus and cerebral cortex cerebellum of the DM rat brain. However, andrographolide supplementation drastically reverses the CAT, GPx and SOD back to normal levels. In conclusion, the results revealed that andrographolide shown beneficial potentiality against neuropathy in STZ induced diabetic rats.


ing Home." The literature on confraternities and earlymodern welfare is enormous. Nonetheless, I know of no work that so skilfully handles the amount of data that Terpstra martials, while treading a middle way between individual casestudies like Lorenzo Polizzotto's Children of the Promise (2004) different—equally masterful—history of the Florentine youth confraternity of the Purification, and panoramic surveys such as Christopher Black's Italian Confraternities in the Sixteenth Century (1989). Terpstra argues that Florence and Bologna were both confronted by increasing numbers of orphaned and abandoned children in the earlysixteenth century, and that both adopted unprecedentedly large and innovative strategies to deal with the problem. Where Bologna preserved more of late-medieval society's corporate civism, and provided superior care for its charges, Florence was more egalitarian, more "modern," and its managerial bureaucracy was more efficient (both literally and in our current, ideologically loaded, sense of that word). But the quality of care in Florence, while more impartially apportioned, was objectively far worse, and Florentine death rates, particularly among girls, were shockingly high. The book's clarity and liveliness make it accessible to undergraduate students and intelligent lay readers. It is required reading for historians of Renaissance and earlymodern Italy, as well as specialists in the history of European charity, welfare, and related areas. The skilful integration of orphan care with the history of the early-modern city-state also means that the book will interest historians of European statecraft. Much of the subject matter of Abandoned Children is challenging in the human sense. That Terpstra writes with such humanity and compassion, without ever sacrificing scholarly detachment, means that his fine book deserves also to be cited as a model of ethical scholarship.


The presence of the dc component in the phaselocked loop (PLL) input results in fundamental frequency oscillations in the phase and frequency estimated by the PLL. The removal of these oscillations is a challenging task because of their low frequency. The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of several approaches that little work has been conducted on their application for addressing the problem of dc offset in the PLL algorithms. These approaches include using the dq-frame delayed signal cancellation (DSC) operator and the notch filter as the PLL in-loop filtering stages, and using the αβ-frame DSC operator, the complex coefficient filter, and a cross-feedback network for blocking the dc offset before the PLL input. Design aspects of these methods are presented, some methods to enhance their performances are proposed, and their advantages and disadvantages are evaluated.


After treatment of isolated cells walls of Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum with sodium hydroxide or anhydrous hydrazine, water soluble glycan strands were obtained. These consisted of alternating (beta 1-3)-linked D-glucosamine and (alpha 1-3)-linked L-talosaminuronic acid residues and their length was about 25 disaccharides. Some of the L-talosaminuronic acid residues remained linked to either glutamic acid or the peptides N-gamma-glutamylalanine and N epsilon-(gamma-glutamylalanyl)lysine, indicating that the peptide moiety of pseudomurein is bound to the carboxyl group of talosaminuronic acid via the amino group of glutamic acid.


The antibiotic activity of metal complexes of N-methylthioformohydroxamic acid against gram-negative Escherichia coli NIHJ and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus 209P was investigated. The kinetically labile, square-planar, divalent (Cu, Ni, and Pd) and octahedral, trivalent (Fe, Co, and Cr) complexes displayed activity, whereas the more inert platinum(II) or rhodium(III) complex displayed no activity, or activity only at elevated concentrations. The free ligand did not suppress the growth of the above organisms, and the sulfur atom of the ligand in its metal complexes appears crucial for activity. Uptake studies of radioactively labeled N-methylthioformohydroxamic acid, its nickel(II), platinum(II), iron(III), and rhodium(III) complexes were conducted in the Escherichia coli K-12 RW193 mutant, which is defective in the production of its native iron(III) transport agent, enterobactin. Uptake of 55Fe or 63Ni label from their metal complexes appeared to occur as free inorganic metal ions. The antibiotic activity of the iron(III) and nickel(II) complexes was not due merely to an enhanced accumulation of metal ions by the cell. Metal complexes of [35S]N-methylthioformohydroxamic acid enhanced the accumulation of 35S label compared to that of the free ligand. The antibiotic activity and uptake data are discussed in terms of possible modes of action.


Background It was confirmed that simulated microgravity (SMG) led to ultrastructural alterations and apoptosis in many types of microvascular endothelial cells. However, whether SMG would also affect choroidal vascular endothelial cells (CVECs) remains unknown. This study was designed to investigate the effects of SMG on ultrastructure and apoptosis of CVECs. Methods The rotary cell culture system (RCCS) was utilized to simulate microgravity condition. Human CVECs were cultured under normal gravity (NG) or SMG condition for 3 days. The ultrastructure was viewed under transmission electron microscopy, and the organization of F-actin was observed by immunofluorescence staining. Additionally, the apoptosis percentage was calculated using flow cytometry. Moreover, the mRNA and protein expression of BAX, Bcl-2, Caspase3, Cytochrome C, p-AKT, and p-PI3K were detected with quantitative PCR and Western blot at different exposure time. Results In the SMG group, CVECs presented with a shrunk cell body, chromatin condensation and margination, mitochondria vacuolization, and apoptotic bodies. The amount of F-actin decreased, and the filaments of F-actin were sparse or even partly discontinuous after cultivation under SMG for 72 h. The proportions of apoptotic CVECs in SMG groups at 24 and 72 h were significantly higher than those in the NG group (P < 0.001). The mRNA and protein expression of Bax, Caspase3, and Cytochrome C of CVECs in SMG groups at 24 and 72 h significantly increased than those of the NG group, respectively (P < 0.001). The alterations of p-AKT and p-PI3K protein expression possessed similar trends. On the contrary, the mRNA and protein expression of Bcl-2 in CVECs under SMG at 24 and 72 h were significantly less than that of the NG group, respectively (P < 0.001). Conclusion Simulated microgravity conditions can lead the alterations of the F-actin structure and apoptosis of CVECs. The Bcl-2 apoptosis pathway and PI3K/AKT pathway may participate in the damage of CVECs caused by SMG.


Stress intensity factor of thermal fatigue crack was calculated within one cycle by using finite element method in consideration of the multi-linear kinematic hardening characteristic of a material. The affection of loading sequence to stress intensity factor was studied under circularly variational temperature by comparing to that in one cycle. The low temperature cycle can not affect the stress intensity factor of latter cycles with high temperature; but high temperature cycle can affect the stress intensity factor of latter cycles with low temperature, and make it be equal to that of the high temperature cycle.


The Mythology A to Z series explores the world's most important myths and legends in an accessible style designed for young readers. Each comprehensive volume contains more than 400 well-constructed entries on the major figures, places, stories, objects, and themes of a given mythology. An introductory essay recounts the history of these civilizations and illuminates their way of life. This revised edition of Norse Mythology A to Z features dozens of new entries on topics and themes of interest to young readers, including gods and goddesses, the geography of Norse mythology, shape-shifters, wood carvings, and folklore, as well as new illustrations and an updated bibliography.


Eosinophils derived from HL-60 cells share many of the abnormalities of granule histochemistry and morphology frequently seen in eosinophils of patients with certain malignancies, especially those seen in acute myelomonocytic leukemia with abnormal eosinophils (FAB class M4eo). In order to understand the pathogenesis of these abnormalities, four enzymes, characteristic of the eosinophil, were studied in HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells at various stages of eosinophilic differentiation. Using biochemical and ultrahistochemical techniques, the following differences from normal eosinophil development were demonstrated. First, both myeloperoxidase and eosinophil peroxidase coexisted in the population of maturing HL-60 eosinophils. Second, the granules formed from the condensation of material in vacuoles which were derived from dilated segments of the endoplasmic reticulum; the role of the Golgi apparatus in processing of peroxidase appeared minimal. Third, low levels of lysophospholipase and arylsulfatase were present in the cells compared to normal eosinophils. Finally, crystallizations resembling precursor structures of Auer rods appeared in the granules of about 5% of the cells. These findings suggest that several disorders of the control of protein synthesis and processing exist in HL-60 eosinophils which may be responsible for the abnormal granule morphology and histochemistry.


Summary Grade V subarachnoid haemorrhage is associated with high mortality and morbidity, yet there are few contemporary reports on the treatment provided and outcomes of these patients. In this single-centre retrospective cohort study, we primarily sought to determine the 12-month mortality of patients admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital intensive care unit between 2006 and 2016 with grade V subarachnoid haemorrhage. Secondary objectives were to describe treatments provided, patient destination following hospital discharge, organ donation and hospital financial costs. Over the 11-year study period, there were 139 patients admitted with grade V subarachnoid haemorrhage. The annual number of admissions did not change over time. The median age was 56 (interquartile range 48–70) years, 88 (63%) were female and 77 (55%) had a procedure to isolate an aneurysm. There were 77 (55%) patients who died in the intensive care unit, 87 (63%) died in hospital and 89 (64%) had died at 12 months. Of the 52 patients who survived to hospital discharge, 33 (63%) were transferred to a rehabilitation facility, 17 (33%) to another acute care hospital and two (4%) were discharged. Of the 87 patients who died in hospital, 45 (52%) donated organs. The total hospital cost of managing this cohort was A$8.3 million, with a median cost of A$41,824 (interquartile range A$9,933–A$97,332) per patient. Grade V subarachnoid haemorrhage has a high mortality rate, with one-third of patients alive after one year.


: The evolution of human society leads to increased affluence and prosperity of certain populations, sometimes at the expense of well-established markets. Market leaders in products and services tend to be so focused on their current customer base that they are caught off guard with the changes in markets created by the evolution. These changes often go unnoticed until it is too late. The change in customer base often requires the repositioning of products and services through innovations, which address new and emerging markets. Some of these changes could potentially result in tectonic market shifts that force innovation managers to involve current and future customer bases in order to help understand the opportunities that can lead to innovation. The nature of these innovations could span the range from addressing the mundane needs of developing countries to meeting the wishful aspirations of mature markets. Firms are often at a loss on when and how to use customer-inspired insights in the goal to create new innovations. Innovation management takes on a new art form that engages customers, allowing them to reveal their unmet needs. Such a fuzzy front-end process demands new engagement styles and structures that are less obvious to those who use traditional tools such as surveys and focus group research. This chapter identifies the challenges faced by firms in responding to a less-traversed approach toward using customers to identify innovation opportunities, and suggests methods to manage such challenges.


Background We suggest that differential gene expression in patients with AS includes the immune system, intracellular or extracellular signaling pathway, and bone matrix biosynthesis pathway, which might play important roles in hip joint ligament ossification. The development of inflammation in the AS pathogenesis (sacroileitis, spondylodiscitis, arthritides, etc.) is associated with an increase of C-reacting protein, CRP and BASDAI rates and ESR, often complexed with HLA-B27. Objectives We set a task to study the biomarkers indicative of the cell death processes and their possible patterns (apoptosis, necrosis), as well as methylation levels, through an investigation of an associations with inflammation intensity (ESR, CRP) biomarkers, exDNA level and the proteins complexed with exDNA. Methods Phenol-based technique was used to extract exDNA from blood serum of 37 patients with AS and 18 healthy donors. 85% patients were positive for HLA-B27, BASDAI 5.31±3.28. The exDNA concentration was determined using fluorescent technique with Hoechst 33258. The protein component bound to exDNA, was determined using fluorescence of the protein-dye complex (coumarin-benzotiametincyanine, 580 nm). The level of methylation by exDNA restriction with methyl-specific nucleases HpaII and MspI. The statistical processing - Statistica 8.0. Results 71% of AS patients showed an increase in exDNA concentration, and 50% demonstrated high methylation levels (1.56±0.34 a.u.), which correlated with the exDNA concentrations and increased leukocyte count (p=0.008, t=0.7467). Raised concentration of monomethine proteins, complexed with DNA, as compared with the normal, was found in 74% of AS patients. A direct correlation was detected between the levels of monomethine proteins and the level of DNA methylation (p=0.03, t=0.867). 84% of patients with CRP concentration >5 mg/l, demonstrated a rise in exDNA concentration (501.5±238.5 ng/ml). Direct correlation between ESR and CRP (p=0.04, t=3.85) was observed, and an increased leukocyte count (10.26±4.8) was found. In a group where CRP level were <5 mg/l, only 50% of patients had elevated exDNA (314.3±254.6 ng/ml) and methylation levels. One can suppose that hypermethylated DNA is released in the process of apoptosis. The statistically significant association between methylation level and elevated leukocyte count suggests a role of hypermethylated DNA in the increased leukocyte resistance to death, pathogenesis, and inflammation at AS. Conclusions Correlation between elevated monomethine protein and leukocyte count in the association with high DNA methylation levels can be considered as a marker of neutrophil resistance to apoptosis and participation of neutrophils in the processes of destruction and inflammation. Hence, the data we obtained helps us to develop a concept of AS pathogenesis as cause-effect relationships of the inflammation processes, destruction, and proliferation with an increase in cell death rate and in hypermethylated DNA. Presence of hypermethylated DNA is associated with an elevated level of monomethine proteins and higher leukocyte count that possibly involves chromatin remodeling a mechanism regulating protein and genome function. Disclosure of Interest : None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3187


Current information suggests that arachidonic acid metabolites are involved in the development of cholecystitis. The purpose of this study was to evalute eicosanoid formation during the development of experimental cholecystitis in cats. Lysophosphatidylcholine is found in the gallbladders of patients with cholecystitis and is known to be a cytolytic, membrane damaging substance. Anesthetized cats underwent gallbladder perfusion with and without 1.5 mmol/L lysophosphatidylcholine. Additional experiments were performed when calcium ionophore was added to the perfusates and experiments were performed when cats were treated with indomethacin and underwent perfusion with lysophosphatidylcholine. Changes in the gallbladder were determined by evaluating mucosal water transport as measured by determining the changes in concentration in a nonabsorbable marker, by protein secretion and by β‐glucuronidase accumulation in gallbladder tissue as an index of inflammation. Eicosanoid formation was evaluated by measuring perfusate concentrations and gallbladder homogenate concentrations by radioimmunoassay of prostaglandin E, 6 keto prostaglandin F 1 α, leukotriene B4 and leukotriene C4. Lysophosphatidylcholine perfusion reversed the control patterns of absorption and produced water exsorption, produced an efflux of protein into the perfusate and increased β‐glucuronidase activity. These changes were accompanied by increased production of prostaglandin E and 6 keto prostaglandin F1α in gallbladder perfusate and homogenate. The concentration of leukotrience C4 in gallbladder effusate was increased by lysophosphatidylcholine when compared with control values. Indomethacin inhibited the protein efflux, decreased β‐glucuronidase levels and decreased prostaglandin E and 6 keto prostagladin F1 α formation when compared with values produced by lysophosphatidylcholine alone. Cyclooxygenase inhibition did not alter the secretion of water into the gallbladder or perfusate leukotriene C4 concentrations. Lysophosphatidylcholine alters gallbladder mucosal function, and these changes may be mediated by arachidonic acid metabolites.(HEPATOLOGY 1990;11:1003‐1009.).


Older adults (65 + years) often have greater difficulty in reading than young adults (18-30 years). However, the extent to which this difficulty is attributable to impaired eye-movement control is uncertain. To address this issue, the alignment and location of the two eyes' fixations during reading were monitored for young and older adults. Older adults showed typical patterns of reading difficulty but the results revealed no age differences in the alignment or location of the two eyes' fixations. Thus, the difficulty older adults experience in reading is not related to oculomotor control, which appears to be preserved into older age.


Reliability for functioning units is essential, be it on the parts of memory chips of computers, software or hardware or it can be on the part of heavy machinery in any industrial system. Reliability analysis can give excellent results to improve the maintainability and portability of management design for existing and future product. Extensive reviews of two-component repairable system models have been presented by Lie et al(1977) and Yearout et al. (1986). In all these models, it is assumed that failure times and repair times of the components are independent. In this paper, Reliability analysis of a system having one main unit and two supporting units is proposed, assuming that the system fails whenever the main unit fails and system shuts down whenever either both the supportingunits fail or main unit and one of the supporting units fail. To improve the reliability of the system, concept of preventive maintenance is also added. Using regenerative point technique various system parameters such as Transition Probabilities, Mean sojourn times, Mean time to system failure, Availability, Busy period of repairman in repairing the failed units etc. are calculated. At last profit analysis is also done. In this paper, failure time distributions are taken to be negative exponential whereas the repair time distributions are arbitrary.


Background: Human infections due to Gram-negative bacteria cause significant morbidity and mortality. Identification of new strategies, molecular targets, and agents for the treatment of Gram-negative bacterial infections are needed urgently. Lipid A is a necessary component of the lipopolysaccharide-containing outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. The zinc-dependent hydrolase UDP-3-O-(R-3-hydroxymyristol)-N-acetylglucosamine deacetylase (LpxC) involved in the first committed step in the biosynthetic pathway of lipid A has no sequence homology to any known mammalian enzymes and has emerged as an attractive Gram-negative antibacterial molecular target. Most previously described LpxC inhibitors contain a hydroxamic acid, which can lead to low specificity vs. other metal-dependent enzymes and can consequently result in unwanted side effects. Objective: This review examines a new reported class of nonhydroxamic LpxC inhibitors for the treatment of Gram-negative infections. Methods: The new class of inhibitor is compared with several previously reported LpxC inhibitors. Conclusion: The LpxC inhibitors disclosed in PCT application WO 2008027466 contain hydantoins in place of the hydroxamic acids commonly found in most previously described inhibitors. These molecules could represent a means of treating Gram-negative infections via a more selective inhibition of LpxC.


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Entropy Optimization Methods (EOM) have important applications, especially in statistics, economy, engineering and etc. There are several examples in the literature that known statistical distributions do not conform to statistical data , however the entropy optimization distributions do conform well. It is known that all statistical distributions can be obtained as the MaxEnt distribution and Entropy Optimization Distribution (EOD) especially as Generalized Entropy Optimization Distribution (GEOD) more exactly represents the given statistical data. In this paper, su rvival data analysis is fulfilled by applying Generaliz ed Entropy Optimization Methods ( GEOM ) . GEOM have suggested distributions in the form of the MinMaxEnt, th e MaxMaxEnt which are closest and furthest to statistical data in the sense of information theory respectively . In this research, the data of male patients with localized cancer of a rectum diagnosed in Connecticut from 1935 to 1944 is considered and the results are acquired by using statistical software R and MATLAB. The performances of GEOD are established by Chi – Square, Root Mean Square Error (R MSE) and Information criteria.


The pulmonary artery sling is a very rare vascular anomaly which consists in improper branching off and course of the left pulmonary artery. This artery presses on the trachea causing significant symptoms on the part of the respiratory system such as dyspnea, stridor or cyanosis. The authors present the case of a 17-month-old boy who had dyspnea incidents for several times while the reason was unknown. It was only after the X-ray examination of the chest with barium in the esophagus was carried out alongside the bronchoscopy, followed by the echocardigraphic and angiocardiographic examinations that the pulmonary artery sling was found to be reason for those incidences.


An epidemiological survey was carried out in 4 native villages from tribe Cashibo, in Amazonia (Peru). Among 165 stools examination, 92% were positives for helminthic (hookworms: 72%, roundworms and whipworms: 55% each, strongyloides: 5%) and protozoan infections (Entamoeba coli and Endolimax nana: 50% each, Entamoeba histolytica 24%, Giardia intestinalis 17%). Balantidium coli is not seldom (6%). Polyparasitism, very frequent, is reported with a maximum of 10 species. The most important villages are the most infested. Several factors can explain these results: lack of hygien and treatment, and no sanitary education. These rates are among the highest recorded for the South-American Indian people.


Human immunodeficiency virus/Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is still endemic in Benue state and Mkar community with often limited facilities for its management. The study was set up to ascertain the nature and types of intestinal parasites among HIV/AIDS patients with diarrhoea, a common clinical presentation in the community. Study was hospital based, patients attending HIV clinic at Mkar were consecutively enrolled for the study between January and June 2009. Close ended questionnaires were administered and relevant information such as age, sex, marital status, educational background occupation and regular intake of antiretroviral drugs were obtained. Stool samples were collected, stored, transported and processed using standard procedures of microscopy, culture and sensitivity. Data was analysed using simple descriptive methods and Epi Info 6 statistical software, P values ≤ 0.05 were considered significant. Parasites recovered from stool samples of HIV/AIDS patients at Mkar were: Entamoeba histolytica, 48.9%; Giardia lamblia, 14.9%; Hookworm, 11.7%; Crytosporidium parvum, 11.2%; Ascaris lumbricoides, 6.4%; Isospora belli 4.3% and Trichuris trichiura 2.6%. Bacteria were responsible for 53.5% of the diarrhoea cases, the commonest being Escherichia coli. Strict antiretroviral drug compliance was 6.3%. Symptomatic management of diarrhoea in HIV/AIDS patients should embrace these parasites not neglecting contributions of Enterobacteriaceae.


In this paper, we propose the assistance method to enable safe driving through analysis of dangerous driving behavior using real-time alarm by vehicle speed, azimuth data and smartphone. For this method, smartphone is receiving driving data from digital tachograph using communication. Safe driving habit is a very important issue to commercial vehicle because that driver's long time driving than other vehicle type driver. Existing methods are very inefficient to improve immediately dangerous driving habits during driving because proceed driving behavior analysis after the vehicle operation. We propose the new safe driving assistance method that can prevent traffic accidents by real-time and improve the driver's wrong driving habits through real-time dangerous driving behavior analysis and notification the result to the driver. We have confirmed that the method in this paper will help to improve driving habits and can be applied through the proposed method implementation and simulation experiment.


The adoption of high-performance soft magnetic material can be considered a possible way to respect the challenging design specifications for aerospace and automotive electrical machines. This paper presents an accurate noninvasive investigation of magnetic and energetic properties of cobalt-iron stator cores. In particular, the focus lies on the annealing processes aimed to maximize the magnetic saturation and the mechanical strength. Three cobalt-iron stator core samples coming from different annealing processes have been analyzed, both from the BH characteristics and losses viewpoints. Stator slot effects on the magnetic measurements have been investigated by finite-element method. A fringing effect correction factor to be applied on the measured BH curves is as well reported. In order to complete the experimental campaign analysis, micrographic analysis of the material structure is presented, as well as the iron losses separation coefficients.


Diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder in which the frequency has become worldwide. Because of this, there is always an epidemic in some countries of the world, with the number of people affected is expected that within the next decade to double due to the increasing aging of the population, thus increasing the existing burden of health care providers, particularly in the less developed countries. This review is based on a search Medline, Cochrane Database of Systemic journals and references to the literature list at the bottom.Subject heading and key wordsused include type 2 diabetes, the prevalence, the current diagnosis and therapy in progress. Onlyarticles in English were included. Early detection and diagnosis is still for the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria include clinical and laboratory parameters. No cure has been found yet for the disease;Treatment details, however, include lifestyle changes, treatment of obesity, oral hypoglycemic agents and insulin sensitizers such as metformin, a biguanidethat reduces insulin resistance, is still the firstline drug specifically for overweight patients.Other effective drugs includesnonsulfonylureasecretagogues, thiazolidinediones, inhibitors of alpha-glucosidase and insulin.Recent research in the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes has led to the introduction of new drugs such as glucagon-like peptide 1 analogoues: Dipeptidyl peptidase-IV inhibitors of the sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 and 11s-1-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, glucokinase activators of insulin release and pancreatic-G-protein-coupled fatty-acid-receptor agonists, glucagon receptor antagonists, inhibitors of the hepatic metabolism of glucose production and fast release bromocriptine. Inhaled insulin has been approved in 2006, but was withdrawn from the market due to low patronage.


The regions in which Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855) occurs in Italy are summarized and ordered chronologically according to the date of the first record. Details and verification about the first Italian record from Liguria (often overlooked), that dates back to 2007 the introduction of H. halys in this country, are also given. First exact localities are listed for the Italian regions of Tuscany, Marche, Latium, Abruzzo, Campania, and Apulia, in which only general occurrence was known so far. We included also additional records from Trentino-Alto Adige, where the presence of H. halys has only recently been reported through a few data. Furthermore first records for Sweden, Central Macedonia (Greece), and Manitoba (Canada) are reported, as well as first intercepted specimens from Iceland.


We study the propagation of the radially polarized Airy vortex beams (RPAiVBs) in a chiral medium analytically. The RPAiVBs split into the left circular polarization of the RPAiVBs (LCPRPAiVBs) and the right circular polarization of the RPAiVBs (RCPRPAiVBs). We mainly discuss the effects of the vortex and the chiral parameter on the propagation properties of the RPAiVBs, involving the intensity distributions and the radiation forces. It is shown that with the chiral parameter increasing, the intensity focusing position of the RCPRPAiVBs is further from ${ z} = 0\text{Zr}$z=0Zr, while that of the LCPRPAiVBs is opposite. Besides, the maximum radiation forces of the RCPRPAiVBs are stronger than those of the LCPRPAiVBs. It is significant that we can control the acceleration, the intensity focusing position, and the radiation forces of the RPAiVBs by varying the vortex order and the chiral parameter.


The study examines the Government Auditing in Zimbabwe in particular the performance of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The study argues that the legislative framework has a bearing on the efficiency and effectiveness of the Comptroller and Auditor General's performance. Within this context, the study sought to achieve the following objectives: firstly, critical analysis of the relevant legislative framework and its bearing on the auditing of government accounts and secondly, identification and analysis of the causes and effects of inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The study revealed that the legislative framework has numerous loopholes. The Constitution of Zimbabwe; and the Public Finance Management Act Chapter 22:19 and Audit Office Act Chapter 22:18 that repealed the Audit and Exchequer Act Chapter 22:18 do not give the CAG's Office any sanction powers to compel Ministers, departments and other public agencies to observe and comply with the Treasury instructions. The following factors influence the independence of the CAG in Zimbabwe: appointment procedures, removal procedures, nature of tenure, financial autonomy and the ability to employ staff. In addition, the study notes that the current state of audits and reports is unsatisfactory. The CAG's Office could not produce annual reports for tabling during the period 2000 and 2007. The study revealed the following challenges being encountered by the CAG's office: gaps in the enabling legal instruments, unattractive remuneration, lack of sanction powers and budgetary constraints. The study's recommendations include changes in the appointment procedures of the CAG, amendment of the enabling legislation, improvement of the staffing and remuneration system which would enforce independence of the CAG.


This article analyses the determinants of the demand for life insurance using sample data from the 1911 Census of Canada. We find that immigrants' demand for life insurance was on average around 13 percentage points lower than that of native-born Canadians, with the effect varying by province of settlement. We interpret these findings as evidence suggesting a greater appetite for risk among self-selecting immigrants relative to native-born Canadians. We also uncover evidence of a slow assimilation of immigrants in terms of life insurance holdings, slower indeed than the process of assimilation in terms of earnings.


We consider the quantum electrodynamics of single photons in arrays of one-way waveguides, each containing many atoms. We investigate both chiral and antichiral arrays, in which the group velocities of the waveguides are the same or alternate in sign, respectively. We find that in the continuum limit, the one-photon amplitude obeys a Dirac equation. In the chiral case, the Dirac equation is hyperbolic, while in the antichiral case it is elliptic. This distinction has implications for the nature of photon transport in waveguide arrays. Our results are illustrated by numerical simulations.


ABSTRACT Research conducted in South African schools on word problems has provided little or no information on the reasons associated with poor academic achievement in word problem solving, except those linked to issues of reality and common sense in problem-solving processes. It is therefore against this background that the study reported in this paper sought to provide an overview of factors that are associated with poor academic achievement of primary school learners within South African classroom contexts. To do this, the study followed a qualitative approach by using a focus group discussion with a group of six Grade 6 learners. In brief, the findings of the study outlined in this paper seem to suggest that the mathematics academic achievements of Grade 6 learners in mathematics word problems solving are affected by a number of variables such as mathematical language use, text comprehension and terminology, understanding operations embedded in the text, concepts and vocabulary clarity, as well as the structure of the word problem.


This article questions the rise of post-humanistic utopias and cyborg technologies. Their project of un-limiting individual possibilities raises the question of the transcending of humanity. Must this project be interpreted as the victory of culture over nature, or as the total reification of Man and nature as objects of technological development. In any case, the concrete utopia of the cyborg is synonymous with a veritable anthropological mutation. Rather than realizing the impossible absolute mastering of nature by Man, the cyborg utopia could lead humanity to an unheard of process of dispossession and alienation.


In order to help the forging enterprise realize energy conservation and emission reduction, the scheduling problem of furnace heating was improved in this paper. Aiming at the charging problem of continuous heating furnace, a multi-objective furnace charging model with minimum capacity difference and waiting time was established in this paper. An improved strength Pareto evolutionary algorithm 2 (SPEA2) algorithm was designed to solve this problem. The original fitness assignment strategy, crossover operator and population selection mechanism of SPEA2 are replaced with DOPGA (Domination Power of an Individual Genetic Algorithm), adaptive cross operator, and elitist strategy. Finally, the effectiveness and feasibility of the improved SPEA2 was verified by actual arithmetic example. The comparison of results gained from three methods shows the superiority of the improved SPEA2 in solving this problem. Compared with strength Pareto evolutionary algorithm (SPEA) and SPEA2, the improved SPEA2 can get a better solution without increasing time complexity, the heating time is reduced by total 93 min, and can save 7533GJ energy. The research in this paper can help the forging enterprise improve furnace utilization, reduce heating time and unnecessary heating preservation time, as well as achieve sustainable energy savings and emissions reduction.


There are two independent molecules in the asymmetric unit of the title compound, C28H32ClN3OS (systematic name: 2-chloro-N-{5-[(1R,4aS,10aR)-7-isopropyl-1,4a-dimethyl-1,2,3,4,4a,9,10,10a-octahydrophenanthren-1-yl]-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl}benzamide). In each molecule, the cyclohexyl ring attached to the thiadiazole fragment adopts a classic chair conformation with two of its two methyl groups in the axial positions. In the crystal, pairs of intermolecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds link the molecules into centrosymmetric dimers, which are further linked via C—H⋯π interactions.


Project financing could be considered as a long-term credit scheme for big projects, such as infrastructure,where the granting of loans is completely based on the cashflow of the project. Recently, project financing has become an interesting subject to be analysed, both from a legal and economic point of view, because it could represent the best solution to involve private capital to finance public infrastructures, especially after the deep economic and financial crisis of 2008, which was particularly strong for Italy, already in a serious economic situation due to the heavy public debt. In fact, project financing, together with the other Public Private Partnership contracts, could represent a valid alternative capable of combining, on the one hand, public needs and, on the other, private resources. Nevertheless, there are still few infrastructures in Italy today built through this contract. This paper aims to analyse the reasons why project financing is less developed in Italy. So, in this essay will be analysed the risks that the public administration assumes in establishing a relationship with the private sector, as well as the characteristics and potential of project finance. For this reason, it was considered necessary to compare the Italian project for Line 5 of the Milan Metro with a project of a flagship country in this type of operations: the London Tube in the UK.


Respiratory diphtheria can be severe or fatal in unvaccinated persons; even with appropriate treatment, 5%-10% of patients with diphtheria die. For >50 years, vaccination against diphtheria has been recommended for children and adults in the United States. Persons who are unvaccinated or vaccinated inadequately can contract diphtheria during travel to areas where the disease is endemic, putting them and their close contacts at risk for severe illness. This report describes fatal respiratory diphtheria in an unvaccinated Pennsylvania resident who had visited Haiti, a country where the disease is endemic. The case highlights the need for all international travelers to be up-to-date with all recommended vaccinations, including a primary series of diphtheria toxoid-containing vaccine.


The review is devoted to the application in organic synthesis of organopalladium compounds with an intramolecular coordinate bond. Reactions with alkenes, alkynes, carbon monoxide, isocyanides, organolithium and organomagnesium compounds, and other reagents are examined. The mechanisms of these processes are discussed. The bibliography includes 129 references.


An HTS magnet for maglev application has been developed. The magnet consists of four persistent-current HTS coils, and is operated at a rated temperature of 20 K and a rated magnetomotive force of 750 kA for each coil. This paper describes the structure and performance test results of the HTS magnet. The four HTS coils are installed in a cryostat and conductively cooled by two sets of two-stage GM type pulse tube cryocoolers below 20 K. Detachable current leads, which are composed of connectors and ultrasonic motors, are adopted to reduce the heat leakage to the 1st stage cold head of the cryocoolers. The HTS coils are simultaneously charged up to the rated magnetomotive force. Persistent current operating tests were carried out and the current decay rates of 0.4-0.7%/day were attained. Also, in order to evaluate the mechanical capability of the magnet, vibration tests were conducted and permissible vibration responses were obtained


The purpose of this study was to compare body image and dietary behavior in middle and high school girls in the Gyeongbuk area in September, 2014. Data were collected from a total of 194 middle school and 170 high school girls through a self-reported questionnaire. A total of 364 completed questionnaires were collected and used for the final analysis. The mean body mass index (BMI) of respondents was normal at 21.29. Generally, high school girls had greater height, weight and BMI than middle school girls. Height (p<0.001) and weight (p<0.001) were significantly different, while BMI was not. The ratio of students who perceived their body size as 'Fat' was significantly (p<0.05) higher in high school (43.9%) than in middle school (31.6%). The ratio of dissatisfaction with their current body image was significantly (p<0.001) higher in high school girls (64.1%) than in middle school girls (44.0%). Among respondents who perceived their body size as 'Fat', many high school girls actually (53.3%) had normal or low body weight and this was significantly (p<0.001) higher than in middle school girls (39.3%). Experience with weight control was higher in high school girls (67.3%) than in middle school girls (60.6%), but there was no significant difference. Regarding the weight control methods, respondents selected 'combination diet and exercise' (22.2%), 'diet control' (20.9%), 'exercise' (18.7%), and 'reduce snacks and midnight snack' (17.4%). 15 items under obesity-related dietary behavior were measured with 5-point scales and lower scores indicated obesity diet behavior. The mean score for all respondents was 3.19/5.00, and high school girls (3.06) scored significantly (p<0.001) higher than middle school girls (3.33). Our study suggests that the development of effective nutrition and health education for diet control is crucial for adolescent girls. This study will enable educators to plan more effective strategies to improve the dietary knowledge of adolescent girls.


BACKGROUND
Although hyperviscosity syndrome in plasma cell dyscrasia (PCD) and thrombosis in myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) are major causes of morbidity and mortality, blood viscosity measurements are often underutilized.

OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to characterize whether whole blood viscosity (WBV) or plasma viscosity (PV) could be predictive of hyperviscosity syndrome in PCD and could be elevated in subgroups of MPN.

METHODS
A total of 75 patients with hematologic diseases: PCD (n = 26), MPN (n = 25) including polycythemia vera (P. vera) and lymphoma (n = 24) were enrolled along with 104 healthy controls. Both WBV and PV were measured using a capillary tube viscometer. Hyperviscosity syndrome was defined as having 2 or more hyperviscosity symptoms.

RESULTS
Patients with PCD showed significantly higher PVs at high and low shear rates when compared to healthy controls, especially in those with hyperviscosity syndrome. The sensitivity and specificity of WBV and PV in detecting hyperviscosity syndrome were 28.6% and 94.1%, and 71.4% and 66.7%, respectively. Patients with P. vera exhibited high WBV and RBC counts compared to healthy controls.

CONCLUSION
PV is predictive of hyperviscosity syndrome in PCD and WBV is elevated in patients with P. vera. It suggests that hemorheologic disturbances exist in patients with PCD and MPN and that tests of viscosity may be helpful in detecting hemorheological disturbances.