Background Periodontitis is a highly prevalent dental disease which is associated with diabetes and is challenging to cure in diabetic patients. However, the mechanism of comorbid diabetes and periodontitis is still unclear. This study aimed to uncover the role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in high glucose-associated periodontitis. Methods Periodontal tissues were obtained from diabetic patients with periodontitis, periodontitis patients without systemic disease, and healthy teeth. The expressions of ER stress-related factors GRP78, ATF6, PERK and XBP1 were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immumohistochemical staining. Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) from three states of periodontal tissues were isolated and cultured as diabetic PDLSCs (dPDLSCs), inflamed PDLSCs (iPDLSCs) and healthy PDLSCs (hPDLSCs), and the cell stemness was assayed. Different concentrations (8, 11, and 25 mmol/L) of D-glucose were used on hPDLSCs to simulate high glucose microenvironment. The changes of osteogenic ability of PDLSCs were observed, and the expressions of ER stress-related factors in different time point (6, 12, 24, and 72 h) were detected. Finally, GRP78 shRNA lentivirus was used to block ER stress on PDLSCs in the 25 mmol/L D-glucose microenvironment, and the osteogenic ability of PDLSCs was observed. Results The results showed that the expressions of GRP78, ATF6, PERK, and XBP1 were highest in the diabetic periodontitis group and lowest in the healthy periodontal tissue group (P<0.05). The clone formation, osteogenic and lipogenic differentiation abilities were lowest in dPDLSCs and highest in hPDLSCs. With the increase of glucose concentration, the osteogensis ability of PDLSCs decreased. After 6 hours of stimulation with D-glucose 25 mmol/L, the ER stress pathways in PDLSCs were effectively activated, and the peak value was reached at 12 hours. The decrease in the osteogensis ability of PDLSCs in a high glucose microenvironment reversed when ER stress was blocked. Conclusions The osteogenic differentiation ability of PDLSCs cells is inhibited in a high glucose microenvironment, and this effect is realized by ER stress activation. Blocking ER stress can partially restore the reduced osteogenic ability of PDLSCs. These results suggest that high glucose inhibits the osteogenic differentiation ability of PDLSCs by activating ER stress, which ultimately exacerbates periodontitis.


Reconfigurable multi-station machine tool is new generation manufacturing system of personalized production. A new method for multi-station machine tool reconfiguration through case based reasoning is studied. Specially, the machining parts description and similarity analysis using fuzzy sets theory is proposed for reconfiguration solution retrieval.


The undesired sulfur cycle derived by microbial population can ultimately causes the serious problems of sewerage systems. However, the microbial community characters under dynamic environment factors in actual sewerage system is still not enough. This current study aimed to character the distributions and compositions of microbial communities that participate in the sulfur cycle under the dynamic environmental conditions in a local sewerage system. To accomplish this, microbial community compositions were assessed using 454 high-throughput sequencing (16S rDNA) combined with dsrB gene-based denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. The results indicated that a higher diversity of microbial species was present at locations in sewers with high concentrations of H2S. Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were dominant in the sewerage system, while Actinobacteria alone were dominant in regions with high concentrations of H2S. Specifically, the unique operational taxonomic units could aid to characterize the distinct microbial communities within a sewerage manhole. The proportion of sulfate-reducing bacteria, each sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) were strongly correlated with the liquid parameters (DO, ORP, COD, Sulfide, NH3-N), while the Mycobacterium and Acidophilic SOB (M&A) was strongly correlated with gaseous factors within the sewer, such as H2S, CH4, and CO. Identifying the distributions and proportions of critical microbial communities within sewerage systems could provide insights into how the microbial sulfur cycle is affected by the dynamic environmental conditions that exist in sewers and might be useful for explaining the potential sewerage problems.


Excised maize (Zea mays L.) root tips were used to study the early metabolic effects of glucose (Glc) starvation. Root tips were prelabeled with [1-13C]Glc so that carbohydrates and metabolic intermediates were close to steady-state labeling, but lipids and proteins were scarcely labeled. They were then incubated in a sugar-deprived medium for carbon starvation. Changes in the level of soluble sugars, the respiratory quotient, and the 13C enrichment of intermediates, as measured by 13C and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance, were studied to detect changes in carbon fluxes through glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Labeling of glutamate carbons revealed two major changes in carbon input into the tricarboxylic acid cycle: (a) the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase flux stopped early after the start of Glc starvation, and (b) the contribution of glycolysis as the source of acetyl-coenzyme A for respiration decreased progressively, indicating an increasing contribution of the catabolism of protein amino acids, fatty acids, or both. The enrichment of glutamate carbons gave no evidence for proteolysis in the early steps of starvation, indicating that the catabolism of proteins was delayed compared with that of fatty acids. Labeling of carbohydrates showed that sucrose turnover continues during sugar starvation, but gave no indication for any significant flux through gluconeogenesis.


COVID-19 has created an unprecedented global health crisis that caused millions of infections and deaths worldwide. Many, however, argue that pre-existing social inequalities have led to inequalities in infection and death rates across social classes, with the most-deprived classes are worst hit. In this paper, we derive semi/non-parametric estimators of Health Concentration Curve (HC) that can quantify inequalities in COVID-19 infections and deaths and help identify the social classes that are most at risk of infection and dying from the virus. We express HC in terms of copula function that we use to build our estimators of HC. For the semi-parametric estimator, a parametric copula is used to model the dependence between health and socio-economic variables. The copula function is estimated using maximum pseudo-likelihood estimator after replacing the cumulative distribution of health variable by its empirical analogue. For the non-parametric estimator, we replace the copula function by a Bernstein copula estimator. Furthermore, we use the above estimators of HC to derive copula-based estimators of health Gini coeffcient. We establish the consistency and the asymptotic normality of HC's estimators. Using different data-generating processes and sample sizes, a Monte-Carlo simulation exercise shows that the semiparametric estimator outperforms the smoothed nonparametric estimator, and that the latter does better than the empirical estimator in terms of Integrated Mean Squared Error. Finally, we run an extensive empirical study to illustrate the importance of HC's estimators for investigating inequality in COVID-19 infections and deaths in the U.S. The empirical results show that the inequalities in state's socio-economic variables like poverty, race/ethnicity, and economic prosperity are behind the observed inequalities in the U.S.'s COVID-19 infections and deaths.


Increased pollution caused by industrialization, urbanization, afforestation and agriculture has resulted in severe reductions to the health of rivers in South Africa. Numerous studies carried out on South African rivers show that one of the biggest pollutant threats to the river health are heavy metals (e.g. Cr, Pb, Cd and Zn). Typically, metal pollutants exceed river quality limits set by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) and international standards including Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Umgeni River is the major river in the province of KwaZuluNatal. It suffers from heavy pollution due to effects of industrialization and increasing urban population. Research was carried out to investigate the impact of these industries on the ecosystem by measuring the total and bioavailable concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn in water and sediments over the four seasons. Seasonal sampling of water and sediment was done at nine sites. The total and bioavailable metal concentrations (Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd and Cu) were measured using ICP-OES. To ensure the validity of the data, certified reference materials were used; NIST 2702 for total metals and BCR 701 for the bioavailability study. Both CRM's showed high recoveries. Metal concentrations in water ranged from 1.0 – 6.0 μg L Cd, 1.0 – 11.0 μg L Cu, 0.3 – 82.7 μg L Cr, 2.7 – 65 μg L Zn and 0.3 – 16 μg L Pb. The total metal content of sediments ranged from 0.07 – 264.5 mg kg Cd, 11.9 – 168.5 mg kg Cu, 28.6 – 135.1 mg kg Cr, 29.5 – 602.1 mg kg Zn and 12.1 – 601.7 mg kg Pb. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used for statistical evaluation. This data showed that there was a significant difference between the dry (autumn/winter) and the wet seasons (spring/summer). Considering the total metal concentration the river is typically in poor health as defined by the SABS and EPA. All the metals, except Cd, were above the stipulated limited in both the sediment and water. The sequential extractions showed all metals primarily in the residual fraction (unavailable). However, very little Cd and Cr has potential of mobility. Cu has high affinity to partition in the Fe/Mn oxide and organic fraction indicating that the presence of reducing agents and microorganisms would avail the metal pollutant. Zn was associated with carbonates, and is highly mobile and bioavailable. This bioavailability data shows that any change in the environment condition may result in the release of the metal pollutants and would adversely affect the environment.


Agricultural expert system is an artificial intelligence technology,which is the field of using computer to simulate agricultural expert's thinking to substitute them to do diagnosis decision-making and programming.The general development situation,application on agriculture,was described.According to the development of information technology,the development trend of agricultural system in China was put forward in this paper.


Macro-level trends and patterns are commonly used in business, science, finance, and engineering to provide insights and estimates to assist decision-makers. In this research effort, macro-level trends and patterns were explored on the diffusion rates of technological innovations, a component of a sorely under-studied question in technology assessment: When should a technological innovation be abandoned? A quantitative exploratory data analysis (EDA)-based approach was employed to examine diffusion market data of 42 U.S. consumer technological innovations from the early 1900s to the 2010s to extract general macro-level knowledge on technological innovation diffusion rates. A goal of this effort is to grow diffusion rate knowledge to enable the development of general macro-based forecasting tools. Such tools would aid decision-makers in making informed and proactive decisions on when to abandon a technological innovation. This research offers several significant contributions to the macro-level understanding of the boundaries and likelihood of achieving a range of technological innovation diffusion rates. These contributions include the determination that the frequency of diffusion rates are positively skewed when ordered from slowest to fastest, and the identification and ranking of probability density functions that best represent the rates of technological innovation diffusion.


Over the course of its full lifetime, PANDA at FAIR will address the physics of strange baryons with ( = −2 in nuclei by several novel and unique measurements. This series of experiments will start with the exclusive production of hyperon–antihyperon pairs close to their production threshold in antiproton–nucleus collisions. This day-one experiment offers a hitherto unexplored opportunity to elucidate the behaviour of antihyperons in nuclei. In its intermediate stage, PANDA will offer the unique possibility to search for X-ray transitions from very heavy hyperatoms, e.g. Ξ−-208Pb which will complement experiments at J-PARC measuring X-rays in medium-sized nuclei. Finally, PANDA will extend the studies on double Λ hypernuclei by performing high resolution W-spectroscopy of these nuclei for the first time. This contribution focuses on the hyperatom experiment. Calculations for several possible target materials with respect to the experimental observables show the high feasibility of a 208Pb hyperatom experiment. Further simulation studies were performed to estimate the expected event and background rates and their effect on the achievable precision for the observables and hence the Ξ−-nuclear potential. Since the results are strongly correlated with the shape of the periphery of the 208Pb nucleus, the systematic uncertainty related to the neutron skin thickness of 208Pb is also discussed. We predict an uncertainty in the estimation of the real part as well as the imaginary part of the Ξ− nuclear potential of approximately 1 MeV.


The computed tomographic findings in two patients with clinical and laboratory evidence of neurosyphilis are reported. Two patterns were described, one with pronounced lucency of the white matter and the other with multiple infarctions of unusual distribution.


Women having congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) owing to 21-hydroxylase deficiency, especially those with salt-losing type, have decreased fertility rates. With advances in genital reconstruction, reproductive medicine and optimisation of antenatal care for this group of patients, more documented successful pregnancies have been reported. We report a Chinese woman with classical salt-losing type of CAH who has successfully delivered a normal baby girl.


In this paper, we propose a Deep Dense Network for Depth Completion Task (DeepDNet) towards generating dense depth map using sparse depth and captured view. Wide variety of scene understanding applications such as 3D reconstruction, mixed reality, robotics demand accurate and dense depth maps. Existing depth sensors capture accurate and reliable sparse depth and find challenges in acquiring dense depth maps. Towards this we plan to utilise the accurate sparse depth as input with RGB image to generate dense depth. We model the transformation of random sparse input to grid-based sparse input using Quad-tree decomposition. We propose Dense-Residual-Skip (DRS) Autoencoder along with an attention towards edge preservation using Gradient Aware Mean Squared Error (GAMSE) Loss. We demonstrate our results on the NYUv2 dataset and compare it with other state of the art methods. We also show our results on sparse depth captured by ARCore depth API with its dense depth map. Extensive experiments suggest consistent improvements over existing methods.


ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Luca Sardo is co-first author on 'Real-time visualization of chromatin modification in isolated nuclei', published in Journal of Cell Science. Dr Sardo is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, investigating the mechanisms of HIV neuropathogenesis and latency.


2527 Background: Early efficacy assessment in drug development should help find new cancer therapies. We have developed a novel method to analyze tumor response to therapy by quantifying the rate of tumor regression (d) and growth (g). We have shown g is slower when pts are on effective therapy and that g correlates with survival (Stein et al, Oncologist 2008). We utilized this method to evaluate a phase III trial of capecitabine (CAP) ± IXA in second line therapy (Tomas et al, JCO 2007) and a three-cohort phase II trial in second and subsequent lines of therapy in pts with MBC consisting of (1) Daily X 5 (DX5) IXA given to taxane (TAX)-naïve patients (Denduluri et al, JCO 2007); (2) DX5 IXA in pts previously treated with TAX (Low et al, JCO 2005); and (3) DX3 IXA in pts previously treated with TAX (Denduluri et al, Invest New Drug 2007).

METHODS
Using tumor measurements assessed by RECIST and a two-phase mathematical equation we determined d and g.

RESULTS
In the phase III study g was superior to PFS identifying a significant difference between the arms very early - before the 200th pt had enrolled. IXA + CAP in second line (g = 0.0018) was more effective than CAP (g = 0.0023) at reducing g, and more effective (p=0.0085) than single agent (SA)-IXA in the Phase II study (g = 0.0027). SA-IXA was comparably effective (p=0.814) in reducing the g of tumors previously exposed to a TAX (g = 0.0032) as in reducing the g of TAX-naïve tumors (g = 0.0035), consistent with its development as an agent active in TAX-refractory disease. Unlike differences in g, the d of SA-IXA (0.118) was comparable to that of IXA+CAP (0.0074) suggesting differences were primarily driven by effect on the growth of residual tumor.

CONCLUSIONS
Unlike PFS, an incremental measure of efficacy, g is a continuous variable and can more accurately assess differences between treatments. Because calculations of g are indifferent to assessment intervals, estimating a tumor's g allows comparison of efficacy across trials.


There is a need to understand the onset of monsoon dynamics as the date of onset of monsoon (DOM) is an important parameter in framing all the policy for the imminent season like crop choice, sowing schedule, disaster management, power distribution etc It is observed that the interannual variability of the DOM in India is about 7–8 days, making it more challenge to predict this at long lead. The MJO phases are linked with the different convection centres and hence, influences the global circulation process and the rainfall. In this paper the dynamical influence of the different phases of MJO are being quantified on DOM and its progress in continental India by using the multi-source atmospheric and oceanic parameters like wind structure, outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), sea surface temperature (SST). The linkage of the active and inactive phases of MJO along with the favourable conditions for DOM is obtained by using the pentad analysis of associated parameters in different clusters for both the wet and dry phases of MJO along with the strength for the period 1980–2018. Also the dynamics are studied for the early, normal and late onset years separately to understand the relation better. It is inferred that the wet (dry) phase leads to early (late) monsoon onset over Kerala (MOK) in India. To address the progress of monsoon the DOM in Rajasthan (MOR) is considered and the rainfall anomalies during MOK-MOR period are linked to the MJO phases. It is inferred that the wet MJO phase with negative OLR anomaly triggers the fast progress of monsoon over India. This understanding will surely help operational researchers and the NWP modellers for improving the methodologies for the advanced and accurate prediction of DOM.


A fine-grained microstructure yields the optimum combination of strength and toughness of steel. Moreover refinement of the as-cast structure can reduce the tendency for hot-cracking during forging and rolling. This paper describes how small inclusions can be used to control the microstructure of steels. These small inclusions (dispersoids) are oxides, sulfides, nitrides and carbides which are in the 1 μm size range and capable of promoting grain refinement during solidification by a process of epitaxial nucleation or in the solid state through intragranular nucleation of ferrite. Such particles are sufficiently small to be harmless from a toughness point of view, but at the same time large enough to act as potent nucleation sites during phase transformation. The dispersoids can either be created by balanced additions of strong oxide and sulfide forming elements to an impure steel melt or be added directly into the liquid steel through a specially designed master alloy containing the nucleating particles. In both cases it is possible to manipulate the steel microstructure in a positive direction, but the latter method, involving the use of a master alloy, has probably a wider industrial application.


This article contrasts Sweden's tourism policy considering sustainable growth and increased employment with experiences and evaluations of Dutch rural tourism entrepreneurs in Sweden. The study employs notions of countryside capital, investigating the effects on Dutch rural tourism entrepreneurs of experiences with Swedish national tourism policy aims and local populations. A tourism-migration nexus occurs where the entrepreneurs are attracted by countryside capital before migration and use this capital in their firms to attract new tourists after migration. Interviewees tell of experiences which frustrate optimal utilization of countryside capital. In combination with flexible attitudes conceptualized as multi-local living and strategic switching, this results in the risk of losing the entrepreneurs' socio-economic impetus for lagging rural areas. The article relates this loss to incomers' rural tourism business transfers after the initial start-up phase and questions the alleged transition from countrysides of production to countrysides of consumption.


OBJECT
The aim of this study was to audit the treatment of symptomatic atlantoaxial instability in Down syndrome and to assess factors associated with fusion failure in this group of patients.

METHODS
The authors reviewed the cases of 12 children with Down syndrome presenting with symptomatic atlantoaxial instability who underwent surgery for internal fixation and fusion. A review of clinical histories, radiological investigations, and details of operative interventions was also performed. The mode of presentation was acute spinal cord injury (five cases), progressive myelopathy (four cases), and neck pain or stiffness (three cases). The atlantodental interval ranged from 5 to 13 mm. The posterior atlantodental interval at the C-1 level was 9.5 mm (range 6-11 mm). In 10 patients an os odontoideum was present. Translocation of the odontoid process occurred in one patient, and occipitoatlantal instability was also identified in two cases. Twenty-four operations were performed in the 12 patients. A transoral odontoidectomy was required in four children. Successful fusion was demonstrated in seven patients at the first operation. Three of the five patients with acute cord injury made significant functional recovery and were left with no or mild disability.

CONCLUSIONS
Additional bone abnormalities at the CVJ are common in the Down syndrome population. Young age at the time of fusion and multiple osseous anomalies pose a higher risk factor in fusion failure. The authors recommend an aggressive surgical approach for management of symptomatic cases of CVJ instability.


Kearns Sayre syndrome is a rare presentation which usually involves a triad of factors: external ophthalmoplegia, retinal pigmentary degeneration, and heart block. We present a clinically and histopathologically confirmed case of Kearns Sayre syndrome that involved no retinal pathology.


If the brain processes incoming data efficiently, information should degrade little between early and later neural processing stages, and so information in early stages should match behavioral performance. For instance, if there is enough information in a visual cortical area to determine the orientation of a grating to within 1 degree, and the code is simple enough to be read out by downstream circuits, then animals should be able to achieve that performance behaviourally. Despite over 30 years of research, it is still not known how efficient the brain is. For tasks involving a large number of neurons, the amount of information encoded by neural circuits is limited by differential correlations. Therefore, determining how much information is encoded requires quantifying the strength of differential correlations. Detecting them, however, is difficult. We report here a new method, which requires on the order of 100s of neurons and trials. This method relies on computing the alignment of the neural stimulus encoding direction, f′, with the eigenvectors of the noise covariance matrix, Σ. In the presence of strong differential correlations, f′ must be spanned by a small number of the eigenvectors with largest eigenvalues. Using simulations with a leaky-integrate-and-fire neuron model of the LGN-V1 circuit, we confirmed that this method can indeed detect differential correlations consistent with those that would limit orientation discrimination thresholds to 0.5-3 degrees. We applied this technique to V1 recordings in awake monkeys and found signatures of differential correlations, consistent with a discrimination threshold of 0.47-1.20 degrees, which is not far from typical discrimination thresholds (1-2 deg). These results suggest that, at least in macaque monkeys, V1 contains about as much information as is seen in behaviour, implying that downstream circuits are efficient at extracting the information available in V1.


Extensive research has documented that redox dysregulation is a causative involvement in tumor progression, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in cancer initiation and progression. ROS are mutagenic and may promote cancer. Early studies observed that the increased ROS production was in response to oncogenic activity. It is now widely accepted that redox chemotherapeutics represents a novel class of promising anticancer agents. Small molecule nitroxides are stable free radicals which are able to scavenge radicals and act as radical chain reaction terminators. Nitroxyl radical, 2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethyl-piperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO), is capable of reacting with ROS and shows chemotherapeutic efficacy in various cancer cell lines and xenograft models. However, low-molecular-weight TEMPO derivatives are hard to utilize in the clinic, owing to a preferential renal clearance and side effects such as antihypertensive effect. To address these issues, we have designed and developed nitroxyl radical-containing nanoparticles with pH-sensitive behavior using the first generation PAMAM (G1 PAMAM) partially modified with 3,4,5,6-tetrahydrophthalic anhydride (THPA) and PROXYL. The synthesis of the modified PAMAM was carried out by a two-step reaction. Firstly, part of the primary amine end group of PAMAM dendrimers reacted with anhydride THPA to produce a THPA-modified PAMAM. The b-carboxylic acid amides between G1 PAMAM and THPA are acid-sensitive. Therefore, the THPA-modified PAMAM are stable and negatively charged at physiological pH, thus preventing blood serum aggregation. However, the THPA-modified PAMAM degrades at acidic pH, converting its surface to positive charge which is benefit for cellular uptake. Secondly, the THPA-modified PAMAM reacted subsequently with 3-carboxy-PROXYL whose carboxyl group was activated by N-hydroxysuccinimide. The EPR signal of the product was analyzed by EPR measurement and confirmed the PROXYL group covalently conjugated onto THPA-modified PAMAM. The obtained THPA-PROXYL-modified PAMAM was denoted as TP-PAMAM. Experimental results showed that TP-PAMAM was stable at pH 7.4, and hydrolyzed at pH 6.0. The rate of hydrolysis was increased with pH decreasing. In vitro studies indicated that cell proliferation of MDA-MB-231 was greatly inhibited by TP-PAMAM compared to low-molecular-weight TEMPO. This may due to the fact that cellular uptake is easy for nanoparticles with pH-sensitive behavior. Therefore, the nitroxyl radical conjugated onto the pH-sensitive nanoparticles scavenges ROS more effectively. As a result, these new nitroxyl radical-containing nanoparticles have a significantly high therapeutic efficacy in the application for cancer therapy. Hence, engineered nitroxyl radical-containing nanoparticles with pH-sensitive behavior may enable therapeutic selectivity and to overcome drug resistance and metastatic cancer. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P2-09-22.


Fault-tolerant control policies that automatically restart programable logic controller-based automated production system during fault recovery can increase system availability. This article provides a proof of concept that such policies can be synthesized with deep reinforcement learning. The authors specifically focus on systems with multiple end-effectors that are actuated in only one or two axes, commonly used for assembly and logistics tasks. Due to the large number of actuators in multi-end-effector systems and the limited possibilities to track workpieces in a single coordinate system, these systems are especially challenging to learn. This article demonstrates that a hierarchical multi-agent deep reinforcement learning approach together with a separate coordinate prediction module per agent can overcome these challenges. The evaluation of the suggested approach on the simulation of a small laboratory demonstrator shows that it is capable of restarting the system and completing open tasks as part of fault recovery.


Background Since COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis, tests with high sensitivity and specificity are crucial for the identification and management of COVID-19 patients. There is an urgent need for low-cost rapid antigen COVID-19 test with a good diagnostic performance. Although various antigen rapid detection tests are widely available, strong evidence of their usefulness in clinical practice are still limited. Therefore, our aim was to evaluate clinical performance of STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test (SD Biosensor, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea). Methods The performance of the STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigen was evaluated in comparison to RT-qPCR results in 120 symptomatic patients (median age 49, IQR 36–70) who presented to health care facility in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia. Results Twenty five out of 120 samples have been tested positive using STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test, and all of them were also positive on RT-qPCR. Overall, the STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test showed sensitivity of 58.1% (95% CI 42.1–73.0) but it was higher in the early days of disease, when the highest viral loads were detected. During the first five days after the symptom onset, the sensitivity ranged from 66.7% to 100% and the pooled accuracy and Kappa values were high (0.92 and 0.852). Conclusions A strong agreement between performance of STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test and RT-qPCR was observed during the first five days of illness, suggesting that this rapid antigenic test can be very useful for COVID-19 diagnosis in the early phase of disease.


We have succeeded in tuning the localized surface plasmon resonant wavelength in Ag-Al nanoparticles (NPs) by using the Al content. The plasmon resonant wavelength of the Ag-Al NP ensemble shifts toward a shorter wavelength from 590 to 510 nm (approximately 80 nm) with an increase in the Al content from 0 to 7.16 atomic percent (at.%). A theoretical interpretation and model for the experimental results are presented. The effective dielectric functions are modeled by taking into account the variations in both the bulk plasma frequency and the structural information on the Ag-Al NPs with the Al content.


Chronic copper poisoning in a dairy herd fed supplementary copper is recorded. Most cows received 11 g of copper sulphate per day but high milk producers received 22.0 g and within 6 months, 3 of them became ill and died. The signs shown by the 3 cows were anorexia, decreased milk production, frequent recumbency and jaundice. Within 4 days of showing signs, the cows died. The autopsy findings were dehydration, anaemia, jaundice, liver damage and intestinal haemorrhage. Liver copper values varied from 1,250 to 2,410 ppm DM.


Abstract : This is one of a series of papers dealing with the authoring process and related problems in computer based instruction (CBI). It describes the design of a system of authoring, including some aspects of the actual programming language. The paper provides details on a number of author aids that can be implemented in any organized system for CAI. The topics discussed are: (1) Framework for structuring Author Programs, (2) Language Characteristics, (3) Display-of-Program Tools and Program Documentation, (4) 'Built-In' Operations and Subroutines, (5) Controls for the Authoring Environment, (6) System Maintenance of the Program Data Base, (7) Creating Data Bases for Student Use, (8) Automation of Student Run Time Facilities, (9) Preliminary - Trial Tools, (10) Editing Facilities, and (11) Training of Authors. A major premise of this paper is that the only system which can maximize author assistance is one which is organized along those lines from its inception. Experience has demonstrated that it is far less satisfactory to tack on author aids to an existing programming language.


Eutrophication has been recognized as a pollution p roblem all over the world. Blooms of the cyanobacterium are ubiquitous phenomena in eutrophic lakes and reservoirs in many countries. Although a number of published reports concer n cyanobacteria, the mechanisms governing the blooms are poorly understood. In pa rticular, nutrient dynamics are crucial in bloom processes, but they have mostly been addressed inadequately. Phosphorus is primarily responsible for limiting t he growth of phytoplankton in freshwater systems. It is difficult to describe bl oomrelated processes without considering bioavailability of phosphorus in benthi c environments that act as sources of phosphorus. In addition, microbial degradat ion of organic matter is mediated by enzymes operating outside the cells. Extrac ellular phosphatase plays a key role in phosphorus regeneration. Thus, a study o n phosphorus status in benthic environments, including species and regeneration , is of ecological interest because of its implications for water blooms in the ecosystems. The phosphorus forms and kinetic parameters of alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) in the overlying, interstitial water and sediment, size-fraction ation of APA in overlying and interstitial water, as well as organic matter in t he sediments, were studied in adjacent ponds located in the eastern suburb of Wu han. Ponds with occurrence or bloom ofMicrocystis aeruginosa showed signifi cantly higher concentrations of orthophosphate (O—P) in overlying water, or dif ferent P species in interstitial water, whereas the pond void ofMicrocystis a eruginosa showed the lowest concentrations of chlorophylla in surface war er and different P species in overlying and interstitial water, indicating close relation between algae bloom and benthic phosphorus status. Sediment P was domi nated by Fe bound P fraction in all ponds studied. In the pond with heavily bloo m ofMicrocystis aeruginosa, the lowest Fe bound P and the highest organic m atter contents were observed in the sediment, coupled with the higher affinity f or the substrates (lowerK m values) and reaction velocity (higherV max v alues) of APA in the bottom. These results suggested that organic matter may cau se anoxic status, and induce higher APA with different kinetic characteristics i n the overlying, interstitial water and sediment, thereby accelerating O—P rele ase and initiating bloom.


BACKGROUND
There is emerging evidence that sleep problems in childhood may have enduring consequences. Studies using parental and objective sleep measurement suggest that sleep difficulties in children may be associated with behavioural problems. However, the findings using objective sleep measures are inconsistent and it is not clear what aspects of sleep quality are associated with daytime behavioural difficulties. The aim of this paper is to identify which behavioural symptoms are best predicted by actigraphic sleep measures in a general population sample of school-aged children aged 6-11 years.

METHODS
Actigraphy was used to measure sleep in 91 typically developing children aged 6-11 years for 6 days. Parents completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). A series of multivariate linear regression models were computed to analyse the effects of sleep on SDQ subscales.

RESULTS
Sleep did not predict emotional symptoms or hyperactivity. After controlling for age and gender, sleep accounted for 18% of the variance in conduct problems. Only actual sleep time in minutes made a significant contribution to the model.

CONCLUSIONS
A child who sleeps 1 h less than the average child may be at risk of conduct problems. Clinicians should consider routinely screening for sleep difficulties when assessing children with conduct problems.


Abstract The problems of characterizing inter-granular regions and of estimating rates of intergranular diffusion in metamorphic rocks are discussed. Inter-granular regions can be anhydrous, hydrated but under-saturated with H2O, or saturated with H2O, but only in the latter case can a free aqueous fluid phase be present. Estimates of intergranular diffusion coefficients (D IGR) at 550°C derived from a variety of published experimental work, vary from ∼ 10−8 m2 s−1 for diffusion of species through an intergranular fluid film to ⩽ 4 × 10−24 m2 s−1 for diffusion of SiO2 or O in anhydrous grain boundaries in quartzite. Estimates of D IGR for hydrated grain boundaries vary from ∼ 10−13 m2 s−1 to ∼ 10−21 m2 s−1; the concentration of H2O in the grain boundaries and the identity of the diffusing species (generally unknown) may be important controlling factors, and there exists the possibility of a spectrum of values between these two extremes. Using available kinetic data it is shown that a free aqueous fluid could never have been present in parts of the basement terrane of the Sesia Zone (Western Alps) during uplift from the eclogite facies, except possibly late in the cooling history. The breakdown of sodic pyroxene + quartz occurred in response to the localized infiltration of catalytic aqueous fluid, possibly over a time interval as short as 6–6000 a, and possibly under conditions remote from equilibrium. H2O-present conditions during a dehydration reaction in metapelites of the Adula nappe (central Alps) could also have been of short duration. These examples are consistent with a model in which basement rocks at deep crustal levels are dry for long periods of time and in which the development of equilibrium mineral assemblages and microstructures generally occurs over relatively short periods of time under transitory fluid-present conditions (caused by devolatilization and/or infiltration).


Physically based simulation can produce quality motion of plants, but requires an authoring stage to convert plant "polygon soup" triangle meshes to a format suitable for physically based simulation. We give a system that can author complex simulation-ready plants in a manner of minutes. Our system decomposes the plant geometry, establishes a hierarchy, builds and connects simulation meshes, and detects instances. It scales to anatomically realistic geometry of adult plants, is robust to non-manifold input geometry, gaps between branches or leaves, free-flying leaves not connected to any branch, spurious geometry, and plant self-collisions in the input configuration. We demonstrate the results using a FEM model reduction simulator that can compute large-deformation dynamics of complex plants at interactive rates, subject to user forces, gravity or randomized wind. We also provide plant fracture (with pre-specified patterns), inverse kinematics to easily pose plants, as well as interactive design of plant material properties. We authored and simulated over 100 plants from diverse climates and geographic regions, including broadleaf (deciduous) trees and conifers, bushes and flowers. Our largest simulations involve anatomically realistic adult trees with hundreds of branches and over 100,000 leaves.


The Expansion of oil palm plantations is often performed on a large scale of the state front stage, carried out through the operation of big capital, supported by licensing documents and using the legal basis of the state law in the form of land cultivation right (hak guna usaha). This phenomenon is an expansion of oil palm plantations which have been understood by the public as a form of open expansion. This research is using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods which have found that there had been an expansion practice in other form, namely the silent expansion. This silent expansion is a form of tragedy of access where actors can establish oil palm plantations without the bundle of rights that are legal, but using a bundle of power behind the failure of state control over state property right. The expansion is done quietly, under-the-table, within a small area, without legal permit documents. In the final section, this paper describes the institutional response to the problem of silent expansion using formal policy instrument approach. Keywords: Bundle of power, bundle of right, silent expansion, state failure, tragedy of access DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-6-08 Publication date: March 31 st 2020


In vivo, at low concentrations (less than or equal to 1 mug/ml), the antibiotic lipiarmycin specifically inhibits RNA synthesis in Bacillus subtilis. At a much higher concentration (100 mug/ml), syntheses of other macromolecules such as DNA and protein also appear to be suppressed. In vitro, the antibiotic caused 50% inhibition of DNA-dependent RNA-polymerase from B. subtilis at a concentration of 0.6 mug/ml and of that E. coli at 5 approximately 8 mug/ml. The activity of Escherichia coli DNA-polymerase I is inhibited 50% at 55 approximately 65 mug/ml. Lipiarmycin prevent ribonucleoside triphosphate polymerization only if added prior to the association between RNA-polymerase and DNA, and does not affect the elongation rate of RNA chains at concentrations up to 100 mug/ml. At that concentration, however, the antibiotic immediately blocks the polymerization of deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates catalyzed by DNA-polymerase I.


We study conditional independence relationships for random networks and their interplay with exchangeability. We show that, for finitely exchangeable network models, the empirical subgraph densities are maximum likelihood estimates of their theoretical counterparts. We then characterize all possible Markov structures for finitely exchangeable random graphs, thereby identifying a new class of Markov network models corresponding to bidirected Kneser graphs. In particular, we demonstrate that the fundamental property of dissociatedness corresponds to a Markov property for exchangeable networks described by bidirected line graphs. Finally we study those exchangeable models that are also summarized in the sense that the probability of a network depends only on the degree distribution, and we identify a class of models that is dual to the Markov graphs of Frank and Strauss. Particular emphasis is placed on studying consistency properties of network models under the process of forming subnetworks and we show that the only consistent systems of Markov properties correspond to the empty graph, the bidirected line graph of the complete graph and the complete graph.


An analytical theory of the tails of the probability distribution function (PDF) for the local Reynolds stress (R) is given for forced Hasegawa–Mima turbulence. The PDF tail is treated as a transition amplitude from an initial state, with no fluid motion, to final states with different values of R due to nonlinear coherent structures in the long time limit. With the modeling assumption that the nonlinear structure is a modon (an exact solution of a nonlinear Hasegawa–Mima equation) in space, this transition amplitude is determined by an instanton. An instanton is localized in time and can be associated with bursty and intermittent events which are thought to be responsible for PDF tails. The instanton is found via a saddle-point method applied to the PDF, represented by a path integral. It implies the PDF tail for R with the specific form exp[−cR3/2], which is a stretched, non-Gaussian exponential.


Changes in sulfur content and sulfur-isotope ratios with "thermal maturation" have been studied using Big Horn basin (Wyoming) Paleozoic oils as examples of "single source" oils which have attained different stages of maturity as a result of variations in thermal history. With increasing maturity, API°, GOR, S/N, ^dgrC13, and ^dgrS34 all increase, whereas percentage S and percentage N decrease. Except for the increase in ^dgrS34 and S/N, these changes generally are recognized as typical of the thermal-maturation process. Hydrogen sulfide produced in low concentrations by microbial sulfate reduction in shallow reservoirs varies in ^dgrS34 and generally does not appear to change ^dgrS34 of associated oil. Isotopically unrelated H2S and organic sulfur may remain for long times because of negligible reaction between H2S and oil at low temperatures and low H2S pressures. The major new conclusion from this study is that thermal maturation in high-temperature reservoirs (more than 80-120°C) with sulfate present may involve nonmicrobial sulfate reduction with a negligible isotopic fractionation, producing reduced sulfur species with nearly the same isotopic composition as the reservoir sulfate. In this case, sulfurization and desulfurization of oil compete in kinetically controlled processes resulting in isotopic exchange. The ^dgrS34 of H2S and organic sulfur in oils change toward that of reservoir sulfate. Exchange is faster for H2S than for oil. Initial oils with a homogeneous ^dgrS34 distribution with boiling point and compound type become heterogeneous; the lower boiling fractions approach reservoir s lfate values faster than high-boiling fractions. The large increase in S/N ratio with maturation is attributed to percent S being maintained at a significant level by competing sulfurization and desulfurization processes, whereas percent N continues to decrease. The mechanism for high-temperature sulfate reduction is proposed to be the reaction of H2S and SO4= to produce elemental sulfur and polysulfides, which react rapidly to oxidize and dehydrogenate organic compounds and distribute the sulfur between oil and H2S. High concentrations of H2S may accumulate in this case, and oils or condensates may develop abnormally high concentrations of thiols. H2S is a catalyst as well as a product of the reaction; the process, therefore, may be autocatalytic.


Abstract This paper emphasizes the thermo-diffusion and viscous dissipation effects on double diffusive natural convection heat and mass transfer characteristics of non-Newtonian power-law fluid over a vertical cone embedded in a non-Darcy porous medium with variable heat and mass flux conditions. The Ostwald–de Waele power-law model is employed to describe the behavior of non-Newtonian fluid. Local non-similarity procedure is applied to transform the set of non-dimensional partial differential equations into set of ordinary differential equations and then the resulting system of equations are solved numerically by Runge-Kutta fourth order method together with a shooting technique. The influence of pertinent parameters on temperature and concentration, heat and mass transfer rates are analyzed in opposing and aiding buoyancy cases through graphical representation and explored in detail.


This work presents a high-density low bit error rate and low-power Mlink (MediaTek link) PHY for ultra-short-reach (USR) die-to-die communication. Proposed Mlink have been fabricated in TSMC 7nm FinFET 1P15M CMOS technology. Interconnection is demonstrated through TSMC Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) and TSMC Integrated Fan-Out (InFO) packaging technology [1]. Mlink PHY exploits energy-efficient and high performance scheme, includes single-ended without termination, quarter rate strobe and unbalance scheme on transceiver, minimum intrinsic auto-alignment and novel noise-immunity coding methodology. Achieving 20Gb/s/wire and 0.46pJ/bit under 1-mm ultra-short-reach platform target to BER 1E-25. Bandwidth density is normalized with shoreline 5.31Tb/s/mm and area 2.25Tb/s/mm^2 respectively.


responsive to treatment but later developed inclusion body myositis. Failure to respond to immunosuppressive treatment was reported in the majority of the case reports, but response to methotrexate and corticosteroidswasobservedinoneinstance. Interestingly,aresponsetoimmunoglobulin treatment was also described, as we observed in our case. Certainly the symptoms and signs observed in our case initially had been suggestive of SLE-associated myositis at the time when her SLE was active, but when the patient developed progressive symptoms despite treatment her diagnosis was re-evaluated. An interesting red herring in this case was the vacuolar muscle biopsy changes suggestive of a hydroxychloroquine-induced myopathy. This was initially thought to be the cause of the symptoms but the muscle weakness continued to progressdespitecessationofthedrug. Key Learning Points: This case is a further example of inclusion body myositis in association with SLE. It highlights the diagnostic challenges that rheumatologists can face despite extensive investigations when differentconditionsco-exist. It isareminderof the importancere-evaluating a clinical diagnosis when a patient fails to respond to treatment. Clinical assessment of symptoms and signs was essential for diagnosis of inclusion body myositis in this case when the investigations were not fully conclusive. Disclosure:C.M.Jones:None.C.Rhys-Dillon:None.


Agile is not a methodology neither can it be considered as a peculiar way
of developing any software also it is neither a framework nor a process. Agile is a mindset or a collection
of beliefs that can be used by the teams for taking the decisions while working on any software
development. Agile mindset adopted for the development of software has gained attention of
the researchers and industries across the world because otherwise the software project would turn
out to be uncertain and very turbid. The universal remedy for the usual failure of the software project
development is the agility. Actually saying agile is nothing novice instead it is a meta model
based on best practices from the preceding models like waterfall, iterative, incremental and rapid
application development method.

The objective of this paper is to highlight various points of comparison between them
and conclude that failing fast is failing cheap in case of agile for software development.

So, we can say that an agile always existed but not in a structured and a formal manner.
The two main methodologies of agile as an umbrella term are XP and scrum.

Thus in this paper we have discussed about scrum as a major methodology and also how
various scrum roles contribute towards making teams self-organized to reduce the usual rate of failure
of development projects.

The success rate of the software applications developed through the agile concept is
three times than that of the traditional waterfall method and also the percentage of cost and time
overruns is much lower.


Severe bleeding resulting from excessive fibrinolysis has been observed in patients with primary amyloidosis. The authors studied a patient with this hemostatic disorder before and during therapy with epsilon-aminocaproic acid. Excessive fibrinolysis was associated with depressed plasma concentrations of coagulation Factors XII, XI, high-molecular-weight kininogen, and Factors VIII and V; and plasminogen and alpha-2-plasmin inhibitor. These deficiencies were corrected with treatment. The functional and antigenic concentrations of tissue plasminogen activator and plasminogen activator inhibitor in the patient's plasma were normal. Urokinase-type activator activity and antigen were three to five times elevated in the patient's plasma. Results of immunoprecipitation showed that single-chain urokinase-type activator was the primary urokinase-type activator species in the patient's plasma. Excessive fibrinolysis in patients with amyloidosis results from increased plasma single-chain urokinase-type activator activity.


A number of studies have suggested that early life exposure to antibiotics can lead to an increased risk of developing eczema. This systematic review and meta‐analysis of observational studies, involving children or young adults aged 0–25 years, assessed the impact of antibiotic exposure either in utero or during the first 12 months of life on subsequent eczema risk. Twenty studies examined the association between prenatal and/or postnatal exposure to antibiotics and development of eczema. The pooled odds ratio (OR) for the 17 studies examining postnatal antibiotic exposure was 1·41 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1·30–1·53]. The pooled OR for the 10 longitudinal studies was 1·40 (95% CI 1·19–1·64), compared with a pooled OR of 1·43 (95% CI 1·36–1·51) for the seven cross‐sectional studies. There was a significant dose–response association, suggesting a 7% increase in the risk of eczema for each additional antibiotic course received during the first year of life [pooled OR 1·07 (95% CI 1·02–1·11)]. Finally, the pooled OR for the four studies relating to antenatal exposure was 1·30 (95% CI 0·86–1·95). We conclude that exposure to antibiotics in the first year of life, but not prenatally, is more common in children with eczema.


This paper proposes a simple accurate method to estimate the output wideband M-PSK spectrum, which is spreaded by a nonlinear power amplifier. The amplifier is modelled by a complex power series extracted from CW measurements. Some papers relate spectral regrowth assuming that the input signal is Gaussian. An other contribution derives a closed form expression between the output covariance function and the input QPSK-OQPSK signal according to cumulant properties for a third order polynomial model. Even if the generalization to higher order is straightforward, high order cumulant statistic expressions are quite tedious and difficult to exploit. In this paper a simple closed-form expression between input signal and output signal spectrum that can be applied to any M-PSK signal for any order of a memoryless nonlinear model is derived. Different pulse waveforms are simulated to test this closed form expression.


A proteomic approach was used to uncover the inducible molecular defense mechanism of cotton root occurring during the compatible interaction with Thielaviopsis basicola. Microscopic observation of cotton root inoculated with a suspension of conidia showed that this necrotrophic hemibiotroph fungus interacts with the plant and completes its life cycle in our experimental system. 2‐DE analysis of root extracts taken after 1, 3, 5, and 7 days postinoculation and cluster analysis of the protein expression levels showed four major profiles (constant, upregulated, one slightly downregulated, and one dramatically downregulated). Spots significantly (p<0.05) upregulated were analyzed by LC‐MS/MS and identified using MASCOT MS/MS ion search software and associated databases. These proteins included defense and stress related proteins, such as pathogenesis‐related proteins and proteins likely to be involved in the oxidative burst, sugar, and nitrogen metabolism as well as amino acid and isoprenoid synthesis. While many of the identified proteins are common components of the defense response of most plants, a proteasome subunit and a protein reported to be induced only in cotton root following Meloidogyne incognita infection were also identified.


Let M = FH be a finite group that is a product of a normal abelian subgroup F and an abelian subgroup H. Assume that all elements in M∖F have prime order p, and F has at most one subgroup of order p. Examples of such groups are dihedral groups for p = 2 and the semidirect product of a cyclic group F by a group H of prime order p such that C F (H) = 1 or |C F (H)| =p and C F/C F (H)(H) = 1. Suppose that M acts on a finite group G in such a manner that C G (F) = 1. We prove that the Fitting height h(G) of G is at most h(C G (H))+ 1. Moreover, the Fitting series of C G (H) coincides with the intersection of C G (H) with the Fitting series of G.


Increased transformer winding losses are an important consideration in determining the overall impact of harmonic currents in a power system. Frequently, losses due to harmonic currents are assumed to vary with the square of frequency. The purpose of this paper is to compare winding loss calculations from a finite element method with measured losses in single-phase distribution transformers and to test the principle of superposition of harmonic losses due to nonsinusoidal currents. The results confirm both the finite element method and the principle of superposition. Furthermore, it is shown that, due primarily to inaccuracy in measuring 60-Hz eddy current losses, application of the commonly accepted frequency squared rule can yield overly pessimistic loss predictions for typical power system harmonic frequencies.


The Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS) is the first statewide capitated managed care system that combines Medicaid acute and long-term-care services. ALTCS provides institutional, residential, and in-home services to elderly and disabled Medicaid recipients who meet the criteria for placement in a nursing facility. The capitation payment structure creates incentives for contractors to serve members in their own homes or in residential settings rather than in nursing facilities. Regular monitoring, case management oversight, and member satisfaction surveys assure that services are provided when needed in a cost-effective manner. As a result of the success of the 6-year-old program, a cap on the number of members who can receive home and community-based services, imposed at the program's inception in 1989 at 5%, has been increased to 40% in 1995. Despite this expansion of home and community care, an independent evaluation found that ALTCS expenditures are 17% lower than would have been incurred in a fee-for-service system.


The scattering rates nu (T) of various groups of electrons in cadmium have been measured down to 0.25 K using the radio-frequency size effect. For electrons on the third band lens of the fermi Surface nu (T) can be analyzed below about 2.5 K as the superposition of two terms, alpha T2 and beta T3. While the latter is associated with electron-phonon scattering the former component can be attributed to electron-electron scattering. On two triangular orbits in the first and second bands an apparently large T2 term is observed between 5 and 1.5 K. At lower temperatures nu (T) drops rapidly suggesting that this behaviour is due to electron-phonon scattering. An explanation for large T2 terms has been proposed by Lawrence et al. (1986) on the basis of Umklapp electron-phonon scattering together with the particular shape of the Fermi surface of cadmium. Simple calculations on these lines are shown to reproduce semi-quantitatively the observed variation of nu (T) and to aid in the interpretation of another second band orbit.


Comprising of a wide array of organizational forms, actors and activities, non-profit scholars define civil society organizations as formal, private, non-profit entities. Drawing on the non-profit literature, this working paper examines both the causes and effects of civil society organizations hybridizing towards the market sphere. Additionally, we review the predominant concepts linked to the hybrid field between the communal and civil society sphere, which remains to date rather absent in the non-profit management literature. The focus is on the redefinition of the organizational mission and strategies, changing governance arrangements and shifting management practices. The main conclusion of this working paper is twofold. First, we underline the importancy of incorporating organizational variables (e.g., age, culture, roots) in addition to environmental variables (e.g., norms, values, resources) when explaining organizational behavior. Second, we argue that research on the organizational effects of hybridization towards the market sphere is rather fragmentary, critical and characterized by an Anglo-Saxon bias.


Background Breast conservation therapy is defined as partial mastectomy with subsequent radiation therapy and is the treatment for early-stage breast cancer. However, the unwanted risks of radiation must be considered as well as the impact on future breast reconstruction options. The purpose of this study was to assess the preference of plastic surgeons when given the hypothetical diagnosis of breast cancer. Methods A survey assessing treatment preference of 3 hypothetical breast cancer diagnosis scenarios was designed and distributed by American Society of Plastic Surgeons via e-mail invite to its members. Results The risk of cancer recurrence was the most common reason for treatment preferences of all three choices. However, for ductal carcinoma in situ, unilateral mastectomy with implant-based reconstruction is the preferred option with the second most influential reason of avoiding the risks of radiation therapy. For invasive ductal carcinoma node negative, unilateral mastectomy with implant-based reconstruction was the preferred option also due to risks of radiation therapy and anxiety of future surveillance. For invasive ductal carcinoma node positive, bilateral mastectomy with implant-based reconstruction was the preferred choice because of anxiety of future surveillance and also risks of radiation therapy. Conclusions In general, plastic surgeons did not prefer breast conservation therapy for in situ and early-stage breast cancer. Although the most common rationale for total mastectomy was risk of cancer recurrence for all disease severity, risks of radiation therapy are real and play an integral role in the decision-making process. In understanding our own biases, we can help better empathize with patients in consultation for breast reconstruction.


The increasing trend of sports injury among the high school footballers and other sporting activities remain a matter of concern. The Study was designed to explore the magnitude and pattern of injury among high school footballer. It was a cross-sectional survey, conducted among 368 school footballers aged 13–15 year. The survey was conducted in Dhaka metropolitan city in Bangladesh during June and Decemebr 2013. Face to face interview was conducted using a structured questionnaire. About 29% respondents mentioned that they were injured during the last one year. More than 50% injuries were in the forearm, wrist and arm region, 47% injuries were at the knee, ankle and foot area, 45% were in the hip, leg and thigh region and 23% were head, neck and spine region. About 4% injuries were severe, and 36% injuries were moderate in nature. By type of injury 45% were muscle strain, 9.5% torn cartilage, 7.1% concussion, 6.3% fracture, 3.8% ligament sprain and 3.0% contusion. Most of the concussion occurred in injury at head, neck and spine region. Muscle strain also found was very common who injured in head, neck and spine region. Torn cartilage occurred mostly into knee, ankle and foot region. About 30% visited a medical doctor, 17% received treatment from a pharmacy, 6.5% from sports physio. Sports injury is a common health problem for adolescent. Muscle strain, torn cartilage, concussion, fracture, ligament sprain common type of injuries in sports.


This paper establishes that individuals with an internal locus of control, i.e., who believe that reinforcement in life comes from their own actions instead of being determined by luck or destiny, earn higher wages. However, this positive effect only translates into labor income via the channel of education. Factor structure models are implemented on an augmented data set coming from two different samples. By so doing, we are able to correct for potential biases that arise due to reverse causality and spurious correlation, and to investigate the impact of premarket locus of control on later outcomes. JEL Classification: C31, J24, J31. PsycINFO Classification: 2223, 3120.


A device which reduces eyestrain, caused by the many transverse and vertical movements of the eyes in the reading of spectrophotometric curves, is described. The spectrophotometric curve, the wave-length scale, and the reflectance scale are brought into controlled juxtaposition for reading. Means for magnifying the curve and related scales, setting the wave-length accurately and progressing quickly from point to point along the curve, are provided. The apparatus may be used with or without a wave-length correction and is applicable to either the selected or weighted ordinate method of reading. Its use is considerably less tiring than any other method tried and increases notably the speed of reading, particularly when there are several curves to a sheet.


that many medical men to-day walk in fear of inadvertently committing. The G.M.C. refers to broadcasting or television in the same sentence as it refers to books, articles, or letters as being a possible source of indirect advertising. There is no indication that it has reversed its opinion that doctors should remain anonymous when broadcasting, but it would be only reasonable to assume that the Disciplinary Committee might pay more regard to the nature and circumstances of a broadcast than to its anonymity. The B.M.A.'s view,2 approved by the Representative Body in 1961, is that the principle of anonymity in all circumstances in sound or visual broadcasting is no longer tenable, but that the principle should be departed from only when the objective is apparently, paramountly, and justifiably in the interest of the public, or in the interests of the medical profession, or is an essential part of providing when necessary authoritative information for the general public. But even in these circumstances the B.M.A. insists on safeguards which would limit to a minimum the advantages of the publicity to the broadcaster. The G.M.C.'s pamphlet is intended primarily for the information of doctors who have recently qualified in the British Isles or have obtained full or provisional registration on the basis of qualifications obtained abroad. It will be especially helpful to those from other countries who are not so familiar as their British colleagues with those aspects of medical ethics which are peculiar to practice in this country. But no doctor could fail to profit from a careful reading of this informative document.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is almost uniformly associated to the presence of a constitutive active mutation of the Kras gene, most often K-rasG12D (hereby Kras*). Several studies using mouse models have shown that mutant Kras* drives the formation of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN), the most common precursor lesions for pancreatic cancer. Moreover, our group has recently shown that Kras* is required for maintenance of PanINs and of invasive PDA. However, the lack of inhibitors targeting Kras prevents clinical applications of our findings. Therefore, we have set out to explore which downstream effector(s) of Kras mediate its effects during pancreatic carcinogenesis, with the goal to identify potential therapeutic targets. The MAPK/ERK pathway is activated by Kras, and its activation accompanies PanIN formation and is retained in invasive tumors. Inhibitors for the key pathway component MEK are currently in clinical trials for several malignancies. Here, we have explored the effect of inhibiting the MAPK/ERK pathway during pancreatic carcinogenesis. We have utilized two mouse models of pancreatic cancer, the KC mouse, based on tissue-specific expression of Kras*, and the iKras* mouse that allows inducible, and reversible, expression of Kras* in the pancreas. In a first set of experiments, we investigated the role of MAPK/ERK signaling during early tumorigenesis. Inhibition of MAPK/ERK signaling in vivo, prevents as well as PanIN formation in both iKras* and KC mice. To monitor individual acini over time to address whether MAPK/ERK signaling is required for acinar-ductal metaplasia (ADM), believed to precede PanINs, we utilized a 3-D culture system. Acini from both KC and iKras* models exhibit ADM over a period of three to five days in culture. Blocking the MAPK/ERK pathway inhibited ADM, thus confirming our in vivo results. In a second set of experiments, we set out to study the role of MAPK signaling in the maintenance of PanIN lesions. Treatment of PanIN-bearing iKras* mice with a MEK inhibitor resulted in regression of the PanIN lesions and regeneration of acinar tissue. In addition, we observed reversion of the fibrosis and inflammatory response that accompanies PanIN lesions, recapitulating the effect of Kras* inactivation. Taken together, our data indicate that activation of the MAPK/ERK pathway during tumorigenesis is required for both the formation and maintenance PanIN lesions. Our future directions include long-term inhibition of MAPK/ERK signaling in PanINs. Moreover, we will investigate the effect of pathway inhibition on invasive tumors, both in spontaneous and transplantation models. Finally, we will study the effect of MAPK/ERK inhibition in primary human pancreatic cancer cells. Citation Format: Meredith A. Collins, Yaqing Zhang, Sabita Rakshit, Judith S. Sebolt-Leopold, Marina Pasca di Magliano. MAPK signaling mediates Kras-driven PanIN formation and maintenance. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Challenges; Jun 18-21, 2012; Lake Tahoe, NV. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(12 Suppl):Abstract nr B66.


Influence of storage and microwave heating on stability of soya spread lipids with linseed content We have chosen to experiment with soya spreads containing linseeds, which enrich the spreads with essential fatty acids and valuable related substances. The soya spreads with linseeds represent an ideal combination for nutritionally valuable foods with health benefits. In this work we examined the influence of microwave heating and storage on stability of linseed oil and soya spread lipids. Industrially produced soya spreads (S1) with addition of 5, 7 and 10 % linseeds and linseed oil were stored without a protective atmosphere in refrigerator at 5 °C. The lipids of commercial soya spreads (S2) enriched with 2, 5 and 10 % ground linseeds and soya spread lipids (S2) without linseeds were microwave-heated. The data obtained from experiments have shown that the storing of linseed oil for 30 days in refrigerator has caused excess of the maximum acceptable peroxide value (Food Codex of SR). Microwave-heated lipids from commercial soya spreads (S2) enriched with 2 % ground linseeds have the best result of stability and protective factor, compared with lipids from 5 and 10 % linseeds enriching soya spreads (S2). After the 5, 10 and 20 min of microwave heating, the lipids of soya spread (S2) enriched with 2 % ground linseeds have the protective factor 1.02, 1.15 and 1.43 respectively, compared with lipids from soya spread (S2) without linseeds. The microwave heating for 5 min has been accompanied by a decreasing of hydroperoxides and by formation of secondary oxidation products.


This paper presents the design and implementation of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) developed on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles within the I'm in Tales Erasmus Project, focused on Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) and their potential in enhancing storytelling for inclusive education. The MOOC aims to equip educators with the knowledge and skills necessary to design and implement TUIs in educational settings, promoting their understanding of TUIs as tools for creating accessible and engaging storytelling experiences for all learners. The course follows a self-paced and independent learning approach, incorporating active, contextual, social, and reflective learning methods. Preliminary evaluation results are discussed, and further evaluation methods are planned to assess the MOOC's impact on educators' understanding of TUIs and their potential for inclusive education. The use case presented illustrates the practical application of TUIs in universally designed learning experiences. The study concludes that the MOOC provides a valuable resource for educators and learners interested in TUIs and their role in enhancing inclusive education.


Using records of the bank accounts of individual depositors, this paper provides a detailed microeconomic analysis of two nineteenth century banking panics. The panics of 1854 and 1857 were not characterized by an immediate mass panic of depositors and had important time dimensions. We examine depositor behavior using a hazard model. Contagion was the key factor in 1854 but it was not strong enough to create more than a local panic. In contrast, the panic of 1857 began with runs by businessmen and banking sophisticates followed by less informed depositors. Uninformed contagion may have been present, but the evidence suggests that this panic was driven by informational shocks in the face of asymmetric information about the true condition of bank portfolios.


The line between third-party funders and law firms is blurring. Originally, there were only two traditional types of third-party funding arrangements. In the first type, the third-party funder makes an agreement to finance the legal expenses of the claimant or respondent in a case in exchange for a portion of the claimant's awarded amount, if the claimant wins, or a predetermined payment from the respondent. In the second type, a third-party funder makes an agreement to finance a law firm's single case or portfolio of cases in exchange for a negotiated rate of return. In both types of traditional third-party funding, the third-party funder remains a separate legal entity from both the funded party and the law firm. Therefore, the traditional third-party funding transaction is often depicted as a triangle with the three corners representing the party, attorney and funder. Now there is new evidence that third-party funders are transitioning from being external investors in parties or law firms to becoming internal partners or owners of parties and law firms. This brief essay focuses specifically on third-party funders partnering with law firms.


Power System Instabilities are unacceptable to the society. Indeed, recent major blackout in India had vividly demonstrated that power interruptions or blackouts significantly impact the economy and society. In July 2012, disturbances cascaded through the West-North Corridor transmission system, causing widespread blackout and left 600 million customers without electricity. By nature, a power system continually experience two types of disturbances: event disturbance and load variations. Power System operators need to equip with powerful tools to examine power system stability in a timely and accurate manner. For operational purposes, power system stability analysis plays an important role in determining the system operating limits and operating guidelines. Devices like Phasor measurement Units are helping System operators in real time dynamic visualization of the grid and monitoring and assessing the dynamic stability, various applications have been implemented based on the PMUs and several are under development. This paper gives an insight into the application of PMUs in Western Grid of India.


Phthalonitrile polymers with amide and ortho-, meta-, and para-substituted ether linkages in the backbone were synthesized successfully and their thermal properties were investigated. The monomer building blocks for these polymers were cured without the addition of catalysts due to the self-catalyzing nature of the monomer's amino group. The ether and amide functionalities in the chain enhanced their processability without compromising thermal stability. The resins exhibited a low complex viscosity over a wide processing window between the monomer melting temperature and the polymer cure temperature, with the processing temperature range varying significantly for para-, ortho-, and meta-substituted polymer architectures. All three systems exhibited high thermal and thermo-oxidative stability. The high char yields, which ranged from 66–75% at 900 °C under nitrogen atmosphere, and the high glass transition temperatures of the polymers indicate a high crosslinking density in the network structure.


Gender equality, as well as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), in computer science (CS) is primarily limited to binary gender diversity. It is known that women are heavily underrepresented in CS, but substantial parts of the DEI issues are still unexplored. Intersectionality provides a more nuanced perspective of equality as it acknowledges exclusion and discrimination coming from overlapping layers of people's identities, e.g. gender, ethnicity, dis/ability, nationality, socioeconomic status, age, religion, and sexuality, in combination. It is important to address systemic barriers, bias, and stereotypes in CS through the lenses of intersectionality. There is a growing literature on challenges of women and binary gender diversity in CS, but a limitation to many of these investigations is that they look at only one dimension of discrimination rather than the complexity of intersectional challenges. That is why the research objective of this study is to provide information on the relation of intersectionality and CS, using the Systematic Literature Review methodology. The results show that there is still scarce research explicitly connected to the concept of intersectionality in CS, but awareness is increasing. The SLR also reveals various challenges and success factors related to intersectionality, which call for further attention.


This paper reports on findings of a study that investigated how learning best proceeds in small business. The recent implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) presented an opportunity for understanding how small business operatives learnt how to implement a new practice. Semi-structured interviews with thirty small businesses were conducted and case studies written for each. The small business operatives that appeared to learn the most about the GST were those who (i) were highly engaged in learning about the GST and (ii) accessed high levels of support from particular sources. A typology comprising dimensions of support needed and engagement by small business operatives was synthesised from the findings.


Background There isevidence that device-guided slow breathing using biofeedback acutely reduces blood pressure (BP) and pulse wave velocity [i.e. increased pulse arrival time (PAT)]. Objectives The objectives of the study presented here were to test whether the results of changes observed in PAT in earlier studies are reproducible over 1 week and how changes in pulse wave velocity/PAT translate into absolute self-measured BP changes. Methods Patients with a systolic BP 130–160 mmHg or treated essential hypertension (21 females/23 males) were trained to perform unattended device-guided slow breathing exercises for 10 min daily over 5 days. Furthermore, they were skilled to perform self-measurement of BP before and after the breathing exercise using a validated upper-arm device. Results Office BP at screening [median (1, 3. Q)] was 137 (132, 142)/83 (79, 87) mmHg. We observed a significant (P < 0.05) increase in PAT of 5 ms (SD 12.5 ms) on average after 10 min of guided breathing and an additional 1 ms (P < 0.05, SD 8 ms) during the following 5 min of spontaneous breathing compared to baseline. PAT before the exercise remained constant over 5 days paralleled by constant self-measured BP before the exercise. Device-guided breathing was associated with a significant reduction of self-measured SBP of 5 mmHg (P < 0.01, SD 8 mmHg). Data furthermore demonstrated that these changes were highly reproducible over 1 week. Conclusions Device-guided slow breathing and biofeedback lead to reproducible and favorable changes (increase) in PAT and SBP (decrease).


Families of infants born with congenital defects such as cleft lip, cleft palate, and combinations of these often grasp with accepting the condition. Nurses can help facilitate acceptance by parents and families and play a key role in the management and habilitation of these children.


In this paper, we propose self-organizing schemes for the initial configuration of the neighbor cell list (NCL), maintenance of the NCL, and physical cell identifier (PCI) allocation in heterogeneous networks such as long term evolution systems where lower transmission power nodes are additionally deployed in macrocell networks. Accurate NCL maintenance is required for efficient PCI allocation and for avoiding handover delay and redundantly in creased system overhead. Proposed self-organizing schemes for the initial NCL configuration and PCI allocation are based on evolved universal terrestrial radio access network NodeB (eNB) scanning that measures reference signal to interference and noise ratio and reference symbol received power, respectively, transmitted from adjacent eNBs. On the other hand, the maintenance of the NCL is managed by adding or removing cells based on periodic user equipment measurements. We provide performance analysis of the proposed schemes under various scenarios in the respects of NCL detection probability, NCL false alarm rate, handover delay area ratio, PCI conflict ratio, etc.


If a teaching hospital loses funding, what is the next option?"Mergers of Teaching Hospitals in Boston, New York, and Northern California" investigates the recent mergers of six of the nation's most respected teaching hospitals. The author explains the reasons why these institutions decided to change their governance and the factors that have allowed two of them to continue to operate while forcing the third to dissolve after only 23 months of operation.The case studies contained within this book rely on an impressive amount of research. Notably, instead of citing only published articles and books, the author includes information from numerous, extensive personal interviews with key participants in the various mergers. With this research the author not only presents to the reader a picture of why these mergers came about, but also investigates how the organizations have fared since joining together. The mergers are analyzed and compared in order to identify various methods of merger formation as well as ways in which other newly formed hospitals might accomplish a variety of important goals.Offering a spectacular account of some of the mergers that occurred in the health care field at the close of the twentieth century, these stories provide insight into academia's relationship with teaching hospitals and the challenges involved in bringing prestigious and powerful medical institutions together. The institutions discussed are Partners, the corporation which includes the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham and Women's Hospital, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the union of the New York and Presbyterian hospitals in New York City, and the UCSF Stanford, the merged teaching hospitals of the University of California, San Francisco and Stanford. This book will particularly appeal to professionals and academics interested in medicine, business, and organizational studies.John Kastor is Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. From 1984 to 1997, he was Theodore E. Woodward Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Maryland and Chief of the Medical Service at the University of Maryland Hospital. Dr. Kastor is also the author of "Arrhythmias."


There is no report on the etiology of acute viral hepatitis in Sistan and Baluchestan province, southeast of Iran. We performed this study to compare the clinical, biochemical and demographic properties of acute viral hepatitis (AVH) in this province. Demographic and clinical data were collected from 263 patients with AVH. They were tested for HBsAg, IgM anti-HAV, IgM anti-HBc, IgM anti-HDV, or IgM anti-HCV. Numbers of patients with hepatitis A, B, C, D and non A-D were: 188 (75.5%), 47 (17.9%), 6 (2.3%), 5(1.9%) and 17(6.6%), while mean ages were 6.1, 20.6, 20.2, 26.2 and 18.7 years, respectively. Hepatitis A patients presented with lower initial serum levels of bilirubin, ALT and AST, but higher alkaline phosphatase, and they were more likely to have anorexia, vomiting, fever, chills, abdominal pain and prodromal symptoms. Nearly all cases of AVH in children were due to Hepatitis A, whereas hepatitis B, C and D generally occurred in adults. There were some differences in clinical and laboratory findings regarding to the etiology.


1 In vitro studies were undertaken on rat aortic strips and portal vein segments in order to determine whether or not the anaesthetic, urethane, can exert direct actions on vascular smooth muscle. 2 Urethane was found to inhibit development of spontaneous mechanical activity. This action took place with a urethane concentration as little as one tenth of that found in anaesthetic plasma concentrations, i.e., 10−3 m. 3 Urethane (10−3 to 10−1 m) dose‐dependently attenuated contractions induced by adrenaline, angiotensin and KCl. These inhibitory actions were observed with urethane added either before or after the induced contractions. 4 Ca2+‐induced contractions of K+‐depolarized aortae and portal veins were also attenuated, dose‐dependently, by urethane. 5 All of these inhibitory effects were completely, and almost immediately, reversed upon washing out the anaesthetic from the organ baths. 6 A variety of pharmacological antagonists failed to mimic or affect the inhibitory effects induced by urethane. 7 These data suggest that plasma concentrations of urethane commonly associated with induction of surgical anaesthesia can induce, directly, relaxation of vascular muscle.


Background/Aims: Opioid substitution treatment (OST) is an effective treatment for heroin dependence. The World Health Organization has recommended that OST be implemented in prisons because of its role in reducing drug injection and associated problems such as HIV transmission. The aim of this paper was to examine the extent to which OST has been implemented in prisons internationally. Methods: Literature review. Results: As of January 2008, OST had been implemented in prisons in at least 29 countries or territories. For 20 of those countries, the proportion of all prisoners in OST could be calculated, with results ranging from less than 1% to over 14%. At least 37 countries offer OST in community settings, but not prisons. Conclusion: This study has identified an increase in the international implementation of OST in prisons. However, there remain large numbers of prisoners who are unable to access OST, even in countries that provide such programs. This raises issues of equivalence of care for prisoners and HIV prevention in prisons.


Synaptic strength reduces during sleep, but the underlying mechanisms of this process are unclear. This study showed reduction of synaptic proteins in rat prefrontal cortex (PFC) at AM7 or Zeitgeber Time (ZT0), when the light phase or sleeping period for rats started. At this time point, microglia were weakly activated, displaying larger and more granular somata with increased CD11b expression compared with those at ZT12, as revealed by flow cytometry. Expression of opsonins, such as complements or MFG‐E8, matrix metalloproteinases, and microglial markers at ZT0 were increased compared with that at ZT12. Microglia at ZT0 phagocytosed synapses, as revealed by immunohistochemical staining. Immunoblotting detected more synapsin I in the isolated microglia at ZT0 than at ZT12. Complement C3‐ or MFG‐E8‐bound synapses were the most abundant at ZT0, some of which were phagocytosed by microglia. Systemic administration of synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone reduced microglial size, granularity and CD11b expression at ZT0, resembling microglia at ZT12, and increased synaptic proteins and decreased the sleeping period. Noradrenaline (NA) suppressed glutamate‐induced phagocytosis in primary cultured microglia. Systemic administration of the brain monoamine‐depleting agent reserpine decreased NA content and synapsin I expression in PFC, and increased expression of microglia markers, C3 and MFG‐E8, while increasing the sleeping period. A NA precursor l‐threo‐dihydroxyphenylserine abolished the reserpine‐induced changes. These results suggest that microglia may eliminate presumably weak synapses during every sleep phase. The circadian changes in concentrations of circulating glucocorticoids and brain NA might be correlated with the circadian changes of microglial phenotypes and synaptic strength.


Cancer chemotherapy agents cause damage in the bone marrow, resulting in leukopenia during treatment and secondary cancers after recovery from the original disease. We created an experimental model of alkylation-based chemotherapy using ethylnitrosourea (ENU) to investigate the effect of niacin status on cancer induction. For 4 wk, nontumor-bearing weanling Long-Evans rats were fed niacin-deficient (ND) diets or were pair-fed (PF) identical quantities of a niacin-adequate diet. One week after the initiation of niacin feeding protocols, ENU treatment began (12 doses, 30 mg/kg by gavage, every other day). At the end of dietary modulation and ENU treatment, all rats were fed a high quality control diet and monitored for weight loss (>5%) and palpable tumors (>1cm), at which point they were necropsied for the presence of disease. The morbidity curves were significantly different; ND rats reached 20% morbidity 10 wk earlier than PF rats. In the first 20 wk after ENU treatment, ND rats developed 17 malignancies, including 11 leukemias, whereas PF rats developed 3 malignancies with 2 leukemias. In the end, there was a 47% greater average number of malignancies in ND vs. PF rats, despite a more rapid onset of morbidity. In short-term studies, niacin deficiency caused an 80% decrease in bone marrow NAD(+). Basal poly(ADP-ribose) levels were dramatically reduced by niacin deficiency. A single dose of ENU increased poly(ADP-ribose) levels fivefold in PF rats, whereas levels in ND rats remained 90% lower. Niacin deficiency did not alter the initial accumulation of DNA damage, indicating that drug metabolism is not an underlying factor in the diet-induced changes. These data show that niacin deficiency alters poly(ADP-ribose) metabolism in the bone marrow and increases the risk of nitrosourea-induced leukemias.


Long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons are the major DNA components of flowering plants. They are generally enriched in pericentromeric heterochromatin regions of their host genomes, which could result from the preferential insertion of LTR retrotransposons and the low effectiveness of purifying selection in these regions. To estimate the relative importance of the actions of these two factors on their distribution pattern, the LTR retrotransposons in Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) plants were characterized at the genome level, and then the distribution of young elements was compared with that of relatively old elements. The current data show that old elements are mainly located in recombination-suppressed heterochromatin regions, and that young elements are preferentially located in the gene-rich euchromatic regions. Further analysis showed a negative correlation between the insertion time of LTR retrotransposons and the recombination rate. The data also showed there to be more solo LTRs in genic regions than in intergenic regions or in regions close to genes. These observations indicate that, unlike in many other plant genomes, the current LTR retrotransposons in tomatoes have a tendency to be preferentially located into euchromatic regions, probably caused by their severe suppression of activities in heterochromatic regions. These elements are apt to be maintained in heterochromatin regions, probably as a consequence of the pericentromeric effect in tomatoes. These results also indicate that local recombination rates and intensities of purifying selection in different genomic regions are largely responsible for structural variation and non-random distribution of LTR retrotransposons in tomato plants.


Developing a bridge management strategy at the network level with efficient use of capital is very important for optimal infrastructure remediation. This paper introduces a novel decision support system that considers many aspects of bridge management and successfully implements the investigated methodology in a web-based platform. The proposed decision support system uses advanced prediction models, decision trees, and incremental machine learning algorithms to generate an optimal decision strategy. The system aims to achieve adaptive and flexible decision making while entailing powerful utilization of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods. The NDE data integration and visualization allow automatic retrieval of inspection results and overlaying the defects on a 3D bridge model. Furthermore, a deep learning-based damage growth prediction model estimates the future condition of the bridge elements and utilizes this information in the decision-making process. The decision ranking takes into account a wide range of factors including structural safety, serviceability, rehabilitation cost, life cycle cost, and societal and political factors to generate optimal maintenance strategies with multiple decision alternatives. This study aims to bring a complementary solution to currently in-use systems with the utilization of advanced machine-learning models and NDE data integration while still equipped with main bridge management functions of bridge management systems and capable of transferring data to other systems.


The paper is dedicated to the numerical and experimental study of nonlinear oscillations exhibited by the Vilnius chaotic generator. The motivation for the work is defined by the need for a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of the oscillators being embedded into chaotic communication systems. These generators should provide low-power operation while ensuring the robustness of the chaotic oscillations, insusceptible to parameter variations and noise. The work focuses on the investigation of the dependence of nonlinear dynamics of the Vilnius oscillator on the operating voltage and component parameter changes. The paper shows that the application of the Method of Complete Bifurcation Groups reveals the complex smooth and non-smooth bifurcation structures, forming regions of robust chaotic oscillations. The novel tool—mode transition graph—is presented, allowing the comparison of experimental and numerical results. The paper demonstrates the applicability of the Vilnius oscillator for the generation of robust chaos, and highlights the need for further investigation of the inherent trade-off between energy efficiency and robustness of the obtained oscillations.


Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a complex metabolic disorder of glucose homeostasis associated with a status of insulin resistance, impaired insulin signaling, β-cell dysfunction, impaired glucose and lipid metabolism, sub-clinical inflammation, and increased oxidative stress. Consuming fruits and vegetables rich in phytochemicals with potential antidiabetic effects may prevent T2DM and/or support a conservative T2DM treatment while being safer and more affordable for people from low-income countries. Solanum anguivi Lam. fruits (SALF) have been suggested to exhibit antidiabetic properties, potentially due to the presence of various phytochemicals, including saponins, phenolics, alkaloids, ascorbic acid, and flavonoids. For the saponin fraction, antidiabetic effects have already been reported. However, it remains unclear whether this is also true for the other phytochemicals present in SALF. This review article covers information on glucose homeostasis, T2DM pathogenesis, and also the potential antidiabetic effects of phytochemicals present in SALF, including their potential mechanisms of action.