Red palm weevil, Rhynchophorous ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790), (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is the most dangerous pest for date palms in the Middle East, especially the Arab Gulf countries. The proboscis sensilla in males are studied by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to assess the effect of gamma irradiation with different doses. Eight types of sensilla have been observed; four types of coeloconic sensilla (I, II, III, IV) are distributed on the lateral and frontal cuticular surface of the proboscis with a chemoreceptors function. Trichodea sensilla (I, II) and coeloconic sensilla (V) are concentrated on the dorsal surface of proboscis and are arranged in two rows to serve an olfactory and mechanosensory function. A very few number of squamiform sensilla (I) are scattered on the anterior-lateral side of proboscis to perform a mechanoreception function. Such malformation that gave rise to morphological structures of sensilla after exposing the pupae to the doses 10, 15, and 20 gray of gamma radiation are discussed. Irradiation with dose 10 Gy had a slight effect on the different types of sensilla as compared to the control, whereas at the radiation doses (15, 20 Gy) percentage of malformation are increased. The information gained from this study shows that the doses 15, 20 Gy have affected most types of sensilla and that the coeloconic sensilla (IV) are the only type that is not affected by any dose of irradiation.


Objectives in preparing a quality animal care and use protocol (AUP) revolve around the creation of a document that meets federal and institutional regulatory guidelines and that provides adequate detail for members of the institutional animal care and use committee to determine whether animal care and use procedures are justified and humane. Generally, either the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals or Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching will serve as a guide for preparing AUPs. In addition, AUPs are publicly accessible; therefore, a section of the document must be written such that the lay public can easily read and understand what will happen to the animals and why. Well-written, thorough protocols must include: 1) USDA/Animal Welfare Act pain/distress category; 2) signed certification that the principal investigator, co-principal investigators and all personnel whose names appear on the AUP understand and will adhere to the requirements associated with the animal procedures to be employed and accept that they are under federal and institutional regulatory authority; 3) the work with animals is restricted specifically to what is approved in the official AUP. Specific work-related sections of the AUP should include 1) names and contact information of the principal and co-principal investigators and animal care contact personnel; 2) a lay summary that describes the purpose of the work and what specifically will happen to the animals; 3) detailed description of animal procedures and experimental design, including species, numbers, age and sex of animals; 4) animal procurement and maintenance information; 5) animal transfer and euthanasia procedures; 6) pharmaceutical/chemical agents to be administered; 7) qualifications and experience of all personnel; 8) emergency contacts and procedures; 9) complete description of surgical procedures; 10) arrangements for veterinary care.


Based on the studying on the palaeogeomorphic, the source provenance and it's direction of the early Cretaceous Tenggeer formation in the south Slope area of Baiyinchagan depression of Erlian basin were studied in detail by many methods such as the analysis of rocks and minerals, rock fragment character ,seismic profile analysis, electric logging description, mud logging analysis, etc., for studying the distribution of the depositional system of this area. The research shows that there is mainly controlled by three direction sediment source regions in Xilin area of the south slope area of the Baiyinchagan Depression, which are from west southwest, south, and southeast. Provenance have favorable spatial combination with depositional system and determine the depositional system pattern of the Tenggeer formation.


Thermal batteries are primary power sources for military applications requiring high reliability, robustness and long storage life. Conventional electrodes for thermal batteries are prepared by compacting powder mixtures into pellets. Separator is composed of halide mixture, such as LiCl-KCl eutectic salt, blended with MgO to immobilize the molten salt. In order to increase the power density and energy density, the resistance of electrolyte should be reduced because the resistance of electrolyte is predominant in thermal batteries. In this study, wetting behaviors and impregnation weight of molten salts as well as the micro structures of ceramic felt were investigated to be applicable to thin electrolyte. Discharge performances of single cell with the ceramic separator impregnated by molten salt were evaluated also. Zirconia felt with high porosity and large pore outperformed alumina felt in wetting characteristics and molten salt impregnation as well as discharge performances. Based on the results of this study, ceramic felt separator impregnated with molten salt have revealed as an alternative of conventional thick MgO based separator with no conspicuous sign of thermal runaway by short circuit.


The proposed Localism Bill is touted by the government as a way of putting more power in the hands of communities and local people. On the surface, it will also give local authorities more freedom over their funding, through the removal of ring-fenced grants. However, as David Walker explains, councils will still be subject to top-down diktats and will be denied badly-needed fiscal devolution at the local level.


Azimuthal angle dependence of the terahertz radiation of (100) p-type InAs under 1-T field is presented. Four-fold symmetry for p-polarized radiation emerged and the same is seen for the s-polarized radiation for the no-field case.


Background Streptococcus suis serotype 2 (SS2) is an important zoonotic pathogen, causing more than 200 cases of severe human infection worldwide, with the hallmarks of meningitis, septicemia, arthritis, etc. Very recently, SS2 has been recognized as an etiological agent for streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS), which was originally associated with Streptococcus pyogenes (GAS) in Streptococci. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying STSS are poorly understood. Methods and Findings To elucidate the genetic determinants of STSS caused by SS2, whole genome sequencing of 3 different Chinese SS2 strains was undertaken. Comparative genomics accompanied by several lines of experiments, including experimental animal infection, PCR assay, and expression analysis, were utilized to further dissect a candidate pathogenicity island (PAI). Here we show, for the first time, a novel molecular insight into Chinese isolates of highly invasive SS2, which caused two large-scale human STSS outbreaks in China. A candidate PAI of ∼89 kb in length, which is designated 89K and specific for Chinese SS2 virulent isolates, was investigated at the genomic level. It shares the universal properties of PAIs such as distinct GC content, consistent with its pivotal role in STSS and high virulence. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first PAI candidate from S. suis worldwide. Our finding thus sheds light on STSS triggered by SS2 at the genomic level, facilitates further understanding of its pathogenesis and points to directions of development on some effective strategies to combat highly pathogenic SS2 infections.


Terabus is a high-speed optoelectronic package designed to run at 10-20 Gb/s/channel over 48 channels of optical/electrical links. The Terabus package consists of an optochip that can be passively attached to an optocard with processes similar to those in microelectronic packaging. Due to the high degree of integration, thermal, mechanical, and assembly challenges arise, and need to be addressed. The thermal requirements for the cooling system include handling a heat flux of 60 W/cm/sup 2/, and keeping the vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) at a temperature <85 /spl deg/C. A heat pipe cooling system which satisfies the thermal requirements is designed, assembled and demonstrated. Thermal analysis with finite-element modeling is used to study local temperature distribution in the laser chip. In addition, the model is used to study evolution of stresses in the structure during thermal excursions.


Focus theory of normative conduct (Cialdini et al.,1990) postulates that individuals are more likely to perform a behaviour if they perceive that a majority of others engage in that behaviour (descriptive norm; DN). However, norms only influence behaviour if the information is salient to the individual. While norms have been examined in exercise, little attention has been paid to salience. One potential method to enhance the salience of normative messages involves outlining the benefits of engaging in exercise (i.e., positive outcome expectations; Bandura, 1986). The purpose of this study was to examine the interaction between DNs and positive outcome expectations (OE) on exercise behaviour during a final exam period. Regularly active undergraduate students (N=74) were randomly assigned to receive one of four messages, which included both a DN (how many students reported being active; high=63% vs low=13%) and a positive OE (those who exercise during exams experience enhanced academic performance; high=90% vs low=10%). Activity during the exams was self-reported retrospectively (MAQ, Kriska et al., 1990). Results from a 2X2 ANCOVA, controlling for initial physical activity levels, revealed a significant interaction, F(1,64)=4.17, p=.04. Post-hoc analyses indicated that when the DN was high, those who received a high positive OE reported greater exercise compared to those who received a low positive OE (p=.01, estimated Cohen's d=0.85). In line with focus theory, exercise during the exam period was highest for those who received a message that many others had been active during previous exams, and the norm information had been made salient (high positive OE). Acknowledgments: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada


This study concerns the geomorphological mapping of Keros island in scale 1:10.000 . This island is located in "Small Cyclades" (Cyclades, Greece) and it is considered of major archaeological importance as it has been excavated since 1963 (since 1987 by the University of Cambridge). Keros is included in the topographic maps of the Hellenic Military Geographical Service scaled 1:5.000 and in the geological maps of the Institute of Geology and Mineral exploration scaled 1:50.000 (map sheet "Schoinoussa"). This small island presents a complex terrain and a wide variety of landforms, due to its intense tectonism and the natural processes that shaped its morphology. The primary data that were used in the creation of the map mainly included geological and topographic maps. Decisive contribution in mapping was provided by the available Quickbird satellite imagery and Google Earth images, as well as the field work. Thematic layers of the topography, hydrography and geology were constructed through GIS software. A Digital Elevation Model was also constructed, from which the slope and aspect maps were created. The thematic maps of slope and lithology were classified into categories, which were combined to constitute detection criteria of landforms. Finally, with the appropriate combination of colors and symbols the geomorphological map of the study area was produced in order to pinpoint geoarchaeological issues concerning the human activities and occupation on the island during Holocene.


The aim of this article is to examine the developments and debates that have taken place in Korean prehistoric archaeology since the 1990s. in order to do this, this article first examines the trends and developments of archaeological research by period, after which the directions and trends observed throughout all periods of Korean prehistoric archaeology are synthesized. This survey emphasizes that research has begun to go beyond the traditional topics of Korean prehistoric archaeology, such as chronology, typology, and the genealogy of types, toward a diversification of subjects and the deepening of research methodology. Additionally, other trends are documented, such as the development of a holistic research perspective, the popularity of scientific analysis and experimental archaeology, a growing interest in the regions surrounding the Korean Peninsula, a greater awareness of foreign archaeological research, and the deepening of cultural analysis at a regional scale.


Irradiation has been widely reported to damage organisms by attacking on proteins, nucleic acid and lipids in cells. However, radiation hormesis after low-dose irradiation has become the focus of research in radiobiology in recent years. To investigate the effects of pre-exposure of mouse brain with low-dose (12)C6+ ion or 60Co gamma (gamma)-ray on male reproductive endocrine capacity induced by subsequent high-dose irradiation, the brains of the B6C3F1 hybrid strain male mice were irradiated with 0.05 Gy of (12)C6+ ion or 60Co gamma-ray as the pre-exposure dose, and were then irradiated with 2 Gy as challenging irradiation dose at 4 h after pre-exposure. Serum pituitary gonadotropin hormones, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone, testis weight, sperm count and shape were measured on the 35th day after irradiation. The results showed that there was a significant reduction in the levels of serum FSH, LH, testosterone, testis weight and sperm count, and a significant increase in sperm abnormalities by irradiation of the mouse brain with 2 Gy of (12)C6+ ion or 60Co gamma-ray. Moreover, the effects were more obvious in the group irradiated by (12)C6+ ion than in that irradiated by 60Co gamma-ray. Pre-exposure with low-dose (12)C6+ ion or 60Co gamma-ray significantly alleviated the harmful effects induced by a subsequent high-dose irradiation.


A new distribution called the log generalized Lindley-Weibull (LGLW) distribution for modeling lifetime data is proposed. This model further generalizes the Lindley distribution and allows for hazard rate functions that are monotonically decreasing, monotonically increasing and bathtub shaped. A comprehensive investigation and account of the mathematical and statistical properties including moments, moment generating function, simulation issues and entropy are presented. Estimates of model parameters via the method of maximum likelihood are given. Real data examples are presented to illustrate the usefulness and applicability of this new distribution.


: Sequel to the civil war that threatened the corporate existence of Nigeria in 1967, the Military government that came to power in 1966 adopted a radical change within the period 1967 to 1979 on industrial relations policy due to the spate of industrial unrest occasioned by the economic hardship caused by the civil war. The government at this period was compelled to abandon its back bench by shifting its position from non-interventionist (laissez-faire doctrine) to interventionist or what it coined as "Guided Democracy" in labour and industrial relations matters. The government's objectives were enveloped in the "National Policy on Labour" which gave the government greater concern to participate in labour matters. The policy in a nutshell was hinged on the need for better and effective trade union administration and to promote labour/management co-operation tailored towards industrial peace and harmony in both public and private sector of the economy. The intention of this paper is geared towards examining the objectives of the policy, the methods adopted in executing it and to appraise the outcome of the government's lofty intention in terms of whether the objectives were met or otherwise. The authors however, applauded government for enacting the policy which have paved way in solving some of the industrial relations problems facing the country. They contended that there is need for continuous review of the policy and for government to overhaul the functions of its agencies responsible for labour administration especially the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity.


Developing highly stable materials for harmful ion detection in a water environment is of much importance and challenging. Here, two three-dimensional porous structures (termed as Eu-MOF and Tb-MOF) were successfully constructed by the strategy of anchoring Eu3+/Tb3+ and rigid 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid (H4BTEC) imidazole units (H3ICA) onto its frameworks. The obtained Eu-MOF and Tb-MOF display high water stability and fluorescence stability up to 30 days. Furthermore, luminescent studies reveal that Eu-MOF and Tb-MOF show rapid, recursive, and simultaneous sensing Fe3+ and Cr2O72-/CrO42- ions in water. In addition, the sensing function possesses remarkable cyclicity and selectivity even with the existence of other analogous ions.


The membrane water channel aquaporin 5 (AQP5) plays an important role in transporting water across the apical surface of the alveolar epithelium and the epithelia of submucosal glands in the upper airway and nasopharynx. It is thus a potentially important target for modulating the fluid content of upper airway and nasopharyngeal secretions in disorders such as cystic fibrosis. Here, we have used an in vitro system to identify a molecular mechanism through which transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of AQP5 is accomplished. In a murine lung epithelial cell line (MLE-12), the addition of chlorophenylthio-cAMP (cpt-cAMP) causes a 4-fold increase in AQP5 mRNA and protein levels and induces translocation of AQP5 to the apical plasma membrane. Treatment with forskolin and isoproternol also caused similar increases in AQP5 expression both in vitro and in mouse lung tissue slices. The addition of actinomycin D abolished the cAMP-mediated increase in AQP5 mRNA and showed that there was no increase in the half-life of AQP5 mRNA, and inhibition of protein kinase A by H-89 blocked the cpt-cAMP-mediated increase of AQP5. Pretreatment of cells with cycloheximide blocked the cpt-cAMP-mediated increase of AQP5 mRNA, indicating that de novo protein synthesis is essential for increased AQP5 transcription. Immunofluorescent micrographs of cells treated with cpt-cAMP showed a significantly stronger AQP5 signal at the plasma membrane as compared with untreated cells. These results show that cAMP regulates AQP5 at multiple levels, by increasing synthesis of AQP5 mRNA and by triggering translocation of AQP5 to the plasma membrane.


Early phase hyperglycemia, associated with increased rates of insulin and C-peptide secretion after oral administration of 100 g glucose, was observed among patients with pulmonary tuberculosis who were taking rifampicin. This early phase hyperglycemia appeared shortly after rifampicin was started and it disappeared completely a few days after rifampicin was discontinued. No difference in oral glucose tolerance was noted between healthy normal subjects and patients with pulmonary tuberculosis who were not taking any medications. Antituberculous drugs other than rifampicin did not induce early phase hyperglycemia. Because intravenous glucose tolerance was normal in patients treated with rifampicin, it is suggested that rifampicin produces an early phase hyperglycemia possibly by augmenting intestinal absorption of glucose.


BACKGROUND
Drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters (DMETs) play crucial roles in drug absorption and disposition. Species differences in the interaction of compounds with DMETs may contribute to the accuracy of animal models in predicting human responses in clinical studies. Thus it is important to clarify the expression heterogeneity of DMETs between human and rat, that is commonly used as a model for evaluating drug efficacy and drug safety.

METHODS
We compared the expression patterns of DMETs based on a rat RNA-seq dataset and the human Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) datasets. A relatively high correlation of expression of DMETs between rat and human was observed in most organs, while a lower correlation was detected in the liver and kidney; however, a greater number of genes were variably expressed in the latter two organs. We characterized the basal expression traits of DMETs in rat in terms of organ, sex, and developmental differences.

RESULTS
Co-expressed modules across organs of DMETs were identified to include potential functionally- related genes. Interestingly, most of these modules showed liver- and/or kidney-specific expression. Moreover, we identified DMETs modules that were highly correlated to sex or developmental stages. Finally, we created networks containing sex and/or developmentally-related drugs and diseases with their related DMETs to display the clinical significance of sexually dimorphic and/or developmentally- specific DMET genes.

CONCLUSION
Our study provides a deeper understanding of species differences in not only DMETs but specific susceptibility to adverse drug reactions (ADRs).


Ovarian cancer is the most deadly gynecological cancer and the need for new therapies is evidenced by the fact no new drugs targeting ovarian cancer have been identified. Recent studies have shown that lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a lipid growth factor, is implicated in the genesis and progression of ovarian cancer, yet the majority of the mechanisms through which LPA promotes cancer genesis and progression remain to be elucidated. Therefore, the underlying theme of our research is to identify novel LPA-activated signaling nodes that can be targeted for therapy in ovarian cancer. Subjecting the lysates from HeyA8 ovarian cancer cells to a high-throughput antibody array analysis, we identified that LPA potently stimulates the tyrosine-phosphorylation of p130Cas, a scaffolding protein, which, upon phosphorylation, recruits an array of signaling molecules that promotes tumor cell proliferation, survival and metastasis. The antibody-array data was validated via immunoprecipitation of p130Cas and immunoblotting with a phospho-tyrosine specific antibody in a panel of ovarian cancer cells consisting of HeyA8, OVCA429, OVCA432 and SKOV3, establishing cell-type independent activation of p130Cas by LPA. Analyzing further, we have identified that tyrosine-410 of p130Cas is phosphorylated in response to LPA. Several past studies, including ours, have shown oncogenic signaling by LPA involves the activation of LPA receptors that are coupled to the α-subunits of the heterotrimeric G proteins, Gi, Gq, G12, and/or G13. To define the specific α-subunit that mediates LPA-induced p130Cas-phosphorylation, we monitored Tyr-410 phosphorylation of p130Cas in response to 20 μM of LPA (20 min) in HeyA8 cells in which the expression of Gαi2, Gαq, Gα12, or Gα13 was silenced by specific shRNAs. Our results indicated that only the silencing of Gαi2 abrogated LPA-mediated Tyr-410 phosphorylation of p130Cas. Since Gαi2 has been shown to play a critical role in LPA-LPAR coupled cell migration, we hypothesized that the LPA-LPAR-Gαi2-p130Cas signaling axis is involved in the invasive migration of ovarian cancer cells. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether the knocking down of p130Cas, via p130Cas-specific siRNA, attenuated LPA-mediated migration of ovarian cancer cells. Our results indicated that the silencing of p130Cas significantly inhibited LPA-stimulated migration of ovarian cancer cells by 58%. Thus, our study is the first to establish LPA-LPAR-Gαi2-mediated stimulation of p130Cas is involved in invasive migration of ovarian cancer cells. Overall, the results presented in our current study point to p130Cas as a critical signaling node in pathological LPA signaling and that by targeting LPA receptors, LPA production and/or the downstream kinases that phosphorylate p130Cas, it may be possible to disable the oncogenic signaling cascades activated by p130Cas in ovarian cancer and enhance the survival of ovarian cancer patients. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-24. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-LB-24


Nowadays, research essentially tends to overcome the power consumption issue in the digital and analog domains. In this paper, we took a closer look on CMOS image sensors. The sensor consumption mainly depends on the image resolution. In other words, the sensor data flow is always constant regardless the activity or the scene in question. This leads to a great amount of useless data to process, store and later on display. Therefore we rethought the image sensor functioning as well as its reading method in order to reduce the sensor data flow and thus its power consumption. A novel asynchronous image sensor has been proposed using a new sampling scheme, a specific processing and an asynchronous reading technique. On one hand, the idea mainly consists of limiting the processing by only extracting the relevant data. On the other hand, the sampling method eliminates the spatial redundancies in the captured scene. Finally, by implementing the proposed reading system, we were able to drastically reduce the sensor data flow and, consequently, to design a power-efficient asynchronous image sensor.


The enlightened and moderated teachings of Islam empowered every one of the human society, specially the woman who used to be much oppressed in all civilizations of the world before emergence of Islam. Islam gave them an elevated status in all over the world in the status of mother, sisters, daughter and wife. It declared null and void the ignorance rules against them and, prohibited their sexual exploitation. Moreover, Islam gave a regular system of nikkah and marriages for women. The holy Prophet peace be upon him declared nikkah and marriage as his Sunnah and kept its procedure very simple. Furthermore, he described marriage as a gigantic source of achieving chastity, but today in Pakistan the marriages have been made very complex and costly because of the   unIslamic customs and traditions. Those unIslamic customs became the part and parcel of the Pakistani marriages which not only made nikkah and marriage a difficult task but also devastated the economic, social and the religious life of Muslims. The Pakistani marriages are conducted with such customs of Mehndi, big congregations: Bharat, beating drums and singing songs. The article briefly discusses status of mirages in the pre Islamic era, Islamic concept and importance of nikkah and the new customs practiced in Pakistani marriages and their economic, social and religious impacts by best use of old and new resources.


Virtual Reality (VR) has finally found its way to be used in the healthcare industry, covering many different areas such as medical training, marketing, patient education, psychotherapy and physiotherapy, and many others. The need to develop increasingly personalized technology to be used during the rehabilitation process is extremely important. Therefore, the VR4NeuroPain solution aims to cover the unique influence that it obtains from the VR applied to the rehabilitation area, creating unique and virtual spaces where patients with neuropathic pain can be submitted to their therapy sessions, not only in hospitals and clinics, but also at home. The VR4NeuroPain system monitors electrophysiological data in real time, and consists of the following components: Virtual Reality Interface, Plataform and a Glove-"GNeuroPathy". The main objective of this paper is to describe all the components of VR4NeuroPain solution. The system can be used by physicians, occupational therapists and physiotherapists. VR4Neuropain allows the use of innovative and interactive intervention methodologies.


Oncogenetic events and unique phenomena of the tumor microenvironment together induce adaptive metabolic responses that may offer new diagnostic tools and therapeutic targets of cancer. Hypoxia, or low oxygen tension, represents a well-established and universal feature of the tumor microenvironment and has been linked to increased tumor aggressiveness as well as resistance to conventional oncological treatments. Previous studies have provided important insights into hypoxia induced changes of the transcriptome and proteome; however, how this translates into changes at the metabolite level remains to be defined. Here, we have investigated dynamic, time-dependent effects of hypoxia on the cancer cell metabolome across all families of macromolecules, i.e., carbohydrate, protein, lipid and nucleic acid, in human glioblastoma cells. Using GC/MS and LC/MS/MS, 345 and 126 metabolites were identified and quantified in cells and corresponding media, respectively, at short (6 h), intermediate (24 h), and prolonged (48 h) incubation at normoxic or hypoxic (1% O2) conditions. In conjunction, we performed gene array studies with hypoxic and normoxic cells following short and prolonged incubation. We found that levels of several key metabolites varied with the duration of hypoxic stress. In some cases, metabolic changes corresponded with hypoxic regulation of key pathways at the transcriptional level. Our results provide new insights into the metabolic response of glioblastoma cells to hypoxia, which should stimulate further work aimed at targeting cancer cell adaptive mechanisms to microenvironmental stress.


OBJECTIVE
An ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS)-based chemical analytic technology was used to evaluate the chemical constitution of Radix Aconiti Lateralis Preparata in the process of decocting, so as to provide a scientific basis for processing Radix Aconiti Lateralis Preparata.

METHODS
Radix Aconiti Lateralis Preparata samples with different decocting time were detected using UPLC/Q-TOF-MS to create a fingerprint spectrum. The data of tR-m/z pairs, ion intensities and sample codes were processed by partial least squared-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) to holistically compare the difference among these samples.

RESULTS
The contents of diester-diterpenoid alkaloid such as aconitine, mesaconitine and hypaconitine were higher between 2 to 10 min, while the contents of the lower toxic monoester-diterpenoid alkaloids such as benzoylaconine, benzoylmesaconine and benzoylhypaconine increased during the first 60 min, then their contents stabilized.

CONCLUSION
Selecting the correct processing time for Radix Aconiti Lateralis Preparata according to clinical indications is essential for attenuating toxicity and increasing efficiency. Within 30 min is the best time for diester-diterpenoid alkaloids as the main pharmacodynamic material, and within 60 min is the best time for monoester-diterpenoid alkaloids as the pharmacodynamic material of Radix Aconiti Lateralis Preparata.


The relationship between bank revenue composition and bank risk in Australia is modeled using data drawn from Australian bank confidential regulatory returns. It is found that those banks with lower levels of non-interest income and higher revenue concentration are less risky, consistent with previous international evidence. Evidence is also found supportive of increased risk due to too-big-to-fail effects, with this risk increase being offset by a decline in large bank risk after the crisis of 2007–2008. Non-interest income is generally found to be risk increasing, but some types of non-interest income are risk reducing when bank specialization effects are considered. It is also found that the 2008 financial crisis changed some aspects of the relationship between bank risk and revenue composition.


Propofol (2,6-di-isopropylphenol) has multiple actions on GABAA receptor function that act in concert to potentiate GABA-evoked currents. To understand how propofol influences inhibitory IPSCs, we examined the effects of propofol on responses to brief applications of saturating concentrations of GABA (1–30 mm). GABA was applied using a fast perfusion system to nucleated patches excised from hippocampal neurons. In this preparation, propofol (10 μm) had no detectable agonist effect but slowed the decay, increased the charge transfer (62%), and enhanced the peak amplitude (8%) of currents induced by brief pulses (3 msec) of GABA. Longer pulses (500 msec) of GABA induced responses that desensitized with fast (τf = 1.5–4.5 msec) and slow (τs = 1–3 sec) components and, after the removal of GABA, deactivated exponentially (τd = 151 msec). Propofol prolonged this deactivation (τd = 255 msec) and reduced the development of both fast and slow desensitization. Recovery from fast desensitization, assessed using pairs of brief pulses of GABA, paralleled the time course of deactivation, indicating that fast desensitization traps GABA on the receptor. With repetitive applications of pulses of GABA (0.33 Hz), the charge transfer per pulse declined exponentially (τ ≈ 15 sec) to a steady-state value equal to ∼40% of the initial response. Despite the increased charge transfer per pulse with propofol, the time course of the decline was unchanged. These experimental data were interpreted using computer simulations and a kinetic model that assumed fast and slow desensitization, as well as channel opening developed in parallel from a pre-open state. Our results suggest that propofol stabilizes the doubly liganded pre-open state without affecting the isomerization rate constants to and from the open state. Also, the rate constants for agonist dissociation and entry into the fast and slow desensitization states were reduced by propofol. The recovery rate constant from fast desensitization was slowed, whereas that from slow desensitization appeared to be unchanged. Taken together, the effects of propofol on GABAA receptors enhance channel opening, particularly under conditions that promote desensitization.


Author(s): Chakraborty, Debapriya; Bunch, David S.; Xu, Bingzheng; Brownstone, David; Tal, Gil | Abstract: The market for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) that primarily include battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) has been rapidly growing in California for the past few years. Given the targets for PEV penetration in the state, it is important to have a better understanding of the pattern of technology diffusion and the factors that are driving the process. Using spatial analysis and Poisson count models, the researchers identify the importance of a neighborhood effect (at home locations) and workplace effect (at commute destinations) in supporting the diffusion of PEV technology in California. In the case of new BEV sales, they found that exposure to one additional BEV or PHEV within a 1-mile radius of a block group centroid is associated with a 0.2% increase in BEV sales in the block group. Interestingly, for new PHEV sales, the neighborhood effect of BEV sales is negative, suggesting that enhanced exposure to this type of technology (which is differentiated in distinctive ways from PHEVs) may impact new PHEV sales through a substitution effect. Specifically, higher BEV concentration in an area can have an overall negative effect on new PHEV sales. While the neighborhood effect at residential locations is important, the workplace effect also has a notably important effect on new PEV sales. Both effects work in combination with socioeconomic, demographic, policy, and built environment factors in encouraging PEV adoption. These results suggest that policymakers should consider targeted programs and investments that can boost the impact of neighborhood and peer effects on PEV salesView the NCST Project Webpage


Modeling arbitrarily large deformations of surfaces smoothly embedded in three-dimensional space is challenging. We give a new method to represent surfaces undergoing large spatially varying rotations and strains, based on differential geometry, and surface first and second fundamental forms. Methods that penalize the difference between the current shape and the rest shape produce sharp spikes under large strains, and variational methods produce wiggles, whereas our method naturally supports large strains and rotations without any special treatment. For stable and smooth results, we demonstrate that the deformed surface has to locally satisfy compatibility conditions (Gauss-Codazzi equations) on the first and second fundamental forms. We then give a method to locally modify the surface first and second fundamental forms in a compatible way. We use those fundamental forms to define surface plastic deformations, and finally recover output surface vertex positions by minimizing the surface elastic energy under the plastic deformations. We demonstrate that our method makes it possible to smoothly deform triangle meshes to large spatially varying strains and rotations, while meeting user constraints.


This is another attempt at identifying biological markers for pain in humans from skin biopsies, which ends with a negative result, but yields some interesting information outside the original research question. Preferably, such a biomarker should result from a noninvasive or minimally invasive test, and Martin Schmelz and colleagues (Schley et al., 2012) employ a comprehensive battery of such tests, including bedside examination, quantitative sensory testing, axon reflex flare and the quantification of skin innervation. In contrast to most previous authors who tried to correlate skin innervation with pain, they took great care in separating skin nerve fibres into different layers and correlated their quantity with sensory function like thermal thresholds or the degree of electrically induced pain. They found some – partially unexpected – correlations between structure and function, like correlations between pain thresholds and deep dermal innervation. More expected were the correlation of temperature thresholds with epidermal nerve fibre density and of the area of electrically evoked axon reflex flare with calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) staining of dermal nerve fibres. None of the parameters showed a close correlation with the pain measures. Some of the weak correlations identified are even counterintuitive. If cold pain thresholds correlated positively with higher neuronal CGRP staining in the dermal skin, then less CGRP would mean lower pain thresholds, thus more pain, in contrast to what is generally assumed and to the authors' hypothesis. This poses several questions: Would the results have been changed if the authors had compared neuropathy patients with pain with neuropathy patients without pain (e.g., Üçeyler et al., 2007)? This might have eliminated some of the confounding factors caused by the disease itself. With the present design, most of the differences between healthy controls and neuropathic pain patients may be explained by the nerve lesion, like loss of distal nerve fibres and loss of the respective function. The parameters responsible for gain of function (pain, allodynia) may thus be missed. On the other hand, the structural measures employed may not be suited to differentiate between a painful and a painless state. For example, nerve fibres may lose the PGP 9.5 immunoreactivity, but may still be present and active, and might be visualized by a GAP-43 stain (Ragé et al., 2010) or sodium channel immunoreaction, or numbers of remaining nerve fibres might play a minor role in determining pain, and the surrounding microenvironment might be of more importance (Üçeyler et al., 2010). Furthermore, it is possible that the pathophysiology of the disorders examined, which include peripheral neuropathy, traumatic nerve lesion, post-herpetic neuralgia and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), differs too much to yield consistent findings when lumping them into one group. Studies were more homogenous groups were investigated, yielded at least partially stronger correlation between their morphological finding in skin and pain (e.g., Vlckova-Moravcova et al., 2008; Chao et al., 2010; Casanova-Molla et al., 2012) The authors conclude that the analysis of neuronal markers, such as sodium channel subtypes in painful neuroma may be a more promising approach to characterize the mechanisms of neuropathic pain. I would go even further and propose that not only the types and numbers of sodium channels, but their activity state may play a major role, as exemplified by the sodium channel mutations underlying erythromelalgia (Fischer and Waxman, 2010). Should we thus stop using those accessible measures in patients to look for patterns that might help us differentiate painful and painless states? No, but we should go to different levels. The main problem is that most of the 'objective' measures we have are good at showing loss of function, but are not related to gain of function. There seems to be no way around microneurography or other activity markers for C-fibres. Schley and colleagues have provided a good baseline for such further studies.


The ability of a bank to run its operations effectively is to determine its finances. This paper takes the topic of BUMD banking research, especially BPR in 2016-2020. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Non Performing Loans (NPL) and solvency on the financial performance of BPD in Indonesia. In this study, we used a population of BPRs registered with BUMD and used a sampling technique, namely purposive sampling with samples from BPR Yogyakarta and BPR BPR Magelang to analyze the data in this study, multiple linear regression was used to analyze the relationship between various factors and the desired outcome. Solvency is proxied by debt to asset ratio (DAR) and debt to equity ratio (DER), while credit risk is proxied by non-performing loan (NPL). For financial performance, Return on Assets (ROA) is a proxy for financial performance. The results of the analysis show that solvency is proxied by the ratio of debt to assets (DAR) and the ratio of debt to equity (DER) has an effect on financial performance and credit risk has an effect on financial performance.
Keywords: Bank, DAR, DER, NPL, ROA


Objectives To investigate the effect of tumor necrosis factor ligand-related molecule 1A (TL1A) on the intestinal mucosal barrier in mice with chronic colitis. Methods Male TL1A-overexpressing transgenic mice and male C57BL/6 wild-type mice were used to establish a dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis model. The expression of occludin and claudin-1 was observed. Bacterial distribution in the intestinal mucosa and Th9/interleukin (IL)-9 expression were detected. In vitro co-culture systems of naive CD4+ T cells and Caco-2 cells were established and TL1A was added. Changes in transepithelial electrical resistance and IL-9 expression were measured. CD4+IL-9 cells were detected by flow cytometry. Results DSS mice showed a significant down-regulation of occludin and claudin-1 compared with controls. Expression levels of occludin, zonulin-1, and claudin-1 in the Caco-2+TGF-β+IL-4+TL1A group were significantly lower than in the Caco-2+TGF-β+IL-4 group. Bacterial distribution was clearly disordered in the DSS group. Transmembrane resistance of the Caco-2+TGF-β+IL-4+TL1A group was significantly lower and IL-9 expression significantly higher than in the Caco-2+TGF-β+IL-4 group. Conclusions TL1A overexpression promotes destruction of the intestinal mucosal barrier in mice with chronic colitis. The underlying mechanism may be associated with the promoting role of TL1A in Th9/IL-9 expression, which further destroys the mucosal barrier.


A new symbolic method for high-level synthesis of data conversion systems is described. This consists of translating the formal HDL description of a data conversion algorithm into a graph representation containing both analog and digital data, and then carrying out highly efficient symbolic manipulations to generate the circuit topology. A set of symbolic graph simplifying rules, for graph compaction into a canonical form, together with functional block pattern recognition techniques offer a considerable reduction of the search space and thus allow the overall synthesis process to be completed within very short computation times. The effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated for the synthesis of data conversion systems implementing the well known successive approximation, flash, two-step flash and pipeline algorithms. Besides, it is also shown how the proposed method can be employed for the exploration of a wider range of data conversion topologies implementing innovative conversion algorithms.


Heckler v. Chaney stands out amongst the Supreme Court's reviewability case law for its particularly narrow basis of decision—agency action versus inaction. I argue that this approach is flawed. I start by critically comparing Chaney to other key reviewability cases and discussing two downsides to the action-inaction framework that these juxtapositions reveal. First, it is manipulable. Action and inaction are not subject to strict definition, which can result in inconsistent holdings. Second, it distracts courts from cases' real-life stakes by prompting them to focus on a dividing line divorced from underlying interests. Next, I consider counterarguments to my interpretation of these two features as pitfalls. I conclude that the action-inaction framework should be modified instead of replaced, despite its flaws. It has benefits that make it worth saving.


It has long been observed that the number of weak lines from many-electron atoms follows a power law distribution of intensity. While computer simulations have reproduced this dependence, its origin has not yet been clarified. Here we report that the combination of two statistical models-an exponential increase in the level density of many-electron atoms and local thermal equilibrium of the excited state population-produces a surprisingly simple analytical explanation for this power law dependence. We find that the exponent of the power law is proportional to the electron temperature. This dependence may provide a useful diagnostic tool to extract the temperature of plasmas of complex atoms without the need to assign lines.


During the last decade, the laparoscopic extraperitoneal approach has been used successfully for various urological procedures [1–3]. When performing a simple nephrectomy, the retroperitoneal space is more than adequate, but its limited dimensions seem to be a drawback for routine radical nephrectomy. Furthermore, if tissue is not morcellated it is also necessary to make an incision of at least 5 cm to retrieve the specimen at the end of the procedure [4]. Therefore, we made the extraperitoneal incision at the beginning of the procedure rather than at the end, and tried to make maximum use of it with the HandPortTM device (Smith & Nephew, Andover, MA, USA). By inserting the surgeon's hand, tissue retraction is improved and controlled blunt dissection of the perirenal fat is facilitated [5,6]. These advantages made the operation easier and less time-consuming, without compromising the integrity of the peritoneal cavity. This procedure is indicated in all patients with renal parenchymal tumours up to 8 cm, who have had no major previous extraperitoneal surgery.


Smoking cessation services are well established in the community. In recent years, an increase in their availability has been recommended and secondary care settings were identified as suitable locations. This article draws on the evidence base underpinning this move and uses findings from an evaluation of such a service introduced into an acute hospital to illustrate the key principles to be considered. These principles included receptiveness of the hospital environment to the smoking cessation message, the importance of organizational preparation before launching the service, collaboration within the hospital and in the community, resourcing of the initiative, training of staff and providing feedback to staff on progress (e.g. quit rates resulting from initiative). The paper concludes that broad acceptance at all levels within the hospital, which enhances a stop smoking culture, in parallel with an in-depth preparation and training period, is required to successfully launch a hospital-based stop smoking service.


The ability of all-dielectric nanostructures to perform exotic photonics effects is with superior efficiency compared to their metallic counterparts. Free from joules losses, high-index dielectrics support comparable excitation of electric and magnetic resonances and pave a way to advanced technologies of light energy manipulation. One of the most important effects is directive light scattering provided by the Kerker and anti-Kerker effects giving the potential to realize Huygens source of light, transparent metasurfaces, router nanoantennas etc. Here we study an effect where most of the scattered power is redirected to the side directions rather than to the forward and/or backward directions. This kind of scattering on isotropic scatterer requires at least the presence of the first two orders of multipoles to enable simultaneous forward and back-scattering suppressions. Electric dipole Fano resonance profile and quadrupoles off-resonance characteristics provide the required phase and amplitude conditions to obtain such an optical signature. We find the individual scatterers sustain the transverse scattering conditions when assembled into a metasurface so exhibit invisibility effect. We investigate this phenomenon analytically and numerically in the visible and microwave domains and provide the proof-of-the-concept experiment in the gigahertz frequency and showing very good agreement with the theoretical predictions.


This work is focused on the study of the features of ultrafine-grained (UFG) structure formation, mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the aluminum alloys of Al-Mg-Si system subjected to severe plastic deformation (SPD). High strength of the material under study is provided by UFG state due to the decrease in grain size and formation of hardening phase precipitations in the aluminum matrix after aging. The increased electrical conductivity in the material results from the decrease in concentration of the alloying elements in the aluminum matrix because of solid solution decomposition during SPD processing and also less disloca- tion density in the formed structure.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to identify the sensory processing patterns of children with Asperger syndrome.

METHOD
Researchers compared the performance of 42 children with Asperger syndrome and 42 children without disabilities on section and factor scores of the Sensory Profile.

RESULTS
As reported by parents on the Sensory Profile, the children with Asperger syndrome were significantly different from children without disabilities on 22 of 23 items. This result was obtained with good power estimates (.997-1.00) and large effect sizes (02 = .267-.732). Both groups of children performed the same on modulation of visual input affecting emotional responses and activity level.

CONCLUSION
This study provides initial evidence that clear differences exist in the sensory processing patterns of children with Asperger syndrome when compared with peers without disabilities.


This paper reconsiders glass beads that have hitherto been regarded as early medieval in date. Although several groups of these beads are known from important early Christian sites – St Ninian's Isle, Shetland, and Morham, East Lothian – a case is made here for a manufacture date between the 17th and 19th centuries AD on the basis of typological parallels and surface analysis of the glass composition. Several of the groups of beads appear to have been found in graves and their significance in the context of early modern burial practice is explored. Here it is argued that, in the face of the sheer quantity of beads produced in post-medieval Europe, extreme care should be exercised when identifying glass beads, particularly when the objects in question have complex or uncertain archaeological contexts. Although surface analysis of glass composition has limitations, with careful interpretation it can nonetheless provide a quick, inexpensive and non-destructive means of narrowing the range of possible identifications. The type of glass can give a broad indication of date, and in some cases the detection of particular ingredients or quality of materials can indicate a more precise origin.


OBJECTIVE To support the hypothesis about the potential compensatory role of ipsilateral corticofugal pathways when the contralateral pathways are impaired by brain tumours. METHODS Retrospective analysis was carried out on the results of functional MRI (fMRI) of a selected group of five paretic patients with Rolandic brain tumours who exhibited an abnormally high ipsilateral/contralateral ratio of activation—that is, movements of the paretic hand activated predominately the ipsilateral cortex. Brain activation was achieved with a flexion extension of the fingers. Statistical parametric activation was obtained using a t test and a threshold of p<0.001. These patients, candidates for tumour resection, also underwent cortical intraoperative stimulation that was correlated to the fMRI spatial data using three dimensional reconstructions of the brain. Three patients also had postoperative control fMRI. RESULTS The absence of fMRI activation of the primary sensorimotor cortex normally innervating the paretic hand for the threshold chosen, was correlated with completely negative cortical responses of the cortical hand area during the operation. The preoperative fMRI activation of these patients predominantly found in the ipsilateral frontal and primary sensorimotor cortices could be related to the residual ipsilateral hand function. Postoperatively, the fMRI activation returned to more classic patterns of activation, reflecting the consequences of therapy. CONCLUSION In paretic patients with brain tumours, ipsilateral control could be implicated in the residual hand function, when the normal primary pathways are impaired. The possibility that functional tissue still remains in the peritumorous sensorimotor cortex even when the preoperative fMRI and the cortical intraoperative stimulations are negative, should be taken into account when planning the tumour resection and during the operation.


Classification: Although before the present century primary cancer of the lung was rarely diagnosed either clinically or at autopsy, it is now frequently seen. The rapid growth of the literature on pulmonary cancer has emphasized the increasing incidence of the disease, and its frequent occurrence in persons under forty or even thirty years of age. The youngest patient, reported by Beardsley (1), was a child of sixteen months. More thorough studies have shown the protean nature of the clinical and radiological findings and the importance of the bronchoscope in early diagnosis. The course of disease is rapidly fatal, untreated patients rarely surviving diagnosis by more than six months. Metastases to other organs are widespread, and neither irradiation nor surgery offers much for the usual case. A study of the records available to us2 and a review of the literature permit the distinction of two forms of the disease (Table I).

The most common form is bronchial or epidermoid carcinoma (Figs. 1, 2 and 3). This type, referred to also as hilar cancer, occurs in adults approaching or past the age of fifty years and appears in the roentgenogram as a solid shadow near the hilum. Histologically, the tumors are composed of epidermoid cells which resemble the lining cells of the large bronchi. The other form, sometimes referred to as lobular or pneumonic cancer, is a diffusely growing adenocarcinoma apparent in the roentgenogram as multiple nodules infiltrating one or both lungs, usually toward the base (Figs. 4, 5 and 6). Adults under forty-five years of age are often affected. Microscopically, the tumor has an adenomatous structure, resembling the terminal ramifications of the bronchioles, and it may contain a mucoid secretion. The so-called alveolar carcinoma referred to in the standard texts on pathology is not an established form, and its existence has never been conclusively demonstrated.


We reconsider some of the explicit and implicit properties that underlie well-established definitions of data provenance semantics. Previous work on comparing provenance semantics has mostly focused on expressive power (does the provenance generated by a certain semantics subsume the provenance generated by other semantics) and on understanding whether a semantics is insensitive to query rewrite (i.e., do equivalent queries have the same provenance). In contrast, we try to investigate why certain semantics possess specific properties (like insensitivity) and whether these properties are always desirable. We present a new property stability with respect to query language extension that, to the best of our knowledge, has not been isolated and studied on its own.


OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Many clinical prediction models have been developed to guide tuberculosis (TB) treatment, but their results and methods have not been formally evaluated. We aimed to identify and synthesize existing models for predicting TB treatment outcomes, including bias and applicability assessment. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION:Ourreviewwill adhere tomethods thatdevelopedspecifically for systematic reviews of prediction model studies. We will search PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar (first 200 citations) to identify studies that internally and/or externally validate amodel for TB treatment outcomes (defined as one ormultiple of cure, treatment completion, death, treatment failure, relapse, default, and lost to follow-up). Study screening,data extraction, andbias assessment will be conducted independently by two reviewers with a third party to resolve discrepancies. Study quality will be assessed using the Prediction model Risk Of Bias Assessment Tool (PROBAST). RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Our search strategy yielded 6,242 articles in PubMed, 10,585 in Embase, 10,511 in Web of Science, and 200 from Google Scholar, totaling 27,538 articles. After de-duplication, 14,029 articles remain. After screening titles, abstracts, and full-text, we will extract data from relevant studies, including publication details, study characteristics, methods, and results. Datawill be summarized with narrative review and in detailed tables with descriptive statistics. We anticipate finding disparate outcome definitions, contrasting predictors acrossmodels, and high risk of bias inmethods. Meta-analysis of performance measures for model validation studies will be performed if possible. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: TB outcome prediction models are important but existing ones have not been rigorously evaluated. This systematic review will synthesize TB outcome prediction models and serve as guidance to future studies that aim to use or develop TB outcome prediction models.


: Age estimation on the basis of the face has been widely used in the field of human – computer interaction and intelligent surveillance. Many existing methods extract deeper global features from the facial image and achieve significant improvement on age estimation. However, local features and their relationship are important for age estimation. In this study, the authors propose a model to use local features for age estimation. The proposed model consists of three stages, preliminary abstraction stage for extracting deeper features, local feature encoding stage to model the relationship between local features and recall stage for the combination of temporary local impressions. Extensive experiments show that their proposed method outperforms previous state-of-the-art methods.


Optical quantitative phase imaging (QPI) is a frequently used technique to recover biological cells with high contrast in biology and life science for cell detection and analysis. However, the quantitative phase information is difficult to directly obtain with traditional optical microscopy. In addition, there are trade-offs between the parameters of traditional optical microscopes. Generally, a higher resolution results in a smaller field of view (FOV) and narrower depth of field (DOF). To overcome these drawbacks, we report a novel semi-supervised deep learning-based hybrid network framework, termed ContransGAN, which can be used in traditional optical microscopes with different magnifications to obtain high-quality quantitative phase images. This network framework uses a combination of convolutional operation and multiheaded self-attention mechanism to improve feature extraction, and only needs a few unpaired microscopic images to train. The ContransGAN retains the ability of the convolutional neural network (CNN) to extract local features and borrows the ability of the Swin-Transformer network to extract global features. The trained network can output the quantitative phase images, which are similar to those restored by the transport of intensity equation (TIE) under high-power microscopes, according to the amplitude images obtained by low-power microscopes. Biological and abiotic specimens were tested. The experiments show that the proposed deep learning algorithm is suitable for microscopic images with different resolutions and FOVs. Accurate and quick reconstruction of the corresponding high-resolution (HR) phase images from low-resolution (LR) bright-field microscopic intensity images was realized, which were obtained under traditional optical microscopes with different magnifications.


During recent decades, using valid and reliable questionnaires in the field o f ego identity for research and individual assessment purposes has been addressed by psychologists. The aim of the present study was to investigate the validity and reliability of Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status-2 (EOM-EIS-2) in high school students in Tehran. 234 students were selected randomly and the validity of the scales was studied on this Iranian sample in two ways: exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The exploratory factor analysis was carried out on the 50 percent of the sample that were selected randomly from all of the students and the confirmatory factor analysis was done on the rest of other 50 percents. The finding showed the both €ideological and €interpersonal identity of EOM -EIS-2 questionnaire had a four factor structure, as follows: F oreclosure, identity achieved, moratorium and diffused identity. The convergent-divergent validity of the four identity statuses yielded significant correlations between the same identity statuses of ideological and interpersonal i dentity and the correlation ranged from .38 to .65. The internal consistency of the four scales of the two ego identities were .46 for identity moratorium and diffusion in ideological identity and for the rest of them correlations ranged from .53 to .76. It is concluded that the EOM-EIS-2 scales had acceptable validity and reliability in an Iranian sample.


Objective. To update the incidence of medical morbidity and mortality in head and neck surgery and factors that influence length of stay (LOS). Study Design. Cross-sectional analysis of a national database. Setting. Academic medical center. Methods. A specific database for head and neck surgical procedures was extracted from the National Hospital Data Survey for 2005 through 2007. Records of inpatient admissions for patients undergoing head and neck surgery as the primary procedure were examined to establish the frequency of medical complications, mortality, and LOS. The association of these medical complications with mortality and LOS was determined. Results. A total of 330,629 head and neck procedures were analyzed. The overall medical morbidity and mortality rates were 5.0% ± 0.7% and 0.4% ± 0.2%, respectively. The most common medical complication was hospital-acquired pneumonia (3.3% ± 0.6%), whereas acute renal failure, stroke, acute myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, and deep venous thrombosis were substantially less frequent (combined incidence, 2.1%). The mean LOS for patients without a major complication was 3.3 ± 0.2 days vs 14.0 ± 1.9 days for those with a major complication (P < .001). Conclusions. Medical morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing head and neck surgical procedures continue to be exceedingly low. Although medical complications are associated with a longer LOS, the influence of medical complications on mortality has declined. Enhancements in perioperative medical management of head and neck surgical patients are likely responsible for these improved results.


The mullets are a widespread group of ecologically and economically important fishes of disputed taxonomy due to their uniform external morphology. Barcoding and phylogenetic studies from various locations around the world largely highlighted the species diversity underestimation using morphological criteria used to establish the taxonomy of the family. Here, we investigated the mullet species diversity from Pakistan, a biogeographic area where nearly no mullet species were genetically characterized. Morphological examination of 40 mullets reveals 6 known species (Planiliza macrolepis, P. klunzingeri, P. subviridis, Crenimugil seheli, Ellochelon vaigiensis, and Mugil cephalus). Using a references DNA barcode library, the DNA barcode-based species identification flagged eight molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) belonging to five genera (Crenimugil, Ellochelon, Mugil, Osteomugil, and Planiliza). Among these MOTUs, only one was already present in Barcode of Life Data system, all other representing new Barcode Index Numbers (BIN). These results emphasize the importance of the recognition of cryptic species and the necessity to re-evaluate the overall diversity by the genetic characterization of different species of this family. DNA barcoding is an effective tool to reveal cryptic species that need to be considered in conservation and management measures of fisheries in Pakistan.


The chemistry of carbon deposition in molten salts has been studied by a number of researchers with quite different interpretations of the reactions involved. This paper therefore reviews and discusses available literature on the cathodic and anodic reaction mechanisms of carbon electrodeposition in molten carbonate salts, particularly considering new voltammetric studies. The effects of process variables (e.g. salt composition, temperature, voltage, electrode material etc.) on the electrochemical process are also addressed. Description of the properties of the deposited carbon and how these properties transfer to potential applications in energy storage and electricity production (carbon re-oxidation) are discussed.


Here we present a highly sensitive, rapid and simple electrochemical assay for glycosidases based on treatment of the glycosidase with the appropriate p-nitrophenyl glycoside and anodic detection of released p-nitrophenol. The attractive characteristics of the new bioassay should facilitate advanced glycomic research and routine clinical diagnostics since glycosidases are associated with various diseases.


In 1984 the Dental Attitudes Questionnaire, an instrument for assessing oral health care attitudes, was proposed. The DAQ has six content scales (Cynicism, Health Concern, Motivation, Oral Function, Social Aesthetic, Susceptibility) and two validity scales (Halo, Infrequency). The original items had an 'agree-disagree' format. We compared this dichotomous format with a six-point response format. Results obtained with the two-point scale did not meet acceptable psychometric criteria. The six-point scale resulted in acceptable item and subtest parameters and variance, internal reliability and test/retest reliability. For eight items, rewording was suggested. Future research is indicated.


Apolipoprotein E (apoE) plays an important role in plasma lipid metabolism. Three common isoforms of this protein have been identified by the isoelectric focusing method. In this report we describe a new method for distinguishing these isoforms. Our method employs PCR amplification of the DNA sequence of exon 4 in the apoE gene followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) to distinguish its different melting characteristics. Identification of the ApoE isoforms through DNA melting behavior rather than protein charge differences eliminates the problems associated with isoelectric focusing and facilitates screening for additional mutations at the apoE locus.


The theory of quantum trajectories is applied to simulate the effects of quantum noise sources induced by the environment on quantum information protocols. We study two models that generalize single qubit noise channels like amplitude damping and phase flip to the many-qubit situation. We calculate the fidelity of quantum information transmission through a chaotic channel using the teleportation scheme with different environments. In this example, we analyze the role played by the kind of collective noise suffered by the quantum processor during its operation. We also investigate the stability of a quantum algorithm simulating the quantum dynamics of a paradigmatic model of chaos, the baker's map. Our results demonstrate that, using the quantum trajectories approach, we are able to simulate quantum protocols in the presence of noise and with large system sizes of more than 20 qubits.


Throughout this project, we developed and optimized various photocatalyst structures for CO2 reforming into hydrocarbon fuels and various commodity chemical products. We also built several closed-loop and continuous fixed-bed photocatalytic reactor system prototypes for a larger-scale demonstration of CO2 reforming into hydrocarbons, mainly methane and formic acid. The results achieved have indicated that with each type of reactor and structure, high reforming yields can be obtained by refining the structural and operational conditions of the reactor, as well as by using various sacrificial agents (hole scavengers). We have also demonstrated, for the first time, that an aqueous solution containing acid whey (a common bio waste) is a highly effective hole scavenger for a solar-based photocatalytic reactor system and can help reform CO2 into several products at once. The optimization tasks performed throughout the project have resulted in efficiency increase in our conventional reactors from an initial 0.02% to about 0.25%, which is 10X higher than our original project goal. When acid whey was used as a sacrificial agent, the achieved energy efficiency for formic acid alone was ~0.4%, which is 16X that of our original project goal and higher than anything ever reported for a solar-based photocatalytic reactor. Therefore, by carefully selecting sacrificial agents, it should be possible to reach energy efficiency in the range of the photosynthetic efficiency of typical crop and biofuel plants (1-3%).


Abstract Higher milk intake has been associated with a lower stroke risk, but not with risk of CHD. Residual confounding or reverse causation cannot be excluded. Therefore, we estimated the causal association of milk consumption with stroke and CHD risk through instrumental variable (IV) and gene-outcome analyses. IV analysis included 29 328 participants (4611 stroke; 9828 CHD) of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-CVD (eight European countries) and European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Netherlands (EPIC-NL) case-cohort studies. rs4988235, a lactase persistence (LP) SNP which enables digestion of lactose in adulthood was used as genetic instrument. Intake of milk was first regressed on rs4988235 in a linear regression model. Next, associations of genetically predicted milk consumption with stroke and CHD were estimated using Prentice-weighted Cox regression. Gene-outcome analysis included 777 024 participants (50 804 cases) from MEGASTROKE (including EPIC-CVD), UK Biobank and EPIC-NL for stroke, and 483 966 participants (61 612 cases) from CARDIoGRAM, UK Biobank, EPIC-CVD and EPIC-NL for CHD. In IV analyses, each additional LP allele was associated with a higher intake of milk in EPIC-CVD (β = 13·7 g/d; 95 % CI 8·4, 19·1) and EPIC-NL (36·8 g/d; 95 % CI 20·0, 53·5). Genetically predicted milk intake was not associated with stroke (HR per 25 g/d 1·05; 95 % CI 0·94, 1·16) or CHD (1·02; 95 % CI 0·96, 1·08). In gene-outcome analyses, there was no association of rs4988235 with risk of stroke (OR 1·02; 95 % CI 0·99, 1·05) or CHD (OR 0·99; 95 % CI 0·95, 1·03). Current Mendelian randomisation analysis does not provide evidence for a causal inverse relationship between milk consumption and stroke or CHD risk.


In order to check weather Danube river water provides adequate conditions for proper gametogenesis in pike, a full cycle of ovogenesis and spermatogenesis were followed. Pike capture was performed at the beginning of May, end of August, November and April for ovogenesis assessment, as well as in November and April for spermatogenesis study. For external macroscopic investigation fish were examined by inspection, while the internal aspects were studied by dissection. Histological sections of reproductive tract components were performed for microscopic evaluation. Research proved that the external examination of females can somewhat show the stage of the sexual cycle in pike, as their abdomen is slightly dilated in stage III, visibly dilated in stage IV and very dilated in stage V. Microscopically, the presence of two categories of oocytes during an ovogenic cycle proved that pike ovary is of grouped synchronous type, as the large oocytes mature and are eliminated during egg shedding, while the small ones remain for the next cycle. The spermatogenesis process was slow until stage III when it became rapid, spermatocytes being grouped, as zonal cell clusters. Both ovogenesis and spermatogenesis were normal under specific conditions provided by the Danube River.


The Gulf Stream affects global climate by transporting water and heat poleward. The current's volume transport increases markedly along the U.S. East Coast. An extensive observing program using autonomous underwater gliders provides finescale, subsurface observations of hydrography and velocity spanning more than 15° of latitude along the path of the Gulf Stream, thereby filling a 1500-km-long gap between long-term transport measurements in the Florida Strait and downstream of Cape Hatteras. Here, the glider-based observations are combined with shipboard measurements along Line W near 68°W to provide a detailed picture of the along-stream transport increase. To account for the influences of Gulf Stream curvature and adjacent circulation (e.g., corotating eddies) on transport estimates, upper- and lower-bound transports are constructed for each cross–Gulf Stream transect. The upper-bound estimate for time-averaged volume transport above 1000 m is 32.9 ± 1.2 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) in the Florida Strait, 57.3 ± 1.9 Sv at Cape Hatteras, and 75.6 ± 4.7 Sv at Line W. Corresponding lower-bound estimates are 32.3 ± 1.1 Sv in the Florida Strait, 54.5 ± 1.7 Sv at Cape Hatteras, and 69.9 ± 4.2 Sv at Line W. Using the temperature and salinity observations from gliders and Line W, waters are divided into seven classes to investigate the properties of waters that are transported by and entrained into the Gulf Stream. Most of the increase in overall Gulf Stream volume transport above 1000 m stems from the entrainment of subthermocline waters, including upper Labrador Sea Water and Eighteen Degree Water.


"Nonstationarity" is a fundamental problem in cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL)--each agent must relearn information about the other agent's policies due to the other agents learning, causing information to "ring" between agents and convergence to be slow. The MAILP model, introduced by Terry and Grammel (2020), is a novel model of information transfer during multi-agent learning. We use the MAILP model to show that increasing training centralization arbitrarily mitigates the slowing of convergence due to nonstationarity. The most centralized case of learning is parameter sharing, an uncommonly used MARL method, specific to environments with homogeneous agents, that bootstraps a single-agent reinforcement learning (RL) methods and learns an identical policy for each agent. We experimentally replicate the result of increased learning centralization leading to better performance on the MARL benchmark set from Gupta et al. (2017). We further apply parameter sharing to 8 "more modern" single-agent deep RL (DRL) methods for the first time in the literature. With this, we achieved the best documented performance on a set of MARL benchmarks and achieved upto 44 times more average reward in as little as 16% as many episodes compared to documented parameter sharing arrangement. We finally offer a formal proof of a set of methods that allow parameter sharing to serve in environments with heterogeneous agents.


Soft X-ray photographs show both the outlines of the soft parts of the regenerating limb and the bones. This enables one to make quantitative studies on bone regression and the growth of the regenerate, since good reference points are available. Bone regression of about 0.5 mm was observed to occur within about 20 days following amputation. Growth curves of regenerates cut at different levels confirm Spallanzani9s old observation that the total time for regeneration is fairly constant for different levels of amputation – regenerates from proximal levels regenerate faster. However, the intrinsic growth rate curves are remarkably similar for different levels of amputation; the difference in final length arises because the short period of high intrinsic growth rate continues for slightly longer in regenerates from proximal levels. In terms of the progress zone theory of limb development, three phases of regeneration are recognized: the formation of the blastema and progress zone; the laying down of the skeletal rudiments by the rapidly proliferating progress zone; and the subsequent slower growth of the rudiments. A quantitative model is put forward and it is shown that it can provide a good description of the observed growth curves. An important assumption is that the various skeletal rudiments are the same size when they leave the progress zone and the final differences in size reflect differences in the final growth phase. The progress zone model provides new quantitative insights into the relationship between the growth of the limb as a whole and the behaviour of individual cells.


Tellurium is one of the rarest elements on earth. With the increased deployment of solar energy, the CdTe PV market is expected to grow substantially, exacerbating resource depletion. This study uses system dynamics to assess the availability of tellurium for the PV sector by 2050. Historical data analysis on tellurium production, demand and price shows a negative correlation between tellurium price and annual tellurium surplus. The accumulated tellurium surplus was estimated to be 4,030 metric tons by 2018. Preliminary results from the system dynamics model show a potential production gap, which is when demand surpass production between 2027-2034 and 2038-2043. The peak production gap is 443 kg in 2030 and 404 kg in 2042. However, considering historical production and accumulated tellurium stocks, no supply gap is expected. Finally, global tellurium stocks are expected to decrease by 21.6%, from 6960 metric tons in 2023 to 5454 metric tons in 2050.


The spectrum of Ni VII has been photographed in the 190-265 A region using grazing incidence vacuum spectrographs. More than 400 lines have been classified. In the 3d4-configuration 32 of the 34 possible levels and in the 3d34p-configuration 93 of the 110 levels are established. The lines and levels which have already been published are confirmed. The configurations are described both with the conventional Slater-Condon parameters and the recently developed orthogonal parameter set. The conventional set yields a standard deviation for the levels in the 3d4 configuration of 46 cm−1 and of 163 cm−1 for the levels in the 3d34p configuration. With the orthogonal set this decreases to 3.5 cm−1 and 130 cm−1 respectively. As a consequence of the perturbation by the inner shell excited 3p53d5 configuration the levels of the 3d3(2F) 4p 3F term show an average deviation of approx. - 1400 cm−1 from their calculated values. The other levels can be described very well without taking this perturbation into account.


1. Oestradiol 17 beta inhibits the rat myometrium but the role of progesterone is uncertain. We have examined the interaction of the two steroids in the control of uterine activity in pseudopregnancy and the oestrous cycle. 2. Progesterone reversed the oestradiol‐induced inhibition of the myometrium in ovariectomized rats in vivo, but had little inhibitory effect of its own unless treatment was continued for several days. 3. The frequency and amplitude of intra‐uterine pressure cycles was unaffected by pseudopregnancy, but during the oestrous cycle frequency fell abruptly during late dioestrous and did not recover until early oestrus. 4. It is suggested that oestradiol is the major regulator of myometrial activity during the cycle and that progesterone interferes with the action of oestradiol, thereby paradoxically increasing uterine activity.


Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and P. lutzii are etiologic agents of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), an important endemic mycosis in Latin America. During its evolution, these fungi have developed characteristics and mechanisms that allow their growth in adverse conditions within their host through which they efficiently cause disease. This process is multi-factorial and involves host–pathogen interactions (adaptation, adhesion, and invasion), as well as fungal virulence and host immune response. In this review, we demonstrated the glycoproteins and polysaccharides network, which composes the cell wall of Paracoccidioides spp. These are important for the change of conidia or mycelial (26°C) to parasitic yeast (37°C). The morphological switch, a mechanism for the pathogen to adapt and thrive inside the host, is obligatory for the establishment of the infection and seems to be related to pathogenicity. For these fungi, one of the most important steps during the interaction with the host is the adhesion. Cell surface proteins called adhesins, responsible for the first contact with host cells, contribute to host colonization and invasion by mediating this process. These fungi also present the capacity to form biofilm and through which they may evade the host's immune system. During infection, Paracoccidioides spp. can interact with different host cell types and has the ability to modulate the host's adaptive and/or innate immune response. In addition, it participates and interferes in the coagulation system and phenomena like cytoskeletal rearrangement and apoptosis. In recent years, Paracoccidioides spp. have had their endemic areas expanding in correlation with the expansion of agriculture. In response, several studies were developed to understand the infection using in vitro and in vivo systems, including alternative non-mammal models. Moreover, new advances were made in treating these infections using both well-established and new antifungal agents. These included natural and/or derivate synthetic substances as well as vaccines, peptides, and anti-adhesins sera. Because of all the advances in the PCM study, this review has the objective to summarize all of the recent discoveries on Paracoccidioides-host interaction, with particular emphasis on fungi surface proteins (molecules that play a fundamental role in the adhesion and/or dissemination of the fungi to host-cells), as well as advances in the treatment of PCM with new and well-established antifungal agents and approaches.


The purpose of this work is to compare the performance of support vector machines (SVM) and multi-layer perceptron (MLP) in the task of detection and diagnosis of microcalcification clusters in mammograms (MCCs). As data source, the "digital database for screening mammography"; (DDSM) was used. The results show a similar performance for SVM and MLP, in both tasks, detection and diagnosis (slightly better for MLP in detection).


Objective: To determine the relation between lipid peroxidation and the antioxidants ascorbate, urate, and glutathione in epithelial lining fluid in ventilated premature babies, and to relate the biochemical findings to clinical outcome. Design: A cohort study conducted between January 1999 and June 2001. Setting: A NHS neonatal intensive care unit. Patients: An opportunity sample of 43 ventilated babies of less than 32 weeks gestation. Main outcome measures: The duration of supplementary oxygen according to the definition of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD; oxygen dependency at 36 weeks gestational age). Methods: Epithelial lining fluid was sampled by bronchoalveolar lavage. Ascorbate, urate, glutathione, and malondialdehyde (a marker of lipid peroxidation) were measured. Results: Babies who developed BPD had significantly lower initial glutathione concentrations (mean (SEM) 1.89 (0.62) v 10.76 (2.79) μM; p  =  0.043) and higher malondialdehyde concentrations (mean (SEM) 1.3 (0.31) v 0.345 (0.09) μM; p < 0.05) in the epithelial lining fluid than those who were not oxygen dependent. These variables were poor predictors of the development of BPD. Gestational age, endotracheal infection, and septicaemia had good predictive power. The level of oxidative damage was associated with the presence of endotracheal infection/septicaemia rather than inspired oxygen concentration. Conclusions: Endotracheal infection, septicaemia, and gestational age, rather than antioxidant concentrations, are the most powerful predictors of the development of BPD.


In this paper, a data-driven position-aided approach is proposed to reduce the training overhead in MIMO systems by leveraging side information and on-the-field measurements. A data tensor is constructed by collecting beam-training measurements on a subset of positions and beams, and a hybrid noisy tensor completion (HNTC) algorithm is proposed to predict the received power across the coverage area, which exploits both the spatial smoothness and the low-rank property of MIMO channels. A recommendation algorithm based on the completed tensor, beam subset selection (BSS), is proposed to achieve fast and accurate beam-training. In addition, a grouping-based BSS algorithm is proposed to combat the detrimental effect of noisy positional information. Numerical results evaluated with the Quadriga channel simulator at 60 GHz millimeter-wave channels show that the proposed BSS recommendation algorithm in combination with HNTC achieves accurate received power predictions, which enables beam-alignment with small overhead. Given power measurements on 40% of possible discretized positions, HNTC-based BSS attains a probability of correct alignment of 91%, with only 2% of trained beams, as opposed to a state-of-the-art position-aided beam-alignment scheme which achieves 54% correct alignment in the same configuration. Finally, an online HNTC method via warm-start is proposed, that alleviates the computational complexity by 50%, with no degradation in prediction accuracy.


In neurons, local protein synthesis in synaptodendritic microdomains has been implicated in the growth and plasticity of synapses. Prerequisites for local translation are the targeted transport of RNAs to distal sites of synthesis in dendrites and translational control mechanisms to limit synthesis to times of demand. Here we identify dendritic BC1 RNA as a specific repressor of translation. Experimental use of internal ribosome entry mechanisms and sucrose density gradient centrifugation showed that BC1-mediated repression targets translation at the level of initiation. Specifically, BC1 RNA inhibited formation of the 48S preinitiation complex, i.e., recruitment of the small ribosomal subunit to the messenger RNA (mRNA). However, 48S complex formation that is independent of the eukaryotic initiation factor 4 (eIF4) family of initiation factors was found to be refractory to inhibition by BC1 RNA, a result that implicates at least one of these factors in the BC1 repression pathway. Biochemical experiments indicated a specific interaction of BC1 RNA with eIF4A, an RNA unwinding factor, and with poly(A)-binding protein. Both proteins were found enriched in synaptodendritic microdomains. Significantly, BC1-mediated repression was shown to be effective not only in cap-dependent translation initiation but also in eIF4-dependent internal initiation. The results suggest a functional role of BC1 RNA as a mediator of translational control in local protein synthesis in nerve cells.


Abstract The role of the microbiome in influencing the development and course of human disease is increasingly understood and appreciated. In diverticular disease, the microbiome presents an intriguing potential link between the disease and its long-established risk factors, dietary fiber and industrialization. However, current data have yet to demonstrate a clear link between specific alterations in the microbiome and diverticular disease. The largest study of diverticulosis is negative and studies of diverticulitis are small and heterogeneous. Although multiple disease-specific hurdles exist, the early state of the current research and the many un- or underexplored clinical phenotypes present a significant opportunity for investigators to improve our knowledge of this common and incompletely understood disease.


Formulation of cream margarine (fat content <80%) has higher water content and more vulnerable to water separation if it is not properly processed. This research is aim to optimize parameter process of cream margarin production by controlling cooling temperature in A unit and C unit rotation in margarine processing unit (MPU), determine minimum throughput of margarine processing unit (MPU), product characterization by conducted chemical and physical analysis and study the effect of direct transport and product's position in the truck to cream margarine hardness value.. The result showed that the optimum process parameter is SP 6 (AAACAC - 33°C; 21°C; 17°C; 300 rpm; 18°C; 30 rpm which gives expected hardness value. Minimum throughput of margarine processing unit that can achieve 60 gr/cm2 in day 2 is 3000 kg/hour. Product characterization showed that melting point of cream margarin is 36.8°C, water content is 28%, salt content is 2.2%, pH is 4, droplet size is 3.4–4.1μm and solid fat content in 20, 30, 35, and 40°C respectively are 20%, 11%, 7% and 3%. Product that experienced direct transportation give lower hardness value during storage and product's position in the truck also gives significant impact to hardness value.


In this issue of Blood, Middeke et al, for the well-regarded Cooperative German Study Group, report a retrospective analysis in which they demonstrate that a hierarchial classification system for specific cytogenetic abnormalities in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) reveals that patients with abnormal 17p [abnl(17p)] and -5/5q- abnormalities have worse outcomes after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT).


Objectives: Obesity is a complex multifactorial disease with recently increasing prevalence and incidence. Several studies have been conducted to explain the ethiology, pathophysiology, epidemiology, molecular and genetic mechanisms, and effective treatments of obesity. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) S1, GSTZ1, and GSTT1 are essential enzymes for oxidative stress and metabolism-related disorders. For this purpose, we aimed to reveal the role of GSTS1, GSTZ1, and GSTT1 in obesity.
Methods: The gastric tissue samples were taken from the patients diagnosed with obesity who underwent bariatric surgery in Ankara Keçiören Training and Research Hospital General Surgery Clinic between 2017 and 2019. Immunostaining was performed on paraffin-embedded tissues to evaluate GSTS1, GSTZ1, and GSTT1 expressions. Laboratory data of the patients were recorded. All the results were analyzed statistically.
Results: Weak GSTS1 expression was observed in 38.1% of tissues and moderate in 6.3%. 37.3% of the tissues presented weak GSTZ1 expression, and 11 (8.7%) displayed moderate. There were weak GSTT1 expressions in 7.1% of the tissues and moderate 0.8% of them. A positive and statistically significant correlation was observed between GSTS1 and GSTT1 expression levels ((r)=0.028, p = 0.010; p < 0.05). There were no significant differences between expression levels and gender, age, comorbidities, and medication usage (p > 0.05).
Conclusions: GSTs, in particular GSTS1, GSTT1, and GSTZ1, might contribute to molecular mechanisms and the progression of obesity. In our study, GSTS1, GSTT1, and GSTZ1 were found to be moderately expressed in gastric tissues taken from obese patients. However, new studies using more samples and advanced techniques are needed to elucidate the relationship.


Osteoclasts degrade bone by pumping molar quantities of HCl to dissolve the calcium salts of bone, an energy intensive process evidently supported by abundant mitochondria. This is the first study to directly examine the ability of various metabolites to serve as potential energy sources for osteoclastic bone resorption. Glucose, and to a lesser extent lactate, supported osteoclastic bone degradation. However, fatty acids (palmitate, myristate and stearate), essential amino acids plus 20 mM alanine, or ketone bodies (acetoacetate, beta-hydroxybutyrate and alpha-ketoglutarate) did not support bone degradation. Resorption declined to 10-30% of glucose controls when fatty acids or ketoacids were substituted for glucose. Resorption was glucose concentration dependent, with maximal activity at approximately 7 mM (K(M) approximately 3 mM). Glucose transport was linear for approximately 15 minutes, specific for D-glucose, and inhibited by cytochalasin B. Osteoclasts cultured on bone transported glucose at almost twice the rate of those off bone (Vmax 23 versus 13 nmols/mg/min, respectively) and medium acid accumulation paralleled glucose uptake, while the K(M) was unchanged. We conclude that glucose is the principal energy source required for bone degradation. Further, characteristics of glucose transport are consistent with the hypothesis that fluctuations in serum glucose concentration are an important component in regulation of osteoclastic bone degradation.


The selective toxicity was often shown by experiments with in vitro screening test in human cancer cell (JTC-26) and human normal embryonic cell (HE-1) on the crude extract of crude drugs. The active fractions with selective toxicity were obtained by column chromatography. However, the selective toxicity disappeared in the simple constituent in which the activity remained. The selective toxicity of crude drugs was presumed to appear with the complex constituents.


This paper investigates downlink (DL) channel estimation of frequency division duplex (FDD) massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) with a finite number of base station (BS) antennas. Based on the performance analysis of DL channel in FDD, it is demonstrated that the interference effect cannot be ignored in the finite region. Also, excessive training overhead is required in conventional channel estimation methods when the number of BS antennas goes large. Therefore, it is necessary to design an algorithm for alleviating the interference in addition to the reduction of pilot overhead. In this paper, a general model is presented to exploit certain sparsity structure of massive MIMO channel in beam domain, which is called nonzero-neighborhood (NZN) structure. Considering the smooth variation of channel paths during two consecutive estimation intervals, a compressed sensing-based algorithm is proposed to efficiently estimate and track NZN-structured DL channel. The convergence behavior and computational complexity of the proposed mobility-aware subspace pursuit (MA-SP) algorithm are analyzed based on restricted isometric property. It is demonstrated that the application of proposed MA-SP algorithm efficiently reduces the required pilot length in channel estimation. Interference analysis shows that inter-cell interference is considerably alleviated in the proposed channel estimation phase without any prior information about interference. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MA-SP technique compared with the previous methods.


This paper presents an early study about a reconstruction method that extends previous space carving methods to handle all characteristics of human faces: complex non-Lambertian materials, untextured areas, highly detailed geometry, etc. This face study is seen as a preliminary step to a more general framework for non-Lambertian reconstruction. We therefore avoid specific techniques like parameterized face models. Since we expose our early studies, we mainly present the related existing work and discuss the pros and cons of each approach. We aim at discerning the strength and weaknesses of the classical tools in order to adapt and improve them to handle non-Lambertian materials while overcoming their limitations. We show our first results which are promising and validate our global approach. Throughout the discussion, we raise several questions that identify complex issues related to our goal. We provide some hints that pave the way for a better understanding of the global problem. We are confident in that further studies will lead to significant improvements over existing methods.